USA > California > Mendocino County > History of Mendocino and Lake counties, California, with biographical sketches of the leading, men and women of the counties who have been identified with their growth and development from the early days to the present > Part 105
USA > California > Lake County > History of Mendocino and Lake counties, California, with biographical sketches of the leading, men and women of the counties who have been identified with their growth and development from the early days to the present > Part 105
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Mr. Balfour is a thorough believer in the old adage that all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy, evidence of this being borne out strongly in the interest which he evinces in all kinds of healthful sports. All arrangements for public amusements and festivities are referred to him to settle, which in- dicates better than words the confidence which his fellow citizens repose in him in this respect, and he is now manager of the Fort Bragg baseball team. Mr. Balfour also possesses considerable histrionic ability, and has not only staged more than twenty-five plays, but takes a leading part in most of the plays. Possessed of a genial temperament and a pleasing personality it is needless to say that Mr. Balfour is popular and numbers his friends by his acquaintances.
WILLIAM FRANKLIN SNOW .- Through the period of fifty years that the Snows have been resident in Lake county their name has been most re- spected. William Franklin Snow, for a number of years foreman and general manager of the McCreery (now known as the Gibhart) ranch in this county, and now engaged in business at Middletown as proprietor of its oldest estab- lished meat market, is the only surviving member of the family of M. M. and Annette M. (Mathews) Snow, of Lower Lake.
M. M. Snow was born in Missouri, came to California in 1862, and for a short time was located in Napa county. From there he moved up to Lake county in 1863, and has since lived in this section, where he has prospered in agricultural work, owning a well improved ranch of three hundred and twenty acres. He is now seventy-two years old. Mr. Snow married Annette M. Mathews, whose father, Dr. William Mathews, was the first clerk of Lake county. Three children were born to them: Alice, who married and died when thirty-two years old, leaving one child, who now lives with the grand- parents at Lower Lake ; William Franklin ; and Lulu, who died when fourteen years old.
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Born April 4, 1875, in Lake county, William Franklin Snow grew up on the farm at Lower Lake, remaining there until seventeen years old. At that time he went to work in the Oat Hill mine, south of Middletown over the line in Napa county, where he was employed continually for ten years, during which time he did not lose more than two months. When he left there he took a position in the Great Western quicksilver mine, which produced three and a half million dollars worth of quicksilver, and was there engaged for two years. He gave up work there to become foreman and general manager in Lake county on the McCreery ranch, which now contains twelve thousand acres, mostly used for stock ranging and raising clover. One hundred head of fat steers were sold off this place yearly, and during his experience there Mr. Snow became thoroughly familiar with the points of good beef stock, which knowledge is very valuable to him in his present line. In 1913. when Mr. McCreery died, he resigned his position and in October bought his meat market at Middletown, succeeding Charles Koopman as proprietor of the pio- neer market in the place. It is located on Calistoga street. Mr. Snow has invested considerable already in the improvement of his establishment and the development of the business, having his own feed yards for fattening his stock for slaughtering, the importance of which, in the production of good meat, he understands well. He cures large quantities of bacon and hams, and puts up lard, and his brands are unsurpassed in quality by the best eastern varieties of sugar cured meats. Though he is comparatively new to this enterprise, his previous experience on the ranch has made him a competent judge of meat, and his energetic disposition and naturally progressive spirit will keep him in line with his best standards.
While employed at the Oat Hill mine Mr. Snow married Miss Alma Nel- son, daughter of Nels Nelson, late of San Jose, Cal. They have had three chil- dren, one that died in infancy, Franklin and Helen. Mr. and Mrs. Snow are justly regarded with the highest esteem among their neighbors, having many friends in the community. Mrs. Snow is a member of the Episcopal Church, while Mr. Snow is a member of the Christian Church, and he gives his political support to the men and measures of the Democratic party. He was made a Mason in Callayomi Lodge No. 282, F. & A. M., at Middletown.
CHARLES LEIGHTON BURBECK .- The descendane of a fine old east- ern family and himself a native of the east, Charles L. Burbeck was born in Westford Mass., September 3, 1847, the son of Samuel Noyes Burbeck. Though a native of New Hampshire, the father passed his later years in Mas- sachusetts, where he followed farming as a means of livelihood. The paternal great grandfather bore arms in defense of the American colonies against the mother country in the Revolutionary struggle. The mother of Charles L. Burbeck, in maidenhood Eliza Perkins Irving, was born in Brookline, Mass., the daughter of Joseph Irving, an Englishman by birth who later became well known in Brookline, Mass., as the first botanical gardener of that place.
All of the six children comprising the family of Samuel N. and Eliza P. (Irving) Burbeck are living in the east with the exception of Charles L., who has been a resident of California since 1879. He was reared on the home farm near Westford, Mass., and completed his education in Westford Academy. After completing the course in the academy he began his business career by clerking in stores in the vicinity of his home, an experience which enabled him to put to use some of his recently acquired knowledge. However, the work was not altogether to his liking and he determined to see what the west
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held in store for him. Accordingly he set out in 1875 for Racine, Wis., where an uncle, Isaac Burbeck, who was a tanner, lived, and for a time he was book- keeper in the tannery. In 1877 he embraced the opportunity to come to the Pacific coast on a railroad survey expedition with the Northern Pacific Rail- road in Washington, and for eighteen months he continued in the employ of this company. The year 1879 found him in San Francisco, where he found employment as collector for a large milk concern.
Fort Bragg has been the scene of Mr. Burbeck's activities since 1887, when he entered the employ of the Fort Bragg Lumber Company, now known as the Union Lumber Company. For twenty-five years he rendered valued service to the company as salesman, after which he left the store but con- tinued in the employ of the company as janitor of their office, besides which he cares for the telephone building, the Public Library and the Fort Bragg Commercial Bank. Mr. Burbeck has made a number of good investments in real estate in his home city, among them a tract of one hundred feet on Franklin street and two buildings on Main street, besides which he subdivided a five-acre tract in the western part of the city known as the Burbeck tract. Politically he is a believer in Republican principles, and at one time he served a period of four years as city clerk of Fort Bragg.
WILLIAM LEWIS .- One of the most successful and well known men of Willits is Mr. Lewis, who is one of California's native-born sons, having been born in Portwine, Sierra county, March 17, 1865. He is the son of Evan Lewis who was a sailor on the high seas and a native of Wales and who came around Cape Horn, located at San Francisco, and there married Lizzie Wal- ters, a native of Wisconsin. Mrs. Lewis having passed away while living in Sierra county, Evan Lewis decided to locate in Lake county, and with his four children came to Lower Lake, where he engaged in teaming up to the time of his death, which occurred at Adams Springs. In Lake county, William Lewis received his earlier education and when twelve years old he began to engage in teaming, being employed by his father. The first team he ever handled was one of six horses over the roughest mountain roads, but he became an expert teamster and driver, later driving logging teams at different mills in the county and many times had as high as seven and eight yoke or fourteen to sixteen oxen for a logging team. These ox teams would be strung out one hundred and twelve feet along the road and were hitched to a string of logs a quarter of a mile long. It necessitated great quickness of eye and decision coupled with tact and ability to handle these immense teams, but he was always successful even when driving the largest teams. To achieve his greatest success it was always necessary to purchase only the finest ani- mals and he was always particular in his choice, placing the fastest oxen as the leaders. Finally he purchased a team of leaders whose combined weight was 4400 pounds. In 1902 he took his outfit to Mendocino county where he did logging and heavy teaming for the Northwestern Redwood Company at Willits, then also for the mills in the Sherwood valley and later the Dickinson Mill on the Tomkiah river, and the Irvine Muir Lumber Company.
In 1909 Mr. Lewis gave up the business of logging to engage in the trans- fer and general contracting business, buying the business of O. Cureton and Morgan Whitcomb, which he successfully and ably conducts until now he has the largest business of the kind in Willits. For his teaming he has two six-ton drays, his spans of horses weighing over three thousand pounds. He is also engaged in grading and leveling. Besides his residence property on
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Main street, he also owns a very valuable site of two hundred and forty feet on the same street where he has his large barns, models of their kind in the county.
Mr. Lewis is a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, Wood- men of the World and Knights of the Maccabees, and is an ardent Democrat, entering into all political matters for the good of the community. He entered into marriage in Lake county with Betty Thompson, also a native of Cali- fornia, and of their union there are two children, Vernoi and Blanche. For four years Mr. Lewis was a member of the board of trustees of the town of Willits and served his term faithfully and well. He is a very successful man, and it is due entirely to his own untiring and unceasing labors that his finan- cial success may be attributed. Every person with whom he comes in con- tact forms for him an everlasting respect.
ABRAHAM HENRY SHAFSKY .- The name of Shafsky bears consider- able weight with the citizens of Fort Bragg, where it stands as a synonym for square dealing and probity and in fact all that goes to the making of the best business principles. The name is of German origin, and flourished in that country for many generations. The senior member of the firm of Shafsky Brothers. Abraham H. Shafsky, was born in Berlin, Germany, the son of K. Shafsky, who was a merchant in that German city until his removal to the United States, when he became a resident of New York City.
At the time of the removal of the family to this country Abraham H. Shafsky was a small child, hence his training and education were received in this country altogether. Of the four sons he was the eldest, and from a youth he was made familiar with the business in which his father engaged. By the time he had attained years of discretion he had formed not only a knowledge of the business, but a love for it as well, so that it left no chance for debating or discussing what his future occupation would be. With a fixed purpose in mind he started for the far west to try his fortunes, firmly believing that it offered better opportunity for a young man with limited capital than any other section of country which he might select. With his two broth- ers, Samuel and Albert, he started for California in 1892. coming at once to Fort Bragg, and after buying a stock of goods, began selling them in a place which he had secured on Franklin street. This stand was in reality noth- ing more or less than a hole in the wall. his space being only 12x16 feet, but it served its purpose in demonstrating that he had made no mistake in select- ing a good business stand. From this small beginning has grown the large department store maintained by the Shafsky Brothers. It might be said in a word that the success of the brothers has grown out of a strict observance of the Golden Rule, notwithstanding the fact of the argument to the contrary that business cannot be conducted on that principle, which is all too commonly heard in this day of commercialism. It must not be forgotten or lost sight of that the brothers have also had their share of reverses and set-backs in attaining their present high standing among the business enterprises of the city. The worst disaster of their entire experience befell them when their new brick store, built only six years before, was shaken down in the earth- quake, April 18, 1906. While the disaster was greatly lamented it did not disconcert the optimistic proprietors, for they set to work to dig out their buried stock immediately and the same day were selling goods in a building which they rented. Since then they have built the present large store build- ing on a new site in the same block, besides which they have rebuilt on the
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old site and have leased the building. It is a fact worthy of note that the brothers have always been associated in business together, and that from the first the utmost harmony has existed, and one and all can look back upon a business relation that is as unique as it is desirable in a day in which compe- tition is as sharp as it is today.
Abraham H. Shafsky was married in Fort Bragg to Miss Hazel Margaret Mero, who was born in Napa, Cal., the daughter of C. W. Mero, a well known resident of Fort Bragg. Mr. Shafsky was made a Mason in Mendocino Lodge No. 179, F. & A. M., and he is a charter member and past master of Fort Bragg Lodge No. 361, F. & A. M. He is a member of Mendocino Chapter, R. A. M., also of Sapphire Chapter, O. E. S., of Fort Bragg, is past grand of the Odd Fellows lodge in this city, is past chief patriarch of the encamp- ment of Odd Fellows, and is also identified with the Knights of Pythias and the Knights of the Maccabees. Politically he is a Republican, and loses no opportunity to give utterance to his sentiments.
SAMUEL SHAFSKY .- That the Shafsky Brothers are firm believers in the future of Mendocino county in general and of Fort Bragg in particular, is evidenced in their unbounded enthusiasm in the varied interests of the lo- cality, and their enthusiasm is well founded, for from a business point of view they have met with more than usual success. Shafsky Brothers' department store is one of the enterprising institutions in Fort Bragg, grown to its present large proportions from a small nucleus that might be considered hardly worth while, but the farsightedness of the brothers has been proven in the splendid . business which has been developed under their persistent and united efforts.
It is safe to say that much of the knowledge and aptitude for the business was inherited by the brothers from their father, K. Shafsky, who was a mer- chant in Berlin prior to his immigration to Canada. Not altogether pleased with the outlook in that country the father removed to New York city three years later and there as in his native Germany he engaged in merchandising. The parental family comprised five children, four being sons, as follows: Abra- ham H. and Samuel comprising the firm of Shafsky Brothers; Albert, who is a merchant in Placerville, Cal .; and Louis, a merchant in Chico.
Samuel Shafsky has little personal knowledge of his native land, for he was a young lad at the time of the removal of the family to this country, hence his education was obtained in New York city. Ample opportunity was afforded him for learning the mercantile business, for from boyhood he was wont to help his father in the store. It was with a thorough understanding of the business that he and two of his brothers, Abraham H. and Albert, came to the west in 1892 and settled in Fort Bragg. With their united efforts they were enabled to open a small stand on Franklin street, the space covering only 12x16 feet, and from this small nucleus has grown the splendid establishment of which they are today the proprietors. In six months' time they had out- grown their first small quarters and had arranged to have built for them a large building on Franklin street between Redwood avenue and Laurel street. In three years' time this also was outgrown and, again forced to look for larger quarters, they moved to Main street in the H. A. Weller building, where they prospered for three years. Then purchasing a lot on Main street between Laurel street and Redwood avenue, they built a two-story brick building. and in this they enjoyed an increasing business each year until the disaster of April 18, 1906, when the building was destroyed. Nothing daunted they im- mediately set to work to dig the merchandise from the buried ruins, and by
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renting an old butcher shop in the vicinity which had withstood the jarring, they were enabled to start in business again, making their first sale that day at one o'clock p. m. Later they bought their present site on Main street be- tween Laurel street and Redwood avenue, erecting thereon a two-story build- ing 50x150 feet, in which their extensive department store is now housed. Since the disaster of 1906 a new building has been erected on the site of their former building in the same block, this property now being occupied by a jewelry store and a real estate office. In the early history of the business the firm included the three older brothers who came west together. Since then Albert has withdrawn from the firm and is now engaged in merchandising in Placerville, and Abraham H. and Samuel constitute the firm of Shafsky Brothers.
In Fort Bragg Samuel Shafsky was married to Miss Olga Fritzsche, who was born in Oakland, Cal., and they have two children, Adolph, who is at- tending the high in Placerville, and Harnett. Mr. Shafsky was made a Mason in Fort Bragg Lodge No. 361, F. & A. M., and with his wife is a member of Sapphire Chapter, O. E. S. He is past grand of the Odd Fellows lodge with which he is identified, and is a member of Santana Tribe No. 60, I. O. R. M., the Knights of Pythias, the Woodmen of the World, and the Knights of the Maccabees, of which latter he is past commander and is now record keeper. Politically he is a Republican. Mr. Shafsky's interest in civic matters is strik- ingly apparent, and has led to his election to membership on the school board, as well as to the board of city trustees, to which latter office he was elected in 1912. Both time and means are given freely to any cause that will benefit his home city and he is universally regarded as one of the most trustworthy citizens of Fort Bragg.
JOHN G. BUSCH .- Between the date of his birth in Hamburg, Germany, June 16, 1826, and that of his death in Mendocino county, June 19, 1910, the record of John G. Busch shows a long identification with frontier environ -. ment and familiarity with conditions that have given place to the high civili- zation of more recent decades. When he accompanied his parents to America at the age of seven years. the voyage consumed a long period of monotonous journeying on a slow-going ocean craft typical of the vessels that preceded the modern steamer. The cable line had not then made possible the quick for- warding of messages between the old world and the new, while the wireless system in its modern development was undreamed of by the most optimistic and inventive soul. The crudity of conditions rendered existence more diffi- cult and arduous than at the present time. The early life of the German boy in America was filled with hardship and privation. The land on which the family settled in St. Charles county, Mo .. was all in the virgin state of na- ture, untouched by plow, undeveloped by hand of man. To convert the tract into a farm capable of sustaining a family proved a task of the utmost difficulty and one in which the son aided the father to the utmost of his strength, sacri- ficing in the work all hope of obtaining an education. Arriving at the age of eighteen, he was permitted to leave home and work for himself. Going to St. Louis, he learned the trade of a carpenter with Peck & Barnett and there- after worked as a journeyman, then as a contractor and builder.
The discovery of gold in California turned the thoughts of Mr. Busch toward the west. In a short time he began to make preparations for the over- land journey. Early in 1850, accompanied by two other young men, he left Missouri for California, traveling along the usual route until they arrived at
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the Humboldt river, when fear of the Indians caused them to travel along the south side of that stream. Meanwhile they had overtaken four white men who were hiding from the savages and these emigrants gladly joined them for the balance of the journey. Theirs was the first train of 1850 to travel on the south side of the river. For a time they pursued their journey by night, owing to the proximity of hostile Indians. In spite of repeated dan- gers and constant threatenings of attack, they were not molested by the sav- ages, but reached their destination in safety. The young emigrant settled in Amador county and at one time owned three general stores and a butcher shop at Drytown, but these he sold upon his return to Missouri in the summer of 1853. Nine months were spent in the old home and in visiting with friends, after which he came back to California to resume mercantile pursuits. At first he had a general store at Indian Diggings, Eldorado county, but in 1857 he abandoned merchandising, removed to Sonoma county, secured a large body of land near Cloverdale and embarked in stock raising. During 1858 he moved to Mendocino county and settled on a stock ranch at Point Arena, but at the expiration of eighteen months he removed to a ranch three miles north of Ukiah. After having lived there from 1860 until the fall of 1863, he then came to the Potter valley, soon afterwards bought the Wright and Potter ranches, also other property, and ultimately became the owner of a landed estate aggregating more than tno thousand acres. His widow makes her home principally on the old homestead with her son, S. H. Busch.
The marriage of John G. Busch and Ann Sweeney, a native of Sligo, Ire- land, who came to California in 1852, was solemnized August 21, 1856. They became the parents of eleven children, namely: Charles, residing in Riverside; John, engaged in copper mining; Mrs. Mary Bailor, of Spokane, Wash .: George, farming a part of the old home place : Stephen H., who owns and farms the old home of eleven hundred acres: Owen, farming a part of the old home; Mrs. Isabel Bevans, of Potter Valley; Mrs. Kate Roberts, of Santa Rosa; Mrs. Frances Holbrook, of Ukiah; Mrs. Hattie English, of Im- perial Valley, and Augustus, of Santa Rosa. The splendid traits of Mr. Busch, his sterling character and powers of endurance in hardship, his capacity for frontier enterprises and his adaptability to any circumstance, proved him to be a typical pioneer, one of those adventurous souls whose task in life seems to be the preparation of remote and isolated spots for the oncoming of future generations. No greater task confronted the men of yesterday and to their greatness of soul and breadth of vision we owe the advancement and progress of today.
MRS. SARAH E. FOSTER BURTON .- In Sherman, Texas, occurred the birth of Mrs. Sarah Foster Burton. Her father, James A. Foster, born in Benton county, Mo .. December 18, 1834, was the son of Robert and Sallie (Dawson) Foster, natives of Tennessee and South Carolina, respectively. They removed from Tennessee to Illinois, thence to Missouri and later on to Texas. Afterwards they returned to Leavenworth and in 1864 Robert Foster with wife and other members of the family came overland by wagons across the plains to Butte county, Cal., and in 1866 the family came on to Round valley, where Robert and his wife died. Five of their sons came to Round valley, and of these two are still living, James A., who makes his home with Mrs. Burton, and George Foster, of Ukiah. The three sons deceased were William, who died in Round valley ; Jesse G., supervisor, who died in Ukiah : and Benjamin F., who died on the Tomkiah. 47
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James A. Foster was married in Texas to Mary Butler, a native of that state, who died a few years later, leaving a little girl, Sarah, now Mrs. Burton. Mr. Foster removed to Leavenworth, Kans., in 1861 and in 1864 came in the same train with his father to California, the first two years being spent in Butte county, where they drove over the coast range to Round valley. Mr. Foster located a claim on the east side of the valley and engaged in sheep raising with three of his brothers, having a ranch of fourteen hundred and forty acres on Elk creek. After continuing in business for nineteen years they sold out and dissolved partnership, and Mr. Foster now makes his home with his daughter in Covelo.
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