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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, founder (bullet) Sedro-Woolley, Washington, 98284
Home of the Tarheel Stomp (bullet) Mortimer Cook slept here & named the town Bug
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Annual picnics of the
Territorial Daughters of Washington, Chapter One


(1936 picnic)
      This is the surviving photo of the original Territorial Daughters picnic at the VanFleet homestead in Skiyou on Aug. 20, 1936, which launched Chapter One. See below for a list of all the women in the photo and click on the photo to see a much larger size with more detail. As a note on the back explained, "the first meeting of Chapter One, Territorial Daughters was a picnic on Aug. 20, 1936, at the home of Emmett and Eliza Van Fleet, located on their original homestead in Skiyou, just east of Sedro-Woolley.

1936 photo captions:
Front row (l. to r., name and year born or arrived in the territory, and links to stories about the women or families in the Journal):
Susie Osterman Alverson, 1881; Ella Wilbur Cogeen, 1893; Lenore M. Devin, 1889 (wife of Harry L. Devin); Bertha Duffy Cooper, 1885 (Lyman family); Mary McLean Davis, Unk.; Ella Lough, 1889; Betsy Firth, 1866 (Mrs. Ad W. Davision, Robert Firth and family were pioneers of San Juan Islands; Eliza M. Van Fleet, 1880; Alice Collins, 1890 (wife of Alonzo Salathial Collins, moved from Iowa, and road west of Woolley named for them); Susie Burns, 1889 (family Sylvester and Emma Burns opened original Sedro Steam Laundry and Burns Bar on Skagit named for them); Ida Villeneuve Lloyd, 1876 (daughter of Charles Villeneuve Sr., wife of John Lloyd of Woolley); Carrie Frost Nye, 1889 (wife of Charles Nye, owner of shingle mill, then confectionery and manager of Pacific Northwest Traction and Interurban in Woolley); Julia Reno Bingham, 1890 (wife of banker Charlie Bingham); Maude Minkler Vanderford, 1876 (daughter of Lyman pioneer Birdsey Minkler); Minnie Lederle Batey, 1889 (longtime schoolteacher and daughter of German immigrant Jacob Lederle and wife of Sterling pioneer Henry Batey).
Middle row: Fanny Bishop Hegg, 1892 (second wife of grocer F.A. Hegg); Emma Hart, 1879 (Swedish immigrant and wife of British bachelor settler Joseph Hart); Belle Baldridge Seidell, 1889 (daughter of Hamilton pioneer John Baldridge, wife of Woolley businessman Arthur C. Seidell); Jennie Ingersoll, 1878 (wife of Woolley contractor James G. Ingersoll); Eva Van Fleet Hohn Beebe, 1880 (daughter of Skiyou pioneers Emmett and Eliza Van Fleet); Susie Batey Taylor, 1879 (daughter of pioneers David and Dr. Georgiana Batey); Ida Fritsch Doucette, 1890 (in black hat, daughter of German immigrant Frank Fritsch Sr.); Blanche Stafford Shannon, 1885 (daughter of upriver logger and packer Alex Stafford); Edna Dawson, 1896; Mary Fritsch, 1890 (daughter of German immigrant Frank Fritsch Sr.); Kate Carr Mullen, 1889 (daughter of Edward and Charlotte (McGarigle) Carr of Woolley, and wife of Harry E. Mullen); Eva Potter Carr and her granddaughter with her, 1893 (daughter of Miles and Mary (Brunt) Potter or Porter, wife of Ed Carr, Woolley businessman and County commissioner); Susie Collins Blackburn, 1890 (daughter of Collins Road family, wife of saloon-owner James Blackburn Sr.); Katie Z. Bovey Shrewsbury, 1889 (wife of Woolley businessman and mill owner Homer H. Shrewbury, daughter of old-Sedro pioneers Nola R. and Tamson Bovey, lived in tent near river after arriving on March 28, 1889); Ethel Van Fleet Harris, 1880 (daughter of Skiyou pioneers Emmett and Eliza Van Fleet).
Back Row: Anna McFadden Hoehn, 1885 (daughter of Skiyou pioneer Plin V. McFadden and wife of Skiyou rancher Frank Hoehn); Anna Albertha Curry, 1889 (Sedro schoolteacher, school board clerk and wife of Woolley furniture dealer Harvey Curry); Annie Lederle Burmaster, 1889 (daughter of Utopia pioneer Jacob Lederle and wife of cobbler Herman Burmaster); Eunice Siegner Bassett, 1892; Mattie Hight Wicker, 1879 (Martha Asenith Hight was daughter of Ballard mill-owner Arthur W. Hight, who came to Sedro to install machinery for the Batey-Hart mill, and wife of Skiyou pioneer and early real estate man, Charles J. Wicker Jr.); Lena Soules Reno, 1889 (daughter of Thomas W. Soules, who platted Burlington, and wife of Woolley banker Q.P. Reno); Mary Pingry (either wife or daughter of F.J. Pingry, Woolley real estate salesman and inspiration behind Bingham Park); Frances Devin, 1889 (daughter of Harry L. Devin); Katie Lederle Ladegast, 1889 (schoolteacher, daughter of Joseph Lederle, and wife of A.C. Ladegast); Kate Lough Hoyt, 1889; Lida Collins Townsend, 1890 (daughter of Collins Road family).
      As we noted in the portal page to this section, the Territorial Daughters is a unique organization that began as Chapter One in Sedro-Woolley in 1936 after the idea was proposed by pioneers who attended the funeral of John Napoleon, an Indian in Sedro-Woolley who they all respected. They formed a group specifically for women who were born here when Washington was still a territory (before November 1889), or who moved here before then with their families, or were the daughters or other descendants of territorial pioneers. We share below lists of names of people who attended various annual picnics in the early days of the organization. We hope that readers who are related to any of these pioneer women will share their own family memories with us and share copies of photos they may have in their collections. Chapter One disbanded in 2005, but Chapter Two in Mount Vernon is still active; email us if you would like details about how to participate.
(Bows and arrows)
Two Daughters practice with bows and arrows at the 1939 4th of July celebration, a skill that most frontier kids quickly learned.
1938 Territorial Daughters banquet
      A roster of guests at the 1938 annual banquet includes many of the charter members of the club. We have included names of the husbands that we know of.
      Mrs. Grace Evans (wife of Frank, the newspaper publisher); Mrs. Ed Cary; Mrs. Minnie V. Martin; Mrs. Jessie MaCauley Van Liew (wife of Judson), Mrs. Mary McRae (of Bow); Mrs. Emmilie Jarvis Duffy, Mrs. Carrie Frost Nye (wife of Charles Nye, Sedro-Woolley businessman), Frances Devin, Lenore M. Devin, daughters of Sedro pioneer Harry Lincoln Devin; Susie Batey Taylor, Pearl Wall Hutchins, Mrs. Hattie McKinney, Mrs. J.J. McKinnon, Emma Hart, Mrs.Jennie Bonneywell Ingersoll (wife of J.G.), Mrs. Charence Ingersoll, Mrs. Charles J. Wicker Sr., Mrs. Darrell Leavitt, Miss Janice Leavitt (of Seattle), Mrs. Blanche Gray (wife of Jim, the saloon owner and city councilman), Mrs. A. Albertha Curry (wife of Harvey, the furniture store owner), Mrs. Katherine Shrewsbury (widow of Homer, mill and hardware shop owner and amateur zoo-keeper), Mrs. Eva (Van Fleet) Parker Beebe, Mae Drum Rhine, Emily M. Lederle, Mildred Hegg Stendal (wife of Puss, future mayor and partner in White Fuel & Transfer), Mary Grace Waikle (school teacher and daughter of Avon pioneers Henry Waikle and schoolteacher Cornelia Watt Waikle), Mrs. Jessie Stafford Cockreham (wife of George, deputy sheriff), Mrs. Ethel Van Fleet Harris (wife of Elza, Sedro-Woolley Laundry), Mrs. Anna Lederle Burmaster (wife of Herman, shoe repair), Mrs. Minnie Lederle Batey (wife of John Henry Batey, N.P. bridgetender), Mrs. Anna Hoehn (wife of Frank Hoehn, livery stable and transfer company), Susie Osterman Alverson (wife of L.E. "Ted," Sedro-Woolley Music Store), Ruby McRae Taylor, Josephine Hutchinson Ford, Mrs. Grace Brown Cochrum (wife of Arthur), Mrs. Geneva Brown, Florence Brown, Mrs. May West (wife of William, Bingham Bank cashier), Mrs. Rose Thomsen (wife of William, city clerk), Alma Russell Ellingwood.
1939 Picnic
      More names from the 4th annual picnic on Aug. 18, 1939.
      Elizabeth Harkness McNally, Nell Canavan, Mrs. Ida Fritsch Doucette (wife of Joseph), Bess Conn Fields, Mina Harrison Scott, Mrs. Anna Eyre Harrison (wife of James Madison Harrison of Skiyou, state legislator, farmer and drainage expert, daughter of Frederick Eyre, a telegrapher who in 1892 built the first rural telephone line in Skagit county and in 1906 was elected county assessor), Dorothy Carr Ecklund.
(Covered wagon)
Nellie Canavan (left) and Mabel Meins dressed in period clothes to ride the Daughters float in the 1939 Woolley Fourth of July parade. Nellie and her brother lived near Prairie; neither married and both grew a spectacular garden that garnered a prize almost annually.
      Alice Potter Kalloch, Anna Blockwood Patten, Mrs. Bessie (McLeod) McLeod (wife of Neil, police chief), Mabel Hart Meins, Mrs. Belle Baldridge Seidel (wife of Fred W.), Ida Somers Hopkins, Mrs. Eva Potter Carr (wife of Ed), Mrs. Lena Kalloch Hall (wife of Lyman Sylvester "Vet" Hall), Reina Fredricks Adams, Olive Stephens Kirkland, Eliza Holland Russell, Mrs. Edith Childs (wife of Stanley, early Sedro mill owner).
1940 Picnic
      More names from the 5th annual picnic on Aug. 16, 1940.
      Mrs. Julia Reno Bingham, (wife of C.E., the banker), Pearl Taylor, Blanche Stafford Shannon, Nettie Brown Gerdon, Elmira Harrison Scott, Lizzie Harkness McNalley, Anna Blackwood Patten, Mrs. Inez Rhine Gilbertson, wife of Clifford Gilbertson. (Corrected by the family: Clifford was the son of Gus, the original Penney's manager and owner of the hardwood mill south of the Skagit Steel site. Julia Balhom Gilbertson was Gus's first wife. But she passed away in 1923 and when this photo was taken his second wife was Cleo Humble Gilbertson.) Theresa Fritsch Snow, Pearl Chandler Watson, Hattie Davis (daughter of early Riverside minister and hop ranch owner B.N.L. Davis), Mrs. P.J. McCrary, Rowena Alexander, Mrs. Louise Reno Vaeth (wife of Richard, Tacoma jeweler, and sister of Julia Bingham), Maggie Young Moore.
(Four daughters)
Four Daughters pose before marching in the 1939 Woolley Fourth of July parade. From left to right are: Kate Bovey Shrewsbury, Ethel Van Fleet Harris; Bess (husband was Albert G.) Mosier, and Emma Anderson Hart.
1942 Picnic
      More names from the 7th annual picnic on Aug. 14, 1942.
      Anna Pulver Conner, Maud Ringer Gernaey, Jessie Tuck Brown, Arline Elliott Splane, Dora Hart Young, Katie Bovey Shrewsbury, Susan Collins, Blackburn, Laura Nye Lamm, Bertha Montua Carroll, Eugenia Cupples Bergstedt, Peal Sisson Wilson, Nell Loop Martin, Kate Stearns McCullough, Ethel Priest Coleman, Leda Collins Townsend, Lela Gilkey Butler, Mrs. May Brueland Palmer (wife of Lloyd), Eva Van Fleet Hohn Beebe, Flora McLaughlin, Louise Anderson Hart (widow of pioneer Joseph Hart), Minnie Ormsby Douglass (widow of F.A., the druggist), Lucy McIntosh Palmer, Bessie Boyd Bardan, Ruth Johnson Steen, Ellen Steen Kirkland, Alice Mannerude.
      Do you know any of the women above? Do you have any information or photos to share or information about the early days of the Territorial Daughters? We have several more stories planned about the group.
Other Territorial Daughters stories and background reading:

 

 

 

Story posted on Dec. 7, 2005, updated September 2016
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