Polly Bemis (September 11, 1853 – November 6, 1933) was a Chinese American pioneer who lived in Idaho in the late 19th and early 20th century.

When a Chinese man moved to North America, he might take a concubine with him or acquire one there, as custom required him to leave his wife in China to take care of his parents.

[5] In mid-1880, the census listed her as living with saloon owner and fiddler Charlie Bemis (1848–1922),[4] who befriended her when she first arrived in Warrens, and protected her from unwanted advances.

Polly took in laundry from miners and ran a boarding house that Charlie Bemis built for her next to his own, a short distance from his saloon.

Charlie was almost killed during a gambling dispute in September 1890, when he was shot in the cheek, and Polly nursed him back to health.

[1] They moved from Warren to a site 17 miles north by trail at a spot that came to be called both Bemis Point and Polly Place.

[2] In the summer of 1922, a fire gutted their home on the Salmon River, possibly caused by an untended or overheated woodstove.

The couple moved across the Salmon River to live with mining partners Peter Klinkhammer and Charlie Shepp, both German, who had been long-time neighbors and friends.

[1] Klinkhammer and Shepp rebuilt a new home for Polly on the same spot as the one that had burned down, with the understanding that they would inherit this from her in exchange for their labor and for looking after her in her old age.

[8] While on a trip to Boise, Idaho, she stayed at the Idanha hotel and saw her first movie, rode her first streetcar, and had her first elevator ride.

[9] Polly gave the photo of herself in her wedding dress to a young schoolgirl, Gay Carrey, who boarded with her during the academic year during this time.

[17] Finally, as she neared death, Polly denied the long-standing public belief that she was "won in a poker game.