Charles Byles was born in Warren County, Tenessee to James Byles and Isabelle Margaret Barnett in Agust 1809. In 1832 he married Sarah Wright Usher and they had 8 children, David Francis (1833-1897), James Baxter (1837-1840), Geroge Usher (1839-1842), Rebecca Euphemia (1841-1900), Charles Newton (1844-1897), Sarah Isabella (1847-1928), Hampton Bryant (1849-1849) and Luther James (1850-1850). Sadly, James Baxter, George Usher, Hampton Bryant and Luther James did not survive past childhood. In 1853 he and his four children were in the first party to use the Cascade Mountain route through the Naches Pass. They landed on the Nisqually Plain on October 3, 1853 and settled in Grand Mound, Washington. Charles became a farmer and traveling Presbyterian minister, going to remote area to preach. He died February 26, 1869.
December 29, 1852 army lieutenant, George B. McClellan is given the task of building a road through the Cascades at Naches Pass along a pre-existing American Indian trail. McClellan had already been tasked with a railroad survey, thus citizen work groups ended up doing the majority of the trail clearing and work. The original route was arduous and crossed the Naches River 68 times and included steep hillsides. The trail was used only a few times for wagon caravans as wagon traffic favored Snoqualmie Pass that was developed afterwards. It was more frequently used for livestock transfer from Eastern Washington to the markets in Puget Sound.
Photographs of the Charles James Byles family members, including their children and grandchildren.
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Processed by Stefanie Terasaki, 2014; Processing completed in 2014.
Photos were transferred from the Portraits File PH Coll 563, October 2014.
Written on verso: Rev Charles Biles (Byles) Early Olympia and Wash settler. Copy Photo made by Peterson & Bro-Seattle W.T.
Sarah Wright Usher Byles was born September 7, 1811 and married Charles Byles in 1832. They had 8 children. She died January 1, 1883.
Printed on verso: Mrs. Charles Biles (Sara Usher Biles) Married in Kentucky, Early Wash. Pioneer.
David F. Byles was the oldest son of Charles James Byles. Hes was born in 1833 and married Mary Jane Hill. They lived in Elma, Washington and had eight children: Robert W (1855-after 1910), Hugh J. (May 15,1857-April14, 1906), Luther E. (1862-1944), Lee Newton (1864-March 6, 1944), Charles Porter (1873-December 18, 1965), Thad (January 6, 1875-December 11, 1948), Stella (September 11, 1877-June 23, 1888), and Otis (1881-unkown).
Charles Newton Byles was the fifth child of Charles James Byles. He was born in Madisonville, Kentucky and traveled with his family to Grand Mound, Washington in 1853. He worked as a government surveyor and in 1870 purchased acreage and platted the city Montesano, now in Gray Harbor County. He married Elizabeth Jane Medcalf in 1870 and they had six children: Edward (1871-1872), Henry (1873-1876), Francis William (November 25, 1875-October 28, 1953), Annie (September 26, 1877-September 4, 1964), Sarah Naomi (July 6, 1882-January 9, 1966), and Martha Bell (March 13, 1880-January 24, 1971). By 1886 the county seat was moved from Cosmopolis to Montesano and Byles donated his land for the county courthouse. In 1887 he started a bank and worked as county auditor and treasurer. He died in Montesano in 1897.
Written on etching: Hon. Charles N. Byles, Montesano, W.T.
Elizabeth Jane Medcalf was born in Ontario on January 22, 1845 to William Medcalf and Martha Ann Binns Medcalf. She married Charles Newton Byles in 1870.
Written on photo: Mrs. Biles Drew.
All three daughters were born in Montesano, Washington. Annie died on Bainbridge Island, Washington in 1964. Sarah Naomi married John Leonard Hall on November 6, 1904. Martha Bell married Fred Rosmond in 1905.
Sarah Isabella Byles was the sixth child of Charles James Byles, and married Dillis B. Ward.
Mable Ward Penington was the daughter of Dillis B. Ward and Sarah Isaabella Byles Ward. Her grandfather was Charles James Byles. Mable married General Carlos Alden Penington. Mable's sister, Elizabeth married Edmond Meany.