Elmore County ID

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

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 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 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

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