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 34
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72 | Part 73 | Part 74 | Part 75 | Part 76 | Part 77 | Part 78 | Part 79 | Part 80 | Part 81 | Part 82 | Part 83 | Part 84 | Part 85 | Part 86 | Part 87 | Part 88 | Part 89 | Part 90 | Part 91 | Part 92 | Part 93 | Part 94 | Part 95 | Part 96 | Part 97 | Part 98 | Part 99 | Part 100 | Part 101 | Part 102 | Part 103 | Part 104 | Part 105 | Part 106 | Part 107 | Part 108 | Part 109 | Part 110 | Part 111 | Part 112 | Part 113 | Part 114 | Part 115 | Part 116 | Part 117 | Part 118 | Part 119 | Part 120 | Part 121 | Part 122 | Part 123 | Part 124 | Part 125 | Part 126 | Part 127 | Part 128 | Part 129 | Part 130 | Part 131 | Part 132 | Part 133 | Part 134 | Part 135 | Part 136 | Part 137 | Part 138 | Part 139 | Part 140 | Part 141 | Part 142 | Part 143 | Part 144 | Part 145 | Part 146 | Part 147 | Part 148
280
HISTORY OF HUMBOLDT COUNTY
and passenger agent. In fraternal relations he is connected with the Elks and Woodmen of the World. His marriage in 1894 united him with Miss Inez Stearns, who was born in Bradford, Maine, and by whom he has one son, John C. Baird.
HON. PIERCE HOWARD RYAN, SR .- Through years of effort in private mercantile affairs Major Ryan was equally effective in other activities and the same qualities that distinguished his business record were con- spicuous in his political life. The Ryan family is of ancient Celtic lineage and he himself was proud to claim Ireland as his native land, yet there could be found no citizen more loyal to the United States and particularly to Cali- fornia than this almost lifelong resident of the new world and pioneer of the west. At the time he was brought across the ocean by his father he was a child of three years and his carly recollections were of Boston, where he received his education and where he married. It was not long after the dis- covery of gold in the west that he resolved to leave the Atlantic coast for that of the Pacific and so the cosmopolitan tent city of San Francisco became his temporary headquarters early in the '50s, while in 1855, at the age of twenty- four years, he arrived in Humboldt county, self-reliant and thoroughly capable of earning a livelihood by business enterprise. Mercantile pursuits engaged his attention throughout the balance of his busy and all too brief existence. As the founder of the firm of Ryan & Dawson, which was later absorbed by the Ryan Dry Goods Company, and the proprietor of the concern popularly known as the White House, he was a pioneer merchant of Eureka and a leader in all the movements for the enlarging of patronage and the attracting of country customers to this excellent trading place.
Many men would have found the management and developing of such a business an all-sufficient task, but Mr. Ryan found ample leisure for par- ticipation in public enterprises and political movements, in addition to filling the office of commissioned major of the National Guard in California, a position that gave him the title by which he was generally known. At the time of his arrival in Eureka he found the city absolutely without fire pro- tection and one of his first acts was to promote and assist in the organization of the volunteer fire department, a company that later did much to prevent undue loss by fire in the city. A forceful public speaker, with the ready wit of the Hibernian and the eloquence so often noted in the race, he united with this gift a splendid command of language, a thorough familiarity with national problems, a keen insight into the best methods of meeting public needs and an intense desire to promote the welfare of his county. As a member of the state assembly for one term and as state senator for two terms, he ably represented the interests of this district in the state legislature, where he promoted many valuable measures and was the author of the logging lien law to protect the rights of laborers in logging camps. His helpful life came to an end in 1889, when he was fifty-eight years of age and removed from Humboldt county one of its leading men, whose name is worthy of remem- brance in local annals. By his marriage to Annie B. Rice, who was born in Nova Scotia and died in Humboldt county in May, 1913, he had six children, three of whom, Pierce H., Jr., George R. and Margaret I., are now living.
Pierce Howard Ryan, Jr., now city attorney of Eureka, was born in this city December 28, 1873, received a high school education here and in 1896 was graduated from the law department of the University of Michigan at
281
HISTORY OF HUMBOLDT COUNTY
Ann Arbor, being admitted during the same year to practice before the supreme court of California. Elected city attorney of Eureka, in 1897, he was afterward chosen his own successor for four successive terms. In the practice of his profession he has gained a reputation, not only as an orator, but also as one of the leading lawyers of Northern California. He is a widower with one son, Pierce Howard, representing the fourth generation to bear that name in the Ryan family. Fraternally Mr. Ryan is identified with the Eagles and Elks, of which latter fraternity he is Exalted Ruler of Eureka Lodge, while along investment lines he has become associated with the Humboldt National Bank as a stockholder and director.
HAROLD GORDON GROSS, B. S., M. D .- In his twenty and more years of successful medical practice at Eureka and in that vicinity Dr. Gross has done more than to acquire a high professional reputation. He has worked with his brother physicians for the advancement of the projects which they have learned to believe will conserve the resources of the community by promoting efficiency, and he has co-operated with his fellow citizens generally in popular movements which have had the object of elevating social con- ditions or standards of living. As a private enterprise, outside of his pro- fessional work, he has been carrying on ranching on a large scale, owning the Butler Valley ranch, near Maple creek, this county, and though its opera- tions are becoming rather extensive, he has enjoyed supervising them and taken keen pleasure in watching the development of this beautiful property.
Dr. Gross is of Canadian birth, a native of Sussex Vale, near Fredericton, New Brunswick, born September 1, 1867. In May, 1876, he came with his mother to Humboldt county, Cal., so that the greater part of his early educa- tion was received in the public schools in Eureka. In the year 1884 he went east to attend the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, at Boston, Mass., where he was graduated in 1888 with the degree of B. S. He had his profes- sional preparation in the medical department of Harvard University, Cam- bridge, Mass., graduating in 1891 with the degree of M. D. For some years following his graduation he was interne in the City hospital at Boston, but he returned to Eureka in 1893 to enter general practice, being thus engaged until within the last few years. Recently he took a thorough course at the Manhattan Hospital College, New York City, in diseases of the eye, ear, nose and throat, and has since made a specialty of their treatment. Dr. Gross has been one of the interested workers in establishing ideal conditions at the Sequoia hospital, an institution of which Eureka has reason to be very proud, and he is serving as one of its staff as well as a director. His interest in all the activities of his profession is shown by his membership in the Humboldt County Medical Society, the California State Medical Society and the Ameri- can Medical Association. He is assistant surgeon for the Northwestern Pa- cific Railroad and a member of the Pacific Association of Railway Surgeons. During a busy career he has found many opportunities for helpful service in the course of his daily work, and he has been unselfish in attending to his patients and untiring in his efforts to give them the benefit of the most skillful modern treatment. He is very conscientious in keeping up-to-date in his profession.
The Doctor's fine property, the Butler valley ranch, near Maple creek, comprises sixteen hundred acres of valuable land, the greater part of which is still in timber, one hundred and fifty acres being in arable condition. Ten
282
HISTORY OF HUMBOLDT COUNTY
acres have been planted in Spitzenberg apples. He has gone into dairying to some extent, having a herd of registered Jersey cattle, many of the Island strain. This fact is typical of everything that has been undertaken on the place. Dr. Gross is working toward the development of a model ranch, and he has made a wise beginning. He has acquired other business interests, being a director in the Humboldt Steamship Company.
In Eureka, July 22, 1898, Dr. Gross married Miss Lena Sweasey, a native daughter of this city, and they have a family of three children. James, Marian and Katherine.
HON. FREDERICK W. GEORGESON .- The name of Georgeson needs no introduction to the citizens of Humboldt county on account of the diversity of accomplishments that have been brought about or at least made possible through the efforts of Mr. Georgeson in the line of agriculture, milling and banking, as well as in his public capacity of mayor. However, it is un- doubtedly true that the accomplishment that meant the most to the largest number of people was the part which he played in bringing to fruition the building of the railroad into Eureka. He worked unceasingly in the gather- ing of data regarding income and advantages to be derived from the extension of the road of the Northwestern Pacific from San Francisco to Eureka, and had it not been for the determination and persistency of Mr. Georgeson and his colleagues of the Humboldt County Railway Promotion committee it is probable that the road would not have materialized for at least twenty years.
In the veins of Mr. Georgeson flows the blood of Scotch ancestors and he himself is a native of that country, his birth occurring in Walls, Shetland Islands, Scotland, September 16, 1858, son of George and Catherine (Mouat) Georgeson, both of whom were descendants of old and honorable families in that country. The father was a prosperous merchant and ship-owner, owning several vessels which were engaged in cod and herring fishing. It had been the father's most cherished wish that the son would settle down in his native country and to that end he had laid elaborate plans, but these were destined to go unfulfilled, for in the meantime the son had had visions of even brighter prospects in the new world, and at the age of eighteen he bade farewell to home and friends and set out for the United States. When he arrived at his destination in California he had just $20 left from the allowance which his father had given him, but he was not disturbed regarding the condition of his finances. Going to Sonoma county he turned his hand to whatever offered an honest livelihood, his chief occupation being as a clerk, following this also in Mendocino county, whither he went from Sonoma county. After another short stay in the last mentioned county he came to Humboldt county, in 1879, going directly to Blocksburg, where at the instigation of Mr. Helmke, for whom he worked in Sonoma county, he opened a merchandise business in which they were both interested. The business proved a splendid success and was continued for six years. With the means which Mr. Georgeson had in the meantime accumulated he was able to devote his attention to a line of business which had always been especially interesting to him, namely the wool business, with which he also had more or less to do while engaged in the merchandise business, wool being one of the commodities handled. He was thus enabled to make a special study of the various grades and became further familiar with the business by learning the mountain trails and becom- ing acquainted with the inhabitants. It has been said that no wool buyer in
INGeorges
285
HISTORY OF HUMBOLDT COUNTY
the west traveled more miles or more thoroughly investigated the manage- ment of the sheep business than did he. As a representative of the firm of Shubert, Beale & Co., he traveled throughout the counties of Humboldt, Mendocino, Sonoma, in the Sacramento and San Joaquin valleys, as well as in the states of Nevada and Oregon, his purchases at times amounting to one million pounds of wool a day. This business declined when the tariff upon wool was reduced, and finally, after a service of ten years with the firm mentioned, he resigned his position and in Eureka resumed wool operations, making purchases for a large eastern firm. Finally, however, he abandoned the business altogether, in 1896, and at the same time identified himself with the Humboldt County Bank. After the death of Cashier Libby he was elected to fill the office thus vacated, a position which he filled acceptably for twelve years. Subsequently he served as president of this institution for five years, from 1905 to 1911.
In 1910 Mr. Georgeson bought his present ranch of three hundred acres near Pepperwood, on Eel river, which is one of the show places of Humboldt county. Here he has erected a fine two-story country residence, with the suitable outbuildings, besides which he has built a laurel sawmill and a red- wood shingle mill. As a protection to his ranch from the washing of the waters of the Eel river he has built a system of jetties at a cost of about $10,000, which will protect his land against the further ravages of the turbulent Eel river. His land is as fertile as the valley of the Nile, and on it he raises alfalfa to perfection without irrigation, and he is enabled to cut four or five crops a year. It is his intention to keep and milk two hundred cows, an undertaking which will bring his income up to $20,000 per annum. It is not too great praise to say that he has one of the finest ranches in the county, and he is constantly on the lookout to improve its fertility and pro- ductive capacity.
As an indication of the regard in which he is held by his fellow-citizens came his election to the office of mayor of Eureka in 1911. He filled the office to the entire satisfaction of those who had been responsible for his election, and he was solicited to continue in the office, but repeated solicitation was unavailing, as his personal interests demanded his constant attention and necessitated his removal to Pepperwood, hence the impossibility of again becoming a candidate for the office.
On November 26, 1886, Mr. Georgeson married Miss Ellen T. Thompson, a native of Iowa, where their marriage took place. She was the daughter of J. F. Thompson, an account of whose many accomplishments will be found in his sketch, elsewhere in this volume. Three children have been born of the marriage of Mr. and Mrs. Georgeson: Franklin T., an architect of high repute in Eureka, a graduate of the department of architecture at Berkeley, and an account of whose life will be found in this volume; Donald, who is employed in the office of the Standard, having full charge of that paper ; and Frederick W., Jr., at home with his parents. In addition to the many interests already enumerated Mr. Georgeson owns the Larabee tract, containing two hundred twenty acres, which he is now subdividing and selling off in five, ten and twenty acre tracts. This property is located on Larabee creek ' tributary to Eel river, is rich in soil and well adapted to horticulture and agriculture, especially the raising of alfalfa and potatoes. Mr. Georgeson was made a Mason in Humboldt Lodge No. 79, F. & A. M., Eureka, exalted
286
HISTORY OF HUMBOLDT COUNTY
to R. A. degree in Humboldt Chapter No. 53, R. A. M., is a member of Eureka Commandery No. 35, K. T .; Oakland Consistory, Scottish Rite, and Islam Temple, A. A. O. N. M. S., San Francisco; also Eureka Lodge No. 652, B. P. O. E.
Through his own earnest perseverance and adherence to high principles in all of his transactions he has carved out for himself a career which he may well look back upon with pride, and is today in possession of the well deserved respect and confidence of the entire community.
HON. JOHN H. G. WEAVER .- To have been chosen the first president of the Humboldt County Bar Association and to have been retained in the office as its sole incumbent is no slight honor, and it is a matter worthy of more than trivial mention that one should be prominently associated with the bar of the same city for a period of nearly forty years, taking charge of cases that involve legal technicalities, winning frequent victories in the most exacting and intricate court trials, and rising into prominence as advocate and counselor. Such honors have come to Mr. Weaver and such prominence has been his in a long association with the bar of Eureka and Humboldt county, where he has been a resident through years of successful activity. In seeking a location for the practice of law he came west from Michigan, where his previous life had been passed and his education obtained. A native of Coldwater, Branch county, that state, he was born September 6, 1846, and was attending school at the outbreak of the Civil war. At the age of eighteen years, February 22, 1865, he enlisted as a private in Company I, Eleventh Michigan Infantry, Army of the Cumberland. He served until after the close of the war, when he was mustered out and honorably discharged September 23, 1865. After he had completed the studies of the high schools at Quincy and Coldwater, Mich., he took the scientific course in Hillsdale College and was graduated in 1872 with the degree of B. S. Having begun the study of law in an office at Coldwater, he later entered the University of Michigan, from which he was graduated with the degree of LL. B. in 1874. During the same year he was admitted to practice before the courts of Michigan. Im- mediately thereafter he removed to Kansas and was principal of La Cygne Schools for two years.
A school teacher at Arcata for a year after his arrival in Humboldt county during April of 1876, Mr. Weaver came to Eureka in 1877 and has engaged in law practice here ever since. The Republican party has had in him an experienced and wise local leader and he has been deservedly conspicuous in all of the party affairs here. For one term he served as city attorney of Eureka and in the sessions of 1883 and 1885 he represented the county as assemblyman in the state legislature. Fraternally he was made a Mason in La Cygne (Kan.) Lodge, but since 1878 he has been a member of Humboldt Lodge No. 79, F. & A. M. Since 1886 he has been honored with the office of commander of Colonel Whipple Post No. 49, G. A. R., at Eureka, and in all of that period he has led the Grand Army in its local philanthropies, its kindnesses to the living and its tributes of honor for the dead. By his mar- riage to Miss Flora Williams, a native of Indiana, he has two daughters, Charlotte and Bonita, both graduates of the University of California and young ladies of culture, training and accomplishments. The younger daughter at present is a teacher in the Madera (Cal.) high school.
287
HISTORY OF HUMBOLDT COUNTY
GEORGE W. OWSLEY .- Almost phenomenally successful in his various undertakings, and especially so in his real estate ventures, George W. Owsley, of the firm of Hunter & Owsley, of Eureka, is today one of the leading men of that vicinity and of Humboldt county. He was for a number of years asso- ciated with the lumber industry, when a young man, and now owns extensive timber lands in this county. He also owns valuable farm lands, and has mining interests in Alaska which are as yet undeveloped but are undoubt- edly of great value. He has been closely associated with the financial and commercial life of Eureka for many years and is accredited as one of the most reliable and trustworthy members of the community. He is prominent in all matters which tend toward the development of the community and municipal progress and social betterment, and is a prominent factor in the governmental affairs of the city.
Mr. Owsley is a native of Illinois, having been born in Pike county, October 11, 1861. His father was William Owsley and his mother Deborah (Johnson) Owsley. The father was a farmer and when George W. was five years old he removed with his family to Holt county, Mo., where the son grew to manhood. The father died many years ago in Missouri, and the mother passed her last years in Eureka, at the home of her son. There were eight children in the family, of whom only three are living at the present time: the respected citizen of Eureka, and two sisters, who reside in San Francisco.
The boyhood days of Mr. Owsley were spent in Missouri on his father's farm, where he assisted with the farm work and attended the public schools in his district. When nineteen years of age he determined to come to Cali- fornia, and made the trip alone, reaching Sacramento in 1880. There he remained for three months, when he came to Eureka, and has since that time made his home in Humboldt county. For a time he worked in the woods, being first employed by Charles Hill. Later he was employed in the con- struction work of the railroad on Elk river.
The marriage of Mr. Owsley took place at Bridgeville, Cal., uniting him with Miss Lizzie Donaldson, a native of Oregon, and the daughter of William and Martha Donaldson. Her parents removed from Portland, Ore., to Eureka when she was but four years of age, and she grew to womanhood in Hum- boldt county, receiving her education in the public schools. She has borne her husband three children, Grace, Mamie and Le Roy.
Following his marriage Mr. Owsley lived for a time at Rohnerville, where he made his home for some twenty-four years. During the great mining excitement of 1898 he went to Alaska on a prospecting trip but returned that same fall. IIe then engaged in the real estate business at Rohnerville, buying and selling real estate and making a specialty of redwood lands. He has become heavily interested in timber lands and at present owns one thousand and five acres of tan oak and pine, two hundred acres of which is good pro- ducing farm land. He also owns much other real estate and residence prop- erty, including a ranch of one hundred and eighty acres on Elk river, a residence property in Ferndale, and a residence in Eureka, where he makes his home.
In addition to his timber and land interests Mr. Owsley is associated with various financial and commercial interests in Eureka and is one of the stockholders in the Humboldt National Bank in Eureka. He is also part owner
288
HISTORY OF HUMBOLDT COUNTY
in a gold and ruby mining property in Alaska which promises to prove of great value. There are ten members of the corporation and altogether their property covers an area of four thousand acres.
Both Mr. and Mrs. Owsley are well known throughout Humboldt county, and in Eureka they are especially well and favorably known and possess a wide circle of warm friends. Mrs. Owsley has been her husband's close com- panion and true helpmeet through all the years of their married life, and he gives her credit for a large measure of his splendid success. He has won his way up through the force of his own energy, his ability and willingness to work hard and his determination to carry out any undertaking that he enters upon. His judgment is clear and logical, and this has enabled him to make his investments in such a manner that his returns have been certain and have come soon. Altogether he is one of the most desirable citizens that Humboldt county boasts and is today a power for progress and well-being in the community.
FRANK R. SWEASEY-Of the law firm of Leiss & Sweasey, in San Francisco, is a Humboldt county "boy" who is making so good that the home folks are quite justified in feeling proud of him. Mr. Sweasey is the son of Richard and Annie M. (Wilson) Sweasey, and was born in Eureka, December 20, 1875. He received his early education in the Eureka public schools, and still keeps in close and friendly touch with the friends and com- panions of those "barefoot" days. After graduating from high school he com- pleted a three years' scientific course at the University of California. After- wards he entered the law department of the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor, from which he was graduated in 1900, with the degree of LL. B.
Although he chose an eastern school for his alma mater, this loyal son never for a moment contemplated deserting his native state, and immediately on receiving his sheep-skin he returned to San Francisco, where he was admitted to the bar and began the practice of law in 1901, being associated with Nathan H. Frank, the leading maritime lawyer of San Francisco; there- after for five years he was in the office of Gillett & Cutler, and for two years of that time was in charge of their Eureka office. In 1909-10 he was appointed the first attorney for the Superintendent of Banks of the State of California, serving under the then Superintendent Alden Anderson. Mr. Sweasey formed his present partnership with Mr. Emil Leiss in 1912, under the firm name of Leiss & Sweasey, and together they have builded a most enviable business reputation.
Mr. Sweasey, despite his business success and popularity in the Golden Gate city, has never forgotten Eureka, or lost his affectionate interest in the affairs of Humboldt county. He still maintains his business relations with his native city, and has many interests here. Probably the most important of these is the Humboldt Steamship Company, of which he is secretary and member of the board of directors.
The greatest compliment which he has paid to his home county, how- ever, lies in the fact that he chose his wife from among her daughters, the present Mrs. Sweasey being the former Miss Barbara Ann McLeod, native of Fortuna, Humboldt county. In San Francisco both Mr. and Mrs. Sweasey have a wide circle of friends, and Mr. Sweasey is a member of the San Fran- cisco Bar Association, the Commonwealth Club and the Economic Club, the latter two numbering among their membership the most influential and pro- gressive men of California ..
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.