who is now renting his large farm and is living retired after many
years devoted to agricultural pursuits. He was born in Marion county,
Oregon, June 5, 1870, a son of A. B. and Lucretia C. (Cox) Rothrock,
natives respectively of North Carolina and Kentucky. The father's birth
occurred in 1816 and in 1839 he removed to Illinois, which at that time
was still largely unsettled. In 1863 he once more moved westward, going
to Iowa, and two years later he was again numbered with the pioneers,
crossing the plains in that year to Oregon. He engaged in farming
for some time in Marion county, that state, but in 1868 removed to
Umatilla county, where he developed a large herd of cattle, becoming
one of the leading cattlemen of that section. When the country became
so thickly settled that the free ranges disappeared he turned his
attention to wheat growing and in that connection, too, won prominence
and prosperity. He was a man of such energy and such unusual soundness
of judgment that he gained a position of leadership in whatever he
undertook. In his later years he removed to Weston in order to give his
children better school advantages and there his death occurred in 1881.
His widow survived for many years, dying in 1912.
A. B. Rothrock was reared at home and after attending the district
schools continued his education in the Oregon State Normal School
at Weston. He received practical training of great value under his
father, as from boyhood he assisted the latter in his extensive farming
operations. After reaching mature years he continued to work with
his father until he was about twenty-five years old, when he began
farming independently, renting the home farm of four hundred acres.
In 1902 he purchased three hundred and sixty-nine acres of land in
Umatilla county, which he farmed in connection with the home place,
the successful management of the seven hundred and sixty-nine acres of
land requiring his undivided time and attention. He continued to reside
upon the home farm until 1909, when he removed with his family to
Walla Walla in order to the better educate his children. He continued,
however, to give personal supervision to the cultivation of his farm
in Umatilla county, Oregon. In 1915 he purchased the homestead and
now owns about eight hundred acres of land, which he is renting, as
he feels that he has earned a period of leisure. The success which he
gained as a farmer was due to the same qualities of foresight, energy
and close application to his work that characterize the prosperous
business man and he has always felt that agriculture should be
recognized as having the same status as other industries.
On the 25th of August, 1897, Mr. Rothrock was married to Miss May
Steen, a daughter of Milton Steen, one of the pioneer farmers of
Umatilla county. To this union have been born four children: Velma S.,
who was graduated from the Walla Walla high school with the class of
1917; Forrest B. and Arthur, who are attending the Sharpstein school;
and James S.
Mr. Rothrock gives his political allegiance to the democratic party but
has never cared to take an active part in public affairs. However, his
influence has been felt as a force making for civic advancement and he
has always discharged to the full all obligations resting upon him as
a citizen. He belongs to Weston Lodge, No. 58, I. O. O. F., of Weston,
Oregon, and the teachings of the craft have guided him in the various
relations of life. His salient qualities are such that to know him
intimately is to respect him for his sterling worth, and his friends
hold him in the warmest regard.
DELOS H. COFFIN.
An enterprising and active business man was Delos H. Coffin, who
for many years was identified with farming interests in Walla Walla
county and who passed away in 1909. His life record had spanned the
intervening years from 1854, and his diligence and determination had
won him a substantial measure of success, numbering him among the
self-made men of this section of the country. He was born in Boston,
Massachusetts, August 1, 1854, a son of George D. Coffin, who in 1855
crossed the plains with his family and cast in his lot with the pioneer
settlers of Oregon. He took up his abode upon a farm and there Delos H.
Coffin was reared, sharing with the others of the household in all of
the hardships and privations which constitute features of pioneer life
in the northwest. He also assisted in the arduous task of developing
a new farm and early learned the value of industry and persistency of
purpose as factors in the pursuits of life.
In 1881 Mr. Coffin was united in marriage to Miss Stella Sickler, a
native of Minnesota and a daughter of James and Mary (Cook) Sickler,
who were natives of Pennsylvania, whence they removed westward to
Minnesota in the early '50s. In 1859 they crossed the plains with ox
teams and covered wagons to Washington, experiencing all the hardships
of such a trip, and eventually they reached the Walla Walla valley,
where they took up their abode upon a farm which the father purchased,
his land including the present site of College Place. The original home
of the family was a little log cabin and they lived in true frontier
style until their labors enabled them to secure many of the comforts
and conveniences known to the older civilization of the east. The
mother died upon the old homestead and the father afterward sold that
property and removed to a farm which he purchased on Mill Creek. In
their family were twelve children, of whom five are now living.
[Illustration: DELOS H. COFFIN]
After the marriage of Mr. Coffin he began farming on his own account,
purchasing a tract of school land upon which not a furrow had been
turned or an improvement made. He at once began to develop the property
and in the course of years added fine buildings to the place. He later
purchased more land and Mrs. Coffin is now the owner of two hundred
and forty acres left to her by her husband. Since his death she has
acquired another tract of two hundred acres and also bought a farm of
one hundred and eighty-four and a third acres near Dixie. She likewise
has four acres where she now lives, on which she has erected an
attractive home. Her land is all wheat land, very rich and productive,
and her fields annually bring to her gratifying harvests. Mrs. Coffin
manages all of the estate and displays excellent business ability and
resourcefulness in controlling her interests.
Mr. Coffin departed this life in 1909. He was a consistent member of
the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and was laid to rest in the Odd
Fellows cemetery. He also belonged to the Fraternal Order of Eagles and
took an active part in its work. His political allegiance was given to
the republican party and he served as county commissioner. His was a
well spent life, his career being one of activity and usefulness, and
all who knew him entertained for him warm regard by reason of his many
sterling traits of character. Like her husband, Mrs. Coffin is widely
and favorably known in Walla Walla county and has a circle of friends
almost coextensive with the circle of her acquaintance.
SAMUEL B. SWEENEY.
Samuel B. Sweeney, who is a well known landowner residing in Walla
Walla, is a native of the northwest, his birth having occurred in
Oregon, May 24, 1858. His parents, Rev. Alexander W. and Angeline
(Allen) Sweeney, were born respectively in Missouri and Tennessee.
In 1847 the mother accompanied her parents to Oregon, the journey
being made by ox team. On arriving there Mr. Allen took up a donation
claim and there the family home was established. Rev. Sweeney became
a resident of Oregon in 1850 and later was married in that state.
Subsequently he spent some time in California but in 1872 he removed
with his family to Waitsburg, Washington, whence two years later he
came to Walla Walla, where he passed away. His widow, however, survives
at the advanced age of eighty-one years. They were the parents of three
children, of whom two survive.
Samuel B. Sweeney attended school in both California and Oregon and
in early manhood was a teacher in the old Whitman College. At length
he decided to abandon that profession and turned his attention to
farming, renting land until he had saved enough money to purchase a
farm. He owns four hundred and eighty acres in Walla Walla county and
also several smaller tracts of land and he derives from his holdings
a gratifying annual income. His business affairs have been managed
capably and he is now in excellent financial circumstances.
In 1893 Mr. Sweeney was married to Miss Adna Fudge, a native of Walla
Walla county and a daughter of Adam and Mary (Perkins) Fudge. At an
early day in the history of Oregon the Fudge family removed to that
state, whence they eventually came to Walla Walla county, Washington.
The father is now deceased but the mother still survives. To Mr.
and Mrs. Sweeney have been born two children, Philip B. and Eleanor
D., both of whom are attending the Oregon Agricultural College at
Corvallis.
Mr. Sweeney was reared in the faith of the Presbyterian church, and
his wife is a Christian Scientist. He is a stanch republican and has
taken the interest of a good citizen in public affairs but has not
held office with the exception of serving as a member of the school
board. He belongs to the Masonic blue lodge of Walla Walla and in his
daily life has exemplified the teachings of that order. Beginning his
career empty-handed, he has reached the goal of success through quick
recognition of opportunity, hard work and the careful management of his
affairs.
JOHN A. DANIELSON.
John A. Danielson, residing in Waitsburg, is prominently connected with
farming and live stock interests in Walla Walla county. He was born in
Sweden, January 7, 1862, his parents being Andrew and Anna (Anderson)
Danielson, who came to the United States in 1865 and first took up
their abode near Grand Rapids, Michigan. They settled on a farm there
and continued to reside thereon until called to their final rest. John
A. Danielson was but three years of age on the emigration of the family
to the new world. He was reared and educated in the district schools
and in the State Normal School at Ypsilanti, Michigan.
For one term Mr. Danielson taught school in that state and in 1884 he
came to Washington, settling on Whiskey creek in Walla Walla county,
where he filed on a homestead and preempted another quarter section. He
afterward purchased additional land, adding to his holdings from time
to time until his possessions now aggregate three thousand acres. For
the past eleven years he has made his home in Waitsburg in order that
his children might enjoy the advantages of the public school system of
this city. He is quite extensively engaged in cattle raising as well as
in general farming, running two hundred head of Hereford cattle on his
ranch. He is a most progressive agriculturist and stock raiser whose
interests are wisely directed and carefully managed. He cultivates his
farm according to the most progressive methods and as a stock raiser
pays close attention to all the scientific principles which have now
become a feature of the live stock business on all up-to-date farms. He
is likewise a stockholder and a member of the board of directors of the
Farmers Union Warehouse Company.
On November 8, 1891, Mr. Danielson was married to Miss Louisa J.
Holderman, of Columbia county, Washington. Her father, Gilderoy
Holderman, came to this state from Missouri in 1879, settling in what
is now Columbia county. His family joined him here in 1881. He was a
Civil war veteran and his early death, which occurred October 28, 1883,
was the direct result of wounds and exposure which he suffered while
defending the Union cause on the battlefields of the south. To Mr. and
Mrs. Danielson have been born twelve children, namely: Anna L., Jessie
M., Frank, Naomi, Dewey, Cecil, Ralph, Lola, Roy, Inez, John A., Jr.,
and one who died in infancy. The others are still under the parental
roof.
Mr. Danielson is a stalwart republican and for several years he served
as a member of the school board while living on his farm and is now a
member of the board of education in Waitsburg. He has never sought
political office, however, but is always to be found ready and willing
to give his aid and assistance to any plans and measures which tend to
uphold civic standards or advance the best interests of his community.
He and his wife are members of the Methodist Episcopal church, and
they are held in the highest esteem by reason of their sterling worth,
their integrity and their fidelity to all measures of individual and
community uplift. Mr. Danielson certainly deserves much credit for
what he has accomplished in a business way. He started out in life
empty-handed but possessed the substantial qualities of industry and
determination, and upon those qualities as a foundation he has builded
his prosperity. Moreover, the course he has pursued is indicative of
the fact that success and an honored name may be won simultaneously.
GEORGE L. BAILEY.
Among those men who have found success in following agricultural
pursuits and are now able to live retired is George L. Bailey, of
Walla Walla, who was born near The Dalles, Oregon, on the 10th of
April, 1874, a son of Lyman J. and Mary (Graham) Bailey. The father
was a native of New Hampshire and the mother of Missouri and they were
married in Salilo, Oregon. The father's parents died when he was but
a boy and at the age of nineteen, in the year 1849, he crossed the
isthmus and made his way to the California gold fields. However, he
did not work in the mines but drifted north into Oregon and settled at
Salilo, where he learned the trade of a ship carpenter. For several
years he was employed by the Oregon & Washington Railroad & Navigation
Company in boat building and during those years he was associated with
Lew Thompson in the cattle business, Mr. Bailey working at his trade
while Mr. Thompson took care of their cattle interests. In the hard
winter of 1871-2 they lost most of their cattle and Mr. Bailey and
Mr. Thompson then dissolved partnership and the former gave up his
position in the shipyard and went to Klickitat county, where he took up
a homestead. He was the first settler and built the first house near
Bickleton on Alder creek, hauling the lumber for floors some sixty
miles. There he engaged in the live stock business and farming, being
identified with those interests up to the time of his death.
George L. Bailey, whose name introduces this review, pursued a public
school education, which was supplemented by four years' study in
Whitman Academy. Following the completion of his course there he went
east to Boston, Massachusetts, where he attended Burdett's Business
College. On finishing his studies on the Atlantic coast he returned to
Walla Walla and soon afterward was united in marriage, in July, 1898,
to Miss Etta Aldrich, a daughter of Newton Aldrich, one of the earliest
of Walla Walla county's pioneers, having come into this section of
the state from California with a bunch of cattle in 1858. He was so
favorably impressed with the country and its prospects that he decided
to remain and make his home. Accordingly he took up a preemption claim
two and a half miles southwest of Dixie and thereon resided to the
time of his death, which occurred in 1888. He was very successful and
acquired large land holdings.
Mr. Bailey engaged in farming in Walla Walla county, his wife owning
two hundred acres of land which she received from her father's estate,
and Mr. Bailey's career as a farmer was begun upon that tract. As he
has prospered in his undertakings he has purchased much other land
and is now the owner of twelve hundred and eighty acres, nearly all
of which is valuable wheat land. He continued to cultivate his fields
until 1917 but has now rented his farm for the coming year and is
giving his attention to other business interests. In wheat production
he has been very successful. He has cultivated his land and cared
for his crops according to the most modern methods and has annually
gathered large harvests, the sale of which has added materially to his
income and financial resources.
Mr. and Mrs. Bailey have become the parents of the following children,
Mildred E., Dorothy A., Helen A., Gladys I., Lyman N. and Donald L. All
of the children are still at home and Mildred E. and Dorothy A. are
attending high school.
Mr. Bailey gives his political allegiance to the republican party and
in religious faith he and his wife are Congregationalists. Both are
widely known for their genuine worth. They have displayed many sterling
traits of character which have gained for them warm regard and as a
business man Mr. Bailey has long occupied a creditable position in this
section of the state. Notwithstanding the obstacles and difficulties
in his path he has advanced steadily step by step and his orderly
progression has brought him to a place among the most successful
agriculturists of Walla Walla county.
PHILIP YENNEY.
Philip Yenney, deceased, was for many years a well known and prominent
agriculturist of western Washington. He became identified with the
state in pioneer times and lived to witness the remarkable changes that
were wrought as the work of development and improvement was carried
forward, and with the passing years he bore his full share in the work
of general progress and improvement.
Mr. Yenney was a native of Germany and came to the United States
when a youth of sixteen or seventeen years and for some time worked
on the Potomac river in connection with its traffic interests, while
subsequently he was employed by the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad Company.
Later he secured a situation on a plantation in Virginia and on leaving
the Old Dominion went to Iowa, where he met the lady whom he afterward
made his wife, her parents having removed from Pennsylvania to Indiana
and subsequently to Iowa, where they were residing at that time. In
1860 Mr. Yenney came to the northwest, which was then far removed
from civilization, being cut off by the long stretches of hot sand
and the high mountains that often seemed an insurmountable barrier
to the traveler who would have desired to become a resident of the
Pacific coast country. Undeterred by hardships and difficulties which
he must meet, Mr. Yenney made his way to Washington and for some years
was engaged in freighting between Walla Walla and the Idaho mines.
The district into which he came bore little resemblance to the highly
developed section that one sees here today. After freighting for a
time he became connected with Mr. Still in the conduct of a trading
post on Hangman's creek, near the present site of Spokane, a place
which was then known as the California ranch. Subsequently he engaged
in farming, with which he was prominently identified up to the time of
his death, and as his financial resources increased he kept adding to
his holdings by additional purchase until he had acquired some sixteen
hundred acres of wheat land and one thousand acres of grazing land. He
thus won a position among the foremost agriculturists of this state and
his life record illustrates what it is possible to accomplish in the
west when the individual possesses industry, determination and laudable
ambition.
[Illustration: MRS. PHILIP YENNEY]
[Illustration: PHILIP YENNEY]
In early manhood Philip Yenney was united in marriage to Miss Rachael
Winnett, a native of Pennsylvania, and they became the parents of the
following children. John Fred, born in Iowa, June 5, 1858, came with
his parents to Washington in 1860 and was educated in Walla Walla.
During his active business life he followed farming in Columbia county,
but died at San Diego, California, where he had gone with the hope of
benefiting his health. He was three times married and left a family of
seven children. His third wife now makes her home in East Walla Walla.
Sarah M., the second of the family, married James McKee, of Walla
Walla, and they made their home at Pomeroy. She died, leaving a husband
and six children. Robert C. was born, reared and educated in Walla
Walla. He was graduated in 1889 from Whitman College. Subsequently he
entered the University of Pennsylvania, where he pursued a medical
course and was graduated with the degree of M. D. After spending one
year in hospital work he located in Portland, where he has since
engaged in practice. He is now at the head of a hospital unit ready
for service when the government calls. William H. and Lewis O. are
represented on another page of this volume. Margaret, the youngest
child, married Ernest E. Brown, of Spokane, where she now resides. Two
children, Thomas J. and Anna R., died while young.
Mr. Yenney was a consistent member of the Lutheran church and died
in that faith on the 28th of June, 1905. His life was at all times
honorable and upright and commended him to the confidence and goodwill
of those with whom he came in contact. His widow still survives him and
now occupies the old family home at No. 834 East Alder street in Walla
Walla. She, too, is a consistent Christian and has membership in the
Methodist Episcopal church.
WILLIAM H. YENNEY.
The great wheat fields of Walla Walla county and the surrounding
sections of this state and of northern Oregon are always a matter of
marvel to the traveler, who thinks of the west as a region of mines
and of forests and little realizes what wonderful strides have been
made along agricultural lines. Prominent in connection with farming
interests in Walla Walla county is William H. Yenney, who superintends
his operations from his city home.
He was born in this county October 17, 1869, and is a son of Philip
and Rachael (Winnett) Yenney. He spent his early youth on the old home
farm and was educated in the district schools and in Whitman College,
which he attended for two years. After reaching adult age he continued
to remain on the old homestead and cooperated with his father in the
latter's extensive farming and horse raising enterprises. Since his
father's death he and his brother Lewis have operated the farm in
partnership and are classed among the most successful agriculturists of
Walla Walla county. There is no phase of progressive farming with which
they are not familiar and their thoroughly up-to-date methods produce
splendid results. They have broad wheat fields and also produce other
crops, while at the same time they are extensively and successfully
engaged in stock raising. In the spring of 1917 W. H. Yenney removed to
Walla Walla, where he now lives in a handsome new residence at No. 20
Merriam street.
At Dayton, Washington, Mr. Yenney was united in marriage to Miss
Cora Edgell, a daughter of William and Sarah (Kuykendall) Edgell, of
Illinois. To Mr. and Mrs. Yenney have been born four children, namely:
Frank, who is now on the home ranch; Philip, now attending high school;
and Clark and Richard, also in school. Philip Yenney is president of
the champion football team of the northwest, which is the Walla Walla
high school team. It has defeated all competitors in the northwest and
also the Salt Lake City team.
Mr. and Mrs. Yenney are active workers on committees for the successful
prosecution of the war, being prominently connected with the work of
the Red Cross, the Young Women's Christian Association and the Young
Men's Christian Association. Mrs. Yenney is a Member of the Methodist
Episcopal church and, like her husband, enjoys the warm regard and
friendship of all with whom she has been associated. Her home is noted
for its warm-hearted hospitality and is the center of a cultured
society circle. Fraternally Mr. Yenney is connected with Washington
Lodge, No. 19, I. O. O. F., and he gives his political allegiance to
the democratic party. He is regarded as one of the foremost business
men of Walla Walla county and there is no phase of modern day
enterprise having to do with farming operations with which he is not
familiar.
LEWIS O. YENNEY.
Lewis O. Yenney, a representative farmer of Walla Walla county, is
residing at No. 834 East Alder street in the city of Walla Walla. He
has spent his entire life in this county, where his birth occurred
on the 8th of May, 1872. He represents one of its old and prominent
pioneer families, his parents being Philip J. and Rachael (Winnett)
Yenney, who are mentioned elsewhere in this volume.