"A Volume of Memoirs and Genealogy of Representative Citizens of the City of
Seattle and County of King, Washington." New York and Chicago: Lewis Publishing
Co., 1903.  p. 468.
 
ARCHIBALD L. HERREN

     The above named, a retired real-estate dealer and capitalist of Seattle,
has through the control of extensive property interests been the promoter of
growth and development in more than one section of this country. Possessing keen
discrimination, which enables him to readily recognize opportunities for
colonization, having also marked energy and business capacity, his labors have
proven of benefit to the localities in which he has operated and at the same.
time have brought success that ranks him among the capitalists of his adopted
city. Mr. Herren deserves great credit and commendation for what he has
accomplished, for at the close of the Civil war he found himself destitute as
the result of the exigencies of that struggle, his interests at that time having
been in the midst of the country over which passed the contending armies.
     Mr. Herren was born at Waynesville, North Carolina, July 19, 1833, a son of
Eli B. and Jane (Yarbrough) Herren, natives of North Carolina and South
Carolina, respectively. He comes of an old and prominent family of the south
that has been represented in all of the wars of the country from the time of the
early Indian outbreaks. Representatives of the name were found among those who
fought for liberty in the Revolution and for American rights in the war of 1812.
They were also in the Texas revolution and when the contest arose between the
north and the south two brothers of our subject joined the Confederate army. The
great-grandfather of Mr. Herren was a native of Virginia, but became the founder
of the family in North Carolina, where Berry Herren, the grandfather, was born.
He engaged in agricultural pursuits, but Eli B. Herren, his son and the father
of our subject, turned his attention to merchandising and trading, and in his
business affairs prospered. In his religious faith he was a Baptist and a man of
prominence and influence in his community in ante-bellum days. In the family
were ten children, of whom Archibald L. is the eldest. Seven of the number are
now living: A. J., a farmer of Cowlitz county, Washington; J, P., who is a
millman and farmer residing in North Carolina; William A., who is engaged in
farming and manufacturing at the old home in North Carolina; S. C., an attorney
of Moscow, Idaho; Josephine, the wife of Thomas S. Siler, of North Carolina; and
Sarah J., the wife of W. E. Miller, of North Carolina. Those who have passed
away died in childhood.
     Archibald L. Herron was reared in North Carolina, but his educational
advantages were rather meager and it has been by study at home, through broad
reading and observation that he has become a well informed man. Possessing an
observant eye and retentive memory he is continually adding to his knowledge
facts gained in the school of experience. At an early age he became his father's
assistant in the store and afterward was admitted to a partnership in the
business, this relation being maintained until the beginning of the war. As a
result of that terrible struggle his store, like many other enterprises of the
south, was destroyed and his business utterly ruined. Two of his brothers joined
the southern army but Archibald L. Herren remained true to the Union cause and
upheld the supremacy of the government at Washington. He had served as
postmaster of his own town and after the cessation of hostilities he took a
prominent part in public affairs during the reconstruction period, doing all in
his power to establish peace and to place his district in harmonious relations
with the government. He  was nominated on the Republican ticket for the office
of state senator and filled several federal positions, including that of
postmaster. He was also the chairman of the first board of county commissioners
of his county after the restoration of peace. He had served as magistrate from
1855 until 1866 and was one of the five magistrates of the county constituting a
"select court."
     While taking an active part in public affairs during the reconstruction
period and rendering valuable aid to the government in public office, Mr.
Herren, in business life, was doing what he could to retrieve his
lost possessions. He found himself at the close of the war destitute of
funds, but with commercial reputation and credit that enabled him to secure
a stock of goods worth ten thousand dollars from New York city, and with this he
resumed business in Waynesville, North Carolina, where he remained in successful
trade until 1870. He then removed to Greenville, South Carolina, and during the
next ten years became interested to a considerable extent in Texas lands and
also in city lots in Austin, that state. In 1880 he returned to his old home in
North Carolina. Prior to his removal from there in 1870 he had become largely
interested in lands in that state and owned and controlled between fifty and one
hundred thousand acres. He remained continuously in North Carolina until 1890,
when he came to Seattle and after investigating the possibilities and resources
of this region he organized the Puget Sound Colony Company, of which he became
the president. The object of this company was to organize colonies and thus
induce settlement of the Sound country. He has retained large land interests in
North Carolina, but has been disposing of these since taking up his residence
here, believing that the northwest has a brilliant future before it. He has made
extensive and judicious investments in real estate in Seattle and now has very
valuable property here, his attention being given to the supervision of his
interests.
     On the 21st of March, 1875, Mr. Herren was married to lola Jones, a
daughter of Dr. W. R. and Elizabeth (Parkins) Jones, the parents and daughter
being natives of South Carolina and representatives of an old southern family of
distinction. Unto Mr. and Mrs. Herren have been born eight children: Jennie, who
is an artist of local prominence; Elizabeth, who is a graduate of the State
University of Washington and a successful and popular teacher; Ellen, Archibald,
Lyda, lola, Mattie and Maude, all with their parents. The family have a fine
modern home at No. 512 Highland Drive, overlooking Lake Union from an
advantageous site on Queen Anne Hill. The family attend the Baptist church, of
which Mr. Herren has been a member for many years. In business circles he is
regarded as a man of unusually good judgment, quick perception and decision. He
yet has large interests in the south, which he supervises from this point, in
addition to the management of his investments in the northwest. A little more
than a third of a century ago left almost penniless as the result of conditions
arising from the Civil war, he is today numbered among the capitalists of
Seattle, and his life history stands in splendid exemplification of the fact
that the road to success is open to all in this free land of ours and that
merit, close application and sound judgment, arising from a thorough study of a
business situation, are the elements necessary in gaining prosperity.


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Submitted to the Washington Biographies Project in March 2008 by Diana Smith.
Submitter has no additional information about the person(s) or family mentioned
above.