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 91
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In 1889 occurred the marriage of Mr. LeMoin and Miss C. McWayne,
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a native of Toledo, Ohio, and they have two adopted children. Esther and Harold, who were left orphans at a very early age. They receive tender care, consideration and love from their foster parents, who are giving to them good educational privileges and thus fitting them for the practical and re- sponsible duties of life. Mr. and Mrs. LeMoin are deservedly popular in Dry- town and enjoy the warm regard of a very extensive circle of friends. lle is a man of strong character and earnest purpose, and the resolution with which he conquered his obstacles in early life, securing an education and working his way upward, indicates his sterling worth. A quarter of a century ago he was a poor boy, and to-day he is one of the substantial citizens of Drytown. He has certainly won the proud American title of a self-made man and his success is most creditable.
ALBERT F. NICHOLS.
A man well known in business circles, Mr. Nichols is engaged in carriage- making and blacksmithing in Ione, and the success he has achieved is the direct reward of his own efforts. He is numbered among the native sons of Amador county, his birth having occurred on the 20th of December, 1859. His father, Edward Nichols, became a resident of California in the winter of 1853-4. He was born in New York, but was reared in Ohio. The paternal grandfather of our subject was a native of Pennsylvania and was of Ger- man lineage. At the time of the Revolutionary war he valiantly aided the colonies in their struggle for independence. In 1853 Edward Nichols started for the Pacific coast with ox-teams. He was not disturbed by the Indians and made a safe journey, locating in Shasta county, California, where he engaged in placer mining with good success. Subsequently he came to the Sacramento valley and for two years was engaged in farming on the banks of the Sacramento river. He next moved to Drytown, in Amador county, and again engaged in placer mining and in the butchering business until his removal to Carbondale, when he rented a ranch.
As a companion and helpmate on life's journey he chose Miss Mary C. Armstrong and they located on Drytown creek where he engaged in farming for three years. Then returning to Carbondale he purchased a ranch of one hundred and sixty acres, continuing its cultivation until his removal to the Buckeye valley where he bought the farm which he cultivated and improved up to the time of his death, which occurred in 1875, when he was forty five years of age. He left a widow and six children. Mrs. Nichols is still liv ing at the age of sixty-one years, making her home on the farm which was left her by her husband. She came to California in 1852. with her father, and is one of the esteemed pioneer women of the state. Of her children five are still living and are respected citizens of Amador county.
Albert F. Nichols, the eldest of the family, remained with his parents during his boyhood and to the public-school system he is indebted for the educational privileges he enjoyed. He learned the trade of carriage-making and blacksmithing in Ione and began business on his own account in 1889.
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During the intervening years he has built up the largest trade in his line in this part of the county. He is an expert workman, having a thorough under- standing of mechanical principles, and at the same time is thoroughly versed in the practical work of the occupations to which he devotes his energies. In addition to his business he owns a farm of ninety acres in Carbondale.
Mr. Nichols is the owner of a pleasant home on Preston avenue, which is presided over by the lady who in her maidenhood was Miss Elizabeth Meiss. They were married in 1890 and she is a native of Drytown, a daugh- ter of Lewis Meiss. They have two children, Marion and Lloyd. Socially Mr. Nichols is identified with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and his brethren in the fraternity have demonstrated their confidence in and friendship for him by electing him to various offices in the lodge. In his political views he is a Republican and earnest in his advocacy of the party principles. All who know him esteem him for his sterling worth, and his life history well merits a place in this volume.
WILLIAM BROWN.
Macauley has said that the history of a nation is best told in the lives of its people, and each community recognizes the fact that there are a few men who are the leaders in public thought and action, who stand forth as representatives of the trade interests and are the promoters of that commercial activity upon which the prosperity of every community depends.
Of this class William Brown is a representative. He resides in Oleta, Amador county, and is a native of the state of Missouri, his birth having occurred in St. Louis, on the 21st of January, 1850. He is of Irish descent and is a son of John E. Brown, who was superintendent of the gas works of St. Louis. His mother bore the maiden name of Bridget Grinell, and two children were born to them in St. Louis, William and George H. With his wife and two sons the father started across the plains to California in 1852, and during a brief interval spent at Salt Lake City another son was added to the family, to whom the name of John E. was given. While attempting to kill a buffalo, in the summer of 1852. the father was gored by the horns of the animal and left upon the field as dead, but life was not yet extinct. The accident, however, kept the family in Salt Lake City for a year. but after he had sufficiently recovered they continued their journey to California and he engaged in placer mining in Rich Bar, on the Cosumne river, where he continued his mining operations until 1857, at which time he secured a claim three miles below the town of Plymouth and engaged in ranching until his death, which occurred in 1865. in the forty-fifth year of his age, his demise finally resulting from the injuries sustained at the time when he attempted to capture the buffalo. The following children were added to the family in California : Albert M. : Elizabeth Ellen. now the wife of John Ellis; and Matilda Ann, wife of Frank Hammock. The mother survives her huis- band and is now in the seventy fourth year of her age. Mr. Brown was quite prominent in the affairs of the community in which he resided, and
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filled the office of justice of the peace. He was accounted one of the reliable pioneer settlers of AAmador county.
William Brown was in his third year when he arrived with Ins parents in Amador county. Therefore he was reared and educated in this locality, and in his youth he learned the blacksmith's trade in Oleta, after which he spent a year in the employ of Repper & Hill, of Sacramento. He worked at that business for seventeen years at Grisley Flat, in Eldorado county, and later returned to Oleta, where he purchased the shop in which he had learned the trade, his old employer being at that time sole proprietor. Ile has since carried on business here, meeting with excellent success as the result of a very large patronage. He has splendid mechanical ability, and his excellent work- manship, combined with honorable business methods, have won for him credit- able prosperity. His efforts have been so discerningly directed along well defined lines of labor that he has been enabled to make extensive investments in real estate. He not only owns his own shop but has a good residence in Oleta, together with five hundred acres of rich farming land and one thou- sand acres of timber.
In 1878 Mr. Brown was united in marriage to Miss Christina Neiber, of Grisley Flat, a daughter of August Neiber, of that place and one of the California pioneers of 1850. Mr. and Mrs. Brown have five children : Albert N., the eldest son, is a graduate of Chestnut Wood University and is now pursuing a medical education, with the intention of making the practice of medicine his life work: Jessie Belle: William Edward; and Dora Ruth and Cora Myrtle, twins, all at home. Their pleasant residence is celebrated for its gracious hospitality, which is enjoyed hy numerous friends. When Mr. Brown attained his majority, in 1871, he joined the Masonic fraternity and since then has been a valued member of the order, in which he has filled the offices of junior and senior warden. He also belongs to the Ancient Order of United Workmen. His political support is given the Democratic party and he has filled the office of county surveyor of Amador county for six years, discharging his duties with promptness and fidelity. At the pres- ent time he is serving as notary public. His life of industry is most com- mendable, and Longfellow's poem is as applicable to him in its portrayal of honest, industrious manhood as it was of "The Village Blacksmith," of whom it was written.
JOHN ALBERT PREDOM.
The gentleman whose name graces this sketch is the enterprising pro- prietor of a printing establishment in Auburn, Placer county, California, and is a native of the town in which he lives. John Albert Predom was born July 28. 1868, and is descended from an old French family noted for high literary attainments. In France the name was Prud'homme. That line of the family from which John Albert Predom is descended is traced back ser- cral generations to Canada, where the name is spelled Pru l'homme. The name was abbreviated to its present form after its representatives came to
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the United States. It was the great-great-grandfather of John A. who was the first of the family to make settlement in Canada, he being one of a party of French colonists. In Canada-probably in Montreal or Quebec-Joseph. Prud'homme, the son of the first settler, was born. In Canada he married Miss Margaret Cass, and both lived to extreme old age, his death occurring in 1895, at the age of one hundred and five years; hers in 1894, at the age of one hundred and three! They were the parents of ten children, eight of whom are still living.
One of this family, Moses Predom, the father of our subject, is the youngest of the surviving members. He was born in Montreal, July 1, 1840, and in Canada spent the first fifteen years of his life, learning the trade of blacksmithing there in his boyhood days. In 1855 he came to California. On arriving here, he at once went to work at his trade in Auburn, working for wages ninety-five days, and then opening a shop of his own. Since that time he has been engaged in blacksmithing and wagon and carriage-making. He has also, at different times, been more or less interested in mining opera- tions,-gold, silver and copper,-but, like many mine investors, has never. realized his expectations in this direction. He was married, in 1866, to Miss Sarah Jane Worsley, a native of New York, and they have had eight children, of whom six are living-all natives of Auburn-namely : Moses, John A., Charles, Clifford. Rathford and Mary Ella. The eldest son, Moses, is in business with his father. The daughter is now the wife of John Wood.
Having thus briefly outlined his family history, we turn now to the direct subject of this article, John A. Predom, who has kindly furnished the facts herein contained.
John A. Predom was reared in his native town and was educated in the public schools and at the Sierra Normal College. He learned the printer's trade in Auburn and San Francisco, after which he was editor of the Bulletin and later of the Placer County Republican. In 1890 he opened a job printing office in his native town. Being an expert printer himself and knowing the requirements of an office in which first-class work is done, he equipped his establishment with the best of machinery and material for all kinds of job work, and soon built up a substantial and satisfactory business, which he retains and which he is increasing as the years go by.
January 22, 1892, Mr. Predom was united in marriage with Miss Mary Ursla Lawler, a daughter of Patrick Lawler, of Placer county, and a niece of A. McKinley, who served for fourteen years as an assessor of Placer county. They have two children: Cameron W., born December 16, 1893: and Daisy E., born September 1, 1896.
Mr. Predom is a Republican, active and enthusiastic in political mat- ters. At this writing he is the secretary of the Republican central commit- tee and also a member of the executive committee. Fraternally he is prom- inently identified with several organizations. He is a past chancellor of the Knights of Pythias lodge and the captain of the Uniform Rank, K. P .. and an active member and past officer of the Native Sons of the Golden West. He is a valned member of the National Guards of Cali-
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fornia, and is captain of Company D. Second Regiment, Third Brigade. During the late war with Spain he raised a company and drilled the same preparatory to going to the front. They, however, were not called out.
Thus it is seen that Mr. Predom is one of the up-to-date and foremost young men of his town. The biographer of a score of years later will, doubt- less, find other interesting chapters to add to a sketch of the life of this enter- prising citizen.
EUGENE KRUGER.
The name of Kruger has been inseparably interwoven with the history of Truckee for more than a third of a century. The wise system of industrial economics which has been brought to bear in the development of Truckee has challenged uniform admiration, for while there has been steady advancement in material lines there has been an entire absence of that inflation of values and that erratic "booming" which have in the past proved the eventual death knell to many of the localities in the west where "mushroom towns" have one day smiled forth with "all modern improvements" and practically on the next have been shorn of their glories and of their possibilities of stable pros- perity. In Truckee progress has been made continuously and in safe lines. Mr. Kruger and his father before him have taken an active part in the early days of the development of the town. His father became connected with its business interests and was active in the establishment of many enterprises which have been important factors in promoting the material welfare of Truckee. Entering upon his business career here, the subject of this review has during the last decade, not only labored so as to win success for him- self, but has contributed to the prosperity of the town by his promotion of many business concerns.
His entire life has been passed in California, his birth having occurred in Placer county, on the 14th of April, 1871. His father, William H. Kruger, was born in Germany and was a sailor by occupation. For many years he followed the seas, prior to coming to California, but arrived in the Golden state in the early pioneer days. Like many others who sought homes on the Pacific coast at that period, he engaged in mining for some time and in the '6os became identified with the Truckee Lumber Company and other important enterprises in Nevada county, and from that time until his death he was intimately associated with various commercial interests that brought to him a handsome competence. Ilis wife, whose maiden name was Mary D. Richeson, is a native of Pennslyvania and is descended from one of the old and influential families of the Keystone state. She now resides in the city of .Alameda. By her marriage she became the mother of ten children, Eugene being the fifth in order of birth.
The subject of this review obtained his education in the schools of San Francisco and was graduated in the Trinity school, in the class of 1800. He soon afterward became identified with the business interests conducted by his father in Truckee. lle is now vice-president of the Truckee Lumber
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Company, one of the leading industrial concerns in this part of the state. It was incorporated in 1870 and the magnitude of its business is indicated by the fact that two hundred workmen are employed. Mr. Kruger is also man- ager of a general mercantile establishment owned by the Truckee Lumber Company, and is the secretary and one of the leading stockholders of the Truckee Electric Light & Power Company.
On the 12th of October, 1898, was celebrated the marriage of Mr. Kruger and Miss Sarah A. Greenleaf, a native of California and a daughter of John Greenleaf, of Santa Clara. Their pleasant home is celebrated for its gracious hospitality and is the center of a cultured society circle. Mr. Kruger is a member of the Dover Parlor, No. 162, N. S. G. W., and is one of the prominent and popular citizens of Truckee. He is a young man of resourceful ability, of marked executive power, keen discrimination and sound judgment, and he carries forward to successful completion whatever he under- takes. He displays great diligence and energy in the control of his extensive interests and has thereby become the possessor of a most handsome com- petence. In all life's relations he commands the respect of his fellow men and his life's record has become an integral part of the history of Truckee.
ADANIRUM J. GODING.
Among the leading representatives of the fruit-growing interests of Placer county is Adanirum Judson Goding, whose interests in this direction arc extensive and yield to him a good financial return. His farm is located about one mile from Towle station. in Placer county, and its neat, thrifty appearance indicates to the passer-by the careful supervision of the owner, who since the spring of 1852 has been a resident of California.
He was born in Livermore, Oxford county, Maine, on the 30th of May, 1823, and is of English lineage, although the family for many generations has been connected with American interests, having been founded in New England in colonial days. Jonas Goding, the father of our subject, was born in the Pine Tree state and married Miss Jane Hathaway, also a native of Maine. After their marriage they removed to Brighton, Massachusetts, locat- ing on a farm in that vicinity, and were known as industrious, worthy farming people for many years. The mother lived to the advanced age of eighty years, while the father passed the eighty fourth milestone on the journey of life. They were the parents of eleven children, of whom four still survive.
On the old homestead farm Adanirum J. Goding spent his youth. He arose early in the morning to assist in the work of clearing, cultivating and improving the fields and worked until the dewy eve. Through the winter months, after the crops were safely harvested and the fruit gathered, he entered the district school of the neighborhood, where he pursued his studies until spring again forced him to take his place behind the plow. He continued farming in the east until 1852, when, attracted by the rich discoveries of gold in California he bade adieu to his friends in Massachusetts and started for the golden west, making the long voyage around Cape Horn on the sailing vessel,
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A. J. GODING
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Samuel Appleton. Although they were on the water for six months, the trip was accomplished in safety and the passengers reached San Francisco, the anchor being dropped in that harbor on the Ist of July, 1852.
Mr. Goding remained in that place only a short time, when he went to Rattlesnake Bar, where he secured work, at five dollars a day, spending the remainder of the season there. Subsequently hie removed to Nevada City, where he engaged in mining for about three years. His efforts there were crowned with excellent success. On the expiration of that period he was the possessor of thirty thousand dollars, in twenty-dollar gold pieces. He con- tinued mining and took out a great deal of the precious metal, but paid eighty thousand dollars for water and the expenses were so great that he had but little surplus remaining.
Tiring of the hard work and the great outlay, he went on a hunting expe- dition in the mountains east of Dutch Flat and came upon a splendid, well- watered tract of undulating land. He was delighted with the country, and looking over the ground he found a number of springs upon it. He be- lieved that he could make a good fruit farm there; and as this was gov- ernment land he went home and informed his wife of his decision. They soon removed to the farm and there he has since labored, securing from the development of the soil and the cultivation of the crops and orchards a handsome competence. He now has one of the best and most profitable farms in the county, comprising two hundred acres of land. He has per- fected arrangements so that he can distribute the water from these springs all over the farm and irrigate it at will. When he was clearing the place of the timber he furnished to a railroad company and also raised potatoes, which were then a very profitable crop. In 1865 he had twelve acres planted with that vegetable and raised a crop of sixty tons, which he sold for five cents per pound. This brought him some thirty-six hundred dollars. As the years have passed he has added to his orchards and now has four thousand winter-apple trees in bearing. From these he has taken thirty-five hundred boxes of apples in a season and receives for the same seventy cents per box. He has extensive strawberry beds and blackberry patches, and also raises large crops of cabbages. His splendid farm, now highly cultivated, represents years of earnest toil and diligent and unremitting effort, for Nature, although boun- tiful in her resources, does not prepare the land for the plow or the planting. This is man's work, and when this is well performed Nature is bountiful in her compensations.
Mr. Goding has led an active and useful life. He is now in his seventy- fifth year, a hale, hearty pioneer and one of the highly intelligent citizens of northern California. His success has been honorably won through the legiti- mate channels of trade. It has not come to him through the sacrifice of the rights of others, but has been the reward of the work of his willing hands, the product of the farm that he hewed out of the forest. Not alone have his labors contributed to his own prosperity, but have resulted to the benefit of the com- munity in showing the capabilities of Placer county for fruit and vegetable growing. Others have followed his example and now there are many fine 46
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fruit ranches in Placer county, the prosperity of this section of the state being thereby materially increased.
In 1851 Mr. Goding was united in marriage to Miss Ann Spelman, who was born in Ireland, but was reared in the United States. Their union has been blessed with eleven children and the family circle yet remains unbroken. Following is the record: Francis is now engaged in mining: Mary is the wife of E. J. Robins, of Sacramento: Judson is a railroad conductor: Nellie is the wife of Fred Whitten : Louisa is the wife of James Allen; Edwin is at home; Hattie is now Mrs. King; Mattie became the wife of Robert Wilson; Charles A. is on the farm: George is married; and Jane is the wife of John Fry, of Sacramento. The wife and mother died in 1893, in the sixtieth year of her age. She had been a faithful helpmate to her husband, was devoted to her family, and to her neighbors was a faithful friend. She enjoyed the esteem of all who knew her and her loss has been a very heavy one to her hus- band and children. Mr. Goding still resides on his fine fruit farm that has been developed through his intelligent effort and he is justly counted one of Placer county's best citizens and most honored pioneers. He votes with the Republican party, which he has supported since its organization, yet he has never sought or desired party reward for his allegiance to its principles.
EMORY W. CHAPMAN.
Occupying a distinguished position in connection with political affairs, and at the same time being a leading representative of mining interests, Emory W. Chapman is numbered among the valued citizens of Eldorado county, his home being near Placerville. Much of his life has been passed on the Pacific slope and, imbued with the true western spirit of progress and enter- prise, he has made marked advancement in the affairs of life, actuated by strong determination and indefatigable industry. A man who can rise from the ranks to a position of affluence is he who can see and utilize the oppor- tunities that surround his path. The essential conditions of human life are ever the same: the surroundings of individuals differ but slightly, and when one passes another on the highway and reaches the goal of prosperity before others who perhaps started out in advance of him it is because he has the power to use advantages which probably encompass the whole human race. To-day among the prominent business men of this section of the state stands Emory W. Chapman.
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