Biography of Hon. Edwin N. Cooke

HON. EDWIN N. COOKE. – The subject of this sketch is a lineal descendant of the Puritans, who came to America in the ship Mayflower, and landed at Plymouth, Massachusetts, December 21, 1620. Among the passengers of that historical band were Francisco Cook and his son, John Cooke, who settled and the families of whom for many generations lived in that and other colonies, up to the time of the Revolutionary war. At the commencement of the Revolutionary war, Mr. Cooke’s great-grandfather, Asaph Cooke lived near Boston, Massachusetts, and had four sons who espoused the American cause and enlisted in … Read more

Biography of George W. Sparkes

George W. Sparkes, living two and a half miles southeast of San Bernardino, came to California in June, 1857. He was born April 19, 1819, in Monroe County, Mississippi, a son of Aaron and Mary (Stipson) Sparkes. His father, a native of South Carolina, moved to Mississippi in an early day, and died there when George was sixteen years of age. His mother was a native of Virginia. He was married in that State, August 26, 1842, to Miss Lorena Roberds, a native of Alabama, who was principally reared in Mississippi. Her parents were Thomas and Annie (Nix) Roberds, of … Read more

Biography of Joseph Heap

Joseph Heap is one of the representative mechanics of Riverside, and is the proprietor of a blacksmith shop on the south side of Eighth Street, between Main and Market streets. He is a native of England, and dates his birth in Manchester, in 1848. His parents, William and Hannah (Ward) Heap, are both natives of that country. In 1848 or early in 1849 his father immigrated with the family to the United States, and located at Council Bluffs, Missouri. The next year he moved to Salt Lake, where he remained until 1852. In that year he brought his family to … Read more

Foster, Marvin LeRoy – Obituary

Baker City, Baker County, Oregon Marvin LeRoy Foster, 87, died March 3, 2005, at St. Luke’s Hospital in Boise of complications from surgery. His daughters and sister were by his side. At his request, his body was cremated and there will be no service. Instead the family asks that you keep him in your thoughts this way, “When I am gone, remember me with laughter for that is how I will remember you. If you can only remember me with tears, don’t remember me at all.” That’s the way he would have wanted it. He was born the third of … Read more

Biographical Sketch of Joseph David Gilbert, Sr.

Joseph David Gilbert, Sr., a prominent farmer near San Bernardino, is a native of Cattaraugus County, New York, born in 1827. His grandfather ran away from London, England, and was a soldier in the French and Indian war, also in the Revolution. His father, Truman Gilbert, married Rebecca Fay, a native of England, and immediately after his marriage he moved to the Western Reserve in Ohio, where he remained until 1842, when he moved to the Mississippi river, and from there to Montana, where he died in 1882. The subject of this sketch kept a ferry at Montrose, across the … Read more

Johnson, Allison Duncombe Mrs. – Obituary

Allison Duncombe Johnson, 77, of Baker City, died Dec. 2, 2005, at St. Elizabeth Health Care Center. Her funeral will be at 2 p.m. Friday at Coles Funeral Home, 1950 Place St. Bishop David Richards of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints will conduct. Private interment will be at Mount Hope Cemetery. Visitations will be from noon to 7 o’clock tonight at the funeral home. Allison was born on Sept. 26, 1928, at Salt Lake City to Henry Duncombe and Cornelia Elsie Barnes. She worked her way through high school as a clerk for Woolworth’s, for Grant’s and … Read more

Biographical Sketch of John Danforth Nutting

Nutting, John Danforth; clergyman; born at Randolph, Vt., March 8, 1854; son of Rufus and Sarah H. Nutting; A. B., Wheaton (III.) College, 1878, A. M., 1881; graduate, Oberlin Theological Seminary, 1885; married, Nannie Keith Miller, of Oberlin (class 1883), June 23, 1885 (died, 1886); 2d, Lillis R. Morley, of Mentor, O., (Ohio, 1887), Jan. 1, 1890; ordained ministry in. Congregational Church, 1885; pastor, Wauseon, O., 1885-1888; Newport, Ky., 1888-1890; St. Louis, 1890-1892; Salt Lake City, 1892-1898; sec’y Utah Gospel Mission for special work in behalf of the Mormon people and against the Mormon system, since 1898; writer and lecturer … Read more

Talbott, Mary Ann – Obituary

La Grande, Oregon Mary Ann Talbott Mary Ann Talbott, 92, of La Grande died Feb.2 at a local care center. A funeral service will begin at 1 p.m. Saturday at Daniels Chapel of the Valley. Burial will follow at the Hillcrest East Cemetery. Mrs. Talbott was born Sept. 27, 1914, to Matthew and Matilda (Matijevich) Svetich in Bingham Canyon, Utah. Her father had come from Yugoslavia to Utah in 1910 and two years later was joined by her mother and eldest sister. After her father died as a result of working in the copper mines, her mother met and married … Read more

Biography of Christian Wallantine

Christian Wallantine, one of the prominent farmers and old residents of Paris, Idaho, is a native of Denmark, having been born on the little island of Barnholm, in the Baltic sea, off the Danish coast, October 21, 184 1. He is a descendant of German ancestry on his father’s side, representing in this line very old Teutonic stock. His parents were Wallantine and Augel Margaret (Kofoot) Wallentinesen, who, having become converts to the faith of the Church of Jesus Christ of the Latter Day Saints, decided to cross the ocean and live out the remainder of their days in Utah, … Read more

Biography of Sylvester Mowry

Sylvester Mowry entered West Point Academy in 1848, graduating high up in his class in 1852. Among his classmates were General Crook, General Kautz, Colonel Mendel, Jerome Bonaparte, Jr., Major General Evans, Captain Mullin of San Francisco, Lieutenant Ives, and other well known army officers. In the summer of 1853, he was engaged with George B. McClellan on the Columbia, surveying for a railroad route; in 1855 he was with Colonel Steptoe at Salt Lake City, and in the spring of that year conducted some recruits and animals through to California. At this time he was a lieutenant, and, late … Read more

Biographical Sketch of Herman E. Dove

Dove, Herman E.; automobile business; born, Port Huron, Mich., Dec. 14, 1875; son of James H. and Winifred Dove; educated Alpena, Mich., High School; married, Lansing, Mich., Feb. 28, 1906, Ursula E. Ackerman; corporal Company B, 33rd Mich. Volunteers; service in Cuba in 1898; five and one-half years in clothing business in Alpena, Mich.; started as errand boy and left as head salesman; was called out from there for service in the Spanish-American War; in October, 1899, left the clothing business, engaging in the manufacture of sugar with the Bay City Sugar Co.; in this business until 1908, removing from … Read more

Biographical Sketch of James Stewart

James Stewart, a prominent citizen near San Bernardino, was born in Indiana County, Pennsylvania, in 1837, the youngest of seven sons of Archie Stewart. He left his native state at the age of eighteen, for Nebraska, where he homesteaded and proved up on 160 acres of Government land, and to this added eighty acres more. He was in Omaha when there were but twelve houses in the place. He sold out his interest in Nebraska and operated on the plains with headquarters at St. Joe, Leavenworth, then at Denver, and later at Salt Lake City, Georgetown, Colorado, and Idaho. He … Read more

Biography of Erwin A. Rieger

The subject of this sketch is one of the younger men who have achieved brilliant success in the business world of the west, being located in Ontario, where he has an important interest in the Oregon Forwarding Company. one of the largest general merchandise establishments of the eastern part of Oregon, which owes much of its unbounded success to the keen business ability- and fine executive force of Mr. Rieger. The birth of Erwin A. occurred in Ludwigburg, Germany, on January 28, 1873, being the son of Frederick J. and Mary (Kiesel) Rieger. The father was a leading attorney of … Read more

Biography of Charles Hoff

The sturdy German element in our national commonwealth has been one of the most important in furthering the substantial and normal advancement of the country, for it is an element which takes practical values into account, and one of higher intellectuality which appreciates educational advantages and applies classical and special knowledge to the common affairs of life. Idaho has no citizens more patriotic than those of German-American birth, nor has it a citizen whose influence is better directed than that of one of the leading citizens of Montpelier whose useful career is here outlined. Charles Hoff was born in Philadelphia, … Read more

Biography of Danford Atwood

Danford Atwood was born in Connecticut in 1823. His parents were Mormons and moved to Nauvoo, Illinois, at an early day, and from thence to Council Bluffs, Iowa, where in 1850 Mr. Atwood married Miss Jane Garner, of Hancock County, Illinois. She was the daughter of George and Elizabeth (Hedrick) Garner, natives respectively of North Carolina and Indiana. They had six children. Mrs. Garner died in Illinois at the age of thirty-two, and Mr. Garner married Lydia Hill. In 1836 he went to Council Bluffs, where he remained nearly two years, and then came to California, in 1852, by ox … Read more

Coles, Roger Duane Obituary

Haines, Oregon Roger Duane Coles, 86, of Vancouver, Wash., and a former Baker and Haines resident, went home to be with his Lord on Wednesday, Jan. 22, 2003. A celebration of life ceremony was held to honor him on Saturday, Jan. 25. The service was held at 3 p.m. at Felida Baptist Church located in Vancouver, Wash. Born in Haines, on June 2, 1916, he graduated from Haines High School and later attended Brooks Institute of Photography. He received an Honorary Master of Science in Photography from Brooks in 2001 for representing “our craft with diligence, fortitude, honesty, service, and … Read more

Biography of John Larson

Not a few are the worthy citizens that the peninsular country of Denmark has furnished to the United States, and among those who have sought homes in the far northwest is John Larson, bishop of the Preston ward and one of the leading and influential citizens of Preston. A native of Denmark, he was born on the 1st of May 1845, his parents, Andrew and Mary (Nessen) Larson, being also natives of the same land. They were converted to the faith of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, and in 1861, with their family of three sons … Read more

Rasmussen, Lyle Lillian Shelton Mrs. – Obituary

Halfway, Oregon Lyle Lillian Shelton Rasmussen, 90, of Salt Lake City, died Oct. 17, 2004, at her home. Her funeral will be at noon Thursday at Larkin Mortuary, 260 E. South Temple, in Salt Lake City. There will be a viewing from 10:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. just prior to the service. There also will be a viewing from 10 a.m. to 11 a.m. Saturday at The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Halfway. There will be a graveside service at noon Saturday at the Pine Haven Cemetery in Halfway. Dale Bingham of the Valley Ward will officiate. … Read more

Rice, Marie Bendixen Mrs. – Obituary

Halfway, Oregon Marie Rice, 98, a longtime Halfway resident, died Oct. 13, 2004, at the Cascade Care Center in Caldwell, Idaho. Her graveside service was Saturday at Pine Haven Cemetery in Halfway. Friends joined the family after the service for a reception at The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Marie Caroline was born on Aug. 26, 1906, at West Jordan, Utah, to Caroline Webster and Ephriam Bendixen. Her early years were spent in Utah and Idaho. As a child her family moved to California and it was during that time that she watched the ashes from Mount Shasta … Read more

Biography of Van B. Delashmutt

Delashmutt, Van B., the present Mayor of Portland, was born in Burlington, Iowa, July 27, 1842. Ten years later the family came to the infant territory of Oregon, and settled on a farm in Polk county, in the Willamette Valley. The monotonous life of a farmer’s boy illy suited the naturally adventuresome disposition of young DeLashmutt, and at the age of fifteen he went to Salem, where he secured employment in the office of the Salem Statesman, as an apprentice to learn the printers’ trade. With characteristic earnestness and energy the apprentice served three years, and at the end of … Read more