Moscow Idaho

Biography of Mason A. Cornwall

This honored citizen of Moscow has now attained the venerable age of seventy-seven years, yet largely possesses the vigor of a man in his prime. His life has been a busy, useful and honorable one, and has been crowned with a rich measure of success as the fitting reward of his labors and his well directed energies. He is still actively interested in business affairs and in all that is connected with the state’s prosperity and progress, and is one of the most valued citizens of Idaho. Old age is not necessarily a synonym of weakness or inactivity. It need … 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

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

Maxwell, Robert Wesley – Obituary

Robert Wesley Maxwell, 85, of Weiser, Idaho, a former Baker City resident, died at his home March 18, 2002. His funeral was at 2 p.m. March 21 at Thomason Funeral Chapel in Weiser. Inurnment was at Hillcrest Cemetery at Weiser. He was born to Robert John and Marguerite Pringle Maxwell on Jan. 15, 1917, at Weiser. He attended Hale School and was a 1935 graduate of Weiser High School. He was a member of the Horse Cavalry for two years. After high school, he attended the Intermountain Institute, Lewiston Normal School and the University of Idaho at Moscow. He married … Read more

Biography of Frank L. Moore

The junior member of the prominent law firm of Forney, Smith & Moore, of Moscow, is Frank Latham Moore, who was born in Olmstead County, Minnesota, February 8, 1863, and is of Scotch-Irish ancestry. The family was early founded in Canada, the great-grandfather of our subject being its progenitor there. The grandfather, Chauncy Moore, was born in Canada, and when a young man removed with his family to Rochester, New York, where Reuben Billings Moore, father of our subject, was born in 1826. The grandfather removed from Rochester to Putnam County, Illinois, where he secured land from the government and … Read more

Biography of Judge Edgar C. Steele

Edgar Clarence Steele occupies as enviable a position in the public esteem as the most ambitious could desire or as any of our prominent men have achieved. To the citizens of Moscow and the second judicial district he can only be known as being a reputable, prominent man and an honest, able and efficient officer. At the bar he manifests all the qualities of the successful lawyer, and on the bench he displays a rare combination of talent, learning, tact, patience and industry. The successful lawyer and the competent judge must be a man of well balanced intellect, thoroughly familiar … Read more

Biography of Michael J. Shields

The life of Michael Joseph Shields affords an illustration of the vicissitudes of business under modern conditions; it emphasizes the importance of doing the right thing at the right time, and it teaches a lesson of patience under difficulties and perseverance against obstacles, a lesson that should not be lost upon all of the many who need it. It is suggestive in another way, too, because it affords an example, in addition to many others that have been given in the past, of the excellent quality of the sturdy Irish-American character. Mr. Shields, who is one of the most enterprising … Read more

Biography of Archibald Gammell

Archibald Gammell, county assessor and tax collector of Latah County, now residing in Moscow, is a native of Nova Scotia, his birth having occurred February 23, 1835. He is descended from Scotch-Irish ancestry, of Presbyterian faith. William Gammell was the progenitor of the family in the New World. He crossed the Atlantic to Nova Scotia about 1776, since which time three generations of the family have been born there. Industry, uprightness and reliability are the chief characteristics of the Gammells, and they are also noted for longevity, most of the name having attained the age of eighty years or more. … Read more

Biography of Lindol Smith

For seventeen years this gentleman has been a resident of Moscow, and has been one of the most active factors in its upbuilding, progress and advancement. He was born in New Philadelphia, Tuscarawas County, Ohio, June 6, 1832. His paternal great-grandfather was a French revolutionist, and was a refugee from his’ native land. Coming to this country, he joined the colonial army in the struggle for independence, and loyally aided in the war for freedom. His son Jonathan Smith was a soldier in the war of 1812, and in an early day became a pioneer of Ohio, where he reared … Read more

Biography of James Deakin

Those who have opened the way for civilization in our land, as the star of empire has taken its way toward the sunset gates, have been men of strong character, courageous, hardy, tenacious of purpose and willing lo endure hardships and privations for the sake of making homes for themselves and posterity. All honor has been paid the pioneers who blazed their way through the sylvan wilderness of the middle west in past generations, while not less is the homage due to those whose fortitude led them to traverse the plains, invade the mountain fastnesses and do battle with a … Read more

Biography of Charles L. Gritman, M. D.

Among the ablest representatives of the medical profession of Idaho is Dr. Gritman, of Moscow, who is successfully engaged in practice as the senior member of the firm of Gritman & Ward, and is also conducting the Moscow Hospital. He was born near Springfield, Illinois, December 28, 1862. His grandfather, Erastus Gritman, was a native of Germany, and when a young man crossed the broad Atlantic to America, locating at Lockport. He thus became the progenitor of the family in the United States. He was married at Lockport, spent the remainder of his life there and died at the age … Read more

Biography of Samuel J. Langdon

Samuel J. Langdon, one of the highly esteemed pioneer farmers of Latah County, is a native of Ohio, having been born at Granville, Licking County, May 4, 1829. He is of Scotch-Irish lineage, and his ancestors were early settlers of Connecticut and participants in the Revolutionary war and in the events which go to form the colonial history of the country. The family is noted for a patriotic spirit, and one of the Langdons served as commander of the colonial forces at the battle of Ticonderoga. Jesse Langdon, the grandfather of our subject, was born and reared in Connecticut and … Read more

Town, S. Duane “Bud” – Obituary

Baker City, Baker County, Oregon Bud Town is home. On the morning of June 9, 2006, with Ellen at his side, our Lord Jesus came and walked Bud home. Memorial Services will be held Friday, June 16, 2006, at 11 a.m. at Grace Lutheran Church in Vale, (Yakima and F. St. ). S. Duane “Bud” Town was born on the family homestead May 22, 1919, at Moscow, Idaho the only son with three older sisters. His parents were Sherman F. Town and Johanna Ronholt Town. Bud had fond memories of his childhood and school years. He graduated from the University … 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 John B. West

John B. West, the register of the land office, at Lewiston, was born in Leicester, North Carolina, July 31, 1861. The family to which he belongs is of English origin and its founders in America became residents of the south in colonial days and participated in the development of that part of the country, taking part in many of the events which go to form its history. Erwin West, the father of our subject, was a native of North Carolina and married Miss Caroline Dover, who was likewise born in that state. They had a family of fifteen children, eleven … Read more

Biography of Robert H. Barton

One of the well known citizens of Moscow is Robert H. Barton, who is now capably serving as postmaster. He is true and faithful to this public trust and at all times has discharged his duties of citizenship with the same promptness and fidelity which marked his course when on the battlefields of the south he followed the starry banner to victory and thus aided in the preservation of the Union. He came to Moscow in 1877. His birth occurred in Perry County, Ohio, February 1, 1842, and he is of Scotch-Irish lineage. His grandfather, Robert Barton, emigrated from the … Read more

Biography of Louis N. B. Anderson

Fortunate is the man who has back of him an ancestry honorable and distinguished, and happy is he whose lines of life are cast in harmony therewith. In person, in character and talents, Mr. Anderson is a worthy scion of his race. Though his life has been one rather of modest reserve than of ambitious self-seeking, he has shown himself a peer of the brightest men of his adopted state, and his mental talents led to his selection for the important position of superintendent of public instruction of Idaho for the years 1897 and 1898, in which capacity he served … 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 William W. Watkins, M. D.

A man’s reputation is the property of the world. The laws of nature have forbidden isolation. Every human being submits to the controlling influence of others or, as a master, wields a power for good or evil on the masses of mankind. There can be no impropriety in justly scanning the acts of any man as they affect his public, social and business relations. If he be honest and successful in his chosen field of endeavor, investigation will brighten his fame and point the path along which others may follow. One whose record will bear the closest scrutiny and stand … Read more

Biography of Wylie A. Lauder

Among those who have been distinctly conspicuous in connection with the substantial up-building and legitimate progress of the attractive little city of Moscow, the county-seat of Latah county, very definite recognition must be given to him whose name initiates this paragraph. It was his fortune to be on the ground when the town practically had its inception, and with every advance movement he has been prominently identified, being recognized as one of the leading and most enterprising business men of the place and as one who has contributed liberally and with enthusiasm to every cause which has had as its … Read more