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Family
Marriage: Children:
  1. Wesley Oliver Walters: Birth: 18 NOV 1871 in Aota Co., Neb.. Death: 5 JAN 1959

  2. Nora Olive Walters: Birth: 30 JAN 1873 in Iowa, USA. Death: 30 OCT 1873

  3. Louis Albert Walters: Birth: 6 OCT 1875 in Lane Co., Oregon, USA. Death: 1922 in Garfield, Whitman Co., Washington, USA

  4. Elmira Ann "Anna" Walters: Birth: 13 JUN 1878 in Whitman Co., Wash. Terr.. Death: 23 APR 1953 in Garfield, Whitman Co., Washington, USA

  5. Ollie Myrtle Walters: Birth: 14 APR 1881 in Whitman Co., Wash. Terr.. Death: OCT 1883

  6. Fredy "Fred" Oscar Walters: Birth: 2 JUL 1884 in Whitman Co., Wash. Terr.. Death: 8 OCT 1939

  7. Edward Elmer "Eddie" Walters: Birth: 22 FEB 1887 in Whitman Co., Wash. Terr.. Death: 19 MAY 1985 in Colfax, Whitman Co., Washington, USA

  8. Clyde Earl Walters: Birth: 22 MAR 1890 in Whitman Co., Washington, USA. Death: 10 DEC 1955 in Garfield, Whitman Co., Washington, USA

  9. Claude Austin Walters: Birth: 22 MAR 1890 in Whitman Co., Washington, USA. Death: 2 OCT 1955 in Lewiston, Nez Perce Co., Idaho, USA

  10. Maudie Ethel Walters: Birth: 30 AUG 1893 in Whitman Co., Washington, USA. Death: 14 JAN 1974 in Spokane, Spokane Co., Washington, USA


Sources
1. Title:   Peterson, Goldie (Keyes)
2. Title:   Walters, Edward "Eddie"
3. Title:   1880 Whitman Co., Wash. Terr. Census
4. Title:   Chewning, Nita (Jacobson)
5. Title:   1860 Fulton Co., Ill. Census
6. Title:   1856 Marion Co., Iowa Census
7. Title:   1887 Whitman Co., Wash. Census
8. Title:   1900 Whitman Co., Wash. Census
9. Title:   D'Andrea, Joan
10. Title:   Interment.net
11. Title:   James A. Walters & Mary A. Brown marriage record

Notes
a. Note:   James A. Walters came across the plains on a wagon train the first time when he was about 19. He worked in a flour mill in Portland, Ore. The next summer he went back across the plains; then he came back west in 1876 by train. He homesteaded in Whitman Co., Wash. Terr. in 1876. The James A. Walters house was built in 1893. Told to Barbara Buchholz by "Eddie" Walters in about 1977. ____________________________________________________________________ From Virginia Walters: MAKES FORTUNE IN PALOUSE
  James Walters Arrived There With Mule Team and Farm Wagon
  Garfield, Wash., Dec 16---James Walters, a pioneer farmer, has just brought into the office of the Garfield Land company 38 potatoes weighing 61 pounds. Mr. Walters raised this season on 1 1/8 acres of land 13 3/4 tons of choice potatoes, which at one cent a pound were worth $375. Mr. Walters considers this good returns from a small piece of farm l and and says he can make all kinds of money raising potatoes in the Palouse country.
  Mr. Walters came to Whitman County from Oregon 29 years ago. He had a span of mules and a farm wagon, but no money. He located on a homestead four miles east of what is now Garfield and farmed there for seven years before he had a market for his wheat. He hauled wheat to Spokane with his mule team and sold it for 25 cents a bushel before the advent of a railroad. For seven years, Mr. Walters paid $1 a gallon for coal oil.
  "I paid," said Mr. Walters, "thirty-five dollars for the first 14 inch breaking plow that came into this part of the Palouse Country. I was here several years before I was able to buy an overcoat, for which I paid $16. My first two wheat crops I harvested with the old grapevine cradle. The first twine binder that was owned in this district cost $480. I saw the Palouse country in its wild and wooly days. My nearest neighbor for some time after I settled here lived about half way between Farmington and Colfax. The first railroad land I purchased here cost me $2 an acre. That same land is now worth $50 an acre."
  Mr. Walters still lives on the land on which he settled in 1877 and had risen from a condition of poverty to one of affluence. He now owns hundreds of acres of choice Palouse land. ________________________________ 1880 Whitman Co., Wash. Terr. Census, Farmington Dist. No. 2, ED #56, taken 1 June 1880, p 1 [Ancestry.com, ED #56, Image #1]:
  Walters, Jas. A. - age 33 - Farmer - b. Ill. - F born Ala. - M born In d. - Dwelling #5 - Family #5 " , May - age 28 - wife - Keeping house - b. Iowa - F born Iowa - M born Ohio " , Elmira A. - age 2 - Dau. - b. Wash. T. - F born Ill. - M born Iowa " , Westly A. - age 7 - Son - b. Neb. - F born Ill. - M born Iowa " , Lewis A. - age 4 - Son - b. Ore. - F born Ill. - M born Iowa _________________________________ 1887 Whitman Co., Wash. State Census [Ancestry.com, Image #161]:
  James Walters - age 42 - Farmer - b. Ill. - Line 30 Mary Walters - age 36 - b. Iowa Wessley Walters - age 15 - b. Neb. Louis Walters - age 11 - b. Ogn. Annie Walters - age 8 - b. Wash. T. Fredrick Walters - age 3 - b. Wash. T. Ed Walters - age 1 - b. Wash. T. ______________________________ 1900 Whitman Co., Wash. Census, Garfield Pct., ED #101, taken 15 Jun 1900, p 9B [Ancestry.com, ED #101, Image #18]:
  Walters, James A. - Head - b. Feb. 1845 - age 55 - M 28 yrs - b. Ill. - F born Ala. - M born Tenn. - Farmer - Dwelling #195 - Family #196 -----, Mary A. - wife - Feb. 1852 - age 48 - M 28 yrs. - 10 children - 8 living - b. Iowa - F born Ill. - M born Pa. -----, Fred O. - Son - b. July 1882 - age 17 - b. Wash. - F born Ill. - M born Iowa - At School -----, Edward E. - Son - b. Oct. 1885 - age 14 - b. Wash. - F born Ill. - M born Iowa - At School -----, Clyde E. - Son b. Mar. 1888 - age 12 - b. Wash. - F born Ill. - M born Iowa - At School -----, Claude A. - Son - b. Mar. 1888 - age 12 - b. Wash. - F born Ill. - M born Iowa - At School -----, Maude E. - Daughter - b. Apr. 1893 - age 7 - b. Wash. - F born Ill. - M born Iowa - At School Smelser, Henry - Servant - b. Feb. 1874 - age 26 - b. Ore. - F born Mo. - M born Mo. ___________________ From Virginia Walters: Garfield Enterprise, Aug. 13, 1915 DEATH CLAIMS J. A. WALTERS
  Early Pioneer of this Vicinity Passes To The Great Beyond
  Another early pioneer of the Palouse has gone to the "better country. " James Albert Walters died at his home, four miles east of Garfield, Saturday, August 7, after a short illness caused by diabetes. He was born in Fulton County, Illinois in 1854 [sic 1845}and was at the time of his death 70 years, 5 month, and 10 days old.
  His was the life of a pioneer. He crossed the plains twice. When 18 years of age, he drove an ox team with a company that eventually reached Portland, Ore. Here young Walters spent the winter, but in the spring he set out for the mining region adjoining Boise, Idaho. In 1864 he returned to Iowa on horseback and with pack train. While in Iowa he married Miss Mary A. Brown in 1871. In 1875, the young couple set their faces to the far west and came to Lane County, Oregon where Mr. Walters engaged in farming. From there the family came to the Palouse country in 1877 and Mr. Walters settled on the place where he died last Saturday. This was his homestead and here he built his first log cabin. His nearest town at that time was Colfax, and his nearest neighbor lived half-way to Colfax. In an old interview, speaking of his pioneer days, Mr. Walters says: "That was long before Garfield, Farmington, Pullman or any other Whitman county towns were thought of. I raised wheat seven years before I had any market for it. My first market was Spokane, seventy miles distant, where I hauled wheat with my mules, receiving the princely sum of twenty-five cents per bushel for it. For seventy ears all the coal oil I used cost $1a gallon. The first two wheat crops I harvested here were with the old grape-vine cradle. My first plow was a 14-inch sod breaker for which I paid $35.
  "Thirty-six years ago I made shingles that covered the first house built in Garfield. It was a school house, and it is still standing. As soon as the building was completed, J.C. Lawrence, then a young fellow, had just arrived from Illinois, and was engaged to teach the first school."
  Mr. Walters is survived by the partner of his pioneer privations and hardships, Mrs. Mary A. Walters. Eight children also survive, all of whom were present at the funeral service. They are as follows: Wesley, Lewis, Claude and Clyde Walters, all of Farmington; Mrs. Anna Carmack, Mrs. Maud Kern, and Fred and Edward Walters of Camas, Idaho. Besides these, there are thirteen grandchildren, four brothers and one sister who survive.
  The funeral service was conducted at Farmington Monday morning and was in charge of the Rev. Elwood Harold of Albion, former pastor of the deceased. The service was held in the Masonic Hall, and was largely attended by the old settlers, friends of the family and fellow Masons. T he ritual of the Masonic Order was used at the graveside.
  Mr. Walters was a member of the Christian Church, having joined that body thirty-one years ago. He was a Mason of long standing, having been a member of that order for thirty-eight years. He had also been a Knight of Pythias for the past six years. Mr. Walters was a man of strong personality, whose mind was trained in the hard school of experience. He was a kind neighbor, and his home always bore the stamp of hospitality. Honored by his many friends, he passed out of this life with his natural powers scarcely abated. _____________________________________________ Mountain View Cem., Farmington, Wash. - inscription:
  - - - FATHER James A. Walters - Feb. 28, 1845 - Aug. 7, 1915 ____________ Interment.net Mountain View Cem., Farmington, Whitman Co., Wash.
  Walters, James A, b. Feb 28, 1845, d. Aug 07, 1915, Father


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