The story of the Fremont neighborhood in Seattle is that of a sudden burst of development when the neighborhood opened in 1888. At that time there was no ship canal but there was a stream with a small wooden trestle bridge across it. Fremont’s developers soon constructed a streetcar line connecting Fremont to downtown Seattle along Westlake Avenue, and other lines going north to Green Lake. Fremont became a convenient place to live, with shopping/businesses and transportation lines.
This blog article will trace the family backgrounds of a couple, Oscar & Viola Heaton, who came to live in Fremont in the early 1900s. After being widowed, Oscar Heaton built a new house at 4202 Phinney Avenue North.
Fremont was a busy place in 1908. This photo looks northward on Fremont Avenue while a streetcar is coming from North 34th Street. Photo courtesy of MOHAI Item 10.729.1
The Farnsworth & Heaton families migrate to Washington State
Captain Herbert Farnsworth 1834-1908
Captain Herbert E. Farnsworth made the classic migration westward, of a Civil War veteran after the war. Born in New York State, after the end of the war in 1865, Captain Farnsworth married. The Farnsworth’s first daughter was born in New York.
By the time of the birth of their second daughter in 1871, the Farnsworth family was living in Kidder, Caldwell County, Missouri. It was a railroad town, and perhaps Captain Farnsworth, who worked as a carpenter, was attracted to the growing community where there would be work opportunities.
By or before 1890, the Farnsworth family had moved to tiny Garfield County in the southeasternmost corner of Washington State. We may wonder how the Farnsworths heard of this place and came to live there. Captain Farnsworth was about 55 years old, and he now characterized himself as a farmer. In 1890 Captain Farnsworth’s name appeared on the census of Civil War veterans which was done for pension applications.
The Heaton family of New York had also migrated across the USA. Some of their children were born in Iowa and then finally the Heatons settled in Pomeroy, the county seat of Garfield County, Washington Territory, in 1877. Mr. Heaton was a millwright, a mechanic who often worked on the maintenance of sawmill equipment.
Oscar, the Heaton’s eldest son, went to Seattle in 1890 and graduated with a law degree from the University of Washington. In 1895 Oscar married Viola, Captain Farnsworth’s eldest daughter. After a few years in California where their son Herbert was born, the couple moved to Seattle where Oscar had a long and successful law practice, and he also became a real estate investor.
Viola Heaton and “Starvation Heights”
The census of 1900 noted that Viola Heaton and her little son, two-year-old Herbert Farnsworth Heaton, were on a visit to Viola’s parents in Pomeroy, Garfield County, Washington. The visit, and the naming of their first grandchild in honor of Captain Farnsworth, showed the closeness of the family.
Ten years later, by the time of the 1910 census, Captain & Mrs. Farnsworth and Viola Farnsworth Heaton were all dead, and twelve-year-old Herbert Heaton was listed as living with his aunt, his mother’s sister, Virginia.
Viola Heaton’s tragic story involved a “health farm” which became known as Starvation Heights. An unqualified practitioner was later convicted of manslaughter after several of the residents, including Viola, died of starvation.
After the death of Viola in 1909, Oscar Heaton made plans to start over again with a new wife, Elma, and a new house, so that he could have a place for his son Herbert to live with them. Oscar married Elma in 1910 and built a new house at 4202 Phinney Avenue North, on a hill called Sunset Heights in the Fremont neighborhood. Oscar & Elma lived in the house for about ten more years and had two children together. Oscar’s eldest son Herbert grew up to become a successful traffic engineer for the City of Los Angeles.
4202 Phinney Avenue North in the Fremont neighborhood of Seattle
The house at 4202 Phinney is two stories with good views out over its west and south sides. The house has Austrian Alpine or Swiss Chalet design elements including a wide roof overhang, river rock cladding and a river rock fireplace.
Decorative interior elements include tulip leaded-glass windows and archways between rooms. Subsequent owners of the house at 4202 Phinney modified it into an apartment building with four units. Current residents love the charming design of the building and its convenient location in the Fremont neighborhood.
Sources:
Genealogical info including census and city directories.
Seattle Department of Neighborhoods, Historic Sites Index, listing for 4202 Phinney.
Starvation Heights, by Greg Olsen, 2005. Seattle Public Library 364.1523. The Heatons are mentioned, but the book mainly traces the story of two British heiresses who perished at the “health farm,” and the unlicensed doctor who was put on trial for taking their money.
Find A Grave pages:
#8640738 Captain Herbert E. Farnsworth (1834-1908)
#6293677 Oscar Gilbert Heaton (1869-1939)
