warrenj

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.

     JAMES M. WARREN, a retired merchant and farmer of Reardan, was born October 12, 1843, in Sullivan county, Missouri. His father, Henry Warren, a native of North Carolina, was an early settler in Sullivan county, where he lived until 1883. During that year he started on a visit to a son, W. B., who lived in Lincoln county, Washington, and while aboard a steamer bound for Portland from San Francisco he died, aged about sixty years. Mr. Warren's mother was Nancy (Smith) Warren, born in Indiana, who came west with her husband, after whose death she lived in this county until she died in 1901, aged eighty-two years. Mr. Warren's brother, mentioned above in this sketch, was an early pioneer in this vicinity, and now makes his home in California. They have one sister, Mrs. Mandanie Lyle, of Reardan.
     Mr. Warren spent his boyhood on a farm in his native county, where he also followed milling to some extent. He enlisted in Company C, First Missouri State Militia, serving three years during the Civil War, the greater portion of which time was spent in fighting bushwhackers along the border. He was engaged in many skirmishes and brushes with the enemy, and endured all the hardships of the border warrior before being honorably discharged from service on April 26, 1865. He is now a prominent member of the C. W. H. Bentley post, G. A. R., of Reardan.
     After the war he returned home and again applied himself to the business of farming until 1884. In the meantime, in 1870, he had come to San Francisco, thence to Walla Walla, where he stayed eighteen months then returned to Missouri. In March, 1884, he came to Reardan and purchased land. He also went into the sawmill business, having shipped his mill from Missouri, and in partnership with his brother ran the mill for about five years, when he confined his attention to farming his land. In the fall of 1889 with his son, Charles S., he went into the general merchandise business under the firm name of J. M. Warren & Son. They started with a small stock, which ultimately grew into a large modern department store, when, in 1903, the firm sold out, and the senior member thereof retired from active business. He now owns two good farms of one hundred and sixty acres each, near Reardan, fifty lots in town, a business block, a warehouse, a handsome cottage where he lives, and two tenement houses. He is also a shareholder in the Reardan Land & Investment company, which owns seven sections in Yakima county.
     Mr. Warren was married, December 10, 1863, in his native state, to Susan Nunn, daughter of Matthew and Anna C. Nunn. She has one brother, George M., near Reardan. To this union have been born four children; Charles S.; Benjamin F., married to Stella Davis, at Kennewick; Mary E., wife of Sherman Bentley, near Reardan; and Lew L., married to Minnie Byrd, of Reardan.
     Mr. Warren, is a charter member and past grand of the Reardan Lodge, I. O. O. F., and of the Rebekah fraternity of his city.
     Our subject has been a successful business man since coming to this state, and one whose influence has been sensibly felt in the development and growth of his city.

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