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 80
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 80
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In 1912 Mr. St. Louis started in the commission business, buying and selling poultry for the San Francisco market. Since
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then he has represented the commission houses of John F. Corriea, Charles Campodonico Company, J. Garbini Company and the Crown Commission Company, all of San Francisco. On January 15, 1917, he opened a branch commission house for Charles Corriea & Bro., of San Francisco, at the corner of Butte and Walnut Streets in Willows. He is now representing in this enterprise the largest concern of its kind in the northern metropolis. In addition, during the fishing season, he handles all the fish caught in the Sacramento River in this section of Glenn County, which are shipped to San Francisco and Sacramento. Of late years Mr. St. Louis has become the most extensive shipper of turkeys in Glenn County. In 1916 he sent to San Francisco over seventeen thousand birds, besides exporting thousands of coops of poultry. In the early fall he travels all over the northern part of the valley, compiling data as to the numbers of turkeys available and making his contracts with the raisers. He has met with more than ordinary success in this enterprise.
On June 30, 1912, Mr. St. Louis was married to Miss Sophia Glenn, a native of Paint Rock, Concho County, Texas, and a daughter of G. P. Glenn, now a resident of Willows. Of this mar- riage two children have been born, Glenn Harrison and Selma Ray.
EDWARD F. HALE
How, so to speak, a giant oak in the business world has grown from a small and unpretentious acorn, is demonstrated in the rapid and substantial development of the Orland Creamery, whose presi- dent and general manager is Edward F. Hale. His father was Titus Hale, a native of Missouri, who came across the great plains in 1849 with an ox team, when he was only seventeen years of age. Settling in the northern part of the state, and later moving to Santa Cruz County, where Edward was born, Titus Hale ran a dairy, and also became interested in railroad building. He became a prominent man in his section, and in time controlled large interests in the neighborhood. After that he lived at Rio Vista, in Solano County, Cal., where he owned and tilled a large tract of land. He is now retired, and lives in comfort at Oakland, taking a live interest in pioneer matters, and especially in the Society of California Pio- neers. For fourteen years he was a director of this organization, and for two years he held the office of president.
Educated at the public schools in his district, Edward F. Hale lived on his father's ranch near Watsonville until he was fourteen years of age, when he went to Solano County and worked in his
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father's dairy at Rio Vista. In 1902, he came to Glenn County and started a small creamery in Orland; and from this humble begin- ning has grown the fine and thoroughly up-to-date Orland Cream- ery of today. During the first year of its business the creamery was supported by ten patrons, who took their cream to the plant to be made into butter. At that time about two hundred pounds of butter a day was turned out. This product has gradually increased; and in 1910 the Orland Creamery Company was formed, with the following directors: President and general manager, Edward F. Hale; vice-president, Leonard Boot; secretary, J. E. Faltings; directors, David Brown and J. M. Leonard. A reinforced concrete building was erected in 1912, and fully equipped for the enterprise. There is a cold storage department, forty by eighty feet in size. For the three hundred and odd patrons now sending their cream to the plant, over two thousand pounds of butter is made per day.
Mr. Hale has become one of the most experienced dairymen in this part of the state. He buys and sells dairy cattle, and has sixty-five acres of land planted mostly to alfalfa, and another ranch of three hundred six acres devoted to dairy purposes, on which he has a herd of seventy cows. The most improved apparatus is everywhere used, both in the creamery and on his ranches. All the milking, for example, is done by machine. Not only has Mr. Hale been wide-awake to the development of his own interests and those of the creamery he represents, but he has done much to advance dairy affairs in the Orland district.
In 1895 Edward F. Hale married Miss Louise Leslie, a charm- ing lady of San Francisco, by whom he has had three children. Martha and Florence are both graduates of the San Francisco Girls' High School, and are now students at the San Francisco Normal School; and Edward F., Jr., attends the San Francisco Polytechnic.
JOHN THOMAS
A man who, in his time, has played many parts, and each one well, is John Thomas, the agent of the Northern California Power Company, and for twelve years the popular and efficient constable of Orland. Born at Mansfield, Ohio, February 2, 1865, he moved with the family when he was a hoy of six years to Jackson County, Mo., and there grew to manhood. His father was a wagon-maker, and he learned his father's trade. In 1886, he arrived in California and went to work as a ranchman near Newville, in what is now Glenn County. Three years later he turned to the liquor business at Paskenta and in Orland; but finding that unsatisfactory, he
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afterwards worked as a carpenter in the northern part of the state. On his return to Orland, he followed various lines of occupation. He had a bicycle shop, made wagons, and busied himself with repairing.
Associating himself with the Northern California Power Com- pany in 1904, he became the company's local manager, and at the same time devoted himself to other interests. He has sold hard- ware and electrical appliances, photographie supplies and similar commodities, and has managed a butcher shop. At one time he owned a ranch of one hundred acres, eight miles west of Orland, the same being a part of the Hall ranch. This he devoted to cattle and the raising of fruit: He set out apricots and prunes, and bought and sold cattle in the market. In October, 1916, however, he sold his ranch. The butcher shop was conducted under the firm name of Thomas & Church, Quality Butchers.
For a number of years Mr. Thomas has been engaged in com- mercial photography, and has made an enviable reputation through taking outside views in Glenn County and in the mountains of Northern California. He is an expert in this line, and has a fine collection of California subjects. He has also given nmuch of his time to installing irrigation and pumping plants, and electrical machinery, and also to selling gas engines, acting as agent for Fairbanks, Morse & Company; and so successful has he been in this latter field, that he has sold more gas engines than any other man in the company's employ north of San Francisco. While a genuine hustler personally, he is also a real booster for Glenn County.
John Thomas was united in marriage with Miss Alice L. Templeton, a native of Michigan. Two children, both daughters- Helene and Genevieve-have blessed this union. Mrs. Thomas is a member of the Eastern Star, and of the Women's Improvement Club of Orland. Mr. Thomas is a popular member of the Odd Fellows Lodge, and also of the Masons.
SILAS D. MINTON
Among the younger business men of Orland is Mr. Minton, proprietor of the gasoline and supply station north of the town, on the state highway. He was born in Lawrence, Kans., December 17, 1884, and accompanied his parents to California. They located in Los Angeles for a time, and while there Silas attended the public schools for two years. He finished the grammar school in Willows, whither his parents had moved. He was familiar with
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farm work, and for a time worked with his father, afterwards leasing some land on the J. R. Talbot ranch near Willows, where for six years he farmed on a large scale, using three eight-mule teams to carry on his farm work, and meeting with uniform snecess. Having decided to make a change, however, he went to Orland, and with his brother Ernest opened an oil station north of the town. They bought a strip of land, one third of an acre, along the highway, erected a wooden building, and put in a supply station for autos passing on the highway. The original building was burned, but was soon replaced by a concrete one, modern in all its appointments.
August 1, 1916, the partnership of the Minton brothers was dissolved, Silas succeeding to the ownership. In this enter- prise Mr. Minton has built up a good business. Besides supply- ing the automobile trade passing the place, he runs a supply car to the country, taking orders and delivering gasoline in fifty-gallon and one-hundred-gallon lots, handling the products of the Asso- ciated Oil Company. Through his courteous treatment of all, he has won success in his venture; and he is continually looking ahead for improvements in his line.
Mr. Minton married Monica St. Louis, who was born in Colusa County, of pioneer parents; and they have four children: Ber- nardine, Delmar, Margaret, and Mary. Although new settlers in Orland, Mr. Minton and his wife have a wide acquaintance in Glenn County, and are prominent in social circles.
CHARLES ADOLPHUS ARVEDSON
To those who have succeeded in life solely by their own efforts, much credit is due, and of such Charles A. Arvedson, of College City, Colusa County, is an example worthy in every way of the success which has come to him through years of hard work, econom- ical habits, self-confidence and excellent business acumen. He was born at Algonquin, MeHenry County, Ill., on July 9, 1857. His parents were Peter and Hannah Adelia (Cornish) Arvedson. The father was a native of Sweden, and was born on August 22, 1822; the mother was a native of Michigan, and her birth was chronicled on October 5, 1831. Both parents are now deceased. Peter Arvedson came to America when nineteen years old, and settled near Algonquin, III., where he eventually owned and operated a farm. To this worthy couple, twelve children were born.
Owing to the size of his parents' family, Charles Adolphus Arvedson was obliged to begin working at the early age of eight.
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His education was of necessity very meager, being limited to the winter terms of the public school in his district, since his work for wages required nine months of each year. When sixteen years of age, he came to California and engaged in working for his unele, George Cornish, who owned a ranch near Clarksburg, Yolo County. He continued to work out by the month until 1877. In 1877 he rented his uncle's farm; and during the following year he was married to Miss Ella Eldora Strohecker, a native of Iowa. He moved to College City in 1882, and worked out by the month until 1884, when he rented the Tom Botts farm of one hundred sixty acres, a part of the four-hundred-fifty-acre ranch now being oper- ated by him, which is rented from J. H. Balsdon, of Colnsa.
About five years ago Mr. Arvedson purchased a ranch of one hundred sixty acres in the Hurlton precinct, Butte County, which he rents to his nephew, George F. Reeves, a son of his sister, Mrs. Sophia Reeves, widow of the late Benjamin Franklin Reeves. At the present time he is having a fine eight-room country residence built on this fruit ranch. Through his untiring energy and capable business management, Mr. Arvedson is making a splendid success as a farmer at College City; and in all of his endeavors he is greatly assisted by his capable wife, who is a true helpmeet.
Mr. and Mrs. Arvedson have been blessed with two children: Edith C., who is at home with her parents; and Clarence E., who is a traction engineer. Mr. Arvedson's career is a striking illus- tration of what can be accomplished in Colusa County by a young man withont means, providing he is endowed with a reliable char- acter and good health, possesses untiring energy, practices strict economy, and gives close attention to the many details incident to the life of a successful rancher. He is out of debt, and is now enjoying the prosperity which he so justly merits. Mr. and Mrs. Arvedson are highly esteemed by the community in which they live.
JOHN B. HAZELTON
In reading the life-story of John B. Hazleton, proprietor of the flourishing Hazleton Lumber Company, of Orland, one is reminded of how many persons threatened with early demise, but destined to live for years and accomplish much well worth the while, have found their physical and mental salvation by removing to California, where they could enjoy its salubrious climate. Born in Michigan, December 15, 1869, he was the son of Thaddeus Hazelton, a native of New York, who married Miss Hannah
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McGinnis, a daughter of Erin's Green Isle. His father had settled in Canada when four years old, and growing up, married there. When he was twenty-two years old, however, he aban- doned the Dominion and moved over into Michigan, where he remained for the rest of his life.
John B. Hazelton was reared on a farm, from which he attended the local public schools. When he was old enough to do hard manual labor, he learned the carpenter's trade; and soon . put his cleverness to the test, getting out his own lumber and building a house on his father's farm near Memphis, St. Clair County. For a while after that he worked at his trade; but he soon took to farming, securing for himself a little tract of ninety acres. There he had a small dairy, and made butter of such qual- ity that he got the same price for his product the year around.
Unfortunately, however, he was taken sick, perhaps because of the severity of the weather, in the face of which one must prose- cute such work in the East. Like thousands of others whose health has broken under the exposure of the rigorous Eastern climate, he packed up everything and made for California as the most promising place for his recuperation. He settled in Orland, on January 12, 1902, and its climate proved to have a beneficial effect upon his health from the time of his arrival here. Nowhere, perhaps, could one find a better illustration of what Orland has to offer to those who would live long and hale.
Once settled here, Mr. Hazleton engaged in contracting and building. This enterprise he prosecuted in Orland and vicinity for several years, and also bought and sold real estate. Later, he entered the employ of the Brown & Doane Lumber Company, about the time it was established in 1911; and when he had thor- oughly mastered this new field, he was made manager of the con- cern. In August, 1916, he purchased the plant and named it the Hazleton Lumber Company, of Orland-a fortunate move both for himself and his patrons, as his constantly increasing business well demonstrates. Familiar with the needs of the community he has attempted to serve, and well posted as to the sources of supply and the available markets, Mr. Hazleton is able, if anyone is, to fill any order or meet any emergency.
On June 9, 1891, John B. Hazleton and Miss Addie M. Davis, of Michigan, were married. Two children-Earl J., who is with his father in business. and Marjorie May-have blessed this union. Mrs. Hazleton is a valued member of the Women's Im- provement Club of Orland; while Mr. Hazleton is a Past Noble Grand of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and a Past Worthy Counsel of the Woodmen of the World. In public affairs,
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Mr. Hazleton has proved not only a good citizen but an efficient leader. He has served as clerk of the school board of Orland; and he was town trustee on the first board elected in 1909, when Orland was incorporated.
MRS. BELLE DOUVILLE
Since 1875 Mrs. Belle Douville has lived in California. She came here with her brother, Jack F. Simpson, and their parents, Isaac and Lucretia (Frong) Simpson, when she was fifteen years of age. Her father was born on December 3, 1828, and after a useful life, crowded into sixty-nine years, passed away on January 3, 1898. Belle Simpson was born in Kentucky, but passed her girlhood in Tennessee, where she attended the public schools at Carthage, Smith County, whence she came to their new home in California. The family settled at South Butte, Sutter County, and there she finished her schooling. On November 23, 1887, she mar- ried Eugene Douville at Sutter City. Mr. Donville was born in Milwaukee, Wis., January 8, 1863, and was brought to this state when an infant, so that practically his whole life was spent in California. Here he received his education and grew to manhood. After their marriage, being anxious to get a home of their own, Mr. Douville accepted a position as foreman of the Wood ranch in Colusa County. Here his wife did the cooking for nine men, besides caring for her son. Mr. and Mrs. Donville invested their savings in town lots in Meridian, where they erected a comfortable house. He was eager to get a larger place, and continued his con- nection with the Wood ranch until 1909, when he was enabled to buy twenty acres, which they improved and made their home. Mr. Douville was privileged to enjoy their home for only a short time, for on June 10, 1910, he passed away, leaving his wife and one son, George Earl.
In 1914, George Earl Douville was married to Gertrude Bruce, daughter of Rev. Henry M. Bruce, pastor of the Methodist Church South, at Selma, Cal. He is now leasing the ranch from his mother, and is prospering in his work. He has a dairy of seven cows, four acres in prunes, and a fine family garden and orchard. They own twenty shares in the Roberts Irrigation Company, thus enabling them to irrigate every foot of their land. At the state fair in 1914- 1915, Mrs. Douville took first prize for her Elberta free-stone peaches.
After the death of her husband Mrs. Douville sold their prop- erty in Meridian, and lifted the mortgage from her twenty acres,
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which is now free from incumbrance. Besides rearing her son, Mrs. Douville raised a nephew, Clarence Virgil Simpson, whose mother died when he was a babe. For the past three years, since he was seventeen, he has been in the employ of the American Ex- press Company in San Francisco. By those who know her, Mrs. Douville is looked upon as a good manager. She is a member of the Methodist Church South, and is a public-spirited woman, always ready to do her share in the promotion of movements for the benefit of the people and the county. Politically, she is a Democrat.
ALBERT HENRY JOHNSEN
The senior member of the firm of Johnsen & Richter, pro- pietors of the Pioneer Market, of Colusa, has shown marked ability as a stock buyer. Mr. Johnsen is well known all over the Sacra- mento Valley, having catered to the public in Colusa for twenty- nine years as a meat dealer, and is firmly established in the com- mercial circles of the county. Besides the building and shop, he also owns ten acres adjoining the city on the west, upon which is located the up-to-date slaughter house, erected in 1917. This structure is twenty-eight by thirty-eight by twenty-three feet in dimensions, and has concrete floors, killing bed, modern hoisting machinery with conveying tracks into the chill room, and thence to the refrigerating room, where meats can be kept at a low tem- perature any number of days. On this land also is located the hog house, which has eight pens of twenty head capacity each; and the grain house, with its grinding machinery run by electric power. The establishment is equipped with two cooling plants; and three trucks are used for making deliveries in city and country. For thirty-three years Mr. Johnsen has bought hogs for Miller & Lux in San Francisco, supplying them from eight to ten thousand head annually. He bnys the hogs and feeds them until they are in proper condition to ship, and then hauls them to the river for shipment by boat to San Francisco. He also buys sheep, keeping the ewes and sending the wethers to various packing houses in San Francisco.
Albert Henry Johnsen was born in Schleswig-Holstein, Ger- many, December 7, 1854. His father, William Johnsen, was a carpenter and builder, living his entire life in that province. His mother, Catherine Vose, was also born there. There were ten children in the family, of whom four sisters are in Chicago, one brother is a farmer in San Joaquin County, and four are deceased. After finishing his education in the schools of his native land,
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Albert Henry Johnsen was apprenticed to learn the trade of the butcher, which he completed when he was eighteen. In the spring of 1873 he left home for Chicago, Ill., where he worked over a year. In the fall of 1874, he came west to San Francisco and engaged in the butcher's business, finally becoming proprietor of two shops in that city, which he operated with a partner. He came to Colusa in 1888, bought out the old Klewe market, and made various altera- tions and improvements ; and here he has carried on a very profit- able retail business ever since, in connection with which he has been buying, feeding and selling stock. Mr. Johnsen now has a partner in the Pioneer Market at Colusa, so that he can spend his time buying through the country and carrying on business both in San Francisco and Colusa, which he has done since he located here. They also own the Pioneer Market at Princeton. Mr. Johnsen has had his ups and downs, like others; but in the main he has been prosperous. He is public-spirited, and is always ready to aid any movement that will bring settlers to the county, and that will make the city and county morally better. He has won his way by dint of hard work and perseverance, and now holds an assured place in the commercial life of the county and state.
In San Francisco, Mr. Johnsen was united in marriage with Miss Louisa Miller, a native daughter, who enjoys with her estim- able husband the good fellowship of a large circle of friends and business associates.
PERRY WILLIAM MINTON
An interesting and suggestive story of a life well spent, and already rich with some definite accomplishments, is that of Perry William Minton, who was born in Littleton. Buchanan County, Iowa, on November 8, 1855. When he was only four years old, his parents moved to the neighborhood of Fort Scott, Bourbon County, Kans .; and from there they went to Leavenworth County, where he was brought up and lived until 1880. In that year he came to California, and set to work on the Glenn ranch, in Colusa County, where he remained for two and a half years. Then he returned to Kansas, and farmed for three years; but after that he turned his face once more toward California. This was in the year of the great 1887 boom, and for three years he remained in Los Angeles in the employ of the street railway company.
In the fall of 1889, Mr. Minton came to Willows, and was soon busy on a neighboring ranch, where he remained for a couple of years. He then took up some government homestead land-a
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parcel of a hundred sixty acres eighteen miles west of Willows. This consisted of timber and pasture land; and for eight years he prosecuted farming there on a small scale. He then rented the Glascock ranch, and farmed the same for three years. He later engaged in grading and gravelling the streets of south and east Willows, and has lately taken up rice-raising southeast of the town.
Some years ago occurred the happy wedding of Mr. Minton and Miss Emma Berry, a native of Illinois. Mr. and Mrs. Minton are the parents of four promising children: Silas D. and Ernest O., of Orland, and Homer D. and Esther, who are at home. Mr. and Mrs. Minton and their family are the center of a wide circle of admiring and devoted friends.
KARL E. WALTER
That it pays to know, first, what the public wants and is deter- mined to have, and, secondly, how to supply their needs and so both satisfy them and preclude the possibility of a rival entering the same field, is clear from the business record of K. E. Walter, the proprietor of the Home Leaven Bakery, who now turns out about twenty-five hundred loaves of bread a day, delivering much of what he bakes by his own autos, and shipping the balance to different and even remote parts of Glenn County. Born in Würt- temberg, Germany, October 23, 1890, he was the son of a farmer and building contractor, from whom he doubtless inherited much of his practical business sense. He left school at the age of fourteen, and for two and a half years served as an apprentice to his father, while learning the carpenter's trade.
In 1907, Mr. Walter came to the United States to seek his fortune in the New World, and almost immediately made for Cali- fornia. At San Rafael, in Marin County, he learned the baker's trade, and then he entered the employ of Young & Swain Baking Company on Devisadero Street, San Francisco. Later, he became foreman of a bakery on Bryant Street ; and afterwards he went to Stockton as a foreman of the Engle & Company's bakery on Center Street. For three years, also, he was proprietor of the Palace Bakery at Alameda ; and after selling out his bakery there, he went to Salem, Ore., where he set up in business for himself.
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