Most of the information here is copied from
"Council Valley, Here They Labored"
by
Marguerite L. Diffendaffer,
published in 1977. (The book is no longer in print.) Additional
information and corrections have been added to Mrs. Diffendaffer's writing within brackets [ ].

Footnote numbers are also in brackets, and the footnotes follow the main text of each family

name. Additional names have also been added that were not in Mrs. Diffendaffers book.
Please report mistakes or send additional family information to: dafisk@ctcweb.net
We will accept information concerning any former residents of the Council area.

Originally, this page was divided into several files. Now text is all in one file below. You can use

your browser's search feature to search for a name or word. The search feature on many browser

programs can be accessed by pressing <ctrl-F> (Hold down the "ctrl" and tap the "F" key)

ADDINGTON

      James and Matilda Addington, both born in
North Carolina, lived for some time in Georgia.  Four of their eight
children were born there, three in Arkansas, and one in 

Missouri.[1] 

      Moses (Mode) Addington was born in Georgia in
1853. He married Katie Sipe in her native state, Missouri. Three sons, Moses,
John, and Sylvanus G. (“Bud”), and a daughter, Minnie, were born before the
families started west in 1886.[2] 

      The Addington wagon train arrived in Council
Valley in 1888 after two long, weary years on the way from Missouri. The group
was entirely family members, including the grandparents, James and Matilda,
their son Moses and his wife Harriet (“Katie”), and their four children.[3] 

      Soon they were active in the development of
the area. 

      James Addington died at Meadows in January,
1909, at age eighty years. He is buried there.[4]  His wife, Matilda, born
about 1830, died at Council and is buried in Kesler cemetery.[5] 

      Harriet Sipe Addington (March 4, 1849—March 19,
1903) is buried in Meridian cemetery and so is her husband, Mode (Moses ).[6] 

      Moses Addington was killed at Seneca,
Missouri, April 19, 1921, in a gun fight which arose over ownership of a house.
Mr. Addington and Bee Middleton shot each other to death and Middleton’s son,
Bee, was also shot.[7] 

      Mr. Addington had lived at Council until
1917. He went to Missouri to live but planned to return to Council. His body
was returned to Idaho and buried beside his wife. 

      Bud Addington was an early businessman in
Council. He was a buyer for a large meat-packing company and he also raised
cattle and sheep. 

      About 1899 he owned a meat market on Main
Street [Illinois Ave.] and a slaughterhouse by the Weiser River. There was a
disastrous fire, burning the entire block where the meat market stood. [1902]
Several years later there was another fire which again destroyed the meat
market. [1915] Bud’s son, Hugh, remembers many hams, bacon, and other meats
spread out on tables with everyone invited to help himself. The meat had gone
through the fire and was very well cooked. 

      The slaughterhouse stood on the bank of
Weiser River. Indians were still coming to the valley at that time. They camped
below the slaughter house. When butchering was done they came to ask for the
entrails, which they cleaned and ate.[8] (The small ones were baked to a puffy
crisp, like cracklings. The large ones were turned, cleaned, filled with fat,
and baked. The heat caused them to puff and expand. This food was called mie-mie
by the Nez Perce and was used as a seasoning.[9] 

      Bud Addington married Anna Biggerstaff. They
had one son, Hugh. Bud and Anna were divorced in 1909.[10] He married Myrtle
Perkins in 1925.[11]  Anna moved from the area and died in Payette in 1959.
Bud died November 28, 1937. He is buried in the I.O.O.F. Cemetery.[12] 

[1] 1870 Census of Harrison, Boone County, Arkansas. 

[2] Hugh Addington, interview. 

[3]  Ibid. 

[4] Council Leader, January 9, 1909. 

[5] Hugh Addington, interview. 

[6] Meridian Cemetery records, Meridian, Idaho; Adams County Leader, August 26,
1921. 

[7] Adams County Leader, August 26, 1921. 

[8] Hugh Addington, interview. 

[9] Leda Scott Scrimsher, “Native Foods Used by the Nez Perce Indians of Idaho
“ M.A. thesis, 

University of Idaho, 1967. 

[10]  Hugh Addington, interview. 

[11]  Marriage records, Washington County, Weiser, Idaho. 

[12]  I.0.0.F. Cemetery records. 

___________________________ 

ALLEN

Charlie Allen was a miner who was well known around Council and Salubria. 

He was born April 28, 1868 in Montana, son of George and Olivia Moody. His
maternal  grandparents, Robert Maybell and wife Sarah --, were born in
Ireland. George and Olivia were married in Wisconsin and traveled from there to
Montana by covered wagon before 1866 and settled near Helena. Olivia carried
$50,000.00 sewn into her bustle. Charlie had a sister, Sarah, born about two
years before he was.[1] 

A group of ten men decided to go to "the geysers" (now Yellowstone
Park) to prospect for gold. Among them was George Moody. The Indians considered
the area their own and forbidden ground. The men were all killed.[2] 

May 4, 1870, Olivia Moody married Levi Allen, who had been a friend of her
late husband. They were married in Helena.[3] Levi was also a prospector and
spent much time in Idaho. He was one of the party who discovered the Peacock
mine in the Seven Devils. 

Levi and Olivia Allen had one son, Grover Allen, born in 1873 in Montana.[4] 

Charles Moody took his stepfather's name and for the rest of his life he was
known as Charlie Allen. 

In the 1870s and '80s Montana was a booming area. Mines were discovered and
produced great wealth. Law and order were yet to come. Helena was a very rough
town. Even the children saw much violence. While a small boy, Charlie went to
town with his stepfather. They went into a saloon and Charlie stood near the
door. A gunfight erupted between two men and the one standing next to the child
was killed and fell against him).[5] 

Soon after 1880 Levi Allen moved his family to Salubria, Idaho. From there
they traveled through Council on their way to and from the Seven Devils. They
lived for a while in the Devils mining area. Olivia was one of the first white
women to live there. 

Levi Allen owned a sawmill on Bacon Creek, near Salubria, and his sons
worked there. In 1893 Levi was given a contract to provide telephone poles for
the area.[6] 

Charlie Allen leased Mathews' Meat Market in Salubria in March, 1894, and by
fall he had mining claims in the Devils which became his real interest. From
that time forward he was a miner and never lost his enthusiasm for outdoor life
and the search for gold.[7] 

Charlie married Mrs. Amy Smith in March, 1900. She was the widow of Frank
Smith and had five children. She and Charlie had one daughter, Nettie. They
were divorced in February, 1905, and, October 24 of that year Charlie married
Ova "Josie" Biggerstaff White-widow of Robert White, Jr. of Council.
She had two children--Ray and Ruth White. She and Charlie had sons--George and
Ted.[8] 

Allens lived above Council where Charlie had a sawmill and in 1912 moved to
Glendale. 

Josie had a violent temper and threatened at various times to kill Charlie
by shooting him. Not knowing when she might actually try it, Charlie was
careful not to leave any shells in his gun, but once he was tired and forgetful
and failed to unload it.While he was eating dinner she took the gun and slipped
outside. A sixth sense made him open the door in time to see her and knock the
rifle (a .303 Savage) downward as she fired. He was shot twice in the leg.
Leaving Charlie where he fell, she left, taking Ted, who was quite small.
Charlie sent George for help.[9] According to the Weiser Weekly Signal, this
happened at Tamarack on May 4, 1913.[10] The paper states clearly that the weapon
was aimed at Charlie's head and that Josie meant to kill him and that this time
the charges were far more serious than those of two years before when she beat
a school teacher almost to death at Bear.[11] 

The doctor said the leg must be amputated, but Charlie flatly refused,
saying, "If I'm going to Hell I'll go on two legs!" Five days after
the shooting the Allens moved to Council and rented a house behind the Zink
hospital so Charlie would be close to the doctor and hospital. While he was
hospitalized his best friend, Ike Whiteley, spent much time with him, smuggling
in special things which he wasn't supposed to have. Charlie asked him to
promise not to let them amputate his leg if he reached the point where he could
not resist. Ike said he'd kill anyone who tried it, and that took care of the
matter.[12] 

The Leader of June 27, 1913, carried this account of the surgery: 

Delicate Operation 

Dr. Dudley came up Tuesday from Weiser and on Wednesday assisted Dr. Brown in
performing a delicate operation on Charles Allen whose leg was broken by a shot
from a rifle some six weeks ago. He could not be operated on at the time due to
the mangled flesh about the bone. Wednesday the surgeons cut into the leg,
removed five fragments of bone, dressed up the ends of the bone and put in
three bone-plates, one on top and one on each side of the bone. There had been
considerable destruction of the soft part around the bone, on account of which
it will be some time before he can use the leg, but in the end he will have a
good limb, possible a little shorter than the other.[13] 

The leg was saved but Charlie limped the rest of his life. He and Josie
divorced soon after he recovered. 

Associated with mining all of his life, Charlie Allen's name appears in
connection with the Yellow Jacket, Red Ledge, North Hornet, Peacock, and Blue
Jacket mines, among others. He prospected on Deep Creek and Big Creek. As early
as the snow melted he took a pack string and headed for his claims each year
and returned before snow fell in the fall. In later years he did assessment
work for several mining companies.[14] 

Charlie had done lots of hand drilling and powder work. In 1927 he was hired
as Superintendent of North Hornet mine. The company took a big diamond drill in
there, hoping to open up a really large vein, but in January 1928 the mine was
closed due to the owner's involvement in litigation concerning their Red Ledge
mine. 

A real conservationist, Charlie lived off the land. He never hunted for
sport. He hunted and fished, in season or out, when he needed food. He had a
deep respect for nature and he had no use for anyone who hunted just for sport
or wasted game of any kind. He always said no game warden would take him in
without a gun. One summer he and Frank Kennedy were out prospecting. With them
were Charlie's sons, George and Ted. Provisions were running low so one of the
men shot a deer. As they were dressing it out they saw the game warden coming.
Frank Kennedy threw a tarp over the deer and then ran to a small stream nearby
to wash the blood from his hands and Charlie, realizing that was too
conspicuous, started digging in a small swampy place. He smeared mud over any
spots of blood on himself and his clothes. He told the game warden he was
trying to clean out a spring.[15] 

Young George saw the fresh deer liver lying in full view on a log. It was
too late to cover it so he quickly sat on it and remained there until the
warden left. 

Charlie said, "Let me see your gun, Jake. I think it's just like mine.
The warden gave it to him and Charlie removed the shells before handing it
back. "Thanks. I was running low on shells." "You can't do that.
That's all the shells I've got," Jake said "Oh, you'll be back in
town before I will." Of course, the warden knew what had been going on but
there was little he could do at that point and he soon departed.[16] 

About 1905 Charlie Allen had a sawmill at Landore and later one at Cuprum. 

After Landore ceased to operate--the mines and smelter-Charlie and others
were mining above White Monument. Supplies ran low so he walked to Landore,
where he got a wheelbarrow, loaded it with a sack of flour and other supplies,
and pushed it the many long uphill miles to their mine. 

Among other things, Charlie was a freighter, driving the heavy clumsy
freight wagons to various mining areas, hauling machinery, food, ore, or almost
anything. A story was often told to illustrate his freighter's ability. He had
a small wirehaired dog that went everywhere with him. On a trip from Cuprum to
Homestead, Oregon, down the perilous Kleinschmidt grade, Charlie reached the
bottom and missed his little dog. He walked back and found him near the top. It
seems the dog could not make it around one of the sharp turns in the road.[17] 

August 26, 1927, Charlie married Nellie Bond, stepdaughter of Grant Moore.
They had one son, Charles Grant Allen. 

Charlie Allen died May 9, 1938, at their home on Cottonwood. His marker in
the I.O.O.F. Cemetery very appropriately depicts a miner and his pack
string.[18] 

To this writer Charlie Allen was a special breed of man. If he said
something was true, it was. What he said he'd do, he did. He was gentleness
itself to the very old and the very young. He never forgot a friend or forgave
an enemy. 

Olivia Allen moved to Spokane many years before her death there July 1,
1936.[19] 

1 Nellie Stahl, Amity, Oregon, oral interview, 1974. 

2 Ibid. 

3 Marriage record, Olivia Moody and Levi Allen, Bureau of Vital Statistics, 

Helena, Montana. 

4 Nellie Stahl, interview. 

5 Ibid 

6 Salubria Citizen, June 9, 1893. 

7 Nellie Stahl, interview. 

8 Ibid. 

9 Ibid 

10 Weiser Weekly Signal, May 8, 1913. 

11 Weiser Semi-Weekly Signal, January 27, 1911. 

12 Nellie Stahl, interview. 

13 Leader, June 27, 1913. 

14 Nellie Stahl, interview. 

15 Ibid. 

16 Ibid. 

17 Orril Lewis, telephone interview, 1974. 

18 Nellie Stahl, interview. 

19 Death certificate, Olivia Allen, Bureau of Vital Statistics, Olympia, 

Washington. 

More on the Allens: 

From Winifred Lindsay -- 

Concerning Council Valley Museum photo 95439: The original of the photo of the
Allens was donated to the Idaho Historical Society by Mrs. Alma Lorton Morrison
of Walla Walla.   She was a childhood friend of Winifred's and
furnished her with the following info from the Allen family bible: 

 Levi Allen, born Missouri, 1839 - crossed the plains in 1859 going to
Puget Sound area.  To Walla Walla in 1860 & engaged in sawmill
business.  Married widow, Olivia Maybell Moody in 1871 who had two
children, Sarah, b. 1867 and Charles, b. 1869: both were adopted by Mr.
Allen.  Levi and his wife had one son, Grover b. 1873 - died 1953, never
married.  Levi killed by car in 1917. 

 Sarah Moody Allen married Eugene Lorton, a young printer, in 1886. 
Mr. Lorton later became owner of the very prosperous Tulsa, Oklahoma
World.  They had 4 daughters, one being Alma Lorton Morrison of Walla
Walla. 

 When Levi and Olivia married, Sarah was 4 yrs. old, Charles was age 2.
Sarah & Eugene Lorton were married at Salubria were Alma was born. 

See also: Lorton

________________________

ANDERSON

Rufus D. Anderson was born April 16, 1829, in Venago, Pennsylvania, and
married Nancy Anne Davison there October 29, 1851.[1] 

They were in Indian Valley before 1877, for his name appears on a letter to
Governor Brayman on that date, appealing for arms to protect the settlers from
Indians. 

Mrs. Anderson, born October 9, 1834, died November 8, 1897,[2] and is buried
in the Kesler Cemetery. 

Rufus Anderson was a Union veteran of the Civil War. He enlisted first on
July 1, 1863, as a private at Omaha, Nebraska, in Company D, Second Regiment,
Volunteer Nebraska Infantry and was discharged at Georgetown, Maryland,
February 2, 1862, because of disability. He enlisted again in Company D, Second
Nebraska Cavalry, on October 16, 1862, at Omaha and was discharged as wagoner
September 18, 1863, by reason of expiration of service.[3] 

He drew twelve dollars a month pension.  He was a blacksmith. 

June 16, 1898, Rufus Anderson was admitted to the Old Soldier's Home, in
Boise, due to "Senile weakness - complications, Mental stupor, wholly
incapacitated."[4] 

Rufus died April 30, 1899, and is buried in the Fort Boise Military
Cemetery.[5] 

His pension record shows his children: Horace W., George W., James J., Lovina
L., Adaline, Preston G., and Olive May. 

This was a tragic family. Mental illness stalked them. James committed
suicide by jumping into the river.[6] 

Preston Anderson, called "Press," was a hard working man and a
good friend to those he liked. He was born in Weiser November 15, 1872, one of
nine children. He was sent to the state hospital several times for mental
problems.[7] 

Press Anderson took a homestead when he was of age and lived on it all his
life. At the time of his death there was only one other homesteader in the
valley on his original entry.[8] 

Press had some unusual ideas and was very religious. He wore his hair long
and thought he was Jesus Christ. He had a deep fear of the devil and  did
many things to keep him away from his farm on Hornet Creek.  He put
crosses of tape on his windows to keep the devil out.  A patch of hay was
always left in the center of the meadow because "The devil is in
there." He bought a cow from Mr. Peebles but she developed sore teats and
he asked Mr. Peebles to take her back.  He was sure the devil was in her. 

One winter when hay was very scarce Press had an excess. Neighbors and even
family wanted to buy some.  He said, "No.  My friend, Mr.
Peebles, needs it."  It did not matter that Mr. Peebles had plenty to
meet his needs. Press was looking out for a friend. [9] Press Anderson ran a
blacksmith shop in town for a time. He died October 8 or 9, 1924, at his
home.[l0] He and James are buried In the Kesler Cemetery. 

Horace "Bill" Anderson, born 1857, married Delilah Anna Lane in
Indian valley.  She was born in Indiana 1n1862.  Bill died of heart
trouble at his home on Mill Creek in February, 1924.  Delilah died August
10, 1940.  They had ten children: Charlotte, Anne, Alta, Jessie, Elsie,
Millie, Aaron E., Oliver L., Horace C., and Cornelia.[11] 

Aaron Elsworth Anderson, son of Bill and Delilah, was born on the family ranch
on Hornet Creek April 8, 1884.  He married Mary Winkler August 26, 1907.
They had one son, George.[12] 

 Mr. Anderson died at his home on Mill Creek in 1947 and is buried in
the I.O.O. F. Cemetery. 

1 Service record of Rufus D. Anderson, Veterans Hospital , Boise, Idaho. 

2 Pension record of Rufus D. Anderson, General Services Administration, 

Washington, D.C. 

3 Ibid. 

4 Service record of Rufus D. Anderson. 

5 Ibid. 

6 Weiser Signal, April 13, 1899. 

7 Mrs. Nellie Peebles Smith, Boise, Idaho, oral interview, 1972. 

8 Obituary of Press Anderson, Adams County Leader, October 17, 1924. 

9 Mrs. Nellie Peebles Smith, interview. 

10 Obituary of Press Anderson. 

11 Obituary of Horace Willis Anderson, Adams County Leader, February 8, 

1924. 

12 Obituary of Aaron E. Anderson, Adams Count Leader, November 7, 1947. 

ANDERSON

Oliver Anderson was born on Hornet
Creek in 1893. His parents, Bill and Delilah Anderson, homesteaded on Hornet
Creek in 1878, on what was later the Schroff place. They later moved to Mill
Creek (northeast of Council) across from Jerry Balderson’s place.

Aaron Anderson (Oliver’s brother)
owned an orchard on Mill Creek. He married Mary Winkler (Charles Winkler’s
sister).

After WWI, Oliver went to work for the
Forest Service (Weiser National Forest before it was consolidated into the
Payette National Forest) and continued to work there on Council Mountain for 19
years.

Nolan Anderson played baseball with
his father until the early 19540s for the Council town team.

All information from June Anderson,
wife of Nolan Anderson, of Hines, Oregon—November 2006.  Her husband’s father was Oliver Anderson

----------------------------

B

BAIRD

Ewing Craig "Pinky" Baird was born near Little Rock, Arkansas,
February 1, 1848. When he was six weeks old his family started west -- a trip
which lasted seven months. They were often attacked by hunger and savage
Indians. "Pinky" was one of fifteen children in the family.[1] 

Early in 1849, the Bairds settled at Hangtown, near Sacramento, California.
Later they moved to Oregon and homesteaded the site now occupied by the town of
Grants Pass. Pinky lived there until he was nineteen years old. At that time he
brought a herd of cattle over the Oregon Trail, crossed Snake River, proceeded
to Upper Squaw Creek and to what is now Ola. His brother, Carol, had preceded
him there by one year.[2] 

E. C. "Pinky" Baird was a well-known Indian fighter. He served as
an independent Indian scout for the government during the time of unrest in 1878-79.
He was one of those who signed a petition to Governor Brayman in 1878 asking
for guns and soldiers to protect the area from Indians who were on the
rampage.[3] 

Indians had killed some of his family and Pinky had a deep hatred of them.
Believing that the only good Indian was a dead Indian, he did his best to make
many of them good. Once when he was riding from Council to Meadows an Indian
shot through his hat. He fell from his horse, pretending to be dead, but
crawled behind a rock. He stuck his hat on a stick and held it barely above the
rock. When the Indian came to finish him off Baird shot him.[4] Baird killed
Eagle Eye, a renegade Shoshoni Indian who participated in the Billy Monday
massacre. [Baird did not kill Eagle Eye, although he claimed to have done so.
Also, the Indians responsible for the Billy Monday Massacre (also known as the
Long Valley Massacre) were never identified.] 

In early days E. C. Baird engaged in mining and freighting in Thunder
Mountain, Warrens, and The Seven Devils area.[5] About 1892 he made his home in
Council while freighting from the Seven Devils.[6] 

March 31, 1906, he married Mrs. Ellen (Newell) Wilson, a widow. She died
January 23, 1909, and on June 17, 1911, he married Mrs. Laura Gordon. 

The life of this Colorful Character ended July 10, 1912, at his home north
of Council. At his request he was buried in the I.O.O.F. Cemetery, under the
auspices of that lodge.[7] 

1 Obituary of Ewing Craig "Pinky" Baird, Council Leader, July 11,
1912. 

2 Ibid. 

3 Letters to Governor Brayman, Idaho Adjutant General's records, Idaho
Territorial Archives, Boise. 

4 Mary Thurston, interview. 

5 Early Days of Adams County, Idaho. 

6 Obituary of Ewing Craig "Pinky" Baird. 

7 Ibid. 

___________________________

BEIER

Frederick William Beier was the son of German-born William H. and Catherine
Flore Beier. He was born at Buffalo, New York, November 19, 1853.[1] 

Fred and his brother, Henry, attracted by the Virginia City gold rush, came
west in 1875 or '76. They did little prospecting but worked at other things.
After a few years they moved on to Ellensburg, Washington, where they remained
about a year before their final move to Council Valley in 1883.[2] 

May 3, 1887, Fred Beier married Amelia Snow, daughter of Bernard and Matilda
Snow, of Indian Valley. She was born in 1866 at Ephriam, Utah, and came with
her family to Indian Valley in 1882.[3] 

In 1889 Fred Beier bought the homestead of Jacob and Elizabeth Groseclose.
It contained one hundred and sixty acres.[4]  This was the family home
until Fred's death. Beier's first enterprise, aside from farming, was a sawmill
which gave Mill Creek its name.[5] 

Herbert Beier tells some of his memories of that area: 

At first Dad had a partner, Milt Wilkerson. Dad soon bought Wilkerson's share.
I don't know the date of the first mill, located at the mouth of the canyon. I
well remember the second location up the canyon, nearer the timber. The
location of the mill, house barn, bunk house and the home are all vivid in my
mind. I remember the six large oxen and some other details at that place. About
1898 must have been the end of our stay there. My brother, Fred, who was about
ten years old, would read the war news (Spanish-American) from the weekly
newspaper to the men. They thought he was a very smart boy.  We only went
to the mill in summer. On Sunday, usually, mother, Fred and I would drive to
the ranch and take produce to the mill. 

The ranch home was a white weather-board two-story house, with a one-story
wing added for a kitchen at a later date.  The house and other buildings
were destroyed by fire on March 17, 1901--a St. Patrick's day I will always
remember. 

The large log barn, just east of the garden, was not burned but was torn
down. The wagon and tool building, also the wood shed, were made from parts
from the old barn. 

I remember the first train I ever saw, probably about 1895-96. Dad was a
County Commissioner and he took the family, mother, Will and me, to Weiser. The
trip was made by team and wagon and we camped out two nights on the way. 

By the time the railroad was built to Council Will and I were old enough to
ride our pony down to a place near the mouth of Middle Fork to see the
construction work. That was on Sunday so we only saw the train when not at
work. It had gone to Weiser for supplies but we saw it return. At that time the
plan was to build along the river to the mouth of Cottonwood but that route was
abandoned for the present one. A crew of men worked all winter on the rock cut
near Higgins' place. The men frequently came to our place on Sunday to buy
apples. 

Dad gave the land on which Cottonwood school was built.[6] 

The Beier children were:  Fred, Herbert, Gerry, Nettie, Alice, and
Donald. 

Mr. Beier died September 1, 1933. Mrs. Beier hired men to operate the ranch and
she moved to an apartment in Weiser. She died January 12, 1945.[7] 

Henry Beier, born about 1856, married Viola Babcock. They had no children.
Mr. Beier engaged in farming and cattle raising. He died at his home in
Ontario, Oregon, November 22, 1919.[8] 

1 Donald Beier, interview, Kuna, Idaho, 1974. 

2 Ibid. 

3 Ibid 

4 Deed on file in Idaho State Archives, Boise, Idaho. 

5 Donald Beier, interview. 

6 Herbert Beier, California, in a letter to Donald Beier, 1974. 

7 Donald Beier, interview. 

8 Ibid. 

___________________________

BIGGERSTAFF

Tolbert B. Biggerstaff, the second of five children of Wesley V. and Mary
Ann Biggerstaff, was born in Carroll County, Arkansas, June 2, 1851. He
married, in January, 1873, Harriet E. Whiteley, daughter of Joseph Whiteley and
his first wife.[1] 

Emily Biggerstaff, sister of Tolbert, married Lewis Harp and they came to
Council about 1890. 

Tolbert Biggerstaff moved his family from Arkansas to Missouri to Idaho.
Records vary, showing 1886 and 1888 as time of arrival in Council Valley. 

Mr. Biggerstaff was a rancher and operated a stage line. [He actually
operated a stage stop (on Fort Hall Hill), not a line.] 

Seven children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Biggerstaff. They were: Anna, Ova,
Josephine, Olive, Cora, Lida, Emma, and Arden C.[3] 

Anna married Sylvanus G. ("Bud") Addington and had one son, Hugh.
They separated and she moved from the area. They each remarried.[4] 

Ova "Josie" married (1) Robert White, Jr., who served in the
Spanish-American War. They had two children, Ruth and Ray White. Robert died in
1904*. Ova married (2) Charles Allen. Their children were George and Ted. She
had a very violent temper and it almost cost someone's life on at least two
occasions. January 11, 1911 she attacked Melissa Buriff, the school mistress of
Bear Creek School, with a wooden club approximately four inches by eighteen
inches, striking her about the head and face. Miss Buriff was so severely
injured that she was put to bed immediately upon arrival at Robertson's, where
she boarded. Next morning she was taken by sled to Council, put on the train to
Weiser and was admitted to the hospital there as soon as possible. All of this
was because of something reportedly said in the classroom. Ova was brought to
trial on assault charges and found guilty. She was fined heavily and the
newspaper gave her no sympathy, stating that the only reason she was not
sentenced to prison was because she had several small children.[5] 

 [*Robert died in 1906. Re: Weiser Signal April 21, 1906--Robert White Jr.
died.  Was confined to his bed since November.  Crossed the plains as
a boy.  Not quite age 30. Buried in Kesler Cemetery.] 

Two years later she was again in trouble for attempted murder. She tried to
kill her husband by shooting him with a rifle.[6]  Soon after that she and
Charlie Allen were divorced and she moved to Payette and married several more
times before 1955, when she died. 

A. C. Biggerstaff was arrested for murder at Copperfield, Oregon, February,
1909. He was charged with killing an old man named Moore. The old fellow was
beaten so badly that he died several days later, never having regained
consciousness. Biggerstaff admitted having fought with him but protested he was
not responsible for his death.[7] In later years A. C. Biggerstaff lived in
California. 

Lida Biggerstaff married Don Mathias and died very young of a brain tumor. 

Emma married Edward Eugene Hart. Cora married (1) Patsy Kane and (2) I. N.
Goldsmith. Olive married J. J. Jones. 

Tolbert B. Biggerstaff died in Payette August 31, 1929. Harriet, his wife,
died there also at the home of her daughter, Ova J. Applegate, January 29,
1939. Both are buried in Kesler Cemetery at Council. 

1 Obituary of Tolbert B. Biggerstaff, Adams County Leader, September 8, 

1929. 

2 Ibid. 

3 Ibid 

4 Hugh Addington, interview. 

5 Weiser Semi-Weekly Signal, January 27, 1911. 

6 Weiser Weekly Signal, May 8, 1913. 

7 The Leader, February 12, 1909. 

 
BIGGERSTAFF          

      FROM 1910 Census of "Weiser Canyon"

site # 149  Tolbert B. and Harriet E. Biggerstaff (55) - his age illegible
- both born in Arkansas - married 37 years - 7 kids born, 6 now living - 
his occupation illegible but looks interesting  site # 150  James
(30) and Emma (22) Harp -  married 4 years - 2 kids: Eva (4) and Hattie
(3) both born in Idaho.  Farmer 

____________________________ 

BLACK

William Black planted the first commercial orchard on Hornet Creek in
1885.[1] The fruit was of prize-winning quality and was known nationally and
internationally. It took a prize at the Chicago World's Fair and some was sent
to London and Paris for exhibition. Before long others saw that the area was
adapted to fruit growing and many commercial orchards sprang up, making fruit
one of the county's most important crops. 

The school report of District 25--Council--for 1885 shows that Mrs. Dora Black
was the teacher. She taught for some time on Hornet Creek. 

In 1892 there was an epidemic of diphtheria in which two small sons of
William and Dora Black died. They were among a number of deaths in the area
caused by the dreaded disease. Harry R. Black - age 8 years, 3 months. Ralph
Black - age 30 months. Their little graves are under the only pine tree in the
alfalfa field on  the family farm, which is now owned by William Kampeter.
[2694 Upper Dale Road] They are surrounded by a white picket fence and Mr.
Kampeter carefully tends them. 

Mr. Black sold the farm to B. B. Day in 1901 and they moved away from Idaho.
Health authorities would not allow the children's bodies to be moved, fearing
the diphtheria germs would be spread and cause a new outbreak of the disease.
Mrs. Black tried again in recent years to have them moved, but it was again
forbidden.[2] 

1 Lorene Mitchell, "Historical Facts of Adams County," manuscript,
in Idaho 

State Historical Society Library, Boise. 

2 Edith Zink, Mountain Home, Idaho, oral interview, 1974. 

______________________________

BOWMAN

Earl Wayland Bowman, born in Missouri March 13, 1875, was orphaned at the
age of ten or twelve and rambled over the west. 

As a youngster in Salt Lake City he was broke and apprenticed himself to a
printer. This was to have a lasting effect on his life. He rode the Texas range
as a cowboy for a time. 

In 1902 Mr. Bowman and his wife, Elva, moved to Council where they took an
80-acre homestead and he began his writing career. During the four years they
were proving up on their homestead he wrote newspaper editorials. One of these
pointed to the need of a newspaper in Council. Ivan Durell came and established
such a paper--the Council Leader, which later became the Adams County Leader.
Bowman walked the five miles round trip from his home to town, to set the type
for the newspaper. He wrote editorials and news and sold ads. In 1912 he was a
feature writer for the Boise Capital News and later published a magazine called
"The Golden Trail."[1] 

In May, 1910, E. W. Bowman bought a White Steamer automobile to transport
land speculators about the valley, hoping to interest them in investing in land
and orchards.[2] 

Earl Wayland Bowman was elected in 1914, by a large majority, to the Idaho
State Senate. He was Idaho's only Socialist legislator.[3] He worked to have
Adams County formed from a portion of Washington County and next he lobbied to
have Council made the County seat.[4] 

Bowman served as war correspondent for the Boise Capital News in July 1916
when trouble erupted on the Mexican border. He was attached to the Second Idaho
Regiment of the National Guard.[5] 

When he returned from Mexico they moved to Boise. Here he wrote The Ramblin'
Kid, which was published as a serial in a weekly magazine and later in book
form. It was made into a movie in 1923, starring Hoot Gibson. 

Among his later works were Solemn Johnson Plus and Arrowrock, which included
his poems and seven short stories which had been printed in Argosy and The American
Magazine. 

Mr. and Mrs. Bowman had two daughters. 

Mr. Bowman died in Los Angeles. His works have been given to the Boise State
University Library. These include books, letters, magazines, newspapers,
original manuscripts, and unpublished novels. 

1 Obituary of Earl Wayland Bowman, Adams County Leader, September 19, 1952 

2 The Leader, May 13, 1910. 

3 Obituary of Earl Wayland Bowman. 

4 Ibid. 

5 Ibid. 

_____________________________

BRAUER

William Brauer was born February 24, 1839, in the village of Bergholtz,
Province of Uckermark, Prussia. He came to America with his family when he was
about eight years old. 

He married August 28, 1878, in Rawlins, Wyoming, Lydia M. (Groseclose)
McCann, widow of H. J. McCann. She had five children. Her first husband died
March 7, 1878 in a three-day storm. 

Lydia Groseclose was born May 9, 1850, at Boon River, Iowa, daughter of
Jacob and Elizabeth Groseclose. 

Guy Brauer was born October 9, 1880, at Lake Creek, Carbon County, Wyoming
Territory. 

William Brauer was a staunch Mason. He mortgaged his farm in Wyoming to
build the Masonic Hall there. 

C

CAMP

Harrison Camp was born in Shippensville, Pennsylvania, December 21, 1838. He
came west in 1858 as an employee in government transportation service and was a
government teamster during the time the Indians and whites were struggling for
supremacy. He went back to Kansas and married Elizabeth Jane Fife January 13,
1869. They started west in 1882 with three children. One winter was spent in
eastern Oregon and then they went on to Council where they arrived July 7,
1883. They homesteaded two miles north of town, on Mill Creek. They had three
sons, William, Byron, and Floyd, and two daughters, Grace and Bessie.[1] 

Mrs. Camp died April 30, 1913.[2]  Mr. Camp died June 12, 1920. 

William H. Camp was born in Kansas in 1869. He married Mary Delight Warner.
Their children were Ella, Barney, Harry, Amos, and Gene. William died of blood
poisoning June 16, 1937.[3] 

Mary Delight Warner was born February 20, 1873, at Willard City, Utah,
daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Amos Warner. She came to Idaho with her parents in
1883. The family settled first at Albion, and in 1890 they moved to Bear Creek,
north of Council. She married William Camp at Cuprum in 1904. 

They lived there until moving February 2, 1959. She and her husband are buried
in the I.O.O.F. Cemetery.[4] 

1 Obituary of Harrison Camp, Adams County Leader, June 18, 1920. 

2 Obituary of Elizabeth Jane Camp, Adams County Leader, April 30, 1913. 

3 Obituary of William H. Camp, Adams County Leader, June 18, 1937. 

4 Obituary of Mary D. Camp, Adams County Leader, February 2, 1959. 

_____________ 

CANNON, BILL 

Bill Cannon squatted on a claim near the head of Rapid River. 

He was the first one in there according to Ace Barton.  Cannon 

Creek was named after him.*Tape of Ace Barton by Camp 

CARR

J. A. Carr was born in Loudon County, Virginia, October 5, 1855, and died
October 12, 1937.[1] 

In 1891 he settled in Minneapolis, Minnesota. He was married there in 1901
to Harriet Piper. They came to Council in 1903 with her brother, Seldon Piper,
and his wife.[2] 

Joseph and Harriet Carr homesteaded 160 acres at the foothills just east of
the village of Council and made a home there.[3] He brought irrigation water to
his land and raised peaches and apples of excellent quality. He took an exhibit
of apples to the National Horticultural Congress at Council Bluffs, Iowa, in
1907 and brought home seven silver cups and a number of medals and ribbons.
This eventually led to planting of many Council Valley orchards and Mesa
Orchard. In other years he again attended the Horticultural Congress and added
more trophies to his collection.[4] 

Mr. Carr maintained an insurance and real estate office in Council for many
years. A. L. Freehafer was his partner for nine years prior to 1915, when the
Freehafers moved to Payette.[5] 

Mrs. Carr was a Sunday School teacher in the Congregational Church for
years. 

1 Obituary of J. A. Carr, Adams County Leader, October 15, 1937. 

2 Ibid. 

3 Homestead records, state office, Bureau of Land Management, Boise. 

4 Obituary of J. A. Carr. 

5 Ibid. 

_________________________________

CHILDS

Henry Childs, born about 1840 in Virginia, was Hornet Creek's first settler.
He was one of three bachelors living in the area before the Moser family
arrived in 1876.[1] [Childs arrived in 1868] 

It was he who gave Hornet Creek its name. He spent the winter of 1876 on the
Creek and, in the summer, noted the nests of hornets. After a very unpleasant
encounter with a nest of them he told Mosers there were millions of them up
there.[2] 

Mr. Childs homesteaded on Hornet Creek[3] and at one time had a partner, A.
W. Peebles. This did not work out well and before long Mr. Peebles moved his
family to Cottonwood. 

The census of 1880 shows John Milligan and Henry Childs were both miners by
occupation and were boarding with the John Anderson family.[4] 

For a time Henry Childs served as a Justice of Peace.[5] 

The Council Leader reported that Henry Childs left Council May 3, 1910, and
returned to his old home in Oneida, New York, to spend the rest of his days. He
had been a resident of Council valley for about forty-two years. From this it
would seem that he arrived about 1868, which was eight years before the first
family settled at Council. 

1 Matilda Moser manuscript. 

2 Ibid. 

3 Homestead records, state office, Bureau of Land Management, Boise. 

4 1880 census, Council Valley, Washington County, Idaho. 

5 Records of First Bank of Council, Idaho Historical Society, Boise. 

? 

6 Council Leader, May 5, 1910. 

7 Ibid. 

_________________________________

CLIFTON (see Groseclose)

John Henry Clifton deserted the military and changed his
name from "Kronic" to Clifton. [Info from 

Helen Zielinski, 1999] 

_________________________________

COOL

L. S. Cool was the editor of Council's first newspaper--The Council
Journal--in 1901. In 1905 it became the Advance and Mr. Cool was still editor
and publisher. This paper had a short life, and the area was soon without a
newspaper until Ivan Durrell started the Leader in 1908.[1] 

Fred Cool, brother of L. S. Cool, herded sheep for a Utah outfit. When he
quit that job he had four hundred dollars. He rented a shed and an old fanning
mill and started cleaning grain. People laughed at him, but he kept on and soon
had a thriving feed store.[2] 

He shipped cattle and became prosperous. People stopped laughing and started
calling him "Mr. Cool." He said, "No, it's still just
Fred." Prosperity did not change him. 

Fred Cool bought the bank, treated people fairly and honestly, and made
money. Within ten years he was reported to be a millionaire.  He was a
shrewd businessman.[3] He sold the bank in 1922 and moved to Portland, where he
died in 1940.[4] 

[Fred Cool ran a hotel in Portland for several years, after he was partners
with Dale Donnelly in the feed store in Council.] 

1 Adams County Leader, November, 1924. 

2 Lin Peebles, Emmett, Idaho, oral interview, 1974. 

3 Ibid. 

4 Adams County Leader, April 26, 1940. 

_____________________________________

COPELAND

James Copeland was born In Alabama about 1844. He married Ida, daughter of
Alex Kesler, born 1863 in Virginia. She was barely fourteen when they
married.[1] 

They came to Council in 1878 with Ida's parents, Alex and Martha Kesler,
Andy Kesler, the William Harp family, and the George A. Winkler family. Some of
the party stopped in Boise and some in Indian Valley, but they soon came on to
Council, too.[2] 

The 1880 census of Washington County shows the Copelands' children were a
two-year-old son, William, and a three-month-old daughter, unnamed. 

James Copeland was the discoverer of Copeland mines in Long Valley.  The Copelands farmed in Long Valley for a
short time but soon sold out and moved from the area.

---------------------

From: “Valley County
Idaho—Prehistory to 1920”, edited by Shelton Woods, Action Publishing, 2002,
page 45:

“In the area now
called Copeland Flat, James Copeland found placer gold in 1863. Therafter, he
mined it alternately with his claims in the Boise Basin. The few references
which remain of this area refer to Copeland’s Diggings as occupied by seasonal
miners from Boise Basin.

“In the 1870 census, Copeland's Diggings were mingled with Deadwood and
all other areas north and east of Garden Valley. If James Copeland was at Copeland
Flat, that year as supposed, that subsection (Deadwood 2-3 1) of the census
counted him and 14 others at Copeland's Diggings.

“In the 1880 census, Copeland Flat was only occupied by James Crew and Daniel Dinnin, but two new
placer areas had opened up. The first was Kennally's Diggings (Kennally Creek). Kennally
had departed the area by then, making William Evens the sole resident at
Kennally's Diggings. The second placer
area was "Lakeville".

In the 1880 census, James Copeland was located at Lakeville with John Wilson
and Lyman Smith. The trio were listed as "mess mates," meaning that
they were independent miners rather than partners. "Lakeville" was
probably Jim Creek, three miles below present-day McCall where
Copeland formally filed
claims in 1894.

“Small placers are short-lived. After 1870, Copeland wintered in the
Council Valley with his family, and Copeland's activities would seasonally move
each year. Where the censuses found Copeland was simply a snapshot in time.
The salient point is that gold was largely confined to the Gold Fork River. Copeland
gave the county two place names: Copeland Flat for his surname, and Jim Creek, the diminutive of
his given name.

1 1880 census, Council Valley, Washington County, Idaho. 

2 Matilda Moser manuscript. 

_______________________________________

COSSITT

Harlow Hopkins Cossitt married Minerva Isabelle Green at Buffalo Gap, Dakota
Territory, March 31, 1886. She was born in Park County, Indiana, September 17,
1854.[1] They farmed in the Black Hills of South Dakota before moving farther
west. Four children were born in South Dakota.[2] 

They stopped for a while at Parkman, Wyoming. Their youngest son, Frank, was
born there during a terrible blizzard. Mr. Cossitt was away from home at the
time and only the children were with their mother. The oldest daughter, who was
under seven years old, was her only help. The date was December 16, 1894.[3] 

Apparently the family had wanderlust and an urge to get to Idaho. Traveling
by wagon and oxen they arrived in Council with five small children about 1899.
They lived first with the Poynors on their ranch on Mill Creek. The Poynors had
one of the first orchards in the valley. The Cossitts were friends of the
Krigbaum family, who lived on what would later be known as Deseret Ranch. 

Prior to 1901, the Cossitts moved to town and Mrs. Cossitt opened a
restaurant and boarding house across the street from the area on which the
Pomona Hotel was built later. There were few boarders at a time because there
were only two or three rooms upstairs. The restaurant was a busy place. There
Mrs. Cossitt fed many people. Miners who were down on their luck were sure of a
meal there whether they had the price or not. No man went hungry. Some paid at
the time, some paid later, and some never paid. She kept no records--just each
man's conscience caused him to feel guilty if he ignored his debt to her.[4]
Winklers owned the building which housed her restaurant, but in 1911 when the
Pomona Hotel was built Mrs. Cossitt sold her business for $2,000.00 and the new
owners operated it for some time. Her husband built a home near the railroad
tracks. In later years this was the home of the Lemon family.[5] 

Minerva Cossitt, known to many as "Mother Cossitt," was a short
lady--very energetic, hard- working, gentle, and generous. She was a midwife
who delivered many babies in Council valley. She assisted Dr. Frank E. Brown
for years. A very special baby whose birth she attended was Ida Cox, daughter
of Mr. and Mrs. James B. Cox. The mother died shortly after the child was born
and Mr. and Mrs. Cossitt raised her as their own child.[6] 

H. H. Cossitt was a carpenter. He built many of Council's residences. In
1902 he and Charley Whiteley built the annex on the schoolhouse on the hill. An
advertisement in the Council Journal that same year stated, "H. H. Cossitt
has a complete line of coffins, caskets and burial robes." He became Adams
County's first coroner when the county was formed in 1911. 

There were five Cossitt children. Three of them married Council people.
Lyman married Edna Belle Seavey. Nancy Harriet married Lewis Winkler, Frank
married Vera Simmons. Ed married a lady from Weiser. Gertrude worked in the
bank when Mr. Clapp was manager and later moved to California. 

1 Obituary of Minnie Isabelle Cossitt, Adams County Leader, July 28, 1922. 

2 Ida Cox Jacobsen, Boise, Idaho, oral interview, 1973. 

3 Ibid. 

4 Obituary of Minnie Isabelle Cossitt. 

5 Ida Cox Jacobsen, interview. 

6 Ibid. 

_______________________________________

COX

James Buchanan Cox was a blacksmith. About 1900 he, his wife, and four
children came from the Eugene, Oregon, area to settle in Council 

Mrs. Cox died in 1901, shortly after the birth of their daughter, Ida. J. B.
Cox was a partner of Winklers in the blacksmith shop for a while. After that he
returned to Oregon, leaving his tiny daughter for Mrs. Cossitt to raise. The
next oldest child was seven years older than Ida and did not require the care
which an infant did. 

Ida's first school was the one on the hill. About mid-term of her first year
that school was closed and the children moved to the new brick one. Her teacher
was Mamie Grey, a sister of Mrs. L. L. Burtenshaw. When Ida was about five
years old there was a big fire in town. She said:  I went to watch the
fire, but was more impressed by the ladies from the fancy house. My, they were
so pretty! I wasn't supposed to look at them, of course. It was forbidden to
even look at the fancy house. I was supposed to look at the other side of the
street. But everyone else was watching the fire instead of me so I could look
as much as I liked. The house was the building which now houses the Adams
County Leader. There were lots of ladies and probably five or six rooms
upstairs.[1] 

1 Ida Cox Jacobsen, interview. 

_____________________________________

CRISS

Sam and Harry Criss were Jewish peddlers who came first to Council with
packs. Soon they brought packages or bundles of fabric, thread, needles,
scissors, and similar items necessary to make dresses and suits.[1] 

About 1898 they settled in Council and opened a store. 

Harry Criss moved to Weiser in 1913 and opened a store in the Weiser Hotel. 

In 1915 Sam Criss's store burned and he opened in a temporary location, but
he soon had a new store.[2] 

He married Bessie Jermuloski. He died in 1933 and Mrs. Criss moved to
Portland. She died August 13, 1955, at Richmond, Virginia, but she is buried in
Portland.[3] 

1 Matilda Moser manuscript. 

2 Adams County Leader, April 1, 1915. 

3 Ibid., August 26, 1955. 

_____________________________________

CUDDY

John Cuddy was not a Council resident, but he was an important factor in its
development for it was his mill which provided all of the flour used in the
area in early days. 

He was born in Tipperary, Ireland, November 15, 1834, and came to America
with his family when he was six years old.[1]  In 1871 he married Delia
Tyne, who was also born in Ireland.[2]  She was a gay, laughing girl who
loved life and feared nothing. 

In 1869 he settled on Rush Creek,[3] five miles north of the present town of
Cambridge. Here he built a two-story lumber and grist mill. On the ground floor
he sawed rough lumber and he ground flour in the upper story. Cuddy flour
became an important item of food in the mining camps of Boise Basin, Warrens,
and Florence as well as in Council Valley, Salubria, and Middle Valley. Mrs.
Cuddy cut and sewed the flour sacks, then stamped "Cuddy's Flour" on
them. These sacks were put to a multitude of uses in every household, becoming
children's clothes, quilts, curtains, aprons, dish towels, and diapers. 

One winter John Cuddy started to Boise with two four-horse teams and wagons
loaded with dressed hogs and bacon. Snow and mud were so deep it took them four
days to travel nine miles. They took the loads as far as possible each day and
then returned to the house to sleep. 

On one trip from Boise Cuddy brought back several hundred pounds of stock
salt. He also brought some kerosene which spilled all over the salt, making it
unusable. However, he had no intention of discarding such a valuable load. He
spread the salt out in the spring sunshine which soon evaporated the odor. 

John Cuddy was liked by almost everyone. Chief Joseph, of the Nez Perce
Indians, was his very good friend. 

The 1880 census of Washington County lists their children: Katie, Nellie,
John, Mary, and a six- month-old son who was as yet unnamed. 

John Cuddy died November 9, 1899, and is buried in the Salubria Cemetery. 

1 Obituary of John Cuddy, Salubria Citizen, November 10, 1899. 

2 1880 Census of Washington County, Idaho. 

3 Obituary of John Cuddy. 

  

D

DAVIS

Byron DeKalb Davis and family came from Colorado, via Washington, to Council
about 1887. 

They lived first on Cottonwood and later on Hornet Creek.[1] 

1 Matilda Moser, notes, unpublished. 

[There is a whole book on this Davis family: "Listen the Pine Trees are
Singing" by Cary Davis 

George.] 

______________________________________

DOUGHTY

Charles Thomas Doughty was born in western Jackson County, Ohio, February 2,
1882. In his youth he migrated to Oklahoma, and then to Council when he was
about twenty years old. He worked first on the East Fork ditch and then for Mr.
Peck on Hornet Creek for a year and a half.[1] 

He attended Boise Business College and then worked in J. F. Lowe's general
merchandise store for three and one half years. Then he became a partner of
George Winkler, Sr., and Sam Criss in Council Hardware. Before long the other
partners sold their interest to M. C. Fuller, who later retired, leaving Tom
the sole owner.[2] 

November 7, 1906, Tom married Katie Hart of Council. To them were born six
children, four of whom grew to maturity. They were Ralph A., Helen, Norman, and
Louise.[3] The other two died as infants in a very tragic manner. Lola Allison
and Raymond Eugene, one a baby and the other only two years old, were burned to
death in a home fire August 7, 1909. Their tiny bodies were recovered from the
ashes next day and were buried in one casket.[4] 

Tragedy continued for this family. While on a fishing trip to Granite Lake
with friends, Tom was drowned July 17, 1932. 

Katherine ("Katie") Amelia Hart was born October 1, 1888, at
Lincoln, Nebraska, and moved to Council as a child with her family. She
attended Council schools. In 1934, after her husband's death, she moved to
Nampa, where she remained until her death March 12, 1963.[5] 

1 Obituary of Charles Thomas Doughty, Adams County Leader, July 22, 1932. 

2 Ibid. 

3 Ibid. 

4 Council Leader, August 13, 1909. 

5 Obituary of Katherine Amelia Doughty, Adams County Leader, March 15, 1963. 

______________________________________

DRAPER

John W. Draper was born in Indiana October 17, 1842. He came to Idaho as a
young man and settled in Middle Valley. He was married in 1883 at Council to
Mary Elizabeth Harrington, daughter of William Riel Harrington and his wife
Martha (Lovelace). Mary was born in Wyandotte County, Kansas, November 4, 1862,
and came to Idaho with her father and brothers in 1882.[1] 

Mr. and Mrs. Draper had six children. Emma died at age three and Jessie as
an infant. James, Nute, Minnie, and Lydia grew to be adults. 

John Draper died September 25, 1914, and Mary in 1942. 

1 Obituary of Mary Elizabeth Harrington Draper, Adams County Leader, April
3, 1942. 

__________________________________

DUREE

The Duree family were French Huguenots who came to America before the
Revolutionary War. 

Before long they migrated into Kentucky and from there to Indiana.[1] 

Isaac Jackson Duree, son of Peter W. and Rebecca Duree, was born in Indiana
November 18, 1827. His father was a Methodist minister. By 1850 the family was
living in Mercer County, Missouri.[2] I. J. Duree (known as "Jackie")
married Rachel--, born August 2, 1831, in Indiana. They had five sons and five
daughters. Rachel died in Princeton, Missouri, May 2. 1876. Jackie then married
Nancy Lenore Norman, a widow with a son, Mel Norman.[3] 

Nancy was born July 2, 1842, in Indiana. She moved to Missouri with her
parents when she was nine years old. She married Jackie Duree in Mercer County
in 1877. 

Jackie Duree brought his family to Idaho by train. They came in an emigrant
car in which the family rode with all their possessions. They were let off the
train at the Weiser River bridge. They went to the Midvale area, settling first
in Lower Valley, then to the upper end of Middle Valley. They were there about
six years before moving to Council Valley in 1888.[4] 

They settled in the Cottonwood area. Their homestead was on the east side of
the road into Council, on Lester Creek.[5] Their grandson, John Gould,
remembers when the telephone came to Council in 1906. He watched as the wires
were strung and ran to tell his grandmother about them because they were shiny
and exciting. 

Nim Duree made a trip to Boise once a year, hauling hogs to market and, on
the return trip, bringing 

groceries and supplies.[6] 

Later, Durees lived up Cottonwood Canyon. 

The Duree children who came to Council were (by first wife): 

Dave Duree--married (1) Ida Moser (2) Ella Shaw Nimon--did not marry 

Ellen--married Frank Potter Viola--married George Gould Mel Norman--step-son--ran
the dray line and the stage line from Council to Cuprum and other towns in that
area. 

(By second wife): 

Ida Duree--married Edgar Moser 

Charlie--born June 10, 1881, died December 26, 1892 

Jackie Duree died while on a visit to a son in Hanston, Kansas, November 10,
1903. His widow, Nancy Lenore, married Henry Shaw in 1907. She died May 17,
1911, and is buried in the Cottonwood Cemetery.[7] 

1 John Gould, Council, Idaho, oral interview, 1971. 

2 1850 census of Mercer County, Missouri. 

3 John Gould, interview. 

4 Ibid. 

5 Homestead records, state office, Bureau of Land Management, Boise. 

6 John Gould, interview. 

7 Ibid. 

ECKLES, BILLIE

Billy Eckles: Harris, p 23: Eckles was elected sheriff in 1892

and has since lived in the Salubria Valley,... and was in the

mercantile business at Cambridge."  Forest p 24

ECKLES, JOHN 

Eckles Creek was named after JOHN Eckles, who was first a 

prospector and later the first settler on Big Bar on the Snake 

River.  Conley p 144 "Early pioneers Arthur Ritchie and John 

Eckles are buried there. [Big Bar] Amos Camp and Jesse Smith 

said Mr. Kinney was also interred on Big Bar, in a grave now 

beneath the water.  The grave markers were provided and 

packed by A. Huntley...." 

1900 census:  John Eckles  Apr 1840, Ohio   age
60    single 

miner Camp p 10 "John Eckles and Arthur Ritchie settled here 

[on Big Bar] in the early 1890's and started growing fruit and 

vegetables to sell to the mining communities high in the 

mountains."  "John Eckles won top prizes in the Trans- 

Mississippi Fair at Omaha, Nebraska, in 1898 for his fruit. 

These hardy farmers would harvest their produce, pack it on 

mules and ride into the Seven Devils Mountains to sell their 

wares to hungry miners." CL July 4, 1912: John Eckles died 

while doing his morning chores, had a coughing spell just 

outside his cabin.  His sister and her husband came out to find 

him coughing up blood.  They carried him into the cabin, but he 

had died by the time they got him to his bed.  Lived on his Snake 

River ranch for 25 years [since 1887] and lived in this part of 

Idaho for about 30 years [1882].  He was 72 years old, never 

married.  Funeral service held in his home. 

EVANS

      FROM 1910 Census of
"Weiser Canyon" 

site #154 - Thomas (35) and Lucy (25) Evans - he is Ranger for Forest Service -
3 kids: daughter (illegible) age 3, Thomas 4, Mary 1 yr 2 mos. 

_______________________________________________

FRAISER

    John W. Frasier Called   By   Death
John Walker "Pete" Frasier, 78 of Weiser, who served as an Adams
county commissioner for dozen years, died  Tuesday morning at a Weiser
hospital after an illness of two weeks. Services will be held this (Friday)
afternoon at 2:30 p.m. at the Cambridge Baptist church, with the Rev. Dale
Wakem officiating.   Internment will follow at Cambridige, 
under the direction of the Northam-Jones  chapel of Weiser. Mr. Frasier
was born  Dec. 3, 1881, in Nevada, 'Mo., and married in, Missouri to 
Willette Carter Nov. 2, 1902,  The couple moved to Coffeyville, Kan.., where 
heloperated: a livery stable with his brother, A. B. Frasier. 

    From 1907 to 1910  the family lived in Montana,
and  then   at Ontario and in the  Boise valley where he
farmed.  In 1910 they moved' to a ranch in. Indian Valley, where Mrs.
Frasier died June 16, 1939. On June 24, 1940, he married Lena Schillig and
the  couple moved to Vale where Mr. Frasier spent the next five years
associated: in the operation of the Vale Livestock Commission company, work
that he continued for. the Weiser Livestock Commission company from 1950 to
1957. 

    Mr. Frasier was a  Production Credit association
director and a member of the IOOF at  Indian Valley, the Elks at
Weiser,  the Modern Woodmen and the Council Valley Grange. Surviving are
his wife, Lena, at Weiser; two sons, John Frasier, Council, and Hal F. Frasier,
In-Indian Valley;  one daughter, Mrs. Walter Grossen  Camibridge; a
stepson George Schillig, Dallas, Texas; a brother, George Frasier; Nevada, Mo.;
a sister, Mrs. Mary Walton,  Parsons,  Kan,  and nine
grandchildren  Three sons and a daughter preceded their father in death. 

FIFER

William M. Fifer was born in Missouri September 19, 1873. His family moved
to Montana when he was very young. He went to Weiser, where he was a jeweler's
apprentice in 1900. 

He married Mabel --; and in 1904 they moved to Council, where Mr. Fifer had
the town's first jewelry store. Within a few years the family moved to Parma,
Idaho, and in 1936 to Redmond, Oregon. 

There were two sons, Harold and Ivan. 

Mr. Fifer died July 3, 1962.[1] 

1 Obituary of William M. Fifer, Adams County Leader, July 5, 1962. 

-----------------

From Joan Lyon: Wm, James and Ed Fifer were brother's.  Wm of the
Council Jewelery store fame.....

________________________________________

FREEHAFER

Albertus L. Freehafer, born February 12, 1868, in Richland County, Ohio, was
the son of Andrew and Martha Kinton Freehafer. He married Olive Robinson in
Ohio August 18, 1897. She was the daughter of Samuel and Anna Robinson.[1] 

Albertus was a gifted child and went to school at an early age. He graduated
from high school in Belleville, Ohio, and in 1893 he received his degree from
Ohio Northern University. He taught school for three years, then entered a law
office where he remained for three and one half years before moving to Utah.
There he went back to teaching school and became principal of Scofield, Utah,
high school. In 1902 the family came to Council to teach school. They taught in
the schoolhouse on the hill, Mr. Freehafer teaching the upper grades, Mrs. Freehafer
the middle grades, and Maude Peters taught the lower grades. Mr. Freehafer was
Council 's first school principal. He served for three years.[2] 

Mr. Freehafer took the bar examination before the Supreme Court and was
admitted to practice law. In this field he spent the rest of his life. 

A. L. Freehafer was in the insurance and real estate business with Joseph A.
Carr, was a director of the First Bank of Council, and handled the legal
matters for the merger of the Council State Bank and the First Bank of Council.
He was elected in 1906 to the state legislature as county representative. He
was elected state senator in 1908 and again in 1910. He was chairman of the
board of trustees of Council and was appointed city attorney in 1911.[3] 

Mr. and Mrs. A. L. Freehafer had only two children: Marie, born in May,
1898, and a baby who died in 1912. Marie married William McC1ure and they are
the parents of Jim McClure, Idaho's United States Senator.[4] 

Some time after Mr. and Mrs. A. L. Freehafer came to Council his parents
came. They soon returned to Ohio but Mr. Freehafer came back to Idaho later and
died there in 1915 at age seventy-five.[5] 

William E. Freehafer, brother of Albertus, was born in Ohio January 18,
1875, and first came to Idaho to visit his brother. His wife was Lillie
Uselding, whom he married in Grafton, Wisconsin, November 28, 1906. They came
to Council that same year and remained the rest of their lives.  At one
time he operated a confectionery store and for many years was active in mining
and real  estate. 

They had one son, William E., Jr., and a
daughter Rose Ethel Freehafer.

[The original info here said William
E., Jr had “one son, William E., Jr., and one daughter, Emily.[6] This was
corrected by Kara Bachand, the granddaughter of Rose Ethel in June of 2009]

1 French, History of Idaho, v. 2, p. 810. 

2 Ibid. 

3 Ibid. 

4 Marie McClure, Payette, Idaho, oral interview, 1973. 

5 Ibid. 

6 Obituary of William E. Freehafer, Adams County Leader, August 5, 1960. 

  

GALEY 

In 1910 four young men came to Council from Pennsylvania. They were Bill
Spahr, Bob Lindsay, Paul Schaff, and Tom Galey. Tom Galey stayed only one
summer but the others remained to make Council their home. Frank Galey arrived
in 1911.[1] They all came from families who had a little money and could afford
an adventure. They had "itchy feet" and wanted to see the west.[2]
They were joined by Mason Kerr in 1921.[3] 

The young men bought ninety acres of newly planted apple trees as a
Promotion scheme for stock sales in Pennsylvania. Most of those trees died. [4]

Later Frank Galey planted more trees on his ranch northeast of town, and
they produced well until they were pulled because of old age. 

Eventually Frank Galey bought the Mason Kerr tract which adjoined his own
acreage and also the 130-acre Deseret Ranch on the west side of Highway 95.[5] 

While visiting his mother in Orlando, Florida, Frank met Edith McGuire. They
were married April 27, 1925. Their children were Romaine, Frank, Jr., Dorothy,
and Maribel. 

Frank S. Galey, born November 16, 1885, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, died in
Orlando, Florida, November 10, 1972. He is buried in Morris Hill Cemetery in
Boise. 

All of the young Easterners are now gone except Bill Spahr, who is
ninety-three years old. He lives in California near his only daughter, Billie
Jane Phillips, but he usually returns to Council for a month each summer.[6] 

1. Mrs. Frank Galey, Sr., Boise, Idaho, July 5, 1977. 

2. Frank Galey, Jr., Boise, Idaho, 1973. 

3. Obituary of Mason Kerr, Adams County Leader , May 9, 1930. 

4. Frank Galey, Jr., Boise, Idaho, 1973. 

5. Mrs. Frank Galey, Sr., Boise, Idaho, July 5, 1977. 

6. Ibid. 

____________________________ 

GIFFORD 

Eliza Gifford, born July 6, 1862, married Olaf Sorensen at Monroe, Utah.
They moved with her family to Vale, Oregon, in 1884 and that same year came to
Council. 

The Sorensens settled on what was later the Art Kidwell place. She planted
the big trees and what was among Council Valley's first fruit trees on that
place. She kept them alive by carrying water to them until they were well
grown.[1] 

Her husband died in 1905 and is buried in the Winkler Cemetery. She was
married in 1917 to Charles C. Draper. They had no children but raised Steve
Tierney, her nephew, often called Steve Draper. Eliza Draper died in 1935 and
her husband in 1936. Both are buried in the I.O.O.F. Cemetery. 

Morgan Gifford was born January 28, 1875, at Monroe, Utah. He settled in
Long Valley about 1892 and married Candace Wicklund in Weiser November 29 1905.
They had one daughter and two sons, Aubrey and Norval. 

The Giffords lived on-Cottonwood Creek for a while. 

Mr. Gifford died March 17, 1944, in Daly City, California. 

  1. Obituary of Eliza Draper,  Adams County Leader, February 1,
1935. 

GIFFORD           

     From Carlos Weed Oct 5, 1996:

     Morgan Gifford homesteaded about where the Golf course
is now. He was the son of Moses and Sarah Gifford and sister of Ella
Stevens.  He had 3 kids: boys = Aubrey (oldest), Norville  girl =
Gertha.  Carlos went to school with all the kids.  Morgan's mother,
Sarah Gifford, homesteaded out somewhere along South Exeter at the end of a
land where locust trees now grow.  Morgan's sister, Elizabeth, married
Olaf Sorenson.  She had a homestead on S. Exeter, part of which is where
Nello Jenkins now lives.  She married Charlie Draper (after Olaf
died?).  Olaf Sorenson was buried on the little knob where Stefanis now
live. Any graves on this hill were later moved.  He said something about
there having been plans to make that hill into a park.  

_____________________________________________ 

GLENN 

The 1870 census of Mt. Pleasant, Boone County, Arkansas shows William D.
Glenn, his wife, Rebecca, and children Sarah, James F., George W., Eva, Eliza,
William, Joel P., Jeff Davis, Martha, and Thomas J.[1] 

In 1881 the Glenns moved to Grande Ronde Valley, Oregon,
near Summerville. On July 23, 1883, they moved to Council, settling first on
Cottonwood and later going to West Fork.[2] [Now 2657 West Fork Road—info
from Winifred Hubbard-McLeod-Overlander, 13331 
D 41st Dr, Yuma, AZ 85367 in 2007]

William D. Glenn was a private in the Civil War, according to the Idaho
Adjutant General's burial records.[3] William, born January 19, 1826, died
October 31, 1893. His wife Rebecca, was born October 6, 1827. They are buried
in Winkler Cemetery.[4] 

            Added:
Rebecca died Oct 26, 1914—from Council Leader, Oct 30, 1914.

Thomas Jesse Glenn, born July 22, 1869, in Boone County, Arkansas, married
Amanda Farlein in Council. Their children were Roy, Jeff, Otto, Earl, Viola, and
Margaret.[5] 

Amanda died in 1923 and Thomas died in 1937. They are buried in Winkler
Cemetery.[6] 

William Marion Glenn, born March 13, 1860, died October 7, 1937 at Ontario,
Oregon. His family settled near Fruitvale soon after 1863. On March 8, 1894 he
married Martha Louiza Hinkle. They had two sons, Herbie and Isaac. Mr. Glenn
was the last pioneer living on his original homestead. He cut wild hay for his
cattle with an "armstrong," as did other pioneers. He ate jerked
venison for winter meat. Early in 1884 he took out and finished the first
irrigation ditch from Weiser River in the valley. It is still in use. He put
out one of the first orchards and planted some of the first alfalfa to see if
it would grow in larger fields in the area.[7] [Isaac (Ike) Glenn was born in
1896 and died in 1975.] 

Mrs. Glenn died April 13, 1928. She was brushing her hair by lamplight in the
living room while her husband built the morning fire in the kitchen. Her hair
got too near the lamp and caught fire. She was badly burned and died of the
effects.[8] 

 Joel P. Glenn married Cora Sult of Roseberry and lived for years on the
McMahan place and later on West Fork. [At the present location of 2202 Ridge
Road.] 

John Emsley Glenn, son of Frank P. and Elizabeth Glenn, was born April 12,
1878, in Boone County, Arkansas. He came west with his parents in oxen drawn
wagons. They had some horses to ride and for scouting journeys. 

He and his sister and brothers attended the little white school, halfway
between Fruitvale and Council. Classes lasted about three months during the
summer and it was an eight-mile walk for the Glenn children each day. One day
while John and his sister, Walsa, were coming home, a party of Indians in war
paint came riding very fast and passed the children as if they had not seen
them. It was later learned some whites had stolen horses from them, and they
were in pursuit. Some time later the Indians came back through with their
horses. They had caught the men starting to swim the horses across the Snake
River, where now the Brownlee dam and hydroelectric plant stand, and killed the
white men. There were five or six of them. 

Community entertainments were music and dancing. At first this was in homes
but later in the log schoolhouse. There were box socials and debating teams. 

The men spent the long winter months getting logs out by sleigh to be split
into wood or to construct a new building. Roofs were made by splitting blocks
of fir or larch (tamarack) into shakes, using a wooden mallet and a tapered
piece of iron with a wooden handle, called a frow, to drive into the block and
pry off the thin piece of wood. The larch shakes would last thirty years or
more. 

While the men were doing these things the women
made quilts and knitted socks, sweaters, and mittens of wool from the sheep.
The wool was first carded by holding two carding boards together and pulling in
opposite directions, shredding the wool so it could be spun into thread. 

            On
the place John Glenn homesteaded there was a large swimming hole in the Weiser
River, close to their house. By the hole were several piles of rocks made in a
circle where the Indians would build a fire within the circles, heat the
rocks, and then pour water on the hot rocks and steam-bathe. When well steamed
they would dive into the water hole. This did not work well when the measles
were contracted. It killed many. 

            The pioneers took wagons
to Payette Lakes, where the wagons were filled with fish caught in seines. They
were salted to keep them from spoiling, then transported back through Council
and on to Boise where the fish were traded for sugar, flour, salt, and other
necessary staples. Never forget the plug tobacco: when the man was through
chewing it, it was dried to be smoked in the corncob pipe. 

Money was scarce and so was fruit. People took their grain to George
Robertson's water-powered mill to be ground into flour and corn meal.[9] 

John Glenn was killed instantly by a falling tree as he cleared near his
pipe lines in Placer Basin on August 22, 1936. He is buried in the I.O.O.F.
cemetery.[10] 

----------

Additional Glenn family info from Winifred
Hubbard-McLeod-Overlander (daughter of Maggie Glenn Hubbard), 13331  D 41st Dr, Yuma, AZ 85367 in
2007:

William D. & Rebecca Glenn had
12 children while living in Arkansas, leaving for the West to “Green Round
Valley” for a while. [Grande Ronde?] Then journeying on to Cottonwood Creek
near Enterprise, Oregon [?] for awhile, then on to settle & start at 2657
West Fork Road in 1883. [West Fork of the Weiser River near what was later
known as Fruitvale.] 

Born to this family-- Thomas Jesse
Glenn, the youngest boy, July 19, 1869—died March 14, 1937. Thomas married
Amanda Elizabeth Farlien, Nov 20, 1902 in Council. Amanda—July 28, 1877 – April
12, 1923. They farmed and delivered garden stuff to neighbors and friends. To
this family were born:

Roy Glenn—September 10, 1903 – June
16, 1995

Earl Glenn—August 16, 1905 – Dec
22, 1962

Jeff Glenn—Feb 2, 1907 – Nov 18,
1995

Viola Glenn—Aug 21, 1908, 1908 –
Feb 2, 2003

Otto Glenn—April 4, 1911 – Feb 19,
1982

Maggie Glenn—Mar 9, 1913

Jacob Glenn—Jan 1, 1915 – April 29,
1993

All the above were born on West
Fork of the Weiser River. In 1914 they moved to Cambridge, Idaho, to Advent
Gulch where they farmed. Thomas J. Glenn delivered produce and eggs to
McCanniel Market in Cambridge for several years. The children went to a school
at Advent Gulch.

Maggie Glenn married William John
Hubbard, June 16, 1932 in Vale, Oregon. Their children:

Winifred Louise, David LeRoy, Jack
D., Delbert Jesse

1. 1879 US Census, Mt. Pleasant, Boone County, Arkansas. 

2. Fred Glenn, Fruitvale, Idaho, oral interview, 1975. 

3. Idaho Adjutant General”s  burial records Adjutant General”s office,
Boise, Idaho. 

4. Cemetery records of Winkler cemetery, Idaho Genealogical Library, Boise,
Idaho. 

5. Fred Glenn, oral interview. 

6. Winkler Cemetery records. 

7. Adams County Leader, October 15, 1937. 

8. Ibid., April 20, 1928. 

9. Fred Glenn, oral interview. 

10.  Adams County Leader, August 28, 1936. 

_____________________________________________________ 

GOULD 

John Hancock Gould married Annie Stutzman, who was Pennsylvania Dutch, in
Pennsylvania. Her parents were from the Palatinate, which is now part of
Germany. 

John Hancock had a contract on the Erie Canal but was paid off with worthless
stock. 

They went to Australia to raise sheep and stayed three years. One child was
born and died there. They sold out in Australia and went to Minnesota, then
later to St. Marys, Ontario, Canada. George Gould was born there May 29, 1868. 

Mrs. Gould died and John remarried. They sold their property and planned to
move west to the Assiniboine River area. There was no railroad across there, so
they had to come down to Chicago and then back north to Canada. The family went
in a passenger train car and John in an emigrant car on the same train. He had
a bred mare which required special care, so he rode with her. In the same car
was a barrel of iron. Near Sauk Center, Minnesota, an axle broke on the car,
wrecking it. The barrel of iron rolled struck Mr. Gould in the chest, and
caused his death. He is buried in Blanshard, Ontario, Canada. This was in 1879.

The family stayed in Pennsylvania. George's step-mother had children of her
own and did not want him so he stayed with his aunt, Lucy Cade, for a time. Later,
he lived with an uncle who was a doctor. 

 When George was nineteen he went to Lakeview, Oregon, and the
following year he taught school at Summer Lake. Early in the summer of 1888 he
moved to Idaho and spent the summer working on the Stewart ranch on Payette
River at what was known as Falk's Store. In the fall of 1888 he came to Council
and soon acquired ownership of the present J. D. Mink farm on Cottonwood. By
1890 he was established as a farmer and cattle raiser and adopted the
"90" brand, which he kept all his life. 

George Gould married Viola Duree in Council February 23, 1893. Their
children, John, Clarence, Anna, and Lester, were born on Cottonwood. At first
the family had a tiny house by the spring but Mr. Gould built the large home
which still stands on the farm. 

In 1909 Mr. Gould bought the ranch north of Council which was home to the
family for sixty years.[2301 US Hwy 95] 

Old George Winkler had homesteaded and cleared the land. 

George Gould kept a daily diary from 1906 until his death. In it he recorded
the weather, important events, family records, prices, and other interesting
items. Prices are quite interesting. For example: in 1914 the Goulds built a
large barn, The diary states, "The lumber, laid down on the ground, cost
ten dollars per thousand feet." In 1920, "Old cows are worth four
cents a pound. Young cows are worth four and one half cents a pound." May
12, 1920: "I bought an Oaklund car from Twite, for $1445.00.[2] 

Mrs. Gould died in September 1948 and Mr. Gould August 28, 1951.[3] 

1. John Gould, oral interview, Council, Idaho, 1973. [Although there is no
footnote number in the text for this reference, most of the information here
probably came from this interview.] 

2. George Gould’s diaries, in the possession of John Gould, Council, Idaho. 

3. John Gould, oral interview. 

[For more on the Gould family, see History Corner files (accessible from
Museum home page). It is the 4th column in the series.] 

______________________________ 

GRAHAM 

William Graham, a Civil War veteran, brought his family to Idaho from
Missouri in the late 1880s. 

They settled on Crooked River.[1] 

William was a miner and a prospector with "itchy feet," and he
never stayed long in one place. That was the reason he came to Idaho. He was
active at Idaho City and several other mining areas. 

His daughter, Ella, married John Lakey. 

1. Edith Zink, Mountain Home, Idaho, oral interview 

_______________________________ 

GREGG 

George F. Gregg was born March 15, 1866, at Neosha, Missouri. While a young
man he moved to Ohio and in 1905 to Council to teach school. He married Maude
Peters, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. John 0. Peters, November 29, 1906. They had
one daughter. 

Maude Peters was a teacher in the schoolhouse on the hill several terms She
was also County Superintendent for several years. 

Mr. Gregg taught school for some time. He was a justice of peace for two
years and when Adams County was formed, in 1911, he became its first probate
judge.[1] 

He was teaching school on Cottonwood when he became too ill to continue his
work. He had suffered for years from tuberculosis and drugs no longer helped.,
When his illness progressed to the advanced stage he moved into a tent house in
the hope of finding some relief. This was the accepted treatment for
tuberculosis at that time. Mrs. Zink cared for such patients at her hospital
and tent houses were part of her facilities.[2] Mr. Gregg died March 5, 1914. 

In 1918 Maude Peters Gregg married Rev. E. L. Iverson, pastor of the
Congregational Church 1918-21. It is quite possible that many residents of the
area owed their lives to the Rev. Mr. Iverson, who devoted most of his time
during the flu epidemic of 1918-19 to care and nursing of the sick, giving
physical as well as spiritual assistance. 

The Rev. and Mrs. Iverson moved to California in 1921 and he died at Oakdale
in 1936. His wife died at the home of their daughter in Los Altos January 22,
1960. 

1. Obituary of George F. Gregg, Adams County Leader, March 6, 1914 

2.  Lin Peebles, Emmett, Idaho, oral interview, 1974. 

____________________________________ 

GROSECLOSE 

One of the first five families in Council was that of Jacob
Groseclose.  He was born in Indiana May 14, 1825, and died December 20,
1908. His wife, Elizabeth, was born in Virginia May 2, 1826, and died April 9,
1910. They are buried in Hornet Creek cemetery. 

Their children Jacob, Austin, Isaac, Frances, and Charlotte were born in
Iowa. Rosanna* was born near Denver as they traveled west. 

In 1876 the family joined a wagon train and journeyed west. They traveled by
ox teams and covered wagons. Some of them rode horses. They killed buffalo,
rabbits, and prairie chickens to eat and burned buffalo chips for the cooking
fire. They stayed a few days at a fort along the way. Frances played with the
children in the fort and when her parents left they thought she was with them
but she was still playing. When they realized she had been left behind a man
returned on horseback for her. 

The oxen became foot-sore and the yoke caused sores, like saddlesores on
horses, so there were many delays. 

The first winter [1876-77] in Idaho was spent at Fort Boise. The next spring
[1877] they went on to Indian Valley and finally to Council, where they settled
on Cottonwood Creek. Later part of this homestead was owned by Palmer Higgins, 

Jacob Groseclose, Jr., born February 22, 1855, joined Captain Galloway's
Army as an Indian scout. Indians stole some horses in Indian Valley. [Horses
stolen August 1878.] Volunteers were requested to retrieve them. Five* scouts,
including Jacob Groseclose, volunteered. All but one, Three-Fingered Smith,
were killed. This was known as the Billy Monday massacre in Long Valley. Smith
was badly injured but survived to tell the story. Austin Groseclose also served
as a volunteer scout for Captain Galloway.[1] [*There were four men who
followed the Indian tracks: Jake Groseclose, Tom Healy, William Monday, and
Smith. Why they were called “scouts” here is not clear. They were civilian
volunteers.] 

About 1881 the Groseclose family moved to Lick Creek. They retained part of
Jacob's homestead on Cottonwood until 1889, when they sold to Fred Beier.[2]
Elizabeth exercised her right to take a homestead on Lick Creek. 

Jacob and Elizabeth raised their children to be Christians. On Sunday they
would gather their family around them to sing hymns out of their hymnal, which
had square notes. Jacob would dress in clean clothes, tie a red handkerchief
around his neck, put his boots on (with one pant leg out usually), and was
dressed up for Sunday. In later years when he decided to walk to Council, he
would dress up this way and think nothing of it. 

Elizabeth was a good seamstress and she taught all her girls to sew, but
they had to learn to make garments by hand as they might not be able to afford
a sewing machine when they married. She taught her granddaughters to knit and
saw to it that they did some of it every day. 

In the early pioneer days there were no wooden floors in the homes but dirt
packed down, and brooms were made of tough straw. Women cooked in large iron
kettles hanging over the fireplace fire, and the house was heated by the
fireplace. Water was heated by hanging a tea kettle over the fire. Light was
provided by candles and later by kerosene lamps. The family lived, usually, in
one large room, and the cracks were chinked in between the logs of the house
with mud or rags to keep the warmth in and the cold out. 

A medicine man came about once a year with all kinds of liniments, ointments,
and cure-alls in his "hack," drawn by one or two horses. He made a
living selling these items. For amusement the pioneers fished, hunted, trapped
animals for their skins, skied in winter, went bobsled riding with bells on the
horses' hames, hiked for miles, rode bucking broncos and steers, target
practiced, danced, and played cards. Picnics were a favorite activity,
especially on the Fourth of July when they had foot-races and sold home-made
ice cream and lemonade. 

On Decoration Day families gathered at the cemetery to decorate the graves,
then went to a brook where the ladies spread a pot-luck dinner and everyone
helped himself and visited. 

On election day they all voted and were very patriotic. They had a big
celebration with picnicking and dancing. They waltzed, square-danced, and
danced the schottische, quadrille, and tag to change partners. They sang and
played music. There were usually banjos, violins, mouth harps, and any
instruments which they owned at the dances. The men would get drunk and
sometimes end up in a fight.  They had a society for young people called "Literary"
where they gathered to play games and have fun. There were box socials where
the girls would out-do themselves to make attractive boxes with delicious
lunches in hopes their favorite boy friend would buy it, for they had to eat
with whoever bought it. 

Jacob Groseclose died December 20, 1908, and Elizabeth died April 9, 1910.
They are buried in Hornet Creek cemetery. 

John Henry Clifton, born November 16,
1854, in Lincoln, Nebraska, died January 13, 1932. He married Sarah Frances
Groseclose. She died November 13, 1935, in Council. 

John Henry was a fisherman among the Indians at Pyramid Lake in Nevada,
where he learned a great deal about herbs to eat and use in the woods. From
there he moved to Crooked River and took up a homestead (three-hundred-acre
timber claim) where he cleared the land to make fields. It was a beautiful
setting with Cuddy Mountain in the background. 

He married Sarah Frances Groseclose at her parent's home in 1895, and they
raised their family on Crooked River. Her four children from a previous
marriage helped with the chores on the ranch until they grew up. 

A friend named Mrs. Ferris lived with them for some time and taught the
children in their home. For a time there was a schoolhouse down by the Davis's
place, then later a better school building was erected half a mile north of the
Clifton home. The teacher boarded at the Cliftons' most of the time. The
teacher would ring a hand bell to take up school. Once the children went up the
hillside and ate wild onions. The teacher rang the bell and when they came to
class they smelled so of onions that she almost dismissed them. One great sport
was snowball fighting. The larger boys were kept busy sharpening pencils by
hand, as there were no pencil sharpeners. Classes were all in one room so the
teacher was busy with recitation most of the day. The best spellers were sent
to other schools where they would have a spelling bee. 

The Cliftons had a "stopping-place" for some time to feed the
freighters and their horses. Many times they would hear the bells on the hames
of the horses coming from a distance, and would get up in the middle of the
night to start a fire in the wood cook stove and cook for them. Many times they
had barely enough to feed them, so far from town and no refrigeration, except for
a milk house which was built right over Crooked River. Here they kept cream,
milk, eggs, butter, cottage cheese, and  uttermilk. They milked cows twice
a day and Frances and her daughters worked diligently, skimming and churning
cream to make butter and buttermilk. 

They went to town once or twice a year with a team and wagon for staples
Otherwise they raised their food such as vegetables, pork, mutton, beef,
chickens, and eggs. Fruits were kept by drying and canning, and in winter
fruits, fresh and canned, were kept in a sawdust-lined cellar in the center of
which was placed a light, kerosene lantern or pan of red hot coals to warm the
room to prevent freezing. Some meat was kept frozen, hung high in the eaves of
the wood shed in winter. Bacon, hams, and smoked salmon were kept in the
smokehouse and some fish (whitefish in barrels from McCall) were salted down in
brine. Sauerkraut was delicious in salted brine and so were pickles. Vinegar
was made from fruit juice. They made a trip to the lower country once a year to
bring home fruit and salmon, as there were only trout in Crooked River. The
only honey was from a bee tree. 

John raised cattle on his three hundred fifty acres and harvested hay and
grain which he fed to his stock in winter. 

There were many arguments between farmers about water rights, since they
depended upon the ditches which they made to bring water to their fields for
irrigation. 

Deer hides made excellent, soft leather when soaked in ashes and water, The
leather was cut into strips for shoe laces, ties for saddles and ropes. 

Every animal must pay for its keep or could not be kept, and nothing must be
wasted. A reservoir was built on the end of the cook stove, in later years, for
hot water; water was pumped by hand and carried in a bucket to fill the
reservoir. A bucket of water sat on the wash bench, with a dipper for drinking.
Lye was used in the scrub water to keep the bare wood floors white. Washing was
done on a washboard in a galvanized tub, and clothes were whitened by boiling
them in a copper boiler on the kitchen stove. 'Wood was chopped to firebox size
and neatly stacked in the woodshed, and there were stacks of pitch for starting
fires. 

John could be found with his family around the heater in winter, playing
solitaire, eating apples, or telling stories about the grizzly bears he had
encountered in the early days before so many were killed. Frances would tell
stories about the encounters she and her family had in early days with Indians.
At other times some member of the family might read aloud, or someone might
sing favorite songs since they all loved music. 

The Clifton home burned twice. The house John built first caught fire
because of a faulty stovepipe and very few things were saved. The second house
was much larger and more beautiful, but a spark caught on the roof and before
John could unhitch the horses in the field to ride in to try to put it out, it
was out of hand. As he tried to throw out dishes a large sack of sugar caught
on fire, melted, and dripped onto his back and burned him badly. A third fire
was the saloon across the road. Because water had to be carried in buckets it
was impossible to put out the fire. 

It was great fun to hunt and pick wild flowers. Many bloomed as soon as the
snow melted. There were buttercups, bluebells, yellow crocus, wild rock violets
with a strong, sweet fragrance, rooster heads, Indian paint brush, lupines,
goldenrod, clover with red and white blossoms, sour dock, yellow dock, white
daisies, Johnny-jump-ups, wild roses, larkspur, and many more. Pussy willows
were always a joy, skunk cabbage made itself known, and there were
huckleberries, elderberries, and wild strawberries. Besides, there were
chokecherries and mushrooms of various kinds. 

Numerous birds migrated to nest there: blue jay, magpie, robin, wren,
crossbeak, swallow, hummingbird, bluebird, meadowlark, crow, blackbird,
killdeer, and others. The owl, grouse, and hawk stayed all year. 

John had a blacksmith shop where he heated iron and forged it to the desired
shape, such as tools and horseshoes. He had a wheel in Crooked River with a
belt which furnished the power to sharpen tools, and Frances used it in later
years to run a washing machine. 

John and Elizabeth retired to California to get away from the deep snow and
cold.[3] 

1. Oral history by Mrs. Vollie Zink, Mountain Home, and Ruby Fuller,
Payette, Idaho, 1974. 

2. Deed on file in Idaho Historical Society, Boise, Idaho. 

3. Vivian Boyles, Cambridge, Idaho, oral interview, 1974. 

______________________________ 

Children of Jacob and Elizabeth Groseclose: 

Jacob Jr. (Jake)--Killed in the Long Valley Massacre, Aug. 20, 1878 and is
buried in an unmarked grave at the massacre site about a quarter mile north of
the Cascade Reservoir dam. 

Austin-- 

Sarah Frances--Married John Henry Cliffton. Children: Dan, Manilla and Percy. 

Manilla married Victor Oling. 

Manilla and Victor Oling's daughter, Louise, married Lawrence "Toots"
Rogers. Louise and Toots had one child: Helen Rogers Zielinski. 

Another daughter of Manilla and Victor's--Ruth--married Arnold Emery. 

Lydia Groseclose --Married __ Weddle, then Wm. Brauer. Children with Brauer:

Otto Brauer 

Guy Brauer 

Dora Brauer--married Lewis Keith Lakey (son of Lewis & Pheby Lakey*)
Children: 

     Otto Lakey--married Dorothy __ 

     Mildred Lakey--married George Fuller 

     Ruby Lakey--married George Fuller's brother 

     Ted Lakey 

     Doug Lakey 

     Keith Lakey--never married 

Another son of Lewis & Pheby Lakey--Jacob Lakey--married Lottie Montgomery.
Lottie's sister, 

Lilly Montgomery, married Robert Harrington. 

Charlotte "Lottie" Groseclose-- married __ Linder 

Isaac-- 

Rose Ann Groseclose--The short-lived "Rose" post office on Cottonwood
Creek was named after her. Rose married Arthur V. Robertson (See Robertson
section) 

_________________________________________ 

GROSSEN 

Adolph Grossen, his sister Elizabeth, and Elise Wafler, daughter of Mr. and
Mrs. Anton Wafler, came to the United States in 1899. They were all born in
Frutigen, Switzerland.[1] 

They went to Salubria, Washington County, Idaho, because relatives, Mr. and
Mrs. John Rosti, lived there. Adolph Grossen married Elise Wafler in Salubria
April 29, 1899. with John Rosti and Elizabeth Grossen as their witnesses.[2] 

Adolph was naturalized in March, 1912.[3] 

The Grossens homesteaded up the canyon now known as Grossen's Canyon. In
1927 they moved to Indian Valley and rented the Ellis Snow farm. They soon
bought a ranch at Alpine, where they remained the rest of their lives.[4] 

Their children were Edith, Effie, Walter, Raymond, and Louise. 

Elise Wafler Grossen was born April 20, 1879; died April 14, 1951 Adolph
died June 13, 1965. 

Both are buried in the I.O.O.F. Cemetery. 

Bobby Wafler came to the United States two or three years after the Grossens
came. He was an orphan who was raised by Elise's parents. He and Elise were
double cousins--their mothers were sisters and their fathers were brothers. He
was sexton of the Congregational Church for many years and was active in the
affairs of the Council library.[5] 

1. Edith Selby, Council, Idaho, oral interview, 1973 

2. Marriage records of Washington County, Weiser, Idaho. 

3. Adams County Leader , March 21, 1912. 

4. Edith Selby, oral interview. 

5. Ibid. 

  

HAGAR 

Albert Lewis Hagar was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, August 9, 1878, son of
Mr. and Mrs. Anthony Hagar. He left home at age seventeen, spending fifteen
years in the Dakotas, Montana, Wyoming, and California. He came to Council in
August 1910, and on August 28, 1918 he married Sadie May Bell. They had three
children, Theodore Albert, Lily May, and Robert. 

Mr. Hagar operated Council Creamery for many years. He drowned in the Weiser
River December 7, 1945, while duck hunting. He is buried in the I.O.O.F.
Cemetery.[1] 

1. Obituary of Albert Lewis Hagar, Adams County Leader, December 9, 1945. 

--------------------------------------

HAHN

Weiser
Signal, Jan 16, 1904

    Frank Hahn moving to Council

Weiser
Signal, Jan 9, 1904 

    Frank Hahn, of Weiser, has bought the
Council - Meadows Stage line, formerly owned they the late Mr. Crowell.  A.R. Krigbaum will carry the mail.

Weiser
Signal, Mar 16, 1904

    A tale of the hardships of just trying to
get from Council to New Meadows:  Frank
Hahn's first spring as proprietor of the Council - Meadows stage line has been
difficult.  The stage left Council with
a bob sled since there was still snow. 
But it had rained all night, and the streams were flooding.  They came to a washed out bridge in the
Canyon.

   "The sled was unloaded and the mail
sacks piled on top of the seat and lashed on, and at it Hahn went.  The horses went almost out of sight and
struggled through, the sled floating on top like a boat."  He went back across, loaded more cargo .  This time the sled went under water, and
Hahn almost jumped to swim for his life before the sled finally made it
across.  A third trip to ferry the
remaining passengers went without mishap. 
"At every creek on the mountain the water had cut a deep gully down
through the ice and snow, and where the stage did not stand on end, we made
flying leaps across, and wherever there was a depression, the horses broke
through the well-soaked snow into the treacherous water beneath,..."  The exhausted horses were exchanged, and
passengers fed, at Steven's station at noon. 
"Above old miner Fillie's cabin, the down stage was met - Tommy
White with a bob-tailed cutter from Norton's station. [Norton ran an
establishment with a liquor license near present-day Tamarack] He also had
experienced a merry time.  Having painfully
reached Price valley, the front of his sled had plunged out of sight in a deep,
mushy stream of slow-moving snow and water and the half buried, half drowned
horses could not get it out.  After
getting wet to the skin he had gotten the horses loose from the rig and
out."  Most of his passengers had
to continue on foot for a wet, miserable mile until they reached Norton's,
while Tommy brought in the lightened sled. 
When the two sleds met, they unloaded them and laboriously turned them
around by hand, trading rigs rather than try to pass each other.  Some of Hahn's passengers walked all the way
from there to Norton's, where Hahn's group gave up and spent the night.  White's group spent the night at Steven's. 

    The next morning, the slush was
frozen.  A team was sent from New
Meadows and met Hahn's sled at the impassible place where White's sled had
submerged.  The passengers had to jump a
three foot wide gap over a raging, four foot deep stream, and the mail and
baggage was thrown across.  The trip to
New Meadows finally ended at noon, after "... dragging through a
continuous string of deep holes of water and mush-snow.   Several freighters on the road during this
time had to abandon their loaded wagons. 
No mystery why people were so glad to see the coming of the railroad.

Weiser
Signal, Apr 30, 1904

    The roads are so flooded that the Hahn
stage company resorted, on one recent trip, to hauling mail and passengers by
riding horses.  The "stage"
from Council to Meadows consisted of 23 horses bearing 19 passengers and sacks
of mail and baggage.

The Weiser Semi-Weekly Signal, Oct 7, 1905

"Jim Winkler has traded his ranch in the upper part of
this [Council] valley to Frank Hahn for his feed barn."

Nov
18, 1905

                        "A bank for Council
is an assured fact.  The directors for
the first year are C.M. Jorgans, J.F. Lowe, Frank Hahn, Isaac  McHahan, John Ennis."  Not known which building will be used....
rumored that a new building will be erected.

The
Weiser Semi-Weekly Signal, Nov 29, 1905

            Frank Hahn has sold his livery barn
to Jim Winkler and is selling his horses.

The
Weiser Semi-Weekly Signal, Dec 2, 1905

            Frank Hahn has leased his Council -
Meadows stage line to Mode Addington.

The
Weiser Semi-Weekly Signal, May 16, 1906

            Graduating 8th grade at Council:
Lena Koontz, Maud Lewis, Bertha Mathias, Howard Elliott, Georgia Ross, Gertie
Cossitt, Will Hahn, Della Jackson.

The
Weiser Semi-Weekly Signal, Aug 15, 1906

            Fraternal Order of Eagles
incorporated at Council. Aerie No. 1267. 
Frank Hahn and Thomas Dartmouth as directors. A new building will soon
be erected.

The
Weiser Semi-Weekly Signal, Nov 21, 1906

            Frank Hahn has a large barn under
construction.  Fell and broke three ribs
while working on it.

            A. Beckstead of Payette visited his
brothers in law: Wm Fifer and Frank Hahn.

Weiser
American, Thurs, Aug 17, 1911

            Thomas C. Jones, owner of the Hahn
ranch, is remodeling, adding rooms and sleeping porches

Council
Leader, Aug 7, 1914

    Son born to the Wm. Hahns Aug 2

Council
Leader, Apr 23, 1915

    Frank Hahn sold his ranch to James
McGinley of Nebraska

Weiser
American, Aug 9, 1917

            Page 1, continued on p 8: "Five
members of Hahn family killed"  2
miles East of Payette.  Train was going
35 mph.  Engineer said the car didn't
stop after he saw it approaching the tracks 75 feet from the crossing, then it
appeared to stall on the tracks.  Mr.
Hahn Sr. "was carried along on the pilot of the engine with his feet
entangled in the braces of the headlight." "Mrs. Hahn died in the
baggage room at the Payette depot. 
Elsie died soon after she arrived at the Doctor's office.  Joe died Monday afternoon.  Alice is the only surviver = broken hip,
knee and head wound - she woke up Tuesday afternoon.

            The Hahn's came to this area from
Montana about 18 years ago.  Mr. Hahn
was an overland freight in Montana.  He
was on the first board of Adams Co. Commissioners.  Frank Jr. had been examined and accepted for the Navy, and was to
leave for Salt Lake in a week.

The
News, Cambridge Idaho - Aug 10, 1917

            Mr. and Mrs. Frank Hahn and children
hit by train at crossing two miles north of Payette. Whole family killed,
except daughter, Alice, who was alive when paper went to presses..  Pieces of the car were thrown 100 feet.  Frank was 60, Mrs.=54  Frank Jr. = 25    Joe = 20   Elsie =
17       Alice = 13

Adams
County Leader, Feb 27,1920

            Born to Mr. & Mrs. Wm Hahn, a
boy on Feb 23

_________________________________ 

HAINES 

In 1882 William R. Haines and family were living in Haines Oregon, where
their children--Henry, Lemuel, Sadie, and Eddie--were born.[1] 

The family moved to Long Valley in 1887 and remained there until the summer
of 1890,[2] when they moved to Crooked River. Nine years later they went to
Weiser, then to Payette, and finally back to Council, where they settled on the
I. J. Duree farm on Lester Creek. In a few years they were restless again and
moved to Crooked River. 

Eddie Haines, born February 23, 1882, married a widow with one daughter. He
died November 24, 1936. He is buried in Cottonwood Cemetery. So are his father,
William R. (1858-1945), his step-mother, and his wife. 

1. Obituary of Eddie Haines, Adams County Leader , November 26, 1936. 

   2. bid. 

______________________________ 

HALLETT 

Arthur Guy Hallett was born June 28, 1881, in Provo, Utah, son of Thatcher
and Ermina Hallett. At age nineteen he left Provo, going to Lander, Wyoming,
where he married Mary E. Casto August 2, 1902. 

In August 1917 they sold out in Wyoming, took camping equipment and covered
wagon, and moved west in true pioneer spirit. They spent two months and enjoyed
Yellowstone Park and other areas along the way. They arrived in Council in late
October and bought the land which originally was owned by Zadoc Loveless and
son William, north of town on Weiser River. They were immediately busy
establishing a farm and getting the children in school. There were no
improvements on the farm so they lived in tents until Mr. Hallett built a
house, which was completed just before Christmas.[1] 

Their farm was on the area occupied by Council Fort in 1878, during the
Indian unrest. Mr. Hallett plowed up pieces of the fort and removed some of the
chimney stones. He also turned up pieces of chain which had been used in the
first sawmill in the area.[2] 

Mr. and Mrs. Hallett had six children 

Mr. Hallett died in 1938 and is buried in the I.O.O.F. Cemetery. His wife is
living in Council. 

1. Obituary of Arthur Guy Hallett, Adams County Leader, May 13, 1938 

2. Mary E. Hallett, Council, Idaho, oral interview, 1972 

___________________________________________ 

HAM 

Charles L. Ham was born in Sullivan, Moultrie County, Illinois, March 10,
1868, and died August 27, 1936. 

When he was thirteen his family moved to Texas and stayed there five years.
Next, he went to Walla Walla, Washington, and was married there December 25,
1889, to Eunice Bell Barnette. 

They moved to Council in 1906 and lived on West Fork for thirteen years
before moving into town. Charles Ham was sheriff, 1917-18.[1] He went into
business, operating a Conoco service station south of the town square in the
back of Ike Whiteley's building. When Conoco closed him out there he leased
lots from the Odd Fellows Lodge and built a Texaco station on Main Street and
operated it until his death.[2] 

Seven sons and one daughter were born to Eunice and Charles Ham. 

Eunice Bell Barnette Ham was born March 12, 1871, at Wallula, Washington,
and died in October 

1962. 

1. Obituary of Charles L. Ham, Adams County Leader, September 4, 1936 

2. Francis Ham, Boise, Idaho, oral interview, 1975 

____________________________________ 

HANCOCK 

George W. Hancock, born 23 September 1829 in Tennessee (Maury
County), moved to Missouri (Greene County) with his parents as a very young boy
(prior to 1836). His death certificate lists his parents as John Hancock and
Louisa Lane. He was the second of two sons born in Tennessee and the two boys
had seven other siblings that were all born in Missouri. He married in Missouri
where sons Gene and John were born. George’s line can be traced from Tennessee
back through Kentucky and Virginia to William Hancock (Sr.) who was born in Devonshire
(England) on 04 September 1580 and died at Jamestown (Virginia) on 22 March
1622. He has been traced in England back to Thomas Hancock Sr. (or Hancocke)
born at St. Mary Woolnut in London in the year 1525. The very famous John
Hancock (the Patriot) and his father, the Reverend Hancock, can also be traced
back to London to a Richard Hancock whom is listed as having sons named Thomas
Hancocke and Richard Hancock, the latter being in the line of decent of the
Patriot.

George served in the Confederate Army from Missouri [1]. After the
war he and his family moved to Sherman, Texas, and in 1881 they moved to Indian
Valley, Idaho, traveling by horse-drawn wagons. On the last part of their
journey they were accompanied by the Ross brothers, Jack and James. Hancock's
home in Indian Valley was near Alpine store [2].

George Hancock died in 1917. He and his wife are buried in Kesler
Cemetery. 

Gene Hancock was born in Greene County, Missouri, September 22,
1857. He was six years old when his family moved to Sherman, Texas. In early
days he practically owned the east side of Council and Mr. Moser owned the
west. Here he conducted a store, hotel, and livery. Later he sold his business
to Mr. Bolen and moved to a ranch in Council Valley, but his love of horses was
overpowering and he reestablished himself in livery and dray business-at one
time owning forty horses [3].

John Hancock married Josephine Underwood in 1892. The ceremony was
performed by Davy Richardson, J. P., who was one of Council's first
schoolteachers. Josephine's parents were Thomas and Liddy Underwood. Her mother
died when she was very small and she was raised by Mrs. Starr on the Starr
ranch [4]. 

John and Josephine Hancock traded for the Overland Hotel in
Council in 1892[5] and moved there the same year. Before long he also owned a
feed yard for freighters, a store, and a saloon in Council. Later he was the
game warden for eighteen years. Their sons were born in Council--Fred, born
August, 1893, died July, 1920, and Blake, born 1895. 

John and Josephine separated in 1909 and he married Lulu Prince in
December, 1912. She was born in Princeton, Kentucky, March 6, 1865 and died
April 25, 1956. John died January 30, 1940. 

Both are buried in KeslerCemetery.

1. Burial records in Adjutant General’s office, Boise, Idaho. 

2. Obituary of John Hancock, Adams County Leader, January 12, 1940. 

3. Ibid. 

4. Blake Hancock, New Meadows, Idaho, letter interview, 1974. 

5. Ibid. 

_________________________________ 

HANSEN, NEILS 

Neils Hansen, born in Denmark March 4, 1852, died February 3, 1931. He was a
mechanic and engineer by trade and a musician by choice. He followed the sea
for years. 

Matilda Jubenlats was born December 23. 1851, at Harstead, Sweden. She came
to the United States, landing December 3, 1873, and went to Ludington, Michigan
where she married Neils Hansen December 10. They came to Idaho in 1903[1] and
lived on Pole Creek. They farmed and, at one time, had a sawmill there.[2] They
were known as "Pole Creek Hansens." 

They moved to Council about 1930. 

They had no children. 

Both are buried in the I.O.O.F. Cemetery. 

1. Obituary of Neils Hansen, Adams County Leader, February 6, 1931. 

2. Obituary of Matilda Hansen, Adams County Leader, March 21, 1941. 

______________________________________ 

HANSEN, RASMUS 

Rasmus Hansen was born in Denmark and married Anna Maria there in 1879. They
came to the United States in 1881 and settled at Logan Utah. Two years later
they came to Council and famed on Hornet Creek.[1] 

Their children were: William, Nels, Soren, Anna, Mrs. Christian Ross, and
Mrs. Ellis Hartley. 

Rasmus died in 1920. After his death Anna Marie moved to the Fruitland bench
and died there at the home of her son-in-law, Ellis Hartley. She was born
November 21, 1855; died December 23, 1940. Both are buried in the I.O.O.F.
Cemetery. 

Soren Hansen married Dora D. Lakey, daughter of Sarah Lakey, born Grant
County, Oregon. He was born June 4, 1881, in Denmark. He had both legs terribly
crushed while working in Council Meat Market, about 1930.[2] He died at the
John Kesler home November 3, 1932. Dora Hansen died March 31, 1925. Both are
buried in the I.O.O.F. Cemetery. 

1. Obituary of Anna Marie Hansen, Adams County Leader, December 27, 1940. 

2. Obituary of Soren Hansen, Adams County Leader, November 11, 1932. 

________________________________ 

HARP 

James Harp, born April 28, 1828, in Tennessee, was the son of John and Lucy
Harp. He married Sarah Clark in 1846 in Washington County, Arkansas. She was
born in Tennessee in 1832 and was barely fourteen when they were married.[1] 

Their children included Viny, William, Louis, Hardy, Martha, Sam, and
Elizabeth.[2] 

Late in January 1878 James's children started westward with their families,
traveling with oxen and covered wagons. Those in the group were Hardy Harp, his
wife, and two small sons; William, his wife, and two sons; Samuel, who was
single; Martha and her husband, George Robertson; and sixteen-year-old
Elizabeth Harp. There were several other families in the wagon train, including
George A. Winkler, Alex Kesler and his brother Andy, and James Copeland. 

When the train reached Barry County, Missouri, George M. Winkler and
Elizabeth Harp ran away and got married. 

Boise Valley appealed to the Harps and they stopped there for several years,
settling south of Eagle near the river. George and Martha Robertson remained,
too. In very early 1881 they moved on to Council. 

Hardy Harp stayed in Indian Valley for a short time. He had married Rena
Burke in Arkansas when she was barely fourteen. One daughter died before they
started west. Other children were Grant, William, Edgar, Jesse, Dora, Nora,
Dewey, and Jake. The family moved back to Boise from Council and lived for
several years on a farm below Star or Eagle. On July 13, 1901, they moved back
to Council, where Hardy took an eighty-acre homestead four miles north of town.
They later moved to Cascade. 

Louis Harp, born October 10, 1852, at Eureka Springs, Arkansas, was married
to Emily Biggerstaff in 1879. She was a sister of Tolbert Biggerstaff. Louis
operated a farm at Council until Emily's death in 1935. He went to Payette to
live with his son, Sam. There were six other sons: James Robert, William,
Jasper, Elmer, and Wesley, and one daughter, Bertie Harp.[3] 

Louis Harp died March 11, 1942, and is buried in Winkler Cemetery beside his
wife and parents.[4] 

William Harp was born in Madison County, Arkansas, June 16, 1849. He married
Jane Hall in 1870. They homesteaded the present Frank Galey place. They settled
at Fruitvale and so did George and Martha Robertson. William died May 31,
1928.[5] 

Viny Harp did not come to Idaho. James Harp served in the Union Army during
the Civil War. He enlisted June 24, 1862, in Company E, First Regiment Arkansas
Volunteer Cavalry and was discharged in 1865 at the end of the war.[6] 

After their children came to Idaho James and Sarah were lonely and wanted to
join them. They came most of the way by stage because James was ill. They
arrived in Council in 1881 and settled three-quarters of a mile northeast of
town. James did not live long after they came to Idaho. He died November 24,
1881.[7] 

Sarah kept the farm for some years. In her later years she lived with her
son Sam. She was a tiny Irish lady, with a typical Irish temper, and when she
got upset with Sam she would tie some of her possessions in a big kerchief and
go to Hardy's for a week or so until her temper cooled. Then she went back to
Sam's home. 

When Sam and his family moved to Walla Walla she went with them and remained
until her death March 14, 1914. Her body was brought to Council for burial
beside James in the Winkler Cemetery.[8] 

1. James Harp’s Civil War records, G.S.A., Washington, D.C. 

2. Luella Allen, Boise, Idaho, 1974, oral interview. 

3. Ibid. 

4. Winkler Cemetery records in Genealogical Library, Boise, Idaho. 

5. Ibid. 

6. James Harp’s Civil War records. 

7. Mrs. Luella Allen. 

8. Ibid. 

Children of James and Sarah Harp: 

     Viny 

     William, b. June 16, 1849 / d. May 31, 1928--married
Jane Hall, 1870 

     Louis, b. Oct. 10, 1852 / d. Mar11, 1942 --married Emily
Biggerstaff, 1879 

     Hardy,  -- married Rena Burke 

     Martha, b. Jan 12, 1860 / d. Aug 10, 1923--married
George Robertson 

     Samuel, b. Oct 1858   --married Jennie
Kesler in 1881 

     Elizabeth, b. Jan 9, 1862 / d. Sept 20, 1954 --married
George Winkler, 1879 

_______________________________ 

HARRINGTON 

Very shortly after 1880 Reil* Harrington and son Robert settled on Hornet
Creek. Reil was called "Black Tail" because of the many deer of that
species that he was able to shoot.[1] 

 [*The spelling on his tombstone is "Ryal."] 

William Reil (Rayle) was born January 31, 1835, and died in 1922.2 His wife,
Martha Lovelace, died in Kansas in 1871 when their son Robert was three years
old.[3] 

Reil soon moved to Leadville, Colorado, taking his two sons and one daughter
with him. In 1881* the family moved to Indian Valley, Idaho. There were only a
few families and a fort there. In a short time the family moved to Council and
the children attended school. Their teacher was Robert White.[4] 

 [This date is wrong. The family was at Indian Valley in 1877, and shortly
thereafter came to Hornet Creek. See obituary at end of this section.] 

Robert Zadock Harrington, son of William and Martha, was born February 14,
1868, in Wyandotte County, Kansas. He married Lily Montgomery in Indian Valley.
They settled on Hornet Creek where fifteen of their sixteen children were
born.[5] 

 Robert Harrington died in August, 1943. He is buried in Hornet Creek
Cemetery, as are many of his family. 

The Harringtons came to Idaho by a horse-drawn wagon. They were among the
earliest settlers on Hornet Creek.[6] 

Robert earned money by hauling supplies into Landore with four-horse
teams.[7] 

Lewis Clark Harrington, son of Reil and Martha, was born August 4, 1861. He
came west with his father, brother, and sister. They spent the first winter at
Fort Boise, going on to Indian Valley and Council the next year.[8] 

He married Sarah E. Halford at Payette. They lived at Council until her
death in 1900. He then moved to Kooskia, where he died November 4, 1961, at one
hundred years of age. He is buried in Hornet Creek Cemetery.[9] 

Lilly Montgomery was born at Jamison, Oregon, August 11, 1872, daughter of
John and Martha Montgomery. Her parents moved to Boise when she was one year
old. When she was fourteen she was ill and her parents thought it wise to move
her to a higher elevation. They chose a farm on Hornet Creek. On June 29, 1890,
she married Robert Harrington in Indian Valley. 

Her obituary tells about her life in Council Valley: 

She attended Upper Dale school, going on skis in winter. Her first textbook
was the Almanac until her parents brought books from the old home in Boise. Her
parents also brought the first fruit cans into the district and Jars that were
round on the bottom and sealed with pitch. Most fruit to be canned was wild.
Her mother's birthday usually marked the date for family vacation when supplies
were packed and the family went to the mountains to camp out and pick
huckleberries. Of eight hundred quarts of canned fruit needed for the large
family two hundred quarts were huckleberries, the others were choke cherries
and sarvis berries. 

In the first few years of married life Mr. Harrington worked for other
farmers and received his pay in produce which supplied part of their livelihood
and their only money income was from herding horses on the range for other
people. Their own team was Mr. Harrington's own saddle horses, broke to work.
Grain received for labor was taken to Cuddy's mill, near where Cambridge is
now, and ground into flour or corn meal. These trips were usually made in
caravan, several neighbors going at the same time. 

The children were taught early to share in household tasks. 

Mrs. Harrington did her own sewing, buying cloth by the bolt, and after the
garments were made the scraps were pieced into quilts. 

Social life was enjoyed, in spite of the hardships and sometimes the
refreshments served were turnips. 

When the youngest child was fourteen, they sold the homestead and, after
moving three times in one year, purchased the old Stutzman place on Hornet
Creek where they lived until Mr. Harrington's death in 1943. Since then Lilly
has lived with her children. She died February 17, 1957.[10] 

Clark Harrington, brother of Reil, born December 13, 1832, was also an early
Hornet Creek settler. His wife, Mary A., was born May 13, 1846, and died
November 3, 1887. They are buried in Hornet Creek Cemetery.[11] 

Clark and Reil Harrington were Civil War veterans. They fought for the
Union. 

1 William Winkler, Early Days of Adams County (Weiser: Signal American,
1923) 2 Hornet Creek Cemetery records, Idaho Genealogical Library, Boise. 

3 Obituary of Robert Zadock Harrington, Adams County Leader, August 6,1943. 

4 Ibid. 

5. Ibid. 

6. Johnny Harrington, Council, Idaho, letter interview, 1974. 

7 Ibid. 

8 Obituary of Lewis Clark Harrington, Adams County Leader, November 17, 1961. 

9 Military records of Lewis Clark Harrington, General Services Administration,
Washington, D.C. 

10 Obituary of Lillie Harrington, Adams County Leader, February 22, 1957. 

11 Hornet Creek Cemetery records. 

_______ 

Obituary of William Ryal Harrington, Adams County Leader, June 2, 1922: 

Timer in Council Valley Brought Home for Burial-- 

William R.Herrington [sic], a man whom everyone in Council, at least among the
older generation, knew and called by his first name, died at Kooskia: Idaho, on
May 24, 1922, and the body was shipped to his old home here, where it arrived
last Saturday and was buried in the local cemetery, the same day. Deceased was
born January 31, 1836,  in  Iowa.  From there he moved
to Kansas just before the beginning of the Civil war. He enlisted in the
service and served with a Kansas regiment.  From Kansas, Herrigton moved
to Colorado, where he lived about five years, coming to Idaho in 1876 settling
in Salubria valley.  Three years later he came to Council Valley.  In
1861 Mr. Herrington was married to Miss Lucy* Loveless, who died nearly 50
years ago in Kansas.  To them  were born six children, three of whom
survive, as follows:  Lewis C. Herrington of Kooskia, Idaho; Mrs. Mary
Draper Tamarack, and Robert, of Council. 

  [* Should read "Martha"] 

_______________ 

From file in Adams County Courthouse (instrument no. 26351, filed May 15,
1941), in Lillie Harrington's handwriting: 

 Robert Harrington and Lillie Montgomery were married June 29th 1890 at
Indian Valley Idaho by John Wilkerson, J.P. 

 Robert Harrington was born in Wyandotte, Kan. on Feb 14th 1868. 

 Lillie Montgomery was born on Willow Creek near Vale, Malhuer Co. Ore. on
Aug 11, 1872. 

 Elsie Harrington was born Nov 18th 1891. 

 Bessie was born mar 5th 1893 

 Winnie was born Oct 12th 1894 

 Robert Vernon was born Apr 9th 1896 

 Harold Ray was born May 26th 1897 

 Martha Ellen was born Feb 20th 1899 

 Glen Alfred was born Oct 21st 1900 

 Harvey Louis was born Sept 7th 190_ 

 Kenneth Alva was born Apr 3rd 1904 

 Dollie Inez was born Nov 24th 1905 

 Erma Lillie was born Oct 3rd 1907 

 Minnie Louise was born June 11th 1909 

 Perry Lyal was born Apr 5th 1911 

 Clyde Alton was born June 23rd 1913 

 Mary Lucile was born Oct 29th 1915 

 Johnie Harley was born Nov 30th 1917 

Now this is correct by their mother. All were born on Hornet Creek near
Council, Adams Co. Ida. 

_______________________________________ 

HASTINGS, JACK              

Jack Hastings- another old timer that came into the Rapid River

area about 1900.*Tape of Ace Barton by Camp 

HEATHCO 

George Heathco came to Council about 1912 with his sister Minnie Thompson.
They travelled by covered wagon from Oklahoma. George returned to Oklahoma.[1]
[Correction/ addition by Patsy Phipps Bethel: George was just helping her move
west.] 

Mrs. Minnie Thompson was a widow. Her husband, Andrew Thompson, died in
Oklahoma. After his death she homesteaded on the site of the present city of
Tulsa. She married [Samuel Thompson] the brother of her late husband but they
were divorced.[2]  In Council she married George Phipps June 29, 1902. 

The Heathco family came to Council by train, arriving June 29, 1914. They
got off the train at the Vista switch and went to the home of Mr. and Mrs.
George Phipps, who lived on Cottonwood. They stayed with Phipps until the
following June. Those who came were Solomon and his wife, Elizabeth C., their
son George, and his wife, Bertha.[3] 

Solomon S. Heathco was born in [Davidson County] North Carolina, September
17, 1840. He served as a Confederate soldier during the Civil War [4] and was
wounded. A rifle ball lodged in his body where it remained all his life. He
told children that if they listened carefully they could hear it roll. The
youngsters strained their ears trying to hear it. 

Mr. Heathco was one quarter Cherokee Indian. His maternal grandfather, was a
full-blood Cherokee. [Correction/ addition by Patsy Phipps Bethel: 
Solomon's father had Catawba blood (from his father , Nicholas's, side--not his
mother's side), and his Mother was full blooded Cherokee. So  Solomon was
1/4 Cherokee and about 1/8 Catawba. ] 

Solomon Heathco married Elizabeth C. Murphy, who was born October 10, 1845.
She died March 27, 1916. He married again, in Council--a marriage which did not
last. His third marriage was to Mrs. Elizabeth L. Simmons, a widow eighty years
old. He was eighty-four. He died August 1, 1927. He and his first two wives are
buried in Cottonwood Cemetery. 

George Heathco was born March 27, 1880, near Alville, Johnson County,
Missouri. He was one of nine children. He married Bertha Wheeler in Greer
County, Oklahoma, September 18, 1912. She was born in Bledsoe County,
Tennessee, to James and Margaret Davenport Wheeler.* Her brother, Jim Wheeler,
had married and moved to Council before the Heathcos came. He was school
custodian for many years. 

 [*[Correction/ addition by Patsy Phipps Bethel: Bertha Heathco's parents
were James and Sarah Craig Wheeler.] 

George and Bertha Heathco settled near the upper end of Cottonwood Canyon on
a farm which his sister, Minnie Phipps, gave them. Rob Thompson lived farther
up the canyon. His house is gone now and the Heathco house is the last one up
the canyon. It is a two-story house which was built by Rob Thompson. Their
first house was a little one on a small hill across the creek from the present
house. It was beside the orchard, which is still growing. Their cellar was
there for years after the present house was built In 1915 there was a flood in
Cottonwood Canyon which missed the Heathcos' house only because it was on a
hill. It drowned their chickens and pigs.[5] 

There were thirteen Heathco children. Two died in infancy and one as a young
child. The others were Earl, Margaret, Merle, Ida Mabel, Trudi, Dilah, Dorothy,
Mayme, George, Eunice, and Phyllis. 

George Heathco died in 1942 and is buried in Cottonwood Cemetery beside his
parents and children. 

[By Patsy Phipps Bethel: The Heathco's had changed their name from HAITHCOCK
or HEATHCOCK I had a heck of a time finding them in NC, said something about
the name change, as I couldn't imagine why they did it.  An acquaintance
spoke up and said I do.  Her name was Trebblecock. I kinda figured it out,
kids being what they are] 

1.Patsey Bethel, Boise, Idaho, oral interview, 1975. 

2.Ibid. 

3. Bertha Heathco, Council, Idaho, oral interview, 1972. 

4.Burial records in Idaho Adjutant General's Office, Boise, Idaho. 

5.Bertha Heathco, oral interview. 

__________________________________________ 

HIGGINS 

John Higgins was born in Kentucky in 1812. By 1880 or earlier, he was living
near Omaha, Nebraska,[l] where he had married Ruthie Ann Martin. She died near
Heber Spring, Nebraska.' in 1876. 

About 1882 John Higgins hitched his teams to wagons and headed west to
Myrtle Creek, Oregon, with his two sons. There they remained for a year and
then moved to Council, in 1884. One son remained in Oregon, but Palmer W.
Higgins and his wife came to Council and settled with John on Cottonwood Creek.
They were neighbors of Jacob Groseclose. This land remained in the Higgins
family until the 1960s when Palmer's son, John, retired and sold the farm to
Peebles.[2] 

The post office of Rose, Idaho, was in John Higgins' home. It was named for
Rose Groseclose,[3] who was born there.** This post office was a place to
exchange news, a center of the community. People stopped, visited, sent or
received their mail, heard the latest neighborhood news, and reported on their
own families. On April 29, 1896, the name Council Valley was officially changed
to Council and the post office at Rose was closed. 

 [**Correction by Harold "Shep" Smith: "Laura Higgins of
Cambridge in her 1973 interview may not have been quite accurate in saying that
Rose was born on Cottonwood in 1885 as it is carved in stone at the Council
Cemetery that she was born in 1867. About 18 years of age would have been more
like it, the way my pencil figures."] 

Palmer Higgins married Alice Willard. They had ten children, two dying in
infancy. They had a baby girl who died and they buried her beneath a pine tree
on their ranch. On November 14, 1894, they lost a four-year-old son, Thomas
Jefferson Higgins. At that time they realized the need for a permanent
cemetery. They chose the present site, on a hill behind their house. The land
was deeded by the Higgins family to be used as a cemetery forever and to revert
to the family if ever used otherwise. In 1896 "Trapper John" Anderson
was buried there and others followed--John A. Higgins in 1898 and many more.
There are now seventy known and some unknown graves. 

Other children of Palmer and Alice Higgins were John, William J., Henry, Ben,
Lee, Alice, and Ida Rose. [Richard Higgins is listed on a 1909 Cottonwood
School program.]

Palmer Higgins, born 1853, died October 1, 1940. 

Alice M. Willard was born December 4, 1859 in Greensboro, Vermont. When she
was three years old the family went to Iowa and later to Nebraska. She married
Palmer N. Higgins in 1876. She died August 13, 1943. She and Palmer are buried
in Cottonwood Cemetery beside their children. 

1. Census of Douglas County, Nebraska, 1880. 

2. Laura Higgins, Cambridge, Idaho, letter interview, 1973. 

3. Ibid. 

________________________________ 

HILDERBRAND 

John Hilderbrand was born in Germany in 1850. He married Fredricka Welfert.
They had two children, a son who died in infancy and a daughter Mary, born in
Germany in 1872. They came to America three years later.[1] 

They settled on a farm in Iowa, where John died in 1889. 

Christian Hilderbrand came to America with his brother John. He did not stay
in Iowa but ventured farther west, settling for a while in California. While
there he heard of Boise Valley and drifted there with others in search of gold.
Later, upon hearing of the riches in other places, he went to Eldorado, where
luck failed to smile on him; so he came back to Idaho. He stayed for a while in
Silver City and found in the War Eagle Mountain that fortune was more kind. He
sold some properties which made quite a fortune for him. From there he went to
the Seven Devils country. There he had mines which were rich in silver, gold,
and copper. He was the owner of the Mayflower group. There was an area called
the Hilderbrand District. 

In 1896 Fredricka came to Idaho to visit Christian Hilderbrand, her late
husband's brother. They were married at Salubria April 26, 1896, and gave their
place of residence as Falls, County of Washington, Idaho.[2] They returned to
Iowa until 1908, when they came to Council.[3] Christian was familiar with
beautiful Council Valley and he bought the ranch on Hornet Creek which was
later owned by his son-in-law, Gus Kampeter. 

He also bought several businesses in Council, including the Overland
Hotel,[4] where they lived for a while. After the disastrous fire of 1915 they
bought property west of town, later owned by W. R. McClure, and built a home. 

Mr. Hilderbrand died in 1915 

Fredricka Welfert, born in Statton, Germany, October 10, 1849, was confirmed
in the German Lutheran church at age fourteen. She married John Hilderbrand in
October, 1871. 

She said her family was very poor and food was scarce. Al vegetable peelings
were used. They wasted nothing. 

Fredricka's family lived on, or near, the mountain in which legend says King
Frederick is buried. The legend says he comes out once every hundred years and
sends out a messenger to see if the ravens are still flying. If so, he goes
back for another one hundred years. When the ravens no longer fly he will
return and save Germany by reuniting it. 

About 1923 Mrs. Hilderbrand purchased the home in which she lived until her
death. 

She suffered greatly during the First World War because all of her
relatives, except her immediate family, were in Germany, but she loved her
adopted country and wanted to help. She set a goal for herself-.to knit one
hundred pairs of socks for "the Boys". 

Author's notes: 

Mrs. Hilderbrand was affectionately known to all, in her later years, as
"Grandma Hilderbrand." She wore a crisp white cap over her hair. She
lived in a house with a white picket fence. I went out of my way going home
from school so I could pass her house. We children liked to make a stick
clickety-clack along the pickets. This annoyed "Grandma" and she'd
come out and shout at us. I don't know why this was fun. We loved her. Apparently,
she never told on us for if Mother had known what I was doing she would have
used the stick for another purpose. 

It was the custom to give birthday offerings in church--one penny for each
year of age. I remember the minister calling Mrs. Hilderbrand's name on her
birthday and asking how old she was. Her prompt reply was, "I'm
eighty-four years young." That was her attitude toward life.[5] 

Fredricka Hilderbrand died November 17, 1933. She and her husband are buried
in the I.O.O.F. Cemetery. 

1 Hilda Ham, Council, Idaho, letter interview, 1974. 

2 Marriage records of Washington County, Idaho. 

3 Hilda Ham, letter interview. 

4 Adams County Leader, April 2 and April 9, 1915. 

5 Marguerite Moore Diffendaffer, Boise, Idaho, 1973. 

________________________________ 

HINKLE 

Elijah Hinkle, born about 1833 in Pickens County, South Carolina, was the
son of Elijah Hinkle who was a prosperous farmer there. His wife, Mary A--, was
born in the same county about 1837.[1] 

She was nineteen when they were married. 

Elijah served in the Confederate Army during the Civil War.[2] 

At least three children were born in South Carolina. They were Sarah E.,
Milos A., and Martha. The family moved to Boon County, Arkansas, where they
spent ten years before moving on to Chautauqua County Kansas, for five years,
and eventually arrived in Council about 1883.[3] By then there were three more
children--Jake, Abraham, and Nancy E. 

Nancy Hinkle married John Root, who was a school teacher. 

Martha married William M. Glenn. 

1. 1850 and 1860 census, Pickens County, South Carolina, and 1880 census,
Chautauqua County, Kansas. 

2. Burial records in Idaho Adjutant General’s office, Boise, Idaho. 

3. Ernest McMahan, Boise, Idaho, 1973. 

______________________________________ 

HOUSTON 

James B. Houston, born in 1834, was the son of Robert Houston. The family
came west with ox teams over the Oregon Trail in the first of the famous wagon
trains. They settled at Albany, Oregon, in 1848.[1] 

 James Houston married Mary Ellen Kinzer, who was born in Des Moines,
Iowa , January 8, 1849. She came to Oregon with her family over the
OregonTrail.[2] They were married July 17, 1873. He was an Oregon Indian War
veteran. 

They famed extensively near Albany[3] and several years later moved to North
Powder and Lakeview, Oregon. They came to Council with George Gould in 1888,[4]
settling on Cottonwood Creek, on a homestead. There they spent the rest of
their lives. Their children were William H., Van N., Benjamin, Tom, Ellen,
Anna, and Emma. 

James died in 1904 and Mary Ellen January 18, 1935. She was the last of the
four older Houstons. They all rest side by side in Cottonwood Cemetery. 

Thomas Houston, born in 1842, married Armilda Kinzer, sister of Mary Ellen.
She was born September 14,1852, at the foot of Mt. Hood, on the old Barlow
route, while the train laid over for a few days rest. On account of the place
of her birth she was nicknamed "Hoodie," a name which stuck to her
through the years. 

She married Thomas B. Houston at Albany, Oregon, when she was twentytwo. They
came to Council July 22, 1890,[5] and settled on Cottonwood near James and Mary
Ellen.  Their children were Ben, Bill, Tom, Van, Ralph, and Mark. Tom was
a sheepman who took pack trains of supplies to sheep camps. 

Thomas died in 1901 and Amilda July 21, 1930, almost forty years to the day
since they had arrived in Council Valley. 

1. Obituary of “Hoodie” kinzer Houston, Adams County Leader, July 25, 1930. 

2. Ibid. 

3. 1850, 1860, 1870 censuses, Linn County, Oregon, 

4. John Gould, Council, Idaho, 1972 

5. Obituary of Armilda E. Einzer Houston, Adams County Leader, July 25, 1930. 

IVERSON 

Rev rend E. L. Iverson, pastor of the Congregational Church from 1918 to
1921,[1] married Mrs. Maude (Peters) Gregg in 1918. 

During the flu epidemic he devoted most of his time to care and nursing of
the sick. 

In 1921 they moved to Oakdale, California. He died there April 18, 1936. 

Mrs. Iverson died at Los Altos, California, January 22, 1960. 

1. Obituary of Reverend E.L. Iverson, Adams County Leader, May 8, 1936. 

JOHNSON, HANNIBAL F. "SEVEN DEVILS JOHNSON"

      One of the colorful characters who once inhabited the Council

and Seven Devils areas was Hannibal F. Johnson.  He was a

miner and poet, who acquired the title "Seven Devils Johnson" 

from the local residents.  Johnson, born in Indiana in 1830, came

west looking for gold, and was in the Boise area in the early

1850's.  He later located a mining claim in the Seven Devils

about 1884.  In 1892, he ran for the office of Washington

County Senator against T.C. Galloway.  During the campaign,

Galloway called Johnson "Pine Tree Johnson", claiming that he

had real no home and lived under a pine tree.  Johnson won the

election and served one term.  * Pickett p. 42-3 and Elsensohn

303 Johnson apparently never married, and did a great deal of

traveling from place to place around the country, driving a

two-wheeled cart.  In a time when doctors were few and far      

between, he was in demand as an authority on home remedies. 

He was a good natured man with a keen sense of humor, and

seemed to be liked by almost everyone.  *Cary, pp. 34-35

Weiser Leader, Sept 27, 1889  Printed in its 24 verse entirety:

The poem "Cuddy Flour" by H.F. Johnson "We publish the same

by request, believing it to be written in a good spirit toward Mr.

Cuddy and that it is aimed as a farewell to his burr mill flour." 

Cuddy received his new roller mill Saturday for his location at

Salubria.               

Weiser Leader, Oct 25, 1889 "Farewell to Idaho" poem printed. 

As with the Cuddy poem, the credit is given only to "A Seven

Devil Miner".  [By H.F. Johnson]

Salubria Citizen, April 12, 1895    H.F. Johnson has written a

book of Idaho Poems.

Salubria Citizen, Apr 19, 1895   H.F. Johnson's book of poems

costs 50 cents.

Salubria Citizen, Apr 21, 1899 Seven Devils Johnson is

"canvassing for two books..."  The Illustrated New Testament 

and a history of tour war with Spain. [I assume this means

selling door to door, more or less.] 

Salubria Citizen, June 2, 1899 P.W. Johnson of Spokane, is in

Council visiting his ex-senator brother H.F. Cambridge Citizen,

Oct 12, 1900 H.F. Johnson running on the Progressive ticket for

State senator - A.H. Wilkie for Rep., same party. 

Cambridge Citizen, Mar 15, 1901 H.F. Johnson has taken the

agency for a chemical fire extinguisher, and will be traveling the

area demonstrating what his machine will do.  

Weiser Signal, Mar 26, 1904 H.F. Johnson, of Pollock, and

partners own the Alliance group of gold mining claims, about 8

miles up the main Rapid River. 

Weiser Signal, Aug 24, 1904 P.W. Johnson, of the firm of

Haworth & Co. of Council... 

Council Journal, Mar. 18, 1902 P.W. Johnson - secretary of the

Council Board of Trade 

Council Journal, June 5, 1902   H.F. Johnson and his brother

P.W. have a gold mine called the Ajax on the West Fork of

Rapid River              

In the early 1890's, R.E. Lockwood, for whom Lockwood

Saddle is named, was doing some mining in the Devils, and

staying at a camp in the head of Rapid River near the North Star

mine.  One evening Mr. Johnson visited the camp, and all of the

men present became caught up in lofty discussions of philosophy

and literature.   Lockwood later wrote, it was a "feast of reason

and a flow of soul". *Camp p 46  Johnson recited one of his

mountain poems for the  group, and Lockwood was greatly

impressed.  Lockwood recalled,  "There, with true nature in all

her vastness and grandeur spread out beneath us, (we were at an

altitude of about 8,000 feet) with the green forests stretching

away for miles, with mountain 'turrets reaching to the  sky' above

us, it was easy to appreciate the impulses which inspired the 

lines." * camp p47  Lockwood was the editor of the Weiser

Signal newspaper, and was so enthusiastic about Johnson's

poems that he risked his own money in 1895 to publish a 125

page book of the poets works which was entitled  Poems of

Idaho .

This poem from which Lockwood quoted above, was included in

the book of Johnson's poetry: 

JOHNSON 

Gay D. Johnson was born near Ramseytown North Carolina, October 18, 1890.
About 1896 the family moved to Kentucky.[1] 

There was very little employment in that area except in the mines, so in
1910 the three Johnson brothers, Alonzo, Freeman, and Gay, came west looking
for work. They settled at Republic, Washington, and sent for their mother and
sisters.[2] 

In 1913 Gay's sister, Dora, married Grant Moore of Council. Gay visited them
about 1916, liked his new brother-in-law, and stayed to work for him.[3] 

Gay Johnson enlisted in the army in 1917. He was with the military police
division and remained with the occupation forces in France for a time after the
close of the war.[4] 

Shortly after he returned to Council, Gay married Annie Gould, January 29,
1922. Annie, born in 1897, was the daughter of George and Viola Gould. They
lived on the Bill Phipps place on Cottonwood. Their children were a son who
died shortly after birth, Clyde, Dorothy, and Elmer.[5] 

Annie died in 1949 and is buried in Weiser Cemetery.[6] 

In the early 1950s Gay Johnson sold his ranch and moved to Sandpoint and
married Virgie 

1. Gay D. Johnson, Sandpoint, Idaho, oral interview, 1974. 

2. Ibid. 

3. Dora Johnson Moore, Boise, Idaho, oral interview, 1970 

4. Gay D. Johnson , oral interview. 

5. Ibid 

6. Ibid 

JONES, CHARLES W. 

Salubria Citizen, Apr 22, 1898, Charles Allen appointed 

constable of Lick Creek precinct and  C.W. Jones = justice of 

the peace of same. 

Salubria Citizen, Mar 3, 1899 Capt. E.W. Baughman will go 

down the Snake from Huntington to check on the feasibility of 

running a steamer from Lewiston.  The steamer has made it to 

Wild Goose rapids a number of times.  C.W. Jones, who has a 

big copper mine on the Snake, is in on the scheme, and plans to 

haul ore this way to Lewiston. 

Salubria Citizen, Mar 17, 1899 C.W. Jones started off with his 

river scow to go from Weiser 25 miles to his Copper Chief mine 

on the Snake. 

Salubria Citizen, Mar 24, 1899 

      C.W. Jones made it to his mine 

with his scow on the Snake 

Salubria Citizen, Apr 14, 1899 C.W. Jones has made it to the 

mouth of Deep creek in "Hells canyon" 

Salubria Citizen, Apr 28, 1899 C.W. Jones's scow is named 

"Hotel Weiser" and set sail on March 8 

Salubria Citizen, Jan 12, 1900 Liquor licenses issued: Nick 

Klosaner,  Gossi & Dellacqua,  - Degitz & Jones, 

Cambridge Citizen, Apr 12, 1901 "The first sale of town 

property was made in the new town of  Decorah on March 28th, 

when C.W.Jones sold his entire interest in the saloon business, 

including buildings and fixtures to Nick Klosaner of Cuprum for 

$4,000." elegant billiard table and other furniture 

Cambridge Citizen, May 9, 1902  Mention of the Advance paper 

in Council - Mr. Jones, publisher 

THE ADVANCE  Council paper  C.W. Jones, publisher 

             
The Advance, July 24, 1902 

Weiser Signal, June 15, 1904 C.W. Jones now in charge of the 

Peacock, White Monument, Helena and several other mines - 

lives in Landore. 

The Weiser Semi-Weekly Signal, July 12, 1905 C.W. Jones - 

"Charlie" lives at Landore 

KAMPETER 

August Fredrick Kampeter was born in Germany July 27, 1858. 

He came to America when he was twenty-six years old and located it Pleasant
Grove, Iowa. On June 10, 1896, he married Mary Hilderbrand.[1] 

They had a farm at Danville, Iowa, until they came to Council, November 5,
1908, and settled on Hornet Creek.[2] They chose the Council area because
Mary's mother and stepfather were living there. Those who came to Idaho were
"Gus" and Mary and their children John, Hilda, Clara, Vida, Louise,
and Albert. Three more children, Viola, Bill, and Beth, were born on Hornet
Creek. 

The Kampeters came west on the train. Hilda was too young to remember how
long the trip took-only that they were very tired. The only livestock they
brought were two dogs.[4] 

Mary W. Hilderbrand, born August 21, 1872, at Stuttgart, Germany, came to
America at two years of age. She died October 5, 1961. She is buried beside her
husband in the I.O.O.F. Cemetery. Mr. Kampeter died at home March 22, 1936.[5] 

1. Obituary of August Frederick Kampeter, Adams County Leader, March 27,
1936. 

2. Ibid 

3. Hilda Ham, Council, Idaho oral interview, 1974 

4. Ibid. 

5. Obituary of Mary Kameter, Adams County Leader, October 14, 1961. 

KECKLER 

Augustus Henry Keckler was born May 25, 1875, at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania.
He farmed for a while in Illinois before moving to Council in 1910. 

He was married September 23, 1913, in Boise to Bertha Brown of Indian
Valley. 

Mr. Keckler was prominent in the development of Mesa orchard district. 

There were two sons, Lewis and Donald, and two daughters, Mrs. Harold White
and Mrs. Carroll Schmidt. 

Mr. Keckler died August 25, 1955, and is buried in Indian Valley.[1] 

Emory John Keckler, son of Abraham and Elizabeth Alice Keckler, was born at
Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, November 30, 1877. As a young man he worked with his
brother, Gus Keckler, as a guide through the battlefield. 

He graduated from barber college at Mt. Morris, Illinois. On June 28, 1908,
at Chicago, he married Mary Ruth Horton, daughter of James and Katherine Horton.

Mr. Keckler owned and operated a barber shop in Chicago until 1918 when they
came to Council. In Council he owned and operated a barber shop for over forty
years. 

The Keckler children were Joe, Katheryne, Jim, and Alice. 

Mr. Keckler died November 24, 1959,[2] and Mrs. Keckler in May, 1966.[3] 

1. Obituary of August Henry Keckler, Adams County Leader, August 26, 1955. 

2. Obituary of Emory John Keckler, Adams County Leader, November 27, 1959. 

3. Obituary of Mary Ruth Keckler, Adams County Leader, May 19, 1966. 

KERR 

Mason Kerr born February 14, 1889 at Sewickley, Pennsylvania, came to
Council in 1921[1] to join Frank Galey, William Spahr, and Robert Lindsay. 

These four young men all came from well-to-do families who were able to
sponsor their spirit of adventure. The four men bought ninety acres of newly
planted apple orchard as a promotional deal. The trees died and they went on to
other things.[2] 

Mason Kerr served in World War I.[3] 

He was killed at his home, May 4. 1930. He and an employee, George Richards,
were in the barn when a quarrel rose. A shot was fired and Richards ran out
shouting, "He's shot himself!" The bullet entered behind his ear and
came out near his chin (a difficult suicide shot). Richards was charged with
murder[4] but at his trial on December 30 he was exonerated. 

1. Obituary of Mason Kerr, Adams County Leader, May9, 1930 

2. Frank Galey, Jr., Boise, Idaho, oral interview, 1973. 

3. American Legion records, Council, Idaho (courtesy of Charlie Winkler). 

4. Mason Kerr, obituary. 

KESLER 

Alex Kesler was born in Green Brier County, West Virginia, December 4,
1829.[1] His brother, Andrew, was born September 13, 1819. 

Alex Kesler married Martha J. Summerville in Wirt County, Virginia (now West
Virginia), September 29, 1859.[2] Martha was born May 2, 1836.[3] Her father,
Andrew Summerville, was born in Ireland and her mother, Rebecca as born in
Virginia. Martha's sister, Letitia, married George A. Winkler.[4] 

Alex and Martha moved to Kansas in 1868 and the next year to Arkansas. They
left there in late January 1876, heading west by way of Kansas and Missouri as
part of a family group. The wagon train was made up of Alex's brother, Andrew
Kesler-; George A. Winkler's family; James Copeland and his fourteen-year-old
bride Ida (Kesler); William Harp and family; and George Robertson and his wife,
Martha Harp Kesler. They traveled by ox teams and wagons.[5] 

When they reached Boise Valley the Harps and Robertsons stopped. 

In Indian Valley the group heard of troubles with the Indians and decided to
stay there until the problem was settled.[Nez Perce War of 1877] The Alex
Keslers' youngest daughter, Elva, was born [at Salubria] shortly after their
arrival in Indian Valley and soon after that they moved to Council Valley,
where they arrived October of 1877**.[6] Mosers, Whites, Copelands, and
Winklers were well settled there. 

    [Elva Kesler, who later married Robert Young, was born in
December of 1877.] 

The Keslers settled north of the present town site in a house they built.
Their house was known as the "Beehive" because of the large
family--10 children. 

The children of Alex and Martha Kesler were: Rebecca (remained single),
Elizabeth (married John Pickens), Ida (married James Copeland), Lewis (married
Lena Day), William (married Milly Pottinger), John (married Edna Wisdom),
Jennie (married Sam Harp), Emma (died young of typhoid fever), James (married
Anna Schultz), and Elva (married Robert Young).[7] 

John Kesler died September 13, 1937.[8] this excerpt from his obituary
describes the family home: 

In retrospect, I glance backward a half a century, to the home of young
John, looking eastward, Council mountain towering 8000 feet above sea level,
northward the peaks of the Seven Devils, its range towering in the distance;
westward Cuddy mountain with its timbered slopes and to the southward the great
open sagebrush plains, the solitude of the valley certains presents a picture
that can be naught but awe inspiring and make us realize the handiwork of our
Creator and the smallness of man. 

Nestling almost in the center of the valley, built of logs, with the huge porch
looking eastward, and the gorgeous lilac bush shading the front yard, while
flanking either side, large fruit trees laden with golden apples, and
red-cheeked pears, the latch string hanging outward, bidding the neighbor and
the stranger alike to enter and partake of the true southern hospitality of a
pioneer home. Seated before the huge fireplace, in an old fashioned arm chair,
I can yet see Uncle Alex, as we were wont to call him gazing silently at the
flickering embers, the kettle steaming on the crane, Aunt Martha busy preparing
the long table for the midday meal, loading it with choicest viands that only a
southern housewife could prepare, the table being set, all repaired around the
festive board, the stranger within the gates occupying the seat of honor, after
dinner the older men returning to the front porch to discuss news of the
neighborhood, and to devise ways and means of getting new settlers into the
valley, or improvement of the road to Weiser. The boys, including John,
repairing to the river with spears and rifle to capture the toothsome Chinook,
or possibly the bear that had been invading the swine herd, along the river, or
maybe to lure the wily buck, that had been making' nightly visits to the bean
patch. 

The mail carrier on the route from Indian Valley to Warren, on his semi-monthly
visit, arrives and reports an Indian uprising, that already some depredations
had been committed, word was sent from house to house to the few settlers in
the valley, and hurried consultations were held, a fort was erected near the
river about three-quarters of a mile northwest of Council, the fort being a
crude stockade enclosed affair. The women and children were hurried into the
protection of the crude affair, the men standing guard and plying their daily
toil. The war over, the settlers returned to their homes and regular routine. 

Alex and Martha Kesler were the founders of Kesler Cemetery. There are many
graves there, some marked and some not. Martha died August 5, 1909, and Alex
died May 2, 1913. They are buried in Kesler Cemetery as are their son John and
daughter Emma. 

For many years John and his wife, Edna, ran the valley's first poor farm. The
large white two-story house which was built on the family homestead still
stands. It is west of the railroad tracks and north of Kesler Cemetery. 

John and Edna Kesler had five children: Leila, Chester, Emma, Paul, and John,
Jr. 

James Kesler, born April 25, 1874, at Little Rock, Arkansas, came to Council at
age three with his family. He married Anna Shultz. They had two children, Anna
and George. About 1903 James opened a jewelry store. After several years he
went to New Meadows and was in the same business but returned to Council in
1919 and operated a jewelry store until a week before his death, January 3,
1947.[9] 

 1.Obituary of Alex Kesler, Adams County Leader, May 9, 1913. 

 2.Ibid. 

 3.Obituary of Martha Kesler, Adams County Leader, August 6, 1909. 

 4.1850 census, Wirt County, Virginia, 70th -district, Family #16. 

    1860 census, Wirt County, Virginia, Zackville, Family #43. 

 5. Obituary of John Kesler, Adams County Leader, September 17, 1937 

6. Ibid. 

7 Lila Young Perkins, Boise, Idaho, oral interview, 1974. 

8 Obituary of John Kesler. 

9 Obituary of James Kesler, Adams County Leader, January 3, 1947. 

KNIGHT 

Leonard Randall Knight was born October 1, 1897, son of Leonard and Alice B.
Knight of Langford, South Dakota. They came to Idaho about 1911 and made a home
at Council. 

Immediately after World War I started Randall enlisted in the service. He
suffered severe injury which caused permanent disability, requiring long
periods of hospitalization in veterans' hospitals, and he never fully overcame
the effects. In late years he was unable to work and increasing disability
resulted in his death.[1] 

In June, 1929, he married Gladys Bowman, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Earl
Wayland Bowman. 

1. Obituary of Leonard Randall Knight, Adams County Leader, May 13, 1949. 

KRAMER

From “History Corner” column by Dale Fisk in the 

Adams County Record, Oct. 13, 2011:

            Pete Kramer
ran the stage line between Council and the Seven Devils Mining District during
the mining boom. His wife, Martha, ran the hotel at their home and stage stop
at the location initially called “Summit” and later “Kramer,” or less commonly
“Halfway.” It was just toward Council from Crooked River, and just over the top
of the summit between the Weiser River/Hornet Creek drainage and the Crooked
River drainage. There is a historical sign there today.

            In November
of 1899 Pete Kramer got the mail contract between Council and Cuprum. At the
time, he had been a naturalized citizen of the U.S. for ten years. He was
single and living at Emily Clark’s boarding house in Cuprum. In April of that
same year, his future wife, Martha Buffington, married a man named James Walton
at Weiser. I haven’t found just when Martha divorced James Walton, but it
couldn’t have been a long marriage. According to the 1910 census, she and Pete
Kramer were married about two years later (c. 1901). 

            By 1900, a combination saloon and hotel called the Summit
House was doing business at Summit, run by the Ross Brothers. The Ross brothers
were probably Dick and James Ross. Dick Ross had a homestead just west of
Kramer, and the Creek there is named after him.  Dick was the City Marshal in Council in 1909, and a pair of brass
knuckles that he confiscated from a troublemaker is in the Council Museum.

At some point, the Kramers
established their home and stage headquarters at Summit. At its peak of
activity, it was quite a busy place. The Kramer house doubled as a hotel where
Martha cooked for the guests.  There was
also a post office, saloon, store, bunkhouse, a log barn, corrals for the
horses, wagon sheds, a livery stable and blacksmith shop.  Some of these shared the same building.
Dances were often held at Summit, and people would come from miles away.

             The name “Halfway” or “Halfway Station”
doesn’t seem to have been used nearly as often as Kramer or Summit. The name
came from the fact that it was about halfway between Council and the mining
district. Sometimes the stage stopped at there for the night, and continued on
the next day. Eventually, Kramer got contracts to deliver mail all the way from
Council to Black Lake and Iron Springs, and down to Homestead along the Snake
River.

The 1910 census shows that Pete and
Martha had two children, both boys. The older boy (age 10) was adopted and was
listed as Joseph V. Kitchen. Joe was born in Pennsylvania to Thomas and Nellie
Kitchen. His birth name was actually Victor Kitchen, but evidently the Kramers
added Joseph as his first name.

Nellie Kitchen died (April 21,
1904) as a result of complications from giving birth to a baby girl who died
ten days after her mother. I’m not sure how many Kitchen children there were,
but Thomas was evidently unable to care for all of them. He sent Victor (Joe)
and Ethel to live with an aunt in Boise.

When the aunt became abusive to the
kids, they were taken by authorities and placed in a Boise orphanage. The
Kramers evidently found Joe there and adopted him. Ethel was never adopted, and
lived in the orphanage until she was 18 years old. Apparently there was another
son, Allen, whose story I don’t know except that he eventually operated a
grocery store in Pennsylvania.

The other boy in the Kramer
household was listed in the 1910 census as Arthur J. Kramer, age 3. The J.
stood for Joseph. For unknown reasons he was known as “Jack.” An astonishing
revelation in the 1910 census is that Martha had given birth of a total of 8
children, only one of which was alive (Jack). 

When Pete and Martha Kramer
divorced in the spring of 1920, Jack was 13 years ol, and was listed as “Jack”
in that year’s census. The census lists only Pete and Jack Kramer; apparently
they lived together. Joe and Martha Kramer are not listed in the 1920 census
for Adams County. It isn’t clear where they lived, but they must not have gone
far. By 1923 Martha had married Sam Stephens, a man who ran the Cuprum Hotel. 

Sometime between 1910 and 1920, Joe Kitchen’s his
last name was changed to Kramer. In 1921 he married Lura Reffner, a
schoolteacher at the Crooked River School, just up the road from the Kramer
stage stop. Lura and her parents, Charles and Jennie Reffner, lived in that
general area as well.  Joe and Lura
lived near the Reffners for an unknown number of years and had several
children: Lois (the oldest), Charles, Edward, Robert, Martha, Janice and
Marilyn. At some point, Joe Kramer taught school, but I have no record of where
or when. 

Sam and Martha Stephans operated
the Cuprum Hotel through most of the 1920s. In 1928 they opened a general store
in Cuprum, but sold both the store and the hotel to Mr. & Mrs. John Darland
in November of 1929. Apparently Sam Stephens had been the deputy recorder for
Seven Devils mining district, as John Darland took over that job from him at
about the same time the hotel and store were sold. The following spring, Martha
and Sam Stephens bought the Pomona Hotel in Council from the Council Leader
editor, William Lemon. I have no record of their whereabouts in later years, or
when or where they died. Carol thinks Martha may have died someplace in Idaho
about 1954.

Pete Kramer left this area in
November of 1922 and the Council newspaper said he moved to Hillsboro, Oregon.
According to Carol Strack, Pete Kramer died in Cook County, Oregon on Dec. 27,
1955. (There doesn’t seem to be a Cook County Oregon; there is a Crook County.)

Joe and Lura Kramer moved to Los
Angeles at some point and opened a grocery store. The last addition to their
family, James, was born there. Lura’s parents, Charles and Jennie Reffner,
subsequently moved to L. A. as well. At some point before the Reffners left,
their house near Crooked River burned down. Charles had to go upstairs to
rescue Jennie.

Lura Kramer passed away in 1963.
She and her parents Charles & Jennie Reffner are buried at Gooding, Idaho.
Joe Kramer died in 1979.

            Lois Kramer (oldest child of Joe and
Lura) is 89 years old and living in California. She married and moved away
from the Council area when she was 18 years old.

Janice Kramer (daughter of Joe and
Lura) married Philip Rowe in 1952. Carol Strack, who contacted me, is their
daughter and lives at Idaho Falls. She has two brothers: Daniel and Philip.

           
Charles Kramer (son of Joe and Lura) is no
longer alive, but he lived in Boise for many
years.      

Arthur
Joseph “Jack” Kramer died April 11, 1931 at Portland, Oregon. Carol said
he was digging in a cave and  it caved in on him.

Lura Reffner Kramer’s sister, Celia
Reffner, married a man named Hallett in Weiser.  They had a son, Donald Nelson Hallett. Later, Celia divorced Hallet and
remarried Roy Teem. 

From Leila Cornell: Pete Kramer is
buried in the Juniper Haven Cemetery in Prineville, Crook County, Oregon. His
wife Martha is buried at Canyon Hill Cemetery in Caldwell, Idaho under her 4th
husbands name of Walter Wright.

---------

From Carol Strack

Idaho Falls, Idaho:

           Joseph
Kramer (adopted son of Pete & Martha Kramer) married Lura
Reffner.    Lura Reffner father was Charles Reffner and
Jennie.   Lura was a teacher at Crooked River School.  Charles
Reffner had a house out there too.   I was told the family would work
his farm.   Joseph and his son's Charles & Edward and Robert Kramer.  
His daughter Lois Kramer helped her Mother Lura and Grandmother Jennie, with
collecting the eggs and help with the cooking.    First photo is
of the Kramer store in E. Los Angeles close Montebello, Calif.   Second
is of Joseph Kramer and Lura and their children

           Lois, Charles, Robert(Bob)
and Martha and Janice the baby was Marilyn Kramer.   Third photo is
of my Mom Janice and her little sister Marilyn riding the
horse.    Forth is of Charles Reffner, Lura’s
father.   

          Charles Kramer
lived in Boise, Idaho for many years, he has since died.    He
is the one that told me that  Joseph Kramer was adopted by Pete Kramer and
Martha.   Joseph and his sister Ethel were born in
Pennsylvania.   Joseph Victor Kramer was birth name was Victor Kitchen.  
Ethel never got adopted, she lived in the Boise orphanage until she was 18
years old.    I think Joseph Victor Kramer was very lucky he got
adopted.   Later on his family in Pennsylvania tried to get hold of him.   
His brother tried to find him.   You see Joseph mother Nellie had
died after childbirth of his little sister.   So I think his dad
Thomas Kitchen was trying to find a good home for some of his kids.  
Thomas Kitchen sent his son Joseph Victor and daughter Ethel Kitchen to
lived with an Aunt in Boise, Idaho to lived.   But she abused the
kids, and were taken away to live in a orphanage in Boise Idaho.  

   I have found a Pete Kramer (Peter Kramer died
in Cook County, Oregon  Dec. 27, 1955.   His other son was
Arthur Joseph Kramer he died April 8, 1931 in Portland, Oregon., I believe he
was adopted too.  He died in a
cave.     I believe it was in 1921, before Lura Reffner
married Joseph Kramer.   I was told that her sister Celia Reffner
married a man named Hallett in Weiser, Idaho years ago.   I was told
Charles & Jennie Reffner were great people.   Charles &
Jennie later moved to Calif. too.   I think to be close to her
daughter Lura Reffner Kramer.   Also to be close to the Grandkids.  
I was told that my Aunt Martha Kramer, Joseph's daughter, got a piana from
Martha Kramer Stevens.   I believe that she was named for her.

I found this on Rootsweb.    Martha
Buffington was also married to a James Walton in Weiser April 20,
1899.   She later married Pete Kramer.   Then after him
Samuel Stephens,  maybe around 1923.   She might of died in
Idaho around 1954.      My Grandfather was Joseph
Kramer (Kitchen)  he married my Grandmother  Lura Reffner around
1921.   Their first child was Lois Kramer.   My mother is Janice
Kramer she married Philip Rowe. 

Lura and her parents Charles & Jennie Reffner are buried
in Gooding, Idaho.    Joseph died in Sept. 1979.

Here is also a photo of Joseph Kramer and Allen Kitchens
stores.    Also Grandparents house Charles and Jennie
Reffner   Also a photo of Charles & Jennie Reffner., and their
children Lura is the one with brown curly hair.  Martha Kramer and Janice
Kramer in front of Kramer Grocery store.   My mother married my 
(Dad )Philip Rowe in 1952. 

KRIGBAUM 

James Krigbaum was born in Maryland about 1826 and emigrated to Illinois as
a young man. He became a farmer there and raised fine stock. Tales drifted back
'from those who had gone to the California gold fields. In the early '50s he
decided to see for himself this fabulous land. He went by way of the Isthmus of
Panama. He remained in California until 1856, then he returned to Illinois. 

James Krigbaum married Margaret McClaren, who was born in Iowa about 1843
but came to Illinois later to live. 

From Illinois the family moved to Texas, and in 1884 they moved again-this
time to Council, where they settled three miles north of town. Here they
remained the rest of their lives.[1] 

They had six sons and four daughters. Ross, the oldest son, the fifth child,
was born in Fulton, Illinois, April 16, 1869. He first went to school in Texas,
but schools were poor and there was much work to be done at home so he had
little opportunity for an education. He left school at age nine and worked on
his father's farm until he was seventeen, when he left home and struck out on
his own. 

In Idaho Ross took a contract to carry mail between Indian Valley, Warren,
and Roosevelt. He carried mail many years, most of the time in the back
country, as wages were better on snowshoe lines. In twenty-three years he
traveled over sixty thousand miles on skis and on foot and carried over 32,850
pounds of express. Sometimes he was snowed in on the high mountains, sick and
lying out under the trees in twenty feet of snow. 

Albie Ross Krigbaum married Annie Osborn in New Meadows in 1915. They owned
Krigbaum Hot Springs.[2] 

Ed Krigbaum carried mail across the mountain from Council to Thunder
Mountain. His twin brother Marcus was a farmer in Council. 

Dollie Krigbaum taught school in Council area. Before 1900 she taught the
Cottonwood Creek school. She married Harry Bowman and had four children.[3] 

James Krigbaum died March 19, 1902. He and his wife are buried in Kesler
Cemetery.[4] His marker resembles a white tree stump. She has no marker.[5] 

1. Ruth Maxon, Boise, Idaho, oral interview, 1973. 

2. French, History of Idaho, vol. 2,  p.813 

3. Ruth Maxon, oral interview. 

4. Obituary of James J. Krigbaum, Council Hournal, May 19, 1902. 

5. Ruth Maxon, oral interview. 

LAKEY 

The Lakey family migrated from Missouri to Walla Walla, Washington, in the
summer of 1861, and in 1881 to Council. They settled on Hornet Creek. There
were three brothers and their families: John, Andy, and Lewis. 

Andy was wagonmaster for the forty-wagon train. 

John Lakey married Sarah Foster in Missouri, and their first child was born
on the plains. The fathers of both of them were dead, but their mothers came
west with them and so did Sarah's sister, Pheby. 

Lewis Lakey married Pheby Foster in July 1861 at a camp meeting in the forks
of Big and Little Piney rivers on Lander's Cutoff. Pheby had a twin sister who
died at age four. She was told to hurry and do an errand. She ran and fell,
breaking her back, which caused her death. 

The trip took some months, traveling by oxen-drawn covered wagons. No
furniture was brought along. They made what they needed when they settled. A
few pieces of this early hand-made furniture are still in the possession of
descendants and are cherished. Only bare necessities were in the wagon, mostly
food, bedding, and a few farm items. 

Most foods were dried or salted. Dry beans, "shuck" beans, corn
meal, flour, sugar, coffee, dried corn, hominy, and salt pork were the basics.
Various greens, fish, and game were secured along the way whenever possible.
Wild fruits may have added to the menu at times. A cow was driven with them and
provided milk and butter. 

There were several incidents with Indians during the westward trek. The
family had a small black dog, called Coalie, which they loved very much. When
they arrived at the Platte River in Nebraska the Indians refused to let them
cross. The river was half a mile wide and not very deep, but the bottom was
quicksand, making the crossing dangerous at best. After some time the Indians
finally agreed to let the wagons cross if the Lakeys would give them the dog.
Since there was no choice, they agreed. Next day they passed the Indians' camp
site. There lay Coalie's head. The Indians had eaten him.[1] 

There was a young smart aleck with the train. He had no family. He boasted
that he would kill the first Indian he saw. The wagonmaster told him to save
his powder and lead because he might need it and killing an Indian would cause
trouble. However, he did not listen. The first Indian he saw was a young squaw,
sitting on a log, nursing her baby. He shot her. The next morning the wagon
party woke to discover they were surrounded by hostile Indians. Their demands
were simple--surrender the one who killed the squaw or all would die. There was
no choice. Reluctantly they turned the young man over to the Indians for
punishment. His death was terrible. The Indians skinned him alive, removing
every inch of skin, They kept their promise and caused no more trouble for the
others. No one in the wagon train ever forgot the incident.[2] 

At Vale, Oregon, the train divided, some wagons going to California and the
rest of the train taking the road to Walla Walla, Washington. They crossed the
Blue Mountains on the old Louton road. 

Lewis Lakey had several yoke of oxen and three wagons. By March 1864 he had
only one ox and his saddle horse, so he put the harness on the ox and plowed
the first ground on his farm. 

Lakeys left Walla Walla in the fall of 1878 and went to John Day, Oregon.
There tragedy struck. Five small children died of diphtheria. Two were children
of Lewis and Pheby and three were of John and Sarah. 

The surviving children of John and Sarah were Dora, Andy, Charles, and Jake,
Lewis and Pheby had nine who grew to maturity: Andrew, Jacob, Rebecca, John,
David, Keithley, Thomas, Lydia, and Charles, 

The family left the John Day area in May 1881 and settled on Hornet Creek
September 14, 1881. Here Lewis built a one-room log cabin with a dirt floor.
Bunks were built along the walls for the nine children and parents. There were
no stores and no money to buy clothes. Mrs. Lakey made the boys Pants by hand
from seamless sacks. They had no shoes and they went barefooted on the snow.
The crust cut their feet and they often left bloody tracks. 

The men helped build the road up Hornet Creek.[3] 

It was quite a trip from Hornet Creek to Weiser. With four horses and a
freight wagon twenty miles a day was good. It usually took ten days to make the
round trip. 

The children attended Upper Dale School, walking two and a half miles each
morning and night. John Lakey, Jr., got a third-grade education. His teacher
was Dora Black, wife of William. 

John Lakey, son of Lewis and Pheby, married Ella Graham. Her father, William
Graham, was a Civil War veteran who came from Missouri in the late 1880s to
prospect.[4] He settled on Crooked River. The Lakey children were: Alta, Edith,
Irene, Harry, Fred, Jesse, Juanita, Dale, and Everett.[5] 

Pheby Lakey died November 26, 1904; Lewis, June 19, 1911; and Sarah,
November 3, 1916. All are buried in Hornet Creek Cemetery. 

1 Mrs. Vollie Zink, Mountain Home, Idaho, oral interview, 1974. 

2 Andy Lakey, manuscript, in possession of Mrs, Vollie Zink, Mountain Home,
Idaho. 

3 Zink, oral interview. 

4 Ruby Fuller, Payette, Idaho, 1974. 

5 Cemetery records of Hornet Creek Cemetery, Idaho Genealogical Library, Boise,
Idaho. 

________________________________ 

LAPPIN 

Charles Franklin Lappin was born September 16, 1872. His family moved from
Illinois to La Grande, Oregon.[1] 

Charles married Catherine Kloostra December 26, 1900, at Union, Oregon. They
lived at La Grande for a while then moved to Hatton, Washington, and in 1904 to
Council. A year later they bought a ranch northeast of town. They had a large
apple orchard. 

Their children were Fred, Charles, Ruth, Alice, and John. 

Catherine Kloostra was born in Velsen, Holland, June 11, 1880, and came to
America with her parents about 1895. They settled in Pennsylvania and in 1886
moved to Oregon.[2] 

Mrs.  Lappin died August 25, 1945 , and her husband died June 30, 1959.
They are buried in Winkler Cemetery.[3] 

1. Charles Lappin, Council, Idaho, oral interview, 1972 

2. Obituary of Catherine Kloostra Lappin, Adams County Leader, August 31, 1945.

3. Winkler Cemetery records, Council, Idaho, in Idaho Genealogical Library,
Boise, Idaho. 

__________________________________________ 

LAUZON, FRANK

Text with Forest Service photo in album: Frank Luzon went into

Rankin's camp about 1905, from Ottawa, Canada.  He was a

wonderful candidate for the liar's Club because of his gift for

expanding a most mediocre episode into a hilarious comedy or

record-breaking conflict.  Frank donated his pictures (plates) to

Winiford Lindsay who in turn donated the glass photo plates to

the Idaho Historical society in Boise. 

LORTON

    Found at Ancestry.com:

  Eugene Lorton had traveled out of the country several
times and it had his birth as May 28, 1869 Middletown, Missouri and his father
was Riley Robert Lorton born in Bowling Green, KY.  Eugene died 17 Oct.
1949  Tulsa, Oklahoma

      From family trees:
 Edward Ewell Lorton born May 1866 Missouri and died 21 Feb. 1939 Jackson,
Oregon. Edward's father was William Henry Irvin Lorton born Feb.
1827 in KY and died 1922 in Cambridge, ID. 

      William Lorton and Riley Lorton are brothers so
Eugene and Edward would be cousins. 

1/19/2005 email:

My name is Randy Krehbiel. I am a reporter for the Tulsa World, preparing a history of the newspaper for its centennial. In the course of my research I came across a bit about Charlie Allen on the museum web site. Charlie apparently was the brother of Sarah Allen Lorton, the first wife of Eugene Lorton, the World's long-time publisher and whose "second" family still owns the newspaper.  

Info from Mr. Krehbiel:

               Eugene Lorton had two brothers, Jess and Otis, who as far as I know never lived in Idaho. Otis, I know, did not have a son, and in any event neither would have had children old enough to be Joe. It's possible he was a cousin. I don't know much about the extended Lorton family, except that Eugene's grandfather was named John Lorton and settled in Montgomery County, Mo., around 1830.

               Mida Lorton was Eugene's younger sister.

Eugene's brothers, Otis and Jess, had no sons. I
went back and checked obituaries. Jess' obit has a cryptic reference to a
"half-sister in Idaho." This could not have been Mida, who was a full
sister and died in 1909. (Jess died in 1929). Eugene, Otis, Jess and Mida's
mother had died when they were young, and their father Robert remarried -- the
proverbial "wicked stepmother," according to Eugene's papers. I've
never seen or heard any reference to half-brothers and -sisters from Robert's
second marriage, but given Eugene's feelings toward his stepmother and his own
personality it's possible he wouldn't have acknowledged them.

Notes added to “Council Valley—Here They Labored” file on web site:

More on the Allens From Winifred Lindsay -- 

Concerning Council Valley Museum photo 95439 (Mr. & Mrs. Levi Allen): The
original of the photo of the Allens was donated to the Idaho Historical Society
by Mrs. Alma Lorton Morrison of Walla Walla.   She was a childhood
friend of Winifred's and furnished her with the following info from the Allen
family bible: 

 Levi Allen, born Missouri, 1839 - crossed the plains in 1859 going to
Puget Sound area.  To Walla Walla in 1860 & engaged in sawmill business. 
Married widow, Olivia Maybell Moody in 1871 who had two children, Sarah, b.
1867 and Charles, b. 1869: both were adopted by Mr. Allen.  Levi and his
wife had one son, Grover b. 1873 - died 1953, never married.  Levi killed
by car in 1919. 

 Sarah Moody Allen married Eugene Lorton, a young printer, in
1886.  Mr. Lorton later became owner of the very prosperous Tulsa,
Oklahoma World.  They had 4 daughters, one being Alma Lorton Morrison of
Walla Walla. 

 When Levi and Olivia married, Sarah was 4 yrs. old, Charles was age 2.
Sarah & Eugene Lorton were married at Salubria were Alma was born. 

Notes
from area newspapers:

Salubria
Citizen, March 8, 1895

    Dr. W.M. Brown and Eugene Lorton bought the Pioneer drug store
and fixtures of John Cuddy... and will continue the drug business at the old
stand under the firm name of Brown & Lorton.

Salubria
Citizen, May 24, 1895

    Emma Edwards designed the new U.S. half dollar.  Her design was picked from several
hundred.  She was staying in Salubria at
the time she designed it, and editor Lorton says the woman on the coin
was patterned after some young local lady.

Salubria
Citizen, Oct 4, 1895

    Editor Lorton went to Idaho Press Assoc. meeting in Lewiston by
train.

Salubria
Citizen, Jan 17, 1896

    E.E. Lorton has purchased the drug store of Brown and
Lorton.  Dr. Brown will stay on as
"drug clerk".

Salubria
Citizen, Sept 23, 1898

    The new Council school is finished and
school will start Oct 3 - Miss [Mida] Lorton of Salubria teaching

Council
Leader, Thurs. Sept 19, 1912

    J.I. Lorton - Druggist  - "Rexall will please all"

Council
Leader, Jan 31, 1913

    J.I. Lorton bought the Ransopher drug
stock and fixtures.  He will operate
only one of his stores - the one he is now in.

Council
Leader, Sept 18, 1914

    J.I. Lorton bought his brother's store in
Cambridge and will run both that store and his present one in Council

Adams
County Leader, Jan 20, 1922

    Joe Lorton, who ran the Council Pharmacy,
now of Cambridge...

(I would appreciate it if
you can give me info on how, or if, Joe Lorton was related to Eugene.)

See also: Allen

LOVELACE / LOVELESS 

Zadock Lovelace and his son, William, were among Council Valley's first
permanent settlers. Zadock Lovelace was a widower, and his son, William, was
single. Zadock was born in Pennsylvania and William in Illinois.[1] 

The Lovelaces came to Council from Wyandotte County, Kansas, in 1877.[2]
They settled along the Weiser River, on land later owned by Arthur G. Hallett.
The early fort was built on their property.[3] 

Very little is known about these early settlers, including where they are
buried. 

Zadock Lovelace was the father of Martha, who married-William Reil
Harrington in Illinois.[4] They named one son Robert Zadock Harrington.[5] 

Mrs. John (Mary E.) Draper was another daughter who came to Council. 

Zadock Lovelace died January 18, 1884,[6] leaving a sizeable tract of land
to be divided among his heirs. Among old records of the First Bank of Council
is the record of the distribution of his estate.[7] 

1 1880 census of Council Valley, Washington County, Idaho, June 19, 1880 

2 1870 census of Wyandotte, Wyandotte County, Kansas, July 12, 1870, Family
#364. 

3. Mary E. Hallett, Council, Idaho, oral interview, 1973. 

4 1870 census, Wyandotte, Kansas, Family #365. 

5 Obituary of Robert Zadock Harrington, Adams County Leader, August 6,1943. 

6 Records of First Bank of Council, Council, Idaho, Idaho Historical Society ,
Boise, Idaho. 

7 Ibid. 

  

  

  

MATHIAS

Frank
T. Mathias was born in Bloomfield, Iowa, February  3, 1852. He was married July 1, 1881, to Clista E. Green at San
Leandro,  Van Buren County, Iowa.[1] She
was born March 7, 1855. 

The
family started west, a long rambling trip. One son   was born in Iowa, one in Kansas, and one in Gunnison City, Colorado,
where one son died at age five. 

>From
Gunnison City they went to Glenns Ferry, Idaho, then to Van Wyck, near Cascade,
for one year, and finally in 1884 to Council. They traveled by team and wagon. 

Two
daughters, Ethel and Bertha, were born in Council. 

Frank
Mathias owned all the land in town which was east of the town square. His ranch
contained 160 acres. The house, which burned about 1920, was at the foot of the
schoolhouse hill. The land was clear and they could raise hay and good crops.
They soon had a fine garden, fruits, and berries. Mr. Mathias built the first
blacksmith shop in Council on his ranch. He was an excellent blacksmith. 

The
nearest market was at Weiser. Mr. Mathias made the trip twice a year, spring
and fall, to buy or sell as needed. The trip took six days, two days each way
and a two-day rest in Weiser to transact business. 

There were
Indians who still visited Council about 1900.  
They were a peaceful group and caused no trouble. They camped by a thorn
bush thicket across from the Mathias home. When one of the Mathias children was
badly burned and did not respond to treatment one of the squaws said she could
cure the burns. She gathered roots and plants and made a poultice which soon
healed the boy's hand. 

         In 1892 there was an epidemic of
diphtheria in Council which caused the death of nine people, six of which were
children. Frank Mathias was a carpenter as well as a blacksmith. Bertha
remembered their house filled with the coffins he made. Mrs. Mathias lined them
and covered them with black sateen. The burials were at night to help prevent
the spread of the terrible disease. The Mathias children watched the lantern
lights from their upstairs windows. The burials were in Kesler Cemetery. 

Bill
and Lewis Winkler, A. L. Freehafer, and Frank Mathias were part- ners in the
Golden Rule mine between Warren and Burgdorf Hot Springs. The Mathias family
spent eight years there, 1901-09. 

Mrs.
Mathias was elected First Vice Grand of the Diamond Rebekah Lodge in Council in
June, 1901. The lodge had a rule that any officer who missed three meetings in
a row would automatically lose her office. The family went to Warren and Mrs.
Mathias missed two meetings. She was determined not to miss the third. Her
husband said, "Mother, you can't make such a trip." Her son said,
"I won't let you make the trip." But she did, taking twelve-year-old
Bertha with her. They started at first light on Saturday morning. 

Mrs.
Mathias rode a little spotted Indian pony and Bertha rode Morgan Gifford's
horse. They wore riding skirts and rode side-saddle ninety miles. 

Near Squaw
Meadows it began to rain. Soon it was pouring, and they were soaked. They saw a
sheepherder's camp across the meadow, and the fire looked inviting. They rode
across to the camp, and the men were very kind, giving them hot coffee and
helping them get warm. One of the men pulled a pair of his wool socks over
little Bertha's feet while her stockings were drying. Leaving the camp, they
went on to Little Payette where they spent the night. The next night they
stayed at Old Meadows. They arrived in Council at five-thirty Monday evening.
Their clothes were removed from flour sacks and pressed. Mrs. Mathias attended
her lodge meeting and Bertha visited friends. Early Tuesday morning they
started the long trip home.  By fall the
family was back in town, and Mrs. Mathias had no need to repeat the long trip
to lodge meeting. 

Don R.
Mathias, born January 13, 1882, married Lida B. Biggerstaff  April 28, 1903. Bertha remembered, "Don
was one of the world's gentlest and dearest people. Lida was a gorgeous young
girl. She had the most beau- tiful red hair I've ever seen." 

Lida
died suddenly March 28, 1904. Don was a watchman at Hathaway's placer mining
camp on Grouse Creek. He and Lida were the only ones in camp. They lived about
three miles from Secesh Meadows, where they had to go for mail and supplies. 

Don made the trip on snowshoes, and when he returned he found Lida on
the floor by the bed. She was pregnant, and, as it was warm in the house, her
husband thought she had fainted.  

Mr. Wetter, who lived farther
on, had returned with him but declined to come in, saying he had better get on.
When Don couldn't rouse Lida he hurriedly called him back. Mr. Wetter knew at
once that she was dead, but Don refused to accept the fact.  Not wanting to leave Don alone in his grief,
Mr. Wetter sent him for help, telling him he could travel faster on snowshoes.
There was a "sporting woman" living with some men several miles away.
He was sure she would help. She came and so did the men. She was kind and
helpful, making coffee and doing what she could.  It was a long cold trip to bring Lida home for burial at Council.
They spread a cowhide and put a featherbed and pillow on it, wrapping her care-
fully. Another pillow was put over her face. The cowhide was roped secur- ely
around it all and for three days she was pulled over the snow. Ropes  were tied around the toboggan, and at night
the ropes were thrown over a tree limb, and the body was pulled up into a tree,
away from the animals. 

Word had gone out to their
families, and some of them met the group when they reached McCall and
accompanied them home. Lida died of brain hemorrhage. She is buried in Kesler
Cemetery.[2] 

In 1906 Don Mathias
married Maggie Morrison. They had one son and one daughter. 

 Don Mathias died January 13, 1934, and is buried in Morris Hill
Cemetery in Boise. So are his parents and both sisters. 

Ethel Mathias married
Swedish-born Ed Roden, and they lived in Council for a long time before moving
to Boise. She died February 15, 1934. 

Bertha Mathias, born
August 23, 1889, in Council, married Carl Abercrombie in Boise May 31, 1913.[3]

Carl's parents were Young
Howard Abercrombie and Alice Lindsay Aber- crombie of Boise. 

Carl was a
cement finisher and his father was a cement contractor. They built the Council
Bank, and that is when Carl met Bertha. 

Mr.
and Mrs. Abercrombie had two children, Don and Doris. to Boise, where her
family had gone in 1913. 

Frank
Mathias died i4 May 1928, leaving his heirs his interest in the Golden Rule
placer mines.[4]

Bertha
Abercrombie died November 10, 1973, and is buried in Morris Hill Cemetery
beside her husband. 

1. Obituary of
Frank Mathias, Adams County Leader Council, Idaho, June 1, 1928

2. Bertha
Mathias Abercrombie, Boise, Idaho, oral interview, 1972.

3. Marriage
records, Washington County, Weiser, Idaho.

4. Bertha
Mathias Abercrombie, oral interview, 1972

____________________________________________

McCLURE

Andrew
Robertson McClure was born in Pennsylvania May 14, 1865, and his wife, Daisy,
was born in Missouri April 2, 1870.

They came from Missouri to
Idaho by emigrant car, a railroad car which carried the family, their household
goods, and their livestock. In this way the men could take care of feeding and
watering the animals. It took about a week to make the trip to Boise Valley,
where the family remained for a while before moving to Council in 1909.

Both
children, Mamie and Will, were born at Rich Hill, Missouri.

Will McClure, born October
12, 1893, was the second graduate from Council High School. He always said he
got the highest grade in his class. He was the only one in it.[1]

 Will married Marie Freehafer. In later years
they lived in Payette. They are the parents of Senator James McClure.[2]

Mamie
McClure worked in the Adams County Courthouse until her retirement. She lives
in Payette.[3]

A.R. McClure died January
12, 1945. Daisy Arnetta McClure died January 10, 1950.[4] Both are buried in
Riverside Cemetery in Payette.

1.Mamie
McClure, Payette, Idaho oral interview, 1974.

2.Marie
Freehafer McClure, Payette Idaho, oral interview, 1974.

3.Mamie
McClure, oral interview.

4.Riverside
Cemetery records, Payette, Idaho.

______________________________________________

McGINLEY

Katherine McGinley, born
December 13, 1891, at Denver, Colorado,
was the daughter of James and Katherine
McGinley.  She was raised
at Ogallala, Nebraska and taught school there
for several years.

They came to Council in 1916[1]
and she married R. H: Caseman at Weiser.
July 24, 1921.  She
was a bookkeeper for Sam Criss in his
general store. They moved to Fruitvale, where
she served as postmistress for eight years.
They had two sons, Robert M. and Walter
R. Caseman. She died February 8, 1965.

Francis Sterling
McGinley was a brother of Katherine, born
June 19, 1893, at Ogallala, Nebraska.  He came to Idaho
with his family.  He
married Alma Reimers January 17, 1928, at
Payette.  Following
their marriage they farmed at Fruitvale until
1944,[2] when they purchased Fruitvale Mercantile
and post office, which they operated until
they retired in 1964.  He died in December

 There was one brother, Ed.

1 Obituary of Katherine
McGinley Cageman, Adams County Leader, February 18, 1965

2. Obituary of Francis Sterling
McGinley, Adams County Leader. December 18. 1969.

_________________________________________

McMAHAN

Jonathan Wright McMahan, born in Indiana in February,
1850*, was the oldest son of George and Hannah McMahan. He had three sisters,
who did not come to Idaho, and a brother Isaac, the youngest, born in 1859 in
Adair County, Missouri.

About 1876 Jonathan
married Caroline Percilla Magers, born March 10, 1856, in Putnam County,
Missouri. Her parents were Joseph and Percilla Magers.[1]

In 1876
Jonathan and Caroline moved to Ogden, Utah, on the train, then to Durkee, Baker
County, Oregon, in a stage. With them came their small daughter, Cora, and
Jonathan's brother, Isaac. They settled at Durkee, outside of Baker, where sons
Edward and George were born. They all moved to Indian Valley in the spring of
1883. Here daughters Lilly and Daisy were born. They moved to Council and then
to Meadows, where they were cattle ranchers and operated a store.[1]

Jonathan died March 11,
1925 and Caroline September 7, 1939. They are buried in Meadows Cemetery.[2]

Isaac
McMahan, born April 28, 1859, married in Baker on October 19, 1866, Lucy Elane
Barnes, born at Forest Grove, Oregon. After 1877 they moved to the area now
known as Alpine. They built a store and established a post office in it. It was
Lucy who chose the name of Alpine, and it was approved by the post office
department. She was the postmistress.

They were away from home for a Fourth of July
celebration in 1894, when the store burned. They had chosen the
Alpine area because at that time there was no store at Indian
Valley and because it was along the road used by freighters and travelers to
and from Meadows and the Seven Devils.

In 1894
they moved to Council, as it was a crossroads for miners and ranchers. Isaac
entered partnership with John 0. Peters in the mercantile business. Their store
was on the south side of the town square.

They traded the store to Joseph Whiteley for land at
Fruitvale in 1903.[3]

The coming
of the P.I.N. railroad brought about the founding of Fruitvale by Richard and
Arthur Wilkie, J. L. B. Carroll, Isaac McMahan, Fred Brooks, George L.
Robertson, Vollie Zink, and Miles D. Chaffee, each buying a fifty-dollar share.
It was an incorporated townsite and shares were sold in it.[4]

Fruitvale store was built
by the Wilkie brothers. The first to build a home there was W. N. Harp. They
built a hotel which was later bought by Isaac McMahan and sold to the
grange.[5]

Lucy McMahan died November
2,1927.

Their children were Earl,
Ernest, Rollie, and Lester Isaac. Lester Isaac McMahan was born in Durkee,
Oregon, October 23, 1887. He married Hattie Vassar in Weiser June 15, 1910.
They ranched at Fruitvale until 1937 when they returned to Council where Lester
worked in the sawmill until he retired in 1952. They had one son, George, and
daughters Mildred and Lillian Lester Isaac McMahan died November 4, 1973.

1.          Ernest McMahan, oral interview, Boise,
Idaho, 1974.

2.          Meadows Cemetery Records, New Meadows,
Idaho.

3.          Ernest McMahan, Oral interview.

4.          Township records in records of First Bank
Of Council, Idaho State Historical Society.

5.                   
Ernest McMahan, oral interview.

* Jonathan Wright McMahan
(1853-1925) and Edward Jonathan McMahan (1878-1951). The former is the father
of the latter. They are both buried at Meadows Valley Cemetery near New
Meadows. The father came to Durkee, Oregon, in 1877 from Macon County,
Missouri, with his wife Caroline (also buried at Meadows Valley Cemetery),
their first child (daugther Cora) and his brother Isaac McMahan (1859-1936).
Isaac is buried at the Odd Fellows Cemetery in Council. Both sons of Jonathan
Wright McMahan and Caroline were born near Durkee in Baker County, Oregon,
before the family moved to Idaho (prior to 1890). Jonathan Wright McMahan was
born in Indiana (Bluffton, in Wells County) while Caroline and their eldest
daughter Cora were both born in Missouri.

 

Jonathan Wright McMahan  was married to Caroline Priscilla Magers in
Missouri prior to 1877.

______________________________________

MINK

James D. Mink was born in Grant County, Virginia,
February 23, 1871.

He married Rebecca Parzada Perkins February 26, 1891,
at Rugby, Virginia.[1]

They moved from Virginia to Battle Creek, Nebraska,
in 1894, and in 1901 to Soldier, Idaho, where they continued to farm. In 1918
they came to Council and settled on Cottonwood Creek. Here they farmed and
raised cattle.[2]

The Mink children were: Nanny, Cora Elza, Fred
["Dick"], Owen C. ["Bud"], Edwin Carl [Carl],

Ira Fitzhugh [Fitz], Leo Munsey ["Jack"],
and Tanner Charles ["Bob"].[3]

Rebecca Parzada Perkins was born at Marion, Virginia,
March 18, 1871.[4]

She took a forty-acre homestead in 1919 at
Council.[5]

Mr. Mink died in May 1953 and Mrs. Mink in 1959. They
are buried in Weiser Cemetery.

1.         Obituary of James D. Mink, Adams
County Leader, May 29, 1953.

2.         Beulah Mink, Boise, Idaho, oral
interview 1972.

3.         Ibid.

4.         Obituary of Rebecca Parzada Mink, Adams
County Leader, January 22, 1959.

5.         Bureau of Land Management homestead
records, State B.L.M. office, Boise, Idaho

_____________________________

MISSMAN

Addison Charles Missman,
born at Harmon, Illinois, June 10, 1866,[1] and his wife, Alice Fredricks,
moved to Council in 1912 from Dixon, Lee County, Illinois. With them came their
children and Alice's father, Joseph Fredricks, who had been a widower for years.
The children were: Melvin, Earl, Ethel, Rolland, Glen and Esther, Vernon, and
Hazel.

One daughter died on the
family plantation in Mississippi some years before the family came west.

Addison Missman bought
part of Council Orchards, eventually acquiring one hundred ten acres. This
included the old Rinehart place, part of Loron Rinehart's, and part of Dr.
Frank E. Brown's homestead.[2]

 Earl Missman patented a homestead[3] and his grandfather, Joseph
Fredricks, bought a farm adjoining it.

Melvin Missman bought the
Ingrahm ranch.[4]

Rollie and Glen served in
the armed forces during World War 1[5] and went through the battles of Musse
and the Argonne.

Alice Missman died June 1,
1917. Addison married Hattie May Robinson.[6]

He died February 11, 1943.

1.   Obituary of
Addison Missman, Adams County Leader, February 19, 1943.

2.   Glen Missman,
Boise, Idaho, oral interview, 1974.

3.   Bureau of Land
Management homestead records, State B.L.M. office, Boise.

4.   Glen Missman,
oral interview.

5.   American Legion
records, Council, Idaho and Adjutant General’s records, Boise, Idaho.

6.   Glen Missman,
oral interview.

__________________________________

MONTOMERY

John Montgomery, Sr., was born in Pittsburgh,
Pennsylvania, in July, 1836, and his wife, Martha Ivors, was born in Canada
about 1834. They were married at Auburn, Oregon. Sometime before 1864 they came
to Idaho. Charles, Loretta, and Emma were born in Idaho.[1]

About-1869-70 the family moved to Jamison, Oregon. Here
their daughter Lilly was born August 11, 1872. A year later they moved back to
Boise and settled on State Street on one-half acre of ground now occupied by
the State Capitol. John and Lottie were born there.

Lilly was ill, and when she was fourteen her family
decided to move her to a higher elevation and chose a farm on Hornet Creek. The
remaining seventy years of her life were to be spent in that area.

The Montgomery children attended Upper Dale School, going
on skis in winter. Their first textbook was the Almanac, until their parents
brought books from the old homestead in Boise. They also brought the first
fruit cans into the district and jars that were round on the bottom and sealed
with pitch. Most of the fruit available for canning was wild. Mrs. Montgomery's
birthday was a day to look forward to, for it usually marked the start of a
family vacation when supplies were loaded into a wagon and the family went to
the mountains to camp out and pick blackberries. About 800 quarts of canned
fruit was needed for the large family. Two hundred quarts were huckleberries
and the rest were of chokecherries and sarvis berries.

Lilly married Robert Z. Harrington in Indian Valley June
29, 1890.[2] They were the parents of sixteen children.

John A. Montgomery Was born May 25, 1874, in Boise. He
moved to Council with his family in 1886.[3] He was married on Christmas Day
1925 to Eva Ivers at Vale, Oregon. He worked away from the valley but always
called it home. He came back to the area to make his home in March, 1945. He
died September 9, 1954, aged 80 years.

Emma Montgomery married A. F. Lewis in 1887, and her
sister Lottie married Jacob Lakey.

John Montgomery, Sr., died April 28, 1922, of Bright's
Disease, aged 85 years. He is buried in Dale Cemetery beside Martha.

1.   Obituaries of John Montgomery Sr. Adams County
Leader, May 5, 1922, and of John Montgomery Jr. Adams County Leader
September 17, 1954.

2.   Marriage records of Washington County,
Weiser, Idaho.

3.   Obituary of John Montgomery Jr.

___________________________

MOORE

Alfred Grant Moore was born March 18, 1872, at Oaktown,
near Vincennes, Indiana. His parents were Isaac John Moore and Eliza (Ward)
Moore. His mother died when he was three years old. His father married Hannah
Coonrod Clark, a widow with two sons. Grant said she was a wonderful mother to her
own sons, her three stepsons, and the three children who were born after she
married his father.

The family moved to Clay County, Illinois, and later to
Mound Valley, Kansas, where Grant grew up.

Grant married Cora Randolph and they had one son, Alva. Cora
had tuberculosis and they moved to California for her health. Next they went to
Oklahoma, where Cora died. Cora had asked Grant to promise he would let her
sister, Mrs. Walter Rowley, raise Alva. He promised, but tried to work nearby
so he could be near his son. When Walter Rowley was transferred by the railroad
company to Cambridge, Idaho, Grant moved too. He worked for Loren Rinehart for
a year or two, and in 1912 he bought a farm on Cottonwood Creek.[1]

On January 12, 1913, Grant Moore married Dora Johnson at
Weiser.[2] She came by train from Corbin, Idaho. There was a massive snow slide
which delayed her train for many hours. She was afraid Grant would think she
wasn't coming. Dora was divorced and had a small daughter, Nellie.

Among Mae Beckman's and Stella Essex's [3] memories, some
are outstanding:

In the early spring after Mother and Dad were married Dad
was anxious to show off his bride and have her meet the neighbors. She dressed
in a new hobble skirt which was the height of fashion. They walked across the
meadows, going to see Mr. and Mrs. Beier. The spring run-off left small streams
meandering across the meadows. When they came to one of these Mother could not
step across it because the hobble skirt was tight around the bottom, allowing
her to take only very small steps. Dad decided to carry her across the little
stream. However, she was heavier than he thought and he dropped her in the
water. Of course, they did not go on to visit and Mother never wore the skirt
again.

When Walter and Mae Rowley went to California, about 1917,
Alva went with them. He had contacted tuberculosis from his mother and required
the hot, dry climate.

Dad took a forty-acre dry-land homestead adjoining the
farm. He patented the land in 1920, after three years of back-breaking work.
The land was dry, rocky and covered with sagebrush which had to be cleared.
Mother held a lantern so Dad could see to grub it out. This was done after dark
because the daylight hours were filled with the regular farm work and the
grubbing could be done when it was too dark to do field work.

We three girls, Mae, Stella, and Marguerite, were born on
Cottonwood. Nellie, Mae, and Stella attended school on Cottonwood before we
moved to the Branden place on Hornet Creek in 1924.

Dad operated the siding for the Mesa tramway for several
years. The apples came down the tramway from the orchards on a big carrier.
Each carrier held many boxes of apples which had to be unloaded and stacked for
shipping. They arrived at a rapid rate and had to be set off as soon as they
arrived. Dad worked often as many as four or five shifts without relief. The
tramway operated twenty-four hours a day in the rush season. Mother or one of
us girls took hot food to him at meal times.

On Hornet Creek there was a rattlesnake den on the hill
across the road from our house which was a constant worry to Mother and Dad.
Each time we went out to play there was the warning, "Watch out for
snakes." Many rattlers were killed in the yard and garden and even several
on the porch.

Mother and Dad had enough money saved to buy a farm when
the bank closed, January 29, 1926, taking all their money.

About that time Dad had what was called milker's
rheumatism. He was unable to stand or walk. He crawled on his hands and knees
to do the chores and Mother and we children did what we could to help. Dad's
teeth were badly Infected and may have caused his illness for when he had them
pulled the rheumatism soon cleared up.

We moved in 1930, to the John Kesler place and, in the
fall of 1932, Dad bought a farm at New Plymouth. Mother and Dad retired in 1942
and moved to Payette.

Grant Moore died May 29, 1948.

Dora Johnson was born May 19, 1882, at Ramseytown, North
Carolina, daughter of John and Eliza Johnson. In the 1890s her family moved to
Rockcastle County, Kentucky. There she married Charlie Bond in 1905 and they
had one daughter, Nellie. They were divorced in 1910 and Dora requested her
maiden name be restored. She and Nellie came west with her mother, brothers,
and sisters and lived at Corbin, Idaho, until she married Grant Moore.[4]

Dora Moore died June 6, 1970, in Boise and is buried
beside Grant in Riverside Cemetery in Payette.

1.   Marguerite Moore Diffendaffer, Boise, Idaho,
oral interview, 1970.

2.   Marriage records, Washington county, Weiser,
Idaho.

3.   Mae Moore Beckman and Stella Moore Essex,
Washougal, Washington, oral interview, 1970

4.   Marguerite Moore Diffendaffer, oral
interview.

____________________________

MORRISON,  Reverend A.

Reverend A. Morrison, familiarly known as "Dad Morrison,"
was probably Council's first resident preacher.

He was an old-timer of the Pacific coast and was a
resident of eastern Oregon for many years. He moved to Council in the 1880s.
During most of his years there he lived in the George Moser home.

It is believed that at one time he was an ordained
minister of the Church of United Brethren, but some thought he was a Unitarian.
He had no church, just preached in homes or the schoolhouse. In his older years
he was not very active in church work, devoting himself to politics. He was
well known throughout the county.

Mr., Morrison died at the home of Mr. H. Nutt, in Council
Valley, September 29, 1895.[1] There is no record of his place of burial.

1. Salubria Citizen, October 4, 1895.

___________________________________

MORRISON, Casper B.

Casper B. Morrison was born in Crawford County, Kansas,
April 16, 1843, the son of William Isaac and Katherine Morrison.[1]

He served in the Union Army, 1864-1866, as a private in
the Illinois infantry.[2]

On August 1, 1869, he married Margaret Lofton, born in
Illinois, November 28, 1852.

When Margaret was fifteen she rode horseback from Illinois
to Kansas. Her father drove a team of mules and her sister, Jane, and her
brother, Will, drove an ox team. In crossing the river by ferry the ox team
insisted upon following the mules as they had across the plains. The mule team
was driven onto the ferry and the oxen, in their determination to follow,
almost carried their load into the river after the ferry left the shore.

Casper and Margaret Morrison had six children: James
Vanzant ("Van"), Anna May, Martha Bell, Mary Ellen, Maggie Matilda,
and Fred Bowers.

The family migrated to Ironside, Oregon, about 1887, and
in 1889 they moved to Council. Casper homesteaded a quarter section north and
west of Council and they spent the rest of their lives there. Margaret died in
1900 and Casper in 1902. They are buried in Winkler Cemetery.

Van Morrison was born in Girard County, Kansas, August 8,
1880. He took a homestead in Council which bordered the south side of his
parents'. He married Dora D. Sult of Long Valley November 1, 1901. They had six
children: Harry, Emery, Oliver, Leonard ["Bricks"], Viola, and Alice.

Van was thrown from a horse when he was twenty-four years
old. He was unconscious for several days but slowly recovered. However, the
injury caused some damage which resulted in a personality change which lasted
all his life.

In 1934 Van was gored by a farm bull which had been
considered very gentle, in fact a pet. He died within a few hours on January
29, 1934. He is buried in the I.O.O.F. Cemetery.

Mrs. Morrison remarried in 1941 and lived at Scappoose,
Oregon, where she died, June 18, 1962.

Dora Dissiah Sult, born in Wilson County, Kansas, April
25, 1883, was one of seven children of John Theodore and Virginia Sult. The
family left Kansas in 1885 and in June 1888 they settled on Boulder Creek, near
Roseberry, Idaho. Theodore Sult and his oldest son, Charles, built the Moser
Hotel in Council in 1891.[3]

Anna May Morrison, daughter of Casper, born 1873 in
Girard County, Kansas, married  Warren
G. Taylor in Council May 14, 1889.

Martha Bell, born September 1, 1878, in Malheur
County, Oregon, married Henry O'Connor Young in Council May 8, 1898.

Mary Ellen, born January 21, 1881, married James
Alexander Winkler March 31, 1901, in Council.

Maggie Matilda, born May
22, 1883, married Don R. Mathias in Council May 23, 1906.

Fred B., born November 21,
1888, married in California.

1.   Viola Ventris, Scappoose, Oregon, oral interview
1973.

2.   Idaho Adjutant General’s records, Boise,
Idaho.

3.   Viola Ventris, Oral interview.

__________________________________

MOSER

George Milton Moser, born 1830, was the son of John
Wesley and Nancy Holman Moser. Upon reaching manhood, George married Elizabeth
Weaver Bailey, born December 12, 1839. The Moser and Bailey families were
neighbors in Tennessee. After their marriage (1858?) they went to Kentucky.
From there George served in the Union Army for several months during the Civil
War.[1]

In 1867 the family moved to Arkansas. The 1870 census
shows them living 2 in Dover, Pope County, Arkansas, and near neighbors of
Robert P. White.[2]

1876 saw them headed west in a second attempt to find
a home. They reached Council Valley October 25 that year.[3]

Mr. Moser was a shrewd pioneer. He chose the best
possible location for his home, at the junction of the trails to the Seven
Devils mines and to Meadows. The Council business district now stands on forty
acres of his original one hundred-sixty-acre homestead. The present Adams
County Courthouse stands on this land, also.

Moser's first log cabin was just west of the site of
the Evergreen service station which was built many years later. This cabin was
a lodging place for travelers, but it was soon too small to accommodate the
traveling public and was replaced in 1891 by a large, two-story frame house.
This was known as Moser's Hotel. Here stopped the early miners, prospectors,
and freighters going to or from the Seven Devils.

Many were lured by reports of valuable minerals in
the Seven Devils. Towns sprang up in those mountains. Before 1900 there were
Cuprum, Decorah, Landore, and Helena. At the height of the activity, the
population of Landore was estimated at 1,000. Decorah, located between Landore and
Cuprum, was quite small. Helena and Iron Springs were very active in mining.
Wagons loaded with machinery, furniture, groceries, and tools and drawn by
four- or six-horse teams passed through Council regularly to these points.
Other wagons came from the mines hauling ore to the railroad. These freighters
had to eat and sleep and Moser Hotel was the place they went for both.

The Mosers had the first stove in Council Valley.
Used to cooking in a fireplace, they had no idea how to use a stove. Mr. Moser
built a fire in it--in the oven. Of course when the oven door was closed, the
smoke Poured out, filling the cabin. Sure that this was not the thing to
expect, Mr. Moser turned to his wife. "My God, Mother, get the children
out. She's gonna' 'splode!"[4]

George Moser built good barns and a granary. The dry
grain was kept in a three-room granary, each room holding a different kind of
grain for feeding the horses, cattle, chickens, duck, and geese and for
grinding into flour.

Canning fruit was unknown but much was dried or
preserved and stored in crocks. Root vegetables were stored in pits. Holes were
dug in the earth, lined with sand and then straw. Vegetables and apples were
laid on the straw and covered with dirt. This prevented freezing.

Green string beans, in the shell, were spread on a
cloth in the sunshine until they were completely dry. These were called
"shuck beans" and were delicious when boiled with salt pork. Corn was
cut from the cob and dried in the sun, also. Most fruits were peeled, sliced,
and dried in the same manner.

Adams
County Leader, Apr 8, 1927

    Mrs. Emily Alice Moser Bramblee died at
Boise - born 1862 - buried at the Morris Hill Cemetery in Boise

Matilda Moser's Notes:

In 1873 several families from Pope County, Arkansas,
started west. When passing through Oklahoma they camped one night where the
water was impure and several children became ill and some died, among them
being two of the Moser children. The travelers were so discouraged that they
returned to Arkansas. Three years later the Mosers with their four children and
the Robert P. White family set out for the "Oregon Country." They
were five months and eight days on the way. The Mosers had two wagons,
ox-drawn, Mrs. Moser driving one team most of the way and Emily Alice, the
14-year-old daughter, driving the other team. Mrs. White drove their team much
of the way, as the menfolk walked ahead to inspect the roadway. Each man
carried a gun in case they should sight game birds or animals. Fording large
streams was a difficult matter, especially crossing the Platte, which was the
largest stream.

At Laramie, Wyoming, a camper who had been farther
west told them about a valley he passed through that had impressed him. It was
called Council Valley and was a sportsman's paradise. Grass was waist-high.
There was cold mountain water, fish, and wild game in abundance. Mr. Moser
decided to head for this land of promise. They reached Fort Boise in September,
1876, and Mr. White decided to stay there through the winter, but the Moser
family moved on. At Falk's Store, near the present town of Payette, they set up
camp shortly before the birth of a daughter whom they named Mary Ida. The
family reached Council Valley about October 25, 1876. Between Weiser and Indian
Valley roads were little more than trails, and north of Indian Valley there was
only a trail.

As they reached the place now known as Mesa and found
no road down the steep hill, Mr. Moser went back to Indian Valley, where a few
families had' settled, and borrowed a plow that he might make a roadway. Upon
reaching the place where the town of Council is now located, he found the
junction of two trails, one leading toward the Seven Devils mountains and the
other toward Lewiston and-other mining sections to the north. He decided this
would be a good place to locate. He had some groceries, 35t in cash, and
unbounded enthusiasm for the adventures ahead. Deer meat was plentiful. He
erected a log cabin and gathered wood for winter use. As soon as he could leave
the family he went to Indian Valley and obtained work, taking pay in
foodstuffs.

In the spring of 1877 the Indians in various parts of
the Territory, aroused by the invading white settlers, went on the warpath. Mr.
Moser took his family to Indian Valley where a fort had been built and they
spent the summer there. Upon their return home they were surprised to find that
some cabbage plants which they had set out before leaving home had grown and
formed heads.

Mr. Moser worked hard to develop his farm, much of it
having to be cleared of thorn brush and some leveling done because of
meandering streams across the land. A small stream brought water from springs
on the east hillside and he filed on this water as it was very necessary for
livestock, orchard, and garden. Horses soon took the place of oxen and a few
milk cows were purchased. After several years he was able to buy one hundred
head of cattle in eastern Oregon for $1,000.00. He found hog raising especially
profitable, as there was a sale for them to Chinese buyers who in turn sold
them in mining camps; and the cured meats were largely used in the boarding
house which Mrs. Moser conducted, and any remaining amounts were sold to
prospectors or directly to a store. For several years Mr. Moser made at least
one trip each year to Boise or Baker to buy groceries and clothing. About one
week was required for the trip.

In 1877 the Robert P. White and Alexander Kesler
families came. Zadock Loveless and his son, William J. Loveless, also came that
year. A trapper, Henry Childs, had wintered on Hornet Creek and remained in
that section for several years. The George A. Winkler family arrived in 1878.
That spring a fort was built on the Loveless land and each of the four families
with children--Winklers, Keslers, Whites, and Mosers--was assigned a corner of
the fort which they occupied during the summer as protection against the
Indians, but they were not molested. Each day the men would go to their
respective farms to work, the women often accompanying their husbands.

During the next few years there came the Rufus
Andersons, Harry Camps, William Glenns, Sam Harps, James Copelands, and other
families.

Bear, deer, coyotes, and other wild animals roamed at
will and the settlers were compelled to protect their stock from predatory
animals. Among the "adventures" Mr. Moser had during those early
years in Council was one with a bear. This big bear had been annoying the neighborhood
by killing pigs. Finally three or four men with guns and dogs went out to track
the bear. Mr. Moser, going along a trail and stooping to avoid overhanging
branches, came to a dry creek. As he reached the creek bed, the bear, angered
by the dog, suddenly appeared and lunged down the opposite bank. Before the
hunter could aim his gun the bear was upon him, snarling and biting. A clump of
willows in the creek bed offered some protection.

The garden provided most kinds of vegetables, and
always a patch of watermelons was included. Dried corn was used for hominy or
corn bread; and for winter evenings popcorn or parched corn was a treat. My
father was fond of "crunchy" foods, and occasionally he browned thin
slices of potatoes in a Dutch Oven set over a bed of coals or in a long-handled
frying pan.

Lye was used in preparing corn for hominy, and for
this purpose a lye kiln was built in the rear yard. The kiln was filled with
ashes, and water poured over the ashes filtered down into a trough which
emptied it into a pail placed at the lower end. Lye was also used in making
soap.

Sauerkraut was made in a barrel. A spade, cleaned and
sharpened, was used to chop the cabbage to tiny pieces. Salt was then added and
the barrel covered and set aside for cabbage to "sour."

Turnips, carrots, etc., were gathered and piled in
heaps and covered with earth to protect them from freezing, and removed from
the pit as needed

During the first ten years or more here only green
coffee was obtainable. It was carefully browned in the kitchen oven and ground
as needed in a grinder fastened to the wall. Later a boxlike grinder, which
could be held on the knees, was operated by turning the handle round and round.

As soon as lumber could be procured, my father built
a milkhouse' covered it with rustic, and lined it with shiplap. A row of
shelves was made to hold the many shiny tin pans into which the strained fresh
milk was poured. Mother churned often, as we used much butter and there was a
ready market for any surplus. For years the regular price was 25t per pound for
butter and 5t per quart for milk or buttermilk. For better clearance of milk
from freshly churned butter, a "butter worker" was made of planed
wood. The container was supported by four legs, the two in front being shorter
than the others so that the milk drained into a pail placed at the lower end.
The butter container was about 21/2 feet long and its base board had about a
6-inch sideboard on either side. A paddle for working the butter was fastened
by a rod at the lower and narrower end. A wooden mold and paper, factory made,
were used to form and protect the rolls of butter.

In those early years it seemed the weather was more
predictable than at present and generally hog-killing time was late in November
or early .December. Prior to that the animals were fattened by an extra supply
of wheat, often cooked. In one of our log cabins was a large fireplace not
regularly used. A 40-gallon cast iron kettle was placed there and into it a
sack of wheat was poured and water added. If my brother wished to make a pair
of skis he placed one end of ski-length boards in the simmering wheat and left
it there until the board was softened enough to be bent to the proper shape. He
then polished the skis and attached the leather foot holds

We children looked forward to hog-killing day because
of the coming of several neighbor men to help my father and one or two women
who helped my mother and sisters with the cooking and other extra work. Very
early in the morning the large scalding vat was made ready. One year forty hogs
were killed and dressed, and nearly as many some other years. All the helpers
served without money payment but each one received payment in meats. Afterward
the family began the task of salting and storing the meat preparatory to
smoking at the proper time. Alder wood was used in the smoking process to give
the desired flavor, and each piece of meat was hung up so that the smoke could
circulate about it.

A large quantity of sausage was made into rolls and
placed In rows on long clean boards which were then placed on the joists above
to be smoked. There was lard to be rendered, largely for marketing; and the
"cracklings" used to make both bar soap and soft soap, the latter
being especially convenient for many cleansing purposes. The fresh liver,
backbones, spareribs, and hearts were much enjoyed by the family and boarders
alike. The brains, too, made a tasty dish when mixed with eggs and seasonings
and fried. Head cheese was especially appetizing. This was made from the
animals' heads and was quite a chore to prepare. The parts were cleaned and
cooked until the meat was easily removed from the bones. It was then worked to
a pulp and seasoning added. Then a cover was placed over the container and
weighted down, which brought any excess fat to the top and it could be removed;
the remaining Pulp congealed and it could be sliced, which made it good for
sandwiches or for the table.

Deep snow in winter and colder weather than now was
the rule. Mother had a spinning wheel and spun both cotton and wool thread from
which socks, stockings, mittens, wristlets, and neck scarfs were made. However,
before the spinning, cards were used to make the wool or cotton into small
rolls 12 to 15 inches long. As no one had overshoes at that time, the wool hose
were much needed in winter. Some men used "gunny sacks" to bind about
their feet and legs when doing outside work, but many suffered from chilblains
before rubber boots and overshoes came into use.

For a number of years roads were poor and there were
no bridges. In winter sleighriding was enjoyable to young people who had some
thrills and sometimes jolts in crossing small creeks as the snow was deep and
generally frozen. Running water melted the ice in the center of creeks and the
team of horses were reluctant to cross the small chasm. Sometimes they would
cautiously edge down into the opening and up the other side but were as likely
to jump across, causing the sleigh to strike the opposite bank with
considerable force. It was in this way that Della, the nineteen-year-old
daughter of the R. P. Whites, received a spinal injury that caused her death a
few days later.

Four days was the usual time required for a trip to
Weiser and return. Travelers on the Council-Hornet Creek road crossed the river
in a small boat. This was hazardous in early spring when the ice broke up and
the river overflowed its banks at some places. One such place was on the east
side of town where there was a slough beginning a little north of the present
bridge and extending south some distance. One man lost his life while trying to
cross the river by boat. S. F. Richardson, who, near 1900, was in the store
business where the Pomona Hotel now stands, disposed of his business and built
a sawmill on elevated ground north of the present bridge. He filled the
depression near the mill by dumping sawdust there, and the County had some work
done; but it remained for the State Highway Department to grade up the roadway
some years later and complete the work necessary to protect it.

The ice breakup in the spring of 1891 caused greater
hardship than perhaps any other year. Two or three families further up the
valley were compelled to leave their homes because of the river overflow. A
family named Osborn living on the south side of Hornet Creek near the mouth of
the Weiser River were threatened by overflow waters of the Hornet Creek. Their
cries for help were heard by neighbors who helped them to higher ground and
protection from the cold.

The George Groves family lived on the east side of
the river about three quarters of a mile south of the present bridge. The house
was on a slight elevation and a short distance from the river. After nightfall
the ice broke and the raging waters forced a great stream of ice-laden water
down along the east side of the Groves home. The family of five took refuge
upstairs and then discovered that a wall of ice several feet high had formed
all along in front of their house, so they, too, shouted for help. Several men
went on horseback and found a river-like stream with water up to the sides of
their horses. With difficulty they made the necessary trips to bring the
members of the family one by one except the two-year-old twins, girls who were
handed down from the ice wall to one man who took a bundled-up child under each
arm and held it tightly while the gentle horse carried them safely across and
on to a warm shelter.

In those days, as at present, the farmers depended
largely upon stockraising as a means of support, and the saying was common that
they had better barns than houses. About 1885 our big barn was built on the
south half of the present Block 4 of Moser Division, in Council. It was
arranged like many of the houses in the South in having two main parts with a
passageway between the roof covering the entire building. The entire building
was about 75 feet in length. Walls of the two stables were two stories high and
built of logs. The passageway was wide enough to admit a wagonload of hay. A
sliding derrick was up near the highest part of the roof and arranged to unload
the hay in the loft of either stable. The lower parts housed milk cows and work
horses. Along most of the outside of the building were lofts, for storage of
hay and as overhead protection for other livestock in stormy weather. At one
side of the passageway a swing was put up, and young folks enjoyed some
thrilling rides in it.

Some of the hens preferred the barn instead of the
chicken house as a Place for their nests; and gathering the eggs was a daily
chore for some member of the family. This afforded each of us children, and
even my grownup brother, the fun of hiding eggs near Easter time in the lofts,
each one hoping to have the largest cache. In rare instances the discovery of
another's cache brought exultation to the finder and dismay to the loser.

Many bands of migrating wild ducks and geese passed
over the valley each spring and fall, and some would land at the small creek
north of the present high school, only a few feet from the south end of our
barn. Here they could enjoy a short rest period and a bath. Once some member of
our family found an egg laid by a wild goose near the creek and brought it to
Mother, who put this egg with some other goose eggs under a brooding hen. All
the eggs hatched and the wild goose was apparently happy with the other geese
until it was about mature. Then it "felt the call of the wild" as
displayed by interest and agitation at the appearance of the migratory birds,
and finally (during the third year of its life) it joined a migratory band.

In 1891 our first lumber house was built at the place
where the Evergreen Station is and has been for a number of years (northeast
corner of Block 4). Charles Sult and his son, Theodore, of Long Valley were the
carpenters. In later years this building was purchased by George M. Winkler of Council
and moved to the northeast part of town (now 202 N. Fairfield Street). It has
remained in possession of members of the Winkler family, the present owners
being Mr. and Mrs. Ralph Bass, who remodeled the house in 1959.

The first "post office" was in the home of
Robert P. White and the mail was kept in the wooden box which was open to any
patron. Edgar Hall was the first mailcarrier, coming once or twice a month, I
believe, bringing the mail from some southern point and going on to places
farther north. I remember my Mother saying that soon after the birth of my
brother on January 31, 1879, Mr. Hall stayed overnight in our boarding house.
The parents had not definitely decided upon a name for the baby and Mr. Hall
suggested that they name the baby Edgar, and they did. Mr. Hall was pleased and
on a later trip he brought a Bible for the baby. He also brought a Bible for
James Copeland, Jr., who was born about the same time that my brother was.
These were the first two white children born in Council Valley.

Alexander Kesler had the first regular post office
with a box for each letter of the alphabet.

Dr. T. J. Sherwood, an elderly man, and his son Tom,
who lived in the Meadows Valley for a comparatively short time, were the first
occupants of the presently known Starkey property. Both hot and cold water
emerge from a hillside a short distance from the Starkey Resort. Dr. Sherwood
constructed a large wooden bathtub and set up a tent around it for use of the
few patrons who risked driving over rough roads to get there to take baths. Dr.
and Mrs. R. S. Starkey later located and platted the resort site and made
considerable improvements. Dr. William M. Brown and A. E. Alcorn, druggist in
Council, purchased the property from, the Starkeys and the Brown family assumed
management, enlarging facilities which made it a delightful place for
vacationers and as a health resort. Upon retirement of Dr. and Mrs. Brown the
property was transferred to their daughter and son-in-law, Mr. and Mrs. Robert
Lindsay, who each summer cooperated with the local Red Cross in providing
swimming lessons for children.

Before the State Highway was built the road from
Council to these Hot Springs was winding, and there were nine crossings of the
Weiser River between the two places. These crossings were impressed upon my
mind because of an incident. My oldest brother, Anderson, wanting to camp for a
few days in that area, went there with a friend but Mother was to arrange about
his ride home. At the appointed time Mother and three others of us took a
picnic lunch and drove to Anderson's camp, where we ate and rested a short
time. His equipment was put in the back part of the spring wagon, which was
lighter, narrower and higher than a farm wagon. It had two spring seats which
provided a rather high perch for the five of us. As we reached a river crossing
and came down a bank where one side was lower than the other, the wagon turned
over and dumped all its contents into the water, which was deep and swift to
wade through as we hastily got on our feet and rescued the camp equipment and
picnic supplies. Most were saved but a few small articles were swept away. We
all got soaking wet but no one was hurt and we went merrily on our way. We
still had several miles to travel and as the sun sank lower our thoughts turned
to the discomfort of our slowly drying garments, and reaching home became our
main objective.

Reference to springs on the east hillside
appropriated by my father. soon after settlement here was heretofore made. The
water from these springs followed a natural course that led westward along the
north side of the old Schoolhouse Hill, then south along the east side of the
present Main Street of Moser Division of the town of Council. After the death
of my father and the settlement of the eastern part of the village, it became
increasingly difficult to have the use of the water. Therefore my mother
disposed of her right to it.

This section of Idaho is fortunate in having cold
drinking water. Formerly all water for household use was from springs or wells.
In recent years chlorine has been added to the water used in the Village of
Council, which, since 1915, has been supplied with water from the springs above
described, supplemented by water from the "Grossen" springs about 1-2
mile to the north; and some years later by a small spring located south of the
first named springs, and by drilled wells and storage tanks. Sewers for the
village were laid in 1939.

The early settlers soon realized the need for
irrigation for farm land. My father, hoping to bring water from the Weiser
River, bought a right of way 1/4 mile in length across a farm three miles north
of ours. A ditch was constructed from the point of diversion on that farm to
the place of intended use and the following year, which was 1893, he had the
use of the water from the ditch. Because of failing health, in the spring of
1894 he went to Hot Springs, Arkansas, for treatment but passed away soon after
reaching there. That year my mother tried to look after the ditch work, but
frequent leaks prevented the water from reaching our farm. The next year she
hired a man to camp near the head of the ditch and care for it. He tried hard
to control the trouble but the leaks continued and the project was abandoned.

During the first sixteen years the settlers depended
mainly on home remedies in case of illness or accident, as there was no
practicing physician in the valley. However, in 1892 there was an epidemic of
diphtheria and Dr. William M. Brown of Salubria was called and found many
suffering from the dread disease which had gained considerable hold. Nine
deaths resulted. The next epidemic here was in 1918 when influenza struck in
many parts of the world. In this community sixteen lives were claimed, among
whom were Mrs. Ida Selby and son Ray (mother and brother of Mrs. Clarence
Hoffman of Council) and Mrs. Mattie Hartley (sister of William Hanson of
Council).

Dr. Frank E. Brown of Salem, Oregon, a young
physician, was the first in regular practice of medicine here. He came in the
spring of 1901 and remained for fifteen years. He was a beloved physician and
in movements for community improvements. His decision to return to his native
state was made at the urgent request of an elderly specialist in a Salem clinic
who desired to retire and have Dr. Brown succeed him.

William F. Winkler, who was twelve years of age at
the time his father and family arrived in Council in 1878, wrote a very
interesting account of the early settlers, the schools, religious services, and
Indian tribes, which article was dated 1924 and, after Mr. Winkler's death in
1942, was published in pamphlet form. As far as we know this is the only
firsthand record of those earliest days of settlement in this locality. By 1887
the school term had been changed to the summer months only and continued so
until the present plan was adopted during the latter part of the 1890s. My
remembrance is of hearing different old-timers speak of the first schoolhouse
having burned down; and in 1887, a new schoolhouse was built about 1/2 mile
north of the present "Square" on the east side of the main road. It
was of rough lumber, box-type, and the desks and teacher's table and chair were
handmade. That year the teacher was a Mr. Burgess, who was here temporarily
from Indiana. He was a cousin of Mr. A. W. Peebles, a resident of Cottonwood,
whose son Stephen for many years owned and occupied the old home place. Stephen
passed on in December, 1961, and is succeeded by his son, Stephen L. Other
teachers who in the following years taught in this old schoolhouse were: Mrs.
John 0. Peters, Mrs. William Black, Mr. Herbert Lee, Mr. D. W. Richardson, and
Mrs. Lizzie Canary, whose home was in Weiser.

During the winter of 1897-98 1 attended the public
school a few months in Weiser. Our teacher was Miss Carrie Madge Blue, who the
next year was married to Mr. J. F. Lowe, the school principal. Soon afterward
they moved to Council. Mr. Lowe had a store for several years and eventually
formed a partnership with Mr. J. J. Jones, a progressive farmer who resided on
the farm now owned by the Lester Goulds. After a few years in the store
business Mr. Jones and family moved to Portland. For several years Mr. Lowe
gave some attention to farming, but his health failed, and the last few years
of his life he was confined to his home. When the youngest of their four
children was of school age, Mrs. Lowe resumed teaching for a short time but,
due to illness in the family, was soon compelled to return to home duties.
During the later years of her life she served for about ten years as county school
superintendent, after which she continued to teach until the time of her death.

In the latter part of the 1890s a one-room rustic
schoolhouse was erected on the hill north of the square. After two or three
years another room was added. Teachers in the one-room building that I recall
were: Miss Mida Lorton, whose term report showed an enrollment of sixty-six
pupils, and who, was an unusually fine teacher, and Mr. John Root. In the
two-room building in following years were Miss Maude Peters, Professor George
G. Gregg, Mr. and Mrs. A. L. Freehafer, Mr. Willis, and possibly others.

By 1907 a brick building, two stories high, was built
on acreage in the southeast part of town and served as both grade and high
school until a high school building was erected in 1941 on E. Bleeker Avenue;
and in 1958 a new elementary school was completed on an adjoining tract on the
west side of Highway 95.

For a number of years community evening meetings were
held at stated times in the schoolhouse for the purpose of holding debates,
spelling,  ciphering, or other forms of
entertainment. Anyone present could take part. There were a few very good
spellers, among them a few ex-teachers; and there was much good-natured fun. On
one occasion the man who pronounced the words gave the word "onion".
It seemed no one could spell it and finally the man was asked to give the
spelling from the book and he did: UNION. As interest increased, the longest
and most difficult words to be found in the book were chosen. One of
"Uncle Davy" Richardson's favorites was: Honi soit qui mal y pense.
That sounded like music to us youngsters who had not the slightest idea what it
meant or how to pronounce it correctly. The dictionary defines it as: Evil to
him who thinks evil. It is said that an embarrassing moment in the life of a
member of the English Royal Family caused this prompt expression by a Royal
defender.

In winter dances were held in homes and a real
attraction was the midnight supper. Skiing was popular among children and young
adults. Skis were also commonly used by men when taking trips into the
mountains for trapping or other purposes. William H. Camp, whose parents with
their five children moved to Council from Kansas in 1883, was of particularly
strong physique and carried very heavy packs on his back as he travelled by
skis over the mountains to the Thunder Mountain mining camp during the boom
there.

For those who liked games, checkers, cribbage, and
other card games were home pastimes. Both young women and young men played
croquet or other outdoor games in summer. Breaking broncos was popular among
young men and baseball was sometimes played. As there was an abundance of fish,
game birds, and wild animals, there were no restrictions on these sports.

Mr. Winkler, in his history of Council Valley, stated
that the first religious services were held in 1879. Thereafter for the next
twenty years or more evangelists came from time to time and held protracted
meetings. Spirited singing of the gospel songs helped increase attendance. Joel
Glenn became one of the local song leaders and was ably assisted by his
brothers Dan and William. Joel used a "tuning fork" to get the
correct tone

Frank T. Mathias and family came during the first
half of the 1880s and located on a tract of land mostly north and east of the
old schoolhouse hill. The Mathias home was where Mrs. Georgia York now lives;
and Mr. Mathias had the first blacksmith shop a short distance south of his
home on the east side of the present Galena Street. His later chief interest
was in mining and the family spent some time in Warren and later moved to
Boise.

Also during the 1880s came John 0. Peters bringing
dry goods, carried at first in suitcases. Then he located temporarily three
quarters of a mile north of Council and moved his wife and young daughter,
Maude, there. Mrs. Peters taught a term of school in the nearby schoolhouse.
Then they bought a plot of ground in Council (about where the present Merit
Store is located) and erected a building which housed a general merchandise
store, the family, and the post office, of which Mrs. Peters now had charge.

Abe and Sam Criss also brought merchandise of
miscellaneous sort by cart or wagon and after a few years opened a store in
Council. Some one of these early peddlers brought a package of goods tied up in
a nice table cover. He may have arranged packages according to family needs,
since the package we bought had woolen material in different designs for
dresses and also shawls for my mother and each one of us girls and woolen cloth
suitable for suits for my father and brother. The price for the package was
$90.00.

With the Criss brothers came Carl Weed, a young man
from Oregon who became a clerk in the store and remained with the firm until
the owners retired and moved away. After a brief association with another firm,
Mr. Weed opened a general merchandise store in his own name and thus served the
community until 1941, when he disposed of the property and retired to his farm
home southeast of town. There he had brought his bride many years before, and
there their three children, Carlos, David and Mildred, were born and reared.
About 1950 Mr. and Mrs. Weed moved to Ojai, California, and his son Carlos
became owner of the old home place. Mrs. Carlos Weed, formerly Ella Camp, was
the manager and first nurse in the Community Hospital of Council, and was the
very efficient nurse employed by Dr. John A. Edwards of the Council Clinic.
Carlos and Ella are the parents of five children.

The national depression during the 1890 decade caused
many of the settlers to mortgage their farms; and ours was one of a number
given in favor of a New England Mortgage Company. It was for $1200.00 with
interest at 10% and matured in five years. One of the problems my mother faced
after my father's death was to raise $120.00 annually for payment of the
interest. This amount was not large of itself but when added to property taxes,
costs of settling the estate, hiring help, and general maintenance of the farm,
seemed almost "the last straw." A well-meaning neighbor advised her
to sell the livestock and "let the old place go." However, she
believed that if she kept the stock she would be able to pay the mortgage when
it matured.

For years mining had flourished in the Boise Basin
and many Chinese were employed in the various towns of that locality. The
Chinese were especially fond of pork and chickens and occasionally a Chinese
passing through this valley had bought pigs or chickens from us. Mother decided
to take a load of shoats to Placerville and offer them for sale. My brother
Edgar and one of my sisters went along to help. The load was quickly sold; and
for three years thereafter she followed this plan to raise the $120.00 due in
the fall. The last year I was privileged to go along, and after the pigs were
sold we drove on to Garden Valley for a brief visit at the home of my oldest
sister, Mrs. Miles S. Bramblee, and family. From Garden Valley we went to Boise
and traded'-at Falk's Store. After Mother paid the grocery bill, Mr. Falk gave
me about a pound chunk of Maple Sugar.

When the time arrived to pay the mortgage, a
sufficient number of cattle were sold to make the payment and pay off some
other indebtedness, although the price for 3-year-old steers was $16.00 per
head and for cows $12.00 per head.

During the time the mortgage debt loomed before us
some self-denial was necessary. One instance stood out in my memory. There was
to be a Magic Lantern show at the school house and the price for admission was
.25, a prohibitive price. In such instances Mother comforted us by saying that
when the mortgage was paid we would not have to deny ourselves such
entertainments. When the Release of Mortgage was received from the Mortgage
Company our family had a day of rejoicing. Mother never mentioned her own self
denial; and I have ever felt that her example of courage and loyalty to her
family was of far more worth than any material gifts.

My parents were impressed by the quietness of the
air, with seldom a breeze blowing, though an electrical or wind storm did
occasionally strike with considerable force. A few times some damage was done
to rail fences and shed roofs. Many of the early settlers were from tornado
country and so did not give too much thought or worry to these lesser winds and
storms.

About 1910 some residents, including A. L. Freehafer,
Dick Ross, Lewis Winkler, John 0. Peters, and possibly one or two others
desiring water for their lawns, put in a pumping system to cover two city
blocks. They dug a deep well and lined it with bricks, built a strong tower,
set up a large storage tank and a windmill above, installed pipe lines to the
respective lawns and later were much disappointed to find there was not enough
breeze to run the windmill.

As the water from the hillside spring provided only
enough water for our poultry, stock, garden, and orchard, my father bought a
right-of-way for a ditch across the E. Hinkle farm for a distance of one
quarter of a mile (the farm was later owned by John Hoover). The water was to
be diverted from the Weiser River for a distance of some three miles to a ditch
running along the north line of our farm. He had the use of the water for one
season before his death. Mr. Hinkle was paid one thousand dollars for the
right-of-way.

First Families in Council Valley[5]

In October, 1876, two covered wagons drawn by oxen
wended their way over hills and vales of Idaho toward the headwaters of the
Weiser River.

In the first wagon were five persons--two adults and
three small children. The driver of the second team was a fourteen-year-old
girl and with her was a boy of twelve years of age.

As the little company reached the top of Middle Fork
hill they beheld, over intervening hills, a beautiful valley some ten miles in
length and two miles wide. On the west side a deep row of yellow balm and
cottonwood trees showed the course of the Weiser River and steep hills rose
abruptly on the west of the river. To the east the valley, covered with bright
red hawthorn and yellow quaking asp trees, sloped gently upward to the
mountains which were partially covered with pine and fir trees and whose tops
were already covered with snow.

The driver of the first team, a small energetic man
of middle age, gazed eagerly at this mecca of his dreams and his heart thrilled
at the prospect of making a home in that land of glorious opportunity. The
weary little woman by his side, holding in her arms a two-weeks-old babe,
experienced a deep thankfulness that the six-months journey "across the
plains" was ended and she said, "This is the last time we shall
move."

There was no road down the steep Middle Fork hill,
therefore it became necessary to return to Indian Valley where a plow was
secured to use in constructing a road. Thus George M. Moser reached the place
where the town of Council now is and decided to locate here on account of a
junction of trails at this point--one trail leading to Meadows Valley and the
other toward the Seven Devils.

In 1877 R. P. White and Alex Kesler came bringing
their families. Zadoc Loveless and his son William J. Loveless also came that
year. The box factory now stands on the southern part of the Loveless
homestead.

The settlers spent most of the summer in a fort in
Indian Valley because of warfare with Indians in certain sections of the
territory. The next year a fort was built on the Loveless land and was occupied
by the four families here, the men going forth daily to work on their
respective homesteads.

In 1878 the George A. Winkler and Rufus Anderson
families arrived, and during the next few years there came the Camps, Glenns,
Harps, Copelands, and others. The first houses were built of logs and covered
with "shakes." All the furniture was home made. A few of the chairs
are still in use and prized by the owners. Fences were made of rails.

Bear, deer, coyotes and other wild animals roamed at
will and the settlers were compelled to protect their stock from predatory
animals.

During the first few years a trip was made once or
twice a year to Boise or Baker after groceries and clothing. Soon, however,
these could be purchased in Weiser and a man named Cuddy set up a flour mill in
Upper Salubria Valley.

John 0. Peters came with dry goods carried at first
in suitcases and later in a one-horse cart. Then came the "Jewish
Peddlers," Abe and Sam Criss. One peddler conceived the idea of selling a
package of dress goods, shawls, etc., tied up in a small tablecloth--all for
the sum of $90.00, which the settlers willingly paid.

The roads were scarcely more than trails and there
were no bridges. Four days of hard travelling were required for a trip to
Weiser and return. For a number of years travelers on the Council  Hornet Creek road crossed the Weiser river
in a small boat. This was a hazardous undertaking in spring when the River was
a raging torrent and not confined within its banks as well as it is now.

R. P. White was the first postmaster and Edgar Hall
was the first mail carrier who once a month made a trip on horseback or skis
from Weiser to Warrens. The postmaster was not troubled by the "Christmas
Rush" nor parcel post. No lock boxes were necessary as all mail was kept
in one small box which could be pushed under the bed out of the way. Mr. Kesler
served as postmaster for several years.

R. P. White also taught the first school and he was
followed by George M. Winkler. The first professional teacher was David
Richardson, who, during his residence in Idaho, taught in almost every school
between Boise and Meadows Valley and was generally known as "Uncle
Davy." Until about 1900 school was held only during summer and lasted
three months. Since none of that brief time was spent in the many diversions of
present day the pupils acquired a very creditable knowledge of subjects taught.

The social life was limited. Spelling contests were
sometimes held in winter but parents and grandparents vied for honors.
Infrequently itinerant preachers held services.

Dances were given in homes during winter, and a real
attraction on such occasions was the midnight supper. No "dainty
refreshments were served by the hostess." Each matron brought a washtub or
box of equal size containing the best she was able to offer in the culinary
art. Sleigh riding and skiing were popular winter sports, and young men found
pleasure in breaking broncos to ride or drive.

About 1887 John 0. Peters opened a little store on
what is known as the Bedwell ranch and shortly afterwards, he erected a store
building across the road north of Evergreen Service Station and thus the town
of Council was started. By 1900 there were buildings set close together along
the four sides of the "Square" but fires at intervals destroyed all
these old wooden buildings as the "bucket brigade" was entirely
inadequate at such times.

The railroad was extended to Council, the town was
platted, and a new era began in Council.

1.   Matilda Moser, notes, unpublished.

2.   1870 Census, Dover, Pope County, Arkansas

3.   Matilda Moser, notes.

4.   William Shaw, New Plymouth, Idaho, oral
interview, 1973.

5. Adams County Leader , January 3, 1930.

MUCKENSTRUM

            Lee and his son, Frank lived west of West Fork of the
Weiser, in what is now known as “Muckenstrum Canyon.” They herded sheep on
their homestead as part of their means of survival. Frank worked on hay crews,
was in the military during WWI, married and lived in Boise. He drove an old
Model T care when he lived here.

            Lee
lived to be 100. He often claimed to be older than he actually was.1  

            1—Dick
Fisk interview

___________________________

NASER

Rudolph Naser was born in Switzerland in 1858. His wife,
Petrea, was born in 1865 in Manti, Utah. Their children were born in Utah.

About 1905 the Nasers moved to Fairfield, Idaho, where
their children grew up. Their children were Rudolph, Grace, Oscar, May, Leona,
Merlin, and Bernice. Only three of the younger ones came to Council.

Mr. and Mrs. Naser farmed on Hornet Creek. Rudolph Naser
died 1927 and his wife in 1945. They are buried in the I.O.O.F. Cemetery.[1]

Merlin Naser (1900-1963) married Jo Shaw.

1. Jo Naser, Boise, Idaho, oral interview,1973

___________________________

NICHOLS

Tom Nichols was born in Marshall County, Missouri,
November 30, 1879. He married Clara Kidwell March 4, 1900, at Richland,
Washington. They had five children.

He moved his family to Boise in 1907 and to Council Valley
February 1, 1912.[1] He wife died April 7 of that same year.

Clara Charlotte Kidwell was born March 20, 1876, in Clark
County, Illinois, daughter of William and Mary Kidwell. She moved as a child
with her parents to Missouri and spent most of her early life at Rich Hill.

Mrs. Nichols had tuberculosis and was ill when they came
to the valley and knew she was dying. She loved the mountains and wanted to
rest here forever.

August 7, 1914, Thomas Nichols married Mrs. Maude Marrs.
They were divorced.

In 1927 he married Minnie Gilmer, a widow with five
children.

Tom was killed by a heavy construction truck belonging to
the company for which he worked. He was horribly mangled. He died in September,
1936.

1.   Obituary of Thomas Nichols, Adams County
Leader , September 4, 1936

_______________________

PECK

Peck Mountain was named for Andrew Peck.[1]

He was born in New York March 18, 1835. He was married in
Iowa to Julietta Gilmer. They lived in Fayette County before moving to Colorado
and, in 1882, to Council.

Julietta Peck was born in Canada.

There were six Peck children, Cora Ada, Frank W., Fred 0.,
Hattie, Rena, and Blanche.[2]

Andrew Peck died December 17, 1906, and Mrs. Peck February
10, 1912. Both are buried in Hornet Creek Cemetery.

1.   Mr. And Mrs. Vollie Zink, Mountain Home,
Idaho, oral interview 1973.

2.   Matilda Moser, notes.

_______________________________

PEEBLES 

Alfred Wood Peebles, son of Daniel and Mary A. Peebles,
was born January 11, 1858, at Chester Hill, Morgan County, Ohio.[1] When he was
about twenty years old he went to western Iowa, where he remained a few years
before going on to Cass County, Nebraska. There he married, February 23, 1881,
Miss Eva Clark, his employer's daughter. She was born September 29, 1868, in
Illinois and moved with her family to Nebraska when she was three years old.

Alfred and Eva farmed along the Niobrara River. Their first
year on the farm everyone had the biggest crop of corn in history, but sales
were poor. By hauling the corn thirty or forty miles it could be sold for only
eleven cents a bushel, so they burned their corn for fuel. The next spring the
Peebleses sold their farm and headed west as part of a large wagon train. They
had a span of mules and a wagon.

When they got to Pocatello in June Mr. Peebles had only
seventy-five cents in his pocket. They stayed there a month or so while he
worked on the railroad and a surveyor taught him the skills of surveying.

With a little cash they were ready to move on. When they
reached Weiser they were still undecided whether to go to California or to
Oregon. An old man from Council Valley asked why they didn't go to "God's
Country." He told them of the area now known as Council Valley, where
berries grew thick, grass was tall and plentiful, game animals were everywhere,
and timber was nearby. It sounded good, so that's where the Peebleses went,
arriving in the fall of 1883. The land was all taken up on Cottonwood Creek, as
was that along Hornet Creek and other choice areas. Alfred Peebles went to work
for George Moser, making rails.

Henry Childs, a bachelor, was one of the three first white
men in the Valley. He hired Alfred Peebles to make rails for him to fence his
place on Hornet Creek. He paid two cents a rail and, in good timber, Mr.
Peebles could cut one hundred rails a day. The next year Henry Childs took him
in as a partner, which was not a good arrangement. Mrs. Peebles had to cook,
wash, and keep house for Henry, who was far from immaculate. She soon said she
had had enough of it.

In the summer of 1888 Mr. Peebles took a homestead on
Cottonwood and they moved there. He bought a herd of cattle from Childs, going
in debt for them. That winter - 1888 - was the worst in history, going to forty
degrees below zero. Cattle died everywhere; all but one of Peebles' died. They
were left with the obligation to pay for dead cattle.[2]

Mrs. Nellie Peebles Smith shared some of her memories of
early days:

Every fall we could see the Indians passing through the
Valley on their way to winter on Snake River where it was warmer. They came
single file, mile after mile of them. They crossed the Weiser River at Indian
Ford, about one quarter of a mile up-river from where Cottonwood Creek empties
into it. The Indians often camped there, too. As a child I picked up
arrowheads, strings of beads, and even old guns there.

Ma was terrified of Indians. She crossed the plains with a
loaded gun at hand. The Indians in the valley frightened her. One night Pa had
to be away from home. After dark she and the children heard yelling and
screaming outside. She was sure it was Indians so one of the boys went out to
check. He, too, was sure it was Indians, but to relieve Ma's mind he said,
"It's cougars. Let's go upstairs and go to bed." Ma tried, but it was
useless. She absolutely could not sleep with Indians prowling around her house.
Something had to be done.

Ma always saved empty whiskey bottles, She proceeded to
make bombs from several of them. She put nails, rocks, and anything else that
would fit, into the bottle. Next, she added gunpowder and cut a slit in the
corks to allow a dynamite fuse to be inserted. She lit the fuse and threw the
bombs into the bushes where Indians might be hiding. The explosions sounded
like gunfire and had a drastic effect on anything within their range. Rocks,
nails, and broken glass flew in all directions.

Ma gathered the children and went across the fields to
Jackie Duree's home to spend the night. She carried a big corn knife and took a
cut at every shadow and bush they passed. No Indian along the way would have
been safe. Next morning Mr. Duree and his sons went to the house to see if it
was safe for Ma and the children to go home. They reported that Indians had
been in the house and moved things around but they were no longer in the area.
Sometime later it was found that it was some white men who knew of Ma's fear
and meant to scare her. Several men were seen, the day after the episode, with
mysterious cuts and bruises on their faces and hands, presumably from Ma's
bombs.

About 1896 the school district was divided and schools
were built in Council, on Middle Fork, and on Cottonwood. The first one on
Cottonwood was about where Mesa tramway ended years later. The second was east
of the highway on Cottonwood Lane. It was on a small knoll east of Fred Beier's
lane.

Alfred Peebles was clerk of the school board for
twenty-four years on Cottonwood.

In those days school was not a full-time thing. From April
until July the little ones went to school. The weather was good then and they
did not have to wade deep snow. School was held three months in winter for big
students. They were not needed so badly then at home to help with farm work.
Most of those who walked in winter had rubber boots, but most often they were
taken by team and sled.

Progress was rated by readers, not by grades. Instead
of being first graders they started in the first reader. When they finished the
fifth reader they were through school. Later, when the grade system began,
anyone who completed the eight grade was qualified to teach school. A very few
got an eighth-grade education.

Cottonwood could not keep a teacher. The big students
were too hard to control. There were often grown boys, weighing as much as two
hundred pounds, going to school. I don't know why they went because they
apparently weren't interested in learning and they certainly were too big for
anyone to force them to go. Their sole aim seemed to be to make life unbearable
for the teacher.

One year a small man came to teach. Pa said,
"You'll never be able to handle the winter school. Maybe the little
ones." He tried, though. They gave him a terrible time. If he had to leave
the room to get a bucket of water from the spring they'd spit tobacco juice in
his ledger and do all kinds of mischief.

One cold winter day the boys had all been outside
playing in the snow. When they came in they were coughing. That was all right
with the teacher for awhile, but when it became obvious that they were forcing
the coughs he told them to stop. Bill Higgins kept on. The teacher made him
stand in front of the class. Bill cussed and cussed. (He said afterward he felt
foolish talking and swearing like that before the smaller children.) He invited
the teacher out behind the school, but the offer was refused. The boys all went
to Higgins' place after school and plotted to beat up the teacher. The teacher
knew what they were up to and he ran--leaving the country. He never came back.

There were no churches in the area. Whenever a
traveling preacher came through he would hold services in a schoolhouse. Boys
had a habit of putting pins in the stool on which the teacher sat. It had a
padded cushion and they put the pins in from the bottom so they weren't visible
until someone sat on them. A traveling preacher came to Cottonwood and, of
course, during the service he sat on the teacher's stool. He was surprised by
the pins and fell backward 'tipping the stool over. He stood up, said,
"That stool must have had a weak leg." And he went on preaching,
never making any further comments on school boys' humor.

John Root was a teacher at Cottonwood. Among his
students was Jeph Locke, an ornery kid, about fourteen years old, who would not
obey. One day in the school room Jeph was misbehaving so Mr. Root started
toward him. Jeph scrooched down in his seat and his sister, Myrtle, jumped up
and started screaming, "Don't you hurt him!" Mr. Root stopped and
returned to his desk, not wanting to upset the students. When play time came
and the students were outside playing, Myrtle gathered rocks in her apron and
put them in her desk to throw at Mr. Root if he ever punished Jeph.

Mr. Root remained as teacher for seven or eight
years. When the next teacher came he was surprised to find that the students
were fairly peaceable. He had been told that Cottonwood was the toughest school
in the district, which it was before Mr. Root came.

Linn Peebles relates:[3],

Mr. Root was a big man but very good--if you minded. The
second day of school Jeph Locke caused a lot of trouble. Mr. Root licked him
and after that he behaved much better.

Mr. Root taught later in Council.

George Gregg was sent to Cottonwood to teach, but he-was
ill and was soon taken away for treatment.

The schoolhouse had only one room which was poorly heated
and poorly lighted. Windows were small and few. Heat was provided by a
pot-bellied stove in the corner. Those near it roasted while those farther away
were cold. In winter there was always the odor of wet woolen coats, caps,
mittens, and even underwear drying after the trip to school. In summer the room
was uncomfortably hot, cooled only by open windows and door.

Benches were used instead of desks, and slates and slate
pencils instead of paper and pencils which came into use later.

While those in the fifth reader were giving recitation the
younger ones were studying and they had their turn to recite later.

A far cry from today's chrome and tile restrooms was the
odorous, fly-infested privy behind the schoolhouse.

Water was carried in a bucket from the spring and set on a
bench near the stove, in winter, to keep it from freezing. A drinking cup hung
by the bucket.

Lunches came to school tied in a napkin or cloth. Often
the children of a family ate together as it was easier to pack the lunch that
way. Sometimes a bucket was the container and, in later-years, a lard pail or a
cut-plug tobacco pail was the standard lunch bucket. When the weather was bad
the students ate at their-desks, but in summer lunches were spread outdoors.

There were no physical education classes. Most students
got plenty of exercise walking to and from school and doing farm chores.

Recesses and noon were spent playing tag or ball, racing,
jumping. rope, and similar games. Winter fun included throwing snow balls,
building snow men and snow forts', or playing Fox and Geese in the snow.

The school report of Council Valley for fall term, 1881,
shows there were twenty-five students enrolled. The fall term report of 1894
lists twenty-seven students in White school and fourteen in Upper Council. By
summer of 1894 Council School had forty-seven registered and Cottonwood had
thirty.

My dad, Alfred Peebles, freighted to mines. He made one
trip to Silver City and many to Warren. It took nine days to make the trip from
Salubria to Warren and back. Dad had a contract to provide chicken and eggs for
the miners. He had a verbal contract with a big Chinese cook called
"Pigtail Charlie." In August, 1898, Dad took the family with him to
make the delivery.- Besides Dad there were Mother, Dewey, Ralph, Rena, and
myself. He had eight wagons. There were more eggs when we got there than when
we started because the hens kept laying. Chickens sold for four dollars a dozen
and eggs for twenty-five cents a dozen. Dad made $80.00 (four-$20.00 gold
pieces) which was the most he ever made on a freighting trip.

Little Bertha Mathias was at Warren with her family when
we got there. She was six years old, the same as I. She took me in tow and
Pigtail Charlie was real good to both of us. We got candy or anything we wanted
and he showed us how the gold was mined.

There was a big deep hole in the ground in which the
Chinese had built a ramp, spiraling around the sides to the bottom. The water
level was high so they operated a hand pump to pump the water out of the hole.
This resembled the pump on a railroad hand car. They scraped the dirt and rock
from ledges and put it into wheelbarrows to be hauled to the top. One Chinaman
wore a harness over his shoulders, with two loops for the wheelbarrow handles
to fit into. Another Chinaman also had a shoulder harness that also had a head
band which hooked to the front of the wheelbarrow so he could pull while the
other pushed as they ascended the ramp. On the top, the two men shoveled the
dirt and rocks into a flume through which a torrent of water raced. Pigtail
Charlie showed us the gold when the water was shut off and the gold was
collected from the bottom of the sluice box. There were armed guards all around
the mine.

Alfred Peebles surveyed and dug more ditches in Council
Valley than all others combined did. He built, on contract, the old Middle Fork
bridge. He finished it in thirty days, which many had said was impossible. His
profit was $200.00. There were some who protested that that was too much money
for one man to make in that length of time.

Dad's first contract was to furnish for Mr. Lowe, in
Weiser, one hundred cords of wood, cut to sixteen-inch length, for six dollars
a cord. This eventually ran to five hundred cords as Mr. Lowe had a contract
for resale in Weiser. In 1906 Dad dug out his fence rails, cut them for wood,
and sold them to the Weiser Institute for fuel. That was when he built the
first wire fence on our farm.

Dad raised two to three hundred head of sheep and my
sister and I herded them all over the low hills. I started carrying a .22
caliber gun when I was seven years old. There were coyotes and rattlesnakes to
be guarded against.

Indians came to Jackson Creek area to gather tempi--a weed
with a honeysuckle-type bloom. They dried the weed and used it as a remedy of
some kind. (This was scarlet gilia, used by many tribes as a medicine. Tempi is
not a Nez Perce word.) They gathered toweet for food. It grows about two feet
high and has a root that resembles small white carrots about the size of a
man's finger. They ate the roots. (Tsa' wet-kh is the Nez Perce name for Yampa.
It is still one of their foods--eaten either raw or cooked.'

The Indians continued to come to the valley, in smaller .
groups, after the white people came. They were always friendly to Dad, knowing
him to be an honest man. On one occasion they came to him for help in
recovering some horses which had been stolen from them by white men.

Children of Alfred and Eva Peebles were Willis, Ralph,
Dewey, Henry, Linn, Steve, Nellie, Mary, Lydia, Clara, and Rena.

After the death of her husband Mary Peebles came to Idaho
to spend her older years with her son Alfred and his family in Council. She
died in 1925 and is buried in the I.O.O.F, Cemetery.

Alfred and Eva Peebles moved to Brownsville, Oregon, for
his health in 1927.

1.   1860 census, Morgan County, Ohio.

2.   Nellie Peebles Smith, Boise, Idaho, oral
interview, 1972

3.   Linn Peebles, Emmett, Idaho, oral interview,
1973

_________________________________

PETERS

John Olaf Peters was born in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany,
December 26, 1839. He came to America in 1859 and went to the California gold
fields and was taken by "gold fever" which lasted all his life. In
1865 he came to Idaho, located in Idaho City, and mined in the placer basin. He
married Anna Easley February 17, 1878, at Garden Valley. Their two children
Maude and George were born there. George died in infancy.

The 1880 census of Boise County, Idaho Territory, shows
them as farmers in Garden Valley.[1]

Next, they moved to Boise where he had a general
merchandise store for a year and a half. In 1881 they moved to Weiser and had a
small store and worked in the mines for a short time.[2]

At some time during these early years he made trips to
Council, carrying dry goods on his back and in suitcases. His packs held mainly
small items such as needles, thread, scissors, shoelaces, and buttonhooks. It
was obvious to him that the area was growing and needed a store.[3]

About 1887 he built the first business house in Council
Valley, about one mile north of the present town, on what later became the
Bedwell place. He and his family lived in the building which housed the store.
Mrs. Peters taught one term in the nearby school.

Later, Mr. Peters built a store where the Merit Store
stood in later years. The store burned and he went into business with Isaac
McMahan in 1894 for a short time, then moved to Weiser and engaged in the
hardware business for three years. After that he ran a sawmill and a
butchershop for a short time each. He returned to Council in the fall of 1898
[4] and again went into business in Council, this time with J. F. Lowe, then
sold his interest to J. J. Jones. He worked in the mines, devoting his time to
developing his mine--the Golden King--near Steven's Station, twelve miles
northeast of Council on the Weiser River.

Before long he was back in business in town, operating a
hardware and dry goods store in the building where Peters and Gregg furniture
store would be later. After four years he sold out and spent the winter
visiting his brother in California. He returned to gold-seeking in the Seven
Devils mining district for the summer. That fall, 1908, he opened a furniture
store in what was later the location of State Restaurant.

John 0. Peters bled to death from a broken artery in his
stomach, May 27, 1910. He is buried in the I.O.O.F. Cemetery.

Anna Easley was born in Ohio, 1845, to Swiss parents. She
was educated there and came to Garden Valley as a young school teacher. She
married

John 0. Peters. She went to California with their
daughter and her family about 1921. She was ninety years old, almost to the
day, when she died in Oakdale, California, in January, 1935.

Maude Peters taught school in the schoolhouse on the
hill. She was county superintendent of schools for several years. She married
the Rev. Mr. Iverson and moved to California.

1.   1880 Census, Boise county, Idaho Territory.

2.   Obituary of John Olaf Peters, The Leader,
June3, 1910.

3.   Matilda Moser manuscript.

4.   Ibid.

__________________________________________

PFAAN

George Pfann was born June 8, 1879, at Kalastein, Austria.
He was one of sixteen children.

He came to the United States with his grandmother when he
was twenty-one and joined other members of his family at Dunbar, Nebraska. He
set up a blacksmith shop, having served as an apprentice to his grandfather in
Austria.

George and a brother [Mike] came to Adams County about
1912 and homesteaded on the Ridge.

Later he came to Council and started a blacksmith shop,
which he operated until his death in August, 1956.

He became a naturalized citizen while in Nebraska.[1]

1.   Obituary of George Pfann, Adams County
Leader, August 27, 1956

______________________________________________

PHIPPS

Mrs. Patsey Phipps's husband was killed in the Civil War.
He served the Confederacy from North Carolina. They had two sons, George
Washington and William W. Phipps.

            [Correction/
addition by Patsy Phipps Bethel: They had three sons, Silas, William
Mitchell, and George Washington.  George
and William came to Idaho to find an area to farm in 1877 and then returned to
Missouri for their Mother.  She had
married John Austin, a widower with several children.  They had two children.]

It was hard to make a living after the war. The slaves
were needed to work the land but they had been freed. George and William came
west [to Idaho] to find an area to farm [in 1877] and then returned to Missouri
for their mother. She had married John Austin, a widower with several children.
They had two children. [Correction/ addition by Patsy Phipps Bethel: One child
was  Ed Austin.  He married Katie Duree Shaw.  The other child was a girl. The John Austin
family was listed in the 1880 census at LaGrande, Oregon. 

The Phipps family moved west [from North Carolina],
stopping in Independence, Missouri, to rest the mules. They remained there ten
years. Their next move was to La Grande, Oregon, and in 1881 or 1882 they moved
to Council and settled on Cottonwood Creek. 

Patsey Phipps Austin was born in North Carolina, April 11,
1835. She died July 10, 1897 John Austin's death date is unknown. Both are
buried in Cottonwood Cemetery.[1] 

William W. Phipps*, affectionately known to all as
"Old Bill," was born January 11, 1858. He never married but made a
home for his mother as long as she lived. They lived in a log house on his farm
on Cottonwood. This house stood for many years, becoming the first home of Gay
and Annie Johnson in 1922, and years later became their chicken house. It was
torn down about 1950.[2] [*Correction/ addition by Patsy Phipps Bethel: William's
middle name was  Mitchell.]

An interview with Mae Moore Beckman, daughter of Grant and
Dora Moore:

I always called William Phipps "Uncle Bill"
although he was no relation. Others called him "Old Bill" even though
he did not live to be sixty. Our parents loved and respected him, checking on
him if they did not see him frequently. He lived alone and had a bad heart and
they knew he might die at any time. He told Dad that if he knew he was dying
they would find him with his hands crossed on his chest, and that's the way Dad
found him the morning he died. He was lying flat on his back in his kitchen
where he had been cutting shavings to start his morning fire. His hands were
crossed as he had said they would be.

Uncle Bill remains in my memory as a well-loved giant. He
was a big man, clean in body and mind, ready to help anyone in need. He had a
booming laugh of pure joy and loved people, especially children. I considered
him my personal property. I loved to stroke his shiny black beard and to be
carried around on his shoulder.

He was one of the early settlers in the Valley and knew
much about Indian cures and medicines, often using them to help when the doctor
could not.[3]

Old Bill Phipps's blacksmith shop still stands. It is a
log building on the property now owned by "Woody" Jones.* Mr. and
Mrs. Jones plan to create a museum in it. Bill salvaged the materials to start
his blacksmith shop from Burnt Wagons Basin. These included anvils, axes,
hammers, and mauls. A wagon train headed for the mines at Florence abandoned
their wagons when the going got too rough on West Mountain. They took what they
could carry on their backs and went on. People of Council area salvaged what
they could, even burning the wagons to get the iron and nails.[4] [*The old
Woody Jones place is 2305 Cottonwood Road. Jones donated the forge to the
Council Valley Museum when he sold the place in 1999.]

Bill Phipps made the caskets for all burials in Cottonwood
Cemetery for many years. He got rough lumber from the mills in the valley and
hand planed them with a block and smoothing plane. For linings he used black
sateen which he bought from John 0. Peters' store in Council. Until his death
Bill had helped dig every grave in Cottonwood Cemetery.[5]

William Phipps died November 20, 1917 and is buried in
Cottonwood Cemetery.[6]

George W. Phipps, called "Doc," was born in Ashe
County, North Carolina, in 1861. On June 29, 1902, in Council, he married
Minnie Isabel Heathco Thompson, widow of Andrew Thompson, who had died in
Oklahoma.* They had one son who died in infancy and another son, Ray.[7]  Ray was Council's sheriff for several years.

            [*Patsy
Phipps Bethel: After Andrew Thompson died, Minnie  married Andrew's brother, Samuel. Minnie said Samuel was not at
all like Andrew who was a wonderful husband. After they went back to
Oklahoma, she divorced him and came out here to homestead a place.  I

understand she worked some as a housekeeper for G.W.
Phipps also.  Samuel and Andrew were
Cousins of G.W. and Bill Phipps. Samuel and Andrew came out in 1900 to visit
the Phipps.  Minnie had 2 sons by
Andrew, and two sons by her later husband, G.W. Phipps.: Rheul who died at
birth, and Ray]

The George Phipps family owned a farm west of the
railroad, near the end of Cottonwood lane. They had a large orchard and shipped
the first apples, three train carloads, from Council Valley. They also raised
registered dairy cattle.

Their house burned three times and was rebuilt.* The first
fire was discovered by the train crew, who blew the train whistle to attract
attention to it.[8] [*Correction/addition by Patsy Phipps Bethel: The G.W.
Phipps house burned two times and was rebuilt. It was located at 1725 US
Highway 95.]

George Phipps died in June, 1941.[9] [Correction/addition
by Patsy Phipps Bethel: George was  buried in the Cottonwood Cemetery.

Minnie Isabel Heathco, born in Rushville, Indiana, May 9,
1866, married Andrew Thompson. They had two sons. One died at two years of age
and the other at twelve years. Mr. Thompson died [10] and his widow homesteaded
on the site of the present city of Tulsa, Oklahoma. She and her brother, George
Heathco*, came to Council by covered wagon. She wanted to visit some of her
late husband's family. She remained and married George Phipps. Her brother
returned to Oklahoma for some years, but later brought his family to Council.
[11] Minnie Phipps died in October, 1944. She and George are buried in
Cottonwood Cemetery.

            *[Patsy
Phipps Bethel: She did not come to Council with her brother George Heathco, she
came with her husband, Samuel Thompson.]

            1. Patsy
Bethel, oral interview, Boise, Idaho, 1975.

            2. Nellie
Smith Peebles, Boise, Idaho, oral interview, 1972.

            3. Mae
Moore Beckman, Fairbanks, Alaska, interview, 1975.

            4. Linn
Peebles, Emmett, Idaho, oral interview, 1973.

            5. Dora
Johnson Moore, Boise, Idaho, 1970.

            6.
Cottonwood Cemetery records, Idaho Genealogical Society, Boise,

Idaho.

7.Obituary of George W. Phipps, Adams County Leaders
May 23, 1941.

8 Patsy Bethel, oral interview. 

9 Obituary of George W. Phipps.

10 Obituary of Minnie Isabel Heathco Phipps, Adams
County Leader, October 6, 1944.

            11 Patsy
Bethel , oral interview.

__________________________________________________

PIPER

Seward David Piper, born July 6, 1860, son of Johnson and
Samantha Piper, died July 21, 1939.

He married Alice Roselina Powell in 1886 in Minnesota.

They had two sons, John and Jay, and two daughters, Hazel
and Marjorie. Jay was killed when he was fishing alone. His gun fell on a rock,
causing it to discharge.

Alice Powell was born March 27, 1861, in Verndale,
Minnesota.

She taught Sunday school in the Congregational Church in
Council for many years.

Mr. and Mrs. Piper were among the early settlers, coming
to Council shortly after 1900.[1] [According to a note written on a photo in
the Council Valley Museum, they came to Council on March 27, 1900.] Their home
was just south of town.

Mrs. Piper died in September, 1947.

1. Obituary of Seward David Piper, Adams County Leader,
July 28, 1939

__________________________________________________

POYNOR

Joseph D. Poynor was born in Tennessee and grew to manhood
there. He was an officer in the Confederate Army as a personal bodyguard for
Jefferson Davis and was captured with him at the end of the war.[1]

Just after the Civil War he, his wife, Celia, and their
seven sons came west as part of a large wagon train. Two sons became ill and
died on the plains, one dying one evening and the other the next morning. They
are buried in the same grave alongside the trail.

The Poynors went first to Warm Lake Fort, near La Grande,
Oregon. One or two winters were spent there before making the move to Council,
where they settled down to farming near Mill Creek.[2]

Joseph D. and Celia Poynor are buried in Portland, as are
sons Hub and John. Joseph died in March, 1926.

Charles Poynor and wife, Maude, had the first fruit ranch
on Mill Creek. Prospective buyers in the valley were shown these orchards to
prove what could be grown in Council's fertile valley.

1.   Obituary of Joseph D. Poynor, Adams County
Leader,  March 26, 1926.

2.   Neal Poynor, Boise, Idaho, oral interview,
1974

_____________________________________________

PURNELL 

Harry Marcus Purnell was born September 27, 1875, at
Hillsboro, Indiana, the youngest of ten children of Henry and Nancy (Justice)
Purnell.

When he was a small boy his family moved to Kerads, Kansas
where they lived for eight years, and later moved to Coffeeville, Kansas, where
he grew up. He spent three years at Veedersburg, Indiana, in school and was
married there to Rosa May Price February 4, 1906.[1]

They moved west to the area of Bellingham, Washington,
where he worked in the lumber industry until 1916. That year they traded their
farm at Ferndale, Washington for that of Wiley B. Duncan at Council.

On June 6, 1916, the family started to Council, taking one
month and one day to make the trip. They traveled by car--a one-cylinder
Cadillac with carbide lights. There were no doors on the driver's and front
passenger's seat. The back seat was enclosed. It was not an easy trip with six
children and camping equipment in and on the car. The oldest child was
ten-year-old Irene and the youngest was Herbert, who was nine months old. Mrs.
Purnell said she carried the baby and pushed the car over Whitebird Hill.

Along the way they always tried to camp where there was a
wire fence so they could suspend a black iron kettle from the wire and build a
fire under it to cook beans for the next day's food.

George Winkler said he'd always remember the day the
Purnell family arrived in Council. There were kids spilling out all over the
car.

The farmhouse had a little furniture, so they shipped only
a few things. When they got settled they traded their car for a milk cow. They
did raise some garden the first summer but it was late before they could plant
it and the crop was not very good. The milk and butter provided by the cow was
more important than an automobile.

Mr. and Mrs. Purnell worked in the fields and Irene did
the housework and cared for the younger children.

There was a lot of thorn brush on the farm, which was
difficult to grub out, but Mr. Purnell cleared most of it. There was one
particular thicket, between the house and the river, that had an infestation of
rattlesnakes. It was impossible to clear the thorn brush as long as they were
there. Alfred Peebles and Harry Purnell drove a herd of hogs into the area and
they soon ate all of the snakes. Many weary backbreaking hours went into
clearing the land by hand.

The Duncans had built a large two-story building on the
farm. The lower floor had rock walls and was used as a woodshed and milk house.
The upper story was an open-air dance floor. The roof was supported by studs
and the only enclosure was of three-foot chicken wire around the house.

For a while the nearest neighbors were two young Indians,
the Shaeffer boys, who lived in a little house on the Purnell farm. They were
hard-working and friendly. After they moved away Mr. Purnell moved the little
house and used it as his shop.

There were many hard years. At least once, Mr. Purnell
paid his taxes by killing coyotes and collecting the bounty for them. He also
had a permit to trap beaver and shipped many of their pelts.

Harry Purnell was an enthusiastic musician who played the harmonica,
banjo, and violin exceptionally well.

Nine children grew to maturity. They were Irene, Arthur,
Beulah, Ruth, Audrey, Herbert, Doris, Dorothy, and Florence. Three-month-old
Henry died of whooping cough in 1918 and Raymond died at birth.

Indian Ford was near the Purnell farm. Some arrowheads and
a few stone tools and weapons were found near there.

Harry Purnell died December 15, 1955, and his wife, Rosa,
born in Springfield, Ohio, April 18, 1880, died December 12, 1956. They were
both buried in the I.O.O.F. Cemetery December 17--one year apart.[2]

1.   Audrey Kilborn, Mesa, Idaho, letter
interview, 1974.

2.   Doris Sheer, Boise, Idaho, oral interview,
1975.

260

______________________________________________________

ROBERTSON,
GEORGE

George Robertson was born in Barry County, Missouri, in
1851. He married Martha Harp, daughter of James and Sarah Harp.[1] They came
west with her parents and two brothers and their families, Winklers and
Copelands, in 1878.

George and Martha Robertson stopped in Upper Boise Valley,
Ada County. Her brothers, Hardy and William, stayed, too.[2] In 1883 they went
on to Council.

George Robertson took a one-hundred-sixty-acre homestead
along the Weiser River.[3]

Mrs. Millie Bethel tells stories of her family's early
days in the valley:

George Robertson and his son, Pete, had a flour mill on
Mill Creek. I don't remember how long it was in operation.

Father raised acres of sugar cane and owned a sugar cane
mill. a one-horse powered mill. The cane was topped, stripped, and cut in the
field. It was hand-fed into the mill, the cane juice was squeezed out, caught
in containers, and taken to a large vat with a furnace beneath. Then the
cooking, stirring, and skimming began. The children were official tasters and
were eager for the job when it was time for the stir-off which was usually
quite late at night. The delicious sorghum was put into gallon cans, labeled,
and sent to Council merchants Sam and Harry Criss.

My father and Mr. Sevey took out the first irrigation
ditch in the area. They had no surveyor, just dug with pick and shovel, let the
water follow, and dug some more.

My parents' first house was made of unplaned lumber and
batted up. One day this flimsy house caught fire while my mother was working in
the garden. Mother ran, screaming, to the house and a neighbor, Mr. M. D.
Chaffee, came running, but they were too late to save my sister, Lena, who was
Just the age to walk, clinging to chairs. [This house was at the present
location of 2617 Fruitvale Glendale Rd.]

Father owned a sawmill, too, but I do not remember the
time it was in operation.

A special event was the falling of a bee tree, along the
river. Dad and my older brothers would fall the tree, then smoke the bees. One
time the smoke didn't seem to work and Dad started running and got tangled up
in some smoke weed. He bucked and snorted and the bees were popping it to him
every jump. He used some words you wouldn't want to see in print. However, we
got a good supply of honey to eat on Mom's good sourdough biscuits, not even
thinking about the dead bees that had been carefully screened out.

The P.I.N. railroad bought a right of way through a part
of Dad's land where he had set out an orchard. My father moved those big trees
to another location. It was a lot of hard work but we still had an orchard.

            There were eight Robertson children:
Albert, Mary (married Emsley Glenn), Laura (m. Jim Ward), Lena, Pete, Oliver,
Millie (m. Roy Bethel) and Elizabeth.[4] [Mary married (Ed?) McGinley, Laura
married Jim Ward, Millie married Roy Bethel, Elizabeth (Beth) married ___ Hill.
Pete and Mary lived on the original home place into the 1960s.]

            Martha
Harp, born January 12, 1860, died August 10, 1923.[5] George

Robertson died September 27, 1933.[6]

1.   Obituary of George Robertson, Adams County
Leaders September 29, 1933

            2. 1880
census, Boise Valley, Ada County, Idaho.

3.  Millie
Robertson Bethel, Weiser, Idaho, letter interview, 1975.

4. Ibid.

5. Obituary of Mrs. George Robertson, Adams County
Leader, August 17, 1923.

            6. Obituary of George Robertson.

Laura Robertson:

Dec. 2, 1909 Guy Walston, a resident of Fruitvale, married
Laura Robertson Ryals, also a resident of Fruitvale.  She was a young
widow with a 5-year-old son, Everett Ryals, born in 1904.  Witnesses to
the marriage were Philip Walston, groom's father, and George Robertson, the
bride's father.  The marriage took place in Fruitvale.  The marriage
record is on file at the Weiser, Washington Co, ID, courthouse.  (Adams Co
was not created from Washington Co. until 1911.)

Guy Walston. 
Worked at Wilkie Mill.  He married Laura in December 1909.  We never
found divorce papers...but she married twice after.  

One of the relatives
on a internet tree had this quote:  

Grandma Laura Robertson's second husband, Guy Walston, never paid his debts
and drank a lot so Gram dumped him.  The Walston's were prone to gambling
and their happy hour.  But Guy really got into it....dissappeared after
1930 in California.

Her family said that the Walston marriage was short lived....I think a couple
of years.  

Laura married William Ryals, Guy
Walston, James Addison Ward and Arthur Wesley Hepp (after 1926).  Laura
died March 1974 in Weippe, Clearwater County, Idaho.  

Ryals marriage Dec 25, 1902
Council  He died in 1907 

Guy in 1909...(above)

James Ward marriage May 31 1919

Arthur Hepp
marriage after 1926

From Michele
Ryals:

I know from my Grandfather that Arthur Hepp was her last
husband.  I have not been able to find a marriage record anywhere
yet.  It would have been after 1946 when James died.  They had a son
(James Addison Ward Jr.  His headstone is in the Weiser,Washington, Idaho
cemetery.  I did not get his death date.).  My theory is that Laura
wanted to have someone to help her raise Jimmy.

Just a theory in progress.

____________________________________

This Robertson family is not in
M. Diffendaffer's Book:

ROBERTSON,
ARTHUR

Arthur V. Robertson married Rose Ann Groseclose. Children:

            Charles
Hershel  1889 - 1941

            Austin
("Bud")  1891 - 1964

            Arthur
("Tuff")  1894 - 1977

            Mary  Vivian 1897 - 1976

                        Married
Bill Boyles. Their daughter, Velma, married Jack Aldrich. Their daughter,
Jeanne, married Larry Boehm.

            Addie
("Bergie")  1899 - 1989

            Thelma
Rose  1901 - 1993

            Isaac
("Pug")  1904 - 1976

            Hester  1907 - 1983

Robertson
Family History

as
Compiled by Bergie Ingeborg Robertson, Smith, Tarr.. about 1985

My
dad, Arthur V. Robertson, was born June 20,1868,to Grandad and Grandmother
Robertson. They were either living in Iowa or Minnesota. There were five
children in this family - three boys and two girls.  The. mother passed away when Dad was
about fifteen months old. Being too much for the father to
handle, Dad was taken by a couple by the name of Mike and
Mary Harland to raise. They too came West, but I can't give the date, and they
settled for a few years at Union, Oregon, where she ran a sort of boarding
house. They came to Indian Valley (no date)and I don't know the ranch they
first settled on. They never adopted Dad, so he was Arthur Harland until he
and Mother married. Then he took back the Robertson name. Harlands were related
to the Starrs and Leichliters.

They
also raised a foster daughter by the name of Susie. She married a man
named Julias Leddington. They spent a great share of their life at Weiser and
had three sons. My parents had some hard times during their lifetime. Dad was
very handy in many occupations; he was a carpenter, blacksmith, and sawmill
worker. I remember watching him fit and shoe many horses before the time cars
came into existence. He was hardy making skis and what was known as bobsleds
and cutters. Also he worked with the crew who built the Kleinschmidt Grade. The
present day equipment wasn't around in those days. They used horses and what
were called scrapers and men with picks and shovels. The old grade is
still being traveled. Mother made and sold lots of butter when the mines were
booming as well as cooked and served meals to many freighters hauling supplies
to the Seven Devils Mines.

Mother, Rose Ann Groseclose, was born in Colorado
about thirty miles north of Denver on July 1, 1867. She was the last
baby born of a family of seven children, three boys and four girls, born
to Jacob and Elizabeth (Jones) Groseclose. The spring of 1876 the Grosecloses
joined a wagon train coming west on a journey to California for the Gold
Rush. They spent that winter at the fort in Wyoming and came to the fort in
Idaho the summer of 1877, spending that winter at Fort Boise. They learned of
the pioneer settlement forming in Council Valley, so they decided to leave the
wagon train and see what that country had to offer. 

Grandad took up a homestead on Cottonwood, and the
family grew up there. The place he homesteaded was known as the Old Byers
Place. In August of 1878 the Indians stole some horses belonging to a man by
the name of William Monday. The eldest son, named Jake, of the
Groseclose family joined the group who went to follow the Indians in
hopes of getting the horses back. They were getting near them at Cascade, and
should have turned back. The Indians were hiding behind a large boulder which
the trail went near. As the men came to the boulder, the Indians fired on them,
Killing three -- Monday, Healey, and Jake Groseclose--and badly wounding the
other one named Three-Fingered Smith. He hid from the Indians until darkness came
and then traveled to Meadows Valley to report the massacre. The militia came
and buried the bodies and inscribed their names on this large rock. Grosecloses
left the Cottonwood area and went to the Lick and Bear Creek country, and
Grandmother used her homestead right to file for a home there.

The rest or this was evidently written by another family
member:

            Granddad
passed away December 20, 1908, and Grandmother on April 8, 1910. Both are
buried in the Hornet Creek Cemetery.

            Dad and
Mother were married at Council, Idaho, August 17, 1888. Charles Herschel, the
oldest son, was born at Indian Valley, August 12, 1889. When he was about six
weeks old, they moved to the Bear Creek country, taking up a homestead where
they raised the family. Herschel passed away November 27, 1941 at Council
Hospital. Austin Tracy (Bud) was born at Bear on October 14, 1891. He passed
away February 12, 1964, at Kuna, Idaho. Arthur Francis (Tuff) was born at Bear
on May 2, 1894. He passed away March 11, 1977, at Halfway, Oregon. Mary Vivian
was born at Bear on January 11, 1897, and passed away at Council on February
13, 1976. Addie Ingeborg (Bergie) was born at Bear on April 5, 1899, and left
us at Holy Rosary Hospital, Ontario, Oregon, Sunday, December 10, 1989. Thelma
Rose was born at Hornet Creek on September 27, 1901, and went on to better
things at Holy Rosary Hospital, Ontario, Oregon, Tuesday, January 12, 1993.
Isaac Emmett (Pug) was born at Bear on July 31, 1904, and passed away March 11,
1976 at Boise. Hester Elizabeth was born at Bear on November 24, 1907, and
passed away February 12, 1983, at Council Hospital.

William
T. Robertson—cousin
of Arthur V. Robertson

Alta
and John were the infants of William T. and Jessie Robertson. Their
gravestone was in the Bear cemetery simply as “Robertson babies.”

William T. Robertson born Oct 1, 1868,
near Waup un (Wanpun) Ford-U-Lac. Co., Wisconsin. Phil was born July 30, 1901,
Spencer.

Children
of Wm T & Jessie Robertson:

Robert
Emmett Clabby, June 21, 1885

Genevieve
P. Robertson, Jan 5, 1893

Married
Bear, Idaho, April 18, 1915

Clifford
D. Emery, Nov. 23, 1892

Irma
M. Robertson,
Sept. 8, 1894

Married
May 4, 1924, Boise, Idaho

Philip
A. Robertson,
July 30, 1901

Neva
Osborne, Mar. 18, 1910

Married
Redwood City, Calif. Dec 23, 1925

Robert
J. Thomson, Jan. 17, 1902

Gladys
M. Robertson,
Sept. 1, 1906

Married
Weiser, Idaho, June 7, 1926

_________________________________________________

ROPER

Charles Alvin Roper (April 26, 1867-August 26, 1944)[1]
was a remittance man from the east. He was well educated but chose to live more
or less as a recluse. He raised fruits and vegetables to sell in town. No one
knew much about him and that's the way he wanted it.[2]

He was notoriously dirty and, although he kept a bath tub,
the best use he found for it was as a container for coal.[3]

1.   I.O.O.F. Cemetery records, Idaho Genealogical
Library, Boise, Idaho.

2.   Linn Peebles, Emmett, Idaho, oral interview,
1974

3.   Mary Thurston, McCall, Idaho, oral interview,
1973

___________________________________________

SELBY

Chester Selby, born March 30, 1896, in Boise,
came to Council before War I.  His
parents were divorced so he worked, saved his money and World War I.  His parents were divorced so he worked, saved
his money and bought a ten-acre fan for his mother and the other children.[l]

Chester
joined the Army May 28, 1918, as a private.[2]  He served as sheriff in Council in the early 1920s.

            The flu epidemic struck the Selby family hard.
Mrs. Ida Selby and her son, Ray, died the same day--January 19, 1919.

            Chester
Selby married Edith Grossen, and they lived on the farm he bought for
his mother.  Chester died November 13,
1951.[3]

            Their
children were Norman Ray (killed in a motorcycle accident, July
23, 1944), Vivian, and Lorraine.

1 Edith Selby, Council, Idaho, oral interview. 1973.

2 Idaho Adjutant General's records, Boise, Idaho.

3 Edith Selby, oral interview.

_________________________________

SHAW, WILLIAM

            The Shaw family was in Pennsylvania very early, going
later to Virginia, Ohio, and Iowa.

            William
A. Shaw was born in Ohio, January 9, 1821. 
He married Elizie --- born in Ohio in 1823.  Their sons, James and Scott, were
born before the family moved to Missouri.  William R. Shaw was born on the plains of Nodaway County,
Missouri, August 4, 1858, on the trip west.  Mount was born two years later in Wyoming.

            The family
came to Idaho by covered wagon as part of a large wagon train. They
had no particular destination in mind.  They
just had itchy feet and wanted to come west.  They chose Weiser at random.  About 1876** they homesteaded one hundred sixty
acres in what is now Weiser, across from the present livery barns.[1]
[**Actually 1866 or '67.]

When Indians were on the warpath Elizie Shaw was
afraid they would come in the night and kill them.  When the men had to be away from home
overnight she took the children up onto the roof, which was low and fairly flat,
and they slept there.  She feared
the dark all her life and it was probably due to that fear of Indians in early years.  She told, in later years, of
taking her blankets and her children to a secluded spot among the sagebrush to
spend the night, away from the house and fear of Indians.

            Old settlers remember the early two-story willow house
built by Shaws. Pioneers were used to sleeping in the open and this was
an ideal sleeping arrangement, an open-air institution with no danger of
tuberculosis. 

            Mr. Shaw died April 1, 1909, and Mrs. Shaw on July 28,
1905.[2]

            At
age eighteen William R. Shaw was an Indian scout for "Captain Galloway's
Army," which was Company E, First Regiment, Idaho Volunteer
Militia. This was a reserve territorial militia, organized for protection of
the settlers during Nez Perce Indian War. 
No pensions were given to these men and the only records are in
the Idaho Adjutant General's files.[3]

On November 29, 1882, William R. Shaw married Lena
Madison at Weiser Bridge, called Poverty Flat.  (This was so named because of lack of water to grow crops.  The present name is Weiser.)  Lena was born November 13, 1863 at Manti,
Utah, one of five children of Hans Christian Madison and his wife, Helena.  Her parents were born in Denmark.  Madisons settled in Loa, Utah.  They came to Weiser area about 1880.

William R. and Lena Shaw went to Brownlee when they were
first married, then back to Weiser and, November 29, 1917, to Hornet
Creek.  Mr. Shaw was a farmer.  They were the parents of thirteen
children, eleven living to maturity. Twin daughters died of whooping cough at
five months of age.

            Mr. Shaw told of the Billy Monday massacre.  One man who was with the group survived,
though wounded.  He dragged himself into
the creek and then to a hiding place beneath the bank or some overhanging
branches. He was bleeding badly and afraid the Indians would see the
blood in the water and so find him. They did not and he finally escaped,
having a long way to go for help.

            William R. Shaw made medical history
in Council Valley by surviving spotted fever at age seventy-six.  It was the first case of spotted fever
which Dr. Thurston had ever seen.  Mr.
Shaw almost died and  would have without
the constant care of his daughter, who was a registered nurse. 

            Mr. and Mrs. Shaw both died in 1942.
[?Adams County Leader, Apr 11, 1947:

            W.R. Shaw died at age 88.  Came to Boise Basin with his parents in
1864.  Came to Hornet creek in 1918.]

            Their
son, Deb Shaw, collected rattlesnakes. 
He used a forked stick and a wire noose to capture them.  He sold them to eastern restaurants for
gourmet food.  He soon had to freeze
them because the railroad required it. They refused to transport live
rattlers.  Deb knew where there were twenty
rattlesnake dens, nine of them on Hornet Creek.  He often caught one hundred a day, some as big as his arm
and fifty inches long.  For a time he
shipped live snakes to Balboa Park in San Diego, California, but the zoo and
venom market dropped and he shipped only to Detroit restaurants.  The meat sold for about one dollar a
foot.  He killed, skinned, and froze
them at home.[4]

1 Jo Naser, oral interview, Boise, Idaho, 1973.

2 Weiser Cemetery records, Idaho Genealogical Library,
Boise, Idaho.

3 Idaho Adjutant General's records, Captain Galloway's
Muster roll.

4 Jo Naser; oral interview.

_____________________________

Bill and Jane Shaw bought
a ranch about a mile above the main road to Council. In 1909 their
son, Gilbert was born. Two years latter another son, Ervie, and in 1916
their oldest daughter, Minnie Jane Shaw, died.

In 1917 their teen age son, Artie,
became ill and soon died. They never knew the cause of his death.
About four months latter on the 10th of October, Jane and her
children were picking berries a short distance below the house when
someone yelled that the house was on fire. They rushed toward it
but could do nothing but watch it burn until Jane noticed the baby Orval
was not in sight. They all searched diligently with no success, but after the
fire had cooled off they found his remains in the ashes. He had slipped away,
gone back into the house, started the fire somehow and then
probably became frightened and hid under the bed. He was only
three years old.

Bill and Jane then
built a new house. This time they took all the precautions they could to
prevent another disaster. The new house was made with all hardwood interior, stucco
outside and ceramic tile roof Unlike most of the buildings in the area that
were made from local material, the material for this house had to be imported.

On 3 Dec. 1918, their 13th child was born—a
boy named Arnold. Less than three months later, Bill came in for dinner, and while resting on the porch he
had a heart attack that
killed him suddenly.

After Bill’s death, Jane
ran the ranch. She had six sons and one daughter still at home.
They all worked except the little boys of course, and they too learned to work
as they grew up. Meanwhile they each had the opportunity to accumulate stock of
their own if they wanted to. Floyd preferred blacksmithing,
and his father had set him up with his own blacksmith shop there on the
ranch. John chose to raise sheep instead of cattle. It helped them
when they married and started a home of their own.

About 1934 Jane sold
her ranch to her son, Ervie Shaw. She spent the next few years with her
children in Washington, Oregon and Idaho, She contracted diabetes, and it eventually became so bad that in the early 50s she
had to have one leg removed. She was living
in a very nice nursing home in Caldwell, Idaho in 1952 when she passed away.

-----------------------------

SHAW,
BEN

            Ben Shaw,
born in Harrison County, Iowa, July 16, 1866, married Katie Bacus in 1888, and
eighteen months later they moved to Idaho.  They settled on Middle Fork, where they soon had a
two-hundred-acre ranch and a large band of sheep.  They had nine children. 
Mr. Shaw was killed by a falling hay derrick in July, 1912.[1]

            William Daniel Shaw and his wife,
Jane Tafina Wallace Shaw, came from Mondamon, Iowa, to Idaho in 1907.  They came with their children by
train, spending three days and nights on the way.  They arrived March 31 at Middle Fork,
where the train stopped to let them off. 
They walked to his brother's home,. where they stayed a short
time before starting their own homestead nearby.

            Mr.
Shaw's father, Henry J. Shaw, was already living in the area.  As an old man, about 1907, he married Nancy
Duree, widow of I. J. Duree. Henry J. Shaw, born January 19, 1833,
died December 17, 1909.  Nancy, born July
5, 1843, died May 17, 1911.  They
are buried in Cottonwood Cemetery.

            Children of William D. and Jane Shaw were:  Gilbert, Eddie. Ervie, Orville
(burned to death at age three when the family home burned in 1917), Ben,
Artie,. Louisa, Bill. John, Minnie, Floyd, Amos, and Arnold. 

            Bill
Shaw, born in May, 1897, married Nancy Moser, daughter of Edgar and Ida Moser,
in 1919.[2]

Obituary of Ben Shaw, Adams County Leader,
July 25, 1912.

William Shaw, New Plymouth, Idaho,
oral interview, 1972.

------------------

Shaw, Benjamin F.

Ben
married Daisy Taylor from the Johnson Creek area. They had two children when they moved to Arizona because of Daisy's
health. I'm not sure how long they were in Arizona, but after they returned
they lived on a small place near the Mesa Landing. This is where they were when
the twins were born. The twins, Betty and Benny, were about four months old when Benny got sick, maybe with
Phenomena, I'm not sure, but he wasn't strong
enough to make it.

Ben and Daisy later homesteaded a place in Oregon
where they lived several years. They
sold this place to George and Marjorie Hust. They lived in the New Plymouth
area for awhile, and Near Sweet Home Oregon, then back to New Pymouth where
they were living when Daisy passed
away.

They
had eight children, the four I mentioned above, and Pat, Grace, Bill and Wayne. Ben now lives in Fruitland, Idaho. This
year on 29th of Feb 1996 he will have his twenty-third birthday. He will be
ninety-two years old.

_____________________________________

Shaw, Amos George 

Amos was the second son of
William and Jane Shaw. He married Margaret Shaw, daughter of Ben and Katie Shaw of Middle
Fork. I remember Aunt Maggie. She was a beautiful
lady. They had three children, Aletha, Stella and Amos (or Little Amos as we called him). They moved to northern Idaho where
Amos worked as an employee of Hecla mine
at Burk.

On Dec 2, 1922, Amos was
working on a project in Wallace when he fell of a high scaffold
and suffered a fractured skull. After four months in the hospital, he returned
to work, but he had dizzy spells now and then and delirium followed. He died 18
May 1923, and his death certificate carried the words "acute
meningitis."

Maggie brought her three children
back to Council. She worked as a waitress at one of the local restaurants
there. She applied for State Workman's Compensation for the death of Amos, whom
they had listed as "died from natural causes." An autopsy performed
on exhuming the body in Aug. determined the cause of death was accidental.
Maggie finally won her contention against the State and was awarded the amount
due under the compensation act. She received $8,405.96, (Taken from the Adams
County Leader, Dec. 7, 1993)

Maggie's seven year old
daughter became ill while they were in Council. Maggie took care of her at home since
there was no hospital there at that time. The Dr. diagnosed
her illness as Dropsy. I remember her setting in the big chair with pillows stuffed
around her. Her legs were very swollen and she couldn't walk, but I didn't hear
her complain no cry. I was there the day she died. When I saw the water
running from her legs I became very upset but someone took Little Amos
and me to the neighbors where we stayed until they came after us. Guess
it wasn't very long, but it seemed long to us, before they came to get us
and we were told that she had died.

Little Amos and I were about the same age.. I
believe we were about four at this time. He
had experienced the trauma of his fathers death only a short while before, but
this was my first experience with
it, so he was trying to console me. It is so vivid in my mind—the short walk back to their house and walking in,
Stella was still there in her chair and Aunt Maggie was sitting beside her crying. Little Amos put his arms
around his mother and said
"Don't cry Mommy, I'll take
care of you".

Maggie
and her two children, Aletha and Little Amos left Idaho. They were in the Oregon, Washington area the last I heard.

------------------------------

Shaw,
Bill

Bill and Jane bought a ranch
about a mile above the main road to Council. In 1909 their
son, Gilbert was born. Two years latter another son, Ervie, and in 1916 their
oldest daughter, Minnie Jane Shaw, died.

In 1917 their teen age son,
Artie, became ill and soon died. They never knew the cause
of his death. About four months latter on the 10th of October, Jane
and her children were picking berries a short distance below the house
when someone yelled that the house was on fire. They rushed toward it
but could do nothing but watch it burn until Jane noticed the baby Orval was
not in sight. They all searched diligently with no success, but after the fire
had cooled off they found his remains in the ashes. He had slipped away, gone
back into the house, started the fire somehow and then probably became
frightened and hid under the bed. He was only three years old.

Bill and Jane then built a new
house. This time they took all the precautions they could to
prevent another disaster. The new house was made with all hardwood interior, stucco
outside and ceramic tile roof Unlike most of the buildings in the area that
were made from local material, the material for this house had to be imported.

On 3 Dec. 1918, their 13th child was born—a boy
named Arnold. Less than three months
later, Bill came in for dinner, and while resting on the porch he had a heart
attack that killed him suddenly.

After Bills death, Jane ran the
ranch. She had six sons and one daughter still at home.
They all worked except the little boys of course, and they too learned to work
as they grew up. Meanwhile they each had the opportunity to accumulate stock of
their own if they wanted to. Floyd preferred blacksmithing, and his
father had set him up with his own blacksmith shop there on the
ranch. John chose to raise sheep instead of cattle. It helped them
when they married and started a home of their own.

About
1934 Jane sold her ranch to her son, Ervie Shaw. She spent the next few years
with her children in Washington, Oregon and Idaho, She contracted diabetes, and
it eventually became so bad that in
the early 50s she had to have one leg removed. She was living in a very nice nursing home in Caldwell,
Idaho in 1952 when she passed away.

-------

William Harvey Shaw

Bill
and Jane's son, Bill, married Nancy Moser on 15 June 1919, and they spent
several years in the Portland, Oregon
area before returning to Idaho where they ran a ranch a few miles north of Council for Mr. Snow. They had five
girls and one boy. Their oldest daughter,
Verla, married Herbert Woods and had two daughters. Verla died in a Boise Hospital in 1953.

When
the State of Idaho opened a large section of new land near Caldwell for homesteads, Bill got one. He later sold the
homestead and moved to New Plymouth. A few
years latter (1977) while taking a nap
on the couch he passed away quietly of a heart attack.

Bill
an Nancy had six children: Verla, Earl, Lavern, Elva, Argyl and Willabell.

I believe Earl owned some
property on Middlefork near Fall Creek at one time. He ran cattle near there, and I think he owned a little
house that was built there, but I'm not sure. Elva and her husband live up Hornet Creek; Lavern and Willabell are in
the Boise area, and I do not know
where Argyl is.

--------------------------------

Shaw, George

I believe George Shaw
was the next to arrive. George was the oldest son of Henry J. and Mariette. He and his family settled just
north of the Middle Fork bridge. This bridge
was a beautiful iron bridge with a high railing on each side, and was used for many
years After the new highway was put in, a new bridge was constructed about a
quarter mile down the river, but the
old bridge was still used. It made it much easier for the cattlemen who trailed their stock to and from the
range.

George's wife was Sara Kesling.
They were married in 1882 and they had a large family. George carried the mail
to and from Council for many years. He and his sons built a
new house, a barn and a silo. The silo was quite an unusual sight in that part
of the country in the early 20th century,

In 1930 George's nephew, John
Shaw, bought the place and remodeled the house by enclosing the front
porch and re-doing the entire interior.

George
and Sara spent their latter years with their children. They spent a lot of time with their son, Henry, who lived about half a
mile north of the river near the highway.

George
and Sarah’s children that I remember were:

Henry—married
Nina Thompson

Mary—first
married Ben Houston, then ___

Katie—
married Mr. Jackson

John—
married Lula Thompson, sister of Nina

Ted—
married Grace __

Enos
“Bing”—

Chester—
married Sister of Grace __

Gladys—
married (Blackey)?

---------------------------------

Henry J. Shaw

Henry J. Shaw was born 1833 in England. He was
about eleven years old when he came to
America with his family via Canada. His father Henry, mother Nancy and sister Mary had been baptized into the Church of
Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints four years
prior to their immigration, and they settled in Nauvoo, Illinois, and remained
there until they were driven out by
mobs. Then they moved to Coonville, Iowa where Nancy was baptized into the Reorganized Church in 1860.

In 1856 Henry J. married
Mariette Pack. They resided in Mondamin, Iowa where their
thirteen children were born. Seven of these children died young, in fact five
of them died about the same time. I heard it was from some
contagious disease, but I don't know what disease it was.

Their son, Ben, was the first
Shaw to migrate to Idaho. His ranch was about a mile up the Middle Fork from
where it ran into the main Weiser River. Henry J. came west a few years later
with his wife Marietta and his daughter, Nancy May  (“Minnie”), and they homesteaded

a place about 4 or 5 miles above
Ben Shaw's ranch (later owned by Charlie Roper). They

built a small cabin to live in,
but later disposed of it and bought a larger place down the river by the main
road to Council, and built a little house there. The school house was later
built across the road from this place. He later sold this second place to his
daughter,  Nancy May, and her husband
Charles Barbour, and bought a place on Cottonwood, just across the bridge on
the old road and west of the Phipps place.

Marietta died in 1888. Henry J.
was in the Veterans Hospital in Boise and Marietta was
visiting him when she got sick and died.. Henry J. later married Nancy Duree
and his third wife was Helen Kinney.

Henry
J. Shaw was a Civil War Veteran. In fact he was with Sherman on his "March-to-the-Sea," and his small
pension made life easy for him.

Henry
J. Shaw had one son who did not lcome to Idaho—Joseph Edward Shaw. He married
May Johnson and stayed in Iowa.

-----------

Nancy May Shaw

Nancy May Shaw, known as "Aunt Minnie" by
all her family and friends, came to Middle
Fork with her father, Henry J. Shaw, and mother, Nancy, in the early 1890s. She
was about eleven at that time.

Aunt Minnie married Charles
Barbour from the upper Hornet Creek area. They bought a place on Middle
Fork from Minnie's father, and lived in grandpa Shaw's small house
only long enough to amass enough to build a new house, the nicest one in the valley.

Aunt Minnie was proud of her
new home. She later had a small room converted to use for
the Middle Fork Post Office, and served as Post Mistress there for several
years. Uncle George Shaw carried the mail to and from Council.
It was a great step forward when the families along the road could put up a
mailbox and get their mail delivered there. With horse and buggy, it
took Uncle George all day to make the round trip.

Aunt
Minnie and Charlie had four children—Eva, Alice, Robert and Marie.

The children were quite
small when Charlie and Aunt Minnie were divorced. They sold the house with twenty acres to Minnie's Nephew,
John Shaw. Charlie built another house across
the river for himself and one for Minnie in town, and even though they were divorced they were always friends and the
children's happiness was foremost in their minds at all times

Minnie later married Mr. Burt
White, a school teacher who taught many different schools in the area, but mostly around Bear and Crooked River. They later
moved to Payette, and were there
several years. After Mr. White died, Minnie moved to Boise to be near her daughter, Marie.

--------------------------------

John Henry Shaw

When WW I started in 1914, John was a single man of
twenty-one so he was called into service. By this
time he had accumulated a large band of sheep, and before he left he sold them and bought twenty acres with the
beautiful new house his Aunt Minnie and Charlie
Barbour had recently built. It was on the main road to Council and across from the school house.

After
his return from the war, John met Essie Ball, of Cottonwood, and in 1920

they
were married. One year latter Dr. Brown drove out in his buggy, with his little
black bag,
and delivered me! (I remember it well! Sure!)

My earliest memories are of coming home from Los
Angeles in an old Essex touring car (guess it wasn't old then!) I remember only some parts of the trip. Mother said
no matter what anyone asked me, my first reply was "I am Lois Shaw, two years old the first of June." Guess I thought that
was what everyone wanted to know. I do remember
thinking that we'd never get home. I was so glad when we reached Emmett because I had been told that was where my Grandpa
Ball lived, and although I didn't remember
him, I knew I would see him, Grandma Ball and my Aunt Erchel.

We had been living in California a year. Dad worked
for Southern Pacific RR while we were there, and we lived with Mother’s
Great Aunt Lucy and her daughter Rena. I had my first birthday there, and I was
almost two when we came home. Up to this time I had been very protected in the big city of Pasadena. I had always lived
with adults, so imagine my surprise
when I saw Erchel and she was about my size—so was Maurice, my Uncle, and there was Beulah and Merl only a little
bigger. Kids my size! I couldn't remember ever seeing children before; I just thought that
everyone was big like Mother and Dad.

A
few days latter we got back into the Essex and drove to New Plymouth, and there
was Marjorie—another little
person! How exciting! She lived there with her mother and dad, Eva and Clarence Hersey, and she was
also my size.

We
finally reached Middle Fork, and I was very happy to be home. Three years later my brother, Oren, was born, and my sister
Artis was born two years after that.

Although that house has long been gone, I will
always have seven years of beautiful memories of it.

------------------------------------------

Louisa Shaw

Louisa
married Troy Hawley and they had two daughters, Gwendolyn and

Geraldine. Troy worked
at the Tamarack sawmill for awhile after they were married, but they left Idaho
and spent most of their life in the Longview Washington area. Troy worked at the paper mill there. The girls both married
and I think they are still in Washington.

Etta Shaw

Etta married Robert Turnbough. They had one
daughter, Darlene, who married Gerald
Thomas. Etta and Robert got divorced,and she married George Holt. They had two boys, Delmer and Gilbert. She later married
Kenneth Brewer. They Lived in Kelso Washington.

Arnold Shaw

Arnold
married Fern Bridges. Three boys and a girl were born to that couple. They were divorced, and he married Louise and had
more children. They lived in Oregon. Arnold passed away several years ago from
a heart ailment.

Ervie Shaw

Ervie
married Margaret Jackson of Indian Valley. They had two children, Dauna and
Orville. They bought the Shaw place from his mother, and they lived there
several years. Ervie raised cattle and
also was employed as a range rider for several years. He bought the Heimsoth place which was next door to
him and sold the old home place. He later
bought a place out of Weiser, and he was there where he passed away in Jan
1996. He was buried in the Council
Cemetery.

-----------------------------------------

SNOW

Bernard Snow was born in Pomfret, Vermont, January 22,
1822, the only son of Ebenezer and Polly Hayes Snow.  He had three sisters.

            He followed the Forty-Niners to California, going by sailing
ship around the Horn.  His wife, Louise,
and a son were to come overland with friends. 
They started but perished on the way.  It was a tragedy of pioneer travel.  While in California Bernard worked at
various things, even as an actor of some ability.

            In 1860
he moved to the mining towns of Utah. 
He apparently possessed the mechanical skill of his father and
worked as a millwright and carpenter, building mining mills.

            In 1862 he met and married Matilda A. Sorensen.   She was born in Copenhagen, Denmark, April
10, 1845, and came to America in 1853 with her family. Her parents were
Frederick C. and Amelia Flinto Sorensen. 
There were three other children. 
The voyage to America was by sailing vessel and required seven
weeks.  Then they crossed the country in
a covered wagon.

           The
Snow children born in Utah were Gerry, Amelia, Nettie, and Melvin. Ellis was
born in Idaho.

            They moved to Idaho in 1882, arriving in
Indian Valley July 2.  Bernard
filed a homestead claim on land along the Little Weiser River, where they
engaged in farming and cattle raising. 
He continued to do some carpenter work and helped his son-in-law, Fred
Beier, build his first home on Cottonwood .

            The Snows
operated the stage station and post office. 
Travelers and mail came by stagecoach to Indian Valley and
points north. In winter, sleighs replaced the stagecoaches.

Bernard Snow died February 23, 1893, and Matilda died June
25, 1921. Their son, Ellis, operated the family farm from the time he
was a mere boy and became its owner after his mother's death.

            Gerry
Snow, born December 26, 1863, at Ephriam, Utah, died February 14, 1950, at
Ridgefield, Washington.  He was a
farmer, deputy sheriff, and livestock buyer.  Each year he bought thousands of beef cattle in his
home county and shipped them to meat packing plants on the Pacific coast.  These cattle were driven to a central point
and shipped.  This was a big event for
the stockmen concerned.

            In 1886
he married Effie Irene Dodge.  They lived
in Washington County all their married lives. 
They had three sons and two daughters.  They separated in 1906 and, in 1911, Gerry Snow married Myrtle Brown.

            Amelia Snow was born at Ephriam, Utah, August 27, 1867,
and died at Weiser January 8, 1945. 
She met and married,in 1887, Frederick William Beier.  They had four sons and two daughters.  Council was their home.

            Nettle
Snow was born at Provo, Utah, June 14, 1871. She married Mathias McCarthy and
moved to Wisconsin in 1895. at Fond du Lac 
Wisconsin. She died October 25, 1948, at Fon du Lac Wisconsin.

            Ellis
Snow was born in Indian Valley October 11, 1882.  He married a school teacher, Helen E. Meechan, June 10,
1910.  They operated the Snow family
farm in Indian Valley, as well as several others which they acquired. In
1925 they moved to Council but continued to operate their farms.  They bought the Fred Beier farm on
Cottonwood in later years.[l]  Their
children were Nettle, Florence, Bernard, Edwin, Helen, and Melvin. [2]

            Ellis
Snow died August 5, 1967. He and his wife are buried in Indian Valley.[2]

1 Herbert H. Beier, The Bernard Snow Family History,
1961 (unpublished).

              2.
Indian Valley Cemetery records, Idaho Genealogical Library, Boise, Idaho.

Bernard Snow.

 Minnie J. Shaw (June 13, 1891 to  Feb 29, 1916) and Artie R. Shaw (Oct 26,
1901 to June 9, 1917)? 

They're buried together at the Cottonwood Cemetary. 

 

From Rosanda __, 2006:

 

 Here is what I know about my great
great 

grandfather [Bernard Snow]. He was born in Pomfret, Vermont. He graduated from
Cambridge. He married Louise King in Boston. He sailed
from Boston around Cape Horn to California in 1849. He
came to Utah in 1851. In 1856 he went on a mission to England He must have made
enough money because he supported six wives and 22 children. My line goes
through his second wife Alice Smith who he apparently married around here or
Indian Valley in 1853. He built a mill in Sanpete Co., Utah. He was a mill
right? [Millwright] He acted in plays. And, he may have been a House
Representative in Utah. I do know he died in Indian Valley because I wrote the
sexton there and she says he is buried there.

___________________________________________

SWEARINGEN

            Zeb Vance
Swearingen was born in 1860 on a plantation near Winston- Salem, North
Carolina.  The plantation was typical
of the times, having many slaves. 
After the Civil War circumstances were considerably different.
When he was twenty years old he left his father's plantation and came west to
Prineville, Oregon, where he lived for three years. Then Zeb went to Bergdorf
to run a placer mining business for two years. 
He mined with a partner near McCall, selling in 1893. In 1900 he bought
a ranch on Middle Fork which he sold in 1936. His first wife was from the east
and did not like western life.  They
separated and she went home. His second wife, Margaret, died in 1929.[1]

            There were
no children ,and after Zeb's death, February 3, 1945, there was a bitter court
fight over the sizable estate.

1 Obituary of Zeb Vanee Swearingen, Adam~,
February 9.       ·

1945.

____________________________________

THOMPSON

John T. Thompson, born
October 17, 1857 in Union County, Iowa, died May, 1933.

In 1863 he crossed the
plains with his parents to Weiser. The next spring they moved to Falk's Store
and, next, to Salubria. His father was killed while oiling a pitman rod on his
thresher.

John married Emma
Vandike, daughter of Mrs. Maria Merrit, in 1874. They had five daughters and
two sons.

When the Indian War
started he left his family at the fort and went to fight.

The Thompsons moved to
Tuscarora, Nevada, in 1876 and he hauled sage brush to the mines for fuel.
Their daughter, Alice, was born there. They returned to Idaho and lived on the
old Underwood place. They cared for the three little Underwood girls after
their mother died. A daughter, Florence, was born there.1 In the spring of 1880
the family moved to Hornet Creek. Five children--Anna, Emma, John, Lula, and
George--were born there.2

John Thompson hauled
the first load of ore from the Seven Devils to Weiser, which was the nearest
railroad in 1894. He freighted to Silver City and other mining areas.

He and his wife
separated but he kept the children together.

In 1899 he went to
Sumpter, Oregon, to work in the mining camps.3

1. Obituary of John T.
Thompson,  Adams County Leader, May 26,
1933

2. 1880 Census, Hornet
Creek, Washington County, Idaho

3. Obituary of John T.
Thompson

______________________________

Thorpe

Arthur Clayton Thorpe,
born in western Iowa January 1, 1861, to parent! of Scottish origin, died
April, 1931.

When he was seven years
old his family moved to California by ox team, arriving at San Francisco in
late 1868. He grew up there and worked as a stone cutter, carpenter, and boat
handyman. At age twenty-seven he went to Oregon and Washington and to British
Columbia prospecting and mining for gold. He was a storekeeper in a small town
on the Columbia River.

A. C. Thorpe married
Gennette May in Dayton, Washington, June 5, 1888. He was a farmer and stock
raiser in Stevens County, Washington, for fifteen years.

Thorpes moved to Little
Camas Prairie and raised stock before moving to Council in 1918.1

There were five
children: Earl, Arthur, Raymond, Mary, and Mattie.

The Thorpe farm was on
Hornet Creek, adjoining Art's farm.

Mrs. Thorpe died
January 18, 1922.

1. Obituary of Arthur
Clayton Thorpe, Adams County Leader, Council, Idaho, May 1, 1931

________________________________________

THURSTON

            This Is March, 1971. 
I am Mary Thurston, recording memories of my late husband, Dr. Alvin S.
Thurston, who practiced medicine in a mountain community from 1931 to
1949.  The dates do not indicate
pioneering, but the circumstances did. 
He grew up in Chicago, receiving his medical training at the university
of Illinois Medical School after two years in service during World War I,
including being wounded in France and subsequent hospitalization.  He interned at St. Luke's, then a new and
one of the largest hospitals in Chicago. 
After two years' practice in Denver, he hunted for a small town,
and found it in Council, Idaho.

            We
arrived late one afternoon, having driven from Denver with a 5-month old
daughter and a German Shepherd dog.  Dr.
Higgs, from whom we were buying the practice, took us to see the house he had
found for us, saying it was a real nice place.  It was a square box, partitioned into four rooms; one room had a
sink in one corner, and a cupboard in the opposite corner; one room had a
closet; there was a back porch. 
"But where is the bathroom?" asked my city husband.  "Oh," was the nonchalant reply,
"There aren't many bathrooms in town."  Well, we camped there a few days until we found a better
house--at least it had another bedroom built on, a large porch, and a bath--
even if it did open between the back bedroom and the porch, and it was a bit
cold in winter.  The house of course was
stove-heated; in winter the frost stood on the wall of the north bedroom.  We took the electric range out of the
kitchen to make room, in winter, for a chuck-wagon stove.

            The
office facilities were similar, most of the homes too.  This was a remote area, and in the midst of
the depression.  The first night we were
there the doctor had to go out to deliver a baby; this house too had only
a back-yard faucet.  When he came home,
he laughed that he would have to write a book, "Mother Council,"
instead of the well-known "Mother India.

           Practice
was general and varied--home deliveries, tonsillectomies and minor surgery in
the office, pediatrics, fractures, everything. Dr. Higgs had had his
brother, a surgeon, come from Fairfield twice a year to operate.

            In 1924
he did appendectomies at the Perkins ranch, up Hornet Creek, on Laura, Pearl,
and Gene; he also operated at the Poynor ranch, on Mill Creek, and did more
kitchen-table surgery at the home of Mr. and Mrs. Robert Young. Mrs.
Young also helped him with baby cases. 
Dr. Thurston did a minimum of home surgery; instead he took his
cases to a cottage hospital at Weiser, 60 miles away, or on 15 miles farther to
Holy Rosary Hospital at Ontario. 
He had to invent an ambulance--the front seat came out of the Ford, a
board stretcher with a front leg went in, and the mattress was one cut down and
covered with oilcloth--plastics were as yet unknown; later this was replaced
with a rubber mattress.

            The extensive territory included all of Adams County, down
into Washington County, on up into the Riggins country, the Seven
Devils, and Hells Canyon, and later even into Long Valley.  After a couple of years he took on an
assistant, Dr. Jim Dinsmore, and opened an office in New Meadows twice a week,
30 miles north of Council, for minor diagnosis, shots, and so on; also an
office in Midvale thirty miles south on the road to Weiser.

            The Thursday afternoons at New
Meadows were really long; they saw a record of 105 patients one day. A
good friend, whose father had been a pioneer sheepman and who appreciated the difficulties,
used to take over a box lunch every Thursday in the late afternoon, so they
could have a bite if and when they had time.  This was the depression:  people couldn't afford gas and really
appreciated having service brought to them! 
For the same reason--to save them the 6D-mile trip to Weiser--he
extracted teeth.  Before long he brought
in an X-ray for the Council office**: again making it possible to give better
service close to home.

[**1933]

            Dr. Dinsmore stayed a few years,
went on to his own practice.  He was
followed by a series of young doctors, until there were two at a time.
Then the war came, the assistants went into the army, and for a while the
practice was a one-man thing, necessarily somewhat curtailed.  Dr. Edwards came in 1947, is still there;
also Dr. Thurston found an able assistant in Bud Grimes--no formal training but
a natural who learned to do everything, driving the car, getting it ready to go
on emergency trips complete with oxygen, giving anesthetic, doing the
X-ray work, giving shots.  There was no way
of explaining his position, or his ability, but he made the war years
possible.

The office was a former
"flat" over the drug store: 
waiting room, consulting room, laboratory and small surgery combined
(which the small daughters called "Daddy's kitchen").  Later an adjoining room became available and
was filled with eight beds and couches of sorts, as well as some examining and
consultation rooms.  That was where the
tonsillectomy patients, sometimes eight in one morning, came out of the
anesthetic.

Babies were delivered at home,
as our second daughter was.  Hazel
Perkins, untrained but willing, learned to give the necessary anesthetics
and to assist in minor surgery. 
Sometimes "home" was miles out in the country, with no
phone, which meant the doctor sometimes spent the night, not always
comfortable.  Or else a woman could stay
in town with Grandma Zink, who also took care of sick people in her home;
or they went to the home of Mrs. Grace Elliot, who had come to Council
in her girlhood by covered wagon from Kelton, Utah:  her house had no running water, nor did that
of Mrs. Edith Thorpe, or Mrs. Maude Nichols; but these women followed the
doctor's directions carefully, which was all he asked.  Other women helped with home deliveries, particularly
Mrs. Elgie Bratland, known to the younger generation as Salmon River Sue as
she followed the Riggins ball games religiously.  Incidentally, the doctor's fee was $25 from the first
office call until the baby was a month old; eventually it went up to $75.  Not all bills were collected, of course, but
the doctor let it be understood that he objected to taking on a second delivery
when no attempt had been made to settle for the first. Sometimes there were
problems getting through the snowdrifts, and more than once the children's sled
went into the car and was used to pull the heavy O.B. kit to the house
from the road.  In case of a premature baby
an incubator would be improvised from an apple box or carton, with light
bulbs, flat irons, or hot water bottles. 
And sometimes there would be an audience, not always welcome:  cold night, warm room,
neighborhood women wanting to be helpful or
just bored and glad for a little excitement.  Then there was the time
the father knew the doctor couldn't get
to Goodrich by road (in 1932 that
stretch of road wasn't kept open in
winter) so he arranged for him to make
the night trip from Council by railroad
handcar, ten or twelve miles. [This baby was
Eleanor Schmid Riggin.]

            Quarantining was almost unknown.  During our first winter,
there was an epidemic of small pox. City-trained
Dr. Thurston had never seen a case, but
he did quarantine. One man from Indian
Valley announced laughingly at the Mesa
Store that he was supposed to be
quarantined; he didn't think it so fun
when the storekeeper reported to the doctor
and the sheriff. Also at that time the
community learned about vaccination, and accepted
it, though with some doubts. One Sunday
afternoon, with the family going along
for the ride, was spent in New Meadows
vaccinating in the hotel lobby.

            One night
there appeared at the door a young woman
and a cowboy friend.  Her mother had been kicked by
a horse, and the daughter had ridden
three miles from their ranch to Wildhorse,
a settlement on the Snake River down in
Hells Canyon. The phones were out, so
the cowboy rode with her about twenty
miles--still no phones--to the Hanson ranch on
Hornet Creek. Mr. Hanson [Bill] drove them
the last ten miles to Council, then all
of them back to the ranch, where
he loaned the doctor a horse and a man
to go along.  People
are really kind; when they reached the
ranch, the injured woman insisted they
rest and have breakfast before they set
her leg.  A week later
they made the trip again, but by
this time spring was on the way,
roads were passable, and they went
by car all but the final three
miles from Wildhorse to the ranch. He
was not a horseman, but those trips were
necessary, so he made them. 

            [The
young woman who appeared at the door was Helena Moore (later Schmidt) who lived
her entire life on "Starveout Ranch" on Wildhorse. Her mother,
Carmeta Moore, was the one with the broken leg.  Carmeta was born Mar 11, 1879 and died at Wildhorse in July 1947.
Dr. Thurston filmed part of this trip to Wildhorse with his home movie camera.
Video versions of his films are available from the Council Valley Museum.] 

            Another
horseback ride was miles up the Middle
Fork of the Weiser over what is now
a pretty good motor road, but then
was a mere trail.  This
particular trip was about dawn, and he
came home talking of the beautiful
sunrise he had ridden through.  Not all the trips
were hardship; in fact this particular one
had a touch of humor in it:  the patient he had
gone to see was a remittance man from
a good Eastern family--indeed his brother was
well known in Washington.  But Charlie was different, lived
alone, and though his isolated house had
a bathtub, he used it to store coal.

Highways in the snow could
be bad.  I had a
few uneasy hours one morning at six:  "Doc isn't here yet."  I knew he had started
in plenty of time, learned later that--possibly
not really awake at that hour--he
had started to take the "summer turn"
before going up Mesa Hill instead of
the regular road to Indian Valley, and
had to be shovelled out.  He was alone that time,
which was unusual, because there were
half a dozen men in town who said--and
sincerely meant--"Don't ever start out
at night or on a risky trip alone,
Doc; call me and I'll be ready
in five minutes." 
So usually when it seemed advisable
he'd take Hugh Addington from next door,
Alta Ingram, Dee Russell of the Forest
Service, Alex Shaw--all men who were not
only willing, but capable of handling any
road situation.  Even
after Bud Grimes, the right-hand man, was
part of the staff, these loyal friends
were called on now and then.  I remember phoning Vern
Brewer, a Forest Ranger, telling him where and
when the doctor had gone.  He said, "Well, we'll
give him another hour."  In less than that he phoned
from the Hornet Creek Station, "Doc
just stopped on his way home, and
everything's fine.

            Homestead
is down in Hells Canyon.  In summer one goes
down the Kleinschmidt Grade, but it was
winter when Aliene Darland called.  We knew her well; she
belonged in Cuprum but was spending the
winter down on the river. The phone connection
was poor, very poor; all the doctor
could understand was who was calling and
that the need was urgent.  He drove through Cambridge
and Brownlee, down the river part of
the way on the railroad track.  That was before the dam
and the subsequent roads.  He was a bit disconcerted when he
arrived to find that Aliene was not
calling for herself; but for a neighbor
who was having a baby--and he hadn't
brought his O.B. bag! 

            Another memorable case occurred
[in 1935] when Mr. Fanning, who had a small
sawmill at Crooked River, about twenty
miles above Council toward Cuprum, got
his head caught in a saw and was cut
so that his brain was exposed.  He had to be brought
by improvised ambulance to Council, Alta
Ingram this time riding in the back seat
by him and giving constant reports
to the doctor-- who was noted as being
the fastest driver in the area.  They had to delay
in Council because there was a very sick
man there who had to be checked,
Bill Shaw, who in his late seventies
had a severe case of spotted fever. Then
they went on to Ontario and took
Mr. Fanning into surgery.  In a matter of weeks
he was back at Crooked River, not
as good as new, but able to be
about.

            [Adams
County Leader, June 14, 1935--Frank Fanning injured at the W.S. Rucker saw mill
on Crooked river.  He stood up under the
circular saw and it entered his brain cavity. 
He is about 65 years old.

            Adams
County Leader, Jun 21, 1935--Dr. Thurston says Mr. Fanning will have a metal
plate for part of his skull, but will be "normal again after a few
weeks."]

The side
roads were often impassable, so Dr. Thurston
ordered an outfit from Wisconsin, a cat track
with runners to let down, and had
it mounted on a Model A sedan.  That rig became known
all over the area as Doc's snowmobile,
and it went all sorts of places,
noisy but effective. 

            [This snowmobile is also shown on
Dr. Thurston's home movies. Gene Perkins had another just about like it which
is in the films.]

            One
day the doctor with one friend started
for Brownlee, but drifts the size of
a barn turned them back. 
The Forest Service worked all night,
and next day he started out again
with three faithful companions, and the
snowmobile loaded--some firewood in case they
were caught in a blizzard, two milk
cans of extra gasoline, and enough food
for any emergency. 
This time they went through,
and fortunately the patient was not so
ill but that he had waited fairly
comfortably.  Even a
flat tire on the snowmobile was taken
care of when the son of the family
had one the same size, and mounted
it.

All this time the
"home fires" were kept burning.  Council had a fine man,
Mr. Alcorn, as drug store owner and
pharmacist, and an excellent assistant in
Charlie Winkler. Their hours were sometimes
erratic, for they would fill prescriptions in
emergencies as well as during regular
hours.  The telephone exchange,
too, cooperated; usually they knew where
to locate the doctor as well as the
office or his home did, if he were
out on call, and wasted no time.  This was true of
Midvale and New Meadows, as well as
Council.  Mrs. Ethel
Doyle had the exchange in the early
days, and Mr. and Mrs. Erik Lawrence,
affectionately known as Poppy and Mommy,
were long-time managers and friends.

            And what about pay?  Well, there was a
lot of meat taken in, including a quarter
of tough beef that we had to eat
up ourselves; there were potatoes, apples, any
sort of produce. 
The local grocer one day pointed
to a team of horses pulling a sled down
the street, sayings "Those horses
belong to Doc and me--the fellow owes
us both.  But we're
letting him use them--he feeds them that
way."  Our first
fall in Council Ben gave us the
hind quarter of a fawn, the choicest of
all venison, on the grounds that he'd
kept the doctor from going hunting to
deliver his baby boy.  As long as we lived there,
each fall brought a choice piece of meat.  They had a large
family, and I used to drive out and
get vegetables to credit to their account.  One fall Ben came into
the office with a wad of bills, and
said, "What do I owe you,
Doc?"  Doc assured
him he ought to keep enough to
see him through the winter--he had just
sold his wheat crop.  He insisted--they reached an agreement:  Ben owed $150, so
they settled for $100 cash.  Some people ignored their
bills, but the ones like Ben--and the
ones who brought trout because Doc hadn't
time to fish, or fresh peaches from
down on the river, or showed their appreciation
in the many ways they did--they kept
up our faith in humanity.  There was even the
woman who heard that the doctor, ill
at the time, wanted chicken livers, not
to be purchased in the store then,
and brought a jar; I always felt she had
butchered especially that day, and was duly
grateful.

After a few years the time
came when Dr. Thurston told the town
we needed a hospital.  We
owned a bit of property, taken partly
on a bill; like other places it had a
minimum of plumbing, but the people
of the area rallied round, signed notes,
found money and supplies, and under
the direction of John East, a fine local
carpenter, the result was what was described
in the Adams County Leader for
July 28, 1939, as "a most
compact and complete nursing home, with two
single rooms and two 2-bed wards, an
operating room, a delivery room, bath room,
linen room, and a most complete kitchen.  Dr. Thurston will turn
all his patients, who have formerly been
going to the Weiser and Ontario hospitals,
to the new enterprise, and states that
he has had enough needing hospitalization
to keep a small nursing home going.  He has contracted with
Ella Camp, a Council girl and a registered
nurse, to have complete management of the
establishment.  Dr. Thurston
furnished the operating room with surgical
instruments, but asked the community to
help furnish the home with other necessary
equipment.  He plans
to turn over the whole home to a
non-profit corporation with a board selected from
the community at large, so it will
be a community enterprise."  The paper published a
detailed list of equipment needed; much was
donated from what people could spare, a
dresser here, a bed there, a couple of sheets,
cooking utensils, an electric range from a
Weiser merchant, similar contributions from local
merchants, other goods and cash donations
from all around, from Weiser to Riggins.  Even bridge for a
long time was 256 on the corner, for
the hospital.  As need
arose--as someone said, when they began
to have to hang patients on hooks in
the hall--additions were built, remodeling was
done.  It was truly
a "Topsy"--"it just growed." The
board of trustees was made up of representatives
of the civic groups of the territory
it served,

changing every year or so,
except the treasurer, Mae Ingram, who
was permanent--and efficient.

As a sequel--newer ways came
in, the hospital was outdated. Dr. Thurston
completed plans for a remodeled surgery, but
died, in 1949, before it was finished.  Dr. Edwards, who had
worked with him, stayed on.  As the need for a
newer facility became more and  more apparent, the same
community spirit worked out plans for
a county hospital built just behind the
old building.

None would have been prouder
on May 8, 1962, when this new "Community
Hospital" was dedicated than the country
doctor of depression days, who had seen
a need and had done his best to
fill it.

Biography of Mary Thurston:

            Mary
Planert Thurston was born in Cairo, Illinois in 1898 and was educated in
Chicago schools.  In 1929 she married
Dr. Alvin S. Thurston. From 1931 until Dr. Thurston's death they lived
in Council, Idaho.  They had two
daughters, and during the years the girls were growing up Mrs. Thurston was
active in school and church affairs. 
Their home was a gathering place for community affairs.   Both of the girls were Girl Scouts, and
their mother was an enthusiastic Scout Leader.

            During
the war years Mrs. Thurston taught in the high schools at both Council and Eagle.
Primarily she taught English and Latin classes, but she also did a great
deal of library work in both schools. After Dr. Thurston's death, Mrs. Thurston
moved to McCall to establish her home and began her work here as
Librarian and Latin teacher in the McCall Donnelly school system.

            Mrs.
Thurston was one of the members of the first board in McCall to plan and
promote our hospital.  Her cheerful,
untiring efforts were devoted to both organization and fund raising activities.   Since the successful completion of this
project she has continued to work for. the benefit of the hospital and
auxiliary.

            After
she retired from active teaching, Mrs. Thurston was appointed to the McCall
Library Board, and as it's chairman she has been working closely with the
State Librarian to continue improvements. The education of youngsters through
use of library material is still a primary concern with her.    She is now engaged in a program to obtain
a new building and facilities for the Library·

Mrs. Thurston's two lovely daughters are:

         1. 
Mrs. Donald E. (Janet F.) McMahan, age 34, Fruitvale, Idaho, a
graduate of Stanford University in 1952 with a major in biological sciences,
and a graduate of University of California School of Medical Technology
in 1954,.  She was employed for two
years before marriage as a medical technologist at U. C. Medical Center
in San Francisco, California.   She is
now married to a rancher and newspaper publisher, and is the mother
of four children.

 2. Mrs. Earl T. (Sally M.) Clark, age 32, Atlanta, Georgia, is a
graduate of University of Oregon, class of 1954 with a major in
business. She was employed as secretary for the United States State Department
prior to her marriage in 1955 to Security Officer for the U. S. State
Department.   She is the mother of three
(living) children, and is active in church and State Department affairs.

 [Mary Thurston died in a Boise nursing home on Dec. 31, 1981.]

________________________________________

Tomlinson

George W. and Mary E.
Tomlinson had five children--Sarah, Ema, Edna, Henry, and Harry.

They moved from Raton,
New Mexico, to Protem Missouri and in 1900 to John Day, Oregon, and finally in
1902 to Council.,

Harry Tomlinson, born
May 16, 1894, at Raton, New Mexico, married Evelyn Sayles at Billings, Montana.
He died in October, 1972.

Edna Tomlinson, born in
April 1889 at Raton, New Mexico, married Rollie McMahan. He died in 1966 and
Edna in May, 1970, at Nampa.

Sarah Tomlinson, born
June 20, 1884 at Ault, Colorado, married Ralph Yantis at Council November 9,
1908. They homesteaded what is called Fort Hall hill, where they lived the rest
of their lives. They had three sons, Ray, Frank, and Fred.

Mr. Yantis died
suddenly on December 6, 1928. He took a load of turkeys to the lower valley the
day before. Returning in the Ford, without curtains, he was seriously chilled.
He was just recovering from influenza and apparently was still in a weakened
condition.

1. Obituary of Mrs. Edna McMahan, Adams County
Leader, June 4, 1970

_____________________________________________

Wafler

Robert Wafler, born
Fruitigen, Switzerland, September 22, 1883, died at his home in Council
December 25, 1951.1 He was the youngest of four children, orphaned at an early
age and cared for by an aunt and uncle, Mr. and Mrs. Anton Wafler. They were
the parents of the late Mrs. Adolph Grossen. She and "Bobby" were
cousins. Their mothers were sisters and their fathers were brothers.2

Bobby came to the United
States in 1902, received his citizenship papers in 1912, and cherished them
above all other possessions.

He worked for the
P.I.N. railroad for a number of years.

For over forty years he
was the custodian of the Congregational Church. He became a member of that
church in Switzerland when he was fifteen and transferred his membership to
Council in 1908. He served as a Congregational Sunday School teacher and
secretary. He cared for Sunday School supplies, rang the bell, and was janitor.
He was also town librarian.4

Bobby retired from
church work two years before his death.

1.    Obituary of Robert Wafler, Adams county
Leader January 4, 1952

2.    Edith Selby, Council, Idaho oral interview,
1973.

3.    Obituary of Robert Wafler.

4.    Ibid.

______________________________________________

Watt

R. C. Watt was an
eccentric who lived in Council for many years. No one seemed to know much about
him.

He was born in England
and was a graduate of Oxford University.1 He was a justice of peace for a time
in the 1920s.2 His home was on Galena Street near the present John Gould home.
His house burned in 1935.

In Council he was known
simply as "Old Watt," odd but a good man. He wore a beard and long
hair. When the bows of his glasses broke he used string and tied his glasses to
his hair.

I Records of his death
and burial were not found.

1. John Gould, Council,
Idaho oral interview

        2.
Records of First Bank of Council, Idaho State Historical Society,

      Boise,
Idaho 

____________________________________________