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 88
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 88
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A ferry has been operated at this point for the past sixty years. This ferry was private property, and was operated as a pay ferry, until January 1, 1910. Mr. Diefendorf first ran a private ferry here, maintaining it for many years. He sold out to A. A. Thayer in 1877, who in turn sold the ferry to his son, A. A. Thayer, Jr. The two counties bought out the latter in 1910, and since that time it has been operated as a public free ferry, as a part of the highway. It is in operation day and night, Mr. Held having one assistant. The present ferry-boat was built by A. A. Thayer, in 1892, and is said to be one of the swiftest and best ferry-boats on the river. It is propelled entirely by the force of the river current. Only at times when the southwest wind becomes
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very strong is there any difficulty in operating it; then traffic is sometimes delayed.
Mr. Held lives in the house adjoining the ferry, on the Colusa County side of the river. His sister, Mrs. Rose Francis Sigismund, a widow and an accomplished pianist and music teacher, keeps house for him, together with a daughter, Mrs. Maud Griffin.
MRS. MAUD SPENCER
Descended from Revolutionary stock, and from a family which has been represented in all the wars of our country since its birth, Mrs. Mand Spencer, of the Princeton district, may well feel proud of her distinguished forebears. Her grandfather Tinkham took part in the War of 1812, and in the Black Hawk War, and his father served valiantly in the War of the Revolu- tion; while her father, George Tinkham, served in the Civil War and fought to preserve the Union. George Tinkham was born in New York and married Mary Silver, who was also a native of that state, of French extraction, and whose family name was formerly spelled Sylvaugh. Grandfather Joseph Silver was an early settler at Shenantica Four Corners, in New York State. He could speak English, French, and Indian, and acted as an interpreter. One Edwin Silver was born in New York.' He went west to Michigan in young manhood and there was married, and with his bride traveled through several frontier states, visiting Indiana, Ken- tueky, and Louisiana. At New Orleans he took passage on a Mis- sissippi River steamer for McGregor, Iowa, in which state he settled while yet the warwhoops of Black Hawk's followers were reverberating along the upper Mississippi. It was in that state, at Clinton, that the mother of Mrs. Spencer was born, in 1844. She enjoys the distinction of being among the very first white children to be born in the Hawkeye State, where, at Clinton, in Clayton County, she had the common experiences of the early pioneers. Here the family made their home until 1889, when they came West, to Oregon. Later, in 1898, they located in Seattle, Wash. Four children were born in the family: Alice, Edwin, John, and Maud, Mrs. Spencer. The mother, now at the age of seventy-three, is hale and hearty, and makes her home with her daughter on the ranch near Princeton.
Mrs. Spencer (née Mand Tinkham) was born in Iowa, and attended the schools of that state. After coming West to Oregon with her parents, she taught in Union for nine years with suc- cess ; and later, when her parents went to Washington, she taught
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school in that state for eleven years. It was during this time that she met her first husband, Wayne Fish. Their married life was of short duration, for he died a short time after their mar- riage. Later she came to California; and on September 16, 1912, at San Jose, was celebrated her marriage to R. B. Spencer. No children were born of either union.
R. B. Spencer is well remembered in Princeton. He was among the later settlers in Colusa County, where he bought prop- erty in 1904, one ranch lying southwest, and another north, of Princeton. He was stricken with apoplexy while on a visit to Pasadena, and died on May 1, 1914, aged sixty-five. After his death, Mrs. Spencer took charge of his ranching interests, and lias met with wonderful success. In the ranch southwest of town she has sixty-three acres, which is leased for general farming pur- poses. The thirteen-acre tract where she makes her home is devoted to fruits and nuts. She also owns a thirteen-acre ranch near Concord. Personally, Mrs. Spencer is kindly disposed and considerate; and as a citizen she is public-spirited, enterprising and progressive. She has won a large circle of friends and admir- ers, and is held in high esteem by all with whom she comes in contact.
BERT. F. KAUFFMAN
A descendant of pioneers of California on both sides of the family, and himself a native son, Bert. F. Kauffman is naturally a most loyal Californian and a believer in his state's supremacy. Born in Red Bluff, December 15, 1877, he is a son of August and Tennessee (Gates) Kauffman. The father came across the plains from Pennsylvania in 1859, settling in Red Bluff, and engaged in ranching and stock-raising. Being a man of character and enter- prise, he amassed a competency, in the enjoyment of which he is now living, at the age of eighty-one. August Kauffman served as supervisor of Tehama County for several terms. When he retired, his son, H. C. Kauffman, succeeded him in the office, in which he is now serving his fifth term. The mother, a native of Tennessee, crossed the plains by ox teams with her parents; and they became one of the pioneer families of California. She is now deceased. The children now living are: B. F. Kauffman, agent for the Standard Oil Company at Grimes, Colusa County; F. A. Kauffman, in the wholesale lumber business in San Fran- cisco, in the firm of McArthur & Kauffman; H. C. Kauffman, supervisor of Tehama County; and Mrs. E. B. Warmoth and Mrs. C. K. Hook, of Red Bluff, in which city Mr. Warmoth is post- master.
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Bert. F. Kauffman pursued his studies in the public schools of Tehama County, and finished his education with a business course at Atkinson's Business College at Sacramento, after which he entered the employ of the Wells Fargo Express Company in that city, where he remained for three or four years. On leaving this position, he took charge of his father's large cattle ranch in Teliama County for a time; and later he worked for ten years as head storekeeper for the Diamond Match Company, at Stirling City, Butte County.
At the end of this period, Mr. Kauffman became connected with the Standard Oil Company, and worked in the Sacramento office for about six months, after which, in 1916, he came to Grimes, Colusa County, and here opened up the local retail and wholesale agency of that company. A spur track here gives him splendid shipping facilities for their products, of which he handles a complete line, devoting all his time and efforts to the manage- ment of the company's business, which he carries on in an efficient and sytematic manner.
At Granville, Ill., occurred the marriage of Mr. Kauffman to Miss Candace Robinson, danghter of Mr. and Mrs. A. J. Robinson. Mr. Kauffman is an energetic, up-to-date man, with a practical training in modern business methods.
HENRY FORD
Although a native of Missouri, where he was born Jannary 22, 1864, Henry Ford was reared and educated in Colusa County. His father, Pleasant L. Ford, who lived to be seventy-five years old, was for about a quarter of a century the able and trusted manager and foreman for the late Dr. Glenn, at that time the largest individual wheat-grower in the world. It was on the Glenn ranch that Henry Ford grew to manhood, receiving his training in farm management from his father, a training by which he has profited materially in his later life. His mother, Martha (Kim- ball) Ford, reached the age of seventy-three. She raised a family of eight children, all of whom have taken their place in the world's work and have been a credit to the memory of their parents. They are: Henry Ford, of this review; W. F. Ford, formerly county clerk of Colusa County, but now deceased, who married Carrie Miller and left one child, a son, Hudson Miller Ford, now enlisted in the Federal Officers' Training Corps at San Francisco; George K., a successful attorney in San Francisco, and formerly deputy county clerk of Colusa County; Mrs. W. H. Reardon, whose hus-
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band, formerly Professor Reardon, is now postmaster at College City; Alice, wife of Prof. James R. Grinstead, principal of the Colusa High School; Mable, wife of Prof. L. Zumwalt, of the Rich- mond, Cal., High School; Mrs. C. L. King, a widow, who resides in San Francisco; and Genevieve, wife of Frank Scoggins, of Colusa. Mrs. Reardon, Mrs. Grinstead, and Mrs. Zumwalt were school-teachers before their marriage.
Henry Ford entered upon his first business venture at Butte City, Glenn County, where for some time he ran a large livery stable. In 1897 he disposed of this; and since that time he has been engaged in agricultural pursuits, holding a lease from the River Garden Farms Company on one thousand acres, originally owned by the late Colonel Hagar. The tract is all located in Reclamation District No. 108, seven miles south of Grimes. Here Mr. Ford is farming extensively to grain, principally barley. He has eight hundred fifty acres in grain, and the balance is used as pasture for his dairy of forty-five milch cows. Mr. Ford received a thorough farming experience in his youth, while on the large Glenn ranch; and this he has supplemented by the study of modern methods and improved means of agriculture. He is distinctly a self-made man, and is very popular in his district. A Democrat in politics, his opinions are sought in the ranks of that party; and his name has been proposed for sheriff and other offices, which, however, he has steadily refused, being content to continue his farming operations, though more than willing to do his share, and very liberally, when the best interests of the county are in question.
Mr. Ford's marriage, which occurred in San Francisco in 1889, united him with Miss Elva Viney, born in Sutter County, a daughter of Bazil Viney, of College City. Mr. and Mrs. Ford have one child, Ray, now twenty-six years of age, who married Miss Elaine Smith, and is the father of two children, Dorothy and Henry.
THOMAS EUGENE HAWORTH
Of English ancestry, Thomas Eugene Haworth is the descend- ant of a long line of American pioneers, those brave and fearless men who were the founders and builders of our republic. The progenitor of this branch of the Haworth family was George Hayworth (the name has since been changed in spelling to Haworth), who came from England and settled in Virginia, in colonial times, about two hundred thirty years ago. His son, George Haworth, second, born in Virginia, moved to what is now
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North Carolina, where most of the descendants are still living. George Haworth, second, had a son George Haworth, third, and he in turn had a son named Eli, whose son, Henry Haworth, was the father of Thomas Eugene Haworth.
Thomas Engene Haworth (usually called "Gene" by his many friends in Colusa County) was born at High Point, Guilford County, N. C., November 28, 1884, a son of Henry and Luvina (Holloway) Haworth. Henry Haworth was a tobacco planter, a "plunger" of the South, a land noted for its men who played for high stakes, taking their losses as lightly as their gains. He made money, lost it, and made again, always being plentifully supplied with the world's goods. He and his wife became the parents of fourteen children, all but two of whom are living, and are still residents of North Carolina, with the exception of Thomas Eugene and a brother, Luther Rice, who is bookkeeper at Knights Landing. Thomas Eugene was the sixth child born to his parents. His father passed away when this son was but a lad of ten years; tlie mother is still living at the old home in North Carolina, at sixty years of age. Thomas Haworth first began work in the employ of the High Point Mantel and Tahle Works. After six months in their employ, he was made shipping clerk; and in that position he continued for two years. Having heard of Arbuckle, Colusa County, Cal., as a place of opportunity, he decided to make the journey to the West; and arriving in Arbuckle about December 1, 1901, he secured work the very next day on the ranch of Boyer brothers, on the Sacramento River, in Colusa County, where he worked steadily for seven years, after which the ranch was sold to other parties.
On June 12, 1909, occurred the marriage of Mr. Haworth, uniting him with Miss Bertha Megonigal. She was born in College City, a daughter of John R. and Elizabeth (Smith) Megonigal. The parents were born in Missouri and Colusa County, Cal., re- spectively, of Southern parentage and of old pioneer families here. She attended Pierce Joint Union High School, after finish- ing the grammar grades, and then entered a private normal school at Marysville, from which she was graduated. After her gradua- tion she became a school-teacher, and taught for four years in Colusa County before her marriage to Mr. Haworth. She is a talented and accomplished musician, and a most excellent help- mate for her husband. Both her parents are still living, in Col- lege City; and a brother, George Dillon Megonigal, is the leading dealer in general merchandise at Grimes.
In 1913, Mr. Haworth purchased a forty-acre ranch from the River Garden Farms Company, in addition to which he leases the old Boyer ranch of one hundred acres, and from the Yolo
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Land Company seven hundred acres, operating in all eight hun- dred forty acres. He deals in live stock, of which he is an excel- lent judge. especially in mules and horses, which he buys and sells, as also cattle, hogs and sheep, shipping by river boats to the San Francisco markets. He ranks as one of the most successful stock buyers and shippers in the county and devotes his time person- ally to every detail of the business. His success is due to this fact, as well as to his broad knowledge of conditions pertaining to the stock business in the state. Both he and his wife are earnest advocates of all movements that tend to advance the inter- ests of their community and promote the welfare of their fellow citizens.
FRANK SCHILLIG
A native Californian, and a son of an old pioneer family of the state, Frank Schillig was born at Nicolaus, Sutter County, May 4, 1867. His father was Paul Schillig, a native of Ohio, who crossed the plains in 1852 and settled at French Corral, where he had a wide acquaintance among the early gold miners of the state. and where, also, he was married to Miss Bedelia Cox, who was descended from an early pioneer family. In 1856, Paul Schillig moved to Sutter County, where he engaged in ranching. His death occurred in 1874, when he was about fifty years of age, and when Frank, the next to the youngest, was only six or seven years old. To Paul and Bedelia Schillig the following children were born: Frank, of this review; Mrs. A. A. Thayer, of Grimes; Mrs. C. H. E. Hardin, of Ocean Park, Cal .; Mrs. E. Winship of Yuba County; and Lawrence, George and Bennett, all residing in Yuba City.
After the father's death, the mother kept the family together; and as soon as he was able to reach the plow handles, Frank Schillig went to work on the home farm, in Sutter County. There he grew to manhood, receiving his early education in the public schools, and later pursuing a course at Pierce Christian College, at College City, after which he took a course at Bainbridge Busi- ness College, at Sacramento. After his mother's death, he farmed the land belonging to the estate, in Sutter County.
In 1895, Mr. Schillig was united in marriage with Miss Leone Kilgore, a daughter of George Kilgore of Sacramento County, and a cousin of W. W. Kilgore of Grimes. After his marriage, Mr. Schillig, with his wife and sister, went to Nome, Alaska, where he engaged in gold mining. They returned, however, in the fall of the same year; and then he and his wife went to Reno, Nev., where
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Mr. Schillig entered the general merchandise business and trav- eled out of Reno for Wood Curtiss & Company, wholesale produce merchants, having for his territory the whole of Nevada and portions of California. After three years in this position, he managed a store at Manhattan, Nev., for one year, and then located at Ely, Nev., where for five years he ran a wholesale produce commission business.
Mr. Schillig then came back to Grimes, and secured a lease of his present ranch, six miles south of that town, in the Grand Island precinct. Here he operates nine hundred sixty acres, three hundred of which are in grain; and the balance he devotes to stock- raising. He has twelve hundred head of sheep, over one hundred hogs, and also some cattle. He specializes in sheep-raising, cross- ing the Merino and Shropshire breeds; and in this industry he is getting good results. Mr. Schillig carries on his work along systematic lines, and devotes his entire time and attention to his rapidly enlarging interests. At the same time, however, he is publie-spirited to a marked degree, and is never too busy to do his part in promoting the welfare of his district.
RICHARD JACOBSEN
To successfully manage a large acreage, carefully guarding the interests entrusted to him, requires that a man should have executive ability as well as industrial proficiency. Richard Jacobsen is demonstrating the fact that he possesses both these qualities, so necessary to the operation of the extensive ranch interests of which he has charge. A native of Denmark, he was born at Store Magleby on the island of Amager, January 20, 1869, a son of Hans and Niel Jacobsen. The father, who was a dairyman, died when Richard was but two years of age; and the mother was married a second time, to Martin Larsen. Richard, however, was her only child to grow to maturity. . He attended the public schools, finishing his education in the high schools, and then became acquainted with work in the home vegetable gardens. At nineteen years of age he entered the military service, and served in the Danish cavalry for three years.
At the expiration of his term of service, Mr. Jacobsen decided that life in a new country would offer better prospects for ad- vancement; and on March 4, 1892, he sailed for America, from Copenhagen, on the steamship Thingvalla, of the Thingvalla Line. On his arrival in this country, he came direct to California, reach- ing Oakland on March 29, 1892. Here he engaged in farm work,
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at Livermore, and worked on different farms until 1907, when he made the trip back to Denmark. In 1908, he returned with his future bride, Miss Hansine Jacobson, a native of the same place ; and they were married in Santa Rosa, on March 5, of that year. Mr. and Mrs. Jacobsen then went to Petaluma, Sonoma County, where they ran a farm for a period of three years. They pur- chased eight acres of improved property there, and operated a large hatchery. In 1911 they came to the Riverdale Farms, two and one half miles south of Grimes, Colusa County, and took charge of this property, owned by S. H. Green of Oakland. The ranch comprises four hundred eighty acres and is devoted to stock- raising and dairy purposes, and to the poultry business. High- grade Holstein cattle are raised here, as also horses and Duroc hogs. The ranch maintains a large dairy, and a liberal acreage is devoted to alfalfa. Mr. Jacobsen built all the poultry houses, brooders, etc., for the poultry ; and he has some thirty-five hundred White Leghorns on the place. The various ranching interests are being managed with that attention to detail for which Mr. Jacobsen's countrymen are noted, and which mean success in any undertaking.
Mr. and Mrs. Jacobsen are the parents of one child, Harold Richard.
JOHN STANLEY
Now in his eighty-third year, and still active in the manage- ment of his ranching interests, John Stanley has easily refuted the theory that "a man's usefulness is ended when he reaches his sixtieth year." His wonderful vitality has been the result of careful living and obeying the laws of nature. Born in Randolph, Tenn., October 11, 1834, he was deprived of a father's guiding hand when he was seven, was orphaned at an early age and was early forced by circumstances to make his own way in the world with but a limited education. From the time he was eleven he had to do the hardest kinds of work on farms, and endure privations which would have disheartened many boys. However, these only strengthened his character and made him more self-reliant, ren- dering possible his later success and his personal standing among his fellow citizens in Colusa County as one of its foremost men.
A descendant of the second generation of the Carolinas' native settlers, he was eight years old when the family moved to Arkansas and took up their home in Independence County. From
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there yonng Stanley went to Grayson County, Texas, in 1849, and was there engaged in teaming. On March 17, 1854, with a com- panion, Ike Norris, he started on horseback over the old overland trail for California. These young lads had the good fortune to get a chance to drive a band of cattle for Mr. Roland, who was to pay them a dollar a day and their board. However, when they got to Squirrel Creek, at the head of the Arkansas River in the Rocky Mountains, some Cherokee Indians whom they met agreed to drive the cattle in return for their board. This led Mr. Roland to declare the agreement null and void, and left the young men to themselves. They therefore took pack horses and provisions and proceeded by the Carson ronte, arriving at Downieville, on August 4, 1854. At the Galloway ranch they sold their horses, and then tried their Inck at mining.
After following the precarious calling of a miner with some success until 1858, Mr. Stanley came to Colusa County and took up land on Stony Creek, where he remained two years. He then went to Dayton, Nev., and again followed mining. Soon, however, he engaged in teaming, hauling quartz from the Comstock and other mines, and also built canals for quartz mills in partnership with a man named Anderson. He continued here until 1863, when he came back to Colusa County and bought two hundred forty acres on the plains. In 1865 he paid five thousand dollars for two hundred eighty-eight acres adjoining the other purchase. This could have been bought two years before for seventy-one cents per acre, if paid for in greenbacks. This property, now of five hundred thirteen acres, is located four miles west of Williams, and is still owned by Mr. Stanley. Besides farming this land he leased other tracts, having in all some seventeen hundred acres, which he used to cultivate with four eight-mule teams. For five years, however, he has used a Holt seventy-five horse-power caterpillar, which also pulls the combined harvester; and he also nses other modern machinery. For hanling grain he uses a Titan tractor, which pulls four wagons loaded with one hundred fifty sacks. This tractor also runs the five-inch pump, to furnish water for irrigating. Of late years he has sold over eighteen thousand dollars' worth of wheat and barley, besides always having hogs to market. In 1917 there were fourteen hundred thirteen dollars' worth of hogs sold from the ranch. He has always raised the Duroc-Jersey breeds. In 1902 Mr. Stanley leased this land to his sons and moved to Williams to enjoy a well-earned rest, although he still kept his eyes on the management of his property. In 1912 he returned to the ranch to stay and look after it. In 1913 he erected a modern bungalow on the ranch, where he and his wife live in comfort and happiness.
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The first marriage of Mr. Stanley united him with Miss Fredericka Monteaux, a native of Germany, who died here, leav- ing two children: John, a rancher in Arizona; and Mrs. Annie Reed, of San Francisco. In 1873 Miss Mary Miller became his wife. She was born at Evansville, Ind., where she was reared and educated. In 1871 she came to Colusa County, Cal., where she resided till her marriage. Of this union he has two children : Clara Louise, now Mrs. Ring of San Diego; and Dean, who enlisted in the United States Navy in 1917. A grandson, Stanley Reed, is also in the navy; and a son-in-law has been in the United States Navy for twelve years. Mr. Stanley has always been a Democrat, and takes a live interest in political matters, though never an office-seeker. He has made a host of friends in the county, who honor him for his upright character and wish him many more years of usefulness and prosperity.
REVEREND FATHER M. J. HYNES
A man of strong character, and a zealous and indefatigable worker for his church and people, Rev. Father M. J. Hynes has achieved much good in his chosen calling, devoting all his time and energies to his charge and counting himself but an instru- ment in the holy work in which he is engaged. Born in County Meath, Ireland, August 1, 1881, he made his classics at the Brothers' School in Mullingar, County West Meath, and on grad- nating there, decided to devote his life to the priesthood and entered All-Hallows College, at Dublin, Ireland, for his philosophy and theology. He was ordained in the college chapel, June 24, 1904, for the Sacramento diocese, by Bishop Donnelly, Bishop Coadjutor of Dublin. He came to Sacramento in November of the same year.
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