Pioneering Families Magazine 2014 by Ferndale Record

The Ferndale Record proudly presents its 4th Annual

P IONEERING FA M I L I E S OF WHATCOM COUNTY

A supplement of the Ferndale Record July 2014

Featured Families Truchon | Solene | Lewis | Finkbonner | Russell

Welcome Dear Readers, The Ferndale Record is proud to welcome you to its 2014 “Pioneering Families” magazine. We are very proud to annually highlight some of the families that helped to shape this amazing place we call home……...Whatcom County. These pioneering families live amongst you in Ferndale, Custer, Everson, Lynden, Sumas, Birch Bay and Bellingham. They experienced many hardships and struggles along the way, mixed with great joy and much success. It’s hard to imagine how they accomplished so much with what we today would consider so little? As we celebrate our Old Settlers this month in Ferndale, please take a few moments to read and learn more about some of your neighbors and friends. We hope you enjoy our stories and tribute to these remarkable men and women.

Publisher

Contributing Writers Mark Reimers Brent Lindquist Calvin Bratt

Pioneering Families of Whatcom County July 2014

Layout & Graphics Amanda Haslip Advertising Sales Rachael Dawkins Jan Brown

Nita Harksell shares her grandmother’s memories of traveling cross-country to live in Whatcom County iana Truchon loved to dance.

She enjoyed it so much that, at one point prior to her marriage to Lawrence Teeple in 1919, she broke up with him for a long time because he wouldn’t join her at local dances. After about a year apart, Diana went from Bellingham, where she lived at the time, to Ferndale for the Old Settlers Picnic dance. “I went into the dance hall and there was Lawrence out on the dance floor dancing,” she said. “I just stood there perplexed. I could hardly believe it. He never called me or nothing about what he had been doing. He went and took dance lessons. When that dance was over, he saw me and came over and asked me to dance and, of course, I did.” 4

Louis, Diana and Herbert Truchon stand with their uncle Ludger in a family photo. Pioneering Families of Whatcom County July 2014

Diana’s granddaughter, Nita Harksell, interviewed her grandmother back in the 1990s and wrote down everything she said about her life growing up in Pennsylvania and, later, around Whatcom County, in a book titled “Diana, Life to the Fullest.” Diana’s hometown was Austin, Pennsylvania, about 25 miles south of the New York state line. When she was two years old, her father, Ernest Truchon, departed for the Alaska gold rush. He arrived in Seattle on March 12, 1900, and finally arrived in Dawson City, Alaska, on July 7 of the same year. Ernest was gone for seven years. Diana was almost nine years old when he returned home. “I don’t know how my mother took that,” Diana said in the book. “She had three little kids to take care of and she had to make a living for herself.” On his way back from Alaska, Ernest stopped to visit Diana’s half sister in Bellingham. “He must have wrote or something and asked my mother to pack and come out to Bellingham with us kids,” Diana said. “My mother let him know she would not go to Bellingham with three children by herself. He had to come back and get her or she wouldn’t go.” So, Ernest did just that. He met the family, consisting of Selena, Diana and her twin brothers, Herbert and Louis, in Chicago, and they traveled back by train to Pennsylvania. Diana’s mother, Selena, packed up all their belongings and shipped them out to Bellingham. The train trip took about three weeks. Diana had her ninth birthday on the train, as it was placed on a ferry to cross one of the country’s major rivers. The train ride over was fraught with hazards. “We’d go so far and pretty soon there’d be another track out,” Diana said. “One time when we had to stop, I think a bridge was out, we had to hike up a hill to where the relief train was. We had to take our luggage and everything and hike up the hill. One guy lost his suitcase. It just went tumbling down the hill, I don’t think he ever went back to get it. I never saw him anyhow.” This was a common occurrence. With snow on the ground, the passengers would hike Pioneering Families of Whatcom County July 2014

Diana Truchon Teeple, with daughter Gwendolyn, in an early photo.

to another track and board another train. Dead animals were visible near the tracks, most of them apparently drowned, Diana said. The family arrived in Bellingham sometime after the middle of October on a sunny day. They walked up from the depot in Bellingham’s Old Town district up Holly Street to Lake Street, where Diana’s sister Jessie lived. The family lived with Jessie for about a month until the house next to Jessie’s opened up, and Diana’s mother purchased it. They bought a couple of beds, used boxes for chairs and borrowed a small table from Jessie. The family didn’t have much in the way of possessions; it took them three weeks to travel out to Bellingham. It took their luggage upwards of three

Continued on pg. 6 5

Diana Truchon, pictured in an old photograph taken around 1916 or 1917.

Continued from pg. 5

months. Diana’s father left for work on Vancouver Island, working as a logger there. He was gone for about a month at a time, and the family never really knew when he would return. Diana found a love for cards through her father, who would spend much of his time at home playing cards with friends, with his children playing their own game nearby. “They’d have their game and us kids would have ours,” she said. “That’s how I got my love for cards.” They lived there three to six months before moving into a place two houses down, on the other side of Jessie’s residence. That home didn’t have a bathroom, and was very small. Diana and her brothers had to sleep in 6

the attic. The family’s next move took them to 419 Lake St., to a nicer house with three bedrooms, as her father was making pretty good money selling logs. The kids only had about a block to walk to their school on Franklin Street. “When I was baptized back in Pennsylvania, my mother spelled my name ‘Dianna’ but when we moved to Bellingham and I started school here, the teacher told me that was the wrong way to spell it. From then on, my name has been spelled ‘Diana.’” The kids enjoyed picking berries in the woods near where the Lakeway Drive Fred Meyer is now. Their mother made jam from them. Diana’s mother loved fishing, and she did so every chance she got after coming to Bellingham.

She fished south of Fairhaven, and would travel out to Ferndale as well, taking the 4 a.m. train to the Ferndale depot. That was how Diana found a love for fishing. Later, Diana’s father started working around Lake Whatcom. He bought timber from the land around the lake, and logged the small island at the head of the lake. He also worked at the end of Bakerview Road. They bought a house at 2219 Iron Street. Diana got a job working at a clothing store, before her mother put her in college. She learned bookkeeping and worked in a grocery store in the Public Market on the corner of Cornwall and Magnolia streets. Lawrence Teeple was on his way to Europe on a ship when World War I ended and the ship was called back. Lawrence’s mother called Diana and said she wanted her to go along to meet him when he arrived on the train. On Aug. 11, 1918, when Diana was all packed up to travel to Portland for a vacation, she received a call from her mother telling her that her father had been in a terrible logging accident and wasn’t expected to survive much longer. He passed away the next day. Diana was working for Puget Sound Power and Light Company at the time. They owned all the streetcars at the time, and had a coach made for funerals. It carried their family, along with the casket and a few others. The light company paid for the use of the funeral car. Diana’s father was buried at Bayview Cemetery, where her mother would be buried beside him many years later. The family remained on Iron Street for about a year after Diana’s father died. Selena rented from then on, buying a smaller

Pioneering Families of Whatcom County July 2014

ployed him to take photos of residents around Whatcom County for assessment. The family moved around a lot, but Diana never had trouble finding a job. “I could always get a job,” she said. “If I quit or something happened to it, I could find another.” Diana and Lawrence worked a variety of jobs and eventually had two daughters, Gwendolyn and Shirley. Gwendolyn and husband Carl Levien had eight children, and Shirley and husband Charles McKenzie Diana Truchon loved to fish, and did so at numerous had five. places around Whatcom County. She gained her love of Lawrence passed fishing from her mother. away on March 15, 1971, house after Diana married Law- from a stroke that Diana susrence on Aug. 16, 1919, and moved pected was the result of a prior fall from a ladder at a pulp mill at out. Lawrence’s father had which he worked, in Hoquiam. worked as a photographer, and Diana married old friend Lawrence did the same. Once the Pat Alleyn in 1974, moving to an Great Depression hit, Lawrence apartment on Golden Eagle Drive took a job with the government, in Ferndale in 1977. and officials soon discovered his She traveled with Pat back to photographic talents and em- Pennsylvania, 70 years after the

Pioneering Families of Whatcom County July 2014

Truchon family moved across the county on the train. They visited the family’s old house while there. “(Pat) wanted me to go into my old house and let t hem know I used to live there, but I said I didn’t want to do that,” Diana said. “I hated to go in there and ask those people if I could look around. It wasn’t the same anyhow.” Pat died suddenly in 1981 after becoming sick. Diana Marie Truchon Teeple Alleyn died in 1995. Most of her family was there at her funeral to celebrate her life. “There were so many beautiful cards including many Mass cards,” her daughter, Gwen, wrote. “There were 200 people at the funeral. The women in the family each took a pretty pink rose from her casket spray.” Nita collected her grandmother’s and Gwen’s memories and published them in her own book in 1996. “It was a lot of fun,” Nita said. “Mostly, I let her talk. I didn’t ask her questions. I was just going down every Monday afternoon. I was going and listening to her, talking to her, and she was telling stories about her life.” Nita said compiling “Diana, Life to the Fullest” remains one of her favorite memories of her grandmother.

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Pioneering Families of Whatcom County July 2014

Solene Family Etched into Foothills History Family raising seventh generation in Whatcom County

haron Maupin wasn’t just a proud grandmother when her first grandchild was born three years ago. That’s because she knows little Summer is the newest link in a seven-generation family chain that all called Whatcom County home. It all began in 1885 with Maupin’s great-grandfather, Peter Olaf Solene. Great-grandfather Peter, a native of Sweden, traveled to Whatcom County by way of Iowa. He took with him his family at the time, which consisted of his wife Margaret, oldest son Wilhelm (William), born in

Continued on pg. 10 Pioneering Families of Whatcom County July 2014

Peter and Margaret Solene in the 1930s or 1940s 9

Previous page top: Little Summer Crandell is the youngest generation in a long line of Solene family members. Above: Alvina Peterson, died at 50 years old. However, she was mother to 11 children, and also helped raise the grandchildren of her oldest daughter Margaret, who died giving birth to her second child.

Continued from pg. 9 1882 in Sweden, and daughter Hilma, who was born just previous to the move in Iowa. Margaret’s mother, Anna Sunberg also accompanied the young family on their travels. She lived with them until her death in Whatcom County in 1902. She was 81 years old. The first Solene farm, located on Mosquito Lake Road, became the place where Peter and Margaret grew their family. That property would remain in the family until it was sold at a county auction in 1914 or 1915. The details regarding the circumstances that surrounded that sale are hazy at best. But records show that it was purchased by a prominent member of the Bellingham community. The family moved from there just a short distance away, closer to the present day Mount Baker Highway. 10

This family photo shows the growing Solene family with grandchildren included. Some significant names include (back row from left): Albert Solene, Charlie Gay, Elvira (Mary) Solene Gay, Hilma Solene Fleming, Homer Fleming, Alvina Solene Peterson, and Ernest Peterson. Peter and Margaret Solene are seated together in the front row.

Peter Solene died Nov. 2, 1943. He was 87 years old, according to newspaper notices of his death. By then, he had three surviving children, and Maupin’s grandmother was not among them. He did, however, have 21 grandchildren and 12 great grandchildren at that point. He was a prominent member of the Whatcom County Dairymen’s Association. His wife Margaret, outlived Peter, passing away at 86 years of age. The second generation Keeping track of all of Peter Solene’s descendants is no simple task. Maupin has spent long hours pouring over library archives of newspapers and census documents. She has even managed to track down some of the history of some of

the family properties. “I started doing genealogy on my family and it was all-consuming,” Maupin said. “There is so much here.” Peter and Margaret had five more children after arriving in Whatcom County. Emil was born in 1890 and died four years later. Alvina, Maupin’s grandmother, was born in 1892. Frida was born in 1895, Olga in 1897, Elvira in 1900 and Albert in 1902. William, the oldest child, came of age working in the local lumber industry. However, his death at the young age of 20 didn’t come on the job. Several newspapers from that era recorded it as a freak accident. A tree blew over during a storm onto his cabin, killing him instantly. Maupin and other family members have hiked the area in order to

Pioneering Families of Whatcom County July 2014

find the grave sites of the Solenes and other members of the family. As it turns out, William’s headstone is quite prominent thanks to an insurance policy he had recently purchased. Etched into the tall stumplike monument is William Solene’s name, along with the words “Woodsman of the World.” Maupin’s grandmother Alvina, had 11 children before she passed away just months before her father (April 17, 1943). Alvina’s two oldest children were from her first marriage. She later married Maupin’s grandfather Ernest Peterson and had Alice, Arlie, Glen, Helen, Harley, Agnes, Carl, Fred and Dorothy. Fred died while fishing in Alaska in his mid-twenties. Harley, Maupin’s father, was a twin with Helen and the two were also close friends. Agnes, Carl and Dorothy are all still living and residing in the SedroWoolley area. Margaret, one of Alvina’s first two children from her first marriage, died giving birth to her second daughter. Both girls went and lived with Alvina. According to newspaper accounts about Alvina’s death, she was ill for about four years leading up to her passing. Harley Harley Peterson wasn’t home when his mother died. He was serving in the U.S. Army during World War II in the European theater, fighting in significant areas as a 50 cal. gunner in Company B of the 736 tank battalion. While Harley was there, he connected with his half-brother, Clar-

Continued on pg. 12 Twins Helen and Harley Peterson, grandchildren of Peter and Margaret Solene, were best friends throughout their lives. Harley eventually named his daughter Helen. Pioneering Families of Whatcom County July 2014

Harley Peterson served in Europe during the last year of World War II, his tank unit playing a role in the defense of allied gains. He also met up with half-brother Clarence (right), while he was there. Clarence was an elder son of mother Alvina.

Continued from pg. 11

ence (brother to Margaret) who was known as “Sweeny.” Photos of the two of them together in uniform immortalize the meeting. Like many soldiers, Harley’s war-time experience had a major effect on him. He didn’t share a whole lot, but what he did share was profound. Maupin said he was known to tell his children that it was relatively “easy” to cut down 20 German soldiers with a machine gun. But he distinctly remembers one 12

lone soldier he had in his sights that he chose not to kill. “Once there was a single soldier running for his life,” Maupin said. “He couldn’t pull the trigger even though he was being told to shoot him.” Harley was discharged in 1945 and married his wife Elsie on Sept. 30, 1950. But it was 12 years before they had children. First came Maupin’s sister Helen on Feb. 13, 1962. Then came Sharon herself on March 25, 1963. They were Pioneering Families of Whatcom County July 2014

Post-war family: Harley (left), Sharon Maupin’s father, is pictured with family members, including, from left, Josaphine Harrison (niece), Roy Kenny (brother-in-law), Ernest Peterson (father), and Dorothy Peterson (sister).

Harley’s only children. Sharon now has two children of her own: Derek, 31, and Matthew Crandell, 26. Summer, the seventh-generation descendent of Peter Olaf Solene in her life may never even meet someone with that last name. As far as Maupin can tell, there’s only one man left bearing the

name Solene and he lives in Monroe. Still there’s nothing more dramatic to illustrate a legacy than to see little Summer standing in the shadow of her ancestors at a small forgotten cemetery off of Mosquito Lake Road.

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‘ Scribe of Parsnip Corner In 1914, 26-year-old Seattleite Sol Lewis found his true calling as Lynden '‘ C ountry Editor’' by Calvin Bratt e could have chosen a career with a big-city newspaper or magazine, or teaching in a university somewhere. At age 26, he had sampled those options. Instead in October 1914, Sol H. Lewis boarded a steamer north from Seattle, put $7,500 down to purchase The Lynden Tribune, and staked his future to being the country editor in an out-of-the-way town of just 1,500 folks surrounded by farms. In fact, Lewis had found his place to thrive. In the pages of the Tribune, in addition to reporting the local happenings of the week, he was able to exercise his penchant for clever humor and connecting with people to make them feel appreciated and important. In 1915, within a year of his arrival, Lewis launched his personal column of quips and tidbits gleaned from his daily interaction with the people of Lynden. It was called The Gimlet, a reference to a boring tool. “The Gimlet does not go abroad for material. The men and women and boys and girls of Lynden and vicinity provide plenty of it,” stated The Washington Newspaper, a journalism trade publication, when it came to investigate. “The columnist knows his people so well and has been so successful in establishing a

spirit in which the column shall be read, that no one stops his paper — unless perchance because he is left out.”

Clever humor, optimism and a way with people were his traits for success and fame In one entry the Gimlet listed 19 men named Bill in the Lynden area who would be good for forming a regiment: “It would scare any opposing army to death to have to meet as many bills as that.” Response to that column produced the names of six more Bills who had been left out and had to be listed in the next week’s edition. By 1920 American Magazine had also taken note of the suc-

cessful young country editor in far northwest Washington State. An article told of Lewis’s belief that a little town, not the big city, was the place to find journalistic fulfillment and the good life. “I wish to goodness I could persuade more newspaper men to drop their puny, scrambling jobs in feverish city offices and get double the pay and triple the happiness in the country field,” he was quoted as saying. “Do you know any city reporter who can skip off for four days a week on a fishing trip and still hold his job? I can. Do you know many city newspaper men who are absolutely independent, who write what they think, or do as they please? I do.” In February 1929 Lewis was pictured in the Seattle Times — on a page also featuring famed pilot Charles Lindbergh getting engaged and inventor Thomas Edison turning 82 — receiving an award from the Washington State Press Association for having increased advertising sales more in the previous year than any other association member. Lewis was also popular as a public speaker and toastmaster. “He was known best for his bright and optimistic outlook on life, and whenever there was a ‘wrong,’ Grandpa Sol would do his best to

Pioneering Families of Whatcom County July 2014

William Lewis, served as publisher from 1945-1984

‘right’ it,” wrote granddaughter Barbara Lewis in 1978 for a high school English class assignment. During the Depression, Lewis, by his optimistic attitude, was able to encourage other newspapermen to keep going even when advertising income was down and many business enterprises around them were failing, the granddaughter wrote from her research. All those traits of Sol Lewis, both literary and personal, were put onto a national stage when he was asked to appear in August 1942 on a Blue Network radio panel of newspaper publishers on “The Role of the Press in Wartime.” The editor of Parsnip Corner, as he affectionately dubbed Lynden, was the sole reassuring voice that the war effort could be successful. “It is my belief that the major policy of the press in wartime should be to battle the Rhubarb Regiments and Gooseberries throughout Amer-

Julian Lewis, served as publisher from 1948-1991

ica — the sour souls who are flooding us with tears and pessimism and nasty whispers. Put those Bawl Babies back in their cribs!” he said over the national airwaves. ewis continued as “The Country Editor” spokesman each Saturday afternoon from Seattle on the Blue Network, forerunner of NBC. He also wrote a column for The Sunday Seattle Times on topics of public interest. Although he chose the small town, Lewis hadn’t been raised in one. He was born in 1888 in California to German immigrant parents and had his early schooling in San Francisco. When he was 12, the family of six children moved to Seattle — with Sol agreeing to go along only if his dog could too, so the story goes. A bright student, Sol graduated in 1906 from Broadway High in Seattle, then worked for two years in a bank as he waited for the journal-

Pioneering Families of Whatcom County July 2014

ism department to be established at the University of Washington. In the program, he excelled as editor of both the yearbook and the university daily newspaper. He was a member of the Phi Beta Kappa scholastic honorary and graduated in 1912 magna cum laude. He taught for two years as an assistant professor at the University of Kansas at Lawrence. During one summer vacation, he worked at The New York World newspaper. Of that stint, American Magazine would later recount that former associates termed Lewis “an alert news gatherer and a snappy writer.” He also taught journalism for a summer session at the University of California at Berkeley. Saving up his earnings, he still needed to borrow some money from relatives to buy the Tribune. He also came to Lynden a bachelor, then

Continued on pg. 18 17

Continued from pg. 17 two years later married Aimee Michaelson, a home economist he had known from college. She was willing to share the country life with him. To them were born daughter Dorothy and sons William and Julian. Across nearly four decades, Sol Lewis was indisputably and peerlessly the man at the helm of the Lynden newspaper. The Tribune gradually became the shared work of Sol with sons Bill and Julian after they too completed the journalism program at the Uni-

versity of Washington. Eventually, Bill directed the editorial content of the newspaper while Julian headed up the business side. At a Lynden Chamber of Commerce banquet in his honor in 1949 on the 35th anniversary of his coming to Lynden, Sol said this in explaining why he never left: “Lynden looked like a community with lots of steam and the people appeared to be good people. You’ve heard about leaving for greener fields. Well, Lynden’s fields always looked green to me.”

In June 1953, Sol Lewis, after having felt the flu for a few days, suddenly had a heart attack and could not be saved. He was 64 at his death. “During his years in Lynden he became nationally known for his witty grassroots sense of humor,” his obituary read. The Lynden Tribune is now under the management of Michael D. Lewis, Sol’s grandson and son of Julian, and his wife, Mary Jo. This fall, the Tribune will celebrate 100 years under Lewis family ownership.

Pioneering Families of Whatcom County July 2014

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The original Finkbonner in Whatcom County was Christian Charles, often shortened to C.C. in historical references. Percival R. Jeffcott Photograph #513 Center for Pacific Northwest Studies Heritage Resources

FINKBONNERS GREW INTO DIVERSE FAMILY FROM FORBEAR’S 1858 ARRIVAL Of German roots, C.C. Finkbonner married a native wife; four sons settled Sandy Point By Calvin Bratt 20

he very start of the Finkbonner clan in Whatcom County seems simple enough. The name C.C. (Christian Charles) Finkbonner shows up in various accounts of early local history. It’s a present-day accounting of the extended family that gets challenging. The Original Finkbonner C.C. Finkbonner came to Bellingham Bay in 1858 and maybe he didn’t even intend to stay. Fort Bellingham had just been built two years before, and permanent settlement was barely taking root. Finkbonner, working as a merchant out of San Francisco, arrived with a stock of goods to supply miners bound for the new gold finds on the Fraser River in British Columbia. Finkbonner took a job as clerk for the T.G. Richards purveying company on the waterfront. It was a firm whose business was greatly stimulated by the “gold fever” to the north as well as the

Pioneering Families of Whatcom County July 2014

original Northwest survey being done to establish the boundary between the United States and British Canada. Residing on the Lummi Indian Reservation by March 1867, Finkbonner wrote to the Pacific Tribune of Olympia to report that Mount Baker was showing signs of being “in active eruption,” with “dense volumes of smoke” emitting from the summit on clear cold days. According to Roth’s History of Whatcom CounC.C. Finkbonner joins seven other comrades in the early history of Percival R. Jeffcott Photograph #1446 ty, Finkbonner Center for Pacific Northwest Studies Whatcom County in posing for this photo that may have been taken worked as a cusHeritage Resources on the Fourth of July 1874 in Sehome. From left are: seated, Sutcliff Western Washington University toms inspector and Bellingham, WA 98225-9123 Baxter, Thomas Wynn, William Jarman and John Jenkins; standing, an Indian sub-agent Finkbonner, John Franel, Barnery Hayward and George Slater. and he also served in the 1871 session challenges ... This band of brothers along the way, with Finkbonner getof the Washington might represent the thousands who ting an apportionment of land on what Territorial Legislature. came to the county from the 1860s, is now the Sandy Point jut of land, part When he died unexpectedly of a the 1880s, the 1890s and later.” of the Lummi Indian Reservation as heart attack at about age 52 on Oct. 18, set by the Point Elliott Treatt of 1855. 1876, Finkbonner was working for the The First Family The 1900 census also declares that Bellingham Bay Coal Company. The The forefather on Bellingham Mary, by then age 56, had been born company suspended business for the Bay was Christian Charles Finkbon- in British Columbia to a father of the funeral, and his pallbearers included ner and he was originally from Ger- Langly tribe and a mother of the Clalseveral prominent citizens of early many, great-grandson Jerry Fink- lam tribe. By 1900 too, son Henry, age Whatcom — John Tennant, Thomas bonner of Sandy Point is careful to 30, was married to Rose, the daughter Wynn, Henry Roeder and Edward Elpoint out. C.C. can be easily mixed of a Scotsman and a Clallam wife. Yet dridge. up with his oldest son, Charles, and the tribal identity of most of the Fink “He was a man of noble and geneven some local archival labeling bonner offspring is listed as Lummi. erous impulses, and as such is much has it wrong. It’s that mixture of tribe and nalamented by the community,” eulo He was a typical young Euro- tionality that continued on down gized the Bellingham Bay Mail. pean immigrant of the time who among the Finkbonner descendants, C.C. Finkbonner had posed with may have come with brothers (who especially with some marrying into seven other “old settlers” for a photo, stayed farther east) seeking the free- the Lummi tribe and some not, says possibly on the Fourth of July 1874 dom and opportunity of America, Jerry Finkbonner, who claims to be when the whole town of Sehome was says the history-loving descendant. one-half Lummi. It makes for very photographed. Of that occasion, local Circa 1860 C.C. took as his interesting family pedigree, says the historian E. Rosamonde Ellis Van Miwife Mary, the adopted daughter 62-year-old retired teacher from the ert had this to say in her collections for of Chief Kwina of the Lummi tribe. Ferndale School District. the 107th Whatcom County Old SetFrom this union came six children, His own line of descent is via tlers celebration in 2004: “Old Settlers, in birth order Charles, Nellie, Lucy, Charles Finkbonner to his father Fred this band of brothers of time long ago Henry, Frank and George, according and mother Velma Harnden, who towere still young in 1874, posing for this to various sources including U.S. gether had nine children in all, among formal, yet friendly photograph. Eight Census data from 1870 and 1900. whom Jerry is the youngest. bearded men — in white shirts, with The marriage into the Lummi At 4594 Sucia Dr. on the Sandy summer hats, arms on each other’s tribe also coincided, somewhere shoulders, as if united against life’s

Continued on pg. 22

Pioneering Families of Whatcom County July 2014

Continued from pg. 21 Point peninsula, Jerry lives right near the former house on the apportionment to the Charles Finkbonner branch of the family. That house had painful significance because when it burned in July 1945 the fire claimed the life of 12-year-old girl Cleo Rose. Brothers Henry and Frank were farther south on the point while George’s portion was more to the west, along Slater Road. Jerry Finkbonner has an aerial photo of Sandy Point taken approximately in 1950, before the area’s development into the hundreds of waterfront houses seen today. In fact, the photo can be scrutinized to make out the buildings erected by each of the four brothers, Charles, Henry, Frank and George, in their assigned sections of the original homestead of Sandy Point by Christian Charles Finkbonner. “That’s been 150 years. It’s pretty special. So I tell my sons this property is not for sale,” Jerry said. Hard as it may be to believe now, the brothers farmed on the low swampy peninsula, raising grains and keeping animals. And Jerry also remembers that many red foxes were holed up in an embankment along what is now Salt Spring Drive. At a Finkbonner family reunion about five years ago, more than 200 descendants of C.C. Finkbonner showed up, and Jerry thinks there may be

These are unidentified Finkbonner families.

that many more in Whatcom County who didn’t come. About 120 are in the Charles line alone. “There are Finkbonners all over that I don’t know who they are. But if I ask who are their parents or grandparents, then I can know (the connection),” he said. His sons Jason and Jeff represent a fifth generation and in other parts of the family tree are youngsters in the sixth generation of Finkbonners in Whatcom County. The Bigger Family Marcia Finkbonner McPhail didn’t really know much about the large family she was born into until later in life. It helped that husband Larry McPhail is very interested in local history. The couple live on H Street Road between Lynden and Blaine. Marcia is a daughter of Harry James Finkbonner (one of two sonamed), who died when she was a girl in 1953. He, in turn, was the oldest son, born in 1899, in the line of descent from Henry. Growing up at Custer, Marcia said, she didn’t know much about her Finkbonner family connections until she got to Ferndale High School and found out how many cousins she did have, and later when she and Larry lived close by a first cousin. She said she is one-quarter Lummi, although she is not officially on the records of the tribe as a member. A half-brother of hers, whose

mother was of the Lummi Solomon family, does quality as a Lummi member, she noted. Her father, mother and grandfather farmed for a time in the Sumas area, she said. “They did a lot of fishing, farming and logging,” added Larry. Larry McPhail said his family came to Washington a few years too late after 1889 statehood to qualify as members of the historical Clamdiggers Association. But through Marcia’s Finkbonner heritage they would go to the annual reunions that were held, and no other families could claim an earlier settlement in Washington Territory than C.C. Finkbonner’s 1858. The Finkbonner name has gained a much higher profile lately due to the story of Jake. In 2006 the local boy, then age 6, almost died of a bacterial flesh-eating infection that started from a cut lip. He received treatment at Seattle Children’s Hospital, but it was a miracle of God that saved him, his family believes. They interceded for him through a Native American woman of more than 300 years ago, Kateri Tekakwitha, and the infection stopped. In 2012 Pope Benedict XVI declared the Jake Finkbonner healing a miracle and Tekakwitha a saint. When the McPhails went to Clamdigger Association reunions for those with pre-statehood ancestry, no family could claim an earlier settlement date in Whatcom County than C.C.’s 1858, Larry said.

Howard E. Buswell Photographs #4 and #42 Center for Pacific Northwest Studies Heritage Resources Western Washington University Bellingham, WA 98225-9123

Pioneering Families of Whatcom County July 2014

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HK and Georgy Russell are thought to be pictured at their wedding in this photo, likely taken at the early family home on Old Guide Road.

Russell legacy includes hard work, family ties by Mark Reimers

HK Russell lived on land with Barrett Cabin It’s one of the smallest structures in Pioneer Park but the Barrett Cabin hasn’t always looked the way it does today. That’s what a century of use by multiple families will do to a building. The Barrett Cabin (Trudder Post Office) now rests comfortably with its log beam walls exposed for effect, but one family remembers it for the utility it offered at a farm on Barrett Lake. By the time HK and Georgia (Georgy) Russell moved to the 64-acre 24

farm at the corner of Axton and Paradise roads in 1926, they were already the second generation of Russells to come to Washington State. HK’s parents, Hector and Margaret (Maggie) Russell, moved from Michigan in 1905, eventually settling permanently in a house on Old Guide Road. They lived there until they died, both of them between 1927 and 1929. According to some of the family stories, Hector originally decided to leave Michigan because the logging industry there was petering out. At the time, Washington was a land of opportunity for loggers. Before moving to

Old Guide Road, the family spent time living at Big Lake, Skagit County. HK was 15 years old when he made it to the Old Guide location. His future bride, Georgia Talmage, also came from a pioneering family. Her parents were Earnest and Amanda Talmage, who moved to a Wiser Lake farm in 1902. Georgy was 9. HK and Georgy were married in 1909 and HK moved his family briefly to Big Lake in order to work as a shingle packer. But that didn’t last long. In 1914, the family moved back to Whatcom County, to a farm HK leased near Cherry Point. It was there that the

Pioneering Families of Whatcom County July 2014

Above: Margaret “Maggie” and Hector Russell, HK’s parents. Right: Young parents HK and Georgy Russell are pictured with their children Irene and Berneice, born in 1910 and 1912, respectively. family really began to grow. Irene, the oldest, was born in 1910, Berneice in 1912, Ladd in 1914, Blanche in 1915, Angela (Angie) in 1920 and HK Jr. (Sonny) in 1928. The oldest two girls were born in Skagit County. Ladd was born with Spina Bifida and died as an infant. Donna Pollman, of Ferndale, is the daughter of Berneice and still has copies of many of the documents from that era, including a receipt for Ladd’s coffin and a death certificate. Sonny, born eight long years after Angie, also nearly died when he “failed to thrive.” He was only saved by an arduous trip to Seattle for treatment. Sonny is the last surviving child of HK and Georgy. He still lives in Ferndale. Both Pollman and Gayle Landreth, Irene’s daughter, have spent hours pouring over 75 years worth of daily diary entries from HK. The entries are brief and detailed, no matter how mundane the days events might seem. Pollman said she remembers HK as a legendary worker and expected everyone in the family to follow suit. And they did. “Grandpa was a hardworking guy,” Pollman said. “We all had to

jump. But we really had a great time.” Some of the other surviving cousins (all grandchildren of HK and Georgy, have also recently begun to record their personal memories, but it remains a work in progress to get them all compiled. There are even some more family diaries that haven’t been shared. Most of Pullman and Landreth’s memories dwell on the Barrett Lake farm. But the grandkids also spent time at Cherry Point, because that is where their parents loved to go for fun. The area had been fish camp country and that made for a fun and crazy environment for their children. “It was the Gulf of Georgia,” Landreth said. “We were right on the water. It was deep out there but we would still

Pioneering Families of Whatcom County July 2014

play.” Donna’s sister Joyce is an accomplished painter and she has used her skills to create photorealistic works based on photos of the siblings and cousins gathered at the gulf in later years. Because the gulf site was leased, some nearby fruit trees were off limits to the tenants. The problem was, much of the fruit went to waste since they weren’t being maintained. So HK and his children had to watch during the summer months as the tasty-looking fruit dropped off their trees and rotted on the ground. HK, honest to a fault, never lifted a finger to rescue any of it.

Continued on pg. 26 25

Continued from pg. 25 “That was a very frustrating experience in a day when everything counted,” Pollman said. On the other hand, a barrel of rejected fish from the camps was always ripe for the picking. So thrifty were the Russells that pig slop was always scrounged from store castoffs. Whenever grandkids would come to visit in later years, they could always count on leaving with a trunk full of canned goods. Georgy never went anywhere without taking a pie, often made from wild blackberries,” Landreth said. Georgy was also known for her mincemeat pies. Her family swore by them, but they were an acquired taste since they were prepared using canned meat. “We loved it but it would take others by surprise,” Landreth said. Thriftiness also extended to money matters. “Grandpa was certainly sharp when it came to the pennies,” Lan26

dreth said. “When he fired someone he gave them their exact pay.” Loans to family members were always available from HK, and he was generous and firm with a very low interest rate. The family moved twice before arriving at Barrrett Lake. First they rented the Manning farm, just south of Pioneer Park, on River Road, in 1918. The Barrett Lake farm was purchased though, and the family stayed there for 22 years. But those 22 years introduced a fourth generation of Russells to Whatcom County. The farm became a constant gathering place, not only for family, but for neighbors and anyone who happened to stop in. It was such an ingrained part of life with the Russells that it was just expected that someone would show up for dinner. Georgy would plan accordingly. In later years, the habit was hard to break, as became apparent in some of Georgy’s diary entries, Landreth said. “Once, after grandpa was gone,

Above: HK and Georgy Russell are pictured here with their children at the time, and also their orphaned nephew and niece Howard and Ruth. HK traveled back east to retrieve them so they could be with family.

“Once, after grandpa was gone, Georgy wrote ‘I fixed dinner, but nobody came.”

Pioneering Families of Whatcom County July 2014

she wrote ‘I fixed dinner but nobody came,’”Landreth said. No commentary needed. The feeling came through without embellishment. “Grandma was a total extravert. She wanted people around her all the time.” Those fact-driven written records often became ironic or humorous without much effort from the couple. There’s the entry from HK, for example, where he simply writes: “Ma must be tired. She’s slamming doors.” One could almost envision him winking to the reader. But that is as sharp as it goes, since the two never criticized each other for the record. Other entries illustrate just how busy the two of them were, even in their old age, Landreth said. “She would start writing in her dairy about all she was getting accomplished on the farm,” Landreth said. “Then she’d write: “and then I came in for breakfast.” Life on the farm was good. While the big house was used constantly, there were also many times when the small cabin became an important part of family life too. At some point along the way, HK learned that one of his sisters back east had died, leaving two orphan children. “He went back and got her kids, Howard and Ruth,” Pollman said. “It wasn’t just to adopt them but just to make sure they stayed with family. Everyone always had someone.” The cabin also was often used by older childen when they would return home to live for periods of time. “There were strong family relationships between my

“Life on the farm was good. While the big house was used constantly, there were also many times when the small cabin became an important part of family life too.” Above: HK and Georgy Russell pose at their farm on Barrett Lake. The cabin, now known as the Trudder Post Office in Pioneer Park, is visible directly behind them. The siding has since been removed during the restoration process. Left: HK drives a team of horses at the Barrett Lake farm. parents and grandparents,” Pollman said. “Even when they left home, they always came back. Aunts and uncles; all of them.” The family ties are still strong as the generations progress. In fact, Pollman and Landreth both acknowledged that they may get along better than their mothers Berneice and Irene did throughout the years.

Continued on pg. 28 Pioneering Families of Whatcom County July 2014

Continued from pg. 27 In 1948, HK and Georgy purchased land on the corner of Hemmi and the old Telegraph roads and lived there until they died. As could be expected, their writings show they were busy right up until their final days. Both Pollman and Landreth still shake their heads when they think about how much expectations have changed for the elderly. Or perhaps, children are much better today at getting their parents to slow down.

Landreth herself is already a greatgrandmother, with her two youngest descendants still living in Bellingham. The generational order progresses through her daughter Cindi (born April 8, 1957), to her grandson Thoren (born Feb. 21, 1982) and finally to Milo and Penelope (born Nov. 25, 2009 and March 23, 2012, respectively). That makes Milo and Penelope the eighth generation from Hector and Margaret Russell.

Cousins Donna Pollman and Gayle Landreth have remained best friends over the years. The daughters of HK and Georgy’s two oldest daughters, they have both spent many hours wading through the vast diaries of HK and Georgy Russell. HK’s diary alone stretches 75 years. The picture in the photo was painted by Pollman’s sister Joyce, also of Ferndale, and depicts various cousins, aunts and uncles gathered in later years with friends for an outing at the Gulf of Georgia.

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