History of Idaho, the gem of the mountains, Volume III, Part 70

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

USA > Idaho > History of Idaho, the gem of the mountains, Volume III > Part 70

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Mr. Basye is an Odd Fellow and has been identified with the order for a half century. He has served as noble grand of his lodge and his wife is connected with the Rebekah degree. Mr. Basye is a republican and has filled the office of county commissioner of Canyon county. serving before Gem county was organized, and he has always been an advocate of good roads, doing much for the improvement of the highways while serving as road commissioner. As a pioneer he has contributed in marked measure to the development and progress of this section of the state, and his history is inseparably interwoven with its annals.

MRS. EMMA LOUISE BURGESS.

Mrs. Emma Louise Burgess is the widow of Professor Oscar F. Burgess, who was a well known musician and organist. She is one of the oldest residents of South Boise, she and her husband having come to Boise in 1891, from Denver, Colorado, where they had . been living for the previous ten years. Professor Burgess was born in New York city, January 1, 1852, a descendant of old Knickerbocker stock, and was educated in New York. In early youth he gave evidence of possessing much musical talent and vocal ability, and while a mere lad he was a soloist in Trinity church, New York. In 1881, he and his wife went to Denver, Colorado, where they remained for ten years, and then removed to Boise, where he died December 4, 1891.

In the year following her husband's death, Mrs. Burgess built her present home on Boise Avenue, South Boise, and here she has continued to reside in all the intervenin . years. She was born in New York city, February 8, 1856, and for her sixty-four years, she is extremely well preserved. She was a daughter of Henry G. and Mary (Russell) Price, both belonging to old New York families, who were of Scotch and Holland-Dutch descent, Mrs. Burgess, therefore, tracing her lineage from old Knickerbocker stock. Her father, who was a carriage builder, was a native of New York city, where he died. Her mother spent her last years in South Boise, and died here, December 17, 1915. She had been living with her daughter since 1891, the year Mrs. Burgess came to Boise, her husband having died when Mrs. Burgess was only ten years old.

Mrs. Burgess was reared in New York and educated in the schools of that city. At the age of seventeen, she was married to Professor Burgess, who was then just twenty- one, the marriage taking place on September 28, 1873. They continued to reside in New York until 1881, when they removed to Denver, Colorado.

For four years-from 1892 to 1896-Mrs. Burgess filled the responsible position of matron of St. Margaret's Hall, Boise. She has been very active for many years in

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church and missionary work, giving earnest and thoughtful attention to all branches of that work, as well as to social and cultural movements intended to serve the best interests of the community at large.

Having no living children of her own, Mrs. Burgess reared an infant son of a sister, Theodore Tayler Chave, who accompanied her to Denver. She and her husband educated him, finally sending him to Harvard College, and some time later he was graduated from the University of Colorado. He is now a teacher, being principal of the high school at Pocahontas, Arkansas. Throughout her long residence of thirty years in Boise, Mrs. Burgess has held the esteem and affection of all classes of citizens and is generally regarded as one of the most cultured women in the community.

CHARLES PAYNTON.

Charles Paynton, who has been a federal employe almost steadily for thirty years, being throughout nearly the entire period in the office of the United States surveyor general at Boise, was born in Brooklyn, New York, May 31, 1858, and is a son of William and Harriet (Craft) Paynton, both representatives of old New York families of Revolu- tionary war descent. The great-great-grandfather, William Paynton, served with the American forces in the war for independence and lived to the notable old age of one hundred and one years. The great-grandfather fought in the War of 1812. The father, William Paynton, died of illness contracted as a soldier of the Civil war.

Charles Paynton was reared and educated in New York city and when eighteen years of age followed the advice of Horace Greeley, whose admonition was "Go west, young man, go west." He therefore, in company with his younger brother, Andrew, made his way to Idaho and joined his brother-in-law, James H. Hart, one of the pioneers of this state, now a resident of Boise. Since 1876 Charles Paynton has continued a resident of Idaho. He early learned the printer's trade and worked on the Idaho Statesman as a printer for eight years. In 1887 he entered the service of the United States in the surveyor general's office and has been employed in various capacities almost continuously since, doing most efficient work in a thoroughly systematic and methodical manner that has accomplished desired results. He also served in the old Boise volunteer fire department and his long residence in the city has made him familiar with many conditions and interests which have had marked bearing upon the history of Boise and its development and progress.

At Ogden, Utah, on the 25th of June, 1891, Mr. Paynton was married to Miss Helen Virginia Schaefer, who was born in Burlington, Iowa, June 14, 1867, a daughter of Martin and Regina Schaefer, who were natives of Germany but were married in Balti- more, Maryland, having become acquainted on ship board while sailing to the new world. They soon afterward removed to Burlington, Iowa, and there Mrs. Paynton was. reared and educated. For several years she was a successful teacher in both Iowa and Idaho, being an instructor in the Burlington high school for three years and at the same time Frank O. Lowden, now governor of Illinois, was a teacher in the high school there. Later Mrs. Paynton became a teacher in the schools of Boise. To Mr. and Mrs .. Paynton were born three sons who are yet living. Franklin William, born in Boise, March 10, 1896, volunteered for service in the World war, joining the army July 14, 1917, before the draft. He was then twenty-one years of age. He spent sixteen months overseas, being for ten months in France and six months in Germany. He served on all the principal battle fronts as driver of an ammunition truck, one of the difficult and dangerous positions of the war, and returned from Europe, July 2, 1919. He was a member of the Third Division of U. S. Regulars that has the credit of turning the tide of battle at Chateau-Thierry. He escaped uninjured and is now a civil engineer, following that profession in Ada county. He received a diploma from an eastern school in electrical engineering and he is a member of the Association of American Engineers. The second son, Charles Schaefer Paynton, born in Boise, June 7, 1904, is a sophomore in the high school. George Dunlap Paynton was born September 24, 1909, and is a pupil in the parochial schools.

Mrs. Paynton and the children are communicants of the Catholic church, and she belongs also to the Catholic Women's League. Mr. Paynton has membership with the Woodmen of the World. He and his family reside on a small but valuable ranch of their own on the Boise bench a mile northwest of the state fair grounds and previous to taking up their abode thereon lived for ten years in Boise. Such in brief is the history

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of Charles Paynton and his family, and there is no record which indicates greater fidelity in office and capability in service than does that of Mr. Paynton, who almost continuously for three decades has been identified with the office of the United States surveyor general.

CLINTON C. SIGGINS.

Clinton C. Siggins, filling the position of county auditor of Twin Falls county, was born at Golden, Colorado, December 31, 1862, his parents being Benjamin B. and Elizabeth (Walker) Siggins, the former a native of Pennsylvania, while the latter was born in Iowa. They were married at Chariton, Iowa, and the father, having studied for the bar, was admitted to practice and took up the active work of the profession in that state. He later removed to Golden, Colorado, where he became interested in mining and was also a partner of W. M. Telling in the practice of law. He there remained from 1860 until 1865, after which he spent some time in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. While in Colorado he served as the first judge of Gilpin county. His last days were spent at Youngsville, Pennsylvania, where he passed away at the age of seventy-eight years, while his wife died in 1865. His political endorsement was given to the republican party. He ranked as an able lawyer, being a clear thinker and logical reasoner, while his careful and thorough preparation of his cases was one of the strong elements in his success in the courts.

Clinton C. Siggins spent his youthful days in Pennsylvania and acquired. his edu- cation in the schools of that state. He was a young man of twenty-three years when in 1885 he removed to Thomas county, Kansas, where he filled the position of clerk of the court. He also engaged in the real estate business there until 1889, when he removed to Burlington, Colorado, where he established a real estate and insurance agency. The following year, however, he removed to Boise, Idaho, where he continued in the same line of business, and he also acted as clerk in the sheriff's office for a number of years. In 1909 he removed to Twin Falls and accepted a position as chief deputy in the office of the county clerk. He also spent two years as deputy sheriff and United States commissioner. On the 13th of January, 1919, he became clerk of the district court and ex-officio auditor and recorder and is likewise clerk of the board of county commissioners. Thus important official duties are claiming his attention and at the same time he is interested in business affairs, being secretary of the Hansen Bridge Commission and secretary of the Twin Falls County Hospital.

In 1889 Mr. Siggins was married to Miss Nellie Cunningham, a native of Des Moines, Iowa, and a daughter of Jerry Cunningham, who was engaged in the grocery business there. Mr. and Mrs. Siggins have four children: Leone, Jerry, Edwin and Edna. Mr. Siggins belongs to the Benevolent Protective Order of Elks and the Knights of Pythias, and in his political views he has always been a republican. He has had much to do with shaping the political history of various localities in which he has lived and in office has always been found most loyal to the trust reposed in him. His sterling worth is widely recognized and throughout Twin Falls county, where he is now filling the position of county auditor, he has gained many friends.

FREDERICK ADAMS WILKIE.

Frederick Adams Wilkie, state engineer, with offices and residence in Boise, was born in Vineland, Cumberland county, New Jersey, September 17, 1870. His father, Frederick Christian Wilkie, a native of the state of New York, was born June 6, 1840, and at the time of the Civil war responded to the country's call for troops, entering the Union army as a member of Company G, Fifth New York Heavy Artillery. He joined the service as a lieutenant and served a little over three years. Ere the close he had been promoted to the rank of major in command of a battalion and was acting as colonel. His last days were passed in Boise, where his demise occurred in 1907. In early manhood he had wedded Sarah Emma Adams, who was born in Vermont and died at Council, Idaho, in 1884.

It was in the year 1876 that Frederick Adams Wilkie came to the west with his mother and two brothers, who journeyed to Cheyenne, Wyoming, where the father had located two years before and had established a home for them. In 1881 the family

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took up their abode at Soda Springs, Idaho, and in September, 1883, removed to Council, Idaho, at which time the Oregon Short Line Railroad was being huilt and the father was employed in grading work, in which connection he used three teams of his own. Frederick A. Wilkie, then a lad of but thirteen years, and his younger brother, Arthur H., only eleven years of age, together operated a scraper to which one of the teams was hitched. Mr. Wilkie of this review has lived continuously in Idaho since 1881. He acquired his education in the public schools of this state and under private tutors and received most of his technical training from his father, who was a man of good education. He had mathematical training through a correspondence school and at fourteen years of age he began learning the printer's trade at Weiser, Idaho. Subsequently he took up the study of architecture in Salt Lake City, where he spent three years, working at the printer's trade while continuing his studies. He not only became thoroughly qualified in architectural work hut also in civil engineering through night study. He then abandoned the printer's trade to engage in business as an architect and civil engineer and thus spent his time for several years. In 1905 he removed to Boise, where he has since given his attention solely to civil engineering, chiefly in connection with the development of the irrigation interests of the state. His marked ability along this line led to his selection for the office of city engineer at Emmett, Idaho, in which position he served in 1909 and 1910. He held a similar position at Ashton, Idaho, in 1913 and 1914 and at the same time was a member of the town board of Ashton. He was further called upon for public service along the line of his chosen profession in his appointment to the position of deputy state engineer hy John H. Smith in March, 1915. He continued to act as deputy under Mr. Smith until March 1, 1918, when Governor Alexander appointed him to the posi- tion of state engineer to fill out Mr. Smith's unexpired term, the latter having resigned. He is also ex-officio a member of the state board of health. His ability is pronounced. He has thoroughly mastered most intricate and important engineering problems and has so directed his studies that he accurately understands the specific needs of the state along this line and finds ready solution for the questions presented. He is a valued member of the Idaho Society of Civil Engineers, in which his opinions carry great weight, for his knowledge and experience enahle him to speak with authority upon many interesting professional phases.

On the 25th of May, 1892, Mr. Wilkie was married to Miss Sallie Edith Bach, of Boise, Idaho, and they have one son, Roland Dale, born in April, 1902. Mr. Wilkie has always given his political allegiance to the democratic party. He is prominent in Masonic circles, having hecome a thirty-second degree Scottish Rite Mason and member of the Mystic Shrine. He was the first master of Ashton Lodge, No. 73, A. F. & A. M., and he has always exemplified in his life the beneficent spirit and purposes of the craft. All other interests, however, he has made subservient to his professional duties and his fidelity and loyalty. combined with his capability, make him a most efficient and valued officer of the state.

STELLA M. ROGERS.

Stella M. Rogers, county superintendent of schools of Bonneville county living at Idaho Falls, is a native of Hamburg, Iowa, and a daughter of Joseph E. and Belle M. (Walkup) Rogers, who were natives of Iowa and Pennsylvania respectively. The father, who followed merchandising, removed from Iowa to Kansas at an early period in the colonization of that state and was in business there for ten years. He after- ward went to Nebraska, where he resided for a considerable period, passing away in January, 1917. His widow is still living and now makes her home with a daughter in Arizona.

Stella M. Rogers was reared and educated in Kansas and Nebraska. After attend- ing the country schools she continued her studies in the high school at Cedar Bluffs, Nebraska, and later attended the normal school at Fremont and the State Normal at Peru, Nebraska. She then took up the profession of teaching, which she followed at Cedar Bluffs and Wahoo, Nebraska, until 1908, when she removed to Idaho Falls, Idaho, and was a teacher in the city schools for seven years. She then went into the county superintendent's office, acting as assistant for a year, and later was princi- pal of the Eagle Rock school and afterward of the Riverside school. She resigned the latter position on account of having been elected to the office of county superintend- ent of schools, in which capacity she has supervision over fifty-two schools in Bonne-

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ville county. She is an able educator and is making an excellent record by the splendid work she is doing as county superintendent, for her labors have resulted in advancing educational standards and systematizing and improving the schools in many ways. She is also identified with agricultural interests, for she owns farm lands in the Lost river country.

Miss Rogers supports the democratic party. Her religious faith is that of the Baptist church, in which she is acting as clerk. Her attractive womanly qualities as well as her professional ability have won her high regard and she has an extensive circle of friends in Bonneville county.

FRANK E. DEKAY

Frank E. DeKay, warden of the state penitentiary at Boise, was born in Utica, Michigan, December 20, 1869; a son of Samuel L. and Amelia E. (Berry) DeKay. The father has now passed away, but the mother is still living, making her home in Mount Clemens, Macomb county, Michigan. Samuel L. DeKay, a native of New York, died in 1887, when his son Frank was eighteen years of age. During his active life he followed various business pursuits, devoting considerable time to contracting and building, and in that connection he built the city hall at Detroit, Michigan, and also did the grading work on the Detroit, Lapeer & Marquette Railroad. He likewise had various other important business interests. At one time, in his home town in Utica, Michigan, he conducted a drug and grocery store, also dealt in furniture and carried on an undertaking business. He was also proprietor of a livery stable and the owner of a sawmill and a pulp mill. These varied and important interests received his attention all at one time and he was likewise the owner of a farm near Utica. His home in New York was near the city of Utica and with others he removed to the west and founded a new town in Michigan which was named Utica after the old home city in the east. In a word he was a very forceful and resourceful business man, readily recognizing and utilizing opportunities and carrying forward to suc- cessful completion whatever he undertook. Aside from his extensive business affairs he was active in public office, serving as sheriff of Macomb county, Michigan, for three terms, being the incumbent in that office at the time of his death.

The youthful days of Frank E. DeKay were passed in Utica, Michigan, where he acquired a high school education. He was eighteen years of age at the time of his father's death and when twenty years of age came to Idaho, reaching Pocatello in 1889. For four years he engaged in the retail grocery business there, owning and operating the same until 1893, when he removed to Idaho Falls, where he con- ducted a dry goods store for two years. In 1895 he went to Blackfoot, Bingham county, Idaho, where he resided to the time of his appointment to the position of warden of the state penitentiary by Governor Alexander in January, 1917. At Black- foot he had served as under sheriff from 1895 until 1897 and in the latter year had established a meat market, which he owned and successfully conducted for seven years or until 1904, when he entered the retail grocery business, continuing in the same for thirteen years or until removing to Boise in 1917. He is a man of rugged, sterling qualities and diversified interests, for in connection with his mercantile business he devoted many years to the cattle industry, being recognized as one of the state's successful cattlemen and still the owner of a large cattle ranch at Tyhee, five miles north of Pocatello, comprising three hundred and twenty acres. He filed on this tract when the Fort Hall Indian Reservation was opened to settlement in 1902 and has since developed and improved this wild sagebrush land, once the home of the red men, festive jack rabbits and howling coyotes, converting the same into one of the most valuable properties in the Snake River valley. The Indians on the Fort Hall Bottoms, where he grazed his cattle, gave him the sobriquet of "Koochen- tibo-heintz" (white cowboy friend). In recent years Mr. DeKay has given consider- able attention to public duties. He was appointed sheriff of Bingham county by Governor James H. Hawley and served until the end of the term. As warden he has introduced the honor system. During 1917 he worked fifty-six per cent of the convicts outside on the penitentiary farms, without a gun guard, and lost but nine, six of whom were captured and returned to the prison. In 1918 he worked sixty-six per cent of the convicts outside on farms and in road camps and to date has had but five men run away. In the past fifteen months he has had five life prisoners who

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have worked and slept outside the prison without guard and there has been no loss among them, all being on the honor system. He is a man of broad humanitarian principles and kindly spirit, always seeking to develop the "spark of good" that is in each individual. His relation to the convicts is somewhat paternal in nature --- much like that of a father toward his children. He makes the men feel that he has faith in them and desires to help them and will do so if he has their cooperation and support. The only punishment meted out is that of solitary confinement with a bread and water diet.

On the 8th of May, 1893, when twenty-four years of age, Mr. DeKay was married to Miss Kate C. McLeod, of Pana, Illinois, and they have become parents of four children, three sons and a daughter: Frank G., Katherine, Edwin R. and Harold R. The eldest son, now twenty-one years of age, was a student in the University of Washington at Seattle and served in France. Before attaining his majority he joined the One Hundred and Sixty-first Field Hospital Corps and was gassed and wounded by shrapnel shell September 26, 1918, in the first day's fighting in the Argonne. He is rated twenty-five per cent total disability and is now receiving government voca- tional training at the University of Washington. The daughter, Katherine, nineteen years of age, is a student in the State Normal School at Albion, Idaho. Both are graduates of the Blackfoot high school. Mrs. DeKay has been a teacher in the public schools of Pocatello and introduced the kindergarten system there in 1892. Mrs. DeKay has always been closely identified with educational work, holding one of the first life diplomas ever granted to a teacher in Idaho, and was the first woman school director in Bingham county, having been elected clerk of the Independent District No. 8. Blackfoot, in 1901. To her belongs the credit of installing the first school library in the county at Blackfoot. She is a charter member and assisted in organizing both the Current Event and Civic Clubs of Blackfoot, is an officer of the Columbian Club of Boise, a Daughter of the American Revolution, is very active in Red Cross work, is head of a Red Cross unit and at present (1917-1919) is matron of the Idaho penitentiary,

In his political views Mr. DeKay is a democrat. Fraternally he is connected with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, which he joined on attaining his majority, and he is now a past noble grand. He also has membership with the Benevolent Protective Order of Elks, the Modern Woodmen of America and the Woodmen of the World. Mr. and Mrs. DeKay are widely known in various sections of the state and enjoy the warm regard which is always given in recognition of high personal worth and merit on the part of the individual.

LIEUTENANT COLONEL DE WITT P. OLSON.

Lieutenant Colonel De Witt P. Olson, state highway engineer of Idaho, who was installed in that office May 10, 1919, having been appointed to the position by Governor D. W. Davis, is a resident of Idaho Falls, to which place he removed with his parents in 1901, coming from the state of Iowa. Colonel Olson returned from France, after active overseas service, on the 23d of February, 1919, reaching Hoboken, New Jersey, on that date, on the United States battleship Kansas in company with his regiment, the One Hundred and Sixteenth United States Engineers, made up of Idaho and Oregon troops and forming a part of the Forty-first Division. Of this regiment he had been in command for more than a year in France, or from the 27th of December, 1917, when the colonel was promoted to brigadier general. Thus Mr. Olson, although having only a lieutenant colonel's commission, commanded the regiment and drew a colonel's pay while in France. He is now concentrating his efforts and energies with equal thor- oughness upon the duties of state highway engineer of Idaho.

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History of Idaho, the gem of the mountains, Volume III, Part 70

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