CANTREL R. FRAZIER
MRS. CANTREL R. FRAZIER
In 1857 Cantrel R. Frazier was united in marriage to Miss Salitha Shubert and in 1864 he again crossed the plains with Walla Walla as his destination. He made the trip with one yoke of oxen and a small wagon and brought with him his wife and two children, one of the children being born in Colorado while they were en route to the Pacific coast.
After reaching Washington, Mr. Frazier homesteaded one hundred and sixty acres of land on Dry creek, about nine miles east of the city of Walla Walla, and upon that farm he resided until his removal to Walla Walla in 1907. He had there lived for forty-three years and his labors had wrought a marked transformation in the appearance of the place. He had planted a variety of fruit and nut trees upon his farm as well as various kinds of grain. Chestnut trees planted in 1884 are now seven feet seven inches in circumference. His fields were most carefully cultivated and the results attained were very gratifying. On the completion of the Northern Pacific Railroad into this section of the state, Mr. Frazier and his wife went back to the old Missouri home on a visit. When he again came to the northwest he brought with him some shell bark and some bull hickory nuts, also some butternut trees and black walnut trees. He likewise has persimmon trees upon his place and one of his apple trees is perhaps the largest apple tree in the state. It measures more than seven feet and seven inches in circumference around the base and has a spread of fifty-seven feet, while in height it has reached forty-two feet. In 1907 it yielded a crop of one hundred and twenty-six and a half boxes of fruit of Frazier's prolific variety. From this old tree a number of gavels have been made by the Commercial Club and one was presented to Mr. Frazier. He owns one hundred and seventy acres of land and his place has been brought under a very high state of development and improvement, so that it yields to him a most gratifying annual return.
Mr. and Mrs. Frazier reared a family of six children; namely Florence, who is the wife of Samuel Philips, formerly of Weston, Oregon, but now of Walla Walla; Benjamin, a cattle man living in northern Washington; Jane, who is the wife of Joseph Gwin, of Walla Walla county; Armeda, who gave her hand in marriage to Samuel McHenry, of St. Francois county, Missouri; John, who follows farming in Walla Walla township; and Dora, the wife of Daniel Neiswanger, of Bend, Oregon. The wife and mother died in 1907 after a happy married life of half a century.
Mr. Frazier was again married in 1907 to Mrs. Missouri Ann Wightman, a native of Wayne county, Missouri, and a daughter of Thomas J. and Lucinda Swezea, the former born in Tennessee and the latter in Missouri. In 1859 the parents, accompanied by their six children, started across the plains with two hundred head of cattle, which dwindled down to about one hundred head before reaching Walla Walla. Mr. Swezea purchased a claim about eight miles from the city on Cottonwood creek. On the 8th of July, 1860, a son, Charles L., was added to the family, he being the first white child born in Walla Walla. Mr. Swezea died at the age of seventy-seven years and his wife at the age of seventy-five. Of their nine children only four are now living, namely: Mrs. Nancy J. Harer, of Walla Walla; Missouri Ann, now Mrs. Frazier; Smith W., a resident of Harrison, Idaho; and Charles L., of Walla Walla county. Mrs. Frazier was a girl of fifteen years when she came to this state and on reaching womanhood married William Wightman, by whom she had one child, Elizabeth, the wife of William Wiseman, of Tacoma.
In his political views Mr. Frazier is a democrat, which party he has supported since reaching adult age. He belongs to the Christian church, while his wife is a member of the Presbyterian church. They are people of genuine personal worth, enjoying in large measure the friendship and kindly regard of those with whom thy have been brought in contact. Their own home is noted for its warm-hearted hospitality and is the scene of many delightful social gatherings. For fifty-three years Mr. Frazier has resided in this county and has been a witness of much of its development and improvement. His own labors have demonstrated in large measure what can be accomplished in the way of raising fruits and nuts in this section. He has ever been progressive in his work and the practical methods which he has followed have brought substantial results. He has never had occasion to regret his determination to try his fortune in the northwest. He here found conditions favorable to the man who is willing to work, for the land is rich in its natural resources and Mr. Frazier accordingly brought his diligence to play with the result that he is today the possessor of a handsome competence which surrounds him with all of the necessities and comforts of life and some of its luxuries.