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 85
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 85
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Henry V. Branham was married to Margaret A. St. Louis, a daughter of Colbert St. Lonis. Colbert St. Louis was born in Ottawa, Canada, July 10, 1810, and died in Yolo County on Novem- ber 10, 1866. He came to the United States at an early date, locating in St. Louis County, Mo., where he carried on farming. The metropolis of that county, St. Louis, was named in honor of his family, members of which played a prominent part in public affairs. He crossed the plains to California in 1850. The party in which he was traveling was attacked by the cholera, and one death occurred. On reaching California, he located his family near Knight's Landing, where he took up land and engaged in farming. The following year he sold out and bought a farm near Yolo; and there, on his one hundred sixty acres, he lived until his death in 1863. Colbert St. Louis was three times married. The maiden name of his last wife was Mary Margaret Lucien, by whom he had the following children: Antonio T .; Henry B .; Mary F., wife of William Spence; Margaret A., wife of H. V. Branham; Emma L., wife of Julian David; and George E. Mary Margaret Lucien was a native of Portage, Mo., where she was born on August 6, 1833. Her death occurred in Willows, on February 21, 1916.
The children of Mr. and Mrs. Henry V. Branham are Mrs. C. F. Belieu and Mrs. J. P. Beguhl, of Willows; Mrs. Frank Garnett, of the same town, who had two children; and Charles J. and Chester H. Branham. Charles Branham is the manager of the Printery, for the Lewis Colony at Atascadero, San Luis Obispo County. Chester Branham is also in the Printery, at the same place. He has a son, Glenn.
FRANCIS H. ROEBUCK
An enterprising merchant, and formerly an equally successful rancher, who has the distinction of having been the second settler in the Bayliss district, is F. H. Roebuck, a native of England, where he was born in Leeds, Yorkshire, May 3, 1879. When he was a year old, his parents, John W. and Eliza (Scott) Roebuck, brought him to the United States, to a farm near Topeka, Kans .; and after another year the family moved to that city. Eight years later, the Roebucks came to Omaha; and there Francis continued his schooling, finally graduating from the high school of Omaha in 1898. The parents moved to Chicago, where they are now living.
His first employment was with the Cudahy Packing Company, in Omaha, with which concern he remained six years. Then he
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returned to England for a year, and for the first time got acquainted with his native country.
In 1902, Mr. Roebuck and Miss Anna G. Johnson, of Illinois, were married; and soon afterwards he entered the employ of the Nelson Morris Company, in the meat department of their stock vards in Chicago. At the conclusion of a year's service, he was transferred to the poultry, butter and eggs department. He then became traveling auditor for the company, having for his territory the Middle West and the Mississippi Valley ; and after that he was made assistant manager of the poultry, butter and eggs department in the stock yards. Still later he was transferred to the South Water Street Commission House,
Catching the California fever, Mr. Roebuck arrived in the Bayliss district in 1910, and at once bought fifty-five acres of land, which he farmed to alfalfa, grain and corn, at the same time going in for the raising of hogs. In the fall of 1915, he sold out, and bought the grocery store, which he now conducts, and which he is fast developing into one of the best-stocked headquarters for pro- visions in the county.
Mr. Roebuck finds pleasure in performing public service when- ever and wherever duty calls. From 1910 to 1916, he was trustee of the Bayliss school district. He is a devoted member of the Pres- byterian Church, and takes a hearty interest in its activities.
PASCHAL B. LACROIX
A self-made man, a successful farmer, and a helpful and popular citizen who, by his unpretentious life and steady work, contributed to the betterment of the community in which he resided, was the late Paschal B. Lacroix, who was born in the County of Chambly, Quebec, June 9, 1841, and died at Willows on November 9, 1911. His father was also a native of the same French-Canadian province, where he farmed until his death in 1861. His mother was in maidenhood Mlle. Marie Bourdon. She was born and died in the Province of Quebec, leaving at her demise a family of four sons and three daughters.
Paschal Lacroix, the youngest in his parents' family, continued to work with his father on the farm, meanwhile attending the local schools; but in 1859 he entered the grocery business, clerking in Longueil. Three years later, he came to California, but soon after went to British Columbia, where he followed prospecting and mining. He did not stay there long, however, but returned to California, and after a brief stay here went on to Virginia City,
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Nev., where he mined for seven years. In 1869, he returned to his old home in Canada, where he remained for five months.
When he came back to California, he clerked another five months in a store in San Jose, and in the fall of 1870 settled three miles west of Willows, where he took up railroad land and farmed the same four years. He also owned six hundred acres a mile further north, which for sixteen years he farmed to wheat and barley. When the railroad land was finally sold, it was subdivided into smaller farms, known as the Lacroix Tract.
Mr. Lacroix's last venture in ranching was the purchase of four hundred eighty acres eleven miles southwest of Willows, where the family now lives. He also built, and the family still owns, the brick block at the corner of Tehama and Willow Streets, in Willows, and in addition the residence at the corner of Shasta and Willow Streets.
In Canada, on March 31, 1878, Paschal B. Lacroix was married, according to the rites of the Catholic Church, to Angelina Tremblay. Mr. and Mrs. Lacroix had nine children, of whom six are living: Cordelia, who has an art studio in San Francisco; Nelida, wife of A. Van Hoyt, also of San Francisco; Louis; Paschal, farming the home place; Beatrice, a graduate of Glenn County High School, who is teaching in the Lincoln school district ; and Frederick. As a citizen desirous of serving his community, Mr. Lacroix found pleasure in acting for fourteen years as school trustee of Liberty district.
Mrs. Lacroix was also born in County Chambly, Province of Quebec. She was the daughter of Joseph and Trecile (Page) Tremblay, who were farmers, and who spent their entire life in their native place. Mrs. Lacroix resides on the old home place southwest of Willows, and with the assistance of the children is looking after the affairs left by her husband.
CHARLES A. VESTNER
A native German from the fine old province of Saxony, where he was born on December 18, 1856, is Charles A. Vestner, who arrived in America a poor boy, but who bravely struck out into unknown paths, and by hard work and the maintenance of a high standard of conduct has made good. He was a blacksmith by trade, but followed the sea as a fireman in the service of the North German Lloyd Steamship Company. He thus sailed to many ports, including New York, Baltimore, and the leading harbors of Cuba and Brazil, coming, on his final voyage, across the Atlantic
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to New Orleans, in 1881. He had neither money nor American friends, and he could not speak the English language; so he was compelled to take the first work offered him. This was hard labor as a section hand on the Morgan City Line Railway, where he earned his first American dollar.
In 1883, Mr. Vestner came to San Francisco, and for two years worked at the blacksmith's trade. Then he came to Orland, and secured employment on various ranches as a blacksmith and repairer of machinery. Having saved his money, in 1887 he went back to Germany for his wife, returning the following year to Orland.
In the spring of 1906, Mr. Vestner bought one hundred forty- five acres in the Bayliss district, where he has since resided. He afterwards sold off some eighty acres. All of the improvements seen on the ranch were put there by him-trees, shrubbery, fences, etc. He has a fine dairy, with twenty-five Jersey cows and a regis- tered Jersey bull, and farms a considerable acreage to alfalfa, corn and grain. His sons own and operate a traction engine and har- vester, and do contract work for other ranchers in Glenn County. He has a band of a hundred sheep, and intends to increase the num- ber from time to time.
Charles A. Vestner was united in marriage with Anna Miller, the ceremony being performed in Germany. The children of this worthy couple are : Otto, Henry, and a daughter, Mrs. Lena Heins, who is also the mother of one daughter. All of the children well sustain the honor of the Vestner family name.
WILLIAM HENRY KEIM
A pioneer who blazed his own way, and in so doing made straight and easier the path for others, is William Henry Keim, a native of Yuba County, Cal., where he was born on October 15, 1863. His father was L. F. Keim, born in Germany; while his mother was known before her marriage as Miss Julia A. Abshire, a native of Indiana. In the late fifties, his parents came to Cali- fornia by way of Panama; and under the direction of his mother the lad was reared in Yuba and Sonoma Counties, coming to Colusa County in 1873, where he finished his formal schooling.
His first work on leaving school in Colusa was the driving of a delivery wagon, and later he learned the trade of a lather. When he came to Willows, in 1886, he followed that line of work for a while; and then he took up the trade of a contracting painter and paper-hanger. His artistic work can still be seen in many of the fine dwellings in Willows.
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In 1906, Mr. Keim established the Willows Poster Adver- tising Company, and engaged in billboard advertising, starting with two small eight-sheet boards. Now he has seven large bill- boards of fifteen panels, all stands being of the standard class. This has given him position in the bill-posting enterprise, and he is a member of the Poster Advertising Company of America.
William Henry Keim was united in marriage with Miss Catherine A. Bryan, a native daughter of California. Her father, who resides with her, is William H. Bryan, a native of Pike County, Mo., where he was born on January 10, 1842. Her mother, before her marriage, was Elizabeth Davis, of Georgia. Mr. Bryan's father conducted a grist-mill in Missouri, and there the son worked with him. The family crossed the plains with ox teams in 1859, losing at Donner Lake nearly all the cattle they had, and after six months arrived in the fall at Grass Valley, Nevada County. In the beginning, Mr. Bryan gave himself to mining, and afterwards worked at getting out timber in the forest. In 1880, he settled in what is now Glenn County, where he followed different occupations, but principally farming. Since 1913, he has lived with his daughter in Willows. Besides Mrs. Keim, he has another daughter, Mrs. W. T. Merrill, at Chico; and a son, James F. Bryan, of San Francisco. Mr. and Mrs. Keim have three married daughters. Mr. Keim is well-known in fraternal organizations. He is a member of the E. Clampus Vitus of Willows, and is also a Knight of Pythias, and attended the meeting of the Grand Lodge at San Diego in 1913. He formerly belonged to the Red Men, and has passed through the chairs and attended their Grand Lodge. He also formerly belonged to the Native Sons of the Golden West. In earlier days, Mr. Keim played the solo alto horn in the old Willows band. Mrs. Keim is active in the Willows Parlor of the Native Daughters, being a past third vice-president and a past marshal. She is also a member of the Women of Woodcraft, and is associated with the Orland Lodge.
CHARLES A. RIDER
A natural mechanic and a first-class machinist, whose skill has come to be appreciated throughout the county, is Charles A. Rider, a native of Quincy, Ill., where he was born on December 3, 1871. Mr. Rider came to California, in 1888, at the time of the great boom in land and real estate here. For two years he worked as a farm hand on the Quint ranch, for three years on the Henry Jameson ranch, and for another three years on the Dr. Glenn ranch. After-
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wards he ran a steam engine, and worked at teaming, and gradually picked up the trade of a blacksmith, which he has followed more or less ever since.
Mr. Rider conducted a blacksmith shop in Butte City for seven years, and owned one of the first automobiles in that enterprising town. When he went to Williams he worked in Stockford's ma- chine shop for three years ; and for a year he also managed a garage there. This had been erected for him, and was the first garage in that town.
In 1909, Mr. Rider came to Willows and bought a half interest in the Willow's Foundry, taking Ed. Reynolds as his partner; and under the firm name of Reynolds & Rider the two expert workmen did a thriving business. In 1913, Mr. Rider bought out his partner ; and since then he has been conducting the foundry alone.
Charles Rider is an expert mechanic, of a decidedly inventive turn of mind. He designed and patented, for example, a well- driller for boring and drilling wells, which has been a great success ; and for some time he has followed this line of work in connection with his wagon-making and repair shop. He has sunk the most successful wells in Glenn County, to a depth of over two hundred feet. He has also invented a checking machine for preparing rice ground.
In March, 1908, Charles A. Rider was married to Miss Minnie Smith, who was born at Reno, Nev. Mr. and Mrs. Rider have three sons: Alfred Elliott, Cecil Austin, and Michael Orvis. In fraternal circles Mr. Rider is a Woodman of the World.
HENRY W. McGOWAN
An exponent of American jurisprudence, and a particularly conscientious student and careful practitioner of California law, in whom the courts, and his clients, and the general public have con- fidence, is Henry W. McGowan, who was born on July 8, 1893, at Oakland. Both of his parents, Henry H. and Alice (Geimann) McGowan, were born in San Francisco, in the families of California pioneers who came to the Coast in the good old days of forty-nine. For years his father, who died in 1913, was owner and proprietor of the famous Paraiso Hot Springs, located near Soledad, Monte- rey County.
Henry W. McGowan was educated at the Santa Clara Uni- versity, from which he received the degree of A. B. in 1913 and LL. B. in 1914. He then took a finishing course at Stanford in 1914, and was admitted to practice in all the courts of the state that same
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year. In San Francisco, Mr. McGowan engaged in the practice of law as a member of the firm of Morrison, Dunn & Brobeck, who had their office in the Crocker Building; and on arriving in Orland, in January, 1917, he opened an office here and began the independent practice of his profession.
On July 30, 1916, Henry W. MeGowan was united in marriage with Miss Elizabeth Gildea, a native of San Francisco. Mr. and Mrs. McGowan are social favorites in Orland and San Francisco. He is a member of the Union League Club of San Francisco, and of the Knights of Columbus.
DAVID C. COWAN
Not the least interesting feature in the history of the develop- ment of California is the contribution made by those Eastern set- tlers who, coming rather recently to the Coast, after much of the hard work had already been accomplished, have nevertheless brought with them, as men and women of prominence in business, financial and social affairs, a ripe experience that is of the greatest possible value in the solution of problems none the less difficult though they pertain to the California of the present. Such a man, long eminent in the section from which he hails, is David C. Cowan, a native of Massachusetts, who was born on New Year's Day, 1851, and when a babe in arms was brought by his parents to Illinois. There, in Boone County, he was educated in the common schools ; and there, too, he followed the profession of the school-teacher, both before and after attending the famous Bloomington State Normal School.
Growing up, Mr. Cowan conducted a general merchandise store at Poplar Grove, Boone County, and while there was ap- pointed by President McKinley postmaster of his district. In his official capacity, he did much to improve the local service; and being always prominent in politics, especially as a Republican, and therefore influential, he secured the establishment of one of the first rural free deliveries in the county. For twenty-five years in succes- sion Mr. Cowan was a member of the board of supervisors of Boone County, most of the time serving as chairman of the board; and for five years, beginning when he was but twenty-seven years of age, he was county superintendent of schools there, and in that field also exerted his best influence to elevate the standards. In pioneer days Mr. Cowan spent one year in Clark County, S. D.
Having been raised on a farm, and having owned one himself during nearly all of his residence in Illinois, when Mr. Cowan came
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to settle in the Bayliss district of Glenn County, in 1910, he soon became owner of thirty acres of land, devoted to the growing of alfalfa and grain and to the cultivation of fruit. Since coming to Glenn County, Mr. Cowan has taken a live interest in the develop- ment of its agricultural resources, and one is not surprised to find him a chairman of the board of directors of the Central Water Users Association of the Sacramento Valley Irrigation Project, as well as chairman of the Negotiating Committee and the Com- mittee on Organizing of the various districts. He is a member of the Farm Bureau of the Bayliss district of Glenn County, and was the first president, serving two years.
Mr. Cowan served as foreman of the Glenn County grand jury for 1917, and in other ways has performed his full duty as a citizen. Fraternally, he is a Mason, holding membership in Capron Lodge, No. 575, A. F. & A. M., of Capron, Ill., and Kishwaukee Chapter, No. 90, R. A. M., of Belvidere, Ill. He is also a member of Poplar Grove Lodge, A. O. U. W.
While in Boone County, Ill., David C. Cowan married Miss Julia Webster, a native of that state; and two children came to bless their home. A son, Frank C. Cowan, is instructor in the Lane Technical High School, of Chicago; and a daughter, Mabel A., is the wife of M. J. Briggs, paymaster of Hotel La Salle, in Chicago.
C. HUGH WREN
Among those who, by their life and scientific work, have con- tributed much to bring California into the front rank of productive states, and to afford opportunities here for both the wage-earner and the student of agriculture, is C. Hugh Wren, the efficient and popular horticultural commissioner of Glenn County. Mr. Wren was born in Leavenworth County, Kans., on November 20, 1878, and came to California when he was nine years of age. He settled with his parents in Vacaville, Solano County, and there attended both the grammar school and the high school. He first entered the employ of the Southern Pacific Railroad, in whose office at Sacra- mento he was busy for three years. At the end of that time he returned to Vacaville and engaged in fruit-raising until 1910, by which time he had become thoroughly acquainted with horticulture. When he arrived in Willows, in that year, he embarked in the real estate business ; and after an experience of three years, he removed to Orland to continue his operations there. In the latter part of 1914, however, Mr. Wren took up the development of fruit orchards in the Orland district, leveling the land and setting out the neces-
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sary trees. He thus planted the Keeny ranch of forty acres to citrus fruits and olives, and also set out the F. B. Clark orchard of forty acres, east of the town, which he planted to olives.
On March 5, 1917, Mr. Wren's many friends were gratified to learn of his appointment as horticultural commissioner of Glenn County, that honor having been conferred upon him by the board of supervisors. As is usually the case, there were numerous applicants for the position, but it was generally conceded that he was especially fitted to fill the important place, and his subsequent service in special attention to the smaller fruit-growers has quite justified the confidence then imposed in him by the public.
Mr. Wren has been twice married, and has one child, Merle, by his first wife. His second wife was Miss Ester G. West, a daughter of John J. West, of Willows; and one child, Lorna, has blessed their union. Mr. Wren is an active member of the Chamber of Commerce of Orland, in which organization he has done his share in advancing the interests of the community. He is a Wood- man of the World, having joined the order in Vacaville, and was Worthy Counsel of the local camp. He was also district delegate on . two occasions to the general convention.
FRANKLIN PIERCE TEAL
One of the large contractors and builders of Glenn County, and a man of affairs in his community, is Franklin Pierce Teal. Born in Camden, N. J., on October 29, 1854, of old Quaker stock, he was reared and educated in the City of Brotherly Love, where he learned the carpenter's trade. During the Centennial year, when the claims of California were being presented to the East, young Teal came to the Pacific Coast. In 1877 he left California for the Black Hills, in Wyoming, but returned that fall to California; and from 1878 to 1879 he was in Oregon. From 1880 to 1904 he was in Arizona, on the frontier, engaged in cattle-raising and mining. He had a ranch five miles west of Wilcox, consisting of a hundred sixty acres in the Sulphur Springs Valley. In company with his father-in-law, he undertook various cattle-raising enterprises, and at the same time took an active part in the Indian wars. From his thorough knowledge of the country, he was of great assistance to General Miles and his soldiers, and found out for them the best trails and the most serviceable wells of water. Mr. Teal's expe- riences in Arizona would of themselves fill a volume, and could not fail to prove both interesting and profitable reading. He was a member of a jury, which, when four men were hanged in the law-
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less days on the border, gave scant mercy to the criminals. He examined many mines as an expert, acting in the interests of dif- ferent parties prospecting in the White Mountain district, and more than once discovered and located some valuable vein. He erected quartz mills and smelters as far back as 1881, and employed a large number of men, becoming well-known throughout the ter- ritory, where he had many friends. In Phoenix, alone, he erected more than eighty homes.
About 1910, Mr. Teal settled in Orland, having chosen this town out of the many he investigated; and here he owns a fine home and a large tract of land. In a short time he became the head carpenter in construction work, especially in the building of the Government Irrigation Project.
Through his extensive and varied undertakings in many sec- tions of the West, Mr. Teal acquired an experience by which he has been able to aid materially in the development of the county in which he has cast his lot; and he finds pleasure in working out his ideals in the problems of construction given him to solve.
In the early days of his activity here, he erected a number of bungalows; but of late he handles only the larger jobs. At present he is making a specialty of concrete construction. He has built six concrete bridges in Glenn County, the fine garage on Fourth Street, the Bryan block on Fourth Street, and many concrete and other bungalows on neighboring ranches. Through him, the contracting firm of Thompson & Teal has come to be widely known.
In 1885, Mr. Teal was married to Miss Eliza Bassett, a native of Texas, in whose companionship in the intervening years he has found his highest pleasure and inspiration. They had one daughter, Ethel Teal, who died in 1911, aged twenty-four years.
ERNST E. BEHR
Not without a touch of the romantic is the fact that a son of the Prairie State, Ernst E. Behr, is now in charge of the huge task of developing one of the great ranches of California, and bringing order, civilization and beauty out of chaos and primeval conditions ; for since 1914 he has been manager of the Spalding ranch, one of the sources of justifiable pride to citizens of Glenn County. A native of Chicago, Ill., Mr. Behr came with his parents to Cali- fornia, and to Pasadena, when a child, in 1896.
Having taken the usual courses in the public schools, Mr. Behr graduated, in 1910, from the University of California, where he made a specialty of certain scientific courses. So well had he done
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his work that, for a year and a half after graduation, he remained there and served as instructor in geology. Afterwards he went to the Hawaiian Islands for a short time, and on his return to Califor- nia came to the Spalding Company, where he put in two years of service, and then, in 1914, took charge of the Spalding ranch.
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