Hon. John Allen Bagley
Progressive men of Bannock, Bear Lake, Bingham, Fremont and Oneida counties; By A W Bowen & Co; Publ. 1904
To epitomize the life and-character of Hon.
John A. Bagley, the present attorney general of the state of Idaho, within the
limits of which this work allows is impossible, but none the less the record of
his useful life and activities must to a constituent portion of any volume that
claims to deal with the life record and character of the representative and
progressive men of this section of the state; far less than many of the
residents of the county does he need a written statement for the clearness of
his purpose, the soundness of his judgment, his tireless activity and his
pronounced ability have impressed the "very age and today of time," making his
life a positive factor and controlling force in many of the leading industries
and enterprises of the place and period.
Hon. John A. Bagley was torn in Draper, Utah, on May 16, 1862, a son of John and
Mary J. (Allen) Bagley, the father being a native of New Brunswick, and for
further ancestral data we would refer the reader to the sketch of John Bagley
published on other pages of this book.
General Bagley received his preliminary educational training in the primitive
schools of Idaho, as he was but two years of age when he accompanied his parents
to this then lonely land, and the education he here acquired was supplemented by
an attendance at the excellent high schools of Utah and further increased by a
full course in the Brigham Young College, from which he was graduated with
distinct honors in 1882, his first instruction, however, being under Dr. John
Park, now of Salt Lake City, who taught him his alphabet. Immediately upon
graduating he became connected with railroad construction and assisted in
completing the Oregon Short Line Railroad from Granger to Huntington, in this
manner earning the necessary money to defray his expenses as a student of
Michigan State University, at Ann Arbor, from which he was graduated in the law
department in 1888, being thoroughly reinforced and equipped with the necessary
technical and legal erudition to pass the prescribed examination and be admitted
to practice. Coming immediately to Montpelier, he at once engaged in a legal
practice that his ability soon made extensive, far reaching and lucrative, his
services being demanded not only in the courts of Bear Lake county, but in every
county of the state of Idaho and extending into Wyoming, Utah, Montana and
Nebraska, becoming known as one of the most eminent members of the bar of the
state, which has been from the first signally favored in the personnel of its
legists and jurists.
In the departments of industrial activity that so long lay dormant in this
portion of the West General Bagley is the owner of valuable interests in mines
in this vicinity, holding an interest also in the electric light plant in
Montpelier, and in numerous other prosperous industries. He is the president of
the Montpelier Copper and Mining Co., which has such a fine development and
showing for a good mine that the company expects soon to install expensive
machinery to continue the development to a dividend-paying state.
General Bagley has always rendered a loyal allegiance to the principles and
policies of the Republican party, is one of the leading members of that
political organization in the state and one of its most eloquent and talented
advocates, and it is recognized by all political elements that his services in
that direction have been invaluable and due recognition of this has been shown
by his receiving the nomination of his party for attorney general in 1896 and
for district judge for the Fifth judicial district in 1898 but, as a minority
candidate in each instance, he shared in the defeat of the whole ticket. In
1902, however, he again received the nomination for attorney general and at the
subsequent election received the highest, majority of any candidate on the state
ticket and was most triumphantly elected, the voters of the state doing
themselves honor by their endorsement of his nomination, and he is now in the
incumbency of this most important office, in which his ablest efforts are used
for the furtherance of justice and the true interests of the state.
In Salt Lake City, Utah, on August 2, 1883, occurred the marriage ceremonies
uniting in the bonds of wedlock General Bagley and Miss Sarah E. Lawson, a
native of Lehi, Utah, and a daughter of John and Margaret V. (Vance) Lawson her
father being deceased and her mother now maintaining her home at Coalville,
Utah, both being among the early pioneers of Utah territory. On April 5, 1885,
Mrs. Bagley passed over to those activities that have no weariness, leaving one
child, L. Lorraine, now a student at Provo, Utah. Mr. Bagley contracted a second
marriage on August 15, 1888 with Miss Mina V. Furrow, a native of Clinton, Iowa,
daughter of John and Amanda (Vanhorn) Furrow, and of this marriage union has
resulted six children: Vanhorn, Moretta, Almorean, Hawley, Lucile, Nina B.
The elegant residence of General Bagley at Montpelier deserves especial mention.
It is the largest and most pretentious home of the entire Bear Lake country,
containing as it does twenty-one rooms, with three stories and an attic, all
lighted by electricity and heated by furnaces. It is very artistically arranged,
showing the fine taste of both the General and his cultured wife, the large
entrance hall and the three adjoining parlors being finished in clear Georgia
pine and connecting with ample folding doors, having also large grates and
mantels, appropriately placed to send out an atmosphere of cheer and radiance in
the pleasant winter evenings. All through the home modern science has been
brought to play in producing the best sanitary and domestic effects, everything
being in the latest fashion. One leading feature is the attic, so generally
consigned to the fate of a mere storehouse and lumber room. Here is a notable
exception. The chief portion of this is a children's romp room and sanctum, the
walls being covered with paintings and chalk drawings of more than ordinary
merit. Off from this has at one of the front corners been projected a room,
called the "den," being really an elegant combined study and library, where the
genial owner can in quiet pass thoughtful, meditative and studious hours, free
from the annoyance of interruptions. From the ample windows one of the most
beautiful vistas of the noted scenery of the Bear River and Lake Country spreads
itself before the enraptured vision.
General Bagley is financially interested in the Montpelier Lumber
Co., the Pacific Irrigation Canal Co., the Fossil oil fields of Wyoming, and the
North Star Cattle Co., being attorney for all these corporations and a director
in each. Few men have a stronger hold upon the hearts of the people than General
Bagley, as he believes in the theory of making the world better by having lived
in it, and his friends are numbered without regard to political partisanship or
party bias. Modest in his demeanor, courteous and cultured in his personal
intercourse with all, he has attained one of the highest positions in the gift
of the people of his state from his most admirable qualities of character and
ability, which have been equal to every demand; and in the annals of Idaho he
will ever stand as one of her most distinguished citizens and able and upright
public men.
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Montpelier Examiner, Wednesday, 19 May 1897, page 1
Attorney John Bagley came back from Salmon city Thursday morning where he has been attending court. He won a big mining suit up there involving property worth $40,000. He was also interested in several other large suits.
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Montpelier Examiner, Wednesday 9 June 1897, page 1
Attorney Bagley got back from Malad Friday morning where he went on business.