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 24

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 24

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HISTORY OF HUMBOLDT COUNTY

Development Association, was one of the original members of the Humboldt Club, was a charter member of the Humboldt Wheelmen, and belongs to the Chamber of Commerce, the Humboldt Promotion Club and the Benevolent Protective Order of Elks, being a charter member of Eureka Lodge No. 652 of the last named. He is also a member and vestryman of the Episcopal Church, and politically is identified with the Republican party. His pleasant personality accounts for his popularity and the spirit of friendliness which he attracts wherever he goes, while his many substantial qualities hold the esteem of even the most conservative.

In 1889, while residing at Martinez, Cal., Mr. Wright was married to Miss Cora B. Hough, a native daughter, whose parents came across the plains in the year 1852. They have a fine residence at No. 1230 H street, which Mr. Wright built in 1906. Their only child, Carl J., graduated from the Eureka high school as a member of the class of 1914, and is now studying the jewelry business in all its details under his father.

WILLARD O. McCANN .- The vice-president and general manager of the Eureka Paving Company has been identified with Humboldt county ever since 1869 when, a youth of seventeen years, he came across the country with a party of friends, traveling on one of the very first trains that brought passengers to California after the completion of the transcontinental railroad. Prior to that memorable trip he had lived on a farm in New Brunswick, where he was born, directly across the St. Croix river from Calais, Me. A small population and few business enterprises made the earning of a livelihood difficult and the opportunities few, hence he was led to seek the larger advan- tages of the undeveloped west. With the arrival of the train in San Francisco he proceeded to make arrangements for the voyage to Eureka, to which point only two trips a month were then made via water. The famous old steamer, Pelican, brought him to the landing place at Eureka and thus was started his long identification with Humboldt county, where he is now one of the most honored and capable business men.

An initial experience with the logging camps and the lumber woods was followed by changes which gradually gave Mr. McCann an excellent delivery wagon service and a substantial teaming business in Eureka, where for two years he also conducted a livery barn. As early as 1893 he first established the business of the Eureka Paving Company, which paved three blocks in this city, but did no further work in that line until 1900. On resuming opera- tions in street paving Mr. McCann filled a number of important contracts in his home town, where all of the paving done up to the present date represents his own efficient and conscientious work. During 1908 his company filled a contract for a large amount of street paving in Oregon at Marshfield, while during 1913 he had charge of the paving of a number of streets in Ferndale, Humboldt county. Since 1872 he has been connected with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows at Eureka and has contributed to the work and pro- moted the welfare of the local lodge. By his marriage to Miss Mellie Mc- Farland he is the father of one daughter, Virdie, and two sons, George and Joseph, all natives of Humboldt county and educated in its schools. The elder son married Miss Seeley, while the daughter is the wife of Fred Watson and the mother of two children.

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John Ulfquel

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HISTORY OF HUMBOLDT COUNTY

JOHN M. VANCE .- The late John M. Vance, of Eureka, at the time of his death the president of the Humboldt County Bank, became a resident of the county the year before he reached his majority, and it was the scene of his remarkable success, for in the management of extensive railroad, timber and milling interests he proved himself equal to unlimited responsibilities. He attained a position among the most prosperous business men in this region, yet he always retained his reputation as a citizen whose operations were of value to the community, opening up possibilities in various lines of industry and trade which have enriched all this section. As a banker and general business man his activities led him into varied enterprises, which brought out his versatility and developed a degree of judgment uncommon even among the well experienced.

Mr. Vance was a Canadian by birth, and came to California with his parents, Mr. and Mrs. George Vance, in the year 1865. They died a number of years ago, as did also his uncle, John Vance. John M. Vance was born January 4, 1845, at Chipman, Queens county, New Brunswick. After coming to Humboldt county he learned the trade of millwright, at which he was employed for a number of years, acquiring a familiarity with the practical side of the work which aided him greatly in his later responsibilities. In partnership with his brother-in-law, Thomas Baird, he carried on a commis- sion and shipping business for some time, and then became superintendent in the mechanical department of the Dolbeer & Carson lumber mill. His superior qualities and earnest application to his duties won the confidence of his uncle to such an extent that during his last illness, in 1892, John Vance sent for his nephew and intrusted him with the management of his vast railroad, timber and milling operations. Though his duties were many he set about the rather stupendous task of mastering their details, familiarizing himself with his uncle's plans for the extension and development of the various interests involved, and had early opportunity for testing the prac- ticability of his ideas. He carried the extension of the Mad River railroad into the heart of the immense tract of redwood timber which formerly was owned by Charles King, and for about two years gave his time principally to extensive logging and milling operations there, also during that period having supervision of the mechanical and operative departments of the two sawmills belonging to the estate, at Eureka and on Mad river. Other branches of the management of the large property demanded his attention from time to time, but he proved competent to meet their requirements, showing aston- ishing executive ability in the performance of his work. He enlarged and remodeled the plants as needed, and in every respect showed himself worthy of the trust reposed in him.

Prior to his uncle's death Mr. Vance received from him, by deed of gift, the controlling stock in the Eel River & Eureka Railroad Company, and at the election following he was chosen a member of its board of directors and elected to the presidency to succeed his uncle. He continued to perform the duties of that office, managing the road with his customary talent for such responsibility, until he sold it in the spring of 1903 to the Santa Fe Railway Company, receiving a price satisfactory to his fellow stockholders. A number of years before his death Mr. Vance became a stockholder and director of the Humboldt County Bank, and on January 1, 1904, succeeded J. W. Hender- son as president of that financial institution, continuing to serve in that

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office until his resignation in 1906. His demise occurred at his home May 31, 1907.

Although he may have had an exceptional start because of his uncle's interest and appreciation of his substantial qualities, Mr. Vance could neither have gained nor held the high position he held without rare ability and strength of intellect, as well as exceptional capacity for continued exertion. He could see and comprehend a situation far in advance of the average man, and was not afraid to act on his judgment when it appeared he had nothing else to justify his conduct. He had a keen sense of the true meaning of progress, as he showed in his support of local enterprises. Though he made considerable because of the rise of real estate values throughout the county, as well as by judicious investments, he never regarded his large means from a purely selfish standpoint, but used them to further various movements which would confer benefits on his fellows as well as himself, and he was justly looked upon as a man of public spirit and generous disposition. Churches and religious enterprises generally profited by his interest and sympathy. He was an Odd Fellow in fraternal connection, belonging to Humboldt Lodge No. 77, of Eureka, in which he passed all the chairs. Politically he was a Republican. It is to such men as Mr. Vance that Hum- boldt county owes much of its development and present prosperity, for by his optimism he always endeavored to build up its industries and by his public spirit and liberality gave of time and means to enhance the condition of the community, not only commercially, but socially, religiously and morally. He was a truly good man, and his death was a distinct loss not only to his family and friends, but to the people of the whole county.

Mr. Vance was married in San Francisco, March 11, 1871, to Miss Sarah Jannie Babbitt, who like himself was a native of Chipman, New Brunswick, daughter of Harry and Louisa (Chase) Babbitt, both natives of New Bruns- wick, but of English descent. Mr. Babbitt was a merchant and postmaster at Chipman. Mrs. Vance was educated in private schools at Gagetown, New Brunswick. In 1866 she came to San Francisco with an uncle and aunt, Mr. and Mrs. Jacob White, with whom she resided until her marriage to Mr. Vance. Of this union were born four children, as follows: Ida L., who be- came the wife of Fred C. Hauck and died in Eureka; Etta L .; Harry P., manager of the Vance estate ; and Carlotta, Mrs. Lester W. Hink, of Berkeley. Since the death of her husband Mrs. Vance has continued to make her home at the family residence, continuing also to look after his interests.

CHARLES WILLARD HITCHINGS .- Practically all of the adult experiences of Mr. Hitchings, who is a native of Washington county, Me., and a pioneer of March, 1875, in Humboldt county, have been associated with logging camps and the lumber industry, in which he has gained such a widely extended reputation for expert knowledge that his opinion is frequently sought in determining the valuations of timber claims. It is natural that he should be an expert woodsman, for he has been familiar with lumber camps almost from his earliest recollections and as a boy he became skilled in the use of the axe in the great Maine forests. At the age of twenty-one he left home and went to Pennsylvania, where he remained for two years, working in the lumber woods of Elk and Clearfield counties. Since his arrival in Humboldt county, during the spring of 1875, he has devoted his entire time to the lumber industry in one or another of its varied departments. For a time

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he was employed by John Smith on Elk river. At different times he has engaged as foreman or superintendent for the lumber firms prominently con- nected with local industrial affairs, viz .: The John Vance Company, the Dolbeer-Carson Company, the Pacific Lumber Company and the Hammond Lumber Company. Since 1910 he has been retained as timber cruiser for numerous private individuals as well as for a number of the leading lumber concerns of the county, where he is regarded as an expert in the valuation of trees and of timber claims.

At the time of coming west Mr. Hitchings was unmarried and some years after settling in Humboldt county he married Miss Alice Christie, who was born and reared here and is a member of a pioneer family of prominence. While giving his attention very closely to work in the timber industry he has identified himself also with numerous movements for the upbuilding of the county, has taken a praiseworthy interest in local projects of importance and has been actively connected with the Humboldt Club, besides being a member of local lodges of Masons and Odd Fellows.

CHRISTOPHER LUTHER .- There are few men now living in Hum- boldt county whose arrival here antedated that of Mr. Luther, an honored pioneer, well known for the sterling qualities of mind and heart that win and retain the confidence of associates, and especially prominent in Humboldt Lodge No. 77, I. O. O. F., through the fact that he is one of the oldest surviving members affiliated with the organization. In the years of his personal contribution to the upbuilding of the county he has witnessed many changes. A new generation has come into the place of his activities and is reaping the fruits of his self-sacrificing pioneer labors. Into the place where for years he stood giving courteous attention to the customers that regularly traded at the market, a son has now come, taking up the duties that the elder man had discharged for forty-three consecutive years prior to his retire- ment in 1902. His life, as it has been ordered, has contained its share of hardship, privation and discouragement, but he has borne whatever came to him with simple courage and quiet dignity, as a brave man does, seldom giving voice to any word except of good cheer and optimism, and invariably hopeful concerning the future prosperity of his chosen home town and county.

When six years of age Christopher Luther was brought from his native Switzerland to the United States by his parents, who settled near Galena, Ill., so that his childhood days were largely spent on a farm in the central west. With a party of thirty persons he crossed the plains in 1851. Four yoke of oxen were used for each wagon. The expedition moved forward slowly, but peacefully and without Indian attacks or epidemics of sickness. August 5, 1851, Nevada City was reached and from that point the members of the party dispersed to various sections. Mr. Luther remained in Nevada county for a year as a miner. Later he mined in Sierra county near the north fork of the Yuba river, from which point he went to Cantonville to engage in hydraulic mining. Of the thousands of Argonauts who came to California in the early period of gold excitement, he was one of the very few who secured enough gold in the mines to aid him in making a start in business life.

As a passenger on the steamer Santa Cruz, in the spring of 1858 Mr. Luther came up the Pacific from San Francisco to Eureka. Some of the passengers landed at Trinidad in the surf, but he crossed the bar on the steamer and debarked at the Eureka wharf. His first step was to travel

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through the country on a tour of inspection. Soon he bought a tract of grazing land near Alton on the Eel river, but this he later sold to Joe Russ, and meanwhile he had found employment in the cattle business at Bear river. In 1859, upon the inducement of Mr. Russ, he was persuaded to go to Eureka and form a partnership in the butcher business, but after one year as a member of the firm Mr. Luther sold his interest to Mr. Russ and thereupon became manager of the shop, a position that he filled with the greatest efficiency for forty-three years, and then, in 1902, retired to private life. Dur- ing the carly Indian troubles on Bear river, although not himself an active participant in the battles, he aided in conveying to places of safety men who had been seriously wounded by the savages, and his recollections of that exciting period are singularly clear and interesting. In Rohnerville, December 6, 1864, he married Miss Celia Jane Ferrier, a native of Arkansas, who crossed the plains with her parents in 1852, and the same year located on a farm near Ferndale. Humboldt county. Four children, all natives of Eureka, were born of their union, namely: Frank W., proprietor of a store at Alton ; Charles C., the successor of his father as manager of the Russ market; Ralph, who is connected with the Humboldt Commercial Company at Eureka ; and Ruby B., who is with her parents at the old homestead.

JOHN FREDERICK McGEORGE .- The pioneer grocer of Eureka, whose first identification with this line of business dates back to the opening of a small store at No. 1037 B street during the year 1883, is John Frederick McGeorge, a native of the parish of St. James, Charlotte county, New Bruns- wick, born June 3, 1846, of Scotch descent, and reared on a farm in that province. On leaving home to take up the task of self-support he went across the St. Croix river into Maine and was employed on farms in Aroostook county, where he continued for a number of years. Removing to Pennsyl- vania in 1872, he found employment on a farm in Clearfield county and remained in the same locality until 1877, after which he worked in the oil fields of Clarion, MacKean and Venango counties, in the same state. From Pennsylvania he came to California in 1883 and settled in Eureka, where he since has made his home and where, beginning with practically no capital, he has risen to a position among the prosperous real estate owners and busi- ness men of the place.

After continuing for some years in small quarters, the growth of the business made it necessary to have a larger building, which was erected for him by the Dr. Clark estate. This he afterward purchased and here he con- ducted a first-class grocery business, that was incorporated in 1903 as the J. F. McGeorge Co. Recently he relinquished the active management of the grocery in order that he might devote his attention to his various property holdings.

Through his marriage, in 1877, to Mary B. Fulton, a native of Clearfield county, Pa., Mr. McGeorge has two daughters, Grace A. and Edith, both of whom are efficient teachers in the public schools of Eureka. Made a Mason in Clearfield Lodge, F. & A. M., in 1873, Mr. McGeorge has since been in- terested in the activities of Masonry, being exalted in Clearfield Chapter, R. A. M. He is now affiliated with Humboldt Lodge No. 79, F. & A. M., of which he is a past master, and of Humboldt Chapter No. 52, R. A. M., and with his wife and daughter is a member of Camelia Chapter No. 63, O. E. S.

R. F. Herrick

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HON. RUFUS F. HERRICK .- With the early history of Indian affairs in Northern California the names of Mr. and Mrs. Herrick are closely linked and their activity during the period of warfare resulted in a quicker return to peaceful conditions than would otherwise have been possible. Substantial and patriotic traits would be expected of Mr. Herrick, for he is not only of Revolutionary stock, but has the further honor of claiming descent from Leif Ericsson, the Norseman, who established the first settlements in Rhode Island and on Martha's Vineyard, Mass., in the year 1000. The progenitor of the American branch of the family was Henry, Heneric, Hericke, or Herrick (there having been several variations in the spelling of the name, dating from the early Norse "Eric"). He was the fifth son of Sir William Herrick, and was born at Beau Manor Hall, Leicester county, England, in 1604, and settled first in Massachusetts, and Francis, the grandfather of Rufus F. Herrick, served for forty years in the senate of that state. There were many distinguished members of this family during the early history of the nation, and the late distinguished citizen of Humboldt county inherited many of the splendid qualities of heart and mind that characterized his forbears.

The father of Rufus F. Herrick was Capt. Ephraim Herrick, a native of Massachusetts, who became a pioneer of Ohio, which the son claimed as his native commonwealth, his birth having occurred at Wellington, Lorain county, on June 8, 1828, and his youth was spent in Ohio, where he learned to be a civil engineer, in 1849 helping to survey the line of the Cleveland, Cincinnati & Columbus Railroad, now merged with the Big Four. The dis- covery of gold attracted him to California, and in 1850 he crossed the plains to Placerville, where he mined for two years, going from there to Alameda county, where he engaged in the manufacture of lumber in the mountains above Redwood City, later following farming near San Leandro. Going from there to Santa Clara county, he carried on a lumbering business in that section for several years. In 1857 he surveyed the wagon road from Los Gatos to Santa Cruz, in Santa Clara valley, also raised a company and built a toll road. Over this road he brought his lumber from the mountains where he purchased a large tract of timber in Jones' redwoods. While going over the trail to view the mountains and locate a place for the road he saw a grizzly bear on the trail coming toward him. He tried to turn his mule back, but the stubborn animal would not turn, so he let it go and when the bear saw the mule it was not more than a hundred feet away. The bear gave one snort and went straight up the mountain, stopping about every hundred feet to look back and snort. This trail is now a county road. Sub- sequently he was county surveyor of Humboldt county for eleven years, surveying the overland road out of the county and most of the roads in the county. For fifteen years he was Deputy United States Surveyor, section- izing many townships for the government in the county and engineered the first logging iron track railroads in the county.

While in Santa Clara county Mr. Herrick met and married Martha J. Gist, who was born at South Bend, Ind., December 11, 1842, and was reared in the South. The lineage of her family is traced directly to Baron Von Gist, who was born in Germany in 1584 and in 1634 crossed the ocean to Maryland. The early married life of Rufus F. Herrick and his wife was spent in Humboldt county, Cal., where they ever afterwards made their home. Locating on Mad river in November, 1860, for a year Mr. Herrick

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cultivated a rented farm, and at this place he made the first cheese for ship- ment in the county. In 1861 he was appointed by the government to collect the Indians and place them on the Klamath Reservation and left Arcata with about two hundred. After completing the task he was appointed by the federal government as farmer on the Klamath Indian Reservation, then in Klamath county. The freshet of 1861-62 destroyed the reservation there and Mr. Herrick was forced to move the Indians to Smith River, Del Norte county. About fifteen hundred Indians were removed under the personal charge of Mr. Herrick and later he had charge of the farming operations on the new ground. However, in 1863 he resigned from a work for which he was eminently qualified, that he might show his patriotic loyalty to the Union by entering the army.

After assisting in raising and organizing Company D, First Battalion, California Mountaineers, he was made lieutenant of the same, and at the expiration of thirty days spent in this capacity was given command of the company, its captain being sent on detached duty, and Mr. Herrick was retained in this office thereafter. His previous success in handling the Indians caused him to be given charge of a large company of Indian prisoners, numbering some eight hundred in all, who had been cap- tured on the Trinity river and sent to Fort Humboldt. Before he arrived many of the Indians had escaped, and forty got away on the night of his arrival, the principal cause of trouble being lack of food. Through his efforts, they were given a sufficient ration, also furnished with hooks and lines for fishing, allowed to have occasional dances, and in other ways treated as they desired to be, so defections not only became rare, but in addition two hundred Indians returned to the fort within two months. At the end of two months they were transported by steamer to the Smith River Reservation, accompanied by Lieutenant Herrick himself. Returning to his company, he was in active service until May 21, 1865. During his association with the Indian service he succeeded in having most of the Indians of Humboldt county stationed at Fort Gaston. Both Mr. and Mrs. Herrick were in high favor with the red men, and when Colonel Black attempted to make a treaty with them, they refused to sign until Herrick himself had assured them that the colonel was treating them right and that he had authority to act. Many times the savages had opportunity to shoot Mr. Herrick, but they trusted him as a friend and had no thought of taking his life.

On retiring from the Indian service Mr. Herrick bought two hundred forty acres near Ferndale on the Eel river and for four years engaged in ranching there, after which time he sold the property and purchased two thousand acres of marsh land at the foot of Table Bluff, from which he developed a splendid dairy farm, to which he added three hundred acres, which ranch is now the property of his widow. After conducting this immense ranch with splendid success for many years he leased it in 1897, and from that time until his death he lived in quiet retirement, a part of the time on his ranch and a part of the time in San Francisco, death finding him at his Loleta home, May 19, 1914.

In politics Mr. Herrick was a Republican from the organization of the party, and was a leading member of Colonel Whipple Post No. 49, G. A. R., of Eureka. In the early history of California he took an active part, and especially in the welfare of Humboldt county, where he made his home from November, 1860, until his death, the most important work of his life being

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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 24

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