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 42

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 42

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Sioux, at the battle of Wounded Knee, in December, 1890, when he was struck in the left leg by a Winchester ball, which he still carries. While in the army he was stationed at Forts Custer, Assiniboin, Beauford, Yates, Berthold, Meade, Abraham Lincoln, Reno, Sill and San Diego Barracks. It was while located at the latter place that he was married to Miss Grace Favorite, a native of the State of Washington.

At the outbreak of the Spanish-American War Mr. Helwig enlisted, in 1898, in the Tenth United States Infantry, his old regiment, serving in the Cuban campaign. On being mustered out, in 1899, he returned to his home in San Diego, but very soon thereafter removed to Arroyo Grande and opened a barber shop. The year 1901 found him the proprietor of a barber shop in the Grand Hotel at Eureka, where he continued for three years. Now, however, his place of business is .at No. 306 Second street and is known as the Metropole Shaving Parlor. It is strictly up-to-date, having every line of equipment necessary to make a complete barber shop, and Mr. Helwig has come to be regarded as one of the reliable and successful business men of the town. In 1906 he was made Vice-President of the Board of Directors on the organization of the Union Labor Hospital at Eureka. This structure, which is located at the corner of Harris and H streets, has been enlarged until the improvements and furnishings represent an expenditure of $40,000. It is one of the most modern structures of its kind in design and equipment, especial attention being given to sanitation, ventilation and light. It was built primarily for woods and sawmill men, but later the corporation decided to include those of other unions. The fee is only $10, which sum entitles them to all the benefits of the hospital, including nursing, medical attention, board and care. In 1910 Mr. Helwig was made President of the Board of Directors. He is likewise President of the Bonneville Gold Mining Company, and bids fair to be as successful in this as in his other numerous ventures. Fraternally he is a member of Eureka Aerie No. 130, F. O. E., of which he is Treasurer ; is Past Commander of the Knights of Pythias, and is connected with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and Loyal Order of Moose. He belongs to Major Frank S. Rice Camp No. 54 of the Spanish-American War Veterans, of which he is Quartermaster. For three years he was president of the Barbers' Union. Mr. Helwig is a Republican, but has never sought or accepted official position.

RICHARD ANDREW GREEN .- One of the energetic and public spir- ited business men of the thriving little city of Alliance is Richard Andrew Green, well known as a prosperous merchant and generally admired and re- spected for his sterling qualities as a man and a citizen and highly regarded as a business man of judgment, foresight and high standards. Mr. Green is a native of California, and has lived in various parts of the state, but has always returned to Humboldt county as the most desirable place to establish and maintain a permanent home.

Mr. Green was born in San Francisco, July 13, 1870, and in 1871 his parents removed to Humboldt county, locating in Arcata. They remained there for one year and then moved to Alliance, where they have since resided. The son attended the public schools of the village, and later entered the Eureka Business College, where he was graduated in December, 1891. Returning to his home in Alliance, Richard Green secured employment on one of the neigh- boring ranches, and for four years worked for the farmers of that district,

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learning the details of farm life and management. In 1895, on the organiza- tion of the Union Mercantile Company of Alliance, he became a stockholder and entered the employ of the company as secretary of the board of directors and clerk for the company. The building was completed and the store opened July 1, 1895. He continued with this company for four years, then accepting a position with the Great American Importing Tea Company and going to San Francisco, where he remained but a short time before he was transferred to Hanford, Cal., where he was placed in charge of that company's store there, October 1, 1899. He remained in this connection in Hanford for eighteen months, when he resigned his position and returned to Alliance, where he was employed at ranching for about a year.

It was in 1902 that Mr. Green engaged in the merchandising business in Alliance, and in this occupation he has since remained. At that time, in part- nership with W. J. Hill, he purchased the interests of the Union Mercantile Company of Alliance, and they carried on the business in the same building. Later in the same year Mr. Hill sold his half interest in the business to F. M. Janes, the firm being known as Janes & Green, engaged in general merchandis- ing. In 1911 another change was made in the partnership, Mr. Janes selling his interest to John Green, a brother of Richard Green, and the brothers have since conducted the business under the firm name of Green & Green. From a comparatively small beginning they have built up a large and flourishing trade, and have met with great success in their undertaking. They are well known throughout the valley, and their merchandise is of a high stand- ard of excellence.

Aside from his business interests Mr. Green is prominently associated with many of the affairs of the town and is regarded as one of the most influ- ential citizens. He is a member of the Arcata Tribe No. 156, I. O. R. M., of which he is a trustee. He is also prominent in the circles of the Woodmen of the World and is one of the managers of Arcata Camp No. 472. In politics Mr. Green is a Democrat and has been actively interested in political questions during his residence in Alliance. He is wide awake to all matters which pertain to the public welfare, and is well posted on questions of public interest. For the past twelve years he has been post-master of Alliance, and has given the greatest satisfaction in the discharge of his duties.

The marriage of Mr. Green took place in Blue Lake, June 4, 1899, uniting him with Sarah Ann Hogan. Mrs. Green is a native of Humboldt county, born in Mckinleyville, October 9, 1880. She is the mother of six children, all well known in Humboldt county, where they have many friends. They are Margaret Ellen, John Andrew, Richard James, William Francis, Cecil Irving and Harold Joseph.

Mr. Green comes of one of the oldest pioneer families of the county. His father was John Green, a native of Ireland, born in County Clare, in 1837. He followed farming in Ireland and while he was yet a young man went to Australia, where he remained for a short time before coming to California. He located in Humboldt county and for a time worked in the woods and the lumber camps, later purchasing a ranch near Arcata, which is now the home- place, and on which he engaged in farming until his death in 1901. His wife, the mother of the present honored citizen of Alliance, was Margaret Haugh, also a native of County Clare, who still makes her home in Arcata. She was the mother of nine children, all of whom are living, Richard A. being the second in order of birth.

This JM. Burns

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THOMAS MILES BURNS .- Known throughout Humboldt county as the owner of Burns ranch at Bridgeville, Thomas Miles Burns is also known as one of the largest sheep and cattle growers of the district, as well as one of the leaders in the affairs of the Republican party and an acknowledged power for good in his community. He takes an active interest in all the governmental affairs of his home county and also of the state, and while never seeking official preferment, yet is one of those who directs the policies of the Republican party in Humboldt county, which naturally is strongly Republican. He is a man of great executive ability and a natural leader of men and affairs and his splendid grasp of large situations, his foresight and judgment are valuable assets to any cause with which he may see fit to ally himself. He has for many years been engaged extensively in breeding Merino sheep and has made an unusual success of this undertaking. He is making a specialty of raising thoroughbred Rambouillet, Delane and Ameri- can or Spanish Merino sheep, keeping them in separate flocks; he finds a ready sale for his splendid proportioned rams in different parts of California. Recently he has been running strongly to cattle, owing to the serious inroads made on the sheep by coyotes, mountain lions and other beasts of prey in the mountain ranges, where heretofore he has grazed large numbers of his flocks. He is raising a cross of the Red Polled, Durham and Hereford cattle. He owns and operates a ranch of some fifty-seven hundred eighty acres on the Van Dusen river at Bridgeville, but his residence and headquarters are located three quarters of a mile south of Bridgeville. It runs back to Burr creek on the south and Larabee creek on the north, and is also well watered by numerous other streams and springs.

Mr. Burns came to California in 1849, starting from Henry county, Tenn., with his parents when he was a lad of nine. His father, William Henry Burns, was a native of Mississippi, while his mother was Caroline Griffith of Tennessee, where his parents were married. There were born to them four children, three of whom grew to maturity and are now living in this state. They are: Laura, now the wife of Henry Furry, retired, and living in Sacramento; Thomas M., the subject of this sketch; and Daniel M., who was secretary of state at the time George C. Perkins was governor of Cali- fornia ; he resides in San Francisco, and is extensively interested in mining, being the owner of two silver mines in Durango, Mexico.

Thomas M. Burns was born in Henry county, Tenn., December 15, 1839. When he was nine years old the family, consisting of the parents and four children, started for California with ox teams in the spring of 1849. The father was taken ill while crossing the plains and at Ft. Hall he died. The mother and children made their way onward and settled in Sacramento, which at that time was practically a city of tents, there being very few houses of any description. One of the children soon sickened and died, and within the year the mother also fell a victim to cholera and died. The children were then put out in different families, Thomas and Daniel being together in the family of a man named Sullivan. Later Daniel was with a family named Selkirk and Thomas M. went with the firm of Frink & Alsip, stockmen and dairymen, with a large ranch eight miles north of Sacramento, on the Nevada road. There he worked in a dairy, farmed and cared for stock, meantime learning all the fundamentals of the business in which he has

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since been engaged so successfully. This firm also had a very large dairy ranch two miles south of Sacramento from which they supplied the city with milk. Later this firm purchased a property on the west side of the Sac- ramento river, below Rio Vista, Solano county, in the Montezuma hills, com- prising about two thousand acres, and upon this they removed their stock and dairy enterprise. They milked about one hundred cows, making butter and cheese, which they shipped to San Francisco by boat. Besides dairying they also carried on farming and stock-raising. Mr. Burns' sister Laura lived with a family named Travers near Woodland, where they owned a ranch of two hundred acres. She was married to Henry Furry there, and later Thomas M. went to Woodland and engaged in farming with his brother-in-law, rent- ing the Travers ranch and another place of three hundred acres near Cash- ville belonging to a man named Low. After two years he gave up the man- agement of these ranches, and in 1870 came into Humboldt county and bought a range-right from Sam Hogan. As soon as the surveys were made he also took up and used his own rights, purchasing from the government and neighbors, until he became the owner of his present splendid tract of fifty-seven hundred and eighty acres. He has raised as many as three thou- sand sheep, together with some cattle and horses, but is now working more heavily into cattle, owing to the increasing annoyance from coyotes and other wild animals that prey upon the sheep. He plans in the future to keep about eight hundred head of thoroughbred sheep and to run them on the home ranch, while the outer ranges will be given over to cattle and horses. In his sheep industry, as stated before, he is breeding the three strains of Merino sheep, i. e., Rambouillet, Delane and American Merinos, bringing in new blood from choicest flocks of different states, thus securing the finest bred rams and ewes.

The marriage of Mr. Burns occurred in January, 1883, uniting him with Miss Minnie E. Brown, of Humboldt county, a granddaughter of the cele- brated John Brown, the great abolitionist and martyr of slavery, one of the most historic characters in American history. Mr. and Mrs. Thomas M. Burns have three children, two sons and a daughter, all well known in Hum- boldt county : Edwin M. is married to Miss May Hufford, and they have two children, Mildred Anna and Thomas Monroe; this son is associated with his father in the management of the ranch; Nellie G. is the wife of George Sturm, also associated with the elder Mr. Burns in the ranching business ; and Charles L., who resides in San Francisco. The mother died in 1902, at the age of thirty-eight years.

Mr. Burns takes an active part in all local questions of importance, and is always allied with any movement for progress and general upbuilding. He is keenly alive to the advantages of good schools, and has rendered val- uable service as a member of the local school board. He has received many evidences of the confidence of his political constituents, and many oppor- tunities have been given him for nominations for high offices in the county, but these he has always declined, preferring rather to serve as a private citizen. He has, however, been a member of the county Republican central committee, and stands high in the confidence of his party throughout the state. In his business life Mr. Burns has always been especially successful. He is preeminently a self-made man, making his way as he was obliged to do from earliest childhood. He has forged steadily ahead, always along

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broad constructive lines, and his present success is builded on a firm foun- dation of honesty, integrity, and thorough application to business.

JOHN O'NEILL .- The Eureka Marble & Granite Works, established thirty years ago by John O'Neill, have been conducted the greater part of that time by Mr. O'Neill, who is the manager of the company. A man of sub- stantial qualities and sterling integrity, he has been looked up to by the large circle of his acquaintance, and has been one of the respected and influ- ential business men of Humboldt county for years. Side by side with his personal ambitions and endeavors, he has kept the good of his city and county at heart and is known as one of the enterprising citizens of his adopted home, where he settled in October, 1884.

Mr. O'Neill was born in St. George, Charlotte county, New Brunswick, July 6, 1852, son of Arthur and Hannah (Barry) O'Neill, both natives of Ireland. John O'Neill can barely remember his father, as he was but a child when the latter died. He was a tailor by occupation. The family consisted of six children, four sons and two daughters, of whom John was the fourth in order of birth. His brother, William E. O'Neill, is also a resident of Eureka. The mother died in New Brunswick twenty years ago.

John O'Neill received a common-school education and remained at home until seventeen years of age, when he went to Clearfield county, Pa., and was employed at lumbering for two years. At the end of this time he returned to St. George and for two years was employed in surveying logs for the River de Lue Railroad Company on the Merimichi river. He then apprenticed himself at the granite business in St. George, and afterward, in the fall after the fire of 1876, cut stone in St. John. After his return to St. George he engaged in the granite business for himself and while thus engaged became a stockholder and director in a company organized to build the Grand South- ern Railroad from St. John to St. Stephen. He acted as secretary of the company most of the time until the road was completed and turned over to its bondholders. He then sold out his business and came to Eureka, and since October of that year has made his home in this favored region, for to him "Humboldt county is the greatest county on earth." Organizing the Eureka Marble & Granite Works the year of his arrival, associated with his brother-in-law, T. L. Coffey, who remained only a short time, Mr. O'Neill continued his connection with the business for the next twenty-two years. After running it alone for fifteen years, he took L. M. Klepper into partnership. When Mr. O'Neill decided to make a change, in 1906, he sold his entire interest to Mr. Klepper. After being retired for about three years he became president of the McKay Steamship Company, with offices at Eureka. In this association he was successful, managing their affairs satisfactorily until the company went out of business. Afterwards he was induced to re-enter the marble business as manager of the Eureka Marble & Granite Works, which position he is filling at the present time. The works occupy a spacious structure of modern construction located at Nos. 1501-1509 Fifth street and very com- pletely equipped with the latest stone-cutting and polishing machinery. The size and appointments of the establishment speak well for the spirit of progress which characterizes the business men of Eureka, for few towns of the same class can boast such pretentious works in a similar line of business. However, the constantly growing interests of the city and county will appre- ciate the existence of so modern a plant within reach. The firm deals in all

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kinds of marble and granite and does cemetery and building work, making a specialty of mausoleums, vaults, monuments and tablets. Mr. O'Neill has been the guiding spirit in the conduct of the works and justly, for he is a man whose opinion is sought and valued, his judgment on business matters being considered sound by those who should know. His foresight has reaped the reward of his policy of conservative progress. His unswerving honesty and integrity have inspired the respect and confidence of all who have had dealings with him in any association. His love and admiration for Eureka and Humboldt county are well known by his friends, who know he may be counted upon to give his aid and influence to every well-intended project for the development of the city and county. His ambition, energy and high moral character have combined to make him one of their most desirable citizens as was shown by his election in December, 1913, as presi- dent of Humboldt Chamber of Commerce, a position his years of experience and abiding faith in the wonderful resources of the county so well qualify him to fill.

Mr. O'Neill identified himself with the Republican party in 1896, having been a Democrat previous to that time, but is now an Independent in politics. He was married to Miss Julia Coffey, also a native of St. George, and they have two children living: John, who is engaged in fruit growing and resides at home, and Arthur Edward, an accountant with the San Joaquin Light & Power Company, in charge of their Corcoran office. Mr. and Mrs. O'Neill have a most comfortable residence at No. 3501 California street. They are Catholics in religious faith, belonging to St. Bernard's church at Eureka, and he is a charter member of the Knights of Columbus and the Young Men's Institute, and served as the first Grand Knight of the former.

WHITING G. PRESS .- The California climate, while not valued in dollars and cents in the list of the resources of the state, has never been considered a negligible factor in her wealth. The variety of opportunities offered for capital and labor on the Pacific coast is almost infinite, and those who come to this favored region seeking ideal conditions for wholesome living are seldom disappointed. One of the best known figures in the busi- ness and manufacturing life of Eureka, Humboldt county, today, was at- tracted hither by the equable, temperate atmosphere, and with the quick com- prehension of the trained judge of commercial possibilities soon became impressed with the abundance of good things with which nature endowed this section. His interest took the concrete form of investment, and there are now two large plants in this part of the state as the result of his activities : the shingle mill of the Whiting G. Press Company at Eureka, and the pack- ing house of W. G. Press & Co., salmon packers, at Requa, some fifty miles or so up the coast, at the mouth of the Klamath river. Whiting G. Press is at the head of both concerns. He is a Chicago man, who resides in Eureka during the summer season.

Mr. Press has had an energetic career. Born September 29, 1847, near Coldwater, in Branch county, Mich., he is a son of William H. Press, a native of Rochester, N. Y., who married in that state and moved out to Branch county in 1828. He was a farmer by occupation and lived under pioneer con- ditions in his new home. Whiting G. Press was born in a log house. with- out stove or other modern comforts, his mother cooking by the fireplace. He left home when a youth of sixteen, and when eighteen went out to Jesup,

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Iowa, where he worked on a farm for two months. Returning to Michigan he taught school for a short time, in a log building, and also attended Hills- dale (Mich.) College, at which institution he was a fellow student of the late Will Carleton, poet and editor. In his nineteenth year he went back to Iowa, where he became engaged as an insurance solicitor, working under William Trembor, of Freeport, Ill., manager of the Winneshiek Fire Insur- ance Company of Freeport, Ill., traveling a year and a half for this concern. In this short period he had managed to save several thousand dollars, and, being ambitious to do something for himself, went to Yankton, in what was then Dakota territory (now South Dakota), taking up a preemption claim and homestead in Yankton county, about six miles north of the city. He farmed, conducted a number of real estate operations, and founded the Dakota Ad- vertiser at Yankton during the few years of his residence there, devoting his paper to immigration items, general news and information concerning the development and upbuilding of the region. In this connection especially he became acquainted with the leading spirits of the times there, including such famous old-time characters as General Beadle, who was one of Mr. Press's intimate friends and the principal contributor to the Advertiser ; Governor Burbank; Judge Brookings; ex-Senator Frank Pettigrew of South Dakota; the notorious Alexander McKenzie of North Dakota; and Gen. Edwin S. McCook, who was shot by Wintermuth. Mr. Press was standing beside General McCook at the time of the shooting. After two successive dry seasons, during which the clouds of grasshoppers were so thick they "obscured the sun," he found the few thousand dollars capital with which he had entered Dakota in 1871 swept away, and thoroughly discouraged he left the territory in the fall of 1874 with thirty-seven dollars and fifty cents in his pocket. He was practically "broke" when he arrived at his destination, Chicago, Ill., but he has reason to consider the incident one of the most for- tunate in his career. His pluck and everlasting enterprise had not deserted him and he hardly had time to realize his misfortune before he was on his feet again. At the corner of Van Buren and State streets he stopped to read a sign, "Agents Wanted." Upon inquiry he found men were wanted to sell woven wire mattresses and was at once engaged. On his very first trip, which took him over Illinois and Iowa, he met with record-breaking success, his sales amounting to more than those of any other three salesmen com- bined. When the Woven Wire Mattress Company was organized he became a heavy stockholder and manager of the concern, having the direction of its affairs for three and a half years, during which it prospered so well that his profits amounted to sixty-six thousand dollars. The mattresses were intro- duced all over the United States.

Mr. Press's subsequent experiences have been varied and almost uni- formly successful. Having acquired sufficient capital to embark upon more extensive operations, he formed a partnership with S. R. Boardman, then a Chicago lumberman and banker, and under the name of Boardman & Press they did a successful business as grain and stock brokers in Chicago for two years, having their offices at No. 154 LaSalle street. They dealt in stocks and bonds. About this time Mr. Boardman had to take over the management of the Cincinnati, Effingham & Quincy Railroad, the company having defaulted to him, and Mr. Press took the presidency of the company, which he suc- ceeded in putting on its feet again after three years of skillful, systematic

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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 42

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