History of Idaho, the gem of the mountains, Volume II, Part 50

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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journeyed westward to Salt Lake City, Utah. From that point he went to Vernal, Utah, in 1905, but in 1907 disposed of his business interests there and removed to the Twin Falls district. In 1911 he became a resident of Oakley and purchased the busi- ness of the Worthington Drug Company, occupying the original site until June, 1912, when he erected a new building which he equipped with splendid fixtures, having the finest store in this part of Idaho. He successfully conducted his drug business until 1915, when he sold out. On the 11th of February, 1919, he accepted his present posi- tion as vice president of the Oakley State Bank and is now bending his energies to constructive effort and executive control of a safe, sound and progressive banking in- stitution. He is accounted a wide-awake, alert and energetic business man whose plans are well formulated and promptly executed and who at all times readily recognizes the opportunities of any business situation. .

In 1903 Mr. Colpin was united in marriage to Miss Ida Bennett, a native of Utah and a daughter of George and Elizabeth (Haslam) Bennett. They have two children, Edmund E. and Idell.

In 1916 Mr. Colpin was elected for a three years' term to the position of secre- tary and treasurer of the Idaho State Board of Pharmacy. In his political views Mr. Colpin has always been a republican and fraternally is a Mason of high rank, having attained the thirty-second degree of the Scottish Rite, while in his life he exem- plifies the beneficent spirit of the order and its teachings concerning the brotherhood of mankind. Liberally educated, stimulated by a laudable ambition and prompted by a progressive spirit, he has not only made for himself a creditable place in business circles but also ranks very high as a representative citizen-one who recognizes and meets his obligations and does everything in his power to aid in the upbuilding and promotion of the community in which he resides.

WILLIAM A. KINCAID.

William A. Kincaid, tax assessor of Ada county and a resident of Boise, was born in Harrison county, Missouri, April 2, 1862. His father, Andrew L. Kincaid, was a native of Ireland and a blacksmith by trade. Coming to the new world, he was mar- ried in Virginia to Miss Virginia C. Fleshman and at the time of the gold excitement in California they started on an overland trip to that state but stopped en route in Missouri and concluded to remain, spending the balance of their lives there. The father conducted a blacksmith shop and also engaged in farming. To him and his wife were born eight children, six sons and two daughters, of whom William A. was the sixth in order of birth. All of the children are yet living except James R., who passed away at eleven years of age. The rest are residents of Idaho with the exception of Lewis F. Kincaid, now of Sundance, Crook county, Wyoming. Those who make their home in Idaho are: John H., living at Troy; Joseph M., of Star, Ada county; Robert F., of Grandview; Mrs. Phoebe J. Powers and Mrs. Mary Buholz, both of Boise; and Wil- liam A.

Like the others of the family, William A. Kincaid was reared in Missouri, and while his father was engaged in blacksmithing, William A. Kincaid and the other sons of the family conducted the farm. However, he worked in the shop sufficiently also to learn the trade and at eighteen years of age he left the parental roof and made his way to Sherman county, Kansas, where he took up a homestead on attaining his ma- jority. He also secured a preemption and a timber claim, ultilizing all the rights ac corded by the government to pioneer settlers. He resided in Sherman county for ten years and during that time served for one term as a member of the Kansas legisla- ture and for one term as sheriff of his county. In 1890 he disposed of all of his Kansay interests and removed to Boise, where he has since made his home. During the first three years of his residence in this city he conducted a blacksmith shop, after which he devoted seven years to work in the employ of the Boise Rapid Transit Company, fill ing various responsible positions, such as motorman, conductor, superintendent and en- gineer. He resigned to become deputy county assessor in the fall of 1904 and has since continued in the county assessor's office, either as deputy or as the principal. He re mained as deputy for six years, from 1904 until 1910, being out of office in 1911 ane 1912, and since the second Monday in January, 1913, has been county assessor, having been first elected in 1912, again in 1914 and once more in 1916. His popularity as a man and his efficiency as an official are indicated in the fact that in 1912 his majority

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was four hundred and eighty, in 1914, eleven hundred and eighty and in 1916, eighteen hundred and ninety-four. He was again a candidate for the office in 1918 and was reelected by a majority of three thousand seven hundred and thirty-seven over his opponent. In politics he has always heen a republican and has never been defeated for a public office for which he has been a candidate, either in Kansas or in Idaho. At one time, while in Sherman county, Kansas, he served as a member of the school hoard, was also township assessor, road overseer and county commissioner, holding these three positions for four years, at which time he was still in the twenties. He enjoys the dis- tinction of being the only county assessor of Ada county to succeed himself in office. He is very systematic, thorough and prompt in discharging all the duties of his posi- tion and the worth of his public service is highly attested by the vote that has been given him.

Mr. Kincaid has heen married three times. His first wife, who hore the maiden name of Clara Hoar, died in Kansas four years after their marriage. He later wedded Isadora Hall, who passed away in Boise fourteen years after their marriage, leaving two daughters: Alva, now the wife of Addison Bolden, of Boise; and Hazel, who is at home. Mr. Kincaid's present wife was Martha Stanton, a native of Ada county, Idaho. They were married December 21, 1905, and have one daughter, Ellen, whose hirth occurred on the 24th of October, 1906.

Mr. Kincaid is identified with several fraternal and social organizations. He be- longs to the Benevolent Protective Order of Elks, the Woodmen of the World and to all branches of Odd Fellowship and in the last named has held various high positions of honor and trust. He belongs to the First Methodist Episcopal church of Boise. He was also identified with the Commercial Cluh and later with the Chamber of Commerce and cooperates heartily in all of its well defined plans for the henefit of the city, the extension of its trade relations and the upholding of its civic interests. It is well known that no trust reposed in Mr. Kincaid has ever heen betrayed in the slightest degree and his loyalty and fidelity in office have made him a valued citizen of his adopted state. It is a merited tribute which was paid him hy one of the local papers, as follows: "In the four years which William A. Kincaid has served as county asses- sor of Ada county he has won for himself an enviable reputation for fairness, good busi- ness judgment and sound views. He is now entering upon his fourth term as assessor, having been elected by the people by a substantial majority at the last election. Be- fore entering upon his official life, Mr. Kincaid was not widely known, hut since coming into office, he has suggested many reforms in the assessing and taxing of property which the legislature has emhodied into laws. He is an active member of the State Asses- sor's Association and through wise counsel and advice in that body has gained a reputa- tion which extends heyond the bounds of Ada county. It was Mr. Kincaid who first began the assessment of land according to its value for crop production. As an illustra- tion: If a farmer had ten acres of well improved land and ten acres of pasture, the entire lot was not assessed at the same value of the higher priced land, hut classified accordingly. It has been through such reforms, courteous treatment and husiness abili- ty that Mr. Kincaid is today one of the hest known men in the county, whose record won for him a fourth term which he justly deserved, and in which it is predicted he will enact further reforms which will mean much to the taxpayers, not only of the county which he serves hut the entire state."

BENJAMIN W. OPPENHEIM.

Benjamin W. Oppenheim, a practicing attorney of Boise, was born in Denver, Colorado, March 23, 1883, the only child of Mark and Amelia (Bolger) Oppenheim. The father has passed away hut the mother resides in Boise. The son was reared and edu- cated in Wallace, Idaho,- the family having removed from Colorado to this state when he was a little lad. He was graduated from the high school of Wallace with the class of 1898 and afterward entered the Idaho State University, from which he received the Bachelor of Arts degree as a member of the graduating class of 1904. He deter- mined to make the practice of law his life work and to this end he began studying in the office and under the direction of William M. Morgan, a well known attorney of Moscow, who is now one of the justices of the Idaho supreme court. "Subsequently he studied law in the office of James H. Beatty, of Boise, then United States district judge for Idaho. In 1906 Mr. Oppenheim was admitted to the har and entered upon the prac-

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tice of law in March of the following year in the office of N. M. Ruick, then United States attorney, with whom he was associated for five years. He opened an office of his own in 1912 and later formed a partnership with S. L. Hodgin, of Boise, under the firm style of Oppenheim & Hodgin. This association was maintained for over two years. After the dissolution of the partnership in 1917 Mr. Oppenheim practiced alone until he formed a partnership with J. M. Lampert in the latter part of 1918, with whom he is still associated, with offices in the Idaho building. He early recognized the fact that energy and industry are just as essential in the attainment of success before the bar as in industrial or commercial circles, and he has ever prepared his cases with great thoroughness and care. He is resourceful, seldom at a loss as to the best way to meet the attack of the opposing counsel, and at all times he is careful to conform his practice to a high standard of professional ethics. On the 1st of April, 1917, he was appointed code commissioner hy the supreme court and reported a codification of the statute law of the state in three volumes to the legislature of 1919, which adopted the same.

On the 24th of December, 1908, Mr. Oppenheim was married to Miss Susie Belva Thomas, of Boise, and they have two daughters, Edna Marian and Ruth Ellen. Mr. Oppenheim is a member of the University Club and the Boise Chamber of Commerce. Fraternally he is connected with the Masons, and his political allegiance is given to the republican party. Along strictly professional lines his connection is with the Ada County, the Idaho State and the American Bar Associations.

EDWIN H. PEASLEY.

Edwin H. Peasley, founder, president and general manager of the Peasley Transfer & Storage Company of Boise, was born in this city at the corner of Tenth and Main streets, on the site of the present Overland National Bank, his natal day being July 28, 1867. He is therefore among the oldest of the native sons of the capital and there is no phase of the city's development and progress with which he is not thoroughly familiar. As an honored pioneer and a representative and successful business man therefore he well deserves mention in this volume. He is the only living child of the late S. L. Peasley, who was an expert adzman and ship carpenter. The father was born in the state of Maine and while living on the Atlantic coast learned the shipbuilding trade. About the close of the Civil war and during the gold excitement in the north- west he came to Idaho. He was married here in 1866 to Miss Mary Basil, who had removed to Boise from Iowa with her parents some time before. Mr. Peasley, who had learned shipbuilding in Maine and was an expert hewer and adzman, hewed out with his own hands the logs out of which the Peasley home was built at the corner of Tenth and Main streets-the dwelling in which his son Edwin was born. The father afterward removed to San Francisco in order to follow his trade of shipbuilding there and in that city passed away when his son Edwin was still very young. There was one daughter in the family, Florence N., but her death occurred when she was eight years of age.

Four years of the boyhood of Edwin H. Peasley were passed in San Francisco and for six years he was a resident of Prairie City, Oregon. The remainder of his minority was spent in Idaho and for several years he lived in Caldwell, this state, in his late youth. He afterward spent a year and a half in Cassia county and obtained a good education and also valuable business experience hy clerking in stores at Prairie City, Oregon, and at Caldwell and Conant, Idaho. The summer of 1886 saw him employed as a cowboy in Owyhee county and through that year he rode the range. In fact, he was practically raised in the saddle, riding from his earliest recollection. During the summer of 1888 and through the period of the Silver mountain gold excitement he prospected near that region and in the Sea Foam district. During the winter of 1888-9 he was employed on the Oregon Short Line at Shoshone but in the spring of 1889 re- turned to his native city and in 1890 engaged in the transfer business, which has since claimed his time, attention and energy. He ultimately became the founder, president and general manager of the Peasley Transfer & Storage Company and in this connec- tion has built up a business of large proportions. It was on the 2d of May, 1910, that the company was organized and incorporated and Mr. Peasley has since retained his present official connection therewith and is the owner of two-thirds of the stock of the company. No firm name in Boise is more familiar to its citizens by reason of the long

EDWIN H. PEASLEY

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period in which the business has existed and also by reason of the enterprising and straightforward business methods, which have won to the concern a most extensive patronage. The main office is located at the corner of Ninth and Grove streets, and the company has four large warehouses in the city used for storage purposes. They con- duct a general transfer business in Boise and vicinity, doing contract hauling, packing, storing, shipping and forwarding. The business today has become the largest of the kind in the state and is the visible expression of the energy and efforts of Mr. Peasley. The Peasley Transfer & Storage Company has membership in the American Chain of Warehouses, Inc., and the Illinois Warehousemen's Association. Business in Boise is carried on at No. 415 South Eighth street, in a three-story brick building owned by Mr. Peasley and also built by him. The company acts as distributing and forwarding agents for over one hundred mercantile and manufacturing concerns throughout the United States, including Proctor & Gamble, the Sears Roebuck Company, Montgomery Ward & Company and the W. K. Kellogg Co., together with other extensive and impor- tant corporations. Large quantities of the goods of these firms and scores of others are stored in the Peasley warehouses in Boise, ready to be forwarded to the retail deal- ers all over southern Idaho and portions of Oregon and Utah. The company operates a large number of motor trucks, together with horse and mule teams on the streets of Boise, and the continued growth of the business has placed it in the front rank of enterprises of this character in the state.

On the 27th of December, 1891, Mr. Peasley was married in Boise to Miss Henrietta Butler, a native of the Boise valley, and they have become parents of two daughters, Sophia E. and Henrietta M., who are graduates of the Boise high school and are at home. The younger daughter is continuing her education in the University of Idaho at Moscow.

Mr. Peasley belongs to the Boise Commercial Club, of which he was formerly treasurer. For several years he was a member of the state fair board and served as its secretary for one year. His activities are broad and varied, touching the general interests of society and having to do with many concerns which have been tangible assets in the upbuilding and development of this section of the state. He is an Elk and an Odd Fellow and is now past noble grand of the latter. He is likewise a member of the Ada County Defense League. In politics he is a republican and for two years held the office of city treasurer of Boise, being the only man elected on the ticket on which he ran, which was known as the citizens' ticket. His election was certainly an indication of his personal popularity and the confidence and trust reposed in him. He has never been a politician, however, in the sense of office seeking but has always pre- ferred to devote his thought and attention to business affairs, and he was formerly a director of the Bank of Commerce. His wife is a past grand of the Rebekahs and is prominent in the Maccabees and Women of Woodcraft. They are well known, enjoying the warm regard of all with whom they have been associated, and the adaptability and resourcefulness of Mr. Peasley are indicated in his business successes.

ERNEST NOBLE.

Ernest Noble, president of the Noble Motor Car Company of Boise, was born in Owyhee county, Idaho, May 10, 1888, and has spent his entire life in this state, re- maining a resident of Boise since 1904. He is a son of Robert Noble, prominent ranchman, real estate dealer and banker, who passed away in 1914 and who is men- tioned elsewhere in this work. To the public school system of Idaho, Ernest Noble is indebted for the early educational privileges which he enjoyed. He afterward at- tended the State University, from which he was graduated with the class of 1909. His educational training also included a year's study at the Mount Tamalpais Military Acad- emy of San Rafael, California. Throughout his business career he has resided in Boise, identified with important interests of the city. For three years he was connected with the Boise Valley Railway Company and since 1912 his attention has largely been given to banking, farming and stock raising until he became connected with the motor car company. In 1915 he was one of the organizers of the Overland National Bank, of which he became the first president, so continuing until January 1, 1918, when he re- tired from that position and is now concentrating the greater part of his attention and energy upon the rapidly developing business of the Noble Motor Car Company. He is

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likewise the secretary of the Noble Estate, Incorporated, which manages the large estate left by his father, and he is a director of the Boise Live Stock Loan Company.

On the 9th of June, 1909, Ernest Noble was married to Miss Rita Elizabeth Har- rington, a native of Moscow, Idaho, and they have become parents of two daughters, Margaret Eleanor and Elizabeth Loretta.

Mr. Noble is a member of the Elks Club and of the Commercial Club of Boise. He is yet a comparatively young man, having but recently completed the third decade on life's journey, but in his career he has displayed the enterprise and progressive spirit which placed his father among the most successful business men of the state.

FRANK P. THOMPSON.

Frank P. Thompson, who is the junior partner in the Warren & Thompson Furni- ture Company of Burley, was born in Pioche, Nevada, July 17, 1881, a son of Alexander S. and Minnie (Kirchner) Thompson. His boyhood days were passed in his native state and his early educational opportunities were those afforded by the public schools system. He afterward attended the Reno University in Nevada and subsequently re- turned to his native city, where he engaged in general merchandising. There he re- mained a factor in the business circles of the city until 1916, when he removed to Burley, Idaho, and purchased the interest of Thomas Anderson in the furniture busi- ness of which he is now one of the partners, the business being carried on under the name of the Warren & Thompson Furniture Company. They have a large line of at- tractive furniture and everything to satisfy their patrons in matters of trade. Their prices are reasonable, their business methods thoroughly reliable and their enterprise has been a salient feature in their success.

In 1906 Mr. Thompson was united in marriage to Miss Lydia Ladd, a daughter of George W. and Emmeline (Davis) Ladd, the former a prominent mining man of Nevada, in whose honor Ladd mountain was so named. Mrs. Thompson is a native of Nevada and by her marriage has become the mother of two sons, Frederick and Warren.

In his political views Mr. Thompson has been an earnest republican since reach- ing adult age, but the honors and emoluments of office have no attraction for him. Fraternally he is connected with the Masons and the Elks. There have been no un- usual or esoteric phases in his life history. He has worked persistently and energeti- cally as the years have passed, building his success upon the foundation of a liberal education and of keen insight and sagacity in business affairs. He has steadily and persistently advanced through means of these qualities and is today one of the substan- tial merchants of his adopted city.

ELMER ELLSWORTH SIMS.

No history of the business development of Meridian would be complete were there failure to make prominent reference to Elmer Ellsworth Sims, who is the manager and chief owner of the Vickers-Sims Hardware Company, a large incorporated retail hard- ware and implement concern, doing an extensive and profitable business. Mr. Sims is the secretary, treasurer and manager of the company, with James W. Harrell, of Adams county, Idaho, as the president and M. M. Louderbough as the vice president.

In all that he undertakes Mr. Sims is most capable and resourceful and he is yet a comparatively young man. He was born in Gilman, Iroquois county, Illinois, October 1, 1875, a son of Nathan H. and Mary E. (Reed) Sims, who were natives of Illinois and Ohio respectively. The father died in Nebraska, March 17, 1888, when only thirty- nine years of age, and the mother, who has since remained a widow, is now living in Pasadena, California. They were the parents of four children who survive, three sons and a daughter, of whom Elmer E. is the eldest. The others are: Mrs. Lillie M. Knowles, of Colorado Springs, Colorado; William S. Sims, living in Pasadena, Cali- fornia; and Dr. Charles W. Sims, a veterinary surgeon located at Rupert, Idaho.

When but five years of age Elmer E. Sims was taken by his parents to Jefferson county, Nebraska, and was but nine years of age when his father died. He was reared upon a Nebraska farm and pursued his education in the public schools of that state. Having arrived at years of maturity, he was there married on the 22d of December,

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1898, to Miss Jennie L. Vickers, a sister of his former partner. She passed away in Nebraska, November 16, 1903, leaving a daughter, Floy L., who is now a young lady of eighteen years and is a graduate of the Meridian high school. At the present time she is a domestic science student in the Oregon Agricultural College. On the 30th of June, 1910, Mr. Sims was married a second time, in Meridian, Idaho, the lady of his choice being Miss Grace L. Daly, of Meridian, who was born in Boise, May 3, 1884. They have become parents of two children: Ivan E., born June 23, 1911; and Kathryn, born April 21, 1914.

It was six years after coming to Idaho that Mr. Sims was married a second time. He had arrived in this state in 1904, in company with his brother-in-law, Ernest J. Vickers. They removed to Idaho from the vicinity of Fairbury, Nebraska, and though both had followed farming in that state they now turned their attention to commer- cial pursuits. From the beginning the new enterprise prospered and has been con- tinuously carried on under the name of the Vickers-Sims Hardware Company. They have become extensive retail dealers in hardware and implements, drawing their patrons from a wide territory. Upon the death of Mr. Vickers in 1908 his third in- terest in the business was purchased by Mr. Sims and his present partner, J. W. Harrell, who in the meantime had acquired a third interest in the concern. It was upon the death of Mr. Vickers that the business was incorporated with Mr. Harrell as the presi- deut and Mr. Sims as the secretary, treasurer and manager. This is the oldest mercantile business in Meridian under continuous and uninterrupted ownership. In 1917 the company erected its present main building, forty by one hundred and twenty feet and one story in height. It is a solid concrete building practically fireproof, hav- ing a concrete floor. The company owns the building, the ground upon which it stands, and carries a large line of shelf and heavy hardware and agricultural implements.

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History of Idaho, the gem of the mountains, Volume II, Part 50

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