USA > Idaho > History of Idaho, the gem of the mountains, Volume II > Part 53
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JOHN F. COLVIN.
John F. Colvin, for fourteen years a member of the Boise bar, was born in Albion, New York, September 21, 1864, and is the eldest son of John C. and Susan (Wallace) Colvin, both of whom have passed away. The parents were natives of New York and spent their entire lives in that state. The father was a mechanic and always carried on business along mechanical lines. He was a son of Sherman Colvin, who was a rep- resentative of one of the old American families that was founded in New England. Sherman Colvin lived to the advanced age of ninety-six years, but his son, John C. Colvin, only reached the age of sixty-seven years, while the wife of the latter died at the age of sixty-two.
John F. Colvin was reared in Albion, New York, and attended its public schools. Later he became a student in the Pulaski Academy, in which he spent two years, and subsequently he completed a course in the Brookfield Union School and Academy of Madison county, New York. He thus had liberal educational opportunities which well qualified him for duties and responsibilities of later life. As a young man he took up the profession of teaching and was principal of the schools at Tuckerton, New
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Jersey, for five years, and at Bloomingdale, New Jersey, for six years. He proved a capable educator, imparting clearly and readily to others the knowledge that he had acquired; but the opportunities of the west proved to him an irresistible lure and in 1901 he made his way to Butte, Montana, where he took up the study of law. He afterward pursued a two years' law course in the Valparaiso University of Indiana. from which institution he was graduated in 1904 with the LL. B. degree. In the same year he was admitted to the Indiana har and immediately afterward he came to Idaho, settling at Wallace in the fall of that year. A few months later, or in 1905, he removed to Boise, where he opened an office and has since engaged in practice. He is a mem- ber of the Ada County and the Idaho State Bar Associations and he is a representative attorney, displaying thoroughness and care in the preparation of his cases and strength and cogency in the presentation of his cause.
On the 24th of December, 1889, Mr. Colvin was married to Miss Mattie K. Bab- cock, of Brookfield, New York, and they have one son, Oscar J., who holds a responsible position in the war department at Washington, D. C.
Mrs. Colvin is a member of the Baptist church and fraternally Mr. Colvin is con- nected with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. His political support is given to the republican party but he has never been a candidate or aspirant for public office. He has been a stanch supporter, however, of all war measures and his public-spirited citizenship stands as an unquestioned fact in his career, his loyalty to all the best interests of community, commonwealth and country being manifest in many tangible ways.
WILLIAM A. FLOWER.
William A. Flower, conducting a splendidly equipped photographic studio at Twin Falls, was born in Fond du Lac, Wisconsin, April 24, 1874, and is a son of Charles W. and Frances E. (Arnett) Flower. His boyhood days were spent under the parental roof at the place of his birth and there he began his education, which later he con- tinned in the schools of Chicago, Illinois. He dates his residence in Twin Falls from 1908 and here he established his photographic gallery. He had previously become acquainted with the art while in the middle west and had developed ability of a high order before coming to Idaho. He has today a splendidly equipped establishment and follows the latest improved photographic processes in carrying on his work. He pos- sesses artistic skill, recognizes the value of light and shade and is most happy in catching a lifelike likeness of his subject. His work has won favorable comment wher- ever it has been displayed and there is no doubt as to his continued progress, for he possesses a spirit that is never content with mediocrity but is constantly reaching out for broader and better things.
Mr. Flower is a member of the Masonic fraternity and of the Benevolent Protec- tive Order of Elks and gives his political support to the republican party. He has never been ambitious to hold political office, yet in matters of citizenship stands at all times for progress and improvement and lahors earnestly for the best interests of the locality in which he makes his home.
IRA F. OVERMYER.
Ira F. Overmyer, a Boise lawyer, whose hirthplace was an Indiana farm, has passed the fiftieth milestone on life's journey, for he was born near Plymouth, in Marshall county, Indiana, January 13, 1868, the eldest in a family of seven children, four sons and three daughters, whose parents were the Rev. Hiram E. and Margaret A. (Kemmerling) Overmyer. The father, who was born in Sandusky county, Ohio, be- came a resident of Marshall county, Indiana, in 1866, and passed away in 1895. His patriotic and courageous spirit was manifest at the time of the Civil war hy his enlist- ment as a member of Company I, Sixty-second New York Regiment, with which he served for three years in the Union army. His wife, also a native of Sandusky county, Ohio, is still living in Lagrange county, Indiana. They were married in Marshall county, that state, in 1867.
Ira F. Overmyer largely spent his youthful days upon the old homestead farm in
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Marshall county, and after mastering the branches of learning taught in the district schools there continued his studies in the Valparaiso University of that state. When nineteen years of age he taught a term of school, and when twenty years of age en- tered the Northwestern College, a denominational school at Naperville, Illinois, in which he remained a student for two years. He then made his way westward to Hol- drege, Nebraska, where for two years he was engaged in the real estate and insur- ance business. Returning to Indiana, he spent some time in Richmond and at Muncie, where he was identified with manufacturing enterprises. The same spirit of patriotism that prompted his father's enlistment in the Civil war was manifest in the son in 1900, when he joined the United States Army and was sent to Cuba, where he spent twen- ty-one months during the period of American occupation. He served altogether for three years in the army with the rank of sergeant.
Previously, in 1892, Mr. Overmyer had completed a course of study in a business college at Muncie, Indiana, mastering courses in bookkeeping, banking, stenography and typewriting. In 1893 he became an instructor in a Portland, Indiana, business college and in 1894 he took up the study of law in the office of Wagner & Bingham, well known attorneys, the latter being James Bingham, afterward attorney general of Indiana. Mr. Overmyer was admitted to the bar at Muncie in 1895 and entered upon the practice of law in Albany, Delaware county, Indiana, in 1897. There he continued until 1900, when he entered the army. In 1903, following the close of his military service, he returned to Muncie, where he occupied the position of superintendent of a woodenware manufacturing plant for two years. From 1905 until 1909 he was an assistant superintendent of the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company at Martinsville, Indiana, and in the latter year he went to California, where he spent seven months on a ranch. In 1910 he arrived in Boise, where he has since made his home, and for three
years after his arrival here he was identified with the National Cash Register Company and the Toledo Computing Scale Company. During the fall of 1912, through the political campaign he served the progressive party of Idaho as official state stenographer. Since 1913 he has practiced law, with office in the MeCarty building in Boise, and specializes as a collecting attorney. Aside from his law practice he is the president and general manager of the Western Reporting & Credit Company.
At Muncie, Indiana, in 1899, Mr. Overmyer was married and has two living children, Dwight M. and Marjorie Frances, aged respectively nineteen and fourteen years. The son is in the service of the United States government in the aviation department. In 1914 Mr. Overmyer was again married, his second union being with Mrs. Esther A. Farling nee Warrick.
In politics Mr. Overmyer has always been a stalwart republican but never an office seeker. He belongs to the Boise Chamber of Commerce, which connection manifests his deep interest in the welfare and upbuilding of the city. He finds his chief recreation in fishing and motoring, but professional duties claim the greater part of his time and attention.
JAMES ALMOND AMES.
James Almond Ames, founder and president of the Ames Wholesale Grocery & Sup- ply Company, conducting an extensive business as wholesale dealers in groceries and as importers, jobbers and manufacturers in Boise, came to this city from Boulder, Colorado, in 1906. He was born at Richfield Springs, Otsego county, New York, August 2, 1870, the eldest son in a family of five children, three sons and two daughters, whose parents were David W. and Mary V. (Gano) Ames, the former of English and the latter of French descent. The father is still living in the Empire state, but the mother died several years ago. In the paternal line the ancestry can be traced back to three brothers who came from England soon after the Mayflower first dropped anchor in Plymouth harbor. The maternal grandfather was James H. Gano, a well-to-do live stock man of Ganos Corners, near Richfield, New York, a place which was named in his honor.
James A. Amics, spending his youthtul days in his native state, was reared in Otsego county and after mastering the branches of learning taught in the public schools there, attended Eastman's Business College at Poughkeepsie, New York. In 1892 he removed westward to Chicago, where he remained for two years, during which time he was employed in the wholesale house of Marshall Field. He afterward spent
JAMES A. AMES
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several years in Colorado, remaining at Denver and at Boulder, where he engaged in the grocery trade, conducting a retail store at Denver, and a member of a firm engaged in the wholesale business in Boulder. The year 1906 witnessed his arrival in Boise and in 1910 he established the wholesale grocery house of which he has since been the president. The store is located at Ninth and Myrtle streets. F. M. Watts is the secre- tary of the company, with J. Warren Smith as the treasurer. This is a close corpora- tion. The company has built up an extensive business, their ramifying trade interests covering a broad territory, and they manufacture various lines of goods which they handle and are also importers and jobbers.
On the 27th of May, 1906, Mr. Ames was united in marriage to Miss Elsie E. Crump, and they have become parents of three children: Marguerite, Catherine and James William. The last two are twins, born March 31, 1909, while the birth of Marguerite occurred on the 24th of March, 1907.
In politics Mr. Ames maintains an independent course, considering the capability of the candidate rather than his party ties. He belongs to the Boise Commercial Cluh and is interested in all that has to do with the upbuilding of the city, the development of its trade interests and the upholding of those affairs which are matters of civic virtue and of civic pride.
JOSEPH R. NUMBERS, M. D.
Dr. Joseph R. Numbers, physician and surgeon of Boise, was born on a farm in Morrow county, Ohio, May 30, 1864, a son of Esau and Anna (Smith) Numbers, who were natives of Pennsylvania and Ohio respectively. The father, who devoted his life to the occupation of farming, was born November 7, 1816, and in Ohio wedded Anna Smith, whose birth occurred in 1820. She passed away in Iberia, Ohio, in 1877, while Mr. Numbers survived until the 28th of January, 1902. They had a family of eight children and one of the elder sons enlisted for service in the Civil war and laid down his life on the altar of his country. The family comes of English ancestry.
Dr. Numbers was reared on the old homestead farm in his native county to the age of thirteen years, when his mother died. His early education had been obtained in the country schools and afterward he attended the Ohio Central College at Iberia, while subsequently he was graduated from the high school of Decatur, Indiana, at the age of seventeen years. He then went to Paola, Kansas, to teach school but became ill there, so that he was prevented from carrying out his plans. Through bis illness he was attended hy Dr. Albert Reichard and the two became fast friends. The Doctor persuaded Mr. Numbers to study medicine and he pursued his reading in the Doctor's office for a time, while later he entered the Eclectic Medical Institute of Cincinnati, Ohio, from which he was graduated with the class of 1885. He then hegan practice in Wyan- dotte, Kansas, in the summer of that year but soon removed to Carbondale, Kansas, and in the fall of 1886 went to Minneapolis, Minnesota, having received appointment as assistant surgeon of the American Hospital Aid Association. He spent two years in the hospital there and in 1888 he came to Idaho, settling at Weiser, where he practiced until 1910. In that year he came to Boise and has since been numbered among the leading physicians of the city. He is a member of the Idaho and American Medical Associations and his high professional standing is indicated in the fact that he has been chosen to the presidency of the state association. He has done post-graduate work in Rush Medical College of Chicago, also in Baltimore and in New York city, and hy constant reading, research and investigation is keeping in close touch with the trend of modern professional thought. In addition to a large private practice he is now serving on the staff of St. Alphonsus Hospital of Boise.
In Carbondale, Kansas, on the 7th of September, 1887, Dr. Numbers was united in marriage to Miss Mary B. Swartz, a native of Pennsylvania, and they now have three children: Dr. Donald S. Numbers, thirty years of age, who is a captain and instructor in the Medical Reserve Corps of the United States Army, having previously graduated from the Barnes Medical College of St. Louis, Missouri; Joseph Reno, who is a member of the senior class of Rush Medical College; and Josephine Letitia, twenty years of age, who was graduated from the Boise high school and is now a student in the Columbia College of Expression in Chicago. Dr. Numbers has thus given his children excellent educational opportunities and they are making good along the lines to which they have directed their efforts.
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In his political views Dr. Numbers is a republican, and while he has never been a politician in the usually accepted sense of office seeking, he has served as mayor of Weiser. He belongs to the Commercial Club of Boise and is deeply interested in its plans and purposes for the upbuilding and benefit of the city. Fraternally he is a Knight Templar Mason and member of the Mystic Shrine and he is a past master of his lodge. In his life he has ever exemplified the beneficent spirit of the craft, which is based upon a recognition of the brotherhood of mankind and the obligations thereby imposed.
JUNEAU SHINN.
Juneau Shinn, a most progressive young man of undeniable talent and notably resourceful in all that he undertakes, is now the editor of the Filer Record. He was born at Corning, Iowa, February 20, 1896, and is a son of William P. and Eloise (Morris) Shinn, who in the year 1905 removed to Idaho, settling at Filer, at which time their son Juneau was a lad of nine years. He pursued his education in the public schools of his native state and of Idaho, passing through consecutive grades to his graduation from the high school. In 1915 he received an appointment to Annapolis from Addison T. Smith but was not admitted owing to a minor physical disqualification. He then en- tered the College of Liberal Arts of the University of Southern California, where he pursued an extended course in journalism which he completed in June, 1919. During his college days there he became a member of the Delta Beta Tau and also the Sigma Sigma and was news editor on the staff of the college daily, known as the "Trojan."
Mr. Shinn's early business experience came to him along commercial lines, for he was employed in mercantile houses for eight years. In September, 1919, on the com- pletion of his course in journalism, he purchased with Henry E. Lammers, a paper known as the Filer Record, of which he is now editor and part owner. This is an independent weekly, devoted to local interests and welfare and the dissemination of general news, and in its conduct he is employing the most progressive methods of journalism, displaying undeniable talent in that field. Already he is gaining the atten- tion of fellow journalists and he is making the Record a most desirable paper.
In April, 1918, Mr. Shinn enlisted in the United States Naval Reserve Force and was discharged from active service in December, 1919, having in the meantime been at the officers' training camp at San Pedro, California. He is a member of the Masonic frat- ernity, loyal to the teachings and purposes of the craft, and he also belongs to the Filer Chamber of Commerce, cooperating heartily in all of the plans and purposes of that organization for the benefit and upbuilding of the city. He is serving as the secre- tary, doing effective work in this connection, and at all times and under all circum- stances he is actuated by a spirit of advancement that is productive of splendid results in his individual business career and in his connection with public affairs as well.
JOHN CARL HILL, M. D.
Dr. John Carl Hill, engaged in the practice of medicine and surgery in Boise, is a native of Hannibal, Missouri, born November 2, 1881. His father, Jobn H. Hill, a merchant, was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, January 9, 1851, and spent the greater part of his life in Missouri. Later, however, he resided in Colorado and his last days were spent in Boise, where he died February 5, 1917, at the age of sixty-six years. His wife, who in her maidenhood was Cordelia Thomas, was born in Missouri and died in 1900. The Hill family is of Irish lineage, the grandfather of the Doctor being Benjamin Hill, who came from County Cork, Ireland.
Dr. Hill was reared in Hannibal, Missouri, and at Grand Junction, Colorado. His collegiate training was received in the University of Colorado, in which he spent seven years, pursuing classical and professional courses. He won the Bachelor of Arts degree in 1904 and the M. D. degree in 1907. In the latter year he was appointed a member of the hospital staff of the Colorado Fuel & Iron Company at Pueblo and occupied that position until 1910. In October of the latter year he located in Boise, where he has steadily practiced through the intervening period with much success, doing excellent work both in medicine and surgery. He did post graduate work during 1913 in the New
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York Polyclinic and the New York Lying-In Hospital. While be continues in the general practice of medicine, he specializes to a considerable extent in surgery and diagnosis. He is a member of the American Medical Association and also of the Idaho State Medical Society.
In 1912, Dr. Hill was married in Morgantown, West Virginia, to Miss Elizabeth Whitehill, who was born in Whiting, West Virginia, and they have become parents to two daughters, Anna Jane and Elizabeth.
During his college days Dr. Hill became a member of the Beta Theta Pi. He he- longs to the Physicians and Surgeons Club of Boise, of which he is an ex-president, and also has membership in the Commercial Club and in the Elks Club. His religious faith is evidenced in his membership in the Methodist Episcopal church. His activities are thus broad and varied, touching the general interests of society, and any project of public worth and moment is sure to receive his endorsement and support.
SQUIRE G. CROWLEY.
Squire G. Crowley, police judge of Idaho Falls, who died January 9, 1920, was born in Webster county, Kentucky, February 20, 1852, and is a son of Benjamin and Henrietta (Mcclendon ) Crowley. The father was a native of Virginia, born in 1814, and was a son of Benjamin Crowley, Sr., a representative agriculturist of the Old Dominion. Tbe mother was also born in Virginia, her natal year being 1816, and she was a daughter of John and Mary McClendon, both representatives of old families long and prominently connected with events of importance in that state. Mrs. Crowley was a woman of re- markable mental powers and also of notable physical endurance. She resided on the old family homestead in Webster county, Kentucky, until her death, which occurred August 3, 1903. She had a family of fourteen children, seven sons and seven daughters, of whom only one is living, Henrietta, who Is the wife of J. A. Crowley, a resident of Webster county, Kentucky. In early life Benjamin Crowley, Jr., removed from Vir- ginia to Webster county, Kentucky, and was identified with its agricultural interests throughout his remaining days, his death occurring in 1873, while, as previously stated, his wife survived him for thirty years.
Squire G. Crowley was reared in Kentucky and in Utah. He remained with his father upon the home farm until the latter's death in 1873. In 1874 he made his way to Montana and in the fall of the same year went to Utah, settling at Ogden, where he attended high school. He afterward taught school there for twelve years during the winter months and in the summer seasons did all kinds of work. In 1886 he removed to Bonneville county, Idaho, then a part of Bingham county, and located on a home- stead of one hundred and sixty acres eight miles northeast of Idaho Falls. He im- proved this in a splendid way and continued its cultivation and further development for sixteen years or until 1902, when he took up his abode at Idaho Falls and leased his ranch, from which he derived a good rental for sixteen years and then sold the property. He was called to various public offices. In 1895 and 1896 he served the county as assessor and in 1902 he was elected justice of the peace, occupying that position for ten years. For five years of that period he served as police judge and was the incumbent in that position at the time of his death. In the same year in which he was chosen justice of the peace he entered into partnership with H. K. Linger, the second oldest lawyer of Idaho Falls, for the conduct of a real estate business. A year later the partnership was dissolved and Squire G. Crowley became the senior partner in the real estate firm of Crowley & Sons, in which he continued for some time and then withdrew from the business. In November, 1912, he was elected to the office of probate judge of Bonneville county and served for one term. On the 16th of May, 1919, he was appointed police judge and on the 12th of June of the same year was appointed justice of the peace to succeed the late William E. Wheeler, occupying both positions. He was the owner of a dry farm comprising one hundred and twenty acres in Bonneville county and he also had considerable city property, including three residences and some vacant lots.
On the 18th of October, 1875, Mr. Crowley was married to Miss Harriet A. Hutch- ens, a native of Utah and a daughter of William B. and Mary E. (Stone) Hutchens. The father, a native of Tennessee, removed with his family to Utah in 1850 and there resided for thirty-five years or until his death in 1885, devoting his attention to farming and becoming prominently identified with the public affairs of the community and of
Vol. 11-29
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the church. He was a member of the city council, was a bishop of the Mormon church and a most highly esteemed citizen. His wife died in Ogden in 1912. To Mr. and Mrs. Crowley were born twelve children. William B., the eldest, died at the age of two and a half years. Clarence E. is an attorney of Idaho Falls, Mary H. became the wife of L. R. Tolley and died March 16, 1919, leaving five little daughters. Jesse J. is county assessor of Bonneville county and resides at Idaho Falls. Ethel A. is the wife of Frank Newman, a rancher of Bonneville county. Charles R. is engaged in the collection business at Idaho Falls. Nellie C. died at the age of nine months. Ansel S. is an accountant of Idaho Falls. Eugene D. is a merchant of Caldwell, Idaho. Blanche E. is the wife of Chester Peer, also of Idaho Falls. Olive A. is the wife of Dewey Hutchinson, who was with the air service in France for nine months and who is a resident of Firth, Idaho. Squire Leslie, who completes the family, is at home.
Mr. Crowley was a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and on one occasion filled a six months' mission to Kentucky. His political allegiance was usually given to the republican party, but he voted for President Wilson. He started out in life with absolutely nothing. He reared a big family and whenever one of his children married he made to that one a gift of five hundred dollars or an equal amount in property. He certainly deserved much credit for what he accomplished and the suc- cess which crowned his efforts. Moreover, his activities at all times covered not only business affairs but public service and devotion to the general welfare and he was numbered among the valued and representative residents of Bonneville county.
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