"Early History of Thurston County, Washington; Together with Biographies and Reminiscences of those Identified with Pioneer Days." Compiled and Edited by Mrs. George E. (Georgiana) Blankenship. Published in Olympia, Washington, 1914. p. 328. MR. P. D. MOORE Hale, clear-minded, genial and active with a life of almost ninety years stretching out behind him, Mr. P. D. Moore is a remarkable example of the staunch timber that went towards the making of the men and women of the past century. When this grand old-young man was asked to contribute some of his reminiscences of early days on Puget Sound, of which he was in a position to recall many, owing to his long residence here and the many stirring events of which he was a participant, Mr. Moore said: "It is over fifty years since I first came to Olympia and on my arrival I was pleasantly surprised to find not only charming climate and magnificent scenery but its people educated, cultured, enterprising and extremely hospitable and neighborly, reminding me of a New England town. Of course the country was new and the town young, but the people were as one family, helpful, generous and sociable. Whether it be a funeral or a dance everybody was there. Money was plentiful and prices of products and goods were high, but there were no croakers or kickers. In 1864 Blockhouse Smith sold to Charlie Williams five tons of butter at 55 cents a pound. The same year the only 4th of July celebration on Puget Sound was at Olympia when seventeen steamers brought crowds and it was estimated that between four and five thousand people assembled at the Capital grounds to do honor to the Nation's birthday. Governor Pickering presided. On Christmas day, the only Christmas tree was in the hall of the Washington hotel (now the New England Hotel), but there were presents on that tree of a total value of over $2,500 and everybody was there. "The principal merchants of Olympia when I first came here were Chas. E. Williams, Edmund Sylvester, L. Bettman, George Barnes, I. Lichtner and I. Harris. But we also had the "Busy B's", Bush, Barnes, Biles, Billings, Blankenship, Brown, Bettman, Bigelow and Beatty. They have all passed to the "Great Beyond", except Mr. Beatty, who still remains with us in the enjoyment of a ripe old age. "In 1863 I was appointed by President Lincoln, Collector of Internal Revenue for Washington and Idaho, and then I brought my family from New Jersey, and on the Bark Naramisie they were sixty-three days coming from San Francisco to Puget Sound, breaking the record for time in coming from San Francisco. "In those early days, the ' 60s, there were many exciting and interesting events. In the session of the Legislature in 1868 the House of Representatives elected me its Chaplain, the first instance of a free-thinking Quaker being elected to that office. At the same session Miss Peebles, now Mrs. Mackintosh, of Seattle, and mother of Judge Mackintosh, was elected Enrolling and Engrosing Clerk, being the first woman elected to serve in a legislative body in the history of the world. I may add she done her work so promptly and ably that she received the unanimous commendation of the House of Representatives. "At a session of the Legislature, Chas. Bradshaw was elected President of the Council, but as he did not act to suit H. K. Strove, also a member of the Council, he was deposed from the Presidency by Strove's vote, whereupon Strove, by his own vote, made himself President of the Council. This procedure caused much excitement in Olympia and an indignation meeting, largely attended, was held, at which Garfield and others scored Strove severely. Strove was for a long time Secretary of the Territory, during which time and when he was a member of the Legislature, he was not a citizen, never having been naturalized, and moreover he was a deserter from the Army, liable to be caught and shot. Some cheek and some nerve that! But it must be admitted, nevertheless, he was a very able and useful man. In 1864 or 65, I obtained from the East the first Early Rose potatoes, paying $2.00 a pound for them, and I also introduced the first asparagus at the same time, both being the first introduced in the Pacific Northwest, and very successfully cultivated in my garden at Main and Fourteenth Streets, where there has recently been erected a large apartment house. "I took the U. S. Census in 1870 for Thurston and Lewis Counties, and at that time Olympia was the largest town or city in the Territory, having a population of 1,232, and nearly a hundred more than Seattle. In taking the census in Lewis County I came across Marcel Bernier, born in 1820 of French Canadian parents at Fort Colville, being the first white child born in the Commonwealth of Washington. In 1880 I took the U S Census in Chehalis County, and where Aberdeen is now I found only Sam Benn and family, and at Hoquiam only two families, Ed Campbell and family, and Mr. Karr and family. Some growth at these two places since then! "Olympia had a prominent character in the person of Mrs. Rebecca Howard, proprietor of the principal hotel, the Pacific House, at the corner of Third and Main Streets. She was a handsome colored woman from Boston, Mass., and a very enterprising, popular and successful business woman. Some addressed her as Aunt Becky, instead of Mrs. Howard, but she resented it. On one occasion a somewhat eminent man addressed her as Aunt Becky and she promptly inquired of him whether she was his father's or his mother's sister. "When the news of President Lincoln's assassination was received in Olympia, the Democratic party was holding its Territorial Convention here. Major Haller was a delegate and was in my office when the word came. He was overcome with emotion and freely shed manly tears, and went to the convention and proposed an adjournment without making a nomination for Delegate to Congress, which nearly carried. "I was a witness and participant in several very dramatic events on Puget Sound in the early ' 60s, notably the capture of the Custom House at Port Townsend in 1862, when the guns of the Revenue Cutter, double-shotted were brought to bear on the Custom House and notice given to surrender or at the end of fifteen minutes the building would be shelled. "Also the capture of the 'Shubrick' in the middle of the Straits of Fuca, when an attempt was made to run into the rebel service. The details of these and other events have an historic interest which I hope to write out some time. But you must now excuse me, as, although I am about 89 years young, yet I am a busy man." Mr. Moore was born in Rahway, New Jersey, and married Miss Phoebe Earle in Newark of the same State. Ten children were born to the couple, of whom only three still live: A. Schooley, Janet S. and Lindley D. Of the remaining children, two boys, Edward and Phillip, and a daughter, Ella D., died before the family ventured their fortunes in the West. The eldest daughter, Lida, became the wife of W. P. Winans, a Walla Walla banker and capitalist, and became the mother of three sons, Gilbert P., Phillip M. and Alien Lida, all making their home in Walla Walla. Mrs. Winans died in San Francisco many years ago, but her memory is still cherished by the pioneers of an early day of Thurston County. The children who died in Olympia are Waldo G., Gerald and Edna W., the latter having become Mrs. Eddings and the mother of one daughter, Edna Earle Eddings. Mrs. Moore died in Olympia on July 17, 1899, after a well spent life, during which time she had had the satisfaction of seeing her living children all grown to maturity and comfortably settled in life. Mrs. Moore was a charter member of the Woman's Club of Olympia and a leader in every good work for the benefit of mankind and the uplift of society. ******************* Submitted to the Washington Bios. Project in May 2007 by Diana Smith. Submitter has no additional information about the person(s) or family mentioned above.