Early Tannahills & Jones in Idaho - Sam Tannahill

Brothers - John Lyons Tannahill sitting and
Samuel Oliver Tannahill standing behind.
Taken about 1930

I have always been interested in local history.  I knew that my mother's family came to the Lewiston, ID area in the 1920's and my Dad's family was in the Princeton, ID area in 1935.  However, if I look a little deeper, I find that I actually have family on my mother's family that was here much earlier.  If you work on the premise that one of the reasons an individual or family moves to an area because they relatives already there, I suspect that it is a significant connection.

My grandfather, Oliver Richard Tannahill moved to Idaho with his father in the mid 1920's.  I suspect it was around 1926 or so.  Why did John Lyons Tannahill (my great grandfather) decide on Idaho instead of another location.  It turns out that he had two full brothers and two half brothers who lived in the area, one of those is Samuel Oliver Tannahill.  

Almira Jones m. John Tannahill & Sam Pennell
Sam's mother

Samuel Oliver Tannahill was the second child of Almira Jones and John Tannahill. His older brother died at birth, so in essence he was the oldest.  Sam was born 10 Aug 1868 in Elden Wapello Co., IA.  He had two younger brothers, George William Tannahill (1871-1917) and John Lyons Tannahill (1873-1945).  Sam's father died in 1873 just before John Lyons Tannahill was born. Almira remarried a few years later on 8 Jun 1875 in Montgomery, KS to Samuel Wesley Pennell.  By all accounts, Sam Pennell treated his step sons well, but they all left home fairly early to make their own way in the world. Almira and Sam Pennell also had four more sons (Robert, Charles, Grover "Pat", Thomas Franklin) and three daughters (Maude, Mollie & Celia).   

The first record that I find on Samuel Oliver Tannahill in the general was in 1889 in Garfield Co., WA (likely close to present day, Pomeroy, WA).  Sam married his first wife, Alice R Cox on 6 Oct 1897 in Nez Perce Co., ID.  According to his obituary he was "a leading citizen of Lewiston and prominent as an attorney in central Idaho since 1905, practicing most of the time since in Lewiston, democratic national committeeman from Idaho and well known all over the northwest." (Obit published Lewiston Morning Tribune 31 Dec 1935)  All I really knew about Sam Tannahill was that he had been an attorney and had been fairly prominent in the Democratic party in Idaho until his death.  His obituary explains that he was elected as assessor in Nez Perce Co., ID in 1894 as well as serving on the city council.  He also worked in a store in Ilo (present day Craigmont, ID) and also worked as an abstractor.  He saved enough money to go to Valparaiso, IN for Law School.  This is yet another example of going somewhere where family is or was located.  I know from my own research that Sam Tannahill likely had Harrington relatives who lived near Valparaiso.  His grandmother's family (Hulda Harrington) grandparents had died in Valparaiso, IN.  It may be an interesting coincidence, but then it may not be either.  Both Sam and his brother, George William Tannahill went to Valparaiso and returned to Idaho to practice law.  Sam ended up being the prosecuting attorney for Lewis Co., ID (Nezperce) for several terms.  He actually had been in partnership with his brother in Lewiston, ID as well.  After George died in a car accident in 1915, Sam returned to Lewiston permanently.  

Sam was involved in virtually every capacity within the Democratic party in early Idaho including be a representative to the national committee.  While I think Sam Tannahill's business life was very good and impressive...I am not sure the same can be said of his private life.  Sam was first married to Alice R Cox on 6 Oct 1897 in Nez Perce Co., ID.  He was still married to her in the 1910 census, but they must have divorced between 1910 and 1917, because Sam marries again on 11 Sept 1917 to Ella Patterson in Spokane, WA.  Alice has not died and in fact remarries to Harry Lydon, the county treasurer sometime before the 1920 census when they are recorded together.

Ella died on 15 Oct 1923.  According to her death record, Ella died at age 46 of an embolism.  Sam marries again on 6 May 1925 to Josephine Krier.  Sam died himself of a cerebral hemorrhage on 30 Dec 1935 in Lewiston, ID.

I don't know as much about Sam from family stories other than a few tidbits I picked up from my mother.  I think that my great grandfather (John Lyons Tannahill) brought his two youngest children when he moved to Idaho, probably sometime around 1926-1928. (Oliver Richard Tannahill & Olive Rachel Tannahill) I can only guess that the reason John Lyons Tannahill came to Idaho was because his only surviving full brother lived in Idaho.  My grandfather, O. Richard Tannahill finished high school in Lewiston, ID.  I have often wondered if Sam had some influence on my grandfather finishing high school and spending a short time in college.  In 1930, life had to be pretty difficult because of the depression.  For Grandpa Richard to have completed his education makes me believe that Sam possibly helped his brother's family financially.  I also know from what my mother said that Grandpa Richard was very fond of Sam and that both my grandparents were quite upset when he passed away.  

Most of my information about Samuel Oliver Tannahill comes from an obituary and a write-up on early Idaho history.  He was a significant enough figure, that there was quite a bit written in an early Idaho history that was published.  I know that he was an important attorney in the area having been the first prosecuting attorney for Lewis Co., ID and was appointed by the governor of Idaho at the time.   In addition, Sam was quite active in the Idaho politics until his death in 1935.  Beyond his personal acclaim as a lawyer and local citizen, I suspect that he must have had an important personal connection with my grandfather and perhaps gave him the type of guidance and support needed to become a good businessman.

Anyone for Baseball?

Baseball was a big part of the life of the grandfather that I never knew and the great grandfather who I knew the longest.  Both played in their youth and only my great grandfather lived to enjoy the game in during his long lifetime. 

Richard Tannahill was an athlete.  I've been told that he would run down from Webb Ridge where he lived which is over 20 miles.  I’m don’t know that he had much opportunity to participate in a high school or college athletic program – but from what I've been told, Richard was a great runner and baseball player.  When he married my grandmother in 1934, baseball became a bone of contention.  From what I understand – both individuals were exceptionally hard workers and worked long hours…however, Richard would often take time at the end of a long day and play a baseball game.  Knowing my grandmother, she could look at most of his activities such as hunting and see some value in it…I’m sure that she thought baseball was a waste of time.  I've even seen newspaper articles that talk about Richard organizing a baseball team in the Lewiston Orchards.  My mother has few memories of her father, but she did remember him often around kids and playing baseball with them.  Richard never reached the age where he could be a fan watching the game – he was killed in a hunting accident when he was 36. 

Like Richard, Granddad Gage was probably a natural athlete.  Both his parents died when he was 15, and he took his siblings west from New York to live with their maternal grandmother.  Soon after, he took off and got a job and actually joined the Army.  My uncle tells me that he actually rose in the ranks pretty quickly but he wasn't sure if that was because he was a good soldier or a good baseball player.  When he left the military, he met and married my great grandmother and soon after he had a farm and many children.  However, he would take off in the evening and go in and play baseball with his town team.  My uncle tells me about the time that he was in college trying out for the University of Idaho baseball team.  He had a good swing and could the hit the ball far.  The coach was impressed and told him so.  My uncle told him that he had remembered with the coach played as a young man back in Iowa.  The coach looked at my uncle with some surprise and proceeded to tell him a story.  The coach said that he had known a Gage back in Iowa.  He said one day they were playing a baseball game and the pitcher was having some problems.  They called in this rangy fellow from the outfield who came in and pitched seven innings and shut them down.  He was told that this Gage did this after working out in the fields all day.  My uncle told him that he remembered that game well and that that Gage was his father.

Granddad Gage moved to Lewiston, ID in the early 1950’s and took advantage of something that no other town offered him where he had lived before.  Granddad went to just about every Broncs game that he could.  When he retired, he went to every home game.  When my cousins visited from Iowa in 1957, they told me that they went to a baseball game nearly every night while visiting with Granddad.  I know that he took his grandchildren to games as well.  Everyone knew that Granddad didn't want to miss a game.  The Lewiston Broncs were a minor league baseball team that played in Lewiston from about early 1950’s to the mid 1970’s.  There were some famous players such as Reggie Jackson who played here in 1966 and Granddad would often talk about watching Reggie Jackson.  At the time, Lewiston was the smallest city in the United States to have his own professional baseball team.

So, as the World Series starts today, I will think of the grandfather I never knew and the great grandfather that I adored.  I’m not a big baseball fan, but perhaps I always pay attention to the World Series because there is a part of me that gets excited about baseball in October.  It might be in the blood!

Winter Spirit in Lewiston, ID

When I was a little girl, Christmas lights were among my favorite things.  I can remember many holiday drives in the evening when my parents took us around to see the lights.  Back then, there were competitions and every year several homes would go all out to decorate for the holidays.  That was probably about 35 years ago.  Then we went through a session when few people put up Christmas lights and during the past twenty years there has been another change – for more decoration.

Back in the early 1990’s, a group of Lewiston people began decorating what we locals call Locomotive Park.  There is an old early 20^th century locomotive that has had its home there ever since I can remember.   There is also a large curving park that circles around what would be Highway 12 as it enters Lewiston, ID and continues over to Clarkston, WA.  As you can probably tell by the names – our two cities here in the LC Valley are named for Lewis and Clark.  Near the Locomotive is a fairly large tableau of trees – the Winter Spirit committee has decorated Locomotive park for at least the last 20 years with literally millions of lights.  The Locomotive is awash with colored lights and the tall tree in the center flickers with dancing lights that match the music being broadcast on speakers.  Kids young and old can dance around on the pad and help make the lights move.  There is a beautiful archway snaking through the park that is a glittering trail that leads the visitor all over the park and its beautiful trees.  Every year volunteers work for several weekends to get the lights up and there is a lovely lighting ceremony during the weekend before Thanksgiving.  The lights stay up through the New Year. 

I still can remember the first year that it was lit.  My nieces and nephews were small children.  They ran through the archways and watched the lights flicker with the movement.  Sometimes the weather was warm and other times quite chilly and snowy.  The adults in the family would walk around enjoying the children’s joy and wonder as well as our own.  We would spend at least an hour walking through the park, no matter how cold it was.  Then when we go out on drives to look at the Christmas lights – we would drive by Locomotive Park and enjoy the beautiful colors.  I don’t know that any of us ever completely outgrow looking at pretty twinkling lights.

My Niece & Nephew enjoying the lights!

Several years ago, my sister-in-law and brother were visiting from out of town.  They had moved north several years before but one thing they wanted to do during that Thanksgiving weekend visit was go and look at the Christmas lights.  We enjoyed looking at the new Fireplace with the tiles that had been painted by local schoolchildren and reacquainted ourselves with all of the new displays that had been done.  My teenage niece and nephew ran around and played like children.  I still remember my brother saying that he wished that these lights had been around when he was in high school – it would have made for a cheap date.

If you are interested in looking at some of the photos or wish to look at more information check out their website at http://www.winterspirit.com/ .  There is even an opportunity to donate to the cause as this is a volunteer operation.

Through the arch!

Some of the lights of Winter Spirit!

Goodbye Our Lady of Lourdes

Our Lady of Lourdes Church celebrated its last mass yesterday. It has been in existence in Lewiston for nearly a hundred years…and now it is closing its doors.  I never really attended Our Lady of Lourdes but I have many family members and friends who have.  My family attended St. James Catholic Church and it too will be closing its doors.  The have combined the three parishes in Lewiston, ID.

 

Before I was born, my mother was working as a music teacher at the Lourdes School.  She taught 1^st through 8^th grades and among her students was my sister, who was in 1^st grade.  Mom found out that she was pregnant with me before the school year in 1966.  She talked to Father Phelan, who the principal at the school, to let him know that she was pregnant.  Mom was prepared to lose her job, because pregnant teachers weren’t all that common.  Father Phelen told her that these were a bunch of Catholic kids and they were used to seeing pregnant women and didn’t see a problem.

Mom said that as her pregnancy became known, the kids would show up at her car in the morning and wouldn’t allow her to carry anything.  She said that even the nuns used her pregnancy as a teaching moment telling the kids about the development of a baby.  The big moment of the school year was always the Christmas concert.  Since Mom was starting to get pretty big, Father Phelen was getting a bit concerned that Mom might have me before Christmas.  Since the concert consisted of the band and the children’s choir – Mom’s role was pretty important.  They decided to hold the concert in the old Lourdes Church was located at the location of the present day Salvation Army.  Parents took charge to clean up the old church and make sure everything was ready for the concert.  Father Phelen made a special prayer on Mom to make sure that she didn’t deliver me before the Christmas concert.  Mom made it to the concert.  Her biggest problem was the interference she got when trying to conduct the children’s choir.  She wasn’t getting the attention from the kids has she expected and saw that their eyes kept wandering.  Mom turned around and saw her almost 3 year old son standing on a chair and imitating his mother by waving his arms.

Father Phelen’s prayer worked a bit too well.  I was expected in January but wasn’t born until February.  Father Phelen put Mom on maternity leave at the first of February.  Mom was receiving daily calls from her grandmothers, Dad’s grandmother, her mother, Father Phelen, and Dad while he was at work – checking on her and seeing if her contractions had started.  After a difficult delivery, Mom had me on the 9^th.  One of the first bunches of flowers that arrived was a huge horseshoe of roses.  All of her students had put together their nickels and dimes to buy the roses for Mom.  She let them give me my middle name.  Mom thought I looked like a little Spanish baby so with my black hair and so she named me Carmen and the Mom’s students gave me the middle name of Maria. 

My Baptism with my parents holding me.  Father Phelen baptized me at  Our Lady of Lourdes Church.

Mom went back to work and finished out the year after her maternity leave.  She missed the students, the nuns she taught with, and Father Phelen after she left Our Lady of Lourdes.  It is sad to see it close, and it will be sad to see St James and St. Stanilaus close their doors as well.  They have been a part of my life for my lifetime.

My Favorite Assignment

When I was a junior in high school,  I was in a History/English class that was intended for college bound students, so at times we had some unique classroom assignments.  During this particular assignment, we were asked to talk to someone about the depression.  The closest people I had to talk to were my grandparents.  I don’t remember many classroom assignments from high school or college for that matter – but I’ve never been so glad that I had that assignment so long ago.  My eyes were opened to the past and living history that we had around us.

My grandmother was born in 1911 on Grouse Flats, Wallowa Co., OR.  Her parents moved to Pomeroy, Garfield Co., WA in the early 1920’s and to Lewiston, Nez Perce Co., ID in the last 1920’s.  Capitola (aka Grandma Cappy) started high school in the brand new school that had just been built.  It is the same high school that my mother attended and that my siblings and I attended – but in 1927 – it was brand new (I might have the actual date off a year or two).  Capitola’s mother believed that girls should have their own money and be able to support themselves, so after high school; my grandmother went to the Lewiston Normal School – today, known as Lewis Clark State College. 

Going to school wasn’t an easy proposition – there was a lack of money and transportation.  Pop Friddle (Grandma Cappy’s father – David Carl Friddle) butchered and sold a hog to pay for tuition and books and Grandma Cappy would ride her horse to school.  Mom Friddle (Sophie Dollar Friddle) and Capitola spent three years picking lettuce to buy an old piano so she could learn how to play music.  The thought was that she would have more opportunity for a job if she could also teach music.  After two years of school, Cappy graduated and got her first job as a schoolteacher – a one room school called the Snow School – about twenty miles south of Lewiston, ID in the Waha area.

I’m sure she had a lot of idealistic notions before she began her first day of school.  Cappy was to live in the small room in the back of the school – her boyfriend at the time was also conveniently nearby.  During those first few weeks of school, she saw her students come to school with bare feet and nothing to eat.  Even during the worst of times – Capitola’s family always had something to eat and shoes when needed.  She might not be able to do much about the shoes – but she certainly could do something about the food. 

Taken in 1933 - Capitola is standing on the left side in the back.

Capitola went to her parents’ home in Lewiston and gathered as many vegetables as she could take from the garden – her boyfriend (later her first husband, Richard Tannahill) poached a deer and she started to make a soup for the children to eat every day at school.  The wood stove that provided heat was also a good place to have a soup bubbling away during the day.  She continued to add to the soup every day and provided for those kids probably their only hot meal of the day. 

Both of my grandparents explained to me that the depression wasn’t so bad for those who had gardens, animals and knew how to do for themselves.  They might not have had sugar – but they never went hungry.  Maybe it took the selling of a hog so my grandmother could go to school – but she at least had that opportunity.  My step-grandfather, Gwen Shearer, wasn’t able to go to school.  He got a job as a butcher to make a living and started his own small sawmill.  Both of them made the most of the opportunities that presented themselves at the time.

Many years later – my grandmother returned to teaching after not working for about 15 years.  I think she truly loved teaching, but it was also a way to bring some money into the household.  Her husband, Gwen Shearer, was trying to build a new lumber mill in Elk City, ID when his current lumber mill in Orofino, ID burned down.  They actually went bankrupt for a short time.  However, they both worked hard and sacrificed and were able to recover to build a successful logging operation in Elk City, ID.  Grandpa Gwen was deeply involved in the Idaho County School District #241 and my grandmother continued to teach at the small school in Elk City, ID.  Education was an important part of who they were and they wanted to provide opportunities to kids who were willing to work hard.  When they retired in 1978, they began the process of building a scholarship program for the kids in Idaho County.  Each year, one student from each high school would get a full ride scholarship to the University of Idaho.  These kids were usually some of the best students, but they were also involved in extracurricular activities and needed the money to continue their education.  At any one time, there were around 12 students attending the University of Idaho on the Gwen and Capitola Shearer Scholarship.  My grandparent’s experiences in the depression made them want to provide opportunities for young people to follow their dreams of education.

My grandparents provided the same opportunity for their grandchildren.  We didn’t all finish college, but the opportunity was there for us.  My grandmother didn’t live to see any of the first scholarship students’ graduate – she died in 1985.  My step-grandfather Gwen, however, was able to see not only his first grandchild to graduate in 1986 from college, (my brother Russell) but also see the first of the students that received that scholarship graduate.  Grandpa Gwen died in January of 1987.  I graduated in 1989 with a B. S. in History and minor in English and in 1990 with a B. S. degree in Secondary Education.  I am no longer a teacher – but I use my education in my job and everyday life.  I don’t believe that education is ever wasted!

Gwen & Capitola Shearer - Taken about 1965

That long ago assignment gave me the opportunity to learn something about my grandparent’s lives that I never would have probably known otherwise.  My mother even told me at the time that there things I  learned that she didn’t even know.  It is important to ask our older generation about their experiences  - there is a wealth of information and knowledge that would be lost otherwise!

Uncle Henry & Aunty Jones...

When my mother was a child - her family had neighbors who lived across the road from her house.   They were a childless couple who became very good friends of the family that they became my mother's godparents.

Glenthora Stranahan Jones or "Aunty Jones" as we always called her was a "character!"  She was a very poor driver who drove far longer than she should have.  Thain Rd was and still is an extremely busy street - when she was ready to pull out into traffic, she didn't ease into it - she gunned the car in the driveway and was already going a pretty good speed by the time she hit the road.  It is a miracle that she never hit anyone.  She wasn't the little old lady who drove too slow, she loved to drive fast.  Aunty Jones used to hide the newspaper and or glasses from her husband so he would see the traffic tickets listed.  Her family were among the earlier settlers of Lewiston, ID.  Her father was Clinton Terry Stranahan or CT as he was known.  He was one of the last Indian agents out in Lapwai, ID and owned a pretty large chunk of land.  He sold some of it to Potlatch Forests, later Clearwater Paper where the mill sits today.  He also had a rather large fruit farm in what is today known as the Lewiston Orchards.  May Louise Bostick was Aunty Jones mother.  She was the first white child born in Gallatin Co., MT.  Aunty Jones family had been in the Lewiston area since the mid 1880's, which considering the city of Lewiston is just now 150 years old (founded in 1861) was very early.  She became a nurse when she was a young woman and spent some time in Mexico working.  In addition, she also spent time with her husband in Europe after World War I where he was working as military officer.  She married Uncle Henry on Dec. 26, 1911.

I have very dim memories of sitting on Uncle Henry's lap.  I mostly remember a horse head cane that he used.  Strange what a child remembers :)  When he died in 1973, I was only about 6 years old...but I later heard many stories about him.  He was born in Springfield, IL and his family moved out west in 1887 to Oregon.  He left home when he was 14 to work in the logging camps.  Since he was big for his age, he signed up with the army and was sent to the Philippines during the Spanish-American War.  Uncle Henry moved to Lewiston in about 1907 according to obituary and married Aunty Jones in 1911.  He retired from the Idaho National Guard in 1919 as a Major.  I always heard the story growing up that Uncle Henry wanted to serve in World War II - they told him that he had a bad appendix and he couldn't serve.  He had the appendix removed and they still wouldn't serve.  However, my uncle told me (he lived nearby) that there were cars that pulled up to his driveway that had flags with stars on them.  Since my uncle had just finished serving in World War II, he knew that those were members of the military with the highest of ranks.  During his lifetime, Uncle Henry worked for the local utilities and for the road department.  He was the district maintenance engineer for the Idaho Department of Highways in 1931 until 1941.  Uncle Henry then spent the last years of his working life taking care of his fruit orchard on Thain Rd and helping to start the local television station.

It was only later in life that I learned that the kindly old couple of my early childhood were such remarkable people.  Aunty Jones was much more than that lady who always gave us each of us kids a dollar bill and bag of oranges at Christmas.  She was fun and interesting to talk to.  Aunty Jones had verve for life as long as I knew her.  She was never the quintessential old lady she defined her own status.  She died in 1988 at almost exactly 99 years old.  In my minds eye, I can still picture her sitting on our couch and discussing the trips on the stagecoach in her youth with Granny Shearer and Mom Friddle (both my great grandmothers.)  They helped me and my siblings develop a love for history.  Whenever I think of her and Uncle Henry - I smile...I was lucky to have known them!

Glenthora Stranahan Jones - Find a Grave Memorial

Henry Melvin Jones - Find a Grave Memorial

Clinton Terry Stranahan - Find A Grave Memorial

Info about Clinton Terry Stranahan