W. Byron Daniels

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W. Byron Daniels (December 17, 1848 – October 3, 1900) was an American lawyer, newspaper publisher, and the 15th mayor of Vancouver, Washington Territory.

Born William Byron Daniels Jr. in Mentor, Ohio, he was one of four sons of William B. Daniels. His family moved to the Oregon country in 1854, traveling the Oregon Trail. He grew up in public schools and later taught in Oregon City. In 1869 he moved to Vancouver, Washington Territory to study law with A. G. Cook and Henry G. Struve, and was admitted to the bar in Olympia in 1872. After working as private secretary to Governor Elisha Peyre Ferry, he became a surveyor in Idaho, Oregon, and California, where he also handled land abstracts in San Francisco. He returned to Vancouver in 1875 to practice law and started the Vancouver Independent, a newspaper he published and edited. The paper proclaimed its independence with a motto about maintaining the people’s rights.

Daniels entered public life in the territory’s government. In 1877 he was elected to the Washington Territorial House of Representatives representing Clarke County and in 1878 he served as secretary at the territory’s First Constitutional Convention. He became chairman of the Clarke County Republican Central Committee and, in 1879, was elected to the Vancouver City Council, where he also served as city attorney. In 1883 he joined with Louis Sohns to form the Northwestern Railroad and Improvement Co., helping push rail development in the Vancouver area.

In 1891 Daniels was appointed the 15th mayor of Vancouver by the City Council and served until 1894, after being re-elected in 1892. He had a long-standing interest in education, serving as superintendent of schools in Clarke County in 1876 and later as a trustee for the Washington State School for Defective Youth in 1891. The Daniels family was prominent in the region; his father, William B. Daniels, was known as “the Governor” for his service as Territorial Governor of Idaho, and Byron’s brothers Thurston, Horace, and Hubert were also notable locally. Daniels married Rosina A. Jaggy on January 18, 1883, and they had two daughters, Marguerite and Lucile. The family lived in a notable house on Main Street in Vancouver. Byron Daniels died on October 3, 1900, in Vancouver, Washington.