(Click on picture to view larger image)
"Spokane and The Spokane Country - Pictorial and Biographical - Deluxe Supplement." Vol. II. The S.J. Clarke Publishing Company, 1912. (No author listed.) pgs. 142-144.
NOTABLE among the proprietors of heavy landed interests in Washington
is Mark Wood Merritt, of Rosalia, Whitman county, now living a life of
comparative retirement. He was born in Pike county, Missouri, October 4, 1854,
his parents being Thomas and Susan (Suddreth) Merritt, both natives of
Virginia. The Merritt family is of French origin, the grandfather, Nicholas
Merritt, and the great-grandfather both having been born in France. The latter
took part in the Revolutionary war and the grandfather, who settled in
Maryland, was a soldier in the War of 1812.
Mark Wood Merritt was educated in the common schools of Pike county,
Missouri, and pursued his studies until 1873, when he devoted his entire time
to assisting his father in the work of the farm, thus continuing until 1877.
In that year he rented a farm in Missouri and continued farming on his own
account in that state until the spring of 1882, when he decided to remove to
Whitmnan county, Washington. After arriving in this state he settled two miles
east of Rosalia where he took up one hundred and sixty acres of government
land and from time to time increased his holdings until he now possesses eight
hundred acres in that community. He also owns twenty thousand and eighty acres
in Douglas county, Washington. He has given a great deal of attention to the
raising of stock, his specialty being the breeding of fine horses of which he
owns one hundred and fifty-three head. During his active career as a
horse-breeder he achieved a national reputation having sold his horses in all
parts of the United States. Another important branch of his farming activity
was dairying, his operations along that line being quite extensive. Beside the
heavy landed interests Mr. Merritt possesses, he is also a director of the
First National Bank of Rosalia, a director in the Rosalia Telephone Company
and a director and the president of the Rosalia Supply Company.
Mark Wood Merritt was married to Miss Edna Wells in Pike county,
Missouri, in 1878. She is a daughter of William E. and Martha (McCoy) Wells,
both natives of the state of Missouri. To this union were born four children:
Henry, residing in Whitman county, who is married and has two sons; Martha,
the wife of Allen McClaine, of Pearl, Washington, and the mother of two
daughters; Richard, yet at home; and Jesse, who died at the age of nineteen
years.
The political allegiance of Mr. Merritt is given to the democratic
party, for the measures and candidates of which he always casts his vote and
he has held the office of road supervisor for eight years. He also takes a
great interest in educational matters, having been a member of the local
school board for twelve years. Fraternally he is a member of the Masonic order
and of the Woodmen of the World. He is also active in his membership in the
Commercial Club of Rosalia.
Prime factors which have conduced to the attainment of Mr. Merritt's
unusually prosperous and useful business career have been his great business
ability, his untiring industry, his habits of economy and the wise direction
and management of the properties which he began to accumulate comparatively
early in life. He started out in the business world single-handed and alone to
carve a career which logically followed as the result of his own well directed
efforts along business lines. He had the courageous spirit in abundance and
was not afraid to make investments which his common sense and intuition told
him would prove profitable. He reveled in work, took a keen interest in the
management of his business affairs and gave unflagging attention to all the
details which a business life entails. After serving his community and in fact
the district at large in the useful ways outlined above Mr. Merritt has been
enabled at a comparatively early time in life to retire from the active and
more onerous duties which he followed long and successfully. In return he is
now enjoying life, surrounded by an extensive circle of warm personal and
business friends among whom he has always been held in the highest esteem and
regarded with the greatest respect.
Submitted by: Nancy Pratt Melton
* * * * Notice: These biographies were transcribed for the Washington Biographies Project. Unless otherwise stated, no further information is available on the individuals featured in the biographies.