Clara Stanwood Pearson (March 18, 1849July 3, 1910) was an

American pioneer American pioneers were European American and African American settlers who migrated westward from the Thirteen Colonies and later United States to settle in and develop areas of North America that had previously been inhabited or used by Nati ...

in the Washington Territory and the eponym of the town of Stanwood.

Early life

Clara Jane Stanwood was born on March 18, 1849, in Lowell, Massachusetts.

Mercer Expeditions

Clara's home town of Lowell, and her husband and in-laws the Pearsons, are closely associated with Asa Mercer's expeditions to bring young women and settlers to the

Puget Sound Puget Sound ( ) is a sound of the Pacific Northwest, an inlet of the Pacific Ocean, and part of the Salish Sea. It is located along the northwestern coast of the U.S. state of Washington. It is a complex estuarine system of interconnected ma ...

. Among the "Mercer Girls" on the first expedition in 1864 were Georgia and Josephine Pearson, sisters, accompanied by their father Daniel Pearson. Mercer returned to Lowell in 1865. On his second expedition, arriving in Washington Territory in 1866, were Daniel's wife Mrs. Pearson, their son Daniel O., and daughter

Flora Flora is all the plant life present in a particular region or time, generally the naturally occurring (indigenous) native plants. Sometimes bacteria and fungi are also referred to as flora, as in the terms '' gut flora'' or '' skin flora''. E ...

. Clara Stanwood joined her beau Daniel (D. O.) Pearson in 1868, and they were married that year. D. O. and Clara farmed on Whidby Island until 1877. Daniel the elder served as

lightkeeper A lighthouse keeper or lightkeeper is a person responsible for tending and caring for a lighthouse, particularly the light and lens in the days when oil lamps and clockwork mechanisms were used. Lighthouse keepers were sometimes referred to as ...

at the nearby

Admiralty Head lighthouse The Admiralty Head Light is a deactivated aid to navigation located on Whidbey Island near Coupeville, Island County, Washington, on the grounds of Fort Casey State Park. The restored lighthouse overlooks Admiralty Inlet. It was the companion to ...

with daughter Flora as his assistant.

Stanwood

In 1877, D. O. and Clara moved to Centerville at the mouth of the Stillaguamish River, where the Pearsons built a wharf, warehouse, and store. D. O. also began serving as the

postmaster A postmaster is the head of an individual post office, responsible for all postal activities in a specific post office. When a postmaster is responsible for an entire mail distribution organization (usually sponsored by a national government), ...

of the latent community. " Centerville" was found to be too common of a place name, so it fell upon the postmaster to pick a new designation that would result in less misdelivered mail. The new name " Stanwood" was chosen in honor of Clara's maiden name. The Pearsons later built the D. O. Pearson House, now listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...

and home to the Stanwood Area Historical Society.

References

1849 births 1910 deaths {{more cats, date=April 2022