USA > Idaho > History of Idaho, the gem of the mountains, Volume II > Part 69
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George H. Fisher has lived in Idaho since 1877, at which time he was five years of age. With the removal of the family to this state they settled at Oxford, then Oneida connty but now Bannock county, and he was educated in the public schools near his father's home, in the Brigham Young College and the Utah Agricultural College. As a boy lie rode the range and worked upon the farm. When eighteen years of age he entered the employ of the Oregon Short Line Railroad in the civil engineering depart- ment and was one of the engineers who constructed the line of railroad through Bear river canyon on the Idaho and Utah state line in 1890. He shook hands with a com- panion through the first hole blown through the tunnel a's the excavation was carried to the middle. For several years he taught in the public schools after reaching the age of twenty.
GEORGE H. FISHER
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Mr. Fisher was married September 20, 1893, in the famous Mormon Temple of Salt Lake City, to Miss Laura Lewis, who was also born in Richmond, Utah. She is a lady of refinement and charming personality. She was educated in the public schools of her native city and also in the Utah Agricultural College, later devoting a number of years to teaching in the public schools of Idaho. She also has taken a prominent and active part in woman's work, both in church and secular circles. For several years she served as president of The Young Ladies' Mutual Improvement Association, of Bannock and Idaho stakes, from which work she reluctantly resigned upon removing to Boise. After his marriage Mr. Fisher spent three years on a mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in the Hawaiian islands, his wife being with him through almost the entire period. He learned the Hawaiian language thoroughly and still speaks it fluently. During that time he spent six days on Molokai island, on which is located the Hawaiian leper colony, then numbering eleven hundred lepers. In 1896 he returned to the United States and it was subsequent to this time that he taught school and attended the Utah Agricultural College.
In the fall of 1898 Mr. Fisher was elected to represent Bannock county in the Idaho legislature, being the youngest member of the house of representatives with one exception. Later he was for several years a traveling salesman and accountant. In 1906 he took up his abode at Bancroft, Idaho, and turned his attention to merchandising there in 1907 as a member of the firm of Fisher & Alley. This mercantile business con- tinued until recently. The business was first conducted under the name of Fisher & Titus and later became Fisher & Alley, the latter partner being George Alley, Mr. Fish- er's son-in-law. Other business interests also claim the attention of Mr. Fisher, who since' taking up his abode in Bancroft in 1906 has been identified with building opera- tions there. He took the initiative in the building of one of the best amusement halls of the state, erected at a cost of fifteen thousand dollars. It now belongs to Idaho stake and is used as a Mormon tabernacle and assembly hall. It was completed in 1912 and Mr. Fisher was in charge of the construction. He also assisted in erecting the beautiful Mormon church in Bancroft and he served as bishop of Bancroft ward from August 11, 1907, until December 30, 1917, when he was honorably released to accept an appointment as a state official. He still makes his home in Bancroft, where he owns a most commodious and beautiful residence. Mr. Fisher was personally acquainted with the late Joseph F. Smith, president of the Mormon church, and had many interviews with him in both the English and Hawaiian language, President Smith having learned that language during the time that he, too, served as a missionary there in his younger days. Mr. Fisher entertained President Smith in his own home in Bancroft.
In addition to his service as a member of the house of representatives of the Idaho legislature, Mr. Fisher was elected to the state senate from Bannock county in 1910 and served for one term, also during the extraordinary session of 1913, called by Governor James H. Hawley. In 1912 he was a delegate to the democratic national con- vention held at Baltimore, Maryland, which nominated Woodrow Wilson for the presi- dency for the first time. In 1917 Mr. Fisher was appointed by Governor Alexander a member of the Idaho industrial accident board and was at once made its chairman, in which capacity he served until April 17, 1919. His appointment by a republican gov- ernor being indeed a well merited tribute to his efficiency and fidelity to the interests of the office. During the legislative session of 1917, and preceding his appointment as a member of the industrial accident board, Mr. Fisher became the recognized leader of the opposition forces contesting the proposed division of Bannock county, and it was" largely through his personal efforts, as well as his able management, that the measure was defeated, despite the fact that it received the support of every member of the house and senate from Bannock county.
Mr. and Mrs. Fisher are the parents of but one child, Henrietta, who on the 24th of May, 1911, hecame the wife of George Alley, who became her father's partner in business. They have four children, three sons and a daughter, Phyllis, George, Stephen and Robert. In addition to his connection with commercial interests at Bancroft, Mr. Alley is also the postmaster there, having served in that capacity for several years.
Such in brief is the life history of George H. Fisher, whose record has been one of untiring activity, bringing him wide experience. Following his reappointment to his present position as member of the state industrial accident board, one of the Idaho papers said of him: "When he was appointed a year ago this month and after taking office, many interests were at work trying to persuade him to follow their particular whims and fancies. He refused to be swerved from his path of duty, holding his posi- tion was ministerial and not law-making, and firmly stood for administration of the law
Vol. II-37
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he was sworn to enforce, stating that when he lacked information as to what the law means he would be guided by the state's legal counsel, the attorney general. His stand was exonerated by the recent decision of Judge Charles P. McCarthy in the Aetna man- damus case." This is characteristic of George H. Fisher, who is at all times fair and impartial, loyal to any interest entrusted to his care and maintaining a high sense of justice and political integrity.
O. E. BOSSEN.
O. E. Bossen, Payette county's first assessor and a successful and enterprising business man, now connected with banking interests as president of the Fruitland State Bank, was born in Jewell county, Kansas, December 31, 1876. His father Henry Bossen, was a native of Denmark and, coming to America in 1853, settled in Iowa, where he followed farming until his death. He wedded Mary Bacon, a native of Missouri, who is now residing in the state of Washington.
O. E. Bossen obtained his education in the common schools of Jewell county, Kansas, which he attended to the age of twenty years. The following year he married Miss Oddessa Delp, of Kansas, and they have become the' parents of a daughter, Winifred, who is now a student in the Lewiston State Normal. Imme- diately following his marriage Mr. Bossen removed with his bride to North Da- kota and homesteaded near Bismarck, there carrying on farming until 1912, in which year he came to Idaho and turned his attention to the raising of fruit and poultry at Fruitland, Payette county, where he still has fifteen acres planted to apples. He has not only proven a capable and resourceful business man, but his loyalty and fidelity in citizenship have been widely recognized and have led to his selection for important local offices. While in North Dakota he served for eight years as chairman of the board of supervisors of McLean county and in 1917 was deputy assessor of Canyon county, Idaho. With the organization of Payette county he was appointed to the office of assessor and in 1918 was elected to the position, so that he is the first incumbent in this office. It is not necessary to explain to those who have acquaintance with Mr. Bossen that he is proving an excellent official, for all who know him recognize in him a man who is faith- ful to every trust reposed in him.
Not only has Mr. Bossen made an excellent record as a public official but also has contributed much to the development of the community in which he lives. He has been very successful in all of his business undertakings and is concentrat- ing his attention in large measure upon the further promotion of his horticultural interests, while at the same time he is a successful poultryman and in Fruitland is well known as a capable banker who tempers progressiveness by a safe con- servatism.
JEREMIAH W. ROBINSON.
Jeremiah W. Robinson, auditor and accountant and secretary of the Idaho State Bankers Association, has also been identified with municipal interests as mayor of Boise and as public official and business man has contributed in no small measure to the development and progress of the city. He was born upon a Ken- tucky farm, twenty-five miles from Owensboro, Kentucky, July 18, 1860, the third of a family of six sons whose parents were George H. and Caroline L. (Heard) Robinson, who were also natives of that state, the former born in 1831 and the latter in 1834. The sons, all yet living, are: Dr. James M. Robinson, a physician of Guthrie, Kentucky; John A., a farmer residing in Oklahoma; Jeremiah W .; Thomas F. and Robert Conrad, twins, the former a practicing physician of Oroville, Washington, and the latter a farmer of Oklahoma; and Joseph V., who also follows farming in Oklahoma. The parents and younger sons removed from Kentucky to western Kansas in 1887 and there the mother passed away in 1888. The father spent his last days in Oklahoma, where his death occurred October 1, 1914. In the paternal line the Robinsons are descended from an old family of South Carolina, while the maternal ancestry is traced back to the Calhoun and the Morrow families,
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also prominent in that state, and among the ancestors of Jeremiah W. Robinson were those who fought for American independence in the Revolutionary war.
Upon the old homestead farm in Kentucky, Jeremiah W. Robinson was reared and after mastering the branches of learning taught in the public schools he con- tinued his education in a college at Carrollton, Kentucky, while later he became a student in the National Normal School of Lebanon, Ohio, where he was graduated when twenty-one years of age, having completed a scientific course. He afterward devoted several years to teaching in Kentucky and Tennessee and in early manhood made his way westward to Kansas City, Missouri, where he was a clerk in a depart- ment store for a year. In 1885 he proceeded to Elk City, Kansas, and later to Syracuse and to Richfield, Kansas. In all of those places he held bank positions, acting as cashier of a bank in both Syracuse and Richfield. While thus engaged be devoted every available moment to the study of law and was admitted to the bar in Kansas in 1889. In 1890 he came to Boise, where he entered upon the practice of law, and in 1891 he was appointed chief clerk in the United States assayer's office of Boise, in which position he continued through seventeen consecu- tive years, resigning in 1908 to become cashier of the Idaho Trust & Savings Bank. After serving in that position for three years he temporarily resumed his former position in the assayer's office and about this time also served as secretary of the loan company. He had become widely known as an expert accountant and was on various occasions called upon to disentangle involved accounts in various offices. He has been recalled to the asseyer's office on two or three different occasions to audit the books and straighten out its affairs. As expert accountant he was called to the office of the state treasurer to fix up affairs there which were in a tangle. That was in 1914 and he acted as deputy state treasurer for six months. In the spring of 1915 he was elected mayor of Boise and remained in the position fourteen months, in which time he brought about various needed.reforms and improvements, cleaning up the city and driving out the saloons, the gambling houses and the slot machines. He also closed the dives, wiping out the red light district, and cleaned up the city generally, his administration placing Boise in the front rank among ideally governed cities and with those who hold to the highest civic standards. The course which he pursued brought on a big recall fight and though the opposition won, recalling him from the position, he had all of the better element of the city" practically with him. Since 1916 he has been in the United States assayer's and reclamation office in auditing and accounting work, which requires most of his time in Boise.
On the 21st of March, 1888, Mr. Robinson was married to Miss Carrie Cruson and they became parents of three children: Rebekah; Jeremiah W., who was an electrician with the Signal Corps on active duty in France; and Edith, who is now the wife of W. A. Thompson, of Seattle, Washington.
In politics Mr. Robinson has always been a democrat but belongs to that class who hold the public good above partisanship and the general welfare before personal aggrandizement. He is one of the most prominent representatives of Masonry in the west. He has taken all of. the degrees of both York and Scottish Rites, including the honorary thirty-third degree, and is a past grand master of the state. He is a member of the Mystic Shrine, belongs to the Eastern Star and is a past grand patron in Idaho. His life is an exemplification of the sterling principles upon which the order is founded and which have continued it as the strongest of the fraternal organizations of the world. He has also been secretary of the Idaho State Bankers Association for the past eight years. His qualities of leadership are pronounced and his devotion to high standards is uniformly recognized.
GUY H. SHEARER.
Guy H. Shearer, cashier of the First National Bank of Filer, was born at Cullom, Illinois, January 25, 1885, his parents being Lewis and Mary J. (Ray) Shearer. After attending the public schools of the place of his nativity he con- tinued his education in the Grand Prairie Seminary at Onarga, Illinois, and after- ward became a student in the Chicago Law School, from which he was graduated with the class of 1906. He made his initial step in the business world as secretary for the Chickering Brothers Piano Company of Chicago and later he took up the
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practice of law in that city, in which he continued for three years. In 1911 he arrived in Filer, Idaho, and in company with Elmer E. Haag, an old friend, he purchased the Filer State Bank, which was reorganized and converted into the First National Bank in 1917. It is capitalized for fifty thousand dollars and has a surplus of fifteen thousand dollars. T. E. Moore is now the president of the bank, with Mr. Shearer as cashier. Under their direction the business of the bank has steadily increased. Their conservative method's most carefully safeguard the interests of depositors and at the same time they manifest a progressiveness that contributes to the welfare and development of the district in which they are located. Mr. Shearer is also interested in farm lands in this section of the state.
On the 21st of September, 1912, Mr. Shearer was united in marriage to Miss Azalea E. Bolens, a native of Port Washington, Wisconsin, and a daughter of A. D. and Julia Bolens. Mr. Shearer votes with the republican party, which he has supported since age conferred upon him the right of franchise. He belongs to the Masonic fraternity and the Benevolent Protective Order of Elks and is not only faithful concerning the teachings of these organizations as to the brotherhood of mankind but also greatly enjoys the social life of the orders and has won many stanch friends among their members.
HON. JOSEPH B. CONOVER.
Hon. Joseph B. Conover passed away on the 8th of May, 1919. At the time of his death he had the distinction of being the oldest member of the house of represen- tatives in the Idaho legislature and he was also commander of the Grand Army post in which he had membership, for he was a veteran of the Civil war. He was born in Mason county, Illinois, September 28, 1844, a son of William H. and Rebecca (Hop- kins) Conover. The father died when the son was but four years of age and the mother had previously passed away when her son Joseph was but nine months old. He was the youngest of a family of eleven children, all of whom have now passed away. His youthful days were passed in Mason county, Illinois, and in August, 1862, when but eighteen years of age, he responded to the country's call for aid in maintain- ing the Union intact and became a corporal of Company D, Eighty-fifth Illinois Infan- try, with which he served until July 19, 1864. In the battle of Peach Tree Creek on that date he was severely wounded by a Minie ball in the right arm which necessitated its amputation near the shoulder a few hours later. Upon being wounded he fell into the hands of the enemy and it was a Confederate surgeon who amputated his arm. He was then taken to Atlanta by his captors and finally to Andersonville prison. On the 20th of November, 1864, he was paroled, and being unfit for further military duty, he was honorably discharged from the service at Baltimore, Maryland, February 23, 1865. He not only participated in the battle of Peach Tree Creek but also in the engagements at Perryville, Stone River, Chickamauga, Missionary Ridge, Resaca, Rome, Dalton, Kenesaw Mountain and Chattahoochee River and never lost a day's service from illness or other cause until wounded and never was in a guard- house. In fact his was an exemplary military record, characterized by the utmost devotion to duty and by marked bravery in the face of danger.
After leaving the army Mr. Conover returned to his home in Mason county, Illi- nois, where he continued to reside and devote his attention to the occupation of farm- ing until 1913, when he came to Idaho, settling at Twin Falls. He had become very successful as a farmer in Illinois and had acquired large land holdings, having many hundred acres of fine land in Mason county; but a series of wet seasons, five in num- ber and in succession, drowned out his corn crops and eventually was the cause of his losing his land. Not only did this occur but he also found himself twenty thousand dollars in debt. Not disheartened or discouraged, he at once set about to retrieve his lost fortune. He bought back four hundred and fifty acres of his former possessions on time; better seasons and good crops followed and he paid off his indebtedness in full, dollar for dollar. Eventually he sold this farm and for twenty-five years was a partner in the ownership of a large grain elevator at Kilbourne, Mason county, and still acted as overseer of a farm comprising thirty-six hundred acres in Mason county for fourteen years. After his removal to Twin Falls county, Idaho, he acquired exten- sive ranch and farm interests and he and his two sons, Marshall O. and Howard, owned together over five hundred acres of choice irrigated land in that county. One
HON. JOSEPH B. CONOVER
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tract, comprising two hundred and forty acres, is situated eight miles from Twin Falls and is valued at four hundred and fifty dollars per acre, while the remainder is worth one hundred and fifty dollars per acre.
Mr. Conover resided in Twin Falls, where shortly prior to his demise he completed an eight thousand dollar residence, one of the attractive homes of the city. His sons look after and manage the ranches and the sales of farm products in 1918 from the Conover ranches amounted to more than twenty-five thousand dollars. They raised nine thousand bushels of wheat on their land. Mr. Conover certainly deserved the success which came to him. Notwithstanding his previous losses, he again gained a place among the substantial business men of his section of the country.
On the 26th of December, 1869, Mr. Conover was married in Mason county, Illi- nois, to Miss Charlotte Cogeshall, who was born in that county. They had but two children, the two sons mentioned above, both of whom are married and are recog- nized as leading and valued citizens of Twin Falls county.
Mr. Conover long gave his political allegiance to the republican party and in Illinois, as early as 1869, was elected county treasurer of Mason county on the repub- lican ticket in a democratic stronghold and served for one term. In the fall of 1918 his party named him for the office of representative in the Idaho legislature, where he was serving when death called him. He maintained pleasant relations with his old army comrades through his membership in Dan Cook Post, G. A. R., of Twin Falls, of which he served as commander. His religious faith was that of the Baptist church and his life was always guided by its teachings. He was a man of high principles, of genial disposition, of social nature and of sterling worth, and in Twin Falls county, as in Illinois where he so long made his home, he had a circle of friends almost coex- tensive with the circle of his acquaintance.
GEORGE W. OYLEAR.
George W. Oylear, filling the position of assessor of Canyon county and mak- ing his home in Caldwell, has long been identified with the west aud is a repre- sentative of one of the old pioneer families of California and Idaho. He was born in Carson valley, California, March 17, 1877, his father being Jonathan C. Oylear, who was a native of Missouri and a veteran of the Civil war. He served through- out the entire period of hostilities with Company A of the Sixth Missourl Cavalry, entering the service as a private and being discharged as a first sergeant, his principal duty being that of scouting. After the war he established his home near Council Bluffs, Iowa, where he resided for ten years, and then went to California, living there for about three years, at the end of which time he piloted a wagon train of settlers from California to Lewiston, Idaho, in 1878. The Indians were then very hostile and many of the trains which both preceded and followed him had serious trouble with the red men, but Mr. Oylear landed his train without the loss of a man, owing to his ability as a scout and his knowledge of the western country. He settled with his family on Little Potlatch creek about twelve miles southeast of Moscow, where he homesteaded and where he died in February, 1919, at the age of eighty years. His wife died in 1897. They had a family of ten children, of whom George W. is the eighth in order of birth. Five of the sons are living, while the parents and four brothers and a sister have passed away. Those who survive are: S. D., a retired farmer living at Lewiston, Idaho; J. M., a farmer residing at Southwick, Idaho; Elmer E., a merchant of Ellensburg, Wash- ington; and M. M., who is in the employ of the J. C. Penny Company at Pendle- ton, Oregon. After the death of his first wife Mr. Oylear married again and the children of that union are: Jesse C. who farms the old homestead; Dora, also on the home farm; and Hazel, who is connected with the Williamson Company at Moscow. In the early days of the residence of the Oylear family in Idaho there were no mills in that section of the country and it was necessary many times to grind their wheat in a coffee mill in order to obtain flour. The father assisted largely in the development of Spokane, Washington, as a contractor and builder, for it was by following that pursuit that he managed to support his family, as the land was all wild and undeveloped and in the early days crops could not be grown successfully. It was also Mr. Oylear who introduced the first threshing
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machine, mowing machine and reaper in the Moscow country, the unusual machines frightening the children of the neighborhood.
George W. Oylear entered the University of Moscow in 1893, pursuing the regular course, hut on account of the death of his mother he was compelled to leave college in 1897. He is a natural musician and as a boy began playing the violin and played for the country dances, using the proceeds to pay for his edu- cation. After leaving college he taught school until 1902, when he became cashier of the M. A. Means Bank at Orofino, at the same time acting as general manager and bookkeeper for the M. A. Means store and bookkeeper for the bank. After two years his strenuous life, however, proved too much for his health and he was compelled to resign. He then, in connection with his brother, L. L. Oylear, opened a hardware and grocery store at Leland, Nez Perce county, and from the begin- ning the venture proved profitable. In 1906 the brother died and in 1907 George W. Oylear closed out the business and in May of that year removed to Caldwell. He worked at the carpenter's trade at Middleton for six months and then opened a hardware store there, which he still conducts. He is also a director of the Middleton State Bank, of which he formerly served as assistant cashier. He is an enterprising and progressive business man in whose vocabulary there is no such word as fail, and his enterprise and determination have heen the salient features in the attainment of success.
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