The Passing of a Territorial Pioneer
James V. Odell, a prominent early lawyer and delegate to the first constitutional convention, dies at his ranch near Penawawa.
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.
James V. Odell, a well-known lawyer, politician and pioneer of the early seventies in this territory, died yesterday at his ranch near Penawawa. A year ago Mr. Odell was stricken with paralysis from which he never recovered. Mr. Odell was born in Maryland over 70 years ago. Later he emigrated to Missouri, and in 1872 he came to Washington, going directly to the Sound country, and later settling near Colfax. He was a delegate to the first constitutional convention held in Walla Walla and was the first lawyer to practice in Whitman county.
“He was a delegate to the first constitutional convention held in Walla Walla and was the first lawyer to practice in Whitman county.”
Odell’s career traces the path of many 19th-century pioneers who shaped Washington’s legal and political framework before it even achieved statehood. His death marks the passing of a generation that transitioned the region from a territory to an organized state.
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