David Swinson Maynard

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David Swinson Maynard

David Swinson "Doc" Maynard (born March 22, 1808 , † March 13, 1873 ) was an American pioneer and doctor and founder of the city of Seattle . His friendship with Chief Seattle was very important for the early days of Seattle's founding. Maynard suggested naming the city after the Indian. Maynard was the first physician in Seattle, a major merchant, Indian broker, justice of the peace, and negotiated the Treaty of Point Elliott in 1855 .

biography

Maynard came from the area of Castleton (Vermont) . He studied medicine at Castleton Medical School. In 1828 he married Lydia A. Rickey; with whom he had a daughter and a son. According to court records, he noticed as early as 1841 that she was not loyal to him, but he stayed with her until 1850.

In 1832 the family moved to Cleveland, Ohio , then a small town of 500 people. He made and lost minor fortunes on various speculations and with a medical school that perished in the economic crisis of 1837 . Maynard left Cleveland alone in 1850. Lydia filed for divorce, but never legally enforced the divorce in full.

Maynard drove to St. Louis and on to California. During a cholera epidemic , he took the lead on a small trek and made it to Puget Sound . He fell in love with the widow Catherine Troutman Broshears (born June 19, 1816, † October 20, 1906), but whose brother Mike forbade them to marry.

Maynard participated in logging camps in the area. Instead of selling the wood locally, he rented a ship from Captain Felker with the wood as security and sold it for ten times the price in San Francisco. With this he built a shop and thus came into competition with his brother-in-law. This allowed the marriage on the condition that the business be merged and that something be done about Maynard's first marriage.

Doc Maynard differed significantly from the other founders, notably William Nathaniel Bell , Arthur Denny , David Denny , Henry Yesler , and Carson Boren . Among other things, Maynard was not an enemy of alcohol. He found nothing about it when his friend Captain Felker founded a hotel, the Felker House, with an included brothel, and provided him with the land for it. He was on good terms with the operator Mother Damnable . His political prowess and good relationships with individual Indians essentially helped keep the city out of the Puget Sound War . There was only a brief skirmish for the city in 1856.

Maynard convinced the government of the Oregon Territory to designate its own Washington Territory and received, among other things, his divorce confirmed. When the town's only lawyer drowned while canoeing, Maynard studied law and was admitted to the bar.

Towards the end of his life, his ex-wife sold her rights to Maynard's assets to a third party who promptly sued Maynard himself. When Lydia testified on Maynard's behalf in Seattle, she was welcomed by David and Catherine and stayed there. Bill Speidel described Maynard as the only man in Seattle who occasionally strolled through town with two women, one on each side. Maynard was wealthy but did not get as rich as other of his contemporaries.

Individual evidence

personal data
SURNAME Maynard, David Swinson
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Maynard, Doc
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American pioneer
DATE OF BIRTH March 22, 1808
DATE OF DEATH March 13, 1873
Place of death Seattle