History of Idaho, the gem of the mountains, Volume II, Part 114

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


USA > Idaho > History of Idaho, the gem of the mountains, Volume II > Part 114


Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).


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In 1910 Mr. Pickett was married to Miss Emma Mabey, a native of Marion, Idalio, and a daughter of James and Danalette (Wood) Mabey, who came to this state in an early day. Mr. and Mrs. Pickett now have four children: Harold, Ross, Floyd and Ennis.


The family adhere to the religious faith of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter- day Saints and Mr. Pickett votes with the republican party. His entire life has been passed in Cassia county and that his career has ever been an honorable and upright one. is indicated in the fact that many of his stanchest friends are those who have


MORONI PICKETT


MRS. FRANCES A. PICKETT


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known him from boyhood to the present time. He has worked diligently and ener- getically as the years have passed on to develop and further improve his farm, thus contributing to the agricultural progress of the district, and as the result of his labors he is today the owner of one of the excellent ranch properties in Cassia county.


HENRY L. WICKEL.


Henry L. Wickel is the proprietor of a merchandise establishment at Malta, which he has conducted since 1916. He had previously been connected with ranch- ing in the Raft river country for many years, his identification with this section of the state dating from pioneer times. Mr. Wickel was born in St. Louis, Mis- souri, August 22, 1848, and is a son of Lemmon and Margaret (Buchwalter) Wickel. He was but four years of age when his mother and the family crossed the plains, making the journey with ox team and wagon to Salt Lake City, Utah. Later Mrs. Wickel became the wife of Leonard G. Rice, the marriage occurring at Farm- ington, Davis county, Utah.


Henry L. Wickel afterward removed with his grandmother and his two uncles of the name of Buchwalter to American Fork, Utah county, Utah, and there re- sided until 1869, when he went to Farmington, Davis county, where he engaged in the logging business. There he resided until 1879, after which he made his way to the Raft river country of Idaho, settling on Cassia creek. In this district he home- steaded, obtaining a ranch of eighty acres on which he built a log house. There had been no improvements made upon his place and the work of development was begun and carried forward by him, converting his tract of wild land into productive fields and fine pastures. He still owns the ranch and operates it, devoting it in considerable measure to cattle raising. On the 8th of February, 1916, Mr. Wickel purchased his present store at Malta and has since conducted the business, en- joying a liberal patronage through the intervening period of four years.


In 1871 Mr. Wickel was married to Miss Elizabeth Jane Bigler, a native of Farmington, Davis county, Utah, and a daughter of Henry W. and Cynthia J. (Whip- ple) Bigler. They have become parents of twelve children: Sarah R .; Willard; Margaret J .; Henry W .; Charles; Louise, deceased; Lemmon L .; Alva, deceased; Quince, deceased; Letha, deceased; Myrtle; and Lewis.


Mr. Wickel votes with the democratic office, but the honors and emoluments of office have no attraction for him. His entire time and attention have been concen- trated upon his business affairs and a life of diligence has made him a successful rancher and a prosperous merchant of Cassia county.


C. F. BRODERSEN.


C. F. Brodersen, a farmer and stock raiser residing in Payette, was born in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany, December 20, 1859, of Danish parentage. He ac- quired his early education in his native country and when nineteen years of age, or as soon as he had finished his compulsory service in the army, he came to America. His uncle, N. A. Jacobson, now one of the most successful horticulturists and ranchers of Idaho, had preceded him and it was his glowing account of the opportunities offered in this state that induced C. F. Brodersen to come directly to Payette. He immediately went to work for his uncle, herding sheep, but being unacquainted with frontier life together with his fear of the Indians, who he felt at any time might decide to scalp him, he remained at this job for only two weeks. He then went to work for Johnnie Thorp at a wage of twenty-five dollars per month and was thus employed for four years. Saving his money, he purchased range horses, which he shipped to Colorado and Philadelphia. With the profits that accrued therefrom he purchased a tract of forty acres, which he planted to Italian prunes, but after harvesting three crops he sold the place and bought twenty- five hundred head of sheep, for in the meantime frontier conditions had changed somewhat and, moreover, he had become acquainted with pioneer life and knew how to meet any emergency that might arise. He remained in the sheep business for about eleven years, when he had opportunity to sell to good advantage and did


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so. The next fall, however, he was again actively identified with the sheep industry, purchasing at that time five thousand head of sheep, which he sold in June, 1918. During the intervening period he purchased several tracts of land, one a twelve- acre tract which he planted to prunes and a forty-acre tract adjoining his original forty. He paid one hundred dollars an acre for the latter and afterward offered it for sale at ten thousand dollars but without a hid. He then divided it into ten-acre tracts and sold it for twenty thousand dollars. This property lies two miles north of Payette. Mr. Brodersen also acquired a seventy-two acre tract of land, whereon he now resides, his home being at No. 1339 Seventh avenue, North. He became owner of this property in 1904 and has since sold an acre and a half. This, he says, is the only mistake he has ever made in business. Upon his place he raises grain, hay and fruit and he is also a director of the First National Bank of Payette.


On the 1st of April, 1896, at Payette, Mr. Brodersen was married to the sweet- heart of his youth, Miss Agnes Crantz, a native of Germany, who joined him in the new world as soon as he could prepare a home for her. They have become the parents of six children: Lulu May; Ruby Leanore; Norah Emma; Rudolph Nicolas; Hammond Frederick, eleven years of age; and Carl Fritz, who is nine years of age. All save the first named are attending school.


Mr. Brodersen is a loyal American citizen and is glad to be able to live under the stars and stripes. He was born in that part of Germany which Germany had once wrested from Denmark and he had no use for the military system of the country. In the new world he has found the opportunities which he sought and in their utilization has won success and many friends and has made for himself an honored name.


MRS. ALICE GARLAND.


Mrs. Allce Garland, of South Boise, is one of the pioneer women of Idaho, having resided in this state for almost a third of a century. She came to the west in 1888 and for ten years lived in Blackfoot, Idaho. She was born in England on the 8th of September, 1856, and is a daughter of Charles and Margaret (Rice) Odd, who brought their family to the United States when she was a maiden of six- teen summers. The parents were converts to the teachings of the Mormon church and, crossing the Atlantic, made their way to Salt Lake City, Utah, where their remaining days were passed. In early womanhood Alice Odd became the wife of John Williams and they removed from Salt Lake City to Idaho and for ten years resided at Blackfoot. Three children were born of this marriage: Charles H., born September 21, 1878; Alice Eliza, April 18, 1880; and Herbert, born February 15, 1882. The daughter reached adult age, married and had one child, but the parents and child have all passed away. Charles H. and Herbert Williams are well known young business men of Boise, the former a carpenter by trade, while the latter occupies a good position with the Idaho Power Company, with which he has been connected for more than seven years. Both are married and have children. Charles H. Williams has four children: Harold, Ernest, Charles and Margaret. To Mr. and Mrs. Herbert Williams have been born three daughters: Alice, Gloria and Lorena. The marriage of Allce Odd to John Williams proved an unhappy one and resulted in a legal separation. Later she became the wife of John Mitchell and with her hus- band removed from Blackfoot to Boise, where Mr. Mitchell passed away.


On the 19th of June, 1907, she became the wife of Charles Henry Garland, with whom she has since lived happily, Mr. Garland being an excellent man in every respect. He is a blacksmith and machinist by trade and despite his age- seventy-seven years-he is strong and vigorous and is now in the employ of the Bolse-Payette Lumber Company at Barber, Idaho. He possesses much natural me- chanical skill and ingenuity, evidence of which is found in his home in the shape of a beautiful wall cabinet with glass doors-itself a work of art, containing a large collection of bright, glistening, keen-edged tools made in miniature and of solid steel, all beautifully designed and shaped by him. The whole constitutes a won- derful collection and is well worthy a place in a museum. Both the cabinet and everything in it were made by Mr. Garland in his leisure moments.


Mrs. Garland owns a splendidly improved acreage tract on Linden avenue in South Boise, where she has seven acres upon which are to be found three residences,


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one of these being a handsome modern home which she now rents. There are also two cottages, one of which Mrs. Garland occupies, while the other is occupied by her son Herbert. Mrs. Garland is a member of the South Boise Presbyterlan church and is the president of its Ladies Aid Society. Her many admirable traits of character have gained for her the warm friendship and kindly regard of all who know her.


COLONEL ELIAS MARSTERS.


Colonel Elias Marsters is a veteran auctioneer of Ada county and a farmer whose ranch is situated at Onweiler, a mile and a half north of Meridian. He divides the time between his two business interests, being senior partner in the firm of E. Marsters & Son, general auctioneers, in which connection they have at- tained places of leadership. The father is a native of Indlana, his birth having occurred about six miles north of Plymouth, in Marshall county, on the 22d of June, 1860, his parents being Saul and Nancy (Clark) Marsters. The father was also a farmer and auctioneer. In fact three generations of the family have been suc- cessful auctioneers, all having been, as it were, "to the manner born." Saul Marsters, likewise a native of Indiana, was one of twins, his brother being Paul Marsters, who became a physician, practicing at different periods in Missouri, Illi- nois and Nebraska, eventually locating at Steele City, Jefferson county, Nebraska. His twin brother, Saul Marsters, as indicated, followed farming and auctioneering throughout his entire life and passed away at Stillwater, Oklahoma, at the age of seventy-two years, while his wife died in Nebraska at the age of fifty-two. They had a family of seven children, of whom Colonel Marsters of this review was the fourth child and youngest son. He and two sisters are now the survivors of the family, the sisters being Mrs. Belle Pearson and Mrs. Etta Latta, both of whom are residents of Nebraska.


When Colonel Marsters was but five years of age his parents removed to a farm near Rantoul, Illinois, and he there remained until seventeen years of age, when he accompanied his parents to Jefferson county, Nebraska, there making his home until 1897. In that year he arrived in Ada county, Idaho, where he has since lived, and throughout the entire period he has devoted his attention to ranching and to general auctioneering. In the latter he is associated with his son, Leo Ed- ward Marsters, who also owns a good ranch just two and a half miles north of the father's ranch. The ranch of Leo E. Marsters comprises one hundred and twenty- two acres and was purchased by his father when he first came to Idaho in 1897, turning it over to his son, Leo E., when the latter attained his majority. Colonel Marsters began auctioneering in Nebraska when twenty years of age, receiving his first training under his father, who had become an expert in that line. Colonel Marsters has likewise trained his son and the family name has ever been a synonym for excellent service in the field of auctioneering. The present firm now has more than ninety per cent of the sales in Ada county and they are called to all parts of southern Idaho and southeastern Oregon as auctioneers. Their methods are not those of the old-time auctioneers, loud and boisterous, but they maintain the quiet and dignity of the modern business man who seeks to make sales through the cor- rect presentation of the merits of whatever he is handling.


On the 14th of January, 1883, at Steele City, Nebraska, Colonel Marsters was married to Miss Addie Ames, a daughter of Edwin H. and Marion Ames, who now reside in Boise at the ages of eighty-five and seventy-four years respectively. Colonel and Mrs. Marsters have but one living child, Leo Edward, but lost three children-Perry E., Earley and Nancy Ann, the first two being ten years of age when called to their final rest, while Nancy Ann was but two years old.


Colonel Marsters and his son had one hundred and twenty-six large general sales in the year 1918, handling more sales than any other firm in Idaho. In pol- itics Colonel Marsters is a republican, giving stalwart support to the party, and for two years he served as deputy sheriff and for one year as deputy United States mar- shal under Marshal Shad Hodgin. He acted as deputy sheriff under J. D. Agnew. He has never been a candidate for an elective office, but he stands loyally for every cause in which he belleves and in all matters of citizenship maintains a progressive attitude. He is fond of hunting and other outdoor sports and owns some fine hunt-


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ing dogs. His business has made him widely known not only in Ada county but throughout southern Idaho and he is always a welcome guest in every home in which he is known, due to his genial disposition and his sterling personal worth.


MRS. AMELIA EISLEY.


For thirty-eight years, or since 1881, Mrs. Amelia Eisley has resided upon the farm which she now occupies. She is therefore numbered among the old settlers in the neighborhood east of South Boise, her place being situated a mile and a half east of the Garfield school. She was born in Wood county, Ohio, December 18, 1844, and bore the maiden name of Amelia Calkins, her parents being David and Margaret (Marsh) Calkins, who were natives of the state of New York and of Nova Scotia respectively. When she was two years of age her parents removed to Lake county, Illinois, and when she was a maiden of twelve they became residents of Sauk county, Wisconsin, settling in a home near Baraboo which was the home of Ringling Brothers, the well known circus men. There when seventeen years of age she be- came the wife of Charles Henry Foster. In 1866 they removed to Colorado and there Mr. Foster was killed by lightning on the 13th of June, 1875, when forty ยท years of age. On December 31, 1876, she became the wife of William Bubb, of Kansas, who died July 1, 1905. On the 4th of January, 1912, she married John Eisley, who passed away August 26, 1917. There were five children born of her first marriage: Lillian, who died in infancy; Clara, who is the wife of Edwin How- ard, of Nebraska; William, who died in infancy; Edith, the wife of Daniel Thrasher, of Montana; and Charles Homer, who was born three months after his father's death. Of the second marriage there was born a daughter, Fannie, who is now the wife of Roy Holden, and they reside with Mrs. Eisley. They have a son, Fred Holden, who is twenty-one years of age. Mrs. Holden was born October 19, 1881, and her son was born April 27, 1898.


Mrs. Eisley is a member of the Nazarene church of Boise. Her life has ever won for her the friendship and esteem of those with whom she has come in con- tact. She has been a devoted wife to three husbands until death has separated them and has been a most faithful and affectionate mother to her six children. She is a remarkably well preserved woman of seventy-five years and is pleasantly located on a farm southeast of Boise, where she can enjoy the freedom of outdoor life and at the same time the advantages of city life are most easily attainable. The farm on which she resides was purchased at the time of her removal to this state from Colorado in 1881 and embraced one hundred and thirty-six acres. The place now comprises but ninety-six acres, a forty-acre tract having been deeded to Mrs. Eis- ley's son, Charles Homer Foster, a well known dairyman, who passed away July 15, 1915, when about forty years of age.


HON. CECIL L. WEEKS.


Hon. Cecil L. Weeks, serving his first term in the state legislature and recog- nized as one of the leaders of the majority side of the house, is also well known as a prominent sheepman and farmer, making his home at Caldwell. He was born on Eagle island, in Ada county, Idaho, December 9, 1880, a son of Joseph E. and Frances (Ingle) Weeks. The father passed away at Portland, Oregon, April 5, 1919, and the mother died when her son Cecil was but seven years of age. The family comes of English ancestry on the paternal side, the grandfather having come to the United States from Canada and established his home in Iowa. From that state Joseph E. Weeks removed to Idaho in 1878.


Upon the home farm near Star, in Ada county, Cecil L. Weeks spent his youthful days and acquired a common school education. He has been a farmer and sheepman throughout his entire life and for ten years he resided in Wilder. In 1917, however, he removed to Caldwell but Is still the owner of two ranches near Wilder. At the present time he is a partner in the firm of Harvey & Weeks, his associate in the business being a resident of Boise. This firm has extensive sheep interests, running thousands of head of sheep upon their ranch. From his boyhood Mr. Weeks has been


HON. CECIL L. WEEKS


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deeply interested in the sheep industry and followed the line of his inclination and ambition when he turned his attention to sheep raising, which he is now conducting on a very extensive scale. He is likewise a member of the Idaho Wool Growers Associa- tion and he is a director of the First National Bank of Wilder, while at Smiths Ferry he has mercantile interests.


On the 29th of November, 1905, in Bolse, Mr. Weeks was married to Miss Alta G. Griggs, of the capital city, who is also a native of Ada county. They have two chil- dren: Leon Lester, born November 25, 1906; and Helen Josephine, born December 2, 1915.


Mr. Weeks gives his political endorsement to the republican party, of which he has always been a stanch advocate, and in 1918 he was elected on the party ticket to the state legislature by a large majority although he did not seek the office. He was made chairman of the appropriations committee and is serving on several other important committees. He has introduced several bills that have passed both houses and although this is his first term's service in the legislature and in fact the first public office that he has ever filled he is recognized as a leader on the majority side of the house and has been most active in shaping legislation during the fifteenth session of the general as- sembly. Fraternally he is connected with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and with the Benevolent Protective Order of Elks, and in those lodges and in every rela- tion of life in which he is known he commands the high regard and respect of his fellow townsmen by reason of his devotion to duty, his capability in business and his progressiveness in citizenship.


GEORGE PENINGER.


George Peninger is a pioneer ranchman residing five miles southwest of Boise, on the Boise bench. He came to Idaho with his wife and one child in the year 1881, removing from California to this state. Mr. Peninger is a native, however, of Illi- nois, his birth having occurred about sixty miles west of the capital city of Spring- field on the 21st of October, 1845. His parents were John and Charlotte (Hight) Peninger. The father died when the son was only a small lad. He was a native of Switzerland, while his wife was born in Pennsylvania and represented one of the early Pennsylvania Dutch families. The mother also passed away during the early boyhood of George Peninger, who was thus left an orphan. He was reared in the family of William R. Morrison, an uncle by marriage, and pursued his education in the public schools of Illinois and in the Presbyterian University at Lincoln, that state. Previous to the completion of his course in the university, however, he served for about five months in the army as a member of Company I, One Hundred and Twenty-ninth Illinois Regiment, near the close of the Civil war when still a boy in his teens. When hostilities ceased he was in North Carolina and was honorably discharged at Camp Butler, near Springfield, Illinois. As a boy he often saw Abraham Lincoln and heard him in his famous debates with Stephen A. Douglas.


In 1866 Mr. Peninger left Illinois and went to Missouri, but after a year or two continued his journey across the country to California. He remained in that state for several years engaged in various pursuits and while there residing he was mar- ried on the 10th of February, 1880, to Miss Winifred Alice Carter, who was born at Chinese Camp, a mining town of California, in the Sierra Nevada mountains, on the 21st of January, 1862, and is a daughter of George Leonard and Mary (O'Con- nell) Carter. The father was of English birth, while the mother was of Scotch- Irish descent, her birth having occurred on the Emerald isle. She was a daughter of Captain John O'Connell, who served in the British army and was killed in battle in Hindustan.


In the year 1880 Mr. Peninger came to Idaho, his wife and little child-their firstborn, George Carter Peninger,-remaining in the east until 1882, when they, too, came to Idaho. The family first lived in the Wood river valley for a short time but in December, 1882, removed to Boise and have lived in the city and vicinity throughout the intervening period. They continued in Boise for several years, but later Mr. Peninger took up a one hundred and twenty acre homestead just across the road from his present home and five miles southwest of Boise. This was during the first administration of Grover Cleveland. The tract of. land was covered with sagebrush and he faced the difficult and arduous task of clearing and


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developing the property. After a few years, or in 1896, he took up a homestead, and he and his family located thereon and continued its further development and improvement until it is now one of the most beautiful and valuable tracts of one hundred and twenty acres to be found between Boise and Meridian. In 1911 Mr. Peninger sold that property and immediately purchased his present home place just across the road from the homestead, a farm somewhat smaller, embracing only forty acres. This, too, is one of the best of its size in the Boise valley and its splendid appearance indicates the careful supervision and the practical and pro- gressive methods of the owner.


To Mr. and Mrs. Peninger have been born but two children. The elder, George Carter, is married and resides in Riverside valley, Canyon county, Idaho. The daughter, Jessie May, is the wife of Charles W. Culver, of Emeryville, California. They also reared an adopted son, Robert William Sherier, who is now eighteen years of age and has been a member of the household from the age of nine months.


Mr. Peninger is a republican in his political views. He proudly wears the little bronze button that proclaims him a veteran of the Civil war and a member of the Grand Army post. His wife is connected with the Woman's Relief Corps and the Ladies of the Maccabees. They are well known residents of Ada county, where they have made their home for thirty-nine years, therefore witnessing much of the growth and development of the community, while along agricultural lines Mr. Peninger has taken an active part in the work of general progress and improvement.


W. E. STUART.


W. E. Stuart, a stockman living in the Falk district of Payette county, was born near his present residence at Falk, Idaho, December 29, 1868. His father, William Stuart, was a native of Ireland and on coming to America about 1850 took up his abode in Illinois. He afterward removed to Missouri and in 1864 came to Idaho, settling at what is now known as Falk. In Illinois he had married Sarah Ellen Ackels, a native of Ohio, and they crossed the plains from Missouri with an ox team and four cows, which they drove as a team, and also a four horse team. They experienced all of the troubles and hardships attendant upon such a trip in those early days and were six months on the way. In Idaho the father engaged in the live stock business and was considered one of the most prominent stockmen of the state. He owned thousands of head of cattle and at one time owned thirty-one hundred and sixty acres of land in the Payette valley. He was a man of upright character and genuine worth, was fearless, and it was said of him that when the Indians stole his horses he always brought them back. He died on the 18th of October, 1895, while his wife passed away at Blackfoot, Idaho, in January, 1901. They were the parents of fifteen children, of whom tour are living: Emma B., now a practicing physician of Portland, Oregon; Mrs. Minnie Patten, of Falk, Idaho; Mrs. Nellie Meldrum, of Victoria, British Columbia; and W. E., of this review.




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