History of Idaho, the gem of the mountains, Volume II, Part 54

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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OLIVER H. AVEY, M. D.

For seventeen years Dr. Oliver H. Avey has successfully practiced medicine and surgery in Payette, but while recognized as an able and eminent representative of the profession, he has at the same time been an active factor in connection with events which have largely shaped the development and the history of the city and surround- ing district. His worth as a man and citizen is widely acknowledged and there are few men who enjoy a higher degree of confidence and respect in Payette than does Dr. Avey. .

A native of Ohio, he was born in Logan, December 31, 1857, á son of George L. and Mary (Fox) Avey. The father, a native of Maryland, was born March 12, 1830, and about 1850 became a resident of Ohio, where he engaged in business as a saddle and harness maker. With the outbreak of the Civil war he joined Company H of the One Hundred and Fourteenth Ohio Volunteer Infantry and as first lieutenant as- sisted in the recruiting of the company. He served from 1862 until the close of the war and his military career was one of honor and distinction throughout, marked by participation in various hotly contested battles and strenuous campaigns. During the period of his residence in Ohio, George L. Avey filled various positions of public honor and trust and enjoyed an unassailable reputation for integrity and worth of charac- ter. The evening of his days was passed in Payette, where his death occurred April 19, 1912. Some time before he had retired from active business life and was making hls home with his son, Dr. Avey. In the meantime, following his service in the Civil war, he had become a resident of Oskaloosa, Iowa, where he remained until his removal to Idaho. His wife is a native of Germany and was brought to America by her parents when a little maiden of seven years, the family settling in Ohio, where she was reared and educated and there became acquainted with the man to whom she gave her hand in marriage. She now makes her home in Redlands, California, living with her son, John L. Avey, at the age of seventy-seven years.

After attending the public schools of his native town Dr. Avey continued his edu- cation in Penn College at Oskaloosa, Iowa, and was graduated therefrom with the Bachelor of Arts degree in 1881. He was soon afterward appointed assistant post- master and four years later he entered upon the profession of teaching and for a number of years was principal of one of the schools at Oskaloosa,, Iowa. In 1891 Dr. Avey went to Salt Lake City, Utah, where for nine years he was principal of the Washington school and became a prominent factor in the organization of the free public school system, for the schools of the city up to that time had been under Mor- mon regime. When he gave up his position in Salt Lake City it was to enter upon the study of medicine, for he had long cherished a desire to become a representative

DR. OLIVER H. AVEY

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HISTORY OF IDAHO

of the profession. He entered Rush Medical College and before receiving his medical diploma attended medical lectures during vacation periods and did dissecting on his own account in the cellar of an undertaking parlor. He was so well versed in the science of medicine before entering Rush Medical College that he completed the course in less than three years and his ability was immediately recognized by the faculty of that institution. He was graduated in 1901 with the M. D. degree and opened an office at Cedar City, Utah, where he remained for a year and then came to Idaho. It was his intention to locate at Boise and his arrangements had been com- pleted toward that end when Dr. Hosmer of Payette asked him to take over some patients of his in Payette, as Dr. Hosmer was desirous of leaving for a time. As he never returned, Dr. Avey was accorded all his practice and has continuously re- mained in Payette. In 1904 he pursued a post-graduate course in the Chicago Post Graduate College and in many other ways he has labored to keep abreast of the advance that is being continually made in connection with medical and surgical prac- tice. He reads widely and broadly along professional lines and he is a member of the Idaho State and American Medical Associations and also of the Northwestern Rush Medical College Alumni Association. His practice has been important and extensive and yet he has found time to participate in other interests and activities of value to the community. In 1906 he became one of the organizers of the Payette National Bank and has continuously remained its president. He became one of the organizers of the Payette Valley Land and Orchard Company, which has converted seven hun- dred and twenty acres of sagebrush land into one of the finest apple orchards in the United States, and his work in this connection has done much to further the horti- cultural development of the section of the state in which he resides. Dr. Avey is the president of the Payette Valley Land and Orchard Company and is the owner of some attractive property in and about the city of Payette.

On the 6th of July, 1886, Dr. Avey was married to Miss Lorie Pomeroy, a daughter of Stephen and Elizabeth Pomeroy, of Oskaloosa, Iowa. They have reared an adopted daughter, Irene, upon whom they have lavished all the affection and care that would have been given to children of their own. She was married in April, 1919, to Clarence Coats, and they are now residing on a ranch in Big Willow, thirteen miles from Payette.

Dr. Avey is well known in Masonic circles. He belongs to Washoe Lodge, No. 28, A. F. & A. M .; Payette Chapter, No. 8, R. A. M .; Weiser Commandery, K. T .; and Elkorah Temple, A. A. O. N. M. S., of Boise. For nine years he has served as pres- ident of the school board of Payette and the cause of education has ever found in him a stalwart champion. He is a member of the Payette Commercial Club and is in hearty sympathy with that organization in its efforts to promote the progress and upbuilding of the city and surrounding country and uphold its civic standards and ideas. His life has been one of great usefulness to the community in which he has cast his lot and for seventeen years his labors have constituted a valuable contribu- tion to its professional and business activity.

EDGAR M. WRIGHT.

Edgar M. Wright, attorney at law of Burley, was born at Bennington, Bear Lake county, Idaho, July 21, 1876, and is a son of Amos R. and Catherine (Evans) Wright. The father was born in Illinois and the mother's birth occurred in Wales. When a young man Amos R. Wright came to the west, driving across the country to Salt Lake City. In that locality he followed farming for a time and afterward removed to Big Cottonwood. Still later he resided at Brigham, Utah. He was an Indian interpreter and in the early days he drove a stage and carried the United States mail to California. There was no phase of pioneer life or experience in Utah and the west with which he did not become familiar. He aided in colonizing Bear Lake county, Idaho, removing to that district in 1863 or 1864. There he took up government land, built a log house and began the development of a ranch, upon which he continued to reside throughout his remaining days. He passed away in February, 1915, while the mother survived until March, 1917. He was a republican in politics and became an influential factor in the ranks of his party in this state. His fellow townsmen, appreciating his worth and ability, elected him to represent his district in the state legislature and he gave thought- ful and earnest consideration to all the vital questions which came up for settlement.

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He participated in a number of encounters with the Indians in pioneer times and he went with a group of Mormons from Brigham, Utah, to Lemhi, Idaho, to establish a colony there and acted as Indian interpreter. It was through his persuasion that the Indian chief Arimo was prevented from massacring the colonists, but the hostility of the savages rendered it unsafe for them to remain and the colony returned to Salt Lake City.

Edgar M. Wright spent his boyhood in Bear Lake county, Idaho, and pursued his early education there. Determining to become a member of the bar, he went east in order to prepare for his professional career, matriculating in the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor. He there completed his law course by graduation with the class of 1914, after which he returned to Utah and for a brief period engaged in practice at Logan but in October of the same year removed to Burley, Idaho, and on the 13th of November was admitted to the bar of this state. He at once entered upon the work of his profes- sion and in the intervening period has built up a practice of extensive and gratifying proportions, having been connected with a number of the most important cases tried in the courts of the district.

In 1904 Mr. Wright was united in marriage to Miss Luella Neilson, a native of Logan, Utah, and a daughter of Hans J. and Amelia Neilson. Their children are Ruth and Catherine. The religious faith of the family is that of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, while in his political views Mr. Wright is a republican.

WILBERT H. TYER.

Wilbert H. Tyer, who is a member of the Boise bar and for the past ten years has been state deputy organizer and lecturer of the Modern Woodmen of America, was born upon a farm near Adel, Dallas county, Iowa, February 7, 1871, and is the only son of John M. Tyer, a native of Massachusetts, who in turn was a son of John and Harriet (Musgrove) Tyer, who were natives of England, where they were reared and married. The ancestry of the Tyer family is traced back to George Tyer, who was lord mayor of London in 1616. John and Harriet (Musgrove) Tyer came to the United States in 1840 and their son, John M. Tyer, was born in Massachusetts the following year. He devoted his early life to the occupation of farming and later carried on merchandising in Perry, Iowa, where he also took a prominent part in public affairs. He removed from Adel to Perry in 1881 and was serving as mayor of the latter city at the time of his death, which occurred in 1903, when he had reached the age of sixty-two years. During the period of the Civil war he espoused the cause of his country and aided in the defense of the Union on southern battlefields. He had married Addie J. Hoyt, who was born in Maine in 1844, a daughter of Benjamin and Jane (Emmons) Hoyt. . Mrs. Tyer still survives her husband and now makes her home in Boise. By her mar- riage she became the mother of two daughters, Mrs. Nellie T. Carpenter and Pearl, both living in Boise.

The only son of the family is Wilbert H. Tyer of this review, who spent his youth- ful days in Perry, Iowa, and was graduated from the high school of that place with the class of 1886, being then but fifteen years of age. He afterwards worked in his father's store for two years and subsequently spent five years as a student in Grinnell College at Grinnell, Iowa, where he was graduated with the Bachelor of Arts degree in 1894. He then took up the profession of teaching, which he followed in all for seven terms and for two years of that period was principal of the public school at Deep River, Iowa. He afterward became a student of law in the Iowa State University and on the completion of his course in 1898 won the LL. B. degree. Locating for practice at Cedar Rapids, he there followed his profession for five years and in 1905 came to Boise, where he has since been a representative of the local bar. He has membership in the Ada County and Idaho State Bar Associations and he has enjoyed a good clientage.

On the 31st of December, 1907, Mr. Tyer was married in Ogden, Utah, to Miss Norma I. Pearce, of that place, who was born, however. in Nebraska. She is a graduate in music of the conservatory at Shenandoah, Iowa, and has successfully taught music. By her marriage che has become the mother of two children: John P. who was born October 27, 1909; and Helen Fay, born September 29, 1916.

Mr. Tyer finds his chief recreation in fishing, to which he turns when leisure and opportunity permit. His political allegiance has always been given to the republican

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HISTORY OF IDAHO

party and in November, 1918, he was elected a member of the state legislature. He is a thirty-second degree Mason, a Knight Templar, and a prominent representative of the Modern Woodmen of America, which he has represented for the past ten years as state deputy organizer and lecturer. He has actively supported all of the war measures and was captain of Precinct No. 7 in all of the Liberty Loan campaigns. After the outbreak of the great European war he did a considerable amount of lecture work, as a Lyceum Bureau speaker, on the causes and effects of the war.

HON. ALFRED ANDERSON.

Hon. Alfred Anderson, a veteran of the Civil war, connected with the business in- terests of Boise as an auctioneer and with its public affairs as justice of the peace, was born in Fleming county, Kentucky, January 15, 1847. His father, Cornelius S. Anderson, was a veterinary surgeon and farmer and was a son of Joseph Anderson, who served in the War of 1812, participating in the battle of New Orleans. Cornelius S. Anderson wedded Martha J. Carpenter and both were born in Kentucky and spent their last days in Kansas.

Alfred Anderson was reared in Atchison county, Kansas, after reaching the age of seven years, his father removing from Kentucky to the Sunflower state in 1854. He remained upon a Kansas farm to the age of eleven years, when his father died, after which he was employed on the plains of Kansas and Colorado for several years during his youth. The complete story of the incidents and adventures which formed this period of his career would fill a volume. During the last year of the Civil war al- though still a boy in his teens, he served in the Union army. In early manhood he took up the business of auctioneering in Kansas and while in that state he also served as deputy United States marshal and as deputy sheriff and sheriff of Osborne county, Kansas, as well as city marshal of Osborne. In 1895 he came to Idaho and has since made his home in Boise, where he has continued business as an auctioneer. In 1916 he was elected to the position of justice of the peace and still serves in that capacity, his decisions "winning him golden opinions from all sorts of people" by reason of the fairness and impartiality of his judgment.

Mr. Anderson has been married twice. In 1868 he wedded Elizabeth O'Roke, who passed away in 1909, and on the 6th of August, 1912, he was married by Governor James H. Hawley to Mrs. Mary Robinson, an acquaintance of his boyhood days in Kansas. Her maiden name was Mary Tranmer. By the first marriage there were. six children, three sons and three daughters.

Mr. Anderson is a member of the Grand Army of the Republic and a past depart- ment commander for Idaho and also a past assistant general of the organization in this state. His wife has membership in the Woman's Relief Corps, also in the Re- bekahs and the Eastern Star. Mr. Anderson is a Mason who exemplifies in his life the beneficent spirit of the craft.

MISS BESSIE LAYNG.

The notable examples of business enterprise and progressive commercialism are not confined alone to men, for Pocatello claims as a leading factor in its business circles Miss Bessie Layng, who is conducting a most profitable business as a dealer in staple and fancy groceries and meats. She has long been connected with this busi- ness, having originally entered the store as an employe, but eventually she became owner. Idaho is proud to number her among the native daughters of the state, her birth having occurred at Montpelier. Her father, Peter J. Layng, was born in Ire- land, September 12, 1865, and came to the United States in 1881, first settling in Omalia, Nebraska, where he remained for one year. He then made his way to Idaho, where he was in the employ of the Oregon Short Line Railroad, and in 1909 he was killed in a derailment. Peter J. Layng wedded Mary Kelly in New York city and they became the parents of three sons: Benjamin L., G. L. and Eugene B .- and four daughters: Bessie, Cecelia M., and Eleanor M. and Eileen M., the last two being twins. Mrs. Layng also has a sister, Mrs. Elizabeth M. Brady, who is residing in Pocatello. Michael Kelly the maternal grandfather of Bessie Layng, was born in Ireland and came to New

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York in 1866. He is now living at Grand Island, Nebraska, where he has retired from active business life, having for many years been a railroad man. He is seventy- two years of age, as is his wife, who in her maidenhood was Elizabeth Hyland and who is also a native of Ireland.

At the usual age Bessie Layng became a pupil in the public schools of Montpelier, Idaho, where she pursued her studies until 1909, passing through consecutive grades to the high school. She then came to Pocatello and for six months was employed in a confectionery store, after which she accepted the position of bookkeeper with Joe Russ, who conducted a meat market. On the expiration of that period Mr. Russ sold liis business to the Bannock Cooperative Company, handling groceries and meats, and with the latter Miss Layng remained until the business was discontinued. A com- pany of railroad men revived the business under the name of the Bannock Grocery Company and she remained in the employ of that firm for a year, when they in turn sold the business to N. O. Hall, with whom Miss Layng remained for a year and a half. In 1915 she purchased the business, becoming sole proprietor, and with her in its conduct are now associated her three brothers-Benjamin L., G. L. and Eugene B. Benjamin L. Layng became a member of the tank division of the United States army, Eugene B. was in the marine service and G. L. remained as the active assistant of his sister during the period of the world war. Her business consists of the retailing of meats and fancy and staple groceries, and she employs five people and utilizes three delivery wagons. She has developed the business to most extensive and gratifying proportions, possesses splendid executive ability and in her administrative direction of the affairs of the store has given evidence of those superior qualities which make for success.

HARLEY J. HOOKER.

Harley J. Hooker, founder and manager of the Jordan Valley Farms Company of Boise, and thus figuring in connection with the reclamation and development of large landed areas in southern Idaho, was born at Carthage, Illinois, July 13, 1870, and is the only living child of William C. and Catherine (McQuary) Hooker. The father, now deceased, was a relative of General Joseph Hooker, one of the distinguished commanders of the Civil war. In the paternal line Harley J. Hooker is descended from the Rev. Thomas Hooker, one of the founders of Hartford, Connecticut. His mother was a daughter of James G. McQuary, an officer of the Civil war. William C. Hooker was born in Auburn, New York, and took up the practice of law as a life work. He re- moved to Rockton, Illinois, with his parents when only ten years of age and in the pursuit of his education completed a course with the first class that was graduated from Beloit College of Wisconsin. After having qualified for law practice he chiefly followed his profession in Carthage, Illinois, where he resided to the time of his death, which occurred in 1915. For a considerable period he had survived his wife, who passed away in 1900. In their family were two sons and two daughters, but Harley J. is the only one now living. On the 3d of August, 1903, Mr. Hooker was married to Miss Etta L. Galloway, also a native of Illinois. His brother, Chellis E. Hooker, was a graduate of the law department of Northwestern University in Chicago and success- fully practiced his profession and also served as county judge, being upon the bench at the time of his death, which occurred in 1901, when he was twenty-nine years of age.

Harley J. Hooker was educated in the public schools and in Carthage College of Carthage, Illinois. For more than twenty years he has been engaged in agricultural and development work. For six years he traveled extensively in Central America, West India Islands, South America and Europe, selling American made products and establishing agencies for the sale of American goods. He resided a number of years in St. Louis, Missouri, engaged in southern land, agriculture and development work. He came to Idaho in the fall of 1912, thoroughly recommended by the officials of the Southwestern Railroad as a successful colonizer of new districts. In Idaho he sold thirty thousand acres of the Twin Falls tract in 1912 and 1913, and in 1915 and 1916 he colonized the famous Clover tract, a tract of four thousand acres, located above the High Line Twin Falls canal, and lying south of Filer and Buhl. This tract was developed by the High Line Seed Farms Company of which Mr. Hooker was a member. The tract was all sage brush in the fall of 1914. This four thousand acres was developed by the company. They removed the brush, plowed the land, leveled it.

HARLEY J. HOOKER

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seeded it all to clover. They built the roads, ditches, headgates, laterals, telephone lines, power line, sixty-five miles of woven wire fencing, guaranteed the settlers a first class stand of clover, assisted in building schools, parsonage, and now the church has the largest membership of any church of the same denomination in Idaho. The record yield of white clover was made on this tract. On sixteen and twenty-three one hun- dredth acres, sixteen bushels of white clover seed per acre was threshed, selling for five thousand seven hundred and eighty-five dollars. The land was sold for one hun- dred and sixty dollars per acre to over sixty-nine settlers from Nebraska, nearly all of whom are now living on the land. They have built substantial homes and improve- ments, until now "(1919) it is one of the very best improved districts in southern Idaho.

When Mr. Hooker finished the sale of this tract the settlers forwarded him a let- ter, a copy of which is here shown. It was signed by all the settlers of the tract.

"Clover, Idaho, Nov. 19, 1916.

"In appreciation of the opportunity afforded us for investment at Clover, Idaho, and of the complete fulfillment of all the representations made by you in your business relations with us, we hand you this letter. Our dealings have been in all respects satisfactory and we bespeak for you abundant success in your future enterprises."

Letters of endorsement were also received by officials of the Frisco Railroad, M., K. & T. R. R. on R. & N. O. S. L., and one from the Union Pacific system is shown here:

"Hooker is livest wire and ablest colonizer of those with whom we cooperate. Am convinced Jordan valley through his efforts will be filled with successful farmers who will be a great asset to the state."

Mr. Hooker came to Boise on the 1st of January. 1917, and has since given his attention to the Jordan Valley Farms Company, of which he is the president and man- ager. This company has offices on the fifth floor of the Idaho building. Perhaps no better indication of the work to which Mr. Hooker is devoting his time can be given than by quoting from the Idaho Farmer of June 13, 1918. In an article written for that publication A. E. Gipson said: "The Jordan Valley community has long been known as an important live stock center, and more especially with reference to its location in the 'Heart of the Range,' that is to say, in the great grazing section of Mal- heur county. The extent and richness of these lands have long been known, but until within the past few years, no one seems to have seriously considered the matter of increasing their productivity, excepting in a limited way, by the construction of an irri- gation system. And so, as already intimated, Jordan Valley has remained a range live stock proposition, and in its earlier history had the reputation of being decidedly 'wild and wooly.' This, of course, was the era of the gay and festive cowboy, sometimes known as the buckaroo, about whose escapades and ready-made thrills some of the old settlers of the Jordan Valley country still retain vivid recollections.

"But these days have long since passed, and the locality has been associated of late with the thought of thrift and contentment, suggested by the substantial character and the accumulation of worldly possessions on the part of stockmen and farmers. Many of them have grown wealthy and some have retired from active work, or have gone to other places, either to engage in business or to take life easier than they for- merly did. 'Others have made a change for the purpose of giving their children the benefit of advanced educational facilities. And so quite a transformation, if not in fact a reality, is in prospect. This will be greatly accelerated, no doubt, by the develop- ment of the irrigation project referred to.

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History of Idaho, the gem of the mountains, Volume II, Part 54

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