An illustrated history of north Idaho : embracing Nez Perces, Idaho, Latah, Kootenai and Shoshone counties, state of Idaho, Part 111

Author:
Publication date: 1903
Publisher: [S.l.] : Western Historical Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 1524


USA > Idaho > Kootenai County > An illustrated history of north Idaho : embracing Nez Perces, Idaho, Latah, Kootenai and Shoshone counties, state of Idaho > Part 111
USA > Idaho > Nez Perce County > An illustrated history of north Idaho : embracing Nez Perces, Idaho, Latah, Kootenai and Shoshone counties, state of Idaho > Part 111
USA > Idaho > Shoshone County > An illustrated history of north Idaho : embracing Nez Perces, Idaho, Latah, Kootenai and Shoshone counties, state of Idaho > Part 111
USA > Idaho > Latah County > An illustrated history of north Idaho : embracing Nez Perces, Idaho, Latah, Kootenai and Shoshone counties, state of Idaho > Part 111


Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).


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hundred and fifty acres of good land, substantial im- provements, and raises general crops and horses, hogs and cattle.


In 1889, near Colfax, Mr. Keith married Miss Ethel, daughter of Dr. A. R. and Mary A. (May) Morgan, natives of Missouri. They were pioneers in a11 early day of Oregon and Mrs. Keith was born in the Willamette valley .. She has three brothers and two sisters, Nellie, William, Augustus, Clarence and Ber- tie. Mr. Keith has the following brothers and sis- ters, William, Allen, Jesse and Hollis, all in Idaho. Three children, Joseph, Lillie and Minnie P., have come to gladden the home of our subject. Mr. Keith is a member of the M. W. A., at St. John, Washing- ton. Politically he is a man of courage to carry out his convictions and he selects the man regardless of the tenets of party ties.


JOHN LYON resides eight miles south of White- bird and devotes his attention to raising stock. He was born January 25, 1843, in Grant county, Wisconsin, the son of Zachariah and Priscilla ( Henan) Lyon, na- tives of Indiana. The father was a pioneer in Wis- consin and also went to California in 1849 with ox teams, returning to Wisconsin later. The mother died in 1863; the father died in Dakota in 1889. Our sub- ject was reared and educated in Wisconsin and in Jan- uary, 1862, he enlisted in Company A, Thirty-third Wisconsin Infantry. He fought in numerous battles, as Vicksburg, Horseshoe Bend, Olive Spring, the Red River expedition, Spanish Fort, Nashville, Fort De Russy, Pleasant Hill Landing and many others, as well in numerous skirmishes. He was in the midst of many severe battles but was never wounded. During the war he traveled about 9,000 miles and endured about all the hardships that a soldier could ; as his company was all killed but a few, he was transferred to the Elev- enth Wisconsin, Company H, and finally was honorably discharged in August, 1865. He is a member of the G. A. R. and now has a badge made out of the brass cannon that was first fired at Fort Sumter. Following the war, he went to Wisconsin and then traveled over the country considerably. At Vicksburg he had the measles, which settled in his throat and affected his organs of speech, from which he has never recovered. In Bloomington. Wisconsin, on November 24, 1869, Mr. Lyon married Miss Arminta J., daughter of James and Eliza ( Higgins) Canter. She was born August IO, 1854. in Grant county, Wisconsin. Her father was born in Pennsylvania and died in Clermont coun- ty, Ohio, in 1854. In 1880 our subject moved to Brown county, South Dakota, and farmed extensively and successfully : then later, on account of failure of crops, he lost heavily. In 1890 they came by wagon to the Palouse country and in 1893 to their present place. Four children have been born to this marriage, Her- man, in Yuma, Arizona ; Nellie E., who has taught school in this vicinity for five years, was a stenogra- pher and typewriter in Spokane, cashier and book- keeper in Yuma, and is now completing her education


in Los Angeles, California : Sherman, who is in part- nership with his father, has a good bunch of stock and a well improved place; Margie L. Mr. Lyon has a large interest in a large copper proposition near his place, for which they have had flattering offers. It runs $60 in gold and copper. Mr. Lyon has always been on the frontier, is a typical pioneer and a first- class rifle shot. Mrs. Lyon's mother first married Frank Oxley, who died from the cholera. Then she married James Canter, the father of Mrs. Lyon. After his death she married Aaron C. Stiles. He also died and in 1900 Mrs. Stiles also died at Mt. Vernon, Illi- nois, in her seventy-ninth year.


ALEXANDER I. WATSON is one of the pio- neers of the west and especially of Idaho county, where he now resides, one of the respected and venerable men of wisdom and worth. His home is two miles south from Grangeville, where he owns a valuable farm, well improved and a good dividend producer.


Alexander I. Watson was born in Darke county, Ohio, on June 2, 1830, the son of Robert and Nancy (Stanford) Watson. The father was born in Penn- sylvania in 1789 and died in 1854. He settled in Mi- ami county, Indiana, in 1838, and his father was born in Ireland. Our subject's father served his country as captain in the war of 1812. The mother was born in Virginia and died in 1842. Alexander was brought up in Ohio and Indiana and when eighteen moved to Iowa. He attended school in the various places of res- idence and then taught two years. In 1849 he settled to farming and in 1859 started to Pike's Peak, stopping but a short time there, he went to Salt Lake City with a government outfit and thence on to Eldorado county and was soon engaged in mining. In 1862 he came thence to Florence country, landing in Lewiston on May 16, 1862. Not meeting good success in Flor- ence he went to the Salmon above Whitebird and mined. He took land on Camas prairie in 1866, which he sold, and took land again in 1869, selling this in 1885 and bought his present place.


In Iowa, in 1849, Mr. Watson married Mona E., daughter of Amon and Sarah ( George) Shaul, na- tives of Virginia and Ohio, respectively. Mrs. Wat- son was born in Hamilton county, Indiana, in 1833 and has two sisters and two brothers, Malinda Bentley, Ma- tilda Shaul, G. I., M. J. Two children have been born to this couple. Clarissa E., deceased, Alice Over- man. Mr. Watson is the last one living of eight chil- dren. He was a member of the Grange that built the first building in Grangeville. He is a Democrat and active. Mrs. Watson is a member of the Methodist church.


At the time of the Indian war Mr. Watson lived a mile south of the lake on Rocky canyon. The In- dians had been holding councils for some time and on June 13th, becoming suspicious, he, with Cy Over- man, went with his family to Mt. Idaho. Mr. Watson had previously refused to sign the petition to place the Indians on their reservation. He had been notified by


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Galbraith, whom Crooks sent on the evening of the thirteenth. That was the same evening that Robertson and Jarrett drove over to Mt. Idaho and the next morn- ing West and the Indian were sent to Lapwai. The murders had already been done on the Salmon when Mr. Watson was coming to Mt. Idaho, but he did not know it. Three young Indians had stopped at Mr. Watson's place as they went on their murderous er- rand. While at his place, after talking, they went into the bedroom, he thinks to find a gun, and he ordered them out. One was Mox-Mox. Mr. Watson's home, Henry Johnson's barn, Mack Williams and Lambert's haystacks were all burned about ten A. M. on the fif- teenth for signals.


JACOB STITES was born in Sussex county, New Jersey, on February 24, 1872, being the son of Samuel J. and Catherine A. ( Winters) Stites, natives of New Jersey. They were married in New Jersey and now live in Ewing, Nebraska. In 1733 three brothers, John, Jacob and Samuel, came and settled in New York, Con- necticut and New Jersey, respectively ; different mem- bers of the family were prominent in the Revolution and the war of 1812. The father of our subject was born in 1837 and served in Company G, Second New Jersey Cavalry Volunteers, from September 16, 1864, to May 22, 1865. He was in active service and re- ceived his discharge in Memphis, Tennessee. The mother came from a prominent old family of New Jer- sey, of Dutch and Irish extraction. Our subject was raised in his native place until eight, the family then all going to Nebraska, where he was educated in a sod school house, two months out of each year, until he was eighteen. Much of his time was spent in working out for the support of the family. When eighteen he railroaded in Wyoming, then ranched in Colorado, fol- lowing which he was engaged in the smelter in Ana- conda, Montana. then wrought in the quartz mill in Silver City, Idaho, and finally returned to ranching in Nebraska for two years. During this last period he was in the Cherokee strip run, but secured no claim to suit him. In 1895 we find him in the quartz mill in Ourav. Colorado. In July, 1896, he came to Genesee and then to Kamiah, where he labored for Felix Cor- bett. the Indian who risked his life to save the mis- sionaries in the time of the Indian war of 1877. He tried to get the Indians to show him a claim, but they were reticent. However, when Mr. Stites went to the mountains and shot a deer and divided with them, they told him of his present place, adjoining Stites. He filed on March 24, 1897, on a quarter section, his fam- ily being the first white people to settle in this vicinity. He was possessed of little capital, but by hard work and careful management he succeeded in getting started. When he was building his house the Indians, four in number, came with Winchesters and ordered him off. The carpenter became frightened and ran away, but Mr. Stites reasoned with them, telling them to wait a week and survey the land, which they did, and, finding that he was right, they apologized. In 1899. when the railroad was building, he was troubled


with all kinds of jumpers, who were desiring to pull his land away from him for a townsite, but he would yield neither to cajoling nor threats and held firmly to his right. Finally, those who had jumped it by fraudu- lent mining locations, withdrew and he was left in peace. In February, 1900, Mr. Stites sold sixty acres to Messrs. J. G. Rowton, N. B. Pettibone and J. W. Shannon, taking an interest in the townsite company and reserving the privilege of naming the town. He sold his interest, with the exception of ten lots, and now owns one hundred acres of fine land, does general farm- ing, runs a dairy and also an ice business and deals in real estate. Stites is a thriving town, located near the battle ground between Howard and the Indians, and is the supply point for all Camas prairie, Thunder Moun- tain, Buffalo Hump and other mining countries. Mr. Stites has a beautiful home place adjoining it. Mr. Stites has three brothers and four sisters, John W., Ed- ward J., Harison, Nancy J., Mary E., Hattie Thayer, Martha ; he has also one half-brother and three half-sis- ters, Alva, Laura Prine, Emma Clemmens, Amanda Pember. Mr. Stites is a member of the A. F. & A. M .. Mt. Idaho Lodge, No. 9. at Grangeville ; I. O. O. F., Stites Lodge. No. 87, while he and his wife belong to the O. E. S., Mountain Queen Chapter, No. II, Grangeville. He is a member of the Baptist church and his wife of the Christian church.


On February 22, 1899, at Mt. Idaho, Mr. Stites married Norah M., daughter of Albert E. and Ella ( Emmons) Alexander, now living in Mt. Idaho. The father was born in New York, traversed the continent and dwelt in various states enroute, finally coming to Oregon in 1875 with ox teams. He was an Indian fighter and an intrepid frontiersman. The mother was born in Ohio and married in South Dakota. Mrs. Stites was born in Oregon, on February 16, 1880, and has one brother and four sisters, Albert E., Laura E. Smith, Gertrude, Viola, Marietta. Politically Mr. Stites is independent. He and his wife are leading people in this vicinity and are of excellent standing, being capable, genial and possessed of sterling integ- rity and worth.


A. D. BARTLEY, one of the first pioneers of this country and a miner who has achieved excellent suc- cess in many places, is now operating in the Dewey camps and has interests there in some valuable prop- erties. He was born in Cleveland, Ohio, on March 25. 1832, the son of Joseph B. and Gerushia ( Gilett ) Bart- ley. The father came to the United States, the only one of his family, and served in the war of 1812. The mother's ancestors were also prominent in American struggles. Our subject was left an orphan when four and was raised by an uncle. He went to Illinois about that time and was reared and educated there. In 1859 he crossed the plains with his brother-in-law and they mined in Placer county. California. In 1864 he came to Boise and there he and his partner cleaned up about twenty-three thousand dollars. Later they gained about the same amount in Kootenai county. Then he purchased a mill, which was later burned with


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all the lumber and logs. In 1870 he came to Idaho county and took a preemption just south from Grange- ville. At the time of the Indian war he enlisted as a volunteer at Mt. Idaho and was with Howard much of the time as special scout. He was one of the famous seventeen and his account is as follows: Perry sent a dispatch by Crooks that he was surrounded by In- dians at Cottonwood and wished help. Crooks arrived in Mt. Idaho the evening of July 4th. The next morn- ing the seventeen started, commanded by Randall. They descried the Indians and counted them from three hundred and thirty to three hundred and thirty-three. All were in the fight. Randall pressed on toward Cot- tonwood, and when in a reasonable distance of the Indians, he halted and asked if any one knew the sig- nal to fight. Bartley announced that he did and Ran- dall said, "Give it." Bartley rode his horse in a circle, and it was at once answered by the savages. He then rode in a circle three times and the fight was at once precipitated. One hour and forty-five minutes it raged and the little band came out with six killed and wounded. This stand, says Mr. Bartley, was their only hope, as the Indians would have massacred all had they shown the white feather. Only one man, George Shearer, came out during the fight. Afterwards a company of volunteers ran away from Perry and came to the little remnant. Mr. Bartley saw the Clearwater fight and most of the maneuvers and when the war was over he returned to his mill and farm. Later he sold those properties and is now devoting himself to mining.


In 1876 Mr. Bartley married the last time and one child, Hattie, deceased, is the fruit of this union. By his first marriage he had two sons, Joseph and Abra- ham, deceased. Mr. Bartley is a Mason and a Repub- lican. He is a good citizen and stands well.


FRANK M. POWERS. The industrious and en- ergetic man of whom we now speak is one of the san- guine believers in the bright future of the thriving town of Stites and has wrought with skill and hard labor here. He owns and operates a good sawmill plant and planing mill and does a good business.


Frank M. Powers was born in Walworth county, Wisconsin, on November 4. 1855, being the son of Oliver and Esther (Owens) Powers. The father, of Irish extraction, was born in New York state and died in Minnesota in 1901. He was a carpenter and build- er. The mother of our subject was born in Canada and died in 1897. Our subject went with his parents to Buchanan county, Iowa, when eight, and was edu- cated in the schools of Winthrop. When eighteen he learned the carpenter trade of his father and in 1877 went to Verndale, Minnesota, where he wrought at his trade for four years. Thence he went to the Black Hills and freighted 'and in 1882 settled in Canning, South Dakota. Two years later he came to Water- town, South Dakota, and in 1889 to Puget Sound, then for eight years he wrought in Tacoma. Then came a trip to Douglas, Alaska, where he did millwright work. In 1899 he went to Clarkston, Washington, and in


1900 came to Stites. He assisted to build most of the prominent structures of the town, including Greav- ing's large store. In April, 1902, Mr. Powers built a sawmill four miles up the river, where he does a good business. It has a capacity of twenty thousand feet per day and is equipped with a twenty-five horse power engine, planer and is well furnished. He also owns a residence in town. Mr. Powers is a member of the A. F. & A. M., Clover Lodge No. 91, in Tacoma, and of the I. O. O. F., in Stites. Mr. Powers is a stanch Republican and has served as school director. He has one brother and one sister, George, and Elizabeth, widow of Charles Comfort, and a music teacher in Lewiston.


In 1899 Mr. Powers married Mrs. Ellen Hunt, a native of Iowa.


JOHN M. SHISSLER. This enterprising young man is one of the substantial representatives of the county of Idaho and is at the present conducting his father's business of general merchant, postmaster and rancher at Newsome. Also he is interested in weighty mining ventures in Buffalo Hump and Thunder Mountain, being an experienced and practical miner.


John M. Shissler was born in Idaho county, on August 24, 1877, being the son of Franklin and Eliza- beth (Shearer) Shissler, who are mentioned in this volume. He was reared in this county, attended dis- trict school until he was sixteen, then took a four years' course in the State University. Since that time he has been engaged with his brother, George, in handling the business mentioned, on account of the poor health of the father. They are doing well and are up to date business men, who have the confidence and esteem of all. Politically Mr. Shissler is allied with the Dem- ocrats and is a potent influence in the campaigns, be- ing intelligent in the issues of the day. He is a mem- ber of the Episcopalian church and is a stanch sup- porter of the faith. Mr. Shissler comes from an old and prominent family and has reason to be proud of his ancestors who will in turn recognize in this scion a worthy descendant.


ANDREW PERSSON was born in Sweden, on June 2. 1858, the son of Per and Kjersti Persson, na- tives of Sweden also. Our subject has three brothers and two sisters, Johannes, Per, Nils Peter, Elna, Cris- tina. He attended district school during his school days and also worked on the farm with his father and when seventeen, it then being 1875, he came to Cali- fornia, in the United States, where he remained in various employments, including farm work, logging and handling a squad of Chinamen on a reed farm un- til 1889. Then he migrated to Latah county and bought a farm of one hundred and sixty acres, which he cultivated for six years and on account of the panic lost all he had but a team, wagon, two cows and a lit- tle cash. Then he came to his present place, about one mile northeast from Greencreek, took a homestead and


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built a small house. He returned and brought the family, having a hard time on account of the inclement weather, and since then he has continued in the im- provement of the farm with most excellent results, as the following will show. He has one hundred and forty acres cultivated, threshed last year four thou- sand three hundred bushels, cut twenty tons of hay and headed considerable for the hogs, besides having other crops. He now has a good seven-room house, fair barns and material for a large new barn, two grana- ries with thirty-five hundred bushels of first-class grain in them, good farm machinery, including self binder, wagons, hacks and other necessities, a fine windmill, a thousand feet of pipe running the water into the house, a stone cellar and many general improvements. Mr. Persson has forty-five hogs, five cattle and ten horses, and a good orchard, beginning to bear. All this has been accumulated by his skill and thrift and he is one of the leading farmers of this section.


On January 10, 1885, Mr. Persson married Miss Nellie, daughter of Nils Peter and Enger (Jonsen) Winstrom, natives of Sweden. The wedding occurred in San Jose, California. Mrs. Persson was born in Sweden on December 24, 1864, and she has one sister, Lenda, and one half-sister, Lillie Palsen, and one half- brother. Janne. Mrs. Persson's mother married a sec- ond time, her husband being Ola Palsen. Eight chil- dren have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Persson, Edven Walfrid, Carl S .. Arved P., Elmer A., George G., John A., Sadie J., Clara C. Mr. and Mrs. Perrson are Republicans and take an active interest in the ques- tions of the political realni.


GEORGE N. CONKLIN, deceased. When the subject of this memorial passed away recently, it was known that one of the leading men of this section of Idaho county had gone to his rest beyond the grave. He was a man of good habits and fine ability and had friends from all quarters of the county. George N. Conklin was born in Cleveland, Ohio, in 1839 and died May I. 1902. He was the son of Henry and Mary Conklin, natives of the east. The father was a cousin of Roscoe Conkling, who used the terminal G. Our subject grew to manhood in Iowa and learned the trade of engineer. He had received a good educa- tion in his native place and followed his trade on the Michigan Central. In 1860 he crossed the plains to Colorado and also mined later in Boise basin. He owned the first three buildings in Butte and discovered the Parrott mine. He located the Sweetwater free mill- ing gold mine for which he received thirty thousand dollars. He came to Slate creek in 1871, then traveled some. Later, in 1874. in San Francisco, Mr. Conklin married Mrs. Julia Ceilley, widow of Isaac Ceilley, Her parents were Charles J. and Mary (Spencer) Vail, of English extraction. Mrs. Conklin was born in Bos- ton and has three sisters, Georgiana Sutherland, de- ceased, Ella Baker, Hattie Wilcox. Mr. Conklin had one brother, Alonzo. The following children were born to this marriage: Edward H., Frederick C., Helen


Frances, Mrs. Pearl Gill, Myrtle, Effie. Mrs. Conk- lin has two children by her first husband, Charles W., George A. Mr. Conklin was an active Democrat. The summons of death came to Mr. Conklin very sud- denly. Feeling slightly indisposed he continued to work and was taken sick in the night, dying of heart disease, before the light could be lighted. His re- mains were buried on the farm and he was sincerely mourned. He had an interest in the Horse Shoe Bend placer claim and moved down here in 1897. They now own the old Indian Joe place in this family and are handling stock and mining.


The son, Frederick, was in the Philippine war, serving in Company F throughout the campaign. Mr. Conklin was a member of the A. F. & A. M. from early manhood.


HON. FRANK A. FENN is one of the most prom- inent men of the state, having been actively engaged in various leading capacities since the early days and being thoroughly posted in the history of the division. He is a man of marked capabilities, which have been manifested in a telling manner in times of crises, while in his every day walk, Major Fenn has always displayed those qualities of worth, integrity, sagaccity, and substantiality that stamp him a man of progression, broad mind and fitted for weighty responsibilities. A detailed account of his life and of the activities and enterprises in which he has figured prominently would form a component chapter of Idaho history. We ap- pend an epitome while in another portion of the vol- ume will appear a fuller account of those matters more especially connected with northern Idaho.


Frank A. Fern was born in Jefferson, Nevada county, California, on September 11, 1853, being the son of Stephen S. and Rhoda M. Fenn. The father was born in Watertown, Connecticut, on March 8, 1820, whence the family went to Lockport, New York, when this son was three years old. When twenty he went to the vicinity of Dubuque, lowa, and in 1847 married and in 1850 went to California, crossing the plains. He settled on the Yuba and took up mining and general merchandising. The family joined him in 1852 and there remained until 1862 when a move was made to the Salmon river mines, where Florence is now. The father mined and conducted a general store with S. A. Woodward. From 1867 to 1872, they lived in Lew- iston and there he was the first register of the land of- fice, being appointed by President Johnson. Mr. Fenn was prosecuting attorney for two terms, represented Idaho county in the legislature five sessions and was delegate to Congress from the territory, serving from 1874 to 1878. He died on December 9, 1892. The mother of our subject was born in St. Albans, Ver- mont, on December 18, 1830. She married in 1847. and died on June 13, 1884. She was a noble woman and always engaged in helping the sick and suffering. She was a skillful nurse and many times has saved life in the frontier regions by her timely aid. When crossing the plains she was the only woman in the train and her two children died of cholera in the Platte


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river. Our subject attended public schools in Nevada county until the family came to Idaho. There he at- tended the first school in the territory, it being at Florence and taught by Mrs. S. E. Robinson. In 1863 he attended school in Walla Walla and took a course in the Whitman Academy when it first opened in the winter of 1865 and 1866. In 1869 he was ap- pointed by I. K. Shafer, delegate from Idaho, to the United States Naval Academy and there sat under the training of such men as Sampson, Dewey and Schley. He left the academy in 1872 and returned to Idaho where he took up teaching. At the time of the Indian war of 1877, Major Fenn was first lieutenant of Company B, Second Regiment Idaho Militia and was also commissioned adjutant of the regiment by M. Brayman, governor of the territory. He was with Col- onel Perry at his defeat on Whitebird and took part in the Cottonwood fight when seventeen whites were at- tacked by one hundred and forty-two savages. His horse was shot and his lip wounded, but otherwise he came out sound from the awful struggle. Follow- ing this he was in charge of the commissary de- partment at Mt. Idaho. Then our subject took up farming five miles north from Mt. Idaho, but later sold his half section there and raised sheep on the Whitebird. Selling out this line Mr. Fenn was admitted at the supreme court in Boise to practice law, where he resided from 1890 to 1901. Previous to this Mr. Fenn had been postmaster in Mt. Idaho, deputy district court clerk of the county and also in 1886 he was chosen to represent the county in the legislature. He was also elected again in 1890, the first state legis- lature, and held the important position of speaker of the house. From April, 1891, to 1895, he was chief clerk of the state land board, and in 1896 was chosen representative from Ada county, being the only Re- publican in the entire legislature. In 1896 he was sec- retary of the Republican state committee. When the Spanish war broke out, Major Fenn offered his services and was appointed captain of Company H, First Idaho Volunteers. He was acting major from April, 1899, to September, 1899, when he was promoted to major. He took part in the battle of Manila, August 13, 1898, Santa Anna, February 5, 1899, Colcocan, February 10 and 11, 1899 and in September of that year he re- ceived an honorable discharge. In June, 1901. the major was appointed superintendent of the United States forest reserves in Idaho and Montana and re- moved to Kooskia, where we find him at the present time.




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