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Iconic Lawyer, Boise Mayor, Governor, and Historian James H. Hawley [otd 01/17]
Lawyer Hawley. Illustrated History, 1899.Lawyer, Governor, Mayor, and Historian James Henry Hawley was born in Dubuque, Iowa, on January 17, 1847. His mother died when James was an infant and he grew...
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Freighter, Lumber Man, Rancher, and Mining Investor Josiah Hill [otd 01/18]
On January 18, 1844, Coeur d’Alene pioneer Josiah Hill was born in New Brunswick, Canada. Like others in that part of the country, his father was from the state of Maine. Clipper ship in Cape Horn ice,...
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Teacher, Rancher, and Nez Perce County Commissioner Charles Leeper [otd 01/19]
Charles Leeper.Illustrated History photo.Nez Perce County pioneer Charles A. Leeper was born January 19, 1850, in Marion County, Indiana, on the outskirts of Indianapolis. Some time before 1870, the...
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Mining Investor, Attorney, and Boise County Prosecutor Harry Fisher [otd 01/20]
Attorney Fisher. H. T. French photo.Attorney Harry Leroy Fisher was born January 20, 1873, on a farm in Daviess County, Missouri, 40-60 miles east of St. Joseph’s. He taught school there and also for a...
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Visionary Developer Benjamin Shawhan and New Plymouth [otd 01/21]
Benjamin P. Shawhan, cofounder of the town of New Plymouth, Idaho, was born January 21, 1862, in Keokuk County, Iowa, about thirty miles southwest of Iowa City.East Hall, Morgan Park Military Academy....
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Large Cattle Drives Ravage Idaho Range and Herds, Railroad Needed [otd 01/22]
On January 22, 1881, the Idaho Statesman described the substantial herds being driven over Idaho rangelands, both from the states to the west and by in-state stockmen. Counts taken on the main trail in...
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Church Leader, Suffragette, and Temperance Advocate Rebecca Mitchell [otd 01/23]
Activist Mitchell.J. H. Hawley photo.Mrs. Rebecca Mitchell was born January 23, 1834, in Macoupin County, Illinois, 30-50 miles south of Springfield. Little is known of here early life. After she was...
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Freighter William A. “Doc” Rankin – A Legend in His Time [otd 01/24]
"Doc” Rankin. H. T. French photo.William Allen “Doc” Rankin was born January 24, 1836, in Lafayette, Indiana. Several ancestors in his paternal line fought in the American Revolution, later being...
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Millionaire Banker, Business Leader, and Developer John Vollmer [otd 01/25]
John P. Vollmer, ca. 1875.Vollmer Family Archives.Wealthy developer John P. Vollmer was born on January 25, 1847, in Wurtemburg, Germany. The family emigrated to the U.S. when John was about four years...
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Idaho’s Magnificent Shoshone Falls Announced to the World
On January 25, 1864, the Evening Bulletin, in San Francisco, California, published a glowing description of Shoshone Falls, on the Snake River in Idaho Territory. They opined that the falls might be...
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Rancher, Canal Manager, and Ada County Sheriff James Bennett [otd 01/26]
Sheriff Bennett.Ada County Sheriff’s Office.Ada County Sheriff James A. Bennett was born January 26, 1865 in Leavenworth, Kansas. The family moved to farm country 40-50 southwest of St. Louis, Missouri...
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Educator, Attorney, and Supreme Court Justice John Rice [otd 01/27]
Judge Rice.John Campbell Rice Foundation photo.January 27, 1864, Idaho Supreme Court Justice John Campbell Rice was born on a farm in Cass County, Illinois, about thirty miles west of Springfield....
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Long-Time Boise Fire Chief William Foster [otd 01/28]
Chief Foster.Boise Fire Department.Boise Fire Chief William A. Foster was born on January 28, 1870, in Grinnell, Iowa. The family relocated to the high plains of northwestern Kansas when William was...
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Entrepreneur, Fur Trader, and Fort Hall Founder Nathaniel Wyeth [otd 01/29]
Nathaniel Wyeth, 1840.Illustration for Harper's Magazine, 1892.Entrepreneur Nathaniel J. Wyeth was born January 29, 1802, in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Despite strong ties to Harvard on both sides of...
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Frontier Missionary and Peacemaker Father Pierre-Jean de Smet [otd 01/30]
Father De Smet, 1860-65.Library of Congress,Brady-Handy Photograph Collection.Roman Catholic priest Pierre-Jean de Smet was born in Belgium, January 30, 1801. He emigrated to the U.S. in 1821 and...
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Attorney and Teton Valley Developer Benjamin Driggs [otd 01/31]
Benjamin, Senior.Driggs Family Archives.Teton Valley pioneer and attorney Benjamin W. Driggs, Jr., was born January 31, 1858 in Pleasant Grove, Utah, about ten miles north of Provo. His father had been...
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Right Reverend Alphonsus Glorieux, Bishop, Roman Catholic Diocese of Boise...
Bishop Glorieux. H. T. French photo.The first Bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Boise, the Right Reverend Alphonsus Joseph Glorieux was born February 1, 1844, in Belgium. After college, he went...
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Attorney, Montpelier Mayor, and U. S. Congressman Thomas Glenn [otd 02/02]
Congressman Glenn.H. T. French photo.U. S. Congressman Thomas L. Glenn was born February 2, 1847 near Bardwell, Kentucky, in the extreme southwest corner of the state. His father died two years later....
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Sudden Avalanche Kills Six at Custer Mine, Northeast of Wallace [otd 02/03]
At suppertime on Monday, February 3, 1890, a dozen miners who worked at the Custer Mine sat eating after a long day. The mine, high above Nine Mile Creek about six miles northeast of Wallace, had been...
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Cowboy Shoots and Kills Two Sheepmen on Range South of Rock Creek [otd 02/04]
On the morning of February 4, 1896, two riders guided their horses along a rough track through the scrub-covered foothills of south-central Idaho. Earlier, they had glimpsed another horseman galloping...
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