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 115

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 115

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September 6, 1860. Her father, James Smith, came to California and en- gaged in the mines in Nevada county for a few years, later coming to Humboldt county and locating on the Van Dusen, where he engaged in farming. His ranch was located on the South Fork at Bear Buttes and was a fine place of seventeen hundred acres, well adapted to stock-raising. He was a very successful farmer and stock-raiser and was one of the pioneers of the county. To Mr. and Mrs. J. H. Brown have been born three chil- dren : Sarah Ellen, deceased; Thomas H., engaged in dairying on the home place ; and Lloyd, engaged in the livery business at Rio Dell. J. H. Brown's success is entirely due to his own unceasing efforts and labors and he is a man whom every one is proud to call a friend.

THOMAS WILLIAM POWER .- There is no other profession which gives to a man or a woman so great an opportunity for influencing the life of a community as does the profession of school-teaching. This is particularly true of the teacher in the country school, or in the village or small city, where the contact between pupil and teacher is constant and direct both in the school room and in the social life of the community. Judging by this acknowledged standard, it is safe to say that there is not a man in Humboldt county who has had more to do with the shaping of its destinies than has Thomas William Power, pioneer educator, who for nearly forty years has been actively associated with the educational life of the county, and for the past ten years a member of the county board of education, and having just been reappointed for the sixth term.

Mr. Power was born in Guilford township, near Galena, Jo Daviess county, Ill., March 1, 1849. He was a country lad and received his early education in the schools in the neighborhood of his home. The story of his entrance into his chosen profession well illustrates the keen, wide-awake quality of mind that has made him a factor in the educational life of his chosen county. While he was in the last year of the grammar school, the teacher was taken sick and was obliged to give up the school. Young William immediately conceived the idea that he might pass the teacher's examination and take the place of the former teacher. Thought was at once followed by action. The examination was successfully passed and the youth found himself installed as teacher where he had so lately been a pupil. His ambitions were high, however, and he later completed his studies and fitted himself for his life work by a course at the State Normal School at Plattville, Grant county, Wis. This he accomplished by attending school during the summer and teaching during the winter months.

The first school that Mr. Power taught was in Guilford school district, Jo Daviess county, Illinois. For the next few years he taught in his native county, also teaching one winter in southeastern Dakota and another in Wisconsin. In 1875 he came to California and located in Humboldt county, and March, 1876, began teaching on Dows Prairie. In the fall of 1876 he returned to his native state and that winter taught again in the same school which he had attended as a boy. During that winter he wooed and won Mary A. Collins, also a native of Jo Daviess county, having also been born in Guilford township. They were married May 8, 1877, and that same year Mr. Power returned to California with his bride, locating at Blue Lake. Humboldt county. Here he purchased a ranch on Mad river, on the

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opposite side from Blue Lake, and engaged in farming. Though he did not give up his profession, for he taught school at the same time, he carried on farming for ten years on two different farms. In 1879 he taught for a few months in Redwood district and later went to Orleans for a short time, returning the following year to resume his duties in Redwood district. Since 1880 he has been constantly engaged in teaching in Humboldt county and today there is scarcely a section of the county which has not felt his direct influence, while the boys and girls whom he has helped to guide in paths of usefulness are scattered far and wide. A brief resumé of his work will give some idea of the extent of his influence in local affairs: In 1881-82 he taught in Bald Hill district ; in 1883-84, in Mad River school district; from 1885 to 1888 in the West End district ; from 1889 to 1893 in the Maple school district ; in 1894 one term in Blue Lake; from 1894 to 1896 in Iaqua; from 1897 to 1899 in Trinity ; from 1899 to 1904 in the Eel river district ; in 1904-05 in Grant school district; from 1905 to 1912 he taught in Weitchpec on Klamath river, and in 1912 he began teaching in the Little River school district, continuing until May, 1914, when he retired from teaching, making his home at his residence in Blue Lake, where he is serving as president of the Board of Trustees of the city of Blue Lake, where he is guiding the destinies of the city of his adoption, having resided on his ranch across the river before Blue Lake had sprung into existence.

Mr. Power has preferred teaching to all other occupations, and is a man well fitted for the work he has chosen. He has always taken a keen interest in all public affairs and has ever been active in all movements for the uplift and general welfare of the county. During his almost forty years of teach- ing in California he has witnessed many changes, not only in his own im- mediate locality, but throughout the entire state as well, and he has the satisfaction of knowing that he has done his full share in the accomplish- ment of all worthy progressive movements in Humboldt county.

In addition to his educational work, Mr. Power was supervisor of the third district from 1885 to 1893. He is a Democrat in political affiliation, and has always been interested in local politics from a broad standpoint. He is a member of the Independent Order of Foresters.

Four children have blessed the union of Mr. and Mrs. Power, namely : William, Mary Helen, Florence and Emily. Of these, two have followed in their father's footsteps. Mary Helen, now the wife of F. M. Broderick, was before her marriage a teacher in the public schools for six years, first at Cedar Springs, and the remaining five years at Blue Lake. Emily is at present a teacher in the grammar school at Blue Lake, where her parents make their home.

JENS E. CLAUSEN .- For more than forty years a resident of the United States, and for almost that length of time located in Humboldt county and engaged in general farming and the dairy business, Jens E. Clausen is today one of the best known and most honored citizens of Hum- boldt county. He is one of the genuine old pioneers, and his steady applica- tion to business and his splendid judgment and natural business ability have placed him in a position of wealth and influence in the valley. He now makes his home on the island in Pacific township, this county, where he owns about one hundred seventy-four acres of well improved dairy land.

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HISTORY OF HUMBOLDT COUNTY

He is the eldest son of a German banker, Paul Henry Clausen, his mother being Margareta, the first wife of Paul Henry Clausen. She died when the present honored citizen of Humboldt county was five or six years of age, and left four small children, the youngest an infant. Of these, Jens Edward, the subject of this article, and Frederick, now retired, and residing at Husum, Schleswig, Germany, which is the family home, are the only ones living, the third and fourth born having died when very young. The father married a second wife, Louisa Backsen, also of Husum, Schleswig, and by her had eight children, two of whom are now dairymen in Humboldt county, they being Henry and Martin Clausen. The father died at the family home at Pellworm six years ago.

Mr. Clausen was born November 29, 1845, on the island of Pellworm, Schleswig, Denmark, but since 1871 a part of Germany, although his parents were true Germans. He was educated in the German schools and confirmed in the German Lutheran Church. His boyhood was spent on a farm in Germany and he carly mastered the rudiments of farm life and labor. It was in 1871, when he was just past twenty-five, that Mr. Clausen resolved to come to the United States. With him, then as now, to resolve was to execute, so at an early date he set sail from Hamburg for the new land, arriving in New York, and after a brief stay there going on to Davenport, Iowa, where he found employment on the farm as a general farm hand, but later he rented a dairy farm for two years, but met with ill success at the time, which was followed by illness brought about by unsatisfactory climatic conditions, and so determined to seek the brighter land of Cali- fornia. Accordingly he came to Dixon, Solano county, in August, 1875, and was soon employed in a meat packing house in San Francisco. It was in 1876 that Mr. Clausen finally came to Humboldt county, and on his arrival there his world wealth consisted of but $10. He soon secured employment on a farm, however, and saved his money. Then he entered into partner- ship with three other young men and they rented and operated an eighty- acre farin together. This was the rather inauspicious entrance of the pros- perous farmer into the business of which he has since made so great a success. It was in 1882 that he made his first purchase of land, buying at that time a tract of forty acres, which formed the nucleus of his present large farm. Later he purchased an additional tract of one hundred forty- eight acres on Eel river, known as the Herrick ranch. For some years he was interested in running the ferry across the Eel river, known as Singley's Ferry, and it was a financial success which was due to his foresight and management, and an account of the operation of the ferry during the storms and floods would make a volume in itself.

The marriage of Mr. Clausen occurred at Eureka in 1884, uniting him with Miss Marie Rumpf, a native of Kemnitz, Brandenburg, Prussia, about twenty-five miles from Berlin. Her father was August Rumpf and her mother. Carolina Wolf in her girlhood, both of them being natives of Prussia, where they lived and died. Mrs. Clausen is the youngest of seven children, six girls and one boy. She came to California in 1881 with an older sister, Fredrika (Rumpf) Schoenemann, and located in Humboldt county, the sister now residing on a farm at Table Bluff. Mr. and Mrs. Clausen are the parents of four children, three daughters and one son. Of these the son,

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HISTORY OF HUMBOLDT COUNTY

Henry August, is the eldest born, being now eighteen years of age. Hc is engaged in dairying his father's ranch on Paradise Island in partnership with Anton Tedsen. Of the daughters, the eldest, Gertrude Louisa, keeps house for her brother ; Anna Blanche is a Junior in the Ferndale high school, and Lena Marie resides at home, attending the grammar school in their district.

Both Mr. and Mrs. Clausen are well known and generally liked in their community. They are both members of the German Lutheran church at Ferndale and take an active part in the affairs of that denomination. They are also members of the Fraternal Brotherhood, and Mr. Clausen is a mem- ber of the Knights of Pythias, while his wife is a prominent member of the Pythian Sisters. Mr. Clausen has served the interests of the farmers in the county in many ways during his long years of residence here. He was for eight years the president of the Excelsior creamery, and was one of the first men to take an active part in the organization and establishment of this creamery. In the course of events the enterprise reached a point where five hundred dollars more were necessary for the completion of the plans, and, although he had then invested as heavily as he felt he cared to do, Mr. Clausen had the interests of the undertaking so closely at heart that he added the necessary amount to his previous investment. For many years this creamery was one of the most successful in the county, and was eventually sold to Mr. Jensen, of the California Central Creamery Company. He is a Republican in his political views, and has been closely associated with the affairs of his party for many years. He has also been influential in school matters of Ferndale, having served as a trustee of the grammar school, and also as a director of the Ferndale high school. Within recent years Mr. Clausen has been afflicted with a degree of deafness which has necessitated his resignation from both these educational bodies, and also, to a very large extent, his withdrawal from political life and from many lines of commercial enterprise. This is greatly regretted, not only by him- self, but also by his friends and associates in his various lines of activities, for he is a man of splendid abilities and with a great natural aptitude for the successful handling of large business undertakings, and his cooperation and support are greatly missed.

In his home life Mr. Clausen is especially happy. He is hospitable and cheerful, and his wife is a pleasant hostess, while his daughters are musi- cians, both charming and well bred.

NATHANIEL BULLOCK .- The material upbuilding of the city of Eureka, Cal., during the early era of its growth was in large measure pro- moted by Nathaniel Bullock, one of the most prominent citizens of the place, and a man who has always been ready to give of his time and means to the betterment of the city and the advancement of the interests of its residents. Skilled in the substantial carpentering of the old school, a master of his craft, Mr. Bullock was the builder of some of the pioneer houses and business blocks that still stand, visible monuments to his painstaking care and mas- tery of his craft. A few years later, but still in the pioneer period of local development, he embarked in the lumber business and continued in that work for many years. Nor did such lines form the limit of his energy and helpful spirit. On the other hand, he was public spirited in an exceptional

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degree, filling a number of offices faithfully and well, and even now, though. retired from the strenuous struggle of earlier days, he keeps posted con- cerning every matter of importance and favors with unabated zeal every progressive plan for the further development of city and county.

The Bullock family is of English descent, and the grandfather, Hezekiah Bullock, served in the War of 1812, afterward removing to Michigan, where he spent his last days. The father of Nathaniel Bullock, Benjamin R., was born near New York City, and became a farmer at Yates Center, Orleans county, in the same state, later removing with his family to Michigan, where he cleared and improved a farm and was successfully engaged in business until settling in Detroit, where he died at the age of eighty-four years. His wife was formerly Cynthia Barry, of Scotch descent, and also born near New York City, her death occurring in Orleans county before the family moved west. She was the mother of nine children, of whom Na- thaniel is the third oldest, he having been born at Yates Center, Orleans county, N. Y., September 26, 1831. He was a lad of but six or seven years when the father removed to Lansing, Mich., and in that place he received a public school education and was afterwards apprenticed to the carpenter's trade. From Lansing, he came to California via the Nicaragua route, almost a decade before the transcontinental railroad was in operation, and on the 17th of July, 1860, arrived in Uniontown, now Arcata, in Humboldt county, where for a year he rented land, the following year coming to Eureka, in the same county, where he has made his home ever since, and is now the owner of residence property at No. 314 H street, where he lives in retirement after years of activity spent in carpentering and the manufacture of lumber. In this latter occupation he was associated with Joseph Russ, well known as one of the prominent pioneers of the county, and with others, under the firm name of Russ, Pickard & Co., on Humboldt bay, of which firm Mr. Bullock was the manager for over twenty years. During that time he was also manager of the Russ Market for Joseph Russ for more than twenty years, after which he held the office of postmaster, having been appointed thereto by President McKinley, and was for many years director in the Humboldt County Bank and the Home Savings Bank. As county coroner and public administrator he was also actively helpful to certain departments of the county work, and through his capable services as road overseer he promoted the building of highways in Humboldt county, none having been laid out before the time of his arrival in the district, Mr. Bullock recognizing from the first the vital importance of well-built roads through this section of the country.

Always stanch in his allegiance to the Republican party, Mr. Bullock has been one of its local leaders and has accomplished much in its interests. His fraternal associations are with the Masons, he having been made a member of the Humboldt Lodge No. 79. Since his retirement from active business life, Mr. Bullock has devoted his time to the administration of his own interests in the California city where he has made his home. By his mar- riage to Sarah M. Huestis, who was born at Buckingham, Va., the daughter of Hon. A. J. Huestis, a pioneer judge of Humboldt county, Mr. Bullock has a family of seven children, namely: Mrs. Minnie Sevier, Mrs. Nellie Libby, Mrs. Blanche A. Snow of Santa Ana, Cal .; Mrs. Gertrude McMurray

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of San Francisco, Bertram N., Russ R., a physician in San Francisco, and Miss Edna Bullock, all of whom are residents of Eureka except Mrs. Snow, Mrs. McMurray and Dr. Russ Bullock.

GIACOMO FLOCCHINI .- One of the enterprising and successful dairymen of Humboldt county, Cal., who has won his success by close application to the industry he has chosen for his life work, is Giacomo Flocchini, a native of Italy, who has become well and favorably known in the California county where he has made his home.

Born in Ono Degno, in the province of Brescia in northern Italy, Sep- tember 22, 1875, Mr. Flocchini is the son of a farming and teaming con- tractor, Francisco Flocchini, who died in his native land, and Dominica (Dusi) Flocchini, who still lives in Italy. Of their family of nine children, Giacomo is the second in age, the names being as follows: Andrea, who remains at the old home; Giacomo, of this review; Anna, now Mrs. J. B. Zanotti of Waddington; Francisco, who lives at Fortuna; Giovanni, who is in the employ of his brother Giacomo; Nicola, a resident of Crescent City; Marie, now Mrs. Bacchetti of the last-named city; Celeste B., who is a partner of his brother Giacomo; and Amato, who also lives at Crescent City. It will thus be seen that all the children except the oldest have made their home in California. Growing up on his father's farm in Italy, Giacomo Flocchini received his education in the local public schools until the age of nine years, after which he spent his time assisting with the work upon the farm, until March, 1904, at which time he removed to California, locating at Eureka. In the same month he went to work on the Dinsmore ranch, where he continued for a period of three years and nine months, at which time, in the autumn of the year 1907, he started in business for himself, leas- ing the place where he had formerly been employed, which consisted of one hundred twenty-five acres of rich land, where he carries on a successful dairy business, milking a herd of seventy cows, and raising a sufficiency of hay and green feed for his stock. In April, 1915, Mr. Flocchini's brother Celeste became his partner, and in the same year they also leased the old Lynch place at Grizzly Bluff, in Humboldt county, which comprises one hundred ninety acres, and here it is their intention to operate a dairy with a herd of about eighty cows. The interest taken by Mr. Flocchini in his chosen occupation is in part shown by his active membership in such local organizations as the Ferndale Dairymen's Association and the Ferndale Cow Testing Association, and in his political preferences he is a member of the Republican party.

At Ono Degno, Italy, Mr. Flocchini was married on January 10, 1903, to Miss Lucia Dusi, also a native of that place, and they became the parents of four children, by name, Francisco, Dominica Beatrice, Anna A., and Marie.

EUGENE SULLIVAN .- A well known and highly respected citizen of the Eel River valley, Eugene Sullivan has made for himself a reputation there as a successful farmer and dairyman, standing high among men in that industry in Humboldt county, Cal.

Born in County Cork, Ireland, January 15, 1867, Mr. Sullivan was the son of Patrick, a farmer of that county, who died in 1912, and Ellen (Demp- sey) Sullivan, who still resides at the old home in Ireland. Of the family of

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eight children, seven are still living, Eugene being the eldest and brought up on the home farm and educated in the national schools of his country. He remained at home until the year 1889, when he removed to San Francisco, Cal., where he was employed for a short time in teaming, in March of the next year coming to Humboldt county, there finding employment in a dairy near Ferndale. Deciding to go into this business independently, he in 1895 purchased his present place on Cock Robin Island, where he commenced dairying on property comprising twenty-two acres, also renting twenty-two adjacent acres, and milking a herd of twenty-seven cows, for which he raises on his own property an abundance of hay, grain, clover, carrots and beets. One of the original stockholders of the Valley Flower Creamery, he was also for some years a member of the Ferndale Cow Testing Association, and at present holds membership in the Ferndale Dairymen's Association. Politically he is a strong and ardent Democrat, while his fraternal associa- tions are with the Knights of Columbus in Eureka and the Y. M. I. in Fern- dale. He is a member of the Catholic Church in the same city.

The wife of Mr. Sullivan was formerly Miss Mary Conway, who was born at Sacramento, Cal., but grew up near the city of Ferndale. Mr. and Mrs. Sullivan are the parents of four children: Mary P., Eugene P., John D. and Leo S.

CORNELIUS THOMPSON .- The life of Cornelius Thompson, a pros- perous stock raiser and dairyman of California, has been spent in this state since infancy, when he made the journey across the plains from Missouri with his mother and relatives. Born in Howard county, Mo., December 17, 1850, he was the son of Joseph Thompson, a farmer in Howard county, who was born in Alabama, and Malinda (Banta) Yates-Thompson, the descendant of one of the prominent old families of Virginia, where she was left a widow with a little family before her marriage with Joseph Thompson. She was the mother of six children in all, the youngest of whom was Cornelius Thompson, whose father was killed by the Indians during a trip across the plains to California in 1849. Undaunted by this tragedy, however, his widow, with her children and a party of relatives, set out upon the same journey in the spring of 1851, traveling by means of ox teams, as was the usual custom in those days. In California she was again married, this time to Stillman Fales, a pioneer and farmer of this state, and after his death continued to make her home with her children, dying in Berkeley at the advanced age of one hundred and three years, having been well and strong up to the last. Her brother, Henry Banta, also attained a great age, living to be one hun- dred and four, exceeding by one year the age of Mrs. Thompson at her death.

Brought up on the farm near Nicholson, Sacramento county, Cal., Cor- nelius Thompson received a good education in the public schools of that vicinity, and at the early age of twelve years began farming for himself. in partnership with his brother. M. J. Thompson, who was sixteen years old. Taking up a ranch near Nicholson, the two boys engaged thereon in farming and stockraising, doing well in their venture. Removing later to Colusa county, they rented land which they devoted to the raising of grain, there- after purchasing three hundred twenty acres, where Mr. Thompson continued to reside until his removal to Humboldt county in 1885, where he located on

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the Klamath river, where his brother had preceded him. On April 23, 1887, Mr. Thompson was married in Eureka, Cal., to Miss Martha Shelton, and they became the parents of one daughter, Pearl F. Thompson, now the wife of William Peugh, who assists Mr. Thompson in the stock business. They have two children, Wilma Monroe and Neil Thompson. Like her husband, Mrs. Thompson is of a pioneer family, having been born on the Klamath river, the daughter of Abraham and Mary (Hopkins) Shelton, natives of Lynchburg, Va., and Humboldt county, Cal., respectively. Her father was a veteran of the Mexican war, who came to California in 1849 and engaged in gold mining, later becoming a merchant on the Klamath river. The mother died in Humboldt county, and in 1887 the father moved to British Columbia, where he died. For three years after his marriage with Miss Shelton, Mr. Thompson lived near Loleta, after which he located a homestead on Bald Hill, twelve miles east of the town of Orick, where he improved the farm and took up stock raising, also purchasing the adjoining land, thereby acquiring a fine ranch of six hundred forty acres, besides one hundred sixty acres of timber land which he owned, his wife also being the possessor of the same amount of timber land. In 1907 he sold his Bald Hill ranch, and later also the three hundred twenty acres of timber land, and purchased two hundred forty acres, two miles north of Orick, on Prairie creek, which he has trans- formed into a stock and dairy ranch, and together with adjoining land which he has leased, is now operating six hundred acres of property. In 1914 he rented for dairy purposes the lower portion of his lands which he had recently purchased, but still retained the stock ranch. The interest which he takes in educational affairs where he lives is proved by the fact that he was for four terms school trustee in the Bald Hill school district and three terms in the Orick district. Fraternally he is a member of the Humboldt Lodge, No. 77, 1. O. O. F., and of the Hoopa Tribe, No. 145, I. O. R. M., while in his political associations he is a supporter of the Republican party.

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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 115

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