THE MEANING OF THE NAME OF SNOHOMISH
IN COAST SALISH LANGUAGE
The native spelling of Snohomish "Sdoh-doh-hohbsh," means "People of the Lowlands," "The People of the River" or "River People." These first nation names for the county in which the town of Lowell is located, reflect the tribe's dependence upon the rivers or tidal waters as a food source. The natural resources utilized by the local tribes included salmon fishing, fishing for sturgeon or cod, hunting for seal, trading for deer and elk with other tribes, and gathering the variety of berries such as huckleberries, blackberries and salmonberries and the sprouts from the salmonberry plant in the river wetlands. The Coast Salish name "Snohomish" means "the union of the braves." Or it denotes the Snohomish River as "Sleeping Waters." For the building of canoes, old growth western red cedar trees ranging from 300 to 800 years old were used, determining the size of strength of the canoe.
AN ANCIENT COAST SALISH VILLAGE NAMED CHI-CHA-DEE-A
The present site of Lowell's Snohomish River bend, was an ancient Coast Salish settlement. Villages were located near navigable water for easy transportation by dugout canoe. Chief Patkanim (1815-1858) stood on the shore of such villages as Chi-cha-dee-a, his voice reverberating over the waters of the Snohomish River at it's bend, as he called the gathering of the tribes, being heard by the tribes, like Chief Seattle, at Alki Point. Patkanim (variously spelled Pat-ka-nam or Pat Kanim) was chief of the Snoqualmoo (Snoqualmie) and Snohomish tribe in what is now known as Washington State. By 1800 vulnerable coastal villages were already being decimated.
During the 1850s, one of the largest villages existed at Yelhw, a fishing village at the confluence of the Tolt and Snoqualmie rivers (today, Fall City, Washington) in a complex containing sixteen longhouses. When Chief Pat Kanim died he was buried on the banks of the Snohomish River.
Villages of the Coast Salish typically consisted of Western Red Cedar split plank and earthen floor longhouses providing habitation for forty or more people, usually a related extended family. Houses that were part of the same village sometimes stretched for several miles along a river or watercourse.
The size of a long house or Big House differed among Native groups, averaging between 40 and 60 feet. Coast Salish long houses were the biggest, measuring up to 120+ feet long and 20 feet high. A structure of this sort required great effort on the part of an entire village. Posts and beams, weighing several tons, were hoisted into place using only small tools as well as great human strength. Each house had a number of firepits for warmth and cooking with smoke holes directly overhead. The firepit and smoke hole are both visible in this picture (left) of a replica wood house. The Haida placed great totem poles in front of their houses while other groups painted the outside with pictures of real and mythical beasts.
THE TYPICAL COAST SALISH VILLAGE
Longhouses that were part of the same village sometimes stretched for several miles along a river or watercourse. Chief Seattle, lived in a home which stretched more than 600 feet along the shore of Agate Passage, across Puget Sound from the city which bears his name.
The walls and roof of the longhouse were made from long cedar planks split from ancient trees. The planks were fastened to the post and beam structures with lashings made from the inner bark of the red cedars.
The Coast Salish built the largest longhouses, with many measuring up to 120+ feet long and 20 feet high, probably of old growth timber as well. Building a house required great effort on the part of the entire village. The posts and beams, which weighed several tons, were lifted into place using only small tools as well as great human strength.
The interior walls of longhouses were typically lined with sleeping platforms. Storage shelves above the platforms held baskets, tools, clothing, and other items. Firewood was stored below the platforms. Mattresses and cushions were constructed woven reed mats and animals skins. Food was hung to dry from the ceiling. The larger houses included partitions to separate family groups. The historic narrative of Canadian artist, Paul Kane, March 29th [1847] substanciates that Chi-cha-dee-a was a settlement at the bend of the Snohomish River.
SOCIAL STRUCTURE
Neighboring groups of Coast Salish, whether villages or adjacent tribes, were related by marriage, feasting, ceremonies, and common or shared territory. Ties were especially strong within the same waterway or watershed. Spanish explorers aboard the Sutil and the Mexicana recorded the first European sighting of the Indians on Guemes Island in 1792:
"We saw a village close to the northwest point and upon examining it with the telescope found it to consist of two large houses. Several Indians ran down to the beach, got into a canoe and steered for the schooners . . . In it an old man and four young ones of pleasant appearance came boldly alongside and gave us brambleberries . . . We gave each a metal button and they repeated their gifts in small portions to obtain something else in exchange. . . They also gave us dried shell fish of the sort sailors call verdigones, threaded on a cord of bark. We accepted a sufficient quantity of them and also obtained from them a blanket of dog's hair, quilted with feathers and a tanned deer's hide."
The majority of Salish tribes were divided into autonomous, loosely organized bands of related families, each with its own chief and local territory. Snoqualmie Tribe initially lived inland along the Snoqualmie River, from North Bend to the junction of the Skykomish and Snoqualmie rivers. They were hunters who lived principally on game and salmon. In the summer they went to Snoqualmie Prairie to gather roots and berries and hunt throughout the Cascade Mountains, and visit families of the coastal Snohomish tribe to feast on seal, sturgeon, clams and salmon. In the winter season, a band would occupy a river village; in summer it would travel, living at campsites, fishing, and gathering wild plant foods. Food was stored in massive quantities to carry the tribes through the long winter months, when the most important ancient legends and ceremonies were handed down to the younger generations.
The Salish historically did not have chiefs as that word is commonly understood. There was no single tribal Chief, council, or tribal officers. The Headmen (referred presently as chief) of each of the families houses that comprised the village, often conferred together conversationally over any tribal concerns.
SALISH WEAVING & ARTIFACTS
The Salish were known as the weavers of the Pacific Northwest. They used the materials around them, hair from mountain goats, and fibers from native plants such as Indian hemp and stinging nettle.
Salish blankets and other weavings were collected by Captain James Cook on his expeditions to the northwest coast. Many are now in museums collections throughout the world. A unique breed of woolly dogs were used extensively for their fur fiber, in the weaving of the famous and now rare "Salish" blankets, in the Northwest Pacific Coast area of North America, along the inland coastal and rivers of what is now Washington State and British Columbia.
Found in a Millikan, B.C., archaeological site, a stone spindle whorl, more than 700 years old, bears the likenesses of two dogs. Sites up to 4500 years ago may be evidence of the weaving, but I haven't yet seen the actual reports from those digs in British Columbia.
The ancient lore of Salish, Nootkan, and nearby peoples who used these dogs contain stories about the dogs and blankets and their artifacts bear the likenesses of dogs. The Coast Salish made twill-plaited blankets in geometric designs out of goat wool, cattail fluff and (reportedly) the hair of a small fluffy dog, extinct since early contact times.
Blankets were prized items in the rich, pre contact, potlatch distribution economic system, along with slaves. At one point, eight blankets could buy a slave. When the longhouse 'chief' received visitors, hundreds of blankets were piled along the roofs to show off the prestige of a man who could command such skill among his extended family. The shortage of fiber from dogs and the popularity of blankets led to the use of mountain goat fur, nettle and Indian hemp fibers, milkweed pod, and cottonwood fluff, feathers, cedar twine, and other materials to extend the supply of yarn.
In the 1980s, women from the Musqueam community near Vancouver revived the art of making twill-plaited blankets. With the introduction of domestic sheep around 1850 and of Scottish knitting techniques, Coast Salish women began producing knitted Cowichan sweaters, which have since become a successful cottage industry. Basket making has continued with some vitality among the Coast Salish and Nuu-cha-nulth women.
CHI-HA-DEE-A: ANCIENT COAST SALISH VILLAGE & BURIAL GROUND
The Chi-cha-dee-a village site located at present day Lowell, was an excellent choice for a native Coast Salish village settlement. The dugout canoe was the primary means of transport, so the location here was ideal for obtaining a steady diet of salmon, seafood, wildlife, and plants such as berry picking and salmonberry sprouts that grew abundantly along the river bank in the spring as they were more plentiful here than on the beaches.
Tulalip Tribes shares the following recipe:
Ingredients:
1 tablespoon of sugar
1 teaspoon of salt
1 tablespoon Baking Powder
3 cups of flour
1 1/2 cups of water
Directions
Making the dough:
Mix all the ingredients {except water} together.
Mix it.
Then add the water.
Then kneed the dough.
Let the dough sit for 20-25 minutes.
Making the frybread:
Take a roll out of the dough flatten it to about 1 1/2 inches.
Then put a hole in the middle.
Frying: Add 1 1/2 cups of butter. Then 3-5 cups of oil into a frying pan. After the oil gets done boiling put the frybread in. And Enjoy.
E.D. SMITH'S FINDING OF BURIAL PLATFORMS
At one time, Lowell founder, Eugene D. Smith; operated three logging camps in the region, employing about a hundred men. The Smith camp at Lowell was situated on a hill, about a mile and a half from the river. Here Smith built a timber-planked railroad to transport the huge cut trees out of the woods. A 2,000-foot chute allowed the logs to race rapidly to the river below, and they were transported on the river to regional mills.
E.D. Smith personally witnessed the native burial platforms, as he excavated for the town he built. From his own description of the tree burial sites he discovered, they were located away from the Snohomish River, in a forested area higher up on the hill, where he established his camp. It has been described as "on a hill a mile and a half from the Snohomish River." So the burial platform he observed could well have been at the top, or alongside his logging skid. Historocal accounts state the presence of native relics that were discovered under the A.E. Pruden home, as excavation progressed, which seems to verify Smith's account. According to a History Link essay describing E.D. Smit's siting of the native burial platforms following account notes:
The area around the camp was a “incredibly dense mat of timber and underbrush running all the way from the peak of the ridge to the riverbank” (Story of Lowell). Farther up the hill from the river stood ancient Coast Salish burial platforms at a place called Chi-cha-dee-ah. Smith cleared several acres around the necropolis and built his first home, where he lived for 25 years.
Natives trusted the judgment of their Chief. They did not simply trade a parcel designated as a sacred native burial ground for a settlement. The rule of thumb concerning villages on waterways is that they possessed adjoining burial grounds, which were considered sacred. Concerning village burials, not even name the names of the deceased, for this was taboo. Only once, has it been noted in historical accounts, that burial remains were discovered as settlers cleared land for building homes, and this occured when the A.E. Prudden house was being built. When remains of Coastal Salish ancestors were removed from tree burial, it was not unusual to place them in the ground of the ancient burial site, in a cave, or even in the trunk of a hollow tree. Tse-whit-zen, one of the largest and oldest Indian villages in Washington, includes an extensive burial ground. The Tulalip tribes are presently dealing with an ancient village at Camano that has it's own burial site. What were burial sites named? They bore the names of the villages which they served as burial grounds.
Why wouldn't skeletal remains other than those found in 1892, at the A.E. Prudden site have been discovered at Chi-cha-dee-a, if the grounds were an actual burial site? A burial ground of even a modest sized village would contain a significant number of ancestors buried on the location.
Would E.D. Smith have been allowed by Coast Salish to purchase a sacred burial site that natives ordinarily refused to admit people to, due to the sacrilage of individuals filling their pockets with burial relics? These first nations included many objects considered highly valuable with these burials. In which even the funeral dances could not be named? Coast Salish custom dictates that you are not allowed to even spit on that ground. On that ground you do not drag your feet or kick the rocks. If you had to dig in that ground you first have to put on a handkerchief, red ochre and pray. This is pursuant to our laws on how to treat all graveyards.
COAST SALISH BURIAL CUSTOMS
The earliest historical accounts of the Lower Cowlitz, whose villages lined the Cowlitz River and the Columbia River, are gleaned from the Astorians of the Pacific Fur Company, who arrived in 1811. One of their first excursions up the Columbia River from Fort Astoria brought them to the 150-foot-high Mount Coffin, the Chinook burial rock studded with canoes outfitted with funeral offerings of clothing and baskets of food. As Alexander McKay, Ovid Montigny and three Indian paddlers headed up the Cowlitz River, they were confronted with 20 canoes of Cowlitz Indians intent on war with the village of Chinookan Skilloots at the mouth of the river. The battle was averted by negotiations.
Over most of the coast there was a very great fear of the dead. A body was usually removed from the house through some makeshift aperture other than the door and disposed of as rapidly as possible. An exception occurred where bodies of chiefs were placed in state for several days while clan dirges were sung. Disposal of the dead varied. Cremation was practiced. In the Wakashan and part of the Coast Salish areas, large wooden coffins were suspended from the branches of tall trees or placed in rock shelters. Other Coast Salish also deposited their dead in canoes set up on stakes. In southwestern Oregon and northwest California, interment in the ground was preferred.
A burial site which Coast Salish natives designated is Snoqualmie Falls, "where prayers were carried up to the Creator by great mists that rise from the powerful flowing water. When a smallpox epidemic occurred, a burial site was chosen in a more isolated area, such as Deadman's Island.
A spokesman for the Snuneymuxw of Nanaimo states that Coast Salish fishing villages with middens usually have burial sites. This includes that of Portage Park in Victoria, and Newcastle Island in BC.
The Skagit River Valley was home to a number of Native American tribes, including the Clallam, Lummi, Samish and Semiahmoo tribes; and the Lushootseed, including the Skagit, Snohomish, Snoqualmie, Swinomish and Upper Skagit. The river sustained the culture that inhabited its valley and the tribes flourished, thanks to the bounty of such natural resources as salmon, shellfish, sea mammals, upland game, camus root and cedar trees.
Cedar longhouses lay along the riverbanks from present-day Mount Vernon to Newhalem in northwest Washington, until the dwellers were compelled to resettle onto reservations in the mid-1800s. The Upper Skagit people lived along the Skagit River from Diablo, all the way west to its mouth. Archaeological digs have revealed evidence of human habitation in the Upper Skagit River basin dating to 8,500 years ago.
COAST SALISH TREE OR SCAFFOLD BURIAL
It was the custom of Coast Salish villagers to bury their dead within an hour of death. They were in most cases placed in a tiny house raised on posts; but, if there was no house ready, or, if they were at a distance from the "dead houses," they were wrapped in skins and blankets and placed on pole platforms high above the reach of animals, or in trees. A tentlike covering was placed over the burial platform. With the dead were placed pipes, bowls, hammers, or such things as he made or might require to start life in the next world. Before the burial-house was placed a stone or wooden figure to guard the dead from evil spirits.
Salish burial sites were well marked, and lavishly decorated with bits of colored cloth, horn bowls, spoons, blankets, bows, arrows, paddles, spears, and other articles. The first white settlers encountered a large number of skeletons in burial boxes hanging in the trees.
Medicine men and medicine women were buried with red ochre, and covered with obsidian, with eyes covered. Chiefs were buried in canoes.
Bentwood boxes are made from one plank of wood that is steamed at three corners and bend around to form a box. The fourth joining corner is usually doweled with wooden pegs or copper nails. They are usually fitted with a bottom, which is doweled on, and a lid. Bentwood boxes and other conventionally carved boxes, chests and other containers were used for storing and cooking food as well as storing ceremonial cloths, masks, and other treasures. Bentwood boxes were also used for ancient box burials and other types of funeral ceremonies. Canoes were also used for burials, and tied in trees or left on a sandbar in the middle of a river, away from ravening animals.
Deadman's Island off Stanley Park in Vancouver was an ancient Coast Salish burial site where the corpses were placed in cedar boxes hoisted high up in the branches of trees (left). The history of Surrey, British Columbia recounts this custom, stating the following:
Tree burial was common among the Kwantlen and the most favoured site was the trees behind the Kikait village. The deceased body was doubled up and wrapped in blankets and conveyed to the burial grounds and deposited in the family coffin. This receptacle was a large box capable of holding the remains of several persons. Large boxes were left on the ground, but smaller boxes would then be placed in a tree.The Royal Engineers and the first white settlers encountered a large number of skeletons in burial boxes hanging in the trees. It is believed that the Royal Engineers persuaded the Indians to take down and rebury their dead in a burial ground. Father Durieu had the boxes hauled to a burial ground between the Yale and Roebuck Roads.
This later became a 40-acre Kwantlen reserve on what was possibly a historic hunting camp bordering a small lake. Surrey bought the Kwantlen Reserve from Royal Kwantlen No. 2 Reserve of the McMillan Island Band. All the residents of the reserve were gone and Surrey wanted to preserve the area as a park. Ten acres were to be used for a school, two acres for a fire hall, and the remaining twenty-eight acres for a park, Kwantlen Park.
THE DANGERS OF BURIAL SITE DESECRATION
The Coast Salish believe that if a person disturbs a burial site, a curse will come upon him. In a historical narrative, Paul Kane, a Canadian artist traveling in the 1850's, wrote the following: During my stay the Indians watched me closely from the opposite bank, and, on my return, they examined me as minutely as they well could with their eyes to see that I had not brought anything away with me. Had I been so imprudent as to have done so I should probably have answered for the sacrilege with my life, death being the certain penalty to the most trifling violation of the sanctity of the coffin canoe.
At the turn of the Century, Europeans began visiting the region of Vancouver, a Coast Salish burial ground existed at Deadmans Island. The natives placed their ornate wooden coffins on the ground or in the branches of trees, sometimes 20 feet or more up. According to one tale, when an early pioneer named John Morton poked an overhead casket with a pole, the rotting box broke, showering him with bones.
One account from the life of E.D. Smith states that he saw Coast Salish burial platforms "up the hill" from the Snohomish River. And it was not unusual for a native settlement to have an adjoining burial ground.
THE POINT ELLIOT TREATY
In 1847, the tribe boasted an estimated 2,000 members. However, marauding northern tribes, and measles, small pox and influenza epidemics unwittingly introduced by whites, withered the population to approximately 150 souls by 1855.
That was the year of the historic Point Elliott Treaty in which Northwest Indians ceded their homelands in exchange for federal protection and benefits. Reportedly, 113 Samish were present on the treaty grounds for the signing. The signatories also included a dozen other tribes. For reasons unknown, the tribe names Samish and Lummi were left off the final draft.
Chief (Seattle) was a signee of the treaty, under whose leadership, guides were provided, transportation by canoe, and other tangible assistance, including labor for Henry Yesler's first sawmill, and potatoes from the cultivated fields near Renton, enabling the new immigrants to survive and to thrive. One tribe burned sections of forest to promote clearings for their crops, and felled trees for canoes and lumber for their longhouses, sharing their skills and knowledge with the immigrants.
The treaty was also signed by Snohomish Chief Pat Kanim whose wise action in signing the Point Elliot Treaty with relocation of their peoples to the Tulalip Reservation helped preserve tribal lands and identity. The dangers of failing to preserve cultural identity is seen in the assimilation of native as well as other cultures. Presently the entire Coast Salishan languages are endangered and facing extinction. Practically all languages only have speakers who are over sixty years of age, and many languages only have speakers over eighty. Salish is most commonly written using the International Phonetic Alphabet to account for the various vowels and consonants that do not exist in most modern alphabets. Some of the Coast Salish dialects have only three or four people left that speak and understand their original Salish language. At one time this was the sad plight of the Hebrew language of Jews returning to the land of Erets Israel, but steps have been taken to revive this ancient language as an essential aspect of the cultural identity of the race. While English or some other language as a second language can be of benefit, it should not replace ones native tongue.
Signatories to the Treaty of Point Elliott included Chief Seattle (Si'ahl) and Territorial Governor Isaac Stevens. Representatives from the Duwamish, Suquamish, Snoqualmie, Snohomish, Lummi, Skagit, Swinomish, (in order of signing) and other tribes also signed. The treaty established the Suquamish Port Madison, Tulalip, Swin-a-mish (Swinomish), and Lummi reservations. The Native American signers included: Suquamish and Dwamish (Duwamish) Chief Seattle, Snoqualmoo (Snoqualmie) and Sno-ho-mish Chief Patkanim as Pat-ka-nam, Lummi Chief Chow-its-hoot, and Skagit Chief Goliah. The Duwamish signatories to the Point Elliott Treaty of 22 January 1855 were Si'ahl as Chief Seattle, and Duwamish Ts'huahntl, Now-a-chais, and Ha-seh-doo-an. The treaty guaranteed both fishing rights and reservations. Reservations for the Duwamish, Skagit, Snohomish, and Snoqualmie are conspicuously absent.
In 1853, Washington Territory was formed. That same year the first white settlers in what would become Snohomish County established a water-powered sawmill on Tulalip Bay across the water from Hebolb. When the Treaty of 1855 created a reservation there for the Snohomish and other regional Indians, the settlers abandoned the operation and turned it over to the tribes. Gradually groups of white men from Port Gamble, Port Ludlow, Utsaladdy, and other Puget Sound points began to show up on the heavily forested peninsula to cut its giant timbers. They set up small logging camps in places reserved for homesteads.
During the Indian wars that erupted in King and Pierce counties after the treaty signings, the Snohomish area remained peaceful. Enterprising men making plans for a military road between Fort Bellingham and Fort Steilacoom in 1859 stimulated the exploration of the Snohomish River and its valleys.
LUMBERMAN EUGENE D. SMITH'S HOME TOWN OF MARSHFIELD, MAINE
The river valleys of the state of Maine flourished as "Industrialization" in 19th century took place, particularly at Kennebec and Penobscot, beginning in the 1820s-30s. Logging crews penetrated deep into the Maine Woods in search of pine (and later spruce) and floated it down to sawmills gathered at waterfalls. The lumber was shipped all over the world.
Partly because of the lumber industry's need for transportation, and partly due to the prevalence of wood and carpenters along a very long coastline, shipbuilding became an important industry in Maine's coastal towns. The Maine merchant marine was huge in proportion to the state's population, and ships and crews from communities such as Bath, Brewer, and Belfast could be found all over the world. The building of very large wooden sailing ships continued in some places into the early 20th century.
Cotton textile mills migrated to Maine from Massachusetts beginning in the 1820s. The major site for cotton textile manufacturing was Lewiston on the Androscoggin River, the most northerly of the Waltham-Lowell system towns (factory towns modeled on Lowell, Massachusetts). The twin cities of Biddeford and Saco, as well as Augusta, Waterville, and Brunswick also became important textile manufacturing communities. These mills were established on waterfalls and amidst farming communities as they initially relied on the labor of farm-girls engaged on short-term contracts. In the years after the Civil War they would become magnets for immigrant labor.
Other important 19th century industries included granite and slate quarrying, brick-making, shoe-making, and of course fishing, which had been one of Maine's oldest pursuits.
Starting in the early 20th century the pulp and paper industry inherited the Maine woods and most of the river valleys from the lumbermen, and entirely new cities, such as Millinocket and Rumford were established on the upper-most reaches of the large rivers.
For all this industrial development, however, Maine remained a largely agricultural state well into the 20th century, with most of its people living in a myriad of small and widely-separated villages. With short growing seasons, however, along with rocky soil and relative remoteness from markets, Maine agriculture was never as prosperous as that in other states, and the populations of most farming communities peaked in the 1850s, declining steadily thereafter.
E.D. SMITH & THE FOUNDING OF LOWELL, WASHINGTON
In September 1863, lumberman and native of Maine, E. D. Smith; arrived, bought out two squatters by the names of Dunbar and Burlington Brown and set up a logging operation. The town was named "Lowell" at the suggestion of a pioneer by the name of Reuben Lowe. Born in Lowell, Massachusetts, he wanted it named for his own home town. Located along the west bank of the Snohomish River, south of 41st Street in Everett, Lowell was annexed into Everett in the 1960s. The town predates Everett by some 30 years, dating back to it's incorporation in 1863. Early loggers and settlers cut timber near water and moved farther away as the wood supply on that land was depleted. The water made it easy to move timber to mills and overseas, but as loggers were forced farther inland, they needed to develop new methods of transporting their product. One popular technique for hauling lumber was to use horses and oxen to drag logs over skid roads and rough tracks through the woods. Log flumes, now known as theme park rides, got their start as a way to move logs via manmade troughs. If loggers were working near a stream, log drivers could be used to guide logs to more substantial waterways, where they were tied together in rafts. (The sport of logrolling, in which people compete to see who can remain standing the longest on a rolling log in the water, grew out of the loggers' actions.) Another method for moving lumber to market was via crude railroads constructed from the very lumber they were designed to transport. Once the logs reached a main waterway, they were sent to sorting yards and then either to a mill, where they were transformed into a usable product or exported to places as far away as Australia and China.
Nearby Snohomish was founded in 1860 by E.C. Ferguson and E.F. Cady. It was originally known as
Approximately 5 years after the village of Lowell, Washinton was incorporated, settler Reuben Lowe married his sweetheart "Kitty Lowe" in Snohomish in 1869 when Snohomish was still called "Cadyville." Cadyville which was named after E. T. Cady, one of the original homesteaders, began in 1859 as a scheme to capitalize on a military road that failed to materialize. E. C. Ferguson and several other men planned to build a town and operate a ferry where the proposed road would cross the Snohomish River. Congress abandoned plans for the road, but Ferguson continued with the town scheme, changing the name from Cadyville to Snohomish. The Indians assisted settlers to the area in many ways. They brought venison, wild ducks, fish and clams. Also the ranchers from Snoqualmie Prairie brought delicious hams and bacons of their own curing." Prior to the 1860's the region had been used extensively by the First Nation people. Lowell, Washington's location on the banks of the Snohomish River, where native tribes used it as a highway to the interior of the tribes, was a prime location. It had been used as a settlement by tribes who occupied this land a thousand years before the white settlers arrived. Snohomish County actually had two tribes. The Snohomish inhabited western Snohomish County and parts of Skagit and Island Counties. The Snoqualmie also lived in the Snohomish County region.
Of Scottish descent, sea captain and Pacific Northwest lumber baron, E.D. Smith was born in Columbia, Maine on April 30, 1837 to John D. Smith and Louisa Barney. (born: Lubec, ME-died: age 78) Louise Barney Smith died in Iowa at age 78. The names of the John & Louisa Smith children are:
Children of James Friar & Josephine Smith: Quinton Edward Friars - born: Aug. 29, 1860, Buchanan Co. Iowa, Roswell E. Friars, Stella Elora Friars, Cora E. Friars, Lewis E Friars.
The father of young Eugene was a vetern of the War of 1812 and a shipbuilder. John Smith died when Eugene was but a child of eight. Smith went to sea as a youth of 16, spending 6 years sailing the eastern coast of America and European waters. By the age of 21, he was commander of a brig. But left that enterprise to come west via the Isthmus of Panama, arriving in Washington state at Port Gamble. Smith obtained employment at various logging camps for the next 4 years.
SMITH'S CARIBOU MINES EXPERIENCE
Idaho, the smallest of the Rocky Mountain States, possesses an enormous wealth of natural resources and a rugged beauty, which is still largely unspoiled. Idaho's nickname is the Gem State because it is one of only two places in the world where star garnets can be found (the other is the Himalaya Mountains, in India), and is the only place six pointed star garnets have been found. The mineral deposits opened up the state during the gold rush of the 1860's but ranchers; farmers and lumberjacks soon followed the prospectors. Caribou City was named after Caribou Jack who discovered gold on Caribou Mountain above the town. Almost immediately a town arose overnight. It was settled in 1897. It was mainly a tent town and later had 1,500 residents, a close competition to the residents of Eagle Rock(Idaho Falls)and Pocatello. There was 1,673,892 dollars worth of gold that was deposited from the mines around Caribou City. In 1900, a post office was built and at the time, Caribou City boasted 32 whorehouses, saloons, and gambling dens. There was about 700 Chinese miners who inhabited Caribou City over the years. In 1930, the last resident, who was at the time 96 years old, was moved to nearby Swan Valley, where he lived with family members. At it's prime, Caribou City was one of the biggest mining camps in the American West.
In 1862, Eugene Smith worked mines in Caribou, a business venture which proved unproductive. Caribou Mines were named for Cariboo Mountain and the mining area established there in the summer of 1870. The district took its name from prospector Jesse Fairchild, called Cariboo Fairchild because he had worked earlier in the fabulously rich Cariboo mines of British Columbia. The Caribou National Forest was named for Cariboo Jack, who along with two friends, discovered the first gold in 1870 near what is now called Caribou Mountain.
By September, news of the discovery had reached the towns of Malad City, Idaho, and Corinne, Utah, and a small gold rush was on. The placer mining was rich enough at first for men to pan or sluice enough gravel to make as much as $20 per day.
Lode mining, which took enormous investment in labor and equipment to get ore out of solid rock and then to process it, was a later effort that probably cost more dollars than it made. Cariboo was one of the highest mountain mining districts in Idaho, with deep snow on its first Fourth of July celebration.
In the early years, potatoes were planted by hand in furrows made by walking plows pulled by horses. They were dug with shaker plows, and later by one row horse-drawn diggers, and then picked, bagged, and hauled to sell, or placed in cellars. In the gold mining days, potatoes were hauled to Caribou mountain to be fed to the Chinese miners. The Chinese were the largest part of the labor force that built the railroads in the Pacific Northwest. Many Chinese also worked in salmon canneries on the Columbia River. The China bosses were labor contractors who obtained jobs for Chinese immigrants, while providing needed crews for the railroads and canneries. They took a large percentage of the workers wages. The development of internal combustion engines during the early 20th century enabled fishing boats to travel further in pursuit of fish and made it much easier for crews to handle large nets and catches. The invention of the so-called "iron chink" during the first decade of the century expanded the productive capacity of canneries by mechanizing the process of salmon butchering. ("Chink" was, of course, a derogatory word for Chinese. The "iron chink" was named and marketed as a machine that both replaced and improved upon the highly skilled Chinese salmon butchers who had occupied such an important position in the canneries.)
THE INCREASE OF CHINESE LABOR IN THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST
Between 1850 and 1900, the Indian population along the Columbia declined by 95 percent due to disease, death, and displacement. The non-native population increased 1,000 percent. In the canneries, gangs of butchers beheaded, cleaned, and cut the fish into pieces. On the Columbia River after 1872, this work was done exclusively by Chinese men, who were supplied by Chinese labor contractors based in San Francisco. The expert cutters could clean 1,700 fish a day.The invention of the so-called "iron chink" during the first decade of the century expanded the productive capacity of canneries by mechanizing the process of salmon butchering. ("Chink" was, of course, a derogatory word for Chinese. The "iron chink" was named and marketed as a machine that both replaced and improved upon the highly skilled Chinese salmon butchers who had occupied such an important position in the canneries.)
The Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 prohibited new Chinese laborers from entering the United States, and by the 1890s the canneries felt the shortage of skilled laborers. They recruited Japanese, Filipino, and Mexican laborers to fill the gap, but many cannery owners insisted the Chinese butchers were the best in the business.
Washington State saw a good deal of anti-Chinese violence from 1885 to 1886 and it was coal mine-related. All of it took place at mines in the Pacific Coal Region of Washington State, on the western flanks of the Cascades: at Coal Creek, Newcastle, Renton, Black Diamond, Franklin, and Carbonado. Together with coalmines at Nanaimo and Cumberland on Vancouver Island, those Washington mines fueled most steam ships on the West Coast, as well as the majority of railroad locomotives and coal gas plants west of the Sierras and Cascades. The Coal Creek-Newcastle attack was carried out by heavily armed, masked white men: “They came to the place where he [Robert Wood, a white employee of the mine who became a witness for the government] was at work and took hold of a Chinaman employed there and took him away with them towards the house, which was soon thereafter destroyed. Violence was used against the Chinese, and one of them was choked by a person in a mask.”
On June 3, 1876, miners drive 40 Chinese mineworkers from the from the Newcastle mines. Newcastle is located in the Puget Sound region in east King County.
A coalminer, John McKnight, wrote to his wife Ellen on June 8, 1876:
On September 7, 1885, in the eastern King County community of Squak (renamed Issaquah), white and Indian hop pickers gang up on Chinese workers brought in by the Wold Bros. to pick hops at a cheaper price. On two successive days, white and Indian hop pickers try to force the Chinese workers out. When that fails, a gang of seven men (five whites and two Indians) attack the Chinese camp. They fire into tents of sleeping men, and kill three Chinese men and wound three.
LEGENDARY TUNNELS, SHANGHAIING & THE PAPER SONS
Rumor has it that during the last quarter of the 1800s, the more-than-a-few rough-and-tumble bars of had trap doors in saloon floors that sent drunken customers to a secret cellar, from which they were kidnapped and smuggled onto trading ships in the nearby bay. Instead of creating incentive plans and signing bonuses as firms do today, shippers would pay a bounty to tavern owners to supply sailors in hopes the ships would set sail before the booze wore off. San Francisco and other port cities on the West Coast have similar stories. It was called Shanghaiing, largely because shippers crafted the practice in that Chinese city as a way to shuttle cheap labor to America to build the transcontinental railroad. A drunken sailor could also pass out one night in a bar in Seattle or Tacoma and wake up on a ship bound for Shanghai.
In 1882, the Chinese Exclusion Act was enacted to seriously restrict Chinese immigration into the United States. Chinese merchants, and their families, were tolerated to allow U.S. to profit from the economic trade with China. To counter this discriminatory legislation, the Chinese created ways of illegal entry using false identification. Older Chinese who had worked in the U. S. and held merchant status but had no sons in China would nonetheless claim the existence of sons. They would then sell the immigration papers of their nonexistent sons to unrelated young men who wanted to come to America to seek their fortune on Gold Mountain.
Such imposters, called paper sons, would attempt to enter using their false inentification papers (gai chee). The San Francisco earthquake and fire in 1906 had destroyed immigration records, fascilitating the claims of many of the Chinese that these sons had actually been reported at an earlier date.
In an effort to detect these paper sons and deny entry, immigration Officers asked detailed questions about the physical and social structure of the villages from which the immigrants allegedly came. Equally detailed questioning was also directed toward the family and relatives supposedly shared by the paper sons and their alleged fathers. Separate interrogations would be made of the paper sons seeking entry and of the fathers attempting to bring them into the country and inconsistencies between them would often be the basis for deportation. Some of the earliest farmers employed Chinese laborers, especially to clear land and to help grow potatoes. The Chinese also developed their own small potato farms and some had laundries. Many of them returned to China with their meager earnings. With the series of Chinese Exclusion Acts beginning in 1882, there was also a brisk trade in smuggling Chinese into Dungeness harbor, then on to Seattle. A story passed down by several early settlers is that many Chinese drowned when the crew of a smuggling ship threw them overboard to avoid discovery by an approaching government revenue cutter.
WORKING THE LOGGING CAMPS AT PORT GAMBLE
The first known residents of Port Gamble were members of the Nooksclime, Clallam, or S'Kallam tribe who fished and gathered food along Hood Canal. The body of water here was named by the Wilkes Expedition in 1841 after U.S. Navy Lt. Robert Gamble.
In July 1853, Captain William C. Talbot (1816-1881) establishes a steam sawmill as the Puget Mill Co. at Port Gamble. Ten men, mostly from Talbot's hometown of East Machias, Maine, construct a bunkhouse, a cookhouse, and a store so they could trade with the natives and settlers, before starting work on the mill. The site is on a sand spit the local Native Americans call Teekalet, meaning "brightness of the noonday sun." The settlers call the mill Teekalet until they change the name to Port Gamble in 1868. The mill will operate continuously for 142 years, from 1853 to 1995.
Originally, the community was known by as Teekalet, and was founded as a company town by Josiah Keller, William Talbot, and Andrew Pope's Puget Mill Company in 1853. In July 1853, Josiah Keller chose a sand spit at the mouth of Port Gamble Bay as the site for a sawmill. He and his partners William Talbot, Andrew Pope, from Maine, via San Francisco, together with Charles Foster, set up a lumber mill that they named the Puget Mill Company. They planned to saw logs for sale in California and across the Pacific. A second mill was added in 1858. It was in 1858, at the age of 21, that young E.D. Smith went to Port Gamble, ti try his hand at working in the logging camps there.
THE STEAMER SHIP IDAHO
The only close place where these boats could be employed was the Puget Sound, so the company began to expand its operations there. First, in May 1881 they bought the Starr Navigation Company, thereby acquiring the largest steamboat fleet on the sound, including among others, the George E. Starr. Next they began bringing the boats from their Columbia River fleet around the Olympic Peninsula to Puget Sound.
At 8:00 a.m. on Sunday, February 19, 1882, Idaho left Portland on her voyage to Puget Sound, heading first down the Willamette River, then the Columbia, reaching Astoria, Oregon at 3:30 the same afternoon. Once past the bar, Idaho ran fast on her own power, reaching Port Townsend the next day, February 23, 1882. This was the fastest time yet for any steamer brought around to the Sound from the Columbia River. In 1890 Idaho was sold to Capt. James Hastings who put on the route from Seattle to Everett, Washington and the Snohomish River.
Unfortunately the steamship Idaho had quite a reputation for shipping more than building materials. Among the cargo it was famous for, was opium smuggling. Most recorded opium “factories” (i.e., refineries) in Victoria opened in the 1880s, and this number peaked in 1889, when there were 15 on Cormorant, Government, and Fisgard Streets in Victoria’s Chinatown. Opium refining seems to have gotten its real start in Canada sometime after 1880, when a new U.S. law restricted opium refining to American citizens (Culin 1891: 499). This caused would-be Chinese refiners, none of whom by law could become U.S. citizens, to move across the border to Victoria, which then held the largest Chinese community in Canada.
In 1885 Captain H. F. Beecher, the newly appointed (and unusually bribe-resistant) Collector of the U.S. Customs office at Port Townsend, pulled off a coup. Learning that steamers on the Washington-Alaska route often loaded illicit opium at Victoria on the way north and then brought it back south labeled as a staple commodity, he posts a pair of trusted men as spies in Victoria. In November they send word to Beecher that the steamship Idaho has loaded fourteen suspicious barrels marked "Ships Stores" at Victoria and proceeded north. When the Idaho reappears, it is searched rigorously. Only 933 pounds of opium are found, hidden in a washstand. What has happened to the rest? Luckily, Beecher's informants learn that most of it has been offloaded at Kassan Bay Fish Saltery at the south end of Alaska. Pressing the Revenue Cutter Wolcott into service, Beecher raced to Kassan Bay. There he discovered the fourteen barrels, labeled "Salted Fish" but filled with smoking opium of the best quality. A total of 3,033 half-pounds of the drug are seized, which net the government about $40,000 when resold. Up to then, it is "the largest seizure [in market value] of any commodity ever made in the history of the Customs Service" [J. G. McCurdy, Pacific Monthly 1910 pp 1886-7]
From nearby Sedro Wooley comes the following historical account: One Sunday afternoon as Inspector Buchanan was riding down the wharf toward the steamer Idaho which was preparing to leave for up sound, he passed a suspicious looking individual carrying a valice (valise) and a box and coat. When the stranger arrived at the end of the dock Mr. Buchanan saluted him and requested to be permitted to examine the packages, one of which he had observed already was tied with the invariable whipcord of opium traffic. Upon investigation it was found that the valice [valise] and box contained 58 cans of opium, together with a set of burglars tools, and the man, who gave his name as James Wilson, was taken into custody with his contraband goods and lodged in the city jail. On Monday the case was examined before U. S. Commissioner J. F. Ward, and James Wilson was bound over to the U. S. court. This makes the tenth man arrested by Inspector Buchanan in less than two years of service, and we believe no better showing can be made by an inspector.
The Idaho saw a lot of use, and it wore out. On August 10, 1894, she was sold to Cohn & Cohn, a firm of junk dealers. They removed her machinery, and then sold her to Dr. Alexander De Soto. He had the vessel set up on pilings on the Seattle Waterfront at the foot of Washington Street, where she served as the Wayside Mission Hospital. Later she was taken over by the city of Seattle to function as the town's first emergency hospital. until about 1909, when a new hospital was build ashore and she was finally abandoned. The vessel gradually fell apart and it is said that her slip was filled around her and she became part of the Alaskan Way in the growing city.
LOGGING AT BROWN'S BAY In the autumn of 1862, Smith was employed by a logging outfit on Brown's Bay, north of present day Edmonds, Washington. Here, as at other logging camps, Smith advanced rapidly, continuing to gain knowledge of the logging trade which became for him a successful business. That logging operation that Smith engaged in, was the first of it's kind in the area employing oxen. The camp included 10 oxen and 15 men. (History of Skagit and Snohomish Counties). Many years ago, there was a wharf at Brown's Bay called Hayne's Wharf with a wharf, boathouse and bait shop in operation. You can walk along the beach of Browns Bay when the tide is right and see the old pilings of past boathouses, long gone. Awhile back, the Edmonds Museum had an exhibit on the old boathouses that once dotted the shoreline of the Sound providing the a man with an opportunity to fish. In April 2010, the Edmonds City Council voted unanimously to authorize $100,000 for repairs to the Edmonds Historical Museum located in downtown Edmonds (thus allowing the city to take advantage of a matching grant) and to name the city’s newest park, located at 162nd Street Southwest and 75th Place West, Haines Wharf Park.
THE SMITH & OTIS WILSON PARTNERSHIP
There were no railroads in those days. The first oxen used as work animals were brought here to the valley by Jacob Fowler of Mukilteo. At first the oxen were used to pull the logs to the water's edge. There is one record of five yoke of oxen having been required to haul a 32 foot log, 89 inches in diameter, to the Snoqualmie river from the champs of Chisholm and Jewett.
In 1863, E.D. Smith began logging on the Snohomish River, where he had an original claim at Lowell, where he continued working. He took a break and went to Idaho for health reasons in the 1860's, where he formed a partnership with Otis Wilson for logging operations. Although Smith did not file a claim at this time, he took up squatters rights to the claims of two earlier settlers. In 1866, Reuben Lowe erected a dance hall on the river near Lowell. This was the first structure other than those early logging camps. In 1870, Lowe and Martin Getchell made the decison to pick up the claim on which Smith had originally settled and they filed a claim. It was Lowe who filed the claim; and sold it to two others. They sold it to Smith and the cycle was complete. Smith began to build at Lowell that same year.
SENDING FOR THE GIRL HE LEFT BEHIND
The following is an excerpt from one of his poems." Smith's sweetheart's Margaret Getchell, was born in Maine on January 4, 1840,(died: 1 Dec. 1909) She was the eighth child in a family of 13 children, born to George Stillman Getchell and Tahpenes Longfellow. The Children of Taphenes Longfellow and George Getchell are as follows:
Marshfield was formerly the northern part of Machias, from which it was set off and incorporated June 30, 1846. Some birth records for Margaret Longfellow Getchell's name her birthplace as Machias and others as Marshfield. Most references to Tahpenes spell her name "Taphenes", but her tombstone in Marshfield, Maine, uses "Tahpenes". Thus the tombstone spelling is used here. This branch of the Longfellow family derives from Edward Longfellow of England, born 1555, whose grandson came to Newbury, Massachusetts in 1636 and became the founder of the Longfellow family in America. Longfellow was born on February 27, 1807, to Stephen Longfellow and Zilpah (Wadsworth) Longfellow in Portland, Maine, and he grew up in what is now known as the Wadsworth-Longfellow House. His father was a lawyer, and his maternal grandfather, Peleg Wadsworth, was a general in the American Revolutionary War and a Member of Congress.[2] He was named after his mother's brother Henry Wadsworth, a Navy lieutenant who died only three years earlier at the Battle of Tripoli. Young Longfellow was the second of eight children; his siblings were Stephen (1805), Elizabeth (1808), Anne (1810), Alexander (1814), Mary (1816), Ellen (1818), and Samuel (1819).
THE SAN FRANCISCO WEDDING OF EUGENE SMITH & MARGARET GETCHELL
Margaret was 29 years of age, when she made the trip west by schooner to marry her sweetheart Eugene, arriving in San Francisco, California where they were married on June 5, 1869. San Francisco is famous for its hills. There are more than 50 hills within city limits. Some neighborhoods are named after the hill on which they are situated, including Pacific Heights, Russian Hill, Potrero Hill, and Telegraph Hill.
The photo on the right depicts the rapid growth of San Francisco and how it looked in the 1800s. A likely place for the wedding to have taken place may have been a lovely hotel such as the famed Palace Hotel. Built in 1875, it was demolished in the great San Francisco earthquake. It was rebuilt in 1909 and has now been fully restored. Following their wedding the young couple traveled to Lowell, Washington, where by 1870, Smith had built a log chute at the bend of the Snohomish River and a grocery store. A wharf followed not long after. Soon the little settlement had a school with six pupils, who met in a vacant building donated by Smith. In 1871 the area’s first post office was established. Smith was appointed postmaster, a post he would hold for 21 years. In May 1873 Smith platted the hilly town into 33 blocks with 60 by 120 foot lots, all clear cut with stumps. The Smiths were the sole proprietors. In an expansive mood, after their marriage in 1869, they built a two-story frame building at the back of their store and called it the Lowell Hotel. A blacksmith shop went up next.
THE ARRIVAL OF RAIL SERVICE IN LOWELL, WASHINGTON
Travel between established towns was mainly by water and the Snohomish River connected Lowell with Snohomish and settlements at Port Gardner Bay. But roads were built as well.
The year 1883 was a good one economically, and with excitement over railroad construction and new settlers arriving, Snohomish County boasted of having 140 miles of road leading out of Snohomish City. Two roads connected with Lowell. The Lowell Road ran from the town uphill and eventually connected with a county road at Fiddlers Bluff (between Snohomish and Monroe). The Mukilteo Road ran from Mukilteo, east to Lowell and up the south bank of the Snohomish River to Snohomish City. Out of Snohomish it continued southeast, along the Snohomish and Snoqualmie Rivers to the King County line.
James J. Hill arrived in Saint Paul in 1856. He followed the massive flow of agricultural products south from Ontario. At age 17, he began working as a clerk at a steamboat landing.
In 1883, Hill became president of the St. Paul, Minneapolis, and Manitoba Railroad Company. In 1890, he renamed it the Great Northern Railway.
In 1893, it reached the Puget Sound at Everett, Washington and Hill had created an empire that stretched from Saint Paul, Minnesota to the Pacific Ocean.
The paper mill in Lowell was sold by Rockefeller to the English brothers, William and Leonard Howarth for $25,000, and the name was changed to Everett Pulp & Paper.
Howarth began working for the mill in 1893, the same time as 17 year old Frank R Killien began work as a "cutter boy." By 1896 Howarth was managing the mill which he and others had purchased from Rockefeller. Preparing for a great influx of people, he built a hotel in Lowell in 1874 and erected a sawmill in 1889. By the late 1890's, Smith had built a $60,000 saw mill with a capacity of 75,000 feet per day, and machinery for the production of lathe and cedar shakes. The mill in Lowell built by Rockerfeller was sold to two English brothers, William and Leonard Howarth, who emigrated from England to Wisconsin, where Leonard secured a position as a clerk for Hewitt Son & Co Bank. Henry Hewitt Jr, the bank founders son, was English himself, and he was impressed with Leonards ability. Henry, who was said to have acquired more pine forest land than anyone in the world except the Czar of Russia, made Leonard his private secretary. The Howarth brothers eventually purchased the Puget Sound Pulp & Paper Mill for $25,000 and changed the name of the mill to Everett Pulp & Paper.
THE FIRST SCHOOL IN LOWELL, WASHINGTON & IT'S EARLY TEACHERS
The first schoolhouse of the area was built at Lowell. Edwin Charles Evan Baker, a local storekeeper was the first teacher. He was born in Kingston, Ontario, Canada on 07 November 1860. The only two children in the village were Everett Getchell and Wesley Giddings and they received instruction for one hour per day from Mr Baker. Charles Baker married Mary Ellen Stevens on 28 March 1898 in Tacoma, Pierce County, Washington. Their three children were
The first regular school was established in 1872 with Mrs Hyrcanus Blackman as teacher. Mrs Blackman's maiden name was Ella Stella B Knapp and she was born 1851 in Penobscot, Maine. Hyrcanus Blackman was born 04 January 1847 in Bradley, Penobscot, Maine. He was the son of Adam Blackman and Mary Howard of Maine. Ella Stella and Hyrcanus had been married in Bradley, Maine just three years prior to her teaching appointment in Lowell, Washington as their school teacher. They arrived in Seattle in 1872, moving to Snohomish County in 1874 where he began a logging business with his two brothrs at Blackman lake. She was the daughter of Cyrus Hebert Knapp and Phoebe Anna Foss. She married Hyrcanus Blackman were married in May of 1869. By the time school opened, six students reported to school in a small building donated for this purpose by E.D. Smith. The schoolhouse was located at the foot of main street. Hyrcanus Blackman, was a successful local merchant and first mayor of Snohomish. They built a charming Queen Anne-style cottage in 1878, which is the oldest standing building in Snohomish.
In 1880, again on land which had been donated by E.D. Smith, at Second and Zillah streets. Hattie Merwin was employed as the teacher and there were six students. The original terms of school were only three monthes per year, but in time this increased to six month terms and by 1892, the length of time increased to a nine month term.
One year later the school was destroyed by fire and until another schoolhouse was made ready, classes convened at the Great Northern Hotel. A brother and sister, became Lowell's next two teachers, and their names were R.E. (Roswell E. born: 1862) and Stella Friars (born: 1864). These two siblings, were from a family of five sons and one daughter born to James Edward Friars and Josephine E. Smith, (married: 4 Sept 1859) who was the sister of Lowell founder Eugene D. Smith. Stella Elora Friars's birthdate was 22 March 1864 and she was born in Buchanan Co, Iowa. The James Edward Friar & Josephine E Smith Friar family had seven children born to them, and sourses state that one of their sons, a Capt John Friar, and nephew of E.D. Smith, was killed by cannibals in New Guinea in 1885, sometime within the span of time that this niece and nephew of E.D. Smith were teaching school in Lowell, Washington. Stella E Friars married Theodore Angus Duncan and a son and daughter were born to them in 1901 and 1904. The Lowell School built in 1894 was erected at the cost of $23,000. It was located on top of the hill above town, an eight room structure with 80 students entolled at the time.
THE ROBERT GREY FAMILY TRAVELS TO SNOHOMISH COUNTY
The blue eyes of young Frank Killien scanned the clouds silouetted against azure skies, marveling at the wingspan of an eagle in flight. His stepfather was bringing he and his 27 year old blind sister Lizzie, all the way from Calgary, Alberta in a covered wagon. The densely forested blue Cascade Mountains which form a portion of the Cascade Range, extend from British Columbia to California, it's lofty peaks rising majestically as a silent witness to the history the ancient Coast Salish region into which the Killien family came. Just ahead, lay such a life filled with joyous adventure, and the Southern Alberta census listed Frank Killien as just 14 years of age that marvellous year.
MEET EVERETT PULP & PAPER'S OWN FRANK R KILLIEN!
In August, 1862, an Indian rebellion broke out in Minnesota. Warfare reached the settlements just getting started in the northeastern part of Swift County. By late September, 1862, the Indian War was almost over but the settlers hesitated to venture back to the prairie country of Swift County until 1865 when all danger was apparently over. Scandinavians and Germans were in decided majority among the early settlers. A number of them came with the honor and privileges of Civil War veterans.
Since wooded sites provided a little timber for the buildings, and the necessary fuel to tide the families over the long cold winter, they were selected first. A few hardy souls did venture out into the treeless plains. Many of the houses out on the level prairie were built out of the sod itself, laid piece on piece after the manner of laying bricks.
The county of Swift was organized on February 18, 1870, and was named in honor of Henry Adoniram Swift who was governor of Minnesota in 1863. In the spring of 1876, the legislature authorized the construction of a courthouse in Benson for $3,000. It soon proved to be too small to meet the needs of the large increase in the official business of the county. The county commissioners voted to advertise for bids to construct a new courthouse on March 26, 1897.
According to 1891 Alberta census records, the family of Frank Killien attended the Reformed Church. His father William, a contractor, died when he was quite young. The Snohomish County biographies for 1926, (written while Frank Killien was alive) records his father's name as William Killien. His mother as "Eliza," according to these same records. The Southern Alberta 1891 census records a William Killien, who may have been an uncle, or brother of his father, a Methodist, who works for CPR (Canadian Pacific Railroad) Frank Killien who was age 14 in 1891, an 11 year old Edward Killien was a brother of Frank who is listed in the 1891 census, and is listed in the obituary at the time of Frank Killien's death. The 1891 census records a 6 year old named Frank (J) who later met and married Mable Nissler b: 11 Apr 1886 in Butte, Silver Bow Co, MT. Also residing at the Killien household in Alberta was 27 year old Georgia Killien, (a Methodist) and Frank's sister Elizabeth who was nicknamed "Lizzie Killien" is recorded by Canadian census authorities as living with the family in the Southern Alberta 1891 census records. The 27 year old Lizzie is listed as a cattle butcher, showing she was probably "sighted" at this time. From the family we know that at sometime Lizzie Killien became blind, and was residing in Lowell after the families move to Washington state.
THE KILLIENS & THE 1891 SOUTHERN ALBERTA CENSUS
Class photos shown here of Frank Killien and his schoolmates, were taken in Alberta, Canada, where Frank's family stated that he was the shortest boy in his class. The Robert Grey's were not yet married, at the time the census was taken in 1891, so must have married sometime later that year. Then Robert and his young step son Frank, and Frank's blind sister Lizzie, (Elizabeth) undertook their immigration to the Pacific Northwest.
BEGINNING A NEW LIFE
Although emigrants are often portrayed as traveling in large Conestoga Wagons with their tilted front and rear, these wagons were more frequently preferred by merchants, who also traveled in wagon trains on occasion. The preferred method of transportation for emigrant families was the lightweight Prairie Schooner, that required fewer draft animals, reducing the expense of travel, but it had a maximum weight of 1600 pounds. Therefore, the driver of the wagon walked alongside the oxen and other family members walked beside or behind the wagon so they could pack more supplies without taxing the animals.
To pull their wagons, emigrants could choose between horses, mules and oxen. Horses were faster, but they required costly grains for feed and were easily stolen at night. Mules were hard-working creatures, but also more expensive. The most popular draft animal was oxen. Though sources vary in reporting the cost of draft animals, according to Time Life Books The Old West: The Pioneers, a mule cost $90 in the 1840s, but an Ox was only $50. Oxen were also slow movers and less likely to be stolen. Regardless of their choice of draft animals, most pioneers eventually made it safely to their destinations. To meet the constant needs for water, grass and fuel for campfires the trail followed various rivers and streams across the continent. The pursuits of the Killien family, eventually led them to the Snohomish River milltown of Lowell, Washington, where the family found a place to stay at the local boarding house on South 2nd and Main. Robert Grey was quickly employed as a butcher in a local butcher shop. Frank Killien's 27 year old blind sister Lizzie, (Elizabeth) is recorded in the census as working at the same butcher shop as her step-father. By 1876, there was a two story hotel built. And by the 1890's an excellent school was established in Lowell, where Robert Grey's blind daughter Lizzie could receive an education at the school in Lowell. Seventeen year old Frank worked for the Industrial Manufacturing Company in 1893. He also received early training at a mill working as a sawyer, and living for a time on Everett Avenue, Spithill Addition.
We don't know the exact date Robert Grey sent for his wife and children, but his wife, (Frank R. Killien's mother) and other siblings, Maggie, and Ted, arrived in the Snohomish area, in a covered wagon, according to Killien family members. The 1891 census for Southern Alberta, lists Frank Killien as age 14, and his blind sister Lizzie, still residing in the Alberta area at some portion of that year.
Originally a separate town, Lowell was annexed to the city of Everett in 1962, and still retains a distinct identity.
The present day site of Lowell is the ancient possession of the local Snohomish tribe. Officially listed as a village in the 1990's, Lowell overlooks the scenic Snohomish River and verdant river valley so beautiful with the changing seasons of the year. The region is the natural habitat for an abundance of wildlife including cormorants, blue heron, osprey and bald eagles.
FRANK R. KILLIEN'S EARLY EMPLOYMENT & PAPER MILL TRAINING
In 1891, the Killien family lived in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. Frank was 14 years of age. That was the year Frank Killien's step-father Robert Grey brought his family to Everett, according to Killien obituary accounts. The oral history told by the Killien family is that young Frank came to the Lowell area at age 17, and this concurs with the employment records which list him for the first time as living in the area in 1894. This is also consistent with an obituary account of his having started as a "cutter boy" at the Everett Pulp & Paper Company at age 17. Early employment records from the Everett-Lowell region list Frank R. Killien's employment at a meat-market between 1894-1895, the same type employment as his stepfather Robert Grey. Frank Killien worked at various other odd jobs between 1900-1903, such as "Washer, for Everett Pulp & Paper in 1903, Drainer in 1905-6, and Fireman for Everett Pulp & Paper in 1908. He all the while devoted his time also to the study of pulp and paper making.
In 1903, when he was 17, Frank was hired on by Everett Pulp & Paper. Performing such tasks as paper cutter, and paper winder or cleaning out the paper troughs, he proved himself an avid learner, quickly mastering a variety of skills. Within a brief time, Frank having shown himself to be a dependable employee, was appointed as superintendent of the machine shop. During this phase of his work, the leadership of the Everett Pulp & Paper Company in Lowell, Washington decided to invest in the training of this promising young man in every aspect of the paper making process. He was sent back east to participate in his education of the study of pulp and paper making.
With his career in the paper industry such as success, it was the perfect time in life for Frank to meet the a lovely dark haired young lady who was to be his future wife. Cora Jane Anderson she was born in Springport, Michigan, near Ripley. The Anderson family had built a large and attractive home in the downtown area of Everett. Frank Killien began visiting at the family home, getting to know Cora and the Anderson family. He purchased a ring at Burnett Jewelers in downtown Everett, Washington and asked Cora to marry him. The
couple was married by the Rev. R.A.Parker in the parlor of the Anderson home. The wedding certificate was witnessed by Cora's oldest brother in law, William Henry Anderson and friend Leada Harris.
CORA KILLIEN'S FAMILY BACKGROUND
Cora's father, William David Anderson, was born on Oct. 23, 1864 to Samuel Anderson and Victoria Sophia Jane Edmunds. William David Anderson was born near Jackson Co. West Virginia. His mother Victoria Sophia Jane Edmunds was born in Fairfax, Virginia in Dec. 6, 1840-42. Her father was Peter Edmunds born 1812 in Washington D.C. He married Margaret Hupp abt 1836 in Greenbrier, WVA. Her mother's name was Margaret (Sarah) Susan Hupp-born: abt 1822. The children of Peter & Margaret Edmunds are as follows: 1) Victoria Sophia Jane Edmunds 2) Mary Catharine Edmunds born: 17 August 1836-Greenbrier, WVA 3) Sam E Edmunds born: 1843-Greenbrier, WVA 4) Sarah Edmunds born: 1845-Greenbrier, WVA 5) Susan Edmundson born: 1848-Greenbrier, WVA 6) Julia Edmunds born: 1850-Greenbrier, WVA 7) John Edmunds born: 1857-Greenbrier, WVA 8) Edward Edmunds born: 1858-Greenbrier, WVA 9) Arfena Edmunds born: 1862-Greenbrier, WVA 10) Cornelia Edmunds born: 1864-Greenbrier, WVA
Victoria Sophia Jane died in 1903 in West Virginia.
William David Anderson's father Samuel David Anderson was born in 1862 at Mason County, West Virginia. They were married on February 23, 1862 in West Virginia. The couple had the following children born in Jackson County, West Virginia.
Cora Killien's mother, Emma Frances Jones Anderson, was born Sept. 25, 1868 to Lemuel Jones and Mary Jane Fisher. Her father died in her early years, so she experienced many hardships from a tender age. She was short of stature, being barely 5 feet tall, but she possessed an indomitable sense of humor. While in Michigan, the Andersons heard of the glorious opportunities available in the great Pacific Northwest, and they decided to embark on the journey west. Working their way toward the great Pacific Northwest, William obtained employment on a railroad section crew. Sometime after 1894-5, that the Andersons left Pennsylvania for Sprague, Wa. with just $60 cash in their pocket which they'd diligently saved for their trip. The town of Sprague located in Lincoln County, was plotted in 1880 and named for former American Civil War Union general John Wilson Sprague. Today it has a population of 480 as of the 2000 census. Both at Sprague and Genesee, Idaho, William David worked as a teamster on harvest rigs, and Emma cooked meals for the crew. Traveling with their wagon load of supplies, the young couple made their way on foot, over the Cascades. The two children rode in the wagon. At night, Cora and her brother slept under the wagon for protection from the harsh weather and wild animals lurking in the forests and prairie underbrush. Whenever a homestead could be found, the family asked permission for the pregnant Mrs Anderson to sleep in their hay-mound. She told her family later, that she fought off the barn swallows, but that it afforded her protection from the weather, and wild animals.
William David Anderson always said that when he left Michigan, he'd "burned his bridges." His wife felt differently about leaving the family and friends she'd always known and loved. It was more difficult for her, and she still felt home-sick at times. From Michigan to Idaho, they moved on toward Washington state arriving in the Everett area in 1896. William Anderson obtained employment as a teamster on landscaping,excavations, and road building contracts.
THE CHILDREN OF WILLIAM DAVID & EMMA ANDERSON
Perils along the way caused many would-be emigrants to turn back. Weather related dangers included thunderstorms, lethally large hailstones, lightning, tornadoes, and high winds. The intense heat of the deserts caused wood to shrink, and wagon wheels had to be soaked in rivers at night to keep their iron rims from rolling right off during the day. The dust on the Trail itself could be two or three inches deep and as fine as flour. Ox shoes fell off and hooves split, to be cured with hot tar. The emigrants' lips blistered and split in the dry air, and their only remedy was to rub axle grease on their lips. River crossings were often dangerous: even if the current was slow and the water shallow, wagon wheels could be damaged by unseen rocks or become mired in the muddy bottom. If dust or mud didn't slow the wagons, stampedes of domestic herd animals or wild buffalo often would. The North Cascades contain some of America's most breathtakingly beautiful scenery high jagged peaks, steep ridges, deep valleys, countless cascading waterfalls and over 300 glaciers within its 505,000 acres. Few fully know the intense and rugged beauty of the North Cascades jagged peaks, deep valleys, cascading waterfalls and over 700 glaciers. The Barlow Road was the first established land path for U.S. settlers through the Cascade Range in 1845, and formed the final overland link for the Oregon Trail (previously, settlers had to raft down the treacherous rapids of the Columbia River). The Barlow Road left the Columbia at Hood River and passed along the south side of Mount Hood at Government Camp, terminating in Oregon City. There is an interpretive site there now at "The End of The Oregon Trail." The road was constructed as a toll road at $5/wagon and was very successful. Prior to the completion of North Cascades Highway, Native Americans used this corridor as a trading route from the Eastern Plateau country to the Pacific Coast, for over 8,000 years. Beginning in the mid 1800's white settlers arrived in search of gold, fur bearing animals, and the possibility of finding a new home.
In 1896 The State Road Commission, after surveying possible routes in the upper Skagit, concluded that the Skagit gorge was not a practical route. They settled upon the Cascade Pass route. In 1897 a road up the Cascade River was roughed out as far as Gilbert Landre's cabin. Although the wagon road never went any farther, it was shown on maps as State Highway #1 or the Cascade Wagon Road.
Then in 1897 Floods took out most of the newly completed work along the Cascade River.
PIONEER COFFEE
Advice to prospective settlers: Fetch what coffee, sugar and such things you like, if you should be sick you need them." By the time the travelers were nearing their destination, coffee was sometimes the only provision left. One settler recalls: 'We still had coffees, and, making huge pot of this fragrant beverage, we gathered round the crackling camp fire--our last in the Cascade Mountains--and, sipping the nectar from rusty cups and eating salal berries gathered during the day, pitied folks who had no coffee.' The coffee pot holds over 1 qt.; I told him the quantity of coffee to 1 qt. He took that, filled the coffee pot with water then set it near, but not on the fire. I noticed it did not boil, but said nothing. When they drank it, they both looked rather solemn and only took one or two sips. I thought it was time to have an opinion upon it. I inquired how the coffee tasted. He acknowledged it was flat and weak, but insisted I did not give him proper directions. He consented to let me try it at supper time.' I was all impatience to try my skill in making coffee. I watched it anxiously until it was boiling and waited with the greatest solicitude and I must acknowledge some misgiving, for them to taste it. Oh, but I was rejoiced and relieved when they pronounced it very good.' Before making a cup of coffee, the green coffee beans had to be roasted in a skillet and then ground in a grinder. The names of the beans indicated their place or origin, and we find Rio, Havana, and Java coffee beans listed for sale in the mid- nineteenth century. If tea was preferred, the buyers chose from a list of brands that featured Gunpowder, Imperial, Young Hyson, Souchong, and Poushchongre. Not until after the Civil War did manuracturers devise good way of preserving the flavor of preroasted or ground coffee, sometiems referred to as essence of coffee. But from March 30, 1850, St. Louis Missouri Republican this ad suggests that they certainly tried. Ground Coffee--Put up in water-proof and air-tight packages and guaranteed to retain its strength and flavor for years.' The credit for a good roasted coffee goes to Arbuckle Brothers, whos offices were in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The company patented a method of sealing in the raosted flavor by coating the beans with a mixture of egg white and sugar. Roasted coffee beans in paper bags were then shipped throughout the West, and Arbuckle coffee was the most popular brand."
BISCUITS FOR BISCUITS N GRAVY
Bryson City Cathead Biscuits
2 1/4 cups flour
"Sawmill gravy (or Logging gravy). In the years following the turn of the century, logging camps sprang up all over the Smoky Mountains where timber companies had bought up tracts of virgin timber. Lumberjacks and sawmillers by the hundreds came in to snake out the logs to nearby streams, sawmills, and newly built railheads. Entire families moved in with the men to the camps. To feed the multitude was a big challenge. Breakfasts usually consisted of coffee and meat plus flour-based gravies and large "cathead" biscuits. On e day, the story goes, the Tremont camp ran out of flour and had to substitute cornmeal in the gravy. Inquisitive loggers arriving before breakfast asked what kind of gravy was on the menu that day. "This gravy's made out of sawdust!" the cooks replied. The name stuck. The cheap, easy-to-fix cornmeal gravy caught on. While "sawmill gravy" was the popular nickname, some called itn "Logging Gravy." Others named it Poor Do or Life Everlasting, a reference to what many felt was its role in keeping them alive. This recipe adapation comes from Janice Miracle of Middlesboro, Kentucky...
"Life Everlasting" Sawmill Gravy
PORT OF EVERETT, WASHINGTON
At the turn of the century there was an economic boom which solidified Everett's form as an industrial city, and nicknaming the city of Everett "The Pittsburgh of the West." The monthly industrial payroll was $500,000, an extremely sizable amount in those early days. There are settlements that expand slowly, blossoming into a city. But Everett was an exception for a city, seeming to grow up "overnight."
Captain George Vancouver the captain of the Royal Navy, left England in 1791 on a voyage to explore the west coast of North America. He sailed his ship "Discovery" through the Straits of Juan de Fuca in April 1792 arriving in Everett's harbor a short time later. He put ashore a landing party on June 4, 1792. plaque located on a bluff in Grand Park overlooks the spot he landed. He claimed the lands bordering Puget Sound in the name of the King of Britain and called the bay Port Gardner.
Everett set aside most of its waterfront for industry that now included lumber and shingle mills, wood products manufacturers, iron works, shipbuilders, fisheries, and canneries.
The Lumber Mill, on the Everett Waterfront, began in the early 1900s. Permanent settlement by European descendants of what is now Everett started in 1861 when Dennis Brigham built a cabin on a 160 acre claim on the shore of Port Gardner Bay. Over the next several years, a handful of settlers moved to the area but it wasn't until 1890 that plans for platting a town were conceived.
In 1890, Henry Hewitt along with Charles Colby and Colgate Hoyt founded the Everett Land Company for the purpose of building the city of Everett, named after the son of Charles Colby, on some of the land surrendered by its original inhabitants under the 1855 http://www.goia.wa.gov/Treaties/Treaties/pointelliot.htm Treaty of Point Elliott.
Everett was officially incorporated on May 4, 1893, the year the Great Northern Railroad came to the town. Everett hoped that James Hill would make the town the terminus of his railroad. However Hill continued the railroad along the shore of Puget Sound to Seattle. Railroads and mines played a part in Everett's future. The mining community of Monte Cristo, depended on a railway for supplies. It was hoped that the railroad would cross the mountains and bring in traffic. For a while ore was smelted in Everett. Then sawmilling
and port activity commenced. A dozen steam riverboats were built in Everett for the Yukon gold rush. Once heralded as the "Pittsburgh of the West" and the "City of Smokestacks," Everett remains a dynamic city of industry.
THE ANDERSON HOME- EVERETT, WASHINGTON HISTORIC DISTRICT
Between 1900-1901 they saved enough to build their house. William David's first residence in Everett, was a squatters house at Second & Norton. They paid $20.00 to live there and could stay as long as they wanted. The Polk's Directory records William D. Anderson as a concrete worker and a grading contractor from 1901-1906. Various members of the Anderson family resided in Everett for approximately 20 years. We can date the construction of the home as approximately 1901, by the fact that in the photo, a family member is holding baby Eva Lena, who was born Apr. 12, 1902.
This is a photograph of the William Anderson home, built with $500 worth of lumber. Standing on the porch of the house in the photo are, (left to right) William Anderson, his wife Emma, their baby Eva Lena born April 12, 1902, Wert Francis, Cora Jane, Lottie Agnes, Nellie may, William David, and Clyde C, and the two children born after the picture was taken are George Walter, and Mary Ethel.
Some of William David & Emma Anderson's children were born to them during the years they lived in the large home that he built at 2201 Hoyt in Everett, Washington. Eva Lena was the first child born at their new residence, and she described her childhood as happy. Two more children were added to the family after Eva was born, both born at the house in Everett. Their names were: George Walter and Mary Ethyl.
The names of all of the children in the Anderson household are as follows
The Killien family tells of those early years in Lowell, and that a trolly carried people to Silver Lake. The family has a vintage panarama photograph of Lenore Killien as a flower girl in a wedding that took place at Silver Lake. They mention that it is possible that the wedding took place at the annual Paper Mill Picnic.
THE ANDERSON FAMILY'S MOVE TO NAPAVINE
Napavine was officially incorporated as a town on November 21, 1913. Settlers began arriving in the Cowlitz area in the early 1850's. In 1883 Scottish immigrant James Urquhart laid out the town naming it Napavine from the Indian world NAPAVOON meaning "small prairie". The first sawmill was built by the Northern Pacific Railroad to provide ties. Soon a hotel, livery stable and confectionery store, which was later turned into a saloon, were built. Within a few years after the first store was established, Napavine grew to include six sawmills, a shingle mill, two column factories, a general repair shop, two shoe shops and a blacksmith shop. In addition to the manufacturing firms, Napavine had four general stores, two meat markets, two saloons, a drug store, a doctor, two hotels, a livery and feed barn, a real estate office and a carpenter. Napavine was in its' heyday from 1900 to 1925, when the population reached a peak of about 1500.
In January 1915, William Anderson purchased property on the Napavine-Forest Road, and by spring with the help of his sons, William Henry and Wert Francis, had erected a new home in that area. Settlers began arriving in 1850 and named the area Napawyna after a Newaukum Indian tribal princess. The area was changed to its current name, Napavine, in 1883. It has also been noted that the name was derived in 1883 by Scottish immigrant, James Urquart, from the Indian world NAPAVOON meaning "small prairie." At the time of the Anderson's move, the two eldest Anderson daughters, Cora Anderson Killien and Nellie Anderson Churches, were both married women with homes in Everett and Lowell, so they remained in the Everett, area. Their daughter Lottie (Shaffer) was a highschool student, so she finished out the school term, starting school in Napavine the following year. Eva Lena Anderson (Shaver) George Anderson, and Mary Ethel Anderson, (Nelson) who was age 2 at the time of the move, attended Forest School in Napavine. Clyde C. Anderson, died prior to the Andersons move. He was 20 years old, at the time he died on Dec. of 1913. When her husband died, Emma Anderson resided with her daughter, Mary Ethyl Nelson. Emma Frances Anderson died Oct. 1, 1961, at the age of 93, and is buried in Napavine Cemetery.
GREENE CO, PA & CORA KILLIEN'S GRANDMOTHER: MARY JANE FISHER
Cora Killien's grandmother was Mary Jane Fisher. Her mother was Emma Jones Anderson, who married William David Anderson.
Mary Jane Fisher, was a civil war widow, of German and Welsh descent and the daughter of John and Eliza Fisher. She was born in Green Co. PA, in 1842 and died July 21, 1913 in Hemlock, Jackson, WVa. For at least a portion of her life, Mary Jane Fisher lived at Rices Landing, Green County, Pa. She was widowed after just 5 years of marriage, having married when she was 17, to 24 year old Thomas Crago, on January 15, 1859 in Carmichaels, Green County, Pa. (Pvt., Company F, PA Calvary) The Cragos were the parents of two young daughters:
The Crago's baby girl was approximately one year old when her father died as a prisoner of war at Andersonville on Oct. 26, 1864. Her sister was between 3-4 years old. The Pennsylvania Civil War Project lists Thomas Crago as missing in action on June 23, 1864. He never returned home from the war. US Pension Office; #104961 - Thomas Crago, Co. F 1st PA Cav. - pension lists both 1859 and 1860 - latter is mother's deposition.
Thomas was the son of Charles Thomas Crago born: 1800 in Greene County, Pa, and Sarah Kelley who was born: July 14, 1800, in Green County, Pa. Sarah Kelley died: Oct. 21, 1840, and is buried at Hewitt's Cemetery, Rice's Landing. The following children were born to them:
Charles Thomas Crago was the son of Thomas Crago born 1700, and Priscilla Thurman, both of Greene County, Pa. Here's a list of the children of Thomas Crago & Priscilla Thurman:
TENMILE - WASHINGTON COUNTY
In 1767 a company of fifty-two persons was formed in Maryland and Virginia
to come over the mountains and select homes west of the Monongahela River, which
was then classed as the extreme western frontier. They consisted mostly of families and
not roaming individuals. The heads of the families were mostly of middle age. The
family names were Hughes, Swan, Van Meter, and Heller.
They came by way of Nemacolin's Path, the same that Washington came over to
visit the French up the Allegheny river in 1753. The same was later called the Cresap
Road and yet later was widened by General Braddock in 1755 in bringing his army against
Fort Duquesne, where Pittsburgh now stands. Six miles east of the present location of
Uniontown they left the Braddock Road and came by Nemacolin's Path to Old Fort
Redstone, where Brownsville now stands. From there they came ten miles to the mouth of
a creek later called Ten Mile because of its distance from that fort. They crossed the
Monongahela River where Fredericktown now is located and to George Hupp's cabin,
about one-half mile up Ten Mile to a place now in Washington county. There they
left their families while they scouted the nearby country and selected each a
location for a future home. Blockhouse Erected
Immediately on their arrival they erected a for or blockhouse, as protection
against the Indians and wild animals, and which house, when completer, was to
belong to James Hughes tobe used by the others at nights until they could build
cabins for themselves, and after that when they apprehended an attack from the
Indians."
This fort is preserved, and as seen by me a description of it is as
follows: On leaving Carmichaelstown, the public road where it crosses Muddy Creek divided, one branch leading past Thomas Crago's.
THE MURDER OF THOMAS CRAGO
Thomas Crago Sr settled in Peters Township in 1762/1763 from the tax rolls. From late fall of 1770, he was in the Carmichaels area but had built no cabin as of yet, and was living in a leanto shed with his two young sons. His wife, who does not seem to be living at this time may have been Elizabeth Flenniken. He was the first of the Cragos to settle in Tenmile Country on a bend in the Monongahela River, close to the present town of Crucible. This tract was very near that of Oliver Crawford who operated the first ferry at the mouth of Muddy Creek. Thomas Crago and Oliver Crawford were natives of the Conococheague where both of them, along with Alexander Crawford and other Tenmile settlers served in Captain Evan Shelby's company in Colonel Bouquets army from July 15-November 1, 1759. (Bouquet Papers Vol 2-21644 pp-182) Colonel William Crawford was born in the Conococheague Region (Chambersburg) of Pennsylvania August 6, 1744 and was an aquaintance of Thomas Crago.
In 1770, Thomas had some neighbors there in the Carmichaels area. A Scotsman named John Crawford who'd had military training, William & Rebekah Shepherd and a negro named Cook who had been sold to the family of Crawford's wife who lived at Chambersburg and he was given to Mrs Crawford. They, Crawford, the Shepherds and Cook made improvements to property in Carmichaels, Green County, PA. When Indian troubles came, Crawford's military experience was valued, as he was one of the leading military men west of the Monongahela River. But Thomas Crago Sr is believed to have been born in Cornwall, England, and immigrated from there in 1742. He fought in the French and Indian Wars in New York and again in Pennsylvania in 1759. His oldest son, Thomas Crago Jr born 28 December 1759 was orphaned at 11 when his father was killed by indians. The boy grew up and was a vetern, and fought in Jesse Pigman's Company. His father Thomas Crago was born between 1732-1738. He fought in Capt. Even Shelby's Company in Henry Boquet's army, between 15 July and 01 November 1759. Between 1763 and 1770 he lived at Peters, Cumberland, Pennsylvania.
As a lad of 11 years of age and living in Tenmile country, his father whose name was also Thomas Crago had not built a cabin as of yet. It would have taken a long time to clear the old growth trees on the property. It usually took one man about a year just to clear two acres. Thomas Crago Sr's name appears on tax records in Peters Township in the years 1763, 1764, 1767 and 1769. Thomas Sr had two cows and one day he met a neighbor names Crawford with a negro man named Mr Cook and told him that his cows gave good milk and that he could make butter if he had a churn. The neighbor gave him directions to his cabin, and said he could keep the churn till his return from over the mountains, which meant the Alleghenies. Chestnut Ridge is the last in the line of the Alleghenies, which is a portion of the larger Appalachians. Thomas Crago was living in the rolling hills before, which meant the Alleghenies. the first mountain chain. When he'd gone to the neighbors cabin to borrow the churn, and was on his return trip, he was met by two indian men and two women. They attempted to take his horse to carry one of their party who was wounded on the Monongohela near laurel Point, by white men from whom they'd stolen property. As they were descending the river, he would not turn give up his horse, a scuffle ensued. Crago got one of the indian men down. Then a squaw took a rifle and shot Crago through the head. He died at Crucible, Green County, Pa in 1770. His neighbor Mr Cook in company with John Moore, came out to see the corn that had been planted and discovered the body of Thomas Crago Sr on his return trip, with the churn lying beside him. Moore left his gun with Cook to watch over the corpse and gathered several neighbors who buried him in Elias Flenniken's Farm Cemetery in Green County, PA. They followed the indians to where they'd camped the night before. They'd not taken the horse half a mile till they tomahawked him and tomahawked a dog to keep him from barking, it was supposed. The young Crago sons were now orphaned at nine and eleven. After burying the body, the party charged Mr Cook not to tell Mrs Shepherd that the indians killed Crago as she was the only white woman in the country. But when he returned, Mrs Shepherd asked him if he'sd seen anything of Thomas Crago. He made no answer. She asked a second and a third time and still no answer. She then asked him if the indians killed him. His answer then was that the men had told him not to tell her. This told her plain enough. A lie was unnatural to Cook! The last part of the story was from Mrs Shepherd's own mouth, when she was yet living and perfectly intelligible though near 80 years of age. Cook was the son of an African king on the Congo River. He was stolen and put on board a slave ship and brought to Baltimore. The name cook was applied to him because he was a cook aboard the slave vessel as they came over. Mr cook was a member of the Glades church in that section. The first official mention of persons that later definately settled the place (Muddy Creek) is the muster roll of Captain Evan Shelby, found in the Colonel Henry Bouquet papers. (Mss 21644 Fol. 476. A.d.s. dated July 15, to Nov 1, 1759, pp. 183) The names found are Oliver Crawford, Alexander Crawford, and Thomas Crago all of whom settled at the mouth of Muddy Creek, where according to Crumrine, Oliver Crawford was running a ferry in 1770, at the same time that Thomas Crago lived in the leanto with his sons. Robert, the youngest of the boys had burned his hands, and each morning for some time they'd been going to a neighbor named Mrs Shepherd so that she could dress the child's burned hands. William & Rebekah Shepherd had built a cabin nearby. On this morning when the children arrived, they said to her: Dada has run away!" "Where is he gone?" enquired Mrs Shepherd. They told her that their father had gone to Bill Crawford's to get a churn and had not returned. She immediately suspected he'd been killed by indians as he would not have left the children by themselves. The location of this murder was about one eighth of a mile north of the homestead of James Flenniken, and one-half mile east of the Carmichaels. It was on top of the hill on the left of the road as you go to J.D. Flenniken's toward the brick house of William Crago. Thomas Crago and his brother were returned over the mountains where Robert Crago served in Capt. McKinney's company of Cumberland County Militia. Thomas returned to his father's land and in time he had the 100 acres patented to him. With him came James and Moses Crago, neither of whom became permanent settlers. THomas Jr must have returned during the Revolutionary War since his name is not listed in the rolls of Cumberland County Militia. Thomas Crago Jr married Priscilla Thurman, and raised a large family of 16 children, all born in Green County, PA. He died in 1843 and he's buried in Shepherd Church Cemetery-Green County, PA. His wife died Sept 14, 1820 as shown in the family bible owned by Mrs LB Donham, Greensboro, Green County, PA. James Crago was bound out to Robert Crawford of Peters Twp., Cumberland Co. PA. and named in the will of Robert Carawford on Aug. 28, 1778. (Leckey, 1972)
Howard Leckey, in his book "The Tenmile Country and It's Pioneer Families", wrote that Crawford and Crago served in Captain Evan Shelby's Company in Colonel Henry Boquet's Army. Howard Leckey deduced that the events recounted above probably took place around 1770 near the present-day town of Crucible. Coal beds lie along both sides of Tenmile Run (South Fork) upto Waynesburg, Muddy Creek, and Dunkard Creek. According to Lehky, the younger son Robert later served in the Cumberland County Militia, while the older son Thomas later returned to his father's land which was patented to him in 1835.
In his inaugural address on March 4, 1861, Abraham Lincoln proclaimed that it to be his duty to maintain the Union. Lincoln's statement, however, did not satisfy the Confederacy, and on April 12, 1891 they attacked Fort Sumter, a federal stronghold in Charleston, South Carolina. Federal troops returned the fire. And the Civil War began.
GREEN COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA & THE CIVIL WAR YEARS
Greene County, Pennsylvania was named for Revolutionary War general Nathanael Greene. Permanent settlement of the area began in Greene County in 1764 after the last major Indian uprising. Located in the southwestern part of the state, it's bordered on the east by the Monongahela River, on the south by the Maso-Dixon Line at West Virginia, and on the west by the West Virginia Panhandle. Within 10 years of the birth of Mary Jane Fisher in 1842, the county grew to 80 dwellings. By 1900, it had grown to 350. Mary Jane Fisher's husband Thomas Crago was born Dec 29, 1835 in Green Co. PA. Thomas Crago was mustered into the war as a Union cavalry soldier. He was captured by the Confederates and held as a prisoner of war at Andersonville, Georgia, a camp run by the Confederates to hold their Prisoners of War. The camp, built in 1864, was the most notorious Civil War stockade. Thomas Crago died of starvation at Andersonville prison in southwest Georgia, on Oct 26, 1864, Sources:
By the winter of 1863-64 the Confederacy neared the last of it's resources and manpower. Knowing this, Lt Gen. Ulysses S. Grant refused to continue the prisoner exchange agreement. This meant the death of a great number of Union prisoners who would otherwise have been exchanged., With the South barely able to feed it's own men, the prisoners, who were supposed to get the same rations as Confederate soldiers, starved, receiving rancid grain and perhaps a few tablespoons of mealy beans or peas. Capt. Henry Wirz, infamous prison commandant of the Civil War at Andersonville, was led to the same scaffold where co-conspirators of Abraham Lincoln were hanged 4 mos earlier, and hung. Clara Barton asisted the government in compiling a list of 12,912 Union prisoners who died at Andersonville. (Records: Andersonville Natl. Historic Site is a memorial to all Americans ever held as Prisoners of War. The 475 acre park established in 1970, consists of the national cemetery and prison site. Following Thomas Crago's death at Andersonville, Ga, his widow, Mrs Mary Jane Fisher moved from Greene Co., Pa, to West Virginia where she met and married Lemuel Jones, who was born in Wales, in 1823. She was 32 years of age. This new home was near "The Anderson" place. A tailor by trade, Lemuel Jones, the husband of Mary Jane died in April 1877 Hemlock, Jackson County, West Virginia, when Emma Francis was just 7 years old. This left
Mary Jane expecting a new baby and with two young children to care for. When Emma Francis grew into a young woman of of 17 years of age, the tall and handsome William David Anderson came into her life. His people were Irish and English. Emma Francis married William David Anderson on January 4, 1886. Expecting a baby, the Andersons packed up and headed west with their two small children, William Henry and Cora Jane Anderson. When widowed for the last time, the 66 year old Mary Jane Fisher married Calvin Stoats,(born abt 1819 in Macon Co, Virginia) on March 4, 1885 in Jackson County, West Virginia. She died on July 21, 1913 at Hemlock, Jackson, West Virginia.
MAYFLOWER DESCENDANTS: THE ANDERSON FAMILY COLONIAL AMERICAN HERITAGE
Samuel Anderson, the father of Cora Jane Anderson's own father, William David Anderson, was born in Meigs Co, Ohio, across the river from Jackson Co, Ohio. Samuel, whom historical documents records to have been a cobbler, married Charity Shinn who was born 1804. Their marriage took place on April 4, 1830-31, at Harrison, WVA. (or January 11, 1831) She was the daughter of Samuel Shinn born 22 April 1776 in Frederick Co, Va; and Sarah Ann Hyde born 1781. He fought in the Indians Wars, and once lived in a Sycamore tree on the banks of the Ohio River. Samuel is buried in Shinn Cemetery, Rockcastle, Jackson Co. WVA. The 1850 census lists Samuel Anderson's father William Andrew Anderson, born 1802 in Meigs Co, Ohio, with the occupation of "farmer" and his age as 48. Charity was 46 years old. The following children are listed: William Andrew Anderson's father Andrew Anderson was born 1760-1770 in Evitt's Cove, Cumberland County, MD. He married Chloe White born Mar 6, 1773 in New Jersey. Chloe White,(1773-1857) daughter of Benjamin and Phoebe White, married Andrew Anderson (1759-1857) She is a direct descendant of Peregrine White. Peregrine White was the first child born among the pilgrims after they landed in America. Peregrine grew up to be a military man. At age sixteen he volunteered for military duty and carried the troop standard against the Pequod Indians. By 1651 he is referred to in the records as "Lieutenant," and 1673 was a member of the war council, after which he is referred to as "Captain." He took part in King Philip's War, taking orders from his half-brother, Josiah Winslow. Resolved apparently was less involved. After the war, Peregrine and Resolved lived close to each other in Marshfield, where they looked after their mother, Susannah, and lived the Pilgrim history now documented in numerous texts and novels. William White was born in 1590, at Leyden, Holland. He married in 1614 at Leydon to Susannah Fuller. She was born in 1594 at Redenhall, Norfolk, England. She died on October 1, 1680 at Marshfield, Plymouth, Mass. Her husband William White died on Feb. 21, 1620/21 at Plymouth, Mass. Peregrine White was the first child born to the Pilgrims in the New World. His parents, William and Susanna White, boarded the Mayflower with their young son Resolved, in 1620. Peregrine White was born while the Mayflower lay at anchor in the harbor at Cape Cod.
THE WHITE & VASSALL FAMILIES IN AMERICA
Resolved White arrived in America aboard the Mayflower at about the age of five, with parents William and Susanna. The White's are believed to have been part of a London Merchant Group and not Leyden, Holland Separatists. The evidence comes from William Bradford's Mayflower passenger list which lists Mr White in a section with other London merchants. Resolved was raised by step-father Edward Winslow following the death of his father William and remarriage of his mother in 1621. They moved to Marshfield, Maine, in the 1630s, with the family relocating to Scituate where in 1640 at age 25, Resolved married Judith Vassall, the daughter of William and Ann (King) Vassall. William Vassall was born in 1593 at Radcliffe, Stepney, Middlesex, England. (just east of London) William's father John Vassall, was a London alderman who served under Queen Elizabeth 1, equipping and commanding two ships in the battle against the Spanish Armada. William's grandfather, who was also named John had been sent to England, by his own father who was also named John Vassall to escape religious persecution in France. John Vassall was the builder and owner of the Mayflower that brought the Pilgrims to the shores of Cape Cod. He possessed both position and security in England, and outfitted and commanded 2 ships, (Samuel and Tobey jr.) against the Spanish Armada, and was later a member of the Virginia Company. (Dictionary of American Biography, v.19, pg. 230) John described himself in his will as a mariner, of French extraction. His father John sent him to England during the religious troubles in France from his home in Normandy. He seems to have been recognized as an authority in questions of navigation, as we find him recommended to be examined by the judge of admiralty as to the skill of the pilot in a suit respecting the wreck of a vessel on the Goodwin sands in 1577. In 1588 he fitted out and commanded a vessel of 140 tons to serve against the Spanish Armada. The French Vassall's were an ancient Catholic family of Normandy, which included two cardinals and a marshal of France; but Jean Vassall became a Huguenot and fled to England a few years before the massacre of St. Bartholomew. They were of the Episcopalian faith and supports of the revolution against the authority of King Charles. Most of the Vassals were loyal to the British crown during the American Revolution. In consequence the entire family was exiled and their estates confiscated. After their return to England in 1776 members of the family distinguished themselves in the British army and navy. The seven Mansions still standing (in 1917) in Brattle street, Cambridge, Mass. known as "Tory Row," which included the home of Longfellow and "Elmwood" the birthplace of James Russell Lowell, were in 1774 the homes of the Vassall family.
A De Vassall of the fifteenth century who was lord of Rinart near Cany in Normandy, sent his son to England 'on account of disturbances at home.' This John had a son John, who achieved wealth and distinction. (further about John Vassall who married Anne Russell) 'Memorials of Marshfield' says: 'The Vassalls were of Italian origin. They came to London in the reign of James and Charles the First, and possessed great wealth and influence in that city. They also held immense estates in New England and the West Indies.' 'The Vassalls of New England', by E. D. Harris, says: 'He was a the descendant of an ancient French family, traced back, it is claimed, to the eleventh century, of the house of DuVassall, barons de Guerdenin in Querci, Perigord.' A note accompanying the will of John Vassall of Stepney says 'He is said to have been son of another John Vassall who came to England from France, a member of an ancient family of Rinart, by Cany, in Normandy.' Maps of France show no Rinart nor Cany in Normandy but there is a city named Caen.
Fortunately, John Vassall (William's grandfather) decided to emigrate to Protestant England from Normandy, France, before the persecution reached this fever pitch, settling in London. William never knew his mother, Anne Russell Vassall; as she died shortly after he was born. She was 45 years old and may have died in childbirth.
Resolved White moved his family back to Marshfield in the early 1660s, and Judith died and was buried there on 3 April 1670. He then remarried to the widowed Abigail Lord in 1674 in Salem, was a soldier in King Philip's War of 1676, and became a freeman in Salem in 1680 before moving back to Marshfield a couple years later. He died sometime not too long after 1687, presumably in Marshfield, Maine.
Susanna White gave birth to Peregrine White before the end of November (Old Style calendar), 1620 while the ship Mayflower was still anchored in Provincetown Harbor, Plymouth, Massachusetts. Peregrine's birthdate is 20 Dec 1620. He married in 1646 to Sarah Bassett and died 20 Jul 1704, Marshfield, Plymouth County, Massachusetts at 83 years of age. His occupation was that of farmer as well as politician. He served as "Captain, Militia," Peregrin White's descendant, Andrew Anderson, the father of William Andrew Anderson died during a Cholera outbreak in 1832 in Lebanon Twp, Meigs Co. Ohio, and is believed to be buried in a gravesite without any stone. Here's the 1850 Census info for the William Andrew Anderson family:
EDWARD ANDERSON: VALLEY FORGE, THE ISLE OF SKY & BEYOND
Andrew Anderson's father Edward Anderson was born in 1735 in Valley Forge, Chester, Pa. He died in Washington Co, Pa. He moved to Buffalo Creek in Washington Co, Pa in 1772. His mother Agnes Ann was born in 1740 in Washington Co. Pa.
The father of Edward Anderson was James Anderson born in 1693 on the Isle of Skye, Scotland. He married Elizabeth Jerman, the daughter of a wealthy farmer and Quaker preacher, Thomas Jarmin. She was born 1692-6 and died in the 1740's. In the year 1707, James Anderson emigrated to the shores of America. Among the pasengers going to the New World was the Scotch youth, James Anderson. Tradition, says he was poor. The custom for many of the poorer class who came to America at that of indentured service. They entered into the service of someone who a paid their "passage" and would bind himself to work for the person until the amount of indebtness was discharged. At this time, a Welsh farmer lived, by the name of Thomas Jerman. The history of Chester Valley, in Chester County, Pennsylvania, states that Thomas Jerman was a noted Quaker preacher. He was a farmer as well as preacher, who needed help on his farm, and when the ship which brought young Anderson to America arrived, Mr.Jerman searched among it's new-comers for a farm hand. He and Anderson struck a bargain, according to the custom mentioned above, and James Anderson became a member of Mr.Jerman's family.
Jerman is said to have been in comfortable circumstances, and had, an interesting and attractive daughter named Elizabeth. Young Anderson fell in love with her, and succeeded in winning her
hand in marriage. A difficulty arose when her father failed to sanction the marriage. The young couple eloped, and Miss Elizabeth Jerman became the wife of James Anderson. Reconciliation was in time achieved, for, in 1713, six years after Anderson's arrival in America, Jerman advanced a part of the money with which Anderson bought a farm ... Anderson was the first to introduce garlic into Schuylkill Township. Following the Swedish custom of sowing it for early pasture for cows, he sowed it on his farm in 1730. From his place, it scattered over the adjoining farms. He was Supervisor of Highways in 1728.....
THE 1904 REFERENCE LETTER OF W.F. HOWARTH
In 1904, William Howarth dictated the following letter, prior to young Frank R. Killien's leaving for an extended trip to further his education in the paper industry, and to impart information that he knew to others involved in the paper mill business.
The bearer, Mr Frank Killien (whose signature is at the foot) is the superintendent of this company, to which position he has advanced from a cutter boy, by his close application of duty; but realizing that knowledge is limited by environment and it's value by comparison, he has expressed a desire to take a vacation and visit eastern plants to acquire, as well as to impart information. We most respectfully commend him; and any courtesies shown him will be much appreciated; feeling on his return he will be better able to fulfill his duties with credit to us and benefit to himself.
Yours Very Truly, W.F. Howarth
THE MARRIAGE OF FRANK KILLIEN TO CORA JANE ANDERSON
Frank Killien and Cora Jane Anderson, fell in love, and were married in the parlor of the spacious home the teenaged bride's father built in downtown Everett at 2201 Hoyt Street. The young couple had many caring, supportive friends. Cora graduated from from business school about the time of her marriage to Frank. That year of 1906, Frank bought her a wedding ring in downtown Everett's Burnett Bros. Jewelers, and proposed to her, asking the beautiful raven haired Cora Jane Anderson to be his wife. They were married on November 25th of the year, by Rev. R.A. Parker. Cora's oldest brother William Henry Anderson, signed the wedding certificate as one of the witnesses. The other witness was Leada Faris. Frank Killien was 31 years of age and Cora Jane was 19.
THE KILLIENS & FRIENDS-EVERETT WASHINGTON BEACH
In a group photo of the Killien friends taken at a picnic at Everett Beach which is contained in the historical records of the Everett, Washington Register of Historic Places, the following names are listed Emma Anderson, Cora Killien, ? Helen Chapman,Maggie Killien, Lottie Anderson, Lizzie Killien. Lenore Killien, ? Eva Anderson, Helen Nichols, Francis Killien, and Dorothy Pearson.
FRANK & CORA KILLIEN'S PURCHASE OF THE Working hard and saving money toward the purchase of their first house, Frank and Cora Killien were able to actualize their dream of owning their first home within 3 years, and on February 3, 1910, they purchased the mill workers cottage located on South 2nd Avenue, right next door to the historic Lowell Congregational Church built with lumber donated by Lowell town founder, E.D. Smith. Following the marriage, the Killien family became regular members of the Lowell Congregational Church.
Interestingly enough, the location of the Killien cottage was also approximately the same location as that of the boarding house where Frank resided with his stepfather and sister Lizzie, when they first came to the area in Lowell in 1891, when he was just seventeen. Little did he know that in almost that same amount of time again, after establishing himself in the a career at the local mill, he'd be marrying his sweetheart Cora Jane Anderson. The cottage overlooking the Snohomish River was built by Everett Pulp & Paper, but at the time of purchase by the Killien's, was the property of Theodore H. MacDonald, and his wife Adelaide E. MacDonald, natives of San Francisco. MacDonald bought the home from Everett Pulp & Paper Mill and sold it to the Killiens. The garage and shed fruit trees, bushes and shrubs are noted on the deed. The real estate document bears the signature of County Auditor F. Lee, and Deputy Recorder L. M. Noland. of the State of California. The document recorded in Vol. 104, 220D, is "A Special Warrenty Deed" for the Theodore & Adelaide E. McDonald home in Lowell and documents speak of a deed having been originally written up between Theodore McDonald and Everett Pulp & Paper on March 5, 1907, while he resided in Lowell. A more recent newspaper article states in an article on Lowell, that in 1889 and 1890, the town grew rapidly. E.D. Smith added a new wing to his general store, and constructed a new warehouse and new wharf and the great Northern Hotel. At the same time Ingersoll and "McDonald" built a grocery store and a lodging house. If this was the Theodore MacDonald who later purchased our cottage from Everett Pulp & paper, he was an early contractor in the Everett or Lowell, Washington area.
The home which Theodore & Adelaide MacDonald sold to the newly-weds Frank & Cora Killien in 1910, is a typical Craftsman Bungalow style cottage of 1 1/2 stories, was conveniently located on South 2nd Avenue and Main, across the street from, and in the same block as, the Everett Pulp & Paper mill office. MacDonald, during his stay in Lowell, had worked as a master mechanic for EP&P.
From the time that Frank and Cora purchased their new home on South 2nd Avenue and Main Street, Frank immensely enjoyed living in such close proximity to the mill, and being able to come home for lunch. Cora's blind sister Lizzie, also lived in their home. Cora was frequently accompanied by her youngest sister, Emma Radamaker, who stands beside her and her son Frances Gray Killien, in this photo taken of them all together. He came home for lunch, and Cora served his meals in the cheerful dining room, which had plate rails on one wall, holding the family china collection, and where the warmth of the wood stove melted away the chill of those Northwest winters. A post office across the street, and a grocery on the same side of the street as the house was, were additional neighborhood conveniences. The family greatly enjoyed the paper mill company picnics. Family members relate how paper mill boss, Mr. Jordan often commented on Mrs Killien's fine cooking, participating meal items the family prepared for sharing at these events. The Killiens state that when Frank R Killien lived and worked at the mill, Jordan lived in the same block as the Killiens, in the old Bell house at the end of the block.
God had blessed the Killien family, and family members yet tell of the depression years, and how grateful the Frank and Cora were, to be able to share with those less fortunate. During these difficult years, they would bring extra picnic fare that could be shared, those extra things or hard to obtain items, and other difficult to get food items, whenever picnics and outings were held.
THE 3 CHILDREN OF FRANK & CORA KILLIEN
The children of Frank & Cora Killien were all born in the main floor bedroom in the cottage on South 2nd Avenue, in Lowell, Washington. The couple's two sons and 1 daughter attended Lowell School, and the family were members of the Lowell Congregational Church which was built in 1888 on land donated by Lowell's founder, E.D. Smith, next door to their cottage on South 2nd Avenue. The presiding pastor at that time, was Rev. Cunningham. Acting as mill superintendant 18 monthes, Frank Killien became asst. plant superintendant of the Lowell mill.
As their family grew, the Killiens needed more room and sold the cottage on South 2nd Avenue which was their first home and where they'd lived for over 20 years. They purchased their second home, a Colonial Revival style house at 4918 South 3rd, also in the town of Lowell in around 1923.
THE PASSING OF FRANK & CORA KILLIEN
Cora Killien developed a serious illness and died on 20 Jan 1931. She is buried in Evergreen Cemetery. Her husband Frank Killien passed on not long after her, on Dec. 1, 1932, at the age of 56. The newspaper obituary states that Killien received a common school education, and at the age of 17 years entered the employ of the paper company. Like the proverbial "small town boy who made good", Frank Killien worked his way up the ladder of success from a youth that cleaned the paper troughs to a highly respected man who served the Everett Pulp & Paper Mill as it's asst superintendent, a position which he held for many years, and according to the reporter who wrote the newspaper obituary, Frank Killien also served the mill as the superintendent for a period of 18 monthes, according to a newspaper clipping submitted by local historian Gail Chism, which states the following:
The kid who was "the shortest kid in his class," during his school day, grew into a "a giant of a man," whose kindness, generosity and strength of character were described by the president of Everett Pulp & Paper, William Howarth, who said this of him: "All I can say is that he was of the very best." Killien been a member of the Lowell School Board. He founded the Lowell 30 Year Club, acting as president. The newspaper referred to Frank R. Killien as "a Pioneer" who served in the Everett Pulp and Paper Company for 28 years. When Mr. Killien died, newspaper obituaries quote William Howarth as saying this of him: He was a hard worker, well liked and had a special faculty to endear himself to both his associates and subordinates. His place can be filled only with the greatest of difficulty." The funeral of Frank Killien was held at John F. Jerred's Chapel. Frank and Cora Killien were laid to rest in Evergreen Cemetery, near Lowell where they'd lived, worked and raised their 3 children. Several Killien family members resided in Lowell, at the time Frank died, such as the couples three children, Francis Grey Killien, William Killien, and Mrs Charles (Lenore Killien) Linden, a brother Edward and a sister Elizabeth Killien. The Campbells began research on their house in 1989, traveling to other Washington cities to interview Killien family members as part of their application to place the home on the Everett Historic Register.
THE DECLINE OF THE HISTORIC LOWELL PAPER MILL
In the autumn of 1972 the saga which began with the era of men like E.D. Smith and Henry Hewitt came to an end. Hewitt's fondest dream was that of smokestacks. The new generation recoiled at the black smoke belching columns. The cry of the ecology minded people of Everett was to clean up the air, and water and to protect our natural resources, such as timber, through the reforesting of trees. The Everett Pulp & Paper Mill had been one of four major industries upon which the Everett development was initially built. While the other three had short lives, EP&P continued for more than 80 years, closing it's operation in the early 1970s. Today, in 2007, we continue to value the Everett Pulp & Paper Mill heritage, an industry that located many of the families in this area, and helped to shape our lives and memories.
PURCHASE OF KILLIEN HOUSE BY THE CAMPBELL'S
Tom and Alana Campbell first fell in love with the charming historic yellow house with white trim, when it was shown to them by a local realtor in the summer of 1989. The 1863 neighborhood full of vintage homes, Lowell's community park, and the Killien house's charming view from it's living room and foyer were exactly what the family was looking for. Today, the Lowell Riverfront Park located at 46th St Southeast and South 3rd Avenue, boasts a 1.75 mile trail with views of Mount Baker, Mt Rainier, the Cascade Mountains and numerous wildlife habitats, an art gallery, beauty salon, Scents of Thyme, a soap and candle shop and other businesses have been welcome additions.
At the time, the house was owned by realtor, Connie Trier, who had done significant renovation and was given an award by the city for her preservation efforts. Prior to house purchase, the Campbells secured the engineering inspection services of a Seattle firm, which cerified the structural soundness of the nearly 100 year old home. Among the real estate brochures and other house papers, the Campbell's have the previous owner's brochures on the home's historical information, which she'd left out for viewing by prospective home buyers on a side table near the front door. She included a brief historical sketch on the house and it's original occupants. The sellers "Brief History" read as follows:
Mr Killien was assistant manager at the mill, having worked his way up after starting as a paper winder. One daughter is still alive and lives with her husband at lake Goodwin." (Following the Campbell's purchase of the structure, they conducted further research which uncovered that the home was not built by Frank Killien, but was actually Everett Pulp & Paper Mill housing, and there were previous San Franciscan home owners of the property, named "Theodore & Adelaide MacDonald.)
The previous owner's sales brochures noted the home's "Turn of the Century Charm!" It was sold complete with it's garage and work shop, noting on the real estate flier it's neighborhood of Lowell, story and a half, entry floor to ceiling columns, three bedrooms, one bath, large family kitchen, spacious bedrooms (one with a balcony) big formal dining room with wall paper and wainscoting, plush carpets, large lot with fruit trees, and flowering plums, and a fantastic view of the mountains and river, and community business zoning, and yes it will go FHA---all of which were perfect for the Campbell's growing family. With the purchase, were documentation on the restoration and historical research previously done on the Frank R. Killien house. Among the papers was a letter to one of the Killien daughters, Lenore Linden, dated February 2, 1986. The former owner wrote of her interest in the history and restoration of the home, stating: "Dear Mrs Linden: Two years ago, I fell in love with and bought the house next door to the church in Lowell. I am now in the process of restoring it but there are so many things I need to know about it... I have been told that your family lived here for some time and I am hoping you weren't too young to remember what the house looked like originally. I would like to meet and talk with you, but if that is inconvenient I would appreciate a drawing of the downstairs floor plan as you remember it. Thankyou." Mrs Charles (Lenore) Linden responded by return mail dated February 13, 1986, that she and her husband were wintering in Arizona, but would return in March. She would be glad to come to the house and answer any questions. The house she said was virtually unchanged except for the door into the bathroom which was changed. With her letter, Lenore sent her drawing of the original floor plan. Lenore stated:
She signed her letter Mrs Charles Linden.
ADDING TO THE HISTORICAL RESEARCH
On June 13, 1990, we attended the monthly meeting of the Everett Historic Commission where Tom Campbell described the home and it's history and original owner. Our application which was in for the home to be considered for the Everett Register of Historic Places, was pending at that time. The home was placed on the register within the year.
We drove to Chehalis, Washington, where we interviewed Eva Lena, the 88 year old sister of Cora Jane Killien, and her daughter, a niece of Cora Anderson Killien. We also interviewed Margaret Killien, the wife of the Frank R Killien's son, William Alva Killien. In addition to this we spoke to Martha Killien, a cousin. As well as Mrs Ruth Buckley a dear friend of Leenore Killien Linden who resided at Sunrise Retirement Center. We also conducted research at the Everett Public Library, including the following sources:
The Campbells who have owned the home for 20 years now, remain the present owners. They have served on the board of the Lowell Civic Association, and other volunteer positions, enjoying participating in various community events. Of the six Campbell children, three have lived in Lowell. The couple's son who was 12 at the time they moved in, their older daughter and their younger daughter have all lived in their house in Lowell.
HISTORIC TROLLEY SERVICE IN LOWELL & TROLLEY TOURS
Everett, WA opened its new train station on February 4, 2002. The station is a intermodal facility designed to accomodate Amtrak, Sounder commuter trains, buses and shuttles, pedestrians and cyclists. The 4 story facility features architecture which combines the best of modern and traditional styles. The station features murals and other features that reflect the areas history. It also has space for college classrooms and worforce training programs, making it a community destination.
LOWELL DAYS
Although the Frank Killien home has been on the Lowell Historic Trolley Tour for many years, this past year, as part of the Lowell Days 2003 celebration, the Killien House had it's first open house of the home's interior in July 2003. The Campbells greatly appreciate opportunities to meet neighbors of surrounding communities and visitors who participate in the Lowell Days Historic Milltown celebration, because of their interest in historic Lowell. The present community of Lowell remains rural, yet in many ways unchanged. It is located moments from hub of the Everett Town Center, and the new Everett Train Station, which offers Sounder Commuter Rail service, and houses an extension university on the facilities upper stories. Lowell Village is celebrating it's 150th anniversary this year in August 2013.
SKYLARK'S WHITE ROSE COTTAGE
Tom and Alana also affectionately call their 1905 Craftsman Bungalow cottage the Skylark's Nest, Skylark Studio or The Skylark's White Rose Cottage, after Alana Campbell's Danish grandmother, Amy Christensen-Laughlin, born in the South Pacific where her parents colonized in the 1850's. Over the years, Tom, who is a stone mason has increased in his position as a natural stone craftsman. In addition to his regular employment, he has brought side jobs home and fabricated them on saw-horses in the back yard. Alana is an artist in oils, watercolour, and acrylic. She oil paints at her easel in the foyer, stopping work when friends and neighbors stop and call a friendly hello through the open doorway.
CAMPBELL FAMILY ORIGINS
Tom and Alana Campbell, the current owners of the historic Killien Cottage, have lived in the home for nearly 20 years, and the Campbell children have grpwn up there in the community. Tom was born in Bellingham and spent his growing up years there and in Edmonds, Washington, where he attended Meadowdale High. In Bellingham, Tom's Dad, who lives in Edmonds, was vice-president in charge of sales for Pacific American Fisheries, whose building in Bellingham now houses the Greyhound and Amtrak train depots. Tom's first job in the stone trade was in the Fremont District of Seattle, and here he learned the trade. Alana's Dad was an attorney, and mother also in the legal field. She was born in Los Angeles and grew up on Queen Anne Hill in Seattle. Prior to moving to Lowell, for two years after their marriage, the Campbell's lived briefly in South Seattle and in Bothell, Washington in a rented Victorian house on two acres. Although the kids are mostly grown with families of their own, there's no "empty nest" syndrone at the busy Campbell household, with homeschooling the youngest of their six children, ministry to the community as chaplains and the families interesting careers. Tom Campbell is a busy professional craftsman himself in the stone trade, with about 35 years experience in the commercial and residencial fields. Tom Campbell also has interesting ancestors. His Jewish grandfather, Victor Hugo Hoppe, was drama coach at Western for 45 years, and one of his students "Angus Bomer" founded the Ashland Oregon Shakespearean Festival. Other ancestors of Tom's, include a Jewish rabbai, Bernhard Hoppe, Abigail Fitch whose ancestry goes back to 12th century England, Abigail Adams, Freegrace Adams, Capt. Ephraim Kimberly and Irish Quaker Susannah Lightfoot on his great-grandfather's side. His great grandmother, like Alana's was Danish. Alana Campbell is an artist in oils, acrylic, pastel, watercolor, and pen and ink.
Grandfather Laughlin pastored, and lectured on the Chattaqua circuit. He wrote and published poems about his love for his wife, the mother of his 4 children, Mariane, Maude, Merle and Bill. Alana's mother, one of the 3 Laughlin daughters resided with them at the Killien cottage in the 1990's, and there were many happy times as a family, as their daughter Amber was growing up. Recently Alana has been researching the French and Acadien French Jonas & Jean Henri Fortineaux side of her father's European family, with French surnames: Rittenour/Fortineau, and others who lived and worked in Alsace, and in maritime France. Alana's r father was a Chicago attorney during the prohibition years.
If you are interested in tracing your family history, you can find excellent resources at the Public Library of on the Internet! Alana paints 5-6 foot murals in oils, from historic photos or sketches, and can create watercolour art of your historic house, church, ancestors etc. also transforming them into holiday greeting cards, or notecards if you like. The Campbells are ordained ministers, who have been ministers in the Lowell Community since 1990.
Cadyville, and changed its name to Snohomish City in 1871. Settler Reuben Lowe built a bordello at Lowell, but Lowe’s part in Lowell history is much greater than his business establishment. It was Lowe who suggested that Smith name the place for his own home town of Lowell, Massachusetts.
The Chinese were the first Asians to migrate in significant numbers to Washington state. By 1880, more than 3,000 Chinese lived in Washington Territory. They helped to build Western railroads and provided labor for many of the region's major industries.
In the mid-nineteenth century, China seemed on the verge of collapse. The Taiping Rebellion nearly tore Chinese society apart, British warships devastated China's major ports during the Opium War, and periodic flooding and famine wrecked the countryside. South China, primarily the area around Guangzhou (Canton), suffered the most; and it was from here that the vast majority of immigrants came. The paper mill at Camas hired more than 100 Chinese laborers, many of whom had just completed work on the last links of the Northern Pacific Railroad, were hired to clear land and to build the primary aqueduct, which was more than 7,000 feet long, eight feet wide and seven feet high. Much of it was trenched through solid rock, and a tunnel nearly one-half mile long was blasted and dug.
"The miners at the Seattle mine [at Newcastle] drove all the Chinamen away from there Saturday last. I will send for you as soon as I poss. can, but I must say that I don't like the looks of this place so far, and I'm afraid you won't neither ..."
Legends abound of the labyrinth of underground tunnels that have existed for over 100 years in the Pacific Northwest. In Everett, Washington tunnels were never removed but were filled in when construction crews come across them on a construction site. Such was the case during the road work along Pacific Avenue. See article
The sidewheeler Idaho was a steamboat that ran on the Columbia River and Puget Sound from 1860 to 1898. Idaho was built on at the Upper Cascades River by John J. Holland (1843-1893) for John Ruckel. It's been said that the State of Idaho was named after this particular steamboat. This steamer should not be confused with the many other vessels of the same name.
The Customs Service office responsible for a seizure was allowed to auction the opium off to local merchants and to keep the proceeds. This provided the same kind of incentive (and potential for abuse) as modern rules allowing police departments to keep vehicles used for transporting illegal narcotics. In Beecher's case, he may have been exaggerating the amount he got from reselling the 3033 half-pounds of opium. As indicated above, $13 per half-pound (i.e., per can of 5 Chinese ounces) was an implausibly high price. $6-$9 per can would have been more realistic.]
Twenty-five-year-old Maine native Eugene D. Smith (1837-1909) arrived with his partner Otis Wilson in September 1863 to set up a logging operation on the Snohomish River. At an angled bend in the Snohomish River, the water was deep and there was an undercurrent strong enough to hold logs. Smith knew this to be the ideal location to establish the first logging camp on the river.
In 1869, Smith sent to Maine for his childhood sweetheart, a young woman of Colonial American stock and cousin of the poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow who wrote such well-loved poems as "Paul Revere's Ride," Evangeline, A Tale of Acadie (1847), and "A Psalm of Life."
Tell me not, in mournful numbers,
Life is but an empty dream
For the soul is dead that slumbers,
And things are not what they seem.
Life is real ! Life is earnest!
And the grave is not its goal "
Eugene Danfred Smith and Margaret had not seen one another for 11 years, and his business was prosperous enough by this time for him to think of marriage to his childhood sweetheart Miss Margaret Bigelow Getchell.
A man of great "vision," E.D. Smith together with wife Margaret, and Martin L. Getchell (born:15 March 1832-Machias, Maine) and Olive Ireland Getchell) filed the Lowell plat on May 8, 1873. The town was platted into 33 blocks with 60X120 foot lots, all clear cut with stumps. Martin and Olive Getchell's children were named: Medora, (Married: Porter- Mount Vernon, Wa) Zella, (Married: Charles Lawry-Snohomish Co. Wa) Everett-Everett, Wa and Daisy-Everett, Wa. Smith built Lowell's first hotel in 1874, and continued to pour capital into Lowell to help make it a "town." In his lifetime, E.D. Smith owned 4000 acres of real estate in Snohomish County. By the late 1890's he built a $60,000 sawmill at Lowell, with a capacity of 75,000 feet per day and machinery for lathe and shingles. For the next decade, Smith continued to log. He improved, cleared, and ditched 75 acres into cultivation while holding onto another 5,000 acres of timber, stump and farmland.
The Eugene D. Smith's had 4 children, whose names are as follows:
By 1889, Lowell founder, E.D. Smith, owned nearly 5,000 acres of land, part of which was on the peninsula that would soon become Everett. To get Eugene Smith involved in the Everett planning, Henry Hewitt Jr. promised the paper mill at Lowell. In 1891 the Puget Sound Pulp & Paper Company in Lowell was built in 1891 by money invested by John D. Rockefeller to help establish the city of Everett. In 1889 and 1890 the town of Lowell experienced rapid growth. Smith added a new wing to his store and constructed a new warehouse. The construction for the mill began in 1891. The, a new wharf and the Great Northern Hotel. The Great Northern Railway reached Lowell in 1893. Throughout the building of Everett, Lowell was the headquarters for most of the planners.
In 1866, Hill got a job as an agent for the Saint Paul & Pacific Railroad. During the 1870's, he became involved in the Red River ox cart trade and gradually established a considerable network of the steamboat lines in the Upper Midwest.
Charles Baker died on 18 April 1930 in Everett, Washington.
Frank R. Killien was born in Swift Co. Minnesota on Sept. 8, 1876. Both his parents were born in Ireland, according to the 1930 census of Lowell, Wa. Swift County, Mn. where Frank was born is located in the west central part of Minnesota. By 1858, with the promise of larger annuities, the Indians were persuaded to sign a treaty ceding the million acres of land north of the Minnesota River. The Indians were dissatisfied with the governmental delays in sending annuities which caused near starvation of their people several times.
Following his father's death, Frank Killien's mother married a man by the name of Robert Grey. Grey was a Presbyterian man, born in Scotland, and listed in the Alberta 1891 census as a butcher by trade. His age at the time of the 1891 census would indicate that he was born in approximately 1837. Along with Grey there's also a 46 year old woman listed in the Alberta census, by the name of Elizabeth Grey, who is the only other person by the name of Grey in the area at that time. She attended the Reformed Church, and may have been a sister of Robert Grey.
In 1891, Frank and Lizzie Killien and their stepfather Robert Grey, gave their family and friends hugs and kisses goodbye. Then they packed up their wagon with the necessary supplies and left the familiar surroundings of Calgary, Alberta. Robert Grey planned to scout out a possible relocation for the Grey family in the state of Washington. His wife and other children remaining in Alberta, would follow after, when suitable work and accomodations could be secured.
The town of Lowell was still quite new at that time. It's founders, Eugene and Margaret Smith, had officially platted the area into 33 town blocks in 1873.
Samuel David Anderson died on May 21, 1883 at Lower Forks Cow Run, Jackson, WVA.
William David Anderson was a tall, handsome man of English-Welsh ancestry. Prior to marriage, William David worked on the Ohio riverboats. He was a pleasant good-natured man, a fine story teller, and skilled whittler. He could carry a tune, played a Jews harp, and loved word games and riddles. William David died on Feb. 23, 1947, and is buried in Napavine Cemetery.
There were 9 Anderson children, in all. Two were born in Pennsylvania prior to the families decision to relocate, and they rode in the wagon when they traveled west. One of these children was the daughter of William David & Emma Anderson, Cora Anderson Killien. Emma, as I stated earlier was pregnant with their third child, when she and David crossed the rugged Cascade Mountains on foot.
1/3 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons baking powder
5 tablespoons lard
1 cup buttermilk.
Sift and mix dry ingredients then blend with lard. Add buttermilk. For each biscuit, pinch off a portion of dough about the shape of a large egg and pat out with your hands. Bake in 350 degree F. oven in wood stove about 10 minutes. In a modern electric or gas oven, bake at 475 to 500 degrees."
---Smokehouse Ham, Spoon Bread, & Scuppernong Wine, Joseph E. Dabney [Cumberland House:Nashville TN] 1999 (p. 114-5)
3 heaping tablespoons white cornmeal
1 tablespoon bacon drippings
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 1/4 cups milk
A dash of pepper
In a frying pan, combine cornmeal, bacon drippings, and salt. Stir until brown. Add milk and let boil until gravy thickens. Stir forcefully to keep gravy from pumping. Add pepper to taste."
Captain George Vancouver's Exploration of the West Coast of North America
After arriving and settling into the area, William David Anderson built their family home in Everett, Washington at 2201 Hoyt Street in about 1901, and it's still standing today, in this location. Historical narratives such as those in Polks Directory first list W.D. Anderson as residing at this residence in 1901-1902. In 1905, it lists Wm. H Anderson and Cora Anderson and the structure is being utilized as a "boarding house."
born: Oct. 18, 1886
place: Angerone, Jackson Co. WVA
married: 1920-22
children: step-children
died: October 1961
born: Feb. 20, 1888
Springport, Michigan
Married: November 25, 1906
Husband: Frank R. Killien
Children: 4
Died: February 1931
born: May 9, 1890
place: Jackson co. Michigan
married: Sept. 28, 1917
to: Gertrude Nolden
born: May 1892
place: Sprague, Wa.
married: No
died: 1913
born: May 5, 1895
place: Genesee, Idaho
Married: Rufus Churches
Children: None
died: March 1922
place: Chehalis, Wa
born: Feb. 21, 1900
Married: 1921
to Fred Blunt-Calif.
Children: None
died: Sept. 1951
Longview, Wa
born: April 12, 1902
place: Everett, Wa
married: June 30, 1920
to: Clarence Shaver
born: July 31, 1903
place: Everett,Wa.
married: Sept. 1924
to: Veda Pannell
died: Feb. 1984
place: Longview, Wa
born: Oct. 4, 1912
place: Everett, Wa
married: 1938
to: Albert Nelson
died: July 1989
1. Text: 1850 PA Census, Roll 783, p. 116
2. Text: Andersonville Prisoner Database, National
Park Service, Code #21565 , Grave #11565 Oct 26, is
the date from Adj. Gen's Office - 27th appears elsewhere.
3. Text: Andersonville Prisoner Database, National
Park Service, Code #21565 , Grave #11565
4. Text: US Pension Office; #104961 - Thomas Crago,
Co. F 1st PA Cav. - Two dates are listed, but this
one was certified by the Greene Co. J.P.
To Whom It May Concern:
CRAFTSMAN BUNGALOW COTTAGE ON SOUTH 2nd AVENUE-LOWELL, WASHINGTON
In Lowell, Washington at the turn of the century, owning a home was one of the first ambitions of mill workers. Two or three families would share a small cottage, each having several family members working at the mill. This provided a stable base attracting relatives from different parts of the country to work at the mill or to find other forms of suitable employment here in this area.
The three Killien children were all born at the original Lowell home on South 2nd Avenue. The children's names are as follows:
" From 1900-1903 he (Frank Killien) devoted his time to a study of pulp and paper making. Later he became superintendent of the mill, a position he held for 18 monthes, since then being asst superintendent."
The Everett Pulp & Paper Mill was purchased by Simpson in 1951, who changed it's name to the Simpson-Lee Mill and began a process of modernization and expansion, to 15 tons per day under Howarth. Expansion in the late 1950's cost $4,000,000. By the late 1960's pollution sounded the death knell. State officials gave the ultimatum to Simpson to reduce the smelly sulfur compounds by 96% within a 5 year period. By the late 1960's, the mill was already running at a loss of $100,000 per year.
Tom Campbell-Stone Craftsman
Alana Campbell's Artwork
Our Mountain Home Photo Album
"The home was built sometime between 1901 and 1907. It was built by Frank Killien to house his new bride. Later all three of his children were born in the "side room" (The downstairs bedroom)
"I have had a stroke so my drawing and writing is not good. I can walk without a cane now. There were 3 children in our family all born in the side room. Francis (78) Lenore (75) and Bill (deceased)"
THE CAMPBELL'S
In the early days of Everett's history, the entire peninsula was covered with dense evergreen trees. Travel was severely limited. In 1892, a company headed by Col. J.B. Hawley proposed the building of extensive railway lines. A franchise was granted the company for a line from Mukiltwo to Snohomish via Lowell and Everett and running in Everett, the entire length of Hewitt Avenue. The contract for seven miles of street railway was let in January and in 1893 was a year of tremendous activity. The Everett & Snohomish Electric Railway was incorporated. The road was to be built within a year and to cross the Snohomish River on the Everett Avenue Bridge. By March there were 150 men at work on this line and others were working on the lines to Lowell and to the barge works.
The official name
of the historic cottage is the Frank R. Killien House, after the well-loved young man that struck out bravely with his step Dad, traveling from Calgary Alberta to Lowell, Washington where he found suitable employment, worked his way up the ladder of success to asst. supt.and later superintendant of the historic Everett Pulp & Paper Mill in Lowell.
She is the daughter of an Attorney Galen Hunt and Maude Laughlin Hunt, who was the daughter of Alana's Scotch-Irish grandfather, Rev. William Andrew Laughlin, a Presbyterian minister who pastored a historic church with her grandmother Amy Christensen Laughlin in historic Virginia City, Nevada. He lovingly referred to his artist wife Amy as his "White Rose." Amy Christensen Laughlin was a Danish born immigrant who grew up in the 30 Mile Bush of New Zealand where her parents were invited by the government to help colonize, and the family started a dairy farm, and a family member adopted a Maori child. Alana relates that her Grandfather Laughlin was a real spiritual reformer, and the skylark, has long been the symbol of spiritual reformers. The "White Rose" was the name of an early sailing vessel, to New Zealand where Amy Christensen was born, and
also the name of an anti-Nazi movement, in the 1940's, among students who fought enslavement to tyranny.
THE ORIGINS OF THE KILLIEN AMERICAN CRAFTSMAN BUNGALOW
A bungalow (Gujarati: બંગલો baṅglo, Hindi: बंगला baṅglā) is a type of single-story house that originated in India. The word derives from the Gujarati word baṅglo, which in turn came from Hindustani baṅglā. It means "Bengali", used elliptically for a "house in the Bengal style".[1] Such houses were traditionally small, only one story, thatched and had a wide veranda.[2] Bungalows today are a type of house that is usually single story or one and a half stories, and can be quite large.
In India and Pakistan, the term bungalow refers to any single-family unit (i.e., a house), as opposed to an apartment building, which is the norm for Indian and Pakistani middle-class city living. The Indian sub-continent usage is different from the North American and United Kingdom usage insofar as a bungalow can be a quite large, multi-storied building which houses a single extended family. In India and Pakistan, owning a bungalow is a highly significant status symbol.
In Singapore and Malaysia, the term bungalow was originally made popular by the British who popularized this building typology (though the British use of Bungalow strictly refers to single-story houses). It is now used to refer to a detached, single family residential dwelling usually of two to three story with its own compound.
In South Africa, the term bungalow never refers to a residential house but means a small holiday house, a small log house or a wooden beach house.The origin of the bungalow has its roots in the Indian province of Bengal. There, the common native dwelling and the geographic area both had the same root word, bangla or bangala. Eighteenth century huts of one story with thatched roofs were adapted by the British, who used them as houses for colonial administrators in summer retreats in the Himalayas and in compounds outside Indian cities. Also taking inspiration from the army tent, the English cottage, and sources as the Persian verandah, early bungalow designers clustered dining rooms, bedrooms, kitchens, and bathrooms around central living rooms and, thereby, created the essential floor plan of the bungalow, leaving only a few refinements to be worked out by later designers.
The Craftsman bungalow is typically one to one-and-a-half stories, with a long sloping roof line and a wide, sheltering overhang that makes the house appear to nestle into the earth. This tie to the earth is often exaggerated by using a foundation and porch pillars that broaden at the base. The porch is wide enough to feel like an outside room. The woodwork is still heavy and dark, but is usually square or simple rather than ornately built-up in layers or with gingerbread and spindles as in Victorian times. High style and less derivative versions of the Bungalow often have beamed ceilings, oak wainscotting in the dining room, built-in buffets with hand wrought iron or dark-patinated brass hardware, cozy yellow lanterns hanging from the ceiling wood work or as sconces on the porch or hallway walls.
Since the fireplace and hearth were so important as the center of the home and family, it has received special attention. Made of brick, tile or rustic river stone the fireplace was often framed by symmetric bookshelves or even benches to create a cozy inglenook.
THE KILLIEN COTTAGE &
The historic Frank R Killien Home is located in historic district of the village of Lowell, a suburb of South Everett, in Washington state. The 1863 community was founded by lumberman E. D. Smith where he established a logging camp at the bend of the Snohomish River. The local elementary school has a mural that depicts the historic homes of the area, and our cottage is included in this artwork by well-known northwest artist Bernie Webber. The house is included in historic photos of the book the Lowell Story.
As part of the Centennial Celebration, Betty Hammer, a Lowell resident, together with several Lowell neighborhood residents, including Alana Campbell, created a story quilt of Lowells founders, and historic sites. The quilt was displayed at Everett Public Library, and is now on display a glass case in Lowell Congregational Church, in Lowell. The quilt depicts E.D. Smith and his wife, and various historic sites in Lowell, including the Frank R. Killien house.
The Frank R. Killien House has now been on the Everett Historic Register for over 18 years.
THE KILLIEN HOUSE & THE 1989 WILLIAM F. BROWN AWARD
On May 13, 1989, the previous owner of the Frank R. Killien House, a licensed real estate agent, was honored with the Brown Award, in special recognition by the Everett Historic Commission of the restoration work she did on the home. William F. Brown was an early engineer and surveyor responsible for laying out most of the east side of the present city, and he made the first known attempt toward historic preservation when he sought to preserve and commemorate the cabin of an early settler. The William F. Brown Program was established in 1977 to recognize efforts made in areas of historic preservation of old Everett buildings and in fostering a greater understanding of local historic artifacts. On May 13, 1989 J.C. O'Donnell sent a letter to the homeowner, stating the following: During the intense activity that created the City of Everett in the fall of 1891, William F Brown, the engineer and surveyor responsible for laying out most of the east side of the present city, made the first known attempt toward historic preservation when he sought to preserve and commummorate the cabin of an early settler. The Everett Historical Commission estblished the William F. Brown Award Program in 1977 to recognise efforts made in the areas of historic preservation of old Everett buildings and in fostering a greater understanding of local historic artifacts.
Your efforts in restoring your property at 5214 S. 2nd are worthy of special recognition. The Historical Commission hereby wishes to express it's commendation and gratitude for your efforts in preserving aan important part of our shared heritage. It is a gift to the community that will enrich the lives of future generations." Sincerely, J. C. O'Donnell, Chairman, Everett Historical Commission
The restorative work completed by the previous homeowner between 1985-1989 included the installation of a new post and pier foundation, as well as a new cedar shake roof, and restorative work on the carved roof rafter-tails located just under the roof line and encompassing the entire roof. New gutters and downspouts were also added. This restorative work has been documented and remains on file with the Everett, Washington Register of Historic Places. At the time that the former owner sold the home to the Campbell's, she installed a new jumbo cedar shake roof. The masonry chimney contained a stainless steel liner and a chimney cap, noted in house documents. She also installed a Fisher woodstove, with a hearth, and turned over the paperwork for this with the sale of the house.
The Campbell's ordered an engineering inspection prior to their purchase of the home, which confirmed that it was in excellent condition for it's vintage.
THE 2002 MONTE CRISTO AWARD
On August 21, 2002, the Campbell's received the following letter from Everett City Council Member Marian Krell, of the City of Everett, Office of Neighborhoods, 2030 Wetmore Avenue, Eall Street Building, Suite 9F, Everett, Washington 98201:
Congratulations! Your home was chosen to receive the "Monte Cristo Award," in the Pride of the Neighborhood catagory, and represents the Lowell neighborhood.This award is given to Everett residents who consistently do an outstanding job of keeping up their property and add to the enjoyment and livability of our neighborhoods. The awards will be presented by Mayor Frank Anderson, in the fourth floor room at the new Everett Station the evening of Thursday, October 17, 2002. The event was previously held at the Monte Cristo Ballroom, but the success of this program has required us to move to a larger facility. This is our eighth annual award year. You will receive an invitation about two weeks prior to the event with directions to the location. The photographs have ben taken of the properties, so you don't need to do anything special to prepare. Your award will read "Tom & Alana Campbell" unless I hear differently from you. Please email me at the address at the top of the page with any changes to spelling or wording. If you don't use email, please call me at 257-8781. This number is different from the one in the letterhead. If I am not in, just leave the correct information on my voice mail. We get our ownership information from public records that may not always be completely accurate. We look forward to seeing you at the award ceremony and hope that you will be there to receive this important award in person on October 17th. Yours Truly, Marian Krell
The Monte Cristo Award Project was launched when three members of the Council of Neighborhoods were inspired to develop the award after attending a national NUSA conference. They collaborated to develop the criteria and methods for selecting winners. Marian Krell, Director of the Office of Neighborhoods at that time, worked with the three residents to establish the program.
Three award categories were developed: Pride of the Neighborhood, Rejuvenation and Transformation, and Neighborhood Friendly Business. The Director’s Award was also established recently to honor prior winners who have continued their efforts to create exceptionally attractive homes and landscapes.
In 2002, at the Eighth Annual Monte Cristo Award night, the Frank R Killien home was awarded the Monte Cristo Award. This award is presented to the home-owners of property that "consistently looks it's best. These homes shine with the efforts of the owners or occupants who take great pride in their property and whose high standards for home and yard maintenance contribute to the character of the neighborhood. These homes, not necessarily the biggest, nor most expensive, reflect the loving attention and care that make them the jewels of the neighborhood.
A CURRENT DESCRIPTION OF OUR HOME IN HISTORIC LOWELL
The Frank R. Killien house is a one and a half story hipped roof bungalow. There's a front porch supported by two large pillars and wide low dormers project from the front and sides of the roof. The home has a gas fireplace and electric heat. Between 1999-2005, the Campbell's made substancial improvements to the property. They hired an engineer, Dennis Bagley of American Institute of Building Design to draw up building plans in late October of 2000.
The home's original first growth fir floors on the main floor were refinished in 2001, as part of a restoration project. Did you know that 90% of real estate agents surveyed stated that a home with wood flooring will sell more quickly and for a higher amount of money than a comparable home with any other type of flooring. Early photos of the timber processed by the local logging industry, show teams of 12 oxen used, due to the girth of that first growth timber. This wood from trees 300-800 years old is very dense. Mahogany is another of similar quality. Planks do not "cup." The "L" shaped country kitchen of the Frank R Killien home has a fir ship lap subfloor laid diagonally. The home has 4 old growth fir sash windows. To the west side of the kitchen is a sunroom containing a skywall of windows facing the west, north and south. This is all original, and can be seen in a historic photo dated circa 1912. The north end of the kitchen contains the original laundry-pantry.
Of note in the books we used to research Craftsman Bungalow restoration, they state that the vintage windows are not only part of a valuable investment, but are the eyes of a home. Although vinyl window salesmen abound, remember that part of what makes a historic home valuable is it's original wood windows. If a lower wood sash is deteriorated, it's wiser to have this small portion of your window replaced so that you can preserve the window itself. You can repair the deteriorated portions with a hardwood similar to your original old growth or first growth window sash wood was constructed with. If you don't have a piece of wood like the original and can't buy one where you are, use mahogany or some other hard wood. Tom Campbell has been restoring the original old growth fir trim, to it's original beauty.
The kitchen has a vintage Kohler kitchen sink, with an oil rubbed bronze faucet and white cararra marble kitchen counter tops. New hardwired smoke and carbon monoxide alarms were installed upstairs and down in 2012. The Campbell's updated the appliances between 2012-2013, with a new gas dryer, washer, gas wall oven, gas cooktop and new refrigerator. On the west wall is a copper rangehood. The kitchen floor, on the west side of the home is of rustic mortar set natural stone. The home's second brick chimney is located in the center of the kitchen. This second chimney like the first is visible in historic photos of the home. (Circa 1912 or earlier) The Killien House kitchen contains a pantry and laundry area at the north end of the kitchen, for storing canned and dry goods, with a double west facing window. The kitchen counter over-looks the backyard of the home and side yard of Lowell Church, which the Killien family attended, through the glass enclosed sunroom. Cora Anderson could keep an eye on her children playing in the yard as she worked. During a renovation Ms Trier conducted prior to 1989, an Indian head penny was found in the north wall of kitchen. It's dated 18--, with the last two numbers difficult to read, but between 1880-1899. Probably 1889. It was common for construction workers to place a coin with the date of construction in a wall , to accurately date a structure such as a home or business. Other buildings or homes in the area date at the latter 1800's, such as Lowell Congregational Church, next door to the Killien House. The auditor's office lists the house as built in 1900.
The Killien cottage is built of Northwest fir thoughout, even down to the diagonally laid sub flooring, which is comprised of fir ship lathe, with first growth fir flooring over this, throughout the 3 brdrm house. To fully appreciate the mill cottages of Lowell, you must possess an understanding of the value a home built entirely of natural materials, in a current era of pre-fab. The Killien Cottage's original northwest fir lathe and 3 coat lime plaster walls, are worth over $100,000 by today's standards, and professional plasters prices per square foot. There are original 6 inch wide fir mouldings, and original fir baseboards, and 10 foot high plaster ceilings. A local contractor refinished the fir flooring in the downstairs in 2000. First growth or old growth fir floors are an extremely valuable asset of any home today, where replacement of floor damage should always be salvaged first growth fir although pricing of this old growth material runs 75% more than new wood of this sort. Ours represent a current value of $50,000 or more. Remember that when the original first growth lumber was milled, those trees had been standing in a that forest for hundreds of years before loggers came to work in the area. Second growth wood from newer trees is much ofter and far less durable or valuable. If you have original wood windows, stiffle the urge to replace them with vinyl. You may have hand blown glass in your Bungalow. But even if you don't, there are numerous reasons to remain them, rather than replace them. For more info, read: "Bungalow Details: Exterior," by Jane Powell, Linda Svendsen, who has owned 7 or 8 Craftsman Bungalows in her lifetime.
The Campbell home's leaded, beveled windows were added by Tom Campbell as an anniversary gift to Alana in 2000. The foyer's 4 lofty ivory colored floor to ceiling fir wood columns decorated with beaded molding, lead to the living room with large windows which overlook the scenic Snohomish River. The living room contains an original bay-shaped window-seat facing the river. The Campbell's installed a matching 96X96 ft window facing the front porch in 2000. Included in the renovation at this time were iron drapery rods with decorative finials on all windows but the sunroom, new sheers and new drapes. Also installed were 2 white wood and glass door French doors, with brass hardware and clear glass knobs of the Campbell house home office on the main floor in the same year. The office or downstairs north bedroom has a narrow built-in wainscotted cupboard, with shelves and a small door. The baby sister of Cora Killien told us that the dining room was originally graced with a plate rail on has a fireplace of the north wall. Like the rest of the house, the dining room floors are the original old growth fir that came with the house when it was built. The chimney's were repaired in autumn of 2007. The present owners installed a skywall of 4 "8 ft" cedar thermal pane doors, with center french doors and bronze fixtures and a landing and stairs leading to the south side yard.
THE HOME'S ORIGINAL VENETIAN PLASTER & HISTORIC WALLPAPER
The original plastered hallway with it's ivory coloured fir wood lathe and original 3 coat Venetian lime plaster walls, and original fir floors leads to the old growth fir staircase to the upstairs of the home, opening into an ample stair loft or landing with north windows. The original wall surface surviving throughout the home at the time we purchased it is fir lathe and 3 coat lime Venetian plaster to which tints of garnet, sage, gold and terra cotta were added to the final layer of plaster. Lincrusta was invented in 1877 to bring the ornate plaster work so loved by wealthy Victorians to those of more modest means. More than a century later, Lincrusta, still produced by its original manufacturer in Lancashire, England, is popular once again for its looks and durability.
The hallway of the Killien Cottage leads to the home's original main floor bath, with a butlers closet lined with fir bead board. An original ornate ivory enameled metal Craftsman double candle-sconce decorates the lime plaster wall. Tom Campbell installed the hexagon porcelain tile floor over wood, and vintage-style brass sink with brass fixture and enameled cast iron tub hand with a held brass shower tub fixture, and white cararra marble counter top with an ornate marble backsplash. The east upstairs bedroom of the home faces South 2nd Street, with quaint sloped ceilings of original fir lathe and 3 coat lime plaster, and plaster walls, original northwest fir wood windows that afford a spectacular view of the Snohomish River. An original ivory metal Craftsman double candle-sconce, adorns the plastered east wall. The front dormer encloses the original balcony sided with beveled siding. There's a stepped out side window supported by decorative braces and the rafter ends are carved. The decorative rafter tails encompassing the entire roof line, were restored by former owner Connie Trier. The original 5 panel old growth fir doors on the east bedroom walk in closet and entry door contain copper Craftsman-style fixtures. The north bedroom also has a 5 panel door of old growth fir and matching walk in closet door with copper fixtures. The row of small divided windows face south. Outside the bedrooms upstairs is a reading room sized stair landing with a row of north windows. The attic is fairly large with original old growth fir flooring and one of the chimneys is located here. The door is a 5 panel old growth fir door with dark stain. The original divided lite fir wood windows of the stair loft and north facing bedroom are shorter, and are divided into 4 smaller sized windows, and take up the entire width of the wall. The large north bedroom overlooks the side lawn, with it's flower beds filled with antique rose bushes, hydrangeas, calla lilies, lilacs, an herb garden just outside the kitchen door, and the apple, weeping willow, cedar and fig trees. The upstairs bedrooms all have walk in closets lined with decorative fir bead board.
A glass enclosed sunroom with 3/4 skywall of windows on the north, east and west sides provides a view of the trees and flowering shrubs of the yard. It's floors are rustic mortar-set natural stone. The floors are Turkish travertine in a versailles pattern. The lower wall is made of old growth fir beveled siding. A 5 panel fir entry door leads to the large backyard.
A VICTORIAN GARDEN
By the year 1616, roses were 'classified' in a French text (of mostly poetry) by Franeau, in Le Jardin d'Hyer.
The almost beige, old-fashioned, cream color of the blush-white Madame Zoetmans Damask rose truly resembles silk organza. The fragrance which is also unique, brings to mind the scent of exotic perfumes and incenses spiced with sandalwood.
Another gorgeous example is the deep violet Gallica rose 'Cardinal de Richelieu'.
White roses were the symbol for chastity and purity and often accompanied portraits of the Virgin Mary in the Middle Ages and Renaissance.
White or blush pink, fragrant flowers appear on tall, upright bushes with gray-green foliage. Albas are spring-flowering, extremely cold-hardy, and disease-resistant. USDA Plant Hardiness Zones 3-9 Dating from Medieval times, Albas feature pastel colors with pale, green—grey foliage, seven leaves, and pointed, scimitar—shaped thorns. Most have superb fragrance. Albas are spring—flowering, extremely cold—hardy, and disease—resistant. •Celestial—"Celeste" unknown origin—very ancient. Healthy, robust, superb. Beautiful shell pink flowers, semi-double. 6x4 tolerates light shade. Long red hips. Very fragrant.
•Félicité Parmentier—Quartered blooms/soft pink, fully double, fading to white. Densely packed buds are held in high clusters which unfurl to richly scented full blooms containing a green eye. Shrub to 4 ft. Very fragrant —1834
•Great Maiden's Blush—Maiden's Blush (Cuisse de Nymph)—fifteenth century—the name of this rose was changed to 'Maiden's Blush' in Victorian times as the 'Thigh of Nymph' was considered a little risque. One of the most well known albas. Many a cottage garden has had this rose growing beside it for decades. It is absoutely charcteristic of the group, with its graceful habit, soft coloring, long bloom period, and incomparable fragrance. This rose will eventually attain a size of 6 feet tall by 5 feet wide. Blooms are borne in clusters of 3 to 5, exuding one of the most refined scents of all roses. The bloom period, although occurring only once a year, lasts for up to 6 weeks. 'Great Maiden's Blush' is considered to be one of the finest of all of the European once-blooming rose, and has been a standard in many cottage gardens. It's great heath and carefree demeanor has ensured its popularity for centuries. pre 15th century. Very Fragrant.
•Maiden's Blush—18th century—smaller version of Great Maiden's Blush—smaller flowers on larger shrub than GMB. (GMB has larger flowers—15th century) Very Fragrant.
Many varieties repeat-flower. Probably a cross between a Damask and the old China rose "old Blush" they have an upright growth, shark-fin shaped thorns, and old rose form.
•Old Blush—China rose, almost thornless. Flowers are pink, fading to silvery-pink and are produced almost continuously from summer to winter, delicious scent. Tolerates part shade. To 15 ft. with support. (1789)
•Mutabilis—China rose 1894 Single blooms open pale yellow, turning to pink, then dark pink. So wonderful with all the colors on the bush at one time! Looks like butterflies have landed. A wonderful shrub in the perennial border- or a small climber. Very distinctive in color—may I say— Beautiful!
Damask
Brought to Europe by the Crusaders, these ancient roses have rich perfume. The tall, arching shrubs exhibit strong winter-hardiness. One of the oldest classes of roses, these provided the basis for many of our modern hybrids. Zones 4-9
•Autumn Damask (Orgy Rose)—Rosa Damascena Bifera- Quatre Saisons- very ancient rose which probably originated in the Middle East as a Hybrid between R.gallica and R. moschata This is the oldest European rose to flower more than once, about every six weeks through till autumn. It is one of the most important historic roses. The buds are distinguished by the elongated sepals of the Damask and the rose is at its loveliest when the buds are partially opened. This is a rose we remember from old chintz and wallpaper. No garden that aspires to contain antiques should be without this rose. Very Fragrant.
•Celsiana—Damask Prior to 1750 Surely it was this particular shade of pink that Aubrey was thinking of when he worte this description of reigning beauty some three centuries ago: "The colour of her cheecks was just that of the Damask Rose, which is neither too hot nor too pale," The warm pink color of 'Celsiana' pales a little in the sun, but the translucence of the slightly fluted petals makes the whole flower seem to glow. The exceptionally large semi-double blooms, often four inches across, appear in such quantity during the long spring blooming season that they weigh down the canes and cause them to form arches of flowers. The open shrub is of moderate height, winter hardy and disease free, and the fragrance is simply overwhelming.
•Ispahan—Vigorous, upright, shrubby. Flowers fully double, cupped, warm pink, rich and heady scent, blooms over long periods in summer. Good for hedging, mixed borders, and containers. prune to shape, and remove a portion of oldest wood after flower. 5'x4' zone 4-9, sun, regular water. Very fragrant. Very long bloom time. No repeat bloom. (pre 1832)
•Madame Hardy—1832 Damask Alba-very double white with green button eye. Very fragrant, with honey-like overtones.
•York and Lancaster—a Damask known since 1551 which is easily recognized by its unstable flower colours, deep pink, very pale pink, or some combination of the two, with occasional striping in petals. Easily confused with Rosa Mundi. Legend has it that the name came out of the War of the Roses. The house of York had a white rose and the house of Lancaster had a red rose for their emblems. York and Lancaster, with its bicolor blooms, supposely represented the joining of the two houses. Very Fragrant.
Gallicas have short, compact plants with thin, prickly canes and perfumed flowers. Colors range from pale pink to dark purple. Plants are spring-flowering and winter-hardy. Possibly older than Damasks are the Gallicas. Plants are spring-flowering and winter-hardy. Zones 4-10 •Apothecary Rose—Rosa Gallica Officianalis—This is probably the oldest form of Gallica in cultivation, having been brought from Damascus to France by Thibaut Le Chansonnier in the 13th century. It is shown in the famous altarpiece in Ghent Cathedral painted in about 1430. Notable for its culinary and medicinal value, useful in crafts, and ability to control erosion on steep slopes. Spreading, suckering bush up to 5ft high. Deep reddish pink blooms mid-late summer. One Time bloom. Highly disease resistant, prune out unwanted canes after flower. Very Fragrant.
•Cardinal de Richelieu—Gorgeous double blooms, smokey purple- velvet texture. Fertilize and prune carefully. Laffay 1840. To 4 ft. Very fragrant.
•Complicata—Very robust, reliable and free flowering variety with very large flowers of a brilliant, pure rose-pink and golden stamens. Excellent as shrub, or climbing into in old trees. Light, fresh sweet scent. 5ft x 6ft or to 15ft as climber. Very disease resistant. One time bloomer- but a fantastic display lasting 6 weeks or more. Unknown origin. Fragrant.
•Sissinghurst Castle—An old Gallica found by Vita Sackville-West growing at Sissinghurst Castle in the ruins of the garden. It makes a mass of stems up to 4 ft high, purplish-crimson flowers, mid to late June. Good for low hedge.
Popular in Victorian England, these roses bear repeat blooms of fragrant, full flowers on tall, upright shrubs. Zones 5-10
Popular in Victorian England, these distinctive roses have fragrant, mosslike growth on the flower buds. They are available in a range of colors and flower forms. Some are susceptible to black spot and powdery mildew. Zones 4-9 William Lobb—Semi-double, crimson in bud, dark dusky purplish-crimson fading to paler purplish lavender. June- One time bloomer. Well mossed on buds and pedicels. (Laffay-1855) Pillar or climber. Very Fragrant.
Hybridized in the early 1800s in South Carolina, these repeat-blooming, fragrant plants are often used as climbing or pillar roses. Some are susceptible to black spot and powdery mildew. Zones 6-9
Compact, fragrant, and repeat-blooming, Portland roses are excellent in small gardens. Zones 4-9 Jacques Cartier—Old Rose—Portland-China hybrid. Rich pink flowers from summer to autumn. Blooms are fully double, sometimes showing a button eye at the center, and the fragrance, to me, is quite strong and sweet. 4x3ft. (Moreau-Robert 1868)
The Garland—Rambler, vigorous up to 16ft. but can be hard pruned to large bush. Small flowers in large clusters, pale creamy- salmon fading to white with a buff yellow tinge. Very fragrant, an amazing display when flowering. Mid June bloom. May be grown into small trees with great effect. (Wells, 1835) •Sombriel—Climbing tea—Very full and flat, creamy white (100 petals). Good repeat bloom. Strong tea fragrance 8-12ft 1850 very fragrant. NEW
•Zepherine Drouhin— Bourbon— Climber—pretty flowers produced in great quantities, very fragrant, deep cerise-carmine. Grows happily on north wall and may be grown as a shrub or for hedges. Can withstand heavy pruning. Very good repeat bloomer. Thornless. 18-10ft. Very Fragrant. 1868 Bizot
They were introduced to Europe at the beginning of the 19th century and were popular due to their hardiness, repeat bloom and fragrance. They are medium-sized (four feet) shrubs with many thorns and will send out runners to form thickets. The foliage is deep green, rough and crinkly. (The Latin rugosus translates to wrinkled.) They will bloom continuously! In the fall, they produce a crop of brightly colored hips containing a high level of vitamin C.
These plants are extremely cold-hardy, fragrant, and very disease-resistant. Species bloom once; hybrids repeat. Many produce hips in winter. Zones 3-9
Rosa Glauca—(Rubrifolia/Species/Wild) Purplish gray leaves, small single bright pink blooms. Mostly gown for it's foliage, flowers a bonus. Summer flowering- 6-8 ft. long bloom time. Great fall hips. Before 1850. Lightly fragrant.
The scent of these roses resembles crushed fresh tea leaves. Developed in China, this group's flowers are larger than those of their China relatives. Plants are large and open with fragile stems. Zones 7-9
Planting shrubs along pathways, helps to define property lines or to hide the foundation of your home or porch. Carefully manicured shrubs may also be used to hide an unsightly fence or to frame doorways or large windows.
THE FRANK R KILLIEN HOUSE GARDEN
Historic trees also guard the front entrance to the home. On the left of the entrance stands a mighty and majestic Red Cedar in which the bluejays, and other birds nest and love to perch. To the right side of the front yard is a very old Norway Spruce, a favorite of the squirrels, who leap from it's branches onto the hipped roof and run to collect sprice berries which fall. Both of these trees are approximately 70-80 feet high, according to professional gardeners. There is a very large holly tree which sports an abundance of berries in the fall and winter monthes. And a marvellous birch that is taller than the house itself. Smaller trees such as apple, cherry, and fig grow on the south side of the house. An ornamental weeping cherry tree also flanks the south yard, while a deep double french lilac, lemon lilac, and various shades of rhodadendron bushes abound in the back, front and side yards.
Across the front yard grow a profusion of favorite antique roses of ours such as cabbage rose bushes, climbing roses and florabundas. As well as various other types of ornamental shrubs and bushes, as well as a miriad of bulbs, such as crocus, tulips, daffodil, snowcrop, lily of the valley, and grape hyacynth, calla lilies, morning glories, bridal veil and blue and lime hydrangeas, hostas, which provide a profusion of colour in the spring. The Campbell's have added numerous trees, shrubs, and flowers to the yard, since their purchase of the home in 1989.
THE ORIGINAL KILLIEN HOUSE CARRIAGE HOUSE/GARAGE & SHED
The Killien House property contained two original outbuildings, a carriage house or garage and a shed, mentioned in the deed or transfer from Theodore H MacDonald to Frank R Killien. An original photo of Lowell, shows horses tied to a hitching post in downtown Lowell. The original 16X20 carriage house or garage which was located behind the house, is also comprised of first growth or old growth fir, from the turn of the century. The carriage house and shed are visible in early photographs of Lowell Village. The ceiling of the garage was comprised of tongue and groove fir. The large original old growth fir door with brass fixture for carriage entry was on the north side, with an original 5 paneled old growth fir side door with original brass knob and hinges was located on the east side of the structure, facing the rear of the house. The ceiling appears to be between 8-9 feet. The construction of this building was part of a real estate boom as E.D. Smith , the father or founder of this area, built a mill and additional buildings to form the 1863 town of Lowell, Washington. The Killien house carriage house or garage, which was demolished in May 2009, had hand beveled siding. There were two french windows with hand blown glass on the east side of the structure. The ceiling of the roof covering was comprised of tongue and groove wood. The original flooring was constructed of 2X10 wood planks. Some had deteriorated due to turn of the century construction methods. Present building code upgrades require that cement footings or foundation be used. The home was already 84 years old at the time it was purchased.
The 10X16 shed exterior with a ceiling of approximately 7 feet, is built from local old growth fir with custom beveled siding which matches that of the home's garage. At the end of the structure, there is an original window, such as is seen in early log cabins of the early frontier. From a window of this sort, the occupants could raise a rifle to defend themselves from danger such as wolves and bears. The original structure has an opening for a west window that was walled up at the time we purchased the home. This shed, like that of the garage are clearly visible in historic photographs of the property, such as a circa 1912 panarama picture in our possession.
These original outbuildings can be clearly observed in a historic photograph (circa 1912) which shows these matching buildings. Innumerable interesting features distinguish this historic home of approximately 105 years. Local artist Bernie Webber painted a mural of Lowell which includes the Frank R. Killien House.
Velton's Coffee Roasting Co, 5205 S 2nd Ave, Everett, WA, 98203-4114, 425/259-6756, coffee mills (mfrs)
LOWELL PARK
4605 S. 3rd Ave.
Everett, WA 98203
Size
10 acres
Park hours
LOWELL RIVER FRONT PARK
Location
Amenities
Adopt a park
Lowell Riverfront Park was adopted by Crystal Lite Foundation Employees.
THE HISTORIC LOWELL CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH NEXT DOOR
Historic homes and buildings of the Lowell, Washington area, dating from the early 1890's, include:
Organized in 1889 by Rev. G.G. Lewis, the congregation first met in Smith Hall until the present structure was completed late in 1891 on land donated by town founder E.D. Smith with lumber from his mill. It is Everett's oldest building and was first called The Congregational Church. On New Years Eve of 1984, at about 2 a.m., the historic church was severely damaged by a arson fire. At the time of the fire, Pastor Frank & Virginia Stipek were in Alaska, visiting family members. The congregation was thankful for many things, but especially these two. 1) No one had been injured in the blaze. 2) As fire-fighters battled the fire, firemen stepped outside to get a larger hose, just before the tall south side roof collapsed, so these men were not injured.
Temporary services were held in the church annex church as the congregation, it's friends, and neighbors rebuilt it through valient community effort of money, goods, time and services. A pulpit, altar and fourteen pews were donated from a mukilteo church that was installing new ones.
OTHER HISTORIC SITES IN LOWELL
OTHER LOWELL, WASHINGTON SITES
LINKS
IT'S HERITAGE IN THE COMMUNITY OF LOWELL, WASHINGTON
"Dear ____________:
Dear Mr & Mrs Campbell:
From the cottage foyer's leaded and beveled glass windows and front door glass you can see the foot-bridge across the street on South 2nd Avenue which spans the train tracks and leads past the waterfall at the base of the stairs, on past the marsh with it's indiginous water birds, water plants and the blue dragon-fly brigade that wave the way to the waters edge of the scenic Snohomish River Trail. The trail is a favorite of bicyclists, people out for a stroll as well as joggers who enjoy the lovely paved biking and jogging path. There are a miriad of birds and other wildlife which can be seen along the forested trail.
The dining room hearth is set off by a backsplash of foot long hand painted terra cotta pomegranate and flower relief tiles, over the ivory woodstove with glass doors and installed by the present owners. An arched wainscotted wall niche set into the south hearth wall. The house has two original masonry chimneys, located in the dining room and kitchen. One of them is located in the fining room of the home, and can be seen in a circa 1912 photograph. The chimneys are visible in other historic area photographs of the home. The dining room asa a
Over this we discovered no less than 6 layers of wallpaper. The layer of wallpaper immediately covering the Venetian plaster was Lincrusta, a raised or relief paper in a floral scroll pattern. Since Everett Pulp & Paper sent their promising young employee back east to train him in every aspect of the paper making trade, it is likely that the Lincrusta paper is an early example of the regions paper trade.
There's a long list of flowers and shrubs are reminiscent of the Victorian garden style. Lilies, magnolia, larkspur, zinnia, daffodil, and begonias are all common Victorian flowers. Aster, tulips, blue sage, and lavender were also very popular in these gardens. Clematis, wisteria, and morning glories are Victorian vines. When creating a Victorian garden it is important to include traditional shrubs such as rose, hydrangea, and lilac. Many Victorian shrubs are easy to find and inexpensive.
The Frank R Killien House has, at the street entrance of the home, two 8 foot river rock pillars, with a matching 3 foot high river rock wall complemented by a white picket fence. These were constructed by the owner, Tom Campbell between February 2001-2003. A historic weeping willow tree grows in the back yard at the rear of the home, near the garage and beside the rock and brick stairs leading from it, lined on either side of the cement stairs with borders of deep green boxwood. The stately willow is visible in early photos of the neighborhood, such as a circa 1912 panarama picture that we have in our possession.
AMENITIES
from Sept. 9-Oct. 22 for renovation. Patrons during this time are
encouraged to use the temporary off-leash, fenced area at the south
end of the park.
With plenty of parking, the Lowell Riverfront Park puts walkers, hikers and bikers in the center of the Lowell Riverfont Trail. This 1.75-mile, multi-use trail features a 10-foot-wide paved path that includes views of Mt. Baker, Rainier and the Cascades, as well as numerous wildlife habitats. The trailhead is located just off Lenora Street.
Lowell-Snohomish River Rd.
Everett, WA
(Left) A panel from artist Bernie Weber's mural which is displayed on the wall of the Lowell Elementary School.
The 1939 Lowell Fire Hall at 5213 South 2nd Avenue
Get Married In Historic Lowell
Tom Campbell-Stone Craftsman
Alana Campbell's Artwork
Our Mountain Home Photo Album