JOHN DENNY ASHBY.
No death in Garfield county has been more deeply deplored than that of John Denny Ashby, who was born in this county, February 8, 1876. Spending his youthful days in the home of his parents, Mr. and Mrs. John J. Ashby, he attended the public schools until graduated from the high school at Pomeroy in 1895. He was afterward graduated from the Montana Wesleyan University with the class of 1899, winning the degree of Bachelor of Arts. During his student days there he was a member of the college debating club, was captain of the military company and president of the Young Men's Christian Association, thus showing his active connection with all the varied interests which constitute the commendable phases of college life. In 1900 he was honored by an offer of two positions, one as instructor of science and higher mathematics at his alma mater, the other a government position in China. At the persuasion of his parents he accepted the former. Speaking of his work in the schools, Professor Tenny, president of the Montana University, said: "I have had the very best men associated with me in the school work that I could hope for, but I have never found a man who was so unselfishly loyal to me, loyal to himself, loyal to God."
In 1901 Denny Ashby entered the New York Homeopathic College & Hospital as a member of the class of 1905. During his freshman year he served as senator for the class and he also won the freshman prize, while at the end of the junior year he won the Fiske prize for the highest standing in three years' work, the prize consisting of a valuable set of surgical instruments. On the 2d of August, 1904, while in bathing on the beach at Oak island, near Fire island, he was caught by a big wave and drowned while attempting to go to the rescue of a trained nurse. His death was deeply deplored by all who knew him for he was a young man of unusual promise and ability. At the age of fourteen years he united with the Methodist church and his life was dedicated to the work of a medical missionary, but death intervened and his remains were sent home from New York and laid to rest by the side of his sister in the Pomeroy cemetery, where his grandparents are resting and also his father. Of him it may well be said that he has joined "The choir invisible of those immortal dead who live again in lives made better by their presence."
From all parts of the country came letters and expressions of sympathy to Mr. and Mrs. Ashby, showing profound regret at the loss of one so richly endowed with God's best gifts to humanity. Clayton C. Ferguson, who had been his classmate in the medical college wrote: "The first hard grind of the year is over. As many grains growing luxuriously by the wayside owe their origin to seeds blown or dropped from some passing wagon laden with the harvest, so in reviewing this course I find that many of my present developed ideas have sprung from seeds sown by Denny's fruitful pen along the margins of books once loved by him, and which you kindly gave me. Some of these thoughtful seeds flowering have lined the pathway with fragrance; others have caused me at times to pause and admire their beauty; still others, bruised and broken by the rude blast, have given me moments of pain as in the contemplation of their destruction my thoughts reverted to a like condition of their creator. Among our family household seeds others than those sown on paper were sprinkled along life's pathway by the same loving hands during those happy days of association." In another letter the above writer says: "I have taken Denny's drugs and placed them in my desk, praying with God's help to use them as my dear loved one would have, always ready to help the suffering. Do accept my thanks for them and remember that I am at your service at all times to do for you anything in my power. Call upon me if you want medicine for yourself or anybody else. * * * You will never know the sorrow felt in our home, unless you had been in it when Denny was a part of it. No one can fill his place at the table, nor will anyone ever be allowed to sit there." One of his boy friends said: "If ever a soul reached heaven Denny Ashby is there," and another said: "If ever anybody could make a Christian of one by the good life he lived and the example he left, Denny Ashby was that one." At the opening of the college the dean, Dr. King, paid a glowing tribute to the memory of his former pupil, saying: "The class of 1905 has suffered a great loss through the death of John Denny Ashby," and made especial mention of his modest, retiring nature, which to a large degree obscured his "massive mental capacity." The class of 1905 passed the following resolution: "Realizing that by the death of your only son the class of 1905 of the New York Medical College has lost not only a man who has distinguished himself as a student, but also by his daily life proved himself to be a young man of most exemplary character. We, the class of 1905, do hereby extend to you in this hour of your great affliction our most heartfelt sympathy. We one and all feel that we have lost a true friend and brother physician." A beautiful and merited tribute was expressed by Dr. C. F. Sibly, who wrote: "His death bound east and west in mourning. There is a bright side, however, which we must not overlook. When his body was recovered at daybreak, August 3d, its appearance was like that of a hero and conqueror; his hands were folded defiantly across his breast, his characteristic peaceful smile was very manifest. It was evident to the observer that as he had lived a conqueror's life, so he had died a conqueror's death. For him death had no sting, the grave no victory. There was no moaning of the bar or midnight darkness when he put out to sea, but a glorious ushering in to the presence of that great company of just souls, robed white, washed clean by the blood of the Lamb—an introduction to the throng, arrayed with palms of victory and crowns of glory."
JAMES OTTO LONG.
James Otto Long, a well known grain dealer of Pomeroy, who was formerly extensively engaged in farming and stock raising, is a typical citizen of the golden west, alert, energetic, progressive and resourceful. He was born in Lane county, Oregon, August 15, 1864, and is a son of Ransom and Rosetta (Clark) Long, the former a native of Virginia, while the latter was born in Indiana. They were married in Fulton county, Illinois, having removed to that state with their respective parents in childhood days. After their marriage they became residents of Iowa and in 1852 crossed the plains with ox teams to the Willamette valley of Oregon, where they remained for about twenty years. In 1872 they came to Washington and spent the first year on the Patit creek near Dayton, after which they moved northward into what is now Garfield county and located on the Pataha prairie, seven miles south of the present site of Pomeroy. Here the father used his homestead and preemption rights and upon that place which he secured continued to make his home until the death of his wife. He later resided at the home of his children and passed away on the 5th of April, 1898, having for twelve years survived his wife, who died on the 27th of June, 1886. In politics he was a republican and was a progressive citizen, interested in all that pertained to the public welfare.
James O. Long was educated in the district schools and when about twenty-two years of age left the home farm, after which he devoted eight years to prospecting and mining but failed to find the proverbial pot of gold at the foot of the rainbow, as he desired. He then decided to return to agricultural life and on the 1st of October, 1895, he was united in marriage to Miss Mettie Williams, of Garfield county, a daughter of Nicholas Williams, who came to the county in 1873.
Following their marriage Mr. Long purchased a farm on the Pataha prairie and occupied the place for ten years. On the expiration of that period he took up his abode in Pomeroy in 1905 and for a decade gave his attention to the live stock business, owning a stock ranch halfway between Pomeroy and Lewiston, on the Alpowa, where he made a specialty of grazing sheep. His live stock interests were profitably conducted but about two years ago he disposed of his ranch and turned his attention to the grain business, establishing and operating a grain warehouse in Pomeroy. He is now prominently known in connection with the grain trade and has developed a business of extensive and gratifying proportions. He is a man of determined purpose and resolute will and whatever he undertakes he carries forward to successful completion.
Mr. and Mrs. Long have become the parents of eight children, seven of whom survive, as follows: Lois, the wife of Ray Gimlin, who follows farming in Garfield county, Washington; and Florence, Willena, Clark, Lewis, Marian and Burton, all at home.