Analysis of information sources in references of the Wikipedia article "Clara Stanwood Pearson" in English language version.
Mr. Pearson and Miss Clara Stanwood, of Massachusetts, were united in marriage on Whidbey Island in 1868, she having crossed the continent to become the bride of the young man who was seeking his fortune along the westermost frontier. They had known each other from childhood in the Old Bay state. She was born in 1818, the daughter of William E. and Rachel (Page) Stanwood. When a child she lost her mother and after the latter's death lived with her father until he went to California in 1850, her grandmother then rearing her to young womanhood. Seven children have been born to Mayor and Mrs. Pearson, of whom two are dead; the others are: Guy, of Seattle; Eva; Fred, living in Tacoma; D. Carl, the first white child born in Stanwood after the re-christening of the place, ex-county auditor of Island county and editor of the Coupeville newspaper; and Rachel, who lives at home.
On Puget Sound the scarcity of women was a serious matter. It affected the social, industrial and moral condition of the several communities. It was a subject of frequent discussion and a matter of earnest regret.
The two Mercer expeditions were without doubt important events in the history of the Puget Sound basin: First, they resulted in attracting to Washington Territory many who otherwise would not have sought homes on the Pacific Coast, and who in their turn were instrumental in bringing others to this north-northwest corner of our United States.
In 1868, D. O. was joined by young Clara Stanwood whom he knew from Lowell. She traveled through the Isthmus of Panama by herself and they were married.
They farmed on Whidbey Island until 1877 when D. O. leased a tract of land in Centerville from Henry Oliver on the mouth of the Stillaguamish River where he built a wharf, store and warehouse.
At this time Centerville wasn't yet a regular steamboat stop and the mail came twice a week from Utsalady on Camano Island. He took over the postmaster duties in this small trading post and was apparently requested to change the post office designation to something less common – and chose "Stanwood" to honor his wife.
When the town was first settled, it was called Centerville because it was in the center of the commerce area along the South Fork of the Stillaguamish River. But D.O. Pearson, who ran a general store and the post office, kept getting the wrong mail. There were just too many Centervilles in the U.S. So he moved to rename the town Stanwood, after his wife Clara's maiden name.
West Stanwood still has a flurry of little shops, as well as historical buildings, including the museum and the D.O. Pearson House, a three-story Second Empire Victorian home built by Stanwood's first mayor, who named the town for his wife, the former Clara Stanwood.
