A memorial and biographical history of northern California, illustrated. Containing a history of this important section of the Pacific coast from the earliest period of its occupancy...and biographical mention of many of its most eminent pioneers and also of prominent citizens of today, Part 101

Author: Lewis Publishing Company. cn
Publication date: 1891
Publisher: Chicago : The Lewis publishing company
Number of Pages: 1000

USA > California > A memorial and biographical history of northern California, illustrated. Containing a history of this important section of the Pacific coast from the earliest period of its occupancy...and biographical mention of many of its most eminent pioneers and also of prominent citizens of today > Part 101

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The subject of this sketch is the fourth of a family of eleven children, four of whom are now living. He received his education in his native land, and, at the age of sixteen, came alone to California to seek his fortune. He first worked at College City, Colusa County, and built the first house there in 1872. For a time he worked on farms, and afterward learned the blacksmith trade, at which he worked four years. He was also interested in a windmill manufactory. The mill was his own patent, " The Lone Star." He sold from 175 to 200 per year. After four years he was burned ont and lost heavily. He re-established the windmill business, and in 1882 added to it a foundry, conducting both three years. Then he came to Redding, and built a fonndry and machine shop. In 1886 he opened his present business, collecting and abstract work. His system of abstracts is the Dufers system, which is self-correcting. He is part owner of the right, and does a large share of the business in the county.

Mr. Hewitt owns twenty acres of land near the town, which he has improved and on which he resides. lle has planted a variety of fruit trees and vines, which are just coming into bearing. In 1872 he married Miss Susan J.

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Oliphant, a native of Iowa. They have eight children, all but the last two born in Colusa County. Their names are Lillie V., Willing- ton G., Harriet D., William John, Robert Perry, Harmon, Frankie and Frederick. In politics Mr. Hewitt is an independent.

HOMAS EARL .- Among the many pio- neers whose labors have tended largely to the building up of California, this suc- cessful man and worthy citizen has at all times presented an example for emulation. As a young man his steadfast earnestness of purpose enabled him to overcome the difficulties by which he was surrounded, and to achieve suc- cess by dint of industry and the cultivation of good habits. No boy, no matter how meager his opportunities, need fear for his success in life if he will but follow in the same course. Left an orphan in his earliest years he was soon thrown upon his own efforts for a livelihood, and early learned that it was necessary to labor and strive for those things which are considered the prizes of life. One of his earliest ambitions was to possess for himself, some day, a home and home surroundings like those of the family in which he passed the earliest years of his orphanage. That thought and that ambition doubtless preserved him from many of the temp- tations of youth. The privations and dangers of the overland journey but fixed in his mind the fact that he had undergone them to better his condition. With this in view he did not throw away his time and money at the card table and fandango, as was unfortunately too often done by men who had left their homes in the East with high ambitions. He worked early and late in his shop, and the work he did was well done, so that in his early manhood he had established the home surroundings he had aimed at and worked for, and in that home installed the wife of his choice. Iu that home he has lived for the past thirty years, happy in the society of his wife and children, and justly proud of

the high regard in which he is held by his fel- low citizens of Napa and Napa County. Mr. Earl has been a resident of California since 1850 and of Napa since 1852, during all of which time he has been prominently identified with the business development of the city.

He was born in Ontario, near Brockville, not far from Lake Lyidae, Canada, about the year 1825; he was at an early age deprived of par- ental care, his father dying soon after his birth, and his mother being carried off by the cholera scourge of 1831. During the early years of his orphanage he lived in the family of a man named Hickey, at Williamsburg, on the St. Lawrence River. As a boy he had an oppor- tunity of learning the harness and saddlery trade, which he followed as long as he remained in active business. At about the age of fifteen years he moved West, and located in Richmond, Missouri. Here he again worked at the trade of saddlery, and finished learning that business. He worked one year in Lexington, Kentucky, and then returned to Missonri and bought out a business at Independence, where he remained until 1849. In that year he sold out his inter- ests, intending to go to California; but, not being able to settle his affairs in time to join the company leaving that summer, he made a visit to Canada to see some relatives. While East he visited New York, Philadelphia and other cities, returning to Independence that winter.

In the spring, with three friends, he fitted up a four-mule team for the overland trip, leaving Missouriearly in May. From the start they made it a point to rest their animals from Saturday until Monday morning, selecting the best places in reach for grazing and water. On the way they met and traveled with many persons, since more or less prominently identificd with the development of California, among them Henry Boggs, now a resident of Lake County. Mr. Earl kept a diary of events occurring on that trip, and, having brought their own mules and belongings through safely, he was enabled to compare the result of his party's careful travel- ing and care of team with that of others who

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at first went recklessly ahead. On one day in crossing the desert west of the mountains he noted the number of dead animals, fine car- riages and a great amount of other property, and figured it up at night as amounting to about $100,000 in value, and this largely the result of ignorance and mismanagement.

Mr. Earl and his company arrived in Sacra- mento, August 10, 1850. He engaged soon after in mining for a time, but the results not being satisfactory he returned to Sacramento and worked at his trade for abont a year, when he sold out and came to Napa. There he opened the first saddler shop established in the town; and in it he did business for about ten years, finally selling out to his partner and one of his employés, thereafter devoting himself to more genial interests. Soon after arriving here he purchased a tract of eighty-five acres, which is now known as Lawley's addition to the city of Napa. In 1853 he bought a lot sixty feet square on Main Street, on which he put up the first brick building erected in the business part of Napa. At the same time he induced Will- iam H. James to crect another brick building adjoining. When he first talked of building a brick business block in Napa, most of the citi- zens ridiculed the idea of his erecting a brick building in this little "one horse" town, as they termed it. To such unprogressive thoughts he replied that the prosperity and advancement of every town depended mostly on the enterprise of its citizens, and his improvement would be at his own expense, etc. ; and Mr. Earl knew, from its natural advantages for water transportation and for manufacturing, and the fertile territory tributary to it, that it must some time be a town of importance, as it is now, of about 6,000 in- habitants. He not only brought masons but brick and also other material from Sacramento, where they had rather overdone the brick- making business, for his own building and also that of Mr. James. He purchased the brick for these buildings for $8 per thousand, and char- tered five boats to bring them to Napa. This gave a movement to the permanent development

of the town, which has continued to this day. In 1859 Mr. Earl built another brick business block, forty feet front on Main street, and later supplemented it by another of the saine width on Brown Street, both which still belong to him. In 1858 he made a trip to the East to bny goods and settle some unfinished business in Missouri, remaining about one year, during which he made several visits to Michigan and the Atlantic cities.

While in Michigan he married, at Monroe, Miss Frances Montgomery, a daughter of Will- iam and Sarah Montgomery of that place. They have had five children: Susie, now the wife of Benjamin Wilkins, attorney at law, in Napa; Thomas M. Earl, a graduate of the Napa public school, and also of the commercial course of the Napa Methodist College; and Clara, their youngest daughter, now attending the public school. Two children, George and William, died in infancy.

Mr. Earl was elected Public Administrator in 1861, serving two terms. He was again nomi- nated, but declined, and being re-elected refused to qualify. In 1874 he was elected City Mar- shal. re-elected in 1875 and again in 1876. In 1856 he took an active part in retaining to Napa County the Soscol territory, and after- ward in endeavoring to secure the location of the State Normal School at Napa, but failed, San José being selected. He also endeavored to pro- cure the formation and location of the Odd Fel- lows' College and Home at Napa, which also fail- ed. He has always been earnest in his efforts and liberal in his contributions toward building up Napa and Napa County, by inducing manufact- uring enterprises and institutions to locate here. In 1862 Mr. Earl became a member of the "Old Bear Flag" Pioneer Society, retaining this connection for many years. He is a mem- ber of Yount Lodge, No. 12, F. & A. M., also of Lodge No. 23, Knights of Pythias. He and his family are attendants of the Presbyterian Church. He is a stockholder and director of the Napa Woolen Mill; and also of the Napa Bank. He helped to establish the Napa Can-

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nery, and was a stockholder during its existence. By the active and perserving labor of his hands and brain, Mr. Earl has acquired a competency for himself and family, has achieved a high standing in the community, has brought up a worthy and interesting family, and is to-day one of the solid men of Napa.

RSKINE FISH, a prosperous and influen- tial rancher of Tehama County, was born in Cattaraugus County, New York, June 23, 1829. His father, Prince William Fish and his grandfather, Nathaniel Fish, were both na- tives of Vermont, of English descent; the lat- ter was a soldier in the war of 1812. P. W. Fish married Miss Lois Grover, also a native of Vermont. To them were born five children, only two of whom are living.

The subject of this sketch was the fourth son, and he was fifteen years of age when his father removed to Iowa, then a Territory, and settled in Scott County, near Davenport. There he was reared, received a common-school education, and became a "tiller of the soil." On June 1, 1852, Mr. Fish was married to Miss Mary C. Freeman, a native of New York, and they had three sons: Charles E., Prince William and La- fayette,-all born in Scott County and in what was known then as Winfield Township. Prince William died in infancy. Mr. Fish and his father-in-law were the mnen that were instru- mental in organizing the Republican party in Hickory Grove Township, and lias ever since been a true and consistent Republican.

In the summer of 1860 Mr. Fish and family, in company with two of his brothers including their families, crossed the plains to the far-fained California. He settled in Tehamna County, on Thomes' Creek, seven miles west of Tehama, and followed the vocation of rancher. In the fall of 1863 Mr. Fish returned, by the way of Panama and New York, to his old home in Iowa, leaving his family in California; they joined him in August, 1864. In the fall of

1864 Mr. Fish went into the service of his country and was assigned to the Eighteenth Battalion of Illinois, as all of the Iowa regi- ments were full. From that time until the closing of the war, he was on garrison duty at Camp McClellan opposite Rock Island. After the close of the war he, like hundreds of thou sands of honest men, went back to the plow. In 1869, his health having failed, he once more started for the sunny plains of California; coming this time by cars, arriving in Teliama County November 25. Here he purchased a farm of 240 acres, and subsequently another of 340 acres, both of which he sold at a good profit five years afterward. He and his sons followed the butcher business for a few years, first in Tehama and afterward in Red Bluff. They sold their butcher business and in 1881 Mr. Fish bonght 400 acres of the finest land in Antelope Valley, one and a half iniles east of Red Bluff, on which he was engaged in farm- ing until 1887. In that year he sold out at a handsome profit and moved to Red Bluff again, where he still resides. He owns one of the handsomest business houses in Red Bluff; also a farm of 320 acres one and a half miles northwest of the town.

Mr. Fish did not forget his sons in his pros- perity, but provided for them with a father's lavish hand. For his eldest son, Charles E., he bought a half interest in one of the finest ranches in Tehama County. It comprises nearly 2,000 acres, situated thirteen miles north of Red Bluff, and is known as Jelly Ferry ranch. For his youngest son, Lafayette, first he gave him a ranch of 200 acres three miles northwest of town, and in January, 1890, he bought and gave to him one of the finest little farms in Northern California, comprising 140 acres and situated a mile and a half below town.

Mr. Fish has always been an energetic, honest and upright man; his word is equivalent to his bond. He has held several minor posi tions, such as Justice of the Peace and Super- visor,-the former for several terms. His eld- est son, Charles E., was elected Sheriff of Te-

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hama County November 4, 1890, by an over- whelming majority.

COTT DOANE, Superintendent of the Sash, Door and Blind Factory of the Sierra Lumber Company at Red Bluff, is a native of Medina County, Ohio, born in 1843. His father, Jared P. Doane, was a native of Cuya- hoga County, Ohio, born in October, 1813. He passed his life on a farm; politically he was a Democrat, and religiously an Episcopalian. He married Miss Mary R. Lewis, a native of Con- nectient, and by her had four children, the sub- ject of this sketch being the only survivor. The father died in 1853. His ancestors were early settlers of Massachusetts. They landed in the ship following the Mayflower. Grand- father Timothy Doane was a pioneer of Cleveland, Ohio, and helped to survey and lay out that town; did valiant service in the war of 1812; owned a farm near Cleveland, on which he lived until his death. The family of Doanes is a large one, scattered all over the United States, and many of them are people of wealth and influence. In 1873 they held a large famn- ily reunion at Cleveland, gathered there from all parts of the Union. The Cleveland papers contained a full account of it at the time.

The subject of this sketch received his edu- cation at the Shaw Academy, East Cleveland. In 1862, when the war of the great Rebellion had begun ao assume gigantic proportions, Mr. Doane was nineteen years of age. Believing that his country needed his aid, he enlisted in Company D, One Hundred and Twenty-eighth Ohio, and was placed on special duty, guarding railroads, fighting guerrillas and guarding pris- oners. A greater portion of his time he was clerk and commissary of his company. He went through to the close of the war without receiving a scratch and was mustered out on the 8th day of June, 1865.

After the war he went to Alpena, Michigan,

where he was engaged in the mercantile busi. ness one year, when he sold out and turned his attention to running a planing-mill. He ran that business at Alpena for four years, and manufactured most of the material that built the city. He was burned out and lost heavily. He at once rebuilt on a larger scale and to his planing-mill added a grist and feed mill, and continued the business there eight years longer. At that time the health of his family cansed him to seek a change of climate. He sold out and removed to Atchison, Kansas. There he built a planing-mill, sash, door and blind fac- tory, and ran it three years. His health be- coming inpaired he purchased a fruit farm of 120 acres in Atchison County, near Farmington. After remaining on it a year he sold out and engaged in the mercantile business with George P. Allen at Effingham, same connty. Two years later he disposed of his business there and came to California to take charge of the factory of the Sierra Lumber Company, as manager and superintendent, which position he has held for the past five years. Since his resi- dence in Tehama County he has made invest- ments in real estate, owns a home in Red Bluff and lands west of the city.

Mr. Doane was married, October 29, 1866, to Miss Margaret E. Van Valkenburg, a native of Vermont. They have had six children, all of whom are living, five born in Alpena, Mich- igan, and one in Effingham, Kansas, viz .: Lucy M., Clara E., Frank L., Eva M., George W. and Ruth. Mr. Doane is one of the elders of the Presbyterian Church, of which his family are members. Politically he is a Republican. While in Alpena he held the office of Police Justice for one year. He is a member of J. K. Mansfield Post, No. 75, G. A R., and a Post Commander. He is also a Mason and for years was secretary of his lodge in Michigan.

The balmy breezes of California agree with Mr. Doane, and the business in which he is en gaged is highly congenial to his taste. He is at home in the midst of machinery and thor- onghly understands all the intricate parts of

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the business, in which he lias had over twenty years' experience.

AVERLEY STAIRLEY .- Among the prominent and influential men of Red Bluff, none are more awake to the busi- ness interests of the city than is he whose name heads this sketch.

Mr. Stairley was born in Greenville, South Carolina, August 3, 1845," the eldest of a family of seven children of Benjamin F. and Elizabeth K. (Stone) Stairley. His father and mother were both born in Greenville; and his mother was a daughter of Colonel Bannister Stone, a a native of Virginia. His grandfather, George Stairley, from Virginia, married the daughter of Archibald Lester and Elizabeth Lester, nee Elizabeth Grymes, and sister to Lucy Grymes, the mother of " Light Horse Harry " Lee, father of General Robert E. Lee. Many of the leading families of Virginia were descendants of this Grymes family; and even George Washington's first love was a Grymes, known as the "Lowland Beauty." Benjamin F. Stairley was a close friend of Horace Greeley, the great journalist, and corresponded with the New York Tribune for years. Though a wealthy planter and owner of slaves, he was in favor of gradual emancipa- tion. At that time it was his opinion that the Northern colleges were more thorough than those of the Sonth. He, accordingly, sent his son-the subject of this sketch-to New York city to attend school.

Young Stairley was in that city in 1859 and 1860; and when the war broke out he enlisted, at the age of fifteen, in the cavalry of Wade Hampton's Legion. He did gallant service throughout the war, participating in the many battles throughout Virginia. At one time he had a horse shot from under him, and his regi- ment was reduced to seventy-two men. How- ever, he came out at the close of the war without having received a wound.

The war over, he returned to New York city

and finished his education. He then engaged in various pursuits, traveling much, worked and studied, and thereby developed a broad manli- ness of character, a large conception of men and life, and an intimate knowledge of business metliods.

In 1868 he accepted the position of ticket auditor of the northern division of the Southern Pacific Railroad Company, a position he filled for several years. In 1875 he was associated with the banking house of Belloc & Co .; and afterward engaged on an extensive scale in the stock brokerage business, under the firm name of Stairley & Haverstick. In 1880-'81 he was connected with the Mader Flume & Trading Company; and later on, in 1882-'83, he was with Moore & Smith, lumber merchants oper- ating in various sections of California and Washington Territory.

Mr. Stairley has been connected with the Sierra Lumber Company, off and on, for the past nine years; and January 1, 1884, he took entire charge of their business, located at Red Bluff. In 1887-'88-'89 he was with the com- pany at Chico, where they maintained large yards and mills. He is now superintendent of the company at this point. They saw 20,000,000 feet of lumber annually, operating at the same time a large sash, door and blind factory and planing mills; and they pay for wages at Red Bluff alone $15,000 per month. These figures give some idea of the importance of the interests over which our subject has the management, and show that it requires business talent of a superior order, which he gives evidence that he possesses in a high degree.

Mr. Stairley also takes an active interest in the growth of the county and city. He is a member of the Board of Trade and other organ- izations designed for the public good. As an efficient worker in public affairs his efforts have been highly esteemed, and his co-workers have frequently given him flattering evidence of their appreciation of his endeavors among thein.

He was married in 1883 to Miss Mary Ridgely Tilden, a native of the eastern shore of

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Maryland. She is the daughter of Thomas Ware Tilden, of Maryland, a relative of the late Hon. Samuel J. Tilden, and a descendant of Sir Rod- ger Tilden, who fought with Richard Cœur de Lion in the Holy Land. She is also a direct relative of the Rolles, one of the oldest noble honses of England, the title now being held by one of her grandmother's family.

Mr. and Mrs. Stairley have had two children, one born in Chico and one in Red Bluff, viz .: Marmaduke Hamilton and Louise Elizabeth. Both he and his wife are leading members of the Episcopal Church of Red Bluff, of which he is Junior Warden. He is also a member of the bishop's finance committee.

Politically he affiliates with the Democratic party; was a delegate to the three last State conventions, and has been offered the nomina- tion of his party for State Senator. He is now a member and secretary of the Democratic County Central Committee, and is also a mem- ber of the State Central Committee.

He is a Sixth-Degree member of the Ameri- can Legion of Honor.

Mr. Stairley has several relatives in Congress, among them General M. C. Butler, of South Carolina, nephew of Commodore Oliver Hazard Perry; William Hayne Perry, of South Caro- lina; General John H. Bankhead, of Alabama; and Hugh S. Thompson, at present one of the Civil Service Commissioners, and who was for two terins Governor of South Carolina.

ACOB HENRY, late a prosperous farmer of Capay Valley, Yolo County, was born March 13, 1818, in Fairfield, Ohio, a son of John and Elizabeth (Wykerd) Henry, both natives of Pennsylvania, who moved to Virginia and then to Ohio, where the father died; the mother died in Michigan. At the age of eight years young Henry was " bound ont " to Samuel Trexell until he was seventeen years of age. He then went to Wayne County, Indiana, was there two years, and then worked two years for

his brother, John H., in Montgomery County, Ohio, then they moved to Indiana and continued together two years longer; then Jacob and a younger brother, Joseph H., went to farming for themselves. Two years afterward they bought 280 acres, which they cultivated together for sixteen years. Jacob then disposed of his interest and bought 120 acres in Illinois, which he occupied and cultivated until 1875, when he sold ont and came to California. He bought a place in Capay Valley, which now contains seventy-six acres and constitutes a pretty little home.

He was married in Michigan, April 26, 1849, to Miss Caroline Conradt, a native of Germany, and they have eight children, namely: Emeline, born August 3, 1850, now the wife of H. II. Smith; George W., born August 30, 1852; Mary, born February 21, 1857, and now the wife of J. C. Duncan; Andrew J., born March 12, 1854; Schuyler C., born June 7, 1859; William A., September 30, 1868; Ira M., April 1, 1870; Alma V., born October 13, 1862, is now Mrs. R. B. Cranston. Mr. Henry died in 1890.

AMUEL ALVORD was born near Black Rock, Erie County, New York, August 25, 1818. His father, Elihn Alvord, is a native of Connecticut, his ancestors having come to this country from England. He married Miss Alice Townsend, who was also a native of Connecticut. To them were born twelve chil- dren. Seven grew to maturity and five still survive. In 1837 the family removed to Iowa, and there Mr. Alvord took up a quarter section of land.

The subject of this sketch engaged in farm- ing in Iowa, and finally became the possessor of 500 acres, which he improved and on which he lived for a number of years. In 1857 he sold his farm, removed to Davenport and lived there three years. He then, in 1860, came to Tehama County, California, and bought a quarter sec-

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tion of land located two miles from Red Bluff. He afterward sold it and bought the Star ranch, 150 acres, which he farmed for ten years, raising vegetables, fruit, barley and wheat. This he sold and retired from business. He bought prop- erty in Red Bluff and built five or six dwelling honses, which he rents. He also has a store in the city, which he rents.

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A memorial and biographical history of northern California, illustrated. Containing a history of this important section of the Pacific coast from the earliest period of its occupancy...and biographical mention of many of its most eminent pioneers and also of prominent citizens of today, Part 101

Author: Lewis Publishing Company. cn Publication date: 1891 Publisher: Chicago : The Lewis publishing company Number of Pages: 1000

Author: Lewis Publishing Company. cn
Publication date: 1891
Publisher: Chicago : The Lewis publishing company
Number of Pages: 1000