Sportsman and Idaho Dentistry Pioneer Edward Maberly [otd 04/28]

Boise dentist Edward H. Maberly was born April 28, 1853 in England. Apparently his father and part of the family lived for a time in Illinois before 1855-1860. However, Edward did not arrive in the U. S. until about 1869. At that point the family lived in Mount Carroll, a northwest Illinois village near the Iowa border. His father, older brother, and Edward engaged in carriage painting and construction. They all moved to Ellsworth, Kansas, in 1878 – missing the earlier wild times when the town was known as the “Wickedest Cattletown in Kansas."

In the early to mid-1880s, Edward left his father’s carriage business. Then, at some point, he met the daughter of a dentist who had a practice in south-central Nebraska. Liking the prospects better than his old trade, he turned to dentistry after marrying in 1889. Within two years, Maberly was serving as a “circuit dentist,” on a route that took him to towns in northeast Colorado and southeast Wyoming.

Fully-equipped dental “operatory,” 1900. RitterDental.com

In 1894, Maberly graduated from a dental college located in Kansas City and practiced briefly in Nebraska.  He moved to Boise in 1895. According to the H. T. French History, "Soon after Dr. Maberly opened his offices in Boise, he saw the need of organization among the dentists of the state, and he got into correspondence with the dentists all over the state with the idea of uniting them in some manner, the first dental society in the state being the result of his efforts."

The Idaho State Dental Society – now Association – organized on a temporary basis in 1896. In June 1897, members adopted a Constitution and Bylaws, and established four standing committees. They also selected Maberly to be the first Secretary. After two years in that position, he became President of the organization.

In addition to his practice, Maberly served as Secretary of Idaho's first State Board of Dental Examiners, starting in 1899. The law that created the Board gave practicing dentists three months to register their names and business locations. New dentists had to appear before the Board to have their credentials assessed. In 1904, Maberly served on the Idaho State Conference Committee for the Fourth International Dental Congress, held in St. Louis, Missouri.

Maberly Elk photo. Recreation magazine, 1898.

An "ardent sportsman," Maberly helped organize a state-wide sportmen's organization. Through that body, he urged the passage of laws for wiser fish and game management. He sent a photograph of elk in the Teton foothills to Recreation magazine, with the statement that the herd numbered "some 1,500" and had just been shooed away from stacks of hay in the valley.

He went on, "We rarely see so large a band of elk now; yet there are enough left to stock a vast territory if properly protected and judiciously hunted."

Maberly served several terms as President of the Intermountain Gun Club. He won many awards at shooting contests in Boise and around the Northwest, remaining competitive well into his sixties. In 1919, Edward and his wife acquired a place in Corvallis, Oregon, two of their children being enrolled in college there. Dr. Maberly closed his practice about a year later, but still spent much time in Boise.

On September 1, 1921, Edward was in Buhl, serving as judge for a field trial of hunting dogs – “work” he loved. The first trial had been completed when, according witnesses, he literally dropped dead of a heart attack.
                                                                                 

References: [Brit], [French]

E. H. Maberly, "Elk in the Teton Foot Hills," Recreation, Vol. VIII. No. 2, G. 0. Shields, Publisher, New York (February 1898).

R. Ottolengui (ed), “Idaho State Dental Society,” Items of Interest: A Monthly Magazine of Dental Art, Science and Literature, Vol. 19, Consolidated Dental Manufacturing Company, New York (1897).

Transactions on the Fourth International Dental Congress, St. Louis, Mo., U.S.A. August 29 to September 3, 1904, S. S. White Dental Manufacturing Company, Philadelphia (1905).