Author: Elizabeth Ellington Chapter, DAR

 

Dempsey Wilson, (1823/1827-bef. 1893)

Headstone GPS Coordinates: 

Birth: 2 February 1823 or 1827, Ohio

Death: Bef. 5 January 1893, Seabeck, Kitsap County, Washington

Relatives in Seabeck Cemetery: Margaret C. Selby née Wilson, Lloyd M. Selby, Margaret Wilson née Woodruff, 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

Dempsey Wilson was born in Ohio in 1823 to Quaker parents, Edwin Wilson and Deborah Hunnicutt. On November 11, 1851, he married Margaret Woodruff in Fairview, Ohio. He worked in the leather trade, primarily as a saddler.

Dempsey and Margaret had five daughters, all born in Ohio: Alice (1853), Mary (1855), Sarah (1859), Margaret “Maggie” (1862), and Rose (1868).

On May 9, 1864, at the age of 42, Dempsey mustered into the Union Army at Zanesville, Ohio, serving in Company F of the 159th Ohio Volunteer Infantry. He mustered out on August 24, 1864, serving just under four months.

On May 11, 1864, authorities dispatched the regiment to Harper’s Ferry, West Virginia. The unit remained encamped on Maryland Heights until May 17, when it was transferred to Camp Bradford in Baltimore, Maryland. Four companies performed guard duty at the camp; one company served as provost guards in Baltimore; one worked at Patterson Park Hospital; and the remaining four guarded locations along the Philadelphia, Wilmington, and Baltimore Railroad.

During Confederate General Jubal Early’s advance on Washington, D.C., one hundred men from the 159th were mounted as infantry and fought at the Battle of Monocacy on July 9, 1864. On July 12, Companies B, E, G, and I advanced on Pikesville, Maryland, where Confederate forces were reportedly located, though the Southerners retreated before Union troops arrived. On July 28, four companies moved to Havre de Grace, Maryland, to guard the railroad. On August 13, 1864, the regiment was reunited and sent back to Zanesville, arriving on August 17 and mustering out of service on August 22 and 24, 1864. During its service, the regiment lost ten men, including one officer, to disease or accidents.

In the 1870 census, Dempsey is listed as living in Summerfield, Ohio, working as a saddler in the leather goods trade. He began receiving a service pension in 1885. In 1889, at age 66, Dempsey moved with his family to the Seabeck area, accompanied by his married daughters Alice and Mary, along with their husbands and children.

Dempsey died in 1893 while living at the Hite homestead and was buried in Seabeck Cemetery with a military-issued headstone. His wife Margaret, eldest daughter Alice Hite, and fourth daughter Maggie Selby are also buried there.

 

Walter John Williams, (1817-1860)        

Headstone GPS Coordinates: 

Birth: 21 February 1817, Wyke Regis, Dorset, England  

Death: 09 November 1860, near Seabeck, Kitsap County, Washington

Relatives in Seabeck Cemetery: None.

American Revolutionary War Patriots*: None

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

 

Walter John Williams was born on February 21st, 1817 in Wyke Regis, Dorset, England  to John Williams and Ann Smith. He was the fifth of six children to John and Ann. The family was Presbyterian. 

In 1841, he was living in St. James, Gloucestershire. Then in the 1851 census, he was living in St. Helen, Middlesex working as a warehouse man. He was living in a boarding house with four women and three other men. One of the women was a twenty-one year old barmaid named Jane Kilbourne from Essex.

On April 4, 1851, William received his Certificate of Competency as Master in the Merchant Marine Service.  

On September 28, 1852, Walter married Jane Kilbourne at Christ Church in Southwark, England. Walter was thirty five years old at this time.

In January 1859, Walter was assigned to captain a British barque named the Sea Nymph from London to Victoria, B.C., Canada. The Sea Nymph made a port stop in Honolulu, Hawaii. In “The Pacific Advertiser,” the Sea Nymph advertised fine liquors for wholesale from London such as brandy, port, cherry cordial, and Jamaican rum.  The Sea Nymph then set sail for Victoria where it arrived after a total of 330 days at sea via Honolulu on January 24, 1860.  

Walter’s wife Jane accompanied him on the voyage, and on October 4, 1859 when the ship was near South America, she gave birth to their son whom they named Walter John.

Walter and his family presumably stayed in Victoria for the year. The Sea Nymph was commanded by other captains during its other 1860 voyages out to Hong Kong and San Francisco. 

On November 9, 1860, Walter John Williams unexpectedly passed away from “delirium tremens” or alcohol withdrawal just five miles north of Seabeck at the camp of Messrs. Hood & Miller. He was in the area to catch passage to London on the barque Grecian. The article in the British Colonist stated he was thirty-seven years old at the time of his death, but he was really forty-three. 

 

Calmon Whitney, (1836-1880)

Headstone GPS Coordinates: 

Birth: Abt. 1836, Jonesboro, Washington County, Maine

Death: 13 July 1880, Seabeck, Kitsap County, Washington 

Relatives in Seabeck Cemetery: None.

American Revolutionary War Patriots*: Joel Whitney (Massachusetts, Maine District) DAR# A125120; Jonathan Kelton/Kilton (Massachusetts) DAR# A064429, William Russell (Massachusetts) DAR# A134815

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

Calmon “Cam” Whitney was born in Jonesboro, Washington county, Maine around 1836 to Josiah Whitney and Eliza Ann Kilton. His father Josiah worked as a lumberman. Calmon went into the same profession. 

Calmon married Hannah Adaline “Addie” Marston on August 13, 1859 in Jonesboro. On the 1860 federal census, Calmon was recorded twice. In June, he was listed as living in his father’s household. In July, he was living with his wife in her father’s household. 

Around 1863, Calmon left Maine to travel west. He was mentioned in Marshall Blinn’s 1864/1865 diaries as one of the managers of Blinn’s logging camps along the Hood Canal. Blinn referred to him as “Cam.”

By 1870, Calmon’s younger brother Herman had joined him in Washington Territory both working as lumbermen. They were listed in the census as living in Quilcene, Jefferson, Washington Territory, which is located northwest from Seabeck across the Hood Canal.

Calmon purchased land in Seabeck around the Big Beef area. He was neighbors with the Emel family. 

As far as records show, his wife Addie never came out to the Washington Territory. She sued for divorce on September 7, 1869 in Maine claiming Calmon “…neglect(ed) and violat(ed) his marriage vows willfully desert(ed) and abandon(ed)…she received no support from said Calmon Whitney since the year 1863.” The divorce was granted and finalized in October 1871.

In 1873, Calmon was connected to a woman named Kw’E-Tub-A-Lo who went by “Kate.” She was a citizen of the Twonoh or Skokomish Tribe located in Mason County. They had two children born in Seabeck: Alice Daisy born on June 15, 1873 and Calmon “Johnie” born around 1878. 

In his daughter Alice’s marriage announcement to William Pemmant in 1890, it was mentioned that she was “the daughter of Captain C.C. Whitney, of Seabeck, who before his death, a few years ago, was in command of the St. Patrick.” His son Calmon “Johnie’s” death announcement in the paper also mentioned “his father was one of the first captains on the St. Patrick, the first steamer to run regularly on Hood Canal.” The St. Patrick steamer was mainly used to make runs between Seabeck and Port Gamble.  

In the 1880 census and various Indian census rolls, Kate Whitney was listed as living in Seabeck with her children as the “head” of the household and “married.” Calmon was listed on the June 10, 1880 census as a “boarder” at the Eagle Hotel and was listed as “single.” He was noted as being unemployed for three months at that point. On July 13, 1880, he died at the age of forty-four at the Eagle Hotel. His cause of death is unknown.

Calmon was buried in Seabeck Cemetery with an upright, marble headstone with a hand pointing up to heaven. Sadly, the headstone is in very poor condition.

Both of Calmon’s children met untimely deaths. His daughter Alice was killed by her husband William Pemmant with an ax in Quilcene in 1922. She is buried in Quilcene cemetery. She had five surviving children at the time of her death. Calmon’s son Calmon “Johnie” died in Steveston, British Columbia along the Fraser River in 1896 when he was about eighteen years old. His body was brought back and buried on the Skokomish Indian Reservation. 

Calmon’s wife Kate died in 1901 in Quilcene at the age of fifty-one from cancer.  She is presumably buried in Quilcene.

 

Joseph H. White, 1825/1828-1883

Headstone GPS Coordinates: Burial location unknown.

Birth:1825 or poss.1828, Strafford, Orange County, Vermont       

Death: 29 October 1883, Quilcene, Jefferson County, Washington

Relatives in Seabeck Cemetery: None.

American Revolutionary War Patriots*: Joel White (Vermont)

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

 

Joseph H. White was born either in 1825 or 1828 to Ebenezer White and Mary (maiden name unknown) in Strafford, Orange County, Vermont. He was the last of his parents’ seven children, although two of his siblings had likely passed away before he was born.

Joseph grew up on his family’s farm in Vermont. Not much is known about his childhood or his early adult life. When he was thirty-five in 1860, he may have married an eighteen year old woman named Julia and lived in Milford, New Hampshire. 

There are soldiers listed on Civil War rosters from Vermont and New Hampshire named Joseph White who were born around 1825, but none of these men seem to be Joseph H. White who travelled out to the Washington Territory and settled in Quilcene Bay. 

Joseph was first mentioned living in Quilcene Bay around 1868 in Edward Clayson’s “Historical Narratives of Puget Sound and Hood’s Canal.” ‘Old Joe,” as he was called, lived in the isolated wilderness with a Native American woman named Catherine “Kate” Anderson who had children from a previous union. She was likely from the Clallam Tribe. Edward Clayson wrote that Joe used to be the “butt and ridicule” of everyone because he would advocate for a railroad to be built between Port Townsend and Quilcene Bay. Everyone thought he was delusional, but eventually the railroad line was established.

In the 1870 census, Joseph was listed living with Catherine whom he was not formally married to. At one point in 1880, he was listed living at his home with Catherine’s fourteen-year-old daughter, Anne, who had adopted Joseph’s surname. Catherine was living in Port Townsend with her sisters at that time. But on March 14th, 1882, Joseph and Catherine paddled across the Hood Canal in their canoe to Seabeck to be married by Justice of the Peace, Jacob Hauptly, at the Bay View Hotel. Edward Clayson and his wife Annie signed as witnesses. 

On October 29th, 1883, Joseph passed away at the age of fifty-eight from exposure or hypothermia after falling into the canal from his canoe. He was rescued, but left on the shore. According to Jacob Hauptly’s diaries, there was a hard frost that day. Joseph had managed to make it back to his home before he passed away. 

Joseph had not made out a will before he died. His wife Catherine worked with a Jefferson County lawyer to take the ownership of his estate. Joseph’s siblings– Silas S., Harvey, Hannah, and Olive – all wrote to the Jefferson County court that since Joseph had no heirs and their parents had passed away, that they were the rightful heirs of his estate. They did not believe he and Catherine were legally married. The court sided with Catherine for she and Joseph had been married the year prior. Catherine took hold of the estate, but had to pay back Joseph’s debts to several community members who had done work for him, and also to the Washington Mill Company. In Jacob Hauptly’s diaries, he noted that he purchased several cows from “Mrs. White.”

Joseph was laid to rest in the Seabeck cemetery, but his grave site’s location is unknown.

 

Anna Wanderscheid née Reisch, 1868-1938

Headstone GPS Coordinates: 

Birth: 16 April 1868, Luxemburg or Germany      

Death: 5 March 1938, Seabeck, Kitsap County, Washington

Relatives in Seabeck Cemetery: Frank Wanderscheid 

American Revolutionary War Patriots*: None.

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

 

Anna Wanderscheid née Reisch was born on April 16, 1868, in the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg to John Reisch and Mary Boden. She grew up in a small, agricultural nation that, in the latter half of the nineteenth century, was marked by poverty and sweeping economic change. During this period, Luxembourg experienced one of its most significant waves of emigration. As reported by RTL Today, “In a time of overpopulation and economic change, the newly independent Grand Duchy saw one of the most significant waves of emigration. Between 1841 and 1890, a third of the population left the country, of which nearly 50,000 emigrated to the United States.” Like so many of her countrymen, Anna chose to seek opportunity abroad.

In 1889, Anna immigrated to the United States, settling in Chicago, Illinois. She likely traveled with her younger brother Christopher. Her brother John followed in 1902, and in 1908 her married sister, Margaret Hipp, and Margaret’s husband also made the journey. There is no record indicating that Anna’s parents ever came to the United States. In 1894, Anna became a naturalized American citizen.

In 1900, Anna married Frank Wanderscheid, who had also been born in the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg on December 6, 1861, to John Wanderscheid and Ann Smith. He had immigrated to Chicago in 1889 at the age of twenty-eight and was naturalized in 1894. Together, Anna and Frank shared not only their homeland, but also the immigrant experience in America.

Soon after their marriage, Anna and Frank moved west, eventually settling in Seabeck, Washington. The 1910 census records them living at Lone Rock on Pioneer Road. Anna’s siblings later left Chicago as well and joined her in Seabeck, reestablishing close family ties in their new community. Anna and Frank were both multilingual, able to speak French, German, and English—an asset that reflected both their Luxembourgish heritage and their adaptability in America.

In Seabeck, Frank worked first as a farmer and later as a laborer in a logging camp, contributing to the developing economy of the Pacific Northwest. Although Anna and Frank did not have children of their own, they remained closely connected to their extended family and community.

Frank died on April 9, 1936, at the age of seventy-four, at Sunnyvale Hospital in Port Orchard, after suffering a cerebral hemorrhage and spending five days under care. Anna continued living in their Seabeck home until her death on March 5, 1938, when she suffered a heart attack.

According to Fred Just’s plot map, Anna and Frank are buried side by side in unmarked graves next to the Rostad family in the southwestern corner of Seabeck Cemetery, near the fence line. Their graves were likely once marked with metal nameplates that have since been lost, but their shared journey—from Luxembourg to Chicago and finally to the Pacific Northwest—remains a testament to the resilience and determination of their generation.

 

Edward Voegele, (1849-1930)

Headstone GPS Coordinates: 

Birth: 20 November 1849, Berlin, Germany

Death: 15 February 1930, Seattle, King County, Washington

Relatives in Seabeck Cemetery: Barbara Voegele née Mueller

American Revolutionary War Patriots*: None.

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

 

Edward Voegele was born on November 20, 1849, in Berlin, Germany, the son of Robert Voegele; his mother’s name is unknown. In 1873, at the age of twenty-three, he left Germany for the United States, joining the wave of immigrants seeking opportunity and land in a growing nation.

After arriving in America, Edward made his way to Sherwood, Michigan, where he met fellow German immigrant Barbara Mueller, born December 4, 1847, in Frankfurt, Germany, to Simon Mueller. Barbara had also immigrated in 1873. Their shared heritage and recent arrival in a new country likely formed a strong bond between them. On September 11, 1875, they were married in Union City, Branch County, Michigan.

Edward’s early married life was marked by movement as he sought work and stability for his family. In 1881, while living in Wausau, Wisconsin, he and Barbara welcomed their son, Emil Henry. By 1887, the family was in Columbus, Ohio, where their daughter, Emma Hilda, was born.

Around 1889, Edward brought his family west to Washington Territory, purchasing a 160-acre homestead in the hills above Seabeck. There, he established a farm and worked the land while raising his children. Like many pioneers of the Puget Sound region, Edward’s life required hard physical labor, resourcefulness, and a willingness to face the uncertainties of frontier life.

In 1902, Edward moved his family to Seattle in search of new opportunities. He first worked as a cook and later as a carman, making deliveries around the city with a horse and wagon. After several years in Seattle, however, he returned to farming; by 1907, Edward and Barbara were again living on their Seabeck homestead.

A story preserved by longtime Seabeck residents illustrates Edward’s rugged character and the hazards he sometimes faced. While hunting bear, he reportedly wore coveralls and carried a small toy poodle tucked into the bib as he walked with his double-barreled shotgun. On one occasion, he shot at a bear just as it leapt over a large log. Believing the animal dead when the dog failed to bark, Edward jumped the log—only to land directly on the wounded bear. The animal tore off his clothing before he managed to scramble back over the log to safety. Remarkably, he escaped without serious injury.

Edward’s life changed dramatically on January 23, 1916, when Barbara died suddenly in Seabeck at the age of sixty-eight. Her death certificate cited cerebral hemorrhage and interstitial nephritis, though her obituary described heart disease as the cause. She had shared his pioneering journey to Puget Sound in 1889 and remained by his side on the homestead for most of her life.

After Barbara’s death, Edward gradually sold portions of his land. By 1926, he retained only twenty acres of the original 160-acre claim. Eventually, he moved to Seattle to live with his son Emil and worked intermittently as a laborer in his later years.

Edward died in Seattle on February 15, 1930, at the age of eighty, from pleurisy and “old age.” He was buried beside Barbara in Seabeck Cemetery. Today, their weathered and nearly illegible headstones stand together, marking the resting place of a German immigrant who carved out a life on the American frontier and helped shape the early community of Seabeck.

 

Barbara Voegele née Mueller, (1847-1916)

Headstone GPS Coordinates: 

Birth: 4 December 1847, Frankfurt, Germany

Death: 23 January 1916, Seabeck, Kitsap County, Washington

Relatives in Seabeck Cemetery: Edward Voegele

American Revolutionary War Patriots*: None.

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

 

Barbara Voegele née Mueller was born on December 4, 1847, in Frankfurt, Germany, the daughter of Simon Mueller; her mother’s name is unknown. In 1873, seeking opportunity in a new land, Barbara immigrated to the United States. That same year, another German immigrant, Edward Voegele—born November 20, 1849, in Berlin to Robert Voegele—also arrived in America. Their journeys would soon converge.

Barbara settled in Michigan, and on September 11, 1875, she married Edward in Union City, Branch County. Together they began building a life marked by perseverance and movement across the growing nation. In 1881, while living in Wausau, Wisconsin, Barbara gave birth to their son, Emil Henry. Six years later, in 1887, their daughter, Emma Hilda, was born in Columbus, Ohio.

Around 1889, Barbara and Edward brought their young family west to Washington Territory, where they purchased a 160-acre homestead in the hills above Seabeck. There, Barbara helped establish and sustain the family farm, raising her children in the rugged but promising environment of the Puget Sound region. Life on the homestead demanded resilience, and Barbara was at the heart of the household during these formative years.

In 1902, the family moved to Seattle, where Edward found work first as a cook and later as a carman making deliveries by horse and wagon. Yet Seabeck remained home in spirit, and by 1907 Barbara and Edward had returned to their farm.

One colorful story preserved by Seabeck historians reflects the character of life during those years. A longtime resident recalled Edward hunting bear in his coveralls, carrying a small toy poodle tucked into the bib while armed with a double-barreled shotgun. On one occasion, after shooting at a bear as it leapt a log, Edward set the dog down to investigate. When the dog did not bark, he assumed the bear was dead—until he himself jumped the log and landed squarely on the very-much-alive animal. The bear tore off his clothes before he managed to scramble back to safety, remarkably uninjured. Such stories form part of the vivid frontier backdrop against which Barbara lived her daily life of work, family, and community.

Barbara died in Seabeck on January 23, 1916, at the age of sixty-eight. Her death certificate listed “cerebral hemorrhage” and “interstitial nephritis” as causes of death. The Kitsap Herald published her obituary on January 28, 1916, under the headline “Seabeck Pioneer Dies.” It noted that she had come to Puget Sound with her husband in 1889 to take up a homestead near Seabeck, where she lived for most of the remainder of her life. She was remembered as a pioneer woman of the community, and was survived by her husband and her daughter, Mrs. Arthur G. Davis, who lived near Seabeck.

After Barbara’s passing, Edward gradually sold portions of the homestead. By 1926, only twenty acres of the original 160 remained in his possession. He eventually moved to Seattle to live with their son Emil and worked intermittently as a laborer.

Edward died in Seattle on February 15, 1930, at the age of eighty, from pleurisy and “old age.” He was laid to rest beside Barbara in Seabeck Cemetery. 

 

Pearl Irene Veldee, 1900-1903

Headstone GPS Coordinates:

Birth: 21 Feb 1900, Seabeck, Kitsap County, Washington, USA

Death: 17 Jan 1903, Seabeck, Kitsap County, Washington, USA

Relatives in Seabeck Cemetery: Martha Veldee

American Revolutionary War Patriots*: None.

 

In the quiet, wooded Seabeck Cemetery lie two unmarked graves belonging to an infant and a toddler, Martha Veldee and Pearl Irene Veldee. They were the daughters of Norwegian immigrants Peder Pedersen Velde and Severine Salvesen—later known as Peter and Severine Veldee—who settled in Stavis Bay.

Peter Veldee was born July 2, 1859, in Rogaland, Norway, and trained as a schoolmaster. In 1882, he married fellow teacher Severine Salvesen of Kristiansand (born July 28, 1861). Their first child, Solveig (later known as Sophie), was born in 1883.

The family immigrated to the United States in 1885, settling in Hanley Falls, Minnesota. There  they had their son Conrad in 1886 and in 1888 they had another son named Willie.In 1889, the family traveled west to Seattle on an immigrant train equipped with a coal stove that allowed women to cook meals for their families along the journey. Upon arriving in Seattle, Peter worked as a carpenter while filing a claim for homestead land.

That same year, on June 6, 1889, the Great Seattle Fire destroyed 25 city blocks. Years later, Conrad recalled that his mother took the three children to the top of Denny Hill so they could watch the fire sweep through the city.

By October 1889, Peter had arranged for a man to help row the family and their belongings by boat from Seattle into Hood Canal. The four-day journey ended at their homestead site at Stavis Bay, south of Scenic Beach. The land included tidelands and offered sweeping views of the Olympic Peninsula.

Peter built a cabin using planks and cedar shakes salvaged from a burned mill at Seabeck. He cleared stumps, planted vegetables and fruit trees, and raised chickens. The family sold eggs to a grocery store in Seattle through the Seabeck store and earned additional income splitting cedar shakes.

Native Americans—likely members of the Skokomish Tribe—sometimes arrived by canoe and stopped to ask for milk for their babies. Peter learned some Chinook jargon to communicate with them. Conrad was often sent to hunt deer or ducks for food, and on one occasion he and his sister Solveig, both under the age of ten, caught a salmon so large they could not lift it into their rowboat. Instead, they dragged it behind the boat to shore.

The Veldee family continued to grow: Milton was born in 1890, shortly after the move to Seabeck; Martha was born in 1893 but tragically died later that same year and was buried in Seabeck Cemetery; Ida was born in 1894; Harry followed in 1896.

In 1897, Peter became an American citizen. At that time, he officially changed the family name from Velde to Veldee to make pronunciation easier.

On February 21, 1900, a daughter named Pearl Irene was born. Family accounts say she became suddenly ill at age two and died on January 17, 1903, in Seabeck. She was likely buried beside her sister Martha in Seabeck Cemetery, though no grave markers exist.

The last child, Nina May, was born in 1903.

The family lived on the homestead for fifteen years, during which time the boys learned carpentry skills that would serve them throughout their lives.

In 1903, the family moved to Bremerton so the boys could attend school. Peter purchased 30 acres in Central Valley at the intersection of Bucklin Hill and Fairgrounds Road, where he raised Jersey cattle and operated a truck garden.

Several Veldee children went on to distinguished careers, including education, carpentry, real estate, and medicine. Most notably, Milton Veldee became a physician and medical researcher, developing a scarlet fever antitoxin and serving for decades with the U.S. military and the National Institutes of Health.

In 1919, Severine died of the Spanish flu while living in Bremerton. Peter continued to live on the farm until his death in 1933. Both Peter and Severine are buried at Ivy Green Cemetery, where their graves are marked.

 

 

Martha Veldee, 1893-1893

Headstone GPS Coordinates: 

Birth: 1893 Seabeck, Kitsap County, Washington, USA

Death: 1893, Seabeck, Kitsap County, Washington, USA

Relatives in Seabeck Cemetery: Pearl Irene Veldee

American Revolutionary War Patriots*: None.

 

In the quiet, wooded Seabeck Cemetery lie two unmarked graves belonging to an infant and a toddler, Martha Veldee and Pearl Irene Veldee. They were the daughters of Norwegian immigrants Peder Pedersen Velde and Severine Salvesen—later known as Peter and Severine Veldee—who settled in Stavis Bay.

Peter Veldee was born July 2, 1859, in Rogaland, Norway, and trained as a schoolmaster. In 1882, he married fellow teacher Severine Salvesen of Kristiansand (born July 28, 1861). Their first child, Solveig (later known as Sophie), was born in 1883.

The family immigrated to the United States in 1885, settling in Hanley Falls, Minnesota. There  they had their son Conrad in 1886 and in 1888 they had another son named Willie.In 1889, the family traveled west to Seattle on an immigrant train equipped with a coal stove that allowed women to cook meals for their families along the journey. Upon arriving in Seattle, Peter worked as a carpenter while filing a claim for homestead land.

That same year, on June 6, 1889, the Great Seattle Fire destroyed 25 city blocks. Years later, Conrad recalled that his mother took the three children to the top of Denny Hill so they could watch the fire sweep through the city.

By October 1889, Peter had arranged for a man to help row the family and their belongings by boat from Seattle into Hood Canal. The four-day journey ended at their homestead site at Stavis Bay, south of Scenic Beach. The land included tidelands and offered sweeping views of the Olympic Peninsula.

Peter built a cabin using planks and cedar shakes salvaged from a burned mill at Seabeck. He cleared stumps, planted vegetables and fruit trees, and raised chickens. The family sold eggs to a grocery store in Seattle through the Seabeck store and earned additional income splitting cedar shakes.

Native Americans—likely members of the Skokomish Tribe—sometimes arrived by canoe and stopped to ask for milk for their babies. Peter learned some Chinook jargon to communicate with them. Conrad was often sent to hunt deer or ducks for food, and on one occasion he and his sister Solveig, both under the age of ten, caught a salmon so large they could not lift it into their rowboat. Instead, they dragged it behind the boat to shore.

The Veldee family continued to grow: Milton was born in 1890, shortly after the move to Seabeck; Martha was born in 1893 but tragically died later that same year and was buried in Seabeck Cemetery; Ida was born in 1894; Harry followed in 1896.

In 1897, Peter became an American citizen. At that time, he officially changed the family name from Velde to Veldee to make pronunciation easier.

On February 21, 1900, a daughter named Pearl Irene was born. Family accounts say she became suddenly ill at age two and died on January 17, 1903, in Seabeck. She was likely buried beside her sister Martha in Seabeck Cemetery, though no grave markers exist.

The last child, Nina May, was born in 1903.

The family lived on the homestead for fifteen years, during which time the boys learned carpentry skills that would serve them throughout their lives.

In 1903, the family moved to Bremerton so the boys could attend school. Peter purchased 30 acres in Central Valley at the intersection of Bucklin Hill and Fairgrounds Road, where he raised Jersey cattle and operated a truck garden.

Several Veldee children went on to distinguished careers, including education, carpentry, real estate, and medicine. Most notably, Milton Veldee became a physician and medical researcher, developing a scarlet fever antitoxin and serving for decades with the U.S. military and the National Institutes of Health.

In 1919, Severine died of the Spanish flu while living in Bremerton. Peter continued to live on the farm until his death in 1933. Both Peter and Severine are buried at Ivy Green Cemetery, where their graves are marked.