Jonathan ‘Joc’ Salisbury
Jonathan 'Joc' Salisbury was already in his mid-40s when he and his family headed west in 1889. They landed first in Tacoma, where they purchased a hotel to run, then headed up to Alaska in 1890 to set up accommodations for miners up there. According to a family...
Wickliff and Ellen Newell
This article on the Wickliff Newell family appeared in last Spring's "Now & Then" newsletter of the South Whidbey Historical Society. A HARDSCRABBLE LIFE ON SOUTH WHIDBEY YIELDS SUCCESSLogging, farming and fishing were the three main occupations of...
Luther L. Moore
Luther L. Moore and His Revealed Remedy…. Imagine a natural remedy that would purify the blood and cure everything from asthma to venereal disease--including conditions in between such as ague, alcoholism, asthma, bowel problems, consumption, constipation,...
Virgil & Mabel Auvil
Virgil Auvil was born in 1896 in Auviltown, West Virginia, the eldest of 10 children. His father, Wayne, was a farmer who ventured west after his father died in 1909. He worked on farms in Snohomish County.After serving in WWI , Virgil and his brother, Ray, became...
Thomas John Johns and Mary Jane Johns
Thomas John Johns arrived as a 19-year-old on South Whidbey in 1859, shortly after Ed Oliver, but a little before William Johnson.He was born New Year’s Eve 1840 in Plymouth, England, the son of a British sea captain. Young ‘Tommy’ as he was called, became...
Austin ‘Deke’ Marshall
In 1937, Austin Marshall opened “Austin’s Store in Freeland. It was located along the highway and is more recently remembered as the Gay 90’s pizzeria.“Deke” was born in Langley in 1894 and died in Freeland in 1974. When asked why friends called him...
The Primavera Family
Joseph Primavera was born in Bologna, Italy and came to Seattle in 1899 where he owned and operated a saloon. Ten years prior, Victor’s mother, Martina had left Italy, to come to Seattle to work in her aunt’s boarding house.Joseph and Martina met, fell in...
Leon and Marie Burley in a 1981 interview about life on South Whidbey
If you want to know what life was like on South Whidbey in the 1920s and '30s, then watch this excerpt of an interview that Bill Steiner did in 1981 of his neighbors, Leon and Marie Burley, of Maxwelton. Leon's parents moved from Nebraska to the Ravenna...
Warren Farmer remembered…
Warren was honored as a tribal elder by the S’Kallam tribe. His family roots go back to the earliest written history of Whidbey Island.His great-grandmother, Emily Lowe Madsen, was a full S’Klallam tribal member from Sequim. She was married to Christian...
Ma Baker and Baker’s Corner Store
As South Whidbey developed, small stores and mercantiles dotted the coastline at Langley, Bush Point, old Clinton, Possession Point, Glendale, Maxwelton, Holmes Harbor and Austin (off Mutiny Bay). Later, as roads were developed, additional stores...
Julia Mackie
Think you have a tough commute? Consider the weekly one Miss Julia Mackie had in 1914.After graduating high school in Everett, Julia was hired as a teacher in a logging camp near present day Honeymoon Bay.It was a large Pope and Talbot logging camp (later...
Omer Porter
Found this fascinating article in our archives about Omer Porter, which was written by John Watkins and which appeared in the South Whidbey Record on October 7, 1980. It gives a glimpse into what life was like on South Whidbey around the turn of the last century....
WARREN FARMER: Bush Point’s Native Son Honored as a Tribal Elder
Another article from our recent newsletter: WARREN FARMER: Bush Point’s Native Son Honored as a Tribal Elder Charles “Warren” Farmer was honored as a tribal elder by the S’Kallam tribe at the Seven Cedars Resort outside of Sequim last March. Farmer’s family roots go...
Chief William Shelton: A Bridge Between Two Worlds
A Bridge Between Two Worlds: Chief William Shelton His Story Poles and Enduring Legacy Few Whidbey Islanders know of William Shelton. He was the last hereditary chief of the Snohomish Tribe and was born at Brown’s Point (now Sandy Point) on Whidbey Island in 1868. The...
Tommy Double’s Caramels Recipe..
Looking for a homemade Christmas candy recipe? You may want to make this recipe (below) for caramels by one of South Whidbey Good Cheer's founders, Hanna "Tommy" Double. The recipe is from the original Good Cheer cookbook produced in the 1960's as a fundraiser. Tommy...
Ja-Da Jing, Jing, Jing
In 1904 Anton Myre Anderson and his wife Josephine (Olson) arrived in Langley. Anton, a Norwegian immigrant, and Josephine, who came to the U.S. as an indentured servant from Sweden, had originally settled in Texas. Tragedy had struck the young couple as all three of...
Clinton-born Medal of Honor recipient Arnold L. Bjorklund
Arnold L. Bjorklund was born in a house near Deer Lake in 1918 and was later baptized at St. Peter's Lutheran Church in Clinton. Although he only lived in Clinton, WA until the age of 4 or 5, South Whidbey can be proud to claim this WWII Medal of Honor recipient as a...
Ester (Anderson) Moe
Ester (Anderson) Moe came to Whidbey Island in 1906 as the one-year-old daughter of Bertine and Anders “Graveyard” Anderson, well known Langley pioneers. Bertine had emigrated from Norway, and Anders from Sweden. Her parents were living in Great Falls, Montana where...
Grant Family
Grant Family of Bayview by Norma Grant Metcalf At the July 13, 2005 meeting of the South Whidbey Historical Society’s Board, Norma Grant Metcalf described her family’s history in the Bayview and Clinton areas of South Whidbey Island. She reported that her family came...