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John McGlinchey was born in Pennsylvania in 1838 and passed away in Payette, Idaho, January 12, 1916, at the age of seventy-eight years. No history of this region would be complete without extended reference to him. He was twelve years of age when he left home and from that time he made his own way in the world, obtaining his education through study and self-teaching. When about twenty years of age he made his way westward to Utah and engaged in merchandising at Salt Lake City until 1862, when he came to Idaho City, Idaho, and again established a mercantile store, which he conducted successfully for several years. Believing that better opportunities were offered in Wyoming, he then went to that state and was engaged in the hardware trade at Evanston. He was sheriff of Sweet Water county one term and represented Uinta county one term in the Wyoming legislature. In 1881, however, he sold out and again went to Utah but after remaining there for a brief period returned to Idaho, taking up his abode at Weiser in 1885. He purchased a relinquishment claim from the original homesteader and upon that property were located fine medicinal hot springs, which he called the McGlinchey Hot Springs. These are now designated on the map as Meadows.
The Indians were very troublesome at that time, and as the country was sparsely settled, Mrs. McGlinchey was in constant fear for her life; so after eighteen months, the required time to prove up on their claim, they were induced by A. B. Moss, an old and intimate friend of Mr. McGlinchey, whom he had formerly known in Wyoming, to remove to Payette. As an inducement Mr. Moss built them a house to live in. From the time that Mr. McGlinchey took up his residence in Idaho he gave considerable attention to the cattle business in connection with various other interests. He was a self-made man and deserved great credit for the success which he achieved in business. Whatever he undertook he carried forward in successful completion, for in his vocabulary there was no such word as fail and his integrity was at all times above question.
At San Francisco, California, in 1878, Mr. McGlinchey was married to Mrs. May (Noggle) Alvord, the widow of Major Alvord, who had served as United States marshal of Idaho and also conducted stores at Florence and at Slate Creek, Idaho. Subsequently he sold his business interests and accepted a position as land appraiser with the Central Pacific Railroad Company, officials of which were among his personal friends from the time when they has all been residents of the east. Major Alvord died at Hollister, California, in 1876. His widow, Mrs. Alvord, was a daughter of David Noggle, a native of Pennsylvania, who came to Boise, Idaho, in 1869 as chief justice of the state, receiving his appointment from President Grant. He was reappointed, but ill health caused him to resign. After spending some time in California he took up his abode at Janesville, Wisconsin, where his death occurred. He moved to Beloit, Wisconsin, from Pennsylvania in 1837, making the journey with his family by ox team. The Judge was a man of rigid uprightness and of very strong character. He served as postmaster of Beloit in the early pioneer times of Wisconsin and afterward became a distinguished representative of the bar. He was a great admirer of James H. Hawley and predicted a splendid future for him. Mr. Hawley was the only man who ever accused Judge Noggle of perpetrating a joke, for the Judge never indulged in levity and in fact regarded this as almost unforgivable. While a man of stern character, his entire life was guided by the most upright principles and he commanded the high regard of all who knew him. His wife was one of the oldest twins in the United States, living to the age of ninety-two years, when death called her at Monroe, Wisconsin. Their son, Major Dorman L. Noggle, born at Beloit, Wisconsin, volunteered in the Twelfth Battery of Janesville, Wisconsin, and served under General Grant throughout the entire period of the Civil war, taking part in some of its most sanguinary battles and rising from the ranks to the position of major. He came west with his father in 1869 and served under him in Boise as clerk of the United States court, while at the same time he was interested with his brother-in-law, Major Alvord, in the ownership and conduct of stores at Slate Creek and at Florence, Idaho. He resigned his official position in 1874 to take a position in the United States mint at San Francisco, California, there remaining until his death in 1914, during which time over two billion dollars passed through his hands. Mrs. McGlinchey, like her brother was born at Beloit, Wisconsin. She can relate many most interesting incidents and reminiscences of the early days. At the first dance which she attended after removing to Idaho, the violin was played by the governor of Idaho, whose attire was by no means conventional, as his great long boots were worn one on the outside and the other on the inside of his trousers' legs. Major Alvord left a widow and one son, D. D. Alvord, who is the present treasurer and manager of the Idaho Department Store, Ltd., located at Twin Falls. He is a self-made man and deserves much credit for what he has accomplished in business. Mrs. Alvord, following the death of her first husband, met Mr. McGlinchey while on a visit to a sister who was the wife of a railroad employee at Evanston, Wyoming. By here second marriage she became the mother of a daughter, Anna May, who on the 7th of July, 1902, became the wife of W. B. Gilmore, a native of Reynolds, Illinois, born March 9, 1879. In 1881 he went with his parents to Salt Lake City, Utah, and thence by stage to Boise, Idaho, from which point they traveled to Silver City and finally to Sinker creek in this state, where lived an uncle, George Gilmore, who after going to California in 1865 had settled in Idaho, where he took up the business of stock raising. W. B. Gilmore is now farming the McGlinchey homestead, raising potatoes, hogs and hay. He received the bronze medal at the Panama exposition for the largest yield of corn in the western states, the medal being presented to him in Payette at the Commercial Club, November 5, 1915, by Governor Alexander. During 1910 the Oregon Short Line Railroad offered a prize to the grower of the largest yield of potatoes per acre. The second prize of two hundred and fifty dollars was won by Mr. Gilmore, whose acre of potatoes produced six hundred and twenty-four bushels and thirty-six pounds, from which sixty-five bushels and twenty pounds were deducted as culls, leaving five hundred and fifty-nine bushels and sixteen pounds of marketable potatoes. The following year he raised twenty-four tons of potatoes on one acre, and to prove his veracity has an affidavit to that effect. He believes it possible to raise thirty tons of potatoes per acre on good Idaho soil with plenty of water and sunshine. He has received many congratulatory letters from man of prominence, including Governor Haines and others. To Mr. and Mrs. W. B. Gilmore have been born two children: May Eileen and John D.
It was in 1887 that Mr. McGlinchey took up his residence at Payette. The following year his wife purchased the forty acres upon which she now resides from the original homesteader, who relinquished his claim to her for a consideration. The tract is now a part of the finest residential district of Payette and her home is at No. 1226 Seventh avenue, North, a street that is more familiarly known as Lovers' Lane. Following his removal to Payette, Mr. McGlinchey became a director of the Moss Mercantile Company, one of the oldest and best known mercantile establishments in Idaho, and at all times his business affairs were guided by sound judgment and unfaltering enterprise that brought to him a gratifying measure of success.
Mr. McGlinchey was a devout Catholic in religious faith and was a man of unquestioned integrity as well as business ability. He ranked for many years as one of Payette's most energetic and progressive citizens. He served as county treasurer of Canyon county, which at that time included Payette county, and he for many years filled the office of school trustee of Payette. His aid and influence were ever on the side of progress and improvement and his labors were far-reaching, effective and resultant.
Mr. McGlinchey has long been a prominent figure in the social circles not only of Payette but of Idaho. She was appointed by Governor Gooding one of the hostesses at the Lewis & Clark exposition held at Portland, Oregon, and was one of the few hostesses who were reappointed. She has held the most important offices in women's clubs and organizations in the state and is the present director for Idaho of the General Federation of Women's Clubs. She was instrumental in the organization of the Red Cross of Payette and was county chairman of the Women's Liberty Loan Club of Payette county. She is a devout member of St. James Episcopal church and associated with Mrs. A. B. Moss, has been untiring in her efforts to upbuild the church, which is still in a flourishing condition under the rectorship of the Rev. Thomas Ashworth. Her aid and her influence have constituted a most potent factor in the moral progress of the community and in the advancement of all of those interests which make for civic virtue and civic pride.