History of Idaho, the gem of the mountains, Volume II, Part 97

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. Potter has always given his political allegiance to the republican party and for six years was a member of the county central committee. He has served as notary public and as justice of the peace and on many occasions has refused to hold office in the county. His life has been one of industry and activity until recent years and at all times he has given valuable service to his country, whether on the field of battle or in support of progressive civic measures.

JUDGE JOHN DONALDSON.

Judge John Donaldson, a resident of Fremont county since 1884, now making his home at Teton, was born in England, September 30, 1842, while his parents, William and Rachel (Notman) Donaldson, were there on a visit. They were natives of Scot- land and came to America in 1814, settling in Massachusetts. The father was employed at mechanical engineering in that state and he was interested in the first railroads built in this country. He remained in America until 1842, when he returned to England, being called there as a consulting engineer. Immediately after the birth of his son John, Mr. Donaldson returned with his family to the United States, taking up his abode in Boston. A few years later he was again called back to England and there met with an accident which occasioned his death. His widow remained in Great Britain with her son John, then a little lad of six or seven years, and he acquired his education in the schools of Edinburgh. When his textbooks were put aside they came to America and the mother resided in Boston throughout her remaining days, her death occurring in 1880.

In early life John Donaldson entered the chemical department of a dye house and prepared materials for dyeing. He continued in that business in Scotland while attend- ing school for three years, and after his return to Boston he engaged in clerking for a time. Later he was in an attorney's office and at the age of nineteen years went back to England, where he remained for one year. He then again came to the new world and made his home in Utah, where he located in 1863. He took up land in the

JUDGE JOHN DONALDSON

Vel. 11-52

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Cache valley and improved and cultivated his farm there until 1882, when he once more went to England on a mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, remaining in that work for two years. He was released in 1884, after which he made his way direct to Fremont county, Idaho, where he took up more land near Teton. This he at once began to cultivate and year after year tilled the soil until 1915, when he retired from active business cares and removed to Teton, where he has since made his home.

In April, 1863, Judge Donaldson was married to Miss Mary Ann Kent and they became the parents of ten children: William, who is deceased; Mary A., the wife of John Butt; Marion, who has passed away; Rachel, who gave her hand in marriage to Jesse E. Bigler; Rhoda I., the widow of Israel Clark; Marion Etta, who is the wife of Harry Croft; Anna, the wife of James Jenson; John A., who married Maud Green and lives in Twin Falls; Alma, who married Jeanette Allen and resides in St. Anthony; and James C., deceased.

With public interests Judge Donaldson was closely associated for many years. He has always given his allegiance to the republican party and has served as chairman of the republican county central committee through four elections. On one occasion he was elected to the state legislature of Idaho, but all people of his religious faith were unseated. He served as chairman of the first board of county commissioners of Fremont county and for eight years he filled the office of probate judge. He has also filled various offices in the church. He was bishop of Teton ward for ten years, has been a member of the high council of the Fremont stake and is now a patriarch. At one time he was editor of the first newspaper of Fremont county, called the Rexburg Press. Eight times he has crossed the Atlantic ocean and his experiences in life have been broad and varied, bringing to him wide knowledge and thorough understanding of men and conditions. His activities have been wisely and carefully directed and he has adhered to high standards of manhood and citizenship.

ALLEN L. MURPHY:

Allen L. Murphy, of Caldwell, who has enjoyed almost phenomenal success in the real estate business and through his activities has contributed to the development and upbuilding of the district as well as to the promotion of his own fortune, was horn in Barbour county, West Virginia, January 10, 1865, being the eldest of the eight chil- dren who were born of the union of Eugene W. and Mary Ellen (Gainer) Murphy. They, too, were natives of West Virginia and were married in that state. In 1881 the father brought his family to the west, settling first in Plattsmouth, Nebraska, and afterward removing to Denver, Colorado. In 1892 he became a resident of Salt Lake City, Utah, and his last days were spent in Provo, Utah, where he passed away in 1904 at the age of sixty five years. During the Civil war he served with the Confederate army through the period of hostilities. His wife is a daughter of John Gainer and is now living at Middleton, Idaho. Her grandfather, John W. Gainer, was a soldier of the War of 1812 and lived to the remarkable age of ninety-nine years.

Allen L. Murphy was educated in the common schools of Taylor county, West Vir- ginia, pursuing his studies in a little log schoolhouse near Grafton. In 1881 he came to the west with his parents and was identified with farming interests at Plattsmonth, Nebraska, until 1887, when he again accompanied his parents on their removal west- ward, with Denver, Colorado, as their destination. There Allen L. Murphy turned his attention to the florist's business, in which he was engaged as an employe until 1892, when he went to Salt Lake City, where through the succeeding three years he con- ducted business on his own account as a florist. He afterward engaged in mining in Utah and ultimately became foreman on the Montana division of the Oregon Short Line Railroad.

In 1903 Mr. Murphy arrived in Idaho and took up the occupation of farming in the Payette valley. After a brief period, however, he devoted his energies to the real estate business, with headquarters at Middleton, Canyon county. From that place he removed to Caldwell and incorporated his interests under the name of the A. L. Murphy Company, Ltd. When thus engaged he subdivided several town additions and farm plats, but in 1913 his business venture met with utter failure. He made Marshfield, Oregon, the field of his next endeavor but there he met with no success and was com- pelled to borrow one hundred dollars with which to return to Caldwell. Here he

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again entered the real estate field and since that time has met with phenomenal suc- cess in handling farm and city property. He largely handles farm lands in the Boise valley and has negotiated many important realty transfers in Caldwell. He has made himself thoroughly familiar with property values, knows the real estate that is upon the market and has done much to make satisfactory sales and purchases for his clients.

On the 12th of May, 1910, Mr. Murphy was married to Miss Mary J. Merlihan, of Chicago, a daughter of Mr. and Mrs. James E. Merlihan, both of whom died in Chicago. For recreation Mr. Murphy turns to fishing, but he finds keen pleasure in hard work, greatly enjoying the mastery of knotty and intricate business problems. While he is not active in politics, he gives his support to all measures that tend to advance civic betterment or promote the welfare of Caldwell in any way. He was a most ardent champion of American interests during the period of the great World war and no one in Caldwell subscribed to the Liberty loans and other war activitles more liberally according to his means than Mr. Murphy. While all days in his career have not been equally bright, he has by indomitable energy turned seeming defeat into victory and is now on the highroad to success.

HENRY A. WITTHOFT.

Henry A. Witthoft, deceased, was recognized as one of the most enterprising men of Pocatello, interested in nearly all of its important projects for the upbuilding of the city and surrounding country. He was born in Kiel, Germany, November 5, 1868, and was but eleven years of age when he came to the United States. He pursued his ad- vanced education in the college at Lyons, Iowa, after which he engaged in the butcher- ing business in that place, winning substantial success. In 1900 he arrived in Idaho, settling at Idaho Falls, where he also conducted a butchering business until fire de- stroyed his establishment. He then removed to Pocatello and entered the butchering business. He founded the business that later was developed under the name of the Idaho Packing Company. In 1906 Mr. Witthoft entered the field of real estate, in which he was most successful. The firm of Witthoft & Gathe operated in the realty field and built the Commercial block, a structure that is one of the most important business blocks and hotels of the city. During the years of the firm's connection with the packing business they purchased a large tract of land twelve miles from Poca- tello for ranching purposes and later decided that it was especially well located for a town site. They then began the development of the property with that end in view, founding the town of Inkom. Their Interests were conducted under the name of the Commercial Development & Investment Company and constituted an important ele- ment in the growth and settlement of that section.

In 1915 Mr. Witthoft was united in marriage to Miss Sophie Barbara Margaret Heldmann, a native of Germany, born near Hamburg. She came to America in 1914 and by her marriage has a daughter, Dorothy. Mr. Witthoft was one of the first home- steaders in the vicinity of Pocatello, securing land about five miles north, which prop- erty is now part of that owned by the development company and constitutes one of the most highly improved farms in this section. Mrs. Witthoft possesses good busi- ness ability; as did her husband, whose carefully directed interests brought to him a substantial measure of success as the years passed hy. After a useful and well spent life Mr. Witthoft died March 27, 1917. He was a consistent member of the Lutheran church and belonged to the Masonic lodge at Pocatello. In politics he was a republican but not an office seeker. He was a thorough business man-one that commanded the respect and confidence of all with whom he came in contact.

H. W. BARNES.

H. W. Barnes, who follows farming in the Fargo district of Canyon county, has long been identified with the materlal development and upbuilding of his section of the state, taking particular interest in the promotion of irrigation problems as well as in the reclamation of the wild land for the purposes of civilization through other channels of activity. He was born at Monterey, Davis county, Iowa, April 23, 1863. His father, Joseph J. Barnes, was a native of Kentucky and his mother, who bore the

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maiden name of Zerelda Brooks, was a native of Ohio. They were married in Bloom- field, Iowa, where they had gone with their respective parents in childhood. All of the uncles of H. W. Barnes on both sides of the family served in the Civil war, and his father was a member of the Home Guard under General J. B. Weaver at Bloomfield and many nights paraded his beat after a hard day's work, watching Quantrell's Bush- whackers. His brother, John Wesley Barnes, was a drummer boy and H. W. Barnes has his cap and one of the epaulets which he wore on his shoulder. This uncle had his canteen shot off while in an engagement. Another uncle, James A. Brooks, was one of the early settlers of Nampa, Idaho, where he died three years ago. It was In 1884 that the parents of H. W. Barnes removed from Iowa to Nebraska and there the death of the father occurred after a residence of many years in that locality. In 1901 his widow became the wife of T. W. Miller and they removed to Kansas, where they resided for a year and then came to Idaho, settling at Boise, where Mrs. Miller passed away in 1907, while her husband died in 1917. They had been residents of Boise from 1902, and their son, Alta Miller, still makes his home in the capital city. A brother of H. W. Barnes is Cliff E. Barnes, who with his wife, formerly Lolo Frazier, now lives at Payette, where he follows farming. Another brother, J. F. Barnes, and his wife, formerly Lizzie Rand, of Nebraska, are living in Pomona, California, where he is engaged in the wholesale ice cream business, and they have three children. There are also two sisters of H. W. Barnes at Wahoo, Nebraska-Mrs. Viola Collier, who has three children, and Mrs. Mary E. Hamilton, who has seven children. All of the brothers and sisters are still living, the oldest being seventy years of age and the youngest fifty.

H. W. Barnes, spending his youthful days under the parental roof, acquired a public school education, which he supplemented by study in Pinkerton's Academy at De Soto, Iowa, from which institution he was graduated with the class of 1884. He then became connected with a manufacturing industry at Wahoo, Nebraska, and in 1890 turned over the business to his father, while he engaged in merchandising in Wahoo until 1907. His health failed and he then sold his mercantile interests and took up his abode upon a farm near Valparaiso, where he lived for two years. During that time, however, he developed a desire to go west and secure a homestead and on the 2d of December, 1909, arrived in Idaho, at which time he took up his abode upon the farm where he still resides. The first cabin which he built was eighteen by twenty- four feet and this he occupied until he could erect a fine residence. The old cabin home, however, is still standing, although he occupies one of the beautiful residences of this section of the state. He purchased a homestead relinquishment of eighty acres and now has one of the finest and most modern homes in Idaho. There are large windows on the eastern exposure, giving a splendid view. The interior is finished in Douglas fir and golden oak. The building is two stories in height and contains nine rooms, is supplied with hot and cold water, and the surroundings are most attractive, there being splendid trees upon the place, which is pleasantly and conveniently located two miles south and two miles east of Wilder and bears the very appropriate name of Fair Acres. Many kinds of beautiful shrubbery have been planted around the house and the home is thoroughly modern in its appointments and surroundings.

Almost immediately after coming to Idaho, Mr. Barnes became interested in the Boise-Payette project and was an important factor in promoting that plan. He was secretary of the Water Users Association for two years, after having served as a direc- tor for a year, which position he still filled while acting as secretary. All of the legal documents between the association and Washington were signed by him. The year before he was secretary of the association he was asked by the residents of the Grange district to draw up a petition to Secretary of the Interior Lane, asking that the gov- ernment permit the postponement of payments from the landholders until the project was finished and then charge the amount up to maintenance and construction. This would have put a check on the land speculator who would not improve his land, had the suggestion been put into effect.

On the 22d of August, 1888, Mr. Barnes was married to Miss Ethel M. Guttery, a native of Pulaski, Davis county, Iowa. Her father, Jesse Guttery, was a veteran of the Civil war and a farmer by occupation. During the war he served as regimental blacksmith and went with his command to Fort Kearney, Nebraska, to suppress the Indians. He was born in Warren county, Ohio, while his wife, who bore the maiden name of Mary George, was a native of Indiana, their marriage being celebrated at Frankfort, that state. They afterward removed to Ohio and in 1859 became residents of Iowa, while in 1894 they removed to Nebraska, where Mr. Guttery retired from

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active business, there passing away in 1902. His wife survived him for several years and died in Idaho in 1907. They were the parents of eight children: Mrs. H. W. Barnes; Mrs. Alice E. White, living in Caldwell; Mrs. Emmer Walte Smith, also of Caldwell; Mrs. Margaret Belle Klinefetler, residing at Payette; Dr. J. D. Guttery, living at Hood River, Oregon; J. A., who is an attorney at Yarrington, Nevada; Dr. Edward G. Guttery, whose home is in Burgin, Kentucky; and Dr. W. D. Guttery, who is located at Pilger, Nebraska. Mrs. Barnes is a graduate of the Lansing high school and for three years was a teacher in the country schools of Saunders county, Nebraska and for a year in the city schools of Wahoo, that state. She served as chairman of Auxiliary 17 of the Red Cross of Canyon county and registered the men from eighteen to forty years of age in the last draft before the armistice was signed. She has always taken an active interest in everything for the betterment and social uplift of the community. By her marriage she has become the mother of four children. Ray W., twenty-eight years of age, married Flora Vanderwelt, a native of Kansas, and they have one child, Elinor Josephine. Glenn G., nineteen years of age, is at home. Jesse Denham, aged ten, is also with his parents. One son has passed away.

In his political views Mr. Barnes has always been an earnest democrat and has served as a member of the central committee of Canyon county, acting during Gov- ernor Alexander's first administration. He was instrumental in changing his district from a republican stronghold and obtaining a majority for the democratic party in Governor Alexander's second campaign, and he also changed the Greenleaf precinct from a strong republican district to one giving a democratic majority. He was central committeeman of Greenleaf precinct at that time. He still takes a very active interest in politics although at present he holds no office. In matters of citizenship he has always stood for that which is progressive and beneficial, and his labors have been far-reaching and resultant. His life has been of worth along many lines and his in- terest in public affairs has worked for benefit in various ways.

CHARLES P. MACE.

Charles P. Mace is a well known farmer and stockman of Ada county who now occupies a fine home at Eagle, within two miles of his birthplace. Though he now enjoys the comforts and some of the luxuries of life, there have been trying experiences in his career when he met all of the hardships and privations incident to the settle- ment of the frontier. He is one of the older of the native sons of Idaho, for his birth, occurred on Eagle Island, March 5, 1876. His father, who was among the earliest of the pioneers of this state, is still living, but the mother died when her children were quite young and the father had to serve in the capacity of both parents to his little family.

Charles P. Mace was educated in the Union school, now the Linder school, near Eagle, attending to the age of sixteen years. He lived on the island and at that time there were no bridges, while in the winter months the roads were almost impassable, so that Mr. Mace had little opportunity to attend school save in the summer seasons, and as the vacation period covered most of the summer, his educational opportunities were accordingly quite limited. In the school of experience, however, he has learned many . valuable lessons, becoming a resourceful, capable and prosperous business man.

When twenty years of age Mr. Mace was united in marriage to Miss Mary Venable, a native of Oklahoma and a daughter of J. W. Venable, who came to Idaho and homesteaded one hundred and sixty acres three miles north of Meridian in 1887.

They engaged in farming, but there was no water for irrigation purposes at that time and they even had to carry their drinking water for nearly a mile. After a time Mr. Venable sold his original property and went to Bellingham, Washington, while later he moved to Burley, near Twin Falls, Idaho, where he secured eighty acres, which he afterward traded for the land upon which he now resides and on which he is successfully engaged in dairying. His wife, Mrs. Sarah (Roberts) Venable, is also living.

After his marriage Mr. Mace engaged in the butchering business at Meridian for about six months and then went to De Lamar, where he worked in the mines until the following year, when he rented land and purchased sixty head of calves, thus beginning his stock raising on Eagle Island. There he remained for eight years, during which time he had increased his herd to about three hundred head. He next purchased the Bar V ranch of eighty acres, on which he lived for about six years and during

CHARLES P. MACE

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that time had approximately seven hundred head of cattle. Later he purchased the old Bill Joplin ranch of one hundred and sixty acres and thus increased his landed possessions to two hundred and forty acres, but after two years passed he disposed of the Joplin ranch and all of his stock, which he sold at sixty dollars per head. He then made investment in five hundred head of stock at fifty and fifty-five dollars per head and also bought more land, including the old sugar beet ranch of two hundred and forty acres near Nampa and the Tom Aiken place of one hundred acres. Both of these places he still retains and cultivates. Mr. Mace has ridden the range since a youth of ten years and there is no phase of stock raising in pioneer times as well as in latter-day methods with which he is not familiar. He has also extended his efforts to other business lines and is now a member of the mercantile firm of Diehl & Mace, of Eagle, which was incorporated in 1913. He was likewise one of the incorporators of the First National Bank at Meridian in 1906 and later became one of its directors and afterward its president, serving as the chief executive officer until the bank was sold in 1918. He has a fine home at Eagle, where he and his family have resided for the past five years and which is within two miles of his birthplace. In fact he has lived in Ada county and within two miles of the place of his birth for forty-three years.

Mr. Mace can well remember when the Indians would visit Eagle Island and his mother would take him in her arms and run to hide in the brush, as the Indians were always very insulting when they found the women alone. They spent many anxious moments in those days when the Indians were hostile, life and property being at no time safe. 1

Mr. Mace and his wife have became the parents of two children: Arita, now the wife of James Morrison, a resident of Eagle and the mother of two children, Jimmie and Evelyn Louise, aged respectively four and two years; and Leonard C. Mace, who is a lad of nine years. When their first child was born, in the second year of their marriage, they did not have any money or provisions. Mr. Mace endeavored to obtain credit at Boise for groceries and was told that the merchants were opening no new accounts. He finally obtained credit to the amount of thirty dollars worth of groceries, which later was increased to two hundred and fifty dollars. By that time he sold his first crop of hay, the purchaser being T. C. Catlin, who paid four dollars per ton for one hundred and fifty tons. As soon as Mr. Mace received a check in payment he rode to Bolse and paid his bill. During this time he and his family were in dire need of money. Mrs. Mace also developed blood poisoning in her toe, which had to be amputated, but she could afford little time to give to nursing her pain, for she must cook for the hired men.

In the spring of 1906 Mr. Mace started to Bear Valley with eight hundred head of cattle and the supply of feed became exhausted in the low hills near Idaho City. They started on the 9th of May and on reaching the twelve mile house on the other side of Idaho City they camped for the night. The following morning twenty-five head of stock were dead and seventy-five head were down from eating wild parsnip and larkspur. The vegetation was just starting and the stock was so nearly starved that they would eat anything. They bled those that were down which they could find and saved most of them. The next night they were at Lowmans, on the Payette river, and on the following night camped at Clear Creek. There they found the snow so soft that they could not go over the summit of the mountain. The following morning, when the boy whose duty it was to bring in the saddle horses came in, he reported there were a lot of cattle dead and others down. The cowboys then gathered together those that could travel and took them across the mountain while the snow was frozen and later returned and gathered the few that were not dead. They arrived in Bear Valley on the 1st of June and found that the ground was covered with snow for over ten miles, and it was necessary to go to the lower end of the valley in order to get feed for their stock. They ranged their stock there for three months and then brought out the beef cattle, numbering two hundred head. When they reached the Payette river the stock crowded upon the bridge, which broke, and so the river had to be forded. In October, a month later, they started to gather the remainder of their cattle in Bear Valley, when seven inches of snow fell and they were forced to move out, although they were fifty head of cattle short. The men slept on snow every night until they reached the Boise Barracks and their bedding was frozen so badly that they had to heat it every night before they could unroll it. Mr. Mace told his cowboys that if they would stay with him until they got the cattle out of Bear Valley, he would promise that he would never ask them to take the stock in there again. The boys all remained with him and he traded his forest reserve allotment in Bear Valley for an

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History of Idaho, the gem of the mountains, Volume II, Part 97

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