An Illustrated History of the State of Washington, by Rev. H.K. Hines, D.D., The
Lewis Publishing Co., Chicago, IL., 1893, page 396
	
	WILLIAM E. WAGGONER, one of the substantial and respected farmers of Walla
Walla county, Washington, was born in Moultrie county, Illinois, February 16,
1845, and received an education in the common schools of his district. His
father, William Waggoner, was a native of North Carolina, who emigrated to
Illinois at an early day, and died there in 1867, at the age of fifty-five
years. His wife survived him until 1879, when she passed away at the age of
sixty years. They reared a family of ten children, of which four are still
living.
	William remained at home with his parents until the breaking out of the war,
when he enlisted, July 5, 1862, in Company H, One Hundred and Twenty-third
infantry, and served until the close of the war, having participated in many of
the most serious of the battles of the whole struggle. Both at Perryville and
Chickamagua he was in much danger, and the colonel of the regiment was killed in
an engagement with Wheeler's force in Tennessee, but our subject returned
without injury, and was honorably discharged at Nashville, Tennessee. After the
war he engaged in fanning, but not having enough land, and realizing the
possibilities of the great and productive western coast, he started on a journey
over the plains in 1879.
	At that time the journey may not have been as dangerous as in the early
days, but it was just as tedious, and for three months he was on the way, ever
anxious to see the land of the setting sun across the lofty mountains. When he
arrived in Walla Walla county, he soon found good land to rent, and continued
renting for three years, and then had enough money to purchase a good farm for
himself. His first purchase was of eighty acres, but now he has a fine place of
400 acres, all in one body, situated nine miles northeast of the city of Walla
Walla. Here our subject has built a good residence and is doing a fine farming
business, raising on an average 5,000 bushels of grain yearly.
	Our subject was married November 17, 1870, to Miss Nancy J. Kennedy, a
native of Illinois. Her parents, Lewis and Minerva Kennedy, who are both living
in Lincoln county, Washington, came to Washington at the same time as did Mr.
Waggoner and their daughter. Our subject and wife have had a family of four
children: Icy, born May 10, 1872; Walter L., born December 6, 1875; Oscar, born
July 6, 1877; and Shelby, born March 20, 1887.
	Our subject has been a very industrious man and has managed his affairs so
well that he has accumulated a comfortable competence, and is among the most
respected of the good people of Walla Walla county.
	
Submitted to the WA. Bios Project in September 2003 by Jeffrey L. Elmer
	
	
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Notice: These biographies were transcribed for the Washington Biographies
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individual featured in the biographies.