History of Idaho, the gem of the mountains, Volume II, Part 117

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 117

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).

Mr. Hammer was married in Baker, now Malheur county, Oregon, in 1874, to Miss Amanda Thomson, who was born in the Willamette valley of Oregon, a daughter of James Thomson, a pioneer of that state, who removed to the northwest from Arkansas prior to the Civil war. Mr. and Mrs. Hammer have now traveled life's journey together for forty-five years and they have reared a family of seven children, five sons and two daughters. Theirs is a notable family record inasmuch as the circle has never been broken by the hand of death. The children are: Ralph; Etta, now the widow of George Richardson and for the past six years a trained nurse in St. Luke's Hospital in Boise; John; Francis M .; Fred; Jesse, who served with the United States forces on the Rhine in Germany, being a member of the Second Idaho Regiment; and Eva, the wife of John Sykes. Ralph is a resident of Mackay, Idaho, where he is engaged in mining, and John and Francis M. are acting as their father's assistants in the farming and live stock business, as was their brother Jesse before he entered the army. Fred also is at home.

In his political views Mr. Hammer is a democrat but has never been a candi- date for office. His attention has always been given to his business affairs yet he is not remiss in the duties of citizenship and cooperates heartily in plans and measures for the public good. His entire business career has been marked by progress, resulting from close application and energy well directed.

SAMUEL HUGH PROCTOR.

Samuel Hugh Proctor, a rancher and sheepman residing at Kimberly, Idaho, was born in Decatur, Illinois, May 10, 1868, a son of Hugh and Dorcas (Smith) Proctor. His boyhood days were passed in his native state and he is indebted to the public school system of Illinois for the educational opportunities which he enjoyed and which qualified him for life's practical and responsible duties. When his textbooks were put aside he took up the occupation of farming and raising live stock, in which business his father was engaged. While in Illinois he raised a number of fine race horses and also engaged in the breeding of stand- ard bred horses. He was at one time the owner of Rex Orator, with a record of 2:171/2. He was often called upon to act as judge of races and has always been recognized as an authority upon the value of fine horses. In the winter of 1892-3 he went to Labette county, Kansas, where he engaged in dealing in cattle and hogs, feeding cattle. He afterward returned to Illinois, where he remained until December, 1913, and then came to Twin Falls county, Idaho, where he purchased one hundred and sixty acres of land in 1914. To his original pur- chase he added eighty acres and took up his abode upon the farm, which still re- mains his place of residence. He has an excellent ranch property of two hun- dred and forty acres, much of which he has brought under a high state of culti- vation, so that the place annually produces good crops. He is also interested in the Pocatello Security & Trust Company, of which he was one of the organizers, and he has interests in oil lands. His attention, however, is chiefly given to his ranching and live stock interests and he is now handling registered Rambouillet sheep, Shorthorn cattle and Percheron horses, having one hundred and fifty head of registered sheep. He has three bands of sheep in the hills and is one of the well known stockmen of his section of the state.

In 1894 Mr. Proctor was married to Miss Ada L. Miller, a native of Illinois and a daughter of John and Charlotte Miller. She passed away in 1907, at the age of thirty-three years, leaving two children, Charlotte D. and Hugh Miller. In

995

HISTORY OF IDAHO

1917 Mr. Proctor was again married, his second union being with Miss Cuba A. Niblock, a native of Missouri and a daughter of Basil and Margaret (Yeager) Niblock.

Mr. and Mrs. Proctor are widely and favorably known in Twin Falls county, where his operations as a ranchman and sheepman have brought him prominently to the front in business circles. In politics he maintains an independent course, voting for men and measures rather than party. He concentrates his efforts and attention upon his business affairs and in all that he undertakes manifests a most progressive spirit.

E. G. DICKERSON.

E. G. Dickerson, who is conducting a transfer and auto livery business in Parma under the name of the Parma Transfer Company and is also actively identi- fied with farming in Canyon county, was born in Harrison county, Ohio, August 29, 1869. He was but a young lad when his parents removed with their family to McLean county, Illinois, and there he acquired his education. He afterward took up the occupation of general farming and stock raising in connection with his father, with whom he was thus associated until 1890, when the parents removed to Washington county, Iowa, as did also E. G. Dickerson and his wife. He there followed farming for three years, at the end of which time he became a resident of Marshall county, Kansas, but his parents remained in Iowa. In Marshall county Mr. Dickerson devoted three years to general agricultural pursuits and then became a resident of Neosha county, Kansas, where he again followed farming for three years, after which he disposed of his interests there and made his way to the north- west with Parma, Idaho, as his destination. Here he purchased the business of the William Leigh Transfer Company and changed the name to the Parma Transfer Company. In this connection he conducts a general transfer and auto livery busi- ness. He and his brother, who has been associated with him for the past four years, also own about two hundred acres of land under cultivation within a mile of the town of Parma. Mr. Dickerson likewise buys and sells horses and mules and raises a few sheep. He has another brother, F. L. Dickerson, who has about four hundred acres of land four miles south of Parma, planted mostly to wheat, and be is likewise engaged in stock raising, having fifty head of cattle, forty head of sheep and twenty head of horses. In the year 1918 F. L. Dickerson was chair- man of the county democratic committee.

On the 10th of February, 1892, E. G. Dickerson was united in marriage to Miss Clara Dodds, of Adams county, Ohio, and they have become the parents of two children: Jesse Earl, twenty-six years of age, who was with the United States geographical survey until November, 1918, when he volunteered for service in the American army as a member of the sanitary department. He was discharged after the signing of the armistice and returned to his old position with the geographical survey. Raymond Wilson, eighteen years of age, is attending the Agricultural College at Corvallis, Oregon.

Mr. Dickerson early learned the value of industry and thrift, and as the years have passed he has most carefully directed his labors so that his diligence and perseverance have constituted the foundation upon which he has huilt his success.

JAMES W. LYNCH.

James W. Lynch, residing at New Plymouth, where he follows the occupa- tion of farming, was born in Omaha, Nebraska, December 28, 1860, his parents being Thomas and Johanna Lynch, natives of Ireland, who on coming to America settled first in Illinois and afterward removed to Nebraska, where the father home-" steaded. The old log house is still standing on the farm where James W. Lynch was born. His brother, Thomas T., and a sister, Margaret, are the owners of the old homestead and are numbered among the richest farming people at Shell Creek, Platte county, Nebraska. The parents were devout members of the Catholic church and passed away in that faith on the old homestead.

996

HISTORY OF IDAHO

James W. Lynch supplemented his public school education by a course in a business college of Dubuque, Iowa, from which he was graduated. He afterward became connected with mercantile interests in Platte Center, Nebraska, and was thus engaged for six years. He then turned his attention to the banking business and for fifteen years was connected with the Farmers State Bank of that place. Following the failure of the bank in 1898 he removed to Idaho to recoup his for- tunes and started again at the foot of the ladder as a sheep herder. After two years, through his own efforts and the assistance of his wife, who had conducted a millinery business, he had gained a start and was in possession of five hundred head of sheep. He then became one of the organizers of the firm of Lynch & Phillips, his partner being his brother-in-law. In the meantime they had acquired one hundred and sixty acres of land and after a time, in order to carefully culti- vate their land, they sold their sheep and are now giving their entire attention to the raising of fruit and to general farming, including the production of hay and grain. They have fifty-five acres planted to fruit and in 1919 sold about seven thousand boxes of apples at fifty dollars per ton. Their grain yield was about fifty bushels to the acre in wheat and they sold about two hundred tons of alfalfa in 1919. The place upon which Mr. Lynch and his family now reside com- prises twenty acres near New Plymouth. It was cultivated mostly in 1919 by Mrs. Lynch.

It was on the 12th of September, 1894, that Mr. Lynch was married to Miss Phoebe Phillips, a daughter of Sirvillian E. and Elizabeth (Divet) Phillips, the former a native of Ann Arbor, Michigan, and the latter of Pennsylvania. The father died in 1908 but the mother is now living with Mrs. Lynch at the age of seventy-six years. Mr. Phillips was a carpenter by trade and built the first house in New Plymouth. His father had been a pioneer of hoth Nevada and California. Mr. and Mrs. Lynch have two children: Irl J., twenty-three years of age, who is an electrician; and Delphine E., who is still in school. Mrs. Lynch is a lady of innate culture and refinement who presides with gracious hospitality over her home, making it the center of a cultured society circle. Their residence is sit- nated on an eminence, commanding a delightful view of the surrounding country.

C. S. WELLS.

C. S. Wells, who is successfully following farming, his place of two hundred and eighty acres being pleasantly and conveniently located a mile and a half north- east of Caldwell, was horn in Lucas county, Iowa, July 9, 1868. The following year his parents removed with their family to Missouri, where he acquired his education, pursuing his studies to the age of eleven years, when he began to provide for his own support. Through the succeeding five years he worked as a laborer. When sixteen years of age he became an employer and since that time has been farming for himself. In 1883, accompanied by his mother and brother, he removed to Nebraska, where he began farming on his own account, remaining for five years in that state, on the expiration of which period the family went to Kansas, where C. S. Wells again devoted his attention to the occupation of farming, and also took up the business of raising live stock, in which he continued for fourteen years.

It was in 1903 that Mr. Wells and family arrived in Caldwell, Idaho, and he purchased his present farm, it being the Hi Jobe estate. The property is located a mile and a half northeast of Caldwell and one hundred and sixty acres of the farm is planted to blue grass and white clover. The broad fields appear as level as the floor and nothing more beautiful was ever seen in the blue grass region of Kentucky. In addition to the production of crops, Mr. Wells raises grain and live stock, making a specialty of shorthorn cattle and registered Percheron and standard hred horses. The draft stock and cattle which he has on his farm are worthy of special mention. Mr. Wells is meeting with very substantial success in the development and improvement of his farm, as he carries on general agricultural pursuits and stock raising.

In 1893 Mr. Wells was married to Miss Maggie Walker, of Iowa, and they became the parents of five children: Luella Fern, Jessie, Rachel May, Everett James and Edna Marguerite. The wife and mother passed away April 20, 1916. In the years of his residence in the northwest Mr. Wells has made steady

997

HISTORY OF IDAHO

progress and is now one of the prosperous business men of Canyon county. He deserves much credit for what he has accomplished, as he started out in business life empty-handed when a young man. From that time forward he has been dependent entirely upon his own resources and labors, and his progressiveness and energy have enabled him te wrest fortune from the hands of fate and win a place among the leading farmers and stock raisers of the section in which he has chosen to make his home.

JOHN BIVENS.

John Bivens, a farmer of Fruitland, was born in Pike county, Missouri, May 27, 1854, his parents being David M. and Honor (Reyley) Bivens, the former a native of Tennessee and the latter of Illinois. However, the mother went with her parents to Missouri and was married there. David M. Bivens was a farmer and stock raiser, devoting his entire life to that occupation. In 1862 he came te Idaho, crossing the plains with the Atchison train, of which he was a lieutenant. They passed through Idaho the same year and went to Oregon, laying out the site for the town of Union, located between Baker City and La Grande. In the fall of 1863 they returned to Idaho and settled near Falk, in Payette county. They had but one encounter with the Indians in crossing the plains, one of their company being killed, but the Indians paid a heavy score for the life they took. With the return of the Bivens family to Idaho the father established a stage station at Weiser and also one at Falk, where later the family made their home. In 1864 the William Stuart family also located in the same locality and the Stuart and Bivens families established the first school in southern Idaho. Both families were connected with the cattle business on an extensive scale and as the ranges were open they had thousands of head. Each spring saw them on the road east to the nearest railroad station in Nebraska with hundreds of head of cattle which they had prepared for the market. In 1876 David M. Bivens made a trip to Mexico and brought back with him some alfalfa seed, thereby introducing the crop inte this state. To raise that product it was necessary to have water, so accordingly his son, John Bivens, began the building of an irrigation canal, which at that time was called the Bivens and Pence ditch, but is now known as the Lower Payette ditch. They built about sixteen miles of ditch and the system has since been extended until the ditch is now thirty-four miles in length and serves more than two hundred farmers. At one time in the early days the family received a great scare about the Indians. A man was seen lying in the sagebrush apparently dead and it was reported to the settlers that Ben Bivens was out there dead, with the addition that no doubt he was killed by the Indians. The settlers went out in fear to hunt for the body but upon reaching the spot found the man alive and beside his camp fire. He had been drunk and was sleeping off his intoxication. Ben Bivens was found at his camp in good health. The day before the outbreak of the Bannock war John Bivens was carrying the mail from Payette to Indian valley and while stopping at Sand Hollow to eat his lunch an Indian overtook him and pulled a gun on him, but Mr. Bivens managed to get his horse between himself and the Indian and get out his own gun, whereupon the Indian decided to engage in conversation. He then rode along with Mr. Bivens to the Indian valley. Mr. Bivens, however, was con- vinced by the actions of the Indian that trouble was brewing and advised the set- tlers to that effect. During the Bannock war the Indians stole a large number of horses, many of which belonged to Mr. Bivens, who was one of a party of ten who pursued them through the Indian valley to Council valley, at which place five of the party started on the return trip, while the other five followed the Indians into the Weiser canyon. One of these men was William White, who was captain of the party, and all were killed but a Mr. Keetley, who was badly wounded and was without ammunition. He saw there was nothing for him to do but roll over the rocks and down the river bank into the river, and, swimming up the stream instead of down, he thus saved his life. The Indians made a close search for him but he managed to evade them. He remained in hiding until after dark and then worked down the stream in the water, never touching the bank, for a distance of twenty-five miles and extending over a period of three days. Although severely wounded he immediately went to the fort and reported the trouble with the In-

998

HISTORY OF IDAHO

dians. A message was sent to the lieutenant governor of Boise, Mr. Bivens acting as messenger and making the trip alone. He delivered his message to the governor and troops were dispatched to Payette, where Peter Pence, Mr. Bivens and ten other men accompanied them to the scene of the murders and buried the dead white men but found no Indians. The parents of Mr. Bivens passed through all the hard- ships and privations of these pioneer times and the troubles incident thereto. The father died in 1883 at the age of fifty-four years and the mother passed away in 1899 at the advanced age of eighty-nine years, the death of both occurring in the Payette valley. During the Bannock war, while a freight train of about twenty wagons were camped under a bluff just north of New Plymouth on the Payette river, they were surprised by the Indians, who attempted to steal their horses and did succeed in getting ten head. A battle followed, Mr. Pence and Mr. Bivens being of the posse who pursued the Indians. In the morning they found traces of blood, which assured them that their weapons had not missed their aim. They tracked the Indians by their footprints and one among them made a print eighteen inches long. He was known as Big Foot. In the morning, at the top of a bluff, they found three newly made graves. They followed the Indians to Indian Grove, north of Weiser, and there found the horses grazing. Here Mr. Pence ordered caution. They formed a circle around the Grove and when the Indians found they were trapped they made a run for their horses and in the skirmish that followed two Indians were killed, but they got away with six of the ten horses. Big Foot was so swift a runner that he could outrun a horse and so ran the six horses into the Snake river and swam them across, carrying his rifle on the back of his neck, and as soon as he reached the opposite shore he discharged his rifle at his pursuers. Such were some of the conditions which the early settlers faced, making the history of that period a lasting memory to all who participated therein.

On the 12th of January, 1884, Mr. Bivens was married to Miss Fannie E. Stuart, who was born in Sullivan county, Missouri, and in 1882 came to the Payette valley to be with her sister, Mrs. J. B. Nesbit. She passed away at Payette, July 6, 1918. She had become the mother of six children, three of whom are deceased, Walter, John and Albert. The three living are as follows: George S., who was with the Ambulance Corps of the United States army, is still in France. The engine was blown off his car but he was uninjured. Emily F. is at home. Jessie E. is the wife of Alonzo H. Heap, who is a farmer near Falk. He was born at Montpelier, Bear Lake county, Idaho, his parents having been pioneers of this state. By her first husband, J. P. Schall, Mrs. Heap had a daughter, Josephine E. Schall, who is now a pupil in the sixth grade.

Mr. Bivens is living on a ranch of twelve acres at Fruitland and has witnessed notable changes in the country and its development, bearing his part at all times in the work of general progress and improvement. He made government surveys and helped to survey the railroad from Weiser to Salmon Meadows. He furnished the meat to the Oregon Short Line Railroad Company when they were building the line through this state. In connection with the public life of the community he has also figured conspicuously. He served on the school board of Payette and for two terms represented his district in the territorial legislature, aiding in framing the early laws of the commonwealth.

It is to his daughter, Mrs. Heap, that we are indebted for the interesting ma- terial concerning her father and pioneer times. Mrs. Heap was born at Payette and there acquired her education. Having been reared in Idaho when it was a frontier region, she relates many an interesting story and reminiscence concerning the early days. She tells of a man by the name of Ward, who was a broncho buster, and while breaking a horse the hackamore came off and he naturally therefore could not manage the animal. He accordingly called to Mr. Bivens and an Indian buster: "Oh, please corral me." Every time that he would attempt to get off the horse would strike at him with his front feet. One day when Mrs. Heap had been riding she passed the house of Tom White, who was sitting on his front porch loading his old muzzle loader gun. She asked him what was up and he replied: "A bear has eaten all of my pigs and now he has begun on the garden, so I am going after him." That night they heard the man shooting and after waiting for a long time for his return went out to look for him. They found him all out of breath. He said that he had been kicked. In the morning they found the bear dead and when they skinned him they found his hide so full of carpet tacks that they could hardly get it off. This accounted for the kick, for instead of loading

999

HISTORY OF IDAHO

the gun with shot, in the dark the man had used a package of carpet tacks. Payette county certainly owes much to the Bivens family for what they have done in the development and upbuilding of this region and there is no one who has been more closely associated with the district from pioneer times to the present.

ALEXANDER BLESSINGER.

Alexander Blessinger, deceased, was for many years a valued resident of Idaho. He came to this state during the period of its pioneer development and shared in the hardships and privations incident to the settlement and improvement of the frontier. He was engaged in freighting in the early days when there was constant danger of Indian attack and on more than one occasion his wife was threatened. In his later years he became connected with farming and stock rais- ing and met with substantial success in that line of business. He was born in Lan- caster, Pennsylvania, November 17, 1836. His father, John Blessinger, was one of the farmers of that place, but when his son Alexander was but four years of age he removed with his family to Indiana, settling near Indianapolis, where he again devoted his attention to agricultural pursuits. He passed away at Charlottesville, Indiana, May 2, 1858, while his wife, who bore the maiden name of Elizabeth Brown, died at Charlottesville, June 3, 1847, when but thirty-seven years of age.

Alexander Blessinger, reared in Indiana, pursued his education in the public schools and early became familiar with all branches of farm work. In 1859 he went to Missouri and in the spring of 1860 crossed the plains with ox team to Ore- gon, settling at Dayton, in the Willamette valley. There he worked for his uncle, Sam Brown, upon a farm until 1861, when he went to the Caribou mines of British Columbia. His success there, however, was limited and the only gold which he found he had made into a ring, which his son, W. G. C. Blessinger, now wears. He afterward engaged in freighting from Umatilla, Oregon, to Silver City, Idaho, until the Indians became so troublesome that he was obliged to abandon the work as he was in fear of his life. In 1864 he took up his abode in the Boise basin and there engaged in mining with good success for a year.

In 1865 Mr. Blessinger returned to Dayton, Oregon, and was there united in marriage to Miss Maria Mcclellan, who was born at Fairfield, Illinois, July 29, 1847. She crossed the plains with her parents by ox team in 1850, the family home being established near the present city of Portland, Oregon. After his marriage Mr. Blessinger rented and cultivated his uncle's farm, remaining thereon until 1867, when he and bis wife moved to Boise and purchased what was known as the Strode place. He also engaged in freighting from Kelton, Utah, which at that time was the nearest railroad point to Boise, a distance of about three hundred and fifty miles. While engaged in freighting he had a very narrow escape from the Indians. He and his companion teamsters were going into camp one evening at the place where Glenns Ferry is now located when they saw a band of Indians approaching on their side of the Snake river. Mr. Blessinger entreated his companions to ferry their wagons across the river and make camp on the other side but only one man took his advice. The rest of them remained and that night their horses and mules were stolen, their wagons burned and it was only hy mere chance and fast run- ning that the men were not murdered. Mr. Blessinger and the companion who took his advice and ferried across the river with him saved all of their goods and stock as the Indians did not cross the river. Mr. Blessinger continued to engage in freighting until about 1880, when he removed from the Strode place to the Picayune Smith place, where he farmed and also conducted a dairy for three years. He then returned to Boise and conducted the Walla Walla corral, where the team- sters kept their horses and mules. In November of the same year he sold the business and removed to the old home farm of two hundred and twenty-six acres, which he purchased from Isaac Newton for four thousand dollars. Upon this tract of land he carried on general farming and also the raising of stock for beef. His business affairs were carefully and wisely directed and he was regarded as a man of enterprise and sound judgment.

Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.

History of Idaho, the gem of the mountains, Volume II, Part 117

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