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 81
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 81
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Once more disposing of his business, he came to Willows, on April 12, 1916; and here he opened the Vienna Bakery and Coffee Parlor, at 141 South Tehama Street. He built new ovens and put in a complete new manufacturing plant, designed to be as sanitary
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as it was modern. He baked both French and Vienna bread, and French pastry, and kept a complete line of bakery goods. On January 1, 1917, Mr. Walter bought the business formerly con- ducted on Walnut Street, and known as the Home Leaven Bakery, but which was in the hands of the San Francisco Board of Trade on account of the failure of the former proprietor. Upon assum- ing charge of the plant, he at once installed the most modern equipment, including new machinery, tools and fixtures, at a great expense, and also renovated the buildings, making it one of the most up-to-date bakeries in Glenn County. He superintends the manufacture of his output, and his wife looks after the sales department; and by hard work and good management, and cour- teous treatment to their patrons, this worthy couple have won the hearty commendation of the public, and have begun to build up a fine business throughout the entire county. The fame of the Home Leaven Bakery extends even to San Francisco, where Mr. Walter is a member of the Bakers' Verein. He is a self-made man, and has won a host of friends by his integrity and public spirit.
At San Francisco, March 9, 1915, surrounded by friends who gladly toasted his future luck, Mr. Walter married Mrs. Emmie (Grosse) Kostka, a native of Germany, who, by her former mar- riage, is the mother of three interesting children, Margaret, Char- lotte and Hildegard. On June 23, 1913, Mr. Walter became an American citizen; and none is more loyal to the best interests of the country than he.
WOODFORD A. YERNA
Colusa County lost a very valuable citizen in the death of John Boggs, the former proprietor of St. John's Park, which is pleasantly situated on the west bank of the Sacramento River, two miles south of Princeton. The loss of its former owner is somewhat compensated, however, by the sterling worth of its present proprietor, who since 1905 has given his attention to the care of its five hundred eleven acres. It was named "St. John's Park" by its former owner, and was the home place from which Mr. Boggs directed the cultivation of the extensive Boggs ranch, one of the best-cultivated areas in Colusa County. The commo- dious two-story brick house, to which additions have been made by Mr. Yerxa for the convenience of his family, is in a perfect state of preservation. The same hospitality is still extended to visitors, and the place is one of the show places of the county.
Mr. Yerxa came to Princeton, much in need of recreation, in 1905, after having built up extensive mercantile interests in the
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Northwest. He is now the personification of good health, and his great capacity for business is devoted to one of the largest, and certainly one of the finest, prune orchards in the state. When he. purchased the place, there was already on it a forty-acre prune orchard, which had been set out in 1900. Since then, and during the past five years, he has set out three hundred acres to French and Imperial prunes, in about equal numbers. He has found it practicable to raise his own nursery stock, and is reputed to have the best bred and budded prune trees in the market. He imports his young sprouts from France; and they are here replanted and carefully cultivated. One year after being trans- planted, they are carefully budded under Mr. Yerxa's personal supervision; and when the buds are one year old, they are again ready for transplanting.
The St. John's Park Nursery is a close corporation. In this nursery there are fully one hundred thousand trees that will be ready for transplanting in the spring of 1918. So wide a reputa- tion has this nursery, that practically the entire stock has already been ordered at a good price. It is fortunate that Mr. Yerxa made large importations of these seedlings from France before that country became involved in the present war. As a conse- quence, he will be able to supply a large part of the demand for the 1919-1920 plantings. Mr. Yerxa applies the same business sagacity to the building up of his prune orchard that he did to building up his extensive commercial interests in the Twin Cities of the Northwest. In this enterprise he has the assistance of his two sons, Woodford A., Jr., and Max, who lives at Colusa.
Mr. Yerxa was born at Keswick, N. B., on March 23, 1850, a son of Abram Yerxa, a farmer and Inmberman of that section. His mother was Elizabeth White, born in the state of Maine. They raised a family of twelve children, four of whom were sons; and Woodford A. was the sixth child in order of birth. He grew up to young manhood at St. John, N. B., where by actual experience he gained a thorough business training. He entered the London House, the large wholesale and retail establishment at St. John, and served a four years' apprenticeship, after which he remained as an employe until, in October, 1871, after having spent several months in travel through America, he left for St. Paul, Minn. He was then a young man of twenty-one. The first winter he worked as a clerk in a dry goods store in St. Paul. In 1872, the Northern Pacific was being projected from Duluth to Bismarck, and he engaged as a clerk with a mercantile company that built temporary store buildings of boards and canvas, which were moved from place to place to keep up with the course of con-
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struction of the road. In this way Mr. Yerxa became thoroughly initiated into the business methods of the great Northwest. In the panic of 1873, when the construction had crossed the Red River of the North, Jay Cook, the financial genius and promoter of the road, failed, and the frontier stores closed down. Mr. Yerxa went to St. Paul to spend the winter; and in the spring of 1874 he went to Fargo, Dakota Territory, and became manager for the Hubbard & Tyler stores. To Mr. Yerxa belongs the dis- tinction of having shipped the first car load of wheat from North Dakota. While manager for Hubbard & Tyler, he had been pre- vailed upon by a number of pioneer Norwegian farmers to ex- change supplies for wheat, which they drew to Fargo on sleds. During the course of the winter, enough wheat had come to their store to fill a car. There was no wagon in Fargo with which to haul the wheat to the car on the siding; so he made arrangements with one of the denizens of that locality who owned a Red River cart to take the sacks of wheat, six sacks to a load, to the car, and the two worked in this way until the car was loaded. When it reached the market at Minneapolis, it at once attracted the attention of milling experts, and they were quick to see the excel- lence of the No. 1 hard wheat. The hardness of this wheat led to the adoption of the roller process, and has given to the world the best grade of flour. Later, with a partner, Mr. Yerxa started the W. A. Yerxa & Co.'s general store, which dealt in groceries, dry goods, boots and shoes. His experience in the various phases of the business on the frontier contributed to his success in this enterprise, and he became a leading merchant. Later, he was called to serve as mayor of Fargo, being elected and reelected to that office, and served the city during the days of its greatest boom. He became well acquainted with the leading men of the Northwest, and the firm of W. A. Yerxa & Co. did a large and profitable business. They invested heavily in wheat lands, how- ever, and were caught in the general catastrophe of 1882. At this time they lost heavily, but were able, nevertheless, to pay one hundred cents on the dollar.
Mr. Yerxa then went back to Minneapolis, and in 1887, in partnership with his brother, Fred R. Yerxa, established the Yerxa Wholesale and Retail Grocery in that city; and in 1888 they opened a similar house in St. Paul. Some time later a third brother, Thomas E. Yerxa, was taken into the firm. So closely did Mr. Yerxa apply himself to the business, that his health failed; and in 1905 he sold out, that he might take a much-needed rest. He had been coming to California since 1902 to spend the winters at his home in Sierra Madre, and in this 49
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way became interested in this section of the state, to which he has since devoted so much of his time and energy.
Woodford A. Yerxa was married at Fargo, in 1885, to Mrs. Eva (Gould) Hall, born at Portland, Me., a daughter of Dr. Gould. This noble woman passed away in 1893, at the age of thirty-eight. The two sons mentioned above were born of this marriage.
Mr. Yerxa has one of the finest prune orchards in the state. The California Prune and Apricot Association, whose headquar- ters are in San Jose, chose Mr. Yerxa as its vice-president in appreciation of his great achievements in the fruit industry; and to this office he gives considerable of his time and attention. He was one of the organizers of the Bank of Princeton, of which he is vice-president and a director. He is a man of energy and vision, and enjoys the confidence and respect of all who know him.
LUCINDA A. MYERS
That woman has the ability, under the stress of necessity, to manage affairs usually considered out of her sphere, is well demonstrated in the career of Mrs. Lucinda A. Myers, who owns eighty acres of land two miles north of Colusa. On this property Mrs. Myers has five acres in apricots, seventeen acres in prunes, one acre in peaches, fifteen acres in beans and corn, twelve acres in barley, and fifteen acres in alfalfa. The balance of the tract is timber land. She also conducts a dairy of seven cows; and in this, as in other branches of her ranching enterprise, she has made a success.
Mrs. Myers was in maidenhood Lucinda Allen. She was born near Mount Pleasant, Henry County, Iowa, a daughter of Joshua and Eleanor (Lane) Allen. The former was born and reared in Wheeling. W. Va .; and the latter was born near Zanes- ville, Ohio. They were married in Henry County, Iowa. Miss Lucinda and a sister came from Iowa to Grand Island, Colusa County, in 1874, where she was a seamstress until her marriage at Colusa in 1876, with Gerry Myers. After their marriage, Mr. and Mrs. Myers spent five years on a farm on Grand Island, after which they passed some years near the town of Williams, on a three-hundred-twenty-acre ranch belonging to Mr. Myers, and which he had purchased with his savings. This he later sold; and then they purchased the present place in Washington Town- ship, in 1898, where he farmed and carried on fruit-growing and stock-raising until the time of his death. He passed away in June, 1906, mourned by a wide circle of friends.
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Mr. Myers was born in Kenosha, Wis., and came to California with his parents, who settled on Dry Slough, Colusa County, where the son grew to manhood, receiving his education in the public schools of Grand Island. Of the marriage of Mr. and Mrs. Myers, nine children were born: Frank A., in the employ of the Southern Pacific at Reno; Phillip G., of San Joaquin County, who has six children; Robert A., of Colusa; Arthur, who is assisting his mother on the home ranch, and who is married and has one child; Gordon T., of Oakland; Ruby, who died aged twenty months; Alice, the wife of Curry Harrington, of Colusa County; Louis J., and Grace, at home. Since the death of Mr. Myers, Mrs. Myers has looked after all the business of the ranch, which she is conducting with marked ability. Meanwhile she has proved her worth as a mother, in the raising of her family of children. Mrs. Myers is accorded a prominent place in her social circle, and has made many friends, who appreciate her readiness to assist in all movements for the benefit of the community, the county, and the state.
PRESTON L. SIMPSON
A native of Stony Creek, west of Orland, where he was born on October 16, 1861, Preston L. Simpson was the son of Noah Simpson, a pioneer of the Hoosier State, who crossed the plains in 1850 to reach California. When once he had put the hardships of the prairies behind him, he took up new privations in the hard work of the miner, but later abandoned the search for gold and returned East to buy a herd of cattle. With these he again crossed the desert plains to California, settling at first in Yolo County, and later coming to Stony Creek, where he took up land and water rights covering some seven hundred acres. Here he engaged in the raising of stock and sheep, and soon was fairly prosperous as a cattle rancher. About that time Noah Simpson married Miss Louise Halley, a native of the South, who had come to Glenn County with her parents after an arduous trip, in 1857, across the plains. Besides the subject of our sketch, who was the third child in the family, four other children were born of this union : Charles L., Ziba E., Eva L., and George Ernest. The father died in 1896, some years after the decease of his faithful wife.
Educated at the country schools in Oriental, now Floyd, dis- triet, on Stony Creek, Preston Simpson worked on his father's farm, and at the latter's death moved to Orland, where he bought ten acres, which was set out to almonds and apricots. Soon after- wards, he married Miss Ida J. Griffith, a daughter of Jonathan
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Griffith, whose interesting life-sketch appears elsewhere in these pages. As a result of experiments which they conducted together, Mr. and Mrs. Simpson began in a small way in an industry which they have since developed into an enterprise of considerable pro- portions. Using a small incubator which, in 1903, they placed on their back porch, they began to hatch chickens; and from this small beginning has grown the present Orland Hatchery, the only plant of its kind in Glenn County, and one of the best-equipped in all California. This incubator arrangement was succeeded by a small hatchery sixteen by twenty-five feet in size; and as their business grew, they were obliged to erect, in 1914, their present extensive establishment. This consists of a building of two stories, with hollow concrete walls, thirty by sixty feet in size, in the basement of which there are forty-eight incubators of the Pio- neer brand, with a full capacity of twenty-four thousand chicks. How interestingly this enterprise has been developed is shown from the Hatchery's report of the year 1916. Then some seventy- five thousand baby chicks were hatched out and sold, ninety-five per cent. of them being sturdy enough to be raised. These were shipped to seven states in pasteboard boxes containing twenty-five, or fifty, or a hundred chicks, packed the day after they were hatched. Salt Lake City and leading towns of Nevada, Idaho, Col- orado, Arizona and California received the largest and most fre- quent shipments, and the fame of the Orland Hatchery was soon widespread. Both Mr. and Mrs. Simpson are still active workers in the undertaking, giving the most painstaking attention to every detail; and soon they will be assisted by their enterprising son, Jack, who is at present a student at the Orland high school.
JOHN CURRY HARRINGTON
A representative native son of Colusa County, where his entire life has thus far been passed, and where by his own native ability and energy he has attained to an honorable place among his fellow citizens, Curry Harrington, as he is familiarly called, was born on December 21, 1882, a son of Col. John T. Harrington.
Curry Harrington was educated in the public schools of Colusa. At an early age he became self-supporting, working out by the month on the ranches in the county, and persevering in his efforts until he had saved enough to make an independent start for him- self. Mr. Harrington leases land and is successfully engaged in raising beans and barley.
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In 1910, John Curry Harrington was united in marriage with Miss Alice Myers. One child, Parker Jackson, has been born to them. Mr. Harrington is a descendant of Revolutionary stock, and his family has been represented in every American war since that time. He illustrates the self-made man, and has a bright future before him. Both he and his wife have a host of friends in the best social circles of the county.
JONATHAN GRIFFITH
One of the first three men who settled where Orland is now located, and the first to erect a house here, and one of the three pioneers who named the now well-known town, was Jonathan Grif- fith, for over thirty years a member of the Orland school board, and a contributor in many ways to the development of the town. Born at Rome, New York, October 12, 1835, he came at the age of sixteen to California, locating first in the vicinity of Los Angeles. At the outbreak of the Civil War he enlisted in the United States cavalry; and throughout the terrible conflict he continued in the service, for a time as an aide on the staff of Gen. Phil. Sheridan, and as one of the body-guard of Gen. Winfield Scott.
On the close of the war Mr. Griffith returned to this state. Shortly afterwards he reenlisted, this time to assist the United States authorities in quelling the Indian outbreaks which threat- ened the population of the northern part of the state. Again he was first in the line of attack, his services taking him to Modoc and other parts of the troubled area.
Seeking once more the paths of peace, he located in succession at Susanville, Cedarville, and Chico; and in 1873 he came to Or- land, where he lived until the time of his death. Here he estab- lished the first blacksmith shop in the town.
Mr. Griffith was married in New York to Miss Esther Wil- liams, a native of that state, who proved a devoted and congenial companion. She came to California by way of Panama, was with him at the Presidio. and followed his movements during the In- dian troubles. She lived to enjoy life until 1902, dying in San Francisco. Nine children, four of whom still survive, were born of this marriage: Mary E., Mrs. C. M. Harelson, of Orland; W. B. Griffith, of Colusa; Miss Grace Griffith, a teacher at Sacra- mento ; and Ida J., Mrs. P. L. Simpson, also of Orland.
In January, 1917, this notable pioneer closed his eyes to the scenes of this world, mourned by the community generally, and especially by his comrades of the Grand Army of the Republic,
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who laid him to rest with military honors. Some of the most in- teresting early chapters in the history of Orland are closely inter- woven with Mr. Griffith's personal life. He assisted Chamberlain Bros. in laying out the original town, the land selected then be- longing to the Chamberlain ranch; and to give practical evidence of his faith in the enterprise, he bought a large number of blocks near the site of the present grammar school. He also moved a fine house from another part of the county to the corner of Second and Colusa Streets; and for many years the house was the scene of hospitality and festivity. Most interesting of all is the story of the naming of Orland. Taylor Chamberlain, Mr. Griffith, and Frederick Brown came together to draw up a petition for a post- office, when each one suggested a name for the new settlement. Mr. Griffith thought that Leland, in recognition of Senator Stan- ford, would be appropriate; Mr. Chamberlain suggested Com- stock; while Mr. Brown stood for Orland, the name of the town of his birth in England. Each so earnestly desired to win the others over to his choice that an amusing deadlock occurred, which was not broken until the pioneers agreed to put the three names into a hat and stand by the one that might be selected in a drawing. When the deciding slip was withdrawn, it bore the name of Or- land. Among the curious adventures Mr. Griffith was fond of relat- ing was one he experienced while hunting along Stony Creek dur- ing the winter season. He came upon an old Indian burial ground, to the northeast of the town, where many of the aborigines' graves had been washed away. Indian trinkets, including a vast amount of beads, were uncovered; and following the spreading of the news, curio-seekers searched the burial ground for days, and carried away many of the objects so reverently placed there by superstitious Indians.
WILLARD CLARK
A self-made man who has realized his own ambitions and the expectations of his many friends-and that, too, not in one iso- lated field, but in practically every enterprise to which he has set himself-is Willard Clark, a native of Prince Edward County, On- tario, where he was born on December 12, 1872. Reared on a farm, he had the misfortune to lose his father when he was but eleven years of age; but this did not prevent his attendance at the public schools of the district, through which he obtained an excel- lent preparation to make his way in the world. When seventeen, he came to the United States and settled at Rochester, N. Y., securing there employment in a shoe factory, at six dollars per
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week. Being a elever workman, and naturally industrious, he ad- vanced in the technic of his trade, and became an expert worker on ladies' shoes.
The year 1898 was eventful in Willard Clark's life, for then he moved westward to San Francisco, where, for a time, he worked in a shoe factory. Leaving the northern metropolis, lie came to Orland; and in this locality he has since made his home. He has become an important factor in the development of this growing community. He understands the industrial problems pre- sented, and has done no little to solve the difficulties arising from time to time. Farming and stock-raising have come to demand his special attention, although his first year's experience with a ranch was more or less of a failure. When he rented the Hood ranch, however, and farmed the three hundred acres to grain, he entered on a more successful period, and fast became one of the prosperous farmers of his section. Later he was engaged in raising cattle, hogs, sheep, and poultry, especially turkeys.
In various ways Mr. Clark has contributed to the advance- ment of the best interests of Orland. He became president of the Orland Land Company, which owned eight hundred aeres known as the Hightower ranch; and he directed the affairs of the com- pany until the land was taken into the irrigation project. He still owns forty acres of this tract, which he has planted to prunes. With Frank Reager he was associated in the purchase of the Gal- lan & Arenson tract of fourteen hundred forty acres. In 1917 he purchased the south half, consisting of twenty-five hundred acres, of the Scearce ranch, which is to be utilized as a stock ranch. At present he has twenty-seven hundred head of sheep and a hand of cattle ranging on the Murdock ranch, which he has leased. As a member of the first board of directors of the Orland Irrigation System, he worked hard for that system's success; and he is still retained in that office of responsibility. He put in much time and energy to induce local owners to sign up their land for the pro- ject; and it is not improbable that had he not so exerted him- self, the satisfactory results obtained would not then have been realized.
Prominent as a Mason, Mr. Clark is Past Master of the Or- land Lodge, No. 265, F. and A. M .; inspector of the Seventh Ma- sonic District of California; and a member of the Grand Lodge of Masons of the state. He is also president of the Masonic Temple Association in Orland; and it was through his suggestion and efforts that the beautiful Masonic Temple here was erected, he himself contributing a thousand dollars towards the project. As one of the founders and a director of the First National Bank
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of Orland, Mr. Clark has also contributed his influence to steady- ing local finance. He has also favored healthful athletics, and is president of the Orland Athletic Association.
Willard Clark was united in marriage with Miss Ella Pear- sall, a native of the Empire State. Mrs. Clark is an active parti- cipant in the affairs of the Women's Improvement Club, of Or- land. In course of time Mr. Clark bought a block of land in town. Here he erected a fine home and otherwise improved his property, setting out a lemon orchard and other fruit trees.
HARVEY EDWARD PROVENCE
Though not a native son of Colusa County, Harvey Edward Provence can practically be called such, as his parents came to this county in 1879, when he was a habe in arms. He was born in Wamego, Pottawatomie County, Kans., on January 19, 1878. The father, Nathan Province, whose sketch appears elsewhere in this history, was a native of Pennsylvania, but removed to Ohio. At the outbreak of the Civil War, he enlisted in Company I, Seventy- seventh Ohio Volunteer Infantry. He served through the war and on the border, spending five years in the service in all. He mar- ried Miss Elvira Edwards; and they settled near Wamego, Kans., and engaged in farming. In 1879 they located in California, in the Elk Creek district. The father died on November 11, 1917, while the mother still resides on the home farm. Of their fourteen chil- dren, ten of whom are living, Harvey Edward is the fifth in order of birth.
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