Hallj
Transcribed from "History of North Washington, an illustrated history
of Stevens, Ferry, Okanogan and Chelan counties", published by Western
Historical Publishing Co., 1904.
JOSEPH HALL is a venerable and
highly esteemed citizen of Okanogan county. He resides three miles
south from Loomis where he has a fine estate, all under irrigation and
ditching and well improved with fences, residence, barns, orchards and
so forth. He settled here in very early day and has labored assiduously
since in the work of opening the country.
Joseph Hall was born in February 11, 1837,
in Slate county, Kentucky, the son of William and Anna (Welch) Hall, natives
of Tennessee. The father died in Edgar county, Illinois, in 1844,
and the mother had passed away the year previous. Our subject had
gone to Illinois with his parents when young and after their death, resided
with an older brother. He had four brothers and two sisters.
In 1857, they went to Missouri by wagon settling near Kansas City.
When the war broke out some of Mr. Hall's brothers enlisted to fight for
the Union and some supported the Confederate cause and joined their ranks.
Owing to this serious state of affairs, Mr. Hall determined to join neither
side and so bought a wagon and came west. He was married on July
28, 1859, at Wyandotte, Kansas, to Sarah J. Wilkes, a native of Illinois.
Her father, Francis Wilkes, was a native of Kentucky, while her mother,
Sarah J. (Stanford) Wilkes was born in Ohio. Mr. Hall was accompanied
on his journey to Colorado by his wife and her parents. They mined
in that country until 1865, then joined a large train of about one hundred
wagons and came overland to the vicinity of Pendleton, Oregon. The
Indians were very hostile and they saw various skirmishes and one battle
between them and the soldiers. Mrs. Hall had two brothers where they
settled in Oregon and one that was a lieutenant in the Cayuse Indian war.
In 1871 Mr. Hall located land near Colfax, Washington, whence also his
wife's parents came the following year and made their home with them until
their death. The mother died in 1874 and the father in 1878.
When the Palouse branch of the Northern Pacific railroad was built, Mr.
Hall did ten miles of grading and received the reward of having the best
piece of grading on the road. In 1886 he had freighted, and in 1888
moved his family to his present home. In the winter of 1889 and 1890,
Mr. Hall lost most of his cattle on account of the hard winter. He
now does general farming and has a nice band of stock. On May 31,
1900, Mrs. Hall was called across the river of death, having been the mother
of the children named below. She was a devoted Christian woman and
greatly beloved by all who knew her. The children mentioned are named
as follows: Mrs. Lenora Fenn, of Seattle; Jenettie, wife of George W. Handlin,
of Loomis; Joseph A. and Josephine, twins, the latter being the wife of
Sidney Lansing, of Hilgard, Oregon; Ida L., wife of George Bailey, of British
Columbia. Mr. Hall is a member of the Presbyterian church, as was
his wife, and is a man whom all respect.