William Morton Bowlby 11 (Thomas 8) Obituary

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: WILLIAM MORTON BOWLBY : ( 07 Oct. 1866 - 29 Jul 1948 ) : (William Morton Bowlby 11, William 10, Joseph 9, Thomas 8) : Funeral services for William Morton Bowlby, West End pioneer and beloved resident of Forks, were held Wednesday afternoon at the Congregational Church in Forks at 2pm. Rev. Robert Baldwin, Pastor at the Neah Bay Presbyterian Church, conducted the services. Musical selection were rendered by Mrs. Thomas Mansfield who was accompanied by Mrs. U S Ford at the piano. : William Morton Bowlby passed away in a Port Angeles Hospital Sunday evening following a lingering illness of several years and was at the time of his death 81 years, nine months and eighteen days old. : Born in Sharpsville, IN October 7, 1866, he attended school there and later went to college at Indianapolis. : December 28, 1892 he was married to Lula B Henderson at Whiteland, Indiana and to this union was born 3 children, 2 daughters and a son. : Mr. Bowlby first came to Port Angeles 50 years ago and shortly after that time came to Forks with Harvey Lesure. It was here that he took up a homestead and timber claim. In 1901 his wife and 2 children came west to Forks. The trip was made from Seattle to Clallam Bay via boat. From there the party continued in a covered wagon and after a hard day of travel over "punching" road spent the night at the half-way house near what is now Sappho. Bright and early the next morning the travelers continued on to Forks, reaching here in the evening. the family remained here and also lived at Quillayute, returning to the east in 1901. Mr. Bowlby returned to Forks in a short time to look after business interests. : It was in 1902 that Mr. Bowlby was appointed deputy county assessor and later deputy county treasurer. : In 1903 he again left for the east where he was employed until 1925 at various positions which included being a salesman in charge of a large area, a reporter on the Indianapolis News; court reporter at Indianapolis and a buyer for a livestock yard at St. Louis, IL. : Returning to Forks in 1925, he was employed on a number of different jobs. In the 30's he was appointed Justice of the Peace for the area surrounding Forks and it was from this position that he gained the name "Judge" by which he was always called until his death. : Judge Bowlby had a great love for the ocean and in the later 30's he and his partner built a cabin at Jackson Creek to which they retreated in 1937 "to get away from the world." They lived there for more than a year and then moved back to Forks. However, every summer until just recently the Judge spent a vacation at his cabin usually accompanied by one of his grandsons. : Judge Bowlby was a member of the Odd Fellows Lodge, the Sons of the American Revolution, and the Presbyterian Church in Port Angeles. : Surviving relatives include his 2 daughters, Ruth H Spaulding of Sharpsville, IN and Lucy Phoebe Gehres of CA and his son Wm H Bowlby of Clallam Bay; 13 grandchildren and 14 great-grandchildren. : SOURCE: http://www.olypen.com/rfoss/pioneerobitb.html#bowlbywm : transcripts of obituaries for some early Clallam County (Washington) citizens who were advanced in years, and therefore, the pioneers of this county. They come from the Port Angeles Evening News and it's successors, The Daily News, and The Peninsula Daily News unless otherwise noted. They often contain interesting bits of local color and history.