Mr. Bolter belongs to the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and has filled all of the chairs in Welcome Lodge, No. 117, in which he has membership. He has also been called to all of the different offices in the Knights of Pythias lodge and is true and loyal to the teaching of these societies. He and his wife are members of the Christian church and endeavor to follow closely the Golden Rule. Their lives have been well spent, fraught with good deeds and actuated by kindly purposes. Many good things are spoken of them by friends and neighbors, who have enjoyed their companionship and who recognize their sterling worth in all the relations of life.
HON. JAMES EWEN EDMISTON.
High on the roll of Washington's distinguished citizens appears the name of Hon. James Ewen Edmiston, deceased, who was for many years a resident of Dayton. His ideals of life were very high and in early manhood he displayed conspicuously the traits of character that made his career brilliantly successful. He performed all the duties that devolved upon him, however humble and however small the recompense might be, conscientiously and industriously. He gave proof of his ability to cope with intricate problems of the law and his natural industry prompted him to prepare his cases with great thoroughness and care, so that he ever entered the courts well equipped to combat any attack or position of the opposing counsel. He lives in the memory of his friends enshrined in the halo of a gracious presence and of pronounced power in the legal profession.
Mr. Edmiston was born in Washington county, Arkansas, March 29, 1849, a son of Alexander E. Edmiston, who was a native of Virginia and removed to Arkansas early in the nineteenth century. He was a veteran of the Mexican war, serving as a lieutenant in his company under Colonel Yall. A forceful man of unquestioned integrity, he won a substantial financial success and left a valuable estate to his widow and four children, of whom James E. Edmiston was the eldest. A few years prior to his death, becoming convinced that the principle of slavery was wrong, he liberated all of his bondsmen. During the Civil war the vicinity of his home was the scene of great atrocities by both northern and southern renegades. He died in the year 1858.
James E. Edmiston, when a lad of fourteen years, enlisted in 1863 in the Confederate army, in which he had five uncles fighting for the cause. After the close of hostilities he returned to his home in Arkansas and remained long enough to assist in putting the plantation again into shape. He then went to Bentonville, Arkansas, where he attended the Bentonville College for two years, and while a student there he also taught school. In 1870 he went to Omaha, Nebraska, whence he made his way to the Pacific coast. He taught school for a time in Oregon and also pursued a course in the Corvallis College, from which he received his degree in 1873.
JAMES E. EDMISTON