Few men have the stability and perseverance to stem the tide of life’ in business enterprises when they have met total loss, but the subject of this article, a well known and highly respected farmer and stockman, two and one-half miles northwest from Melrose, has displayed this kind of courage and doubly so has he manifested tenacity of purpose and determination to achieve success, for twice, by outside circumstances, he has been a loser of his entire property. Such circumstances have but brought out the real metal of the man, and Mr. Misner is now one of the most substantial and capable men of our section.
Arthur E. Misner was born in Mount Morris, Illinois, on January 3, 1851, being the son of Christopher and Cordelia (Clark) Misner. The father was born in Indiana, in 1822, and died in 1889. He was a pioneer in Illinois, and was on the ground of Chicago before the town was thought of. He operated as a merchant and in 1879 settled near Spokane and took up the stock business. The mother was born in Ohio, in 1820, and is now living with our subject.
Arthur E. left home at the early age of thirteen, and made his way, gaining a classical education in the Willamette University at Salem, Oregon, entirely by his own efforts. Following that excellent achievement, he taught for five years, but discovering that his health demanded more outdoor exercise, he went to the Big Bend country in Washington and took up stock raising. When Spokane was starting, in 1880, Mr. Misner opened a livery stable there and took the contract of carrying the mail to Okanogan. He also drove the first four horse team to the Salmon River mines, carrying a load of miners. Aside from Mr. Glover, our subject had the first livery stable in Spokane. He did well until the big fire in 1889, and then suffered the loss of everything. Then he prospected in the Okanogan country and soon we see him near Sprague farming four hundred acres, but the wet year of 1893 again swept him clean from his property. It was 1895 that Mr. Misner came to the reservation and took his present place. Here he has again made a good success, and is now well among the leaders of this section.
At Sprague, Washington, in 1893, Mr. Misner married Miss Alary, daughter of William and Anna Swannack, natives of England but immigrants to the United States from Australia. Mrs. Misner was also born in Australia, and she has two sisters and nine brothers. Mr. Swannack is a large farmer near Sprague. Mr. Misner has two brothers and two sisters: Willis, a blacksmith in Spokane; Henry, a merchant at Sprague; Mary Melcher, in Spokane County; Emma Bowerman, in Republic. Washington. The following children have been born to our subject and his estimable wife: Mildred, Helen, Dorothy, Ladru R. and William. Mr. and Mrs. Misner are members of the Methodist Church, and in politics
Mr. Misner is an active Republican and a staunch helper of his friends in the conventions. Mr. Misner is a member of the school board and evinces a zeal for good schools and has taught one term here. He has a fine farm, well improved, has just completed a tasty residence of seven rooms, and other improvements in proportion, while raising grain and stock occupy his attention. Mr. James Clark, the maternal grandfather of our subject, is one hundred years old, and is aid to be the oldest Mason in America. He dwells in Quincy, Illinois.
Source: An Illustrated History of North Idaho: Embracing Nez Perce, Idaho, Latah, Kootenai and Shoshone counties, state of Idaho; Western Historical Publishing Company, 1903