Page:Oregon Historical Quarterly volume 16.djvu/301

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Obituary
276c

Point—West Seattle of the present day—on Nov. 13, 1851, and twenty-four persons—twelve adults and twelve children—disembarked; several of them remained there, and thus became the first settlers and founders of Seattle. Miss Denny's father took a claim of three hundred and twenty acres on Feb. 15, 1852, under the Oregon donation land law of September 27, 1850, and in the subsequent years this came to be the site of what at the present day is the heart of Seattle. On the death of her father and mother she inherited an ample fortune. This was most liberally used in promoting- the public welfare, particularly for the support of charitable institutions, schools, churches, and for perpetuating the memory of pioneers. She is survived by four brothers and one sister, all residents of Seattle.

Mrs. Beecher was the wife of Captain H. F. Beecher, a son of the Rev. Henry Ward Beecher, the famous preacher and lecturer of Brooklyn, New York. She and her husband went to Washington Territory more than thirty years ago, and for a few years made their home at Port Townsend, where he was engaged in steamboat service, both as master and pilot. About twenty years ago this family removed to Seattle, and there, Mrs. Beecher became a recognized leader in literary, musical and art circles, and achieved an enviable reputation as a portrait painter.

The untimely and tragic death of these four persons, so closely associated in supporting institutions for public service, is not only an irreparable loss to the immediate relatives, and the organizations to which they contributed most liberally, but also to a wide circle of intimate friends. And of the latter, none can be more deeply affected than the writer of the foregoing feeble tribute to their worth, because of the cordial relations which have existed for more than fifty years between the first three named and himself.

George H. Himes.