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Dudley S. Prentice of Auburn, King Co., WA
By Linus Joseph Dewald Jr., Editor
Summer 2000 and Revised 21 Apr 2004
Dudley Prentice is a descendant of VALENTINE PRENTICE. By E-mail of 9 Mar 2000, Patty Frazer forwarded to us some interesting correspondence posted by Donna Walling which was written by Dudley Prentice and which we wish to share with you. She indicates that Dudley is now deceased.
Dudley Prentice's letter to Jack Mitchel reads as follows:
"Elmanda Russell (Always known as Elda), born in Clinton County, Iowa, on November 7, 1868, moved to the west coast sometime around the late 1880's and in 1891 married George Smith, a widower, born in Rochester, Minn., on Dec 18, 1868. George Smith has a son, George, born in the late 1880's.
"George and Elda lived in Kent, Washington, on the hill east of the village. George's precise occupation is not known to the writer, but he was owner of forest land in the foot hills of the Cascades about Snoqualmie Falls. He also had interests east of the Cascades, and they lived for a time in Yakima. Children of George Smith, Sr. and Elda Russel Smith were:
- Viola Smith, b. 2 Feb 1892, Kent, WA.
- Azure Estelle Smith, b. 18 May 1894, Yakima, WA.
"George Smith died around the beginning of the 20th century and Elda married Will Boundy, continuing however to live in the same house on the hill. Will and Elda and her children visited St. Louis and its world fair in 1904 and were the only members of the Russell family to do so.
"Will bought one of the early Ford Model T's and that may also have been the first in the Russell family, the first car to be owned. They drove to Auburn frequently and took family members for rides. One such ride, shared by the Prentices of Auburn, (see Fn. 1) was as far as North Bend. It rained all that day and the road below Snoqualmie Falls was so muddy that it was lucky they were able to get the car back to the valley.
"Viola and Azure were both married around 1911 or 12.
"Will Boundy died on ? and Elda sold her Kent house, going to Seattle to alternate living with her daughters, finally making her permanent home with her youngest daughter Azure. Elda was of a very cheerful nature and no matter what sort of life troubles came to her she could always produce a joke and a laugh. She worked for several years after Will's death. She died in Seattle on August 23, 1958.
"FORWARD (letter send March 1967)
"The urge which prompted the writing of the following narrative was a peculiar one. The original intent was not really to write about the Russell family, it was just to write about my own early life, but this was so closely intertwined with the rest of the family, that it seemed natural to include all with whom I had contact.
"It has always been my thought that I was lucky to have been born just when I was. It was early enough, and in the right place, so that I saw something of rural frontier life, which was so dependant on one's self. it was late enough to have seen the tremendous advances made since that time. To have seen, and experienced, and enjoyed--- a life in which there were no cars---no radio---no airplanes--- no TV--no space travel --- and then---to have been able to see the birth and development and enjoyment of all these things! It just seems incredible.
"Prior generations were too early--and succeeding generations are too late-- mine was the one which saw both eras and saw the transition between--and I am very grateful.
"And so I have hoped to show to present generations something of that transition. Whether I have been successful in this portrayal, only you, the reader, can say.
"Since this has also turned out to have been something of a family affair, I wish to dedicate it to the eldest member of our family, one who has seen and experienced so much more than I have, that spirited and courageous matriarch of a large family of her own, Etta Calkins, and I thank her for her help too.
Dudley Russell Prentice (Comment: found that he was born 26 Jan 1900 and died Sept 24, 1991)
"THE RUSSELL FAMILY
"This narrative is intended to be an account of the immediate family and descendants of Andrew Jackson Russell and his wife Easter Neta Case, with special regard to their migration to the West Coast and conditions of life there in the late 19th and early 20 th centuries, to the extent of facts known by the writer.
"Andrew and Easter Neta were Married in Clinton Co, Iowa in 1860. (See appendix for their birthdates,also those of their parents and brothers and sisters, as far as known.)
"Andrew had done some traveling prior to marriage. In 1854 he had crossed the plains and mountains by wagon train to Oregon Territory.
From then until 1859 he had engaged in various pursuits; prospecting, mining, mule freighting, and army service, in both Oregona and California. In his later years he was given a small pension for his army service. He told his family something of Indian fighting but the details of this are not clear. His army service may have been with Grant, who traveled between San Francisco and Vancouver Wa, during some of these same years. It was just prior to 1854 that Washington Territory was split off from Oregon Territory, with the Columbia River as the boundary.
In 1859 Andrew shipped by sailing vessel around the Horn to New York. From there he returned to Indiana, then went to Iowa where he and Easter Neta were Married.
"They lived in Charlotte, Iowa until 1875, farming and rearing their family, which by then included five children. At this time they moved farther west, tot he prairie lands of the Boyer Valley, Iowa, where they again engaged in farming. Here their family grew, and by 1886 seven more children were born.
"By 1882 the eldest daughter Luella, was 21 and was married to Henry Ward and had moved to Sioux City to live., There the twins Etta and Edna were born in 1883, just one month before the Brooklyn bridge was opened in New York City.
"Henry's mother was out West in Washington Territory, near Tacoma, and she urged them to `Come Out, A lot of game here, birds and deer and fish. You can almost live off the land." SO they packed up and went out, Orion Russell, Luella's oldest brother, going with them. They left in January, the train trip taking 14 days as they were snowbound twice, and they arrived on January 17, 1884. They stayed in Tacoma a few weeks, then move to land on the south side of Lake Killarney. Later they move to Slaughter, where they lived for a while with Dave Hart after his wife had been hospitalized. Luella took care of the house and Henry helped Dave in the Hop Yard.
"Orie Married Evie Brannan whose family had been in White River Valley some time already, her uncle and aunt and a cousin having been killed in an Indian massacre in 1855
"The town of Slaughter was named for a young army Lt who was also killed by Indians shortly after the same Massacre. The site of his killing was some two miles north of town on the east Valley road to Kent. (See Grant's memoirs for mention of Lt. Slaughter, and also for some description of the West at about the time of Andrew Russells western trip).
"A complete list of Children born to the marriage of Andrew Jackson Russell, born April 6, 1835 and Easter Neta Case born Feb 10, 1842: (Comment: the format of his letter is somewhat confusing, but I think the following is correct.)
- Luella Russell, b. 4 May 1861. She m. Henry Ward.
- Orion `Orie' Russell, b. 5 Oct 1863. He m. Evie Brannon & Martha Wescott.
- Albert `Ab' Russell, b. 27 Mar 1865.
- Udora `Dole' Russell, b. 5 Jan 1868. She m. Oren Prentice.
- Elmanda `Elda' Russell, b. 7 Nov 1868. She m. George A. Smith & Will Boundy.
- Edith `Ted" Russell, b. 12 May 1873. She m. George Rows.
- Walter `Ott" Russell, b. 31 Dec 1873. He m. Elsie Yost.
- Alvin `Cap' Russell, b. 3 Sep 1875. He m. Stella Davis.
- Ethel Russell, b. 28 Oct 1877. She m. Oliver Jensen.
- Dayton `Dayt' Russell, b. 17 Feb 1880. He m. Carrie Catee.
- Carm Russell, b. 10 Feb 1884, He m. Louise Vertsch.
- Effie Russell, b. 31 Jul 1886. She m. Arthur Rommel.
_____________________
Fn. 1: The Prentices of Auburn undoubtedly refered to Dudley Prentice's family. His parents, Oren Prentice and Udora Russell, appear in the 1900 Auburn, King Co., WA census.
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