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 92

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 92

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).

843

HISTORY OF HUMBOLDT COUNTY

until the time of her death, in 1903. She built the Exchange Hotel and con- dueted it for a period of years. She was a woman of much force of character and of high Christian principles. For many years she was one of the most prominent members of the Garberville Methodist church, helping to build it and in many ways contributing to its growth. She was the mother of four children, all of whom are well and favorably known in Garberville. They are : Mrs. Jennie Dale, the widow of John Dale, who resides in East Oakland ; Harrison, residing in Trinity county ; David, residing at Tustin, Orange county, where he is a carpenter and builder ; and May, now Mrs. Craigie, of Garberville.

Mrs. Craigie was eleven years of age when her mother moved to Gar- berville. She attended the public schools here, and for two years was a student at the grammar school at Rohnerville. She met Peter Craigie at Garberville, and was married to him in San Francisco, May 12, 1879.

Peter Craigie, a bookkeeper by occupation, was a native of Hamilton, Canada, born May 12, 1848, and grew to young manhood there. His father was Dr. John Craigie, the most noted physician in Hamilton, and a man of great ability and learning. Mary, his wife, was of Scotch descent, and their marriage was solemnized in Scotland. Dr. Craigie gave all his children splen- did educations and started them in business, thus giving them the right beginning in life. There were nine children in the family, eight sons and one daughter. Of these one son, Thomas R. Craigie, is still living in San Fran- cisco, and has been in the United States customs service since 1876.

After their marriage Mr. and Mrs. Craigie went to Westport, where they continued to reside until Mr. Craigie's death in 1889, at the age of forty-one years. Three sons were born of this union: Harold McCharles Craigie, who married Miss Vanderburg of San Francisco, where he is now employed as a printer with the Cotter Printing Company ; Wallace H. Craigie. a salesman for Waterhouse & Lester, of San Francisco ; and Peter W. Craigie, who married Miss Irene Sullivan, and is now residing at Garberville, where he is assisting his mother with the management of the Exchange Hotel; they have a daughter, Irene.

After the death of her husband Mrs. Craigie returned to Nevada county and took up dressmaking, which occupation she followed for many years. She gave her three sons excellent educations, putting them all through high school, and giving them other advantages, and all with the fruits of her indus- try. She also took care of her aged father for fourteen years prior to his death. Later, when her mother's health failed, Mrs. Craigie brought her to San Francisco, and saw that she received the best of medical treatment. and it was there that she finally passed away at the home of Mrs. Craigie, who was at that time residing there.

Mrs. Craigie herself is a woman of more than ordinary qualities of heart and mind. She has enjoyed almost phenomenal success since she has been in business, and has accomplished far more than she had anticipated. Her Gar- berville property has increased greatly in value under her capable manage- ment, and she has recently built a garage across the street from the Exchange Hotel.

In polities Mrs. Craigie is a Progressive, and she typifies all that the word signifies, being wide awake to all that is for the best interests of the town and community, and always to be found well in the van when there is a

844

HISTORY OF HUMBOLDT COUNTY

movement for the public welfare and municipal betterment before the people. She is not, however, a politician, but rather a statesman and a splendid citizen.

Aside from her business ability, Mrs. Craigie is the center of a wide circle of friends and admiring acquaintances. She is kind-hearted and considerate of all with whom she comes in contact, and no one ever appeals in vain to her sympathies. She is at once a tower of strength and an angel of love, and as such she is known and loved and revered in her home city. In the manage- ment of the Exchange Hotel she has shown unusual ability, both as a busi- ness woman and in the art of making the hostelry homelike and comfortable for the guests, and so has made it easily the leading hotel in its section of the county.

GEORGE W. COUNTS .- When one is a hale old man of sixty-five years it must indeed be a pleasure to look back upon an energetic life spent in a variety of pursuits in the outdoors in this good green world. When George W. Counts of Blocksburg, Cal., a veteran of the Union army, gets to thinking of old times, his reminiscences are such as would acceptably fill the pages of a story of western life or the stirring days of our Civil war. His has been the wide, free-breathing life of the rancher in middle and southwest- ern states where one of his greatest delights was to be upon the back of his horse ; he has followed wood chopping and lumbering in Missouri and in the tall forests in the northern part of California, for the vitality and energy he put into his work receiving as much again from the rough, outdoor life; he has served in the army, being one of the youngest soldiers to carry a musket in our Civil war ; and grim, red-handed tragedy is not omitted from his earliest recollections.

Born in Marion county, Ark., March 1, 1848, George W. Counts was the son of William and Elizabeth (Beard) Counts. About twelve years before the opening of the Civil war the family moved to Missouri, where they settled on a farm in Dent county, and here the son grew up, one of a family of seven children, and supported himself by chopping wood and working on his fath- er's and two other Dent county farms. That part of Missouri became the scene of bloody strife during the Kansas-Missouri troubles. The father, being an ardent Union man, was the object of special vengeance of the pro- slavery element, and was taken out from his home three miles into the timber and shot by the bushwhackers. Three of the sons had already enlisted in the Union army, and after the father's cruel murder all the remaining boys who were big enough to carry guns enlisted in the army. George Counts was then only fifteen years of age, the youngest of the five brothers in the army. He enlisted in Company D, 47th Missouri Infantry, and served in the battle of Pilot Knob, Mo., and was in Price's raid when the man of that name was pursued to the Big Blue river. The boy saw hard fighting and a lot of guerrilla warfare. He was honorably discharged March 31, 1865, being then only seventeen years of age, and therefore one of the youngest men who did actual fighting in the Civil war.

After the war Mr. Counts was engaged in ranching for two years in Missouri and Illinois, and lumbering one year in Missouri. Thence he went west to Texas and New Mexico where he followed the cattle and was a great rider-"vaquero" is the Spanish word for the cowboys in this southwestern part of our country. In 1873 he came to California, where he busied himself with lumbering in Humboldt and Mendocino counties for fifteen or twenty

Louis Persons

847

HISTORY OF HUMBOLDT COUNTY

years, this time as head timber-feller, and it was while employed in splitting wood during this time that he accidentally cut off his left thumb. In Trinity county, Cal., he took up one hundred sixty acres of homestead, proved up on it and resided there eighteen years.

Politically Mr. Counts is allied with the Republican party. He has kept up old associations by his membership in the Cold Harbor G. A. R. Post at Arcata. He was married, in Humboldt county, to Mrs. Sarah Woods, and is the father of five children : Alice E., wife of Charles Baird, a business man of Eureka; W. L., a rancher residing in Covelo; John H., a teamster at Alderpoint ; Ivory M., employed in a hotel at Trinidad, Humboldt county ; and Alva M., who resides at Alderpoint. Mr. Counts is today well-to-do and living in retirement at Blocksburg where he is a well liked and highly re- spected citizen.

LOUIS PERSONS .- The old Eureka Foundry, for many years one of the best known plants of its kind in the city and vicinity, was established by Asa Persons in 1869, and after his death in 1875 his son continued there, as foreman and master mechanic, until January, 1913, his connection with the business in that capacity covering a period of thirty-seven years. The latter, Louis Persons, is still engaged in the same line at Eureka, where he and his family are highly respected citizens. It is notable that Mr. Persons helped to organize the fire department of the city, joining Company No. 2 June 25, 1873, and he has been in the service continuously since, only one other mem- ber, William P. Hanna, having as long a record of unbroken service.

Asa Persons was born at or near Rochester, N. Y., and came overland to California at the beginning of the gold excitement. After that he made several more trips over the plains before his marriage, which took place at Vinton, Iowa, Miss Isabella Dudgeon becoming his wife. She was a native of Ohio, of Scotch-Irish stock. In 1859 Mr. Persons settled in Nevada, where he built and operated a sawmill, running it in connection with the great Com- stock silver mine, to which he supplied lumber. Later he engaged in the machine business, constructing the machine shop which did the work for the Comstock mine and working in the plant. In February, 1869, Mr. Persons moved the first machinery for the old Eureka Foundry to that place, bringing it from Washoe City, Nev. It was in the cargo of the brig Hesperia, owned by the Dolbeer & Carson Company, and commanded by Capt. Jacob Cousins, who at the same time brought the machinery for the old Excelsior mill on Gunther island, in Humboldt bay. Mr. Persons bought out an old blacksmith shop from James Dawson, located at D and First streets, where some casting had been done. This he turned into a foundry and machine shop. Ile also built two steamers which he owned and ran on Humboldt bay, named Silva and Ada. He carried on these enterprises very successfully until his death, which occurred in 1875, when he was about fifty years old. His wife lived to the age of seventy, dying in 1906, at Eureka. She is survived by three children : Louis, and two daughters, Mrs. T. R. Hannah and Mrs. J. C. Ferrell, the latter a resident of Bar Harbor, Me.

Louis Persons was born July 22, 1854, in Plumas county, Cal. He was in his fifteenth year when he came with his father to Eureka, and he at once commenced work in the foundry, attending night school as opportunity offered. He has been following the trade of machinist for forty-five years, having remained with the works after his father's death, for thirty-seven

848

HISTORY OF HUMBOLDT COUNTY

years as foreman and master mechanic. In January, 1913, he severed his connection and has since been engaged as mechanic at the Marine Iron Works, on First street, conducted by J. R. Lane. Mr. Persons has always been one of the most respected residents of Eureka, and he is particularly well known in fraternal circles, being an Odd Fellow and a Mason ; he is a past grand of Fortuna Lodge No. 221, I. O. O. F., of Eureka, and past chief patriarch of the encampment. In Masonry he has attained the thirty-second degree. He is past master of Humboldt Lodge No. 79, F. & A. M .; past high priest of Humboldt Chapter No. 52, R. A. M .; past commander of Eureka Com- mandery No. 35, K. T., and a member of all the Scottish Rite bodies at Oak- land, and of Islam Temple, A. A. O. N. M. S., San Francisco; while Mrs. Persons is a member of Camelia Chapter, O. E. S.

Mr. Persons was married at Eureka to Miss Addie Haynes, a native of Illinois, and they have become the parents of the following children: Louis M., now in the United States immigration service, stationed at Astoria, Ore .; Georgia, the wife of George McGeorge, a steamboat man in the employ of the Pacific Coast Steamship Company (they reside in San Francisco) ; Nellie, the wife of Asa Sullinger, agent of the San Francisco Chronicle at Eureka; and Hazel, who married F. E. McPheren, head steward of the steamship City of Topeka, and their home is in San Francisco. Mr. and Mrs. Persons have a comfortable home at No. 912 H street.

SAMUEL R. DEAN .- Among the oldest homesteaders in that section of southern Humboldt county adjoining Garberville are the Deans, who have occupied their present property on the east branch of the south fork of the Eel river since 1878. The Dean ranch comprises four hundred forty acres, all acquired by the family under homestead and preemption rights, and is now operated by John E. Dean, youngest son of Mr. and Mrs. Samuel R. Dean. He was born on the place and has passed all his life there, and with the devel- opment of his interests has promise of becoming one of the substantial agri- culturists of his locality.

Samuel R. Dean is a native of Penobscot county, Maine, born April 22, 1838, and he lived there until just before he attained his majority. He came to California over the plains and had a rather adventurous trip, the Indians running off eight head of cattle belonging to the party, though most of them were recovered. He arrived in this state in February, 1859, and for a number of years thereafter was employed at the carpenter's trade, which he had learned in Maine. It was while following this occupation at Ukiah, Men- docino county, that he met Miss Annie A. Davis, whom he married, their wedding taking place there, May 26, 1872. In 1878 they decided to come up to Humboldt county and settle on government land, and they took up a pre- emption claim and a homestead which are now included in the ranch above referred to, the rest of the property having been acquired in the same manner by their sons, John E. and Samuel T. From the time he came to this section until advancing age made it necessary for him to relinquish active labor, Samuel R. Dean was engaged in the cultivation of his land and to some extent in stock-raising, and his son now continues the operations he inaugurated and is making excellent progress with the work of developing the ranch. Five children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Dean, namely : Samuel T., now a resi- dent of Trinity county, Cal., engaged in mining, married Miss Edna Newland, and they have three children : Arthur S. died at the age of twenty-five years ;

849

HISTORY OF HUMBOLDT COUNTY

Elbert LeRoy died when twenty years old; Izora E. is the wife of L. E. Trabing, a machinist and engineer, of Yolo county, this state, and they have one child ; John E. is now conducting the home farm, where he lives with his parents. Samuel R. Dean is now enjoying his ease with the care of the ranch in younger hands. He is a member of the lodge of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows at Ukiah, and belongs to the Rebekah degree there also, as docs his wife. All the family are Republicans on political questions. The rustic dwelling on the ranch is a comfortable little home, and the front yard with its variety of beautiful flowers shows the loving care of Mrs. Dean, who delights in her garden. Though sixty-two years old she is as active as ever and interested in her home duties, to which she attends capably. She has always been an excellent rider, and has the distinction of being consid- ered the most accomplished horsewoman in Humboldt and Mendocino coun- ties.

Mrs. Dean was born at Greencastle, Ind., and her parents, John and Sarah J. (Stoner) Davis, were also natives of that state, where they were married. Of the six children born to them, five are yet living. The family came to California across the plains with ox teams and wagons, in the year 1857, settling first in Tulare county, whence they moved to Mendocino county and later to Humboldt county, making a location right near the Dean ranch. Mrs. Davis lived to be over eighty-two years old.

John E. Dean was born in 1888 on the Dean ranch in southern Hum- boldt county, and obtained his education in the public schools of the neigh- borhood. He now has all the management of the place, eighty acres of which he owns in his own right, and besides raising general crops he keeps con- siderable stock, having at present seven head of cattle, three horses, fifty hogs, seventy-five Angora goats and about fifty hens. He is an enterprising worker, managing the various branches of his business intelligently and to their mutual advantage, and has already gained much experience since the entire responsibility devolved upon him. His recreation is hunting and fish- ing, of which he is very fond. His reliable character and strong principles have won him a high place among the trustworthy citizens of his section.

BARTOL MORANDA .- A resident of Humboldt county, who is so well satisfied with the country that he would not live elsewhere, Bartol Moranda, though a native of a distant land, is a loyal and worthy citizen of Ferndale, Cal., where he has lived on his present ranch since the year 1903.

Born in Vogorno, Canton Ticino, Switzerland, March 22, 1859, Mr. Moranda was the son of Stephen and Kate (Dominigini) Moranda, who resided in the Alps district all their lives. Of the family of seven children, the five sons all came to California to live: Julius is now a farmer at Cen- terville, this county ; Stephen was a dairyman in this county but has now returned to Ticino: Bartol, a dairyman, owns his ranch in the vicinity of Ferndale ; Frank, also a dairyman, died in this county ; and Joseph, a farmer, died near Ferndale. In his native country, Bartol Moranda was early accus- tomed to hard work, from a mere lad having to assist in making a living, and was employed in farming and dairying in Ticino until the age of twenty-one years, having received a good education in the local public schools. He then removed to California, attracted hither by the good reports that came back to the old home from his brothers and friends already in Humboldt county, and in October of the year 1881 he likewise arrived in this county.

850

HISTORY OF HUMBOLDT COUNTY

The first employment of Mr. Moranda in the new country was at a dairy on Bear River Ridge, where he remained two years, working the next two years on Bull Creek, the following three at Loleta, Cal., and then several years more in different dairies. Determining to engage in dairying for him- self, he rented a ranch with a partner, but this arrangement not proving a success, it remained for Mr. Moranda to pay all the debts, which necessitated his working for wages until the expenses were paid. Some time thereafter he purchased the old Dr. Stephens ranch, four hundred forty acres located on Bear River, where he engaged in farming and dairying, with a herd of forty-three cows. It was a splendid place, and besides his dairy interests there, he was engaged in raising apples and other fruits, and in the making of butter he was considered a champion. He conducted this estate until the ycar 1902, when he sold both ranch and stock, intending to return to his native Switzerland. But the lure of the West was too strong for him, and as soon as he had disposed of the place he found that he had become so much attached to life in Humboldt county that he felt no desire to return to Europe, and accordingly began looking about at once for another ranch in the vicinity of the latter one. In June, 1903, he purchased his present place of forty acres, situated three and one-half miles north of Ferndale, all rich bottom land and valuable property, and here he is at present engaged in the occupation of dairying, having a fine herd of twenty cows.

In his political interests, Mr. Moranda, like most of the others of his nationality in the county of Humboldt, is a stanch Republican. His marriage to Juditha Beri, also a native of Canton Ticino, took place in Ferndale, and they are the parents of three children, Anne, Delfina and Silvio.

ROBERT ANDERSON REDMOND .- Few officials in Humboldt county have had more substantial evidence of the confidence of their fellow citizens than Robert A. Redmond, whose continued public service, first as constable and later as sheriff, is abundant evidence of his unqualified fitness as a public servant. His thorough knowledge of conditions and routine gained through long public experience contributes to his reliability and effi- ciency, and the appreciation and approval of his work have been shown in the enthusiastic support he has received at the polls. It was after he had been in public service continuously since the year 1906 that he was elected sheriff in the fall of 1910, and so faithfully and well had he discharged his duties that he was reelected to succeed himself in 1914.

Mr. Redmond has lived in Humboldt county from childhood, having been thirteen years old when he came here, and he continued his education thereafter at the public schools of Eureka. As a foundation for business experience in later years he learned the trade of boilermaker, and for fourteen years, consecutively, was employed with Langford Brothers, in the Eureka Boiler Works. During these years Mr. Redmond's ability as a public ser- vant became recognized by his fellow citizens, who appointed him constable of Eureka township to fill an unexpired term. So satisfactorily did he dis- charge his duties that his name was placed upon the ticket for reelection. At the close of a successful full term in this office he was nominated and elected sheriff of the county, and as before, at the close of his first term, in 1914, he was again elected to succeed himself, receiving a large majority. With some particularly trying and hazardous situations to meet he has come to be re- garded as one of the most competent incumbents of the office in the state.

851

HISTORY OF HUMBOLDT COUNTY

He has been especially successful in criminal cases, and deserves the trust that has been reposed in him because of his faithful performance of every duty and his evident sincerity to do his utmost to interpret the responsibil- ities of his office and discharge them with impartiality and without fear of criticism from any quarter.

Mr. Redmond has numerous fraternal connections and has been par- ticularly prominent in the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, belonging to all its branches, lodge, encampment and canton, and taking an active part in their work. He is past noble grand of Fortuna Lodge No. 221, past chief patriarch of Mt. Zion Encampment, and past deputy grand master of District No. 9. He also holds membership in the Red Men, Modern Woodmen of America, Woodmen of the World, Fraternal Order of Eagles, being past president of Eureka Aerie No. 130, and the present district deputy of the district embracing Humboldt and Del Norte counties. He is also an active member of the Benevolent Protective Order of Elks, Humboldt Club and Sequoia Yacht Club.

Mr. Redmond was united in marriage with Miss Marian McLain, a native of Nova Scotia, whose father, Jonathan McLain, was an early settler in Humboldt county. Five children have been born to this union: Rutherford, Olive, Robert A. Jr., Lucile and Vivian.

PETER ANDERSON .- Since the year 1865 Peter Anderson has been a resident of the United States, having arrived in New York August 13, of that year, from Denmark, where he was born at Rudkjoebing, Langeland, October 2, 1843, the son of Anders, a forester of a large estate, as was also his father, Anders, before him, an occupation which the son Carl now carries on in their native land. The father of Peter Anderson, as well as his mother, who was formerly Mina Hansen, are now both deceased, and of the family of six children, five of whom are at the present time living, two are in America, namely, Peter and his brother Rasmus, who is a member of the Board of Supervisors of Humboldt county, Cal., and a resident of the city of Arcata in this county.

The education of Peter Anderson was received in the public schools of Denmark, and he grew up on his father's farm, being confirmed at the age of fourteen years, and began to work for wages on a farm at that time. Be- cause of the good reports he had read and heard of the opportunities offered to energetic and hard-working youths in the land of the Stars and Stripes, he determined to try his fortune in this country, and accordingly left his native land for the United States, from New York going directly to Chicago, where he was for a time employed, and from there to Rantoul, Ill., where he found employment on a farm, going later to Manistee, Mich., and working there at logging for a period of three years. Finally he made his way to California, coming via the Isthmus of Panama, and arriving in San Francisco in May, 1869. For a time he secured employment in Alameda county, this state; in August, 1869, he removed to Eureka, in Humboldt county, where he went to work for James Gannon in the woods above Arcata, where for six years he was engaged in logging, being later engaged in the liquor business for a couple of years in Arcata, which he abandoned to engage in farming. Pur- chasing forty acres of land a mile south of Arcata, he operated a farm thereon until, selling this, he once more engaged in the liquor business in Arcata,

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 92

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