George H. Handy, probate judge and ex-ofificio superintendent of schools for Owyhee County, Idaho, resides at Silver City. He was born at Grand Island, Hall county, Nebraska, on the 20th of February 1871, and is of Scotch and English ancestry. His paternal grandfather, Parker Handy, was a native of New York city, and for many years was prominently connected with the banking business, his death occurring at the advanced age of ninety years. H. P. Handy, father of the Judge, was also born in New York City, and throughout his active business career has followed civil engineering. He came to Idaho in 1894 and now resides in Nampa, where he is living retired. He married Miss Elizabeth Cassidy, who was born on the Emerald Isle but was of Scotch and English lineage. In their family were eleven children, six of whom are yet living.
Judge Handy, the fifth in order of birth, acquired his education under the direction of his parents, both of whom are people of high mental culture. He also attended the public schools of Fort Collins, Colorado, and was graduated with the class of 1888. He then matriculated in the Colorado Agricultural College, but left that institution when in his senior year in order to accept an insurance agency. He continued in that position for three years, and later occupied a number of clerical positions in the service of Larimer county officials. In 1892 he took up his residence in Nampa, Idaho, and in October of 1892 he removed to De Lamar, where he accepted the situation of cashier for the De Lamar Mercantile & Banking Company, of De Lamar, serving in that capacity until the following June, when he resigned in order to accept the appointment as deputy district clerk of Owyhee county. He filled that place most acceptably for two years, under R. H. Leonard. Jr., and two years under E. L. Ballard, but resigned to qualify for the office of probate judge and ex-officio county school superintendent, to which he was elected in November 1896. In 1898 he was made the nominee of all the parties in the county for re-election, so faithfully and ably had be discharged his duties, giving satisfaction to all concerned.
The Judge was happily married on the 24th of February 1897, to Miss Sarah Brooks, a native of Silver City and a daughter of Anthony Brooks, now of Butte, Montana. Judge and Mrs. Handy are valued members of the Episcopal Church at Silver City, and contributed liberally to the erection of the new church edifice, which is a credit to the town. The subject of our sketch is also a member of the Order of Maccabees and Modern Woodmen of America, and is the venerable counsel of the local camp of the latter. In politics he is a “silver” Republican, well informed on the issues and questions of the day. In manner pleasant and agreeable, in business reliable and in office trustworthy, he has won many warm friends in this locality, and undoubtedly still higher political honors await him in the future.