Biographies
"H"
 JOHN MICHENER HAINES
In November, 1912, the citizens of Idaho chose as their next governor
John Michener Haines, who has been identified with this state as a
resident and business man and civic leader for more than twenty years.
His previous record in business and citizenship insures his faithful
and intelligent service in the public interest while occupying the
chief political office in this commonwealth.
Mr. Haines was born in Jasper county, Iowa, January 1, 1863, of German
and English ancestry. The family became identified with Pennsylvania
about the time William Penn established his colony there. The parents
of Mr. Haines were Isaac L. and Eliza (Bushong) Haines, the father a
native of Maryland, and the mother a native of Ohio. The father was a
communicant of the Quaker faith, while his wife belonged to the
Christian church. They subsequently moved out to the middle west, and
the father was for many years a substantial farmer in Iowa. John M.
Haines acquired most of his early education in Penn College at
Oskaloosa, Iowa.
When about twenty years of age he became a clerk in a bank at Friend,
Nebraska, remained there until 1885, at which date he moved into
southwestern Kansas and engaged in real estate business. Southwestern
Kansas was then undergoing its first great boom, and he made a generous
success in his business there until the dry season at the end of the
decade drove out prosperity and nearly all the settlers at the same
time. He also had an active part in political affairs, was a member of
the Republican state central committee, served as deputy clerk of court
in Morton county, and in 1889 was elected register of deeds.
Messrs. W. E. Pierce, J. M. Haines and L. H. Cox associated themselves
under the firm name of W. E. Pierce & Company, and soon after the
admission of Idaho to the Union they arrived in Boise and opened an
office under their firm name. Their object was dealing in real estate,
and almost from the first they took rank as among the foremost real
estate dealers in Idaho. The large prosperity of the firm was always
accompanied by a corresponding contribution to the solid and
substantial development of the city of Boise, and probably no company
of individuals did more for the extension and improvement of the city
than did the firm of Pierce & Company.
It was in real estate that Mr. Haines won his. chief business success,
and at the same time he has been almost equally prominent in political
affairs from the beginning of his residence here. He served as mayor of
Boise from April 1907, to April 1909 and was a chief executive who gave
a business-like administration to the municipal affairs, and whose
record set a high mark in civic efficiency. His long experience in
business, his prominence as a leader in the capital city, and many
other considerations mark him as the strongest available candidate in
the Republican interests for the office of governor, and his selection
to head the state ticket in 1912 was in itself the signal for victory
at the polls.
Governor Haines is affiliated with the Masonic order and the Order of
Elks, but has no other club or social relations. He has no regular
church affiliations, but has always admired and given his sincere
support and respect to the Quaker sect, to which his parents had always
belonged throughout their lifetime.
Mr. Haines was married on May 20, 1883, to Miss Mary Symons, a daughter
of Aaron and Anna K. Symons, at Lynnville, Iowa. Mrs. Haines' parents
were also members of the Quaker faith, and her father a minister of the
church.
Source: HISTORY OF IDAHO VOLUME II; BY HIRAM T. FRENCH, M. S.; Publ. 1914
Transcribed and submitted to Genealogy Trails by Andrea Stawski Pack
CLINTON H. HARTSON
In the professional field, at Boise City, Idaho, youth is no bar to
public confidence and many of the representative men are those whose
educational training and youthful enthusiasm balance years of
experience where these elements are lacking. One of the able members
bar at Boise City is Clinton H. Hartson who made his way to the front
in the law and as one of the representative men along other
lines. Clinton H. Hartson was born June 1, 1886, at Spokane,
Washington, and is a son of Millard T. and Margaret Hartson. They were
born, reared in New Jersey and from the eastern shore of the United
States. In 1879, moved to the far west locating at Spokane, Washington.
By profession the father is a lawyer and was Judge of the Superior
Court in Spokane County and has filled many high political positions in
the gift of the Republican Party.
During two administrations he served as postmaster of Spokane and at
present is Collector of Revenue for Washington and Alaska. Judge
Hartson and wife are prominent socially and very hospitable, Mrs.
Hartson belonging to several club organizations. They are active
members of the Presbyterian Church.
Clinton M. Hartson is the eldest of his parents’ family of three
children. He attended the public schools at Spokane and was graduated
from the high school at Spokane in 1904, after which he turned his
attention to the law, studying first with his father and afterward
independently earning the means through which he was able to complete
his law course, at the George Washington Law University at Washington,
where he was graduated with his degree of L.L.B., in 1908.
He then entered the government service as special agent, serving as
such until March, 1909. when he became chief of the Idaho Field Service
and continued in that office until June, 1911, when he embarked in
active practice. He owns one of the best law libraries in the city and
his success in conducting the litigation in various cases in which he
has been retained, have made him very well and favorably known. He is
the attorney for a number of corporations, railroads and mining
companies. His office is maintained in the Idaho building, room No.
217, Boise City.
On December 25, 1910, Mr. Hartson was married at Providence, Rhode
Island, to Miss Florence Ludwig, who was born in that city. They reside
at No. 1310 North Seventh street, Boise City. Mrs. Hartson is a member
of the Baptist Church. Politically he if a Republican but takes no
active part in campaign work, devoting all his time to his profession
and satisfied with its rewards. He is identified with the Ada County
and belongs also to the Order of Elks, at Boise City. Mr. Hartson is a
pleasant man to meet, his genial manner arousing a feeling of genuine
friendliness in those who have either business or social relations with
him.
[HISTORY OF IDAHO VOLUME
II; BY HIRAM T. FRENCH, M. S.; Publ. 1914; Transcribed and submitted to
Genealogy Trails by Andrea Stawski Pack.]
GEORGE D. HARWARD
Harward Clothing Company is the activity and enterprise of any growing
center of population is very clearly indicated by the class of stores
that cater to the needs of its citizens. It is with pleasure that we
refer to Harward & Company, haber dashers, the principal member of
the firm being George D. Harward, who is well known in Boise for his
sterling integrity of character and fair and honorable business methods.
George D. Harward was born in Davis county, Iowa, November 15, 1871,
and he is the son of Leroy S. and Mary E. (Jay) Harward, the former of
whom was a pioneer dry goods man in Bloomfield. Iowa, and a prominent
coal operator and owner of coal mines in the Hawkeye state. He died at
Elton, Iowa, in 1893.
The second in order of birth in a family of two children, George D.
Harward was educated in Bloomfield, Iowa, where he was graduated in
high school as a member of the class of 1888. After leaving school he
worked for his father as clerk in one of the latter's stores for two
years. In 1890 he went to Ottumwa, Iowa, and there secured a position
with the W. A. Jordan Mercantile Company, one of the then largest
department stores in Iowa. Three years later he was made department
manager in the dry goods concern of Bierce & Trott at Eldon, Iowa.
In 1896 he went to Greeley, Colorado, where he was department manager
and window trimmer for the Greeley Cash Store for eighteen months, at
the expiration of which he went to Trenton, Missouri, where he assumed
charge of the Hoffman-Merrill Company's clothing department, remaining
with the latter concern for seven years. In 1906 he came to Boise,
Idaho, and here was in the employ of Goodman & Jones, clothing
establishment, for two years.
For the ensuing three years he was buyer for the Cohen & McDavitt
Clothing Company. Thus well fortified in experience he engaged in
business for himself March 1, 1911, opening a high-class haber dashery
store in the Idaho building, the finest office and store building in
Boise. This enterprise has proved very successful and a large and
lucrative patronage is now controlled by Harward & Company, the
most fastidious gentlemen's furnishing store in Boise.
A Democrat in politics, Mr. Harward is deeply and sincerely interested
in community affairs. He does not aspire to public office but is ever
ready to do all in his power to advance progress and improvement. As a
Mason he is secretary of Oriental Lodge, Free & Accepted Masons;
and recorder for Idaho Commandery, Knights Templar. He is likewise
affiliated with the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks.
In 1898 Mr. Harward was united in marriage to Miss Arabella Marsh, of
Greeley, Colorado. This union has been prolific of one son, Elbert,
whose birth occurred on the twenty-third of September, 1901. The family
home of the Harwards is maintained at No. 2710 Ada Street, Boise, and
it is the scene of many attractive social gatherings. In religious
matters Mr. Harward attends and gives his support to the Baptist
Church, of which his wife is a devout member.
[HISTORY OF IDAHO VOLUME
II; BY HIRAM T. FRENCH, M. S.; Publ. 1914; Transcribed and submitted to
Genealogy Trails by Andrea Stawski Pack.]
 COLONEL EDGAR M. HEIGHO
The life story of Colonel Edgar Maurice Heigho is a noble illustration
of what independence, self-faith, persistency and lofty ideals can
accomplish in America. He is absolutely self-made. No one has helped
him in a financial way and he is self-educated. He is possessed of a
strong, vigorous and self-reliant character and throughout his
entire-life he has trusted in his own ability and done things
single-handed and alone. To-day he stands supreme as a successful
business man and a loyal and public-spirited citizen. Most of his
attention has been devoted to railroading and in 1912 he is president
and general manager of the Pacific & Idaho Northern Railway.
A native of Essex, England, Colonel Heigho was born October 23, 1867,
and he is a son of George and Amelia (Stevens) Heigho, both of whom
were natives of England, of Anglo-Saxon descent. Colonel Heigho
attended the common schools until he had reached his eleventh year and
since that time he has been self-supporting. He came to the United
States in 1874 and his first position was that of office boy in the
office of the Detroit Free Press. At the age of fifteen years he
entered the railroad service with the Michigan Central Railroad at
Detroit, Michigan.
Subsequently he served in various capacities with the Erie & North
Shore Dispatch, the Wabash, St. Louis & Pacific Railway, the
Commercial Express Fast Freight Line and the Union Pacific Railway.
From 1887 to 1890 he was chief clerk to the superintendent of the Idaho
Central Railway, at Boise, Idaho, and in 1891 he was transit man on the
government survey of Lost River district, Idaho. In 1892 he was
employed in the office of the freight traffic manager of the Missouri
Pacific Railway, at St. Louis, Missouri, and later he was bookkeeper
for the Allen Foundry Company, in Detroit, in which latter concern he
was subsequently assistant manager. In 1893 he was superintendent of
the Standard Foundry Company, at Cleveland, Ohio; in 1894 was engaged
in private business in Detroit, Michigan; from 1895 to 1898 was
ranching in Jackson's Hole, Wyoming; from 1899 to June 1903, he worked
in the traffic department of the Oregon Short Line Railroad, at Salt
Lake, Utah; in June 1903, became auditor of the Pacific & Idaho
Northern Railway at Weiser, Idaho; and in July 1904, was elected
vice-president and general manager of the Pacific & Idaho Northern
Railway. He resigned the latter position in November, 1909, but a short
time later returned to that road as its president and general manager,
serving in that capacity at the present time, in 1912, with
headquarters at New Meadows, Idaho.
Colonel Heigho is likewise president and general manager of the Central
Idaho Telegraph & Telephone Company; is president and general
manager of the Coeur d'Or Development Company, which owns the New
Meadows town site and the Hotel Heigho; is vice-president and a
director of the Weiser National Bank, at Weiser, Idaho; and is a
director of the Meadows Valley Bank, at New Meadows. He takes an active
interest in Republican politics and is particularly interested in
development matters of all kinds in southern Idaho. He has served as a
delegate to various Republican conventions in Idaho and was delegate at
large for Idaho to the National Republican Convention held in Chicago,
in June, 1908.
For several years past he has been connected with independent military
organizations and with the Idaho National Guard. He served as captain
and aide-de-camp on the staff of Governor Gooding and as colonel and
commissary general on the staff of Governor Brady.
Colonel Heigho is a valued and appreciative member of the National
Geographic Society, the American Economic Association, The American
Academy of Political and Social Science; the American Society of
International Law, the American Mining Congress, the Alta Club (Salt
Lake, Utah,) and the Boise Commercial Club (Boise, Idaho). In religious
matters he is a devout member of St. George's Protestant Episcopal
Church, at New Meadows.
At Salt Lake. Utah, September 26, 1900, was solemnized the marriage of
Colonel Heigho to Miss Nora Alice Gwin. a daughter of William and
Katherine Gwin, of Keota, Iowa. For ten years prior to her marriage
Mrs. Heigho was a popular and successful teacher in Salt Lake, Utah.
She is a woman of most gracious personality and is a devoted wife and
mother. Colonel and Mrs. Heigho have three children; Cedric Atheling,
aged 11 years; and Virginia Gwin and Katherine Audley (twins), aged
eight years, in 1912.
Source: HISTORY OF IDAHO VOLUME II; BY HIRAM T. FRENCH, M. S.; Publ. 1914
Transcribed and submitted to Genealogy Trails by Andrea Stawski Pack
 SHADRACH L. HODGIN
Shadrach L. Hodgin has served with ability and distinction as sheriff
of Ada county and as United States marshal for Idaho, of which latter
office he is the incumbent at the time of this writing. His present
term will expire on December 16, 1912. and it is his intention to
engage in the practice of law after his retirement from government
service, as he has given careful study to the science of jurisprudence,
with the definite purpose of entering the legal profession. He
maintains his home at Boise, the capital of the state, and has been a
resident of Idaho since his boyhood days, his sterling character and
personal popularity needing no further voucher than the fact that he
has been called upon to serve in offices of distinctive public trust.
Shadrach L. Hodgin was born in Cedar county, Missouri, on the 1st of
January, 1872, and thus be came a welcome New Year's arrival in the
home of his parents, Robert L. and Susan (Chandler) Hodgin, the former
a native of Missouri, where he was born in the year 1843, and the
latter of Nashville, Tennessee, whence she accompanied her parents to
Missouri, in which state was solemnized her marriage to Robert L.
Hodgin, whose parents removed from Indiana to Missouri about the year
1840. Robert L. Hodgin devoted the greater part of his active life to
agricultural pursuits and stock-growing and was a resident of St. John,
Whitman county, Washington, at the time of his death, in August, 1907,
at the age of sixty-four years, his widow now maintaining her home in
Blackfoot, Idaho.
Robert L. Hodgin served throughout the Civil war as a valiant soldier
of the union and was an honored member of the Grand Army of the
Republic at the time of his death. He enlisted as a member of the
Fourth Iowa Volunteer Infantry and with the same participated in many
important engagements, including those at Cedar Creek and Pea Ridge,
Arkansas and the siege of Vicksburg, in which he received a slight
wound. After the war he continued his residence in Missouri until 1886,
when he came with his family to Idaho and settled on the Camas prairie,
in Fort Plains, Alturas county, where he took up a government homestead
and improved a good ranch. He finally removed to the state of
Washington, where he passed the residue of his life.—a man of
industrious habits and impregnable integrity in all the relations of
life. Of the seven children five sons and two daughters are living, and
of the number the subject of this review' was the second in order of
birth.
Shadrach L. Hodgin was reared to the sturdy.*' discipline of the farm,
gained his early education, in the public schools of his native state
and was a lad of fourteen years at the time of the family removal to
Idaho. He was reared to adult age in Ada county, this state, and his
appreciation of this favored commonwealth has been shown in his
insistent loyalty to the same during the long intervening years, within
which he has gained success and prestige of no equivocal order. He
continued to attend school until he had attained to the age of
seventeen years and he then began independent operations as a farmer
and stock-grower in Ada county.
He continued successful operations along these lines for two years, and
then removed to Walter's Ferry, a town now known as Walter, in Canyon
county, where he engaged in the hotel business and became concerned in
other lines of enterprise, including the operation of a ferry across
the Snake river. In 1898 he removed to Meridian, Ada county, where for
a time he was engaged in the grocery business. After his retirement
from the same he again turned his attention to farming and stockraising
in this county, and with these basic industries he continued to be thus
identified until 1902, after which he was engaged in the sheep business
on a minor scale, and with but indefinite success, until 1905, when he
assumed the office of deputy sheriff of Ada county. Mr. Hodgin made an
admirable record in this position, and held the same until January,
1007, when he was elected sheriff, an office of which he continued the
incumbent until June 22A of the following year, when he resigned, owing
to his having received appointment to the important office of United
States marshal for the district of Idaho.
He was sheriff during the Mover and Pettibone troubles and in a general
way his administration was marked by such discrimination and effective
service as to render most consistent his advancement to the office of
which he is now in tenure. In the meanwhile he has been most diligent
in amplifying his education, especially in the study of law under
effective private preceptorship, and he is fully eligible for admission
to the bar. As previously noted, it is his intention to engage in the
practice of law upon his retirement from his present office. In
politics, Mr. Hodgin has always been arrayed as a stalwart in the local
camp of the Republican party, and he has been an active worker in
behalf of its cause. He has served as delegate to its state conventions
in Idaho, as well as to county and congressional conventions, and with
the exception of two years he has resided continuously in Ada county
since 1889. He has a wide circle of staunch friends in Idaho, is
affiliated with the Boise lodge of the Benevolent & Protective
Order of Elks, and with the Meridian Lodge of the Independent Order of
Odd Fellows.
From 1899 to 1902 he served as a member of the school board of district
No. 42, Ada county, and it may be further said in connection with his
political activities that he was an earnest supporter of the measure
which resulted in such amendment of the state constitution as to make
county sheriffs and assessors eligible for re-election after the close
of their first terms, this amendment having passed the legislature in
1910.
At Boise, on the 6th of September, 1806, Mr. Hodgin was united in
marriage to Miss Jessie M. Clawson, who was born in New Jersey, and who
is a daughter of John W., who died in 1900 in Boise, and Sally T.
Clawson, now a resident of Boise. Mr. and Mrs. Hodgin has one son, John
Lawrence, who was born in Ada county, on the 13th of July and who is a
member of the class of 1915 in Boise high school. The attractive family
home, owned by Mr. and Mrs. Hodgin, is at 1509 North Eighth
street in the capital city of the state, and the same is a center of
congenial hospitality.
[HISTORY OF IDAHO VOLUME
II; BY HIRAM T. FRENCH, M. S.; Publ. 1914; Transcribed and submitted to
Genealogy Trails by Andrea Stawski Pack.]
 COLONEL EDGAR M. HOOVER
Since 1004 a resident of Boise City, Colonel Hoover has been actively
and prominently identified with the development of the great lumber
interests of Idaho. The career of Colonel Hoover is an example of a
steadfast devotion to one line of enterprise from the time when he
became connected with the lumber business as a boy in Iowa. From the
minor positions of clerkships and subordinate responsibility he has
risen to be one of the foremost lumber men of the northwest, and is an
influential factor in many cognate enterprises in civic affairs.
Edgar M. Hoover was born at Muscatine, Iowa, July 23, 1866, and was a
son of Henry and Sarah (Hubbard) Hoover. His great-grandfather, Michael
Hoover, was a resident of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. It was in that
place, Henry Hoover was born. In 1854 he came to Iowa, during the early
development of that state and was there engaged in real estate, loan
and insurance business. During the Civil war, he entered the service of
the Union and from the rank of lieutenant was brevetted captain, and
subsequently was acting adjutant of the Thirty-fifth Iowa Infantry. Few
of the soldiers of the Civil war served longer, or with more credit. He
was in the ranks for four years, and participated in the Mississippi
campaign at Vicksburg and other points, in the Red river campaign, and
in the siege of Mobile. Throughout this period of arduous campaigning
he suffered neither wounds nor imprisonment, although on two occasions
he had horses shot from under him. His death occurred in Iowa in 1881,
when he was fifty-five years of age. He had married at Chicago in 1863,
Miss Sarah F. Hubbard, a daughter of Abel Hubbard. The Hubbard family
of Scotch-Irish descent had originally settled in Vermont. Of the five
children of Henry Hoover and wife, Edgar M. was the oldest.
Equipped with a high school education, Edgar M. Hoover began his battle
with the world at the age of seventeen, at which time, in addition to
the responsibilities of his own advancement, he had the care and
support of his widowed mother. Attaining a clerkship with the Musser
Lumber Company at Muscatine, Iowa, he used that as a starting point of
a career which has brought him large success. Close attention to
duties, and fidelity to employers during the ten years of his
connection with that company resulted in various promotions, until he
became chief clerk of the concern, and was marked as one of the rising
men in the business.
From Muscatine, Colonel Hoover went to Little Falls, Minnesota, one of
the great lumber points of the northwest, and for eleven years there
was associated with the Pine Tree Lumber Company, in the capacity of
assistant secretary and sales manager. The opportunities and rapid
development of Idaho had in the meantime attracted his attention, and
upon the organization of the Payette "Lumber and Manufacturing Company,
he came to this state, arriving in Boise in May, 1004. Here he assumed
the office of general manager of the company just mentioned, and has
since been a permanent resident of Boise. The Payette Lumber and
Manufacturing Company, of which he has been the practical director for
the past eight or nine years is one of the largest and most important
concerns of the kind in Idaho or the northwest.
It holds large acreage of pine land, and has splendid resources and
facilities for development of the great lumber industry. Colonel Hoover
has a number of other important business interests. He is a director in
the Boise City National Bank, a director in the Boise Title & Trust
Company, one of the incorporators of the Northwest Paper Company of
Minnesota, and a director and manager of the Payette River Improvement
Company, being a stockholder in all these concerns.
The son of a veteran soldier, Colonel Hoover has since early childhood
had a more than casual interest in military affairs. For eleven years
he was an active member of the Iowa State Militia. During the Spanish
American war he served on the governor’s staff of Minnesota, and for
seven years has been a member of the governor's staff of Idaho, being
inspector general and United States disbursing officer under Governors
Gooding, Brady, Hawley and Haines. Although no seeker for public
office, he has been actively interested for years in the success of the
Republican party. He was one of the three delegates from Idaho to the
first Conservation Congress in Washington.
Colonel Hoover is one of the trustees of the Y. W. C. A. at Boise. For
several terms he served as treasurer and director of the Boise
Commercial Club, and fraternally is affiliated with Oriental Lodge A.
F. & A. M. at Boise. He is a member and vestryman of St. Michael's
Episcopal church. On September 26. 1809, Colonel Hoover married Miss
Jane Redfield, whose father is William W. Redfield of Minneapolis. They
are the parents of two sons: John Redfield, who was born at Little
Falls, Minnesota, April 12, 1003; and Edgar M., Jr., who was born at
Boise, February 22, 1907. The attractive home of Colonel Hoover and
family stands at 1005 Harrison boulevard in Boise.
Source: HISTORY OF IDAHO VOLUME II; BY HIRAM T. FRENCH, M. S.; Publ. 1914
Transcribed and submitted to Genealogy Trails by Andrea Stawski Pack
 HARRY MARSHALL HUGHES
The late Harry Marshall Hughes, fortunate both in material gifts of
fortune and in the high regard of all who were privileged to know him,
was a citizen of Boise from 1890, although his life had been spent in
widely distant and varied points, having begun in the Missouri
metropolis. That city had become the home of his father, James M.
Hughes, when the latter was a young man. A Kentuckian by birth. Mr.
Hughes had adopted St. Louis as his home when he entered upon the
practice of his profession as an attorney. In that line he became very
successful, occupying a leading position in his chosen city and later
serving for two terms as a member of Congress. He represented a family
of superior caliber and standing among the influential citizens of St.
Louis, St. Joe and Salt Lake City. St. Louis was his home until the
close of his efficient life in 1861, at which time the sum of his years
was fifty-three, and his passing is marked by the memorial stone
erected to his memory in Bellefontaine cemetery at St. Louis. Mrs.
James M. Hughes, also a native of Kentucky, had, like her husband,
become a resident of St. Louis in her youth and had there been married.
She outlived him, reaching the age of seventy years and maintaining her
residence in St. Louis throughout her lifetime; she also is buried in
Belfontaine cemetery. James and Nancy Hughes reared four children, of
whom Harry Marshall Hughes, the subject of this biographical review,
was the youngest. In the parental home in St. Louis his birth occurred
on August 14, 1856.
The educational advantages vouchsafed to Harry M. Hughes were all that
could be desired; beginning with the graded public schools of St.
Louis, he passed to the University of Utah at Salt Lake City and
ultimately completed his education at the Jesuit College at Santa
Clara, California. He then entered upon a series of vocational
experiences which gave him a wide familiarity with various locations.
The first of these activities was that of sheep-raising, at North
Powder, Idaho, where he also experimented in mining. Not fully
satisfied with the results' of this work, Mr. Hughes next entered the
steamship mail service on the line running between Seattle and Alaskan
points. After that he joined his brother, E. C. Hughes, in mercantile
business at Astoria, Oregon. This arrangement terminated when Harry M.
Hughes determined upon settling in Boise. Idaho, which became his home
^n 1890 and remained his residence throughout the residue of his life.
The year of Mr. Hughes' coming to Boise was marked by his marriage to
Miss Mary A. Ball. Her parents, Fidelio P. Ball and Ann P. (Hillis)
Ball, are well-known early settlers of this state. They had at a
previous time taken up a pioneer residence at Rockville, Oregon, had
from there removed to Silver City, Idaho, and eventually came to
Caldwell to spend the evening of their lives in peace and retirement.
Both have at this date reached the age of eighty-one and their golden
wedding celebration of August, 1912, was an occasion for a family
reunion and gathering of old friends. Of the four children whom they
have reared, the oldest is Mary A., who in 1890 was united in marriage
to Harry M. Hughes.
Not only his mercantile activities, which Mr. Hughes retained as long
as his state of health would permit and indeed much longer than it
would justify, but also extensive real estate interests held his
attention and were handled in a most able manner. He acquired much
valuable property, located in various parts of the city and state, and
a year after his death Mrs. Hughes erected that conspicuous monument to
his memory—the magnificent apartment structure which she erected at 609
West Jefferson street, known as A-L-O-H-A, meaning "love to you," a
Hawaiian term, she having her husband in mind when she named her
apartments.
But the period of Mr. Hughes' citizenship was all too short and all too
soon marred by the approach of the lingering illness against which he
fought so courageously, yet endured so patiently when it became clearly
inevitable. His wide circle of friends did all that sympathy can do to
alleviate suffering; the grateful balm of affectionate regret for his
suffering, tendered by Judge Huston, Senator Borah and other associates
did all that such attention can do to lighten the pain of an incurable
affliction. His brothers in the Astoria chapter of the Knights of
Pythias and his comrades of the Boise commercial club did not allow him
to forget how highly they valued his association with them. To the last
he retained his interest in life and in civic affairs. He was a
heartily interested member of the Democratic party and one who endorsed
the motives of religious organizations. In early life he had become a
member of the Catholic church. Religion in the practical sense was
closely allied with his philanthropic spirit, for he was one who did
much to relieve suffering and distress. On August 14, 1909, all these
activities and interests, as well as his six years' suffering, were
terminated by the great stillness which we call death. He was widely
and sincerely mourned and is remembered with that warm appreciation and
that deep respect which are man's truest and finest monuments.
Mrs. Hughes still maintains her residence in Boise, where she retains
the fine apartments before referred to. She is a woman of broad
interests, with the sane and wholesome point of view in regard to
public affairs which is characteristic of the intelligent and
well-poised western woman citizen. She is, as her husband was, a member
of the Democratic Party, and has reached her conclusions independently,
as well as logically. She occupies an eminent social position in Boise.
[HISTORY OF IDAHO VOLUME
II; BY HIRAM T. FRENCH, M. S.; Publ. 1914; Transcribed and submitted to
Genealogy Trails by Andrea Stawski Pack.]
EDWARD H. HULSER
Admitted to the Idaho Bar, at Boise, on the 23rd of October, 1908, Mr.
Hulser has gained secure vantage ground in his profession and is one of
its able and successful representatives in the capital city of the
state of his adoption. He has virtually created the instrumentalities
through which his advancement has been won, as it was almost entirely
due to his own exertions that he was enabled to defray the expenses of
his academic and professional training, and his ambition and
self-reliance have been on a parity with his integrity of purpose, so
that he well merits the confidence and esteem uniformly accorded him.
He is one of the progressive and public-spirited citizens of Boise, has
been active in educational and religious work and his valiant
individuality is of the type to which success comes as a natural
prerogative. He has maintained offices in the Sonna building in Boise
from the time of his admission to the bar and has built up an excellent
practice of representative order.
Edward Hawkins Hulser was born at Lake City, Calhoun county, Iowa, on
the 30th of September, 1879, and is a son of George and Myra (Hawkins)
Hulser, the former of whom was born in Germany and the latter in the
state of New York, of staunch Puritan lineage, the original progenitors
in America having come from England on the historic ship "Mayflower."
Rev. Franklin Hawkins, maternal grandfather of Mr. Hulser, was a
clergyman of the Methodist Episcopal church and passed the closing
years of his life in the state of New York. George Hulser was but seven
years of age at the time of his parents' immigration from Germany to
the United States, and he was reared to manhood in the state of New
York. He became one of the pioneer settlers of Calhoun county. Iowa,
and at the time he there established his home his residence was the
only one within twenty-six miles of the present thriving town of
Pomeroy, Iowa. He purchased land and with the passing of the years
developed a productive farm. He continued to be actively identified
with agricultural pursuits until he was well advanced in years and he
is now living retired at Boise, Idaho, both he and his wife having the
affectionate regard of all who have come within the sphere of their
kindly and gracious influence and both being devout members of the
Methodist Episcopal Church.
To the public schools of his native county, Edward H. Hulser is
indebted for his earlier educational discipline, and in the meanwhile
he learned the lessons of practical industry in connection with the
work of the home farm. In furthering his education he became virtually
dependent upon his own resources, and he earned through effective
newspaper work an appreciable part of the funds which enabled him to
complete his college and professional studies. In 1905 he was graduated
in Morningside College, at Sioux City, Iowa, and from this institution
he received the degree of Bachelor of Philosophy. His public-school
study had included the curriculum of the high school at Lake City,
Iowa, and he was a student in the college mentioned for a period of
three years. In 1904-5 he was instructor in English and athletics in
the Emmetsburg public schools, at Emmetsburg, Iowa, and he then entered
the law department of the great University of Chicago, in which he
completed the prescribed three years' course and was graduated as a
member of the class of 1908 and with the well earned degree of Doctor
of Jurisprudence.
He forthwith came to Idaho and established his residence in Boise,
where, as previously noted, he was admitted to the bar of the state on
the 23rd of October, 1908. From the beginning he has continuously
maintained his offices in the Sonna building, and it may well be
understood that a man of such characteristic energy and ambition has
not failed to make substantial advancement in his chosen profession.
Mr. Hulser has a representative clientage and is known as a versatile
and resourceful trial lawyer as well as a counselor admirably fortified
in the minutiae of the science of jurisprudence. He is attorney for the
Idaho Soap Company, in which he is a stockholder, also local
representative of William McMaster, financial agent of Portland,
Oregon, one of the prominent financial agents of the northwest. He is
also a stockholder in the Hill Crest irrigation project in Ada county.
Though he subordinates all else to the demands of his exacting
profession, Mr. Hulser finds time and opportunity to manifest a lively
interest in those agencies which tend to foster the civic and material
prosperity and well-being of the community. He is a most active worker
in the Boise Young Men's Christian Association. He is also a member of
the Boise church council; and both he and his wife are zealous members
of the Methodist Episcopal church. In politics Mr. Hulser is well
fortified in his convictions and accords a staunch allegiance to the
Republican Party, in the ranks of which he has been an active and
effective worker, though he has never sought official preferment of any
order.
He is affiliated with the local organizations of the Modern Woodmen of
America and the Loyal Order of Moose. He has ever manifested the
deepest filial solicitude and has done all in his power to add to the
comfort and happiness of his loved father and mother. He is a most
appreciative student of the best in literature, as well as of the
technical literature of his profession, in which his success shows a
constantly cumulative tendency. Both he and his wife are popular
factors in the social life of their home city, and their hospitable
residence is at 1702 North Eighth street.
At Sioux City, Iowa, on the 9th of August, 1909, was solemnized the
marriage of Mr. Hulser to Miss Ada Gertrude Hart, who was born in
Wisconsin and whose father, Edward Hart, is now a representative
citizen of the state of Nebraska. Mr. and Mrs. Hulser have two
children,—Frederick, who was born on the 12th of June, 1910; and
Margaret, who was born on the 6th of January, 1912.
[HISTORY OF IDAHO VOLUME
II; BY HIRAM T. FRENCH, M. S.; Publ. 1914; Transcribed and submitted to
Genealogy Trails by Andrea Stawski Pack.]
CHARLES F. HUMMEL
A profession that has most important bearing upon the civic and
material development and upbuilding of any community is that of the
architect, and the city of Boise and state of Idaho are favored in
having as able and successful representatives of this profession as are
the members of the firm of Tourtelotte & Hummel, of which the
junior member is he whose name initiates this paragraph, a review of
the career of his coadjutor. John E. Tourtelotte, appearing on other
pages of this volume. The firm holds unquestioned precedence in its
field of operations and its principals are men to whom is accorded
unqualified confidence and esteem, as both are sincere and steadfast,
honorable in all dealings and possessed of admirable talent in their
chosen profession.
Charles F. Hummel was born in the grand duchy of Baden, Germany, on the
2nd of April, 1857, and in the schools of his native place he gained
his early educational discipline, which included the curriculum of the
gymnasium, or high school, and in preparation for his chosen profession
he entered a technical college in the city of Stuttgart, in which he
completed a thorough course in architectural art and science and from
which he received his diploma in 1879. Prior to this he was employed as
assistant engineer in connection with railway construction in
Switzerland, and thus his technical training included civil engineering
and other branches of study. He was thus engaged for two and one-half
years, and then returned to Stuttgart to complete his education as an
architect. After receiving his diploma Mr. Hummel went to the city of
Freiburg, Germany, where he was employed as a draftsman until 1885 and
where he gained experience of most valuable order. In the year last
mentioned he came to the United States, and for the first eighteen
months he was employed at carpenter work in Chicago and St. Paul.
In the autumn of 1888 he went to Tacoma, Washington, where he followed
the work of his profession for one year, after which he changed his
base of operations to the rival city of Seattle, where he did a
successful business as a contractor and builder during the ensuing two
years. He thereafter passed about an equal period in the rapidly
growing little city of Everett. Washington, where he continued in the
same line of enterprise.
In the year 1895 Mr. Hummel came to Idaho and established his home in
Boise, and, in this state he has found scope and opportunity for most
productive and successful work along the line of his chosen profession.
He initiated operations as a contractor in Boise, and later opened an
office at Weiser, the judicial center of Washington County. His energy,
ability and honorable methods and policies gained to him a substantial
business, which placed exigent demands upon his time and attention, so
that it was a matter of definite expediency, as was it also of mutual
gratification, when, in 1901, he formed his present partnership
alliance with Mr. Tourtellotte. The success of the firm has been almost
phenomenal, and they have been the designers and builders of many of
the finest buildings in the state.
They are at the present time, at the close of the year 1912, in charge
of the completion of Idaho's splendid capitol building, which when
completed will represent an expenditure of two million dollars. They
also erected the fine high school in Boise, the same representing an
expenditure of three hundred and fifty thousand dollars. The
administration building at the University of Idaho, at Moscow, stands
in further evidence of the skill and talent of this firm, as he does
also the gymnasium of the Albion State Normal School, at Albion. They
have also erected large and modern school buildings at Caldwell,
Pocatello and Mountain Home, and the Catholic cathedral and First
Methodist Episcopal church edifices in Boise; the Methodist church at
Caldwell: the Owyhee hotel, in Boise, the finest in the state; the
Washington hotel at Weiser; the Antlers hotel at Baker City, Lemhi
county; and the Bank of Commerce, Overland and Yates buildings, which
are the largest and most modern office buildings in the Idaho capital,
each of them being a six-story structure. The buildings mentioned in
the foregoing list represent but a small part of the splendid work done
by the firm of Tourtellotte & Hummel.
Mr. Hummel is at all times ready to give his influence and co-operation
in the furtherance of measures and enterprises tending to advance the
civic and material welfare of his home city and state, to which his
loyalty knows no bounds.
On the 9th of September, 1882, was solemnized the marriage of Mr.
Hummel to Miss Marie Conrad, who likewise was born and reared in Baden,
Germany, and they have four children,—Ernest A., who is engaged in the
plumbing and steam-fitting business in Boise; Frederick C, who is a
draftsman and is employed in the office of Tourtellette & Hummel;
Frank K., who is a student of art and architecture in the University of
Pennsylvania, as a member of the class of 1915; and Marie E., who is
attending the St. Theresa's Academy, of Boise.
[HISTORY OF IDAHO VOLUME
II; BY HIRAM T. FRENCH, M. S.; Publ. 1914; Transcribed and submitted to
Genealogy Trails by Andrea Stawski Pack.]
ERNEST ERWIN HUNT
Typical of the success that comes to a man in the West be he provided
with energy and a capacity for hard work is the career of Ernest Erwin
Hunt. One of the pioneers of Idaho, in that he arrived in the state at
the early age of twelve and has watched it grow from a collection of
widely scattered mining camps to the great commonwealth of today, his
interests 'during his whole lifetime have been bound up in the welfare
of Idaho and her people. Starting in business in a very modest way, his
patronage grew by leaps and bounds, and at the present time he is the
manager and part owner .pi one of the largest and most modern
department stores in the state of Idaho. This success is entirely due
to his own efforts, as one man, writing in The Statesman, puts it:
"Many wonder to what his rapid growth and immense trade may be
attributed. The answer is short: Push, advertising, courteous treatment
of customers, and the lowest prices possible."
Ernest Erwin Hunt was born February 11, 1868. at Sedalia, Missouri. He
is the eldest son, of seven children, of Dr. Sylvester Peter Hunt, who
has his offices in Portland, Oregon, and his home in Lewiston, Idaho.
His mother, Mary Evelyn Hunt, one of those good old Christian ladies,
began early to mould his character and precept and good example were
always placed before him, and that kindly good advice was heeded so
that now in her old age she rejoices in his success and emoluments.
When he was still a small lad, his parents, in company with sixteen
other families determined to set out for the west. They formed a
compact to stand by each other in the long journey across the plains
and in the land on the other side of the great mountains. Loading the
ox-carts with the provisions and clothing and all the belongings that
would be of any service in the new life, they set out, in the spring of
1880, from Sedalia, Missouri. Young Ernest Hunt was thirteen when his
parents at last reached the spot upon which they determined to settle,
and although young he was strong and eager to do his share of the work.
Therefore his young hands had an important part in the building of the
little log cabin, planting the seed and in due time reaping that first
glorious harvest. His education was obtained in the log schoolhouse,
and so fascinated was he with the world of books to which he was here
introduced, that he determined to learn more than the log house could
give him, and set out on that path which is the greatest, perhaps, of
all educators, that of the teacher, himself.
He was but seventeen when he began teaching, and feeling after a time,
that he must have theoretical as well as practical training, he took a
course in a normal school and was rapidly advanced from the position of
teacher to that of principal and later superintendent. During this time
he held first grade certificates in many of the counties of the state,
and the records show the following, to wit: "This certifies that Ernest
Erwin Hunt is possessed of a good moral character, and has passed a
satisfactory examination upon all of the branches required to entitle
him to a first grade certificate. He is therefore deemed qualified to
teach in any school district in this county, or in any county in Idaho,
by depositing a certified copy of this certificate with the
superintendent thereof, orthography, 96; United States history, 95;
school law, 100; arithmetic, 98; reading, 96; algebra, 98; civil
government, 96; theory and the art of teaching, 95; geography, 96;
physiology and hygiene, 95; grammar, 96; penmanship, 93; state
constitution, 95; average standing, 96 and 1/13 per cent. It is said
that he was considered a walking encyclopedia of useful knowledge and
people sought him far and near to get his services as an instructor.
Many of our leading men and women, who were his pupils, now fill
responsible positions in the state, and all speak in glowing terms of
his ability as a teacher and hold him in the highest esteem . He was
extremely popular, not only with the parents, but with the children,
and his success as a teacher prophesied well for his success as a
merchant, a business man and one of the best financiers of the state of
Idaho.
It was in 1902 that he gave up his position as a city school
superintendent and went into the business world, establishing a small
feed store in Emmett, Idaho. His business began to grow and soon
supplied a trade that reached into the far distant Thunder Mountain
Mining Camps, at that time the latest sensation in the mining circles.
He next added groceries to his stock, then hardware and crockery, to be
followed soon afterwards by dry goods and clothing and shoe
departments. He could not increase the size of his buildings fast
enough to house his growing stock or accommodate his growing trade, and
he was at last forced to buy adjoining buildings, and he now enjoys a
large patronage and employs from eleven to eighteen clerks to care for
his still rapidly growing business. The capacity of his two big stores
is scarcely great enough for his business and it looks as though he
would have to increase it at no very distant time.
In August, 1910, the Hunt Greene Mercantile Company was formed, Mr.
Hunt being the leading spirit in the organization, which is composed of
some of the leading men of Canyon county, and which represents a
capital of nearly two hundred thousand dollars. They began business on
the 16th of August, 1910, and in the Evening Capital News, of Boise,
Idaho, of that date is published an article concerning the new company,
and containing the following sentence which was the general sentiment
of all who knew Mr. Hunt and his associates: "Emmett is to be
congratulated in securing so strong a concern, to invest, locate and
disseminate their capital in their city, as the people representing the
company are men of wealth and they have the hustling spirit consonant
to a large organization." It was the intention of the company to
include the farmers and stockraisers among the stockholders, and in
this way bring the entire county into cooperation and sympathy with the
new organization. How well the scheme worked can be seen by a glance at
the phenomenal success which has come to the company. Dr. R. H. Greene,
a leading physician and a wealthy land owner is among the men who have
associated themselves and their finances with the company, and his
business judgment has been of much value in the forward progress of the
company.
That this success is due to Mr. Hunt's strong personality and business
ability, no one denies, and perhaps the best estimate of his character
is one given in a newspaper article, which was written by a man who had
been closely associated with him as a school superintendent. He says in
part: "He is strong of character, full of zeal, thrifty and
industrious, and possesses an intellectual endowment that will warrant
the opinion that he will make for himself a great man. He has self
reliance that comes from self-help; the hard common sense that comes
from contact with the people; the direct, straightforward methods of
those who live and fight in the open; the generosity of impulse and
tenderness of heart of those who knew the sorrows and kindness of
mankind. He has a mind that is analytical and logical, a copious
vocabulary and great fluency of speech; is a hard student, a close
reasoner, and an active participator in public affairs. United with a
high order of ability, he has a commanding figure, tall, erect, and a
most affable and pleasant manner and address.
In his intercourse with others he seems to forget himself entirely, and
to have no thought except to interest and instruct his hearers; to
carry them with him by force of argument. He has a vein of humor that
crops out naturally, almost unconsciously in speaking, but he will not
sacrifice dignity nor fall below the plane of sincerity, purity or
integrity. He is frank, manly and courteous, outspoken, always has
convictions and the courage to follow them. He has a host of friends in
every county in Idaho, where he has taught school or been engaged in
business. You will always find him cordial in his greetings,
appreciative of those around him, and he stands admired and honored by
his fellowmen everywhere. The Hunt-Greene Mercantile Company at Emmett
are to be congratulated in securing a man of such sterling worth to
assist them in their big department store. His years of experience are
worth a fortune to the average man and with his ability and
qualifications can command the confidence and the respect of the
business world, and we predict for him unbounded success. He will push
to the front and take place among men who are doing things in this
world. One discovers that he is a man not easily turned aside from that
which he undertakes under the conviction that it should be done. He is
a specimen of the finished Idaho product of the typical American
gentleman, who started out in life, determined that limited education,
influence, lack of money, or any other lack created by mere
circumstances should not keep him from pushing to the front rank and
taking his rightful position among the men who are doing things in this
world."
While he was attending the College of Idaho, and finishing the
printer's trade at Caldwell, Idaho, he became acquainted with Anna, the
eldest daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Lewis F. Cook, who was also a school
teacher and an artist of high standing and after a successful courtship
of two years, they were united in holy wedlock by Dr. W. J. Boone,
president of the college, on Christmas day, 1895, at her home near
Caldwell, in the presence of many friends and acquaintances. At present
seven bright, healthy, happy, robust children have been added to the
family: Cecil Canova, a young man of sixteen, has assisted his father
in the mercantile business, outside of his regular school duties, until
he has been able to manage the affairs at the store for more than a
year. Not satisfied with the common school education, he saved his
earnings for the past two years and at the beginning of the school
year, went to Corvallis, Oregon, to attend the Oregon Agricultural
College and take up more extensive work in chemistry, electrical
engineering and mechanical drawing and from the record that he has made
in his business and school training, we predict a great future for him
and his friends wonder if he will be able to outstrip his father in
winning laurels. Harold Simeon, a lad of fourteen, full of zeal and
enthusiasm, finished the eighth grade last year and was successful in
passing the highest test in scholarship in Canyon county. His average
was 96 per cent.
The Emmett Index in speaking of the hard contest, says: "Harold Simeon
Hunt, the second son of Ernest Erwin Hunt, of the Hunt-Greene
Mercantile Company, of Emmett, Idaho, a lad of thirteen years, passed
the highest test in the eighth grade examination in Canyon county,
making an average of 96 per cent, in all of his studies. He is a
bright, jovial, healthy boy and is full of ambition and is a favorite
among those who know him. He is one of the helpers in the store and can
sell as many goods as many experienced clerks who are his seniors. He
is an amateur on the piano and is very fond of music. He owns a horse
and cow and takes great pleasure in caring for them besides joining in
the sports of the other boys. He is energetic and much credit is due
him and his teacher, Miss Wayman. Work to him is just like play and he
enters into it with a vim and an incentive to accomplish greater and
better honors. He says he will not be satisfied till he is President of
the United States. He is saving his money and expects to enter the
Agricultural College next year. Let us hope that his every ambition
will be realized and that he will outstrip all others in the work he
has undertaken and win for himself a great name in American history."
Lloyd Ernest is just past eleven years old but he is like the other two
brothers in the mercantile world and can sell goods as well as any one,
being exceedingly accurate in all his transactions. He is in the eighth
grade and is trying to gain a better average in his studies than has
either of his brothers or his father. He is a violinist and can render
soft, sweet music that excels that of many who have had years of
training. His teachers, Mrs. Governor Hunt and Prof. Max Guenther
declare that he has a great talent and that with the proper training
with them he will be a second Paganini as he is imbued with a great
taste for music. It will be well to watch this lad and see if he does
not eclipse Spohr, Joachim or Siveri.
He has a bank account in his own name and writes checks to pay his own
bills, so that independence, thrift and the western spirit of
enthusiasm to advance in the world are all his. He is a lover of nature
and lives much in the open. Mildred Annabel, the eight year old little
lady, is in the fourth grade and is taking lessons from her mother in
all lines of housework and decorative art, in which the latter is an
adept. Her work is not to be excelled by that of many girls who are
older. She is a great favorite with her teachers and friends, and is a
student of music and drawing, being quite skillful in the latter art.
Evelyn Idaho is but five years of age yet she can do her part in the
kitchen and housework is only play for her. She takes care of the
smaller ones and is a perfect little mother. She is often spoken of as
being the handsomest girl in the state. Robert Henry, who is named for
his father's partner. Dr. R. H. Greene, is only two years old, but he
is the constant companion of his father and takes his turn at the work
in the store, in his babyish way trying to brush, sweep and mark the
goods as do the other boys. Last, but not least, is the sweet faced
little Olive who is the joy of the household and a treasure in the
home. To say that Mr. Hunt has a model family, in whom he has just
cause to be proud, is voicing the sentiment of all who know him, and it
is the wish of his many friends that all the joys and success consonant
to their supreme happiness will be meted out to them tenfold.
Mr. Hunt is a member of Boise Lodge No. 2, Ancient Free and Accepted
Masons; Ada Lodge No. 3, Independent Order of Odd Fellows; Woodmen of
the World, Camp No. 150, of Boise, Idaho; Modern Woodmen of America,
Camp No. 6453, of Caldwell, Idaho. He is also a Rebekah and is a member
of the Christian church, in which he is an elder. He is an ardent,
zealous worker in all church and benevolent societies, and takes a
great interest in politics, being a Republican, but liberal in his
views, who like Thomas A. Edison thinks that: "There are a lot of
people who die in the head after they are fifty. They are the ones who
get shocked if you propose anything that wasn't going when they were
boys. It's the way the world goes—the young push ahead and do things,
and the old stand back. I hope I'll always be with the young. We have
got past that age, and we might as well talk about smashing all the
steam engines and electric lights and going back to stage coaches and
candles."
Mr. Hunt has had many opportunities to fill public offices but has
refrained because his large business interests needed his entire
attention at home and he thinks he can best serve the people by being
out among them. He is a leader and a "booster." He has traveled through
the east, west and many of the southern states and is well versed with
conditions as they present themselves in these localities, and is
therefore able to discuss local conditions from a wider experience and
can cope with any of the leading statesmen of the state. He is a true
Westerner, typical of the men who have lived among the dangers of a
frontier country. One incident that he relates which came before his
eyes in Weiser, Idaho, in the days when "might was right," and justice
was meted out to the man who would transgress the law as follows: "A
farmer came to town and during the course of the evening a barber
struck him on the head with a hammer and killed him. The barber was put
in the old frame jail to await the time of the trial but some thought
the law was too slow and the expense too great and an order was passed
around that a hemp ribbon would be used and all who wanted to
participate in the affair were requested to don their attire and get
busy. Accordingly, during the night which was about as cold as a
Greenland night, men with flour sacks around their ears and noses to
keep them from freezing, gathered about the jail and demanded the key
to the situation but the jailer was so determined to protect his
prisoner that he drew his two Colts pistols, demanded that they give
the law its course, and throwing himself in front of the door, waited
for their approach. He talked and reasoned but to no avail. They were
set and determined. In a few moments he was overpowered, the door was
broken open and a hasty retreat was made toward the hills north of the
town. The next morning, the man was hanging to the butcher windlass in
a denuded, bruised and mangled condition—dead. From appearances, one
would be led to believe that the body had been dragged over the frozen
ground as pieces of lacerated flesh could be seen all along the way the
procession went and flour sacks were in abundance all through the sage
brush from the schoolhouse to the hills. Judge Lynch had exercised his
authority."
Another story which Mr. Hunt tells is characteristic of that rough
time. He says, "While mining in Idaho county, in an early day, it was
the custom among the miners to keep the latch string on the door always
hanging on the outside (no door was ever latched, winter or summer) and
any valuables were left on the table or the shelf. Provisions were
always in the cabin and it was the custom for any to enter, stay over
night, eat, take enough for the day or to last to the next cabin, but
to molest nothing. The gold dust was washed and laid on the table cloth
or put into the old baking powder can and it was no uncommon sight to
see half a dozen piles of the shiny metal on the table awaiting the
time to take it to a trading post or to the assay office to be turned
into money. One day, some of the dust was missing, after a strange man
had stayed over night and accepted the hospitality of the miner's home.
The word was passed among the denizens of the mountains and a hasty
pursuit followed. He was overtaken and was left suspended to a limb to
remind anyone who could not visit the haunts of the genial mountaineer
and accept his hospitality and take his departure without purloining
his earnings, had better vamoose. At Florence, Elk City, Warren and
many of the pioneer mining camps, it was no uncommon day's work for one
man to fill a one pound baking can with gold dust taken from the grass
roots. Fortunes were made in a day and wild excitement reigned."
As some of his own experiences Mr. Hunt recounts the following: "In
1885, I was engaged to teach school in a district where there was a
round-up of cattle, lasting for about six weeks in the spring and it
was a great sight to see the cowboys ride the bucking broncho, throw
his lasso on the maverick and ply the branding iron. One man with the
rope would catch the calf and another lasso the feet and then each man
on horseback, going in opposite directions would stretch the animal out
on its side while a third man would apply the brand. Everything would
go well until a tenderfoot was brought to camp and then something was
doing all the time. He had to be initiated to the mystic shrines of
cowboyism and great preparations were made preparatory to seeing him
ride the bucking Cayuse, which was awaiting him. If he were successful
and could brave the dangers incident to the camp; he was at once
crowned Rex, and all was well with him. but alas, if he did not hold on
and stick to the saddle, through the ceremonies, it were better for him
to absquatulate with unproceeded onceness, for he was too pristine for
the frontier. After the ceremonies were over, a big feast always
followed and the fellow-craft had free access to the good things of the
camp and all would do him honor. All of them had plenty of money and
they always spent it lavishly. They were a free hearted, hospitable
set; ready at all times to help the deserving, to defend the weak and
distressed, but loathed the despicable wretch who poses as a human
being. Many of the boys were cattlemen and they looked forward to these
spring round-ups as one of the greatest gala days of their lives.
"In the journey across the plains in an early day, dangers and distress
abounded all the way. Coming through the Indian nations, up the
Arkansas river, horse thieves were ahead and behind our train, and
people were ruthlessly murdered and their wagons plundered while the
skulking half-breeds lay in wait for an opportune time to run away with
the stock, steal the women and girls and commit such other fiendish,
brutal crimes as only the savage perpetrate. According to our compact,
no one was permitted to talk to strangers except our leader, who was an
old plainsman and said he had crossed three times previous to our trip.
Strange people would ride up and try to scare the teams or another
bunch of them would ride by and try to trade horses with us for
something that we had so they could get into a quarrel which usually
ended in bloodshed. These bandits made their living by pilfering and
plundering and were ever ready to commit any heinous crime. Each night
our wagons were formed in a circle and everything was kept inside
during the night. The teams were chained to the wagons wheels on the
inside of the circle and men paced the line as sentries and changed
every three hours during the night so that a picket was on guard all of
the time. Our men were subject to orders from our leader just the same
as soldiers would be. While depredations were committed ahead and back
of us, our thirty-two wagons were not molested by these high handed
villains. It was told to us that one of the young men in a party just
in the rear of our train saw an old squaw on the opposite side of the
river from them and thought how nice it would be to say that he had
killed an Indian, leveled his carbine, took aim and fired and she
rolled over to the edge of the water—dead. Soon lights were seen all
along the hillside and the Indians began to gather. The next morning,
the braves came to the place from where the shot was fired and demanded
the person who did the shooting, with the promise that if such a one
was given over to them peaceably they would not molest any of them, but
if they did not, no mercy would be showed to anyone till they had all
met a like fate. Pleadings were in vain and the white people had to
deliver the young man to them despite the wailings and moanings of his
aged mother, his young wife, and his friends, who stood by and saw them
take him to the exact spot where lay the old Indian woman, where they
had him lashed to a tree, and with knives slit his flesh in strings and
skinned him alive. They said his cries and his agony was most pitiful
and he died an ignominious death at the hands of the savages.
"A train drove on the ferry on Platte river on Thursday before we came
on Saturday and everyone was lost save one man who swam to the shore.
He said the ferry cable was too slack, and the mules beginning to run
some of them went over and that lipped the boat, killing and drowning
them in one great mass. A like incident happened the next day after we
crossed the Green river. It was raining in the evening when we crossed
and being at a late hour, we drove out a mile or two and camped for the
night. The heavy rains in the mountains caused the river to rise very
fast and the next morning the drunken old ferryman did not tighten the
cable so that when the wagons drove on the ferry, he did not notice the
trouble till he was far out on the river and could not control the
boat. In the middle of the stream the boat capsized, drowning all but a
few of the good swimmers. New graves could be seen all along the
roadside and many families in destitute circumstances greeted our eyes
at nearly every turn in the road. Heart rending scenes met Ds on many
occasions and the appalling loss of some mother who had lost her son or
the father, on whom she leaned for support, presented a sad spectacle
for a lad of my age, and one long to be remembered. Vehicles of all
descriptions could be seen and the teams were of various kinds. Cattle
were hooked up with the horses or the mules, while the members of the
family had to walk to help lighten the load that was being carried
across the desert. Large barrels, filled with water were fastened to
the sides of the wagon? and when long drives were made it had to be
used very sparingly. Our guide knew all of the watering places so that
we had the advantage of the ones who were travelling promiscuously
across the great barren waste. He was so well acquainted that when he
would drive up to one of the overland stage stands, they would say,
'Hello, Bill,' and he visited with them or borrowed something from them
as if they were his neighbors. I do believe that I walked more than
two-thirds of the distance and when I think about it my feet hurt yet
from the sand burs in the hot sand. We were four and one-half months
making the trip to Boise, which was but a small village at that time,
and all the country adjacent was but sparsely settled. The railroad
promoters were platting the town of Caldwell, while Weiser was but a
few houses. If one could have foreseen the future of Idaho, at that
time, and could have made investments in lands, they would now have
been immensely wealthy. Idaho has blossomed like the rose and where the
big sage brush did grow are beautiful homes and great, fruit bearing
orchards, dotted here and there by towns, linked by the iron bands over
which trains speed and make greater distances in one day than we did
with our old oxen in a month, with those old squeaky, lynch-pin wagons,
with their old white covers that made them look like prairie schooners.
But all the hardships of my youth have only helped me to better
understand and enjoy the greater advantages that we have now. I would
not want to live them over again, but can look back through the dim
past, down the vista of years, and single out those days as of great
experiences and intelligence never to be forgotten."
[HISTORY OF IDAHO VOLUME
II; BY HIRAM T. FRENCH, M. S.; Publ. 1914; Transcribed and submitted to
Genealogy Trails by Andrea Stawski Pack.]
ERNEST F. HUNT
Among those whose activities in the mercantile field have served to
give prestige in their various communities, the name of Ernest F. Hunt,
of Meridian has a conspicuous place. The son of a merchant, reared in
the atmosphere of trade and commerce, and following that vocation from
the time when he first began his business career, when he decided upon
Meridian as his field of operations, he brought to this city a wide and
practical knowledge of his business that has served to materially
advance the commercial importance of this section. His energies have
not been wholly confined to the business of which he is the directing
head, however, for he has at all times found leisure to interest
himself in behalf of public movements, and his reputation as a
public-spirited citizen is only equaled by the high regard in which he
is held among his business associates. Mr. Hunt was born September 17,
1871, at Quincy, Illinois, and is a son of Samuel R. and Mary Frances
(Hardy) Hunt. His father, a native of New York, brought the family west
as far as Kansas in 1871, and there first began work as a carpenter, a
trade which he had learned in his youth. Subsequently, however, he
established himself in a mercantile business at Peabody, Kansas, and he
continued to be a successful merchant throughout the remainder of his
life, his death occurring at Lawrence, Kansas, May 13, 1912, when he
had reached the ripe old age of eighty-three years. His wife, also a
native of the Empire State, died in Kansas in 1898. They had a family
of seven children, of whom Ernest F. was the next to the youngest.
Ernest F. Hunt was still an infant when taken to Kansas by his parents,
and there his education was secured in the pioneer schools of Peabody.
On completing his educational training, he at once was initiated into
the details of the mercantile business in the store of his father, and
eventually he opened a store of his own, which he conducted with
uniform success for about ten years. At that time he disposed of his
interests and came to Idaho, locating in Boise, from which city he
traveled for three years as a salesman for the Shaw Advertising
Company. On leaving the employ of that concern, Mr. Hunt came to
Meridian and opened a small mercantile establishment, which has since
been developed into one of the leading enterprises of its kind in this
part of Ada county. As a business man there may be said to be three
excellent reasons why Mr. Hunt has attained success -- energy, system,
and practical knowledge. It has ever been his policy to give to his
patrons the best of quality, and his stock compares favorably with that
of the large stores all over the state. His sterling integrity and
honesty of purpose have gained him many friends and the confidence of
his patrons, and no man is more highly esteemed in his community.
In 1892 Mr. Hunt was married in Kansas to Miss Anna M. Nusbaum, and to
this union there have been born five children: Helen, born in 1894 in
Kansas, a graduate of the Meridian public and high schools; Hazel, born
in 1896, in Kansas, and now attending the schools of Meridian; Herma,
born in 1899, in Kansas, also a student here; Fred, born in 1903, in
Boise, Idaho, and a scholar in the graded schools; and Frank, born in
1907, in Boise. Mr. Hunt has always had supreme confidence in the
future welfare of Idaho, and his faith in Meridian's development as a
commercial and industrial center of importance, as well as his high
abilities, have caused him to be elected to the office of secretary of
the Meridian Commercial Club. His fraternal connection is with the Odd
Fellows, and in political matters he is a Republican, but has not found
time to enter the public arena. When he can command leisure from his
business activities, he is usually found at his comfortable residence,
of which he is very fond, although like all virile men of the west,
outdoor life and sports also attract him. Mrs. Hunt belongs to the
Methodist church, where her numerous friends testify cheerfully to her
popularity.
Source: "A History of Idaho" by Hiram T. French, Volume III, published by The Lewis Publishing Company, 1914.
Submitted by Don Tharp
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