Page 270 - PGM Compendium

He first came prominently into public notice when elected a member of the upper house of the Washington
Territorial Legislature and for many years he was a member of the state central committee of the
Democratic Party. In 1894 he was offered the nomination for governor but refused to become a candidate.
He regarded the pursuits of private life as in themselves abundantly worthy of his best efforts and with
remarkable fidelity he labored for the interests of his clients. It is said that he never lost a case which he
appealed to the Supreme Court. It should be no surprise that our Most Worshipful Brother was considered
the highest authority on Masonic jurisprudence in our jurisdiction, and served as chairman of the
Jurisprudence Committee for 10 years.

For a long period M⸫W⸫ B Edmiston was collecting data for a history of southeastern Washington but
died on May 8, 1900, before the completion of the work. At that time, was president of the board of regents
of the Washington State College at Pullman, and on the day of his burial the college was closed in respect
to his memory. Every business house and the schools of Dayton were also closed and the day was given
over to sincere mourning by the entire community. The bar of Dayton passed appropriate resolutions and
every mark of respect that could be shown, both in a public and a private way, was evidenced. At the
Annual Communication in 1900, M⸫W⸫ William Seeman memorialized M⸫W⸫ Edmiston with these
words: “A great man has fallen in Israel.”

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