HON. WILLIAM FUDGE.
Hon. William Fudge, deceased, left the impress of his individuality upon the public life of Walla Walla and southeastern Washington in large and helpful measure. He was one of the foremost citizens of the county and one of its earliest pioneers. He was born in Illinois, April 27, 1838, and when a lad of but nine years crossed the plains with his parents to Polk county, Oregon, where he arrived in 1847. During the California gold excitement of 1849 his father went to the mines and died on the steamer on his return journey home. The following year the mother with her children settled upon a farm and William Fudge remained at home, assisting in the labors of the fields for nine years. In 1859, having attained his majority, he removed to Walla Walla county to start in the business world independently, settling on the present site of Huntsville, where he successfully engaged in farming and in the raising of live stock until 1884. He then removed to Whitman county, where he purchased a place three miles north of Hay and there carried on general agricultural pursuits for sixteen years. His success as a cattle man and a farmer continued and he acquired fifteen hundred acres of valuable land. In 1900 he left the ranch and returned to Walla Walla county, purchasing a home just outside Waitsburg, where he lived in practical retirement from active business for fourteen years or until his removal to Walla Walla in 1914. He then purchased a handsome city residence at 535 East Alder street, where his widow now resides. As a business man he was most energetic and progressive and his intelligently directed efforts brought splendid results.
HON. WILLIAM FUDGE
On the 10th of September, 1862, Mr. Fudge was united in marriage to Miss Elizabeth Billups, a native of Iowa, who crossed the plains with her parents to Oregon in 1859, locating in Polk county, that state. In 1862 the family came to Washington, taking up their abode on a homestead in Walla Walla county, near Waitsburg.
Mr. Fudge was one of the most conspicuous figures in the early period of Walla Walla county's development and also left his impress upon the annals of the territory. He was a member of the territorial legislature, being a colleague of H. P. Isaacs. To Mr. Fudge belonged the distinction of having drafted the first railway freight bill ever presented to the territorial legislature and to him and Mr. Isaacs belonged the credit of having secured the location of the state penitentiary in Walla Walla. He was a most public-spirited citizen, giving of his time and of his means for any movement for the general good, and his labors resulted greatly not only in the benefit to the community but to the state at large. He held membership in the Masonic lodge of Waitsburg and was a loyal adherent of the organization, exemplifying in his life the beneficent spirit of the craft. Death called him January 30, 1917, and thus was ended a life of great usefulness and activity, covering seventy-eight years. It was a life of honor and of high purpose and the world is better by reason of the fact that he lived. He contributed much to the development of this section of the country and he held to the highest ideals of civic virtue, while the qualities he displayed in social relations endeared him to all with whom he came in contact.