The History of the Yakima Valley, Washington, Comprising Yakima, Kittitas and
Benton Counties, The S.J. Clarke Publishing Co., 1919, Volume II, page 917 

ELMER ELSWORTH KNOWLES.

Twenty-seven years have come and gone since Elmer Elsworth Knowles became a
resident of Yakima county. For an extended period he has been connected with the
plumbing business in the city of Yakima. In 1913, however, he located on his
ranch, a mile and a half north of Buena, and engaged in raising fruit but the
following year sold the place and has since engaged in the plumbing business in
Yakima. He was born in Penobscot county, Maine, June 16, 1861, a son of
Christopher Columbus and Betsey (Winchester) Knowles, both of whom were natives
of Maine. The father was a son of Silas Knowles, one of the early settlers of
the Pine Tree state, who was killed in the War of 1812. The maternal
grandparents were also among the early settlers of Maine and all were farming
people. Christopher C. Knowles was a veteran of the Civil war, loyally defending
the interests of his country during the period of strife between the north and
the south, as his father had done in the second war with England. He passed away
in December, 1917, lacking but eight days of having reached the advanced age of
ninety years.

Elmer E. Knowles, after acquiring a public school education, left home at the
age of twenty years and learned the tinsmith's trade, which he followed for a
decade. He then took up the work of plumbing and steamfitting over New England
and in 1890 made his way to the Pacific coast, spending three years in San
Diego, California. He afterward went to South Bend, Washington, and later to
Astoria, Oregon, but in December, 1892, arrived in Yakima, where he resumed work
at his trade as an employee of the Yakima Hardware Company. He was made foreman
of the plumbing and heating department and continued in that responsible
position for nineteen years. In 1910 he did over sixty-three thousand dollars
worth of business for the firm in his department. In 1911 he entered the
plumbing and heating business on his own account in Yakima but in June, 1913,
sold out and removed to his ranch, which was pleasantly and conveniently
situated a mile and a half north of Buena and which he purchased in February,
1908, at which time it was covered with sagebrush. He had twenty-four acres, of
which eighteen acres is now planted to apples, peaches, cherries and pears.

On the 17th of December, 1890, Mr. Knowles was married to Miss Lizzie Park
Gibson, who was born near Liverpool, England, and came to the United States in
her girlhood days. Their children are: Ray, who died at the age of twelve years;
and Eva Priscilla, at home. The family residence is maintained in Yakima.

Mr. Knowles and his family are members of the First Christian church of Yakima
and his political allegiance is given to the republican party. he is truly a
self-made man, deserving much credit for what he has accomplished, as his
success is the direct outcome and result of his individual effort. He has worked
diligently as the years have passed, displaying efficiency in everything that he
has undertaken, and his thorough reliability has been one of the, elements that
have gained him the high respect in which he is uniformly held.

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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.