The Pickering family
For more than 125 years, there have been Pickerings in the Squak Valley. The family also played a significant role in state history as well.
William Pickering was born in England, graduated from Oxford with a degree in civil engineering, and relocated in the United States seeking new adventures. In Illinois, he met up with a young lawyer who would become a life-long friend. The lawyer was Abraham Lincoln.
After his election as president, Lincoln offered his friend the choice of becoming ambassador to England or territorial governor of Washington. Always looking for new frontiers, Pickering chose the latter.
He arrived in the territory in 1862, and two years later purchased 160 acres near Lake Sammamish from the estate of William Castro, who had been slain by Indians. Pickering’s son, another William, purchased a 160 acres adjacent to his father’s.
The governor died shortly after his tenure in office, which ended when Lincoln was assassinated. His son set off to seek his fortune in the gold fields of California and Alaska. He made one, but lost it when his ship of assets literally did not come in.
Dejected, the son returned to Issaquah to work the farm. He married Sevilla Wilson, whose family had land to the west of his. They had three sons-Royal, William and Ernest-before he died at a relatively young age. Although she sold off other properties, Sevilla Wilson Furnell managed to hold onto the main farm until her boys were old enough to work it.
Her sons and grandsons developed the farm into a 336-acre dairy farm that was active until the 1970s. The 102-year-old Pickering Barn still stands, but office parks, Gilman Boulevard shopping centers, and I-90 now cover the farmland.
Between Roy’s five children-Rob, Wilbur, Drury, Gordon and Marcia-and Ernest’s three-Ellsworth, Rita and Bruce-there are countless Pickering descendents still living in the area. Every Christmas the family reunion fills Community Hall.
