History of Idaho, the gem of the mountains, Volume II, Part 110

Author: Hawley, James Henry, 1847-1929, ed
Publication date: 1920
Publisher: Chicago, The S. J. Clarke publishing company
Number of Pages: 1024

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MRS. SARAH ELIZA ASH.

Mrs. Sarah Eliza Ash, residing at No. 1822 State street, Boise, is the widow of Henry L. Ash, who passed away September 2, 1902. She was born in Grayson county, Kentucky, July 5, 1857, a daughter of Benjamin C. Pearman, who is now living in Litchfield, Illinois, at the notable old age of ninety-two years. Her mother, who bore the maiden name of Sarah Atterbury, passed away in Illinois in 1869.

Mrs. Ash was reared in Montgomery county, Illinois, to which place her par- ents removed from Kentucky when she was but a year old. She was graduated from the Litchfield high school and took up the profession of teaching, which she followed for seven years in Illinois both before and after her marriage. It was on the 19th of March, 1879, that Sarah Elizabeth Pearman became the wife of Henry L. Ash, who was born in Litchfield, Illinois, January 21, 1856, a son of Jesse

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M. and Esther (Valentine) Ash. In 1897 Mr. and Mrs. Henry L. Ash removed from Illinois to Emmetsburg, Iowa, and in 1902 Mr. Ash came to Boise, where he pur- chased a ranch of one hundred and sixty acres three miles west of Boise, now known as Ash Park. He passed away, however, in St. Alphonsus Hospital in Boise, Sep- tember 2, 1902. Mrs. Ash was with him to the end but afterward returned to Iowa and in 1903 she again came to Idaho, bringing with her three sons and a daughter. Her children are: Leila, now the wife of D. R. Turner, a farmer residing west of Boise; Homer E .; William G .; and Russell M. Mrs. Ash located on the ranch and resided there for three years. She then rented the ranch property and removed to Boise, while later she disposed of her farming interests. About 1906 she built a splendid home at No. 1822 State street, Boise, and has since occupied this place.

Throughout his active business life Henry L. Ash was a farmer and was very successful, leaving a most comfortable competence to his widow and children. In Illinois and in Iowa he had specialized in the raising of registered Poland China hogs. In all of his business affairs he was enterprising and progressive, and his actions never at any time required disguise. His life measured up to high standards and he was a consistent member of the Methodist church, to which his widow also belongs. She is active in church societies and in missionary work and does every- thing in her power to advance the moral progress of the community in which she resides. Her sons are now owners and active managers of the Boise Overland Com- pany and are prominent in the business and fraternal circles of the city.

WILLIAM G. ASH.

William G. Ash, vice president and general manager of the Boise Overland Company, was born upon a farm in Montgomery county, Illinois, May 27, 1889, a son of Henry L. and Sarah' E. ( Pearman) Ash, the former a native of Illinois, while the latter was born in Kentucky. ' When their son William was but seven years of age they removed to Palo Alto county, Iowa, and he was there reared upon a farm to the age of thirteen years, when he came to Boise with his mother, brothers and sister in the year 1903. The father visited Idaho in 1902 and purchased a ranch near Boise but died before he removed his family to the northwest. There were four children in the family, the eldest being Leila, now the wife of D. R. Turner, of Ada county. The sons are Homer E., William G. and Russell M., the last named being the treasurer and sales manager of the Boise Overland Company.

After the removal of the family to the west William G. Ash was graduated from the Boise high school on the completion of a course in the commercial depart- ment in 1906. He also attended Link's Business College of Boise and for several years after his school days were over was employed as a bookkeeper with different business houses of the city. For two years he was bookkeeper with the Gooding Town Site Company of Gooding, Idaho, and then returned to Boise in the fall of 1910, at which time he became actively interested in the real estate and insurance business, in which he continued for a year. Since 1911 he has been identified with the distribution of the Overland automobiles through the Boise establishment. In May, 1911, he became a stockholder in the Intermountain Auto Company, a concern which was then local distributor for the Overland cars. He acted as its manager until 1914, when he became chiefly instrumental in organizing the Boise Overland Company, which took over all of the plant and property of the Intermountain Auto Company, which concern went out of existence on the 1st of September, 1914. Since that date the Boise Overland Company has continued with William G. Ash as vice president and manager, while his mother, Mrs. Sarah E. Ash, is the president. The business is capitalized for thirty thousand dollars, the stock being entirely owned by the Ash family with the exception of about eight per cent. The Boise Overland Company has had a remarkably successful career since it came into existence. It has the distribution of the Overland cars throughout southwestern Idaho and east- ern Oregon and its trade has reached extensive proportions.

On the 14th of June, 1911, in Gooding, Idaho, Mr. Ash was married to Miss Gertrude M. Johnson, who at that time was residing in Gooding but is a native of Illinois. They have two children, William Henry, born December 24, 1913; and Mildred Marion, born September 22, 1915.

Mr. Ash belongs to the Boise Commercial Club, to the Boise Gun Club and to

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the Masonic fraternity, in which he has attained the thirty-second degree of the Scottish Rite. He finds his chief recreation in fishing and hunting, but his business occupies the major part of his time and it has been by reason of his close application and unfaltering diligence that he has won the success that is now his.

RUSSELL M. ASH.

Russell M. Ash, treasurer and sales manager of the Boise Overland Company, was born at Raymond, Illinois, August 12, 1892, the youngest of the three sons of the late Henry L. Ash, who is mentioned elsewhere in this work. He was a lad of but eleven years when the family removed from Iowa to Idaho and he attended the public schools of Boise, passing through consecutive grades to the high school, while later he was graduated from Link's Business College as bookkeeper and ste- nographer, completing his course there when sixteen years of age. For five years he was in the electrical business in Bolse as an electrician and in 1912 he turned his attention to the automobile trade as sales manager of the Intermountain Auto Company. In 1914 this business was succeeded by the Boise Overland Company, several members of Mr. Ash's family, including himself, purchasing practically all of the stock of the Intermountain Company and reorganizing the business under the present name. Russell M. Ash has been the treasurer and sales manager since the organization. He has three times been awarded prizes by the Willys-Overland Com- pany of Toledo, Ohio, because of his ability and success as a salesman. In 1912 the old Intermountain Auto Company employed but two men and today the Boise Overland Company has in its employ twenty-five men. The company operates its own garage, repair shop and parts and accessories department, also a storage bat- tery department, a paint shop and sales department. The plant is equipped to rebuild cars from the bottom up and its motto is one hundred per cent service to the public-a slogan that finds constant exemplification in the relation of the company to its customers.

On the 12th of December, 1916, Mr. Ash was married to Miss Della E. Lund- gren, of Swedish descent, who was born in Nebraska. They have one child, Betty Lou, who was born September 13, 1917. Mr. Ash belongs to the Boise Commercial Club and is a thirty-second degree Mason and member of the Mystic Shrine. He has also taken the Royal Arch degrees in the York Rite and he belongs as well to the Grotto. He is wide-awake and energetic, alert to every business opportunity that is presented in the development of the automobile trade, and his indefatigable effort has advanced him far on the highroad to success.

CHARLES W. WHITE.

When Charles W. White filed on ninety-three acres of land in 1903 he came into possession of a tract of sagebrush destitute of all improvements. That his life has been one of intense and well directed activity is indicated in the fact that he is now the owner of an excellent farm property, and in the conduct of his grain and stock raising interests he is meeting with substantial success. Mr. White was born in Iowa, October 15, 1868. His father, S. F. White, was a native of Zanes- ville, Ohio, and was a pioneer of the state of Idaho, coming here with his son, Charles W., in 1902. The mother bore the maiden name of Margaret A. Mahan and was a native of Illinois, in which state they were married. On reaching Idaho the father and son settled at Fayette and entered the contracting business, in which they continued for five years. Both Mr. and Mrs. S. F. White spent their last years in Salem, Oregon, where the mother passed away in Jannary, 1917, the father surviving only until February, 1918.

Charles W. White first came to Idaho just after the completion of the Oregon Short Line Railroad and is well known in railroad circles, having worked on vari- ous lines in earlier days. He was property man in the employ of the Union Pacific for two years and afterward became a fireman on the road. Before his removal to the west he had worked for the Illinois Central, the Wisconsin Central, the Great Northern, the Northern Pacific, the Burlington and the Missouri, Kansas

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& Texas. He also worked on the interurban line between Milwaukee and Wauke- sha, Wisconsin. Success did not attend his ventures in railroad circles, however, and in 1902 he arrived at Payette, Idaho, with a cash capital of but seven dollars and a half. This was followed by five years' connection with the contracting business at Payette, but in the meantime he was making preparations for active connection with agricultural interests. In 1903 he filed on ninety-three acres of land, forty-nine acres of which constitute his present home property. He has become the owner through subsequent investments of four hundred and sixty acres of land and is planning in 1920 to erect electric pumping plants so as to irrigate the entire tract. He now has fifteen acres in alfalfa and he-also raises various grains besides beef and dairy stock, but it is his purpose to plant his entire acreage to alfalfa in 1920. His land is located on the Snake river, four miles south of Fruitland. His brother, G. W. White, made the map of this coun- try. Another brother, W. W. White, owns a large ranch at Nyssa, Oregon, and is a civil engineer. It was he and his brother, Charles W. White, who established the sawmill at Payette.

In 1888 Charles W. White was married to Miss Emma K. Lamboy, a native of Wisconsin, and they are the parents of five children. Logan A., nineteen years of age, went to France as a member of the Forty-first Division, Machine Gun Corps, and was transferred to the Forty-second Division. He was in the engagement at Chateau Thierry, where he was wounded, and this incapacitated him for a month. He was wounded a second time in a subsequent engagement and was in the hospital for three. months. He was gassed twice and altogether spent six months in the hospital out of the twelve months when he was at the front. He said when he enlisted that he had never done harm to anyone and was not afraid to die. He is a splendid representative of the young American manhood that risked life and was willing to make the supreme sacrifice on the battlefields of France. He still remains in that country, where he is doing postal service. Lottie A., the second member of the family, is the wife of Roy Johns and lives near her father's place. Louisa A., Dorothy A. and Minerva M. are all at home.

Mr. White is actuated by a most progressive spirit and his energy and indus- try are proving potent forces in the attainment of success. Recognizing the oppor- tunities offered in this section of the country, he is working effectively in the de- velopment of a valuable farm property, and with the introduction of water, each year will see an increase in the worth of his land and its productiveness.

WILLIAM R. GRAY.

William R. Gray makes his home at Oakley, from which point he supervises im- portant ranching and cattle raising interests in Boxelder county, Utah. He is also identified with mining and financial affairs and is altogether regarded as one of the representative business men of his section of the state. He was born in Albany county, New York, December 4, 1865, and is a son of William R. and Gertrude (Hil- ten) Gray. His boyhood days were passed in the Empire state and to its educational system he is indebted for the opportunities which he had to qualify for life's prac- tical and responsible duties. He came to the west in 1886, when a young man of twenty-one years, and entered the employ of Sparks & Tinnin in Elko county, Nevada. He worked as a cow puncher for four years and then, seeing the opportunity for the attainment of success along those lines, he took up land in Boxelder county, Utah, and to his holdings has added until he is now the owner of four hundred and forty acres there. He first built a log house and began the work of improving his ranch. From time to time he added other buildings, secured the latest improved machinery to facilitate the work of the fields and, specializing in cattle raising, converted his place Into one of the fine stock ranches of this section of the country. Upon it he has four hundred head of white-faced cattle. He also raises horses and is an excellent judge of live stock, so that he makes most judicious purchases and profitable sales. He. has also become interested in the Grape Creek mine, a silver and copper pro- ducing property, and he is a director in the Oakley State Bank.

On the 28th of January, 1903, Mr. Gray was united in marriage to Miss Edith Elison, a native of Utah and a daughter of Eric and Christina (Anderson) Elison. They have become parents of three children: W. R., Kenneth L. and Russell E.

WILLIAM R. GRAY

MRS. WILLIAM R. GRAY

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Following his marriage Mr. Gray removed to Oakley, where he built his present home, and he also owns another residence property in the town. His political en- dorsement is given to the republican party and fraternally he is a Mason who has attained the thirty-second degree of the Scottish Rite and is also a member of the Mystic Shrine. He loyally follows the teachings and purposes of the craft and is in hearty sympathy with its beneficent spirit and its recognition of the brotherhood of mankind. His business associates find him thoroughly reliable as well as enterpris- ing and his friends recognize in him a man of the utmost stability of character-one who can be counted upon to do what he says and who in all relations of life stands for progress and improvement.

S. G. TUCKER.

S. G. Tucker is actively identified with farming in Canyon county and is num- bered among its most progressive citizens, his aid and influence heing on the side of every project or plan that has to do with the public welfare. He was born March 5, 1879, about one mile from his present residence, which is situated in township 5 north and 4 west, not far from Notus. His father, James N. Tucker, was born in Schuyler county, Illinois, in 1833 and when but a young lad accompanied his father to Iowa, where he was reared. In 1850, with three companions, he made a trip to Eldorado, California. Each had thirty dollars in cash and their equipment consisted of six hundred pounds of provisions, a wagon and six horses. From that time forward Mr. Tucker was identified with the west and in 1861 came to Florence, Idaho, but the following year returned to California. However, later in the same year he once more made his way to Idaho, with the Boise basin as his destination, and engaged in business in Boise. In 1864 he settled on a ranch east of Parma, which has since been known as the Tucker ranch. In the '70s he was told to go immediately to the fort at Parma or he would be killed. He declined to go, however, saying that he would remain at home and defend his family, and if he was to be killed, he preferred that it should be in his own home. On one occasion he followed the Indians at night. They had cut his clothesline and car- ried it away and he followed them out into the field but could only hear their soft footsteps and in the morning found only their tracks. For years he successfully developed and improved his farm, but in 1909, his health failing, he removed to Caldwell and made his home with his son, John A., although still retaining the ownership of the home place. He died in 1911, much esteemed by all who knew him. In 1873 he had married Ellen Jane Andrews, the wedding being celebrated at the home of her brother, Thomas Andrews. They had a son, James, who was killed by a derrick falling upon him in 1901, and their only daughter, Mamie, the wife of S. J. Barnum, passed away in 1909.

S. G. Tucker was reared upon the old homestead, only about a mile from his present residence, his father having traded a third interest in a livery business, which was located where the Owyhee Hotel in Boise now stands, for the relin- quishment claim of three hundred and twenty acres on township 5 north and 5 west. Upon that place S. G. Tucker spent the days of his boyhood and youth, sharing with the family in the experiences of life on the frontier, and he can tell many interesting incidents concerning that period when conditions were in marked con- trast to those found at the present day. He has always followed farming and in 1900 purchased his present home place of one hundred acres, to which in 1902 he added eighty acres. He raises fine registered shorthorn and Durham cattle, of which he has twenty head, and also some hogs. In the conduct of his business affairs he follows most progressive methods, utilizing every opportunity that will lead to legitimate success.

Mr. Tucker is recognized as a stalwart champion of the cause of education. He first attended school -himself in the old granary which his father had given to the district for school purposes, and he finished his schooling in the little white schoolhouse standing upon a site that was also given by his father and which can now be seen from his own front door. Mr. Tucker has ever realized the value of educational training and was a member of the school board which erected the pres- ent splendid district school building. It is a fine, substantial structure, the first floor of concrete blocks and the second story built of shingles in artistic design;

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and it was S. G. Tucker who gave the site for this school. The three schools men- tioned are all within a small radius and the present fine modern school is not more than two city blocks from his own home. It has no superior among the district schools of Idaho and would be a credit to any city. It is in fact very superior to the average country schoolhouse and it furnishes accommodations to one hundred and twenty pupils.

In 1900 Mr. Tucker was married to Miss Jessie E. Stafford, who was born July 27, 1879. They have become the parents of four children. George N., who is born on the day on which Mr. Tucker's brother James was killed, is now attending high school at the age of seventeen years. Grace and Anna are also in school. Dudley Grant, six years of age, was born on the anniversary of his father's birth.

In his political views Mr. Tucker is a stalwart republican and takes a keen interest in politics. He has been offered the nomination for several public posi- tions but has always declined the honor. For nineteen years he has been a loyal member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. His entire life has been passed in the locality in which he resides and he can well remember the building of the first railroad through the district and many other events which have left their im- press upon the history of the state. Those who know him, and he has a wide ac- quaintance, recognize in him a citizen of sterling worth and a man whom to know is to respect and honor.

JOHN K. MORRISON.

John K. Morrison, proprietor of the Morrison Automobile Repair Shop at the corner of Twelfth and Idaho streets in Boise, was born in Alabama, January 24, 1877, a son of Robert J. Morrison, who died in Birmingham, Alabama, in 1916, while the mother passed away when her son John was but two years of age. Reared in his native state, he there learned the machinist's trade in Anniston, beginning work along that line when a youth of eighteen years. His entire life has been devoted to business of that character and he has developed expert skill along mechanical lines. In 1900 he left Alabama and came to the northwest, making his way first to Prescott, Washington, where he had an uncle living. He spent several years in the state of Washington, working at his trade in various connections, and for four years he operated a threshing machine.

Mr. Morrison was married in Spokane, Washington, February 4, 1904, to Miss Frances Reratt, a native of Washington. In 1906 they took up their abode in Walla Walla, where he was employed in a repair shop, and in 1907 they came to Idaho, Mr. Morrison establishing the first garage at Coeur d'Alene and also oper- ating a repair shop in connection therewith. In 1908 he admitted William Sullivan to a partnership in the business and in 1909 sold his interest to his partner and came to Boise, where he entered the employ of the Intermountain Company as fore- man of the repair department. 'In 1910 he purchased the shop feature of the busi- ness, calling it the Intermountain Repair Shop. His business was located at the corner of Bannock and Tenth streets. In May, 1916, he sold this shop to the Boise Overland Company and then, purchasing a new car, he started with his family to drive across the country to Alabama to visit his father and other relatives. They left Boise on the 4th of July, 1916, and reached Birmingham, Alabama, on the 4th of August after traveling thirty days and spending fully twelve days in rest and sightseeing while en route, stopping at Denver and other points. In November they returned to Boise and for a few months Mr. Morrison was employed as an automobile salesman. When he sold to the Boise Overland Company he agreed that he would not again engage in business in Boise for at least a year and on the expiration of that period or in August, 1917, he reestablished himself in the auto- mobile repair business, opening a shop at the corner of Fifteenth and Front streets, and on the 15th of September, 1918, removing to his present location at the corner of Twelfth and Idaho streets, where he occupies a splendid new solid concrete building fifty by one hundred feet, which was especially erected for his use by Frank H. Parsons, one of the well known citizens of Boise. The building is equipped with a modern pump and filling station and all machinery necessary for the work that he carries on. There is also a ladies' rest room and altogether the Morrison Automobile Repair Shop is one of the best in Boise.

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Mr. and Mrs. Morrison have become parents of an only daughter, Charlotte, now fourteen years of age, a student in the high school. Mr. Morrison belongs to the Boise Chamber of Commerce, is a thirty-second degree Mason and also an Elk, being a member of Boise Lodge, No. 310, B. P. O. E., and is well known in the business circles of the city, where he has now made his home for a decade.

CHARLES MONROE GRAY.

Forty-five years have been added to the centuries since Charles Monroe Gray, now deceased, took up his abode in Cassia county, where for many years he figured as a successful rancher in the vicinity of Albion. He was born in Clay county, Missouri, August 8, 1832, a son of Mr. and Mrs. James Gray. His boyhood days were passed in his native state and the year 1875 witnessed his arrival in Idaho, at which time he took up his abode upon the ranch that is now occupied by his widow. He secured one hundred and sixty acres of government land, upon which not a furrow had been turned nor an improvement made, and with characteristic energy he began the development of the property. His first home was a little log cabin which he built and he faced all of the hardships and privations of pioneer life in the early days. It was an arduous task to transform the wild land into highly cultivated fields, but with resolute purpose he undertook the work and in the course of years his labors brought to him substantial success.

In 1873 Mr. Gray was united in marriage to Miss Sarah Stevenson, a native of Clay county, Missouri, and a daughter of John and Phoebe (Baxter) Stevenson. They were married in Andrew county, Missouri. They became the parents of eight children: Theodore, Sidney, Laura, Peter, Calvin, Lizzie, Cora and May. They shared with each other in the experiences that came to them through the pioneer life of the west, Mrs. Gray proving of great assistance to her husband by her careful management of household affairs and the wisdom which she displayed in rearing their children.

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History of Idaho, the gem of the mountains, Volume II, Part 110

Author: Hawley, James Henry, 1847-1929, ed Publication date: 1920 Publisher: Chicago, The S. J. Clarke publishing company Number of Pages: 1024

Author: Hawley, James Henry, 1847-1929, ed
Publication date: 1920
Publisher: Chicago, The S. J. Clarke publishing company
Number of Pages: 1024