Squire T. Prather, bond agent and investment broker of Walla Walla, where he has made his home since 1910, occupies a creditable position in financial circles of the city and has made for himself an enviable place in the field of business to which he directs his efforts. A native of Missouri, he was born in Macon county, February 14, 1860, his parents being B. F. and Martha (Holman) Prather, both of whom were natives of that state, where they resided until 1874, when they crossed the plains to California. They at first took up their abode in Stockton, California, and the father engaged in farming. Subsequently he turned his attention to the sheep industry, with which he was connected until he was called to his final rest. His wife also died in California. In their family were seven children, all of whom are yet living.
Squire T. Prather was a lad of but fourteen years when the family came to the west and in California he was reared and educated. He attended the high school and afterward remained at home until he had attained his majority. He then turned his attention to the real estate business, in which he has been engaged from that time to the present. In 1910 he removed to Walla Walla and opened his present office, being now well known as a bond and loan agent. His long experience enables him to speak with authority upon real estate values and upon the value of commercial paper as well and the integrity and enterprise of his business methods have secured for him a most liberal clientage. In addition to his business in Walla Walla he is the owner of eighty acres of valuable fruit land in California which is now in bearing and he has recently sold six hundred and forty acres of land in Walla Walla county.
In 1879 Mr. Prather was married to Miss Alice J. Potts, a native of Canada. To them have been born four children: John, who is now engaged in the real estate business in Fresno, California, in which enterprise his father is also interested; Mattie, who is now the wife of Eugene Freeland, of Seattle, Washington; Elmer T., who is with his father in Walla Walla; and Lula, who is the wife of Clifford Crockett of Walla Walla and who is a graduate nurse. There are also four grandchildren. The wife of our subject, Dr. Alice J. Prather, was born in Canada and received her early education in the common schools of Montreal. Later she took up the study of medicine in San Francisco and in 1896 was graduated from the Naturopathic School of Healing at Los Angeles. Later she engaged in practice at San Jose, California, and is now following her profession in Walla Walla, being at the head of the Alice J. Prather Naturopathic Sanatorium, where the patients are treated by nature's remedies.
In politics Mr. Prather is a stalwart democrat, thoroughly informed concerning the questions and issues of the day and giving to his party stalwart allegiance because of his belief in its principles. Both he and his wife are consistent members of the Methodist Episcopal church South, and in social circles in Walla Walla occupy an enviable position, being cordially received into the best homes where true worth and intelligence are accepted as passports.
EDWARD J. HOFFMAN.
Edward J. Hoffman, who follows farming in Columbia county, concentrating his attention upon the cultivation and further development of four hundred and twenty-one acres of good land, was born in Walla Walla, Washington, on the 22d of February, 1883. His father, John Hoffman, was one of the early pioneers of Walla Walla and became one of the most progressive and successful agriculturists of southeastern Washington but is now living retired in Walla Walla. He well deserves mention among the representative residents of this section of the state and his record will be found on another page of this work.
Edward J. Hoffman was reared upon the old home farm, early becoming familiar with the best methods of tilling the soil and caring for the crops. Liberal educational opportunities were accorded him, for after attending the common schools of the neighborhood he benefited by a course in the Empire Business College of Walla Walla. Through the periods of vacation prior to this time he had become an active assistant of his father in farm work and after his textbooks were put aside he continued to follow farming in connection with his father until 1910. In that year he was united in marriage to Miss Blanche E. Hafner, a daughter of Charles G. Hafner, of Walla Walla, who was one of the early pioneers of Umatilla county, Oregon, settling just across the state line in Oregon upon his arrival in the west. He, too, was identified with farming interests for a long period but is now enjoying the fruits of his former toil in well earned rest in Walla Walla.
Following his marriage Edward J. Hoffman located on one of his father's farms eight miles northeast of Starbuck and there engaged in the operation of thirty-six hundred acres of land, a part of which was grazing land. He remained upon that ranch for five years, at the end of which time he removed to his present home, which is owned by his father. He farms four hundred and twenty-one acres and is regarded as one of the representative agriculturists of Whiskey creek. He employs the most progressive methods in tilling the soil, practices the rotation of crops and studies everything that has bearing upon the production of the cereals best adapted to climatic conditions here. His labors are being attended with excellent results and the neat and thrifty appearance of his place indicates his careful supervision and practical and progressive methods. He has made the farm one of the attractive features of the landscape—a proof of what may be accomplished along agricultural lines in this district, which at one time was believed to be thoroughly unadapted to farming.
The home of Mr. and Mrs. Hoffman has been blessed with four children: John E., Frances P., Bessie D. and Alfred A. In his political views Mr. Hoffman is a republican, having given stalwart support to the party since age conferred upon him the right of franchise. He has never sought or desired office, preferring to give his undivided time and attention to his business affairs, which are capably and wisely directed. He is an energetic man and obstacles and difficulties in his path seem to serve but as an impetus for renewed effort on his part. He and his wife are widely and favorably known in this section of the state and the hospitality of the best homes is freely accorded them.