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Biography |
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Eddy H. Waters is a substantial farmer and stockman about seven miles north from Xesperce and although he has not been here so long as some he has a fine farm and handles three hundred and twenty acres to general crops and raises fine Berkshire and Poland China hogs and some cattle. Mr. Waters has had considerable experience in the ways of the far west and Alaska and is a man of broad views and progressive ideas. He was born in Scott county, Iowa, on May 21, 1862, being the son of William and Sarah J. (Goodrich) Waters. The father was born in Illinois in 1832, twelve miles east from St. Louis. His parents were pioneers in Illinois and his father, Israel Waters, volunteered from Maine for the war of 1812 and took part in the battle of New Orleans. While he still lived the whole family went to Scott county, Iowa. In 1849 William took a quarter section under the entry act and farmed it until 1874, when he came to Washington county, Oregon, and there died on October 7, 1895. The mother of our subject was born in Ohio, in 1836, the daughter of Abijah and Hannah Goodrich, pioneers in Iowa. Her father took land in Scott county, Iowa, in 1840, married in 1855, and lives now in Forest Grove, Oregon. Our subject was brought up in Forest Grove and educated in Tualatin Academy. At the age of twenty-one he worked in the lumber camps then farmed the home place until 1891. Following this he settled three miles north from Hillsboro for two years, then returned to the home farm until the Klondike fever broke out and he then crossed Chilkoot pass, descended the Yukon to Dawson, mined on American creek and Gold hill and in the spring of 1898 he returned by way of St. Michaels. In May, 1899, he drove overland to Nez Perces county, bought a relinquishment of his present place and filed and has labored successfully here since. On October 7, 1891, Mr. Waters married Miss Margaret A., daughter of John M. and Julia A. (Sebring) Edwards. John M. Edwards was born in Bartholomew county, Indiana, on June 7, 1835, the son of Jacob and Albina B. Edwards, pioneers of Indiana, and descendants of the early colonists. The grandmother of John M. was a direct descendant of the wellknown Morris family and her uncle, Robert Morris, was a signer of the Declaration of Independence. John M. was brought up in Indiana, when twenty-one he left home and settled in Iowa and in 1855 went to Missouri. At the breaking out of the Civil war, he enlisted in February, 1861, in the Second Regular Cavalry and fought at the battle of Kirksville, repelling Marmaduke's raid. He was sergeant and secretary of his company and was discharged March 4, 1865. He is now a member of the G. A. R. Post Xo. 6, at Forest Grove, and has been chaplain for four years. Mrs. Waters' mother was born August 8, 1842, in Stark county, Ohio, was married in 1866 and now lives in Spokane. Mrs. Waters was born in Newton county, Missouri, on January 9, 1869, and has the following brothers and sisters, Mary Thompson, Joul J., Alvia J., Florence Bogart, Charles, Sylvia, Benjamin F., Julia Ann. Mrs. Waters was educated in the Salina Normal and has been a successful teacher for many years. Mr. Waters has one brother and two sisters, Frank E., Eva E. Wilkes, Ethel A. One child has been born to them, Wilfred W., born December 3, 1892. Mr. Waters is a member of the Order of Artisans and he and his wife belong to the Methodist Episcopal church. Politically he is a Republican and a good substantial man. |
Contributed by Natalie Huntley