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 110

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 110

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In 1888 Captain Jensen was married in San Francisco to Miss Rosina Mentz, a native also of Aarhus, Denmark, and they have three children : Margaret is a graduate of the San Francisco normal school and is now teach- ing at Willits, Mendocino county, Cal .; May is attending business college in San Francisco; William, the second born, is an electrical engineer by pro- fession, a graduate of the Pacific Technical College, at Oakland, Cal., and is now engaged in buying and selling cattle. Captain Jensen has endeavored to give his family proper educational opportunities, and his children have appre- ciated his concern. He is an Odd Fellow, belonging to Active Lodge No. 379, Ferndale, Humboldt county.

WILLIAM EDGAR JOHNSON .- Though of Danish descent, William Edgar Johnson is truly a native son of California, having been born in Car- lotta, Humboldt county, this state, August 12, 1887, where his father, Frank Johnson, had come from Denmark as a young man and engaged in sheep raising, and later in farming and fruit raising at Carlotta, owning the site where the town stands, until he sold the property to John M. Vance. The mother, Mary Jensen, is also a native of Denmark, having come to Humboldt county with her mother, and both she and her husband are now living, their three sons being Fred, a rancher and dairyman on the Island ; William Edgar, a dairyman at Ferndale, and Guy, who assists his brother William in the management of his ranch.

The parents of Mr. Johnson moved into the Ferndale district when Wil- liam Edgar was about eight years of age, and there he attended the public schools and remained at home on the farm until nineteen years old when he secured employment in farming and dairying for others. Determining to go into business independently, in the autumn of 1909 he started in the dairy industry at Centerville, on the Jesperson place of sixty acres, in partnership with Niss Jepsen, under the firm name of Johnson and Jepsen, for two years conducting a dairy there consisting of forty cows. Then, in 1911, they leased the Mc Donough ranch, which comprises one hundred and eighty acres, located two and one-half miles north of Ferndale, and here he milks from ninety to one hundred and ten cows, having lately installed three units of Empire milking machines, which he finds of great assistance. It is the wish of Mr. Johnson to have his herd one of Jerseys exclusively, and he is gradually working toward that end, increasing the number of that stock from time to time as he makes additions to his herd.

Although his dairy interests take up much of Mr. Johnson's time and thought, he is yet active in fraternal circles, where he is well known as a member of the Ferndale Lodge No. 379, I. O. O. F., and also of the Rebekahs, being also a member of the Humboldt County Dairymen's Association, and in political activities a Republican.

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ANTONE ZANA .- An enterprising and energetic dairyman of Grizzly Bluff, Cal., Antone Zana, who has come to the United States from the distant land of Italy, has brought with him business ability and perseverance which have given him a high place among the men engaged in the dairy business in this part of the state.

The father of Mr. Zana was Julio Zana, a farmer of Domodossola, Novara, Italy, where Antone was born on January 13, 1870. The boy received his edu- cation in the local public schools, and assisted his father upon the farm until, having heard and read of the good opportunities in California, he determined to try his luck in that faraway land, a decision which he has never regretted. On June 2, 1892, he arrived at Petaluma, Sonoma county, Cal., and soon secured employment on a farm at Lakeville, at which place he remained four years, but on account of the death of his employer and the consequent failure of the payment of a note, he gained nothing but experience from the four years of hard work. Ilis next employment was as butter maker for three years at a dairy ranch on Sonoma mountain, after which he was engaged at various other ranches in the vicinity until the year 1899, when he removed to Jackson county, Orc., renting a stock ranch at Gold Hill, which he conducted for almost two years. Returning to California, in December, 1901, Mr. Zana secured employment in Humboldt county, upon the dairy ranch of Martin Pedrezini for nine months, after which he decided to go into business for him- self. Accordingly he rented the Roper place at Loleta, where he carried on a dairy farm for three years, later renting the Jens Clausen estate on Paradise island whereon he conducted a dairy farm for seven years, and the Holbrook place on Coffee creek for two years. The next venture of Mr. Zana was the purchase of sixty-three acres located at Port Kenyon, which he stocked with a dairy herd, at the end of a year selling the stock, since which time he has leased the ranch. His present place he bought in the year 1913, which con- sists of sixteen acres of bottom land situated in the Eel river valley, in the Grizzly Bluff district, and here he carries on dairying at the present time, having all along met with much success in his farming and dairying operations.

A member of the board of directors of the Valley Flower Creamery at Port Kenyon, Mr. Zana is also a stockholder in the same. In his political interests he is a Republican, while fraternally he is associated with the Druids Lodge No. 99 at Ferndale, Cal., and the Loleta Lodge, No. 56, of the Inde- pendent Order of Odd Fellows. He and his family are members of the Cath- olic Church at Ferndale. His marriage took place in Eureka, Cal., uniting him with Miss Irminia Del Grosse, a native of Locarno, Switzerland, and they are the parents of five children, namely, Alphonzo, Lillie, Tuvigi, Florence and Felix.

AGOSTINO BRAMBANI .- Until fourteen years of age, Agostino Bram- bani, now a well known resident of Eureka, Cal., continued to make his home in his native land of Italy, where he was born in 1872 at Garzeno, on Lake Como. His father was John Brambani, a builder and cabinet-maker, who was born in the same town in 1845 and removed to London, England, where he engaged in the restaurant business as proprietor of the South London Cafe for many years until he retired from business, his death occurring in Italy in 1913. Since the death of his father, the son John has been the proprietor of

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the cafe in London. The mother, Madelina (Poncia) Brambani, was born in 1846 and still lives at the old family home in Italy. The son Agostino, when fourteen years of age, accompanied his father to London where for five years he assisted him in the cafe, coming thence to Chicago, Ill., in 1892, being in that city at the time of the World's Columbian Exposition. For ten months he was employed at the Wellington Hotel, Chicago, coming thence to San Francisco, whence he removed to Sonoma county, Cal., and was employed in a dairy at Occidental, in that county, for four months, then in a saw mill for the Dollar Lumber Company, where he remained for five years, removing then to Usal, Mendocino county, in the employ of the same firm. The next year he spent working in the Fort Bragg woods, and then went to Santa Cruz, Cal., where he remained over a year, in 1903 removing to Eureka, where he formed a partnership with Carlo Maffia, under the firm name of Brambani and Maffia, the partners purchasing the Italian Swiss Hotel in that city and continuing in business together three years, when Mr. Maffia sold out his interest to Mr. Brambani who carried on the hotel alone for five years until his former partner returned to Eureka and bought his interest in the business again. Since that time, the two have continued under the old firm name as proprietors of the Italian Swiss Hotel, having also purchased a lot on Second street, Eureka, between B and C streets, where they erected a large new hotel in 1911, a four-story building, forty by one hundred and ten feet in dimen- sions, with all modern improvements, and this hotel, which they have named Flor de Italia Hotel, (the Flower of Italy), is a great addition to the city.

The marriage of Mr. Brambani with Miss Rosa Maffia, also a native of Italy, was solemnized in Eureka, and they are the parents of four children, John, Agostino, Dante and Madelina. After having been away from his old home in Italy for twenty-six years, Mr. Brambani, in April, 1912, returned to his childhood's home for a visit to his father and mother and other relatives and friends, also visiting London, and returned to California in August of the same year. In his political preferences he is a member of the Republican party, while fraternally he is a member of the Eagles, also of the Druids of which he is past president.

CHARLES C. BRYANT .- In conducting his farming enterprises in Humboldt county, Mr. Bryant has encountered the average number of draw- backs and it is to his credit that he has profited by his failures and built thereon a solid foundation for the future. He rents a large ranch of three hundred acres near Carlotta and with his son, Clarence E., is engaged in stock-raising and dairying. While the care of so great an acreage, together with a dairy of about forty cows, necessitates constant labor and untiring energy, the returns have justified the procedure and at the same time have added further proof concerning stock-raising and dairy possibilities of the county. The locality in which he now lives has for Mr. Bryant an enduring claim upon his youth- ful remembrances and latter-day accomplishments, for he was born at Alton, on the old Dinsmore ranch, April 1, 1864, and has passed his entire life within the confines of Humboldt county. He is a talented musician, as was his father before him, and has been a leader in musical circles for over thirty years. At the present time he is director of the Bryant orchestra at Carlotta, which consists of five pieces. His special qualifications for this position have brought the orchestra into wide prominence and its services are in great

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demand throughout the county. The entire family of Mr. Bryant evinces a high degree of musical ability, while Miss Ruby Bryant is an accomplished pianist and a great credit to her profession.

The name of Bryant is a familiar one in this part of the state, having been associated with many of its important happenings in its early history. The first to remove hither was Calvin Bryant, a native of Vermont and the father of Charles C. In the early days the Bryant Bros. followed mining in Yuba county ; later they settled in Humboldt county, where Calvin Bryant took part in several Indian campaigns as a volunteer. He married in this county Harriet Clayton, whose birth occurred in Iowa, and they located on a ranch at Sandy Prairie, between Fortuna and Alton; where the father successfully farmed for many years. He was a musician of marked ability and had the honor of organizing one of the first orchestras in the county, of which he was the leader. His services were in great demand at Masonic dances and it was not uncommon for him to receive one hundred dollars for his services for a single evening's performance, while the other three members of the orchestra received seventy-five dollars each. Calvin Bryant lived to the advanced age of eighty-three years. He taught the first dancing school in the county. His brother, Rolla Bryant, also lived at Alton and was a violinist and violin-maker. Ife was a fine mechanic in any line and made the first wagon built in Hum- boldt county.

Charles C. Bryant, who was the only child of his parents, was married to Miss Evelyn Strong, in 1884, and to them have been born eleven children : Calvin married Mamie Jessen and resides at Rohnerville ; Clarence E. assists his father in the management of the home place; Charles T., Ruby, Lula May, Annie, Ethel Miranda, Edna, Leland, Earl and Loris are at home. Mr. Bryant is a member of Alton Parlor, Native Sons of the Golden West, and politically is a Republican.

THOMAS MONROE TOBIN .- As the efficient manager.of the Garber- ville Mercantile Company, which is the largest general merchandise establish- ment in southern Humboldt county, Thomas Monroe Tobin is recognized as one of the leading men of the thriving little city, and a citizen of character and worth. He has been in the employ of this company since its organization in 1911, and since 1914 has been the general manager. Under his capable administration the enterprise has prospered and is today one of the best established of its kind in the county. They handle a complete and compre- hensive line of goods, carrying an up-to-date and modern stock, meeting the demands of the highest class trade. He is a man of integrity and honesty of purpose, which, coupled with his business ability, makes him a capable manager.

He was born near Louisville, Kentucky, January 18, 1877. His father, Napoleon Tobin, was engaged in farming near Louisville for many years. His mother, Mariah (Shacklett) Tobin, was also a native of Kentucky, where she was reared and married. She bore her husband eight children, only three of whom are living at this time. She died in Kentucky in 1886. Besides Thomas M., the living members of the family are William, now in the general merchandise business at Guston, Ky., and Robert, a traveling salesman, residing in Los Angeles.

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The boyhood days of Thomas M. were passed on his father's farm near Louisville, where he attended school and assisted with the farm work in his spare time and during vacation. After completing the public schools he entered Kenyon College at Hodgenville., Ky., where he continued his studies for three years and then taught school in Hardin and Larue counties for a period of two years, at which time he came west as far as Chickasha, Okla- homa, where he accepted a position as bookkeeper with Swift & Co. Later he was employed at Fort Smith, Ark., doing similar work, finally resigning this position to go to Carnegie, Okla., and engage in the grocery business for himself. He remained there for almost two years and it was in 1903 that he finally came to California, locating at Garberville, Humboldt county, where he was clerk and bookkeeper in the employ of Conger & Hamilton, dealers in general merchandise, remaining with this house for seven years. At that time (September, 1911) the Garberville Mercantile Company was organized and Mr. Tobin accepted a similar position with the new concern, and in 1913 became their manager, which position he now occupies.

The marriage of Mr. Tobin took place in Garberville July 12, 1905, uniting him with Miss Margaret Robertson, a native of Garberville. She is the daughter of Alex and Belle Robertson, pioneer residents of Garberville, and well and favorably known in this vicinity. Mr. and Mrs. Tobin have two children, Margaret Ruth and Thomas Monroe, Jr.

Aside from his interests in the mercantile business, Mr. Tobin. having faith in land values in Humboldt county, has not overlooked investing in land on the south fork of the Eel river.

JAMES FRANKLIN THOMPSON .- One of the sturdy characters of Eureka whose impress in educational, business, social and political lines has been felt is James F. Thompson, for many years editor and proprietor of the Daily Humboldt Standard. The descendant of a family long resident in the east, he was born May 29, 1844, the son of Josiah Thompson, a Quaker, and a direct descendant of one of the old colonists that came over with William Penn. His paternal grandfather, Job Thompson, was born in Philadelphia, Pa., while his great-grandfather, Abel Thompson, was a native of New Jersey. Born in Erie county, Pa., in 1818, Josiah Thompson lived there until about 1855, in that year immigrating to Grant county, Wis., where until his death he was successfully employed as a contractor and builder. His mar- riage united him with Cementha A. Darrow, who was born in Jefferson county, N. Y., which was also the birthplace of both of her parents. She came of patriotic Holland-Dutch stock, one of her great-uncles, General Van Rensselaer, having served as an officer in the Revolutionary war.

James F. Thompson was a lad of twelve years when with his parents he went to Wisconsin, in which state he first attended the common schools, and later attended Tafton Collegiate Seminary. Determined to acquire a still better education, at the age of seventeen he began teaching in the district schools in order to secure the means to pay the expenses of a course at Bryant & Stratton's Commercial College, and in due time he was graduated there- from. Following this he taught school in Wisconsin for seven or eight years, of which time he was for four years principal of the schools of Cassville and Lone Rock, Wis. From that state he went to Clayton county, Iowa, in 1869, and for two years was principal of the schools at Monona, then of the Elkader

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high school for the same length of time. In 1873 he was elected superinten- dent of the Clayton county schools, a position which he filled very satisfac- torily for two terms, but which he resigned to take up his old position as principal of the high school, filling this for three years more. In 1876, at the State Teachers' Association, he was elected president of the County Superin- tendents' Association of the state.

Mr. Thompson's entrance into the journalistic field dates from the year 1880, when he purchased the Clayton County (Iowa) Journal, managing this for one year. Having been elected clerk of the courts he served two terms of two years each, when he was admitted to the bar. Later he was admitted to practice in the supreme and federal courts, and for three or four years thereafter was one of Iowa's noted attorneys. Ilis election to the state legis- lature took place in 1885, and by his reelection in 1887 he served two full terms. Chance brought him to Eureka on a visit in 1888, and so favorably was he impressed with the outlook that he decided to make it his future home, and in August of that year he purchased a half interest in the Daily Humboldt Standard. Two years later he bought out his partner, thereafter managing the paper alone for twelve years, during this time increasing the circulation of the paper and making it altogether one of the best news mediums in the county. After about fourteen years as. proprietor of this paper, on December 1, 1902, Mr. Thompson sold it to W. N. Speegle and George Coleman. Since then the Standard has again been acquired by men- bers of his family, now being owned by his daughter, Mrs. F. W. Georgeson, and his son-in-law, W. N. Speegle.

In 1894, during the presidency of Grover Cleveland, Mr. Thompson was appointed receiver of the United States land office, and two months later, in July, 1894, after finishing his term as grand master of the Grand Lodge of California Odd Fellows, he assumed the duties of the office. At the close of his four-year term as receiver of the land office he was reappointed by President Mckinley, and again reappointed by President Roosevelt in 1902.

Mr. Thompson's marriage occurred in August, 1864, and united him with Minerva J. Drake, a native of Wisconsin, and they became the parents of five children, as follows: Ella T., the wife of F. W. Georgeson, of Eureka ; Cora T., the wife of W. N. Speegle, editor of the Eureka Standard ; Charles F., who when seventeen years old was accidentally shot and killed by a friend ; Minerva M., the wife of Prof. W. E. Powell, of Eureka ; and Edith R., who completed her education in Hopkins Art Institute of the University of California. Originally a Republican in his political belief, Mr. Thompson subsequently supported the Democratic party until the nomination of Bryan, when he gave his vote and the support of the Standard to President Mc- Kinley, and throughout the remainder of his life continued to support Repub- lican candidates and principles. He was well known in fraternal affairs, having served as grand master and as grand representative of the Grand Lodge of Odd Fellows in California. For five years he was one of the board of trustees for the Odd Fellows Home in Butte county, being president during the last year of his term, and for twelve years before coming to California he had been representative of the lowa Grand Lodge. He was also active in Masonic circles, having joined that order in Beetown, Wis., when he was

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twenty-one years old, and as a Royal Arch Mason was at one time one of the grand officers of the Grand Chapter of that state. He passed away in 1905, at the age of sixty-one years, leaving behind him a record of usefulness and good works which might well serve as an example for young men just starting out in life.

LUCIUS CASE TUTTLE .- Although retired from active business life, and living in retirement at Eureka, Lucius Case Tuttle retains the ownership of his ranch of about ten thousand acres, situated on the South Fork of Eel river between Garberville and Harris, where he was successfully engaged in stock raising for many years, the management of which is at present carried on by his only son, Frederick A. Tuttle. At seventy-eight years of age Lucius C. Tuttle is still hale and hearty, an energetic man who attends personally to all his loans and investments and keeps strong and. well by constant work in his gardens, which are marvels of neatness and thrift in which he justly takes much pride. He and his wife are well content with the success which he has made of his life, and by reason of the progress which he has achieved during his long residence in this state he is enabled to say, as did ex-president Harrison after crossing the Sierras into California, "There is but one California, and California is the poor man's home."

The father of Lucius C. Tuttle was F. B. Tuttle, a native of Rutland, Vt., and of Scotch descent, who married Lucia Case, of Irish and English ancestry, who was born in Connecticut, and removed to Dutchess county, N. Y., where the son Lucius Case was born at Brookport, April 29, 1837. The boy was only about four years old when his parents moved to Chicago, Ill., a year later settling at Plainfield, in Will county, and there he obtained his education in the public schools and academies, in young manhood learn- ing the carpenter's trade, which was to prove extremely useful in his later experience in California. The father was one of the pioneer gold seekers in California, making the journey across the plains in the year 1850, and follow- ing mining in the western state, where he built one of the first quartz mills in the state and the first in Eldorado county, later returning to Illinois. where he spent the remainder of his life.

On May 29, 1860, the son Lucius was married to Miss Leah J. Rutan, who was born in Paterson, N. J., August 17, 1837, and in 1862 they likewise started across the plains to California, as the father had done, fitted out with two wagons, sixteen horses, four yoke of oxen and four milch cows, one wagon being drawn by the oxen, the other by four horses, a change of horses being made at stated periods. Leaving Illinois on April 1st, and journeying via Council Bluffs, lowa, and Salt Lake City, Utah, the party arrived in the Sacramento valley, California, on September 11th of that year, having been exactly six months on the journey. After working at his trade a short time, Mr. Tuttle engaged in farming along the Cosumne river, on November 17, 1864, removing to Mendocino county, where he settled on a stock ranch of five hundred forty acres in the Sherwood valley, continuing to make his home there for the fifteen years following and engaging in the raising of short-horn cattle and merino sheep, his nearest trading place being Ukiah, about forty miles distant, until the town of Willits was started at Little Lake. Mean- time, in 1867, he was appointed postmaster at the Sherwood Valley office in Mendocino county, being the first to hold the office at that point, and also

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owned thirteen hundred acres on the Outlet, where he carried on stock raising, selling both his ranches in Mendocino county, however, in 1882, when he purchased his present place of ten thousand acres in Humboldt county. Here he spent a number of years in the improvement of the valuable property which he had acquired, and met with enviable success in stock raising upon his new estate, which, since his retirement from business cares, has been creditably conducted by his son, Frederick A., who is represented elsewhere in this book. The buildings on the place, all constructed under the direction of Mr. Tuttle, are notably substantial and convenient in arrangement, so well finished that they have needed little repairing in all these years, and so suitable for their various purposes that they attract attention at once as eminently fitting in every particular. They have been erected on solid stone foundations, and the forethought and extreme care which Mr. Tuttle gave to their construction have been more than repaid in the years of service already had, and the many years for which they will undoubtedly be sound. The large frame barn, built of hewn native timbers, and splendidly framed, mortised and joined together with wooden pins (after the fashion of Mr. Tuttle's New York ancestors), is the principal farm building, and has its full complement of ranch buildings, sheds, smokehouse, etc .; the sheep shearing department, wool compress and warehouse, all one large building, is most commodious, having room for twelve shearers to work at once. The dwelling house is roomy and equipped with modern plumbing throughout for hot and cold water service, supplied from a nearby spring which was walled up and provided with a hydraulic ram, throwing an abundance of pure spring water into a large tank whence it is drawn for household use. The surplus water is diverted to the vegetable and horticultural gardens, which afford a luxuriant supply of berries of all kinds and choice vegetables for the home table. In this mountain section cherries, peaches, apples, plums, grapes and pears reach an exceedingly high standard of flavor and color, and the forty acres of the ranch under cultivation yield abundantly. About four thousand sheep is the average amount of stock kept on the Tuttle ranch, and large quantities of wool and mutton on the hoof are sold annually. The bountiful provisions for home comforts as well as business arrangements on this place are reminders of the old days when ranchmen were dependent almost entirely on the products of their own estates. The choicest home cured hams and bacons are on hand all the year round, and it is not uncommon for the host to treat his visitors to a feast of venison, for deer in considerable numbers still frequent the vicinity.

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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 110

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