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 25

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 25

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HISTORY OF HUMBOLDT COUNTY

his services in behalf of the Indians. Since the death of Mr. Herrick his widow has continued to reside on her ranch near Loleta. He leaves two sons : Frank E., for many years county surveyor, and with his wife, formerly Miss Emma Gish of San Jose, Cal., residing at Eureka; and George D., who married Miss Jessie Rolph Nicol and resides in San Francisco.

REUBEN GROSS, M. D .- Humboldt county has been especially favored in the kind of professional men who have cast their lots within her boundaries, and in none more than Dr. Reuben Gross, whose superior training has made him looked up to by his brother practitioners, while his kindly nature has attracted a wide patronage from all classes. He has lived at Eureka for almost forty years, and though always a medical man first has taken a live interest in the development of the town and county along commercial and industrial lines. Naturally he has done much to promote modern ideas of sanitation and wholesome living in the course of his work as a physician. But he has done as much in assisting local enterprises which have placed employment and consequent comfort within reach of the county's population, and his judgment on business matters is considered very reliable by all who have had occasion to try it. Dr. Gross is now in his eighties, having been born May 4, 1832, but he still retains control of his various interests in the city and county.

The Gross family is of English origin, but the Doctor's immediate an- cestors have lived in America. It is thought that his grandfather, Richard Gross, was a native of Oxford county, Me., whence he removed to Canada, and he died in New Brunswick. By trade he was a shipbuilder. His wife, Mary, was born in Ireland. Isaac Gross, the Doctor's father, was born in Canada and passed all of his long life there, dying in New Brunswick at the age of eighty-one years. He was a lifelong farmer and not only successful financially but an influential man in his neighborhood, for many years taking a prominent part in the administration of its public affairs. He served his fellow citizens in the office of magistrate and supervisor. His wife was Ruth Edgett, a native of New Brunswick, in which province she spent all her life, living to the age of seventy-six years, She was a descendant of an old English family. Ten children survived her, the son Reuben being the sixth of this family in order of birth.

Reuben Gross was born in the village of Hillsborough, New Brunswick, where he grew to manhood on the home farm. His carly education was obtained in the locality, where he attended school winters until twenty years old, after which he taught in the district and grammar schools in order to accumulate funds for a higher education. Thus he paid his expenses at college, after which, in 1859, he went to Glasgow, Scotland, where he took the medical course at the University of Glasgow, completing the four years' work in a period of three years. He was graduated with high honors in 1862, receiving the degree of M. D., signed by Sir Joseph Lister, M. D., and also obtained a degree in surgery at the Royal College of Surgeons in Edinburgh. Returning to his native land, he opened an office for practice at Sussexvale in 1862, remaining there until 1869, when he gave up his work temporarily to put in a year at post-graduate study in London and Paris. When he came back he located at St. Stephen, New Brunswick, where he continued to prac-

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tice until his removal to the United States. In the fall of 1875 he came thence to Eureka, Humboldt county, Cal., and the fact that he has remained here since would indicate he has not repented of his choice. Ever zealous to keep in touch with the advancement of the times, he has spent a few months in post-graduate study at New York City since his settlement in California, but his own attainments and vigorous intellect fit him better for leadership than emulation. His approachable nature has made him beloved as well as trusted wherever his duties have called him, for he has never made any distinctions among his patients where his professional attention is concerned, and the night was never too stormy nor too dark for him to respond cheerfully to every inquiry whether the sufferers were able to pay or not. The affectionate esteem universally shown him has been well merited in a life of exceptional usefulness.

Not long after settling here Dr. Gross became interested in the redwood timber belt of Humboldt county and made heavy investments therein, at one time owning about three thousand acres, which he eventually sold at a material advance on the purchase price. He has valuable holdings of business property at Eureka and has done much to arouse interest in enterprises for the upbuilding of the town, besides giving indisputable evidence of his faith in her possibilities by putting his own capital into improvements here. In 1902-03 he erected what was then the most substantial business block in the city, a fine brick structure one hundred and ten by one hundred and twenty feet in dimensions, with foundation sufficiently strong to support two more stories. This is the Gross block, at the corner of Fifth and F streets. Dr. Gross's city real estate includes his handsome residence. In company with J. A. Sinclair he has been interested in the development of twelve hundred acres of reclaimed marsh land about three miles east of Eureka, where they have been carrying on a profitable dairy business. The variety of his under- takings is sufficient to show how versatile the Doctor's talents are, and the breadth of his intellect, which goes thoroughly into everything which enlists his attention or sympathy, slighting no detail, however trivial, yet keeping the main issues always in sight. For many years he took a leading part in the activities of the Humboldt County Medical Society, of which he has been an influential member. Fraternally he is a Mason, holding membership in Humboldt Lodge No. 79, F. & A. M.

On June 6, 1864, Dr. Gross was united in marriage with Miss Mary Mein, who was born at Hamilton, Scotland, where they became acquainted. Two children have been born to this union, Harold G. and Eleanor, the latter now the wife of Willard Wells, of Eureka. The son is following his father's calling. After a course at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Boston, where he received the degree of Bachelor of Science in 1888, he entered the medical department of Harvard University, from which he was graduated in 1891. Then he spent two years as interne in the City hospital at Boston, returning to Eureka to enter upon practice with his father, whose professional responsibilities he assumed gradually until the large patronage was entirely in his hands. The elder man has thus been enabled to relinquish practice gradually, and though his circle of patients makes heavy demands on the time of one person the son has measured up to his work and is regarded as the heir to his father's high reputation as well as to the clientele it enabled him to establish.

Martha & Herrick

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MRS. MARTHA J. HERRICK .- To the pioneer women of California, no less than to the men, are due the honor and respect of the generations that follow, for without their loving sympathy and support, without their faithful devotion and toil, there had been no civilization carved in the wilderness and no homes built in lonely places where Indians and wild beasts prowled by day and night. They have borne their full share in the making of a great commonwealth, and their names are held in loving remembrance in the hearts of the children of the Golden West, and will continue so to be through all generations.

Prominent among the women who did much for the civilization and settlement of California must be named Mrs. Martha J. Herrick, wife of the late Rufus F. Herrick, one of the first men of the state, whose service to the government was of great importance in the settling of early Indian diffi- culties. In all this he was ably assisted by his young wife, although her name did not appear on commissions or government reports, for she was only aiding her husband in the performance of his duties. Mrs. Herrick has, how- ever, been signally recognized, the brilliancy of her achievements being such that they have attracted much attention. During the World's Fair at Chicago in 1893 she represented Humboldt county, and also exhibited her rare collection of Indian relics, on which she was awarded a medal. In addition, she received gold and silver medals from the Anthropological Societies of the United States and England for her knowledge of the lost arts of the Indians. She is the author of a treatise on the habits and customs of the Indians of Humboldt county (extracts from which were published in the Ethnological Bureau of Smithonian Institution), which is recognized as an authority on Indian sanitation. Another work along this line is now being compiled by her, its publication being eagerly awaited by those interested in Indian lore, Mrs. Herrick being recognized as the best authority on the history of the Indians in the Humboldt district, as well as on the general county history.

Before marriage Mrs. Herrick was Miss Martha Gist, and she is descended from a family of great antiquity and honorable distinction. She is the great-great-granddaughter of Brigadier-General Mordecai Gist. whose father, Christopher, went with General Washington to make a treaty of peace between the colonies and the French and Indians. The two men became great personal friends, General Washington having said of Mr. Gist that he could not have made the treaty of peace with the Indians had it not been for the confidence the Indians had in Christopher Gist. The latter came from England with Leonard Calvert, a brother of Lord Baltimore, and he surveyed the town of Baltimore, while one of his sons, Christopher, surveyed the coast of Maryland, and was also a major in the Revolution. Gen. Mordecai Gist was complimented by the American Continental Congress for meeting the American army in full retreat and leading them back to victory. The father of Mrs. Herrick was David Gist, and her mother Matilda Fairfax Denton, the father being the son of Independence Gist, the son of Mordecai, before mentioned, who was born in Baltimore, Md., February 22, 1742, and died in Charleston, S. C., August 2, 1792, having distinguished himself in Revolutionary history. Mrs. Herrick herself was born at South Bend, Ind., and attended St. Mary's College at South Bend, to which town her parents had moved in 1830, and where she grew to maturity. On the maternal side Mrs. Herrick is descended from both the Denton and Fairfax families of

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Scotland, which families were united by the marriage of the last two descendants who thereafter used both crests. In her possession Mrs. Herrick has a plate sent from Scotland as a wedding gift three hundred years ago to her great-grandmother, Elizabeth Fairfax Denton, by that lady's brother, Dallas Fairfax Denton.

It was in November, 1858, that Mrs. Herrick came to California, on account of ill health, to visit a half-brother, making the long journey to San Francisco by way of the Isthmus of Panama, and on April 3, 1859, she was married in San Jose, Cal., to Rufus F. Herrick, an own cousin of Myron T. Herrick, now serving as Ambassador to France. The change was very great for her, a city-bred girl, and everything in the new land filled her with fear until she became accustomed to the new order. Her native poise and common sense came to her aid, and once she had adjusted herself she entered into the life of the country with a wonderful zest. Intensely interested in the work of her husband among the Indians, together they did much for the red men, treating them with kindness and consideration, protecting their rights and at all times according them justice and fair treatment. To this the savages responded, and both the young people were prime favorites with them, and most of the wonderful collection of Indian relics owned by Mrs. Herrick, and now on exhibition at the Eureka Public Library, were gifts to her from her friends among the various tribes.

Mr. and Mrs. Herrick became the parents of two children, both sons, who are well known throughout Humboldt county, where they were born and received their education. The elder, Frank E., was for many years county surveyor, and did much work in that line throughout that part of the state, including the surveying of the Newburg railroad and many other logging railroads. He married Miss Emma Gish of San Jose, and they now reside in Eureka. The other son, George D., is married to Miss Jessie Rolph Nicol, and they make their home in San Francisco, where he is engaged in the real estate business and timber lands, and his wife is prominent in club circles. The death of Mrs. Herrick's husband occurred May 19, 1914, at their Loleta home, where his wife continues to reside.

Mrs. Herrick has always been a woman of many activities, both she and her husband having been particularly interested in the work of the Grand Army. She helped to organize the Major Anderson Circle, Ladies of the Grand Army, in Eureka, and for two years was president of the circle, serving a year as department president of California and Nevada, being elected in Los Angeles, April 5, 1904. While serving in this office she saw that many old soldiers did not take advantage of the soldiers' home because they would not leave their wives; hence she planned the buying of three acres of land at Sawtelle, Cal., adjoining the soldiers' home. For the purpose of carrying out her plans she called an extra session of the ladies of the G. A. R. to meet in San Francisco, before whom she outlined her plans. The convention re- ceived her report with enthusiasm and gave her full power to work out her plan, which she did by buying the land and building thereon a number of houses, accommodating two families each, with rent and water free. The build- ing of these homes, which are the property of the Ladies of the G. A. R., per- mitted the families of the soldiers to continue unsevered. Both Mr. and Mrs. Herrick were very charitably inclined, and at the time of the San Francisco earthquake she opened her house in that city and fed the sufferers, receiving

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her supplies from their Humboldt county farm. She has brought up five orphan boys and one girl, giving her time to instructing and guiding them, several of them now occupying honorable official positions, being glad to give her the credit of awakening their ambitions and giving them a start in life. Mrs. Herrick has always been equal to every occasion. In the early days, when it was necessary to teach six months before drawing a salary, she conducted a free school in her own home for that length of time, after which Grant district was formed and she drew her salary from the county. Her teaching was fully appreciated and she was importuned to continue in the public schools, but lack of time prevented her doing so. She has been active in the work of the Woman's Relief Corps of Humboldt county, and at present is a member of the California Club of San Francisco, the National Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution at Washington, the Geographical Association of Washington, the Smithsonian Institution and the Anthropological Association of Washington.

A really wonderful woman, of marked executive ability and much diplomacy, Mrs. Herrick has endeared herself to the people of California by her noble stand and originality as presiding officer in the Ladies of the G. A. R. In all her undertakings she has been successful, and her late hus- band ascribed to her the credit of contributing more toward laying the founda- tion of their fortune than did he himself.

CHARLES J. CHRISTIE .- This pioneer citizen of Eureka, whose death occurred March 6, 1907, was well known in Humboldt county as an excellent horseman, and he was in business at Eureka for a number of years prior to his decease, starting the enterprise in which his son succeeded him and which is now carried on by his daughter, Miss Josephine Christie. Her able manage- ment has won her the admiration of all who have had occasion to transact business with her, and under it the trade has shown a steady increase. Miss Christie has displayed a self-reliant spirit in undertaking to continue the business and has proved her competency in the care of all its details.

The late Mr. Christie was a native of Calais, Me., and there spent his early life. While still living in the east he married Margaret Orr, who was also born in Maine, and they came to California in the early days, making the trip to Eureka by way of Cape Horn. Mr. Christie had always been fond of horses and skillful in their management, and he found work in the woods as a teamster, being so expert as a driver that he often drove eight- or ten- horse teams. For a time he was engaged in the livery business at Ferndale, Humboldt county, but he returned to Eureka, where he established a large business in draying and retail wood, also doing general teaming. He was thus engaged until he turned the business over, in 1901, to his son, Charles Frederick. His death occurred when he was sixty-six years old, at Eureka, his wife surviving him four years, her demise occurring May 5, 1911. His son, Charles Frederick Christie, took hold of the business from its inception, expanding it by his energetic methods, and was doing well when he died, April 7, 1912. Since then it has been carried on by Miss Josephine Christie, who is doing all that intelligent attention and first-class system can accom- plish, and her success has been a matter of interest to all the townspeople, for she was the first woman at Eureka to undertake anything in that line of business. She keeps five horses, two teams being usually kept busy filling orders. The principal trade is in sixteen-inch stove wood, redwood and pine.

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About thirty-five hundred cords of wood are handled yearly, and coal is delivered for the Hammond Lumber Company, the yards being located at the foot of I street. Though the greater part of her attention is given to business, Miss Christie never hesitates to lend her aid and influence to any worthy movement started in the community, where her enterprise has gained her the unqualified respect of her business associates and friends alike.

Miss Christie continues to occupy the old family home at No. 1304 G street, Eureka. The family of Charles J. and Margaret (Orr) Christie con- sisted of three children, the son and daughter already mentioned, and Alice G., now the wife of Charles W. Hitchings and residing at Eureka. Miss Christie is a native daughter of Eureka, where she passed her earlier life.

JOSEPH DIBBLE HOYT CHAMBERLAIN .- Being restless as a lad, eager to see the world and fond of travel, Mr. Chamberlain enlisted when in his teens in the United States navy and prior to completing his apprentice- ship, when twenty-one years of age, had circumnavigated the globe three times. This was a task calling for physical strength, powers of endurance and fearless courage, and the fact that he continued in service several years furnishes proof as to his fine physical and mental qualities. In 1849 he rounded Cape Horn and, on landing in San Francisco, found the discussion of the discovery of gold to be the general theme of conversation. With others, he rushed for the mines, but meeting with indifferent success, returned to his home in Erie county, N. Y., and decided to take up the profession of law. In due time he was admitted to the bar in New York state and practiced there until he moved to Kansas. There he won extended patronage by reason of his wide understanding of law and adjustive ability and made it his home until 1872, when he determined to try his fortunes on the coast, locating in Eureka, Cal. Among its legal practitioners who materially increased the professional prestige of Humboldt county, none was more typically represen- tative of western enterprise and eastern conservatism than Mr. Chamberlain, who for many years was the law partner of the Hon. J. J. De Haven. On the election of the latter to the United States senate, he associated himself with Hon. Frank McGowan and afterward with C. M. Wheeler. Mr. Chamberlain was the possessor of one of the largest and most valuable law libraries in the county, and his exceptionally high standing throughout the state proved not only determination of character and resolution of purpose, but also an unusual capacity of intellect and superior powers of mind. Rarely indeed is there to be found in any community a man so deeply honored or so generally beloved. He was born January 31, 1827, and died June 17, 1902.

Mr. Chamberlain was interested in everything pertaining to Masonry, having been a member of the Blue Lodge, Knights Templar, and of Islam Temple, A. A. O. N. M. S. of San Francisco. He was also a member of the Knights of Pythias. Politically he was a Republican. In August, 1890, he was married to Mrs. Sarah Shaw Stewart, a native of Center Point, Iowa, who is represented in a separate sketch in this work.

GEORGE D. MURRAY .- Born in Arcata, Humboldt county, Cal., Sep- tember 25, 1855. Taught in the public schools of the county, and in 1884 commenced the practice of law, opening an office in Eureka. He continued to practice law until January, 1909, when he became one of the Judges of the Superior Court of the county. In 1892 he married Miss Annie F. Zane, herself a native of the county and a teacher in the public schools.

Frank Graham

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FRANK GRAHAM .- For almost half a century a resident of Humboldt county, and during all that time engaged in occupations that have closely identified him with the life of the community and with the development of the natural resources of the county, Frank Graham, of Arcata, is indeed a pioneer, and a splendid type of the men who have made California a "front door" instead of a "back door" to the nation. He has been associated with the various forms of the lumber industry for more than forty-five years on the coast, and was before that engaged in logging in the New Brunswick and Maine woods. For more than thirty years he has been superintendent of the logging department of a mill on Blue Lake, at Korbel, which he helped to build, and for which his industry is largely responsible. He is prominently associated with the best interests of Humboldt county, banks, railroads, telephones and farming and dairying interests all receiving their share of his ability and energetic strength of mind and body. Throughout the county he is known as a man of more than ordinary worth, and his word is as good as his bond. He is especially well liked by the men in his employ, each one feeling that in his superintendent he has a true friend in time of need and a wise counselor at all times.

Mr. Graham is a native of York county, New Brunswick, where he was born near Fredericton, February 25, 1844. His father, James Graham, was a native of Ireland, but left the Emerald Isle when he was quite young and came alone to New Brunswick. There he found employment on a farm where he remained for several years, saving his money with great care, and eventually accumulating enough to purchase the farm himself. There he engaged in farming until his death about twenty years ago. The mother of Mr. Graham was Marguerite Miller, also a native of Ireland, who came to New Brunswick with her parents when she was a child, and there her life was passed. She was married to James Graham in 1841, and became the mother of twelve children, of whom Frank Graham is the eldest son, but the second born, there being one daughter older than he. Mrs. Graham passed away in 1860. The father married again, and two children were born to the second wife.

The boyhood days of Frank Graham were passed on his father's farm in New Brunswick, where he attended first the grammar school and later a private school until he was fifteen years of age. At that time he went to work in the woods for the munificent sum of $6.50 a month. In 1868 he went into the Maine woods where he remained a year before returning to Canada. Re- ports of the opportunities offered to the ambitious young man in California reached him, and in 1869 he came to the coast, crossing the plains in one of the first trains to come to California. He located in Humboldt county in the fall of that year, and has since made this the scene of his operations. During the first year he worked by the month, running rafts, but the following year he commenced working by contract, running rafts on the Elk river, and continued here until 1872. At that time he began to work for Harris Con- nick in the woods at Ryan slough, and in the summer ran rafts on the slough up to the fall of 1873. That year he formed a company with his brother, Alex Graham, and James Kirk and bought out the property known as the old Baird claim, and engaged in logging. The acreage covered by this purchase was extensive, numbering some nine hundred or a thousand acres, and for a

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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 25

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