by Susan Couso
Isaiah Eli ‘Boy’ Hallet was certainly an interesting individual. He was born in March 1846, in Marion County, Ohio, and came out west to Honey Lake Valley in 1862 with his parents. His father, Jesse Isaac and his mother Elizabeth Hallett, eventually divorced. Elizabeth, then married Manley Thompson.
Hallett no doubt had an interesting life as he was raised in Lassen County when it was a rather ‘rough and tough’ pioneer area.
As he grew older, he relished relating the stories of his youth to others. Of course, age may have dimmed his recollections a bit, but his stories continued to entertain listeners, and Hallett was a real character.
In December 1937 Hallet was interviewed by a reporter from the Mercury Herald newspaper while visiting his 76-year-old nephew in San Jose. His nephew, C. J. Rogers was an infant when he crossed the plains with the Hallett family in 1862. Now, Hallett seemed to be thrilled to tell his story to a whole new audience.
According to Hallett, he earned the nickname ‘Boy’ from Chief Winnemucca. He used this opportunity to show the reporter a few Paiute dance steps that he had picked up during his youth. Hallett leaped into the air, clicked together his heels and stamped his feet on the floor while his gray-haired nephew clapped his hands.
This was not impeded by the fact that when asked how he was doing at age 91, Hallett replied, “Everything’s going to the dogs pretty fast.” Tall and nimble, Hallett clearly, had a little ‘spunk’ left.
He continued with his tale of meeting the great Paiute Chief Winnemucca. There were stories that the Paiutes were angry and were considering war with the settlers.
A group of the settlers got together and came to Hallett’s father, Isaac, to help make peace with Winnemucca. Isaac Hallett agreed, but he was injured and using crutches, so he sent Isaiah in his place.
Dressed in overalls and unarmed, the 17-year-old Isaiah rode eighty miles to the Paiute camp and smoked the ‘peace pipe’ with Chiefs Winnemucca and Nachez.
It wasn’t long after when some men from Susanville wanted to capture and kill the two Paiute chiefs. Isaiah’s father hid the chiefs in a haystack in an area concealed by a clump of thick willows.
For ten days the men were hidden by Hallett’s father, and the young Hallett was responsible for providing food for them. On one dark stormy night the elder Hallett took the chiefs away to safety.
Hallett was not too happy with the conditions at the time of the 1937 interview. He complained of people’s lust for accumulating money, saying, “People that have it are not putting it to use as it should be.”
He continued, “And I don’t like this automobile situation. Auto deaths are worse than war.”
His feeling on drinking was typical of a man who believed in moderation, “Drinking? I don’t object. I take a drink myself. But to stand up to a bar and pour it down like water in a rat hole is something I don’t approve of.”
Hallett was only sixteen years old when he traveled across the plains with his family. When they arrived in Honey Lake Valley, they were very pleased with the thick green grass for their livestock. He said that “It looked like heaven sure enough.” But that winter the stock got into some poison weeds and the loss of livestock was devastating.
Hallett’s wife, Elsie, died in Litchfield in 1929, and the old pioneer was left to his own devices. He moved in with his daughter Zoe’s family for his safety.
“I guess I’ve lived this long because I’ve always eaten coarse food, lived on hardship and never worried, ” he explained.
Isaiah E. ‘Boy’ Hallett died in Standish on Nov. 22, 1938, at age 92 years, and is buried in the family plot in Janesville.
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