An illustrated history of north Idaho : embracing Nez Perces, Idaho, Latah, Kootenai and Shoshone counties, state of Idaho, Part 137

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 137
USA > Idaho > Nez Perce County > An illustrated history of north Idaho : embracing Nez Perces, Idaho, Latah, Kootenai and Shoshone counties, state of Idaho > Part 137
USA > Idaho > Shoshone County > An illustrated history of north Idaho : embracing Nez Perces, Idaho, Latah, Kootenai and Shoshone counties, state of Idaho > Part 137
USA > Idaho > Latah County > An illustrated history of north Idaho : embracing Nez Perces, Idaho, Latah, Kootenai and Shoshone counties, state of Idaho > Part 137

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).

566

HISTORY OF NORTH IDAHO.

the Sioux under General Sibley; in one engagement they fought three days and were entirely surrounded by the savages. He is living at present in Lewiston. The mother of our subject was born in New York in 1837 and died in 1875. Our subject came to Nez Perces county with his parents in 1876 and here was educated and grew to manhood. The father was a railroad engineer and our subject learned the art from him. They settled near Genesee, and during the Indian troubles went to Lewiston. Our subject came to Grangeville in 1890 and since that time he has con- tinued here, following his trade and doing machine work.

On November 25, 1891, Mr. Phillips married Olive Short, the daughter of John and Amelia (Combs ) Short. The father was a miner born in Ohio and a soldier in the Civil war. He was wounded in the service and died in 1871. His widow died in 1887. She was a native of Connecticut. Mrs. Phillips was born in Utah in 1867. Mr. Phillips has one sister, Mrs. Alice J. Cox. The following named children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Phillips : Emma, Josephine. George, Williams, Clark, John. Mrs. Phillips has one son, Frank O'Conner, by her first husband. Our subject and his wife adhere to the Seventh Day Ad- ventist denomination. Politically he is a Republican and active in the interests of advancement and pro- gression.

WILLIAM VON BERGE is one of the substan- tial and active men of Grangeville and has displayed excellent ability to make a thriving and prosperous business from a small start. He is handling the brew- ery plant which he owns. while he also has five hun- dred and fifty acres of land in the fertile sections of the prairie. Mr. Von Berge also conducts a brewery sa- loon in Grangeville and one in Denver. He was born in Cook county, Illinois, on March 16, 1852, the son of Frederick and Magdalena (Rodehorst) Von Berge, natives of Germany. The father was born in 1801, set- tled where Chicago now is in 1846, and died in 1891 in Idaho county, whither he had come in 1880. The mother was born in 1814 and died in 1880. Our sub- ject grew to manhood in Illinois, where he was edu- cated. He worked with his father and brother in the omnibus business and were getting wealthy and had a a fine business but street car opposition broke them up and from 1874 to 1878 they lost over one hundred thousand dollars in clean cash. Our subject came west in 1878 with a capital of three hundred dollars which he had gathered from the wreck. He took land on Camas prairie and now own the fine estate men- tioned. He at once went to work raising the fruits of the field and stock which continued until 1889. In 1887, Mr. Von Berge saw a first class opportunity to start a brewery in Grangeville. To see for him was to act and in 1889 the business had assumed such pro- portions that he retired from his farms and rented them to give his entire attention to the business in town. He is now placing in his plant an additional steam engine and an ice machine.

In 1887 Mr. Von Berge married Kate Smith, a native of Germany and they have the following named children, Amil, Rudolph, Esie, all attending school. Mr. Von Berge has one brother, J. H. Von Berge, in this county. He is a member of the Red Men and in poli- tics is a stanch Republican. He was nominated by his partly for county commissioner and only lost the day by eleven votes, but the entire ticket was defeated.

HON. HANNIBAL F. JOHNSON is a miner and a poet living ten miles up Rapid river from Pol- lock postoffice. He was born in Owen county, Indiana, on November 20, 1830, the son of Gabriel and Martha (Jackson) Johnson. The father, who is a physician, born in Kentucky in 1803 and died in 1886, came to Oregon in 1853 and settled near Eugene. His people were patriots in the early American wars. His mother, who was born in Kentucky in 1803 and died in 1881, had accompanied her husband across the plains. Our subject's parents built the first house in Carthage, Mis- souri, where this son grew to manhood and received liis education. He studied medicine with his father but not liking the profession abandoned it. He crossed the plains with his parents, mined in southern Oregon and fought in the Rogue river war in Company E. under Captain Robert Williams. After his first term of en- listment, while he and five others were returning to re-enlist, they were surrounded by one hundred and twenty-five savages : they all succeeded in escaping but one poor unfortunate who was killed. In 1858 Mr. John- son mined in the Fraser river country, in 1862 he was in Florence and in the same year participated in the first Buffalo Hump excitement. He then went to Warren and thence to Walla Walla and with his cousin and cousin's partner. Daniel Jackson, bought a pack train and took a load to Auburn, Oregon. After this he packed to the Boise basin. over which road he freighted until 1865. In the fall of '65 he loaded twenty-eight animals and went to Blackfoot, Montana. He sold out and went to mining on Carpenter's bar and in Califor- nia gulch. He says that Mr. Edwards took out $150,- 000, and the Chaney brothers $400,000 from Confed- erate gulch. In 1868 he went to Leon creek, then to Robinson har on the Salmon after which he returned to Shasta, from thence to Willamette valley where he farmed until 1884. Then he came into the Seven Devils country and located the Golden Eagle from which was exhibited the richest ore at the World's Fair. He then made another trip to the Willamette valley, and stayed with his father, who died in 1886. Subsequent to that he returned to the Seven Devils country and in 1892 was elected senator from Wash- ington county by an overwhelming majority. That same vear he located the Ablative and Fisher mines from which he has taken assays from twenty dollars to twenty-one thousand. three hundred and eighty-four dollars per ton. He has been offered thirty-six thou- sand dollars for the claims hut refused it. Mr. Johnson has the following brothers and

sisters : Mary J. McDaniel, Mahalia Jackson,

567

HISTORY OF NORTH IDAHO.

David A., Pleasant W., Sarah E. Rampy, Pamelia Edwards. Mr. Johnson is a member of the I. O. O. F., and is a free lance in politics. We wish to remark also, as is well known, that Mr. John- son has achieved considerable distinction as a poet. He is familiariy known as the "Poet of the Seven Devils," and his productions have found their way into some of the leading journals of the country. Mr. Johnson relates that in the early days when men made rich strikes some very ludicrous things occurred. He remembers a man named Wiser who struck it rich in Florence, taking out six thousand dollars and more a day for a time, as being an example of this class. Mr. Wiser hurried to Portland with his new wealth, char- tered a ship, hired singers at eight dollars a day and struck for the open seas. Later Mr. Johnson saw the same man packing his blankets back to Florence to seek dust for a grubstake.

JAY O. RHOADES is one of the most prominent stockinen on Salmon river and lives at his fine ranch on Rapid river, a mile above its mouth. Mr. Rhoades was a native of Missouri, having been born in Mercer county on October 31, 1865, and is a son of Daniel B. and Elizabeth (Odneal) Rhoades. The father was a farmer and a native of Pennsylvania, where he was born in 1834. He early emigrated to Missouri and was one of the pioneers of Mercer county. He went to California in 1851, at the age of seventeen, and entered mines, where he speedily acquired a fortune Thence he returned east, via the isthmus and went to Missouri where he invested heavily in land, owning three thou- sand acres at one time. In 1877, he crossed the plains to the scene of his first mining work, remained there a short time and in 1881 went to Spokane county, Wash- ington. At present he is living with his son Jay. The mother's folks were also pioneers of Mercer county and originally came from the eastern states. She de- parted from this life in 1878. Our subject received a good education in the schools of Missouri and at the age of seventeen began working for himself. For several years he busied himself in various occupations, but in 1884 commenced driving stage between Mount Idaho and Lewiston, a position which he filled with credit for four years. Then he entered the stock busi- ness, taking up land on Camas prairie near Cottonwood and herding his cattle on this fine range. In 1896 the settlement of the reservation forced him with others to seek a less popoulated district, and after traveling through Montana and other famed stock regions, he decided to settle on the Salmon and accordingly, with C. E. Holt, bought the old Hicky McLee place and on his own account took up his present home on Rapid river. Since 1897 he has lived on the latter place, which he has placed in a fine state of development. His herd of cattle numbers between 1,000 and 1,200. Mr. Rhoades is very sanguine over the resources and prospects of his home and believes that there is no finer fruit, stock, alfalfa and mining section to be found than that on the Salmon. He is one of the largest stock

owners in central Idaho and has shipped as many as 1,500 cattle at one time.

July 1, 1900, marks the date of his marriage to Maggie Clay, whose father, H. H. Clay, is a well known stockmen, farmer and freighter living on Race creek. He is a native of Washington county, Ohio, where he was born October 8, 1853. Her grandfather, Nicholas, also a son of Ohio, the place and date of his birth being Columbiana county, January 1, 1825, was a pioneer of Montgomery county, Kansas, a veteran of the Civil war. His father was a patriot of 1776. The maiden name of Mrs. Rhoades's mother was Rebecca Irwin, and the date of the daughter's birth is 1880, the place being Oregon. Mr. Rhoades's brothers and sis- ters are as follows, Dr. R. R., Lafayette D., Lee, Lon, Erie Underwood, Oscar, Pollock: two half-sisters, Bertha Howe, and Maud, and one half-brother, Bert. Mr. and Mrs. Rhoades' home has been brightened by the advent of a daughter, Thelma Ruth, who is five months old. He is a member of the W. of W., and a very active and prominent Democrat, attending all the caucuses and conventions of his party. At present he is serving as a member of the central committee. Suc- cessful and respected, Mr. Rhoades is happy in his fine home beside the Salmon and takes life philosophi- cally.

JOHN O. I.EVANDER, who is postmaster and merchant at Goff, on the Salmon river, is one of the earliest pioneers and formost men of Idaho and is in- timately acquainted with all the early excitements and the inception of government in the territory. He was born in Sweden. on December 27, 1837, the son of Gustave and Jane (Kay) Levander. The father was a civil engineer, born in Flanders, France, and went to Sweden with Bernadotte, who became King Charles XIV of Sweden and Norway. He was closely asso- ciated with the king and held a high position in the army. The mother of our subject was born in London, in 1796, June 24, and is now deceased, as is also her husband. Her father was a lieutenant in the British army. Our subject was educated in Sweden and after his college days he went to sea with his brother-in-law, when he was fourteen. When sixteen he came to the United States and went to Illinois to visit his brother, who was a California miner, having dug gold on Span- ish bar, American river. Our subject studied still further in Illinois and became a bookkeeper, then went to Iowa and in 1859 he fitted out six yoke of oxen and started for Pikes Peak but came on to the Willamette valley. He had a hard fight with the Snake Indians at the Malheur river, near the present agency. Later Mr. Levander drove cattle to California, returning to Doug- las county and later went to Pierce at the time of the excitement. He mined for Captain Pierce, who dis- covered the diggings, and then went to Boise basin. He was on the stage with Governor Wallace and at- tended the first county convention ever held in Idaho, at Pierce ; he refused to act as delegate to the territorial convention at the Meadows. At Boise, Mr. Levander freighted and also located a ranch. Three years later

568

HISTORY OF NORTH IDAHO.

he quit freighting and raised stock. In 1884, he re- moved to the Meadows for his wife's health and there raised stock. He was county commissioner for one term and was a member of the first state convention. In the spring of 1893 he moved to his present location where he secured a postoffice and established a mer- cantile house. and a road station. Mr. Levander was prominent in getting the wagon road to the little Sal- mon, building part of the road by his own contribu- tions. He has an excellent stopping place, and is a popular resident of the county.

In 1864. at Boise, Mr. Levander married Miss Sarah E. Cox, of Gentry county, Missouri ; this was the first marriage celebrated in the Boise valley and oc- curred in a tent. Mr. Cox was a pioneer of Oregon. Mrs. Levander has the following brothers and sisters, John, Jesse, Oliver, Elvira Prosser and Martha Teal. Mr. Levander is the youngest of this family and his only brother, Charles A., died recently. Mr. Levander and his wife are members of the Christian church. He is a strong Democrat and from the early days of the 'sixties has always been active in political matters, al- ways being a delegate to the conventions. In 1882 he was chairman of the Washington county convention.

IVAN D. LYON is a well known business man of Cottonwood and is now in partnership with Jesse Dix- on, ex-sheriff of Idaho county, operating the Elite Resort, a well appointed saloon. Mr. Lyon has seen much experience in the frontier regions of the United States, especially in the cattle towns and in the cattle business ; he has shown himself a man of energy, in- dustry and sound principles.

Ivan D. Lyon was born in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, on September 15, 1844, being the son of Daniel and Elizabeth (Weibly) Lyon, natives of Pennsylvania. The father was born in 1797, and died in 1893. He was a machinist and served in the Mexican war. He descended from German parentage. The mother died in 1844. Our subject grew to the age of fifteen and received his education in the native place. On the fifteenth day of August, 1862, he joined Company K. Sixteenth Pennsylvania Cavalry and immediately went to the front under General Greeg. Colonel Robinson, and Captain Day, and as his record will abundantly testify, he was at the front all through the awful strug- gle. Among the many battles in which he fought, we may mention, Malvern Hill, Antietam, Wilderness, Cold Harbor, Pittsburg Landing, Gettysburg, Cedar Creek, the capture of Richmand, Sussex Courthouse, and numerous others. He was captured at Gettys- burg and held three days. He was wounded at Mal- vern Hill and had a horse shot from under him. He was mustered out between the sixth and the tenth of June at Lynchburg and received his discharge at For- tress Monroe. He immediately went home and in the spring of 1866, went to Kansas, thence to Texas and for twelve years rode the range and was personally familiar with the early cattle towns and the ways of the west ; he knew Buffalo Bill, Wild Bill and other

border celebrities. Mr. Lyon also engaged in the cat- tle business himself and in 1878 went to Arkansas and handled a large ranch for six years. Then came a trip to Idaho and in 1884 he settled in Cottonwood, where he raised cattle for several years and also engag- ed in the livery business ; in 1900 he purchased his present business.

In 1877, in Arkansas, Mr. Lyon married Miss Josephine Wood and to them were born one son and four daughters: Lee, deceased, Ollie Robbins, Myr- tle, Laura, Minnie. On October 20, 1893, Mrs. Lyon was called from her home and family by death. On November 27, 1902, Mr. Lyon married Mrs. Alex- andra E. ( Kelly) Woods, who was born in London, England. She has two children by a former marri- age, Charlie and Gertrude. Her father, John Kelly, Esquire, was a publisher at 1617 Paternoster Row, London. This publishing business was bequeathed to him by alderman Kelly, Lord Mayor of London. He walked into London with a pack on his back. His wife was Caroline Child. This daughter was born on the day King Edward VII married Princess Alex- andra, of Denmark, March IO, 1863. Mrs. Lyon was highly educated, being a graduate of Queen's College, London, after which she spent two years in Germany and one in Paris, taking special courses in music, in which art she is highly talented. In addition to these accomplishments, Mrs. Lyon is a fluent linguist, speak- ing German, French and English. She came to the United States in 1892. Mr. Lyon is a strong Demo- crat and an influential man in his party. Although his services amply demand it, still he has never applied for a pension from the government.

WILLIAM H. SHORT lives two and one-half miles up the big Salmon river from Riggings and de- votes his attention to mining and stockraising. He was born in Massachusetts. August 16, 1833, the son of Henry Summer and Clarissa (Richmond) Short, na- tives of Massachusetts. His father was a machinist and also a minister in the Baptist church. The ances- tors of the family were patriots in the Revolutionary war. The Old Bay state remained the home of our subject until he was twenty-one years old, during which time he had received a good education and learned the trade of a ship carpenter. In October. 1853. he crossed the Isthmus of Panama to California and mined in Placer, Siskiyou, Klamath and Trinity counties. En 1863 he went to Canyon City, Oregon ; thence to The Dalles and the next year came to Warren and engaged in mining. He also delved for gold in Florence and then returned to Warren until 1872 when he journeved to British Columbia, and mined three years. He spent three winters in Sitka, one winter in Victoria. and one in Portland. In 1876, when he was going to Sitka to winter, the the rest of his party went to San Francisco in the ship Northern and all were lost at sea. In the fall and winter of 1877 we find him in Santa Barbara, California. The next year he returned to Florence and mined. In the fall of 1879 he came down the Big Sal-

IVAN D. LYON.

569

HISTORY OF NORTH IDAHO.

mon and bought his present mining claims, which he has worked since. Late years Mr. Short has raised considerable stock. He was part owner in one mine in Warren that produced three thousand dollars a week, for some weeks. He says Bemis, Sanderson Rice and Culver tock out more gold than any one else in the early days.

In 1893 Mr. Short married Miss Samantha A., daughter of Thomas B. and Catherine ( Cartwright) Curtis. The father was born in Tennessee and lives in Meadows, Idaho, where also the mother is living. Mrs. Short was born in Arkansas in 1876 and has five brothers, Charles, James, Richard, Arthur, Samuel. Mr. Short has two brothers, James M. and George R. Two children are the fruit of this marriage, Martha, aged nine, and Clarissa. aged seven. Mr. Short is a Republican and votes it straight. He has one hundred and sixty acres of placer ground and other property.

In the fall of 1865 Mr. Short, James Stratton and Michael Deasy bought the claim where Mr. Short now lives. They started down to John Goff's place, where Goff is now built, and it being the year of the deepest snow known, there were many slides. Messrs. Strat- ton and Short were in the lead and they slipped down a little pit and just then a snow slide came that caught James Stratton and carried him nearly across the Sal- mon river. He arose to the top of the snow, faced and then sank to rise no more.

RICHARD L. RIGGINS is proprietor of the Rig- gins Hotel, conducts a blacksmith shop, runs a feed barn and is postmaster at Riggins, Idaho. He was born near Grangeville, Idaho, May 21, 1876. His father, John T. Riggins, a native of Missouri, was a farmer and blacksmith, who came to Camas prairie in 1869. The mother of Richard was Asenath ( Wil- mot) Riggins. The native place of our subject was the scene of his early studies and there he re- mained until manhood's estate was reached. He spent two years in the state university at Moscow, preparing himself for a civil engineer, but owing to stringent financial conditions he was obliged to abandon his project before receiving his degree. In 1895 he went to driving stage on the Salmon route : then farmed and freighted until March, 1901, when he came to his present location, secured a postoffice and started a town.

On June 13. 1897, Mr. Riggins married Miss Ethel Jones. Her parents, Henry S. and Nancy (Crow) Jones, resided near Tolo and were natives of Virginia. Her father served in the Confederate army and died July 29, 1901. The mother is still living. Mrs. Riggins was born in Oregon in 1878 and has three brothers and one sister. Mr. Riggins has one sister and three brothers: Allie McCready, Fred. Arthur, Carl. One child, Henrietta, has been born to our subject and his wife.

Mr. Riggins is a member of the K. of P., is a justice of the peace and in politics is a Republican. He hauled the first wagon load of freight ever brought

into Florence for Fitzgerald, the discoverer of the Ozark mine. Mr. Riggins is a member of the Pioneer Association at Grangeville and is a good and sub- stantial man.

ALBERT F. NURSS is the well known ice man of Grangeville, who also owns a good farm, which is the spot on which Howard erected headquarters in 1877 and a part of the edifice is used by Mr. Nurss as a residence. He was born in New York in 1855, and is the son of Jard and Hulda J. (Blakesley) Nurss. The mother was born in 1836 and died in 1902. The family removed to Illinois when our sub- ject was young and he was raised mostly by his rela- tives. When twenty-three he went to Kansas and worked for a year, then he went to Nebraska and one year later found him in the famous Wood river coun- try of southern Idaho. When he came here in the fall of 1882, there was still excitement regarding the In- dians. After renting land and selling the crop he wrote to the land department of the United States regarding this famous camp Howard and finding it subject to entry he took it as a preemption and later filed a homestead right on it. For seventeen years Mr. Nurss has been in the ice business in addition to handling his farm, now having a regular wagon and delivers to the people of Grangeville, enjoying a thriv- ing trade.

In Illinois, in 1877, Mr. Nurss married Miss Nora, daughter of J. M. Davis, a pioneer of Illinois. Mrs. Nurss was born in Illinois in 1860 and has two brothers and three sisters, who are all living in the east except one, in Idaho county, who came as a pioneer here in the early sixties. Mr. Nurss has five brothers and sisters all deceased. The following named children have been born to them: Roy E., Mary McLean, Dora, Gracie Bickford, Allen, Harvey, Effie. Mr. Nurss is a member of the W. of W .. of the I. O. O. F., and is a Democrat. He was a member of the school board for seven years. Mrs. Nurss is a devout member of the Baptist church.

EDGAR W. LEVANDER lives at Goff. Idaho, where he does a general farming business, also mines, manages a ferry and runs a blacksmith shop. Mr. Levander is a busy man, one of the prosperous citi- zens of the county and in excellent standing with all who know him. He was born in Umatilla county, Oregon, on April 16, 1869, the son of John O. and Sarah (Cox) Levander. The father is the postmaster at Goff and devotes his attention to mining. He was a pioneer to Oregon in 1861 and the following year mined at Oro Fino and in 1865 in the Boise basin. He is a native of Sweden and settled in his present location in 1894. The mother was born in Missouri and still lives at Goff. Our subject was but an infant when the parents moved to Idaho the last time, and spent the first fifteen years of his life in the Boise basin, where he gained his education. Then they

570

HISTORY OF NORTH IDAHO.

moved to the Salmon meadows in Washington county, where he assisted his father in handling cattle. When he became of age he commenced operations inde- pendently with a fine start of a good bunch of cattle. In 1893 he came up the Salmon and took a claim near Slate creek, where he devoted himself to general farm- ing and stock raising until 1899, in which year he came to Goff and put on the ferry that he is now operating here. Mr. Levander also took a mining claim and built a blacksmith shop.

On July 2, 1891, Mr. Levander married Miss May, daughter of John A. and Minerva ( Whited) Richard- son. The father was a stockman and a native of Illinois. He was one of the early pioneers to the coast and mined in Florence, Warren and other Idaho camps. His death occurred in 1900. The mother is still living. Mrs. Levander was born in Baker county, Oregon, in 1872 and has four brothers and one sister : George, Clarence, Harland, Clara, Wallace. Mr. Levander has the following brothers and sisters: Emma, Eva, Anna, Homer, Ella, Vergil, Celestia. Mr. and Mrs. Levander have four children: Edith, Edna, Leroy, Hazel. In political matters our subject is a strong Democrat. In addition to his holdings at Goff he has a fine ranch of one hundred and sixty acres near Slate creek besides other property.

Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.

An illustrated history of north Idaho : embracing Nez Perces, Idaho, Latah, Kootenai and Shoshone counties, state of Idaho, Part 137

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

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