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 31

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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attorney in Humboldt county to argue a case before the United States supreme court at Washington, D. C., belongs to him.

As a delegate to the Democratic national convention and local conven- tions and in other ways he has been one of the leading Democrats of the county. At the general election, held November 3, 1914, he was elected to the Assembly by an overwhelming majority to represent Humboldt county at the next session of the State Legislature, which meets in Sacramento on January 4, 1915.

In addition to professional work and public service he gives considerable attention to the management of a ranch of one hundred and seventy-four acres near Ferndale, in which he owns a half interest : this being developed for fruit and stock. Mrs. Quinn, formerly Ruby Bartlett, a native of California, is a descendant in the fourth generation of Col. Sylvanus Bartlett, commanding officer of a Massachusetts regiment in the Revolution, and who was a first cousin of Mr. Bartlett, who signed the Declaration of Independence. Mrs. Quinn is a daughter of E. Bartlett, a pioneer California railroad builder and bridge-builder, who assisted in construction work at the time of the completion of the Union Pacific system into California.

HENRY ALFRED POLAND .- The upbuilding of Eureka has been pro- moted in a most practical manner by Mr. Poland through the buying of unim- proved properties, the erection of cottages and their sale to permanent settlers at a small advance over and above the original cost. Much of the work of improvement has been done in the third ward, his home locality, and he has been a substantial element in the material progress of that part of the city which for three terms he represented on the city council. Recognition of his public-spirited qualities and capacity for executive leadership came with his election as president of the council for two terms and with his service as acting mayor for one term. At different times he has been identified with different lines of business, but always he has been relied upon to promote the growth of Humboldt county and to advance measures of general importance to the citizens. During his term as president of the council that body suc- ceeded in bonding the city (after the board of education had failed in the attempt) for the first new school houses and built the Jefferson and Wash- ington schools, which formed the basis for Eureka's present magnificent edu- cational buildings. It also installed a sewer system and drafted the franchise for the street railway that was sold to the present company, giving the city three per cent of the gross income of the road.

Prior to establishing a home in Eureka in April, 1892, Mr. Poland had lived in the east, his native locality having been Athens, Me., where he was born March 10, 1852, and where he received a public-school education. On starting out to make his own way in the world he went to Boston, Mass., and there learned the furniture business in all of its departments, following the same not only in that city, but later for ten years in the city of Philadelphia. The first employment which he found after his arrival in Eureka was that of a day laborer in the moulding mill, where, his ability winning prompt recognition, he was soon promoted to a position of responsibility. For a time he owned and operated a sporting goods store on Second street, but this he finally sold to Henry H. Buhne. Since then he has devoted consid- erable time to the filling of contracts and to the building of houses for sale. One of his contracts was for the remodeling of the Vance hotel. He was

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one of the first men in Eureka to buy an automobile and found the car of the utmost value to him in facilitating his work not only in the city, but also else- where. During 1903 he bought the Mowry shingle mill near Fieldbrook and engaged in the manufacture of shingles. It was not long before his clear- sightedness saw the need of an association for the marketing of their product and with others he formed the Redwood Shingle Association, serving as a member of the board of directors. This association had more to do with the successful manufacture of shingles than any other one thing. Wishing to increase his output he erected two more mills in the same locality, where red- wood shingles were manufactured for a decade or more, he personally super- intending the large manufacturing business. After the disincorporation of the Mowry Milling Company he formed the Poland Shingle Company in part- nership with his two sons. The mills had a very large capacity for three years, making 300,000 shingles per day, and it was the consensus of opinion he was the largest shingle manufacturer in Humboldt county of that day. However, in 1911, he retired from the personal supervision of the plants, but still retained his interests in the mills and property until 1913, when he dis- posed of his holdings.

The marriage of Mr. Poland united him with Miss Effie A. Mowry, a native of Athol, Mass., and to them were born two children, Ray A. and Lester, both successful business men of Eureka. His fraternities are Hum- boldt Lodge No. 77, I. O. O. F., Humboldt Encampment and Eureka Lodge No. 652, B. P. O. E., as well as the Humboldt club, and the philanthropies of these orders have received from him active co-operation. It is to such men as Henry A. Poland that Eureka and Humboldt county owe much of their present importance, for they are men who are ever ready to give of their time and means towards forwarding any movement that has for its aim the upbuilding of the county and its great natural resources, as well as improv- ing and enhancing the commercial, social and moral conditions of its citizens.

JOSEPH BAGLEY .- As one of the thriving business men of the county, and especially of Fortuna and Eureka, where he has been engaged in business for several years. Joseph Bagley is well known and also well liked. His latest venture, however, is attracting much attention, both to himself individually and to Eureka and the county generally. It is the development of the English walnut industry in Humboldt county, the site of the enterprise being the Mattole valley, above Petrolia. In 1913 Mr. Bagley organized the Mattole Valley Orchard Tract Company, which controls two thousand acres in the upper. Mattole valley and also has a saw mill there and practical facilities for clearing and improving the land. During 1914 this company cleared and planted three hundred and eighty acres of land to walnuts, and has also sold several hundred acres in small tracts of five, ten and twenty acres, all of these being planted to orchard and most of them to English walnuts. While the company is making a specialty of the walnut, this locality being particu- larly adapted to its culture, it is not limited to this one line, but has also set out several orchards of apples and pears, the soil and climate of the locality being also well adapted to these fruits. Mr. Bagley is acting as manager of the Mattole Valley Orchard Tract Company, and is doing much for the de- velopment of this new industry in the county, which is attracting wide- spread interest from horticulturists throughout the state. The orchards on the tract are in splendid condition and give every evidence of proving a great finan-

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cial success. Mr. Bagley, however, does not give his entire time and atten- tion to this one enterprise, extensive as it is, for he is also vice-president of the Diamond Fruit Company, of Eureka, and is manager of the Bonbonier Confectionery Store.

From earliest memories Mr. Bagley has been familiar with certain sec- tions of the county, particularly the Eel river valley, where he was born September 2, 1877, and where his father, Eli Bagley, a pioneer of 1869, after a few years of identification with stock-raising in the Mattole district, had pur- chased three hundred and sixty-seven acres of raw land and begun the task of improving and placing under profitable cultivation the large and fertile tract. After years of identification with the same neighborhood the father in 1893 leased his farm for a dairy ranch and retired to a small farm near Ferndale, but in 1898 purchased a home in Fortuna and moved to the new location. The improving of the small property became a source of great pleasure to him. One of his original ideas was the training of four trees on his lawn, so that their branches spelled the word "Home," and in other ways he showed orig- inality of ideas as well as artistic ability in landscape gardening. A musician and composer of local fame, his children inherited his talent and became skilled in the art that he loved from youth. A native of Appanoose county, Iowa, born November 24, 1849, he had come to California in early life and in this state met and married Laura Bugbee, who was born in Trinity county, Cal., in 1854, and died June 5, 1888. Five years after her death he married Flora Reese, who was born in Humboldt county April 27, 1874. Of his first marriage five children were born, namely: Ralph, who died at seventeen years of age; Eli F., who developed a half-section of land in Oregon ; Nancy, wife of Ernest Williams; Joseph, whose name introduces this article; and L. Weltha, wife of Dr. C. Wiggins, of Los Angeles.

Joseph Bagley passed his childhood and youth on his father's farm at Grizzly Bluff and there learned the dairy business at an early age. Later he went to Oregon and bought a dairy farm in the Elk river valley, Curry county, consisting of three hundred and twenty acres, which he improved and ran for five years, meeting with much financial success. He then returned to Hum- boldt county, locating at Fortuna, where he dealt in notions, sporting goods, confectionery, etc. He also bought and managed the Fortuna Opera House. Later (in 1902) he disposed of all his interests in Fortuna, the store being taken over by the Diamond Fruit Company, of Eureka, of which he is now vice-president. Since that time Mr. Bagley has resided in Eureka and has been manager of the Bonbonier Confectionery Store, at the corner of Fourth and F streets, one of the finest confectionery stores in Eureka. The Dia- mond Fruit Company owns a number of similar establishments in Eureka and Fortuna, and is meeting with great financial success.

It was in 1913 that Mr. Bagley organized the Mattole Valley Orchard Tract Company, and since that time he has been giving much thought and attention to the affairs of this organization, again meeting with much deserved success. The property is sold under a liberal five-year contract and is meet- ing with a ready market. The company is endeavoring to place thereon men who desire to make homes and is making every effort to encourage the best class of people to investigate its plan and the opportunities offered on the tract. Personally Mr. Bagley is very popular with his business associates and also with a wide circle of friends and acquaintances. His clean-cut, forward busi-

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ness methods place him in high favor with all who have any transactions with him, and his faith in Eureka and Humboldt county is unlimited, as is attested by the investments that he has made and is making, and by this splendid new venture in the development line.

With so many business enterprises to engage his attention it might not be expected that Mr. Bagley would devote much time to public affairs or fraternities, but we find him always willing to aid public-spirited projects of undoubted benefit to the community, while in the line of fraternal and social organizations he is a well-known member of the Humboldt Club, the Native Sons of the Golden West, Maccabees, Elks, Woodmen of the World and Mod- ern Woodmen of America.

JAMES HARRIS HUNTER .-- Since first coming to Eureka in 1888 Mr. Hunter has been in close touch with the interests of the city and during much of the time he has made his home here, having since 1901 carried on a real estate business that keeps him thoroughly posted in regard to property valuations and farm as well as municipal opportunities. Forceful in energy and honorable in all dealings, he has won a host of friends in California and is himself a stanch "booster" of the state and particularly of the undeveloped acreage in Humboldt county, where he believes that men of industry, in- telligence and some capital may find an opening for profitable investment unexcelled by any section of the state. In early life he was familiar with the rigors of the Nova Scotian climate, for in that province, where he was born June 8, 1862, he earned a livelihood by manual toil in camps and mills. In search of the opportunities offered by an environment less rigorous and a climate less trying he first settled in Colorado, but from there came to Cali- fornia, settling in Eureka in 1888 and securing employment at the Vance mill. Having learned the trade of sawyer, he was able to find work in this locality and continued in the same mill for two years. From that occupation he drifted into the service of the lumber company as station agent for their railroad at Singley's. Four years later he was transferred from that station to For- tuna, where he remained for five years and meanwhile he gave two years to the real estate business in his last location.

An excellent record in a campaign for sheriff as the Republican nominee nevertheless failed to place Mr. Hunter in the office desired, and, as he had established a home in Eureka, he thereupon embarked in the realty business at this point. During 1910 George W. Owsley was admitted into partnership and the firm of Hunter & Owsley now maintains offices at No. 508 A street, where those seeking information in regard to favorable deals in farms or city real estate receive the most courteous attention and their wants have intelli- gent consideration. At present the firm is specializing in the sale of five and ten-acre tracts in a subdivision of three hundred acres on Elk river, and these small farms meet with a ready sale among people desiring to make a small and safe investment. In fraternal relations Mr. Hunter is connected with the Modern Woodmen of America and the Knights of Pythias. On coming to Humboldt county he was still single and later he was united with Miss Mary Barber, who was born and reared in this county, and by whom he has two children, Mildred and Kempton, the former being now the wife of Morris D. Tracy. Mrs. Hunter is a member of a pioneer family of the northwest coast of California. Her father, Isaac Barber, a skilled woodsman, drove an ox-team in the logging camps and was widely acquainted among the lumber- men of the early days.

John Michready

Mrs. John Mc bready

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JOHN McCREADY .- The history of the early development of Hum- boldt county forms in many respects a record of the lives of its pioneers. Bravely they surmounted obstacles, cheerfully they faced difficulties, and efficiently they solved the problems incident to existence on the frontier. Nor has John McCready been less efficient or patient than his companions in the tasks of development, as the story of his life amply proves. For generations the family lived and labored in New Brunswick, and it was in St. Andrews, Charlotte county, that province, that John McCready was born September 20, 1834. Until he was fifteen years old he received the benefit of a district school education, and to the foundation thus laid he added continually by observation and the reading of uplifting and instructive literature. After leaving school he applied for employment in the lumber camps in the vicinity of his home and thereafter during the winter seasons he engaged in driving logs down the rivers to the mill, while during the summers he assisted in the care and management of the home farm. He followed this dual line of employment until he left the east in 1859, when he hoped to better his condition by coming to California. Leaving New York City on a steamer to Aspinwall, he crossed the Isthmus of Panama, then took a steamter for San Francisco, arriving in August, 1859. From there he came by boat to Eureka, thence to Freshwater, where he took up a government timber claim and engaged in logging for himself, later entering into partnership with George Atchison in floating the logs out to the bay by the Freshwater, bringing the logs to the river by eight and ten yoke of oxen. In 1861 they moved their camp down to Ryan slough and continued logging. In the spring of 1862 the partner decamped, leaving all the debts and obligations to be met by Mr. McCready, which he afterwards liquidated. Soon after this he took Mr. Morrison in as a partner in the logging enterprise. After he had logged his own claim Mr. McCready purchased timber claims above him on the same river, getting out millions of feet a year for a period of eighteen years. In the meantime he bought out Mr. Morrison's interest and continued the logging business alone. During all these years he was in the active management of the business, both in the woods and on the drives, no detail escaping his notice and supervision. The greater portion of the logs which he handled were delivered to the William Carson mill in Eureka. During this time Mr. McCready usually had about thirty ox teams broken and ready for use, and it is a fact that he sold some of his ox teams for the highest prices paid.

After logging for eighteen years Mr. McCready sold the timber on his land as stumpage and then devoted his attention to dairy farming, in which he achieved success. It was about 1866 that he purchased his present place comprising one hundred sixty acres of unimproved land, which was thickly covered with underbrush and heavy timber. He quickly cleared a portion of the ranch, setting out a part of the land to apple trees, but a few years later a heavy freshet washed out all but two of his trees. He then began clearing the remainder of the ranch, mainly the bottom land, and here he first engaged in dairying and also the making and selling of butter, the demand always exceeding the supply on hand. He at present owns one hundred sixty acres of highly cultivated land, but has retired from all active work, leasing the place to his sons, although he still makes his home here. He has been one of the most successful farmers and dairymen in the district and was also equally successful in his logging activities.

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Mr. McCready's marriage united him with Julia Davis, a native of Wis- consin, and of their union there are two children, Adolph and Randolph, who are both living on the home place with their father, Mrs. McCready having passed away in February, 1913. Randolph is married to Mathilda Sutherland of Indianola and they have two children, Pearl and Edna. The name of John McCready is a synonym for an open-hearted hospitality that has known no change since he took up his residence in Humboldt county, and many a wayfarer has been refreshed and cheered and made to view life more optimistically after an hour's converse with this sturdy old pioneer.

GEORGE W. HUFFORD .- In the capacity of stage driver, running between Bridgeville and Ruth, Trinity county, Mr. Hufford is known to a majority of the residents of this part of the state, by whom he is held in high esteem. In addition to conveying passengers, he handles the mail be- tween these towns, making three round trips each week, and has just renewed the mail and parcels post contract for another four years. His father, David Hufford, was born in Kentucky and removed with his parents to Iowa, where his youth was uneventfully passed in attendance at the district school and assisting his father. At the time of the discovery of gold in California, David was just entering manhood and was cager, ambitious and fearless. With a desire to see more of the world than was possible in his own neighborhood, he started, in 1849, with several others for the coast, making the long trip with ox teams, during which time they were beset with constant dangers from the Indians, with whom they had several skirmishes. Young Hufford located a claim on the Pitt river, which he worked for a time and then removed his outfit to Trinity county, spending eleven months prospecting on Coffee creek. Although not successful in his mining ventures, he was not discour- aged, and in fact was so well pleased with the opportunities offered a young man in the west, that he determined to make it his future home. With this end in view, he returned to his old home in Iowa, and was married to Miss Mary Morris, the young couple making the trip back with a mule team. Their first home was at Clayton, Contra Costa county, where Mr. Hufford embarked in the livery business, in which he continued for a period of twenty years. George W. was a lad of eight years when the parents, in 1876, came to Humboldt county and entered a claim of one hundred sixty acres near Trini- dad. After proving up on this tract and placing it under a high state of cultivation the parents continued to reside there until retiring from active farm life and moving into the town of Arcata, where the father died, in 1906, at the age of seventy-six.

George W. Hufford is a native son, having been born at Clayton, Contra Costa county, September 24, 1868. Of his two brothers and two sisters, Walter is a prominent attorney and judge in Oregon. By the second mar- riage of his father, there were four children. George W. Hufford was mar- ried at Ukiah, Mendocino county, October 29, 1893, to Miss Jennie Babcock, a native of Chico, but reared at Ukiah, this state. After their marriage they established a home at Orick, where he was in the employ of Mr. Swan for five years, then removed to Trinidad, where he opened a meat market, con- ducting a profitable business for five years. On selling out his business he was engaged as buyer for Ralph Bull, proprietor of a large meat market at Arcata, and in this capacity made long trips covering Trinity, Del Norte, Humboldt and parts of Mendocino counties. Three years later, however,

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we find him in the employ of McConnaha Bros., liverymen of Trinidad, which connection lasted for seven years, when Mr. Hufford purchased the Bridge- ville and Ruth stage line and removed with his family to Bridgeville. He owns six acres of land near town, where they have a comfortable home. May 14, 1912, he sustained a severe loss in the burning of his residence, but a larger and more modern edifice was soon erected in its place. The family of Mr. and Mrs. Hufford includes eight children, namely: May, Mrs. Edwin Bunese, of Bridgeville; Imogene, Rosa, Georgia, Grace, William, Lola and Baby. In politics he is a Republican.

HON. CLIFTON HORACE CONNICK .- From the far distant province of New Brunswick and the small village of St. Stephen there came to the shores of the Pacific during 1873 John S. and Janet Elizabeth (Mckenzie) Connick, bringing with them their small son, Clifton Horace, whose birth had occurred in the New Brunswick town December 4, 1871, but whose earliest recollections cluster around the timber regions of Humboldt county. De- scended from a long line of worthy forebears who had struggled for a live- lihood in the midst of the rigorous climatic conditions of the Canadian province, he inherited qualities of persistence, endurance and patience that stood him in good stead in his ambitions to obtain an education in the classics and the law. The encouragement of the family, coupled with his own deter- mination, enabled him to secure an excellent education in the grammar- school and Phelps Business College at Eureka, and in the law department of the University of California (Hastings Law College), from which in 1893 he was graduated with the highest standing for proficiency. Immediately after he had been granted the privilege of practicing law in the courts of California he opened an office at Eureka, where he has remained up to the present time, meanwhile winning his way slowly but surely to prestige and prominence.

Not only at the bar but also on the bench, Judge Connick has proved his masterly grasp of his chosen profession. After he had served for eight years as deputy district attorney and had built up a valuable private practice, dur- ing 1908 the confidence which the voters had in his ability was evinced by his election as superior judge of Humboldt county on the Republican ticket. In this responsible office he has been nonpartisan in decisions, incorruptible in honor, earnest in devotion to duty and a humanitarian in his sympathies. His decisions not only represent logical, impartial knowledge of the law, but are also worthy of intellectual and moral praise. Besides being a lawyer and jurist he is a public-spirited citizen and nothing vital and important is alien to him.

The versatility of his abilities is shown by his proficiency in music. Through his efforts was organized the Eureka Choral Society, with a mem- bership of thirty, comprising some of the best singers in Humboldt county and forming an association that has promoted a knowledge of music among the people of Eureka. Equally interesting, but representing a different phase of his activity, is his membership in the Sequoia Yacht Club and the Humboldt Club. His family consists of wife and daughter, Janet Gertrude, the former having been Miss Gertrude Cooper, a native of Arcata and the daughter of John W. Cooper, a pioneer supervisor and prominent stockman of Hum- boldt county. The Eastern Star has had the capable co-operation of both Judge and Mrs. Connick, while other branches of Masonry to which he belongs are the local blue lodge, Royal Arch Chapter and Knights Templar

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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 31

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