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Thomas Tait. About nine miles southeast from
Chewelah one comes to an estate of one-half section which is owned by
the subject of this article. Mr. Tait acquired title to half of it by
homestead rights and the other half by purchase. He is known as one of
the industrious farmers and stock raisers of the valley and has done
good labor in improving the estate. Thomas Tait was born on November 19,
1844, in Canada, the son of Samuel and Nancy (Chruch) Tait, natives of
Scotland. They came to America in 1837,and settled as they supposed in
the United States, but found that they were across the line in Canada.
They removed later to Illinois. They were the parents of eight children:
William; Samuel, deceased; Thomas; Mary and John, deceased; Jane Weed;
David, and James. Our subject was educated in McHenry county, Illinois,
at the common schools. At seventeen he left his school and worked on the
farm for his mother until twenty-one years of age. He then went to
Montana and worked in the mines, continuing at it for four years. Then
he spent one year in Washington lumbering, and in 1872 landed in Nevada,
where he delved in the mines for one and a half years. After he mined in
California, Arizona, Wyoming, Idaho, Utah, again in California, and in
eastern Oregon. He also followed merchandising in California and farming
in Oregon. In 1889 Mr. Tait came to Stevens county, secured the ranch as
mentioned above, and in addition to handling that has been raising
stock.
In October,1883,Mr.Tait married Mrs.
Elizabeth Gorley, a native of Salt Lake City, where she also was reared
and educated. By her former husband, Mrs. Tait has one son, Leroy, now
in the Philippine Islands. Two children have been born to Mr. and Mrs.
Tait, James E. and Ethel, both with their parents. Mr. Tait is a member
of the A.F.& A.M., and is active for the welfare of the community.
It is interesting to note that when Mr. Tait came west he drove an ox
team all the way from the Missouri valley to Montana. |
