Humboldt County, California
Biographies
LEWIS SHERMAN EAST.—A son
of one of the pioneer families in Humboldt county, Cal., and one of the most
progressive and successful farmers in the vicinity of Alton is Lewis S.
East, a prominent man in the affairs of the county, where he has recently
been chosen president of the Humboldt County Farm Bureau, being prominently
connected also with many other interests and enterprises in that part of the
state. JASPER ANDERSON.—The difference between the former methods of hit-and-miss
farming and the latest scientific methods are nowhere better illustrated
than in the case of Jasper Anderson, who is one of the most prosperous
farmers of Hydesville and vicinity, his ranch being conducted on absolutely
scientific principles. He owns some of the most valuable property in the
county, including a splendid farm of over four hundred acres near
Hydesville, where he makes his home, and a stock ranch of eight hundred
acres at Roger's Resort, in Van Dusen township. His home place is a model of
care and splendid management, every detail being as carefully looked after
as the affairs of the most modern office, and no possibility for waste or
friction is allowed. House, barns, fences and land are kept in careful
condition and the greatest returns are secured for the least possible outlay
of effort. Mr. Anderson is a native of Iowa, born in Monroe county, near Eddyville,
December 28, 1848. His father, Charles Anderson, was a native of Indiana,
and there was married to Miss Matilda Frame. Later they became pioneer
settlers in Iowa. In 1857 they again moved westward, coming first to San
Francisco, and later locating at Lathrop, San Joaquin county, where the
father died at the age of forty-five years. There are eight children by this
marriage, and later the mother married again, becoming the wife of Isham
Davis, by whom she had one son. Six months after his mother's marriage with
Mr. Davis, Jasper Anderson went to live with an older brother in Sacramento,
where he remained for some five or six years, working on the farms in the
valley. In 1871 he came to Humboldt county and homesteaded on Mad river,
remaining there for a year. He then engaged in sheep shearing, becoming one
of the most rapid sheep shearers in the county, being able to shear one
hundred sheep a day. When the shearing season was over he turned his
attention to the manufacturing of buckskin gloves, in this enterprise being
in partnership with his brother J. W. They bought the raw hides, tanned the
buckskin by hand, and so were assured of a superior quality of material. One
winter he and a partner killed three hundred deer on Mad river, tanned the
hides the next spring and manufactured them into gloves in Hydesville. The
product sold in Humboldt county, where it was well received. Mr. Anderson was married in Hydesville, January 1, 1884, to Miss Eleanor
Case, the daughter of Horace S. and Caroline (De Lasaux) Cooper Case,
pioneers of Hydesville. Mrs. Case's first husband was William Cooper, a
pioneer farmer and miller, who was shot by the Indians in 1861. A history of
the Cooper family will be found in the George William Cooper sketch. Mrs.
Anderson was born in Canyon City, Ore., but has been a resident of this
vicinity since a babe of four months and received her education here. She
owned a small piece of land which formed the nucleus of the present splendid
farm. Mr. Anderson also rented her father's ranch for several years, and
later he and his wife became the possessors of the entire place. There are
about two hundred forty acres of tillable land in this property, which is
one of the best in the vicinity. He runs about one hundred head of cattle on
the Van Dusen ranch, and conducts a dairy of about thirty or forty cows on
the home farm. He also has some forty or fifty head of horses, principally
mares and colts, and is interested in the breeding of fine Percherons, being
the owner of the imported stallion Janvire, of that strain. Mr. Anderson is
recognized as one of the most modern and progressive farmers and stock
Men in the county, and takes great pride in the care and management-of his
places. Among the improvements which he has installed may be mentioned
electricity for lighting and an electric dynamo for running the milk
separator, while other improvements are also in contemplation.
Mr. Anderson is fifth in a family of eight children, as follows : Susan,
John, Eliza, Jane, Jasper, Charles, Meriah (who died when a small child) end
Harrison. Mrs. Anderson has borne her husband seven children, all natives of
Hydesville, five of whom are living : Horace, whose sketch appears elsewhere
in this edition ; Amy, who became the wife of George Robison, of Hydesville,
and died leaving one child, Earl W.; Arthur Jasper, who assists his father
with the management of the home place, married Miss Sophia Petersen, and has
one child ; Pearl, the second wife of George Robison, and the mother of two
children, Letha and Maxine ; Hazel and Wallace, residing at home.
Mr. Anderson espouses the principles of the Republican party politically and
is an independent thinker on all questions of local import, giving his
support to men and measures, rather than following political lines. He is
progressive in his tendencies, and any movement which tends toward the
betterment of local conditions, whether educationally, socially, morally, or
commercially, is certain to have his hearty support. He is a member of the
Hydesville Lodge, I. 0. 0. F., and the Encampment, and is especially
prominent in Odd Fellow circles, having been through the chairs in both
orders. Both he and Mrs. Anderson are members of the Rebekahs and are
especially interested in the social gatherings of this organization. WRIGHT S. CURLESS.—Largely interested in mining ventures in Placer and
Trinity counties, Wright S. Curless, now retired from active business
pursuits, is one of the prominent citizens of Blocksburg and keeps in close
touch with local affairs of interest and importance and is keenly alive to
all that is for the general welfare of his home town. He is a member of the
well-known Curless family of Humboldt county and has made this county his
home since 1877. He is well known throughout the county and the family is
especially well represented, there being four generations of Curlesses
within its confines, numbering nearly a hundred in all. Prominent among them
may be mentioned George Curless, Talburt Curless and Mrs. Flora Perry, of
Blocksburg ; Albert Curless, of Fruitland ; George Curless, of Eureka; Mrs.
Rose Langlin, of Fortuna ; Paul Curless, of Mendocino City; Henry Curless,
of San Bernardino county; and John Curless, of Cedar Rapids, Iowa.
Mr. Curless is a native of Indiana, born in Frankfort, Clinton county, July
29, 1842. His father, Wright S. Curless, Sr., was a native of New Jersey,
while his mother, Rosanna Ashton, was born in Ohio, where she was reared and
educated and where she met and married Mr. Curless. They removed to Iowa in
1851, locating near Cedar Rapids, and there Wright S., who was nine years
old at the time of the change, grew to maturity, attending the public
schools and assisting with the farm work. There were eleven children, of
which Wright S. was the ninth born. They are: William, Samuel, Sarah, Henry,
John, Biar, Arthur, Charles, Wright S., George W., Mahaley Ann. The mother
died in Iowa in July, 1870, and the father, who was born in 1802, died in
Wisconsin when sixty-nine years old. The marriage of Mr. Curless occurred in Cloverdale, Cal., in 1879, uniting
him with Miss Mary Carpenter, of that place. They have become the parents of
two children, both sons, who are well known in this county. Of these the
elder, Joseph, now resides in San Francisco, while the younger, George S.,
is employed in the mines in Trinity county. In his political preferences Mr.
Curless is a stanch Republican and is well informed on all governmental'
subjects, county, state and national. He is an independent thinker and forms
his judgment and opinions quite independently of party lines or
restrictions. He has taken a prominent part in fraternal affairs throughout
his life and is identified with several beneficial organizations, being
especially interested in the affairs of the Odd Fellows, his membership in
this order being claimed by the lodge at Truckee, Nev., where he joined many
years ago. THOMAS BAIR—Without doubt one of the most notably successful
residents of his section of Humboldt county is Thomas Bair, president of the
Bank of Arcata and one of the most extensive land owners in northern California. His achievements are the more remarkable in view of the fact that he
commenced the struggle of life unaided, and he deserves all the good fortune
that has crowned his efforts. A resident of the state since 1855, his early
experiences here brought him into contact with some of the most typical phases
of its pioneer days, the arduous labor of transportation before railroad and
shipping facilities were developed, picturesque customs and dangerous callings, most of which are now but memories and live only in the history of
olden times.' Mr. Bair's holdings of timber and agricultural lands comprise
thousands of acres and these and the bank constitute his principal
interests. Mr. Bair's father, Hugh F. Bair, was born in Ohio and for a number of
years was engaged in farming in Arkansas, where he died when forty years
old. His wife survived but a few months longer and Thomas Bair was thus
fully orphaned when but nine years of age. Born September 26, 1844, in
Madison county, Ark., he was a boy of eleven years when he crossed the
plains with his uncle, who settled in Shasta county, Cal. Only a month later
he commenced to make his own living, hiring out to a merchant who was
engaged in freighting on the Trinity river. His youth might have seemed a
drawback to his usefulness, but he rode the bell horse of a mule train which
packed through the mining districts in the mountains of northern California.
Liking the work, he continued at it, and was economical with his earnings,
so that by 1863 he had saved enough to buy a small mule train and for the
next three years he did freighting on his own account in Montana and Idaho.
Selling out, he came to Arcata, Humboldt county, in 1867, and became
superintendent of the packing train owned by a merchant of the town, who
carried on several branch stores at various points in the mining districts.
He was thus engaged for five years, at the end of which time he had
accumulated enough to buy the train and soon afterward he also became
interested in general merchandising, having purchased the stock of goods
kept in the general store at Fort Gaston, on the Hoopa Indian reservation.
It was about this time that he was appointed a government post trader, and
for the next sixteen years acted in that capacity and carried on a general
mercantile business at Fort Gaston. He also owned about two hundred mules,
which he used in transporting his merchandise from Arcata to the fort, forty
miles distant, in packing government supplies and in freighting all over the
northern part of the state. Mr. Bair discontinued his interests at Fort
Gaston when the fort was abandoned. During the time he was in business at the Indian post Mr. Bair established
his home at Arcata, of which town he is still a resident. He had been
interested in founding the Bank of Arcata, which was organized with a
capital of one hundred thousand dollars, and he has been president from the
beginning; directing its affairs to the entire satisfaction of all the
stockholders and in such manner as to win the confidence of the townspeople
interested in its conduct. Mr. Bair's financial ability and judgment have
been tested in many transactions. Though progressive, keeping thoroughly
abreast of the spirit of the times, he is conservative of the bank's
resources and most of the loans are made on first mortgages, with the
depositors' money protected to the utmost. His success in the management of
this institution has gained him an honorable position among the best
financiers of the county and his influence in preserving high standards and
encouraging safe methods of banking has been a recognized factor in the
adoption of such measures as safeguard the interests of depositors and
inspire their trust. In common with most investors in Humboldt county lands Mr. Bair has acquired
interests in the redwood timber region. He took a leading part in the
organization of the Redwood Land & Investment Company of Eureka, was elected
its first president, and continued to hold the position for a number of
years, the company under his supervision making extensive investments in
redwood lands in Humboldt county., His agricultural property includes two
valuable ranches on the Arcata bottoms, near the town. Mr. Bair has always
devoted himself closely to the care of his business affairs, and though he
has always worked hard he has retained his mental and physical vigor
unimpaired. He has never aspired to public honors or taken any active part
in public life, or in politics beyond the casting of his vote, with which he
supports the Democratic party. Of domestic habits and unassuming
disposition, he finds his greatest pleasure, outside of work, in his home.
Mr. Bair was a charter member of North Star Lodge No. 39, Knights of
Pythias, in which he still retains his membership. Bair married Miss Alice Boyce, who was born in Michigan and died,
leaving two sons, Thomas H. and Frederick. His second marriage was to Miss
Mary F. Stone, a native of Illinois. The sons have the management of their
father's immense stock ranch in Humboldt county, about thirty thousand acres
of valuable land. SILAS V. MORRISON.—Determining at an early age to master the creamery
business, Silas V. Morrison, when twenty-one, apprenticed himself to the old
Humboldt Creamery Company, and for six months worked without wages to learn
the rudiments of the business, the while he milked cows nights and mornings
at a neighboring farm for his room and board. As would be but natural with
one who was so determined to learn, he progressed rapidly and when a short
time later the Pacific Lumber Company of Scotia desired to build a creamery
and conduct the same, young Morrison was recommended to them as the very man
they were searching for, and accordingly he was put in charge of this work,
building, equipping and for three years conducting this plant with great
success. This was his introduction into his chosen work, and since that time
he has prospered greatly. He is now the manager of the Ferndale Branch of
the Northern Division of the California Central Creameries and for a period
of years has been associated with this mammoth organization, first as
salesman, introducing their products into new territories. He stands high in
the esteem of the company and in his management of the Ferndale branch of
the industry is meeting with his accustomed success. The local plant is an
extensive one and consists of the two-story frame structure which is the
creamery building, one hundred forty-six by forty-eight feet ; a three-story
dry milk plant of corrugated iron, one hundred twenty feet by forty-eight
feet ; a store-house seventy feet by eighty feet of corrugated iron and
containing two stories ; and a cooper shop containing a carpenter shop, tin
shop, plumber's shop, these latter employing two coopers, two tinsmiths and
two carpenters, constantly employed. There is a can manufacturing plant in
the second story of the creamery building, where the latest improved
machinery for making and sealing cans is installed, all dry milk cans being
scientifically sealed under vacuum. Mr. Morrison is a native of California and of Humboldt county, having been
born in Pacific township, September 6, 1870, on the Bear river, in a log
cabin. His father, Silas W. Morrison, was a '49er, and a native of
Zanesville, Ohio. He crossed the plains in 1849 with ox-teams, first
locating in Placerville, and later going to Weaverville, Trinity county.
From there he came into Humboldt county and located on the Bear river in
1856, where he took up government land and engaged in the stock business,
being a pioneer in this line in the county. He brought in some of the first
herds of cattle that came into the county, and the first thoroughbred bull
in this part of the state was his. He died October 23, 1911, at the age of
eighty-three years. He remained a stockman until the end of his life,
although he retired from active business a few years before his death. He is
well remembered throughout the county, and wherever his name is known it is
respected as that of a man of sterling worth and proven ability. He served
as supervisor for his district about 1874, but thereafter declined all
public honors, preferring to devote his time and attention to his personal
affairs. He was married to Miss Delia Sweet, of Buffalo, N. Y., in Humboldt
county, she having crossed the plains with her parents in 1858, coming to
Humboldt county when she was
a mere child. She is still living in Ferndale at the age of sixty-three
years. There were three children in the family, all sons, and all residents
of Humboldt county. Of these, Sanford B. is connected with the Kausen-Williams
Hardware Company of Ferndale ; Silas V. is the subject of this sketch ; and
George William is engaged in stockraising and ranching on the old Morrison
homestead on Bear river. The childhood of the present manager of the Ferndale Branch of the
California Central Creameries was, passed on his father's ranch, where he
early learned to bear his share of the farm duties. He attended school in
Pacific township and later entered the Eureka Academy and Business College,
graduating in 1889. His first business experience was as a farmer and
dairyman and he early conceived a desire to become associated with the
creamery business. He sought employment at the old Humboldt creamery, and,
on being told that there was no need for more men, he asked to be taken on
as an apprentice, as stated above, and the result was he became manager for
the creamery plant of the Pacific Lumber Company at Scotia. After three
years he had accumulated some money, and, purchasing a herd of forty cows,
rented a ranch and engaged in dairying for himself. During this time he met
with a bad accident, a horse falling with him, and as a result was crippled
for five years, this necessitating a grave change in his plans. Later he
rented the Bunker Hill Creamery with three hundred cows, and for a time
conducted it with great success, at the same time being engaged in buying
and selling cattle. He continued thus for four years, then sold his cattle
and with the proceeds bought a thirteen hundred-acre ranch in the Mattole
district, which he still owns. He then engaged in business in Ferndale for
seven years, being a stockholder in the Aggeler-Morrison-Hansen Company,
General Merchandise, of Ferndale, and an active member of the firm. At the
end of this period he disposed of these interests to his partners and became
associated with the California Central Creameries as salesman, introducing
their products first at Portland, Ore. His territory included Washington and
Oregon, and he met with much success in his efforts to introduce the C. C.
C. products throughout those states. Later he was transferred to the San
Joaquin valley, to Lemoore, Kings county, where he established a plant for
the Californiá. Central Creameries. He then came back to Ferndale and took
charge of the local plant in August, 1913, and now makes his home here.
The scope and extent of the business of the California Central Creameries
are very great, and the Ferndale plant is one of their most important. Their
products are butter, sweet cream, cheese, dry whole milk in powdered form,
and dry skim milk in powdered form. This branch (Ferndale) has just filled a
contract for two hundred thousand pounds of butter for the United States
navy, in five-pound cans, and also an order for one hundred fifty thousand
pounds of the same for use in Alaska, in two-pound cans. The milk drying
plant was installed in 1911 and during the second year of its operation,
1912, the farmers who are its patrons as milk producers were paid $18,000
more for their skimmed milk than they received for the same when it was used
for the production of casein instead of dry milk. This means a clear profit
of that amount ($18,000) to the farmers and dairymen of Ferndale and
vicinity, the creamery drawing its patronage from a radius of five miles.
The increase for 1914 will be very great over the preceding years, as the
cost of
production has been decreased with the increase of the amount of goods
handled. The creamery has its own ice plant and refrigerating system. The
power plant consists of three boilers consuming fuel oil and generating four
hundred horsepower steam, which is drawn off and used for sterilizing,
evaporating, etc. So far as the mechanical power is concerned and the power
for the electric steam plant, the company buys its electricity from the
Western States Gas & Electric Company. The creamery is in operation every
day of the week and uses an average of one hundred twenty-five thousand
pounds of milk per day. The Ferndale Branch is one of eleven creameries, the distribution of the
major portion of -the products being made through the shipping office at 425
Battery street, San Francisco. The Northern Division includes Ferndale and
Eureka, in Humboldt county, and Crescent City, in Del Norte county, with C.
E. Gray of Eureka as the manager. He is also assistant manager of the entire
system of the California Central Creameries, of which A. Jensen, 425
Battery street, San Francisco, is president and general manager. The
creamery department is under the management of Chevelier Turner ; George
Smith is foreman of the dry milk department ; Fred Johnson is master
mechanic and has charge of all construction, repairs and extension work ;
Joseph Mabry is head bookkeeper ; G. 0. Doff is foreman of the cheese
factory; Henry Marvel is foreman of the laboratory. The marriage of Mr. Morrison was solemnized in Oakland in 1896, uniting him
with Miss Nellie J. Moore, .the daughter of Charles Moore, of Monticello,
Napa county, Cal., and of their union have been born two children ; Marcus
Fae and Allen Ross, both attending the local schools. Mr. Morrison has many
friends throughout the county and is well liked wherever he is known. He is
a prominent member of several fraternal orders. He was made a Mason in
Ferndale Lodge No. 193, F. & A. Mi., also a member of Ferndale Chapter No.
78, R. A. M. He is a Republican in political principles, but has never taken
an especially active part in politics, for with him business comes decidedly
first, and he has led a very busy life. He is a public spirited and
progressive man, however, and whatever is for the general welfare of the
community is certain to receive his support. He is always in favor of any
movement which tends to the betterment of social, moral and educational
conditions, and such questions as advancement in educational lines and good
roads movements receive his hearty endorsement and unqualified support. HENRY STANLY SEELY.—A native son of whom Arcata and Humboldt county are very
justifiably proud is Henry Stanly Seely, prominent merchant of Arcata, and
at present mayor of that thriving little city, and at all times one of her
most progressive and influential citizens. Mr. Seely was born in Arcata, January 15, 1875. His father was John S. Seely,
one of the early Humboldt county pioneers, and his mother was Virginia
(Deuel) Seely. Both are well known in this county, where they passed many
years of their lifetime, and where they are held in the highest esteem by
all who knew them. The son, Henry Stanly, spent his boyhood days in Arcata,
attending the public and later the high school, graduating from the latter
in 1895. For a few years after completing his education he remained at home
with his parents, working at various occupations in his native city, and in
December, 1895, he accepted a position as assistant bookkeeper for the Vance
Redwood Lumber Company, remaining in their employ for fourteen months. At
the end of that time he went to work for the J. C. Bull, Jr., Co., but in a
short time gave up this position to accept an opening as bookkeeper for the
Humboldt Manufacturing Company, of Arcata. He remained with this company
until December, 1902, when he purchased an interest in a general merchandise
store in Arcata, and was appointed manager and secretary of the same. The
reorganized firm was known as the Seely & Titlow Company, and is at present
one of the most flourishing business houses in the city. The scope of their
enterprise has been increased since Mr. Seely took charge of the business
and many improvements' have been made in every department under his careful
and skillful direction. Mr. Seely has always been interested in political affairs and has been
actively associated with the public interests of his community for many
years. He is a Republican in his affiliations, but is an independent
thinker, well informed, and by no means bound by party lines in his handling
of vital public questions and conditions. He is open-minded and progressive
and has been an important factor in the upbuilding and development of
Arcata. His election to the office of mayor is only one of the many
evidences of the confidence reposed in him by his fellow citizens. For many
years he has been vitally interested in the educational conditions in the
city, and for six years has served continuously as a member of the board of
trustees for the grammar school, and has given freely of his time .and
ability for the benefit of the public school system. Socially and fraternally Mr. Seely is also very popular. He is a prominent
member of several of the best known local lodges and is closely associated
with the general management of their affairs. He is a member of the Native
Sons, and secretary of the local parlor ; also a member of the Eagles, and
secretary of the local lodge ; he is a Mason, and a member of the Blue
Lodge. Mr. Seely was also one of the men who organized the Arcata Club, and
since its organization has been its secretary. The marriage of Mr. Seely took place in Arcata, December 25, 1896, uniting
him with Miss Helen Alameda Howell, a native of Colorado, born in Denver,
November 13, 1874. She is the daughter of Wm. H. and Elizabeth (Nugent)
Howell, and came to California with her parents in 1893, locating in
Humboldt county, where they are well and favorably known. Mrs. Seely has
borne her husband four children. They are John, Grace, Charles and Mildred. CLAUDE S. WOTEN.—As cashier of the First National Bank of Scotia since 1910,
Claude S. Woten is well known throughout Scotia and the surrounding
country as a man of ability and integrity of character, kindly,
accommodating, and the truest type of a Christian gentleman. The bank has grown almost phenomenally under his capable ministration of its
affairs, the deposits increasing by leaps and bounds, from $45,949 on June
30, 1910, to $274,249.60 on June 30, 1914, an increase of something over six
hundred per cent. in four years. Mr. Woten is also deeply interested in
religious work and is superintendent of the Sunday school of the
Presbyterian church of Scotia, where he is doing much for the young people
of the city. This really seems to be his greatest aim in life, the helping
of others to live better, fuller and happier lives, appreciating and
understanding the value of right living and right thinking in every detail
of daily living. He is also vitally interested in educational affairs and
has rendered valuable service to Scotia as a member of the school board, of
which he is at present the clerk. His desire to acquire a more general
knowledge of administration of business has induced him to take a course in
business administration and higher accountancy with the La Salle Extension,
University of Chicago. Mr. Woten is a native of Nebraska, born in Gage county, September 9, 1882.
His father, William Woten, is a farmer and owns a farm at Adams, Gage
county, Neb., where he and his wife are living at present. He is a native of
Indiana, where he was reared and where he met and married Susan Swanner.
Their union was blessed with eight children, four sons and four daughters,
five of whom are still living, Claude S. being the only one residing in
California. The boyhood days of the present respected citizen of Scotia were
passed on his father's farm in Nebraska, and his early education was
received in .the common schools of his district. Later he attended the
Cotner University for two years, taking a commercial course, and also
studying the modern sciences. Completing his commercial course he was
apprenticed to learn the drug business, but this he found was not to his
liking, and after six months he secured a position in the State Bank of
Adams, at Adams, Neb., where he remained for a year, and then engaged with
the First National Bank at St. Joseph, Mo. Following this he was with the
Burlington Railway in their accounting department at Omaha, Neb., remaining
until he received an offer of a position with the Columbia National Bank, at
Lincoln, Neb. This position he filled until this bank was consolidated with
the First National Bank of Lincoln, when he reentered the employ of this
latter institution, remaining until 1907, when he became possessed with a
desire to come to California, and so resigned his position and departed for
the west. He came at once to Eureka where he accepted a position with the
Bank of Eureka, where he remained for three years, making many friends and
meeting with the greatest success in his business life. At that time he came
to Scotia to accept the position of cashier with the First National Bank of
Scotia, which he has since filled. This bank is one of the soundest in the
state, and much of its splendid growth may be rightly attributed to the
personal popularity of Mr. Woten. The officers are all men of splendid
standing and strong personal character, being well known local business and
professional men. They are : Donald McDonald, president ; P. E. Carland,
vice-president ; C. S. Woten, cashier ; while the additional directors . are
E. L. Cottrell and H. E. Crawford. CHARLES E. HELWIG.—The city of Eureka with its various lines of activity has
drawn within its hospitable and ambitious limits many men whose business
capacity and fine traits of citizenship would be a credit to any community
in the country. Foremost among these is Charles E. Helwig, president of the
Union Labor Hospital and proprietor of the Metropole Shaving Parlor. A
native of Ohio, he was born in Montgomery county, June 15, 1860. Dr. Adam
Helwig, the father of Charles E., was a native of Wittenberg, Germany, and
on coming to America with his parents, resided in Pennsylvania, where he was
educated in the public schools and later entered Wittenberg College at
Springfield, Ohio, from which he was graduated with honors. His brother,
John Helwig, afterward became president of the college, holding the position
for fifteen years. Having decided to adopt the profession of medicine, Adam
Helwig became a student in the Eclectic Medical College of Cincinnati, from
which in due time he was graduated. He began the practice of his profession
in Dayton, afterward going to Troy and later to Brookville, Ohio, in all of
which cities he received the patronage and appreciation due his ability and
fine personal characteristics. He was residing at Brookville at the time of
his demise. The mother of Charles E. Helwig was Leah Stauffer, born at Canal
Dover, Tuscarawas county, Ohio, and came of good old German stock. She is
now in her eighty-fourth year and still makes her home in the residence in
Dayton built by her husband in 1870. Of the seven children born of this
union five are living. After receiving his education in the public schools of Dayton, Charles E.
Helwig entered Wittenberg College with the intention of taking up the
profession of his father. After two years spent in the study of medicine, he
left college to enlist in the army as a musician, and was with the regiment
which finally captured the Sioux Indians that had perpetrated the Custer
massacre. August 11, 1878, he enlisted in Company C, Eleventh United States
Infantry, taking part in the campaign against the Sioux Indians and
capturing their chief, Sitting Bull, and, in the spring of 1879, took them
to Standing Rock Agency. After five years with the Eleventh Infantry, he
served in the Seventh Cavalry for the same length of time, in the capacity
of Trumpeter, and for another five years as Chief Trumpeter of the Tenth
United States Infantry. After seventeen years of honorable service he
received his discharge in 1895, and retired to private life, taking up his
residence at San Diego, Cal. Although seeing fifteen years of active
service, Mr. Helwig was only wounded once. This was during the campaign with
the
Sioux, at the battle of Wounded Knee, in December, 1890, when he was struck
in the left leg by a Winchester ball, which he still carries. While in the
army he was stationed at Forts Custer, Assiniboin, Beauford, Yates, Berthold,
Meade, Abraham Lincoln, Reno, Sill and San Diego Barracks. It was while
located at the latter place that he was married to Miss Grace Favorite, a
native of the State of Washington. At the outbreak of the Spanish-American War Mr. Helwig enlisted, in 1898, in
the Tenth United States Infantry, his old regiment, serving in the Cuban
campaign. On being mustered out, in 1899, he returned to his home in San
Diego, but very soon thereafter removed to Arroyo Grande and opened a barber
shop. The year 1901 found him the proprietor of a barber shop in the Grand
Hotel at Eureka, where he continued for three years. Now, however, his place
of business is at No. 306 Second street and is known as the Metropole
Shaving Parlor. It is strictly up-to-date, having every line of equipment
necessary to make a complete barber shop, and Mr. Helwig has come to be
regarded as one of the reliable and successful business men of the town. In
1906 he was made Vice-President of the Board of Directors on the
organization of the Union Labor Hospital at Eureka. This structure, which is
located at the corner of Harris and H streets, has been enlarged until the
improvements and furnishings represent an expenditure of $40,000. It is one
of the most modern structures of its kind in design and equipment, especial
attention being given to sanitation, ventilation and light. It was built
primarily for woods and sawmill men, but later the corporation decided to
include those of other unions. The fee is only $10, which sum entitles them
to all the benefits of the hospital, including nursing, medical attention,
board and care. In 1910 Mr. Helwig was made President of the Board of
Directors. He is likewise President of the Bonneville Gold Mining Company,
and bids fair to be as successful in this as iii his other numerous
ventures. Fraternally he is a member of Eureka Aerie No. 130, F. 0. E., of
which he is Treasurer ; is Past Commander of the Knights of Pythias, and is
connected with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and Loyal Order of
Moose. He belongs to Major Frank S. Rice Camp No. 54 of the Spanish-American
War Veterans, of which he is Quartermaster. For three years he was president
of the Barbers' Union. Mr. Helwig is a Republican, but has never sought or
accepted official position. RICHARD ANDREW GREEN.—One of the energetic and public spirited business men
of the thriving little city of Alliance is Richard Andrew Green, well known
as a prosperous merchant and generally admired and respected for his
sterling qualities as a man and a citizen and highly regarded as a business
man of judgment, foresight and high standards. Mr. Green is a native of
California, and has lived in various parts of the state, but has always
returned to Humboldt county as the most desirable place to establish and
maintain a permanent home. Mr. Green was born in San Francisco, July 13, 1870, and in 1871 his parents
removed to Humboldt county, locating in Arcata. They remained there for one
year and then moved to Alliance, where they have since resided. The son
attended the public schools of the village, and later entered the Eureka
Business College, where he was graduated in December, 1891. Returning to his
home in Alliance, Richard Green secured employment on one of the neighboring
ranches, and for four years worked for the farmers of that district, It was in 1902 that Mr. Green engaged in the merchandising business in
Alliance, and in this occupation he has since remained. At that time, in
partnership with W. J. Hill, he purchased the interests of the Union
Mercantile Company of Alliance, and they carried on the business in the same
building. Later in the same year Mr. Hill sold his half interest in the
business .to F. M. Janes, the firm being known as Janes & Green, engaged in
general merchandising. In 1911 another change was made in the partnership,
Mr. Janes selling his interest to John Green, a brother of Richard Green,
and the brothers have since conducted the business under the firm name of
Green & Green. From a comparatively small beginning they have built up a
large and flourishing trade, and have met with great success in their
undertaking. They are well known throughout the valley, and their
merchandise is of a high standard of excellence. Aside from his business interests Mr. Green is prominently associated with
many of the affairs of the town and is regarded as one of the most
influential citizens. He is a member of the Arcata Tribe No. 156, I. 0. R.
M., of which he is a trustee. He is also prominent in the circles of the
Woodmen of the World and is one of the managers of Arcata Camp No. 472. In
politics Mr. Green is a Democrat and has been actively interested in
political questions during his residence in Alliance. He is wide awake to
all matters which pertain to the public welfare, and is well posted on
questions of public interest. For the past twelve years he has been
post-master of Alliance, and has given the greatest satisfaction in the
discharge of his duties. The marriage of Mir. Green took place in Blue Lake, June 4, 1899, uniting
him with Sarah Ann Hogan. Mrs. Green is a native of Humboldt county, born in
McKinleyville, October 9, 1880. She is the mother of six children, all well
known in Humboldt county, where they have many friends. They are Margaret
Ellen, John Andrew, Richard James, William Francis, Cecil Irving and Harold
Joseph. Mr. Green comes of one of the oldest pioneer families of the county. His
father was John Green, a native of Ireland, born in County Clare, in 1837.
He followed farming in Ireland and while he was yet a young man went to
Australia, where he remained for a short time before coming to California.
He located in Humboldt County and for a time worked in the woods and the
lumber camps, later purchasing a ranch near Arcata, which is now the
home-place, and on which he engaged in farming until his death in 1901. His
wife, the mother of the present honored citizen of Alliance, was Margaret Haugh, also a native of County Clare, who still makes her home in Arcata.
She was the mother of nine children, all of whom are living, Richard A.
being the second in order of birth. Mr. Burns came to California in 1849, starting from Henry county, Tenn.,
with his parents when he was a lad of nine. His father, William Henry Burns,
was a native of Mississippi, while his mother was Caroline Griffith of
Tennessee, where his parents were married. There were born to them four
children, three of whom grew to maturity and are now living in this state.
They are: Laura, now the wife of Henry Furry, retired, and living in
Sacramento ; Thomas M., the subject of this sketch ; and Daniel M., who was
secretary of state at the time George C. Perkins was governor of California
; he resides in San Francisco, and is extensively interested in mining,
being the owner of two silver mines in Durango, Mexico. Thomas M. Burns was born in Henry county, Tenn., December 15, 1839. When he
was nine years old the family, consisting of the parents and four children,
started for California with ox teams in the spring of 1849. The father was
taken ill while crossing the plains and at Ft. Hall he died. The mother and
children made their way onward and settled in Sacramento, which at that time
was practically a city of tents, there being very few houses of any
description. One of the children soon sickened and died, and within the year
the mother also fell a victim to cholera and died. The children were then
put out in different families, Thomas and Daniel being together in the
family of a man named Sullivan. Later Daniel was with a family named Selkirk
and Thomas M. went with the firm of Frink & Alsip, stockmen and dairymen,
with a large ranch eight miles north of Sacramento, on the Nevada road.
There he worked in a dairy, farmed and cared for stock, meantime learning
all the fundamentals of the business in which he has
since been engaged so successfully. This firm also had a very large dairy
ranch two miles south of Sacramento from which they supplied the city with
milk. Later this firm purchased a property on the west side of the
Sacramento river, below Rio Vista, Solano county, in the Montezuma hills,
comprising about two thousand acres, and upon this they removed their stock
and dairy enterprise. They milked about one hundred cows, making butter and
cheese, which they shipped to San Francisco by boat. Besides dairying they
also carried on farming and stock-raising. Mr. Burns' sister Laura lived
with a family named Travers near Woodland, where they owned a ranch of two
hundred acres. She was married to Henry Furry there, and later Thomas M.
went to Woodland and engaged in farming with his brother-in-law, renting the
Travers ranch and another place of three hundred acres near Cashville
belonging to a man named Low. After two years he gave up the management of
these ranches, and in 1870 came into Humboldt county and bought a
range-right from Sam Hogan. As soon as the surveys were made he also took up
and used his own rights, purchasing from the government and neighbors, until
he became the owner of his present splendid tract of fifty-seven hundred and
eighty acres. He has raised as many as three thousand sheep, together with
some cattle and horses, but is now working more heavily into cattle, owing
to the increasing annoyance from coyotes and other wild animals that prey
upon the sheep. He plans in the future to keep about eight hundred head of
thoroughbred sheep and to run them on the home ranch, while the outer ranges
will be given over to cattle and horses. In his sheep industry, as stated
before, he is breeding the three strains of Merino sheep, i. e., Rambouillet,
Delane and American Merinos, bringing in new blood from choicest flocks of
different states, thus securing the finest bred rams and ewes.
The marriage of Mr. Burns occurred in January, 1883, uniting him with Miss
Minnie E. Brown, of Humboldt county, a granddaughter of the celebrated John
Brown, the great abolitionist and martyr of slavery, one of the most
historic characters in American history. Mr. and Mrs. Thomas M. Burns have
three children, two sons and a daughter, all well known in Humboldt county :
Edwin M. is married to Miss May Hufford, and they have two children,
Mildred. Anna and Thomas Monroe ; this son is associated with his father in
the management of the ranch ; Nellie G. is the wife of George Sturm, also
associated with the elder Mr. Burns in the ranching business ; and Charles
L., who resides in San Francisco. The mother died in 1902, at the age of
thirty-eight years. Mr. Burns takes an active part in all local questions of importance, and is
always allied with any movement for progress and general upbuilding. He is
keenly alive to the advantages of good schools, and has rendered valuable
service as a member of the local school board. He has received many
evidences of the confidence of his political constituents, and many
opportunities have been given him for nominations for high offices in the
county, but these he has always declined, preferring rather to serve as a
private citizen. He has, however, been a member of the county Republican
central committee, and stands high in the confidence of his party throughout
the state. In his business life Mr. Burns has always been especially
successful. He is preeminently a self-made man, making his way as he was
obliged to do from earliest childhood. He has forged steadily ahead, always
along
broad constructive lines, and his present success is builded on a firm
foundation of honesty, integrity, and thorough application to business. JOHN O'NEILL.—The Eureka Marble & Granite Works, established thirty years
ago by John O'Neill, have been conducted the greater part of that time by
Mr. O'Neill, who is the manager of the company. A man of substantial
qualities and sterling integrity, he has been looked up to by the large
circle of his acquaintance, and has been one of the respected and
influential business men of Humboldt county for years. Side by side with his
personal ambitions and endeavors, he has kept the good of his city and
county at heart and is known as one of the enterprising citizens of his
adopted home, where he settled in October, 1884. Mr. O'Neill was born in St. George, Charlotte county, New Brunswick, July 6,
1852, son of Arthur and Hannah (Barry) O'Neill, both natives of Ireland.
John O'Neill can barely remember his father, as he was but a child when the
latter died. He was a tailor by occupation. The family consisted of six
children, four sons and two daughters, of whom John was the fourth in order
of birth. His brother, William E. O'Neill, is also a resident of Eureka. The
mother died in New Brunswick twenty years ago. John O'Neill received a common-school education and remained at home until
seventeen years of age, when he went to Clearfield county, Pa., and was
employed at lumbering for two years. At the end of this time he returned to
St. George and for two years was employed in surveying logs for the River de
Lue Railroad Company on the Merimichi river. He then apprenticed himself at
the granite business in St. George, and afterward, in the fall after the
fire of 1876, cut stone in St. John. After his return to St. George he
engaged in the granite business for himself and while thus engaged became a
stockholder and director in a company organized to build the Grand Southern
Railroad from St. John to St. Stephen. He acted as secretary of the company
most of the time until the road was completed and turned over to its
bondholders. He then sold out his business and came to Eureka, and since
October of that year has made his home in this favored region, for to him
"Humboldt county is the greatest county on earth." Organizing the Eureka
Marble & Granite Works the year of his arrival, associated with his
brother-in-law, T. L. Coffey, who remained only a short time, Mr. O'Neill
continued his connection with the business for the next twenty-two years.
After running it alone for fifteen years, he took L. M. Klepper into
partnership. When Mr. O'Neill decided to make a change, in 1906, he sold his
entire interest to Mr. Klepper. After being retired for about three years he
became president of the McKay Steamship Company, with offices at Eureka. In
this association he was successful, managing their affairs satisfactorily
until the company went out of business. Afterwards he was induced to
re-enter the marble business as manager of the Eureka Marble & Granite
Works, which position he is filling at the present time. The works occupy a
spacious structure of modern construction located at Nos. 1501-1509 Fifth
street and very completely equipped with the latest stone-cutting and
polishing machinery. The size and appointments of the establishment speak
well for the spirit of progress which characterizes the business men of
Eureka, for few towns of the same class can boast such pretentious works in
a similar line of business. However, the constantly growing interests of the
city and county will appreciate the existence of so modern a plant within
reach. The firm deals in all
kinds of marble and granite and does cemetery and building work, making a
specialty of mausoleums, vaults, monuments and tablets. Mr. O'Neill has been
the guiding spirit in the conduct of the works and justly, for he is a man
whose opinion is sought and valued, his judgment on business matters being
considered sound by those who should know. His foresight has reaped the
reward of his policy of conservative progress. His unswerving honesty and
integrity have inspired the respect and confidence of all who have had
dealings with him in any association. His love and admiration for Eureka and
Humboldt county are well known by his friends, who know he may be counted
upon to give his aid and influence to every well-intended project for the
development of the city and county. His ambition, energy and high moral
character have combined to make him one of their most desirable citizens as
was shown by his election in December, 1913, as president of Humboldt
Chamber of Commerce, a position his years of experience and abiding faith in
the wonderful resources of the county so well qualify him to fill.
Mr. O'Neill identified himself with the Republican party in 1896, having
been a Democrat previous to that time, but is now an Independent in
politics. He was married to Miss Julia Coffey, also a native of St. George,
and they have two children living : John, who is engaged in fruit growing
and resides at home, and Arthur Edward, an accountant with the San Joaquin
Light & Power Company, in charge of their Corcoran office. Mr. and Mrs.
O'Neill have a most comfortable residence at No. 3501 California street.
They are Catholics in religious faith, belonging to St. Bernard's church at
Eureka, and he is a charter member of the Knights of Columbus and the Young
Men's Institute, and served as the first Grand Knight of the former. WHITING G. PRESS.—The California climate, while not valued in dollars and
cents in the list of the resources of the state, has never been considered a
negligible factor in her wealth. The variety of opportunities offered for
capital and labor on the Pacific coast is almost infinite, and those who
come to this favored region seeking ideal conditions for wholesome living
are seldom disappointed. One of the best known figures in the business and
manufacturing life of Eureka, Humboldt county, today, was attracted hither
by the equable, temperate atmosphere, and with the quick comprehension of
the trained judge of commercial possibilities soon became impressed with the
abundance of good things with which nature endowed this section. His
interest took the concrete form of investment, and there are now two large
plants in this part of the state as the result of his activities : the
shingle mill of the Whiting G. Press Company at Eureka, and the packing
house of W. G. Press & Co., salmon packers, at Requa, some fifty miles or so
up the coast, at the mouth of the Klamath river. Whiting G. Press is at the
head of both concerns. He is a Chicago man, who resides in Eureka during the
summer season. Mr. Press has had an energetic career. Born September 29, 1847, near
Coldwater, in Branch county, Mich., he is a son of William H. Press, a
native of Rochester, N. Y., who married in that state and moved out to
Branch county in 1828. He was a farmer by occupation and lived under pioneer
conditions in his new home. Whiting G. Press was born in a log house,
without stove or other modern comforts, his mother cooking by the fireplace.
He left home when a youth of sixteen, and when eighteen went out to Jesup,
Iowa, where he worked on a farm for two months. Returning to Michigan he
taught school for a short time, in a log building, and also attended
Hillsdale (Mich.) College, at which institution he was a fellow student of
the late Will Carleton, poet and editor. In his nineteenth year he went back
to Iowa, where he became engaged as an insurance solicitor, working under
William Trembor, of Freeport, Ill., manager of the Winneshiek Fire Insurance
Company of Freeport, Ill., traveling a year and a half for this concern. In
this short period he had managed to save several thousand dollars, and,
being ambitious to do something for himself, went to Yankton, in what was
then Dakota territory (now South Dakota), taking up a preemption claim and
homestead in Yankton county, about six miles north of the city. He farmed,
conducted a number of real estate operations, and founded the Dakota
Advertiser at Yankton during the few years of his residence there, devoting
his paper to immigration items, general news and information concerning the
development and upbuilding of the region. In this connection especially he
became acquainted with the leading spirits of the times there, including
such famous old-time characters as General Beadle, who was one of Mr.
Press's intimate friends and the principal contributor to the Advertiser ;
Governor Burbank ; Judge Brookings ;.ex-Senator Frank Pettigrew of South
Dakota ; the notorious Alexander McKenzie of North Dakota ; and Gen. Edwin
S. McCook, who was shot by Wintermuth. Mr. Press was standing beside General
McCook at the time of the shooting. After two successive dry seasons, during
which the clouds of grasshoppers were so thick they "obscured the sun," he
found the few thousand dollars capital with which he had entered Dakota in
1871 swept away, and thoroughly discouraged he left the territory in the
fall of 1874 with thirty-seven dollars and fifty cents in his pocket. He was
practically "broke" when he arrived at his destination, Chicago, Ill., but
he has reason to consider the incident one of the most fortunate in his
career. His pluck and everlasting enterprise had not deserted him and he
hardly had time to realize his misfortune before he was on his feet again.
At the corner of Van Buren and State streets he stopped to read a sign,
"Agents Wanted." Upon inquiry he found men were wanted to sell woven wire
mattresses and was at once engaged. On his very first trip, which took him
over Illinois and Iowa, he met with record-breaking success, his sales
amounting to more than those of any other three salesmen combined. When the
Woven Wire Mattress Company was organized he became a heavy stockholder and
manager of the concern, having the direction of its affairs for three and a
half years, during which it prospered so well that his profits amounted to
sixty-six thousand dollars. The mattresses were introduced all over the
United States. Mr. Press's subsequent experiences have been varied and almost uniformly
successful. Having acquired sufficient capital to embark upon more extensive
operations, he formed a partnership with S. R. Boardman, then a Chicago
lumberman and banker, and under the name of Boardman & Press they did a
successful business as grain and stock brokers in Chicago for two years,
having their offices at No. 154 LaSalle street. They dealt in stocks and
bonds. About this time Mr. Boardman had to take over the management of the
Cincinnati, Effingham & Quincy Railroad, the company having defaulted to
him, and Mr. Press took the presidency of the company, which he succeeded in
putting on its feet again after three years of skillful, systematic
direction. He had acquired a considerable interest in the road, which he was
able to sell at good advantage. In 1877 he organized the firm of W. G. Press
& Co., Stock Exchange brokers, of Chicago, which has had a continuous
existence since, being now the oldest house of the kind doing business on
the Chicago Board of Trade, noted for paying one hundred per cent on the
dollar on demand. Its reputation is typical of the kind of business Mr.
Press has always been instrumental in promoting. He is progressive to a
degree, but conservative in his operations, placing his capital to the best
advantage, even when results have to be awaited patiently, rather than
risking his own money or that intrusted to him in enterprises with hazy or
uncertain prospects. He still remains at the head of the house of W. G.
Press & Co., which has offices downtown and at the Union Stock Yards.
Real estate has always appealed to Mr. Press for permanent investment, as
his immense holdings in Chicago indicate. All told he built and owns seven
hundred and fourteen feet of four-story stone buildings in that city, on the
south side, including the Press apartments at the corner of Sixty-second
street and University avenue. All human interests have their attractions for
him, and thus he has diversified his own life and work and taken advantage
of his own strong position to assist and encourage others. It is said he has
furnished and published more market reports than any other man living. It
was he who furnished the data for the plot of "The Speculator," written by
George Broadhurst and played by Roland Reed, and Mr. Press blocked out the
play and financed its production to show his faith in the playwright, who
had once been a clerk in his Chicago office. MY. Broadhurst has since
successfully produced "What Happened to Jones," "Why Smith Left Home," "The
Last Chapter," "The Man of the Hour," and other notable dramas of modern
life. The causes for Mr. Press's interest in the climate of Humboldt county had
their beginning in 1876, when he was prostrated with the heat while at the
Centennial in Philadelphia. In 1896, when out west inspecting his gold
mining property near Prescott, Ariz., on the Hassayampa river twelve miles
from that city, he became overheated and suffered from sunstroke a little
later, at Colorado Springs, Colo., when the temperature reached one hundred
and ten degrees Fahrenheit in the shade. For several months his life was
despaired of. In 1898 he had another attack, at the Board of Trade in
Chicago, and another in 1899. Since then he has been unable to endure the
summers east of the mountains, and he spends the months of June, July and
August in Eureka, Humboldt county, Cal., whose climate can hardly be rivaled
for equability, the mean temperature being fifty-five degrees. For
twenty-five years there were only two days when the temperature rose above
seventy-five, and the lowest record in winter has been thirty degrees. The
first summer Mr. Press spent there he was obliged to remain in a dark room
all the time, but he is now able to enjoy the delightful days which prevail
throughout the season. His active mind soon sought the interesting features
of the place, and in 1902 he became interested in the lumber industry. He
now owns about one hundred million feet of standing timber, and other
property acquired in connection with the development of his timber holdings,
a shingle mill and six hundred feet of water front and wharf at Eureka.
Naturally the development of the same has created considerable activity in
industrial conditions in the vicinity. Mr. Press investigated thoroughly the
claims
made for the durability and other desirable qualities of redwood shingles
and then decided to go into their manufacture. The shingle mill of the
Whiting G. Press Company has a capacity of three hundred thousand shingles
per day, and the product has a wide reputation, based on the tests of time
which redwood shingles have endured. Probably the most notable example cited
is the building once one of the group belonging to the old military post at
Eureka, established about 1852 for protection from the Indians. The
building, passed into private ownership but still standing on its original
site, is probably typical of the dozen or so which constituted the old
station. It has been neglected and mutilated, but the redwood shingles with
which it was covered over sixty years ago are still there and in excellent
condition. General Grant, then a lieutenant, was stationed here in 1853.
Instances of redwood shingles in first-class shape after forty years of
service are common enough in this region, and on the strength of these facts
the Whiting G. Press Company has sold its shingles with a guarantee for the
buyer's lifetime in perfect safety. Mr. Press is president of the company ;
Gillman C. Knapp, secretary ; M. E. Wrigley, manager. The very interesting
little article which accompanies their product to the consumer presents some
facts of general interest and statistics which cannot but appeal to anyone
who has ever heard of the famous redwood forest. This growth is contained in an area of perhaps two thousand square miles,
lying close along the shore's of the Pacific between the Oregon line and the
bay of San Francisco, about three hundred miles, with a varying breadth of
from six to twenty miles. It is over two thousand years old, and its
exploitation presented problems in the way of lumbering, as well as
commercial operations, unknown because unnecessary in any other region.
Unlike any other timber on the earth, it is adaptable to almost every
requirement or use to which wood is put. As a forest tree, it is practically
indestructible by fire. Almost every home and barn and fence on the western
slope of California has been constructed of this valuable material, and when
the uninitiated visitor shows wonder as he begins to realize the size
attained by these botanical giants he will likely hear of the pioneer who
built his house and barns and fenced hi claim with lumber from one tree. In
the outlying groves, on the edge of the strip, the trees are comparatively
small, and fortunately the early demand for timber was easily met by mere
trimmings from the edge, leaving the heart of the forest for the present
generation, which has profited by the wasteful methods practiced some years
ago by lumbermen in other woods and is conserving with foresight and cutting
discriminately. The sight of a fallen tree trunk which. a man cannot climb,
of the felling of one immense tree, is enough to set the stranger thinking.
In the midst of a number of large specimens he is likely to underestimate
their size, until convinced by the indisputable facts of actual measurement.
Again, the symmetry of the trees, beautiful from the nature lover's
standpoint, is equally welcomed by the lumberman, for there is little waste
when the growth is so perfect. Here is another stupendous fact. In the
timber regions of the southern and western states, according to authorities,
five thousand feet, board measure, is the average yield per acre ; when it
reaches as high as ten thousand feet to the acre the land is called heavily
timbered. The same authorities estimated the average on a tract of redwood
(one hundred and thirty-seven thousand acres) at forty-four thousand feet,
and on one portion
of ninety-six thousand acres in Humboldt county claimed eighty-four thousand
feet as a fair average ! Many an acre contains ten or twelve trees ranging
from six to twelve feet or more in diameter and from two hundred to three
hundred feet in height, good timber to the very top. The region around
Humboldt bay, being most convenient, was lumbered over first, but over sixty
years ago operations were begun in Humboldt county. The first shipment of
redwood from Humboldt bay was made in 1854 by William Carson. Of late years
all the redwood timber has come from this section. Fortunately the earliest operators had no adequate idea of the value of
redwood, or of the vast supply, or they might have cut as recklessly as the
first corners in other lumber regions have done, and with as mischievous
results. It is only within comparatively recent years that the manufacture
of shingles from redwood has become an established industry, and a
comparatively few men have devoted their mills exclusively to this product,
with the most gratifying results. The Press Company prides itself on owning
the largest and most complete redwood shingle mill in existence, and its
methods of manufacture have reached a degree of perfection which should
assure an unrivaled product. The bolts from which the shingles are made are
taken from newly cut timber, fresh and sound. The shingles are dried before
shipping, for the saving in freight expenses as well as the evenness
attained in the scientific process, so that there is no danger of warping.
The durability of redwood is no doubt attributable in large measure to the
slow growth ; and it is a question whether the long life of the trees may be
due to the lack of variation in temperature which prevails in the redwood
belt—only forty-five degrees, the thermometer having ranged between thirty
and seventy-five degrees Fahrenheit for twenty-five years during which
records have been kept, with only two days which were above seventy-five and
two or three when it was below thirty. The business of the Press Company has had a steady growth. Its acquired
timber lands have sufficient lumber for a generation of manufacturing.
Mr. Press belongs to the generation which has done big things for the
country, and in his transactions he has had the privilege of coming into
direct contact with many of the figures foremost in these operations,
financiers, captains of industry, capitalists and politicians, particularly
in Chicago, where his business headquarters have been maintained. CHARLES A. JOHNSTON.—The exploitation of the oil fields in the vicinity of
Petrolia, Humboldt county, was begun as far back as 1865, and although not
much progress has been made it would seem that the situation is due more to
the difficulty of finding a satisfactory method of obtaining the oil rather
than to the scarcity of the product. Charles A. Johnston has lived in that
section since 1869, owns quite an extensive tract of oil-bearing land, and
is probably the best informed man on local conditions of the kind that has
ever lived at Petrolia. He has faith in the ultimate value of the fields as
adequate processes of extracting the oil are devised, but meantime he is
working all the lines of practical profit which have already been proved
feasible in this region, and his success with commercial apple and walnut
orchards has done much to encourage the culture of those two crops in the
lower Mattole valley. All his work as an agriculturist has been carried on
in the most progressive manner, but it is as a horticulturist, particularly
as
an orchardist, that he has done most for his locality and probably for
himself. To some extent he is also engaged in stock raising. Mr. Johnston was born in Jones county, Iowa, not far from the present site
of Des Moines, April 16, 1849. His parents, Charles B. and Catharine (Smith)
Johnston, were natives of Ohio, in which state they married. The father was
a frontiersman all his life. Moving with his family from Ohio to the
vicinity of Galena, Ill., they went farther west from there, into Iowa and
Missouri, back again to Iowa, and thence over the plains to California in
1852. Charles B. Johnston was personally acquainted with Abraham Lincoln as
well as other notable characters of the middle west. Fortunately, in the
pioneer days of Iowa, he had befriended Black Hawk, the Indian chief, on
several occasions and they were friends. But when the Black Hawk war broke
out he enlisted, and, knowing the country, served as a scout and spy. During
the war he was captured and owed his life to Black Hawk, who aided him to
escape by furnishing him a horse. His experiences qualified him thoroughly
to lead his party across the plains, and he was chosen captain of the ox
team train. Happily they had only one small skirmish with the Indians en
route, on the Platte river, and drew up safely at LaPorte, near Gibsonville,
in Sierra county. There the Johnston family first settled, Mr. Johnston
engaging in mining at that location for six years, and for one year he was
at the Cabbage Patch, in Yuba county, where he mined and kept hotel. Thence
they moved to the Prairie diggings near Brown's Valley, Yuba county,
remaining there until 1863, after which for several years they were on a
nearby ranch, which he operated. In 1868 Charles B. Johnston came to the
Mattole, and took up one hundred and sixty acres of land at Upper Mattole,
where most of his remaining days were passed. His death occurred at Petrolia
in 1885, when he was seventy-five years old. His widow died there in 1902,
at the .age of eighty-five years. Nine children were born to them, only
three of whom now survive, William, the eldest son, having been accidentally
killed in July, 1914; he was an employe at the Anaconda mine. Cava Ann is
the widow of Jacob Miner, and lives at Petrolia. Samuel S., of National
City, San Diego county, Cal., was formerly postmaster there. Charles A. Johnston was but three years old when the family crossed the
plains to this state. As the localities in which his youth was spent were
sparsely settled, and pioneers were still too busy with the immediate
business of gaining a living to establish community affairs on a proper
basis, he had very meager school advantages, but he has educated himself by
reading and self-study and thus has become a well informed man, besides
having plenty of experience of a practical kind. He rode after stock on the
ranges, did teaming between Petrolia and Centerville for two years, and
eventually became interested in agricultural pursuits, to which he devotes
most of his time at present. His land holdings comprise three ranches, his
home place known as Walnut Drive Farm of three hundred acres, the Seaside
Ranch of eighty acres at the mouth of Mattole river, and the Buckeye Ranch
of seventeen hundred twenty acres five miles east of his home place. As
previously mentioned, he has gone quite extensively into the culture of
walnuts and has also raised some prime apples. Mr. Johnston is a Progressive
Republican, but has never been an aspirant to public office. Mr. Johnston is a member of Mattole Lodge No. 92, K. P., at Petrolia, of
which he is past chancellor. He and his wife are attendants at the Methodist
Episcopal Church at Petrolia, he being a member of the board of trustees.
They are enterprising and liberal and carry out the old California spirit of
hospitality. They seem ever ready to aid those who have been less fortunate
than themselves and give freely of their time and means to aid movements of
benefit to the community and its people. Mr. Johnston is a lover of fine
horses and has raised some fine specimens of standard horses. Of late years,
however, he has discontinued breeding them and is giving his time to
horticulture. Mr. Johnston has kept in close touch with the oil prospects at Petrolia.
There are seepages on the Buckeye ranch. All the oil wells bored have
contained gas. Wells were first dug in this field in 1865. Many were sunk to
a depth of one hundred to one hundred and fifty feet, but only three yielded
oil in any quantity. The Doe well, about one mile west of Petrolia, was
followed down two thousand feet, but yielded nothing, not even gas or water.
J. W. Henderson sunk the first well on Joel Flat, called the Henderson well,
went down five hundred feet, and thought he had a ten-barrel well. Between
fifty and seventy-five barrels were packed out, and on the assumption that
the well would continue flowing he went to the city to get a tank to store
the oil in. By the time he returned the well had caved in, and nothing more
was ever done with it. The second well, on the Edmonstone ranch, about six
miles up the north fork of the Mattole, was
also five hundred feet deep and yielded the same quantity of oil, most of it
being obtained at ninety feet; it is a gasser. The third well was in the
McNutt gulch, and oil was struck at three hundred feet ; it gushed water,
oil and gas, flowed one day and was capped, but soon caved in, and as it was
owned by local men no further effort was made to develop it. A fourth well,
the Buckeye, showed considerable oil. A fifth, the Brown & Knowles, was sunk
in 1865 and yielded oil at one hundred and fifty feet, and oil stands in
that well to this day. Operations ceased thereafter until 1891, in which year the Far West Oil
Company dug a well on the Buckeye. They went down eight hundred feet, at
five hundred feet finding a lot of oil, but when the tools were lost they
abandoned that well and moved over to Davis creek. Again they sunk an
eight-hundred-foot well and obtained a considerable quantity of oil, but the
hard times of 1893 caused a cessation of interest for the time. In 1901
other companies came into the field, a Mr. McIntosh sinking the first well
attempted that year, on the Zanona land. He went down fifteen hundred feet
and claimed to have a fifteen-barrel well. The next was the Wild Goose well,
sunk in 1901-02, ten hundred three feet deep. Oil was struck first at two
hundred twenty-one feet, and the stratum was sixty feet wide. At five
hundred and fifty-five feet there was a flow of gas strong enough to throw
the tools out of the well ; two hundred feet below quite a big flow of oil
was found, and at ten hundred three feet they lost the tools, which were
fished for a month without success. This was without doubt about a
fifteen-barrel well, and is still flowing gas. The next work was done by a
Mr. Craig, who put down two wells up the north fork, the first, seven
hundred feet in depth, yielding some gas but no oil ; the second, eight
hundred feet deep, had a considerable flow. The Weed well on the north fork,
four hundred feet deep, flowed gas but no oil, and the Humboldt well, oni
Buckeye creek, went nineteen hundred feet deep with no oil to speak of. Then
a well was tried at Upper Mattole, the Hoagland well on E. J. Etter's ranch,
sunk to a depth of seventeen hundred feet ; it produced fairly well. Mr.
Johnston has a large acquaintance among the prominent oil men of the east,
as well as in California, many of whom have investigated this territory and
have been enthusiastic. Unfortunately, long time leases have been held by
inactive people so the live men could get no foothold. Mr. Johnston is
optimistic for the future of the Mattole country, his faith being unshaken
that some day it will be a profitable and active oil field. PETER RATTI was born in 1880, near Lucca, Italy, where he was reared and
received his education in the public schools. He followed farm work in his
native land until 1903, when he came to the United States and located in
Eureka, Cal. Here he was employed in the woods for the Scotia Lumber
Company, Vance Lumber Company and others until he quit to enter the employ
of the Diamond Fruit Company as a clerk, and afterwards was with the
Italian-French restaurant until he saw an opportunity to engage in business
for himself. In 1913 he bought from Mr. Massei the grocery and fruit store
on the corner of Fifth and F streets, and here he has continued in business.
Under the name of the Humboldt Fruit Company he has built up a large trade
in groceries, fruits and vegetables, using an auto delivery in his business.
Fraternally Mr. Ratti is a member of the Druids and Moose, and politically
is a Republican. FRANCIS R. HOREL, M. D.—Skill in therapeutics and exceptional ability as a
diagnostician have gained for Dr. Horel the confidence of his patients in
all classes. Nor is his professional usefulness limited to Arcata, his home
town, for he is called into service in other parts of Humboldt county and
now acts as a director on the medical staff of the Sequoia hospital at
Eureka. While he is a man of splendid business qualifications, keen in
judgment and capable of placing a correct valuation upon property of all
kinds, and while he has been connected with large enterprises, notably the
Thomas Devlin Tanning Company of Arcata (in which he is vice-president and a
director), it is nevertheless as a physician and surgeon that his best
qualities are exemplified and that his highest usefulness has been
manifested. Endowed with tenderness and sympathy hidden beneath the
customary reserve of the professional man, his presence brings cheer to the
discouraged and hope to the suffering, and his kindly, helpful and skilled
ministrations have made his presence a blessing in many a home.
The Horel family, of English ancestry, was founded in America by Samuel
Horel, who left England at twenty-one years of age and settled on a tract of
raw land in Wisconsin. At the time of his death he was forty-six years of
age. Among the children of his union with Sarah J. Roberts was a son,
Francis R., born on the Wisconsin farm at Waukesha, February 28, 1851, and
reared to a life of the most arduous labor in the midst of surroundings that
still indicated the frontier. Through his own determined and ambitious
efforts he secured an education, working his way through the university at
Galesville, Wis., and later earning the money with which to defray his
expenses in medical college. He is a graduate of the renowned Rush Medical
College, Chicago, one of the greatest schools of its kind in the world, and
is a member of the class of 1885. For six years he practiced in St. Paul,
Neb., after which he spent a short time as house physician of the Nebraska
state insane asylum at Hastings. Since he embarked in practice at Arcata in 1901 Dr. Horel has become widely
known throughout this section of country, where his professional abilities
receive the recognition that is their just due. Meantime he has aided
movements for the commercial upbuilding of the locality. Not the least
important of his efforts is that, in connection with others, of reclaiming
the tide marsh lands near Arcata which will be suitable for manufacturing
sites. Among his investments are redwood tracts in this part of the state as
well as a comfortable home in Arcata. Through his marriage in 1878 to Lois
E. O'Brien he became the father of three children, J. Earl, Ruth F. and Lois
A. His fraternities and societies are numerous and include Arcata Lodge No.
106, F. & A. M.; Humboldt Chapter No. 52, R. A. M.; and Eureka Commandery
No. 35, K. T., both in Eureka ; Islam Temple, A. A. 0. N. M. S., of San
Francisco, and Oakland Consistory No. 2. He is a thirty-second degree
Scottish Rite Mason, and with his wife is a member of the Order of the
Eastern Star. He is also a member of the Knights of Pythias and the Ancient
Order of United Workmen. In the line of his profession he is a member of the
American, State and County Medical Associations, as well as the Pacific
Coast Association of Railway Surgeons. He is local surgeon for the
Northwestern Pacific Railroad. MRS. ANTONIETTA MOZZINI.—It was in the year 1896 that Mrs. Antonietta
Mozzini, now a prominent resident and well known business woman of Loleta,
Humboldt county, Cal., first came to this county, her husband having died
two years previously at Santa Cruz, Cal., where he had been the owner of the
Swiss Hotel. When Mrs. Mozzini came to Loleta, it was a place of but one
store, a blacksmith's shop and a few shacks, but it has since become a
prosperous business place of considerable importance, and Mrs. Mozzini has
invested in property here, being now the owner of two residences in the
town. Previous to her coming to Loleta Mrs. Mozzini's two brothers, Stephen
and Antonio, had been located in the vicinity for several years, engaged in
the dairy business, wherein they were meeting with much success. Mrs.
Mozzini became their housekeeper for four years, at which time they sold
their lease, Antonio returning to Ticino, his native home in Switzerland,
Stephen remaining in Loleta, where he leased the Ell ery place and continued
the dairy business. Two years later the sister bought a one-half interest
with him, the two since then having continued dairying on this estate, which
comprises over two hundred acres of rich bottom land near Loleta. Here they
have a herd of one hundred twenty milch cows, the Milk being sold to Libby,
McNeill & Libby. In 1909 they leased the Buhne ranch near Elk River Corners,
a dairy ranch consisting of one thousand forty acres, and purchased the
stock, at present milking two hundred cows on this property, the milk being
retailed in Eureka, where it is known for its high standard and excellency.
This is the largest dairy in the county, so that with the two dairies they
are by far the most extensive dairymen in the county. Mrs. Mozzini and her
brother, who are known among the most successful dairymen in the county,
having done much to bring the business to a high sanitary condition, are
also members of the Ferndale Cow Testing Association. Mrs. Mozzini, a business woman of marked ability and attainments, and an
educated and well informed woman, was born in Camorino, Canton Ticino,
Switzerland, one of a family of nine children, of whom six lived to grow up,
namely : Frank, at present a farmer in his native canton ; Stephen, the
partner of Mrs. Mozzini in Loleta, Cal.; Antonio, who spent many years in
Humboldt county, Cal., where he became well and favorably known and left
numerous friends when he returned to Switzerland, where he now follows the
occupation of farmer ; Peter, also a farmer in Ticino ; Theresa, now Mrs.
Yermeni, engaged in dairying on the Elk river, Cal.; and Antonietta, the
youngest, the Mrs. Mozzini who now makes her home in Loleta, Cal., where she
is a well known business woman and is engaged in dairying in partnership
with her brother. The maiden name of Mrs. Antonietta Mozzini was also
Mozzini, as was her mother's maiden name, her parents, Martin and Martina
(Mozzini) Mozzini, being farmers in Camorino until the time of their death.
They were well-to-do people and the daughter received an excellent education
in the local schools of her native place. Besides her mother language she
also took up the study of French. She was married in her home town in 1886
to Paul Mozzini, a native of the place, who had spent some years in
California, where he was the proprietor of the Swiss Hotel in Santa Cruz,
Cal. He tnade his home, however, in Switzerland, until the burning of his
hotel in Santa Cruz, when he returned to this state and rebuilt the hotel,
his wife joining him in California April 1, 1891. He continued to Four children have been born to Mrs. Mozzini, namely : Nancy, who resides
with her mother ; Martina, now Mrs. Moskete, of Elk River ; Martin, who is
engaged in the dairy business at Elk River Corners ; and Gemmaleta, who is
bookkeeper for Mozzini & Co. It is interesting to note that the business of dairying on a large scale is
carried on with eminent success by a woman in her new home, a native of a
foreign land which is noted for its herds of cattle and flocks of sheep and
goats among the mountains and valleys of the Alps region. HENRY WAY.—A love of the sea was perhaps the most prominent characteristic
of Mr. Way in his boyhood years and this was undoubtedly due to the fact
that he lived in one of the seaport towns of England, where the sight of the
ocean steamers awakened visions of the distant countries whence they had
come or the interesting regions to which they were sailing. His native town
was Bridport, a small village in Dorsetshire, where he was born December 10,
1848, and where he had such schooling as local institutions of learning
afforded. Scant as were his early advantages, he has become a man of broad
information and musical as well as literary culture, familiar with the best
literature of the current era and the most famous music of past centuries,
this being the result of his own ambitious efforts to promote mental
attainments. To apprentice a youth whose deepest love was in the direction of a sailor's
life and attempt to turn his activities into the channel of things
mechanical was such a serious mistake that the youthful apprentice himself
rebelled at undertaking the work of a moulder and machinist. Barely three
weeks passed before he ran away to enter the British navy and gratify his
desire to go to sea. For two years he was a student in the naval school.
Shortly after New Year's of 1865, when only sixteen years of age, he was
attached to the receiving ship, Victory, and thence transferred to the
dispatch boat, Sparrow Hawk, bound for California via the Horn. While
sailing in the South Atlantic waters he was cast away with others of the
crew on the Falkland Islands following the wrecking of the ship in a severe
storm. Rescued from the islands, he then sailed through the Straits of
Magellan and up the coast to Valparaiso, Chile, and Callao, Peru. Instead of
proceeding to San Francisco, he was sent to Honolulu and after three weeks
ordered to Victoria, British Columbia. A brief period of time was spent on
Oueen Charlotte Island in the quelling of an Indian uprising. Ordered back
to Victoria, he next sailed to San Francisco and anchored in the harbor of
the Golden Gate December 5, 1865. Giving up his connection with the vessel,
he shipped as a sailor on a merchant marine to England. During 1866 he
visited Australia and China and from the latter country crossed to Victoria,
British Columbia. After having been employed for eighteen months at Port Gamble, Kit-sap
county, Wash., Mr. Way came to California, landing in Humboldt county August
1, 1868. At Eureka he entered the Ryan & Duff mill, later known as the
Occidental mill, and when a new building was erected he took a leading
part in securing a plant adequate, modern and convenient. For thirty-eight
years he remained in the same position. Meanwhile he had witnessed many
changes in the county. The lumber business had enjoyed its era of remarkable
prosperity, but had begun to be partially supplanted by other features of
modern industrial life. The few pioneers had been encouraged by the arrival
of new settlers, eager to have a part in modern development. Agriculture and
horticulture had begun to be appreciated as important factors in the highest
prosperity. The work of development called for constant activity on the part
of pioneers and he was not dilatory in doing his part in the general
up-building. After leaving the mill he had charge of the detention home for
three and one-half years, but is now retired from active affairs.
Fond of music and the possessor of an excellent bass voice, Mr. Way has been
a distinct acquisition to the musical circles of the community and he and
his wife have ranked for years among the most popular singers in Eureka.
Church work also has enlisted his sympathy and service. Immediately upon his
arrival in 1868 he united with the First Congregational Church of Eureka, in
which he was one of the eight charter members. For a quarter of a century he
had charge of the Sunday school and the choir and for five years his wife
served as organist. For some years they have been actively associated with
the Episcopal Church, where Mr. Way had charge of the music for a period of
successful service and his wife was soloist for five years. Mr. Way toured
the county with Professor and Madam Roswald as bass soloist. Locally he took
the leading part in Pinafore, Mikado, Papita, Little Tycoon, Chimes of
Normandy and other popular operas. Prior to their marriage, which was
solemnized April 3, 1877, Mrs. Way bore the name of Emma Pengilly. Born on
the famous little island of Jersey, an English possession, she is a normal
graduate and had a successful experience in the English schools, besides
teaching a private school in Eureka for twenty-five years. Nor is her
ability limited to instruction in the common branches of study, for in
addition she is recognized as a remarkably efficient teacher of the Bible,
and the Sunday school classes under her supervision have been fortunate in
enjoying the services of one so familiar with the Scriptures and so capable
in expounding them to the spiritual benefit of all. As a speaker she is
original, talented and always at ease. Frequently she has been called into
service in private theatricals and when the Ingomar theater was opened at
Eureka she had the honor of speaking the first lines at the first production
given in the new house. Of her children the only daughter, Alice, a graduate
of Guild Hall School of Music, London, is now the wife of J. W. Bell, of
Burnley, England. The sons are Arthur W., of Eureka, and Ernest H., of
Oakland. Fraternally Mr. Way is a charter member of the Improved Order of
Red Men, the Ancient Order of Foresters and is a member also of Fortuna
Lodge of Odd Fellows, besides being allied with the Veterans' Association of
Odd Fellows. HENRY A. KENDAL, librarian of the Eureka Free Library, was born in Tipton
county, Ind., September 25, 1858. He remained on the farm with his parents
until twenty-one years of age, receiving such education as the district
schools of the time afforded. He then worked his way through a three-year
course at the Normal College, Danville, Ind., by intervals of teaching and
in the service of the college library. He taught after graduation for three
years in the Alabama State Normal School for colored teachers at
Marion and for one year in the same institution at Montgomery after its
removal to the latter place. He also studied law at intervals and was
admitted to the bar, but found the law office less inspiring than the school
room. Mr. Kendal was married to Miss Candace Burroughs, of Rensselaer, Indiana, in
1886. They are the parents of one child born in Alabama but which died in
infancy. Mr. Kendal entered the Indian school service at Hoopa reservation in 1893.
Since that time he has resided continuously in Humboldt county, and has
taught in the public schools the greater part of the time since the
termination of his work at Hoopa. During his active teaching service in this
county he served four years on the County Board of Education. Mr. Kendal
became city librarian in December, 1911, and has since given his time and
attention unremittingly to this important position. LOUIS PIERRE DORAIS, M. D.—The genealogy of the Dorais family extends back
to a long line of French ancestors in the old Province of Normandy, but the
Doctor himself was born in the county of Huntingdon, Province of Quebec, not
far from the New York state line, on the Canadian side of the boundary. In
boyhood he became familiar with the French language and the traditions
associated with the land of his forefathers, but at the same time his early
education was in the English language. At the age of fourteen he was sent to
the Montreal public schools for a year. Next he spent four years as a
student in the Jacques Cartier Normal School of Montreal, after which he
continued the classical studies for two years in I,'Assomption College, an
institution affiliated with the Laval University of Quebec. On the
completion of the regular course he was graduated in 1886 with high honors.
Having been qualified by his studies for the work of an educator, he turned
his attention to teaching school and was thus engaged in Essex county,
Ontario, Canada, for four years. Meanwhile he had heard much concerning the
Pacific coast section. Favorable reports caused him to relinquish the
interests that held him in Canada and remove to the western coast. On the
6th of January, 1891, he arrived at Spokane, Wash., from which point he
proceeded to Oregon. For three years he remained in that state, alternating
school teaching with work on a farm. A decision to enter the medical profession led the young. French-Canadian to
California in 1894, and later he worked his way through the College of
Physicians and Surgeons in San Francisco and was graduated with the degrees
of M. D. and Ph. G. In 1902 and 1903 he held the important position of
oculist and aurist at the French hospital in San Francisco, but his health
having been impaired by too close attention to his specialties, he resigned
in the summer of 1903 and removed to Humboldt county. Since then he has been
engaged in the practice of his profession at Eureka, where he is also
associated with the Union Labor Hospital and has built up an enviable
reputation for remarkable skill in the treatment of diseases of the eye,
ear, nose and throat. In 1912 the Doctor made an extensive tour of the United States and Canada,
and on his return he decided to take a more active interest in the civic
affairs of his home town. He was one of the organizers of the Eureka
Development Association, a body which has for its purposes the general
welfare of the city of Eureka. He drafted the by-laws of this organization,
served on its first board of directors, and on several important committees.
But it
was by his thorough and efficient research work of the true sanitary
conditions of the Eureka Water Company's water supply that he rendered his
most valuable assistance to Eureka when this municipality acquired its own
water system in 1914. Along the line of his profession, Dr. Dorais is identified with the Humboldt
County and California State Medical Associations, while in the fraternities
he is a Mason of the Royal Arch Chapter, past chancellor commander of the
Knights of Pythias and a member of the Humboldt Club. On March 6, 1906, he
was united in marriage with Miss Clarissa Hanna, and three sons, Sydney
Pierre, Wilfred Leon and James jasper, have blessed their union. Mrs. Dorais
was born in Arcata and has been a lifelong resident of Humboldt county,
where her ancestors were early settlers. Her paternal grandfather, the late
Judge Hanna, was an honored and influential pioneer of Eureka, and her
maternal grandfather, Sheriff Lothian, was elected in 1853 to serve as the
first sheriff of the newly organized county of Humboldt, filling the office
with fearlessness and tact at a time when its responsibilities were heavy
and its duties the most arduous. NATHAN HAUCK.—Mr. Hauck's standing among his fellow agriculturists in his
section of Humboldt county has been clearly shown in his election as the
first president of the Eel River Valley Farmers' Association, now known as
Rohnerville Center since the establishment of the Humboldt County Farm
Bureau. His achievements in his chosen calling, thoroughly progressive
policy in carrying on his own work, and his hearty co-operation in the
various movements among farmers for securing more favorable conditions of
working and living, entitle him to the recognition he has won. He has the
industrious disposition and capacity for labor necessary for success on the
farm, supplemented with a keen intellect which has enabled him to
systematize his operations to the best advantage, and he has been quick to
adopt many of the modern devices for eliminating old laborious processes.
The farmer of today, with their assistance and a moderate amount of
competent hired help, is able to accomplish more than double the work under
the old system, and to give thought to good management rather than expend
all his energies on daily duties, which consume time, without allowing him
to get ahead. None has been more prompt to see the benefits which follow
up-to-date methods than Mr. Hauck, and his influence has gone far towards
introducing many such into his neighborhood. Mr. Hauck's father, Peter Hauck, was a successful farmer in Rohnerville
township, Humboldt county, and his grandparents, Adam and Julia Hauck, were
farming people in Germany during most of their lives. The grandfather was
accidentally killed while serving as a watchman in a little German town, at
the age of fifty-three years. Peter Hauck was born December 3, 1830, in
Bavaria, Germany, where he was reared. When but fifteen years old he set out
for America, alone, making the voyage to this country in a sailing vessel,
in 1846. He landed at New Orleans, where he found work in a wagon factory,
though he had no training for such employment. His only capital consisted of
his strength and a willing disposition to make himself useful. He completed
an apprenticeship to the trade, and helped to build wagons which were used
in the Mexican war. Having decided to try his fortune on the Pacific coast
he bought a ticket for California, via Panama, February 10, 1852, and
arrived at San Francisco after a comparatively pleasant and interesting voyage. Thence he proceeded to Trinity county, locating
at Weaverville, where he followed mining until the fall of 1853. From that
time to the close of his life he was a resident of Humboldt county, where
for a time he found employment in the mills and was engaged in logging on
the Eel river. In 1855 he commenced to operate a pack train between Arcata
and the Salmon river, and he was thus engaged for a period of ten years,
though not all this time over the route mentioned. Ordinarily it was a very
profitable business, though often dangerous. During the Indian war Mr. Hauck
packed for the government for eighteen months, during which he had many
narrow escapes owing to the unsettled conditions. Having been thrifty and
saving he accumulated some means, and by 1867 was ready to settle down to
agricultural pursuits. In February of that year he bought the farm in
Rohnerville township which was ever afterward his home, a ranch of
sixty-five acres which he cultivated very successfully and improved greatly,
equipping the property with all the conveniences which go to make up a
comfortable home place. He erected a modern house, well appointed and
comfortably furnished, had a vegetable garden for his family and an orchard
of four acres which produced well, and for many years carried on dairying,
in addition to general farming. He also made a specialty of raising
Berkshire hogs, keeping on an average forty head, and in his active years
was an all-around enterprising agriculturist. Towards the close of his life
he gave up some of his activities, but retained the supervision of his
property. Besides his home ranch he owned one hundred acres near Fortuna,
also devoted to general farming. His death occurred May 18, 1906. He was not
only a man of substantial qualities, but personally one of the best liked
men in his locality. He was a Mason, belonging to Eel River Lodge No. 147,
F. & A. M., and for several years had the distinction of being its oldest
living member. He was a past master of that body, and his family prizes a
copy of the resolutions passed in acknowledgment of his gift of a sword to
the lodge, the first known instance of the kind in the United States. We
quote the resolutions herewith : "The committee having in charge the matter of shaping in suitable form for
record, on the minutes, the gift of a sword, by Brother Peter Hauck, do
respectfully submit the following : From the inscription we learn that this
sword was carried by a brother in active service, was presented as early as
1863, during that period of strife when the Great Brotherhood of Masonry
shone with such luster, and that the donor, the oldest living member of this
lodge, cast his lot with the fraternity in 1861. For more than the average
term of human life, a period of forty years, our worthy brother has been
permitted, by Providence, to be instrumental in the upbuilding of Masonry in
this jurisdiction, adhering to the lodge in its adversity as well as in its
prosperity and through all these years, as a citizen, his career has been
marked by unswerving integrity and honor, as a Mason his charity and zealous
adherence to the principles of the fraternity have been an inspiration to
all. We take advantage of this occasion to record our high appreciation of
so valuable and unique a present. "This is the first instance on record (for this lodge at least) where the
candidate has complied with the request of the 'worshipful master' `to
deposit in the archives of the lodge some mineral or metallic substance as
evidence that he was then and there made a Mason.' May this gift be a
constant reminder to us of the thoughtfulness and solicitude, on the part of our
beloved brother, for the welfare and prosperity of this lodge, of the many
noble and generous deeds that he has left as a heritage to us, and
"Resolved, that we hereby tender our sincere and heartfelt wish that he may
enjoy many happy years and that this sword may be carried by those `worthy
and well qualified' and who will do honor to the Great Brotherhood of
Masonry. Nathan Hauck was born March 20, 1876, on the home place in Rohnerville
township, Humboldt county, attending school and graduating in the Alton
district. He also attended the business college at Eureka, and then for
several years assisted with the work on his father's farm. Being ambitious
to get in touch with modern thought and methods in agriculture, he went east
and took a course at the University of Wisconsin (at Madison), which has a
high reputation as an agricultural training school, and graduated therefrom
in 1909. On his return he took charge of the old home place of forty acres,
which had come into his possession, where he still lives and has his
principal interests. Eight acres are planted in apples and cherries. He also
gives particular attention to the raising of Poland-China hogs, having all
registered stock brought from the east, and he sells fine hogs to various
markets along the coast and in the east. Mr. Hauck has shown such
intelligent judgment in his various operations, and made such a success in
all the lines to which he has given special attention, that his work is
noted with interest in his locality, and he is helping to raise its
standards in every branch of farming. He is a member of the Dairymen's
Association of Ferndale. Fraternally Mr. Hauck is a Mason, belonging to Eel River Lodge No. 147, F. &
A. M., at Fortuna; Ferndale Chapter No. 78, R. A. M., and to Eureka
Commandery No. 35, K. T., and Rohnerville Chapter, 0. E. S. He also belongs
to the Alton Parlor of the Native Sons of the Golden West. Politically he is
a Republican and active in the work of the party. Mr. Hauck married January 4, 1911, Christina Marguerite Hansen, who was born
in Alton, the daughter of Mr. P. Hansen, who is also represented in this
work, and they have one child, Winifred. MARTIN LARSEN.—There is no country of Europe that has sent to the United
States a higher grade of citizens, nor a class that more quickly absorbs the
principles of American life and thought, than has Denmark. The Dane who
comes here as an adult adapts himself with splendid ability to the ways of
the new country, and in the next generation the children are true Americans
of the highest type. In the schools they rank ahead of practically every other nation in scholarship and in the business and
professional world they quite hold their own. One of the citizens from the
little kingdom who is well and favorably known in Humboldt county is Martin
Larsen, of Arcata, whose home is situated some two miles north of the town.
He has resided in this county for many years and has won many sincere
friends by his sterling qualities of mind and heart and he is ranked as a
citizen of which the community may well be proud. Mr. Larsen was born in Kedeby, on the Island of Langeland, in Denmark, March
12, 1878. He attended the public schools of his district for a short time,
but the circumstances in the home were such that at fourteen years of age he
was forced to start out for himself. He worked for a year or more on the
neighboring ranches and then determined to come to America, where he hoped
to find better conditions and greater opportunities for advancement. He
landed at New York and came directly to California, locating in Marin
county, December 10, 1893. Here he found employment on a farm, remaining in
Marin county for four years. In 1897 Mr. Larsen removed to Humboldt county,
locating at Blue Lake, where he again found employment on the dairy and
stock farms of that vicinity. From Blue Lake he later removed to Ferndale,
where he was in the employ of J. M. Hanson on his dairy ranch for some time.
For two years he also worked for his brother John Larsen, on Salmon creek,
where he was engaged in dairying and general farming. From Salmon creek Mr.
Larsen moved to Arcata Bottom and leased the ranch opposite the United
Creamery No. 1, and engaged in dairying for himself. Here he remained for
seven years and met with much success. He increased his herd of milch cows
from time to time, until he owned about twenty head. Later he leased sixty
acres of improved land from the old Clark estate and again engaged in
dairying and general farming. He moved to this place in the fall of 1912 and
has resided there since. He has increased his stock to thirty head of milch
cows and is being very successful in his undertaking. He is a stockholder in
the United Creameries, Inc., and was a director for three years. The marriage of Mr. Larsen took place at Salmon Creek, Humboldt county,
October 14, 1905, uniting him with Miss Matilda Christine Olsen, also a
native of Denmark, born July 8, 1879. She came to Humboldt county in 1903.
She is the mother of three sturdy children, two sons and one daughter. These
are Curtis Merwin, Martin Randolph, and Laura Matilda. Both Mr. and Mrs.
Larsen have a wide circle of friends in their community where they are
respected and admired. Mr. Larsen is the son of Lars and Karen Petersen, both natives of Denmark ;
the father was born July 12, 1822, and followed dairying the greater part of
his life and always resided in his native country. The parents are both
demised. It was in 1871 that Mr. Gray purchased his present home place near
Hydesville from Dr. Theodore D. Felt, paying $10,000 for the two hundred
seventy acres that made up the estate, which is one of the finest in the
county. In 1878 Mr. Gray sold his interest in the Iaqua stock ranch to his
partner and has since given his time and attention to the care of his home
farm. He has made many valuable improvements and has been engaged in
diversified farming and dairying. He also owns much other valuable property
in the valley, including a dairy ranch at Van Duzen, containing four hundred
acres, which he leases ; a part of the old Quick ranch near Carlotta; some
time ago he purchased the old Porter place in Hydesville, where he
makes his home, this containing six acres, and having one of the best
residences in town, which Mr. Gray renovated and improved before taking
possession. The marriage of Mr. Gray took place in Eureka, September 1, 1868, uniting
him with Miss Martha C. Creighton, the daughter of Thomas H. Creighton, one
of the well known pioneers of Humboldt county. She is a native of Santa
Clara county, but had lived in Eureka for some time before her marriage. She
has borne her husband two children, a son and a daughter, both of whom have
been reared and educated in Humboldt county and well known and highly
respected. Of these, Mary is now the wife of Rasmus Beck, a farmer of
Hydesville, and is herself the mother of two children, Luella and Everett ;
and George, who died after his marriage to Miss May Cuddeback, leaving his
widow and one child, Laura Merl, now fifteen years of age and residing in
San Jose with her mother. The record of Mr. Gray throughout his long residence in Humboldt county has
been one of enterprise, integrity and industry. His many reverses have not
embittered him, but rather have only developed the magnificent strength of
his character, and made him what he is today. Although well along in years
he is strong and active, both in mind and body. He is recognized as a
citizen of unimpeachable honor and integrity and his word is as good as his
bond, and better than the bond of most men. He has taken an active part in
the affairs of the community, and is a stanch supporter of the Republican
party, although he has never sought official preferment. He is prominent in
fraternal circles, being a member of the Odd Fellows, Hydesville Lodge, No.
250, and also of the Encampment, and has passed through all the chairs of
these orders. Both he and Mrs. Gray are members of the Rebekahs and Mrs.
Gray is also a member of the Christian Church. FRED A. LEACH.—The Leach family has been settled in this region from pioneer
days, Fred Leach, the father of Fred A. Leach, now a leading business man of
Fortuna, having located in Trinity county, of which Humboldt county once
formed a part, in 1853, and moved from there to Rohnerville in 1864. He
opened the first blacksmith shop in that part of the Eel River valley, and
was successfully engaged at his trade until his death. Fred A. Leach was
also in business at Rohnerville for a time, but for over twenty years he has
been established at Fortuna, where he has acquired a variety of interests
which indicate a progressive and energetic spirit. He has encouraged and
supported a number of local enterprises which have proved of distinct
benefit to the town, bringing better business facilities and improved
conditions of living. Fred Leach, the father of Fred A. Leach, was born on a farm in Michigan,
October 10, 1828, and was very young when he accompanied his parents to
Cleveland, Ohio, where they died. His father was a blacksmith, and he
learned the same trade, which he continued to follow throughout his life. In
1849 Mr. Leach was married in Cleveland to Miss Alameda Cordelia Foster, who
was born in that city June 7, 1829, and they lived there a few years longer,
until Mr. Leach caught the gold fever. In 1853 he brought his family across
the plains, making the journey by ox team, and that year located at
Weaverville, Trinity county, where he soon found work at his trade in the
mines. Employment was plentiful and well paid, and he was successful during
his residence at that place, whence he removed to Rohnerville, Humboldt
county,
in the year 1864. Here he started a blacksmith shop of his own, the first in
that part of the Eel River valley, and he became one of the substantial,
highly respected citizens of the town, where he remained the rest of his
life, dying there August 20, 1893. He long survived his wife, who passed
away in 1880. Of the nine children born to this couple only three survive at
this writing (1914). Mr. Leach was one of the early settlers in Trinity
county, and as a man of high character and real worth deserves a place among
the founders of civilization in this part of California. Fred A. Leach was born July 5, 1870, at Rohnerville, Humboldt county, where
he grew to manhood, living with his parents until he reached the age of
nineteen years. Meantime he attended the local public schools, also
assisting his father in the blacksmith shop, thus early acquiring a
familiarity with mechanical work which has aided him greatly since he took
up his chosen line. 1AThen he left his father's employ he commenced to learn
tinning and plumbing, and after giving two years to the trade went to San
Francisco and followed it there for one year. Returning to his home town he
bought out a store and commenced business on his own account, in 1890, and
he did business there for the next three years, though in the meantime, in
1892, he had acquired similar interests at Fortuna. At the latter place he
began very modestly, continuing to run his establishment at Rohnerville also
for a year, until he concluded the one at Fortuna had sufficient promise to
justify him in giving all his attention thereto. With the growth of the town
his patronage increased, until he now has a large number of customers, and
he has also put in a fine stock of hardware. He entered the latter line in
1904, in which year he built the commodious place of business which he still
owns and occupies, and he has taken in a partner, the firm name being Leach
& Smith. Other enterprises have been added as conditions seemed favorable.
For a short time Mr. Leach conducted a garage, and he now has the agency in
the Eel River valley for the Studebaker cars. For a number of years he was
active in the management of the Bank of Fortuna as a member of its board of
directors, serving from 1905 to 1912, and he has also been a director of the
Fortuna Water Company. Successful in the management of his own affairs, his
participation in those controlled by others is sufficient to gain for them
the confidence of the citizens of the town, who feel that his approval is
sincere and his opinion of real value. Mr. Leach was united in marriage, on July 22, 1900, with Miss Clara E.
Kehoe, who was born December 10, 1870, at Clinton, Pa., and came with her
parents to Humboldt county in the year 1883. No children have been born to
this union. Fraternally Mr. Leach is a member of the Freemasons. Originally
a Republican in politics, he has of late been in sympathy with the
Progressive wing of the party. G. HOSKINS, M. D.—One of the most important personages in any community is
always the physician and surgeon, the man to whom people must turn in their
hour of greatest need, and whose judgment and wisdom and honesty they must
trust unquestioningly in matters of the greatest import. Is it small wonder,
then, that such an one is subject to the most rigid scrutiny and that he is
always more or less under the microscope of the public eye, and that his
good points and also his faults are somewhat magnified, according as the
observer finds there the qualities that he trusts or distrusts? It is a
pleasing condition, therefore, when a young physician enters into a new
community and finds there a welcome and makes for himself a place in the
hearts of the people. This is the case with Dr. G. Hoskins, physician and
surgeon, who came to Ferndale in April, 1914, and who already has
established himself in the confidence of the people. He is a man of skill
and learning, and this is coupled with a natural adaptability to the
practice of medicine, and is aided and abetted by a keen studious mind and a
great love for his calling. Dr. Hoskins is a native of Iowa, having been born at Buena Vista, October 8,
1886, the son of Fred and Mary L. Hoskins, who at present reside at Santa
Rosa, Cal. The family left their home in Iowa when the son was six years of
age and went to Grand Junction, Colorado, where the father engaged in the
hardware business. It was here that young Hoskins grew to manhood,
completing the common and high school course, and for two years attending
the University of Denver. It was in 1905, when he was nineteen years of age,
that the family migrated to California, and he at once matriculated at the
University of California, at Berkeley, where he completed his college
course. In 1906 he entered the Cooper Medical College at San Francisco,
graduating with honors in 1910. He then served as interne at the City and
County Hospital for one year, following this with another year of similar
service at the St. Mary's Hospital. He then opened offices for himself in
San Francisco, and for a time enjoyed a lucrative practice in the city. He
felt, however, that greater opportunities, both from a point of service and
from general advancement in his profession, were to be found in a smaller
community, where he might establish himself and "grow up" with the town, and
accordingly he came to Ferndale and established himself here, with the
avowed intention of making this place his home. His offices are in the
Williams block, and already he is enjoying a lucrative practice.
The marriage of Dr. Hoskins took place in San Francisco, May 19, 1912,
uniting him with Miss Ruth Lesser, the daughter of J. Lesser, a San
Francisco merchant. Mrs. Hoskins is a woman of rare charm and, quite
independently of her husband's professional standing, is making a warm place
for herself in the social life of Ferndale, where she is an acknowledged
addition to any circle. It is well worth noting that Dr. Hoskins is descended from one of the best
known surgeons of the Civil war, his paternal grandfather, Dr. Henry
Hoskins, having been a very successful physician and having seen much
service during that troubled period. One of the strongest points in the
professional equipment of this young physician at Ferndale is his splendid
ability to diagnose a case correctly, almost from the beginning. This seems
to be a natural talent, and realizing its wonderful value, Dr. Hoskins has
cultivated and developed it for the good of suffering humanity. JORGEN C. CHRISTIANSEN.—The dairy interests of the celebrated Ferndale
district in Humboldt county have always received a splendid impetus and
support from Jorgen C. Christiansen, who since 1882 has been a resident of
this county, having come here directly from his home in Schleswig, Germany.
He is a pioneer in the creamery business in Ferndale, and is also the father
of A. H. Christiansen, the farm adviser of the county, Humboldt being the
first county in the state to take advantage of this provision of the state
law. The sketch of the younger Mr. Christiansen appears elsewhere in this
volume, but it is worthy of note that he received his first impulse toward a
scientific study of farm and dairy conditions from his splendid, capable
father,
and the admirable record that he has made throughout the county in his
official capacity is a living tribute to the faith of the older man.
Mr. Christiansen is a native of Tonder, Schleswig, Germany, and was born
January 16, 1852, when that part of the present empire was a part of
Denmark, the transfer not taking place until 1864. His father, Andreas
Christiansen, was a small farmer, and owned his own little home and plat of
ground. He died in Schleswig at the age of sixty-nine years. The mother,
Annie Marie Christiansen, lived to be ninety-five years of age, also passing
away in Schleswig. There were four children in the family, Jorgen C. being
the only son. Of the three daughters, Anna Christine is now the wife of
Jacob Trulsen, a farmer and dairyman in Schleswig ; Annie Marie died in the
old country, unmarried ; and Katrine D. is now the wife of Jens Jensen, a
dairyman, of Grizzly Bluff. The son of this family was brought up to work
and at an early age he learned the practical lesson of industry and
application. He attended the public schools of his native village and was
reared and confirmed in the Lutheran church. When he was still a lad he was
apprenticed 'to a shoemaker and mastered that trade, serving in all three
years. Following this he opened a shoemaker's shop of his own, where he
continued in business for many years. When he was twenty-six years of age
(1878) he was married to Miss Marie Christine Nissen, the daughter of Hans
M. Nissen, who lives in Ferndale and is now past the age of eighty-seven.
His wife, whose maiden name was Annie Schmidt, is also living, and, like her
husband, is almost ninety years of age. They were both born in Schleswig, as
was their daughter, her marriage to Mr. Christiansen being solemnized at the
Nissen home place, June 29, 1878. It was not until 1882 that Mr. Christiansen was seized with the American
fever and determined to come to California. Up to that time he had continued
to conduct his modest shoe shop. He disposed of his interests and, leaving
his wife and son in Schleswig, sailed from Hamburg for New York, crossed the
continent by rail to San Francisco, and from there went by the steamship
Humboldt to Eureka, arriving June 16, 1882. The. following day he went to
Ferndale, to work on a dairy farm, where a position was awaiting him. He
soon sent for his wife and child. Mrs. Christiansen, with her small son,
then only eighteen months old, made the long journey alone, joining her
husband October 21, 1882. For some time Mr. Christiansen continued to work
as a farm hand, but the fourth year of his residence in Humboldt county he
rented land and commenced farming and dairying for himself. For many years
he continued to rent, but fourteen years ago, in 1900, he purchased his
present home place of twenty-five acres, where he has since resided. He has
been a prime factor in the organization of several creamery companies and in
the general development of this great industry. He helped to organize the
Excelsior Creamery Company, which was one of the first in the Eel River
valley, being a prime mover in this enterprise, and also later on in the
organization of the Capital Creamery Company, the Excelsior having been sold
to the Central Creameries Company. He is now president of the Capital
Creamery Company, which is located on the Grizzly Bluff road, about a mile
and a half east of Ferndale and which uses the milk from about one thousand
cows daily. They manufacture extra fine creamery butter, which is mostly
sold in the San Francisco markets, their selling agents being Witzel &
Baker, corn mission merchants, of that city. They also manufacture a high
grade of
casein. The Capital Creamery Company was organized February 26, 1902, the
officers at the present time being : Jorgen C. Christiansen, president,
having served since the organization of the company ; Christian Terkelsen,
vice-president ; F. A. Nasher, secretary; H. G. Sweet, treasurer, and
Bernard Crowley, manager. In addition to his prominence in the commercial world, Mr. Christiansen has
also acquired a place of power and influence in social, fraternal and
educational circles. He was active in the organization of the Danish
Brotherhood in Ferndale, and was the first president of that order here, and
is now trustee and librarian of the Gimle Lodge No. 95 in Ferndale. He is
also a member of the Dania Society, and of the Danish Sisterhood, Mrs.
Christiansen also being a member of this latter organization. Both Mr. and
Mrs. Christiansen still adhere to the Lutheran faith in which they were
reared and take an active part in the affairs of the church in Ferndale.
Besides their eldest son, who was born in Schleswig, and who takes such a
prominent part at this time in the affairs of Humboldt county, there are two
other children, both born in Humboldt county. Of these Annie is now the wife
of John Rossen, a dairyman of Point Kenyon, and Jorgen M., who makes his
home with his parents, is associated with his father in the management of
the farm.
The father of Lewis S. East was John Samuel East, a native of London,
England, where he was a farmer. Before his marriage he went to Australia,
and at Adelaide was united with Miss Sarah Jane Sweeney, a native of
Dublin, Ireland. In Australia Mr. East followed farming, giving it up in
1861, when he brought his family to California, by sailing vessel, landing
at San Francisco. Until 1863 he resided in Marin County, in that year coming
to Humboldt County. Settlement was first made on Eel river island at the
mouth of the river ; from there removal was made to Cuddeback, where Mr.
East started to take up a claim, but the Indians were so troublesome that he
had to take his family into Hydesville for safety, thence later going to
Rohnerville. There he was engaged in making shaved shingles for about two
years, after which he purchased a sixty-five acre ranch on Eel river
bottom, one mile below Alton, on which he made great improvements, residing
there until his death, January 2, 1891, at the age of fifty-five years. His
wife died in 1895, at the age of fifty-three.
There were nine children in the East family, the two oldest having been born
in Australia : Daniel J. is a stock rancher residing at 'aqua, Cal.; Edward
G., a commission merchant, resides in Eureka ; Adeline, who was born in
Marin county, became the wife of A. L. Zahner, proprietor of the Star Hotel,
Fortuna ; John R. is a farmer and retired rancher, residing near Alton ;
William J. is a dairyman and race horse driver at Rohnerville ; Lewis S. is
the subject of this sketch ; Sarah J. died at the age of nineteen ; Mary
died at six years of age ; Emily Theresa is now the widow of Seth Drake of
Fortuna.
Lewis •Sherman East was born at Rohnerville November 19, 1870, and grew up
on the farm in the Eel River valley. He was married December 17, 1896, to
Miss Elizabeth Ellen Davis, of Alton, the daughter of Harrison Davis, a
native of Ross County, Ohio. Mrs. Davis was in maidenhood Margaret Keating,
a native of London, England. She was raised in Australia until seventeen,
when she came to Humboldt County, Cal. Here occurred her marriage to Mr.
Davis. He became the owner of a farm on McDiarmidt Prairie, making his home
there until accidentally killed by a train in 1906. His widow still makes
her home in the vicinity of Alton. They were the parents of twelve children,
ten of whom are living. Mrs. East, who was next to the oldest, was reared
and educated here. Mr. and Mrs. East have one child, Ethel M., who is a
freshman in the University of California at Berkeley.
Aside from the management of the East Brothers ferry, one mile below Alton
on the Eel river, which he personally operated for ten years, Mr. East has
been engaged in farming, dairying and stock raising ; his present farm
consists of one hundred ten acres of bottom land and sixty-five acres of
grazing land. He is breeding thoroughbred and high grade Jersey cattle,
having a herd of forty-two milch cows. He owns an orchard of seventeen acres
where he raises fine apples, shipping fifteen hundred boxes per year.
Mr. East is the president of the Humboldt County Farm Bureau, to which
office he was elected in August,, 1914. The other officers of this bureau
are: H. E. Adams, of Carlotta, Cal., vice-president ; C. J. McConnaha,
secretary and business manager; A. H. Christensen, farm adviser. The four
directors at large are: F. A. Cummings, Ferndale; E. B. Bull, Ft. Seward; F.
A. Newell, Fortuna; and F. E. Morrell, Arcata. Besides these there is a
director elected from each of the thirteen farm centers in the county.
Numerous other companies claim the attention of Mr. East, for besides the
above-mentioned position, he is a director in the Ferndale Agricultural
(Fair) Association, vice-president of the Dairy Association at Ferndale, a
member of the Ferndale Cow Testing Association and of the Rohnerville
Percheron Horse Company, of which he is also treasurer, this company owning
the celebrated gray imported Percheron stallion, Idumeen, five years old,
weighing twenty-one hundred and thirty pounds, and costing $4,800. Mr. East
is also president of the Eel River Valley Chamber of Commerce, which was
organized in 1914 for the purpose of promoting the best interests of the Eel
River Valley. He is a member of the Republican county central committee.
Fraternally Mr. East is a member of Eel River Lodge No. 210, I. 0. 0. F., at
Rohnerville, of Hydesville Encampment, I. 0. 0. F., and is past officer in
both. He and his wife are members of the Rebekahs at Hydesville. Mr. East
likewise holds membership in the Golden Star Parlor, N. S. G. W., at Alton,
having been through the chairs.
COGGESHALL LAUNCH & TOW BOAT CO.—The important factor in the life and
prosperity of every seaport is necessarily its shipping. The value of its
imports and exports, combined with the size, number and efficiency of its
carriers, registers on the commercial thermometer the size and importance of
the port in the business world. Had an article been written about the close
of the nineteenth century on the shipping industry as connected with the
inland waters of the Humboldt bay, it would have touched upon the now
obsolete wind-jammer, at the present time relegated to ancient history as
regards the commerce of the Pacific coast ports very much as is the whaler
of Atlantic coast ports; superseded in her work and importance by the modern
steamer of much greater tonnage and carrying capacity. The steamer propelled
by its own power combines efficiency, despatch and economy impossible in
the deposed wind-jammer. As great a change as is noticeable in the large
outside cargo carriers may be noticed in the class and character of bottoms
used in the inland waters of the bay. Were the bay business handled today
with the same equipment used at the time the wind-jammer handled the
commerce of this port and were the crude methods of that time still in
vogue, the dispatch demanded by the outside vessels while in the bay
completing cargoes could never be given.
The inland transportation of the Humboldt bay is an auxiliary of the
outside. Methods on the bay have advanced and system has been inaugurated
where formerly it was "every man for himself." As far as the steamer is
ahead of the practically discarded sailing ship, so far are the bay craft of
the present day ahead of the class of boats used in the olden times. During
the opening year of the twentieth century the transportation of two million
shingles from some mill up in one of the sloughs to the tackle of a ship
would have taken a large share of the lighter equipment of the bay. The
pike-pole navigators, several of whom were doing business then, would have
been utilized in the task. Today an order for five million shingles
delivered alongside would give no one any particular concern. They would be
loaded on lighters, of which there are several capable of handling from one
million to a million and a half. The load would be taken in tow by a launch
of sufficient power to handle and dock a large steamer. More easily than
under the old system one million shingles were handled, this whole large lot
would be docked alongside. The modern launch, equipped with from fifty to
one hundred or more horse-power, has taken the place of the picturesque
relic of the "good old days" and the man with the pike pole. Shipping coming
in from outside demands the services of a force of longshoremen greatly in
excess of the number required in former days when the men went to the
vessels, taking cargo in the stream and at wharves several miles distant
from the city wharves, mostly in row boats or in small and unreliable
launches. Today the gasoline marine engine is conceded to be as reliable as
steam, and no matter what number of men may be required to work a ship, they
are put aboard from a large launch with celerity and certainty.
In the olden times large picnics were handled by means of small lighters
which were tied up to a central wharf. When, a load was procured the
picnickers were towed down the bay to the desired place. Today when there
is a picnic, with an attendance of upwards of four thousand, a service is
inaugurated composed of powerful, comfortable boats, capable of carrying
from one hundred to two hundred persons, and these leave for the picnic
grounds at intervals of ten or fifteen minutes. Formerly parties wishing to
go to the trans-bay town of Samoa hired a row, boat and pulled across. Many
times a breeze would spring up prior to their return, making the bay choppy,
so that the rowers would return drenched to the skin. In former days
vessels wanting boiler water and loading at points on the bay where the
desired article was not obtainable, were under the necessity of leaving
their docks and steaming to Eureka to secure water before going to sea. At
present vessels wishing oil and water lay at their dock and an oil or water
barge comes alongside giving them whichever they desire, the ship thus being
saved delay and consequently saved money as well.
These comparisons between conditions on the bay in the past and at the
present time are not made in a spirit of criticism. The methods and
equipments of those days were sufficient for the then requirements. When
the need for larger, better service came, there were men ready to embrace
the opportunity. The result is that the waterfront is up-to-date. Steamship
men and travelers are quick to appreciate the launch service on the
Humboldt. Those who have visited at every port on the Pacific concede that
the launches here are superior in equipment, design and comfort to any
vessels of the same class on the entire coast. In 1912 the underwriters of
San Francisco were considering the advisability of accepting risks on
launches and sent their representative to survey the launches on the
Humboldt bay. As a result they adopted them as a standard to which the San
Francisco launches must adhere in order to be considered insurable risks.
One June morning ten or more years ago a transparency reading "Coggeshall
Launch 'Co., Ferry to Samoa," appeared at the foot of F Street, Eureka,
(this street being the launch center of the port). Capt. W. Coggeshall was
the "Company," being himself president, secretary, office boy, ticket taker,
and master of the little boat of twenty-passenger capacity which he had
purchased from William McDade, the Humboldt bay shipbuilder who since has
made a reputation as a master builder extending from Puget sound to the
Pacific coast. No one knew anything about Captain Coggeshall except that he
evidently was a Yankee and smilingly stated that he was from Nantucket, an
island off the Massachusetts coast. When he left on his scheduled trips
across the bay on the little boat, the Island Home, the transparency was
left to "hold down the job" until he returned. The trim boat attracted
favorable attention, but there were already two or three small power boats
on the bay and the people did not understand how another launch could
support its owner. Yet within three months Captain Coggeshall had designed
the Nantucket, Mr. McDade had built the boat and it was in commission, for a
long time running as the Pomona. The next step of the venturesome Captain
was the building of an office and the taking in of the transparency. It was
thereupon freely predicted that the building of the large boat would
financially ruin the owner, for the Nantucket was the first passenger
launch in the port and there seemed little use for such a vessel. Yet within
a year a third launch was designed and built, the next year a fourth was
added, a year later a fifth was added to the possessions of the company,
this being the Wannacomet. Two years later the Miacomet was launched and put
into commission. The first boat was built thirty feet in length with seven
horsepower ; the last boat was sixty-five feet long, with one hundred and
thirty-five horse-power.
After having operated an exclusive passenger service for the first two
years, Captain Coggeshall then bought one small lighter. At the present
time, either through purchase or by building, he has come into the
ownership of eleven. The first lighter carried fifteen tons cargo and the
last one was built for two hundred tons. The company, which is now
capitalized at $50,000, owns the six launches and eleven lighters, employs a
superintendent and from sixteen to twenty men, and has the reputation of
working its men the shortest hours and paying them the highest wages of any
company of a similar nature operating on any Pacific coast port. About 1911
the company purchased the ferry steamer Antelope from the Hammond Lumber
Company, together with their lighters and good-will, that concern being a
competitor in a way.
The Marine Exchange of Humboldt bay was started by Captain Coggeshall about
1909. Finding that the general public were in ignorance concerning the
movement of vessels in San Francisco harbor and along the coast, he
established the exchange in order to systematize such information and to
serve as an auxiliary to the general business of the shippers. From its
nature it is of course not a money-making proposition. About 1907 the
Captain made a contract with the government to operate as United States mail
contractor on all the steam schooners running between Eureka and San
Francisco. Prior to that time the mail had come to Eureka on two steamship
lines exclusively. Through his system every steamer between this port and
San Francisco became a mail steamer and the efficiency of the service was
greatly enhanced. It had not been uncommon for an interval to occur of three
days between mails, but under the present system the port practically has
one mail in and one mail out every day, the exceptions being infrequent. All
the lighters and launches of the company were designed by the Captain and
built by Mr. McDade. During the Pacific coast visit of the great American
fleet the Captain took the Nantucket and Wannacomet to Monterey bay and San
Francisco, where' they attracted perhaps a greater degree of admiring
attention than any other boats in evidence. The reputation of the company
for reliable service is fully established and each year they handle three
hundred thousand passengers between Eureka and the various places of call on
the bay.
When the company took over the New Era Park about 1910 its only claim to
notoriety was a broken-down wharf, a redwood open dance platform and several
acres of fine trees. Within three months from the date of transfer New Era
park opened up with a casino, 70x150 feet, with a fine floor and modern
appointments. In point of excellent floor and size of the building, Humboldt
Bay now has the best recreation park and Casino north of San Francisco. The
first Chautauqua ever held in northern California had its headquarters on
these grounds, the Casino being used as the auditorium. This article is not
written for the purpose of exploiting the Coggeshall Launch & Tow Boat
Company ; yet it is impossible to treat of the bay transportation business
without dwelling upon the individual and the concern responsible for the
remarkable transformation of the past decade. Business made the great
improvement in transportation and Captain Coggeshall happened to be the man
to work everything out to a definite end. There will always be an
opportunity at this port. Humboldt bay will be a standard in marine matters
as long as there are practical men to take advantage of the local
opportunity. Shipping and commerce are here and the bay business therefore
must necessarily prosper as long as it is under the superintendence of men
who thoroughly understand the work and its requirements.
J. S. MURRAY.—Though not one of the oldest citizens of Eureka, Humboldt
county, Mr. Murray holds the record among its present inhabitants for
longest continuous residence—from 1858 to the present time. For several
years previously the family had been settled in Humboldt County. He is now
living retired, but by no means inactive, his beautiful lawn, flower and
vegetable gardens making his home one of the features of the neighborhood
in which it is located, and all cared for by his own labor. The Murray
family have contributed much to the best citizenship of the place, and the
father, the late John S. Murray, the first representative of the family,
made many of the original surveys in Humboldt county.
John S. Murray was a native of Scotland, born at Dysart, near Edinburgh,
where he passed his early years. When a young man he went out to New
Zealand. There he married Janie S. Deuchar, who was born in Aberdeenshire,
Scotland, and they continued to live in New Zealand until after the birth of
their eldest two children. Attracted by the stories of gold discoveries in
California, these adventurous young people determined to try their fortune,
and in 1849 came to this country, arriving at San Francisco. After two
years' residence in that city they came up to Humboldt bay, which Mr. Murray
had first visited in December, 1850, during the gold excitement at Gold
Bluff. He returned to San Francisco, and in the spring came back with his
family, landing in what is now Humboldt county May 31st with his wife and
two children. They first lived at Arcata (then called Union) for several
years, in 1858 moving to Eureka, where a permanent home was made. Mr. Murray
was engaged almost exclusively at his profession, surveying, for which he
found plenty of demand, and was considered so skillful and reliable that he
was chosen county surveyor several times. He lived to the age of sixty-four
years, surviving his wife; who died when about fifty-five years old. J. S.
is the eldest of their four children ; Margaret S. died in Humboldt county ;
George D., of Eureka, born at Arcata, is judge of the Superior court ; Lucy
A., born at Arcata, is the wife of Daniel 0. Barto, who resides at Urbana,
Ill., being connected with the University of Illinois.
J. S. Murray was born March 17, 1848, so he has lived in Humboldt county
from the age of three years. His education was begun at Arcata; but acquired
mostly at Eureka, where he has lived ever since he removed thither with his
parents in the year 1858. During his business life he was engaged
principally in clerical work, being a bookkeeper by profession. He began in
the employ of L. C. Schmidt & Co., hardware merchants, was subsequently with
the H. H. Buhne Company, in the same line, and later became connected with
A. W. Randall, real estate operator, who afterward had a private bank and in
time a state bank. After Mr. Randall's failure, he took a position with
Belcher & Crane, who carried on an abstract business, remaining with them
for a period of five or six years. He is now living retired, one of the most
esteemed residents of Eureka. During his long association with various
business houses of the city he became acquainted with many residents of the
place, by all of whom he is regarded with the utmost respect, for his kindly
disposition, modest character and sterling personal qualities. Mr. Murray
built the pleasant cottage home at No. 1407 Fifth street which he and his
wife have occupied for many years, and the beautiful lawn, profusion of
flowers, shrubbery and vegetable garden show the loving care which Mr.
Murray bestows upon them. The place is a veritable landmark of Eureka.
Fraternally he is a Mason, and a past master of the blue lodge at Eureka.
In 1872 Mr. Murray was married at Eureka to Miss Mary W. Cutten, a native of
Nova Scotia, who came to this city in the '60s with her father, Robert D.
Cutten, at that time a widower with a family of six children, three sons and
three daughters. Mr. Cutten was a ship carpenter and spar maker, and after a
time became engaged in the manufacture of shingles. Mr. and Mrs. Murray have
had three children: Jane, who is the wife of H. A. Buck and living in San
Francisco; Edward S., of Eureka, and Keith C., who lives at San Francisco.
The parents are members of the Unitarian Church, with which all the family
have been associated.
EDGAR C. COOPER.—Since the world began, affairs of state and of government
have ever attracted the attention of the most able men of the age,
challenging their greatest powers, and closely associating them with the
intimate details of the life of city, state or nation, and ultimately, in
its largest sense, with the progress of the world. This is particularly so
in these later days when the science of government has been recognized, and
the political life of a man lasts only so long as he serves the people—or at
least keeps them thinking that he does. This last, however, is increasingly
difficult, and it is quite safe to say that in the commonwealth of
California, the men who today hold offices in the state are of the finest
that are to be found here or elsewhere. Among this class may be named the
present president of the Great Republic Insurance Company of Los Angeles and
late state insurance commissioner, Edgar C. Cooper, of Eureka, who was
appointed to this important position by Governor Gillett during the latter
part of his term of office, and whose term expired in June, 1914. In
addition to requisites of character and: ability, it seems especially
appropriate that the people should have confidence in, and be served in
such a capacity by, a native son, which Mr. Cooper is. He was born in
Eureka, Humboldt County, October 6, 1868. He is the son of Solomon and Eliza
(Wilder) Cooper, natives of England and Maine, respectively, who were
married in Massachusetts and came from that state to California in 1852,
locating in Humboldt County in 1856, and thereafter making that their home.
The father taught school and later became receiver of public moneys in the
United States land office at Eureka, which position he held for nineteen
years. Edgar C. received his education in the public schools of Eureka,
graduating from the Eureka Academy, and afterward from the Hastings College
of Law, in San Francisco, in 1891.
After completing his law studies and being admitted to the bar, young Mr.
Cooper returned to Eureka, where he began the active practice of his chosen
profession in partnership with Arthur W. Hill. The private practice of the
law was not destined to be his life work, however, for his strongest
inclinations were toward public service, and obtaining the nomination for
district attorney of Humboldt county on the Republican ticket, in 1898, he
was elected by a handsome majority. He served in this capacity for four
years, and in 1903 he was elected city attorney of Eureka, again polling a
decided majority. He continued to occupy this position until 1906, when a
wider field opened as the natural result of his unusual ability and his
splendid grasp of the affairs of the state, and he went to Sacramento as
private secretary to Governor Gillett. In this new capacity Mr. Cooper made
many friends and again proved his ability to handle difficult situations and
to hold in his magnificent mind the multitude of details to be summoned when
they were of vital importance to his chief. As a further recognition of his
merit, Governor Gillett, in June, 1910, appointed him insurance
commissioner of California, which position he filled until June, 1914, when
he resigned to assume the presidency of the Great Republic Life Insurance
Company of Los Angeles. To this company's interests he is giving his active
attention and the benefit of his years of professional experience.
Mr. Cooper was married in Eureka, being united with Miss Margaret Johnson, a
native of Humboldt County, who died in Sacramento in 1909, leaving two
children: Elizabeth Marie and Dorothy Prescott.
Always keenly interested in the affairs of his city, county and state, Mr.
Cooper has been a factor in the affairs of his party for many years, and in
Eureka, which he still claims as his home, and where he holds large
financial interests, he is recognized as one of the most influential men in
the civic affairs of the city. He is progressive and aggressive,
broad-minded and clearheaded, with a wonderful faculty for grasping a
situation in a few moments and retaining the details.
Another phase of affairs which interests this genial statesman is the
fraternal life of his home city, where he is a member of several of the
prominent orders. Although he has necessarily been away from Eureka for
several years, his present official headquarters being in Los Angeles, and
his secretaryship to the governor requiring his entire time in Sacramento,
and as insurance commissioner with an office in San Francisco, he has
retained his several memberships in the orders where he was initiated as a
young man, feeling that there he would be more at home in the organization.
Among such fraternal orders are the Masons, Elks, Odd Fellows, Woodmen of
the World and the Foresters of America, and it goes without saying that he
is prominent in the Eureka parlor, N. S. G. W.
The services that Mr. Cooper has rendered his county and state have been
clean and energetic. He has never faltered in the execution of his duty, and
the affairs of his office have always been conducted in a manner that has
defied criticism, rather demanding praise and appreciation, even from his
political opponents.
HARRY W. JACKSON was born in Abbot, Piscataquis County, Maine, the son of
Elisha B. and Corrilla (Kendall) Jackson, both of whom were also born there.
The father came to California by way of Panama, in 1851, and followed mining
at Grass Valley until 1859, when he returned to Maine, where he was married.
Besides being successfully engaged in the mercantile business, he also
manufactured shingles at Abbot, Maine. In 1875 he brought his family to
Arcata, Humboldt County, where he entered the employ of Falk, Chandler &
Co., lumber manufacturers, near Arcata, where he became a contractor for the
logging department and afterwards was similarly engaged with the Elk River
Mill and Lumber Co. at Falk until he returned to his home in Arcata. In his
death in 1905 there passed away one of the old time lumber men. In 1883,
associated with George W. Chandler, and others, he started a mill at Blue
Lake under the firm name of Chandler, Henderson & Co., which mill was moved
to the north fork of Mad River in 1886, the present site of the Riverside
mill, and in the Blue Lake mill in 1883 his son Harry W. Jackson began his
career in the lumber business. E. B. Jackson was interested in the mill
until his death. His wife's demise occurred in Arcata in 1897.
The only child born to his parents, Harry W. Jackson was born January 28,
1863, and was reared in Abbot, Maine, attending the public schools until
1875. It was in that year that he came to Arcata with his parents. After
completing his studies in the public schools, he entered the Oakland High
school, from which he graduated in June, 1883. Immediately thereafter he
returned to Humboldt County and in the following month entered the employ of
Chandler, Henderson & Co. as bookkeeper, at the time the mill was started at
Blue Lake. Besides having charge of the office he incidentally had charge of
the goods also. In 1886 the mill machinery was moved to Riverside, where a
new mill was built and at that time Mr. Jackson bought Henderson's
interest, and the firm became Chandler-Jackson Co. He continued as general
manager and operated the mill under the above firm name until 1889, when Mr.
Chandler sold his interest and retired. The remaining partners then
incorporated the Riverside Lumber Co. with Mr. Jackson as president, and
under this title business was carried on until 1903, when they associated
themselves with Charles Nelson Co. of San 'Francisco and purchased the
Korbel Mills, also the Arcata & Mad River railroad, at the same time
incorporating the present company, Northern Redwood Lumber Co., with H. W:
Jackson, president and general manager ; L. Everding, secretary ; Frank
Graham, vice-president, and Charles Nelson Co., treasurer. It is significant
that after twelve years the officers are still the same as when the business
was started.
Since then the company has operated both mills and each has been enlarged
until its capacity has doubled, having at present a combined capacity of
about two hundred thousand feet per day. Dry kilns have been erected so that
dry finished lumber is shipped from the mill. The company owns extensive
holdings of two billion feet of standing redwood timber accessible to the
mill. Mr. Jackson is vice-president and general manager of the Arcata & Mad
River railroad, which operates a standard gage road of twelve miles from the
two mills to Arcata wharf, their shipping point, where vessels are loaded
for all parts of the world. The mill company has also built many miles of
railroad through the woods, at present operating about twelve miles for
bringing the logs to the mill. The town of Korbel has a population of about
four hundred fifty people, who are housed in buildings erected and owned by
the mill company.
Aside from this company Mr. Jackson is interested in the Charles Nelson
Company of San Francisco, of which he is vice-president. This latter
company owns and operates mills at Mukilteo and Port Angeles, Wash., and
Merced Falls, Cal. For the past twenty-nine years Mr. Jackson has been
general manager of the company and has always been on hand not only in
immediate touch with the two mills, but also in close touch with the lumber
industry on the Pacific coast. For the last few years he has also had the
general supervision of the manufacture of lumber for the Charles Nelson
Company’s plants. He is president of the Humboldt Manufacturers Association
of Eureka, which owns and operates the tugs on Humboldt Bay, and is also
president of the Humboldt Stevedore Company of Eureka. He is also a
stockholder and director of the Bank of Arcata and a stockholder in the
Arcata Savings Bank.
Mr. Jackson was married in Oakland, being united with Alica M. Betancue, a
native of that city. Mr. Jackson was made a Mason in Arcata Lodge No. 106,
F. & A. M., is a member of Humboldt Chapter No. 52, R. A. M., of Eureka ;
Eureka Commandery No. 35, K. T., and of Oakland Consistory, Scottish Rite,
Islam Temple, A. A. 0. N. M. S., of San Francisco, and with his wife is a
member of the Order of Eastern Star. Mr. Jackson is also a member of
Anniversary Lodge No. 85, I. 0. 0. F., Arcata, as well as Eureka Lodge No.
652, B. P. 0. E. He is an active member and supporter of the Arcata Chamber
of Commerce and also the Eureka Chamber of Commerce. He believes firmly that
the principles of the Republican Party are for the best interests of this
county.
GEORGE HENRY MINER.—Some seven miles south of Petrolia lies the ranch of
George Henry Miner, a young cattleman whose success has gained him a
position among the substantial operators in his section, where he controls
eight hundred acres of grazing lands upon which he is raising beef cattle
and hogs. Mr. Miner has made his way by hard work, but he has found time to
interest himself in the general welfare, and besides giving due attention to
his own affairs, encourages all local enterprises which are aids to
progress, and is looked upon as one of the promising citizens of his
vicinity, the kind which constitutes the backbone of any community.
Mr. Miner's parents, Mr. and Mrs. Allen Miner, were early settlers in the
Mattole valley and among the most highly respected residents of that region
in their day. Both are deceased, and they are survived by five children:
Bertha, now the wife of Harry E. Hurlbutt, of Alton, Humboldt County; Annie,
wife of Harry Cowan, of Briceland, Humboldt county ; George Henry ; Lee, who
lives in the state of Washington ; and Della, wife of S. Nielson, a
groceryman at Eureka, Humboldt county. These are the heirs to the Miner
estate, which includes the larger part of the ranch now operated by George
Henry Miner.
George Henry Miner was born December 6, 1879, in the Mattole valley, where
all his life has been passed. He attended the local public schools, having
very good advantages, and since he began agricultural pursuits on his own
account has been doing well, both as farmer and stockman, though
cattle-raising has been his specialty. He owns an undivided two-fifths
interest in six hundred and forty acres as one of the heirs of the Miner
estate, and leases one hundred sixty acres adjoining. His beef cattle and
hogs are in good demand in the market, and he is extending his operations as
his increasing capital permits, progressing conservatively but steadily.
His property lies to the right of the road from Petrolia to Upper Mattole.
Mr. Miner is a man of friendly, hospitable nature, generous in his relations
with his fellow men and socially inclined, and he is a member of the Farm
Center and one of its enthusiastic advocates. He is particularly concerned
over the public school conditions of his locality, and is at present serving
as school trustee, in which position he has given efficient service.
Politically he supports the principles of the Republican Party.
At the age of twenty-five years Mr. Miner was married to Miss Belle Lowry, a
native of Humboldt County, who has proved a congenial companion, sharing the
estimation and friendly regard in which her husband is held by all his
neighbors. Mr. and Mrs. Miner have four children, Edith, Allen, Doris and
Ruth. Fraternally he is a member of the Woodmen of the World at Petrolia.
FIRST NATIONAL BANK OF ARCATA.—A distinct advance was made in the financial
affairs of Arcata and vicinity with the opening of the First National Bank
in October, 1913, and with the chartering of the institution to conduct a
general commercial banking business. Local association with the new
enterprise appears in the fact that the capital stock of $50,000, fully paid
up, is held almost wholly by Arcata citizens, only small blocks of stock
being in the hands of outside people. The first officers of the bank, the
men who are guiding its financial policy in these early years of growth and
development, are as follows: President, Isaac Minor; vice-president, Peter
Johansen ; and cashier, J. C. Toal. The president and vice-president also
act on the directorate in conjunction with A. N. Hunt, Frank Graham and Thad
A. Smith.
The structure occupied by the bank, owned by President Minor and leased to
the bank officials for a term of years, was erected especially for banking
purposes and contains every equipment suggested by modern banking
necessities. In exterior appearance it is simple but substantial, the
reinforced concrete being not only fireproof, but also able to withstand the
ravages of time for several generations. On the northeast corner of Tenth
and H streets, occupying a space 35x75 feet, in a large lot, the building
with its cheerful finishing of light tan stone paint, with its illumined
sign over the large double doors and its large windows lettered in gold,
forms a durable and modern addition to the business section of the town.
Entering the bank one finds an L-shaped lobby 10x25 in the south end and
10x65 on the west, finished with a six-inch marble base and three oak wall
desks. The floor is a variety of mosaic known as the Terranzo finish. Around
the walls are plaster pillars twelve feet apart, surmounted by ornamental
caps. A beam ceiling, together with a five-foot wainscoting, .of native pine
in the working space and fumed oak in the lobby, and .a quartered oak
counter and partition separating the working space and lobby, complete the
interior woodwork design.
The electric fixtures of the bank are modern and the ground glass globes
give a soft and mellow light. Artificial light, however, is not often found
necessary, for the building is exceptionally well lighted by large windows
on the south and west and by two skylights, each ten feet square, over the
main working space, together with another of the same size over the
directors' room. The vaults are of modern construction, with sixteen-inch
reinforced concrete walls, ceiling and floor, and steel railroad iron set a
few inches apart in concrete, giving a strength that even a modern
sixteen-inch gun would have some difficulty in battering to pieces. The
outer door is of very heavy design and is fitted with a seventy-two-hour,
double time lock, and also a combination lock of most modern design. The
safe deposit department is equipped with one hundred and forty-eight modern
safe deposit boxes, weighing twenty-five hundred pounds and lined with
heavy steel. Some of the boxes are fitted with combinations and others with
keys, and all are adapted to the storage of valuable papers, jewelry or
coin. A private room known as the coupon room has been fitted up for the use
of people desiring to rent boxes. A strong steel grill and a steel door
separate the safe deposit department from the bank vault, in which is the
Diebold coin safe, the last word in burglar-proof safes. It is fitted with a
seventy-two-hour triple-time lock, working automatically from the inside, no
bolts being exposed on the outside of the safe. The interior is equipped
with chests for gold and silver with combination locks on each. The interior
of the vault is lined with Bessemer steel, with a four-inch space between
the steel and the concrete, which keeps the interior of the vault entirely
dry. A feature of the bank interior is the ladies' rest room, in the north
end of the public lobby, where may be found a desk telephone for the free
use of women, also writing materials and easy chairs. In the rear of the
building there is a directors' room twenty feet square, while opening off
the public lobby is the office of the vice-president. In the construction of
the building it was the aim of Mr. Minor to utilize the services of the
workmen of Arcata as far as possible, and he also endeavored to secure the
materials in Humboldt county, thus proving his loyalty to the people and
products of his own locality. In the modern structure with its substantial
equipment he has realized his ambition to secure the best facilities and has
made it possible for the bank to adopt for its slogan the motto, "Equipped
for service."
JAMES AUGUSTUS HADLEY, M. D.—In the midst of the will-of-the wisp
allurements of far-distant fields it is seldom that a young man selects for
his permanent home the town of his nativity and the vicinity of his early
educational training, but the choice of Dr. Hadley in selecting a suitable
location for the practice of medicine brought him back to Arcata, where he
was horn October 3, 1884, and where his early education was obtained in the
common schools. The Doctor is a son of James L. and Elizabeth (Newsome)
Hadley, natives respectively of Vermont and Canada, the former a pioneer of
1880 in Humboldt County, where he engaged in teaching in the Indian school
at Orleans, continuing as a schoolmaster until ill health obliged him to
relinquish active duties. The parents still make their home in Arcata.
It was through the influence of his brother-in-law, Dr. F. H. Bangs, that
Dr. Hadley selected medicine as his preferred field of practice. Accordingly
he directed his studies with that object in view. Largely through his own
determined efforts and self-reliant industry he was enabled to take the
complete course of lectures in the Cooper Medical College at San Francisco,
from which he received the degree of M. D. in 1911. Returning to Arcata, he
opened an office and began to devote himself to a general practice. From the
first he has been successful. The fact that he has a personal reputation
from childhood for integrity and high principles of honor has been of the
utmost value to him in his professional affairs. During 1913 he erected on
Sixteenth Street a fine, modern hospital of fourteen beds, with full
surgical equipment and all modern appliances, the institution being
conducted under the title of the Hadley Sanitarium at Arcata. In 1914 he
incorporated the Arcata Fraternal Hospital, of which he is president and
manager, as well as medical director. By his marriage to Hildegard C.
Ostermann, a native of Nevada City, Cal., he has two sons, George Gordon and
Alvin Bruce. Besides being a member of the Humboldt County and California
State Medical Associations, the Doctor acts as physician for the following
orders at Arcata: Eagles, Red Men, Ancient Order of Foresters, Companions to
the Order of Foresters, Woodmen of the World, Women of Woodcraft, U. P. E.
C., I. D. E. S., and the National Croatian Society. The Doctor has his
offices in the suite of rooms his brother-in-law, Dr. F. H. Bangs, occupied
thirty years ago.
FLORENCE HENRY OTTMER, M. D.—It is the privilege of successful men to have
a hobby aside from the specialty that forms a large part of their very
existence, and Dr. Ottmer, in the midst of engrossing duties as a physician
and surgeon at Eureka, is no exception to other professional leaders in
having a line of recreation that gives him both work and refreshing change
of occupation. Always a lover of animals, he has become an expert both with
the gun and the fishing rod, and many of his vacations are spent in the
woods or along the streams. As he wandered through fields and forests he
came to observe and study the birds of Humboldt County, and this study led
to the making of a collection which is now almost complete. His office
possesses unusual interest, for in addition to the equipment to be found
among the possessions of all modern physicians, there is also an exhibit of
birds native to the county, as well as the skins of bears and other animals
that have fallen beneath his unerring marksmanship. Almost every year he
goes to the mountains for a bear hunt and, in the air of the forest and in
search for game, he finds needed change from the arduous and at times
exhausting duties of his profession.
A taste for materia medica and a love for the country come to Dr. Ottmer as
an inheritance from his father, the late H. C. Ottmer, M. D., who was born,
reared and educated in Germany, and was a graduate of the St. Louis Medical
College in Missouri. For perhaps twenty-five years he engaged in practice in
Warren County near Warrenton, Mo., and there his son, Florence Henry, was
born December 4, 1861. Three other children were born of that marriage, his
wife being Helen Archer, who was born in Missouri of Virginian parentage.
After her death, which occurred at the age of thirty-two, the Doctor married
her sister, by which union he became the father of two children. During 1877
the family came to California. About eight miles from Healdsburg in Sonoma
county the Doctor bought a large fruit ranch on Dry creek and there he
conducted extensive fruit enterprises with excellent results. Longevity was
characteristic of his family, his father living to be ninety-five and his
mother one hundred and three, while his own death occurred at the age of
nearly eighty years.
It was not the wish of Dr. Henry C. Ottmer that his son, F. H., should enter
the profession in which he himself had achieved noteworthy success, and his
opposition to the plan was so great that he refused to pay the expenses of a
medical education. With sturdy resolution of purpose, the young man set
about earning his own way through college. After graduating from the State
Normal School at San Jose he taught for two years at Bodega, Sonoma County,
and then took the course of lectures in Cooper Medical College, San
Francisco, from which he was graduated in 1887. A year was then spent in
post-graduate work at the College of Physicians and Surgeons, New York City.
On his return to California he began to practice in the southern part of
Humboldt County, but in 1891 removed to Eureka, where since he has
established an important practice, ranking as one of the foremost physicians
of the city. His love of nature finds expression in the cultivation of a
farm of one hundred sixty acres near Yuba City, Sutter County, which he is
developing into a fruit farm, setting it out chiefly to peaches and almonds.
With his wife, who was Miss Annie Hutchinson, a native of Santa Rosa, this
state, he shares in the good wishes of the people in every class of society
and forms a distinct accession to the citizenship. Having no children of
their own, they adopted two orphans, Alice E. and Esther M. For some time
Dr. Ottmer officiated as president of the Gentlemen's Driving Club of
Eureka. His fraternities are the Elks, Woodmen of the World and Red Men.
Partisanship has not appealed to him in political issues and he maintains
an independence of thought that finds expression in a ballot for such
candidates as he deems best qualified to represent the people, irrespective
of party ties. In his chosen field of professional labor he has been
prospered and abundantly merits the prestige and popularity accorded him.
THOMAS CARR.—Nothing contributed to the American colonization of California
in greater degree than the discovery of gold. In the years following that
memorable occurrence men sought the Pacific coast from every section of the
world, among these Argonauts being Thomas Carr, a native of Belfast,
Ireland, and an immigrant to the United States in young manhood. Daily toil
in Wisconsin brought him a livelihood, but nothing beyond a bare
subsistence, so that he was eager to try his fortune in the great unknown
region beyond the barren plains and desolate mountains. Nor did he have
reason to regret the decision that made him a resident of California, for
although he failed to find the hoped-for wealth in the mines and did not,
indeed, become very rich at any time or in any occupation, he made a
comfortable living and gained many warm, devoted friends in both Trinity
and Humboldt counties.
After having made his home at Weaverville, Trinity County, from 1852 to
1868, in the latter year Mr. Carr removed to Humboldt County and settled in
Eureka, where he was a pioneer carriage-maker. From that time until his
death he was identified with the county seat. It was his good fortune to
retain to the last his mental and physical faculties. His clear memory
enabled him to recall many thrilling events of the '50s and frequently he
narrated early happenings that had much to do with the shaping of ultimate
achievements in the west. Personally he possessed the ready wit of his
race, the habit of viewing the world with a cheerful spirit and a keen humor
from which his kind heart kept every trace of satire. While living in
Trinity County he became a charter member of the North Star Lodge No. 61, I.
0. 0. and Stella Encampment No. 12, while later he identified himself with
the Veteran Odd Fellows of Weaverville. Through his marriage to Anne Hodgins
he became the father of five children, namely : Elizabeth H., Mary A., Emma
F: Edward Baker and Kate L., Mrs. Harpst, of Eureka. The first-named makes
her home with Mrs. Harpst, and the others are deceased.
ISAAC MINOR.—The president of the First National Bank of Arcata, which
institution he organized and opened for business in October, 1913, is Mr.
Minor, a pioneer of December, 1853, and through all the intervening years an
associate in movements for the permanent upbuilding of Humboldt county.
Whether the elements entering into his success were innate personal
attributes or whether *in part they were quickened by the circumstance of
his early identification with California, it would be impossible to
determine. Suffice it to know that he reached the success and that Humboldt
County has been the center of his large enterprises. To him belongs the
credit for the building of the Warren Creek standard-gauge railroad, which
makes possible a convenient connection with the Northwestern Pacific
Railroad. Also to him may be given credit for the development of a granite
quarry near Arcata, a plant mining a fine quality of granite that splits
like wood, but hardens when exposed to the air. Sawmills, creameries,
electric lighting systems, freight vessels, timber lands and farms represent
the varied character of his commercial connections and the remarkable change
that has come into his life since he arrived in Arcata, friendless, without
money or influence, and in the •frontier environment of the then Uniontown,
the original county seat of Humboldt county, took up the task of rising out
of day labor into independence. How well he succeeded in reaching the goal
of his ambitions is a matter of common knowledge throughout the entire
county, whose resources have been developed under his sagacious supervision
and whose opportunities he believes to be as great as those offered by any
section of the state.
Descended in the third generation from Gen. Ephraim Douglas of
Revolutionary war fame, Isaac Minor is a son of Samuel and Louise (Keller)
Minor, natives respectively of New Jersey and Pennsylvania, and during early
married life residents of the last-named state, where their son, whose name
introduces this article, was born on a farm April 8, 1830. The wife and
mother died in the Keystone state at forty years of age, and later the
father became a pioneer of Iowa, where he spent his last days in the home of
a daughter. During the fall of 1851 Isaac Minor came via Panama to
California. The voyage up the Pacific to San Francisco on the old ship,
Monumental City, consumed forty-nine clays and was filled with peril. More
than once the passengers had to take turns in pumping the water out of the
unseaworthy craft. The vessel cast anchor in safety, but on its next voyage
was lost. March of 1852 found Mr. Minor in Sacramento, where the great flood
was in progress. All night he worked for $1 an hour, carrying off goods that
were being destroyed by water. In the morning he waded out through the water
and walked to Chinese Camp in Tuolumne County, where he spent eighteen
months in prospecting and mining. Chance brought him to Humboldt County
during the latter part of 1853. Being young, energetic and capable, he had
no trouble in securing work, but his independence of spirit led him to
prefer to work in his own interests rather than in the interests of others.
A store at Orleans bar on the Klamath River would have brought Mr. Minor
large profit and permanent employment had it not been for the hostile
Indians, who killed all of his neighbors and threatened his life, so that
after two years at that place he was forced to leave. It was during the same
period of Indian hostility that he became a warm friend of Ulysses S. Grant,
then a lieutenant, who ten years later was one of the most distinguished
figures in American military affairs and general of the entire army, but who
at that time was unknown and obscure, stationed at Fort Humboldt to provide
protection for settlers against the Indians. For seven years Mr. Minor
operated and owned a pack-train and sold goods at the mines, meanwhile
meeting with many thrilling adventures. His savings were invested in a stock
ranch at Camp Anderson on Redwood creek and he operated the property until
the savages burned his buildings and killed a number of his neighbors. To
guard against further depredations soldiers were stationed on the Minor
ranch during the winter of 1859. When the troops left conditions remained
quiet until 1863, when a further outbreak on the part of the Indians caused
Mr. Minor to leave that district and to join his family at Arcata. At the
beginning of the Indian war he owned one thousand head of cattle and at its
close he scarcely had one hundred left, but even more disastrous was the
damage done to buildings of his own and his neighbors, while the greatest
disaster" of all was in the loss of life, his brother, Samuel Minor, being
among the many to fall victims to the hostility of the savages. When peace
had descended upon the valley and peaceful vocations were once more
possible, he bought one hundred and forty acres one mile from Arcata on the
bottom land and there he lived for sixteen years, meanwhile not only farming
but also building and operating two sawmills with Noah Falk as a partner.
Next he built a mill at Warren creek four miles north of Arcata and operated
it for fifteen years until the plant was burned to the ground. About 1885 he
built the Glendale mill, from which power is furnished for the Blue Lake
electric light system. About 1898 he built a creamery and other buildings on
his ranch six miles north of Arcata and established a station which he named
McKinleyville. A corps of employees was put to work at the creamery, store,
hotel and farm, as well as in the Glendale store and on the broad acres of
timber land. About the beginning of the twentieth century he sold twenty-six
thousand acres of redwood land in Del Norte county for $960,000, ten
thousand acres in Lawrence creek in Humboldt county' for $250,000, and
three thousand acres on the north fork of Mad river for $180,000, and the
money received from these sales he invested in fifteen thousand acres of
sugar pine land fifteen miles from the Yosemite valley, considered the
finest tract of such land in the entire state. This he afterwards sold at a
good profit. However, he still retained four thousand acres of redwood
timber, with mills for the sawing of the lumber, as well as one-fourth
interest in five ships used for carrying lumber, and stock in the tugs used
in towing vessels over the bar. Later on he turned the property, with mills
and vessels, over to the children, who worked the timber all out. In 1914
Mr. Minor completed the Minor Theater, opposite the First National Bank
Building. It is said to be the finest theater in the county, in fact as well
equipped as any in the state, and he has also completed three store
buildings adjoining it. This is now the best portion of the business section
of the town.
Mr. Minor was married in Arcata to Hannah Caroline Nixon (a sister of
William Nixon), who was born in Fayette county, Pa., December 28, 1839, and
at the age of three years was taken to Iowa, coming in 1852 via Panama to
California, where her marriage was solemnized December 20, 1855. Twelve
children were born of the union, six of whom grew up, as follows : Theodore
H. and Isaac N., who became capable assistants of their father in his large
business operations, the former now an extensive oil operator in
Bakersfield, and the latter owning the Glendale mill property, where he has
a large dairy ; Mary E., Mrs. H. D. Pressey, of Petaluma, this state; Bertha
A., Mrs. L. D. Graeter, of Arcata; David K., who was also an assistant of
his father, but now lives in Oakland ; and Jessie Irene, Mrs. Waters, who
resides in Santa Rosa. The mother of these children passed away in 1906, and
in 1908 Mr. Minor was married to Miss Caroline Cropley, a native of
Michigan. The Cropley family subsequently came to California and Mr. Cropley
became proprietor of the tannery in Arcata. In regard to fraternities Mr.
Minor has made no associations except with the Independent Order of Odd
Fellows. Politically he votes with the Republican party. His personal
qualities as a man of sterling worth, together with his exceptional business
qualifications, have given him prominence and prestige throughout the county
where, after over sixty years of intimate identification, he is still in the
forefront of financial, agricultural, logging, quarrying and railroad
affairs, a man among men, and a citizen of whom his adopted county may well
be proud.
FRANK W. DINSMORE.—The assistant secretary and local manager of the
Mercer-Fraser Company at Eureka is a member of a Canadian family and claims
New Brunswick as his native province, having been born in Charlotte county
November 22, 1868. In the forests near his early home he learned the trade
of a woodsman and became quite skilled in the use of the axe, so that he
earned a fair livelihood while still a mere lad. In the meantime he received
favorable reports concerning opportunities for work in the woods of
California and for this reason was induced to come to Humboldt County,
arriving at Eureka on the 1st of June, 1888. Immediately he began to work in
the lumber woods adjacent to this town, continuing through a long period of
efficient activity. His fine qualities of head and heart had won the
attention of the Mercer-Hodson Company and he was taken into their employ
during 1901, remaining with the concern in the later change of title to the
Mercer-Fraser Company. Through the purchase of stock in 1907 he became a
partner in the company, with which he has since been identified as assistant
secretary and manager. His rise from hardships, without influence except his
own energy and perseverance, to an excellent position with an established
concern, in which he is financially interested, proves him to be a man of
force of character and energy of will. Fraternally he holds membership with
Eureka Lodge No. 652, B. P. 0. E., and Humboldt Lodge No. 77, I. 0. 0. F. By
his marriage to Miss Jessie Gow, a native of Humboldt County and the
daughter of a pioneer, he has three children, Laura, Theodore and Frances.
ALBERT NATHAN HUNT.—Although not a native of California, Albert Nathan Hunt
is a pioneer in the strictest sense of the word, coming to the mining
districts in an early day, when he was but a lad, and spending his boyhood
days so deep in the wildernesses of the California mountains that he was
able to attend school but three years. In spite of this handicap, however,
Mr. Hunt has prospered exceedingly in all his undertakings and is today a
man of wealth and influence and an active power in his community for good.
He has been associated with the most vital interests of Humboldt county for
many years, and in Arcata where he resides, he is acknowledged to be one of
the most progressive and broad-minded men of the thriving little city. He is
interested in many enterprises, but his chief interest lies in real estate,
farms, farming and cattle-raising being his principal investments, and today
he owns and operates some of the finest and best improved properties in
Humboldt County.
Mr. Hunt was born in Vinal Haven, Knox County, Me., September 30, 1857. His
father was Hon. Fitz Albert Hunt, a stonemason by trade, and operated
quarries, getting out stone for buildings and monuments; he also ran a farm.
He lived in Maine all his life. For thirty-six years he held the office of
justice of the peace in his township and later was assemblyman for many
terms. The mother, Jane Calderwood, died when the present citizen of Arcata
was but three weeks old, and when he was a lad of but a few years he was
taken to be reared by an aunt and uncle, Mr. and Mrs. John Jayne, living in
Washoe county, Nev. With these relatives he made his home from that time
until he reached manhood's estate and started out in life for himself. From
Nevada he removed with Mr. and Mrs. Jayne, when he was still a small child,
to California, about 1864, locating on Yuba river, Sierra county, six miles
from Downieville, where the uncle was interested in mines.
When young Hunt was nine years old the family moved to Comptonville, where
he attended school for a few years, and later moved into a district where
there were no schools within distance that he could attend. He remained on
the farm working for and with his uncle until he was twenty-one, when he
went to work on neighboring ranches, saving his earnings and giving them to
his uncle to apply on the payment of a loan on his ranch. Later he went to
Pike City and worked for the Alaska Mining Company in their mines as a night
watchman. After a year of this work the properties were destroyed by fire
and while he was again looking for employment he received an offer to make
posts and ties for the company. His brother-in-law, John Robertson, was
engaged at that time contracting for the making of posts and ties, and Mr.
Hunt determined to make a venture in the same field. Accordingly he secured
the proffered work under contract, and not since he was night watchman at
the mines has he ever worked for anyone or ever received a wage for his
service, ever since working for himself.
For the next six years Mr. Hunt was successfully engaged in the making of
posts and ties, under contracting arrangements, and succeeded in
accumulating an appreciable sum of money. He was anxious to try his hand at
farming and dairying, and also to establish for himself a permanent home.
Accordingly, in 1887, he came to Humboldt County, for a short time being in
Eureka, and all the while looking for a satisfactory opportunity to purchase
land. He finally chose a forty-acre tract of Arcata bottom land, partly
improved, which is now his home place. For this land he paid $100 per acre,
the highest price paid up to that time, and he was thought to be very
unwise, but the rise of land has been gradual and a twenty-acre tract
adjoining his ranch has lately sold for $600 an acre. Here Mr. Hunt started
in the dairying business with four cows, making butter by hand, and selling
it to private parties in town. The second year he increased his herd by the
purchase of ten more cows, bought at intervals during the year. Now he has a
splendid herd of forty-five picked milch cows, classed as one of the best in
the valley.
When he first began dairying there was not a creamery in the valley, and Mr.
Hunt was one of the founders of the first creamery built and was its first
president, and managed it for four years. He gave his services without
compensation, in order that the new enterprise might be made a success. This
creamery was started in 1893 and was then called the Arcata Creamery No. 1,
but is at present known as the United Creameries, Inc. Mr. Hunt was
president and director of the company for four years, and its present
successful business standing is largely due to his unselfish efforts. He is
still a stockholder in the enterprise.
Mr. Hunt has continued to add to his real estate holdings, and is now one of
the largest land owners in the county. About eight years after the purchase
of the first tract he bought ten acres adjoining the home place on the
north, paying $150 an acre, all of which, was, improved land. Two years
later he added another tract of twenty acres on the south side of the home
place, for which he paid $200, and still later bought eighty acres north of
Mad river which has since been well improved, and another twenty acres has
been added to it, making the ranch one hundred acres, this being in charge
of his son, Herbert Hunt. The home place, and the later additions of acreage
have been vastly improved by Mr. Hunt and brought under a high state of
cultivation. He built a large barn and a commodious, modern residence in
1901, which are a credit to the community, and a monument to the thrift of
the owner.
In 1906 Mr. Hunt made another notable addition to his holdings by the
purchase of the Dr. Farrar ranch, six miles north of Bridgeville on the Van
Dusen River. This ranch comprises some two thousand acres and is one of the
most highly improved stock ranches in Humboldt County today. His son,
Stanley A. Hunt, has charge of the place, which is devoted to raising
cattle, sheep and hogs and livestock generally. Mr. Hunt now gives his
attention to buying and selling, but makes a specialty of dealing in cattle,
being one of the largest individual dealers in the county.
Other matters have secured their share of the attention of Mr. Hunt and he
is generally interested in the business activities in Arcata. Among the
newer and more recent undertakings in which he is interested may be
mentioned the First National Bank of Arcata, of which he is a director. He
has always been keenly interested in all that pertains to the welfare of the
community, and has done much for the upbuilding of his part of the county.
He is wide awake to the progressive spirit of the times, and with the same
business sagacity that he has applied to commercial pursuits with such great
success, he views the civic affairs of the city and the governmental affairs
of county and state, building for the future, as well as caring for the
present. In politics he is a Republican, a party man of the highest type,
supporting his party because he believes the party is right, but willing and
ready at all times to use energetic measures to be certain that it stays
right, and that it strives only for the best of the community and of the
people generally.
Mr. Hunt, together with his family, is a member of the Alliance Methodist
Episcopal Church, in which he is an influential personality and he and his
wife are members of the official board. The family and home life of Mr. Hunt
is full of interest. He was married May 2, 1881, in Plumb Valley, to Miss
Mary Ann Robertson, a native of California, and born January 14, 1862, in
Forest City, Sierra County. The parents of Mrs. Hunt both came from England,
her father, John Robertson, having been born in Birmingham, February 13,
1823, and her mother, Eliza Rudd, in Devonshire, in July, 1825. They both
came to California by way of the Isthmus, but became acquainted after
reaching the coast, and were married in Sierra County, about 1860. In the
early days of his life on the coast Mr. Robertson engaged in mining, but
later followed his trade as a blacksmith. He died in Humboldt County in
1909, his wife having passed away in Sierra County a few years previous.
Mr. and Mrs. Hunt became the parents of nine children, all but one of whom
are now living, Charles Elmer, their eldest born having passed away when
twenty-six years of age. The living members of their family are Cora Bell,
now married to Andrew Jackson Taylor, and living in Modesto; Stanley Albert,
manager of the Bridgeville ranch; Herbert Wesley, who married Jessie
Whitmore, and is manager of the Mad river ranch; Vernon Lester, now
attending dental college in San Francisco; William Vinal, manager of the
home ranch ; John Russell, attending Humboldt State Normal ; Chester Eugene
and Geraldine. They are all well known in Humboldt County, where they were
born, and where they received their education.
Mr. Hunt is more actively engaged in business than, ever and still manages
and controls his extensive interests, besides which he is associated with
all movements of interest in and around Arcata. However, he attributes his
success in no small degree to the assistance of his faithful wife, who was
always ready to aid with faithful hands and to lend him every encouragement
in achieving their ambition to own their own home. His ambition, fostered
from childhood, was the owning of his own ranch and working with stock. Both
Mr. and Mrs. Hunt are very kind and charitable and are known for their
liberality and hospitality. Mr. Hunt is well read, and keeps posted on all
questions of public interest while the financial pulse of the country is
constantly under his eager fingers, and judged with the skill of an expert
financier.
HUGH WEBSTER M'CLELLAN.—For thirty years before his death a resident of
Eureka, Mr. McClellan was always considered one of the most desirable
citizens of that place, and became associated with a number of its
interests. But his principal reputation was acquired in the sheep business,
in which he engaged extensively and successfully, in that connection having
a wide acquaintance all over northern California. After settling at Eureka
he made investments from time to time in the city, owning bank and factory
stock; but his attention centered about his agricultural operations, which
he carried on to the end of his days.
Mr. McClellan was of Scotch ancestry, and his branch of the family was
established in this country by his great-grandfather, who came from
Scotland and settled on a large farm in Franklin County, Mass. It was a
valuable property and he carried it on successfully, and most of his
children followed in his footsteps, adopting agriculture as their calling.
One of his sons, John, was a member of the general assembly in Massachusetts
and for many years a prominent politician of that commonwealth.
Hugh McClellan, father of the late Hugh Webster McClellan, was born in
Franklin County, Mass., was a prosperous farmer all his life, and died in
his prime, at the age of forty-five years. He was a man of modest
disposition and retiring habits, and his principal interest outside of the
cultivation of his farm was in his church. On political questions he was a
stanch Whig, but he never took part in party activities or public affairs.
He married Lucy Smith, also a native of Massachusetts, who survived him and
remarried, removing to Chautauqua County, N. Y., and thence to Aurora, Ill.,
where she lived to the age of eighty-two years. Her son Hugh Webster
McClellan was born October 31, 1837, at Charlemont, Franklin County, Mass.,
and was but five years old when his father died. He was a boy of twelve when
he accompanied his mother to Chautauqua County, N. Y., and a few years later
the family settled in Illinois, where his pioneer experiences began. When he
was sixteen he was employed breaking raw prairie land in Kane county, that
state, and two years later he went up to Fillmore county, Minn., where he
found work in a sawmill. In 1857 he joined a railroad surveying party
working over the southern part of that state, and two years later he set out
for the Pacific coast. He made the journey by way of New York City and the
Isthmus of Panama, landed at San Francisco, and soon afterward took passage
on the steamer Columbia for Crescent City, Cal., to join his brother,
Rhominer Smith McClellan, who had preceded him to the west in 1852 and had
been in the livery and freighting business at Crescent City since 1854. The
Columbia made three round trips before she could make a safe landing at
Crescent City, so that Mr. McClellan spent two months on the ocean between
his embarkation and his arrival at Crescent City, where he spent the next
three years in his brother's employ. Then he concluded to try his fortune in
the new mining country in the Boise basin, in Idaho, whither he journeyed
by way of Jacksonville, Ore. In time he purchased his brother's business,
operating pack trains principally between Umatilla, Ore., and Idaho and
Montana, and he had a prosperous experience, adding several hundred dollars
to his acquisitions by its sale in the year 1866. On one of his trips he
covered a distance of five hundred miles, with forty-five pack mules,
through a wild and sparsely settled region supposedly infested by Indians;
and though he had no special protection he was not troubled much by the
savages, nor did he suffer any loss of stock or provisions by the way.
By this time he was anxious to make a visit to his old home in
Massachusetts, but it proved very expensive, for the brother-in-law with
whom he left his money while in New York City lost it, and Mr. McClellan had
to borrow $40 to meet his expenses on the return trip to California. He
resumed freighting, conducting a pack train between Umatilla and points in
Idaho, and though he had most of the adventurous experiences which the
daring souls of that day had to face he was fortunate in escaping disastrous
consequences, either to himself or his property. It was while thus engaged
that he made an acquaintanceship which led him into what proved to be the
chief business of his life. He met a man who was in search of a young man to
go into partnership with him in the sheep business, and they came to terms
before long, the arrangement being that Mr. McClellan was to work as an
employee two years, and then become a partner. After the association was
formed they purchased twenty-two hundred head of sheep, which they drove to
near Bridgeville, in Humboldt County, Cal., and the two men continued to
hold their interests in common for the five years following, doing a highly
satisfactory business. Then they divided their property, the partner
retiring with a competency, and Mr. McClellan keeping his share of the sheep
and the range, which gave him a fine start for the extensive business he was
to develop. He became known as one of the most successful sheep raisers in
Humboldt County, his pastures covering eleven thousand acres of deeded land
and an equal area of government range, on which he grazed about five
thousand head of sheep, as well as about one hundred cattle and a few
horses. Besides,' he owned a twelve-hundred-acre tract of farming land in
Coos County, Ore. In 1881 he established his home at Eureka, at which place
he resided the rest of his life, dividing his time between his home and his
ranch, which he managed with excellent judgment. In addition to his
attractive home at Eureka he acquired considerable city property, and he
gave part of his time to the management of his banking and manufacturing
interests. He was one of the organizers of the Humboldt Bay Woolen Mills
Company, of which he was a director; was a director of the Humboldt County
Bank for a number of years and also held the same connection with the Home
Savings Bank. Public affairs never received any share of his attention
except what he thought was due to the community from any public-spirited
citizen whose duty to his fellow men required him to take a stand on
questions affecting the general welfare. He had the moral courage and
unshakable honesty of his Scotch blood, and his conservativeness was the
caution of forethought and not the' disposition to lag behind when new ideas
were on trial. All that he possessed he acquired through his own efforts,
and he deserved the success he won. Yet he always had a kindly feeling for
young men just commencing to climb the hard road over which he had
"arrived," and was ready with encouragement and assistance to give them a
timely lift. His death occurred at Eureka December 31, 1911, in his
seventy-fifth year. Mr. McClellan was a member of Lincoln Lodge No. 34, K.
P., of Eureka. He was a Republican in his political views.
In Humboldt county, July 24, 1872, Mr. McClellan married Miss Martha Cook,
who was born in Henry county, Iowa, daughter of Joel and Charlotte
(Thornburg) Cook, and the following children were born to them : Hugh Smith,
who died when ten year's old ; Lucy C., who died when two years old ; John
W., who has managed his father's ranch for a number of years ; Jeannette,
Mrs. Graham ; Gertrude, Mrs. Fraser, and Ethel, all of Humboldt county.
ANNA BARBARA GASSER.—The possession of strong, forceful characteristics, an
inheritance from Teutonic ancestry, has enabled Dr. Gasser to rise by
invincible determination to a high position among the osteopathic
practitioners of Northern California. Her father, Frederick Wille
(well-to-do' farmer of the Black Forest in Germany), brought the family to
California and settled in Stockton in 1878. The daughter received the
advantages of the schools of the San Joaquin valley. Mental and physical
qualifications admirably adapted her for the difficult profession of nursing
and she engaged in such work with growing success and popularity, first at
Stockton and then in the Burke Sanitarium near Santa Rosa. In 1890 she
became the wife of Henry Gasser. Recently Dr. Gasser purchased a ranch of
four hundred and twenty acres near Phillipsville, Humboldt County, which
Mrs. Gasser named Fairmont ranch. It was improved with a vineyard and a
varied assortment of apples, pears, peaches, plums and prunes. It is her
intention to develop the ranch into a summer health resort known as Camp
Gasser, and in this large enterprise she has the cordial co-operation of Mr.
Gasser, who will have the purest of milk and butter, the freshest of eggs,
the fattest of poultry as well as the choicest fruits for the guests of the
country home.
A complete course of study at the California College of Osteopathy, San
Francisco, followed by graduation in 1903, prepared Dr. Gasser for her life
work and further preparation was had through a special course in
electricity. In Eureka she owns a comfortable bungalow at No. 1036 E Street
and here she has her office. In the decade of her practice she has won an
unusually large list of patients and friends. As a practitioner she combines
skill and tact with an unusually profound knowledge of the needs of the body
as well as accuracy in diagnosis of disease, so that she is remarkably well
qualified for success in the, profession. The State Association of
Osteopathy and journals dealing with the science receive a due share of her
attention and she continues to be a thoughtful student of the profession,
affiliating with her alma mater as well as the parent school in Missouri.
While a large practice leaves her little leisure for outside enterprises,
she is a member of the Civic Club of Eureka and gives her support to all
organizations or movements for the permanent progress of the city and
county.
HENRY MELDE.—Even from his earliest childhood floriculture has appealed to
Henry Melde with peculiar emphasis. In Silesia, Germany, where he was born,
he began to care for a little garden of vegetables and flowers when he was
only six years of age and at thirteen he sold grapes of his own raising. So
unquestionably keen and strong was his liking for that line of work and so
deep his interest in watching the development of plant life that he was
apprenticed to the nursery business, and after completing his
apprenticeship he became assistant in a large nursery in Dresden and later
served in a similar position in Leipsic and Erfurt, during this time
developing his natural appreciation by cultivated tastes and thorough
training. During the years 1871 and 1872 he was in and near Rio Janeiro,
Brazil, making a scientific study of tropical vegetation. Shortly after his
arrival in New York City in the fall of 1872 he secured employment as an
assistant in a florist's establishment and in that capacity decorated the
famous Delmonico restaurant. For sixteen years after his arrival in San
Francisco via Panama in 1874 he followed his chosen occupation there, first
as a landscape gardener for Gen. W. H. Barnes, later as florist and gardener
for Governor Latham and eventually established himself as a florist in that
city, having a nursery of his own. However, the location did not prove
desirable, as the vapor thrown off in the manufacture of strong acids at
the chemical works destroyed his plants. It was for this reason that he
decided to try a new location, choosing Eureka, among the sequoias, as his
field of operation.
Since coming to Eureka in 1890 Mr. Melde has devoted himself very closely to
his chosen calling and has received the growing appreciation of people
competent to judge in such matters. Not easily or rapidly did he win his way
to recognition as one of the foremost nurserymen of northern California, but
an intelligent mastery of his occupation has enabled him to make good. A
brief period was given to the raising of vegetables, but as soon as
practicable he started a nursery. The initial step in this direction was the
buying of a tract of stump land near Sequoia Park, and then he cleared the
land of its stump and brush, so that it was in shape for profitable work.
For the convenience of the business he has erected three hothouses with
twelve thousand feet of glass, and this affords ample facilities for the
growing of delicate plants and flowers requiring careful nurture. One of his
chief pleasures has been the developing of new kinds of plants and flowers,
and the Cactus Dahlia represents his latest effort in that direction. Some
of his special varieties have been shipped to the east and even as far away
as Germany, for his reputation is by no means limited to the county and
state of his residence, but extends among florists and nurserymen in other
sections of the world. His residence is built on seven big redwood stumps.
The foundation, which is utilized as a basement, is not only unique, but for
permanency and durability could not be improved upon, and its use
demonstrates the forethought and genius of the builder.
After an absence of forty-one years from his old German home, in the fall of
1913 Mr. Melde returned thither, not only for the purpose of renewing the
friendships of early youth, but also in order to study plant conditions in
Belgium, Holland and Germany. While away he had the privilege of attending
the International Exhibition at Ghent and found it a source of artistic
delight as well as occupative advancement. Among the collection of plants
that he brought back with him to this country there were new varieties of
rare plants. His work is his joy and his life. His family consists of his
wife, also a native of Germany, and three sons, two of whom are his able
assistants.
Mr. Melde is very optimistic for the future greatness of Humboldt County.
Its forests are the finest and most imposing in the world. When one
considers the age of the sequoias and all that has happened during their
centuries of growth, to say nothing of the beauty which they add to the
scenery, it is well worth a trip across the continent for one day's view.
Mr. Melde is convinced that Humboldt County will some day be a very popular
summer resort, only needing exploiting of its natural advantages and
climatic conditions to bring it to the attention of the public.
EGIDIO TANFERANI.—For fourteen years a resident of Humboldt county, Cal.,
where he owns a valuable ranch adjoining the town of Loleta where he is
engaged in the dairy business, Egidio Tanferani is a native of Italy, where
he was born in Monte Crestese, near the city of Domodossola, Novara, April
18, 1870, his father being Ennocente Tanferani, a farmer and dairy man of
importance at Monte Crestese. Both parents are still living, Egidio, the
oldest of their six children, receiving his education in the public schools,
and from a lad making himself useful on the farm, learning dairying as it
was done in that part of Italy. In 1901 he left his native land, coming to
Eureka, Cal., where he immediately found employment in a dairy near
Ferndale, Humboldt county. Five years later he rented a ranch near
Ferndale, and one year later removed to the P. Kelly place near Ferndale,
where he leased one hundred twenty acres of bottom land and became very
successful in the management of a dairy of eighty cows. After seven years
spent on the Kelly place he had accumulated some means, and being desirous
of owning a ranch he in 1912 purchased his present property from Hill
Brothers, an estate which comprises fifty-eight and one-quarter acres of
land adjoining Loleta. This ranch being all rich bottom land, Mr. Tanferani
here raises hay, beets and carrots, and the product of his dairy herd of
forty milch cows he sells to Libby, McNeill & Libby Company. Upon his estate
he has erected commodious buildings, including a modern two-story residence,
where he has made an attractive home for his wife and three children, Clelia,
Ennocente and Angel. Mrs. Tanferani was before her marriage Felecita
Leonardi, born in Monte Crestese, the daughter of Angelo, a dairyman and
farmer. She came to Humboldt County in March, 1909, and in April of that
year married Mr. Tanferani. In his political interests, Mr. Tanferani is a
member of the Republican Party.
JESSE N. LENTELL.—Much of the important engineering work which has made
Eureka so desirable a place of residence and so favorable a location for
manufacturing and other business enterprises is the work of Jesse N. Lentell,
a leading civil engineer of this portion of California, who served eleven
years in this capacity for the city. In that and other capacities he has
made a name for accuracy and reliability so well deserved that he has had
the honor of making the large relief map of Humboldt county which formed
part of the county's exhibit at the Panama Pacific Exposition of 1915, at
San Francisco. He did this work under contract with the county supervisors.
Mr. Lentell has a state map, and a number of city and county maps to his
credit, railway and road surveys, and other work requiring expert knowledge
of his profession. In the course of a busy career he has _acquired interests
of considerable value, particularly in water and waterpower projects and
timber lands on the Mad river in this region.
Mr. Lentell's father, Rev. Jesse V. Lentell, was a Baptist minister, and was
stationed at Worcester, Mass., at the time of the birth of his son Jesse.
His mother's maiden name was Louisa R. Burroughs. Jesse N. Lentell was born
at Worcester January 31, 1861, and was a child when his father removed with
the family to Amherst, growing up at the various places to which his
father's work took the family. His high school education was received at
Amherst, Mass. His brother Junius V. Lentell having gone out to Nebraska
became engaged in farming at Valley, that state, and he persuaded Jesse to
join him. The latter was then twenty years old. He farmed and taught school
in Nebraska for a while, until he decided to return east and fit himself for
civil engineering, taking a special course in that science at Lebanon, Ohio.
After that he came out to California, locating at. Oakland in the year 1883.
There he became a deputy in the city engineer's office, working for the city
one year, after which he took a position with the Contra Costa Water
Company, now known as the Oakland Water Company. He remained in their employ
for a year and a half, at the end of that period, in 1886, coming up to
Humboldt County and settling at Eureka, where he still makes his home.
Before long he had been commissioned to resurvey the city,' fixing grades
and street lines, and he made the first city sewer plan. Having made a
reputation by his excellent work he was given the position of city engineer,
which he held for eleven years, during which time he also filled the
position of county surveyor for two years, combining the duties of both
offices very effectively. His next work was for the Eureka and Klamath River
Railway Company, surveying and laying out its road from Samoa to Little
River, about twenty miles, and he has since been called upon to make various
other railway surveys and locate railroads. For one summer season he had
charge of the Crescent City and Grants Pass Railroad. In 1907 he located the
Trinity state highway, from Salt creek to Mad River, a stretch of
twenty-eight miles. He has made plans for a gravity system of water supply
for the city of Eureka, to obtain pure city water from the Mad river as well
as electric power, at a cost of one million dollars. In 1898 he published a
state map, which he revised in 1904; besides which he published a map of the
city of Eureka and several maps of Humboldt County, and also of several
counties in California. The many large works to his credit, some of them
carried out under difficulties which would have appalled a man of less
resource, are sufficient evidence of his ability and thoroughness.
Personally he is a citizen whom Eureka is proud to claim.
Mr. Lentell makes his home at No. 3120 D street, Eureka. He was married at
Eureka in 1908 to Mrs. Frances Sunol Angus, a talented teacher and writer.
She met with an automobile accident at San Jose in 1910, which proved fatal.
Fraternally, Mr. Lentell is a member of Eureka Lodge No. 652, B. P. 0. E.,
and Eureka Lodge No. 636, L. 0. 0. M., and he also belongs to the Humboldt
Club.
EDWARD JACKSON ROGERS.—Ed Rogers, as he is popularly called, is the
proprietor of the Rogers Resort, an excellent hotel near Bridgeville, Cal.,
of which property he is joint owner with his mother. The wholehearted
generosity and kindness of his nature which have endeared him to all his
patrons are the outgrowth of Mr. Rogers' Irish ancestry, for both his
parents were natives of the Emerald Isle whose people are known for the
spontaneity of their temperament; and the ready wit of that nation is well
exemplified in Mr. Rogers, whose smiling face and genial manner have made
him perhaps the most popular of all the hotel-keepers in southern Humboldt
county.
The mother of Mr. Rogers was Jennie Lewis, who removed with her parents from
Ireland to Canada at the age of one year; thence she went to San Francisco,
at which place she met and was married to Edward Hugh Rogers. Of this
marriage three children were born : John H., who is now a dairyman at
Lexington, Wash., and is married to Mary Friel of Ferndale, Cal., by whom he
has six children (Genevieve, Estella, Norton, Neil, Margaret and John) ;
Genevieve, now the wife of Watts Jeans, a farmer in Idaho ; and Edward
Jackson, who was born on the Van Dusen, near Carlotta, Humboldt county, June
26, 1876, and grew up in the hotel business at Rogers Resort, of which he is
now the proprietor. The father had lived in both New York and San Francisco,
and upon coming to Humboldt county started out for himself in the hotel
business. He built the old Van Dusen House below Flannigan's mill, which was
the first hotel and summer resort on the Van Dusen River and a very popular
place. This house was burned, after which Mr. Rogers built the present
Rogers Resort four miles north of Bridgeville. The father died twenty-three
years ago, at the time of his death being the owner of twenty-two hundred
acres of land. The mother is still living and runs the Hotel Grand at
American Falls, Idaho. Rogers ranch is located sixteen miles south of
Carlotta and now comprises about three hundred acres and is owned by Mr.
Rogers and his mother, where he is also engaged in raising cattle, his brand
being two 3's facing each other.
Mr. Rogers' popularity is bringing him well deserved advancement in his
chosen line of work, and he neglects no means of making his hostelry one
that will be frequented by numerous visitors. At present he is spending
thousands of dollars in building an addition to the main structure,
rebuilding and remodeling, and beautifying the grounds and drives about the
hotel; and it is safe to prophesy that the years will bring to Mr. Rogers
unprecedented success in his business in return for his efforts to make his
hotel an ideal one for his guests.
GEORGE UNDERWOOD.—Few men in any field of work have the satisfaction of
experiencing more real success than Mr. Underwood has been rewarded with in
his forty years as an educator. Now, filling his fourth term as county
superintendent of the public schools in Humboldt County, Cal., he has every
reason to feel gratified with the approval his unselfish efforts have met,
for the large majority he received at each election is an unmistakable
endorsement of his services. The loyalty and support of his associates in
the profession, and of former pupils, however, afford him probably his
greatest pleasure and have been a spur to continued achievements for many
years past. Mr. Underwood is a native of Ohio, born April 29, 1855, at
Pleasant Ridge, Hamilton County, son of Benjamin F. and Mary Jane (Bell)
Underwood. He was reared in the state of his birth, and after obtaining what
education the common schools there afforded took a thorough course at the
National normal school at Lebanon, Ohio, an institution of high standing
whose influence undoubtedly had much to do with his early proficiency in the
profession. He had been brought up as a farmer boy, but he commenced
teaching at the age of nineteen years and has followed the calling without
interruption since. For five years he was engaged in the district schools of
Butler County, Ohio, but he was ambitious to try his fortune in the great
west, and in the year 1882 he settled in California. He immediately secured
a position as teacher, and did notable work at Rohnerville, Humboldt County,
where he was principal of the public school for a period of fifteen years,
during which time the grammar school of that place attained a reputation as
one of the best of its class in the state. Mr. Underwood's successful
methods and conscientious, effective attention to his pupils attracted
general notice, and in the fall of 1902 he received the nomination of county
superintendent of schools, on the republican ticket, being elected by a
majority of two thousand. His fellow teachers and former pupils took an
active part in the campaign, giving him personal support and winning over
their friends in large numbers, and his constituents had no reason to regret
their choice. Since then he has been re-elected to succeed himself in 1906,
1910 and 1914 with large majorities. He first entered upon the duties of his
office January 1, 1903, and modestly but resolutely set about the task of
introducing into all the schools of the county the methods which had proved
so superior at Rohnerville. His re-elections are sufficient evidence that
he has not disappointed the people in his grasp of his responsibilities or
his ability to carry them. They have given him a free hand and encouraged
him to do his best, and he has not failed them, the fine record he has made
for himself being merely the reflection of the high standard which the
schools of Humboldt County have attained under his administration. Before
his election as superintendent he refused offers of other positions because
of his interest in his work at Rohnerville, which was returned in kind by
his fellow citizens there. The basis of
his system is to instruct pupils in the method of acquiring information for
themselves rather than teaching them the comparatively few things which may
be mastered by pure effort of memory, instructing them to know things
because they know the "reason why." It is to his special credit that his
pupils at the Rohnerville grammar school were admitted to the .third year of
the Berkeley and other high schools of the state without the usual
preparatory course. Because of his authoritative position among educators
he has frequently been solicited for contributions to educational journals
and other publications, his articles having a popular circulation.
Mr. Underwood is highly appreciative of the trust which the citizens of
Humboldt County have placed in him, and also of the friendly esteem in which
he is held by his fellow educators. Throughout his career he has endeavored
to increase his fitness for his chosen work by continued study, and as a
scholar he is looked up to by all who have had the opportunity of estimating
his attainments. His executive ability has been as valuable as his mental
training in every position he has been called upon to fill, and he has
developed as new responsibilities have come to him, proving capable wherever
placed. All his efforts are being directed toward maintaining a state of
efficiency in the Humboldt county schools above criticism, and his energy
has aroused a similar spirit among all his assistants.
In 1884 Mr. Underwood was married to Miss Annie Davis, daughter of john B.
Davis, who came to Rohnerville in pioneer days. Three daughters and one son
were born to them, the son dying in infancy. The daughters are : Stella
Irene, who served four years as her father's assistant and is now the wife
of S. C. Forsey, residing in Oakland ; Rilma Anita.and Dariel May.
Mr. Underwood is a Mason and an Odd Fellow, belonging to Eel River Lodge No.
147, F. & A. M., and Eel River Lodge, I. 0. 0. F., of Rohnerville, and with
his wife is a member of Rohnerville Chapter No. 76, 0. E. S. Mrs. Underwood
is a member of the Congregational church. Mr. Underwood has been a prominent
member of the Ninth District Agricultural Association, which he served as
secretary for a period of seven years. With his family he resides at No.
1016 Ninth street, where their many friends and acquaintances are welcomed
with true hospitality and goodwill.
WILLIAM S. CLARK.—There is hardly a phase of the development of Eureka,
Humboldt county, with which William S. Clark, the present mayor of the city,
has not been associated during the thirty years of his career as a business
man here. His father, the late Hon. Jonathan Clark, owning large real estate
interests here, opened Clark's addition to the town and had planned and
started the second enlargement at the time of his death. Up to that time
William S. Clark had followed his early inclinations for agricultural
pursuits, but when the care of the valuable estate passed into his hands he
had to continue the work begun if he expected to realize on it, and thus his
extensive operations had their origin. His transactions have been numerous
and important, establishing stable values in different portions of the town,
for like his father he has planned with an eye to the future good, a fact
which has been sufficiently apparent to enhance his popularity. The
townspeople have shown him many honors and at present, besides holding the
chief executive office, he is commissioner for Humboldt County to the
Panama-Pacific Exposition. His business and social connections are numerous
and creditable.
Mr. Clark is a native of Humboldt county, born February 20, 1858, at
Bucksport, son of Jonathan and Maria (Ryan) Clark. His education was
acquired in the public schools of Eureka. When he began work he applied
himself to farming, and as soon as he became of age his father turned over
to him the management of a dairy farm of six hundred acres which he owned,
at Table Bluff, this county. This occupied his attention for several years
following, and he was gaining steadily in knowledge and experience of the
calling he had chosen when his father's death made it necessary for him to
handle all the interests of the estate instead of the comparatively small
portion which he had looked after prior to that time. He has but one sister,
Eliza, and her interests as well as their mother's have been faithfully
cared for by Mr. Clark.
As his real estate operations have been his chief responsibility it will be
interesting to see how much Mr. Clark has contributed to the growth of his
city in that line. Little of the second enlargement of Clark's addition to
Eureka had been sold when he assumed his father's interests, and he sold off
most of the remainder in town lots. In 1900 he platted a third enlargement
to the Clark addition, a tract of about two hundred acres which within a few
years he had sold in acre blocks or as residence lots. Now most of the
southwestern portion of the residence district of Eureka is comprised in
Clark's additions, and Mr. Clark has also been interested in an eastern
addition to the town—thirteen acres on Seventeenth and J streets which he
laid out in company with Ernest Sevier. Large lots were laid out and the
subdivision, sale and improvement of the tract were planned with the
greatest care, no pains being spared to convert it into highly desirable
residence property. Many handsome homes have been erected thereon. Mr. Clark
also built the South Park race track, which he has since cut up into city
lots. To encourage home builders the Eureka Land & Home Building
Association was formed, and he has been one of the influential factors in
shaping its policy, which has provided opportunities for those desiring to
acquire homes, without capital or financial backing. He is a director of
that concern and an active member of the Chamber of Commerce, of which he is
a past president. His personal investments in the city are so large as to be
proof positive of his sanguine opinion regarding its continued prosperity.
For a number of years Mr. Clark has supplemented his private activities
with public service. After two terms of service in the city council he was
elected mayor in 1903, and his administration was so favorably remembered
that in June, 1913, he was elected for another term, which he is now
filling. It was quite in keeping that the honor of representing Humboldt
County at the Panama-Pacific Exposition should fall to him. Politically he
has always been a Republican. Socially he is a member of the B. P. 0. Elks
and of the Sequoia Yachting and Boating Club, being a director of the latter
body, which he helped to organize.
On June 2, 1886, Mr. Clark was married to Miss Celia Griffin, who was born
in Humboldt county, daughter of John and Mary Griffin. A family of four
children has been born to them: Jonathan Earl, Alice E., William S. and Lee
D.
ROBERT HENRY.—The genius of the inventor seems full often to have flowered
in the heart of the pioneer, who ever made a virtue of necessity and
constructed for himself from the materials at hand such implements and tools
as were needed for his work. And it was no unusual thing for these same
articles to prove far better than one had ever deemed possible, and from
such simple beginnings as these have come great inventions and articles of
value to mankind. A California pioneer who possesses the gift for invention
in a marked degree is Robert Henry, of Blue Lake, who already has given the
world a number of clever devices and who is now at work on several more
which he hopes soon to have perfected in all their minor details.
Mr. Henry is a native of York County, New Brunswick, having been born on a
farm near Fredericton, October 4, 1844. He was the son of Robert and
Elizabeth (Scott) Henry, both of whom died when Robert was a small child. He
attended private schools for a few years, this being before the days of
public schools in that part of the province. Besides being left an orphan,
circumstances were such that he was forced at an early age to start out for
himself. He worked in the woods in the spring of each year driving logs on
the rivers, and working on the ranches in the neighborhood during summers
when the work in the woods was slack. The first year he received $7 a month
for his labor, and the second year was raised to $10.
Following this line of occupation Mr. Henry lived in New Brunswick until he
was twenty-one years of age, when he determined to come to the United
States, where the opportunities were better and where he would also escape
the rigors of winters in the north. Accordingly he landed at Alpena, Mich.,
situated on Thunder Bay, Lake Huron, and there found employment in the
woods .at Milltown. Shortly after accepting this position, however, he was
taken ill with typhoid fever and returned to Alpena, and it was not until
three months later that he was able to resume work. Upon returning to the
woods he was paid $35 a month, and in the spring of the year he went out on
the log drive at $3.50 a day. During the summer he worked on the state
highway between Alpena and Saginaw and in the winter again worked in the
woods. The following year he returned to New Brunswick. At that time a
railroad from Bangor to St. John was in course of construction and
suggested to Mr. Henry the idea of opening a general merchandise store.
Accordingly he built a store and hotel on the shore of Maguadavic lake.
There he continued successfully for two years, after which he sold the store
and hotel and engaged in the butcher business, supplying the railroad
company with meat. When the road was completed this store was closed, and
although at a later date the same company urged him to open another similar
place at a new construction camp, Mr. Henry did not like the conditions and
so declined the offer. In 1873 he went into New Hampshire and again worked
in the woods, having charge of the blacksmith shop for the lumbering camp.
In December, 1873, he removed to Wisconsin, where he was with the Eau Claire
Lumber Company, first in the woods and later in charge of the blacksmithing.
The wages paid for logging were much higher, however, being often as high as
$4 a day, and he later returned to the better paid labor. At another time he
cooked for a crew of eighty men on the drive on the Eau Claire River in
Wisconsin.
A brother of Mr. Henry had for several years been located in California and
his letters from the coast telling of the climatic advantages and of the
higher wages to be had were the direct cause of his decision to come west.
It was November 9, 1875, that he arrived at Eureka and during that winter he
cooked for a crew of men on the Washington claim, where they were making
shakes. The following summer he worked in the woods, and began at that time
his search for land on which he might locate. There were at that time many
men who were supposed to be locators but whose chief interest was in getting
money from the uninitiated, who was often shown one piece of land and later
found that he had filed on another, often many miles away. Mr. Henry had
several unpleasant experiences with this type of tricksters, but his native
intellect and his attention to detail saved him from serious mistakes. Later
he filed on several good locations and after a time began himself to locate
others. This occupation he followed for several years, meeting with much
success and making many warm friends by his careful attention to details and
his absolutely fair dealings with the settlers.
This work was eventually given up for the work of timber expert and contract
estimating on timber acreage land, an occupation which he followed
successfully until within the last few years.
Many years ago Mr. Henry determined to build a permanent home at Blue Lake
and at the earliest possible opportunity the foundation for the future home
was laid. This was in the year that President McKinley was assassinated.
This home is considered one of the finest in Blue Lake. After the death of
his first wife several years ago this property was sold, but Mr. Henry still
makes his home in the pretty little city. In October, 1913, in Blue Lake, he
married Mrs. Mary J. (Hodgson) Barnum. Born near Toronto, Canada, she
removed with her parents to Minneapolis, Minn., in 1860, and in 1866 married
Edwin Barnum, a native of Hamilton, Canada, and a soldier in the engineer
corps in the Civil war, enlisting from Minnesota. He was engaged in the
real estate business, but later removed to North Dakota, where he farmed for
eleven years, then became a merchant in Lakota, afterwards retiring to
Duluth, Minn., where he died in 1910. In the fall of 1912 the widow came to
the vicinity of Redding, Cal., and in 1913 came to Blue Lake.
Mr. Henry is well known throughout Humboldt County and has many friends
wherever he is known. He has been a member of the Masonic lodge since 1868,
having been made a Mason in Solomon Lodge No. 6, Fredericton, and since
1882 has been a member of Humboldt Lodge No. 79, Eureka.
Although he is retired from active business life, Mr. Henry is always busy.
His workshop is the center of his manifold activities and he is planning and
working constantly on some one of the several inventions which he hopes soon
to be ready to patent and give to the world. Among them is a window
fastener, also a cuspidor lifter, both of which are a success. Several other
articles have already been put on the market with much success and there are
at present several more in the process of passing through the patent office.
One of these is an ingenious automatic device to prevent fish from leaving
the main canal and going into the small irrigating ditches and getting on
the land, which will save millions of fish a year to the government.
DANIEL MATHESON.—The city assessor of Eureka has seen much of life on the
western hemisphere and has endured innumerable privations not only in the
logging camps of the Atlantic and Pacific coasts, but also in the
undeveloped mining regions of Alaska, where he prospected during a pioneer
period that considerably antedated, the famous rush to that country. The
experiences that came to him enriched his life with thrilling adventure, but
added nothing to his store of savings and for these he has depended largely
upon the ordinary occupations of the work-a-day world. The memories of his
early life cluster around the little town of. St. Stephen in New Brunswick,
where he was born December 17, 1860, and where he received such meager
advantages as local schools made possible. The family was poor and the need
of self-support was thrust upon him while yet a boy on the home farm.
Although skilled in all kinds of farm work he did not turn to the tilling of
the soil for a livelihood, but instead found employment in the lumber woods
of his native province, where his skill as a woodsman and his splendid
health enabled him to earn higher wages than many others in the same
occupation.
During the years of his employment in New Brunswick forests Mr. Matheson
heard much concerning the excellent wages paid in the logging camps of
California and these favorable reports induced him to come to Eureka in the
fall of 1882. He was then a young man scarcely twenty-two years of age, in
the prime of physical strength and able to lead the crew in the logging
camps and at the sawmills. To such as he naturally there came ready
employment at fair wages. After almost three years in the forests of
Humboldt county he went to Siskiyou county in 1885 and there had his first
experiences in mining camps. While recognizing the fascination of the mines,
he was not satisfied with the location and so in the spring of 1886 sought
the unexplored mining regions of Alaska. For a considerable period he mined
at Juneau, a camp then scarcely known to the outside world and containing so
few of the actual necessities of existence that the record of its pioneers
is a story of almost incredible hardships.
It was in the midst of such a primitive environment that Mr. Matheson
remained for two and one-half years. Upon his return to Eureka in the fall
of 1889 he resumed work in the logging woods, but later took up the
insurance business and acted as agent for a number of prominent old-line
companies. Meanwhile he acquired local prominence in the Republican Party
and did much to promote the welfare of that organization in his home town.
In 1906 he was a candidate for the office of city assessor of Eureka, to
which office he was duly elected and is now serving his fourth term, which
he fills with fidelity and painstaking accuracy. With his wife, who was Mary
Murray, a native of Eureka, and their son, Earl, he has established a
comfortable home in this city and is regarded as one of the public-spirited
citizens, whose activity is proving helpful to local progress. With
characteristic civic pride he has identified himself with the Eureka Board
of Trade and has cooperated with all of its movements for the advancement
of the town. In local fraternities he is no less prominent than in local
politics, being a member of the Eagles, a leading worker in the blue lodge
of Masons and at one time or another the incumbent of all the offices in the
local camp, Woodmen of the World.
JAMES MILTON FARLEY.—A native of California, and a resident of Humboldt
County for more than twenty years, James Milton Farley is descended from
one of the well known pioneer families of early California days. His entire
lifetime has been passed within the confines of his native state, and for
the greater part of that time he has been engaged in farming and dairying
pursuits. His present home place is on the Eel River, and he is especially
interested in dairying and the raising of registered and graded live stock.
Mr. Farley was born in Sonoma County, a short distance from Petaluma,
January 15, 1854. He is the son of Francis Hall Farley, a native of Ohio.
His mother was Elizabeth (Kraut) Farley, born in Indiana. In 1852 the family
crossed the plains with ox teams, to California, locating in Sonoma County.'
There were six children in the family at that time, and the present honored
citizen of Ferndale was not born until two years later. The Farley family is
one of the oldest and best known of the early pioneers, having lived in
California since the time of their first coming to the state. When the son,
James Milton, was a few years of age they moved from Sonoma County to Marin
County. Here he attended the public schools until he was fifteen years of
age, after which he remained at home assisting his father with the farm work
until he was twenty-one. Later the father returned to Sonoma county, where
he engaged in stockraising and farming until the time of his death.
It was in 1875 that young Mr. Farley first left home and engaged in business
for himself. His first venture was in the leasing of a ranch at Point Rey,
consisting of some two thousand acres, and here he engaged in dairying and
stock-raising, maintaining a herd of two hundred much cows. For seven years
he remained on this ranch, following this line of endeavor, and always
meeting with the greatest of success. At the end of this period he sold his
interests here, and moved to near Petaluma, where he purchased a ranch and
again engaged in dairy farming and stock-raising, continuing here for
another period of seven years, and making this venture as successful as the
previous one.
It was in 1895 that Mr. Farley came to Humboldt County, locating at
Hydesville, where he was employed in the creamery. Within a short time he
was made manager of this creamery, remaining in charge until 1902. He then
returned to Ferndale and went to work for John Neilsen, on his ranch on Eel
River Island. Mr. Neilsen was engaged in dairying and farming, and for ten
years Mr. Farley was his trusted employee and intimate friend. At the end of
that time Mr. Neilsen deeded him a tract of forty acres of partially cleared
land, which is the present home place of Mr. Farley. Here he is engaged in
farming and dairying, and is meeting with much success. He has cleared and
improved the land, and brought it under a high state of cultivation. At
present he maintains a herd of about twenty-five graded and registered much
cows.
The marriage of Mr. Farley occurred in San Francisco, September 11, 1884,
uniting him with Miss Maggie Winters, the-daughter of John and Kate (Currey)
Winters, and a native of Philadelphia, Pa. After Mr. Winters' death, the
mother brought her two children to California, making their home first in
Marin county, afterwards living in Petaluma, where she was married to John
Neilsen, after which Mr. and Mrs. Neilsen lived in Humboldt county, engaged
in farming; both are deceased. Mrs. Farley has borne her husband eight
children, six of whom are living : Nellie, Mrs. Ed Ammer, of Ferndale;
Mable, Mrs. Antonsen, of Eureka ; Ambrose ; Katie, wife of Frank Ammer, of
Ferndale; Violet, Mrs. Milton Sweet, of Aberdeen, Washington ; and Harold.
Mr. Farley is exceptionally well liked in his community. He is a man of much
reserve, quiet and dignified, but also respected and trusted by his friends
and acquaintances. He is interested in all local questions, and is
progressive in his ideas. He is a Democrat in his political affiliations. In
the conduct of his business affairs he is thrifty and industrious, and his
success has been won by careful and conscientious effort.
ELIJAH H. FALK.—Lumbering has always been one of the leading industries
which have contributed steadily to the wealth of Humboldt county,
preeminently the one for which she is most noted ; and the men who have been
connected therewith are looked upon as chief among the factors in her
business development. Her rich timber lands have not only attracted
investors and practical lumbermen, but incidentally to their exploitation
have come railroads, shipping interests and the various mercantile
enterprises which inevitably spring up around prosperous communities of
workers, in need of clothing, food and other household supplies and
possessing the means to procure comforts. Mr. Falk's connection with the
lumber industry is highly important. That he has gained the reputation of
being the most skillful millwright in California and that many of his best
productions are in Humboldt county, speaks well for the lumber mills of this
region and for his mechanical gifts. He has built a greater number of lumber
mills than any other man in this part of the state, so it is an established
fact that he has done his full share in bringing her manufacturing
facilities in that line to the high point of development for which Humboldt
County especially is renowned.
The present mayor of the city of Eureka, Elijah H. Falk, is a native of
Ohio, born October 4, 1850, near Findlay, Hancock County, son of David and
Mary (Christman) Falk. His parents were born in Pennsylvania, moving out to
Ohio in the early forties. Mr. Falk took up a government claim and farmed it
the rest of his life. By trade he was a carpenter, and he worked at both
callings. His death occurred in Ohio when he was sixty-eight years old. Five
of his family still survive: Noah H., now a resident of Arcata, Humboldt
County; Sylvanus lives in Ohio; Elizabeth is the wife of John Kyser, of
Ohio; Elijah H. is mentioned below; Jonas lives at Newberg.
Elijah H. Falk spent his youth and early manhood in Ohio, remaining there
until 1878, the year of his removal to Humboldt County, California. During
the quarter of a century which followed, his services as a millwright were
in constant demand, and among the notable plants of his construction may be
mentioned the Falk mill, the Warren Miner saw and shingle mill, the C. K.
James sawmill, the Elk River sawmill, the Harpst shingle mill, the Carson
shingle mill, the Shipyard sawmill, the original Hammond mill, known then as
Vance mill, the immense Hines sawmill in Santa Cruz county and the Bucksport
shingle mill, in connection with which latter he built a drying plant—the
only shingle dryer of its kind in Humboldt county. By its use all the
shingles are dried before shipping, this process reducing the weight
two-thirds and the expense of shipping in proportion. Several days are
required to dry the shingles with hot air, which is sent through the first
department at the rate of thirty-two miles an hour and through the select
kiln at the rate of twenty-four miles an hour. The capacity of the kiln is
one million, four hundred twenty-eight thousand shingles, two hundred four
cars, each holding seven thousand, being put in at once. The output is thus
one hundred twenty thousand daily, and though the process seems tedious and
is expensive it means so great a saving on freight that the drying equipment
has justified itself to the great satisfaction of the mill owners. Mr. Falk
was the manager of the Bucksport mill for nearly a year. Some time after his
arrival in California he located at Arcata, Humboldt County, moving from
there in 1882 to Elk river, where in association with Messrs. Holley, Harpst
and Stafford he erected the Falk sawmill and remained for several years,
giving his attention principally to the extensive business done at that
plant. Since 1886 he has maintained his home at Eureka. Mr. Falk has been
the designer of many other mills. besides those mentioned, and his name will
live with those of the ablest workers in the lumber regions of California.
His achievements as a mill builder leave no room for doubt as to his natural
endowments as a mechanic, or his ability to grasp the business possibilities
in his line. Yet these qualities have been no more important in his useful
career than the substantial traits of persistence, untiring effort and
unwavering devotion to whatever he has undertaken. Eureka is proud to count
him among her citizens, and he is esteemed for his fine personal
characteristics as he is respected for his strong mentality. With the vision
to see great things in his work and to bring them about by his faith and
perseverance, he has realized some of the most sanguine dreams which the
early lumber operators in this part of California cherished.
Mr. Falk was married, in Ohio, to Miss Amelia J. Deabler, a native of
Pennsylvania, born July 30, 1849. Of the children born to this union five
are living, namely: William S., of Eureka; Dr. Charles C., of Eureka, a
leading physician and surgeon; Dr. Curtis 0., also a physician, of Eureka;
Laura B., who was graduated from Leland Stanford University in 1906; and Dr.
Vernon Eugene, a physician at Modesto. He was a Mason in Arcata Lodge No.
106, F. & A. M., also a member of Scottish Rite. He is an active member of
the First M. E. Church of Eureka, and he is president of the Board of
Trustees and is chairman of the Finance Committee, and is a member of the
Board of Stewards.
Though most of his time has been applied to business, Mr. Falk was for many
years a Republican, but since 1906 he has espoused the cause of the
Socialist party, being a firm believer in its principles. June 21, 1915, he
was induced by his friends to become a candidate for mayor of Eureka and was
elected by a plurality of three against three opponents. July 6, 1915, he
took oath of office, assuming the duties on July 12th for two years. His aim
is to raise Eureka to high standards in business as well as morals and his
policy is justice to all mankind.
ALONZO JUDSON MONROE.—The lineage of the Monroe family is traced back to
Scotland, the progenitors locating in Connecticut in colonial days. Love of
the frontier and fondness for adventure in unknown regions are family
characteristics, which find expression in the life of Alonzo Judson Monroe
when, with gun and dog, he enjoys a hunting expedition into the woods far
from the haunts of civilization In his father, Alonzo W., a native of
Connecticut, the same traits found expression in a voyage to California
around the Horn during 1850, when he joined a crowd of gold-seekers allured
by the prospects of fortunes in the mines. A short period of mining in
Trinity county convinced him that such work held no possibilities for him,
so in 1854 he came to Humboldt county and embarked in stock-raising near
Hydesville, but later took up butchering at Eureka. When Nevada began to
come into the public notice as a mining center he went to that state and was
fortunate in locating rich prospects. In honor of his home town of Eureka,
Cal., he named the new settlement Eureka and for years the mining town
enjoyed a national distinction denied to its western parent-town. The
locator of the Nevada mines returned to his old home, took up mercantile
pursuits and continued in Humboldt county throughout his remaining years. In
Masonry he was a member of Humboldt Lodge No. 79, F. & A. M.
The marriage of Alonzo W. Monroe united him with Anna Maria Albee, a native
of Michigan and a relative of Israel Putnam of colonial fame. Her father,
Joseph Porter Albee, came to California in 1852, via Panama, and settled
among the pioneers of Weaverville, and in 1854 settled in Humboldt County,
where in 1862 he was killed by Indians on Redwood creek. The children of
the Monroe family were named as follows: Joseph P., Alonzo Judson, John W.
(deceased), Charles A., Horace P., Mrs. Nettie S. Stover, William H. T. and
Mrs. Jennie Worthington. Born on a ranch near Hydesville, Humboldt County,
October 19, 1858, Alonzo Judson Monroe attended the public schools at Eureka
during boyhood. At the age of seventeen he began the study of law in the
office of S. M. Buck, of Eureka, but after three years of assiduous
application to books his eyes were weakened to such an extent that he was
forced to seek other work. After his eyes failed he worked two winters in
sawmills, one summer in the woods, made two trips to Honolulu as a sailor on
a lumber vessel, worked a year in the mines in Humboldt county, Nev., and
engaged in other manual labor. With the restoration of his eyes to normal
condition he resumed the study of law and in 1882 was admitted to practice
in the superior courts, while November 13, 1894, he was admitted to the
circuit and district courts and to the circuit court of appeals. From the
first he has practiced in Eureka, where he is among the leading attorneys.
For one term he served as district attorney of Humboldt county and in
addition he has been city attorney of Eureka, Arcata and Blue Lake.
Mr. Monroe was made a Mason in Humboldt Lodge No. 79, F. & A. M., of which
he is past master ; also a member of Humboldt Chapter No. 52, R. A. M.,
Eureka Commandery No. 35, K. T., and Islam Temple A. A. 0. N. M. S., San
Francisco. He is a past grand master of the Grand Lodge of Masons of
California and with his wife is a member of Camelia Chapter, 0. E. S. Other
organizations having his name enrolled as a member are the Knights of
Pythias, Native Sons of the Golden West and the Elks of Eureka. Mr. Monroe
and his wife are members of the Congregational Church in which they have
taken a prominent part. For many years he has been a leading local worker in
the temperance cause. By his marriage to Miss Lucretia Anna Huntington, a
native of Illinois, he has three sons, namely: Thomas H., a graduate of the
West Point Military Academy, a lieutenant in the Sixth U. S. Infantry,
stationed at El Paso, Tex.; Joseph P., and Hammond McDougal, of Eureka.
PATRICK QUINN.—A resident of Humboldt county for almost fifty years, Patrick
Quinn has always been classed among the substantial citizens of his section,
and he may well be proud of the results he has to show for an industrious
career. He owns and operates a large ranch in Table Bluff Township, and in
improving this property has not only made a competence for himself and
provided a living for his family, but has been a unit in the advancement and
progress of the whole region. A man of his sturdy qualities, energy and
ambition is a desirable acquisition to any community, and his useful life
has brought him respect from all his neighbors and associates everywhere.
Mr. Quinn's parents, John and Catherine (Whalen) Quinn, were natives of
Ireland, the father born in County Waterford, and both are now deceased.
When a young man John Quinn came to America, bringing one of his brothers
with him, and they settled in Ontario, Canada, where they soon found work in
a mill. They spent the remainder of their lives in that country.
Patrick Quinn was born in Ontario in 1842 and grew to manhood there,
remaining in his home town until he came to California, in the year 1865.
The long journey was made by way of the Isthmus of Panama, and he landed at
San Francisco in February, 1866. During the next four months he worked in a
sawmill in Marin county. Then he joined fortunes with James Tierney, with
whom he purchased a ranch on Salmon creek, in Humboldt County, Cal., paying
$3,500 for the property. For several years they operated it in partnership,
until 1872, in which year Mr. Quinn bought the property he has ever since
occupied, in Table Bluff Township, this county. During the forty years and
more of his residence there he has continued the work of improvement
steadily, with the result that the property has increased wonderfully in
value, both as an agricultural and a real estate proposition. It comprises
three hundred and fifteen acres of particularly productive soil, which Mr.
Quinn has cultivated wisely, as its present condition shows. From :the
beginning he has been very successful, and he has combined dairying with
general farming very profitably, keeping forty fine milch cows. His chief
agricultural products are large quantities of grain. Through his industry
and thrift Mr. Quinn has become one of the well-to-do farmers of his
section, and he is still looking after his affairs with his customary
interest and foresight, enjoying his work with the satisfaction which comes
when perseverance has had its rewards. Aside from several years' service as
school trustee he has taken no direct part in the administration of the
local government, though he has always used his influence for the
encouragement of progressive movements and to uphold high standards of
citizenship. Politically he has been a stanch supporter of the Democratic
Party, but has limited his activities to the casting of his ballot.
On February 5, 1872, Mr. Quinn was united in marriage with Miss Mary.
McNulty, who was born in Texas, daughter of Owen McNulty, with whom she came
to California in 1854. Mr. McNulty, a well known citizen in his day, owned a
fine ranch in Humboldt County which he carried on up to the time of his
death. Ten children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Quinn Catherine, who is
the wife of A. C. Buxton, of Fortuna ; John F., an attorney, in successful
practice at Eureka ; William J., a physician, who took his professional
course at Cooper Medical College, San Francisco ; Owen P., residing at the
old home; Alice M., a school teacher ; Irwin F., an attorney ; Frederick A.,
a graduate of St. Mary's College ; Albert E., head time-keeper for the
Pacific Lumber Company ; Harold J., a student in Jefferson Medical College,
Philadelphia, and a graduate of the University of California ; and Evelyn M.
Mrs. Quinn .has naturally been interested in the educational advantages of
the neighborhood, feeling that the early training of children is vitally
important. and she has shown her willingness to co-operate with her
neighbors in securing the best privileges obtainable by several years'
service as a member of the school board of Clark district.
It was in 1859 that Mr. Curless first came to California and has been
a resident of the state since that time. He crossed the plains with ox teams
and located for a time in Butte county, where he was engaged in taking cart
of stock. In 1861 he went to Texas, crossing the plains by the southern
route, and returned the same year to California, by the northern route, each
tint with horses and wagons, locating this time in El Dorado county, and
engaging in placer mining. He joined the state militia in that county and
for several years during the Civil war saw active service. In 1877 Mr.
Curless came to Humboldt county and has since that time continued to reside
here. He engaged for a time in ranching, being in the sheep business for two
years and having as high as two thousand head at one time. He then became
road overseer from Burr creek to Alderpoint, continuing in this capacity for
two and a half years and then' engaging in teaming, following this
occupation until in 1888. At that time he engaged in the liquor business in
Blocksburg, until the town was voted dry in July, 1914, since which time he
has been retired from active business pursuits. Mr. Curless is a man of
strict business principles, and during the years that he conducted his
liquor business he always abided by the laws of the state and his place was
orderly and law-abiding. He is well liked in his community, and stands high
in the esteem of the business men.
The products of this creamery have come into competition with the products
of the best creameries of the world and have always won recognition. In
Chicago at the National Dairy Show, 1913, the company exhibited dry milk
products and was awarded the first premium. Every precaution is taken to
have the products scientifically clean and pure. There is a wardrobe where
the employes change into fresh white linen before entering the work rooms,
and throughout the plant all modern means are employed to insure the desired
sanitary end. The products are all pasteurized and the cans in which the
milk is delivered are all washed and sterilized by steam and dried by hot
air, thus 'ensuring their perfect cleanliness and also saving the housewife
from the arduous task of washing the heavy milk cans.
The marriage of Mr. Woten occurred in Adams, Neb., in 1907, when he was
united with Miss Dorothy Bryson, of that city. Of their union have been born
three children, Marian, William and Carlton. Both Mr. and Mrs. Woten are
popular with a wide circle of friends in Scotia, where they are members of
the best social set. Mr. Woten is also prominent in fraternal circles, being
an influential member of the Masons at Fortuna, and a member of Weeott
Tribe, I. 0. R. M., No. 147, at Scotia. He is broad minded and progressive
and the best interests of city, county and state are ever his chief concern,
and any movement for the social, educational or commercial interest of his
community is certain to receive his instant and hearty support.
learning the details of farm life and management. In 1895, on the
organization of the Union Mercantile Company of Alliance, he became a
stockholder and entered the employ of the company as secretary of the board
of directors and clerk for the company. The building was completed and the
store opened July 1, 1895. He continued with this company for four years,
then accepting a position with the Great American Importing Tea Company and
going to San Francisco, where he remained but a short time before he was
transferred to Hanford, Cal., where he was placed in charge of that
company's store there, October 1, 1899. He remained in this connection in
Hanford for eighteen months, when he resigned his position and returned to
Alliance, where he was employed at ranching for about a year.
THOMAS MILES BURNS.—Known throughout Humboldt county as the owner of Burns
ranch at Bridgeville, Thomas Miles Burns is also known as one of the largest
sheep and cattle growers of the district, as well as one of the leaders in
the affairs of the Republican party and an acknowledged power for good in
his community. He takes an active interest in all the governmental affairs
of his home county and also of the state, and while never seeking official
preferment, yet is one of those who directs the policies of the Republican
party in Humboldt county, which naturally is strongly Republican. He is a
man of great executive ability and a natural leader of men and affairs and
his splendid grasp of large situations, his foresight and judgment are
valuable assets to any cause with which he may see fit to ally himself. He
has for many years been engaged extensively in breeding Merino sheep and has
made an unusual success of this undertaking. He is making a specialty of
raising thoroughbred Rambouillet, Delane and American or Spanish Merino
sheep, keeping them in separate flocks ; he finds a ready sale for his
splendid proportioned rams in different parts of California. Recently he has
been running strongly to cattle, owing to the serious inroads made on the
sheep by coyotes, mountain lions and other beasts of prey in the mountain
ranges, where heretofore he has grazed large numbers of his flocks. He is
raising a cross of the Red Polled, Durham and Hereford cattle. He owns and
operates a ranch of some fifty-seven hundred eighty acres on the Van Dusen
river at Bridgeville, but his residence and headquarters are located three
quarters of a mile south of Bridgeville. It runs back to Burr creek on the
south and Larabee creek on the north, and is also well watered by numerous
other streams and springs.
In 1872 Mr. Johnston was married to Miss Sarah Clark, daughter of Charles
Clark, a Petrolia pioneer, and she died leaving two children ; William, now
in Alaska, who married Carrie Giacomini, of Petrolia, and has two children ;
and Addie L., wife of Rev. Ernest Grigg, a Methodist Episcopal minister of
Arcata, and mother of three children. On June 29, 1879, Mr. Johnston married
the second time by the Rev. Parkhurst at Upper Mattole, being united with
Miss Evaline Langdon, daughter of Joseph Avery and Phoebe Jane (Andrews)
Langdon, the former a native of New York state, the latter of Iowa; they
were married in Michigan. Five children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Langdon
before they crossed the plains to California in 1853. The father had come
out before, in 1851, returned for his family, and established the home at
Table Bluff, Humboldt county, for a time, in 1857 removing down to the
Mattole valley, where he owned the Buckeye. stock range. He died at
Wadsworth, Nev., in 1876, the mother in Petrolia in 1880. Mrs. Johnston is a
native daughter of Mattole, born near the present site of Petrolia, and was
the third white child born in the valley, where she was reared and educated
in the public schools. Seven. children have been born to Mr. and Mrs.
Johnston : Sarah Ellen is the wife of Fred McKee, a shipper, of Needle Rock,
Mendocino county, and they have one child, Doris E.; Phoebe L. is married to
James Lawson, a carpenter of Petrolia, and has two children, Leland L. and
Clyde N.; Minnie L. is the wife of Horace H. Stewart, who lives at Petrolia
and is associated with Thomas A. Johnston in running the father's stock
ranch, and they have one child, Charles Calvin ; Thomas Avery is running the
stock ranch in partnership with Mr. Stewart ; Katie E. has been teaching for
seven years in the Honey Dew district school at Upper Mattole; Charles F. is
woods superintendent at Needle Rock ; Ethel E. is living at home.
operate the hotel until 1894, when he sold it, his death occurring a few
months later. Two years later Mrs. Mozzini joined her brothers, who were
engaged in the dairy business near Loleta, in Humboldt county, where she has
since made such a success as the partner of one of her brothers in the
business, and is prominent as a member of the Rebekahs.
"J. W. RYAN,
"E. B. LORING,
"B. H. McNEIL, "Committee."
Mr. Hauck always enjoyed his Masonic association and took pleasure in the
lodge meetings. In political principles he was a Republican, but in voting
supported the best man, without reference to the Party. He married, May 1,
1866, Nancy Lamb, a native of the state of Indiana, who came to California
with her father, Alexander Lamb, in 1864. She died in 1899, leaving three
children : Alice M.; Nathan, and Fred C., the latter residing in Eureka. The
daughter married Robert Malloy, a blacksmith at Alton ; he was a blacksmith
on Dewey's flagship May 1, 1898, at the battle of Manila bay.
Aside from his business enterprises, Mr. Larsen is a man of much public
spirit and takes a keen interest in all matters of general welfare. He is a
Democrat in politics and is well informed on all current issues. He is a
member of the Woodmen of the World, and is affiliated with the lodge at
Ferndale. He is also a prominent member of the Danish Lutheran church in
Arcata and secretary of the board of trustees, taking an active part in all
the affairs of the denomination and in all their church work.
GEORGE H. GRAY.—As one of the most practical and successful of the pioneer
farmers and stockmen of Humboldt county, George H. Gray is entitled to
mention, being a man of splendid attainments, forceful, enterprising and
intelligent above the average. He is a native of Indiana, born in Rush
county, November 22, 1832, and is descended from a long line of English
ancestry. His father, Isaac Gray, was born, reared and educated on the Isle
of Wight, England, and there he married Sarah Hawkins, also a native of the
island. Seven children were born of this union before they migrated to the
United States, locating in Rush county, Ind., where George H., the youngest
child, was born. In 1838 they removed to Illinois, settling near what is now
Coatsburg, in Adams county, where they took up a prairie farm, improving and
cultivating it for many years. Here the youngest son grew to young manhood,
receiving his education in the public school of the district, this being
held in a log cabin of the most primitive type, without window glass, heated
by a huge fireplace, and furnished with log-hewn furniture, and tables made
from splits. Up to the time he was twenty-one he worked on the farm with his
father and at that time he determined to come to California. He made the
trip across the plains in 1854, paying his way by driving an ox-team.
Arriving in California he stopped at Diamond Springs, El Dorado county, for
a year and did well in the mines, but spent his savings in unprofitable
prospecting the following year in Amador county. He then went to Santa Rosa
valley and worked on a ranch for wages, saving his earnings, until he was
able to buy a herd of young cattle. These he drove into Humboldt county, in
1859, herding them on the hills at Fort Baker and on the Van Duzen river.
The same year he took a claim in the Bald hills district and drove his
cattle there, and commenced the erection of a house. He went into Hydesville
for supplies and when he returned it was to find that the Indians had raided
him, killing most of his cattle and scattering the rest. He gathered
together what few were left and in 1860 drove them to the Bear river, where
he leased them on shares until 1861. He rented a farm at Hydesville for a
year and in 1861 returned to Larabee creek, and that winter, through severe
weather and Indian raids, he lost the rest of his cattle, and spring found
him $200 in debt. He again commenced to work for wages, paid off his
indebtedness, and made a new start. Later he bought a claim at Iaqua, in
1864, where he engaged in stock-raising. He took in a partner, and they
purchased more land, owning quite a large range, with large numbers of
stock. Leaving his partner in charge of the stock range, Mr. Gray, in 1868,
purchased one hundred sixty acres in the Eel river valley, near where Alton
now stands, and engaged in agriculture for three years, this being his first
attempt in this line.
FRANK B. JACOBS.—Another of the early pioneers of Humboldt county, and a man who has been a vital factor in the development of the county, is Frank B. Jacobs, manager of the Arcata lumber yards of the Northern Redwood Lumber Company. He has been with this company for a period of years and has been steadily advanced in positions of responsibility and trust. For some time he has been talking of resigning his position here and retiring from active business pursuits. Whenever he does resign there is no question but that his loss will be keenly felt by the company.
Mr. Jacobs is a native of Maine, having been born in Kennebec County, May 19, 1847. He is the son of Bailey and Lucy (Chandler) Jacobs. His father was a native of Winthrop, Kennebec County, Me., and for the greater part of his life followed the trade of a shoemaker. For a short time he was engaged in farming, but soon returned to his shoe shop as the more profitable occupation. He died in Maine in July, 1877. The boyhood days of the son, Frank B., were spent in close association with his father and much of his time was passed in the shop, where he learned at an early age the shoemaker's trade. He attended the public schools in his district, graduating from the grammar school. When fifteen years of age he went to Massachusetts and for a few months was employed in a factory making shoes for the army. The conditions in his native New England did not suit him, however, and he determined to seek his fortune in the larger field of opportunity offered by the west. Accordingly he left Maine in 1868, coming directly to California and locating at first in San Mateo County. Later he removed to Santa Cruz where he found employment with the Chandler & Harrington Lumber Company, working in the woods.
It was in 1881 that Mr. Jacobs first came to Humboldt County, where he has since made his home. He secured employment with Chandler & Jackson (a logging firm), and for some time worked in the woods at Jolly Giants. The following season he was transferred to the mills of Falk, Chandler Co. On leaving Falk & Co. he became foreman of lumber yards for the Riverside Lumber Company in Arcata and continued with their successors, the Northern Redwood Lumber Company, and Mr. Jacobs has been one of their trusted employees ever since. When he at first took charge of the yards in Arcata, the work had only been started for a short time and the enterprise was not very large. It increased rapidly, however, and is now one of the large lumber yards in the county. The management of Mr. Jacobs has been in no small measure responsible for the growth of the business and his work has been unusually efficient and capable.
Aside from his splendid
qualities as a business man, Mr. Jacobs has many warm personal friends. He
is a Republican in politics, and is well informed on topics of general
interest and wide awake to all that pertains to the welfare of the
community.
The marriage of Mr. Jacobs took place in Arcata, December 5, 1891, uniting
him with Mrs. Inez Jane (Brown) Armstrong, a native of Ohio, born in
Perrysburg, Hancock County, July 16, 1848. Her father was Benjamin Brown,
born in Canada, April 24, 1804. He married Julia Ann Blaisdel, in Albion,
New York, in 1833. Mrs. Brown was a native of New York state, born August
24, 1817. Mr. Brown was a millwright by trade and lived in Ohio for many
years, following his trade there until 1852, when he came with his family to
Oregon, locating in Washington County, on the Tualitan River. He remained
for some time, but eventually removed with his family to Humboldt County,
Cal., making the trip from Oregon on horseback and locating at Arcata. Here
he engaged in the carpenter's trade and also contracting and building. He
died in Arcata, March 5, 1875. His wife passed away at the family home in
Arcata, January 11, 1889.
The daughter, Inez Jane Brown, now Mrs. Jacobs, crossed the plains with her parents in 1852, when she was a child of some four years. The family located in Oregon and there she spent her girlhood. Later they removed to Humboldt County. She remained at home with her parents, attending school most of the time until her marriage with William Armstrong, September 15, 1867. Mr. Armstrong was a native of Kentucky, born January 18, 1838. He crossed the plains with his parents in 185.1, coming directly to California and locating in Humboldt County. Here he followed the occupation of farming until the time of his death, July 9, 1880. There were three children born of this union, all of whom are well and favorably known in Arcata and Humboldt County. They are : Emily S. Armstrong, married in 1885 to James B. Sherborn; Jessie Armstrong, married in 1890 to George Hinckley ; and Calvin Armstrong, married in 1898 to Miss Mabel Dickerson. The second marriage of Mrs. Armstrong, uniting her with Mr. Jacobs, was solemnized December 5, 1891.
In the intermarriage of the
Jacobs-Brown-Armstrong families, three of the oldest and most honored
pioneer families of the county have been united. They have all been
residents of Humboldt County for many years and have been actively
associated with the development of the best interests of the county and of
the state. Both Mr. and Mrs. Jacobs are well known throughout the county
and are popular with a wide circle of friends and acquaintances. Their home
in Arcata is full of comfort and good cheer and is a popular gathering place
with their many friends.
HOGAN J. RING, M. D.—To comparatively few physicians is it given to
remain in one location for more than a quarter of a century, winning the
confidence of an increasing list of patients and caring for, in sickness,
the little ones of those whom years before they had successfully brought
through the usual ailments and contagious diseases of childhood. Such has
been the happy experience of Dr. Ring, who since 1887 has continuously
engaged in practice at Ferndale and is now the owner of one-half interest in
the Ferndale general hospital, finding in his private and hospital practice,
in membership in the Humboldt County and California State Medical
Associations, and in service as medical examiner for various life insurance
companies, the diversified professional activities essential to modern
medical progress. There is always interest in tracing the steps which lead
our foreign-born citizens out of obscurity into professional or commercial
prominence, and in the case of Dr. Ring we find that his first step toward
independence occurred in his migration to the new world from Norway, where
he was born near Christiania, February 17, 1851, and where he had passed an
uneventful youth on a farm about ten miles from the capital of Norway.
During 1866 he sailed across the ocean on the Emerald, an old-fashioned
sailing vessel, that even then was losing its prestige in the growing
popularity of the more expensive liners. Via the St. Lawrence river and the
great lakes he traveled to Minnesota, where he settled in Fillmore county.
Being an excellent violinist, he used that talent to defray the expenses of
two years of study in the Preston schools. After leaving school he was
employed for four and one-half years as an apprentice and clerk in a Preston
drug store. During 1872 he and his former employer opened a drug store at
Whalan, Minn., and he managed the business for two years, then hired a
manager, but still retained his interest in the concern.
It had been the ambition of
Dr. Ring from boyhood to enter the medical profession, but the way did not
open until he had accumulated a little fund through the savings of his work
as a druggist. Thereupon he began the study of therapeutics and in 1877 he
was graduated from the Bennett Medical College of Chicago. After some
months at Whalan he removed to Hastings, Neb., in the fall of 1878 and in
1881 located at Grand Island, Neb., and while there served as coroner of
Hall county for two years. From there he came to California in 1887 and
settled at Ferndale, the scene of all his subsequent professional labors.
August 1, 1876, he married Ida 0. Lowe, who died at Ferndale, June 7, 1901,
leaving five children, namely: John Glenellyn, of Fruitland; Verna Helen,
Mrs. P. W. Hunter, of Fortuna ; Mildred, Mrs. W. S. Moore, of Ferndale;
Ronald Lowe, attending the University of California; and Arden G., attending
Ferndale high school. The second marriage of Dr. Ring was solemnized October
7, 1903, and united him with Mrs. Eleanor (Black) Andreasen, a native of
Ireland, and the widow of Olaf Andreasen, of Ferndale. Of this union there
are two children, Harlyn J. and Ingwald M. Dr. Ring's fraternities, in most
of which he has served as medical examiner, include membership in Ferndale
Lodge No. 193, F. & A. M., Ferndale Chapter, R. A. M.; Ferndale Lodge No.
220, I. 0. 0. F., in which he is a past grand; Aurora Lodge No. 51, K. of
P.; Woodmen of the World; District Court No. 976, Court of Honor ; and Grand
Island (Neb.) Lodge No. 1, A. 0. U. W., of which he served as the first
medical examiner. A number of valuable property holdings in Humboldt county
indicate his desire to accumulate a competency for later years when active
professional interests will no longer be possible, while his love of the
artistic and beautiful is indicated by his attractive residence in Ferndale,
a place made attractive by his personal supervision of the grounds and at
the same time delightful through the gracious hospitality extended by the
Doctor and his wife to their guests.
JOHN TRIGG.—The life story of the man who began at the bottom of the
ladder and worked his way up round by round, planting his feet always firmly
on the rungs of honesty, reliability and industry and in the end reaching
the top, with many years of strength and usefulness yet to enjoy, is certain
to contain, not only much of interest, but, as well, much that may be of
great profit to the young man who is himself starting out on his journey of
life with his own fortune to carve from the untried future. In such
biographies may be mentioned John Trigg, of Ferndale, who came to Humboldt
county from his native province in Canada, when he was yet a young man and
commenced to work by the month on the various farms in the county. The
service that he rendered was always to the best of his ability and that was
no small thing. He was ever willing, industrious and eager to learn, and so
always found ready employment. As the years went by he accumulated a
comfortable bank account, and later engaged in farming and dairying for
himself. Today he conducts one of the most profitable and attractive dairy
farms in the county, modern and up-to-date in all its appointments and
highly sanitary. His milk check for the month averages throughout the summer
months the goodly sum of $500, and in addition he has the various
by-products of the dairy and the increase from fifty head of graded milch
cows. Mt. Trigg is a progressive man in the broadest and best sense of that
word. He is giving his children the best educational advantages that the
country affords, and they are exhibiting a marked aptitude in both music and
scholarship. In all the interests of the community he is wide-awake to the
welfare of the public and stands for progress and general improvement along
sane and substantial lines.
Mr. Trigg was born near Whitby, about thirty-two miles east of Toronto, Canada, January 7, 1859, the son of William Trigg, Sr., and Mary Ann (Edwards) Trigg. His grandparents, both paternally and maternally, were natives of England, born in Kent, close to the Aldershot Barracks. In his own family there were ten children, all of whom grew to manhood and womanhood, and eight of whom are living at present. They are : Mariah, died at the age of twenty-five years ; John, the subject of this article ; AATilliam, dairyman at Ferndale ; Sarah H., the wife of C. A. Pettigill, residing at Coquille, Ore. ; Robert, farmer at Whitby, Canada, where he owns the old Trigg farm ; George, residing at Ferndale, Whatcomb county, Wash., where he is engaged in the dairy business ; Lucy E., the wife of George S. Davis, dairyman at Coquille, Ore.; Charlotte E., wife of W. L. Kessner, dairyman at Coquille, Ore.; Mary J., the wife of George W. Kistner, bicycle repair shop, Ferndale ; and Elizabeth, who died at the age of twenty-one.
The boyhood days of Mr. Trigg were passed on the home farm near Whitby, where he remained until he was twenty-four years of age. The educational advantages were meager and he being the eldest boy many responsibilities fell upon his shoulders when he was yet a lad. He early assumed a full share of the farm work and worked with his father until at the age of twenty-four years he determined to make an independent start in life. For the following three years he worked for various farmers in his community and, at the end of that time, when he was twenty-seven, together with his brother William, came to Humboldt County, Cal., where he has since made his home. The brothers arrived in Ferndale on the night of January 20, 1885, and at noon of the 23d they went to work, by the month, on a dairy ranch in the vicinity. For eight years Mr. Trigg continued this work, giving the best of service, making many friends and accumulating a substantial bank account. About this time he met and married Mrs. Esther LaMar, the widow of John LaMar, and the only daughter of James Smith, who will be remembered as one of the few pioneers of the Ferndale district. He was born in Yorkshire, England, and came to America when he was twenty-nine years of age. He settled in Delaware and lived in the East for three years. During that time he was married in Delaware, and with his bride started for San Francisco, coming by way of the Horn on a sailing vessel taking nine months for the trip. He remained in San Francisco for six years and then came to Humboldt County, locating on the ranch that was his home until the time of his death, at the age of ninety-two years. He was president of the grange and an important factor in the development of the Ferndale district.
The year before his marriage Mr. Trigg rented the Smith ranch and has continued to conduct this property ever since. He owns, in addition, twenty-five acres, and also rents an additional seventy-five acres adjoining, besides owning a one hundred-acre dairy ranch at Coquille, Ore., and forty acres at Ferndale, Wash. On his local property Mr. Trigg has recently installed the Sharpless system of milking machine, which he finds a success and great convenience in milking his fifty cows. He has been interested in the creamery business of this district and was a director of the old Pioneer Creamery Company, which sold out to the Libbey McNeill Company. He is an important factor in the dairy interests of the county and is recognized as a man of knowledge and authority on such subjects. He is also well informed on all subjects of general farming and agriculture and takes a prominent part in all that pertains to these industries in Humboldt county, and especially in the vicinity of Ferndale.
In addition to his prominence in commercial circles, Mr. Trigg also occupies an equally prominent place in church, educational and fraternal circles. He became a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church seven years ago and is now a trustee and a prominent worker in that denomination. He has been a member of the Knights of Pythias in Ferndale for more than twenty-six years and a member of the Odd Fellows in Ferndale for more than twenty-five years and during all that time has given of his best for the good of both orders. He has been a member of the Rebekahs for twenty-five years and of the Myrtle Encampment for three years, and was a charter member of the Woodmen of the World. He is also a member of the Fraternal Brotherhood and of the Women of Woodcraft Circle. In his political affiliation Mr. Trigg is a Republican. His support has always been given for the advancement of the best interests of the community and for the upbuilding of the community and of the state.
At the time of her marriage
with Mr. Trigg Mrs. LaMar was the mother of four children by her previous
marriage, and these children have been reared and educated by Mr. Trigg as
his own. They are: Grace and Edith, both residing at home; George K.,
residing in Trinity County; Ernest J., residing at Battle Ground, Wash., and
married to Miss Sarah Wooldridge, of Fortuna. Mr. and Mrs. Trigg also became
the parents of four children, as follows Leslie P., a graduate of the
Ferndale High School, class of 1914; John W., Jennie E., and Robert S., all
students in the Ferndale schools and residing at home with their father.
Mrs. Trigg, who for so many years was a prominent figure in the social,
church and fraternal circles of Ferndale, having been closely associated
with her husband in all such activities, died July 10. 1906, at the age of
forty-seven years. Since her death Mr. Trigg has devoted his time
exclusively to his children and to his commercial interests.
JOHN CHRISTENSEN.—As a leader among the Danes at Ferndale, and a
prominent factor in commercial, social, fraternal and educational affairs of
his home community and of Ferndale district, John Christensen takes his
rightful place as a man of splendid qualities of heart and mind, wonderfully
energetic and progressive and especially successful in his many business
undertakings. He is president and general manager of the Valley Flower
Creamery Company, and was one of the prime movers in its organization and
establishment, besides conducting two of the most profitable dairy farms in
the district. He is a prominent member of the Odd Fellows and also a member
of the Danish Singing Society at Ferndale and other Danish benevolent
associations in which he is a leading spirit. His home life is altogether
delightful, his wife being a woman of much charm of manner and pleasant
hospitality, who takes a great interest in the success of her capable
husband. There are five children in the family and all are more or less
musical, and several musical instruments grace the home. While Mr.
Christensen is intensely interested in his business affairs he also finds
plenty of time for the enjoyment of the companionship of his family and for
the social life of the community where he makes his home.
Mr. Christensen is a native of Denmark, born at Sig in Jutland, September 24, 1878. His father, Wilhelm Christensen, was a dairy farmer and owned a splendid ranch of eighty acres. He is now deceased. The mother was Metta P. Larsen in her girlhood days, and is now living in Denmark at the age of fifty-eight years. She was the second wife of her husband, and bore him four children, of whom John, the subject of this article, is the eldest son. There were also four children born of the first marriage, Bodil, Mrs. C. P. Frey, the wife of a dairy farmer at Modesto, being a half sister of Mr. Christensen, they being the only members of their family in America. Mr. Christensen was reared on his father's farm in Denmark, where he early learned to do his share of the farm labor, working hard when he was yet a mere boy. He attended the public schools and was confirmed in the Lutheran church. When he was but little past fourteen years of age he went to Schleswig, Germany, and learned the creamery business, serving an apprenticeship of eighteen months. In 1894 he came to America, landing in New York in May, and coming at once to Humboldt county, the journey being made with his half sister, Mrs. Frey, who now resides at Modesto. They came to Port Kenyon on the Salt river, on the steamer Weeott, which was then making the run from San Francisco to this point, which is Mr. Christensen's present home. He went to work on the Francis place at Ferndale for one N. P. Hansen, as a dairy hand, and continued to work for wages on various dairy ranches of the district until some two years after his marriage, which occurred in 1900, uniting him with Miss Elise Jacobsen, a daughter of J. T. Jacobsen, a farmer of Metropolitan, who has a family of nine children, of whom Mrs. Christensen is the eldest. In November, 1902, Mr. Christensen rented a ranch and engaged in the dairy business for himself. His first place was the Grinsell place, which he still conducts, and three years later he also rented the Zanone place, and now runs them together, milking in all about eighty cows.
Mr. Christensen was also the manager of the old Pioneer creamery for five years, and then, in order to benefit himself and his neighbors by the establishment of a creamery nearer home, he helped to organize and establish the Valley Flower Creamery, of which he is president, as well as general manager. This is one of the most sanitary and up-to-date plants in the county, all the latest scientific devices and methods being in use. It is capitalized for $20,000, divided into four thousand shares at $5 per share. Mr. Christensen does the testing and also the buying of all supplies, and the marketing of the product. Other officers are : Eugene Larsen, vice-president ; Robert H. Flowers, secretary and bookkeeper, and the Russ-Williams Banking Company, treasurer. On the board of directors are John Rossen, A. Zana, John Brazil, Anton Enos, Robert H. Flowers and John Christensen. This creamery is a great financial success and is meeting the needs of the community in a splendid manner.
Both Mr. and Mrs. Christensen have many warm friends in their home neighborhood, in addition to the many business associates of Mr. Christensen, who is well liked by those who come in contact with him. Mr. Christensen is a• member of the Ferndale Lodge No. 379, I. 0. 0. F., and has taken an active part in the affairs of the order for many years, passing through all the chairs. He is a member of Myrtle Encampment, of which he is Past C. P., and was representative at the Grand Encampment at Santa Cruz, in 1911, and was there appointed Deputy Grand Patriarch by the Grand Master. He is especially prominent in the Danish societies, and is an influential member of the Dania Society and also of the Danish Brotherhood, being an ex-president of both ; he is also active in the local Danish Singing Society.
One of the strongest
interests of Mr. Christensen's life has been in educational affairs. His own
early advantages were seriously curtailed, but after coming to Ferndale he
attended night school for many months, taking advantage of every opportunity
to improve his knowledge of the English language and to acquire general
information, and in both these ambitions he was exceptionally successful.
His interest in the school system of the county has taken a practical turn
and he has' given his hearty support to the up-building of the public school
in the Port Kenyon district, where he makes his home. This district stands
throughout the county as being an exceptionally good one. It employs two
teachers and has a term of nine months each year. The average daily
attendance is fifty-four pupils and the records of scholarship are very
high. The building is commodious and well cared for and the salaries paid
are good. The board of trustees consists of Mr. Christensen, Charles Sweet
and Archie Morrison. Mr. and Mrs. Christensen have themselves five children
who have profited by the splendid conditions of the local schools, where
they have attended. They are: Therese Marie, Walford John, Bernard Lester,
Verna Petrea and Curtiss Clarence. The interest of Mr. Christensen in
educational progress is, however, far from selfish, being along broad lines
of culture and progress.
CHARLES PARSONS SOULE.—Mr. Soule's association with the business life
of Humboldt County has been and is primarily as a banker, but his influence
as an authority on financial matters has extended into various fields of
enterprise. His strong personality, liberal ideas and courage in taking a
progressive stand on questions affecting vitally the welfare of town, county
or wider territory have made him one of the live factors in the promotion of
all movements whose object has been the betterment of local conditions,
whether of a business nature or purely in the interest of social
improvement. Possessed of ability which needed an adequate outlet, and high
principled in his dealings with all men, he has been found competent and
trustworthy in every test. He is an honorable descendant of honored American
ancestry. The name he bears has been a respected one in New England from
Colonial days. His father, Philander Soule, born in Maine in 1812, emigrated
to California in the early '50s, locating at San Francisco, where he joined
his brother, Samuel Soule, who became a prominent business man. After a stay
of a year or more in San Francisco he returned to Maine, where he remained
until 1867, that year returning to California with his family and settling
at San Francisco, in which city he made a permanent home. He died there Li
18%, at the great age of eighty-four years. Mr. Soule was a farmer, and at
various times in his life also engaged in merchandising. He married Abigail
Burnham, who died in 1853. The Soules trace their lineage back to George
Soule and Miles Standish, both passengers on the Mayflower in 1620.
Charles Parsons Soule was born September 18, 1851, at Winslow, Me., and was named for a cousin of his mother, a prominent business man of New York. His education was obtained principally in his native state, in the public schools and at Colburn Classical Institute, Waterville. After coming to San Francisco, in November, 1867, he took a course at the Pacific business college to receive special preparation for business. His career as a banker began in July, 1868, when he became messenger in the employ of the Bank of California, in San Francisco, and at the instance of that institution he was sent the following year to Virginia City, Nev., where he acted as bookkeeper in the office of the Virginia City and Truckee Railroad Company. Returning to the Bank of California in the spring of 1870, he was employed as clerk there until the summer of 1871, when he went back to Nevada to take the position of bookkeeper for the agency of the Bank of California at Hamilton, White Pine county. In January, 1873, he was offered the position of cashier in the bank of Paxton & Curtis, at Austin, Nev., and accepted, holding it until he was elected to represent his district in the Nevada legislature, for 1879-80. At this time he moved to Reno and was admitted to membership in the banking firm of Paxton, Curtis & Co., the association lasting until the firm discontinued banking operations in that state in the spring of 1889. Mr. Soule then returned to California, in the fall of the year settling at Eureka, where he has since resided.
It was not long before Mr. Soule was in the thick of business activities here. Largely as the result of his efforts the Bank of Eureka and the Savings Bank of Humboldt County, in both of which he holds positions of high responsibility, were established, and their success has been attributed measurably to his farsighted policy and conservative management. He was director and cashier of both banks until 1902, when he was elected president of the Bank of Eureka and vice-president of the Savings Bank, in which capacities he is still connected with their operation. Mr. Soule has always used his influence in financial circles to place local business on a sound footing, and whenever possible has aided the merchants and other business men of the town by accommodations when in his judgment conditions could be worked out to the best advantage by so doing. He is conservative to a proper degree, but experience has taught him that generosity and unselfishness are not incompatible with good business methods, and this policy has been instrumental in making many progressive movements successful. In this respect, as much as in the discharge of public duties directly intrusted to him, he has shown an exemplary degree of public spirit.
In 1891, when the Humboldt chamber of commerce was organized, Mr. Soule was one of the organizers, and served as trustee and treasurer continuously until the present time, except the year 1904, when he served as president. He belonged to this organization at the time it secured an appropriation from the Federal government for the improvement of Humboldt Bar, and as such assisted in securing the enactment of legislation giving the sum of $1,750,000 for the construction of the jetty and the deepening of the channel. This was subsequently augmented by $1,037,000 and recently by a further sum of $500,000. He was one of the movers in the formation of the Humboldt County Development Committee, which is doing effective work. Other enterprises in which he has been interested are the Eureka Water Company and the Skinner-Duprey Drug Company, in both of which he has been a director. He was one of the committee of citizens chosen to solicit a donation for a free public library building for Eureka, and the handsome library obtained is a credit to the city and to those who gave their services to secure it. Mr. Soule has been a prominent member of the Humboldt Club, took an active part in founding it, was made a trustee at the time of its organization, and has since served a term as president. Fraternally he is a member of the Elks and the Masons, in the, latter connection belonging to the Knights Templar and the Shrine; he has attained the thirty-second degree. On political questions Mr. Soule is a Republican.
On August 6, 1872, Mr. Soule
was married, at Hamilton, in White Pine County, Nev., to Mrs. Mary A. (Herriott)
Kennedy, daughter of Ephraim and Frances (Waugh) Herriott. She is a native
of Pennsylvania. The only child of this union, Amy D. Soule, is the wife of
H. W. Lownsberry, of San Jose, Cal., who has two daughters, Eleth Agnes,
born in 1898, and Carmine Soule, born in 1906.
BYRON DEMING.—The pioneer of '50 is the recipient of special honors
and the subject of particular distinction in. California. Few of that brave
band are living today and those that survive have witnessed the wonderful
growth of our fair state. They have seen the going of the old ox team and
the coming of the steam train and have, seen changes that seem more
wonderful than a tale from the Arabian Nights. After more than half a
century of life in California, Mr. Deming may well be called the pioneer of
Humboldt County. Born in Salisbury, Addison County, Vermont, October 15,
1826, he attended the subscription schools in the county for several years.
After completing his schooling, he was employed in the woolen mills in the
vicinity, following the trade of machinist, afterwards rising to the
position of superintendent of the mills. It was while engaged in the mills
that he sustained a serious injury that has caused him considerable trouble
in life.. It seems that .in working about the machinery one day, his arm
became entangled in the shaft and he was injured in such a way as to break
his arm and tear the ligaments, leaving him in a delicate state of health
for the greater part of his life. In 1850, hearing of the discovery of gold
in California, he decided to leave the East and join the seekers for gold.
In June, 1850, taking passage on a steamer by way of Panama for San
Francisco and crossing the Isthmus, he took passage on the steamer Oregon,
arriving in San Francisco July. 22, 1850. Only remaining there a short time,
he next went to Sacramento and, entering the mines on the Tuolumne river,
engaged in mining for himself and became very successful in his search for
gold. While living in Sacramento an epidemic of cholera raged in the year
1851, but he was fortunate enough to escape the dread disease. Hearing of
the gold strike in Humboldt county in 1851, he decided to go there and see
the field for himself. Coming over the mountains by way of the Trinity River
to Trinidad, he encountered great obstacles for there was no wagon road and
every foot of the way was marked by terrible hardships. He had taken passage
on a ship to sail to San Francisco but it was wrecked in the harbor of
Trinidad so he had to remain there. Here he engaged in lightering, carrying
the cargo from the large boats ashore in a flat-bottomed boat. For this work
he received sixteen dollars a ton, and there being a great deal of trade at
Trinidad at the time, he became financially benefited. All the supplies for
the mines in the interior were shipped first to Trinidad and from there on
pack-mules to the mines. He also built a saw-mill and engaged in lumbering,
but in 1854 he gave up his lightering business and moved to Uniontown,
which is now the city of Arcata. When he first located in Uniontown there
was no town at the site of the present city of Eureka, all the ships landing
at Uniontown. His first enterprise was to build a wharf two miles long
extending out into the bay, and on this wharf was built the first railroad,
in California, built for the purpose of handling the large quantities of
freight that the ships brought to the port. Two other men were associated
with Mr. Deming in this work, Henry Walker and Stillman Daby, it taking them
four months to complete the work. The mails only reached the port once a
month after the ships started to make Uniontown a port of call. About the
time of the completing of the wharf the Indian wars of Humboldt County broke
out but he did not take an active part in them. As there was no undertaking
establishment in Uniontown, he decided to engage in that business, and did
so for a number of years. Aside from this, he took up the making of
pack-saddles, and, though not an adept at the trade, he worked up a large
business. Men came from far and near to obtain one of the Deming
pack-saddles. The first one he made was from a box and later his reputation
as a saddle-maker extended from Oregon to Arizona. Giving up his undertaking
business in 1885, he opened a general repair shop, conducting this several
years with much success. He was a natural mechanic and the people of the
surrounding country would come for miles to have him mend their broken
implements. The saying was, "Something broken? Take it to B. Deming." He
acquired considerable land in Arcata which he still possesses. He is a
member of Anniversary Lodge No. 85, I. 0. 0. F., at Arcata, having joined
the lodge in Vermont in 1850. He was the founder of the lodge in Arcata and
is the only surviving charter member. He also did a great deal toward
founding the Presbyterian Church in Arcata and was instrumental in securing
the services of clergymen from San Francisco, the Reverend Mr. Scott being
the first pastor of the church in Arcata. Mr. Deming was superintendent of
the Sunday school for a number of years. He served as justice of the peace
for fifteen years, has held office as a deputy sheriff, deputy county clerk
and notary public for years and was also county coroner. He has always taken
an active part in all temperance work and has entered whole-heartedly into
all movements pertaining to the good of the community. Being a stanch
Republican he has also entered extensively into all political affairs. He
married, in Arcata, May 26, 1856, Jane A. Pratt, a native of Middlebury,
Vermont. When but three years of age Mrs. Deming moved with her parents to
Ontario, Canada, locating at Chatham, a town situated between Lake Erie and
Lake Huron. At the age of twenty-three she came to California with a cousin,
coming by way of the Isthmus of Panama, engaging passage on the steamer
Columbia with Captain Dahl in charge of the ship, to San Francisco. They are
blessed with three children: Eugene Albert, deceased; Byron B., who is
married and living at Auburn, Placer county, and Charlotte Louise, deceased.
Mr. Deming is truly a pioneer of the county and many monuments attest his
good works. He is a man who has always been actively associated with all
public affairs tending to upbuild the community, one whose word is as good
as his bond and, one who holds the highest regard of his fellow men. He is
known from one end of the county to the other as a reliable citizen and one
for whom everyone has only the highest praise.
WALTER ELGEN CLARK.—A native son of Humboldt county, and the son of
one of the oldest of the California pioneer families, Walter Elgen Clark has
all his life resided in this county, and has been engaged in farming since
he completed his education. He has made a success of farming, first for
himself, making his initial independent venture when he was little more than
a lad ; and later as manager for his father's extensive farming and
stock-raising interests, he has won for himself a reputation for careful
attention to detail and for good judgment and business sagacity that is in
itself a valuable possession.
Mr. Clark was born in Arcata, Humboldt county, Cal., April 20, 1877. He is the son of Schuyler and Mary Jane (Johnson) Clark, natives of Canada ; the father was born January 4, 1848; he came to San Francisco, California, November 25, 1868, and came direct to Humboldt county, and for eight years was employed in the lumber woods and in rafting logs across Humboldt bay, between Arcata and Eureka. In 1872 he invested his savings in land on Arcata bottoms. This he cleared and improved, and engaged in farming. He was successful and added to his holdings other properties hereinafter mentioned.
He was married in Arcata, March 31, 1876, and of this marriage were eight children, five of whom are living. Walter Elgen was second oldest in order of birth, and is giving his best efforts to the care of the large property entrusted to him by his father, who makes his home with him. The son attended the public schools of the Alliance district until he was seventeen, helping his father on the farm, mornings and evenings, and during vacation times. In 1894 he gave up attending school and became associated with his father in the active management of the farm, and for a few years they conducted the home place together, engaging in diversified farming and dairying. His first independent venture was in 1896 when he rented a farm from his father, stocked it with cattle, and commenced farming for himself, making a specialty of dairying. For six years he continued this enterprise with the greatest success, and at the end of that time rented another of his father's farms and continued his undertaking on a larger scale.
It was in August, 1911, that Mr. Clark gave up farming for himself and took over the management of his father's business, the elder Mr. Clark retiring from active business life at that time. Since then he has devoted himself exclusively to these extensive affairs, and has proven a most efficient manager and a profitable farmer. His father owns several large farms, including cattle ranches and ranges and timber claims, all of which are under his supervision. The estate includes one hundred eighty-three acres of bottom land, all improved ; one hundred six acres of pasture land at McKinleyville; one hundred twenty acres on Fickle Hill, which Mr. Clark is at present improving and putting in shape for pasture land and stock range ; and one hundred sixty acres of timber claim. On the pasture land at McKinleyville they have extensive herds of cattle. They also have an interest in the United Creamery at Arcata, Mr. Clark himself being largely interested in the enterprise.
Aside from his business interests, Mr. Clark possesses a wide circle of life-long friends and acquaintances, and is well known throughout the valley and is deservedly popular. He is a prominent member of St. John's Episcopal Church at Arcata, and in politics is a Progressive Republican. He is progressive in every sense of the word and is always interested in matters of public interest when the issue is one that involves the general welfare of the community.
The marriage of Mr. Clark and
Miss Ana Margaret Myers took place in Eureka, September 25, 1901, Mrs.
Clark, like her husband, being a native of California and of Humboldt
county, born in McKinleyville. She is the daughter of Henry and Catherine (Buchta)
Myers, natives of Germany and pioneers of McKinleyville, Humboldt county,
where they reside on their old homestead.
CHARLES ALBERT MURDOCK.—Though he has lived in San Francisco for the
last fifty years, Charles Albert Murdock has grateful memories of the period
of his youth spent in Humboldt county, and the county recalls with pride
that this man who has been permitted to lead a life of uncommon usefulness
is the son of one of her earliest representatives in the California
legislature, the late Albert Hamilton Murdock.
Albert Hamilton Murdock and
his wife, Charlotte Dorothy Hills, were both natives of Leominster, Mass.,
and descended from early settled families of that commonwealth. His earliest
ancestor in America was Robert Murdock, of Roxbury, Mass., a Scotch emigrant
of the Plymouth colony, whose descendants were mostly manufacturers and
traders of New England. Joseph Hills, from whom Mrs. Murdock traced her
descent, was an early English emigrant of 1638, who did the state good
service. Some of his posterity settled in Leominster and began the
manufacture of combs, for many years the principal industry of that town.
John Buss, another of Mrs. Murdock's ancestors, served in the Continental
army during the Revolution.
Albert Hamilton Murdock was born in 1815, and came to California in 1849.
After experiencing three fires in San Francisco he joined others in March,
1850, in an expedition on the schooner Paragon to Humboldt bay, into which
the Trinity river was supposed to flow. The little craft was wrecked at
Point Saint George, but many of the company, persisting in their purpose,
reached the bay, and were among the early settlers of Uniontown, now known
as Arcata, Humboldt county. Major Murdock, as he was generally called, was
one of these, and he engaged in merchandising until 1854, when he
relinquished that business to take up his duties as assemblyman, having been
elected to represent the district in the state legislature. In 1860 he
became interested in mining in Grass Valley. In 1864 he sold out his
interests in Humboldt and became a stock broker in San Francisco, remaining
there until his death, in 1877. His wife, who had joined him in California
in 1855, bringing their three children, died in San Francisco in 1894.
Charles Albert Murdock, the eldest child of his parents, was born January 26, 1841, in Leominster, Mass., where he attended the common schools up to the age of fourteen years, at which time he was in the high school. Arriving in Uniontown in 1855, as there were no public school advantages he taught his younger brother and sister and a few other small children for a short time, and when Robert Desty established a school he and his pupils joined it. In less than six months his school days ended. For the next six years he did whatever he could to help his father, who was postmaster and general trader, and owned some land. He worked in the garden and on the farm, and had charge of Murdock Hall, where all entertainments and dances were held. At one time he conducted a tin shop and was the only tinsmith in Humboldt county. He was the first librarian of Uniontown, and often acted as secretary at public meetings. In 1863 Mr. Murdock was appointed, by Abraham Lincoln, as register of the land office at Humboldt, and removed to Eureka. He sold many acres of the best timber land on Mad River for a dollar and a quarter an acre in greenbacks, which cost seventy-five cents in gold. Miller Preston was about the only man who appreciated the opportunity. The position, though responsible, was not remunerative, and in the following year he resigned and became clerk to the quartermaster at Fort Humboldt.
In June, 1864, Mr. Murdock accepted an appointment as clerk to the superintendent of Indian affairs, Mr. Austin Wiley, and removed to San Francisco, where he has since continuously resided. At the conclusion of Mr. Wiley's term he was for a time bookkeeper, doing some work as a newspaper reporter in the evenings. Then he was for a year or so in business as a money broker. In 1867 he entered the employ of M. D. Carr & Co., book and job printers, and soon afterward acquired a small interest. Subsequently the firm became C. A. Murdock & Co., so continuing until 1909, when it became the Blair-Murdock Company.
In 1883 Mr. Murdock served a term as assemblyman from San Francisco. He was a member of the board of education from 1894 to 1897, and filled an unexpired term as civil service commissioner in 1902-03. These positions were all unsought, most of them coming to him by appointment. In 1907, when Edward Robeson Taylor was entrusted with the selection of a board of supervisors to succeed the notorious Schmitz-Ruef board, Mr. Murdock was one of the eighteen, and has held the position ever since, his present term expiring in January, 1916.
With all his business and official duties Mr. Murdock has led a life a broad, unselfish service to his fellow men, accepting his opportunities as a privilege and discharging the responsibilities they have brought as a solemn trust. In 1875 he was an organizer of the Boys' and Girls' Aid Society of San. Francisco, and is now vice-president. He is a member of the board of directors of the California School of Mechanical Arts, Of the Associated Charities, of the Babies' Aid, and representative of the Protestant Charities on the Central Council of the Native Sons and Native Daughters for the Care of Homeless Children. He is secretary of three endowment funds, aggregating over eighty thousand dollars, for beneficence and charity in connection with the First Unitarian Church. For fifty years he has been an attendant of the Unitarian Church, superintendent of the Sunday school for about forty years, and vice-president of the National Conference. For twenty-two years he has edited the Pacific Unitarian.
Since 1877 Mr. Murdock has been a member of the Chit-Chat club, devoted to discussion of literary and economic questions. He also holds membership in the Unitarian, Commonwealth and Sierra clubs. He has never joined any secret societies.
By his first marriage, to Miss Alice J. Meeker, daughter of David Meeker, which took place in San Francisco in April, 1871, Mr. Murdock had no children. She died in 1884, and in February, 1891, he married for his second wife Winifred W. White, daughter of Ammi White. Her death occurred in 1903. Three children were born of this union: Osgood, now a junior in the University of California; Margaret Elliot, a graduate of the San Francisco normal school, engaged in teaching ; and Edith King, a high school pupil in San Francisco.
Mr. Murdock is thankful for
good health, good friends and abundant opportunity for service and general
helpfulness. He feels that he was favored in spending nine years in his
formative period in Humboldt county, with its bounty and beauty, and settled
by so fine a group of enterprising and high-minded citizens.
FRED REINHARD—Was born in the village of Kerns, Canton Linterwalden,
Switzerland, December 13, 1882, being the youngest child born to Maria and
Christiana (Scholle) Reinhard, farmers of that locality, where the father
died; the mother is still making her home there.
Fred Reinhard was brought up
on the farm and received his education in the public schools, after which he
learned cheese making and followed this occupation until 1912. Having heard
good reports from California, he determined to come hither, and, March 22,
1912, he arrived in San Francisco, making his .way immediately to Eureka,
Humboldt county. He soon entered the employ of a lumber company at Korbel,
continuing with it and other companies in that vicinity until January 1,
1914, when he came to Eureka and entered the employ of the Myrtle Grove
Cemetery as sexton, to which position he has since given his time and
ability, and his services are appreciated. He was reared in the Catholic
faith and is a member of St. Bernard's Catholic Church. Politically he
espouses the principles of the Republican Party.
PROF. P. S. INSKIP.—A veteran educator in California, having been
engaged in teaching in the public and high schools of Humboldt county from
1868 until resigning from the principalship of the Fortuna high school in
the fall of 1914, Prof. P. S. Inskip is one of the best known and most
highly respected educators of the state. His work as a teacher is of an
especially high class, his students being known at the University of
California at Berkeley and at Leland Stanford University as among the best
prepared high school students that enter either college, their standing at
these higher institutions showing that in addition to the acquisition of
knowledge they have also been taught that even more valuable accomplishment,
namely, how to study and acquire. The welfare of the student has always been
the first consideration with Professor Inskip, and during his fourteen years
as principal of the Fortuna high school he has done much for the general
standard of the community, interesting parents and friends in the work of
the students, and also in literary and scientific knowledge for its own
sake. He is himself a man of superior attainments and a deep scholar.
Coupled with this are the many years of practical application of his
knowledge and the constant study which have kept him so well abreast of the
times, all of which conspire to make •im a man of great learning, and a
friend and counsellor of rare ability. He is a man of fine presence and
engaging personality, and his retirement has deprived California schools of
a man of more than ordinary ability. He has been granted the state teacher's
pension under the recently passed law, and is now making his home with his
daughter and son-in-law, Mr. and Mrs. I. T. Smith, of Fortuna, his wife
having passed on some ten years ago.
Professor Inskip is a native of England, born in Hertford, January 23, 1845. His father, Harry Inskip, was a manufacturer of linseed oil, cotton seed oil, and the cakes and meals from these same seeds and oils, and was one of the largest manufacturers in that line in England. He died in England at the age of fifty-one years. The mother was Jane Albin in girlhood ; her father was for many years at the head of the custom house at Spalding, England. She bore her husband ten children, of whom Professor Inskip was the fifth born. He was educated in private schools until he was about sixteen years of age, when he entered Haileybury College, a military school, from which he graduated in 1867. In that year he left England for America, coming by way of the Horn, in company with one Thomas Howell, who had a brother living at Hydesville, Cal. The two young men landed at San Francisco, later making their way into Humboldt County, and in 1868 Mr. Inskip was granted a certificate and commenced his long and splendid career as a teacher in the public and high schools of the state. His first school was at Grizzly Bluff, where he made a decided success of his undertaking. Later he served as principal of the Ferndale school for five years, taught for fourteen years at Port Kenyon, in the Eureka high school for two years, and then, in 1900, became principal of the Fortuna high school, serving in this capacity continuously until his resignation. He was married to Miss Ida Chapin, the daughter of Orrin Chapin, at Ferndale, in 1875. Of their union were born three children, two sons and one daughter, all of whom were born and educated in Humboldt county, and they still make their homes here. They are : Philip, who resides at Ferndale ; Augusta, now Mrs. I. T. Smith, of Fortuna, with whom Professor Inskip now makes his home ; and Herbert, station agent at Fields Landing, who married Miss Maude Knight, and they are the parents of three sons, Donald, Philip and Herbert, Jr.
Professor Inskip is very
popular throughout Humboldt County, especially with his former students, who
are legion. He is a Democrat in his political preferences, and for this
reason has never been officially elevated in educational affairs, Humboldt
County being strongly Republican.
SETH A. FRANK.—The genial and popular manager of the Helmke
Mercantile Company is not indebted for his success in life to an indulgent
early fortune or the backing of influential friends. His youth contained
more of discouragement than inspiration. He was born at Rohnerville,
Humboldt county, March 11, 1875, the son of Atys and Belle (Drake) Frank.
His father, when a little lad, came across the plains with ox teams and
wagons. The father was a horseman. The mother was born near Alton, Humboldt
county. The subject of this sketch was left motherless at the age of eleven
years and, going to Bridgeville, made his home with his aunt, Mrs. Alzina
Barnum. His attendance at the public schools was interrupted at the age of
fifteen and although very young he became familiar with the responsible side
of existence, working on ranches for others until twenty-one. Mr. Frank then
assumed charge of his aunt's business affairs in Bridgeville, with whom he
continued to live for seven years, only severing this connection to enter
the employ of the Helmke Mercantile Company of Blocksburg, which he served
in the capacity of clerk for five years and was then made manager of their
large general store. He has filled this important position in such a manner
as to win the appreciation, not only of his employers but the entire
community. He is one of the very prominent and capable young men. of the
town and all things point to a continuation of his success and a widening of
his usefulness and responsibility. Although a Republican, he is an
independent voter, preferring to vote for the man rather than the party. He
is associated with the Odd Fellows, holding membership with Hydesville Lodge
No. 250. Mr. Frank was married in Fortuna November 5, 1908, to Miss Edna
Swortzel, a native daughter of Fortuna, and whose parents were W. J. and
Emma L. (Gushaw) Swortzel, natives of Virginia and California respectively.
The father came from Missouri to California when about twenty-one, in 1874,
and became a lumber manufacturer, who, with George Williams, built what is
now the Humboldt Milling Company's plant at Fortuna. He was supervisor at
the time of his death. The mother makes her home in Fortuna. Mr. and Mrs.
Frank have three children : Paul, Keith and Atys.
CURTIS OLIVER FALK, M. D.—Back to the time of his earliest recollections Dr. Falk has been identified with Humboldt County, for he was less than one year of age when brought hither by his parents and here he received such advantages as local schools made possible. The family of which he is a member comes of old eastern stock. His father, Elijah Falk, was a mechanic of exceptional ability and earned a livelihood at the trades of machinist and millwright at Mount Cory, Ohio, where the Doctor was born January 18, 1876. It was later in the same year that a home was established in Humboldt County, where the father followed his trade and educated the children. Many would have been satisfied with the educational opportunities of Eureka, but after the young man had completed the business course in the academy and had received his diploma in 1893 he placed before himself the task of earning the expenses of a medical education. At the age of eighteen years he matriculated in the Cooper Medical College and there took the complete course of lectures, graduating with the degree of M. D., in December, 1897. Efficiency had been his aim in the class room. Every opportunity to extend his 'professional knowledge was grasped with enthusiasm and energy. With an excellent theoretical education, needing for its completeness only the inestimable advantage of experience, he began to practice at Loleta, Humboldt county, in January, 1898, but three years later he returned to Eureka to form a partnership with his brother, Charles C. Falk, M. D., and from that time until 1911 the brothers were associated in professional practice.
As a founder of the Sequoia
hospital and associated with his brother in the founding and building of the
Northern California hospital at Eureka (the latter the most modern and
sanitary hospital between San Francisco and Portland), Dr. C. 0. Falk has
contributed to the hospital service of the city. For six years he filled the
office of county physician, in which capacity he endeavored to promote the
public health and arouse a general interest in good sanitation. The Humboldt
County, California State and American Medical Associations have been
organizations enlisting his intelligent cooperation and earnest alliance,
while in the fraternities he has been associated actively with the
Independent Order of Odd Fellows, the Benevolent Protective Order of Elks,
the Woodmen of the World and the Foresters of America. By his marriage to
Annie C. Hall of New York he has three children, Audrey, Steadman and
Curtis Lane. Desirous of securing the best possible local educational
advantages, he gave five years of efficient, careful and wise labor to the
schools of Eureka and is rated as one of the most capable men the board of
education has had among its members. Indeed every worthy movement is sure of
his assistance and tactful co-operation. Any work done in behalf of the city
of his lifelong association and the county of his permanent home is clearly
a labor of love, affording expression for his loyal devotion to the local
interests.
WILLIAM JEWETT McNAMARA.—The lives of the pioneers are the heritage of the present generation. Without their endurance of privations, without their heroic patience in danger and hardship, the opportunities of today and the possibilities of tomorrow could not come within the angle of vision. Due honors are given to the life and labors of William Jewett McNamara, a pioneer of 1858 in Humboldt county, a native of the state of Maine and in youth a resident of Aurora, Ill., but best known through his association with the material upbuilding of the Pacific coast. In the early period of his connection with Humboldt County he worked in the butcher business for R. M. Williams, making his headquarters on a ranch near Eureka. While engaging in the driving of a pack-train from Hydesville over the mountains to Trinity he endured not only hardships, but also the most constant and grave dangers. The Indians were numerous and hostile in that day and frequently he had narrow escapes from them.
After a period of mercantile activity in Canyon City, Ore., where he made a specialty of supplying the miners with outfits for the mines, in 1868 Mr. McNamara returned to Eureka and on Front street opened the first men's clothing store in the town. Later he moved to Second and E streets and admitted L. T. Kinsey into partnership, continuing with that gentleman for some years, but eventually buying out his interest and taking into the firm a son, W. A. McNamara, as a partner, under the title of McNamara & Son. When the father and son went out of business the former removed to Washington and for three years engaged in the hotel business at Hoquiam. On returning to Eureka he acted as manager of the Vance hotel for six months and then retired to private life. His death occurred at his Eureka home June 26, 1911. Surviving him are the three sons of his first marriage, William A., James A. and Fred W., also his second wife, formerly Mrs. Virginia C. (McDaniel) Scott, a member of an old Virginian family and a pioneer of California who crossed the plains in 1852. Her father, William McDaniel, a Virginian, started with his wife and four children to cross the plains in that year, but while en route one son died. Mr. McDaniel was captain of the train, which reached Auburn, its destination, in safety, and there he died in 1867. Mrs. McNamara was educated in the public schools of Auburn. She now lives in the old home in Eureka, at the corner of E and Fifth streets, which she has owned since 1867, and which in the meantime has become very valuable property.
In the early history of Eureka Mr. McNamara was particularly prominent. With later years there was naturally a relinquishment of many of the movements that deeply interested him in young manhood, but he still kept posted in all measures for local progress, although not able to actively identify himself with such work in the latter part of his life. He served as a member of the Volunteer and Veteran Firemen's Associations and was an Exempt Fireman. At one time he acted as chief of the fire department. Realizing the imperative need of adequate fire protection, he aided every movement looking toward that end. Nor was he less energetic in assistance given to other worthy projects. Educational affairs had his genuine cooperation. It was his desire to maintain a high class of citizenship in Humboldt County and he was a leading member of the committee of fifteen that drove the Chinamen out of Eureka.
While he had many narrow
escapes from Indians in early days, perhaps he was never in greater peril
than on one occasion when, starting out in a small rowboat for a trip over
the Humboldt Bar and up Eel River, he was nearly wrecked in the rough sea.
His memory was little short of remarkable and often in his later days he
held friends in almost spellbound interest as he narrated tales of the
pioneer period, enlivening each story with his keen humor and lively wit,
and bringing to the listeners a vivid appreciation of perilous or amusing
happenings of bygone days.
ALBERT C. NOE.—The force of a progressive character has made
prominent the name of Albert C. Noe, a leading realty operator of Humboldt
county and likewise an attorney whose excellent professional attainments
enable him to carry through all real estate transactions in accordance with
the law. A member of a pioneer Iowa family and himself a native of that
state, born December 21, 1868, he is a son of Eli and Phoebe A. Noe, the
latter a native of Indiana. The family comprised six children and of these
he was second in order of birth. On March 8th, 1911, he was married to Miss
Margaret Laughlin, a member of the teaching force of the Eureka public
schools.
The father, a California pioneer, came to Humboldt County in 1869 and settled at Table Bluff on the 4th of March, after which he aided in the early development of this locality. Finally, however, he closed out his interests here and removed to Oregon, in 1882.
At the time of the removal of
the family from California to Oregon Albert C. Noe was a lad of thirteen
years ; being only four months old at the time of the family arrival at
Table Bluff, from Iowa, he has no memories earlier than those of the west,
and it has been his personal choice to remain in Humboldt County, where live
the friends of his youth as well as the associates of his mature business
years. After he had studied law and received admission to the bar in 1901,
he turned his attention to the realty business, in which he utilizes his
professional education as well as the commercial training received in the
San Francisco Business College. As early as 1892 he was well known in the
insurance business as Eureka agent for old-line companies and some of his
most profitable real estate deals also date back to that decade. More
recently he has been connected with a number of large enterprises and has
handled many important deals. On Myrtle avenue, just outside of the city
limits, is located the Santa Clara tract of eighty acres, which he put on
the market to sell off in home lots, having previously platted thirty-five
acres, and put the subdivision into excellent condition for development
work. The large holdings of the Arcata Land and Improvement Company,
including eight hundred acres near Arcata, he handled and sold. One of his
most important affiliations was that of vice-president and a director of the
Eureka and Freshwater Investment Company, owners of one thousand acres,
which valuable property he promoted and developed, aiding in the
incorporation of the concern that adapted the land to the dairy industry
and grain cropping. With the increase in land valuations the property was
sold. Such enterprises as these have engaged the tireless energies of Mr.
Noe, but they have not engrossed his time to the exclusion of outside
activities, for he has been an ardent worker for the development of Humboldt
county, and more especially the city of Eureka.
MERCER-FRASER CO., INCORPORATED.—Early in the '70s the late H. M. Mercer established at Eureka a business that developed into the Mercer-Hodson Company and later, by the admission of James D. Fraser to the partnership became the Mercer-Fraser Company, whose present officers are as follows: James D. Fraser, president; C. L. Mercer, vice-president ; H. A. Graham, secretary, and Frank W. Dinsmore, assistant secretary and manager at Eureka. The firm maintains an office at San Francisco and there, as well as at the Eureka headquarters, makes contracts for general construction work, house moving, pile driving, wharf and warehouse building, bridge and railroad construction, heavy hoisting, ditches and dredging, and concrete work of every kind. In addition the firm acts as agent for all grades of Hercules powder (formerly known as Dupont powder) and blasting supplies. By gradual growth the business has developed into enormous proportions and easily places the company in the lead along the line of their specialties.
It would seem impossible to
enumerate all of the contracts filled by the firm, but the recapitulation of
a few indicates the diversified nature of their work and the large interests
involved. On the line of the Northwestern Pacific Railroad they erected the
South Fork bridge at Dyerville, the steel bridge across Larrabee creek, the
steel bridge across Van Duzen river at Alton and the Cane Rock crossing on
Eel river, the largest contract for masonry on the road. At Scotia they had
the contract for the concrete construction work for the Pacific Lumber
Company; erected the county bridge at Robinson's Ferry; the three-span steel
bridge at Essex on the Arcata and Mad River Railroad; the cable bridge
across Eel river at Fort Seward; and the new brick depot for the
Northwestern Pacific Railroad at Fort Seward; the masonry and piers for Fort
Seward creek railroad bridge and the concrete work for tunnel No. 30 at
Alderpoint. Among their contracts at Eureka were those for an addition to
the Eureka foundry, the Eureka garage on Fifth Street and all of the wharf
work on the bay. The First National Bank of Arcata occupies a modern
building erected by the Mercer-Fraser Company, who also erected several
trestles near that town on the railroad extending to the granite quarry.
This places the company easily as the largest and most extensive contractors
of concrete and heavy construction work of all kinds, being fully equipped
with machinery for the handling of heavy work. Important among their. San
Francisco contracts were those for the building of section 10 on the sea
wall, and the putting in of three thousand piles and the building of a wharf
at the Panama-Pacific Exposition grounds.
MARTIN ERIKSEN.—As the newly appointed postmaster of Ferndale, under
the Wilson administration, Martin Eriksen is destined to occupy a more or
less prominent place in the affairs of this thriving little city, for the
next few years. He has been a resident of Ferndale since 1903 and is well
and favorably known, having been in business during that entire time, and by
his honesty and general application, as well as by a pleasing personality,
he has won a host of warm friends. Needless to say, he is a stanch Democrat
and a strong party man. He is well informed on all questions of local import
and stands squarely for progress and municipal improvement along the best
and most substantial lines.
Mr. Eriksen is a:native of Denmark, having been born at Aarhuus, Jutland, November 5, 1867. He attended the common schools of the kingdom, and later entered the Dairy College, graduating in 1890 as a butter maker. He was reared and confirmed in the Lutheran church and is still identified with that denomination. Shortly after his graduation from the Dairy College Mr. Eriksen came to America, locating at first at Des Moines, Iowa, but soon going on to Council Bluffs, that state, where he worked for a year and a half as railroad laborer. It was in the fall of 1893 that he finally came to California, arriving in Humboldt County in November of that year. He at once took charge of the creamery at Loleta, and later that same season went to Arcata and took charge of the Arcata creamery No. 1, remaining for a year. He then went to Alton and for four years managed the Alton creamery, meeting with splendid success in this undertaking. The year following he was in charge of the creamery at Hydesville, and later was transferred to the Riverside creamery near Ferndale, where he remained for four years. He then came into Ferndale and purchased the cigar and candy store of John Bonniksen, and engaged in business for himself. Since then he has greatly enlarged his stock, extending the scope of his operations to include a line of shirts and men's furnishings, overalls, men's working clothes, Edison phonographs, and stationery.
Upon securing his appointment
as postmaster (his commission bears the date of July 17, 1914) Mr. Eriksen
sold his store to his son, Viggo Eriksen, who is carrying on the business
along the same general lines that his father had established.
The marriage of Mr. Eriksen occurred at Des Moines, Iowa, in 1892, uniting
him with Miss Dora Bonniksen, who, like her husband, is a native of Denmark,
coming to America at about the time that he did. Of their union have been
born four children, all natives of Humboldt County, where they are growing
to manhood and womanhood and receiving their education. They are Margaret,
Viggo, Botihilda and Johanna. Since establishing himself permanently in
business in Ferndale Mr. Eriksen has purchased a comfortable home, which he
keeps up in an attractive manner.
In addition to his business and political prominence in Ferndale, Mr.
Eriksen is also well known in fraternal circles, where he is an influential
member of several orders and well known and well liked. He is affiliated
with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and both he and Mrs. Eriksen are
members of the Rebekahs and take an active part in all the affairs of that
organization. The order that claims the warmest support from the new
postmaster, however, is the Danish society known as Dania, a beneficial
society which now has twenty-three lodges and more than two thousand
members. During the thirty-five years of its existence it has been very
popular with the Danes in America. Mr. Eriksen has done splendid work in its
behalf and is the present grand president of the Dania Society of
California, an honor which he fully appreciates.
Personally Mr. Eriksen is a
man of many attainments, and is a linguist of ability, speaking and writing
the Danish, German and English languages. He is of a bright and sociable
disposition, making friends easily and readily, and keeping them always. His
wife and family are also genial and pleasant in disposition, creating an air
of helpfulness and good will wherever they are to be found. The appointment
of Mr. Eriksen for the position of postmaster is a direct endorsement of
his personality, rather than of his political faith.
LLOYD BRYAN, B. S., M. D.—A successful physician in Eureka and a
member of the staff of the Sequoia hospital, Dr. Lloyd Bryan is one of the
native sons of Humboldt County who have made good, by their own inherent
qualities of mind and soul, developed by education and fortified by
self-reliance, proving genuine worth of citizenship. While it is in his
chosen profession that he is gaining his reputation for ability, a man is
acquainted with him but a short time before he ascertains that the young
physician is well posted upon all general topics and shows a fidelity to
duty and an absolute integrity in all dealings that make him eminently
worthy of confidence in every department of activity. While constantly
devoted to the performance of his responsible duties at Sequoia Hospital and
as a private practitioner, he never fails to give to every person an
unfailing courtesy nor has he failed to give to every movement for the
upbuilding of Eureka the thoughtful consideration to be expected from a
public-spirited citizen.
Fortuna, Humboldt County, is
the native place of Dr. Bryan, and April 19, 1884, the date of his birth.
When a boy he was a pupil in a school held in a log cabin at Englewood.
There he completed the studies of the grammar grades. After graduating from
the Eureka high school in 1902 he matriculated in the University of
California at Berkeley and took the studies of the scientific course,
graduating in 1907 with the degree of B. S., and with a high standing for
proficiency in his studies. While at the university he was a prominent
member of Sigma Chapter of the Alpha Kappa Kappa. Through the years of
identification with the scientific department he had been directing his
studies with the medical profession as his aim. During the fall of 1907 he
entered the medical department of the University of California, from which
in 1911 he received the degree of M. D. Meanwhile he had gained valuable
practice through service as interne in the hospital connected with the
university. Returning to Eureka in August, 1911, he took up private practice
and also for a time served as a resident physician at Sequoia hospital, an
important post of duty for which his talents admirably qualified him.
Through the reading of current medical journals and through membership in
the County, State and American Medical Associations, and the Pacific
Association of Railway Surgeons, he keeps in touch with every advance made
in therapeutics and is thoroughly modern in thought. Outside of
professional and college fraternity associations he is connected with the
Humboldt Club and the Benevolent Protective Order of Elks. He is assistant
division surgeon for the Northwestern Pacific and the present county
physician of Humboldt county. By his marriage to Miss Alice Downes, a native
of San Francisco, he has one daughter, Jane Wade Bryan. To an unusual degree
he possesses the qualities necessary to success in professional and private
life, and it may be predicted of him that the future holds for him
possibilities the foundation of which is his excellent professional
education, his growing skill in medicine and surgery, and his determination
to keep pace with every development in the science. The sturdy qualities of
his mind, received both through education and native endowments, are such as
to give him prestige in Eureka and professional popularity in Humboldt
County.
THOMAS HAYES AGNEW MORGAN.—A veteran of the Civil war and a member of a
fine old eastern family, Thomas Hayes Agnew Morgan is the owner of a
splendid stock ranch in Humboldt county, Cal., where he is known as an
enterprising, liberal and freehearted man.
Born near Mount Vernon, Lancaster county, Pa., September 17, 1844, he is the son of William Morgan, a farmer in Pennsylvania, of Scotch descent, and Margaret Rebecca (Noble) Morgan, who was a first cousin of Dr. Agnew and. was born in Pennsylvania, her death occurring in Kansas. Of the eight children of William Morgan, seven are living, Thomas Hayes Agnew Morgan being the third in age. He was brought up on the farm and educated in the public schools, and in August, 1862, enlisted in Company I of the One Hundred and Thirtieth Pennsylvania Volunteers, being mustered in for nine months. By his participation in the battle of Antietam, on September 17, 1862, Mr. Morgan celebrated his eighteenth birthday, taking part also in the battles of Fredericksburg and the Wilderness, being mustered out as corporal at the expiration of his term of enlistment. He then joined his father in Knoxville, Ill., attended school for a time, but soon re-enlisted, this time in Company A of the One Hundred and Fifty-first Illinois Volunteer Infantry for one year or during the war. With his regiment he served until the close of the war, being mustered out in 1865 in: Columbus, Ga., and honorably discharged, having served over one year in the regiment. Six months later Mr. Morgan took up a homestead at Fort Scott, Kans., remaining in Kansas until 1872, at which time he removed to Puget Sound, Wash.
Together with his brother William, two years his junior, Mr. Morgan came to Eureka, Cal., in 1875, and purchased three hundred twenty acres at Fawn Prairie, on the road to Sawyer's Bar, and here the two brothers engaged in farming and stock-raising. In 1882 they also purchased a ranch of one hundred sixty acres on the summit of Liscomb hill, three miles above Blue Lake, and there bought and added timber land to their property until they had in all thirteen hundred acres. The Fawn Prairie ranch being still in their possession, they managed the two estates, conducting the business of stock-raising thereon. Selling eight hundred acres of redwood timber at a later date, they still retain two hundred and twenty acres on Liscomb hill and two hundred at Fawn Prairie. The brother of Mr. Morgan moved to Arcata with his family, and since his death his wife, together with Thomas Morgan are still owners of the two ranches, which they lease. About the year 1905 Thomas Morgan returned to Eureka, buying his present property of twenty acres on Harrison Avenue, which he has cleared and converted into a prosperous ranch.
In the city of Eureka, Mr.
Morgan was married on November 2, 1892, to Miss Rose Ella Wilson, who was
born in Vinton, Iowa, but grew up in Humboldt County, Cal. The parents of
Mrs. Morgan were Eli Wilson, a native of Ohio, who removed to Iowa, and
thence in 1875 to Eureka, Cal.; and Sarah (Dudgeon) Wilson, also a native of
Ohio, who accompanied her husband, a bricklayer and mason by trade, to
Eureka, where they later died, leaving five children, of whom Mrs. Morgan is
the youngest. Both Mr. and Mrs. Morgan are attendants at the Presbyterian
Church, and in his political preferment Mr. Morgan is a supporter of the
Republican Party.
GEORGE M. BRICE.—Although a native of England, where he was born May
18, 1854, in the county of Surrey, George M. Brice has been a resident of
Humboldt county, Cal., since 1871, and has from that time to the present
been engaged in business enterprises that have aided materially in the
development of the county, adding to its resources, opening up new fields of
endeavor, and in a multitude of ways associating himself inseparably with
the history and life of his adopted state.
The early life of Mr. Brice was passed among the green fields and flowering
hedges of his native Surrey, where his family had dwelt for many
generations, his father being a farmer, and well and favorably known. The
home conditions were, nevertheless, meager and did not offer flattering
opportunities to the ambitious boy. From across the water came tales of
great wealth that could be accumulated by thrift and industry, where vast
acres of fertile land could be had for the taking. These tales were fireside
conversation in the Surrey home, and in the countryside where the lads of
the neighborhood attended school. The result was practically inevitable,
and when young Brice was sixteen he determined to leave school and seek his
fortune in the new world. He accordingly joined with another young man of
the village, one James Robarts, and came to California in 1871, locating in
Humboldt County. His first occupation was as a farm hand on a dairy farm on
Bear Ridge. In the fall of the same year he entered the employ of John Kemp
in his butcher shop at Ferndale, where he remained five years. In Ferndale,
June 18, 1876, occurred the marriage of Mr. Brice, uniting him with Miss
Clara Francis, a native of Ferndale, the daughter of Francis and Grace
Francis, pioneers of this town and the original owners of the present site
of Ferndale. Of this union were born six children: Herbert F., manager
Ivanhoe hotel ; Leslie P., and George M., both deceased ; Gwendolin, Mrs. R.
A. Griusell, of Oakland ; Letha C., and Harry C., at home.
The same year (1876), Mr. Brice opened a butcher shop in Ferndale, prospering in this business, until 1880, when he sold the shop and engaged in the livery business. In this new undertaking he started on a small scale, but the business grew, and later he operated the stage line to Singley's station, and for five years he prospered in this line of endeavor.
Other fields were calling him, however, and in 1885 he sold his livery business to Barnes & Adams, and renting a good farm, commenced a profitable career as a farmer and dairyman, the property being known as the Francis ranch. Here he continued until 1892, when he gave up his occupation as a farmer and, returning to Ferndale, repurchased his former livery business, which was then owned by Barnes, Scott & Hicks, in partnership with Ed Carr, and a year later Mr. Brice bought Mr. Carr's interest and continued the business alone. Extending the scope of his operations, Mr. Brice now has, in addition to the Ferndale interests, several stage lines into the surrounding country, chief among these being the line between Petrolia and Ferndale, and from Ferndale to Fern Bridge. The first of these lines, operating between Ferndale and Petrolia, is the continuation of one of the pioneer stage lines which he had originally purchased, with the stables, having been continued intermittently since. Another department of the livery business which Mr. Brice has operated with great success is teaming and freighting, his teams maintaining the commercial connection with the thriving little city of Ferndale and the surrounding territory, which is as yet not adequately supplied with railroad transportation. The hotel business also has proven a profitable field of endeavor for Mr. Brice, and he owns the Ivanhoe Hotel in Ferndale, which he has operated successfully since 1909.
Mr. Brice is recognized as
one of the leading citizens in his home city, and has always taken an active
interest in the public school system, as well as in all movements for the
upbuilding of his city and county. He is a loyal Republican in both local
and national issues. He has for a number of years served as city trustee,
with great satisfaction to the people in general, and has been given various
positions of trust and influence. He is a citizen of high principles and
sterling worth.
JOHN B. HILL.—One of the old pioneers in Humboldt County,
California, John B. Hill is well and favorably known here, having made his
home in this district since the year 1869, when he made the journey across
the continent on one of the first trains to California.
Born near Oak Bay, Charlotte County, N. B., on January 22, 1844, John B. Hill was the son of James, also a native of New Brunswick. The grandfather, Daniel Hill, was born in the state of Maine, married to Sarah Sprague, and became a farmer in Warwick, N. B. The great-grandfather, David Hill, is connected with the early history of our country, having served under Maj. Robert Rogers, the famous Indian ranger on Lake Champlain, during the French and Indian war. He was one of the first English settlers of the town of Machias, Me., where he went in the year 1763, in 1779 removing to Calais, Me. His wife was Elizabeth Holmes, of Plymouth, Mass.
The third oldest in a family of seven children, John B. Hill was brought up in the town of Calais, Me., from the age of five years, his parents, James and Cynthia (Leighton) Hill, having gone there from New Brunswick in 1849. He received his education in the public schools, and from boyhood worked on the farm and in the woods, the latter being the principal occupation for the young men of that vicinity during the winter months. In the spring Mr. Hill was employed in driving on the St. Croix river, becoming an expert swimmer, as much at home in the water or riding a log as walking on the river banks. The good reports of high wages paid for the same kind of labor in Humboldt county brought about his determination to come to the Pacific coast. Accordingly, in the fall of 1869 he made the long trip across the continent, coming immediately to Eureka. During the greater part of his first winter in this state, Mr. Hill worked at shingle making, being later employed in the woods on Ryan Slough by his cousin, Charles W. Hill, with whom he continued for twelve years, most of the time in the capacity of head chain-tender. Leaving the woods at the end of that time, he spent several years in Alex. Cookson's shipyards, and helped build the Halcyon, Lena Sweasey, Fidelity, and Challenger, the Halcyon now being the only one afloat. Then, with his brother William, he bought land on Harrison avenue, Eureka, whereon the two men built a brick plant and for two years were engaged in the making of brick, after which Mr. Hill continued the manufacture of brick independently, as the best clay was on his ten acres of land, and it was only after twelve years that he gave up the business and went into gardening and the raising of fruit. For some years he raised strawberries extensively, having three acres of his property given up to this fruit exclusively, but of late years he is devoting the land more to gardening and the raising of potatoes, attending personally to the work, although he is now advanced in years.
The marriage of Mr. Hill to
Louise Whittier took place in Charlotte county, N. B., and they became the
parents of seven children, of whom four are at present living: Edith, wife
of Peter McRae, a grocer on Myrtle avenue, Eureka ; Chester, a shingle
weaver in Eureka ; Wesley, employed in the Eureka post office ; Warren, with
the Electric Light Company in Eureka. Mr. Hill is a supporter of the
principles of the Republican party, his fraternal associations being with
Fortuna Lodge No. 221, I. 0. 0. F., at Eureka, and with the Odd Fellows'
Veteran Association in Eureka.
GILMAN C. KNAPP.—One who comes of a line of patriotic forebears, on both the father's and the mother's side, is Gilman C. Knapp, a well-known mechanic of Eureka, Cal., who resides with his family at his Bucksport home, designed and built by himself. The grandfather of Mr. Knapp, Zelotes Knapp, was a pioneer of Ohio and later also of Iowa, the grandmother being Ann Baker, whose father served in the War of 1812. Their son, Edward Y. Knapp, the father of Gilman C., was born at Melmore, Seneca County, Ohio, July 31, 1838, and at the age of twelve years accompanied his parents to Iowa, in 1863 enlisting in Company L of the Third Iowa Cavalry Regiment, which was a part of the detail that captured Jefferson Davis. Having served until the close of the war, Edward Knapp followed farming in Decatur county, Iowa, also operating a woolen mill in Leon, in the same state. His marriage occurred in Decatur county, Iowa, uniting him with Miss Gertrude Mudgett, who was born near Defiance, Paulding county, Ohio, the daughter of Major Gilman C. Mudgett, who was born in New Hampshire and served during the Civil war in Company L of the Third Iowa Cavalry, where he enlisted as captain and was later promoted to major of the regiment, three of his sons also serving in the same company. Major Mudgett later removed to Humboldt County, Cal., where he was engaged in farming and was prominent in politics, serving one term as a member of the state legislature. Edward Y. Knapp, the son-in-law of the Major, also came to Humboldt County, locating in 1875 at Eureka, where for a while he followed the pursuit of farming, later becoming a millwright and shingle manufacturer. He and his wife both reside in Eureka, and of their three children two are now living, Gilman C., and Edward Y., Jr., who resides at Arcata, Cal.
Born in the town of Leon, in Decatur county, Iowa, March 18, 1871, Gilman C. Knapp came to California with his parents when only about four years of age and was educated in the public schools of Eureka and Arcata. In 1884 he entered the employ of the old Riverside Lumber Company, now known as the Northern Redwood Lumber Company, beginning his work under the supervision of H. W. Jackson, as a filer, later operating a shingle machine. After seven years spent with this company, Mr. Knapp went with Ole C. Hanson to Bayside, where he worked as filer and mill foreman. Later, renting the Baird mill on Ryan Slough, he ran it for a year, then accepting the position of superintendent of George Pinkerton's mill at Freshwater for five years, while there inventing and patenting the Knapp shake machine for sawing shakes. This proved a success and he later sold the patent to the Eureka Foundry Company. In 1903 he entered the employ of the Whiting G. Press Company, becoming a stockholder therein on the incorporation of the company, and has been the secretary and superintendent of the same ever since. During the thirty years and more of his business life, Mr. Knapp has given special attention to the machinist trade as pertaining to the improvement of machines and saws for the manufacture of shingles and shakes. His revision of saw-filing for shakes and shingles is well known to every shingle-mill operator on the Pacific coast. In addition to his mechanical ability in shingle mills, Mr. Knapp has spent several years studying the mechanism of automobiles and is also doing considerable work in that line.
He has several real estate
holdings besides his residence which he built in the town of Bucksport. His
marriage to Miss RhosJena McLean, a native of Nova Scotia, was solemnized at
Eureka, and they are the parents of one child, Helen. Fraternally Mr. Knapp
is a member of the W. 0. W.
EDMUND V. PRICE.—Since the age of five years, Edmund V. Price has
made his home in California, having come here with his family in May, 1876,
from Gilman, in Iroquois county, Ill., where he was born October 27, 1870,
the son of William Price, a native of Ohio, and Lucetta (Brown) Price, a
native of Indiana, where the parents were married, removing thence to
Gilman, Ill. The father was a soldier in the Union army during the Civil
war, as were also two of his brothers, while his uncle, Gen. Sterling Price,
of Missouri, was in the Southern army. William Price early brought his
'family to California, where they remained for a few months at the town of
Woodland, locating thereafter near Philo in the Anderson valley, in
Mendocino County, at which place he engaged in stock-raising. The death of
his wife took place at Healdsburg, Cal., while he himself died in Los
Angeles, in the same state.
Of the eight children of William Price, Edmund V. was the youngest, and was educated in the public schools of Mendocino county, in the Adventist College, Healdsburg, and also in business college, after which he was apprenticed at the confectioner's trade in San Francisco. After learning the trade, Mr. Price started in that business at Angeles Camp, but soon selling out, he located in San Bernardino, Cal., where he engaged in the same occupation until 1903, the time of, his removal to Red Bluff, Cal., where he started a confectionery establishment, building up a large and successful business in this line. In 1914, finding that the fumes in the factory were making inroads upon his health, Mr. Price sold out and settled in Humboldt County, where he purchased the old Malone ranch, known as the Englewood ranch and consisting of one hundred sixty acres, beautifully located on Eel River in the Englewood valley, three and one-half miles from Dyerville. Here Mr. Price engages in stock-raising in a picturesque locality supplied with mountain as well as mineral springs, an attractive spot which he is converting into a summer resort, since it is situated on the state highway within easy access of the several centers of population. An enterprising business man, he is well fitted to improve such a place and to make a success in this new venture, and by piping water from the mountain springs and putting in all other improvements possible, he is making of his establishment a vacation resort which is certain to win a high standing among places of this nature.
Fraternally Mr. Price is well
known as an active member of the Fraternal Brotherhood, while in his
political preferences he is an upholder of the principles of the Republican
Party. His marriage took place in Los Angeles, uniting him with Miss Anna
Wilson, a native of that city, whose father, William Wilson, was one of the
pioneer settlers of the state of California.
WILLIAM WHITE KING.—One of the old settlers of Humboldt county, Cal., a man who has won the esteem and friendship of all those with whom he is associated, William W. King may well be classed among the pioneers of the state of California.
Born near Warrensburg,
Johnson county, Mo., on March 1, 1841, he was the son of Robert L. King, a
native of Jefferson county, in eastern Tennessee, who was the son of Edward
King, born in Jamestown, Va., and married in the same city to Susan Lewis,
the couple moving, after their marriage, to Tennessee. Robert L. King was a
blacksmith, and, removing to Johnson County, Mo., purchased a farm there ten
miles west of the town of Warrensburg, where he built and conducted a
blacksmith's shop until his death, which occurred there in 1854. His wife,
the mother of William W., was formerly Margaret Haynes, and was born in
Tennessee and died in Missouri, being the great-granddaughter of a soldier
in the Revolutionary war by the name of Cox. Of her nine children, seven are
now living, namely; Susan, now Mrs. Still, of Eureka ; Edmund Peter, who
came to California in 1853 and now lives with his brother William ; Unity
J., now Mrs. Smith, residing in Henry county, Mo. ; William W., of whom we
write ; Martha E., now Mrs. Crumbaugh, of Missouri ; Sarah F., now Mrs.
Cleland, living in Missouri ; and John Russell, a resident of Eureka ;
Elizabeth and Louisa Ann, both having died in Missouri. William W. King grew
up on his father's farm in Missouri, attending the early schools in that
locality. In April, 1864, he removed with other members of his family
including his sister, Mrs. Susan Still and family, to Oregon, crossing the
plains with ox-teams, taking six months for the trip, and settling for a
time at Sublimity, Ore. However, the party remained only a year at that
place, for in 1865 they came to Crescent City, Cal., shipping their goods
and bringing their stock by trail down the coast to Eureka, William W.
walking all the way in order to drive the cattle. For a year they rented a
farm on the Elk river in Humboldt county, then one on Humboldt hill where
they made their home for two years. In 1868, purchasing the Willow Brook
ranch ten miles south of Eureka, near the mouth of Salmon creek, they
cleared and improved the land for a stock ranch and dairy farm, Mr. King
having purchased the ranch in partnership with his brother-in-law, James E.
Still, and after the death of Mr. Still, in 1887, Mr. King and his sister
owned and operated the place together until 1901. At that date they rented
the property for a dairy and purchased ten acres at No. 2701 Harrison
avenue, in the suburbs of Eureka, which Mr. King cleared and improved,
building thereon a comfortable residence, and engaging in the raising of
vegetables. In the division of the property, Mrs. Still now owns the ranch,
while her brother is the owner of the town home. Mr. King is a popular and
enterprising man, interested in the welfare of the community where he
resides and always helpful to those with whom he has any dealings. For eight
years he was school trustee in the Salmon Creek district, and has for four
years been trustee in the Worthington district where he now resides. In his
political interests he is a supporter of the Democratic Party.
JAMES FELIX BLACKBURN.—Through two decades of active and honorable
business pursuits Mr. Blackburn was identified with the development of
Humboldt county. Although that identification dates back to an earlier
period in local history, his name is still remembered as that of a man of
sterling character and commercial enterprise. Of Canadian birth and
parentage, he was born in Newport, Hants County, Nova Scotia, June 4, 1839,
and received such meager educational advantages as the locality and period
made possible. It may be said that his accomplishments in the world of
affairs were due wholly to his own determined will and untiring
perseverance, for he had no one to aid him in securing a start, but even in
boyhood earned his own board and clothing. While he never attained great
wealth he was successful in attaining that which is far more to be desired,
the esteem of associates and the warm regard of intimate personal friends.
Of progressive temperament, he aided many movements for the early
advancement of Humboldt County, where he established a home early in the
'60s and where he continued to reside until the lamentable accident occurred
that caused his death.
For a brief period after
coming to California in 1861 Mr. Blackburn engaged in mining around Grass
Valley and Gibsonville, but it was yet early in the '60s when he settled in
Humboldt county. During a visit at his old home in Nova Scotia in 1876 he
was united in marriage with Miss Mary T. Burke, who was born and reared in
Newport, Hants county, that peninsula, and who, since the death of her
husband, has continued to reside at the old home on the water front at
Bucksport in Eureka. This land had been purchased by Mr. Blackburn during
the early period of his identification with the farming interests of the
county and he had not only engaged in farming, but also in the poultry
business, besides taking contracts for general teaming and for grading the
country roads. While engaged as contractor for the railroad, in constructing
the Table Bluff tunnel in August, 1883, he was accidentally killed by the
caving of the tunnel. His sudden death was a source of sorrow to his family,
as well as to his friends throughout the county, and was recognized as a
distinct loss to the local citizenship.
FRANK ALBERT HOUGH.—The Houghs became established in California some
sixty years ago, and the representatives of the family in every generation
have been noted for their energetic dispositions, initiative and sterling
integrity, qualities which Frank A. Hough possesses in generous measure. He
is a likable man, and moreover enjoys the friendship of his associates as
keenly as they appreciate his congeniality. His parents and grandparents
lived and died in Contra Costa county, Cal., and his father and grandfather
were also well known among the business men of Lake county, where they built
up the Hough Springs resort.
Sylvanus Hough, grandfather of Frank A. Hough, was a native of New York, of English descent, following the butcher business in New York State. In the year 1852 he came to California, making the long voyage around the Horn, and settled on one thousand acres of the Mexican land grant in Contra Costa County, where he engaged very extensively in the dairy business. His ability kept pace with his opportunities and he met with phenomenal success, proving entirely capable of handling the immense interests he acquired. He accumulated wealth, but the title to his land was attacked in the courts, and a long-drawn-out law suit ensued which was fought bitterly and not concluded until after his decease. Meantime he continued his business activities, he and his son Orlando S. Hough developing the Hough Springs resort in Lake County, which they sold. Sylvanus Hough lived to the age of sixty-seven years. Most of his family joined him in California in 1854.
Orlando S. Hough, father of Frank A., lived in New York State until 1860, when he followed his father to California. He was engaged before he left the east, and his bride-to-be, Miss Emma Lucinda Bassett, came out to the coast in 1863, when they were married at the "Russ House," in San Francisco. They settled in Contra Costa County, and died there. Mr. Hough carried on the famous law suit after his father's demise, but it was ultimately decided against the Houghs on technical grounds, and they found themselves penniless after years of successful business operations which had brought them affluence and promised independence.
Thus it was that Frank A. Hough spent his youth under rather adverse circumstances. But he inherited ambition and ability, and he has never been afraid to apply himself to hard work, so if he was denied financial capital in his early years he had other qualities to compensate. Born June 6, 1865, in Contra Costa County, he grew to manhood there, but he has lived in Humboldt county for over twenty years, and during that period has made a place for himself among the substantial citizens of his locality. He owns three hundred twenty acres of ranch land in the Mattole valley, in the neighborhood of Upper Mattole, and has managed to improve it steadily since it came into his possession, having valuable agricultural and stock interests there. At present he is also engaged in getting out saw logs for Joe Bagley's sawmill on the Upper Mattole river, and is also cooperating with Mr. Bagley in another enterprise, the planting of English walnut trees. Mr. Bagley has undertaken this on a somewhat extensive scale, and M. Hough has given him valuable assistance.
In 1891 Mr. Hough married Miss Sadie A. Roscoe, daughter of Wesley Horton Roscoe, an old settler in the Upper Mattole district, .vho is fully mentioned elsewhere. Five children have been born to this union : Roscoe, a graduate of the Pacific Technical College, of Oakland, now employed in the garage at Arcata, Humboldt county ; Hazel, who is a graduate of the San Jose state normal school, class of 1915, now teaching in Humboldt county ; Esther, a graduate of Ferndale high school, is attending the Arcata normal ; Harold, who is attending the Ferndale high school and also assists his father upon the home ranch ; and Wayland, who attends the local public school. Mrs. Hough is a woman of keen intellect and clever mind, and she acts as local correspondent for the Humboldt Standard and the Ferndale Enterprise. She is a member of the Baptist Church at Eureka.
Politically Mr. Hough has
always been a straight Republican, and he is prominent in the local councils
of the party, being a member of the county central committee, on which body
he has done excellent work. Personally he is the kind of friend and neighbor
much desired in any community. His optimism and cheerfulness have enabled
him to overcome difficulties without making too much of them, and his
readiness to undertake any duties or responsibilities that come his way has
made it possible for him to advance his own interests steadily and at the
same time to help out others as opportunity offered or necessity seemed to
call. It has well been said, "He that is of a merry heart hath a continual
feast." Frank A. Hough has found great pleasure in serving his friends at
all times, and their loyalty is his best reward.
B. F. STERN.—One of the most enterprising mercantile establishments
in Eureka is that of the Humboldt Commercial Company, whose president, B. F.
Stern, is a merchant of forty years' experience, a native of Humboldt
county, and one of the most energetic "boosters" for Eureka and one of the
largest contributors to her progress. His sons, L. E. and H. A. Stern, are
associated with him, as vice president and secretary of the company,
respectively. They are wholesale dealers in staple and fancy groceries. Mr.
Stern has given largely of his time to projects for placing Eureka in better
communication with other points, and for public utilities and conveniences
that attract a high class of residents and wide-awake business men. Mr.
Stern's birthplace was Arcata, then known as Uniontown, where his father,
Henry Stern, was a pioneer merchant.
Henry Stern was a German by birth, and leaving his native country when a
young man landed at New York, where he remained for a short time. In 1850 he
came to California by way of the Isthmus, and settled in Humboldt County,
carrying on a general mercantile business at Uniontown (now Arcata) during
the remainder of his life. He lived to be only thirty-two years old, dying
in 1862 of a hemorrhage brought on by seasickness when he was crossing the
Humboldt bar. In 1854 he married, at Arcata, this county, Miss Emily
Armstrong, daughter of Thomas Armstrong, who first came to California in
1848, returning east for his family, whom he brought across the plains in
the year 1852. The first civilized community the ox train reached on the
Pacific coast was at Shasta, whence they proceeded down to San Francisco on
a flatboat, from there coming by sailboat to Arcata, being three weeks on
the trip. Four sons were born to Mr. and Mrs. Henry Stern : B. F., Oscar D.,
George D., and Henry S., of whom two survive at this writing, B. F. and
Henry S., a dentist in San Francisco.
B. F. Stern, the eldest child of his parents, was born June 4, 1856, and was
reared and educated at Arcata, attending the public schools. When sixteen
years old he went to work there, beginning to earn his living as a farm hand
in the employ of Isaac Minor. At the age of eighteen he entered the line he
has ever since followed—during a period of forty years there have been only
thirty days that he has not been deriving an income from the mercantile
business. His first position of the kind was as clerk in the store of A.
Brizard, at Hoopa, Humboldt County, and since 1897 he has had his own
establishment at Eureka, which he acquired that year under the name of the
Humboldt Commission Company. In 1906 the business was incorporated under the
laws of the state of California as the Humboldt Commercial Company, under
which title it has since been carried on; the officers have been previously
mentioned. Mr. Stern began doing business at the location which has been
retained as highly convenient, at the foot of D street, the storehouse and
wharf being his property. The wharf frontage is one hundred twenty feet
long, and a spur of the N. W. Pacific railroad runs to the storehouse, so
that the transportation facilities, both by land and by water, are all that
could be desired. The large three-story building is well stocked with
sugars, spices, salt, flour, meal of various kinds, soaps, candies, canned
goods, salt fish, cigars, and household goods, the assortment being large
and complete to meet the steady demands of the trade which has been built
up. Three salesmen are kept constantly busy covering the territory adjacent
to Eureka. When the business was first established on the present basis
William Cluff, of the William Cluff Company, pioneer grocers of San
Francisco, joined the Sterns to assist in the organization, but since his
death his interest has been taken over by Mr. Stern. Having begun to learn
the details of the grocery trade in a humble capacity, Mr. Stern is
thoroughly familiar with his business from every standpoint, and he has
combined his comprehensive understanding of its needs with untiring
industry in the application of his ideas to the work of holding old
customers and gaining new ones. The substantial patronage he now caters to
has been acquired by years of study of the wants of buyers, of their
appreciation of the best service, and progressive methods in the handling of
orders. The shipping facilities of the firm are a great advantage, and the
system employed is up-to-date in every particular, eliminating needless
labor and providing the quickest service with less "red tape" than the
merchant of the last generation would have thought seemly. The Humboldt
Commercial Company does its banking through the Bank of Eureka. In addition
to the business property mentioned, Mr. Stern has other holdings of value in
the city, besides his timber lands in the county.
Encouraging the spirit of helpfulness among the business men of Eureka, and
its citizens generally, Mr. Stern has helped many worthy enterprises, and if
his own affairs have prospered thereby so have those of his neighbors. He
has been working enthusiastically towards a "larger Eureka," has been a
loyal member of all the development associations and promotion clubs, and
was particularly active in establishing the chamber of commerce, of which he
has been president. He was one of the original members of the Railroad
Promotion Committee, whose object was to obtain through railway connection
with San Francisco; is a member of the Humboldt and Eureka Development
Associations, and of the Humboldt Promotion Committee, and has given
valuable service in the interest of all these bodies.
Born during the pioneer period of this region, Mr. Stern has a distinct recollection of the excitement during the Indian trouble of 1862, and remembers being taken to the old Coddington store at Arcata for safety, the women and children being protected there when most of the men were required for defense. He has a wide acquaintance among the surviving pioneer residents of Eureka, Arcata and Hoopa valley.
Mr. Stern married Miss Julia
Hopkins, the ceremony being performed at Arcata in 1878. She came to
California from Missouri. Four children have been born to this marriage:
Charles F., now a member of the State Highway Commission, married True
Aiken, and they reside at Berkeley, Cal.; L. Edgar, of Eureka, vice
president of the Humboldt Commercial Company, married Grace Cochrane ;
Walter E., of Eureka, engaged in the general insurance business, married Ida
McCoy, of Red Bluff, Tehama county, Cal.; Henry A., secretary of the
Humboldt Commercial Company, married Marguerite Smith, of San Francisco.
ALFRED BARNES.—The call for volunteers in the Union Army during the
Civil war received a quick response from Alfred Barnes, who responded to the
first call for troops, volunteering in a company from Kane county, Ill., for
three months' service, but the quota of men for this call being already
filled, they volunteered for three years and were mustered in at Dixon, May
24, 1861, as Company H, 13th Ill. V. I. They were first sent into Missouri
and after aiding in the building of Ft. Wyman, named after the colonel of
their regiment, young Barnes saw service in various skirmishes up to the
time of the battle of Chickasaw Bayou, Miss. There he was captured by the
rebels and confined in the prison at Vicksburg and later held as a prisoner
of war at Jackson until paroled and sent to New Orleans, La. In April, 1863,
he boarded the steamer Fulton bound for New York City and, on his arrival in
the North, made his way immediately to Illinois, remaining at home
recuperating for a time. Nothing daunted, however, he again reported for
duty, rejoining his regiment at the front in time to participate in the
battle of Lookout Mountain and later Missionary Ridge and Ringold, Georgia.
After passing the winter at Woodville, Ala., Mr. Barnes with others was
guarding Madison Station, Ala., when he was again taken captive by the
enemy. This unfortunate circumstance happened May 17, 1864, just seven days
prior to the expiration of his term of enlistment. He was again held a
prisoner, this time at Cahaba, Ala., and was afterward transferred with
three hundred others to Meridian, Miss., where they suffered extremely from
cold through an entire winter in an open stockade. In the spring the
prisoners were returned to Cahaba' and in March, 1865, when the Alabama
River rose so that it was impossible to longer keep all of the men there,
arrangements were made with those in charge of exchange of prisoners and
they were sent to Black River, Miss., where they were kept inside of the
Union lines and properly fed. Although guarded by the Union soldiers they
were prisoners of war until the cessation of hostilities. He was afterwards
mustered out at Springfield, Ill., June 7, 1865. With the close of the war
he exchanged the uniform of a soldier for the garb of a tiller of the soil
and farmed in Illinois for two years when he moved to Gentry county, Mo.,
and was identified with the interests of that section for fifteen years,
during which time he improved and operated a farm. In December, 1882, Mr.
Barnes came to Humboldt county, locating at Dows Prairie, north of Arcata.
Appreciating the possibilities of this section, he turned them to the best
possible advantage and was soon the owner of three hundred and sixty acres
of land, devoted to general farming, stock-raising and dairying. Here he
continued to reside until 1903, when he rented his property and moved into
Eureka, where he has since lived retired. In 1913 he disposed of his ranch.
He is one of the prominent citizens of this well-favored locality and has
many friends among those who, like himself, are public-spirited and
enterprising.
Mr. Barnes was born in the town of Alexandra, Jefferson County, N. Y., April 28, 1838, while his father, Ira Barnes, was a native of Steuben county, same state. The latter followed general farm pursuits near Alexandra until 1846 when he removed with his family to Illinois, locating near Aurora, Kane County. He witnessed the remarkable growth and development of that state and himself contributed in a large degree to the prosperity and progress of Kane county. He was married to Eliza Carnegie, a native of New York. She was the daughter of Andrew Carnegie, whose father also bore the name of Andrew and came from Scotland. Mr. and Mrs. Ira Barnes passed their last days in Illinois. They were the parents of seven children, of whom Bertha became Mrs. Westover and died while a resident of Illinois; Maria is Mrs. Randall of Aurora ; Andrew passed away while a resident of Kansas ; Crowell makes his home in Aurora ; Mary, Mrs. Sherwin, spent her entire life in Illinois ; while Ethelbert died at the old homestead in Kane county, December, 1914. Alfred was a lad of seven years when his parents moved to Illinois and he received his education in the public schools, after which he assisted in the farm work until the outbreak of the Civil war.
The marriage of Alfred Barnes
and Miss Charlotte M. Willey was solemnized in Kane County, Ill., November
4, 1867. Mrs. Barnes is a native of that county and a daughter of Sardis
Willey, born in New York State. To them have been born six sons, of whom
Frank is a merchant at Silver Lake, Wash.; Harry resides at Turlock, Cal. ;
Fred died in Missouri ; Ralph died while living in Los Angeles ; Earl is
Deputy Game Warden at Eureka and Verne is a farmer near Arcata. Mr. Barnes
was made a Mason in Aurora, Ill., and is now a member of Arcata Lodge No.
106, F. & A. M. He is also prominent in Colonel Whipple Post No. 49, G. A.
R., and in politics is a Progressive Republican.
SAMUEL SIMPSON SILKWOOD.---The possibilities of Eureka have called
forth the most creditable ambitions of a few men who were. destined to make
their way in the business world, and whose strength of character and
conservative judgment have served as the fundamental growth of the
commonwealth. This has been emphatically true of Mr. Silkwood, whose well
directed energies have not only placed him among the men of means in the
city, but have invested him with an invariable reputation for business
sagacity and integrity.
A native son of California, Mr. Silkwood was born in Sacramento, May 21, 1864. His father, Obadiah S. Silkwood, was a native of Greene county, Ill.. while his grandfather, Thomas, hailed from Kentucky. The latter was of English and Welch descent and, on making his home in Illinois, met with success in his agricultural operations. When a young man of twenty years, the father left home, and without means or influential friends started out to fight the battle of life with a sure hope of victory. Purchasing ox teams he drove across the plains in a prairie schooner, arriving in Sacramento in 1851 and for several years thereafter prospected in Sacramento, Placer and Amador counties with indifferent success. Failing to meet with the hoped for good fortune in the mines, Obadiah S., in 1867, came to Eureka, the little hamlet at that time having but one steamer a month visiting its port. On his arrival he purchased a tract of raw land, but was engaged in its cultivation for only one year, then entering the employ of a lumber company as woodsman. So efficient were his services that it was not long before he was made foreman, remaining with the company for some time, or until he again began mining. This was in the year 1879 and for three years he was engaged in hydraulic mining on the Trinity river, Humboldt county, and also on the Klamath river, Siskiyou county, with his son, Samuel S. At the expiration of that time he returned to Eureka, making his home with our subject until his demise, in 1904. His death was mourned as a general loss. Humboldt County lost a typical citizen, one who had started in life with nothing but his own talents and upright character, and who gained the respect and confidence of his fellow men. Fraternally he was a Mason.
The mother of Samuel S. was
Catherine (Fay) Silkwood, a native of Ireland. After coming to the United
States she was married in New York City, to a Mr. Foley, by whom she had one
son, Michael Foley. On the death of her husband she joined her three
brothers in California, making the journey to the Golden State via the
Isthmus of Panama. While living in Sacramento she met and married Obadiah
S. Silkwood. To them were born four children, namely: Thomas P., an engineer
in the State Hospital at Ionia, Mich.; Airs. Margaret Smith, residing in
Eureka; Samuel S., of this sketch; and Mary S., Mrs. B. 0. Hart, of Oakland.
At the time his parents moved to Eureka, Samuel was a lad of three years.
Here he completed his education in the public schools and began work as an
apprentice at the carpenter's trade, soon becoming one of the recognized
contractors and builders of the city, attaining a success greater than is
reached by many men, even though they are persistent, industrious and
persevering. This is doubtless due to the fact that he has the qualities
just named and has besides a well-balanced mind and sound judgment.
About 1894 Mr. Silkwood operated the Rock Creek mine, on Klamath River,
Siskiyou County, in partnership with his father, but three years later
returned to Eureka and resumed his profitable business of contracting and
building. Aside from building numerous residences and business houses, he
erected the Union Labor Hospital and remodeled the court house. July 6,
1911, he was appointed harbor master of the Port of Eureka by Governor
Johnson and since that time has devoted his entire time and attention to the
duties of the office. The port includes all of Humboldt Bay, extending from
Fields Landing to the Arcata wharf.
Mr. Silkwood was married in Eureka to Miss Kate Waters, a native of Canada.
They occupy a most attractive home which Mr. Silkwood built at No. 1929 B
Street. Fraternally he is a charter member of Eureka Aerie No. 130, F. 0.
E., and was elected a trustee at its organization. Three months later he was
honored with the position of secretary, holding this office for nine years,
or until made chaplain of his lodge. Indeed in such esteem was he held that
he was elected president and during his incumbency of this office had the
pleasure, in 1913, of dedicating the new Eagles' Eureka home, which is one
of the most beautiful and complete lodge buildings in the state. During its
construction he was secretary of its board of directors. He is likewise a
member of Humboldt Parlor No. 14, N. S. G. W., a member of the Druids, is
past arch and was for two years grand trustee of the Grand Grove of
California. Politically he is a Progressive and works for the interest of
that party.
JOSEPH EMANUEL HODGSON, B. S.—The county treasurer of Humboldt county
was born at Camp Floyd, Utah, July 12, 1860, and was taken to Oregon in 1863
by his parents, Richard and Eliza (Parkinson) Hodgson, natives of England.
The family was in humble circumstances. The hardships of frontier existence
fell upon them with unceasing rigor. It was with the hope of bettering his
condition that the father took wife and children from Utah to Oregon, making
the journey with wagon and team, all the household effects stored in the
"prairie schooner" that formed the family home through several months of
tedious travel. One year was spent in mines near Auburn, after which the
father again took up the problem of seeking a new location. This time he
came south through the Sacramento valley and from there proceeded to Santa
Rosa, where he made a permanent home and found employment. The son, Joseph
E., was sent to the common schools and the Pacific Methodist College, aiding
by his own efforts to secure a thorough education. After his graduation from
college with the degree of B. S. he took up the work of a teacher and for
two years taught in Sonoma County, but in 1885 removed to Humboldt County
and here taught school for twenty years.
As might be expected from so long an identification with the schools in different parts of the county Mr. Hodgson made a large circle of warm personal friends, so that when, after a service as station agent for the Northwestern Pacific Railroad at Elinor, he began his campaign for county treasurer, friends rallied to his support from every district and they triumphantly secured his election to the office in 1910. He assumed his duties in January, 1911, and was re-elected in 1914 without opposition, which demonstrates his popularity and the satisfaction with which he fills the office. In addition to his official duties he has found time for participation in local progressive movements and for service as a member of the board of trustees of the chamber of commerce, besides which he is a member of the Eureka Development Association.
Fraternally Mr. Hodgson is a member of Loleta Lodge No. 56, I. 0. 0. F., and Hydesville Encampment No. 59, being past grand and past chief patriarch, and is now serving as district deputy grand master. With his wife he is a member of Centennial Rebekah Lodge No. 100. He is also a member of White Clover Camp No. 398, W. 0. W., at Loleta, of which he is past council commander, and is also a member of Eureka Lodge No. 652, B. P. 0. E., and of the Modern Woodmen of America and the Loyal Order of Moose. In Santa Rosa, January 10, 1887, occurred the marriage of Mr. Hodgson and Miss Mary M. Stevenson, a native of Dundas, Canada, but who was reared and educated in Santa Rosa, Cal. They are the parents of five children, namely : Alice Elizabeth, Joseph David, Amy Muriel, Ernest Richard and Effie Zoea.
History of Humboldt County
California
History by Leigh H. Irvine: Historic Record Company, Los Angeles,
California, 1915
Transcribed by Martha A Crosley Graham 17 July 2006, Pages 297-442
Site Updated: 4 December 2009
Martha A Crosley Graham