USA > Idaho > History of Idaho, the gem of the mountains, Volume III > Part 30
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In 1881 Mr. McGuire came to Idaho, making his way to Boise, where he entered the employ of M. H. Goodwin, a lumber merchant. In the spring of 1882 he joined Monte Gwinn in the purchase of a sawmill on Daggett creek and this they operated for four years, after which they sold out and Mr. McGuire came to his present location, which is ten miles west of Caldwell, on the south side of the Boise river. Here he pre- empted one hundred and sixty acres of land, all covered with sagebrush and willows, and with characteristic energy he at once began to clear and develop the place, which is now a highly cultivated farm. He has a herd of two hundred head of shorthorn cattle, forty of which are registered animals, and he also raises a few horses. His fields are devoted to the production of wheat, oats, barley and alfalfa hay. To his original purchase he has added forty acres, so that his farm now comprises two hundred acres in all. On this is a beautiful home situated among fine trees and he has an unfailing supply of artesian water.
In 1882 Mr. McGuire was married to Miss Laura Gess, a native of Idaho, and to them were born six children. Winneford is the wife of Roy Maxey, of Boise. Myrtle is the wife of Lee Rowland. Alta is the wife of William Downen. Mabel is the next of the family. Robert Emmett, twenty-one years of age, was in training at Moscow, Idalio, when the armistice was signed. Willa Catherine is a graduate of the Boise high school. The wife and mother passed away at their home in 1911 and the daughter Mabel is now acting as housekeeper for her father. His son, Robert Emmett, and his son-in-law, Lee Rowland, conduct a ranch of two hundred acres near the home of Mr. McGuire, that having been the property of the former's mother. Mr. McGuire is an alert and energetic business man whose activities have been carefully and wisely directed, and although he has met hardships and difficulties and has had many trials to overcome, he has steadily advanced and is now one of the substantial farmers of Canyon county.
NORMAN GRATZ.
The high reputation which the Franklin car enjoys among all those who know aught in regard to automobiles is ably upheld by Norman Gratz, a progressive dealer and distributor of the Franklin automobile, which is manufactured at Syra- cuse, New York, for southwestern Idaho. Mr. Gratz has represented this firm for over five years and in the course of that time has built up a very gratifying busi- ness in his territory. His success is largely due to his eminent business ability, his straightforward dealing and his pleasant personality-all qualities which stand for successful salesmanship. He was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, January 10, 1879, a son of Edward and Frances (Donalson) Gratz, natives of Philadelphia and the state of Tennessee respectively. The mother passed away many years age, but the father is still living and yet makes his home in Philadelphia. When disruption threatened this nation he voluntarily took up arms in defense of the Union and throughout the Civil war served as a commissioned officer.
Norman Gratz was reared in Philadelphia and in that city received his edu- cation, which included a course in Rugby Academy. Later he took up chemical engineering in the University of Pennsylvania but had to forego the completion of his studies because of ill health. The year 1901 marked his arrival in Idaho, his removal to this state being occasioned by his acceptance of the position of manager Vol. IIJ-17
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of the operations of the Union Gold Dredging Company in the Boise basin. He ably discharged his duties in this connection for a period of seven years, being located during that time in Centerville, Boise county. He displayed not only keen insight into mining conditions but also proved himself a man of rare executive ability. He was interested in the company as a stockholder but finally sold out and removed to Boise, since which time he has given his entire attention to the auto- mobile business. During the first four years of his residence in this city he was at the head of the local agency of the Cadillac cars but since 1913 he has had the sole agency of the Franklin car for southern Idaho. As irrefutable evidence of his ability as a distributor and also of the good points which are represented in the Franklin car it may be said here that he has placed over one hundred cars in this field.
On May 8, 1904, Mr. Gratz was united in marriage to Miss Margaret Havird, who was born in the Boise basin, her grandparents having made their entrance into Idaho among the early pioneers in the '60s. To this union two daughters have been born, Helen and Katherine, aged fourteen and twelve years respectively.
Mr. and Mrs. Gratz occupy a very prominent position in the social circles of their city, in which they have many friends, all of whom are agreed as to their high qualities of mind and character. In politics he is a republican, thoroughly in- formed in regard to the purposes of that party, as he ever keeps well versed on the questions and issues of the day, but is not a politician in the sense of office seeking. He is a member of the Boise Commercial Club and in the movements for a Greater Boise he takes an active and helpful part. Fraternally he is con- nected with the Boise Elks Club. His religious faith is indicated by his member- ship in St. Michael's church. Mr. Gratz has proven himself a reliable business man whose word is as good as his bond and who ever puts his business reputation before the mere accumulation of wealth. He finds recreation from his arduous duties in motoring, fishing and hunting, thus well dividing his time between work and play, finding in the exercise of these sports that recreation which fits him for his business duties.
L. L. YOUNG.
L. L. Young, a farmer of Canyon county whose interest in public affairs and devotion to the general welfare are manifest in his services as county commissioner, was born in a log house in Burt county, Nebraska, March 2, 1862. His parents, Andrew and Edvinnia (Brand) Young, were pioneers of Nebraska, having removed from Columbus, Ohio, to that state in 1856. The mother was a native of New Jersey and died in Nebraska in 1913. The father was born in Germany, came to the United States in 1849 and passed away in 1895 at Oakland, Nebraska, where he had been engaged in merchandising. Mayland Brand, the maternal grandfather of L. L. Young, was at one time owner of the land upon which the city of Columbus, Ohio, now stands, having removed there in 1833 from New Jersey. The ancestors of the Brand family were among the Pilgrim Fathers of Massachusetts.
L. L. Young acquired his early education in the common schools of his native county, which he attended to the age of nineteen years, and was one of the class which took the first course in the Agricultural College held there in 1891. In the same year the Farmers Institute was established there and Mr. Young was elected secretary, a position which he held for fifteen years. Four sessions were held each year and the work was carried forward most successfully, Mr. Young never missing a single meeting of these sessions. He became widely known throughout the state and was elected state vice president of the Farmers National Congress and reelected every two years for eight consecutive years. He was also vice presi- dent of the State Live Stock Breeders Association for one year and was appointed delegate at large to represent Nebraska at the convention of the National Live Stock Association for several years. He was also one of those who had charge of the county exhibit at the state fair, where he won the gold medal and six hundred dollars in cash. He always took an active part in the county fairs and for a num- ber of years was superintendent of the horticultural department. He was like- wise active in the social life of the community and in its moral development, acting as superintendent of the Sunday school for twenty years. At the same time
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he was a most capable and successful business man, having one of the most finely managed stock farms in Nebraska, devoted to the raising of registered Hereford cattle and Poland China hogs. His place comprised five hundred acres of Burt county land. His activity in politics was for the good of the community and the state rather thain for personal gain or prominence.
Coming to Idaho in 1908, Mr. Young went to Idaho Falls and in company with Governor Davis looked over the dry farming district, studying the conditions of the country between that place and Nampa. He then returned over the same route, making further study and comparisons, and finally decided to locate in the vicinity of Nampa, where he purchased four hundred and sixteen acres of raw land, covered with sagebrush. This he enclosed with a hog tight, high woven wire fence and proceeded to improve the land, which is now under irrigation and has thirty thousand dollars worth of improvements upon it. He has an acre and a half under roof. His barn is one of the finest and largest in the state, being sixty- six by one hundred feet. His residence was erected at a cost of over seven thou- sand dollars and is modern in every respect. He has more than three hundred and fifty head of registered Hereford cattle and a large number of registered Poland China hogs, making a specialty of handling pure breeds. He is equally careful in his production of grain, using nothing but selected grains for seed in the pro- duction of wheat, corn, oats and barley. He has had large exhibits of grain at Madison Square Garden in New York, at Pittsburgh, Chicago, Fort Worth, Texas, at San Francisco, Omaha, Nebraska, and in various eastern cities. He regards southern Idaho and the Boise valley in particular as a potters' clay which can be worked into any form from the farmer's standpoint. He says: "Its productive- ness has almost no limit, and it is especially adapted to diversified farming." He believes that the soil can be developed until it will produce from seventy-five to one hundred bushels of wheat, from one hundred and twenty-five to one hundred and fifty bushels of oats, and from seventy-five to one hundred bushels of corn or barley, in fact that amount is being produced in the last two grains. He has sam- ples of wheat and oats raised on his place that have never been surpassed in hard and soft wheat and black and white oats. He conducts his farm on the most scien- tific principles and uses the most thoroughly up-to-date equipment.
In 1895 Mr. Young was married to Miss Helen D. Sackett, a native of New York and a daughter of Nathaniel Sackett, a Civil war veteran, who was wounded, captured and incarcerated in Andersonville prison. Mr. and Mrs. Young are the parents of five children: Louis A., twenty-two years of age, who has recently re- turned from the Mexican border; Charles E., aged twenty; Harold C., seventeen; Miles M., fifteen; and Dean A., thirteen. The children are all associated with their father in the work of the farm and are a credit to the family name.
The history of the Young family is one of which its members have every reason to be proud. L. L. Young had four brothers-one being now deceased, and none of them ever used profane language or alcoholic liquors, and the same can be said of his cousins. His wife also has four brothers and four sisters, all of whom have led exemplary lives. Mr. and Mrs. Young are consistent members of the United Presbyterian church, and in politics he is a progressive democrat. In fact progressive is a word that has been exemplified in his career, whether in relation to his business affairs, his farming interests or the welfare of the community. He stands at all times for those things which are best and has ever held to high ideals.
EUGENE LOONEY.
Eugene Looney, who has been a resident of Boise for about fourteen years, is not only a representative sheepman of the state, in which connection he is widely known in Idaho as well as Oregon, but his name is also identified with banking in- stitutions and he is vice president of Oakes & Company. Today he is numbered among the most substantial citizens of the commonwealth and there is great credit due him for what he has achieved in life, for his prosperity has come to him entirely through his own efforts and labors. Mr. Looney has been a builder who has created busi- ness interests which are proving of great value to general development and while doing so he has never infringed upon the rights of others so that his success has not been built on other men's failures. On the contrary while making his own
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fortune he has many times extended assistance to others who have been struggling on the way and has thus landed them on the solid ground of prosperity. It is therefore hut natural that he has made many friends and all who know him are agreed as to his high qualities of character which ever dominate his business transactions. Mr. Looney came to Boise in 1905 from Mitchell, Oregon, and dur- ing the past third of a century has been largely engaged in the live stock business, mainly sheep, but has also mercantile interests both in Oregon and Idaho, being vice president of Oakes & Company and thus identified with one of the largest wholesale grocery houses of this state. He also is a director of the First National Bank of Boise.
Mr. Looney was born on a farm near Rogersville, Hawkins county, Tennessee, September 12, 1864, being one of a family of seven sons and four daughters whose parents were James G. and Nancy Jane (Harrell) Looney, natives of Tennessee and members of old families of that state, but both are now deceased. The father was an agriculturist and live stock man. Eugene Looney was reared upon the home farm and early became acquainted with agricultural labors and methods. He remained at home until nineteen years of age and during that time acquired a common school education as good as his circumstances permitted. He then, in company with James H. Oakes, who was born in Virginia but was chiefly reared in Hawkins county, Tennessee, set out for the west to seek his fortune. The two men, who thus were boy pals, have been intimately associated in business ever since, Mr. Oakes now being president of Oakes & Company. Their careers have progressed evenly and their friendship has become firmer as the years have passed, the same close and friendly connection existing between their families. Both live in beautiful homes of their own on Harrison boulevard-one of Boise's most fashionable thoroughfares-their houses being but one block apart, on the same side of the street. The Oakes home is at No. 1201 and the Looney home at No. 1305 and both are among the handsome residences of the capital. In the fall of 1905, having come from Mitchell, Oregon, in the same year, Mr. Looney began the con- struction of his present home, while Mr. Oakes arrived in this city from Mitchell shortly afterward. They had been associated in a general merchandise business at Mitchell under the firm name of Oakes & Looney, having removed to Oregon in 1884. They first located in the vicinity of Hay Creek, Oregon, where both worked on ranches. About a year later Mr. Looney became interested in the sheep industry, perceiving in that business an excellent opportunity to advance his interests. This was in 1885 and he has been engaged in sheep raising more or less ever since, or for a third of a century, both in Oregon and Idaho, and at this writing has large sheep interests in the latter state. He also has made valuable investments in lands in Oregon and Idaho.
At Mitchell, Oregon, in 1891, Mr. Looney married Miss Gertrude Shrum, a native of Oregon and a granddaughter of one of the signers of Oregon's first state constitution. They have two living daughters, Tennie Belle Looney and Ellen Looney, graduates of St. Margaret's Hall of Boise.
In his political views Mr. Looney is a democrat but since coming to this state has not held public office. While a resident of Wheeler county, Oregon, however, he filled the office of county commissioner for six years. He belongs to the Boise Commercial Club, in which organization he is actively interested, and fraternally is a member of the Benevolent Protective Order of Elks.
ALFRED GEORGE KENNARD.
A high grade and modern printing establishment stands as evidence of the business ability as well as long experience along his particular line of Alfred George Kennard, better known as "Al" Kennard. Although he has been in busi- ness on his own account for only five years he has already done big things in the way of building up a printing plant. He is located at No. 319 North Eighth street, Boise, having made his home in this city since 1913, although he has lived in the state since 1909. He arrived in Idaho from South Dakota but was born in Iowa, in the town of Grundy Center, July 21, 1886. He is a son of George N. Kennard,. a native of England, where he was reared and educated, attending among other institutions of learning Oxford College. As a young man he came to the United
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States in 1872. For many years he was engaged in educational work, mostly teaching in Iowa, and for six years was superintendent of the schools of Grundy county, Iowa. Later, however, he gave up that profession and devoted thirty years of his life to scientific farming, specializing in the raising of blooded stock, being thus engaged in Brookings county, South Dakota, where he died September 3, 1917. His wife's maiden name was Marie Eberline and she was a native of lowa. Her death occurred in South Dakota in 1904.
Their son, Alfred George Kennard, was one of a family of eleven children, five daughters and six sons, all of whom are now living. Two of the family are located in Boise, Alfred George and one sister, Lula, who is taking training in St. Alphonsus Hospital. Mr. Kennard of this review passed his early youth in Iowa, where he remained until twelve years of age, there beginning his education. At that time the family removed to South Dakota and he continued his education in the public schools of that state. Showing an inclination and taste for printing, he then became an apprentice to the printer's trade in a newspaper office at Brookings, South Dakota. There he completed his apprenticeship and he has since followed the printing business, first in South Dakota, later in Iowa and North Dakota and finally in Idaho. In Fessenden, North Dakota, he conducted a news- paper for a short time but in 1909 he came to Idaho, being placed in charge of the mechanical department of the Caldwell News, which position he held for about two and a half years, coming to Boise in 1913 as manager of the printing plant which he now owns. Then it was but a small affair, being located in the Young Men's Christian. Association building, but as manager he immediately bent his energies toward its development. In 1915 he was enabled to purchase the plant and on June 15, 1918, removed it to its present location at No. 319 North Eighth street. This is a most desirable location, in fact there could not be a better one, as his place of business is located within a block of the federal build- ing, the Idaho building and the statehouse and only two blocks from the Over- land building and the county courthouse. In the five years in which Mr. Kennard has been in business he has achieved most remarkable success in the printing line. Combining practicability with good taste, having thorough experience and also business ability and executive force, he has thrown his whole personality into the business, which has become a distinctive feature of the commercial life of the city. He never makes promises which he cannot keep and the work turned out of his plant comes fully up to expectations. It is therefore but natural that his patrons, appreciating good service and first class work, are increasing rapidly. Mr. Kennard gives special attention to high grade printing and in this line has achieved signal and very pleasing results.
On the 6th of January, 1908, Mr. Kennard was united in marriage in Kingston, Wisconsin, to Lillian Volkmann, a native of Wisconsin, and they have two daugh- ters living, Virginia Marie and Helen Rosalie, aged respectively seven and five years. A son, Robert James, died at the age of ten months.
Mr. and Mrs. Kennard are very popular among the younger social set and have many friends in Boise. He is a member of the Boise Commercial Club, in the purposes of which he is helpfully interested, and fraternally belongs to the Benevolent Protective Order of Elks and the Knights of Columbus, while his religious faith is indicated by his membership in St. John's cathedral. While a young man, Mr. Kennard has achieved a business success which is truly remark- able and worthy of commendation, being a forcible example of what may be accom- plished in the new cities of the west and particularly the capital city of this state when there is the will to dare and to do.
HARRY W. BARRY.
Harry W. Barry, editor of the Buhl Herald, published at Buhl, Twin Falls county, was born in Halifax, Pennsylvania, but in his boyhood days accompanied his parents to Meriden, Kansas, where he pursued his education. He supple- mented his public school training by study in the Kansas State Normal School at Emporia, from which he was graduated with the class of 1912. He became identified with the northwest as an educator, for on the completion of his normal course he accepted the position of principal of the high school at Buhl, Idaho,
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and acceptably filled that position for three years, imparting readily and clearly to others the knowledge that he had acquired and moreover stimulating pupils with much of his own zeal and interest in the work. On the expiration of that period he purchased a half interest in the Buhl Herald in connection with W. L. Squires. The partnership was maintained until 1918, when Mr. Barry acquired the interest of Mr. Squires and is now sole owner. The Herald is a weekly paper, having a well equipped office on Broadway, and is democratic in its political com- plexion. It has gained a good circulation owing to the progressive methods of Mr. Barry, who puts forth every effort to give to his patrons all of the local and general news that is of real interest. Mr. Barry has likewise become the owner of farm lands and other real estate in this section of Idaho.
In 1917 was celebrated the marriage of Mr. Barry and Miss Harriet Stein, a native of Garnett, Kansas, and a daughter of Edwin Stein. Her father was a Civil war veteran who served for four years under General Sherman. .
Mr. Barry is a Scottish Rite Mason and is a worthy exemplar of the teachings and purposes of the craft. In all matters of citizenship he has manifested a most progressive and loyal spirit and in September, 1918, he enlisted as a member of Company B in the officers' training camp at Moscow, Idaho, where he remained until the 28th of December. The armistice having in the meantime been signed, he was then discharged and returned to Buhl, where he is concentrating his efforts and attention upon the business of editing and publishing the Buhl Herald.
W. H. CARLYLE.
W. H. Carlyle, who is actively engaged in general farming in Canyon county, was born in central Kentucky, February 11, 1858. His parents died when he was but three years of age and he was reared by strangers to the age of ten years, when he started out to provide for his own support. Since that time he has been dependent upon his own resources and whatever success he has achieved or enjoyed is the direct outcome of his persistent, intelligent labor. He worked as a farm hand until 1877, when he went to Antioch, California, and there farmed for others for three years. On the expiration of that period he made his way to old Fort Boise, Idaho, on the Snake river at Keeny Ferry, three miles west of Parma, and secured employment on the ranch of George Holbrook. After working for Mr. Holbrook for one summer he married his daughter, Callie Augusta, and then rented her father's farm, which he cultivated for one year. He next purchased one hundred and forty acres of land on the south side of the Boise river, about four miles southwest of the place of his father-in-law, and thereon gave his attention to the raising of grain and stock for a period of two years. The place was practically raw land when it came into his possession, but few furrows having as yet been turned. Upon it was an old log cabin, with sagebrush and trees. With characteristic energy Mr. Carlyle began the development and improvement of the property and as the years have passed his labors have wrought a marked transformation. After two years he bought one hundred and seventy-five acres where he now resides and sold the first place to his son, M. W. Carlyle. In 1890 he purchased McConnell Island, comprising one hundred and seventy-six acres, which joins his present place. McConnell Island was a real island when Mr. Carlyle made the purchase, but the west channel has since closed, joining the land to his home farm, the closing being caused by the shifting of the river. He has since also sold the McConnell place to his son. M. W. Mr. Carlyle took up a homestead one mile north of his present place in 1884 and partially improved it, selling, however, in 1919. He obtains water for irrigation purposes from the High Island Irrigation Company, of which his son, M. W. Carlyle, is the president. Father and son are stockholders of the company, together with Charles Ross, Mel Youman, Maxem, Niel O'Donnell, Pat O'Donnell, Fred J. Walmsby, George Tanner and Louis Bacon. The ditch carries ten thousand inches of water and is of immense value to the district covered. Mr. Carlyle is also a stock- holder in the Roswell Ditch Company.
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