Durham, N. N.  "Spokane and the Inland Empire; History of the City of Spokane
and Spokane County Washington."  Vol. 3.  S. J. Clarke Publishing Co., 1912.  
p. 279.
 
SEABURY MERRITT

     Seabury Merritt, who in the practice of his profession has come to be
regarded largely as an authority on land law in the northwest because of his
wide study along those lines and the important litigated interests of this
character which he has conducted, was born in Frankfort, Indiana, August 23,
1866. He is one of a family of three sons and two daughters and his parents were
Samuel and Elizabeth (Gaskill) Merritt, natives respectively of Ohio and
Indiana. The father came of English ancestry although the family was planted on
American soil prior to the Revolutionary war. The father throughout much of his
life engaged in merchandising and in-the grain business, and in the year 1860 he
was elected sheriff of Clinton county, Indiana, receiving more votes than were
given Lincoln. He served as a trustee of the schools for sixteen consecutive
years while his incumbency in the sheriff's office covered the period of the
Civil war. He married Elizabeth Gaskill, who was likewise of English lineage and
belonged to one of the old American families antedating the war for
independence. She died in 1896, just nineteen days before the death of her
husband. Of their sons John W. is now associated with his brother Seabury in the
practice of law in Spokane, and William A. is a bookkeeper of this city. The two
sisters are: Emma, now the wife of John J. Blair, chief dispatcher of the
Northern Pacific Railroad at Spokane; and Jennie M., who is living with her
brother.
     In the common schools of Indiana, Seabury Merritt pursued his early
education while spending his boyhood days upon his father's farm. He early
became familiar with the work of plowing, planting and harvesting and continued
to assist in the cultivation of the old homestead until 1888, when he embarked
in the hardware and implement business in which he continued for three and a
half years. In the latter part of 1891 he began reading law and while thus
engaged at Frankfort, Indiana, also conducted an insurance and abstract
business. He was admitted to practice in 1895 and followed his profession alone
in his native state until 1900, when the opportunities of the west attracted him
and he came to Spokane, where he became the successor to Judge Wallace Mount, in
the firm of Mount & Merritt, the judge being elected to the supreme bench. Until
1906 that firm remained as Merritt & Merritt but in that year Hugo E. Oswald was
admitted to a partnership under the firm style of Merritt, Oswald & Merritt.
They conducted a general law practice, specializing, however, largely in land
and titles. They represented the Oregon Mortgage Company and other mortgage
companies and have been attorneys for many corporations including Ham, Yearsley
& Ryrie; the Big Bend Land Company; the Oregon Mortgage Company; the Pacific
Northwest Investment Society; the E. H. Stanton Company; and the Mohler Union
Warehouse Company. Mr. Merritt is recognized as having comprehensive knowledge
of land law on account of the vast number of titles he has been called upon to
examine. Like almost all who come to the northwest, he is interested in its
development and is the owner of an irrigated orchard of forty-five acres, all in
apples, on the Columbia river, twenty-eight miles above Wenatchee and known as
the Hossier Apple Ranch. In addition to this, Mr. Merritt owns Spokane property
and his holdings outside of the city include timber land in British Columbia and
in different sections of the western part of the state. He is likewise
interested in mining operations in Idaho and is thus contributing to the
material development and progress of the Inland Empire. However, the practice of
law is his real life work and the firm of which he is a member has a more
extensive practice in the eastern part of the state than any other firm of
attorneys here, their legal business extending to Lincoln, Adams and Douglas
counties.
     Mr. Merritt is well known in Masonic circles as a member of the commandery
and Mystic Shrine, and has served as senior warden in the blue lodge. He belongs
also to the Benevolent Protective Order of Elks, Lodge No. 228, has filled all
of the chairs in the local lodge of Knights of Pythias, has been past chancellor
for several years and has represented Spokane Lodge in the grand lodge. He is
like wise connected with the Fraternal Order of Eagles and is a valued member of
the Spokane Club, the Inland Club and the Chamber of Commerce. Mr. Merritt is a
republican and was an active member of the central committees of city, county
and state when in Indiana and a delegate to city, county and state conventions
both in Indiana and Washington. In his native state he did considerable campaign
work and since coming to the west has been a candidate for congress in the third
Washington district in 1910, in the primary, but insurgency caused the
republican defeat. He stands always as a fearless defender of the principles or
cause in which he believes and his position upon political questions has
therefore never been an equivocal one. During the twelve years of his residence
in Spokane he has become widely known and the power which he has displayed in
his law practice places him in a foremost position among the members of the
Spokane bar.

*******************

Submitted to the Washington Biographies Project in April 2010 by Diana Smith.
Submitter has no additional information about the person(s) or family mentioned
above.