In 1888 Mr. Dumas married Miss Fannie J. Storie, a native of New York, in which state her parents, Kennedy and Isabel Storie, both died. Mr. and Mrs. Dumas have four children, namely: Loren F., who is a graduate of the Washington State College; Mabel, a student at the Bellingham Normal School; Alura, who is attending high school; and Edwin, now seven years of age.
Mr. and Mrs. Dumas are members of the Congregational church of Dayton and he is one of its trustees. In politics he is an ardent republican and has served as a delegate to the state conventions of that party. Fraternally he is identified with the Masons and the Independent Order of Odd Fellows but his chief interest is in the apple industry and he has taken a very active and prominent part in the work of those organizations designed to promote horticulture. He has served as president of the Washington State Horticultural Society and as such did much to improve the orchards of the northwest. The society never had a more active head or one who took the same impartial interest in all fruit growing districts of this section. He has made two trips to the nation's capital in the interest of the northwestern growers. A lover of the great outdoors, it was but natural that he should be among the first to join the "back-to-the-farm" movement in this country and as a representative of the Washington State Country Life Commission he has addressed thousands of interested people in the northwest. Mr. Dumas is vice president of the Broughton National Bank. He has served on the state board of education and is a member of the American Pomological Society; the Society for the Promotion of Horticultural Science; the National Educational Association; and the American Genetic Society. He has been superintendent of the Dayton schools and the public schools of Pullman and was the honored president of the Washington State Educational Association. In 1915 he was elected one of the five members of the executive board of the American Pomological Society. It will thus be seen that he has been prominently identified with a number of organizations whose object has been to promote the welfare of this region along many lines and he well deserves mention among its most public-spirited and progressive citizens.
R. W. LOUNDAGIN, D. V. M.
Dr. R. W. Loundagin, who is engaged in the practice of veterinary surgery in Waitsburg, was born in Benton, Arkansas, December 28, 1859, a son of George W. and Rhoda J. (Stewart) Loundagin. The father was a native of Tennessee and the mother's birth occurred in Indiana. They removed to Arkansas with their respective parents and were married later in that state. In April, 1861, they left Little Rock, Arkansas, for the Pacific coast country, crossing the plains with ox teams. They were en route for six months and at length arrived in Walla Walla, Washington, about the 1st of October. They camped in the shadow of the fort for three or four weeks, after which Mr. Loundagin rented a small place of forty acres from an old man of the name of Massey. Upon that tract Mr. Loundagin spent the winter and followed farming. In the following summer he purchased a quit claim deed from W. P. Bruce on a quarter section about a mile and a half south of Waitsburg. This was in the Coppei valley. He paid Mr. Bruce two thousand dollars to move off the claim and Mr. Loundagin filed on the property as a homestead. In the years following he purchased land adjoining and continued to add to his possessions until his holdings comprised one thousand acres, constituting one of the most valuable wheat farms in Walla Walla county. He also owned other lands throughout the county, his holdings amounting together between four and five thousand acres. He was one of the first men to demonstrate that wheat could be successfully grown on the hills and uplands, and in proving this fact he contributed much to the development and prosperity of the county, as many followed his example and now the Walla Walla wheat belt is famous throughout the country. Mr. Loundagin continued to reside upon the old home farm up to within seven years of his death, when he removed to Waitsburg, turning over the operations of his farm to a son. He passed away about 1910, having for five years survived his wife. In their deaths the county lost two of its representative and valued pioneer people.
R. W. Loundagin was only about two years of age when brought by his family to the northwest. He acquired a district school education and through the period of his boyhood and youth worked with his father, to whom he continued to render active assistance until 1883. He then embarked in business on his own account, purchasing a livery stable in Waitsburg. The following year, however, he sold that property and again resumed active connection with agricultural interests, purchasing four hundred and eighty acres of railroad land two and a half miles north of Bolles Junction, for which he paid five dollars per acre. He lived upon that farm and kept bachelor's hall for eighteen years, after which he sold the property at ten dollars per acre, which was all that he could get at that time. Recently, however, the farm sold for seventy dollars per acre. While residing upon that tract of land Mr. Loundagin purchased one hundred and sixty acres in Columbia county, in the Hog Eye valley, four and a half miles east of Waitsburg. Most of that land is devoted to alfalfa and is very valuable. Mr. Loundagin still owns that farm property and from it derives a gratifying annual income.
From his youth Dr. Loundagin was deeply interested in horses, and by reason of the successful manner in which he treated his own horses when they needed medical attention, he was called upon to treat his neighbors' horses. As these calls became more frequent he began to read and study recognized works on veterinary surgery, including such authorities as Professor Fleming, A. H. Baker, Professor James A. Lawe, A. C. Copeland and others. His practice in time became a very large one and today he is classed among the ablest veterinary surgeons in southeastern Washington. In 1909 he built a modern veterinary hospital, which was the first private institution of this kind built in the state. It proved a financial success and his practice has continuously and successfully increased to the present time.
In 1902 Dr. Loundagin was married to Miss Albertina Smith, of Hanford, California. He votes with the democratic party and keeps well informed on the questions and issues of the day. He has never been an office seeker. Both he and his wife hold membership in the Christian church and are loyal to its teachings and its principles. His life has been an active and useful one and he has made steady progress in the field of his chosen profession and his other fields of endeavor, and his ability, industry and thoroughness have brought him a substantial measure of success.
OSCAR E. KING.