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 78

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 78

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Mr. Belcher was born in Eureka, March 30, 1872, his father, Peter Belcher, being one of the Humboldt county pioneers, and for many years a prominent resident of Eureka. The young Mr. Belcher received his education in his native city, attending grammar and high school, from which he was duly graduated and entered the old Eureka Academy, and finally the busi- ness college, to complete his education, after which he entered his father's office and there learned the rudiments of the fire insurance business, and also became an expert accountant. Later he became assistant cashier of the Sav- ings Bank of Humboldt county, which position he held for ten years with much credit to himself.

Peter Belcher is the pioneer fire insurance man of Eureka, and during his long term of years in this business he built up a large and profitable patronage, at one time representing twenty-seven fire insurance companies, besides several life insurance and bonding concerns. He sold his interests to Porter & Brooks in 1906, and his son, the subject of this sketch, bought the business of this firm in 1911, and has since that time conducted it along the lines that his father found so profitable. Among his principal fire insurance companies are the Fireman's Fund of San Francisco, the Pennsylvania of Philadelphia ; North British Mercantile, of London ; Atlas Insurance Com- pany, of London ; Aetna Fire Insurance, of Hartford, Conn. ; Springfield, of Springfield, Mass. ; Hartford, of Hartford, Conn. ; Phoenix, of Hartford, Conn. ; and the Scottish Union National, of Scotland. In life insurance he repre- sents the Provident Life and Trust Company; in marine insurance, the Fireman's Fund ; in accident insurance, the Travelers of Hartford, and the Standard of Detroit; and in bonding companies he has the Aetna Liability Company. In addition to his extensive insurance business he also makes loans on various securities at the lowest rates of interest.

For many years Mr. Belcher was one of the leading factors in the musical life of Eureka. He possesses a beautiful high baritone voice, and sang in the Episcopal Church choir, being a member of that denomination and one of the vestrymen. He is also an influential member of the Sequoia Musical Club and of the Choral Club of Eureka.

In fraternal circles Mr. Belcher is also more than ordinarily prominent. He is an influential member of the Masons, Elks, and Eastern Star. In poli- tics he is a Republican, and is keenly alive to the welfare of the city, sup- porting all that tends toward civic progress and social and municipal better- ment. Mr. Belcher is possessed of a pleasing personality, and the ability to make and hold his friends who are legion. He is a genuine booster for his home city, and has done much for its development and improvement.

ISAAC BERTI .- Due credit should be given to young men who come to this country from distant lands-not only different in language but in customs and ways of doing business and carrying on industries, and who despite this handicap, make a success of their chosen callings. Such a man is Isaac Berti, who was born in Lodrino, Canton Ticino, Switzerland, Octo- ber 17, 1869, the son of Alexander and Maria Bruga, who were farming people in the Alps region. The father died April 1, 1910, aged seventy-four, while the mother's death occurred in 1880, when only forty years of age. Of their nine children, six are living, all being in Ticino except our subject and a brother Gus, who also lives in Humboldt county.

Isaac was brought up on the farm and received his education in the

Isaac Berti Sophia Berti

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public schools. From a lad he learned farming and dairying. He had at various times heard good reports from California of better wages and condi- tions, so when eighteen years of age he concluded to come to California. On December 28, 1887, he left his home and kindred and friends, for Havre, France, where he took the steamer "Normandie" to New York City. and thence to San Francisco, arriving January 20, 1888. He came on to Eureka immediately and at once found employment working at dairying at Fern- dale and later on Bear River ridge. Ile became foreman of the West Point ranch at Capetown, a position he filled acceptably for four years, and from there came to Petrolia, in September, 1907, when he leased his present place, .the Willow Glenn ranch of 708 acres, on the north fork of the Mattole river, about one and one-quarter miles above Petrolia, which he is devoting to general farming and stock-raising, making a specialty of dairying. His herd of sixty milch cows is of high-grade Durham stock, and has been carefully selected for quality as well as quantity of milk. He has a gas engine which furnishes the power to ruin his separator and churn in his creamery ; the butter is made into squares and also packed in kegs, and is shipped to Eureka and San Francisco, under the brand, "Willow Glenn Creamery Butter," and has become well known in the Eureka and San Francisco markets for the sweetness and excellency of its quality. Aside from dairying he is also raising cattle and hogs, and has made a decided success of his farming operations.

Mr. Berti was married in Ferndale April 1, 1904, being united with Miss Sophia Biasco, who was also born in Lodrino, Switzerland. She is the daughter of Isaac and Lucia (Ambrosini) Biasco. The father was a painter and decorator and spent many years in Paris, France, working at his trade, in which he excelled. During these years he also owned a farm in Lodrino, where the family resided ; he died in 1906; the mother is still living ; she was the mother of two children, Mrs. Sophia Berti, and Alfred, who is postmas- ter, and also farming, in the old home place.

. Mr. and Mrs. Berti have four children: Charles H., Mary L., Elsie L., and Alexander Isaac. Politically Mr. Berti is a Republican. He is public- spirited and liberal, and is well and favorably known as a man who is always ready to help any enterprise or movement that has for its aim the upbuild- ing of the community or the betterment of its citizens.

JOHN WELLINGTON KEMP .- Interest in California aroused through the discovery of gold proved the cause of the migration hither of John Wel- lington Kemp, who was born at Mt. Holly, Rutland county, Vt., March 30, 1831, and came via the Isthmus to California at the age of twenty years. Like many of the newcomers of that period he tried his luck in the mines. During 1851 he had considerable experience (little of it profitable, however) in the mines at Mud Springs, El Dorado county. The mines of that section of the state engaged his attention for several years. During 1854 he came to Trinity county and mined on Oregon Gulch near Weaverville. Eventually selling out his mining interests, he bought cattle in Sacramento county and drove the herd over the mountains to Humboldt county. At the time of his arrival in 1857 there were few white settlers and they were greatly hampered in their work by the depredations of hostile Indians. Nor was he more fortunate than they, for Indian raids caused him the loss of practically his entire herd of cattle. Later on, with the cessation of hostilities, he settled

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at Grizzly Bluff and took up dairying and general farming. Not only was he a pioneer dairyman of the Eel river valley, but in addition he was one of the first to develop the possibilities of the industry and engaged as manager of the Grizzly Bluff creamery. The resources of the land and their development owed much to his optimistic identification with their early history.

On leaving the farm during the early '70s Mr. Kemp came to Ferndale and embarked in the butcher's trade, which he followed for ten years, mean- while gaining the patronage of all the people in his section of the county. After selling out the meat business he engaged for two years in driving a stage between Ferndale and Eureka. To his efforts was due much of the clearing of the land around Ferndale, for he labored tirelessly in cutting down the forest trees, getting out the stumps, leveling the land and preparing it for cultivation. Meanwhile he had become the owner of a ranch at Wadding- ton and to this property he removed, clearing and improving it and devoting it to the dairy business. For ten years he devoted himself assiduously to the cultivation of the tract of one hundred acres and meantime he was suc- cessful in enhancing its value through his wise supervision. As a pioneer dairyman of the valley beginning away back in 1859, he was more successful than many. Care in the choice of cows, the care of the milk, the churning of the cream and the marketing of the butter in those early days (which was packed in kegs and carried over the mountains to Weaverville) contributed to his prestige as a skilled and scientific butter-maker and dairyman. Eventu- ally he sold his Grizzly Bluff ranch to his oldest son, Clement L., who now operates the property with continued success.

Various organizations have had the benefit of the active association of Mr. Kemp. For ten years, under Sheriffs Bull and Brown, he served as a deputy sheriff and constable, and in that time he proved himself fearless in the administration of the law and equal to any emergency that might arise. On the organization of the Pioneer Society he became one of its first members and he was also one of the early members of Humboldt Lodge No. 79, F. & A. M., in Humboldt county. His family consists of his wife, Aroline Nelson (Hatch) Kemp and the following children : Lillian, wife of Frank Matthews; Mrs. Elmira Runnell: Daisy, a teacher in Humboldt county ; Clement L., a rancher ; Mrs. Josephine McAllister, Charles and John, all residents of Hum- boldt county. Mrs. Kemp was born in Fall River, Mass., and came to Cali- fornia in 1859, joining in Humboldt county her father, Cutler Hatch, a forty-niner. In his native Massachusetts Cutler Hatch was born at Brook- field and had learned the trade of woolen manufacturer and had been superin- tendent of a mill at Fall River until the lure of gold led him to leave his home in the fall of 1849. Coming via the Horn, he landed in San Francisco in February, 1850, and at once began to mine. In company with Thomas Dix, Joseph Russ and Slaughter Robinson he came to Humboldt county in 1852 and took up land near Grizzly Bluff on Eel river. For years he lived on the same place, where he was joined by his family in 1859. When old age forced him to relinquish arduous toil he sold the property and removed to Ferndale, where he died at eighty-one years. In politics he was a Republican and for some years served as justice of the peace and also one term as associate judge of Humboldt county. In religion he was identified with the Methodist Episcopal Church. His wife, who bore the maiden name of Hannah B. Gunn and was born at Wendell, Mass., died in Ferndale at the age of eighty-six.

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Of their eight children only two came to California, namely : Aroline, wife of John Wellington Kemp, of Ferndale; and Hiram H. Hatch, who was the well-known hardware merchant of Ferndale, until his death in 1910. He was one of the pioneer hardware merchants in Eel river valley, starting with a wagon through the county, carrying also samples of agricultural implements. Later he built a store in Ferndale and began with a small stock, which in time grew to large proportions. Since his death Mrs. Kemp is the owner of the store and is continuing the business under the firm name of The Hatch Hardware Company, being assisted by her son, John E. Kemp, and they are conducting the business on the same line as her brother, the late H. H. Hatch.

WALTER W. PATTON .- The foreman of the Rohrborough stock ranch, one of the largest cattle and stock ranches in southern Humboldt county, Cal., is Walter W. Patton, an industrious and successful young man and one well liked in the community where he lives. This ranch, which is owned by J. S. Rohrborough of Covelo, consists of seven thousand acres upon which about three hundred head of cattle and a flock of two thousand sheep are raised.

Mr. Patton comes to this work with peculiar fitness, since his father was formerly the foreman of the same ranch which his son today manages so efficiently. Walter Milo Patton, the father, was a native of Iowa and a pioneer settler in Van Dusen township, to which he came twenty-seven years ago. He was married in California, his wife being Sarah M. Cobble, a native of Ohio, and they became the parents of eight children: Viola, now the wife of J. E. Lownes of Ukiah; Albert L., a road overseer and owner of an eighty-acre ranch in Van Dusen township on the Blocksburg and Alderpoint road ; Etta, who married Thomas Murphy, the owner of a ranch near Blocks- burg ; Roy, who resides at Alderpoint and married Lulu Kindred ; Walter W., the subject of this sketch, born July 9, 1882, at Covelo, Mendocino county ; Lizzie, the widow of Frank Stansberry, and living at Ukiah; Dotty, now the wife of Philander Shields, residing at Ukiah ; and Inez, who died at the age of seventeen. At the time of his death, in July, 1909, at the age of sixty- six years, the father was the owner of two hundred forty acres, still undivided and held by his widow who makes her home with her son Walter.

Walter W. Patton was brought up on the ranch he now manages, receiv- ing his education in the public schools of the district. From a lad he rode the range and became accustomed to caring for horses, cattle, sheep and hogs. So, on the death of his father, he was selected as foreman. He was married in Blocksburg, February 26. 1904, being united with Miss Maybelle Kneeland, born at Blocksburg, daughter of George and Ella (Wilson) Kneeland, born in Boston, Mass., and Griggsville, Ill., respectively. The father came across the plains in the early days, and returning was married in Illinois, coming back to California and engaging in stock-raising in the vicinity of Blocksburg until his death. Mr. and Mrs. Patton have three children : R. Simeon, Fay Marline and Blanche Iola. In his active and industrious life Mr. Patton's wife is proving herself an efficient helpmeet toward the success and popularity of her husband in the community where they have made their home.

ERNEST M. DURNFORD .- From faraway Nova Scotia, with its cool climate, long twilights and pleasant English manners, to the rugged, un- settled portions of northern California is a long journey, as well with regard to the difference in life and customs as to distance and time taken in traveling.

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E. M. Durnford, a well known and highly respected citizen and official at Blocksburg, Cal., is of Nova Scotia birth, his father, Robert Durnford, having been an Englishman engaged in farming there, where he married Margaret Keleher. The father died when his son was only seven years old, the boy having been born March 7, 1861. The mother with her four children (W. T. Durnford, now in business in San Francisco; E. M .; John K., in business in Eureka, Cal .; and Robert F., a stage driver living at Blocksburg) came to California in 1869 and settled in Eureka.

The life of E. M. Durnford is what may be called that of a self-made inan. His education was received in the public schools in the neighborhood of his carly home in California, and since the age of eleven years he has made his own way in the world, his first employment being with the lumber com- pany of Joe Arbuckle at Arcata, Cal. At the age of eighteen he began to drive the stage from Hydesville to Blocksburg at a date when there were no trains or street car conveniences in the district, and he has followed this occupation for a period of eighteen years, having been employed in this capacity by Bullard & Sweasey, J. L. Sanderson & Co., and Miller Brothers. For sixteen years he has held the office of constable in and for Van Dusen township, Humboldt county, and he has been for the last eighteen years road overseer on the county road from Blocksburg to Mill Creek, in both of which offices his practical commonsense and steadfastness of purpose aid much in his success. In his political interests he upholds the Republican party, and is a man well liked and greatly respected in the community where he resides.

The marriage of Mr. Durnford with Miss Clara Lovell took place in Blocksburg. Mrs. Durnford was born in Covelo, the daughter of H. S. Lovell, a pioneer undertaker of that place. Mr. and Mrs. Durnford have had seven children : Ernest A., a bridge builder residing at Alderpoint, his wife having been a Miss Kindred : Leona, the wife of K. C. Kilburn, an electrician of Eureka ; Margaret, who married J. L. Flora, a farmer in Blocksburg, and has one child, Gerald : Lucile and James L. reside with their parents ; Dorris, who died in September, 1914, at the age of eleven years; and Lovell, who also lives at home.

LEW V. SMITH .- Of those men whose duties bring them into daily contact with many business people of Eureka, Lew V. Smith is probably one of the best known, and though his residence in the city has covered com- paratively few years he has a wide acquaintance and a steadily growing list of friends. Mr. Smith is manager at that point for the Western Union Tele- graph Company, and it is notable that he has been with that company front the time he commenced work, as a messenger boy, at the age of fourteen years. His promotions have been won by efficient service, and all who have been brought in contact with him in business relations will testify that they have been deserved. As telegraph operator and manager he has been sta- tioned at various places in the west and southwest, gaining a diversified experience.

Mr. Smith is a native of Massachusetts, born February 7, 1885, at Wor- cester, son of George Smith, who was a printer by occupation. The father is now deceased. The boy had the excellent public school advantages afforded in the east, and pursued his studies into the high school, obtaining a sub- stantial foundation for his lifework. When fourteen he went west, to Colo- rado, and began work at Colorado Springs, that state, as messenger boy at

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the Western Union office. In his spare time he studied telegraphy and before long was given work as an operator. His first position as manager was at Manitou, Colo., and he was only eighteen years old at the time. After a little over a year at that location he was sent to Texas, doing a year's work at Amarillo, after which he became manager at Wichita Falls, that state. for a short time. When twenty-one years old he was placed in the Denver office, from there was transferred to Lead, S. Dak., in 1906, as manager, and re- mained at that point for a year and a half. Thence he changed to Sheridan, Wyo., as manager, and was also at Santa Cruz, Cal., for a year and a half before coming to Eureka, in 1911. He has been manager of the office here since, with such thorough satisfaction to its patrons that he is considered efficiency itself in his line. Mr. Smith's exceptional ability and devotion to all the duties intrusted to him have received substantial recognition from his company, and his manifest intelligence has made him a valuable representa- tive, emergencies and extra responsibilities developing his best qualities. At Eureka, which is a center for many important business operations, the expert service he has given, combined with a capacity for doing things at the most favorable time, has brought him a well-merited popularity among all his associates. He is no less respected among personal friends and acquaintances, his high character expressing itself in good citizenship and the most cordial relations with all who come in contact with him. The office is at No. 335 E street.

Mr. Smith was married to Miss Ella Duncan, of Colorado Springs, Colo., and they have two children, Harold and Warren. They reside at No. 1152 Myrtle avenue.

JOHN WILLIAM COPPINI .- Though a native of Switzerland, John Coppini has been connected with the progress of California since 1885, hav- ing in that period of time seen great changes and improvements in the new and rapidly growing state. For the year 1885, which is only a recent date in the histories of other states of the Union, constitutes a part of the earlier history of California, where many towns have sprung up and the older ones advanced materially since that date, and where regions that were then wheat fields and poppy fields have now become beautiful and prosperous cities.

Coming from a European country famed for its beauty and romantic scenery, Mr. Coppini brings with him to America memories of snowy moun- tains, blue lakes and hillside pastures of the Alps region, where his birth occurred in Campo, Canton Ticino, May 27, 1868, his father, William Cop- pini, being a farmer and dairyman of that country. The son received his education in the public schools of his native land until reaching the age of sixteen, at which time he determined to try his fortune in California, of which place he had read and heard many good reports since many of his country- men had come hither to make their homes and to carry on the occupation of shepherd and dairyman which they had learned in boyhood in their native land. So Mr. Coppini started out for himself alone, coming to San Fran- cisco, Cal., when only a boy, in October, 1885, going also to Santa Cruz and to Davenport Landing, Cal., the same county, where for four years he was employed on a dairy farm. Then, hearing of Humboldt county as offering better opportunities for working men, he set out for that part of the state, arriving there in August, 1889. For four years he was employed in dairies at Point Kenyon and other places, his marriage occurring in Ferndale, the

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same county, in 1894, and uniting him with Miss Augusta Friesman, a native of Butte county, Cal., and daughter of John Friesman, who was born in Germany and became one of the pioneers of California. After his marriage, he started in business independently, renting a ranch of one hundred acres where he carried on the business of dairying; but the low price of butter, which then sold for only ten cents a pound, put him out of business, leaving him in debt likewise. For a while thereafter, Mr. Coppini was employed by others, but in 1896 came to the Island on the Salt river, where he rented the Merchant ranch of forty acres and applied himself to independent dairy work once more, continuing there for six years, at the end of that time purchasing his present place of thirty acres of bottom land situated on the Ferndale road, where he is engaged in the dairy business, having stocked his place with fine fullblooded Jersey cows and two bulls of the same breed, being now the owner of some of the finest thoroughbred Jersey stock in the county, and well known as a breeder of fullblooded cattle of this stock, besides raising hay, clover, carrots and beets upon his land.

Prominent in the Dairymen's Association and the Jersey Breeders' Asso- ciations of both Humboldt county and California, he was active in bringing about the defeat of the grading butter bill, and as a director in the Ferndale Cow Testing Association, having also contributed articles on the subject of the dairy industry to local papers and journals. Progressive in spirit and active in many ways that tend to the betterment of the locality where he has chosen to make his home, Mr. Coppini is an Independent in politics, and among fraternal circles holds membership in the Druids, the Knights of Columbus, the Woodmen of the World, and with his wife in the Women of Woodcraft. They are the parents of five children, namely : Agnes, who is now bookkeeper for the Central Creamery Company: Josephine, who attends the Arcata Normal School: Edith, a pupil at the Ferndale high school ; Mabel; and Leo William.

FRED B. BARNUM .- Versatile ability is generally regarded as a for- tunate acquisition, and so it is when each accomplishment is thoroughly mastered and made to redound to the will of its possessor, as is true in the case of Mr. Barnum. In any one of the activities in which he is interested he might well be content to confine his energies, and at the same time make a financial success, but such is his ambition that he cannot be circumscribed or confined to one line of business. Besides being interested in the real estate business, which included the laying out of large tracts of land in close prox- imity to Eureka, he is also a stockholder and a director in the Humboldt Times, and recently he was appointed secretary of the board of harbor com- missioners at the Port of Eureka.

It is fitting that all of the successes and honors that have fallen to Mr. Barnum should have been his portion, for as a native of Eureka he always has her best interests at heart and has lost no opportunity to demonstrate that fact. He was born here February 17, 1873, the son of Gorham New- berry Barnum, who was born in New York state, where he was early in life deprived of his father by death. Subsequently the mother became the wife of A. L. Pardee, and it was following this that the family came to Cali- fornia, the voyage being made by way of Panama. The party reached Cali- fornia without any incidents worthy of special mention, finally reaching Humboldt county, and in the same year, 1851, locating in Arcata. Here Mr.

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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 78

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