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 34
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 34
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Charles L. Donohoe was reared on the farm in Sutter County, and attended the public schools to secure an education. After he had finished school, he began teaching, and for four years was thus employed in the schools of San Joaquin, Calaveras and Sut- ter Counties. He then took a course in the Stockton Business Col- lege, after which he studied law. He was admitted to the bar on November 11, 1889, and that same month opened an office in Marysville, where he began his practice. In 1890 he was a candi- date for the office of district attorney of Yuba County, against E. A. Forbes, but was defeated at the election. Since then he has not mingled in politics.
Upon the organization of Glenn County, Mr. Donohoe was at- tracted to the new section, and in November, 1891, took up his residence at Willows. Ever since that date he has been actively identified with the upbuilding and development of the county of his adoption. In 1891, he was one of the organizers of the Stony
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Creek Irrigating Company, the pioneer concern of its kind in Glenn County; he served as its secretary and manager, and car- ried on the project with his associates until 1907, when they sold out to the United States Government in furtherance of the Orland project. In 1895, Mr. Donohoe organized the Orland Real Estate Association, which purchased five hundred acres of land in the northeastern part of Glenn County and subdivided the same into fifteen-acre and twenty-acre farms. These were advertised exten- sively throughout the East, and eastern men have profited by answering the call and settling here. The organization and suc- cess of this enterprise in irrigation and land development in the Orland district was what brought about the government project in this section in 1907.
Mr. Donohoe was instrumental, likewise, in the organization of the Central Canal and Irrigation Company, which took over the original ditch, of fifty miles in length, taking water from the Sac- ramento River, and started the development of the lands now un- der the Sacramento River Canal; and he was also one of the or- ganizers of the Sacramento Valley Land Company, which pur- chased three thousand acres of the Glenn ranch, six thousand acres of the Packer ranch, and all of the John Boggs ranch. This land was subdivided into smaller tracts, and was sold for from forty to fifty dollars per acre, with water rights. Mr. Donohoe is still interested in the subdivision of large tracts of land in the Sacramento Valley, which include property in the Orland section under the government irrigation project, and other holdings in the valley. In 1917 he completed a large deal involving some nine thousand acres of land.
Mr. Donohoe handled all the litigation for the landowners in connection with the Water Irrigating System, and succeeded in getting the water necessary to supply their demands. He won a fight in the courts that was carried on for a number of years, thus securing a victory in the people's interest. He is considered one of the best-posted men on water rights, irrigation laws, and mat- ters pertaining to real estate in the Sacramento Valley. It was his reputation for expert knowledge along the lines indicated, that led to his appointment by Governor Hiram Johnson as a member of the Water Problems Conference Commission for the purpose of revising the water laws of the state, which commission went out of existence at the session of the state legislature in 1916-1917.
As one of the organizers and directors of the Pacific Rice Growers' Association, Mr. Donohoe has taken an active interest in rice cultivation in the valley. His company was the first to utilize the alkali lands, known as "goose lands," for growing rice, having put in eighty acres in 1914. The success of that venture
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brought about the present development; and in 1917 abont twenty thousand acres was seeded to rice, which will yield a revenue of some two million five hundred thousand dollars-principally from land that was formerly of no value except as pasture for sheep and cattle. This company is a live organization. In 1916 it had some eleven hundred acres in rice; and in 1917 this had been increased to over two thousand acres.
From the time of his arrival in Glenn Conty in 1891 until 1909, there were no important cases in litigation before the courts that Mr. Donohoe was not associated with on one side or the other. Since 1909, however, on account of ill health, he has turned his attention entirely to the real estate interests of the county and surrounding country. From the beginning of the Johnson admin- istration he has been a stanch supporter of Progressive policies, and has done much to further the movements of the party in the northern part of the state. He is not a seeker after office, but always gives his influence to promote good government, moral uplift, and county development along every line. He is a self- made man in every sense of the word. With his brother, Thomas J. Donohoe of Alaska, Mr. Donohoe owns the old home ranch in Sutter County.
In 1896, on August 13, occurred the marriage of Charles L. Donohoe and Miss Jessie Keith, a native of Missouri. They have one daughter, Frances Louise Donohoe, a student in the San Jose Normal School.
AUGUST HENNING
A pioneer of what is now Glenn County, August Henning plowed the land and planted grain on the very spot which is now the town site of Willows. He was born in Germany, in 1850, of poor but deserving parents, who gave him such advantages for ob- taining an education as they were able to afford. He could see no promising future for himself in his native land, and being ambi- tious to forge ahead, he counseled with his parents and decided that the United States held the opportunities he was seeking. In 1870 he arrived in Grand Island, Nebr., a stranger in a strange land, and unable to speak English; but he was willing to work, and accepted the first opportunity offered, spending two years in that city. His objective point, however, was California; and as soon as he had saved money enough to pay his fare and expenses, he started, in 1872, for the land of his desire. Arriving in what was then Colusa County, he worked for two years for wages on the Zumwalt ranch. His experience there gave him confidence;
A S Layan
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and in 1874 he leased two hundred forty acres in what is now the eastern part of the town of Willows, where the county hospital now stands, and with his brother Henry for a partner, began rais- ing wheat. Success crowned his efforts, and in due time he bought four hundred acres north of Germantown, besides which he leased three hundred twenty acres of the Montgomery ranch. Here he continued in the raising of grain, which had to be hauled to Prince- ton and thence shipped by boat to the markets. In 1879, still hav- ing his brother as a partner, he rented two thousand acres of the J. R. Talbot ranch, west of Willows. Meeting with good success, the brothers continued their farming operations together until 1882, when they dissolved partnership. That same year, August Henning opened a liquor store in Willows, which he ran for some time. In 1901 he bought three hundred acres on the Sacramento River, in Glenn County.
August Henning has been twice married. His first wife died in 1882, leaving two children, Walter Henning and Mrs. Laura Duncan. At his second marriage, which occurred in 1887, Miss Ellen McCallum became his wife. Two daughters blessed their union. Gussie is now the wife of Dr. L. E. Tuttle; and Nellie mar- ried William Dean. Mr. Henning served from 1901 to 1905 as a member of the board of trustees of the city of Willows. He has always been a progressive, public-spirited citizen, giving of his time and means to advance the interests of his county. During the many years of his residence in Willows he has made a host of friends, who speak only in the highest terms of his upright, moral character, and high ideals of citizenship. Fraternally, he is a member of the Knights of Pythias and of the Odd Fellows, at Willows.
JOHN STEPHEN LOGAN
In California, more than in any other state in the Union, the vigorous prosperity of the state is directly traceable to those pio- neers who came out of the East to help build up the West, leaving behind them all the comforts of an effete civilization to confront a life of untiring effort, full of hardships and rough edges, but with promise of rich rewards to spur them on with renewed energy when they found their spirits flagging. Among those who chose that portion of the state which is now Glenn County as the scene of their activities, John Stephen Logan is worthy of mention as having been identified with the development of this section. Born in Warren County, Mo., October 28, 1843, he comes of an old Scotch-Irish family who settled in Kentucky, and later in Mis- 20
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souri, being contemporaries of Daniel Boone. It was in Missouri that Mr. Logan was reared and educated, a son of Alexander and Elizabeth (Quick) Logan, natives of Lexington, Ky.
Feeling the call of the West, as his fathers had before him, Mr. Logan came to California, in 1866, via Panama, and located in what is now Glenn County, where he engaged in farming and stock-raising with the late Hugh A. Logan, with whom he became associated and financially interested in the operating of large ranches and stock interests, an association in which they continued in amicable and harmonious cooperation. They incorporated their holdings as the Hugh A. Logan Land & Cattle Company, and he has been director and treasurer of the company ever since, devot- ing to the business his time and the practical knowledge which his years of experience have given him.
Aside from the stock-raising business, Mr. Logan is much in- terested in horticulture. He has set out an orchard of a large variety of trees, having found that locality particularly suitable for both deciduous and citrus fruits, as well as almonds and wal- nuts. A man of keen intelligence and a close observer, well read and well informed on current topics, he is an interesting conver- sationalist. Like most pioneer Californians, he is very generons, dispensing the old-time hospitality; and fortunate is the visitor who has the pleasure of being entertained by him. Liberal and kind-hearted, he is ever ready to help those who have been less fortunate than himself. A great lover of children, he never tires of doing for them; and they, in turn, show their gratitude for his kindness. Emphatically a man of energy, Mr. Logan has never been idle, but has continued to be one of the most enterprising and active men in Glenn County, giving substantial encouragement to every plan for the promotion of the public welfare.
WILLIAM J. PETERSEN
William J. Petersen is the owner of eighty-four acres of fine land, situated three and one-half miles northwest from Orland. Mr. Petersen was born in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany, April 8, 1886. He was a pupil in the grammar schools of his home place until he was fifteen, when he decided to come to the United States. California was his objective point, and he arrived in Sonoma County in 1901. For some time he was employed on a ranch near Sebastopol, learning the ways of the country and acquiring the ability to speak English, thus equipping himself to conduct his own business at some future time. The young man saved his money; and when he had enough to make a start for himself, he
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rented some land and bought the implements and machinery neces- sary to operate it with success. He raised fruit, grapes and chickens, and also conducted a dairy. To do this successfully meant hard work; but he was young and vigorous, and ambitious to build a sure foundation for his future success.
On January 6, 1914, Mr. Petersen arrived in Orland with money to invest in land if he could find what he wanted. The place where he is now located seemed to fill the bill, and he there- fore bought it and took possession. Since then he has given his time to improving the property and making it what it is today. He has a fine dairy of thirty cows, high-grade Jerseys, with a registered Jersey bull at their head. Fifty-five acres of the land is seeded to alfalfa, which averages six tons to the acre, yielding five crops annually. Mr. Petersen is a stockholder and a director in the Orland Cheese and Butter Co., a firm which very materially furthers the interests of the dairymen in the Orland district.
William J. Petersen was united in marriage with Miss Keike Matsen, one of his countrywomen, who has proven her worth in every way as a faithful helpmate and counselor. They have two bright children, Ilma and Lillian, to add comfort and cheer to their home. Both Mr. and Mrs. Petersen have a wide circle of friends in their new home locality, who predict much prosperity for them, and admire their thrift and public spirit.
CATHY M. SEHORN
A man who was always working for the interests of his fellow citizens, and who held the esteem and good-will of his community, was the late Cathy M. Sehorn, of Willows. He was born in Wythe- ville, Va., in 1851, a son of Marion and Rebecca Jane (Wallace) Sehorn, both of whom represented prominent families of the South. The Sehorns are of German ancestry. Grandfather Se- horn was a major in the Revolutionary War; and the maternal grandfather was Colonel Adam Wallace, who also distinguished himself in the Revolution. A brother of Cathy M. Sehorn is An- drew Wallace Sehorn, or "Wall" Sehorn, as he is best known by his friends in Glenn County.
The education of Mr. Sehorn was obtained in the subscription schools of Virginia; and he shared the fortunes of the family until he came to California. After his arrival in this state, he was en- gaged in farming and stock-raising in Tehama County for several years. In 1888 he sold out and moved down into Colusa County, and in the Elk Creek district resumed his farming operations. In
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1893 Mr. Sehorn moved to the vicinity of Willows, and three years later purchased a quarter section of land near town, paying two thousand two hundred dollars for the tract. It was a barley field; and with the exception of some eucalyptus trees, there were no improvements upon the place. Mr. Sehorn wove the wire fencing for cross-fencing the property; and aided by his wife, he made every improvement now seen on the ranch. He laid out a neat farm and set out trees-lemons, oranges, figs, and English walnuts. He was among the first to graft English walnuts; and he did that service for many of his friends and neighbors, for years. He sank a well and developed an excellent water system on his land, being one of the first men to put in a pumping plant in this section. He put in about twenty acres of alfalfa, and did a general farming and stock-raising business with a fair degree of success. He erected the present family residence, with other suitable outbuild- ings necessary to the conduct of the ranch.
. In the midst of his own prosperity, Mr. Sehorn gave some thought to the comfort and well-being of his neighbors. He built the first swimming-pool in the county, a cemented tank thirty-five by sixty-four feet in size. This is used as a public swimming- pool, and is largely patronized by the citizens of Willows during the summer. A public-spirited man, with decidedly Democratic preferences, Mr. Sehorn sought to accomplish all the good he could during his life; and when he died, in January, 1916, he was mourned by every one. He was a man who loved his home and family, and his happiest hours were those spent in their society.
In 1888, while living in the Elk Creek district, Mr. Sehorn was united in marriage with Miss Nellie Keith, a native of California, and a daughter of Richard Keith, who came to California by way of the Isthmus of Panama, and on his arrival here went to the mines for a time, afterwards settling on a farm near Madison, Yolo County. In 1871 he came to what was old Colnsa County, bought some railroad land, and began developing a ranch; but finding that he could not get title to the land, he then moved into Tehama County, where he became a large grain-raiser. He finally gave up farming, and made one or two trips back to Nebraska, after which he came to Elk Creek and there made his home. His last days were spent with his daughter, at whose home he died in 1913, at the age of eighty-one years. Mrs. Sehorn's mother was Ellen Hubbard Cook, a woman widely known among the pioneers of Glenn and Colusa Counties for the many charitable and kindly services rendered to her neighbors in time of trouble and sickness. She was teaching school at the time of her marriage to Mr. Keith; and afterwards she acted as a correspondent to the local papers. She passed away in 1888. Four children were born to Mr. and
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Mrs. Sehorn. Leslie is married and has one danghter; Marion is Mrs. H. J. De Tray, and is the mother of one danghter; Vivian is the wife of Theodore Kreiberg; and Cathy M., Jr., is employed by Klemmer Bros., in the hardware store at Willows.
It was abont five years prior to the time of Mr. Sehorn's death that Mr. and Mrs. Sehorn began the dairy business, furnish- ing milk to customers in Willows. Mrs. Sehorn has forty Holstein and Jersey cows, of high grade and well cared for, which are milked with antomatic milking-machines. This dairy was the first in this section to use clarifying processes, and also the first to sub- mit to the tuberculin test. With the assistance of her son-in-law, Mr. Kreiberg, Mrs. Sehorn is making a marked success of this part of her ranching enterprise.
HON. WILLIAM PIERCE HARRINGTON
A California pioneer of 1849, the late W. P. Harrington was the leading citizen of Colnsa during the thirty-three years of his residence there. He was the pioneer banker, merchant, and rail- road builder, and was universally loved for his public spirit and generosity of heart. He was born in Damariscotta, Maine, on April 17, 1826, and received his education in Lincoln Academy at New Castle, after which he hired out as a clerk in a store in Rock- land. On March 4, 1849, when nearly twenty-three, Mr. Harring- ton started for California by way of Panama, with a party of thir- teen others. On reaching the Isthmus, they found that there were fully four thousand persons waiting to get transportation to San Francisco. His party separated, but he organized another which was successful in getting throngh; and he arrived in San Fran- cisco on August 1, of that year. He at once set ont for the mines at Big Bar, on the Consumnes River, and spent three months at placer mining. He was soon convinced that his forte lay in some other direction; so he went to Placerville, where he was given management of a general merchandise store for a time. In the fall of 1850 he opened a store for himself; but the excessive drought that year caused a scarcity of water, and mining could not be carried on except at heavy expense. So he quit business and went to Marysville; and there he engaged in the mercantile bnsi- ness under the name of Crockett and Co., the firm later becoming Harrington and Hazelton.
In 1859 a larger field opened up in the mining regions of Ne- vada; and with J. C. Fall, J. A. Paxton, Judge Mott and James
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Wilson, he chartered a stage and visited Carson City, Virginia City, Gold Hill and other miming camps. All were impressed with the magnitude of the mineral resources of these places; and a partnership was formed by Mr. Harrington, under the name of J. C. Fall & Co., and a general merchandise business was carried on at Carson City, with considerable success. The firm later became Kincaid & Harrington, and then Kincaid, Harrington & Co. Dur- ing this time Mr. Harrington was a member of the first legislature of Nevada Territory, which met in 1861.
After he retired from business in Nevada, Mr. Harrington came to San Francisco and became a stock broker. His attention was soon called to Colusa County, where the public lands were be- ing taken up by capitalists; and in 1869, in behalf of Decker & Jewett, he came to Colusa to view, grade and purchase lands. He remained six weeks, and was so much impressed with the natural resources of the county that he disposed of his business in San Francisco and the next spring came to Colusa to make it his per- manent home. He first engaged in the real estate business with W. F. Goad, and during that summer sold about one hundred thou- sand acres of land. On September 15, 1870, with others, he organ- ized the Colusa County Bank. Without solicitation, he was tend- ered the position of cashier ; and from that time until his death lie was one of the bank's principal factors, having been a director, and its president at the time of his death. He also held the same position in the Bank of Willows and in the Colusa and Lake Rail- road, and was a director of the Colusa Gas Co., the Colusa Milling Co., the Colusa Packing Co., and the Colusa Agricultural Associa- tion. He was a member of the Pacific Union Club and of the So- ciety of California Pioneers, being vice-president of the latter at the time of his death, on November 30, 1903. No more fitting trib- ute can be paid to his memory than the opinions of his associates and friends, who unite in saying that he was a conservative banker, one of the first men of Colusa County, and one of the up- builders of the Sacramento Valley.
On May 1, 1861, W. P. Harrington was united in marriage with Sallie H. Tennent, a daughter of John Tennent of Marysville, and a native of Lancaster, Ohio. They had five children, one of whom died in infancy. The others are: Tennent, born July 11, 1864; William Merrill, teller of the Colusa County Bank, born No- vember 18, 1866; Mary Augusta, born April 7, 1869, the wife of A. P. Niblack, captain in the United States Navy; and Louise T., born February 15, 1876, the wife of W. D. Leahy, lieutenant-com- mander in the United States Navy.
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FRANCIS X. TREMBLAY, M. D.
Among those who contributed no little to the welfare of Wil- lows by helping to make and to keep people well and happy, Dr. Francis X. Tremblay will always enjoy an honored place. A native of Quebec, Canada, where he was born on June 12, 1856, the son of one of Quebec's well-known laymen, John B. Tremblay, Francis X. Tremblay was reared and educated in his home town, where he concluded his studies in the State Normal, preparatory to specializing at the Victoria Medical College, in Montreal, from which he was gradnated in 1885.
After receiving his diploma from that famous Canadian insti- tution, Dr. Tremblay came direct to California, and at Willows be- gan the practice of medicine. A close student, and energetic and ambitious by nature, he has spared neither time nor effort to make himself a recognized authority on medical subjects among his pro- fessional brethren. He is a valued member of the Glenn County Medical Society. His constantly increasing practice has taken him into practically every section of Gleni County, as well as to parts of Colusa and Tehama Counties. He has made a name for himself as one of the most active and progressive members of the medical profession in his section of the state. As a public officer he has served a term in the office of county coroner and publie adminis- trator; two terms as one of the town trustees, being president of the board one term; and also a term as health officer of Willows.
Soon after the arrival of Dr. Tremblay in Willows, he bought a piece of land in the southern part of the town and erected for himself a fine brick and stone residence, around which he planted a varied orchard of orange, lemon, olive and walnut trees. To these he has given the most painstaking attention, testing each in respect to its growth in this climate and soil. He was among the very first to experiment with fruits of this character in this sec- tion. Adjoining his home, also, he acquired an acre of ground planted with eucalyptus trees; and not far away on the hills he has set out four hundred olive trees, this being the first attempt at olive culture in Glenn County.
In addition to his professional activities, Dr. Tremblay has participated to some extent in real estate development. He has erected five honses in Willows, all of which he has sold. He was one of the owners and developers of a chrome mine between Newville and Elk Creek, Glenn County, which was later sold. He is now interested in a manganese mine located near Stonyford, and also in very promising gold-mining claims in Plumas County.
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In 1911, Dr. Tremblay retired to private life on account of ill health, caused by long rides in all kinds of weather to minister to the sick, for he never gave a thought to self when so called. In- stead of spending his time in his home and with his books, he wanted to get next to nature, and in consequence gave his time to prospecting the hills of this section with the result mentioned above. When he recovers his health it is his intention to once more take up his profession, but along different and broader lines. Two danghters were born into the home of Dr. Tremblay. One is Mrs. Theolesea Hedden, who resides in Napa, Cal. She has three children, Theodore, Marie Wuellesca, and Francis. The other daughter, Xavia Tremblay, is a resident of San Francisco. Dr. Tremblay is a member of Chico Lodge, B. P. O. Elks. He is accorded a high place in the citizenship of his adopted city.
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