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 49
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During the spring and summer of 1850, the Doctor was associated in increantile busi- ness with A. C. Brown, afterward County Judge of Amador County. From that time nn til the latter part of 1851 he continned mer chandising, in partnership with Dr. Jesse R. Robinson, who was the first County Clerk of Shasta County, and both meanwhile practiced
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their profession, to which our subject, after the last mentioned date, devoted his entire at- tention. When Shiasta County was organized he was elected its first Treasurer, and later as a member of the Board of School Trustees. With the late Chief Justice Sprague and the late Gov- ernor Isaac Roop, of Susanville, he established the first public school in Northern California. For ten years, by successive annual appointment from the Board of Supervisors, he held the place of County Physician. He took a promi- nent part in the Whig party organization, of the principles of which he had been since his early manhood a warm supporter and an earnest advocate. He was a great admirer of Henry Clay, and has always looked upon his first Presi- dential vote for that immortal leader in 1844 as the proudest of his life. As long as the grand old party held together as an organization, he re- mained under its banners, but when the end came he united with the Democracy.
In 1857 he was tendered the office of County Judge of Shasta County, by Governor J. Neely Johnson, to fill the unexpired term, but de- clined the appointment. In 1860 he supported Douglas for the Presidency, and in the follow- ing year was elected to the State Senate from the district comprising Shasta and Trinity counties, serving with credit in the two ses- sions of his term, and adding largely to his already considerable prominence and popularity. In 1863 as a war Democrat he received the op- position vote for the United States Senate against John Conness. Shortly thereafter he severed his connection with the Democracy, and in 1864 he supported Abraham Lincoln, in his second presidential campaign. Since that time he has been an active and ardent worker in the ranks and councils of the Re- publican party, and in 1872 was nominated by the State Convention of that party for al ternate Elector at Large.
In 1874, after a residence of a quarter of a century in Shasta County, he removed to Napa, where he has since been an honored resident. In May, 1876, he was elected a member of
the Board of City Trustees, and was re- elected in 1878, serving both terms as president of that body. In 1878 also he was elected from the Third Congressional District as one of the Delagates at Large to the State Constitutional Convention, and in the sessions of that im portant body, which sat from September 28, 1878, until March 3, 1879, he was one of the most prominent figures and earnest work- ers. He took a leading part in the debates of the convention, especially where he led the forces opposed to the incorporation in the con- stitution of an age limit under which candidates should be ineligible for office. His closing speech on that measure was a masterly and con- vincing effort, and is liere incorporated with an outline of the circumstances of its delivery:
Previous sections having been disposed of, section 24 was taken up, which read as follows: " No one shall be eligible to the office of the Justice of the Supreme Court unless he be at least thirty-five years of age, and shall have been admitted to practice before the Supreme Court of the State; and no one shall be eligible to the office of the Supreme Court unless he be at least thirty years of age, and shall have been admitted to practice before the Supreme Court of the State." Dr. Shurtleff offered as a sub- stitute the following: " No one shall be eligible to the office of the Supreme Court, or of the office of Judge of the Supreme Court, unless he shall have been admitted to practice in the Supreme Court." He then addressed the con- vention in these words:
" Mr. Chairman: That leaves it right where it is in the present constitution, and requires no qualification as to age. I hope that the substitute will at least have a fair support from the Committee on the Judiciary itself. I see nothing in the history of this State that requires that there should be a limitation upon the age of those who are to be eligible to judicial office. One of the members of the Judiciary Committee, who, I am sorry to see, is now absent, held the office of Chief Justice when he was only twenty-nine years of age, at least of Justice,
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and he was made Chief Justice when thirty years old. Another distinguished jurist of this State, long since passed away, Hugh Murray, was called to the Supreme Bench at the early age of twenty seven. Every lawyer concedes that Hugh Murray was one of the most brilliant jurists of the State, young as he was. Then, if we look further back and ex- amine the history of other States, and even the nation itself, we find that inany of the best legal minds have been promoted to important judicial positions when young. Levi Wood- bury, of New Hampshire, was Chief Justice of that State at the age of twenty-seven, and was afterward made a Justice of the Su- preme Court of the United States. He was a man of signal ability, as evidenced in the various positions which he subsequently held. His experience while on the bench of the Su- preme Court of New Hampshire was of much benefit to him and the people. James Iredell, of the State of North Carolina, was called to the bench at the age of twenty-six. Hugh L. White, of Tennessee, was made a Justice of the Supreme Court at the age of twenty- eight. Stephen A. Douglas was a Judge of the Supreme Court of Illinois at the age of twenty eight. Young men, comparatively, have been promoted to the bench of the Supreme Court of the United States. Judge Story was appointed there by President Madison when only thirty-two years of age.
"Therefore I think it unwise to make this limitation. Nobody claims that young men have been raised to exalted judicial positions to the detriment of public interest. I believe in giving the young men a chance. Martin Van Buren, when a little boy playing mar- bles and flying his kite in the streets of Kinderhook, told his comrades he was going to be President of the United States. The fire of his youthful ambition never quenched. His education completed, he rose quickly to the position of State Senator, then became Attor- ney General of the State of New York; then Senator in Congress. He was then appointed
Secretary of State by President Jackson, and then Minister to England. He was then elected Vice-president, and finally reached the goal of his ambition and became President of the United States. Though opposed to his school of poli- tics, I glory-what American does not glory ?- in the success of the ambitions boy of Kinder- hook. It is due to the boys, the young and rising men of California, that the paths of honor shall be left open to them, and I shall not consent, for one, to placing anything in their way."
This pithy, brilliant and logical speech won the applause of the convention, and carried the cause of that speaker, who thus gained an im- portant point of advantage for the young men of California.
Another debate in which Dr. Shurtleff took a prominent part in this convention, was that of representation in the Legislature. In opposition to those who favored a large increase in the number of legislators, he took the ground that a small and compact body would be the more effective one, instancing the well-governed State ot New York, where State Senators represent constituencies larger than Congressional dis tricts. This view prevailed, and the provisions of the old constitution in regard thereto remained in force.
In March, 1880, Dr. Shurtleff was appointed. by Governor Perkins, as one of the trustees of the State Asylum for the Insane at Napa, and has been ever since president of the board, and a hearty advocate of the policy which has already given the institution wide prestige. The incumbency of this position cansed his declension of the nomination of the Presidental Elector tendered him by the Republican State Convention of 1884, as he feared his State office might interfere with his eligibility, and an elector then be lost to his party.
Dr. Shurtleff's career in this State proves him to have been possessed of much more than the ordinary capacity and public spirit as from the first he has taken a leading part in the affairs of his adopted State, and been one of her promi- ment figures since the pioneer days. As a pro-
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fessional man he has ranked with the ablest, and as a politician he has moved npon the highest plane, always actuated by the purest and broadest of motives. As a citizen he is honored and respected far and wide, and loved and esteemed by those who know him best. Having conserved his strength and physical resources in his young manhood, when the temptations of the gaming tables cansed so many of his comrades to fritter away their youth and health by the light of the midnight candle, he is yet, at this writing, in the full possession of his strength and faculties, reaping the dividends on his early investments of self-denial. Thus it is that he has been in active practice of his profession constantly since 1849, besides attending to his manifold public duties, and he stands to-day as one of the half- dozen pioneer practitioners yet engaged in their profession. He is a life member of the Society of California Pioneers.
In his domestic relations he has been happy, and is the head of an interesting family. On a visit to New England, he was married February 21, 1853, to Miss Ann M. Griffith, a native of Wareham, Plymouth Connty, Massachusetts. They have three children, all born in Shasta, viz .: George C., who was born April 7, 1854, educated at Oakland High School, and is now with the great hardware firm of Baker & Hamilton, San Francisco; Charles A., born April 4, 1857, a graduate of Hastings Law School, and now a member of the legal firm of Whitworth & Shurtleff, No.120 Sutter street, San Francisco; and Benjamin E., born April 21, 1867, a student in the Medical Department, University of Cali- fornia.
LARENCE W. BUSH, one of the most prominent business men of Woodland, and at present cashier and manager of the Bank of Yolo, has been in the banking business for twenty-five years. He was born Angust 28, 1848, in Copiah County, Mississippi, a son of J. P. Bush, one of the pioneers of that section
and a physician, but now deceased. Mr. Bush's mother's maiden name was Nancy Quick; she was a native of Texas and died in 1854, when the subject of this sketch was a small boy. When seven years of age he lived one winter in Michigan, then was in New York State and Massachusetts, attending school up to his thir- teenth year, principally at Great Barrington. Then nntil the age of sixteen years he was clerk in a country store in Central New York. He then entered the banking business, first taking a position in the First National Bank of Candor, Tioga County, New York, npon the organiza- tion of that institution, and he was elected assistant cashier before he left it. In the spring of 1868 he came to California and re- mained in San Francisco until the organization of the Bank of Woodland, when he was elected cashier, which position he sustained for thirteen years; then, upon the organization of the Bank of Yolo, he was elected to his present position, and it is by his effort and influence that this institu- tion has been brought np to the high standing which it now enjoys. Mr. Bush is a member of the A. O. U. W. and of the Protestant Epis- copal Church. He was married October 16, 1872, to Miss Lucy, danghter of Camillus Nelson, an old resident and prominent citizen of Yolo County, and they have two children,- Camillns and Florence.
EORGE W. LANGAN, an attorney at Livermore, was born in East Saginaw, Michigan, February 17, 1849, and was taken by his parents to Wellsboro, Pennsylva- nia, in their change of residence to that place, where he grew up and was educated. He graduated at the Mansfield State Normal School in the class of 1870. Within two years after that he completed the course of study in the law, being admitted to the bar December 5, 1872. He then came to the Pacific coast and for five years was engaged as teacher in the public schools, at Steilacoom, Washington
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Walnut Creek, Contra Costa County; River District and Lodi, San Joaquin County, Cali- fornia. In 1877 he was admitted to the higher court, of the latter State, and commenced the practice of law at Oakland, where he remained until 1880, when he finally went and located permanently at Livermore, where he has since been a prominent and successful lawyer.
Mr. Langan was a soldier of the late war, en- listing February 26, 1864, in the Sixteenth United States Infantry for the term of three years. He served one year, under General Sher- man on his march to the sea, as a private, and the remainder of the term as a musican, having been honorably discharged February 26, 1867, at Augusta, Georgia, and he is now a prominent member of Lou Morris Post, No. 47, G. A. R. In addition to his law practice he is interested in viticulture, owning a profitable vineyard near Livermore.
He was married at Livermore, October 3, 1883, to Miss Luella Mendenhall, and now has three children: Philip M., Chester G. and Verula.
OHN R. PALMER, an attorney at Pleas- anton, is one of the prominent citizens of Amador Valley. He dates his birth March 15, 1836, at Bedford County, Pennsylvania, where he was reared and educated. He learned the trade of tanner and currier, following it from the age of fourteen to twenty years; and from 1856 to 1861 he was engaged in several callings,-teaching school a few years, photo- graphing, etc., and drifted into the study of law, reading Blackstone and other great legal authorities. He was admitted to the bar in his native State; in 1861, he was elected District Attorney for three years, and in 1864 re-elected. After the expiration of his last term, in May, 1867, he bade farewell to friends and associates, and came by steamer by way of Panama to San Francisco. In a short time he went to Black Rock, Nevada, where he followed mining and
prospecting for a time; then, returning to San Francisco, he was engaged in handling various publications for a few months, and in 1868 he located in Pleasanton, where he has since been engaged in the practice of his cho-en profession, having had many noted lawsuits in regard to land claims. He has also been Notary Public since 1870. He is a gentleman of literary abil- ity, having been on the local staff of several prominent journals; was local editor of the Bed- ford Gazette, in his native State, from 1861 to 1867. He is still unmarried.
W. LEMME .- One of the most beautiful places in Napa County is that belonging to Mr. R. W. Lemme, on Spring Moun- tain, at a distance of about three miles and a half from St. Helena. The drive np the moun- tain side, with its ever changing and ever beau- tiful succession of views over the hills and valley, is charming enough; yet it hardly leads one to expect to find such a place as one comes upon when he reaches Mr. Lemme's house and grounds. The estate consists of 282 acres, and was purchased by Mr. Charles Lemme, in 1875, and its improvement immediately begun. In 1877 was put up a concrete storage cellar of 80,000 gallons capacity, there being another of slightly smaller capacity. The vineyard now covers eighty-five acres of ground, the varieties planted being Zinfandel, Chasselas, Riesling and Burgundies. There is a very perceptible differ- ence between this mountain-grown wine and that produced in the valleys, altogether in favor of the former, so much so that a very much larger price is obtained for the mountain wines. There is upon the place a great abundance of water, it being piped all over the grounds and to the houses. Mr. Lemme has dammed the creek that courses down through the ranch for the donble purpose of affording a head of water and of providing a fish pond. But it is about the residence itself that the chief beauty of the spot is found. A fine grove of young redwoods
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shades almost too densely the grounds, under them being swung hammocks and easy chairs. These redwoods are a feature of the place, and an object of great interest. A large cement tank with German carp and tront, generously supplied by a spring near by, is also shadowed by these trees. Oranges, walnuts, indeed fruits of every sort are planted and do excellently well, better by far than in the valley, for the place is within the thermal belt, and never knows damaging frosts. There are two resi- dences on the property, roomy and comfortable, surrounded with flowers and shrubs, and the picture of country loveliness. In addition to making up his own grapes into wine, Mr. Lemme purchases nearly all the grapes raised upon the mountain and turns them into wine.
He was born in Boston, Massachusetts, in 1857. He came to California in 1861 with his father, and received his education and npbring- ing in this State. His father, Charles Lemme, died in 1886. Mr. Lemme was married in 1884, to Miss Alice MePike, daughter of J. McPike, who lives near St. Helena. They have two sons, stout, sturdy little fellows, and one daughter, the picture of good health. They are named Charles and John respectively, after their grandfathers.
B. ATKINSON .- The splendid double stone wine-cellar at Rutherford, of Messrs. Ewer & Atkinson, is one of the sightly structures in the county, and upon examination was found to be as well arranged and fitted as could be the case and a model of convenience. In dimensions the main cellar is 120 x 97 feet in size, two stories in height. It consists of two cellars adjoining with a stone wall running through. At the rear is an addition 25 x 40 feet in size, four stories in height, where all the wine-making is done, the upper floor being the crushing room, to which the grapes are raised by elevator. On the next floor are two large tanks for white grapes. On the next lower are
the presses, while on the ground floor will be the bottling room when everything is in running order. The first half of the cellar was erected in 1885, and the other half in 1889. The total capacity is abont 400,000 gallons of wine. It is the intention shortly to put up a distillery in connection with the cellar. The building is en- tirely of stone and iron, and therefore secure from fire. Water is in plentiful supply from artesian wells, and the building is supplied with automatic bells throughout. Adjoining the cellar Mr. Ewer has 100 acres of vines, while a little south of Rutherford Mr. Atkinson has a vineyard of 115 acres surrounding his comfort- able home.
Mr. J. B. Atkinson is a pioneer to California, and for a great many years has been a leading spirit in the mercantile and financial circles. He is a native of New Jersey, born in 1827. In 1849 he determined to come to California, although not yet ont of his 'teens. He took pas- sage on the ship Sarah and Eliza, landing safely after a long and tedious voyage of seven months and twenty days with but one stop, at Valpa- raiso, in San Francisco, September 7, 1849. Like all the rest of the world he went to the mines, going in 1850 to the upper waters of the Ynba River. He soon came back, however, and entered into business in the city of San Frau- cisco, and for twenty years was one of the most prominent wholesale increhants of the city of the Golden Gate. Perhaps no firm in the city enjoyed a better rate or a greater popularity than that of L. Atkinson & Co. Since 1855, when he settled down to business, he has been going back East nearly every year. Ten years ago, in 1880, he decided to abandon the more active part in affairs and retire from business to his elegant ranch at Rutherford. It consists of 154 acres, of which 115 is in vines. He is largely interested elsewhere, however, aiming rather to see the better side of life and leaving his foreman to take charge of the ranch. He is interested in the Napa Valley Wine Com- pany, in the California Hosiery Company, and is a Director in the St. Helena Bank, etc. He
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is married but has no children. He is one of the most able business men, a man of stanch integ- rity and a leading figure in anything he under- takes.
UDGE EDWIN RICE BUSH, of Wood- land, was born in Copiah County, Missis- sippi, October 17, 1846, son of Dr. J. P. Bush, a pioneer of California of 1849. The latter commenced practicing his profession in San Francisco about 1851 or 1852, and so con- tinned most of the remainder of his life, but died at Woodland, at the age of seventy-six years.
At the age of nine years the subject of this sketch removed with his brothers and sisters to Western Massachusetts to attend school, and then the subject of this sketch attended for several years Sand Lake Collegiate Institute, in New York State, situated ten miles east of Albany; he also attended school at Geneseo, Livingston County, in said State. After attend- ing for a term the law department of the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor, he en- tered the office of the Hon. Scott Lord, at Gene- seo, New York. Judge Lord at the time of his death was one of the most prominent attorneys in the United States, and was at one time the law partner of Hon. Roscoe Conkling, at Utica, and was elected to Congress from that Congres- sional district. Judge Bush remained in Judge Lord's office abont two years, and theu. after studying in other offices a short time, went to the University of Virginia, at Charlottesville, Albemarle County, in said State, and gradnated in the law department in June, 1869. In An- gust, that year, he came to California and so- journed in San Francisco until the spring of of 1870, when he came to Woodland, where he has since resided. Here he entered into part- nership, for the purpose of practicing law, with C. S. Frost, which business relation was broken by the election of Mr. Bush to the office of County Judge. Shortly after his arrival at
Woodland he was elected to the office of Public Administrator for two terms. In the fall of 1875 he was elected to the office of County Judge, as above mentioned, and assumed the duties of that office on the first day of Jannary following, holding that position for four years At the close of his term, under the new State constitution the county and district courts were consolidated, and named the Superior Court; and at the first election thereafter Mr. Bush was chosen the Superior Judge and served a term of five years. Since that time he has been engaged in the private practice of the law.
Politically Judge Bush is a Democrat. He has belonged to Pythian Lodge No. 43, K. of P. for several years.
The Judge was married, June 14, 1876, to Mary J. Yerby, a native of California, and they have three sons.
G. FARHNER, one of the business ineu of Redding, California, was born in Penn- sylvania, June 16, 1848. His parents, Jacob and Elizabeth (Rohm) Farhner, were both of German ancestry, the former a native of Maryland and the latter of Pennsylvania. Grandfather Farhner and grandfather Jacob Rohm emigrated from Germany to this country. The subject of this sketch is the oldest son and third child of a family of ten children, seven of whom are now living. He was educated in Illi- nois, and learned the trade of carriage and wagon- maker in Missouri, to which State his father had moved.
April 14, 1876, Mr. Farhner came to Califor- nia and settled at Shasta. He carried on busi- ness there for four years; then removed to Redding and conducted a wagon and carriage- making business and also undertaking. In 1882 he was elected Coroner and Administrator of the County, on the Democratic ticket. In 1888 he purchased a furniture store. The latter part of that year he was one of the organizers of the Redding Planing Mill Company, which he is
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now running, and in connection with it is doing contracting and building. He has erected most of the best buildings in the city, inelnding the following: Good Templars' Hall, I. O. O. F. Hall, Golden Eagle Hotel, MeCormick & Saelt- zer's store, and the Bank of Northern California. He is an Odd Fellow, a member of the Encamp- ment of the K. of P., and a member of the A. O. U. W. He is also a member of the G. A. R., having served in the Fifty-eighth Illinois Infan- try under General A. J. Smith.
Mr. Farhner was married in 1872, to Miss Amanda Lovina Loekridge, a native of Illinois. They have four children, the first born in Mis- souri, and the others in California, viz .: Lora, Myrta, Ambrose and Emory. Mr. Farhner has built himself a comfortable home, in which he resides with his family. By his fellow-citizens he is regarded as an active business man, full of push and energy.
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