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 105

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 105

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Mr. Wood was twice married, and Wilson was the only child of the first union that grew to maturity. For his second wife he married Miss Laura Webb, who survives him, now making her home at Rohnerville, this county, and she became the mother of seventeen children, of whom we have the follow- ing record : Julia ; Charles W., who married Lena Linser, and who has large interests at Briceland and Garberville : Mary Elizabeth ; Alice, who lives with her mother at Rohnerville: Olive; Ella, Mrs. Hadley, of Petrolia; George, who died when two years old: Naney, who married and died leaving three children ; Nellie, deceased in infancy ; Louis, who died when ten years old, of injuries received by a horse falling on him ; John, of San Diego, Cal. ; Della,

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HISTORY OF HUMBOLDT COUNTY

who died at Petrolia when fifteen years old ; Leora Edna; Edith, of Hardy, Cal .: James, a resident of Humboldt county ; Frank, of Rohnerville; and Frances, who lives in- Washington state.

Wilson Wood was born November 29, 1866, on the Wood ranch in Hun- boldt county, and there spent his childhood and early manhood, attending the public schools in the local country district and beginning to help his father as soon as possible. He remained at home until his marriage, taking an active part in the improvement of the estate, and after a few years' ex- perience on other ranches settled with his wife on the Jewett ranch. where they have resided continuously since 1892. Though the property has been divided, each of the heirs owning distinct herds and droves and carrying on independent operations, the large tract is fenced altogether, and the Wood, Jewett and Gratto families have many interests in common. The property of Mr. and Mrs. Wood now comprises eight hundred acres, in the manage- ment and systematic cultivation of which he has shown the value of his early training. He raises high-grade cattle, and makes a specialty of breeding Yorkshire hogs. As a progressive citizen Mr. Wood has proved a worthy son of his father, using his influence for the promotion of the best movements, and taking an active part in the local welfare. He has exerted himself especially in the cause of public educational facilities, and is a school trustee and president of the board. His religious principles are based on the teach- ings of the Golden Rule.

When twenty-four years old Mr. Wood married Miss Maria C. Jewett, daughter of the late Enoch Phelps Jewett, and they have two children : Howard C. J., and Enoch Phelps J., both of whom reside at home and assist in the operation of the ranch. It is located two and a half miles east of Harris.

Enoch Phelps Jewett, father of Mrs. Maria C. (Jewett) Wood, was a native of Springfield, Mass., and a member of a family well known in that state from Colonial days and represented in the Revolutionary war on the colonists' side. A genealogy of this family, in two volumes, has recently been published. Its carliest progenitor in America, Deacon Maximilian Jewett, was born in England in 1607, son of Edward Jewett, a cloth manufacturer at Bradford, in the West Riding of Yorkshire. He married in his native coun- try, and in 1638 sailed with his wife from Hull, England, in the ship John, as members of a colony under the leadership of Rev. Ezekiel Rogers. They arrived at Boston, December 1, 1638, spent the winter at Salem, and in the spring of 1639 founded the town of Rowley, in the Massachusetts Bay colony. Deacon Jewett's descendants in every generation have been noted for vigor of intellect and high moral character, and the branch of the family in Hum- boldt county, Cal., has been no exception to the rule.

Stephen Jewett, great-grandfather of Enoch Phelps Jewett, was born October 5, 1736, in Thompson, Conn., and moved to Lanesboro, Mass. His wife was Mehitable Harris. He was a soldier in the Revolutionary war, a sergeant in the company of Asa Barnes, Col. B. Ruggles Woodbridge's regi- ment, muster roll dated August 1, 1775; entered May 17, 1775, service two months, sixteen days.

Timothy Jewett, son of Stephen, was born March 5, 1763, in Lanesboro, Mass., and like his father was a Revolutionary soldier, his record reading as follows: "Timothy Jewett, private, Capt. David Wheeler's company, Col.

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Benjamin Simonds' regiment ; service eight days; company marched from Lanesboro to Manchester, October 12, 1780." He married Elizabeth Phelps.

Enoch Phelps Jewett, son of Timothy and Elizabeth (Phelps) Jewett, learned the trade of tailor, but was only a youth when he shipped on a whaler, sailing from the port of Boston. He made voyages to both the Arctic and Antarctic oceans, around Cape Horn and north to San Francisco, where he took "French leave" of the ship. This was in 1843, when California was still Mexican territory. He remained at San Francisco until 1848, and assisted in making the first, second and third surveys of the city and bay. Having decided to return to the east overland, he had proceeded as far as Salt Lake City when he heard of the gold finds, and hoping to make a fortune in the mines retraced his steps, going up to the north fork of the Feather river. He spent five or six years at Hangtown (now Placerville), and took part in the gruesome affair from which the place derived its early name, helping to arrest, try and execute three desperadoes. They were made to stand up in a wagon box with the ropes adjusted about their necks and attached to the limb of a tree, and Mr. Jewett drove the team hitched to the wagon. IIe not only mined, but also ran a store and market at Hangtown. Later he moved to the Sacramento valley, where he was engaged in ranching, and for a time he was in Hull's valley, hunting deer. Two of his party were killed by the Indians, and in this and other experiences he had the dangers of life in the early days brought very near to him. For a few years he was located in the Sherwood valley, in Mendocino county, raising cattle, hogs and horses, and in March, 1863, he came up to what was then known as Little valley, in Humboldt county, but which was renamed Jewett's valley in his honor. Here he bought a squatter's claim of one thousand acres, and drove in the first cattle, horses and hogs ever brought into the valley. There are many landmarks now in the vicinity which perpetuate his name. Jewett's Peak, in full view from the little mountain town of Harris, stands like a sentinel in the midst of picturesque scenery, and Jewett's creek is another local feature.

Mr. Jewett had twenty-five hundred sheep, two hundred head of cattle and one hundred horses (principally saddle horses), and his sons worked with him in the cultivation of the ranch and the conduct of its various interests, becoming expert horsemen and cattlemen, and raisers of sheep and saddle horses. Here Enoch P. Jewett made his home during the last thirty-five years of his life, becoming one of the well known figures who bore a large share in the advancement and development of the locality, where he was honored for his admirable personal qualities as well as for his success in his business ventures. He added to his original holdings materially, until he owned twenty-four hundred acres, now in the possession of his four children, who have taken proper pride in the preservation of the estate.

By his marriage to Miss Belle Fenton, a native of Trinity county, Cal., Mr. Jewett had a family of four children: John Howard, who is extensively interested in the raising of saddle and stage horses; Martha Asenath, wife of George McDonald Gratto, of Harris; Edwin C., who is engaged in the raising of cattle and hogs ; and Maria C., wife of Wilson Wood. Mr. Jewett died in 1898, at the age of seventy-three years, surviving his wife, whose death occurred twenty-six years ago.

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HISTORY OF HUMBOLDT COUNTY

JOHN W. BOWDEN .- An interesting career, and one that holds promise of still greater success, is that of John W. Bowden, of Garberville, rancher, oil promoter and general business man, who is one of the most prominent young men in Humboldt county, and one whose splendid good fortune is the direct result of his own untiring efforts. Mr. Bowden is descended from a long line of distinguished ancestry, dating back through the colonial days to England, and numbering many men and women of note on both sides. His mother is a cousin of Nathaniel Hawthorne, the poet, and is herself an authoress of note, while on the father's side there are men of courage and brave deeds by the score. This favored son seems to have manifested many of the splendid traits of his forbears, and his financial success, personal popularity and integrity of character are acknowledged by all who know him.

Mr. Bowden is a native of Maine, having been born at Jefferson, Lincoln county, February 8, 1870. Ilis father, William H. Bowden, a farmer, was also a native of Maine, where he died when this son was a lad of seven years. His mother is still living at the age of seventy-one, making her home in San Luis Obispo. She has given much time and thought to literary work and one of her published volumes is dedicated to her children. She is a poetess and prose writer of rare ability and her writings have been well received. The progenitor of the American branch of the Bowden family was Gideon Bowden, who came to this country from England and settled at Boothbay, Me., carly in the eighteenth century. One of his sons married Jane Murphy, the first white child to be born between the Penobscot and Kennebec rivers, and they became the ancestors of a long line, the wife living to be a great- great-grandmother. On the side of the mother, who was in girlhood Miss Caroline E. Philbrick, Mr. Bowden is related not only to the famous poet (Nathaniel Hawthorne), but also by direct descent to Asa Bartlett, one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence.

The boyhood days of Mr. Bowden were spent in Maine, where he assumed the responsibilities of life at an early age. His father owned a small farm, free from debt, but not profitable enough to provide for the family, and so he went to work at the age of eleven years on a neighboring farm, attending school in the winter months and working during vacations and at odd times. There were five children in the family, three sons and two daughters, namely : John W., present esteemed citizen of Garberville; William H., residing at Shelter Cove: Della, the wife of Henry Bryant, residing in San Francisco ; Belle, wife of Fred Jenks, residing at Willowbrook, Los Angeles county ; and Charles, a farmer and dairyman at San Luis Obispo. From his earliest boyhood Mr. Bowden was very practical in his ideas and when he worked he always managed to save something of his earnings. Accordingly in 1886, when he was sixteen years of age, he had saved enough to bring him to Cali- fornia, and leaving his family home at Jefferson, he made the trip alone, com- ing first to San Luis Obispo, where he secured employment with Judge Beebee as office boy in his lumber office, remaining there for two years. His mother and the remaining members of the family joined him in 1888, and he pur- chased a little place where his mother still makes her home. Later he went to San Francisco and took a course in civil engineering at the Van der Nailen School of Civil Engineering, graduating with the class of 1893. For a time he pursued this occupation in the southern part of the state, but later

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came to northern California, landing at Shelter Cove in 1894. In the fall of 1896 he opened a general merchandise business at Briceland, and for seven- teen years conducted it as an independent enterprise with the greatest suc- cess. In 1904 his brother, William H. Bowden, came to Humboldt county and a partnership was formed between the two, which still continues in some lines. Together they purchased the drug store formerly conducted by C. J. Swithenbank, and William H. Bowden took charge of that while John W. conducted the general merchandise business. In 1908 another business ex- pansion was made, the brothers purchasing the one-half interest of the Notley Brothers in the store and wharf at Shelter Cove, the remaining half interest being the property of the Wagner Leather Company of Stockton. This busi- ness has since been incorporated and is now known as the Shelter Cove Wharf & Warehouse Company, capitalized at $50,000. They have improved the wharf and now have first-class wharfage accommodations, where steam- ers of fourteen feet draft can easily and safely dock. It is anticipated that the question of the United States government's establishing a Harbor of Refuge south of Eureka will eventually be decided in favor of Shelter Cove.

Recently Mr. Bowden has become actively interested in ranch property and in oil lands, the latter industry being his especial esthusiasm at this time. He disposed of his store at Briceland in 1913 to Leslie Kehoe, lately of Alaska, and has given up the merchandising business. In 1912 he purchased the Kemper Brothers ranch, a property of eight hundred acres located two and a half miles south of Garberville, which he operates at present. He is planning to cut this tract up into smaller ranches and dispose of it for home farms, which are in demand in the locality. He also owns some eight hun- dred acres of timber land, covered with much valuable timber.

His interest in the oil industry is not a new idea with Mr. Bowden, he having made a careful study of the conditions in this locality for several years, and being convinced that there are large deposits of oil here, he is determined to develop the industry in southern Humboldt county. The seepage of oil is very evident in many places, and natural gas is found in sufficient quantities and of such quality that it is used for heating and lighting purposes in Briceland. A company has been formed with John W. Bowden as president, C. J. Swithenbank as secretary-treasurer, and M. D. Shaw as vice-president and manager, and they are at present engaged in drilling for oil on their properties.

The marriage of Mr. Bowden took place in San Francisco in 1898, uniting him with Miss Lottie Kehoe, a native of Pennsylvania but reared at Rohner- ville, Cal., an own sister of Senator William Kehoe, of Eureka. Of this union has been born one child, Clara D.

Aside from his splendid business abilities, Mr. Bowden is well known socially and fraternally and possesses a host of warm friends and admirers. He is an old line Republican and a stanch party man. He is progressive and alive on all public questions and always in favor of all measures that tend toward the general betterment of the community. He favors strictly business methods in municipal and state government and stands firmly for the prin- ciples advocated by his party. Altogether, Mr. Bowden is a citizen of whom the county may well be proud. His work has been strictly along developmental lines, and he has been an important factor in the history of the county in

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that he has been instrumental in opening up various lines of endeavor, ex- tending and developing them, and so increasing the wealth and opportunities that the community offered to the general public. This is his great desire in the oil industry, and he is striving to demonstrate the possibilities and great hidden wealth of the locality, rather than working for mere personal gain.

JOSEPH CASACCA .- From the canton of Ticino, in Switzerland, Joseph Casacca came to make his home in California, having heard there were great opportunities for young men in this new country. Brought up on his father's dairy farm in the Alps, Joseph Casacca was already well ini- tiated in the dairy business, which he has followed industriously and with marked success since coming to America.

Born in Gordola, Switzerland, March 19, 1872, Mr. Casacca was the son of John and Carmilla (Scaroni) Casacca, both of whom are now deceased, and of their family of eight children five are now living, namely : Joseph, a dairyman in Humboldt county, Cal .; Albert, residing in San Francisco; Celeste, also living in San Francisco; Marion, in the employ of the elder brother Joseph ; and Louis, who remains on the old home farm in the Alps. At the age of twenty-one years, having received his education in the local public schools, and spent some time assisting his father upon the farm, Joseph Casacca determined to come to California, and in May, 1893, arrived in Sonoma county, where for fourteen months he was employed on a dairy at Lakeville, in July of the next year removing to Humboldt county, where he was employed on different dairies in the neighborhood of Waddington for about nine years. By that time, having saved sufficient money to enable his starting in business independently, Mr. Casacca in 1903 leased the Pleasant Point ranch of sixty acres near Waddington, where for a period of five years he conducted a dairy of twenty cows. Removing thence to the Eel river island he there leased the old Sam Fulmore place of sixty-two acres of bottom land, where he raises large crops of hay, grain, clover, corn, carrots and beets, and milks a herd of thirty-four cows, all fed upon the estate.

Besides being a stockholder in the Valley Flower Creamery Company, Mr. Casacca is a member of the Woodmen of the World, his wife being a member of the Women of Woodcraft. His marriage took place in Ferndale, his wife having formerly been Miss Cora Mead, a native of Oregon and daughter of Alfred Mead, a pioneer of Oregon and California now residing at Bridgeville, this county. Mr. and Mrs. Casacca are the parents of three child- ren, by name Mabel, Florence and Lloyd.

MARTIN AMBROSINI .- For many years Martin Ambrosini has been a resident of the state of California, whither he was attracted by the good reports he had heard of the opportunities for farming and dairying in Hum- boldt county, numerous of his countrymen having already come to this part of the United States to seek their fortunes.

Switzerland is the native land of Mr. Ambrosini, and his birth occurred on December 11, 1855, in the town of Lodrino, in the Canton of Ticino, where his father, Peter, was a farmer and dairyman. The father, and also the mother, who was formerly Petronella Martinolli, are now both dead, and of their five children, Martin, the youngest, is the only one now living. His boyhood was spent on his father's farm in the Alps region, and he received his education in the local public schools. At the age of twenty years, re-

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sponding to the law of his country, he entered the infantry regiment, where he served his time until honorably discharged, after which he continued to assist his father upon the home farm, until the determination to try his luck in the new country led him to leave his home for California, a change which he has never found cause to regret. May I, 1882, saw him in Eureka, Humboldt county, Cal., and he commenced his career with humble employ- ment in dairies on Bear River Ridge and near Ferndale. When he had accu- mulated considerable means by faithful work and wise economy, Mr. Ambro- sini looked about for an investment and in 1895 purchased twenty acres on the Island, two and one-half miles from the town of Ferndale. This he improved to a great extent, and has engaged in the dairy business there since that time, owning a herd of fifteen cows. The land consisting of rich soil, he is enabled to raise large crops of hay and green feed, so that all the fodder for his cattle is supplied by his own ranch. At a later date he added to his property by the purchase of thirty additional acres on the county road, but this he does not make use of individually, but has rented it for dairy pur- poses to another party.

Among the oldest Swiss citizens of the county, Mr. Ambrosini is well known here as a man of integrity and steady purpose, one whose residence here is a benefit to the community where both he and his wife are known for their geniality and hospitality. Mr. Ambrosini's marriage took place in Ferndale, on November 3, 1894, his wife, formerly Miss Filomina Giulieri, having been born in Cognisco, in the same canton in Switzerland as Mr. Ambrosini, and having lived in Humboldt county, since February, 1893. Mr. and Mrs. Ambrosini are the parents of three children, Lillian, now Mrs. Biondini of Ferndale; and Ida and Sadie, who make their home with their parents in Ferndale. In his political interests Mr. Ambrosini is an Inde- pendent.

JOHN LARSEN .- Among the prominent dairymen of Humboldt county, Cal., who have come from other lands to make their home in this country, should be mentioned John Larsen, who operates the Willow Brook dairy near Beatrice, Cal.

The native land of Mr. Larsen is Denmark, where his birth occurred April 23, 1874, at Kjedeby, Langeland, and there he attended the public schools and was brought up in the dairy business on the dairy farm of his father. In 1893 John Larsen removed to America, settling first in Marin county, Cal., where he was employed as a butter maker on a dairy farm until the year 1899, at which time he came to Ferndale, in Humboldt county, work- ing here a year upon a dairy, and then, having saved sufficient money for the purpose, he determined to go into business for himself. He therefore in 1900 leased his present place, the Willow Brook ranch near the town of Beatrice, on the main road from Eureka, and ten miles south of the latter place. Here Mr. Larsen has been in business independently ever since, milking a dairy herd of fifty cows, mostly of Jersey stock, and, on his land of over two hundred acres, more than half of which is rich bottom land, he raises plenty of hay and green feed for his herd, and enjoys the advantages of springs and streams of running water. The interest which he takes in the dairy and creamcry business is shown by the fact that he was one of the original stockholders in the Eclipse Creamery, which ships all its butter

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to San Francisco, and likewise a director of the same company from the time of its organization, as well as having at one time been its president and now its secretary. He is also a member of the Humboldt County Dairy- men's Association and the Humboldt County Farm Bureau, while the Dan- ish associations with which he is connected are the Dania and the Danish Brotherhood. In his religious interests he is a Lutheran, and politically he is a member of the Republican party. By his marriage in Ferndale to Miss Maria Christiansen, a native of Aero, Denmark, he is the father of one son, John Larsen, Jr.

A man who has grown up in the dairy business and has in later years made a conscientious study of the same, it is not strange that Mr. Larsen has attained the success in his chosen line of work which has been his; and aside from his business interests he is a great reader, and blessed with a retentive memory, so that he is a well informed and interesting conversa- tionalist as well as a practical and successful business man.

ARTHUR ALEXANDER ROSS .- Though at present giving his time to the duties of his office as deputy sheriff of Humboldt county, Mr. Ross, until he assumed that position, was engaged in mechanical work, being a high-class boilermaker and expert in construction work. He has been engaged on many notably important structures, his reputation extending all over this section of the state. In his public service he has given evidence of the same efficiency which has characterized all his work. Coming to Eureka in boyhood, he has resided here much of the time since, and is a credit to the community. He was born in Humboldt county May 3, 1882, son of Stephen H. Ross, a resident of Eureka, born in Charlotte county, New Brunswick, in 1849. The father came to California when about sixteen years of age, and followed logging in the woods of Sonoma, Mendocino and Humboldt counties, becoming an expert driver of ox teams, which occupation he fol- lowed until they were superseded by steam power, since which time he has been woods foreman, and is at present foreman in the woods for the Pacific Lumber Company at Scotia. The father returned to New Brunswick, and at Saint Stephen, was married to Miss Mary Amanda Armstrong, who was a native of Charlotte county, New Brunswick. They have had two children, Ethel J. and Arthur Alexander, the daughter now the wife of E. C. Lang- ford, a boilermaker, formerly connected with the Eureka Boiler Works at Eureka, but now manager of the Eureka News Company.

Arthur Alexander Ross was four years old when his parents moved to Fortuna, where he lived until 1894. He had good public school advantages in his boyhood, and on January 1, 1899, when in his seventeenth year, entered the Eureka Boiler Works, where he served a thorough apprenticeship, re- maining there for a period of six years. Meantime he had supplemented his early education with a course in the Eureka business college, which he completed in December, 1906. He continued work at his trade as boiler- maker and general machinist, doing outside construction work for Mr. Lang- ford, of the Eureka Boiler Works, in all for about five years, after which he went to Portland, Oregon, in 1905, where he became outside foreman for the Marine Iron Works. He also did work at his trade along the line of the Oregon River, & Navigation Company in Oregon and Washington, and at West Berkeley, Cal. He again worked for Mr. Langford in the Eureka

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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 105

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