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 62
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 62
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In 1889, Mr. MeVay was married to Miss Annie V. Clarke, a native of Ontario, Canada, who came to Colifornia with her father, Nicholas Clarke, in 1886, at the beginning of the great boom. Nicholas Clarke was an Englishman by birth. In Canada he had been a school-teacher, a prominent merchant, and the clerk of his township; and after coming to Colusa County, also, he took an active part in public affairs. Mr. Clarke bought the Blodgett place, which he successfully farmed. He died in 1899, the father of seven children. Mr. and Mrs. McVay were the parents of two sons and three daughters: Herbert R., Marjorie and Mildred (twins, the latter deceased), Dorothy, and Joseph Edwin, Jr. As a public-spirited citizen, Mr. McVay was a school trustee; and as a practical professing Christian, he was a steward of the Metho- dist Church South. He belonged to the Foresters and to the Colusa Lodge of Masons.
Since the death of her husband, Mrs. McVay, who is acknowl- edged as a woman of exceptional business ability, has success- fully managed the ranch, in addition to completing her residence, which had just been started at the time of her husband's death. She has also bought three hundred acres of adjoining land, and now owns some eight hundred acres in very desirable locations. A large part of this estate is rented out to others; but she has reserved a portion, on which she raises cattle and hogs, and in the management of this particular enterprise her business ability is well demonstrated.
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REV. FATHER P. A. GREALY
Fitting it is, indeed, that in this state first developed by the Spanish Fathers other faithful and zealous toilers of the Catholic Church should still find fields to be tilled, and harvests to be gath- ered at the end of the season of labor. One of the devoted and. enlightened priests of this great church organization is the Rev. Father P. A. Grealy, the present pastor of St. Monica's Catholic Church at Willows, who was born in Ireland, November 1, 1866, and began at an early date to study for the ministry. He went to St. Mels College, Longford, in his native county, and then to All- Hallow's College at Dublin, where, in 1891, he was ordained a priest.
The same year he came to the United States, and to Califor- nia, and entered on his first church work as assistant pastor of the Catholic Cathedral, of Sacramento. At the end of a year he was made the assistant pastor of the Catholic Church in Woodland, and afterwards he went to Grass Valley, Nevada County, where he served six years. When he returned to Woodland, he became pas- tor of the Church of the Holy Rosary. He started the fund for the erection of the new edifice; and before he left that parochial charge, he had raised seven thousand six hundred dollars toward that undertaking. The Woodland church has since been built, and is a splendid monument to all concerned in its erection. While Father Grealy was faithfully performing his duties at Woodland, the Catholic school there was under his charge; and his influence in raising its standard is perceptible today.
In 1911, Father Grealy came to Willows; and since then he has been the much-beloved and very efficient pastor of St. Monica's Catholic Church. Besides attending to his onerous duties here, he holds services twice a month in Orland and once a month in Hamilton City. At considerable expense he has enlarged the church building in Willows, and remodeled the interior, for his rapidly growing parish made the changes necessary. He arranged, also, for the erection of a modern two-story priests' residence, which was built in 1917.
Father Grealy is a member of the Knights of Columbus, of Sacramento; and he enjoys also that more intimate fraternity of the faithful pastor, whereby he holds fellowship in the hearts and affections of all his flock.
St. Monica's Catholic Church of Willows was erected in 1878 by Rev. Father M. Wallrath; and it was he who organized the Roman Catholics residing in Glenn County at that time. He remained in
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charge until 1884. The first Catholic services in Willows were held in the little conrt room of Squire Carloff. The early mission- aries who visited Willows before it secured a resident pastor were Fathers Onbert, MeGrath and Petit. The pastor in charge from 1892 to 1893 was Rev. Father F. A. Reynolds. The Rev. Father M. Wallrath was born in Prussia in 1841, and came to the United States in 1866. He entered the seminary of St. Mary's of the West in Cincinnati, and came to California first in 1871; and in that same year he was ordained a priest. In 1877 he took charge of the church in Colnsa, the Church of the Immaculate Conception, everywhere favorably known for its good work. He built for the community a brick church; and, as stated, he built the church at Willows. In 1882 he erected the Church of the Sacred Heart at Maxwell, and in 1884 St. Dominick's Church in Orland. Eight years later, through his untiring efforts, the Church of the Incar- nation was put up at Williams; and in 1899 he built the Holy Cross Church of Arbuckle. He also erected the Holy Ghost Church at Sites, in 1904-1905. Father Wallrath has thus contrib- uted much to the upbuilding of California; and his name will al- ways be associated with the history of her religions growth and accomplishment.
JOHN PRICE
Whatever of success has come to John Price, another of the pioneer settlers of the Golden State and of Glenn Connty, has been gained through his own exertions, for he started in life a poor boy, and by his industrious habits and strict integrity of character has won a place for himself in the community and in the esteem of his fellow citizens. When he settled in this part of the state, it was an nndeveloped wilderness of prairie and plain; and he has been an interested witness and a participator in its growth and progress.
A native of Tennessee, John Price first saw the light of day on October 18, 1840, in Giles Connty. He was a son of John and Winifred (Taylor) Price, who were born in North Carolina. The former died in 1857, and the latter in 1852. He received what education was possible in the pioneer schools of his community, where the teacher was paid by subscription. At the age of six- teen, he started across the plains in a train of forty people with a drove of cattle to Salt Lake, finishing the journey in five months and eighteen days. Upon his arrival in September, 1857, he had but one dollar and fifty cents as his cash assets. He located for a time in Plumas County, and some months later, in August,
John Delpago
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1858, moved over into Colusa County and leased land on the Parrott grant, which he operated with success. In 1872, he located in what is now Glenn County, which at that time was a part of Colusa County, for the division had not yet been made. He had saved some money, and with it he located on the east side of the river, and bought a quarter section of land. As he succeeded he added to his holdings, acquiring three hundred twenty acres, upon which he raised grain, cattle, sheep and hogs, and met with more than an ordinary degree of success. The improvements placed on the ranch were of his own making, and with the passing of the years he developed a fine property, as well as building up an enviable reputation for himself.
In the fall of 1874, Mr. Price married Lydia (Bassett) Anderson, who came to California across the plains in 1865; and of this union five children were born : Frank, deceased; William W., who married Olive Owen, and has two sons, Grayson and Eldon ; Earl; Jessie, who died at the age of six years, in 1888; and John, who married Jessie Willis and has one child, Robert. Mr. Price is a Democrat in his political affiliations on national issues; but in local matters he supports the man rather than the party. He takes an especial interest in political matters, and has served several times as a delegate to the county conventions. Mrs. Price is a member of the Christian Church of Butte City.
JOHN DELPAPA
Among the agriculturists and horticulturists who are making a success, and advancing and developing the natural resources of Colusa County, is Jolm Delpapa. A native of Central Italy, he was born in Tuscany, near the celebrated town of Lucca, on August 4, 1869; and from young manhood he has worked his own way in the world. He attended the schools of his native land, receiving a good education, and meantime, from a lad, assisted on his father's farm until he was twenty years old. Besides the farm, his father, Francisco Delpapa, owned several lime-kilns; and these occupied most of his time. These kilns had been built by grand- father Ranieari Delpapa, who, with John, tilled the farm while Francisco tended the kilns, which are still being used. Francisco Delpapa married Beatrice Bigongiari; and they had ten children, four now living: John, of this review; Emil, who married Cesira Bertolucci, and is employed by his brother John; Antoinette, wife of Vincenzo Donati; and Olympia, who is unmarried and lives at home with her parents. At the age of seventy-four and seventy-
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seven the parents are still hale and hearty, and are enjoying their old age in their Italian home.
John Delpapa had read of the opportunities offered in Cali- fornia, and had heard a great deal from some of his countrymen who had been in this state and returned to Italy, and from friends here who had sent letters back home; and he thought he could bet- ter his condition by coming to California. On November 9, 1889, he left his native land; and November 28, Thanksgiving Day, he arrived in San Francisco with just one dollar and fifty cents in his pocket, a stranger in a strange country. He stopped at an Italian hotel and told his story to the good-hearted landlord. He was will- ing to work at anything that offered; and hearing of work to be had in Yolo County, he bought some blankets on credit, told the landlord to charge his hotel bill, and set ont to find Yolo County and the work. He found employment there in a vineyard and winery, and soon paid back what he owed his good friends in San Francisco. After three years of steady work he went to the Napa Valley, where he was employed for one year. In 1893 he went to Sacramento, but in a few days came up to Colusa County and found employment with a market gardener who had his gardens on the Cromer place. In the fall of that year he bought out his employer; and thereafter he conducted the business himself, en- larging his operations and branching ont from year to year. He made a success of the business, and always paid a hundred cents on the dollar.
Having accumulated a considerable sum of money, Mr. Del- papa found himself able to branch out on a still larger scale. He leased one hundred fifteen acres of the Cromer place-upon which, by the way, he has worked ever since he got to Colusa in July, 1893-and also three hundred eighty-five acres from the Moulton Land Co., and began raising wheat, barley and beans. In 1912 he discontinued gardening, to devote his time to horticulture and gen- eral agriculture. In 1916 he put in three hundred twenty-five acres of rice west of Colusa. He bought all the machinery neces- sary to harvest and thresh it, and reaped a good harvest. He has two Deering rice binders and one Case rice thresher, with a 36x48- inch cylinder. During the threshing season he employs some thirty men, while he regularly employs six. In 1917 he put in two hundred fifty acres of beans and two hundred thirty acres of bar- ley, but did not devote any acreage to rice. In addition to his gen- eral farming interests, he has a twenty-acre prune orchard.
Mr. Delpapa has been very successful in his various under- takings; and he has many friends throughout this part of the val- ley, where he is well and favorably known. He is a kind-hearted, considerate, and public-spirited man. Since becoming a citizen, he
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has supported the Democratic party. A brother, Emil, and his wife, reside with Mr. Delpapa, and assist him in looking after the ranch.
ALLEN T. MOORE
Prominent among the successful ranchers in this part of the state who have become authorities on California agriculture, is Allen T. Moore, who was born in Buchanan County, Mo., in 1865. At the age of twenty, he moved westward to Jackson County, Kan .; and there, for four years, he tried his hand at farming. Then, hearing of the greater opportunities in the Golden State, he came to California in 1889, arriving at Willits on February 27. He had only a few cents in his pockets when he alighted from the railway train; but he was possessed of the requisite courage, health and strength, and in a short time had begun the career which has placed him among the successful self-made men of Glenn County.
For a while he worked for wages in Willits; and on Novem- ber 7, 1890, he arrived in Orland. His first employment here was on the I. W. Brownell ranch, where he remained until April 10, 1892. Later, he worked for Simpson Finnell. In February, 1893, he entered into a partnership with B. A. Bell, of Red Bluff, and leased the Gallatin ranch in Tehama County, where they engaged in sheep-raising on a large scale. He was quarter owner in a band of twenty thousand sheep. This partnership was afterwards dis- solved; and Mr. Moore then bought four thonsand sixty acres of W. B. Miller, thirteen miles northwest of Orland, and to that hold- ing he kept adding until he owned six thousand four hundred acres. On this vast range he ran his sheep, cattle and hogs. The sheep were his main interest, and he became known as one of the largest and most successful sheep-raisers in the Sacramento Val- ley. He carried, in fact, abont six thousand head of sheep. On May 5, 1916, he sold his ranch at a fine profit to Mallon & Blevins ; and since then he has lived retired from active business.
When Mr. Moore came into Glenn County, in 1890, he brought with him a small pack of thoroughbred registered fox hounds. He was always a lover of fine dogs, and continued to raise them and increased the number. He still owns a fine pack, probably the best in Northern California. He brought some with him from Missouri, and since 1860 his breed has been registered. He has exhibited at big shows, and in the fall of 1916 he took first, second and third prizes, in their respective classes, at the Bench Show held at Lawson, Mo. He has sold dogs for as high as one hundred
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fifty dollars each ; and he owns some which he values at three hun- dred dollars a head, and which are very naturally not for sale. He has imported dogs from Georgia, Kentucky, Missouri and Ok- lalioma. Ilowever, he no longer deals in dogs, but simply keeps them for his own pleasure.
When Mr. Moore married, he chose for his bride Miss Allie V. Lewis, a native of Tehama County, and a member of one of the well-known pioneer families that helped settle the state. Mr. and Mrs. Moore are the parents of a promising son, Willis. By a for- mer marriage Mr. Moore had another son, Allen E. Mr. Moore is a Royal Arch Mason, and a Knight Templar, at Red Bluff; and he also belongs to the Blue Lodge and the Eastern Star at Orland.
THOMAS JEFFERSON HICKS
One of Orland's early settlers and pioneer business men, T. J. Hicks dates his arrival in California back to 1877. He was born in Scottsville, Elm County, Ky., on June 2, 1850. He was raised in a home of refinement on a plantation, and educated in the acad- emies of the Southland. At the age of nineteen he went to Mis- souri and worked on a farm, sixty miles east of Kansas City. Later he was employed in a mercantile establishment, and taught school to pay his way through college. In 1877 he came to Cali- fornia, to cast his fortunes with the golden West.
After his arrival in the state, Mr. Hicks engaged in teaching school for five years, and then turned his attention to farming and the dairy business in the vicinity of Orland, Glenn County. An opportunity then presenting itself, he engaged in the mercantile business in that city, conducting a growing business until suc- ceeded by his son and Mr. Chaney.
Mr. Hicks was one of the most active men in the irrigation movement under the Wright law. and under the government irri- gation system. For two years he served as secretary of the new organization, doing much to put it on a sound basis. As he pros- pered he bought and improved business property, and built a mod- ern block, in which he was located for years, and which he still owns. Always interested in progressive movements, he served as trustee of the Orland high school for several years. He was the first clerk of the Orland school board, and also served as one of the trustees of the town. He was elected and served as justice of the peace of Orland Township for several years. Prior to his lo- cating in Orland, he served as deputy county assessor of Colnsa County from 1881 to 1886, and took an active part in local politics.
Matickely.
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No movement for the good of the county has been promoted that has not had his support in time and money.
The marriage of Mr. Hicks united him with Roberta Chris- tian, of Missouri. Mr. and Mrs. Hicks have three sons, Wilbur, Byron and Proctor Knott- all able and useful citizens.
M. A. SICKELS
M. A. Sickels was born near Kilbourn, Columbia County, Wis., June 29, 1862, and grew to manhood on a farm. His father, Ephraim Sickels, also a native of that state, was a farmer. He died on September 17, 1865, when his son was only three years old. The mother, whose name, before her marriage, was Margaret Riddle, was born in Ontario, Canada. She kept the little family together, working hard against heavy odds to rear and educate her children. By her amiable disposition and kindly nature she en- deared herself to her relatives and her many friends. She lived to the age of seventy years, three months and three days, dying in Kilbourn, Wis., June 10, 1910.
M. A. Sickels was the eldest of four children. He attended the district schools until he was old enough to go to work to help his mother. When he was thirteen, he started out for himself, working on farms in Dane County, Wis., beginning at six dollars and fifty cents per month. At the end of the first six months he had saved twenty-six dollars ont of his wages. At the age of eighteen he left farm work and took a place in a cheese factory at Milford, Jefferson County, Wis .; and later, with F. E. Allen, he engaged in manufacturing cheese and butter at Waukesha, Wis., and met with success in that venture.
From Wisconsin Mr. Sickels came to California, locating in Oakland, where lie sold butter and cheese at retail until 1909. He then sold out and came to Colusa County, where he found a good opening in his line; and since that date he has done much to build up the dairy interests of the entire Sacramento Valley. He owns a fine eighty-acre alfalfa farm south of Colusa, and has it stocked with pure-bred Jerseys and Guernseys. He is proprietor and owner of the Colusa Butter Co .; and from his factory he sup- plies the home trade with butter and cheese, besides selling direct to the retailers in the Bay cities and other places. His brand, "Sickels Pasteurized Butter," denotes quality of the very highest standard. The following extract, relative to Mr. Sickels' dairy, is copied from the Sacramento Bee, of March 24, 1917: "The record- holding Jersey bull, Jacoba's Emanon 84177, owned by M. A. Sick- els of the Colusa Butter Co., has been sold to Dr. H. W. Hand, of
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Willows. The bull was purchased in the East last summer by Sickels, and shipped to this city [Colusa]. Dr. Hand is the owner of a fine Jersey herd near Willows, and will use the bull in bring- ing his stock to a pure-bred plane."
While attending the Department of Agriculture at the Uni- versity of Wisconsin, Mr. Sickels became intimately acquainted with such men as Professor Henry, the dean of the Department of Agriculture of the University at Madison, and Dr. Babcock, origi- nator of the Babcock standard test for determining the amount of butter fat in milk. Mr. Sickels also numbers among his close friends the late Jeremiah Rusk, ex-Governor of Wisconsin and for- merly United States Secretary of Agriculture, and ex-Governor W. D. Hoard, O. S. Cornish, D. W. Curtis, Senator Walter S. Greene, and others.
Through his knowledge of dairying and his years of experi- ence in manufacturing dairy products, Mr. Sickels has gained a wide and intimate acquaintance with farmers and dairymen throughout the valley, with whom he cooperates, helping them to procure good cows. He furnishes milch cows to them on butter- fat payments; and has already sold two thousand cows on that basis. He operates the Willows Creamery and a cheese factory at Gridley, furnishing cows to the dairymen in those localities on the above-named basis. Mr. Sickels makes trips back East to Wiscon- sin and Michigan, where he purchases pure-bred Jersey and Guernsey stock, which he ships to California in car-load lots. The pay roll for his three factories ranges from twenty thousand dol- lars to twenty-five thousand dollars per month. He is agent for. the Simplex and Vega Separators, and is a member of the Guern- sey Club of California. His son, Delos M. Sickels, is associated with him in business. Mr. Sickels is a "booster" for California, and is interested in every movement for its upbuilding. He has made his own way in the world since he was thirteen years old; and he is recognized, by all who know him, as an enterprising man and an upbuilder of the country.
GEORGE MONROE AND MARTHA JANE POTTS
In the year 1869, a lad of fifteen appeared in Colusa County, who had come from far-off Illinois with his mother and stepfather, arriving in California on November 22. This lad was George Monroe Potts. He was born near Jamestown, Clinton County, on February 6, 1854, and had the advantages of a common-school ed- ucation up to the time he came West. Wishing to finish his school-
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ing, he returned to Illinois in 1870, and attended Carlisle College until the winter of 1871. He then returned to California to join the family, arriving the second time on January 2, 1872. He was anxious to make a success in life, and took the first position of- fered, that of a clerk in a hardware store in Colusa, where he worked four years. He later operated a grocery store for himself. For three years he served as deputy marshal of Colusa under J. T. Arnold, and afterwards was deputy under Sheriff James How- ard for two years. For some time he teamed from Princeton to the settlement of Willows, where he finally took up his residence, bringing his wife to the place on June 7, 1877. He was favorably known in the community, and was elected constable in 1882, serv- ing in that capacity until he was made town marshal, upon the in- corporation of the city in 1885. He also served four years as jus- tice of the peace of Willows. He has been an important factor in the political life of the county and has been actively interested in all good works for the advancement of the county and city. Mr. Potts is a valued member of the Knights of Pythias and has nearly always held some office in the lodge.
In 1874 was celebrated the marriage that united George M. Potts with Miss Martha Jane Stormer, mention of whose family is made on another page of this work. She came to Willows with her husband in 1877, and ever since that date has been a factor in the commercial life of the city. In 1890 she opened the first bak- ery in town, on Walnut Street, in the rear of the present site of the Bank of Willows building. Her equipment consisted of four large stoves, with an oven capacity of ten loaves each. She did all the work herself, and added to her labors and her income by running an ice cream and refreshment parlor. In those days ice cream sold for twenty-five cents a dish, and was considered a lux- ury. One day a fire visited that section of the town and burned all except her establishment. The business section then moved a block further south; and so, to be in a good location, Mrs. Potts moved to South Tehama Street, just below the Crawford Hotel, and there continued her bakery business, with its side issue of ice cream and other refreshments. She had bought the property to which she moved and was prospering nicely, when another fire wiped out this section of the town, and her establishment with it. Nothing dannted, however, she at once rebuilt two brick buildings. She equipped a modern bakery to carry on her growing business, and still maintained the ice cream parlor, besides conducting a room- ing house in the second story. Her hard work insured her success, and after carrying on the business a number of years she finally sold out to good advantage and retired. She still owns the build- ings on Tehama Street, and also has stock in the Stormer Land
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