The History of the Yakima Valley, Washington, Comprising Yakima, Kittitas and
Benton Counties, The S.J. Clarke Publishing Co., 1919, Volume II, page 951 

STOVER BROTHERS.

The Stover brothers are among the most prominent ranchers of the southern part
of the Yakima valley. They have extensive holdings and are actively and
successfully engaged in the cultivation of lands from which they derive a most
substantial annual income. They are sons of Philip Robert Stover, now deceased,
who was born in Greene county, Ohio, May 15, 1845, a son of John and Nancy
(Dill) Stover, the former a native of Pennsylvania and the latter of Ohio. John
Stover was a cooper by trade and owned and carried on a shop in Ohio. At the
time of the Civil war he responded to the country's call for troops and joined
the army, his death occurring at Vicksburg, Mississippi, during the progress of
the war.

His son, Philip Robert Stover, also learned the cooper's trade and he, too, put
aside business cares after the outbreak of hostilities between the north and the
south. He joined the One Hundred and Fifty-second Ohio Volunteer Infantry and
was on active duty until the nation's starry banner had been planted in the
capital of the southern confederacy, resuming work at his trade, he conducted a
cooper shop at Palestine, Ohio, where he was also employed in a sawmill. He
likewise devoted four years to railroad engineering and did various other
things, such as selling lightning rods and sewing machines. He also conducted a
real estate business but finally turned his attention to farming, securing a
tract of land near Greenville, Ohio, which he continued to cultivate for many
years or until 1904, when he disposed of that property and removed to the
northwest, making Yakima county his destination.

Here he and his sons purchased sixty acres of land six miles southeast of
Sunnyside, which at that time was all covered with sagebrush. A well was dug to
a depth of two hundred and forty feet and a substantial house was erected. The
work of development and improvement on the farm was carried forward year after
year and the father was actively identified with ranching interests to the time
of his death, which occurred on the l9th of September, 1916. His loss was deeply
deplored. for he had become firmly established as a leading, valued and highly
respected citizen of the community.

On the 18th of January, 1870, Philip R. Stover was united in marriage to Miss
Alice E. Wilcox, who was born in Darke county, Ohio, a daughter of James and
Elizabeth (Ketring) Wilcox, who were also natives of the Buckeye state, where
they were connected with farming interests and where they made their home until
called to their final rest.

In his political views Philip Robert Stover was a republican but was not
ambitious to hold office, although ever loyal to the best interests of the
community in which he lived, his loyalty being manifest in active support of all
measures for the general good. Both he and his wife were members of the
Presbyterian church and their sterling worth of character endeared them to all
with whom they came in contact.

They had a family of nine children, of whom the first born, James, died at the
age of five years, while the youngest child died in infancy. Victor A., the
second son, was born in Darke county, Ohio, July 14, 1872, and acquired a public
school education, after which he engaged in farming for a time with his father.
Later he rented land in the east and ultimately came to Yakima county with his
father, after which he purchased land in this section of the state. He now has
thirty-six acres devoted to general farming and upon the place he has built a
goad home and all necessary buildings for the shelter of grain and stock. His
farm is well improved according to modern ideas and he is progressive in all
that he undertakes. He was married March 16, 1900, to Miss Mae Shook, of Darke
county, Ohio, who passed away on the 13th of September, 1917. They were the
parents of three children: Ernest, Herbert and Virginia, but the last named died
at the age of three years. Victor A. Stover attends the Brethren church, in the
work of which he takes an active and helpful interest. In politics he maintains
an independent course. He has served on the school board and he was among those
who established the first telephone system in this section, He has ever stood
for progress and improvement in community affairs and his activity and
enterprise have placed him in the front rank among the leading citizens. The
third of the family, Marcus Stover, died at the age of eleven months. The only
daughter, Reta Virginia, was born on the 10th of October, 1876, and is now the
wife of the Rev. L. S. Bauman, an evangelist of the Brethren church now residing
in California.

William S. Stover, born in Darke county, Ohio, May 8, 1879, obtained a public
school education and was the first of the family to come to Yakima county, where
he arrived in the fall of 1902, at which time he took up a homestead near
Bickleton, Washington, where his sister, Mrs. Bauman, also later secured a
homestead. He has since devoted his attention to the improvement of farms and
other work in connection with the development of the valley. In 1903 he
purchased twenty acres of land in the district in which the Stover brothers all
now reside and where the father built his first house. William S. Stover has
since purchased forty acres additional and throughout the intervening period has
resided in this district. He now has fifty acres of land here and has built
thereon a nice home and added other modern improvements. He has also purchased
forty acres near by and is successfully engaged in general farming. He spent
one year in Alaska on a geological survey. Like the others of the family, he
maintains an independent attitude in relation to political affairs and his
religious faith is that of the Brethren church,

Garfield R. Stover, associated with his brothers in business affairs, was born
in Adams county, Indiana, March 24, 1881, the family living in that locality for
a period of six years. He, too, is indebted to public schools for his
educational privileges and he also enjoyed the benefit of a commercial course in
the A. D. Wilt Business College at Dayton, Ohio. In the spring of 1903 he
arrived in Yakima county, joining his brother William, and he also took up a
homestead in Horse Heaven, near Bickleton. He purchased his first twenty acres
of land in connection with his brother William. His place is improved with a
fine residence and the characteristic spirit of enterprise of the Stover family
is manifest in all that he does. He married Blanche Hartman, a native of North
Dakota, and they became the parents of two children, Jasper Garfield and Gerald
Dean. In politics Garfield R. Stover is independent nor has he ever been an
office seeker. He has served, however, as drainage commissioner of District No.
9 for two years and helped organize the district. He is interested in everything
that pertains to the public welfare and cooperates heartily in all movements
for the general good.

Philip Stover, the seventh member of the family, was born in Indiana, February
13, 1884, and obtained a public school education, while later he was graduated
on the completion of a course in law in the Willamette University at Salem,
Oregon. He practiced his profession for a short time in that state and later at
Sunnyside, Washington, while subsequently he spent five years in Alaska with a
geological surveying party. In 1911 he went to the Philippines and for six years
was connected with the United States Constabulary Force with the rank of first
lieutenant. He became a captain in the Officers' Reserve Corps in 1918. He is
now assistant superintendent of the penal farm at San Ramon, Zamboanga,
Mindanao, P. I.

Conrad Stover, born in Indiana, April 15, 1886, completed a high school course
and also a civil engineering course in Ohio. He, too, went to Alaska, where he
remained for three years and later was connected with the United States
Reclamation Service on the geological survey of the Yakima valley. He is now at
Hoquiam, Washington, where he is engaged in shipbuilding work. He married
Florence Mahaffy, a daughter of Professor Mahaffy, superintendent of schools at
Sunnyside, and they have one child, Robert.

The three sons, Victor A., William S., and Garfield R. Stover, have adjoining
homes. They have one hundred acres of land adjoining and eighty acres near by,
together with the four hundred and eighty acres of the homestead in Horse
Heaven, which is rented. They likewise lease sixty acres near the home farm and
they are among the most prominent and progressive agriculturists of their
section of the state. They have beautiful homes, splendid barns and all modern
improvements upon the place. They are successful and well known ranchers and
what they have undertaken has been accomplished. The boys have graded and seeded
over four hundred acres of land for others. They had but little when they came
to Yakima county and are now numbered among the most successful residents of the
valley. They raise hay and corn, also have splendid orchards and are
successfully carrying on business as raisers of live stock. They are actuated by
a spirit of progress that produces splendid results and their course has
contributed much to the development and upbuilding of the district in which they
make their home, while at the same time their labors have greatly enhanced their
individual fortunes. All who know them speak of them in terms of high regard,
for they are reliable citizens, progressive business men and thoroughly
straightforward in every relation of life.

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Submitted to the Washington Bios Project in January 2008 by Jeffrey L. Elmer.
Submitter has no additional information about the subject of this article.