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 136

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 136

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Mr. Anderson was married in Arcata to Miss Minnie Gent, who was born in Germany and came to New York when six years old, and since she was twelve years old she has been a resident of Humboldt county. Mr. and Mrs. Anderson have eight children: Jessie, Mrs. Lane, of Salem, Ore .; Fred, Ernest, John, Arthur, Wesley, Walter and Elenor, and all make their home in Humboldt county except Mrs. Lane. Mr. Anderson has been school trustee of North Fork school district three terms. He is a member of Blue Lake Lodge, I. O. O. F., and with his wife is a member of Rebekahs in Blue Lake. In politics he espouses the cause of the Republican party and has served on the grand jury.

WILLIAM S. FALK .- The name of Falk is so closely identified with sawmilling in Humboldt county that it goes naturally along with any account of that industry. William S. Falk, now head filer at the mills of the Bayside Lumber Company of Eureka, might be expected to show considerable adapta- bility for his work, his father, Elijah H. Falk, the present mayor of Eureka, having the reputation of being the most skilful millwright in California. (A sketch of the latter will be found on another page in this history.)

Of the six children born to his parents William S. Falk is the oldest, and was born April 9, 1868, at Mount Cory, Ohio, and came with his parents to California in 1878. Being very young when the family settled at Eureka, he received all his education here, in the public schools. He has spent practically all his life at his present line of work. He commenced to work when fifteen years old in the filing room of the Elk River Mill and Lumber Company, subsequently was filer for two years with the Moore & Smith Lumber Com- pany at Sanger, Cal., and then for ten years held a similar position at Fair- haven, with the Bendixson Shipbuilding Company. For the last seven years he has been with the Bayside Lumber Company, beginning to work for that

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concern shortly after the completion of its mill at Eureka, where there are two band saws, cach about sixty-five feet long and weighing about two hun- dred pounds. Great skill is required to keep these valuable instruments in perfect working order, as they must be. As a saw wears most on one side it has to be hammered carefully to be kept true and running straight on the large pulleys. When a saw breaks it is repaired by splicing, which when expertly done restores it to its original efficiency, just as strong as ever. Mr. Falk understands all this nicety and has the skill and judgment required for such particular work, his work at filing, hammering and splicing being unexcelled. As an all-around capable mechanic he is trusted completely with this all- important part of the work at the mill, for which his experience and natural ability well qualify him.

Mr. Falk married Edith McDade, and resides with his wife and two daughters (Daisy and Nellie) in Eureka. He is a highly esteemed citizen of the place where he has lived all but the first few years of his life, and is considered a worthy member of a family whose representatives have all been an honor to the community.

CLARK MILTON WYNN .- Another of the prosperous farmers of Humboldt county is Clark Milton Wynn, a native of Ohio but for many years a resident of California and a loyal supporter and admirer of the Golden State. He has met with much success in his undertakings and is known on Dow's Prairie, where he resides, and in Arcata as one of the substantial and altogether dependable men of the county.

Mr. Wynn was born at Big Prairie, Wayne county, Ohio, October 3, 1874. In 1883 he came with his parents to Humboldt county, locating on Eel river. Here he attended school on Cannibal island until fifteen years of age, when he assisted his father on the farm. Later he started out for him- self, first working on the neighboring ranches. In 1894 he moved to Arcata and went to work for M. P. Roberts on his dairy ranch, and later was em- ployed for two years on the ranch of Frank Deuel, where dairying was the chief occupation. At this time he was employed by Jacob Zehndner, remain- ing with him until 1900 and working on his dairy ranch. In 1900 he secured employment with the Vance Company, and later the Hammond Lumber Company, building railroads, and continued at various occupations until 1909, when he entered into partnership with his brother Thomas and leased his father's home place on Dow's Prairie. This property numbers one hundred fifty acres and is especially well adapted for dairying. The brothers at once improved the place and engaged in dairying, and are at present carrying on this occupation and meeting with good success. They also follow general farming in connection with their dairying interests.

Aside from his business enterprise, Mr. Wynn is well and favorably known. In politics he is a Republican, but has never been actively interested in local politics. He is also a member of the local lodge of Eagles.

The brother with whom Mr. Wynn is in partnership is Thomas Boden Wynn, born in Humboldt county, March 18, 1887. He attended the public schools of Arcata and later of Alliance for two years, at the age of eighteen commencing work for himself, in which he has been very successful. The first sixteen months he was with Pete Hansen on his dairy ranch, and for a number of years thereafter was employed on the various ranches of

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the neighborhood, becoming an expert dairyman. In 1909 he came to the home place with his brother, which they have since operated. In politics he is also a Republican.

The father of these two prosperous young farmers is William B. Wynn, a native of Ohio, born in Wayne county, October 8, 1845. He came to California, where his father had preceded him by several years, and together they engaged in farming, after a year, however, going into the dairy busi- ness for himself, purchasing seventeen acres of improved land on Eel river and leasing ninety-seven acres adjoining. He was very successful and for a number of years remained on this property, in 1893 selling his Eel river ranch and moving to Arcata bottom, where he purchased fifty-seven acres of improved land and again engaged in dairying. In 1903 he sold this property and bought the ranch on Dow's Prairie where his sons are at present engaged in dairying and farming. Mr. Wynn, Sr., has at present retired from active business and resides in Arcata, where he has many warm friends and acquaintances.

The mother of Clark Milton and Thomas Boden Wynn was Camilla Jane Boden, a native of Wayne county, Ohio, who died in Arcata about the year 1900 and was the mother of three children, namely: Clark Milton, Andrew Clifford and Thomas Boden. The former and latter are partners and Andrew C. resides in Wisconsin.

The grandfather of Clark Milton and Thomas Boden Wynn, and the father of William B. Wynn, was Jesse Wynn, a native of Pennsylvania. He crossed the plains in 1849, leaving his family in the cast. For a time he was located at Marysville, in 1855 coming to Humboldt county, where he carried on farming until the time of his death, in 1888.

GEORGE PINKERTON .- One of the old-time loggers and lumbermen, a resident of Humboldt county since April, 1876, George Pinkerton was born in Lynnfield, Charlotte county, New Brunswick, December 13, 1853. His father, James Pinkerton, was born in the North of Ireland, coming when a lad with his parents to New Brunswick, where he became a farmer and where he married Margaret Mitchell, also born in New Brunswick. After the father died the mother and children finally came to California.

George Pinkerton, the oldest of their ten children, was reared on the farm in New Brunswick, where he was educated in the public schools. From a boy he learned logging and river driving on the St. Croix and its branches. In 1875 he came to the Pacific coast and on Puget sound spent one year in the lumber woods. In April, 1876, he came to Humboldt county, Cal. His first employment was with Mr. Connick on Ryan slough chopping in the woods. Two years later he did team tending for him and others. Following this he worked for Alexander Graham on Freshwater and also for Mr. Vance. He engaged in the manufacture of shingles and shakes on the Freshwater above where the postoffice is now located, operating a mill with two shingle machines and one shake machine, the product being taken by rail to the bay and thence on lighters. He also engaged in logging for eighteen months, on Elk river for the Holmes Eureka Lumber Company. Afterwards he was superintendent of the woods, getting out timber for the Little River Lumber Company at Bullwinkle, when the mill was building and also building their railroad. After this he quit the lumber industry to look

George Pinkerton

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after his farming and ranching interests. As early as 1883 he purchased a ranch at Brainerds Point on the Arcata road, seven miles from Eureka. It was stump brush and marsh land. He cleared and improved it and reclaimed the marsh land by ditching and dyking it and developed the ranch of two hun- dred seventy acres into a dairy farm with rich bottom land which he now leases for that purpose, having built suitable buildings. Among them are two large modern barns specially planned for the care of the large dairy herd on the place. He also owns thirteen hundred acres on Mad river, where he raises cattle, the ranch being well improved for the purpose. Many years ago he purchased the hotel at Freshwater Postoffice in the Garfield district which he rented for many years and which was called Hotel Pinkerton. For the last two years he and his wife have made their home there.

The marriage of Mr. Pinkerton occurred in Eureka, February 22, 1899, being united with Mrs. Eda Climena (Trafton) Getchell, who was born near his native place in New Brunswick. Her father, John Trafton, was a lum- berman and spent his last days in Humboldt county. Mrs. Pinkerton came to Eureka in the fall of 1875 and here she afterwards married Sergeant Getchell, who died in this county. By her first union she had six children, five living, as follows: Harry, of Bayside; Eda, Mrs. Cole, of Freshwater ; Jennie, Mrs. Adams, who lives at Freshwater Corners: Effie. Mrs. Thompson, of Eureka: and Ellsworth, of Bayside. Mr. Pinkerton is well liked and highly respected, being a man of excellent business acumen and has acquired a competency.

GEORGE WILLIAM COOPER .- Stock raising and general farming have been the chief industries which Mr. Cooper has followed throughout his active career, but with these he has combined several lines of activity. which have rounded out his business life and been the means of bringing him success. A native son of California, born March 4, 1861, in Hydesville, Hum- boldt county, at Cooper mill, which is about two and a half miles northeast of the town, he made that vicinity the environment of his entire life and as he grew, imbibed the enthusiasm of his fellow citizens in the development of his community and the welfare of its citizens.

George William Cooper is the son of George Dalrymple Cooper, born in Prince Edward Island, Canada, one of the sons of Capt. William Cooper, who arrived in San Francisco on July 1, 1850, having made the journey around Cape Horn in his own vessel, the Packet, in company with his wife, six sons, three daughters, a son-in-law and daughter-in-law and a two-year-old child, bringing with them building material, furniture, implements, seed and two years' provisions, intending to take up government land on some navigable stream in California, but on account of the Spanish grants gave up the idea. In San Francisco some of the party fell ill and died, and one of the sons left that city in February or March of the year 1851, coming to Humboldt county, where his good reports soon brought the others and they engaged in farming near Hydesville. There in the Eel river country during the Indian warfare of the year 1852 there were only twenty-three white settlers and several hun- dred Indians. Of the five Cooper brothers (John W., George D., Adolphus, David and William), Adolphus and David were killed by the Indians in 1852

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and George D. in 1861; William died from exposure while bringing cattle from Sacramento valley to Humboldt county in 1853; and John W. lived to old age and died at Arcata in April, 1906. The Cooper brothers built a grist and a sawmill on Yager creek and made the first flour and manufactured the first lumber produced south of Eureka. George D. Cooper owned one hun- dred sixty acres along this creek, and it was while operating one of their mills at this place that he and a Mr. Tinkle were attacked by the Indians on July 23, 1861. Mr. Tinkle, though wounded, made his escape, and Mr. Cooper was killed by two bullet wounds. His wife, formerly Elenore Caroline De Lasaux, a native of Canterbury, England, who had come to IIumboldt county with her brothers in the early '50s, where she was married to Mr. Cooper, at the news of his death took her three months' old son, George William, in her arms and fled to John W. Cooper's residence, a mile distant. Her second marriage occurred in Canyon City, Ore., where she had resided for some years, and in a short time she came with her second husband, H. S. Case, to Hum- boldt county, where they made their home near Rohnerville, afterwards re- turning to the old John W. Cooper place, where her death took place some time later.

The only child of George D. and Elenore Caroline Cooper was George William Cooper, the subject of this sketch, whose father met his sudden death at his mill at the hands of the Indians. He was reared on the farm, attending the public schools at Ilydesville. When he became of age he began farming independently on one hundred sixty acres which he owned on Yager creek, improving the tract and also hauling grain to Hookton on South Bay for a time. Having added dairying to his general farming operations, Mr. Cooper for twelve years continued successfully at Yager creek, his dairy- ing business interesting him in the Hydesville creamery. In 1897 he leased the property and moved to his present place at Alton. With H. A. Dinsmore in 1903 he began operating a stock ranch at Bridgeville, which was chiefly range and adapted for stock-raising, the ranch being known as the old Simon Brown place, now the property of Cooper and Dinsmore, who are both also interested in operating a barley mill at Alton.

On October 15, 1884, Mr. Cooper was married at Alton to Clara Emma Dinsmore, who was born at that place, the daughter of John Owen and Margaret J. (Davis) Dinsmore, the mother's death having occurred August 21, 1907, while on a visit at Marysville. The Dinsmore family to which Mrs. Cooper belongs has figured conspicuously in the carly history of the county, and its members have been representative citizens in their several localities, her father, John Owen Dinsmore, having enjoyed a wide acquain- tance in the vicinity and held the esteem and affection of all who knew him. Born in Maine in the year 1816, Mr. Dinsmore grew up on the farm and when a young man started out in the lumber business, which he followed until 1846, at that time removing to Texas, where he taught school for several years. Returning to his home state, he left there a second time when the discovery of gold in California brought so many strangers to this state. But Mr. Dinsmore was not yet ready to settle in the far west, and spent several years in farming in Illinois, where he met and married his wife, after which, in 1859, he came once more to California, located in Humboldt county, and returned east once more only to bring his wife and children to the state of

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his choice. Here he cultivated and improved land in Humboldt county, and also owned valuable timber land, and by the sale of his extensive property was able to leave his family in very comfortable circumstances. It will thus be seen that by the marriage of Mr. Dinsmore's daughter with George William Cooper there were united two of the prominent pioncer families of this part of the state of California, families whom Humboldt county is proud to re- member. The two children born to Mr. and Mrs. Cooper arc namely: Zina, the wife of Dallas N. Gould, and mother of two children, Dallas Cooper and Clinton Leslie Gould ; and Inez, attending the San Jose State Normal School. The father is an active member of the Hydesville Lodge No. 250, I. O. O. F., also of the Veteran Odd Fellows. He aids all movements having for their purpose the betterment of general conditions, and is an active, public-spirited citizen in the best sense of the word.

FRED A. DINSMORE .- The family of Fred A. Dinsmore can be traced back for two generations in Humboldt county, Cal., where he is well known as a successful farmer and dairyman. One of the first settlers of the Eel River Valley in Humboldt county was his grandfather, John Owen Dins- more, who was born in Maine, in 1816, where he was engaged in the lumber business until 1846, at which time he took up school teaching in Texas. Returning after a few years to his home state, he remained there until the discovery of gold in California called him west once more, this time to the Pacific coast, where he was fairly successful until the death of his partner, when he left the state, buying and settling on a farm in Illinois, where he married Margaret J. Davis, a native of Indiana, whose life from infancy had been spent in Illinois. In 1859, leaving his wife and three children in Illinois, John O. Dinsmore came west once more to California, and devoted his attention to raising cattle in Iaqua, Humboldt county, from which location Indian thefts caused him to remove nearer the coast, where he stayed until 1860, when he sold his cattle and went cast, returning with his family to California and locating in Humboldt county, where he spent the rest of his life. A brief sketch of the life of John O. Dinsmore is given in this book in connection with that of George William Cooper. He was the father of eight children, of whom William Dinsmore, who became one of the foremost ranchmen in the county, was the father of Fred A., the subject of this sketch.

It was at the early age of four years that William Dinsmore came across the plains from. Illinois with his parents, who settled in Humboldt county. He received his education in the public schools and at the age of twenty-one married Anne Rolley, of English parentage, and at the time of his death, in June, 1904, left five children living with their mother at their beautiful home near Alton. William Dinsmore had purchased one hun- dred and sixty acres situated half way between Alton and Metro- politan, which place he improved, engaging in farming, stock raising and dairying. In 1893 he set out an apple orchard of thirty acres, the largest of its kind in Humboldt county. He became one of the most favorably known men and had the reputation of being the squarest man in the county. The children of William Dinsmore are as follows: Albert, who is now a dentist residing at Ferndale : Fred .Andrea, born at Rio Dell, Cal., April 18, 1880, who since his father's death runs the farm at Alton : George E., a com-

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mission merchant at Seattle, Wash .; Elsie J., who resides with her mother at Alton ; and Mabel, who married Dr. Starr, a dentist at Reno, Nev.

Of this family, the second son, Fred A. Dinsmore, has become a pros- perous farmer in Humboldt county, where he grew up, receiving his early education in the McDiarmidt district, and supplementing it with a com- mercial course at Craddock's Business College, Eureka, where he was grad- uated in 1905. That autumn he took charge of the home ranch for his mother, which he leased in 1909, carrying on dairying and farming there up to the present time. He is extensively engaged in raising apples, principally Green- ings and Bellefleurs, which he ships to the San Francisco market, having shipped as many as twelve thousand five hundred boxes in a season. On his ranch he has a herd of sixty milch cows, mostly Jerseys. The wife of Mr. Dinsmore was formerly Miss Christine Quist, a native of Thiard, Idaho, to whom he was married in Eureka on January 9, 1909, and they have three children, Myrtle S., Wallace A. and Ralph O. Mr. and Mrs. Dinsmore dispense old-time hospitality at their home in Alton, and are members of the Eastern Star, Mr. Dinsmore being fraternally connected also with the Eel River Lodge, F. & A. M., at Fortuna ; the Ferndale Chapter No. 78, R. A. M .; the Eureka Commandery No. 35, K. T .; and the Islam Temple, A. A. O. N. M. S., San Francisco. His religious affiliations are with the Christian Church at Fortuna, and politically he is a member of the Republican central committee of Humboldt county.

SAINT LEAGY GOBLE .- One of the early settlers in the Eel river valley is Mr. Goble, who first located in the valley in the fall of 1870. He was born in Henry county, Ill., February 11, 1853, and is the son of Ephraim Goble, also a native of Illinois, having been born on the Little Wabash, and engaged in farming in Henry county for a number of years, when, in 1866, he removed to Brown county, Kans., where he farmed until 1869. At that time, determining to better his condition by removing to Oregon, he crossed the plains with horses and mules by way of Ogden, Utah, and up through Idaho, across the Snake river, then past Mt. Hood into Oregon, where he remained for a year. Conditions there he found were not to his liking, and having a brother Abraham with him who had been in Humboldt county, Cal., they decided to come to Eureka. Coming by wagon to Crescent City, they continued their journey with pack mules by trail down the coast, finally arriving at Eureka. As there was no wagon road they had shipped their wagons from Crescent City and they had to be sent by boat to San Fran- cisco and thence back to Eureka. Locating on Humboldt Hill on South Bay, Mr. Goble bought a farm there, but in January, 1872, came to Eel River Island, where for a time he rented land, and then purchased forty acres of land across the road from his present place. The property being in an unimproved state and covered with a heavy growth of brush and timber, Mr. Goble commenced the clearing of the land and the building of the new home for his family, and here he engaged in dairying and farming until the time of his death in 1884. He was a very industrious and successful man, and the many affairs of the ranch were left in the capable hands of his son, Saint Leagy Goble, who took active charge of the home place in 1891, later purchasing the present tract, consisting of thirty-seven acres of unimproved land, and on it he has built his residence and made every modern improve-

Jim Davis,

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ment possible, and has engaged successfully in farming and dairying. He owns two hundred and forty acres on Williams creek, where he runs his young stock, and also makes two hundred and fifty cords of wood a year, which is hauled to Ferndale, and has likewise for a number of years been in the teaming and hauling business, in which he has been very successful.

On February 21, 1891, Mr. Goble was married in Eureka to Miss Winifred M. Miller, who was born in Council Grove, Morris county, Kan., the daugh- ter of J. W. and Mercy A. (Harlow) Miller, who were natives respectively of Indiana and Maine. Her father served in the Civil war in the Sixty-third In- diana Regiment, after which he was a farmer in Kansas until 1874, coming to California afterwards and locating near Ferndale, where he bought a ranch and engaged in farming. He is now holding a position in the Mare Island Navy Yard. The daughter, now Mrs. Goble, was reared and educated in Humboldt county, and is now the mother of four children, namely, Ray El- bert, Irma May, Ross Arden and Chester C. Mr. and Mrs. Goble are mem- bers of the Rebekahs, in which she is past Noble Grand, Mr. Goble likewise holding membership in the Ferndale Lodge No. 220, I. O. O. F., and Encamp- ment. For several years he was trustee of the school district, at present being a trustee of the high school. At one time he was interested in various creameries, but has only retained his interest in the Excelsior Creamery. A prosperous, progressive man, Mr. Goble's success is due entirely to his own painstaking efforts and unceasing labor.

JASPER N. DAVIES, A. B .- The oldest teacher now in active school work in Humboldt county, the principal of the Winship Intermediate school and a prominent educator and citizen of Eureka, Jasper N. Davies is a native son of California, born in Old Sonoma, August 29, 1856. His father, Rev. Solomon Wesley Davies, was born on Hominy creek, near Asheville, N. C., coming of an old Virginia family of Welsh descent, and was a minister in the Methodist Episcopal Church South. He was a pioneer of California, coming hither in 1852, and was a member of the first Conference held in the state. He continued active in the ministry until a few years before his death in Santa Rosa, where he was accidentally killed by a train in 1884. He was married in Sacramento in July, 1855, to Mary E. McClenny, a native of Missouri, who crossed the plains with her parents in an oxteam train. Her father, R. T. McClenny, had crossed the plains to California in 1849 to the gold fields and returned on the plains to meet his family half way in 1854, piloting them through to California, where Mrs. Davis was married in 1855. She died in St. Helena in 1905.

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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 136

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