The History of the Yakima Valley, Washington, Comprising Yakima, Kittitas and
Benton Counties, The S.J. Clarke Publishing Co., 1919, Volume II, page 559

WILLIAM VERRAN.

William Verran, editor and owner of the Wapato Independent, was born in
Merrimac, Michigan, on the 15th of August, 1867, a son of John and Marjorie
(Trevena) Verran. The father died in the year 1917 but the mother is still
living. John Verran was a miner and thus provided for the support of his family.

William Verran acquired a public school education and made his initial start in
the business world as printer's devil in a job printing shop. Later he was with
the Scranton (Penn.) Times and following his return to Michigan was for thirteen
years associated with George A. Newett. On the expiration of that period he went
to Rossland, British Columbia, where he remained for four and a half years, and
was part owner of a weekly and daily paper there published. In 1903 he came to
Washington, settling at Yakima, and was with the Yakima Democrat for two years.
Later he was with the Daily Herald as superintendent and on the 16th of June,
1909, came to Wapato and purchased the Wapato Independent, which had been
established on the 23d of March, 1906, by Charles M. Shrader, who failed, and
the paper was sold to the Wapato Development Company, from whom Mr. Verran
purchased it. He then installed new equipment and gets out a fine weekly paper
which would be a credit to a much larger town. He is progressive in all that he
does and has made the Independent a most readable journal, that is now a popular
weekly visitor in many a home in this section of the state. It is published as
an independent sheet and it has been an active factor in promoting public
progress and improvement in the locality.

On the 18th of December, 1890, Mr. Verran was married to Miss Eliza A. Kemp, who
was born in Ishpeming, Michigan, a daughter of Mark and Eliza J. (Trewartha)
Kemp. Mr. and Mrs. Verran have become the parents of four children: Goldie, who
died at the age of eighteen months; William, who is in the United States Navy as
a musician; Doris M., who is in the First National Bank at Wapato; and Myrtle,
who is a student in the high school.

Mr. Verran belongs to the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, the Knights of
Pythias and the Knights of The Maccabees. He is also a member of the Wapato
Commercial Club, of which he became the first secretary and of which he later
served as president. In politics he is a republican where national questions and
issues are involved but casts an independent local ballot. He has become an
integral factor in the development of the community in which he makes his home
and his work indicates that he stands for all that is progressive in newspaper
publication.

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Submitted to the Washington Bios Project in December 2007 by Jeffrey L. Elmer.
Submitter has no additional information about the subject of this article.