Wallace Leroy Whitmore was little more than a boy when he was sent out on the road by a wholesale clothing house of San Francisco. This, however, was not his initial experience in the business world, for through two years he had been employed as a messenger boy. For forty years he remained upon the road as a traveling salesman, representing two San Francisco houses—a wonderful record characterized by the utmost fidelity and loyalty as well as capability. He won for the houses which he represented a very liberal patronage, for he was thoroughly reliable in business affairs and men came to know that whatever he said was to be depended upon. After four decades devoted to travel he left the road in order to give his entire time to his stock and landed interests. In the meantime he had purchased property until he owned twenty-seven hundred acres in Garfield county. He was a lover of the thoroughbred horse and was a pioneer in the breeding of standard and thoroughbred horses in Garfield county, raising them more for pleasure than for profit. His blooded stock, of which Coloma, the noted sire, was the head, became known wherever racing was popular. In fact Mr. Whitmore's reputation in this regard spread wherever there was to be found anyone who desired a fast horse for pleasure driving. In his three-year-old form Coloma took every Derby in Montana and his owner refused ten thousand dollars for him. Bill Frazier, who was taken east from Portland, has a pacing mark of 2:12; Minnie Mann was also a horse with a notable record and Ken West at one time could step the quarter in thirty seconds, while Hallie Hinges, Daybreak, Sallie Goodwin and a long list of other running and pacing horses became well known on the circuit. Swiftsure, Coloma's first colt, sold for five thousand dollars at two years old and many others brought the breeder record prices, but despite this fact it was said that Mr. Whitmore put more money into race horse breeding than he ever got out of it. He was a very progressive man and his farm was one of the best improved properties in the county. He erected thereon good buildings, kept them painted and in good condition at all times, installed an electric light system and equipped his home and buildings with the most modern improvements.
On the 2d of December, 1889, Mr. Whitmore was united in marriage to Miss Minnie Williams, of San Francisco, who is a native of New York. Her father was Arthur Williams, a member of the One Hundred and Fiftieth New York Engineering Corps during the Civil war, who re-enlisted in the field after his discharge and was given a large bounty. Mrs. Whitmore's mother prior to her marriage was Miss Hannah E. Poorman. After the close of the Civil war she brought her two children to the Pacific coast, making the journey by sailing vessel around Cape Horn. She took up her abode in San Francisco and afterward became the wife of Horace Eldred, proprietor of the State House Hotel of Sacramento. Several years later Mr. Eldred's death occurred and his widow afterward lived in southern California until her death, which occurred in Portland, Oregon, in 1901.
Mrs. Whitmore is an accomplished woman of marked business ability as well as of many social graces. She manages her extensive property holdings with keen sagacity, displaying unfaltering enterprise, and her labors are attended with excellent results. The death of Mr. Whitmore occurred September 8, 1916, and was the occasion of deep and widespread regret to many friends. He was a man of genial, kindly nature, always approachable and at all times he held friendship inviolable. His well managed business affairs and investments enabled him to leave Mrs. Whitmore in very comfortable financial circumstances and she is today the owner of one of the valuable farm properties of Garfield county. Like her husband, she is widely and favorably known and her friends are legion.
W. E. AYRES.
W. E. Ayres, while actively engaged in agricultural pursuits, managed his affairs so ably that he attained financial independence and is now living retired upon his home farm in Columbia county. He was born in Adams county, Illinois, February 8, 1841, a son of Eli L. and Ruth (Stevens) Ayres, natives respectively of England and Canada. Following their marriage in the Dominion the parents removed to Illinois in the latter '30s and resided there for a few years but in 1842 went to Appanoose county, Iowa. There the father acquired title to land and engaged in farming until called by death, although he was by profession a physician and Baptist minister. Subsequently the mother removed with her family to Linn county, Oregon, reaching there in 1864, when the Pacific northwest was still largely undeveloped. Eventually she became a resident of Walla Walla county, Washington, and there passed away.
W. E. Ayres, who is one of four living children in a family of six, grew to manhood in Iowa and there obtained his education. He accompanied his mother to Oregon and for seven years was resident of that state but at the end of that time took up a homestead in Old Walla Walla county, Washington, his farm being located in what is now Columbia county. His first residence was a log cabin and his experiences for a few years were those of all pioneers. At length, however, his land was brought under cultivation, substantial improvements were made thereon and adequate facilities for transportation and communication with other parts of the country were secured. He found farming both profitable and congenial and continued to engage in stock and wheat raising until he retired. He still owns 960 acres of fine land.
In 1868 Mr. Ayres was married to Miss Martha S. Redford, of Henry county, Missouri, a daughter of Walker P. and Nancy (Davis) Redford, the former born in Virginia and the latter in Kentucky. In the '30s Mr. and Mrs. Redford removed to Missouri and there the father died in 1861. Three years later the mother, with her children, made the long journey across the plains by ox team. For three years they resided in Union county, Oregon, and then went to Linn county, when they came to Washington, where the mother passed away. Mr. and Mrs. Ayres have become the parents of eleven children: Eudora, the widow of W. J. Beal and a resident of Pomeroy, Washington; Willie and Robert, both deceased; James P., who is also living in Pomeroy; Anna; William S., a resident of Pineville, Oregon; Nancy, deceased; Mary C., a home missionary stationed in western Oregon; Palmer, a farmer; Sarah, the wife of Sanford Skillman, who is farming the home place; and Albert E., an agriculturist of Pomeroy.