USA > California > Glenn County > History of Colusa and Glenn counties, California, with biographical sketches of the leading men and women of the counties who have been identified with their growth and development from the early days to the present > Part 33
USA > California > Colusa County > History of Colusa and Glenn counties, California, with biographical sketches of the leading men and women of the counties who have been identified with their growth and development from the early days to the present > Part 33
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In June, 1876, Mr. Hochheimer came to Willows and estab- lished the first store, before the town was even surveyed. It occu- pied a small building located on the present site of the Glenn County Lumber Company. William Johnson was his partner, and the name of the enterprising firm was Johnson & Hochheimer. When, at the end of three years, his partner sold out his interest to him, his brother Amiel moved to Willows and became a partner in the business, from which has developed the present large cor- poration.
Mr. Hochheimer married Miss Hattie Crawford, a daughter of Colonel Crawford; and one daughter, Mrs. Lester Sheeline, of
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Willows, blessed their union. Mr. Hochheimer was a director of the Bank of Willows. He was a brilliant man, and a scholar of fine education, as well as a live business man; and when his death occurred, in 1911, his loss was deeply felt in social, educational and business circles.
HON. AMIEL HOCHHEIMER
An enterprising merchant of prominence and a man of varied interests and large affairs, Amiel Hochheimer has frequently placed his valuable experience at the service of the community in which he lives. He is a native of Pittsburgh, Pa .; but when a small hoy he came to California, by way of Panama, with his parents' family. His father, Simon Hochheimer, went to the Southern mines in Calaveras County, and there had indifferent luck. The lad was educated in schools at Stockton, and later went, with his younger brother, Moses, to Solano County, where they got their first ex- perience in the mercantile business, working in stores in old Sil- veyville and Dixon.
In 1879 Mr. Hochheimer settled in Willows, where he has re- sided ever since. His brother Moses had preceded him in 1876, and had already established the mercantile business which later was to develop into the well-known firm of Hochheimer & Com- pany. He became a partner, and is still the president of the com- pany. The store stands on the corner of Tehama and Sycamore Streets, where it has been since 1878. It is a large, modern, up-to- date department store, doing the largest business of any concern in Glenn County, and possibly in the Sacramento Valley. Like many other similar establishments, it is the outgrowth of a pro- gressive evolution, for it has been enlarged and remodeled a num- ber of times. The present building was erected in 1891, and was remodeled and modernized in 1911. As a natural sequence of the well-known Hochheimer enterprise, branch stores have been opened and are now maintained at Bakersfield, Orland and Ger- mantown. The Bakersfield store is one of the largest and best- eqipped modern department stores in Central California, and is under the able management of two of the sons, Ira and Monroe.
Mr. Hochheimer is one of the most prominent men in the Sac- ramento Valley. He is a director of the Bank of Willows, and was one of the organizers of the Sacramento Valley Bank & Trust Company, of Sacramento. He is also a director in the California Agricultural Credit Association of San Francisco. For twelve years he was a member of the board of managers of the Mendo- cino State Hospital of Ukiah, and for four years president of the
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board. Politically, too, Mr. Hochheimer has been prominent. He has been a delegate to three national Republican conventions (St. Louis, 1896; Chicago, 1908; and Chicago, 1916), and for thirty years has been a leading member of the Republican State Central Committee. His years of experience in business and public life have made him well qualified to hold the positions for which he has been selected. He has accepted them, not because of profit to him- self, but because he could thus better serve the people of the great state in which he is so interested. He is a very magnetic and fluent speaker, and holds the attention and interest of his audi- ences. In addition, he is so thoroughly conversant with every por- tion of the state and of its needs that his words have weight and carry conviction.
In the real estate world Mr. Hochheimer has been identified with a number of important deals, which include a subdivision in East Willows and the Hochheimer subdivision three miles north of Willows, both of which properties have all been sold off. He is one of the owners of the Lemon Home Colony Tract, located north of Orland, under the government irrigation system. This valuable property of one thousand acres has recently been subdivided, and is being sold off in forty-acre farms. Mr. Hochheimer has also an equity in a number of ranch properties in the county.
Amiel Hochheimer was united in marriage to Miss Bertha Blum, a native of San Francisco. They have four children: Ira, manager of the Bakersfield store; Monroe, assistant manager of the Bakersfield store; Jack, of Willows; and Mrs. Elsie Brown- stein, of Los Angeles.
IRA HOCHHEIMER
Guided by the example and experience of two such prominent and successful men in the department store business as his father, Amiel Hochheimer, and his uncle, Moses Hochheimer (whose sketches appear in this book), it is not surprising that Ira Hoch- heimer, while still a young man, should become the successful man- ager of the branch store of Hochheimer & Company, located at Bakersfield. Mr. Hochheimer was born in San Francisco, August 6, 1876, and removed with his parents to Glenn County, where he grew to manhood. After the usual course at the public schools, he attended the University of California, from which he graduated with honors in the spring of 1898. Immediately on finishing his college course he returned to Willows, and became manager of the Hochheimer store here; and on the death of M. H. Wangen- heim, the manager of the Bakersfield establishment, he was trans-
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ferred to that city and became Mr. Wangenheim's successor. How well he has fulfilled all expectations since, at the age of twenty-six, he entered on the heavy responsibilities of his new post, may be seen from the successful development and almost phenomenal growth of the Bakersfield store.
The same superior qualities which have characterized Mr. Hochheimer's mercantile activities, have manifested themselves also in other fields. For some time he was on the staff of Colonel Seymour, of the National Guard of California, and also on the staff of Governor Gillett, with the rank of colonel. Popular so- cially, he has belonged to the Bakersfield Club, the Army and Navy Club of San Francisco, and the Argonaut Club of San Francisco. He is a thirty-third degree Mason and a Shriner.
WILLIAM W. MARSHALL
In the roll of honor of those pioneers of California whose lives, and work, and sacrifices are reflected in the present pros- perity of the state, the name of William W. Marshall, now deceased, will have an enviable place. Born in Macon County, Mo., September 26, 1837, he crossed the plains in 1852 in com- pany with J. C. Wilson, driving a herd of cattle all the way to California. Once arrived here, and somewhat settled, he mined for a while in Calaveras and Amador Counties, and then, in 1857, went to Colusa County, where he took up government land fifteen miles northwest of Willows. He engaged in cattle-raising and sheep-raising, and meanwhile kept adding to his holdings, until at one time he owned three thousand acres of land. At one time he farmed about two thousand acres to wheat and barley. His stock operations also included the raising of mules and high-class trotting horses; and among the latter, his horse Stranger won many races at the local fairs, and on the trotting courses of San Francisco. Such was the quality, too, of his sheep and cattle that they won for him numerous medals. The old home ranch, consisting of twenty-two hundred acres, is still in the possession of the family.
In 1862, Mr. Marshall married Miss Elmira Halley, a native of Illinois, who crossed the plains in 1854 with her parents, from Iowa, then their home, when she was only ten years old. Her father was G. W. Halley, who settled in Colusa County, where he bought goverment land, and for many years successfully engaged in the raising of cattle and hogs. G. W. Halley married Miss Jane Sherman, a native of Illinois. Besides Mrs. Marshall, they
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had two other children: Oscar Halley, of Red Bluff; and Mrs. M. E. Alvarado, of Mountain View, Cal. Mrs. Marshall still relates many interesting experiences of pioneer days. They came into Colnsa County with their ox teams; and for some time there- after they used the oxen for travel about the conntry. She remem- bers very well the antelopes and the wild Spanish cattle roaming everywhere about the plains at Colusa. Four children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Marshall. The eldest, Mrs. Nellie Bressler, now deceased, was the mother of three children: Mrs. J. E. Carter, of Sebastopol; Mrs. E. G. Callender, of Petaluma; and Lyle Bressler, now twenty-five years of age, who lives on the old home ranch of his grandfather, of which he has charge, and on which he is meet- ing with success. The other children of Mr. and Mrs. Marshall are: Mrs. Leonora Neate, of Willows; James Edward, deceased, the father of one son, Leon W. Marshall, who is studying dentistry in San Francisco; and Roy Marshall, of Willows.
William W. Marshall died in 1911, and was buried with due Masonic rites. In his death the community lost an exemplary citizen and an enterprising builder of the state. He was one of the largest grain farmers in the county. His greatness, however, did not consist merely in his spirit of enterprise. It was rather his high sense of personal honor, and the elevated principles which actuated him, and which he applied in every transaction and would have the commonwealth adopt as its own, that made him conspicuous as a leader among his fellow men. Mrs. Marshall, who survives her Imsband, is still an active and energetic business woman. She is a charter member of Marshall Chapter, O. E. S., of Willows, of which she is Past Matron. In her religious life she is a consistent member of the Christian Church.
HARBISON & KITCHIN
The ranch of thirty-nine hundred acres known as the Harbison & Kitchin Ranch, located in Colnsa County, is an illustration of what can be accomplished by hard work, good management, and intelligent application. Until 1916 the partners raised wheat, barley and stock on this property and other tracts that they leased. They kept forty head of brood mares, and raised horses and mnles, together with ahont fifty head of cattle each year. To carry on this large ranching project properly, it was necessary to make use of the most modern methods. They employed modern machinery and implements, including a forty-five horse-power Holt caterpillar tractor and a Holt combined harvester. Three
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George Henry Burkitt.
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sets of buildings have been erected on different parts of the property; and everything has been put in shape to facilitate the work of the partners and their helpers.
In 1916 two hundred acres of the land was prepared for irrigation and planted to rice under lease. It yielded a good crop, and the partners determined to plant a large acreage to rice in 1917. They entered into an agreement with Mallon & Blevins to line, check up, irrigate and plant to rice three thousand acres of their land. This was a gigantic undertaking. When the work is completed, Mallon & Blevins are to get a deed to about nine hundred acres of the tract, and a two-year lease on the balance of the land that is put in rice. Under the terms of the agree- ment the owners of the property are to receive three dollars per acre for all land planted to rice in 1917, and six dollars in 1918. They have great faith in the project, and are aiding in every way to make it a success.
After the decision to plant their land to rice had been made, the partners purchased nine hundred sixty acres in the hills of the county and moved their stock to new pastures. If the rice project proves anywhere near as profitable as present prospects . indicate, the increased valuation of the large ranch will place Messrs. Harbison & Kitchin on an independent basis, and amply reward them for the many years of labor they have spent in developing the land from its original condition. Separate men- tion of both members of this firm will be found elsewhere in this work.
GEORGE HENRY PURKITT
The story of the life of George Henry Purkitt is one of inter- est ; and, were he alive to narrate it, the scenes that he witnessed during his active career in California, the hardships that he en- dured, and the obstacles that he surmounted would make a large volume. His biography dates from January 18, 1838, when he was born at Griggsville, Pike County, Ill., and closes with his death at Willows, Cal., on September 14, 1915.
Mr. Purkitt came of good old Colonial stock on both sides of his family. His paternal great-grandfather was Col. Henry Pur- kitt, of Boston, Mass., who was a member of the Boston Tea Party, and who later served with distinction throughout the Revo- lutionary War. He is buried in the Boylston Street Cemetery on the edge of Boston Common. The maternal grandfather was Frederick Prevost, a son of Sir George and Lady Theodosia Pre- vost. Sir George was an officer in the English navy. Upon his
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death, Mrs. Prevost remained a resident of America, and later be- came the first wife of Aaron Burr.
George H. Purkitt's father, George Tuckerman Purkitt, came west from Boston to Illinois in 1831. In that state he attended Jacksonville College with Richard Yates, who later became the famous war governor of Illinois. On November 24, 1836, George T. Purkitt married Miss Henrietta Prevost, at the old Prevost homestead, about fifteen miles southwest of Jacksonville, the county seat of Morgan County. They spent their lives in that vicinity, and are buried in Mt. Sterling Cemetery.
Like his father, George Henry Purkitt attended Jacksonville College, selecting civil engineering as a profession; and also, like him, he responded to the call, "Westward ho!" He started for California with an ox-team train, and arrived in Sacramento on July 6, 1862. From the capital city he went to San Francisco to visit an uncle, John H. Purkitt, who was then in the employ of the government in the custom house. After a short visit he went to Sierra County and followed hydraulic mining for a year, and then went to Yuha County and there continued mining on the Rabbit Creek road for six months. Not succeeding in finding the "elusive yellow metal," he went to Brown's Valley, in that county, and was employed in a general merchandise store for a time. On May 5, 1865, he located in Marysville, where he kept books in the whole- sale grocery house of G. A. Polk & Co., until 1868. He then went to Colusa, where, in 1869, he served as deputy sheriff under I. N. Cain. From 1872 to 1874 he filled the office of county surveyor.
In Sacramento, April 27, 1873, George H. Purkitt was united in marriage with Miss Theodora Tiffee, a daughter of John Rich- ard and Rebecca (Terrill) Tiffee. After his term of office as county surveyor was completed, in 1874, Mr. and Mrs. Purkitt re- moved from Colusa to the northwest part of Colusa County, that part now included in the boundaries of Glenn County, and took charge of the Tiffee estate, a ranch located nine miles west of Willows. There they lived and farmed until 1889, when they moved to the town of Willows.
Mr. Purkitt was always a stanch Democrat, and took an active part in political affairs. Together with B. N. Scribner of Orland, Nelson Davis of Butte City, Milton French and Joe Troxel, both of Willows, he was appointed by Governor Markham a commis- sioner for the formation of Glenn County. This commission met in executive session on May 11, 1891, complimenting Mr. Purkitt with the chairmanship. As a result of their labors, Glenn County came into being with its present boundaries, and with Willows as its county seat.
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Mr. Purkitt was the father of six children, five of whom sur- vive him. There are three grandchildren. Herbert Tiffee Purkitt, the oldest son, died on August 24, 1901. Those living are: Claude Fouts Purkitt, of Willows; Theodore Tiffee Purkitt, of Woodland, who is the father of one daughter, Theodora; Edna Louisa, the wife of J. E. Knight, of Willows, and the mother of two children, John Richard Tiffee and George Purkitt; Georgie Harriett, the wife of Homer S. Henley, of San Francisco, Cal .; and Rebecca Terrill, the wife of Charles F. Lambert, of Willows. Mr. Purkitt was a man of unquestioned integrity, and loyal to his friends to a marked degree. His body rests beside that of his beloved son, in the family burial plot in the city cemetery, at Sacramento.
CHARLES HUGH SOMERS
The name Somers recalls the reader of history to the period of the early days before there was such a town as Willows, and be- fore there was a railroad running through the valley; and to the time when cattle roamed at will over the broad expanse of the plains and through the foothills into the mountainous country. The Somers family is one of the oldest in this section. Charles Somers, the father of Charles Hugh Somers, owned a part of the land upon which Willows was laid out. His name was a familiar one to the early settlers, for he was one of the Argonauts of forty- nine. A native of Rutland, Vt., he busied himself in that state un- til the discovery of gold in California lured him away from peace- ful pursuits to chance a trip around the Horn to San Francisco on a sailing vessel. On his arrival here he sought the mining dis- tricts in Placer County, and tried his fortunes there; but not find- ing the bonanza he had expected, he took up freighting from Sac- ramento, and also engaged in farming.
In 1872 he removed to what was then Colusa County. Later, when the division was made, his holdings were in Glenn County ; and he had land right where the bustling city of Willows now stands. He improved his quarter section of land, built suitable buildings for his family, and raised grain and stock with a fair re- turn for his labor. He sold out about the time the railroad was building through this section; and the farm was later cut up into town lots and built up with residences. Mr. Somers started the first draying business, which he followed until his death. He mar- ried Mary Cameron, a native of Jackson County, Ill., who came across the plains in 1854 with her uncle, Joe Zumwalt, in an ox- team train of immigrants. Joe Zumwalt was a pioneer landowner
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in what is now the Willows section of Glenn County. The family is still represented by a son, James Zumwalt. Mary Cameron Somers is now residing on North Lassen Street, in Willows. She is an interesting woman, who can relate many thrilling incidents of pioneer days in the Sacramento Valley. Of the ten children born to this pioneer woman, two are deceased : Katherine, Mrs. J. D. Crane, and Arthur. The eight living are: Mrs. Brigman, Charles, Jennie, Belle, Lottie, Abbie, William, and Dollie. All re- side in Willows except Mrs. Brigman, who lives in Sacramento, and Lottie, of San Francisco.
Charles Hugh Somers was born in Placer County, near Au- burn, on November 13, 1862. He was reared and educated in Wil- lows after he was ten years old. As a lad he helped his father on the home ranch, where he remained until he was twenty-one, after which he went to work for wages on neighboring ranches in the valley. He saved money enough to start in the express business, which he followed for a time. Later he ran a wood yard, until 1895, when he entered the employ of the Southern Pacific Railroad Company. Four years later, he was made foreman of the section on the Fruto branch, a position he filled with satisfaction for ten years. He was then transferred to the Willows section, on the main line, where his entire time is taken up with his duties. Mr. Somers was a member of the old parlor of the Native Sons of the Golden West, until it was disbanded. He has always taken great interest in all matters that pertain to the early days in the history of the state.
FOUNTAIN COLUMBUS GRAVES
The late Fountain C. Graves, of the Stony Creek section of Glenn County, was one of the most prominent and well-known men of the Sacramento Valley, in which he had lived since 1861. In March of that year, he came to what was then Colusa County, and bought one hundred acres of land, to which he added from time to time, as he prospered, until he owned a thousand acres. Here he raised good erops of grain, having on an average from five to six hundred acres. Besides this, he raised cattle, sheep and hogs, together with such other stock as he needed to carry on his ranch work properly. With the advent of modern machin- ery, he always kept abreast of the times and was up-to-date. He was born in Pulaski County, Ky., July 6, 1828, a son of Hiram T. and Parmelia (Nunnelley) Graves, both natives of that same state. Robert Graves, the grandfather, was born in North Caro- lina. He crossed the Blue Ridge Mountains with Daniel Boone,
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his wife riding a mule, with her child strapped to her back, and settled in Kentucky. Robert Graves was closely related to many prominent families of historical renown. He was a nephew of John and William Hancock, and a cousin of Gov. Clayborn F. Jackson, of Missouri. He died in Pulaski County. In 1832 Hiram T. Graves left Kentucky and settled in Macon County, Mo., where he farmed for seven years, returning then to Pulaski County, Ky. Four years later he went back to Macon County, where he was busily engaged in raising tobacco until his death. Here, also, his wife passed away.
The oldest of eight children, Fountain C. Graves was but four years old when his parents settled in Missouri. He returned with his parents to Kentucky in 1839. As his services were needed on the farm, to help support the large family, he found little opportunity to go to school. When he was old enough to strike out for himself, he learned the trade of the stone mason, which he turned to good account in later years. He remained in Ken- tucky until 1854, following his trade, and then moved to Missouri, whither his parents had preceded him. There he continued at his trade, and also raised grain and stock.
On April 29, 1861, Mr. Graves started from Macon, in com- pany with a band of emigrants, comprising fourteen wagons drawn by oxen, bound for California. En route the oxen were ex- changed for mules. The party reached Red Bluff on September 25, that same year. Soon after, Mr. Graves came down to Colusa County, locating in what is now Glenn County, and the following year purchased the place that thereafter remained his home until he died. He suffered a severe loss when his house burned down in 1903; but he afterwards erected a modern residence, where he and the family lived in comfort. He was always interested in progress, and was one of the organizers of Stony Creek Irriga- tion Ditch. He served as one of the commissioners of the county. He it was who circulated the petitions for the road from Newville to the river, for the first voting precinct between Newville and St. John, for the first school district north of Nye district, and for the location of the first post office between Newville and St. John, of which he was appointed postmaster. He located the Chamberlain brothers on a quarter section where Orland now is, declaring that it would be the town site. In politics, Mr. Graves was a Republi- can. Fraternally, he was a Mason of the Knights Templar degree.
Mr. Graves was married in Missouri to Lavina Jane Ashurst, who was born in Pulaski County, Ky .; and eight children were born to them: Fernando Cortez, now deceased, who married Sadie Hughes; Col. Fremont Ashurst, who married Nellie Estes; William Robert; Harry Francis, who married Jessie Gay; Eliza-
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beth, Mrs. W. H. Bates; Amy Helen, who became the wife of W. P. Gay; Annie Bidwell, who married William A. Glenn; and Mar- garet Carrie, the wife of Edwin Neilsen. Mr. Graves died at his home on January 30, 1915; and his widow passed away on July 24, 1916. Their lives were well rounded out with good deeds and with years of usefulness. They lived to celebrate their sixty-first wed- ding anniversary. With their passing the state lost two more of its pioneers, and two who always did their share to build for all time.
CHARLES L. DONOHOE
An authority on rice culture, and a man of large experience in affairs involving broad surveys and energetic initiative, Charles L. Donohoe has done much to advance the interests of California agriculturists, especially in matters pertaining to irrigation. He was born in Sutter County, Cal., October 24, 1868. His father, John Donohoe, was born in Dublin, Ireland, and was a sailor be- fore the mast for many years, finally arriving in San Francisco, in 1851. Going at once to the mines, he followed the fortunes of a miner for about eighteen months near the site of the present town of Oroville, Butte County. Later, he settled on a farm which he had purchased seven miles north of Yuba City, and there followed farming and stock-raising until his death, which occurred on June 12, 1902, at the age of seventy-six years. He was united in mar- riage with Susan Lunney, who was also a native of Ireland, born in County Tyrone, and who, after a useful life, passed away on June 15, 1900, when in her sixty-fourth year.
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