RHS Newsletter January 2016

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    Was the wrong person arrested and nearly hung in the murdersof two men nearly 130 years ago as they rowed a boat across LakeWashington? A suspect was arrested soon after the two men werekilled by gunshots coming from the southern shore of Mercer Island,but the case was never fully solved. At this month’s Saturday SpeakerSeries presentation, local historian Tom Hitzroth will unwrap the mystery

    surrounding the double murder.Relax over a cup of coffee at the Redmond Historical Society

    Saturday Speaker Series, a monthly program from September to Maythat features eight speakers addressing topics of local, state and Pacic

    Northwest historical interest (No program in December). Also inside, learnabout the Redmond settlers of 1871 (p. 6).

    Every town has a history. Discover ours. •  J ANUARY  2016

     THE R EDMOND R ECORDER REDMOND HISTORICAL SOCIETY NEWSLETTER 

     J ANUARY  2016 •  VOL. 18 • NO. 1

    Every town has a history. Discover ours.

    UPCOMING —S ATURDAY  SPEAKERS SERIESSaturday, Jan. 9, 10:30 a.m. to 12 p.m.

    Old Redmond Schoolhouse Community Center 16600 NE 80th St., Redmond, WA

    UNWRAPPING  A  MERCER  ISLAND MURDER  M YSTERY 

    The home of James M.Colman, near Kennydale.Colman and friend WilburPatten were murdered in

    mysterious circumstancesin 1886.

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     J ANUARY  2016 • Every town has a history. Discover ours.

     

    EXECUTIVE BOARD

    Joe Townsend • President

    Mary I. Hanson • Senior Vice President

    Ed “Dint” O’Brien • Vice President FinanceCrystal Rojas Mora • Vice President

    Collections

    TBA• Secretary

    BOARD OF DIRECTORS

    Judith Simpson

    Steve JohnsonBill McKenzie

    Sharon Brocker 

    COLLECTIONS MANAGER  

    • JleanMcDonald

     ADMINISTRATIVE MANAGER  • 

    Laura Lee Bennett ATTORNEY  • Charles DiesenOur nances are public record and may

    be viewed at the ofce.

    FREE NEWSLETTER 

    If you don't subscribe, please sign up.

    Call the ofce at 425.885.2919 or email [email protected].

    State your preference of email or

    U.S. Mail. The historical society prefers

    email as it's inexpensive and photos areenhanced online.

    FIND US ON FACEBOOK:

    facebook.com/Redmond.Historical.Society

     THE REDMOND RECORDER 

    is published nine times annually.

    Jeanne Gustafson • Editor 

    Janice LeVeck •  Webmaster

    redmondhistoricalsociety.org

    COMINGS & GOINGS 2016

    M AJOR  SPONSORS

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    The Society Board and staff ison the move as we begin the newyear. Retiring from the board areSherry Stilin, the board’s SpeakersSeries Chair and Chair of theMarketing Committee, and KrisSwanson, Chair of the Speaker’sBureau Committee, though bothplan to remain very much a part ofthe Society. Thank you so much for

    your service!We also thank Michael

    Benavidez and Kim Walker , boardmembers who have stepped downfrom ofcial duties on the board

    of directors. We wish them well,and thank them for their continuedvolunteer efforts.

    In the meantime, we wouldlike to heartily welcome SharonBrocker, who has joined the boardas a director at large and will leadour Governance Committee.

    We also welcome Laura LeeBennett, who has joined the staffas the Administrative Manager, and

    congratulate Jlean McDonald, whois transitioning to her new role asCollections Manager.

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    Every town has a history. Discover ours. •  J ANUARY  2016

    R EPORT  TO  THE MEMBERSHIPPRESIDENT’S NOTEBOOK 

    The Redmond Historical Society has just completed another successful year. Ourhighlights include eight programs of the SaturdaySpeaker Series that were informative andentertaining. We enjoyed record attendance atthese programs.The mission of the RedmondHistorical Society reads:

     Redmond Historical Society serves the

    community through stewardship: collecting,

     preserving and sharing Redmond’s uniqueheritage.

    Through this ongoing program, the Society fullled the provision in

    our mission to share Redmond’s unique heritage, as well as regional andstatewide history.

    In April 2015, I wrote about the Redmond Historical Society’s LongRange Plan (LRP). There are multiple goals and objectives in that

    document. Notable accomplishments are completion of another round ofSammamish Valley News, digitizing and making these old newspapersavailable to the world on our website. With this project, we fullled the

    preserving and sharing provisions of the Society’s mission.Yet another notable accomplishment from the LRP is completion and

    implementation of the online archive. For years, the Society has beenengaging a number of volunteers to catalog our artifacts, photographs,and archives, using specialized museum software. Placing these images

    online makes them available to a global audience. We are pleased to offerour Photo and Archive Gallery, an ongoing project that will be expandedand rened in the future.

    In the spring and summer, the Society pursued the preservationprovision of our mission by appealing decisions that lead to issuance ofa demolition permit for the historic Nokomis Clubhouse. While the appealwas not successful, this huge project did contribute to that provision of ourMission and helped fulll our Vision.

    We also enhanced our staff, to assist our hard-working committees;we made overtures for permanent exhibit space and continue to pursuethat goal; and to fund all of this, we continue to plan a capital andendowment fundraising campaign.

    Joe Townsend~ Redmond Historical Society President

    Joe Townsend

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     J ANUARY  2016 • Every town has a history. Discover ours.

     WHODUNIT? A NEW LOOK   AT 1886MERCER  ISLAND MURDERS 

    S ATURDAY  SPEAKER  SERIES

    Was the wrong person arrested and nearlyhung in the murders of two men nearly 130years ago as they rowed a boat across LakeWashington? A suspect was arrested soon afterthe men were killed by gunshots coming from

    the southern shore of Mercer Island, but thecase was never fully solved.

    Having done his own sleuthing, Eastsidehistorian Tom Hitzroth will re-examine thecase—exploring the crime, the investigation,and the court proceedings in a presentation forthe Redmond Historical Society’s Speaker Series on January 9, 2016.

    What is known is that on the morning of February 8, 1886, JamesM. Colman and family friend Wilbur Patten left Colman’s home nearKennydale and planned to row themselves (not a rare transportationmeans back then!) to Seattle.

    Patten was going home and Colman was on his way to a grand jury hearing in a legal dispute with George Miller  of Enatai over landacquisitions by Miller’s children.

    The two were ambushed near the south end of Mercer Island, whichlocals later referred to as Murder Point.

    Miller was arrested and tried four times before nally being freed

    when the judge dismissed the case because some witnesses failed toappear.

    Many locals were convinced Miller was the murderer, but he alwaysproclaimed his innocence and there were other potential suspects—including Miller’s daughter.

    Hitzroth approached the case by reading the reports and courtdocuments with fresh eyes and then “asking myself the one question that

    Tom Hitzroth

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    Every town has a history. Discover ours. •  J ANUARY  2016

    had never been seriously considered by earlierresearchers: ‘What if Miller is telling the truth andhe didn’t do it, what changes?’”

    Research challenges included “trying to locate the sources of theinformation that had become part of the story over the years and verifythem,” says Hitzroth, who besides wearing a historian’s hat is alsochairman of the Redmond Landmark Commission.

    Court records that Hitzroth had to track down included the Millertrials, the grand jury investigating the land dispute and documents fromthe Territorial Supreme Court.

    Efforts to visualize the murders included “working out a table ofdistances and times to better follow the different actions and testimonyfrom that time,” says Hitzroth, who learned of the case when he wasinvestigating the murder of Letitia Whitehall, another mystery that hereviewed at a Redmond Historical Society presentation in March 2004.

     Miller died in 1894 and was buried in what is today Beaux Arts.

     Colman and Patten are buried in Seattle’s Lake View Cemetery.

    Colman’s tombstone inscription reminds visitors of his demise:“Assassinated at the south end of Mercer Island, Lake Washington, Feb.8 1886.”

     The Saturday Speaker Series is a monthly program presented by

    the Redmond Historical Society on every second Saturday (with the

    exception of June, July, August and December) at 10:30am at the OldRedmond Schoolhouse Community Center, located at 16600 NE 80thStreet. Topics range from local, state and Pacic Northwest historical

    interest. There is a suggested $5 donation for non-members. The Redmond Historical Society is a 501 (c)(3) non-prot

    organization that receives support from the City of Redmond, 4 Culture,Nintendo, the Bellevue Collection, and Humanities Washington as wellas from other donors and members.

    S ATURDAY  SPEAKER  SERIES

    Like the Speaker Series? Bring a Friend! 

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     J ANUARY  2016 • Every town has a history. Discover ours.

    LOCAL HISTORY   THE SETTLERS OF 1871

    By Tom Hitzroth

    For a time it has been thoughtthat Warren Perrigo and LukeMcRedmond came to the area knowntoday as Redmond at the same time in1871 and all others, if there were any,came after. We now know that not tobe the case. In actuality, six settlerscame to Redmond in the year 1871

    but only one of them, Warren Perrigo,stayed. Of the six who came threesettled in what today is Marymoor Park,while the other three settled farthernorth, but all in Section 12 on the map (shown here). The settlers of 1871are:

    CLAIM FILED  NAME  CANCELLATION 

    OF CLAIMMay 1, 1871 David (Ovid) Mayhew  July 29, 1871June 14, 1871 Warren Perrigo June 29, 1871 Olof Engblom  Dec.19, 1872July 1, 1871 Joseph Terry  Aug. 20, 1871July 7, 1871 Luke McRedmond  July 12, 1871Sept. 23, 1871 James H. Hazelton  Sept. 30, 1871

    Mayhew, Terry, and Hazelton settled successively on the samegeneral claim. After 1871 the land was unclaimed until John Tosh settledthere on January 1, 1878. On October 24, 1887, John stated that whenhe settled on the land there was already a cabin on the property and headded on to it. Given the time each claimant was on the land the cabincould have been built by David Mayhew or Joseph Terry.

    Warren Perrigo led his claim June 14, 1871 and obtained clear title

    to the land October 1, 1879. He remained on the property selling it toHiram B. Runnels May 20, 1893. He appears in the Seattle City Directoryfor 1893 living at 1806 Madison and 1894 at 1808 Madison.

    Luke McRedmond led his claim then cancelled it ve days later,

    returning to his property in Seattle. He returned to the Redmond areaofcially settling on his original claim April 14, 1872.

    Olof Engblom, aged 47 in 1871, would sign a petition for County

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    Every town has a history. Discover ours. •  J ANUARY  2016

    Road 33 to be extended from Juanita to his claim inthe Redmond area in May 1872, and then leave sevenmonths later. He went to White River in south King County and is last

    known in the Kent in 1892 aged 68.Joseph Terry does not appear in the records after August 20, 1871and his location after that date cannot be established.

    James H. Hazelton, aged 41 in 1871, appears in the 1879 SeattleCity Directory and 1880 US Census as a soap maker. He is gone fromthe area by 1882.

    SOCIETY  NEWS

    HISTORY  H APPENINGS

    Joe Townsend will be presenting Redmond History 101 tothe Woodinville Historical Society on January 16, 2016, at the

    Brightwater Education Center in Woodinville. More info: http://www.woodinvilleheritage.org/about-us/events-calendar/

     V OLUNTEER  OPPORTUNITIES

    Would you like to help preserve and share Redmond’s unique

    history? Here are some of our current open volunteer positions: • Development Committee Chair, supported by staff 

      • Program Committee Chair, supported by staff   • Public Relations and Marketing Committee Chair,

    supported by staff   • Secretary, Board Member and Ofcer 

      • Board Member at Large.

    More information on these positions can be found at VolunteerMatch.

    org

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    http://www.volunteermatch.org/search#k=redmond+historical&v=false&s=1&o=distanceBand&l=Redmond%2C+WA%2C+USA&r=20&sk=&na=&partner=&usafc=http://www.volunteermatch.org/search#k=redmond+historical&v=false&s=1&o=distanceBand&l=Redmond%2C+WA%2C+USA&r=20&sk=&na=&partner=&usafc=http://www.volunteermatch.org/search#k=redmond+historical&v=false&s=1&o=distanceBand&l=Redmond%2C+WA%2C+USA&r=20&sk=&na=&partner=&usafc=http://www.volunteermatch.org/search#k=redmond+historical&v=false&s=1&o=distanceBand&l=Redmond%2C+WA%2C+USA&r=20&sk=&na=&partner=&usafc=

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    Many thanks to our Saturday Speakers Series volunteers for their

    generous donation of their time and efforts to ensure a smooth programday.

    Press Release—Miguel Llanos Audio Visual—David Rossiter Coffee—Beryl Standley and Kim Walker Door Greeters—Kris Swanson and Linda RandallSet-up Coordinator—Tom Hansen

    Set-up/clean-up—Redmond High School student Stephan Nickel.Snacks—Cynthia Olsen and Bliss Ong, Coldwell Banker Bain.Book sellers: Julianne Rossiter, Margy Rockenbeck

    This delightful vintage postcard from the 1920s, which wassent to Happy Valley, near Redmond, can be seen on the RedmondHistorical Society’s Facebook page, along with fun historical imagesevery day.

     J ANUARY  2016 • Every town has a history. Discover ours.

    HUGE HISTORIC THANK  Y OUSSOCIETY  NEWS

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      SHIPPING & HANDLING: Please add $5.00 shipping & handling

    surchage for any order that you would like mailed.

     ORDERING INFO*:

      NAME ____________________________________________________  PHONE NUMBER _____________________ 

      # OF BOOKS ORDERED _______  AMOUNT ENCLOSED (CHECK PLEASE) _$_____________________________ 

      SHIPPING INFO:

      NAME _______________________________________________________________________________________ 

      STREET ADDRESS ____________________________________________________________________________ 

      CITY • STATE • ZIP _____________________________________________________________________________ 

     NOTE:

    REDMOND REFLECTIONS  is also available at the RHS OFFICE at the Old  Redmond Schoolhouse Community Center. (Hours of operation on page 12.)

     R EDMOND 

    R EFLECTIONS  $10 (INCLUDES TAX)*

    Need something special for someonewho appreciates our history? Theseare available at our Society ofce:

    GREETING CARDS, MAGNETS

    & NOTE CARDS featuring artwork by local artists:

    •  PATTI SIMPSON WARD

    •  DORISJEAN COLVIN•  PAT DUGAN

    “OUR TOWN” 

    History of Redmond by Nancy Way

    “VIEW OF HISTORY ” DVD

    This painting of Marymoor Park, Flying Kites at the Clise

    Mansion, is the work of ne artist Patti Simpson Ward.

    Visit her website to see more images of Eastside settings—

    pattisimpsonward.com.

    GREAT GIFT IDEAS FOR  HISTORY  LOVERS

    ORDER  NOW 

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     J ANUARY  2016 • Every town has a history. Discover ours.

    OUR  SOCIETY  LIFETIME MEMBERSRay Adams

    Eric Anderson

    John Anderson

    Barbara Neal Beeson

    Brad Best

    Pierre Bruneau

    Marjorie Stensland

    Costello

    John CouchLiz Carlson Coward

    Tony Emmanuel

    Frank Garbarino

    Edward L. Hagen

    Tom Hall

    Lucille B. Hansen-

    Bellings

    Wayne Hansen

    Jerry HardyNaomi Hardy

    Chris Himes

    Rosemarie Ives

    Cory de Jong

    Madeleine Roberts Hagen

    Mary Hanson

    Patricia Weiss Jovag

    Barbara Weiss Joyce

    Glenn Lampaert

    Roy Lampaert

    Allen Lang

    Judy Aries Lang

    Miguel Llanos

    Jon Magnussen

    Clare “Amo” Marr 

    Daryl Martin

    Allison Reed Morris

    John Phillips

    Roxie Phillips

    Dale Potter 

    Jo Ann Potter 

    Charles Reed

    Frances Spray Reed

    Bobbie Graep Rettig

    Vivian Robinson

    Laurie Rockenbeck

    Vivian Robinson

    Margy Rockenbeck

    William Rockenbeck

    Richard Shinstrom

    Beryl Standley

    John Stilin

    Sherry Stilin

    Fred SpringsteelFred Stray

    Doris Bauer Schaible

    Herb Swanson

    Doris Townsend

    Joe Townsend

    Roger Trepanier 

    Arlyn Vallene

    Patti Simpson Ward

    Don Watts

    Rose Weiss

    Joanne Westlund

    Margaret Evers Wiese

    James Windle

    SOCIETY  NEWS

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     WELCOME  TO OUR  NEWEST LIFETIME MEMBERS

    The Society welcomes three new lifetime members this month:

    Mary Hanson, the late Ray Adams (donation by Ruth Adams) andBobbie Graep Rettig.

    Mary Hanson you probably know from her tireless dedication to theSociety. She currently is the Vice President of Communications.

    The Adams family is a historical Redmond family. They go back tothe late 1800’s and were the managers of the train depot, even livingthere. The famous Earnest Alexander Adams, who lore has it was#300 in population, allowing incorporation, was Ray’s brother.

    Ray was Ruth’s husband. He passed away last year at age 91.Ray’s name may not be on the membership rolls but Ruth has been amember since 2002 and Ray was always with her. Ray and Ruth wereinterviewed for a story about his early family by the Seattle Times for theRedmond Centennial in 2012.

    Bobbie Graep Rettig is the daughter of Gary Graep, who was aRedmond Mayor in the 1950’s.

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    Every town has a history. Discover ours. •  J ANUARY  2016

    $5.00

    $25.00$40.00

    $200.00$250.00

    $1,000.00

    CONSIDER A GIFT MEMBERSHIP FOR A FAVORITE HISTORY BUFF.

    LEVELS OF MEMBERSHIP (Check one only.)

       _____ TRAILBLAZER (Student)   _____ PIONEER (Individual)   _____ HOMESTEADER (Family)   _____   ENTREPRENEUR (Supporter)   _____   CORPORATE (Business)   _____   HISTORY MAKER (Lifetime)

    ALL CONTRIBUTIONS ARE TAX DEDUCTIBLE.

    PLEASE MAKE CHECKS PAYABLE TO: REDMOND HISTORICAL SOCIETY

    Fill out the form below, cut out and mail with your check to:

    Redmond Historical SocietyAttn: MembershipORSCC, Room 106

    16600 NE 80th StreetRedmond, WA 98052

    MEMBERSHIP (CIRCLE ONE): NEW RENEWING

    NAME

    If FAMILY MEMBERSHIP, OTHER NAMES TO BE INCLUDED

    PHONE NUMBER

    EMAIL ADDRESS

    STREET ADDRESS

    CITY • STATE • ZIP

    NEWSLETTER DELIVERY (CHECK ONE):  _______ EMAIL  ________ U.S. MAIL

    MEMBERSHIP

     JOIN

    R EDMONDHISTORICAL SOCIETY 

    Every town has a history. Discover ours.

    Renew Now

    for 2016!

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     J ANUARY  2016 • Every town has a history. Discover ours.

    RED

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