1904 Biography - WILLIAM F. FISHER

Peacefully although vigorously conducting his large mercantile business, which is one of the leading enterprises of the kind in southern Idaho, practicing his profession as a lawyer without ostentation or conspicuous display, although it includes business in two states, earnestly interested in his stock industry which produces some of the finest blooded horses in his section of the country, actively supporting the principles of the Democratic party, to which he yields a loyal and constant allegiance, and working zealously and efficiently in the service of his chosen church, and in all these lines of activity devoted to the general welfare of the community in which he lives, William F. Fisher, of Oxford. Idaho, gives no sign to the passing stranger or the casual observer, in his demeanor, of the adventurous life he has lived or the career of thrilling interest he has had in this Western country. His life, which has been largely passed in the midst of alarms, began on November 16, 1839, at Woolwich, County Kent, England. His parents were Thomas F. and Jane (Christon) Fisher, of that country, and with him, were converted to Mormonism in their native land in 1848. In April, 1854, they emigrated to America, making the trip across the Atlantic in a sailing vessel to New Orleans, and coming from there up the Mississippi and Missouri Rivers to Kansas City by steamboat. There the father bought oxen and cattle and fitted up a wagon for the long trip across the plains to Utah. They went first to Weston, Mo., and from there proceeded on their way, arriving at Salt Lake City on November 28, 1854, their train being the last to make the journey that year. They located at Bountiful. Davis county, where the father farmed and worked at his trade as a carpenter, remaining there until his death. He was prominent in public affairs and held many places of trust and importance in the community and county, and was of great value in settling and developing the country. His son William was fifteen years of age when the family reached Utah and had been moderately well educated in his native land. He was strong and willing, animated by high hopes and filled with lofty aspirations, and was thus prepared to take up the duties of life at an early age. He remained at Bountiful with his parents, working on the farm, until the spring of 1859, when he entered the employ of the Chorpening Mail Co., for whom he packed mail oh mules with pack-saddles for a year. At that time the United States mails were carried through this country only once a month, and during the period of service with this company he kept a mail station for about six months at Gravelly Ford on the Humboldt River, and while there had the pleasure of cooking a meal for Horace Greelev, editor of the New York Tribune, who was then making a trip through the country. From April to July. 1860, he rode the pony express between Ruby Valley and Butte Station, in Nevada. The Indian outbreak of that summer extended all along the route. It began with the killing of two men at Dry Creek, Nev., and was kept up with the massacre of many settlers and expressmen, whom the savages scalped, mutilated and burned at the stake. Mr. Fisher was the expressman who brought the news of the outbreak from Roberts Creek to Shell Creek, and soon afterward the settlers and others who were at the mercy of the infuriated Indians were pleased to see two companies of United States cavalry in their midst, who, after a number of furious engagements, succeeded in subduing the braves. In July, 1860, Mr. Fisher covered the distance between Ruby Valley and Salt Lake City, 300 miles, in thirty-five hours, with only sixteen changes of horses, the Indians having destroyed the stations and killed the keepers and horses at many places on the route. In November of the same year he carried the returns of the presidential election from Salt Lake City to Faust's Station, a distance of seventy-five miles, in four hours and twenty minutes. The ensuing winter of 1860-61 was noted for the length, frequency and severity of its storms. One night in January of that winter he was out in a storm all night and part of the next day, being exposed to the fury of the elements eighteen hours, having lost his way on the route from Camp Floyd to Salt Lake City. In the spring of 1862 he quit the express and moved to West Bountiful, where he remained until the fall of 1864, when he moved to Richmond, in the Cache Valley. There he bought land and was occupied in farming for some time, then took a contract on the Central Pacific Railroad in construction work. He afterward had similar contracts with the Utah Central, the Bingham Central, the Wasatch & Jordan Valley, the Utah Northern, and several other roads, working on them until 1871, when he went on a church mission to the Middle states. In the spring of 1872 he returned to Richmond and in 1874 began a mercantile business there. In the spring of 1876 he was called to move his family and effects to Oxford, then in Oneida county, this state, and in August, 1877, was ordained bishop of that place. In this position he served with great credit to himself and benefit to the church until 1882, when he resigned. He did not, however, move his family to this region until 1878, after he had bought land and built a home for them. Within that year he opened a general store at Oxford and this enterprise he is still conducting with a steadily expanding trade. His residence is one of the best in the town, and the store is on the same lot which he bought in 1876. From his advent into the county he has been active and influential in public affairs. He was elected on the Democratic ticket to the office of county assessor in 1878, and was reelected in 1880 and again in 1882. All of what is how Bannock county was then in Oneida, and the territory was large, the duties of his office being correspondingly voluminous and difficult. In 1879 he bought a farm one mile south of Oxford and has given a due share of his attention to farming and raising stock since then. It was in that year also that he was admitted to practice at the Idaho bar, and in 1882 he was admitted in Utah. His profession is, like all his other attainments, the result of his own efforts and capacity. He is essentially a self-made man in every particular, seeing clearly from the beginning what he wished to do and be, and working assiduously to the end in view. Almost from his first entry into the state he has filled the office of notary public, discharging the duties of the office, as he does everything else, with a conscientious regard for the general welfare and without any special consideration for personal interests. Since 1898 he has been district horticultural inspector of Oneida, Bannock and Bear Lake counties, and in this position also has rendered efficient and valuable service to the people. One of his special aspirations in connection with his farming and stock business has been to raise the standard of horses in the portion of the state to which he belongs, and to this work he has diligently addressed himself. He has bred and handled the purest strains of high grades, and has been influential in inducing others to do the same, and thus the county and surrounding country is indebted to him for a valuable stimulus in the direction of a permanent improvement in the character of its live stock. From his youth his church has had the benefit of his most ardent devotion and most faithful and efficient service. No means of grace to the promotion of its interests has been overlooked by him, and no element of its beneficent activity has appealed to him in vain for support. On January 1, 1861, he was married, at Salt Lake City, to Miss Millennium Andrus, who was born at Nauvoo, Ill., the daughter of Milo and Abigail J. (Daley) Andrus, natives of New York. Her parents came to Utah in 1848 and made their home at Salt Lake. The father was prominent in missionary work for the church. He died at Oxford, this state, on June 19, 1893, and the mother on October 27, 1894. Mr. and Mrs. Fisher have had eleven children, namely: William E., L. May (Mrs. Carlson), Thomas M. (deceased), John E. (deceased), Frederick J. (deceased), George H, Roy C. (deceased), Minnie J. (Mrs. Ellsworth). Stella J. (Mrs. Brossard), Ray Homer and Victor R. The two last named make their home with their parents. The others are established in life and prosperous in their respective occupations.

Extracted from Progressive Men of Bannock, Bear Lake, Bingham, Fremont and Oneida Counties, Idaho, published in 1904, pages 510-512, contributed 2021 Jun 15 by Norma Hass