Squiresa
Transcribed from "History of North Washington, an illustrated history
of Stevens, Ferry, Okanogan and Chelan counties", published by Western
Historical Publishing Co., 1904.
MAJOR ANDREW J. SQUIRES is to
be mentioned among the earliest pioneer settlers of Okanogan county, where
for nearly twenty years he has labored with faithfulness and success, conducting
himself in such a manner that he is esteemed by all, and has won many friends.
His home, which is a farm located eight miles southwest of Tonasket postoffice,
is very valuable. One hundred acres of the estate is exceptionally fertile
land, and produces bounteous crops of hay and the cereals, besides fruits
and vegetables. Mr. Squires handles stock in addition to general farming
and is a prosperous man.
Andrew J. Squires was born in Kingwood, Preston
county, West Virginia, on November 4, 1828, the son of Thomas and Mary
(Faucett) Squires. The father was born in the south, and died recently
in Virginia, aged ninety-nine. The mother died in Virginia, aged ninety.
Our subject grew up in West Virginia, and received a liberal education,
after which he devoted himself to school teaching, and taught five or six
years. When the war broke out, he was in the middle of a term of school,
but closing the school, he immediately enlisted on the Union side in Company
D, Third Virginia Infantry, as a private. This was in the spring of 1861.
He immediately received promotion to orderly sergeant, and continued to
ascend until he reached a captaincy, then his regiment was consolidated
with the Second, and the allied forces were afterward known as the Sixth
West Virginia Veteran Volunteer Cavalry, of which our subject was appointed
major. He was in numerous skirmishes, and participated in the battles of
MacDowell, Cross Keys, and the Second Bull Run. He was taken prisoner on
one occassion at New Creek, West Virginia, but escaped in a few hours.
At the close of the war, his second enlistment was nearly out, so he was
detained to fight Indians. They traveled through the Indian Territory to
Wyoming, and in the winter of '65-6 built Fort Caspar. He was in charge
of this construction and also was commander of all troops from Fort Larmaie
to South Pass. In March 1866, Major Squires was ordered back to West Virginia
to be mustered out. He served five solid years in the army, but has never
applied for a pension. After the war he went to Michigan, and engaged in
the real estate business in Detroit. Later we see him in Missoula, Montana,
whence he went to Mission Creek and took up mining. This occupied him for
a decade, and in 1884, he left British Columbia and looked around for a
location. Finding his present place as good as any, he took it by squatter's
rights in 1886. His nearest neighbor was sixteen miles, and he knows thoroughly
what the life of the real pioneer means. Mr. Squires has a fine band of
cattle and other stock. Politically, he has always been a Republican. It
is of interest to note that Major Squires was born upon the day that Andrew
Jackson was elected president of the United States, and for that reason
was named after that celebrity.