Ira Bagley was the brother of Daniel Bagley, an early settler in Seattle who became a key advocate for the Territorial University and its location in Seattle. Ira did not travel west with Daniel and remained in Illinois with his family.

Mary Ebey was born in Columbus, Ohio, the daughter of Jacob and Sarah Ebey. The Ebeys were among the first settlers on Whidbey Island, arriving in 1854. She married Thomas S. Wright on September 25, 1842 and divorced him on February 13, 1857; they had two children, Polk and Almira. In 1858, she married Urban E. Bozarth. In 1868, county commissioners approached her about using her family's burial ground overlooking Ebey's Prairie for their first public cemetery, and Bozarth agreed. On April 6, 1869, she sold the one and a quarter acre plot to Island County for $1.00. The county records referred to the burying ground as the "County Grave Yard on the Hill," later renamed Sunnyside Cemetery, where Bozarth and the rest of her family are buried.

Edward Richard Sprigg Canby was a career U.S. Army officer and a Union general in the American Civil War, Reconstruction era, and the Indian Wars. He was killed at a peace talk with the Modoc Indians in Northern California, the only United States general to be killed during the Indian Wars. Canby, Oregon and Fort Canby, Washington are named for him.

John Crocker, the son of Walter and Mary Crockett, came to Whidbey Island in 1851. His son was Samuel Davidson Crockett.

Nathaniel Crosby came from a family of sailors and sea captains. He married Cordelia Jane Smith, daughter of Jacob Smith in 1860, and built a home in Tumwater which has been preserved as a museum. Crosby was the grandfather of Bing Crosby, the entertainer.

Robert Lewis Dixon was born in Richmond, Virginia and arrived in Seattle in 1865 or 1866. He was a barber with a shop on Second and Columbia and one of the first African-American settlers in Seattle. He married Rebecca Gross in 1883. She was the daughter of William Gross, who is believed to have been the first African-American resident of Seattle. Gross arrived in 1859 and owned Our House, a hotel and restaurant in Pioneer Square.

Rose Adele Cutts grew up in Washington D.C.; Dolley Madison was her great aunt. She met the widowed Senator Stephen A. Douglas in 1856, and they wed after a short courtship. His fortune supported her salon, and together they commanded substantial political power. She traveled with her husband during the 1858 Lincoln-Douglas debates in Illinois, and she and Stephen became friends with Lincoln. She also traveled with her husband during the 1860 presidential campaign. In 1861, Stephen died. Five years after his death, she married Captain Robert Williams, a career army officer from Virginia who had remained loyal to the Union. She took on the life of an army wife, and raised their six children in the western territories. Williams ended his long career in 1893 as Adjutant General of the Army. She is buried in Arlington Cemetery.

Stephen A. Douglas was born April 23, 1813 in Brandon, Vermont. He was an American politician from Illinois. He was a U.S. Representative, a U.S. Senator, and the Democratic Party nominee for President in the 1860 election, losing to Republican Abraham Lincoln. Douglas had previously defeated Lincoln in a Senate contest, noted for the famous Lincoln-Douglas debates of 1858. He was nicknamed the "Little Giant" because he was short in physical stature, but a forceful and dominant figure in politics. Douglas was known as a resourceful party leader and was skilled in debate and the passage of legislation. He died on June 3, 1861 in Chicago from typhoid fever. He was buried on the shore of Lake Michigan.

Alexander James Doull was born in England on January 28, 1836. He married Elizabeth Maria King on August 29, 1857. Following his enlistment on October 26, 1861, Doull was commissioned as an officer in Company S of the New York 2nd Heavy Artillery Regiment; he would later become an inspector general in the Army of the Potomac, serving directly under General Henry Jackson Hunt. Doull was naturalized as a United States citizen in September of 1863, and died on March 29, 1865.

Hiram Dryer was born in New York. He enlisted as private in the Mounted Rifles in August of 1846. By August of 1847, during the war with Mexico, Dryer had been promoted to sergeant and was serving with Company H of the Mounted Rifles. As a Lieutenant, Dryer volunteered to carry supplies to a party of emigrants who were snowed-in, in the Cascade Mountains, in November 1853. He was engaged in an expedition against the Snake Indians from May to October 1855. By the time of the Civil War, he was a captain in the army; he was promoted to a major in 1862 and to a lieutenant colonel in 1863. He died at Fort Randall in 1867 at the age of 37.

Dugan began as a watch maker in Iowa but left in 1862 for the Washington Territory. In 1863, he was chosen to represent Walla Walla in the Legislature and was re-elected the next year as Speaker in the House of Representatives. In 1867, he was elected Prosecuting Attorney for the First Judicial District, and served for two years. He was a candidate for the Democratic nomination for Delegate to Congress in 1869.

Colonel Isaac Neff Ebey, born in Columbus, Ohio, was trained in the law. He married Rebecca Davis and they later had two sons. Isaac temporarily left his wife and sons in Missouri to journey into the American West in 1850, in particular the Pacific Coast. Ebey was the first permanent white resident of Whidbey Island, Washington in 1851. His family joined him in 1852. He was in the legislature when Oregon and Washington were divided and named Olympia capital of Washington Territory. He became the second Collector of Customs of Puget Sound. Ebey was shot to death and beheaded by Native Americans seeking revenge for the death of one of their chiefs in 1857.

Jacob Ellison Ebey was born in Schyler, Missouri in 1846. He was the second son of Isaac Ebey, an early settler in Whidbey Island, Washington Territory who arrived in 1850. He died in 1890.

Winfield Scott Ebey was born in Illinois in 1831. He was the son of Jacob and Sarah Ebey and brother of Isaac Neff Ebey. He followed his brother Isaac to Whidbey Island, Washington Territory in October 1854. He died in Petaluma, California Feb. 20, 1865.

Edson Judson Fitch fought in the Civil War. He enlisted on November 1, 1861 at Bolton, New York, as a 1st lieutenant and was promoted to captain on November 19, 1863. On December 25, 1863 he was commissioned into "K" Co. NY 93rd Infantry and mustered out on November 26, 1864.

David Graham was born in New York on October 2, 1835. He married Susannah Mercer on May 23, 1861 in Seattle, Washington. They had one child, George R. Graham, born September 20, 1860. The first two settlers in the area now known as Seward Park in Seattle, Washington, Edward A. Clark and John Harvey, sold their claim of property to David Graham in 1858. Graham, a teacher, farmed the land for ten years before trading it to his brother, Walter Graham.

Ulysses Simpson Grant was the 18th President of the United States, serving two terms of office from 1869 to 1877. Grant was born as Hiram Ulysses Grant at Point Pleasant, Ohio. He graduated from West Point in 1843 and served without particular distinction in the Mexican War. In 1848 he married Julia Dent. He resigned from the army in 1854, after warnings from his commanding officer about his drinking habits, and for the next six years held a wide variety of jobs in the Middle West. With the outbreak of the Civil War, he sought a command and soon was made a brigadier general. His continuing successes in the western theaters, culminating in the capture of Vicksburg, in 1863, brought him national fame and soon the command of all the Union armies. In 1868, as Republican candidate for president, Grant was elected over the Democrat, Horatio Seymour.

Horace Greeley was the founder and editor of the New-York Tribune and played an important role in the social and political movements surrounding the Civil War.

Austin Edwards Griffiths was Judge of the Superior Court in Seattle, Washington. He was born in Worcester, England, in 1863 and raised by foster parents Philip and Ann Priday. They moved to Nebraska in 1872. Griffiths graduated from the University of Michigan and soon after moved to the Washington Territory in 1889. There, he practiced law in Grays Harbor before moving to Seattle in 1897. Griffiths was an active public servant throughout his career. He served on the Seattle City Council from 1901 to 1913 and 1934 to 1937, ran for (but was not appointed) mayor in 1913, was appointed chief of police in 1914, served as a superior court judge from 1921-1929 and was elected twice to the Seattle School Board, 1929 to 1930 and 1931-1934. In addition to his public service, Griffiths founded the Seattle Playground Association in 1908 and became known as the "Father of Seattle Playgrounds" for his dedicated effort to establish recreational space throughout Seattle. His work helped popularize the playground movement nationwide. He was also an active member of the Seattle Chamber of Commerce, Young Men's Christian Association, the Seattle Charity Organization Society, and the Cascade Tunnel Association.

Costello Larkin Hall was born in Iowa in 1860, the son of Isaac Hall and Clarissa Reynolds. On April 4, 1883, he married Margaret Goebel; they had 6 children.

Almira (Allie) Russell was the daughter of a prominent merchant in St. Louis, Missouri where she met and married Winfield Scott Hancock on January 24, 1850. They had two children, Russell and Ada. When Hancock was promoted to captain in 1855 and assigned to Fort Myers, Florida, the family accompanied him to his new posting, where Allie Hancock was the only woman on the post. She wrote a book about Hancock's military experiences and his correspondence. Her memoir, Reminiscences of Winfield Scott Hancock, was published in 1887 by Mark Twain's publishing firm, Webster & Company. She died in April 1893.

General Winfield Scott Hancock was a career U.S. Army officer. He served in the Civil War being noted in particular for his personal leadership at the Battle of Gettysburg in 1863. At the end of the Civil War, Hancock was assigned to supervise the execution of the Lincoln assassination conspirators. His status as a war hero and his high level of personal integrity made him the Democratic nominee for President of the United States in 1880 when he was narrowly defeated by James Garfield.

Anna Conner was born in Concord, New Hampshire and graduated from Exeter Female Academy in New Hampshire. In 1865, she sailed for Washington Territory as one of the women Asa Mercer transported to Seattle in a settlement venture. She taught school in Elma, Washington and in Tumwater, Washington. In 1869, she married Mark Hartsuck, a local carpenter. She was a member of the Woman’s Club of Olympia, which had been established by Olympia suffragists in 1883.

George W. Harty, the son of Jacob and Margaret Harty, was born in Des Moines, Iowa in 1841. He enlisted in the Union Army in 1861 and served until 1865. He married Sarah Elizabeth Said in Spokane, Washington in 1866. Harty worked as an expressman and died in Spokane in 1909 as the result of an accident.

John Porter Hatch was an American solider who served as a general in the Union Army during the Civil War. He received a medal of honor for gallantry under enemy fire in the attack on Turner's Gap. His citations reads: Was severely wounded while leading one of his brigades in the attack under heavy fire from the enemy. After the Civil War, he was an officer on frontier posts including Fort Concho in San Angelo, Texas, Indian Territory, Montana Territory, and Washington Territory.

Hays graduated from West Point in 1840 and then served as an artillery officer in the Mexican American War. He was appointed a lieutenant colonel at the start of the Civil War. He participated in the Battle of Antietam, Fredericksburg. He was promoted to a brigadier general in 1862. At the battle of Chancellorsville, he was wounded, taken prisoner and was exchanged in time to fight at Gettysburg in July 1863. After the war, he served in the 5th US Artillery at various posts until his death.

Samuel P. Heintzelman was a United States Army General serving in the Seminole War, the Mexican-American War, the Yuma War, the Cortina Troubles, and the American Civil War. Heintzelman graduated from West Point, seventeenth in his class, on July 1, 1822. In 1826, he was commissioned as second lieutenant in the Second Infantry. He was promoted to first lieutenant on March 4, 1833, and to captain on July 7, 1838. From that date until June 18, 1846, he served as regimental quartermaster.

Eugene Kincaid Hill served as the fifth President of the Territorial University of Washington (later the University of Washington) from 1872 to 1874. His wife, Jeanette, worked with him at the school as an instructor. Following a lack of funds leading to the school's closure in 1874, Hill left the University to teach in California. He returned to Seattle with his family to teach in the 1890s. He died from either rheumatism of the heart or scurvy while stranded with his son in their winter quarters on the Alsec River in Alaska.

Laurence Holmes was the editor of Paterson Daily and Weekly Guardian. He was a civil engineer. He filed several patents for improved wooden pavement.

Eliza Ferry was the daughter of Washington’s first governor, Elisha P. Ferry. She was born in Waukegan, Illinois and came to the Pacific Northwest in 1869 with her parents. Mrs. She married John Leary, a pioneer leader in the development of the state, in 1891, and the couple built their first home on the corner of Second Avenue and Madison Street. In 1907, they built a home on Capitol Hill in Seattle. She was active in the Ladies’ Relief Society, the Mount Vernon Ladies’ Association of the Union, the Washington Historical Society, the Pioneers’ Association and the Daughters of the American Revolution, in which she was instrumental in organizing the Elisha P. Ferry Chapter. She was the chair of the committee that obtained the statue of George Washington for the University of Washington campus.

Eliza Ferry was the daughter of Washington’s first governor, Elisha P. Ferry. She was born in Waukegan, Illinois and came to the Pacific Northwest in 1869 with her parents. Mrs. She married John Leary, a pioneer leader in the development of the state, in 1891, and the couple built their first home on the corner of Second Avenue and Madison Street. In 1907, they built a home on Capitol Hill in Seattle. She was active in the Ladies’ Relief Society, the Mount Vernon Ladies’ Association of the Union, the Washington Historical Society, the Pioneers’ Association and the Daughters of the American Revolution, in which she was instrumental in organizing the Elisha P. Ferry Chapter. She was the chair of the committee that obtained the statue of George Washington for the University of Washington campus.

Alonzo Low was born in McLean County, Illinois, the son of John N. Low and Lydia Colburn Low. His family were in the first party of Seattle pioneers, landing on the point which John Low later named Alki. Low opened a trading post at Swinomish (now La Conner) in 1867, became a mining prospector, and later settled in Snohomish.

Jacob Maple was born in Green County, Pennsylvania and moved to Washington Territory in 1850. He married Catherine Adams Maple, the cousin of President John Quincy Adams. They had eleven children. Jacob and his son, Samuel Maple arrived in Washington Territory in 1950 with the Collins Party. They traveled to Washington to seek land and settled on the banks of the Duwamish River. They were the first white settlers in what would become King County. They filed claims to the land in September in 1851. He later convinced the rest of his family to move the Washington Territory, with the exception of his wife and two sons. Mrs. Maple was too ill to make the long journey and remained in Iowa. His daughter, Jane Maple married Henry Van Asselt. He died at the age of 86 in 1884.

Samuel A. Maple was born in Iowa, the son of Jacob and Catherine Maple. Samuel and his father, Jacob Maple, arrived in Washington Territory in 1850 with the Collins Party. They were the first white settlers in what would become King County. The party settled on the banks of the Duwamish River. They filed claims to the land in September 1851. His siblings moved to the Washington Territory some years later, with the exception of his mother and two brothers. His younger sister Jane Maple married Henry Van Asselt. He remained a bachelor for the rest of his life. He died at the Cavavna house, Washington Territory in July 1880.

Allen C. Mason was born in Polo, Illinois in 1855. He graduated from Illinois Wesleyan University in 1875 in Bloomington, Illinois. He married Libbie Lawrence in 1878 and they had two children. He was a superintendent to various schools in Illinois. He passed the bar in 1881, and then in 1883, Mason and his family moved to Tacoma, Washington where he practiced law. He became a prominent figure in the development of Tacoma and was one of the founders of the bar association in Tacoma. He was involved in real estate and made large scale improvements to Tacoma’s infrastructure. He established the Shore Line Railroad, built street car lines, owned stock in Tacoma’s theater and hotel, and help build downtown real estate. Mason designed Tacoma's Star of Destiny to advertise the town in the east coast. He labeled Tacoma as The City of Destiny. After a decade of being in Tacoma, Mason became the city’s first millionaire. In the Panic of 1893, Mason bought back houses from anyone who asked and in the process lost his fortune.

Edward Selig Salomon was a German-American politician and military official. Born in the Duchy of Schleswig in modern-day Germany, he immigrated to Illinois in 1856 and 5 years later, at age 24, was elected an alderman of Chicago's sixth ward in 1861, the youngest in Chicago history. In July 1861, Salomon was commissioned as a first lieutenant in Colonel Friedrich Hecker's 24th Illinois Infantry Regiment. Salomon became a hero during the Battle of Gettysburg, assuming command of the regiment when Hecker was wounded. He led the regiment during the Atlanta Campaign and through the capture of Atlanta. Assigned to deliver messages to Nashville, he missed the famous march to the sea. In December 1864, he rejoined the regiment and finished out the war with them. On March 13, 1865, Salomon received a promotion to brigadier general. After the war, Salomon returned to Chicago where he was elected Cook County Clerk in the fall of 1865, serving until November 1869. On March 4, 1870, President Ulysses S. Grant appointed Salomon governor of Washington Territory. Salomon was caught up in the political scandals of the Grant administration and resigned in 1872. The Pacific Tribune , commenting on his resignation, lauded his honesty and integrity. He then moved to San Francisco, where he practiced law. In 1898 Salomon was appointed assistant district attorney for the city and county, and was elected to the California State Assembly in 1890. His cousin Edward Salomon, who also served as a general in the Civil War, later became Governor of Wisconsin.

Reuben Steere was a member of the Lilliputian Opera Company. In 1880 he married fellow Lilliputian, Rebecca Ann Myers.

Ezra Leonard Smith was born in Vermont and attended school at Lombard University in Illinois. He knew Abraham Lincoln and attended the Republican convention in Chicago in 1862, where Lincoln received his first nomination for president. He married Georgina Slocum, a fellow Lombard student, on March 4, 1861, the afternoon of Lincoln’s first inauguration. The couple left for California by way of the Isthmus of Panama. For a number of years, they lived in El Dorado County, where Smith engaged in mining. He was elected to the California General Assembly and was instrumental in holding California for the Union. In 1867, he received appointment as secretary and acting governor for Washington Territory. On quitting office, he and his pioneer associates established a bank in Olympia. He later moved to Hood River, Oregon, where he purchased land and began the development of the fruit industry in the area, establishing one of the first commercial apple orchards. Smith was a leader in the Oregon Development League, the Oregon Waterways Association, and the Oregon Horticultural Society. In 1889, he was speaker of the Oregon House of Representatives.

Isaac Ingalls Stevens (March 25, 1818 – September 1, 1862) was an American military officer and politician who served as governor of the Territory of Washington from 1853 to 1857, and later as its delegate to the United States House of Representatives. During the American Civil War, he held several commands in the Union Army. He was killed at the Battle of Chantilly, while at the head of his men and carrying the fallen colors of one of his regiments against Confederate positions. He was a controversial and polarizing figure as governor of the Washington Territory, where he was both praised and condemned. Stevens' diplomacy with Native American tribes sought to avoid military conflict in Washington; however, when the Yakama War broke out as Native Americans resisted European encroachment, he prosecuted it mercilessly. His decision to rule by martial law, jail judges who opposed him, and raise a de facto personal army led to his conviction for contempt of court, for which he famously pardoned himself, and a rebuke from the President of the United States. His son, Hazard Stevens, was the hero of the Battle of Suffolk and one of the first men to summit Mount Rainier.