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 140

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 140

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John H. Jordan was reared at Oak Bay, receiving a good education in the public schools of the vicinity. He remained at home assisting his father until he was seventeen years of age, when he started out for himself. His first employment was on railroad construction, which he followed until October, 1879, when he came to California, spending the first four months near Davisville, Yolo county. In the spring of 1880 he came to Humboldt county, being employed by D. R. Jones, and in 1885 he entered the employ of the Dolbeer-Carson Lumber Company, and has continued with them ever since. His close application to his work and the interest he has taken in logging from the time he was a boy give him a knowledge of everything connected with his work, from judging the standing timber and the felling of trees to loading them on cars ready for transportation to the mill. This was recognized when in 1904 he was made foreman of the woods at Field- brook, which position he has filled very satisfactorily ever since.

Mr. Jordan owns a comfortable residence at No. 1423 Sixth street, Eureka, where he makes his home. His marriage occurred in Eureka and united him with Miss Lillian Hart, who is a native daughter of Humboldt county, born on Third street, Eureka, the daughter of George Hart, one of the early settlers. Of the marriage of Mr. and Mrs. Jordan have been born two children : Percy, who is first engineer on the steamer Topeka, and Leslie, employed on the steamer Great Northern. Fraternally Mr. Jordan is a member of the Knights of Pythias in Eureka and of Eureka Lodge No. 652, B. P. O. E. Politically he has always been a Republican. He is a liberal and kind-hearted 53

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man, being very helpful and charitable to those who have been less fortunate than himself, and is much esteemed by his many friends for his modest, unassuming and kindly ways.

WILLIAM CLARENCE HAVENS -- A resident of Humboldt county since 1887, and now engaged in dairying at Fieldbrook, William C. Havens was born in Dayton, Green county, Wis., March 11, 1866, the son of Luther Havens, who died the night William was born. During the Civil war he was a member of the Eighth Wisconsin Artillery. He had been taken prisoner and was confined in Andersonville for seven months, when he returned home, being honorably discharged, but never saw a well day after that. In 1867 his widow removed to Waseca county, Minn., and later to Lyon county, that state, where our subject was reared on a farm and educated in the public schools. When nine years old he began to carn his own livelihood, working hard on farms during summers and going to school winters. He continued to live in that vicinity until he came to Humboldt county, in June, 1887. For some years he was in the employ of the Pacific Lumber Company at Scotia, working in their sawmill, and finally becoming planerman. After continuing there for three years he concluded to engage in farming and bought the place of one hundred sixty acres at Fieldbrook which is now his home. When he located on the place there were no houses on it and the land was covered with stumpage. After clearing it he improved and culti- vated a portion of the land cach year, and now forty acres are under the plow. Recently he purchased a donkey engine to facilitate the removal of stumps. He is raising clover and green feed for milch cows, of which he has twenty-five. Mr. Havens built the comfortable residence occupied by his family. He was married at Port Kenyon, Humboldt county, in 1888, being united with Miss Mattie Kinney, born in Wisconsin but reared in Minnesota. They have five children : Angeline, Clarence, Lawrence, Harold and Howard. For nine years Mr. HJavens was a trustee of the Fieldbrook school district. Fraternally he is an Ancient Odd Fellow and is a member of Eel River Lodge at Rohnerville. Politically he is a member of the Progressive party.

ALEXANDER CHRISTIE .- Among the farmers and dairymen of Fieldbrook, Alexander Christie has been a resident of Humboldt county since 1888. He was born near Ballycastle, County Antrim, Ireland, August 26, 1863, the son of Daniel and Mary (Elliott) Christie, also natives of Antrim and of Scotch descent. His father was a farmer there, so young Alexander was brought up on the farm and educated in the public schools in the vicinity. In 1884 he came to Bryn Mawr, Pa., where his uncle, John Christie, was a contractor. He worked for him and others until 1888, when he came to Hum- boldt county. He was employed in the Carson & Snyder mill on Salmon creek. In 1889 he entered the employ of John Vance as woodsman and in the summer of that year logged on the place he now owns. He continued with John Vance nine years, becoming head swamper. During this time he purchased the present place of eighty acres on the Fieldbrook road, and in 1896 located on it, at once beginning to clear and improve it. In the spring of 1898 he made the trip to Klondyke via Skagway and over Chilcoot Pass, reaching the divide March 16. At Dawson he located claims, but they did not prove profitable, and later he worked at mining and also for the govern- ment building roads. After remaining nearly four years in the frozen north

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he returned to Humboldt county and again took up the improvement of the ranch.

In the fall of 1901 Mr. Christie returned to his old home in County Antrim and while there he was married, July 4, 1902, to Sarah McGowan. Immediately after their marriage they set sail for the United States, coming direct to Humboldt county, where Mr. Christie again resumed work on his ranch, carrying on farming and dairying. He also bought other land, and now has ninety-two and one-half acres, upon which he is engaged in farming and stock raising. The large and comfortable residence which he built and occupies is one of the finest country homes in the Fieldbrook district. Mr. and Mrs. Christie have eight children, viz .: Mary, Sarah, Alexander, Ernest, John, Alfred, Ralph and Rachael. Fraternally he was made a Mason in Ballintoy Lodge, F. & A. M. (County Antrim, Ireland), and is now affiliated with Arcata Lodge No. 106, F. & A. M. In religious views he is an Episco- palian, having been reared in that faith, while politically he has always been a Republican.

ERNEST W. DIXON .- The superintendent of the Jacoby creek stone quarries, above Bayside, Humboldt county, is Ernest W. Dixon. He was born at Elk City, Ore., March 12, 1878, the son of James E. and Mary (Hamar) Dixon, born in Missouri and Kansas respectively. The latter crossed the plains over the old Oregon trail with their parents to Oregon in 1845. The grandfather, J. E. Dixon, located and owned the Donation Land Claim of six hundred forty acres, the present site of Corvallis, Ore., while Grandfather James Hamar afterwards located on Yaquina Bay, Lincoln county, Ore. James E. Dixon was a farmer on Yaquina Bay and was also a mail-carrier before the railroad was built. At the age of seventy-six he is now living re- tired on his old home place. The mother is demised.

Of the six children born of this union Ernest W. is the second youngest. He was brought up on the farm, receiving his education in the public schools. When fourteen years of age he started to work in the stone quarry at Yaquina Bay, continuing there steadily until sixteen, when he again attended school for two winters, continuing to work during the summers to defray his expenses. Some time afterwards he went to Washington, going to work in the Big Stone quarries at Fisher on the Columbia river, getting out rock for the jetty. He worked his way up until he became foreman and afterwards rose to be superintendent of the quarries, making an exceedingly creditable showing. However, he resigned this position to become superintendent of quarries on Lopez Island, Puget Sound, where he continued nearly one year. It was then that he was offered his present position in Humboldt county as superintendent of the Jacoby creek quarries, of which he took charge in June, 1912. The quarries had just been opened at that time, but since then they have been enlarged and another quarry has also been opened. The quarries are well equipped with the latest machinery, such as compressed air drills, the air being compressed by electric power. There are five mammoth derricks and two large cranes, which are operated by steam power. By this method it is possible to obtain the largest rock, some of which weigh twenty-five tons. The rock is loaded on cars and transported to barges, and is then taken by two tow boats to the jetties. This company operates and owns its own engines, cars, barges and tugs, over which Mr. Dixon has general super- vision. It is by far the largest industry of its kind in the county, and some

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idea of its extent can be had when we state that two hundred men are em- ployed by the company in the quarries and the transportation of the rock.

In Salem, Ore., Mr. Dixon was married, October 14, 1900, to Miss Katie Lathrop, born in Hartford, S. Dak., the daughter of P. N. and Kate (Bradley) Lathrop, born in New York and Ohio respectively. They were married in Galesburg, Ill. The father served in an Illinois regiment in the Civil war. From Illinois Mr. and Mrs. Lathrop removed to South Dakota, where he ran a creamery. From there they went to Oregon and in 1913 came to Bay- side, where they now live. Mrs. Dixon was reared and educated in Oregon. They have two children, Newell and Wanda. Fraternally he is a member of Vancouver Lodge No. 3, I. O. O. F., also a member of the United Artisans in Elk City, Ore. Politically he is a stanch Republican.

SAM BETTENCOURT .- A dairyman on Freshwater creek, Sam Betten- court has been a resident of California since 1889. He was born on the Island of St. George, Azores, March 22, 1873. His father, Antone Bettencourt, was a man of extensive affairs in St. George Island, for besides being a large farmer and stockraiser there he was engaged in importing coffee from Brazil and was a successful business man.

Sam Bettencourt grew up on his parents' farm in St. George, and re- mained there until 1889, when he came to California. The advantages for obtaining an education in St. George were meager. So on his arrival here he endeavored to make up for this lack by hiring an instructor. In this way he obtained a good knowledge of English and in a short while he was able to read and write the language of his adopted country as well as his native language. His first employment was in San Mateo, Cal., working on a dairy farm there for about six years. With the means which he had saved in the meantime he started in the dairy business for himself. In San Mateo he l'eased ranches and milked from one hundred fifty to two hundred cows while in that county. Later he ran a dairy in Santa Clara county, where he had a dairy herd of one hundred milch cows. In September, 1914, he came to Hum- boldt county and leased the Dr. Felt ranch, where ever since he has engaged in dairying. Here he has one hundred ninety-three acres on Freshwater creek, where he has ample pasture and feed for his herd, numbering one hundred twenty-five head, of which about seventy are milch cows, fine registered Jerseys, in fact the best Jersey stock in California. This gives him a splendid quality of milk which is well received by his customers. He has a retail milk route in Eureka which he serves regularly each day. He has a splendid arrangement for cooling the milk, which is delivered in ex- cellent condition.

Mr. Bettencourt was married in San Mateo, Cal., to Cora Borges, born near Virginia City, Nev. They have three children, Manuel, Mariana and Adelina. Fraternally he is a member of the I. D. E. S., while politically he is a Republican.

EMILIO PERACCA was born in Pelio, Province of Como, Italy, July 4. 1883, the son of Pietro and Catherina (Borgio) Peracca, farmers of that place. Emilio was the oldest of seven children and after completing the public schools he assisted his parents on the farm. Having heard of the opportunity of good wages and steady employment for industrious young men in Cali- fornia, he concluded to come hither, and in November, 1902, he came to

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Sonoma county, Cal., where he was employed on a dairy farm until 1903, in that year coming to Humboldt county. Here he worked for Joc Moranda, a dairyman at Loleta, for three years, and when Mr. Moranda removed his activities to Arcata, Mr. Peracca still continued in his employ, remaining on the dairy at the latter place for two years. Returning to Loleta, he entered the employ of Mrs. Mozzini, continuing on her dairy ranch for two years, when he concluded to engage in dairying on his own account. For this purpose he leased the Jim Moranda place, where he operated a dairy for three years. In October, 1914, he formed the present partnership with Emillio Bettigico and leased two hundred sixty acres, on which they are conducting a dairy of eighty cows. The ranch is well adapted for dairying and stock raising, the rich bottom land yielding an abundance of hay and green feed.

Mr. Peracca is an enterprising and progressive man who is ever ready to contribute of his means to worthy enterprises for the upbuilding and im- provement of the community.

JOHN MILLEN SIMPSON .- As president of the Eureka city council, and one of the men whose faithful and untiring efforts were instrumental in having the city purchase the water system which supplies its mains, John Millen Simpson is recognized as an important factor in the life and develop- ment of Eureka and the surrounding country. He is a native of this city and is descended from one of the old and highly respected pioneer families of the county. His father, James Simpson, was born in New Brunswick, Canada, and was a ship carpenter by trade. He came to the United States when he was a young man and served on the Union side during the Civil war. In 1868 he came to California, locating in Eureka, where he engaged in ship carpentering. Later, in 1876 or 1878, he opened a shipyard of his own and for several years conducted this with great success. After this he was en- gaged in contracting and building and was well known in this line in Eureka and vicinity, following this line of occupation until he retired from active busi- ness several years ago. He was married to Miss Elizabeth Hickey, a native of Maine, and both he and his wife are at present residing in Eureka, where they are well known.

Mr. Simpson was born in Eureka, Humboldt county, Cal., January 25, 1874. He passed his boyhood days in his native city, attending first the public schools and later matriculating at Phelps Academy, where in due time he graduated. After being employed in Eureka for a time he entered the employ of the Iron Mountain Company, Limited, proprietors of the smelter at Kes- wick, Shasta county. He began his service here as bookkeeper, but worked his way up until he became manager of the local company store. Ile applied himself very closely to his work, and this, in connection with the fumes of the sulphur and arsenic from the smelter, made serious inroads on his health, forcing him to give up his position and return to Eureka to recuperate. His health was soon regained and he shortly entered the employ of the Pacific Coast Steamship Company, at San Francisco, as freight clerk, soon after- ward being promoted to the position of purser, and for eight years continued in this capacity in the coasting vessels between San Diego and Victoria, B. C. In 1900 he left the sea for good and returned to Eureka, where he became local agent for the North Pacific Steamship Company, holding this position until 1911, when he resigned to become resident agent for the Western Pacific Railroad until this agency was given up. In December,

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1912, he was elected secretary of Eureka Aerie No. 130, F. O. E., and has held this office since that time. During this period the order erected the present magnificent Eagles' Home at Eureka, a large three-story brick structure, 60x110 feet, and one of the finest lodge buildings in the state, and thoroughly modern in arrangement and appointments. The aerie has a mem- bership of nine hundred fifty and is the largest in Humboldt county.

Mr. Simpson has been very prominent in forwarding the best interests of Eureka, and for many years has taken an important part in all municipal affairs. In 1907 he was elected a member of the city council and was re- elected to succeed himself in 1909, 1911 and 1913. He was chosen president of the council in 1909-11 and again in 1913-15, being in that responsible posi- tion at this time. As the chairman of the finance committee, chairman of the street and alleys committee, and similar capacities, he has been active for public improvements. In his connection with the city council he used all his influence for the cause of city ownership of the municipal water system and so ardently did he plead for this with the aid of fellow-workers in the council, that the day was finally won and an election called which voted bonds for the purpose of taking over the city water system, a thing that is now accomplished, Eureka being one of the cities to lead in municipal ownership in the state.

The marriage of Mr. Simpson took place in Berkeley, Cal., October 25, 1898, uniting him with Miss Agnes Esson, a native of Bay City, Mich. Mrs. Simpson has borne her husband five children, all of whom are well and favor- ably known in Eureka. They are Millen L., Nathelle, James, Jack and Wayne. Both Mr. and Mrs. Simpson are deservedly popular among their many friends in Eureka and San Francisco, and Mr. Simpson is particularly prominent in fraternal affairs. Besides the Eagles, of which order he is recognized as one of the leading members, he is a member of the Eureka Lodge No. 652, B. P. O. E., and Humboldt Parlor No. 14, N. S. G. W. In his political affilia- tions Mr. Simpson is a stanch Republican, but is far bigger than any mere party, being an advocate at all times of those principles and measures which stand for the best growth and development of the city, county and state, and never fearing to desert party lines when the welfare of the community demands it. He is a member of the Episcopal Church of Eureka.

ROBERT H. BOHMANSSON .- The superior advantages afforded by the Stockholm College of Pharmacy gave to Mr. Bohmansson an early and adequate training in the occupation to which he has devoted himself from young manhood. Descended from an old Scandinavian family, he was born in Sweden, April 19, 1865, and received a common school education prior to taking up pharmaceutical studies under special instructors at the capital city. On the completion of his course in the college he came to the United States in 1889 and proceeded direct to Nebraska, where he found employment in Omaha. Two years later he came to California, which since 1891 has been his home and the center of his business enterprises. As a clerk in a San Fran- cisco drug store he gained the experience necessary for the management of a business of his own. It was not long before he availed himself of an oppor- tunity to acquire a business and established a drug store on the corner of Folsom and First streets.

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Coming to Humboldt county in 1900, Mr. Bohmansson opened a drug store at Arcata. From the first he received a fair patronage. Later he estab- lished a branch at Blue Lake and still later opened a drug store at No. 301 F street, Eureka, the latter being now the only one in his possession, although for a few years he owned and managed all three establishments. During 1910 he removed to Eurcka, where with his wife, formerly Amelia Rundblad, a native of Sweden, and their children, Elsa, Greta and Ruskin, all Californians by birth, he has established a comfortable home and entered into affiliation with the social life of the community. His time is given almost wholly to the management of his store and he has taken no part whatever in politics or local affairs, nor is he connected with any of the fraternities excepting the Scottish Rite Masons and the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks.

GEORGE HILLER .- A native of France, George Hiller was born in Alsace-Lorraine, January 1, 1832. When a lad of fifteen years he came to the United States with an older brother and sister in 1847 and settled in Buffalo, N. Y., where their brother Jacob had preceded them. In that city he learned and for several years followed the shoemaker's trade. His brother Michael, who had come with him from France, in 1851 made the trip to California via Cape Horn, whither he was followed two years later by George, who came west via the Isthmus of Panama. Before leaving for the west, however, he had the satisfaction of seeing his parents and younger brothers and sister settled comfortably in a little home in Lancaster, Erie county, N. Y. For eleven years thereafter George Hiller was occupied with gold mining in Shasta county, Cal., in which he made a very good start in life. He came to Humboldt county for the first time in 1857, and thereafter his sum- mers were passed here in farming, while during the winters he followed mining in Shasta county. During his early residence in Humboldt county he advanced money to John C. O'Connor and took security on the farm at Alton. O'Connor defaulting, Mr. Hiller had to foreclose and thus secured the land. He came here to settle in 1864, having that year married in San Fran- cisco Miss Charlotte C. Joerrs, a native of Hanover, Germany, who had come directly from that country to America by way of the Isthmus of Panama and landed in San Francisco December 25, 1863. The young couple made ex- tensive improvements on the farm, engaging in grain and stock raising and hauling the produce to Bucksport with ox teams, a distance of twenty-two miles. Besides this property Mr. Hiller owned two hundred forty acres at Alton purchased in 1862, was also the owner of two farms at Grizzly Bluff and one at Dow's Prairie in Humboldt county, and about twelve hundred acres of stock and timber land. He used to kill his own hogs and put up a brand of bacon known as the Ecl River Bacon, which was in good demand at mines and lumber camps. On June 30, 1910, his residence was destroyed by fire, after which he built a substantial and attractive farm residence in the bungalow style on the old Hiller homestead near Alton, and here his widow makes her home, keeping house for three of her sons and making frequent visits to San Francisco, where she has warm personal friends and old-time acquaintances.

Mr. Hiller had helped to organize the Eel River Lodge No. 210, I. O. O. F., at Rohnerville, Cal., and was the last of its charter members to die, having been connected with this lodge for fifty-five years. For about sixty years

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he was a Mason, belonging to the Eel River Lodge No. 142 at Fortuna, and he was buried in Rohnerville Cemetery with Masonic honors by that lodge, his death occurring at his home in Alton, June 27, 1914, at the age of eighty- two years, five months and twenty-seven days.

Besides his widow, George Hiller left seven sons, two children, a son and a daughter, having died in childhood. Named in order of birth the children are as follows: George, Jr., who died at the age of eight years, in 1873; Philip Alexander, born December 26, 1867, now a resident of Alton ; Theodore Ferdinand, born at San Francisco, February 10, 1869, now a farmer at Grizzly Bluff: Charlotte C., who died at the age of four years, in 1873; Frederick M., born June 1, 1872, residing at San Francisco, having been a salesman with the Crane Company, plumbers, for twenty-two years; Henry George, born March 27, 1874, now a rancher at Alton ; Charles R., born April 5, 1876, also on the home farm; Benjamin Franklin, born May 6, 1878, now an attorney, at Ferndale ; and Albert William, born September 15, 1879, a physician in Los Angeles.

Mrs. Hiller was born in Hildesheim, Hanover, September 15, 1838, the daughter of Valentine and Bernardina Joerrs, also Hanoverians. The father was a blacksmith and also a land surveyor, which latter business he was following at the time of his death, while still a young man in his thirties. Mrs. Joerrs died in San Francisco at the age of seventy-nine. The only child in her parents' family to attain maturity, Mrs. Hiller received her education in Hanover, and when about twenty-five years old came to the United States in 1863, reaching San Francisco via Panama. She was attracted to San Fran- cisco owing to the fact that two uncles, William and Henry Joerrs, resided there. In an early day, 1847, they had come here from Buenos Ayres and were the pioneer carpenters and builders in San Francisco.

WILLIAM H. HAW .- The son of a pioneer settler of Humboldt county, Cal., William H. Haw, whose talents are being devoted to the developing and furthering of the resources of this state, is a man of whom California may well be proud. The ancestry of Mr. Haw dates back to both Scotland and Ireland, his grandparents, Henry and Margaret (Clydesdale) Haw, hav- ing come from Scotland to the latter country, where their son, Robert A., the father of William H. Ilaw, was born May 19, 1827. Three years later the family removed to the United States, settling in Brooklyn, N. Y., where the father continued to follow his trade of weaver for six years, at which time he bought a farm in Steuben county, N. Y., where he died some time later at the age of sixty years. On his father's farm in Steuben county the son Robert's childhood was principally spent, he attending school from there by means of a trail blazed through the woods. After taking up the study of the millwright's trade, Robert Haw was employed in that line until the year 1854, in which year he removed to California, making the journey by way of the Isthmus of Panama, and after settling in Humboldt county, Cal., he found the business of millwright a most profitable one in his new home, for he was employed in the erection of several mills along the Pacific coast, among them being those at Hoopa, Hydesville and Eureka. By his marriage with Ruth Ann Hatch in New York state, Robert A. Haw became the father of three children, namely: Carrie I., deceased; Lillian, the wife of Capt. Henry Weber; and William H., who has made a name for himself in the

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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 140

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