Spokane and the Spokane country : pictorial and biographical : deluxe supplement (Volume 1) online

kane. By her marriage there are two daughters, Annie and Mabel
Rue. The former is the wife of Charles D. Robinson, of Spokane,
and they have two children, Frances and Dorothy. The younger
davighter, Mabel, resides with her mother at No. 1914 Ninth avenue
in Spokane.

Colonel Jenkins is now in his eighty-ninth year, and while no



114



Bautb $. Jenkins;



longer an active factor in the business world, the "precious prize
of keen mentality" is yet his and he still feels a deep interest in the
world's progress and what is being accomplished. He has ever
been a public-spirited and loyal citizen of Spokane; contributing in
large measure to the various projects and movements for its upbuild-
ing and one need but review his history to know how sincere and
helpful an interest he has taken in the work of general advance-
ment. His name is inseparably interwoven with the records of
Spokane and he certainly deserves mention as one of its upbuild-
ers. His life has ever been faultless in honor, fearless in integrity
and stainless in reputation, and thus he has come to old age with the
high respect of all with whom he has been brought in contact.





Colonel OTtlltam &. gfoercromtue

50LONEL WILLIAM R. ABERCROMBIE, mil-

C.A itary commander, scientist, explorer and promoter of
Wi various important business projects which have been
«( of almost incalculable value in the development of
the northwest, was born at Fort Ridgely, Minnesota,
August 17, 1857. His father, General John J. Aber-
crombie, who was born in Baltimore, Maryland, was a graduate of the
West Point Military Academy of the class of 1822 and after fifty-five
years' service in the United States army retired in 1877. He won
distinction and honors in connection with service in the Indian wars,
participating in the Seminole and the Black Hawk wars, also the
Mexican and Civil wars. In the last named he passed through all of
the grades from that of second lieutenant to general officer. Through
previous generations this military trait has been traced, the family
being descended from Ralph Abercrombie, of the English army, who
settled in this country after the battle of Ticonderoga. Of the three
sons of General John J. Abercrombie two served in the army and one
in the navy. The eldest son, J. J. Abercrombie, who became captain
of artillery, is now retired and is living in Chicago, where he is con-
ducting a brokerage business. Ensign F. P. Abercrombie, who was
in the volunteer service, is now division superintendent of the Penn-
sylvania Railroad. The two daughters are: Mrs. W. E. Goodman,
living at Chestnut Hill, Philadelphia; and Mrs. John Cole Ruther-
ford, of Park, New Jersey.

Colonel William R. Abercrombie, whose name introduces this
review, was educated in Queen's county, Long Island, New York,
pursuing his course in Flower Hill Academy. He became connected
with the United States army at the age of nineteen years and was
commissioned second lieutenant in the Second Infantry by General
Grant in March, 1877. In July of that year he came to the Pacific
coast to take part in the Nez Perce war. He went from Atlanta,
Georgia, to San Francisco, thence by boat to Portland and by river
steamer to Lewiston, from which point he marched to Spokane Falls.
Here in October the regiment was divided and Company E, of which
Colonel Abercrombie was then second lieutenant, took its station at

117



118 Colonel WHUiam ft. gfaertromftie

Fort Colville. Two companies built log cabins there while another
company went to the Palouse country and the remainder of the troops
went to Coeur d'Alene. In 1878 Colonel Abercrombie took part in
the Bannock Indian war and the following year was quartermaster
of an expedition into the Moses country in what is now known as the
Great Bend, and encamped at the mouth of Foster creek on the
Columbia river through the winter of 1879-80. In the spring of the
latter year he proceeded by boat down the Columbia river and began
building a post at Lake Chelan. Owing to the roughness of the coun-
try that post was afterward abandoned in the fall of 1880, and
Colonel Abercrombie was appointed to duty at the mouth of the Spo-
kane river, where he acted as quartermaster and commissary.

In 1882 trains began running to Fort Coeur d'Alene and with
many of the events which have marked the upbuilding of this section
of the country since that time Colonel Abercrombie has been closely
associated. In 1882 he was detailed to take the census of Indians on
the Colville and Moses reservations, and in 1883 he made a survey
of Pend d'Oreille river and Pend d'Oreille lake to the forty-ninth par-
allel and in 1884 commanded his first expedition into Alaska, locat-
ing the Copper river delta. Two years later he conducted an expedi-
tion and made a survey of the Priest river country and from 1886
until 1896 was stationd at Fort Omaha, Nebraska. He participated
in various Indian campaigns throughout the west and was called out
for active duty at the time of the riots in Chicago, in Butte and in
other places. In 1897 he was stationed at Fort Harrison, Montana,
and made surveys between the forty-seventh and forty-ninth parallels,
and from the one hundred and ninth to the one hundred and eleventh
meridians, which included the Miras Indian reservation and other pub-
lic lands. In 1898 he was quartermaster of the Reindeer train which
was attached to the expedition for the relief of destitute miners in the
Yukon country in Alaska, and after the completion of that work, in
the same year, he commanded the Alaska exploration expedition, No.
2, for the exploration of the Copper river valley with a view to dis-
covering and locating an ail-American route from tide water on
Prince William's Sound to the international boundary between Can-
ada and the United States, and Belle Isle and the Yukon river.

In 1889 Colonel Abercrombie commanded the Copper river explo-
ration expedition operating from Port Valdez, Alaska. He dis-
covered and located an all-American route from Port Valdez to the
Tanana river, and the same year was appointed chief engineer of the
department of Alaska and construction engineer of the trans- Alaskan



Colonel aUtUiam &. gfaercromfaie H9

military road. From 1899 until 1901 he was engaged as constructing
engineer of the trans-Alaskan military road from Valdez to the
Yukon river, covering four hundred and eighty miles, and in 1902 he
was acting engineering officer of the department of the Columbia at
Vancouver Barracks, Washington. In 1903 he was in service in the
Philippine islands and in 1905-6 was on recruiting duty in the northern
part of the state of New Jersey. In 1907 he was commander at Fort
Reno, Oklahoma, and in 1908 was on foreign service in the Philippine
islands, while in 1910 he was commander at Fort Wright, at which
point he retired from active service and came to Spokane to make his
home. He continued in active military duty for thirty-three years,
spending ten years, summer and winter, in tents. He is now con-
nected with mining projects, having owned mining property since
1884. This is located at Cornucopia, Oregon, and he is also chief en-
gineer of the development in the Willapa Harbor, in Pacific comity.
He has gold and silver bearing properties and the company is now
operating a twenty stamp mill. Colonel Abercrombie is also inter-
ested in the Willapa-Paeific Townsite Company, the town site being
located in Willapa county, at the mouth of the Willapa river about
two miles south of South Bend. His long and varied experience in
engineering work during his connection with the army well qualifies
him for important duties that are now devolving upon him in this con-
nection.

Colonel Abercrombie was the first soldier that came into the town
of Spokane and the first man he met in the settlement was James
Glover. The Indians had been dancing and making merry for a week
before his arrival. Being a good fisherman he obtained promise from
the commanding officer, General Wheaton, allowing him to go ahead
of the command so he could fish. At that time there were only about
three houses in the town and these mere shacks. In front of one was
sitting a big, handsome fellow who called to the colonel as the latter
went by, and he noticed that the man did not look very happy. His ex-
pression changed, however, to one of joy when in response to his
question as to how many soldiers were behind the Colonel he was
informed that there were about seven hundred. The man was Mr.
Glover and Colonel Abercrombie afterward learned that he had not
slept for several nights and it was a question when the sun went down
whether he would ever see it rise again, for the Indians were getting
excited and were showing marked signs of hostility. Colonel Aber-
crombie became well acquainted with the early settlers including
James Monaghan, Cowley, Dumheller, Gray, Yetson, Post and a



120



Colonel William ft. gbercrombie



host of others, and it was this that induced him finally to settle in
Spokane. As he said he "learned to know these men as one only can
in days when their worldly possessions were represented by a sack of
flour and a slab of bacon." It is in such days when privations are
great and hardships are many that the real nature of the individual
is seen and in those pioneer times men learned to know each other
for what they were really worth in character and ability. It was be-
cause of the strong friendships which he formed in those early days
that Colonel Abercrombie returned to Spokane to make this city his
home.

It was on the 13th of October, 1886, in New York city, that
Colonel Abercrombie was married to Miss Lillian Kimball, a daugh-
ter of General A. S. Kimball, of the United States army, under
whom he had served as department quartermaster at Vancouver Bar-
racks, Washington, when the General was chief quartermaster of
the department of the Columbia. Mrs. Abercrombie is a Daughter
of the American Revolution. By her marriage she has become the
mother of two daughters, Frances K. and Clara De Normandy, both
of whom are now students at Brunot Hall.

Colonel Abercrombie's club relations are extensive and indicate
his high standing in the different localities where he has resided for
any length of time. They are also indicative of the nature of his
interests. He belongs to the National Geographic Society, the Geo-
graphic Society of Philadelphia and the Explorers Club of New
York, of which he is a charter member. He is likewise a charter
member of the Army and Navy Club of New York, is a member of
the Arctic Brotherhood of Alaska, the Army and Navy Club of
Manila, the Spokane Club, the Spokane Country Club, the Officers
Club of Fort Wright, the Historical Society of Pennsylvania, the
Tillicum Club of Valdez and the Wanderers Club of Hong Kong,
China. His have been thrilling experiences which can never come to
one whose interests are confined to a single locality or whose efforts
are concentrated along a single line of business. In fact, in purpose
and in activity he has reached out over constantly broadening fields,
meeting with such experiences as have caused him to place a correct
valuation upon life and its contacts. He has preserved a splendid
balance between the physical, mental and moral development and his
friendships are largely with those whom experience and ability have
raised above the ordinary level of life.




Albert Haurame Jfletoelltng

,LBERT LAURANCE FLE WELLING was born

At,* in a log house on a small farm near the town of Han-
^\ over, Michigan, October 26, 1861. His father,
*' Abram P. Flewelling, was of sturdy Welsh stock,
tracing his ancestry back to the last king of Wales.
His mother, whose maiden name was Rosana
Sprague, was of Scotch-Irish parentage dating back to the early set-
tlement of America before the Revolution.

The early life of A. L. Flewelling was spent on a farm near Lans-
ing, Michigan. He was educated in the public schools, and at an
early age he began school teaching. At the same time he began read-
ing law, spending his vacations and spare time in a law office. He
was admitted to the bar in open court in the month of November,
1886, and the next spring he began the active practice of law at
Crystal Falls, Michigan, in the heart of the great Lake Superior iron
district. During his early practice he became identified with a num-
ber of the strongest mining companies of the district and later was
associated with Corrigan-McKinney & Company of Cleveland, Ohio,
who at that time were the largest independent producers of iron ore
in America, and for fifteen years immediately preceding the year
1906 he was General Counsel for that concern and acquired for himself
through training he received by reason of his affiliations a large amount
of mineral lands in Michigan, which he still owns.

In March, 1906, Mr. Flewelling came to Spokane as general man-
ager of the Monarch Timber Company of Idaho and the Continental
Timber Company of Washington and purchased the home which he
now occupies at 2120 Riverside avenue. Under his management
these companies purchased very large tracts of timber land in the
Panhandle of Idaho and in northwestern Washington and when the
holdings of these companies were purchased by the Milwaukee Land
Company Mr. Flewelling became and still is the vice president and
general manager of the last named company, with its principal west-
ern office in the Old National Bank Building in Spokane.

Mr. Flewelling is a republican in politics and a thirty-second de-
gree Mason, a member of the Spokane Club and the Spokane Coun-

123



124 gUfaert Haurante ffietoelltng

try Club and also the Ranier Club and the Arctic Club of Seattle.
He is director in the Spokane & Eastern Trust Company and the
Union Trust & Savings Bank of Spokane.

On May 10, 1887, Mr. Flewelling was married to Lottie A.
Weatherwax, who is also an attorney, and for many years was asso-
ciated with her husband in active legal work. They have only one
child, a daughter, born in 1888, Eethel F. Sanderson, wife of C. B.
Sanderson, now living in Spokane.




A.nrt^x



/•U\s^




Cbtotn Truman Coman

jHE position of Edwin Truman Coman in banking
circles in Washington is indicated in the fact that he
is the youngest man ever elected to the presidency
of the State Bankers Association, which honor came
to him in 1905. His active connection with banking
interests is now broad and includes the presidency of
the Exchange National Bank of Spokane, in which city he is now
making his home. He came to the coast from the middle west, his
birth having occurred in Kankakee, Illinois, May 25, 1869. His
father, Daniel Franklin Coman, was a representative of one of the
old families of Massachusetts and wedded Kosilla J. Thresher, whose
ancestors were among the early settlers of New Hampshire.

Edwin T. Coman pursued his early education in the public schools
of his native town and afterward attended the Michigan State Uni-
versity at Ann Arbor and also the Washington and Lee University
at Lexington, Virginia. He was admitted to the bar of the Supreme
Court of Virginia, and later in Illinois and Washington. He then
continued in active practice until twenty-seven years of age and in
the meantime he had removed westward to Washington having, in
1894, settled in Colfax, Whitman county. In 1897 he was chosen
cashier of the First National Bank of Colfax, whose business was
developed from a deposit of less than one hundred thousand dollars
to a half million in a few years. In 1905 the First National Bank
and the Colfax National Bank were consolidated and of the new in-
stitution Mr. Coman became the vice president and manager. His
ability in banking was becoming widely recognized in financial circles,
and in 1907 he was elected as vice president and manager of the Ex-
change National Bank of Spokane and removed to this city, where
he has since made his home. In the intervening period he has been
elected to the presidency of the bank and his connections also include
the presidency of the First Savings & Trust Bank of Whitman
comity, of the Bank of Endicott, the Bank of Rosalia, Plum-
mer State Bank of Plummer, Idaho, and the vice presidency of the
National Bank of Palouse. Mr. Coman has made many public ad-
dresses principally on financial subjects. He has spoken before the



12 8 €btoin gTruman (toman

Bankers Association of Idaho, Oregon, Montana, and three times
before the association of Washington. In 1908 he was elected trus-
tee of the Chamber of Commerce, which position he held until 1911,
when he was elected president. He is also president of the council
of Spokane College.

On the 10th of March, 1897, Mr. Coman was married to Miss
Ruth Martin, a daughter of Robert and Catherine (Tull) Martin,
of Carrollton, Missouri, the former of whom was a pioneer banker.
They now have three children, Edwin Truman, born May 18, 1903;
Robert Martin, born December 31, 1905; and Catherine, born July
11, 1909. Mr. Coman holds membership in St. Paul's Cathedral of
Spokane and he is a member of its vestry. Fraternally he is identi-
fied with the Masons and has attained the thirty-second degree in the
Scottish Rite, also holding degrees as Knight Templar and in the
Mystic Shrine. From his college days he holds membership in the
Phi Kappa Psi fraternity, Virginia Beta Chapter. His social na-
ture finds expression in his membership in the Spokane, Spo-
kane Athletic, Spokane Country, Inland and University Clubs.





/L b cp4y^




#us;tab Huelltott?




THROUGHOUT his entire life, since making his
initial step in the business world, Gustav Luellwitz
has been connected with the lumber trade and is now
at the head of the Shaw- Wells Lumber Company, in
which connection he is active in control of one of the
most important enterprises of this character in the
northwest. He was born at Milwaukee, Wisconsin, November 30,
1870, and is an adopted son of Mr. and Mrs. F. Luellwitz, of Mil-
waukee. The father, who was an officer in the German army, died
in 1903, but the mother is still living in Milwaukee. Her father was
Professor Witte, prominent in the field of college education and an
old friend of Bismarck.

In the public schools of his native city Gustav Luellwitz pursued
his education to the age of thirteen years. He first engaged in the
sawmill manufacturing business in the northern part of Wisconsin
at the age of eighteen years and there remained until 1897, selling
lumber from 1890 until 1897 on the road. On the 1st of January,
1900, he left the middle west and made his way to Montana, where
he was employed by the Big Blackfoot Milling Company of the
Amalgamated Company, with which he continued for six months as
a salesman. He was afterward in business on his own account at
Salt Lake City until the fall of 1901.

Mr. Luellwitz was there married on the 17th of December, 1901,
to Miss Emma Lewis McMillan, a daughter of H. G. McMillan, a
prominent resident of Salt Lake City, who held a government posi-
tion for many years during the Mormon difficulties. His grandfather
was for one term governor of Tennessee, and a brother of Mrs. Mc-
Millan has been judge of the supreme court of Wyoming for a num-
ber of years. She was a representative of one of the old and promi-
nent Kentucky families. The marriage of Mr. and Mrs. Luellwitz
was blessed with one son, Henry McMillan, who was born February
14, 1903.

In the fall of 1901 Mr. Luellwitz came to Spokane and organized
the McClain Lumber Company, under which name he operated for a
year. The business was then reincorporated under the name of the



13 2 < §ustab HueHtoit?

William Musser Lumber & Manufacturing Company, in which Mr.
Luellwitz was interested, retaining the management of the business
until 1903, when he severed his connection therewith. He next en-
tered business on his own account under the name of Gustav Luell-
witz & Company and in the spring of 1904 papers of incorporation
were taken out under the name of the Jenkins-Luellwitz Lumber
Company for the conduct of a general lumber business. In 1905
the Luellwitz Lumber Company was incorporated to take over the
retail department of the business and the same year the name of the
Jenkins-Luellwitz Company was changed to the Day-Luellwitz Com-
pany, at which time Harry L. Day became a partner in the under-
taking. The two companies were operated independently, the Day-
Luellwitz Company carrying on the wholesale and lumber manu-
facturing business. His last notable step in the business world has
been in connection with the consolidation of the Shaw-Wells and
Luellwitz interests, which occurred March 2, 1912. Operations are
still to be continued under the name of the Shaw- Wells Company,
with Mr. Luellwitz as president, Frank H. Shaw, former president
of the Shaw- Wells Company, as the vice president and manager of
the new company, and E. MacCuaig, formerly of the Luellwitz Com-
pany, as treasurer. The board of directors is composed of these of-
ficers together with George R. Dodson, Herbert Witherspoon, E. F.
C. Van Dissel, J. P. Langley and C. E. Wells, the last named a resi-
dent of Racine, Wisconsin. The new corporation has been capitalized
for one million, two hundred thousand dollars, and plans have been
made for the erection, on the Luellwitz property along the railroad
tracks on the north side, of a modern three-story semi-fireproof ware-
house at a cost of one hundred and fifty thousand dollars. The pur-
chase of about two blocks of ground at the junction of Marietta
street and the railroad tracks has also been consummated, and con-
stituted the largest real-estate deal on the north side in the present
year. The new warehouse will be supplied with excellent shipping
facilities and eventually the salesroom and offices of the Company will
be located there. The merger of the Shaw- Wells and the Luellwitz
Companies is a notable step in the enlargement of the business of the
big mail order house. By this combination the firm plans to handle
lumber and mill work through mail orders on a plan used by the
leading houses of this character in the east. Mr. Luellwitz is also
the owner of the Athol Lumber Company and is interested in the
Buckeye Lumber Company, the Newman Lake Lumber Company
and the Rainier Lumber & Shingle Company of Seattle. He owns



(gugtab Huelltoit? 133

large timber tracts in British Columbia and is likewise interested in
the Yardley townsite. The Day-Luellwitz Company is incorporated
for two hundred thousand dollars and the Luellwitz Lumber Com-
pany for one hundred thousand dollars.

Mr. Luellwitz turns aside from business to cast his ballot in favor
of the men and measures of the republican party but has never sought
nor desired office. He is prominent in Masonry, holding member-
ship in the blue lodge and chapter of Phillips, Wisconsin, and in the
commandery, consistory and Mystic Shrine at Spokane. He belongs
also to the Spokane Club, the Spokane Country Club, the Spokane
Athletic Club and the Hoo Hoos, an organization of lumbermen,
with which he has been identified since its inception. He is likewise
a member of the Chamber of Commerce and his active aid can be
counted upon to further its interests and its projects. His early bus-
iness experience laid the foundation for his success, bringing him a
knowledge of the lumber trade which has constituted a basic element
in his subsequent advancement in this line. As the years have gone by
he has more and more largely gained a knowledge of the different
phases of the business and is today an acknowledged authority on lum-
ber in the northwest and a prominent representative of the trade. The
story of his life is the story of honest industry and thrift. He has been
aptly termed a man of policy. To build up rather than to destroy has
ever been his plan and he attacks everything with a contagious en-
thusiasm, his business ever balancing up with the principles of truth
and honor.





Srtfmr £. Joneg

iRTHUR D. JONES is the president of Arthur D.

Aim Jones & Company, the oldest as well as the largest
S3 real-estate firm in Spokane. He has been at the
"/J head of this institution continuously since 1887 and
has built it up from one desk to one of the strong in-
stitutions of the city, occupying half of the ground
floor space of the Arthur D. Jones building with an office entirely
finished and furnished in imported mahogany. Mr. Jones was born
in Michigan, September 25, 1859, and was educated in the common
schools and at the State College at Iowa City, Iowa. After a short
experience as a school teacher and solicitor for a magazine, he took