Bannock County
IDGenWeb
The
world judges the character of a community by its representative
citizens, and yields its admiration and respect to those whose works and
actions constitute not only the prosperity and pride of every immediate
locality and county but also of the state. Among the prominent men of
Bannock county is Mr. Call, who has not only attained success in
connection with the representative industrial activities of the section
of his residence, but also in mercantile operations, in which he has
manifested the qualities of a financier and business man, and who is
everywhere honored for his ability and for his sterling integrity. He is
a true son of the West, having been born in Bountiful. Utah, on March
23, 1861, and being a resident of the state of Idaho since he was twenty
years of age, being one of its pioneer cattle-raisers and for an
extended period of time connected with that business and with the
carpenter trade.
The Call family traces their lineage to an
ancient English family, the American ancestors of this branch coming to
Massachusetts Colony in 1636, and from that time its representatives
have been prominent and active in many lines of the development of
civilization in a wide range of country, and several places in the Rocky
Mountain section bear their name, Call's Fort in Utah and Call's Landing
in Arizona being the principal ones. The paternal grandfather of Mr.
Call, Anson Call, was an early adherent to the Mormon faith and stood
high in its councils and at his death, at the age of eighty-one years,
he was first counsellor to the president of Davis stake.
The
parents of Ira Call were Anson V. and Charlotte (Holbrook) Call, natives
of Vermont, who came to Utah in 1848, the paternal grandparents being
Anson and Mary (Flint) Call, who were born, reared and married in the
state of Vermont, where they were farmers until occurred their
emigration. The paternal great-grandparents were Cyril and Nancy Call,
lifelong residents of Vermont, the father of our subject being for many
years a successful teacher, but dying at the early age of thirty-five
years.
Coming of an ancestry so intelligent and distinguished,
it will easily be seen that Ira Call gave diligent attention to the
educational advantages he received at the schools of his native place,
acquiring there the solid elements of an excellent practical education
which has since been supplemented by observation and experience in
dealing with men and affairs, and learning the trade of a carpenter, he
became a resident of Chesterfield, Idaho, in 1881. He built the pioneer
store of that place, opening it for trade on September 6, 1888, with a
stock of general merchandise, then combining the vocations of carpentry
and stock-raising, and being prospered in his undertakings. In June,
1895, he went to Mobile, Ala., on mission work, laboring two months. He
resided at Chesterfield until 1898, when he made his home at Bancroft,
his first advent in this place, however, being in 1892, when he erected
the pioneer store building of the town and became one of the founders
and original proprietors of the place. He now owns 100 of the lots of
the corporation, together with 140 acres of finely located and valuable
land, closely adjacent to the town, while the estate which is still his
property in Chesterfield includes a fine stock farm of 360 acres.
In 1898 Mr. Call established himself in the mercantile business at
Bancroft and has since devoted his personal attention, wise care and
discrimination to the development of this business, which has attained
scope and importance and consists of a large stock of general
merchandise and the numerous other articles necessary to meet the
necessities and comforts of the inhabitants of this section. The
sagacity, tact, winning personality and business acumen of Mr. Call has
placed him among the representative merchants of southeastern Idaho. His
financial enterprises are not confined to the operations already
mentioned, but are various, extending throughout the country in manifold
forms, and, as an evidence of his shrewdness and practical ability, we
would note that in nearly every case his investments are bringing him
ample returns.
It is but natural that a man of so marked
intellectual vigor and executive ability should be solicited to accept
public trusts of political importance, but, as his business has so
largely occupied his time, he has never been anxious for political
advancement, although once accepting the nomination by his party for
county commissioner of this county. From his interest in education,
however, he has served with great acceptability on the educational
boards of Bancroft and Chesterfield for the last thirteen years; while
fraternally he is a member of the Modern Woodmen of America, affiliating
with the lodge at Soda Springs.
Mr. Call was married at Salt
Lake City, Utah, on October 28, 1880, with Miss Emma J. Barlow, also a
native of Utah and a daughter of Israel and Lucy (Heap) Barlow, natives
respectively of Pennsylvania and England, who were among the
distinctively early pioneers of Utah, coming thither with a Mormon
caravan in the early fifties. Mr. and Mrs. Call have had eleven
children: Ira A., who returned from a church mission at Philadelphia, in
January, 1903, and married with Miss Mary L. Hali on April 3d of the
same year; Hyrum, who married Ethel Hofine and is associated with his
father in business: Willard; Christian; Chloe J.; Mary M.; Joseph C.;
Elizabeth; Myrtle-; Lorin V.; Emma Louella. Mr. Call was again married
on September 16, 1890, with Miss Fanny Loveland, also a native of Utah,
being a daughter of Heber C. and Columbia F. (Call) Loveland, also early
pioneers of Utah, and to this union have come six children: Charlotte;
Heber, deceased; Elzina F., deceased; Hazel; Mora and Lamonia. One of
the most prominent and useful citizens of his section of the county. Mr.
Call has the entire esteem and confidence of all who have the pleasure
of his acquaintance, while in his elegant brick residence himself and
family dispense a true Western hospitality, as is fitting to a man of
great geniality and unbounded public spirit.
Extracted from Progressive Men of Bannock, Bear Lake, Bingham, Fremont and Oneida Counties, Idaho, published in 1904, pages 182-185, contributed 2021 Jun 15 by Norma Hass
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