The late William Henry Fouts, who died at his home in Bellingham January 25, 1924, in the eighty-first year of his age, was one of the real pioneers of Whatcom county, an influential factor in the general life of the community during settlement days here, and had seen the wilderness brought under man's subjection and made over into a region of orderly government and firmly established communities. He was a college man, educated for the law, but did not follow that profession. When he reached the settlements here on the Bay in 1873 no public school system had been organized and he taught what properly may be regarded as having been the first public school in what is now the city of Bellingham, and thus the first in Whatcom county, in a little building that stood on what now is the corner of Clinton and D streets. Among the pupils in that pioneer school were Victor and Henry Roeder, the Jenkins children, Hugh Eldridge, Lewis Hoffercamp and sister, the Kellogg children, Billie Gardner, Frank Peabody and his own children.
In 1875 Mr. Fouts was elected superintendent of schools of Whatcom county, which at that time included the territory comprised within the present county of Skagit (erected in 1883) and his influence on the social life of the settlements in that capacity and his earnest efforts in behalf of the budding schools undoubtedly had a great deal to do with the creation here, even from the beginning, of orderly processes of social development that have been reflected in the whole after development of the community. He was also one of the early merchants in the settlement and for some time served as postmaster, his store thus becoming the general center of the growing community. His energetic wife at the same time was doing her part in community work, keeping a boarding house and doing what she could as a helpful feminine influence in the growing community, ministering to the sick and in other ways active in social service - a true pioneer helpmate to her husband and a neighborhood benefactor. With proper thrift she invested the earnings from her boarding house in eleven acres of land constituting a part of the Peabody estate and as the town grew the greatly increased value of this holding mounted until it came to be a quite ample material reward for her foresight. This able pioneer mother died September 5, 1915, in Bellingham, one of the oldest continuous residents of the county. She was able to look back with quiet gratification upon the work that has been accomplished here during the forty-two years and more of her residence in the Bay country.
The late William H. Fouts was born in the city of Zanesville, Ohio, in 1843, and was but an infant when his parents moved to the then Territory of Iowa and settled at Hopeville, between Osceola and Mr. Ayre, in Clarke county in the south central section of what shortly afterward (in the spring of 1845) was admitted to the Union as the state of Iowa. His father became a merchant in the village of Hopeville and he there was reared. He was given a college education, with a view to taking up the practice of law, but instead engaged in mercantile business with his father. In 1871 he came to Washington Territory with his family, having meanwhile married in Iowa, and he and his wife had two little daughters and one son when they came here. He first located in Olympia, where for two years he was engaged in teaching school, and in 1873 he came to the Bay settlements, secured the old Pickett house and opened a general store on what was then called Division street, at that time the principal thoroughfare of the settlement, between what now are C and D streets. Presently he was appointed postmaster and thus the whole settlement soon came to have a personal acquaintance with the new merchant and mail agent, as well as with his wife, who helped him tend store and at the same time directed the affairs of the boarding house which she set up not long after their arrival here. In 1874 Mr. Fouts was elected superintendent of the schools of Whatcom county and in this capacity traveled far and wide among the settlements in this northwestern section of the state, his jurisdiction covering not only the territory comprised within the present confines of Whatcom county but extending south as far as Snohomish. He also taught in Snohomish county. He was retained as county superintendent until the middle 80's and during that long incumbency rendered invaluable service in the establishment of a definite system for the operation of the rapidly developing schools. With his training in law he also proved himself a helpful citizen, acting in an advisory capacity in the adjustment of many a question under dispute. Mr. Fouts' mercantile and realty interest occupied his attention during the period of his activity here and after his retirement he continued to make his home in Bellingham where, as noted above, he died in January, 1924, and at his passing he left a good memory, for he had been one of the helpful pioneers of the community.
It was October 31, 1863, in Iowa, that Mr. Fouts was united in marriage to Miss Martha Sullivan, who preceded him to the great beyond some nine years. Of the seven children born to this union five survive, one son, Walter Fouts of Bellingham, and four daughters, namely: Clara, who married John H. Stenger, also a member of one of the pioneer families of Whatcom county; Rilla, who married Thomas Penny; Grace, who married Perry Sears, now living in Arizona; and Edith, who married George Dress.
