Simmonsh  
 
 

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


     HERMAN S. SIMMONS, one of the most successful fruit growers in Chelan county, is a recognized authority in horticulture.  He resides in the immediate vicinity of Wenatchee.
     Descended from one of the oldest families of West Virginia, he was born August 20, 1848.  This was before the division of the state of Virginia.  The ancestors of his grandparents were Germans.  His father, Valentine Simmons, nearly one hundred years old, is still living in Missouri.  His paternal grandfather was one of the heroes of the Revolutionary war.  His mother, Germina (Grimm) Simmons, is a native of Virginia, her parents being old settlers of the state of New York.  At present she resides at Valley Head, West Virginia, which has been her home for the past sixty years.
     Our subject was reared and educated in the mining district of Randolph county, West Virginia, attending the public schools and graduating at a select academy.  He pushed on west when he was twenty years of age, and for four years worked on various railroads in Nebraska and Wyoming.  For twelve years following he was in the mercantile business in Missouri, coming to Washington in 1884.  His objective point was Alaska, but meeting an old friend in the vicinity of Wenatchee, Z. A. Lanham, he decided to invest in this state, and purchased a relinquishment, upon which he proved up.  Having grubbed and broken a portion of this land, of which he had a quarter section, he set out peach and apple trees, and sowed two acres of alfalfa.  At that period the nearest railroad point was Ellensburg, fifty-five miles distant.  Today he has twenty acres in fruit and eight acres in alfalfa.  As illustrative of his success in the line of horticulture he was presented with a gold medal at the Buffalo Exposition, in 1901.  The range of his fruit crop now embraces peaches, apples, pears, apricots and quinces. At the Spokane fruit exhibition of 1897, Mr.  Simmons was awarded several prizes, and he has received the same recognition each succeeding year since.  He gained seventeen prizes in 1900, and in 1901 he carried away the first prize for the best general exhibit by one grower in the state of Washington.  In 1902 he sold three thousand five hundred boxes of apples and four thousand boxes of peaches, aside from large quantities of apricots and pears.  He has also a fine and profitable vineyard.
     At Halfway, Missouri, January 12, 1879, Mr. Simmons was united in marriage to Martha Myer, a native of Waco, Texas.  Her father, William Myer, deceased, was a native of Hanover, Germany.  Her mother, also a German, was Mary (Kreuger) Myer.  Mrs. Simmons has four brothers, William and H. Ernest, Texas farmers, Benjamin F., of Halfway, Missouri, and G. Augustus Myer, a physician residing in Buffalo, Missouri.
     Two children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Simmons, Minnie L and Mabel.  Their home is a cozy cottage, one and a half stories high, and surrounded by luxuriant shade trees, making it an ideal Washington residence.  The daughter, Minnie, is studying medicine in the Barnes Medical College, St. Louis, Missouri, and is a graduate in pharmacy from the Vashon College, Washington.  She is a devoted student and a highly accomplished young lady.
     Mr. Simmons is an active and earnest worker in the Democratic party, and has been frequently chosen as a delegate to county conventions.  Fraternally he is a member of Wenatchee Lodge No. 157, I. 0. 0. F., and the Eagles.  He is also prominent in the membership of the famous Diamond "C" Club, of Wenatchee.