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 117

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 117

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Mr. Thompson is a native of Canada, born in Huron County, Ontario, where he was reared and educated. His father was Robert Thompson, a native of County Antrim, Ireland, where he met and married Miss Sarah Morrow, also of Irish birth and parentage. They became the parents of seven children, three born in Ireland and four in Canada, Robert, the subject of this sketch being the fifth born. They were: Rachael, who was married

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to Andrew Elliott, and died in Canada in 1913, leaving six children; W. J., a carriage-maker and horseman, who owned several of the finest trotting horses in Canada, where he died in 1913; Margaret, who was the wife of John Thompson, and died, leaving a family of five children; Dora, now the widow of Frank Sannigan, residing in New London, Canada; Robert; Samuel, a farmer of Huron County, Canada ; and Thomas, deceased. Robert was educated in the public schools of Ontario, where the parents continued to live during their lifetime, the father passing away at the age of seventy- two, the mother outliving him by ten years, and dying at the age of seventy-five.

It was in the fall of 1875 that Mr. Thompson finally left Ontario and came to the United States, coming at once to California and locating in Butte county, where for nine years he was identified with the lumber inter- ests of that section. While there he was married to Miss Augusta Lemm, the daughter of Charles and Mary (Stealman) Lemm, both natives of Ger- many. Her parents were married in New York state and came to California about 1858, locating in Butte county, where her father engaged in teaming and freighting over the mountains, going from Butte county to Nevada. Her father died in Butte county at the age of fifty-eight years, her mother living to be sixty-five. There were ten children in their family, only three of whom are now living, Mrs. Thompson being the fifth born. She has borne her husband three children, all now residing in Humboldt county, where they are well and favorably known: Albert, married to Miss Bertha John- ston, is engaged in dairying on the home place; Charles is a partner with J. C. Brunner in the Elite Garage at Ferndale ; and Alice is the wife of James T. Cleary, whose sketch appears elsewhere in this edition, he being the manager of the Metropolitan Redwood Lumber Company's store, and also postmaster at Metropolitan.

After his marriage Mr. Thompson came to Humboldt county, where he was in the employ of John Vance in the lumber business on Mad river, until 1887, when he came to Scotia, his being the first family to settle there. He was with the Pacific Lumber Company in various positions of respon- sibility for many years and was well acquainted with the carly men of the company, including Messrs. Curtiss, Rigby, Paxton, and others. In the spring of 1888 he bought the Barkdull place at Pepperwood, this being his first ranch in Humboldt county. He improved this property and con- tinued to make it his home until 1892, when he sold it and bought twenty acres on the McDiarmidt prairie, which, together with an additional five acres bought later, form his present home place. He usually votes the Republican ticket, but is essentially independent in his inclinations, and forms his own opinions as to what will be most beneficial to the community.

ROLLA BRYANT, SR .- The Bryant family is one of great refinement and Rolla Bryant was of the same blood as the famous poet, William Cullen Bryant. He was born in Richmond, Vt., July 15, 1828, and was the son of Seth Thomas and Lodoski (Pierce) Bryant. Until the age of twenty, he lived on his father's farm and then followed the carpenter's trade until 1852. With his eldest brother, Calvin, he then started west, sailing from New York on May 2, 1852, and landing at Aspinwall on May 14. Traveling by train, flat-boat and on foot, they reached Panama, where they remained

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three days, leaving there on a steamship which brought them to San Fran- cisco on June 16.

Mr. Bryant engaged in mining at the North Yuba River, twelve miles below Downieville. It was here that he met Chris Luther who became his lifelong friend. Together they went to Camptonville, Yuba county, where they operated a hydraulic mine, in those days a dangerous business, and Mr. Bryant and a companion once almost lost their lives by the caving in of the banks while engaged in this work. Mr. Bryant could claim the dis- tinction of being the builder of the first tunnel for hydraulic mining in the state of California. This tunnel was five hundred feet in length and sup- ported by heavy timbers to prevent accidents which were of common occurrence.

In 1856 Mr. Bryant married Elizabeth Josephine Mallory who was born in Pennsylvania and had spent some of the carliest years of her life in Tazewell county, Ill. Here her father, William Mallory, had practiced law and engaged in farming, dying when his little daughter was only five years old. Her mother, Malissa Stephens Mallory, left her in a school in Jefferson, Grant county, Wis., and crossed the plains to California in 1852, settling at Camptonville, in Yuba county. Here her daughter joined her in 1854, having traveled across the plains at the age of fourteen with a brother and a number of friends. In 1856 the mother moved to Humboldt county, where she was married to Seth Chisholm, an old-time supervisor of the county.

Mr. and Mrs. Rolla Bryant were the parents of eleven children: Cyrus Edwin, a farmer, owns a part of the old Bryant place; William Mallory, blacksmith and dairyman, lives at the Bryant homestead, and has three children and three grandchildren, his children being Mrs. Eva Garner of Ferndale, Rolla Theodore of Alton, and Maimie Bryant Frost of Fortuna; George Ralph, the third child of Rolla Bryant, died at the age of six years ; Albert B., farming part of the old homestead, married in Kansas City, Mrs. Louise Wilson ; Adelinda Isabel, died at the age of nineteen ; Orlena Malissa married E. E. Cornell of Ferndale, foreman on the state highway, and mechanic and filer, they have two children, Edwin Bryant and Lathor ; Della Josephine, wife of Charles Luther, manager of Russ Market, Eureka; Stella M. died at five years of age; Seth died in infancy; Rolla, Jr., and Edna Leona live at home.

After his marriage Mr. Bryant continued to live in Yuba county for two years. Then in 1858, with his wife and one child, he sailed from San Fran- cisco for Humboldt county. Owing to rough weather, they were landed at Trinidad, whence they went at once to the Eel River Valley, and Mr. Bryant bought the farm which continued to be his home until his death. He died at his home at Alton, on the ninth of April, 1911, and is survived by his widow and seven children. Mr. Bryant also left a sister, Mrs. Eliza Drew, of Boston, Mass., and three brothers, George E. Bryant of Lowell, Mass .; James H. Bryant of Williston, Vt., and William K. Bryant of Richmond, Vt.

Mr. Bryant was charitable and just to his fellow men, and in business he was the soul of honor. His is a name that will be remembered and respected by his friends and by the dwellers in this western country which he helped to build.

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SHERMAN A. MILLER .- Although a resident of Scotia but a com- paratively few years, Sherman Miller, now justice of the peace, is one of the best known men in the township and exceptionally popular. He is a Republican and takes an active interest in the affairs of his party, whether local, state or national, and is an acknowledged power in the political sit- uation at Scotia. He is also well known in a business way and stands very high in commercial circles.

Mr. Miller is a native of Tennessee, born at Blue Springs, Hamilton county, May 5, 1865. When he was three years of age his parents removed to Kansas, locating in Wyandotte county, where the father engaged in farm- ing. There Sherman grew to young manhood, attending the public schools of the district and assisting his father on the farm. In 1887, when he was twenty-two years of age, he came to Oregon, in company with his father, and there found employment as a farm hand for a time, and later went into business for himself in Portland, where he owned and conducted a barber shop, which he opened in 1889. Later, in 1891, he went to Hillsboro, where he also owned and conducted a barber shop, meeting with great success, and remaining until 1895. He has been at various places on the coast for periods of varying length, generally working at his trade of barber, having spent some time at Seattle and Ellensburg, Wash., Portland and Hillsboro, Ore., San Francisco, Oakland and Scotia. Mr. Miller came to California in 1900, and has spent most of the intervening time in this state. He owns a fine residence property in Oakland, where he made his home for some time, and where he was married to Miss Zua Guider, of San Francisco, in 1907. Mr. and Mrs. Miller have five children as follows: Pearly, Edith A., Arvilla, Ila and Sherma.

When Mr. Miller first came to Scotia he engaged in the barber business, opening a small jewelry department as a side line. In this latter line he prospered, and in 1906 he went to San Francisco and learned the watch repairing business, and on returning he enlarged his stock of jewelry and has since that time made this his specialty. He now carries a complete line of jewelry, silverware and watches and also handles the Eastman kodaks. His stock is all high grade and every article that he sells is guaranteed to be up to standard and quality. This stock is valued at more than $4,000.

Mr. Miller is very popular with his many friends and political constit- uents, and is especially well liked in his official capacity. He is a member of the Woodmen of the World, being affiliated with the lodge at Seattle.

J. O. PERMENTER .- Descended from old Southern families on both his paternal and maternal side, and a native of Texas himself, J. O. Permenter has won his way up in the lumber industry in California through sheer force of character, industry and application. He now occupies the responsible position of mill foreman for mill "B", of the Pacific Lumber Company, at Scotia, where he has been employed for a number of years, his present posi- tion being the result of the splendid service rendered by him in minor capac- ities for this company, his promotions following each other with unfailing regularity. Mill "B" is one of the largest lumber mills on the coast, having a capacity of 200,000 feet per ten-hour day. It is also one of the most thor- oughly modern and best equipped of the coast mills, and acknowledged to be the best managed and smoothest running as well.

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Mr. Permenter was born in Moody, Bell county, Texas, September 20, 1883. His father, M. F. Permenter, was a native of Mississippi and descended from an old South Carolina family, while his mother, Sarah E. Barefoot, was a native of Arkansas, her family being originally from Mississippi. They were the parents of a family of seven children, six sons and one daughter, the subject of this sketch being the eldest born. The father was killed in an accident at Bakersfield, February 20, 1914, at that time being a resident of Lerdo, Kern county, this state, where the mother still makes her home. He was fifty-seven at the time of his death. The boyhood days of J. O. Permenter were spent in Texas, and when eighteen years of age he removed with his family to New Mexico where they engaged in farming. When he was twenty years of age he left the family environs and came to California, locating in Humboldt county, where he engaged in the lumbering industry. He was first with the Northern Redwood Company at Korbel, and later went to Glendale where he was with the Minor Mill and Lumber Company until November, 1904, when illness in his family necessitated his return to New Mexico. He remained there until August, 1905, when he returned to California, locating at Bakersfield, where he found employment in the machine shops at Kern, working for the Southern Pacific Railroad. In April of the following year, however, he returned to Humboldt county and again was engaged by the Northern Redwood Company at Korbel where he went to work in the lumber mill. From that time until he came to Scotia and entered the employ of the Pacific Lumber Company in April, 1910, Mr. Permenter was variously occupied in different capacities with different lum- ber companies of Humboldt county, always being promoted for the quality and quantity of his service and leaving one position only to accept a better one with another company. He was with the Hammond Lumber Company in 1908, at Sonoma, with the Minor Mill and Lumber Company at Glendale, then with the Little River Valley Lumber Company, at Little River, from which position of manager of the wharves, he came to Scotia and entered the employ of the Pacific Lumber Company, first as night foreman of the old mill yards, and when mill "B" was completed in the fall of 1910 he was transferred to that place, where he has since remained. For a time he was at the sorting table, and after two and one-half years he was made foreman, which position he has since filled with more than ordinary satisfaction to the management, and also to the men employed under him. Mr. Permenter knew no one when he came to Humboldt county, and his success has been in no way due to influence or preference, but has been based alone on ability and application to business.

The marriage of Mr. Permenter took place in Eureka, January 1, 1911, uniting him with Miss Bea Bolsen, of that city. They have become the par- ents of one child, a daughter, Muriel. Mr. Permenter is very popular in Scotia where he has many warm friends. He is an influential figure in the fraternal life of the community, being a member of several of the most im- portant lodges, including the Knights of Pythias, Scotia Lodge, No. 310, of which he is chancellor-commander, and also Odd Fellows, in Blue Lake Lodge, No. 347, of which he is past noble grand. In his political views he is a Democrat and a strong party man. He is broad minded and progressive, is deeply appreciative of any movement that will work for the betterment

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of the community, and in all local questions of public interest he gives his aid to the right men and measures rather than the strict party endorsement.

ROBERT McINTOSH .- A native of Restigouche county, New Bruns- wick, where he was born July 24, 1859, Robert McIntosh is of Scotch de- scent, the son of John McIntosh, a native of Perthshire, Scotland, and his wife Catherine (Dutch) McIntosh, who was born in New Brunswick, of Scotch parents. The grandfather, Robert McIntosh, was a ship builder of Scotland, who brought his family to New Brunswick when the father of Robert McIntosh was but eighteen years of age. Having learned his father's trade, the young man continued in that occupation with his father in the new country, continuing alone in the business for many years after his father's decease, during the latter part of his life being engaged in farming. His wife, coming to California in later years, died in Eureka, this state.

Of the family of seven children, Robert McIntosh was the third oldest, and was brought up on the home farm and educated in the public schools of the neighborhood. In the autumn of the year 1879 he came to Wisconsin, where he secured employment in the woods, and also across the line in the Michigan woods. In 1880 he removed to Atchison county, Mo., and in the spring of 1881 to Placer county, Cal., later going to Sacramento in this state, in the fall of the same year moving to Eureka, Cal., where he was employed in logging in the woods, for many years holding the place of head log fixer. Meantime he had located a homestead of one hundred sixty acres on Prairie creek; above Orick, in the same county, where he has since made his home, and began at that time to make improvements thereon ; finally proving up on the property about ten years ago, he resigned his work in the woods and has since spent his time on his ranch, which consists of one hundred fifty-two acres, he having sold eight acres of the estate. Mr. McIntosh is a busy man, for besides having improved his homestead, he has erected a blacksmith's shop on his land, where he does much work in that line, as well as engaging in the raising of stock upon his ranch. Political interests also occupy a part of his time and attention, he being well known as a loyal supporter of the principles of the Republican party, and he enjoys the esteem and good will of all with whom he comes in contact.

GIOCONDO CELLI .- A native of Italy, where he was born in the city of Pescia, province of Lucca, in Toscano, January 18, 1876, Giocondo Celli, now the proprietor of the New Colombo Hotel, at Eureka, Cal., an enterpris- ing man, liberal and well liked in the California town where he has chosen to make his home, was the son of Riccardo Celli, an Italian farmer, and was brought up as a farmer's boy in that country, receiving his education in the public schools and working on his father's farm until mustered into the Italian army. There he served the required time and was honorably dis- charged, and, having heard good reports of better opportunities in America from countrymen returning from the United States, Mr. Celli was seized with a desire to try his fortune in the new world.

In 1902, therefore, Mr. Celli came to Chicago, Ill., where he was em- ployed on railroad construction work, three years later removing to San Francisco, Cal., thence going to Eureka, where he immediately found work with the Santa Fe, now the Northwestern Pacific Railroad company, and for the three years following was engaged in construction work on the Scotia

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bluff, which has a record of being a very dangerous piece of work for the men employed thereon. Mr. Celli himself had several narrow escapes from being buried by the sliding of the overburden during the construction work, when slides thereabouts rendered the safety of the men most precarious. For a while Mr. Celli ran a hotel at Shively, Cal., and then made a trial of ranching, but deciding on hotel management as the most profitable occupa- tion for himself, in 1913 he purchased the New Colombo Hotel, on First street. Eureka, of which he has since remained the proprietor, and in his chosen line of business has met with the success due his endeavors and enjoys the esteem of his townspeople.

The marriage of Mr. Celli took place in his native land, uniting him with Miss Ida Fantozi, who was also born in that country, and they became the parents of seven children, namely, Renato, Inez, Annie, Argia, Riccardo, Giocondo and Ida.

BATTISTE TOMASINI .- Having been born and brought up on his father's farm in Italy, where he became thoroughly conversant with dairying as it is carried on in that country, it is small wonder that Battiste Tomasini, now a resident of Trinidad, Cal., has brought to the new country with him a proficiency in that art which has easily placed him at the head in that line of occupation in his district. The father of Mr. Tomasini is Pietro Tomasini, a farmer and dairyman in the Alps, where he is still actively engaged in the making of butter and cheese on a large scale, also serving as one of the town trustees, his wife being Santa Bachetti Tomasini. Of their nine children, Battiste is the third in age, and until he had passed his seventeenth birthday he remained in his native country, where he attended the local schools and learned the dairying trade from his father.

In 1903 Mr. Tomasini removed to San Francisco and came on imme- diately to Humboldt county, upon his arrival finding employment in a dairy at Arcata, after which he came to Eureka. For two years he worked in the woods, but determining to carry on the dairy business independently, this being the occupation in which he felt the greatest interest, he rented a ranch at Loleta, Cal., where for a year he conducted a dairy consisting of fifty coWS. Selling the lease on this property, he returned to Italy for a visit to his old home, remaining there nine months, during which time he was mar- ried, on July 27, 1910, to Miss Regina Bonomi, also a native of Brescia and a daughter of Bartolo Bonomi, a farmer in that district, Mr. Tomasini him- self having been born in Liverno, Brescia, on February 27, 1885. In Sep- tember, 1910, taking with him his bride, he left his native land for California once more, coming direct to Humboldt county, which had been his home during his former stay in California. Here, in December, 1910, in partner- ship with Paul Grazioli, he leased the John Plitsch place at Stone Lagoon, where the two partners are now operating a large dairy, milking eighty cows, and also carry on stockraising to a large extent. Here, on the ranch of twenty acres, which is nearly all bottom land, they are meeting with much success in their business, being enterprising men provided with the best modern means for carrying on the same. The milk from their ranch is separated by gas engine power, the cream being shipped to the California Central Creamery Company at Eureka.

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In his political interests Mr. Tomasini is a supporter of the Republican party. He is the father of two sons, namely James and Peter, and in his adopted home in California is well liked and respected as a progressive man in his chosen line of business.

EDWIN HORACE CAMERON .- Although a resident of California since the year 1868, having made his name well known in the lumber indus- try in this state, Edwin Horace Cameron is of Canadian birth and, as his name implies, of Scotch ancestry, the name of Cameron being one that is prominent in the history of Scotland. In that country his father, George W. Cameron, was born in the town of Thurso in 1818, his grandfather, John Cameron, also of Thurso, having been an adjutant in the English army, stationed in Canada, where he resided with his family until the time of his death. His son, George W., was only a lad at the time of his coming to Canada, where he received his education in the public schools and followed lumbering, first as superintendent of one of the Gilmour Company's mills at the town of Hull, and later, with his brother, John O., building a saw mill and engaging in the manufacture of lumber at Thurso, Que., a place which they named from the town of their birth in Scotland, and where they made their home, also erecting and operating a mill at North Nation, Que. A large lumber manufacturer for his time, George W. Cameron continued in that business until his death, amassing what was considered a fortune in those days. He was known as a kind, liberal and enterprising man, philan- thropic, in that, besides educating his own children well, he also provided many other young men with the means of securing a college education. In his religious associations, he was a member of the Baptist Church. The wife of George W. Cameron was Frances Baldwin, a native of the state of Connecticut, and they were the parents of six sons and one daughter, of whom only three are now living, Edwin Horace being the only one of the family making his home in California.

The third in order of birth, Edwin Horace Cameron was born in Hull, a suburb of Ottawa, Can., on July 30, 1848, and grew up in Thurso, receiving his primary education in the local public schools. He then spent two years in the Department of Arts at Woodstock college, Woodstock, Ont., prepara- tory to entering McGill University in 1865, where he continued his studies until the close of his sophomore year. During that time he also attended the Military college at Montreal, where he was graduated September 21, 1867, being commissioned ensign in the Thurso Infantry Company, later be- ing promoted to the position of lieutenant, and still later to that of captain. At odd times during these years Mr. Cameron acquired a working knowledge of the Morse code of telegraphy, he being a person who never let slip an opportunity for increasing his fund of practical knowledge. In 1867 he entered the employ of the Ottawa River Navigation Company as purser, and it was about this time that he became interested in California, through his acquaintance with D. W. McCallum, superintendent of the Caspar Lumber Company at Caspar, Mendocino county, Cal. Determining to come to the Pacific coast, Mr. Cameron made the trip by way of the Union Pacific Rail- road, the extreme connections being made by means of a hand car, whereby he arrived in San Francisco in July of the year 1868. The first employment of Mr. Cameron after coming to California was with the Caspar Lumber

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Company, at the town of Caspar, where he spent a year in their store, after- ward accepting a position in the store of William H. Kelly, in Mendocino City, where he remained for some time. During the building of the Pacific Telegraph Company's lines from Petaluma to Eureka, Cal., Mr. Cameron was in the employ of that firm, at first on the survey, coming to the city of Eureka with the survey corps in 1870, after which he became electrician on the line, later being made operator at Mendocino, then at Navarro, and then at Cuffey's Cove, during which time he was also engaged in teaching begin- ners in that branch and installing offices. In the summer of 1874 Mr. Cam- eron was stationed at Eureka, and later spent two years as line repairer, with his headquarters at Usal, Cal. About the year 1880 he severed his connection with the company, and secured employment as a clerk for George S. McPhee at Westport, in 1881 forming a partnership with T. H. Smith in that town, under the firm name of Smith & Cameron engaging in general merchandise, also as contractors of ties and bark, which were shipped in schooners to San Francisco and southern points. Six years later the part- nership was dissolved, Mr. Cameron retaining the store while Mr. Smith assumed charge of the outside business, and in 1890 Mr. Cameron sold the store to assume the duties of deputy county assessor for northern Mendocino county under W. P. McFaul, his district comprising the territory from Fort Bragg to the Humboldt county line. This position he held for a period of eight years, during this time, in 1892 and 1893, also being bookkeeper for the De Haven Lumber Company, afterwards holding the same position with the Cottaneva Lumber Company at Rockport, and for a time being in charge of the wharf and store of Ray Brothers at Shelter Cove. Removing to Eureka in 1899, Mr. Cameron there became salesman in the yard for McKay & Com- pany, at the Occidental Mill, later accepting a position with the Hammond Lumber Company, where for some years he had charge of the telephone lines, resigning there in order to become bookkeeper for J. A. Cottrell's moulding mill, a position which he filled acceptably for five years, since which time he has been engaged as salesman for the Oregon Nursery Com- pany.

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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 117

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