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 55
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 55
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WILLIAM H. ASH
A progressive young man, who is fortunate as the representa- tive of a family long esteemed and influential in California circles, and who enjoys the respect and good-will of a large circle of friends, William HI. Ash is the son of the Hon. William Ash, the well-known legislator, a sketch of whose interesting life appears elsewhere in this work. He was born at his father's old home, six miles south of Williams, in Colusa County, on August 24, 1880,
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and was educated in the public schools, and at Brewer's Military Academy at San Mateo, and the Stockton Business College. As a lad, he learned farming and stock-raising. While still in his teens he was able to handle the big teams used in the grain-fields ; and he continued farming with his father nntil the latter's death. As secretary of the William Ash Company, he took charge of the company's affairs after his father's death, and has been active in its interest ever since. Until 1912 he operated the home farm, and then leased from the William Ash Company his present place of nineteen hundred sixty-seven acres, known in early days as the Scroggins & Coleman ranch, eight miles north of Colusa, which his father had purchased about twenty years ago. After moving onto the place, young Mr. Ash built a new residence and the necessary barns and outbuildings, and made other extensive improvements; and there he has met with success in raising stock and grain.
Mr. Ash was one of the organizers of the Cheney Slough Irrigation Company, and has been its president ever since. This company utilizes the natural course of Cheney Slough as a canal, keeping it filled by means of large pumping plants drawing water from the Sacramento River. The overflow of the Sacramento has built up the slough, so that it is higher than the surrounding lands; and by means of laterals the water is conducted to some four thousand acres of rice land, and irrigates, besides, large areas given up to alfalfa. The Cheney Slongh Irrigation Company, therefore, has had much to do with the development of the country.
Besides this important interest, Mr. Ash himself raises about one thousand acres of barley and four hundred acres of rice each year, using only the latest and most improved machinery and adopting the most up-to-date methods. He has, for instance, a Holt sixty-five horse-power caterpillar tractor, with combined harvester, and binders and threshers for the rice. He also makes a specialty of raising hogs, and in large numbers.
Since the death of his lamented father, William H. Ash has continued as secretary of the William Ash Company, giving his best efforts and the benefit of his years of experience to advancing the large interests built up by his able father and entrusted to the family. No better choice conld have been made for this respon- sibility, the full and conscientious discharge of which has meant so much to the surrounding and affected community.
Mr. Ash was married to Miss Sadie Briscoe, a native of Colusa County, the ceremony taking place near Williams; and two children have blessed their union: William and Elba. He is a member of the Marysville Lodge, No. 783, B. P. O. Elks; the Antlers Club of Colnsa; and Central Lodge, No. 229, I. O. O. F.,
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at Williams; and he enjoys the distinction of being Past District Deputy Grand. In politics of a national character Mr. Ash is a Republican; and he is serving his party as a member of the Re- publican County Central Committee.
JOHN ROACH AND AMANDA TERRILL
The family of which John Roach Terrill was a member comes from Virginian stock and Colonial blood, and has given to our country many men and women of worth. A cousin, Hon. J. W. Terrill, was governor of Georgia. Robert Terrill, the father of John Roach Terrill, was born in Virginia, and when eighteen years old moved to Kentucky, and there married Mary Beasley, a native of that state. When the tide of emigration turned towards Missouri, Robert Terrill and his family joined the throng; he improved a farm in Marion County, and there he died at the age of four score years. His good wife and helpmate also passed her last days on their farm. She gave birth to sixteen children, all but one of whom reached maturity. None of them are now alive. Two of her sons were Mexican War soldiers. Robert Terrill always spelled his name Terrell, as is found in the old record of the family, published in 1833. How later generations came to change the spelling to Terrill is not known.
John Roach was the youngest of the family, and was born in Marion County, Mo., August 12, 1834. He was more fortunate than many boys of his period and surroundings, for he received a good education and graduated from Palmyra College. He be- came interested in the stock business as soon as he engaged in farming for himself, and not only raised fine stock, but was an extensive buyer of cattle and hogs, making large shipments from his farm near Palmyra to Quincy, St. Louis and Chicago. He was very successful in all his operations; but the pioneer spirit that prompted his father to help open up the new territory of Missouri no doubt led John R. Terrill to close out his holdings in Missouri and come to the Pacific Coast, which he did in November, 1869, on the second train that came to California after the golden spike had been driven, uniting the East and the West with bands of steel.
Upon his arrival in this state, Mr. Terrill bought a ranch of one hundred sixty acres near Davis, Yolo County, where he remained four years. He then moved to Winters, and was engaged in the hardware business for a like period, after which
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he sold out and went back to farming on the Glide ranch near Willows, Glenn County, and for four years raised grain on a large scale. His next move was to the vicinity of Williams, where he leased fifteen hundred acres from W. H. Williams and continued the grain business, which was then the leading industry of Colnsa County. In 1890 he moved to the property that is now the home of Mrs. Terrill, seven miles north of Colusa, where he bought and improved a country home. There he spent his last years, dying on June 22, 1908. He was made a Mason in Palmyra Lodge, No. 18, F. & A. M., before leaving Missouri; was a charter member of Davis Lodge of Masons; and later joined Colusa Lodge, No. 240, F. & A. M. He was an active worker in the Democratic County Central Committee of Colusa County, and never swerved in his allegiance to his party.
On September 28, 1869, at Palmyra, Mo., Amanda Hayden became the bride of John Roach Terrill; and by this marriage two prominent Southern families were united. She was a daughter of Col. Elijah C. Hayden, of Mexican War fame, who married Delila Whaley, a representative of a prominent family in Ken- tucky, where Colonel Hayden and his wife were born, at Paris. Ten children were born to Colonel and Mrs. Hayden, six boys and four girls. Mrs. Terrill was born in Marion County, Mo., on November 10, 1846, and was educated in the early subscription schools. Six weeks after her marriage she came with her husband to California; and here she devotedly followed his fortunes until his demise. Two of her children are living. Anna B. is the wife of Howard B. Sartain, and the mother of three children: Howard Terrill, Hayden B., and Hollis Calvin. Adela M. married Charles Terrill. All live together harmoniously on the home ranch, which comprises seven hundred acres on the east side of the river, seven miles north of Colusa. They are devoting the place to the raising of alfalfa, and to dairying and stock-raising. They are also raising Belgian horses, and own the Belgian stallion George Washington, which weighs twenty-three hundred pounds. On the Terrill place is located the oldest house (now standing) erected on the Sacramento River. It was built in 1857, and is kept in good state of repair. Mrs. Amanda Terrill is a most hospitable, good- natured, and motherly woman, whom it is always a pleasure to meet. She radiates good cheer to all about her, always extending a helping hand to those in distress, and has a host of friends among old and young, who delight to sing her praises.
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ELI TRIPLETT
To speak of a man as a native son means that he has certain traditions that should be lived up to, a certain standard to main- tain. The history of California antedates the landing of the Pil- grims in 1620, and carries with it an interesting chain of events, from the time Cabrillo landed on our shores, in 1542, down to the very present. Until the discovery of gold but little was known of the great resources of the state. Gold was the lure at first. Then many, who knew soil and its possibilities, failing to make good at mining, turned to agriculture; and from that time to the present, the state has set a winning pace in agricultural development.
A native son who is descended from one of the history makers of 1850 is Eli Triplett, of Maxwell, who was born in Santa Rosa, February 15, 1864, a son of Hezekiah O. and Maria (Kirkpatrick) Triplett. The father was born in Illinois, grew to manhood there, and in 1850 crossed the plains with ox teams to California. It may be that he intended to seek his fortunes in the mines, as did almost every one who started for California during those exciting times. However, we find that he got a quarter section of govern- ment land in Sonoma County, where he farmed, that same farm now being part of the present site of Santa Rosa. He was mar- ried in that town, in the first hotel that was erected in the place, to Miss Maria Kirkpatrick, who came from the Hoosier State; and this worthy couple, working together, helped to make California history.
Hezekiah Triplett later took his little family and went to Men- docino County, where he engaged in getting out lumber and ship- ping it to San Francisco from Fish Rock, nine miles below Point Arena. They lived under trying conditions while he was making a "stake" in order to go elsewhere. They had six sons and six daughters to clothe and educate, Eli being the fifth oldest child. In 1879 this family came to Colusa County, where. the father raised grain for many years. He was the second man to own a combined harvester, which for a long time he operated in the val- ley. He lived to a ripe old age, passing away in 1907. He was a man who sought to fulfil his duty to his God, to his country, and to his family. His fraternal association was with the A. O. U. W., of which he was a member for many years.
Eli Triplett was educated in the public schools of Mendocino and Colusa Counties, finishing his schooling in the Sycamore dis- triet. In 1880 he began working for wages, grubbing out oak trees and cutting cord wood after school, on Saturdays, and dur-
Eli. Triplett
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ing vacation, until, with the aid of his younger friends, he had one hundred cords cut. He went out on the George Brownley ranch and drove a header wagon for twenty-nine days, and worked for A. E. Potter, bucking straw, for seventy-nine days during the threshing season. For many years he followed threshing ma- chines, working at everything that is connected with threshing. From sixteen until twenty-one years of age all his hard-earned wages went to his father, to aid in the support of the family. He helped to run the first combined harvester and reaper in Colusa County, continuing in this work for about twenty-one years, and never losing a day during the season. He farmed on a big scale, leasing two sections of land for that purpose, and raising good crops of wheat and barley, as also some stock.
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In 1904 Mr. Triplett located in Maxwell and started in the livery business. Here he built up a large patronage and met with good success until the automobiles forced him ont of business. He sold off his stock and buggies in 1917. He had always believed in keeping up-to-date, as has already been shown; so he turned his stable into a garage, and automobile livery, secured the agency for the Overland car, and is now gradually building up a good busi- ness in the new line. He has succeeded financially, and owns con- siderable property in the bay cities and in Maxwell. Meanwhile, he has made and kept friends by always endeavoring to give a square deal.
Eli Triplett married Lizzie J. MeDermott, of Maxwell; and they have three children: Elmo, who graduated from a business course and is a stenographer in Sacramento; Ione, a graduate of Chico State Normal School, who is teaching in Maxwell; and Mar- garet, at home. Mr. Triplett is a self-made man. Having had lim- ited advantages, he appreciates the value of education. He has as- sisted in the education of his younger brothers and sisters, and is giving his three daughters the best of educational opportunities. Like his father, Mr. Triplett is a member of the A. O. U. W. Lodge. He is a man of public spirit, a true type of the progres- sive native sons.
CHESTER G. POIRIER
A descendant of French ancestry, and a representative of one of the old families of Colusa County, Chester G. Poirier has made good as a farmer and hortienlturist, and since 1905 has been operating the home place with success. He has had a varied experience in business lines. For a time he was a traveling sales- man for a wholesale grocery honse in San Francisco; after the 33
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death of his father he conducted the Riverside Hotel in Colusa; and now he is carrying on a successful business as an orchardist and farmer, operating the old Poirier ranch, seven miles north of Colusa.
The Poirier family is of French extraction. The ancestors migrated to Quebec, Canada; and some of their descendants have moved thence to the United States. Chester's father, R. Poirier, was born in Montreal, Canada, May 1, 1832, and came with his parents, in 1840, to St. Louis, Mo., where he clerked in a store. In 1856 he crossed the plains with ox teams, arriving in Sacra- mento on September 14, 1856. He was engaged as a hatter until 1860, when he took charge of the commissary department of a Sacramento River steamer. In 1863 he secured the management of the eating department on several of the largest river steamers. In 1882 he bought the Colusa House, leasing it until March 17, 1884, when he took charge. He owned the building, and for twenty-six years ran it as a first-class hotel, in the meantime becoming widely and favorably known to the traveling public. In 1885 he bought a ranch, and in 1887 set out fifty acres of prunes. This orchard has been a steady bearer ever since, and is one of the best in the county. He died in 1901, at the age of sixty-eight. His wife was in maidenhood Alphonsine La Port, a native of Troy, N. Y., and a descendant of a prominent French family. She is still living. Mr. and Mrs. Poirier had four chil- dren: Edmund, Arthur, Chester G., and Florine.
Chester G. Poirier was born in Sacramento, April 10, 1880, and received his education in Colusa, leaving the high school to care for the orchard on the home ranch. After the death of his father he began to look after the diversified interests he had left. For a time he carried on the Colusa House; and in 1905 he leased the home place, which he has operated with very good results ever since. On the three hundred twenty aers he has a dairy of twenty-five cows-Guernseys, Jerseys, and Holsteins. One hundred twenty acres are in barley, and fifty in Egyptian corn. To furnish an ample supply of water, Mr. Poirier installed a seventy-five horse-power motor to run his fifteen-inch pump, which yields a flow of eight thousand gallons a minute, with a lift of twenty-two and two-tenths feet. He makes a specialty of horti- culture. Having been trained in the care of fruits and orchards since he was a lad of fourteen years, and having had charge of fifty acres of orchard since he was eighteen years old, he under- stands the business thoroughly ; and he is recognized as one of the best-posted men on horticulture in these parts.
Chester G. Poirier and Miss Leslie Evans were united in mar- riage in Sacramento; and they have two children, Alphonsine and
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Mildred. Mrs. Poirier was born in Grimes, Colusa County. She is a daughter of Joseph and Mary Bell (Graham) Evans, natives of Missouri, who crossed the plains with their parents when young. The father was a large landowner in Colusa County and Lassen County. He died seventeen years ago, in Maxwell. The mother died twenty-five years ago. Mrs. Poirier has been a good helpmate and mother; and with her husband she enjoys the confidence and esteem of an ever-widening circle of friends.
HENRY LEWIS HOUCHINS
The senior member of the firm of H. L. Houchins & Son, proprietors of the Grimes meat market, is one of the popular business men of Colusa County. He was born at Paris, Monroe County, Mo., March 12, 1859, and is the son of Samuel Houchins, whose life-history is also included in this volume. Henry L. Houchins attended the public schools in Missouri, and after coming to Colusa County, Cal., in 1872, completed his education at Pierce Christian College, of College City, meanwhile working on the ranches in the Jacinto district of what is now Glenn County. After leaving college in 1879, he ranched for a year, and then en- tered the butcher shop of P. Hannum in College City. Here he drove the wagon for nine years, and learned the trade of butcher during the time he was in the shop. In 1889 Mr. Hannum opened a branch shop in Grimes; and so satisfactory had been the work of his assistant, that he was sent there as manager of the shop, and in 1893, upon the death of Mr. Hannum, he became sole proprietor. He had been very industrious and saving, and had the money with which to enter into business when the oppor- tunity offered. By square dealing, courteous treatment, and promptness in meeting all obligations, Mr. Houchins has taken a place in the front rank of the estimable business men of Colusa County.
Mr. Houchins began at the bottom of the ladder, driving a butcher wagon throughout the country from College City, and then assumed the management of the branch at Grimes. He saved his money, and was able to buy the shop he now owns, after the death of his former employer. As his business expanded, he made new additions to his place, until in 1913 he erected a new building on the corner with concrete floors and modern appoint- ments. In the cold-storage plant the refrigerating is accom- plished by a two-and-one-half-ton Cyclops ice machine. When
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his son Claude L. was old enough to enter business, Mr. Houchins made him a partner in the market; and they buy and ship cattle, hogs and sheep in connection with their retail business. The hogs are shipped principally by boat, but the sheep and cattle are sent by rail from Grimes. In addition to his other interests, Mr. Houchins has a splendid fifty-acre alfalfa ranch near Grimes.
The first marriage of Mr. Houchins united him with Miss Mattie Hannum, and resulted in the birth of two children: Claude L., associated with his father in business; and a daughter Leah, who died in childhood. After the death of his first wife, Mr. Houchins was again married, to Miss Lillian Whipple, born in Sacramento County; and they had three children: Helen and Betty, and a son Clifford, who died at seven years of age. Mr. Houchins is a Democrat, and has been a member of the County Central Committee. He is an Odd Fellow, a Past Grand of Grand Island Lodge, No. 266. He has a wide circle of acquaintances throughout the Sacramento Valley, who esteem him for his straightforwardness and integrity.
SAMUEL HOUCHINS
When the late Samuel Houchins passed on to his reward, one of the stanch upbuilders of California answered the final roll- call. When the tide of emigration began to drift from Kentucky into Missouri, this worthy man determined to become one of the pioneers of the new territory. He was a member of an honored family of the Blue Grass State, and a cultured and highly edu- cated gentleman. After his settlement in Missouri he taught school for years, and later conducted a successful general mer- chandise store at Granville, in that state, and became a promi- nent man of affairs.
Through the influence of friends Mr. Honchins was induced to migrate to the Pacific Coast; and in 1872 we find him on a ranch in the Jacinto district, in what is now Glenn County. His superior qualifications soon attracted the attention of the citizens of the county, and he was prevailed upon to become a candidate for the office of superintendent of schools of Colusa County, to which he was elected by a large majority. He moved his family to Colusa and entered upon the duties of the office, and for the · following seven years did his best to build up the school system, in the interest of the rising generation. After his retirement from the office, he went to Los Angeles and spent two years in the abstract business, after which he again returned to Colusa
Mr & Mrs Vom F. Sites
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County and taught school for one year. He was then elected county auditor, and continued in office until 1892, when he died.
Samuel Houchins married Belinda Burks, a native of Ken- tucky, who died in Colusa County. Their children were Annie, Mrs. J. W. Crutcher, of Williams; Ed A., of Colusa; Emma, Mrs. Heitman, of Berkeley; Henry L., of Grimes, who is men- tioned at length on another page of this work; Carrie, the widow of E. T. Crane, of Colusa; and Gertrude J., of San Francisco. Mr. Houchins was a stanch Democrat. Fraternally, he was a Mason. An earnest worker in the Christian Church, and a man whom it was an honor to call a friend, he left to his descendants the heritage of an untarnished name.
WILLIAM FRANKLIN SITES
A man of much enterprise and force of character, who has been a resident of Colusa County since September, 1876, William Franklin Sites was born near Augusta, St. Charles County, Mo., September 9, 1852. He is a son of Henry and Annie Catherine (Nadler) Sites, natives of Hesse-Nassau, Germany, who migrated to Missouri and located on a farm in St. Charles County, where they followed agricultural pursuits until they died. Of the family, seven children grew to maturity, as follows: Elizabeth, Mrs. Lowenhaupt, who resides in Augusta, Mo .; Eliza, Mrs. Grumbke, who died in Missouri; Minnie, Mrs. Slafe, living in St. Louis; Louis, who died in Missouri; Annette, who became the wife of Henry Brune and died in Missouri; Charles, accidentally killed in Missouri; and William, of this review. Another son, John, born of his father's first marriage, was the founder of the town of Sites, in Colusa County, where he died.
William Franklin Sites was reared on a farm in St. Charles County, Mo., and was educated in the public schools; but on ac- count of the Civil War his opportunities were very limited. Farm hands were very scarce, and he was put to work out on farms, re- ceiving as wages only eight dollars a month, which went to his mother until he was twenty years of age.
In 1872 he made his way westward, stopping for a time in Colorado, where he was employed as a farm hand near Cañon City, until the following spring. He then turned his attention to mining and prospecting at Mt. Lincoln, near the Alma Smelter, and later was employed at Oroville, near what is now the city of Leadville. In the fall of 1873 he came to Eureka, Nev., and for three months drove an eighteen-mule team. When his employer
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failed, the team was siezed by creditors; and all Mr. Sites received for his three months' wages was the eighteen mule blankets. He burned charcoal during the winter of 1873-1874; but when spring came, the mines in Eureka closed down, and he was obliged to sell the thirteen hundred dollars' worth of charcoal for two hundred fifty dollars. With the money he came to California in 1876, join- ing his brother John at Sites, and working for him at farming and stock-raising.
In 1879, with his savings, he purchased a farming ontfit, and leased land from his brother-the farm he now owns, by the way, and where he resides. Here, on a thousand acres, he engaged in raising grain, his outfit soon growing to three big teams. Mean- time he bought a ranch of seven hundred sixty acres north of Sites, which he operated in connection with the leased land, and which he kept until 1914, when he sold it. In 1903 he purchased his present ranch. He continued to raise grain and stock, and met with good success. As he prospered, and as opportunity offered, he purchased adjoining land, until he now owns forty-four hun- dred acres in one body lying about in the center of Antelope Val- ley. It is a fine tract of land, well fenced and improved. The rich soil is watered by Antelope Creek and by numerous springs. From one of the springs water is piped half a mile to the house, where it is used for domestic purposes. Mr. Sites also has a splendid well, with a good pumping plant. In September, 1914, his residence was destroyed by fire, causing a heavy loss, which included some valuable relies he had accumulated during the many years of his residence here. This house has been replaced by a comfortable modern residence.
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