Ada County ID Archives Biographies.....Yates, John E. 1845 - 1914
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Source: See Below
Author: S. J. Clarke (Publisher, 1920)

CAPTAIN JOHN E. YATES, who spent the last years of his life as a prominent
business man and banker of Boise, was born on the Atlantic seaboard, a native of
Bristol, Maine, and a representative of one of the old families of that state
whose members were largely seafaring men. His great-grandfather, George Yates, a
native of England, was the founder of the family in the new world. He settled at
Bristol, where several generations of the family have lived. George Yates,
father of Captain Yates of this review, was born at Bristol and, like others of
the name, followed the sea, making his last voyage in 1849, at the age of
thirty-five. From this voyage he never returned. In 1841 he had married Miss
Sophia Blunt, of Bristol, a daughter of Samuel Blunt, who settled first in
Massachusetts and later in Maine and who was a soldier in the War of 1812. Her
maternal grandfather, James Morton, had been a soldier of the Revolutionary war.
Mrs. George Yates survived her husband for more than a half century and passed
away in Bristol in 1897, at the age of seventy-five years. She had but two
children, the elder being Oscar O. Yates, who died in Bristol in May, 1908, at
the age of sixty-eight years.

   The younger son, Captain John E. Yates, was born on the 4th of February,
1845, and for thirty-five years remained a resident of his native town,
attending the public schools after reaching the age of six. Seafaring life
proved to him an irresistible lure notwithstanding that it had claimed many
victims from his own family. For twenty-five years he followed the sea and won
rapid promotion. For fifteen years of that time he was in command of various
vessels, largely in the West Indian and South American trade. In 1898 he removed
to Boise, Idaho, bringing his family to the new home which he had prepared in
the northwest, he having previously invested here as early as 1891. He became an
important factor in the business development and upbuilding of the city. He was
connected with a number of the leading commercial and financial enterprises of
Boise, becoming one of the organizers of the Yates & Corbus Live Stock Company,
of which he served as president for several years. Throughout almost the entire
period of his residence in Idaho he was connected with the live stock industry.
He also turned his attention to the banking business and became one of the
organizers of the Bank of Commerce of Boise, of which for four years he was
president. He made extensive and judicious investments in real estate and his
property holdings were large. He was the builder and proprietor of the Hotel
Bristol, which he named in honor of his native city, and in 1907 he became the
owner of the Yates block, one of the fine business structures of the city. His
real estate included a beautiful home in the vicinity of Boise and adjoining it
he had a fine fruit farm of sixty acres lying just outside the corporation
limits of the capital. He was a man of sound judgment who readily discriminated
between the essential and the non-essential in all business affairs. He was
fortunate in that he possessed character and ability that inspired confidence in
others, and the simple weight of his character and ability carried him into
important relations.

   At Bristol, Maine, in 1872, Captain Yates was united in marriage to Miss
Roxanna Cox, a native of that place and a daughter of George Cox. She passed
away in 1887, and in Sycamore, Illinois, Captain Yates afterward wedded Georgia
Townsend, a daughter of Amos Townsend, and they became the parents of eight
children, seven of whom are yet living: Dorothy, who was a student in the
University of California; John, who has passed away; Margaret and Marjorie,
twins, who were born in the old Sherman House of Chicago and were educated in a
Massachusetts college; Oscar T.; Frederick T.; William T.; and Stephen T.

   The death of Captain Yates occurred in Boise, March 4, 1914, He had long been
one of the most highly esteemed and honored residents of the city. He was for
two years a member of the Boise city council and at all times loyally supported
his political belief by earnest work in behalf of his party. He was a helpful
member of the Commercial Club and he belonged to the Masonic fraternity and to
the Benevolent Protective Order of Elks at Boise. His religious faith was that
of the Unitarian church and his life was ever guided by high and honorable
principles. He perhaps became best known to the people of the state at large
through his service as state senator, in which position he represented his
district for two terms. He was made chairman of the committee on banks and
banking and that on public lands. He had previously served as a member of the
house of representatives. He was ever fearless in support of his honest
convictions and with the organization of the progressive party he joined its
ranks, and after two terms' service as a member of the state senate was made the
candidate of that party for the office of state treasurer. He stood as a
splendid type of American manhood and chivalry, holding to high ideals of
citizenship, to faultless principles of business and to the strictest rules of
manly conduct in every relation. He was indeed one whom to know was to esteem
and honor and his many voyages to all parts of the world had stored his mind
with many reminiscences and incidents that made him a most interesting companion.


Additional Comments:

Extracted from:

IDAHO
DELUXE SUPPLEMENT
CHICAGO
THE S. J. CLARKE PUBLISHING COMPANY
1920


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