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 21
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 21
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72 | Part 73 | Part 74 | Part 75 | Part 76 | Part 77 | Part 78 | Part 79 | Part 80 | Part 81 | Part 82 | Part 83 | Part 84 | Part 85 | Part 86 | Part 87 | Part 88 | Part 89 | Part 90 | Part 91 | Part 92 | Part 93 | Part 94 | Part 95 | Part 96 | Part 97 | Part 98 | Part 99 | Part 100 | Part 101 | Part 102 | Part 103 | Part 104 | Part 105 | Part 106 | Part 107 | Part 108 | Part 109 | Part 110 | Part 111 | Part 112 | Part 113 | Part 114 | Part 115 | Part 116 | Part 117
.
Between the years of six and ten Judge Sayre lived on a farm in Steuben county, N. Y., and attended the public school in that vicinity. About 1857 his father was injured so seriously that he was left an invalid and, no longer able to engage in farming, he removed to Hammondsport, Steuben county, where in an effort to regain his health the savings of years of arduous labor were expended. However, the son was sent to the common schools and Hammondsport Academy. While a student in the academy he relinquished school work to enlist in the Union army. Early in 1864, when but sixteen years of age, he became a private in Company E, One Hundred and Sixty- first New York Infantry. Assigned first to the department of the Gulf under General Banks and later to an engineering brigade on the lower Mississippi under Colonel Bailey, he was next transferred to the Thirteenth Army Corps under General Canby and marched from Fort Morgan at the mouth of Mobile bay to Spanish Fort and Fort Blakely, where he took part in the memorable siege, thence crossed the bay to Mobile. In November, 1865, when still less than eighteen, he was mustered out at Tallahassee, Fla., and honorably dis- charged. During his absence in the army his parents had moved to Almond, Allegany county, and he joined them there, attending the local academy for three winters and earning a livelihood by day tasks in the summer months. He also taught at Bishopville, N. Y., for one winter. When twenty-one he entered Alfred University, but stopped the next winter to teach school. ยท Through all of this period he was earning his own way and paying for his education.
Attracted to Iowa by its opportunities, Mr. Sayre lived at Denison from the spring of 1870 until 1880. In 1872 he married at Almond, N. Y., Miss Della Genung, of Almond, that state, who died in 1877, leaving one child, Burt G., now in the hardware business at Lakeport. Beginning in a bank at Denison as clerk, Mr. Sayre rose to be assistant cashier as well as attor- ney for the institution. In his leisure hours he had read law with Judge M. H. Wygant, of Denison, and about 1876 he was admitted to the bar at Council Bluffs, not, however, practicing in that state except in connection with the bank's law affairs. A serious throat trouble caused him to resign his bank 10
166
MENDOCINO AND LAKE COUNTIES
position and seek a change of climate in California, where he spent the years 1880-85 in business in San Francisco. Being not in the least benefited there, he came to Middletown, Lake county. in 1885, and immediately his health began to improve, which caused him to become a permanent resident of the county. Elected county clerk in 1886, he moved to Lakeport during Decem- ber of that year. After two years as clerk and two years as district attorney, from January, 1891, to January, 1895, he engaged in law practice with ex- Judge R. J. Hudson, under the firm title of Hudson & Sayre. In 1894 he was again chosen district attorney and re-elected in 1898, serving until January 1, 1903. At the expiration of the last term he formed a law partnership with H. V. Keeling under the name of Sayre & Keeling.
On the death of Hon. R. W. Crump he was appointed by Governor George C. Pardee to fill the vacancy as judge of the superior court. In 1904 he was elected to the same office and four years later was again chosen as his own successor. His decisions in the court are governed by a wide knowl- edge of the law and a uniform impartiality of temperament and have won for him the respect of the higher courts, as well as the admiration of local people and a reputation for high legal attainments and wise decisions. With his wife, who prior to their marriage on New Year's day of 1907, was Mrs. Maude M. Swayze of Lakeport, he has an enviable social standing in circles where culture and breadth of mental vision, supplementing honorable prin- ciples, are the open sesame. In politics he votes the Republican ticket. Always interested in Grand Army work, he has been the most efficient and popular promoter of its interests and has served as commander of Gaylord Post at Upper Lake. At this writing he is inspector of the Nineteenth Ma- sonic district. He was made a Mason at Denison, Iowa, and afterward took the Royal Arch degrees at Dunlap. With his wife he has co-operated in the work of the Eastern Star and the Rebekahs, while he is now past noble grand of Lakeport Lodge No. 351, I. O. O. F. Besides his interests in the bank and the railroad and his financial connection with other local enterprises, he is the owner of town property at Lakeport and also unimproved country hold- ings as well as two improved farms in Lake county, all of his interests being concentrated in the county to whose permanent upbuilding he has been a constant contributor.
WILLIAM O. EDMANDS .- There are two notable estates on the east- ern shore of Clear lake, in Lake county, those of William O. Edmands and his brother-in-law, Colonel Hammond. They have been established here since the summer of 1884, when three Boston men, including Colonel Hammond, his brother Gardiner Hammond and Mr. Edmands, purchased twelve hundred and thirty-four acres in the Upper Lake precinct, Gardiner Hammond subse- quently selling his interest in the tract to Mr. Edmands, who now has about six hundred and forty acres of it. He has made further purchases, his hold- ings comprising between eight hundred and nine hundred acres. Chosen pri- marily for its agricultural and horticultural possibilities, this property has been improved under the ownership of Mr. Edmands with the idea of bring- ing out all of its advantages, with the result that he has a beautiful country home and a large acreage whose value is being increased yearly by scien- tific cultivation. The systematic care expended on the land has been pro- ductive of effects reaching beyond the immediate reward of good crops, it
167
MENDOCINO AND LAKE COUNTIES
has vitalized several branches of fruit culture in the locality and stimulated other agricultural interests. Mr. Edmands is occupied with the oversight of his extensive operations as general farmer, stockman, orchardist and viti- culturist.
Mr. Edmands was born in Massachusetts December 23, 1859, at Newton, just outside of Boston. His father, also named William O. Edmands, was a business man of Boston, connected with many substantial enterprises, as more of his ancestors have been, principally in railway and financial opera- tions. His mother, whose maiden name was Frances A. Stickney, was born in Boston, and was also of old New England lineage. She spent her later years in California, much of the time at Lakeport, and died in August, 1912. William O. Edmands is the only child of his parents. In his early boyhood he attended public and private schools in Newton, where he prepared for college. Matricu- lating at Harvard in 1880, he pursued a course of special scientific study there for three years. He came to Lake county, Cal., in the summer of 1884, and was one of the trio of Boston men who invested heavily in lands on the eastern shore of Clear lake as previously mentioned. His home has been here ever since. The attractions and possibilities of the location appealed to him so strongly that he found real pleasure in supplementing nature's gifts with man's industry, and the ideal conditions he has developed are the outcome of years of thoughtful care. He has superintended personally the planting and culture of his orchards, vineyards, olive and encalyptus groves ; the lay- ing out of drives; improvements along the lake shore; cultivation of plow lands ; and the numerous other details involved in the proper management of an estate so thoroughly well handled. Mr. Edmands is a fancier of blooded stock of all kinds. By well-directed energy he has accomplished much to en- hance the attractions and convenience of his property, and he has not spared himself in looking after it. The ranch is located on the shores of Clear lake, about four miles east of Upper Lake.
Mr. Edmands has a splendid residence on a hill overlooking an arm of Clear lake. There is nothing lacking which contributes to the pleasure or comfort of the family, and a launch and automobiles make all the local points easy of access. Mr. Edmands is a true New Englander on the question of education and in public-spirited support of all projects for the general good. He has stood firmly with his fellow landowners in Lake county to maintain his rights against the aggressions of the Yolo Water & Power Company, which he considers a menace to individual property holders under present conditions. He has been a Republican in politics, and is a great admirer of many of the policies and aims of his friend Colonel Roosevelt. A representa- tive of old Pilgrim stock, he has the independent courage of thought and up- rightness of character which have typified his ancestors for many genera- tions, and his honorable motives and sincerity of purpose toward his fellow men have gained him the highest measure of respect from the people among whom he has settled.
In 1888 Mr. Edmands married Miss Susan Greene Hammond, daughter of Gardiner Greene and Elizabeth Crowninshield (Mifflin) Hammond, who are more fully mentioned in the sketch of Col. Charles Mifflin Hammond, brother of Mrs. Edmands. To Mr. and Mrs. Edmands has been born one son. William Hammond.
168
MENDOCINO AND LAKE COUNTIES
GEORGE W. STOUT, M. D .- The distinction of being the oldest physician in Mendocino county in point of years of continuous professional service belongs to Dr. Stout, who arrived at Ukiah November 14, 1884, and since has built up an important practice extending throughout this section of the county. As might be expected of one identified with the same community for a period considerably more than one-quarter of a century, he is earnest in support of progressive movements and capable in the forwarding of civic enterprises. Withal he is one of the local leaders in his profession and through a growing practice he has become an important factor in the professional history of Mendocino county. In addition to medical work and civic enter- prises he is interested in financial affairs and serves on the directorate of the Savings Bank of Mendocino County.
The history of the Stout family is traced to Seargent and Penelope Stout, who were identified with the early settlement of New Amsterdam. Jacob M. Stout, the father of our subject, was born at Oxford, Hamilton county, Ohio, in 1816, and in 1826 removed with his father to Greene county, Ill., where he was a practicing physician for forty-four years. The wife of Jacob M. Stout was in maidenhood Maria Henderson, the descendant of Scotch and English antecedents. She became the mother of eight children, of whom seven are living, the subject of this sketch being the youngest. Two of the sons, H. C. and J. C., participated in the Civil war as members of Company I, Ninety- first Illinois Infantry. H. C. passed away in Illinois, and J. C. is now a prac- ticing physician in Oakland, Cal.
Near Whitehall, Greene county, Ill., George W. Stout was born February 7. 1858. When he was ten years old he found himself on the frontier, and the experiences in self-reliance there gained proved of much value to him in later life. When he was fourteen years old he rode over six hundred miles from Illinois to Kansas, accomplishing the trip in ten days. All the phases of frontier life became familiar to him during the years that he rode the range and handled stock. Meanwhile he had attended grammar school in Illinois, and after completing his studies found employment in a drug store and studied medicine with his father and his brother, J. C., both practicing physi- cians. Under them he gained much practical experience as a physician before his graduation from the American Medical College of St. Louis in 1883, so that with the conferring of his degree he was ready for successful work as a practitioner. A trip to California in 1875 had given him a favorable impression of the Santa Clara valley, so in 1883 he returned to that part of the west. joining his brother, J. C., at San Jose. From that place he came to Ukiah the following year, and has practiced medicine here for thirty years.
Dr. Stout was married in Ukiah July 12, 1904, to Miss Lorena B. Harris, a native of California and the daughter of William Harris. The latter, a native of Indiana, came to Dutch Flat, Placer county, Cal., in the early '50s. Dr. Stout is a member of Ukiah Lodge No. 315, K. P., of which he is past chancellor. He is a member of Schaffner Co., Uniform Rank, and is colonel of the Fifth Regiment, Uniform Rank, of California. He is also a member and past master of Abell Lodge No. 146, F. & A. M .; past high priest of Ukiah Chapter No. 53, R. A. M., and past eminent commander of Ukiah Com- mandery No. 33, K. T. He claims the distinction of being the second oldest living past associate grand patron of the Grand Chapter, Order of Eastern Star, California.
1
Habe Mi lowon
171
MENDOCINO AND LAKE COUNTIES
HALE McCOWEN .- A long service in the official employ of Mendocino county has been sufficient to demonstrate the ability of Hale McCowen and his admirable qualifications for a position requiring accuracy, promptness and a high order of intelligence. Such is the success of his record as county clerk that he has been accorded honors from others not of his own locality, and during the convention of the County Clerks' Association of California, held at San Francisco in 1912, he was signally honored by being elected president of the association, a position that he is well qualified to fill with credit to himself and satisfaction to all concerned. To be selected for such a position affords ample testimony as to his high standing among those filling positions similar to his own, while his popularity in Mendocino county is indicated by his long retention in public office.
Hale McCowen was the son of Thomas and Amily (Leonard) McCowen, both of whom were born in New Jersey, but who came to Mason, Ohio, with their respective parents, there growing to mature years and marrying. Thomas McCowen was a physician in Ohio, and later near Indianapolis, Ind. In 1855 he removed to Douglas county, Kans., in 1857 starting across the plains with ox-teams. He became a pioneer farmer and physician in Potter valley, where he pre-empted land. On his retirement, he and his devoted wife located in Ukiah, where they spent their remaining years and passed away. Their family comprised five children: George, a dentist, now living retired in Ukiah ; Helen, Mrs. A. O. Carpenter, of Ukiah ; Emily, Mrs. Horton, of Seattle; Hale, and Blanche, Mrs. Landis, of Petaluma.
The first impressions of Mendocino county gained by Hale McCowen were fixed upon his mind at the expiration of a tedious journey across the plains in a "prairie schooner" during the summer of 1857. At the time of landing in California he was a boy of nine, his previous years having been spent on a farm near Indianapolis, Ind., where he was born August 17, 1848, and where he had gained his first impressions of life. Although he found much to interest him in the undeveloped, unsettled west, there remained in his heart a homesick longing for the familiar conditions of his earliest years and at the age of eighteen he availed himself of an opportunity to return east, via Panama and New York, and in Havana, Ill., he completed his studies in an academy.
When Mr. McCowen returned to California from Illinois in 1869 he made the trip on the second through overland train, the journey taking fourteen days. Going immediately to the old homestead in Potter valley he there followed farming and stockraising until 1872, when he came to Ukiah to clerk in a store. Later, with the savings of that period of employment, he paid his expenses in Heald's Business College in San Francisco, where he was graduated in 1874, and was then employed by Dewey & Co., a large publish- ing house of that city, for a year. The next year he served as bookkeeper with Rea & Ellis, and then returned to a clerkship in Ukiah. During January of 1887 he was offered and accepted the appointment as deputy county clerk and auditor under Samuel D. Paxton. This represented the beginning of his association with the office of county clerk. Such was his ability in the posi- tion that he was nominated by acclamation and in November, 1890, was elected county clerk and auditor and continued to be re-elected liis own suc- cessor from term to term until 1899, when the two offices were separated, and he was elected county clerk, in all being re-elected six times. That position he lias filled with honor and fidelity up to the present time, and is undoubt-
172
MENDOCINO AND LAKE COUNTIES
edly the oldest county clerk in point of years of service in the state of Cali- fornia.
Meanwhile Mr. McCowen has been a leading factor in civic development. The growth of Ukiah is a matter of deep and constant interest to him. Its educational and moral upbuilding receives his generous aid and its business affairs have his substantial co-operation. Fraternally he is past noble grand of Ukiah Lodge No. 174, I. O. O. F., and is a member of Cornelia Rebekah Lodge No. 214. He was made a Mason in Abell Lodge No. 146, F. & A. M., in 1878, and is past master ; is past high priest of Ukiah Chapter No. 53, R. A. M., and is past patron of Kingsley Chapter No. 58. O. E. S .; also past eminent commander of Ukiah Commandery No. 33, K. T., and is a member of Islam Temple, A. A. O. N. M. S., of San Francisco. During the existence of the I. O. G. T. lodge he was worthy chief templar.
The marriage of Mr. McCowen occurred in Redwood valley, August 18. 1880, uniting him with Miss Fannie Thomas, a native of Georgia, daughter of Dr. J. R. Thomas, a man of letters. To them have been born two children, Mary L., Mrs. Cunningham, and Hale, Jr., a graduate of Leland Stanford University, with degree of J. D. He was elected district attorney of Mendo- cino county at the primary election August 25, 1914.
ROBERT L. RICHARDS, M. D .- The medical superintendent of the Mendocino state hospital is an Ohioan by birth, parentage and education. Born at New Lexington in 1869. graduated from the Ohio Wesleyan Uni- versity in 1891 with the degree of A. B., and from the Medical College of Ohio (medical department of the University of Cincinnati) with the degree of M. D. in 1894, afterward an interne in the City Hospital of Cincinnati and a prac- ticing physician in Cincinnati. his residence in Ohio terminated with the year 1900, when he went abroad to devote especial study to nervons dis- cases in the Universities of Berlin and Munich. From the very beginning of his medical career he has been deeply interested in nervous and mental dis- cases, concerning which he is now regarded as an authority by members of the profession. He has been a frequent and liberal contributor to leading medical journals and wrote the section entitled "Nervous and Mental Disorders in Their Military Relations" in the most recent and complete work of this sort, i. e., the two-volume edition of "Modern Treatment of Nervous and Men- tal Diseases" by White and Jelliffe. Fraternally Dr. Richards is a member of Alpha Tau Omega and the Masons, while in the line of his profession he is a member of the Military Surgeons Association of the United States and the American Medico-Psychological Association. His father was Dr. A. B. Rich- ards, who was a graduate of the same medical college as his son, and who served as a surgeon in the Civil war.
From the time of his arrival in San Francisco in 1902 until his resignation September 20. 1912, Dr. Richards was associated with the medical corps of the United States army as a specialist on mental troubles. The development and first introduction into the army of military psychiatry may be attributed to him. During the years of his identification with the medical corps he saw service in Cuba and the Philippines, was stationed for fifteen months at Wash- ington, D. C., as surgeon in the government hospital for the insane, held an appointment as surgeon for the insane on Ward's island and also served as surgeon at the Presidio hospital. San Francisco. In all of these appointments he received recognition as an expert in mental diseases. Upon resigning from the army with the rank of Captain Medical Corps he became medical super-
173
MENDOCINO AND LAKE COUNTIES
intendent of the Mendocino state hospital for the insane, succeeding E. W. King, M. D., who had served in that capacity from July 1, 1893, until April, 1912.
The California state legislature in 1889 passed a bill authorizing the establishment of a hospital for insane at Talmage, three miles from Ukiah. The first board of managers were T. L. Carothers, Dr. E. W. King, Archibald Yell (all of Ukiah), J. B. Wright of Sacramento and Cornelius O'Conner of San Francisco. The site selected by these men is perhaps as beautiful and suitable as could be found in the valley and comprises one thousand acres lying in the foothill region, with distant stretches of valley and mountain providing picturesque environment and attractive view. The first board not only selected the site, but also built the main ward building, kitchen. laundry and boiler house. Subsequent boards erected the administration building, assem- bly hall, two cottages, stable, dairy barns and other buildings. The total cost of land, buildings, equipment and furnishings exceeds $1,000,000. The institution maintains a garden raising all vegetables needed except potatoes ; a dairy furnishing the table with milk and butter; a poultry yard providing eggs for kitchen use; and fruit trees and vines that afford fruits and grapes for table use. Springs in the mountains east of the asylum fill a reservoir pro- viding the institution with a fine water supply and in addition there are sev- eral flowing and pumping wells. Over $500 per day is spent in maintain- ing the hospital, outside of the funds necessary for permanent improvements, construction and repairs. Electricity furnishes an adequate lighting system, modern plumbing has been introduced and every other modern convenience has been installed for the convenience of patients and attendants. A complete hydro-therapeutic outfit has been established in both the male and female departments and the laboratory and operating room equipments are complete and modern. Each patient receives a careful study by one of the staff and is then presented for consideration to the whole staff. Special attention is paid to occupational work for the patients and the results have been most satisfactory. The daily menu has been pronounced one of the best in the state by Professor Jaffa.
Upon the opening of the hospital December 12, 1893, sixty patients were brought from the Stockton asylum and two days later a similar number came from the Napa asylum. So rapid has been the increase that there are now about ten hundred and fifty patients and more than one hundred and thirty employes, the whole forming a system directly under the control and scientific oversight of the medical superintendent and his trained assistants.
HOWARD P. PRESTON .- The history of the Preston family is traced to old Southern ancestors, whose lives and accomplishments contributed to the making of history in that section of country. Tennessee was the field of activity for several generations and at Woodbury, that state, Howard P. Preston was born December 6, 1884. Woodbury was also the birthplace of his father, H. L. Preston, who is now president of the First National Bank of that city and one of the old-time bankers of the state, having been inti- mately associated with banking circles for the past thirty-three years. During the trouble between the north and south his sympathies were naturally with the Confederate cause and none of General Forrest's captains was more faith- ful and trustworthy than Capt. H. L. Preston, who commanded the Thirty- third Tennessee Cavalry. Four times he was wounded while on the field of
174
MENDOCINO AND LAKE COUNTIES
battle, but none of them incapacitated him for service and he was enabled to finish his term of enlistment. For a time after the close of the war he carried on farming in Tennessee, but soon drifted into the banking business and has followed it continuously since. His wife in maidenhood was Thankful C. Doak, like himself a native of Tennessee, and the granddaughter of Rev. Samuel Doak, who bears the distinction of being the founder of the Presby- terian Church in America. Prior to this he had been a clergyman of note in Scotland. The mother passed away August 19, 1892.
Seven children were born to H. L. and Thankful C. (Doak) Preston, all of whom are living and taking their place worthily in the world's activities. The eldest, W. D., is cashier of the First National Bank of Woodbury, Tenn., of which the father is president; T. R. is president of the Hamilton National Bank of Chattanooga, Tenn., and holds the same position in the Hamilton Trust and Savings Bank, this being an off-shoot of the parent organization (combined assets of the two banks being eight millions of dollars) ; Mina is the wife of Albert M. Dement. of Cortner, Tenn .; C. M. is cashier of the Hamilton National Bank of Chattanooga and the Hamilton Trust and Sav- ings Bank; John W. is United States district attorney for northern California ; H. L., Jr., is an attorney in Ukiah ; Howard P. completes the family. After completing the grammar school course in his home city he attended the Uni- versity of Tennessee in Knoxville, and left that institution in 1901. Subse- quently he was associated with the Thatcher Medicine Company, a wholesale drug company of Chattanooga, as traveling salesman for five years. His identification with the west and with Mendocino county in particular dates from the year 1907, when he went to Ukiah and became associated with the Ukiah Guarantee, Abstract and Title Company. As vice-president of the company he found his time fully taken up with the duties that the office imposed. After an association of about six years with the company he with- drew and came to Fort Bragg, and soon afterward organized the Fort Bragg Commercial Bank. The papers of organization bear the date of March, 1912, but it was not until two months later that the bank was opened for the receipt of business. The institution is housed in a substantial re-inforced steel and concrete structure especially built for the use of the bank, and is a model building of its kind. The Fort Bragg Commercial Bank was organized with a capital stock of $50,000, and now has a surplus of $7,000 and deposits to the amount of quarter of a million, all of which proves beyond question that it has passed the experimental stage. Mr. Preston has been cashier of the bank since its organization, and much of the success of the institution has been due to his unexcelled business judgment and quick perception.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.