A 1934 book about one of the pioneering families of Seattle. It is largely based on extensive interviews with the subject of the title.
The author was my great-grandmother.
Eliza Leary’s father, a friend of Abraham Lincoln's, was appointed as the governor of Washington Territory (before it became a state) by President Ulysses S. Grant. When Washington achieved statehood in 1889, Governor Ferry was elected by the populace to be the first State Governor (he's still the longest-serving governor in state history). He was instrumental in the construction of the state capital building, the Seattle Public Library, and many other landmarks. Several streets and landmarks are named after him.
He and his daughter were also in the first party to scale Mount Rainier.
Eliza was one of the founders in 1907 of Children’s Orthopedic Hospital, where I spent the last eight years of my career. She was also co-founder of the Washington chapters of the American Red Cross and the Daughters of the American Revolution.
The Ferry family was instrumental in the establishment of Seattle as the jumping-off point, and hence provisioning stop, for prospectors going to Alaska for the 1897 Klondike Gold Rush. She was also instrumental (her father died in 1901) in siting the Alaska-Yukon-Pacific exposition of 1909 in Seattle, which provided many of the buildings on the campus of the University of Washington.
The copy I bought, online from Powell's Books in Portland, was autographed by the author, and somebody slipped a couple black & white photographs of the original Children's Hospital building into the chapter on it. There are two other copies in the family, given to my grandparents by the author. Dunno how many were printed. Can't imagine very many.
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