MOST OF US have visited a cemetery. Often it’s to put something on a loved one’s grave marker. Sometimes we spend time cleaning the grave marker. Often, we have fond memories of that person. Other people, though, will not set foot in a cemetery simply because they do not want to be reminded of their own eventual death.
When you visit a cemetery, is it like standing in a sea of grave markers? Who were these people? What was their story? Moss-covered grave markers testify to lost stories.
It’s a small world, it seems. I was talking about a tragic family event in Minnesota near Estherville, Iowa. The person told me they were from Estherville. What are the odds? Has that ever happened to you?
There is a rather common grave marker at Mt. Angeles Cemetery. It marks the graves of Thomas and Lida Trumbell. Thomas died in 1944, 81 years ago. Lida died in 1952. What stories marked their lives? How did they impact our community?
When I started researching for this column, I discovered that two families significant to local history started in Cresco, Iowa. What are the odds?
Thomas Trumbell was born in Cresco, Iowa, on Feb. 29, 1868. He was one among 12 siblings. The story of Thomas Trumbell also shows us how small the world can be. Another local family, the Websters, also were from Cresco, Iowa.
The Websters were newspaper people. They owned and operated the Port Angeles Evening News. Trumbull’s sister, Jesse, married Edward Barton Webster. Locally, there is a park named after Jesse, and she was the driving force behind starting a local council of Camp Fire Girls in Port Angeles. Jesse also was instrumental in establishing the Carnegie Library on Lincoln Street.
Thomas Trumbull studied law, becoming a lawyer. In 1897, Trumbull came to Port Townsend. He married Lida Plant Brown in Port Townsend on July 20, 1897. Shortly after, Trumbull went to Alaska during the Klondike Gold Rush (1896-1899). He had a law office there for 15 months. Trumbull kept a small container of gold dust as a souvenir of that adventure.
Trumbull came to Port Angeles in 1900 to deal with legal matters concerning the planned Port Angeles Eastern Railroad. Great dreams surrounded that railroad, but it did not pan out.
Thomas Trumbull and his brother John established a law office in Seattle. Seeing the great potential of Port Angeles and the surrounding natural resources, the brothers decided to set up an office in Port Angeles. Thomas took charge of that office.
Trumbull dealt with several historic cases. In one case, charges were brought against some local businessmen for “deporting” some people. A number of people who were alleged to be “wobblies” were bought one-way tickets out of town and instructed never to return. The “wobblies” were members of the IWW, the Industrial Workers of the World.
Trumbull successfully defended the businessmen. It appears Port Angeles was not particularly friendly to union organizers in the early 1900s.
A far more significant matter came up in the early 1920s.
During World War I, the United States needed aircraft-grade Sitka Spruce to build military aircraft. The private sector failed to provide enough wood. Therefore, the Spruce Production Division of the U.S. Army Signal Corps was created in 1917. Work began in earnest. The railroad was being built between Disque Junction and Lake Pleasant. A mill and a hotel were under construction. It was quite staggering the amount of work performed in such a short period of time.
World War I ended on Nov. 11, 1918. When the armistice was signed, the Spruce Production Division was shut down.
As a result, logging ended, construction projects were stopped, and equipment and property were sold at auction. A legal issue centered on the taxes levied by Clallam County against the Spruce Production Division’s property.
At stake was $100,000 in taxes for the years 1919, 1920 and 1921. Clallam County had placed all the railroads, sawmills, timber lands and property onto its tax rolls.
The Spruce Production Division took the matter to the U.S. District Court, which exempted the Spruce Production Division from taxes. On appeal, the Circuit Court of Appeals declared they were not clear on the legal matters regarding jurisdiction. So, the Court of Appeals certified the case to go before the U.S. Supreme Court.
The Supreme Court had two questions to answer: 1) Did the District Court of the United States have jurisdiction? And 2) Was the property held by the Spruce Production Division subject to state taxation?
For Clallam County, Thomas Trumbull, along with John Fletcher and S. Warburton of Tacoma, argued the case before the court on Nov. 15, 1923. Trumbull argued that the Spruce Production Division was a corporation, and it was not part of the government. Therefore, the Spruce Production Division should bear all the burdens of a corporation, including taxes.
The Solicitor General argued that the United States had conveyed all land and property to the Spruce Production Division, and it was, therefore, exempt from taxation.
The Supreme Court made its decision on Nov. 26, 1923. Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr., delivered the court’s opinion. The court concluded that the Spruce Production Division was organized by the United States as a means for carrying out the war. Therefore, the Spruce Production Division and all its properties were exempt from taxes.
Even though Trumbull’s arguments failed to sway the court, it was a very significant opportunity to be able to argue before the Supreme Court of the United States.
Trumbull also was deeply involved in our community. In 1900, he joined the Elks Naval Lodge as member 121. He was Exalted Ruler in 1912.
Trumbull also was a passionate member of Rotary International, becoming one of the early members of the Port Angeles club.
Trumbull also was 32nd-degree Mason in the Port Angeles Lodge.
Lida Trumbull was involved in the Daughters of the American Revolution and the Port Angeles Reading Club.
Port Angeles was truly their home.
He is quoted to have said he “liked to live where he could speak to nearly everyone in the place and could enter as a friend half the houses in town.”
Trumbull suffered from coronary artery disease for two years. On April 29, 1944, he died from a coronary thrombosis.
A cemetery may look like a sea of grave markers. Remember, there are stories tucked away there, too.
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John McNutt is a descendant of Clallam County pioneers and treasurer of the North Olympic History Center Board of Directors. He can be reached at woodrowsilly@gmail.com.
McNutt’s Clallam history column appears the first Saturday of every month.
