Page 290 - PGM Compendium

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH
Of
M⸫W⸫ Levi Ankeny

1883-1884

Levi Ankeny of Walla Walla was elected Grand Master. He was
banker and political leader and was elected US Senator from
Washington for the six-year term beginning in 1903. He was born
August 1, 1844 in Missouri and was taken to Oregon in 1850. He
was educated in Portland and as a young man became a packtrain
merchant in Orofino and Florence, and other mining districts in
Idaho. He served as the first mayor of Lewiston, Idaho, shortly
after attaining his majority. He returned to Portland in 1873 and
in 1878 removed to Walla Walla, where he established the first
national bank to open its doors in Washington. He is said to have
attained his great popularity because he encouraged his debtors to
hang onto their land and business enterprises during the panic of 1893. He refused to foreclose on
loans unless forced to do so.

After his death in Walla Walla on March 29, 1921, the Walla Walla Union said of him: “During
the hard times of 1893 and during several other financial panics, he could by law have gained
possession of much of the richest farming land of Walla Walla County by sharp practices, which,
however, were foreign to his nature. Innumerable times in the past few years he has aided many a
farmer and businessman in financial distress and thus kept this community free from the evils of
bankruptcy and hardship.”

Brother Ankeny became a Mason in Willamette Lodge, No. 2, in Portland in 1866. He affiliated
with Walla Walla Lodge, No. 7, when he settled there, and became its Master in 1882. He long
had a strong hand in guiding our Grand Lodge as a member of its important committees.