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 47

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 47

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he is still connected with their operation. Mr. Soulé has always used his influence in financial circles to place local business on a sound footing, and whenever possible has aided the merchants and other business men of the town by accommodations when in his judgment conditions could be worked out to the best advantage by so doing. He is conservative to a proper degree, but experience has taught him that generosity and unselfishness are not in- compatible with good business methods, and this policy has been instru- mental in making many progressive movements successful. In this respect, as much as in the discharge of public duties directly intrusted to him, he has shown an exemplary degree of public spirit.

In 1891, when the Humboldt chamber of commerce was organized, Mr. Soulé was one of the organizers, and served as trustee and treasurer con- tinuously until the present time, except the year 1904, when he served as president. He belonged to this organization at the time it secured an appro- priation from the Federal government for the improvement of Humboldt Bar, and as such assisted in securing the enactment of legislation giving the sum of $1,750,000 for the construction of the jetty and the deepening of the channel. This was subsequently augmented by $1,037,000 and recently by a further sum of $500,000. He was one of the movers in the formation of the Humboldt County Development Committee, which is doing effective work. Other enterprises in which he has been interested are the Eureka Water Company and the Skinner-Duprey Drug Company, in both of which he has been a director. He was one of the committee of citizens chosen to solicit a donation for a free public library building for Eureka, and the handsome library obtained is a credit to the city and to those who gave their services to secure it. Mr. Soulé has been a prominent member of the Humboldt Club, took an active part in founding it, was made a trustee at the time of its organization, and has since served a term as president. Fraternally he is a member of the Elks and the Masons, in the latter connection belonging to the Knights Templar and the Shrine ; he has attained the thirty-second degree. On political questions Mr. Soulé is a Republican.

On August 6, 1872, Mr. Soulé was married, at Hamilton, in White Pine county, Nev., to Mrs. Mary A. (Herriott) Kennedy, daughter of Ephraim and Frances (Waugh) Herriott. She is a native of Pennsylvania. The only child of this union, Amy D. Soulé, is the wife of H. W. Lownsberry, of San Jose, Cal., who has two daughters, Eleth Agnes, born in 1898, and Carmine Soulé, born in 1906.

BYRON DEMING .- The pioneer of '50 is the recipient of special honors and the subject of particular distinction in California. Few of that brave band are living today and those that survive have witnessed the wonderful growth of our fair state. They have seen the going of the old ox team and the com- ing of the steam train and have seen changes that seem more wonderful than a tale from the Arabian Nights. After more than half a century of life in California, Mr. Deming may well be called the pioneer of Humboldt county. Born in Salisbury, Addison county, Vermont, October 15, 1826, he attended the subscription schools in the county for several years. After completing his schooling, he was employed in the woolen mills in the vicinity, following the trade of machinist, afterwards rising to the position of superintendent of the mills. It was while engaged in the mills that he sustained a serious injury that has caused him considerable trouble in life. It seems that in

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working about the machinery one day, his arm became entangled in the shaft and he was injured in such a way as to break his arm and tear the liga- ments, leaving him in a delicate state of health for the greater part of his life. In 1850, hearing of the discovery of gold in California, he decided to leave the East and join the seekers for gold. In June, 1850, taking passage on a steamer by way of Panama for San Francisco and crossing the Isthmus, he took passage on the steamer Oregon, arriving in San Francisco July 22, 1850. Only remaining there a short time, he next went to Sacramento and, entering the mines on the Tuolumne river, engaged in mining for himself and became very successful in his search for gold. While living in Sacra- mento an epidemic of cholera raged in the year 1851, but he was fortunate enough to escape the dread disease. Hearing of the gold strike in Humboldt county in 1851, he decided to go there and see the field for himself. Coming over the mountains by way of the Trinity River to Trinidad, he encountered great obstacles for there was no wagon road and every foot of the way was marked by terrible hardships. He had taken passage on a ship to sail to San Francisco but it was wrecked in the harbor of Trinidad so he had to remain there. Here he engaged in lightering, carrying the cargo from the large boats ashore in a flat-bottomed boat. For this work he received sixteen dollars a ton, and there being a great deal of trade at Trinidad at the time, he became financially benefited. All the supplies for the mines in the interior were shipped first to Trinidad and from there on pack-mules to the mines. He also built a saw-mill and engaged in lumbering, but in 1854 he gave up his light- ering business and moved to Uniontown, which is now the city of Arcata. When he first located in Uniontown there was no town at the site of the present city of Eureka, all the ships landing at Uniontown. His first enter- prise was to build a wharf two miles long extending out into the bay, and on this wharf was built the first railroad, in California, built for the purpose of handling the large quantities of freight that the ships brought to the port. Two other men were associated with Mr. Deming in this work, Henry Walker and Stillman Daby, it taking them four months to complete the work. The mails only reached the port once a month after the ships started to make Uniontown a port of call. About the time of the completing of the wharf the Indian wars of Humboldt county broke out but he did not take an active part in them. As there was no, undertaking establishment in Uniontown, he de- cided to engage in that business, and did so for a number of years. Aside from this, he took up the making of pack-saddles, and, though not an adept at the trade, he worked up a large business. Men came from far and near to obtain one of the Deming pack-saddles. The first one he made was from a box and later his reputation as a saddle-maker extended from Oregon to Arizona. Giving up his undertaking business in 1885, he opened a general repair shop, conducting this several years with much success. He was a natural mechanic and the people of the surrounding country would come for miles to have him mend their broken implements. The saying was, "Something broken? Take it to B. Deming." He acquired considerable land in Arcata which he still possesses. He is a member of Anniversary Lodge No. 85, I. O. O. F., at Arcata, having joined the lodge in Vermont in 1850. He was the founder of the lodge in Arcata and is the only surviving charter member. He also did a great deal toward founding the Presbyterian Church in Arcata and was instrumental in securing the services of clergymen from San Francisco, the

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Reverend Mr. Scott being the first pastor of the church in Arcata. Mr. Dem- ing was superintendent of the Sunday school for a number of years. He served as justice of the peace for fifteen years, has held office as a deputy sheriff, deputy county clerk and notary public for years and was also county coroner. He has always taken an active part in all temperance work and has entered whole-heartedly into all movements pertaining to the good of the community. Being a stanch Republican he has also entered extensively into all political affairs. He married, in Arcata, May 26, 1856, Jane A. Pratt, a native of Middlebury, Vermont. When but three years of age Mrs. Deming moved with her parents to Ontario, Canada, locating at Chatham, a town situated between Lake Erie and Lake Huron. At the age of twenty-three she came to California with a cousin, coming by way of the Isthmus of Panama, engaging passage on the steamer Columbia with Captain Dahl in charge of the ship, to San Francisco. They are blessed with three children : Eugene Albert, deceased : Byron B., who is married and living at Auburn, Placer county, and Charlotte Louise, deceased. Mr. Deming is truly a pio- neer of the county and many monuments attest his good works. He is a man who has always been actively associated with all public affairs tending to upbuild the community, one whose word is as good as his bond and one who holds the highest regard of his fellow men. He is known from one end of the county to the other as a reliable citizen and one for whom everyone has only the highest praise.

WALTER ELGEN CLARK .- A native son of Humboldt county, and the son of one of the oldest of the California pioneer families, Walter Elgen Clark has all his life resided in this county, and has been engaged in farming since he completed his education. He has made a success of farm- ing, first for himself, making his initial independent venture when he was little more than a lad ; and later as manager for his father's extensive farm- ing and stock-raising interests, he has won for himself a reputation for care- ful attention to detail and for good judgment and business sagacity that is in itself a valuable possession.

Mr. Clark was born in Arcata, Humboldt county, Cal., April 20, 1877. He is the son of Schuyler and Mary Jane (Johnson) Clark, natives of Canada ; the father was born January 4, 1848; he came to San Francisco, California, November 25, 1868, and came direct to Humboldt county, and for eight years was employed in the lumber woods and in rafting logs across Humboldt bay, between Arcata and Eureka. In 1872 he invested his savings in land on Arcata bottoms. This he cleared and improved, and engaged in farming. He was successful and added to his holdings other properties hereinafter men- tioned.

He was married in Arcata, March 31, 1876, and of this marriage were eight children, five of whom are living. Walter Elgen was second oldest in order of birth, and is giving his best efforts to the care of the large property entrusted to him by his father, who makes his home with him. The son attended the public schools of the Alliance district until he was seventeen, helping his father on the farm, mornings and evenings, and during vacation times. In 1894 he gave up attending school and became associated with his father in the active management of the farm, and for a few years they con- ducted the home place together, engaging in diversified farming and dairy- ing. His first independent venture was in 1896 when he rented a farm

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from his father, stocked it with cattle, and commenced farming for himself, making a specialty of dairying. For six years he continued this enterprise with the greatest success, and at the end of that time rented another of his father's farms and continued his undertaking on a larger scale.

It was in August, 1911, that Mr. Clark gave up farming for himself and took over the management of his father's business, the elder Mr. Clark retiring from active business life at that time. Since then he has devoted himself exclusively to these extensive affairs, and has proven a most efficient manager and a profitable farmer. His father owns several large farms, includ- ing cattle ranches and ranges and timber claims, all of which are under his supervision. The estate includes one hundred eighty-three acres of bottom land, all improved ; one hundred six acres of pasture land at Mckinleyville ; one hundred twenty acres on Fickle Hill, which Mr. Clark is at present im- proving and putting in shape for pasture land and stock range; and one hundred sixty acres of timber claim. On the pasture land at Mckinleyville they have extensive herds of cattle. They also have an interest in the United Creamery at Arcata, Mr. Clark himself being largely interested in the enter- prise.

Aside from his business interests, Mr. Clark possesses a wide circle of life-long friends and acquaintances, and is well known throughout the valley and is deservedly popular. He is a prominent member of St. John's Episcopal Church at Arcata, and in politics is a Progressive Republican. He is progres- sive in every sense of the word and is always interested in matters of public interest when the issue is one that involves the general welfare of the com- munity.

The marriage of Mr. Clark and Miss Ana Margaret Myers took place in Eureka, September 25, 1901, Mrs. Clark, like her husband, being a native of California and of Humboldt county, born in Mckinleyville. She is the daughter of Henry and Catherine (Buchta) Myers, natives of Germany and pioneers of Mckinleyville, Humboldt county, where they reside on their old homestead.

CHARLES ALBERT MURDOCK .- Though he has lived in San Fran- cisco for the last fifty years, Charles Albert Murdock has grateful memories of the period of his youth spent in Humboldt county, and the county recalls with pride that this man who has been permitted to lead a life of uncommon usefulness is the son of one of her earliest representatives in the California legislature, the late Albert Hamilton Murdock.

Albert Hamilton Murdock and his wife, Charlotte Dorothy Hills, were both natives of Leominster, Mass., and descended from early settled families of that commonwealth. His earliest ancestor in America was Robert Mur- dock, of Roxbury, Mass., a Scotch emigrant of the Plymouth colony, whose descendants were mostly manufacturers and traders of New England. Joseph Hills, from whom Mrs. Murdock traced her descent, was an early English emigrant of 1638, who did the state good service. Some of his posterity set- tled in Leominster and began the manufacture of combs, for many years the principal industry of that town. John Buss, another of Mrs. Murdock's ancestors, served in the Continental army during the Revolution.

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Albert Hamilton Murdock was born in 1815, and came to California in 1849. After experiencing three fires in San Francisco he joined others in March, 1850, in an expedition on the schooner Paragon to Humboldt bay, into which the Trinity river was supposed to flow. The little craft was wrecked at Point Saint George, but many of the company, persisting in their purpose, reached the bay, and were among the early settlers of Uniontown, now known as Arcata, Humboldt county. Major Murdock, as he was generally called, was one of these, and he engaged in merchandising until 1854, when he relinquished that business to take up his duties as assemblyman, having been elected to represent the district in the state legislature. In 1860 he became interested in mining in Grass Valley. In 1864 he sold out his interests in Humboldt and became a stock broker in San Francisco, remaining there until his death, in 1877. His wife, who had joined him in California in 1855, bringing their three children, died in San Francisco in 1894.

Charles Albert Murdock, the eldest child of his parents, was born January 26, 1841, in Leominster, Mass., where he attended the common schools up to the age of fourteen years, at which time he was in the high school. Arriving in Uniontown in 1855, as there were no public school advantages he taught his younger brother and sister and a few other small children for a short time, and when Robert Desty established a school he and his pupils joined it. In less than six months his school days ended. For the next six years he did whatever he could to help his father, who was postmaster and general trader, and owned some land. He worked in the garden and on the farm, and had charge of Murdock Hall, where all entertainments and dances were held. At one time he conducted a tin shop and was the only tinsmith in Humboldt county. He was the first librarian of Uniontown, and often acted as secretary at public meetings. In 1863 Mr. Murdock was appointed, by Abraham Lin- coln, as register of the land office at Humboldt, and removed to Eureka. He sold many acres of the best timber land on Mad river for a dollar and a quarter an acre in greenbacks, which cost seventy-five cents in gold. Miller Preston was about the only man who appreciated the opportunity. The posi- tion, though responsible, was not remunerative, and in the following year he resigned and became clerk to the quartermaster at Fort Humboldt.

In June, 1864, Mr. Murdock accepted an appointment as clerk to the superintendent of Indian affairs, Mr. Austin Wiley, and removed to San Francisco, where he has since continuously resided. At the conclusion of Mr. Wiley's term he was for a time bookkeeper, doing some work as a news- paper reporter in the evenings. Then he was for a year or so in business as a money broker. In 1867 he entered the employ of M. D. Carr & Co., book and job printers, and soon afterward acquired a small interest. Subsequently the firm became C. A. Murdock & Co., so continuing until 1909, when it became the Blair-Murdock Company.

In 1883 Mr. Murdock served a term as assemblyman from San Fran- cisco. He was a member of the board of education from 1894 to 1897, and filled an unexpired term as civil service commissioner in 1902-03. These positions were all unsought, most of them coming to him by appointment. In 1907, when Edward Robeson Taylor was intrusted with the selection of a board of supervisors to succeed the notorious Schmitz-Ruef board, Mr. Mur-

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dock was one of the eighteen, and has held the position ever since, his present term expiring in January, 1916.

With all his business and official duties Mr. Murdock has led a life of broad, unselfish service to his fellow men, accepting his opportunities as a privilege and discharging the responsibilities they have brought as a solemn trust. In 1875 he was an organizer of the Boys' and Girls' Aid Society of San Francisco, and is now vice-president. He is a member of the board of directors of the California School of Mechanical Arts, of the Associated Char- ities, of the Babies' Aid, and representative of the Protestant Charities on the Central Council of the Native Sons and Native Daughters for the Care of Homeless Children. He is secretary of three endowment funds, aggregating over eighty thousand dollars, for beneficence and charity in connection with the First Unitarian Church. For fifty years he has been an attendant of the Unitarian Church, superintendent of the Sunday school for about forty years, and vice-president of the National Conference. For twenty-two years he has edited the Pacific Unitarian.

Since 1877 Mr. Murdock has been a member of the Chit-Chat club, devoted to discussion of literary and economic questions. He also holds membership in the Unitarian, Commonwealth and Sierra clubs. He has never joined any secret societies.

By his first marriage, to Miss Alice J. Meeker, daughter of David Meeker, which took place in San Francisco in April, 1871, Mr. Murdock had no chil- dren. She died in 1884, and in February, 1891, he married for his second wife Winifred W. White, daughter of Ammi White. Her death occurred in 1903. Three children were born of this union: Osgood, now a junior in the Uni- versity of California; Margaret Elliot, a graduate of the San Francisco nor- mal school, engaged in teaching ; and Edith King, a high school pupil in San Francisco.

Mr. Murdock is thankful for good health, good friends and abundant opportunity for service and general helpfulness. He feels that he was favored in spending nine years in his formative period in Humboldt county, with its bounty and beauty, and settled by so fine a group of enterprising and high- minded citizens.

FRED REINHARD-Was born in the village of Kerns, Canton Unter- walden, Switzerland, December 13, 1882, being the youngest child born to Maria and Christiana (Scholle) Reinhard, farmers of that locality, where the father died ; the mother is still making her home there.

Fred Reinhard was brought up on the farm and received his education in the public schools, after which he learned cheese making and followed this occupation until 1912. Having heard good reports from California, he determined to come hither, and, March 22, 1912, he arrived in San Francisco, making his way immediately to Eureka, Humboldt county. He soon entered the employ of a lumber company at Korbel, continuing with it and other companies in that vicinity until January 1, 1914, when he came to Eureka and entered the employ of the Myrtle Grove Cemetery as sexton, to which position he has since given his time and ability, and his services are appre- ciated. He was reared in the Catholic faith and is a member of St. Bernard's Catholic Church. Politically he espouses the principles of the Republican party.

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PROF. P. S. INSKIP .- A veteran educator in California, having been en- gaged in teaching in the public and high schools of Humboldt county from 1868 until resigning from the principalship of the Fortuna high school in the fall of 1914, Prof. P. S. Inskip is one of the best known and most highly re- spected educators of the state. His work as a teacher is of an especially high class, his students being known at the University of California at Berkeley and at Leland Stanford University as among the best prepared high school stu- dents that enter either college, their standing at these higher institutions showing that in addition to the acquisition of knowledge they have also been taught that even more valuable accomplishment, namely, how to study and acquire. The welfare of the student has always been the first consideration with Professor Inskip, and during his fourteen years as principal of the Fortuna high school he has done much for the general standard of the com- munity, interesting parents and friends in the work of the students, and also in literary and scientific knowledge for its own sake. He is himself a man of superior attainments and a deep scholar. Coupled with this are the many years of practical application of his knowledge and the constant study which have kept him so well abreast of the times, all of which conspire to make him a man of great learning, and a friend and counsellor of rare ability. He is a man of fine presence and engaging personality, and his retirement has de- prived California schools of a man of more than ordinary ability. He has been granted the state teacher's pension under the recently passed law, and is now making his home with his daughter and son-in-law, Mr. and Mrs. I. T. Smith, of Fortuna, his wife having passed on some ten years ago.

Professor Inskip is a native of England, born in Hertford, January 23, 1845. His father, Harry Inskip, was a manufacturer of linseed oil, cotton seed oil, and the cakes and meals from these same seeds and oils, and was one of the largest manufacturers in that line in England. He died in England at the age of fifty-one years. The mother was Jane Albin in girlhood ; her father was for many years at the head of the custom house at Spalding, England. She bore her husband ten children, of whom Professor Inskip was the fifth born. He was educated in private schools until he was about sixteen years of age, when he entered Haileybury College, a military school, from which he graduated in 1867. In that year he left England for America, coming by way of the Horn, in company with one Thomas Howell, who had a brother living at Hydesville, Cal. The two young men landed at San Francisco, later making their way into Humboldt county, and in 1868 Mr. Inskip was granted a certificate and commenced his long and splendid career as a teacher in the public and high schools of the state. His first school was at Grizzly Bluff, where he made a decided success of his undertaking. Later he served as principal of the Ferndale school for five years, taught for fourteen years at Port Kenyon, in the Eureka high school for two years, and then, in 1900, became principal of the Fortuna high school, serving in this capacity continuously until his resignation. He was married to Miss Ida Chapin, the daughter of Orrin Chapin, at Ferndale, in 1875. Of their union were born three children, two sons and one daughter, all of whom were born and educated in Humboldt county, and they still make their homes here. They are: Philip, who resides at Ferndale; Augusta, now Mrs. I. T. Smith, of Fortuna, with whom Professor Inskip now makes his home; and Herbert,

O. S. Inskih

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station agent at Fields Landing, who married Miss Maude Knight, and they are the parents of three sons, Donald, Philip and Herbert, Jr.

Professor Inskip is very popular throughout Humboldt county, especially with his former students, who are legion. He is a Democrat in his political preferences, and for this reason has never been officially elevated in educa- tional affairs, Humboldt county being strongly Republican.

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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 47

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