Being here at the very day the reservation was opened, and owing to his excellent enterprise and keen judgment, Mr. Heberly secured one of the most valuable ranches in Nez Perces County, being located three miles west from Nez Perce and on the main Lewiston road. His land all lies well, is very fertile and plentifully watered, while the valuable improvements which he has added from time to time since, by dint of hard labor and wise management, have doubly enhanced its value. The annual returns in crops make a fine dividend and Mr. Heberly is one of the prosperous and substantial men of the community.
Charles W. Heberly was born in Mineral County, West Virginia, on September 25, 1867, being the son of Charles G. and Margaret C. Heberly, natives of Germany and West Virginia, respectively. Mr. Heberly has one sister, Mrs. Caroline Hollen, who was born on February 25, 1866, and is now living in Maysville, Grant County. West Virginia. The father of our subject, who was living in Illinois at the time of the Civil war, enlisted in the Second Illinois Light Artillery, and served all through the war, being in many battles and skirmishes. He was wounded and also languished in one of the horrible prisons. Being honorably discharged, he returned to West Virginia and later went to Maryland, where he died in 1870 from the effects of a wound received in the war. Our subject remained at home with his mother, gaining his education from the common schools, until he was sixteen, when he started in life for himself. At this time he had no money and he commenced work for a salary.
In 1887 he went to York County, Nebraska, and one year later came to Moscow. He was variously employed on a farm and the railroad and otherwise until the opening of the reservation, as stated above, and then he secured his present place, where he has wrought since. Mr. Heberly had but little financial means when he landed here and the goodly holding he now has is the result of his excellent labor and thrift. He also owns shares in the Farmers’ Grain Company. Mr. Heberly’s mother is living with his sister in Maysville, West Virginia, aged sixty-one.
Our subject has never launched on the sea of matrimony but is still enjoying the seclusion of his bachelor home. He is respected and is of good standing.
Source: An Illustrated History of North Idaho: Embracing Nez Perce, Idaho, Latah, Kootenai and Shoshone counties, state of Idaho; Western Historical Publishing Company, 1903