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Biography |
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At the present
time Mr. Stranahan is holding the responsible position of superintendent of Indian schools and agent of the Nez Perces, with headquarters at Spalding, Idaho. In 1899 he received the appointment of agent at the hands of President McKinley, and in April, 1902, he was invested with the authority of superintendent of the schools, as those two offices had been merged under the civil service. Mr. Stranahan has been a very active and potent factor in the political realm of the state and has always heartily supported the Republican principles. For sixteen years, with one exception, he has been regularly chosen to represent his district at the state convention and his influence has always been for good men and right principles. He was deputy assessor of Nez Perces county under L. F. Herbert, was also deputy auditor and deputy sheriff and in 1889 he was appointed deputy United States marshal under Joseph Pinkham and served through the trying times of the strike in the Coeur d' Alenes. He also was deputy assessor in Nez Perces county for one term. In all this long service, Mr. Stranahan has manifested marked efficiency and his sterling faithfulness and integrity were qualities which ever commended him to the hearty esteem of his fellows. It will be interesting to note a part of his career in detail, and first we see that he was born in Contra Costa county California, near San Francisco, on March 17, 1859, being the son of Ebenezer and Ellen (Terry) Stranahan. The father was born in Herkimer county, New York, in 1829, and died in 1873. He was of Irish extraction and was a pioneer to California in 1852 and held a prominent place in the state as a leading miner. The mother was born in New York and still lives in California. Clinton T. was educated in Oakland and when eighteen years of age started out for himself. Idaho was the objective point of his travels and he located a claim on American Ridge, having landed in Moscow in 1878. He gave his attention to farming for six years and then entered upon the public service as mentioned above. After his labors in the marshal's office were ended he took a farm adjoining Lewiston, on the Clearwater, and demonstrated that excellent fruit can be raised here. His fruit farm of forty acres is doubtless one of the very best in the northwest, having been brought to this excellence by his skill and careful oversight. In 1884 Mr. Stranahan married Miss May L., daughter of Samuel L. Bostwick, deceased, a native of Iowa, and a pioneer to Montana, settling there in 1865. Mrs. Stranahan was born in Montana, being the first white girl born in Gallatin valley, now Bozeman. Mr. Stranahan has three brothers and two sisters, Farrand E., Willoughby F. and Cady R.; Cora Hosom and Esther. To Mr. and Mrs. Stranahan there have been born three children, Clyde, Glenthora and Everett. Clyde is attending the high school in Lewiston. Mr. Stranahan is a member of the W. of W. Mrs. Stranahan is a communicant of the Episcopalian church. Clinton Terry Stranahan died 31 Mar 1950, and his wife, May Stranahan, died 17 Jan 1957. They are buried in the Normal Hill Cemetery in Lewiston, Nez Perce Co., ID. |
Contributed by Natalie Huntley