Archives West Finding Aid

Autobiography, "Reflections Along the Wayside of Life", written circa 1925 and copyrighted 1978. Pages 161-62 missing.

In this memoir written for his daughters, Ronald provides genealogical and family history information; describes his childhood and early family life and his early years as a teacher in California. He moved, with his wife and family to Seattle in July of 1882. He describes describes in some detail, the anti-Chinese riots, HIs tenure as District Attorney, The Great Seattle Fire; his election as Seattle Mayor in 1892 and his efforts to clean up the corrupt police department during his term. During the period following his tenure as Mayor, Ronald serves on both the UW Board of Regents and the Seattle School Board. Ronald does not describe his experiences on these two boards. He resigned both positions when he became a King County Superior Court Justice on April 1, 1909. He had served18 years on the Superior Court bench at the time of these memoirs, and describes those years as the happiest of his life. He provides no details of this experience. The remisniscence ends with the death of his wife in 1923.