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Skagit River Journal

of History & Folklore
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The most in-depth, comprehensive site about the Skagit
Covers from British Columbia to Puget Sound. Counties covered: Skagit, Whatcom, Island, San Juan, Snohomish & BC. An evolving history dedicated to committing random acts of historical kindness
Noel V. Bourasaw, editor (bullet) 810 Central Ave., Sedro-Woolley, Washington, 98284
Home of the Tarheel Stomp (bullet) Mortimer Cook slept here & named the town Bug
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Biographies and obituaries of Skagit county
Pioneers and their descendants: C

Continually updated, last time: May 17, 2011
      You will find the type of story in brackets [ ] behind the file link. (Bio) indicates a Journal story link. (Obit) leads to an obituary on this page. If you have suggestions for people you want to read about, please email us and we will add them to the list. Meanwhile, just click on the link and it will take you to the obit for each person, along with our notes, if we have more information, or a link to another page that will tell you more about him or her. Please note that if a woman was the descendant of a pioneer family, her link will be listed under the first letter of both her maiden name and her married name at the time of her death. And please email us if you have family memories or copies of documents or photos you would like us to include. We never ask for your originals.
    Any time, any amount, please help build our travel and research fund for what promises to be a very busy 2011, traveling to mine resources from California to Washington and maybe beyond. Depth of research determined by the level of aid from readers. Because of our recent illness, our research fund is completely bare. See many examples of how you can aid our project and help us continue for another ten years. And subscriptions to our optional Subscribers Online Magazine (launched 2000) by donation too. Thank you.

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Dick Caryl, Bow
Sedro-Woolley Courier-Times Undated 1916
      Richard Edward "Dick" Caryl, 92, passed away in the presence of family on Thursday, August 17, 2006 at United General Hospital in Sedro Woolley, Washington. The son of sharecroppers Isaac B. and Anna (Conklin) Caryl, he was born August 3, 1914 in Stewartville, Minnesota and spent the early years of his life farming with his family in Iowa, Minnesota, Oregon, and Trout Lake, Washington. In his late twenties, Dick was inducted into the U.S. Army and served in World War II as a military policeman.
      After five years of service, he rejoined his family in Trout Lake and continued to farm for several more years. He later attended vocational classes in Seattle and then accepted a job in data processing at the Whidbey Island Naval Air Station in Oak Harbor, Washington. He retired in 1982 at the age of 68. A confirmed bachelor, he was introduced to Mae Irene Tesdall Smiley of Bow, Washington at the age of 47 in 1961 by his son-in-law's mother. Upon their marriage in December 1962, Dick remarked, "I am so happy to have been blessed with a wife, son, daughter, and granddaughter all in a year."
      A dedicated member of the Bow Church of Christ for more than forty-four years, Dick found great joy in God and family. Along with his wife Mae, he was committed to the growth and development of the Bow Church, even lighting the stove's fire at 5:00 a.m. every Sunday to heat the church in preparation for the morning's services. He took great satisfaction in tending the extensive garden he and Mae established and sharing the fruits and vegetables of his labor with neighbors and friends. He was an avid reader of mysteries and biographies and closely followed politics.
      Preceding him in death were his wife, Mae (November 1997), brothers Rollin, Robert, Lloyd, and Paul Caryl and his sister, Marion Schmid. He is survived by family members Jon Smiley (wife Mary) and Joan Smiley Wilson (husband Dale); grandchildren Lisa Jo Wilson-Knight (husband Michael) and Janin L. Wilson; his great grandson Joseph Michael Knight; and several nieces and nephews.
Mrs. Matilda Jane [Maiden Qualls] Cary, Hamilton
Sedro-Woolley Courier-TimesUndated 1916
      Mrs. Jesse [Maiden Qualls] Cary, 57, one of the earliest pioneers of the upper Skagit valley, died at her home east of Hamilton from a complication of diseases. Matilda Jane Cary was born in Arkansas in 1858 and crossed the plains in a prairie schooner in 1876 at the age of 19.
      She married Jesse Cary in 1877 [unclear] in Los Angeles. The following year, she accompanied her husband to Skagit county and located on a homestead one and a half miles east of Hamilton, where she resided until the time of her death, a period of 37 years. When Mrs. Cary arrived in the Skagit valley, there were only two other pioneer families east of Lyman, those of Charles von Pressentin and B.D. Minkler; Mrs. Cary, Mrs. von Pressentin and Mrs. Minkler then constituted the entire white female population of the upper Skagit.
      Ed. note: For more information on the Qualls and Cary families, see this website.
Alice Janette Collins, Sedro-Woolley
Sedro-Woolley Courier-Times, Aug. 15, 1940
      Mrs. Alice Janette Collins, 89, passed away [August 13] at the home of her daughter, Mrs. Susan Blackburn, after a long illness. She was born in Hazelgreen, Wisconsin, on May 19, 1851. She was a graduate of Plattville Normal school of Wisconsin and taught school in Wisconsin and Iowa.
      In 1878 she married Alonzo [Salathial] Collins in Des Moines, Iowa, and to this union five children were born. In 1890 she came with her family to Sedro-Woolley and has since resided in this community. Mrs. Collins was a member of the Rebekah lodge and a charter member of the Sedro-Woolley Women's club and until a few years ago an interested worker in both of these organizations.
      Surviving relatives are two daughters, Mrs. Blackburn and Mrs. Lyda Townsend; a son, Roy Collins, all of this city; seven grandchildren and seven great-grandchildren. Preceding her in death were her husband and two sons, Milo and Claude Collins.
      Funeral services were held this afternoon at the Lemley Mortuary with the Rev. Arthur Sanford of the Baptist church officiating. Interment was in Odd Fellows cemetery with the Rebekahs in charge of the graveside services. Pallbearers were Neil McLeod, Earl Clinchard, Ed Lanktree, B.D. Vanderveer, George Harrison and J.H. Burmaster.
Editor's research on the Collins/Blackburn connection
      This family has always fascinated to me for several reasons. First because of the father's unusual middle name: Alonzo Salathial Collins. They arrived here on New Years Day, 1890, just a few weeks after Washington territory became the 42nd state. Mother Alice and daughter Susan Collins Blackburn were given an exception so that they could join the Territorial Daughters of Washington, Chapter 1. They also have a permanent legacy in that the Collins road is named for them. Finally, Susan married Jimmie Blackburn, the owner of one Woolley's longest-lived saloons, which his son Everett "Ikey" owned for years afterwards. His son Jim still lives north of Sedro-Woolley.
      John Conrad, historian for the Skagit County Historical Society from 1949-73, owned the service station on the corner of Collins road and what was then called the Burlington Highway — now Hwy. 20, for many years and shared a lot of information about the family when Susan died in 1965. From Conrad's obituary, we learn:
      Mrs. Susan Blackburn died Sept. 14, 1965, age 86, in the new United General Hospital at Sterling, which was coincidentally built on part of the original Blackburn family homestead and part on her own family's homestead. Her parents full names were Alonzo Salathial and Alice May. Alonzo owned a grocery store in Des Moines, Iowa, near the state capital. Alonzo brought his family of five children to New Whatcom, took a boat down to LaConner and then took a small steamer upriver to the logging camp at Sterling near the Skagit Railway & Lumber Co. store, which was then owned by Mortimer Cook.
      The general store had a stock of $40,000 value and the Sterling post office then still served part of Sedro, too. Sterling also had a hotel, livery stable, church and a school house. Four months after they moved here the Seattle & Northern railroad passed west to east just a few hundred yards south of their house and Cook soon moved the store to the rail crossing, with most of the remaining town soon following to escape the periodic floods of the lowlands around the slough. Four years earlier, in 1886, a man named Mitchell built a mill near where the Collins family settled. A.S. Collins took over a tract of mostly logged off land. Sterling had excellent stands of cedar and fir and only the choicest was used for the mill. The former grocer built a humble home with garden and pastures while also working 10-hour shifts at the mill. He cleared land and tended garden in spare time.
      Susan recalled to Conrad that only one thing was missing in their diet that she missed so much from Iowa — milk. Her dad heard of a milk cow for sale across the Skagit, south of Sedro. She and her sister went with him back and forth on the Sedro ferry, then walked the cow home and finally had the drink she had missed so much. She remembered that moment for the rest of her life. Near the mill a Mrs. Maudall [Mandahl?] ran a boarding house to feed the young men who were mill workers or logged at the lumber camps nearby. As a teenager, Susan had her first job there and met mill hand Jim Blackburn, whom she later married. They spent their entire married life in Sedro-Woolley where he owned a saloon. Their descendant Jim has a unique historical distinction: Skagit county has two roads named for his grandparents, the Collinses and the Pulvers. Jimmie Blackburn, the elder, died on Apr. 12, 1933, just as 3.2 beer was legalized during the period of repeal of Prohibition.
Olivia Cockburn, Sedro-Woolley
Skagit Valley Herald, Dec. 17, 2003
      Olivia Cockburn, age 73, died peacefully at home, Tuesday, December 16, 2003, after a short illness. Olivia was born in Everett, WA on April 10, 1930. She was a graduate of Everett High School and Everett Community College. She married Robert Cockburn on January 23, 1950, and moved to Skagit Valley in 1969.
      She was co-publisher of the Outlook newspaper in Sedro-Woolley. She also worked at the Sedro-Woolley Chamber of Commerce and Courier Times. She is survived by her loving husband, Bob Cockburn and two daughters: Cindy Aleksejev of West Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, and Kirstie Jones of Burlington. She is also survived by 5 grandchildren: Nicholas and Kirsten Aleksejev, and Erika, Jennette, and Mitchell Jones.
      No services will be held. In lieu of flowers donations may be made to Cascades Job Corps, Don Buchannon Scholarship Foundation, P.O. Box 819, Sedro-Woolley, WA 98284.
Horace Condy, Sedro-Woolley
Sedro-Woolley Courier-Times, Feb. 19, 1942
      Masonic funeral services were held in the Lemley chapel this morning for Horace Condy, pioneer business man of this city, who died in the Memorial hospital on Tuesday night after an illness of about four weeks. Favorite selections were sung by Mrs. G.A. Jones, and the casketbearers were: Harry Devin, Arver Davis, W.T. West, John Guddall, Neil McLeod and William Thomsen. Following the service, the remains were taken to Bellingham for cremation.
      Horace Condy was born on Jan. 5, 1873, at Guelph, Ontario, Canada, and came to the state of Washington from Kentucky in 1899. In 1900, he came to Sedro-Woolley to establish a jewelry store, which he operated until his illness.
      He organized the Washington State Jewelers Association and served as its first president, later being elected to another term in this office. Besides his jewelry store, Mr. Condy also had a well equipped optometry office, serving this city and the upriver district. Mr. Condy, always an ardent community worker, served as president of the local Chamber of Commerce, and in the early days was very active on Fourth of July celebration committees.
      He is survived by a son, Tom, who is in the Philippine Islands, a daughter, Helen, of San Francisco, Calif., who came home when her father became ill, two grandchildren, a brother, Joseph, and sister, Mrs. Benjamin Allen of Canada, and a nephew, Glenn Allen of this city.
      Ed. note: burial records indicate that Condy's wife was named Esther and that she died in 1929 at age 52. Thomas Condy died here in 1982 at age 76. An infant child died soon after birth in 1909. See Issue 41 of the Subscribers-paid Journal online magazine for a full profile of Horace Condy
Helen Butler Condy Davis, Sedro-Woolley and Eastern Washington
(Helen Condy)
      Helen Butler Condy Davis passed away peacefully on September 10, 2007, at age 97, surrounded by her family in Troutdale, Oregon, where she had resided in a retirement care facility since late 2005. She was born April 22, 1910, in Sedro Woolley, Washington, to Horace and Esther Condy, and spent her formative years there, attending school and helping her father in his jewelry store.
      After finishing high school, she attended Whitman College where she met her future husband, Robert "Bob" Davis. However, before she finished her degree, she was called home to help her father in the jewelry store, leaving romance behind, too. Fortunately, Bob was not so easily put off, and their marriage finally took place on November 21, 1943. The newlywed couple then settled on a ranch in remote Palisades, Washington. Although this was a far cry from her urban upbringing, she practiced her lifelong motto of "accept and adjust", and adapted to farm life, becoming an important part of the small community.
      As an accomplished pianist, she freely shared her musical abilities by teaching others to sing and play, and by being an accompanist at community events. Helen articulated her lifelong interest in music not only through the piano, but with her husband Bob, by frequently attending concerts with friends and being an avid square dancer well into her nineties. Of course, more than anyone else, she shared music with her family, with sing-alongs included in most every family occasion. As part of raising her three children, she undertook 4-H leadership duties, and in addition, participated in the local Grange, as well as maintaining her membership in PEO and the Kappa Kappa Gamma sorority. She was an avid reader, especially enjoying biographies and nonfiction, as well as other books from best-seller lists. She always practiced her belief that no matter where one was, culture was an essential part of life, and she sought to bring her share. A sunny outlook was her hallmark, and everyone around her benefited from her optimism.
      After retiring to East Wenatchee in 1989, she continued to be as active as possible through attending concerts, square dancing, helping other elderly people in the Senior Center, or helping deliver meals-on-wheels. She always maintained a spirit of gratitude and appreciation for small wonders in the world, whether seeing a bird out her window or a flower blooming. After Bob's death in 2005, after 62 years of marriage, she moved to a residential care facility in Troutdale, Oregon, where her children could give her more attention. She is survived by her three children: Dan of Federal Way, WA; Marilee of Troutdale, Or.; and Esther of Salem, Va; and one grandchild, Derek Grimm of Portland, OR. A memorial service will be held at 2 pm on Saturday, October 20, 2007, at the First Presbyterian Church, 1400 S. Miller in Wenatchee, WA. Helen's family requests that in lieu of any flowers, contributions in her memory be made to your local Hospice provider in recognition of the invaluable service they provide in easing the end of life, or another favorite charity.
Charles Conrad, LaConner and Conway
County's oldest pioneer passes
Mount Vernon Herald, Nov. 7, 1946
      Charles Conrad, 85, of Conway, a resident of Skagit county for 72 years, passed away Sunday morning in a Mount Vernon hospital. He was born in Sweden in 1861 and came to America in 1874 when a lad of 13 years. He came to LaConner and made his home with an uncle and aunt, Mr. and Mrs. Magnus Anderson, pioneers of 1869. He farmed on the LaConner flats until 1910 and then moved to Conway where he has since resided.
      He was a pras president of the Skagit County Pioneers association and was believed to have been the oldest living pioneer in point of residence in the county. When the late Charles J. Wicker Sr. of Sedro-Woolley first arrived in Skagit county in LaConner [1884] he obtained his first job on the Conrad farm, an incident the two never forgot. Mr. Conrad is survived by three daughters, Mrs. Vilas Erickson, of Conway; Mrs. Robert Miller, of Seattle; and Mrs. Phil Costillo, of Elk Grove, Calif.; a son, John Conrad, of Sterling; 13 grandchildren and ten great-grandchildren. Funeral services are to be held Thursday at 1:30 p.m. from Light's chapel, Mount Vernon, with interment in Pleasant Ridge cemetery. Rev. E.O. Heindahl will officiate.
Clifford P. Cooper, Lyman and Bellingham
Sedro-Woolley Courier-Times , Sept. 25, 1952
      Clifford P. Cooper, a resident of 2512 Dean street, Bellingham, died at the Veterans hospital in Seattle, Tuesday, Sept. 9. He was born Feb. 10, 1894, in Minnesota and came to Lyman as a young man, living there many years. He has resided at Bellingham for the past 21 years.
      Mr. Cooper was a member of the Veterans of Foreign wars, William Matthews Post of Bellingham. Funeral services were held Friday, Sept. 12, at 2 p.m., in the chapel of the Lemley mortuary with Rev. Johnson West of Everson officiating. Burial followed in the Sedro-Woolley cemetery.
      Surviving are his wife, Ona; three sons, Tobias Cooper of Seattle, Clifford Cooper of Aberdeen and Charles Cooper of Bremerton; one daughter, Ona Joe Ann [Cooper] of Bellingham; two sisters, Mrs. F.M. Meyers of Lyman and Francis Lindsey of Ally, WA; also one brother, J.D. Barrett, in Idaho.
John McIntosh Cooper, Lyman
Sedro-Woolley Courier-Times, January 08, 1925, p. 3
      Funeral services for John M. Cooper who died at the home of his brother, [Tobias] B. Cooper on January 03, 1925, will be held at the Methodist Church here Sunday. John was born in La Guerre, Quebec, Canada September 03 1852. He came to California in 1871 where he lived for a number of years. He was married to Fannie Thorton [Thornton?] at Bishop, California in 1888. They have one daughter. He moved to Lyman, Washington, then to Selah, Washington, returning to Lyman just before his death. Survived by daughter Mrs. Thomas Argus of San Francisco and two sisters, Mrs. Simon G. Gleason and Mrs. William Crawford of NY, and brother T.B. [Tom] Cooper of this city. Burial will be in the Lyman Cemetery. [Obit provided by Ened Roughton]
(Tobias Cooper Lyman Store)
Tobias Cooper in his Lyman grocery store
Tobias Bartley Cooper, Lyman
Bellingham Herald, July 12, 1931
      Tobias Bartley Cooper, 65, Lyman, businessman in Lyman for 25 years, died early Saturday [July 11] at Memorial Hospital in Sedro-Woolley. He had been there for a week. He was born in Leguire, Eastern Canada, July 8, 1866. He came to Skagit with his sister Margaret in 1887, continuous since 25 years ago. He started a grocery business in Lyman. He was a member of Knights of Pythias, Sedro-Woolley Masonic, Scottish Rite masons and Eastern Star. He survived by his widow Bertha Adelia Duffy, whom he married in Sedro-Woolley on Sept. 14, 1895; sisters Mrs. Clifford Cooper, Bellingham; Josephine Cooper, and brother, Alex Cooper of Sequim, two daughters, son and 5 grandchildren.
Nellie Cornelius, Pleasant Ridge
Mount Vernon Herald, August 1942
      Funeral services for one of Skagit county's most beloved pioneer women, Miss Nellie Cornelius, were held from the Kern funeral home this afternoon. Rev. Raymond Rees, pastor of the First Methodist church, officiated and burial followed at Pleasant Ridge cemetery southwest of this city.
      Miss Cornelius, who was 71, passed away Sunday at a local hospital following an extended illness. She was born on Nov. 30, 1870, the daughter of John and Bessie Cornelius. Her father crossed the plains to Oregon City in 1852 [actually 1845] and her mother was the first permanent white woman on the Skagit mainland. The child was born at Olympia, as there were no doctors near the Cornelius' Olympia-Marsh home in Skagit county [actually Pleasant Ridge area, not Olympia or Olympia Marsh].
(Nellie Cornelius)
Nellie Cornelius
      Miss Cornelius spent her entire life in the Skagit country, attending school at Pleasant Ridge and later was a student at the academy in Coupeville. During her later years, she was an active member of the Daughters of Pioneers, the Territorial Daughters and the Skagit County Pioneers' association. Miss Cornelius' father passed away in 1880 and her mother was remarried to the late J.O. Rudeen [actually Rudene], who was a pioneer legislator and very active in community advancement.
      Surviving are one brother, Arthur E. Cornelius of Selah, and several nieces and nephews, including Phil A. Cornelius of Mount Vernon; John Cornelius of Clear Lake; Charles Cornelius, Ronald Cornelius Irving Cornelius and Helen Cornelius, all of Seattle; Vera Moa of Stanwood, and Mae Fisher of Seattle.
      Journal Ed. note: If you are a subscriber, you can read the entire story of this amazing family of strong women in Issue 11. The matriarch crossed the plains as a widow in a wagon train in the 1840s, made friends with Narcissa Whitman near Walla Walla just before the massacre, married again in Oregon, was widowed again, and then remarried. She and her husband passed up future Seattle in 1851, even after Chief Sealth offered them free land. Her daughter married stepbrother John Cornelius and became one of the first, if not the first, woman settler on the mainland of future Skagit county. Nellie was one of their children, along with Phil, who became the mainstay of Darigold. A story you do not want to miss.
Amanda "Mandy" [maiden Hamilton] Cramer, Hamilton and Burlington
Skagit Valley Herald, August 1991
      Amanda "Mandy" Hamilton Cramer, 84, of Burlington died Monday, Aug. 5, 1991, at United General Hospital. She was the granddaughter of William Hamilton, the founder of the town of Hamilton.
      She was born on Valentine's Day, Feb. 14, 1907, in Victoria Hills near Conway, in a logging camp there, the daughter of the late Motz and Maude Hamilton.
      She attended school in Hamilton and Sedro-Woolley and was a 1925 graduate of Sedro-Woolley High School. She later attended college at Washington State University in Pullman.
      On Aug. 11, 1930, she married Charles A. Cramer in Vancouver, B.C. They spent many years working in the construction industry in Washington and Alaska, and traveled extensively in the United States and abroad.
      Mrs. Cramer was active in the Zuliecka Club No. 7 in Mount Vernon and Hatasu Temple No. 1, both Daughters of the Nile; Holly Chapter No. 199, Order of Eastern Star; and Skagit Squares, Western Squares, Silver Saddles and other square dance clubs. She was also interested in preservation of historical sites, and was a member of Skagit County Chapter No. 2, Territorial Daughters.
      Mrs. Cramer helped to save the old Garl House, which was built in 1892, the first house to be constructed in Burlington. the house is now at 419 W. Fairhaven Ave. Her other affiliations included the Skagit county Pioneers Association and the Skagit County Historical Society.
      She is survived by her husband of 61 years, Charles, at home; a daughter and son-in-law, Patricia and Allan Noyes of Burlington; a sister, Daisy Staveness of Rio, Wis.; a sister-in-law, Sarah Cramer of San Diego, Calif.; two granddaughters, Karen Dawson of Seattle and Sabra Noyes of Keyport; two great-grandchildren; four nieces, Jeannie Ryan of Burlington, Sally Fox of Caro, Mich., Barbara Souder of Puyallup and Mary Jane Staveness of Rio, Wis.; and several great-nieces and great-nephews.
      Journal Ed. note: For more information about early Hamilton and the Hamilton and Baldridge family history, see this Journal website.
Charles A. Cramer, Burlington
Unknown newspaper, January 1966
      Charles A. Cramer, 86, of Burlington, died Jan. 1, 1996, at the Burton Care Center. He was born Dec. 31, 1909, in Bellingham, a son of Frank and Helena Cramer. He attended school in Bellingham. He married Amanda "Mandy" Hamilton [granddaughter of Hamilton founder William Hamilton] Aug. 11, 1930, in Vancouver, B.C. She died in 1991.
      He lived in Burlington since 1954. He was a retired building contractor, having built the first bowling alley in Burlington, the former IGA store, the former Knutzen building, and buildings in Anchorage, Alaska. He was a member of United Lodge No. 93, Free and Accepted Masons, Sedro-Woolley; Scottish Rites Bodies, Valley of Bellingham; and Nile Temple of Shrine, Seattle, Elks Lodge No. 1604, Mount Vernon; and the Skagit Squares. His hobbies included square dancing, hunting and fishing in Mexico and Canada, and traveling.
      He is survived by one daughter and son-in-law, Patricia and Allan Noyes of Burlington; two granddaughters, Karan Dawson of Seattle and Sabra Noyes of Keyport; two great-grandchildren; and several nieces and nephews. He was preceded in death by his wife, one sister, Gertrude, and one brother, Gilbert.
      Interment was held at Hamilton cemetery on January 4 under the direction of Hulbush Funeral Home.
George Edward Crosby, Sedro-Woolley
Sedro-Woolley Courier-Times , Sept. 2, 1954
      George Edward Crosby, a retired painter and resident of 809 Central avenue, Sedro-Woolley, passed away Friday, August 21. Born April 22, 1872, at Walkerton, Ontario, Canada, he had resided in Skagit county since 1901. Funeral services will be held in the chapel of the Lemley mortuary, Thursday, Sept. 2, at 2 p.m. and interment will be in the Sedro-Woolley cemetery. Surviving are a son, Clarence Crosby of Hicksville, New York, a sister, Alice Galloway, and a brother, Tom Crosby, both of Victoria, B.C.
      Journal Ed. note: Mr. Crosby built the small cabin on Central avenue that is across the street from the editor's house. We are especially curious about his family and we hope that a reader has more details. It is possible that his wife is a relative of Zaida Woolley, the daughter of the town founder who married a Canadian government official.
Jessie B. [maiden Bryan] Crowe, Skiyou and Seattle
Unknown Seattle newspaper, November 1942
      Funeral services will be held tomorrow in the Arthur A. Wright & Son chapel for Mrs. Jessie B. Crowe, 4411 Woodlawn Ave., who died suddenly Tuesday in her home. She was born in Seattle 73 years ago. Burial will be in Mount Pleasant.
      Mrs. Crowe's father, Edgar Bryan, came to Oregon territory with his parents in an ox cart when he was 11 years old. Her mother, Edna Ann Whipple, was also an early pioneer. She and Mr. Bryan were among those who attended the first term of the University of Washington when it was opened Nov. 4, 1861. The Bryan store was burned in the great Seattle fire of [June 6] 1889.
      Mrs. Crowe taught school before her marriage to the late Edmund B. Crowe in 1892. Mr. Crowe, a locomotive engineer, died in 1919.
      Journal Ed. note: We found this obituary in the Territorial Daughters scrapbooks at the Skagit County Historical Society Museum in LaConner. A handwritten note at the bottom notes that Jessie Bryan taught school in the Van Fleet school house, located in the Skiyou district east of Sedro, in the spring of 1887. A note in the school ledger for that year confirms that on Apr. 5, 1887, Jessie Bryan boarded with Steamboat Dan Benson
Lora A. [maiden Perry] [first husband Marrian] Crumrine, Sedro-Woolley
Skagit Valley Herald,, March 30, 2002
      Lora A. Crumrine, 94, a longtime Sedro-Woolley resident passed away at her home on Monday March 25, 2002. She was born on September 3, 1907 in Bow, WA, the daughter of Lundy and Edith Ferris Perry.
      She was raised and attended school in Sedro-Woolley, graduating from , Sedro-Woolley High School in 1926. She then attended business college in Mount Vernon. Lora first married William Marrian and they made their home in Sedro-Woolley until his untimely death in 1941. Lora spent the next 15 years raising and supporting her daughters on her own. After her daughters were grown she was united in marriage to Curtis Crumrine in 1956. He too preceded her in death in 1977. Over the years Lora worked at a variety of occupations, and for about 10 years served as the City Clerk for the City of Sedro-Woolley.
      She was a lifetime and active member of the Success Rebekahs Lodge in Sedro-Woolley and a member of the Grace Cochran Orthopedic Guild. She was very musically inclined and enjoyed playing her piano.
      Lora is survived by her daughters: Barbara Tyson and husband Bill of Sequim, WA, Lois Rabon of Woodbine, GA and Marlene Parsons and husband Ed of Kelso, WA. Also numerous grand and great-grandchildren. She was also preceded in death by 2 brothers, Norris and Foster Perry and 2 sisters, Beryl Hyslop and Hazel Sinn. Memorials to the American Cancer Society or Children's Hospital are suggested.
      Memorial services will be held Tuesday April 2, 2002 at 11:00 AM at Lemley Chapel, Sedro-Woolley. Private inurnment will be at Sedro-Woolley Union Cemetery. Cremation and arrangements under direction of Lemley Chapel, Sedro-Woolley.
Minnie Crumrine, Skagit county
Apparently Sedro-Woolley Courier-Times Nov. 24, 1955
      Mrs. Minnie H. Crumrine, 93, one of the oldest pioneer residents of Skagit county passed away Tuesday evening in a local hospital following a short illness.
      Born Nov. 17, 1862, in Wisconsin, she came to Skagit county with her parents when 14 years of age. Her marriage to Thomas Crumrine took place in Skagit county in 1878 and they lived in Blaine for a short time before returning to Skagit county where she lived practically her whole life.
      Mrs. Crumrine enjoyed a party at the home of her daughter last week in celebration of her 93rd birthday. Her husband and two sons preceded her in death. She was a member of the Methodist church, Valley Rebekah Lodge and the Skagit County Pioneer Association.
      She is survived by a son Fred Crumrine of Mount Vernon, two daughters Mrs. Maude Osborn of Bellingham and Irene Nelson of Mount Vernon, 18 grandchildren, 28 great-grandchildren and ten great-great-grandchildren, and a brother, Fred Kalso of Mount Vernon.
      Funeral services will be held on Monday morning at 11 a.m., from the Walter Hulbush Funeral Home with burial in the Bayview cemetery.
Mary Alice Kirkby Cully Hollen, Sedro-Woolley
Obituary in Sedro-Woolley Courier-Times Dec. 16, 1948
      Final tribute was paid Mary Alice Hollen, longtime resident of this city and a charter member of the local Free Methodist church at funeral services Monday, December 13 at 2 p.m. in Lemley Mortuary.
      Mrs. Hollen of 302 Borseth passed away at Memorial Hospital last Friday, December 10. She had lived here for the past 48 years.
      The Rev. George Boner and the Rev. Perry officiated at the service and at interment in Union Cemetery.
      Mary Alice Kirkby was born Aug. 30, 1864, at Salinas [actually Salina], Kansas. She was the daughter of the late Lewis [sometimes spelled Louis] Kirkby who donated property for the Sedro-Woolley Free Methodist church of which she was one of the first members when the church was started here 45 years ago. While Mr. and Mrs. Kirkby came to Sedro-Woolley in 1883 their daughter, who had married Charles Cully in Kansas in 1880, remained there three more years. Mr. and Mrs. Cully were the parents of ten children, eight of whom are living. In 1886, Mr. and Mrs. Cully moved to Roche Harbor, Washington, and in 1890 to Sedro-Woolley. Three years later they returned to Kansas, living also in Oklahoma and Indiana before returning here in 1900. [Ed. note: 1883 is almost certainly 5-6 years too early for the Kirkbys to move to Sedro-Woolley, but we believe from other research that the had moved to Roche Harbor by 1883-84, where Lewis worked in the lime kilns.]
      The family traveled overland from Indiana in a covered wagon, a trip which took five months. Mr. Cully passed away in 1906 and Mrs. Cully married John Hollen in 1931. He preceded her in death in 1940.
      She is survived by four sons, John and Jake Cully of Sedro-Woolley; Alvin of Los Angeles and Joe Cully of Anacortes; four daughters, Mrs. Clarence Belles of Sedro-Woolley, Mrs. F.A. Hinchen of Forks, WA, Hazel Dell and Flossie Bart of Seattle; 22 grandchildren and 29 great-grandchildren and several great-great grandchildren.
      Read about the trip by covered wagon that Mary Alice and her first husband, Charles Cully, made with their family from Indiana to Sedro-Woolley in 1900.
Lyman Cutlar, Samish island and San Juan Island
      You can find the name of this central figure of the San Juans Pig War spelled with both an "e" and an "a" but we settled on this spelling because of the research of both the National Parks Service and author Michael Vouri that shows this is the way he spelled it in the deposition taken in Whatcom County and on a petition. Read stories about Cutlar here, here and here. and Issue 55 of the Subscribers-paid optional magazine
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