The Higley's

Alfred V. Higley

  d.11 Oct 1915 Quinault, Grays Harbor, Washington

..."Higley Expedition. Alfred V. Higley had no thoughts of a national park in the mountainous interior of the Olympic Peninsula when he and his son, Orte, traversed the southern portion of the Olympic range in 1890. Higley, instead, was intent on establishing a home at the newly formed settlement on Quinault Lake. Born in 1849 in East Hebron County, Pennsylvania, Alfred Higley was only a teenager when he enlisted in the Union army. Later on in the Civil War he was with General William Sherman on his renowned March to the Sea. After marrying, Higley and his family settled in Kansas. Following the death of his wife and daughter in 1888, Alfred Higley and his then nineteen year old son, Orte, traveled west, and after a brief stay in Pueblo, Colorado, they headed to the Pacific Northwest. The father and son team arrived in Seattle on Christmas day 1889. It was while in Seattle that they learned of the new settlement on Quinault Lake."...

(Aberdeen Daily World 1966, 26 January; 3, 11, 19, 25 February; 5 March).

..."In August 1890, fully outfitted for their journey, the Higleys sailed by sternwheeler from Seattle down the Hood Canal. At Hoodsport they disembarked and entered the mountains only a few weeks after Joseph O'Neil's second exploring expedition set off into the Olympics. Alfred and Orte Higley, accompanied by Fritz—Herbert Leather, Peter Hartney and Le Barr, started their trek up the North Fork Skokomish River. According to an account written by Orte Higley many years later, the party camped at Duckabush Divide for four days before proceeding to the head of the Duckabush River and the Quinault Divide (Higley 1973, 181). At Hart Lake, near present-day O'Neil Pass, the Higley party encountered the O'Neil party. A few days later the Higleys moved their camp to Little O'Neil Creek and stayed there for three weeks. By early October 1890, the Higleys traveled down the East Fork of the upper Quinault River and arrived at Quinault Lake where they selected a homesite and later became prominent members of the settlement there."...

(Aberdeen Daily World 1966, 26 January; 3, 11, 19, 25 February; 5 March; Higley 1973)

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Orte Lovelock Higley b.Sep. 28, 1870 d.Oct. 3, 1954 Amanda Park, Grays Harbor, Washington
Helen Francis Fairbairn Higley (1864 - d.14 Jan 1935 Quinault, Grays Harbor, Washington
Children:
Helen B Higley Sparks b.Mar. 3, 1899 d.Nov. 29, 1981
Orlo Robert Higley b.Nov. 9, 1903 d.Apr. 13, 1987 Amanda Park, Grays Harbor, Washington

Ransom Luther Higley b.12/01/1879 d.12/1963
m. Margaret F Donaldson 1904 Innkeeper
Anna Orpha Higley daughter
m. Cristel Omalley 1947

Lester Martin Higley d.24 Oct 1940 Jefferson, Washington son of Seneca F. Higley
m.Fannie Kathyren Collins Higley d.7 May 1938
children
Marie
Robert
Louis
Beatrice