Page 269 - PGM Compendium

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH
Of
M⸫W⸫ James E. Edmiston: 1890-1891

Throwback Thursday – High on the roll of Washington's
distinguished citizens appears the name of James Ewen
Edmiston, Grand Master 1890 -1891, who was for many years
a resident of Dayton. His ideals of life were very high and in
early manhood he displayed conspicuously the traits of
character that made his career brilliantly successful.

Our brother was born in Washington County, Arkansas, on
March 29, 1849. In 1863, at the age of fourteen, he enlisted in
the Confederate Army. After the close of hostilities he returned
to his home in Arkansas and remained long enough to assist in
putting the plantation again into shape. He then went to
Bentonville, Arkansas, where he attended the Bentonville
College for two years, and while a student there he also taught
school. In 1870 he went to Omaha, Nebraska, whence he made
his way to the Pacific coast. He taught school for a time in Oregon and also pursued a course of study at
Corvallis College, from which he received his degree in 1873.

On March 13, 1873 he was united in marriage to Helen Lacey, a native of Clackamas County, Oregon.
Soon after their marriage, they moved to Colfax, Washington, where for three years he was engaged in
teaching school. In 1876 he took up his abode in Dayton, where for some years following he devoted his
attention to teaching and then engaged in selling farm machinery. He also operated a large sawmill and
was identified with various other business interests which have contributed to the material development
and progress of this section of the state.

Our brother had been educated with a view to entering the ministry but subsequently turned his attention
to law and pursued his reading under the preceptorship of John Y. Ostrander. In 1885, he was admitted to
the bar and entered upon the practice of his profession, becoming one of the prominent lawyers of
Columbia County, being named Prosecuting Attorney for said county in 1886.

It has been said that he was remarkable among lawyers for the wide research and provident care with
which he prepared his cases. At no time was his reading ever confined to the limitations of the questions
at issue. It went beyond and compassed every contingency and provided not alone for the expected but
also for the unexpected, which happens in the courts quite as frequently as out of them. His legal learning,
his analytical mind, the readiness with which he grasped the points in an argument all combined to make
him one of the capable attorneys at the bar of Columbia County and the public and the profession
acknowledged him the peer of the ablest regarding him as a jurist of exceptionally rare ability.

Like many of the previous occupants of the Oriental Chair, Edmiston figured very prominently in the
public life of the community. At one time he served as Superintendent of Schools of Columbia County.

P a ge | 268