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 109
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Logan, and in 1896, when twenty-one years of age, went on a mission to the Samoa islands, but after six months spent in the work he lost his voice, and is now aiding his father in the care of the sheep, hoping to regain his health through outdoor life and exercise. In addition to the children mentioned, there is also another child who is a member of the Hatch household, an infant boy having been left on the door-step at one time, and this child they are now rearing as their own. The Bishop's family is one of prom- inence in the community and their friends are many. In his political views Mr. Hatch is a Republican, and he is now serving as postmaster of Franklin. His daughter Della is acting as his deputy, and she is also the telegraph operator at this point, the Deseret telegraph line having been built by the church to Franklin.
GEORGE D. CAMPBELL.
Much might be written of the substantial qual- ity of the Canadian character and the progressive spirit which has been manifested by Canadians who have located in the United States, but ex- amples which prove all that might be advanced in this direction are so numerous and conspicu- ous everywhere that comment along this line would appear to be almost superfluous.
George D. Campbell, one of the most pro11- inent citizens, land-owners and capitalists of Spaulding, Idaho, is a native of Grandville, Can- ada, and was born November 12, 1867. He is descended from Scotch ancestry of great his- torical note. His father, James Campbell, mar- ried Mary Bevin, a native of his own county. They had six children, all of whom are living in the United States. They were persons of high character and intelligence and were lifelong mem- bers of the Episcopal church. James Campbell died February 21, 1899, aged eighty-five years, and his wife is living, in her seventy-sixth year. George D. Campbell was the fifth child of this worthy couple. He was educated in Canada and in Wisconsin and early turned his attention to hotel-keeping. He was married January 3, 1894, at Missoula, Montana, to Miss Mary Christine Williams, a native of British Columbia, daughter of Edward Williams and granddaughter of Angus McDonald, post trader and shareholder of the Hudson's Bay Company and one of the earliest
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settlers in Montana. Mr. and Mrs. Campbell came to Idaho soon after their marriage, and in 1895 became possessed of twenty-seven acres of land in the center of Spaulding, including the entire business portion of the town. On this property they have erected seven store and business build- ings and the Spaulding hotel, a three-story frame structure containing forty rooms, which is the only hotel in the town and is in every way ade- quate to demands upon it. The hotel and the seven other buildings are all leased to desirable tenants, and Mr. and Mrs. Campbell have rooms at the hotel. Besides this property, they own fifty-five acres of choice land outside the town.
Mr. Campbell is a Republican and a Woodman of the World. He is an honorable man of much public spirit and is highly esteemed by all who know him.
ISAAC C. HATTABAUGH.
Prominent in the field of politics and in busi- ness circles, Isaac C. Hattabaugh has left the impress of his individuality upon the public life of Latah county, and is to-day numbered among the leading and influential citizens of Moscow. A native of Indiana, he was born in Salem, that state, December 24, 1851. His grandfather, Jacob Hattabaugh, was born in Germany, and crossing the Atlantic to America settled in Vir- ginia, whence he afterward removed to Pennsyl- vania and from there to Indiana. He was a man of ability and an influential pioneer settler of southern Indiana. His son, George W. Hatta- baugh, the father of our subject, was a native of the Hoosier state, and there married Saralı Boling, who was born in North Carolina and was a daughter of Randolph and Jane (Graves) Boling. By occupation Mr. Hattabaugh was a farmer, following that pursuit throughout his active business life. His wife was a member of the Christian church. He was never identified with any church. He was born in 1822 and died in 1898, at the age of seventy-six years, and his wife passed away in 1892, at the age of sixty- eight. They were the parents of seven children, four of whom are still living in Indiana and Illinois.
The subject of this sketch was reared on his father's farm, where he early became familiar with all the duties and labors that fall to the lot of the agriculturist. He acquired his education
in the public schools of Kossuth and Plattsburg, and when nineteen years of age left home, going to Indianapolis, where he taught school and later engaged in bridge-building and contracting. He was also for some years engaged in the manu- facture of drain tile near Jamestown, Indiana, and in 1878 he resolved to try his fortune in the far west. Accordingly he took up his residence in Lewiston, Idaho, pre-empted one hundred and sixty acres of land, and then engaged in con- tracting and building. He also was interested in a sash and door manufactory for a number of years, and was thus very active in promoting the industrial interests of the community in which he resided. He is a man of excellent business and executive ability, and his capable manage- ment and industry brought to him a deserved success.
Mr. Hattabaugh also early became recognized as a leading factor in Democratic circles, giving an active support to the men and measures of the party. He received the appointment of deputy auditor of his county and afterward was elected auditor of Nez Perces county, which then in- cluded all of Latah county. In 1889 he came to Moscow to reside and here served as deputy court clerk. He also established an ab- stract office and in that year the Commercial Bank was organized, with a capital stock of fifty thousand dollars, and he was elected president of the new institution, over which he presided until 1895. Under his capable management the bank prospered and became very popular, doing a large business, but in 1895, when the great financial panic came, they had one hundred and twenty thousand dollars loaned out and were un- able to get the money. Therefore, like many other banks and business enterprises, they were forced into bankruptcy. Mr. Hattabaugh was appointed trustee to close up the business of the bank, but the entire wheat crop of the country was destroyed by heavy rains that year and fifteen thousand dollars was all that could be collected, so that the loss sustained by the bank was one hundred and five thousand dollars. Since that time Mr. Hattabaugh has been with the Elder Brothers, dealers in farm machinery, this being the largest house of the kind south of Spokane.
In 1892 Mr. Hattabaugh was chosen by his party as the candidate for county treasurer. The
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campaign was a very spirited one and he made a splendid canvass, receiving a majority of one hundred and fifty-two votes, when the usual Republican majority was from five to seven hundred. He has also held the office of regent of the State University, to which he was appointed by Governor McConnell, and had the honor of being president of the board for two years. He took a deep interest in the affairs of the university and labored most effectively and earnestly for its welfare. He is at all times a progressive and loyal citizen and withholds his support from no measure which he believes will advance the general good. He was six years a member of the Moscow school board of trustees, during which time he was treasurer of the board, and when the bank failed, wherein the funds were deposited, he made it good by deeding the school board one brick building in Moscow and his for- mer residence in Lewiston. This sacrifice was in the interest of education.
Before leaving Indiana Mr. Hattabaugh was married, December 16, 1875, to Miss Allie Miller, daughter of Eli Miller, of Indiana, and now the only survivor of her father's family. Unto Mr. and Mrs. Hattabaugh have been born two chil- dren, a son and daughter, M. Reese and Nona, both now students in the State University. The family have a pleasant home in Moscow and the members of the household hold high rank in social circles. Our subject is a very zealous and enthusiastic member of the Masonic fraternity, and his wife is an active member of the Order of the Eastern Star, while she and her daughter both belong to the Order of Rebekah, Miss Nona being secretary of the latter lodge in Moscow. Mr. Hattabaugh was made a Master Mason in Middlefork Lodge, No. 304, F. & A. M., of Mid- dlefork, Indiana, March 6, 1875, and dimitted therefrom in 1879 to become a member of Nez Perces Lodge, No. 10, of Lewiston. He took a very active part in its work, filled all of the offices and served as master for two years. On remov- ing to Moscow, he dimitted from the lodge in Lewiston, in 1890, and is now affiliated with Paradise Lodge, No. 17, of which he had the honor of being chosen master in 1891. He was made a Royal Arch Mason in Lewiston Chapter, No. 4, R. A. M., October 24, 1885, and in 1889 he dimitted to Moscow Chapter No.
7. He was created a Knight Templar in Moscow Commandery in 1892, is now its emi- nent commander, and has attained the fourteenth degree of the Scottish rite. He is well versed in the ritual and the work of the order, and by rea- son of his proficiency was appointed deputy grand master in 1887, and in 1892 was honored by elec- tion to the office of most worshipful grand master of the grand lodge of Idaho. He is a worthy ex- emplar of the beneficent and ennobling teachings of the fraternity and as a man and Mason stands very high in the public regard.
MARCUS A. MEANS.
The successful career of Marcus Asbury Means, of Genesce, is an illustration of the trite saying that brains and perseverance will make their way against all obstacles. Yet it is the multiplication of this illustration in all parts of our country that makes America one of the great powers of the earth. Mr. Means may be said to have been a child of war. He was born at Sea- brook, Illinois, October 16, 1862, while his father was fighting for the preservation of the Union on southern battlefields, a service in which he yielded up his life in defense of his country. Mr. Means is of Scotch-English ancestry. His grandfather, Collin Means, from England, set- tled in Virginia and was the progenitor of the family in the United States. He removed to Mc- Lean county, Illinois, in 1829, and his son, Jo- seph Kefer Means, was born in Virginia and reared in Illinois,-a good combination for the promotion of patriotism. Joseph K. Means married Matilda Rankin, also of Scotch-English descent. When the civil war came he was well established in life and had an interesting family. He enlisted in Company F, One Hundred and Sixteenth Illinois Volunteers, September 6, 1862, and he died, of a disease contracted in the service, at Walnut Hill, Mississippi, January 15, 1863. It is indeed glorious for a man to die for the land he loves, but the mourning of those he leaves be- hind is long, and often without much comfort. Alta, one of Mr. Means' sisters, is the wife of W. L. Brown, a talented lawyer of Salt Lake City, Utah. Marcus Asbury Means is the only survivor of his immediate family.
Mr. Means was educated at Normal, Illinois. and in 1878 went to San Jose, California. He
Gro DD Ellis
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was employed there about two years and then went to Portland, Oregon. During the succeed- ing two years he was a member of a surveying party operating on the line of the Northern Pa- cific Railroad. Coming to Idaho in 1895, he entered upon his successful mercantile career in a little store eighteen by thirty feet in size. It was a small beginning, but it foreshadowed im- portant things. Since that time this store has been twice enlarged and Mr. Means occupies ex- tensive warehouses and a branch store, the latter located at Oro Fino, Idaho. He handles all kinds of merchandise demanded in a first-class farming and mining community, and has a large and increasing trade. He has acquired con- siderable real-estate.
Mr. Means was married September 1, 1889, to Catherine Hayes, daughter of James Hayes, of Lewiston, and a native of that city, and she has borne him a daughter, named Marguerite. Mrs. Means is prominent in all good work in her com- munity. Mr. Means is a successful and public- spirited man and is in every way deserving of the high esteem in which he is held by his fellow citizens.
LEON MISSLIN.
The career of any pioneer is interesting. An account of that of Leon Misslin will be found especially so to the many who know and respect him for his many good qualities of head and heart. He came into the "wilds of Idaho" eight years before the government surveyed the land, and as a pioneer had many thrilling experiences and encountered numerous hardships and over- came many obstacles. The story of his struggles and triumphs, could it be given in full, would be of the greatest interest.
Leon Misslin was born at Nantes, Loire, France, a son of J. A. and Mary (Ortteschurd) Misslin, and came with his parents and his seven brothers and sisters to the United States in 1855. The family lived at Racine, Wisconsin, until 1861, when they went to Minnesota, where Mr. Misslin achieved success as a farmer and there died, aged seventy, in 1869 .. His wife survives him and has attained the advanced age of ninety- two years. Of their eight children, seven are living.
Leon Misslin, who, in the sequence of birth, was the fourth child of J. A. and Mary Misslin,
received a common-school education in Wiscon- sin, and took up the battle of life for himself at the age of fifteen. He devoted three years to hard work in a blacksmith shop, becoming a thorough master of the blacksmith's trade, and in 1863 he entered the United States service as a blacksmith in connection with military opera- tions, and was with the army in Arkansas. After the war was ended he went to Salt Lake City, Utah, and thence to Idaho. About this time he was employed by Ben Halliday to keep some of his stages in repair and to do other blacksmithing necessary to his extensive business. Soon after his arrival in Idaho Mr. Misslin bought a bunch of cattle and brought them to his present loca- tion, where, after the land was surveyed, in 1873, he acquired a half-section, well suited to stock- raising. He has since added to his landed pos- sessions until he is the owner of four hundred and eighty acres. He was very successful as a stockman and for a considerable period, down to 1897, when they sold out, he and his brother con- trolled the cattle business in this locality, some- times having on their ranges at one time as many as six hundred head. After they retired from cattle-raising they invested in Cotswold sheep, and for some time past they have owned an aver- age of two thousand head.
Politically Mr. Misslin is a Republican. He was reared in the Catholic faith. As a business man he is progressive and enterprising, shrewd and scrupulously honest. His standing in the business community is deservedly high, and he is uniformly regarded as a useful and influential citizen.
Mr. Misslin was married, in 1888, to Miss Jen- nie L. Heaton, a native of St. Louis, Missouri, who is descended from English ancestry. They have two daughters, named Isabel and Anna.
GEORGE DABNEY ELLIS.
One of the founders of Boise City and one of the most active spirits in the upbuilding and progress of this thriving place during the past quarter of a century has been George D. Ellis, a pioneer of Idaho, whither he came in 1863. He is and has been the president of the Capital State Bank of Boise City for several years; is a stock- holder and general manager and treasurer of the electric street-car line of this place and is a stock-
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holder and a director of the Artesian Hot & Cold Water Company, besides having materially aided and fostered many other local enterprises calcu- lated to benefit the city. He is a man of great public spirit, ever ready to do all in his power to promote the well-being of his brother men; and herein lies one of the secrets of his popularity.
By birth George D. Ellis is a Virginian, and comes from one of the honored old families of that state. His father, Thomas Ellis, married a lady of the same state, Miss Polly Ballard, and ten children were born to them, five of the num- ber still living. Thomas Ellis, who was a soldier of the war of 1812, lived to be seventy-seven years of age, and his wife departed this life when in her seventieth year.
George D. Ellis was born in Albemarle county, Virginia, April 10, 1837, and received a common- school education. At nineteen he left home to make his own way in the world, and in 1856 he went to Kansas. Until 1860 he lived in Paola, and consequently was a witness of some of the thrilling events of that troublous period in the annals of "bleeding" Kansas. The "border ruf- fianism" of that region and the unscrupulous methods of local pro-slavery politicians made a good Republican of him, and from that time to the present he has never wavered in his allegiance to the party. From Kansas he went to Col- orado, where he engaged in mining in the vicinity of Gregory and met with a fair measure of suc- cess. At the end of three years he came with a mule team to Idaho City, and having obtained a claim he and his companions engaged in min- ing and took out about ten dollars a day apiece. For several years thereafter he was connected with agricultural enterprises and also engaged in contracting and building, for he had learned the carpenter's trade years before. For ten years, also, he freighted from Kelton to Boise City and other points. At Boise City he took up one hundred and forty acres of land, and in partner- ship with T. Davis planted the first apple orchard in the territory. Later, he sold the farm to Mr. Davis, and purchased three hundred acres north- west and outside the boundary of Boise City. On this property he erected a comfortable house and made other improvements, and as he went there to dwell in 1876 the place has been called the Centennial Ranch. The farm is a valuable one,
producing grain, timothy, etc., and is one of the best managed homesteads in this section of the state.
In the Methodist denomination Mr. Ellis has been a power in Idaho, using his means and in- fluence liberally toward the upbuilding and spreading of Christianity. He was given the contract for the building of the large, substantial brick church at Boise City, and for twenty years he was superintendent of the Sunday-school. He is a man of undoubted integrity and uprightness, and no citizen here is held in higher esteem.
In 1873 Mr. Ellis married Miss Telitha Staf- ford, a native of Illinois. This worthy couple, having no children of their own, took into their hearts and home two boys and two girls, and reared them to manhood and womanhood. They are all respected and useful citizens, and look upon their devoted foster parents with the love and veneration which is their just due. Olive Ellis West is the wife of C. H. Packingham, and the other daughter is now 'Mrs. E. W. Brown. William Stafford is a well-to-do and successful farmer, and Robert Jago, the youngest of the children of Mr. Ellis, is still attending school.
GEORGE W. MILLS.
A self-made man who has not despised the day of small things, and who has used obstacles as stepping-stones to higher successes, has a right to regard his advancement with pride. It is comparatively easy for a man of reasonably good ability to achieve a business success on capital borrowed or inherited, but it requires real force of character to earn the capital by hard, persistent work, and save it and invest it successfully.
George W. Mills, who enjoys the distinction of being one of the leading butchers of southeastern Idaho, was born in Franklin county, Pennsyl- vania, September 13, 1854, a son of John and Amy (Clymens) Mills, and is descended from Scotch ancestry, inheriting many of the sterling qualities of that sturdy people. His father, John Mills, was born in Pennsylvania, and died there in his fifty-fourth year. His widow lived to be seventy-seven years old. They were lifelong members of the Presbyterian church, and were of the most admirable character, industrious, eco- nomical, philanthropic and helpful to every worthy movement having the public good for its
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object. They had five sons and three daughters, and five of the eight are living at this time. After gaining a primary education in the public schools near his Pennsylvania home, George W. Mills began in 1867, when he was thirteen, to earn his own living. For twenty-seven years he worked for others, without getting on financially to any satisfactory extent. He came to Idaho Falls in 1885 and was first employed at carpenter's trade. Later he did about any honest work his hands found to do and that any one would pay him for doing, until 1894, when he opened a meat- market at Idaho Falls. Since then there has been developed from this central plant a large and growing trade in meats and allied products, which trade extends in every direction through- out a large territory. Some time since Frank T. Martin acquired an interest in the business, and it has since been conducted under the style of Martin & Mills. Mr. Mills has a farm of eighty acres and several pieces of valuable town prop- erty, including a pleasant and convenient home.
In 1894 Mr. Mills married Miss Emma Yoe, a native of Pennsylvania, and they have two children, named John and Myrtle. Mrs. Mills is a devout and helpful member of the Baptist church. Mr. Mills is a Republican, but is too busy to take an active part in politics. He is an Odd Fellow and has from time to time been identified with other organizations. His stand- ing in business circles is deservedly high.
SAMUEL J. LANGDON.
Samuel J. Langdon, one of the highly esteemed pioneer farmers of Latah county, is a native of Ohio, having been born at Granville, Licking county, May 4, 1829. He is of Scotch-Irish line- age, and his ancestors were early settlers of Con- necticut and participants in the Revolutionary war and in the events which go to form the colo- nial history of the country. The family is noted for a patriotic spirit, and one of the Langdons served as commander of the colonial forces at the battle of Ticonderoga. Jesse Langdon, the grandfather of our subject, was born and reared in Connecticut and there married Miss Jewett, with whom he later removed to Berkshire, Mas- sachusetts, where he followed the occupation of farming. They were members of the Congrega- tional church, and both attained to a ripe old age.
In their family were seven children: Hiram, An- son, Richardson, James J., Albert, Betsy and Eunice H.
James J. Langdon, the father of our subject, was born on the old family homestead in Massa- chusetts, in 1795, and when a young man re- moved to Licking county, Ohio, where he was married to Miss Mary White, a daughter of Cap- tain Samuel White, who was a prominent citizen of Licking county, and who won his title by com- manding a company of the state militia. The maternal great-grandfather of our subject, Thomas Philipps, was a native of Wales, and leaving that little rock-ribbed country, in 1787, he crossed the water to Philadelphia. His son, John H. Philipps, was a member of the staff of General Anthony Wayne during the Indian wars, and after the establishment of the republic he removed to Licking county, Ohio, where he owned a large tract of land at Granville. Samuel White married Martha Philipps, the daughter of Thomas Philipps, and in 1810 went from Penn- sylvania to Granville, Ohio, casting in his lot with the pioneers of that section of the state. Their daughter Mary became the wife of James J. Langdon, and the mother of him whose name heads this sketch. After their marriage Mr. Langdon carried on a coopering establishment in Ohio until 1840, when he removed with his fam- ily to southeastern Missouri. Five years later he returned to Newark, Ohio, and from there emigrated to McLean county, Illinois, where his death occurred in the sixty-fifth year of his age. His wife survived him ten years and died in her seventieth year. They had a family of six chil- dren: Martha, Mary, Samuel J., Albert E., Eliza- beth D., and Ellen E. Martha, Mary and Eliza- beth have passed away. Albert E. is now a resi- dent of Illinois, and Ellen is now Mrs. Calkins, a widow, residing with her brother, the subject of this review.
Samuel J. Langdon was educated in Newark, Ohio, and began life on his own account as a farmer. He was married on the 26th of July, 1853, to Miss Martha Virginia Willson, a daugh- ter of Ison Willson, a pioneer of the Buckeye state. In August, 1862, in answer to President Lincoln's call for volunteers, Mr. Langdon offered his services to the government and was assigned to duty with Company G, Ninety-fourth
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