Kittitas-King County WA Archives Biographies.....Byrnes, Ralph T. ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/wa/wafiles.htm ************************************************ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Ila L. Wakley iwakley@msn.com May 31, 2010, 6:48 pm Source: History of the Columbia River Valley From The Dalles to the Sea, Vol. III, Published 1928, Pages 365 - 366 Author: The S. J. Clarke Publishing Company RALPH T. BYRNES, president and manager of the Byrnes-Densmore Funeral Home of Portland and the oldest undertaker of the city, has here been continuously engaged in business along that line during the past quarter of a century. He was born near Dubuque, Iowa, a son of John S. and Susan Ann (McCraney) Byrnes, the latter being the first white child born in the Hawkeye state. It was in 1897 that he turned his face toward the setting sun, journeying westward until he reached Kalispell, Montana, while subsequently he resided for a time at Ellensburg, Washington. In 1900 he removed to Seattle and thence made his way to Cape Nome, Alaska, but after a brief period returned to Seattle, where he found employment in an undertaking establishment, having become qualified for work of this character while a young man in Wisconsin. The year 1903 witnessed his arrival in Portland, Oregon, and with the small capital which he had saved from his earnings he here embarked in business on his own account on Russell street. He is today the oldest active representative of the undertaking business in the city, now located at 901 Williams avenue, where he conducts his interests under the name of the Byrnes-Densmore Funeral Home. This enterprise was incorporated in March, 1928, with the following officers: Ralph T. Byrnes, president and manager; Edith Densmore, secretary and treasurer; and Arthur C. Lundberg, vice president and assistant manager. A pioneer in the business, Mr. Byrnes has kept pace in his work with the progress of the passing years, at all times embodying the most modern methods, and well deserved success has come to him. He has membership with the Sons of Veterans and fraternally is affiliated with the Modern Woodmen of America, the Woodmen of the World, the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and the Loyal Order of Moose. On the 12th of December, 1903, Mr. Byrnes was united in marriage to Maida L. Swafford, a native of Oregon and a daughter of Harry M. and Olive (Bailey) Swafford. Mr. and Mrs. Byrnes are the parents of a son, Ralph T., Jr. James G. Swafford, the paternal grandfather of Mrs. Byrnes, was among the pioneer residents of this state, locating first near Oregon City and subsequently in Portland. In the early '80s, however, he removed to Snohomish, Washington, where he spent the remainder of his life. Harry M. Swafford, son of James G. Swafford and father of Mrs. Byrnes, was but four years of age when brought by his parents to Oregon and was reared in Oregon City and Portland, being a graduate of the old Portland Academy. In later life he was successfully engaged in the lumber and shingle mill business in the state of Washington. He died in 1911. Mrs. Olive (Bailey) Swafford, the mother of Mrs. Byrnes, was a daughter of Mrs. Barbara A. Bailey, an Oregon pioneer of 1853. The following resume appeared in a local paper under date of December 22, 1924: "Mrs. Barbara A. Bailey, eighty-eight, pioneer of 1853 and for the past fifty-five years a resident of Portland, died yesterday at the home that she built at 112 East Tenth street when she came to Portland following the death of her husband, Joseph Bailey, at Cascades, in 1869. Mrs. Bailey came from Graysville, Illinois, to Oregon with her parents, John W. and Sarah (Tait) Stevenson, in 1853, and in the following year she married J. V. Clary, who died in 1862, leaving her with four children. She went to Cape Horn and Eagle Creek and then to Cascades to take charge of the boarding house for the Oregon Short Line Company, and in 1864 she married Joseph Bailey. When he died she came to Portland with seven small children and made her home here thenceforth. She was the mother-in-law of the late Senator Harry Lane. She was also the mother of Mrs. Olive F. Swafford, Mrs. S. R. Gatton and Mrs. Ida M. Gamble of Portland and Fred J. Bailey of Vancouver, Washington; sister of John Stevenson, Cape Horn, Washington; Mrs. Rebekah Wills, Mrs. Arthur Miller of Portland and Mrs. Augusta Chase of Oregon City; grandmother of Mrs. Lola Farrell, Mrs. George Hayner, Portland; Mrs. Ed Bawron, Cle Elum, Washington; Mrs. William Ross, Spokane, Washington; Mrs. R. T. Byrnes, Portland; Fred Swafford, Everett, Washington; Mrs. George Bott, Tacoma, Washington; Mrs. George Coffman, Mrs. Gus Craig, Enumclaw, Washington; Mrs. Nina McBride, Bethel, Connecticut, and Mrs. Harriet Hicks, Portland, and Barbara Bailey, Vancouver, Washington; Marjorie Lane, Helen, Lucy and Margaret Gamble, Portland, and six great- grandchildren." Mrs. Byrnes and her mother, Mrs. Olive Swafford, who was also born in Oregon, lived at one time in a dwelling opposite the first frame house in Portland, at the corner of Fourth and Yamhill streets. File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/wa/kittitas/bios/byrnes158gbs.txt This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.org/wafiles/ File size: 5.4 Kb