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 123
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HON. GEORGE W. DAGGETT.
In the following paragraphs will be given the history of the busy and useful career of a dis- tinguished resident of Genesee, Idaho, who as pioneer, as citizen, as legislator and as a soldier, has done his duty without fear and without re- proach, with an eye single to the greatest good to the greatest number. His life is one which has in it many lessons for those who would do well and persevere in well doing.
George W. Daggett, one of the most prom- inent citizens of Genesee, Idaho, was born in Illinois, August 19, 1840, and is descended from an old Vermont family. His grandfather, Asel Daggett, was a soldier in the war of 1812-14 and fought under Commander Perry and participated in his historic victory. After the war he re- turned to Vermont, where he lived until his death, in 1862, at the age of eighty-nine years. His son, Asel A. Daggett, father of George W. Daggett, was born in Vermont and married Miss Eliza White, at Woonsocket Falls, Rhode Island, in 1838, and was one of the pioneers of the state of Illinois. For some years he was warden of the Illinois state penitentiary, at Joliet. In 1847
he moved to Wisconsin and located in Grant county, where his wife died in 1852 and where he lived to the venerable age of eighty-two years. Mr. and Mrs. Daggett were devout and active members of the Methodist Episcopal church and were held in the highest esteem by all who knew them. They had ten children, five of whom are living.
George W. Daggett was their fifth child in order of birth. He grew up on the farm, working hard in spring, summer and fall and attending school three months during the winter, in a little log school-house, until he was fourteen. He was a robust boy and willing worker, and after that time was in such demand for the farm work and as an aid in the support of the family that he was entirely debarred from attending school. But he liked books and had a way of learning some- thing from about everything he saw, and he be- came a well informed man notwithstanding his limited educational advantages.
The civil war had begun when, in August, 1861, he attained his majority. August 27, eight days after his birthday, he enlisted in Company I, Tenth Regiment Wisconsin Volunteer In- fantry. His first service was in the west, under General Mitchell. Later he was in the command of General W. T. Sherman. He participated in twenty-seven battles and skirmishes. The first engagement in which he took part was at Perryville, Kentucky. Then followed the en- gagements at Stone River, Chickamauga, Look- out Mountain and Missionary Ridge. He went with Sherman to the relief of Knoxville, and was in all the battles from Chattanooga to the capture of Atlanta, then participated in Sher- man's memorable march to the sea and was in the fighting at Savannah and at Goldsborough and was one of the veterans who participated in the grand review at Washington, after the war was over. In the engagement at Chickamauga he was shot through the arm and in the side, but though his wounds were very painful they were not danger- ous, and he did not leave the field, and though he was many times after that in the thickest of the fight, with men falling all around him, he never afterward suffered so much as an abrasion of the skin. He was promoted to be orderly sergeant of his company. He re-enlisted as a private in
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Company K, Fourty-fourth Regiment Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry, and was promoted to be or- derly sergeant of that company also. He had served to the very end of the struggle. His service had been arduous and exacting and he had been every inch a soldier. He was honor- ably discharged and returned to Wisconsin and settled down to the peaceful life of a farmer.
Mr. Daggett remained in Wisconsin for three years after his return from the army and then moved to Nebraska and took up a homestead, improved it until 1876, when he went to Cali- fornia and thence to Oregon. He passed the winter of 1876-7 at Lake View, Oregon, and in the following spring came to Idaho and pre- empted a claim on Little Potlatch, five miles north of the site of Genesee, in Nez Perces coun- ty. This he improved into a fine stock and dairy farm and he has added to it from time to time until he now has four hundred acres, constituting one of the finest farms in this splendid farming district. He has a town home in Genesee, where he is spending the evening of a busy and success- ful life.
Mr. Daggett was married, in 1865, to Mrs. Mary E. Clowse, a native of Wisconsin, who has divided with him the honors of their useful life as pioneers and in the period of Idaho's won- derful development. Mr. and Mrs. Daggett have had two children, both of whom died young. By her first marriage Mrs. Daggett (then Mrs. Clowse) had two daughters, Edith E., who mar- ried Alexander Matthews, and Ella E., who mar- ried John Matthews, brother of Alexander.
A lifelong Republican, devoted to the princi- ples of his party, Mr. Daggett has always sup- - ported its measures, national and local, energet- ically and unselfishly, with no hope of personal reward and with no wish for political preferment. However, his fellow citizens of Latah county elected him to represent them in the Idaho state legislature, an office which he has filled to the satisfaction of his constituents, regardless of party affiliation. He was one of the committee of five appointed by the speaker of the house to investigate the revisions of the state laws, and determine their constitutionality. He also formu- lated and introduced a bill looking to the more perfect regulation of the liquor traffic, which provided that a license must in any case be taken
out for a full year and if a liquor dealer should violate its provisions the license should be re- voked and, upon conviction, he should forfeit the fee for its unexpired term. The bill was widely conceded to be one of the best bills intro- duced during that session. Mr. Daggett is a zealous and active member of the Grand Army of the Republic and is the present commander of his post and chaplain of the state organization of the Grand Army of the Republic. He is public- spirited to a degree that makes him a very help- ful citizen and he is held in the highest esteem by his fellow citizens of all classes and of all shades of political and religious belief.
ISAAC W. PFOST.
The Virginians have given to nearly every state in the union much of the good blood and good citizenship, for, wherever his lot is cast, the Virginian is patriotic and does honor to his environments. Idaho has many well known citi- zens of Virginian birth, but not one who is more highly regarded for integrity and perseverance and all the other qualities which make for real success than Isaac W. Pfost, of Boise, who, hav- ing been born in Virginia prior to its division, is literally a native of the Old Dominion.
Isaac W. Pfost, proprietor of the Bancroft Hotel, Boise, Idaho, was born in Jackson county, Vir- ginia, January 21, 1846, a son of Abraham and Elizabeth (Rader) Pfost. His father and mother were likewise natives of Virginia. Abrahanı Pfost died at the age of sixty-two. Their son, Isaac W. Pfost, was reared and educated in the county of his nativity. In the fall of 1865, when he was nineteen years old, he went to Cooper county, Missouri. A year later he went to Bates county, in the same state, where for two years he was engaged in farming. He then removed to Henry county, Missouri, where he became the owner of a farm, which he operated successfully until 1876, when he sold it and engaged in the grocery business at Montrose, Missouri, in which enterprise he prospered until, out of the kindness of his heart and with the motive of helping others, he became security on financial paper which he was forced to redeem and which caused him to lose nearly everything he had accumu- lated. He managed to pay all his obligations, however, and then, declining proffered assistance
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to engage in business again at Montrose, lie thanked his well-meaning friends and announced that he had taken the advice of Horace Greeley as his guide, and was determined to "go west and grow up with the country." Accordingly, in the spring of 1878, he crossed the plains with a team and arrived at Boise July 16. Until 1883 he was engaged in freighting between Kelton, Utah, and Boise. He drove a twelve-horse, four- wagon team and often transferred more than twelve tons of freight at a time. In 1883 he located on a farm ten miles from Boise, and lived in that vicinity until the fall of 1898. As a farmer he ranked with the most progressive and successful in Ada county, improving his place constantly and adopting the most advanced methods in every department of his work. In 1898 he sold his farm for a good price, and, mov- ing to Boise, he purchased the Bancroft Hotel with its fixtures, furniture and stock. This hotel has a history which dates back to 1893. It is a history of success, to which Mr. Pfost is adding with every passing month. The Bancroft Hotel is a three-story brick structure, containing forty rooms, and its conveniences are modern and complete. Mr. Pfost, who is a Mason, an Odd Fellow, a Pioneer of the West, a Good Templar and an influential Democrat, is keeping an up-to- date hotel, and through his numerous fraternal connections and wide acquaintance is drawing to it an extensive patronage, and it is deservedly popular with the traveling public.
December 13, 1866, Mr. Pfost married Miss Margaret Koontz, who died in Ada county, Idaho, December 27, 1885, leaving seven chil- dren: Mary (now Mrs. S. M. Burns), John A., James E., Effie (now Mrs. Boyd Burns), Otis, Charles L., and Daisy. Mr. Pfost's second mar- riage was with Mrs. Rebecca (Curl) Brown and was celebrated December 4, 1890. Mrs. Pfost died May 30, 1891, and February 7, 1892, Mr. Pfost married Mrs. Mary Pullman, a native of Iowa and a daughter of Hugh and Amanda Baker, prominent among the wealthy citizens of Appanoose county. By her former marriage Mrs. Pfost has one son, Carl D. Pullman, whose father, Edward Pullman, a druggist at Center- ville, died January 16, '1890, when Carl was only six days old. By his present marriage Mr. Pfost has three children: Merle, Robert and
Montie D. Mrs. Pfost first came to Idaho in 1885. Here she taught school three terms and then returned to Iowa, where she lived until she came back to Idaho in 1891. She is a member of the Odd Fellows auxiliary order, the Daugh- ters of Rebekah, and is interested in all the good work carried on under its auspices and in all of the local work of the Methodist Episcopal church, of which she and her husband are members.
ASBURY B. CROCHERON.
Asbury B. Crocheron has spent almost his entire life in Owyhee county and is now a lead- ing resident of Silver City. His prominence in this locality is indicated by his long retention in public office, and at the present writing, 1899, he is filling the office of county sheriff. A native of Oregon, he was born in Eugene, that state, on the 25th of October, 1860. The family is of French origin and was founded in America at a very early period in the colonial history of the country. A settlement was made in New York, and when British oppression forced the colonies into insurrection, the great-grandfather of our subject entered the service and, with the rank of captain, participated in the struggle for freedom. J. H. Crocheron, the father of the sheriff, was born in New York city, and when gold was discovered in California made his way to the Pacific slope. Subsequently he removed to Ore- gon, where he was united in marriage to Miss Mary J. Crow, and in 1864 he brought his family to Idaho, locating in Idaho City, where he en- gaged in mining for about three years. In 1867 he came to Silver City, and in 1872 turned his attention to farming, his home being on Sinker creek. There he has since carried on agricul- tural pursuits, and, although now seventy-two years of age, still superintends the operation of his land. His wife also is living, and they have three sons and two daughters, the family circle yet unbroken by the hand of death.
Asbury B. Crocheron, the eldest child, was educated in the public schools of Silver City, and for many years has been engaged in the stock business with his father, acquiring a wide reputa- tion as one of the best riders and "ropers" in the county. He is an excellent judge of stock and his efforts in the line of this industry have been crowned with a high degree of success. His
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time of late years, however, has been divided be- tween his private interests and his public service. He allied himself with the Republican party on attaining his majority and supported its men and measures until 1896, when, differing radically in regard to the money plank of the national plat- form, he has since been a silver Republican. His fitness for public office has several times led to his selection for important service in the inter- ests of his fellow citizens, his duties being in connection with the offices of county assessor and tax-collector, to which he was elected in 1890. So capably and acceptably did he serve during that term that he was re-elected without opposition in 1894, and filled the position until 1896, when he was elected county sheriff. Over his public record there falls no shadow of wrong or suspicion of evil, and men of all parties speak of him in the most commendatory terms.
On the 14th of October, 1897, Mr. Crocheron was united in marriage to Mrs. Millie Walston, nee Stanford, a niece of Senator Stanford, of California, now deceased. They now have one son, and their hospitable home in Silver City is a favorite resort with their many friends. Mr. Crocheron is past noble grand of Silver City Lodge, No. 2, I. O. O. F., and is prominent in the fraternity, having the warm regard of the brethren. Such in brief is the life history of one whose career has been one of close connection with the interests of Owyhee county, and as a representative citizen of Idaho he well deserves mention in this volume.
DAN FEOUR.
Among the sons of the Pine Tree state who have found homes in the northwest and whose history forms an integral part of the record of the development of the rich mining interests of southern Idaho is Dan Feour. He was born in Aroostook county, Maine, June 9, 1850, a son of William and Catherine Feour. His father was born in Ireland, and when a young man came to the United States. He died in the fifty-fourth year of his age, and his wife departed this life at the age of forty-four years. They were the parents of five children, four of whom are yet living.
Dan Feour was reared to manhood in Boston, Massachusetts, and acquired a good practical
education in the public schools of that city. He then learned the machinist's trade, and for some time worked in the Grover & Baker sewing ma- chine factory. In 1865 he cast in his lot with the settlers on the Pacific coast, and has borne no unimportant part in the development of this section of the country. By way of the isthmus of Panama he made his way to California and there engaged in mining until 1869, when he went to White Pine, Nevada, and thence to the Squaw creek, Washington, and Victoria, British Columbia, attracted by the discovery of gold at those places.
In 1875 Mr. Feour arrived in Owyhee county, where he has since engaged in mining, meeting with excellent success in his undertakings. He has also prospected in other parts of the state, and prosperity has attended his labors. In 1879 he sold the St. John mine to the Henrietta Com- pany; in 1894 the Colorado group of three claims to the Trade Dollar Mining & Milling Company; and in 1895 the Comstock to the Florida Moun- tain Company. The following year he negotia- ted the deal whereby the Humboldt group, owned by John Feour and Taylor Gearhart, was sold to the Florida Mountain Company. On all these transactions our subject has realized a good profit and has thus won a handsome competency. He still has other valuable mining interests, and has a firm belief and faith in the richness of min- eral deposits to be found in the mountains of Owyhee county. Many of the mines in which he has prospected have already yielded good re- turns, and there is no doubt that others are rich in ore.
In 1895 Mr. Feour married Miss Sallie Cat- low, of Silver City, daughter of John Catlow, who came to this country from England, being one of the California pioneers of 1852, and of Silver City in 1864. In partnership with Colonel Dewey lie opened the celebrated Black Jack mine, and was a member of the firm of Smith, Mann & Catlow, of San Francisco, where they conducted a large butchering business. They were also owners of large cattle ranches in the Stein mountain country, where Mr. Catlow still resides. He was also at one time a partner of James G. Fair, of California fame. Mr. and Mrs. Feour have one daughter, Marion. .
In his social relations the subject of this review
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is an Odd Fellow, and in political faith is a Re- publican, but has no time for political work, his energies being demanded in his mining interests. By his activity along this line he has largely aided in the development of the state and has advanced its welfare, for its prosperity and growth have, in a great measure, come as the result of the dis- covery and utilization of the rich mineral de- posits that nature has so bountifully bestowed upon the "Gem of the Mountains."
ISAAC R. SMITH.
× Isaac Roston Smith, the managing partner of the firm of Smith Brothers, prominent merchants and millers of Salubria, and president of the Washington County Fair Association, was born in Morrow county, Ohio, March II, 1859, his ancestors, who were English, having been early settlers in Berks county, Pennsylvania. His grandfather, William Smith, was born in Berks county and married Miss Elizabeth Speck. They settled in Guernsey county and in 1842 removed to Morrow county, Ohio, where he remained un- til his death, in 1883, at the age of seventy-four years. His wife passed away in 1898, aged eighty-five years. Twelve children were born to this worthy couple, one of whom was the father of our subject, Finley McGrew Smith, whose birth took place in Guernsey county, Ohio, on February II, 1836. He served in the Union army during the civil war as a member of the Third Ohio Cavalry. His wife was Miss Pamelia Sutton, a native of Washington county, Pennsyl- vania, and of the six children born to them five are now living.
Isaac R. Smith is the second son in the order of birth, and accompanied his parents to Kansas in 1866, where he received his education in the public schools and began life as a farmer, but when seventeen years old he embarked in the mercantile business, in which he has since con- tinued. In 1891 he came with his brother to Salubria and they founded the business in which they have continued so successfully. In 1898 they built their flouring mill, which is equipped with the plane-sifter system and full roller process, which is the latest improvement, and the mill has a capacity of sixty barrels of flour a day. The firm also have the leading general store of the town, a branch store at Warren,
where they supply a large mining trade, and they also have a sawmill and manufacture lumber quite extensively. They are popular, energetic and liberal men, taking an active part in any enter- prise that will advance the welfare of the town, and they enjoy the good will and high esteem of all with whom they come in contact, either in a business or social way. In politics Mr. Smith is a stanch Republican and a strong supporter of the principles of that party.
HENRY PECK.
The first settler of the city of Malad was Henry Peck, who, in the year 1864, came to Oneida county and established his home upon the pres- ent site of the county-seat. For many years he was prominently identified with the development and progress of the county, and his name is in- separably associated with the advancement which has wrought a great transformation here, making the once wild region a fertile section of fine farms and pleasant homes.
Mr. Peck was born in Greene county, New York, February 26, 1823, and was a representa- tive of one of the old families of the Empire state, his parents being Charles and Sarah (Gosley) Peck. He was reared to manhood in New York, and having arrived at years of maturity was there married, in October, 1845, to Miss Julia E. North, a native of Connecticut and a daughter of Jonathan and Rachel (Bissell) North. Seven children were born to them ere they removed from New York to Nebraska, in the year 1857. For six years Henry Peck engaged in farming in that state and then went with his family to Farm- ington, Utah, whence he came to Malad the fol- lowing year. This country had not then been surveyed, and he secured a squatter's claim of one hundred and sixty acres, upon which he built a little log cabin, becoming the pioneer settler of the town. From that time until his death he was an active factor in the movements which have led to the upbuilding and improvement of this section of the state.
When Mr. and Mrs. Peck came to Idaho they brought with them their family of ten children, the record of whom is as follows: Dwight, a resident of Lost River; Frederick, who is living at Ross Fork; Leonard, of Challis; Sarah, now the wife of Stanton G. Fisher, who for several
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years was Indian agent at Spaulding, but is now a resident of Mount Idaho; Howard, of Malad; Julia E., now Mrs. Wisley; Amelia E., twin sis- ter of Julia and the wife of William B. Thews; Mrs. Mary Scott, now a widow; Emily, wife of William E. Wass, of Butte, Montana; and Charles, who is engaged in farming and stock- raising, his home being in Malad.
A large part of the county-seat of Oneida county has been built upon the land which Henry Peck claimed upon coming to this state, and he was one of the builders of Malad and one of its most industrious and enterprising citizens. The family still own the old log house in which they first lived, but in 1875 the father erected a large frame residence, in which they conducted a hotel for a number of years. Malad was the county- seat of Oneida county when it embraced all of southeastern Idaho, and the sessions of the courts brought many people to the town, including prominent early settlers, who were entertained at the Peck Hotel. Thus the family gained a wide acquaintance throughout this section of the state, and their sterling worth won for them high regard. As time passed, the farm was enlarged and it now comprises two hundred acres of valu- able land adjoining Malad on the west. It is operated by Howard 'and Charles Peck, who are very successful agriculturists.
Mr. Peck, the father, was a prominent and in- fluential citizen, frequently honored by public office. He served in the territorial legislature and was probate judge, both in Nebraska and in Oneida county. In politics he was a lifelong Democrat, and in the discharge of his official duties he manifested a marked loyalty to the public trust. He was a meniber of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints and was twice on a mission to the eastern section of this country, and also went to Canada in the service of the church. He died July 22, 1889, at the age of sixty-six years, respected by all who knew him. His property was left to his widow during her lifetime and is then to go to the children. It is now being managed by Howard and Charles. two of her sons. The former is the eldest of the sons now in Malad. He was married December 7, 1880, to Miss Jane Woozley, and they have five sons. On the 3d of January, 1889, Charles Peck married Miss Ann Bywater, and they, too,
have five children. The family is one of promi- nence in the community and Mrs. Julia Peck is one of the brave pioneer women who took a no less important, though more quiet, part in the development and advancement of the state through the pioneer epoch in its history.
LYTTLETON PRICE.
Michigan has contributed its full share toward the intellectual progress of the new west. As many Michigan men are to be found in places of trust and responsibility, in the learned profes- sions and in the higher circles of business, in the Rockies and beyond them, as men from any state in the Union. Lyttleton Price, who is part owner and manager of the Red Cloud and Solace groups of mines, is a prominent Idaho lawyer and poli- tician, a resident of Hailey and a native of Ma- comb county, Michigan. He was born twenty miles northeast of Detroit, May 4, 1848, a son of David and Elvira (Momford) Price. In both lines of descent he is of English blood. Both families turned out heroes in the Revolutionary war. One of these was Captain Peter Price. Another was Captain Simons, the maternal grandfather of Mr. Price's mother. Both were from Maryland, and the records of their valor are to be found among the archives of that state. Mr. Price's grandfathers both lived in Rush, New York, twenty miles from the city of Rochester, and there his parents were born and were mar- ried. His father was a merchant, farmer and miller, a man of extensive enterprises for his time and generation. In religion he was a Universal- ist; his wife was a Methodist. They removed to Michigan in 1835 and were among the pioneers in their part of the state. Mrs. Price died in 1881, aged seventy-one years. Mr. Price is still liv- ing at the old family home in Michigan, now eighty-nine years old. They had two daughters, and a son whose successful career will now be considered somewhat at length.
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