The career of any pioneer is interesting. An account of that of Leon Misslin will be found especially so to the many who know and respect him for his many good qualities of head and heart. He came into the “wilds of Idaho” eight years before the government surveyed the land, and as a pioneer had many thrilling experiences and encountered numerous hardships and over-came many obstacles. The story of his struggles and triumphs, could it be given in full, would be of the greatest interest.
Leon Misslin was born at Nantes, Loire, France, a son of J. A. and Mary (Ortteschurd) Misslin, and came with his parents and his seven brothers and sisters to the United States in 1855. The family lived at Racine, Wisconsin, until 1861, when they went to Minnesota, where Mr. Misslin achieved success as a farmer and there died, aged seventy, in 1869. His wife survives him and has attained the advanced age of ninety-two years. Of their eight children, seven are living.
Leon Misslin, who, in the sequence of birth, was the fourth child of J. A. and Marv Misslin, received a common-school education in Wisconsin, and took up the battle of life for himself at the age of fifteen. He devoted three years to hard work in a blacksmith shop, becoming a thorough master of the blacksmith’s trade, and in 1863 he entered the United States service as a blacksmith in connection with military operations, and was with the army in Arkansas. After the war was ended he went to Salt Lake City, Utah, and thence to Idaho. About this time he was employed by Ben Halliday to keep some of his stages in repair and to do other blacksmithing necessary to his extensive business. Soon after his arrival in Idaho Mr. Misslin bought a bunch of cattle and brought them to his present location, where, after the land was surveyed, in 1873, he acquired a half-section, well suited to stock raising. He has since added to his landed possessions until he is the owner of four hundred and eighty acres. He was very successful as a stockman and for a considerable period, down to 1897, when they sold out, he and his brother controlled the cattle business in this locality, sometimes having on their ranges at one time as many as six hundred head. After they retired from cattle raising they invested in Cotswold sheep, and for some time past they have owned an average of two thousand head.
Politically Mr. Misslin is a Republican. He was reared in the Catholic faith. As a businessman he is progressive and enterprising, shrewd and scrupulously honest. His standing in the business community is deservedly high, and he is uniformly regarded as a useful and influential citizen.
Mr. Misslin was married, in 1888, to Miss Jennie L. Heaton, a native of St. Louis, Missouri, who is descended from English ancestry. They have two daughters, named Isabel and Anna.