Abraham J. Spoon

GEDCOM Note

An Illustrated History of Klickitat, Yakima and Kittitas Counties, Interstate Publishing Co., Chicago, IL., 1904

ABRAM J. SPOON, chairman of the hoard of county commissioners of Klickitat county, residing at Bickleton, was born in Niagara county, New York, near the city of Lockport, October 15, 1835. His father, Abraham, a stone mason and farmer, was a native of Pennsylvania, whence he moved to New York. He died in the year 1873. His parents belonged to two of the oldest Pennsylvania families and traced their lineage back to German ancestors. Martha (Ernest) Spoon, his mother, a daughter of German parents, was born in Pennsylvania on the 12th of January, 1804, and died on the 7th of March, 1887. She moved to Rock county, Wisconsin, with her husband in 1845, and there lived until 1860. Abram J. Spoon, of this review, worked on the farm as a boy anti as a young man, attending betimes the common schools of Wisconsin, where for three years he later followed the profession of teaching. He also learned the carpenter's trade. In 1865 he moved to Plumas county, California, and engaged in the stock raising and dairy business, also farming, which occupants were his for a number of years. In 1880 he sold his California ranch and went overland to Klickitat county, his family following him by boat after an interval of a few months. Almost as soon as he arrived he bought an interest in a claim which he still owns, and engaged in cattle raising and the horse business. At that time it was the general impression that the uplands could not be cultivated, but he successfully raised wheat, oats, barley and grain hay. His land was situated two miles and a half northwest of Bickleton, where at that time a postoffice was started, and also a small store owned by C. N. Bickle. The best grain ranches of the present are located where it was then thought that rye could not be raised. He later devoted more attention to farming than to stock, putting out several varieties of fruit trees, including pears, apples and prunes, which all did well. On the 14th of December, 1869, in California, Mr. Spoon married Josephine Alexander. Her father, Charles, was born in Illinois, March 20, 1820, and married when twenty-two, celebrating his golden wedding in 1892. He was of Scotch-Irish descent, and related to the Rev, John Alexander, of Lanarkshire, Scotland, who emigrated to this country from Ireland in 1736. He settled in Chester county, Pennsylvania, and there wrote a history of the family which was later published. Charles' uncle, Cyrus Alexander, settled in California in 1832. Mrs. Spoon's mother, Achsah (Smith) Alexander, was born in New York in 1818, and died in 1894. Mrs. Spoon was born in St. Louis, Missouri, January 23, 1850. She and Mr. Spoon are parents of three children -- Ernest 0., deputy auditor at Goldendale; Mrs. Alice Mabel Flower, living in Bickleton; Roy M., bookkeeper in McCredy's store in Bickleton. Mr. Spoon has a number of brothers and sisters, all living in Wisconsin, namely, Mrs. Anna Strang, Mrs. Elizabeth Strang and Mrs. Mary Jeffris, Samuel, Solomon, George, Conrad and John F. Mrs. Spoon is a member of the Methodist church. Mr. Spoon is a Republican to the backbone, and very active in all political matters of local concern. He was first elected county commissioner in 1886 and held the position for three terms of two years each, and in 1901 he was re-elected for a four years' term. During his first term of office the town of Goldendale was almost wiped out by fire and a portion of the town records impaired and partly destroyed, together with the courthouse, and Mr. Spoon was one of those who made the appropriation for the new courthouse. To his opposition to the liquor business and the fact that the other members of the board uphold him in this regard is attributable the scarcity of saloons in Klickitat county. It has no saloons outside of the county seat, saloons being permitted in neither Cleveland nor Bickleton. Mr. Spoon owns three hundred and twenty acres of land in one tract and six town lots with a good residence. His fellow citizens speak highly of his integrity and honor, and he is popular with all classes.

1900 census Washington, Klickitat County, Bickleton, 1 June, page 1, E. D. 117, S. D. 2, head of household, white, male, born October 1835, age 64, married 30 years, born in New York, father born in Pennsylvania, mother born in Pennsylvania, occupation Farmer, can read, write and speaks English, owns real estate, morgage free, owns Farm. Found month of birth from this census.

1910 census, Washington, Klickitat County, Alder Creek, 15 April, page 1, E. D. 122, S. D. 2, head of household, male, white, age 74, 1st marriage, married 40 years, born in New York, father born in Pennsylvania, mother born in Pennsylvania, speaks English, own income, can read and write, owns real estate, mortgage free, house.

Found name, year and state of birth, year died and place buried from the book, "The History of Klickitat County Washington."