USA > Idaho > History of Idaho, the gem of the mountains, Volume III > Part 45
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To Mr. and Mrs. Johnson have been born three children: Lorenzo, who was born September 17, 1884, and is now married and lives in Boise; Alfred, who was born May 22, 1887, and has taken a homestead on Willow creek in Ada county; and Izeeta, who was born March 30, 1897, and is the wife of Loren Harris, of Emmett. These children through the maternal line are descended from one of the old Amer- ican families of Pennsylvania stock, the Framptons tracing their ancestry back to a member of the William Penn colony.
Mr. Johnson is a republican in his political views but has never been an office
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seeker. He is a man of liberal ideas in religion and looks at many of the impor- tant questions of life from a broad standpoint. His prosperity is the direct outcome of his labors and his energy has enabled him to overcome many difficulties and ob- stacles in his path.
ALFRED BALL.
Alfred Ball, who follows farming at Lewisville, Jefferson county, was born in England. November 23, 1856, and is a son of William and Elizabeth (England) Ball, who were also natives of that country, where the father worked in the iron mines until 1871, when he came to America, making his way to the Salt Lake val- ley of Utah, where he was employed in various ways. He was connected with farming interests for a considerable period and eventually retired from active life, making his home with his son Alfred until his death in August, 1916. The mother has long since passed away, her death occurring in 1871.
Alfred Ball was reared in England, pursued his education in the public schools there, and in early life worked in the brickyards, in the cotton factories and in the iron mines at Rosedale, Yorkshire, England. In 1870 he and his mother, brothers and sisters came to the United States, preceding the father, who afterward joined them. They made their way to the Salt Lake valley and Alfred Ball engaged in herding sheep for a time but soon afterward began sheep raising on his own ac- count and was thus engaged until President Cleveland's administration, when, owing to the widespread financial panic, he suffered severe losses. He later took up farming, which he followed until 1900, when he removed to Jefferson county, Idaho, and bought one hundred and sixty acres of land two miles south of Lewis- ville. He at once began the task of tilling the soil and continued the further de- velopment of the farm until 1916, when he traded farms with his son and now owns a place adjoining the town of Lewisville. This tract he has since cultivated, and its neat and thrifty appearance indicates his practical and progressive spirit.
In October, 1878, Mr. Ball was married to Miss Mary Ann Walker, a daughter of James C. and Elizabeth (Griffith) Walker, the former a native of Scotland, while the latter was born in Salt Lake county, Utah. Her father came to America in early life, making his way to Salt Lake county, where for many years he operated a grist mill. He has passed away and the mother died in 1853. Mr. and Mrs. Ball have become parents of twelve children, some of whom died at birth, while Zina died at the age of sixteen years. Those living are: Alfred W., a farmer and sheepman of Jefferson county; Orson, who is also engaged in farming and sheep raising in Jefferson county; Lyman J., living at Rigby; Laura, the wife of Roy Walker, a farmer of Jefferson county; Lorenzo C., farming in the same locality; Irvin M., who resides near his father; and Velma M., at home.
Politically Mr. Ball is a republican but without ambition for public office. He belongs to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and has held several offices in the church. His time and energies, however, have been largely given to his farming interests in order to support his family, and his progressiveness along agricultural lines has made him one of the substantial residents of his section of the state.
JAY H. CRONK.
Jay H. Cronk, who owns and resides on a fine little ranch one mile south of Emmett, has lived in Idaho since 1904 and has spent the entire time in the vicinity of Emmett. He came to this state from Ord, Valley county, Nebraska, where he had resided for thirty-three years, during which time he was engaged in farming near Ord. He is a native, however, of the Empire state, his birth having occurred at Montague, Lewis county, New York, May 11, 1862, his parents being William and Catherine ( Mink) Cronk, both of whom were natives of New York and in 1873 removed to Valley county, Nebraska, where they spent their remaining days, the father passing away in 1911, while his wife had died in 1900. He was one of the pioneers of Valley county and devoted his life to the occupation of farming.
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Jay H. Cronk was reared in the usual manner of the farm-bred boy, enjoying the advantages of the district school and early receiving practical training in the work of the fields. Having reached man's estate, he was married at Ord, Nebraska, on the 11th of September, 1882, to Miss Linnie Timmerman, who was born in Steu- ben county, New York, April 24, 1865, a daughter of William and Alsameda ( Drake) Timmerman, who are also natives of the Empire state and in 1879 re- moved with their family to Nebraska, the father and mother being still residents of Valley county.
Following their marriage Mr. and Mrs. Cronk continued to reside on farms in the vicinity of Ord until 1904, when they came to Idaho and for several years made their home at Emmett. There for four years Mr. Cronk owned and operated a cement block factory and later, for a year or more, he was in the coal and grain business and also engaged in the sale of farm implements and Studebaker wagons. He had the first. carload of wagons and vehicles shipped into Emmett from the Studebaker company. He finally retired from mercantile pursuits, however, and located on his present ranch one mile south of Emmett. In 1910 he built a sub- stantial cement block house of eleven rooms, having manufactured the blocks from which the house was constructed and still owning his machine for this. His ranch is one of the best of its size in the vicinity of Emmett, being well improved in every particular. As the years have passed ten children have been added to the house- hold who are yet living and they have also lost four. Those who still survive are: Leon, who was horn September 30, 1883; Edna, who was born January 19, 1886, and is the wife of Oscar Hackett; Guy, who was born August 28, 1889; Belva, who was horn October 13, 1891, and is the wife of Alonzo Phillips; Katie Estella, who was born August 22, 1893, and is now the wife of Charles Isaac Phillips; Allen J., born April 4, 1896; Edith, July 7, 1897; Raymond Vance, October 18, 1899; Vina L., July 25, 1902; and Emmett M., April 28, 1908. The four who have passed away are Ina. Elva, Meta and Loretta. The eldest, Meta, died at the age of eleven years of appendicitis, while Loretta was accidentally drowned at the age of eight months.
The religious faith of Mr. and Mrs. Cronk is that of the Methodist church. Mrs. Cronk belongs to the Yeomen. Mr. Cronk is now a socialist in politics. He served as town treasurer while living at Ord, Nebraska, and as one of the county supervisors there. In 1896 he was elected to represent his district in the state legislature, but since coming to Idaho he has never sought or desired political prom- inence, preferring to concentrate his efforts and attention upon his business affairs, and his property is the visible evidence of his life of well directed energy and thrift.
LARS LARSON ALSAGER.
Lars Larson Alsager resides in the vicinity of Emmett, where he owns a ranch of one hundred and sixty acres situated two and a half miles southwest of the town. A native of Norway, he was born June 28, 1862, and is the only member of his father's family in this country. He learned the cooper's trade in Norway and prior to that spent three years of his youth as a sailor boy. He came to the United States in 1883, at the age of twenty years, and was nineteen days in making the voyage, for the steamer on which he sailed had trouble with the propeller. He at once went to Minnesota but in 1886 removed to South Dakota, where he took up a homestead claim of one hundred and sixty acres and thus made his start as a farmer in the new world.
On the 10th of June, 1892, Mr. Alsager was married in South Dakota, to Miss Nettie L. Tofley, who was of Norwegian parentage but was born in Minnesota, July 9, 1871. She is a daughter of John A. and Olivia (Christiansen) Tofley, both na- tives of Norway, but their marriage was celebrated in Wisconsin. In 1900 Mr. and Mrs. Alsager removed from South Dakota to the state of Washington and in 1903 became residents of Idaho, since which time they have lived in the vicinity of Emmett. Mr. Alsager and his father-in-law, John A. Tofley, purchased two hun- dred acres of land southwest of the town. Mr. Alsager's farm now embraces one hundred and sixty acres of this original purchase and he devotes his place to the raising of hay, grain and live stock and has an excellent property, splendidly de -.
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veloped. The land, which cost him about forty dollars per acre, is now easily worth two hundred dollars per acre, and the splendid appearance of the place is indica- tive of the care and supervision of a practical and progressive owner. The land has been brought under a high state of productivity, producing fifty bushels of wheat to the acre as an average crop.
To Mr. and Mrs. Alsager has been born one son, Lewis Oliver, whose birth occurred in South Dakota, August 24, 1893, so that he is now twenty-six years of age. He remains at home upon the ranch and is practically in charge, specializing in the raising of beef cattle of the pure bred Red Polled stock. He is a young man of excellent habits, a splendid farmer and a progressive manager and, like his parents, enjoys the high regard of all who know him.
WILLIAM PARKS.
William Parks, deceased, spent the last year of his life in Caldwell, having retired from active business, but for many years he was closely associated with the agricul- tural development of Malheur county, Oregon. He was born in New York city, June 7, 1845, a son of Abraham and Eliza Jane (Vanderhoof) Parks. The father was a bridge carpenter and so served in connection with the government during the Civil war. When the roll was called and he did not answer a search was made for him and they found him under the bridge upon which he had been working, with his head severed from his body. Thus was his life sacrificed for the cause which he had espoused. His wife had died when their son William was but seven years of age.
The latter when a youth of fourteen went to California with a Mr. Polamos. His sister Emma had been taken into the family of Mr. and Mrs. Burgess, who were about to take her to California, and as Mr. Parks did not wish to be separated from her, he asked Mr. Polamos, who was going to California with the Burgess family, if he did not want a boy to work for him. Accordingly he obtained a position and went across the plains with his sister and they remained together in California until 1864, when William Parks came to Idaho. His sister joined him in this state six years later and in 1873 became the wife of James Gusman, who passed away in 1907, leaving his widow, who is living at the old home, where she has resided for the past forty years in Jordan Valley, Oregon. She is now sixty-nine years of age.
From the time of his arrival in California, William Parks was continuously iden- tified with activities leading to the further development and upbuilding of the west. In 1864 he came to Silver City, Idaho, where he worked in the Morning Star Mill for six years. He then removed to the Jordan valley of Oregon, where he homesteaded one hundred and sixty acres of land, but through complications arising over road building he lost all but forty acres of the homestead. However, he soon made arrange- ments to purchase the other three forties, so that his widow today owns the original home place of one hundred and sixty acres. Mr. Parks followed farming and stock raising thereon to within a year of his death, when he removed to Caldwell and re- tired from active business. He owned a half interest in a general merchandise store in Jordan Valley, Oregon, from 1895 until 1901 and was a very successful man who owed his prosperity to his individual ability, his indefatigable energy and his per- severance. Owing to the fact that he was early left an orphan he had few advan- tages in his youth and whatever success lie achieved was attributable entirely to his own labor, and he deserves much credit for what he accomplished. In the early days he went through all of the experiences which constitute phases of pioneer life. He participated in the early Indian warfare and strife and aided .in reclaiming this re- gion for the purposes of civilizaton.
On the 31st of August, 1879, in Jordan Valley, Oregon, Mr. Parks was united in marriage to Miss Julia West, a native of Marion county, Iowa, and a daughter of Sheldon and Hannah West, who were natives of Ohio. Mrs. Parks went to Oregon with her sister, Mrs. Mary Savely, in 1879, settling in Jordan Valley. Mrs. Savely later returned to Iowa, where she passed away. By her marriage Mrs. Parks became the mother of five children: George S., thirty-nine years of age, who married Ethel Thurman, of Oregon, and is the father of two children, Floyd, aged eleven, and Sheldon Thomas, aged three; James William, thirty-seven years of age, who married Mamie Fenwick, of Oregon; Hollister Abraham, aged thirty-five, who married Nellie Belle Beers, of Oregon; Mona Olive, the wife of Harry Looney, cashier of the Jordan Vallev
WILLIAM PARKS
MRS. JULIA A. PARKS
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Bank, by whom she has six children, Gaynor Parks, Wilmeth Elaine, Woodrow Wilber, Harry, Ernestine and Robert Earl; and Guy Allis, who married Olive Adams and has two children, Jack T. and Lucile.
Mrs. Parks still makes her home in Caldwell and is widely known throughout Canyon county. In addition to the old homestead farm left her by her husband, she owns a forty acre tract in the Fargo district which is under a high state of cultivation, and thus she is provided with all of the comforts of life. The death of Mr. Parks oc- curred February 15, 1911, when he was sixty-six years of age. He was a man of sterling worth whom to know was to respect and honor, and throughout the long years of his residence in Oregon he had gained many friends. The greater part of his life was spent in the far west, and he exemplified in his career the spirit of progress and enterprise which has been the dominant factor in the upbuilding of the western country.
DR. C. K. AH FONG.
Dr. C. K. Ah Fong, a Chinese physician of Boise, is one of the pioneer rep- resentatives of the profession in Idaho, having come to the territory in 1866 from San Francisco, where he had resided for only a few months, having but recently arrived from China, his native land. He was then twenty-two years of age, a young man of liberal education, who had already become a physician of the Chinese school, having studied medicine under his father, Dr. Whey Fong, who was a man of most liberal intellectual training and an eminent representative of the medical profession in that country. He has long since passed away but he was for many years a resident of San Francisco, California, whence he afterward returned to China.
Dr. Ah Fong was born in Canton, China, October 5, 1844, and has made his home continuously in Idaho since 1866, or for a period of about fifty-four years. He has been connected with Boise since 1889 and throughout the entire period of his residence in Idaho has engaged in the practice of medicine. He formerly lived in Alturas county, where he also practiced among people of his nationality. He has only made one trip back to China since coming to the new world, having recrossed the Atlantic in 1911.
Dr. Ah Fong has been married twice and has three living children, one son and two daughters. By his first wife, who passed away in 1902, he had a son and a daughter: Charley T. Tong Fong, who has followed in his father's professional footsteps and is now engaged in the practice of medicine in Shanghai, China; and Lena Ah Fong, now the wife of William P. Wong, of Chicago. For his second wife Dr. Ah Fong chose Miss Lee Sea, a native of San Francisco, California, and they have an interesting little daughter, Aimee Ah Fong, who is now ten years of age.
Dr. Ah Fong has kept in touch with the progress that is being continually made in the medical profession and is a man who commands the respect and confidence of all who know him.
MRS. LILLIE CHAMBERS.
Mrs. Lillie Chambers, whose pretty ranch home is situated a mile and half southwest of Emmett, came to Idaho in 1911 from Smith county, Kansas, in com- pany with her husband, William M. Chambers, who throughout his entire life de- voted his attention to farming. He was born in Illinois, December 14, 1855, and spent his boyhood, youth and early manhood in the Mississippi valley. On coming to Idaho with his family he purchased a splendid little suburban home, standing in the midst of a highly improved ten-acre ranch, and there resided until death called him on the 30th of May, 1917. The ranch is still occupied by his widow and her two stepsons, Otto and Archie, aged respectively twenty-four and twenty-two years, who were sons of Mr. Chambers by his first marriage. Both have lucrative employment near-by.
Mrs. Chambers was born in Iowa City, Iowa, December 13, 1860, and in her maidenhood was Lillie Hibhard, daughter of Leverett and Mary (Hartwell) Hib- bard. When eighteen years of age she became the bride of Edgar Kimball, who
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passed away August 8, 1902, being accidentally drowned in the South Canadian river in Oklahoma, at which time they were living on a farm of their own in Dewey county, Oklahoma, that still belongs to Mrs. Chambers and comprises eighty acres of land, being now occupied by a tenant who pays her cash rent for it. At his death Mr. Kimball left a daughter, who is now Mrs. Myrtle Zimmerman, of Smith county, Kansas. On the 29th of November, 1905, Mrs. Kimball became the wife of William M. Chambers and the stepmother of seven children who were born to Mr. Chambers and his first wife, Mrs. Mary (Hartwell) Chambers, who was an own cousin of the mother of the present Mrs. Chambers.
Mr. Chambers belonged to the Modern Woodmen of America and the Ancient Order of United Workmen. His political allegiance was given to the republican party and he had many sterling traits of character which won him the high respect and warm regard of all who knew him. Mrs. Chambers belongs to the Methodist church and also to the Woman's Relief Corps. She is a woman of many attractive social qualities. She is most hospitable, making all feel at home who come within her presence, and her life is the expression of the highest womanly and Christian principles.
JOSEPH C. SURBER.
Joseph C. Surber, who has devoted his entire life to general agricultural pur- suits, now owns and operates a ranch of eighty acres two miles southwest of Em- mett, whereon he took up his abode in 1908. His birth occurred in Iowa on the 15th of January, 1866, his parents being John and Susanna (Swafford) Surber, the former of German descent and the latter of Irish lineage. They had a family of seven children, three of whom still survive.
Joseph C. Surber spent his early life in Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, Oklahoma, Arkansas and California, being a youth of fifteen when the family home was estab- lished in the last named state. Later he returned to Oklahoma and subsequently lived in New Mexico, Arizona and Colorado respectively. He was married in Okla- homa on the 22d of December, 1889, to Miss Lottie Murray, who was born in Nebraska, January 7, 1868, a daughter of David and Phoebe Murray. Mrs. Surber was reared in the states of Iowa, Texas and Kansas. Following their marriage Mr. and Mrs. Surber lived in Oklahoma, Oregon and Colorado before coming to Idabo in 1908. It was in that year that the former purchased his present ranch property, comprising eighty acres two miles southwest of Emmett, for which he paid sixty-five dollars per acre. The land has rapidly increased in valne and is now worth two or three times that amount. Mr. Surber has been identified with farm- ing interests throughout his entire life and has won a gratifying measure of suc- cess therein, being now the owner of a splendidly improved property which annu- ally returns to him a substantial income.
Mr. and Mrs. Surber have five living children, namely: Benjamin; William; Nellie, the wife of Albert Boyenger; Susanna; and Grace. All are at home with the exception of Nellie. Mr. Surber is a member of the Modern Woodmen of America, while his wife belongs to the Methodist church. Familiar with many parts of the country, he has taken up his permanent abode in Idaho and has not only won pros- perity but also the high regard and esteem of all with whom he has been associated.
MISS JULIA ELIZABETH CAPWELL.
In 1882 there came to Idaho a young lady traveling by stage from Kelton, Utah, to take up the work of first primary teacher in the old Central school building of Boise, which had just been completed and which was at that time the only school building in the city. From that year until June, 1917, Julia Elizabeth Capwell was constantly engaged in primary school work in Boise and in Portland, Oregon, with the exception of a year and a half spent in Oriental travel, in 1910 and 1911. For nine years she was connected with the Portland schools and the remainder of the time has been in Boise, holding today the post of honor among Idaho's teachers because of her long years of service.
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In June, 1917, Miss Capwell was retired on a pension by the Boise school hoard, which unanimously passed the following: "Resolved that the establish- ment of the teachers' retirement fund of this district was intended as a partial re- ward for the long, faithful and efficient service of Miss Julia Capwell as a teacher in the schools of this district and is evidence of the appreciation of her services by the people of Boise City." This resolution was duly signed and sent to her by the president of the board of education, having been adopted at a meeting of the board of trustees of the Boise public schools on the 25th of October, 1917. Since her retirement from active school work Miss Capwell has established the "Little Tutor Shop," a model primary school for a limited number of pupils, which she teaches, doing regular first grade work during half day sessions throughout the year. While actively engaged in public school work, Miss Capwell also did much institute work in almost every county in southern Idaho, including many sessions which held in Boise. She assisted in organizing the first teachers institute in Idaho territory and has the honor of having been granted the first teacher's certificate after Idaho hecame a state. This certificate is now held as an interesting relic by the State Historical Society. Miss Capwell holds a life teacher's certificate in both Idaho and Oregon.
She came to the west from New York, having been born in Wyoming, that state, July 29, 1853. . She is a daughter of Hiram Bentley and Elizabeth Jane (Lockwood) Capwell and is the only living member of her father's family. In the paternal line she is descended from an old New York Holland Dutch family and has every reason to be proud of her Dutch ancestry. Her mother's people, the Lockwoods, lived in Connecticut and were of English descent, and both families were represented in the Revolutionary war. Miss Capwell was educated at Mid- dlebury Academy at Wyoming, New York, of which her grandfather, Peter Cap- well, was one of the founders and from which his four sons all graduated, her father being among the number. Another of the four sons of Peter Capwell was A. B. Capwell, who became the second president of that school.
Miss Capwell of this review took her kindergarten training under Julia E. Sheldon, of New York city, and in 1870 removed to Iowa, where she taught until coming to Idaho in 1882. She is a member of the First Methodist Episcopal church of Boise and is a woman who has had marked influence for good over the lives of her pupils, many of whom, now men and women grown, speak of her in terms of the warmest affection and respect. She is proud of the fact that she is an Idaho pioneer, having for about thirty-eight years been a witness of the growth and development of Boise and of the state at large.
MRS. JESSIE CORNELIA CHAPIN.
Mrs. Jessie Cornelia Chapin is the owner and manager of the Silver Leaf Dairy, situated a mile and a half southwest of Emmett. She possesses excellent business ability, courage and determination, and when upon her devolved the care and rearing of her young children, she pluckily took up the work in which she is now engaged and has won success in her business undertakings. She is now keeping fifteen cows, which she milks night and morning herself, and during the day delivers the milk to her customers in Emmett. In addition to this she man- ages her own household affairs and her capability is shown by the fact that she has recently purchased twenty acres of land adjoining her ranch.
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