William and Sarah Ellen Stuart, from Missouri, settled near Falk's Store in 1867. William Stuart was known by everyone as "Governor Stuart." Their family of 15 children needed an education so they wrote to Stuart’s brother, John, in Missouri, extolling the opportunities in the valley. John’s daughter, Mary Jane Stuart came west by train in 1878 to Kelton, Utah, where she caught the stage coach to her uncle’s farm near Falk’s Store.
Mary Jane was born February 4, 1857, in Illinois, but moved to Missouri at an early age. She was a small person, plump, a little over 5 feet tall and had a slightly curved spine caused by an injury at age 11. Her hair was dark and curly. Early school days were in a country school. She studied to become a teacher under a professor Peterson in Missouri. Upon graduating, she taught five terms in that state. Soon she had a school going at the Stuart home in Idaho for the neighborhood children. Schools were short of teachers, so she taught at Placerville and Jerusalem for 13 months for room and board and $75 cash from each student's family. Many students were larger than she and much discipline was required. A ruler was often used to enforce her rules.
Stuart taught at Emmettsville, (Emmett) in 1881-82. There were 10 to 30 students in class. Parents had to furnish books. They were kept at school and loaned to other students in following years. She took part in the local social events, such as skating parties, box suppers, hay rides and quilting bees. It was at these events she met a tall, red-headed man with a beard that worked on a nearby cattle ranch owned by a Mr. Nichols.
On August 20, 1882, she married this red-headed cowboy, John Franklin Nesbitt. It was a big wedding at the Overland Hotel in Boise with many guests. The newlyweds set up housekeeping in a two-room log house with a connecting shed as a kitchen. Their ranch was near Falk's Store.
In the next eight years, seven children were born. This required a new, larger house and more farmland. Their home was always open to Missouri relatives, neighborhood orphans and a young, German woman who worked and learned to read and write English. (She later became Mrs. Henry Hansen).
The old, log house of the Nesbitt's was used for a schoolhouse in 1893 for two terms with teachers May Salman and a Miss Lucy. The third term was taught in A. J. McFarland's old house on his property by Mrs. A. J. McFarland. A new school was built in 1895-96 on a hill northeast of the Nesbitt ranch. It was used for almost 35 years.
Mary Jane's hair turned silver at an early age. She became heavier and her injured back caused problems. This didn't stop her from being a life long teacher. She died in September 1925 and is buried in Payette.
Marian Crawford
Marian was born in 1895 in Reno, Nevada, and moved to Payette in 1906 with her aunt Mary Elizabeth Hulley after her mother died. She attended Payette schools from the fifth grade on and graduated in 1914. Lewiston Normal School was next, and graduation from the University of Washington at Seattle, with a degree in education.
Her first teaching job was at the Patton School on Little Willow Creek near Payette. Her 10 students were in eight grades. The salary was $60 a month. In the winter she had to keep a fire going in the school house stove. Students brought their lunches.
Crawford's second job was that of first-grade teacher at Oakley, Idaho, in 1918. Because of the flu epidemic, the school term was only 5 1/2 months long. She, along with other teachers, assisted the local doctor in caring for the sick.
After three years of teaching at Oakley, she moved to Nampa where she taught first grade for 14 years at a salary of $1,300 a year. To be with her aging aunt, she moved to Payette in 1938 and taught third grade at Westside School until retiring in 1965. Substitute teaching followed until she reached age 77. Her teaching career spanned 54 years. Marian taught piano for 34 years to students. It was a tearful goodbye when she had to leave her old home for a retirement center. She passed away shortly after her 100th birthday.
NOTE: The proceeding text was written by Katie Hanigan and published by the Independent-Enterprise Centennial Edition of 1991.
Ernestine Allerton Patch
She was a small, little lady, weighing 90 pounds and was only 4-feet, 1-inch tall. A New York native, she was born in a boarding house at 28th and Broadway in 1874. Her father, E. W. Tabor, was manager of the New York stockyards, then East St. Louis stockyards and later South Omaha yards. Ernestine attended private schools, and remembered viewing the erection of the Statute of Liberty in New York harbor. Among her parents close friends were the P.T. Barnums (of the circus fame) and she met Mr. and Mrs. Tom Thumb.
Upon advice of doctors, the Tabors moved west to Kearney, Nebraska. It was here that Ernestine met and married LeRoy Vernon Patch. He was the local superintendent of schools. Patch’s interest in horticulture brought him to Payette where the couple bought a fruit ranch north of town (Yasuda place).
Patch served as Idaho's Adjunct General and was commissioned a Brigadier General by President Warren G. Harding. He served with distinction in World War I and several Mexican Border Wars.
In 1911, a beautiful home was built on the hill in Payette for the family of four boys. General Patch died in 1965 at the age of 89.
At the age of 100 Ernestine was introduced, at the Nugget (Sparks, Nevada) to the Red Skelton Show audience. Skelton, along with everyone else, stood up and sang "Happy Birthday." The following year she was presented a rose in Pasadena, California on her 101st birthday by the Rose Parade Queen. Later she met some of the stars of the Lawrence Welk Show in Hollywood and they became friends. When they performed at Jackpot, Nevada, Lake Tahoe and Salt Lake City, she was there.
When asked about her longevity her advice was to eat chicken and fish. Her favorite drink was champagne.
Still leading an active life, Mrs. Patch, and her son, Allerton flew to Pasadena, California, to spend her 105th birthday, April 1, 1979, with her sisters, one 95 years of age and the other 91.
Ernestine Tabor Patch passed away peacefully two weeks before her 107th birthday in March 1981.