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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 GEMMILL resides about seven miles south from Wilbur on one of the largest estate in the entire Big Bend country.  It consists of fourteen hundred acres of fertile wheat land, all in a high state of cultivation and improved with everything necessary to a first class Washington farm.  The residence is commodious and beautiful, situated amid shade trees and orchards, making it an ideal rural abode.  Mr. Gemmill is to be classed as one of the earliest pioneers of this part of the country and his vast possessions have been made as a result of his thrift, wisdom, and his energy.  He was born in Wisconsin, on September 21, 1859, being the son of William Gemmill, a native of Pennsylvania.  The father later moved to Indiana and in 1850 went to California, where he engaged in mining.  He returned to the middle states and located in Wisconsin in 1856 and when he settled in that state he was fifty miles from a railroad.  He had been a pioneer in Indiana and California before this and was one of the rugged frontiersmen who have made this country what it is.  He died in 1898, aged seventy.
     Our subject was reared in Wisconsin and passed his youthful days as is common for boys on the frontier, laboring on the farm and studying in the district school.  In 1884, he came to Washington and located on a preemption twelve miles west from Wilbur.  Later, he sold that property and took a homestead and timber culture claim, where he is now located. The rest of his estate has been acquired by purchase and as every piece has fallen into his possession it has been transformed from the wild into fertile fields productive of abundant crops.  Everything about the place has an air of thrift and good taste and Mr. Gemmill is to be congratulated on the possession of such choice estates.
     In 1892, Mr. Gemmill married Miss Anita Maldonado.  She was born in Mazatlan, Mexico, and educated in St. Catherine's Convent at Benica, California, and at St. Rose's Convent at San Francisco.  She received a very liberal training in languages and fine arts and is able to converse in French and Spanish as fluently as in English.  In 1875, she came to Washington with her parents and settled in Walla Walla.  Since then she has traveled a great deal but Washington has been her home place.  She is a lady of high accomplishments and exceptional virtues.  Her father, Francesco Maldonado, was the son of a Spanish nobleman.  He was born in Spain and there received a fine clasical education and was then admitted to the bar.  When a young man, he came to Mexico and entered the practice of law.  Later, he received a seat in the judiciary, where his erudition and stanch principles made him a valued member.  Then he was elected governor of Sinaloa, Mexico, which office he held until his death.  His widow later married Isaiah Revenaugh, a pioneer of California, and one of the very earliest pioneers of Walla Walla, then of the Big Bend country.  He located a stock ranch on Crab creek as early as 1871.  By trade, he was a blacksmith and had large experience in frontier life.  On account of a fierce encounter with a grizzly in California, he received the sobriquet of "Grizzly."  He was a well known and substantial citizen.  His death occurred in 1900, two years after his wife's demise.  Mr. and Mrs. Gemmill are highly respected people and their home is the center of refined hospitality.
 


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