MRS. FREDERICK STINE
FREDERICK STINE
Mr. Stine was born in Union county, Pennsylvania, November 24, 1825. His father was a blacksmith by trade and in 1839 removed with his family from the Keystone state to Greene county, Ohio, settling in Fairfield, where he engaged in farming and also followed blacksmithing. With those pursuits Frederick Stine became thoroughly familiar, as he assisted his father in the work of the fields or of the smithy. In the spring of 1852, in company with his brothers, John and William, he started for the Pacific coast. Their departure was a great event to the family, which numbered eight sons and six daughters. Travel at that time to the western coast was by means of wagon or by way of water route and many months elapsed ere the journey was completed. It was indeed a serious undertaking, much more difficult than a trip around the world at the present time. The three brothers left St. Louis, Missouri, on the 1st of May, 1852, and on the 2d of July arrived in Sacramento, California. This was a record trip at the time. The train with which they traveled numbered twenty-six men, of whom Frederick Stine was chosen captain. The three brothers went to Marysville, California, where they began work, but after a few days Frederick Stine was prostrated with typhoid fever and for sixty days had a great struggle for his life. Eventually, however, the disease reached its crisis and it was said that he would live. When he recovered he began business for himself, but in 1854 met with losses through fire and the following year he removed to Yreka, California, where he concentrated his efforts and attention upon farming and blacksmithing, thus returning to the occupations to which he had been reared.
Selling his Yreka property on the 6th of February, 1862, Mr. Stine then started for the north and on the 12th of May arrived in Walla Walla, where he afterward made his home until called to his final rest. Within four days of his arrival he had opened a place of business on Main street and as the years passed he prospered. On the 3d of November, 1863, he went by way of Portland to San Francisco, traveling by stage to the latter city and thence by boat and the Panama route to Ohio on a visit to his family and his old home. On the 18th of April, 1864, he started again for the Pacific coast and this time made the trip by stage to Walla Walla, where he resumed blacksmithing and wagon making, maintaining a first class shop of that kind until September 1, 1873, at which date he retired from business. He had spent about a third of a century at his trade and was always industrious and conscientious in his work. In 1872 he erected the Stine House, which was the first brick hotel in Walla Walla, and in 1880 he purchased a farm of five hundred and sixty acres in Umatilla county, Oregon, about six miles south of Walla Walla. This he extensively improved and cultivated and to his holdings he added from time to time as his financial resources increased until he held in that vicinity over nineteen hundred acres of choice land. In 1905 his wheat crop was thirty-seven thousand bushels, raised upon one-half of his land, the other half being summer fallowed. His business affairs were wisely and carefully controlled, his investments most judiciously made and his enterprise brought to him a very substantial measure of success. The most envious could not grudge him his prosperity, so honorably was it gained, so worthily used.
In 1870, in Walla Walla, Mr. Stine was united in marriage to Mrs. Mary (Megrew) Silverthorn, a widow, and to them was born a daughter, Elizabeth, who became the wife of John Casper, of Walla Walla. Mrs. Stine was born near Uniontown, Pennsylvania, in 1836, a daughter of Archibald Megrew. In 1836, when Mrs. Stine was three months old, the father removed with his family to Ohio and when she was a little maiden of thirteen she lost her mother. In 1852 the father removed with the children to Iowa and there his last days were passed. It was in Iowa that Mary Megrew became the wife of John Silverthorn and they, with others, crossed the plains in 1864, making the trip with mules and horses and spending three months en route. They settled in Walla Walla, where the death of Mr. Silverthorn later occurred. Mrs. Stine now resides in a fine home on Catherine street, where for more than ten years she has lived.
Throughout the period of his residence in Walla Walla, Mr. Stine was an active worker for the upbuilding and development of the city. In politics he was an active democrat and in 1869 was chosen to represent his district in the lower house of the territorial legislature, while in 1873 he was elected a member of the senate. He made his presence felt there by his earnest support of all well devised plans and measures for the improvement of the commonwealth. His keen judgment was of great benefit in many instances. In 1865 he was chosen one of the members of the city council of Walla Walla and during the following year was made chairman of the council and thereafter was reelected many times. He exercised his official prerogatives in support of various plans and measures for the general good and his work was of great worth to the city. Many important measures for the benefit of Walla Walla originated with him and were carried forward to successful completion because of his endorsement and labor. In 1868 he succeeded in having established a Masonic lodge at Walla Walla and for ten years thereafter acted as its master. He was also a member of the chapter and was always an earnest worker and he labored untiringly for the advancement of Masonic interests in this locality. When death called him in 1909 he had been a resident of Walla Walla for more than forty-five years. His personal qualities were such as won for him the warm regard of many and there was sincere grief felt throughout the city at his passing.