Biography of Martin D. DeMoude

The capable and enterprising business man whose name is at the head of this article is well known in Nezperce, where, in company with his son, he conducts a first class drug business. He is a man of energy and affability and stands at the head of the thriving business that his skill and push has made.

Martin D. DeMoude was born in Fond du Lac County, Wisconsin, on November 13, 1851, being the son of Richard and Jane (Edmunds) DeMoude. The father was a shipbuilder, native of Buffalo, New York, and he wrought at his trade in the lake country and in New York. About 1836 he went to Fond du Lac. Wisconsin, and later to Minnesota, where he died in Wabasha County in 1882. His father was a ship rigger and a native of France. The mother of our subject was a native of Rochester, New York, of French descent. Her father died about 1855 and she had two brothers. John and Martin, who were noted, fur traders.

Our subject was educated in his native place and when fourteen he went to work in a drug store. Later he was variously engaged until thirty, when he embarked in the commercial world in Ogden, Utah, but this was not a successful venture and we see him next in Wyoming, where he bought a sawmill on credit and in two years paid out and made good success of it. Then he railroaded some and on account of failing health came to Boise, Idaho. A few years were spent there and then some time in Moscow, after which Mr. DeMoude started a drug store in Beeman. Later he was in the same business in Fletcher, but perceiving the advantages of Nezperce, he came hither in 1899 and in 1901 he built a store, which he has occupied since. He handles a good business, is the possessor of a first class patronage and stands well with his fellows.

Mr. DeMoude married Miss Emma I. Bradstreet, daughter of John and Emmeline (Campbell) Bradstreet, both deceased, being natives of New York. This wedding occurred in Ogden, on May 16, 1867. One son, Ora D., was born to this happy union. He was educated in the high school at Boise and in the university at Moscow, taking also the pharmaceutical course. He received his state diploma on October 1, 1897, passing well. Ora D. is also a first class musician, being able to skillfully handle any instrument in the range of band music and is now the leader of the Nezperce band. He is also a member of the Maccabees, being record keeper of Sunrise Tent, No. 17. Mr. DeMoude has two brothers and one sister, Edwin H., in Kansas, and a veteran of the Civil War, having enlisted in Company D. Third Wisconsin, and serving the entire war under Joe Hooker and being in the principal battles of the conflict, never wounded, but once terribly hurt in an accident; Richard R., in Minnesota, and also a veteran of the Rebellion, serving under General Washburn in the Twenty-third Wisconsin; Nettie, wife of D. C. Clark, an attorney in Minnesota.

Mr. DeMoude is a Republican, strong in his principles, and he is always ready to take the part of the good citizen. He is a member of the I. O. O. F., Morning Star Lodge, No. 56, in Nezperce, being vice grand; also of the Maccabees, Tent No. 17; also of the Brotherhood of American Yeomen, Cedwick Homestead, No. 428, being deputy organizer. The family affiliates with the Episcopal Church.

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

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