Business enterprise in Walla Walla finds a worthy representative in A. W. Claxon, who is conducting a real estate and insurance agency. It is a well known fact that his plans are always carefully made and promptly executed and that his course at all times measures up to high business standards. He came to the new world actuated by the laudable purpose of finding opportunities here that would lead to advancement and success. He was born in the county of Durham, England, March 1, 1875, a son of William and Georgina (Croft) Claxon, both of whom were natives of England, where they spent their entire lives. The father was a huntsman, hunting with the South Durham hounds for thirty-four years. He was also well known as a farmer and his business activities were wisely and carefully directed.
A. W. Claxon began his education in the public schools and afterward had the benefit of high school instruction in his native country. He was a youth of seventeen years when in 1892 he bade adieu to friends and native land and sailed for the United States, coming to the new world with a cargo of horses. For some time he devoted his attention to such work, making several trips with horses between England and this country. He also made two trips to Japan, taking one cargo of horses from America to that country and another from England to the little flowery kingdom. The latter cargo was one of thoroughbreds imported to improve the grade of horses raised in Japan. They were imported by the Japanese government. While Mr. Claxon was in that country he was offered a very remunerative position by the government, but was required to reside in the country for at least twenty-five years and became a naturalized citizen. This plan was not altogether pleasing and the position was therefore not accepted. At the breaking out of the Boer war Mr. Claxon enlisted for service in South Africa, going to that country, where he was on active duty during the uprising them. Since his first trip to the United States he has crossed the ocean thirty-four times and has visited every important city in the world, gaining broad knowledge and experience from his wide travels and storing his mind with much interesting information and many amusing incidents.
In 1902 he located in New Jersey and engaged in the raising of thoroughbred race horses. When racing was abolished in the east by legislation he went to Canada, where he spent one year, and in 1908 he came to the Pacific coast. In Spokane he met a Mr. Harding and a Mr. Rutter of the Western Union Life Insurance Company, and Mr. Claxon accepted an agency with them and was sent to Walla Walla. Later he became associated with Gilbert Hunt, a manufacturer of threshing machines, whose business he represented upon the road for about six years, covering the states of Oregon, Washington and Idaho. In 1913 he engaged in the real estate and insurance business in partnership with O. Z. Skinner and is now active in that field. He is thoroughly conversant with realty values and has negotiated many important property transfers. He is constantly watchful of opportunities for judicious investment for himself or his clients and has become one of the well known real estate men of Walla Walla. In insurance circles, too, he has built up a business of considerable proportions, that department becoming a profitable branch of his interests.
On the 22d of August, 1905, Mr. Claxon was united in marriage to Miss Bethene Crayne, of Walla Walla, a daughter of Dr. W. H. and Anna Z. Crayne, the former for many years affiliated with Whitman College. Mrs. Claxon is a graduate of Whitman College of the class of 1903 and is an accomplished vocalist, having studied under Madam Riccardo of Berlin. Her splendid musical talent adds much to the interest in musical events in Walla Walla. By her marriage she has become the mother of two children, Colin C. and Catherine B.
Both Mr. and Mrs. Claxon hold membership in the Episcopal church and his political endorsement is given to the republican party, but while well informed on the questions and issues of the day, he has never been an office seeker. In social circles he and his wife occupy an enviable position, the hospitality of the best homes being freely accorded them. They occupy an attractive residence in Walla Walla and, in addition to his home and his business interests, Mr. Claxon owns a valuable farm of three hundred and twenty acres in Walla Walla county. He has never had occasion to regret his determination to come to the new world, for here he has found the business opportunities which he sought and in their utilization has steadily advanced, reaching a prominent place among the successful men of the northwest.
ARTHUR MAYNE McCOY.
Arthur Mayne McCoy has engaged in the lumber business in Waitsburg, Washington, since 1900 and also maintains a chop mill, planing mill and elevator, his combined interests making up an important part of Waitsburg's industrial enterprises. He was born in Dayton, Green county, Wisconsin, November 4, 1867. His parents, James and Margaret McCoy, emigrated from the northern part of Ireland in 1848 and settled on government land in Green county, Wisconsin, where they established their home and reared a family of eleven children, six of whom are still living.
Arthur M. McCoy began his education in the district schools and in 1887 was graduated from the high school of Evansville, Wisconsin. In 1891 he completed his course by graduating from the State University at Madison with the degree of B. L. After leaving the university he came west and was first engaged in the lumber business in Portland, Oregon. The following year he had occasion to pass through the Walla Walla valley and decided that the climate and location here were desirable and that he would make this section his future home. He has always allied himself with the lumber industry and in 1900 purchased the business and plant that he now owns from B. M. Kent & Sons in Waitsburg. In 1904 the entire plans and lumberyard were destroyed by fire but fortunately his trade was such as to encourage him to rebuild. In doing so Mr. McCoy materially increased the capacity of his plant and today it is a valuable asset to Waitsburg and vicinity. He is always anxious to please his customers and together with square dealing, energy and push has made a success of his line of business.
In 1900 Mr. McCoy was united in marriage to Miss Lizzie Twiss, of Iola, Kansas, and two children, Julius Mayne and Effie Elizabeth, were born to this union. In August, 1906, the wife and mother passed to the great beyond and in 1909 Mr. McCoy and Miss Margaret Hays, of Saratoga Springs, New York, were married. By the second union there are also two children, Arthur Hays and Robert Holmes McCoy. All of the children are now attending school.