History of Idaho, the gem of the mountains, Volume II, Part 59

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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Mr. Knight was united in marriage to Miss Nellie Barbara Cameron and to them have been born three children: Thelma, Eleanor and Pearl. In politics Mr. Knight is a democrat and his religious faith is that of the Episcopal church. He has taken a very active part in the formation of the American Legion, organizing a number of posts and serving as a delegate to the state convention. All men employed in his office are members of the American Legion, this being indicative of the fact that they were soldiers of the recent world war. Mr. Knight is indeed a firm believer in the standards and principles of the Legion, which was formed to advance the true American spirit and bring into closer and more harmonious relations the people of the country in their efforts to uphold the highest American ideals.

A. J. ROCKWOOD.

A. J. Rockwood is the owner of one of the fine homes of Roswell, appropriately called Rosebower, and it stands as a visible evidence of his life of well directed energy, for his prosperity has come to him as the reward of persistency of purpose guided by intelligence. Mr. Rockwood was born in Bennington, Vermont, but since three years of age has lived west of the Mississippi, his parents at that time removing to Blue Earth county, Minnesota, near Mankato. There the father, Joseph Rockwood, followed farming until 1870, when he was ordained a minister of the Baptist church and con- tinued active in the work of the gospel until too feeble to continue his labors. He dicd upon his farm in Minnesota in April, 1904, at which time he and his wife, who bore the maiden name of Rhoda Hurd, were living with their youngest daughter, Hattie, R., the wife of John M. Chapman. The mother died on the home farm, July 26, 1911. A. J. Rockwood of this review has two excellent enlarged pictures of his parents upon the walls of his home.

Upon the old home farm in Minnesota, A. J. Rockwood was reared and in his boyhood days attended the district schools of the neighborhood. He began farming on his own account on a rented tract of land when twenty-five years of age and, care- fully saving his earnings, was able five years later to purchase the home farm from his father. This he cultivated until 1900, when he sold the property and came to Ros- well, Idaho, at which time he purchased the forty acres of land upon which he has since made his home. The land had not been planted when he took possession and in - 1902 he gathered his first crop of grain and now has the place seeded to alfalfa, wheat and blue grass pasture. He has built one of the finest residences, modern in every way and of beautiful style of architecture. It is supplied with every convenience, such as an electric stove, an electric washing machine, electric iron and a hot water system. The road in front of the house is lined by a row of black walnut trees, the seed for which he brought from Minnesota, while a tree of English walnuts nearer the house provides sufficient nuts for the family. There are also other beautiful shade and ornamental trees upon the place, such as weeping willow, boxelder, elm and black locust. Another indication of the adornment of his lawn is found in the name of his home-Rosebower. The outbuildings are large and substantial, in keeping with the fine residence, while the grounds show every care and attention. Along two sides of the house is a broad porch, where as many as one hundred guests have been seated at one time at dinner. The Presbyterian church served its first New Year's dinner at his house in 1906 and since then it has become an annual affair to which everyone in the community looks forward.

MR. AND MRS. A. J. ROCKWOOD

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Always an active business man, Mr. Rockwood has most carefully developed his fields and his stock. He now has eight head of registered shorthorns, which he raises and sells for breeding purposes. He has also raised fine hogs and Percheron horses, and the first year that he exhibited his Percherons at the County Fair his were the only registered horses on the grounds. This was in 1901, which fact indicates that Mr. Rockwood was a pioneer in fine stock raising in his section of the state. He brought his Percherons from Minnesota. In Addition to his home place he also owns two other farms of eighty acres each, both under the Boise project, one being planted to alfalfa and wheat, while the other eighty is just being improved, a portion of it being already planted to alfalfa. He also has another tract of one hundred and sixty acres in the Black canyon district. Mr. Rockwood in addition to his other interests, is a stockholder in the Parma State Bank and he has been a director of the Riverside Irrigation District for twelve years and is president of the company.

In November, 1892, Mr. Rockw pod was married to Miss Mary Dilley, of Minnesota, and they are the parents of five children: Edna R., the widow of Henry W. Stark; Elwin J., twenty-four years of age, who is with the United States reclamation service and lives at home; Stella M., the wife of Charles E. Jurries, of Parma; Eunice G., at- tending the Oregon Agricultural College of Corvallis, Oregon; and Chelsea J., ten years of age, also in school. The son Elwin was a member of the United States Army and had been for sixteen weeks at Camp Eustace, Virginia, when the armistice was signed. Both parents of Mrs. Rockwood have passed away. Her mother died April 16, 1901, at Rochester, Minnesota, and the father August 19, 1905, at Garden City, Minnesota. She has photographs of her direct ancestors for several generations and one photograph, numbering thirty-two people, which was taken at a family Christmas dinner in Minne- apolis. She was very active in connection with the Red Cross during the great war and one of the large rooms in her home was given over to the use of the Red Cross workers and for the storing of their goods.

Fraternally Mr. Rockwood is connected with the Modern Woodmen of America. He is serving as a member of the school board of Roswell at the present time and he rep- resented his district in the twelfth session of the state legislature. His activities in behalf of public progress have been pronounced and the results achieved have been most beneficial. He is thoroughly imbued with the progressive spirit of the west and there is no plan or project for the upbuilding of his city or state that does not receive his earnest endorsement and support. The most envious cannot grudge him his suc- cess, so honorably has it been won and so worthily used, and Canyon county points to him with pride as one of her leading citizens.

HARLEY D. HANNA

Harley D. Hanna is actively engaged in the real estate business in Caldwell, couducting his interests under what is now the well known name of "H. D. Hanna, the Home Finder." He has secured a large clientage in this connection and his efforts are a contributing factor to the upbuilding of the district in which he operates. He comes to the northwest from Ohio, his birth having occurred in Havensport, Fair- field county, that state, on the 12th of October, 1875. He is a son of W. M. Hanna, who was also born in Havensport, in 1850, and of Samantha (Stith) Hanna, who was born near Carroll, Fairfield county. There they were married in early life and for some years continued their residence in Ohio, but in 1878 removed to Wells county, Indiana, where they lived for three years. They then became residents of eastern Kansas, where Mr. Hanna still follows the occupation of farming, but the mother has passed away. The Hanna family is an old and prominent one of Ohio and Harley D. Hanna is a distant relative of the late Marcus Hanna, whose great-grandfather was an own cousin of the great-grandfather of Mr. Hanna of this review, the various branches of the family being connected with the development of Ohio for many years.

When Harley D. Hanna was but three years of age he was taken by his parents to Wells county, Indiana, where he lived for eleven years, and then went with his father and mother to Larned, Pawnee county, Kansas, where the family home was maintained for two and a half years. Their next removal took them to Hanston, Kansas, and later they established their home in Allen county, Kansas, living near La Harpe for six years. At a later period Mr. Hanna resided for five years at Iola, Kansas, and then returned to Larned, where he remained for six years. The succeed-

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ing three years were passed in Garfield, Kansas, and thence he came to Idaho in 1913, taking up his abode in Caldwell. His life throughout all the intervening period has been an active, busy and useful one. In early manhood he took up the occupation of farming, which he followed for twenty-one years, and he also learned the carpenter's trade, to which he gave considerable attention until 1908. In that year he engaged in the lumber business, which he followed for two years, at the end of which time he disposed of his lumberyard and purchased a hardware and imple- ment business, which he conducted for two years. His establishment was then destroyed by fire and Mr. Hanna sought to recuperate his losses by his removal to the west. At Caldwell he entered the fuel and coal business, in which he engaged for a year and a half, when on account of the illness of his wife he sold out and returned to the east. Two years later, however, he again became a resident of Cald- well and established a real estate business under the name of "H. D. Hanna, the Home Finder." He has since dealt in farm lands and city property and also main- tains a loan and insurance agency. He has negotiated many important property transfers during the period of his connection with the business in Caldwell and his clientage is now large and gratifying.

On the 25th of December, 1900, Mr. Hanna was married to Mary E. Harris, of Allen County, Kansas, and they have one daughter, Mildred E., who is a high school pupil. Mr. Hanna belongs to the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, having become connected with most of its branches, and he is also a Modern Woodman of America. Both he and his wife are consistent and faithful members of the Methodist church and are teachers in the Sunday school, doing all in their power to advance the church work and promote the moral progress of the community.

ROBERT I. JONES.

One of the most progressive and well known young business men of Rigby, which has been his home for the past fourteen years, is Robert I. Jones, the editor and publisher of the Rigby Star. He was born in Gordon, Nebraska, September 1, 1888, the son of John W. and Anna E. (Irvin) Jones, the former a native of Ohio and the latter of Iowa.

John W. Jones spent the greater part of his life in the newspaper business; in fact he gave fifty years to this work, a part of which time he was in business for himself and the remainder he spent on the staffs of large newspaper concerns of the central west, working on the Chicago Inter Ocean in 1871 at the time the great fire occurred in that city. His work was not confined to any one place, since he owned and edited papers in South Dakota, Nebraska and Iowa, all of which made him a newspaper man of wide experience when he came to Rigby in 1905 and purchased the Rigby Star. At that time this paper was of comparatively little worth but, aided by his wide experience and valuable knowledge of the business, Mr. Jones built up the circulation and soon started the paper on the road to prosperity. With the assistance of his son, Robert I., he was finally able to make the Star one of the best weeklies in this section of the state, and it is now equipped with a modern and well appointed printing plant. Until 1916, Mr. Jones devoted himself entirely to the publication of the Star, at which time he began giving only a part of his time to the work. He retained this arrangement until a short time before his death, which occurred on January 28, 1918, after he had reached the age of sixty-five years. Mrs. Jones still survives and is living at the family home in Rigby.

Robert I. Jones received his early education in the schools of New Sharon, Iowa, and of Lead, South Dakota, where his father owned newspapers. It was quite natural that he should acquire a liking and an aptitude for newspaper work and he began learning the business under the instruction of his father while the family was living in Iowa. After his father had purchased the Rigby Star and the family had moved here in 1905, he continued in the employ of his father until he was given a share in the publication in 1912. This association was retained until the death of the father in 1918. However, two years before this time the responsibility for the publication of the Star had in the main fallen upon the shoulders of the junior member of the firm, due to the partial retirement of his father. Since the latter's death, Robert I. Jones has assumed full charge of the Star, which is assured many prosperous years under his skilful management.

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On November 24, 1910, Mr. Jones was married to Sylvia Doman, and to them have been born two children, namely: Linden D., on September 13, 1911; and Lawrence I., on March 18, 1913. Both Mr. and Mrs. Jones are members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints of Rigby and they are rearing their children in that faith. Fraternally, Mr. Jones is a member of the Woodmen of the World and the Modern Woodmen of America. He is a republican in politics and, although he has not sought public office, he takes a good citizen's interest in the welfare of his party.

WILLIAM A. McVICAR.

William A. McVicar is the editor and proprietor of the Evening Bulletin, pub- lished at Blackfoot. He was born in Montreal, Canada, in March, 1877, a son of Dougald and Mary ( Bagsley) McVicar, who were natives of Canada. The father was a brick manufacturer and farmer throughout his entire life, devoting his atten- tion to those business interests in Canada, where he passed away in 1903. The mother survives and makes her home in Brandon, Manitoba.

William A. McVicar was largely reared at Brandon, Manitoba, and pursued his education there. He afterward learned the printer's trade at Brandon and followed the business in Canada for four or five years, after which he went to Philadelphia and worked on all the big papers for about twelve years. In 1910 he came to Blackfoot, Bingham county, and for four years was employed on the Idaho Republican. He afterward accepted a position on the Blackfoot Optimist, which is now the Bingham County News, spending two and a half years in that connection. He later engaged in the business on his own account, establishing a job office, and in June, 1917, he began the publication of the Evening Bulletin, a daily paper which he has since owned. He has a modern plant with good presses and all necessary machinery for newspaper publication, and the Bulletin has now reached a circulation of 1,000 copies. In addition he conducts a large job printing business and in this department turns out most excellent work.

In August, 1910, Mr. McVicar was married to Miss Mary Lynch. They are well known in the social circles of the city and enjoy the warm regard of all. They hold membership in the Methodist Episcopal church and Mr. McVicar gives his political support to the republican party, using the columns of his paper also to further its interests.

B. F. LEAVELL.

The development of Caldwell and of Canyon county is attributable to its real estate men perhaps more than to any other class of its citizens, for active in the real estate field are progressive men who realize the opportunities of this section and are endeavoring to locate in the district families who desire to develop farms and contribute to the upbuilding of the state. In this connection Mr. Leavell has become well known and his labors are far-reaching and resultant.

A native of Iowa, Mr. Leavell was born in Appanoose county, May 1, 1858, a son of Benjamin W. and Susannah (Whistler) Leavell, both of whom were of American birth. The father died in 1866. The mother, a native of Virginia, long survived him and passed away in Idaho in 1903. One son of the family, Jemerson Leavell, was a soldier of the Civil war and died at Jefferson barracks, near St. Louis, Missouri, while still in the army.

The educational opportunities of B. F. Leavell were rather meager, being limited to not more than three terms in the common schools at intermittent periods, as his mother had been left a widow when he was but eight years of age, and as he was the eldest of her children responsibilities in connection with the support of the family devolved upon him when he was still quite young. On attaining his majority he engaged in the restaurant business and also began merchandising at Moulton, Iowa, meeting with substantial success in the conduct of his store. After six months, however, he sold the business owing to ill health, which caused him to leave that section of the country. He removed to eastern Kansas, where he took up the occu-

Vol. 11-32

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pation of farming upon rented land and for seventeen years successfully carried on general agricultural pursuits. In 1900 he came to Idaho and purchased a ranch between Caldwell and Boise, south of Star. He afterward disposed of that property and homesteaded two miles south of Wilder, on the Boise-Payette project. He has since rented his farm for a term of years and is now engaged in the real estate business in Caldwell, putting forth every effort to locate families in good homes, where success will attend their efforts and contribute to the development of the country. He possesses both the knowledge and land to accomplish his purpose in this connection and has already succeeded in bringing many families to this section of the state, his labors thereby proving an element in the development of Idaho.

In 1881 Mr. Leavell was married to Miss Flora Markley, of Iowa, and they are the parents of eight children: Ray O., who is married and has two children; Grace I., who is married and has one child; Louis I., who is married and has four children; Susie M., who is married and has one son; Frank M., who is married and lost one child; Sylvia, who is married and has one daughter; Oliver M., who enlisted on his twenty-first birthday in the Sixty-ninth Coast Artillery on September 5, 1918; and Essie, who is attending high school. Mr. Leavell sought the opportunities of the west and has made an attractive home for himself and family, while in the conduct of his business affairs he has met with substantial results.

COLONEL JUDSON SPOFFORD.

Colonel Judson Spofford, who has resided in Boise for more than thirty-five years, is well known not only in the capital and in Ada county but throughout the state. During the past third of a century there has perhaps been no one in Idaho who has been a more consistent supporter of the Gem state than he. While a veteran of the Civil war, having served from 1862 until 1865 before reaching the age of twenty years, it was not his service at that time that won for him the title by which he is now widely known but his service on the staff of one of the governors of West Virginia.

Colonel Spofford was born in Salem, now Derby, Orleans county, Vermont, March 10, 1846, a son of Luke and Laura (Wood) Spofford, both of whom were natives of the Green Mountain state and representatives of old New England families con- nected with the Revolutionary war. The Spofford family traces its ancestral line hack to John Spofford, who came from England while this country was still numbered among the colonial possessions of Great Britain. John Spofford and his wife, Eliza- beth (Scott) Spofford, came from Yorkshire in 1638 and took up their abode at Rowley, Essex county, Massachusetts, this fact being cited in a history of the Spofford and Spafford families in America, prepared by Dr. Jeremiah Spofford, of Groveland, Massachusetts. The great-grandfather of Colonel Spofford of this review, Eleazer Spofford, served as a quartermaster in the Fifth Massachusetts Regiment of Militia in the war for independence. The maternal grandfather, Uriah Wood, was a soldier of the War of 1812. The great-great-grandfather, John Spofford, who was the father of Eleazer Spofford, won the rank of colonel in the Revolutionary war. Ainsworth R. Spofford, a second cousin of Colonel Spofford, served as librarian of congress for many years and was an author of note. The father. of Colonel Spofford was a machinist by trade, devoting his life to that occupation and remaining a resident of Vermont until called to his final rest.

Colonel Spofford was reared upon a Vermont farm, which had the usual sugar camp upon it, and during his youth he labored many a day and night in the camp, assisting in gathering and boiling the sap. He was but sixteen years of age when he responded to the country's call for troops, enlisting in the Union army, with which he served from 1862 until 1865. He went to the front with Company K of the Tenth Vermont Infantry after enlisting on the 22d of July, 1862, and he participated in all of the battles, campaigns, and hardships experienced by the regiment until severely wounded in the attack upon Petersburg, Virginia, March 25, 1865. His old captain, writing of him, said: "He was one of the youngest men in the regiment who carried a gun. Company K was in close proximity to my own company considerable of the time, and I was temporarily in command of Company K awhile. We often met on picket details, and I early made his acquaintance and hecame attached to him as a clean, modest, polite, obedient and brave soldier, such as any officer is proud of. * * * At the battle of Monocacy he was in my detail of seventy-five men, and he there put

COLONEL JUDSON SPOFFORD

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in a day's work for our government of which any man might be proud, if pride is allowable. He was a good marksman and had the range of a well of water near a house in the rebel lines in my front. The enemy were obliged to keep away from that spot all day. He was one of the very last men to cross the railroad bridge with me, about five o'clock, when we finally retreated, with the enemy so close to us that it seemed no one could escape. But for his extreme youth, he would have received rapid promotion for the excellent qualities he possessed. When he was wounded March 25, 1865, about four o'clock in the afternoon, he was taken back to the division hospital and a surgeon glanced at his wound, pronounced him mortally wounded and left him outside the hospital, on the ground, to die. It was a cold night: the blood flowed profusely and his clothing and boots were stiff with it. After all the others were attended to, he saw they did not intend apparently to do anything for him. He asked someone passing if they were not going to take him in and attend to his case. The surgeon said he could do nothing for him, as he must die. 'I will not die. Can't you take me inside the hospital? Is it necessary for me to freeze to death out here?' So they took him inside, washed away the blood, removed the clotted clothing and examined the wound. A minie hall had entered his right side, under his arm, gone through his body, penetrating both right and left lungs, and was just under the skin under the left arm. The surgeon cut the skin, removed the bullet and intended to keep it as a relic. Judson told the surgeon if he wanted relics, there were plenty more up on the line where he found that one, and he could go there and get all he wanted, but he could not have that one. Mr. Spofford has it yet. With good care, good habits and a strong constitution, he recovered somewhat and now is a fine looking specimen of manhood, over six feet high."

When his military service was ended Colonel Spofford returned to Vermont but in 1868 removed to West Virginia and for sixteen years resided in that state, chiefly at Huntington, where for several years he filled the office of postmaster, finally resign- ing in 1884. He was a prominent figure in political circles in West Virginia aud for twelve years served as a member of the republican state central committee and did much to turn the state from the solid democratic column to the republican col- umn. He was also a delegate to the national convention which nominated Garfield and Arthur in 1880 and it was President Garfield who appointed him postmaster of Huntington, in which capacity he served for nearly four years, when he resigned on account of ill health occasioned by the consequences of the wound which he had sus- tained during the Civil war.

Thinking that a change of climate might prove beneficial, Mr. Spofford then came to Boise, and while his business experience in West Virginia had heen that of an engineer on the Chesapeake & Ohio Railroad, he turned his attention to mining and agricultural pursuits after coming to the northwest. He first bought a farm and a small herd of Ayrshire cattle and engaged in the raising of thoroughbred stock and in making butter for the market. It was Colonel Spofford who put in the first ma- chinery in the Boise valley to make high grade butter. Later he took an option on the Paine ranch of three hundred and twenty acres, formed a company of Colorado people and platted and put upon the market the Dundee additions to Boise. He was likewise instrumental in securing the opening up of Broadway avenue and the build- ing of the Broadway bridge on a plan that provided for a street car track through the center of it. He afterward obtained an option on the old Methodist ditch helow Caldwell and organized the company that built the Riverside canal, which irrigates all of the fine country around Riverside. He was likewise one of the originators of the old Boise Rapid Transit Company that built the first street car line, extending from the Natatorium down Warm Springs avenue and Main street to Thirteenth and Idaho streets, and served for a number of years as director and secretary of the com- pany. He then promoted and was chiefly instrumental in building the Boise-Payette electric power plant on the Payette river helow Horseshoe Bend, with a power trans- mission line from the power plant to the Pearl mining camp and a power line from the plant to Boise. It is this line that furnishes much of the light and power for the capital city. He next went to Lewiston and organized a company to build the Lewis- ton & Southeastern Electric Railway. The line was to start at Lewiston, extend up Snake river, up Tammany Hollow, by Lake Waha, Forest, West Lake, Cottonwood and Denver to Grangeville, with a branch line from West Lake through Ilo and Dublin to Nez Perce city. This line was laid out and partially built through the center of Mason prairie, Camas and Nez Perce prairies. The operation of this elec- tric line would take an immense amount of business from the Northern Pacific Rail-

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History of Idaho, the gem of the mountains, Volume II, Part 59

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