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 131

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 131

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In Oakland in 1903 Mr. Thogersen married Miss Hildah Carlson, of Eureka, Humboldt county, who has been his faithful helpmate in all his undertakings. Mr. and Mrs. Thogersen were reared in the faith of the Lutheran Church. Mr. Thogersen is a charter member of the Danish Brotherhood No. 95 at Ferndale. He did not find time to visit his old home until the spring of 1903, when he made the trip to Europe to see his mother and brother, also visiting other European countries besides Den- mark.

ROBERT WILKINSON ROBARTS .- For almost forty years a resi- dent of Humboldt county, and throughout that entire time actively engaged in enterprises that tended to develop and build up the country, opening up new enterprises and strengthening opportunities in established fields of en- deavor, the record of the accomplishments of Robert Wilkinson Robarts, lately deceased, is so closely interwoven with the life history of Humboldt county and the city of Ferndale that neither could be correctly written without much being said about the other.

Mr. Robarts was a native of England, having been born in the county of Kent, May 30, 1860, and was at an early age entered in a private school, according to the custom of the country, remaining there until he was fifteen. An elder brother, James T., who for some time had been seeking his fortunes in Canada and the United States, returned home for a visit, and his accounts of the wonderful lands beyond the sea so enthralled the lad

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that he also secured permission to go to the western continent, accompany- ing his brother on his return. The brothers came directly to Humboldt county, Cal., where the elder was already well known, and Robert secured employment on a ranch at Bear river, then owned by Richard Johnson and still known as the Johnson place. The chief occupation on the ranch was dairying, and there young Robarts remained for two years, mastering many of the details of the business. He then returned to Ferndale and went into the butcher business with G. M. Brice as partner, for several years follow- ing this line with success, but later selling his interests and engaging in the livery business with the same partner. After a few years Mr. Robarts dis- posed of his interests in this enterprise also, and entered upon a successful career as a buyer and seller of stock and hides throughout the Eel river valley, during this period meeting practically every man in the valley and forming many warm friendships which lasted throughout his lifetime, as well as establishing for himself an enviable business reputation and also making an appreciable fortune by his efforts. His interest in farming had · never waned, however, and eventually he purchased a farm and for a num- ber of years devoted himself to its management, in addition to his farming interests engaging in buying stock. This last is, perhaps, the industry which has felt the greatest influence from the activities of Mr. Robarts and the one which he was most actively instrumental in developing, he being the first man to ship cattle from the valley, his first shipment of fifty-one head being carried on the steamer Pomona. He was also actively interested in the breeding of blooded livestock. The race track at Ferndale was built on his ranch, but this ranch has since been sold. He was also heavily interested in Port Kenyon, when it was a popular shipping port. Dairy farming was one of the hobbies of this energetic man, and until the time of his death he was intimately connected with this enterprise in the Eel river valley and was engaged in buying and selling butter. Whether or not he was born with the fabled silver spoon in his mouth is not definitely known, but it may be safely inferred, for every enterprise to which Mr. Robarts put his hand met with astonishing success. He was a man to whom the supervision of large undertakings meant merely careful attention to many small details, and it was doubtless to this characteristic, coupled with wisdom, sagacity and much foresight, that he owed his great success There might be added to this also a knowledge of men and a deep insight into the workings of the human mind, with a natural inclination on his part always to play fair.

The marriage of Mr. Robarts took place in Ferndale on January 14, 1880, uniting him with Miss Amelia Grace Francis, who was born in that city, the daughter of Francis and Grace (Roberts) Francis, natives, respec- tively, of Glamorganshire, Wales, and Cornwall, England. Coming to Galena, Ill., when young people, they were married there. The grand- father, Captain Henry Roberts, was a sailing master and ran a vessel across the Atlantic in early days. On coming to Galena, he, with his sons, engaged in the butcher business, with meat markets in Lead City. The family was well acquainted with Capt. Ulysses S. Grant, afterwards presi- dent of the United States, who was then a tanner in Galena and bought hides of the Roberts family, the acquaintance being resumed in Humboldt

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county by Mr. and Mrs. Francis when Captain Grant was stationed at Fort Humboldt. Francis Francis was engaged in lead mining near Galena until 1850, when he joined the rush to the gold mines in California. Leav- ing his wife and little daughter in Galena, he crossed the plains with ox- teams, making a six months' trip, and on his arrival on the west coast worked in the mines and also built the Snow Mountain ditch at Nevada City, Cal., which brought water to the camp for mining purposes. In 1852 his wife joined him, coming via the Isthmus of Panama. They came to Humboldt county in 1858, locating first at Uniontown. now Arcata, but within a month came to what is now Ferndale and purchased one hundred sixty acres from a Mr. Shaw, this being the original town site of Ferndale. Mr. Francis first sold the land in acres and half acres, and cut up and sold smaller tracts, not realizing it would be a town later, and he started the water works at Ferndale, which his family still owns. Here his death occurred, his wife still living, at the age of eighty-seven years. The water system has been incorporated as the Francis Land and Water Company, which is owned by his children. Of the eleven children of Mr. Francis, four are living, his daughter Clara, now Mrs. G. M. Brice, having been the first child born in Ferndale, and his youngest daughter being now the wife of Robert Wilkinson Robarts, and reared and educated in Ferndale.

Mr. and Mrs. Robarts were the parents of five children now living, namely : Grace M., the wife of R. S. Feenaty ; Blanch A., now Mrs. John D. Shaw, the mother of one daughter, Grace Gwendolen Shaw; Keith Douglas ; James Floyd; and Lucile Marguerite, the latter all of Ferndale. In Fern- dale Mr. Robarts was acknowledged as a man of power and influence, where for many years he was actively associated with every movement for the betterment and upbuilding of the community. A prominent member of the Odd Fellows, he was exceedingly popular in that order, and both in Ferndale and throughout the valley possessed a host of friends. He died November 24, 1914, perishing in the wreck of the ill-fated steamer Hanalei at Duxbury Reef, Cal., his body being recovered and brought to Ferndale, where interment took place November 27, 1914.

W. EHREISER .- The proprietors of Hotel Trinidad, in the town of that name in Humboldt county, Cal., are Mr. and Mrs. W. Ehreiser, who though natives of foreign lands, have known this part of California well since the early days of its settlement, Mr. Ehreiser having come to this county in 1884, and Hilda Peterson, who was later to become his wife, having moved here four years later.

The native land of Mr. Ehreiser is Germany, he having been born in 1859 at Baden, where he grew up on his father's farm, at the age of twenty- one years removing to the United States and securing employment at Little Rock, Ark. Removing to Arcata, Humboldt county, Cal., in 1884, until the year 1898 he was employed at the Union Hotel and at different lumber companies as cook. His marriage occurred in Arcata in 1892, uniting him with Miss Hilda Charlotta Peterson, who was born at Maria- stad, Skaane, Sweden, in which country her father was a farmer and large land-owner. The education of Mrs. Ehreiser was received in the schools of her native town, and in 1884 she came to the United States, living first in Connecticut and later for two years in New Jersey. The year 1888 saw her removal west to California, where she lived at Arcata until 1898, when

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she and her husband settled at their ranch a mile above Trinidad, an estate consisting of forty-five acres. This they improved, erecting buildings and a comfortable residence, and engaged there in farming and stock raising until leasing the place in order to go into the hotel business. In 1913 they entered into their new line of business in Trinidad as proprietors of Hotel Trinidad, the principal hotel between Arcata and Crescent City, and here they have earned for themselves a high reputation in their chosen profession as well as by their active interest in the upbuilding of the town and the giving of their time and means to all worthy objects connected therewith.

Besides the responsibilities connected with the hotel business, both Mr. Ehreiser and his wife are well known for their participation in the municipal affairs of Trinidad, where he serves as city marshal and his wife has been elected to the city Board of Trustees, both being known as noble and up- right citizens standing for high morals. In fraternal circles also Mr. Ehreiser is well known, being a member of the North Star Lodge, K. P., and a Past Commander as well as a member of the Anniversary Lodge. I. O. O. F., his wife having at one time been connected with the Rebekahs at Arcata. Of their two sons, Harold, who is a graduate of the Eureka Busi- ness College, is a clerk in the Eureka postoffice, while the younger son, Albert, is in the employ of the Union Iron Works in San Francisco.

EDWARD WILHELM OLSON .- An enterprising and successful dairyman of Field's Landing, Humboldt county, Cal., Edward Wilhelm Olson is a native of Spjutstorp, near Malmo, Skaane, Sweden, where his birth occurred on October 21, 1871, his father dying when the lad was nine years of age. Edward Wilhelm grew up on the farm, and received his education in the public schools of his native land, at the age of sixteen years removing to the United States, where he secured employment for three years at a dairy in Holyoke, Mass. Leaving that state, he next went to Pennsylvania, where he engaged in the carpenter's trade at the town of Brookston, following the same occupation for a year also at Jamestown, N. Y. Going to South Bend, Ind., Mr. Olson was for four months associated with the Oliver Plow Works of that place, whence he moved to Attica, Ind., finding employment there on a farm for a couple of years and in a livery stable for a year. While living in Attica he was married to Miss Anna Nylen, also a native of Sweden, born at Mjölby, Ostrejotland, and they be- came the parents of seven children, namely : Alma, who is a graduate of the high school at Eureka, class of 1915; Herman, who is at present assisting his father in the dairy business; Harold, Margaret, Dorothy, Eddie and Clarence, the children all residing at home. After his marriage in Attica, Ind., Mr. Olson continued ranching for five years, after which he carried on farming independently upon a rented ranch until the year 1903, when he removed to Humboldt county, Cal., locating first in the city of Eureka, where his wife's uncle, G. A. Waldner, had made his home. In a short time, however, Mr. Olson leased the Miller ranch of eighty acres near Field's Landing, where he engaged in dairying with a fine herd consisting of twenty cows. Leaving this place, however, in November, 1910, he at that time leased his present place, which comprises about one hundred and ninety acres, where he conducts a dairy of forty cows of the Guernsey and Jersey breeds. Aside from the business responsibilities of his dairy ranch, Mr.

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Olson is a stockholder in the Eclipse Creamery, of which he has for two years been manager, and fraternally is known as a member of the Modern Woodmen of America, the Eagles and the Hoopa Tribe of Red Men, all in the city of Eureka, while his political interests are with the Republican party.

GEORGE FLECKENSTEIN .- A country lad, born in Dubuque county. Iowa, November 26, 1867, reared on a farm, where he was carly taught the responsibility of labor, George Fleckenstein first came to California in 1886, when with his mother and other members of his family he joined his father in Humboldt county, where he had previously journeyed to establish a home, Since that distant time he has resided for the most part in Humboldt county, with only a brief excursion into Napa county, where he was engaged in business for a few years. Throughout the county he is well and favorably known, having made for himself a reputation for business integrity, industry and honorable achievement which will endure long after the man himself has passed to his fathers, for it is closely inwoven with the history of this section of the state, and so will not perish.

When Mr. Fleckenstein was but two years of age his father removed with his family from Dubuque county, Iowa, to Warren county in the same state, there continuing his occupation of farming. For a few years the son attended the public schools of the district, but at an early age went to work as an assistant to his father in the blacksmith shop which the elder Fleckenstein had opened on the farm, facing the highway. Here he re- mained for a number of years, thoroughly mastering every detail of the trade, and when, in 1885, his father determined to come to California, hoping thereby to better the family fortunes, the eighteen-year-old lad was left in charge of the blacksmith shop and the farm. Arriving in California, the elder Fleckenstein spent a year in Los Angeles county, but not finding there the conditions which satisfied him he later came into Humboldt county, locating in Eureka. The following year he sent for his family, who, disposing of the Iowa interests, arrived in Eureka February 23, 1886.

On his arrival in California young George Fleckenstein made his first independent start, cutting loose from the fireside, and facing life for him- self. He first found employment in a sawmill on Salmon creek, but after a short time the mill closed and he went to Bayside, where he was a blacksmith for Flannagan-Brosson Co., continuing with them until 1892. In that year he purchased property at Mckinleyville, which is now known as the Fleckenstein place, and is the home of the family. Here he opened a blacksmith shop on his property, fronting the highway, and conducted it with much success. In 1896, being interested in land in Napa county, the removed with his family to that county, locating five miles north of Vallejo, where he acted as manager for the Knight Land Company, re- maining for two years.

The call of home is strong in the hearts of such men as this, however, and at the end of two years Mr. Fleckenstein returned to his home place at Mckinleyville and has resided there since. He again opened his black- smith shop on the farm, and has continued to follow this trade with suc- cess and profit. He is also greatly interested in the breeding of fine live-

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stock, and is the owner of one of the fastest trotting horses in the county, this particular horse being his greatest pride.

On September 13, 1892, Mr. Fleckenstein was married to Miss Anna Whalen, the marriage taking place in Eureka, then the home of the bride. Mrs. Fleckenstein is a native of Kansas City, Mo., born July 3, 1870. She came to California with her father, Joseph Whalen, when a child and settled in Humboldt county, where her father is well known as a mechanical engineer. She is the mother of two children, a son, Allen, and a daughter, Anna, both popular in their circle and well known in Humboldt county.

Mr. Fleckenstein is interested very keenly in politics and is closely associated with the local affairs concerning the welfare of his party, which is Democratic. He is considered one of the stanch members of the farm- ing class in Humboldt county, and has accumulated property of much value, which he has handsomely improved and which is a great credit to the community.

WILLARD J. RILEY .- As proprietor of the Bridgeville Hotel, Willard J. Riley has made many warm friends in this part of the state, and is also well known to the traveling public all over the northern part of the state as a genial and obliging host, whose first thought is for the care and com- fort of his guests, and whose pleasant manner and warm-hearted kindness add materially to the popularity of his house. Both Mr. and Mrs. Riley are well known in Bridgeville, where they have resided for a number of years, and also in Eureka, where they made their home until Mr. Riley's ill health obliged them to make a change, and they came to Bridgeville at that time.

Mr. Riley was born in Buchanan, Berrien county, Mich., June 27, 1856. At an early age he was obliged to leave school and go to work, his first employment being in a factory where broom handles were manufac- tured. When he was fourteen years of age his parents removed to Indiana, and when he was twenty-one they moved to Rooks county, Kansas, where they homesteaded. There young Willard Riley was married, April 10, 1885, to Miss Florence A. Faulkner, who has since that time been his con- stant companion and helpmeet. She is the descendant of Edmund Faulkner, who came from King Charles county, Southampton, England, in 1745 and located at Salem, Mass. There he was married to Dorothy Robinson, Feb- ruary 4, 1747, and by her had several sons, one of whom was Col. Francis Faulkner, the great-great-grandfather of Mrs. Riley. Colonel Faulkner helped to gather the militia for the battle of Lexington and fought in that famous engagement. Later he fought under General Washington, and after the war became a prominent and influential business man, and built the first woolen mill at Acton, Mass. The father of Mrs. Riley was John M. Faulk- ner, born in Mason county, Ill., where he was a prominent merchant and also an influential member of the Masons and of the Odd Fellows. Her mother was Nancy Beagle, born in St. Louis, Mo. Mrs. Riley was born at Bedford, Iowa, and later removed to Lincoln, Neb., she being a graduate of the State Normal School at Peru, Neb. She obtained her first teacher's certificate when she was but sixteen years of age and was a very clever and efficient teacher, being engaged in educational work in Nebraska and Kansas. She was the eldest of four daughters and was a close companion of her father,

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who was postmaster, merchant and justice of the peace at Olive Branch, Lancaster county, Neb., to which place he gave the name. After a time the family removed to Kansas, owing to the ill health of the father, and at Roscoe, Graham county, that state, he engaged in general merchandising and farming. In all these enterprises Mrs. Riley was his close associate and assistant, and early developed a remarkable business ability, which is one of the strong traits of all the Faulkners.

Mr. and Mrs. Riley became the parents of three children, two daughters and a son, the latter, Floyd W., the youngest born, dying in infancy. Of the daughters, the elder, Myrtle, is now the wife of F. J. Stransky, tele- graph operator at Cisco, Cal., and Ada resides with her parents. Mrs. Riley and her daughters are members of the Rebekahs at Blue Lake. Both Mr. and Mrs. Riley take a great interest in local affairs, standing firmly on the side of progress and general public improvement. Mr. Riley is a Republican, but has never taken an active part in politics save in connection with local questions of importance.

[After the above was prepared Mr. Riley died in Eureka, June 16, 1915, his death being mourned by his family and a host of warm friends.]

JOHN VANCE .- For many years the business activities of Eureka and vicinity were to a large extent dominated by the strong personality and in- fluence of the late John Vance. A man of marked individuality, force of will and self-reliant powers, he was a shrewd, keen observer, and had a rare faculty for rightly reading and judging men and their motives, being seldom deceived in his estimate of persons. Just and honorable in his transactions, he was also very decided in his opinions, and would fight opposition most relentlessly. He was not a follower of any fad, fashion or personage, in his social, business and political relations depending upon the dictates of his conscience, and relying upon his own judgment and forethought. He was born October 1, 1819, in Nova Scotia, and died in January, 1892, in Eureka, while he was serving his second term as mayor of the city. He was the ninth child in order of birth of a family of ten children, one of whom died in infancy, the others being as follows: Mary, Alexander, George, Isabel, Jane, Charlotte, Catherine, John and Thomas. Four of these children came to the Pacific coast, George, Charlotte, John and Thomas.

George Vance was for a number of years a prominent business man of Humboldt county, but afterwards moved to San Francisco, where his death occurred. He was the father of John M. Vance, whose sketch may be found elsewhere in this work. Charlotte Vance married a Mr. Benson, and settled in British Columbia, where she spent the remainder of her life. Thomas Vance located in Eureka, where he and his family reside.

John Vance attended first the common schools in Nova Scotia, after- wards completing his early education at the evening sessions of the Mechanics' Institute, at St. John, New Brunswick. At the age of sixteen he began learning the trade of a carpenter and shipbuilder, serving an ap- prenticeship of four years with his father. Going then to Roxbury, Mass., he was there successfully employed as a contractor and builder for ten years. Following the tide of immigration to the western coast in 1849, he took passage on the steamer Ohio, which was confiscated at Havana. The passen- gers subsequently proceeded on the Georgia to the Isthmus, which they

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crossed on foot, afterwards taking the steamer Panama, which arrived in San Francisco in the early part of 1850.

Resuming his trade, Mr. Vance remained in that city about a year, and then went to Foster's bar, on the Yuba river, where he tried his luck at mining. In February, 1852, with a party of enterprising pioneers, Mr. Vance located on Humboldt bay, and from that time until his death was actively identified with the development and advancement of this section of the county, being a prime mover in the establishment of industrial enterprises of all kinds. As a carpenter and millwright he assisted in converting the steamer Santa Clara into a sawmill, and a short time later came near losing his life from injuries received in the wreck of the Mexican, near the site of the present lighthouse. Soon after his recovery, forming a partnership with Capt. E. Tomlinson under the name of John Vance & Co., he purchased the general store of Pickard & Long and embarked in the mercantile business. That he realized even in those pioneer days the value of judicious advertising may be shown from a clipping taken from the first issue of the Humboldt Times, on September 2, 1854, namely :

JOHN VANCE & CO. Front Street.

Have on hand an assortment of groceries and provisions, such as flour, pork, beef, lard, butter, hams, codfish, sugar, coffee, beans, whisky, brandy, buckwheat flour, tobacco, starch, soap, candles, potatoes, window glass, farming utensils, crockery, nails, hardware, etc., which they offer for sale at the lowest prices.

J. V. & Co. are daily expecting a large and complete assortment of goods suitable to this market.

John Vance.

E. Tomlinson.

Mr. Vance subsequently turned his attention to lumbering, buying the mill at the foot of G street, which had been built by Ridgeway & Flanders, who were not successful in operating it. The partner of Mr. Vance, Mr. Garwood of San Francisco, was lost on the steamer Merrimac, and he con- tinued his milling and logging business alone. The manufacture of lumber, however, was not a profitable enterprise for many years, the prices being so low that many companies failed. With persistency of purpose, Mr. Vance retained his interests, wisely investing his money in timber tracts, eventually becoming the owner of thousands of acres of the finest standing redwoods to be found in the county. In the midst of this tract, in 1875, Mr. Vance erected a sawmill on Mad river, the plant having a capacity of about forty thousand feet per day, and for a number of years produced some of the most choice clear redwood lumber on the coast. He also owned and operated a mill in Eureka, carrying on a very remunerative business in this line for many years.

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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 131

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