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 143

Author: Irvine, Leigh H. (Leigh Hadley), 1863-1942
Publication date: 1915
Publisher: Los Angeles, Historic Record Company
Number of Pages: 1328

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Soon after this Mr. Fisher was married in Hamburg, but his wife lived only a few years. Following her death he again took up the life of the rover, this time shipping on a vessel bound from Prussia to San Francisco, coming around Cape Horn. Arriving at San Francisco he secured employment in the ship yards, remaining for several months, and later was employed by the California Bridge Building Company, by which he was sent to Humboldt county to construct a bridge across Mad river. While engaged in this work he was offered the position of superintendent of construction by the Korbel Company, and so remained in the county and for seven years was with this company. During that time he built the wharf, sawmill and depot at Korbel.

In 1887 Mr. Fisher returned to Prussia and was married a second time, later returning with his wife to California. Here he purchased property in the Arcata bottom and engaged in farming. He cleared and improved this tract, but was later obliged to sell because of illness in the family. He then purchased his present home place on Dow's Prairie, in 1900, which at that time was all unimproved land. He has cleared and brought the entire tract under a high state of cultivation, and today it is one of the best properties in the vicinity. He is engaged in diversified farming and dairying, and is meeting with the greatest of success. At the present time Mr. Fisher's two sons have charge of the place, their father having recently retired from the active management of his affairs.

The second marriage of Mr. Fisher was solemnized in Danzig, uniting him with Rosa Stine, who was born in Prussia March 24, 1865. Upon their arrival in New York City they were married again by a Catholic clergyman. Ten children were born of this marriage, seven sons and three daughters. Named in the order of their birth they are as follows: Theresa, Adolph, jr., Julius, Rose, Fred, Harold, Homer, Dora, Elmer and Marcus. Although

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nearing the seventy mark, Mr. Fisher is still hale and hearty, and delights to recount the interesting experiences of his younger years.

GEORGE F. REYNOLDS .- A native of California, and descended from one of the oldest and best known of the carly pioncer families of the state, George F. Reynolds is today one of the influential citizens of Hydesville, and one of the most highly respected farmers of that district. He has spent his entire life time in Humboldt county, and his friends are the friends of his boyhood. He has always taken an active part in local affairs, being both broadminded and progressive, and is keenly alive to the best interests of the community, believing in laying a firm foundation for permanent progress and advancement along lines of education and development.

Mr. Reynolds was born on the old home place near Hydesville, June 3, 1873, the son of George W. and Susan (Kennell) Reynolds. His father was a native of New York and came to California in 1859, and in the fall of that year settled at Hydesville, where he took up a government claim and im- proved it for a home. Here the son, George F., was born and reared, receiv- ing his education in the public schools of Hydesville. There were four other children in the family, all girls, and all well known in this vicinity, where they were reared and educated. He assisted his father with the care of the farm and carly learned the practical details of farm work. He spent twenty-four years in Jackson county, Ore., engaged in mining, and then returned to Cali- fornia, and after his mother's death he purchased the interest of the other heirs and is now the owner of the old Reynolds homestead, where he was born. and here, too, his children have been born.

The marriage of Mr. Reynolds occurred February 10, 1903, uniting him with Miss Helen A. Fawcett, a teacher, and a native of Cuddeback, Hum- boldt county. Of their union have been born three children: Erla, Susan and Muriel. Both Mr. and Mrs. Reynolds are well known socially in Hydes- ville, where they have many friends. Mr. Reynolds takes an active interest in the development of the farming industry of the county, and is an active member of the Carlotta center of the Humboldt county farm bureau.

GEORGE W. REYNOLDS .- One of the early settlers of California, who traveled westward across the plains with prairie schooners, experiencing attacks from hostile Indians on the way, was George W. Reynolds, who arrived at Hydesville, in Humboldt county, in October, 1859.

Mr. Reynolds' parents were born in Vermont, his grandfather and an uncle both having served in the Revolutionary war. Mr. Reynolds himself was born in Cattaraugus county, N. Y., in 1834. While a lad he went to Walworth county, Wis., with his parents, where he was reared and educated, and where, March 10, 1859, he was married to Miss Susan Kennell, who was born in Sencca county, N. Y., of an carly American family. Immediately after their marriage, in fact on the following evening, they started on the journey to California, coming to Hydesville. On the journey west Mr. Reynolds contracted chills and fever. He finally recovered, after being sick several years, but his illness prevented him from serving in the home militia against the Indians. He still owned his farm in Wisconsin, but, having used all of his available cash, he found employment on ranches.

On account of the Indians the lives of the settlers were very insecure. It is related by old inhabitants at Rohnerville that the soldiers at Fort

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Humboldt did no duty as far as Rohnerville and Hydesville; accordingly many men and boys were shot and killed by the Indians, and the early settlers got no respite from the ravages of the Indians until they formed them- selves into a home militia and drove the savages away.

With J. F. Myers, Mr. Reynolds purchased a farm at Hydesville, they being partners for fifteen years, when Mr. Reynolds bought out Mr. Myers and became owner of two hundred sixty-five acres, and, being a hard worker, he improved his farm, erecting buildings, fences, etc. He brought into Humboldt county one of the first threshing machines ever used in this part of the country. With Mr. Myers, he ran this machine in partnership for fifteen years, and the money obtained from threshing was the means of his getting a start.

Five children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Reynolds. Clara, the eldest, on November 13, 1881, became the wife of C. H. Bannister, a rancher of Hydesville, and they have four children: Leonard C., deputy sheriff and jailer at Eureka; Mabel, wife of W. R. Boyce, who resides at South Fork of Eel river and is station agent for the Northwestern Pacific at South Fork and recent candidate for sheriff, their children being Charles, Clara, Robert and Blaine; George D., living at home and learning the carpenter's trade ; Rae, learning the butcher's trade at Shively. C. H. Bannister was born in Missouri, July 31, 1859, came to Hydesville when eleven years old, and now owns a ranch on the Van Dusen about two and one-half miles from Hydes- ville which he rents to a tenant; Mr. Bannister is a Progressive, and belongs to the Lodge of Independent Order of Foresters at Fortuna; he and his wife are members of the Christian Church at Hydesville, Mr. Bannister being a trustee of said church and Mrs. Bannister an active worker in the Sunday School and the Ladies' Aid. Annie, the second child of Mr. Reynolds, resides upon the old homestead. Ellen, the third daughter, became the wife of A. L. Walker, a butcher of Hydesville, and has three children, Jesse, Merle and Curtis. George F., the fourth child, is represented in a separate sketch. Jessie, the fifth child, is head bookkeeper for Daly Brothers, Eureka.

Mr. and Mrs. Reynolds were members of the Christian Church and brought up all their children in that faith. He was a friend of education, and helped to build the first schoolhouse, also both the Christian and Congrega- tional churches at Hydesville. Mr. Reynolds was a public-spirited man, and his wife was generous to a fault. She died in 1905, aged sixty-eight years. Mr. Reynolds died in 1903 on the George WV. Reynolds homestead in Hydes- ville, the large farm of almost three hundred acres which is now owned and occupied by his son, George F. Reynolds.

FRANK JOSEPH FLECKENSTIEN, one of the successful dairy farmers in Humboldt county, was born in St. Marys, Iowa, a village some twenty miles from Des Moines, on March 19, 1878. When he was a lad of but five years he came to California with his parents, who settled at Eureka. He received his education in the public schools of Eureka and his friends are the friends of a life time. At the age of fifteen years he began to work for his father on the ranch on Dow's Prairie. For a number of years they were engaged in clearing and improving the land, after which they devoted themselves to farming.

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Frank J. Fleckenstien remained with his father on the home farm up to the time of his marriage in 1901, when he started in business for himself. For a number of years he contracted for teaming and hauling, but later gave this up and returned to the home place to engage in farming and dairying. This was in 1909, and Mr. Fleckenstien now has one of the most valuable small farms in the county. There are twenty-five acres of bottom land, all under cultivation. At the time of its purchase only one-half of the land was improved, the remaining half having been cleared since that time, and is now a splendid monument to the industry of its owner. The entire farm is especially improved for dairying purposes, and it is in this that Mr. Flecken- stien has specialized. He is particularly interested in improving his Jersey herd and has a number of head of registered stock, and is constantly adding to this number, as well as improving his herd generally by breeding.

Mr. Fleckenstien, however, has not devoted himself exclusively to dairy-farming. He has been in the employ of the county for cight years as overseer for the building of roads, superintending the building of the road from Dow's Prairie into Light's Prairie, as well as several others. Needless to say, he is an enthusiastic booster for all good-roads movements, and is doing his full share to make Humboldt county noted for its splendid highways.

On May 25, 1901, Mr. Fleckenstien was married to Emily Gladys Spald- ing, a native of Portland, Orc., and born September 3, 1880. She came to California with her parents when she was three years of age. For a year the family resided at the Jolly Giants Mill, Humboldt county, and then moved to Arcata. Here Mrs. Fleckenstien received her education and passed her girlhood, remaining at home with her parents until her marriage. Mr. and Mrs. Fleckenstien are the parents of five children, Eunice, Irwin, Lewis, Donald and Elaine, and the entire family are communicants of the Catholic Church.

Aside from his personal business integrity, Mr. Fleckenstien is known as an energetic and progressive man, keenly alive to all that is of interest to his section of the state, and is widely and favorably known. His aged father, George Fleckenstien, still resides on his ranch on Dow's Prairie, while the father of Mrs. Fleckenstien, Shepard Spalding, is living in Arcata.

AXCEL KJER .- It is a well-known fact that, while the world at large is much agitated over the "back to the soil" movement, Humboldt county has all the time been quietly practicing it; and in every part of the county are to be found prosperous farmers who have left their country homes for a period of years to engage in the pursuits of the city, and have later returned to take up the occupation of their fathers and are now happy tillers of the soil. One of these is Axcel Kjer, well known in Arcata and the surrounding country as one of the progressive young men of the valley. He spent several years in clerical occupations after completing his education, both in the southern part of the state and in Eureka, but in the end decided in favor of the farm, and returning to the place of his birth, rented the old home place of his father, and is now one of the most prosperous farmers in the com- munity.

Mr. Kjer was born on his present place near Arcata, Humboldt county, February 7, 1887. He received his education first in the public schools of his

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district, and later graduated from the business college in Eureka, in 1905. That same year he removed to Southern California and was employed by the Sun Drug Company in their Redlands store, remaining with this company for a year. He then returned to Eureka, where he entered the service of C. B. Jackson in a clothing store. By the end of a year he had tired of the clerical life and was ready to "return to the soil." There was a place for him on his father's ranch, and there he went to work. Together father and son were engaged in dairying and farming for a few years, meeting with much success. In 1912 the father retired from active business and Mr. Kjer, Jr., assumed full control of the farm. At the present time (1914) he is engaged in dairying and farming, having made a specialty of the former. He has a herd of twenty-three milch cows and is also interested in general stock-raising. The ranch consists of forty acres of improved land, which has been brought under a high state of cultivation, and the place is now one of the best improved and thoroughly up-to-date in the valley.

The marriage of Mr. Kjer took place February 15, 1913, uniting him with Miss Anna N. Thompson. Mrs. Kjer, like her husband, is a native of Hum- boldt county, having been born in Ferndale March 17, 1890. Both Mr. and Mrs. Kjer are well known in Arcata and vicinity. Mr. Kjer politically is a Republican, but has never sought office, although keenly interested in all that pertains to the general welfare of the community.

MADS KJER .- One of the many pioneers of Humboldt county who are now retired from the duties of active business life and are enjoying the rest and quiet to which many years of profitable labor have justly entitled them is Mads Kjer, well known throughout Humboldt county as a successful farmer. He resides on his ranch about six and one-half miles north of the thriving little city of Arcata. He also owns his original ranch of forty acres four miles northwest of Arcata, which is under the management of his son, Axcel Kjer, who is one of the rising generation of thrifty, successful farmers.

Mads Kjer is a native of Denmark, born in the town of Hadeslev, Sies- wick, May 7, 1850. This section is now a part of the German Empire, having been ceded as the result of the great war between the two nations, when Mads Kjer was a boy. His childhood days were spent on his father's farm and his early education was the best that was then afforded by that district. At the age of sixteen he went to work with his father and gained a practical knowledge of farming and dairying, his father being very successful in these lines. In 1874 he left Germany and came to the United States, hoping to find greater opportunities than those offered in his native land. He came directly to California, and for the first year was employed on a ranch in Alameda county. In the fall of 1875 he came to Humboldt county, locating first at Rohnerville, where for a few months he was employed on a farm. The following year he removed to Arcata, where he resided for a time. The next year, with his brother, he purchased the place which he still owns, it then comprising eighty acres of unimproved land. The work of clearing and improving so large a tract consumed several years, and later forty acres of the ranch were sold. Subsequently Mr. Kjer bought out his brother's interests, and he now owns forty acres, the ranch being operated by his son, Axcel Kjer. For a time Mads Kjer engaged in general farming, but later took up dairying and gave especial attention to this enterprise,

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meeting with great success. In addition to this place he has other valuable property, including ninety acres upon which he resides, but which is leased. He is also interested in the United Creameries of Arcata, being one of the stockholders in this enterprise.

Aside from his business activities, Mr. Kjer has always taken a keen interest in all matters of public concern. He is a Republican in politics, but has never been especially active in party matters. He is also a prominent member of the German Lutheran Church in Arcata.

The marriage of Mr. Kjer took place in Ferndale, Humboldt county, March 5, 1883, uniting him with Cecilia Catherine Pohler, a native of Den- mark, born April 11, 1858. She has borne him four children, all of whom are living. They are: Christian Kjer, a farmer of this vicinity; Maria Katherine, Mrs. Minor of Riverside, Cal .; Ann Sophia, Mrs. Hadden, residing on the home farm; and Axcel, managing the old home farm. They are all well and favorably known in Humboldt county, where they were born and where they received their education.

CHARLES W. WOOD .- A native of Garberville, and one of the promi- nent citizens of that thriving little burg, and also of Briceland, where he owns real estate interests, is Charles W. Wood. Mr. Wood is the owner and operator of three telephone lines centering in Garberville and connecting with outlying points of interest, and also having connection with the Pacific Tele- phone and Telegraph Company, and so with the outside world. He is a builder and promoter of the best type, and wherever he interests himself in the welfare of a town or a community, such interest is certain to redound to the good of the general public and to the progressive improvement of the locality. He is a hustler, and a splendid business man, and in addition to his telephone lines and real estate and property interests he conducts a drug, notion and stationery store in Garberville.

Mr. Wood was born in Garberville, Humboldt county, June 11, 1871. His father was James E. Wood, a pioneer of California, having come to Humboldt county in 1859, and being one of the earliest settlers in this locality. He was a native of Whitehall, Greene county, Ill., and came first to California in 1858, mining in Plumas and Nevada counties, and later becoming a hunter, supplying provisions to the government. He came to Garberville and engaged in the stock business on the south fork of the Eel river, owning and operating a splendid ten thousand acre ranch one and a quarter miles south of Garber- ville for many years, which is still known as the Wood ranch. It is now owned by the Tooby Brothers. This is one of the handsomest properties in the region, and its loss, during the hard times in the panic of 1893, was a severe blow to Mr. Wood, and also to his son, a respected citizen of Garber- ville. His wife, and the mother of Charles W., was Laura Webb ; she survives him and now resides at Rohnerville, with one daughter; Mr. Wood passed away in 1910, at the age of eighty years. Of their union were born seventeen children, and there was one son, Wilson, born to Mr. Wood by his first wife, making a family of eighteen children in all. They are: Wilson, the half brother ; Julia ; Charles W .; Mary Elizabeth; Alice, living in Rohnerville with her mother; Olive and Ella, residing in Petrolia; George, who died when two years old; Nancy, who at her death left three children; Nellie, who died when a baby ; Louis, who died when ten years of age; John, residing in San

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Diego; Della, who died at Petrolia, at the age of fifteen; Leora Edna; Edith, residing at Hardy, Mendocino county ; James, residing in Humboldt county ; Frank, residing in Rohnerville; and Frances, residing in the state of Washington.

Charles W. Wood grew to manhood in Garberville, and received his education in the public schools of that district. The family resided on the ranch, and at the carly age of six Charles was given a pony and learned to ride, assisting with the care of the sheep and cattle. He grew up in close association with the business of the great ranch, and from early boyhood assumed his share of the duties and labors thus entailed, and so has all his life been familiar with the details of the cattle business.

The marriage of Mr. Wood took place in Ukiah, December 3, 1896, uniting him with Miss Lena Linser, born in Brooklyn, N. Y., the daughter of Fred and Caroline (Weinkauf) Linser, both well known residents of Humboldt county, and California pioneers. . Mrs. Wood has borne her husband six children, two daughters and four sons, all natives of Garberville. They are: Leona, Ernest, Earl, Ray, Bernice and Vern Linser.

Mr. Wood was at one time extensively interested in a multitude of affairs in Garberville and Briceland and the surrounding country. He is still interested in a store and livery in Briceland, and, until it burned down, in 1914, he owned and ran a hotel there.

Three local telephone lines with their central office in Garberville are owned and operated by Mr. Wood, and have been constructed by him. They are the lines connecting Garberville and Blocksburg, Garberville and Harris, and Garberville and Briceland. He also owns the building where the central office is located. This office does more business than any other office in the county save those at Eureka, Arcata, Ferndale and Fortuna, and sometimes the Garberville office turns in a greater number of calls even than the Fortuna office.

Aside from his extensive business interests Mr. Wood possesses a wide circle of social friends and acquaintances, and is very popular wherever he is known. He is a prominent member of the Knights of Pythias at Garber- ville, and is chancellor of the local lodge. In politics he is a Republican, but he is not a strong party man, rather voting for the principle which is involved in the issue before the people, and to secure the right man for the place.

JAMES WILLIAM HALE .- The general manager of the Humboldt Transit Company at Eureka and a man of many years of experience in the operation of strect railways, James William Hale was born at Elk Falls, Elk county, Kan., May 29, 1876, the son of George W. and Mary (Harold) Hale, natives of Indiana. The father came to Kansas when a youth with his parents, locating in Coffey county. When a lad just past seventeen years he enlisted in Troop I, Sixteenth Kansas Volunteer Cavalry, serving in the Civil war. After the war he was engaged in stock raising in Elk county, Kan. It was about 1881 that he removed to Missouri, where he was engaged in farming and stock raising at Medoc. There the mother died in 1889, and the father now resides in Muskogee, Okla.

Of the seven children in the parental family, James W. Hale was the fourth oldest and is the only one living on the Pacific coast. From the age of five years he was brought up in Missouri, being educated in the local

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public schools. His mother died when he was but thirteen years of age, and he then started out to earn his own livelihood, working on farms during summers and attending school through the winters until he was nineteen. He then procceded to LeRoy, Kan., where he was employed at stock raising until May, 1898, and later he came to San Francisco with his regiment. While engaged in the occupation of farming and stock raising the Spanish-American war broke out and he volunteered his services, enlisting in Company E, Twentieth Kansas Volunteer Infantry, May 2, 1898. Coming to San Fran- cisco with his regiment October 27, 1898, the regiment sailed for the Philip- pines on the transport Indiana and took part in the campaign of the Twentieth Kansas in the battles from the outbreak of the revolution, February 4, 1898, until San Fernando, June 25, 1899. He was mustered out at Manila July 28, 1899, and honorably discharged with the rank of sergeant. He reenlisted in Troop A, Eleventh United States Cavalry, and as sergeant continued serving in the Philippines, doing scout duty and participating in the several engage- ments of the regiment, viz .: Battle of Montalbon, December 27, 1899; San Antonio, August 4, 1900; Pagsanyan, August 20, 1900; defenses of Pagsanyan, September 24 and October 7, 1900. He was mustered out in San Francisco March 13, 1901, and received an honorable discharge. After a brief trip to his old home in Missouri and Kansas, he returned to San Francisco in May, 1901, and on May 20 he entered the employ of the old Market Street Railroad. Beginning as conductor, he worked his way rapidly upward to motorman, then inspector, dispatcher ; later was in the law department, supervising and operating the department and becoming assistant to the general superin- tendent.

November 25, 1914, Mr. Hale resigned his position to accept the office of general manager of the Humboldt Transit Company at Eureka. He arrived on November 29, 1914, and since that time he has managed the company's affairs and traction line here. Aside from the general management of all the car lines in the city the company also represents the Union Oil Company of California, Mr. Hale handling all of that company's fuel oil sold in Hum- boldt county.

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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 143

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