Notes for: Robert Mason Bodine
From Ronny Bodine:
In 1900, Robbert M. Bodine was living in White Cross, Ada County, Idaho engaged in farming. He reported that in 13 years of marriage his wife had borne 6 children of whom 3 were then living. In 1910, Robert Bodine lived with his family in Kuna, Ada County engaged in farming. He reported that in 22 years of marriage his wife had borne 7 children of whom 4 were then living.
From "History of Idaho--The Gem of the Mountains," by James Henry Hawley, S. J. Clarke Pub. Co., 1920, p. 448-449.
For twenty-one years Robert Bodine has been a resident of Idaho, having moved to this state from Wright County, Iowa, in 1899. By hard labor he has become one of the prominent men of Kuna, now being a representative of one of its leading business interests. Mr. Bodine and his son, Robert Clare Bodine, are proprietors of and partners in The Kuna Transfer Company, the only business of that kind in the city.
Robert M. Bodine was born in Bureau County, Illinois, November 27, 1864, a son of Isaac and Mary Bodine, both of whom are deceased. Besides the subject of the review, there is a daughter, namely, Mrs. Anna Spangler, the wife of L. C. Spangler, who resides in Boise. Mr. Bodine was reared in Bureau county, Illinois, upon a farm, and in that county met and married his wife. Later, in 1899, he removed to Idaho, bringing with him his wife and three children. For one winter they remained in Boise, then for two years they resided on one of the W. H. Simpson ranches, north of Meridian, where he worked for wages. Being a man of ambitious nature, he threw himself into his work with such success that sometime later he was engaged as foreman of the W. C. Annett ranch, located south of Boise. He remained in this position until 1908, when he settled on a desert claim one mile east of Kuna. This land, none of which was cleared, consisted of one hundred and sixty acres of sagebrush, with nothing upon it but a shack. He immediately set out to develop the place, and it now has some of the best improvements and buildings of any ranch in Ada county. he still owns one hundred and five acres of it, and it now worth easily two hundred and fifty dollars an acre. He recently refused two hundred and twenty five dollars an acre. At present he has a tenant on his ranch, havinf rented it in 1917 and removed to Kuna. He purchased a feed mill there which he successfully conducted until 1920. In the spring of that year he traded it for The Kuna City Transfer Company, which business he is still conducting in partnership with his son, Robert Clare Bodine.
On Dec. 30, 1888, Mr. Bodine was united in marriage to Miss Anna Brood, and to this union four children have been born, namely: Verna, Hazel, Robert Clare, who is in business with his father, and Lucile.
In politics Mr. Bodine supports the man and measures rather then the party, and fraternally, he is a member of the Odd Fellows. He has had little time to devote to affairs outside of his business, and to this close application may be attributed his success. As a progressive rancher and business man, Mr. Bodine is rapidly becoming known throughout the county, and fortunate indeed is Kuna in having this enterprising man as a citizen.