Stoddard, Alexander K.

The following data is extracted from Illustrated History of the State of Idaho.

The subject of this review is a self-made man who, without any extraordinary family or pecuniary advantages at the commencement of life, has battled earnestly and energetically, and by indomitable courage and integrity has achieved both character and fortune. By sheer force of will and untiring effort he has worked his way upward and is numbered among the leading business men of Nampa, Idaho.

A native of Utah, he was born in Wellsville, November 3, i860, and is of Scotch ancestry. His father, John Stoddard, was born in Scotland and during his boyhood emigrated to the United States, in company with his father and the other members of the family, a location being made in Utah. During his business career he followed farming and engaged in the sawmill business. He married Miss Emily Kershaw, a native of England, who departed this life in the twenty-eighth year of her age, leaving four children, all yet living. The father passed away when fifty-five years of age.

Alexander Stoddard, their second son, was educated in Utah, and when eleven years of age began to learn the trade of manufacturing lumber in his father's sawmill, since which time he has continued in that line of business. He is now a part owner of a sawmill at Baker City, Oregon, and in 1886 he located at Nampa, where he opened a yard for the sale of his lumber. Not long afterward he purchased a hardware store, and in 189S erected a large brick store in the center of the business district, in which he con-ducts his hardware trade. He has won a good patronage, enjoying the public confidence, be-cause of his honorable business methods and his courteous treatment of his patrons. Other enterprises have also claimed his time and attention. He was instrumental in organizing the Nampa Fruit Evaporating Company, which has a large and well arranged building and uses the Monteith patent, with a capacity of fifteen thou-sand pounds of green fruit per day. The country surrounding Nampa is a fine fruit district and the evaporator will therefore furnish an excellent market for the products of the orchard. In connection with a partner Mr. Stoddard owns six thousand eight hundred and eighty acres of land, in Uinta County, Wyoming, on which they are extensively engaged in stock-raising.

On the 19th of January 1892, was celebrated the marriage of our subject and Miss Mary Ann Parkinson, a native of Grantsville, Utah. They have six children: Laura, Edna, Cora, Charles, Hortense and Veda. Socially Mr. Stoddard is connected with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and in politics is a "silver" Republican, but has neither time nor inclination to seek public office, preferring to devote his energies to his business interests, which are varied and extensive. He is a man of resourceful business ability and along many lines has successfully conducted his operations, steadily advancing to a place among the substantial citizens of the state of Idaho. He has met obstacles and difficulties, but has overcome them by determined purpose, and by energy and careful management has won prosperity.

Source: Illustrated History of the State of Idaho

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