History of Humboldt County, California, with biographical sketches of the leading men and women of the county who have been identified with its growth and development from the early days to the present, Part 102

Author: Irvine, Leigh H. (Leigh Hadley), 1863-1942
Publication date: 1915
Publisher: Los Angeles, Historic Record Company
Number of Pages: 1328

USA > California > Humboldt County > History of Humboldt County, California, with biographical sketches of the leading men and women of the county who have been identified with its growth and development from the early days to the present > Part 102

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In August, 1905, Mr. Williams was appointed Supervisor of the Second District by Governor Pardee to fill the vacancy caused by the death of Mr. Swortzel, and in 1906 he was elected for the balance of the term. In 1908 he was elected to succeed himself and again in 1912 by a handsome majority. So for the last ten years his time has been devoted to the duties of supervisor and during this time he has been chairman of the board for four years. His district embraces about five large townships, extending from Singley on the west to Trinity county on the east, and from about two miles north of Fortuna to the Mendocino county line on the south. This includes about four hundred miles of road, with about the same number of bridges. The roads in his district are kept in splendid shape and he is well liked and fav- orably known.

Mr. Williams was married in Hydesville, February 21, 1886, being united with Josephine Versell, a native of Rock Island, Ill., the daughter Joseph and Dorris M. (Liitt) Versell, natives of Switzerland and Germany, respectively. They migrated from Illinois to Humboldt county in 1880 and Mrs. Williams attended school in Hydesville. Mr. and Mrs. Williams have four children : Dorris, Mrs. Nelson, and Ida, Mrs. Pryor, both of Fortuna ; Versell of Scotia ; and Belford, who remains at home.

Fraternally Mr. Williams is a member of Onward Lodge No. 380, I. O. O. F., at Fortuna : Eureka Lodge No. 652, B. P. O. E., and is also a member of the Fortuna Men's club and Fortuna Board of Trade. In his political pref- erences Mr. Williams is a stanch Republican. Mrs. Williams is a member of Independence Rebekah Lodge No. 197, of which she is past district deputy and is also a member of Sunshine Circle No. 678, Women of Woodcraft, being past installing officer.

CHARLES E. SACCHI .-- A native of Switzerland, where he was born in Lodrino, Canton Ticino, on March 30, 1867, Charles E. Sacchi is the son of Peter Sacchi, a farmer and dairyman of that canton, and in his new home in California the younger Mr. Sacchi is continuing the occupation of dairying in which he grew up from childhood. After attending the public schools of his native country, he determined, when but seventeen years of age, to seek his fortune in California, a country whither his brother Natal had pre- ceded him and sent home glowing reports of the prospects for young and ambitious men. Accordingly February, 1884, found Charles Sacchi in Hum- boldt county, Cal., where he soon secured employment on a dairy on Bear River Ridge, continuing there for a period of three years. Desirous of en- gaging in that business independently, he in 1888 leased a ranch consisting of seventy acres located at Rio Dell, in the same county, there for five years conducting a dairy of forty cows. At the end of that time, removing to Elk

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River, Cal., he leased a ranch of two hundred fifty acres, where for seven years he operated a dairy composed of seventy milch cows. In 1900 he came to Arcata, Cal., where he at present makes his home, leasing there the Calan- chini and Comisto ranch of three hundred thirty-five acres, located about a mile south of the town of Arcata. Here he engaged in dairying, and has brought the ranch up to a high standard for the purpose, his splendid pastures and large crops of hay, corn and green feed for his dairy herd of one hundred twenty milch cows being the result of his own endeavors and skilful manage- ment in bringing the place to a high state of productiveness.

The interest taken by Mr. Sacchi in the dairy industry is not confined to his own ranch alone, but he also takes a practical share in the advance- ment of this and kindred industries, and assisted in the incorporation and building up of the United Creameries Company, Inc., of which he has been one of the directors from the time of its organization, serving one year as president and for the past three years as secretary. In political circles he is known as a stanch upholder of the Republican principles. His marriage in Rio Dell, Cal., July 4, 1891, united him with Miss Lucy Giacolini, who is a native of the same part of Switzerland as her husband, she having been born in Monte Carasso, Canton Ticino. Mr. and Mrs. Sacchi are the parents of six children, namely: Peter, who is in charge of the Bayside Skimming Station for the United Creameries Company ; Frank, who assists his father on the ranch ; and Amelia, Mabel, Juditha and Christina, who live at home.

AXEL ANDERSON .- A native of Langeland, Denmark, where his birth occurred on January 14, 1885, Axel Anderson, a man now prominent in the creamery business in Arcata, Cal., is the son of Carl J. and Antonia (Nielsen) Anderson, both of whom are now living in their native home of Denmark, where the father is a forester, as was his father Anders before him. The fourth in a family of seven children, Axel Anderson received his educa- tion in the local public schools, after which for two years he was employed at cheese-making in a creamery, at the end of which time he entered a creamery school, taking a dairy course there, receiving in that way a thorough education in his chosen line of work, in which he had already had practical experience. On the completion of his course of study Mr. Anderson entered the Danish navy, serving on different vessels as gunner, during the time of the Russo-Japanese war, after a year's service being honorably discharged.

Turning his attention once more to the creamery business, Mr. Anderson was for about a year employed in this line of work, but determining to try his fortunes in California, where he had two uncles, Peter and Rasmus Anderson, living at Arcata, he came immediately to this place, arriving in April, 1906. Entering the employ of the Central Creamery Company at the Minor Cream- ery near Arcata, he spent the summer engaged in work there, removing later to the Ferndale plant of the same company, after a while engaging with the Silver Star Creamery on the Island until his return to Arcata in the spring of 1907. Here he was employed at Creamery No. 1 by the United Creameries, Incorporated, a few months later being placed in charge of the Premium Creamery, one of this company's plants located at Bayside, where he re- mained for a year, then entering the employ of Creamery No. 2 of the same firm until the spring of 1912. At that time he went back to the Premium Creamery at Bayside for a few months, then again returned to Creamery No. 2, where he continued until June, 1913, when he was placed in charge

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of Creamery No. 1, situated at Arcata Bottoms, where he continues in busi- ness at the present time. By his long association with the United Creameries Company, at their various plants, Mr. Anderson has become a valued assistant of the firm, one thoroughly acquainted with its business methods as well as with the creamery industry in general. During the height of the season Mr. Anderson oversees the receiving of sixteen tons of milk and about a ton of cream per day, the separating of the cream, which is sent to the main plant in Arcata, and the making of casein. He built for himself and family a com- fortable and pleasant residence at Arcata, which he now rents, since he now makes his residence adjoining the creamery.

In his political preferences Mr. Anderson is an upholder of the Demo- cratic party, while his religious associations are with the Lutheran church, and fraternally he is a member of the Arcata Aerie No. 1846, Fraternal Order of Eagles. His marriage took place in Arcata in 1913, his wife being Miss Elaine Moxon, who was born at the Moxon home on Arcata Bottoms, the daughter of Isaac and Emma (Nielsen) Moxon, well known residents of that part of the county. Mr. and Mrs. Anderson are the parents of one son, Carl Isaac Anderson.

JOHN and HUGH HAMILTON .- Among the rising young farmers of the Bull creek country and natives of Humboldt county, descended from one of the oldest and most honored pioneer families of the county, are John and Hugh Hamilton, who are residing on the old Hamilton homestead, which they operate together, the ranch being the property of their widowed mother. The Hamiltons trace their ancestry back directly to one of the most illustrious families of England, and the grandfather, James B. Hamilton, was a first cousin of Alexander Hamilton, the great statesman of Revolutionary times. The grandfather was a minister of the gospel, a member of the United Brethren church, and was one of the pioneer preachers of Humboldt county. He lived to be over ninety years of age, and died just two weeks before the death of his son, James A. Hamilton, which occurred November 15, 1904. His wife was Levicy McWhorter, a native of Illinois, where they were mar- ried and where their only son, James A., was born, March 19, 1839, this son becoming the head of a family of uine children. James A. Hamilton was married to Miss Emily Powell in Iowa, she being a native of Platte county, Missouri. Three children were born to them in Iowa before they came to California in 1855. The father and mother of Mr. Hamilton came with them, the long journey across the plains being with ox teams, in 1855. The entire family resided for a time in Yolo county, and about 1862 they came into Humboldt county, where they have since resided. For two years they lived at Ferndale, and then moved into the Hydesville and Rohnerville vicinity, where they resided on various places for a number of years, buying and selling several pieces of property. In 1878 they moved into the Bull creek country, buying a relinquishment of one hundred sixty acres from Mr. Whitlow and proving up on the same. Later an additional one hundred sixty acres adjoin- ing was secured by his oldest son and became a part of his ranch, the property now numbering three hundred twenty acres. Since the death of their father in 1904 the two sons, Hugh and John, have been running the place, and are meeting with much merited success. They raise principally fruit and stock, and also do general farming. They have five acres of apples which are among the finest in the valley. Mrs. Hamilton, their mother, owns the property and

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keeps in close touch with all that concerns her interests. She is now almost eighty years of age, but is still vigorous in mind and body. She became the mother of nine children, all of whom are living at the present time, save one, Uriah, the fourth born, who died at the age of eighteen months. Of the others, William, the eldest, is a farmer at Independence, Ore .; Baker resides at Requa, Del Norte county, Cal., where he is engaged in dairy farming ; Martha resides in Merced county, where her husband, James Blow, is a dairy farmer ; John is engaged in the management of the home farm; Levicy also resides at home; Mary is the wife of Simon Albec, and resides at Myrtle Point, Ore., where her husband is engaged in the confectionery business ; Augustus also resides at Myrtle Point, Ore., where he is a well known stock- man ; and Hugh is engaged in the management of the home farm with his brother John.

John Hamilton was born at Ferndale, but was raised on the ranch in Bull creek and educated in the public schools there. Although some time has been spent in other parts of the county, his interests and work have centered around the old homestead, and since his father died he and Hugh have run the farm together.

Hugh Hamilton is a native of Humboldt county, being born on the farm on Bull creek, and reared and educated in this district, where he has passed his lifetime. The brothers are well known throughout the county as young men of ability and worth, industrious, energetic and capable, possessed of judgment and business acumen. Hugh Hamilton was married to Miss Ruby Butler, a native of Nevada, and the daughter of William and Minnie (Bess- mer) Butler. She came to Humboldt county with her parents when a girl, and is well known at South Bay, this county, where her parents now reside. She has borne her husband two children, Hugh Augustus and Ruby Maxine. Both John and Hugh Hamilton are members of the farm center at Dyerville and are taking an active interest in the agricultural and horticultural develop- ment of their vicinity.

CARL FREDERICK HANSEN .- The manager of the United Cream- eries Company at Arcata, Cal., is Carl Frederick Hansen, who was employed by a large creamery company in his native land of Denmark before coming to the United States, and who, prior to his appointment as manager of his present company, acted as butter-maker for the firm until the year 1911, having already had extensive experience along this line of business in other companies in California. The United Creameries Company was incorporated about the year 1907, its main plant being located about a half mile west of the city of Arcata, with skimming stations at both Arcata and Bayside. The butter is all manufactured at the main plant of the company, with an output of forty-five hundred pounds per day, much of which is sold locally in Eureka and vicinity, the rest being shipped to San Francisco. The record of the United Creameries Company for the year 1914 was close to a million pounds of butter, while for 1915 they expect an output of over a million pounds. Their manufacture of casein amounts to about twelve hundred pounds per day, or one hundred fifty tons a year. Besides being manager of the com- pany, Mr. Hansen is also a stockholder and director in the same, his wide experience in the industry, both in Denmark and in this country, rendering him peculiarly fitted for the important offices which he today fills.

Like his two brothers, Mr. Hansen has chosen to make his home in Cali-

Geo Bayes

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fornia, where opportunities are offered to ambitious youths from other coun- tries for advancement which their home lands do not afford. Born in Band- holm, Laaland, Denmark, September 4, 1876, he was the son of Mads and Maren Hansen, both of whom are now deceased. Carl Frederick was brought up in his native city, receiving his education in the local public schools, and entering the employ of a large creamery company at the close of his school days, where he remained until twenty years of age, learning the trade of butter-making in all its branches. At the age of twenty Mr. Hansen entered the Danish Agricultural College, where he was graduated from the creamery course two years later, thereafter serving the required time in the Danish army, from which he was honorably discharged at the end of a year. Return- ing then to his chosen line of occupation, he entered the employ of a cow- testing association, the largest of the kind in the country, continuing there for a period of two years, resigning in order to remove to California, where he arrived in Humboldt county in February of the year 1901. Here Mr. Hansen found employment with the Sunset Creamery at the town of Loleta, being placed in charge of the plant, in which office he continued until deciding to accept a position with the United Creameries Company at Arcata, since which time he has made his home in the latter city, and has risen from an inferior position with the firm to his present office of manager.

Married in San Francisco to Miss Gerda Dohlquist, a native of Goeteborg, Sweden, Mr. Hansen is the father of two sons, Vernon and Kenneth. In his religious associations he is a member of the Lutheran church, and fraternally he is an Odd Fellow, having been made a member thereof in the Loleta Lodge No. 56, and at one time was Noble Grand of the same, being at present a member of the Anniversary Lodge at Arcata.

GEORGE BOYES .- Among the men who have achieved success and acquired a competency in their chosen occupation mention must be made of George Boyes, who is the owner of a stock ranch on Boynton Prairie, where he is engaged in growing cattle and angora goats, in the latter industry demonstrating it to be very profitable not only for the fleece and meat, but also for keeping down and clearing the stock range of brush. Before he had the flock of goats it was necessary for him to clear and burn the brush every few years, but since he has the flock of angoras they keep it down. Mr. Boyes has been a resident of California for thirty-three years and of Humboldt county since 1884. Since then he has taken no small part in its development and upbuilding and is known as a progressive and enterprising man, liberal and kind hearted, always ready and willing to do his share towards any meas- ure that has for its aim the improvement of the county or betterment of the condition of its people. In all this he is ably assisted by his estimable wife, who has been his helpmate in the truest sense and to whom he gives no small credit for the success he has attained. They are both very hospitable and do not hesitate to assist those who have been less fortunate.

George Boyes was born in Hemmingford, Huntingdon county, Province of Quebec, November 6, 1861, being the sixth oldest of a family of ten chil- dren born to George and Mary A. (Lyttle) Boyes, who were respectively born in England and Ireland, coming to the Province of Quebec in youth where later they were married and where they engaged in farming. George Boyes received a good education in the public schools. From a lad he made

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himself generally useful on the farm and learned farming as it is done in Quebec. He was thus employed until he was twenty-one years of age, when he came to Mendocino county, Cal., in 1882. His first employment was on a ranch near Albion, but a year later he went to work in the Albion woods, continuing there until 1884, thence came to Humboldt county. For a year he worked for Isaac Minor on Warren creek and then entered the employ of the Riverside Lumber Company, afterwards incorporated as the Northern Redwood Lumber Company. Beginning his work on Mad river as a rig- puller, he worked up and soon became chain tender, a place he filled until 1895, when he discontinued his connection with the company to engage in dairying. For this purpose he leased the Merriam ranch above Blue Lake and operated a dairy of forty cows, continuing on the place for a period of five years. He then purchased the old Boynton Prairie farm of four hundred eighty acres, lying nine miles east of Arcata, the place taking its name from Mr. Boynton, who was killed by the Indians while squatting on land at this place. After securing the place he moved onto it with his cattle and for a time ran a dairy, but he found it too far to market so began growing cattle, of which he has a splendid herd. In 1909 he began raising angora goats, which he finds very satisfactory and profitable, as stated heretofore. Besides his herd of cattle he has about two hundred head of fine nearly full blooded angora stock. Aside from his manifold duties on the ranch he finds time to contract getting out tan bark for the Arcata tannery, some years deliv- ering as much as one hundred fifty cords to the tannery.

The marriage of Mr. Boyes occurred at Arcata in December, 1887. when he was united with Miss Kate Goodrich, a native of New Hampshire. Her father, Henry Goodrich, brought his family to Arcata when Mrs. Boyes was a year old. He followed general contracting until he retired and there he still makes his home. Mrs. Boyes received her education in Arcata and is a cultured and refined woman, greatly esteemed by all who know her. They have one child, Alice, Mrs. Stanley Stokes, of Oakland.

Fraternally Mr. Boyes is a member of Blue Lake Lodge No. 172, I. O. O. F. He is a member of the board of trustees of Cedar Springs school district. Politically he has always believed the principles of the Republican party to be of the greatest benefit to the country.

MRS. MARGARET SMITH COBB .- An author of note, and known among her literary friends as "The Lady of the Hills," is Mrs. Margaret Smith Cobb, at present residing on her ranch some four miles from Garberville, where she has made her home for many years. Mrs. Cobb is a woman of rare ability and charm, and her literary skill is of a superior order. She published a Cali- fornia romance in 1913 which has had a wide circulation. It is "Blaxine, Half-breed Girl," a tale which, like Helen Hunt Jackson's "Ramona," deals with the life of a beautiful half-breed girl. This tale has received the favor- able comment of the best critics and has been especially praised by California writers. including Joaquin Miller and Jack London, both of whom give it their unqualified approval, the former having declared that "it is dearer to me than 'Ramona'," and adding that it is "the masculine to Helen Hunt's feminine." Mrs. Cobb has the manuscript to several other novels which will appear within a limited time, and she is planning to publish a volume of her poems in 1915. These manuscripts were ready for the publisher when the death of her hus-

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band occurred and so disturbed the current of her life that for the last year she has given very little time to her literary efforts.

Mrs. Cobb claims that her ability as a literary woman is simply a heritage. Anyone blessed with the wonderful father and mother that were her own must naturally and necessarily be a writer. She is the daughter of Thomas Smith, a native of Michigan, a dreamer and frontiersman, and Donna Anna Zeparra, of a titled family of Chile.

When but a boy Mrs. Cobb's father was in the commission of the gov- ernment, moving the Pottawattamie Indians to the west of the Mississippi. This awakened in him a love for the Indians, to understand something better in their nature than savagery. In 1846 he crossed the plains to California, and while on this trip there were the most friendly relations with the Sioux and Comanches. Arriving in California, he enlisted under John C. Fremont and served under him during the war with Mexico. He was working in the timber, where Oakland now stands, when gold was discovered, and Aunt Jane Wymer, who tested the gold in the kettle of soft soap, was an aunt by marriage.

Shortly after this he became associated with a party that made a trip through the wilds of Trinity county. Redemeyer of Ukiah, Requa of Long Valley and Jewett of Harris were members of this party. They found no gold and the Indians were very troublesome, forcing them to make a stand against them where Harris is now situated. It was on this trip that the dreamer and adventurer first saw Long Valley in Mendocino. He loved the beauty of the high vale in the mountains and the next year, in 1852, returned to make his selection of a home in the valley that had charmed him. Far up in this wilderness he lived several years, building the log house that still stands on the land and splitting out fencing from the virgin timber. In 1858 he returned to San Jose for the wife he was to take away to share the wilds with him.

Donna Anna Zeparra was a Chilean lady, a granddaughter of Don Juan de Lieva, a well known figure in Chilean history and one of a long line of Castilian nobility. Donna Anna was a daughter of the rich and one of a family intensely Catholic, nuns and priests following both sides of the family. The De Lieva family owned a magnificent property in the Rincon Valley near Valparaiso. Don Juan was a proud old Tory during the war for Independence, and would have been treated as one when the Chileans won their freedom, but it was too widely known how he had opened his granaries to the poor of both parties. In honor to this kindness, he was pardoned (an unusual thing during those cruel years) and made governor for life in that section where he lived. The family had great pride in their title, their Castilian blood and in their deeds toward the church. It was a grand-aunt of Donna Anna, Donna Monecita, who founded the great Carmelite convent at San Felipe. Donna Anna was left an orphan at six years, and her stories of her childhood, of playing in the great garden where the red lilies grew as tall as her head, or sitting at evening watching the flames belch forth from Mt. Aconcagua are yet stories of wonder. In 1850 she was brought to California by her god- father and god-mother and soon afterward entered Notre Dame convent at San Jose to be a nun and teacher. She had determined to become a nun, and had taken the first vows when she met the man who was to be her husband, while recovering from an illness at her god-mother's. It was a case of true love at first sight, the frail Spanish maiden loving the daring blond frontiers-

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man. They were married in a short time, Bishop Alamana officiating at the ceremony. Then they set out for the wilds. The young husband drove a yoke of cattle and carried with him three hundred fruit trees, ornamental trees and rose cuttings, while the bride carried her great Spanish dictionary and grammar and her finest embroidery and lace needles. Arriving at their home, the little wife embroidered and wrote Latin poems, when for months at a time her only companions were the Indian squaws who looked upon her as some rare queen. When the first baby was born the second year after their arrival, it possessed six long skirts embroidered their full length so heavily that one could scarcely find the space to set a finger down on unembellished cloth.

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History of Humboldt County, California, with biographical sketches of the leading men and women of the county who have been identified with its growth and development from the early days to the present, Part 102

Author: Irvine, Leigh H. (Leigh Hadley), 1863-1942 Publication date: 1915 Publisher: Los Angeles, Historic Record Company Number of Pages: 1328

Author: Irvine, Leigh H. (Leigh Hadley), 1863-1942
Publication date: 1915
Publisher: Los Angeles, Historic Record Company
Number of Pages: 1328