Harvey Brainard Niles, one of the pioneers of northwestern Washington, has been engaged in merchandising at Deming for more than a quarter century, and all that he now possesses has been gained by hard work and strict attention to business. He was born February 25, 1861, and is a native of Halifax, Vermont. His parents were Stephen B. and Clarissa (Harris) Niles, the former of whom enlisted in the Union army in September, 1861, and on April 16, 1862, was killed at the battle of Lee's Mills near Yorktown.
Harvey B. Niles was reared and educated in Brattleboro, Vermont, and when but thirteen years of age was left an orphan by the death of his mother. He remained in the east until 1880 and when a young man of nineteen went to Kansas, going to Colorado a few years later. He came to Bellingham, then known as Whatcom, in 1885 and on May 1 of that year became the owner of the Terminus Hotel, also acquiring a meat market. He sold the business at the end of one and a half years and in 1887 was made post trader on the Indian reservation. He filled the position for five years and then purchased a store at Clearlake, Washington, of which place he was postmaster for seven years. In March, 1899, Mr. Niles opened a general store in Deming, and for twenty-seven years he has successfully conducted the business. The building in which he first located was destroyed by fire in 1924 and he now occupies a smaller store. He carries merchandise of good quality and his commercial dealings have always balanced up with the principles of truth and honor.
In January, 1886, Mr. Niles married Miss Mary Phelan, a niece of Mrs. M. J. Clark, and their union was severed by her death in February, 1906. They had a family of eight children, but the first and second died in infancy, while Leo, the sixth in order of birth, reached the age of twenty-two years. The others are: Clinton Edward, a well known merchant of Sumner, Washington; Jesse N., who is associated with his father in business; Edward Samuel; Alice, the wife of Cecil Jordan and a resident of Lyman, Washington; and William Andrew. Mr. Niles is connected with the Ancient Order of United Workmen, being a charter member of the lodge at Sedro Woolley, and his political allegiance is given to the democratic party. He has many loyal friends in northwestern Washington, and his reminiscences of the early days are interesting and instructive.
History of Whatcom County, Volume II, by Lottie Roeder Roth, 1926, p.513.
