Chapter VI: Some Pioneers of Port Townsend

In Port Townsend and Seattle papers of 1902 appeared the following items of history pertaining to settlers of Port Townsend:

"Port Townsend, Feb. 15, 1902.--On Friday, February 21, there is
to be held in Port Townsend a reunion of old settlers to
celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of the landing at this place
of some of the first white families to settle on Puget Sound
north of the little town of Steilacoom.

"Much interest is being manifested in the coming celebration
among the old-timers on Puget Sound, many of whom have already
responded to invitations that have been sent them. Most of these
letters contain interesting anecdotes or references touching the
past. One of them is from Judge E. D. Warbass, of San Juan
county, who writes from 'Idlewild,' his country home, near Friday
Harbor, under date of February 1. In his letter to J. A. Kuhn,
whom he addresses as 'My Dear Ankutty Tillikum,' he says:

"'This is my birthday, born in A. D. 1825. Please figure up the
time for yourself. I have just finished my breakfast and chores,
and will get this letter off on the 9 o'clock mail. I am
sincerely obliged for the honor of being invited to come to the
Port Townsend celebration and to prepare and read some
reminiscences of my experiences during all these years. I hope to
be able to do so, and will, if I can, but you know I am no longer
the same rollicking Ed, but quite an old man. However, I am
willing to contribute my mite towards making your celebration a
success, and weather and health permitting, will be there. Delate
mika siam.'

"A. A. Plummer, Sr., and Henry Bacheller came to Port Townsend by
sailing vessel from San Francisco, in the fall of 1851, and
remained here during the winter. A few days after they arrived
here, L. B. Hastings and F. W. Pettygrove came in overland from
Portland, carrying their blankets on their backs. They soon
decided to return to Portland and bring their families over. Mr.
Hastings arranged with Plummer and Bacheller to build a cabin for
him by the time he returned.

"He and Pettygrove went back to Portland, and soon afterward Mr.
Hastings bought the schooner Mary Taylor. He made up a party of
congenial people, and on February 9, 1852, the Mary Taylor sailed
from the Columbia river with the following named persons, and
their families, on board: L. B. Hastings, F. W. Pettygrove,
Benjamin Ross, David Shelton, Thomas Tallentyre and Smith Hayes.
The last named had no family.

"On February 19 the schooner passed in by Cape Flattery, and on
the afternoon of the 20th came upon the Hudson Bay settlement on
Vancouver Island, at Victoria. Present survivors of the trip, who
were then children, recall how their fathers lifted them up to
their shoulders and pointed out the little settlement, telling
them at the same time that that country belonged to England, and
of their own purpose of crossing over to the American side and
there establishing a home for themselves. That night the schooner
dropped anchor in Port Townsend bay.

"Early next morning--February 21--the schooner was boarded by
Quincy A. Brooks, deputy collector and inspector of customs. Mr.
Brooks had arrived here only a few hours ahead of the Mary
Taylor, coming from Olympia and bringing with him the following
customs inspectors: A. M. Poe, H. C. Wilson and A. B. Moses.
These men had been sent here by the collector of customs to
investigate stories of smuggling being carried on between the
Hudson Bay Company and Indians on the Sound. The customs
officials were camped on the beach. With them were B. J. Madison
and William Wilton, the former of whom later settled here. A. A.
Plummer and Henry Bacheller were also camped on the beach here at
the same time, having been here since their arrival from San
Francisco in the preceding fall.

"Early in the forenoon of February 21 all on board the schooner
Mary Taylor were landed on the beach and immediately began the
work of carving out homes for themselves in what was then a
wilderness thickly inhabited by Indians. Mr. Hastings found his
cabin ready for occupancy, all but the roof, which had not been
put on. A temporary roof was constructed and the family moved in.
That night twelve inches of snow fell, it being the first snow
that had fallen here during the entire winter. Mr. Hastings'
schooner afterward made several trips between the Columbia river
and the Sound, bringing additional families here.

"The present survivors of the Mary Taylor's passengers are the
following: L. W. D. Shelton and his sister, Mary, Oregon C.
Hastings, Frank W. Hastings, Maria Hastings Littlefield, Benj. S.
Pettygrove and Sophia Pettygrove McIntyre. All but Mr. Shelton
and his sister and Oregon C. Hastings are residents of Port
Townsend.

"Oregon C. Hastings was born in Illinois in 1845, and crossed the
plains in 1849 with his parents. He is living in Victoria.

"Benjamin S. Pettygrove is a native of Portland, Oregon, where he
was born on September 30, 1846. He was the first white male child
born in Portland.

"Frank W. Hastings was born in Portland on November 16, 1848.

"Sophia Pettygrove was born in Portland on November 17, 1848. She
was married on her 17th birthday to Captain James McIntyre, who
lost his life a few weeks ago in the wreck of the steamship
Bristol in Alaskan waters.

"Judge J. A. Kuhn is the moving spirit in the matter of these
pioneers' reunions and in the organization of Native Sons and
Native Daughters lodges. He made a promise to G. Morris Haller of
Seattle, as far back as 1877, he says, that he would take up the
organizations referred to, in the interest of history and
research. The matter remained dormant, however, till the year
1893, when, on March 2, of that year, he instituted in Port
Townsend, Jefferson Camp No. 1, Native Sons of Washington, with
12 members present. The camp now has 118 members. On July 3,
1895, he instituted in Port Townsend, Lucinda Hastings Parlor No.
1, Native Daughters of Washington. There are now in the state
nine camps of Native Sons and four parlors of Native Daughters.

"A. A. Plummer, Sr., now deceased, was one of the fathers of Port
Townsend and was considered quite a remarkable man. He was born
in the state of Maine, March 3, 1822, and was a veteran of the
Mexican war. He fought under Col. Stevens in that conflict and at
its close went to California, going from there to Portland by
sailing vessel in 1850.

"Major Quincy A. Brooks was the second deputy collector of
customs ever sworn into the service in the Puget Sound district.
In January, 1852, he succeeded Elwood Evans as deputy collector
for the district. The collector of customs was then Simpson P.
Moses, of Cincinnati, Ohio, and the custom house was located at
Olympia."

At the reunion on the 21st of February, 1902, many things were brought to light.

"Among the many stories of early days and reminiscences recalled
at the pioneers' gathering one of the most interesting was Mr.
Shelton's story of the trip of the Mary Taylor from Portland to
Port Townsend. Mr. Shelton had committed his reminiscences to
manuscript as follows:

"'Fifty years ago, some time about the first of February, the
little 75-ton schooner Mary Taylor left Portland, Ore., for Puget
Sound, having on board the families of L. B. Hastings, F. W.
Pettygrove, David Shelton, Thomas Tallentyre, Benjamin Ross and
Smith Hayes. Mr. Hayes had no family here, but I think he had a
family in the East. Mr. Ross had one son, about 20 years old.

"'Our little craft was navigated by Captain Hutchinson and a crew
of four or five men. The families were all old acquaintances.
Those of Hastings, Ross and Shelton crossed the plains together
in 1847, and concluded to cast their fortunes together again in
their last great move, which was to this country.

"'We lay at Astoria several days, waiting for a favorable
opportunity to cross the bar. We made three trials before we
ventured out to sea and were three or four days getting up to
Cape Flattery, where we lay quite a while in a calm. We found
here that we were in soundings, and some of the party commenced
fishing, but all they could catch were dog fish, which we tried
to eat, but we found that they were not the kind of fish that we
cared about.

"'Our first sight of Indians in this part of the country was off
Neah Bay. We were drifting near Waadah Island, when canoes came
swarming out of their village in the bay. We had heard ugly
stories about this tribe, and prepared for them by stacking our
arms around the masts, to be handy in case of need. They were
clamorous to come on board, but we thought that they were as well
off in their canoes as they would be anywhere else. Some of our
party sauntered along the deck with guns in their hands, in view
of the Indians.

"'The Indians then wanted to trade fish for tobacco and trinkets.
A few pieces of tobacco were thrown into their canoes and then
they commenced throwing fish aboard, and such fish for a landsman
to look at! There were bull-heads, rock-cod, kelp-fish, mackerel,
fish as flat as your hand, and skates, and other monstrosities,
the likes of which the most of our party had never seen before,
and when our old cook dished them up for us at dinner we found
that they were fine and delicious. There is where we made the
acquaintance of sea-bass and rock-cod, and we have cultivated
their acquaintance ever since. There were also mussels and clams
among the lot, which we found to be very good. We were surrounded
by another lot of Indians near Clallam Bay, with about the same
performances and with the same results as at Neah Bay.'

"Another incident that I recall happened near Dungeness spit. A
couple of canoes filled with Indians came alongside and as there
was only a few of them they were allowed to come on board. The
tyee of the crowd introduced himself as Lord Jim. He wore a plug
hat, a swallowtailed coat, a shirt and an air of immense
importance. I suppose he had secured his outfit as a 'cultus
potlatch' from persons he had met. He had evidently met several
white people in his time, as he had a number of testimonials as
to his character as a good Indian. I remember of hearing one of
his testimonials read and it impressed me as having come from one
who had studied the Indian character to some effect. It read
something like this:

"'To whom it may concern: This will introduce Lord Jim, a noted
Indian of this part of the country. Look out for him or he will
steal the buttons off your coat.' A further acquaintance with
Lord Jim seemed to inspire the belief that the confidence of the
writer was not misplaced.

"Shortly after we left Lord Jim we sailed along Protection
Island, one of the beauty spots of the Strait of Juan de Fuca.
Somewhere along here another thing happened--trivial in its
nature--the memory of which has stayed with me all these years.
Mr. Pettygrove was walking the deck in a meditative manner, when
he happened to feel that he needed a cigar. He called to his son,
Ben, about six years old, and told him to bring him some cigars.
Ben wanted to know how many he should get. His father told him to
get as many as he had fingers on both hands. Ben, proud of his
commission, darted away and soon returned with eight cigars. His
father looked at them a moment and said: 'How is this; you have
only brought me eight cigars?' 'Well,' said Ben, 'that is all the
fingers I have.' 'No,' said his father, 'you have ten on both
your hands.' 'Why, no I haven't,' said Ben, 'two of them are
thumbs,' and I guess Ben was right.

"The next morning, after passing Dungeness Spit, we found our
vessel anchored abreast of what is now the business part of Port
Townsend, which was then a large Indian village. That was
February 21, 1852, fifty years ago today. How it stirs the blood
and quickens the memory to look back over those eventful
years--eventful years for our state, our Pacific Coast and our
entire country--and these years have been equally eventful for
the little band that landed here that day so full of hope and
energy.

"Our fathers and mothers are all gone to their well-earned rest
and reward. Of the thirteen children that were with them at that
time nine are still living, and I am proud of the fact that they
are all respectable citizens of the community in which they live.
They have seen all the history of this part of the country that
amounts to much and in their humble way have helped to make it.
They have helped conquer the wilderness and the savages and have
done their share in laying the foundation of what will be one of
the greatest states of our Union. Their fathers were men of
honesty and more than ordinary force of character, as their deeds
and labors in behalf of their country and families show, and the
mothers of blessed memory--their children never realized the
power for good they were in this world until they were grown and
had families of their own, but they know it now. They know now
how they encouraged their husbands when dark days came; how they
cheerfully shared the trials and hardships incident to those
early pioneer days, and when brighter fortunes came they
exercised the same helpful guiding influence in their well
ordered, comfortable homes that they did in their first log
cabins in the wilderness."