Kamiah’s list of business men was materially strengthened when the subject of this sketch located there in 1899. He opened a hotel which is one of the excellent places for entertainment in the County, and which Mr. Pomeroy conducts with skill and wisdom that have brought him a good patronage.
Francis F. Pomeroy was born in Oregon, on April.24, 1849, being the son of Francis F. and Mary (Kitchen) Pomeroy, natives of New York and Missouri, respectively. The father came to Oregon in 1845. In 1848 while packing to Feather River camps in California, he was murdered by two men who joined his train to travel with it. The murderers killed Mr. Pomeroy and two helpers, robbed their bodies and the train and made off, but owing to the vigilance of officers, they were caught and executed. The place of their execution was called Hangtown on account of this episode. The mother of our subject came to Oregon overland with her husband.
When Francis was six years old his mother died and he went to live with his uncle, Benjamin Kitchen. When fourteen he went to Douglas County to mine and spent four years in that labor, after which he returned to Washington County. He bought his father’s old donation claim from the other heirs and farmed it until 1899, then sold out and came to his present place. Mr. Pomeroy is a member of the Native Sons of Oregon, also of the Maccabees, being chaplain of Tent No. 10, in Kamiah. Mr. Pomeroy has two sisters, Lydia, wife of Kenvon Crandall, in the real estate business in Portland; Welthea, wife of Edwin Ford, operating a cannery at Astoria.
On September 2, 1867, Mr. Pomeroy married Miss Rebecca, daughter of Noa and Lydia (Garwood) Jobe, pioneers from Missouri. They made the trip to Oregon with ox teams overland and Mr. Jobe fought m the Cayuse Indian war nearly two years. He is still living but his wife is dead. Mrs. Pomeroy was married in Hillsboro, and to this union there have been born six children: Ida. wife of William Ryan, a grocer in Portland; Lulu, wife of William Politz, a grocer in Portland; Edgar, at Lapwai; John, a merchant at Kamiah; Nellie, at school; Charles, in Nezperce.
Politically, Mr. Pomeroy is a Democrat and has frequently been delegate to the conventions. He believes in excellent schools and labors hard for them. Mr. Pomeroy gave each of his children a good education and he is one of the progressive and enterprising men of the town.
Back to: Nez Perce Biographies
Source: An Illustrated History of Northern Idaho, Embracing Nez Perce, Idaho, Latah, Kootenai and Shoshone Counties, Western Historical Publishing Company, 1903