The History of the Yakima Valley, Washington, Comprising Yakima, Kittitas and Benton Counties, The S.J. Clarke Publishing Co., 1919, Volume II, page 752 JOSEPH A. WERNER. Joseph A. Werner is an orchardist of the lower Naches valley, largely engaged in the raising of Delicious apples, so rightly named. He was born in Lake City, Minnesota, August 17, 1873, a son of Andrew Anderson and Edla M. (Edholm) Werner, both of whom were born in Sweden, whence they came to the United States in the '60s. The father was a pioneer of Minnesota and died in that state, after which the mother made her home with her son, Joseph A., until her demise. Mr. Werner of this review acquired a high school education in Minnesota and after his textbooks were put aside entered the telephone business and built and owned the third independent telephone plant in Minnesota, at Lake City. Subsequently he sold the business and became connected with the Bell Telephone Company, being made division superintendent at Redwood Falls, in which capacity he continued to serve for five years. In 1909 he came to Yakima county, Washington, and purchased fifteen acres on the lower Naches. He has seven acres of this planted to Delicious apples and annually makes large shipments. The remainder of his land is plowed and is used for the cultivation of various vegetables and cereals best adapted to soil and climatic conditions here. The fruit which he raises is of the highest grade and has been on exhibition in twenty leading cities of the United States in 1917, being placed there by the Northern Pacific Railway. He holds to the highest possible standards in the care of his orchards and in the development of his fruit and the results attained are indicated in the fact that he was chosen to be one of the exhibitors in the Northern Pacific Railway display of the products of the northwest. On the 16th of October, 1907, Mr. Werner was married to Miss Ellen Marie Rhode, a native of Minneapolis and a daughter of Erick and Cecelia (Mortonson) Rhode, the father a leading contractor of that city. The children of this marriage are Joseph R. and Morton A. Mr. Werner is a member of the Foresters and in politics he is a republican where national issues are involved but otherwise casts an independent ballot. He served as appraiser on the Federal Farm Loan during 1918 and he is now a member of the Farm Loan Association. He is interested in all that has to do with the progress and prosperity of the community in which he makes his home and as a public-spirited citizen cooperates in many plans and measures for the general good. ******************************** Submitted to the Washington Bios Project in January 2008 by Jeffrey L. Elmer. Submitter has no additional information about the subject of this article.