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Transcribed from "An Illustrated History of The
Big Bend Country, embracing Lincoln, Douglas, Adams and Franklin counties,
State of Washington", published by Western Historical Publishing
Co., 1904.
WILLIAM STODDARD knows by experience
what it is to land in a new country without property or means and to make
his way single handed against all kinds of odds, until fortune smiles on
him. In the place of his former struggles he can now view a goodly
competence, the result of the toil and wisdom displayed during the years
of scanty allowances. Mr. Stoddard came to Douglas county in 1886
having a family of wife and two children to support and his property was
summed up in the list of two horses and one wagon. He located on
a homestead about four miles northeast from Waterville and went to work
and since that time he has continued to work with the result that now he
has a valuable farm of seven hundred and twenty acres, fine residence,
large barn, other improvements and stored in the dry are thirty-five hundred
sacks of wheat ready for the market. Mr. Stoddard raises Jersey stock
and fine Poland-China hogs and has some fine specimens on the farm.
William Stoddard was born in Oswego county,
New York, on December 25, 1856, the son of John and Mary (Shaey) Stoddard,
natives of Ireland. The father was of English stock, but the mother
descended from the strong Irish blood that has made itself felt and known
around the globe. The father came to the United States in early days
and the mother was twelve when her feet first pressed the soil in the land
of the free. William Stoddard was born in Oswego, went to Canada
when a child, remaining until fourteen then came to Niagara county, New
York. When twenty-three he went west to Kansas, settling in Marshall
county. He railroaded and farmed in that state until 1886, when he
crossed the plains to Douglas county and landed here as stated above.
This has been his home since that time and he is now one of the leading
men in the county and surely deserves great credit for the success he has
carved out by his efforts. Mr. Stoddard has the following brothers
and sisters, Peter, John, Hugh, Mrs. Elizabeth Henderson, Mrs. Maggie Kester,
Mrs. Annie Welch, and Mrs. Mae Mahoney.
In Marshall county, Kansas, on April 8, 1883,
Mr. Stoddard married Miss Mary J., daughter of Joseph and Maria (Sutton)
Scriber, natives of Pennsylvania and Illinois, and of Dutch and English
stock, respectively. Mrs. Stoddard was born in Galena, Illinois,
on February 22, 1857, and has the following named brothers and sisters,
George H., Matthew, Daniel, A. Lincoln, Mrs. Esther Gillispie, and Mrs.
Jennie Campbell. To Mr. and Mrs. Stoddard the following named children
have been born; Edward, in Marshall county, Kansas, on January 18, 1884;
Jennie, in the same county, on November 6, 1885; Annie, in Douglas county,
on June 30, 1888. Mr. and Mrs. Stoddard were raised under the influence
of the Episcopalian and Catholic churches and are upright and well liked
people.
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