James Marker was born in Noble County, Indiana, on April 19, 1846, being the son of Jonas and Elizabeth (McClintock) Marker, natives of Somerset County, Pennsylvania. They came to Noble County, being the second family to settle there. The father was the first justice of the peace, the first County commissioner, and the first overseer of the poor in that County. Michael McClintock, the grandfather of our subject, was a veteran in the Revolution. In 1850, the father of our subject died and he remained with his mother until her death, in 1861. His education was obtained from the district school over two miles distant.
On October 3, 1864, Mr. Marker enlisted in Company F, Thirtieth Indiana Infantry, under General Thomas. He fought in many places and in the battle of Nashville was in the thickest of the fray and the bullets pattered like hail. His clothes were pierced but he was not wounded. On September 9, 1865, he was honorably discharged, having served faithfully and endured all the hardships incident to a soldier’s life.
Returning to Noble County, Mr. Marker learned the carpenter trade and there on September 15, 1869, he married Miss Jennie Fulk, a native of Noble County. To them were born five children. James F., deceased; John W., Benjamin O., Charles C, Lucy C. deceased; the three living ones are in Whitley County. Indiana. Mrs. Marker died in Whitley County in 1882. In 1885, Mr. Marker came to Chicago and wrought at his trade there and in Stoney Island in the Nickel Plate car shops. Thence he went to Colorado, Kansas, New Mexico, and other places, and in 1888 he came from Denver to Latah.
On June 16, 1889, Mr. Marker married Miss Laura, daughter of John and Ellen (Firkins) Dean, natives of Knox County, Illinois. Mrs. Marker was born in Knox County, Illinois, on October 27, 1867. She came across the plains with her parents in a large train in 1872 and distinctly remembers the large herds of buffalo. On one occasion her father was kicked by a horse and lay unconscious for one week, and the mother had all the trying hardships of attending to the duties of travel with the team. They settled in the Grande Ronde valley, then went to Polk County, and in 1878 started to Spokane County, Washington, and encountered many Indian braves on the war path. Mr. Dean settled in Latah and has since lived there.
Immediately following his marriage Mr. Marker took a contract of erecting the barns and outbuildings of the County poor farm at Spangle and then returned to Latah, where he built several of the best buildings in the vicinity, and on the eighteenth of November, 1895, he located on the northeast fourth of section twelve, township thirty-three and range one, east, where his home is now. He filed on the fourth day after locating and moved his family on in May, 1896. An inventory shows he had four horses, two cows, a wagon and ten dollars. Seven times he mired down in getting to his claim and four times he did the same hauling four dollars and seventy-five cents worth of lumber to build his first house. Mr. Marker had a rough experience in getting started but he recently proved up and it appears that he had nearly three thousand dollars worth of improvements on the place. He has a fine farm, and this year sold a thousand dollars worth of grain off from eighty-two acres. He has excellent buildings, first class orchard and all improvements needed.
Mr. Marker is a member of the A. F. & A. M. He and his wife are members of the Baptist Church and are leading people of the community. Seven children have been born to them, Mable Pearl, born February 19, 1890; Wilbur Percy, born November 23, 1891; Lloyd Bernard, born January 14, 1894: Grace Eva, born July 16, 1895; Minnie Ellen, born March 23, 1897; Dewey Beauford, born April 11, 1900, and Spurgeon, born October 19, 1901, and died March 30. 1903. Mr. Marker is an active laborer for general and substantial progress in all
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Source: An Illustrated History of Northern Idaho, Embracing Nez Perce, Idaho, Latah, Kootenai and Shoshone Counties, Western Historical Publishing Company, 1903