David B. Ferrel, a well known farmer of Russell Creek township, Walla Walla county, was born August 8, 1870, a son of Brewster and Caroline (Bott) Ferrel, both natives of Ohio, an extended sketch of whom appears elsewhere in this work. David B. Ferrell was reared at home and after attending the district schools for a number of years became a student in the Walla Walla schools. In the meantime he had received thorough training in farm work under his father and when twenty-one years of age he became his father's partner in the operation of the home farm of two thousand acres. The greater part of the active supervision of the work devolves upon Mr. Ferrel of this review and he is one of the largest grain growers of his township, having under cultivation in 1917 more than a thousand acres. He has reduced the operation of his farm to a scientific basis, uses the most modern machinery and is highly efficient in the management of the business aspect of his work. He believes that the farmer should give to his work the same careful study that the business man does to the conduct of his affairs and he is always among the first to adopt improved methods and equipment.
On the 2nd of November, 1904, Mr. Ferrel was united in marriage to Miss Laura Wolfe, of Oakland, Maryland, and they have two children, Carlton D. and Dorothy B. Mr. Ferrel has never allied himself with any political party, preferring to cast an independent ballot. He is a member of the school board and takes a lively interest in educational matters. Both he and his wife belong to the Methodist Episcopal church and can be depended upon to support all movements for the upbuilding of the community along moral as well as along material lines. They have a wide acquaintance and are uniformly held in high regard.
HARVEY McDONALD.
Harvey McDonald, who has lived retired in Walla Walla for the past fifteen years, was long actively identified with agricultural interests as one of the extensive operators of the wheat belt and is still the owner of five hundred and twenty-five acres in Walla Walla county, eight hundred and thirty-one acres in Whitman county, this state, and four hundred and forty acres in Umatilla county, Oregon. His birth occurred in Ontario, Canada, on the 10th of March, 1857, his parents being John and Margaret (Kinnear) McDonald, who were also natives of that province. There the father spent his entire life, passing away in 1863, when his son Harvey was but six years of age. The mother afterward reared her family and in later years made her home among her children, her death occurring in Weston, Oregon.
Harvey McDonald acquired his education in the common schools of Ontario, Canada, and there spent the first twenty-three years of his life. In 1880 he crossed the border into the United States, locating in Umatilla county, Oregon, where he engaged in farming. Success attended his efforts as a wheat grower and he became one of the extensive operators of the wheat belt, acquiring large holdings which he still retains. About 1897 he took up his abode in the city of Walla Walla in order that his children might have the advantages of its schools. For five years thereafter he devoted his attention to the real estate business but since 1902 has lived retired in the enjoyment of well earned rest, leaving the cultivation of his farms to tenants. He was one of the organizers of the People's State Bank and has served as a director of the institution continuously to the present time.
In 1885 Mr. McDonald was united in marriage to Miss Nora Richardson, a daughter of John Richardson, one of the prominent ranchmen and pioneer settlers of Umatilla county, Oregon. The children of Mr. and Mrs. McDonald are three in number, as follows: Clara, who is the wife of C. B. Weathermon, an agriculturist residing in Umatilla county, Oregon; Areta, who gave her hand in marriage to S. Henderson Boyles, of Spokane, Washington; and Esther, the wife of Lindon Barnett, of Walla Walla.
HARVEY McDONALD