The History of the Yakima Valley, Washington, Comprising Yakima, Kittitas and
Benton Counties, The S.J. Clarke Publishing Co., 1919, Volume II, page 7

HON. RALPH KAUFFMAN.

Hon. Ralph Kauffman, a distinguished member of the bar of Ellensburg whose
extensive practice connects him with much of the important litigation heard in
the courts of his district, is also identified with ranching interests in this
state and, moreover, has been a most helpful factor in the war activities which
have so recently engaged the attention of the country. Mr. Kauffman is a native
of Pennsylvania. He was born in Mechanicsville, that state, on the 14th of
October, 1860, a son of Isaac B. and Sybil A. (Merklin) Kauffman. The family was
established in Pennsylvania during early colonial days. The mother's people
were French and settled in Pennsylvania in 1711. When the Revolutionary war was
inaugurated representatives of the name valiantly espoused the cause of the
colonies and assisted in winning American independence. Isaac B. Kauffman was a
lieutenant of the Ninth Pennsylvania Cavalry during the Civil war and was
killed while defending the interests of the Union at the front. His widow always
remained true to his memory, never marrying again, and she passed away in
Pennsylvania in 1909. She had but two children, the younger being Isaac, a
banker of Pennsylvania, who died in 1905. In both the paternal and maternal
lines are found many names that figure prominently upon the pages of history.
Mr. Kauffman of this review is a cousin of Reginald Wright Kauffman, the poet,
and also of James Lee Kauffman, professor of American law in the Imperial
University at Tokio, Japan.

After completing a public school education Ralph Kauffman passed the entrance
examination for West Point and was named an alternate but did not have the
opportunity of becoming a student at the military school. Determining upon the
practice of law as a life work, he then entered the University of Pennsylvania,
in which he completed a law course in 1886. He was president of his class there
and was not only a most thorough student but also a popular representative of
the school. In the same year he came to the northwest, making his way to
Portland, Oregon, and there he assisted in organizing a loan and trust company.
In 1887 he came to Ellensburg as a representative of that company and the
following year he organized the Ellensburg National Bank, of which he remained
the cashier until 1890. He then resumed the active practice of law in connection
with Mitchell Gilliam, who later removed to King county, Washington. Mr.
Kauffman continued in active law practice alone from that time until 1895, when
he entered into partnership with J. E. Frost, with whom he was associated for a
decade. Mr. Kauffman was then appointed state tax commissioner. He practiced law
alone until 1907 and in March of that year he was appointed judge of the
superior court, to which office he was elected in 1908 and re-elected in 1912.
He was again a candidate for the office in the fall of 1916, but on that date
was defeated. He then resumed the private practice of law, in which he has since
continued, and his clientage is now extensive and of a distinctively
representative character. Few men are more thoroughly informed concerning the
principles of jurisprudence or are more accurate in the application of these
principles to the points in litigation. For two terms Mr. Kauffman served as
city attorney, nor have his business activities been confined to professional
lines alone, for he has large holdings of ranch lands in this part of the state,
owning two hundred and fifty acres under irrigation. He was one of the
projectors of the Cascade irrigation canal and he has been a close student of
the water problems of the northwest and of all that has to do with the
substantial development of this section of the country.

Moreover, Mr. Kauffman has been a prominent factor in public life as a trustee
of the State Normal, in which position he served for several years, and as a
school director. His political endorsement has always been given to the
republican party and he is actuated in all that he does by a marked devotion to
the general good.

Mr. Kauffman was married November 24, 1888, to Miss Lida D. Stayman, a daughter
of Milton C. and Mary Jane (Bailey) Stayman, of Winchester, Virginia. The
children of this marriage are: Dorothy, the wife of Lieutenant Howard L. Lewis
of the United States army; and Charlotte, the wife of Lieutenant Harold A.
Mallum also of the United States army.

The religious faith of the family is indicated by the membership of Mr. and Mrs.
Kauffman in Grace Episcopal church, in which he is serving as senior warden. He
has been most helpful along the lines of war activities. He was chairman of the
Kittitas County Legal Advisory Board to advise and aid in the draft
registration and he is chairman of the Kittitas County Chapter of the American
Red Cross, having served in that capacity since its organization. His activities
in behalf of war work have been far-reaching and resultant and his
public-spirited citizenship stands as one of the pre-eminent traits of his
character, his devotion to the public good being manifest in his law practice,
in his official service and in every relation where his activities have touched
the general interests of society.

********************************
Submitted to the Washington Bios Project in December 2007 by Jeffrey L. Elmer.
Submitter has no additional information about the subject of this article.