JAMES P. SEITZ.
James P. Seitz, who from the age of sixteen years has been a resident of Walla Walla county, is now actively engaged in farming, his land being situated on section 9, township 6 north, range 36 east. He is a progressive man, alert and energetic, and his well defined plans have been carried forward to successful completion. He was born in Missouri, April 13, 1870, and is a son of John P. and Lydia J. (Chambers) Seitz, whose family numbered eight children, five of whom are yet living. The father was a native of Germany and when a young boy came to America, the family home being established in Illinois, and for a time they also lived in Indiana. Subsequently a removal was made to Missouri and there John P. Seitz met and married Miss Chambers, who was a native of Ohio and was of English descent. For twenty-five years he continued his residence in Missouri and in 1886 came to the northwest with Walla Walla county as his destination. After reaching this section of the country he invested in farm land, which his son James now owns. Here he continued to devote his time and energies to general agricultural pursuits until his life's labors were ended in death in 1911. His wife had passed away in 1910. In early life Mr. Seitz had learned the trades of millwright and blacksmith, possessing much natural mechanical skill and ability. He was a soldier of the Civil war, responding to the call of his adopted country for aid to crush out the rebellion in the south, and upon the field of battle he proved his loyalty to his adopted land. He was also greatly interested in the cause of education and insisted that English should be more thoroughly taught in our schools even if it was necessary to exclude foreign languages.
JAMES P. SEITZ
MRS. JAMES P. SEITZ
James P. Seitz spent the first fifteen years of his life in the state of his nativity and then came with his parents to Washington. He supplemented his public school training by a high school education and also attended Whitman College. He thus became well qualified for life's practical and responsible duties. He was reared to farm work and has never sought to change his occupation, for he finds farming congenial and has made it profitable as a result of his indefatigable energy and close application. He first rented the old homestead and later he purchased the property, which is situated on sections 9 and 10, township 6 north, range 36 east. His farm comprises three hundred and twenty acres in the valley between the foothills and constitutes a desirable, beautiful and valuable property, for it has been highly improved. In fact it is one of the finest farms in this section of the state. Substantial buildings furnish ample shelter for grain and stock. Mr. Seitz has erected a large, modern, circular barn, for which he made the plans, and he also did much of the work of construction himself. He even cut and sawed the timber and in this and other ways did much toward completing the structure. He has also erected other buildings upon his farm, including one containing the large engine which is the motive power for his machinery, drill forge, electric dynamo, etc. His residence is as complete and modern as a city home and is a monument to the enterprise and progressive spirit of the owner. Everything about his place is kept in good repair and fences divide the farm into fields of convenient size, so that the work is carried on more advantageously. He utilizes the latest improved machinery to facilitate the work of plowing, planting and harvesting, and in wheat production he displays the most progressive methods in handling the crop, which is a very large one, as the soil is excellently adapted for the production of that cereal. He is also successfully engaged in stock raising. He is a man of pronounced business ability in his chosen line of endeavor and is constantly seeking out new methods which will promote his interests and augment the productiveness and the general value of his farm.