An Illustrated History of the State of Washington, by Rev. H.K. Hines, D.D., The
Lewis Publishing Co., Chicago, IL. 1893 A portrait of Mr. Mackintosh appears
between pages 556 and 557

ANGUS MACKINTOSH, one of the ablest financiers of Seattle, dates his birth in
Ontario, Canada, June 23, 1839. His father, Norman Mackintosh, was born in
Inverness, Scotland, a descendant from that distinguished Scotch family of the
Highlands. He emigrated to Canada and was there married to Miss Christine
Morrison, also of Scotch descent, and after his marriage he remained in Canada
and followed an agricultural life. Angus Mackintosh was educated in the public
schools of Ontario, and at the age of eighteen years began teaching school. He
subsequently gained admission to the Huntingdon Academy in the Province of
Quebec, and after one year of study there resumed his work of teaching, in
Ontario, which he continued for three years. Then, considering the country too
slow for one of his ambition, he went to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, where he
entered Duff's Commercial College, took a business course, and graduated in
July, 1862. Soon afterward he joined a company of young men bound for
Washington, District of Columbia, and there found employment in the commissariat
department of the army, remaining till the spring of 1863, when he started for
the lumber districts of Western Pennsylvania. Arrived at his destination, he
engaged with Wolverton & Tinsman as scaler of logs. After a brief service, and
with an increased desire for business, he went to Saginaw, Michigan, and was
there employed for six years, becoming proficient in every department. Having
accumulated a little money by his honest industry, he invested it all in the
lumber business. Soon, however, he discovered that the affairs of the business
had been misrepresented to him, and he was defrauded of his hoarded savings.
This reduced him almost to penury; but, with the invincible courage and iron
resolution inherited from his ancestry, he decided to seek a new field of action
and try his fortune on the Puget Sound. Accordingly he set out for the far West,
and June 9, 1870, landed at Seattle, then a little hamlet of about 900
population. His first intention was to engage in the lumbering business here.
Discovering, however, that a large capital was necessary for that purpose, he
turned his attention to other timings. Property values directed his attention to
the recorder's office, and finding the records arranged without index he
conceived the idea of preparing abstracts of King county, which he extended into
Pierce, Island and Whatcom counties, and built up quite an extensive business.
He also bought and sold real estate at this time, and being an expert accountant
he was frequently called upon to settle complicated matters, for which he
received large compensation. In 1877, as his business had increased to such
proportions that assistance was necessary, he took in as a partner W.H. Reeves,
establishing the firm of Mackintosh & Reeves. In 1878 they engaged in the
banking business, which increased with marvelous rapidity, and in 1881 they sold
out the abstract department. In 1883 their private banking house merged into the
Merchants' National Bank, with a capital of $50,000, and of this institution Mr.
Mackintosh has since been president. In 1887 the capital stock was increased to
$100,000, and in 1891 to $200,000, to meet the demands of the rapidly increasing
business. With the location of the terminus of the Northern Pacific Railroad at
Tacoma in 1873, Mr. Mackintosh became one of the active promoters of the Seattle
& Walla Walla Railroad Company, with a view of developing the New Castle, Black
Diamond and Franklin coal mines, and ultimately getting a road across the
mountains. He continued as a stockholder and director of the road, and
subsequently was one of the committee to negotiate the sale to Henry Villard. In
1880 Mr. Mackintosh, associated with I. Dobson and D.B. Denton organized the
Seattle Lumber and Commercial Co., to manufacture lumber, door, sash and
building material, with $10,000 capital stock. They purchased a small mill, with
a capacity of 15,000 feet per day, on Front street between Marion and Madison
streets. They borrowed $10,000 to improve the plant and increase the capacity to
40,000 feet per day, and $20,000 additional to stock up. Fifteen months after
starting they paid back all borrowed money and also began paying dividends,
which dividends were continued at ten per cent a month up to the time of the
great fire of June, 1889, which destroyed their plant. In settling up their
accounts they realized a net surplus of $106,000. After the fire the property
was improved for business purposes. In 1886 Mr. Mackintosh was one of the
leading factors in starting the Seattle, Lake Shore & Eastern Railroad Company,
associated with D.H. Gilman and Judge Thomas Burke, and was a large stockholder
and treasurer of the construction company until the road was built from Seattle
to the national boundary, with a branch to the Snoqualmie region, about 280
miles. In 1883 he organized the Seattle Safe Deposit & Trust Company, with a
capital stock of $100,000, and erected the office building at 701 Front street,
four stories, with basement for the vaults. During the great fire of June, 1889,
the building was destroyed to the foundation story, but on the following day the
debris was sufficiently cleared away so that the vaults were opened for
business, and they became the store-room for all the banks of the city until
order was brought out of the existing chaos. They immediately constructed a
seven-story building for offices and bank purposes. This was the first safe
deposit company organized in the State. Mr. Mackintosh was elected its president
and still holds that office. He is treasurer of the Seattle Trust Company, with
a capital stock of $500,000. He is also a stockholder in the Sidney Sewer Pipe &
Terra Cotta Works at Sidney, and a number of industrial companies about Seattle.
Mr. Mackintosh is a man of family, he was married in Seattle, in 1871, to Miss
Elizabeth Peebles, a native of New York, and they are the parents of two
children, Kenneth and Gertrude, both being now students at the Leland Stanford,
Jr., University at Palo Alto, California. Socially he is a Knight. Templar, F. &
A.M., and was the first Commander of the Seattle Commandery, which position he
filled three years. He affiliates with the Republican party, although he has
never been active in the political field, having given his chief attention to
his various business affairs. Mr. Mackintosh is pre-eminently a self-made man.
He began at the very foot of the ladder, has by honesty and perseverance
advanced step by step until he has mounted the topmost round, and to-day stands
in the foremost rank of successful business men and developers of the city of
his adoption.

Submitted to the WA. Bios Project in January 2004 by Jeffrey L. Elmer

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Notice: These biographies were transcribed for the Washington Biographies
Project. Unless otherwise stated, no further information is available on the
individual featured in the biographies.