See letters, photographs and other ephemera from two of Seattle's early families.
Township Plats of King County, Washington Territory - Page 10, Township 26N, Range 3E
This atlas shows early land ownership for King County, Washington, providing names and property boundaries of original purchasers, grantees, claimants, etc.
Identifier: spl_map_218451_P10_T26N_R3E
Date: 1889
Two unknown children, ca. 1880
Identifier: spl_lj_028
Date: 1880
"Monterey" gunboat in Port Orchard dry dock, ca. 1896
Transcribed from back of photograph: "A near view of the gunboat Monterey in the dry dock at Port Orchard, 10 miles from Seattle on opposite side of Puget Sound. This is taken looking toward the stern of the boat." The Port Orchard Dry Dock mentioned in the caption is likely the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard.
Identifier: spl_lj_061
Date: 1896
Group of three Native Americans, ca. 1897
Identity of the men and location of the photograph unknown. Time period provided is estimated.
Identifier: spl_lj_069
Date: 1897
Narcissa Latimer letter to Alexander Latimer, September 19, 1869
Narcissa Leonora (Nora) Latimer Denny was the daughter of Alexander and Sarah Latimer. She had four sisters: Eliza Alice Latimer Fowler (1856-1934), Harriet Ellen Latimer Stephens (1859-1938), Clara Latimer Bickford (1861-1934), and Emma Chesney Latimer Reynolds (1864-1946). Narcissa married Orion Denny on April 1, 1889. The letter is addressed to her father, Alexander, and discusses her schooling, desire to take vocal classes and other family matters. The letter is written from Macomb, Illinois.
Identifier: spl_lj_007
Date: 1869-09-19
Unknown young woman, ca. 1880
Exact date and location of the photograph are unknown.
Identifier: spl_lj_047
Date: 1880
Emma Chesney Latimer Reynolds, ca. 1880
Emma Chesney Latimer Reynolds was the daughter of Alexander and Sarah Latimer and sister to Narcissa Latimer. Emma married Charles Reynolds in 1886 in Minnesota.
Identifier: spl_lj_020
Date: 1880
Narcissa Latimer Denny, ca. 1885
Narcissa Latimer Denny was the daughter of Alexander and Sarah Latimer. She had four sisters: Eliza Alice Latimer Fowler (1856-1934), Harriet Ellen Latimer Stephens (1859-1938), Clara Latimer Bickford (1861-1934), and Emma Chesney Latimer Reynolds (1864-1946). Narcissa married Orion Denny on April 1, 1889.
Identifier: spl_lj_046
Date: 1885
Massacre on the Washington coast
Parker McAllister, born in 1903 in Massachusetts, was a Seattle Times artist from 1924 to 1965. McAllister started his career as an illustrator at 14 for a Spokane publication; he joined the art staff at the Seattle Times in 1920. His first Sunday magazine cover was a poster-type illustration celebrating the University of Washington crew races in spring 1924. During McAllister's career, he created illustrations depicting “local color” events and situations now routinely handled by photographers. As the technology improved, he expanded his repertoire - he illustrated articles, drew covers for special sections and the weekly Seattle Sunday Times Magazine, and drew diagrams, comics, cartoons, and portraits for the Times’ editorial page. In 1956, an exhibition of his watercolor and oil paintings of Pacific Northwest scenes and historical incidents - including some paintings from the “Discovery of the Pacific Northwest” series - were exhibited at the Washington State Historical Society Museum in Tacoma. He was also a member of the Puget Sound Group of Men Painters. McAllister retired from the Seattle Times in 1965; he passed away in Arizona in 1970.
Identifier: spl_art_291985_15.139
Date: 1955
Clara Latimer Bickford letter to Alexander Latimer, May 21, 1893
Clara Latimer Bickford was the daughter of Alexander and Sarah Latimer and sister of Narcissa Leonora Latimer Denny. She married Arthur Farrington Bickford in 1888 in Minnesota. They lived in Seattle from roughly 1892-1900 before moving to Oregon. In the letter, Clara discusses the health of her mother, Sarah, and the activities of her daughter, Ethel.
Identifier: spl_lj_003
Date: 1893-05-21