USA > Idaho > History of Idaho, the gem of the mountains, Volume III > Part 77
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After their marriage Mr. and Mrs. Smith resided in Colorado until 1903, when they removed to Idaho and located on the present Smith ranch near Maple Grove school. In December, 1902, he purchased a tract of one hundred and twenty acres but did not build on it until early in 1903. When he acquired this holding there were no buildings on it and but forty acres had been cleared, the remainder being sagebrush. Mr. Smith has succeeded in making it one of the hest improved hay, grain and live stock farms in Ada county, the improvements effected being the best of their. class, and including a one hundred and thirty-nine ton concrete silo.
Mr. Smith is a member of the Woodmen of the World and is a past chancellor of the Knights of Pythias. In political affairs he supports the democratic party. He was formerly a member of the Maple Grove school board and was chairman of the board when the present fine school building was erected; in fact, Mr. Smith inaugurated the movement which finally culminated in the erection of the school building. He is still
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the owner of a valuable ranch containing eighty acres in Weld county, Colorado, which is in the sugar belt.
Mr. and Mrs. Smith have three living children, namely: Mabel E., the wife of Iloe Estes, a rancher, living on Ten Mile creek, Ada county; and Ruby E, and Goldie, both at home. Mabel and Ruby are graduates of the Boise high school. The ouly son died at the age of seven years. Mr. Smith is a popular citizen of Boise and the sur- rounding country and is ever ready to support all public projects designed to advance the welfare of his community. Mrs. Smith is a member of the Golden Rod Club of Boise bench; of the First Presbyterian church of Boise; the Woodcraft Circle, and the Woman's Relief Corps, and has been active in Red Cross work, giving of her time and ability with much freedom during the World war.
ANTHONY W. COURSON.
Anthony W. Courson, a well known and extensive rancher and stockman, formerly of the Horseshoe Bend vicinity, where he still owns a ranch of six hundred acres, but has been a resident of the Boise valley since 1917, was born in Warren county, Penn- sylvania, August 3, 1847. He is a son of Samuel and Esther Elizabeth (Thompson) Courson, also natives of Pennsylvania, the former of Holland-Dutch descent and the latter of Irish extraction. Samuel Courson was born in 1818 and his wife in 1820. They were married in Pennsylvania and moved to northeastern Iowa in 1854, at which time the son, Anthony W. Courson, was seven years old. The parents spent the re- mainder of their lives in Iowa and both died at the age of seventy-six, Mrs. Courson surviving her husband by two years. They celebrated their golden wedding in 1888, their marriage having taken place in 1838 in Pennsylvania. They were the parents of five children, three boys and two girls, of whom Anthony W. was the second in order of birth. All are living but W. W. Courson, a younger brother, who died at Long Beach, California, February 12, 1920, aged sixty-six years. His old home was at Clarion, Iowa, in the vicinity of which place he owned several good farms at the time of his death.
Anthony W. Courson was reared. on his father's place in northeastern Iowa and received a common school and commercial education. His father was the pioneer breeder of registered shorthorn cattle in that state, bringing his first lot of stock from Illinois. Anthony W. Courson has been engaged in farming and the handling of live stock for the greater part of his active life. In his young manhood, and while yet single, he left the Iowa farm and removed to Cincinnati, Ohio, where he lived for several years, while representing a large Cincinnati carriage manufacturing concern, for which he did business on the road as a traveling salesman for fourteen years, covering the north and south. On quitting the road, Mr. Courson removed to Postville, Iowa, where he engaged in business as a merchant for several years. In 1908 he came to Idaho and resided for nearly four years on a ranch near the Maple Grove school. In 1911 he located in the vicinity of the Horseshoe Bend and took a homestead of one hundred and sixty acres, while his son Harold also took a homestead adjoining it, which he later relinquished to his father. Subsequently, Mr. Courson bought an additional three hun- dred and twenty acres, his entire acreage now amounting to six hundred acres. He has been very successful in his farming operations and in his live stock business and is now quite independent. In consequence of two sons going to France during the World war, Mr. Courson was obliged to rent his ranch in 1918 and he took up his residence just west of Boise, near the fair grounds, but recently he removed to his present home north of Perkins.
Mr. Courson was married June 25, 1875, to Elizabeth Stokes, who died in 1885, leaving three sons. namely: Samuel, William and Theodore, the eldest of whom was accidentally killed by a train in Chicago in 1912, where he was employed in the train yards as assistant yardmaster. In 1890 Mr. Courson married Elizabeth Bahlman, who was born in Marietta, Ohio, and they have become the parents of three sons and two daughters, namely: Harold D., who was born February 5, 1893, and served seventeen months in France during the World war; Wayne C., who was born February 5, 1897, and also served in France for seventeen months, being only twenty years of age at that time; John Kenneth, born May 12, 1900; Dorothea, born February 7, 1902, and Esther M., born March 8. 1905. The daughters are attending Boise high school. Mr. Courson is a member of the Masonic order, and in political affairs he supports the republican party. Mrs. Elizabeth (Bahlman) Courson was born in Marietta, Ohio, February 17, 1869, a
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daughter of Henry and Dorothea (Coleman) Bahlman, both of whom were Germans. She takes a warm interest in much of the social activities of the community in which she resides, and supports all movements designed to advance the welfare of the people in her neighborhood.
ELMER I. PESHAK.
Elmer I. Peshak, a well known dairy farmer and orchardist, of Ada county, who owns and lives on a valuable forty-acre ranch near the Maple Grove school, five miles southwest of Boise, is a native of Iowa, born in Mitchell county, July 26, 1875, and is a son of Ignatz H. Pesbak, who was born in Bohemia in 1844. At the age of ten years, Ignatz H. Peshak, accompanied his father, Franz Peshak, and the other members of the family to the United States in 1854 and settled in Wisconsin. It was there that he met Antonia Madera, also a native of Bohemia, who was brought to this country by her parents when a mere child, the Peshak and Madera families coming to America about the same time. Ignatz H. Peshak and Antonia Madera were married in Wiscon- sin, July 26, 1868, and are now living in Minnesota, where they celebrated their golden wedding anniversary July 26, 1918. They were the parents of five children, of whom Elmer I. was the second born. All are living, two being in Idaho, Elmer I. and Mrs. Laura Higby, of Ada county.
Elmer I. Peshak was reared on a farm in Iowa. Some time after completing his early education, he taught school for eight terms in that state and the money thus earned was devoted toward pursuing a course in the Iowa State Agricultural College, where he spent four and one-half years and from which be was graduated in 1901 as an electrical engineer. Mr. Pesbak followed this profession in various eastern and middle west states for eight years, but ill health compelled him to abandon electrical engineering. His next move brought him to Idaho and he purchased his present forty-acre ranch near the Maple Grove school, five miles southwest of Boise, paying one hundred and fifty dollars an acre for the land. He immediately set about improving it, putting up a fine silo and other buildings, which have increased the value of the place, and he set out five acres in prunes. It is estimated that the Pesbak ranch is now worth in the neighborhood of four hundred dollars an acre. It is generally conceded to be one of the best kept and most compact in the district, the prune orchard being a special feature.
On June 30, 1903, Mr. Peshak was married in Osage, Iowa, to Miss Edith Adel Rapp, 'who was also born in Mitchell county, Iowa, February 5, 1877, a daughter of William and Ellen (Birdsall) Rapp. She and her future husband met while both were students at the Iowa State Agricultural at Ames, where she took a domestic science course. For several years before her marriage she engaged in teaching school. Mr. and Mrs. Peshak are the parents of two living children: Helen Dorothy, born at Omaha, Nebraska, January 3, 1908; and Frank Carlton, born in Ada county, Idaho, September 21, 1912. Russell, the first-born, whose birth occurred at Columbus, Ohio, April 19, 1906, died at Omaha, Nebraska, February 27, 1909.
In addition to his profession as an electrical engineer and his connection with farming, Mr. Pesbak is a skilled musician, and for many years be played various instru- ments in a band. He also excels at the piano, as does his wife, who is an expert on the guitar. Both give political support to the republican party. Mr. Peshak is super- intendent of the Union Sunday school at Maple Grove. In the course of his farming operations, he specializes in dairying, always keeping about twelve dairy cows of excel- lent strain on the farm, the yield from this branch of his work bringing a nice income. Mr. Peshak and his wife left their ranch a few years ago for a time sufficient to enable them to prove up on a homestead of one hundred and sixty acres at Sunnyside, and this place they still retain.
CHARLES EDWARD MARION.
Charles Edward Marion, owner of a highly improved and compact little ranch of ten acres, lying four miles west of Boise, Idaho, was formerly for years a painstaking and efficient member of the Boise police force. He is a native of Iowa, born in Cass county, July 28, 1866, and is a son of Caleb and Hannah Marion, both of whom are
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now dead. While yet a mere child, be accompanied his parents to Colorado, being reared and educated principally in Denver and Leadville, that state. In 1889 he removed from Leadville to Boise, where he lived up to 1914, engaged in the intervening years at teaming and sheep shearing, at which work he was an expert, but finally he became a member of the Boise police force, on which he served for fourteen years without inter- ruption, earning for himself the goodwill of the citizens of all classes for his devotion to and efficiency in the discharge of his duties. Mr. Marion retired from the police force in May, 1919. It was while in that service that he developed his fine little ten-acre ranch, four miles west of Boise, which at the time he acquired it was practically all sagebrush but it is now one of the best improved small ranch homes in the Boise vicinity.
Mr. Marion has been living on his ranch since 1914 and proceeded to develop and improve the little holding, doing all the work himself. He set out all kinds of fruit and berries, ornamental and shade trees, and three years ago he built a solid cement two-story house, which is modern throughout, with electric lights and other equipment. The place is approached by a winding driveway bordered by tall shade trees, and there is also a park, which added to the other attractions, makes the Marion ranch a decidedly pretty homestead.
Mr. Marion has been twice married. His present wife was Mrs. Sybil Baker, of Boise, before her marriage to Mr. Marion. He has one son and one daughter by his first mar- riage, namely: Charles Edward, Jr., and Gladys, both of whom are married. There is one son by the present marriage: Miles Orville, born October 13, 1910.
Mr. Marion is a warm supporter of the democratic party and active in its councils. He is a member of the Woodmen of the World, to the affairs of which he gives practical attention. Mrs. Marion is a member of the Christian church, and for the past five years she has been president of the Mountain View Club of Ada county, being prominent in the social and cultural activities of the community in which she resides.
The Marlon home and its immediate surroundings are one of the show places of the locality. It is unique in design and was the joint idea of Mr. Marion and his wife. Neither money nor labor was spared in bringing the homestead to its present enviable condition. Mrs. Marion, who is a lady of French extraction, has been no small factor in adding to the originality and neatness of the home place, her handiwork giving added charm to her husband's efforts in the same direction. She is responsible for the construction of a miniature park immediately in the rear of the residence, which is laid out with flowers, trees and shrubbery, also with walks, miniature pergolas and pedestals, all built of cobblestones and cement mortar, making it at once beautiful and enduring. At one end is a typical old log cabin, appropriately furnished for the entertainment of her friends; while at the other end is a massive fireplace and flue, also constructed of cobblestones, the whole layout having a picturesque and pleasing aspect.
MARTIN ELMER PRATT.
Martin Elmer Pratt, who resides on a highly improved farm four miles west of Boise, on the Meridian road, and three-quarters of a mile west of Cole school, is one of the pioneer settlers of Idaho, to which state he came in 1877. He is a native of Massa- chusetts, born in Easton, March 9, 1858, and is the son of Jonathan Avery and Elizabeth (White) Pratt, also born in Massachusetts, of English descent, and in that state this worthy couple spent their entire lives. Jonathan A. Pratt followed the occupation of a farmer throughout his active life and was prominent in the community in which he lived, serving as chairman of the board of selectmen in Easton, Massachusetts.
Martin Elmer Pratt who comes from old New England ancestors on both sides, was educated in the schools of Easton, where he continued to reside up to the age of sixteen, when he left home and went to Wisconsin, where an elder brother was then living. After a residence of eighteen months in that state, he proceeded to southwestern Missouri, where he spent a similar period, and while there and in Wisconsin he was engaged in clerking in general stores. In 1877, at the age of nineteen years, he crossed the plains to Kelton, Utah, making the journey by train, and from Kelton by stage to Boise, paying one hundred and one dollars fare from Kansas City to Boise. He was engaged for many years in the live stock business, dealing largely in cattle and sheep, but for the past dozen years or so, be bas followed farming.
In 1909 Mr. Pratt bought a farm of eighty acres, four miles west of Boise, and in the following year located on it. He proceeded to improve and develop it, finally bring-
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ing it to the front rank among farms in the same neighborhood. In 1918, he sold seventy- five acres of his place for two hundred dollars an acre, reserving five acres with the handsome country home and other improvements for his own use.
Mr. Pratt has been twice married, his wives being sisters. On December 24, 1879, he was married to Abigail Bown, a daughter of Joseph and Temperance (Hall) Bown. She died in September, 1907, leaving two children, one of whom is John J. Pratt, who is married and lives at Placerville, Idaho, where he is engaged at mining. Mr. Pratt's second marriage took place July 2, 1909, when Mrs. Jennie Honan became his wife. She bore the maiden name of Jennie Bown and was the younger sister of his first wife. She has one daughter by her former marriage. Mrs. Pratt was born in Black Hawk county, Iowa, February 14, 1861, and came to Idaho with her parents in 1865, the family locating in the Boise valley, about four miles up the river from Boise, where Joseph Bown and his wife spent the rest of their lives, he dying in 1915, at the age of eighty- seven. His wife's death occurred in 1904. Mr. Bown was for a time the owner of the ranch home now occupied by Mr. and Mrs. Pratt.
Mr. and Mrs. Pratt are republicans but he has never held nor sought public office. He belongs to the Boise Gun Club, is devoted to hunting and fishing and has killed numbers of deer. After the lapse of more than forty years he visited his old home back in Massachusetts in the summer of 1919, renewing acquaintance with relatives and old friends. Both he and his wife are earnest members of the Congregational church. Mrs. Pratt is prominent in social circles and takes an active part in the work of the Mountain View Club, for which she acts as press reporter, and she gives of her time and ability to the promotion of all projects calculated to advance the best interests of the community in which she resides.
HOWARD F. BAKER.
Howard F. Baker has demonstrated that dairying can be profitably conducted on land that is worth a thousand dollars per acre, for his thirty-two acre dairy ranch, which is situated on the Boise bench, adjoining the Idaho state fair grounds, would have a ready and quick sale no doubt, if placed upon the market for thirty-two thousand dollars, such are the improvements and developments of the place. The busi- ness has been most carefully and successfully conducted, owing to the sound judgment and unfaltering enterprise of Mr. Baker, who is one of the substantial citizens that Vermont has furnished to Idaho.
He was born in the Green Mountain state, July 26, 1871, of the marriage of George Anson and Cornelia C. (Barton) Baker. The father was born in Vermont, where he still resides at the age of seventy-two years, but has recently sold the old Baker home of three hundred and ten acres and is now located in the nearby town of Huntington Center. His wife has reached the age of seventy years. The Baker family is of English descent and was founded in America by Hiram A. Baker, grandfather of Howard F. Baker, who on coming to the new world settled in the Green Mountain state.
Howard F. Baker was reared on the old family homestead to the age of nineteen years, when he accepted a clerkship in a store in Richmond, Vermont, where he was employed for several years. While thus engaged he formed the acquaintance of the lady whom he afterward made his wife-Miss Kate Lucy Hall, who was born and reared in Richmond, a daughter of William D. and Lucretia (Rood) Hall. The Rood family was an old and prominent one in Vermont and of English lineage. Mr. and Mrs. Baker became acquainted at Richmond, Vermont, in 1890 and on the 17th of June, 1896, their marriage was celebrated. For a number of years thereafter they resided at Springfield, Massachusetts, where he was connected with various business pursuits.
The year 1908 witnessed the arrival of Mr. and Mrs. Baker in Idaho. They came to the northwest in the month of January and for a year lived in Boise, after which the present ranch property just south of the state fair grounds was purchased. It was then an unimproved' tract of grass land with no buildings of any kind upon it and no trees. Today it is one of the best improved suburban properties in the vicinity of Boise. The home is a modern frame building and there are various commodious and substantial outbuildings for the shelter of grain and stock. There is also a large silo and shade trees, which add to the attractive appearance and value of the place. Everything pertaining to a fine country home is seen upon the Baker dairy farm and all has been put there within the past twelve years. Among the improvements is a
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ninety-five ton silo, one of the largest in this section, a modern cow barn with all up- to-date equipment and other buildings indicative of the progressive spirit of the owner. The land is practically level and the thirty-two acres of the place supports as many head of cows throughout the year. It was in 1909 that the Baker dairy was estab- lished in a small way, with only one cow, giving sixteen quarts of milk, and within a few years the Baker dairy was disposing of from eight to nine hundred quarts of milk per day to its customers.
To Mr. and Mrs. Baker have been born three children: Doris Lillian, born March 19, 1906; Ella Pauline, March 8, 1907; and Howard Hall, January 26, 1910. All are pupils in the Boise public schools. Mrs. Baker is a member of the Methodist church. The family occupies an enviable social position and Mr. Baker has made for himself a most creditable place in business circles by his rapid progress toward the goal of success, his record being such as will at all times bear the closest investigation and scrutiny.
ANDREW E. FROST.
Andrew E. Frost bears a family name that has been associated with the develop- ment of the Pacific coast country from early pioneer times. He was born upon a farm between Caldwell and Boise, on the Boise river, September 29, 1877, and following in the footsteps of his forbears, has become a leading stockman and prominent citizen of the district in which he lives. His grandfather, Elijah Frost, crossed the plains with ox teams from Iowa, passing through Idaho on his way to California in 1862. He brought his family to the west and he and his son, William Isaac Frost, father of Andrew E. Frost, engaged in freighting in California until 1865, when they returned to Idaho and settled on the Boise river about eighteen miles west of the city of Boise, where Elijah Frost, the grandfather, homesteaded. There both he and his son, William I. Frost, accumulated considerable property. The grandfather was a leader among the people of this section of the state at an early day. They looked to him for advice and direction, and his sound judgment was a beneficial element in the conduct of their affairs on many occasions. As he traveled westward across the plains from Iowa he brought with him more than a hundred head of cattle and had considerable trouble with the Indians, but managed to reach his destination in safety and for a long period there- after continued a prominent and helpful factor in the work of general development and improvement in the state. His son, William Isaac Frost, was born in Iowa, April 20, 1850, and at his birth his mother, who belonged to the Abshire family, died, but his father, Elijah Frost, lived to the very advanced age of eighty-four years.
After attaining man's estate William I. Frost was married in 1875, to Sarah Yaryan. They began their domestic life on the frontier and spent many anxious days and nights in their little one-room cabin. Mr. Frost and his father, together with other people of the community, built a fort about three miles southwest of Star that the families might be protected from the Indians. As the years passed the hazards of Indian attacks grew less and less and the progressive settlers carefully managed their business affairs, William I. Frost becoming one of the most enterprising and prosperous business men of the district. Not only did he develop his farming interests along lines that yielded large profit, but he also became a stockholder in the Farmers Bank at Star and at his death he left to his family a large estate. His children were as follows: Andrew E .; William Claud; George E .; and Alta, the wife of C. E. Pollard, all of whom are living near Star.
As previously stated, Andrew E. Frost was born on the homestead between Cald- well and Boise and under the parental roof spent the days of his hoyhood and youth, acouiring his education in the public schools. He seems to have inherited the business , ability of his father and is now successfully engaged in cattle raising, feeding about three hundred head of beef cattle during the winter in Star and vicinity, while in the summer seasons he ranges his cattic in the Idaho City, Pearl and Placerville districts. He has a beautiful home and five acres of land just within the corporation limits of Star and is most comfortably and attractively situated. He has lived to witness many changes, his memory compassing the period of pioneer development as well as the era of later progress and improvement in this section of the state. He recalls that when a small child his parents thought they heard Indians walking in the creek near by His father told the mother to take the boy in her arms and hide somewhere in the
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bushes while he took his gun and went to investigate, but on so doing found that the noise was made by a horse feeding in the creek. He had told his wife that should he find Indians he would do his best and that she might be able to make her escape. This occurred in the dead of night and he afterward found his wife hiding in the sagebrush.
In 1901 Andrew E. Frost was married to Miss Ada Glenn, daughter of J. T. Glenn, one of the old-time stockmen and pioneers of Idaho, who won substantial success in his business career and is now living retired. Mr. Frost is a big-hearted man of kindly nature and not given to boasting. That he possesses excellent executive and business ability is acknowledged by all, for the results thereof are manifest in the conduct of his affairs.
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