Captain Herbert E. Farnsworth made the classic Western migration of a Civil War veteran after the war. Born in New York State, after the end of the war in 1865, Captain Farnsworth married. The Farnsworth’s first daughter was born in New York and by the time of the birth of their second daughter in 1871, the family was living in the town of Kidder, Caldwell County, Missouri. It was a railroad town and Captain Farnsworth, who worked as a carpenter, perhaps was attracted to the growing community where there would be work opportunities.
By or before 1890, the Farnsworth family moved to tiny Garfield County in the southeasternmost corner of Washington State. Captain Farnsworth’s name appeared there on the census of Civil War veterans which was done in 1890, for pension applications.
The Heaton family of New York had also migrated across the USA. Some of their children were born in Iowa and then finally the Heatons settled in Pomeroy, the county seat of Garfield County, Washington, in 1877. Mr. Heaton was a millwright, a mechanic who often worked at maintenance of sawmill equipment. Oscar, the Heaton’s eldest son, went to Seattle in 1890 and graduated with a law degree from the University of Washington. In 1895 Oscar married Viola, Captain Farnsworth’s eldest daughter. The couple moved to Seattle where Oscar had a long and successful law practice, and he also became a real estate investor.
The census of 1900 captured Viola Heaton and her little son, two-year-old Herbert Farnsworth Heaton, on a visit to Viola’s parents in Pomeroy, Garfield County, Washington. The visit, and the naming of their first grandchild in honor of Captain Farnsworth, seemed to show the closeness of the family. Ten years later, by the time of the 1910 census, Captain & Mrs. Farnsworth and Viola Farnsworth Heaton were all dead, and twelve-year-old Herbert Heaton was living with his aunt, his mother’s sister, Virginia.
Viola Heaton’s tragic story involved a “health farm” which later became known as Starvation Heights. An unqualified “health practitioner” was later convicted of manslaughter after several of the residents, including Viola, died of starvation.
Oscar & Viola Heaton had been living in the Fremont neighborhood of Seattle. After the death of Viola in 1909, Oscar Heaton made plans to start over again with a new wife, Elma, and a new house, so that he could have a place for his son Herbert to live with him. Oscar married Elma in 1910 and built a new house at 4202 Phinney Avenue North. Oscar & Elma lived in the house for about ten more years and had two children together. Oscar’s eldest son Herbert became a successful traffic engineer for the City of Los Angeles.
The house at 4202 Phinney is two-stories with good views out over its western and southern sides. The house has Austrian Alpine or Swiss Chalet design elements including a wide roof overhang, river rock cladding and a river rock fireplace. Decorative elements include tulip leaded-glass windows and archways between rooms.
Subsequent owners of the house at 4202 Phinney modified it into an apartment building with four units. Current residents of the apartments include the owners, and they love the charming design of the building and its convenient location in the Fremont neighborhood.
Sources:
Genealogical info including census and Find A Grave.
Seattle Department of Neighborhoods, Historic Sites Index; description of the house at 4202 Phinney Avenue North. Search the index under the address of the house, or choose neighborhood search “Fremont” to see all the listings.
Starvation Heights, by Gregg Olsen, 2005. Seattle Public Library 364.1523.