Prosser, Col. William Farrand.  "A History of the Puget Sound Country, Its
Resources, Its Commerce and its People."  New York and Chicago: Lewis Publishing
Co., 1903.  p. 500.
 
CHARLES STANBRA

     One of the thoroughly successful business men of Whatcom Washington, and
one who has embraced all the opportunities that have come in his way for
advancement and progress, is Charles Stanbra, the proprietor of the largest
bicycle and gun store in the city, an establishment which has a reputation all
over the country. Mr. Stanbra is of English parentage. His father, Henry Thomas
Stanbra, was born in Warwickshire in 1820 and came to America in 1849, settling
on a farm near Chicago, on a site now occupied by the Pullman car works. Hannah
Choping, a native of London, England, had come over on a sailing vessel with Mr.
Stanbra, and shortly after their arrival they were married in Chicago.  
     These parents moved to a farm about ten miles from Caledonia, Minnesota, in
1855, and it was there on March 23, 1859. that their son Charles came into the
world. There were four other children in the family, William Thomas, now
forty-eight years of age; Jesse, forty-six; Edward, aged forty; and Mary Ann,
who died at the age of fourteen. Charles spent the first seven years of his life
in Minnesota, and as those were pioneer days in that state, he retains in his
memory some of the hardships of that time. One occasion he remembers in
particular, although he was only three years old at the time. This was a ride
from the farm to Caledonia together with the rest of the family, the mother
driving the team and at the same time holding the baby in her arms, while the
father, with his muzzle-loading rifle, kept at bay a bloodthirsty band of Sioux
Indians who were pursuing. Their house was burned and the cattle driven off, and
the family barely escaped with their lives. While living in Minnesota Charles
Stanbra attended a Norwegian school, but on the removal of his parents to Fort
Dodge, Iowa, he attended the public schools of that place and also the city high
school. He next took a course in the Ames Agricultural and Mechanical College at
Ames, Iowa, and in 1883 left that institution thoroughly grounded in the
principles of general mechanics. For two years after leaving school he worked in
a mine, but in 1885 he opened a shop in Ogden, Iowa, for general mechanical
work. Shortly afterward he moved to Creston, Iowa, where he built up a good
business and continued it with success for eight years. In 1893 he disposed of
his interests in Iowa and came to Whatcom, where he established himself in the
general sporting goods and repair business at 1065 Elk street. He occupies both
stories of the building, and, besides his general stock of goods, employs four
experts in the repairing department. He is now erecting a fine brick block on
Railroad avenue, which he will occupy as soon as it is completed. Such an
establishment as this is an absolute necessity in even' community, and Mr.
Stanbra's energy and straightforward business methods have placed him in the
front rank of the business men of Whatcom.
     On September 10, 1884, Mr. Stanbra was married at Fort Dodge, Iowa, to Miss
Amanda Elizabeth Tarrence, who is a native Iowan. From this happy union two
children were born, Daisy Pearl, on September 16, 1885, and Laurence Glenn, on
August 8, 1893. Mr. Stanbra is a strong Prohibitionist, and in religious matters
has taken an active interest in the Methodist church since he was seventeen
years old, being now the treasurer and a trustee of the First Methodist church
at Whatcom. He also belongs to the Modern Woodmen of America and to the Good
Templars.


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Submitted to the Washington Biographies Project in January 2011 by Diana Smith.
Submitter has no additional information about the person(s) or family mentioned
above.