Hunt, Herbert and Floyd C. Kaylor.  Washington: West of the 
Cascades.  Vol. III.  Chicago, S.J. Clarke Publishing Co., 1917.  
p. 434-435.

LONGMIRE, ROBERT, sheriff of Pierce county, is an official 
whose record is characterized by promptness, fidelity and 
fearlessness in the discharge of his duties.  He is occupying 
the position for the second term, having been first called to 
the office in 1911, and serving two years.  In 1915 he was 
reelected and is now a candidate for a third term.
	A native of Washington, Mr. Longmire was born at Yelm Prairie, 
in Thurston county, September 30, 1861.  His father, James 
Longmire, a native of Indiana, removed to Washington in 1851, 
making the trip by way of the Natchez Pass, being the first to 
take that route with a caravan of oxen.  By slow, tedious, 
difficult and oftimes dangerous stages he proceeded over the long, 
hot stretches of sand and through the mountain passes, 
eventually reaching his destination in safety.  He was a successful 
farmer and stock-raiser and through his business activity 
contributed in large measure to the material development of the 
northwest ere death called him in 1901, when he was seventy-four 
years of age.  He became the owner of nineteen hundred acres of 
land and was a very prosperous and successful agriculturalist and 
stock-raiser.  He had also been an active factor in promoting the 
political interests and moral progress of the community.  In 
politics he was a democrat and served for two terms as a member 
of the legislature in territorial days.  He held membership in the 
Christian church and also exemplified in his life the beneficent 
spirit of the Masonic fraternity.  He was one of the first of the 
craft in this state and attended meetings in the early days at 
Vancouver, riding on the back of a mule to the place where the 
meetings were held.  He assisted in establishing the first Masonic 
temple in the state at Olympia.  With every feature of pioneer life 
he was familiar, and during the Indian war it was to James 
Longmire that Quiemuth surrendered and by him was taken as a 
prisoner to the office of the governor, where he arrived with him 
in safety.  That night, however, the prisoner was murdered by an 
unknown person.
	Mr. Longmire passed away in Tacoma at the home of our subject 
but his wife passed away at North Yakima, Washington, at the 
home of their daughter, Mrs. Robert Kandle.  She bore the maiden 
name of Virinda Taylor and was also a native of Indiana, in which 
state their marriage was celebrated.  She accompanied her husband 
across the plains and mountains, lived here through the Indian war 
of 1852 and 1853 and suffered the untold hardships and privations 
of pioneer life.  She was a woman of many sterling qualities and 
was a devoted wife and mother.
	Robert Longmire was the ninth in order of birth in a family of 
eleven children, eight of whom are yet living.  He was educated in 
the district schools, and in Olympia to the the age of twenty years.  
His youthful days were spent amid pioneer conditions upon his 
father's farm and he early became familiar with their duties and 
labors incident to the cultivation of the fields.  After leaving home 
he entered mercantile circles and was thus engaged for eight years.  
He was later appointed deputy marshal under Jim Drake, serving in 
that capacity for three years, when he was made deputy warden of 
the United States penitentiary, occupying that position for two years.  
In 1911 he was elected sheriff of Pierce county and in January, 1915, 
was reelected for a term that continues until January, 1917.  He is 
said to be one of the best sheriffs that the county has ever had.  He is 
fearless in the discharge of his duties and the thoroughness with 
which he performs the tasks that devolve upon him has made his name 
a menace to evilders, while it carries with it a sense of security to 
all law-abiding citizens.
	In Tacoma, in 1898, Mr. Longmire was married to Miss Amy Tuttle, 
a native of Missouri and a daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Wesley Tuttle.  
They now have a daughter, Marcellyn, who was born in Tacoma in 
September, 1899, and is with her parents in a house at No. 1712 South 
Tacoma avenue, which Mr. Longmire owns.  The parents are members of 
the First Christian church and Mr. Longmire also has membership with 
the Red Men, the Eagles, the National Union and the Modern Woodmen of 
America.  In politics he is a republican, having supported the party 
since age conferred upon him the right of franchise.  He believes 
firmly in its principles and does all in his power to insure its success.  
He is a worthy representative of an honored pioneer family and the 
work which was begun by his father in early days for the benefit and 
improvement of the state is being carried forward by him under modern 
conditions.  He studies closely the needs and opportunities of the 
present and his activities are put forth accordingly.

Submitted by: Jenny Tenlen

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Notice: These biographies were transcribed for the Washington Biographies
Project.  Unless otherwise stated, no further information is available on the
individual featured in the biographies.