An Illustrated History of the State of Washington, by Rev. H.K. Hines, D.D., The
Lewis Publishing Co., Chicago, IL., 1893

CYRUS F. CLAPP, one of the most successful business men of Jefferson county, was
born in Medford, Maine, July 29, 1851, and was the son of Stephen and Alvina H.
(Hunt) Clapp, both natives of the same State. Stephen Clapp was reared in the
lumbering district of Maine, and concerned in such enterprises up to 1852, when
he came to California, and followed the same line on the Sacramento and Feather
rivers, and made a considerable fortune, which was literally washed away in the
great flood of 1862. He then went to Humboldt county and followed logging until
1880, then retired and located in Eureka, where he still resides. Cyrus F. Clapp
laid the foundation of his education at Foxcraft Academy in Maine, and Hanover
Academy in Massachusetts. Still ambitions for higher accomplishment, he then
crossed the Atlantic and spent two years at the Royal Academic Institute at
Belfast, Ireland, and completed his course at St. Andrews College in Scotland.
Returning to America in the fall of 1808, he soon secured a clerkship in the
large dry-goods establishment of Jordan, Marsh & Co., and remained until the
spring of 1870, when he came to California to visit his father, and later
proceeded to Puget Sound, landing at Port Townsend on November 1st of the same
year, with a cash capital of $5 in gold. Proceeding at once to business, he
accepted the position of clerk at the Cosmopolitan hotel, and in the spring of
1871 went to San Francisco and secured a clerkship with D. Samuels, proprietor
of "The Lace House." In the spring of 1874 he returned to Port Townsend and to
his former position, which he retained until 1876, when, having accumulated
sufficient means, he purchased the property and assumed the proprietorship of
the hotel, which he successfully managed for three years. Disposing of this
property in 1879, he removed to New Dungeness, where he became Postmaster and
engaged in the general merchandise business, handling every variety of product
in logs, lumber and farm produce, and with a sealing business in season, and a
freighting business about the lower Sound, he conducted a very extensive
enterprise, and made money rapidly. He operated his store until 1889, though, in
1887, he removed to Port Townsend to look after his real estate and other
interests. He also organized the private banking house of Clapp & Feuerbach, and
in 1889 purchased his partner's interest and incorporated as the Merchants' Bank
of Port Townsend. He continued as president of the institution until the fall of
1889, when the bank was sold to William S. Ladd, of Portland. Mr. Clapp has
since devoted himself to the loaning of money and the sale of real estate in
city and county property. He owns valuable improved business property in Port
Townsend, with farm and timber lands about the State. He is a careful,
conservative business man, but with keen judgment has foreseen results and
profited thereby. He was married in Port Townsend, January 21, 1875, to Miss
Wilhelmina M.P. Lacy, stepdaughter of Major Van Bokkelyn, a pioneer of the
Sound. Five children have blessed this union: Nellie F., Vina, Elva (deceased),
Beatrice C. and Alvin F. (deceased). Socially, Mr. Clapp affiliates with the
Fourteenth  degree, Scottish Rite, A.F. & A.M., I.O.O.F., K. of P., and A.O.U.W.
Politically, he is a Republican. He served Clallam county one term as Treasurer.
He was one of the first Councilmen elected in Port Townsend. In 1892 he was
appointed by Governor Ferry as one of two representatives to the Nicaragua Canal
Convention at New Orleans. In both his social and religious life he is esteemed
and respected by all who know him.

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.