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 48

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 48

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).

SETH A. FRANK .- The genial and popular manager of the Helmke Mercantile Company is not indebted for his success in life to an indulgent early fortune or the backing of influential friends. His youth contained more of discouragement than inspiration. He was born at Rohnerville, Hum- boldt county, March 11, 1875, the son of Atys and Belle (Drake) Frank. His father, when a little lad, came across the plains with ox teams and wagons. The father was a horseman. The mother was born near Alton, Humboldt county. The subject of this sketch was left motherless at the age of eleven years and, going to Bridgeville, made his home with his aunt, Mrs. Alzina Barnum. His attendance at the public schools was interrupted at the age of fifteen and although very young he became familiar with the responsible side of existence, working on ranches for others until twenty-one. Mr. Frank then assumed charge of his aunt's business affairs in Bridgeville, with whom he continued to live for seven years, only severing this connection to enter the employ of the Helmke Mercantile Company of Blocksburg, which he served in the capacity of clerk for five years and was then made manager of their large general store. He has filled this important position in such a manner as to win the appreciation, not only of his employers but the entire community. He is one of the very prominent and capable young men of the town and all things point to a continuation of his success and a widening of his usefulness and responsibility. Although a Republican, he is an inde- pendent voter, preferring to vote for the man rather than the party. He is associated with the Odd Fellows, holding membership with Hydesville Lodge No. 250. Mr. Frank was married in Fortuna November 5, 1908, to Miss Edna Swortzel, a native daughter of Fortuna, and whose parents were W. J. and Emma L. (Gushaw) Swortzel, natives of Virginia and California re- spectively. The father came from Missouri to California when about twenty- one, in 1874, and became a lumber manufacturer, who, with George Williams, built what is now the Humboldt Milling Company's plant at Fortuna. He was supervisor at the time of his death. The mother makes her home in Fortuna. Mr. and Mrs. Frank have three children : Paul, Keith and Atys.

CURTIS OLIVER FALK, M. D .- Back to the time of his carliest recollections Dr. Falk has been identified with Humboldt county, for he was less than one year of age when brought hither by his parents and here he received such advantages as local schools made possible. The family of which he is a member comes of old eastern stock. His father, Elijah Falk, was a mechanic of exceptional ability and earned a livelihood at the trades of machinist and millwright at Mount Cory, Ohio, where the Doctor was born January 18, 1876. It was later in the same year that a home was estab- lished in Humboldt county, where the father followed his trade and educated the children. Many would have been satisfied with the educational oppor- tunities of Eureka, but after the young man had completed the business course in the academy and had received his diploma in 1893 he placed before himself the task of earning the expenses of a medical education. At the age

418

HISTORY OF HUMBOLDT COUNTY

of eighteen years he matriculated in the Cooper Medical College and there' took the complete course of lectures, graduating with the degree of M. D., in December, 1897. Efficiency had been his aim in the class room. Every opportunity to extend his professional knowledge was grasped with enthu- siasm and energy. With an excellent theoretical education, needing for its completeness only the inestimable advantage of experience, he began to practice at Loleta, Humboldt county, in January, 1898, but three years later he returned to Eureka to form a partnership with his brother, Charles C. Falk, M. D., and from that time until 1911 the brothers were associated in professional practice.

As a founder of the Sequoia hospital and associated with his brother in the founding and building of the Northern California hospital at Eureka (the latter the most modern and sanitary hospital between San Francisco and Portland), Dr. C. O. Falk has contributed to the hospital service of the city. For six years he filled the office of county physician, in which capacity he endeavored to promote the public health and arouse a general interest in good sanitation. The Humboldt County, California State and American Medical Associations have been organizations enlisting his intelligent co-operation and earnest alliance, while in the fraternities he has been associated actively with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, the Benevolent Protective Order of Elks, the Woodmen of the World and the Foresters of America. By his marriage to Annie C. Hall of New York he has three children, Audrey, Stead- man and Curtis Lane. Desirous of securing the best possible local educa- tional advantages, he gave five years of efficient, careful and wise labor to the schools of Eureka and is rated as one of the most capable men the board of education has had among its members. Indeed every worthy movement is sure of his assistance and tactful co-operation. Any work done in behalf of the city of his lifelong association and the county of his permanent home is clearly a labor of love, affording expression for his loyal devotion to the local interests.

WILLIAM JEWETT MCNAMARA .- The lives of the pioneers are the heritage of the present generation. Without their endurance of privations, without their heroic patience in danger and hardship, the opportunities of today and the possibilities of tomorrow could not come within the angle of vision. Due honors are given to the life and labors of William Jewett Mc- Namara, a pioneer of 1858 in Humboldt county, a native of the state of Maine and in youth a resident of Aurora, Ill., but best known through his associa- tion with the material upbuilding of the Pacific coast. In the early period of his connection with Humboldt county he worked in the butcher business for R. M. Williams, making his headquarters on a ranch near Eureka. While engaging in the driving of a pack-train from Hydesville over the mountains to Trinity he endured not only hardships, but also the most constant and grave dangers. The Indians were numerous and hostile in that day and frequently he had narrow escapes from them.

After a period of mercantile activity in Canyon City, Ore., where he made a specialty of supplying the miners with outfits for the mines, in 1868 Mr. McNamara returned to Eureka and on Front street opened the first men's clothing store in the town. Later he moved to Second and E streets and admitted L. T. Kinsey into partnership, continuing with that gentleman for some years, but eventually buying out his interest and taking into the firm a

419

HISTORY OF HUMBOLDT COUNTY

son, W. A. McNamara, as a partner, under the title of McNamara & Son. When the father and son went out of business the former removed to Wash- ington and for three years engaged in the hotel business at Hoquiam. On returning to Eureka he acted as manager of the Vance hotel for six months and then retired to private life. His death occurred at his Eureka home June 26, 1911. Surviving him are the three sons of his first marriage, William A., James A. and Fred W., also his second wife, formerly Mrs. Virginia C. (McDaniel) Scott, a member of an old Virginian family and a pioneer of California who crossed the plains in 1852. Her father, William McDaniel, a Virginian, started with his wife and four children to cross the plains in that year, but while en route one son died. Mr. McDaniel was captain of the train, which reached Auburn, its destination, in safety, and there he died in 1867. Mrs. McNamara was educated in the public schools of Auburn. She now lives in the old home in Eureka, at the corner of E and Fifth streets, which she has owned since 1867, and which in the meantime has become very valu- able property.

In the early history of Eureka Mr. McNamara was particularly promi- nent. With later years there was naturally a relinquishment of many of the movements that deeply interested him in young manhood, but he still kept posted in all measures for local progress, although not able to actively identify himself with such work in the latter part of his life. He served as a member of the Volunteer and Veteran Firemen's Associations and was an Exempt Fireman. At one time he acted as chief of the fire department. Realizing the imperative need of adequate fire protection, he aided every movement looking toward that end. Nor was he less energetic in assistance given to other worthy projects. Educational affairs had his genuine co- operation. It was his desire to maintain a high class of citizenship in Hum- boldt county and he was a leading member of the committee of fifteen that drove the Chinamen out of Eureka.

While he had many narrow escapes from Indians in early days, perhaps he was never in greater peril than on one occasion when, starting out in a small rowboat for a trip over the Humboldt Bar and up Eel river, he was nearly wrecked in the rough sea. His memory was little short of remarkable and often in his later days he held friends in almost spellbound interest as he narrated tales of the pioneer period, enlivening each story with his keen humor and lively wit, and bringing to the listeners a vivid appreciation of perilous or amusing happenings of bygone days.

ALBERT C. NOE .- The force of a progressive character has made prominent the name of Albert C. Noe, a leading realty operator of Humboldt county and likewise an attorney whose excellent professional attainments enable him to carry through all real estate transactions in accordance with the law. A member of a pioneer Iowa family and himself a native of that state, born December 21, 1868, he is a son of Eli and Phoebe A. Noe, the latter a native of Indiana. The family comprised six children and of these he was second in order of birth. On March 8th, 1911, he was married to Miss Margaret Laughlin, a member of the teaching force of the Eureka public schools.

The father, a California pioneer, came to Humboldt county in 1869 and settled at Table Bluff on the 4th of March, after which he aided in the carly

420

HISTORY OF HUMBOLDT COUNTY

development of this locality. Finally, however, he closed out his interests here and removed to Oregon, in 1882.

At the time of the removal of the family from California to Oregon Albert C. Noe was a lad of thirteen years ; being only four months old at the time of the family arrival at Table Bluff, from Iowa, he has no memories earlier than those of the west, and it has been his personal choice to remain in Humboldt county, where live the friends of his youth as well as the asso- ciates of his maturer business years. After he had studied law and received admission to the bar in 1901, he turned his attention to the realty business, in which he utilizes his professional education as well as the commercial training received in the San Francisco Business College. As early as 1892 he was well known in the insurance business as Eureka agent for old-line companies and some of his most profitable real estate deals also date back to that decade. More recently he has been connected with a number of large enterprises and has handled many important deals. On Myrtle avenue, just outside of the city limits, is located the Santa Clara tract of eighty acres, which he put on the market to sell off in home lots, having previously platted thirty-five acres, and put the subdivision into excellent condition for devel- opment work. The large holdings of the Arcata Land and Improvement Company, including eight hundred acres near Arcata, he handled and sold. One of his most important affiliations was that of vice-president and a director of the Eureka and Freshwater Investment Company, owners of one thousand acres, which valuable property he promoted and developed, aiding in the incor- poration of the concern that adapted the land to the dairy industry and grain cropping. With the increase in land valuations the property was sold. Such enterprises as these have engaged the tireless energies of Mr. Noe, but they have not engrossed his time to the exclusion of outside activities, for he has been an ardent worker for the development of Humboldt county, and more especially the city of Eureka.

MERCER-FRASER CO., INCORPORATED .- Early in the '70s the late H. M. Mercer established at Eureka a business that developed into the Mercer-Hodson Company and later, by the admission of James D. Fraser to the partnership became the Mercer-Fraser Company, whose present officers are as follows: James D. Fraser, president ; C. L. Mercer, vice-president ; H. A. Graham, secretary, and Frank W. Dinsmore, assistant secretary and man- ager at Eureka. The firm maintains an office at San Francisco and there, as well as at the Eureka headquarters, makes contracts for general construction work, house moving, pile driving, wharf and warehouse building, bridge and railroad construction, heavy hoisting, ditches and dredging, and concrete work of every kind. In addition the firm acts as agent for all grades of Hercules powder (formerly known as Dupont powder) and blasting supplies. By gradual growth the business has developed into enormous proportions and easily places the company in the lead along the line of their specialties.

It would seem impossible to enumerate all of the contracts filled by the firm, but the recapitulation of a few indicates the diversified nature of their work and the large interests involved. On the line of the Northwestern Pa- cific Railroad they erected the South Fork bridge at Dyerville, the steel bridge across Larrabee creek, the steel bridge across Van Duzen river at Alton and the Cane Rock crossing on Eel river, the largest contract for ma-

M. Eriksen.

423

HISTORY OF HUMBOLDT COUNTY

sonry on the road. At Scotia they had the contract for the concrete con- struction work for the Pacific Lumber Company; erected the county bridge at Robinson's Ferry; the three-span steel bridge at Essex on the Arcata and Mad River Railroad ; the cable bridge across Eel river at Fort Seward; and the new brick depot for the Northwestern Pacific Railroad at Fort Seward ; the masonry and piers for Fort Seward creek railroad bridge and the concrete work for tunnel No. 30 at Alderpoint. Among their contracts at Eureka were those for an addition to the Eureka foundry, the Eureka garage on Fifth street and all of the wharf work on the bay. The First National Bank of Arcata occupies a modern building erected by the Mercer-Fraser Company, who also erected several trestles near that town on the railroad extending to the granite quarry. This places the company easily as the largest and most extensive contractors of concrete and heavy construction work of all kinds, being fully equipped with machinery for the handling of heavy work. Im- portant among their San Francisco contracts were those for the building of section 10 on the sea wall, and the putting in of three thousand piles and the building of a wharf at the Panama-Pacific Exposition grounds.

MARTIN ERIKSEN .- As the newly appointed postmaster of Ferndale, under the Wilson administration, Martin Eriksen is destined to occupy a more or less prominent place in the affairs of this thriving little city for the next few years. He has been a resident of Ferndale since 1903 and is well and favorably known, having been in business during that entire time, and by his honesty and general application, as well as by a pleasing personality, he has won a host of warm friends. Needless to say, he is a stanch Democrat and a strong party man. He is well informed on all questions of local import and stands squarely for progress and municipal improvement along the best and most substantial lines.

Mr. Eriksen is a native of Denmark, having been born at Aarhuus, Jutland, November 5, 1867. He attended the common schools of the kingdom, and later entered the Dairy College, graduating in 1890 as a butter maker. He was reared and confirmed in the Lutheran church and is still identified with that denomination. Shortly after his graduation from the Dairy College Mr. Eriksen came to America, locating at first at Des Moines, lowa, but soon going on to Council Bluffs, that state, where he worked for a year and a half as railroad laborer. It was in the fall of 1893 that he finally came to Cali- fornia, arriving in Humboldt county in November of that year. He at once took charge of the creamery at Loleta, and later that same season went to Arcata and took charge of the Arcata creamery No. 1, remaining for a year. He then went to Alton and for four years managed the Alton creamery, meeting with splendid success in this undertaking. The year following he was in charge of the creamery at Hydesville, and later was transferred to the Riverside creamery near Ferndale, where he remained for four years. He then came into Ferndale and purchased the cigar and candy store of John Bonniksen, and engaged in business for himself. Since then he has greatly enlarged his stock, extending the scope of his operations to include a line of shirts and men's furnishings, overalls, men's working clothes, Edison phonographs, and stationery.

Upon securing his appointment as postmaster (his commission bears the date of July 17, 1914) Mr. Eriksen sold his store to his son, Viggo Eriksen,

424

HISTORY OF HUMBOLDT COUNTY

who is carrying on the business along the same general lines that his father had established.

The marriage of Mr. Eriksen occurred at Des Moines, Iowa, in 1892, uniting him with Miss Dora Bonniksen, who, like her husband, is a native of Denmark, coming to America at about the time that he did. Of their union have been born four children, all natives of Humboldt county, where they are growing to manhood and womanhood and receiving their education. They are Margaret, Viggo, Botihilda and Johanna. Since establishing him- self permanently in business in Ferndale Mr. Eriksen has purchased a com- fortable home, which he keeps up in an attractive manner.

In addition to his business and political prominence in Ferndale, Mr. Eriksen is also well known in fraternal circles, where he is an influential member of several orders and well known and well liked. He is affiliated with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and both he and Mrs. Eriksen are members of the Rebekahs and take an active part in all the affairs of that organization. The order that claims the warmest support from the new postmaster, however, is the Danish society known as Dania, a beneficial society which now has twenty-three lodges and more than two thousand members. During the thirty-five years of its existence it has been very popular with the Danes in America. Mr. Eriksen has done splendid work in its behalf and is the present grand president of the Dania Society of Cali- fornia, an honor which he fully appreciates.

Personally Mr. Eriksen is a man of many attainments, and is a linguist of ability, speaking and writing the Danish, German and English languages. He is of a bright and sociable disposition, making friends easily and readily, and keeping them always. His wife and family are also genial and pleasant in disposition, creating an air of helpfulness and good will wherever they are to be found. The appointment of Mr. Eriksen for the position of post- master is a direct indorsement of his personality, rather than of his political faith.

LLOYD BRYAN, B. S., M. D .- A successful physician in Eureka and a member of the staff of the Sequoia hospital, Dr. Lloyd Bryan is one of the native sons of Humboldt county who have made good, by their own inherent qualities of mind and soul, developed by education and fortified by self-reli- ance, proving genuine worth of citizenship. While it is in his chosen profes- sion that he is gaining his reputation for ability, a man is acquainted with him but a short time before he ascertains that the young physician is well posted upon all general topics and shows a fidelity to duty and an absolute integrity in all dealings that make him eminently worthy of confidence in every department of activity. While constantly devoted to the performance of his responsible duties at Sequoia Hospital and as a private practitioner, he never fails to give to every person an unfailing courtesy nor has he failed to give to every movement for the upbuilding of Eureka the thoughtful con- sideration to be expected from a public-spirited citizen.

Fortuna, Humboldt county, is the native place of Dr. Bryan, and April 19, 1884, the date of his birth. When a boy he was a pupil in a school held in a log cabin at Englewood. There he completed the studies of the grammar grades. After graduating from the Eureka high school in 1902 he matriculated in the University of California at Berkeley and took the studies of the scientific course, graduating in 1907 with the degree of

425

HISTORY OF HUMBOLDT COUNTY

B. S., and with a high standing for proficiency in his studies. While at the university he was a prominent member of Sigma Chapter of the Alpha Kappa Kappa. Through the years of identification with the scientific depart- ment he had been directing his studies with the medical profession as his aim. During the fall of 1907 he entered the medical department of the University of California, from which in 1911 he received the degree of M. D. Mean- while he had gained valuable practice through service as interne in the hospital connected with the university. Returning to Eureka in August, 1911, he took up private practice and also for a time served as a resident physician at Sequoia hospital, an important post of duty for which his talents admirably qualified him. Through the reading of current medical journals and through membership in the County, State and American Medical Associations, and the Pacific Association of Railway Surgeons, he keeps in touch with every advance made in therapeutics and is thoroughly modern in thought. Outside of pro- fessional and college fraternity associations he is connected with the Hum- boldt Club and the Benevolent Protective Order of Elks. He is assistant division surgeon for the Northwestern Pacific and the present county physician of Humboldt county. By his marriage to Miss Alice Downes, a native of San Francisco, he has one daughter, Jane Wade Bryan. To an unusual degree he possesses the qualities necessary to success in professional and private life, and it may be predicted of him that the future holds for him possibilities the foundation of which is his excellent professional education, his growing skill in medicine and surgery, and his determination to keep pace with every development in the science. The sturdy qualities of his mind, received both through education and native endowments, are such as to give him prestige in Eureka and professional popularity in Humboldt county.

THOMAS HAYES AGNEW MORGAN .- A veteran of the Civil war and a member of a fine old eastern family, Thomas Hayes Agnew Morgan is the owner of a splendid stock ranch in Humboldt county, Cal., where he is known as an enterprising, liberal and freehearted man.

Born near Mount Vernon, Lancaster county, Pa., September 17, 1844, he is the son of William Morgan, a farmer in Pennsylvania, of Scotch descent, and Margaret Rebecca (Noble) Morgan, who was a first cousin of Dr. Agnew and was born in Pennsylvania, her death occurring in Kansas. Of the eight children of William Morgan, seven are living, Thomas Hayes Agnew Morgan being the third in age. He was brought up on the farm and educated in the public schools, and in August, 1862, enlisted in Company I of the One Hundred and Thirtieth Pennsylvania Volunteers, being mustered in for nine months. By his participation in the battle of Antietam, on Sep- tember 17, 1862, Mr. Morgan celebrated his eighteenth birthday, taking part also in the battles of Fredericksburg and the Wilderness, being mustered out as corporal at the expiration of his term of enlistment. He then joined his father in Knoxville, Ill., attended school for a time, but soon re-enlisted, this time in Company A of the One Hundred and Fifty-first Illinois Volunteer Infantry for one year or during the war. With his regiment he served until the close of the war, being mustered out in 1865 in Columbus, Ga., and hon- orably discharged, having served over one year in the regiment. Six months later Mr. Morgan took up a homestead at Fort Scott, Kans., remaining in Kansas until 1872, at which time he removed to Puget Sound, Wash.

426

HISTORY OF HUMBOLDT COUNTY

Together with his brother William, two years his junior, Mr. Morgan came to Eureka, Cal., in 1875, and purchased three hundred twenty acres at Fawn Prairie, on the road to Sawyer's Bar, and here the two brothers en- gaged in farming and stock-raising. In 1882 they also purchased a ranch of one hundred sixty acres on the summit of Liscomb hill, three miles above Blue Lake, and there bought and added timber land to their property until they had in all thirteen hundred acres. The Fawn Prairie ranch being still in their possession, they managed the two estates, conducting the business of stock-raising thereon. Selling eight hundred acres of redwood timber at a later date, they still retain two hundred and twenty acres on Liscomb hill and two hundred at Fawn Prairie. The brother of Mr. Morgan moved to Arcata with his family, and since his death his wife, together with Thomas Morgan are still owners of the two ranches, which they lease. About the year 1905 Thomas Morgan returned to Eureka, buying his present property of twenty acres on Harrison avenue, which he has cleared and converted into a prosperous ranch.

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.

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 48

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