Ada County ID Archives Biographies.....Bicknell, Richard Frederick 1863 - ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/id/idfiles.htm ************************************************ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Joy Fisher http://www.genrecords.net/emailregistry/vols/00001.html#0000031 October 12, 2010, 3:33 am Source: See Below Author: S. J. Clarke (Publisher, 1920) Richard Frederick Bicknell RICHARD FREDERICK BICKNELL, well known in business circles of Boise as the president of the Overland National Bank, has also been most active in support of government interests, serving as the federal food administrator for the state of Idaho and as a member of the executive committee of the State Council of Defense. He was born in the province of Ontario, Canada, October 11, 1863, a son of Richard and Electa (Parrott) Bicknell and a representative of one of the old New England families founded in Massachusetts early in the seventeenth century by an ancestor who came from England. The family history has been published by Thomas W. Bicknell, of Providence, Rhode Island. Richard Bicknell was born in Ontario, Canada, in 1806 and became a farmer and live stock breeder. He there married Electa Parrott, who was also born in Ontario, a daughter of Jonathan Parrott, whose birth occurred in Utica, New York, and who was of Pennsylvania Dutch descent. The maternal grandmother of Richard F. Bicknell was a member of the Campbell family descended from the well known Scotch clan of that name. Both the Bicknell and Parrott families were represented in the Revolutionary war. Richard Bicknell continued a resident of Ontario, Canada, until his death, which occurred when he had reached the age of seventy-nine years, and his widow still resides there at the advanced age of eighty-two. Richard Frederick Bicknell, whose name introduces this review, was reared on an Ontario farm and acquired a public and high school education, after which he was graduated from a business college at Belleville, Ontario. He was but sixteen years of age when his father took him into partnership in his farming and livestock interests, which were extensive, including a thousand acres of good land, in which the son was given a third interest. Their business relations were continued until the father's death in 1889. R. F. Bicknell of this review then located on a two hundred and twenty acre farm of his own near Bicknell's Corners, Ontario, which district was named for his family. He continued to cultivate that tract of land for several years but in 1890 rented his farm and became the owner of a general store at Camden East, near Bicknell's Corners. He conducted business there for seven years, or from 1890 until 1897, carrying on a trade in general merchandising and also engaging in the grain and live stock business. He bought everything that the farmers in the vicinity had to sell and kept everything in his stock which would supply their wants from a needle to a threshing machine. In 1897 he disposed of his store in order to concentrate his efforts and attention upon the live stock business, with which he had been identified from his youth. In 1899 he crossed the border into the United States and after giving his attention to the live stock business in Iowa and Illinois for two years he removed to Chicago in 1901 and there continued his live stock interests in connection with the Union Stock Yards until 1904. In that year he came to Idaho, where he has since resided, carrying on business throughout the entire intervening period and by his activities contributing to the development of the state. In 1907 he removed his family to Boise. He owned and operated ranch interests in various counties of Idaho, where he engaged in raising sheep and cattle. but later he disposed of all of his ranch interests and turned his attention to the banking business. He had in the meantime become one of the organizers of the Overland National Bank of Boise in 1915 and was elected its vice president, continuing to serve in that capacity until January 1, 1918, when he was chosen president and is now the chief executive officer of that institution, which is recognized as one of the strong moneyed concerns of the state. He is also the president of the Boise Live Stock Loan Company, which was organized March 1, 1917. with a capital of two hundred thousand dollars. He is a director of the Idaho State Life Insurance Company and is accounted one of Boise's men of sound judgment and keen discrimination in business affairs, wisely directing his individual interests and most carefully safeguarding the interests entrusted to his care. On the 26th of July, 1882, when but nineteen years of age, Mr. Bicknell was married in Ontario, Canada, to Miss Mary Nettie Stover and they have two living children; Lillian C., the wife of Howard H. Harvey; and Myrtle May, the wife of James H. Black, who is cashier of the Overland National Bank. Mr. Bicknell belongs to the Boise Commercial Club, also to the Boise Country Club and the Elks Club. He is a Mason of high rank. having taken all of the degrees in both the York and Scottish Rites except the honorary thirty-third degree. He is also a Shriner and he enjoys the distinction of having been made an honorary life member of Prince of Wales Lodge, No. 146, A. F. & A. M, of Newburgh, Ontario, Canada. Since becoming a citizen of the United States he has supported the republican party but has never been a candidate for office, although frequently urged to let his name stand in connection with some public position. In the year 1918 he was most favorably spoken of as a candidate for governor but declined to consider the nomination. He has most actively supported all war measures, has been a promoter of the Liberty Loan work and has accomplished effective and valuable results as a member of the executive committee of the State Council of Defense and as food administrator for Idaho. He displays ready discrimination concerning the values of life, cooperating most heartily and effectively in those things which are most worth while for the individual and for the commonwealth at large. Additional Comments: Extracted from: IDAHO DELUXE SUPPLEMENT CHICAGO THE S. J. CLARKE PUBLISHING COMPANY 1920 Photo: http://www.usgwarchives.net/id/ada/photos/bios/bicknell70nbs.jpg File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/id/ada/bios/bicknell70nbs.txt This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.net/idfiles/ File size: 6.6 Kb