"Seattle and Environs, 1852-1924." Vol. 2.  Hon. C. H. Hanford, Editor. Pioneer
Historical Pub. Co., 1924.  p. 635.
 
PETER DAVID

   The career of Peter David, business man, lawyer and legislator of Seattle and
Tacoma, modestly characterized by himself as "The record of an eleven-year old
immigrant boy with less than five month's schooling in the United States," is
illustrative of the opportunities open to the foreign-born lad who conies to
American shores. Born in Starigrad, Dalmatia, Austria, in what is now known as
Jugo-Slavia, on the 16th of February, 1874, Peter David passed the first few
years of his life in his native land. obtaining the rudiments of an education in
the Austrian public school. In 1885 he crossed the Atlantic to America and in
1892 his parents, Jacob and Vica David, both Austrians by birth, came to the
United States and settled in Tacoma, where they spent the remainder of their
lives. The amount of formal education the boy received after coming to the new
world was regrettably small, but what he lacked in opportunity he supplied in
ambition and determination, improving his time in reading and studying by
himself. The same year that he came to America, Peter David went to work for the
Baltimore Fish Market Company in Portland, Oregon, where he remained until he
removed to Tacoma in 1887. His brother, Anton David, was part owner in the fish
company.
   In Tacoma he worked in the shingle mills for several years, subsequently
organized with his brothers, John and Spiro, the firm of David Brothers, and
operated a shingle mill at Gig Harbor from 1894 to 1895, and at Orting from 1895
to 1896. The following year was spent with the St. Paul & Tacoma Lumber Company.
During these years Peter David had been working himself up steadily from the
bottom, each twelve-month finding him in a better position than the one before.
   In 1899 Mr. David held his first public office that of deputy clerk of the
superior court for Pierce county. At the close of the five-year period 1902 to
1907 during which he held the post of chief deputy, he was admitted to the bar
of the state of Washington and from that date May, 1907, to 1919, engaged in the
practice of law, also being admitted to practice law in the United States
district and circuit courts, by Judge Hanford.
   At no time, however, did his professional duties absorb his entire attention.
His talent for commercial leadership found expression for a few years, from 1917
to 1921 in the operation of a chain of moving picture theatres. Since 1920 Mr.
David has been the president and manager of the Puget Sound & Alaska Powder
Company, manufacturer of "VULCAN" high-explosives, and the high quality of its
products makes appropriate its trade slogan, "Kick in Every Stick." The firm
maintains a home office at No. 307 Pioneer building, Seattle, Washington; also
branch offices at No. 401 Provident building, Tacoma, Washington; and at No. 53
Fourth Street, Portland, Oregon; and a branch office at Spokane, Washington.
   The manufacturing' plant is located at Everett, Washington, and Mr. David has
been a stockholder in the enterprise ever since the company started
manufacturing its products in 1909. The recognition that he has received from
the other manufacturers of the state is indicated by his election to the office
of President of the Manufacturers Association of Washington, in April, 1923, and
he is also a trustee of that organization.
   In politics Mr. David is affiliated, with the republican party. In 1909 the
thirty-sixth representative district sent him to the legislature and he served
in the regular and special sessions thereof and on the following committees:
Judiciary, fisheries, mines and mining, revenue and taxation, and the
sub-committee for criminal code revision. In 1921 he represented the
thirty-seventh district in the state legislature, and was a member of the
following committees: Rules, judiciary, industrial insurance, roads and bridges,
logged-off lands, public morals, and chairman of the mines and mining committee.
In 1909 Governor Hay appointed Mr. David special representative for the state of
Washington to meet President Taft on the state line, when he came to attend the
Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Exposition.
   On the 24th of September, 1907, in Tacoma, Mr. David was married to Miss
Winona Hobart of that city. Her father, Major C. W. Hobart, was a cousin of
Garret A. Hobart, vice president of the United States under William McKinley.
Mr. and Mrs. David have two children: Catherine V., who was born in Tacoma, May
27, 1909; and Peter David, Jr., born in Tacoma, March 7, 1913.
   In fraternal circles Mr. David is known as an Elk, having belonged to Tacoma
Lodge, No. 174, B. P. 0. E., since 1900. There are many elements worthy of
admiration and emulation in the career of Peter David, nor is the least of these
the courage that enabled him to go ahead when he was handicapped by a lack of
thorough education and necessarily had to compete with men far better equipped
for the battle than himself. No man in the state of Washington is more deserving
of a place in the front ranks of the foreign-born Americans who have made
substantial contributions to the upbuilding and prosperity of their adopted
country, than Peter David. The family residence is in Tacoma.

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

Submitted to the Washington Biographies Project in January 2010 by Diana Smith.
Submitter has no additional information about the person(s) or family mentioned
above.