Payette County ID Archives Biographies.....Avey, Oliver H. M. D. 1857 - 0000 ************************************************ 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: Cheryl Hanson ihansonb@fmtc.com January 18, 2006, 11:38 pm Author: Hiram T. French History of Idaho By Hiram T. French, M.S. The Lewis Publishing Co Chicago & New York 1914 OLIVER H. AVEY M.D. In 1902 Dr. Oliver H. Avey settled in Payette, Idaho, where he proceeded to establish himself in medical practice, and this city has ever since represented the scene of his professional activities, to a great extent, as well as his permanent home. Previous to locating in Payette he had been engaged in the medical profession for one year in Cedar City, Utah, and prior to that experience he had devoted himself for something like fifteen years to educational work, principally in the West. While his work along that line had been more than ordinarily successful, he had ever cherished a desire to enter the medical field, and his fine success has been sufficient to justify that ambition. Dr. Oliver H. Avey was born in Logan, Ohio, on December 31, 1857, and is the son of George L. and Mary (Fox) Avey. The father, who was a native of Maryland, was born there March 12, 1830, moved to Ohio in 1850 or thereabouts. He was a saddle and harness maker by trade and enjoyed a goodly patronage in his community. He enlisted in the Civil war as a member of Company H of the One Hundred and Fourteenth Ohio Volunteer Infantry, and assisted in this capacity as first lieutenant, in recruiting the company. He served from 1862 until the close of the war, and was honorably discharged with the cessation of hostilities, his military career having been one of honor and distinction throughout, marked by participation in numerous hard fought battles of the war. During his residence in Ohio George L. Avey served his city in various public offices, and was known for a man and a citizen of the highest moral rectitude. He passed his later years in Payette, Oregon,(sb Idaho) and died there on April 19, 1912. He had retired from active business life some time previously and was making his home with Dr. Avey at the time of his death. Previous to coming to Payette Mr. Avey had made his home in Oskaloosa, Iowa, for a number of years, having settled there subsequent to the Civil war period. The mother of Dr. Avey was a native born German, who came to America with her parents as a child of seven years. They settled in Ohio and there she was reared and educated, and there she met and married her husband. She is yet living at the advanced age of seventy-seven years, and makes her home in Redlands, California, at the present time, with her son, John L. Avey. Dr. Avey was educated in the public schools of his native town and later was a student in Penn College of Oskaloosa, Iowa, graduating there from in 1881 with the degree of A. B. Following his graduation he entered the post office at Oskaloosa and as assistant postmaster he passed four years in that place. He then entered school work, and for a number of years was engaged as principal of the Oskaloosa high school. In 1891 he removed to Salt Lake City, Utah, and for nine years was principal of Washington school in that city, and he was a prominent factor in the organization of the free public school system, the schools of the city being at that time under Mormon regime. When he severed his connection with educational work in Salt Lake City it was to finally indulge a long cherished ambition to enter the medical profession, and in 1901 he was graduated from Rush Medical College with the degree of M. D. He returned to Utah, the West holding out alluring prospects to him, and located in Cedar City, where he remained for one year. In October, 1902, he settled in Payette, Idaho and this city has ever since been the center of his activities in a professional way. In 1904 Dr. Avey took post graduate work in the Chicago Post Graduate College, and has in many other ways labored to keep abreast of the advances made in the medical field. He is a member of the Idaho State and American Medical Associations and of the Northwestern Rush Medical College Alumni Association. Dr. Avey has become identified with some of the leading financial and industrial concerns in the city, and is president of the Payette National Bank, an office which he has held since its organization in 1906. He is also president of the Payette Valley Land and Orchard Company, and is the owner of some attractive property in and about the city. Politically, Dr. Avey is a Republican, but takes no active part in the affairs of the party. He is president of the Board of Education of Payette, a post which he has occupied since 1904, and which, in view of his past experience in affairs of that nature, he is especially qualified to fill. That his services have proven to be of the most satisfactory order is amply evidenced by his continued incumbency of the office, a circumstance which speaks well for the perspicacity of the citizens of Payette. Dr. Avey is a member of the Masonic Fraternity, his affiliations being with the blue lodge, the commandery, the knights templar and the ancient Arabic order of the nobles of the mystic shrine. He is a past master of the blue lodge, and has held other offices in the various lodges. He is a member of the Payette Commercial Club. On July 6, 1886, Dr. Avey was united in marriage with Miss Lorie Pomeroy, the daughter of Steven and Elizabeth Pomeroy, natives of Iowa. They were married in Oskaloosa, Iowa, which was the home of the Pomeroy family. No children were born to Dr. and Mrs. Avey, but they have adopted a child, Irene Avey, who fills the place in their hearts and home which their own daughter might occupy. Dr. Avey is one of the successful men of this section, his success lying not alone in the generous practice which has been accorded to him but in the splendid confidence which is reposed in him by all who know him and the high place he occupies in public esteem. 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