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 77

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 77

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here, for which this section is eminently well fitted.

Mr. Courtois is introducing on this coast the celebrated Malligand, Michel, Pere & Fils ainé ebullioscope, the most successful instrument devised for testing wines. He has the sole agency.

W. LYMAN .- In no part of Napa Valley visited by the writer was so 6 mnuch of general and historic interest found attaching as to the Lyman place, which lies advantageously a few miles north of St. Helena. It is the site of the old homestead of Dr. Bale, whose memory as one of the earliest pioneers is indelibly attached to the valley, and the picturesque old mill standing in ruins be- side the creek, is one of the noteworthy and suggestive objects to be found. A part of the house, too, which is a rambling but comfortable place, well-fitted and furnished, is about forty years old, and worthy of a place in history. A walk about the vicinity was found of great in- terest, showing the great picturesqueness and · natural beauty of the spot. Lyman Creek comes tumbling down from the mountains at the rear, furnishing an inexhaustible supply of water for every purpose, and being dammed at a suitable point to form a fish pond and reservoir for gen- eral purposes. It is the water power afforded by this mountain stream that caused the erection of the old inill, with its gigantic and most pic-

turesque overshot water-wheel. This great wheel has been long disused, however, and is now overgrown with ivy, a little turbine out of sight below the building doing all the work with little noise or fuss. This establishment was long carried on as a flouring-mill, both be- fore the purchase of the place in May, 1871, by Mr. Lymnan's father, and since then by him, part of the time in partnership with Mr. Joseph Mecklenburg, an account of whose lite will be found elsewhere.

The estate is a magnificent one of 800 acres, extending from the summit of the hills enclos-

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HISTORY OF NORTHERN CALIFORNIA.

ing the valley on the west to the banks of the Napa River on the east, comprising all varieties of soil and exposure, from the rich black allı- vium of the river bottom to the gravelly hill- sides. There is a fine vineyard of 100 acres, most of it of the choice varieties, and planted on the hillsides, thus assuring quality of the product. Mr. Lyman has a concrete cellar not far from the house, and in it wines that will compare favorably with the best made in the State. The house is situated just on the edge of a splendid grove of forest trees, the grounds and surroundings being very attractive. An adjoining portion of this beautiful site has been lately purchased, and is now being improved by a son of J. B. Haggin, who is erecting a summer residence. To appreciate the beauties of this spot a visit must be paid to it, to see the flowers, shrubs and semi-tropical trees and growths, and the visitor will come away with the liveliest recollections both of the attractive- ness of the place and of the kindness and courtesy of its owner.

William Whittingham Lyman is the son of the Right Rev. Theodore Benedict Lyman, D.D., LL.D., of the Episcopal Church, now . bishop of North Carolina. He was born in Pitts- burg, Pennsylvania, July 28, 1850. He resided at his birthplace until 1860, when he, with his parents, went to Europe, and remained there ten years. During this time he was educated at the School of Mines, at Freiberg, Saxony, and at the University of Berlin. In December, 1870, he returned to America, and in 1871 came to California, purchasing his present beau- tiful place, where he has since carried on wine- making, general farming, milling, etc., as well as many ontside matters. Mr. Lyman is the Secretary of the Napa Valley Wine Company, one of the most extensive companies engaged in the wine business in the State. This com- pany was founded in 1883, and each year las seen an increase in its business. They have cellars in Yountville, Napa City and San Fran- cisco, the principal as well as the head office being located in the latter city.

Mr. Lyman is a member in high standing of the I. O. O. F., being a Past Grand of the lodge in St. Helena, of which lodge he is chairman of the board of trustees. He was a chief actor in the erection of the fine I. O. O. F. Hall in St. Helena, which was erected at a cost of $22,- 000. Mr. Lyman is also a Past Grand Patri- arch and Past Grand Representative of the order in the State. He is a Past High Priest of the Royal Arch Masons, and a charter mem- ber of St. Helena Chapter, R. A. M., No. 63, also a member of the Turn-Verein in St. Helena. It was partly owing to him also that the handsome little stone Episcopal Church in St. Helena was erected. He is a Lieutenant Colonel in the State militia, and was a member of Governor Bartlett's staff and an Aid-de-camp. The orange trees set out by him in 1878 were among the first planted in the valley. They are fine large trees now. Mr. Lyman has also paid attention to the matter of blooded stock. His stallion, Prince Bismarck, of Black Hawk, Morgan strain, is known widely for his excel- lent qualities.

Mr. Lyman is a Democrat and takes an in- terest in matters political, his views being broad and general, rather than local. He was married in Sacramento, in 1880, to Mrs. Sarah A. Now- land. They have two sons: Theodore Benedict, Jr., named after the bishop, his grandfather, and William Whittingham, Jr., named after his father.

ILLIAM W. WATKINS .- Among the well-known pioneers of Tehamna County and the Sacramento Valley, none per- haps are more worthy of mention than the above named gentleman, who first saw the light of day in Terre Haute, Indiana, January 4, 1824. His father, William Watkins, was a native of New York and a millwright by trade, who emigrated to the then far Western State of Indiana in 1810; his mother, nee Irene Watkins, was a native of Massachusetts. In 1850 the subject

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of this sketch, in company with three others, started across the plains via Forts Laramie and Bridger, and Salt Lake to California, arriving safely in the land of gold, and first lo- cated at Diamond Spring, where they spent the first year in mining. In February, 1851, they changed their mining operations to Clear Creek, Shasta County, and then to what was known as Tadpole Creek, where they established a trading post. In August, 1852, they purchased teamns, and began teaming between Colusa and Shasta, which business they followed until 1854, when they began farming, and raising hogs and sheep, continuing jointly until 1859. Mr. Watkins then went to Tehama Connty, purchasing farm land, which he cultivated on his own account, still keeping up the same business of sheep and hog raising. Ile is now located in the southern portion of this county, at the town of Kirkwood, on his farm of 260 acres, and is also a dealer in real estate.

He was united in marriage August 31, 1859, with Miss Elizabeth Ashurst, a native of Mis- souri, who crossed the plains in 1857. They have six children living, viz .: Lorena M., the wife of John A. Beauchamp, a native son of California and a resident of Kirkwood; William J., Catherine J., Harry F., Ellen P., Charles A. and Lebbeus, who died October 1, 1876. Po- litically Mr. Watkins is a Republican, and was formerly an old-time Whig. He has been School Trustee of Montgomery district abont fifteen years, and is a member of the F. & A. M., Ore- land Lodge, No. 265, of Oreland.

A FAYETTE FISH, a prominent and pro- gressive farmer of Tehamna County, is a native of New York, dating his birth No- vember 21, 1827. He is the second of five children born to P. Williamn and Lois (Grover) Fish, both natives of Vermont. The father died in 1854, and the mother survived until 1870. When our subject was nine years of

age the parents moved to the State of Michigan, and in 1840 moved back to New York, settling in Genesee County. In 1842 they went to Iowa, locating in Scott County, where our sub- ject attended the public schools and completed his education at the select high school. For two years following he tanght school in Davenport, and in 1853 crossed the plains to Oregon, and in 1854 came to California, locating at Yreka, where he engaged in mining. In 1856 he re- turned to the States, via Panama, remaining four years. In 1860 he again crossed the plains to California, locating near Tehama, where he engaged in general farming and stock-raising, making a specialty of the latter. In 1871 he located on his present farm of eighty acres, situated one mile north of Corning, in Tehama County.

Mr. Fish was married in Hickory Grove, Iowa, November 18, 1858, to Miss Jennie Car- ter, and they have four children living: William A., Oren, who died July 14, 1867; Jennie M., Alfred R. and Grant C.

Mr. Fish has always taken a warm interest in the cause of education, and in 1867 was ap- pointed a Trustee of Tehama School District. Politically Judge Fish is a Republican, and takes an active part in all the political issues of the day, having been in 1888 selected as one of the delegates from Tehama County to the Republi- can State Convention.

In 1878 he was elected Justice of the Peace, and is still holding that office. Judge Fish has served his district faithfully and honorably, and by his impartial administration of justice and legal ability, has acquired the confidence and respect of the people of Tehama County.

HARLES HUNT, one of the well known citizens of Tehama County, is a native of Huntsville, Missouri, born April 10, 1827, the son of Daniel and Agnes (Bailey) Hunt. The former was a native of Kentucky, and was

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the first white settler in the northern part of Missouri; the town of Huntsville was named after him; the latter was a descendant of one of the old Maryland families, and was a native of that State. Our subject, the seventh of twelve children, was reared and educated in his native place and followed farming until 1849. He, like many other of the pioneers, was attracted by the glitter of gold which had been discovered in California, and at once made preparations and started across the plains, via the Humboldt route, arriving in Sacramento in 1850. He first located in the mining town called Rough and Ready, where he remained during that year, engaged in mining. All the trains or compa- nies erossing the plains became afflicted with scurvy, and so bad that for many months they were incapacitated for hard work; and in fact, our subject has never fully recovered from the effects of the disease. For a time Mr. Hunt followed various occupations, mining, trading and general labor, and in 1852 he crossed the ocean to the East, returning to California with: a large drove of cattle. After disposing of his stock he roamed about for a time, making another trip to the East, and this time he brought back a band of mules. He made his head- quarters at Wolfskill Ranch in Yolo County, making frequent trips to Sacramento, where he found ready sale at good prices for his mules. In the fall of 1868-'69, he became one of the contractors of the Central Pacific Railroad, then in course of construction, remaining in that capacity until 1868-'69. IIe then went to the town of Princeton, Colnsa County, where he purchased farm property, and in August, 1877, he came to his present farm of 320 acres, located near the Sacramento River, three and a half miles east of Corning, where he carries on gen- eral farming and stock-raising.

Mr. Hunt has been twice married, first iu Platte County, Missouri, in 1855, and the second union took place December 10, 1872, in Colusa County, California, to Mrs. Nancy Shattock, a native of Kentucky. She had one child by her first marriage,-George M. Shattock. Mr. Hunt

is an old-time Democrat, and holds strictly to party principles. He has been School Trustee of Moon district for several years.

R. WILLIAM W. MACFARLANE, was born in Fulton, Callaway County, Mis- souri, February 23, 1834. His father was a native of Scotland and was born in 1796, in Ayrshire. He emigrated to America in 1820 and settled in Callaway County, Missouri. He was a graduate of the law department of the University of Edinburgh. On his arrival in this country he engaged in farining and also in teaching in the public schools. He was married in 1830 to Miss Catherine Bennett, a daughter of Elijah and Martha (Davis) Bennett. She was born in Madison County, Kentucky, in 1796. Her parents moved to Missouri about 1824. Dr. Macfarlane's parents raised a family of four children, the Doctor being the oldest. Mary M., now the wife of O. McCrackin, stock- raiser of Callaway County, Missonri; George B., an attorney, practicing at Mexico, Missouri; Captain John D., deceased, was also a lawyer. The Captain commanded a company in a Mis- sonri regiment of volunteers in the civil war. W. W., the subject of this sketch, received his early education in the public schools of Callaway County, principally under the tuition of his father and at Westminster College at Fulton, Missonri. He studied medicine with Drs. T. A. and J. H. Howard at Fulton. Dur- ing the winter of 1860 and 1861, he attended the first course of lectures at the St. Louis Med- ical College. Owing to the exciting times and the unsettled state of affairs during the next four years, he did not attempt to finish his med- ical education. In 1865 he again entered the St. Louis Medical College, from which he grad- uated and received his diploma March 3, 1866. He then commenced the practice of medicine and surgery at Concord, Callaway County, Mis. souri, where he remained abont nine years. In 1873 he was elected physician for the State

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Insane Asylum at Fulton, which position he held for two and a half years, when he resigned and was appointed as one of the managers of the institution. In 1875 he went to Mexico, Andrain County, Missouri, where he practiced medicine until 1884. At the age of eighteen he crossed the plains to California and remained four years, returning to his home in Missouri in 1856, via Panama and New York city. Like many of the immigrants who came to California during the gold excitement, he became attached to the climate and conntry of the land of the Golden West. In 1884 he came to California with his family, having decided to make a per- inanent home in this State. He first settled in Sontheastern California, where he remained only a few months, then came to Woodland, Yolo County, where he established himself in the practice of medicine. In 1886 he was appointed County Hospital Physician for one year. In 1887 he received the appointment of Superin- tendent of the State Insane Asylum at Agnew, Santa Clara County, in which capacity he served two years. In July, 1889, he resigned that position and returned to Woodland and resumed his practice in the city. In March, 1890, he came to Davisville, where he intends to estab- lish himself permanently in the practice of his profession.

He was married November 5, 1867, to Miss Mary E. Thurmond, a native of Missouri, and daughter of Philip and Elizabeth (Dameron) Thurmond. Her parents were natives of Vir- ginia. She died February 18, 1884, at Mexico, Missouri, previous to the Doctor's removal to California. They have four children: Wallace S., born September 18, 1868. He is a gradu- ate of the St. Lonis College of Pharmacy, and is now employed as a druggist in the drug store of J. B. Elston in Woodland. Claude T., born September 10, 1870, graduated from the high school of Woodland, after which he attended one terin at the Hesperian College and two years at the University of the Pacific at Santa Clara. He is now clerking in the dry-goods store of J. F. Hink, Woodland. Irnie M., born

January 4, 1875, is now a student in the Hes- perian College, Woodland, and Paul W., the youngest, was born February 9, 1880, and is at- tending the public schools of Woodland.

Dr. Macfarlane is a Knight Templar Mason, also a member of the A. O. U. W. He is a member of the Yolo County Medical Society, the California State Medical Association, also the New York Medico-Legal Society. He owns 160 acres of improved land in Yolo County, which is occupied by a tenant and is devoted to the production of hay and grain.

OHN ASHBY TUTT, retired, and a resi- dent of Madison, Yolo County, California, is an old '49er, and one who has held va- rious offices in the State. He was born Febru- ary 4, 1815, in Fauquier Connty, Virginia, the son of John and Elizabeth (Ashby) Tutt. His father, a native of Culpeper County, Virginia, was a merchant and farmer, and his mother was a native of Fauquier County, same State.

The subject of this sketch left his native State for Missouri in 1835 and remained in that State fourteen years, where he first engaged in teach- ing school and after in merchandise. In 1849 he came overland to California, arriving August 5. He tried mining for a short time, but meet- ing with no success he left for the city of Sac- ramento, where he was appointed Assessor of real estate by the city fathers. At the first election after the organization of the county, he was elected Constable, a very important and Incrative office, which he held four years. He filled several minor offices.

In 1863 he again tried the mines with former success. In 1869 he was appointed chief clerk at the State prison, where he remained three years. He again'tried mining, in Arizona, with his usnal Inck. He then came to Yolo County, California, where he has since been retired from public business, excepting that of ,Instice of the Peace.

He is a member of the Grand Lodge of

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Masons of the State of California. He was the first Deputy Grand Master of that (Colonel John D. Stevenson being the first) and the second Master of said Grand Lodge.

In St. Louis, Missouri, in the year 1844, Mr. Tutt married Maria L. Lewis, who died in 1862 in Sacramento, as an effect of the great flood of that year. They had no children, and since then Mr. Tutt has remained unmarried. He is a man of high standing in the community, well deserving the peaceful evening of life upon which he has entered.

P. TARTER, M. D., is a worthy member of the medical profession of Tehama Connty. He is a native of California, and dates his birth at Tehama, June 27, 1860, where he was reared and received his education, first in the public schools and then in the Conk- lin Academy, where he took a one-year course. His father, Nicholas Tarter, was a native of Virginia, and was also a medical practitioner, who came to California in 1849, and died in 1870; his mother, nee Mary E. Jones, was also a native of Virginia, and recently returned to her native State, where she is for the present on a visit. The ancestors on both sides were of German extraction. In 1879 our subject went to San Francisco, where he commenced his med- ieal course of reading with Dr. W. H. Mays of that city. He took a course of lectures in the Medical College of San Francisco, after which he was admitted to the San Francisco county hospital as an interne (a competitive position), where he served six months as assistant physi- cian and six months as assistant surgeon. In 1884 he returned to his native town and began the practice of medicine. Recently he came again to San Francisco and purchased the drug store of Dr. W. P. Mathews, and added the drug business to his profession.

Dr. Tarter was joined in marriage, at San Francisco, Jannary 10, 1883, with Miss Emma J. Mann, a native of California. Politically the

Doetor affiliates with the Democratic party. He has joined no secret order, but carries on in- surance with the Mutual Reserve Fund Life Association of New York.

LBERT O. PEDEN, one of the successful farmers and stock-growers of Tehama County, is a'native of the Blue-Grass State, born in Jefferson County, Angust 12, 1831, the son of Daniel L. H. Peden, a native of Wash- ington County, Pennsylvania, who moved to Adams County, Illinois, in 1835, where he was elected justice of the peace of Columbus, filling that office many years. He afterward became a minister of the Christian Church, and preached that faith until his death, which occurred at the age of seventy-seven years. His early life was spent in teaching school and flat-boating on the rivers from Pittsburg to New Orleans. The grandfather of our subject, Joseph Peden, was a gunsmith by trade, and was a private soldier in the Revolutionary war, participating in the battle of Brandywine, and was afterward transferred to the armory department as an expert gun- sinith, remaining in that department until the close of the war. He died at the age of ninety- five years. Our subject's mother was nee Martha Curry, a native of Kentucky.

Mr. Peden received his education in the pub- lie schools of Adams County, Illinois, and was raised to farm life until eighteen years of age, when he was apprenticed to the carpenter's trade in the shops of Littlefield & Boughman of Quincy, Illinois. In 1854 he came across the plains with ox teams to California, first locating at Ione, Amador County, where he engaged in mining for a time, then in Shasta County, re- maining nearly two years. He then returned to Amador County, where he followed his trade; then went to Scorpion Gulch, Tuolumne County, then to Contra Costa County, where he engaged in farming four years; then to Danville, where he made a specialty of tobacco raising for two years; then to Colfax, Placer County, where he

E . J. Wilkins M.D.

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HISTORY OF NORTHERN CALIFORNIA.

worked for the railroad company at his trade until 1871; then to Oakland, and in 1872 he inade a trip to Illinois, returning to Oakland, where he remained a few months. In 1873 he settled on his present farm of 1,100 aeres, situ- ated on the Sacramento River, four and a half miles east of Corning, where he devotes his time to farming and stock-raising.

Mr. Peden was joined in marriage at San Francisco, Angnst 19, 1873, to Mrs. Malinda Decker, nee Kincheloe, who had three children by her first marriage, namely: Isaac N., Daniel B., and Samuel T. Walker, all now deceased. Mrs. Peden is a native of East Tennessee, who crossed the plains to California in 1864, and bas since been a resident of Tehama County. Her ancestors on the maternal side were Qua- kers; her father was a slave-holder of Tennessee. Mrs. Malinda Peden, nee Kincheloe, was married . three times: first in Brown County, Illinois, April 6, 1850, to William I. Walker; secondly, May 6, 1868, in Tehamna County, California, to James Decker, and has lived at her present home ever since, on one of John C. Fremont's camping-grounds the first time he marched through the Sacramento Valley. Mr. Peden has found an old-fashioned bayonet lock and chamber of the few repeating guns then in use, and has left them at the Red Bluff Academy. Politically Mr. Peden is a Democrat, was a member of the county central committee from 1874 to 1878, and has been school trustee of the Moon district many years. He affiliates with the F. & A. M., Molino Lodge, No. 150, of Tehama; also is a member of the Red Bluff Chapter.

DMUND T. WILKINS, M. D., Medical Superintendent of the Napa Insane Asy- lum, was born in Montgomery County, Tennessee, October 20, 1824, and is the son of Dr. Benjamin and Jane (Taylor) Wilkins. At the age of eighteen he entered William and Mary College, at Williamsburg, the former 31

capital of Virginia, where he graduated in 1844. This college was established by King William and Queen Mary, and was in early colonial times the great institution of learning in the Southern States, the alma mater of the immortal Jefferson and most of his contemporary statesmen. After his graduation he removed to the South, pass- ing one year in Mississippi, where he managed his father's plantation near Jackson, and then to the Attakapas country in Louisiana, where he cultivated a plantation of 800 acres on the Bayou Teche, which, with the slaves to work it, he had received from his father. This he sold, and in connection with a cousin purchased a sugar plantation of 1,500 acres near New Iberia, where he lived for two years. In March, 1849, he sailed for California in a vessel commanded by a Captain Chasen, who having been several times wrecked was afraid of a lee shore, so much so that he ran down about 62° south latitude, sixty-nine days south of the Cape, though other vessels had rounded the Horn with studding sails set. At one time they drifted 600 miles out of their course, returning to the same place after thirtydays. This so diseouraged the cap- tain and some of the passengers that at the suggestion of Dr. Logan, the surgeon of the ship, it was proposed to give up the voyage and return to New Orleans. But some of the pass- engers consulted together and informed the captain that if he turned the bow of the vessel to the east they would lock him in his cabin and place a man who had already been selected as capable in charge. This was none other than Edwin Goodall, then a seaman on this vessel, but now and for many years of the firm of Goodall, Perkins & Co., of San Francisco. Such heroic treatment of the case determined the cap- tain to proceed to California; and, as if to aid him in carrying ont his good resolutions, the elements seemed to change in his favor, the winds became favorable, and they reached their destination without further irritating delays.

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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 77

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