History Corner

At the Adams County courthouse, a clock hangs on the wall of the clerk’s office. Printed on the front of the clock is “Wm. Fifer – Jeweler – Council, Idaho.” I don’t know the details of how it wound up in the courthouse, but Will Fifer was a well known man in Council in the early 1900s who was closely related to several other prominent figures in our history.

John and Alvira Fifer were originally from Missouri but lived for a time near Deer Lodge, Montana before coming to Weiser around 1889. They had a total of 11 children, some of whom came to Idaho with them. Their son, William, known to family as “Will,” was about 16 years old when they arrived at Weiser. He soon started working in Louis Vial’s jeweler shop, learning the trade from Vial.

In those days a jeweler in a large town probably did more creating and repairing jewelry than a small town jeweler did, but jewelers in general also sold, repaired, or even built, watches and clocks.

In 1903, when Will was about 20, he married Mabel Pence. They eventually had two sons, Harold (1904–1991) and Ivan (1907–1985).

Will’s parents, John and Alvira, seem to have lived at Council by 1904. (If they did, they moved back to Weiser before long.) Will’s older sister, Alice, had married Frank Hahn about 1884 at Deer Lodge, Montana and by this time were living at Weiser. That year (1904) Frank bought the stock and vehicles of the Council-Meadows stage line, the property of the late Marion Crowell. (Crowell and Ross Krigbaum had been operating stage lines in the area since 1902. Crowell had bought Krigbaum’s share of the business soon after their partnership formed and ran a thriving stage line until Crowell came down with typhoid fever and pneumonia and died at the end of 1903.)

You may remember an epic tale I wrote about Frank’s particularly challenging springtime stage trip from Council to Meadows.

Frank and Alice Fifer Hahn bought a place on Moser Avenue in Council and moved there with their three children in early 1904. In August of 1904 their oldest son, Hallie (age about 18) died and was buried at Weiser.

By about this time(1904), Will’s brother, James Fifer, and his wife, Alice, were living in Council. (There are at least three Alice Fifers in this story, so I’ll try to keep them straight.)

In the spring of 1906 Will and Mabel bought the Plaza Hotel in Council (former Moser Hotel on the corner of Moser and Illinois where the gun shop is today). Will opened a jeweler shop on the north side of Illinois Avenue, briefly, before moving it into the hotel. An area newspaper said, “He will run a soda fountain and ice cream parlor during the summer.”

Meanwhile, Will’s oldest sister, Margaret, had married Abraham Beckstead, and they moved to Weiser from Havre, Montana in 1902. In 1908 bought what is now the Gould Ranch three miles north of Council (2301 Hwy 95 – originally settled by George Winkler in 1878). The Becksteads may have built the big house that still stands there. (Other information says someone named Wisdom built it.) In 1909 the Becksteads traded ranches with the George Gould family who lived at the “end” of Cottonwood Road (2374 Cottonwood Rd –later the Frasier place) a few miles south of Council. The Becksteads moved to the Gould place on Cottonwood, and the Goulds moved to the place north of Council.

Abe and Margaret Fifer Beckstead’s son, Perry Beckstead, married Hattie Ketcham in November 1905. Her mother, Hannah Ketcham, was, at one time or another, postmaster at Council and at Starkey. She had also been Adams County’s first probation officer. Local kids called her “Mrs. Getum.” Hattie Ketcham Beckstead became Council postmaster in 1929 until she retired in 1957.

More next week.