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Information for Edwin Mark Small
17 October, 1867 - 21 January, 1935
Article transcribed from
The History of Idaho,
The Gem of the Mountains, Vol. II
Pgs. 664 and 667
by James Henry Hawley
The S. J. Clarke Publishing Company, Chicago, 1920
Contributed by Dennis McIndoo
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E. M. Small |
E. M. Small, a general merchant of Wilder now
conducting a profitable business, was born in Ohio on the 17th
of October, 1865. His father, S. S. Small, was a native of
the south and of Norwegian parentage. He was a repair lineman
on the railroad and also acted as lineman during the Civil
war, serving throughout the entire time in which the north and
south were engaged in hostilities. His wife, Mrs. T. T.
Small, was also of southern birth, but both are now deceased.
E. M. Small went to sea when a mere lad, shipping before
the mast, and made fourteen voyages around Cape Horn on the
oldtime sailing vessels known as “windjammers.” He has been
in every seaport of any importance in the world, has cruised
upon the Nile and went up the Amazon when all of the crew on
his ship died of smallpox save himself and two other white
men. He stood by and saw his dead shipmates thrown over the
side and devoured by alligators and crocodiles and wondered
whether he would be the next one to fill their hungry maws.
His trip to various parts of the globe if written in detail
would present many a thrilling and interesting picture.
At the present time, however, Mr. Small is
pursuing the even tenor of his way as a progressive and
enterprising merchant of Wilder. He came to Idaho in 1903 and
worked on the Oregon Short Line Railroad. In 1905 he removed
to Parma as operator and agent and there remained until 1912,
in which year he became a resident of Wilder and erected the
first building where the town is now located. At that time no
townsite had been laid out and he built in eighty acres of
sagebrush. He opened a small store but has increased his
stock from time to time to meet the growing demands of his
trade until he now carries a stock valued at about forth
thousand dollars and occupies a substantial store building
fifty by one hundred and twenty-five feet and two stories in
height. The interurban line had not been built at the time he
located at Wilder and there was little indication of future
rapid growth, yet Mr. Small saw the possibilities of the
district and from the beginning has been identified with its
development. He conducts a general merchandise business and
his interests make constant demands upon his time and
energies. He has three trucks and does a general trucking
business in connection with the conduct of the store, in which
he carries the most complete stock of goods in Wilder, while
the integrity and enterprise of his business methods have
brought to him most substantial success.
In 1910 Mr. Small was married in Salt Lake City, Utah, to
Miss Lillian A. Ramsey, a native of Missouri, and to his wife
Mr. Small attributes much of his success. She is a most
intelligent woman, cable, energetic and persistent, and her
labors and judgment have ably supplemented the efforts of her
husband. Mr. Small is a versatile man who always looks on the
bright side of life and has a smile for every situation and
for every person with whom he comes in contact. |
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Larger headstone
photo available upon request.
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