On September 29, 1965, the Idaho State Journal printed the obituary of Luther M. Estep of Arbon, who had died two days earlier at the age of 72. He had come to the valley from Kentucky fifty years before. In between, the valley's papers had mentioned him only now and then, a line or two at a time, but those lines can be put together into an outline of his life at Pauline and Arbon.
From Kentucky by way of Illinois
Luther Martin Estep's life began on November 23, 1892, in Pulaski County, Kentucky. In February 1914, still in Kentucky, he and Lucy M. Randall wed, and the newlyweds made their way west with a stop at Bloomington, Illinois. Lucy's brother, Oscar Randall, was already farming in the valley, one of a circle of settlers from around Somerset, Kentucky, whose story is told in Somerset to Arbon.
The Esteps first appear in the papers in October 1915, with a death. Their nine-month-old son, Oscar, died on the way to Pocatello for medical treatment and was buried in the Pauline cemetery. The American Falls Press called Mrs. Estep "a recent arrival from Kentucky." The baby's death is also told in The long road to the doctor and among the Stories.
The Pauline years
The family stayed at the north end of the valley, near Pauline. When the Press printed the names of the Power County men who had registered for the draft in 1917, "Luther Martin Estep, Pauline" was among them. That August a hailstorm struck at Landing and crossed into the valley, and the Press reported:
Crossing into the Arbon valley the storm is said to have done considerable damage, among the losers being O. S. Randall, Luther Estep and Clint Miller.
The next spring an American Falls insurance agency advertised the hail losses it had paid for 1917, and a "Randall Estep" account appears twice in its list. It was probably a partnership between Luther and one of the Randalls; the advertisement does not say which.
By 1920 Estep was taking his part in county business. He was on the Pauline jury list that spring, and that summer he and Lucy both signed the Nonpartisan League's petitions, along with several Pauline neighbors (see Pauline votes the League ticket). The county board named him one of the judges for the general election that November, and he was drawn for the jury list again for 1921. That summer the county allowed a bill to Schwarz Brothers for a witness certificate of his that they held. The list does not name the case, but the certificate was very probably from the one that followed the St. Patrick's Day shootings near Pauline, since it sits beside those of posse men who testified at the trial. What he testified to was not reported.
The family wintered in town at least once. In April 1921 the Arbon column reported: "Luther Estep and family have moved out to their home above Pauline, after spending the winter months in American Falls."
In 1923 and 1924 the Pauline pupils wrote their own school news for the Press (see When Arbon Valley schoolchildren wrote the news), and the Esteps turn up there. In February 1924 the children sold hatchets at the store, tied with red ribbons, for a dollar; the next line, partly garbled in the surviving text, seems to say that Florence Estep's mother had made them. Florence, very probably Luther and Lucy's daughter, was on the primary honor roll that March, and one young correspondent noted, "Luther Estep is going to start plowing next week."
Later years
The papers read for this post are nearly silent about the Esteps from 1925 through the 1930s. They return during the Second World War. At the end of 1940 the Tribune reported that Luther Estep was among the farmers of Arbon Valley and Crystal who had signed up for electric power at a recent meeting at the Pauline schoolhouse, and in May 1942 he was named to the Arbon crew organized for rural fire prevention.
The war cost the family a son. Carl Estep, born at Arbon in 1918, had registered for the draft in 1940 with his father's name, Luther Martin Estep, on his card. He went missing in Tunisia on February 14, 1943, and his story is among the Stories and in Arbon Valley men in uniform. Another son, Luther Jr., called Louie, married Eileen Ward in 1947 and farmed at Arbon with her until they retired; their family is followed in The Wards between Malad and their Arbon farm.
The 1965 obituary supplies two things the earlier items lack: Estep was a renter before he became a landowner, and he held membership in the Power County Grain Growers Association. Because it lists only survivors, it does not mention Oscar or Carl, who had died before him, nor Florence, who seems also to have died before him. It also does not say where his farm lay or when he bought it. The obituary gives American Falls as the place he died, though he lived at Arbon.
On this site: Pauline and West Fork, where the Esteps first farmed, and the obituary of Eileen Ward Estep.
The story as reported
Idaho State Journal, September 29, 1965, page 2. The original article is under copyright; this is our own report of what it said.
The Journal's obituary column carried word that Luther M. Estep, a 72-year-old Arbon man, had died without warning on Monday, September 27, while at American Falls.
Davis Mortuary handled the arrangements. The Methodist Church in American Falls was to hold the funeral on Friday afternoon at two o'clock, the Rev. Richard Frank Burdon presiding, with interment to follow in Falls View Cemetery. Anyone wishing to pay respects at the mortuary could come by on Thursday afternoon up to five o'clock, or on Friday morning from eight o'clock right up to the hour of the service.
Jess and Amanda Burkhart Estep were his parents. He came into the world on November 23, 1892, in Pulaski County, Kentucky, and grew up in that state. His wedding to Lucy M. Randall took place there on February 20, 1914. The couple lived briefly at Bloomington, Illinois, before making Arbon Valley their home. The obituary noted that he started out farming land that belonged to someone else and eventually purchased a place of his own, and that the Power County Grain Growers Association counted him as a member.
Left behind were his wife, Lucy, two sons and two daughters, 17 grandchildren and four great-grandchildren. Of the sons, Luther Jr. was at Arbon and Robert at Sequim, Washington. The daughters were both married: Beulah to Ray Galloway, at American Falls, and Maude to Richard Chiaro, at Pocatello. Back in Kentucky were a brother, Harvey Estep, at Bobtown, and a sister, Alma Stogstill, at Shopville, while two more sisters, Myrtle Lovins and Della Ball, made their homes in Cincinnati, Ohio.
Sources
- Idaho State Journal, September 29, 1965, page 2
- American Falls Press, October 28, 1915, page 7
- American Falls Press, July 10, 1917, page 8
- American Falls Press, August 10, 1917, page 1
- American Falls Press, April 9, 1918, page 3
- American Falls Press, April 16, 1920, page 6
- American Falls Press, August 20, 1920, page 1
- American Falls Press, October 22, 1920, page 5
- American Falls Press, February 11, 1921, page 8
- American Falls Press, April 8, 1921, page 2
- American Falls Press, July 22, 1921, page 11
- American Falls Press, February 28, 1924, page 2
- American Falls Press, March 13, 1924, page 2
- American Falls Press, March 27, 1924, page 2
- Pocatello Tribune, December 31, 1940, page 8
- Pocatello Tribune, May 8, 1942, page 7