Re: Cephas PETTIBONE 1818-1874 IL
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In reply to:
Re: Cephas PETTIBONE 1818-1874 IL
Garnet Murphey 8/18/03
This is Cephas's youngest son.
HON. NATHANIEL B. PETTIBONE
Hon. Nathaniel B. Pettibone, member of the state senate from Idaho county, resides on a ranch nine miles from Grangeville and dates his residence in Idaho from the spring of 1889, arriving here the year before the state was admitted to the Union. Through all the intervening period he has lived in Idaho county and has been an important factor in mining and agricultural development, while in political circles he is wielding considerable influence in molding the policy and shaping the destiny of the state.
Mr. Pettibone was born in Warsaw, Hancock county, Illinois, July 10, 1869, being the youngest of ten children, six sons and four daughters, born to Cephas and Amelia (Belcher) Pettibone. The father was a farmer by occupation and died when his son Nathaniel was but four years of age. The mother's death occurred when he was but ten months old, and he can barely remember his father. He was left an orphan when a little lad of but four years and was largely reared in the home of Thomas Head, a wealthy farmer of McDonough county, Illinois, whose attitude was that of a father to the boy, who remained with him between the ages of ten and eighteen years. Prior to the time when he went to Mr. Head's home he had been shifted about "from pillar to post" without much opportunity. While living on the Head farm he attended the country schools and later the. village school of Sciota, Illinois, until he reached the age of eighteen. Leaving Illinois Mr. Pettibone then spent six months in North Dakota, where he did farm work, after which he returned to his native state, attending school the following winter and again living in the home of Thomas Head. In the spring of 1889 he decided to remove to the west to make his fortune. He first went to New Mexico hut soon proceeded to Wyoming and after a brief period, having heard glowing reports about the Seven Devil copper mines in Washington county, Idaho, he came to this state. He did not remain long in the mining region, however, but proceeded to Idaho county, where he turned his attention to anything that he could get to do. He split rails, worked in the hay fields and later for several years was employed in the gold mines of Idaho county. In 1900 he built the first house in the town of Stites and helped to lay out the town. There he resided until 1914, when he removed to his ranch, nine miles north of Grangeville. It is a four hundred and eighty acre grain and stock ranch, on which he raises excellent crops of alfalfa, wheat, oats and barley, as well as good stock. It has substantial Improvements upon it, his home being a modern residence of the bungalow type, while all of the buildings fully meet the requirements of modern farming. He likewise has excellent registered Hereford cattle. While living in Stites he gave his attention in some degree to merchandising and for a time operated a stage line between Stites and Elk City. On the 7th of July, 1897, Mr. Pettibone was married to Miss Mary Eliza Shissler, a native of Idaho county, Idaho, and a daughter of Franklin and Elizabeth (Shearer) Shissler, who were early'settlers of that county. Her father established the first sawmill in the county and was otherwise identified with its pioneer Development. He has now passed away but the mother survives. Mr. and Mrs. Pettibone have become parents of four sons and a daughter: Franklin T., twenty years of age; Lev! N., aged seventeen; Wilbur C., fifteen; George, eleven; and Mary Lucille, a little maiden of seven summers. The eldest son, Franklin T., was in an American training camp when the World war ended. The family attend the Episcopal church, and Mr. Pettibone belongs also to the Odd Fellows society. He greatly enjoys fishing, hunting and other outdoor sports, to which he turns for recreation. His political allegiance has always been given to the democratic party and he served as chairman of the board of county commissioners of Idaho county for six years. He is now serving his second term in the state senate, having'been first elected in 1916 and reelected in 1918. During his first term he did much to promote the Idaho good roads law. As chairman of the highways committee in 1917, he helped to secure the million dollar appropriation for highways in Idaho. He is now serving on the committee on state affairs, on immigration and labor, and is unfaltering in his loyalty to any cause which he espouses. He was the democratic or minority floor leader in the senate during the fifteenth session of the Idaho legislature.