USA > California > A history of the new California, its resources and people; Vol II > Part 57
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Judge Beard's domestic life has been particularly felicitous, and of all the interests which attract him his home and its associations are dearest. He has been twice married. First, on July 12. 1874, at Etna, Siskiyou county, to Miss Annie Webster Ackley, who was a daughter of Hosea B. and Nancy Ackley, of Maine. She died March 12, 1882, having been the mother of four children, namely: Annie Ackley Beard, born April 19, 1875, now the wife of S. H. Hill and residing at Napa; John Augustus Beard, born June 22, 1878; James Gehrig Beard, born December 30, 1879; and Webster Beard, now deceased, born February 20, 1882.
On March 4, 1883, Judge Beard married Emma Jane Bigelow, at Edgewood, Siskiyou county. Of this union there are two girls, Emily Grace, born April 12, 1884, and Susan Margarette, born May 27, 1894. The present Mrs. Beard was a daughter of Ralph P. and Emily R. Bige- low, originally of New York state, who moved thence to Illinois and to California in 1859. Her parents formerly owned and conducted the fa- mous Bigelow dairy ranch, on the McCloud river and under the shadow of the great Mt. Shasta. This was a favorite summer resort, and some of the most distinguished people of the state and from abroad made annual pilgrimages to this inviting mountain farmstead. Mrs. Beard, and the same could be said of her mother, is a woman of superior mental endow- ment and of great goodness of heart. It is well said of her that accord- ing to such strict principles of conscientious conduct has she ordered her life that she never compromises with wrong or excuses wrong-doing; lier kindness of heart is co-ordinated with her firmness of will, so that with her, yes means yes, and no means no, in the full sense of the words.
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To speak as a final word of some of the characteristics which have had much to do with the successful and very happy career of Judge Beard. Of a modest and retiring nature, at the same time he has been quietly assert- ive in all the essential affairs of life, and without display or bluster has pushed forward to the front and acquired the best of every situation. He has taken life as he found it, and, while accomplishing more than the ordi- nary man in a life of circumstance and free will, he has at the same time accommodated himself to those conditions which are unalterable. Thus we find him, at the age of sixty-eight, as fond of fun as a boy, attending, when- ever convenient and always excepting Sundays, ball games and other di- versions. He has always taken an earnest and active interest in every- thing of a public character that was promotive of the best interests of the people of the community. Beside his personal affections and interests at home, he is very fond of flowers and domestic animals, and, above all, of good music, especially sacred music and old-fashioned melodies.
ROBERT CORLETT.
Robert Corlett occupies a position of distinction in business and political circles in Napa county, few men being more prominent or more widely known in the enterprising city of Napa than is the subject of this review. His popularity is well deserved, for in him are embraced the characteristics of an unbending integrity, unabating energy and industry that never flags. He is public-spirited and thoroughly interested in whatever pertains to the welfare and upbuilding of his community and of the state, and in behalf of the commonwealth he has done important public service.
Mr. Corlett was born on the Isle of Man, off the coast of England, December 31, 1858. For many generations his ancestors had lived in Eng- land, and there occurred the birth of his parents, William P. and Jane (Cal- lister) Corlett. The mother died in England prior to 1873 and the father afterward came to America and is now living in Napa at the venerable age of eighty-one years. He came to America with his sons, William H. and Robert Corlett, in the year 1873, making his way to Chicago, where he remained for about two years, and then continued his westward journey to California, settling in Napa in 1875. Here he became engaged in the lum- ber-milling business, with which he was identified for a number of years, and was then succeeded by his sons. William H. Corlett, the brother of Robert, is an architect of prominence as well as a partner in the lumber-milling enter- prise. He occupies a foremost position in industrial and professional circles in this part of the state, and is likewise a citizen whose activity in behalf of community affairs has been far-reaching and beneficial. He has served for two terms as a member of the city council of Napa, and for two terms has been a member of the county school board, acting as its chairman at the present writing in 1904.
Robert Corlett was reared in the land of his nativity and is indebted to its public school system for the early educational advantages he enjoyed. He was connected with his father in the manufacture of lumber for some
Robert Cet.
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time as an employe and gained an accurate and comprehensive knowledge of the business in its various departments. Upon the father's retirement he and his brother, William H. Corlett, entered into partnership relations as owners of the milling enterprise, which they have since conducted. Hon- ored and respected by all, there are none who occupy a more enviable posi- tion in industrial and financial circles than do the Corlett brothers. It is true that they entered upon a business already established, but in controlling and enlarging such an industry many a man of less resolute purpose would have utterly failed. They have succeeded in building up a lumber milling business which is the largest concern of the kind in Napa county. Their output is very extensive and the magnitude of their sales returns to them an excellent financial income. Mr. Corlett is thoroughly familiar with the business in every principle and detail, and his intimate knowledge of the trade conditions has also been a factor in the success which has attended him.
On the 19th of August, 1885, in Napa was celebrated the marriage of Mr. Corlett and Miss Elizabeth Frances Derry, a daughter of Thomas Derry, of the Fifth Wisconsin Cavalry. This marriage has been blessed with three children: Robert Derry, Benjamin C. and Frances E., aged re- spectively seventeen, fifteen and eleven years.
In his fraternal relations Mr. Corlett is a Mason and is also identified with the Odd Fellows society and the Elks lodge. He has been very prom- inent in political circles in California, and for twelve years was secretary of the Republican county central committee of Napa county, filling that position until 1901. He is now a member from Napa county of the. Repub- lican state committee. He resigned his position with the county committee, however, when elected to represent the county in the senate of California, where he served in the two sessions, 1901 and 1903. While a member of the upper house he did much toward securing the appropriations for the Napa State Asylum for the Insane and also for the Veterans' Home at Yountville. Mr. Corlett was instrumental in securing the last appropriation of fifty thousand dollars for the new hospital at the home. He was also identified with many other legislative measures which have proved of marked value to certain communities or to the state at large. Honored and respected in every class of society, he has for some time been a leader in thought and action in the public life of the state, and his name is inscribed high on the roll of its leading men, his honorable career adding lustre to the history of Napa county. In whatever relation of life we find him, in the government service, in political circles or in business or social affairs, he is always the same honorable and honored gentleman, whose worth well merits the high regard which is uniformly given him.
WILLIAM HENRY WALLACE, M. D.
Dr. William Henry Wallace, president of the Siquoia Hospital Asso- ciation and one of its visiting physicians, as well as a general medical prac- titioner of Eureka, was born in Hillsboro, New Brunswick, on the 2d of May, 1852, and his parents. William and Jane (Steeves) Wallace, were
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also natives of that country. The father was for forty-four years in the customs department of the Canadian government service and a most trusted and loyal official. Both he and his wife passed away at an advanced age, he reaching his eighty-eighth year. In the family were two sons and four daughters.
Dr. Wallace, the youngest, was educated in the grammar schools of Hillsboro and of St. John's, New Brunswick, and when his literary course was completed at the age of nineteen years he entered the medical department of Harvard University at Cambridge, Massachusetts. Later he matricu- lated in the University of New York, in which he was graduated with the class of 1878 on the 19th of February of that year. He then practiced medi- cine in New Brunswick for two years, after which he returned to the United States and for three years was a successful practitioner of Boston. In 1883 he made his way from the Atlantic to the Pacific coast, establishing his home in Eureka, California, in July of that year. Here he has practiced up to the present time, and he was one of the early physicians of Humboldt county. He served as county physician in 1893-4. In his private practice he has shown comprehensive knowledge of the principles of the science of medicine and surgery and correct application in applying his learning to the needs of suffering humanity. He has discharged all of his professional duties with conscientious obligation and due regard to the highest ethics of the medical fraternity.
Dr. Wallace was married in October, 1879, to Miss Marietta C. Tufts, a native of Arlington, Massachusetts, and a daughter of Ephraim Tufts, who was also born in the old Bay state and represents a family that has been connected with American interests from an early period in the coloni- zation of the new world. To Dr. Wallace and his wife have been born four children, two sons and two daughters: Carl Tufts, who is now a medical student in the McGill Medical College of Montreal, Canada; Muriel S., who is a student in the State University at Berkeley, California; Lloyd, who is attending the Eureka high school; and Romaine, who completes the family. Dr. Wallace socially is connected with the Masonic and Elks fraternities, and in his political views he is a Republican.
JUDGE CHARLES PROWSE.
In the development of a community one of its most important factors is the real estate dealer, who places its lands upon the market and whose efforts are largely the means of bringing into a community a desirable class of citizenship and the industrial concerns which prove so important a fac- tor in the progress and prosperity of every locality. Charles Prowse, well known in Haywards as a business man of reliability and enterprise, has made for himself a most enviable record, and has gained recognition as one of the leading men of the town.
Born in Galena, Illinois, on the 28th of May, 1852, Mr. Prowse is a son of Thomas and Elvina (Bradshaw) Prowse. In the paternal line he is of English descent, although the family was established in America at an
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early epoch in the colonization of the new world and was represented in the patriot army in the war of the Revolution. His direct ancestor was Captain Prowse, who served under Admiral Nelson at Trafalgar. Rep- resentatives of the name went south to Tennessee and Kentucky and were slaveholders of that state. The father was born in Kentucky and was a farmer and breeder of fine horses. His wife, a native of Hancock county, Illinois, was a representative of a prominent American family of English descent. Her youngest brother, A. J. Bradshaw, was a member of the Il- linois legislature. In the year 1850 Thomas Prowse came westward with his family and established his home in California, where he spent his re- maining days, his death occurring in 1869. His wife, long surviving him, passed away in 1901. In 1865 he had gone to Montana in company with three United States judges, N. P. Langford, H. L. Hosmer and Mr. Wil- liston, who were sent there to administer the law. At that time the vigi- lantes committee was organized, and Mr. Prowse and his three eldest sons were members of it. He named one of his sons, the youngest of the fam- ily, in honor of the famous Montanan, Granville Stuart. One of his sons, Colonel Godfrey Prowse, well known in Montana, made an attempt while in Salt Lake City in 1900 to capture the notorious Pat Lynch, who was hanged in January, 1904. Colonel Prowse succeeded in shooting and wounding the desperado, but was in turn shot and killed by him. It was not long after this, however, that Lynch was captured. Colonel Prowse was a general favorite throughout the west, and his death was the occasion of sincere and general sorrow among his very large circle of friends.
To Mr. and Mrs. Thomas Prowse were born thirteen sons, the living brothers of Charles being: James F., a representative of mining interests at Butte, California; George O. and Granville, who are merchants of Oak- dale, California; and Henry S., who for fifteen years was a member of the San Francisco police force. There were also eight other brothers, but these are all deceased.
To the public, school system of Illinois Charles Prowse is indebted for the early educational advantages which he enjoyed. He afterward con- tinued his studies in Montana, having gone to that state in 1865, driving cattle across the plains. In 1868 he took up his abode in Haywards, Cali- fornia, and began farming upon a tract of two hundred and seventy acres which he operated for nineteen years. Later he engaged in the real estate and insurance business, to which he now devotes his time and attention. He was one of a company of three to build the Anspacher addition to Hay- wards, consisting of ten acres with a frontage of two thousand feet on Castro street. During the period from 1880 until 1882, inclusive, he had charge of lumber yards and a warehouse owned by Anspacher Brothers. He was active in securing the construction of the Lake Chabot boulevard at a cost of many thousand dollars. This was originally a private road, but now belongs to the county and is one of the best in the United States. It will thus be seen that Mr. Prowse has been very active in promoting the material interests of the county and in advancing many movements that have re- sulted greatly to the improvement of this section of the state.
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A Republican in his political views, he has been very active in support of his party, which he has represented as a delegate in county and state con- ventions. He was appointed a justice of the peace in Eden township in 1901, and in 1902 was elected to that office, being the first Republican jus- tice in many years. His election was certainly an indication of his personal popularity and the confidence reposed in him by his fellow townsmen. In 1887 and 1888 he served as license collector for the townships of Brooklyn and Eden, and he was marshal of Haywards in 1885-6. He served for one term as road master, and in 1897 was town treasurer, while in 1901 he was appointed town recorder, and is still filling that position. He has also been identified with educational interests, was one of the principal organ- izers of the Castro Valley district and served as school trustee there. Any movement for the benefit of his community never fails to receive his en- dorsement, and many times his active co-operation is given to measures for the general welfare and public improvement. He is the secretary of the Lone Tree Cemetery Association, which had been in debt from 1874 until the time that he accepted his present position. Within one year, owing to his capable management, this indebtedness was discharged and there is now money in the treasury.
On the 3d of March, 1879, Mr. Prowse was united in marriage, in Haywards, to Miss Lucinda F. Luce, a native of that city and a daughter of Daniel Luce, of California, who is represented elsewhere in this volume. Two sons and three daughters have been born to them: Joseph B., who is employed by the firm of Miller, Sloss & Scott, hardware merchants, of San Francisco: Arthur, who is attending school ; Emma, Mary and Gertrude, all at home. Mr. Prowse is prominent in Odd Fellowship, is past grand of his local lodge and has been its treasurer for twenty years. He is also a Mason, was the first member initiated in the local lodge of Haywards and has also been its treasurer for twenty years. He likewise belongs to the Wooodmen of the World, and his brethren of these different fraternities entertain for him high and sincere regard because his life record has ever been such as to warrant their trust and confidence. He has been honorable in business, loyal in citizenship, faithful in friendship and true to the duties of home life.
THOMAS H. HICKS.
Thomas H. Hicks, who at the early age of eleven years was left an orphan and started out to make his own way in the world, is to-day a mine owner and joint manager of the LeCompton mine near Nevada City. His life history illustrates the power of unfaltering industry and strong determi- nation in the active affairs of the business world. He was born in Shannon- ville, Pennsylvania, July 22, 1855. His father, Henry Hicks, was a native of England and when a young man came to America, settling in the Key- stone state. He, too, was a miner, and attracted by mining possibilities in California he came to this state in 1855 by way of the isthmus route. He then engaged in the operation of a gravel mine in Nevada county and was very successful on Cement Hill and Wet Hill. With others he did hydraulic
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work on Wet Hill and a part of the mining property there is now within the corporate limits of Nevada City. He was also interested in the Badger Hill and Relief Hill mines, and a few years prior to his death he retired from active business, having accumulated a handsome competency that sup- plied him with all of the necessities and many of the comforts and luxuries of life. He passed away in 1861, while his wife died in 1867. In her maidenhood she was Miss Jane White and her birth occurred in England. In the family were three daughters, Mrs. Joseph Thomas, now of Nevada City; Mrs. John Christol, of Douglas Island, Alaska; and Mrs. Lavinia Thomas, of Nevada City.
Thomas H. Hicks, the only son of the family, came to Nevada City with his mother in 1860, arriving on the first of May. He was educated in the public and high schools here. When eleven years of age he was left an orphan, and, it being necessary that he earn his own living, during the winter time he worked at a mine at Scaddon flat near Grass Valley. He followed that pursuit for about two years, and from there went to the Star Spangled Banner quartz mine just east of Nevada City, where he worked for four years. He afterward made his way to Washington, Nevada county, where he secured employment in the mills of the Orleans Mining Company, having charge of a five-stamp mill there, although he was only fifteen years of age at that time. He continued in the position for a year and a half and afterward came to Nevada City, where he secured employment at the Pittsburg mine as a tool boy under ground. He thus worked for a year and on the expiration of that period took charge of the cradles in the Provi- dence Mill, occupying the latter position for six or seven months. His next position was that of manager of the mill ore shift daily for eleven years. In September. 1879, he turned his attention to the butchering busi- ness in Nevada City, but sold out in May. 1881, on account of ill health. He then returned to the Providence Company and afterward was given charge of the mill for the New England, now the Thomas mine. He worked there for about two years and then purchased a grocery store in Nevada City, which he conducted for a year and a half. In 1884 he went to Santa Rosa, California, where he engaged in farming and the cultivation of grapes, his time being thus occupied for two years, when he disposed of his agri- cultural and horticultural interests there and removed to Healdsburg. At that place he purchased a vineyard, which he conducted for six years. In 1892 he located in San Francisco and for a year and a half was employed in the San Francisco Tool Works, after which he went to Douglas Island, Alaska, and worked for the Tredwell Company for nine months. He was next at Berners Bay, Alaska, having charge of the mill there for about eighteen months.
In 1894 Mr. Hicks returned to Nevada City, but subsequently went to Hedges, San Diego county, where he continued for six months, during which. time he was engaged in the erection of a one hundred stamp mill. He then made his way to San Francisco, after which he again came to Nevada City and worked in the assay office of J. J. Ott for about six months. His next business connection was with the Plumbago mines in Sierra county, having
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charge of the operation of the mill, and later he went to Shasta county, where he took charge of and remodeled a ten-stamp mill during the year spent at that place. Again coming to Nevada City he was associated with Mr. Ott for one year, after which he bought out the assay office on Broad street and entered into partnership with W. H. Dunlap. He still conducts that office, but has extended the field of his labors, having in 1900 purchased an interest in the LeCompton mine, in which he still owns stock. Mr. Hicks and Mr. Dunlap jointly have control of the mine, and he was one of the organizers of the company by which it is now owned.
On the 16th of September, 1883, in Nevada City, Mr. Hicks was mar- ried to Miss Eda Ann Ott, a native of Nevada City and a daughter of J. J. Ott, one of the old California pioneers and one of the earliest settlers of Nevada county. He was the first assayer of the county and his office has been open continuously for forty-eight years. He is of Swiss descent and he and his two brothers came from Switzerland in 1848 and settled in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, whence he afterward came to the Pacific coast. Mr. and Mrs. Hicks have two children, Carl E. and Annie Margaret.
Mr. Hicks belongs to the Knights of Pythias fraternity, to the Ancient Order of United Workmen and the Woodmen of the World. For nine years he was a member of a regiment of the National Guard of California. In politics he has always been a Republican, taking a deep interest in the success and growth of his party. His career has been marked by a steady advance since he started out as a poor boy to earn his own living at the age of eleven years. He has been a close and practical student of mining in all of its various departments and his knowledge is now broad and accu- rate, thus enabling him to fill responsible positions in connection with this great and important industry of the Pacific coast.
CHARLES WILLIAM HEYER.
That Charles William Heyer is one of the most prominent and popular citizens of Haywards is indicated by the fact that for twelve consecutive years he has served as its mayor, and his election has been conceded at each time by the opposition before the returns from the polls have been received. All recognize his devoted fidelity to the welfare of the city, its improvement and substantial advancement and none question his sincerity regarding the best interests of the municipality.
A native son of California, he was born in Alvarado, Alameda county, on the 22d of April, 1866. His father, Julius Heyer, was a native of Ger- many, and at an early age came to America. In 1857 he made his way to California by way of the isthmus route and for a number of years was en- gaged in the successful conduct of a brewery in Haywards, where his re- maining days were passed, his death occurring in 1873. His wife, who bore the maiden name of Caroline Ubhoff, was also born in the fatherland and is still residing in Haywards. Since the death of her first husband she has become the wife of Leo Palmtag, also a brewer of Haywards. She was the mother of four children: Flora. the wife of Vincent Strovel, a butcher
Char A. Heyer
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of Haywards, and Lena, who is with her mother, these being children of the second marriage; and William also of this city, of the first marriage.
The fourth member of the family is Charles W., whose name intro- duces this review. The public schools of Haywards afforded him his edu- cational privileges, and he continued his studies until he had mastered the curriculum of the high school. At the age of sixteen years he entered upon his business career in connection with a brewery, in which he continued until 1889, when he entered into partnership with his step-father, Mr. Palmtag. This company owns and controls one of the largest steam beer breweries in the state outside of Oakland and San Francisco, the capacity being thirty thousand barrels. Their field is Alameda county outside of Oakland, although to some extent they make shipments to other portions of the country. The brewery is equipped with the latest improved ma- chinery, the plant being a modern one, and the product of the house finds a ready sale on the market because of its excellent quality and because of the known business reliability of the man who stands at its head.
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