Evan E. Filby's Blog: South Fork and More, page 63

Marine Corps Ace and Medal of Honor Winner Pappy Boyington [otd 12/04]

Pappy Boyington. USMC photo.Ace pilot and Medal of Honor winner Gregory “Pappy” Boyington was born December 4, 1912 in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho. His mother divorced and remarried while Greg was very young, so he grew up thinking his last name was Hallenbeck. Not until some years later did he discover his birth name.

He grew up in the Idaho Panhandle but eventually graduated from high school and then college in Washington state. At the University of Washington, he served on the swim and wrestling...

World Renowned Mining Engineer and Innovator Fred Brown [otd 12/03]

World renowned mining engineer Frederick C. Brown was born December 3, 1867 in London, England. Brown continued a long family tradition of accomplishment in highly technical fields – his father was a naval engineer and a grandfather rose to the rank of Admiral in the Royal Navy*. Frederick came to the U. S. in 1883, working first in Dakota Territory. From there, he moved to Leadville, Colorado, where he became known as an outstanding mining engineer.
Poorman mill and tramway, ca 1895. Dir...

America’s Sherlock Holmes – Innovative Forensic Detective Luke May [otd 12/02]

Detective Luke May.
Family Archives.On December 2nd, Luke S. May, who became known as America’s preeminent scientific detective, was born near Grand Island, Nebraska. Hawley’s History of Idaho and other references list the year as 1886.

The family, however, gives the year as 1892, with support from the Social Security Death Index, as well as the 1900 U. S. Census. This is highly plausible: By adding six years to his age, the youthful detective-to-be could pose as being in his early twenties – s...

Wholesale Grocery Pioneer and Pocatello Developer Joseph Young [otd 12/01]

Joseph Young. J. H. Hawley photo.Western grocery wholesaler Joseph Taylor Young was born December 1, 1880 on a ranch near Logan, Utah. Three years later the family moved to Rexburg, Idaho, where he grew up and went to school. As a teenager, he attended Ricks Academy [blog, Nov 12] before going to work for the St. Anthony Lumber Company.

Joseph next found employment with the Oregon Short Line Railroad, helping upgrade depots and right-of-way fencing in eastern Idaho. He then rose to a position...

Convicted Murderer and Thief Hanged at Idaho Penitentiary [otd 11/30]

On November 30, 1901, authorities hanged convicted murderer Edward Rice. He was the first individual executed at the Idaho Penitentiary as a state institution and only the second in its history. Rice had been convicted of murdering Matthew Mailley, a Wallace cigar and candy store owner, the previous year.
Wallace, ca 1898. Illustrated History.
The evidence was largely circumstantial, in that there were no direct witnesses. A potential customer had found the store door locked at around 9:30 on a...

Reverend Henry Spalding Builds Presbyterian Mission at Lapwai [otd 11/29]

Henry Harmon Spalding.
National Park Service.On November 29, 1836, Henry Harmon Spalding established a Presbyterian mission among the Nez Percés Indians. The initial location was on Lapwai Creek about 10 miles east of today's Lewiston. Two years later Spalding moved the mission to a spot on the Clearwater River near the mouth of Lapwai Creek.

Born in New York state, Henry was in his early thirties when he established the mission. After graduation from Western Reserve College (now part of Case W...

“Rufus” Reid and Agnes Just Perpetuate Century Ranch Heritage [otd 11/28]

Robert “Rufus” Reid.
Family Archives.*On November 28, 1906, twenty-year-old Agnes Just married Robert E. “Rufus” Reid in Blackfoot, Idaho. Agnes was the youngest child and only surviving daughter of Nels and Emma Just.

Born in Denmark in 1847, Nels A. Just was ten years old when his family came to the United States. They had already converted to the LDS Church, and aimed to settle in Utah. The Justs traveled as part of one of the so-called “handcart” companies and arrived at Salt Lake in Septem...

Pure Food, Dairy & Oil Commissioner William C. Howie [otd 11/27]

Commissioner Howie.
H. T. French photo.Attorney William Clarence Howie, Idaho Food, Dairy & Oil Commission President, was born November 27, 1860, in Davis County, Iowa. He graduated from high school in Bloomfield, the county seat, which is located about 15 miles south of Ottumwa. In 1883, William graduated from a Normal School in Bloomfield and moved to Nebraska to teach school.

Howie also read at a couple of law offices. The senior partner at his second stay later became a Chief Justice o...

Idaho State University President Miles Reed [otd 11/26]

President Reed.
Idaho State University photo.Miles F. Reed, president of the Academy of Idaho, precursor to Idaho State University, was born November 26, 1872 about 20 miles south of Dubuque, Iowa. Reed’s parents moved to Idaho in 1889 and he attended high school at an academy in Grangeville.

After his graduation in 1892, Reed taught in Idaho’s rural schools for a time. From 1891 to 1897, Miles also served in the Idaho National Guard, rising from a Private to the rank of First Lieutenant. He l...

Tough Talk and Action Versus Snake War Violence [otd 11/25]

Governor Lyon. Library of Congress.The Owyhee Avalanche newspaper (Silver City, Idaho) for November 25, 1865 reported some “good talk” (their expression) by the Territorial Governor about the on-going Indian unrest.

Paraphrasing Governor Caleb Lyon [blog, Nov 14] the article said, [He] “says he will either fight or feed them, and for this purpose has requested, with all hopes of success, two regiments of cavalry. He says he does not expect to reduce them to a state of peace, except by offering...