"An Illustrated History of Skagit and Snohomish Counties."  Interstate
Publishing Company, 1906.  p. 664.
 
JOSEPH F. DWELLEY

     is one of the respected pioneers of Skagit county, having lived here since
1870, holding public office and enjoying the respect of the people who came in
to settle up and develop the country.  Mr. Dwelley was born in Kittery, Maine,
and so has crossed the continent from the Atlantic to the Pacific coast.  His
father, George W. Dwelley, a descendant of the Dwelleys who came over in the
Mayflower, was a ship carpenter of Marshfield, Massachusetts, who later settled
in Wisconsin and died there.  The mother was Narcissa Spinney, a native of Maine
and the daughter of a privateer in the Revolutionary War who lost his life at
sea.  He was from the north of Ireland, of Scotch descent.  Mr. Dwelley received
his education in the schools of Boston until the death of his mother, when, at
twelve years of age, he was bound out to a shoemaker.  Two years later the lad
ran away and commenced work in an iron foundry, remaining there until 1859, when
he went to Calumet County, Wisconsin, and followed farming and carpentering.  At
the outbreak of the Civil War, Mr. Dwelley enlisted in the Fifth Wisconsin,
being the first man to enroll from Calumet county.  He served with the command
until 1864, when, having been promoted to a lieutenancy, he resigned, returning
to his home state with the object of raising a company for the remainder of the
war.  Not meeting with success. Lieutenant Dwelley went to work on a farm and
ultimately leased farms for operation.  In February, 1870, he came to Washington
and Whidby island and worked at the trade of carpenter in the vicinity of
Coupeville.  Crossing to the mainland and the Skagit river valley, Mr. Dwelley
filed on a pre-emption claim, on a part of which the city of Mount Vernon now
stands.  By the year 1875 he had cleared much of his land and on selling it took
up his residence in La Conner.  At first he worked at his trade as carpenter and
then embarked in the furniture business, which he conducted until 1886 when he
was appointed postmaster, holding that office for eight years.  In 1876 he was
appointed justice of the peace to fill an unexpired term and has filled that
office ever since.  Mr. Dwelley continued in active mercantile operations until
several years ago, when he retired and began the work of building and operating
boats.
   Mr. Dwelley, at Stockbridge, Calumet County, Wisconsin, in 1865, married Miss
Angeline E. Wells, daughter of Alonzo and Martha (Bingham) Wells, natives of New
York who had moved to the Badger state.  Mr. Wells came to the Skagit country in
1871 and has been living at Coupeville for a number of years.  Mrs. Wells is
still living.  Mrs. Dwelley was a native of New York, but received her education
in Wisconsin.  She is a pioneer school teacher of Skagit county, having taught
the first school at La Conner in 1876, which was established by subscription.
Three children of Mr. and Mrs. Dwelley are living in Washington:  Mrs. Kate
Maloy, born on the Skagit river in 1872, the second white child native of that
section of the country; Charles L. Dwelley, a clerk in the hardware store of Mr.
Hayton, at Mount Vernon, and Mrs. Edna M. Taggert, living in Bellingham, where
her husband is city ticket agent for the Great Northern railway.  Mr. Dwelley is
one of the prominent members of the Grand Army of the Republic, a member of the
Ancient Order of United Workmen and an Odd Fellow.  In church affiliations he is
a Presbyterian.  In politics he has been a lifelong Republican.  He has been a
constant friend of every movement which had as its object the upbuilding and
betterment of the schools, and to his efforts is due much of the development of
the La Conner schools from the day when Mrs. Dwelley inaugurated the first
school down to the present time.  Mr. Dwelley is held in the highest esteem of
his fellow townsmen, an honorable man, full of good deeds and interested in
every good work.

     
*******************

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.