History of Idaho, the gem of the mountains, Volume III, Part 49

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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WILLIAM HARMON HINER.

William Harmon Hiner, who is engaged in farming on a ranch a half mile east of the Garfield schoolhouse in South Boise, was born in Polk county, lowa, December 22, 1863. His birthplace was also a farm, which was owned and occupied by his parents, George W. and Matilda (Hughes) Hiner, the former a native of Hartsville, Indiana, and the latter of Virginia. The mother removed westward to Ohio and thence went to Iowa with her parents. George W. Hiner and Matilda Hughes were married in Iowa, June 28, 1861, and there resided until 1885, when they removed to Missouri. In 1888 they went to Colorado, where the mother passed away April 6, 1904. The father's death occurred in Plattsmouth, Nebraska, on the 25th of December of the same year. Their family numbered nine children, seven sons and two daughters, and seven of the number are yet living, namely: Mrs. Ada Page, now a widow; William Harmon, of this review, who is the second in order of birth; Samuel Milton, of Montana; Frank, of Rexburg, Idaho; Hartsel, living in Meeker, Colorado; George, a resident of Meridian, Ada county, Idaho; and Peter, whose home is at Rexburg, Idaho. William H. Hiner has in his possession a picture of himself

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and five living brothers, which was taken in 1904 at Hooper, Colorado, and is a most interesting group.

William H. Hiner was reared upon his father's farm in Polk county, Iowa, and throughout his entire life has been identified with agricultural and live stock in- terests. For twenty years he was engaged in the live stock business in Colorado, devoting his attention chiefly to cattle and branding from one hundred and twenty- five to one hundred and fifty calves each year. He raised beef cattle of good grade and had three quarter sections of his own land and also occupied nine sections of ranch land in Saguache county, Colorado. He removed from that state to Ada county, Idaho, in 1907 and has here since made his home southeast of Boise, occupying his present farm since 1909.

It was on the 6th of June, 1887, in Bates county, Missouri, that Mr. Hiner was married to Miss Maggie Sismore, who was born at Pleasant Gap, Missouri, November . 19, 1871. They have five living children. Everett, now at Rexburg, Idaho, has re- cently returned from Camp Lee, Virginia. He was born March 25, 1888. Roy, born March 7, 1890, is a farmer living near Ustick, Idaho. May, born March 12, 1892, is the wife of Fred Pickerell, whom she married on the 21st of April, 1915, and they have three children: Melvin, horn February 3, 1916; Marvin Jack, born Feb- ruary 11, 1918; and Mildred, born December 5, 1919. Della and Zella, the younger children of Mr. and Mrs. William H. Hiner, are twins, twenty years of age, having been born November 25, 1899. They resemble each other so closely that it is almost impossible for people not members of the household to tell them apart and they are splendid young women of whom the parents have every reason to be proud. Mr. and Mrs. Hiner also lost two children: Pearl, who was born January 28, 1894, became the wife of Walter Butler on the 30th of September, 1914, and died July 30, 1917, at the age of twenty-three years. William B., born February 23, 1897, died January 20, 1901, at the age of four years. The son-in-law, Walter Butler, was at Camp Lee when the war closed, as was the son, Everett Hiner. Roy Hiner was married June 25, 1911, to Susie Butler, a sister of Walter Butler, and they have four children: Ralph, born February 13, 1913; Margaret, born March 8, 1914; Gladys, born January 23, 1916; and a son, born March 22, 1920.

Mr. Hiner is an Odd Fellow and is also connected with the Woodmen of the World. His political allegiance is given to the democratic party but he has never been an office seeker. He prefers to concentrate his efforts and energies upon his business affairs and has prospered since coming to Idaho, his ranch being a highly improved and valuable property. He had won substantial success before his arrival in this state and has added to his income steadily as the years have passed.

MOSES HESS.

Moses Hess is one of the older residents of Gem county and has resided upon his present ranch five miles west of Emmett since 1902, removing to this state from Grant county, Oregon, where he had lived for a third of a century. He was born in Ripley county, Indiana, February 5, 1849, and is a son of Peter and Melissa (Pursell) Hess, the former a native of Pennsylvania, while the latter was born in Ripley county, Indiana. Removing to the northwest, they settled in Grant county, Oregon, where their remaining days were passed. The father, whose birth occurred in December, 1820, was in his eighty-first year when he passed away on the 2d of December, 1901. The mother, who was born in 1823, died June 19, 1897. Their marriage was celebrated on the 24th of November, 1844, and they had a family of five children, of whom three are yet living: Moses; and Samuel and Lewis, who are residents of Oregon.

Moses Hess spent the days of his boyhood and youth in the middle west to the age of twenty-six years, when in 1875 he crossed the plains to Oregon. He was then a single man but has since been married twice. In 1877 he wedded Jane Ross, who passed away on the 3d of May three years later, leaving a little son, Elmer, two years of age, and an infant daughter, Jessie. Both are now married and have children. Elmer wedded Mattie Davison and resides in a house upon his father's ranch, giving his attention to the development and further improvement of the land, which is devoted to the raising of hay and cattle. To Elmer Hess and his wife have

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been born two children, Vera and Carl. The daughter, Jessie, is now the wife of Fred Axe and resides in Oregon. They have one child, Vera.

On the 25th of September, 1899, Moses Hess was married to Mrs. Lillie Belle Miller nee Hardman, the widow of Oliver Miller. She was born in Oregon, March 25, 1863, and is a daughter of Joseph and Barbara (Ritter) Hardman, who were natives of Indiana, where they were reared and married. They crossed the plains to Oregon with ox teams in 1850 and Mr. and Mrs. Hardman spent their remaining days in the Sunset state. Their daughter, Mrs. Hess, was reared in Grant county, Oregon, and in 1879 became the wife of Oliver Miller, who departed this life in 1890, leaving two sons, Clarence S. and Frank H., both of whom are married, reside in Idaho and have children.

When Mr. Hess crossed the plains to Oregon he traveled through the Boise valley and passed through the city of Boise, which was then a mere hamlet. He has lived to witness the remarkable changes which time and man have wrought in this section of the state and since coming to Idaho in 1902 has borne his part in the work of general development and progress. He and his wife are members of the Baptist church and both give their political support to the republican party. Mr. Hess has now passed the Psalmist's span of three score years and ten but is still quite hale and hearty, his son, however, relieving him of much of the work of the ranch.

JOHN H. WAKEMAN.

Boise secured a valuable addition to its citizenship when in 1883 John H. Wake- man took up his abode there. He was one of the early settlers of South Boise, coming from Utah. He passed away at his home on Garfield street in South Boise on the 13th of April, 1919, when in his seventy-fourth year, and thus was closed a life of activity and usefulness. He was a good mechanic who worked with and about machinery throughout practically his entire life and for more than a quarter of a century was in the employ of Alexander Rossi and W. H. Ridenbaugh, doing mechanical and carpenter work and general utility service at the sawmill and in connection with their lumber business. Indolence and ·idleness were utterly foreign to his nature and he was thus actively connected with the industrial development of the city in which he made his home.

John H. Wakeman was born near London, England, September 6, 1845, and came with his parents to the United States on a sailing ship that was nine weeks in making the voyage. He was then a lad of sixteen years. His parents, Robert and Sarah Wakeman, were converts to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and on reaching the new world in 1861 the family started over the plains to Utah, but both the father and mother died while on the journey. Mr. Wakeman of this review continued the trip with the wagon train, driving a team of oxen. In Salt Lake City he was married to Miss Ann Browell, who was born in England on the 18th of May, 1850. She came to the new world in 1866, when a maiden of sixteen summers, in company with her parents, William and Jane Browell, who were also Mormon converts. The Browell family likewise crossed the plains to Utah in a covered wagon, for this was long before the era of railroad travel. Mrs. Wakeman walked much of the distance across the plains and at length the journey was ter- minated by their arrival at Salt Lake City, where her father lived to the advanced age of eighty-eight years. While in England he had been a ship draughtsman, and the Wakeman family in that country were engaged in the manufacture of fringe and tassels and were well-to-do people.

John H. Wakeman did not cling to the Mormon faith nor has his widow remained a member of that church. She comes of English ancestry and belongs to the Episcopal church, which is the dominant church of England. Her father, William Browell, was a highly educated man who graduated from Oxford University. To Mr. and Mrs. Wakeman were born twelve children, nine sons and three daughters, of whom seven are living, namely: Frederick, an agriculturist of Blackfoot, Idaho; John L., who is master mechanic at the Owyhee Hotel in Boise; William, who holds the position of superintendent in a planing mill at Potlatch, Idaho; Annie, the wife of W. R. Butler, of Boise; Thomas Herbert, who has been a gunner in the United States navy for the past sixteen years; and Clarence E. and Bert E., twins, who are now twenty-

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six years of age. The two last named served in the world war, Bert being in France as a gunner, while Clarence was at Camp Hancock, Georgia, when the war ended. Mrs. Wakeman has every reason to be proud of her family of seven children, all of whom have attained adult age and are engaged in honorable and useful activities. Each one has been a credit to the name and, like their parents, have commanded the respect and confidence of all who know them.

Mr. Wakeman remained a valued citizen of South Boise until called to his final rest in his seventy-fourth year. He had lived to witness many changes in the city and this section of the state and he strongly endorsed every plan and measure for the general good or that furthered public progress in any way.

CHARLES W. MORRISON.

Charles W. Morrison, a prominent and successful attorney of Rigby, Idaho, was born in Duncannon, Pennsylvania, March 13, 1881, a son of Andy and Carrie (McLaugh- lin) Morrison, who were also natives of Pennsylvania. The father was a buffer in one of the iron mills of Pennsylvania for many years and still resides in Duncannon, Penn- sylvania. The mother passed away in 1908.

The early life of Charles Morrison was spent in Duncannon, where he was educated and later taught school for four years. He then entered Valparaiso University at Valparaiso, Indiana, where he pursued a scientific, classical and law course and was graduated in the class of 1908. He then removed to South Dakota, where he taught school for three and a half years, after which he removed to Idaho and taught school at Roberts, Jefferson county, and also one year at Rigby, Idaho. Mr. Morrison ran for the office of superintendent of public instruction of Idaho in 1914 as candidate on the progressive ticket and although defeated, was supported by members of the democratic party. On January 16, 1915, he was admitted to the bar in the supreme court of Idaho and resides in the city of Rigby, where he has since engaged in the practice of law. Twice he was a candidate for the office of county attorney but was defeated both times. He has served on the city council and is a stockholder in the Jefferson County National Bank and in the Beet Growers Sugar Company.

On the 25th of September, 1912, Mr. Morrison was united in marriage to Miss Goldie Crissman, of Ipswich, South Dakota, a daughter of Thomas and Molly Crissman, and they have become the parents of two children, Priscilla and Herbert.

Fraternally he is a member of the Masonic Order, the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and the Woodmen of the World lodges, and his political allegiance he gives to the republican party. His religious faith is indicated by his membership in the Presby- terian church. Mr. Morrison is a deep student and spends much of his time in his library which is known as the finest and largest in his county. He is a man of rare intelligence and is known as a keen and able attorney at law throughout the entire community wherein he resides. He is held in the highest respect and esteem.

SOREN PETER JENSEN.

Soren Peter Jensen was a well known contractor and builder of Boise who died at his home on the Boise bench south of the capital city March 13, 1913. He was a Dane by birth, his natal day being August 26, 1864. He left his native Denmark in young manhood and came to the United States, accompanied by his younger brother, Nels Jensen, who is now a resident of Roberts, Illinois. Both brothers had served in the Danish army before crossing the Atlantic and while still in Denmark, Soren P. Jensen had learned the carpenter's trade. After reaching the new world he took up his abode in Minnesota, where he lived for a few years and then removed to Roberts, Ford county, Illinois, where he formed the acquaintance of the lady whom he made his wife. She bore the maiden name of Nellie Wesner and they were married on the 26th of February, 1890. The Wesner family is of Pennsylvania Dutch descent, her parents being Henry K. and Hester (Defenbaugh) Wesner, the former a native of Pennsylvania, while the later was born in Ohio, and Mrs. Jensen's birth occurred at Reading, Livingston county, Illinois, on the 3d of October, 1870. Her father was a butcher by trade, thus providing

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for the support of his family. Mrs. Jensen was largely reared at Streator, Illinois, and after her marriage resided at Streator and at Pontiac, Illinois, before she came with her husband to Boise in 1900.

It was in 1911 that Mr. Jensen built his present family residence on the Boise bench that is still occupied by his widow. It is a cosy home, two stories in height with basement, thoroughly modern in its equipment and improvements. The residence stands on a five-acre tract of land which is highly cultivated but was sagebrush when Mr. Jensen made the purchase. His death occurred two years after he removed to the little ranch. Previous to that time he had built and occupied several other good homes in Boise and vicinity, selling them at advanced prices as opportunity offered and then building others. He continued to follow the occupation of contracting and building in Boise from the time of his arrival until his death and in addition to erecting many residences in this section of the state he built the Union block on Idaho street and the Central fire station of Boise. He often bad in his employ large numbers of men and won for himself a most creditable position among the leading contractors of his adopted city, in which he continued a prominent representative of industrial activity until death claimed him when he was but forty-eight years of age. Mr. Jensen is survived by his widow and three children, Mrs. Jessie Campbell, Mrs. Iva Thompson and Orie Jensen, all yet residents of Boise. The elder daughter was born January 20, 1891, and on the 19th of October, 1916, became the wife of Russell Campbell. They have one child, Walter Russell, born August 21, 1917. The second daughter was born November 20, 1894, and on the 25th of April, 1917, became the wife of Glen Walter Thompson. Their family numbers but one daughter, Glendora, born April 26, 1918. The son, Orie Jensen, was born April 3, 1892, and is a mechanic, residing with his mother. He served in the World war, being for six months at Camp Lewis.

The father was a thirty-second degree Mason and member of the Mystic Shrine and he also belonged to the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, the American Yeomen and the Neighbors of Woodcraft. He was loyal to the teachings and purposes of these orders and in every relation of life commanded the respect and confidence of his fellow- men, his death being the occasion of deep regret to all who knew him.

CARY C. HAVIRD.

In the year 1865 a long train of one hundred wagons wended its way across the plains from Illinois to the Pacific northwest and the members of the train experienced the usual hardships, privations and difficulties of travel at that period. The train passed throughi Idaho and proceeded to Walla Walla, Washington. The Havird family, including Cary C. Havird, were members of this train, and being favorably impressed with the country now included within the borders of Idaho, they returned from Walla Walla, Washington, and took up their abode at Centerville, Boise county, in the spring of 1866. The father was Caleb Hardy Hulty Wanger Havird and the mother bore the maiden name of Jemima Kinder. To all the father was known as "Cal" Havird, and with the pioneer development of the state he became closely asso- ciated. He followed mining pursuits for many years and passed away at Blackfoot, Idaho.

Cary C. Havird was born at Quincy, Illinois, December 4, 1855, and was a lad of but nine years when the family crossed the plains. He had reached the age of ten years when the family home was established at Centerville and there he was reared amid the scenes and conditions of frontier life. He remembers many of the incidents of the trip over the long stretches of hot sand and through the mountain passes, including the fact that his father killed two Indian scouts while they were crossing the plains.

Cary C. Havird resided in the Boise basin until 1894, when he removed to the city of Boise. In his youth and early manhood he was variously employed, first driv- ing an ox team that was used in hauling wood. Later he went to Garden valley, where he worked on ranches through three different summers. Still later he fol- lowed mining pursuits for a year or so, and from 1876 until 1886 he was engaged in the livery business at Centerville. In the latter year he was elected sheriff of Boise county and by reelection was continued in that position for six years, or until 1892, being chosen to the office as the republican candidate. Idaho was admitted to the Union while he was occupying that position. In 1894 he took up his abode in the city of Boise and in the following year purchased a ranch of one hundred and

CARY C. HAVIRD

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sixty acres seven miles west of the capital city, upon which he resided until 1907. In the meantinie, or in the fall of 1904, he was elected to the office of sheriff of Ada. county, but continued to reside upon his ranch west of Boise until 1907. In July, 1905, he resigned his official position and concentrated his efforts and attention upon his ranch and cattle interests, continuing the further development of his ranch prop- erty until 1907, when he sold his land and five hundred head of cattle and again be- came a resident of the capital city. In 1909 he purchased a ranch in Canyon county near Star and afterward bought two other ranches in that vicinity. During the past twelve years or more he has been a speculator in ranch property, buying and selling. Whenever he sees an opportunity to invest at a low figure he does so, holding the land until he can sell at a profit. In this way he has made a very comfortable competence and is now financially independent, having made large investments in farms, first mortgages and other valuable securities. During the period of his residence in Idaho he has owned seven different ranches, four in Canyon county and three in Ada county. He formerly raised and dealt extensively in cattle and he recalls that during Cleve- land's second administration he sold fine fat steers at from eighteen to twenty dollars a head-something very different from the price which cattle now command.

In Centerville, Idaho, on the 10th of November, 1879, Mr. Havird was married by Bishop Tuttle to Miss Helen W. Dodge, who was born in Canyon City, Oregon, June 16, 1861, and passed away March 6, 1899, leaving three children. Harold Meffert, who was born in 1880, died December 16, 1916, leaving a wife and two daughters, Hazel Brown and Ruth Cary. The other two children are: Margaret R., who is now the wife of Norman Gratz, a well known business man of Boise; and Raymond C., who is married and lives on a ranch west of Boise.

Mr. Havird has always been a republican in his political views since age con- ferred upon him the right of franchise. Fraternally he is an active and prominent Odd Fellow and is a past grand of his lodge. He also has the veteran badge of honor in the order, having been connected with the Odd Fellows since reaching the age of twenty-one years. His experiences have covered every phase of frontier life and made him familiar with every feature of the state's development and progress. When he was sheriff of Boise county in 1888, in attempting to make an arrest of some desperate characters for murder, three of them in a bunch, who were brothers, attacked him and he narrowly made his escape. His six years' term of service was fraught with many exciting incidents, many of them involving great danger. In his younger days he was very fond of hunting and killed many deer and bears as well as much small game. He has also trapped scores of beavers. Great indeed are the changes which have come about as the years have passed and the state has been reclaimed for the pur- poses of civilization, its natural resources developed, its land claimed and cultivated and the work of improvement carried steadily forward. Mr. Havird has always been a progressive citizen, bearing his full share in the work of general advancement.

RICHARD Z. JOHNSON.

Richard Z. Johnson, whose name was interwoven with many events which have made history in Idaho, and whose service was of signal worth to the state, was born in Akron, Ohio, May 21, 1837. His ancestors were among the early settlers of New Eng- land and in both the paternal and maternal lines there were those who fought for American independence in the Revolutionary war. His father, Harvey S. Johnson, was a native of Rutland, Vermont, where the family has been represented through many decades. His father and his grandfather had been members of the bar and he turned to the same profession as a life work, becoming a distinguished attorney of Ohio, with office in Akron. He was also prominently connected with the public life of that com- munity, where he served as the first postmaster and where he filled the position of mayor for a number of years, his administration being characterized by many events of signal worth to the community. He was also called upon to represent his district in congress, and when at the advanced age of eighty-six years he passed away in 1896, a life of great activity and usefulness was ended. He had been a devoted member of the Congregational church, to which also belonged his wife, who in her maidenhood bore the name of Calista F. Munger. She, too, was a native of Rutland, Vermont, and their family numbered six children.

Their firstborn was Richard Z. Johnson, who after mastering the branches of learn

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ing taught in the public schools of Ohio and continuing his studies for a time in New York, matriculated in Yale University and was graduated within its classic walls in 1859, choosing as a life work the profession in which three of his direct ancestors had already attained notable prominence. He located for the practice of law in St. Paul, Minnesota, where he was admitted to the bar, and later he followed his profession for five years in Winona, Minnesota, serving during two terms of that period as city attorney. Attracted by the opportunities offered in the rapidly developing mining districts of the west, he first went to Virginia City, Nevada, and thence to Silver City, Idaho, where he remained for about fourteen years, enjoying a large and lucrative practice during that period. In December, 1878, he became a resident of Boise and it was not long before his professional ability had gained for him a large and distinctively representative clientage. His name figured in connection with much of the most important litigation heard in the capital city and his prominence as an attorney is indicated in the fact that he was honored by election to the office of president of the Idaho State Bar Asso- ciation. His knowledge of legal principles was comprehensive and exact and he was seldom if ever at fault in their application to a point in controversy. His keenly analytical mind, developed through years of practice together with a natural gift of oratory that enabled him not only to impose upon his hearers the salient points of his case but his every fine gradation were factors that continually kept him in the front rank of the legal profession in Idaho. He manifested, too, the keenest sagacity in busi- ness affairs, as shown in his investments in real estate holdings in Boise, and his im- provement of his property not only augmented his private fortunes but also contributed to the development and upbuilding of the city. His knowledge of the law was largely used for public benefit, his opinions being constantly sought in regard to the legality of many important civic questions and interests. He was one of the commissioners who compiled the revised territorial code, while for two terms he filled the office of attorney general of the state. He was also the author and secured the passage of the law creating the independent school districts of Boise and as a member of the board of education for fifteen years did valnable service for the city. His championship of higher education was manifest in his service as one of the first regents of the State University and as a member of its board of trustees for a number of years. When private interests compelled his resignation from that position in 1894 his former col- leagues on the board conferred upon him the honorary degree of Doctor of Laws.

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History of Idaho, the gem of the mountains, Volume III, Part 49

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