John Harry Hayes Mulford

  General Notes:

While Jonathan Burnett and wife, Myra Catherine Watt were moving from New Providence, Iowa, to Harrison, Arkansas, Harry Mulford was born in the back of the covered wagon crossing Decateur County, Kansas. The Mulford homestead is still there, where Edgar Mulford resides presently. Also a cementary where many Mulfords are found, exists there.




The following was submitted as the first entry for inclusion in a family history book of Lewis County, Washington, by Clyde Mulford.

By Clyde Mulford

Winlock My father, Harry Mulford, came to Chehalis from Harrison, Ark., in 1908. He met Florence Towner while working at the Carnation [milk] plant in Chehalis, and they were married in September, 1909. Harry had four brothers who came to Chehalis about the same time. He and his brother Arthur went together in what they called "Mulford Bros. 2nd Hand Store" at 960 Chehalis Ave. in 1909. After a year or two, Art got a job carrying mail, so Harry bought out his brother's interest and continued to run the store until 1927. He bought used furniture and household goods and reconditioned them to sell, and filed saws and re-covered umbrellas. In those days the milkman delivered milk in glass bottles using a horse and wagon. The water wagon and the fire wagon were both pulled by horses.
One day there was a fire in the rooming house above the store, but most of the damage to the store was from the water coming through the ceiling. What I remember most about the fire was that the people who came to watch the fire brought the kids along in baby buggies and little wagons. In those days you could tell where the fire was by the number of chimes of the fire bell, as the different parts of town were numbered for that purpose. I [Clyde] am the oldest of our family of eight boys and one girl. Four of us were born in Chehalis. In 1908, the folks bought an 80-acre farm four miles up Coal Creek, where we raised our meat, milk and eggs and always had a large garden. My dad, who used crutches all his life because of childhood T.B. of the bone, continued to run the store until 1927. He drove back and forth to work with a horse and buggy, taking a sack of hay which he fed to the horses in Hayseed Park, which was between the streetcar tracks and Market Street. Streetcars ran between Chehalis and Centralia for many years, but later buses were used. There were two cars, one going each way, passing at the fairgrounds using what is now North National and South Gold. The electricity for the streetcars came from a coal-fired plant on Coal Creek. H.H. Scribner's Harness Shop was next door to the second hand store, and along the curb, there were several rings where you could tie your horse. I finished grade school in the one-room Lower Coal Creek School. To get to high school the first three years, I had to walk or bum a ride, but the fourth year I had a bicycle. I graduated from Chehalis High School in 1929. That fall, they put on a school bus, which my brother Basil got a job driving for $20 a month. I worked 10 years for the Department of Natural Resources on state lookouts. Then I moved to Longview, where I spent 11 years on the planer gate selling Presto Logs for Weyerhauser Co. I am now retired and live in Winlock. Two brothers, Roy and Ervin, are living just north of Centalia. Basil is up near Olympia, and Don is just east of Vancover. The rest of the family is out of state.



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1910 Washington Census, Chehalis City , Lewis County on April 2 1900 Ward of City - South Supervisor District #2, ED# 136, Sheet 12 B Mulford, Harry H. 29, married for 6 months Born in Kansas, Father in New York, Mother in Iowa, Occupation Merchant, Second Hand Store.
Florence, 22 born in South Dakota
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1920 Washington Soundex

Vol.27, E.D. 133, sheet 14, Line 81 Lewis County
age
born
Mulford, Harry H. 39 Kansas race - White Mulford, Florence Wife 32 South Dakota
Clyde Son 9
Washington
Basil E. Son 7
Washington
Roy E. Son 6
Washington Ervin H. Son 4 and 4/12 Washington
Mildred E. Daughter 2 and 8/12 Washington Donald Son 1 and 1/12 Washington

  Noted events in his life were:

• Census, 1880, Jennings, Decatur, Kansas. ¹
J. B. Mulford, 44, farmer, born in New York. M. C. Mulford, 33, keeping house, born in Indiana. George B. Mulford, 14, born in Iowa. Luther C. Mulford, 11, born in Iowa. Albert H. Mulford, 8, born in Iowa. Arthur F. Mulford, 3, born in Kansas. John H. Mulford, 1 month, born in Kansas.

John married Florence Rose Towner, daughter of Unknown and Unknown, on 18 Sep 1909 in Chehalis, Lewis, Washington. (Florence Rose Towner was born on 28 Jan 1888 in Wessington Springs, South Dakota and died on 17 Feb 1974 in Centralia, Lewis, Washington.)