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 33
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Politically Mr. Jenne has been a Democrat ever since he began to take an intelligent in- terest in public affairs. In 1896, at Idaho Falls, he was elected justice of the peace, in which office he served until January 15, 1899, when he was appointed deputy sheriff of Bingham county, by Sheriff Clyne, who has long been his warm personal friend, in recognition of his influence in furthering Mr. Clyne's election.
In 1880 Mr. Jenne married Miss Kittie E. Sutor, a Pennsylvanian by birth, who was brought very young to Michigan, and there grew to womanhood. They have four children: Ada Blanche, Earl C., Fred and Cora Belle. Mrs. Jenne is conducting a successful millinery busi-
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ness at Idaho Falls. She is a member of the Methodist Episcopal church. Mr. Jenne is a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fel- lows and has passed all the chairs in both branch- es of that order and has also been twice chosen to represent his lodge in the grand lodge of the state.
ISAAC N. SULLIVAN.
As long as the history of jurisprudence in Idaho shall be a matter of record, the name of Judge Isaac Newton Sullivan will figure conspic- uously therein, by reason of the fact that his has been the distinguished honor of serving as the first chief justice of the state as well as from the fact that he is recognized as the peer of the ablest representatives of the legal profession in the entire northwest. For the third term he is oc- cupying a position on the bench of the supreme court, and his career has been an honor to the state which has so highly honored him.
Judge Sullivan is a native of Iowa, his birth having occurred on his father's farm in Coffin Grove township, Delaware county, November 3, 1848. He is of Scotch, Irish and German extrac- tion, and in his life exhibits some of the most commendable characteristics of those nationali- ties. His paternal grandfather, Aaron Sullivan, was born in the north of Ireland and when a young man emigrated to New Jersey. He was married in New Jersey and at an early day in its history removed to Ohio, locating in Logan county, near Degraff. He had seven children, born in New Jersey and Ohio, and reared and educated in Ohio. The third of this family was Aaron Sullivan, father of the Judge. He mar- ried Miss Jane Lippincott, and in 1844 removed to Iowa, becoming one of the pioneers and prom- inent citizens of Delaware county. He held the office of justice of the peace and also that of county commissioner, and was one of the or- ganizers of the Republican party in that locality, being a great lover of liberty and an inflexible opponent of slavery and oppression in every form. He became an extensive farmer and stock-raiser and largely promoted the agricultural interests of his county. He died in 1892, in the eighty-sec- ond year of his age, and the community mourned the loss of one of its most upright and honorable citizens. His wife had departed this life in 1886, at the age of sixty-seven years. They were mem-
bers of the Wesleyan Methodist church,-that offshoot from the Methodist Episcopal denom- ination which took a firm stand in its opposition to slavery.
Judge Sullivan is the fifth in order of birth in their family of nine children, eight of whom are yet living. His elementary education, acquired in the public schools, was supplemented by a course in Adrian College, of Michigan, and sub- sequently he pursued the study of law under the direction of Judge J. M. Brayton, of Delhi, Iowa. In 1879 he was admitted to practice by the su- preme court of that state, and continued a mem- ber of the Iowa bar until 1881, at which time he came to Idaho, locating in Hailey, Blaine county, where he practiced with success until his eleva- tion to the supreme bench. Nature bountifully endowed him with the peculiar qualifications that combine to make a successful lawyer. Patiently persevering, possessed of an analytical mind, and one that is readily receptive and retentive of the fundamental principles and intricacies of the law ; gifted with a spirit of devotion to wearisome de- tails : quick to comprehend the most subtle prob- lems and logical in his conclusions; fearless in the advocacy of any cause he may espouse, and the soul of honor and integrity, few men have been more richly gifted for the achievement of success in the arduous, difficult profession of the law.
At the first election held after the adoption of the Idaho state constitution, in 1890, Judge Sul- livan was chosen a justice of the supreme court. The judges then cast lots for the length of terms they should serve, and by reason of securing the shortest term Judge Sullivan became the first chief justice of the state. In 1892 he was re- elected for a full term of six years, and during the years 1897 and 1898 he was again chief justice, and in November, 1898, was once more chosen for the high office which he is now so creditably filling. His decisions form an important part of the judicial history of the state, and have in many instances excited the highest admiration of the bar of the state. He has been a lifelong Re- publican, but disagrees with his party on the money question and was elected for his third term on the silver Republican ticket.
He has interests in both farming and mining lands, owning a number of patented mining
kae. A. Sullivan.
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claims which yield silver and lead ores. At Hailey, where he has so long resided, he has a very conimodious home, containing a large and valuable law library, as well as an extensive libra- ry of general literature, which indicates the cul- tured and intellectual taste of the inmates of the home. The Judge was happily married in 1870, to Miss Chastine Josephine Moore, a daughter of S. W. Moore, a pioneer settler of the West- ern Reserve of Ohio. They have two sons, both lawyers. The elder, Willis E., is a graduate of the Columbian University, of Washington, D. C., and is now engaged in the practice of law in Scranton, Pennsylvania. The younger son, La Verne L., is a graduate of the same university, and is now with his parents in Hailey. Mrs. Sullivan is a valued member of the Methodist church, and, like her husband, is highly esteemed by many friends throughout the state. In man- ner the Judge is quiet and unassuming, and this entire lack of self-laudation is one of the char- acteristics that have endeared him to the people. A man of unimpeachable character, of unusual intellectual endowments, with a thorough under- standing of the law, patience, urbanity and indus- try, he took to the bench the very highest quali- fications for this most responsible office in the system of the state government, and his record as a judge has been in harmony with his record as a man and a lawyer, distinguished by unswerv- ing integrity and a masterful grasp of every prob- lem that has presented itself for solution.
CARLYLE L. PELOT.
It is worthy of note that a majority of the pioneers of Idaho Falls were young, or compara- tively young, men. They did not come to mold a new community in accordance with antiquated precedents which had been worn out elsewhere. They came open-eyed, susceptible to conviction, ready to take conditions as they existed and shape them according to the logic of the time and the place. How they succeeded, every one knows who knows anything of the history of the town. One of the most far-sighted of these pioneers was the man whose name appears above; and it is the purpose of the writer to give a brief ac- count of his antecedents, his life and his suc- cesses to the present time.
Carlyle L. Pelot descended from French an-
cestry. His grandparents in the paternal line came to America at an early day and located at Savannah, Georgia. There Frank L. Pelot, fath- er of Carlyle, our subject, was born. He mar- ried Miss Bettie Carlyle, a native of Kentucky. In 1856 they removed to Missouri and settled near Blackburn, in Salem county, where Mr. Pelot became a successful farmer. He is yet living, aged seventy. His wife died in her sixtieth year.
Their son, Carlyle L., was born in Woodford county, Kentucky, May 18, 1854. He was two years old when his parents located in Missouri, and there he was educated in the public schools and brought up to the life of a farmer and stock- breeder, and also was taught all the arts of horse- taming, etc. Twenty years ago a change of cli- mate was prescribed for him, and he sought a broader field of enterprise than the one in which he had been working. He got together a good "bunch" of horses and drove them to Omaha and shipped them to Laramie, Wyoming, and from there drove them to Idaho Falls, where he ar- rived July 3, 1879. There were fifteen men in his party, and a large portion of them became per- manent citizens of Idaho. Mr. Pelot engaged in the livery business, opening the first livery stable in the town. In three years he sold it to Mr. Taylor, and during the succeeding three years followed farming on Mr. Taylor's ranch. Re- turning to Idaho Falls, he resumed the manage- ment of the livery business, under an arrange- ment with Mr. Taylor, which was in force four years, when he bought the business which, in the spring of 1899, he sold to S. F. Taylor. He is now dealing in coal, and in his new venture is meeting with success.
Mr. Pelot's experience in the Snake river val- ley has been a comprehensive one. When he arrived, there were only seven ranches in the val- ley. Gradually he has seen it dotted with bustling towns and villages and everywhere with homes and ranches; he has seen a band of brave and in- dustrious pioneers, of whom he was one, make a wilderness literally bloom like a rose; he has seen the old order of things pass away, and wit- nessed the dawn and advancement of civilization in a land, strange, rich and beautiful.
In 1884 Mr. Pelot married Miss Alice Buck, a native of Maine, and they have five children,- two sons and three daughters,-all born in Idaho
.
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Falls: Bettie C., Carlyle L., Jr., Helen H., Ellis S. and Alice J.
Mr. Pelot is a member of the Woodmen of the World, and is identified with other secret and social organizations. The upbuilding of the in- terests of Idaho Falls has always had his helpful support, for he is as public-spirited as he is en- terprising and progressive. Politically he is a Democrat, and, while he is not an active poli- tician as the term is usually applied, he exerts a recognized influence upon the affairs of his party.
WILLIAM H. RIDENBOUGH.
A business man of Boise engaged in the man-, nected with the stock business, raising cattle and ufacture of lumber and flour, Mr. Ridenbough, is a native of St. Joseph, Missouri, where he was born April 17, 1853. He has built a most palatial residence in Boise, and his home, with its beauti- fully arranged grounds, fittingly represents the good taste of its builder. In Boise Mr. and Mrs. Ridenbough possess a large number of friends, who are often the recipients of their cordial hos- pitality.
J. D. C. THIESSEN.
One of the best known and most successful sheep-raisers and wool-growers of Idaho is J. D. C. Thiessen, of Lewiston. A native of Holstein, Germany, he was born February 16, 1843, and is of Danish ancestry, although his parents, John D. and Mary (Hanchild) Thiessen, were both natives of Germany. The father was a farmer and trader. In religious faith both he and his wife were Lutherans, and the former lived to be fifty-four years of age, while the mother departed this life in her fifty-sixth year. Mr. Thiessen of this review is the fourth in their family of seven children. He was educated in his native land, and when twenty-three years of age emigrated to the United States, reaching New York in 1866. Two years later he came to San Francisco, where he pursued a course in a commercial school and was thus fitted for life's practical duties. He did not come to this country entirely empty-handed, as so many have done, having had five hundred dollars on his arrival. He was, however, ignorant of the English language, and had to meet other difficulties. After having spent several years in America, he received three thou- sand dollars from his father's estate, but lost it in mining enterprises in California and Nevada,
and when he arrived in Lewiston, November 10, 1876, he had just eighteen and one-half dollars remaining.
Here he entered the employ of John Brearley, but soon afterward the Indian war broke out, and he engaged in packing army supplies for the gov- ernment, receiving eighty-five dollars per month and his rations. In the spring of 1878 he estab- lished a saloon in Lewiston, which he conducted for a year. He then went to San Francisco, but after about a year returned to Lewiston. In 1885 he received the appointment of deputy sheriff of Nez Perces county, and in 1886 he became con- horses. In 1889, however, he sold his cattle, numbering about two hundred head, and turned his attention to the sheep industry, in which he has since been eminently successful. His first purchase consisted of nineteen hundred and sixty-four head, and he now has twelve thousand old sheep and five thousand lambs. He raises Merino sheep, slightly mixed with Delaine, and for raising in large flocks he has found this breed well adapted to Idaho. The bucks average twen- ty-eight pounds of wool and the ewes nine pounds each. He says that the tariff on wool has doubled its price and he now has two years' clip on hand, which will bring him handsome returns. He has also acquired one thousand acres of land, on which he raises hay and grain, employing from fifteen to forty men, according to the sea- son. He has one of the most desirable business locations in Lewiston, known as "The Old Cor- ner." He has also erected a fine residence in the city.
In 1879 Mr. Thiessen was united in marriage to Miss Lillie Meister, who was born in Chicago, March 10, 1862. They became the parents of six children, four of whom are living; Clarence C. and Sylvester S. are attending school in Port- land: George Garfield and Vandaline V. are at home.
In politics Mr. Thiessen is a stalwart Repub- lican. On coming to this country he studied closely the political questions, the platforms of the parties and the measures advocated by each, and has always been identified with the Republi- can party. In the campaign of 1896 so active was he in support of the Republican presidential nominee that his friends laughingly termed him
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"Mr. McKinley." He is an intelligent, enterpris- ing, progressive man, and his well directed ef- forts have brought to him a success that numbers him among the substantial citizens of his adopted state.
WILLIAM A. BAKER.
The commercial interests of Moscow are well represented by William Alexander Baker, a lead- ing and enterprising merchant, whose well direct- ed efforts, sound judgment and reliable dealing are bringing to him a creditable and satisfactory success. For twelve years he has carried on operations in Moscow, where he deals in both new and second-hand goods. He is a native of Virginia, born in Augusta county, July 13, 1855, of Scotch-Irish descent. His grandfather, Guinn Baker, was the founder of the family in the Old Dominion, and was an industrious and respected farmer and a valued member of the Methodist church. He devoted his entire life to agricultural pursuits in Virginia, and died at the age of eighty-two years. His son, Frank Baker, father of our subject, was born in Pennsylvania and married Miss Martha Guinn, a native of Vir- ginia. They removed to Tippecanoe county, Indiana, and he began farming on a tract of land of forty acres, but as time passed he extended the boundaries of his place until it comprised one hundred and forty acres. His wife died in her forty-second year, but he lived to be seventy-one years of age. Both enjoyed the high regard of their fellow men, and their lives were well spent. They had a family of three daughters and two sons, of whom four are living.
William A. Baker, their eldest child, spent his childhood days on his father's farm and was early inured to the arduous labors of the fields. He assisted in the planting and harvesting of crops through the summer months and attended the public schools through the winter season. He began to make his own way in the world by buy- ing and raising stock, and followed that business for five years, after which he removed to Dallas, Texas, where he served on the police force of the city for a year. The yellow fever then broke out, and in order to escape the dread disease he re- moved to Polk county, Oregon.
In 1878, in Monmouth, Oregon, Mr. Baker was united in marriage to Miss Alice Hooper, a native of Indiana, and their union has been
blessed with three children, two of whom are de- ceased,-Etta and Earl G. Leta, a talented young lady, who has graduated in music, is now at home with her parents.
Mr. Baker remained in Oregon only two years, and then came to Idaho, where he secured a claim of one hundred and sixty acres of government land. This he cultivated for a time, but later sold and took up a homestead six and a half miles east of Moscow. This he also improved, but at length disposed of that property and invested his money in city realty in Moscow, where he now owns his store building and several good resi- dences. He also has real estate in Portland, Ore- gon, and other property in Moscow. His store is twenty-five by fifty feet, with an addition in the rear, forty by sixty feet. He carries a large stock of new and second-hand furniture, and by close attention to his business, straightforward dealing and courteous treatment of his patrons, he has secured a large trade, which returns to him a good income.
Mr. Baker joined the Masonic fraternity in Romney Lodge, No. 441, F. & A. M., in Rom- ney, Indiana, in 1874, and is now treasurer of the lodge in Moscow, wherein he has also filled other offices. He and his wife and daughter are all members of the Eastern Star, and he also be- longs to the Knights of the Maccabees. His wife holds membership in the Christian church, while he gives his preference to the Methodist belief. In politics he has always been a Republican, and he was the efficient marshal of Moscow for three years, manifesting marked fidelity to duty during his term of service. The success he has achieved is the merited reward of his own labors, and he has justly won the proud American title of a "self-made man."
NEWELL JONATHAN BROWN, M. D.
The well established family physician obtains an influence in any community which is more far- reaching than that of any man sustaining other relations to the public. The reasons for this are too obvious to require mention here. Dr. N. J. Brown is to the people of Hailey the ideal family doctor, and he is the oldest physician and sur- geon in the place. He cast his lot with the citi- zens of Hailey in 1883, when the town was but two years old, and from that time he has prac-
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ticed his profession in Hailey and its tributary territory, and shown a helpful interest in every movement tending to the greatest good of his townspeople.
Dr. Brown comes of a good old English family, and was born in Stanstead, Canada, March IO, 1854. Generations before that time his progeni- tors had come over in the Mayflower and located in New England, whence his particular branch of the family had, in the exigencies of life, found its way to the Dominion. The "pilgrim" of the Brown family who landed at Plymouth Rock was James. Ozias Gilbert Brown, the father of Dr. N. J. Brown, was born at Epsom, New Hamp- shire, March 27. 1806, and, now in his ninety- fourth year, is living in Stanstead county, prov- ince of Quebec, rounding out a life as a useful citizen and a successful farmer. He married Miss Margaret Foss, a native of Canada but of New Hampshire lineage, who could trace her ancestry back to a "pilgrim" refugee. She died at the age of forty-eight years, leaving five children. Her eldest son is now seventy-one years old. The subject of this sketch is her youngest son. Two of her sons served the Union cause in the war of the rebellion and died from disease contracted in the army.
Dr. Brown, whose name heads this sketch, was educated at McGill University, at Montreal, and at Dartmouth College. His degree of M. D. was conferred upon him November 3. 1875, and he began the practice of his profession at Montreal. Three months later he moved to Red Oak, Iowa, where he was in successful practice for some time. While on a visit to some friends at Grundy Cen- ter, Iowa, in 1877, he was induced to locate with them, which he did for a time.
October 19, 1878, Dr. Brown married, at El- dora, Iowa, Miss Celia Frances Eastman, the daughter of ex-Lieutenant Governor E. W. East- man, a prominent attorney and one of the pio- neers of that state. A few weeks afterward he con- tracted pneumonia, and when he had partially re- covered he was advised by brother physicians to spend some time in the climate of Colorado as the only means which held out any certainty of
his complete restoration to health. He went to Colorado December 28 following and remained there until his removal to Hailey, in April, 1883. This place possessed dual advantages for him, being both prosperous and of the right altitude for him. Health awaited him here, and almost at once he entered upon a prosperous and grow- ing practice, which extends for many miles throughout the country. He has established a commodious, well appointed and altogether de- lightful home, in which a generous hospitality is dispensed.
In general, Dr. Brown is first and beyond all a physician. His profession commands him be- fore any other interest. But at the same time he has not been blind to his opportunities, and has secured several valuable gold and silver mining interests, to the development of which he devotes intelligent attention, with good prospect that they will prove profitable. He is a member of the American Medical Association and of the Idaho State Medical Association, and has been local surgeon of the Union Pacific and the Oregon Short Line Railroad Companies ever since 1883. Fraternally he is one of the highest Masons in the state, belonging to the blue lodge, chapter and commandery, and has taken all the Scottish rite degrees up to and including the thirty-second. He is also a Mystic Shriner and a Knight Com- mander of the Court of Honor, which makes him eligible to the thirty-third degree, the last and highest in Freemasonry. He has membership also in the Ancient Order of United Workmen and in the Modern Woodmen of America.
Dr. and Mrs. Brown have four sons,-Newell J., Jr., Newbern N., Austin F. and Gilman.
The Doctor has identified himself with every worthy interest of Hailey and is considered one of its most enterprising, progressive and public- spirited citizens. He is popular beyond most of his fellow townsmen and has an influence second to that of no other. He possesses a frank and genial manner, which makes him friends wher- ever he goes, and such is his strong, helpful character that he is enabled to retain all of these friends.
SHOSHONE FALLS IDAHO FROM NORTHSIDE
CHAPTER XIX.
THE PRESS OF IDAHO.
I N THE promotion and conservation of ad- vancement in all the normal lines of human progress and civilization there is no fac- tor which has exercised a more potent in- fluence than the press, which is both the director and the mirror of public opinion. Idaho, both as a territory and a state, has been signally favored in the character of its newspapers, which have been vital, enthu- siastic and progressive, ever aiming to advance the interests of this favored section of the Union, to aid in laying fast and sure the foundations of an enlightened commonwealth, to further the ends of justice and to uphold the banner of the "Gem of the Mountains." In a compilation of this nature, then, it is clearly incumbent that due recognition be accorded the newspaper press of the state, and in view of this fact this chapter is thus devoted, in appreciation of the earnest la- bors of those who have represented Idaho jour- nalism in the past and who represent it in these latter days of the century.
THE IDAHO DAILY STATESMAN.
The press has not only recorded the history of advancement, but has also ever been the leader in the work of progress and improvement,-the vanguard of civilization. The philosopher of some centuries ago proclaimed the truth that "the pen is mightier than the sword," and the statement is continually being verified in the af- fairs of life. In molding public opinion the power of the newspaper cannot be estimated, but at all events its influence is greater than any other single agency. In the history of Idaho, therefore, an account of the paper whose name heads this article should form an important factor. The old- est newspaper in the state, for thirty-five years it has sent forth accounts of the "Gem of the Moun- tains," its splendid resources, its rich mineral de- posits, its arable lands, its valuable forests, its splendid climate and beautiful scenery, and has
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