Idaho rancher uncovers intrigue in family history

THREE CREEK, Idaho — Old notebooks and loose papers in a forgotten trunk in the attic of an old rock house held more family history than rancher Chet Brackett had bargained for. Buying the house — which had been occupied by a series of family members since his grandfather built it in 1912 — Brackett cut into the attic to add a second floor and found the trunk with the faded and scribbled writings of his great uncle Chet. He glanced over the writings but with two ranches to run and remodeling the house, he was too busy to pay much attention, he said. Nearly 25 years later, during a 2013 family gathering to celebrate what would have been his father’s 100th birthday, Chet remembered the writings and figured it was time to set about organizing family stories. What he discovered were many things never spoken of in the well-respected ranching family and intriguing underlying stories of family history he had only known a bit about. Those revelations involved family secrets in both his grandfather’s and grandmother’s family trees in the late 1880s and early 1900s, revelations that led him and wife, Kim, to more research. Both his great uncle’s writings and further research revealed Chet’s not-so-distant ancestors’ associations with infamous outlaws of the day, avenged murders, bank robberies, horse thefts, quick exits, and deathbed confessions and promises...more