Thomas J. Randall

Excerpt from “The History of Klickitat, Yakima and Kittitas Counties”

            THOMAS J. RANDALL, a retired Christian minister and carpenter, was born in Jennings county, Indiana, in 1827.  His father, John Randall, a farmer and blacksmith, was a native of Tennessee, of Scotch-Irish ancestry.  He was a pioneer in Indiana, where he died in 1830.  The mother, Fannie (Glover) Randall, was born in Indiana.  Her parents settled on the banks of the Ohio river, below Madison, at the mouth of Saluda creek, in days when the settlers had to live in stockades to protect themselves from the Indians.  Thomas J. Randall grew to manhood in his native state.  When he was only three years old his father died.  He worked on a farm and attended district school.  When he was fourteen years old he went to live with his sister.  When seventeen he worked out and went to school.  It was a struggle in those days to secure education, for all schooling had to be paid for, but he never altered in his efforts after knowledge.  Even while he was learning the trade of a carpenter he continued his schooling.  Later he alternated as a teacher and working as a carpenter.  In 1856 he moved to Le Sueur county, Minnesota, and took up a pre-emption claim and worked as a carpenter and millwright.  He was there through the whole of the Sioux Indian troubles and massacres and has a lively recollection of pioneer experiences in that country.  In those days they had to take the lumber from the rough and make everything by hand.  He was converted in Indiana at the age of sixteen years and united with the Christian church.  He was a faithful student of the Bible, reading late into the night, after his hard day’s work, and finally became noted for his familiarity with the Great Book.  From speaking at social gatherings he had become a fluent talker, so he took to preaching and making appointments which he filled acceptably.  He preached for seventeen years for one congregation, working all the time at his trade and farm.  He continued to live in the same neighborhood until 1888, when he moved to Ellensberg.  His family followed shortly afterward.  He bought his present home then, where he has since resided.

            He was married in 1850 to Julia A. Thomas, who was born in Indiana in 1834.  She was the daughter of John M. Thomas, a native of Kentucky, and of Ellen (Buckles) Thomas.  Thomas J. Randall has four daughters and three sons.  The sons are all newspaper men, Amasa S. Randall is the editor of the Cascade Miner, Cle-Elum Echo and Ellensburg Localizer, upon which his brother, Elroy M. Randall, is also employed.  The other son, U. M. Randall, is an editor of the Cascade Miner.  Two of the daughters, Alice A. Wright and Lizzie M. Denton, live at Vackerville, California.  Another, Ida M. Craig, is a resident of White Bluffs, Yakima county, Washington, and the fourth, Mary B. Harr’man, resides in Minnesota.  In matters of politics Mr. Randall has associated himself with no party.  It has ever been his custom to vote for the man.  He is a member of the Central Christian church, at Ellensburg.