Wolf faces execution, but is saved by President Lincoln

The Grant County Historical Society has compiled several volumes of Grant County history. The books are available for purchase at the Historical Society Museum gift shop in Ephrata.

I bought the series in 2009 and secured permission to relay some of the history through this column.

Memories of Grant County, compiled from taped interviews by the Grant County Historical Society.

Today we backtrack a bit and then continue the story of Ephrata by Thelma Billingsley Nicks:

My great grandfather Wolf was a major in the Mexican and Civil wars. During the Civil War he was captured along with two of his men, by soldiers of the Northern Army. They had lost some of their men, they thought, at the hands of Major Wolf's men. Major Wolf knew nothing of this affair and his men were not guilty, but the Northern soldiers would not release them.

The decision was that they were to be executed in four days. My grandfather was bound in chains and later a 32-pound ball and chain was put on him. It was said he carried the scars of the chains the rest of his life. His friends wrote letters asking for his release.

The morning before he was to be shot he was asked if he wanted a minister. He was told the government had two employed for that purpose. One was a Catholic the other an Episcopalian. He had his choice. He said he did not want either. If he had a preacher he wanted a Missionary Baptist. They sent for one for him and one came. The minister told him he was to be shot the next morning. He asked my grandfather if he had any relics or letters he wanted his wife to have; that he would take charge and see that she got them.

The minister in reading the letter came to where Grandfather told his wife if she had to have assistance he would want her to go to his Masonic friends. The minister was a Mason, upon finding this out he caused the lodge to be called into session. A wire was sent to President Lincoln. A telegram came back from Lincoln ordering the release of Major Wolf as well as his men and also notice that there were to be no more executions.

My father, Preston Billingsley, was born in Franklin Ark. August 19, 1877. Franklin was also the town Gordon was born in as well as his father Emmett Nicks. My father's family moved to Texas when he was 9 years old. He attended business college in Rockwell, Tex., worked for his father in a general store and machine shop.

He came to Ephrata in 1901. He was living in the Big Bend country of Texas and his cousins, The Hill Boys from Franklin, decided to come out and see what the Big Bend Country of Washington was like. My father was 22 years of age when he came to Ephrata.

The Hill boys came at that time were Joe, Bob, Wess (Jack). My father owned and operated a blacksmith shop in Quincy.

The Hill brothers store was on the alley on Basin Street where Galfano's or the Ephrata House is now.

Fay Morris of Quincy gave me many excerpts from the old Quincy Quills she had. Some of the information I have is from them.

The Quincy Quill mentioned a Democratic convention in Coulee City and of his attending the fair in Spokane. In R.L. Polk's Douglas Co. directory it showed he was in partnership with Michal A.J. Smith (Mike) in 1909-1911.

In May of 1916 it said he sold the shop to Mr. Smith in Quincy. Later we learned that Mr. Smith was a cousin of Gordon's father. Gordon's folks moved here in 1913.

My grandfather Billingsley came out from Texas in 1905 to build a house for his sister and her Husband Will and Margaret Hill, the parents of the Hill boys. They came out from Ark. on an immigrant train. They moved all their things out then.

We have a few things that were brought out at that time. The house was a two story pink house. It stood where the Bureau of Reclamation is now. There were other younger children who came out at that time. Stella and Milton, who helped in the store, and Sam B. who later was an attorney, then Judge of Grant and Douglas counties. He was later elected to Congress from the 5th district.

My grandfather also worked in the construction of the railroad bridge at Beverly for the Milwaukee Railroad. He returned to Texas and brought grandma and the younger children back with him in 1906.

Those who came were Milton, who became an attorney in Texas, Ruby, Cate and Mary. Years later Cate married Wes Robinson and Mary married Morgan Porter. They stayed in Quincy for 18 months then returned to Texas.

Cate recalls that they arrived in Quincy the day before Easter. They had been used to dressing up in their new Easter clothes and attending church. But this Easter they were not prepared to do so. They observed Easter in an unusual way. By watching the men have horse races down the dusty Quincy streets.

Grandmother Billingsley was a wonderful cook. I have a clipping from the Spokesman Review. It was then a twice weekly paper. It told of a gala birthday party she gave for my father and a friend of his by the name of S.G. Shaw. The article told of the good things to eat and said there were eight present from Quincy and six from Ephrata. The Ephrata guests were Stella Hill, Eunice Simpson, Robert, Milt, and Jack Hill, all cousins and J. T. Owens.

My mother was born in Western Oregon January 6, 1882. Her name was Ida Mae Tweedy. Her parents were Columbus Tweedy and Mary Deming. Mother was a daughter of Territorial pioneers. The Tweedy family came to America around 1635.

They first settled in Mass. My mother's family was farming in Kansas until poor crops forced them to leave. They drove two covered wagons with mule teams. Her oldest brother, then 9, drove one of the teams. Mother was born a few months after they came West. The little two-story brick house she was born in was still standing the last I knew. Her mother was in poor health and died when mother was two years old.