Settersp  
 

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.


     PETER SETTERS is a retired farmer now making his home in Reardan.  Born in Marion county, Indiana, June 26, 1831, he was the son of Captain John A. and Elizabeth (Shrout) Setters, the former a native of Virginia and the latter of Kentucky.  The father in early life migrated to Kentucky, thence to Indiana, being an early pioneer in Marion county.  A portion of the city of Indianapolis stands on his old homestead.  He was a captain in the state militia, was generally known as one of the ablest and bravest Indian fighters in the section, having participated in the early Indian wars of his state.  He died in Mason county, Illinois, in about the year 1842.  The family originally came from Switzerland.  Mr. Setters' mother died in Missouri.  Although the family originally was a large one, only one of the children besides the subject of this sketch is living, Mrs. Elizabeth Garrett, of Milan, Sullivan county, Missouri.
     While a boy, Mr. Setters removed with his parents to Mason county, Illinois, where the family was among the first settlers.  He was reared on a farm, and attended district school held in a primitive log cabin.  He later went with his mother to Sullivan county, Missouri, where he acquired a fair all-round education and entered the ministry in the Baptist church since which time he has preached more or less wherever he has been.  In the spring of 1862, he responded to his country's call for soldiers by enlisting in Company E, Sixty-sixth Regulars of the state militia and was soon commissioned captain of his company.  He led his command through many sharp skirmishes with the bushwhackers, upon many occasions placing his life at a great risk.  In the spring of 1864 he enlisted in Company E, Forty-fourth Missouri Volunteer Infantry, in the Sixteenth army corps.  With this command he took part in the capture of the Spanish fort, Fort Blakely near Mobile, Alabama, and in the battle of Franklin, Tennessee.  Although in many battles and numerous skirmishes in which he saw men fall dead and wounded on all sides, he himself was never injured.  Altogether the military career of  Captain Setters extended over a period of three years, much to the credit of himself and his company.  He recived an honorable discharge, and is now drawing a pension from the government.
     After the war he returned to his home where he taught school for two years, preaching some in the meantime, and also followed farming.  May 1, 1879, he started with his family, consisting then of a wife and eleven children, one of the children, however, remained at home, and came to this state, arriving at Walla Walla, July 26.  The whole of the distance was traveled in a "prairie schooner," so familiar to early settlers.  He settled first on Coolie creek near where Reardan now stands, and later took a homestead five miles farther north on Spring creek.  He has also since acquired 160 acres of railroad land.  His land is all suitable to agriculture with the exception of about twenty acres of timber.  His land is all in a high state of cultivation and improvement.
     Mr. Setters was married, June 10, 1855, to Elizabeth Ellen Warren, a native of Monroe county, Indiana.  Her parents were Hugh G. and Mary (Carr) Warren, natives respectively, of North Carolina and Indiana.  Mrs. Setters is a half sister of ex-chief of police, Joel Warren, formerly of Spokane.  This union has been blessed with thirteen children: Francis M., Sarah L., Olive E. Olson, and Henry G., all now dead; John M., married to Emma Byrd, near Reardan; Mary E., wife of William Kitt, Reardan; Peter W., Spokane; Nancy A., wife of Lewis Cone, near Reardan; Esther J., now Mrs. John Smith, near Reardan; Charles, at Reardan; Dr. M. F., a prominent physician of Spokane, married to Josephine Thomson; Ora B., an attorney and newspaper man, who founded the Reardan Gazette, and later was owner and editor of the Palouse Republic, but is now engaged in the practice of law at Palouse; and Flora, wife of Earnest Carsten, near Reardan.
     Mr. Setters was made an Oddfellow thirty years ago in Missouri, is a charter member and was the first noble grand of the Reardan Lodge, No. 84, of that order.  He is also a member of the C. W. H. Bentley post, G. A. R., of Reardan.
     Mr. Setters was ever a man of pluck and energy as is attested by the fact that, having come to this state practically without a dollar, he is now independently situated and able to spend his declining years in comfort and ease in his handsome home in the town with whose history and development he has been so closely identified.  While he has always, since coming to the Big Bend, been eminently successful in business affairs, the amassing of wealth has not been his purpose in life, since his major efforts have ever been put forth in the interest of the school, the church, and the home.  He helped build the first school building in his vicinity, and has been its most liberal and loyal supporter.  All his children are well educated, and two sons are professional men with their father to thank for their incentives, if not altogether for their finished professional educations He is a good citizen, a man with a legion of friends, and of unquestionable integrity.


Mr. & Mrs. Peter Setters


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