Steve Goes to Reform School

Back in October, I wrote about how my children's paternal ancestor reportedly blew up the local schoolhouse and that his younger sons took the fall so that their father could stay home and continue to support his large family. The newspaper articles I shared then showed there was some truth to the story, although it seems to have played out somewhat differently than the family story stated.

I discovered three more newspaper articles in the Bonners Ferry Herald at Newspapers.com as a follow up to where I left off. The first was a short mention in the Local News section about the hearing for the younger son, Stephen.

Untitled news item, Bonners Ferry Herald (Bonners Ferry, Idaho), 22 September 1916, p. 4, col. 4; digital image, Newspapers.com (https://www.newspapers.com : 30 October 2024).

The continued hearing in the case of the state against Stephen Martin, charged with being a juvenile delinquent, was heard by Probate Judge O'Callaghan last Monday. Judge O'Callaghan took the case under advisement and will render a decision Monday.

The following week a Herald journalist wrote these paragraphs which appear to be not just reporting  Stephen's sentencing, but an op-ed piece about the County Auditor:

"County Business Plus Politics," Bonners Ferry Herald (Bonners Ferry, Idaho), 29 September 1916, p. 10, col. 1; digital image, Newspapers.com (https://www.newspapers.com : 12 November 2024).  

County Business Plus Politics

Stephen Martin, who on Monday in Judge O'Callaghan's court was held to be a juvenile delinquent and who was ordered committed to the Idaho State Industrial cshool [sic] at St. Anthony, left last evening for the state school in the custody of County Auditor Stanley.

Just at this time this comes as an interesting bit of news owing to the fact that recently the county auditor alleged the duties of his office required two deputies (at a total salary of $150 monthly) and that he could not get along with less help. Nevertheless the county auditor finds time to assume the role of state land appraiser upon occasions and to act as a guard when an opportunity presents itself to visit other towns of the state, presumably at the expense of the county, all of which needs but little explanation when it is remembered that Mr. Stanley is the democratic nominee for congressman. The trip to St. Anthony should give Auditor Stanley a good chance to look after his political fences.

The final article I found was a notice published also on 22 September 1916 by the Martins' neighbor, John V. Witt, who you may recall reported in the article "Ike Martin Freed By Jury" that "Sunday evening someone fired a bullet from a high-power rifle through the front door of his house, the bullet passing a little over the head of his sleeping baby. On Monday Mrs. Witt was badly frightened when the clothes she was hanging up to dry were peppered with shot from a shotgun." The insinuation was that it was the Martins doing the shooting.

"Notice to Hunters in Katka District," Bonners Ferry Herald (Bonners Ferry, Idaho), 22 September 1916, p. 6, col. 1; digital image, Newspapers.com (https://www.newspapers.com : 30 October 2024).

Notice to Hunters in Katka District

On and after this date there shall be no hunting upon the ground enclosed by my fence as I have taken notice that some people haven't sufficient brains to use a gun with safety to the general public.  I have to take these precautions to protect the lives of my wife and baby. Any person or persons found hunting on my premises will be prosecuted.

 September 15, 1916

(Signed) JOHN V. WITT.  tf 

 

I had not heard of the Idaho State Industrial School, so I did a Google search. Sometimes called the Idaho State Reform School, it was located in St. Anthony, Fremont County, Idaho. Founded in 1903, it housed wayward youth in conditions so bad that reportedly, some inmates chose to take their own lives. A Wikipedia article discusses the Women's Dormitory which is now on the National Register of Historic Places. A PDF document published by the Idaho Historical Society details the nomination of the dormitory to the National Register. The Men's Dormitory likely looked similar.

I wondered if Stephen was still an inmate when the 1920 Federal Census was taken four years later, but reviewing the census records for the school, line by line, did not yield his name. In fact, I could not find him at all on this census, any where in the United States, even in his parents' home. By 1920, the Martin family had moved to Kahlotus, Franklin County, Washington, over 200 miles southwest of their former home in Katka, Idaho.¹ They had sold their home in 1919² and moved to Washington; whether it was because of the neighborhood tensions or because Frank's job as a "railroad boss", or perhaps both. It's likely that Stephen had served his time and had moved on. 

P.S. Check out the link in the second source below to see a 1910 photo postcard of the Martin's home in Katka and a short article from the Bonner County Historical Society & Museum. Steve is likely the smallest boy on the left wearing overalls.

Sources:

1. 1920 U.S. census, Franklin County, Washington, population schedule, Kahlotus Precinct, p. 1B, dwelling 21, family 21, Frank J. Martin household; digital image, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 12 March 2014), image 2 of 9.

2. ---, "From the Archives," Bonners Ferry (Idaho) Herald, 16 September 1921; digital image, BonnersFerryHerald.com (https://bonnersferryherald.com/news/2021/sep/16/archives-sept-16-2021: accessed 4 February 2025).

 

 

That Time Grandpa Martin Blew Up the Schoolhouse and Uncle Ike Shot a Bull

In my children's father's family, there had long been a story about how my former mother-in-law's maternal grandfather had blown up the schoolhouse because he was mad at the schoolteacher. The family story continued that the younger sons who were still living at home had taken the fall for their father and gone to prison because he was older and needed to stay home to continue to farm. If true, this would make sense, as penitentiaries in those days involved backbreaking hard labor.

Recently, my children's father's cousin was in our local area and met up with their uncle, my former brother-in-law. The cousin and her husband had driven up to Sandpoint, Idaho, the county seat near where their ancestors had lived, and visited the museum. They talked to the museum staff about whether they were familiar with a story about a local schoolhouse being blown up in the early twentieth century. When the staff answered in the affirmative and said two young men had been arrested, the cousin shared the family story of how it was actually the father who had done the dirty deed.

After hearing all this from my children's uncle, I decided to see if I could find any newspaper articles about the incident to parse out family legend and facts. I hit the jackpot with Newspapers.com's collection of Bonners Ferry Herald issues. I found two articles referencing the incident and another one that hinted at it.

“Katka School Wrecked,” Bonners Ferry Herald (Bonners Ferry, Idaho), 1 September 1916, p. 10, col. 3; digital image, Newspapers.com (https://www.newspapers.com : 29 September 2024).

Katka School Wrecked

The school house at Katka was wrecked by an explosion of dynamite shortly after noon Wednesday. The county officers will endeavor to apprehend the guilty parties.

The Katka district recently let a contract for the building of a new modern school to Frank Clapp. The old building was to have been used until the new one was ready for occupancy. It is claimed that incident Wednesday is the result of dissatisfaction over the action of the school trustees in hiring a teacher.

The next article, published on 8 September 1916, provided more details:

“Katka Folks in Trouble,” Bonners Ferry Herald (Bonners Ferry, Idaho), 8 September 1916, p. 1, col. 6; digital image, Newspapers.com (https://www.newspapers.com : 29 September 2024).

KATKA FOLKS IN TROUBLE

Ike Martin Charged With Shooting Mayfield's Bull—Martins Threaten To Have Mayfield Arrested

YOUNGER MARTIN IS TAKEN TOO

Is Charged With Being a Juvenile Delinquent

Charged with maliciously shooting a bull belonging to A. C. Mayfield, Ike Martin, of Katka, was arrested last Saturday by Sheriff Worley. Steve Martin, a younger brother, was taken in charge by Worley and at the time of his brother's hearing, next Tuesday morning, will be arraigned as a juvenile delinquent before Probate Judge O'Callaghan.

The shooting is said to have happened Friday evening and it is understood that the state will produce witnesses to prove the charges made against the elder Martin.

The defendant in the case was unable to secure bonds and is in Sheriff Worley's charge. He claims that the bull shot is dangerous and that he shot it to protect himself.

The younger lad, it is claimed, will have to answer to several minor charges and the county authorities claim that he was heard to have made threats about blowing up the Katka school. It is claimed that the older Martin boy made similar threats and that damaging circumstantial evidence will be produced. Both the Martins deny having anything to do with the blowing up of the old Katka school house a week ago last Wednesday.

The Martin boys are sons of Mr. and Mrs. Frank Martin, who have lived in the district many years. Mr. Martin, Sr., was in the city yesterday and announced that he intended to swear to a complaint charging A. C. Mayfield with drawing a loaded revolver and threatening one of the Martin boys with it at the time of the recent school election at Katka.

After the Katka schoolhouse was blown up last week it developed that several of the patrons of the school were in arms over the action of the school board. It seems that the board first hired Mrs. Mary Dore to teach again this year and that for some reason or other the clerk, A. A. Jennings, took it upon himself to sign a contract with Miss Gertrude O'Neill, of Minnesota. Miss O'Neill arrived here last Saturday expecting to begin the school term Monday. It was told yesterday that the school board of the district had agreed to pay Miss O'Neill's expenses back to her home if she would relinquish her contract.

John Franklin "Frank" Martin and his wife Angelia Rebecca (Luke) Martin were my children's great-great-grandparents. They had 12 children; Isaac "Ike" Raymond Martin and Steven Charles Martin being their third and fifth sons and seventh and tenth children, respectively. Their sixth daughter and youngest child, Leona Mary Martin (married name Chaplin), was my children's great-grandmother. She does not appear in this story and would have been not quite 10 years old at the time.

While I have not yet found more information about charges regarding the schoolhouse incident, it does sound like there was basically a feud between the Martins and the Mayfields with gunshots fired on both sides. In addition, serious accusations were made against the young Steve Martin without any apparent evidence.

 

“Ike Martin Freed by Jury,” Bonners Ferry Herald (Bonners Ferry, Idaho), 15 September 1916, p. 4, col. 4; digital image, Newspapers.com (https://www.newspapers.com : 29 September 2024).

IKE MARTIN FREED BY JURY

Tried in Probate Court for Shooting Mayfield's Bull

The trial of Ike Martin on the charge of having shot a bull belonging to A. C. Mayfield, occupied attention of Probate Judge O'Callaghan Tuesday. The jury in the case brought in a verdict of "not guilty" and Martin was dismissed.

Nearly every resident of the Katka district attended the trial as a witness for the defendant or the state. Witnesses for the state claimed that the bull was shot from behind and Mrs. Mayfield swore to seeing Ike Martin shoot the bull. The Martin swore that he shot the bull from in front and that he was afraid of it as it was of a vicious disposition. Other witnesses swore that the bull was vicious. Bartlett Sinclair defended Martin.

On Wednesday Stephen Martin was given a hearing before Probate Judge O'Callaghan on the charge of being a juvenile delinquent. S. E. Henry conducted the defense. The case was continued until Monday when further evidence will be introduced.

In this case many Katka people were called in as witnesses. Mrs. Jennings and son were star witnesses for the state and swore that young Martin had attempted un-natural practices upon the baby Jennings girl. Witnesses for the Martin boy gave him a good character.

There is great bitterness in the Katka district over the recent happenings. The Martins and their friends claim they are being prosecuted, while many of their neighbors say they are living in dread of their lives and the lives of their wives and children.

J. V. Witt reports that Sunday evening someone fired a bullet from a high-power rifle through the front door of his house, the bullet passing a little over the head of his sleeping baby. On Monday Mrs. Witt was badly frightened when the clothes she was hanging up to dry were peppered with shot from a shotgun.

This all sounds very much like the Hatfields and the McCoys, doesn't it? I definitely need to search for more newspaper articles and plan to research court records, perhaps on site at the courthouse in nearby Sandpoint.

Idaho Genealogical Society's Annual Meeting and Seminar

The Idaho Genealogical Society announces its Annual Meeting/Seminar on 29 September 2012 in Hayden, Idaho. It is sponsored by the IGS and the Kootenai County Genealogical Society and will be held at the Holiday Inn Express, 151 West Orchard, Hayden.

The itinerary for the day is as follows:

8:30 AM - Registration
9:00 AM - Welcome by jean Timmermeister (KCGS)
9:10 AM - Welcome and Introductions by Juvanne Martin (IGS)
9:30 AM - IGS Business and Reports
10:40 AM - Break
11:00 AM - Speaker John Schalk: "Life in Nazi-Occupied Germany"
12:00 PM - Lunch (provided by KCGS)
1:00 PM - IGS Business and Elections
1:30 PM - Speaker Miriam Robbins: "Frugal Genealogy"
2:30 PM - Break
2:45 PM - Speaker Connie Godak: "Finding Family with FamilySearch.org"
4:00 PM - Wrap-up and Adjournment
4:00 - 5:00 PM - Networking and Socializing

Registration for KCGS and IGS members is $25; all others, $30. Fee includes lunch. Lunch cannot be guaranteed for late registrants and at-the-door, so register now. For more information or to register, call Waneva Maymon at (208) 772-6618 or email wmaymon@icehouse.net. This event is open to the public--bring a guest. Deadline for registration is September 15, 2012, so send it in soon!

The registration form, directions and overnight accomodations can be downloaded here.

The Great Fire of 1910 Centennial Events and Articles

This month marks the centennial of the Great Fire of 1910 which swept over the Inland Northwest leaving devastation in its wake. To get an idea of the magnitude of this fire, imagine 10,000 new Forest Service workers and 4,000 troops (sent by President Taft) fighting a fire across three states. "Despite their efforts, the fire burned three million acres in two days, killed nearly 100 people, and burned several towns to the ground. It is believed to be the largest fire in recorded U.S. history." [from the Spokane Public Library website]

I wrote about my husband's ancestors' experience last October in my post, The Martin Family and the Great Fire of 1910. My local paper, the Spokesman-Review, has recently been publishing a series of fascinating articles about the fire. If you go to this link, you will see that currently there are 19 articles, three photo galleries, a video, an audio file, and a blog post published at their website that are tagged with the 1910 Fire label.

Additionally, area museums are showcasing exhibits about how the fire affected local communities (see list here) and the Forest Service also has some ceremonies and exhibits as well. Spokane Is Reading is bringing prize-winning author Timothy Egan (known especially for his book on the Depression, The Worst Hard Time: The Untold Story of Those Who Survived the Great American Dust Bowl) to Spokane on October 7th to speak for free on his newest book, The Big Burn: Teddy Roosevelt and the Fire that Saved America.

Last, and certainly not least, fellow Inland Northwest geneablogger and friend Amy Crooks has been writing about her family's summer adventures on her blog, Untangled Family Roots. The following articles touch on places they visited that commemorate the Big Burn:

• Tombstone Tuesday: A Grave in the Wilderness
• Route of the Hiawatha

52 Weeks of Online American Digital Archives and Databases: Idaho

This is the 13th post in a weekly series of Online American Digital Archives and Databases found for free at state, county, municipal, college and university history, library, and archive websites, as well as public and private library and museum sites, and historical and genealogical society sites.

3DFlags

Columbia River Basin Ethnic History Project - http://www.vancouver.wsu.edu/crbeha/ -  "brings together selected highlights of the ethnic collections from leading repositories in Idaho, Oregon, and Washington. In addition to the digital archive, CRBEHA provides tutorials on how to research and interpret library and museum resources, and encourages public dialogue about ethnic history sources and issues in its online discussion forum."

Idaho Digital Resources - http://idahodocs.cdmhost.com/index.php - created by the Idaho Commission for Libraries to allow the public to access a digital repository of publications, to which state agencies are invited to submit items; photos, images, newspaper clippings, costume sketches, advertising, and other ephemera

Idaho Historical Society Digital Collections - http://www.idahohistory.net/collections/ - "span(s) many types of material including oral histories, artificats, state archives, rare books, clipping files, ephemera, state documents, maps, photographs, moving images, newspapers and other unique materials."

Idaho State Digital Archives - http://www.digitalarchives.idaho.gov/default.aspx - death records (Social Security Death Index for Idaho residents), naturalization records, and other historical records

Mountain West Digital Library - http://mwdl.org/ - "an aggregation of digital collections about the Mountain West region of the United States. This portal provides free access to more than 290,000 resources in over 340 collections from universities, colleges, public libraries, museums, archives, and historical societies in Utah, Nevada, Idaho, and Hawaii."

Museum of the Rockies - http://www.montana.edu/wwwmor/photoarc/ - "a preservation and research collection of historical photography from the Northern Rockies Region of Montana, Idaho, and Wyoming. The Archive collects and preserves photographs from the late 1860's to the 1980's that document the people, places, industry, and events of the region."

Northwest Digital Archives - http://nwda.wsulibs.wsu.edu/index.shtml - "provides access to descriptions of primary sources in the Northwestern United States, including correspondence, diaries, or photographs. Digital reproductions of primary sources are available in some cases."

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Boise State University Albertsons Library Digital Collections - http://digital.boisestate.edu/index.php - "Photos, documents, maps, and other resources from Special Collections documenting the history, culture, and people of Idaho and the American West."

Brigham Young University (Idaho) Special Collections & Family History - http://abish.byui.edu/specialCollections/index.cfm - Photographs, student newspaper, personal histories, vital records indexes, Southeast Idaho history, and LDA Church publications

Idaho State University Library Special Collections - http://www.isu.edu/library/special/sconline.htm - images, costume drawings, scrapbook, and university yearbooks

University of Idaho Library Digital Collections - http://www.lib.uidaho.edu/digital/ - historical photos and maps, lantern slides, international jazz collections, scrapbooks, newsletters, aerial photos, Idaho Waters Digital Library

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Check out my Idaho Online Historical Directories page.

The Martin Family and the Great Fire of 1910

In the summer of 1910, nearly all of Northeast Washington, North Idaho, and Western Montana was burning.

After a long hard winter with a heavy snow pack, the citizens were looking forward to warm weather, although a wet summer was predicted. However, April, May, and June were unusually dry. By July, three million acres had been burned by hundreds of wildfires. Newspapers to the east in Spokane, Washington reported a constant haze in the air that hung over the city for weeks, causing eye and lung problems; this despite the prevailing winds tend to blow from the southeast to the northwest, from the Spokane area into North Idaho. In some places, the sun could not be seen at noon and people were lighting lamps by four o'clock in the afternoon. An article from Wikipedia quotes, "Smoke from the fire was said to have been seen as far east as Watertown, New York and as far south as Denver, Colorado. It was reported that at night, 500 miles out into the Pacific Ocean, ships could not navigate by the stars because the sky was cloudy with smoke."

Spokane employment agencies printed ads seeking firefighters for the U.S. Forest Service, but at 25 cents an hour doing filthy, hard, dangerous, and grim work (including recovering burned bodies), many of the unemployed preferred the regular, safer labor jobs offered at the same rate in town. Immigrants were the main recruits, untrained men from Czechoslovakia, Italy, and other Southern European counties, who spoke little English; hard workers who were so inexperienced that they were often of little help to the cause and a danger to themselves. Finally, President Taft ordered thirty companies of Federal troops to the Coeur d'Alene Mountains; troops who had been stationed at Fort Sherman in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho, American Lake and Missoula, Montana, and a contingent of African-American soldiers from Fort George Wright in Spokane. Although at one point there were at least 10,000 firefighters on hand, many sections were losing the battle, which had spread into Western Montana.

In many places, farmers, ranchers, and citizens of small communities refused to leave their homes. The wildfires randomly and miraculously spared some of the diehards, while just as randomly and destructively consumed others. Of the stories that remain, irony seems to be the theme: people burying their precious items in locations thought to be safe from fire, sites that ended up being destroyed while their homes remained safe. Some also perished in these attempts, again while their houses sustained little or no damage. Accounts of residents who bravely fought off fires and survived to share their tales paralleled tragedies of homes, fortunes, and lives lost. Those who have read or watched documentaries about wildfires know that they will create their own wind and jump from tree to tree, traveling faster than a man can run, or even a modern automobile can travel. Wind will carry burning branches several miles to land and start further infernos.

When the large mining town of Wallace, Idaho was threatened, relief trains were sent eastward from Spokane and westward from Missoula to rescue women and children. The trains were packed, with men and older boys clinging to the roofs and sides. Families were accidentally separated in the chaos.

Twelve miles to the southeast of Wallace, as the crow flies, is the community of Kyle, accessible through the steep Bitteroot Mountains by a winding 21-mile road. Here 55-year-old John Franklin "Frank" MARTIN, was stationed with the railroad, which quite possibly was the Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific Railroad, a.k.a. the Milwaukee Road. Frank and his wife, Angelia Rebecca LUKE, were the parents of 12 children, the youngest of whom was my ex-husband's maternal grandmother, Leona, who would have been only three years old at the time. One of Leona's older sisters, Maude, gave an account of the family's adventures, which was published posthumously in an article ("Idaho's Red Monster") by Grace Roffey Pratt in the February-March 1978 edition of Frontier Times:

On or about the 19th of August, Frank Martin was working with a crew and a steam shovel on the railroad at Kyles [sic], a small settlement a few miles from Avery. That evening the men could see the black smoke and red flames in the distance but were not greatly worried for they knew the fire to be several miles away. They had worked hard, they were tired, and after supper and a bit of tongue wagging, they went to bed as usual.

But Martin's [20-year-old] daughter Maud [sic] could not sleep. The wind had risen and it had an ominous sound. About 10 p.m. she noticed the fire had come closer and she rightly guessed that it was no more than half a mile from a powder magazine which held thirty tons of dynamite. She ran to waken her father, who rushed a crew to move the dynamite. They got it out of the magazine and into a safe place just in time.

A few minutes later an engine came through Kyles, and Maud flagged it down and held it there until an order from the dispacher [sic] could be obtained to use it for a relief train.

In the next half-hour the wind rose again and the fire could be seen coming nearer. The roar of the wind and flame was terrifying. Men and women were frightened. Children were crying. The relief train from the west was held back because the telegraph and the telephone poles had burned down and there was no way of communication. Finally Maud Martin got word that a relief train was coming from the east. "We waited," she said, "until the fire was within a few yards of the buildings, scorching our flesh, then we ran for the tunnel that was about half a mile away. We almost suffocated from the smoke." The train did not come for another hour and a half and when it did it had to stay in the tunnel five hours before it was safe to leave. But it did come, and they could get into the cars that shut out some of the smoke and gas. It was a great relief.

At Wallace, one man speaking of it afterwards said, "the sky turned a ghastly yellow shade; by four o-clock it was dark ahead of the advancing flames. the air was filled with electricity as if the whole word was about to blow up in spontaneous combustion."

At the end of August, rain finally came to the forests and snow to the mountains. Residents either returned to their homes--if they remained, began to rebuild their houses and lives, or moved away to start over. Eighty-five souls officially lost their lives, but privately many thought the death count was higher. Numerous immigrants were believed to not have registered when they were hired to fight fires, and with no families in the area to report them missing, surely some would have been overlooked, especially since it could not be certain that all bodies were recovered. Three billion board feet of timber went up in smoke; in some places the earth was so deeply scorched that by 1978 no seedlings had yet come up. Countless elk, deer, bear, cougar, and other wildlife perished. Crops and livestock were destroyed. The Great Fire of 1910 is believed to be the largest fire reported in America, and perhaps the world.

It greatly impacted my husband's family and lingers on in their history. At his grandmother's funeral in 1993, one of his cousins, the daughter of his grandmother's twin brother, brought up the story, which was when I first heard it. Recently, another cousin mentioned how fearful their grandmother had always been of fire. It is not impossible to believe that even at three years of age, the incident could have been imprinted on Leona's memory; at the age of two I witnessed the village school burning down in Metlakatla, Alaska and remember the absolute terror I felt even though I was watching from the safety of my mother's arms in our home several blocks away. To have endured such a close encounter with a holocaust as the Martin family did would definitely cause strong emotional reactions in the future to the possibility of the threat of conflagration.

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Biblography:

Google Earth. June 16, 2004 - March 5, 2005. Europa Technologies, http://earth.google.com (accessed October 9, 2009).

Pratt, Grace Roffey, "Idaho's Red Monster." Frontier Times (February-March 1978): 6-9, 50-53.

Wikipedia contributors, "Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific Railroad," Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Chicago,_Milwaukee,_St._Paul_and_Pacific_Railroad&oldid=316074069 (accessed October 9, 2009).

Wikipedia contributors, "Great Fire of 1910," Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Great_Fire_of_1910&oldid=318811908 (accessed October 9, 2009).


Recommended:

Idaho Forest Fire Stories - The Great Fire of 1910: http://www.idahoforests.org/fires.htm

Historic Photos - go to Google Images and run the following searches: "great fire of 1910" idaho and "great fire of 1910" wallace

Twins Leona Mary and Lee Joseph MARTIN

(click photo several times to enlarge)


(reverse of photo)

Source: Martin, Leona Mary and Lee Joseph. Photograph. C. 1907. Original photograph in the possession of Michael Midkiff, Spokane, Washington. 2008.

Isn't this a darling photo? The little girl on the arm of the sofa is Leona Mary "Sis" MARTIN, about a year old, and her twin brother, Lee Joseph "Mick" MARTIN, is on the sofa back. Leona was my husband's maternal grandmother. This photograph was sent to the children's maternal grandparents, Isaac LUKE and Rebecca HEWITT, as evident by the message on the back: "for Grandpa & Grandma". The children's paternal grandparents, Francois Joseph MARTIN and Rachel HUBBY, had died in 1887 and 1892, respectively, so they could not have been the recipients of this photographic gift, perhaps sent as a Christmas gift when the children were a year old.

Lee and Leona were the youngest of twelve children born 17 December 1906 to John Franklin MARTIN and Angelia Rebecca LUKE. A large Catholic family of French, Scottish, and English roots, they were living in Bonners Ferry, Bonner (now Boundary) County, Idaho in 1906, where Frank worked for the railroad (probably the Northern Pacific). At the dinner after Leona's funeral in 1993, Mick's daughter, cousin of my mother-in-law, told me the story she had heard about the day the twins were born. Apparently, no one knew that Mama Martin was pregnant with twins. The family at that point consisted of five sons and five daughters, and there was a competition on as to whether the next baby would be a boy or a girl, since Mama had declared that there would be no more babies. According to the family story, the children, ranging in age from 21-year-old Gertrude (who was married) down to five-year-old Steve, were waiting outside the house to hear the news (seems somewhat inaccurate, given the fact that it was December in Northern Idaho--brrr! Perhaps instead they were waiting in the front room.). The doctor came out and announced, "It's a boy!" to the rousting cheers of Frank Jr., Clarence, Isaac, John, and Steve. He went back in to the house/bedroom and returned not much later to announce, "and it's a girl!" to the delight of Gertrude, Maude, Jane, Agnes, and Viola.

True or no, it's a fun story. When Lee grew up, he settled in Eastern Washington. He was married three times and fathered five children. Leona also lived in Eastern Washington, but spent her latter years in Vancouver, Clark County on the southwest side of the state. She and her husband, Forrest "Frank" L. CHAPLIN, had three children, the youngest of whom is my mother-in-law. Leona was present at our wedding, along with our other three grandmothers, my paternal grandfather, and our two step-grandfathers. This was the only time I got a chance to meet her, as her health was poor and she lived on the other side of the state. Lee died in 1984, before I knew my husband or his family. Interestingly, his Social Security Death Index information states he was born 17 December 1907, rather than 1906, while Leona's has the correct birth date. I spoke with my mother-in-law to verify their birth year (Idaho didn't record births until 1908), and she told me that an error had been made on Lee's birthdate, either by the Social Security Administration (or perhaps by a surviving family member after his passing) but no one in the family wanted to go through the paperwork to correct it.

As an aside: we know that giving birth to fraternal twins is a genetic female trait, usually appearing every other generation, while giving birth to identical twins is not genetic (it's a "mutation" in the development of the embryo, where one splits into two complete embryos). Leona's oldest daughter had twin fraternal daughters. I imagine that eventually one--or both--of them may have twin grandchildren someday.

Oral History Project in Spirit Lake, Idaho

Spirit Lake Youth Equipped For Success has received a grant to complete an oral history project as part of the Spirit Lake Centennial Celebration. Part of the training will be conducted by Kathy Hodges, Idaho's Oral Historian, on February 20th. She will be speaking later that evening to the Spirit Lake Historical Society at their regular monthly meeting. It is open to the public and will be at 7:00 PM at the Spirit Lake Elementary School, 309 North 5th Avenue, Spirit Lake, Idaho. The SLHS welcomes anyone interested in hearing more about capturing oral histories and the importance of this medium as a record of historical content to plan on joining them. The elementary school is adjacent to Highway 41, just past the library (you can't miss it).

On February 21st, the historical society has made arrangements to seat 20 at Templin's, 414 East 1st Avenue, Post Falls, Idaho at a no-host luncheon so that Kathy can share information on oral history and answer any specific questions that any of the area historical societies might have. The Spirit Lake Historical Society is inviting Kootenai County, Westwood, and Post Falls Historical Societies' members to this meeting. While it isn't necessary to make reservations, it would be nice to have an estimated attendance from your group prior to the event.

The contact person for this is:

Shelley Tschida
Quality Services
P. O. Box 1162
Spirit Lake, ID 83869
(208) 623-2539 phone
(208) 623-6618 fax
(208) 691-9150 cell
qsistATverizonDOTnet

Frugal Genealogy

Jasia of Creative Gene has written a thoughtful and interesting five-part series called "What is Your Genealogy Worth to You?" (click here to go to the first post in the series). She starts off with "Have you ever thought about how much your genealogy addiction costs you? What price have you paid to collect all those names on your family tree? If you had known what the cost would be when you began, would you still have started down this road?"

I've been gathering information and organizing it since early 1987. In 1990 and again in 1999, I helped to organize a Midkiff Family Reunion. In 1995, I made my first forays into research by requesting the marriage record of my paternal grandmother's biological parents, and not long after, visited a Family History Center for the first time. I haven't looked back since! Back then, I didn't keep track of my expenditures, but I never had a lot to work with and would just make do with about $5 or $10 a month in ordering microfilm from the FHC. Since purchasing Quicken software three-and-a-half years ago, I've kept pretty good records on all my expenditures, and ran a report to see how much I've spent. Since May 2004, I have spent a total of $823.65 on paying society fees, ordering vital records and microfilms, paying for subscriptions to genealogy websites like Ancestry, making photocopies of documents and forms, buying office supplies specifically for my genealogy files, and purchasing genealogy books, CDs, and magazine subscriptions. I've been able to offset these costs: my sister-in-law reimburses me half of my online subscription costs since I help her research her family tree; I also get paid for teaching Online Genealogy at my local community college district's community ed and for doing presentations at area genealogical societies. When I consider the after-tax income and reimbursement I've received in comparison to the expenditures listed above, I actually have a credit of -$52.81.

There are several other costs, however. While I don't figure in the cost of gas in going to genealogical society meetings or going to my local Family History Center, it does cost to park when I attend society meetings and computer classes at the public library, and my three-and-a-half year cost for that has been exactly $127.00. I gladly would park in a free parking area at the bottom of the hill half-a-mile away; however, since I'm the Ways and Means Committee Chair, I usually have many boxes of books and bags of supplies to haul in, and even with my cart, that's simply not practical. The parking garage I normally use is the cheapest in the downtown area: 50 cents per half hour.

Another cost would be printer ink (which I haven't bothered to account for here, since I list it under Consumable Household Goods). I am very frugal with it, and only print when I have to, using the "quick print" and black-and-white settings. Still, it does cost, but I recycle my cartridges or trade them in for reams of paper or photo printing.

Because I use my computer and Internet service almost exclusively for genealogy in one form or another, I have to consider those costs. The first computer I had used Windows 3.1 and was found by my brother-in-law at a garage sale. I paid $100 for it, along with some software and a decent (for that time) printer in 1999. I used Juno's free Internet dial-up service, then later tried a free dial-up service which was accessed through my local public library. For several years, I used AOL free trial dial-up service. It was good for two months; I'd call them up at the end of the trial service and "cancel" and they'd "persuade" me to try it again for two more months. It was great! However, when we had a friend build us a new computer (with the Edsel-like Windows ME operating system!), AOL wouldn't work well with it. We went to Juno's pay dial-up service of just under $10 a month. That computer cost us about $600 and included everything--monitor, speakers, software, keyboard, mouse, etc.--except the printer. We later bought a quality printer/scanner/copier/fax machine at Costco for about $300, which I still use. Since my husband works for a company that produces heavy-duty laptops for the military, police and fire departments, and service repairmen, he's been able to pick the brains of engineers and tech geeks that he works with, educating himself along the way. Armed with this advice and knowledge, two years ago, he built a complete new computer with Windows XP ourselves, with a little help from his nephew. This one has a high-resolution flat-screen monitor, a cordless keyboard and mouse, and all kinds of bells and whistles, and set us back only about $1100. We also obtained an older laptop, which has come in so handy with four computer users in this household. Along the way, we switched to DSL broadband Internet service through a small local company that contracts with the local phone company, costing us a discounted $45 a month. Offsetting this expense, we have chosen not to get cable television (I have always been one to willingly live without a television!), nor do we use long-distance telephone service (using an inexpensive 10-10 code for our infrequent long-distance calls). For us, the Internet is our main entertainment and long-distance communication resource.

So there you have some of my tangible costs of genealogy, although as Becky at kinexxions wrote, genealogy is priceless. The family I've found, the friends I've made, the discoveries I've happened across, the life-long learning process...all are invaluable! And yes, I'd do it all over again, in a heartbeat!

Coincidentally, I'll be giving a one-hour presentation to the Kootenai County (Idaho) Genealogical Society this week, Thursday, October 18th at 7:00 PM, entitled "Frugal Genealogy (or How Not to Spend a Fortune on Your Family Tree!)." We will be meeting at the Hayden Family History Center at 2293 West Hanley (west of off Ramsey) in Hayden, Idaho. This is not the normal meeting place, as the Hayden Lake Library is being remodeled. I hope that if you live in the area, you will join us (meetings are free to the public). I had the opportunity to meet some of the fine folks of the KCGS at the Bonner County (Idaho) Genealogical Society's June conference, and look forward to meeting more of their members. I'll also be giving this presentation to the Northeast Washington Genealogical Society in Colville in July 2008, if you wish to catch it then. If you are not able to attend, you can e-mail me to request a copy of my syllabus (see "View my complete profile" in the right-hand sidebar to obtain my e-mail address).

The Bonner County (Idaho) Genealogical Society Conference

Yesterday I had the pleasure of speaking at the Bonner County Genealogical Society Conference at the East Bonner County Library in beautiful Sandpoint, Idaho. The building itself is spacious, bright, and modern and you can view photos of the exterior and interior here. The BCGS is a small but enthusiastic group who is doing well to become more visible and inviting to their community by collaborating with the library district and the local Family History Center, as well as the neighboring Kootenai County Genealogical Society (several members from that group were also in attendance).

My presentations were "Local Genealogical Resources You Can't Afford to Ignore," "Getting It Together: Organizing Your Files," and "Goals and Strategies: Organizing Your Research." Although my focus was aimed at the intermediate and experienced researcher, I did answer many questions from some obvious beginners, and encouraged them to attend society meetings to learn more. I especially stressed this in my first presentation, as the local resources I mentioned were: your local genealogical society, your local library, your local Family History Center, and the Internet. I felt a lot of energy from the attendees, and hoped they enjoyed themselves and much as I did! After the conference, several members of the board generously took me to lunch, and we had great conversations on the future of genealogical societies, trips to Salt Lake City, and upcoming area genealogy conferences.
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The trip to Sandpoint was a refreshing experience in itself. I drove up Highway 2 under a cloudless sky, with little traffic and the sparkle of the Priest River on my right. It was later in the morning, so I didn't have to worry about deer and little critters being on the road, but still early enough to just enjoy bright morning sun, the radio cranked up (yes, Randy, it was country music!), cup of coffee on hand, and the road beneath my wheels! A friend recently reminded me that the West is God's Country, and I as took in the woods, mountains, farms, and old railroad, lumber, and mining communities, I was filled with gratitude for being able to live in the gorgeous Inland Northwest. The country began only 10 minutes from my doorstep.

My travel homeward was a bit slower, with more traffic and clouds quick to cast their shadows below. My mind was filled with the events of the day, wisps of conversations flittering about, anxious to return home and unwind. A day like this comes by once in a while to call attention to the great blessings in our lives, and I was listening.

Genealogy Conference - Sandpoint, Idaho

I'm very excited to announce my first genealogy conference as the sole presenter, which will be held Saturday, June 23, 2007 at the East Bonner County Library District in Sandpoint, Idaho from 9:00 AM - 12:00 PM. Following will be an open forum form 1:00 - 4:00 PM. It is co-sponsored by the library district and the Bonner County Genealogical Society. The conference is especially targeted to those in the community who are new to genealogy, but there are also many in the society who are seasoned researchers. I will giving three presentations:

• Local Research Resources You Can't Afford to Ignore
• Getting It Together: Organizing Your Files
• Goals & Strategies: Organizing Your Research

The last presentation will be in an interactive workshop-style, where attendees can bring information on their brick wall ancestors to set goals and discuss strategies for breaking through to the next generation.

Sandpoint is a beautiful community on the edge of one of the deepest lakes in the world, Lake Pend Orielle (pond duh RAY). I look forward to meeting the library staff and members of the BCGS, and hope that together we can inspire new researchers with the joys of genealogy!

To register for the conference, please contact either the East Bonner County Library or the Bonner County Genealogical Society .

Happy Birthday - March 3

Happy Birthday to:

Dorothy Zada (MIDKIFF) JOHNSON BENJAMIN, my father-in-law's paternal aunt, who--if she had not died on 16 April 1963 at the young age of 49--would be 93 years old today. She was born on this date in 1914 in Idaho (probably in or near Challis, Custer County), the youngest of John Franklin MIDKIFF, Sr. and Margie Ethel TOLLIVER's three children. She also had four older half-siblings on her father's side. Below is a photo of Dorothy's family, taken about 1912. Taken before her birth, she does not appear in it. But this is the home in Challis in which the Midkiffs lived (click on the photo to go to the album and read the caption).

Dorothy does appear in the photo below. She is the little girl sitting on the fender directly in front of her father (again, click on the photo for captions).

Dorothy first married Al JOHNSON and had two daughters. After their divorce, she married Bill BENJAMIN. No one in the family seems to remember where Dorothy died, and my father-in-law is out of touch with his cousins. But I was able to take a photo of her grave at Park Hill Cemetery in Vancouver, Clark Co., Washington on Memorial Day 2004:

Grave photo for Theodore William VALK

Sheryl Rose of Find A Grave very kindly took a photo of my granduncle's grave. Uncle Ted came out west from Grand Rapids, Michigan to California for 25 years after WWII, then settled in Boise, Idaho. He and his family, and my mother are the only known VALKs to live out west...all the rest live back in Western Michigan, for the most part.