Daniel W. Greenburg, 1876-1940
Daniel Wallace5 Greenburg (Jeannette Estelle Binnard4, Mosiek3, Jacob2, Lewin1), oldest son of Mark J. and Jeannette (Binnard) Greenburg, was born 13 April 1876 in Chicago, Cook County, Illinois.[1] His World War I draft registration card, which he filled out when he was 41, describes him as tall and slender, with gray eyes and dark mixed hair.[2]
As a child Daniel moved with his parents to Mt. Idaho, Idaho, where his father, Mark, worked as a clerk in the store of Major Birka Binnard, Jeannette’s uncle.[3] In 1882 the Greenburgs moved to Lewiston, Idaho, where Mark operated a mercantile business for eight years[4] before moving the family to Spokane, Washington. The Spokane city directory for 1890 shows Mark J. Greenburg with no occupation given and Daniel Greenburg, who was then 14, working as a clerk.[5] By the next year the family had returned to Chicago,[6] where Daniel worked as a newspaper reporter and attended law school at night.[7] Leaving the rest of the family in Illinois, he was in Colfax, Washington in 1898[8] and in Lewiston by 1900. The census for that year shows his occupation as grain merchant. He was one of three men in their twenties living as boarders in the household of L.B. Howard, a traveling salesman.[9] For the next ten years Daniel was involved in farming and grain. In 1901 he took a job as manager of the Irrigated Farms Association in Elmore County in southern Idaho.[10] In 1902 he was in charge of Korr-Gifford grain agency in Pullman, Washington,[11] and in 1911 the governor of Idaho appointed him State Grain Commissioner.[12] While he lived in Elmore County he took out a homestead of 160 acres.[13] He also met Bertha B. Turner. She was the assistant postmistress at Mountain Home and daughter of J.W. Turner, owner of the local hotel. They were married 25 May 1902 at her parents’ home, the ceremony being performed by Judge Perky and Rev. C.E. Mason.[14] The union only lasted a few years. On 26 November 1908 Bertha Greenburg was married to James W. McGowan of Mountain Home,[15] and on 1 October 1914 she was wed for a third time, to Larkin Victor Roy at Boise.[16] Daniel remarried to Emma Kube. The daughter of Daniel Herman and Bertha Kube, she was born in October 1887 in Minnesota[17] and in in 1910 was living on her parents' farm in Idaho County and working as a dressmaker.[18] They were married 8 July 1912 at Grangeville, Idaho.[19] In addition to his position as State Grain Commissioner, Daniel was also employed by various newspapers. As previously mentioned, when he was a young man he worked as a reporter in Chicago. In 1906 in Idaho he was called “the Lewiston newspaper man”[20] and by 1911 he was the managing editor of the Lewiston Evening Teller.[21] In May 1913 he was hired as manager of the Lewiston office of the Clarkston Evening Herald.[22] Shortly thereafter he accepted a position in Moscow, Idaho[23] and in 1916 he became the city editor of the Daily Mirror there.[24] Later he was a member of the Wyoming Press Association and chairman of its resolutions committee.[25] In 1917 Daniel and Emma lived in Wallace, Idaho, where Daniel was employed by the Day Brothers as a traveling examiner for their interests in the Hercules Mining Company, the Pennsylvania Smelting Company, the Northport Smelting & Refining Company, and the Tamarack & Custer Consolidated Mining Company.[26] Leaving that job, he became the manager of the E. Hofer publishing firm in Portland in 1923,[27] and in 1924 the couple moved to Casper, Wyoming where he became publicity director for the Midwest Refining Company and editor of their magazine, The Midwest Review.[28] Their final move, in 1935, was to Cheyenne, Wyoming. Daniel was appointed director-secretary of the Wyoming State Planning Board, a position he held until 1938, when the board was merged with another government agency.[29] His last job, in 1939, was district supervisor for three counties in Wyoming for the upcoming 1940 census.[30] Daniel was active in politics. He served on the Democratic central committees of Nez Perce and Shoshone counties in Idaho. It was stated that “his insight is keen, his vision broad and his methods practical and his opinions have long carried great weight in the councils of his party.”[31] He served as a lieutenant colonel under Idaho governor Moses Alexander and rode in the governor’s car during the ceremonies establishing Lewiston as a seaport in 1915.[32] He was also secretary of the Shoshone County, Idaho Council of Defense, chairman of the community labor board for the northern Idaho district, and field representative for the United States Intelligence Service. [33] Daniel was appointed one of five commissioners of the Wyoming Historical Landmark Commission in 1927, and was its publicity director.[34] In addition, he was regional director of the Oregon Trail Memorial Association, and had just been elected the organization’s vice-president at the time of his death.[35] He also belonged to the Wyoming Geographic Board and was chairman of the Wyoming State Automobile Association.[36] From an early age he was interested in the history of the West and was devoted to its preservation. His library was called “the best historical collection in the Northwest”[37] and it was said that he had “one of finest collections of historical pictures in the state of Idaho.”[38] Besides collecting historical works, he also was the author of many works on western topics.[39] After his death a portion of his library was purchased by a Colorado book dealer.[40] The remainder of the collection was offered for sale by a book store in Seattle in the 1960s.[41] On 1 January 1940, while at the post office in Cheyenne, Daniel suffered a heart attack. He died at home later that day.[42] He was buried in Bethel Cemetery in Cheyenne.[43] A friend wrote of him: Kindness was the essence of his soul—kindness for every living thing. He could not designedly harm any creature or any person. Consideration, courtesy, generosity—these were native qualities which molded the pattern of his life. Unkindness to him by others left him bewildered; he could not understand something of which he personally was incapable. A gentleman, Dan Greenburg, a gentle man in all the term implies. It was a privilege to know him; all who knew him and who are capable of understanding have from him a precious legacy of precept.[44] Emma Greenburg died in Seattle in May 1969. She is buried in Lake View Cemetery there.[45] She and Daniel had no children. ___________________________ [1] “D.W. Greenburg,” History of Idaho, the Gem of the Mountains (Chicago: The S.J. Clarke Publishing Company, 1920), 4:391. [2] "United States, World War I Draft Registration Cards, 1917-1918," index and images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/K8Q8-TKT : accessed 19 Dec 2012), Daniel Wallace Greenburg. [3] 1880 U.S. census, Mt, Idaho, Idaho County, Idaho, p. 15, dwelling house 187, family 189, entry for Mark J. Greenberg [sic], nephew, household of Birka Binnard; digital image, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com: accessed 4 April 2012); citing Family History Library microfilm 1254173. [4] "Mark J. Greenburg," History of Idaho, the Gem of the Mountains, 4:392. [5] Spokane Falls City Directory, 1890 (Spokane Falls, Washington: R.L. Polk & Co., 1890), 241. [6] The Lakeside Annual Directory of the City of Chicago, 1891 (Chicago: The Chicago Directory Company, 1891), 920. [7] “Dan Greenburg of Wyoming: a Eulogy on the Life and Work of Daniel Willard Greenburg,” p. 3. Photocopy of an article “designed both as a eulogy of Dan Greenburg and as a medium for selling the remaining portion of his valuable historical collection,” written sometime in the 1960s. The article states that the collection was available through the Shorey Book Store, 815 3rd Avenue, Seattle, Washington 98104. The article title misstates Daniel’s middle name as Willard. [8] “A Season of Holdups,” Lewiston Daily Tribune (Lewiston, Idaho), 13 November 1898, p. [4] [9] 1900 U.S. census, West Lewiston Precinct, Nez Perces County, Idaho, p. 11A, dwelling house 255, family 271, entry for Daniel W. Greenburg, lodger, household of L.B. Howard; digital image, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 22 January 2013); Family History Film 1240234. [10] “Personal Mention,” Idaho Statesman (Boise, Idaho), 17 October 1901, p. 5. [11] “Lewiston,” Spokesman-Review (Spokane, Washington), 23 October 1902, p. 7. [12] “Brief City News,” Idaho Statesman, 2 May 1911, p. 3. [13] Bureau of Land Management, “Land Patent Search,” digital images, General Land Office Records (http://www.glorecords.blm.gov/PatentSearch: accessed 23 January 2013), Daniel W. Greenburg (Clearwater County, Idaho), no. 4780. [14] “Beautiful Wedding,” Idaho Statesman, 26 May 1902, p. 3. [15] "Idaho, County Marriages, 1864-1950," index and images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/F3TC-394 : accessed 19 Dec 2012), James W McGowan and Bertha B. Binnard, 26 Nov 1908. [16] "Idaho, Marriages, 1878-1898; 1903-1942," index, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/FWDJ-8TT : accessed 19 Dec 2012), Larkin Victor Roy and Bertha Mc Gowan, 01 Oct 1914. [17] 1900 U.S. census, 1 S. 15 E. B. H. M. 2 S. 14 E B M, Pennington County, South Dakota, p. 1B, dwelling house 47, family 47, entry for Herman Kube; digital image, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 22 January 2013); Family History Library film 1241553. The census gives her birthdate. [18] 1910 U.S. census, Denver Precinct, Idaho County, Idaho, p. 4B, dwelling house 100, family 100, entry for Daniel H. Kube; digital image, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 22 January 2013); Family History Library Film 1374237. [19] “Lewiston,” Spokesman-Review, 16 July 1912, p. 7. [20] “Personal Mention,” Idaho Statesman, 9 January 1906, p. 3 [21] “Lewiston Grain Heavy,” Oregonian (Portland, Oregon), 11 July 1911, p. 4. [22] “New Daily is Announced,” Oregonian, 11 May 1913, p. 5. [23] “Moscow,” Spokesman-Review, 1 August 1913, p. 9. [24] “Good Roads Holding Interest in North,” Idaho Statesman, 16 May 1916, p. [1]. [25] “Dan Greenburg of Wyoming: a Eulogy on the Life and Work of Daniel Willard Greenburg,” p. 4. [26] History of Idaho, the Gem of the Mountains (Chicago: The S.J. Clarke Publishing Company, 1920), 4:390. [27] Polk’s Portland City Directory, 1923 (Portland, Oregon: R.L. Polk & Co., 1923), 738, 829. [28] Dan W. Greenburg, “How Fort William, Now Fort Laramie, Was Named,” Annals of Wyoming 12 (January 1940): 56. Published after his death, the article includes Daniel’s biography in a footnote. [29] Ibid. [30] Ibid, 57. [31] “D.W. Greenburg,” History of Idaho, the Gem of the Mountains, 4:390. [32] Shad O. Krantz, “Open River Fete Event of Gayety,” Oregonian, 4 May 1915, p. [1]. Daniel’s title was ceremonial, much the same as the title of Kentucky colonel awarded to his mother’s cousin Victor B. Fisher. [33] “D.W. Greenburg,” History of Idaho, the Gem of the Mountains, 4:390. [34] Wyoming State Preservation Office. Monuments and Markers Program; website http://wyoshpo.state.wy.us/MM/About.aspx; accessed 23 January 2013). [35] Dan W. Greenburg, “How Fort William, Now Fort Laramie, Was Named,” 57. [36] “D.W. Greenburg Dies of Heart Attack,” Casper Tribune (Casper, Wyoming), 3 January 1940. Photocopy of article, no page given. [37] “40 Years Ago: From the Lewiston Tribune Oct. 24, 1948,” Lewiston Tribune, 24 Oct 1988, p. 8A. [38] “D.W. Greenburg,” History of Idaho, the Gem of the Mountains, 4:391. [39] “D.W. Greenburg Dies of Heart Attack.” [40] “Dan Greenburg of Wyoming: a Eulogy on the Life and Work of Daniel Willard Greenburg,”p. 2. [41] Ibid, p. [1]. [42] “D.W. Greenburg Dies of Heart Attack.” [43] Find A Grave, Inc., Find A Grave, database entry (http://www.findagrave.com : accessed 22 January 2013), entry for Daniel W. Greenburg, Memorial 29158095, Records of Bethel Cemetery, Cheyenne, Wyoming;” created by Eric Crow. [44] “Dan Greenburg of Wyoming: a Eulogy on the Life and Work of Daniel Willard Greenburg,” p. 6. [45] “Deaths, Funerals,” Seattle Daily Times, 21 May 1969, p. 21. |