Copyright 2001, Janine M. Bork
This page part of Walla
Walla AHGP
Mrs. Hannah J. (Keeler) OLMSTEAD
Gilbert's Historic Sketches
Biographical Supplements
1882
Page 28
Rev. A.R. Olds is superintendent of the Walla Walla County Poor Farm, situated on section 36, township 7 north, range 35 east in that county. He devoted many years of his life to the work of the ministry and then ill health obliged him to discontinue his labors in that connection. He is now making a most excellent record not only as superintendent of the Poor Farm in his care of the indigent ones but also in the management of crop production. He was called to this position in 1914 and has been most efficient in the discharge of all of the tasks that devolve upon him in this connection.
A native of Pennsylvania, his birth occurred in Bradford on the 30th of July,, 1854, his parents being Robert D. and Hannah (Corkings) Olds, both of whom were natives of the state of new York, where they were reared and married. Soon afterward they removed to Bradford, Pennsylvania, where the father engaged in the shoe business until 1858, when he removed to Roanoke, Indiana, where he again conducted business as a boot and shoe merchant for twenty-eight years. The mother died in Roanoke and the father afterward came to the west, making his home with his son, Rev. A.R. Olds of this review, at Philomath, Oregon.
A.R. Olds pursued a public school education, supplemented by study in the Roanoke Seminary. he was thirteen years of age when he entered upon an apprenticeship to the shoemaking business, for his father conducted a custom made shoe business in connection with handling the factory product. After completing his apprenticeship A.R. Olds worked at the trade until 1882, when he made his way westward to Oregon, settling in Philomath. A little later he became connected with the Congregational church as a minister and for almost thirty years devoted his time and energies to the work, filling the pulpit in various churches. After his retirement from a regular charge he continued to do county missionary work until about a year ago. In September, 1896, he arrived in Walla Walla to take charge of the county missionary work but failing health caused him to give only a part of his time to the work in later years. Earnest and zealous in his efforts to upbuild the church, his labors wrought good results. He was not denied the harvest nor the full aftermath of his efforts. His high purpose, his ready sympathy, his words of wisdom all combined to act as an influencing factor drawing men to a better life.
In 1914 Rev. Olds was appointed superintendent of the County Poor Farm of Walla Walla county, in which capacity he has since served, and he has proven himself a master farmer, his crops at the present writing being among the finest in this section of the state. He also displays good business ability in the conduct and management of the Poor Farm and his official service in this connection is characteristic of traits which he has ever displayed, for it has always been his custom to carry forward to successful completion whatever he undertakes. He never falters in the face of difficulties nor obstacles and his labors have brought good results, both in promoting material and moral progress.
In 1876 Rev. Olds was united in marriage to Miss Etta Fast, of Roanoke, Indiana, by whom he has three children, namely: Earl L., who is a resident of Bend, Oregon; Francis R., living at Klamath Falls; and Ruth, the wife of H.W. Bathany, of Walla Walla.
Rev. Olds gives his political allegiance to the republican party, which he has long supported. He is prominent in Masonic circles, belonging to Walla Walla Lodge, No. 7, A.F.&A.M.; Walla Walla Chapter, No. 1, R.A.M.; and Oriental Consistory, No. 2, A.&A.S.R., of Spokane. He is likewise a member of Trinity Lodge, No. 121, I.O.O.F., and Walla Walla encampment, No. 3, I.O.O.F., and in June, 1917, a high honor was conferred upon him, for in that month he was made grand chaplain of the grand lodge of Washington. He also belongs to the Woodmen of the World. He is one of Walla Walla county's most esteemed and representative citizens and enjoys the respect, goodwill and trust of all with whom he has come in contact. Ever ready to extend a helping hand where aid is needed, his character and work have been such as have shed around him much of life's sunshine.
Lyman's History of Old Walla Walla County - 1918
Page 333, 334
Mrs. Olmstead is one of these
women, - a lady who can run a farm, transact her own business, and provide
for and educate her children. She lives at Walla Walla, Washington, and
owns her home. She is a native of South Salem, New York, was born in 1835,
and is the daughter of Lewis and Eliza Keeler, well-to-do farmers, who,
by the way, are still living, and are now eighty-one and seventy-six years
old, respectively. In 1851 Miss Hannah was married to Daniel H. Olmstead,
of Port Huron. Soon after their nuptials he was led to the Pacific
coast by the California gold excitement. Like the most of the gold-hunters,
Mr. Olmstead expected to make his fortune in a few months, - in a year
at the longest, - and then go home to enjoy it. Fortune-making was not,
however, so speedy a process; and the beginnings of his competency were
destroyed by the fire which devastated Sacramento in 1853. His property
was the Empire Flour Mills. Meeting this loss with characteristic fortitude,
he began again to pick up the ends of a living, if not a fortune, by working
with a dray at San Francisco two years, then a short time at Crescent City,
and soon at Portland. At the last place he found employment with Colonel
Ruckle, of the Cascades, in sailing a schooner between
the two points last-named.
In 1859 he was able to return
East and bring his young wife to the home which he had made at the Cascades,
within sight of the most
stupendous scenery of the coast. He had become a Western
man. His return was in 1861. The first winter passed at that place was
terribly
severe. Snow fell to a depth of eighteen feet, - one
of those phenomenal avalanches which occasionally burst upon the Cascade
Mountains.
The thermometer was frequently below zero. In addition
to their own hardships, they were beset by half-starved, frost-bitten wretches
from
above, trying their best to get through to some milder
clime than that east of the mountains. Although the Columbia was blockaded
with ice
fully three months, and there was no telling when their
household provisions might give out, no one passed their door without being
well warmed and fed.
In 1864 the Olmsteads moved to
Walla Walla county and purchased a farm near the Oregon line, but met with
little encouragement. The
climate and soil were not so well understood then as
now. After twelve years of hard labor, and the endurance of the privations
of a new and
sparsely-settled country, Mr. Olmstead was taken with
a severe sickness, under which he sank and died. Mrs. Olmstead, thus bereaved,
was left with her four children, and only a farm which had not yet proved
productive, from which to gain a support. But, with great spirit and courage,
she herself undertook the management, and was rewarded with a large crop
of oats and hay, and with increasing stock. For a number of years
she conducted the place with equally good success. In
1880 she moved to Walla Walla, buying a home for the sake of educating
her family.
There are no failures on this coast, either among men or women, where hearts are so true and brave as Mrs. Olmstead's.
History of Pacific Northwest - Oregon and Washington
1889 Volume II
Page 498, 499