Boise Watchmaker, Optician, and Inventor James T. Laughlin [otd 02/05]
Boise jewelry store owner, and inventor, James Thomas Laughlin was born February 5, 1863 on a farm about forty miles southeast of Canton, Ohio. While James was still very young, the family moved to a...
View ArticleWorld War I Hero Army Lieutenant John Regan, D.S.C. [otd 02/06]
Timothy Regan. J. H. Hawley photo.U. S. Army Lieutenant John M. Regan, D.S.C., was born February 6, 1886, in Silver City, Idaho. John’s father Timothy, with ample capital from his hotel and other...
View ArticleGovernor Bottolfsen Signs Junior College District Bill into Law [otd 02/07]
Governor Bottolfsen.University of Idaho archives.On February 7, 1939, Governor Clarence A. Bottolfsen signed a bill that authorized the formation of local junior college districts in the state of...
View ArticleLandowner, Sheep Rancher, and Supreme Court Justice Charles O. Stockslager...
Judge Stockslager.Illustrated History photo.Idaho Supreme Court Justice Charles O. Stockslager was born on February 8, 1847, in Indiana, about ten miles west of Louisville, Kentucky. He attended a...
View ArticleIdaho U. S. Senator, Lawyer and Judge Kirkland I. Perky [otd 02/08]
U. S. Senator from Idaho Kirtland Irving Perky was born on February 8, 1867 in Smithville, Ohio, about 22 miles southwest of Akron. The family surname is generally considered an Americanization of the...
View ArticleAttorney and Legal Scholar Colonel Edwin G. Davis, D.S.M. [otd 02/09]
Colonel Davis. H. T. French photo.Colonel Edwin G. Davis was born on February 9, 1873, at Samaria, Idaho, near Malad City. An early interest in teaching led him to a year as school principal in Utah,...
View ArticleArthur Pence: Stockman, Legislator, and Hot Springs Owner [otd 02/10]
Senator Pence. H. T. French photo.Idaho rancher Arthur Lee Pence was born February 10, 1847, near Des Moines, Iowa. He chose to make his own way at an early age. In 1864, his brother-in-law and sister...
View ArticleInventor, Atomic Bomb Witness, and University Professor Larry Johnston [otd...
Larry Johnston, ca 1945. U. S. Army.Physicist Lawrence Harding “Larry” Johnston was born February 11, 1918, in Shantung (Shandong) Province, China. His parents were missionaries, who returned to the U....
View ArticlePioneer Camas Prairie Physician John W. Turner, M. D. [otd 02/12]
Camas Prairie and Cottonwood, Idaho physician John Wesley Turner was born February 12, 1861, while his parents were visiting relatives and friends in Indiana. Afterwards, the family returned to their...
View ArticleMining and Irrigation Developer, and Boise Founder John A. O’Farrell [otd 02/13]
John O'Farrell. H. T. French photo.World traveler and Boise pioneer John Andrew O'Farrell was born February 13, 1823, in Ulster, Ireland. He went to sea after two years in a naval school: The round...
View ArticlePhysician and Drug Store Operator William Anderson [otd 02/14]
Dr. William Hopkins Anderson was born February 14, 1835, in Florence, Pennsylvania, 20-25 miles west of Pittsburgh. He had family roots back to Revolutionary War times and his paternal grandfather...
View ArticleWife, Sounding Board, and Philanthropist Lillian Bounds Disney [otd 02/15]
Lillian Marie Bounds, wife of the world-renowned entertainment innovator Walt Disney, was born February 15, 1899, in Spalding, Idaho, about ten miles east of Lewiston. She grew up on the Nez Perce...
View ArticleSheepmen John Wilson and Daniel Cummings Found Dead [otd 02/16]
On the morning of February 16, 1896, sheepman Edgar "Ted" Severe settled his flock and then set up camp. Twelve days earlier, a looming snow storm had chased him from the campsite, located about 26...
View ArticleTeacher and Newspaper Operator Frances Roberts, and Her Sister Nellie [otd...
Newspaper owner and publisher Frances Ida Roberts was born February 17, 1860, in St. Louis, Missouri. Her sister Nellie had been born in 1844. Their grandfather and father both ran newspapers, the...
View ArticleIdaho, Other Territories Can Now Get Land Grants for Colleges [otd 02/18]
Congressman Justin Morrill.Library of Congress.On February 18, 1881, Congress passed "an act to grant lands to Dakota, Montana, Arizona, Idaho and Wyoming, for university purposes." These lands could...
View ArticlePoet, Attorney, and Public Servant Herbert Ferguson [otd 02/19]
Herbert Ferguson.H. T. French photo.Colonel Herbert Van Allen Ferguson was born February 19, 1852, in Three Mile Bay, New York state, about 65 miles north of Syracuse. After attending a preparatory...
View ArticleMerchant, Mining Investor, Rancher, and Public Servant Alexander McKinlay...
Pioneer mining investor, merchant, and rancher Alexander Duncan McKinlay was born February 20, 1853 in Clayton County, Iowa, 20-40 miles northwest of Dubuque. In 1877, a year after he married in Iowa,...
View ArticleEmma Russell Yearian: Wife, Mother, and “Sheep Queen of Idaho” [otd 02/21]
Emma Russell, “Sheep Queen of Idaho,” was born February 21, 1866 in Leavenworth, Kansas. Her father had been born in Illinois and served in an Illinois regiment in the Civil War. By 1870, the family...
View ArticleFreighter, Rancher, Mine Owner, and State Senator George Rogers [otd 02/22]
George Rogers. Illust-State photo.Idaho state Senator George Bailey Rogers was born February 22, 1842 in Dodgeville, Wisconsin, 35-40 miles west of Madison.Dodgeville was a well-known center for lead...
View ArticleChinook Thaw Floods Lower Clearwater and Other Rivers in the Region [otd 02/23]
The Lewiston Teller newspaper reported that on Sunday, February 23, 1879, "a regular Chinook visited us." The report provided no firm numbers, but the notorious Chinook wind can raise air temperatures...
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