History of Idaho, the gem of the mountains, Volume II, Part 39

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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Mr. Cruzen was born in Oskaloosa, Iowa, May 1, 1858, and was reared upon a farm in that state, early becoming familiar with all the duties and labors that fall to the lot of the farm-bred boy who divides his time between the acquirement of an education and the work of the fields. His father, George W. Cruzen, was a native of Xenia, Ohio, and the mother, Celesta (Coffin) Cruzen, was born in Richmond, Indiana, representing one of the old Quaker families of that section.

After spending his youthful days upon the home farm and continuing a resident of Iowa until 1886, Mr. Cruzen of this review removed to Curtis, Nebraska, where he established one of the first banks of the town. He continued actively in the banking business in that state until 1901 and during one period controlled three Nebraska banks. He had also become the owner of large tracts of valuable land in that state. The year 1890 witnessed his arrival in Idaho, to investigate the opportunities for investments, and as the years have passed he has made some very important investments in realty, both in Boise and in the adjoining district. This land has become very valuable with the passing of time and the rapid settlement of the country. He still owns quite a large amount of his original holdings and has become one of the wealthy men of the state through his judicious purchases of property. Something of the increase in realty values is indicated in the fact that a quarter block which he purchased on the northeast corner of Bannock and Eighth streets in Boise in 1890 for eight thousand dollars was sold in 1909 to the United States government for eighty thousand dollars, to be used as a site for the Federal building. It was also in 1890 that Mr. Cruzen bought a farm of one hundred and sixty acres adjoining Boise on the southwest, for which he paid six thou- sand dollars. He has since sold a portion of this for forty thousand dollars but still retains four-fifths of the original tract. On another occasion he purchased one hundred and thirty acres of land adjoining Boise on the northwest, for which he paid fifteen thousand dollars, and he has since sold a portion of this for one hundred and twenty-five thousand dollars, while the amount which he retains is of equal value. In 1907 he bought what is now known as the Cruzen canal but prior to that date was known as the Perault canal. In the same year he built the Capital Water Conipany system, piping the water from the Cruzen canal all over the capital city. He is likewise the principal owner of Columbia Park in Boise, holding over four-fifths of that land.

He figures also in financial circles as owner of a bank at Donnelly, Idaho, and the A. R. Cruzen Investment Company, of which he is the sole owner. This is a one hundred and fifty thousand dollar paid up company. Mr. Cruzen's hobby is the man- agement and supervision of his beautiful two thousand acre White Clover Ranch, which is all fine smooth land, in one tract, all under irrigation, with its own irrigation system. It is located at Norwood, Idaho, in the Upper Long Valley, in Valley County, and the railroad station of Norwood is on the ranch. Besides white clover the land is all in blue grass and timothy, and owing to the delightful climate, Mr. Cruzen has found it an ideal place to spend his summer months. Outside of his Boise property, he owns some of the finest land in the vicinity of the state capital, lands ranging in price from five hundred dollars to one thousand five hundred dollars per acre.

While Mr. Cruzen came to Idaho in 1890 to make investments, he did not remain permanently at. that period, but returned for a time to Curtis, Nebraska, where he had

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banking interests. While in the latter state he took a very prominent part in political activity. A stalwart republican, he served for several years as a member of the repub- lican state central committee and was also elected to the Nebraska legislature. In 1889 he was the youngest member of the house and was made chairman of the ways and means committee, one of the most important committees of the general assembly. While serving in that connection during the full period of sixty days he was thrown into almost daily contact with General John J. Pershing, then a young lieutenant who had just graduated from West Point and at that period was training the cadets at the University of Nebraska. Whenever General Pershing wanted an appropriation, he would go to Mr. Cruzen and ask him to put it through. Mr. Cruzen was a most prom- inent figure in republican circles in Nebraska for many years and in 1901 was appointed by President Roosevelt to the position of consul general of Porto Rico and collector of customs and custodian of all government property and all government financial matters, having two hundred people in his service. He occupied the office for about three years, finally resigning to give his attention to his individual interests.

In 1904 he came to Boise to look after his investments here and, pleased with the country and its people, decided to remain, so that the capital gained a valuable citizen. Mr. Cruzen belongs to the Boise Commercial Club, also to the Boise Country Club and fraternally is a Mason and an Elk. In the former organization he has attained the Royal Arch degree. His life has been one of continuous activity in which has been accorded due recognition of labor, and today he is numbered among the substantial citizens of his adopted state. His interests are thoroughly identified with those of Boise, and at all times he is ready to lend his aid and cooperation to any movement calculated to benefit this section of the country or advance its wonderful development.

GEORGE C. HUEBENER.

George C. Huebener, attorney at law, practicing at the bar of Emmett and dating his residence in Idaho since 1904, was born at Eau Claire, Wisconsin, March 29, 1879, and is a son of George C. and Anna (Seidel) Huebener, who were natives of Germany and representatives of old families of that country, save on the mother's side there is a strain of French blood. The parents, however, came to America in early life and were married at Eau Claire, Wisconsin, in 1878. They had a family of six children, four sons and two daughters, of whom three sons and a daughter are living. George C. Huebener is the eldest of the family and the others who sur- vive are: Frank O., residing at St. Paul, Minnesota; and Walter F. and Mrs. Louise Peddycord, both residents of Portland, Oregon. The father came to the United States when about twenty-one years of age. He was a merchant miller but after locating in Eau Claire, Wisconsin, conducted a hardware store for many years. His last days were spent in Minneapolis, Minnesota, where he passed away Feb- ruary 14, 1904. The mother survives and.makes her home with her only daughter in Portland, Oregon, yet enjoying good health.

George C. Huebener was graduated from the high school of Eau Claire, Wis- consin, with the class of 1898 and afterward took up the study of law in the night section of the University of Minnesota at Minneapolis, where he was a student between the years 1900 and 1903. In 1904 he came to Idaho, settling at Coeur d'Alene, and on the 12th of December of that year he was admitted to the bar at Boise and entered upon the practice of law in Coeur d'Alene. He was appointed chief clerk of the Idaho state penitentiary at Boise by Governor Frank R. Gooding in March, 1905, and filled that position until 1909 but in April of the latter year resigned to accept the secretaryship of the Idaho Commission at the Alaska-Yukon- Pacific Exposition at Seattle, to which place he was appointed by Governor James H. Brady, then chief executive of Idaho. He served until the close of the exposi- tion and from 1910 until 1915 maintained a law office in Boise.

From January 1, 1914, until after the election in the following November he was private secretary to the late United States Senator Brady in Washington, D. C. He resigned the position in November to resume the private practice of law in Boise and in May, 1917, he removed to Emmett, where he has since continued in active practice. He now has a large clientage and his work in the courts has been of a distinctively representative character, the court records bearing testimony to

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his ability in the many favorable verdicts which he has won. He is a member of the State Bar Association and is vice president of the Gem County Bar Association.

In Boise, on the 6th of August, 1918, Mr. Huebener was married to Miss Beryl Lucile Morrow, of Boise, a native of Idaho. They have one daughter, Elizabeth Louise, who was born July 21, 1919.

Mr. Huebener is a prominent Mason and a past commander of Idaho Com- mandery, No. 1, K. T., at Boise, and past potentate of El Korah Temple, A. A. O. N. M. S., of Boise. He is also a past sovereign of the Red Cross of Constantine and is a most loyal follower of Masonic teachings, principles and purposes. For recreation he turns to hunting and fishing and is a member of the Emmett Gun Club.

MISS LIDA COX.

The city of Rigby, Idaho, is justly proud of her popular and efficient post- mistress, Miss Lida Cox, an enterprising business woman whose initiative and ability as an executive have done much toward the betterment and growth of the postoffice facilities of her city. Miss Cox is a native of Illinois, her birth having occrured at Bunker Hill in October, 1889, and is a daughter of William and Jennie (Ridgley) Cox. The father, who was a merchant, was born in New York but at an early day removed to Missouri and located at Vandalia, where he was engaged in the clothing business for a number of years. He now resides in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, but the mother, who was a native of Missouri, passed into the great be- yond in January, 1894.

Miss Cox began her education at Vandalia and later attended Pritchett Col- lege of Glasgow, Missouri. She completed her studies at the State Normal School of Kirksville, Missouri, and in 1912 came to Rigby, Idaho, where she taught school for four years. On the expiration of that period she entered the service of the Jefferson Title & Abstract Company and subsequently went into the office of the county recorder, where she was employed until the time of her appointment as postmistress of Rigby on the 1st of May, 1918, which position she still holds. Her political allegiance is given to the democratic party, while her religious faith is indicated by her membership in the Episcopal church.

Under the able management and direction of Miss Cox the Rigby postoffice has seen many important changes and enlargements, chief among which is the addition of the Swan Valley route with five more postoffices. It is also largely due to the efficient supervision and direction of Miss Cox that the postoffice receipts have doubled in the past year and the Rigby postoffice advanced to second class. She has won the respect and esteem of all the citizens of Rigby whose good fortune it has been to know her personally or to have business relations with her, and she now enjoys an extensive and favorable acquaintance throughout the entire com- munity.

HON. PETER G. JOHNSTON.

Hon. Peter G. Johnston, of Blackfoot, prominently identified with farming, banking and political interests and thus proving one of the leading and valued citizens of Bingham county, was born on the Orkney islands on the 15th of August. 1864, and is a son of William and Isabelle (Green) Johnston, who were also natives of that group of islands. The father was a sailor, fisherman and mechanic and also engaged in boat building, following these various occupations as well as farming on the Orkney islands and on the mainland of Scotland. He sailed to Labrador for ten years. He passed away on the Orkney islands in 1901, having for a long period survived his wife, whose death occurred in February, 1878.

Peter G. Johnston was reared on his native isle and there remained with his father until 1884, when he came to America, making his way at once to Salt Lake City. Soon afterward he secured employment on a ranch at herding sheep and thus spent about four years. In 1887 he joined James Duckworth, now president of the Blackfoot stake of Zion of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and they engaged in the sheep business until 1910, when Mr. Johnston closed out

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his connection with the sheep industry. For thirty years he had been identified with sheep raising in Idaho but made his home in Salt Lake City until 1902, when he removed his family to Blackfoot, where he erected a fine home on South Shilling avenue. Here he has since resided and his former success, resulting from his business sagacity and unfaltering enterprise, brought to him a notable measure of prosperity. As the years passed his interests broadened in scope and impor- tance and he became one of the organizers of the Blackfoot City Bank, of which he was elected a director, and he is also a director of the First National Bank of Pocatello and a stockholder in the Rexburg State Bank, of which he was a director for a number of years. He is likewise one of the stockholders and a director of the Blackfoot Mercantile Company and thus figures prominently in connection with the business interests of the city. He still holds his farming interests, having one hundred and sixty acres of land, a part of which is within the city limits of Blackfoot. He also owns a ranch in Bonneville county of a thousand acres and personally gives his attention to the cultivation of his one hundred and sixty acre place.

On the 23d of August, 1893, Mr. Johnston was married to Miss Alice Duck- worth, whose parents are mentioned in the sketch of James Duckworth on another page of this work. To this marriage were born four children: James D., assistant cashier of the Blackfoot City Bank; Peter Rich, who is attending the Agricultural College at Logan, Utah; Lloyd D., a high school pupil; and Alice, who was born in 1910 and passed away at birth. The mother died April 10, 1910, and Mr. Johnston afterward married Flora Harding on the 28th of January, 1913. She was born in New Zealand and was reared in Australia. She joined the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and came to America in 1907, making her way to Salt Lake City, where she was employed by Zion's Cooperative Mercantile Institution to the time of her marriage.

Mr. Johnston has long been an active and earnest worker in the church. He filled a two years' mission in Scotland and Ireland in 1896 and 1897 and presided over the Union stake in Oregon for one year as president. He is a member of the gen- eral auditing committee of the church and is also high counselor of the. Blackfoot stake and has served as bishop of Blackfoot. He has traveled quite extensively over Europe on two different occasions and after the armistice was signed he went to New Zealand and Australia. His political allegiance is given to the republican party and he was a most warm and ardent admirer of Theodore Roosevelt, "the foremost American citizen."

ROBERT NEWTON CUMMINGS, M. D.

Dr. Robert Newton Cummings is widely recognized as an able physician and surgeon of Emmett, where he has practiced his profession continuously since 1904. His birth occurred at Hindsville, Arkansas, July 18, 1874, his parents being Ross Kinyard and Margaret E. (Garrett) Cummings, both of whom were natives of Tennessee. Their marriage, however, was celebrated in Arkansas. They became the parents of five children, three of whom are yet living, namely: Robert Newton, who is the only member of the family in Idaho; Mrs. Lula Berry, of Long Beach, California; and Edward B., who is a merchant of Springdale, Arkansas. The father, a farmer by occupation, died when his son Robert was but four years of age.

Robert N. Cummings was reared at the place of his nativity and supplemented his early education by a course of study in the University of Arkansas, from which institution he was graduated with the degree of Bachelor of Arts in 1898. While a student there he became a member of the southern branch of the Kappa Alpha fraternity. From 1898 until 1901 he studied medicine in the medical department of Washington University at St. Louis, completing his professional training in the University of Denver at Denver, Colorado, which conferred upon him the degree of M. D. in 1903. He subsequently spent a year as interne in St. Anthony Hospital of Denver and then came to Idaho. After investigating some other cities he decided to locate at Emmett, where he has remained continuously since.

On the 19th of February, 1906, in Boston, Massachusetts, Dr. Cummings was united in marriage to Miss Harriet A. Reynolds, who was born at Brownsville, Texas, May 3, 1882. Her father, Captain S. W. Reynolds, served as an officer of

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the Union army during the period of the Civil war and later engaged in the drug business. Dr. and Mrs. Cummings have two daughters: Margaret, who was born November 25, 1907; and Florence, whose natal day was May 20, 1910. A son, Robert Edward, whose birth occurred March 10, 1914, passed away on the 20th of May, 1919.

WILLIAM N. SWEET.

One of the most useful citizens of Boise, an enthusiast and booster of the city and state, is William N. Sweet, a prominent merchant of this city, who is president of the Sweet-Teller Hardware Company, one of its most substantial mercantile establish- ments. Moreover, he has been connected with many other enterprises which have proven of great value to the commonwealth along various lines and has thus demon- strated his high ideals in regard to his duties toward his city and state. Outside of business affairs he is greatly interested in sports and has successfully promoted organi- zations which have not only aroused the interest of the public but have been of finan- cial benefit to the capital.

Mr. Sweet was born at Chariton, Iowa, October 26, 1870, the only son of Newland and Jennie (Slagg) Sweet, natives of New York and England respectively. He is of English descent on both sides. His father, who was not only a successful agricul- turist but was also a talented pianist, died six months before his son was born. Mrs. Sweet was born at Red Lodge, Derbyshire, England, and at the age of nine years, was brought to the United States by her father, her mother having passed away in England. Mrs. Sweet now resides at Boulder, Colorado, at the venerable age of seventy-eight years.

William N. Sweet was but a year old when his mother, then a widow, removed with her three little children, two daughters and a son, to a homestead in Hall county, Nebraska, where she proved up on a claim while teaching school two miles away in order to provide for the family larder. On this claim, in a sod house, William N. Sweet was reared. Indians were still roaming the prairies and buffaloes were plenti- ful. Leaving both alone, the family lived in peace and unmolested. Mr. Sweet received his first lessons in the little schoolhouse where his mother had previously taught, but later, when he was nine years old, removed with the family to Wood River, Nebraska, where he continued his education and passed his boyhood days until the age of thirteen. He was then taken out of school and placed in a small hardware store which was owned by his stepfather, his mother in the meantime having married Andrew Hof- meister. He became thoroughly acquainted with the details of the hardware business and with that line he has been more or less identified all his life. As becomes the vigorous young man of the west, he was fond of horseback riding, being quite pro- ficient along that line when a mere boy, in fact he became quite at home on horseback when but three years of age. In 1887, at the age of seventeen, he located at Wallace, in southwestern Nebraska, which is situated on the high line branch of the Burling- ton Railroad, which at that time was being built from Holdrege, Nebraska, to Cheyenne, Wyoming. There at that early age he gave a demonstration of his business ability, conducting a large general store, selling everything that a cowman or homesteader required with the exception of lumber, furniture and coal. The home ranch adjoined the townsite, the cattle and horses ranging the hills to the Platte river. Although much of Mr. Sweet's time was taken up with his business affairs his heart was with the out- of-door life, and his interest and enjoyment were in living and growing things, and this interest has remained with him to this day. He was equally fond of sitting in the saddle or at table and he assures his friends that he was equally efficient along both lines. He never found a horse which he could not ride and those with the blackest reputation were brought to him from all over that section of the cow country. He also took great delight and pride in a kennel of greyhounds which he kept on the ranch and as the country was full of rabbits and wolves he enjoyed a great deal of the truest, cleanest and keenest sport. There is nothing that equals a race between a grey- hound and a rabbit or a fight between a greyhound and a wolf when you are mounted on a good horse with nothing but the sky line to stop you and the feeling that nothing else matters and the world is yours. Speaking of those youthful days, brimful of hard work and exciting adventures, Mr. Sweet says: "I, my dogs and my horses were known not only in Nebraska but in Kansas, Colorado and Wyoming. I spent many days at Scouts Rest Ranch, the home of Colonel Cody, at North Platte, Nebraska.

WILLIAM N. SWEET

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There I rode the horse Sitting Bull, the favorite saddle horse of the old Indian chief, which he presented to Colonel Cody-a grand horse, then over twenty years old but as proud and as clean as any four year old. I am proud of having known two such true types of western big men as Buffalo Bill and Governor Jim Hawley, both broad, gen- erous men of the Old West and big enough to build and develop the great New West. Some good things end prematurely and so did our prosperity. The failure of crops year after year and our effort to feed the entire settlement finally ate up our store, cattle and horses, and in January, 1895, I sold my last saddle horse for enough money to get me to Cripple Creek, Colorado. There I walked the streets among thousands of men-and with seven dollars in my pocket. This was a new phase of western life to me and I enjoyed watching it and working in it and got a place in a hardware store. Soon I climbed and climbed high, in fact I was advanced over twenty men to a place next to the manager in two months and thus became fired with the ambition to become a millionaire-quick. With partners of a like ambition and similar shortage of cash I tried leasing it and worked eighteen hours a day but went broke on short rations. I then prospected in the Red Mountain country on a grubstake-the grub was fat but the prospect lean-and this being between September and June, the snow was deep. Absence makes the heart grow fonder and I returned to my old hardware job. During this period I saw the great Cripple Creek and Victor fires, when both towns were prac- tically wiped out. I then noticed everywhere Major Fred Reed's signs: 'Watch Gillette Grow,' Gillette being a camp near Cripple Creek, and she did grow as long as Fred stayed, but when he left the boom and boost went with him and soon the streets were dust, the tin cans rust and Gillette went bust. Fred Reed went to Idaho. In 1900 my boss moved to Boulder, Colorado, and I moved with him and my job in the hard- ware store.

"There I met and on February 25, 1902, married Bessie Lola Morris, beautiful in her home life, a wonderful mother, untiring in her efforts to build up our independence, always thoughtful of our comfort and forehanded for the future -- with a love rich in everything that makes home and home life everything to be desired. Brave in her years of suffering from ill health, cheerful and helpful to the last-the love light in her eyes was closed to us suddenly July 20, 1918. Our loss is great, but the loving memories will always be comforting and beautiful.

"In March, 1902, I was offered and accepted a position with the Morrell Hardware Company at Pueblo, Colorado, and became manager of their store there, the headquar- ters being at Cripple Creek. In Pueblo we built our first home, where our baby girl, Marion Louise, was born October 27, 1904. Those were happy years in our Pueblo house, watching together the growth and development of our daughter. The Morrell Hardware Company having decided to merge the Pueblo stock with the Cripple Creek and Victor stores, we moved to Victor, where I assumed management of that store, thus continuing until I came to Boise."

On April 10, 1907, Mr. Sweet arrived in Boise, becoming assistant manager of the Carlson-Lusk Hardware Company and in October of the same year became a member of the firm, being elected secretary. In April, 1912, he severed his connection with the . firm and in August of that year bought the interests of Ben S. Eastman in the Eastman- Teller Hardware Company, becoming president of the new firm of the Sweet-Teller Hardware Company, their store being located at the corner of Ninth and Main streets, Boise. This has developed into one of the largest hardware establishments within the state and its great success is largely due to the long and thorough experience as well as the irrepressible energy of Mr. Sweet. His prominence in regard to the hardware trade is evident from the fact that he served as president of the Idaho State Hardware & Implement Dealers Association for two years-1911 and 1912.

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History of Idaho, the gem of the mountains, Volume II, Part 39

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