History of Idaho, the gem of the mountains, Volume III, Part 106

Author: Hawley, James Henry, 1847-1929, ed
Publication date: 1920
Publisher: Chicago, The S. J. Clarke publishing company
Number of Pages: 926

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HENRY C. POWERS.

Henry C. Powers is a splendid example of the self-made man. Coming to Idaho with limited capital, he secured a homestead claim and is today the owner of two thousand acres of valuable land at Sublett, Cassia county. His attention is given to general farming and cattle raising and his business affairs have been so wisely, care- fully and creditably conducted that he is now numbered among the men of affluence of his district. The story of his life is the story of earnest endeavor crowned with success.

He was born in Lenawee county, Michigan, December 8, 1844, a son of Isaac and Alvira (Sherwood) Powers. He was but twelve years of age when his parents removed with their family from Michigan to Delaware county, Iowa, where the father conducted a farm. Later a removal was made to the town of Troy in Doniphan county, Kansas, and some time afterward the family home was established in Coving- ton, Nebraska. The next removal took them to Ponca, Nebraska, where the father passed away in 1913. He was a republican in his political views. Throughout his life he followed agricultural interests; owning farms in the localities in which he resided. His widow survives and is now living with her son Isaac at Norfolk, Nebraska.

Henry C. Powers left Troy, Kansas, in 1859, when a youth of fifteen years. He drove cattle from Atchison, Kansas, to Salt Lake City, Utah, and with five others organized a company, purchasing a four mule team outfit. When this was secured they drove across the country to Carson City, Nevada, where Mr. Powers remained, while the others went on to California. He then operated pack trains in Nevada, also engaged in prospecting and ranching, and in connection with a partner, John Little, he hauled the first lumber to Virginia City, Nevada. He remained a resident of that state for eleven years and while in Carson City was married. He then returned to the old home at Covington, Nebraska, where for three years he was engaged in the livery business. He next drove across the plains to Salt Lake in 1873, accompanied by his wife, and from Salt Lake he freighted out to various points for a period of two years. He next went to Corinne, Utah, and was engaged in freighting to Montana before a railroad was built. While thus engaged he passed through several Indian scares and went through all the hardships, privations and difficulties of frontier life, for he was identified with freighting to Montana for three years. The year 1878 witnessed his arrival in Idaho, at which time he took up his abode at Sublett, Cassia county, where he secured one hundred and sixty acres of his present property from the government. Upon this he built a log cabin and began life in Cassia county in true pioneer style. He has since built three houses upon his place and now has a fine frame dwelling, large, commodious and attractively furnished. He first concen- trated his efforts and attention upon sheep raising and later he took up the business of raising cattle, in which he is still engaged. As the years have passed he has added to his holdings until he now has two thousand acres of land and is engaged in general farming. He also has a general merchandise store upon his place and thus his business interests are of a broad and varied character, contributing to the upbuild- ing of the community as well as to the advancement of his individual fortune .. He has been a director of the First National Bank of Burley since its organization.

In 1868 Mr. Powers was married to Miss Isabel Gray, a daughter of John and Elizabeth (Wardrobe) Gray and a native of St. Louis, Missouri. Her parents came from Scotland in early life, crossing the Atlantic in one of the old-time sailing vessels. They took up their abode in St. Louis, Missouri, and later journeyed westward to Salt Lake, being among its earliest inhabitants. At a subsequent period they went to Nevada and it was there that Mr. and Mrs. Powers were married. The father died at the home of Mr. and Mrs. Powers and the mother passed away in Lewiston, Idaho.

HENRY C. POWERS

MRS. HENRY C. POWERS

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Mr. and Mrs. Powers have become the parents of ten children: Charles, living at Sublett; William, who died upon the ranch; Isaac, at home; Maud; Ida; Margaret; Isabel; Harrison; John; and Andrew, who has departed this life.

Mr. Powers has filled the office of county commissioner. He is a member of the Christian church and his life has been guided by high and honorable principles, making him a man of sterling worth among his fellowmen, enjoying in unqualified manner their confidence and well deserved respect.

MRS. WILLIAM P. DINSLEY.

Mrs. William P. Dinsley, of Boise, who is the secretary of the Idaho State Poultry & Pet Stock Association, was born in Covington, Kentucky, July 17, 1873, and in her maidenhood bore the name of Sallie Mary Goodwin, her parents being Mr. and Mrs. Jesse O. Goodwin. Her father served as a captain in the Union army during the Civil war, and hoth he and his wife are living, their home being now in Lincoln, Nebraska. They have reached the ages of seventy-eight and seventy-one years respectively. The father was formerly treasurer of Crete, Nebraska, and his life occupation has been that of a contractor and builder.

Mrs. Dinsley was reared and educated in Crete, to which place her parents removed in 1879. She was graduated from the high school there and on the 9th of March, 1898, she gave her hand in marriage in Lincoln, Nebraska, to William P. Dinsley, a registered pharmacist, who is well known in Boise, having for many years been manager of one of the Joy drug stores of this city.

Mr. and Mrs. Dinsley came to Boise about eighteen years ago and have since been residents of this city. For many years she has taken the keenest interest in fine poul- try and pet stock and is now serving for the second term as the secretary of the Idaho State Poultry & Pet Stock Association. Formerly Mr. and Mrs. Dinsley resided upon a ranch seven miles west of Boise, and while Mr. Dinsley devoted his attention to the drug business she conducted the ranch and gave her attention to the raising of pure bred white Wyandotte chickens. Her interest in poultry developed and has never ceased. although in 1918 they rented the ranch and took up their abode in the city. For a number of years she has been a member of the Idaho State Poultry & Pet Stock Association and for two years has served as its secretary.

Mr. and Mrs. Dinsley have one son, Clarence William, who was born August 7, 1899. He was graduated from the Boise high school with the class of 1917 and in April of that year, when only seventeen years of age, volunteered for service in the World war. He joined the Fifth Engineers in the United States regular army and spent eight months in France, being in the front line trenches during a portion of that period and therefore under heavy fire, yet never sustained an injury. He returned home in April, 1919, as a passenger on the George Washington on the trip which brought President Wilson back to this country.

MARCELLUS J. GRAY.

Marcellus J. Gray, president of the St. Anthony Bank & Trust Company, is a force- ful and resourceful business man, possessing keen sagacity and undaunted enterprise, and by reason of his sterling qualities he has worked his way steadily upward. He was horn in Readfield, Maine, May 4, 1848, and his parents, Cyrus H. and Hannah A. (Avery) Gray, were also natives of the Pine Tree state, where the father engaged in the manufacture of paper. At the time of the Civil war, however, he made readly response to the country's call for troops, enlisting in the Sixth Massachusetts Infantry in 1861. He served throughout the period of hostilities between the north and the south and sustained a wound in the shoulder which ultimately caused his death about 1869. His widow long survived him, passing away in 1916.

Marcellus J. Gray was reared and educated in Massachusetts, to which state his parents removed when he was quite young. He attended the public schools of that state and also the Pepperell (Mass.) Academy. When his education was completed he sought employment in Boston, securing a position in a wholesale house, and in 1871 he went to Milford, New Hampshire, where he engaged in the dry goods business as

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a member of the firm of Gray & Howard. He was also in that business at Manchester, New Hampshire, and spent eight years altogether in connection with business interests in the east. In 1880 he made his way to Colorado, where he engaged in general mer- chandising at Crested Butte, a mining town, until 1889. He then sold his interests there and removed to Salt Lake City, where he engaged in the real estate business for four years. About the same time he made investments in Idaho and assisted in building the St. Anthony canal, his time being divided between Idaho and Utah in the conduct of his business affairs. In 1895 he took up his permanent abode at St. Anthony and in partnership with Messrs. Moon and Ross took over the townsite and was in- strumental in securing the location of the county seat at St. Anthony in 1893. He obtained a claim adjoining the town and there engaged in ranching and cattle raising, continuing the cultivation of his land and the developmet of his herds until 1915, when he closed out the business.

In the meantime, or in 1912, Mr. Gray and others purchased a controlling interest in the St. Anthony Bank & Trust Company and in 1913 Mr. Gray and L. H. Neal secured the controlling interest in the bank, of which Mr. Gray has served as president since 1912. He has carefully shaped its policy, has most wisely protected the interests of depositors and has promoted its growth along lines that have won for it public con- fidence and therefore public support. He is also a stockholder in the First State Bank of Drummond, Idaho.

In April, 1899, Mr. Gray was married to Miss Jennie Hopkins, and having no chil- dren of their own, they have reared an adopted son, William M. Gray, who is now a bank examiner, located at Los Angeles, California.

In his political views Mr. Gray is a republican and has been an active worker in party ranks, serving at the present time as chairman of the republican county central committee of Fremont county. He filled the position of postmaster of St. Anthony for eleven years under Presidents Mckinley and Roosevelt and advanced the office to one of the third class. While living at Crested Butte, Colorado, he served for four years as mayor of the town and was also elected to fill a vacancy in the state senate there. He has been a member of the Masonic fraternity for forty-five years, is a Knight Templar and member of the Mystic Shrine. He also has membership in the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and in the Presbyterian church, and in these asso- ciations are found the rules which govern his conduct and shape his relations with his fellowmen, making him a man whom to know is to esteem aud honor.

NELS NELSON.

Nels Nelson resides on a ranch of one hundred and fifty-seven acres on the south slope of the Payette valley five and a half miles southwest of Emmett. He was born in Sweden, January 16, 1842, and came to the United States early in 1865 for the purpose of joining the Union army, for his interest in the cause of the country led him to desire to aid in the preservation of the Union. Soon after he landed, however, the war was brought to a successful termination. He decided to remain in the new world and spent three years in Knox county, Illinois, after which he resided for a short time in Iowa and subsequently spent seven years in eastern Nebraska, where lie engaged in work as a farm hand and in farming on his own account.

Mr. Nelson was married in Nebraska to Miss Rebecca Furlow, who was born and reared in Illinois. From Nebraska he removed to northwestern Kansas, where he entered a claim of one hundred and sixty acres. Not a furrow had been turned nor an improvement made upon the place when it came into his possession. He proved up on the property, secured title to the homestead and resided upon the place for twenty-two years, converting it into rich and productive fields. He spent several years in a sod house and afterward was able to build a better home. He prospered in Kan- sas, meeting with good success in handling live stock, especially cattle, and he bought other land with the profits thus accrued until finally he owned six hundred acres of good farming land in Kansas which he developed and improved. At length he dis- posed of his six hundred acre farm for twenty-five thousand dollars and removed to Colo- rado, where he made investment in one hundred and sixty acres of land near Grand Junction, which he purchased for twenty dollars per acre. Three years later he sold this property for fifty dollars per acre and eighteen years ago he came to Idaho and has since lived on two ranches in the Payette valley, occupying his present place for

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the past eleven years. He paid twenty-five hundred dollars for this property and recently sold it for about twelve thousand dollars, receiving nine thousand dollars in cash and a one hundred and sixty acre dry farm in Adams county, Idaho. Again he has prospered in this state as in the other localities in which he has lived. Each change in his place of residence has been occasioned by the desire and opportunity of doing better in a business way. Since coming to Idaho he has bought and sold sev- eral ranches in the Payette valley upon which he never resided and has made money on each investment. He is one of the farsighted business men of the community, honest as the day is long and enjoying an unassailable reputation tor integrity and enterprise. He is popular, being well liked by everybody, and his friends are iegion.

On the 1st of October, 1915, Mrs. Nelson passed away, leaving her husband with three children: Henry Olof, now a resident of Arizona; Mrs. Elsie Irving, who is living in Portland, Oregon; and Mrs. Maud Beaver, of Los Angeles, California. There are now two grandsons, Lee and Dudley Nelson, who are the sons of Henry O. Nelson, of Arizona.

Mr. Nelson of this review is a republican in his political views, having supported the party since becoming a naturalized American citizen. He belongs to the Swedish Lutheran church and his has been an upright life. He is now seventy-eight years of age but is still active and vigorous, possessing a sunshiny disposition and a cheery manner that one associates largely with youth. He has already dealt generously with his children in the way of giving them a start in life and yet has plenty left for his own support, so that he is now able to enjoy all of the comforts and some of the luxuries of life. His success is the direct outcome of his perseverance and diligence, his intelligently directed labor bringing him substantial reward.

IDA M. WOOSLEY.

Ida M. Woosley is one of the pioneer teachers of Idaho and makes her home on the Boise bench, south of the capital city, where she owns a valuable tract of land of five acres. She came to this state in September, 1887, from Iowa and in four different states of the Union she has followed the profession which she took up in Iowa in young womanhood.

Miss Woosley was born in Madison county, Iowa, July 21, 1864, a daughter of Burrell T. and Missouri (Butler) Woosley, who were natives of Kentucky and Ohio respectively, and both were of Irish lineage. Her father was born in Hopkinsville, Kentucky, in the early '30's, while the birth of his wife occurred at Gallipolis, Ohio, a year later. The father served in the Civil war, enlisting in an lowa regiment. He had married Miss Butler at Galesburg, Illinois, when he was twenty-two years of age and his bride a maiden of twenty-one. They had eight children, six sons and two daughters, of whom Ida M. was the fifth in order of birth. Four of the family are still living, namely: Mrs. Sarah E. Wright and John B. Woosley, both of Des Moines, Iowa; Tom B., living in Los Angeles, California; and Ida M., of this review. The father died August 6, 1902, at the age of seventy years, his birth having occurred in 1832, while his wife, who was born in 1833, passed away January 3, 1906. Although a native of Kentucky, he was a faithful defender of the Union cause during the Civil war, but he had a brother, Dr. John Woosley, who was a surgeon in the Confederate army.

Ida M. Woosley pursued her education in the public schools of Iowa, in the normal school at Dexter, Iowa, and in the Des Moines Business College, from which she was graduated after completing a course in shorthand and typewriting. When but seven- teen years of age she took up the profession of teaching and through the intervening period has taught in the states of Iowa, Idaho, Oregon and Oklahoma. Through much of the time, however, covering thirty-two years, she has been identified with the schools of the Payette valley of Idaho. That she has served in one district for so long a period is incontrovertible proof of her capability and her devotion to the work. She holds to · high ideals in the methods of instruction and her teaching has been a stimulating in- fluence in the lives of many who are now successful men and women.

Since coming to Idaho, Miss Woosley has made nineteen trips back to Iowa to visit her relatives, thus covering the ground between Iowa and Idaho on nineteen different occasions. At the present time she is teaching in the French school in Payette county, seventeen miles from Payette, where she is serving for the third term. Through study

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and reading she keeps in touch with modern methods of instruction and is constantly seeking out new ways to encourage and promote the intellectual development of those under her charge.

WALTER M. JOHNS.

Walter M. Johns is prominently connected with hoth commercial interests and church activities in Cassia county, where he is serving as bishop of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He is also the manager of the Almo Mercantile Company and a such is recognized as a representative and progressive business man. He was born at North Ogden, Weber county, Utah, April 1, 1875, and is a son of Jonathan and Elizabeth Ann (Bishop) Johns. His boyhood days were spent at Pleasant View, Utah, where he acquired his early education in the common schools, passing through con- secutive grades until he became a high school pupil at Logan. He later attended the University of Utah at Salt Lake City and thus liberal educational opportunities well qualified him for life's practical duties and responsibilite

In 1894 Mr. Johns came to Idaho, settling at Sugar, where he purchased a ranch property of two hundred and thirty-three acres. He also made investment in a tract of six hundred and forty acres and still another ranch of two hundred and forty acres. He bent his efforts and energies to the development and cultivation of his land for a period of twelve years save that for two years of this time he was engaged in mission work for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in California, laboring at Oakland, San Francisco and Los Angeles. He likewise hecame interested in mer- chandising in Idaho during the period when he was developing his ranch properties. Later he went to Salt Lake City and there did special work in the University of Utah. In 1912 he returned to Idaho and purchased a ranch of sixteen hundred acres, in addi- tion to which he homesteaded three hundred and twenty acres in Cassia county. His keen business sagacity and enterprise prompted him- at once to improve his land and in one year he cleared one thousand acres of the sagebrush. At the same time he divided his attention between his personal business affairs and the work of the church and was made hishop of his ward in Idaho. He was appointed a member of the stake high council and removed to Almo following his appointment as hishop of the ward in July, 1917. On the 1st of August of the same year he joined Messrs. Horn and Bate- man in the purchase of the store of the Almo Mercantile Company, which they have since successfully conducted, enjoying a liberal patronage. Mr. Johns also owns a - ranch of two hundred and eighty acres, on which he is running sheep, and thereby he adds materially to his income. In addition to his other service in the church he is acting as stake chorister.

In 1897 Mr. Johns was married to Miss Florence Wade, a native of North Ogden, Utah, and a daughter of Edward and Julia (Ellis) Wade. Her father was a prominent man and one of the hishops of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He was also a commissioner and prominent contractor and he built the county courthouse at Ogden and also a large number of business blocks. Mr. and Mrs. Johns have become parents of six children: Louise, Estella, Elmore W., Maud, Lagrand and Walter Wade.

In politics Mr. Johns is a republican, but the honors and emoluments of office have little attraction for him, as he has always preferred to concentrate his efforts and attention upon his business affairs and his duties in connection with the churchi.

SAMUEL J. BOLLER.

Samuel J. Boller, a pioneer of the Boise valley, where he has been engaged in successful farming for several years, came to Idaho in 1889 from Colorado, and, after spending one year at Malad, he moved to the Boise valley to aid in the construction of the New York canal, on which he was one of the pioneer workers. Before coming to ldaho he had engaged in Utah and Colorado. in ditch construction.

Mr. Boller was born in Chicago, Illinois, but was reared chiefly in Iowa. For the greater part of his life he has been engaged in ranching with the exception of the years spent in public work, chiefly in the construction of irrigation projects and rail- roads. He was a suhcontractor on ditch and railroad work for several years, and while

SAMUEL J. BOLLER

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in this line he did very well. In 1891, Mr. Boller gave up that work with the object of becoming the owner of a tract of the choice land in the Boise valley, then rapidly being taken up by settlers, especially the irrigated lands. But he had to follow other pursuits for a time and worked in and about Boise at lumbering and wood work and at heavy truck labor. Finally, in 1896, he filed on a ranch containing one hundred and sixty acres, eight miles southwest of Boise, near Lake Hazel school. He settled on the holding, proved up on it, and here he "bached" for many years, as he has never been married. Later he took a man and his wife as tenants and lived with these people while improving and developing his farm, until in 1919, when he sold the ranch for twenty-seven thousand dollars.

Following the sale of that property, Mr. Boller immediately bought a forty-acre tract adjoining it, where he now resides most of the time, but being a single man he is not tied down and spends much of his leisure in Boise, where he has many good friends. He is an Odd Fellow and a member of the Eagles, while his political leanings are with the democratic party, to which he gives his active support, but he has never been a candidate for office.

Mr. Boller is also the owner of a thirty-two acre ranch, five miles southwest of Boise, near the Maple Grove school, which stands on ground formerly a part of the ranch. There are good buildings on this thirty-two acre farm and its location is one of the best in Ada county, being situated in a fine neighborhood, where land sells at from three hundred to four hundred dollars an acre, and because of its size, Mr. Boller's place is considered by competent judges to be worth more than the latter figure. He lived on this ranch for several years and made all the improvements that are on it today. He also owns much good rental property in Boise.

Mr. Boller is a plain, honest and clever bachelor and a good neighbor, whose friends are equal to the number of his acquaintances. He is hospitable in his home, and is a man, who, if he had but one ration, would share it with a friend or even a stranger who might happen along, suffering from hunger. Such men make good citizens and good neighbors, and it is to be regretted that men like Mr. Boller are not more numerous.

JOHN F. KESSLER.

Among the many men who are contributing to the agricultural development of this state and greatly enhancing its productivity is John F. Kessler, now a rancher of Gem county. living twelve miles west of Emmett. He has two hundred acres of excellent ranch property, of which one hundred and twenty acres is in Gem county and eighty acres in Payette. It is fine black prairie soil, very rich and deep, and its value has been greatly enhanced by the excellent drainage system that has been established by the dredging of a deep canal right through the Kessler ranch, thus converting the place into ideal farm land. The enterprise and progressiveness of the owner are further in- dicated in the excellent appearance of the place, which is now being highly cultivated.

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History of Idaho, the gem of the mountains, Volume III, Part 106

Author: Hawley, James Henry, 1847-1929, ed Publication date: 1920 Publisher: Chicago, The S. J. Clarke publishing company Number of Pages: 926

Author: Hawley, James Henry, 1847-1929, ed
Publication date: 1920
Publisher: Chicago, The S. J. Clarke publishing company
Number of Pages: 926