USA > California > Mendocino County > History of Mendocino County, California : comprising its geography, geology, topography, climatography, springs and timber > Part 66
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HISTORY OF MENDOCINO COUNTY, CALIFORNIA.
between Yolo and Solano counties, where he worked on a farm for six months. We next find him in Colusa county, where he embarked in the stock business, which he followed for one year. In 1857, he went to Peta- luma, Sonoma county, where he engaged in the stock business, which he continued for a short time, when he moved to Cloverdale, and followed the same business till 1862. He then went to the Salmon river during the ex- citement there, and engaged in mining through Oregon and Idaho till 1865. He then returned to Sonoma county and engaged in farming near Geyserville, where he remained till 1871. In the above-named year, he came to Mendocino county and settled on his present ranch at Blue Rock, twenty miles north of Cahto, consisting of over two thousand acres, and stocked with two thousand head of sheep. Mr. Davidson married Mary P. Archambau, October 19, 1865, she was born December 25, 1849, and by this union they have Martha E., born October 21, 1866; Sarah C., born October 12, . 1869; William A., born May 6, 1871; and Grace M., born May 2, 1878. Was engaged in carrying the United States Mail for eight years, between Cahto and Hydesville.
William Fulwider. The subject of this sketch, whose portrait appears in this work, was born in Rockbridge county, Virginia, April 5, 1832. At his birthplace he received a common school education, and resided till the spring of 1852 when he came via Cape Horn to California, arriving in the Golden State in August of that year. He immediately proceeded to Trinity county and began mining near Weaverville, which business he followed in that- vicinity till the spring of 1856, when in May of that year he came to Mendo- docino county, and settled on his present place of three hundred and twenty acres. In June, 1856, he went to the Fraser River excitement, and was absent one year, when he again returned to his home in this valley, and has since resided here. Married in October, 1860, and has nine children, Robert H. born December 27, 1861 ; Sarah F., November 18, 1863 ; Mary J., Septem- ber 10, 1865 ; John W., February 12, 1867 ; Theodore E., November 9, 1868; Lucine E., September 29, 1870; Ella F., October 14, 1872; Augustus C., Feb- ruary 8, 1875; Laura E., December 25, 1876.
Jackson Farley. The subject of this sketch, whose portrait appears in this work, is the oldest son of Thomas and Margaret Ferguson Farley, and was born in Logan county, Virginia, October 13th, about the year 1810. At his birthplace he resided till nine years old, when his parents moved to Clark county, Illinois, where they remained for three years. His parents then returned to his native State where they resided till he was eighteen years old, when they moved to Missouri, and settled in Platte county, where Mr. Farley engaged in farming and raising stock, for four years. He then moved to Anderson county, that State, where he resided till the spring of 1849, when he, with ox-teams, came across the plains to California. He at
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once began mining at Hangtown (Placerville,) where he worked till Christ- mas ; then he went to San Francisco, and soon afterward came to Napa county ; stayed there till the spring of 1850, then went to Trinity county; prospected three weeks, and went thence to Yuba on the Feather river; remained there until fall. Then he returned to Napa City; thence back to Missouri. In the fall of 1850 Mr. Farley returned to Missouri ; and again in 1851, he, with his brother's family, returned across the plains to California. His brother emigrated to Oregon in 1846 but is now living with him at his home in this county. In May, 1857, he settled in Mendocino county, on the place where he now lives, consisting of three hundred and twenty acres of land. Mr. Farley married in October, 1845, Caroline Stokes; she died in 1848. By this union they had two children, both of whom died in Napa, one in the fall of 1856, and one in the spring of 1857.
Taylor Howard. Was born in McDonald county, Missouri, January 22, 1848, when he was about eight years of age his parents came to California, crossing the plains with ox-teams. They arrived in San Joaquin county in the fall of 1856, where they resided about one year. They then moved to Sonoma county, and settled near Geyserville. In the fall of 1858, they came to Mendocino county, and settled about three miles from Ukiah where the elder Mr. Howard still resides. Taylor Howard remained with his parents till 1876, when he purchased and settled upon his present place consisting of six hundred and forty acres, in company with W. W. Moore, Here they are engaged in wool-growing. having about one thousand two hundred head of sheep. Mr. Howard married, August 22, 1875, Miss Katie Chase, a native of California.
Dryden Lacock. Was born in Pennsylvania, June 17, 1823. In 1846 he went to Wisconsin, and in 1848 he moved to Iowa, and in 1850 he crossed the plains to California, arriving August 11th of that year. He followed mining at different places for five years. He then went to Tehama county, where he spent four years, being Indian agent there in 1856. He then came to Mendocino county and settled in Round valley, where he was in the employ of the Government, doing all the mason work on the reservation till 1859. He then settled on a ranch, since which time he has been engaged in stock-raising and wool-growing. In the summer of 1880 he settled on his present place, on the road from Ukiah to Round valley. He married, June 14, 1863, Miss M. A. Porter, a native of Tennessee.
Frank B. Layton, Youngest child of Ezra and Mary Ann Ryan Lay- ton, was born in Colchester county, Nova Scotia, October 8, 1844, and received a common school education in his native county, and at the age of eighteen began an apprenticeship to the blacksmith trade, which he followed until he came to California in 1867, coming via the Isthmus. He immedi- ately went to Santa Cruz, where he worked at his trade for one year. He
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HISTORY OF MENDOCINO COUNTY, CALIFORNIA.
then went to Nevada, where he was employed for one year by the Central Pacific Railroad Company. In 1869 he settled in Cloverdale, Sonoma county, where he opened a shop of his own, which he carried on till 1873. He then settled in Cahto, Mendocino county, where he followed the same business till 1875. In that year he settled in Laytonville and opened his shop in an old log house, where he worked till 1878, when he built his present shop. The town was named after him. He was married, June 4, 1870, to Adelia Simpson, widow of J. P. Smith. She was born in Stevenson county, Illinois, October 15, 1849. Laura J., born September 20, 1871; Cora E., born June 22, 1873; Ezra E., born March 31, 1875; Archie, born July 31, 1877; Maud, born May 1, 1880, are the names and births of their children. Mrs. Layton has one child by her former marriage, Edgar H., born July 6, 1865.
G. T. Mason, M. D. Was born in Shelbyville, Bedford county, Ten- nessee, July 26, 1839; removed with parents to Greene county, Missouri, in 1847. He received his education in the public schools of Greene county, and in Ebenezer High Schools of same county; studied medicine under C. N. Headlee, M. D., of Polk county, Missouri; graduated in, and received his first diploma from the Missouri Medical College, known as McDowell's Medical College of St. Louis, Missouri, in March, 1860. He practiced his profession in the south-western counties of Missouri until January, 1863, when he removed to St. Louis, where he practiced for three years. After the close of the war he spent nearly two years in traveling in Texas, the Indian nations, Ark- ansas, Tennessee and Kentucky. In August, 1868, he located in Boone county, Missouri, where he was married to Miss Nancy C. Crump, on the 24th day of November, 1868. They have two children : Alice, born March 22, 1870, and James S., born September 22, 1872. He moved to Callaway county, Missouri, in the spring of 1873, where, in a few months he lost his wife; he then returned to Columbia, Boone county, Missouri , where he was married to Miss Mary V. Smith, native of Virginia, on the 5th day of March, 1874, and re- moved again to St. Louis, where he remained until March, 1876, at which time he received an addendum degree from Missouri Medical College. He then came to California and settled in Santa Ana, Los Angeles county, where he bought and improved a nice little property ; he remained there until August, 1878, when he came with his family to Mendocino county. In 1879 he was elected Coroner and Public Administrator of Mendocino county, which office he now fills. In February, 1880, he was, by the Board of Supervisors, appointed County Physician, which position he also now fills.
James G. Rawlison. Youngest child of Sylvanus and Nancy Smith Rawlison, was born in Rockbridge county, Virginia, May 3, 1832, and at his birthplace he resided till twenty-two years of age, on a farm, and was educated at the common school of his native county. November 20, 1855,
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he sailed from New York City on the steamer Empire City to Panama, and there he boarded the George Law, and arrived in San Francisco .December 15th. He immediately proceeded to the mines at Weaverville, where he began mining, remaining for two months. In April, 1856, he came to Mendo- cino county and settled on his present farm and began farming with his brother, Robert S., raising hogs for ten years. They then began raising stock, cattle and horses. He remained in partnership with his brother till the fall of 1871. He now owns, in this county, about eight hundred and twelve acres of land, and is principally engaged in sheep-raising, owning five hundred head. Mr. Rawlison is unmarried.
Alfred Requa, Son of Gilbert and Elizabeth Woolsey Requa, was born in Ulster county, New York, March 13, 1827. Went to New York in 1844 and lived there till February 2, 1849, when he sailed from there around the Cape, and arrived in San Francisco in September, 1849. Was occupied in mining till June, 1873, when he returned to New York City. Married, October 12, Melissa Harris, born March 16, 1838. Started again to Cali- fornia on the 20th of the same month by the Panama route, arriving in San Francisco in twenty-three days. Moved to Nevada county at Woolsey's Flat; occupied in mining till 1857; moved from there to Point Arena; lived there one year, and then moved to their present residence. Their children are: Almira, born January 2, 1857; Nelson, born March 18, 1860; Alfred, born May 18, 1862; Edmund, born July 9, 1865; Alice, born October 25, 1868 ; Abraham, born May 28, 1872; Sophia, born September 10, 1874; Valentine, born February 14, 1878.
John Pendleton Simpson. This pioneer of Mendocino county, whose portrait will be found in these pages, was born in Chautauqua county, New York, September 20, 1822. He remained at his birthplace until he was about thirteen years of age, when with his parents he moved to Ashtabula county, Ohio, where he remained until he was seventeen years of age. He then went to New Orleans and there remained until 1849, when he set out for California, coming the southern route through Texas and Mexico. He and Robert White were chums at home, and were partners through their min- ing days, and came to Mendocino county together as early as 1852, before there had hardly been a white man within its boundaries, and have since remained together as business partners. Nearly sixty years have left their snow upon their heads, which are now white with it. They have passed through the entire process of frontiering, and know it all by heart. The native In- dians are mostly all gone now who were their only neighbors in those pio- neer days, and their places are filled by men of their own race and tongue, and the rude " wick-e-up " is supplanted with neatly-painted cottages, and the wild jungles are now smiling fields of grain. All honor, say we, to these brave men, who took their lives in their hands and led the way into the
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HISTORY OF MENDOCINO COUNTY, CALIFORNIA.
outer circles of our country, that we might enjoy the land as an abiding place a quarter of a century later.
Jeremiah M. Standley. Was born in Missouri, August 20, 1845. In 1853 he, with his parents, came across the plains with ox-teams to Califor- nia. They remained in Sacramento till December of that year, when they came to Sonoma county, and erected a house where the " Revere House " now stands in Petaluma. In 1858 they moved to Mendocino county and located at Ukiah. Here the father engaged in merchandising and hotel- keeping, he having erected the hotel known as the "Ukiah House." Jere- miah assisted his father in the hotel, and also on a ranch, where he had a band of cattle. In 1861 he commenced the battle of life on his own account, and leased the Knight ranch, where he remained a year and a half, accumu- lating about $1,000. He then determined to complete his education; and for that purpose entered the schools at Ukiah, at the same time assisting Lew. M. Warden in the Sheriff's office. He continued thus for about three years, and then began teaching, which he followed for five years. He was then ap- pointed Deputy Sheriff under S. J. Chalfant, which position he filled for two years. He then leased a sheep ranch in Sherwood valley, and has since been engaged in stock and sheep-raising. During Mr. Standley's term in the Sheriff's office, he filled the position to the entire satisfaction of the people of Mendocino county, and often to the imminent risk of his own life. He played no small part in the capture of the " Mendocino Outlaws;" but the story is best told by himself, and hence we append the following testimony given by him at the trial of John F. Wheeler: "I was summoned by the Sheriff, at Little Lake, on the 17th day of October, 1879, for the purpose of arresting the murderers of Dollard and Wright. Went to the scene of the murder on the 18th, and then to Mendocino City ; thence to Courtwright's cabin, about twenty-five miles north of Mendocino City, and from there to Bald Hills, Noyo river. I there met Mr. Moore and posse, and returned to Campbell's place in Little Lake valley. The next morning we went down to the cabin, but saw no one there. We were looking for Courtwright. We went back to the cabin the next day and arrested Carr. He was very much worn out in the feet; his ankles were sore and tied up. We deliv- ered Carr to Constables Laird and Muir, and he was sent to Ukiah. We then went with the Sheriff to Kibesillah, where we remained all night. The next day we went back to Ten-mile river, about three miles below Court- wright's cabin, and found George Cortez's tracking party. We did not see the tracks of the outlaws, and returned to Westport. The next day we went out on the Cahto road, but made no discoveries, and returned to West- port and staid all night. We went up the coast the next day as far as Rock- ville, and returned, when we met a messenger who informed us that the out- laws had been seen and one of them recognized. We went from there to Uncle Tommy Daimen's cabin, formed in ambush, and remained there until
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the next day. Here we received a message that the outlaws were going to the south fork of Eel river. We then went down to Leggett valley, se- creted ourselves and remained all night. The next morning the Sheriff and posse went down to Sam. Pearce's place; myself, young Bowman and Wil- son went out from the river until we came to a stream called Rattlesnake creek, which empties into Eel river, which we followed down to its mouth, where we discovered going down Eel river the tracks of three men; followed the tracks about a hundred and fifty yards, and was alarmed by a noise be- tween us and the creek bottom; we were at the time on the bluff. On go- ing to the edge of the bluff and looking over I discovered three men rushing up together, and picking up their guns. I at once commanded them to sur- render, when they ran, jumping over the creek bank, our party firing at them as they ran. We secured their camp, capturing four blankets, a knife, two six-shooters, a coffee-pot, a cup, sack of dried beef, shaving utensils, two hundred and fifty or three hundred cartridges for pistols and rifles, a couple of pairs of boots, three or four coats, and two pairs of pants, which I took charge of, carefully marking each article so that I could identify them again. I put on a pair of the pants, and a coat and overcoat, as my clothes had become badly torn in crawling through the bushes, and gave the rest of the things to a man to deliver at my house in Sherwood valley. This camp was about sixty miles from the scene of the murder. At this place I exam- ined the tracks carefully, not having done so before, and found that the tracks differed greatly, one of them being made by a small-heeled boot, the heel projecting under the foot ; another was a little larger, having a square toe and round flat heel; the third was still larger and longer, and having two large round-headed tacks, running diagonally across one heel, the other heel having a large tack at its front edge next to the center. We followed the tracks about a quarter of a mile, when we met a messenger who informed us that the outlaws had taken breakfast at Ray's place, about eight miles from where we had routed them the day before. We went at once to Ray's place, and got a description of the men, and examined the tracks in front of the house, and found them to be the same as those seen at the camp on the river. We followed the tracks from Ray's to Blue Rock, where we lost them. By searching through the country and sending messengers to the various ranches, we again found the tracks north of Round valley, on Eel river. They were the same tracks we had been. following previously. From there we followed them to John Watham's place in Trinity county; thence to Petit Johns' on Cold Fork of the Cottonwood, in Tehama county. Almost the entire distance traversed, from Eel river to Petit Johns,' was through a rough, mountainous country, sometimes down into deep cañons, and at others over high ridges. Sometimes they would follow the road for five or six miles, and then suddenly abandon it for the hills and gulehes. From Johns' ranch we followed the tracks to Veil's Gulch, on the Redbank, about
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HISTORY OF MENDOCINO COUNTY, CALIFORNIA.
sixteen miles from Red Bluff, where we again lost their tracks. After searching for about two weeks without finding them again we abandoned the search for the time being, and returned to Ukiah. I remained in Ukiah a couple of days, and having gained information which led me to believe that the men would go to the neighborhood of Nimshew, Butte county, near which place a brother-in-law of Brown's resided, Sheriff Moore and myself again started in pursuit of them. We first went to San Francisco, thence to Oroville, Chico, and Helltown, where we again heard of them, having found the man who piloted them to Battle creek, after night, by the aid of a lantern. From that place we followed them, by means of descrip- tions of the men, to Nimshew, and learned that they had been there nineteen days before. We remained at Nimshew all night and a part of the next day, and then went away, leaving a man to watch for them. That night, at about 11 o'clock, we received a message as to the whereabouts of the men, and at once, in company with Sheriff Moore, Mr. Meeser and Mr. White, went to McClellan's cabin, reaching there a little after daylight the next morning. The cabin is situated in a deep canon running from Nimshew to Butte creek, the sides of which are covered with a thick growth of chemissal brush. When we reached the cabin we saw a man chopping wood, whom Moore and myself recognized as Billings, and we at once com- manded him to throw up his hands and surrender; but instead of doing so he ran into the house, and I fired at him as he ran. We then fired into and through the cabin ten or fifteen times. As soon as the firing commenced, Brown and Gaunce ran from the cabin, taking different directions, but both making for the brush. White, who was on the opposite side, and had been firing, then hallooed that they had gone, but that we had killed one of them. We then ran down and into the cabin, and out at the opposite side, and saw Billings lying on the ground, about thirty feet from the cabin, face down- wards, with his gun under him. We went up to him and turned him over, when he gasped once and was dead. On examining the body we found the vest corresponded with a coat we had taken in the camp on Rattlesnake, and that the shoes were the ones with the large tacks in the heels. We then carried the body into the house and sent for the Coroner. On the arrival of the Coroner an examination of the body was made, which dis- closed the fact that the marks on it corresponded with th : description of those on John Billings, as furnished by the prison officials at San Quentin. After giving our testimony before the Coroner, we at once started out on the track of Brown, and followed it about a mile and a half, when we came to the conclusion that he was lame and could not travel far. We then returned to the cabin and struck out after Gaunce. We followed his tracks down the ravine to Butte creek, and down the creek three or four miles, where it made a square turn and led us back to within two hundred yards of Nimshew, where we lost the track, and blew out our light (we had been
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tracking by means of the light of a lantern, it being then about two o'clock in the morning) and went to the hotel. The next morning, just as we were getting ready to search the town, we learned that a buggy robe had been stolen from a shed adjoining a vacant cabin, not more than two hundred yards from the hotel. White and I went at once to the cabin and made a search. We searched each room as we came to it, and in the last one noticed an old cupboard behind which we saw our man. I covered him with my gun and ordered him to surrender, which he did, saying that he had nothing with which to resist. I took him in a buggy and followed after Sheriff Moore, who had already started with the body of Billings. I overtook him at Chico, and turned my prisoner over to him, and at once returned to Nimshew for the purpose of hunting for Brown. We then went out to the point where we had abandoned Brown's track, and followed it from there to Concord valley; thence due east up the slope of the Sierras to the snow line. Here he stopped all night with an Indian. The next morning he crossed the north fork of Feather river and stayed all night at a place called Last Chance. From there he crossed French creek and went to the Mountain House, on the road from Oroville to Susanville, and then on the main road to Bidwell's Bar. From there he took to the foot-hills and went to Wyandotte, when he made a turn and went towards Rice's Crossing, on Yuba river. When a couple of miles beyond Wyandotte, we met two men - Thatcher and Ryan - with Brown in charge, they having captured him about a mile ahead of us. I immediately arrested him and brought him back. Most of the chase, from beginning to end, was made on foot, and thirty miles of the distance, between Nimshew and Bangor, was through soft snow over a foot deep." Mr. Stanley was married in September, 1868, to Miss Sarah C. Clay, a native of Missouri. Their children are: Minnie J., Harrison W., and Nettie F.
Alfred E. Sherwood. This early pioneer of Mendocino county, whose portrait it affords us pleasure to present to our readers in this work, was born February 1, 1823, and was the son of Jonathan and Sarah Meigs Sherwood. The place of his nativity was South Richland, Oswego county, New York. He remained at his birthplace till 1846, being trained as a farmer, and was educated in the common schools of the county and at the Mexico Academy. At the early age of nineteen he had attained proficiency enough to entitle him to the position of teacher in the district schools of his native county, which business he followed during the winter seasons. In 1845 he went to Racine county, Wisconsin, and settled at Kenosha, and began purchasing provisions, which he disposed of in the lumber regions. After following this for a year, he entered into a partnership with his brother at Manitowoc, and engaged in lumbering and merchandising, which they fol- lowed for four years. He then took up a place fourteen miles from the last- named town and began clearing up a farm, where he resided till 1852.
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HISTORY OF MENDOCINO COUNTY, CALIFORNIA.
June 16th of that year he started overland to California, arriving in the State in September. He immediately began mining in Shasta county, which he followed for three months. He then went to the Consumnes river, where he remained till May, 1853. He then came to Noyo river, Mendocino county, and worked in building a mill for three months, and also bought a wrecked vessel known as the Invincible. In the fall of that year he came into what is now known as Sherwood valley and built a house, and began farming and stock-raising. He has since remained at this place, and has now one thou- sand seven hundred and forty acres of fine land adapted for the purposes to which he puts it. He has the largest herd of Angora goats in the county, there being seven hundred of them in his flock. He has held the office of Justice of the Peace in the county, as will be seen by reference to our Political Table. Mr. Sherwood has passed through all the stages of frontier life, ranging from savage occupation of the forest to the civilized occupation, by white people, of smiling fields, yielding abundant harvests-all within a quarter of a century. June 26, 1870, he married Miss Nellie Coates, a native of Wisconsin, born August 23, 1847. They have no children.
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