Last Name: Hoggan
First Name: George Drummond
Age: 62 years
Gender: M
Cemetery: Rigby, Idaho
Birth Date: 4 APR 1856
Birth Place: Keokuk,Wapello,IA
Date Died: 7 APR 1918
Death Place: Rigby, Idaho
Father: George Hoggan
Mother: Margaret Drummond
Spouse: Edith Frances Harrison married 28 Nov 1877
Sources: Rigby Star 11 p1, Headstone, Sexton Book p140, Ancestral File, Eastern Idaho Death Records
Children: George Ralph Hoggan (1878), Mary Margaret Hoggan (1878), John Cousin Hoggan (1880), Eliza Frances Hoggan (1881), Walter Thomas Hoggan (1883), Wilford Woodruff Hoggan (1885), James Drummond Hoggan (1890) Edith Hoggan (1892), Ivin Hoggan (1895), Ivie Hoggan (1895) and Milton Hoggan (1898).

(Published in History of Idaho: The Gem of the Mountains Vol. 3 by James H. Hawley 1920)

The late George D. Hoggan, who owned and operated a large harness making establishment in Rigby for a number of years, was born in Wapello county, Iowa, April 4, 1856, a son of George and Margaret (Drummond) Hoggan, both originally from Scotland. The elder Hoggan and his family emigrated to the United States in 1844 and located first in Wapello county, Iowa, where the father engaged in farming for several years. In 1859, with his family he joined a party of emigrants whose destination was the far west, and after a tedious journey behind their plodding oxen they arrived in Salt Lake City, Utah, where Mr. Hoggan resumed his trade of weaving, which he had followed in Scotland. A few years later, however, he abandoned it and returned to farming, which he continued to follow the rest of his life, his death occurring in February, 1879, after he had reached the age of sixty-one years, and that of his wife, the mother of the subject of this sketch, in 1883, at which time she was also sixty-one years of age.

Of the eight children born to his parents, George D. Hoggan was the sixth in order of birth. After he had secured a public school education, he was apprenticed at the age of sixteen years to learn harness making, his first employer being C. H. Crow of Salt Lake City, with whom he remained for twelve years. At the end of this period he worked in shops in several cities of the west until he came to Rigby, Idaho, in 1904. He was the first man to engage in the harness business in Rigby, starting out very modestly in a small room sixteen feet square with a stock valued at less than five hundred dollars. Due to his earlier experience, superior workmanship and good business sense, his enterprise prospered until he had one of the most modern and best appointed harness shops in the state. Finally, in order to accommodate his shop and stock of goods, he was compelled to erect a modern two-story building, which is still used for that purpose. Suffice it to say that Mr. Hoggan during his lifetime enjoyed remarkable success in his business undertakings, for in addition to his harness making establishment he had accumulated considerable urban and rural property which his wife still owns.

At Salt Lake City, November 29, 1877, Mr. Hoggan was united in marriage to Miss Edith F. Harrison, who was born in England in November, 1860. She is the daughter of Ralph and Mary J. (Edmunds) Harrison, both of whom were originally from England. They emigrated to America in 1866 and located in Salt Lake City, where the father plied his trade of machinist the remainder of his life. He met his death accidentally in the shops of the Union Pacific Railroad, June 19, 1875, and his wife, the mother of Mrs. Hoggan, survived until 1891. Mr. Hoggan's death occurred April 7, 1910, and since that time his wife has continued to make her home in Rigby, where, with the able assistance of her sons, she looks after her business interests.

To Mr. and Mrs. Hoggan were born eleven children, four of whom are deceased; namely, Walter T., who died in March, 1919: Mary M., whose death occurred after she had reached the age of twenty-eight years, and two who died in infancy; the others being: George R., Wilfred W., James D., who is in the harness business at Driggs, Idaho; Edith, the wife of E W. Ball, an artist, who has recently returned from serving two years with the American Expeditionary Force in Prance; Ivy and Ivan, who are twins; and Milton. The youngest son, Milton, enlisted in Company M, Idaho National Guard, April 1, 1916, and was sent to France in the following year. While there he was transferred to the Rainbow Division. He is now at home after seeing hard service in the trenches for eleven months, during which time he was gassed and slightly wounded. Since the death of Mr. Hoggan his sons have continued his harness business which is now operated under the firm name of George D. Hoggan & Sons, Ltd., in which the daughter, Edith, also has an interest. Under the management of the Hoggan brothers the business has continued with unabated success and it now has a large stock of goods which invoices at about thirty-five thousand dollars.

During his lifetime Mr, Hoggan was a very active member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. When he was a mere lad of sixteen years he was an officer of the Seventy and he was then made a high priest, in which capacity he was serving at the time of his death. Three of his sons have also rendered valuable service to the denomination of their father in the mission fields. Ralph was for three years and three months in the Marquissis islands of the Society group; James D., two years in the western states, and Ivan, two years and eight months in England and Glasgow, Scotland. In politics, Mr. Hoggan was a republican and, although he never sought political honors, the high order of his citizenship was a thing well known among his friends and neighbors.

Date: Thursday, April 18, 1918, Paper: Idaho Falls Times (Idaho Falls, ID), Page: 8. Death of Geo. D. Hoggan (Rigby Star). George Drummond Hoggan, a prominent and respected citizen of this city passed away Sunday morning at the family residence. He had been a sufferer for the past six years of diabetes but until recently was able to be at his business. The deceased was of Scotch parentage and was born in Iowa, April 4th, 1856, being 62 years of age at the time of his death. He is survived by the following immediate relatives; his wife, six sons, Ralph, James, Will and Walter of Rigby, Ivan who is filling a mission in England, Milton with the 146th machine gun battalion "somewhere in France", Mrs. Edith Ball and Mrs. Heber Call, aside from one brother, John, of Salt Lake City.