History of Idaho, the gem of the mountains, Volume III, Part 33

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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EDWIN B. FLETCHER.

Edwin B. Fletcher, formerly a ranchman but now living retired at No. 1115 State street, Boise, was born in Wisconsin, October 13, 1853, and is a son of George and Isabella (Rigg) Fletcher. The father died when his son Edwin B. was but two years of age and he was left an orphan by his mother's death when a lad of only seven years. He was then bound out to strangers, with whom he lived until sixteen years of age, his time being passed in Irving, Kansas, to which state his parents had removed during his infancy. When sixteen he left the family with whom he had resided and went to Manhattan, Kansas, entering school near there. Later he attended St. Mary's College, a Catholic institution of Kansas, and pursued his studies at intervals there through a period of five years. He taught one term of school in young manhood in Jackson county, Kansas, but with that exception has largely devoted his life to farming. He left the Sunflower state in 1881 as a member of a construction crew that was bullding the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad through Nebraska. He worked in that way for about a year and in 1882 came to Idaho but remained for only a few months, after which he went to Washington, settling near Pullman. He lived at that place and at other points in Washington from 1882 until 1904, since which time he has been a resi- dent of Idaho. He remained in the vicinity of Twin Falls for two and a half years and since 1908 has made his home in Boise. He manages several valuable ranches which he owns, two of these being situated in Ada county and one in Twin Falls county. His success is the direct outcome of his energy and enterprise, for he started out in the business world empty-handed and in fact is not only a self-made but also a largely a self-educated man.

In 1897, at the age of forty-four years, Mr. Fletcher was married in Spokane, Wash Ington, to Miss Ellen Gertrude Ryan, who was born in New York of Irish parentage, and they have five children: Maria, Eleanor, Olivia, George and Thomasina, their ages ranging from twenty-two down to eleven years, and all are at home.

The family are communicants of the Catholic church and Mr. Fletcher belongs to the Knights of Columbus. In politics he is a democrat and while residing in Washing- ton served for one term as county commissioner of Garfield county. Otherwise he has not sought or filled office, preferring to concentrate his efforts and attention upon his business affairs, which have enabled him to provide a most comfortable living for his family and an attractive home. Such has heen his success that he is now practically living retired, making his home in Boise and leaving the active work of developing his ranches to others.

W. H. ROGERS.

W. H. Rogers, who is farming in the Deer Flat district of Canyon county, was born in Marin county, California, November 22, 1873. His parents are O. G. and Anna M. (Van Doran) Rogers, the latter a daughter of W. H. Van Doran, a pioneer hotel man of Petaluma, California. Anna M. Van Doran crossed the Isthmus en route to California, riding a mule, in the early '50s, with her parents as they journeyed from Illlnols to the Pacific coast. Both Mr. and Mrs. O. G. Rogers are now residents of Idaho and are living with their son, W. H., enjoying good health.

W. H. Rogers attended the public schools of his native county in early youth and in 1883, when a lad of ten years, accompanied his parents to the state of Washington. There they remained until 1906, when they came to Idaho, bringing

EDWIN B. FLETCHER

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with them a splendid outfit, so that they did not suffer the inconveniences caused by the lack of farm implements, as did many of the other settlers.

It was on the 31st of December, 1911, that W. H. Rogers was united in mar- riage to Miss Odessa A. Posey, a native of Indiana and a daughter of George W. and Mary J. (Querry) Posey. Her father died when Mrs. Rogers was but eight years of age. The mother was also a native of Indiana and Mrs. Rogers has a brother, W. T. Posey, who is a station agent at Middleton, Idaho. Mrs. Rogers home- steaded eighty acres of land in Idaho, filing on her property July 14, 1905, while proof was accepted April 21, 1911. She taught school in the meantime in order to make money to pay for the necessary improvements. Mr. Rogers homesteaded one hundred and sixty acres adjoining the claim of the lady who afterward became his wife. He filed on his property December 27, 1905, and proof was accepted April 7, 1913. Both took up raw sagehrush land and toiled early and late to put it in shape for the first crop. . They could not raise anything without water and had to wait four years before the irrigation system was developed. Since then rapid strides have been made in the development of the property and Mr. Rogers is now successfully carrying on general farming and stock raising and all of the land which was taken up by himself and wife is today under cultivation save a few acres. They also have fifty-five head of cattle, including five head of registered shorthorns.

Mrs. Rogers taught school for four terms in the Deer Flat district and during the period of the World war she was most active in Red Cross work. The hardships and privations of the earlier period of their residence here are now past and gone and prosperity is attending their labors. Great changes have been made and the sagebrush was cleared away and water brought to the farm, which is today a valua- ble property, producing large and substantial crops.

CHARLES A. NELSON.

Charles A. Nelson, a carpenter by trade, now residing on the Boise Bench, ahout two miles south of Boise, was born in Sweden on the 27th of August, 1875. He came to the United States in 1901, when a young man of twenty-six years, at which time he was already an expert carpenter and cabinet maker. His father was the owner of a farm in Sweden and thereon Charles A. Nelson was reared to the age of sixteen years, when he turned his attention to cabinetmaking. He had already acquired a fondness for the use of tools while in the manual training department of the schools of his native country and, developing his natural skill and ingenuity in that direction, he hecame very proficient both in cabinetmaking and in carpen- tering.

On the 1st of May, 1901, he sailed for America on the Campania of the Cunard line, and on the same steamer was Miss Anna Matilda Olson, his future wife, who had been a schoolmate of his in their childhood days. They landed at New York and immediately afterward both started west for Chicago, where Miss Olson had rela- tives. Mr. Nelson, however, did not remain in Chicago but made his way at once to Hailey, Idaho, where he arrived on the 15th of May, 1901, just fourteen days after leaving Gotehorg, Sweden. He spent several months in Blaine county and Elmore county and filed on a homestead in the latter county in 1901. In the same year he purchased an adjoining tract of one hundred and sixty acres and with characteristic energy began the development of his three hundred and twenty acre ranch, upon which he resided for several years. In the meantime his former schoolmate, Miss Olson, had come to Idaho from Chicago and on the 30th of Sep- temher, 1903, they were married. They took up their abode on the Elmore county ranch, near Hill City, and there remained until the fall of 1917, when Mr. Nelson sold that property and purchased ten acres of fine land on the Boise Bench, pay- ing two hundred and ten dollars per acre. Upon this place he has erected an at- tractive modern hungalow at a cost of four thousand dollars, supplied with hath, with running water and also equipped with a heating plant. Here he and his family are most pleasantly located and he works at his trade of carpentering in Boise and vicinity.

Mr. and Mrs. Nelson have become parents of three Children: Emma, horn June 30, 1904; Oscar, whose birth occurred Octoher 3, 1908; and Arthur, whose natal day was December 16, 1912. Mr. Nelson has never had occasion to regret his de-

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termination to come to the new world, for the business opportunities which he sought have yielded him a measure of success that is gratifying. Not only is he the owner of his excellent place on the Boise bench but also has interests in copper mines in Elmore county.

CHARLES H. DRAKE.

Charles H. Drake, one of the prosperous ranchmen and well known farmers residing in the vicinity of Boise, dates his residence in Idaho from 1885. He was born in New Jersey, January 31, 1874, and is the second son of the late Daniel D. · Drake. When the family removed from New Jersey to Idaho in 1885 Charles H. Drake was but eleven years of age. He has since lived in this locality, at first residing with his parents on the home ranch in South Boise, which was their first home in Idaho. In the early '90s they removed to what is now known as the Drake ranch southwest of Boise and of this property Charres H. Drake is now the owner of seventy acres. He has a splendid set of new buildings upon it, which were erected in 1913, and all modern improvements such as are found upon the model farm of the twentieth century. His home is a modern bungalow with built in furniture, a fine plumbing system, bathroom and hot water and electric lights throughout the house. The barns and outbuildings are ample for the shelter of grain and stock and there is a fine young orchard of five acres upon the place, chiefly devoted to peaches and prunes. Mr. Drake's ranch is one of the most desirable of its size in the Boise valley. It is almost level, having a gentle slope to the north from the Ridenbaugh ditch, which extends along its southern border and supplies it with water. The father, Daniel D. Drake, paid only one thousand dollars for the one hundred and sixty acre tract in the latter part of the '80s. The son and present owner, Charles H. Drake, has refused four hundred dollars per acre for his tract of seventy acres. This certainly indicates the general rise in land values and the improvements which have been put upon the place by Mr. Drake.

It was on the 15th of November, 1899, that Charles H. Drake was married to Miss Emma Tuly Johns, a daughter of Edwin and Jane Johns, the former a pio- neer of South Boise, who has now passed away, while the latter is still living. Mrs. Drake was born on the old Johns homestead in South Boise, October 28, 1876. Both Mr. and Mrs. Drake are widely known in this section of the state and are very prominent people. He has for more than twenty years been a rider on the Ridenbaugh ditch, devoting about seven hours a day for seven months in the year to this work, and at the same time he carries on his ranching operations. His sec- tion of the ditch is six miles in length. His home fields are very productive, raising fifty-five bushels of wheat to the acre in 1918, while the yield in 1919 was about fifty bushels. He milks about ten cows all of the time and continuously employs a hired man upon his place. The proximity of the ranch to the city enables the family to enjoy all of the advantages of city life. They have a free mail delivery daily, with ice delivered to their refrigerator every other day, and thus while en- joying the comforts of town life, they also have the freedom and pleasures of country life.

Mr. Drake is interested in all affairs of public concern and supports many measures for the general good. At one time he was a member of the board of trus- tees of the Idaho Home for the Feeble-Minded at Nampa and was serving on the board when the building was erected. His political allegiance is given to the dem- ocratic party and fraternally he is connected with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. He and his wife are members of the Presbyterian church and both are held in the highest esteem, having a circle of friends almost coextensive with the circle of their acquaintance.

WILLIAM C. JOHNSON.

Fifty-eight years have come and gone since William C. Johnson took up his abode upon his present farm, comprising five hundred acres of rich and valuable land, on which he is engaged in raising stock and in general farming, notwith- standing the fact that he has passed the eightieth milestone on life's journey.

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He was born in Jackson county, Missouri, November 25, 1839, and is a son of Charles B. and Keziah (Trapp) Johnson, who were natives of Tennessee. The mother died during the early boyhood of her son William. The father, who was a farmer, came across the plains in 1850, traveling with ox team and wagon to Oregon. He was accompanied by his son William, who remembers vividly many incidents of the trip. They had no trouble with the Indians, but there was much sickness among the party, his mother dying on the Platte river at Ash Hollow of cholera, while his sister passed away on the following day of the same disease. They were buried together with nothing to mark their grave save a wooden slab. While the party were crossing the Cascade mountains they were caught in a bliz- zard and had to unyoke their oxen and leave their wagons, fleeing to save their lives, their wagons remaining there until the following spring. At length they reached Milwaukee on the Willamette river, about three miles above Portland, Oregon, where they remained for about six weeks, when assistance came to them from friends at Corvallis, then called Marysville. They removed to Corvallis, and Charles B. Johnson afterward purchased three hundred and twenty acres of land near that city where the State Agricultural College now stands. There he resided and carried on farming to the time of his death in 1876.

William C. Johnson assisted his father in the development of the home farm near Corvallis until 1861, when he went to Walla Walla, Washington, where he carried on farming for two years. He next removed to Orofino, Idaho, but after a few days returned to Walla Walla, where he again took up farming. In May, 1886, he once more came to Idaho, bringing with him a bunch of cattle. For two years he was employed by E. E. Taylor, of Emmett, and subsequently worked for Burch & John- son, cattlemen, driving cattle for them until 1871. In the winter of 1872 he taught school about three-quarters of a mile from his present home, taking his examination for a teacher's certificate in Boise. For four winters he continued teaching, being one of the early educators of that section of the state. In the spring of 1872 he purchased a few head of cattle and started in the live stock business, which he has followed ever since.

In 1874 Mr. Johnson was married to Miss Nancy A. King, a native of Missis- sippi, who was then residing upon her father's farm, adjoining the home of Mr. Johnson. At the time of his marriage Mr. Johnson located near his present farm property. He purchased his present place on the Payette river in 1878. This is a most beautiful spot, where he has five hundred acres of good land and an at+ tractive country residence which stands in the midst of a beautiful grove of trees overlooking the river. He still raises stock and does general farming and also has an excellent orchard upon the place, although he raises fruit merely for family use and not for commercial purposes.

To Mr. and Mrs. Johnson have been born seven children. Mary Elizabeth is the wife of H. C. Flint and the mother of three children, Meta, Calvin and Verna Elizabeth. Lora L. married George Baxter and has four children, Helen, Carrie, Crayton and Clifford. Ella E. is the wife of Herman Kaeser and the mother of three children, Dorothy, Harold and Donald. Effie is the wife of John Howard and has two children, Robert and Clara May. Charles W. married Miss Grace Christenson and they have one child, Walter. Ruth is the wife of Lee Boyd and has five children, Margaret, Marvin, Mildred, Catherine and Elsie. Edward C., the youngest, married Mabel Fletcher.

In community affairs Mr. Johnson has taken a deep, active and helpful inter- est. He served as commissioner of Ada county for two terms and for one term in Canyon county after the division of the territory. He has served as a member of the school board for a number of years and was also deputy assessor of Ada county for two years. His official duties were discharged with the same promptness and fidelity that has characterized the conduct of his business affairs, making him a representative and prosperous farmer of the New Plymouth district.

NICK COLLINS.

Nick Collins, president and founder of the Boise Athletic Club and Physical Culture School, was born in Chicago, Illinois, September 29, 1881, a son of John and Mary (Sweeney) Collins, who were natives of Ireland, where they were reared and married. Soon afterward they came to the United States, arriving in this

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country about a year before the birth of their eldest son, Nick. The father, who was a painter by trade, died in 1913, in Toronto, Canada, while the mother sur- vives and makes her home in Detroit, Michigan.

Nick Collins was reared in the cities of Chicago and Detroit and began earn- ing his living as a newsboy in the place of his nativity. He was always fond of clean athletics and while still a newsboy in his teens became an amateur boxer and wrestler. Later he became a professional boxer and wrestler, belonging to the lightweight (135) class. He won many events in various cities in the country and is still in the game to some extent, although most of his time and attention since 1913 have been given to his athletic school in Boise. He came to Boise in 1913 and a year later founded the Collins Physical Culture School, which was owned and conducted by him as a private institution until May 6, 1919, on which date the school was incorporated under the name of the Boise Athletic Club and Physical Culture School, with Mr. Collins as president. The business is capitalized at twelve thousand five hundred dollars. In May, 1919, the club and school were established at their present quarters at No. 712 West Idaho street and the insti- tution has had a most prosperous career under Mr. Collins' management. He is popular with all classes and particularly with those who are fond of clean sport. He gives class and private instruction, specializing in exercises for business men, and features of the club and school are boxing, wrestling, weight reducing massages and alternating showers. He also makes a specialty of physical culture training for ladies and children. About twice a month during the season he pulls off either a boxing match or wrestling event, choosing the Pinney Theatre in Boise for all the big events and the Liberty Gardens for the smaller ones. Mr. Collins has brought many of the best wrestlers and boxers to Boise to participate in these contests. While touring as a professional he traveled through Canadian as well as American cities and became widely known throughout the two countries. He has built up a good institution in Boise, his being the only physical culture school in Idaho.

Mr. Collins is a Roman Catholic in religious faith and is connected with the Knights of Columbus and the Fraternal Order of Eagles, also with the Loyal Order of Moose. His political allegiance is given the republican party but he has never sought nor desired office, preferring to concentrate his efforts and attention along the line of his chosen life activity.

MRS. DELLA F. ROE.

The number of women who have become successful breeders of chickens in and near Boise is notable. Mrs. Della F. Roe, of Ivywild, South Boise, is among this number, giving her attention to the breeding of Rhode Island Reds, her efforts bring- ing her steadily into prominence in this connection. She has closely studied the most scientific methods of caring for the birds and this, added to her practical ex- perience, had produced results most gratifying. Mrs. Roe is the wife of Charles A. Roe, a well known and popular grocery salesman traveling out of Boise. She bore the maiden name of Della F. Janssen and is of Danish and German descent in the paternal line and of German and French lineage in the maternal line. She was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, November 26, 1879, her father being George H. Janssen, who was a pioneer business man of that city. Both he and his wife were born in Germany, but they were married in Milwaukee. The former has passed away, but the mother survives and is now a resident of Chicago. For many years George H. Janssen was a successful merchant and developed a considerable estate.

Charles A. Roe was born in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, January 24, 1880, and is a son of the Rev. John P. Roe, a Presbyterian minister, who was graduated from Cornell University and devoted his life to the work of the church but is now de- ceased. He was a brother of E. P. Roe, the famous novelist. In the maternal line Mr. Roe is also a direct descendant of Cotton Mather, one of the founders of the colony of Rhode Island. Mr. and Mrs. Roe were married in Milwaukee, February 5, 1903. They resided in Chicago for several years but in 1907 came to Boise and in 1913 located at the present home in Ivywild, the place being in fact a small farm. Here Mrs. Roe is giving her attention to the breeding of Rhode Island Reds and is the owner of many fine birds. She ships fancy birds to various parts of Idaho and Oregon and for seven years has been a successful exhibitor at the Boise poultry

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shows and also at Salt Lake City, where she has won many blue and red ribbons and also one fine silver cup, donated hy Moses Alexander, then governor of Idaho.

Mr. and Mrs. Roe have two daughters: Hazel Mary, born August 12, 1904; and Katherine Helen, born April 27, 1908. Both are now students in Boise, attend- ing St. Margaret's Hall.

Both Mr. and Mrs. Roe are members of the Idaho Poultry & Pet Stock Asso- ciation, of which Mr. Roe is one of the directors and of which Mrs. Roe was for- merly assistant secretary. Mr. Ree is likewise a member of the Boise Chamber of Commerce and he and his wife and their daughters are Episcopalians in religious faith. The family is one widely and favorably known in Boise, where they have a circle of friends almost coextensive with the circle of their acquaintance.

J. W. BRANDT.

Idaho owes her wonderful development along agricultural and horticultural lines to such men as J. W. Brandt, who is. a most progressive farmer, his home being in the Lone Star district, not far from Nampa. He was born in Germany but in early youth became a resident of Illinois, crossing the Atlantic with his parents, Louis and Margaret (Bebhur) Brandt, who were also natives of Germany. The father had engaged in merchandising in the old country but followed agricul- tural pursuits in Illinois and Nebraska, spending his last days at Glenville, Ne- braska, where he lived retired for some years prior to his demise, which occurred in 1903. His wife died in Nebraska in 1915.

It was in 1865 that J. W. Brandt came to the new world. When he had at- tained his majority he started out in business life on his own account, making his way to western Nebraska, where he took up a homestead and engaged in its cul- tivation for eight years. He then sold that property and removed to Colorado, where he conducted the live stock business on an extensive scale, having one thou- sand head of cattle. He continued the business there for seventeen years and then removed to Idaho, settling on his present place of eighty-three acres about three miles west of Nampa, in the Lone Star district of Canyon county. He contracted with the United States government on seventy-five thousand dollars' worth of con- struction work on the Boise-Payette project, his contract being in the Nampa- Meridian irrigation district, which is a part of the project indicated. This work occupied his attention for four years. He was a member of the board of the Boise-Payette Water Users' Association for seven years and in that time was sent to Washington to work for the extension bill, and through his efforts in behalf of the Water Users' Association a blll was passed to extend the time of payment for water from ten to twenty years. This bill saved the people and the project from ruin. Mr. Brandt accomplished a most important work in that connection, leading ultimately to the upbuilding of this section of the state in large measure and to the prosperity of many of the farmers.

Since that time Mr. Brandt has given his attention exclusively to farming and is now the owner of four places besides the one on which he resides, all of which are in a high state of cultivation. Two of the farms comprise eighty acres each, another is seventy-five acres in extent and the other forty acres. He has also re- cently sold two farms, one of sixty-seven acres and one of twenty acres. He rents most of his land now and devotes the remainder to mixed farming and stock rais- ing but has largely retired from active business, deriving his income from his sub- stantial investments. His home is ideally located and is modern in all respects.

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History of Idaho, the gem of the mountains, Volume III, Part 33

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