"A Volume of Memoirs and Genealogy of Representative Citizens of the City of
Seattle and County of King, Washington." New York and Chicago: Lewis Publishing
Co., 1903.  p. 751.
 
OLIVER DYER COLVIN

     It has often been stated and commented upon that the United States has
always presented great opportunities to men of industry, ability, honesty and
integrity, and as long as men have the aspirations and the determination to
improve their condition in life and win the success which it is possible to
attain, the theme will never be exhausted.
     One of the most prominent of Washington's business men, whose enterprise
and sound judgment have not only promoted his individual prosperity but have
advanced the public welfare, is Oliver D. Colvin. He is manager of the Seattle
agency of the American Steel & Wire Company, whose general office is in Chicago,
and which is one of the constituent companies of the United States Steel
Corporation. His territory embraces the state of Washington, Alaska and
northwest British possessions. He is also vice-president of the Snoqualmie Falls
& White River Power Company, the largest power company in the northwest; the
power being generated by water in the foothills of the Cascade mountains,
transmitted some forty miles, and furnishing power for the cities of Seattle and
Tacoma.
     Mr. Colvin was born in Coldwater, Michigan, on the 12th of June, 1867, is
of Holland and Scotch-Irish descent, and comes from families who left the old
world for the new about the year 1700. The Colvins selected for their home the
vicinity of Lake Champlain and the beautiful Lake George in New York, where many
of them still reside, not unknown to the political and social life of the state.
On the maternal side he is a descendant of the Richeys and Updykes of lower New
York and New Jersey, a strain of Holland with Scotch-Irish blood. The Richeys
owned large plantations worked by their negro slaves before the time when a
humane legislature of New Jersey abolished slavery in that state.
     Mr. Colvin's grandfather, Colonel Oliver D. Colvin, was a prominent citizen
of that commonwealth, a member of the state legislature, and a colonel of the
militia. He afterwards became a prominent citizen of Coldwater, Michigan, and
his death occurred there at the early age of forty-four years. His son, Hiram M.
Colvin, was born in the latter city in 1841, and has now reached his
sixty-second milestone on the journey of life. In 1864 he married Miss Lucy
Shutts, who was born in Sandusky, Ohio. Her father was a prominent man in the
state of New York, was a member of the legislature and a colonel of the militia.
This in a measure may account for the fact that the subject of this sketch early
took an interest in military affairs, and became a commissioned officer of the
militia of the state of Kansas before he was of age.
     In 1860 Hiram M. Colvin removed with his family to Missouri, where he
engaged in farming and stock-raising, dealing principally in thoroughbred
Hereford cattle. They later, in 1882, took up their abode in Burlingame, Kansas,
where he continued farming and stock-raising, afterwards moving to Osage City,
Kansas, where he engaged in grain and mercantile business until 1888, and there
his wife still resides. In their family are four children, consisting of three
daughters, Lida May, now Mrs. J. K. Schoonmacher, a resident of Spokane,
Washington.; Jessie Maude, who is unmarried and residing in Spokane; Nellie
Madge, who married George Williams, connected with the Kansas City Journal of
Kansas City, Missouri; and the subject of this sketch.
     O. D. Colvin received his primary education in the schools of Missouri,
attended the high school at Burlingame, Kansas, where he graduated and
afterwards entered Baldwin University. After putting aside his text books he was
engaged in business with his father until his twenty-first year, when he
experienced that longing for the far west which has ever beckoned the young men
who are ambitious and are willing to assist in building up a new country, and he
left his parental home and removed to the Pacific coast, arriving in Tacoma,
Washington territory, in June, 1888. He was engaged in different pursuits, and
assisted in the surveying of a portion of that city; also assisted in planning
and building the city of Fairhaven and the surveying of the Fairhaven Southern
Railroad. Within eighteen months time he witnessed the growth of the last named
place from a village containing four buildings to one of several thousand
inhabitants. After returning to Tacoma he engaged in the real estate business
there, acquiring considerable property.
     In 1890 he came to Seattle, as it seemed to him even at that time that it
was destined to be the great commercial city of the Pacific coast, and the
following year accepted the position of chief deputy assessor of the county
of King, and for a number of years thereafter was connected with the treasurer's
and assessor's offices. In the spring of 1894 he was appointed deputy United
States marshal by James C. Drake, ably serving in that position during the
trouble with'"Coxey's army" and the Great Northern strike. He was actively
engaged in several riots and disturbances, where his military training was of
great assistance.
     In August, 1895, he was appointed auditor of the Seattle Consolidated
Street Railway and the Rainier Power & Railway Company, the two companies
representing the street railway system of the city of Seattle, and in December
of that year was made receiver of the Front Street Cable Railway Company, under
authority of United States circuit court, which position he filled so
satisfactorily for four years that on the reorganization of the company he was
appointed general manager of the road by its former bond-holders, and continued
in its management until August, 1899.
      In 1896 Mr. Colvin was made a special officer and given full authority to
investigate the feasibility of the Northern Pacific Railway Company,
constructing their cars at their Tacoma and Seattle shops, to be loaded with
local products, thereby making an earning while in transit, and be sold to
eastern railway companies. In that capacity he visited New York, where he
interviewed the officers of the Northern Pacific Railway Company, and although
his plan was considered feasible and practical, it was never carried out owing
to the reorganization of the Northern Pacific Railway Company at that time.
     In June, 1897, without any solicitation on his part, the local agency of
the Washburn-Moen Manufacturing Company was tendered Mr. Colvin, this company
representing a capital of nine million dollars; and two years after his
connection with them it was merged into the American Steele & Wire Company,
consolidating practically the rod and wire interests of the United States, and
with a capitalization of ninety millions of dollars. In December, 1900, the
United States Steel Corporation, known as the "billion dollar trust," was also
incorporated, absorbing the American Steel & Wire Company and making it a part
of the largest corporation in the world. Mr. Colvin is their only representative
in the northwest, his office being located at 108 West Washington street,
Seattle, where he has well appointed offices and an excellent corps of clerks.
The company also has a large warehouse in the city at 115-117 First avenue
south, built of brick, sixty by three hundred feet in extent, with a floor space
of thirty thousand feet, having a carrying capacity of three thousand pounds to
the square foot. Seattle is the second agency of importance on the Pacific
coast, ranking next to San Francisco, and as the representative of the territory
tributary to Seattle Mr. Colvin has won for himself an enviable reputation in
business circles.
     In his social relations he is a member of the Rainier Club, the Country and
Golf Club, Tennis Club, Firlock Club and the Seattle Athletic Club. On the 24th
of October, 1894, in Seattle, occurred the marriage of Mr. Colvin and Miss Eva
Victoria Amery, she being a native of Wisconsin, but of English descent, as both
her father and mother were born and reared in the city of London. One son,
Oliver D. Colvin, Jr., born March I, 1899, has blessed this union. The family
reside in a beautiful home at 1117 Cherry avenue, on First Hill, where they
dispense a gracious hospitality to their many friends. They are members of St.
Mark's Episcopal church. Mr. Colvin exercises his right of franchise in support
of the men and the measures of the Republican party, and all movements for the
public good receive his hearty support and co-operation.


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Transcribed for the Washington Biographies Project in July 2007 by Diana Smith.
Unless otherwise stated, no further information is available on the individuals
featured in the biographies.