A. G. WEARY AND FAMILY
In politics Mr. Weary is a republican and he belongs to the Community church of Touchet, while his wife is identified with the Lutheran church. Their aid and influence are always given on the side of progress and improvement, of righteousness, truth and reform. Mr. Weary is a man of marked force, ability and resourcefulness. His plans are well defined and promptly executed. He recognizes and utilizes opportunities that others pass heedlessly by, and fortunate in possessing character and ability that inspire confidence in others, the simple weight of these qualities has carried him into important relations. He is today one of the foremost business men of Walla Walla county and his course has won him honor and the respect of all with whom he has been associated.
A. B. ROTHROCK.
Among the highly esteemed residents of Walla Walla is A. B. Rothrock, who is now renting his large farm and is living retired after many years devoted to agricultural pursuits. He was born in Marion county, Oregon, June 5, 1870, a son of A. B. and Lucretia C. (Cox) Rothrock, natives respectively of North Carolina and Kentucky. The father's birth occurred in 1816 and in 1839 he removed to Illinois, which at that time was still largely unsettled. In 1863 he once more moved westward, going to Iowa, and two years later he was again numbered with the pioneers, crossing the plains in that year to Oregon. He engaged in farming for some time in Marion county, that state, but in 1868 removed to Umatilla county, where he developed a large herd of cattle, becoming one of the leading cattlemen of that section. When the country became so thickly settled that the free ranges disappeared he turned his attention to wheat growing and in that connection, too, won prominence and prosperity. He was a man of such energy and such unusual soundness of judgment that he gained a position of leadership in whatever he undertook. In his later years he removed to Weston in order to give his children better school advantages and there his death occurred in 1881. His widow survived for many years, dying in 1912.
A. B. Rothrock was reared at home and after attending the district schools continued his education in the Oregon State Normal School at Weston. He received practical training of great value under his father, as from boyhood he assisted the latter in his extensive farming operations. After reaching mature years he continued to work with his father until he was about twenty-five years old, when he began farming independently, renting the home farm of four hundred acres. In 1902 he purchased three hundred and sixty-nine acres of land in Umatilla county, which he farmed in connection with the home place, the successful management of the seven hundred and sixty-nine acres of land requiring his undivided time and attention. He continued to reside upon the home farm until 1909, when he removed with his family to Walla Walla in order to the better educate his children. He continued, however, to give personal supervision to the cultivation of his farm in Umatilla county, Oregon. In 1915 he purchased the homestead and now owns about eight hundred acres of land, which he is renting, as he feels that he has earned a period of leisure. The success which he gained as a farmer was due to the same qualities of foresight, energy and close application to his work that characterize the prosperous business man and he has always felt that agriculture should be recognized as having the same status as other industries.
On the 25th of August, 1897, Mr. Rothrock was married to Miss May Steen, a daughter of Milton Steen, one of the pioneer farmers of Umatilla county. To this union have been born four children: Velma S., who was graduated from the Walla Walla high school with the class of 1917; Forrest B. and Arthur, who are attending the Sharpstein school; and James S.