Notwithstanding his large private interests, Mr. Lowden has always found time to perform well the duties of a citizen and member of society. He served as county commissioner for seven years and was a member of the state penitentiary board which built the third wing and the outbuildings, the stables, etc., of the penitentiary. In spite of opposition, he succeeded with the help of others in building a jute mill at the penitentiary in order to give employment to the prisoners and in placing the mill in successful operation. He was also a member of the school board for ten years and has ever been a faithful and loyal friend of public education.
In May, 1868, Mr. Lowden was joined in wedlock to Miss Mary E. Noon, who was born in New Orleans, Louisiana, but was reared in California. They have become the parents of three children, namely: Marshall J., Francis M., Jr., and Hettie Irene. Mr. Lowden is a stanch adherent of the Masonic fraternity and exemplifies in his life the beneficent spirit of the craft. He is still very active, although he has now reached the age of eighty-six years. Old age need not necessarily suggest idleness nor want of occupation. There is an old age which grows stronger mentally and morally as the years go on and gives out of its rich store of wisdom and experience for the benefit of others. Such is the record of Mr. Lowden. He keeps in touch with the trend of modern thought and progress and in spirit and interests seems yet in his prime. His life should serve to inspire and encourage many others who at a much younger age grow weary and endeavor to shift to other shoulders the burdens that they should bear.
J. A. MacLACHLAN, M. D.
Dr. J. A. MacLachlan, for many years actively and successfully engaged in the practice of medicine and surgery in Dayton, was born near Springfield, in the province of Ontario, Canada, in 1860. After acquiring a public school education in his native country he became a student in the University of Michigan, where he pursued his professional course, winning the degree of M. D. upon graduation with the class of 1889. He had studied the homeopathic methods and following his graduation at once began a search for a suitable location. Making his way westward, he decided to establish his home in Columbia county and has since been identified with the medical profession in southeastern Washington. Through the long years of his residence in Dayton he has occupied a foremost place among the medical practitioners. He is extremely modest and free from ostentation but public opinion establishes his position and colleagues and contemporaries acknowledge him the peer of the ablest physicians and surgeons of the Inland Empire. He was elected to the position of vice president of the state board of medical examiners and he belongs to the Washington State Medical Society, thus keeping in touch with the trend of modern professional thought, research and investigation.
Dr. MacLachlan was united in marriage to Miss Daisy Ping, a daughter of Robert Ping, one of the well known pioneer settlers of Columbia county, and with his family he occupies an attractive home in Dayton. He belongs to the Dayton Club and has been identified with many movements looking to the welfare and betterment of his community. He stands at all times for progress and improvement and his aid and influence are given on the side of those activities which are a matter of civic virtue and of civic pride. He served in 1890 and 1891 as health officer of Columbia county. He is well known as a leading member of the Knights of Pythias and of the Odd Fellows lodges, having been identified with those organizations for many years.
JOHN McFEELY.
John McFeely, of Walla Walla, has for years been one of the city's prominent business men, and he is also connected with the agricultural interests of the county, being the owner of a large farm devoted to the raising of wheat. He has resided in the city for many years and has an unusually wide acquaintance here and throughout the county as well. His birth occurred in Fairfield, Ohio, near Dayton, March 3, 1868, and he is a son of John and Ann (Miller) McFeely. He received his public school education in the Buckeye state and in youth learned the blacksmith trade. He then started west to seek his fortune, being convinced that there were better opportunities for advancement in the country west of the Mississippi river than in the east. For a time he lived in Kansas and then returned to Ohio, but could not be content there and removed to Portland, Oregon, whence he came to Walla Walla, Washington, in the spring of 1891. Here he found employment as a horseshoer, but in the fall of 1891 he went to Milton, Oregon, where he worked in the same line.
Subsequently Mr. McFeely returned to Walla Walla and bought an interest in the horseshoeing shop of D. Sloan, now known as the Wigwam, and then located at the corner of Second and Alder streets, where the Drumheller four-story brick block now stands. The horseshoeing business was booming and returned good profit to its owner. At length Mr. McFeely purchased the lots on the corner of Fourth and Alder streets, then known as the old Baldwin property, at that time covered with a growth of locust trees. He cleared the timber and there erected a shoeing shop, where he engaged in business for a considerable period. Later he built a one-story brick building which he used as a shoeing shop until he erected the McFeely Hotel, which is a three-story building with basement. It is thoroughly modern in its appointments and is well patronized. He also owns eight hundred acres of excellent wheat land in Dry Hollow, near Prescott, all under cultivation and well improved. He resides in one of the attractive homes at the edge of the city of Walla Walla, and takes a justifiable pride therein. The grounds comprise two acres and contain several cold water springs and a trout lake. The many large shade trees add much to the comfort and beauty of the place.