Elmore County ID

Biography of James S. Acker

James S. Acker, proprietor of the general mercantile cash store, at Mountain Home, is one of the successful businessmen of the town, and his enterprise and energy have given him rank among the leading representatives of commercial interests in Elmore county. A native of Alabama, he was born near Birmingham, on the 6th of August 1865. His ancestors were natives of Holland and at an early day joined a Dutch colony that settled in South Carolina. His father, Dr. J. W. Acker, engaged in the practice of medicine throughout his business career and became a very prominent and successful physician, … Read more

Walker, Harriet Hortense Ward Mrs. – Obituary

Harriet Walker, 98, died on April 11, 2006, at Arcadia, Calif. With the help of Tami’s Pine Valley Funeral Home, Harriet is now resting next to her parents at Cloverdale Cemetery in Boise. Harriet Hortense Walker, or “Aunt Horty” as she was affectionately known, was born at home in Nampa, Idaho, on Aug. 8, 1908, to Kate Share Ward and Henry B. Ward. She lost her hearing at the age of 9 months, the result of scarlet fever and whooping cough. At age 7, Harriet and her mother boarded a train at Nampa on their way to the Idaho State … Read more

Ormsby, Ada Katherine Roberts Barber – Obituary

Services for Ada K. Ormsby, 77, of Nampa, who died Tuesday, Feb 19 [1985], in a Nampa hospital, will be conducted at 3 p.m., Friday at the Alsip Funeral Chapel, Nampa. The Rev. Rand Sargent of the Fruitland Methodist Church will officiate. Interment will follow in the Kohlerlawn Cemetery. Mrs. Ormsby was born Feb. 18, 1908, in Pine, to Lewellyn and Cordelia Roberts. She was reared and educated in Pine and Featherville. She married Walter D. “Buck” Ormsby in 1933 at Mountain Home. They came to Nampa that same year where he went to work for the railroad. Mr. Ormsby … Read more

Biography of John S. White

The subject of this review has been long and conspicuously identified with the history of the great west, and in varied official positions has proved a wise and discriminating factor in the public life. He is at the present time the incumbent of the important office of judge of probate of Elmore County, retaining his residence at Mountain Home, the flourishing and attractive little city which is the capital of said County. Judge White is a native son of the old Empire state, and may look with satisfaction upon a lineage which traces back to the stanchest of old New … Read more

The Mormon Question

The fifteenth legislative assembly of Idaho convened December lo, 1878, when the people were excited over Mormonism more than in regard to all other things together. In all contested elections the Mormon candidates were excluded, and even an undue prejudice was bitterly exhibited against them. Congress was memorialized to refuse Utah admission into the Union, and also to require of homestead and preemption settlers an oath giving a statement of their polygamous practices. Already the local law required superintendents of schools to sub-scribe to an affidavit that they were neither bigamists nor polygamists, but at this session it was so … Read more

Biography of William F. Smith, M. D.

The state of Idaho, with its pulsing industrial activities and rapid development, has attracted within its confines men of marked ability and high character in the various professional lines, and in this way progress has been conserved and social stability fostered. He whose name initiates this review has gained recognition as one of the able and successful physicians of the state, and by his labors, his high professional attainments and his sterling characteristics has justified the respect and confidence in which he is held by the medical fraternity and the local public. A representative physician and surgeon of Mountain Home, … Read more

Biography of Columbus R. Shaw

One of the most enterprising, energetic and successful businessmen of Caldwell, is the gentleman whose name appears above. He is a native of the state of Missouri, his birth having occurred in Ray County, in 1859. His father, William P. Shaw, was a native of Tennessee, whence he removed to Missouri, in 1833, becoming one of the pioneers of the latter state. He married Miss Julia A. Waterman, a native of New York, whose people were also numbered among the early settlers of Missouri. The Shaw family is of Irish origin, and leaving the Emerald Isle crossed the Atlantic to … Read more

Biography of Edward C. Helfrich

The superior business ability of Mr. Helfrich has been an integral factor in the commercial activity whereon has rested much of the prosperity of southern Idaho. The world judges the character of a community by those of its representative citizens, and yields its tributes of admiration and respect for the ability and accomplishments of those whose works and actions constitute the record of the state’s prosperity and pride. Therefore it is proper that a just celebrity should be given to those men who are prominent in their day and generation, that the living may enjoy the approbation of their contemporaries … Read more

Biography of Carter W. Burns

Among the public officials of Elmore county is Carter W. Burns, of Mountain Home, who is now acceptably serving as sheriff. His entire life has been spent west of the Mississippi, his birth having occurred in Jackson county, Iowa, on the 5th of April 1856. The family is of Scotch descent and was early founded in the state of Missouri, the paternal grandfather of our subject having taken up his residence there when the region was an almost unbroken wilderness Jerome Samuel Burns, the father of our subject, was born in Missouri and wedded Miss Mary Kuntz, a native of … Read more

Douhan, Margaret E. – Obituary

La Grande, Oregon Margaret “Micky” E. Douhan, 95, died June 3 in Port Townsend, Wash. Memorial services were held at Quimper Unitarian Church in Port Townsend. Micky was born Oct. 13, 1911, in Greeley, Colo., to Carl and Vesta (Parker) Douhan in Greeley. The family moved to La Grande where Micky grew up and graduated from high school. She enrolled at Oregon State University in 1936 and received a Bachelor of Science degree in marine biology in 1940. Micky returned to school in 1968 and earned a master’s in liberal arts degree from Reed College in Portland. Micky met Wendell … Read more

Dalke, Stephen Arnold “Steve” – Obituary

Stephen Arnold “Steve” Dalke, 49, of Hammett, Idaho, died Feb. 22, 2002, after battling cancer. His funeral will be at 2 p.m. Saturday at the Baker City Church of the Nazarene, 1250 Hughes Lane. Steve was born on Dec. 2, 1952, at Omaha, Neb., to Arnold and Doris Dalke, who were missionaries with Village Missions in the Western states. He graduated from Yreka High School at Yreka, Calif., in 1971. He attended Montana Institute of the Bible where he met his future wife, Carla Sue Claiborne of Boise. They were married at Cole Community Church on May 22, 1976. Throughout … Read more

Biography of James O’Neill

James O’Neill came to the northwest from the far-off Atlantic coast: nor have his travels been limited by his journey across the continent, for he spent some time among the mountains in the distant south. He was born in Rondout, New York, May 6, 1861 his parents being Patrick and Hannah (Mullroy) O’Neill, natives of Ireland. Both crossed the Atlantic to the United States in childhood, and were reared, educated and married in the Empire state. The father, who was a tanner by trade, died when our subject was only about five years old leaving the mother to care for … Read more

Biography of Charles R. Kelsey

Among the more recent accessions to the town of Mountain Home is Charles R. Kelsey, a gentleman of large business experience, who, as a wholesale dealer in groceries and hardware and general merchandise, has already proved himself a potent factor in the business circles of his adopted county. Mr. Kelsey is a native of New York State, born in Delaware County, at Cannonsville. November 2, 1837, and in his veins flows the blood of French and German ancestors, who were among the early settlers of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. His father, Michael B. Kelsey, was born in that city and counted among … Read more

The Mining Fields Of Idaho

The following excellent monograph by W. C. Austin was issued in pamphlet form early in the present year (1899) by authority of C. J. Bassett, state commissioner of immigration, labor and statistics, and as a valuable contribution to the history of the great mining industry of Idaho is held to be worthy of reproduction in this work: There is no other country on God’s green earth that has encompassed within her borders such vast and varied mineral wealth as Idaho. The position that Idaho occupies in the western mineral world is like a wagon wheel, of which Idaho is the … Read more

Biography of William E. Wilson

Not many of the successful men of the west are “to the manner born,” fewer still were born in the state in which their successes have been achieved. William E. Wilson is a conspicuous member of this class, the product of one western state, the progressive citizen of another, and some account of his career forms a necessary part of the work of the plan and scope of this. William E. Wilson was born in the state of Oregon, December 29, 1862, a son of James and Nancy Wilson, who were among the pioneers of Idaho and who are referred … Read more

Biography of William H. Baugh, M.D.

Dr. Baugh is the well known physician and druggist of Shoshone, and has a wide acquaintance throughout southern Idaho. A native of Missouri, he was born in Boonville, July 28, 1864, and is of German lineage. His paternal grandfather removed from one of the eastern states to Indiana, and there the Doctor’s father, Henry Clay Baugh, was born and reared. In 1860 he removed to Missouri and married Elizabeth Steger, of that state. He had previously crossed the plains to California, where he had engaged in mining with fair success. After his return to Missouri he engaged in stock raising … Read more

Biography of William H. Manion

Elmore county figures as one of the most attractive, progressive and prosperous divisions of the state of Idaho, justly claiming a high order of citizenship and a spirit of enterprise which is certain to conserve consecutive development and marked advancement in the material upbuilding of the section. The county has been and is signally favored in the class of men who have controlled its affairs in official capacity, and in this connection the subject of this review demands representation as one who has served the county faithfully and well in positions of distinct trust and responsibility. He was the incumbent … Read more

Biography of William Clarence Howie

Out of the depths of his mature wisdom Carlyle wrote, “History is the essence of innumerable biographies,” and Macaulay has said, “The history of a nation is best told in the lives of its people.” It is therefore fitting that the sketches of Idaho’s eminent and distinguished men should find a place in this volume, and to the number belongs William Clarence Howie, a prominent lawyer of Mountain Home. A native of Iowa, he was born in Davis County, near the Missouri state line, November 27, 1860. The Howie family originated in France. Two brothers, who were French Huguenots, were … Read more

Biography of Franklin P. Ake

The historian Bancroft has said. “Taken altogether Idaho is the most grand, wonderful, romantic and mysterious part of the domain enclosed within the federal Union;” and no one who has ever looked upon its beautiful and off times sublime scenery will doubt that it rightly deserves to be called “The Gem of the Mountains.” Its natural resources are probably more diversified than any other state can show, for in the midst of its high hills, rich in their mineral de-posits, are fertile valleys affording ample opportunity to the agriculturist, horticulturist and stock farmer. The owner of one of the finest … Read more

Ormsby, Edith Pearl Roberts – Obituary

A resident of Kent for the past four years, Edith Pearl Ormsby, died at the Franciscan Health Care Center, Enumclaw, on Thursday, August 11 [1994]. She was 90. Born July 28, 1904 at Pine, Idaho, to Llewellyn and Cordelia (Warner) Roberts, she was reared and attended schools there. She also met her husband, George William Ormsby there and married him October 8, 1924 at Mountain Home, Idaho. They lived in Nampa, Idaho, where they had a dairy ranch. They moved to Winlock the to Chehalis, where they lived for 10 years before moving to Kent. Her husband died June 10, … Read more