USA > Idaho > History of Idaho, the gem of the mountains, Volume II > Part 62
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On the 20th of February, 1898, Dr. Higgs was married to Miss Blanche King, also a native of Kentucky, and they are now the parents of six living children, three sons and three daughters, Stirman K., Ayer N., Marguerite, Donald M., Lucile and Angela, whose ages range from seventeen to two years.
The religious faith of the family is that of the Roman Catholic church, and Dr. Higgs is a member of the Knights of Columbus. He is most conscientious in the per- formance of his professional duties, holds to the highest standards and puts forth every possible effort to promote his skill and efficiency in order that his service shall be of the greatest value to his fellowmen.
HOWARD E. KING.
For a number of years Howard E. King has efficiently discharged his duties as postmaster of Nampa, having been appointed to the office in July, 1913. He recently received his second commission from the postoffice department at Washington as evidence of his highly satisfactory services. Not only has he won the praise of the department in Washington but he also has won the confidence and trust of the public, with whom in his official capacity he comes so frequently in contact.
Born in Clearfield county, Pennsylvania, December 21, 1862, Mr. King was there reared and attended the graded and high schools until the age of eighteen, when he entered upon a mercantile career at Deckers Point, Indiana county, Penn- sylvania, there remaining until 1885. Seeking the opportunities of the newer west, he removed to Caldwell, Idaho, in 1886 but there remained only a short time, subsequently making his way to Nampa. Here he assisted in the building of the railroad between this point and Boise. He fired the first engine that laid the track and also the engine that pulled the first passenger train into Boise. In 1887 he and John W. Griffith laid out the Griffith & King addition, just across the rail- road track from the depot, which is now a part of the city of Nampa. In the fall of the same year he engaged with the firm of Nathan Falk & Brother in the mer- cantile business and remained with them for four years, at the end of which period he opened a book store under the name of King Brothers, his brother at that time being postmaster of Nampa. He later sold the store and took charge of a store for the Falk Mercantile Company on the Snake river and on the Boise, Nampa & Oregon Railroad. When they sold their business Mr. King went to Murphy, on the same line, and took charge of a store for the Owyhee Commercial Company, but they in turn sold out and he returned to Nampa, where he established himself in the insurance and bonding business, which he successfully followed until he was ap- pointed postmaster in July, 1913. Recently he has been recommissioned as post- master and is now discharging his duties to the great satisfaction of the general public.
On March 1, 1893, Mr. King was united in marriage to Cornelia R. Handy, of Fort Collins, Colorado, and they have two sons: Ralph, twenty-three years of age,,
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who at the outbreak of the World war was attending Yale University but enlisted in the ordnance department and upon his discharge continued his law course at Yale; and Henry, aged twenty-two, who is attending the State University at Moscow, tak- ing the engineer's course. There are also two daughters: Margaret, who is attend- ing the College of Idaho in the expectation of hecoming a teacher; and Florence, who is a high school student at Nampa.
Mr. King has ever had at heart the growth and development of his community, having often given his support to valuable measures. In 1887 he voted for Governor Hawley against Du Bois. In the late '80s he was a candidate for the legislature hut his campaign was not crowned with success. As county commissioner of Canyon county in 1896-7 he did excellent work and has ever heen active in politics, giving his allegiance to the democratic party. Personally Mr. King is a man of the most pleasing address and genial manner, who easily makes friends and yet who is dis- criminating in his friendships.
RALPH FALK, M. D.
Dr. Ralph Falk is engaged in the practice of medicine and surgery in Boise, his native city. He was horn August 6, 1884, a son of the late Nathan Falk, a pioneer merchant of Boise, who came to Idaho in 1864 and in 1868, in association with his brother David, established the business that has since been developed to extensive proportions under the name of the Falk Mercantile Company, which is today conducting one of the leading mercantile stores of Boise.
Dr. Falk pursued his education in the Boise public schools and the Mount Tamalpais Military Academy of California, where he was graduated in 1900. He then spent two years in the University of California and in 1907 was graduated from the Jefferson Medical College of Philadelphia. His initial professional expe- rience came as assistant physician in the St. Louis City Hospital in 1907 and 1908. Since the latter year he has heen actively engaged in the practice of medicine and surgery in Boise, specializing in surgery. From May, 1918, until January, 1919, he served in the United States army with the rank of first lieutenant and later as cap- tain of the Medical Corps. He was secretary of the Idaho state board of health from 1910 until 1917 and is a member of the Idaho State Medical Society and the American Medical Association.
W. S. OAKLEY.
W. S. Oakley is the president of the Western Ignition & Battery Company of Boise, a business that was incorporated in August, 1917, with S. A. Oakley as the vice president and W. A. Oakley as secretary and treasurer, the last two being sons of the president. William Sherman Oakley was born in Carroll county, Illinois, June 14, 1868, a son of Ebenezer W. Oakley, a well known business man and musician who was a veteran of the Civil war. He was born and reared in the state of New York and his last days were passed in Montpelier, Idaho, where his death occurred in February, 1902. He long figured in musical circles and for some time was leader of a band of twenty-eight pieces in Whiteside county, Illinois. This band participated in the Lincoln funeral at Springfield, Illinois, in 1865 and Mr. Oakley had also participated in Lincoln's first inaugural parade in Washington, D. C., in 1860. His younger brother, Thomas Oakley, was also a Civil war veteran and was captured and imprisoned at Andersonville for eighteen months.
William Sherman Oakley was reared in Illinois and came to Idaho with his parents in 1888. He made his initial step in the business world as an employe of the Oregon Short Line Railroad, with which he remained for ten years as time- keeper and clerk. In 1912 he removed to Boise with his family and is now actively identified with the Western Ignition & Battery Company. This concern was es- tablished hy his younger son, S. A. Oakley, in 1915 in small quarters and in a small way. The first space utilized by the firm was only eight by twelve feet and the business was not incorporated until 1917. W. Arland Oakley joined his brother in the conduct of the enterprise in May, 1915, and their father became interested in the business in May, 1917. No stock is owned outside of the family. The husi-
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ness has been developed along steady and substantial lines and the company moved July 1, 1919, to enlarged quarters at the corner of Eleventh and Idaho streets, occupying a building specially erected for the purpose.
On the 24th of October, 1892, in Montpelier, Idaho, Mr. Oakley was married to Miss Clara Toolson, a native of Utah. They have three children, W. Arland, Sterling A. and Helen V., all of whom have attained adult age. W. Arland was married September 26, 1917, to Grace Peters and they have one child, Beverly Adaline, born June 24, 1918. The daughter is also a factor in the conduct of the interests of the Western Ignition & Battery Company, holding the office of book- keeper.
Mr. Oakley has in his possession a valuable and much prized relic-a copy of the New York Herald of April 14, 1865, the morning after President Lincoln was shot. A large part of the issue is devoted to a detailed account of the great trag- edy. This paper came into possession of Ebenezer W. Oakley and has since been carefully preserved by the Oakley family because of its full account of one of the most momentous events in American history. The Oakley family has now been represented in Idaho for thirty years, W. S. Oakley arriving when a young man of twenty. Through the intervening period he has worked his way steadily upward in business and is now at the head of one of the important industrial enterprises of Boise, finding in his two sons valuable and well qualified assistants.
W. J. SOUTHWORTH.
W. J. Southworth is a well known representative of the industrial interests of Oakley, being the manager of the Oakley Milling & Elevator Company. He was born at Tooele, Utah, October 20, 1890, and is a son of John and Lillie (Taylor) Southworth. His boyhood days to the age of fourteen years were passed in Utah and he pursued his education in the Utah Agricultural College at Logan. In 1905 he came to Oakley and secured a position in the mill. He bent every energy to the mastery of the business with which he acquainted himself in principle and detail, and step by step he has worked his way upward. As his ability has increased he has won advancement from time to time until he is now manager of the business and actively controls the operation of the mill, which annually turns out an ex- tensive output, while the highest standards are maintained in the quality of flour manufactured. Mr. Southworth is now familiar with every phase of the milling business from the time the grain is purchased until it is turned out a finished flour, and he is thus well able to superintend the labors of those in his employ. Aside from his connection with the Oakley Milling & Elevator Company he is the vice president of the Buhl Flour & Feed Mill Company. Moreover, he is the owner of five hundred acres of valuable land under the Minidoka project.
Jn 1913 Mr. Southworth was married to Miss Olive Pickett, a native of Marion, Idaho, and a daughter of Moroni and Amelia Pickett. They have two children, Mark and Donald. Mr. Southworth belongs to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. His political endorsement is given to the republican party and in all mat- ters of citizenship he is allied with the forces of right, order and progress.
RICHARD ELMER SHURTZ, M. D.
Dr. Richard Elmer Shurtz, who has been actively engaged in the practice of medicine and surgery since 1897, was born on a farm in Champaign county, Illinois, September 26, 1870, the youngest of the three children, two sons and a daughter, whose parents were Watson and Malinda (Asher) Shurtz, who were natives of Ohio and Illinois respectively. The father was a farmer and died in 1902, but the mother survives and makes her home with her daughter, Mrs. Mary Erskine, in Saskatche- wan, Canada. The only brother of Dr. Richard E. Shurtz is Dr. Straut Shurtz, a resident of Hawarden, Saskatchewan.
Upon his father's farm Dr. Richard E. Shurtz was reared and attended a dis- trict school in Champaign county, Illinois, until he reached the age of seventeen years. He afterward engaged in teaching and later was a student in the Illinois State University at Champaign, pursuing a course in chemistry preparatory to en-
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tering upon the study of medicine. In 1893 he matriculated in Rush Medical College of Chicago and was graduated therefrom, after four years' study, with the class of 1897, at which time his professional degree was conferred upon him. He then located for practice in his native county, residing chiefly at Champaign from 1897 until 1913. He took post graduate work in the Johns Hopkins University at Bal- timore, Maryland, and also a post graduate course in the Harvard Medical School in 1911. He has steadily engaged in practice in Boise since 1913, when he removed from Champaign, Illinois, to the northwest and here opened an office with fifteen years' experience to constitute the foundation upon which to build his present day success. He has continuously remained in Boise save for the period of six months which he spent in the United States army as a captain in the Medical Corps of the Eighteenth Division of United States Regulars. During this period he was stationed at San Antonio, Texas. He is a member of the Idaho State Medical Society and the American Medical Association and is a member of the medical staff of St. Luke's Hospital of Boise.
In Champaign, Illinois, on the 5th of June, 1892, Dr. Shurtz was married to Miss Nellie M. Turner, also a native of Champaign county and at the time of her marriage eighteen years of age. They have become parents of two daughters, Malinda and Mary, both at home and both graduates of the Boise high school. The former is also a graduate of the Idaho State Normal School and is now a teacher in the public schools of Boise. The younger daughter is a graduate of St. Margaret's Hall of Boise.
Fraternally Dr. Shurtz is an Elk and an Odd Fellow, and his political alle- giance is given to the republican party. He finds his chief recreation in fishing and hunting but makes this subservient to his professional interests and duties, to which he is conscientiously devoted.
EDWARD STEIN.
The life of Edward Stein covers associations and incidents so replete with adventure as to read almost as a romance. Of his distinguished Prussian-Polish family, of his adventurous travels over half of the globe, of his immigration, discarding of nobility and of the varied fortunes of his sixty-five years; thirty-four of which have been spent in Idaho, we shall speak in such detail as this publication will permit.
The paternal grandfather of Edward Stein was none other than that celebrated general, Baron von Stein, who, in 1812, was the commander-in-chief of the Prussian army and whose clever leadership so disconcerted Napoleon's as to result in his final overthrow and in freeing Germany from French domination.
Wilhelm von Stein, the father of Edward Stein, was born on the 2d of January, 1800; moved to Poland in 1830, at the time when Poland was divided, where he purchased and became the owner of large landed estates; where he met and won a Polish lady of an old and distinguished Polish family, Karoline Bucholsky and the mother of the subject of this article. This marriage between a Prussian and Pole no doubt is respon- sible for the democratic tendencies of husband and son.
Wilhelm von Stein became one of the revolutionary leaders in 1848 and hecame conspicuously active in efforts that were being made by Carl Schurz and others to bring about a democracy for Germany. The failure of the plan resulted in the imprison- ment of Wilhelm von Stein and others of the revolutionists and the escape of Carl Schurz to America, while Herr von Stein spent eighteen months in the military prison of Fort Graudentz, his liberation being secured through the death of the old king and the amnesty proclamation issued by his successor made Wilhelm von Stein again a citizen, but, with the loss of his nobility. But the seeds of republicanism had taken deep root and the title to the Prussian nobility had lost all charm; renouncing it, he became one of the people.
With such a grandfather as Baron von Stein and such a father as Wilhelm von Stein and for a mother a Polish lady uniting in her veins the hest blood of the nobility of Poland. it was only a logical result that Edward Stein should develop characteristics of both courageous energy and of broad sympathy for his fellowmen, which finds its truest expression in such a land as ours. But Edward Stein was prepared for the type of civilization which he has adopted as his own, and for that reason ranks high among Boise citizens for his business honor and integrity.
EDWARD STEIN
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Born at Schubina, Poland, January 17, 1854, the boy Edward was early influenced by his parents' democratic theories. His earliest recollection is a visit in 1863, when but nine years of age, to relatives residing at Warsaw, the old capital city of the kingdom of Poland and now in the year 1920 by the fortunes of war again the capital city of the young republic of Poland. Vividly does he remember a stroll, led by his father's hand along one of the principal streets, when all at once the rattle of musketry, the hissing of bullets and the scream and explosion of grenades rent the morning air-the last Polish revolution had broken out, young Edward was ushered into a close-by store building, where father and son remained for hours while the battle raged through the street in front, back and forth. Well does he remember when finally able to leave the involuntary prison, after the Russian army had withdrawn, the chaos the city presented. The streets were littered with dead, barricades and furniture of all description, even organs and pianos that the patriotic Poles had hurled from upper stories of buildings on the storming Russians.
The education of young Edward was not neglected even in the preparatory, he be came a fluent reader and speaker of no less than five languages-Polish, Russian, Ger- man, French and Latin. A German minister prepared him for entrance to the University of Bromberg, the capital of Prussia Poland, and well does he remember his first trip to the university city, accompanied by his father; he visited many interesting points of interest, when late in the afternoon his father stopped in front of an iron gate. gave certain raps, a man appeared, a whispered short conversation and young Edward was commanded to go home. In later years young Edward made a survey of that mysterious gate and found that a stone wall enclosed an entire square and a large massive stone building in the center of the block, with spacious grounds, shrubs, ferns, trees and flowers. All this he could see through the iron gates. It was five years later, when returning as an American citizen, that Edward Stein discovered the mysterious building to be a Masonic Temple, his father had been a Mason.
At the university Edward remained until 1871-the close of the Franco-German war. The young man's father advised him to consider his further study and European residence at an end, so Edward was supplied with money and with passage on the steamer Weiland from Hamburg to New York and was soon on the way to the land where he should make a place and a fortune for himself.
Edward Stein had embarked without the required passport, which he could not secure because of the fact that he had reached the age at which the German army claimed him. His father did not intend that his only son should wear the livery of royalty; so he had set sail without attempting to secure the passport. It was not long however, before he was asked to produce the required papers on ship board. After a search in vain for papers that did not exist, Stein was informed that a telegram from officials at his home had been received, informing the ship's authorities and asking for his detention. In this emergency Edward Stein once more plunged his hand into an inner pocket, brought forth an envelope, containing four hundred marks, which he handed to the officer with the words, "Here are the passports." The official glanced at the contents of the envelope and shouted to his superior on the upper deck, "I find the papers of Herr Stein all correct," and they were. Thanks to his father's generosity in parting, who had amply supplied Edward with funds, and that officer's susceptibility to the temptations of graft, Edward Stein's financial resources were but slightly in- paired when he landed on the shores of the United States. Full of curiosity he determined to see something of the country before beginning his definite career. He traveled exten- sively through the eastern states and then determined to look up relatives who had immigrated to these shores in 1850, before he was born, and who had settled somewhere in Wisconsin. This search proved expensive and without result. His means were soon diminished, so that when he reached Chicago he had reached a state in which hunger and cold were the chief sensations. Having pawned his overcoat and other trinkets to purchase food, he had arrived penniless late at night, hungry and tired.
He secured shelter for the night in a coal box in the rear of the Chicago & North- western depot. This depot, by the way, was constructed of pine log slabs with the bark facing both ways, a very primitive affair, and had been constructed on the ruins of the depot but recently destroyed in the great fire. Many of the basements were still smoking ruins. Early, before daybreak, Edward crawled out of his dusty, dirty, but for all that, friendly coal box, very cold, dead broke, begrimmed with coal dust, hardly able to move his benumbed limbs.
It still being very dark, he noted in the distance a light to which he turned his weary steps. This led him through a lumber yard. A desperate man stepped in front of him,
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stuck a revolver in his face and ordered him to throw up his hands. Stein did not understand what he said but understood instinctively what was meant; up went his hands and the would-be rohber went through the innocent, inoffensive, but broke, immi- grant and found nothing. Stein explained his plight to the best of his ability to the "man behind the gun" who did not understand the several languages in which he was addressed, but the sign language of an empty stomach was convincing. The holdup took compassion and motioned Stein to follow. They went to the light aforesaid, which proved to be a restaurant. The waitress, arranging the tables for the morning meal, proved to be a German. Being the only one present, a communication was soon established. The holdup bade him to wash, while the highwayman cleaned Stein's gar- ments of coal dust. Meanwhile the waitress had served breakfast and Edward Stein to this day believes that meal was the finest he ever tasted, which the intended victim eagerly devoured. After breakfast, ascertaining that Stein could speak Polish and German, the holdup remembered seeing an ad in the Tribune seeking an interpreter at a place called Parkridge. The would-be highwayman took Stein to the nearby depot, purchased a ticket, put him aboard the train about to depart and in this manner, through the kindness of a thief, Edward secured his first job. But having contracted a bad case of the ague, then prevalent in that vicinity, his doctor recommended a change of climate.
He went to Green Bay, Wisconsin, and visited the scenes of the great forest fires in the regions of Pestico and Menominee, where so many hundreds had lost their lives. At Green Bay Edward Stein secured a position with engineers and assisted in making the survey which resulted in the construction of the Green Bay & Winona Railway. Thus commenced his railway service, which was to claim him for twenty-seven years. At Portage, Wisconsin, the crew was disbanded. Stein went to Stevens Point and secured employment on the Wisconsin Central Railway, just then completed from Menasha to Stevens Point, a distance of thirty-two miles. While employed as.an apprentice, Master Mechanic Campbell called Stein into his office and introduced him to George Westinghouse, the inventor of the now famous airbrake, and informed him thạt Stein was to be the assistant of Mr. Westinghouse, to equip a train of cars and a locomotive with the air-brakes for the purpose of testing its efficiency. Mr. Westing- house informed Stein that he had offered prominent railways to equip their trains with his brake, but they had refused, not being able to see any merit in his invention. The air-brake proved a success from its first application to the first train so equipped in the United States or the world. Mr. Stein delights to recall incidents of his connection with this now famous man and is very proud of his experience.
In later years Mr. Westinghouse's recommendation secured Mr. Stein a position on the Denver & Rio Grande Railway in Denver, Colorado, to equip trains with his brake when the invention came to the attention of the Union Pacific Railway. This resulted in Stein's employment at Eagle Rock, now Idaho Falls, July 5, 1885. Thus the chance meeting of George Westinghouse brought Stein to Idaho and changed the destiny of his life.
About this time, 1872, the owners of the Wisconsin Central decided to extend the road to Lake Superior, to tap the rich Casaha iron range, now considered the greatest and richest iron ore deposits in the world. A surveying crew was organized and as Stein had had experience in the field with the engineers of the Green Bay & Winona, he was selected to be one of the crew. The territory through which this survey had to. be made was at that time a virgin forest and it is doubtful if the foot of white man had ever trod this region before. Many were the hardships and narrow hair-breadth escapes that nearly every member of that crew experienced. Especially vicious and dangerous were the large timber wolves against which a constant watch had to be maintained. Frequently needed supplies ran out and the crew had to sustain life on the game of the forest. It is true that the wagon-road builders followed the engineers, but the constant twilight prevailing on account of the rank foliage of the immense forest, prevented the sun from drying the moss-covered ground, hence, the ground was always wet through great stretches of tamarack and spruce swamps. These swamps had to be bridged by corduroy roads.
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