USA > Idaho > History of Idaho, the gem of the mountains, Volume II > Part 46
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On the 7th of October, 1909, Mr. French was united in marriage to Miss Vida
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Hyde, a daughter of Dr. George E. and Rose L. (Farr) Hyde. Her father is now medical superintendent of the Utah State Mental Hospital at Provo. He was born in England and emigrated to Utah in 1884. He practiced medicine in that state for a time and then became a resident of Rexburg, Idaho, where he followed his profession for a considerable period. For two years he served as superintendent of the Blackfoot Asylum and afterward removed to Provo, Utah. The mother is also still living. To Mr. and Mrs. French have been born four children: Harold Hyde; Ross W., who passed away in March, 1915; Ruth Melba and Roland Lee.
The religious faith of Mr. French is that of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter- day Saints. His political support is given to the republican party and he is recog- nized as one of its leaders in local ranks. In matters of citizenship he stands for all that is progressive and of value to the community and his worth is widely acknowledged.
HON. ALBERT BARTLETT MOSS.
Hon. Albert Bartlett Moss, founder of the town of Payette, was in many other ways closely associated with the history of Idaho, particularly in shaping its political development and in promoting those interests which had to do with the upbuilding of the commonwealth and the upholding of high civic ideals. He was born in Belvidere, Illinois, November 29, 1849, and there acquired his early education, but throughout his life he was a close student of men and events and learned many valuable lessons in the school of experience. At the outbreak of the Civil war he enlisted in the Drum Corps and in the battle of Shiloh sustained wounds which compelled his father to take him home as soon as he could locate him. His eldest brother, James Moss, was a captain in Company B. of the Fifty-eighth Illinois Volunteers and lost his life in the memorable engagement at the Red river crossing in Louisiana, where his valor won him distinction.
Albert Bartlett Moss was thirty-two years of age when in 1881 he arrived in the Payette valley of Idaho, where he took a contract with the Oregon Short Line Rail- road for getting out two hundred and fifty thousand railroad ties. In order to ac- complish this he had to build roads and bridges to Long Valley, where the timher was. located. He employed eight hundred and twenty-seven men and the following year floated the ties down the river. The same year he and a brother established a store at Payette as a supply camp of the Oregon Short Line Railroad material, and by the end of that year they were employing over one hundred men. Deciding that there were excellent opportunities for the young man who would join his fortunes to those of Payette, Mr. Moss remained here and for years owned and conducted important business interests which constituted a most potent element in the development of the city. He was at the head of the Moss mercantile establishment, one of the most modern department stores of the west. With the settlement of the district his busi- ness rapidly developed until it had reached mammoth proportions, and Mr. Moss not only gave his time and attention to the upbuilding of an immense mercantile trade but also became actively interested in banking. He likewise fostered horticulture and in many ways promoted the welfare of Payette, the county and the state. In a business way he recognized opportunities that others passed heedlessly by and his enterprise and progressiveness brought him to the front as a leader in the substantial development of this section of the country. His efforts, too, brought to him the just rewards of labor and he became one of the men of affluence in his section of the state.
At the same time Mr. Moss was a leader in shaping public thought and action and became a potent force in political circles. He attended many of the state conventions of the republican party and in 1898 was nominated for the office of governor but without his solicitation. He had no chance to win against the populist-democratic-silver repub- lican combination yet he made a remarkable campaign and was defeated by less than thirty-two hundred votes in a state that had given an enormous majority for a ticket of that kind two years before. The campaign promoted by Mr. Moss and his asso- clates on the ticket paved the way for republican success two years later. In the midst of his political and commercial activity Mr. Moss found time to serve the people of Payette in various honorable hut unremunerative positions and he was for a considerable period a member of the board of directors of the Blackfoot Insane Asylum.
ALBERT B. MOSS
Vol. 11- 25
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He gave liberally of his time, his effort and his means for the upbuilding of the state and the advancement of public welfare. At the same time he closely studied business conditions and that he had a comprehensive and masterful view of the situation was indicated in an excellent paper on the benefits of organization which he read before the Idaho Hardware and Implement Dealers' Association at its annual convention. He had the keenest interest in the welfare and development of Payette and did everything in his power to promote a beautiful city, planting many of the shade trees that add so much now to its attractiveness and loveliness.
It was on the 10th of March, 1881, that Mr. Moss was united in marriage to Miss Celia A. Mellor, who was born at Wethersfield, Illinois, a daughter of W. H. Mellor and Elizabeth (Scott) Mellor, the former a native of England and the latter of Scotland. Both are now deceased. To Mr. and Mrs. Moss were born the following children. Wentworth H., thirty-six years of age, was graduated from the West Point Military Academy in 1905, served in the Philippines and on the Mexican border and after the entrance of America into the World war was identified with various training camps. Later he was assigned to duty at Washington, D. C., where he was connected with the port storage and embarkation service with the rank of lieutenant colonel. Albert Bartlett, thirty-four years of age, was the first white child horn in Payette and is at present associated with his brother Frederick in the Moss Mercantile Company, thus being an active factor in the business life of his city. In 1907 he mar- ried Grace E. Zellar, of Kansas, whose parents were natives of Pennsylvania. They have now a family of three children, Helen E., Albert B. and Celia A., all attending school in Payette. Charles H., the next of the family, died at the age of five years. Frederick M., thirty years of age, is a graduate electrical engineer of the Washington State College at Pullman and for four years was with the Idaho Power & Light Com- pany at Boise but at present is engaged in merchandising with his brother, Albert B. He was married in June, 1917, to Loretta Brennan, of Graceville, Minnesota, and they have one child, Dorothy J. William A., twenty-five years of age, while attending the agricultural college at Pullman, Washington, enlisted in the regular army and is a first lieutenant, having trained for the Intelligence Corps. He was an officer of the Twelfth Infantry and had fifty men under him ready for service when the armistice was signed. He was married March 31, 1918, to Doris Hudson, a native of Fresno, California, and a niece of Professor Holland, of Pullman College at Pullman, Wash- ington, and a daughter of William Hudson. They have a daughter Sylvia, born May 7, 1919. Heber R., sixteen years of age, is now attending a private school in Phila- delphia, Pennsylvania, possessing great musical talent which he is cultivating. Ger- trude E. and Gilbert W. both died in infancy. All of the sons save Heber are graduates of the Payette high school and Albert B., ,Jr., was trained by his father in all the different lines of business in which he was engaged and at the time of his father's death returned to Payette from Portland, Oregon, where he was employed in a mer- cantile line, and is now associated with his brother Frederick in the business. He is also interested in the automobile business. The family is one of which the mother has every reason to be proud. The death of the hushand and father occurred March 14, 1914. He left a record of successful business achievement, of great good accomplished in connection with the public life of his adopted city and state, while to his family he was largely the ideal husband and father, finding his greatest happiness in promoting the welfare of the members of his own household.
THOMAS E. MOORE.
Thomas E. Moore, president of the First National Bank of Filer and commissioner of the first district of Twin Falls county, was born near Hudson, Lenawee county, Michigan, February 14, 1863, his parents being Daniel and Julia ( Williams) Moore, the former a native of Pennsylvania, while the latter was born in Massachusetts. The father left the Keystone state when a hoy in company with his parents, who settled at Akron, Summit county, Ohio, and there the grandfather followed the occupation of farming until his death, his wife also passing away at Akron. Daniel Moore spent his boyhood days in Ohio and pursued his education in the public schools. He after- ward operated his father's farm for a time and subsequently removed to Michigan, where he purchased farm land. In that state he married and for many years car- ried on agricultural pursuits but is now living retired at the age of eighty-seven years,
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making his home among his children. His wife died in southern Michigan when fifty- six years of age. In his political views Mr. Moore has always been a stalwart repub- lican from the organization of the party.
Thomas E. Moore spent his boyhood days in southern Michigan, there pursued his education and afterward engaged in the manufacture of screen doors and sash, fol- lowing the business until 1904, when he removed to the northwest, settling in the vicinity of Filer, Idaho, where he took up ranch land under the Carey act, securing one hundred and sixty acres which he has since developed and improved. He later sold the property and bought a ranch three-fourths of a mile north of Filer, compris- ing eighty acres. In 1918 he built a fine home on Yakima street in Filer and resides in the city but still gives personal supervision to his ranching interests, which return to him a gratifying annual income. In 1909 he, with others, organized the First National Bank of Filer, of which he became vice president, with F. E. Allen as presi- dent, and upon the death of the latter Mr. Moore was chosen to the presidency. In 1912 the bank officials erected a fine brick building, known as the First National Bank building, which is indeed a credit to the town and would be an ornament to a city of still greater size.
In 1884 Mr. Moore was married to Miss Margaret W. Patterson, a daughter of Andrew and Margaret (Colwell) Patterson and a native of Ireland. She came to the United States with her parents when nine years of age, the family crossing the Atlantic to Canada and thence making their way to southern Michigan, where her parents spent their remaining days, the father there carrying on general agricultural pursuits.
Mr. Moore gives his political endorsement to the republican party, which he has supported since age conferred upon him the right of franchise. He is an exemplary follower of the Masonic fraternity and also belongs to the Benevolent Protective Order of Elks. Throughout his business career he has been actuated by a most progressive spirit and has justly won the proud American title of a self-made man. Since start- ing out in life he has worked persistently and energetically and through his industry and judicious investments he has reached a place among the well known bankers and substantial citizens of Twin Falls county.
HON. JOSEPH WILLIAM TYLER.
Among those men to whom have been entrusted the responsibilities of framing the laws and directing the legislation of the state is the Hon. Joseph William Tyler, farmer and live stock dealer of Emmett, who is now a member of the upper house of the Idaho general assembly. He has been a resident of this state since 1906 and through the intervening period of fourteen years has constantly demonstrated his worth and ability in citizenship as well as his progressiveness and enterprise in business. He removed to Idaho from Dixon, Wyoming, and is a western man by birth, training and preference. He was born upon a farm in Buffalo county, Ne- braska, January 21, 1874, and is the eldest of the five sons of John and Bridget (Rogers) Tyler, who were natives of Buffalo, New York, and of the province of New Brunswick, Canada, respectively. The father was a farmer and lumber merchant and later he devoted his life to general merchandising, spending his last days in Emmett, Idaho, where he passed away about four years ago, when he had reached the age of seventy-two. He and his wife came to Idaho two years after the arrival of their son, J. W. Tyler, in this state, and the mother is still living upon a ranch near Emmett and is yet active, although now seventy-five years of age. In their family were six children, five sons and a daughter. The latter, the eldest of the family, is now Mrs. Josephine Loibl, of Mitchell, Nebraska. The five sons are Joseph W., Charles, Fred, George and Edward. Charles and Edward reside near Emmett, while Fred and George yet follow farming in Nebraska, and all have become pros- perous agriculturists.
Joseph W. Tyler of this review was reared in Buffalo county, Nebraska, in the usual manner of the farm-bred boy. He first attended the rural schools and after- ward continued his education in a high school and then in a normal school. In early manhood he took up the profession of teaching, which he followed for seven years in his native state, and after his removal to Idaho he was principal of a ward school at Emmett for ten years. He then retired permanently from the profession of teaching in 1918, for in the meantime he had become engaged in farming in the
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vicinity of Emmett and wished to devote his undivided time and attention to his agricultural interests. He has owned property in and near Emmett and has been a taxpayer of this locality since coming to the state. For several years, in con- nection with his farming operations, he has made a specialty of the raising of pure bred Poland China hogs and is well known in this connection, having produced some of the finest hogs raised in this section of the state.
On the 27th of December, 1905, at Cottage Grove, Wisconsin, Mr. Tyler was married to Miss Grace E. Steel, a native of that state, who was educated in the public and normal schools of Wisconsin and taught in the schools of Emmett as assistant to her husband. Mrs. Tyler is a faithful member of the Presbyterian church and both Mr. and Mrs. Tyler were most active in support of war work. Mr. Tyler was one of the four-minute speakers and labored effectively in promotion of the Red Cross and other war drives.
Politically Mr. Tyler has always been a democrat. He served for two terms in the Idaho house of representatives before being elected to the senate. He was first chosen to the lower branch of the general assembly in 1914 as representative from Canyon county before Gem county was created. He assisted in bringing about the division resulting in the establishment of Gem county during the session of 1915 and in 1916 he was elected Gem county's first representative in the house. So creditable a record did he make as a member of the lower branch of the assembly that in the fall of 1918 he was elected state senator, becoming the second senator from Gem county. He did much important committee work as a member of the education and other committees and has been connected with much constructive legislation during the period of his membership in the house and senate. He is a nineteenth degree Scottish Rite Mason and for more than seven years has been secretary of Butte Lodge, No. 37, A. F. & A. M. He is also identified with the Inde- pendent Order of Odd Fellows. Loyalty is one of the strong characteristics of Mr. Tyler and is manifest not only in his fraternal connections but in every other rela- tion of life. Men have come to know that his word can be depended upon and that his position upon any vital question is never an equivocal one.
MRS. SUSIE R. LAWSON.
Mrs. Susie R. (Poole) Lawson, who has served as postmistress in the town of Menan, Jefferson county, for the last four and one-half years, was born near the city of Ogden. Utah, July 4, 1862. She is a daughter of John R. Poole, who left Indiana, his native state, in 1848 and drove overland across the plains to locate in the then newly opened Utah country, where he bought land in the vicinity of Ogden. Sometime after his arrival he married Janett Bleasdale who had come to America from her faraway home in England with her parents and settled in the same neighborhood. With the valuable assistance of his wife Mr. Poole was able to bring his land under cultivation, although his pioneer equipment was quite limited, and in due time he hecame one of the successful and prosperous farmers of the neighborhood. Finally in 1880 he left Utah and removed to Idaho, becoming the first settler in the vicinity of Menan, which then lay in Oneida county. Here he took a homestead and to him belonged the distinction of turning the first furrow in the part which later became Jefferson county. He remained here the rest of his life, contributing substantially to the development of the community. His death occurred in September, 1894, and his wife, who still survives, now resides in Menan at the advanced age of ninety-four years.
Mrs. Lawson grew to maturity in the state of her birth, where she received her education. In 1880 when she was a young woman of eighteen years, she ac- companied her parents to their now home in Jefferson county, Idaho. Soon after the arrival of the Poole family the settlement grew rapidly and the increasing number of children made schooling facilities mandatory and Mrs. Lawson, who had received an education above the average while living near Ogden, Utah, was chosen teacher of the first school to be established in her part of the county. After her marriage in 1885 she stopped teaching after engaging in that pursuit for four years to devote her entire time to her domestic duties. In recent years, having fuifilled her duty as mother to her children who had grown to manhood and
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womanhood, Mrs. Lawson accepted the appointment as postmistress in Menan in May, 1914, and has continued to fill that position.
It was in March, 1885, that Susie R. Poole was united in marriage to B. G. Lawson, one of the early settlers of Jefferson county, who was born in Ogden, Utah, in January, 1859. He is a son of Joseph and Ruth (Greenway) Lawson, the former being originally from the Isle of Man and the latter of Welsh parentage. The father came to the United States in 1849 and located soon afterward near Ogden, Utah, where he bought land and farmed the rest of his life. He was an important factor in developing agriculture in the section where he settled and served for many years as secretary to the Weber Canal Company. The end of his very active life occurred in January, 1896, and his wife survived thirteen years, dying in the month of March, 1909. B. G. Lawson remained on the home place near Ogden, rendering his father valuable assistance in the development of the latter's agricultural interests until he was twenty years of age, at which time he took up farming independently and decided upon southeastern Idaho as a fitting field for his future operations. In 1879 he removed to that section and homesteaded a one hundred and sixty acre tract near Menan, Jefferson county, becoming one of the earliest settlers of the community. Ahly assisted by his wife, he successfully farmed his homestead for a number of years but since his removal to Menan he has rented it.
Mr. and Mrs. Lawson are the parents of seven children, as follows: Joseph, who lives in Oregon; Frank, a resident of Menan, Jefferson county; Ada, the wife of George Cherry, also of Menan; Ava, the widow of Milton Stover, who died in November, 1918; Milburn M., at home; Thurza, a saleslady for the C. A. Smith Mercantile Company of Menan; and Thyra, aged seventeen, who is at home with her parents. In October, 1917,-the year which witnessed the entrance of the United States into the World war, Milburn M. Lawson entered the service of his country and after his period of training went overseas as a member of Company C, Three Hundred and Sixty-fourth United States Infantry, Ninety-first Division. He participated in the Argonne-Meuse drive in October, 1918, and during this terrific battle was shot through both legs. The wound in one leg proved to be serious and made him an invalid for ten months. Immediately after leaving the hospital in July, 1919, he was discharged from the army and returned home.
Both Mr. and Mrs. Lawson give their support to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, which the latter has served for many years in different official capacities, but when she became postmistress the multiplicity of her duties com- pelled her to resign her religious offices. Mr. Lawson has always been a stanch democrat and since he took up his residence in Menan he has been repeatedly called upon to serve in public capacity: first as constable, then as a member of the village board for two years and of the local board of education for two terms. Both Mr. and Mrs. Lawson are scions of families which have been important factors in the development of the sections where they originally settled, and this characteristic of their fathers has lost none of its potence in being transmitted to them, a fact readily discernible in their acquiescence to all plans for the common weal and their hearty cooperation in all movements which aim to improve their community and commonwealth.
HON. JOHN L. MCKOWN.
Public suffrage has endorsed the ability and high-minded citizenship of Hon. John L. Mckown in electing him to the office of state senator from Power county, where he has resided since 1898, making his home at American Falls. He came to Idaho from Wellington, Kansas, but is a native of Spencer, West Virginia, where he was born November 11, 1864. being the only son of John L. and Matilda (Harrold) Mckown. The father, who was a merchant, miller and farmer, died before the birth of his son John. The mother, a native of Virginia, afterward married again and is now residing in Kansas. In the paternal line John L. Mckown is a descendant of one of the old American families, founded on this side of the Atlantic by Andrew Mckown, who came from Ireland prior to the Revolutionary war and settled in Pennsylvania. The Mckown family has been represented in every American war from the struggle for independence down to the late great European conflict.
HON, JOHN L. MCKOWN
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John L. Mckown was reared in Spencer, West Virginia, and obtained a public school education there, pursuing his studies to the age of eighteen years, when he began learning the tinsmith's trade. When twenty-two years of age he removed to the middle west, settling in Wellington, Kansas, where he resided from 1887 until 1898, during which period he worked at the tinsmith's trade and also in connection with the plumb- ing business. In the latter year he came to Idaho and settled at American Falls, which place then had a population of but fifty people and only two or three stores. He estab- lished the first hardware store in the town and gave his attention to the business for many years, carrying on a plumbing establishment in connection therewith. When American Falls had reached a size large enough to be incorporated he was made chair- man of the first village board of trustees and capably served in that capacity for two terms. He also served on the local school board there and assisted in building the first schoolhouse of the town. Later, when the town schools became independent of the county schools and a high school was erected, he was made chairman of the building committee having the work in charge. Through many years he also continued actively in the hardware and plumbing business and since his retirement from that field of labor he has given his attention to a large ranch which he owns in Power county, com- prising six hundred and eighty acres. He has likewise directed much attention to dry farming methods and is thoroughly conversant with the possibilities along that line. American Falls is today one of the largest shipping points for wheat in the country, ranking second in the United States in the amount of wheat shipped, and all of the grain is raised by the dry farming methods. Mr. Mckown was one of the earliest advo- cates of dry farming and was one of those largely responsible for the success attained in that way. He closely studied opportunities and possibilities and aided in dissem- inating knowledge which has been of the greatest benefit to the man who farms his land without irrigation. In late years Mr. Mckown has also acted as distributing agent for agricultural machinery of all kinds through Power county and vicinity, handling tractors as well as other farm machinery. He is a man of progressive spirit, accomplishing what he undertakes. If difficulties and obstacles are in the way they seem to act as an impetus for renewed effort on his part. He realizes that all such can be overcome and that there can always be made an adjustment of conditions to the terms of success.
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