Washington County ID

Biography of Solomon M. Jeffreys

In the front rank of the columns which have advanced the civilization of the northwest, Solomon M. Jeffreys has led the way to the substantial development, progress and up building of Idaho, being particularly active in the growth of Weiser, where he still makes his home. He is numbered among the pioneers of Idaho, California and Oregon, his memory going back to the time when the entire Pacific coast was but very sparsely settled, when the Indians were more numerous than the white men, and the land had not been reclaimed for purposes of cultivation, but remained in the primitive … Read more

Biography of W. B. Kurtz

It is given to few to attain prominence in politics, honor in military affairs or fame in literary life, but respect and esteem await every man who lives worthily, who performs the duties of public and private life faithfully and promptly, and in business has strict regard for commercial ethics. Such an one is W. B. Kurtz, proprietor of the Weiser flouring mill, which was built in 1890, and represents one of the leading industrial interests of the city in which it is located. Mr. Kurtz is a native of Berks county, Pennsylvania, born November 1, 1846, and is of … Read more

Fitzgerald, GaNell “Gay” Wilburn Jeffries Mrs. – Obituary

Baker City, Oregon GaNell Wilburn Jeffries “Gay” Fitzgerald, 90, of Baker City died Jan. 16, 2004, at St. Elizabeth Care Center. Her funeral will be at 2 p.m. Friday at Gray’s West & Co. Pioneer Chapel, 1500 Dewey Ave. Ed Haugland of the Kingdom Hall of the Jehovah’s Witnesses will officiate. Visitations will be from noon to 8 p.m. Thursday at Gray’s West & Co. and Friday before the service, starting at 8 a.m. Gay was born on Aug. 25, 1913, at Payette, Idaho, to Thomas Frederick Wilburn and Nell Gertrude Carpenter Wilburn. She was raised on the family ranch … Read more

Kilborn, Barney E. – Obituary

Baker City, Oregon Barney E. Kilborn, 85, of Baker City died Feb. 7, 2004, at St. Elizabeth Health Services. At his request, there will be no service. Barney was born to Lloyd and Ethel Knowles Kilborn at Weiser, Idaho, on June 10, 1918. He was raised in the Weiser area. Growing up in the Snake River Basin, he developed a long-term love of hunting and outdoor activities. During World War II, Barney worked on the railroad, which eventually brought him to Eastern Oregon where he lived in the La Grande area. In 1946, Barney married and moved to Redmond where … Read more

Biography of Columbus M. Hixon

Many articles have appeared in the press of our land on the “corruption in politics.” but, while this may be found to some extent in the largest cities, the majority of our American citizens are too practical and public-spirited to wish to entrust their affairs in unscrupulous hands, and especially in the selection of one to manage the financial interests do they show great discrimination in choosing a man of known integrity and unimpeachable honor. It was these qualities which secured to Mr. Hixon election to the responsible position of county treasurer of Washington County. His record in the walks … Read more

Guyer, Wayne R. – Obituary

Wayne R. Guyer, 78, of Weiser, Idaho, died Aug. 15, 2002, at his home. His funeral will be Tuesday at 2 p.m. MDT at the Weiser High School auditorium. Burial will follow at Hillcrest Cemetery in Weiser. Visitations are today from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. MDT at Thomas Funeral Chapel in Weiser. Wayne was born Aug. 10, 1924, at Richland to Ralph Paul and Ethel Olive Haskins Guyer. He was raised and educated at Baker City, graduating from Baker High School in 1942. He enlisted in the U.S. Navy Amphibious Forces in 1942, and during World War II was … Read more

Jones, Pearl Rose Hayden Mrs. – Obituary

Pearl Rose Hayden Jones, 88, a lifetime Eastern Oregon resident and former contributor to the Baker City Herald, died April 23, 2006, at Idlewood Manor in Baker City. At her request there will be no funeral. Coles Funeral Home is in charge of arrangements. There will be a memorial service in her honor, tentatively set for June 18 in Baker City. Details will be announced later. After cremation, her ashes will be scattered over the sage hills where she spent hours of recreation, the same hills that were the background to her life. Pearl was born on March 19, 1918, … Read more

Biography of L. A. York

The present popular editor and proprietor of the Owyhee Avalanche, at Silver City, Mr. L. A. York, is a native of Lewiston, Maine, born March 13, 1866. His parents were Jerome W. and Martha (Read) York, both natives of that city, and his father of Scotch ancestry. The first representatives of the family in America settled in Maine very early in its history. On the maternal side this ancestry is English, traceable back to Sir John Read, an English nobleman born in the year 1600. Mr. York’s father died in North Dakota, in 1894, at the age of sixty-five years; … Read more

Colson, Naomi June Crisp Mrs.

Keating, Baker County, Oregon Naomi June Crisp Colson, 78, of Weiser, Idaho, a former Baker County resident, died June 15, 2005. Her memorial service will be at 3 p.m. Tuesday at the Seventh-day Adventist Church in Payette, Idaho, S. Ninth and Third avenues. Pastor Skip Johnson will officiate. Inurnment will be later at Hillcrest Cemetery in Weiser. June was born on Feb. 4, 1927, at Parma, Idaho, to Sidney and Alice Snyder Crisp. She attended Keating School and Gem State Adventist Academy at Caldwell, Idaho. She was married to Benjamin E. Colson at Baker City on March 30, 1947. She … Read more

Taylor, Bob – Obituary

Baker City, Oregon Bob Taylor, 73, of Baker City, died Dec. 12, 2002, at his home. At this time no services are planned. Bob was born June 16, 1929, at Walla Walla, Wash., to David Taylor and Mary Ellen Ramsey Taylor Huckins. He lived in many places as a boy. He enlisted in the Air Force when he was 17 years of age, working at the Pentagon most of his service time. After his discharge, he went to barber college, and after graduation he owned barber shops in Coos Bay, Roseburg, Union and Baker City. He also had shops in … Read more

Reece, William J. – Obituary

William J. Reece died Tuesday evening, Feb. 11, 1936, at the home of his daughter, Mrs. E.H. Bonner, at Weiser, Idaho. He had been there only a few days, as his son, Floyd, had taken him there last week from Yakima, Wash., where he had been for some time with another daughter, Mrs. Willard Phillips. Funeral services will be held at the Christian church, Enterprise, tomorrow, Friday, at 2 p.m. and burial will be in the Enterprise cemetery. C.L. Booth has driven to Weiser for the body accompanied by Emerson and Floyd Reece. Mr. Reece was born in Logan county, … Read more

Biography of Frank M. Hubbard

Frank M. Hubbard is numbered among the successful farmers of Weiser. He was born in Pike county, Illinois, on the 9th of July 1851, his parents being Joseph and Sarah (Venable) Hubbard. His father was born in Wisconsin, and the mother was a native of Illinois. They crossed the plains with oxen in 1853 being six months in making the long and perilous journey to the northwest. Indians occasioned them considerable annoyance, but they accomplished the journey in safety and located in Silverton, Marion County, Oregon, where the father obtained three hundred and twenty acres of land, which he successfully … Read more

Hammack, Cornelia Mrs. – Obituary

Enterprise, Wallowa County, Oregon Mrs. Hammack Passes At Walla Walla Mrs. Cornelia Hammack passed away October 29th at the Walla Walla hospital, where she had been taken a few days before. Mrs. Cornelia Peden of Weiser, Idaho, was married to the Rev. N.E. Hammack June 16, 1924. After their marriage Mr. Hammack built a nice home on the slope, where they made their home until Mr. Hammack passed away in July 1929. Shortly thereafter Mrs. Hammack moved to Freewater, where she bought a small home. She lived there until shortly before her death. A few months ago, when her health … Read more

Biography of Thomas M. Jeffreys

Thomas M. Jeffreys, probate judge and superintendent of public instruction in Washington County, Idaho, is a native of Oregon, his birth having occurred in Yamhill County, on the 7th of April 1852. His father, Woodson Jeffreys, was born in Jackson County, Missouri, in 1825, and in early manhood, in Oregon, married Jane Forrest, also a native of Missouri. They crossed the plains to Oregon in 1845, being nine months in accomplishing the long and weary journey across the plains, their way being beset by many obstacles, difficulties and dangers. They located on government land in Yamhill County, and during the … Read more

Biography of Frank Harris

Hon. Frank Harris, the leading lawyer of the bar of Weiser, and a member of the state senate of Idaho, is a native of California, his birth having occurred at Placerville, on the 20th of June. 1854. He is the second in order of birth in a family of seven children, whose parents were William and T. E. (Saltzman) Harris. The Harris family is of English descent and was founded in Virginia in colonial days. William Harris, the grandfather of our subject, was born in the Old Dominion, and when the Revolutionary war was inaugurated aided in the struggle for … Read more

Oliver, Ned – Obituary

Cove, Union County, Oregon Former Cove Resident Taken by Long Illness Word was received by Mrs. Charles Hancock of the death of Ned Oliver, Tuesday, Mr. and Mrs. Oliver were proprietors of the Cove Corner Grocery for several years, leaving here a year ago in March for a location in Halfway, Ore. Mr. Oliver had been seriously ill in a Boise hospital for some time, but recently seemed much improved and was taken home. After a short time he became worse and Mrs. Oliver and their son, Bill, started with him for Boise but he became so much worse that … Read more

Washington County Its Towns, Resources, Etc.

Washington County lies on the western border of the state of Idaho, and about five hundred miles from the Pacific coast. It contains a large area of land suited to various purposes. It has a population of over five thousand people. Its inhabitants are, generally speaking, enterprising and thrifty people, many of them having settled here in the early 6o”s and have remained ever since. The early settler devoted himself to stock-raising and placer-mining, and he thought that was all the county was fit for. But as the county began settling up it was soon found that anything which grew … Read more

Biography of James P. Gray

Thirty-five years have passed since James P. Gray came to Idaho to cast in his lot with its pioneers. People of the present end-of-the-century period can scarcely realize the struggles and dangers which attended the early settlers, the heroism and self-sacrifice of lives passed upon the borders of civilization, the hardships endured, the difficulties overcome. These tales of the early days read almost like a romance to those who have known only the modern prosperity and conveniences. To the pioneer of the early days, far removed from the privileges and conveniences of city or town, the struggle for existence was … Read more

Houser, Melvin Earl, Sr. – Obituary

Melvin Earl Houser Sr., 74, of Nampa, Idaho, formerly of Huntington and Baker City, died July 14, 2003, at his home. His graveside service will be at 11a.m. Saturday at Mount Hope Cemetery. Arrangements are under the direction of Zeyer Funeral Chapel, 83 N. Midland Blvd., Nampa. Melvin was the son of Wallace and Della Lane Houser. He was born on May 6, 1929, at Weiser, Idaho, and educated in Huntington. Mel joined the U.S. Navy on Sept. 12, 1950. He was honorably discharged on Aug. 26, 1952. He was a lifetime member of the Disabled American Veterans, and a … Read more

Gentry, Wanda L. Coffinberry Mrs. – Obituary

Wanda L. Gentry, 83, of Ontario, who with her husband established the Gentry Ford Sales dealership, died July 27, 2005, at her home in the Meadow Brook Retirement Center. Her funeral will be at 11 a.m. Wednesday at St. Matthew’s Episcopal Church in Ontario. Ontario’s Lienkaemper Chapel is in charge of arrangements. Wanda was born on March 18, 1922, at Portland to Walter B. and Verna D. Coffinberry. The family lived at Portland until 1926 when they relocated to Hot Lake and subsequently moved to Halfway in 1928. Wanda was a 1940 Halfway High School graduate. She moved to Portland … Read more