USA > California > Mendocino County > History of Mendocino County, California : comprising its geography, geology, topography, climatography, springs and timber > Part 75
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counties north of the river. When Price was whipped at the Big Blue they endeavored to recross the river and rejoin their commands, but failing in this disbanded for the winter, and each man looked out for himself. After the surrender of General Lee the no-longer Captain started across the plains a second time, and arrived in San Francisco in August following. During the war he received but one wound, and that was inflicted in a charge on the Ninth Iowa Battery at the battle of Pea Ridge, or Elkhorn, and a scratch on one of his hands in a skirmish with two gunboats at Cut-off Island, at the mouth of White river. Since his return to California he has been fore- man of the Sonoma Democrat (also one of its proprietors), the Daily Inde- pendent at Vallejo, the Daily Crescent at Petaluma, the Tulare Times, and the State Printing Office at Sacramento. On the 10th of April, 1880, he, in partnership with A. W. Sefton, assumed the management of the Democratic Weekly Dispatch. February 3, 1867, Mr. Peabody married Miss Sallie Ann Bradley, of Sonoma county, and four children have blessed their union, three still living.
E. W. Potter. Was born in Illinois, November 10, 1840. His parents crossed the plains when he was quite young, and settled in Shasta county, where the father engaged in mining till 1854. In that year they came to Lake county. E. W. entered the office of the Trinity Journal in 1860 as an apprentice. He then worked in several offices until 1867, when he took charge of a hardware business in Colusa. He then went to Sacramento and was foreman of the car shop for two years. In 1871 he engaged in the hardware business under the firm name of Smith, Davis, Potter & Co., in Sacramento. In October, 1874, he came to Mendocino county, and settled at Mendocino City, engaging in the hardware business, which he followed till March 1, 1880. He was the Under-Sheriff under J. H. Donohoe. Married, September 10, 1874, Miss Eva G. Bird, daughter of R. E. Bird, ex-editor of the Sacramento Record-Union. They have one child, Eber W., horn May 18, 1875.
D. G. Pitner. Born in East Tennessee, May 24, 1829. When seven years of age he, with his parents, moved to Georgia, where the subject of this sketch lived on a farm until 1848, when, leaving his parents, he went back to Tennessee, where he was engaged as overseer on a large plantation until 1855, when he came, via Panama, to California, arriving at San Francisco in September. After spending about two years in the mines we find him speculating in hogs and cattle in Calaveras county, which he followed until 1865, when he bought a farm near Healdsburg, Sonoma county, where he remained one year. He then came to Mendocino county and settled on his present place, consisting of two hundred and forty-three acres, located about two miles north from Ukiah, where he is engaged in farming and speculating in stock. Mr. Pitner married, in August, 1866,
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Miss Cordelia Williams, a native of Missouri. They have three children: Luther N., Ellen F., and Elzena G.
John S. Reed. The subject of this sketch, whose portrait it affords us much pleasure to present to our readers, was born in Philadelphia, Penn- sylvania, on the 6th day of October, 1832. Of Irish descent, his father having been born in Ireland, and his mother of Irish parents, in Philadel- phia. Being the eldest of a numerous family, and the family being in poverty, he was early called upon to assist in its maintenance. At eight years of age he was hired out to drive on the canal, and among canal boat- men, and similar associates, about eight years of his extreme youth were passed, toiling early and late, with no help or encouragement in the way of schooling or careful training, and with little hope of the future bettering of his condition, under the ban of the galling and incessant necessity that was his immediate incentive to work. After leaving his situation on the canal, he was apprenticed to a carriagesmith in Philadelphia, and there for some two years worked at that trade. At the expiration of that time, the abuse of his employer, combined with the condition of those near and dear to him, so wrought upon him that in a state of mind bordering upon desperation, he resolved to leave the city of his birth, to seek somewhere in the world, a better opportunity than had yet been afforded him. Without a cent in his pocket, and with only the clothes that covered him, he made his way to New Bedford, by the way of New York, and shipped for a whaling voyage to the South Pacific. Finding that he would realize no money for his time and labor, he escaped from the whaler, with two companions, at the Marquise Islands, and with the aid of a small raft, sufficiently large to hold their clothing, swam about three miles to the shore. How they escaped death, upon the rocks in the surf, seemed almost miraculous. They were soon retaken by the French authorities and returned to their ship. Finally, after reaching Peru, he was discharged by the captain who seemed to ap- preciate his great determination to better his condition. He then sailed upon another whaler for the port of San Francisco, where he arrived safely, as well off as when he started upon his eighteen months' voyage. The first work he engaged in when he got ashore was shoveling sand, in grading the streets, at the rate of $50.00 per month. But he remained in San Fransisco only about three weeks, and then went to Butte county, walking from Bid- well's Bar to the Fairfield claim on Feather river, working there by the day for about two months. He then continued his way to Elizabethtown, in what is now Plumas county. Mining there with varying success for about one year, he returned to San Francisco, and after remaining there a short time, went by the way of steamer to Trinidad, and walked from there inland, with his blankets and provisions on his back, for over one hundred miles to Sawyer's Bar, on Salmon river, in old Klamath county ; now divided, and annexed to Humboldt and Siskiyou. Here he made his home
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for eighteen years. It did not take him long, working by the day and month, and mining here and there, to earn and save four thousand dollars. This he loaned to a company, whose enterprise was a failure, and it proved a total loss. With this poor encouragement he commenced once more, mining in bar and river claims, and by 1862 had realized a fair competency. In 1866 he invested in the Black Bear quartz mine, eight miles 'from Sawyer's Bar. During the following year, in company with John Daggett and J. D. Coughlin, he bought out all the original owners of the claim, and under their skillful management the mine acquired a wide reputation and favor- able name. Much credit is due all three of these gentlemen for the industry and energy with which they manipulated this claim, in an almost inacces- sible region, where everything to work with must be manufactured on the spot, or packed on mule-back over one of the most mountainous regions of the State, In this wild and broken region they built the only two miles of wagon road in Klamath county. In 1870 Mr. Reed went East, and had the great pleasure of removing his aged father from toil and privation to a com- fortable home in this State. His mother, whose early precepts he had never forgotten or disregarded through years of hardship and temptation, had in the meantime died. He also brought to California two orphan nieces, the children of the only sister who had survived to womanhood. One he edu- cated in our best private 'schools. They both married within three years after their arrival here. The Black Bear Mine, now being numbered among the reliable and paying mines of the State, was sold in June, 1872, to a com- pany of Capitalists for $200,000. In August, 1872, Mr. Reed was married to Miss Anna M. Morrison, a young girl whose childhood was passed in the mines of Butte county, and who, in behalf of her father's family, and in order to assist them, and also to cultivate a literary taste, and talent, which had developed itself at a very early age-had adopted, with much success, the vocation of writer and lecturer. For the first year of their married life, they traveled in the East, and various parts of this State. At the end of that time, they took up their permanent residence in Ukiah, Mendocino county. It was at this time, that the prudence, foresight and good judgment of the subject of this sketch, most clearly displayed themselves. With ample means to tempt that fortune that had already favored him so much, he turned away from the fascinating inducements held out, both by stocks and legitimate mining enterprises, and loaned only on good security, at a fair per cent, some forty or fifty thousand dollars, securing for himself and family a safe income, and aiding in the development of the county by the furthering of many enterprises, public and private, and various improve- ments that would not have been made but for the use of his means. He became interested in the Bank of Ukiah, of which he was president for two years, and is still one of its directors. He has also purchased a sheep ranch in Long valley, worth some $40,000, where he thinks some of building and
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eventually making a permanent home. Although known to many as only a capitalist and money-lender, he still has money invested in gravel and quartz mines to the amount of many thousands of dollars. Although in Mr. Reed's life there has been some adventure and romance worthy of note; and though he has gained among business men a place of trust and honor, yet it is not to these facts alone that we wish to call the attention of the reader of this article, but rather to the development of a character so widely differ- ent from the examples that surrounded his early youth, and so free from the stain of unlimited indulgence in various dissipations, that marked the history of many of California's pioneers. A Catholic in faith, but never claiming to be devoutly religious, and never having been a member of any temperance society, he yet is moderate in all his habits, has his first cent to bet at any banking game, and has not for several years used tobacco in any form. The inherent force and pure instincts of his own nature have been his aids, and they have saved him from excess and dissipation, and removed him from the cramping restraints that in other cases have crushed out from manhood all noble aspirations. Depending on no man's friendship, and without the aid of education, he has overcome every obstacle and made his life an eminent success. Not seeking public favor, or the questionable honors of public position, where so many sacrifice much to gain but little, he is to-day a type of prudent, just and generous manhood-exemplifying the truth, that the proudest and most perfect independence is to owe no man a dollar and to be able to sustain himself and those dependent upon him, without asking of the world any favor but to be allowed to make the best of its opportunities, and of his God only the boon of health and strength. It is known beyond a doubt to the writer of this sketch, that within ten years he has devoted to private charities more than $20,000. We take the greatest pleasure in writing these facts of one so deserving of them, not alone because it is his due, but for the reason that they may encourage some other brave, true man, in carving out his fortune from the hard rock of circumstances. He is of fair complexion, with blue-gray eyes, brown hair and auburn beard; is five feet seven inches in height, with small hands and feet and large head. His weight is about one hundred and eighty pounds.
Isaac C. Reed. Whose portrait will be found in this history, was born in Rutherford county, North Carolina, August 13, 1827, where he lived on a farm until 1849, when, leaving his parents, he went to Cherokee county, Alabama. Here he was engaged as superintendent on a cotton plantation until March, 1852, when he crossed the plains to California, arriving at Bidwell's Bar, September 27th of that year. After a short stay there, he went to Benicia, Solano county, where he engaged with the Pacific Mail Steamship Company, and built the ferry landing at that place. After three years, he engaged in the Navy yard at Vallejo, where he worked for about four years. He then, in March, 1859, came to Mendocino county, where he
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has since resided, being engaged in several different occupations, milling, stable keeping, merchandising, and at present is farming about two miles north from Ukiah; he is also interested in the Ukiah Water Company. In 1856, Mr. Reed joined the San Pablo Lodge of Odd Fellows at Vallejo, and after removing to Ukiah, affiliated with Ukiah Lodge, No. 174. He united with the Christian Church in 1866, and is still a faithful and consistent member of that body. In 1860, he helped Thomas Elliott construct a saw-mill, and in the following spring purchased it. This he disposed of to W. E. Willis, and then moved to Calpella, where he run a hotel for about one year. In 1865, he built a saw-mill in Redwood valley, it being an old fashioned water- mill with a sash-saw. He received the nomination from the Democratic con- vention for Supervisor of this district in 1873. Married, June 27, 1861, Miss Lucinda P. Montgomery, who died May 14, 1879, leaving five chil- dren, Alferetta, Sarah D., Anna E., Craton, and Bettie D.
John Remstedt. Was born in Durby county, Indiana, September 10, 1835; and at six years of age he was inoved, by his parents, to Ripley county, that State, and there resided till March, 1852. At the above stated time he started across the plains to California, and arrived in the State July 15th of that year. He immediately began mining at Kelsey's Dry Diggings, in El Dorado county, and continued that business in said county till 1856. He then moved to Sonoma county and settled at Two Rock, Petaluma township, where he resided for one year. In 1857 he came to Mendocino county, settling at Ukiah, and engaged in the manufacture of brick; also in farming, which he continued till 1878. In the fall of 1875 he settled on his present place, still running his brick-yard in Ukiah till the year stated. Since that time he has been engaged in farming and stock- raising. He owns one hundred and sixty acres of land. Married Jane Burris, December 25, 1867, who was a native of Illinois, born May 10, 1851. By this union they have : Clara Belle, born December 20, 1869; Charles J., born October 22, 1873; John E., born September 11, 1875; Eugene Alice, born May 23, 1877; and Loretta, born July 8, 1879.
John T. Rogers. Was born in Lexington City, Lafayette county, Missouri, August 7, 1848. He sprang from an ancestry immediately from Kentucky and remotely, in the time of the Revolution, from Virginia. This latter stock sprang from an Irish patriot, exiled by England a century before. Senator Cockrell, of Missouri, is a maternal uncle, and Senator Logan, of Illinois, is a member of the original stock. November 5, 1852, his parents, sister, and self arrived in Sonoma county, California, and settled about five miles south-west of Santa Rosa. In 1864 he entered the Pacific Methodist College at Vacaville, Solano county, where he remained about two and a half years. In 1867 he was matriculated at Santa Clara College, and remained there nearly three years, taking at each institution the regular
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classical course. He received several medals for proficiency, and a gold one valued at $100 for a prize essay on the subject, "Was the killing of Julius Cæsar justified," which he denied. In January, 1870, he began reading law at San Francisco in ex-Governor H. H. Haight's office, and continued with Judge Thomas at Santa Rosa. In November of that year, by reason of intense application, his eyes were painfully affected by an inflammation. Under medical advice to give them rest he spent two years in driving cattle from Texas to Nevada. Thinking a restoration of his eyes was effected, in December, 1872, he entered Harvard Law School at Cambridge, Massachu- setts, and continued till the next September, when painful and failing eye- sight compelled him to desist. He then returned to California via Panama, and in the following March began merchandising at Booneville, Mendocino county. In 1876 he was fortunate enough to be successfully treated for his troubles, by Dr. W. F. Smith, a San Francisco oculist, and July 5th of the last-named year he moved to Ukiah. He was admitted to practice in the Supreme Court of this State, November 12, 1878, and in March, 1879, he formed a partnership with Judge H. L. Gillaspie, at Ukiah. January 1, 1874, he was united in marriage with Miss S. C. Hunt, and has two boys, Ravone, aged six, and Earle, two and a half years. He is an active mem- ber of the Masonic, Odd Fellows and Workmen orders. In politics he is a conservative Democrat; in habits temperate and moral; and in religion- liberal.
J. O. Robinson, M. D., Was born in Ohio, August 3,1840. When he was twelve years of age his parents moved to Lexington, Kentucky, when young Robinson went to Cincinnati and entered a drug store, where he remained five years. He then studied medicine, and graduated in 1861. In June of that year he entered the army as assistant Surgeon, which position he held thirteen months. He was then promoted to Captain-Surgeon, which position he held till July, 1865. He then located in Louisville, where he practiced his profession for six years. In the spring of 1872 he went to Nebraska, and spent the summer. He returned to Cincinnati and spent the winter. In the spring of 1873 he went to Philadelphia, and attended lectures for one year. In the spring of 1874 he came to California and located in Nevada county, and practiced there till the fall of 1876. He then visited the Centennial, and during the winter took a full course of lectures at the Sterling Medical College, at Columbus, Ohio. He received his diploma in February, 1877, and immediately came to Mendocino county, and after spending a year at Little Lake, he located at Ukiah, where he has since resided. Married, October 29, 1878, Miss Cornelia G. Brown, a native of Virginia. They have one child, Minnie E.
Lewis M. Ruddick, Whose portrait appears in this history, is a native of Jackson county, Indiana, being born in September, 1836. At the age of
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thirteen, he engaged to work in a carding-mill, which business he followed four years. In October, 1855, he crossed the Isthmus of Panama, and arrived at San Francisco about the first of November. He went at once to Amador county, where he followed farming and mining until March, 1857, when he came to this county and settled on his present place, consisting of one hundred and thirty-five acres, located about four miles south-east from Ukiah, where he has since been engaged in farming, excepting the winter of 1859-60, which he spent in the East, and the summer of 1862, which he spent at Washoe, and about one year that he spent on Reese river, where he went in the fall of 1863, and returned the following fall. Mr. Ruddick married, July 1, 1875, Miss Sarah S. Miller, a native of Missouri.
John C. Ruddock. Born in the city of St. John, New Brunswick' March 13, 1852, and accompanied his parents to New York, where his father left the family, consisting of the mother and three children, and went to seek his fortune in California. In the spring of 1853 the father sent for the family, who came to California by way of the Isthmus of Panama, and settled in Jamestown, Tuolumne county. There James Ruddock, the father, engaged in mining, merchandising, stock-raising and lumbering at different times, and was one of the leading and influential citizens of the county. The children were kept closely at whatever private schools there were in the vicinity until the establishment of the public schools, which institutions were attended regularly by them. In 1868 John C. passed an examination before the County School Board, and obtained a second grade certificate, and engaged to teach the public school at Green Springs, Tuolumne county. After completing a term of about seven months he followed the family, who had moved to San Francisco in the meantime, and entered the State Nor- mal school. He graduated from that institution in March, 1871, and soon after engaged to teach the Onisbo public school, about fifteen miles south of Sacramento City, on the river near Courtland Landing. From there he came to Mendocino county and took charge of the public school at Mendo- cino City, in August, 1871. He continued in that position until June, 1875, when he went to Round. valley, Mendocino county, to teach an unexpired term of about six months. In the fall of 1875 he was elected on the Demo- cratic ticket to the position of County Superintendent of Public Schools, to which position he was re-elected in 1878. During his incumbency in office he, for two terms, acted as Vice-Principal of the Ukiah City school, and shortly before retiring from office was chosen to the Principalship, which he holds at the present writing. Mr. Ruddock was married February 4, 1880, to Miss Kate Siddons. His father and mother are both living, and reside in San Francisco.
Charles Schlitz. Was born in Germany in 1829. In 1861 he came to America and located in New York and engaged in the milk business, which
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he followed for two years. He then came to California, and after spending a year in San Francisco, he came to Mendocino county and settled where he now resides, about one mile south of Ukiah. In 1866 he married Miss Mary Wals, a native of Germany. Their children are: Mary Catherine, Carl, Laura, and William.
Amos Snuffin. Born in Ohio, December 7, 1829. When thirteen years of age, he, with his parents, moved to, Missouri, where they settled on a farm. In April, 1850, Amos left his family and joined the " Savannah " train, and crossed the plains with mule-teams, arriving at Hangtown (Placerville) July 20th. Here he followed mining until January, 1851, when he came to Sonoma county. Here he worked on a farm for about sixteen months, after which he returned to the mines; and after six months, we again find him in Sonoma county, where he followed different occupations until 1857, when he came to Mendocino county, and settled in Sanel township, where he engaged in sheep and cattle-raising until 1866; when he settled about two and a half miles below Ukiah. Here he resided about four years, when, in company with G. W. Gibson, he engaged in the sheep business about five miles west from Ukiah, for about three years. He then, after a residence of six months in Ukiah, settled on his present place, consisting of seven hundred and ten acres, located on Robinson creek, about five miles from Ukiah, where he is engaged in wool-growing and farming. He also owns three acres of land in Ukiah City. He has killed a great many bears and panthers, and has run some narrow escapes. He crept into the brush and shot one bear that weighed a thousand pounds. He shot it as it was making for him, with its mouth open and ears laid back like it meant business. Mr. Snuffin mar- ried, July 19, 1864, Mrs. Eugenia Dukes, a native of Missouri. They have raised children as follows: one step-daughter, who is now married; one orphan child, a half-breed Indian boy by the name of Robert Weller; one girl by the name of Ellen Duvall; the two latter are going to school, the boy being twelve years old, and the girl eight.
William Stephen. Was born in Aberdeenshire, Scotland, November 13. 1845, and resided at his birthplace till he was fourteen years of age, when he went to the City of Aberdeen and engaged as book-keeper for the Caledonian Railway Company, which position he filled for seven years. He then immigrated to Natal, South Africa, where he filled the same position for another railway company till 1871. He then returned to Scotland and sojourned till the beginning of 1873, visiting also England and Ireland, when he immigrated to America, landing in New York in February of that year. Remaining in New York only a short time, he came to California, arriving in March, 1873. He soon entered Mendocino county and bought one hundred and sixty acres of redwoods from Government and has since resided on his land, being engaged in cutting off the timber, which he sells
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chiefly to the farmers of Ukiah valley. Mr. Stephen is unmarried, and a political and social reformer of the most advanced type.
C. P. Smith. Was born in Sutter county, California, December 28, 1853. When but a child his parents moved to Solano county where they resided until 1857, when they came to Mendocino county and located at Ukiah. Here the subject of this sketch received his education and resided until 1861, when he, with parents, moved to Point Arena, where they remained until 1866, when they returned to Ukiah. From 1863 to 1869 he was working for wages in a meat market, but at this date he engaged with R. Moore in the same business as an equal partner. This continued until 1878, when he formed a partnership with N. C. Hinshaw under the firm name of Smith & Hinshaw. In April, 1879, he assumed full control of the business, until January, 1880, when he took in a partner, W. H. Haskell, and changed the firm name to Smith & Haskell. He bought Haskell out in April and since then has been conducting the business alone. Mr. Smith married, January 1, 1877, Miss Sarah C. Crockett, a native of California, born October 11, 1858, in Mendocino county. Their children are: Charles F., born September 2, 1877; Mabel, born November 26, 1879.
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