The History of the Yakima Valley, Washington, Comprising Yakima, Kittitas and
Benton Counties, The S.J. Clarke Publishing Co., 1919, Volume II, page 1080 

CHARLES DILLON.

Charles Dillon, an orchardist of Yakima county whose fruit raising interests are
proving to have a most gratifying source of revenue, was born in Northampton,
Massachusetts, April 8, 1854, a son of James and Ellen (Going) Dillon. The
parents removed westward to Wisconsin in 1847 and became residents of Minnesota
in 1866. There the father purchased land and began the development of a farm. In
1872 he went to Kansas, settling in Smith county, where he took up government
land upon which not a furrow had been turned nor an improvement made. With
characteristic energy he began the development of that property, whereon he
continued to reside until called to his final rest. His wife died at the home of
her son in Yakima county in 1908.

Mr. Dillon of this review acquired a public school education and in early life
event to Kansas, where he lived for two years. Later he made his way to the
mines of Nevada, where he was employed from 1875 until 1877. He became a
resident of Oregon in 1879, making his way to the Willamette valley, where he
resided until 1884. In that year he took up his abode & Klickitat county,
Washington, but in 1885 came to Yakima county and for six years was employed
continuously on railroad work. In 1891 he purchased five acres of land two miles
south of the depot in Yakima and later added to it a tract of fifteen acres. He
now has ten acres planted to apples and pears. He has built a good residence and
barn upon his place and has transformed the once wild tract that was covered
with sagebrush into a productive orchard. His labors have wrought it marked
change in the appearance of the district and he is numbered among the old time
pioneer settlers whose work has been of great benefit to the state.

On the 21st of May, 1882, Mr. Dillon was united in marriage to Miss Hattie A.
Palmer, who was born in Minnesota, a daughter of George S. and Eliza (Canfield)
Palmer. The father removed with his family from Minnesota to Kansas and
afterward to Nevada and subsequently came to the northwest, settling in Oregon.
This trip was made at the same time that Mr. Dillon came to the northwest and
together they removed to Washington. Mr. and Mrs. Dillon were married in Oregon.
Her father has always been a rancher and is well known in that connection in the
Yakima valley. To Mr. and Mrs. Dillon have been born six children: Oscar, who is
now successfully engaged in sheep raising in Yakima county; Ella, the wife of
William Gorsett, a rancher of Yakima county; Lucia, the wife of Frank Dillon,
who is engaged in ranching on the Moxee; Dick, who is a member of the United
States army; Minnie, the wife of Ellis Doherty, a resident farmer of Yakima
county; and Dawson, at home.

Mr. Dillon is a member of the Grange and is interested in all the efforts put
forth by that organization to disseminate knowledge of value in the development
of agricultural and horticultural interests. He votes with the republican party
but has never been a politician in the sense of office seeking. His wife is a
member of the Christian church, and both are highly esteemed as people of
genuine personal worth.

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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.