He is a native of Rio Vista, California, and was born August 3, 1870, a son of Josephus and Anna (Watson) Pearson, the former a native either of Virginia or Kentucky and the latter of Nova Scotia, Canada, and of Scotch parentage. The Pearson family came to the west by the overland route in 1856, and the Watsons made the long journey by way of the Panama isthmus about eight years later. Both families located in Rio Vista and there Mr. Pearson and Miss Watson were married in 1869. They continued to reside there until 1878, when they removed to Columbia county, Washington, locating a mile east of Starbuck, where the father bought railroad land. He took a prominent part in the organization of the first school district in that locality and was also the first postmaster of Starbuck. His time and energy were, in part, devoted to farming, and he became the owner of about one thousand acres. For twenty years he also engaged in the meat business and did considerable contracting in that line for the railroad. He passed away March 10, 1908, and is survived by his widow, who resides with a daughter in Spokane.
Charles Winfield Pearson received a good common school education and also pursued a commercial course at the Empire Business College in Walla Walla. Subsequently he conducted a bicycle store for about two years in San Francisco, after which he returned home and joined with his father in the operation of the latter's land. In 1896, however, he began farming on his own account, leasing school land which he cultivated, and as he was a practical and up-to-date farmer his capital steadily increased. He invested his money in land and now holds title to two thousand five hundred acres, which he operates together with two thousand six hundred acres of leased land. He conducts his agricultural affairs in the same careful and progressive manner as a great business man would control large commercial enterprises, and his annual income is a highly gratifying one.
In December, 1906, Mr. Pearson was united in marriage to Miss Jean Hukill, a teacher in the public schools of Starbuck, and they have become the parents of two children, Josephus and Francis W.
The republican party has a loyal supporter in Mr. Pearson, but he has confined his political activities to the exercise of his right of franchise. Fraternally he belongs to Walla Walla Lodge, No. 287, B. P. O. E., and is popular in that organization. His wife is a member of the Protestant Episcopal church and is interested in all movements for the promotion of the moral welfare of her community. Both are widely known and highly esteemed. Eastern Washington has rapidly come to the front as one of the great farming districts of the country, and this development has been made possible by such men as Mr. Pearson—men who are energetic, alert and keen in judgment and, throughout the same time, willing to co-operate for the advancement of the public interest.
JOHN W. SUMMERS, M. D.
A most active and strenuous life has brought Dr. John W. Summers to the position which he occupies as one of the most distinguished physicians and surgeons of the northwest. His office is located in Walla Walla but his practice extends throughout the Inland Empire and even beyond. This alone would entitle him to mention as one of the representative citizens of the state, but there are many other reasons whereby he deserves to be classed as one of the honored and distinguished residents of Washington. He has been identified with various public projects which have been of great benefit to the commonwealth and as a legislator has done most important service in furthering constructive measures which are proving of benefit not only at the present time but which look beyond the exigencies of the moment to the possibilities and opportunities of the future. Broad-minded, clean-cut, a man of high ideals, never afraid to express his honest convictions and working at all times for the right as he sees it, Dr. Summers has indeed made for himself an enviable place among those men of Washington whom the state delights to honor.
He was born in Valeene, Orange county, Indiana, April 29, 1870, a son of James M. and Sarah (Tower) Summers. The father was for more than twenty years a county official and one of the most prominent and influential residents of Orange county, Indiana. He was descended from one of the early colonial families of Virginia, established in Fairfax county prior to the Revolutionary war. This family furnished men and officers for General Lafayette's army. James M. Summers was united in marriage to Sarah Tower, whose ancestors settled in Hingham, Massachusetts, in 1637. This family furnished one member to the Boston Tea Party and several soldiers to the battles of Lexington and of Concord. Both families number scores of representatives who fought in the Indian, the Revolutionary, the Mexican, the Civil and the Spanish-American wars. In fact in every instance where the country has needed military aid they have been quick to respond and the record is one of patriotic loyalty and devotion.
Dr. John W. Summers spent his early years as a farm hand, as a teamster, as a clerk in a village store and as school-teacher. He also followed several other lines of manual labor and was ever ready to accept honorable work, believing that all work is honorable if honorably done. He earned his first money at dropping corn in the furrows of an Indiana farm, receiving fifteen cents per day for his services. After graduating from the public schools his own labors provided the means that enabled him to continue his studies in the Southern Indiana Normal College and the Kentucky School of Medicine, from which he was graduated with high honors in the class of 1892. He is entirely a self-educated and self-made man. He has studied in London, England, and in New York, pursuing his work in those cities in 1895 and 1896. He again went abroad for further study in 1913, continuing his researches in Vienna, Austria, and in 1914 studied in Berlin, Germany. For twenty-five years he has led a most active and successful business and professional life in Illinois and Washington, making a specialty of the treatment of diseases of the eye, ear, nose and throat. He has won for himself a most creditable position and is regarded as an authority in the line of his specialty. He has had the benefit of instruction from some of the most eminent physicians, surgeons and specialists of the old world and his ability is attested by his professional colleagues and contemporaries as well as by the general public.