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Henry Conrad "HC" Barkhousen (15 January 1835 - 2 September 1919) was an Illinois born, early Whatcom County, (in Washington Territory), pioneer and statesman.

Early Life

Henry Conrad Barkhousen was born and raised in Rushville, Schuyler County, Illinois to Frederick C "Conrad" Barkhousen (1787-1834) and Louisa Pilgrim (1796-1853), Prussian immigrants who came to the United States in 1833. Henry was the youngest of four children, the older three all born in Prussia. His eldest brother (Heinrick) and father died prior to his birth in the 1834 Cholera outbreak, thus he was named for them, although Americanized to Henry Conrad. He had to start life for himself early, securing however, a good education. After the death of his mother, he decided to head for the California gold fields. In 1856 he traveled down the Mississippi River and took a steamer from New Orleans to Panama and crossed the isthmus as was done in those days. On this particular crossing a riot broke out between the passengers and some natives, with the natives wounding and killing and robbing the passengers. At least 15 passengers were killed and between 40-50 reported missing. HC, however made the crossing to Panama City safely, and leaving aboard the steamer 'John L Stephens' arrived in San Francisco, 1 May 1856. After putting in a short time at mining he worked in a blacksmith shop at Stockton for a time with his brother-in-law, but in May 1858 he made his way to the Washington Territory, arriving at Bellingham Bay, where he very shortly joined in the "Fraser River Excitement, in which he had occasional gold finds. In a short time he returned to Bellingham Bay making his home in the town of Whatcom, where he married and started his family, he lived here for seven years.  In 1860, he was elected county auditor and served two terms of one year each, also, he was elected to the 11th session of the territorial legislature, serving in 1863 1864.  In 1865 he moved with his family, to Fidalgo Island and took up the land on which he homesteaded.  Only four other white men were on the island when he arrived, though a sixth arrived shortly after.  HC immediately began to clear his land, as did the others, to raise cattle and hogs. He saw all the improvements made on the island, and watched Anacortes grow from a wilderness of nature to the bustling town of his time. The island's first post office was established at Fidalgo, about one mile from HC's place, the first postmaster being William Monks and Mr. Barkhousen the assistant postmaster, though HC, on 4 Dec 1890, became postmaster himself, the same day the name was changed to East Anacortes. However, the area residents were not happy with the name change and in two months it was renamed again to Fidalgo. HC Barkhousen kept the position for ten years, retiring on the 25th of December 1900. In 1890 he established a store at Fidalgo, but lost it in the financial stress of the early nineties. Like many other early settlers of the Northwest, Mr. Barkhousen took a wife from the local tribes, Julia Sehome, daughter of the well known sachem, 'Chief Sehome' from the Samish Tribe. They were married according to Indian ceremony at Whatcom in 1860, but unlike many other white men in similar relationships, he declined to hold that that marriage was not binding in the eyes of the law. He held the relation/marriage sacred and argued that an admission of its lack of legality would brand his children as illegitimate. as a result he would not be married according to the white man's law and was indicted by a grand jury for the offense against statue, he was eventually acquitted by the court, [read an account of this in "The Whatcom County Nine: Legal and Political Ramifications of Metis Family Life in Washington Territory]. To this union were born these children: George, Maria, Henry, Fred, Isabella, Louise and Daniel, all but one of whom (Henry), were married and had families of their own.  The Barkhousen children spent their lives on the [Fidalgo] island, but with Daniel moving his family to the Port Angeles area in 1920.  The home farm consisted of twenty-four acres of excellent land, situated five miles southeast of Anacortes, and was devoted to the raising of hogs, sheep and cattle, with fields of oats and wheat.  HC took a more optimistic view of pioneer life than many, saying he preferred the open prairie soil of Fidalgo Bay to the difficult muddy farms to be had by diking the flats. He said he had not seen too much hardship in his pioneering - "a good garden was easily grown and a suit of clothes lasted for years". Mr Barkhousen was one of the respected citizens of the community, honored as one of the foundation builders of the country, a man of principle and high integrity. He once sold a team of horses to Capt. George Morse of Whidbey Island and was obliged to swim them across inner Deception Pass from Dewey (due east from the bridge built in 1935), landing them near a skid road leading to Dugalla Bay. He was a Republican and had been ever since attaining the voting age, casting his first vote for Millard Fillmore. Henry Conrad Barkhousen passed away on 2 September 1919, preceded in death by eldest son George (1915), survived by his wife and other six children and their families. His wife Julia lived until 25 April 1934.