This well to do farmer and highly respected citizen is one whose labors have made Nez Perces County what she is today, one of the leading counties in the entire state. He took land three and one-half miles west from Melrose in 1807, it being wild, and since then he has transformed it into a fertile and valuable farm, very productive and tilled in a becoming manner.
Thaddeus T. Maynard was born in Yam Hill County Oregon, on March 25, 1869, being the son of John W. and Mary (Merchant) Maynard. The father was born in Ohio, served in the Home Guards in Iowa, not being able to enlist in the regular army on account of his youth. His brother served four years in the Civil War. The mother of our subject was born in Yam Hill County and her parents were pioneers there. Mr. Merchant was given a large grant of about one thousand acres of land to induce other settlers. This was in 1842 and the Indians were in possession. The old homestead house is now standing where the neighbors gathered when the Indians attacked them. Thaddeus was raised in Yam Hill County until twelve, was educated in the public schools and then the family removed to Pullman, where he was educated in the college. He stayed with his father on the large stock farm until 1897, and then came to the reservation and took his present place. He has a good place, tills it well and is rewarded by good returns.
Mr. Maynard has one brother, Jay, and three sisters. Kittie, wife of W. E. Gage, warehouseman in Lind, Washington, and also owner of a large body of land; Lydia, wife of J. H. McDougall, railroad agent at Vollmer; Jennie, wife of R. D. Ryre, a harness maker in Whitman County. Mr. Maynard is a member of the M. W. A. Melrose Camp. Politically, he is a Republican.
On July 5, 1892, Mr. Maynard married Maude, daughter of Cahill and Ruth (Dick) Richardson, natives of Indiana, now living in Melrose. Mrs. Maynard was born in Kokomo, Indiana, in 1867, and has two brothers and five sisters, Byron, a mechanic in Whitman County: Dick, at home; Pearl, wife of J. R. Standley, at Mohler: Winnie, wife of Joseph Leach, in Colton, Washington: Georgia, wife of Dick Denny, at Melrose; Mary and Zoe, single and at home. Six children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Maynard, Mildred, Violet, Magell, Patty, Zell and Mona.
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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