Hunt, Herbert and Floyd C. Kaylor.  Washington: West of the 
Cascades.  Vol. III.  Chicago: S.J. Clarke Publishing Co., 1917.  
p. 240-242.

OSTRANDER, DR. NATHANIEL:  When death called Nathaniel 
Ostrander, Washington lost one of its oldest and most honored 
medical practitioners--one whose service had been of the 
utmost value in the state along professional lines.  His worth 
as a man was also widely acknowledged.  He was born in Ulster 
county, New York, December 28, 1818, a son of Abel and 
Catherine (Esterly) Ostrander, who were natives of the Empire 
state and were of Holland descent.  The father early became 
familiar with farm work and devoted his attention to the labors 
of the fields in the east until 1836, when he removed with his 
family to St. Louis, Missouri, and there engaged in building and 
renting houses; but the tide of emigration was steadily flowing 
westward and with that current he was carried to Washington 
in 1852.  Arriving in the northwest, he secured a donation claim 
upon the Cowlitz river and there devoted his attention to 
agricultural pursuits for some years.
	When Nathaniel Ostrander was an infant he was taken to the 
home of his uncle, Nathaniel, with whom he remained until he 
reached the age of fourteen years, enjoying the privileges of 
educational training in the schools of New York city.  In 1832, 
however, he returned to the home of his parents, with whom he 
remained for two years, after which he became a clerk in the store of 
his brother John at St. Louis, Missouri, being there employed until 
1836.  In that year he removed to Lafayette county, Missouri, where 
he again engaged in mercantile pursuits.
	It was in 1838 that Dr. Ostrander was united in marriage to 
Miss Eliza Jane Yantis, a native of Kentucky of Dutch descent, and 
in 1845 he removed to Cass county, where he engaged in farming.  
It was about that time that his attention was directed to medical 
study.  He began reading with Dr. D. K. Palmer as his preceptor, 
pursuing his studies as he followed the plow.  In 1847 he removed 
to Saline county, Missouri, where he further devoted his attention to 
reading medicine, and he also attended two courses of lectures in the 
medical department of the St. Louis University, from which he was 
graduated in 1848.  Immediately afterward he began practice in 
Saline county, where he remained until 1850.  It was in that year 
that he turned his face westward and with a wagon drawn by oxen 
started across the plains for California.  The journey was fraught 
with hardships and privations but with no unusual incidents, and 
after safely reaching the coast he devoted a year to mining and to the 
practice of his profession in the camps at Rough and Ready and in 
Onion Valley.  In the fall of 1851, however, he returned to his 
family in Missouri, making the return trip by way of the Nicaragua 
route.  He then converted his farm property into cash and with a 
prairie outfit of three wagons, drawn by oxen, he again started for 
the Pacific coast, accompanied this time by his family and his father.  
On this occasion he made Washington his destination, although at 
that time the territory had not been set off from Oregon.  He located 
on the Cowlitz river, being one of the first settlers in that valley.  
There he engaged in farming and in the practice of medicine as 
occasion required, remaining in that locality until 1872.  From wild 
and unimproved tracts of land he developed two good farms and his 
work in that district has been commemorated by naming a creek and 
a village in his honor.  In 1872 he sold out and removed to 
Tumwater, where he established a small drug store and also 
continued in the practice of medicine.  He successfully conducted 
his store there until 1879, when he went to Olympia and remained a 
valued resident of the capital city until his demise.  He became 
prominently identified with public affairs there, as he had been in the 
district in which he had previously lived, and he was ever untiring in 
his efforts to contribute to the welfare of his state and its 
development along those lines that lead to the upbuilding of a great 
commonwealth.  He was the first probate judge of Cowlitz county, 
appointed by Isaac I. Stevens, the first territorial governor of 
Washington, and for twelve years he continued on the probate 
bench.  Several times he represented his ward as a member of the 
city council of Olympia and twice was honored with election to the 
office of mayor, giving to the city administrator that resulted in 
much progressive work and in public benefit along many lines.  He 
also served for one term as a member of the territorial legislature.
	To Dr. and Mrs. Ostrander were born eleven children, as 
follows:  Mrs. Priscilla Catherine Montague; Mary Anne, who is the 
wife of Thomas Roe; Susan Charlotte, who died and was buried on 
the plains; Sarah Terese, the widow of Charles Catlin, who was a 
pioneer of Cowlitz county and in whose honor the town of Catlin 
was named; Margaret Jane, who is the wife of Michael O'Connor, 
of Olympia; Maria Evelyn, the widow of W. W. Work, who died in 
Olympia in 1888; Isabella May, who is the wife of E. E. Eastman, 
of Olympia; John Yantis, who passed away in 1914; Florence Eliza, 
who gave her hand in marriage to Walter Crosby, of Olympia; 
Fannie Lee, the wife of C. M. Moore; and Minnie Augusta, who 
died in infancy.  The family circle was broken again by the hand of 
death when on the 7th of February, 1902, Dr. Ostrander was called 
to the home beyond.  He had long been a devoted member of the 
Independent Order of Odd Fellows and had filled all the offices in 
both the subordinate lodge and encampment.  His was indeed a 
useful, active and upright life and won for him the high regard and 
unqualified confidence of all with whom he came in contact.


Submitted by: Jenny Tenlen, jennyrt@halcyon.com