Peterfield Turpin (1840-1891)

    Peterfield Turpin was a native Kentuckian who found business and political fame in the Washington Territory. Little could be found on this Washington Territorial pioneer, except a small write-up in the 1891 Olympia Tribune Souvenir Issue. Turpin was born in Warsaw, Gallatin County, Kentucky on May 3, 1840, the son of Edward Augustus (1804-1880) and Elizabeth January Satterwhite Turpin. No information could be found about Turpin's early years or education, and it is assumed that he received his education in the Gallatin County area.

   Peterfield Turpin turned 18 in 1858 and it was in this year that he received an appointment as a deputy surveyor under James Tilton (a past Washington Territory Adjutant General) and together the two served in the General Land Office in Olympia for a few years. In September 1861 Turpin married Ms. Eunice Maria Harned and eventually had four children, who are listed as follows: Edward Augustus (birthdate unknown), Frank Blair (born 1866), Jesse Bright (birthdate unknown), and Mary Elizabeth (born 1871). 

   Within a few years of settling in the Olympia area, Turpin was mentioned in the Olympia Tribune Souvenir as being "a capitalist, well provided as far as this life is concerned." Also during this time, Turpin began to seek political office, and in 1869 was elected as auditor of Stevens County, Washington. Further political honors were accorded to him in 1875 when he was named as Sergeant-at-Arms of the Washington Territorial Assembly.

A Washington Territorial Assembly roster from 1883 bearing Peterfield Turpin's name.

   In addition to his service as Sergeant-at-Arms of the Assembly, Turpin was elected to a term of his own in the legislature in 1883 (representing Thurston County.) He served a two-year term in the territorial legislature and while his tenure in the state government may have been short, he had "many cases of trust and importance within the gift of his fellow citizens."

  Little else could be found on the life of Peterfield Turpin. An October 20, 1891 edition of the Olympia Tribune highlights a court case that notes Turpin being "non campus mentus", and that for the previous nine years had been "of unsound mind, from that affliction of the body by paralysis." Turpin died two months later on December 24, 1891, in Los Angeles, California, and was later interred at the Evergreen Cemetery in Los Angeles. He was survived by his wife Eunice, who died in San Diego, California in September 1915. The rare portrait of Turpin shown above was featured in the Olympia Tribune Souvenir Issue of 1891 and was originally found via the Olympia Historical Society's website.

Hyrcanus Blackman (1847-1921)

    A prominent businessman, political figure, and lumber merchant active in the Washington Territory, Hyrcanus Blackman was born on January 4, 1847, in Bradley, Maine, one of six children born to Adam and Mary Howard Blackman. He received his education in the public schools of Maine and later went on to study at the Westbrook Seminary for a time. The Illustrated History of Skagit and Snohomish Counties notes that Blackman later graduated from the Charles Wells Business College in New Haven, Connecticut. Following his graduation, Blackman taught school for a short period but eventually joined his two older brothers Alanson and Elhanan in the manufacture of lumber. Hyrcanus married on May 17, 1870, in Maine to Ms. Ella Knapp, with whom he would have two children, Clifford (born 1884) and Eunice (born 1887).
   Born into a family long active in the Maine lumber industry, Hyrcanus and his two brothers migrated from their native Maine to the Washington Territory in 1872, eventually settling in the county of Snohomish. It was here that the three Blackman brothers soon began plotting their business future, and within a few years of their resettlement had built up a very lucrative lumber and logging business. This business eventually grew to include a large sawmill and a mercantile store, the latter being under the supervision of Hyrcanus. 
  

           From Volume II of The History of the Pacific Northwest: Oregon and Washington (1889).

   While the two older Blackman brothers were the prime movers in this burgeoning logging industry, it was Hyrcanus alone who became active in politics in the territory. In 1878 the county of Snohomish elected him to the Washington Territorial Legislature. In addition to his burgeoning political career, Hyrcanus also began to develop his own business interests in the county, building his own general store in the mid-1880s and later constructing the luxurious Penobscot Hotel in 1888.
   In 1890, Blackman's political star rose again when he was chosen as the first Mayor of the city of Snohomish (which had incorporated itself as a city that same year). Research on his term notes that he served until December 1890, when the new city elected Emory Ferguson. Although some sources list Blackman as the Snohomish's "inaugural" mayor, other sources record the aforementioned Ferguson as the first true holder of the office. 
  Throughout the remaining years of his life, Blackman continued with his earlier business interests in the Snohomish area. He briefly returned to political life in 1904 when he served as a delegate from Washington to the Democratic National Convention that nominated Alton B. Parker for the presidency. Hyrcanus Blackman died at his mansion in Snohomish on June 1, 1921, at age 74 and was survived by his wife Ella, two children, and brothers Alanson and Elhanan. He was later interred at the Grand Army of the Republic Cemetery in Snohomish. In addition to the above, Blackman's unusual first name stems from a long-forgotten King of Judea and a Jewish priest named Hyrcanus. As an emperor, Hyrcanus was condemned to death by Emperor Herod in 30 B.C.