J. W. ROGERS.
J. W. Rogers, who for eight years has been successfully and extensively engaged in the automobile business in Walla Walla, was born in Georgia on the 28th day of February, 1879, a son of James and Ellen (Tatum) Rogers, the former a native of Tennessee, while the latter was born in Georgia. About thirty years ago they removed to Kansas, where they are still living.
J. W. Rogers was reared and educated in the Sunflower state, passing through consecutive grades until he became a high school student. He left the middle west in 1907 to become a resident of the Pacific coast country, making his way to Walla Walla, where for two years he was employed in a wholesale grocery house. Since then he has given his attention to the automobile business and now handles the Stutz and Premier cars. He has developed a business of large and extensive proportions. The Stutz car is the champion of the world today and his sales reach a most gratifying annual figure. He also still owns a garage and other property in Dayton, Washington. His business affairs have been wisely and carefully managed and he is actuated by a spirit of enterprise in all that he does. Alert and energetic, he never fails in carrying out his purpose, for he recognizes that when one avenue of opportunity seems closed, he can carve out other paths that will reach the desired goal.
In 1909 Mr. Rogers was united in marriage to Miss Florence Helm, a native of Walla Walla. They are members of the Baptist church and are prominent in the social circles of the city, the hospitality of many of the best homes of Walla Walla being cordially extended them. Mr. Rogers votes with the democratic party and is a staunch advocate of its principles. He belongs to the Commercial Club and is in hearty sympathy with every plan and measure put forth by that organization for the benefit and upbuilding of the city, the extension of its trade relations, or the upholding of its civic standards. For ten years a resident of Walla Walla, he has made himself an enviable position in its business and social circles, and those who know him speak of him in terms of high regard.
EUGENE F. BOURGEOIS.
Eugene F. Bourgeois, one of the prosperous farmers of Walla Walla county, where he has been actively identified with agricultural pursuits during the past four decades, is now the owner of seven hundred acres of valuable land on section 13, Dixie township. His birth occurred in Paris, France, on the 10th of October, 1847, his parents being Franquell and Felicia Bourgeois, who emigrated to the United States in 1852 and took up their abode in Bond county, Illinois, where they spent the remainder of their lives. They had a family of eleven children, three of whom yet survive.
Eugene F. Bourgeois, a little lad of five years when he crossed the Atlantic in company with his parents, was reared and educated in Illinois and remained in that state until thirty years of age. In 1877 he made his way to the Pacific coast country and took up a homestead in Walla Walla county, Washington, which he has since made his place of residence, erecting fine buildings on his property and otherwise improving the same until it is now very valuable. As the years have passed and his financial resources have increased he has extended the boundaries of his farm by purchase until it now comprises seven hundred acres of land, through the cultivation of which he has won a gratifying annual income.
On the 21st of October, 1888, Mr. Bourgeois was united in marriage to Miss Isabel Lang, a daughter of Israel and Allie Ann (Hambough) Lang, both natives of Warren county, Virginia, from which state they removed to Illinois, locating in Pike county in 1867. There they spent the remainder of their lives. By occupation Mr. Lang was a farmer. To Mr. and Mrs. Bourgeois were born four sons, namely: Charles; Frederick; Henry; and William, who is deceased.