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 67

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 67

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Mr. Mackinder was married in Oakland, to Miss Minnie Meredith, in April, 1885.

OLONEL JOHN CAMERON BALL .- As the name will indicate to any one con- versant with such matters, Colonel Ball is a member of one of the oldest families in Vir- ginia. His father, Joseph L. Ball, was born and raised in Loudoun County, Virginia, on the James River. His mother, Mary Cameron, was also a native of Virginia, whose father, John Cameron, was born in the Highlands of Scotland, emigrating thence to Virginia. The Cameron family is well remembered as one that espoused the unfortunate cause of Prince Char- lie (Charles Stuart, the lawful holder of the throne of England), in his last attempt to as- sert his rights, backed by his loyal Scottish sub- jects. Readers of the celebrated poem. " Lo- chiel" will recognize the circumstances. Both the Ball and Cameron families were planters and slave-holders in the South, Joseph L. Ball, the father of our Colonel J. C. Ball, emancipating his slaves some time in the thirties from conscientions scruples on the subject, and removing to Jef- ferson County, Ohio, on the banks of the Ohio

River. There the younger members of the family were born, and there he died in 1872, at the age of seventy years. He was the father of eleven children, nine sons and two daughters, of whom the daughters and six of the sons grew to maturity, and save one are all still living. Of the six sons all are over six feet in height, and all nnusually strong and robust. The father was a man of remarkable strength and possessed a powerful frame. But we cannot do better than reproduce a short sketch of the life and career of Colonel Ball, from the columns of a local paper written by one who knows him well:

" John Cameron Ball, who has had the prin- cipal management of the defense in the now famous case of the People vs. J. H. Harlan, is a man of mature years, sagacious in manage- ment, cool and accurate in judgment and well versed in his profession.

" His unusually fine physical constitution enabled him to be present in court at every ses- sion during this protracted trial, lasting for fifty- seven consecutive days. He has been promi- nently connected on the side of the defense with inany other important criminal trials, being op- posed in principle to taking a fee to prosecute in capital cases.

" Colonel Ball was born in Brook County, Virginia (now a portion of West Virginia), May 15, 1831, and from his early childhood re- sided with his parents near Stenbenville, in the State of Ohio, until he emigrated to the State of California, in the spring of 1855, and on his arrival in this State he engaged in mining and pursued it with variable success in Placer and Nevada connties for some six years. Upon quitting the mines he moved to Yolo County and engaged in teaching school, and while so engaged was elected to the office of District Attorney. He moved to Woodland in the spring of 1858, where he has since resided, actively engaged in the practice of law. One year of that time he served as a member of the State Land Commission, an office to which he was appointed by Governor Irwin, and as the chairman of that commission it will be re.

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membered by readers of newspapers that he caused the investigation to be thorough, and laid bare the fraudulent practices which had prevailed in the Land Department of the State. He received an academic education at the Rich- mond College, and at the age of twenty com- inenced the study of law under the advice and supervision of Edwin M. Stanton, the great war Secretary under Lincoln. Colonel Ball has al- ways been a hard student and lover of his chosen profession. His clear insight into men and measures, coupled with his industry, untiring energy and unswerving integrity, has placed him where he belongs, in the front rank of his pro- fession.

" He has held, by election, the office of Dis- trict Attorney of this county for three succes- sive terms, and discharged its duties with marked distinction and rare ability. He is equally at home in civil cases. Mr. Ball possesses that insight into character which enables him to select a jury with almost unerring precision. In this particular he has no superior in this section of the State, and, in fact, has earned for himself the reputation of being one of the best jury lawyers in the State. He is clear and logi- cal in his reasoning upon the facts of a case, and though not a great orator, he is a strong advocate and a forcible speaker. He familiar- izes himself with every little detail of the case in which he is engaged, and so thorough was his preparation of the Harlan case, that when Mr. Highton became indisposed and unable to appear in court for a whole week, Mr. Ball pro- ceeded with the trial as though nothing unusual had happened. In personal appearance he is five feet ten and one-half inches high, broad- shouldered and deep-chested, a large, round, well-balanced head; dark brown hair and beard, tinged with gray; blue, penetrating eyes, and a firin mouth, expressive of great determination of character. In manners he is disposed to be polite, generous and steadfast to his friends. He is a straightforward business man, of sober and exemplary habits, and has accumulated con- siderable property in this and Colusa counties.

" In 1864 he was married to Miss Ella M. Ty- ler, the result of which union is a family of five sons and one daughter, all but the eldest born in Woodland. Colonel Ball has always been a consistent anti-monopoly Democrat-a recognized leader in the councils of his party- never radical, but firm in his convictions upon principle, and always tolerant of the opinions of others, willingly according to them the same rights that he claims for himself."

Since the Harlan trial Colonel Ball has been engaged in several important civil cases requir- ing much labor and attention, among which is the case of Moore vs. Capay Ditch Company. In this action the right to appropriate for agri- cultural purposes the entire water of Cache Creek, a very considerable stream having its source in Clear Lake, is claimed on the one side, as, against the rights of the riparian own- ers living along the stream. The Colonel is found upon the side of the settlers, and the case has not yet been decided.

Colonel Ball's recognized legal ability and business capacity has recently secured him the responsible and lucrative position of attorney for the Central Irrigation District in Colusa County, to which position he has been elected by the unanimous vote of its board of directors.

This is the most important irrigation scheme undertaken in Northern California. It is pro- posed to tap the Sacramento River at a point a few miles above the mouth of Stony Creek with a canal eighty feet wide and seven feet deep, running thence in a southwesterly direction with its main branches, more than 200 miles.

The district is formed under what is known as the " Wright Law," and comprises over 156,- 000 acres of good farming land in Colusa County, which, without regard to irrigation, with the improvements already thereon, is of the full cash value of $5,000,000, and will be of im- inense value when the canal is completed. The district has issued bonds to the amount of $750,000, a portion of which have been sold, and the work of excavating the canal is actively under way.

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Colonel Ball in his energetic and busy life has not neglected his obligation to society and the State in his domestic relation, but has reared and is raising and educating a family of which a parent may be justly proud. His eldest son, Jo. Hamilton Ball, twenty-four years of age, has chosen his father's profession, recently mar- ried and settled in Woodland. He is a bright and energectic young man of a high order of intellect and good habits. He is highly gifted as an orator. His natural oratorieal and elocn- tionary powers are seldom surpassed. He is fast growing into prominence. The next boy, George Tyler Ball. is more inclined to agricult- ural pursuits, and is on one of his father's farms in Colusa County. Of the younger boys but little can be said, further than that they are bright and dutiful and fond of learning. Katie May, the only daughter, bright and lovely, universally loved and admired by all her ac- quaintances, the joy and life of the household, just as she was blooming into womanhood, was called away in death a little more than two years ago, leaving in the household a void that never can be filled.

This is one only of many like families that contribute to the growth and prosperity of Northern California.

J. H. Ball, son of the preceding, was born on the ranch of his uncle, J. C. Tyler, two and a half miles above Tehama, and was less than a year old when the family removed to Sacra- mento. A year and a half afterward they re- moved to Yolo County, about fifteen miles from Woodland, and when he was four years old they moved into Woodland, where Mr. Ball was brought up. In his education he attended Hes- perian College there. From the age of seven- teen years to twenty he attended St. Augustine College at Benicia, graduating there in 1884. During vacations he had been reading law in the office of his father, and he was admitted to the bar of the Supreme Court at the age of twenty-one years. Since then he has been en- gaged in legal practice with his father. The Democrats in 1888 nominated him for District

Attorney, and although side issues seriously interfered he lacked only eleven votes of elee- tion. He is a member of Woodland Parlor, No. 30, N. S. G. W.

R. CLANTON, a retired farmer residing at Woodland, is the son of J. M. and " Mary (Griggs) Clanton. His father, a native of Tennessee, was a farmer by occupation and is still living in Woodland. His mother, a native of Kentucky, died in Yolo County in 1867. They had six children, of whom the sub- jeet of this sketch is the eldest. He was born in Montgomery County, Missouri, and was two years of age when the family removed to Illinois. In 1850 he came overland to California, fol- lowed teaming to different points around Sacra- mento for several years, mining one year and then farming in Yolo County until 1857. Ile then entered into the live-stock business up in the hills, and followed it for ten years with marked success. He has now two fine tarms, one of 320 acres two miles from Woodland, and one of 176 acres on Cache Creek. He resides at the corner of Cleveland and Pendegraft streets, Woodland, enjoying the earnings of an industrious life-time. He is a member of Wood- land Lodge, No. 111, I. O. O. F.

He married Miss Maggie E. Smith, a native of Missouri, and they have five daughters and one son, namely: Ada M., Irene A., Laura U., Elma E., Claudie E. and Clarence D.

IVERMORE ECHO .- This paper first ap- peared in July, 1882, with the present publisher, W. E. Still, as proprietor. Mr. Still, who was then actively engaged in the real- estate business, felt the necessity of an adver- tising medium to such an extent that he decided to start a newspaper on his own account; lience the Echo, which first came out as a small four- column folio. A year later increasing patron-

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age compelled its enlargement to a five-column folio. In November, 1885, the proprietor was forced to again enlarge the size, and another column was added. In April, 1887, it first ap- peared in the present form as a seven-column folio. The aim of Mr. Still has ever been to utilize the Echo as a means for the advancement of the interests of the community; hence he has always kept the paper independent of politics. His policy has proved a successful one, and the paper has never yet suffered a drawback, having instead constantly advanced in influence and patronage.

WILBER E. STILL, editor and publisher of the Livermore Echo, is a native of Michigan, born at Plainwell, Allegan County, August 26, 1843, his parents being William and L. E. (Noble) Still, who removed to Michigan from Rochester, New York, in 1833.

Our subject was reared on a farm at his native place, and educated in that vicinity. In 1863 he left Michigan for California, making the trip by water, via the Isthinus. Landing at San Francisco, he remained there until 1871. During that time his business for the most part was carrying newspapers, and he was also con- nected for a time with the Call, as mail clerk.

In 1869 he bought some country property on the Arroyo Mocho, five miles from Livermore, and when he left San Francisco in 1871 he moved upon his ranch, which was thereafter his liome for years. In 1873 he became a repre- sentative for leading book publishers, and was so employed continuously until 1881, when he embarked in the real-estate business in Liver- more. Ile pushed that business as a specialty until the establishment of the Echo, after which he began to devote his attention more and more to the newspaper, until in January, 1889, he practically abandoned the field of real-estate operations in order to devote his attention, time and energy to the Echo.

Mr. Still was married in Livermore in 1876, to Miss Annie E. Webb, a native of San Fran- cisco. They have four children, viz .: Clarence E., Wilber II., Elner G. and Irene ().

Mr. Still is a man of high intelligence, with a good deal of ability as a newspaper man, to which he adds push and determination sufficient to render his paper of vast importance to Liver- more and its tributary territory.

P. PALMER, viticulturist, near St. He- lena. The pleasant home of Mr. Palmer is located on the edge of the foothills overlooking the town of St. Helena, and com- manding an extensive view of the valley. His vineyard and ranch consists of 131 acres, part of it in the town on the level and running back over the hills almost to the White Sulphur Springs. He has forty acres set out in grapes and intends gradually to clear up and plant sixty or seventy acres more. The property lies in the thermal belt, above the frosts of the val- ley, and is very advantageously situated. Later on he will build a wine-cellar and manufacture his own wine, but at present sells his grapes to the wine-makers. Near the house is a small orchard for family use and a grove of pines, madronas and oaks, that give a romantic ap- pearanee to the spot. Mr. Palmer was born at Chester, Geauga County, Ohio, September 16, 1833. He was brought up on a farin and edn- cated at the schools of the section, and later took a position in a dry goods and grocery store at Painesville, Ohio. In 1852 he determined to come to this State and made the journey via Panama. Ile went direct to the mines in Nevada County, near Nevada City, and after- ward to Sierra County, spending twelve years in all in this pursnit and meeting the usual ups and downs of a miner's life. In the spring of 1852 he was associated with Edward E. and Horace B. Mattison, Valentine J. Hathaway and Lewis T. Shanklin in a ground claim on Wet Hill, near Soggs' quartz mill, not far from Wood's Ravine, a mile distant from Nevada City. They had a forty-foot bank on the claim which they were pieking down in the laborions method used in those days, and experienced great

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difficulty, when the idea struck Mr. Edward E. Mattison to direct a stream of water immedi- ately upon the bank instead of picking it. He took a stick of wood about fourteen inches long, bored a hole through its length and riveting to- gether a strip of canvas for a hose, directed the stream on the bank. Notwithstanding the primitive nature of the apparatus it succeeded well. Hundreds of miners in the section flocked to see the new method of mining, carrying away the idea; and the system of hydraulic mining now so widely used throughout the world was launched. So far as we can learn, this story of the origin of hydraulic mining has never been told before, and it is only just that the result of the discovery should be given to Mr. Mattison. He ran a foundry at Nevada City for some time afterward, but we do not now know where he is.

Upon leaving the mines Mr. Palmer was en- gaged in the wholesale and retail grocery busi- ness at Marysville for a time, and then went into the staging business, constituting the firm of Green & Co., the lines running from Marysville and Nevada City to Downieville, and at the time of the Meadow Lake excitement to them. He finally sold out his staging interests and be- came a partner in the grocery firm of Starr & Palmer, at Vallejo. He shortly sold ont his in- terests here, and going into Alameda County became the secretary and business manager of the Sweepstake Plow Company at San Leandro. When they moved to Benicia, in 1882, and in- corporated as the Benicia Agricultural Works, Mr. Pahner became their secretary. In 1883 he purchased his property at St. Helena and moved his family to that place, resigned his po- sition at Benicia and spent a year in improving his property. Ile then took charge as business manager and acting secretary of the Stockton Combined Harvester and Agricultural Works at Stockton, and remained with them until the fall of 1888. Since then he has remained at home, directing the development of his property.

In 1865 he was married at Marysville to Miss Delia Green, the sister of his partner in the

staging business. Mrs. Palmer is a native of Painesville, Ohio, and was a pupil of President James A. Garfield when he was a school-teacher. It should be stated further that Mr. Palmer was an old school and class mate of President Gar- field at Chester, Ohio. They have two children: Charles E., now just entering his majority, and Etta M., ten years old,-both at home. Mr. Palmer possesses a fund of most interesting recitals of the early mining days, with their hardships and stirring incidents.

RIAS BITZER, farmer at Woodland, was born March 11, 1826, in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, a son of John and Elizabeth (Royer) Bitzer, natives of Pennsylvania. The father was a farmer all his life, and died in the same house where he was born, in 1877, at the age of eighty-one years. The subject of this sketch remained at his parental home until he was twenty-six years of age. He then followed farming four years in St. Clair County, Illinois, and then, in 1856, came on to the Pacific coast by the Nicaragua route, sailing from New York April 8, on the steamer Orizaba, and on the Pa- cific side on the Sierra Nevada. They lay four weeks at Granada, then General Walker's head- quarters. Out of 558 passengers on board, 138 died. Mr. Bitzer landed at San Francisco June 6 and proceeded immediately to the mines at Iowa Hill, but in a few days went on to Grass Valley, and a few days after that to Marysville, near which place he engaged in a harvest field; next he spent a month in Plumas County, then a few days in Nevada City, and then worked during the month of August in a harvest field in Napa County; next chopped wood three months on the Norris grant, near Sacramento; January 27, 1857, he went to Shingle Springs, El Dorado County, where he remained until 1877 engaged in mining and in a vineyard. In mining he was reasonably successful. Then he went to the Black Hills, but in three days started back to Sacramento; and then he set out to find a loca-

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tion, and after traveling around a good deal; he settled in July, 1877, in Woodland, near which point he purchased five acres of land, and he is now making that place his home. At present he has twenty acres, just outside the western limits of town, and he has 200 acres of farm land five miles west of Black's Station. On his ranch he raises principally grain and hay. Twenty acres of the home place is in grapes and clover; seven acres of this vineyard are in Flam- ing Tokays, nine acres in Zinfandels and one in raisin Muscats. He is a characteristic old-timer who is always found busy, as the character of the improvements upon his premises demon- strate. In 1871 he visited the East, after an absence of about twenty years, and he returned to his Californian home more contented than ever. He is a member of the O. C. F.

July 31, 1877, he was married to Fianna Palmer, a native of Ohio, and they have one daughter, named Mary.

INIS EWING JOHNSTON has been a resident of California since 1860, and a resident of Napa and prominently identi- tied with the bar of that county for the past twenty years. He was born in Greene County, Missouri, in 1843. His parents were Rev. Thomas M. and Eleanor (Steele) Johnston, his father a Cumberland Presbyterian, whose life was passed in the ministry of that church. Mr. Johnston, after reaching his majority, taught school for a time, but finally settled down to the study of law in the office of Cope & Daingerfield, in San Francisco. He was ad- mitted to the bar of Napa County in 1869, being recommended by Judge Daingerfield to Judge William C. Wallace, of Napa. He first formed a partnership with Hon. W. W. Pende- gast, which continued until his death in 1876; then with Judge Robert Crouch till 1885; then with Judge Wallace until January 1, 1887. Since then lic has been alone in practice. Mr. Jolinston has represented Napa County in the

State Assembly, and was trustee of the Insane Asylum for six years, from 1876 to 1882. The development of this institution and its sur- roundings owes its best results to the wise management of the Board of Trustees who served during the first six years of its existence, though this work has been successfully carried on since that time under its present able Super- intendent. He held the office of Court Com- missioner of Napa County for about six years, and either he or one of his partners has been connected, on one side or the other, with almost every important case which has been tried in this county during the past twenty years.

He was married in 1868 to Miss Sarah Lee Lewis, a native of Missouri. They have three children living: Harry L., now attending the State University at Berkeley; Leslie E., attend- ing the Oak Mound School at Napa; and Rena M., a child of about eight years. Mr. John- ston is a member of the Masonic order, Yount Lodge, No. 12, and of the Naval Commandery, No. 19, at Vallejo. He has always been an ad- herent of the Democratic party, and prominent in its councils. He is a director of the James Il. Goodman & Co. Bank; also of the Napa Water-Works, and is interested in mining inat- ters in Napa and Trinity counties.

HARLES HADSELL, a prominent and progressive farmer and business man, near Suñol, was born December 14, 1832, in Massachusetts, of which State his father, Luther Hadsell, is also a native. His mother, whose name before marriage was Clarissa Webster, was a native of Connectient, and of the old Pilgrim stock of Websters. The senior Hadsell moved to Ulster County, New York, in 1835; in 1836 to Preston, Chenango County, New York; in 1838 to the town of Triangle. Broome Coun- ty, New York, where the subject of this sketch was reared and educated, and brought up to farming pursuits. In 1851 he came to Califor- nia, by way of the Isthummus, on the steamer

Retti Blouson

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Illinois on the Atlantic side, and on the old steamer Panama on the Pacific side. From San Francisco he went to Tuolumne County, and followed mining there one winter. In 1852 he went to San José, Santa Clara County, and continued in agricultural pursuits there nntil some time in 1853. He then spent a year in Pajaro Valley; then was in Centerville, farming, until 1856; next in Santa Clara County until 1860, when he visited the Eastern States, going and returning by water. On arrival here in 1861 he first stopped in Santa Clara County, then at Gold Hill and Dayton, Nevada, follow- ing mining for a year, and finally, in the fall of 1862, he located upon his present place, of 2,- 332 acres of land, near Suñol. He rents out all bat 400 acres, which he ocenpies as a dairy, and where he raises thoroughbred stock. He also has twelve acres of good orchard and two acres of vineyard. Ile manufactures wine for his own use; milks 150 cows, furnishes the Palace Hotel in San Francisco with butter, and also sells a large quantity to the local trade.

Mr. Hadsell has been identified with many public enterprises in this county. In 1853 he was one of the prime mnovers in the division of Santa Clara and Contra Costa counties, creating Alameda County, being one of the delegates to the convention that changed the county-seat of Alameda County from San Leandro to Oakland. Politically he is a Republican, and has served his party as a delegate many times to both connty and State conventions.

He was married at San José, April 16, 1868, to Miss Anna M. Klob, a native of Germany, and they have three children living: Bertha A., Charles F. and Anna M. Frank W., the eldest, was born in 1859, and died in 1872.

F. McINTIRE, Surveyor of Lake County, was born near Kelseyville, same county, April 20, 1866. He attended Clear Lake College five years, and in 1886 entered the Junior class in Shurtleff College, Upper Alton, 27

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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 67

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