There are few men in the state of Idaho who have made so brilliant and at the same time so substantial a success as has the subject of this sketch, who at the present time stands as one of the veritable leaders in Nez Perces County in the line of business. He has fully demonstrated his fitness for this position by his unbounded success, his wisdom, good financiering, executive force and keen foresight, all of which enable him to handle in a masterful way the general scope of his business as well as attend to all details.
Joseph A. Schultz was born in Effingham County, Illinois, on February 20, 1872, being the son of August and Mary (Quatman) Schultz. The father was born in Germany and is now sixty years of age, living in Effingham County, Illinois. The mother was born in Ohio, being aged fifty-six, and her parents were natives of Germany. Our subject was reared on a farm, partaking well of the vigorous exercise of that excellent place and receiving from the public schools the beginning of his education, which he finished in the St. Joseph College at Teutopolis, Illinois.
Immediately upon leaving school, he took up the work of teaching in Shelby County, and in 1890 he came to Idaho County, Idaho, and taught in Cottonwood and Kewterville for a time and then removed to Uniontown, Washington. Here he embarked in the mercantile business, and for five years he was postmaster. In April, 1900, Mr. Schultz came to Nez Perce and in February, 1901, entering into partnership with O. M. Collins, of Uniontown; he opened the Bank of Nez Perce.
He started with a capital of ten thousand dollars. He is now organizing the Bank of Nez Perce into the First National Bank of Nez Perce with a capital of twenty-five thousand dollars. The deposits of the institution now aggregate fifty thousand and through the excellent management which conserves the interests of the patrons, and deferential treatment of all, the bank has come to be one of the strongest monied institutions of the northern part of the state. Owing to the fact that Mr. Collins is one of the heaviest real estate holders in Whitman County and in Nez Perces County, and to the excellent financial ability displayed by Mr. Schultz, as well as his large property holdings outside of the bank, it stands on an exceptionally good footing and has the confidence of the monied men and associate banks, as well as of the entire country where it does business. Mr. Schultz has the largest general merchandise establishment in Nez Perce. When we consider that Mr. Schultz had no capital when he started life, that he accumulated by his teaching the few hundred dollars that enabled him to embark in the commercial world, that unaided and entirely by his own efforts and wisdom, he has gained the prominent and leading position in he financial world that he now occupies, we then are able to discern the resourcefulness and ability of the man. Socially, he is a man of unsullied reputation, genial and affable and popular, while in the political world, he takes the part of an intelligent citizen, but never aspires for public preferment. He is a Democrat and has attended the conventions of the County and state. He was mayor of Uniontown and also has held the same position at the hands of his fellows in Nez Perce.
On February 11, 1899, in Effingham County, Illinois, Mr. Schultz married Miss Mary G., daughter of Doctor Henry and Caroline (Waschford) Eversman, natives of Illinois, but their ancestors were natives of Germany. The ceremony making this happy couple husband and wife was performed by Father Lambert. To Mr. and Mrs. Schultz there have been born two children, Frederick J. and Henry J. Mrs. Schultz is a graduate of the Convent of Immaculate Conception, at Oldenburg, Indiana. She has one brother, Henry, and two sisters, Louisa, wife of William H. Engbring, and Lizzie, all in Illinois. Mr. Schultz has five brothers, August, Frank H., John, Lawrence and Ben.
Mr. and Mrs. Schultz are devout members of the Catholic Church and they are valuable members of society, being secure in the esteem and good will of all who know them and they have hosts of friends.
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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