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Transcribed from "History of North Washington, an illustrated history of Stevens, Ferry, Okanogan and Chelan counties", published by Western Historical Publishing Co., 1904.


     JOSEPH DARNELL, proprietor of the Lakeview Hotel, Lakeside, Chelan county, Washington, was born near Zanesville, Ohio, March 12, 1850 the son of Jeremiah and Pheriba Darnell.  His father, of a family of old Virginia planters, owning large estates, was for many years a pensioner of the War of 1812.  His mother was a descendant of an old Quaker family, and born in Maine.  She now lives in Ohio at the age of eighty years.
     Until 1885 our subject remained in the vicinity of Zanesville, where he attended the graded and high schools, and also the University of Pennsylvania.  Subsequently he learned the heating and finishing business in a rolling mill, following the same sixteen years.  During the Civil war he ran away, intending to enlist, but was brought back.  In 1885 he came to Washington, wintered at Sprague, and then secured land seventy-five miles distant from that town.  For a short period he was in Spokane, and would have purchased property on Riverside at most advantageous terms had he not been persuaded to the contrary by an overzealous friend.  In 1889 Mr. Darnell learned of Lake Chelan and went there in December of that year.  In 1890 he brought his family to Chelan, then a government townsite.  Following four months' residence in Chelan he came to Lakeside, which at that period consisted principally of a small store, and began teaming.  He also conducted a barber shop and a grist mill.  He was elected justice of the peace and arrested the first man to go to the penitentiary ever sent from that county.  The prisoner had been guilty of selling whiskey to the Indians.  Mr. Darnell also built a catamaran steamer, seventy-five feet long, and during the winter utilized the engine on board the boat to grind corn and wheat, averaging twenty dollars a day when running steadily.  Mr. Darnell and Judge Navarre, mentioned elsewhere, platted the townsite of Lakeside, and the former purchased the first lots sold.  He erected a one-room hotel and barn, which he has since increased in size.  He now has twenty-one guest rooms, well furnished, supplied with electric lights, excellent water, pumped from the lake, and other conveniences.  Mr. Darnell is, emphatically, a popular landlord with travelers and residents.
     He has three brothers and three sisters, Charles, John and Purley, of Ohio; Lucy, widow of George Murphy; Clarinda, wife of Culver Johnson, both of Ohio; and Mary J., wife of James Williams, of Muncie, Indiana.  July 23, 1870, Mr. Darnell was united in marriage, near McConnelsville, Ohio, to Nancy E  Harris, a native of Ohio, daughter of William and Eleanor (World) Harris.  Both are deceased. Mrs. Darnell has one brother and one sister, Abraham and Linda, wife of John Sherman, of Zanesville, Ohio.  Mr. and Mrs. Darnell have five children, Mary, wife of William Houghton, Lewiston, Idaho; Ella, wife of William A. White, of Lakeside, mentioned elsewhere; Eva, wife of Ellery R. Fosdick, San Jose, California; J. Edward, and Otis, with his father in the hotel.  Fraternally our subject is a member of the K. P., Chelan Lodge No. 97.  He was a member of the Uniform Rank Silver Cross, K. P., Zanesville, where he was captain of a division.  He is past C. C. of McIntyre Lodge, No. 38, Zanesville, and representative to the grand lodge there.  He is past C. C. here, and representative to the grand lodge.
     Politically he is a Republican and has been delegate to county conventions, and always takes an active interest in local, state and national politics.  Mr. Darnell is a member of the auditorium committee, one of the trustees and the largest stockholder.  Mrs. Darnell is a member of the M. E. church, and a member of the Relief Corps of the G. A. R.