Ewing Craig "Pinky" Baird was born near Little Rock, Arkansas, February 1, 1848. When he was six weeks old his family started west -- a trip which lasted seven months. They were often attacked by hunger and savage Indians. "Pinky" was one of fifteen children in the family.[1]

Early in 1849, the Bairds settled at Hangtown, near Sacramento, California. Later they moved to Oregon and homesteaded the site now occupied by the town of Grants Pass. Pinky lived there until he was nineteen years old. At that time he brought a herd of cattle over the Oregon Trail, crossed Snake River, proceeded to Upper Squaw Creek and to what is now Ola. His brother, Carol, had preceded him there by one year.[2]

E. C. "Pinky" Baird was a well-known Indian fighter. He served as an independent Indian scout for the government during the time of unrest in 1878-79. He was one of those who signed a petition to Governor Brayman in 1878 asking for guns and soldiers to protect the area from Indians who were on the rampage.[3]

Indians had killed some of his family and Pinky had a deep hatred of them. Believing that the only good Indian was a dead Indian, he did his best to make many of them good. Once when he was riding from Council to Meadows an Indian shot through his hat. He fell from his horse, pretending to be dead, but crawled behind a rock. He stuck his hat on a stick and held it barely above the rock. When the Indian came to finish him off Baird shot him.[4] Baird killed Eagle Eye, a renegade Shoshoni Indian who participated in the Billy Monday massacre. [Baird did not kill Eagle Eye, although he claimed to have done so. Also, the Indians responsible for the Billy Monday Massacre (also known as the Long Valley Massacre) were never identified.]

In early days E. C. Baird engaged in mining and freighting in Thunder Mountain, Warrens, and The Seven Devils area.[5] About 1892 he made his home in Council while freighting from the Seven Devils.[6]

March 31, 1906, he married Mrs. Ellen (Newell) Wilson, a widow. She died January 23, 1909, and on June 17, 1911, he married Mrs. Laura Gordon.

The life of this Colorful Character ended July 10, 1912, at his home north of Council. At his request he was buried in the I.O.O.F. Cemetery, under the auspices of that lodge.[7]

1 Obituary of Ewing Craig "Pinky" Baird, Council Leader, July 11, 1912.
2 Ibid.
3 Letters to Governor Brayman, Idaho Adjutant General's records, Idaho Territorial Archives, Boise.
4 Mary Thurston, interview.
5 Early Days of Adams County, Idaho.
6 Obituary of Ewing Craig "Pinky" Baird.
7 Ibid.

Frederick William Beier was the son of German-born William H. and Catherine Flore Beier. He was born at Buffalo, New York, November 19, 1853.[1]

Fred and his brother, Henry, attracted by the Virginia City gold rush, came west in 1875 or '76. They did little prospecting but worked at other things. After a few years they moved on to Ellensburg, Washington, where they remained about a year before their final move to Council Valley in 1883.[2]

May 3, 1887, Fred Beier married Amelia Snow, daughter of Bernard and Matilda Snow, of Indian Valley. She was born in 1866 at Ephriam, Utah, and came with her family to Indian Valley in 1882.[3]

In 1889 Fred Beier bought the homestead of Jacob and Elizabeth Groseclose. It contained one hundred and sixty acres.[4]  This was the family home until Fred's death. Beier's first enterprise, aside from farming, was a sawmill which gave Mill Creek its name.[5]

Herbert Beier tells some of his memories of that area:
At first Dad had a partner, Milt Wilkerson. Dad soon bought Wilkerson's share. I don't know the date of the first mill, located at the mouth of the canyon. I well remember the second location up the canyon, nearer the timber. The location of the mill, house barn, bunk house and the home are all vivid in my mind. I remember the six large oxen and some other details at that place. About 1898 must have been the end of our stay there. My brother, Fred, who was about ten years old, would read the war news (Spanish-American) from the weekly newspaper to the men. They thought he was a very smart boy.  We only went to the mill in summer. On Sunday, usually, mother, Fred and I would drive to the ranch and take produce to the mill.

The ranch home was a white weather-board two-story house, with a one-story wing added for a kitchen at a later date.  The house and other buildings were destroyed by fire on March 17, 1901--a St. Patrick's day I will always remember.

The large log barn, just east of the garden, was not burned but was torn down. The wagon and tool building, also the wood shed, were made from parts from the old barn.

I remember the first train I ever saw, probably about 1895-96. Dad was a County Commissioner and he took the family, mother, Will and me, to Weiser. The trip was made by team and wagon and we camped out two nights on the way.

By the time the railroad was built to Council Will and I were old enough to ride our pony down to a place near the mouth of Middle Fork to see the construction work. That was on Sunday so we only saw the train when not at work. It had gone to Weiser for supplies but we saw it return. At that time the plan was to build along the river to the mouth of Cottonwood but that route was abandoned for the present one. A crew of men worked all winter on the rock cut near Higgins' place. The men frequently came to our place on Sunday to buy apples.

Dad gave the land on which Cottonwood school was built.[6]

The Beier children were:  Fred, Herbert, Gerry, Nettie, Alice, and Donald.
Mr. Beier died September 1, 1933. Mrs. Beier hired men to operate the ranch and she moved to an apartment in Weiser. She died January 12, 1945.[7]

Henry Beier, born about 1856, married Viola Babcock. They had no children. Mr. Beier engaged in farming and cattle raising. He died at his home in Ontario, Oregon, November 22, 1919.[8]

1 Donald Beier, interview, Kuna, Idaho, 1974.
2 Ibid.
3 Ibid
4 Deed on file in Idaho State Archives, Boise, Idaho.
5 Donald Beier, interview.
6 Herbert Beier, California, in a letter to Donald Beier, 1974.
7 Donald Beier, interview.
8 Ibid.

Tolbert B. Biggerstaff, the second of five children of Wesley V. and Mary Ann Biggerstaff, was born in Carroll County, Arkansas, June 2, 1851. He married, in January, 1873, Harriet E. Whiteley, daughter of Joseph Whiteley and his first wife.[1]

Emily Biggerstaff, sister of Tolbert, married Lewis Harp and they came to Council about 1890.

Tolbert Biggerstaff moved his family from Arkansas to Missouri to Idaho. Records vary, showing 1886 and 1888 as time of arrival in Council Valley.

Mr. Biggerstaff was a rancher and operated a stage line. [He actually operated a stage stop (on Fort Hall Hill), not a line.]

Seven children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Biggerstaff. They were: Anna, Ova, Josephine, Olive, Cora, Lida, Emma, and Arden C.[3]

Anna married Sylvanus G. ("Bud") Addington and had one son, Hugh. They separated and she moved from the area. They each remarried.[4]

Ova "Josie" married (1) Robert White, Jr., who served in the Spanish-American War. They had two children, Ruth and Ray White. Robert died in 1904*. Ova married (2) Charles Allen. Their children were George and Ted. She had a very violent temper and it almost cost someone's life on at least two occasions. January 11, 1911 she attacked Melissa Buriff, the school mistress of Bear Creek School, with a wooden club approximately four inches by eighteen inches, striking her about the head and face. Miss Buriff was so severely injured that she was put to bed immediately upon arrival at Robertson's, where she boarded. Next morning she was taken by sled to Council, put on the train to Weiser and was admitted to the hospital there as soon as possible. All of this was because of something reportedly said in the classroom. Ova was brought to trial on assault charges and found guilty. She was fined heavily and the newspaper gave her no sympathy, stating that the only reason she was not sentenced to prison was because she had several small children.[5]
 [*Robert died in 1906. Re: Weiser Signal April 21, 1906--Robert White Jr. died.  Was confined to his bed since November.  Crossed the plains as a boy.  Not quite age 30. Buried in Kesler Cemetery.]

Two years later she was again in trouble for attempted murder. She tried to kill her husband by shooting him with a rifle.[6]  Soon after that she and Charlie Allen were divorced and she moved to Payette and married several more times before 1955, when she died.

A. C. Biggerstaff was arrested for murder at Copperfield, Oregon, February, 1909. He was charged with killing an old man named Moore. The old fellow was beaten so badly that he died several days later, never having regained consciousness. Biggerstaff admitted having fought with him but protested he was not responsible for his death.[7] In later years A. C. Biggerstaff lived in California.

Lida Biggerstaff married Don Mathias and died very young of a brain tumor.

Emma married Edward Eugene Hart. Cora married (1) Patsy Kane and (2) I. N. Goldsmith. Olive married J. J. Jones.

Tolbert B. Biggerstaff died in Payette August 31, 1929. Harriet, his wife, died there also at the home of her daughter, Ova J. Applegate, January 29, 1939. Both are buried in Kesler Cemetery at Council.

1 Obituary of Tolbert B. Biggerstaff, Adams County Leader, September 8,
1929.
2 Ibid.
3 Ibid
4 Hugh Addington, interview.
5 Weiser Semi-Weekly Signal, January 27, 1911.
6 Weiser Weekly Signal, May 8, 1913.
7 The Leader, February 12, 1909.

  BIGGERSTAFF          
      FROM 1910 Census of "Weiser Canyon"
site # 149  Tolbert B. and Harriet E. Biggerstaff (55) - his age illegible - both born in Arkansas - married 37 years - 7 kids born, 6 now living -  his occupation illegible but looks interesting  site # 150  James (30) and Emma (22) Harp -  married 4 years - 2 kids: Eva (4) and Hattie (3) both born in Idaho.  Farmer

____________________________

William Black planted the first commercial orchard on Hornet Creek in 1885.[1] The fruit was of prize-winning quality and was known nationally and internationally. It took a prize at the Chicago World's Fair and some was sent to London and Paris for exhibition. Before long others saw that the area was adapted to fruit growing and many commercial orchards sprang up, making fruit one of the county's most important crops.
The school report of District 25--Council--for 1885 shows that Mrs. Dora Black was the teacher. She taught for some time on Hornet Creek.

In 1892 there was an epidemic of diphtheria in which two small sons of William and Dora Black died. They were among a number of deaths in the area caused by the dreaded disease. Harry R. Black - age 8 years, 3 months. Ralph Black - age 30 months. Their little graves are under the only pine tree in the alfalfa field on  the family farm, which is now owned by William Kampeter. [2694 Upper Dale Road] They are surrounded by a white picket fence and Mr. Kampeter carefully tends them.
Mr. Black sold the farm to B. B. Day in 1901 and they moved away from Idaho. Health authorities would not allow the children's bodies to be moved, fearing the diphtheria germs would be spread and cause a new outbreak of the disease. Mrs. Black tried again in recent years to have them moved, but it was again forbidden.[2]

1 Lorene Mitchell, "Historical Facts of Adams County," manuscript, in Idaho
State Historical Society Library, Boise.
2 Edith Zink, Mountain Home, Idaho, oral interview, 1974.

Earl Wayland Bowman, born in Missouri March 13, 1875, was orphaned at the age of ten or twelve and rambled over the west.

As a youngster in Salt Lake City he was broke and apprenticed himself to a printer. This was to have a lasting effect on his life. He rode the Texas range as a cowboy for a time.

In 1902 Mr. Bowman and his wife, Elva, moved to Council where they took an 80-acre homestead and he began his writing career. During the four years they were proving up on their homestead he wrote newspaper editorials. One of these pointed to the need of a newspaper in Council. Ivan Durell came and established such a paper--the Council Leader, which later became the Adams County Leader. Bowman walked the five miles round trip from his home to town, to set the type for the newspaper. He wrote editorials and news and sold ads. In 1912 he was a feature writer for the Boise Capital News and later published a magazine called "The Golden Trail."[1]

In May, 1910, E. W. Bowman bought a White Steamer automobile to transport land speculators about the valley, hoping to interest them in investing in land and orchards.[2]

Earl Wayland Bowman was elected in 1914, by a large majority, to the Idaho State Senate. He was Idaho's only Socialist legislator.[3] He worked to have Adams County formed from a portion of Washington County and next he lobbied to have Council made the County seat.[4]

Bowman served as war correspondent for the Boise Capital News in July 1916 when trouble erupted on the Mexican border. He was attached to the Second Idaho Regiment of the National Guard.[5]

When he returned from Mexico they moved to Boise. Here he wrote The Ramblin' Kid, which was published as a serial in a weekly magazine and later in book form. It was made into a movie in 1923, starring Hoot Gibson.

Among his later works were Solemn Johnson Plus and Arrowrock, which included his poems and seven short stories which had been printed in Argosy and The American Magazine.

Mr. and Mrs. Bowman had two daughters.

Mr. Bowman died in Los Angeles. His works have been given to the Boise State University Library. These include books, letters, magazines, newspapers, original manuscripts, and unpublished novels.

1 Obituary of Earl Wayland Bowman, Adams County Leader, September 19, 1952
2 The Leader, May 13, 1910.
3 Obituary of Earl Wayland Bowman.
4 Ibid.
5 Ibid.

William Brauer was born February 24, 1839, in the village of Bergholtz, Province of Uckermark, Prussia. He came to America with his family when he was about eight years old.

He married August 28, 1878, in Rawlins, Wyoming, Lydia M. (Groseclose) McCann, widow of H. J. McCann. She had five children. Her first husband died March 7, 1878 in a three-day storm.

Lydia Groseclose was born May 9, 1850, at Boon River, Iowa, daughter of Jacob and Elizabeth Groseclose.

Guy Brauer was born October 9, 1880, at Lake Creek, Carbon County, Wyoming Territory.

William Brauer was a staunch Mason. He mortgaged his farm in Wyoming to build the Masonic Hall there.

He was a sheepman in Wyoming. He brought his family to visit his wife's parents in Council. He saw how well apples and other crops grew in the valley and was impressed by such productivity. He sold his sheep and ranch and moved to Hornet Creek. They traveled with three teams of horses, two wagons, and a two-seated covered buggy. One wagon was the typical covered variety. One was a sheep wagon, covered, too, but arranged to serve as cook wagon for a sheep camp. Mr. Brauer had kept it when he sold the sheep. It was used for cooking the family's meals on the trip.

Those who came to Idaho were William and Lydia, their daughter Dora, Sons Otto and Guy, and an old German man named Carl Porth, but called Uncle. He was a sheepherder.
The only livestock, besides the three teams of horses, was a big Newfoundland dog.
They purchased land from Clark Harrington.

William Brauer died April 14, 1911, and is buried in Hornet Creek Cemetery, as is most of his family.[1]

1 Mrs. Vollie Zink, Mountain Home, Idaho, interview, 1975.

Frank E. Brown was born May 11, 1870, at Wilmington, Illinois. He went to Salem, Oregon, as a youth. He graduated from Willamette University's medical school in 1898, later practiced medicine at Jefferson for a year, and then came to Council as a railroad physician.

Dr. Brown was Council's first resident doctor. [Not quite, but he was the first to stay for an extended time.]  He remained for twenty years as county doctor and earned the respect of everyone. He returned to Salem in 1916 and became an eye, ear, nose and throat specialist. He retired in 1948, following an automobile accident in which he received serious injuries.

Dr. Frank E. Brown died June 8, 1958, in Salem.[1]

1 Obituary of Dr. Frank Brown, The Oregonian (Portland), June 9, 1958.

William Martin Brown was born November 18, 1860, at Morning Sun, Ohio. After medical school Dr. Brown practiced medicine in Omaha, Nebraska. In 1892 he married Emma Sherman of New York City. They came west that same year and settled in Salubria. When Cuprum boom days led to plans for a railroad there he was hired as the railroad's doctor. He took along his own drug store and concocted his own remedies. When the railroad venture was abandoned he moved to Landore, above Cuprum, where smelters and mines were prosperous.

Dr. Brown was elected to the state legislature in 1912.
In 1916 when the mining bubble in the Seven Devils burst and the population
dwindled he moved to Council.

The Browns' next move was to Starkey, where they developed the hot springs and turned them into a health resort. Many persons tried the hot water pool, hoping for cures or at least relief from arthritis and rheumatism.

In 1929 they sold Starkey and returned to his old home in Ohio, but only a year elapsed before they returned to Idaho and soon retired and moved to Phoenix, Arizona.

Their daughters were Mildred and Winifred.

1 Obituary of Dr. William Brown, Idaho Daily Statesman (Boise) (date missing).

William Robert "Billie" Brown was born in Boonville, Indiana, July 17, 1869 and died February 18, 1934, at Council. He married Pearl Vaught at Lewisville, Kentucky, in July 1894.[1]
That same year he established a boot and shoe business in Evansville, Indiana, and operated it until 1900, when they moved to Goodrich, Idaho, and took a homestead. That was as far as the new railroad from Weiser had been constructed. With the extension of the railroad into Council they moved into town and made their home.[2]

"Billie" worked for S. F. Richardson in his general merchandise store for a year and then went into business for himself.

Billie Brown's candy store was a land of enchantment for children. Some of the most difficult decisions of their lives were made there. Many delightful but anguished moments were spent in choosing which tempting sweets they would buy with the penny they held tightly in their hand. A penny gave one a real choice. There was penny, two-for-a-penny, and three-for-a-penny candy. A nickel was a fortune and was good for an hour's pleasure before spending. The striped sack from the candy store was a dead give-away. Unless one intended to share it was best to hide it in a pocket, for it was a signal which was irresistible to friends to gather around. Once that happened there was no chance to avoid sharing the sack's contents.

In May, 1909, Billie repaired the old saloon building and opened an up-to-date confectionery.[3]  That year the advertisements which he placed in the Council Leader stated that ice cream, sodas, lemons, oranges, bananas, watermelon on ice, candies, and tobacco were available at Billy Brown's Confectionery. Later he added magazines and soda water. He sold the business in March 1912 to Albert Woodell, a clerk in Criss's store. He retained ownership of the building and before long was back in the business again. He spent the time between working with Sam Whiteley, Frank Mathias, and Lewis Winkler on their prospect on the South Fork of Salmon River.

William R. Brown served as state game warden in 1929.[4]

Billie operated his candy store until December 1933.[5]  His wife was born March 20, 1874, at Greenville, Kentucky. She died September 14, 1952. Both are buried in Hillcrest Cemetery at Weiser.[6]

1 Obituary of "Billie" W. R. Brown, Adams County Leader, February 23, 1934.
2 Ibid.
3 Council Leader, May 28, 1909.
4 Adams County Leader, November 1, 1929.
5 Obituary of "Billie" W. R. Brown.
6 Obituary of Mrs. W. R. Brown, Adams County Leader, September 19, 1952.

B. Burtenshaw, born in England, came to America with his parents in 1835 when he was ten years old. They settled in Kentucky. There he met Miss Mavity and they were married June 27, 1848. They had thirteen children, the sixth being Luther L.

In 1862 the Burtenshaws loaded their household possessions on a wagon drawn by a team of oxen and moved to Sico, Linn County, Oregon. Three years later they moved to Lebanon, Oregon. Mr. Burtenshaw was a farmer.

Luther L. Burtenshaw was born November 5, 1861, in Davies County, Missouri. He received his education from Santiam Academy and Moscow Independent Academy at Dallas, Oregon. He read law and was admitted to the bar in 1884. He practiced law in Washington and Oregon until 1900, when he moved to Council where he remained the rest of his life.

He was appointed as County Attorney of Adams County by Governor Hawley. He was active in the preparation of the bill for the establishment of Adams County and helped in having it separated from Washington County.

August 17, 1893, he married Nettie C. Gray of Coos Bay, Oregon. She was born in Indiana and came to Oregon with her parents in 1885.

Their son Edward was born in Oregon August 28, 1894. He was killed in World War I.[1]

1 Hiram T. French, History of Idaho (Chicago and New York: Lewis Historical
Publishing Company, 1914), v. 2, p. 811