USA > California > A history of the new California, its resources and people; Vol II > Part 59
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Mr. Short was married in 1885 to Miss Emma Packard, a native of California and a daughter of Cyrus Packard. Mrs. Short died in 1896, leaving one son, Frank H., Jr. In 1897 Mr. Short married Mrs. Nellie C. Rorick, who was born in Iowa.
WILLIAM W. PARKS.
William W. Parks, deceased, a representative of agricultural interests in Santa Clara county, residing in Milpitas, was a native of the Empire state, his birth having occurred in Troy, New York, on the 10th of August, 1852. He was a son of Daniel and Oraphine (Hatch) Parks, both of whom were natives of England. The father came to America in 1829, settling in Washington county, New York.
William W. Parks was educated in the public schools of Troy, New York, and there learned the blacksmith's trade, which he followed for a number of years, becoming an expert workman. The year 1876 witnessed his arrival in California. Making his way westward he took up his abode in Newark, this state, in the month of November, and was given charge of the blacksmithing department in connection with Carter Brothers' car shops. located in that town. There he remained until the completion of the South Pacific Coast line, a narrow-gauge road extending from Santa Cruz to San Francisco. On the completion of that work he went to Los Gatos, where he remained for four years, occupying a similar position. On the expiration of that period he came to Calaveras valley in August, 1881, and took up a claim, the place being generally known as Parks' Ranch. Here he was quite extensively engaged in the raising of cattle and other stock and in general farming. In 1896 he accepted a position as foreman on the P. A. Hurst ranch at Chihuahua, Mexico, and continued to occupy that position up to the time of his demise, which occurred in 1901.
William W. Parks was married on the Ist of January, 1871, to Miss Clara Sweet, a native of Saratoga county, New York, and a daughter of S. Matt Sweet, who was one of the pioneer settlers of that part of the coun- try. He was of Dutch lineage, his ancestors having come to America prior to the Revolutionary war. To Mr. and Mrs. Parks were born six sons and
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three daughters: Samuel, who is now proprietor of the Milpitas Hotel; Martha, the wife of Robert F. Ingleson; William W .; Archie F .; John B .; Bertha, the wife of H. N. Willis; Thomas; Nellie; and Mark.
Mr. Parks was a member of the Odd Fellows Society for many years, and was a charter member of Los Gatos Lodge No. 76, A. O. U. W. He was widely and favorably known in this part of California and a large circle of friends accorded to hini their high regard and confidence. His wife passed away December 26, 1892.
Samuel Parks and his brother William now operate the home ranch, comprising one hundred and sixty acres of rich land, on which they carry on general farming and are also engaged in stock-raising, making a specialty of cattle. They are both young men of good business ability and enterprise and are successfully conducting the ranch. In June, 1903, Samuel Parks was united in marriage to Miss Grace Goodwin, a daughter of H. J. Good- win, who is one of the early pioneers of Pajaro valley and Santa Cruz county, California.
JEROME CHURCHILL.
Jerome Churchill is the premier citizen and man of affairs of Yreka and Siskiyou county. He is one of California's famous forty-niners, and is a contented and happy survivor from the thousands who fought against many odds in journeying to the golden shores of Eldorado and contended with countless difficulties and disappointments in their fortune seeking, leaving records of hundreds of failures to one who was lucky and permanently pros- perous. Mr. Churchill was rather the far-sighted and enterprising business man than the adventurous argonaut, and saw the future greatness of the Pa- cific coast country more in its commercial and permanent industrial aspects than as a producer of gold. Therefore it is that he has been such a power- ful factor in the upbuilding and development of enduring enterprises for commercial, industrial and agricultural purposes, especially in the northern portion of California. He has been identified as no other man has with Yreka and Siskiyou county from almost the first years of his residence in the Golden state, for a period of more than a half century. As he himself has succeeded, so has his community prospered; the county's wealth and resources have increased in like degree with his own; his adopted city's and his own interests have always been identified and have flourished together ; in the insti- tutions that he has built up his fellow citizens have partaken, and the fruits of his industry, wise management and broad business capacity have been showered upon himself and his community in common. He has had faith in and been devoted to his own home district, and has never diverted his wealth to other sections of the state, but has made it of permanent value in increasing and developing the material advantages of Siskiyou county. He is still recognized as one of the dominant spirits in the affairs of his county, but for the past few years has retired somewhat from the heat and strenuous activity of business, leaving the responsibilities of immense enterprises to his two able and progressive sons, who are men of like calibre to himself and are
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certain to continue the management of the vast interests for the benefit and lasting welfare of Yreka and Siskiyou county.
Jerome Churchill, the veteran banker, capitalist, ranchman and promoter, was born in Elizabethtown, Essex county, New York, February 11, 1826. so that he is now in the shadow of the eightieth year of a most successful career. His family history and genealogy is one of the very oldest in Eng- lish history, and members of the various generations have performed deeds of high emprise and made themselves name and fame in varied activities of the world.
The Churchill lineage goes back before the Norman conquest of Eng- land. Toward the close of the tenth century, there were born to Gitto de Leon, the patriarch of the family, two sons, Richard and Mandril. Richard, Lord of Montleban, married Yoland, Countess of Luxemburg. Mandril, Lord of Courcelle, espoused Isabella de Teoza, and their eldest son, Row- land, served under William of Normandy, and for his gallantry on the field of Hastings received goodly estates in four English counties, one of them, in Somersetshire, named the Lord of Churchill. Rowland, Lord of Churchill, who married Gertrude, daughter of Sir Guy de Forbay, was the ancestor of all the Churchills. The first of the family to come to America was Josias, who in 1636 settled in Wethersfield, one of the oldest towns of Connecticut. From him in direct descent comes Jerome Churchill, but between were many ancestors of note, distinguished for their sterling worth, their accomplish- ments in many departments of endeavor and their broad-minded character, many eminent lawyers, scholars and soldiers being among them. John Charles Churchill was a judge of the supreme court of New York; there were Professors John W. Churchill, of Andover, and Henry Churchill, of Oberlin College; and General Sylvester Churchill was the peer in military renown of Harrison, Scott and Taylor. Nathaniel Churchill, the grandfather of Jerome, was a Revolutionary soldier and fought in some of the fiercest struggles of that war.
Mather Jesse Churchill, the father of Jerome Churchill, was born at Cornwall, Vermont, November 18, 1796, and in infancy was taken with the family to Elizabethtown, New York. During the war of 1812 he joined the Elizabethtown regiment of state militia and served throughout the Platts- burg campaign, continuing in the militia until 1830, when he resigned his commission as captain of the Thirty-seventh Regiment, Fortieth Brigade and Eleventh Division of the Militia of New York State. His discharge, which is signed by Brigadier General Joseph S. Weed, under date of August 25, 1830, is still in the possession of the family. After leaving military service he engaged in farming, coming out to Chicago, Illinois, in the early days, and died in that city at the age of ninety-one years. His wife was Martha McAuley, a native of Vermont, and like her husband of an old American fam- ily of Revolutionary stock, originally from Ireland. Of their family, besides Jerome, there are two daughters still living: Mrs. Jane Wisencraft, a resi- dent of Riverside, a suburb of Chicago, Illinois; and Mrs. Eliza Patterson, residing in Yreka.
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Mr. Jerome Churchill was educated in Cananadaigua, New York, and at the age of eighteen concluded his studies in Chicago. He then purchased a team and soon entered the contracting business in Chicago. During the construction of the first railroad in that city he was one of the contractors and employed several teams in the construction work. He continued the con- tracting and teaming business in Chicago until 1849, which marks the year of his entrance into the affairs of the Pacific coast. In May of that year he joined a train organized at St. Joseph, Missouri, and on the following Sep- tember Ist arrived in the Sacramento valley.
He was located in the city of Sacramento for a short time, and in the winter of 1849 went to Auburn, Placer county, where he followed mining until the next spring. For a few months after that he was engaged in the same vocation at Weaverville, Trinity county. He then embarked in the packing business, of which he made a great success for some years. He had pack trains running from Redding, Red Bluff and Colusa to Weaverville. In 1852 he made Yreka his headquarters, and this has been the central point of his activity ever since. He continued the teaming operations between Shasta, Redding, Red Bluff, Crescent City, Yreka and other points, making one trip as far north as Portland, Oregon. After moving to Yreka he opened a general merchandise store in the town, and also one at Humbug Creek and Scotts River, packing his own goods.
In 1858 he sold out his mercantile interests, leaving the loaning of money and real estate affairs to the management of a financial agent, and returned to his old home, where he renewed former acquaintances and enjoyed the leisure of the east for three years. He was married in the fall of 1861. The call of the frontier wild then became too strong to be longer resisted, and he and his wife made a bridal tour back to the scene of his former opera- tions. They sailed from New York, December 20, 1861, and had many in- teresting experiences on this journey. They went via the isthmus of Panama and made the trip up the coast in one of the old-time steamers, arriving in San Francisco, January 15, 1862. The Sacramento valley was flooded at the time. and they were compelled to reach the capital city and thence the journey to Red Bluff by river steamer; from there by stage coach, horse- back, muleback, sleighs and mud wagons, they crossed Trinity, Scott and Fort Jones mountains, reaching Yreka, February 7th.
Once more in Yreka, Mr. Churchill engaged in the loan business, which was somewhat of a relaxation from his former strenuous activity, and he became one of the successful financiers of the place. With other well known and prominent men of Yreka at that time-Messrs. Henry and Elisha Wadsworth and L. Houseman-he incorporated the Siskiyou County Bank, with a capital stock of one hundred thousand dollars. He was elected its first president, and has been the incumbent of that office to the present time. This is one of the solid banking institutions of the state and the only one in Yreka, and has always enjoyed the fullest confidence of all its patrons.
The Siskiyou Electric Power Company is another of the enterprises
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in which Mr. Churchill has taken prominent part, being one of the stock- holders and incorporators. Its capital stock is two hundred thousand dol- lars. Prior to its organization one of Mr. Churchill's sons, Jesse W., took a course in electrical engineering, having this project in view. They took up water rights on Fall creek and Klamath river, and a four thousand horse- power plant for electric development was completed in 1904 at a cost of about one hundred and fifty thousand dollars. It will furnish light and power throughout Siskiyou county and in Jackson county, Oregon. The company has recently purchased and is now operating the electric light and power company's plant at Ashland, Oregon. The officers of the Siskiyou Electric Power Company are: J. Churchill, president ; Jesse W. Churchill, vice president; Jerome P. Churchill, treasurer; Alexander J. Rosborough, secretary ; and E. H. Steele, general manager.
Mr. Churchill has also figured as one of the most extensive ranchers in northern California. He owns six large ranches on Butte creek, alto- gether over thirty-five thousand acres, devoted principally to stock-raising, and which at times have supported as many as two thousand head of horses and eight thousand head of cattle. The son, Jerome P., has the active management of these vast tracts.
The Churchill Company is a comparatively recent incorporation, em- bracing all the interests of Mr. Churchill and his sons 'with the exception of the Siskiyou County Bank and the Siskiyou Electric Power Company. Of its five hundred thousand dollars' capital stock three hundred thousand has been paid in. Among the other enterprises controlled and owned by this company is the magnificent drug store in Yreka, which was established in 1859 and was formerly known under the name of the J. Churchill and Son. The officers of the Churchill Company are: Jerome Churchill, president ; Jerome P. Churchill, vice president and treasurer; and Jesse W. Churchill, secretary.
In 1889 Mr. Churchill was one of the originators of the Yreka broad- gauge railroad running between Montague and Yreka and connecting with the main line of the Southern Pacific at Montague. It was capitalized at one hundred thousand dollars, and Mr. Churchill has been its president from the first. At present it is proposed to extend the line to Scott Valley and Trinity Center. Mr. Churchill was also one of the founders of the Yreka water works, which he afterward sold to the city.
Of all these large enterprises above mentioned Mr. Churchill is at present really the nominal head, having turned over most of his heavy respon- sibilities to his sons, although he still watches carefully over his interests and is a vigorous and skilful business man considering his long and strenu- ous years.
Mr. Churchill has always been a Republican since the organization of the party, but has never sought public position or been able to turn aside from his private work to serve in elective offices. His greatest service to the public and his lasting memorial will be in the many semi-public enterprises and institutions which he has been most instrumental in founding and con- ducting. During the Civil war he served as provost marshal.
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From the record of continuous prosperity in material affairs and the building and conduct of important financial and commercial enterprises, the biography turns to the bright history of over forty years of beautiful domestic life, during which as man and wife they have been mutually strengthened in their high-minded endeavors and have co-operated in carrying out plans for their own and their children's welfare and in performing their duties to mankind and society.
The lady whom Mr. Churchill gained as a wife was Miss Julia Patter- son, a native of New York state. Her ancestors were among the heroes of the war of independence. Her great-uncle, Joseph Patterson, was commis- sioned lieutenant for his gallantry at Ticonderoga. Her grandfather, Moses Patterson, married the daughter of Ethan Allen. Her father, Warren Pat- terson, wedded Parnelia Pierce, a descendant of Thomas Pierce, an English- man, who came to America in 1683 and was the progenitor of such dis- tinguished men as General Pierce, of Revolutionary fame, and of the latter's son, President Franklin Pierce. Another descendant, George Franklin Pierce, was a grand-nephew of the famous scientist, Count Rumford, and was also an eminent lawyer. statesman, scholar and writer. Warren Patterson, Mrs. Churchill's father, was of Scotch-Irish ancestry, and in 1846 moved to the vicinity of Littlefort, Illinois, where he was engaged in farming for awhile, and then established himself in business in Chicago. He afterwards settled at Waukegan, Illinois. His wife, Parnelia Pierce, was of purely English origin, a woman of strong mentality and of deep religious convictions.
Mrs. Churchill inherited many powers of intellect and noble qualities of character from her parents, and throughout her life she has been distin- guished for her own talent and ability in many lines of work. She was well educated, spending her last school years at Rockford Seminary, in Illinois. She has been a constant reader, especially of ideal and metaphysical subjects, and she herself has made a reputation as a writer of both prose and verse. She claims, however, only the rank of an amateur in art, but has made many splendid specimens of her talent and originality in the use of the brush and pencil, having been a pupil at one time of the now famous artist, William Keith: her accomplishments in this line are far above the commonplace, especially for one who has been absorbed in so many other departments of activity. She also possesses much dramatic and elocutionary ability. Her many strong mental and moral attributes have found their field of useful- ness in all philanthropic and reform movements, besides all local projects of charity and benevolence, and from the seclusion of her mountain home her kindly spirit has pervaded many worthy enterprises and become a power for good in the world about her.
Mr. and Mrs. Churchill have only two surviving children, the sons mentioned above. Jerome Percy and Jesse Warren Churchill were both born and reared in Siskiyou county, and the former is a graduate of the Berkeley Gymnasium and the Philadelphia College of Pharmacy. Jerome P. Churchill was married in Oakland, California, June 10, 1891, to Miss Josephine Wheeler, a native of Calaveras county, California. Her father, the late Thomas Wheeler, was a prominent farmer and stock-raiser of
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Stanislaus county, and was a pioneer of the state, having crossed the plains in 1849; and his wife came from one of the first families of Virginia, Thomp- son county in that state deriving its name from the family. Mr. Thomas Wheeler was of an old Tennessee family, of English and Revolutionary stock. Mr. and Mrs. J. P. Churchill have two sons, Percy Wheeler Church- ill and Jerome Churchill, Jr.
Mr. Jesse W. Churchill was a student in the California State College, and, as before stated, took a course in electrical engineering, at the Massa- chusetts Institute of Technology at Worcester. He has always been a deep student and a seeker after knowledge in fields outside of his regular profession. He was married in Oakland, California, February 24, 1892, to Miss May Visa Wheeler, who is a sister of his brother's wife. They have one child, Dorothy May Churchill.
AUGUST HURST.
August Hurst has been numbered among the representative and pro- gressive citizens of Redding, Shasta county, for nearly two decades, and, although foreign born and coming to this country unacquainted with its language and institutions, he has proved himself as successful in mining and business enterprises in the west as have most of the native sons of the west. The interests of Redding are very much promoted by the presence and activity of such men as Mr. Hurst, and his business worth and public spirit are reliable factors that can always be counted upon when matters pertain- ing to the general welfare are at stake.
Mr. Hurst was born August 14, 1867, at Renchen, Baden, Germany, being a son of Leopold and Caroline (Spuler) Hurst, both of old and prominent families in the fatherland. His father was an eminent citizen in his town, serving twenty-eight years as a member of its ruling body, and gave much of his time and attention to municipal affairs. Mr. August Hurst is a brother of Ferdinand Hurst, who is also a well known and influential citizen of Redding, and the two brothers have been closely identi- fied in nearly all their business enterprises since coming to America.
August received his education in Germany and remained there until April, 1884, wher. he emigrated to America, following several years after his brother Ferdinand. He was in Cincinnati, Ohio, for about a year and a half, and then came out to Redding, California. He and his brother did much prospecting work, and became experts at the business and found much profit in its prosecution. In 1895 they located the Midas mine, which has since developed into one of the richest mining properties in the state, and from which, during their period of ownership and operation, they received large returns. Mr. August Hurst has also followed mining in several South American countries and in Mexico. He has an interest in the Golden Eagle Hotel in Redding, which is under the management of his brother, and he also owns much other property and is actively engaged in mining and busi- ness affairs of Shasta county.
Mr. Hurst is prominent in fraternal matters, having membership with
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the Masons and the Knights of Pythias. In the former order he belongs to the blue lodge, the Royal Arch chapter, the Knight Templar commandery and the Mystic Shrine. In December, 1893, he married Miss Amelia F. Knol. the ceremony being performed in Brooklyn, New York. She was born in Stassen, Saxony, Germany, a daughter of Friedrich W. and Henrietta (Patschke) Knol, of old and respected lineage in Germany.
ELIJAH WADSWORTH.
Elijah Wadsworth is a name connoting much history of commercial and social institutions in northern California and especially in Yreka and Siskiyou county. He is in the list of notable pioneers whose magnificent enterprise and public-spirited endeavors pushed into flourishing growth and development the settlement of Yreka during the central years of the last century, and whose continued connection with her business activity is the cardinal ground for her prosperity. Wadsworth, Churchill and Husman are names denoting substantiality, integrity, reliability and business worth in Yreka, and Mr. Elijah Wadsworth and his no less successful and enter- prising son, Frederick E., have been pillars of strength in all the affairs of Siskiyou county from the early year of 1852 to the present time.
Elijah Wadsworth belonged to the famous old family who gave some of the most interesting and conspicuous personalities to Connecticut colon- ial history, being a descendant of William Wadsworth, who came in the ship Lion from London, arriving in America, September 16, 1632, and also from Captain Joseph Wadsworth, of Charter Oak fame. William Wadsworth moved to Hartford, Connecticut, in June, 1636, and no other man was more often chosen representative, for between October, 1656, and May, 1675, hardly a single year missed his service. He was repeatedly selectman in Hartford, and in 1662 was one of a committee of three to procure " corn or provisions as they can agree with persons indebted to ye countrey." In 1665 he was member of the important military committee mentioned under Matthew Allyn. In 1670 he was chairman of a commit- tee to equalize the value of several towns. On August 7, 1673, when there was danger from the approach of the Dutch, he was appointed a member of the grand committee of the colony to commission military officers and impress men into service for defense. He was representative in 1652 and 1653 when they sent Captain Mason one barrel of powder. In 1672 he was one of a committee of three to "hear the Indian complaints and to draw the same to an issue as near as they can, and to present the same for confirmation."
Captain Joseph Wadsworth, the son of the immigrant, was born in 1648 in Hartford, Connecticut, and became a noted and courageous man. He was a lieutenant and served in King Philip's war. He is best known to every schoolboy reader of American history as the man who, at immi- nent risk, extinguished the lights in the council chamber, seized the precious charter whose existence was imperiled, and, hurrying from the room, se- creted the priceless document in the tree which has ever since been known as the Charter Oak. Mr. Frederick E. Wadsworth has in his possession a
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cherished memento of this occasion, left him by his revered father. It is a handsome case containing a twig with several adhering leaves and a little slab sawed from a two-inch branch of the historic Charter Oak, which was feiled of August 21, 1856. This tree was of the variety known as the "Quercus Finus," and the memento was presented to Elijah Wadsworth by his father, Frederick, who was born in Litchfield, Connecticut. March 7, 1786. To return to Captain Joseph, it was he who prevented the royal governor Fletcher from getting possession of the militia in 1693. In May, 1715, he was liberally rewarded for his many brave and useful services to the colony by a grant from the general court. He was a deputy in the gen- eral court in 1685. 1694, 1695, 1699, 1703, 1705, 1706 and 1715. His death occurred in 1730.
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