engaged in farming and stock raising and still remains an active
factor in business, although he has passed the eighty-sixth milestone
on life's journey. He was born in Boone county, Kentucky, February 7,
1832, but much of his youth was passed in Brown county, Illinois, where
he resided until 1849, when at the age of seventeen years he crossed
the plains with a party of four. The young men traveled on horseback,
bringing with them a light wagon pulled by four horses to carry their
effects. They first went to Sacramento and from that point Mr. Lowden
proceeded to Downieville, where he followed placer mining for a season.
Later he went to Nevada City and in 1851 he returned to Sacramento,
where he invested the proceeds of his successful mining ventures in
mules and engaged in packing, a business which he followed profitably
for twenty-one years. His train conveyed freight into various parts of
California, Nevada, Idaho, Washington, Oregon and Montana and thus he
became familiar with all of the west and its development. Hostile bands
of Indians who were on marauding expeditions throughout the country
were a menace to him, but by continued watchfulness he managed to avoid
loss, standing guard himself and never trusting hired help to this
duty. He allowed no fires to be built near his herd and his constant
care was rewarded by success. In 1878 he sold his packing business
and established his home between Walla Walla and Wallula, Washington,
where he engaged in raising and dealing in cattle, but in 1880 he lost
about ninety per cent of his herds. He did not allow himself to become
discouraged but with resolute purpose sought to retrieve his losses and
purchased about five thousand acres of land in Walla Walla valley with
the view of again engaging in the business on an extensive scale. By
means of ditches he brought water into every field of this vast tract
and soon developed a most excellent stock ranch. This land is still in
possession of the family, being owned by the Lowden Company, which was
incorporated for the purpose of raising horses, cattle, sheep and hogs.
They have imported many costly thoroughbred animals, never sparing
expense to secure the best stock, and they have done much to promote
the standards of stock raising in Washington. They have high grade
horses, cattle, hogs and sheep upon their place and theirs is one of
the leading stock ranches in southeastern Washington. Mr. Lowden has
ever been a very active and enterprising man, possessed of courage,
fortitude and resourcefulness--the characteristics of the true pioneer.
Moreover, he is a very efficient business man, alert and enterprising
and watchful of every opportunity pointing to success. His interests
have ever been most wisely and carefully controlled and his sound
judgment has ever stood as an important feature in his progress.
[Illustration: MR. AND MRS. SIMON TAYLOR]
Notwithstanding his large private interests, Mr. Lowden has always
found time to perform well the duties of a citizen and member of
society. He served as county commissioner for seven years and was a
member of the state penitentiary board which built the third wing and
the outbuildings, the stables, etc., of the penitentiary. In spite of
opposition, he succeeded with the help of others in building a jute
mill at the penitentiary in order to give employment to the prisoners
and in placing the mill in successful operation. He was also a member
of the school board for ten years and has ever been a faithful and
loyal friend of public education.
In May, 1868, Mr. Lowden was joined in wedlock to Miss Mary E. Noon,
who was born in New Orleans, Louisiana, but was reared in California.
They have become the parents of three children, namely: Marshall J.,
Francis M., Jr., and Hettie Irene. Mr. Lowden is a stanch adherent
of the Masonic fraternity and exemplifies in his life the beneficent
spirit of the craft. He is still very active, although he has now
reached the age of eighty-six years. Old age need not necessarily
suggest idleness nor want of occupation. There is an old age which
grows stronger mentally and morally as the years go on and gives out
of its rich store of wisdom and experience for the benefit of others.
Such is the record of Mr. Lowden. He keeps in touch with the trend of
modern thought and progress and in spirit and interests seems yet in
his prime. His life should serve to inspire and encourage many others
who at a much younger age grow weary and endeavor to shift to other
shoulders the burdens that they should bear.
J. A. MACLACHLAN, M. D.
Dr. J. A. MacLachlan, for many years actively and successfully
engaged in the practice of medicine and surgery in Dayton, was born
near Springfield, in the province of Ontario, Canada, in 1860.
After acquiring a public school education in his native country he
became a student in the University of Michigan, where he pursued his
professional course, winning the degree of M. D. upon graduation
with the class of 1889. He had studied the homeopathic methods and
following his graduation at once began a search for a suitable
location. Making his way westward, he decided to establish his home
in Columbia county and has since been identified with the medical
profession in southeastern Washington. Through the long years of
his residence in Dayton he has occupied a foremost place among the
medical practitioners. He is extremely modest and free from ostentation
but public opinion establishes his position and colleagues and
contemporaries acknowledge him the peer of the ablest physicians and
surgeons of the Inland Empire. He was elected to the position of vice
president of the state board of medical examiners and he belongs to the
Washington State Medical Society, thus keeping in touch with the trend
of modern professional thought, research and investigation.
Dr. MacLachlan was united in marriage to Miss Daisy Ping, a daughter of
Robert Ping, one of the well known pioneer settlers of Columbia county,
and with his family he occupies an attractive home in Dayton. He
belongs to the Dayton Club and has been identified with many movements
looking to the welfare and betterment of his community. He stands at
all times for progress and improvement and his aid and influence are
given on the side of those activities which are a matter of civic
virtue and of civic pride. He served in 1890 and 1891 as health officer
of Columbia county. He is well known as a leading member of the Knights
of Pythias and of the Odd Fellows lodges, having been identified with
those organizations for many years.
JOHN McFEELY.
John McFeely, of Walla Walla, has for years been one of the city's
prominent business men, and he is also connected with the agricultural
interests of the county, being the owner of a large farm devoted to
the raising of wheat. He has resided in the city for many years and
has an unusually wide acquaintance here and throughout the county as
well. His birth occurred in Fairfield, Ohio, near Dayton, March 3,
1868, and he is a son of John and Ann (Miller) McFeely. He received
his public school education in the Buckeye state and in youth learned
the blacksmith trade. He then started west to seek his fortune, being
convinced that there were better opportunities for advancement in the
country west of the Mississippi river than in the east. For a time he
lived in Kansas and then returned to Ohio, but could not be content
there and removed to Portland, Oregon, whence he came to Walla Walla,
Washington, in the spring of 1891. Here he found employment as a
horseshoer, but in the fall of 1891 he went to Milton, Oregon, where he
worked in the same line.
Subsequently Mr. McFeely returned to Walla Walla and bought an interest
in the horseshoeing shop of D. Sloan, now known as the Wigwam, and then
located at the corner of Second and Alder streets, where the Drumheller
four-story brick block now stands. The horseshoeing business was
booming and returned good profit to its owner. At length Mr. McFeely
purchased the lots on the corner of Fourth and Alder streets, then
known as the old Baldwin property, at that time covered with a growth
of locust trees. He cleared the timber and there erected a shoeing
shop, where he engaged in business for a considerable period. Later
he built a one-story brick building which he used as a shoeing shop
until he erected the McFeely Hotel, which is a three-story building
with basement. It is thoroughly modern in its appointments and is well
patronized. He also owns eight hundred acres of excellent wheat land in
Dry Hollow, near Prescott, all under cultivation and well improved. He
resides in one of the attractive homes at the edge of the city of Walla
Walla, and takes a justifiable pride therein. The grounds comprise two
acres and contain several cold water springs and a trout lake. The many
large shade trees add much to the comfort and beauty of the place.
[Illustration: JOHN McFEELY]
[Illustration: MRS. JOHN McFEELY]
Mr. McFeely was married December 9, 1899, to Miss Martha Besserer, a
daughter of the Hon. Charles and Ida (Sanderson) Besserer, who are
mentioned on another page of this volume. To Mr. and Mrs. Besserer were
born seven children, of whom three survive, namely: Charles, a resident
of California; Lucile, the wife of A. McAlaster, also of California;
and Mrs. McFeely. The latter is the mother of two children: Martha
Yvonne, who was born August 5, 1903, and is now in high school; and
John Miller, born September 9, 1907.
Mr. McFeely possesses the qualities that command respect and win
regard, and he has been honored by election to the office of president
of the National Association of Master Horseshoers. Fraternally he
belongs to the Elks, and he and his wife both hold membership in
the Protestant Episcopal church. He has been quick to recognize
opportunities, prompt and energetic in taking advantage thereof, and as
the result of his sound judgment and enterprise he is now financially
independent.
C. A. HOLLENBECK.
C. A. Hollenbeck is now living retired in Asotin but for a long period
was actively identified with ranching in Washington. In 1912, however,
he put aside the work of the farm and has since spent his days in the
enjoyment of a well earned rest. A native of New York, he was born in
Cortland county, December 18, 1845, a son of Casper C. and Henrietta
(Egbertson) Hollenbeck, who were also natives of Cortland county, New
York. The great-grandfather in the Egbertson line was a soldier of
the Revolutionary war and also of the War of 1812. He passed away in
Cortland county, New York, at the advanced age of ninety years. The
grandfather of C. A. Hollenbeck in the paternal line was a native of
Holland, and on coming to the new world settled in Cortland county, New
York, where he followed the occupation of farming until his death. His
son, Casper C., was also a farmer and with his family removed westward
to Sedalia, Missouri, where he and his wife lived retired. There he
passed away in the spring of 1881.
C. A. Hollenbeck acquired a public school education in New York and
assisted in the work of the farm from early boyhood, taking his place
behind the plow almost as soon as old enough to reach the plow handles.
He left home in 1868 and made his way to Linn county, Iowa, where he
resided for two years, devoting his attention to general agricultural
pursuits there. In 1870 he removed to Ness county, Kansas, where he
hunted buffaloes and antelope while working with the Texas cattle.
He devoted eleven years to herding on the plains of Kansas and in
1881 he arrived in Washington, taking up his abode in what was then
Columbia but is now Asotin county. He took up a preemption claim in the
Montgomery Ridge district and during his active identification with
agricultural pursuits he accumulated thirteen hundred and sixty acres
of land in Asotin county, of which he has since sold all but three
hundred and twenty acres, now being cultivated and managed by his son.
In 1912 Mr. Hollenbeck retired from active business life and took up
his abode in the city of Asotin, where he now occupies an attractive
modern residence and is living retired, enjoying the fruits of his
former toil in a well earned rest.
Mr. Hollenbeck was united in marriage to Miss Mary A. Story, a native
of Onondaga county, New York, who passed away November 1, 1917, her
death being deeply regretted not only by her immediate family but
also by many friends, for she was a lady of excellent traits of heart
and mind, kindly in manner and generous in spirit and most devoted to
the members of her own household. She found her greatest happiness in
providing for the comfort of her husband and children and her memory is
enshrined in the hearts of all who knew her.
"I cannot say and I will not say
That she is dead. She is just away!
With a cheery smile and a wave of the hand
She has wandered into an unknown land,
And left us dreaming how very fair
It needs must be since she lingers there."
Seven children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Hollenbeck: Carrie, the wife
of Henry Talbott, a rancher living in Asotin county; Martha, the wife
of William McMullan, who has a ranch near Spokane; Ettie, the wife of
Jake Blyen, who is a ranch owner at Crabtree, Oregon; Casper J., who
married Rose Miller and follows ranching in Asotin county; Frank, who
married Maggie Venette and lives in Asotin county, managing the old
home ranch, in addition to which he owns nine hundred acres; George H.,
who married Ethel M. Cannon and resides in Canada; and Mary, the wife
of H. L. McMillan, of Asotin county.
In politics Mr. Hollenbeck has been a republican from the days of
Abraham Lincoln, whom he saw at Syracuse, New York, on his way to
take the presidential chair in Washington in 1861. His has been an
active and useful life in which his business affairs have been wisely
directed, his efforts proving an element in the growth and progress of
the section of the state in which he lives, and among its valued and
representative citizens he is numbered.
JAMES P. WATSON.
Among the valued citizens of Garfield county who have been called to
their final rest was numbered James P. Watson, who lived on section 33,
township 13 north, range 43 east, and was closely associated with the
agricultural development and improvement of this section of the state.
He was born in England on the 31st of December, 1854, and was a son of
Porter and Susan (Talbot) Watson, both of whom were natives of England,
where they spent their entire lives. James P. Watson was educated in
the public schools of his native country and in 1871, when a youth of
seventeen years, bade adieu to friends and country in order to come to
the United States. He first made his way to Kansas, where he remained
for four years, and in 1875 he came west to the Pacific coast country.
He did not at once make a final settlement, however, but cast around
for a desirable location and in the meantime worked for wages, thus
becoming a factor in the business life of the community.
[Illustration: JAMES P. WATSON]
In 1877 Mr. Watson took up his abode in what is now Garfield county
and the following spring filed on a homestead, which he continued to
own throughout his remaining days and on which his widow still lives.
He was a man of energy and was ambitious to succeed. Indolence and
idleness were utterly foreign to his nature. Every hour was utilized to
the best advantage and as the years passed he prospered, so that from
time to time he was able to add to his homestead by additional purchase
until prior to his death he had become the owner of about a thousand
acres of valuable pasture and wheat land in Garfield county. Mr. Watson
had come to this country as a youth without money and without friends,
but he employed every moment of his time to good advantage, realizing
the eternal principle that industry wins. He also carefully saved his
earnings and invested the money thus gained wisely and well, so that
in the course of years he acquired a snug little fortune. Moreover, he
was a broad reader and deep thinker and became well informed on public
affairs. When he crossed the Atlantic it was to become an American
citizen, not to remain a subject of Great Britain, although he never
lost his love for his native land. He ever felt that his allegiance
should be given to the land of his adoption, under whose laws he lived
and found protection, and he ever stood for those plans and measures
which sought to upbuild the community in which he resided, to advance
the welfare of the commonwealth and of the country.
In 1880 Mr. Watson was united in marriage to Miss Emma I. Perkins, a
native of Oregon and a daughter of John N. Perkins, who was a physician
and philanthropist. Her father was a native of Ohio and crossed the
plains in 1851, settling in Oregon. In 1878 he came to what is now
Garfield county, establishing his home on the present site of Pomeroy.
His grandfather, Thomas Perkins, was a soldier of the Revolutionary
war. The mother of Mrs. Watson bore the maiden name of Derisa A.
Matsler and was a native of Ohio, where her marriage to Mr. Perkins
occurred. She afterward made the journey across the plains with her
husband to the northwest. She had three brothers--George, David and
John, who served throughout the Civil war in defense of the Union. To
Mr. and Mrs. Watson were born thirteen children, of whom two died in
infancy, and Inez D., who married J. C. Kimble died leaving two sons,
Vergel L. and Cecyl L. Those still living are as follows: Charles E.,
Alva N., Elsie I., James A., William C., Edna E., John P., Joseph F.,
Iva N. and Alma M. Most of the children are married and with their
families they are all residing in Garfield county, with the exception
of James A., who is now a resident of Whitman county. Mrs. Watson now
has seventeen grandchildren. She is a woman of pronounced ability who
has capably managed her property interests since the death of her
husband, which occurred on the 5th of September, 1915.
Mr. Watson was a man of sterling character, was a devoted husband
and kind and loving father. He was also an obliging and charitable
neighbor and his many sterling traits of character gained for him
the esteem and confidence of all with whom he came in contact. In
politics he was a democrat until the free silver plank was inserted in
the party platform, after which he became a supporter of republican
principles. He never failed to earnestly espouse any cause in which he
believed and his position was never an equivocal one. He expressed his
opinions honestly and fearlessly and men came to know that his word was
thoroughly reliable. He never had occasion to regret his determination
to come to the new world, for on this side of the Atlantic he found
the opportunities which he sought and in their utilization won a
substantial measure of success. Moreover, America gained a valued
citizen and southeastern Washington profited much by his efforts.
JOHN M. ROBINSON.
Among the representative business men of Garfield county is John M.
Robinson, a well known farmer and grain dealer of Pomeroy. He comes
from the middle west, being born in Missouri, September 6, 1859, and
is a son of Thomas W. and Pauline (Forshey) Robinson, the former also
a native of Missouri and the latter of Ohio. It was in 1874 that the
family came to the Pacific coast and after spending three years and a
half in California became residents of Walla Walla county, Washington,
in 1877. About a year later the father took up a homestead in what was
then Columbia county but is now Garfield county, locating on a farm
fifteen miles southeast of Pomeroy. There the mother passed away in
1878 and he died in Pomeroy in February, 1892. Of their nine children
four have also departed this life.
John M. Robinson was fifteen years of age when the family located in
California and in the schools of that state he began his education,
continuing his studies in Walla Walla county after their removal to
this state. He remained under the parental roof until twenty-two years
of age and then in 1881 took up a preemption claim, which is now within
the city limits of Pomeroy and he still owns eighty acres of that. He
engaged in farming until 1885, at which time he took twenty head of
work horses to California and spent one year in that state. He then
returned to Washington and purchased another farm, living thereon until
1892. Since then he has made his home in Pomeroy, where he bought a
warehouse and has engaged in buying grain. He is now the owner of
four thousand and ninety-five acres of land, all improved and under
cultivation.
Mr. Robinson was married in 1881 to Miss Melinda F. McKey, a native of
Kansas and a daughter of Rev. W. P. and Jane (Wilkinson) McKey, and to
this union have been born seven children, namely: Walter J.; Josie May,
now the wife of D. A. Taylor; Clare Marie, the wife of P. C. Clark of
Walla Walla; Dora Bell, the wife of G. Z. Ickes, Jr.; Ruth, the wife of
J. D. Lyon, Jr.; Vernon H. and Florestine, at home.
[Illustration: JOHN M. ROBINSON AND FAMILY]
Mr. and Mrs. Robinson are active and consistent members of the
Christian church of Pomeroy and he is serving as one of its elders.
He is also prominently identified with the Independent Order of Odd
Fellows, having filled all of the chairs in Pomeroy Lodge, No. 16.
In business affairs he has steadily prospered until he is now the
possessor of a handsome fortune and the success that has come to him
is but the just reward of his own industry, fair dealing and good
management, for he is a man of good business and executive ability and
sound judgment.
RICHARD D. ROBERTS.
More than a century ago Washington said that agriculture is the most
useful as well as the most honorable occupation of man, while Thomas
Jefferson said, "The hope of the nation lies in the tillers of the
soil." It is a well known fact that agriculture is the basis of all
advancement and prosperity and no country reaches the highest point
of its attainment if its farm lands are not properly and carefully
cultivated. Among those progressive men who are now concentrating
their efforts and attention upon the further development of the soil
in Walla Walla county is Richard D. Roberts, who has extensive farming
interests on section 13, township 9 north, range 37 east. He was
born upon this farm January 6, 1875, and is a son of David and Jane
(Anderson) Roberts. The father was a native of Wales and came to the
United States in young manhood. He made his way westward to Illinois,
where he took up his abode and there he formed the acquaintance of Jane
Anderson, who was a native of that state. They were married and about
1870 they left Illinois for Oregon. After spending one year in Forest
Grove of the latter state they came north to Washington and for a year
were residents of Waitsburg. At the end of that time David Roberts
purchased one hundred and sixty acres of the home farm upon which his
son Richard now resides. Not long afterward he preempted an eighty-acre
tract adjoining the original purchase and then bought another eighty
acres, continuing to give his time, attention and energy to his farming
interests until his death, which occurred in December, 1898. For
several years he had survived his wife, who passed away in 1892.
At the usual age Richard D. Roberts became a pupil in the district
schools and there mastered the elementary branches of learning. He
afterward attended the public schools of Waitsburg and also spent
one term as a student in the Waitsburg Academy. In the spring of
1898, prior to his father's death, he took over the management and
development of the home farm, which he has since operated. He owns
a five-sevenths interest in the home place, together with a half
interest in another farm of five hundred and twenty acres in Columbia
county. He also has two hundred and forty acres in the Imperial valley
of California. He cultivates the home place of three hundred and
thirty-five acres, the Columbia county farm of five hundred and twenty
acres, of which he owns a half interest, and he leases five hundred
and eighty acres, thus farming in all fourteen hundred and thirty-five
acres of land in the Inland Empire. His extensive operations are most
carefully and wisely conducted. Scientific methods underlie his work.
He early realized the fact that farm interests should be as carefully
systematized as a commercial undertaking and in all of his work he
is methodical and progressive. His farm machinery is of the latest
improved kind and there is no accessory of a model farm property of the
twentieth century that is not to be found upon his place.
In 1900 Mr. Roberts was united in marriage to Miss Myrtle Bateman, a
daughter of Henry Bateman, who was one of the earliest of Walla Walla
county's pioneers, first coming here in 1849 and the following year
settling on a claim on Coppei creek. He was an Indian war veteran and
one of the conspicuous figures in the early pioneer life of Walla Walla
county. His demise occurred in Waitsburg in December, 1915. Mr. and
Mrs. Roberts now have two sons, Harold and Henry.