Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1907-12-06
NOT THE PROPER NAME.
Hawks Prairie Should Be Tyrrell's Prairie
to Be Historically Correct.

PORTLAND, OSn.. Nov. %, 1907.
EDITOR STANDARD:
Occasionally | see the name of
Hawks Prairie" mentioned in
your columns, and against this prac-
tlce | wish to enter protest for the
reason that it is historically mac
curate-that is to say, if by the use
of that name it is meant that Mr..
Hawk was the first settler thereon.
If | am not very much mistaken, the
idea conveyed, and generally under
stood, is, that the name by which
any given locality is known is given
in remembrance of, or in honor Of
the first settler in such locality. If
that assumption is true, then the
of Hawks Prairie" as already
stated, is historically Inaccurate, !"
rs the following will indicate:
The first settler on this prairie was
Freeman W. Tyrrell, better known
as Captain" Tyrrell, who made his
home there in 1850, the exact loca-
tion being the place owned and
lived upon for many years by Il Mr..
Tarbell, brother of Frank Tarbell.
formerly well known in Olympia. A
cousin of his, Elijah Tyrrell, about
the same time, or u little later. per
haps, had place at the extreme
northern edge of the prairie, in fact
almost, if not altogether in the TIM
ber. The Tyrrell family consisting
of the Captain, his wife, two sons
born on the premises, and five step
children, Levi, Jonathan, William,
Mary and Jane Prince, lived on the
place for about twenty-five years,
and then. such members of tho family
then living or not married, removed
to the Lincoln Creek" neighbor-
hood in Lewis county. | believe. So
far as known, William Prince, who
must be about sixtyfOur years old,
is the only one of the family now
living, and it is believed his home is
somewhere in Lewis county.
The next settler was man named
Fowler, who squatted on tract of
land late in 1851. of which more will
be said o little later.
The next person to take claim on
this prairie was David Phillips, Sr.,
the grandfather of Mrs. Harry Nc
Elroy, of Olympia. He built log
cabin late in 1852, as nearly as | can
determine, but never acquired more
than squatter's right, which he
sold to G. b. Baker in the fall of
1863. Mr.. Baker, with his family,
consisting of his wife, known by ali
her acquaintance as Aunt Fanny"
James f., John w. and Leander ii,
lived in this log cabin during the
winter OF 1854, and in the Spring
of the latter year removed to Grand
Mound Prairie and made a perma-
nent home on the west side of Scatter
Creek, not far from the present sta
tion OF Rochester, and lived there
until his death in June, 1869. OF
this family there are but two now
living, John w., State Game Warden
by appointment of GOV. Geo. E.
Chamberlain, and Prof. Leander III.
Baker, principal of the Woodstock
Public School of this city. Neither
Phillips nor Baker acquired title to
this place, and | think no one had
any Claim IL it other than o squat
ter'S right, until it was taken as q
preemptiOn claim by Benjamin +.
Whiting in 1856. Sometime in the
year 1859, Whiting married Mrs.
Mary Saunders Hustled, a survivor of
the Whitman massacre of Nov. %
30, 1847, the strikingly shocking
event of just sixty years ago, six
miles west of the beautiful and pro-
greSsive city of Walla Walla. Mrs,
Husted's first husband, Mr.. Saun-
ders, school teacher, was killed at
this time, and Mrs. Hustled and five
children were taken prisoners with
about fifty others, and held as such
by the Indians for six weeks, when
all were rescued by Peter Skeen Og-
den. then chief factor of the Hudson S
Bay Company at Fort Vancouver.
Four of these children, oil women,
now live in different parts of Cali
fornia)
Now | will revert to the Fowler
place: Late in October, 1853, my
father, Tyrus Hines, bought the
squatter's right of Mr.. Fowler, pay
ing for the scant improvements he
had made, and took the place as a
donation claim, perfected his title,
as was also the case with Captain
Tyrrell, and lived ON the premises
until his death, April 22, 1879. This
place is now owned by David Fleet