USA > California > A history of the new California, its resources and people; Vol II > Part 3
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and his parents practically made Sacramento their home from the first. The first independent experience of the former was as a cabin boy on board the clipper ship Witchcraft, which made a trip around the Horn to New York, whence he shipped for the return trip on the clipper Swordfish. On his re- turn he began collecting fares on the old steamer Clinton, plying between Oakland and San Francisco. In 1854 he went to Stockton, where he made the acquaintance of W. L. Wright, professor of mathematics in Yale College, and who had taken up the Rough and Ready ranch, and on his death he willed young Cooper half of it. After the death of Professor Wright he attended the Benicia high school for three years, among his schoolmates being Joseph McKenna and others since known for their prominence in business and pub- lic life. He then learned the printer's trade, and for some years worked in all departments of the business, being employed on the Sacramento Bee and the Sacramento Republican. He then gave up printing and finished his pub- lic school course at Sacramento.
Mr. Cooper took up the study of music with Professor Charles Winter and Professor Mansfeldt, and became very proficient both instrumentally and vocally. He took an active part in the organization of the Philharmonic So- ciety, and at one time was its president; for eight years was organist in the Methodist church, for twelve years in the Presbyterian church and for six years in the Jewish synagogue. In early days he had charge of the music in the public schools. He organized the Sacramento chorus for the Camilo Ursa concerts, having one hundred and fifty voices from Sacramento, and had fifteen hundred voices in the San Francisco chorus, with Carl Zerahn as leader. At the same time he engaged in selling musical instruments, prin- cipally pianos, and was in that line of business for thirty-five years, dur- ing which time the Cooper music store sold as many pianos as any other firm in the state.
While in the music business in Sacramento he went to San Francisco and bought a half interest in the Overland Freight and Transfer Company. This company collected for the railroads and shipped to Australia, China, Japan and other points, and the firm is still in existence, but Mr. Cooper sold his interest after a few years and returned to Sacramento, principally be- cause the climate did not agree with him.
He gave up the music business in 1893 and began fruit growing. He bought one hundred and sixty acres of fruit land, and has bought and sold a number of ranches. While in the music business he was and still is largely interested in mining in Mexico, California and Nevada, and he inagurated the system of requiring the buyers of mining stock to pay the par value of mining stock by an assessment of a few cents a share each month, the pro- ceeds being devoted to development. He has placed over half a million shares at a par value of one dollar each. He has also constructed many quartz mills in this state and in Mexico. He still retains large holdings of fruit and farm lands.
In 1899 he incorporated the Capital Sacramento Transfer, Van and Storage Company, and in 1902 bought out his partner's interests and now
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conducts it alone. It has grown to extensive proportions, and he publishes a weekly paper in connection with the business, showing all the vacant houses and promoting the trade in many other ways. He has recently completed a large fireproof storage warehouse as an adjunct of the business.
As an evidence of Mr. Cooper's influence in business circles in Sacra- mento, after he sold his music business the firm incorporated and continued under the name of the Cooper Music Company, the name itself being con- sidered one of the valuable assets of the house.
Mr. Cooper was married in Sacramento, October 19, 1869, to Miss Joanna Powelson, a native of Philadelphia and a daughter of a California pioneer. After her father's death her mother married Captain J. Q. A. Cun- ningham, a former Mississippi river captain, and who, until his death, was captain on the Sacramento river. Mrs. Cooper, who possessed a beautiful soprano voice and was a pupil under Mulder Fabbri, of world-wide fame, and one of his most promising students, has been prominent in the musi- cal circles of the state, and her singing has been praised wherever she has sang. Mr. and Mrs. Cooper have two daughters, Laura and Ruby, who are themselves accomplished musicians and prominent in society, the musical, lit- erary, golf, tennis and other club affairs of the city. Mr. Cooper formerly affiliated with the Knights of Pythias, the Red Men, the Foresters of America, the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and others, but had to give up his fraternal relations on account of the press of private business. He is inde- pendent in national matters of issue, and is not an active partisan, and, al- though offered office, has refused and taken only a good citizen's part in public affairs.
RICHARD E. COLLINS.
Richard E. Collins, present assessor of Shasta county, has given one of the most efficient and business-like administrations of his office that the county has ever enjoyed, and his own ability is reflected in the work of the office. His entry into the position was most auspicious and indicative of his great popularity as a citizen of the county, for his election was by a great majority in a county of the opposite political complexion to his own. Mr. Collins is a true son of the west, possessed of the grit and progressive char- acteristics of a Californian, and his career from the time he was thrown on his own resources at an early age to the present has been honorable and worthy of the highest esteem.
Mr. Collins was born at Weaverville, Trinity county, California, in 1873. His father, Richard Collins, was numbered among the pioneer gold seekers of the Pacific coast. He was born in Limerick, Ireland, and came thence, about 1847, to America, working for a time at Detroit, Michigan, and at Beloit, Wisconsin. In 1850 he went via the Isthmus of Panama to California. He mined in Tuolumne county until 1852, and then moved to Weaverville Trinity county, where he became quite prominent as a mine owner and operator. In 1861 he went back to visit his native land, and while there was married to Miss Catherine Collins, with whom he re- turned to California about a year later. He died in this state in April, 1903.
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He was a member of the Old Settlers' Association of Trinity county. His wife survives, with her three sons, Richard E., Morris and William.
Mr. R. E. Collins, the eldest son, had what education he was privileged to enjoy in the public schools at Weaverville, but he is practically self-edu- cated, for at the age of fourteen, on account of reverses in his father's min- ing operations, he was compelled to leave school and assist in the placer mines. At the age of seventeen he started out for himself, and followed mining in Trinity and Shasta counties. He acquired several good stakes, but lost them by a continuation of his operations along the same line. On account of ill health he gave up mining on August 1, 1900, and then took a position as superintendent of freight for the Bully Hill. Copper Company. On September 1, 1902, he resigned this position in order to enter the politi- cal campaign as the Republican nominee for the assessorship. Shasta county was then a Democratic stronghold with a normal majority of six hundred, but the personal popularity of Mr. Collins broke down party lines, and he was chosen to the office by about five hundred votes more than the oppos- ing candidate. Since entering on the duties of this office many improve- ments have been made in the methods of handling the business, and he has given universal satisfaction to all concerned, so that his outlook for further political preferment is very bright should he desire such.
Mr. Collins is a prominent Mason, having membership with the blue lodge, the chapter, the Knights Templar, and the Mystic Shrine, Islam Tem- ple at San Francisco. He is Past Chancellor of the Knights of Pythias, is a Past Grand of the encampment Odd Fellows, and has membership with the Native Sons of the Golden West.
In June, 1903, he married Miss Estella Simpson, a daughter of Thomas and Eliza (Mattheson) Simpson, pioneers of Shasta county and now liv- ing at French Gulch. Mr. Simpson is a former hotel man, but of late years has followed mining in Shasta county.
FERDINAND HURST.
Ferdinand Hurst, of Redding. Shasta county, is one of the successful mining men of this district, and has carried on his operations here since 1880. He was a tenderfoot at the business and also young in years when he first came to the gold country, and the success which was rewarded him was the result of years of experience and hard work. He had many trials during his first years, and his perseverance and western grit are the main faculties which carried him through and gave him comfortable circumstances for his later years. He is one of the most esteemed and highly honored citizens of Redding, and is prominent in all public affairs of concern to the city and community.
Mr. Hurst was born at Renchen, Baden, Germany, February 18, 1862, being a son of Leopold and Caroline ( Spuler) Hurst, both of old and promi- nent families of their native country. His father was particularly well known in his own town, which he served twenty-eight years as a member of its ruling body, and gave much of his time and attention to municipal affairs.
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Mr. Hurst received his education in the schools of Germany, but at the age of seventeen left his fatherland and came to America, locating at Cincinnati, Ohio. A year later, in June, 1880, he moved out to Redding, Shasta county, California, which has been the scene of most of his endeavors since manhood. He started the work of prospecting, locating a number of claims, and made many attempts with corresponding failures before he found the secret of making mining a profitable business. By 1888 he had developed two properties that hegan to repay him well for his previous efforts. In 1895 he located the Midas mine, in which he owned a half interest. This afterward developed into one of the finest mines in California. In 1897 he sold his interest to Captain Roberts. Since that time he has lived a retired life in Redding, and devotes himself mainly to the oversight and manage- ment of his property. He owns the Golden Eagle Hotel in this city, located at the corner of California and Yuba streets, and he has recently assumed its management. He also owns his nice home at the corner of Butte and West streets.
In 1902 Mr. Hurst was elected trustee of Redding, and he has always been interested in town affairs. He affiliates with the Masons and the Inde- pendent Order of Odd Fellows. In 1898 he was married to Miss Marie Fent, a native of Germany, and in that year they made a visit back to the fatherland, and again in 1903 returned to the scenes of their childhood days.
JOHN FRANCIS HARRISON.
John Francis Harrison, who is engaged in general farming and stock- raising near Milpitas, was born on the 26th of February, 1867. His father, Thomas Harrison, was a native of Dublin, Ireland, of English parentage, born on the 8th of August, 1823. He spent the greater part of his boyhood and youth in the line of his activity and in the year 1842 crossed the At- lantic to New York. After a brief period, however, he returned to Eng- land and served for three years in the British army, and during that service was in almost every country of the world. Later, however, he again came to America, and in this country was united in marriage on the 3d of February, 1866, to Miss Anne Denman, who was born April 27, 1836, in Williams- burg, New York, now a part of the city of Brooklyn. She is of English- German descent, her parents born in South Carolina. In the year of his marriage he sought a home in California, arriving in this state in April. For one year he served as foreman of the Laurel wood farm in Santa Clara county for James L. Burtis and then turned his attention to the nursery business, in which he was for two years, conducting his enterprise with B. L. Fox, where R. D. Fox is now carrying on a nursery near San José. In 1870 he purchased a farm near Milpitas, comprising seven hundred and thirteen acres, which he at once began to cultivate and improve, and on which he made his home until his death. He was widely known as an enterprising agriculturist and stock-raiser, and a man who in all his business relations was strictly honorable and upright. He died January 5. 1899, and his wife died February 21, 1895. Thomas Harrison left a large and valuable estate which
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he devised to his children in equal shares. Twelve children were born of this marriage : Mary H .; Thomas M .; John F .; James B .; William H .; Anne J., the wife of P. J. Benjamin, who is now a member of the police force of San José; Isabella A., the wife of Frank B. Longley, who is a mining engineer of San Francisco; Lottie S., the wife of William H. Mclaughlin, of the San Francisco Call; Ida E., a clerk; James B., who is a mining carpenter of Arizona; Herbert S., now dead; and Richard W., now deceased.
John Francis Harrison acquired his education in the schools of Santa Clara county and has served for two years as deputy sheriff under G. Y. Bol- linger, while for four years he filled the same position under James H. Lyn- don, and for two years under R. J. Langford, and has proved himself a shrewd and efficient criminal officer. He is now engaged in stock-raising and gen- eral farming, and his industry and activity in business life are resulting in bringing to him a very desirable measure of prosperity. Like his father he has always been a stanch Democrat and has been deeply interested in politi- cal affairs though never seeking public office, save when it came to him through appointment. He is well known in the community where his en- tire life has been passed, and the fact that many who have been acquainted with him from boyhood are numbered among his stanchest friends is an indication that his has been a career worthy of good will, confidence and respect.
EBENEZER BIGGS.
Ebenezer Biggs, who is engaged in teaming and contracting at Napa, is a self-made man and all that he has enjoyed or possessed in life has come to him as the direct reward of his own labor. He started out for himself when but eight years of age. He was very young to face the world alone, but as the years have advanced he has progressed and his life has been char- acterized by industry, perseverance and steadfastness of purpose. He was born in Allegheny, Pennsylvania, January 10, 1826, and has, therefore, reached the seventy-eighth milestone on life's journey at this writing in 1904. His father, James Biggs, was a native of England, while his mother, who bore the maiden name of Sarah Wilkins, was born in Scotland. They came to America from their respective countries in early life and were married in Allegheny county, Pennsylvania. The father was a wheelwright by trade and followed that pursuit in the Keystone state.
Ebenezer Biggs had but limited opportunity to acquire an education, but attended school for a very brief period between the ages of six and eight years. At the latter age he began working for Judge Livingston, judge of Franklin county, Ohio, upon his farm on Alum creek three miles from the city of Columbus. There he remained between the ages of eight and fif- teen years, and at the latter date entered the service of Edward Livingston. a son of the Judge, entering upon a plan whereby he was to work upon a farm on the other side of Alum creek for three years. to receive successively seven dollars and a half, eight dollars and a half and nine dollars and a half per month for the consecutive years. Thus the time passed until he was about nine- teen years of age, when he went to the east with a drove of two hundred liend
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of cattle, making the trip from Columbus, Ohio, to Lancaster, Pennsylvania. He covered the distance in forty-two days and was paid for his services a dol- lar per day in addition to his expenses. From Lancaster Mr. Biggs made his way to Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, afterward to Cincinnati, Ohio, and eventually returned to Columbus. In the year 1848 he went to Louisville, Kentucky, where his uncle, Hugh Wilkins, lived. They entered into partnership rela- tions in the upholstering business, their specialty being the fitting up of steamboats, and the connection between them was maintained until March, 1849. In that year Ebenezer Biggs went to Missouri to purchase forty head of mules for a Louisville company to take them west to California under the leadership of J. B. Huey, who acted as captain of a wagon train. It was this business venture that brought Mr. Biggs to the Pacific coast.
The party left St. Joseph, Missouri, on the 29th of April, 1849. It was Sunday morning, but Mr. Huey was a sea-faring man and superstitious and believed that a Sunday start would prove a good omen for a safe and suc- cessful trip. They made the long journey across the plains, meeting the dif- ficulties and hardships experienced by the travelers of that period when one might go for miles and miles without seeing any sign of human habitation. At length, however, they had crossed the hot sandy deserts and climbed the mountains and forded the streams until they eventually arrived at Sacra- mento on the 27th of August, 1849. Mr. Biggs had six mules in the bunch which he owned, and after reaching California he sold these to a Mr. Car- roll, the purchase price being six hundred and fifty dollars. He also entered the employ of Mr. Carroll, who hired him to drive to Shasta and return, the team of mules which he had sold, paying him two hundred dollars per month. In the fall of 1849 Mr. Biggs went to Placerville, California, which was then called Hangtown-a name suggestive of an early condition in the country when life and liberty were menaced by a lawless class of desperadoes and when it often became necessary for the law-abiding element to take things into their own hands and to dispatch justice in order to quell the crime which became too prevalent. After spending the winter of 1849 and 1850 in Hangtown, Mr. Biggs, in the spring of the latter year, engaged to drive a team from Coloma, at which place gold had been originally discovered by Mar- shall in 1848. He was to take the team to Greenwood valley and in the latter place he engaged in general merchandising, opening a store there in 1851 in connection with a Mr. Brown, who in a short time purchased his interest. He then turned his attention to teaming in the employ of Samuel Ringgold, making trips from Greenwood valley. He was also associated with Mr. Ringgold in the buying and selling of hogs, and later he went to Sacra- mento, where he established a livery stable, but there he was overtaken by disaster, his barn being destroyed by fire in 1854. He thus lost almost every dollar he had earned in all these years, but while it was a bitter blow he did not become discouraged and disheartened, as many a man would have done, but courageously made a new start as foreman of a livery business at Fol- som, California. In 1856 he returned to Sacramento and was engaged in driving a stage to Placerville until the following year. In 1858 he came to
Pling R. Watts
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Napa, where he has since continuously made his home, covering a period of forty-six consecutive years. Here he was engaged in the livery business for a time and later turned his attention to teaming and contracting, in which he has continued down to the present.
Mr. Biggs was elected marshal of Napa and served for one year. He belongs to Napa Lodge No. 18, I. O. O. F., to Live Oak Encampment No. 40 and Canton Lodge No. 33. His political allegiance was given to the Democratic party prior to the Civil war, but at that time he became an advo- cate of Republican principles and has since been a strong supporter of the men and measures of the Republican party.
PLINY RAND WATTS, M. D.
Dr. Pliny Rand Watts, one of the distinguished surgeons of Sacramento whose continued study, investigation and natural talent have long since led him from the ranks of the many to a position among the more successful few, was born in Nelson, New Hampshire, November 24, 1863. He is a representative of an old American family, back of which is an English and Scotch ancestry, including Dr. Watts, the famous poet and hymn-writer.
Benjamin F. Watts, the father of Pliny R. Watts, was born in northern New Hampshire and was a dentist by profession, but at an early age dis- continued the practice of dentistry and afterward gave his attention to mer- cantile and agricultural pursuits, owning a large number of farms. In the year 1852 he came to California, but his early business career here was not profitable and he left the country for Australia. In the latter place he made his way to the gold mines and fortune favored him there in his search for the prized metal. With a goodly sum of money as the reward for his work he afterward returned to America and began business as a merchant in St. Johnsbury, Vermont, while later he located in Nelson, New Hampshire, and there continued his mercantile operations. As his financial resources in- creased he likewise made judicious investment in real estate and became the owner of a number of valuable farms. He married Miss Clara F. Hutch- inson, who was of English lineage, although the family was founded in the new world in a colonial epoch in the history of this country and was repre- sented in the patriot army of the Revolutionary war. Mrs. Watts was born in St. Johnsbury, Vermont, and in 1872 she was called upon to mourn the loss of her husband, who died in Nelson, New Hampshire. She still survives him and now makes her home in Portsmouth, New Hampshire. In the family were three sons and two daughters, the brothers of Pliny R. being Henry F., who is an electrician of Philadelphia, and Harry A., a physician who was associated with his brother Pliny R. two years, but is now engaged in practice in Chico, California. The sisters are Olive H., the widow of M. B. Stokes and a resident of Portsmouth, New Hampshire; and Nellie H., who makes her home with her sister.
Dr. Watts pursued his education in the primary, grammar and high schools of Portsmouth, New Hampshire, which he attended successively, and then entered the jewelry business in connection with his uncle in order to
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learn the watch-maker's trade. He followed that pursuit for three years. While working in the jewelry store, however, he became imbued with strong desire to study and practice surgery. He made his own way through college, earning the money that enabled him to meet the expenses of tuition, and thus he displayed the elemental strength of his character whereby he has won for himself a prominent position in the professional world. Real- izing that his literary education was hardly adequate to serve as a good foundation for professional knowledge, he entered Monson Academy at Monson, Massachusetts, where he was graduated in 1884. He afterward entered the New York Homeopathic College and Hospital, where he com- pleted a full course by graduation in 1887, at which time the degree Doctor of Medicine was conferred upon him. Never feeling that his education was complete, he has by broad reading and study added largely to his efficiency and he has also pursued two complete post-graduate courses in the Post- Graduate College and Hospital of New York.
When he had prepared for the practice of medicine Dr. Watts in 1887 went to Worcester, Massachusetts, where he became associated in practice with Dr. J. K. Warren, one of the foremost men in the profession in that day. There he continued until the following spring, when he succeeded to the practice of Dr. Richards at Stafford Springs, Connecticut, remaining there for six years. His practice while there was the largest in the county. Owing to the illness of his wife, however, he gave up his work in New England and came to California in June, 1894, locating in Sacramento, where he has since made his home. Here his ability has also gained recog- nition and he has now a good patronage of profitable proportions. He devotes his attention largely to surgical work, and he has a close and accu- rate knowledge of anatomy, the component parts of the human body and of the onslaughts made upon it by disease. In operation he is most careful as well as skillful, of cool nerve and steady hand, enabling him to perform the most difficult surgical work in a manner that has gained for him the highest commendation of his professional brethren.
He is a member of the American Institute of Homeopathy, the Cali- fornia State Homeopathic Society, of which he was formerly a vice-presi- dent, and is an honorary member of the Homeopathic Medical Society of Western Massachusetts, of which he served as president at one time. He is also an honorary member of the Boston Medical Society, was a member of the Connecticut Medical Society, and has been chairman of many com- mittees in these various organizations, whereby knowledge has been pro- moted among the members of the medical profession. He has also been a contributor to many medical journals, and has written various articles which have received the endorsement and attention of leading physicians and sur- · geons. For two years he was one of the collaborators of the Pacific Coast Journal of Homeopathy. His contributions to the press of late years have been chiefly upon the subject of abdominal surgery, in which department of his practice he has attained high rank, successfully conducting many notable operations.
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