Biography of Mansfield C. McGrew

One of the prominent merchants of Kendrick, and the senior member of the large general mercantile firm of McGrew & Carmean, is the gentleman whose name heads this sketch, an enterprising, energetic man whose keen discrimination in business efforts and indefatigable industry have brought him a success which he well merits. A native of Illinois, he was born in Clay County, July 11, 1862, and is of Scotch-Irish lineage. His great-grandfather, James McGrew, having emigrated from the Emerald Isle to the New World, settled in Pennsylvania and became the progenitor of the family in the United States. He later became … Read more

Biography of James Harvey Forney

A visit to the library of the gentleman whose name is above and a chat with him in his pleasant home at Moscow, are sufficient to dispel any idea that the new west is without culture or men of ability interested in its educational progress and development. Mr. Forney has given some of the best years of an active and useful life to the cause of education in Idaho, and has attained more than local distinction otherwise. James Harvey Forney, a prominent citizen of Moscow, Idaho, and ex-United States district attorney for the district of Idaho, was born in Rutherford … Read more

Biography of Marcus A. Means

The successful career of Marcus Asbury Means, of Genesee, is an illustration of the trite saying that brains and perseverance will make their way against all obstacles. Yet it is the multiplication of this illustration in all parts of our country that makes America one of the great powers of the earth. Mr. Means may be said to have been a child of war. He was born at Seabrook, Illinois, October 16, 1862, while his father was fighting for the preservation of the Union on southern battlefields, a service in which he yielded up his life in defense of his … Read more

Biography of Henry Dorsey

Henry Dorsey, deceased, formerly the proprietor of the Dorsey Cottage Hotel, at Mountain Home, was born in Hancock county, Ohio, in February, 1853, and traced his ancestors back to German and Scotch people who located in Pennsylvania at an early epoch in the history of the Keystone state. His father, David Dorsey, was born in Pennsylvania, and married Miss Rosana Wyant, also a native of that locality. In 1821, soon after their marriage, they started westward and located in the midst of the unbroken forests of Ohio. Mr. Dorsey was a farmer by occupation, and in order to prepare land … Read more

Biography of Jesse W. Randall

A leading representative of the agricultural interests of Latah County is Jesse W. Randall, who owns and operates a fine farm pleasantly situated nine miles southeast of Moscow. He is most practical and yet progressive, and his untiring industry and capable management have brought him a handsome competence. He was born in Wisconsin, October 3, 1855, and is of Scotch descent, his paternal great-grandfather having emigrated from Scotland when this country was still a British possession. He settled in New York colony, and when the attempt was made to throw off the yoke of British tyranny he joined the American … Read more

Prominent Cities and Towns of the State

Boise, The Capital City The following descriptive article is an excerpt from the souvenir edition of the Boise Sentinel, issued in June 1897: So much has been said and written and sung of “Boise, the Beautiful,” that the task of saying any-thing new seems utterly hopeless; and of this there is little need. While those who have made their homes here from the beginning, and those who from year to year have come to stay, might naturally be expected to be most fervent in their praises, they have not always been the happiest in laying appropriate tributes before the shrine … Read more

Bell, Sumiko Mrs. – Obituary

Sumiko Bell, 74, died April 25, 2006, at SunBridge of Nampa, Idaho, with family by her side. Sumiko was born on March 18, 1932, at Nagoya, Japan. She grew up in Japan and in 1954 met Lewis Edwin Bell while he was stationed in Japan. They fell in love and later married in 1958 in Japan. Lewis and Sumiko moved back to Mountain Home, Idaho, Air Force base. They had two daughters and one son. After retiring from the service in 1974, the family moved to Baker City, where Sumiko lived until 2002 when she moved to Nampa to be … Read more

Biography of John J. Owen

The history of the first things is always interesting. In any town the first settler’s is the name most carefully preserved. The places where he established his home and first worked at his primitive vocation are carefully noted, and his deeds and words are recounted often and with increasing interest as generations succeed one another. There lives in Genesee, Idaho, a man, now the postmaster of the city, who was its pioneer in more ways than one and it is the purpose of the biographer to record now a brief statement of the facts of his life and of his … Read more

Biography of Joel M. Walker

In all the walks of life Captain Joel M. Walker has so acquitted himself as to be regarded as a most valued and honorable citizen, and as a representative business man and a leader ni political circles he well deserves mention among the prominent residents of Idaho. Through the civil war he loyally served his country upon the field of battle, and has ever discharged his duties of citizenship with marked promptness and fidelity. It is pleasing indulgence to write the biography of a man who has been so prominent in the civil and military affairs of the nation as … Read more

Biography of James C. Hanson

The Danish citizens of the United States are more nearly identical with our Anglo-American race than any other citizens of foreign birth. They possess the spirit which we call “go-aheaditiveness” in as large measure as any of our citizens, and they become Americanized and assimilate with the older population of our country sooner perhaps than foreigners of any other race. They are industrious, take to business on broad principles and are about as certain to make successes as any people among us. James C. Hanson, one of the prominent farmers of Latah County, Idaho, is not by any means one … Read more