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 116
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 116
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George Hewlett was the son of the late Capt. Palmer B. Hewlett, and was born in San Francisco August 22, 1879, and in that city was reared and educated. He graduated in law from Leland Stanford, Jr., University in 1903 and was admitted to the bar in the same year, but continued his post-graduate work at Stanford. He has traveled rather extensively both in this country and abroad.
As a public man, lawyer and citizen, civic duty and good government have been among the causes enlisting Mr. Hewlett's mind and co-operation. Nat- urally a man of such ability is frequently called to leadership. In public affairs he has been a factor to reckon with and recognize. The impress of his decisions has been felt in politics. More than once he has managed political campaigns for leading offices and always he has exhibited skill, adroitness and tact. Perhaps the most notable of his campaigns occurred in 1909, when he selected Charles M. Fickert for the office of district attorney of San Fran- cisco and took charge of the canvass against Francis J. Heney. Through his arduous efforts his candidate was elected, thus closing a memorable political struggle that attracted attention throughout the entire country.
The family of Mr. Hewlett consists of his daughter, Rose, and Mrs. Hew- lett, the latter having been Rosa Hardin, a granddaughter of Elizabeth Por- ter Briggs, a California pioneer of 1845. Throughout Mendocino and Sonoma counties Mr. and Mrs. Hewlett have a wide acquaintanceship, while in San Francisco they are welcomed guests in the most exclusive social circles.
Following is a genealogical record of the Hewlett family :
Palmer Baker Hewlett, born December 17, 1819, in Arcadia. N. Y. He was a descendant of (1) Lewis Hewlett, who came to Massachusetts from Buckinghamshire before 1635. He was living at Charlestown, Mass .. in 1635.
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At a division of town lots, or lands, of Hempstead, L. I., in 1647 he was granted a lot. He married three times. By his first wife he had Jane, John, Lewis and George. Jane married Adam Mott, in New Amsterdam July 28, 1647. John and Lewis died unmarried. (See Mott Family History; also Record Dutch Reform Church November 14, 1649.)
(2) George Hewlett, of Hempstead, L. I., died 1722; he was one of the proprietors of Hempstead 1655; sometimes he lived at Rikers Island, and on the islands of North Brother and South Brother now included in Greater New York. Hewlett Point is at the upper part of Great Neck, Nassau county, L. I. The village of Hewlett is also in this county. He married at Gravesend, 14 May 1680, in Kings county, L. I., Mary Baylis (Bayles of Jamaica, L. I.). She died in 1733. Both were buried in Hempstead. They had Daniel, George, Lewis, John, Samuel, Mary and Phebe. Daniel, of Merrick, Queens county, cattle mark recorded 24 March 1715. Will dated 27 April 1778, proved 20 May 1778 (Lib. 34 fo. 184 N. Y. Sur. Office). Lewis of Low Neck. John of Cold Spring, Suffolk county, L. I., cattle mark, recorded 7 December 1732. Samuel of Hempstead. Cattle mark recorded 6 March 1729. Mary married Charles Peters. Will proved 24 April 1744. Phebe died unmarried.
(3) George Hewlett, Jr., of Great Neck. Moved to Hempstead. Gave name to Hewlett Point. He was executor of his sister Mary's will 1744. He married Hannah Smith and had five children. His son (A) Benjamin, grantee 67 acres, in Hempstead 30 March 1752; he was assessor for many years (1753- 1765). He married at St. George's Church, Hempstead 12 June 1738, Susan- nah Whitehead and had issue. His will proved 1782 (Lib. 35 fo. 114 N. Y. Sur. Office).
(4) His son (B) George III lived on the north side of Hempstead Plains. top of Hempstead, Queens county, N. Y. (Great Neck). He married Hannah Emery. They had William, Hannah, Richard, Emery (Emry). William died in 1781, will proved 21 December 1781 (See Lib. 34 fo. 44 Sur. office N. Y.) George Hewlett died 1778: will proved 10 November 1778; copy folio 182, Lib. 34, Sur. office N. Y.
(5) Emery Hewlett, of Great Neck, Queens county, born 25 August 1754. He was overseer of Highways 1782-3. Cattle mark recorded 1790. He married Mary Ann Baker.
(A) She descends from Samuel Baker, born January 1, 1705. Heziah, his wife, born September 26, 1707 ; they had (B) Samuel born October 27, 1732, died October 8, 1781 ; he married (C) Mary Ann Palmer-the Palmer family was an influential family in Revolutionary times- on December 15, 1758; she was born August 15, 1739, and died February 28, 1809. They had (D) Mary Ann Baker above referred to who married (5) Emery Hewlett. They had nine children, (6) Samuel being born August 26, 1791 ; he died near Savona, Steuben county, N. Y., November 1875; Hannah, born January 10, 1787 ; she married John Brearley May 17, 1807. Her descendants live in Michigan. Samuel Hewlett enlisted in the War of 1812. On a visit to Arcadia, he met and married Catherine Gee, daughter of Moses Gee and Abigail Rush. Cath- erine Gee descends from (A) De Rossel Gee who was out in the early Indian wars ; his wife Mary was the first person buried in Virgil, Cortland county, N. Y. His son John Gee was a Revolutionary soldier; also his brother (B) Moses Gee, who served in the 7th Company. 2nd Regiment Vandeburgh's Company. Moses Gee was born June 24, 176 ....: he married Abigail Rush February 4, 1910; she was born November 1, 1775. They had eleven children
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(C) Catherine, one of the daughters, was born January 10, 1801, at Peekskill. N. Y., died at Bath, N. Y., February 14, 1893. Samuel Hewlett and Cath- erine Gee had (7) Palmer Baker Hewlett first above mentioned.
Palmer Baker Hewlett went to Bath, N. Y., worked as a spring maker, commissioned, August 3. 1846, Company I. Seventh New York, Regiment. War with Mexico, as Second lieutenant. He came to California in the Susan Drew, Stevenson's Regiment and arrived at San Francisco, Cal., early in March, 1847. He was honorably discharged in California, September 25, 1848. He owned a house on Telegraph Hill. San Francisco, in 1848; in 1849 he had his office at the corner of Webb and California street. He went to Sonoma county, formed the Petaluma Guards and was captain of the company ; later major of the California Militia and consequently brigadier general during the Civil war. Physically he was a powerful man, six feet tall, an expert swords- man ; religion a Methodist : in politics a Republican : a strong Union man during the Civil war. E. Palmer Hewlett, son by his first wife, is living at Watsonville. By his second wife, George Hewlett, born in San Francisco August 22, 1879. Palmer Baker Hewlett, born April 28. 1885. at San Fran- cisco, Cal.
SILAS COOMBS .- Few names are better known in the upbuilding and settlement of Mendocino county than that of Coombs, and since 1856, when Silas Coombs located here, all avenues of activity have felt the impress of personality from some member of the family. Silas Coombs was born June 17, 1817. at Lincoln, Me .. the son of Richard and Elizabeth (Fassett) Coombs. Such school advantages as the time and place afforded he utilized to the best of his ability and at the age of twenty-two he started out in the world to make liis own way, and in addition to carrying on a farm in his native state he also speculated in lumber to some extent. Altogether he continued operations in the east for about seventeen years before the western fever attacked him, and he determined to set out for the west immediately. April 3, 1856, marked the day that he sailed from the harbor of New York bound for California by way of Panama, and he reached that place just in time to suffer all of the disastrous effects of the riots which occurred that year between the natives and the immigrants. The result was that he lost all of his earthly possessions with the exception of the clothes on his back.
Without any further experiences of such a harrowing nature as has been mentioned Mr. Coombs finally reached San Francisco. Familiarity with the lumber business in Maine proved a working asset in his new surroundings and he lost no time in acquainting himself with the lumber conditions there- about. The Albion Mill first engaged his attention and services, continuing there for six months, when the attractions of mining temporarily absorbed his attention. After an experience of eight months in Tuolumne county he wisely concluded that mining would not pay as well in the long run as working in the woods and his return to Albion followed forthwith. The logging contract which he made with the mill at that time continued for sixteen months, after which he was employed in the mill and woods at wages until he severed his connections with the mill in that capacity to join with Ruel Stickney in furnishing the mill with logs on contract. The partnership was congenial and the business profitable, judging from the fact that they continued together in that capacity for seven years. Another evidence of their congeniality as business partners was apparent in the consolidation of their interests under the name of Coconbs & Stickney, in 1864. at which time
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they erected the mill at Little River and engaged in the lumber business for the ten years following. At the end of that time, in 1874, Mr. Stickney sold out his interest to C. A. Perkins and under the new partnership the mill at Buckhorn was erected, one mile below Little River. Both mills were in con- stant operation until the timber in the vicinity had all been sawed out, when the partnership had dissolved and Mr. Coombs turned his attention more particularly to his merchandise business and to his shipping interests on Little River harbor. He continued these activities up to the time of his death, in 1894. Though modest and unassuming in manner, he was one of the leading and most prominent men on the Mendocino coast, honesty and integrity marking every undertaking, so much so that his word was never questioned in the slightest particular. In this day when the theory prevails that might makes right rather than truth and justice, the loss of a man of principle and of humility is indeed a loss that cannot be replaced, and this was the general opinion of citizens far and wide when the news of his demise became known among those who had been associated with him during his residence of nearly forty years in Mendocino county.
Mr. Coombs had a comfortable residence on his ranch south of Little River, which was presided over by his wife, formerly Miss Margaret J. Boyd, whom he married April 7. 1864. She was a native of Bristol county, Me., born October 26, 1837, and passed away at the family home at Little River some time after the death of her husband. Four children were born to MIr. and Mrs. Coombs, Susie, a resident of Santa Rosa ; Annie, Mrs. H. H. Elliott, also of Santa Rosa ; Silas, a farmer of Little River ; and William, a merchant of this place.
EDWARD I. SNICKERS .- Working industriously and profitably in a pleasant environment and enjoying a reasonable hope of future prosperity, Mr. Snickers finds the conditions in California far different from those of his boyhood, when he witnessed the sufferings endured by the laboring classes in the Baltic provinces along the west coast of Finland. Nor was his own life easy and pleasant, for discomforts and privations handicapped his parents in every effort to provide the necessities of existence for their children in his native town of Wassa, where he was born May 2, 1878. In California he found an environment so different that even his boyish mind was impressed by the liberty and opportunities of the great west. Nor has there ever been with him any regret that the family left the old world for the new, in 1885. It was possible for him to attend school here and to lay the foundation of a broad education, extended by habits of observation and reading. After he had completed the studies of the Bridgeport grammar school in Mendocino county he began to make his own way in the world.
For a number of years, beginning when he was seventeen, Mr. Snickers worked in the employ of neighboring ranchers. With them he learned how to till the soil and how to care for stock. During 1904 he rented four hun- dred and sixty acres well adapted to general farming and stock-raising. The undertaking was quite successful. With no money except the little he had saved out of his wages, he bought stock and machinery and embarked in agricultural pursuits with such energy and industry that he was prospered from the outset. During 1912 he formed a partnership with his brother. Albert, and rented seventy-nine acres near Elk P. O. (Greenwood). General farming and dairying engage his attention and bring him in gratifying returns each year. The farm lies four miles south of town on the main road to Point
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Arena and has sufficient fertility of soil to render the efforts of the renters fairly profitable. It has been his experience that dairying forms a valuable department of agriculture and he intends to specialize more or less in this branch, while at the same time he gives due attention to other forms of general farming. In religion he is a Lutheran. In politics he favors Repub- lican principles and gives his ballot to the party candidates at all general elections. His marriage united him with Erika Okerman, a native of Finland, who died here in 1910, leaving two children, Elsie and Signe.
BENNETT PEMBERTON .- It was over sixty years ago that this venerable resident of Mendocino county first came out to California, and with the exception of a five years' sojourn in Missouri he has lived here ever since. His home has been in Mendocino county ever since 1872. Though an octo- genarian he is hale and active, maintaining a keen interest in the prosperity of his own affairs and the public-spirited zeal of a good citizen in all that pertains to the general welfare, and no inhabitant of Potter valley has a more honored place in its history.
Mr. Pemberton's native state is Kentucky. In 1853 he crossed the plains to the New Eldorado with the object which brought a large majority of the pioneers out to the Pacific coast at that time, to try his fortune at gold mining. He followed that occupation in Stanislaus and Tuolumne counties, thence going to the Sonoma mountains, in Sonoma county. There he engaged in stock raising. On his return east, to Missouri, in 1860, he made the trip by way of Panama, and that year was married to Miss Thurza Emmons, who was born in Missouri, in which state the young couple remained for the next five years. When Mr. Pemberton made his second trip across the plains to California, in 1865, he brought his wife and family, which then consisted of two sons, James Emmons and William, and they settled in Marin county, not far from Petaluma, where Mr. Pemberton gave his attention principally to dairying for several years. In 1872 he moved to Mendocino county and has since been a resident of Potter valley, where he bought a ranch and settled down to successful farming, which he has continued to carry on to the present time. His small but valuable ranch is at Inglenook, and though he is now (1914) eighty-one years old he keeps busy about the place and has not dropped his connection with school or church affairs, being a trustee of the Union high school and a member of the Methodist Church. Mrs. Pemberton's death occurred in 1887. She was the mother of eight children, two of whom have already been named; Emma, Walter B. and Minnie (deceased) were born in Marin county ; and Etta Ruth, Mary and John W. were born after the family settled in Potter valley.
James Emmons Pemberton, eldest son of Bennett Pemberton, was born in Johnson county, Mo., and obtained his public school education in Marin and Mendocino counties. He took up the higher literary studies in the University of California, and a course in law at the Hastings Law School, from which he was graduated in 1886, the same year being admitted to the bar. Meantime Mr. Pemberton had begun making his own way by teaching. which profession he followed in his home county for seven years, and when he became qualified for the legal profession he began practice in Mendocino county, settling in the city of Mendocino. Within a few years he had so estab- lished himself in the confidence of his fellow citizens, on both professional and personal merits, that he was elected to the office of district attorney. in which he served one term, moving to Ukiah, the county seat, when he entered
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upon the duties of that position. In the year 1894 he formed a partnership for the practice of law with Senator J. H. Seawell, at Ukiah, and the associa- tion lasted until Mr. Seawell's death, in 1902. since which time Mr. Pemberton has been alone in his legal work except for the assistance his son recently began. His connections have widened so greatly that in order to attend to them properly he has found it necessary since 1910 to maintain an office in San Francisco, as well as in Ukiah, and his quarters in the metropolis are on the eleventh floor of the First National Bank building.
With ability conspicuously above the average, Mr. Pemberton has never shirked the arduous duties of successful legal practice, and the concentration of his best forces upon all the work intrusted to him has brought such good results that his reputation has become state-wide, his services being sought on the most important cases in the California courts. Moreover, he has been called into public life and to positions of responsibility wherever known, and in 1910 he had the high honor of being the Democratic candidate for state's attorney general. From 1902 to 1906 he was a member of the board of trustees of Ukiah and from 1902 to 1904 served as chairman of that body, in which his work was much appreciated. His influential position has enabled him to do various useful turns for his home community, and his support and encour- agement are never lacking on questions of local importance. Among the fraternities he is well known, being a member of the Woodmen of the World, Independent Order of Foresters and Improved Order of Red Men, in all of which he has passed all the chairs.
To Mr. Pemberton's marriage with Emogene Brayton, a native of Men- docino county, daughter of Edwin Brayton, of Navarro Ridge, have been born three children: Bennett E., who is now an attorney in his father's office at San Francisco; Pearl, a student at the University of California ; and James Emmons, Jr., who is attending high school at Berkeley.
JAMES GREEN SHORT .- One of the first settlers of Round Valley and later one of the largest wool growers and horsemen of the day, James Green Short was a native of Illinois, as was also his wife Elizabeth (Arm- strong) Short.
On the discovery of gold in California. Mr. Short, leaving his family in Illinois, made the trip across the plains in the early '50s, and followed the fortunes of the California mines for several years. Later he returned to Illinois and brought his family across the plains in an old time "prairie schooner." He remained a short time in Amador county, and then located in Round Valley, taking up land east of what is now the location of Covelo. He was among the first settlers in the valley, and for many years he engaged in stock-raising and farming there. His father also came to California and located in Round Valley, being for a time the government Indian agent on the Round Valley Indian Reservation. His son, in addition to his farm and stock interests, also assisted with the business of the reservation.
Later Mr. Short sold his ranch and purchased a sheep ranch near Wil- liams, and engaged in wool growing, becoming the owner of the largest sheep ranch of that time. He continued in this enterprise with the greatest success, until he retired from active business and took up his residence in Covelo. He died in Ukiah, whither he had gone for medical attention. His wife survived him but two years, passing away at the family home in Covelo. There were nine children in their family, of whom seven are now living. They are: Carrie. now Mrs. O'Farrel, of Covelo: Amador, residing on Bald
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mountain ; Jacob Green, residing on Buck mountain ; Callie, now Mrs. Kelley, of Covelo; Katie, now Mrs. Montague, also of Covelo; Philo Rutherford, of Cummings ; and George, residing near Summit valley.
JOHN L. STUBBS .- One of the largest landowners and agricultural operators in his part of Lake county, Mr. Stubbs belongs to a family whose members have been known in this section for years as men of notable business qualifications. His father, Charles Stubbs, popularly known as "Uncle Jack," during an unusually successful career acquired the three thousand acre property now owned jointly by his sons Charles and John, and was also well known as one of the most extensive butchers here for many years, making a substantial fortune in that line alone. In his death, which occurred in 1903, Lake county lost one of her most interesting pioneer characters, a man whose individuality and winning personality brought him friends as well as pros- perity and the record of whose active life forms one of the vital chapters of the history of Lake county. He had the adventurous disposition common to many of the early settlers. Coming to the port of San Francisco as a British sailor, he took French leave of his ship and remained there, passing the rest of his life in California.
Mr. Stubbs was a native of Hampshire. England, born at Newport, the capital of the Isle of Wight, and when a young man followed the sea. Wlien he arrived at San Francisco he had enough money in his pocket to buy half the property on Market street as then valued. For some time he was engaged in lightering at San Francisco, before there were any wharves at that port. He went to the mines at Marysville, but early began the stock business in which he continued profitably for so many years. As early as 1859 he bought the nucleus of his large ranch in Lake county. Jesse B. Robinson, of Upper Lake, who figured extensively in local affairs in pioneer times, also came here from Marysville-to Sonoma, thence through the Sonoma valley to Ukiah, and thence across Bachelor valley to Upper Lake. Mr. Stubbs kept adding to his possessions steadily until he had three thousand acres in one tract, and in the meantime became very heavily interested in the butcher business, for years having the contract to supply fresh meat to the one-time famous Sulphur Bank quicksilver mine near his ranch. He dealt in beef, mutton and pork, buying native stock which he butchered himself. The fol- lowing entry from his day book not only illustrates his systematic methods of keeping track of everything, but gives some insight into his charitable nature ( we omit name) : "Feb. 7, 1889, From- -, for steer, thirty years ago, $20.00." The fact is, a steer had been stolen from Mr. Stubbs by the said party in 1859, but the man's conscience bothered him so that he paid Mr. Stubbs $20 on the date named.
Mr. Stubbs lived on his ranch. on which he made many improvements during his long life. His death occurred in 1903, when he was seventy-six years of age. His wife, Mary (Jeffries), who was born in Australia, of Scotch parentage, now lives at San Francisco. A family of four children was born to them : Frances Eva, now the wife of Dr. M. A. Creggs, of Lakeport, Lake county : William F., farmer and orchardist, who lives in Contra Costa county, this state: Charles H., of Berkeley, with the Oro Electric Light & Power Company : and John Lisle.
John Lisle Stubbs was born April 22. 1876. on the Stubbs ranch. in East Lake precinct. where his parents lived for so many years, and began his educa- tion in the public school in the Sulphur Banks district. Then for two years
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he attended the Lakeport Academy. and subsequently went to Heald's College in San Francisco, where he also studied at the Van der Naillen School of Engineering, graduating from the last named institution with the class of 1897. After spending a short time in Mexico he went to Winnemucca, Hum- boldt county, Nev., developing the mine owned by the D. & C. Lighting Company, which owns perhaps two dozen mining claims, producing gold ore. Mr. Stubbs has done about two years' work for the company altogether, going back and forth from his home in California as occasion requires. His principal interests, however, are in his home territory, where his extensive holdings comprise about half of the large Stubbs ranch of three thousand acres-the west end, his brother Charles owning the part on which the build- ings are located. In September, 1913. Mr. Stubbs bought three hundred and twenty acres from Henry L. Wildgrube, of High valley, and also has an undi- vided half interest in a two hundred and forty acre tract lying immediately east of the Wildgrube place, which he holds jointly with Jack Smaker ; they purchased it recently. Mr. Stubbs has just put eighty acres into almond trees on his land in East Lake precinct, and he is constantly improving it in various ways. The Stubbs ranch is in Weldon valley and is beautifully located on an arm of Clear lake. Mr. Stubbs maintains his home at Los Gatos, in Santa Clara county, where he has a fine residence. He has become well known all over Lake county in his capacity of county surveyor, in which office he gave complete satisfaction. He is now serving as state fire warden, to which posi- tion he was appointed at San Jose. Personally he is a man of generous nature, whole-souled and companionable.
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