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 84

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 84

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The marriage of Frank G. Williams united him with Miss Georgia Russ. Mrs. Williams is a daughter of the late Hon. Joseph Russ, state senator from Humboldt county in 1878-80, and a member of the general assembly at the time of his death in 1886. During 1880 he was a delegate to the national Republican convention in Chicago. This pioneer of 1849 was born in Wash- ington, Lincoln county, Me., December 19, 1825, and at the age of ten years moved with the family to Belmont, Waldo county, Mc., whence at the age of twenty-one he went to Dartmouth, Mass., and two years later began team- ing and merchandising at Fall River. Returning to Maine he carried on a sawmill and grocery at Appleton for three years. March 15, 1850, he landed at San Francisco after a long voyage around Cape Horn. At White Oak Springs he had charge of a sawmill for two months and afterward he built a bridge across the American river. During the summer of 1850 he and a partner conducted an unsuccessful mercantile business at Volcano, Amador county. Next he drove a herd of cattle to the Yuba river and sold them at a fair profit, this being the foundation of his large prosperity of later years. During the fall of 1852 he drove a herd of cattle to Humboldt county and was one of the first white men to explore the Eel river valley. While here he took up a claim near Centerville. With Berry Adams he bought beef cattle in Sacramento and drove them to Eureka, opening a market there in the fall of 1853. Two years later he went to the Salmon river forks and opened a market. In the spring of 1857 he purchased beef cattle in Oregon, drove them to the banks of the Bear river and opened another butcher shop in Eureka. As early as 1870 he erected the sawmill of Russ & Co., which later became a business of enormous proportions.

At the time of coming to the west Joseph Russ had not established domestic ties. December 17, 1854, he married Zipporah Patrick, who was born in Pennsylvania, a daughter of Nehemiah Patrick, who crossed the

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plains in 1852 and settled in Humboldt county during the next year. Mr. and Mrs. Russ became the parents of thirteen children, namely: Edward, James B., and Mary E., Mrs. James T. Robarts, all deceased; Margaret C., who married Rev. Philip Coombe ; Ira A., of Eureka ; Annie J., who married B. F. Harville, of San Francisco; William N., of Eureka, vice-president of the Russ-Williams Banking Company, of Ferndale; Georgia, who is the wife of Frank G. Williams; Edythe J., wife of Harry Connick, of San Fran- cisco: Bertha and Joseph, Jr .; and Winifred Estelle and Zipporah, both deceased. In their parentage both Mr. and Mrs. Williams were most for- tunate, for Hon. George Williams and Hon. Joseph Russ were men of remark- able mental powers, of the most devoted loyalty to their adopted common- wealth, keen in comprehension, sagacious in business, efficient in legislation and worthy of a high and permanent place in the annals of Humboldt county.

MRS. ROSE CULLEN GYSELAAR .- By her success in the manage- ment of her affairs, Mrs. Rose Cullen Gyselaar has, since being left a widow, carved out a competency for herself, and is known as an energetic and pros- perous citizen of Eureka, Cal., where for over twenty years she has made her home at the corner of E and Thirteenth streets. Her husband, John H. Gyselaar, was born in Holland, in the city of Amsterdam, went to sea and came around Cape Horn to San Francisco, where he secured employment for a time, after which he started in business for himself in that city, removing later to Eureka, where he became one of the early business men of the place. For some years he was bookkeeper for Peter Prince in the wholesale liquor business, whom he later bought out, continuing in the business until the time of his death. He was known as a liberal, open-hearted man, who spent his money freely and was kind to everyone, giving liberally to deserving enter- prises, to lodges, the city library and to the men in his employ. During the last six years of his life he was an invalid, and Mrs. Gyselaar had the entire care of him as well as of his business interests, his death occurring on October 20, 1906. He was a member of several fraternal organizations, namely, the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, the Knights of Pythias and the Ancient Order of United Workmen, and in his political preference was a supporter of the Republican party.

The marriage of Miss Rose Cullen with Mr. Gyselaar was celebrated in San Francisco in 1892. Mrs. Gyselaar is a native of Ireland, having been born at Dernyesnaar, County Cavan, the daughter of Charles and Bridget (Mc- Govern) Cullen, who were farmers there, and whom she visited five years ago, since which time her father has died, though her mother is still living. Of the twelve children in the family, eleven are living, Mrs. Gyselaar being the sixth in order of birth. When only nine years of age she came to San Fran- cisco with her brother Frank, attending school in that city, and at the age of twelve years removing to Eureka, where the brother had located, her sister, now Mrs. Kate Gurty of San Francisco, accompanying her, and here her marriage with Mr. Gyselaar took place. After her husband's death she disposed of his business, and since has employed her time looking after her own investments and other interests. She is fond of Eureka, her adopted home, believing that there is no better place in the world as to climate or the achieving of success than Humboldt county, and she is well qualified to judge in this matter, since she has had the privilege of extensive travel in many

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parts of the United States and the British Isles, as well as points of interest on the continent in Europe, on one occasion visiting Oberammergau. where she witnessed the original rendition of the Passion Play. Her one daughter, Rose F. Gyselaar, who was educated in the public schools, the Los Angeles state normal school and at the Eureka business college, is, like her mother, a person of culture and ability, and was the companion of Mrs. Gyselaar upon many of her travels. Politically, Mrs. Gyselaar is a stanch Republican, and her religious associations are with St. Bernard's Catholic Church of Eureka. Like her husband, she is enterprising and is continually making liberal con- tributions to charities and deserving people, and her kindliness is much ap- preciated, she being much loved for her aid to those who have been less for- tunate. However, all her benevolence is carried on in a quiet and unostenta- tious manner.

HENRY COX .- A resumé of the careers which are contributing to the best interests of Humboldt county would be incomplete without due mention of the earnest efforts of Henry Cox, one of its oldest residents and at the present time successful merchants. For thirty-eight years he has been promi- nently identified with its growth, contributing his share toward building up its mercantile and industrial prestige. He has conducted his affairs so ener- getically and wisely that at the present time he is one of the large property owners in this part of the state. In addition to his interest in the general merchandising establishment of Henry Cox & Son, he owns the blacksmith shop, the Bridgeville Hotel, the livery stable of the place, numerous residences and one hundred four acres of highly improved land, formerly known as part of the Barnum estate, and which he purchased in 1912. The store is well stocked with merchandise in demand by a cosmopolitan population, and father and son are meeting with merited success.

Like many of the best residents of Humboldt county, Henry Cox was born at St. George, New Brunswick, April 20, 1852, and it was there his father, George Cox, during his lifetime a farmer and lumberman, lived and died. His mother, formerly Mary A. McDoal, also claimed New Brunswick as her place of birth and by her marriage with George Cox became the mother of seven sons and four daughters, of whom Henry was the fifth. He remained with his parents, working as woodman, until at the age of nineteen he decided that his future prospects lay remote from home surroundings, and his first independent means of livelihood was employment in the woods of Maine. Later he went to Minneapolis, Minn., and for two years found work in the lumber camps at the headwaters of the Mississippi. We next find him en- gaged in the silver quartz mine of Belleville, Nev., which he left seven months later, coming to Humboldt county in 1876 and working for various lumber companies around the bay. Afflicted with asthma, he was advised to go to the mountains and in order to restore his health he took up a homestead and timber claim on the south fork of the Eel river, near Garberville. He cleared the farm property of timber and brush and as the years passed instituted many improvements. Here Mr. Cox resided until his removal into Briceland, where he ran the Briceland hotel for a year. On taking up his residence at Hydesville, he became proprietor of a hotel at that place and conducted the same with profit until he became interested in Bridgeville property, where he removed in September, 1909. The seven children born to Henry and Maria Jane (Coffron) Cox are: Clara, the wife of Robert L. Thomas, for

Mur Murs Henry Cox

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many years city engineer of Eureka; Minnie V., Mrs. Charles Driesbach, who makes her home in Bridgeville; George Henry is junior member of the firm of Henry Cox & Son, and of whom mention is made elsewhere in this volume : Gertrude E., Mrs. Martin Croghan, residing in Bridgeville ; Clarence William, who married Miss Halcyon Wigton, is assisting his father; Anita and Harold T. Mrs. Cox was a native of Wesley, Me., and came with her uncle, Ellis Coffron, to California when she was eleven years of age (in 1877), and made her home in Eureka and Bayside until her marriage to Mr. Cox, October 24, 1881. She is the daughter of Thaddeus and Elvira (Elsmore) Coffron, natives of New Brunswick and Maine, respectively. The mother died in Wesley and the father still resides in Maine.

JAMES D. HENRY BROWN .- It is difficult for the present generation to realize the marvelous changes that have taken place in California since the discovery of gold in 1849. Accustomed to rapid growth and stupendous development which ofttimes change a wilderness into a thriving city within so brief a period of time that one feels certain Aladdin and his fabled lamp must be near, yet this change carries to the mind of the young no adequate conception of that other and greater change which transformed the slopes of the Sierra Madres and the Coast range, not only from a wilderness in a purely physical sense, but which has altered the character of its civilization as well. This fact can only be comprehended by such men as James D. Henry Brown, who being one of the early pioneers, coming into the new gold fields when the rush was wild and the excitement keen, lived through such scenes as will never again be enacted on the continent of North America, and scarcely · on the face of the globe. The life in the mining towns was wild and lawless; adventurers and men of unrestrained passions, with only a lust for blood and gold, had rushed from all over the world into the placer mines. Fortunes were made and lost in a day and a night. Gambling was the lure on every hand ; vigilance committees often strove in vain to enforce law and order. In many parts of the state the Indians were hostile, skulking in the shadow of the woods while the farmer followed his plow or herdsman tended cattle, or again stealing upon the peaceful cabin in the woods where the wife and mother cared for her babes.

It was through such scenes as these that Mr. Brown passed, being him- self in many a sharp engagement with the Indians, having his cattle driven off from the very shadow of his cabin, his barn burned, and the lives of him- self and family menaced. In his search for gold he penetrated the mountain regions, was overtaken with his party by a severe snow storm, and out of a total of sixty only a handful escaped, they being forced to kill their pack mules for food, and make their way across the mountains on foot. Fire and flood swept over the place where he had erected his home and he was left desolate. Still, with the unfaltering courage of the pioneer, the builder of empires, he struggled on, and in the end wrested from the new land a home and a fortune, which he is today enjoying at his home in Arcata.

Born at Quincy, Ill., January 8, 1830, the childhood of Mr. Brown was passed on his father's farm, and his education received in the public schools of his neighborhood and in Quincy. After completing school he assisted his father on the home place, and was later apprenticed to a blacksmith, spending four years in the mastery and practice of his trade. The restlessness of the

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age was in the air, however, and in 1850 he left home and joined a party bound for California. They crossed the plains with ox-teams, coming by way of Salt Lake City and the Mormon stations, down Carson river to the now famous Hangtown, leaving Quincy (Il1.), April 23, and arriving at Hangtown, August 8. Remaining for a short time in that bustling mining center, Mr. Brown then went to the Cosumne river locality, where he en- gaged in placer mining for a few months. On January 23, 1851, he came into Humboldt county with a party of twenty-six. They landed at what is now Eureka, but at that time there was only one unfinished house to mark the site of the present city, this being owned by a man named Britt. It was raining and the party being without shelter, they paid the enterprising house- holder twenty-five cents each for the privilege of sleeping under his roof, on shavings spread on the floor. On the following day they chartered a scow and were taken across the bay to Arcata (then Union Town), where they found lodgings with a man named Campbell, who owned four or five shanties. Here they remained for perhaps a week, when six of the party determined to move on to Big Bar, in Trinity county. They were able to purchase but one horse in Arcata, and so the majority of the outfit must necessarily be packed in by the men themselves. Being one of the youngest members of the party, some forty pounds were allotted as the share of young Brown, and this he carried on his shoulders from Arcata to Weaverville. Arriving in Weaverville, they engaged in mining for a short time, and on February 15th left that point and located on Salmon river, where they continued their search for gold. The weather was extremely bad, and they were finally forced to turn back to Trinity. A heavy snow storm overtook the party, which num- bered sixty in all, and all perished save a group of six men of which Mr. Brown was one. It was on this occasion that they were obliged to eat their pack-mules and carry their own outfits out of the mountains, suffering almost unbearable hardships on the trip. Arriving at Trinity, Mr. Brown remained there until September, 1851, at which time he went down to San Francisco, and from there set sail for South America, locating eventually in Greytown, Nicaragua, where he opened a hotel, which he successfully conducted for thir- teen months.

There was no land like California to this young adventurer, however, and in 1853 he returned to San Francisco, going from there to Hangtown, where he again engaged in mining. Later that same year he went into Humboldt county and went to work in the lumber camps, where he soon opened a black- smith shop in Eureka. The following year he sold his interests there and removed to Kneeland Prairie, where, in partnership with Albert R. Hitchcock, he engaged in stock-raising and general farming. In 1859 he again moved, this time going to Elk river country, where he continued his occupation of farming and stock-raising. At this time the Indians were particularly trouble- some, and on several occasions marauding parties swept down on the set- tlers, driving off their cattle, destroying property and killing many un- protected families. Men worked with their guns within reach of their hands, and slept with them beside their pillows. Mr. Brown was always foremost in the avenging party of white men who never failed to follow the trail of the savages and inflict deserved punishment, and although he was engaged in many a sharp skirmish, it is a noteworthy fact that he escaped without

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even a scratch. After a few years on the Elk river this restless pioneer sold his interests there, which then consisted of a fine ranch of two hundred ten acres, one hundred of which he had cleared and put under cultivation, and moved to Samoa, where he again followed the occupation of farming and stock-raising. Later he spent ten years in Oregon, locating on a farm at Jacksonville, after which he again returned to Humboldt county, settling on a ranch on Mad river, which he had purchased some time before. Here he erected a tiny log cabin and for forty years followed the life of a fisherman, sometimes leasing a part of his fishery to others, but generally keeping his entire preserve for himself. He has within recent years retired from all active occupations, and is living quietly in Arcata, enjoying the fruits of years of honest toil. His wife, who was his companion on many of his wanderings, died several years ago, and he is now alone save for his children, several of whom are living in and around Arcata.

Mr. Brown is the type of man who is fast passing from the stage of action, and when once they have gone, there will never again, on this conti- nent, at least, be another generation like them. They are the product of an earlier civilization, their characters shaped by the conditions under which they lived and the hardships through which they passed. They are to be honored while they are yet with us, and deeply and reverently mourned when they are gone.

FRANK J. CUMMINGS .- One of the well known educators of Cali- fornia, and one whose work has always been of an especially high order, is Frank J. Cummings, now of Ferndale, where he is engaged in farming. For many years, however, he was actively engaged in the profession of teaching, and has held positions of trust and influence in some of the largest schools of the state. Everywhere that he has taught he has made many friends, and his standing in the profession is exceptionally high. Since taking up farming he has met with much merited success, and has brought the same carefully trained mind to apply upon all farm questions that he formerly employed to solve the problems of the school room.

Mr. Cummings is a native of California, having been born in Petrolia, Humboldt county, May 24, 1871. His father was Lewis J. Cummings, a native of Indiana, born February 21, 1832, and his mother was Elizabeth Miner, a native of Ohio, born June 16, 1841. In 1850 the father came to California in company with his father, Josiah Cummings, and a brother, Amos, driving a herd of cattle across the plains from Wisconsin, and locating near Placerville. They lost a large number of their cattle in crossing the plains through the raids of the Indians, who never lost an opportunity to kill and drive off their stock. Although bringing the herd of stock with them, they really came to California in search of gold, and accordingly they took up a claim and engaged in mining for two years, in which they were very successful. In 1852 Lewis J. Cummings returned to his home in Janesville, Rock county, Wis., going by way of the Isthmus of Panama. He made the trip across the Isthmus on foot, walking the distance in three days, and again taking passage to New Orleans, and thence up the Mississippi to Wis- consin. While there he was married to Elizabeth Miner. Mercantile pursuits occupied his attention until the call came from the anti-slavery men of Kansas to the people of the north to come and help make Kansas a free state.

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They responded and located on a farm in Linn county, Kans., and there Mr. Cummings took part in the struggle, which was bloody at times, but which resulted in bringing Kansas in as a free state. In the early '60s he again crossed the plains with ox-teams, bringing his wife and her brother, Cyrus Miner. They first went to Walla Walla, Wash., and after a year made their way to Marysville, Cal., where Mr. Cummings teamed for two years. He then came with pack mules over the mountains to Humboldt and took up a claim at Petrolia, which he cleared and improved and upon which he followed stock-raising until the time of his death in 1901. The mother is still living, making her home in Eureka with her daughter, Mrs. J. S. Burnell.

The boyhood days of Frank J. Cummings were spent on the farm in Petrolia, where he attended the public schools and then attended the N. S. Phelps Academy, at Eureka, from which he was graduated in 1889, and that same year was given a certificate to teach in the public schools of the state. His first school was in Phillipsville, where he remained for three and a half years. Then followed a year and a half in the McDermott school district.

It was in 1894 that Mr. Cummings first came to Ferndale and taught the Grant school on the island, remaining there three and a half years. In 1897 he gave up teaching for a time and entered Stanford University, at Palo Alto, where he specialized in history and economics, being graduated in 1901. He then accepted a position in Fresno county, as principal of the grammar schools at Fowler, where he remained for a year, then returning to Humboldt county to accept the position of principal of the public schools of Fortuna, remaining for a year. Following this he went to Eureka, where he filled the position of teacher of history in the high school for five years, and for the two follow- ing years he taught history in the high school at Sacramento. The Union High School at Ferndale then secured his services as principal, and he re- turned to Humboldt county to make it his permanent home. Later he gave up teaching, and in the fall of 1911 he moved onto his present home place, where he is engaged in general farming and dairying, making a specialty of the latter. He has been very successful in this new enterprise, and has a fine line of registered Jersey stock, of which he is justly proud.

Since becoming a farmer, Mr. Cummings has taken a great interest in all that pertains to the dairy business, and is an active factor in the Ferndale Cow Testing Association, and has been president of this organization for two years. He was one of the prominent organizers of the Humboldt County Dairymen's Association, and is secretary of the association at the present time. He is a director at large of the Humboldt County Farm Bureau which directs the activities of the farm adviser.

Mr. Cummings is also popular in fraternal circles, being a member of Fortuna Lodge No. 221, I. O. O. F., in Eureka, of which he is past grand. He was made a Mason in Ferndale Lodge No. 193, F. & A. M., of which he is past master. Although a man of many activities, Mr. Cummings has been vitally interested in local questions of general welfare and has been a factor in securing many local improvements. Ile was instrumental in securing the rural free mail delivery service for the island, and has been associated with other similar public movements. He is a Republican in politics, and is the central committeeman from his district.

The marriage of Mr. Cummings took place in Ferndale, November 16,

Mrs Winnie Dukes

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1902, uniting him with Miss Christine Nissen, also a native of California, hav- ing been born in Humboldt county August 19, 1878, on Bear river ridge. She is the daughter of E. P. and Maria (Hynding) Nissen, well known Humboldt pioneers, having resided in this county for many years. To Mr. and Mrs. Cummings have been born four children, Loyd, Ellis, Keith and Merle, all attending the local schools.

Both Mr. and Mrs. Cummings enjoy the friendship of a wide circle of friends. Mr. Cummings has always been especially energetic and active, and is acknowledged as one of the leading men of the community in which he lives. He is up to date in all his farming methods, and is well informed on all the latest scientific phases of farm life and agriculture. His success has been pronounced, and is certainly deserved.

MINNIE F. DUKES .- A woman who through her own exertions and good management has acquired valuable property which she manages per- sonally, directing all the work of her several places and not being afraid of hard labor or of working together with her employes on the farm, is Mrs. Minnie F. Dukes, a perfect type of the new woman, a strong moral character and a storage battery of energy.

The maiden name of Mrs. Dukes was Cook, but upon her mother's second marriage she took the name of her stepfather, Thorington. She was born at St. Helena, Cal., and grew up near Lakeport, Lake county, in the same state. On March 29, 1892, she was married to Albert Dukes and has two children, Elizabeth E. and Cynthia M. In 1898 they located in Humboldt county, remaining two years at Metropolitan, when they came to Price creek, in Grizzly Bluff district, engaging in farming and stock-raising. Her mar- riage did not prove a happy one, her husband not providing for her, so she started out herself to bring order out of chaos. Despite the fact she started without a dollar she put her shoulder to the wheel and was not discouraged, but set about bravely and industriously to improve her property, adding to it by lucky speculations and wise management. In this way, entirely by her own efforts, she has now reached prosperity. At the time of her separation from her husband, in 1912, Mrs. Dukes bought his place of eight and one-half acres of the N. G. Dukes estate, to which he had fallen heir, and came into possession also of a one-quarter interest in eighty acres on Price creek of the same estate. To this she added twelve acres formerly known as the Della Dukes Price place, besides which she has become the owner of seventy-nine 'acres of the Charlie Drake place which she bought from Albert Dukes, and a four-acre ranch with a nine-room residence and barns at Fortuna, Cal., known as the Bartlett place, and also five acres in Fairfield, Solano county.

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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 84

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