USA > Idaho > History of Idaho, the gem of the mountains, Volume III > Part 105
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In July, 1910, Mr. Berryman was united in marriage to Miss Hattie E. Williams and they have become parents of a son, Walter R., whose birth occurred in April, 1912. Politically Mr. Berryman is a republican and for one term was president of the city council of Blackfoot. He has also served as school treasurer for ten years and has been deputy city treasurer for eight years. He is deeply interested in all that pertains to public progress and improvement and his faithfulness and capability in office have been substantial factors in public welfare. He is a member of the Masonic fraternity and of the Knights of Pythias and is also connected with the Rotary Club. His record stands in contradistinction to the old adage that a prophet is never without honor save in his own country, for in the city where he was born and in which he has spent his entire life W. Frank Berryman has won an enviable name and place in both business and public circles.
BARR NEFF SMITH.
Barr Neff Smith is a progressive young business man who inherited valuable realty interests from his. father and who is displaying sound judgment and unfaltering en- terprise in the further management and development of the property. He was born on what was the old Smith homestead, just northwest of Boise, March 25, 1893, and is a son of Franklin Brenaman Smith, who is mentioned on another page of this work in connection with the sketch of his elder son and his namesake. The father was one of the well known and valued pioneer settlers of this section of Idaho and contributed not a little to the early development and progress. Farsighted and enterprising, he
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secured extensive ranch holdings, including several hundred acres of land which now constitute the Smith estate and which have become very valuable owing to the rapid growth and settlement of Boise and the surrounding country. The ranch lies to the northwest of Boise and in fact a portion of it is within the corporation limits, while the city is rapidly growing in that direction and thus the property is annually being greatly enhanced in value.
Barr Neff Smith was educated in the schools of Salt Lake City and in the Latter- day Saints high school, which he attended for four years. He put aside his textbooks at the age of twenty-one years and went to Europe as a missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He spent six months in Holland in 1914, being there at the time of the opening of hostilities in the World war and for two months after the war had begun. He then made his way to England and as soon as possible returned to the United States, making the return voyage on the Mauretania. While crossing the Atlantic he became ill of pneumonia and upon his arrival in New York city was taken to a hospital, where he was forced to remain for two months. Without returning home he then went to West Virginia, where he continued his missionary labors, also representing the church in Kentucky until July, 1917, when he returned home. By this time the United States had entered the World war and there was great need for all that the farms could produce, so that Mr. Smith bent his energies to the cultivation of the land. He was put in Class 4 of the draft owing to the fact that he was a producer.
On the 12th of April, 1917, Mr. Smith was married to Miss Elsie Gerrard, who was born at Taylorsville, Utah, July 7, 1894. She, too, had served as a missionary of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in the Mississippi valley. They now have one son, Gerrard Neff Smith, who was born July 1, 1918.
Mr. Smith belongs to the Boise Chamber of Commerce. He is a well known young business man of the city, a worthy representative of an honored father who was closely connected with the early development and ranching interests of Ada county. At dif- ferent times Mr. Smith and his brother have been connected with other lines of busi- ness as opportunity afforded and inclination led, but their extensive ranch and realty interests are sufficient to make them both independent for life and furnish them all the business activity they care to assume. Boise is rapidly growing in the direction of their ranch holdings, thus greatly increasing the value of the property, a part of which has already been utilized as a site for town homes. In fact the residences of the two brothers as well as many other dwellings in Boise stand upon Icts which were once included within the boundaries of the ranch.
ALONZO L. NEEDLES.
Alonzo L. Needles is the proprietor of Shadow Lawn, a ranch pleasantly and con- veniently situated two miles south of Emmett and devoted to the raising of grain and live stock. Mr. Needles came to Idaho in 1899 from the state of Kansas and through the intervening years he has won the prosperity that makes him one of the substan- tial agriculturists of Idaho today. The beautiful shade trees upon the place give to it the name of Shadow Lawn.
Mr. Needles was born in Kansas, September 16, 1871; and is a son of Ervin Minor and Mary Elizabeth (Byerly) Needles. The father, who was a veteran of the Union army, has now passed away, but the mother survives and is yet living in Kansas.
Alonzo L. Needles was reared upon a farm in the Sunflower state with the usual experiences of the farm-bred boy who divides his time between the duties of the school- room, the pleasures of the playground and the work of the fields. Having arrived at years of maturity, he was married at Independence, Kansas, on the 1st of December, 1897, to Miss Katie Bradford, whose birth occurred in Rochester, New York, January 20, 1878, and who is a daughter of Henry and Mary Ann (Fitzmaurice) Bradford, who are still living, making their home near Independence. Mr. and Mrs. Needles have become the parents of eleven children, of whom ten are living. Mary Etta, who was born August 22, 1898, became the wife of Frank Hudson on the 29th of August, 1917, and died of influenza on the 5th of February, 1919, leaving a baby daughter named Billie Louise. The other children of the family are: Freda Pearl, who was born August 27, 1899; Herbert Eugene, whose birth occurred February 6, 1901; Treva Muriel, whose natal day was July 11, 1902; Beulah Valeda, born January 11, 1904; Henry Lee, born Vol. III-54
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April 9, 1905; Alonzo Glenn, born August 23, 1908; Coit Ernest, born November 3, 1911; Blanche Loraine, born September 19, 1913; Clinton Ardell. born January 5, 1916; and Wanda Roxena, who was born on the 30th of September, 1918.
Upon his removal from Kansas to Idaho in 1899, Mr. Needles located on a forty- acre ranch six miles northwest of Meridian, in Ada county. He purchased the prop- erty for five hundred dollars, or twelve and a half dollars per acre, but small as the purchase price was, he could pay only fifty dollars down upon the property, as that was the sum total of his capital at the time. He at once began the arduous task of developing and improving the place, built fences and did everything he could to trans- form the tract into a productive farm. He lived thereon for twelve years and then sold the place for five thousand eight hundred dollars. He next purchased a half sec- tion of land in Long Valley, in Boise county, erected a house upon that tract, but two years satisfied him that the seasons there were too short. In 1914 he exchanged that property for his present ranch southeast of Emmett, trading three hundred and twenty acres in Long Valley for a forty-acre tract near Emmett, but the superior value of the forty more than balanced the extra acreage of the former place. Mr. Needles afterward bought twenty acres adjoining the forty-acre tract and thus had a valuable ranch of sixty acres, unsurpassed in all the Emmett section of the state, where there are many fine small ranches valued at from one hundred and fifty to three hundred dollars per acre, while many still smaller tracts with excellent improvements are bringing nearly a thousand dollars per acre. After a time Mr. Needles sold his twenty-acre tract at a profit of nearly a thousand dollars, retaining possession of the original forty acres. For this he has refused three hundred dollars per acre. In 1918 he built upon it a modern eight-room bungalow, fully equipped with electric lights and other conveniences. He has also built an extension to the barn and he has made the Shadow Lawn ranch one of the beautiful and attractive properties of this section of the state, constituting one of the most pleasing features of the landscape. In 1918 Mr. Needles took a home- stead of three hundred and twenty-six acres in Elmore county, Idaho, upon which he is now proving up. This requires him to spend seven months of each year upon the property and carry on the work of development and improvement. The rest of the time he spends at Shadow Lawn.
Mr. Needles is a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and also is a republican in his political views. He has had neither time nor inclination for office, however, but has concentrated his efforts and energies upon carefully conducted busi- ness affairs, which have brought substantial results.
O. S. TYLER.
The beautiful home of O. S. Tyler occupies a commanding building site that gives him a splendid view of the surrounding country. He concentrates his efforts and at- tention upon the tilling of the soil and success in substantial measure is attending his labors. Since 1890 he has resided in Idaho and previous to that time made his home for a number of years in Colorado but is a native of Illinois, his birth having there occurred December 5, 1860. He is a son of Joseph B. and Mary (Sherman) Tyler, the former a native of New York and of Scotch-Irish descent, while the latter was born in South Carolina. They were married in Indiana and in the early '30s went to Illinois, where the father followed farming. The mother passed away in that state in 1881 and in 1884 Joseph B. Tyler removed to Colorado, his son, O. S. Tyler, having previously gone to Leadville, that state, in 1879. The father continued a resident of Colorado until his death, passing away at Aspen in -1889.
O. S. Tyler was nineteen years of age when he made his way to the west. He followed mining at Leadville, Colorado, until 1890, when he came to the Payette val- ley of Idaho and homesteaded one hundred and sixty acres of land two and a half miles east of New Plymouth. After improving that place he sold it and purchased other property. At one time he owned two hundred and forty acres at Gess station, on the Emmett Railroad, between New Plymouth and Emmett. This property he also sold and then spent three years in the employ of Clinton Hyatt, of Boise, who was engaged in land development work. Mr. Tyler then returned to Payette county and purchased his present place of twenty acres, which he now cultivates, and in addition he has the care of twenty acres owned by his brother, I. T. Tyler. He raises
O. S. TYLER
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alfalfa and carries on dairying upon his home place and has his brother's place in wheat save for a traet of ten acres which has been planted to orchards.
Mr. Tyler was united in marriage to Mrs. Jennie (Maryatt) Langley, who was the widow of William Langley of Weiser and is a native of Pennsylvania. By her first marriage she had two children: Lillian B., who is a teacher and lives at home; and Beatrice, the wife of Willard Detrick, by whom she has six children. Through thirty years' residence in Idaho, O. S. Tyler has become widely known in Payette county and the many sterling traits of his character have firmly established him in public regard. Throughout the period of his residence in the northwest he has used his opportunities wisely and well and as the reward of his earnest labors has gained a substantial competence through his farming operations.
SAMUEL P. MARTIN.
Samuel P. Martin, a pioneer rancher who came to Idaho in 1880 from Cherokee county, Kansas, was born in Delaware, July 14, 1856, and is a son of John and Cath- erine (Erb) Martin, who were natives of Pennsylvania and Canada respectively. When he was but eighteen months old his parents removed to Caldwell county, Missouri, and when he was a lad of eleven years the family home was established in Arkansas. At a still later period a removal was made to Cherokee county, Kansas, where Samuel P. Martin remained for six years, and then at the age of twenty-three came to Idaho, arriving in this state in 1880. He went through many of the hardships and experiences of pioneer life, which also brought with it its pleasures and its opportunities. He engaged in ranching in the Wood river country for more than a third of a century, or from 1880 until 1916, when he disposed of his ranch property. In the meantime he had developed a tract of one hundred and sixty acres, bringing his land to a high state of cultivation, so that he annually gathered excellent harvests.
On the 26th of November, 1882, Mr. Martin was married to Miss Cynthia Freeman, who came from Kansas in the same wagon train in which her husband traveled, the latter driving the mule team across the plains that belonged to Mrs. Martin's grand- father. Mrs. Martin was born in Kansas, February 23, 1866, of the marriage of John and Eliza Freeman. She was fourteen years of age when she came with her parents across the country to Idaho in 1880, traveling with a train of twelve wagons. To Mr. and Mrs. Martin were born nine children, a son and eight daughters, all of whom are married with the exception of the youngest daughter. These are: Jolin L., Mrs. Katie R. Conley, Mrs. Alice Lavertey, Mrs. Christine Sowers, Mrs. Laura Hunter, Mrs. Nora Dixon, Mrs. Row Dixon, Mrs. Ethel Biggs and Ada, who is a young lady of sixteen years and resides at home.
At the present time Mr. Martin is residing with his son John on a ranch in Crane's Gulch, near Boise, but is planning to purchase a ranch in the Boise valley. After dis- posing of his Wood river property he purchased a ranch in Canyon county for seven thousand dollars, but soon afterward disposed of it for nine thousand dollars.
His son, John L. Martin, was married July 3, 1908, to Miss Effie Hunter and they have become the parents of four daughters: Eva, born February 27. 1910; Alice, March 22, 1912; Geneva, April 18, 1914; and Ora, November 10, 1916. Mr. and Mrs. Martin now have twenty-seven grandchildren. With every phase of pioneer life Mr. and Mrs. Martin are familiar, having witnessed much of the development of the state, and their stories of pioneer life in the Wood river country are most interesting.
ROBERT H. PARISH.
Robert H. Parish was one of the earliest settlers of Elba, where he is engaged in ranching, and with the history of Cassia county he has been identified from pioneer times. He was born in Huntingdonshire, England, December 17, 1852, and is a son of John and Sarah (Knight) Parish. He left his native country in 1863 when a lad of ten years in company with his mother, his father having previously passed away in England. They took passage on a sailing vessel bound for New York and were six weeks and two days on the water before dropping anchor in the American port. They then proceeded westward to St. Louis, Missouri, and afterward went- up the Missouri
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river to Omaha, Nebraska, from which point they journeyed across the country with ox teams to Salt Lake City. While en route they saw many Indians and the trip was a slow, tedious and ofttimes difficult and dangerous one. Mrs. Parish and her little son located with friends at Willard, Utah, and there Robert H. Parish and his two brothers, F. W. and William, worked for various farmers. Their education was that accorded by the public schools of the locality and he was reared to manhood in that district.
Having arrived at years of maturity, Mr. Parish was married at Willard, Utah, and in 1874 removed to Elba, Idaho, taking up a ranch on Connor creek. There he built one of the primitive pioneer homes, a log cabin with dirt roof and floor. With resolute spirit he set to work to develop and improve his ranch. In the spring of 1878 he sold that property and took up his present ranch of eighty acres, planting thereon a crop of alfalfa which was the first sown in Cassia county. This was his initial task in the development of his place. As the years have passed he has erected new buildings and has a highly improved ranch. His land has been carefully and systematically cultivated, his fields being brought under a high state of development. He also owns auother eighty acre tract south of his home place. There were no settlers scarcely in Elba or the surrounding district at the time of his arrival. Indians were numerous and the family passed through various Indian scares when it seemed that the Red men would attempt the annihilation of all of the white settlers. However, a courageous front and resolute spirit enabled the settlers to maintain their places and in time the red peril had passed.
In 1873 Mr. Parish was married to Miss Martha E. Hardy, a daughter of Samuel and Sarah (Finley) Hardy and a native of Bountiful, Utah. Both of her parents have passed away, her father departing this life in Utah. Mr. and Mrs. Parish have four children: Robert H., Flossie Ellen, Frederick W. and Asel B. The religious faith of the family is that of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and in politics Mr. Parish is a democrat.
J. C. PALMER.
A list of representative business men of Dubois, Clark county, would be incomplete were there failure to make prominent reference to J. C. Palmer, who is a well known real estate dealer and also the vice president of the Clark County Title & Abstract Com- pany. Having studied business situations in the west and formulated well defined plans for the attainment of success, he is now pushing forward along a line of effort that is productive of substantial results. Mr. Palmer is a native of the state of Washington, his birth having occurred in Whitman county, about twelve miles from the Idaho line, on the 16th of April, 1880. He is a son of Frank and Mary (Ruark) Palmer, who were natives of Oregon. The father removed to Washington when but five years of age in company with his parents. He was there reared and educated and took up the business of cattle raising, which he followed throughout his entire life. He passed away Sep- tember 23, 1904, and is still survived by his widow, who yet makes her home in Wash- ington.
J. C. Palmer began his education in the district schools near his father's home and afterward continued his studies in the schools of St. John and of Colfax, Washing- ton. Through vacation periods he worked upon the home farm and after his textbooks were put aside he remained with his parents until he attained his majority. He rode the range in the employ of others and was engaged in the cattle business during the early period of his independent business career. He has ridden the range in nearly every state of the west and thus has become thoroughly familiar with this great and growing section of the country. In 1903 he went upon the old homestead, which he cultivated for two years and then removed to Spokane, Washington, where he con- ducted a sales stable for an equal period. He was next foreman on a big cattle ranch in the sweet grass hills of Montana for two years and later he returned to his native state and again purchased the sales stable at Spokane of which he had formerly been owner. He conducted the business for three years at this second period, after which he once more took up his abode on the old homestead ranch and continued its further development and improvement until 1914. That year witnessed his arrival at Dubois, Clark county, Idaho, then a part of Fremont county, at which time he filed on land twenty miles southwest of the town. A man of resolute spirit, recognizing and improv- ing his opportunities, he at once began to cultivate his land and continued in that work
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for three years. He is still the owner of the property but is now concentrating his attention largely upon other business activities. He is extensively engaged in the real estate business and in March, 1919, he joined William L. Hankins and E. M. Whitzel in organizing the Clark County Title & Abstract Company, of which he has since been the vice-president. Already this company has gained a large clientage and is doing work along that line of a most accurate and satisfactory character.
On the 6th of July, 1903, Mr. Palmer was married to Miss Grace Krieger and they have become parents of four children: Eugene, Deo, Omar and Loyal. The political endorsement of Mr. Palmer is given to the republican party, but the honors and emol- uments of office have had no attraction for him. He has always preferred to concen- trate his efforts and attention upon his business interests and his labors have proven an element in the development of various districts in which he has lived. There is no phase of the upbuilding of the west with which he is not familiar and the experiences of pioneer life have been his in ample measure. In 1901 and 1902 he drove stage from Grangeville, Idaho, to Lewiston, Idaho, a distance of seventy-five miles. He represents one of the old families of the state. His uncle, Cyrus Jacobs, came to Idaho in 1862, settling in Boise before even the territory of Idaho was organized. There he became one of the promoters of a distillery and he also engaged in merchandising in the capital city for a number of years. Thus from the earliest days the Palmer family has been connected with Idaho's history and J. C. Palmer is now playing an important part in the work of further progress in Clark county.
JOHN MORTENSON.
Every state in the Union and almost every country on the face of the globe has contributed to the citizenship of Idaho. Among those who have come from Sweden is John Mortenson, who is engaged in ranching at Sublett, Cassia county. He was born near Malmo, Sweden, October 4, 1862, and is a son of Andrew and Caroline Mortenson. He was but five years of age, however, when his parents left that country and embarked on a sailing vessel that was nine weeks in crossing the Atlantic to the new world. The voyage proceeded without special event until half of their journey had been completed, when adverse winds blew the vessel back out of its course. At length, however, they succeeded in reaching the harbor of New York and from the eastern metropolis the Mortenson family traveled to Fort Benton, Nebraska. They there secured teams with which to continue the journey to Salt Lake, Utah, for they had become converts to the faith of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and were seeking to cast in their lot with the people of their belief. Later they went to Morgan county, Utah, where the father commenced work on the Union Pacific Railroad in the fall of 1869. He remained there for a number of years but eventually retired to Salt Lake City, where he passed away. The mother, however, survives and still makes her home in that city, having now reached the age of seventy-nine years. In his political views Mr. Mortenson was a republican.
John Mortenson was reared under the parental roof and after attaining his majority purchased a ranch on East Canyon creek, where he engaged in running cattle, sheep and horses. In 1881 he drove sheep to the Raft river valley, where he wintered his stock and then returned to the ranch. In 1896 he came back with his own sheep. Two years later he purchased his present ranch and he has since added two more ranch properties, so that he now has twenty-one acres of fine land splendidly irrigated. In fact his is one of the highly developed and splendidly improved ranch properties of this section of the state. He has thirty miles of wire fence, his buildings are thoroughly modern and commodious, and everything about the ranch is indicative of his practical and progressive spirit. He owns three hundred and seventeen acres in Morgan county, Utah, together with a residence in Salt Lake City and two buildings in Burley, Idaho. He started out in the business world on his own account when nineteen years of age, possessing nothing save the clothes he wore. Today he is one of the wealthy residents of Cassia county, extensively engaged in the raising of pure bred Hereford cattle. He was one of the pioneer breeders of this section of the state and his business interests have heen attended with a notable measure of success.
In November, 1886, Mr. Mortenson was married to Miss Alice Critchley, a native of Centerville, Utah, and a daughter of William and Alice (Rigby) Critchley, who
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were farming people of that district. Mr. and Mrs. Mortenson have seven children: Laura, Lawrence, Pearl, Luella, Margaret, Rhoda and Laurel.
In politics Mr. Mortenson is a republican but has never sought nor desired office as a reward for party fealty. He belongs to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and has been a faithful follower of its purposes and its teachings. His is a notable record of earnest effort intelligently directed, and his example should serve to inspire and encourage others, showing what can be accomplished by energy and industry on the part of the individual.
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