JOHN L. WALLACE.
For almost ten years John L. Wallace has been engaged in the abstract, real estate, loan and insurance business in Dayton, where he conducts his interests as a partner in the firm of the Weatherford-Wallace Company, ranking with the leading business men and representative residents of the city. He was born in Harvey county, Kansas, on the 16th of August, 1874, his parents being John T. and Hannah J. (Frederick) Wallace, who came west to Washington in 1886, settling in Whitman county. The father was engaged in educational work for twenty-three years, teaching in Kansas and Missouri, and after coming to Washington he identified himself with mercantile interests and for a number of years was engaged in business in Albion. Subsequently he resumed the profession of teaching and became connected with the schools of Lincoln county, where he was located at the time of his death, which occurred about 1906. For several years he had survived his wife, who died on Christmas day of 1900.
John L. Wallace had the usual advantages of the public schools and in 1892 entered the Portland (Oregon) Business College, where he pursued a commercial course. In the summer of 1893 he was offered and accepted the position of manager of a grain warehouse in Albion and in 1894 and 1895 he was a student in the Washington Agricultural College at Pullman, now the Washington State College. Subsequently he went to Hailey, Idaho, where he was employed for two and a half years in a grocery house. He then returned home but after a year he went to Portland, Oregon, in 1898 and became one of the teachers in the Portland Business College, there spending seven years. While thus engaged he took up the study of law, attending night school, and in 1901 he was admitted to the bar in the state of Oregon. He continued teaching, however, in the business college until 1904, when he returned to Whitman county, Washington, and through the succeeding two years devoted his attention to merchandising in Albion. In the fall of 1907 he was appointed deputy county prosecutor of Whitman county and on the 1st of July, 1908, he came to Dayton, where he bought a partnership in the Geo. B. Baker Company, an abstract, real estate, loan and insurance business. He has since been engaged in this line and has won for himself a prominent position, having a very large clientage. He has negotiated many important realty transfers, has placed many loans and has written a large amount of insurance, so that his business has reached a most gratifying figure.
On the 4th of June, 1902, Mr. Wallace was united in marriage to Miss Sophia A. Schmidt, of Portland, Oregon, by whom he has one child, Dean Leslie. Mr. Wallace was a stalwart supporter of republican principles for many years but in 1912 left the ranks of the party and followed Roosevelt in the organization of the progressive party. He has since been a stanch advocate of progressive republicanism and is recognized as one of the political leaders of this section of the state. Fraternally he is connected with Dayton Lodge, No. 26, F. & A. M.; Dayton Chapter, No. 5, R. A. M.; Alki Lodge, No. 136, I. O. O. F.; and the Dayton Lodge of the Knights of Pythias, while both he and his wife are members of Rainbow Chapter of the Order of the Eastern Star.
For the past seven years Mr. Wallace has served as city clerk of Dayton and has made a most excellent record as a public official, being careful and systematic in the discharge of his duties and at all times prompt and faithful to the trust reposed in him. He has many admirable traits of character, is loyal to the public good, is thoroughly reliable in all business dealings, holds friendship inviolable and is devoted to the welfare of his family. His pronounced characteristics have gained for him a high position in public regard, while his enterprise and indefatigable energy have placed him among the leading business men of his adopted city.
LEON B. KENWORTHY.
Leon B. Kenworthy is actively engaged in the practice of law in Dayton and in a profession where advancement depends entirely upon individual merit and ability he has made for himself a creditable position. He was born in Salem, Oregon, February 16, 1874, a son of James and Lydia A. (Williams) Kenworthy, both of whom were natives of Indiana. In the year 1872 they removed westward to Oregon, settling upon a farm where they resided until 1879. In that year they went to what was then Walla Walla county and took up their abode in Huntsville, where the father secured a tract of land and again engaged in farming, spending his remaining days upon that place, his death occurring October 23, 1911. The mother died October 23, 1917. In their family were ten children, seven of whom are yet living.
Leon B. Kenworthy was reared and educated in Washington, having been but five years of age at the time of the removal of his parents from Oregon to this state. Liberal educational opportunities were accorded him. After completing his common school course he matriculated in Pacific College at Newberg, where he won the Bachelor of Arts degree upon his graduation with the class of 1900. He then pursued his law course, which he completed in 1902, graduating from the law department of the University of Washington. He was admitted to the bar and entered upon active practice in Dayton in 1904. Through the intervening period he has steadily advanced until he now occupies a foremost position in the front rank of leading attorneys in Dayton. He prepares his cases with great thoroughness, is skillful in the presentation of his arguments, is logical in his deductions and sound in his reasoning.
In 1909 Mr. Kenworthy was united in marriage to Miss Alice M. Spurgeon, a native of Illinois, and to them have been born two sons: Jack Garry, deceased; and Max Spurgeon. The parents are members of the Congregational church and in his fraternal relations Mr. Kenworthy is connected with the Knights of Pythias and is a member of the D. O. K. K. in that order. Politically he is a republican, giving stalwart support to the party, and for a number of years he has acceptably filled the office of city attorney, most carefully safe-guarding the legal interests of the city in that position. He stands for progress and improvement in all public affairs and has ever displayed marked devotion to the city's welfare and upbuilding. He owns a fine residence in Dayton and the family occupies an influential position in social circles.