09/01/2025
"As a man thinketh, in his heart so is he." While the epitaph written on William Baldwin's headstone is beautiful and poetic, it gives no indication that this man buried at Kane Cemetery on Bainbridge Island was once one of the most influential men in Seattle. Out of the ashes of the Great Seattle Fire, and with just a few bicycles as stock, he started the first bicycle store in Seattle, which would go on to become one of the largest sporting goods stores on the west coast.
William Baldwin Taft was born on January 9, 1854 in Sheffield, Berkshire County, Massachusetts. He was the son of Joseph Strong Taft (1808-1896) and Caroline Baldwin (1821-1900), and he was the fifth born of their six children.
William's father was a bookseller and stationer, a profession that he continued when he moved the family from Massachusetts to Houston, Texas by 1857. He owned a store under the name "J.S. Taft," which sold a wide variety of books, paper and musical instruments. He also became postmaster in Houston, which was good business considering he advertised that he could mail books and instruments to every corner of the state.
When the American Civil War began in 1861, the city of Houston voted overwhelmingly for succession. Houston served as a military logistics center and a headquarters for the Confederacy. Before and during the Civil War, Texas continued to be a slave state. While most slaves resided in the rural areas of Texas, there was an increase in the number of urban enslaved people in the years leading up to the war. Most of these people worked as house servants, cooks or laborers. However, there is no evidence to suggest that the Taft family ever owned slaves. In fact, there is one possible indication that can point to how the Taft family may have felt about slavery. The Taft's oldest son, Joseph Baldwin, who had been working in his father's store up until the war began, enlisted in the Union's 143rd New York Volunteer Infantry. He mustered in as a major in 1862, and rose to the rank of lieutenant colonel before he was killed in action at Mission Ridge, Tennessee in 1863. Joseph's death must have been difficult for the entire family, especially young William.
Between 1865 and 1870, after the Civil War had ended, the family moved to Bonhomme, St. Louis County, Missouri. William's father was a farmer in Bonhomme with close to 100 acres of land that included a brand new house, stables, vineyard, orchard, and acres of pasture and woodland. It's unclear why he moved the family there, perhaps to try his hand at farming, but by 1874 he was already trying to sell the land again.
After the land was sold the family moved to Waco, McLennan County, Texas in 1875. William's father was once again a bookseller and stationer with a store located beneath the McClelland Hotel on Austin Avenue. It was here in Waco that William married Sarah Frances "Saltee" Gurley on Valentine's Day in 1879.
Saltee was born on February 19, 1858 in Waco, Texas. She was the daughter of Col. Edwards Jeremiah Gurley (1824-1914) and Annie Elizabeth Blocker (1827-1864), and she was the youngest of their six children. Before Saltee was born, her father owned a plantation, including enslaved people, in Alabama. In 1852, when cotton fields were being exhausted, he moved his plantation and slaves to Waco, where he also practiced law with his brother-in-law. During the Civil War, he served as commanding colonel in the Confederacy's 13th Texas Cavalry and was in charge of Gano's Brigade. Following the war, he was president of the Lone Star Cotton Picking Machine Company.
In 1880, William and Saltee were living in Waco with William's mother, father, and young nephew Joseph King. William was working as a United States Commissioner, although the details of what this assignment entailed are vague. It is possible, given his location, that he was part of the Joint Boundary Commission between the United States and Mexico, which worked for decades to survey the boarder between the two nations.
William and Saltee's first child, a daughter named Beulah May Gurley, was born in Waco in 1881, followed by a son named Archie Gurley in 1885. According to a local Waco newspaper, the Taft family began to experience "Western Fever," or the desire to move to the Pacific Northwest and "try their fortunes on the Pacific slope." Joseph Taft sold his business and on May 5, 1887, the entire Taft family traveled to Seattle, Washington by covered wagon.
In letters sent back to friends in Waco, Joseph described Washington Territory as the "finest country on the globe - cherries and strawberries are ripe...No flies or other insects to bother people, no lightning or thunder, but plenty of rain; cool nights and warm days." The family purchased a large home together at the corner of Brooke and Depot Streets (now Denny Way). William and Joseph set up a new stationary store together at the corner of Pike and Fifth Avenue.
William and Saltee welcomed six more children after arriving in Seattle: William Gurley (1888-1955), Ada Gurley (1893-1984), Elizabeth "Bess" Gurley (1895-1958), Dorothy Grace (1897-1994), Edward Gurley (1899-1900), Richard Blocker (1900-1963), and John Gurley (1902-1981).
On the afternoon of June 6, 1889, the Great Seattle Fire started near Front and Madison Streets, then known as the Denny Block (now Pioneer Square). Although it lasted less than a day, the fire burned down Seattle's entire business district across a span of 29 city blocks. Within the buildings and businesses destroyed was the Taft stationary store.
Rebuilding started almost immediately around Seattle. It was at this time that William acquired several bicycles from another business that had suffered damage in the fire. William, an avid fisherman, hunter and outdoorsman, used these bicycles as the beginning stock to co-found a brand new sporting goods store named Piper & Taft. William was the president and his partner, Walter F. Piper, was the vice president. The store was located on Second Avenue between Seneca and Spring Streets, in a building that still stands today. What started out as a small business venture turned into one of the largest sporting goods stores on the west coast. The store held widely popular bicycle races, trapshooting tournaments and competitive sporting games. They were also known for selling full supply kits to Klondike Gold Rush prospectors. The store not only had a resident gunsmith and tackle maker, but it employed a number of the most accomplished hunters, athletes and outdoorsmen in Seattle.
William's father Joseph died at the family home in Seattle on May 20, 1896 when he was 87 years old. William's mother, Caroline, died just a few years later in 1900. Both are buried at Lake View Cemetery in Seattle. William and Saltee suffered another great loss during this time period; their infant son, Edward, died of enteritis (intestinal inflammation) when he was just eight months old.
Business only continued to grow and prosper for Piper & Taft. In 1913, the store contacted a local high school, looking for a boy to work part-time. The school principal recommended a pupil by the name of Eddie Bauer. Eddie, who had been born on Orcas Island, went to the store after school one day with a letter of recommendation and was hired immediately. It wasn't long before he dropped out of school to work full-time at the store. He apprenticed there for six years, taking in everything he could about the sporting goods business. Eddie was so good at stringing tennis rackets that he won a national racket stringing contest. Piper & Taft put him in their window display while he worked on stringing rackets, which drew large crowds to the store. In 1922, Eddie left Piper & Taft to start his own sporting goods store, which would end up becoming one of the largest outdoor gear outfitters in the world.
Meanwhile, William was elected president of the Washington State Sportsman's Association. He was also elected vice president of the American Amateur Trapshooters Association in 1916, notably with famous bandmaster John Philip Sousa as president.
William retired in 1919, and in 1926 and he and Saltee purchased one acre of land near the northern shore of Eagle Harbor on Bainbridge Island, where they would reside for the remainder of their lives. William died at his Bainbridge Island home on April 4, 1940 when he was 86 years old after succumbing to chronic endocarditis and myocarditis. He was buried three days later at Kane Cemetery.
Following the death of her husband, Saltee moved in with her daughter Ada Taft Runchey and her family near Wing Point on Bainbridge Island. She died there on November 13, 1949 when she was 91 years old after succumbing to senility and heart disease. Saltee was buried at Kane Cemetery three days later. However, no headstone or grave marker can be found for Saltee within Kane Cemetery, but it is presumed that she is buried next to her husband.
