USA > Idaho > History of Idaho, the gem of the mountains, Volume II > Part 95
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72 | Part 73 | Part 74 | Part 75 | Part 76 | Part 77 | Part 78 | Part 79 | Part 80 | Part 81 | Part 82 | Part 83 | Part 84 | Part 85 | Part 86 | Part 87 | Part 88 | Part 89 | Part 90 | Part 91 | Part 92 | Part 93 | Part 94 | Part 95 | Part 96 | Part 97 | Part 98 | Part 99 | Part 100 | Part 101 | Part 102 | Part 103 | Part 104 | Part 105 | Part 106 | Part 107 | Part 108 | Part 109 | Part 110 | Part 111 | Part 112 | Part 113 | Part 114 | Part 115 | Part 116 | Part 117 | Part 118
HISTORY OF IDAHO
and was thus engaged until ill health caused him to give np that work. It was this that occasioned his removal to the west in 1909, at which time he established his home in Bonner county, Idaho. He secured a homestead claim at Priest Lake, which he developed and improved, devoting seven years to the cultivation of this land, which he still owns. During that time he also did much work as an auditor. In September, 1917, he removed to Driggs in order to audit the county records and after finishing he decided to remain and organized the Teton Realty Company in partner- ship with Don C. Driggs and A. W. Clark and they also bought out the Teton Abstract Company and have since conducted both lines of business. Mr. Seymour is also a stockholder in the Teton National Bank.
On the 4th of May, 1905, Mr. Seymour was united in marriage to Miss Barbara M. Mistlebauer and they became the parents of five children: George F., who died in April, 1910, at the age of four years and three months; Orraregina, who died in 1907, when but three days old; one who died in infancy; Mary Patricia, who was born March 17, 1913; and Walter Ernest, born March 7, 1918.
Mr. Seymour is secretary of the Driggs Commercial Club and is actively inter- ested in everything that has to do with the upbuilding and development of the region in which he has located. His political endorsement is given to the democratic party and while he was upon the ranch he was elected to the state legislature from Bonner county in 1916. He became connected with much constructive legislation and at all times stood for progress and improvement in affairs pertaining to the upbuilding of the commonwealth. His religious faith is that of the Methodist Episcopal church, and his life has ever been guided by high and honorable principles, making him a man whom to know is to esteem.
RICHARD A. REYNOLDS.
Richard A. Reynolds is president of the Filer Hardware Company, Inc., of Filer, with branch houses under the name of Reynolds Brothers Company, as their efforts and operations have not been confined alone to this town, for they have established branches at several other points. The extent and importance of their commercial undertakings place them with the leading business men of Twin Falls county. Richard A. Reynolds was born at Perry, Pike county, Illinois, October 16, 1882, and is a son of Husted and Clara (Hessler) Reynolds. His boyhood days were passed in his native state and the public school system of Illinois afforded him his educational opportunities. He started out in the business world as a clerk in the hardware store of Triplett & Reynolds of Illinois and there remained until 1906, when he came west, making Filer, Idaho, his destination. Here his brother, Charles L., of whom he is now a business partner was operating a hardware store for the firm of Triplett & Reynolds and the two brothers then bought out the business, becoming sole proprietors. From time to time they have enlarged their store until they now carry a very extensive line and have one of the leading hard- ware establishments of this part of the state, their business house containing twenty thousand square feet. In 1915 the brothers established a hardware store at Buhl, Idaho, where they are now erecting a new building. In 1916 they started a branch store at Twin Falls and in the fall of 1917 opened another store at Burley, Idaho, while in 1918 they extended their activities to Castleford, opening a store there. They carry an extensive line of hardware, furniture and farm implements and they are also operating a garage at Filer.
In 1905 Richard A. Reynolds was married to Miss Olive L. Vail, a daughter of Lee and Mary (Elledge) Vail. She was born in Illinois and died in 1917 at the age of thirty-three years. In 1919 Mr. Reynolds wedded Miss Dorothy Pierce, a native of Twin Falls and a daughter of Frank C. and Emma (Cochran) Pierce.
In his political views Mr. Reynolds is an earnest republican and stanchly sup- ports the party principles but does not seek nor desire office. Fraternally he is connected with the Masons and the Knights of Pythias and for two years was master of the Masonic lodge. His fellow townsmen, appreciative of his worth and ability, recognizing how important a part he has played in the business develop- ment of the community and how at all times he has been loyal to the best inter- ests and the upbuilding of his city and state, elected him to the office of mayor of Filer in 1917. He is the president of the Farmers' Mutual Telephone Company Vol. 11-51
802
HISTORY OF IDAHO
and his services and cooperation can be secured in support of all plans and meas- ures which look to the upbuilding and development of the district. He certainly deserves much credit for what he has accomplished, as his energy and determination nave carried him into important relations, his industry enabling him to overcome all difficulties and obstacles in his path. Steadily he has advanced and his life record should serve to inspire and encourage others, showing what can be accomplished through individual activity.
EUGENE W. YEOMANS.
Eugene W. Yeomans, the owner of the Yeomans apartments in Boise, having also large ranch and live stock interests in Idaho, was born on a farm near Ionia, Michi- gan, February 15, 1872, and is a son of Walter and Jane (Herrick) Yeomans, who are still living in Ionia and who celebrated their fiftieth wedding anniversary on the 2d of July, 1918. Both are enjoying good health.
Reared upon the home farm, Eugene W. Yeomans attended the country schools to the age of seventeen years and then left the parental roof to make his start in the business world. He learned the printer's trade in his youth and became a journeyman printer, thus working for many years at various points, in the United States, Canada, Mexico and Alaska. Finally he quit the printer's business and took up his abode in Chicago, where in 1895 he established the first iron bedstead factory west of Buffalo, conducting the business for several years. He then turned his attention to the building of apartment houses in that city, where he remained until 1900, when he went to Alaska. The discovery of gold in the Klondike was the lure that took him to the far northwest, where he followed mining and prospecting. In 1901 he returned to the United States, settling at Boise, where he built the Yeomans apartments on Jefferson and Fifth streets in 1902. The building includes eighteen different apartments, modern in construction and equipment, and to the rental and management of his property Mr. Yeomans gives his attention and also to the super- vision of his extensive live stock interests in this state.
On the 12th of January, 1905, Mr. Yeomans was married to Miss Alice Bran- stetter, a daughter of Clay Branstetter, a pioneer of Idaho. They have three children: Walter, Mary Charlotte and Clay. Mr. Yeomans is a member of the Benevolent Protective Order of Elks. He is a progressive business man, actuated by a spirit of advancement in all things, and he puts the same zeal and enthusiasm into his support of progressive public measures that he does into the conduct of his private business affairs.
JAMES F. GRIGGS.
The mercantile establishment of James F. Griggs is one of the leading com- mercial interests of the town of Driggs, Teton county. He is there conducting a music and book store, in which he sells all kinds of musical instruments and mer- chandise, together with all kinds of books. He has concentrated his efforts and attention upon the music trade since 1915 and has prospered in this undertaking as the years have gone by.
Mr. Griggs was born in Salt Lake City, Utah, March 9, 1874, and after attend- ing the district schools spent one year as a student in the Latter-Day Saints Uni- versity during the first year of its existence. The church which organized that school has always found in him a faithful worker. He is one of the few who has labored in every office of the priesthood from that of deacon to high priest. His musical talent has always been given for the benefit of the church. For four years he was ward organist in the fifteenth ward of Salt Lake City and then became choir leader of the same ward. He received his musical instruction from Pro- fessors Clive and J. J. Daynes, the former the tabernacle organist of Salt Lake City. He studied the pipe organ under Professor Daynes for eighteen months.
On the 22d of April, 1897, Mr. Griggs was united in marriage to Maude Eu- dora Pratt, a granddaughter of Orson Pratt, who was the first pioneer to arrive in Salt Lake City, reaching the site of the present intermountain metropolis three
803
HISTORY OF IDAHO
days ahead of the other emigrants. He entered the Salt Lake valley on the 21st of July, 1847. He was one of the first apostles of the Mormon church and it was his son, Laron Pratt, who was the father of Mrs. Griggs, while her mother was in her maidenhood Miss Ethelwynne Brown.
With the musical interests of the church the name of Griggs has been asso- ciated for many years. Thomas C. Griggs, the father of James F. Griggs, was one of the compilers of the Latter-day Saints Psalmody. He was also a member of the tabernacle choir for more than thirty years and led the choir while E. Beesley was filling a mission. He was also stake superintendent of Sunday schools of the Salt Lake stake for ten years and was a member of the church general board of Sun- day schools for a decade. He came of English ancestry and when but nine years of age left his native England to come to America, taking care of his widowed mother. On the 20th of February, 1870, he married Janette Ure.
It was on the 10th of August, 1898, that James F. Griggs left Utah to fill a mission in Colorado, where he labored for two years under the late John W. Taylor, to whom he was counselor for eight months. He was left in charge of the mis- sion for four months in the absence of Mr. Taylor. His wife was with him on the mission for six months, acting as clerk in the office. On the 20th of August, 1900, he returned home and was appointed manager of the Western Cooperative Com- pany, filling that position for six months, when he decided to remove to Idaho. He had visited the Teton valley in 1889, when there were but few people living there. He was appointed superintendent of Sunday schools when the stake was first organized on the 2d of September, 1901, and labored in that capacity for eleven years. He was also stake chorister for a number of years, was a high coun- selor for twelve years and on the 16th of November, 1913, was called into the stake presidency and labored in that capacity for four and a half years. Don C. Driggs was stake president and William R. Durrant was first counselor, while Mr. Griggs served as second counselor. On the 26th of May, 1918, he was appointed ward president of the Young Men's Mutual Improvement Association and on the 18th of May, 1919, was appointed stake superintendent of the Mutual.
In Driggs, Mr. Griggs and his wife are rearing their family of seven children, all of whom are living, and one of the number is now married. These are Ethel- wynne, Lucile, Preston, Thomas, C. Wanda, Laron and Eudora.
As previously indicated, Mr. Griggs is a leading factor in business circles and in addition to the conduct of his music and book store he follows farming and is to some extent engaged in dairying. He carried on general merchandising until 1915, when he concentrated his energies upon the music and book trade. His life has been actuated by high and honorable principles. His interests have been well balanced and his activities have constituted a potent force in the material, intellectual and moral progress of the community.
WINFIELD S. HYDE.
Winfield S. Hyde, who is engaged in the real estate, insurance and abstract business at Buhl, was born at Berlin, Wisconsin, June 11, 1861, and is a son of Frank and Mary (Dodge) Hyde. His hoyhood days were largely passed in Washing- ton, D. C., and in New York city to the year 1872, when he went with his parents to Red Wing, Minnesota. A subsequent removal took the family to North Dakota, where Winfield S. Hyde concentrated his efforts and attention upon the occupation of farming, which he conducted quite successfully for some time, until he built a large grain elevator, which was run along independent lines. Later he entered financial circles as one of the organizers of the First National Bank of Hannaford, North Dakota, of which he continued as the vice president for three years. He then left that state to become a resident of Idaho, settling in Boise in 1910. For four years he was the state president of the Anti Saloon League and then removed to Buhl, where he purchased land, a part of which he divided into town lots. Upon these he built houses for sale and thus entered the field of real estate activity in Twin Falls county. He opened an office on Broadway and has since engaged in the real estate, insurance and abstract business, winning a good clientage in each depart- ment. He bought out the business of the Fidelity Abstract Company of Twin Falls. He also purchased a third interest in the Buhl Auto Company and in connection
804
HISTORY OF IDAHO
with his land engaged in running sheep. His business interests have thus covered a wide scope and have been most capably managed, bringing to him a very gratify- ing measure of prosperity.
In 1886 Mr. Hyde was united in marriage to Miss Lillian J. Barber, a native of Lake Geneva, Wisconsin, and a daughter of George Barber. They have become the parents of four children: George Harold, Frank Kenneth, Charles W. and Kath- leen. The eldest son enlisted at San Francisco in the Second Field Artillery and arrived in France about the time when the armistice was signed. Charles W., who was graduated from the Stout Institute at Menomonie, Wisconsin, was teaching at Indianapolis, Indiana, at the time America entered the war and there he enlisted in the artillery branch of the army. He is now teaching crippled and disabled soldiers, thus doing splendid work in the rehabilitation of the men. Frank Kenneth is a resident of Buhl and teller in the First National Bank.
Mr. Hyde is connected with the Modern Woodmen of America and he votes with the republican party. His has been an active and useful life and in the faithful performance of each day's duties he has ever found inspiration and en- couragement for the labors of the succeeding day. As the years have passed on his interests have broadened in scope and importance and he is now one of the representative business men of Buhl.
CHARLES E. SHARP.
Charles E. Sharp is the vice president and general manager of the Home Lum- ber & Coal Company of Idaho, the general offices of which are located in the Yates building in Boise, the company owning and controlling a chain of sixteen lumber- yards in this state and in Oregon. Mr. Sharp dates his residence in Idaho from 1911 and is a native son of Arkansas, his birth having occurred at Lockesburg, near Texarkana, on the 21st of July, 1881, his parents being Daniel E. and Margaret (Stall- cup) Sharp, the former still living in Arkansas at the age of eighty years. He is now retired but was formerly actively engaged in farming and dealing in land and timber. His wife passed away in 1919 at the age of seventy-one years. The father has reached the age of eighty years, his birth having occurred in Virginia, October 2, 1839, and he is a representative of one of the prominent old families of Virginia, while his wife was a native of Kentucky. During the Civil war he served with the Confederate army.
Charles E. Sharp was reared in Arkansas to the age of eighteen years and obtained a public school and business education in that state. He then went to Shreve- port, Louisiana, where he was employed as a bookkeeper, and from 1901 until 1905 he traveled out of Pine Bluff, Arkansas, and later made his headquarters at Fort Worth, Texas, representing wholesale lumber dealers. In 1905 he removed to Nor- ton, Kansas, and during the succeeding six years be established and conducted twelve different lumberyards, nine in Kansas and three in Oklahoma. He then came to Idaho and established a lumberyard at Weiser, since which time he has opened fifteen other lumberyards in Idaho and Oregon. With his removal to Idaho he bought out the business of the Weiser Lumber Company, changing the name to the Weiser Lum- ber & Supply Company, under which name he operated until July, 1913, when the present company was organized and the establishment and acquisition of other lum- beryards was begun. The growth of the business has been steady and substantial and their holdings now embrace sixteen yards, the last purchase making the company owner of the business formerly the property of the Hawkeye Lumber Company at Boise. They are now operating at Weiser, Homedale, Midvale, Caldwell, Mountain Home, Jerome, Hazelton, Twin Falls, Minidoka, Buhl, Menan, Lewisville and Boise in Idaho, and at Vale, Crane and Juntura in Oregon. Mr. Sharp has been the directing head of the business throughout the entire period and maintained general headquarters at Weiser until January 1, 1920, when the general offices were removed to Boise. The business thus developed is today one of extensive and profitable proportions and Mr. Sharp has made for himself a most creditable place in commercial circles. He is also the president of the Caldwell Lumber & Coal Company of Caldwell, Idaho, and a director of the Western Retail Lumbermen's Association.
On the 25th of July, 1906, Mr. Sharp was married at Grand Junction, Colorado,
807
HISTORY OF IDAHO
to Miss Mary Harris, and they have three children: Helen Ora, born November 26, 1909; Carol, January 6, 1913; and Harry E., August 21, 1914.
Mr. Sharp is a thirty-second degree Mason and member of the Mystic Shrine and the Elks. He is also identified with the Knights of Pythias, the United Commercial Travelers and the Boise Chamber of Commerce, associations which indicate the nature of his interests and activities aside from business and also the rules which govern his conduct. He is a man of sterling worth whose course always measures up to the highest principles of manhood and citizenship. In business affairs he is most progressive and reliable and while he has developed commercial interests of impor- tance, he has also found time to aid in the work of general upbuilding and improve- ment, making valuable contribution to public progress.
JAMES A. BENNETT.
James A. Bennett is one of the well known residents of Ada county, where he formerly served as sheriff and where he is now superintendent of the Nampa and Meridian irrigation district, which has all the water rights and privileges of what is known as the Ridenbaugh ditch and includes also water privileges from the gov- ernment, or the New York canal. Through the period of his connection with Idaho, Mr. Bennett has thus taken active part in furthering the welfare and progress of his community along various lines. He came to Idaho from Washington county, Missouri, in 1886 and has since lived in Ada county, where throughout the entire period he has followed ranching in connection with his public duties.
Mr. Bennett has always lived west of the Mississippi, his birth having occurred at Leavenworth, Kansas, January 26, 1865. He is the eldest of a family of eight children, five sons and three daughters. The father, James F. Bennett, is still living in Washington county, Missouri, at the age of eighty-two years. He served in the Civil war, holding the rank of lieutenant in the Second Colorado Cavalry. His wife, who bore the maiden name of Helen Connel Williams, passed away in 1917 in Wash- ington county, Missouri, where she was born, while her husband was a native of Gainesville, Missouri. He at one time owned a homestead in Colorado on which the present city of Denver is partly built.
The youthful experiences and training of James A. Bennett were such as to qualify him for the duties and responsibilities which have devolved upon him in later life. For a third of a century he has lived in Ada county and in 1888 he pre- empted a one hundred and sixty acre homestead, of which he still owns forty acres. This is well watered and highly cultivated land, worth today three hundred dollars per acre. While continuously engaged in ranching throughout the period of his residence in the northwest, Mr. Bennett has also spent many years in the employ of irrigation companies in various responsible capacities. For eleven years he was headgate keeper and ditch walker for the Ridenbaugh ditch and for the past three years he has been superintendent of the Nampa and Meridian irrigation district, a vast stretch of territory reaching along the Boise valley all the way from Barber to the Deer Flat reservoir in Canyon county. It embraces a body of fine farming country fully fifty miles in length with an average width of several miles, and there are over four thousand water users. In 1903 Mr. Bennett purchased his present home property, a beautiful little ranch on the Barber road about a mile west of the town -of Barber and five miles east of Boise. Here he has lived for sixteen years and has one of the handsomest country homes in the upper Boise valley. All of the trees have been set out and the improvements made upon the place by Mr. Bennett. His present home Is a two-story frame residence of generous proportions, erected in 1910. It stands well back from the highway in a cluster of large maples and with a terraced lawn and flower gardens in front.
On the 29th of October, 1888, Mr. Bennett was married to Miss Maggie Oben- chain, a daughter of James Obenchain, a pioneer of the Wood river country. She passed away October 10, 1898, leaving three children, one of whom has since de- parted this life. The others are: Mary Helen, now the wife of B. Scrivner, of Boise; and Clennie, twenty-six years of age, who is in the service of the United States government as a trapper, his duties being to trap predatory animals. On the 10th of January, 1900, James A. Bennett wedded Mrs. Cassie Kelley, of Piedmont,
808
HISTORY OF IDAHO
Missouri, and they have one son, Paul, born May 10, 1901. When the armistice was signed Clennie Bennett was at Camp Lewis in the service of the United States army.
Mr. Bennett is an Odd Fellow and a past grand of his lodge. He is also con- nected with the Benevolent Protective Order of Elks. In 1909 he was elected to the office of sheriff of Ada county, in which position he served for two years, for the law which then existed precluded a reelection. He has ever heen loyal and progressive. in citizenship and at all times has stood for advancement and improve- ment in those things which affect the material welfare and the social and moral progress of the community.
ROBIN C. BUERKI, M. D.
Dr. Robin C. Buerki, physician and surgeon of Boise, associated in practice with Dr. J. L. Stewart, was born at Black Earth, Dane county, Wisconsin, July 25, 1892, and is a son of Otto C. and Catherine (Kuntz) Buerki. The father is of Swiss and Italian descent, while the mother comes of French Huguenot and Holland Dutch ancestry. Both parents were born, however, in the United States and are now living in Madison, Wisconsin.
Dr. Buerki acquired his education largely in the schools of Waukesha, Wis- consin, and was there graduated from the high school with the class of 1911. His collegiate training was received in the University of Wisconsin, where he won the Bachelor of Science degree upon graduation with the class of 1915. His professional course was pursued in the medical department of the University of Pennsylvania, from which he was graduated in 1917 with the M. D. degree. He was then made chief resident physician at the University of Pennsylvania Hospital. where he spent a year, gaining that broad and valuable practical experience which hospital practice brings. This was indicative of his high standing in scholarship as a student at the State University and during his service as resident physician he had twenty- two physicians under his direction. In December, 1917, he was commissioned a first lieutenant of the United States Army Medical Corps and served until May 7, 1919, being on duty much of the time at the United States Army Hospital at Cape May, New Jersey, engaging in brain and nerve surgery.
On the 15th of May, 1919, Dr. Buerki arrived in Boise, where he has since engaged in the practice of medicine and surgery, and has already won a liberal support. While in the University of Wisconsin he had taught in the department of clinical medicine. He made his way through that institution and also through medical college by his own efforts, and the elemental strength of his character thus displayed promises well for a successful future. It is his purpose to specialize in surgery and he is bending every effort toward that end, continuing his reading and studying with the result that he is constantly promoting his skill and efficiency.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.