The History of the Yakima Valley, Washington, Comprising Yakima, Kittitas and
Benton Counties, The S.J. Clarke Publishing Co., 1919, Volume II, page 428
A portrait of Henry F. Rodenbeck appears in this publication.

HENRY F. RODENBECK.

Henry F. Rodenbeck owns and occupies a beautiful home which he built in 1911. It
stands in the midst of a ranch of eighty-one acres in the Naches valley -- a
well developed property which in its neat and thrifty appearance indicates the
careful supervision of a practical and progressive owner. Mr. Rodenbeck was born
in Minden, Nebraska, February 26, 1879, a son of Frank and Lenora (Miller)
Rodenbeck, who were early settlers of that state. They experienced many of the
hardships and privations of pioneer life and on one occasion were in the midst
of a terrible prairie fire, and it was only their sod house that saved them. In
the early '80s Mr. Rodenbeck removed to Cleveland, Klickitat county,
Washington, and subsequently to Goldendale, this state. He next became a
resident of Fort Simcoe, Washington, in 1893. He was a miller by trade and he
conducted a mill for the government at Fort Simcoe for five years. In 1898 he
removed to the lower Naches and purchased one hundred and twenty acres of land
whereon he still resides. He has reached the age of eighty-two years. while his
wife is now seventy-two years of age. He has improved his farm and has thereon
engaged in the raising of stock and fruit. and throughout his life his business
activities have been carefully conducted.

Henry F. Rodenbeck acquired a public school education and early began ranching
in connection with his father, whom he continued to assist for many years. He
took up a homestead adjoining his father's ranch, securing one hundred and sixty
acres, and later he purchased his father's tract of one hundred and twenty
acres. When the Tieton canal was built, it supplied his entire ranch with water.
He has since sold much of the property however, and his holdings now amount to
eighty-one acres. He has eight acres planted to orchards, while the remainder is
hay and pasture land and he raises a few sheep. His comfortable home was
erected in 1911. It is one of the attractive residences of the district and in
the rear stand large and substantial barns and all necessary buildings for the
shelter of grain and stock. In fact his farm work is conducted along the most
progressive lines. He is actuated by the spirit of modern development and
improvement and whatever he undertakes he carries forward to successful
completion.

On the 25th of December, 1910, Mr. Rodenbeck was married to Ida Baily, a
daughter of B. F. and Susan (Shriver) Baily, both of whom were natives of
Pennsylvania, whence they removed to Iowa at an early day, settling there in
1866. The father, who devoted his life to the occupation of farming, is now
deceased, but the mother survives and is living in Seattle. In the latter part
of his life, the father lived retired from active business.

Mr. Rodenbeck belongs to the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and also to the
Brotherhood of American Yeomen. His religious faith is indicated by his
membership in the Christian church and he is interested in all that pertains to
the welfare and progress of the community in which he resides, giving active and
helpful support to many measures for the public good. In politics he votes
independently, casting his ballot for men and measures rather than for party.
His has been an active and useful life fraught with good results and today he is
the possessor of a handsome competence that enables him to enjoy all of life's
comforts and some of its luxuries. From his home he commands a splendid view of
the Naches valley in the development of which he has largely participated and in
the years passed he has witnessed its transformation from a wild tract of land
covered with sagebrush into rich and productive ranch properties yielding golden
crops of grain, while each fall the orchards hang heavy with fruit that is
shipped to all parts of the country and even abroad.

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