COUNTDOWN TO THE MILLENNIUM--FACES WHO MADE NEWS IN THE 1900S--FRED & MARTHA ROSMOND: PIONEER LINKS
	There have been thousands of news stories that have appeared in The Vidette over the past 100 years. So, as we celebrate the year 2001, we have run a weekly feature on influential people of Montesano and Grays Harbor County who made a name for themselves during the past 100 years.
	Many people living in Montesano today can claim kinship with today's couple, both descended from the earliest pioneers in the area.

Fred Rosmond
	Fred Rosmond was born in Salina, Kansas, of Danish stock, on October 27, 1877. He came west with his parents, Mr. and Mrs. Henry Rosmond, in 1891. His father had been attracted to the Grays Harbor City land boom, and they first settled there. Shortly after, they homesteaded on a pre-emption claim on the North Beach near Copalis, living in a small, six by twelve foot log cabin they built.
	Fred attended school there and later in Montesano, where his family had moved. He taught school for three years and worked as a printer on the Vidette and the old Washington Economist, which was also published here.
	In 1899, at age 22, he returned to Salina and attended business school, graduating in 1900.
	Mr. Rosmond worked on the staff of the state land office in Olympia for four years. In 1906 he was elected auditor of Chehalis (now Grays Harbor) county, and was reelected in 1908. He was the first candidate to he nominated without opposition under the state's new direct primary law.
	On December 20, 1905, he married Martha Byles in the Montesano Methodist Church. Both her parents were among this country's earliest pioneer families.

Martha Byles
	Martha Byles was born in a small house just east of the present Whiteside Mortuary on March 13, 1880. The Whiteside building was itself built as a residence by her father, Charles N. Byles.
	Both Martha Byles' parents were early pioneers to Grays Harbor. Her mother Elizabeth Jane Medcalf, arrived at Grand Mound in 1852 with her parents after crossing the plains in a wagon train. They settled in Montesano in 1856, one of the first families in the area. Martha's father, Charles N. Byles, arrived with his parents in 1853; his journey across plains and mountains is one of the pioneer sagas of the Northwest.
	Martha's father played a leading role in the early development of Montesano, He filed the first plat of the town as it re-established north of the Chehalis River, from its 1852 location on the south bank.
	Martha Byles attended the old Goucher Academy, at 624 Kamilche Ave. E., and at age 25 married Fred Rosmond, also of early pioneer stock.

A Golden Life
	In 1911 the Rosmond family moved to a farm near Oakville and lived there most of the time until Mr. Rosmond retired in 1954. From 1925 to 1928 they returned to Montesano when Mr. Rosmond was employed by the County Treasurer.
	They returned to Montesano in 1954, and in 1955 observed their golden wedding anniversary in the same church structure in which they were married.
	Several of the old friends and relatives who were present at the original wedding celebrated with the golden couple, including Mr. and Mrs. R.G. Trask, Mr. and Mrs. Warren Wood and Mr. and Mrs. F.L Nethery. The bride had been attended by two flower girls, Marjorie and Helen Abel, who attended the golden anniversary party as Mrs. Henry N. Anderson and Mrs. Helen Moore.
	Mr. Rosmond was a member of Silvia Lodge No. 38, IOOF, having joined in March, 1907. He served in all offices and was a past grand. He was also a longtime member of the East Oakville Grange, the Grays Harbor Pomona Grange and the Washington State Grange.
	Mr. Rosmond was in failing health for about a year, and died in his home at 709 Beacon Ave. E., at age 87, on February 14, 1965.

Last Pioneer Link
	Montesano's final link with its pioneer past was broken on Jan. 24, 1971, when Martha Byles Rosmond died at age 90, following several months of declining health. She was buried in the Wynooche cemetery beside her husband and near the graves of her parents, two grandparents and two brothers. Survivors included two daughters, Mrs. Chapin Collins, of Montesano and Mrs. Henry Nordstrom of Elma; three sons, John, Frederick and Robert Rosmond, all of Forks; eleven grandchildren and seven great-grandchildren.
	This article was compiled from the Dec. 15, 1955, Feb. 18, 1965 and Jan 28, 1971 Videttes.--The Montesano Vidette, January 18, 2001