Owyhee-Cassia County ID Archives Biographies.....Regan, Timothy 1843 - 1919
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Joy Fisher http://www.genrecords.net/emailregistry/vols/00001.html#0000031 November 18, 2008, 4:35 am

Author: S. J. Clarke (Publisher, 1920)

Timothy Regan

IN the historic canvas painted by the hand of time the harsher lines of the past
are softened, the hardships and privations are in a degree blotted out and
events and incidents blend into a harmonious whole, creating the annals of a
community or the record of an individual. The historian writes of the
picturesque pioneer days, but one who has lived through the period of early
development and progress knows that back of the steady advancement resulting in
successful accomplishment there were days of most earnest and unremitting toil
when the individual was denied the comforts and conveniences of the older east
and had to summon all his resolution and courage to meet existing conditions.
Through this period passed Timothy Regan, and starting upon his career in the
northwest empty handed, he through the inherent force of his character, his
indomitable energy, his unfaltering perseverance and his keen sagacity reached a
place among Boise's wealthiest, most prominent and influential men. The story of
what he accomplished should serve to inspire and encourage others, showing what
may be done through individual effort. He reached an honored old age, passing
away October 7, 1919.

   Timothy Regan was born near Rochester, New York, on the 14th of November,
1843, a son of Morgan and Mary (Burke) Regan, natives of Ireland, the former
having been born in Cork and the latter in Dublin. The two eldest of their
family of ten children, Helen and Mary, were born in Ireland prior to the year
1831, when the parents emigrated with their little family to the United States.
The elder daughter, now Mrs. Helen Partridge, is still living at the advanced
age of ninety-two years and makes her home in Waukegan, Illinois. Eight children
were added to the family circle after the arrival in the United States and three
of these are still living, namely: Mrs. Katharine Edwards, of Seattle; Mathias
J., of Milwaukee, Wisconsin; and Mrs. Nona Lauderdale, of Tacoma, Washington.
The parents lived for a time in Maine but afterward removed to New York and
thence to Chicago. from which point they made their way to a farm in Wisconsin.
There the father passed away in 1878, while the mother survived until 1897. They
were consistent members of the Catholic church and people of the highest
respectability.

   Amid the environment of the Wisconsin farm Timothy Regan was reared,
attending the district schools, at which time the curriculum was most limited,
and spending the summer months in the work of the fields. He started out
independently when a youth of nineteen and, determining to try his fortune in
the west, he sailed from New York in 1864 with California as his destination. He
traveled by the Isthmus route, reaching Aspinwall, now Colon, whence he crossed
Panama by rail and thence proceeded by steamer to San Francisco. He then went up
the river by steamer to Sacramento, traveled by rail to Folsom over the only
railroad line in California and by stage proceeded to Hangtown, now Placerville.
From that point he walked to Virginia City, Nevada, and on to Dun Glen, where he
spent six weeks and then started with a wagon train of ox teams, loaded with
flour, fruit and salt, for the mines of Owyhee county, Idaho. Mr. Regan walked
all the way, accompanied by four or five members of Price's army. Each night
they had to stand guard owing to possible attacks from the Piute or the Bannock
Indians. On one occasion they had to march all night in order to get away from
the red men. On arriving at Jordan Valley, Oregon, in early November of 1864,
they felt that danger was over and all of the party went to bed to enjoy a good
night's rest. Before morning dawned, however, the Indians had stolen their
entire bunch of cattle, which they never recovered.

   The following morning Mr. Regan started to walk to Silver City. A soft snow
lay upon the ground, making progress difficult. At length he reached Wagontown,
which contained but one shack, the lone occupant of which was a jack that had
been left there because it could go no further through the snow. Mr. Regan felt
unable to travel a greater distance that day and there camped for the night,
going to bed without supper. At dawn the next morning he set out for Booneville,
where he arrived in the afternoon. In speaking of this trip he said he always
recalled the plaintiff call of distress of the jack as it echoed through the
canyon when he proceeded on his way. A two dollar and a half gold piece
constituted his entire capital when he reached Booneville, rendering immediate
employment a necessity, and he began chopping wood on War Eagle mountain,
receiving six dollars per day for his work, the wood being furnished to the Oro
Fino mine. From that period forward Mr. Regan was for many years actively
connected with the mining interests of the state. He accepted the work of
timbering the Oro Fino mine, and when that mine became insolvent in the fall of
1866, its owners were indebted to Mr. Regan in the sum of nearly twenty-five
hundred dollars, no cent of which he ever collected. Civilization in the
northwest was somewhat chaotic in those days, as in the absence of courts and
lawyers men took affairs into their own hands and more than one fight was staged
in the mining districts. In one of these a cannon was used that is now doing
duty as a historical relic in Silver City, where it is known as "Old Grover."
Mr. Regan was employed for some time in the Poorman mine and when it was closed
down in the fall of 1866 he joined with five others in organizing a wood
chopping outfit, being employed in that connection during the succeeding winter.
In the winter of 1868 he was in Salt Lake City and with the discovery of the Ida
Elmore mine at Silver Citv he resumed his activities in the mining region. By
the fall of that vear, however, he decided that he wished to engage in business
on his own account and entered into partnership with John Callon in hauling
quartz and lumber for the mines. They also operated a sawmill, whipsawing the
lumber, which sold for three hundred and seventy-five dollars per thousand, and
the two men could easily saw two hundred feet a day. Mr. Regan also engaged in
teaming, being thus employed until 1875, when he purchased a half interest in
the Idaho Hotel at Silver City, becoming a partner of Hosea Eastman, whose
interest in the business he bought in 1877, remaining as the popular proprietor
of that hotel until 1889. In the meantime events were shaping themselves in
connection with the mining developments of the northwest that brought Mr. Regan
again into active connection with mining interests. In 1875 the failure of the
Bank of California caused heavy losses to the miners of Silver City and
vicinity, and with the adjustment of the claims of the creditors the Oro Fino
finally came into possession of Mr. Regan. Careful management and wise
investment at length made him the owner of the Ida Elmore, the Golden Chariot,
the Minnesota, the South Chariot and the Mahogany mines, which he afterward sold
to a Philadelphia company, and he also had a two-fifths interest in the Stoddard
mine, which eventually he sold to the Delamar company for eighty-seven thousand
five hundred dollars. He held valuable mining interests in Owyhee county, while
his business interests at Boise were extensive and important. He was the
president of the Boise Artesian Hot & Cold Water Company and the treasurer and
general manager of the Overland Company, Limited. He was likewise a large
stockholder in the Boise City National Bank and was one of the officers and
stockholders of the Weiser Land & Improvement Company. In all these connections
he displayed sound business judgment that made his cooperation of the utmost
value in the successful management of the corporations indicated.

   In 1878 Mr. Regan was married to Miss Rose Blackinger, a native of Buffalo,
New York, who came with her parents by wagon across the plains in 1862, living
for a time in Oregon and then removing to Ruby City, Idaho, where she formed the
acquaintance of Mr. Regan, who sought her hand in marriage. They became the
parents of four children: Lily and Harold, deceased; William V., a prominent
business man of Boise; and Lieutenant John M. Regan, who gave his life in the
cause of world democracy in the recent great European "war and who is mentioned
at length elsewhere in this work. The Regan home, a palatial residence built in
colonial style, is one of the finest in Boise. It is finished throughout in
hardwood and is surrounded by a broad lawn adorned with beautiful flowers and
stately trees.

   One of the local papers, writing of Mr. Regan said: "Timothy Regan is the
ripe flower and fruitage of Idaho pioneer days. He is one of the Argonauts who
have blazed the trails and helped lay here the foundations of an empire. Simple
as a child in his tastes, easily approached, bearing his honors and the prestige
his well earned wealth give him, meekly, a firm and unfailing friend, a generous
but vigilant enemy, in charities abundant, he passes down the golden slope
towards the sunset, and when, at last, he goes over the 'Great Divide,' he will
leave behind the memory of a life well and nobly lived and his name will be
carved high on the marble shaft of Idaho's heroic pioneers."

   A little time after those words were written, on the 7th of October, 1919,
Timothy Regan passed away, having reached the age of seventy-five years, his
death undoubtedly being hastened through the deep grief which he felt over the
death of his son on one of the battlefields of Europe. When the final summons
came there were hundreds who paid tribute to his memory, commenting on the
integrity of his character, his high purposes, his generosity and his loyalty to
the ideals which he ever kept before him. Abraham Lincoln said : "There is
something better than making a living— making a life." While Timothy Regan won
wealth, it was only one aim of his career, for he never forgot his obligations
to his fellow-men, his country or his church. He indeed "made a life" that
should serve as a source of inspiration and encouragement to all who knew him
and an example for those who follow.


Additional Comments:

Extracted from:

IDAHO

DELUXE SUPPLEMENT

CHICAGO
THE S. J. CLARKE PUBLISHING COMPANY
1920


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