Frederick Prosch, 1848-1901
Headstone GPS Coordinates:
Birth: 7 August 1848, Brooklyn, New York City, New York County, New York
Death: 24 August 1901, Seabeck, Kitsap County, Washington
Relatives in Seabeck Cemetery: None.
American Revolutionary War Patriots*: William Reynolds (New York) DAR# A095893; Daniel Conkling (New York) DAR# A024978; Nathaniel Rowe SR (New York) DAR# A099195; DAR# John Lamoreux (New York) A068227
Disclaimer: These lines have not been officially proven by NSDAR standards.
If you know Seattle’s early history, the names Denny and Yesler likely ring a bell. These pioneer families built their fortunes in timber and lumber, laying the foundation for Seattle’s rise into a major city. But while those names are etched into the city’s legacy of sawmills and shipping, another family—the Prosch family—made their mark in an entirely different way: through newspapers.
At the center of that story were Charles Prosch and his youngest son, Thomas, both prominent figures in early Seattle society. Today, their graves rest in Lakeview Cemetery on Capitol Hill, alongside Seattle’s most recognizable founders: Henry Yesler, Thomas Mercer, and Arthur Denny. Yet one more Prosch—less known, though no less fascinating—took a different path. That man was Frederick “Fred” Prosch, who left behind the bustle of city life to carve out a quieter existence in Seabeck, among farmers, loggers, and laborers.
Frederick Prosch was born on August 6, 1848, in Brooklyn, New York. His father, Charles, was the son of German immigrants from Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, while his mother, Susan Conkling, came from an old American family rooted in Orange County, New York. Fred grew up with three siblings: James (1846), Thomas (1850), and Emma (1854).
Fred’s father, Charles, had worked in the newspaper trade since boyhood, though he occasionally took painting jobs in construction when money was tight to support his family. His true passion, however, was printing. Sometime around 1853 or 1854, he traveled west to San Francisco to work for the Daily Alta California. Once settled, he sent for his family, who joined him within the year. Their time in California was brief: by 1858 Charles accepted an invitation from Lafayette Balch, founder of Steilacoom in Washington Territory, to establish a newspaper in the new town. Before leaving San Francisco, tragedy struck—the family lost young Emma in 1858.
In Steilacoom, Charles founded the Puget Sound Herald with George W. Lee. The partnership was short-lived, but the paper thrived, fueled by its reporting on the Fraser River gold strike. The news spread across Washington, Oregon, and California, spurring a gold rush and even boosting Steilacoom’s economy. In gratitude, Balch granted Charles land. But competition from new papers eventually took its toll, and by 1864 the Herald folded.
By then, Charles had begun teaching his trade to his sons. The eldest, James, showed promise but tragically died at age thirteen, likely of illness. That left only Fred and Thomas to carry forward their father’s legacy in the press.
In 1867, Charles purchased the Overland Press in Olympia, renaming it the Pacific Tribune. Fred and Thomas learned the craft as printers and writers, gaining entry into the growing social circles of Washington’s pioneering elite.
Before Fred committed himself fully to the printing trade, he explored a variety of other occupations. Between 1864 and 1867, he worked as a store clerk, drove a team, and even spent time in a lumber camp, according to a family memoir. During this period, he also lived for a year in Victoria, British Columbia, where he gained valuable experience at the Victoria Colonist newspaper. There, he set type by hand—carefully arranging individual pieces of metal letters, numbers, and symbols into words and lines to form the pages that would go to press.
On New Year’s Day, 1869, twenty-year-old Fred married Helen M. Elder, daughter of Alfred R. Elder—an Oregon pioneer and Indian agent for Puget Sound, appointed by President Abraham Lincoln in 1862. Fred and Helen soon welcomed their first child, Wells Chester, in Olympia in 1870.
On January 23, 1871, Fred, along with his father, brother, and other notable settlers, including Marshall Blinn of Seabeck, helped found the Washington Pioneer Association—an organization that remains active today.
Later that year, Fred moved his family to Portland, Oregon where their daughter Mabel was born soon after their arrival. Fred went to work with the Oregonian newspaper from 1873 to 1877.
The Proschs’ lives were marked by both growth and sorrow. In 1873, a daughter, Susan Pearl, was born near Olympia, only to die in infancy and be buried in Salem, Oregon.
In 1877, Fred moved his family to San Francisco to work at the San Francisco Call newspaper. Another daughter, Grace Cecilia, born in San Francisco in 1880, lived only two years before succumbing to “lung fever.” She, too, was laid to rest in Salem beside her sister.
Despite these losses, Fred pressed on in his career. In 1882, the family settled in Seattle, where Fred joined his brother Thomas at the Seattle Post-Intelligencer. In 1891, he rose to foreman of both the Seattle Post-Intelligencer and the Press-Times. He purchased land and built two houses while living in Seattle.
In 1891, Fred purchased 160 acres along Big Beef Creek in Seabeck, though he remained in Seattle until 1894. When he finally made the move, it seemed he was seeking a change—from the bustle of city life to the rhythms of a small, close-knit community where he could work the land. On his acreage he cleared fields and raised cattle, pigs, chickens, and even kept bees. Farming, however, proved less profitable than he had hoped. By 1898, Fred was juggling multiple responsibilities: serving as foreman of two Seattle newspapers, justice of the peace in Seabeck, wharfinger, postmaster, and merchant at the Seabeck Store. He also maintained ties to Seattle through his membership in the Columbia Lodge of United Workmen and the North Seattle Baptist Church.
But tuberculosis loomed large in Seattle at the turn of the century, and Fred fell victim. After a year-long illness, he died at his home in Seabeck on August 24, 1901, at the age of fifty-three. His son Wells succeeded him as Justice of the Peace, while his widow Helen continued as Seabeck’s postmistress.
Fred was buried in Seabeck Cemetery, his grave marked by a distinctive cylindrical headstone—a style fashionable briefly in the early 1900s but abandoned soon after for its difficulty to engrave. Though the plot appears large enough to hold more family members, Helen and their children eventually moved to Tacoma and were buried there instead.
The Prosch family left an indelible mark on Washington’s history. Charles, the patriarch, published Reminiscences of Washington Territory in 1904, a book still available today that recounts his experiences in the territory’s earliest days. Thomas, meanwhile, became the best-known of the family, remembered for his role as Seattle’s postmaster and, more importantly, for his work preserving Washington’s pioneer history. One of Thomas’s scrapbooks was found in the attic of the Seabeck Store where Fred used to work.
Thomas’s historic photo collection is now called the “The Prosch Albums” and is now at the University of Washington libraries. They can be viewed for free online at: https://content.lib.washington.edu/prosch_washingtonweb/index.html
Thomas also built what is now The Prosch House aka The German House. It still stands today, although its future is uncertain at this point. Readers can find out more information about it here: Thomas Prosch House
As for Fred, his story may not be as widely told, but it remains one of resilience, community, and quiet influence. His legacy lies not only in ink and paper but in the community he helped shape and serve.
Special note: In 1913, Thomas Prosch became a member of the Sons of the American Revolution Society. He joined the Seattle chapter. If Fred lived long enough, he likely would have joined SAR, too.