USA > California > A Volume of memoirs and genealogy of representative citizens of northern California, including biographies of many of those who have passed away > Part 104
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The parents of this family left the Empire state on the 17th of March, 1836, and removed to Canton, Fulton county, Illinois, where they made their home for a short time and then went to Peoria, Illinois. On the 28th of April, 1849, they started for California, and in this state the father died, on the 25th of January. 1875, while his wife passed away previous to the emi- gration westward. her death occurring October 4. 1841. The journey to the Pacific slope was made across the plains with two teams. They crossed the Missouri river at St. Joseph and continued the trip by the overland trail, by Sublette's cut-off and by the Carson route to California, arriving at Weaver- ville, Eldorado county, on the 16th of October, 1849. The winter was passed a mile and a half from that place, on Weaver creek, where the father en- gaged in surface mining. In February. 1850, he started with his family for the valley country, for the purpose of locating land, and spent three weeks at what was then known as Rhode's Diggings, more recently called Prairie
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City. On the Ist of April a location was made in Brighton township, nine miles from Sacramento, on the American river. In his political views he was a Democrat and always took an active interest in political affairs. He held membership in the Society of California Pioneers and was also a prominent Mason.
Russell Day Stephens, whose name introduces this review, is a native of Illinois, his birth having occurred in Fulton county, that state, April 14, 1837. He was a lad of twelve years when with his father he came to the Golden state. He was familiar with the pioneer history of the common- wealth and experienced all the hardships and trials that fall to the lot of those who establish homes in a new and wild region. The first school which he attended in California was held at Brighton, three miles from his home. Later, however, he had the opportunity to pursue his studies nearer the parental roof, but his education has been largely acquired outside of the school-room, and to his powers of observation, his retentive memory and his broad experience in the affairs of life he owes the wide knowledge which now makes him a well informed man. His boyhood days were spent on the home farm. His labors, however, were not to be limited by the confines of the farm, for his worth and ability led to his election to public office, and for many years he figured prominently in connection with the public service, and he still exercises wide influence in Democratic circles. In the fall of 1859 he was first elected to office, becoming constable of Brighton township. In 1869 he was elected to the state legislature and was warrant clerk in the state controller's office from 1875 until 1880. Two years later he became a can- clidate before the convention of the Democratic party for the office of con- troller of the state. On the 21st of September, 1885, he was appointed by President Cleveland to the office of postmaster of Sacramento and entered upon his new duties on the Ist of November of that year. His record in the office was most creditable and his course attracted wide-spread attention, eliciting high compliments from the postoffice department in Washington, from which came the report that the Sacramento office was equal in the man- ner of its conduct to any in the United States. Mr. Stephens introduced several innovations in the methods of handling and distributing mail, which have been of great advatage to the business men and public generally and which have since been followed.
Perhaps the subject of this review, however, is best known through- out California in connection with the fruit-growing interests of the state, for in his line he has achieved remarkable success, and as he has made no secret of his methods he has done much to improve the industry in the state. Ile has a farm of one hundred acres, of which seventy acres are planted with fruit trees, while twenty acres are comprised within his fine vineyard. His grapes are of the best varieties and are well cared for, the result being that they bring prices ranging from thirty to forty per cent. higher than any grapes shipped from California. A contemporary publication states that he has become the possessor of a handsome competence from the proceeds of forty acres of orchard and vineyard. In one year he obtained from fifteen
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acres of shipped grapes twenty thousand four hundred dollars gross returns, the goods being sold under his brand in the eastern auction houses, mostly, however, in the city of New York. His orchards yielded him about twenty- six thousand dollars, thus making his gross income for the year over forty- six thousand dollars. Some of the grapes sold at the rate of three hundred and fifty dollars per ton. Mr. Stephens has made a careful study of the vines he cultivates and the market to which he ships. His Tokays are care- fully trained on high stakes, secured so as to permit the air to circulate freely about the clusters, and his pruning is done with the same end in view. His vineyard is annually flooded and is laid off in "checks" of about an acre, each surrounded by a levee. The water is let into one check at a time and permitted to stand a foot or eight inches deep for some hours and then run off into the next check. This is done once or twice a season. and it forces the vines to great yield and has not apparently injured them. He pumps his water for irrigation from a well by means of a centrifugal pump of large capacity, throwing twenty-four million gallons every twenty- four hours. Another element in his success is that he personally superintends everything. Every crate of grapes which leaves his vineyard is personally inspected by himself, and many crates are often packed by him. In this way his brand has established a reputation in eastern auction houses and commands prices in excess of the high market rates. He has, in short, applied intelli- gence, energy, experience and business qualifications to the fruit business, and has won the success that numbers him among the leading representatives of the industry throughout the state. Recently through his instrumentality the Fruit Growers' Association of California was organized. This resulted from his tireless energy and his comprehension of the needs and best methods of horticulture. In this way he has done much to promote the material pros- perity of the state, and he well deserves mention among the representative and honored residents of Sacramento county.
FREDERICK CONRAD CHINN.
Standing at the head of his profession in Sacramento, Frederick Conrad Chinn is a member of the well known Chinn-Beretta Optical Company, whose business has assumed extensive proportions, stores being conducted in the capital city, in San Francisco, Oakland and Stockton, California. Mr. Chinn is the president and manager of the company and is a gentleman of marked skill and ability in the line of his chosen vocation. He has long since left the ranks of the many to stand among the successful few, his comprehensive knowledge and accurate skill gaining him distinctive preferment in connec- tion with optical work.
Mr. Chinn is a native of Louisiana, his birth having occurred in West Baton Rouge parish on the 2d of November, 1870. He is descended from old and influential southern families. On the paternal side his ancestry can be traced back to Chichester Chinn, of Virginia, whose wife's maiden name was Jane Scott Withers. She was a representative of a prominent family of the
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Old Dominion. Their son, Thomas Withers, was born in Lexington, Ken- tucky, in 1790, and died at Cypress Hall, Louisiana, his plantation home, in 1852. Early in life he, with his widowed mother, sisters and younger brother, of all of whom he was the sole support, emigrated to Louisiana, making the trip down the Mississippi river in their own flat-boat, as was the custom in those days. En route they were attacked by the Indians and plundered of everything they had, the savages even taking the feathers from their beds in order that they might make use of the ticks.
Mr. Chinn, therefore, began life in Louisiana poor and heavily handi- capped, but in a few short years, by his untiring energy and superior ability, he amassed a large fortune, becoming the owner of a fine estate. He married Miss Elizabeth Johnson, and for some years they resided near St. Francisville, in West Feliciana parish, where he practiced medicine success- fully until 1827, when he removed to West Baton Rouge, where he was en- gaged in sugar-planting. His fitness for leadership called him to many public offices. Soon after his removal to Baton Rouge he was appointed the judge of the district, and in 1839 he was elected to congress, where he served for two years. He was one of the leading members of the constitutional con- vention of Louisiana in 1845, and was subsequently appointed United States minister to the four Sicilies. He was a statesman of power, possessing marked individual ability and a ready grasp of affairs that made him prominent in the councils of the nation. He was a warm personal friend of Clay, Webster and Taylor, and ranked among the leading Whig statesmen of his day. Dur- ing the Indian wars he served his country under command of General Har- rison, and also fought in the war of 1812, participating in the battle of Tip- pecanoe. He was a near relative of Sir Walter Scott, and his father was a schoolmate of the famous novelist and poet. Thomas Withers Chinn was united in marriage to Miss Elizabeth Johnson, who was born in Mississippi in 1792, and died in 1877. She was a daughter of Isaac and Mary ( Routh) Johnson and a granddaughter of William and Mary Johnson, the former an eminent English clergyman.
Bolling Robertson Chinn, a son of Thomas W. and Elizabeth (Johnson) Chinn, was born in West Feliciana on the 23d of June, 1825, and in 1827 he was taken by his parents to Baton Rouge. During the Mexican war he joined the service as a volunteer and with distinction aided in maintaining the rights of the American government throughout that struggle. Upon the breaking out of the Civil war he organized the Lemmon Guards, of which he was made the captain. In the battle of Baton Rouge, in which he was wounded, Major Chinn, in charge of Bynum's brigade, displayed a degree of bravery and coolness under the most trying circumstances that elicited the warmest admiration from his comrades. He was taken prisoner at Port Hudson and was sent to Johnston's island, where he remained until a short time prior to General Lee's surrender. Upon being exchanged he was im- mediately promoted to the rank of major, and made every effort to get his old command together, but before he had accomplished that task peace was established.
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Major Chinn then returned to his old home in West Baton Rouge, and there found ruin and desolation where once had been peace and prosperity. Nothing daunted, he began with determined purpose to retrieve his lost fortune and conducted his plantation in a successful manner until 1885, when he removed to East Baton Rouge, where he remained up to the time of his death. In 1866 he was elected to the legislature, being the first representative from his parish after the war. Patriotic and loyal in his devotion to his native state, firm and courageous in any cause he espoused, he never faltered in the discharge of his duty, however trying the ordeal. He was a typical southerner, a distinguished member of the school of courtly and polished gentlemen that is rapidly passing away. Brave, charitable and generous to a fault: kind and indulgent as a husband and father: conscientious in the discharge of all his duties as a citizen, he embodied within himself those admirable traits and virtues that go to make up the highest type of man.
In 1848 Bolling R. Chinn was united in marriage to Miss Frances S. Conrad, a daughter of F. D. and and F. S. (Duncan) Conrad. She was born on her father's plantation near Baton Rouge, November 20. 1828. Her father. Frederick Daniel Conrad, was a representative of the well known family of that name and was of English and German extraction. He was born near Winchester, Virginia, but his family removed to Louisiana dur- ing his early boyhood, and while still a young man he participated in the battle of New Orleans. Determining to engage in the practice of law, he was graduated at a law school, and for several years successfully prosecuted his chosen profession. In the latter part of the '20s he married and removed into the country, where he conducted a large plantation, thus acquiring a handsome fortune. There he resided until the beginning of the Civil war, when he became a refugee. On account of being a wealthy and prominent citizen and a brother of Charles W. Conrad, of New Orleans, who was very prominent in Confederate affairs, he was much harassed by the federals, and with his large family and his slaves sought safety away from his home. He also sent two of his sons to the war, and one of them was killed in the service. When he returned after the cessation of hostilities he found his estates in ruin, and he died shortly afterward in New Orleans.
His wife, who bore the maiden name of Frances S. Duncan, was born in the early part of the nineteenth century, and died in 1870. She was a daughter of Abner L. Duncan, of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, who came to Louisiana and for many years was a distinguished lawyer at New Orleans. He also served as aid-de-camp on the staff of General Jackson at the battle of New Orleans. He married Frances S. Mather, a daughter of the younger branch of the house of Northumberland. One of her brothers inherited the title of Duke of Northumberland, but as he was living in this country in the greatest wealth and affluence he refused the honor, preferring to be a free- born American citizen rather than accept an empty title. Mrs. Bolling R. Chinn, the daughter of Frances Conrad, was a woman of the highest refine- ment, culture and education. She possessed, too, great courage and fortitude. She was reared in luxury, being the eldest daughter of wealthy parents and
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having but to express a wish to have it granted. She was married in early life, and at. her husband's side also enjoyed all that wealth could procure, but when the Civil war was inaugurated and he went forth to battle she took her little children and throughout the struggle lived in a rough pine-wood cabin in the woods, surrounded by dangers, deserted by her servants, some- times scarcely knowing where the next meal would come from, but all the time cheerful and untiring in her efforts to support her little ones. When the war was ended she returned to their once magnificent home, then in ruins; but, stopping not to bemoan former grandeur and wealth, she took up the battle of life with a cheerful Christian spirit, which amid her many trials never seemed to desert her. She commanded the highest respect and admiration of all who knew her and enjoyed the love of many friends. She was to her husband a faithful helpmate and her own courage and cheerful spirit inspired and aided many in their work. He passed away in 1888, and she was called to her home beyond early in the winter of 1893.
Frederick Conrad Chinn, their son and the subject of this review, was the eighth in order of birth. His boyhood days were spent under the parental roof, and he acquired his education in the schools of Louisiana. In 1887 he came to California, locating first in San Francisco, where he engaged in business until 1897. In that year he came to Sacramento and organized the Chinn-Beretta Optical Company, which is now doing a large and suc- cessful business at four different points-Sacramento, San Francisco, Oak- land and Stockton. He is a graduate of the Chicago College of Ophthal- mology, and in January, 1899, he became one of the organizers and the first president of the California Association of Opticians. His business is con- stantly growing, fostered by careful and conservative yet energetic manage- ment. He is thoroughly versed concerning his profession, his knowledge being based upon scientific principles, which he applies with readiness and accuracy. His pleasant store at No. 526 K street, Sacramento, is splendidly equipped with all the various apparatus needed to remedy defective vision, glasses being ground especially to meet the requirements of the individual.
Mr. Chinn was married in San Francisco, February 22, 1893. to Miss Rose McKenna, a native of New York, and to them have been born two sons. Socially Mr. Chinn is connected with the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks. He is a gentleman of broad general knowledge. Of genial manner and unfailing courtesy, wherever he is known he commands the re- spect and esteem of those with whom he is brought in contact.
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