The Gould & Stratton Families: Pioneers of Spokane, WA.

SURNAMES: GOULD, STRATTON, MANN, BRONWE, WHITTLESEY, McLAIN, CROSS, GRUENHAGEN, MYGATT

The Goulds & the Strattons are two of the pioneer families of Spokane, Washington.

The Gould story begins in North Molton, North Devon, England, where John Gould & Mary Gillard were married & started their family. Their first 4 children were born in North Molton; John Watts (1829-1917), George (1830-1910), Hannah (1832-1912), and James (1833-1835). John Gould arrived in America in 1834 at Newburgh, Orange County, New York. There he found work as a stone mason & sent for his family the next year. In September 1842, he traded his property in Newburgh for 800 acres of wilderness in Delaware County, New York. The Gould family would grow by 7 more children; James (1836-1902), William (1837-1899), Richard (1839-1915), Henry (1840-1840), Henry (1841-1873), Charles Wesley (1842-1862), and Wesley (1844-1928). My husband's Gould ancestor is James(2). James, with his family, left Delaware County, New York and moved to Deposit, NY in 1868 and then to Bingham. The year 1872 found him in Minnesota briefly before traveling to Forest Grove, Oregon Territory. Most of this journey was by wagon train. Finally, in 1879, the family arrived in Spokane Falls, Washington Territory. His daughter, Martha Elizabeth (Libbie) Gould was the third white girl in a community of 12 families.

William Obediah Stratton is the oldest ancestor that I have found to this point. He was born in Baltimore, Maryland 07 November 1798. He would eventually move to Canfield, Mahoning County, Ohio where he began his life's work as a Presbyterian minister. He married Anna Maria Whittlesey, daughter of Elisha & Polly Mygatt Whittlesey, 10 October 1832 in Canfield, OH. They had seven children. I have found three of their children to date; Howard Whittlesey Stratton ( 1833-1895), Harriet (1842-1843), & Henry Granville Stratton ( 1837-1910). Howard W. Stratton became a Presbyterian minister also. He moved his family from North Benton, Ohio to Kansas then on to Oregon & finally to Spokane Falls, Washington Territory in 1881.

His son, Alfred Ritzell Stratton married Martha Elizabeth (Libbie)Gould on 26 September 1886 at Five Mile Prairie, Washington Territory. They are the great-grandparents of my husband.

Coming soon: Gould-Stratton family tree & genealogy reports of the major families.