J. A. DARBY, M. D.
The northwest with its pulsing industrial activity and its limitless resources is constantly drawing to it men of enterprise and ability who find here opportunity for the expression of their dominant qualities. Among the number who have come from the Mississippi valley is Dr. J. A. Darby, now successfully engaged in the practice of medicine and surgery in Pomeroy.
J. A. Darby was born in Hunnewell, Shelby county, Missouri, on the 16th of October, 1874, and is a son of James A. and Mattie B. (Cox) Darby. The father came to Washington with his family in 1885, settling in Pomeroy, where he established a hardware store, with which he was identified until about a year prior to his death. He passed away in 1905 and is survived by Mrs. Darby, who is yet living in Pomeroy.
Dr. Darby was a lad of eleven years when his parents came to Washington and his education, begun in the public schools of Missouri, was continued in the public schools of Pomeroy. After leaving the high school he became a student in the Spokane Business College and still later, having determined upon the practice of medicine as a life work, he matriculated in the University of Oregon as a medical student and was graduated from that institution with the M. D. degree as a member of the class of 1909. Following his graduation he opened an office in Pomeroy and in the intervening eight years has built up an extensive and lucrative practice.
On the 18th of February, 1916, Dr. Darby was united in marriage to Mrs. Bessie McWilliams, of Walla Walla, and to them has been born a son, James A. Dr. Darby holds membership in Garfield Lodge, No. 25, K. P.; also in Lewiston Lodge, No. 896, B. P. O. E., and with the Woodmen of the World and the United Artisans. In politics he maintains an independent course but believes in republican principles. He does not seek nor desire office, preferring to concentrate his time and efforts upon his practice, the duties of which he discharges in a most conscientious and able manner. He is interested in everything that tends to bring to man the key to the complex mystery which we call life and by further reading and study is continually broadening his knowledge and promoting his efficiency. Colleagues and contemporaries acknowledge his ability and rank him with the progressive physicians of this part of the state.
JOHN J. ASHBY.
John J. Ashby was a pioneer of Garfield county and a citizen of worth whose passing was deeply regretted by many friends. He was held in high regard by those who knew him as a representative business man, as a progressive citizen and one who was faithful to the ties of home and friendship. A native of Illinois, he was born March 12, 1847, and was a great-grandson of a distinguished officer of the British army whose wife was a French lady. The ancestral line of the Ashby family can be traced back for over two hundred years and upon the records the names of many prominent men appear.
John J. Ashby was a son of Solomon and Jane (Ripley) Ashby, the former a native of Montreal, Canada, while the latter was born in the state of New York. They became residents of Stephenson county, Illinois, in the '40s and there resided until 1865, when they crossed the plains with teams and wagons and settled in the Willamette valley of Oregon. There they resided until 1873, when they became residents of Old Walla Walla county, making their home near the present site of the city of Pomeroy. The district was then largely wild and undeveloped, but with characteristic energy Mr. Ashby began the cultivation of his land, converting his place into a well improved farm, upon which he and his wife spent their remaining days. They had a family of three children but only one is now living.
John J. Ashby was a youth of eighteen years when he crossed the plains with his parents. The trip was a long and arduous one, fraught with many difficulties and hardships, but day after day they slowly proceeded on their way until the western coast was reached. He remained with his parents in the Willamette valley for a time and was married there in 1872 to Miss Mary Denny, a daughter of John F. Denny, whose birth occurred in Indiana in 1819. He crossed the plains in 1852 and settled in Marion county, Oregon, upon a donation claim. There he built a typical log cabin with puncheon floor and door, through which a string was inserted that was fastened to the latch in order that the traveler might pull the string and open the door. Such was the hospitality of that period. The little pioneer cabin also had a mud and stick chimney and its furnishings were perhaps as primitive as the exterior. In that little home the Denny family lived for several years. The father was a lifelong republican and was chosen to represent his district in the territorial legislature. In 1860 he was ordained to the ministry of the Methodist Episcopal church by Bishop C. W. Clark and thus he became actively identified with the moral development of the state as well as with its material and political progress. The grandfather of Mrs. Ashby was also a prominent figure in the northwest. He served in the War of 1812 under Colonel M. Johnston and was appointed by President Lincoln as governor of the territory of Washington in 1861, thus becoming prominently identified with the development of the northwest. He had two sons who were prominent citizens of the northwest. A. A. Denny was called "The father of Seattle," and D. T. Denny was the first to erect a white man's home where that city now stands.