The History of the Yakima Valley, Washington, Comprising Yakima, Kittitas and
Benton Counties, The S.J. Clarke Publishing Co., 1919, Volume II, page 892 

W. S. EARLS.

Since 1902 W. S. Earls has been connected with commercial interests in Yakima,
for in that year he established a grocery store which he has since conducted,
and with the passing of time his trade has steadily increased as the result of
enterprising methods and thorough reliability. He was born in Andrew county,
Missouri, in 1840 and still remains an active factor in business circles,
although he has now reached the advanced age of seventy-eight years. His parents
were Jonathan and Frances (Sleet) Earls, both of whom were natives of Boone
county, Kentucky, whence they removed to Missouri in 1837. The father took up
government land in that state and there engaged in farming to the time of his
death, which occurred in 1849, while his wife, surviving him for many years,
passed away in 1875.

W. S. Earls was but nine years of age at the time of his father's death. He
acquired a public school education and then gave his attention to farming in
Missouri until 1859, when he crossed the plains to Denver, Colorado, which at
that time contained but one frame house. He was attracted by the reports
concerning mining conditions in that section and for a year devoted his
attention to mining, after which he returned to Missouri, making the trip to and
from Colorado with ox teams. During the period of the Civil war he served in
the Missouri State Militia and was on one occasion taken prisoner while acting
as messenger.

Mr. Earls' connection with commercial interests dates from 1862, at which time
he entered business as a general merchant at Savannah, Missouri, becoming a
member of the firm of Walker & Earls. Later he was identified with the hardware
trade in that place, being sole proprietor of the store. He afterward organized
five other stores at various points in Missouri and Kansas and conducted a
profitable business in that section of the country for some time but eventually
sold out and entered the banking business at Union Star, Missouri, where he was
thus prominently connected with financial interests for five years. On the
expiration of that period he removed to Salt Lake City, Utah, where he engaged
in the furniture and carpet business until 1892. Soon afterward he sold out and
went to New York city, where he was manager of the Atlantic coast branch of the
Acme Cement Plaster Company for two years. On removing to Elko, Nevada, he
carried on mercantile pursuits there for two years and two months and then went
to Tintic, Utah, where he was manager of the Tintic Mercantile Company, spending
two years at the place. On the 10th of June, 1902, he arrived in Yakima, where
he opened a grocery store which he has since conducted and his trade, steadily
growing, brought him sales amounting to two hundred and seventy-five thousand
dollars in 1917. He utilizes auto trucks for deliveries and has a very extensive
patronage. He established his store in the Lesh building but in 1904 removed to
17 South First street and now has a building with a fifty foot frontage and a
depth of one hundred and forty feet. His is one of the leading grocery
establishments of the city and he has a warehouse, on a private track, that has
a capacity of seventy-five car loads of groceries.

In 1862 Mr. Earls was married to Miss Mary J. Langford, of Andrew county,
Missouri, and they became the parents of four children: Walter Lee, a merchant
of Shreveport, Louisiana, who is married and has a child who has also married
and has one child, the latter being the great-grandchild of W. S. Earls of this
review; Jessie T., the wife of Phil P. Clark, residing in Salt Lake City;
Frederick A., a mining engineer, living at Yakima; and Edna, the wife of
Jackson C. McChrystal, a mine owner of Utah.

Through his long residence in Yakima, Mr. Earls has become very widely and
favorably known through the valley. His grocery establishment is the oldest of
the city and he has ever made it his policy to give to the public full value
received. He has, moreover, followed progressive methods, seeking ever to meet
the demands and wishes of his customers and recognizing at all times that
satisfied patrons are the best advertisement. His life has never been
self-centered and Yakima has found in him a citizen whose aid and support are
cheerfully and readily given to every movement for the general good.

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Submitted to the Washington Bios Project in January 2008 by Jeffrey L. Elmer.
Submitter has no additional information about the subject of this article.