Lemuel Holgate, Early Seattle Settler, Dies at 58
Lemuel J. Holgate, who defended the city during the 1856 Indian War, dies at the age of 58.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
Lemuel J. Holgate, one of Seattle's early settlers, died of quick consumption yesterday morning at 4:45 o'clock at Providence hospital. Mr. Holgate was born at Trenton, Butler county, Ohio, October 19, 1834. In 1853, being then about 19 years old, he crossed the plains from Iowa, where he then lived, by means of an ox team, with his brother-in-law, Edward Hanford, his mother, two sisters and a brother and others. He first settled in Oregon, on the Willamette river, but in 1854 moved to Seattle, where he has ever since resided. After coming to Seattle he settled on a claim at Salmon bay, near what is now the city of Ballard, but after a short residence there abandoned it and took up a homestead on the west side of Lake Washington. In the memorable battle of February, 1856, between the white settlers of Seattle and the Klickitat and other Indians, who then invaded the town, Mr. Holgate took an active part. It was during this fight that his brother, Milton O. Holgate, was shot and instantly killed while standing in the doorway of the blockhouse on Cherry street.
“During the years of danger and hardship that ensued, when Seattle's outlook for the future was discouraging, his courage was of the best and his heart the stoutest.”
Lemuel J. Holgate's life spanned the era of Seattle's transformation from a frontier outpost to a growing city. His death marks the loss of a direct participant in the 1856 battle, an event that fundamentally shaped the city's relationship with the Indigenous peoples of the region.
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