19 Facts About Edmund Sylvester

Edmund Sylvester was an Oregon Territory and then Washington Territory emigrant settler.

Edmund Sylvester was the founder of Olympia, Washington, in Thurston County, Washington.

Edmund Sylvester was born in Deer Isle, Maine on March 2,1821.

Edmund Sylvester's family was Presbyterian and were a long line of fisherman.

Edmund Sylvester traveled to Oregon Territory via Cape Horn in 1843.

Edmund Sylvester took up his 320 acres claim on the edge of Chambers Prairie and Smith took up his between Edmund Sylvester's claim and Budd Inlet, where the main part of Olympia now resides.

Smith and Edmund Sylvester were land claim partners under the partnership clause of the land law of Oregon.

Edmund Sylvester was the first recorded American pioneer to die in the area Because of the partnership, Smith's land went to Sylvester and Sylvester abandoned his prairie claim for Smith's claim.

Edmund Sylvester built the first hotel at this time, which was 16 x 24 feet and roughly built of logs.

In 1849, Edmund Sylvester traveled to California for the gold rush.

Edmund Sylvester returned to his land claim in 1850, having traveled upon the Orbit.

Edmund Sylvester had come back from San Francisco with only gold dust, which he used to buy into the Orbit partnership, it being the first vessel owned by Washington Territory residents.

Edmund Sylvester donated land for the first school, masonic temple, the capital grounds, and Sylvester park; he sold some of his land for the first shops in Olympia.

Edmund Sylvester built his own store, where he preferred to play chess with customers then have them shop.

In June 1852 when Thurston County was made a legal county, Edmund Sylvester was elected coroner.

The other possibility, is in 1854 Edmund Sylvester returned to Maine, where he married Clara Pottle and then brought her back to the quickly growing Olympia, Washington.

The Edmund Sylvester family was known for their political involvement in women's rights, their generosity and being very social.

Edmund Sylvester's Window is a painting series, created by educator Lynn Erickson and artist Robert Chamberlain, and is permanently housed in the Olympia Timberland Library; it shows the changing landscape of Olympia from the point of view of the highest window in Edmund Sylvester's Mansion.

Edmund Sylvester died in Seattle, on September 20,1887; his death caused great mourning by their friends and fellow pioneers.