Warnerw
Transcribed from "History of North Washington, an illustrated history
of Stevens, Ferry, Okanogan and Chelan counties", published by Western
Historical Publishing Co., 1904.
WILLIAM J. WARNER, the pioneer
settler, of "Warner's Flat," near Mission, Chelan county, is a "Buckeye,"
born in Fairfield county, Ohio, April 15, 1834. His parents, William
C. and Christina (Stoneburner) Warner were natives of Virginia, descendants
of the most prominent families of a decidedly aristocratic state.
The father was an active participant in the war of 1812, and was in the
battles of Craney Island and Sackett's Harbor. He died in Illinois
in 1865. The mother passed away in 1870.
Until he was seventeen years of age our subject
lived in Ohio, worked on a farm and attended the public schools.
Later he moved to Iowa, thence to Illinois, and after the death of his
father he went to Nebraska where he remained ten years. Subsequently
he was in California three years and then for eighteen months in Albany,
Oregon. The following nine years he passed at High Prairie, near
The Dalles, and then he came to his present home, near Mission. This
was in 1887. He cultivates forty acres of land, has an orchard of
ten acres, shipping about one thousand boxes of fruit annually. He
has one brother living, Lafayette, residing at Portland, Oregon, and one
sister, Filiena Kagy.
On March 1, 1854, our subject was married
to Miss Nancy Powell, a native of Iowa. She died at High Prairie,
Oregon. On February 27, 1885, at Walla Walla, Washington, he was
united in marriage to Mrs. Amelda Brian, nee Rea, a native of Pennsylvania.
Her father, Joshua, was a Pennsylvanian, a member of an old Quaker family
of English descent. Her mother, Mary (Lower) Brian, was born in Pennsylvania,
of Dutch ancestry. Mrs. Warner has five sisters, Anna Vogan, Selinda
E. Cooper, Margaret Wirt, Kate Laird and Lucy Paget.
Mr. Warner has two children by his first wife,
Melville M. and Orilla, wife of Jefferson Dripps, a horse dealer in The
Dalles Oregon. His second wife has four children living, Annie, wife
of Logan Rayburn, of Acton, Los Angeles county, California; Maud, wife
of Clark Struthers, Walla Walla, Washington; Stella married to William
Cross, Wenatchee; and Virgil Brian, an only son, living on a farm adjoining
his father's property. Mr. and Mrs. Warner are members of the Church
of God. Politically he is an Independent.
Our subject was among the first white settlers
of this district, and they saw no white women during the first five months
of their location. His family is highly esteemed by all with whom
they are associated, and he is a popular citizen.