Last week’s column highlighted the large number of Welsh-born miners who emigrated to the United States during the 1800s. Joshua A. Morris, born in Ohio in 1856, was the first child of David Morris and Mary Harris. They emigrated from Wales to Pennsylvania in the 1840s, where David found work in coal mining. By the mid-1870s, the David Morris family had grown to twelve. By the end of the 1880s, David Morris and family had all relocated to Washington. He had previously acquired 150 acres of natural prairie there, making him Buckley’s very first landowner.
Joshua Morris married into a pioneer family, the Hembrees, who crossed the plains on the Oregon Trail in 1843. Joshua first mined coal in Renton, where he met his future wife, Izella Snow. Joshua and Izella moved to Franklin, where he mined coal and she delivered two baby girls. But labor strife prompted the family to relocate. They left for Osceola, the first farming community on what is now called the Enumclaw Plateau. Two additional children were born in Osceola, bringing the total to four. All four were daughters: Lena Fay, Nina Marie, Ruth Snow, and Lucile, the last of whom died at age two in 1898.
With a growing family, Joshua erected this impressive home on 40 acres he acquired for $125. It was likely constructed in the mid to late 1890s, though the Assessor records claim 1900. It was built in a Folk Victorian style with Queen Anne influences. The 2,960-square-foot home still stands at 44427 – 208th Ave. S.E. and looks remarkably the same as this photo, likely taken in the 1920s.
Josh and Izella Morris were active in community groups, such as the Osceola Lyceum, which A.F. Duquamy, a University of California graduate and music teacher, organized in 1892. The Lyceum meetings were held on Saturday nights at the Fir Grove schoolhouse and were attended by folks from throughout the surrounding communities. The evenings featured a homespun program of debates, musical numbers, plus recited poems, and speeches. The Lyceum later organized the Farmers’ Picnic, which became the Enumclaw area’s greatest annual community celebration until it was supplanted by Naches Trail Days in the 1940s.
Josh Morris was also one of seven founders of the Enumclaw Rochdale, a community store built on the 1844 Rochdale Principles, which laid the foundations for consumer co-operatives. The Rochdale Co-op’s motto was ‘Owned by the People of the Community.’ Enumclaw’s Rochdale store was located on Cole Street and later became the site of the Enumclaw Food Center, now a parking lot across from the Dusty Shelf Book store.
During winter months, when farm crops weren’t growing, Joshua traveled to Burnett to supplement the family income by mining coal. Joshua and Izella were very serious about their daughters’ education during an era when an 8th-grade education was the norm. Because nearby Enumclaw didn’t have a fully accredited high school until 1910, they sent their daughters, Lena, Marie, and Ruth Morris to Buckley, whose high school was established in the early 1900s. Daily travel between Osceola and Buckley was impractical, so the family rented a house in Buckley where the girls stayed during the week, returning home on weekends.
Tragedy struck the Morris family in July 1908, when Izella caught an early summer cold and developed a fatal lung condition. At the time of her death, Izella’s daughters were ages 20, 18, and 16, while Josh was 51. After completing high school, Lena, Nina Marie, and Ruth attended Normal College and became schoolteachers. All taught school in surrounding communities until they married and were no longer eligible to teach. Lena (Morris) Thompson later started classes for Enumclaw immigrants to learn the history and language necessary to pass citizenship tests.
Joshua Morris remained in good health, became a Mason, and continued to engage in civic affairs. In July 1911, Morris and Fred Doggett scaled Mount Rainier, among other ascents. The following year, Josh and his brother, Washington Morris, climbed Mount Baker. In his later years, Joshua moved to a small farm south of Buckley, near other family members. He raised a few heads of cattle and cultivated a cherry orchard. He gifted his Osceola homestead to his three daughters. Eventually, his son-in-law, John H. Morris, husband of Nina Marie Morris and founder of Palmer Coking Coal Co., purchased his sisters-in-law’s interests. When Prohibition ended in 1933, John Morris attempted to grow hops but with little success, as hop-growing had largely moved to Yakima’s drier climate.
Joshua A. Morris passed away in Buckley at age 72. His Osceola farm and this impressive home were ultimately sold by John Morris. The property was later divided into four 10-acre lots. This one, tax parcel 202006-9059, passed through a series of owners, including Clarence Scott, H.D. McEldowney, Patrick Ahearn, Richard Staples, and Ashley House. In 1993, Barbara (Lantaff) and Steven Bannerot purchased the home and property. The couple has owned and cared for this historic property ever since.
