no image
Privacy Level: Open (White)

John Wesley Maple (1838 - 1902)

John Wesley Maple
Born in Guernsey County, Ohio, United Statesmap
Ancestors ancestors
Husband of — married 13 Sep 1868 in Duwamish, King County, Washington, United Statesmap
Husband of — married 10 Dec 1883 in King County, Washington, USAmap
Descendants descendants
Died at age 63 in Seattle, King County, Washington, United Statesmap
Problems/Questions Profile manager: Bruce Maple private message [send private message]
Profile last modified | Created 12 Mar 2011
This page has been accessed 882 times.


Contents

Biography


Notes of T. Grant Maple:[1]

"John Wesley Maple b. Sept. 1, 1838, Guernsey Co., OH (per. his journal, Eli B. Mapel bible gives Jan. 1, 1837); d. Mar. 1, 1902, Van Asselt, Seattle, King Co., WA; bur. Mt. Pleasant Cem., Seattle, King Co., WA (tombstone erroneously has 1838-1903).
m1. Eliza Jane Snyder, Sept. 13, 1868, Duwamish, King Co., WA Terr., b. Sept. 26, 1854, Henry Co., MO; d. Aug. 5, 1882, Van Asselt, Seattle, King Co., WA; bur. Mt. Pleasant Cem., Seattle, King Co., WA.
m2. Dominica Gertrude Borella, Dec. 10, 1883, Seattle, King Co., WA Terr., dau. of Anthony and Elizabeth (Malosi) Borella, (Anthony Borella was b. in Milan, Italy); b. Nov. 8, 1862, London, England; d. Sept. 17, 1936, Tacoma, Pierce Co., WA; bur. Mt. Pleasant Cem., Seattle, King Co., WA; she was 1 year old when her parents came to the West Coast by ship around the horn.
Treasurer, King Co., WA. Supt. of Schools, King Co., WA.
Obit. Seattle Post Intelligencer, Mar. 2, 1902."
"Children of John Wesley and Eliza Jane (Snyder) Maple:
14A91. Charles Sumner Maple b. July 22, 1869, Duwamish Valley, King Co., WA. Terr.; d. Dec. 19, 1963, Seattle, King Co., WA; bur. Mt. Pleasant Cem., Seattle, King Co., WA.
m. Emma Ellen Coleman, Feb. 13, 1892, Van Asselt, King Co., WA, dau. of Charles C. and Clara (Cooke) Coleman; b. Oct. 16, 1873, Kittitas Co., WA Terr.; d. Aug. 29, 1933, Seattle, King Co., WA; bur. Mt. Pleasant Cem., Seattle, King Co., WA.
14A92. Alvin Bishop Maple b. May 2, 1871, Duwamish Valley, King Co., WA Terr.; d. ?; bur. Mt. Pleasant Cem., Seattle, King Co., WA.
m1. Ida Elizabeth Zahm, Oct. 7, 1896, Seattle, King Co., WA, dau. of George and Margaret (Wisskirchen) Zahm; b. Sept. 18, 1878, Buffalo, Erie Co., NY; d. Feb. 21, 1904, Seattle, King Co., WA; bur. Mt. Pleasant Cem., Seattle, King Co., WA.
m2. Matilda Miller, Feb. 25, 1911; b. Aug. 10, 1878.
14A93. Cora Ellen Maple b. Dec. 21, 1874, Duwamish Valley, King Co., WA. Terr.; d. Sept. 28, 1939, Seattle, WA; bur. Washington Memorial Cem., Seattle, King Co., Wash.
m. Frank S. Patton, May 19, 1901, Duwamish Valley, King Co., WA, son of Thomas? and Roseanna (Glasgow) Patton; b. Apr. 25, 1875, Sun Beam, IL.
14A94. Dora Helen Maple b. Dec. 21, 1874, Duwamish Valley, King Co., WA Terr.; d. 1966; bur. Mt. Pleasant Cem., Seattle, King Co., WA. Twin of Cora Ellen.
m1. Charles S. Norwick, Apr. 8, 1900, Seattle, King Co., WA; b. Norway; bur. Tacoma, Pierce Co., WA.
m2. George M. Brown, 1918?, Seattle, WA; b. ?; d. 1930?; bur. Washelli Cem., Seattle, King Co., WA.
14A95. Bessie Lurene Maple b. June 25, 1878, Van Asselt, King Co., WA Terr.; d. May 7, 1885, Van Asselt, Seattle, King Co., WA Terr.
14A96. John Clifford Moody Maple b. May 17, 1880, Van Asselt, King Co., WA Terr.; d. Aug. 17, 1914, Wickenburg, Maricopa Co., AZ; bur. Mt. Pleasant Cem., Seattle, King Co., WA.
m. Nellie ("Nettie") Winkley; b. 1888; d. Nov. 1, 1917; bur. Mt. Pleasant Cem., Seattle, King Co., WA.


Children of John Wesley and Dominica Gertrude (Borella) Maple:
14A97. Telford Odell Maple b. Aug. 23, 1885, Van Asselt, King Co., WA Terr.; d. July 30, 1964, Seattle, King Co., WA, ashes interred Mt. Pleasant Cem., Seattle, King Co., WA.
m1. Florence Wilde, Feb. 3, 1907, dau. of Albert and _____ (Rollins) Wilde; b. 1890; d. Oct. 15, 1915; bur. Mt. Pleasant Cem., Seattle, King Co., WA.
m2. Mary Frances Grant, Jan. 2, 1917, Seattle, King Co., WA, dau. of Orlando Wells and Mary Amelia (Luall) Grant; b. Oct. 19, 1898, Ketchikan, AK Terr. Div.
m3. May McD__. Div. m4. Ethel (Durham) Wallmeyer, ca. 1958, dau. of Jim and Ida (_____) Durham; b. Aug. 8, 1884; bur. Forest Lawn Cem., King Co., WA. Div.
14A98. Lelah Clare Maple b. Mar. 14, 1890, Van Asselt, King Co., WA. d. June 4, 1926, Pasadena, Los Angeles Co., CA; bur. Mt. Pleasant Cem., Seattle, King Co., WA (Cem. record has Lela G. Maple). Never married.
14A99. Beulah Vear Maple b. Nov. 1, 1893, Van Asselt, King Co., WA; d. Jan. 4, 1992, age 98, Glendale, Los Angeles Co., CA; bur. Wash. Memorial Park, King Co., WA.
m. Nicholas Venn Norman, Oct. 18, 1913, Seattle, King Co., WA, b. Feb. 20, 1887, Plankington, Aurora Co., SD. Her D.A.R. No. 467033.
14A9A. Joseph Maple b. ?; d. infancy.
14A9B. (dau.) Maple d. 7 days old."

T. Grant Maple included the diary and autobiography of John Wesley Maple in his book: [2]

THE DIARY OF JOHN WESLEY MAPLE

Verbatim copy from the Diary and Account Book of John W. Maple, 1871. The book was in the possession of Dora Maple Brown of Seattle, Wash. The original is in the handwriting of J. W. Maple. The book also contains a poem composed by J. W. Maple dedicated to the occasion of the birthday of his son Alvin B. Maple (49th birthday). There are also many pages of accounts and also of penmanship practice, including line after line of letters of the alphabet, also quotations of various poems that had particularly appealed to J. W. Maple. There are beautiful specimens of penmanship, some of it in the exceptionally elaborate 19th century style and so perfectly executed as to be taken for perfect printing; only a close scrutiny shows it to be actual handwrit­ing.


"(Generation after generation -- passeth away without any record)
In the year of 1800 William Maple emigrated from Green Co. Pennsylvania to Jefferson Co. Ohio & settled near Steuvenville & of his Father Benjamin Maple I can give but very little account more than to say he was a Holander by birth & lived near Mapletown. William Maple at the time he moved to Ohio with his wife Keziah had nine 10 children, & their names was as follows.
Abigail
William
Molley
George
Sarah
Anna
Benjamin
Claria
Kesiah
& Jacob.
At that time Abigail (the oldest of the family) was then about 46 years old & was never married. She remained in or near the same place untill about the year of 1826 she died.
William the next in regular family order Who had participated in the Revolutionary War About 38 44 years old he married a woman by the name of Nelly Lyon, and all I new of them, they lived in Burbon Co. Kentucky untill they had 4 children & by the Colory both Died in one week in the year of 1822
Thare childrens names was as follows
John
Caroline
Merit
& William.
Molley married her cousin Robert Maple and they had 8 children
the oldest name Benjamin
Anna
William
Jacob
Polley
Deboria
Robert
Elias
Benjamin the oldest married a woman by the name of Barbrey Hites.
Anna maried Henry Grove.
William married Sarah Bowers.
Jacob was yet single
Polley maried John Marshal
Deboria maried Mathias Swickard.
Robert & Elias I no but little about.
George married Nancy Brown."

THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF JOHN WESLEY MAPLE

The autobiography of the compiler's grandfather depicts a time much different than today. John Wesley Maple was born in 1837 (not, as he thought, in 1838) in Guernsey Co., OH. In 1844, his father removed with his family to Keokuk Co., IA. In 1850, his father and his brother Samuel Adams Maple joined the Gold Rush to California, leaving the family in Iowa. In 1851, Jacob and Sanuel Adams Maple went north and became the first settlers of King Co., WA, then still part of the Oregon Territory. About 1855, Jacob returned to Iowa, but from time to time visited his children all of whom, except except Aaron, removed to King County, WA. In 1862, at the age of 24, John Wesley Maple was elected captain of a wagon train which followed the Oregon Trail to the Pacific Northwest, where he married and his children were born. In 1894, he was elected as Treasurer of King County, and served for two years. Subsequently, he was elected King County Superinten­dant of Schools, and served until his death in 1902, when he was crushed by a tree he was felling.
The following has been reconstructed from fragmentary typewritten material in the possession of Dora Maple Brown and from a more nearly complete handwritten copy made by Charles S. Maple from the lead pencil original, which no longer exists. The present editor has substituted periods for the original amper­sands and capitalized the first letter of the following sentances, in order to improve readability.
"Life of John W. Maple as Wrote by himself
I was born January 1st 1838 in the State of Ohio, Guernsey county and was the ninth child in regular family order. There were eleven children in all two of which were younger than myself, both girls. The names of the family run as follows commencing at the oldest, Robert, William, Aaron, Samuel A., Elvira, Eli. B., Jane E., Mary A., John Wesley, Ruth and Lucinda E. My father and mother were both born in Green County, Pennsylvania. Father was born in the year of 1798, May 9 and mother was born in 1800 on May 20. All that I know about my grandparents is that my grandfather Maple (Robert Maple) [a mistake of memory, it was actually William--Ed.] was that he was a soldier in the revolutionary war serving as a private for five years. His son my fathers half brother (Benjamin) was also in that war and was promoted to Captain and always went by the name of Captain Ben Maple and what little I know of the Maples is that they were a stout tough bony people, mostly Baptists in Religion and Whigs in Politics. [ Capt. Ben served in the War of 1812--Ed.]
My mothers maiden name was Adams and all I know of them is that they were a straight fleshy stock of people, many of them weighing two hundred pounds and over. They were mostly Whigs in Politics and in religion Methodists. They were not a very long lived people. But the Maples were of long duration, many of them lived to the age of ninety and one hundred years. As for myself I am now 57 yars of age and judging from what I see in others I am holding my own for life and vitality. I am five feet and ten inches in height and weigh on an average of about 138 pounds. The most that I ever weighed was 145 lbs and there were many years of my life in the summer season that my weight was as low as 133 lbs. My father was a farmer in Ohio and was the owner of one of the best farms in Guernsey County of two hundred acres and in this old place eight of the family were born including myself. Now according to your request I will give you a little of my own history.
My father moved west in the year 1844 when I was going on six years old and up to that time I had never been in a school house except when I was taken to church by my parents, which might have been often as they were both Methodists. The first book I ever owned was a pamphlet of John Rogers the martyr who was burnt at Smithsfield for his religion and the money that I paid for this book a neighbor of my brother gave me for singing a hymn for 6 1/4 cents or a pickeyune as it was callled in that day. "There is a fountain filled with blood, Drawn from Immanuels veins, and sinners plunged beneath that Blood loose all their guilty stains". The Pamphlet gave a short sketch of Mr. Rogers life and imprisonment and his last advice to his children. This I committed to memory by having my oldest sister read it over a few times when I could recite every line it contained both History and Poetry. The poetry commenced like this. I will write it altogether.
Give ere my children to these words, Which God hath dearly wrought,
Lay up his laws within your mind And print them in your thought.
I leave you here a little book For you to look upon,
That you may see your fathers face When I am dead and gone.
Who for the hope of heavenly things While here on earth remains
Give ere all his golden years To prison and to pain.
While among my iron hands Enclosed in the dark
Not many days before my death I did compose this work.
And for advantage to your youth to whom I wish all good
I send you here God's holy word and seal it with my blood.
Keep always God before your eyes with all your whole intent,
Commit no sin in any wise but keep his commandments.
Give honor to your mother dear and let her not decay,
Remember well your father all whom would have been your stay.
Give ere your portion to the poor as riches may arise
And from the needy nacked sould turn not away your eyes.
God grant you so to end your days as he may see it best
That I may meet you all in heaven where I do hope to rest.
John Rogers.
As my father was on his journey West, down the Ohio and up the Missippi and it being winter time the river froze up and we was compelled to lay over in Saint Louis. We stayed there for six weeks & while we were there I, with my father,, one day attended a nigrow auction where I saw man, woman and children sold on the auction block to the highest bidder. I want to say right here that it made my little heart jump when I saw mothers and children have to part and become the property of new masters. One little incident I must record now that may not be of much interest. But I should feel like I had failed to write all and have it cut out. I remember very well a man coming aboard when we left Saint Louis on the steamer (Sarah Ann). He had two girls may be in their teens that he had bought. When they retired for the night he crept in the bunk between them and by repeating this a night or so the emigrants became disgusted and my father together with others talked to the captain of the boat. But it done no good.
The deck hands were mostly negroes and they talked some about it. Finally one night the emigrants concluded to give him a cold bath by tying a rope round his waist and throwing him overboard and hauling him in a few times. The negrow deck hands agreed to help. So they planned to carry out the ducking, their courage failed however and they procured two buckets of water and come up to the bunk which was next to the lower one and threw the cold water all over the three as they were sleeping the night away. They jumped and hollered and the women screamed and the man come out swearing and said he would kill the man now that had done the act and the row continued until the captain was obliged to land and let the three off the boat. Of course I was small but I remember this as plain as though it was yesterday.
After fighting ice for some days we landed at a little place called New London [prob. New Boston, there is no New London--Ed.] in Illinois and from there we went by wagon and horses until we arrived at a place of destiny in Keokuk County, Iowa seventy miles west of Keokuk city. Iowa was then a territory and when we stopped there it was called New Purchase. A strip that the Government had purchased from the Pawnee Indians the year before. This was some time in February 1845. There were but few settlers in the county. But fortunately for us we moved into a log cabin with a very nice bachelor by name of Jesse Mutts. Here we feasted on wild game which was in great abundance. Deer, turkey and prarie hens by the thousands the men spoke of. Mr. Mutts had plenty of dried venison and turkey breast. He had come to this place in the year before and had some sod corn and pumpkins and turnips. But no potatoes as it was impossible to get seed that far west. But he had brought some corn and small seeds with him and so we made hominy of corn and with any amount of small game, two good guns to shoot with and with the traps we made to catch chickens, quails and rabbits we feasted daily on their choice parts and so had plenty to eat. By making gritters of some old tin buckets we ground out our own meal and generally had some bread and so far as my memory serves me at the present writing it tasted offuly good until in the spring probably in May my Father and one of my brothers went to Iowa City a distance of 50 miles where they procured some flour & some groceries & farming tools we had plenty of clothing that we had brought with us from Ohio which my mother had made from cloth that she had wove & socks & stockings that herself & the oldest girls had Knitt. The following fall we all took the ague & fever & we had a happy time of it too.
There were then 11 in our family & many times we were all down at once either shaking with chills or burning up with fever & this lasted with some of the family all the following winter. But with most of us it ceased along in the fall. As to myself I remember of having what the Dr. called the 3rd day chills & my chills come on at night & then after the chills was over the fever would come up & my thirst would be so intense & sleep would assert her wrights & I would dream of seeing some of the nicest springs of water roaling up out of the earth in great volums but some how every time as I was about to take a drink some accident would occur & I was disappointed & often I would wake up when my mouth & tongue would be as dry & crusty as a piece of hickery bark. When I was about 8 years old the country had settled up by emigrants (mostly from Indiana) until my Father with some others held what they called a School meeting which resulted in the selection of a sight for a school house & the plans to build it was as follows. Each man agreed to furnish so many logs & others shingles & flooring while others agreed to furnish the seats which consisted of split logs with holes bored on one side & long pins put in for legs & so in due time the house was built & a teacher hired at a salary of $10.00 per month & the teacher was to board amongst the schoolers. This is the first school I ever attended. My Father signed 4 schollars myself one brother & 2 sisters was to go time about. I dont just remember when it was a schollar but I think it was two dollars & could be paid in something to live on or something to weare & the school was to last 3 months & was taught by an old lame man by the name of Craig.
I went to this school (in all) about one month and the book thst I took was a McGuffeys speller which father had purchased at Fairfield with hickery nuts that I had gathered & when my Father & mother went to Fairfield with their wool to the carding machine a distance of twenty five miles. & so we generally had a three months school every year & in the year 1850 my Father and brother Samuel crossed the plains to California in search of Gold and was gone four years and two months & Father returned. During this four years we was hard put to for a living. There was then eight in the family. My third brother in regular family order (Aron) and myself to provide the living & I must not pass this place without speaking of Aron as I do think there never was a nore faithfull boy than Aron was. Allways at home & at work & I might here relate many little incidents in my life where his good advice and more than brotherly care was extended to me and to in a time and at the proper age to do me lots of good and made a lasting impression on my mind, that time and circumstances cannot erase.
Fathers return was in 1854. Up to this time I had attended the school spoken of before a little in the winter season but probably in all I never went to school more than ten months in my life, for all the schooling I ever did get was between the years of 1846 and 1854. I never saw a directory in the school I attended & I never heard a grammar class recite. The book that was used in our school consisted of speller first, second, third & fourth reader and testament class and Ray's arithmetic, parts first second and third & our writing was done with a goose quill. At this time my father concluded to go out south and settle or take up some land on what was then a strip laying between Iowa and Mo. and where we settled the strip was about five miles wide and was a nice country. Here my father gave me forty acres of prarie land and secured for himself 120. I was now seventeen years old and I stayed there four years and improved my land. Father returned to Iowa our former home. Now I became lonesome and concluded to sell out and did sell for $350. & with that & what I had I bought 80 head of stock mostly yearlings & two years old & started to Iowa July 12th 1861 & wintered in Mahuska Co., Iowa & sold & traded of my young stock for a nice team of oxe & cows & started to Washington Teritory May 5th 1862. I had 3 yokes of oxen and one yoke of cows when I started & when I arrived on the Duwamish River my present home Nov. 15th 1862 I had one old cow & 2 young horses & about $20.00 in money.
The first work I done in King Co. besides cutting my road in was to work on the road leading from Steels farm on the Dwamish to Black R. I worked thw ballance of the winter cutting piles for Bro. Eli & in the spring I rented my Bro. S.A. farm & put in a crop of Grain & potatoes & I had some hay & a few boxes of apples of the old orchard that was just then beginning to bear a little. Next year I went to the mine in Idaho on Burnt River But only stayed about 3 months & come home to stay & next thing I went to logging & I followed that occupation on the river for about two years and quit a little bit better off than when I first set in.
About this time I become acquainted with my first wife Eliza Jane Snider and was married to her in Sept. 13, 1868 and moved on my little farm on the west bank of the Dwamish of twenty four acres. The next season I taught a little school in the old Maple School house that now stands on the S. A. Maple D. C. There was only about twenty schollars there in the district and they were all small Children and I taught through a permit issued to me by Edmund Carr then County School Superintendant at the solicitation of my neighbors & I was often sorry that I had undertaken it as it was about the hardest work that I ever undertaken to do in my life. The next season I rented my sister Lucinday farm now owned by John Rines & I stayed there eighteen months and sold out my crop and what I had raised on my own little place for about $1000. & in co. with my bro. Eli & family I started to go east of the mountains with wagons & horses. My 2 oldest Boys were then born Charles S. & Alvin B. Maple & we was 10 days going about 150 miles. We had with us 18 head of horses & my Bro. Eli had 60 heads of stock cattle. I stayed in the Kittitas Valley for about 10 months we had a heavy quake in Nov. of that year so very mense was the shock that it made the clay tumble out of our cabins & shook the stove doors open. This was on the night of the 14th of Nov. 1871.
We had what we called an Indian scare in the same fall & some of the families moved out of the valley while others moved in with their neighbors & fortified as best they could. But there was no regul brake out. The Indians killed one man & his wife in the fall by name of Purkins & accordingly we moved back across the mountains horse back the following summer & landed on the Dwamish July 12th 1872 & shortly after I rented Uncle Henry's farm - lived there for 6 years farming his place & my own also. Some seasons I cut & bailed as high as 300 tons of hay besides keeping plenty of rough hay for my cows & horses. The farm I worked very hard & the 4th year on the farm I completely broke down with I called a sweating destemper that lasted me about 1 year or 14 months. I went to Portland Oregon to visit a specialist Dr. Upton but he done me no good. Then in the spring of 1877 I went East of the mountains & stayed 6 weeks & Ma Snider come home with me & in about 1 month Sniders & the family followed up & finally sold out & never went back.
Along that fall I got better & went to work & the following wnter was what was Known as the big snow 1878 in Dec. the snow was 4 feet on a level in the valley & conciderable deeper in the hills. This snow smashed nearly all the barns & sheds on the river & several houses were completely demolished. About this time I took what I called a sweating distemper that lasted me for about 18 months. I run down where I only weighed 118 lbs. & was not able to do one days work in that time & it cost me about fourteen hundred dollars. This was in the years of 1880 & 1881. I went to work then clearing up my present house lot & built my house & the next year I started in to the milk business in May in Company with a Manderville & stayed in Company with him for 1 year & then went in alone & thst year my wife died & I rented out my milk business & farm to Mr. Chaffee & in 1883 I married Minnie G Borella & the next year 1884 my Bro. Aron come to pay me a visit & stayed with me one year & returned home. & in 1885 my little girl Bessie took sick in January 2nd & died May 7th. I was overcome with nerveous prostation & was not able to work for about 10 months. I then come out again through a dream I had & again I went to work & so in the following summer we bought of Mr. Glason 32 cows & paid for them in milk. Charley & Alvin was compelled to get out of bed at 2 Oclock in the morning & milk 40 cows & deliver the milk on the square in Seattle at seven o'clock in the morning. Many a time they made the trip against three o'clock. We pastured our cows out and fed on malt. That fall Alvin went into company with Albert Cavanaugh to Iowa and Charley and myself milked the cows and sold the milk to Bill Mandeville at the barn. The next season I rented the Ladd farm and sold my milk retail and we did well and made much money that season. This season Alvin B. married Jenny Jones and I rented the cows to Alvin and Johny Jones and realized but very little out of the milk.
Now I began to read and think a little about the political situation of our county and this led me to study some political economy and so when I heard the first lecture on the Omaha Platform in the spring of 1893 in my Hall by Knox and Captain May I thought well of what I heard them say and that following fall I joined the people's Party as they were then called and after attending some of their meetings they called on me to except a nomination for county commissioner. To this request I refused but after deliberate thought and a constant call of my party I excepted the nomination for that office. Some time in September this convention was held in the Hinckley block Settle and at the coming election I polled more votes in my presinct than all the other candidates. But was defeated by a large majority as the Republicans was in a large majority and even the Democrats were ahead of the Pops in the county at large. But I had the pleasure to know that in my own district I polled more votes than all three of the other parties namely Rep. Dem. and Prohibitionist. I think the district polled about 365 votes & I am sure that I had 260 votes. This was my first lesson in politics and I was rather glad to be defeated as I had no taste for office.
But there was another election coming off in 1894 & I was a deligate to the convention again & I was expecting my friends to call on me to except the same nomination for Commissioner & I was put up but I was beaten by Mr. Jones & the next thing that I herd of was to the effect that my friends had been keeping me back & was going to give me the nomination for Treasurer. To this request I said no I was beaten for commissioner & now I am glad of it & I dont want any office more espicaly that of Treasurer. But they insisted that I should run & allow my name to come up before the convention & so I was beset for some time until at last I gave my consent & my name come up & I was put up with 2 others Dr. Jordon & Mr. Maddox & to my great surprise I recieved more votes than both my mates. My votes was 215 & Dr. Jordon Recieved 130 & Mr. Maddox 8 votes. Now I was not long in making up my mind thst I would put into the campaign fund about $250.00 & let it go & make the best run I could honestly make.
Well my neighbors said that I stood a good show of being elected. But I did not think so as the Rep. party was very strong in the City & in a large majority in the County also. But there had been considerable dissatisfaction amongst the leaders of the Republicans & they began to tell me on the streets that they was going to vote for me so the regular Republican Nomine was a man by the name of Dr. A. P. Mitten. The same had served the people for a term of 11 months by appointment. Now the Democrats & independent republicans made up a ticket & indorsed me as their candidate for County Treasurer & about the 15th of Sep. the campaign opened. I made up my mind immediately that my chances was very sure of election & my asperant made a very strong fight against me & the Republican papers printed any amount of trash mixed up with some of the biggest lies that a foul minded editor could possibly think of. But they could not make the people believe them & I was elected by a majority of 1669 votes. But now come the trying hour. The commissioners all being Republicans concluded to head me off. By raising my bonds and they did raise them, from three hundred thousand to four hundred thousand nd requiring the surities to sware that they were worth twice thw amount they might see fit to go on my bonds. And the city requuired the same amount in size and the conditions were so rigid that my friends said it would be a utter imposability to get that amount of bonds. Since the banks had refused to go on my bonds in any case.
But I thought a trial would do no harm and so I set out with John G. Barnes on the county bonds and R. J. Wilson on the city bond. Well I will not attempt to describe thw difficulties we had to encounter and the epence we had to meet. The 14th day of Jan. 1895 the day for all county officers to take theor seats had come and I was still out hunting for bonds. But I took my oath of office before a notary public and placed it on file and then I issued a circular describing the situation and calling for all patriotic people regardless of political faith to my assistance and many letters come in and I soon had my bonds made up & presented & they were almost as soon rejected.
I again started my men in the field and in a few days had a new bond and Mr. Mitten the present treasurer had men go around among my bondsmen with written withdrawels and by misrepresent­ing the facts in the matter they did Succeed in getting several to send their letters of resignation to the commissioners and so we immediately hiked away and those bondsmen that had been scared off readily come on again. Now by this time my friends had increased to such numbers that you could hear the angry mutterings of crowds on the streets and acusers accusing the commissioners of everything mean and contemptable and there was many threats made that if they the commissioners did not except my bonds and give me the office to which the people had elected me they would be a necktying party to wait upon some of them. About now the citizens called a meeting to be held in the Referendum hall to discuss the situation & called upon Rev. Daymon to speak and that Gentleman spoke at length.
Among other things which he said was this that he had helped to hang men in Cal. in the year 1849 and 50 for less things and although I am now considerable older I would not stand back from taking a hand in the same occupation again.
The meeting adjourned to meet at the Armory at 2 P. M. on the next day. They met about 5000 strong and after several speeches had been made by such men as Judge Jacobs & Judge McGilvrey they took a vote on me for Treasurer and every man voted yest. Then they selected a committee to wate on the county commissioners and so the next day they did wate on them and Mr. Commissioners layed down and said we will except the bonds and the office was turned over to me on the 11th day of March instead of the 14th day of Jan. as they should have done. So I was duly installed in my office on the 11th day of March 1895. On that day I had counted to me at the different banks Three Hundred and Five Thousand dollars of the counties money deposited there by Mr. Dr. Mitten my predecessor.
This money I put back in the same banks as a special deposit and it remained there as a special deposit until I could get a law passed by the legislature what was now in session in Olympia said law when signed by the Governor would allow me to make a general deposit as there was not room in the safe in my office to hold the money and it was my only show. So in due time in about one week the law was made and signed by the Gov. John McGraw and then I proceded to the banks and asked them politely to furnnish me a good & sufficient bond with at least $75,000. from each bank as an indemnifying bond securing me against any and all losses that might come up in the way of bank failures or bank bursting. After some complain on the part of the banks as a thing altogether new and unnecessary. But at last they concluded to do it and so I had a form of bond and submitted it to them. They accepted it and gave the required amount. Then I appointd a committee of seven of my heaviest bondsmen to pass on the bonds given by the Banks and after a few days the banks sent in their bonds 15 in all & my committee excepted of them as good & so we made our deposits opened up a book account with them & on the first day or about the first of June the Merchants National Bank in Seattle closed its doors & at that time I had seven thousand dollars deposited in it & up to the present writing I have not been able to get anything out of the bank. But my committee thinks the bondsmen are good for that amount.
Now in connection with my life work in general I never attended school more than 6 months in all my life. I was raised a Methodist & joined the church when I was about 26 years old. I was sprinkled when a child & pured when I joined the chuch & later on I was Imerced by a Cambelite in the Kittitas Valley at the age of 40 years. I left the church altogether at the age of 45 & built a Hall for Liberal lectures & littrory purposes & from that time until now I have enjoyed the greatest prvilges accorded to man. Namely : Free thought ad free speech. I have not been in the habit of using my entire right allways in the latter using my discretion allways. In have voted the republican ticket generaly all my life until in the year 1892 since which time I have voted the Populist ticket (mainly). My judgment on the religions are that as far as I have found out they are all mythical and what I consider the impossibilities contain in the bible I have rejected as untrue or at best so far as it concerns us it is worthless and I class it with the old witch stories & ghost stories that our grandmothers use to tell us.
I believe Jesus was one of the greatest men that ever lived on this earth as he was good and great enough to tell the professors of his day just what he thought of them without any hesitation. But I think he was woefully belied by some of his so called followers. I like to read the bible for reference and for its proverbs.
My favorite poet is John Critty Prince. His book of poems and blank verse called Hours with the Muses is a grand book and it made its first appearance in the year of 1836. Its preface is good and the poem called the Poets Sabbath is the first poem in the book and is amonst the best I ever read. His Poor Mans Apeal, lines suggested at the grave of Shakespeare, Random Thoughts on Poetry, Fragment for the People and varied other poems that I cant call up to my memory. I think tht Mr. Prince must evidently have been a great natualist as all his poems are on the line of liberty and the emancipation of the human mind and body. His Random Thoughts on Poetry and the things that superinduces poetic thought (He says) are constant with the universe itself. When the great (Spirit?) came fourth and said let there be light the young sun sprang forth on his etherial ways never to rest again. The quest first moon made her first journey up the steeps of night and the intrinsic stars sang a rwquim of joy that made the whole panorama of heaven ring for joy and again the Trinity went forth and said let us make men and man came forthwith. Proud--men fresh from the hands of his maker who has ever since been the jarring string on God's eternal harp.
So far as I know at the present writing John Critty Prince was a native of England and was a reed maker by trade and was very poor as far as the grave of this life is concerned. I believe he was what might be termed a naturalist. So much so that the churches sit down on him and so put an end to his writing and Muses. John Bunyon Pilgrems Progress I have read and wondred what kind of man he was. I sometimes think his productions was the wnderings of a distorted mind. Still after all Mr. Bunyon was a very peculiar man and it is said he died with a sweating distemper. His are amongst the finest poetic production that I ever saw in print.
Now I want to say something about dreams and presentments thast I have had in my life. While they have always been a wonder to me and something thst I cannot account for.
When I was a little boy five years old I had a dream that made a lasting impression on my mind and I shal never forget it. But it is lengthy and I will not write it down. But I dreamed I saw a witch and the devil have a fight. But out of the hundreds of dreams or visions that I have had I want to relate a few in detail. About twenty four years ago I dreamed thst my wife was confined and gave birth to a pair of twin girls and they was thw smallest children I ever saw. I saw them so plain in my dream and it staid with me so close & so I told my wife about the dream. We then had two children both boys and we thought we would never have another as some four years had elapsed since the younger was born. So in the course of some months my wife was found to be in the family way and the little babies would come up in my vision nearly every day and my wife told her sister about my dream and so it got out and every woman and man in the county was bouring me about my twin girls and in response I would tell them that they would be along by and by.
And so when my wife was 7 months gone she took sick and one of the babies was born and my sister in law was staying with us and she laughed and said "Well there is a great pair of twin girls." But I sent for Dr. Reynolds and in a little while the other was born and now my dream was fullfilled and the little youngsters looked just exacatly as I had seen them in my dream and was the littlest babies I ever had seen for it took both of them to weigh seven pounds after they were dressed. There was a prair meeting going on at Van Asselts that night and I went up about 10 P.M. and told of my good luck and the meeting adjourned and several of the folks went home with me to see the little strangers. Now I want to say that my dream occured fully 18 months before the twins were born. This was always a wonder to me and I must confess that I know nothing about why or where they come from. But I am a fit subject for the dreasm business. I will relate one or two more snd then quit.
Last fall before the convention and before the election I was having those spells all along every few night and they were always attended with something thst was sure to come up in a few days in reality. But after the election and while I was trying to get my bonds I had some of the grandest presentations that I ever had Experienced in all my life. Some times I was in a wagon buckboard pulled by small horses and two or three persons with me & very bad roads sidling steep and sometimes rivers to ford and oftimes I become scared and wanted to get hold of the reins and then at times there would be two or three fellows ahead of us throwing logs and stumps in the road to stop our passing but we invarably wold go right along over every difficulty and sometimes I would get hold of the reins myself and then my team woul clim the hill with a whoop. But finally I dreamed one night that I was to run a race with a Doctor to the treasurers office and at the drop of a hat I started and got the start and the doctor ketched at me once but just touched my clothes and I ran ahead of him inside the Treasurers and I thought there was a stone column in the middle of the room and I jumped up and struck the stone column with both feet and then lit on the floor and it seemed that my own weight on the floor gave me a bound up again about four feet high and when I lit I bounded up again six feet or more and so the third time I made my bound and went up to the ceiling and that frightened me as I thought that the crowd from the commissioners room had followed us in and they were looking on and such action as that would surpise them and I woke up. Then I woke up my wife and I told her thst I felt confident that I would get the office and let my oposers do and say just what ever they may wish.
From that time on I never for one moment give in. But still the fight went steadily on and it was very expensive to me and some times it looked a little blue but then my dream come up and I would take comfort again and until I have a counter dream I will not take any uneasyness and I relyed on my dream just as much as I did on a known truth in the history of any past even.
I have had lots of dreams in my life but when I have a vision or become spellbound in a dream I am sure thst something is in the future for me someties good and sometimes the reverse. I am now 57 years old and as I look back over my life hunting up all the bad things that I have done I always stop on a spot thst I regret more than any other I ever did and thst was the killing of my trust dog (Venturesome) in the state of Iowa in the year of 1860. I was trying to drive some calves home that I had bought of Mr. Davis and the calves was trying to go back home and I was leading my horse by the halter strap and the calves turned out of the road and started to pass me going back and my horse wouldn't lead very fast and I told my dog to drive them and he ran up to one of them and took him by the ear and I called him off. He quit and came to me and I again pointed to the calves and told him to drive them back.
But he done the same thing took one by the ear. I scolded him for this and he come to me and I set him after them again and he refused me and started home on the lope. I called him again but he paid no attention to me but continued to go toward home. I flew in a fit and drew down my gun from my shoulder and pointed it toward him and pulled the trigger and the gun went off as close as it was just from the snap when in reality it was not known to go off in twenty times after the first snap. Then I looked and saw my dog laying in on his side nearly dead. I had shot when I was 156 yards away and if he had been two jumps further he would have been out of sight. Now I want to say that this is the dirtest trick I ever done according to my judgment and recollection.
The end.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Historical data


John Wesley Maple was buried in Mount Pleasant Cemetery, Seattle, King County, Washington.[3]


Sources

  1. Telford Grant Maple, "Genealogical History of the Maple/Mapel Family in America, Penobscot Press, 1993.
  2. Telford Grant Maple, "Genealogical History of the Maple/Mapel Family in America", 2001 electronic edition.
  3. https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/5604986/john-wesley-maple




Is John your ancestor? Please don't go away!
 star icon Login to collaborate or comment, or
 star icon contact private message the profile manager, or
 star icon ask our community of genealogists a question.
Sponsored Search by Ancestry.com

DNA Connections
It may be possible to confirm family relationships with John by comparing test results with other carriers of his Y-chromosome or his mother's mitochondrial DNA. Y-chromosome DNA test-takers in his direct paternal line on WikiTree:
  • Bruce Maple Find Relationship : Family Tree DNA Y-DNA Test 111 markers, haplogroup R1b-BY63743, FTDNA kit #N175517 + Y-Chromosome Test, haplogroup R1b-BY135865
It is likely that these autosomal DNA test-takers will share some percentage of DNA with John:

Have you taken a DNA test? If so, login to add it. If not, see our friends at Ancestry DNA.



Comments

Leave a message for others who see this profile.
There are no comments yet.
Login to post a comment.

M  >  Maple  >  John Wesley Maple

Categories: Mount Pleasant Cemetery, Seattle, Washington | Maple Name Study