Whidbey Island, Washington Territory Like the god of a new world, Isaac Ebey stood on the shore of the settlement at the base of the Puget Sound. A great mountain range at the center of the peninsula beyond left him paralyzed, reverent.  The dark tree line gave an impression of jagged teeth against the whiteness…

Mrs. Emma Taylor was a seamstress in Seattle before she became the city’s first Police Matron.  Taylor was her married name.  The surname that once described her origins in Devon, England, was Hayman. Similarly apt for her father’s occupation as a farmer.  She came with her younger brother, William, to the states aboard the ship…

Olympia, Washington – 1905 A brown bear was captive in Mr. Brown’s Curiosity Shop on Sixth Street in Olympia, Washington. A cub, trained to roll over and stand on his hind legs to the delight of the customers. The bear made frequent attempts to escape, despite Mr. Brown’s best efforts to civilize and seduce it…

“He has usurped the prerogative of Jehovah himself, claiming it as his right to assign for her a sphere of action, when that belongs to her conscience and her God.“ Elizabeth Cady Stanton, The Declaration of Sentiments “Ida Clare” was one of Lelia Robinson’s chosen pseudonyms. Used for her weekly columns on Boston society, published…

The University was stately, rivaling the Territorial Capital building in Olympia – which cost just as much to build.  The early leaders of Seattle elected to house the University in place of the territory’s capital – believing enlightenment to offer greater yields than government.  Arthur Denny gifted the Territory with the land to build it…

In her official capacity as President of the Suffrage Club in Olympia, Mrs. Mary Olney Brown accompanied Susan B. Anthony to Seattle that All Hallows Eve.  Mrs. Abigail Scott Duniway of the regional suffrage publication, The New Northwest, sent her husband along to ensure their safety.  Anthony had been invited to address the territorial legislature…

Mary Olney Brown and her sister Emily had come with the Oregon Trail.  They’d prepared for this opportunity since the moment they arrived.  Being in their mid-late twenties at the time of the Seneca Falls Convention and the start of the movement in 1848, they had both nurtured the hope that they were called upon…