USA > Idaho > History of Idaho, the gem of the mountains, Volume II > Part 58
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In the common schools of his native county John T. Jefferis pursued his educa- tion and when not busy with his textbooks devoted his time to assisting his father in the hardware store. At the age of twenty years he began farming in association with his father in Keokuk county, Iowa, where they remained for a year and then removed to North Dakota, where they carried on general farming for nine years. During that period John T. Jefferis served for two years as city marshal of York, North Dakota, and during the entire nine years played third base in the local baseball team. He has always been a great lover of the national game and is yet one of its enthusiastic champions. The next move of the family was to Snohomish, Washington, where the father took up the occupation of farming, while John T. Jefferis obtained employment in the retail department of a wholesale grocery establishment. After two and a half years there passed the family removed to Payette, Idaho, in the spring of 1908 and here the father and his sons, John T. and Earle, established a hardware and furniture business, which they conducted for two years, when a handsome profit that was of- fered them tempted them to sell the business. They next took up their abode in the Pine valley of Oregon and purchased a ranch of three hundred and twenty acres, where- on for five years they engaged in raising stock and grain. They then removed to Baker City, Oregon, where John T. and Earle Jefferis again turned their attention to the hardware and furniture trade, success attending this venture during the year in which they conducted the store, after which they sold the business to good advantage. Earle Jefferis now resides in Walla Walla, Washington, and owns a wheat ranch of six hundred acres near the city which he rents. He makes his home in the town and by his friends is considered one of the best traders in the country. possessing much natural business ability and in all of his deals displaying sound judgment and keen sagicity.
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After John T. and Earle Jefferis disposed of the hardware and furniture business at Baker City, Oregon, the former was elected constable and was appointed deputy sheriff, but after filling those positions for a year and a half he resigned and in 1917 removed to Payette, Idaho. Here he was appointed chief of police, in which capacity he served until January 1, 1919, when he was elected sheriff of Payette county. This being a newly created county, he was the first incumbent in the position to be elected by public choice and he is proving a most efficient officer, well liked by the people of the community and by all who know him.
In 1901 Mr. Jefferis was married to Miss Blanche Johnson, a native of Indiana but then a resident of York, North Dakota. They have four children: Fred E., seventeen years of age, attending high school; Raymond W., aged fifteen, who is now in his first year in high school; Ethel F., who is in the eighth grade of the common schools; and Albert Le Roy, ten years of age, who is also attending school.
Fraternally Mr. Jefferis is connected with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, of which he has been a representative for nineteen years, and he also has membership with the Knights of Pythias, but he turns to baseball for recreation, never outgrowing his boyhood love of the game. His business activities have carried him into various sections of the west and he is now identified with the interests and development of one of the new counties of Idaho, where his work is proving of much value.
MORRIS H. KNUDSEN.
Morris H. Knudsen, a member of the Morrison-Knudsen Company, a contract- ing firm of Boise, was born in Denmark, July 16, 1862, a son of Hans C. and Minnie (Larsen) Knudsen. The father came to the United States in 1869 and established a home in Rutland, Vermont. He was a marble cutter by trade. The following year Morris H. Knudsen and two other children of the family accompanied their mother to the new world to join the husband and father. The father passed away at the age of eighty-seven years but the mother survives at the age of eighty-one years, and now resides at Proctor, Vermont.
A portion of the boyhood of Morris H. Knudsen was spent in the state of New York, where his parents lived for seven years, and when he was seventeen years of age the family home was established in Nebraska but subsequently the father and mother removed to the Green Mountain state. During his early manhood Morris H. Knudsen also passed a year in Colorado. In 1881 he first began railway con- struction work as an employe in Colorado and since that time his efforts and atten- tion have been directed continuously along the same line. He first came to Boise in 1889 but remained for only three years, returning to the state of Nebraska, where he spent ten years in the vicinity of Columbus, giving his attention to farming.
In 1905 Mr. Knudsen again made his way to Boise and for two years was fore- man of Camp No. 1 on the force of W. H. Thompson, who was then building the New York canal. He was foreman of canal construction for the United States gov- ernment also and his work with the government and with Mr. Thompson covered about seven years. In 1912 he formed a partnership in a general contracting busi- ness with Harry W. Morrison under the firm style of the Morrison-Knudsen Company and they have since conducted a large general contracting business in the building of railroads, country roads, street paving, sewers, sidewalks, etc., and also in the building of large dams. The Morrison-Knudsen Company had the contract for the building of the pump house for the Snake river irrigation project in 1912. They also completed the Gem irrigation district plant in 1912 and 1913, building many of the ditches and installing the flumes. The firm built the Umatilla dam in the state of Oregon, a seventy thousand dollar contract, and put in the first street pav- ing-concrete-in Logan, Utah. They built the Garden Valley highway from Banks to Garden Valley and a canal in Utah known as the Strawberry Valley project. They did much canal work in the vicinity of Twin Falls and as subcontractors they built the Harrison boulevard and also the Sixteenth street approach in Boise. During the last two years they have done all the railroad construction work for the Boise- Payette Lumber Company, At the present time they are engaged in reconstructing the famous Oxhow tunnel, twenty-four hundred feet in length, in the state of Oregon, on the Oregon Short Line Railroad, and are now raising the Murphy dam on Sinker creek in Owyhee county. This dam is thirteen hundred feet long and the firm is
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raising it to a height of fifteen feet. They employ at times several hundred men and scores of teams and have won a place among the most prominent of the general contractors of the state. They built the highway between Banks and Smiths Ferry in Idaho, known as the Star McCall road; also numerous roads in Oregon; and at the present time are engaged in building the Cow Valley-Brogan state highway.
On the 11th of February, 1892, Mr. Knudsen was married in Nebraska to Miss Emma Peterson, a native of Sweden, who came to the United States with her parents when but four years of age. They have no children of their own but reared an adopted son, Edward Knudsen, who is now employed in one of the gov- ernment shipbuilding plants on the Pacific coast, in California.
Mr. Knudsen belongs to the Swedish Lutheran church and finds his chief recreation in motoring. He has had, however, but few idle hours. His entire time and attention have been given to his business affairs, and his close application and industry have been the salient features in the attainment of the substantial suc- cess which is now his. Year by year his business has increased in extent and im- portance, and the firm of which he is a member has been connected with some of the largest building projects of the west.
OTTO M. JONES.
Otto M. Jones, state game warden, sportsman and well known writer on fish, game and other topics that have to do with sporting interests, came to Boise in 1888 and through the intervening period has been a resident of Idaho. He was born on his father's stock ranch near Dillon, Montana, January 8, 1886, the third in order of birth in a family of four sons, all of whom are yet living, namely: De Forest, a resident of Seattle, Washington; R. Earl, also of Seattle; Otto M .; and Delbert E., who was in Europe as an aviator with the American forces, holding the rank of first lieutenant. The father, William Jones, was a wool grower and well known sheepman. He was a native of Wales and came to the United States when a lad of twelve years with his elder brothers. The mother, who hore the maiden name of Jennie Emerick, was born in the United States and was of Scotch, Irish and German lineage. The father died in 1910, while the mother survived until 1912.
Otto M. Jones was hut two years of age when his parents removed to Idaho, set- tling on a sheep ranch twelve miles from Boise, on Dry creek. In 1892, he removed with his parents to Boise in order to enjoy the better educational advantages afforded in the city schools. The father erected a fine home on North Tenth street but still retained the ownership of his ranch until 1902, when he sold the property and retired from active business life. Otto M. Jones has lived in Boise for a period of twenty- seven years and attended the public schools until he had completed the work of the eighth grade. He afterward spent a year in the Staunton (Va.) Military Academy and for two years was a student in the Washington State College at Pullman, Washington. His brother, R. Earl Jones, was with him as a school companion and student at both places. Mr. Jones of this review afterward traveled about to some extent and also spent some time with his parents. He finally took up his ahode in Ashland, Oregon, in 1907 but in 1909 returned to Boise and since that date has devoted most of his attention to writing on sport, fish and game topics for various newspapers and mag- azines. He has been a contributor to the Daily Statesman since 1907 and since 1917 has been regularly on its staff, having a full page of each Sunday's issue devoted to his sketches and the reproduction of photographs which he has taken. He has trav- eled all over Idaho in getting these photographs and has now on file more than twenty-five hundred negatives, which he has made relating to the outdoor life of Idaho, its beautiful mountain and lake scenery, its streams, its big game and its smaller fish. He has photographed practically every species of fish and game in the state of Idaho and in this work his chief assistant has been his wife, Mrs. Thaona A. Jones, who in her maidenhood was Miss Thaona Aveline. She was born and reared in Boise and is of French Canadian stock, a daughter of Prosper Aveline, who became a resident of Boise in 1889 and of whom a sketch appears elsewhere in this work. Mr. and Mrs. Jones were married in Boise on the 2d of July, 1911.
It was in January, 1919, that Mr. Jones was appointed state fish and game warden by Governor D. W. Davis, a position for which he is splendidly qualified. Both he and his wife are lovers of outdoor life and sports and are members of the Boise Gun
OTTO M. JONES
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Club. Mr. Jones was in 1918 the secretary of the State Sportsmen's Association and is now secretary of the Idaho Game Protective Association. Fraternally he is con- nected with the Elks. Always approachable and genial, he is highly esteemed by those whose interests turn to the open when opportunity comes for rest and recreation from business cares.
L. E. DIEHL.
L. E. Diehl is the senior partner in the firm of Diehl & Mace, general merchants of Eagle, where he is also serving as postmaster. He was born in Boise, August 3, 1873, and is a son of Jacob I. and Laura (McClellan) Diehl, the latter a representative of one of the oldest families in this state. The father was a native of Pennsylvania and crossed the plains with ox team and wagon in 1863, settling at Boise, where he estah- lished one of the first saddlery stores of the city. He afterward disposed of that husi- ness and turned his attention to farming on what was known as the Ellis ranch, now a part of the city of Boise. Later be conducted the toll bridge across the Boise river for W. H. Ridenbaugh and eventually retired from active life, passing away in the year 1894.
L. E. Diebl, reared under the parental roof, attended the public schools, pass- ing through consecutive grades until graduated from the bigh school of Boise with the class of 1893. He started out in the business world as an employe in a mer- cantile house in Boise and in 1908 he embarked in merchandising on his own ac- count at Eagle, conducting business successfully for six years, or until 1914, when' he sold his store. He then made a trip through Yellowstone Park and upon his return he purchased an interest in his former business, that is now conducted under the firm name of Diehl & Mace. They carry a large and well selected line of gen- eral merchandise and enjoy a gratifying patronage. Mr. Diehl is the agent for the Boise Valley Traction Company and in addition to his other interests be is serv- ing as postmaster of Eagle, which position he has filled for the past twelve years.
In 1903 Mr. Diehl was united in marriage to Miss Edith H. Newcomer, a native of Virginia and a daughter of James H. Newcomer, now a resident of Meri- dian, Idaho. They have one child, Eulalie, now attending the same school in Boise in which her father was educated. Mr. Diehl also has two brothers: James J., who is in business in San Francisco, California; and Fred W., who is living retired in Boise.
Although Mr. Diehl personally has bad no trouble with the Indians be can recall many of the outrages perpetrated by them. His grandparents bad many encounters with the red men in crossing the plains and much of the stock was killed or stolen. Mr. Diebl has witnessed notable changes during the period of his resi- dence in this part of the country. He has seen the advancement made as Idaho has emerged from pioneer conditions and taken on all of the advantages and op- portunities of the older east, and he rejoices in what has been done, for at all times he has sought the welfare and upbuilding of this section of the country.
JAMES L. EDLEFSEN.
James L. Edlefsen is a successful business man of Caldwell, where he is en- gaged in handling vehicles and harness. He is likewise connected with farming interests in that vicinity and both lines of activity are proving to bim a source of substantial profit. Mr. Edlefsen is one of Idaho's native sons, his birth baving occurred at Ovid, in Bear Lake county, July 19, 1874. His father, N. C. Edlefsen, was one of the pioneers of Bear Lake, Idaho, and Cache valley, Utah, and a native of Odense, Denmark, where the days of his boyhood and youth were passed. For three years he helped to fight against the German seizure of Schleswig-Holstein. He came to the new world as a convert to the faith of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and was a bishop in Ovid ward. He also filled several mis- sions to Europe. He married Maron Madson while still a resident of Denmark, she being a native of Copenhagen. Both are now deceased. .
James L. Edlefsen acquired his education in the public schools of Logan, Utah,
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and in the Utah Agricultural College at Logan, where he completed his studies at the age of twenty years. He then took up a homestead in the Tieton basin and after proving up on the property turned his attention to active church work through- out the southern states in behalf of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Following the completion of his mission he returned to Pocatello, Idaho, and for two years was in the employ of the Oregon Short Line Railroad. He afterward entered the service of the Studebaker Brothers Company of Utah and in this con- nection settled at Logan, where he remained for a year, while later he represented the same interests for four years at Preston, Idaho, for three years at Bancroft, Idaho, and for one year at Boise. He then came to Caldwell, where he has since remained, and in this connection is handling vehicles and harness, the trade of the house extending throughout the southwestern part of Idaho and into eastern Ore- gon. Mr. Edlefsen has now been a representative of the Studebaker interests for many years, a fact indicative of his absolute faithfulness, capability and fidelity. He has not only manifested progressiveness in the upbuilding of this business but also in the development of a farm which he owns near Caldwell.
On the 19th of February, 1901, Mr. Edlefsen was married to Miss Lettie Thatcher, a daughter of John B. Thatcher, of Thatcher, Idaho, one of the prominent business men and public-spirited citizens of the district. Their children are: Laurie, who is attending school in Caldwell; Clisby, a high school pupil; Russell and Lee, who are yet in the grades; John B., five years of age; and Keith. Both Mr. and Mrs. Edlefsen are widely and favorably known in this section of the state, and he has won substantial recognition as an enterprising business man and valuable citizen.
T. R. SCOTT.
The name of Scott stands high in connection with the milling and elevator in- dustry in Nampa, where T. R. Scott and his father, Thomas Scott, are associated with M. M. Davidson and D. L. McBane in successfully conducting a business of that kind. The importance of the Nampa Milling & Elevator Company is further empha- sized by the fact that this institution has been largely instrumental in increasing wheat production in southwestern Idaho and in a few years it may be predicted that under their stimulus production will have reached such proportions that they will not be compelled to ship in wheat from outside the state in order that they may keep their plant running to its capacity. Thomas Scott, who is president of the milling company, is a native of Nebraska and a miller by trade, which occupation he has followed throughout his business life in Nebraska, Missouri and Iowa. His son, T. R. Scott, who is also thoroughly acquainted with milling methods and the business end of the industry, is the treasurer of the company. He and his father came to Idaho from Missouri in 1903 and established a flour mill at St. Anthony but after successfully operating it for two years sold the business to J. K. Mullins, who is widely known in the milling industry in the west. In 1907 they came to Nampa, which has since become their permanent home, and they established the Nampa Milling & Elevator Company, erecting their present plant with a capacity of one hundred barrels per day. For the first three years there was sufficient wheat in the southwestern part of the state to permit of only a forty-five barrel a day run and they were compelled to ship in wheat from Washington, Oregon and eastern Idaho. They now have a capacity of two hundred and seventy-five barrels a day, fifty per cent of which is shipped to Georgia and Alabama. In 1918 they shipped thirty thousand sacks of flour and two hundred and fifty thousand bushels of grain east. That their business is of considerable importance to the state is quite evident from the fact that it amounts to over a million dollars a year. They operate an elevator at Meridian, Idaho, and will in a short time erect two more in the Boise valley. At present eighteen people find employment in their mills. The Nampa plant covers half a block and the present officers of the company are: Thomas Scott, president; D. L. McBane, vice president; T. R. Scott, treasurer; and M. M. Davidson, secretary.
T. R. Scott is an able business man, having before coming to Idaho received thorough training in one of Missouri's best commercial colleges. He married Hazel May Griswold, of Colorado, and both are popular in the social set of their city. A brother of our subject, T. M. Scott, having trained in the aviation corps in Ken- tucky, received his commission, but when the armistice was signed he was mus-
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tered out and returned home. Mr. Scott of this review has through the development of a large and important industry greatly contributed toward the prosperity of his section. He has also found time to cooperate in measures and movements undertaken on behalf of the general welfare and through his efforts has done much toward pro- moting the growth of his district. While he is not active in political affairs and is averse to holding public office, he thoroughly studies political and public questions and gives his support to such measures as he considers of the greatest value to the greatest number.
MRS. MARY E. NILSSON.
Mrs. Mary E. Nilsson is the first reader of the Christian Science church in Pocatello and has been very actively connected with the work of the church in this city since 1902. She was born at Charleston, Lee county, Iowa, and when but seven years of age accompanied her parents, Mr. and Mrs. William H. Slingerland, to Nevada, the family home being established at Aurora, Nevada, about 1864. The daughter Mary there resided and at Eureka, Nevada, became the wife of Lambert Molinelli in 1874.
In the year 1884 she became a resident of Utah, where she remained for eighteen years and during that time joined the Christian Science church. She was instrumental in the building of the first Christian Science church in Salt Lake City at No. 338 East Broadway. In 1902 she came to Pocatello, Idaho, and has since been associated with Christian Science work here. She has been one of the fore- most factors in the upbuilding of the church, the membership of which has increased from fifteen to sixty. Mrs. Nilsson is the present reader and is very active in all the branches of church work. The congregation now owns its church building and the site upon which it stands and it is the purpose of the church to erect later a house of worship on South Garfield street. This will be constructed in colonial style and equipped for Sunday school classes in the basement. Mrs. Nilsson is giving all of her time to the work of the church and is one of its practition- ers, as is also her present husband, Carl Nilsson, who has offices in the Valen- tine block over the First National Bank. A free reading room is maintained in the Kasiska block, where all church literature can be borrowed, bought or read in the rooms. The first church at Pocatello was established on the 21st of December, 1896, and incorporated January 8, 1897. Fourteen boys who were members of the Sunday school and entered the army were provided with Science and Health in pocket editions.
Mrs. Nilsson has two children: Jennie M. Molinelli, who is now the wife of F. P. Holt, connected with the Bannock National Bank of Pocatello; and Leon Fletcher Molinelli, who is engaged in the jewelry business at Pocatello. The active work of Mrs. Nilsson has brought her a wide acquaintance in Pocatello and she has gained many friends in the city.
HENRY G. KNIGHT.
The newspaper fraternity of Idaho finds a worthy representative in Henry G. Knight, editor and manager of the Bingham County Daily News, published at Blackfoot. He was born at Almy, Wyoming, November 9, 1888, and is a son of Arthur and Eliza- beth (Kirby) Knight, who are natives of England. Coming to America in early life, they settled in Wyoming. The father is a mining engineer who has always been active along that line. For a number of years he resided in Wyoming and then went to Utah, making his home at Salt Lake City until about 1912, when he removed to Phoenix, Arizona, where he has since lived. The mother, however, passed away in 1889.
Henry G. Knight was reared and educated in Denver, Colorado. He learned the printer's trade in that city and for a year worked on the Denver Post, after which he removed to Malad, Idaho, continuing his apprenticeship at the printer's trade at that place in 1904. He followed the business in different sections of the state, remaining active in connection with newspaper interests in Idaho until 1911. From May, 1915, until 1918 he was editor of the Northern Idaho News at Sandpoint. In 1916 he entered
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the service of his country and was stationed between Spokane and Pocatello. He was advanced to the rank of sergeant in the Student Army Training Corps and was dis- charged December 25, 1918. He then went to Idaho Falls, where he engaged in news- paper work, there remaining until March, 1919, when he became manager of the Irrigation World for the late Senator Brady at Pocatello. He left there to accept the position of fiscal agent of the Morning Herald of Pocatello and while thus serving launched a successful business enterprise with a capital of fifty thousand dollars. In August, 1919, he secured an interest in the Bingham .County News, which was a semi- weekly paper printed at Blackfoot. After publishing this for one month he converted it to a daily, which now has a circulation of two thousand copies. The plant is thoroughly modern in its equipment and includes not only presses and all other ac- cessories necessary for the publication of the paper but also all equipment for the con- duct of a large job business, which is now accorded him.
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