Author: Elizabeth Ellington Chapter, DAR

 

James “Jim” Allen, (?-1868)

Headstone GPS Coordinates: Burial location unknown.

Birth: Unknown

Death: Fall of 1868, near Duckabush River, Jefferson County, Washington

Relatives in Seabeck Cemetery: Unknown.

 

In the fall of 1868, James “Jim” Allen was killed in a dispute over a bottle of whiskey. He was working in the woods near the Duckabush River in Jefferson County for a man named Tom Pierce. Jim kept a bottle of whiskey hidden behind a stump so he could slip away for a drink when he felt the need. Another worker, Charles Young—also known as “Gassy Charley”—was employed there as well. Gassy Charley was a “lag” from Australia, meaning he had served time in prison.

At some point, Gassy Charley saw Jim hide the bottle. He stole it, but Jim found out. A fight broke out between the two men, and Jim was killed.

Another man, Bill Blair, witnessed the murder and served as the main witness who sent Gassy Charley back to prison for fourteen years. In court, Gassy Charley swore he would go after Bill Blair for testifying against him. When he finished his sentence, he returned to Seabeck looking for Blair, only to learn that Blair had left for British Columbia, Canada.

Seabeck resident Edward Clayson wrote in his historical narratives: “Gassy Charley did not dare set foot in British Columbia, as he was a ‘ticket-of-leave man’ from Australia… A ‘ticket-of-leave man’ from the convict establishments of Australia and New Zealand at this period could go to any part of the world except the British Colonies or the British Islands. So Bill Blair was perfectly safe in British Columbia from the vengeance of Gassy Charley.”

As for James “Jim” Allen, it is believed his body was brought back to Seabeck and buried. He was likely one of the eleven bodies exhumed in 1877 and reinterred in what is now the Seabeck Cemetery. His origins and age remain unknown.

 

Sarah J. Zuber née Baur, 1858-1933

Headstone GPS Coordinates: 

Birth: 11 March 1858, Natchez, Adams County, Mississippi

Death: 14 May 1933, Crosby, Kitsap County, Washington

Relatives in Seabeck Cemetery: Jacob Zuber

American Revolutionary War Patriots*: None.

Disclaimer: These lines have not been officially proven by NSDAR standards

Sarah J. Zuber stood as a cornerstone of the Hintzville, Crosby, and Seabeck communities, arriving as one of the region’s original homesteaders and dedicated developers. 

Born Sarah J. Bauer in Natchez, Mississippi, on March 11, 1858, she was the daughter of Theodore Bauer, an immigrant from Prussia or Austria, and Sara Elizabeth Hall of England.

On November 25, 1893, Sarah married Jacob Zuber in New Orleans, Louisiana. Jacob, a Swiss immigrant from Spiez, Bern, had already begun carving a life for them in the Washington Territory, having settled in Crosby in 1884. Following their marriage, Sarah joined him in the arduous task of “hewing a homestead out of the wilderness.”

In 1897, Sarah and Jacob welcomed their only child, Jacob Edward Zuber, in Seattle. Known as “Eddie,” their son would grow up to be a lifelong fixture of the Seabeck community, carrying on the family’s hardworking legacy.

As Jacob worked as a poultry farmer and helped organize the Crosby Community Club and the first local schoolhouse, Sarah remained the heart of the Zuber home. However, her later years were defined by a quiet, physical struggle. She spent over fifteen years as an invalid, the last five of which she was entirely bedridden.

When Jacob passed away on April 13, 1933, his obituary noted that his final years were dedicated entirely to her care:

“He cared for an invalid wife for fifteen years or more being bedfast most of the last five years. And all Mr. Zuber’s talk was as to how he could help his wife more… We extend our heartfelt sympathy to the aged and invalid widow and her son, and may the great Father above take care of His own.”

Just one month after Jacob’s passing, her own health reached a critical point. The Kitsap County Herald reported on May 12, 1933:

“Mrs. Jacob Zuber is very sick… his report is that she may pass away at any moment. Her son, Eddie Zuber, has a trained nurse taking care of his mother. It is a hard blow for this son, as only a short time ago he buried his aged father.”

Sarah Zuber passed away on May 14, 1933, at the age of 75. Today, Sarah and Jacob rest together in the Seabeck Cemetery, marked by a large, beautiful granite stone.

 

Jacob Zuber, (1851-1933)

Headstone GPS Coordinates: 

Birth: 16 September 1851, Spiez, Bern, Switzerland    

Death: 13 April 1933, Bremerton, Kitsap County, Washington

Relatives in Seabeck Cemetery: Sarah J. Zuber

American Revolutionary War Patriots*: None.

Disclaimer: These lines have not been officially proven by NSDAR standards

Jacob and Sarah Zuber were among the original homesteader families and community builders of the Hintzville/Crosby/Seabeck area.

Jacob Zuber was born on September 16, 1851, in Spiez, Bern, Switzerland, to Christian Zuber and Elisabeth Haueter. In 1872, as a young man of twenty-one, he immigrated to the United States, leaving his parents behind in Switzerland. Like many immigrants of his era, Jacob came seeking opportunity—but unlike many, he would go on to carve an enduring legacy out of raw wilderness.

Years later, on July 7, 1884, Jacob settled in Crosby in the Washington Territory, staking his homestead long before roads, infrastructure, or stable commerce existed. Nearly four decades afterward, he reflected on those early days in the Kitsap County Herald (September 23, 1921), recounting what it meant to be among the first settlers:

“Located and made permanent home on homestead on the 7th day of July 1884. There were no roads and very few neighbors, and most of them made a few days settlement once in six months. The winters were especially dreary, sometimes seeing no one for months, only when going to Seabeck for mail. But undaunted and in good spirits I kept busy hewing a homestead out of the wilderness. I had a dream, i.e., of making the ‘Roses bloom in the Desert.’ I could see a future for the country if the people would stick and co-operate. Division has ever been the stumbling block of the producer and laborer.
Handicapped as we were by a mill company store in Seabeck, and a tri-weekly mail boat from Seattle to Seabeck, it is needless to say that the prices in the store were extortionate. And if you shipped by freight the boat would charge the difference between Seattle and Seabeck prices. One sample for instance: Coming home from Seattle one time, all the freight I had was what I carried with me across the gang plank. Arriving in Seabeck my freight bill was $3.25. Not being timid I protested and told them the freight charges exceeded the cost of the goods. And it almost makes me blush to recollect that the very atmosphere turned blue. Then the captain told the purser ‘take a dollar and a quarter and let him to the H—!’ I said pleasantly ‘all right captain, perhaps I will have the pleasure of meeting you there.’ The boat fare was $4.00 one way. Many got discouraged; still I had faith in the country, as I have today. I called a meeting at Al Turner’s place, where Crosby now is, to discuss matters. Many said there was no use talking. Then I took the floor and said ‘brothers, neighbors, we are all in the same box. One thing we must acknowledge – we are skinned both ways, going and coming. God has given us this country, and it will be just what we make of it. The mill company will not improve our condition as far as I can see. The corporations are all alike. They all agree on one thing, namely exploitation.
“Now take the cue, brothers, let’s co-operate and do something for ourselves. To that end I will make you a proposition. I will look out a route for a road to Port Washington Bay, where Chico is. It is only about 9 miles.”
The very idea scared many of them. Nevertheless, I got busy and cruised the location, and enough of them got interested to start the work. I camped in the woods and stayed with the work 85 days straight, with first one gang and then another. By the first of July we had a trail cut through for foot travel, and what do think – the boat fare dropped to one dollar. We finally got the road in condition to get to Chico with a wagon. Now think again Mr. Clark, the manager in the mill company store in Seabeck, cut the prices on his goods 30 percent as soon as the first wagon had gone over the Chico Road.
The above is a simple illustration of co-operation. And I can truly state that I am father of the Crosby-Chico Road. Very few of the old pioneers are left, but I am still at the old stand, have faith in the country and enjoy the fruits of my labors. We have a very good co-operative-built community hall, and for this country, very good roads, and almost every rancher can afford an auto.”

Jacob’s words reveal more than a road-building effort—they reveal a philosophy. He believed deeply in cooperation, self-reliance, and community action. His leadership in organizing and constructing the Crosby-Chico Road not only reduced transportation costs but also broke the economic grip of the Seabeck mill company store. Through persistence and collective effort, he helped transform isolation into opportunity.

In addition to farming poultry, Jacob contributed to nearly every aspect of early community life. In 1891, he helped build the first schoolhouse in Crosby alongside Ashbel Hite, Thomas J. Lewis, and George Stevens. He helped organize the Crosby Community Club in 1911 and served for years as a road supervisor, leading donation work on the Nellita Road and other early routes. His labor was constant, practical, and forward-looking.

Jacob married Sarah J. Bauer on November 25, 1893, in New Orleans, Louisiana. Sarah, born March 11, 1858, in Natchez, Mississippi, to Theodore Bauer and Sara Elizabeth Hall, brought with her a diverse heritage—her father from Prussia or possibly Austria, and her mother originally from England. Together, Jacob and Sarah had one son, Jacob Edward Zuber, born in Seattle in 1897, who would grow to become an active and respected member of the Seabeck community.

Sarah endured many years of illness, and Jacob devoted himself to her care. When Jacob passed away on April 13, 1933, at age 81—his death attributed to “cardiac asthma induced by valvular heart disorder”—the Kitsap County Herald published a tribute on April 21, 1933:

“Crosby lost on April 13 one of its oldest pioneers, in the passing of Mr. Jacob Zuber. Mr. Zuber has left a monument behind him which the folks who knew him will never forget. He was a hard worker and willing to help others at any time. He was the leader in building roads by donation work about forty years ago. He was their leader in building the Nellita road and also the old Chico Road to the Canal. Hours and hours he toiled. He was a road supervisor for years. And, as we have heard folks say, he was one hundred percent American. He cared for an invalid wife for fifteen years or more being bedfast most of the last five years. And all Mr. Zuber’s talk was as to how he could help his wife more. He had one son, who is a hard worker and who will now take over the care of his invalid mother. Mr. Zuber was 81 years old and was only poorly for a few days before death. The funeral services were held at the Bremerton funeral home on Monday. Rev. Hokenstad delivered a touching sermon. Two solos were rendered by Mrs. Jack Barrieau, with Mrs. Grey at the piano. A large body of friends were present, and then there was the ritual at the graveside at Seabeck. Rev. Hokenstad spoke well when he said that some folks do not need great stone monuments on their resting places, as they erected greater monuments in the minds of those who knew them. The service was very touching. A duet, ‘Safe in the Arms of Jesus.’ was rendered at the grave by Mrs. Grey and Mrs. Jack Barrieau, and the body of one of Crosby’s best citizens was laid away to await the great day of awakening. We extend our heartfelt sympathy to the aged and invalid widow and her son, and may the great Father above take care of His own.”

Just weeks later, on May 14, 1933, Sarah also passed away at age 75 after years of illness. The Kitsap County Herald had reported on May 12:

“Mrs. Jacob Zuber is very sick. Dr. Saunnders was called to her bedside Saturday and his report is that she may pass away at any moment. Her son, Eddie Zuber, has a trained nurse taking care of his mother. It is a hard blow for this son, as only a short time ago he buried his aged father. Sympathy is felt for Mr. Zuber. Mrs. Zuber has been an invalid for years.”

Jacob and Sarah Zuber are buried together in Seabeck Cemetery beneath a large granite stone. Yet, as Rev. Hokenstad observed, Jacob’s truest monument was not of stone. It was the road cut through forest, the schoolhouse raised by neighbors, the community hall built by cooperation, and the enduring spirit of a settlement that flourished because one determined immigrant believed that roses could bloom in the wilderness.

 

Joshua Woodhouse, (1842-1873)

Headstone GPS Coordinates: Burial location unknown

Birth: 1842, England

Death: 15 December 1873, poss. Seabeck, Kitsap County, Washington

Relatives in Seabeck Cemetery: None

American Revolutionary War Patriots*: None

Disclaimer: These lines have not been officially proven by NSDAR standards

 

Joshua Woodhouse’s story survives only in fragments—ink on payroll ledgers, a census entry, a historian’s notes, and an unmarked grave in the cemetery at Seabeck. He was one of many Northern European immigrants who came to Seabeck to work in the mill, drawn by steady wages and the promise of opportunity in Washington Territory.

According to the late historian Fred Just’s notes, Joshua was a White male born in England in 1842. Like many young men of his generation, he crossed the Atlantic in search of work and a future that may have seemed out of reach at home. By the late 1860s, he had settled in Seabeck, a company town built around the powerful hum of the Washington Mill.

The 1870 U.S. federal census, taken on June 22, records Joshua living in Seabeck in Thomas Stark’s household, likely renting as a boarder. At twenty-eight years old, he was employed at the Washington Mill Company, where payroll records show he worked between 1868 and 1870 at a rate of $45 per month—a good wage for a mill worker at the time. The work would have been demanding and dangerous, filled with long days, heavy timber, and the constant whine of saws shaping the vast forests of the Pacific Northwest into lumber bound for growing cities.

In 1870, Joshua became a naturalized American citizen in Jefferson County, likely in Port Townsend. It was a meaningful step. Naturalization signaled permanence—a decision to claim this rugged, expanding land as his own. He was on his way to building a good life in his adopted country.

But that life was brief. On December 15, 1873, at just thirty-one years of age, Joshua Woodhouse died from unknown causes. His passing left little trace beyond a record and a name.

He was likely among those first buried in the “old burial ground” in Seabeck that unknowingly sat right outside the designated cemetery grounds. The mistake wasn’t known until a government survey crew came through a few years later and noted the proper property boundaries of the cemetery. A few years later, when Justice of the Peace Jacob Hauptly cleared and designated the official Seabeck Cemetery grounds, eleven individuals were exhumed and reburied there. Joshua was likely one of them—moved from the rough beginnings of a frontier graveyard to the more orderly resting place that still overlooks the waters and forests he once helped to harvest.

 

Charles Wood, (1845-1916)

Headstone GPS Coordinates: Burial location unknown

Birth: 1845, Finland

Death: 7 May 1916, Port Orchard, Kitsap County, Washington

Relatives in Seabeck Cemetery: None

American Revolutionary War Patriots*: None

Disclaimer: These lines have not been officially proven by NSDAR standards

The SCRP team sadly can’t locate much information about the life of Charles Wood who is buried in an unknown location in Seabeck Cemetery. We do know he was seventy-one years old when he died on May 7, 1916 in Port Orchard at the Poor Farm from acute endocarditis (infection in the heart). We also know he was originally from Finland, but have no records about any family, when he came to the U.S., or what he did for a living before coming to the Poor Farm.

History about the Port Orchard “Poor Farm” is written about in the book “Kitsap County. A History.” In 1877, Kitsap County created the office of Overseer for the County’s Paupers where the county called for bids for room and board for the county’s paupers on the basis of so much per head per day. For the next 40 years, the contract was taken over by private individuals and families all over the County. At one point, the Sidney Hotel was used to house the poor residents. In 1911, the contract was taken over by Alfred and August Larson who enlarged their property on Mitchell Hill near where South Kitsap High School currently sits to have room to build small cottages to house the residents. The younger daughter of the Larsons was interviewed in 1974. She said the number of inmates at the Poor Farm was seldom above twenty, most were men, and several appeared to have been mentally ill or chronically ill. 

In 1914, the contract was leased to J.A. Lundberg who ran the institution until 1917 when the County took it under direct management. J.A. Lundberg signed Charles Wood’s death certificate. He told late historian Fred Just that Charles was a frequent resident at the Poor Farm.

 

Sydney J. Wilson, (1866-1934)

Headstone GPS Coordinates: 

Birth: 7 February 1866, Solon, Somerset County, Maine,

Death: 16 April 1934, Seabeck, Kitsap county, Washington

Relatives in Seabeck Cemetery: Minnie E. Wilson, Nellie A. Wilson née Brown

American Revolutionary War Patriots*: Oliver Wilson (Massachusetts) DAR# A127690;  Joseph Maynard (Massachusetts) DAR# A076203; Barnabas Baker (Massachusetts) DAR# A004864

Disclaimer: These lines have not been officially proven by NSDAR standards

 

Sydney J. Wilson was born on February 7, 1866, in Solon, Somerset County, Maine, to Jonathan Wilson and Harriet Maynard. His father, Jonathan, worked as both a farmer and a blacksmith, trades that shaped the industrious character of the household.

Around 1887, at about twenty-one years of age, Sydney left Maine and headed west to Oregon. There he caught “gold fever” and soon became one of the early miners in the Alaskan Klondike Gold Rush.

An article in The Somerset Reporter, dated September 30, 1897, described the three Wilson brothers—Sydney, Perley, and Floyd—and shared news drawn from letters they had written home to their parents:

“Solon Men in Klondike”

The Bangor Commercial contains the following interesting sketch of three Solon young men who got in early at the Alaskan gold fields:
While the whole country is wrought up to a greater or less extent over the rich gold diggings of the Klondike few people in the State (Maine) have been aware that three men from Maine, three brothers, are at work in these, the richest placer mines the world has ever seen.
In the village of Solon resides Mr. J. S. Wilson with his family, in a modest story and a half house, where he carries on the business of farming. Three of his sons, not satisfied with the outlook for remunerative employment in their native place, and having something of the spirit of adventure, boldly pushed out into the world, went to the Pacific coast and the Yukon gold mining regions.

Sidney J. Wilson, the oldest of the three, now being 31 years of age, left home ten years ago when he reached his majority, and went to Gardiner, Oregon where he was employed for two years. While there rumors and reports of the abundance of gold in the Yukon region were flying fast and eight years ago he with 15 others started from Oregon for the great river going by the Chilkoot pass route. They secured the services of a man named Doherty to pilot them, but he sprained his ankle on the pass and went back, the men making their way down the river the best they could in small parties. Sidney, then but 23 years of age, went to Forty Mile Creek, the center of mining operations on the Yukon. It is located 40 miles below the Klondike, a tributary of the main river, and although called a creek it is as long and as long as the Kennebec being 200 miles in length. Although not much more than a boy, he became one of the pioneers among the gold seekers of the Yukon there being but 70 men engaged in gold mining there at the time. Sidney remained at Forty Mile Creek for four years engaged in mining, when he changed his location to Circle City which is 200 miles below the Klondike, his diggings being at Birch Creek in the vicinity of Circle City.

Two hundred and fifty houses were erected at the city the year he went there. Last winter he was interested in six different claims in the Circle City region employing nine men to work them. Last July, having closed up his operations at that point, he moved up the river to the famed Klondike fields where he is now at work. Two winters of the eight, the young man spent in the States, one in San Francisco, and the other at Gardiner, Oregon.

The other two brothers, Perley R. and Floyd departed for the Yukon three years ago last February, going straight through to Forty Mile Creek. They expected to meet their brother Sidney at Seattle, but he was in Juneau where they found him. Purchasing a large stock of goods, consisting of guns, ammunition, bedding and provisions, they proceeded to transport it over the pass and down the Yukon, a portion being for sale to the miners and the remainder for their own use. The whole stock weighed 3,600 pounds which they packed over the pass by piecemeal, sledging over the lakes and down the river two hundred miles where Sidney had boats, the rest of the trip being made by water. They started from Juneau, March 10th, and arrived at Forty Mile Creek, June 24th, having been over three months in making the trip. Sidney’s load in climbing a mountain was 100 pounds and the other boys soon were able to carry an equal weight. When the two boys started from home, their grandmother who is now dead, put some Tallman sweeting apples in their trunk and few of them went clear through to the Yukon.

Perley [stayed] a year at Forty Mile Creek and then went to Circle City, which is very near the Arctic Circle where he remained until last February in which a month he sledged up the river to the Klondike and took up a claim which he was working at last accounts. For a time while at Circle City, he owned a dog team of six dogs for which he paid $500. After using them a while he sold the dogs out.

Floyd, the youngest of the three brothers, being 24 years of age, two years younger than Perley, has remained at Forty Mile Creek all the time until last July when he went to Klondike to work his claim which he had located previously.

Thus the brothers are all delving for gold being located on the Klondike river where the richest strikes have been made. They are hardy, rugged young men, [endured] to the hardships and the frigid temperatures of the Yukon. Sidney weighs 190 pounds, Perley 214, and Floyd 190. They know the region thoroughly, are skilled miners, and the Solon people sincerely hope they may return home wealthy men. Their father says they have not written much about what success they have met with and he has not asked them. Letters have come regularly. The last one was written at Klondike August 17th, reaching Solon on Monday of last week, just a month and three days from the time it started. All the other letters have been over two months in coming and some three. It was from Floyd. In it he wrote: ‘This is the richest placer camp ever struck on the continent. If I had come up here last fall I would be a rich man today. I think it is the best opening I ever expected to get.’ He advises those who contemplate going to Klondike next to start until March and take the Chilkoot pass route over which his brother has traveled three times. Sidney wrote that the dirt about $250 to the pan. Seven hundred and fifty dollars had been taken out at the pan.

The boys have sent home several samples of Yukon gold which they dug. One nugget which was exhibited to the Commercial correspondent in form resembled a smallish cud of gum, being three times as long as it is wide and flattened. It was just dug from the Alaskan soil and had the yellow lustre of pure gold. The boys also sent each of their two sisters a heavy band gold ring made at Juneau of gold which they had mined. They are as handsome articles of jewelry as can be purchased in any of the shops in Maine.

Mr. and Mrs. Wilson are very naturally watching the career of their sons in the Klondike with a great deal of solicitude. He says with no little pride that they never drank a glass of liquor or smoked a cigar and never were put on their backs and notes that he is the only man in the United States who has three boys in the Yukon mines.

At the beginning of his mining career, around 1890, Sydney had a daughter, Minnie E. Wilson, born in Deering, Alaska, to an unknown woman. Around 1904, he married Nellie Abigail Brown who was then a widow and had been married twice before. They had no children together.

In the 1910 census, Sydney and Nellie were living in Seabeck, Washington, along with Nellie’s grandson, Victor Zaldiney. Sydney owned his farm, and his occupation was listed as “gold miner.” In 1916, Nellie died of stomach cancer and was buried in Seabeck Cemetery.

By 1920, Sydney was still living in Seabeck on his farm, known as “Shadow Grove Farm.” He raised and butchered pigs and chickens. In the 1930 census, he was listed as a dairy farmer. He employed a live-in servant, Lily Olson, a widow originally from Arkansas.

Articles in the Kitsap County Herald in 1933 noted Sydney’s declining health, as he was in and out of the Bremerton hospital. His neighbors, stepchildren, and his servant Lily cared for him. Sadly, on April 16, 1934, Sydney was found dead from a self-inflicted gunshot wound at the age of sixty-eight. His shocking death was reported in the Kitsap County Herald on April 20, 1934:

Respected Citizen of Crosby Found a Suicide.

Friends of Mr. Sid Wilson received a terrible shock Monday, when they heard of his sudden death by suicide. He had been sick and suffering for over two years, and of late he suffered terribly. Despondency over his poor health and perhaps other worries caused him to shoot himself early Monday morning. His housekeeper, Mrs. Olsen, had gone up the road a short way from the home to wait for the mail and also to deliver a note to a neighbor, and when she returned, Mr. Wilson was not on the couch where she had left him. So she searched the house and called, but there was no answer. She went outside and called, but there was no answer. But she happened to notice Mr. Wilson’s old dog, Tip, lying by the milk house and opened the door, and there in a large rocker sat Mr. Wilson, his gun still gripped and a bullet through his forehead.

Mr. Wilson was a neighbor respected by all who knew him and was always ready to help and do all he could for any poor person. He was an old Alaska pioneer and suffered hardships in the past, like all the early Yukon gold seekers. His life was a busy one to the end. He milked a cow the morning of the same day he passed on. Funeral arrangements have not been made as yet. He has a daughter in California. He also has a brother living in Seattle, and other relatives in the east. Mrs. Olson has kept house for Mr. Wilson for a good many years and she will miss him. We extend our heartfelt sympathy to those left to mourn his loss and the tragic end.

His burial was reported in the Kitsap County Herald on April 27, 1934, in Crosby. He was laid to rest beside his wife, Nellie:

Mr. Sid Wilson, friend and neighbor, was laid to rest at the Seabeck Cemetery last Thursday at noon, Rev. Clifford of Bremerton officiating. The services were very touching, and the flowers were lovely. Those left to mourn have the sympathy of the community. Another beloved old pioneer has been taken from our midst.

 

Nellie Abigail Wilson née Brown, (1859-1916)

Headstone GPS Coordinates: 

Birth: 19 March 1859, poss. Oxford County, Maine

Death: 3 November 1916, Crosby, Kitsap County, Washington

Relatives in Seabeck Cemetery: Sydney J. Wilson

American Revolutionary War Patriots*: Caleb Park (Massachusetts) DAR# A087037;  

Benjamin Hall; Jacob Brown (Massachusetts) DAR# A015480;  Seth Sturtevant (Massachusetts) DAR# A129048; William Sturtevant (Massachusetts) DAR# A216042

Disclaimer: These lines have not been officially proven by NSDAR standards

Nellie Abigail Wilson née Brown was born on March 19, 1859, in Maine—likely in Oxford County—to Andrew Jackson Brown and Milleytiah Hall, both Maine natives. Her father worked as a farmer.

In 1877, Nellie married Walter J. Washburn. The couple settled in Waterville, Kennebec County, Maine, where they had two daughters: Bertha Millietiah (born 1879) and Jessie Evelyn “Eva” (born 1882). Nellie and Walter divorced in 1889.

In 1892, Nellie married William Johnson and became stepmother to his three children from a previous marriage. They established a farm in Little Falls, Morrison County, Minnesota. According to the 1900 census, Nellie and William were living there with her younger daughter, Eva, and William’s three children. Meanwhile, Bertha, Nellie’s eldest daughter, was living in Boston, Massachusetts, where she worked as a servant.

Sometime between 1900 and 1904, Nellie left William. Although no records have been found to document the move, it is believed that she relocated to Oregon with Eva, who had married John Zetterberg in 1902. The newlyweds left Minnesota and settled in Silver Falls, Marion County, Oregon. At some point, Nellie met Sydney J. Wilson, and the two married in 1904. They made their home at Shadow Grove Farm in Crosby, Washington.

In the 1910 census, Nellie was listed as a dressmaker. Her grandson, Victor Zetterberg, was recorded as living in the household with Nellie and Sydney, likely as a visitor, since he also appeared in the 1910 census at his parents’ home in Oregon.

Nellie died of stomach cancer on November 3, 1916, in Crosby. She was buried in Seabeck Cemetery beneath a large granite headstone.

Nellie is also a descendant of the Mayflower passenger Samuel Fuller.

 

Minnie E. Wilson, (1890-1962)

Headstone GPS Coordinates: 

Birth: 21 November 1890, Deering, Northwest Arctic Alaska or possibly Canada   

Death: 27 April 1962, Bremerton, Kitsap County, Washington

Relatives in Seabeck Cemetery: Sydney J. Wilson

American Revolutionary War Patriots*: Oliver Wilson (Massachusetts) DAR# A127690;  Joseph Maynard (Massachusetts) DAR# A076203;  Barnabas Baker (Massachusetts) DAR# A004864

Disclaimer: These lines have not been officially proven by NSDAR standards

Minnie E. Wilson was born on November 21, 1890, in Deering, Alaska, a small and remote settlement on the Seward Peninsula. Her father, Sydney J. Wilson, was a gold miner originally from Maine, and is now buried in Seabeck Cemetery, Washington. Her mother’s name remains unknown, though records indicate she was born in Colorado. 

Minnie’s early life is largely shrouded in mystery. When she was born, Alaska was still a U.S. territory—it would not achieve statehood until 1959—and at the time it was sparsely populated and poorly documented. Few official records were kept in the late 19th century, especially in remote frontier regions like Deering. Her father, like many ambitious men of his era, moved frequently in search of gold, traveling between Circle City, Alaska, and Dawson City in the Yukon Territory. When the Klondike Gold Rush erupted in 1897, tens of thousands of prospectors surged into Alaska and the Yukon, transforming quiet settlements into chaotic boomtowns. It is unclear whether Minnie grew up alongside her father during this period or was raised elsewhere. The absence of records listing a wife or child for Sydney raises the possibility that Minnie’s parents were never formally married.

The first confirmed record of Minnie as an adult appears on September 7, 1918, in a Redwood City, California newspaper announcing her marriage license to Paul Frank Travis. Paul was serving as a soldier during World War I, stationed at Camp Fremont, a major training base near Menlo Park, California. Prior to enlisting, he had worked as an oilman in Coalinga, where Minnie may have met him. He served in Company B of the 12th Regiment and was preparing to ship out to France when the Armistice of November 11, 1918 brought the war to a close.

Between 1918 and 1920, Minnie and Paul were likely living in Bakersfield, California, but their marriage was short-lived. Paul remarried in 1922 listing that union as his first marriage.  

Afterward, Minnie alternated between using her maiden and married names. In her father’s 1924 will, she is referred to by her married name, but voter registration records consistently list her as Minnie E. Wilson, with her marital status recorded as “widowed” or “divorced.”

In 1927, Minnie boarded a steamer from San Francisco to Honolulu, Hawaii. The passenger list described her as a naturalized citizen through marriage, an intriguing detail since White children born in Alaska in 1890 were already considered U.S. citizens. This discrepancy raises questions about her true birthplace—perhaps she was actually born across the border in Canada’s Yukon Territory. Indeed, the 1940 census lists her birthplace as “Canada–French,” whereas other records, including her death certificate, claim Alaska.

By 1930, Minnie had settled in Fresno, California, working as a hotel manager at the Gilbert Rooms—a position she held at least through 1936. Her father, Sydney, died by suicide in 1934, leaving her 40% of his estate. By 1940, Minnie had moved north to Crosby, Kitsap County, Washington, though she did not live on her father’s former property.

In 1947, a local newspaper announced that Minnie was leaving Crosby for Kansas City, Missouri, where a friend, Mrs. Elise Christopher, hosted a farewell gathering in her honor. Her stay there proved brief—by 1948 she had returned to Crosby, where she later found work as a shipfitter’s helper at the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard, reflecting the postwar boom in industrial jobs for women.

In 1962, Minnie fell ill and was admitted to Harrison Hospital in Bremerton, where she died four days later on April 27, 1962, at 5:40 p.m. Her cause of death was recorded as natural causes, including electrolyte imbalance and gastroenteritis.

Minnie was cremated at Forest Lawn Cemetery in Bremerton, and her funeral service was held at Lewis Funeral Chapel, officiated by Reverend Milton W. Neese of Our Savior’s Lutheran Church. Though she had no surviving family, she was remembered fondly by many friends in Crosby.

Her ashes were interred at Seabeck Cemetery, between the graves of her father Sydney J. Wilson and her stepmother Nellie Brown Wilson. While Minnie may once have had an above-ground urn or headstone, today only a base remains, suggesting her marker was lost or vandalized over time.

 

Margaret S. Wilson née Woodruff, 1829-1912

Headstone GPS Coordinates: 

Birth: 4 June 1829, Zanesville, Muskingum county, Ohio.

Death: 14 July 1912, Seattle, King County, Washington

Relatives in Seabeck Cemetery: Margaret C. Selby née Wilson, Lloyd M. Selby, Dempsey Wilson, Mary Bell Selby, Sarah C. Stillwell née Wilson, Margaret W. Stout née Stillwell , Alice Hite née Wilson, Joseph S. Selby

American Revolutionary War Patriots*: Unknown

Disclaimer: These lines have not been officially proven by NSDAR standard

Margaret S. Wilson was born Margaret Woodruff on June 4th, 1829 in Zanesville, Muskingum county, Ohio. Her father was Cornelius Woodruff. Her mother’s first name is unknown, but her maiden name was listed as “Slemons” on Margaret’s death certificate. Also on Margaret’s death certificate, it lists her parents as being born in New Jersey, but all census records state they were born in Pennsylvania. Cornelius Woodruff fought in the War of 1812 under Captain J. McClean’s Company in the Pennsylvania militia. By 1820, he and his family were living in Muskingum county, Ohio. His wife, Margaret’s mother, died between 1830 and 1840. He remarried to Susan Gettings in 1843. In the 1860 census, Cornelius is referred to as “reverend.”

At the age of 22 on November 11th, 1851 in Fairview, Guernsey county, Ohio, Margaret married Dempsey Wilson. Dempsey worked in leather goods. They had five daughters who all lived into adulthood:  Alice (1853), Mary (1855), Sarah (1858), Maggie (1862), and Rose (1868).

In 1864, Dempsey Wilson mustered into the United States Union Army, Ohio Company F, 159th infantry in Zanesville. He served for four months when his company mustered out.

In 1889, Margaret and her husband followed their family out to Seattle, Washington. In 1892/1893, her husband  died while they were living at the Hite Center in Seabeck.  Margaret was listed as a widow on Dempsey’s war pension on January 5th, 1893.

In 1900, she was living as a widow in the household of her second daughter Mary Wilson Barnes and her husband John Barnes in Seattle. In 1910, she was living in Seattle with her first daughter Alice and her husband Ashbel Hite.

On July 14, 1912, Margaret died in her Seattle home from “old age.” She was 83 years old. 

Margaret was buried in Seabeck Cemetery next to her husband.