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Skagit River Journal

of History & Folklore
Free Home Page Stories & Photos
The most in-depth, comprehensive site about the Skagit
Covers from British Columbia to Puget Sound. Counties covered: Skagit, Whatcom, Island, San Juan, Snohomish & BC. An evolving history dedicated to committing random acts of historical kindness

Noel V. Bourasaw, editor (bullet)

810 Central Ave., Sedro-Woolley, Washington, 98284
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Mortimer Cook slept here & named the town Bug

Story list about the von Pressentin family

This photo of the original Karl von Pressentin ranch house was taken on May 15, 1921, a few years before it burned. Photo courtesy of Barbara Halliday, a descendant of the von Pressentin and Kemmerich families, who has provided volumes of information and photos for this section.

We were privileged to attend the annual reunion of the von Pressentin family in 2002. The stories below are part of a series on the German-immigrant family who moved here from Michigan, Wisconsin and Ohio, starting in 1877. The family dates back to at least 1270 in the town of Prestin near Berlin. First is the Karl von Pressentin family, who homesteaded on the south side of the Skagit across from Birdsview. We have always been fascinated by Skagit Bill Pressentin, who was a favorite of hunters and mountain men of the Skagit, and his wife Rona, who lived to be 100; and the A.V. Pressentin family of Sauk and Rockport. And Otto von Pressentin left quite a mark on the local area as one of the adherents of the outdoor life and how to survive in the wilderness. You can read the family's profile of Karl and Minnie von Pressentin here. Below you will find links to the rest of the von Pressentin family features.

Profiles of Karl and Wilhelmina "Minnie" von Pressentin, and their family of strapping frontier boys. From descendant Barbara Halliday. Also see Minnie's obituary below and the "Early days of Rockport" story in which we provide a brief profile of the von Pressentins in Germany and America.

Interviews with Paul Pressentin, updated from our old website, about the von Pressentin family, their arrival and life on the Birdsview homestead.

Maurice Heitand's 1949 Mount Vernon Daily Herald story of when the Karl von Pressentin family arrived at Birdsview in 1878 from Manistee, Michigan, after stopping in Seattle. Includes description of very early Mount Vernon the year it began and a 1929 biography of Paul Pressentin.
A 1949 Mount Vernon Daily Herald interview with Paul Pressentin about Karl Pressentin, his family and his role in the group that crossed the Cascade pass in 1877 in search of gold.
John B. Neal's 1957 Skagit Valley Herald story of A.v. Pressentin's family of Sauk and Rockport, including sons Ed and Bert and the memories of his nephew Paul Pressentin. Includes the story of the sternwheeler captain who used slabs of bacon for fuel during a race on the Skagit River.
Charlotte D. Widrig's 1961 Seattle Times interview with Paul Pressentin about his family's life on their Birdsview homestead and his mother's role as a pioneer wife and widow.

Otto K. von Pressentin, mountain man

This photo of an Indian canoe near Marblemount was taken by Darius Kinsey of Sedro-Woolley and appeared in Sebring's Illustrated magazine in 1902. See the story about Otto Pressentin and how he reacted to the 1897 Skagit River flood when he was a schoolteacher in Marblemount.

Otto K. Pressentin, son of the pioneer Birdsview family and practitioner of the arts of survival from Washington to Alaska. A brief profile and his biography from 1906. This is the introduction to a four-part series of stories about hiss adventures in Alaska and British Columbia, when he walked more than a thousand miles through mountains and wilderness from 1911 to 1921.
April 24, 1958 article by Ray Jordan about Otto's early years in British Columbia as a fur trader, starting in 1911, and his initial trade with Indians who lived in the interior. Update April 2006: we have now found this complete article that started the series, from April 24, 1958. See the restored text.
Otto K. Pressentin, Fur Trading, Part Two, May 1, 1958, another story by Ray Jordan that includes prices for goods and furs and details about his later years in the province through 1921.
In 1958, Otto Pressentin recalled the 1897 Skagit River flood that wiped out several downriver towns and how he helped save the books and bell from the Marblemount School where he was teaching.
A library of additional articles about the von Pressentin family.
Stories about other members of the von Pressentin family
Skagit Bill and Rona Pressentin, salt-of-the-earth pioneers and their role in the town of Rockport, at the end of the line for the Great Northern railroad tracks.
The late Charles "Chuck" Pressentins memory of his grandfather's [Karl/Charles] experience in California on his way to the Northwest from Michigan.
Obituary of Minnie von Pressentin, 1945, wife of 1877 Birdsview pioneer Karl von Pressentin.
Profiles of Ed V. Pressentin, Rockport pioneer and merchant.
Part 2: Obituaries and other articles about Ed V. Pressentin, Updated from Issue 31: and his father, A.V. Pressentin, Karl's younger brother. Includes a brief recap of the von Pressentins in Germany and in the U.S. This story has been re-posted with a newspaper story from 1907.
Tom Benton's 1965 history of Rockport and the role that his von Pressentin ancestors played in its birth.

Other stories that include von Pressentin information

All stories in the Upriver Section of the Journal, in the region from Utopia near Minkler Lake, all the way east to the North Cascades mountain range, sorted by town.
The Rockport Hotel burns in 1952; includes a history of its owners and role in Rockport, including the builder, A.v. Pressentin, Hugo Bauman and Will D. Bob Jenkins.
The story of Bessie Porter's memories of upper Skagit river history, including the von Pressentin family.
The story of Klement party crosses Cascade Pass in the 1870s with Karl von Pressentin and others.
The story of Sauk City and the first business of A.v. Pressention.
The story of the August Kemmerich family, 1870s pioneers of Birdsview and neighbors of the von Pressentins
See Barbara Halliday's fine website with genealogy and photos of her Kemmerich and von Pressentin ancestors and their homesteads in Birdsview, north and south of the Skagit River.

The Henry Martin family, closely associated with the von Pressentins

Biography and genealogy of the Henry Martin family of Illabot creek.
Obituaries for Henry and Katherine Martin.
Interviews with Fred Martin, son of Henry Martin and Washington state Senator.
How upriver Skagit Catholics organized their own services in private homes and then built their own mission church, led by Katharine and Henry Martin of Illabot creek.
More von Pressentin stories will be added over the next few months.

See this Journal website for a timeline of local, state, national and international events for years of the pioneer period.
Search the entire Journal site.
Due to continued popular demand, in the interest of furthering our "open source" policy, we are assembling a collection of CDs that will include MS Word files of our pioneer profiles and town profiles from years 1-5, so that you can print them individually at your convenience. Inquire for details today via email or see our site about the planned CDs offering.

You can click the donation button to contribute to the upkeep of this site at a time when we may be forced to cut it back for lack of funds. You can also subscribe to our optional Subscribers-Paid Journal magazine online, which is about to enter its sixth year with exclusive stories, in-depth research and photos that are shared with our subscribers first. If you like what you read, thank you in advance for whatever support you can provide. You can go here to read the preview edition to see examples of our in-depth research.

Story posted on Feb. 12, 2002, and last updated Aug. 30, 2006
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Did you enjoy this story? Remember, as with all our features, this story is a draft and will evolve as we discover more information and photos. This process continues until we eventually compile a book about Northwest history.
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