The Oldest Settler in Washington Dies—and He Left a Peace Between Two Worlds
Thomas Stensgar came with the Hudson Bay Company, married into Chief Tomcomly’s family, and was called on to mediate between settlers and Indians.
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.
COLVILLE, Wash., Aug. 24.—Hon. Thomas Stensgar, who died very suddenly at his home near the town of Addy this week, had for several years been entitled to the distinction of being the oldest settler of the state living. Mr. Stensgar was born in Scotland upon the same date that Queen Victoria first saw the light of day, and came to the state of Washington in the employ of the Hudson Bay Company in 1836, entering the Columbia River and landing somewhere in the neighborhood of where the city of Vancouver now stands. He traveled among the various posts of the company until 1847, when he severed his connection with them while at the post located near where the town of Marcus now stands, in this county. He at once married into the family of the noted Indian chief Tomcomly, his wife being a beautiful type of the red woman. The newly married couple took up their abode on the Colville River, twelve miles south of the site of this city, and built the only house for many years afterward standing between the post of the Hudson Bay Company at Marcus and that situated at Walla Walla.
Mr. Stensgar was a man of fair education and was of a very kind and amiable disposition, which he imparted to his many children, who survive him, and all of whom are the best citizens of the county. He was a man of temperate habits and possessed a good idea of business, which he always practiced, resulting in the building up of a very handsome fortune, the greater portion of which was cash. During the trying pioneer days the subject of this sketch was always looked upon both by the Indians and the whites as a mediator in all troubles which arose between them, and to him more than to any one else is due the fact that peace always prevailed. He was a Presbyterian by faith. His death resulted from paralysis, and came very suddenly. His funeral was very largely attended, the funeral services being conducted by Rev. Sidney Smith. Since the organization of the county Mr. Stensgar had been frequently called by the people to serve them in the capacity of county commissioner, but eschewed politics and always refused to accept any other office.
“During the trying pioneer days he was always looked upon both by the Indians and the whites as a mediator in all troubles which arose between them.”
Stensgar’s life shows how intimate and entangled settler and Indigenous histories were in Washington, even as the era’s laws and violence worked to dispossess Native nations. His story is a reminder that the state’s “pioneer” past was never racially separate, and that local histories often preserve those ties only in fragments.
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