History of Idaho, the gem of the mountains, Volume II, Part 5

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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GEORGE RUSSEL HITT.

George Russel Hitt, cashier of the Overland National Bank of Boise and formerly state bank commissioner, was born on a farm in Missouri, November 12, 1870. His fa- ther, J. S. Hitt, a farmer by occupation, has now passed away, but the mother, who bore the maiden name of Phoebe Moore, is living in Kansas City, Missouri, at the age of seventy-seven years. She is a member of the Daughters of the American Revolution, for among her ancestors were those who fought for the independence of the nation. Her immediate ancestors were residents of Illinois and those of a more remote period lived in New Hampshire. Both the father and mother of George R. Hitt were natives of Illinois. The father was born in Scott county, Illinois, June 13, 1842, while the inother's birth occurred in Brown county, that state, on the 24th of August, 1841. They were married in Pike county, Illinois, December 19, 1865, and became parents of five children but only two are now living, the daughter being Mrs. Cynthia Roberts, of Kansas City, Missouri. The father's death occurred in April, 1912.

George R. Hitt was reared to the age of nineteen years upon a farm in Saline county, Missouri, and the district schools afforded him his educational opportunities. He afterward completed a course in Brown's Business College of Jacksonville, Illinois, and subsequently spent a year with a large lumber concern in Arkansas. In 1891 he arrived in Idaho, settling at Idaho Falls. For four years he occupied the position of deputy, postmaster there, covering the period from 1893 until 1897, and in the latter year he became deputy state treasurer under George H. Storer and filled the position until 1899. During the succeeding four years he was engaged in the wholesale grocery

HISTORY OF IDAHO

business at Boise but on the expiration of that period returned to Idaho Falls, where he successfully conducted a lumberyard for four years. He was then made assistant cashier of the Anderson Brothers Bank at Idaho Falls and occupied that position most acceptably for eight years. In February, 1915, he was appointed state bank commissioner by Governor Moses Alexander and the duties of that position he most promptly, systematically and efficiently discharged until January 27, 1919, when he became cashier of the Overland National Bank of Boise.

On the 6th of October, 1896, Mr. Hitt was married to Miss Susan Clark, a native of Oregon and a daughter of Robert F. and Elizabeth (Enderby) Clark, who were pioneers of that state. They removed to Oregon from Illinois in early life, Mrs. Clark, then in her maidenhocd, accompanying her parents to the northwest in 1850. She was then but nine years of age and the journey was made with team and wagon.

Mr. and Mrs. Hitt are members of the Presbyterian church and in social circles occupy an enviable position, having many warm friends in Idaho Falls, in Boise and in fact throughout the state. Mr. Hitt has always voted with the democratic party and has ever been a loyal supporter of the principles in which he believes. In his fraternal relations he is a Mason, an Elk and an Odd Fellow and in the first named he has attained the Knight Templar degree of the York Rite and the thirty-second de- gree of the Scottish Rite and has crossed the sands of the desert with the Nobles of the Mystic Shrine. He is truly a self-made man and one who deserves all the credit which that term implies. He has wisely used his time, talents and opportunities and the recognition of his ability on the part of his fellowmen has for a number of years continued him in important public positions.

JUDGE OTIS M. VAN TASSEL.

Judge Otis M. Van Tassel, of St. Anthony, a member of the Idaho bar since 1914 and also connected with the Home Realty Company and furthermore widely known in political circles of the state as a stalwart republican, was born at Kingston, Michigan, August 19, 1875, his parents being James M. and Etta (Van Tassel) Van Tassel, who are natives of Ohio and New York respectively and come of Holland ancestry. The first of the family in the new world emigrated to New York city two hundred and fifty years ago. The father went to Michigan as a pioneer and filled various political posi- tions in that state. In 1861 he enlisted in the Twenty-third Ohio Cavalry and after serving for three months reenlisted for the three-year period. He was wounded, . his iujury occasioning the loss of his right eye. He went with Sherman on the cele- brated march to the sea and was ever a most faithful defender of the Union cause. The paternal grandfather, Otis H. Van Tassel, for whom Judge Van Tassel of this review was named, also served throughout the entire war and for six months was incarcerated in Andersonville prison. The paternal and maternal grandfathers of Judge Van Tassel were brothers. Since the establishment of the family on American soil patriotism and loyalty to this country have been numbered among their marked characteristics. Following the Civil war James M. Van Tassel, the father of Judge . Van Tasse!, removed to Tuscola county, Michigan, where he was called upon to serve in various positions of public honor and trust. He was elected county treasurer and removed to Caro, the county seat, where he filled the office for four years. He was then elected probate judge and occupied that position for four years. He was later in several different lines of business but finally retired and removed to Flint, Michigan, where he and his wife still make their home.

Judge Van Tassel was reared and educated in Michigan. Following his gradua- tion from the high school at Ann Arbor with the class of 1894 he attended the Uni- versity of Michigan in that city for one year and afterward entered the Detroit College of Law, from which he was graduated with the class of 1899. On the 24th of April of that year he was admitted to the Michigan bar, after which he engaged in several differ- ent lines of business until 1905. He then came west to Idaho and took up his abode at. Sugar, where he followed mercantile pursuits until 1909. He then accepted a posi- tion as attorney for an implement company at Rexburg and in November, 1912, was elected probate judge of the county. In 1913 he removed to St. Anthony and acted as probate judge for two years. He was admitted to the Idaho bar on the 11th of May, 1914, and he has since engaged in practice, in addition to which he is connected with the Home Realty Company, which he organized and incorporated in January, 1917. He

HISTORY OF IDAHO

is likewise the secretary and treasurer of the Lemhi Union, a lead and silver mining company in the Spring Mountain district near Gilmore, Idaho.

On the 11th of April, 1901, Judge Van Tassel was married to Miss Maude Hess and they have two children: Hazel M., who was born March 27, 1903; and Iris A., whose birth occurred April 16, 1914.

In his political views Judge Van Tassel has always been a stalwart republican and at Sugar he filled the office of justice of the peace. He was named as a candidate of his party for secretary of state in the primary election. In 1916 he was chosen an alternate to the republican national convention, held in Chicago. He is a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and has been chief of staff on the staff of the brigadier genersì of the Patriarch Militant of Odd Fellows in Idaho, with the rank of lieutenant colonel. His religious faith is that of the Presbyterian church. He is a man of progressive spirit, keenly interested in the vital questions of the day, and at all times keeps thoroughly informed concerning those interests which have to do with the welfare and progress of his community.

THOMAS JEFFERSON DAVIS.

Several months prior to the establishment of Fort Boise, Thomas Jefferson Davis had pitched his tent and taken a homestead upon the banks of the Boise river for land which is all within the present townsite of Boise and a part of which was in the original townsite. For the irrigation of this land he constructed the first irrigation ditch from the Boise river, and under the decree of the district court, establishing priorities for irrigation purposes, he was given the first right to the waters of that river, and this right is today the property of his children, who hold jointly the estate left by the father, having incorporated the same under the laws of the state of Idaho under the name of the Thomas Davis Estate. The United States land office was first opened at Boise in January, 1868, and on the opening day Thomas Davis made the first proof and received cash certificate No. 1, of which he was always justly proud, and the government records today testify that, by five months, he was the first agricultural settler in the Boise land dis- trict. Assisted by George D. Ellis, who was at the time a business partner, about six months after his first settlement, he built the first house in Boise. A few years afterward and just prior to his marriage, he built another house, upon his homestead, and it was in this house that all of his children were born.

Mr. Davis was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, January 2, 1838, and, having lost his father in boyhood, was, under the custom of that time, "bound out," and labored on the farm of Alexander Claycomb, near Monmouth, Illinois, and attended winter school. At the age of twenty-three, he and his brother Francis joined a party of seventy-five, which was bound for Florence, the great gold camp. He and his brother were outfitted with mule teams, wagons and supplies by Alexander Clay- comb before leaving Illinois. After a hard trip across the country this band of pioneers were lured by men who had designs on their property, to go by way of a most inaccessible route over the Coeur d'Alene mountains, which necessitated the abandonment of their sun-bonneted wagons, in which they had spent two months creeping along the Indian trail, and most of their provisions, or the sale of these at a shameful sacrifice to their traitorous guides, who offered five dollars for out- fits that cost from three hundred to five hundred dollars. Mr. Davis determined not to be made a victim of such intrigue and, after advising with the others, their supplies were piled together and burned with the wagons, the party completing its journey to Elk City, Idaho, on horseback carrying a few supplies on pack horses. Upon their arrival in Elk City, owing to depressing reports from Florence, they abandoned the trip to that place and went to Walls Walla. From Walla Walla, Mr. Davis went to Auburn, Oregon, and then to Idaho City, where he mined with fair results, and in December, 1862, came to what is now Boise, where he made his home continuously until his death, June 10, 1908.

During the forty-six years in which he resided in Boise, Thomas Davis was a careful business man and one of the city's most substantially progressive citi- zens. He was a pioneer horticuiturist and, as early as 1864, planted an orchard of seven thousand apple trees, which he purchased st a dollar and a quarter each, this being the pioneer apple orchard of Idaho, and, in later years he planted addi-

THOMAS J. DAVIS, SR.

MRS. JULIA DAVIS

HISTORY OF IDAHO

tional orchards of pears, peaches, prunes and cherries, and built a dryer, where he prepared a portion of his fruit crop for the trade in the interior, where fresh fruit could not be delivered. During the growth of his orchards to maturity he successfully engaged in gardening and marketed vegetables over the country as far as the mining camps in the Owyhees, having regular days for his wagons to visit the various camps. In addition to being a pioneer horticulturist and gardener, Mr. Davis was a pioneer in every line of commercial and business activity of Idaho, except that ever present pioneer, the saloon. He was engaged in the cattle and horse business, ranging horses from the Snake river into Nevada, with his ranch headquarters on the Bruneau; and ranging cattle on Smith's Prairie and later in Long valley. His range cattle were of the highest type, all being "white faces," and being for many years the only herd of Hereford cattle in Idaho. In connec- tion with his cattle business, he acquired large land holdings in Long valley, and in the Boise valley what is known as the "Government Island Ranch," the latter being for a number of years withheld from settlement as a hay reserve for Fort Boise. This ranch, which is located just across the river from the city of Boise, contains about eight hundred acres and a large portion of it is today in vegetable gardens, which are quite pleasing to the eye of the traveler entering or leaving the city by train or trolley. He was engaged for a number of years, as a partner of the late Charles Himrod in the mercantile business, their establishment occupy- ing the building which today houses the Delano-Thompson Shoe Company, and in connection with this enterprise they operated freight teams between Boise and Kelton. He was a stockholder in the old Bank of Commerce and one of the reorganizers of the Boise City National Bank of which he became one of the largest stockholders.

During all the years of his life in Boise and Idaho, Mr. Davis never sought political office, but he was a faithful and conscientious elector, taking sufficient activity in public affairs to assert himself in favor of everything that went for the best interest of the city, state and nation. He was a firm believer in and cast his vote with the republican party, standing firm with a handful of personal friends when Boise and Idaho became free-silver mad. He cared absolutely nothing for public opinion of himself. He desired but few friends and these he wanted constantly with him.

In 1869, Julia McCrum came from her home in Gault, Ontario, Canada, to visit with her uncle, who was an army surgeon stationed at Fort Boise, and on April 26, 1871, she became the wife of Thomas Davis. They had a family of three sons and three daughters: Marion, who died at the age of four years; Harry, who was engaged in the cattle business, and died September 28, 1910; Edwin Horace, now president of the Thomas Davis Estate, incorporated; Thomas Jefferson, man- ager of the Davis Meat Company; Etta Davis Quinn, wife of W. L. Quinn, of Cleve- land, Ohio; and Hazel Davis Taylor, wife of Rowland C. Taylor, of Boise, Idaho.

Julia Davis was one of the active pioneer women of Boise. She took great pleasure in making the women in the families of the new arrivals in the great west feel welcome and was generally the first to call upon a new family arriving in Boise, going at times to greet them where their tents were pitched beside the wagon trains and before they were definitely located. She was, until her death, which occurred September 19, 1907, active and prominent in the social life of Boise. She was a member of the Episcopal Church and always loyally followed its teachings and liberally contributed to its support.

Her death so greatly affected Mr. Davis, because of his advanced age, that he fol- lowed her in less than a year and during that time there was coupled with his great love for her memory a desire to perpetuate her name in Boise-the city which he loved and knew he must soon leave, after having watched it grow from a sagebrush wilder- ness. As a memorial to this much loved pioneer woman he gave to the city a tract of forty-three acres extending along the water-front from Eighth street to Broadway, to be always known as Julia Davis Park. This today is Boise's chief park and has been developed with vast acres of velvety lawns, plentifully supplied with shade trees, with flowers, walks and driveways winding in and out, forming attractive landscape features. There is also a menagerie of wild animals and the park affords pleasure for thousands of visitors year by year, and band concerts are given there on Sundays during the summer season.

It would have been a great pleasure to Thomas Davis to have lived to witness a crowd at a Sunday band concert in Julia Davis Park. He was passionately fond of

HISTORY OF IDAHO

music, was a violinist, and in the early days was a member of the Boise band. He never missed an opportunity of hearing good music and on the evening of June 9, 1908, he could not deny himself the pleasure of hearing the Damrosch orchestra, although he had not been out of the house for two weeks, and on the morning after attending this concert he was found in his bed, as though quietly sleeping, but life had fled.

THOMAS JEFFERSON DAVIS.

Thomas Jefferson Davis is the manager of the Davis Meat Company of Boise and has other important business interests in Idaho, while for ten years he was a resident of Alaska. He is the eldest son and second child of Thomas Jefferson and Julia Davis, who are mentioned above. Born in Boise on the 7th of March, 1875, he was reared and educated in his native city and was graduated from the Boise high school, after which he went to New England, where he attended the Phillips Exeter Academy of New Hampshire. Later he attended the King's high school in Dresden, Germany, for more than three years. He has been an active business man through much of his life and spent about a decade in Alaska, where he was active along various business lines. One of his ventures in Alaska is a farm on Fairmount island, where he is engaged in raising the blue fox, and the place is known as the Fairmount Fox Farm. He is yet interested in that business, having a partner, who manages the farm. In the fall of 1918 he returned to Boise, since which time he has been the manager of the Davis Meat Company, one of the principal packing interests of the city, while in Alaska he also has oil and mining interests. He is watchful of every opportunity pointing to success and his activities have been an element in the commercial development of this section of the state.

In Seattle, Washington, on the 20th of December, 1912, Mr. Davis was united in marriage to Miss Bertha Roberts, who was born in Illinois. Fraternally he is con- nected with the Benevolent Protective Order of Elks and the Knights of Pythias and he has many friends in those organizations. His experiences by reason of his sojourn in Alaska have been broad and varied. In going to the northwest he manifested the same qualities which brought his honored father as a pioneer to Idaho. He displays the same splendid business characteristics and is making the Davis meat plant one of the most important industries of this section of the state.

EDWIN H. DAVIS.

Edwin H. Davis is the president of the Thomas J. Davis Estate, Inc., and is thus active in the management of real estate interests of large value. He is a young man of marked business ability and enterprise whom Boise is proud to number among her native sons. He was here born on the 21st of November, 1882, and is the fifth child and third son of the late Thomas Jefferson and Julia Davis, who were Boise pioneers, very prominent in the business, industrial and social life of the community, where they remained until death called them. The wife and mother passed away September 19, 1907, and the father died on the 10th of June 1908. They are mentioned at length on another page of this work.

Their son, Edwin H. Davis, was born and reared in Boise and in the acquire- ment of his education passed through consecutive grades in the public schools, becoming a high school pupil. He afterward entered Notre Dame University of Indiana and later studied in the Phillips Exeter Academy of New Hampshire. From early manhood he has been an active factor in business life and since his father's death has been manager and president of the Thomas J. Davis Estate, Inc., which is one of the largest in this section of Idaho. He was the chief organizer of the Davis Meat Com- pany, which is an important and prosperous packing industry, constituting one of the leading productive industries of Boise. The plant is located on the left bank of the Boise river about a mile west of Boise, on property which the father owned. The plant consists of one large main building of solid concrete and various smaller buildings and pens for live stock, together with several cottages that are occupied by those conducting the plant. The entire plant is fashioned and designed along the most modern scientific lines and is fully equipped with the latest improved machinery such

HISTORY OF IDAHO

as is found in every modern packing house. It is supplied with electric lights and a water system and its product is chiefly sold in Boise. The Thomas J. Davis Estate also embraces large realty interests both within and outside of Boise, the realty outside including about seven hundred acres of fine lands in the Boise valley along the river just west of the city-lands that are most fertile and productive and which include the beautiful and famous Chinese gardens, visible to and admired by all travelers on the Nampa Interurban Railway line, which follows the crest of the hill above the gardens, and they are seen as well by all who travel the public highway along the hillcrest. These Chinese gardens are all on the Thomas J. Davis estate and constitute one of the most beautiful sights in the valley of Boise through the summer seasons.

On the 31st of December, 1907, Edwin H. Davis was married to Miss Marcella Torrance, who was born in Denver, Colorado, November 25, 1882, a daughter of the late Samuel and Anna (Shepard) Torrance. She was reared chiefly in Boise, where her father established and conducted the first foundry of the city. Mr. and Mrs. Davis have four children: Julia, who was born May 10, 1913, and was named for her grand- mother; Thomas Jefferson, who was born August 4, 1915, and was named for his grandfather; Marcella, who was born February 11, 1917, and was named for her mother; and Mary, born September 18, 1918. Mrs. Davis is a member of the Catholic church.

Mr. Davis is a Mason of high degree, having become connected with the Royal Arch Chapter and Knight Templar Commandery, and he is also a member of the Mystic Shrine. He is a most progressive business man who, thoroughly trained by his father in business methods, has become a most active factor in the care and conduct of important interests. Opportunities that others pass heedlessly by win his recognition and in the utilization of these he has steadily advanced the business interests which are controlled by the estate. His life work has added new laurels to an untarnished family name.

HON. ALBERTUS L. FREEHAFER.

Hon. Albertus L. Freehafer, president of the state public utilities commission and a resident of Council, Idaho, was appointed to his present position by Governor Moses Alexander in January, 1915, and has displayed marked faithfulness and effi- ciency in the discharge of his duties. His entire career has been marked by a steady progress that indicates the fit utilization of his time, talents and opportunities. He was born in a log cabin in Richland county, Ohio, February 12, 1868, a son of Andrew and Martha (Kinton) Freehafer, both of whom were natives of the same county. The father died in Idaho in 1915, while the mother's death occurred in Ohio in 1911. Two sons of the family survive, the brother being William E. Freehafer, also a resi- dent of Council, Idaho.

Albertus L. Freehafer was reared upon a farm in his native county to the age of twenty-one years and pursued his education in the district schools until he reached the age of seventeen, when he entered the high school at Bellville, Ohio, in which he pursued his studies for two years. When eighteen years of age he became a country school teacher and followed the profession for three years. With the money thus earned and supplemented by money acquired through labor as a farm hand during vacations he paid his tuition at the Ohio Northern University of Ada, Ohio, which he entered when twenty-three years of age. There he was graduated with the degree of Bachelor of Arts in 1893. Following the completion of his course he accepted the superintendency of the high school at Lucas, Ohio, where he remained for three years in that position. He regarded this, however, merely as an initial step to other profes- sional labor, for it was his earnest desire to become a member of the bar and in 1896 he began the study of law in the office of an attorney at Mansfield, Ohio. Not long afterward he was appointed deputy county clerk of Richland county and held that position until 1900, at the same time keeping up his law studies. In May, 1900, he removed to Scofield, Utah, where he was principal of the public schools for two years, and his wife was also one of the teachers there.

It was on the 18th of August, 1897, in Mansfield, Ohio, that Mr. Freehafer was married to Miss Olive Robinson, who was born and reared on a farm in the same neighborhood in which her husband's youth was passed. In fact they were school- mates. She also is a graduate of the Ohio Northern University and, like him, she be- came a teacher. In August, 1902, they removed to Council, Idaho, and Mr. Freehafer

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History of Idaho, the gem of the mountains, Volume II, Part 5

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