JOHN B. FISHER

History of Idaho, Gem of the Mountains, Volume 2, by James H. Hawley
S. J. Clarke Publishing Co, 1920, Page 955-956



John B. Fisher, engaged in farming in New Plymouth, his business affairs being wisely, carefully and profitably conducted, was born in Russia, March 29, 1870, and came to America in 1884, settling in Hamilton county, Nebraska. The following year his parents, John and Dorothy (Schlichenmeyer) Fisher, came to the United States and made their way to Redwillow county, Nebraska, where they were then joined by their son John, who had been quietly sent out of the country ahead of his parents that he might escape the tyranny of military service. The father homesteaded near the town of Indianola, Nebraska, securing one hundred and sixty acres of wild land in a country where settlers were few. Their home was a sod house, in which they resided for twenty-one years, the father there carrying on general farming, specializing in the raising of corn, cattle and hogs.

John B. Fisher had acquired a thorough education in his native country which was of great assistance to him in obtaining a further education in English. He has a scholarly mastery of the English language as manifest in his speech and in his writings and has developed splendid business qualifications. In 1901 his mother died and in the same year John B. Fisher and his family, accompanied by his father, made their way westward to Snohomish, Washington, where Mr. Fisher followed logging in the lumber district for two years. Then owing to ill health , he removed to Idaho in 1908 and bought eight-five acres of sagebrush land one and a quarter miles southwest of New Plymouth. He cleared this land and built thereon a good house of six rooms and also the necessary outbuildings for the shelter of grain and stock. For days he was engaged in clearing away the sagebrush before he could get into the place with a team, for up to that time not a furrow had been turned nor an improvement made on the place and in fact there was little promise that the land would be of any worth as a farm. Today the place is now all in orchard, being devoted to the raising of apples and prunes. At the present time Mr. Fisher is leasing the land to a renter, who in 1919 had a crop of about twenty-five thousand boxes of apples. Mr. Fisher is living upon a place of seventeen acres which is but a short distance from his orchard tract. He had sold his former home to a party who defaulted in his payments, so that he had to take back the property and now owns both places. On the seventeen acre tract he has built one of the most beautiful and up-to-date homes in the country and there are seven rooms and four sleeping porches. It is light with electricity and supplied with running water throughout and is heated with a furnace. He has also installed a complete sewerage system. Most of his seventeen acre tract of land is intensively cultivated save a small portion used as pasture. He has twelve Holstein cows, which he milks, and eleven thoroughbred Durham cows and calves. He also raises some hogs and sold twenty-two head a short time ago for three hundred and seventy-five dollars. In addition to his other property he has a four hundred and eleven acre stock ranch in Long valley and is planning soon to engage extensively in stock raising.

In 1898 Mr. Fisher was married to Miss Rosa Conrad, a native of Russia and a daughter of Jacob and Rose (Lutz) Conrad, who in 1884 became residents of Nebraska. Mr. and Mrs. Fisher have become parents of two children: William Henry, who married Adalaide Oster, a native of Payette, her parents being also natives of Russia but now residents of Payette county; and Lydia Catherina, who is at home.

Mr. Fisher has always taken a deep and helpful interest in everything pertaining to the welfare and progress of the community in which he makes his home. He was actively interested in the election of Governor Davis and worked hard to promote his success. He has served as school director in his district and has ever been a stalwart champion of Idaho and its possibilities and opportunities. He is ever willing to assist a neighbor in any possible way, is a progressive citizen, and his efforts have been a helpful factor in the development of the district in which he makes his home.



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