Gilbert, Frank T.  "Historic Sketches of Walla Walla, Whitman, Columbia and
Garfield Counties, Washington Territory; and Umatilla County, Oregon."
Portland, OR: Print & Lithographing House of A. G. Walling, 1882. p. 363.
 
F. W. D. MAYS

     "The pioneer journal of Garfield county was first issued in Pomeroy August
12, 1880, by F. W. D. Mays, its present editor.  The Independent has met with
success, and pursues an independent course in politics, though the editor is a
staunch Democrat.  It is a six-column, 23 x 32 sheet, and is issued every
Thursday.
     F. W. D. Mays -- This gentleman, of Irish and German descent, is
thirty-three years of age and a native of Pittsylvania county, Va.  He attended
the common schools and the school at Stony Point, Va., receiving a military
education.  During the war he was First Lieutenant of a boy company for home
protection, and during the last two years of the struggle was in the Confederate
army, serving under Breckenridge and Early and being captured by Sheridan at
Fisher's Hill, or Bell Grove.  In December, 1870, he was licensed to preach in
Giles county, Va., and joined the Holston Conference of the M. E. church, South,
in 1871, at Morristown, Tenn.  He preached a year in Wythe county, Va., and then
in Tennessee.  In August, 1873, he accompanied Bishop Doggett to Oregon and
joined the Columbia Conference.  He was appointed to Lafayette and Tillamook
circuit, and then to Eugene City.  In 1875 he was sent to Walla Walla, which
place he made his headquarters for two years, preaching in the country.  He was
sent to Boise City in 1877, and again to Walla Walla the next year.  The church
on the corner of Fourth and Sumac streets in that city, was built under his
charge.  In 1879 he was sent to Dayton, and August 12, 1880, established the
Washington Independent at Pomeroy.  Mr. Mays has been a correspondent for
leading papers of his denomination for years, and has also written for the press
of other countries.  He married Miss M. J. Whetstone in March, 1877, in Columbia
county, and has a family of four children, two sons and two daughters.  Mr. Mays
has been a member of the Masonic order since he became of the proper age."
 
 
Transcriber's additional notes:
 
 
"An Illustrated History of Walla Walla County, State of Washington"
by Professor W. D. Lyman
W. H. Lever, Publisher; 1901; Page 206
 
Methodist Episcopal Church, South
     This church was organized by F. W. D. Mays in October or November, 1875,
with a small class, chief among whom were the old pioneers, D. M. Jesse and J.
M. Gose and their wives.  F. W. D. Mays used for some time the United Brethren
church building for his religious services, as their class was then without a
pastor.  Their property was offered for sale and Mr. Mays made arrangements
to purchase the same.  Money was appropriated by his general Board of Missions
in Nashville to make the purchase.  The authorities of the United Brethren
church concluded, however, not to sell their property, and the money donated by
the Nashville Board was used to buy two lots at the present location of Fourth
and Sumach streets.  On one of these lots was a dwelling house, still standing,
the lower front of which was turned into a hall for church services by removal
of partitions.  Here services were held for two years.
     In 1876 Mr. Mays was returned, by appointment of conference, to the charge
for the second year.  In September, 1877, the Annual conference met in Walla
Walla in said hall, Bishop H. N. McTyiere presiding.  J. W. Compton was
appointed as pastor for the ensuing year.  In 1878 F. W. D. Mays was again
appointed pastor of the charge, and in the summer of 1879 he sold the lot on
which the dwelling house stood and erected the present church edifice.  This was
not entirely completed until several years later.
 
 
CENSUS
1880, June 29; Columbia Co, WA; Dayton, p 120
F.W.D. Mays, 30, VA, VA, VA, minister
M.J., wife, 22, OR, OH, OH
Ida May, dau, 2, ID, VA, OR
Baby, female, 8/12, Sept, Wa. Terr., VA, OR
 
1883, Garfield Co, WA
TWD Mays, 33, VA, married, editor
MJ, 25, OR
Ida M, 4, ID
Clara, 3, WT
Dick, 2, WT
Ned, 1, WT
 
1900, June 5; Garfield Co, WA; E. Pomeroy, p 68
Ferdenand D. W. Mays, 50, Sept 1849, VA, VA, VA, mar 2 yrs, editor & publisher
Nellie, wife, 38, May 1862, PA, PA, PA, mar 2 yrs, 3 children-1 living
Viola, dau, 1/12, April 1900, WA, VA, PA
G. Hancock, son, 19, Dec 1880, WA, VA, OR, telephone operator
 
1910, April 15; Garfield Co, WA; Pomeroy City, p 263, Garfield County Jail
Ferdinand W. D. Mays, prisoner, 60, VA, VA, VA, Wd, no occ.
 
1920, January 2; Garfield Co, WA; Pomeroy, p 278
John H. Becker, 45, WA, GER, MD, house painter
Clara, wife, 40, WA, VA, WA
Loyd L, son, 20, MT, WA, WA, house painter
Thomas, son, 18, WA, WA, WA
Winnifred, dau, 11, WA, WA, WA
Ferdinand Mays, father in law, 73, VA, VA, VA, Wd
 
Washington State Archives
<http://www.digitalarchives.wa.gov/default.aspx>http://www.digitalarchives.wa.
gov/default.aspx
1904, Prison record in Garfield Co, Wa.; Walla Walla Penitentiary
1883, Census of Garfield Co, WA.

* * * *

Submitted to the WA. Bios Project in April 2006 by Diana Smith.

Notice: These biographies were transcribed for the Washington Biographies
Project. Unless otherwise stated, no further information is available on the
individual featured in the biographies.