Walla Walla Biographies

Walla Walla Valley
Biographies - T

JOSEPH F. TACHI

Andrew J. TASH

Andy TAYLOR

JOSEPH F. TACHI.

Joseph F. Tachi, who passed away August 8, 1912, was a well known citizen of Walla Walla county. He was a native of Italy and came to America thirty-seven years ago. He did not tarry on the Atlantic seaboard but crossed the country and settled in Walla Walla county, Washington, where he took up the occupation of gardening, which he followed with success, developing a good business in that connection. He continued active in gardening up to the time of his demise, which occurred in 1912.

Almost a quarter of a century before, on June 9, 1889, at Walla Walla Mr. Tachi was united in marriage to Miss Antonia Coboch, who was likewise born in the sunny land of Italy and came to the new world when twenty-seven years of age. She owns ten acres of valuable land on section 36, township 7 north,, range 35 east, at College Place and she is also the owner of the Star Laundry and a brick building which contains five storerooms and which returns to her a most gratifying annual income from its rental. In addition to these investments she owns thirty-one acres of land which is splendidly improved. She belongs to St. Francis Catholic church; of which Mr. Tachi was also a member, and he was a member of the Knights of Columbus, the Catholic Knights of America, and the Red Men. During their residence in Walla Wall county Mr. and Mrs. Tachi gained many warm friends, he being well known as a representative business man. Mrs. Tachi has also proved most capable in the management and control of her interests, and her property is now bringing to her a substantial annual income.

Lyman's History of Old Walla Walla County - 1918
Page 40

ANDREW J. TASH was born near Greencastle, in Putnam county, Indiana, January 15, 1839. His father, John Tash, was a farmer, and a native of North Carolina, where he was born in Rowan county, October 25, 1797. While Andrew was but a year old his mother died, and in 1848 his father moved to Mercer county, Missouri, and to Decatur county, Iowa, in 1853, where he now lives. In 1859 andrew went to California, where he remained two years engaged in mining in Butte and Yuba counties. In 1861 he came to Walla WAlla, and spent his summers from that time until 1866 in the Oro Fino and Florence mines. In 1866 he settled on the place now occupied by him, a sketch of which accompanies this work. The farm is nine and a half miles east of Walla Walla, on Mill creek, and contains 480 acres. Besides this he owns 54 acres on Blue creek and 80 acres of timber. Mr. Tash was first married to Mary E. Brooks, on the sixteenth of September, 1866, who died April 30, 1874, leaving one child, Frank E. born December 12, 1871. His second marriage was to Lucy M., daughter of P.C. Kelmgaard, September 16, 1876, and the children of Mr. and Mrs. Tash were born and are named as follows: Harry A., October 13, 1877; Hattie E., October 5, 1879; Elmer E., November 19, 1881.

Gilbert's Historic Sketches
Biographical Supplements
1882
Page 37

ANDY TAYLOR

Andy Taylor, one of the extensive wheat growers of Walla Walla county, within the borders of which he has resided for the past three decades, makes his home in the city of Walla Walla. For some years he engaged in the cultivation of seven hundred and ninety-seven acres of land nine miles north of Prescott and also operates a tract of two thousand acres under lease. His birth occurred in Green county, Tennessee, on the 15th of July, 1857, his parents being William and Susan (Carey) Taylor, who were also natives of that state. In 1889, one year after the arrival of their son Andy, they made their way to the Pacific coast country and for a time resided in Oregon. Subsequently, however, they took up their abode in Walla Walla and here spent the remainder of their lives.

Andy Taylor spent the first nineteen years of his life in the state of his nativity and about 1876 removed to Petersburg, Illinois, where he was actively engaged in general agricultural pursuits for more than a decade. It was in 1887 that he came to Walla Walla county, Washington, and here he was employed as a ranch hand for a period of five years. At the end of that time, in1893, he took up a homestead ten miles north of Walla Walla, residing thereon for five years or until he established the family home in the city of Walla Walla, where it has since been maintained. In the fall of 1917 he disposed of his tract north of Prescott. The prosperity which he now enjoys is indeed well merited, for he has ever manifested industry, enterprise and keen discrimination and in the management of his extensive interests has been notably practical, persistent and progressive.

In 1884 Mr. Taylor was united in marriage to Miss Mollie C. Ragsdill, of Menard county, Illinois, by whom he has two sons: Lowell Oakley, a successful agriculturist of Walla Walla county; and Brooks Andy, who engages in wheat growing with his father. Although a grandmother Mrs. Taylor is now a student at St. Paul's School, where she expects to complete the school work begun in her girlhood, having a great desire for a higher education than she could obtain at that time. This is very unusual for a woman past fifty years of age but shows her strength of character and perseverance. Mr. Taylor gives his political allegiance to the republican party, which he has supported since age conferred upon him the right of franchise. Fraternally he is identified with the following organizations: Blue Mountain Lodge, No. 13, F. &A.M.; Walla Walla Chapter, No. I, R.A.M.; Enterprise Lodge, No. 2, I.O.O.F.; Walla Walla Encampment, No. 3, I.O.O.F.; and Walla Walla Lodge, No. 287, B.P.O.E. Mr. Taylor and his two sons are all thirty-second degree Masons as well as members of the Odd Fellows lodge and encampment, while his wife and sons are identified with the Order of the Eastern Star, and Mrs. Taylor is a member of the Daughters of Rebekahs. Mr. Taylor is also a member of the Farmers Union and is widely and favorably known in Walla Walla county, where has won friends and fortune.

Lyman's History of Old Walla Walla County - 1918
Page 180, 185

ALFRED THOMAS was born in Hardinsburgh, Breckenridge county, Kentucky, on the sixteenth of April, 1828. His father was the proprietor of an extensive tannery in that place, and the tanner's trade, consequently, was that learned by Alfred before leaving home, which occurred in 1849, when he emigrated to Linn county, Iowa. In 1850, on the tenth of December, he was married to Miss Elizabeth E. Lewis, of Linn county, in that State. In 1870 he rented his Iowa farm and moved with his family to Walla Walla, and settled the same year on the place now occupied by him as a homestead. A view of the improvements and the east end of his farm accompanies this book. There are 660 acres of it, situated three miles east of Walla Walla city, through which, for one and one-fourth miles runs Mill creek. all is enclosed with fence, 360 acres are under cultivation, and the balance is timber and pasture land. There is an orchard with 2,100 bearing fruit trees including apple, peach, pear, plum, prune and apricot. In 1876 sixty acres of it produced 78 bushels of barley to the acre, and 125 acres produced 48 bushels of wheat to the acre. There are 80 acres of that farm upon which barley has been grown for nine consecutive years, and the last year it yielded 60 bushels to the acre. Nothing further need be said in regard to its productiveness. Mr. Thomas makes a specialty of growing hogs, and has at this time about 300 head. His crop of fruit in 1882 was sold by him for $3,000. To this add the grain product and it would seem to be enough business for one man to excel at. At the time of his purchasing the place, many considered it an exhibition of deficient knowledge of agriculture. But the years that he has spent in new countries in varied climes and upon different soils, had proved a school of experience that has caused him to take as a choice what he has, and the result has proved the wisdom of the selection. Yellow Hawk, the Cayuse chief, after whom the creek is named, is buried upon this farm, where he lived in the time when the Indian was "monarch of all he surveyed." Mrs. Elizabeth E. Thomas died october 8, 1878, leaving the following children: Sarah E., Ellen S., John G., Carrie E., Joseph Guy, Mary K., Eugene, Bertie, and Eliza. September 24, 1879, Mr. Thomas was again married, this time to Mrs. Margaret Lewis, a cousin of his former wife, who has one child, Lewis H., born July 1, 1880.

Gilbert's Historic Sketches
Biographical Supplements
1882
Page 37

WALLACE B. THOMAS, a farmer living on Mill creek five miles northeast from Walla Walla, first moved to Washington Territory in June, 1871. Upon his arrival, he purchased the 320 acres of land which are included as a portion of the 500 acres constituting his present home farm. He had twice crossed the plains previous to this, but perhaps it would be a better way to go back and trace in brief the events of his life as they occurred. He was born in Hardinsburgh, Breckenridge county, Kentucky, March 3, 1839; and while a lad learned the tanner's trade from his father, Joseph H. Thomas, who was an extensive manufacturer in this line. In 1852, after his father's death, the family moved to Linn county, Iowa, where Wallace purchased a ranch, and his mother lived with him until her death. December 17, 1861, he was married to Miss Rebecca C. Lewis, of Benton county, Iowa. In 1863 he became impressed with the fact that the West might contain a locality where, if he should go to it and settle, his condition in life would be materially improved, and following this prompting crossed the plains to Walla Walla in Washington Territory. He remained in this Territory over winter, found people generally of opinion that the country was not good for farming purposes, and returned to Iowa by way of Willamette valley, overland to California, and around by the Isthmus and New York. In 1865 he came again to Washington Territory, by way of the Isthmus to California, thence to Nevada, and through Boise City to Walla Walla; and went home the next year by way of Salt Lake. As he left this region in 1866, it was with the determination of selling his Eastern property and moving with his family to this Territory, which he did as indicated by us at the beginning of this sketch. The birth and names of the children of Mr. and Mrs. Thomas are: Ada E., October 30, 1862; Lucy R., May 12, 1865; Charles W., April 6, 1867; Denney G., July 12, 1869; Esther M., March 31, 1872; Melissa J., July 18, 1876; James B., August 27, 1878. Mr. Thomas is one of the active, energetic, and successful business farmers of the county, and is respected by those who know him. In politics he is on the order of independent, but believes strongly in the policy of a united grange movement.

Gilbert's Historic Sketches
Biographical Supplements
1882
Page 37, 38

JOSEPH W. TONER.

Joseph W. Toner, who is successfully farming in Walla Walla county, was born in Vermont, April 22, 1875, a son of Daniel and Bridget (Ferrell) Toner. The father was born in Vermont and the mother was a native of Ireland, but they were married in the Green Mountain state, where they resided until called by death. To them were born seven children, of whom five survive.

Joseph W. Toner was reared at home and as a boy and youth attended the public schools. In 1892, when seventeen years, he came to Walla Walla, Washington, and for some years engaged in dairying. He now, however, gives his attention to general farming. He owns thirty-seven and a half acres of finely improved land within the city limits of Walla Walla and has refused nine hundred dollars an acre for the place.

Mr. Toner was married in1895 to Miss Permelia C. Hammond, a native of Walla Walla and a daughter of William R. and Permelia Hammond. To this marriage have been born seven children: Helen, the wife of Milton Carter; Mildred, Edward and Mary, all high school students; Daniel, Jeanie and Ferrell.

The family attend the Presbyterian church and contribute to its support. Mr. Toner holds membership in the Independent Order of Odd Fellows of Walla Walla and is popular in that organization. In political belief he is a democrat and he is now capably serving as a member of the school board.

Lyman's History of Old Walla Walla County - 1918
Page 819

JOHN TRACY, who lives on Mill creek, about seven miles from Walla Walla, was born in Portumna, Galway county, Ireland, on the ninth of April, 1825. In 1849 he emigrated to America, and the succeeding six years were spent in various localities as a laborer, until he enlisted in the Ninth U.S. Infantry, April 6, 1855. His regiment under Colonel Wright was ordered to the Pacific Coast, and reached Fort Vancouver in January, 1856. The country was in the midst of an Indian war at the time, and Mr. Tracy served under that famous commander of the Ninth Infantry during all its campaign against the savages in Washington Territory, until discharged, at Walla Walla in July, 1860. He participated in those thrilling events that marked the Wright campaign of 1858, which spread terror among the evil-disposed red skins, who had driven Colonel Steptoe to disaster and out of their country. After his discharge from service, he located land on Mill creek, where he now resides, but spent a portion of 1861 and 1962 in the mines. In 1865, October 26, he was married to Eliza J. Hendricks, a native of Tennessee, and their children's names and dates of their birth are as follows: John Tracy, Jr., July 6, 1867; Mary Lucinda, April 5, 1869; Lawrence, January 16, 1870; Thomas, October 16, 1872; Catherine May 27, 1875; Eliza, January 1, 1876; Edward, October 16, 1878; Ellen, April 24, 1880. Mr. Tracy's ranch consists of 440 acres, all of which is inclosed and most of it under cultivation. The improvements can be best appreciated by referring to a view of the same in this work.

Gilbert's Historic Sketches
Biographical Supplements
1882
Page 38

SEWELL TRUAX was born in Missisquoi county, Canada, April 23, 1830. His parents were citizens of the United States, and have resided in Franklin county, Vermont, since 1831. He was educated at Norwich University, in Vermont, in the profession of civil engineer. At the age of twenty-one he started upon his rambles in the West, stopping a short time in Buffalo and Cleveland, and then spent the summer of 1852 in the survey of a railroad line from Marquette, Michigan, on the shore of Lake Superior to an iron mine twenty-five miles distant in the wilderness. In the fall he went to Dubuque, Iowa, and entered the law office of Mr. Bissell, since Governor of that State. Two weeks convinced him that he would make a better engineer than lawyer, and he resumed his old profession. In the spring of 1853, on his return from a serveying trip along the Missouri, between Big and Little Sioux rivers, he encountered a large number of emigrants at Council Bluffs, caught the Oregon fever, and the next day, May 4, 1853, was on his way to Oregon. He arrived at his destination in August. Until 1861 he was U.S. Deputy Surveyor in Southern Oregon, had a little experience with Indians in Rogue River valley in 1855-56, and in 1861 entered the United States volunteer service as Captain of Company D, First Oregon cavalry, of which regiment he subsequently became Major. In 1862 his regiment was ordered to Walla Walla and for a time in 1863 Major Truax was in command of that fort, but the greater portion of 1863-4 was in command at Fort Lapwai, Idaho Territory. For several years after the close of the war he was engaged in mercantile business at Lapwai. In 1870 he returned to Walla Walla, which he has since made his residence, most of the time engaged in his profession of engineering. For two years he devoted his time and means to the construction of the W.W.&C.R. railroad from Wallula to Walla Walla, being the first Vice President and Superintendent of construction. IN 1877 he was one of the first to locate upon the high bluffs of Snake river, which owes its early and successful development largely to that fact, and to the grain chute which he invented, for transporting the grain from the top of the bluffs to the river. Major Truax was married February 13, 1861, to Sarah E. Chandler, of Missisquoi county, Canada, born April 11, 1839. Their children are: Mary P., born June 3, 1862, married to B.D. Crocker in July, 1880 (Little son, Porter Truax Crocker, born September 27, 1881); Harmon C., born in 1864, died February 27, 1867; Edward Holden, born March 25, 1866; Elenor Hibbard, born January 12, 1868; Henry Chandler, born in 1870; Harlow Elias, born in 1874; Sewell Jr., born in February, 1876.

Gilbert's Historic Sketches
Biographical Supplements
1882
Page 39, 40

JOSEPH TRUESDALE. - The name Truesdale is so well known throughout Oregon as designating the captain of the plains as to need little introduction here. The son Joseph was born in Illinois in 1850, and two years later made the journey to California with his father and mother, the latter of whom died the same year; while the former returned to Illinois in 1855, taking the boy with him. Marrying again in 1856, the Captain brought an ox-team across the Rocky Mountains in 1862 to form a settlement in the Grande Ronde valley.

In 1865 young Truesdale went to the Upper Santiam, and there received his education. Two years later he collected a band of three hundred
cattle, which he drove to the Grande Ronde, losing one hundred head in the Cascade Mountains. For many years he has followed a goodly
variety of occupations, - conducting a livery stable at Walla Walla; operating in the mercantile business at Weston three years; in the
agricultural implement business in Umatilla county; buying whet at Union Point one year; in the hotel business at Summerville three years; and
one year and a half in the butcher business there. From the latter point he removed to La Grande, Oregon, where he is at present engaged in
conducting the Golden Rule Hotel, of which he is a most kindly and agreeable host. He also owns a first-class livery stable.

He was married in 1873 to Miss Ella Shore of Walla Walla, who died in 1876, leaving him one boy. In 1877 he was married to Miss Emma
Lewis. They have one daughter, Ettie. During the Nez Perce and Bannack wars, Mr. Truesdale served as teamster on the civil list. He is highly
esteemed for his many excellent social and moral qualities, his business abilities and integrity as a man and citizen.

History of Pacific Northwest - Oregon and Washington
1889 Volume II
Page 608, 609