USA > Idaho > An illustrated history of the state of Idaho, containing a history of the state of Idaho from the earliest period of its discovery to the present time, together with glimpses of its auspicious future; illustrations and biographical mention of many pioneers and prominent citizens of to-day > Part 107
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HON. TANNES E. MILLER.
Many interesting stories might be told by the early pioneers of Idaho, but it is not likely there are many men living in the state who could tell more stories, or stories of greater interest, than Senator Tannes E. Miller, and Senator Miller can go back of the pioneer days in Idaho and tell tales of the building and sailing of ships in Wis- consin and of pioneer life among the Indians.
Senator Miller is one of Idaho's most useful citizens and one of Latah county's most promi- nent pioneers and most successful farmers. He has a model farm, which is located two miles east of Genesee. It is not only a very productive
farm, but a very beautiful homestead, for Senator Miller is a man of refined taste, who be- lieves there is nothing too good for his family.
Tannes E. Miller was born in Norway, August 6, 1840, eldest child of Tabias and Christine (Elle) Miller, and came to America with his parents and brothers and sisters in 1849, and located in Wisconsin. His father had been a sea captain, but took up the life of a farmer and made a suc- cess of it. Mr. and Mrs. Miller were of the Luth- eran faith. Mr. Miller died at the age of seventy- two, his wife at the age of sixty-three. Mrs. Miller died only a year later than her husband. They had eight sons and a daughter, five of whom are living.
When the Millers arrived in Wisconsin the fu- ture senator was nine years old. For a boy of his age he was quite well educated, for his father had taken him to sea with him and had taught him with much system and thoroughness. Those were pioneer days in that part of Wisconsin in which the Millers had found a home, and the boy was busy, and educational facilities were meager, and he attended school but twenty-one days in Wisconsin. But he studied at home, read when he had time, kept his eyes open wherever he went, and grew to manhood intelligent, alert and well informed.
He lived the life of a farmer boy and youth, attaining his majority in 1861, a few months after the outbreak of the war of the states. He early formed a determination to enlist for soldier's duty in the Union cause, and September 6, 1862, he joined Company D, Sixty-seventh Illinois Volun- teer Infantry, with which he served three months. In 1863 he enlisted in the First Wisconsin Heavy Artillery. He was in the memorable battle of Missionary Ridge, in which the federal troops covered themselves with so much glory, and later was on several detached services as bugler and clerk, etc. He was on General Stoneman's staff and later was chief bugler to General Steadman. He was once appointed by his lieutenant colonel for drum major of the regiment, but his captain refused to transfer him because he was the only company bugler, so he could not accept the pro- motion. He was honorably discharged from the service at Nashville, Tennessee, September 6, 1865, just three years to the day after his first en- listment.
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Returning to Wisconsin, he gave himself up to the acquisition of the trade of ship-builder. He began at rough work and finished in the draught- ing department. But by the marriage of the son, his father gave him a small farm and it was so located and situated that it demanded his time and attention, and this event changed his plans. After a few years he sold that property and bought another farm, in Waupaca county, on which he lived four years, then took charge of his father's farm until, April 9, 1878, he started for Idaho. He made this journey via San Francisco and by ship to Portland, Oregon. Thence he made his way to Lewiston, and May 6 following his departure from Wisconsin located on the farm which has since been his home. He pre- empted a claim of one hundred and sixty acres and an eighty-acre timber-culture claim. He came to the place with a wife and eight children and a cash capital of twenty-five dollars,-all the money he had left after paying the ordinary ex- penses of the journey for ten persons. But he faced the future bravely, and his ability was rec- ognized by his pioneer neighbors. On the day of his arrival he was chosen superintendent of the construction of a fort for the protection of the settlers from the Indians, who were quite numer- ous and whose friendship was not to be relied on implicitly. Less than two months after he came to Idaho he was the prime mover in the organiza- tion of as good a Fourth of July celebration as the few settlers could put up. It was not numer- ously attended, but the entire population was present and it was very patriotic.
Senator Miller was formerly, for years, a Re- publican, but is now a Populist of very inde- pendent thought, studying all economic problems for himself and favoring that only which he deems best for the country. His interest in public education has been deep and abiding, and he has served his school district for twenty years as a trustee. He was elected to the state senate in 1894, and served on several important com- mittees and was prominent in championing the location that was adopted for the Idaho State University. When his fellow senators found that he could not be led and was fearless and aggres- sive, he exerted a strong and valuable influence.
Senator Miller raises a variety of crops on his farm. The principal one is wheat. He has
planted many kinds of fruit trees, shade trees and flowers, which combine to render the place one of the most beautiful in this part of the state. The home life of the family has always been happy in the extreme. Mr. Miller was married April 7, 1866, to Miss Anna Halverson. Several of their children are now settled in life. The eldest daughter married in 1885 and died in 1889, leaving a son and a daughter, and the former is now a member of the household of his grandfather Miller and the latter has a home with her paternal grandfather. Roderick C., Alfred and Leo Miller, three of Senator Miller's sons, are farmers on the Nez Perces reservation. Rachel Christine, Frederick and Charlotte are members of their parents' household. The Millers are talented as musicians and artists, the Senator himself being a proficient player on eight instru- ments, and a painter of no mean ability. His children have inherited his genius, and the walls of the Miller home are hung with paintings made by different members of the family, many of these productions being artistic and elegant. Mr. and Mrs. Miller were formerly Lutherans, but the family are communicants of the Methodist Epis- copal church, in which Senator Miller is record- ing steward and of which he a generous sup- porter.
CHRISTIAN WALLANTINE.
Christian Wallantine, one of the prominent farmers and old residents of Paris, Idaho, is a native of Denmark, having been born on the little island of Barnholm, in the Baltic sea, off the Danish coast, October 21, 1841. He is a descendant of German ancestry on his father's side, representing in this line very old Teutonic stock. His parents were Wallantine and Augel Margaret (Kofoot) Wallentinesen, who, having become converts to the faith of the Church of Jesus Christ of the Latter Day Saints, decided to cross the ocean and live out the remainder of their days in Utah, where it was promised the temple of this church should be erected. They came in 1853-4, and were quite a year in making the voyage across the sea and the long and tedious journey across the plains. They were able to employ only the most primitive means, and they had no team swifter or better than oxen, which the men and big boys took turns at driving, and which, with the plodding patience
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of their kind, came with them at last to their jour- ney's end. The parents brought with them their three sons; and Christian, the second born, was then thirteen years old; and he has a vivid recol- lection of their hardships, their hopes and fears, their mishaps, their perils, seen and unseen, and their long, tense struggle against wind and weather, miasma and ever increasing weariness, and of the great thankfulness that filled their hearts when at last the family stood unbroken in the paved streets of Salt Lake City. He could never forget that day, though he should live to die with the world.
His father took up government land at Brig- ham City, Utah, and became a successful farmer, a prominent citizen and one of the lights of his church, of which when he died, aged sixty-five, he had been for many years a priest and high priest. His wife died a year or so later, at about the same age. Their eldest son, August, is the bishop of the fourth ward of Brigham City. Their youngest son, Charles, is a farmer and lives near Rexburg, Fremont county, Idaho.
Facilities for public education near the early home of the Wallentinsens, on the little Danish island, were very poor; and though Christian at- tended such schools as there were until he was nearly ten years old he is almost entirely self- educated. From childhood he helped his parents until he attained the age of eighteen. Then he set up in the world for himself, working on a farm for wages, and a year later married Miss Elizabeth Caldwell, a native of Scotland. They came to Paris, now in Bear Lake county, in 1864, among the very first settlers at the place. He was then twenty-three years old. He located on property which he still occupies, and has the his- torical distinction of having erected upon it the first frame house in Bear Lake valley. His little claim has grown, however, until it is a farm of four hundred acres, and Mr. Wallantine raises some grain, a great deal of timothy hay and many fine Durham cattle and Clydesdale horses, as well as cattle and horses of crossed breeds.
When, in common with other thinking men of his faith, Mr. Wallantine began to see that politics would inevitably have an irresistible influence on Mormon affairs, he began to cast about for a political anchorage, and rested at last within the haven of Democracy. A man of
good ability and of undoubted integrity, he came in time to find various public offices seeking him, and as his party was strong enough to elect him to them he served successively in the offices of constable, school trustee, under-sheriff, sheriff, county commissioner and representative in the Idaho legislature, to which he was elected in 1896; and in 1898 he was re-elected for a second term, and was the only member succeeding him- self in that year. He has taken part in the most important work of the sessions to which he was sent, always intelligently, influentially and with a keen appreciation of his responsibilities. It was he who formulated the bill equalizing property valuation in the several counties of the state so that the burden of taxation might rest upon all the citizens of the state in equal measure accord- ing to their financial ability. In the discharge of duty, public or private, he is prompt, thor- ough and utterly fearless, and his interest in everything that affects the welfare of the people is so great and his impulses are so generous that he is a leader among the public-spirited citizens of Bear Lake county.
Mr. and Mrs. Wallantine have had eleven chil- dren, of whom nine are living, as follows: Chris- tian William is married and lives near his father; Charles A. assists his father in carrying on his farm and is the owner of a ranch near by; Thomas Caldwell is married and lives at Dingle, where he owns a farm; Annie is married to Robert Kelsey; Robert W. is also married and lives on his own farm, not far from his father's; Clara, Elizabeth, Mabel and Ray are members of their father's household.
JOHN W. BRIGHAM.
A large and well improved ranch eight and a half miles southeast of the city of Moscow, in Latah county, is owned by John Warren Brig- ham, who is regarded as one of the most enter- prising and progressive agriculturists of this part of the state. His business ability, untiring indus- try and capable management have been the chief elements in his success and have gained him a position among the substantial residents of the county.
Mr. Brigham is a native of California, his birth having occurred in Placer county, on the 22d of March, 1857. On the paternal side he is of Eng-
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lish and Welsh lineage, and on the maternal side of English and Dutch descent. The original American ancestors of the Brigham family left the "merrie isle" to become residents of New England, and his great-grandfather fought in the Revolutionary war, participating in the battle of Bunker Hill. He was a resident of Massachusetts, and was a shoemaker by occupation. The grand- father, Curtis Brigham, was born in Massachu- setts and became a Baptist minister. With his family he removed to Michigan in an early day, locating in Plainwell, Allegan county, where he entered the government land that now lies within the corporation limits of that city. He improved his property and there made his home until his death, which occurred when he was eighty years. of age, his wife surviving until she had passed the eighty-fourth milestone on life's journey. They were members of the Baptist church, and were people of sterling worth.
Curtis Brigham, the father of our subject, was ten years of age when the family settled in Michi- gan, and was therefore reared amid the wild scenes of the frontier. He was educated in the public schools and in the academy of the town and was a man of much intelligence and broad general information. In his religious views he might have been termed a liberal Baptist. He married Miss Esther Metcalf, a native of Ohio, and in 1854 went to California by way of the isthmus of Panama. Two years later his wife and two young sons joined him in the Golden state, and in order to support his family he devoted his energies to farming in the San Joaquin valley, where he owned a large ranch and was also ex- tensively engaged as an apiarist. In 1875 he came to Latah county, Idaho, where he died in the sixty-sixth year of his age, his wife passing away in her fifty-fourth year. Their Christian piety was manifest in their upright lives, and they were faithful laborers in the Master's vine- yard. The father was the founder of the first Baptist church in Plainwell, Michigan, and it grew to be a very large and influential organiza- tion. Mr. and Mrs. Brigham had a family of six children, five of whom are living.
John Warren Brigham, the third in order of birth, was educated in the public schools of Cali- fornia and came to his present home in Latah county in 1878. This was then a new and unde-
veloped district, and he secured both a pre-emp- tion and homestead claim from the government. With characteristic energy and determination he began transforming the raw land into rich and fertile fields, and now has one of the fine farming properties in this section of the state. The im- provements include a good residence and barn, an excellent fish pond, and orchards covering sixty-five acres. He raises nearly all kinds of fruit, grain, vegetables and stock, uses improved machinery in the cultivation of the fields, and follows the most advanced and progressive meth- ods in all departments of his farm work. Through his well directed labors he has attained a position among the substantial farmers of Idaho, and his success is the just reward of his efforts.
For a number of years Mr. Brigham lived alone upon his ranch, but in 1893 he was united in marriage to Miss Nellie Wilson, a native of Nebraska and a daughter of William Wilson, now of Latah county, Idaho. They now have two interesting little children: John Wilson and Verna Esther. The parents are valued members of the United Brethren church, and in political faith Mr. Brigham is a Republican. He was a member of the fifteenth territorial council, the state convention which framed the present con- stitution of Idaho, was a member of the first state senate, and at the present writing, 1899, also occupies a seat in the upper house of the general assembly. He is a man of ideas, viewing broadly and in an unprejudiced manner the ques- tions that come up for consideration, and having at heart the best interest of his fellow men and the state of his adoption. He considers carefully all issues, and his mature judgment has had a marked and beneficial influence upon the legisla- tion of the commonwealth. During campaigns he has labored earnestly for the success of his party, delivering many addresses in support of its principles and is a recognized leader in its ranks. His career, both public and private, is irreproachable, and such men are an honor to Idaho.
WILLIAM F. HERRINGTON.
The medical profession would seem to afford a better business training than any other of the learned professions. At least, of the lawyers and clergymen who turn their attention to the busi- ness very many of them fail. Very few physicians
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do, and in almost any community the successful physician develops, without apparent effort, into the successful man of affairs. One of the many medical men who are making noteworthy careers as business men is the gentleman whose name is the title of this article.
Dr. William F. Herrington was born in Jeffer- son county, Missouri, September 12, 1861, a son of S. G. and Jane (Beeler) Herrington. His father was born in Missouri also, in 1841, and is now a well-to-do farmer in the southern part of that state. His mother, a native of Tennessee, died in Missouri, when only twenty-four years of age.
After gaining a practical education in the pub- lic schools of Salem, Missouri, and spending sev- eral years in business pursuits, young Herrington began the study of medicine, at the age of twenty-four, under the preceptorship of Dr. L. B. Laws, of Houston, Missouri. Later he took a course of professional lectures at Cincinnati, Ohio, and was graduated in 1889 from the American Medical College, of St. Louis, Mis- souri, with the degree of Doctor of Medicine. He practiced his profession one year in Missouri and one year in the state of Washington, and in 1891 took up his residence at Wallace, Idaho, where he was in successful practice until 1895 and was attending physician at Providence Hos- pital from July, 1891, to October, 1894. Since 1895 he has been engaged in the real-estate and insurance business, and he is now a member of the firm of Herrington & Rossi (William F. Herrington and Herman J. Rossi), which does the leading real-estate business of Shoshone county and represents forty-three strong insur- ance companies.
In 1885 Dr. Herrington married Miss Mary Coats, of Missouri, and they have four children, named Grover, Bessie, Maude and Edna. Dr. Herrington is an influential Democrat, active and popular in political circles throughout the state. He is a Mason, an Elk and an Odd Fellow. As a citizen he is always reliably public-spirited and helpful.
JOHN J. BINGMAN.
For twenty-two years this gentleman has car- ried on agricultural pursuits on Camas prairie and is now the owner of one of the finest farms that adorn this section of the state. He was
born in Pennsylvania, in 1853, a son of Jacob and Mary Louisa (Swarts) Bingman, also natives of the Keystone state. The father was a farmer and a charcoal burner, and at the time of the civil war he enlisted in his country's service as a de- fender of the Union. He was a drum major and belonged to Company E, Fifty-third Pennsylva- nia Volunteer Infantry, with which he served un- til injured, when he was honorably discharged. He lived to be seventy-five years of age. and died in 1882, his wife passing away when seventy-four years of age. They were the parents of fourteen children, and their three eldest sons, James, George and Charles, entered the Union army. James laid down his life on the altar of his country. He was taken prisoner, and after suffering all the hardships and privations of life in Andersonville, he passed away. Ten of the family still survive.
Mr. Bingman of this review was educated in the public schools of his native state, and since ten years of age has not only earned his own living but gave his wages to his father until he had attained his majority. Leaving the Keystone state, he then went to Michigan, where he was employed as a farm hand until 1877, when, hop- ing to take advantage of the government's offer of land, he came to Idaho and entered one hun- dred and sixty acres on Camas prairie, one of the richest agricultural districts in the entire northwest. The farm is conveniently and pleas- antly located four miles north of Grangeville and thereon he has built a good house and barn and made other substantial improvements. Some of the land has been transformed into rich fields, giving evidence of abundant harvests, and the other is used as pasture lands for his cattle, horses and hogs. Both as a general grain farmer and stock-raiser he has met with good success, being a very industrious, energetic man, -which qualities are the elements of prosperity.
In 1883 Mr. Bingman returned east, and on the 14th of February, 1888, married Miss Rose G. White, by whom he has one child, May Alice. They have since resided on the farm and are widely and favorably known in the community. Mr. Bingman exercises his right of franchise in support of the men and measures of the Democ- racy. He was a participant in the Nez Perces war, and did duty at Mount Idaho and the
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Grangeville stockade, and was also at the battle of Clearwater. The days of Indian hostilities being past, he has since zealouslv labored to pro- mote all interests calculated to benefit the com- munity, and his public spirit would make him a valued citizen in any community.
L. C. EASTMAN.
The quality of a man's manhood has every- thing to do with not only the degree but with the quality of his success. In point of magni- tude a man's success may be great, but it may be of a character pitifully weak, if not dangerous to the public weal. The solid, substantial, honest and admirable success which brings a man not only money but the respect of his fellow men is the kind of success that has crowned the endeav- ors of the man whose name appears as the title of this article.
L. C. Eastman, postmaster at Soda Springs, Idaho, and pioneer and leading druggist of that city, was born at Oskaloosa, Iowa, August 22, 1855, a son of Hon. Enoch and Caroline (Green- ough) Eastman. The founder of this family of Eastman in America was Jeremiah Eastman, an English gentleman who had a fine place near some of the landed property of the king of Eng- land. Frequently, it is related, he was annoyed by the sheep belonging to His Majesty breaking into his grounds and injuring them. Remon- strance was vain. One day the animals invaded Mr. Eastman's garden and destroyed it, and in driving them out, not any too gently perhaps, the , wronged subject shot one of them, greatly to the displeasure of those who were presumed to have them in charge and to His Majesty's personal displeasure also, it appears likely, for he was menaced with such serious trouble and personal danger because of this trivial occurrence, that he was obliged to seek safety beyond the borders of his native land. With his two sons he escaped to New England, embarking from Liverpool, and settled in Haverhill, Massachusetts, where his wife joined him not long afterward. He and his descendants were active in making our early his- tory. Some of them did patriotic service for the cause of the colonies in the seven-years fight for American independence, and John Eastman, L. C. Eastman's paternal grandfather, served his country in the war of 1812-14, and Mr. Eastman
has this ancestor's honorable discharge from the United States army. He lived to a good old age and died respected and regretted.
Hon. Enoch Eastman, L. C. Eastman's father, was born in Epsom, New Hampshire, and mar- ried Miss Caroline Greenough in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He became a lawyer and removed to Iowa, where he practiced his profession and became a prominent citizen and leading Republi- can. He long represented his county in the Iowa legislature and was lieutenant governor of that state. He died in Iowa, in 1885. His wife died in 1861, aged forty-four years. They had eight children, of whom four are living and of whom four died in infancy or early childhood.
L. C. Eastman was educated in the public schools of Iowa, and at sixteen years of age faced the world with a demand for a living, which he was quite willing to earn. He found employment as an assistant on the survey of the Iowa Central Railroad, and in 1882 went west as far as Colo- rado, where he engaged in quartz-mining with little success and in the drug trade at the same time with more satisfactory results. His partner in the drug business was N. J. Brown, M. D., and their store was at Kiowa, Colorado. In 1884 he came to Soda Springs and opened the pioneer pharmacy in the town. He has been quite suc- cessful in this enterprise and has a large estab- lishment, in which he carries a full line of drugs and medicines, paints, oils and stationery. His trade is large and constantly growing and ex- tending over a wider area, and he is so popular personally that, notwithstanding he is a Repub- lican, he was appointed postmaster at Soda Springs under President Cleveland's first admin- istration. In 1897 he was again appointed to the same office, under President McKinley's admin- istration. The people of Soda Springs have implicit confidence in him as a business man and know him as a thoroughly public-spirited citizen, who has the important interests of the town close to his heart and is always ready to promote them, financially or otherwise, to the extent of his ability. He has erected and fitted up one of the pleasantest and most comfortable homes in the city. He was married, in October, 1885, to Miss Caroline Dorrien, a native of Salt Lake City, Utalı. Their union has been blessed by four children: Elbert W., Loretta, Marguerite and
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