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 25
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 25
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
A crowning feature of Mr. Rohrbough's refined home is to be found in the gracious hospitality of the cultured hostess, Mrs. Jennie Myrtle (Fetty) Rohrbough, who is of West Virginian birth. Her birth occurred in Lewis county and her education was received in Buckhannon at Wesleyan College, from which she was graduated in 1893. The same fall she came to California, and on the 3d of April, 1894, in Round valley, she became the wife of Mr. Rohrbough. Seven children have been born of their union, namely: Evan,
206
MENDOCINO AND LAKE COUNTIES
attending the University of California, studying on the experimental farm at Davis; Marella, attending Hamlin's School, San Francisco; John, attend- ing the grammar school; Lummie, deceased ; Beverley, Shirley, and Margaret, deceased. Mrs. Rohrbough is an active member of the Methodist Episcopal church in Covelo.
In the past years Mr. Rohrbough has spared neither expense nor personal attention to promote the general welfare of Round valley. Progressive and moral movements inaugurated in recent years have received his support. In this connection it may be stated that he has been associated with the develop- ment of the creamery in this valley, and also the local telephone system, holding stock in both concerns. For a number of years he has been a director of the Bank of Willits, in which he holds a large block of stock. It may be said that he is truly a representative of the type of men who are causing Mendocino county to forge to the front as an agricultural center. While a stanch advocate of Democratic principles, he has confined his interest along these lines to the support he could give to the men and measures of his party. Not only in the interests of his children, but also for the larger interests of the county, he has sought to advance the welfare of the schools of Round valley and has been in favor of advancing the standard of education to meet the enlarged demands of the twentieth century. Although highly successful, the fact that his character is free from self-seeking and self-aggrandizement enables him to wield a more than temporary influence in affairs of the valley and county.
WILLIAM H. SMITH .- In 1906 William H. Smith moved into the town of Lower Lake to settle down in retirement, after forty years and more of farming. He still retains valuable agricultural property in Lake county, one farm in Weldon valley and another in Burns valley, having lived on the former place for twenty years before he gave up active work. He came to Lake county from Illinois, in search of health, and was fortunate in finding a climate which brought back his strength and enabled him to continue his labors successfully for many years. Mr. Smith has prospered by dint of in- dustry and commendable management, and deserves the respect which all his fellow citizens accord him. He is a leading member of the Methodist Episcopal Church at Lower Lake.
Mr. Smith is a native of the town of Parrish, Oswego county, N. Y., born March 13, 1842. His father, Franklin Smith, went into the backwoods of Oswego county to clear up a farm and establish a comfortable home for his little family, but he died before he had been able to accomplish much toward the improvement of his place or to accumulate much of this world's goods. He had married Elizabeth House, who was left with four young children : Martha, now the widow of William Dillworth, living in Hamilton county, Ill .; Barnard, who is farming in Knox county, Neb. ; Oscar, who was only sixteen years old when he enlisted during the Civil war in the Twenty-fourth New York Cavalry, was captured, and died while a prisoner at Andersonville, and William H. The mother remarried, her second husband being Martin Stern (now deceased). by whom she had six children. She lived and died in New York state, reaching the age of seventy-four years.
William H. Smith was but seven years old when his father died, and soon afterward he went to live at the home of an uncle, Joel Andrews, who was engaged in farming in Oneida county, N. Y. Until he was nineteen he con-
207
MENDOCINO AND LAKE COUNTIES
tinued to make his home there, though from the time he was seventeen he worked out on farms for others. On April 24, 1861, at Utica, N. Y., he enlisted in the Union service, and was mustered in at Elmira, that state, as a member of Company A, Twenty-sixth New York Volunteer Infantry, which was attached to the Army of the Potomac. He took part in many important engagements, including Cedar Mountain, Thoroughfare Gap. Rappahannock Station, Second Bull Run. Antietam and Fredericksburg, and was honorably discharged in 1863, at the expiration of his term of service, with an excep- tional record. In the fall of 1863 Mr. Smith went to Kendall county, Ill., and for two years was engaged in farming. Returning east, he spent two winters working in the Michigan pineries, and then bought a farm in Champaign county, Ill., which he intended for his permanent home. He set about the cultivation and improvement of his property, and met with decided success in his work, remaining there for a period of eighteen years, until failing health made a change seem desirable. It was for this reason he came to California, in 1886, living for a year in Ventura county, and then coming to Lake county, and settling in Weldon valley, where he farmed until his retirement. The farm he bought there contains one hundred and fifty-seven acres, ten acres of which are in fruit, and besides he owns fifty acres in Burns valley, all level grain land. Mr. Smith has, derived a good income from his land, which he has improved systematically and is now under profitable cultivation. He has various interests at Lower Lake, being a member and treasurer of the Masonic Lodge there and member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, which he has served officially in several capacities, having been steward and trustee, and still holding the latter office. His political connection is with the Republican party. Though he began life under adverse circumstances, Mr. Smith has overcome them by his steady persistence and application to his work, and he is respected for his industrious career and for his high Christian character. Though conservative, he has never been an enemy of progress, and he can always be counted upon to support good government, though he himself has never had any desire to take a hand in the administration of public affairs.
In 1872, while living in Champaign county, Ill., Mr. Smith was united in marriage with Miss Minerva J. Hoffman, of that county, but a native of Butler county, Ohio. They have had a family of five children : Eugene died in Illinois when sixteen months old: Viola died when eleven months old ; Edward Franklin died when fifteen years old; Evelyn Cornelia is the wife of W. J. Foster, who is now cultivating Mr. Smith's farm of one hundred and fifty-seven acres in Weldon valley; Erva Amanda is the wife of Andrew Johnson, a farmer in Big valley, Lake county.
LAFAYETTE HENDRICKS .- When recognition is taken of those who have been primarily influential in the development and agricultural upbuilding of Lake county, to few should greater tribute be paid than to LaFayette Hendricks, whose energies have been given to the promotion of the farming interests of this section of the state and who is a scion of the stanchest of pioneer stock. The reputation of the Hendricks family through- out the county is most enviable. Hard-working, good-hearted. generous, efficient, kind and helpful, their members have formed the very essence of the backbone of the cleanest citizenship of their several communities, and in this respect Mr. Hendricks has not been surpassed by other representatives of the name. A most dependable man and an exceptionally capable farmer, he
208
MENDOCINO AND LAKE COUNTIES
devoted all of his active years to agricultural pursuits, but the destruction of his farmhouse by fire in 1911 caused him to bring his family to Lakeport and establish a home here, retaining, however, the highly-improved dairy ranch of forty-four acres located directly north of the creamery in Scotts valley, and also his stock ranch of five hundred and fifty-five acres about five miles north of Lakeport, devoted to stock raising.
One of the earliest memories (somewhat vague and indistinct, it is true) of LaFayette Hendricks pertains to the removal of the family from Texas, where he was born near Fort Worth September 8, 1854, to California, whither a tedious journey with ox teams brought them in 1859. The parents, Green- berry and Mary Ann (Stephenson) Hendricks, were married at Cape Girar- deau, Mo., and later settled in Texas, where two children were born, La- Fayette and Ellen A., the latter now the wife of William D. Rantz, a promi- nent resident of Lakeport. After coming to California the family lived for two years on a ranch in Tulare county four miles east of Visalia, but about the middle of December, 1861, they arrived in Lake county and settled in Scotts valley, where the father died in April, 1876, before he had succeeded in clearing and improving his farm of one hundred and sixty acres. Meanwhile there had been born in Lake county one daughter and four sons, namely : Lydia S., the widow of W. W. Waldo and a resident of Lakeport; William G., who died at twenty-seven years and whose widow, Nellie B. (Keys) Hendricks, is still operating the farm in Scotts valley, having with her their three sons, Archie M., Ernest and William; Joseph W., who married Mrs. Little, of Lakeport, and is engaged in farming in Scotts valley; John B., a well-known farmer and perhaps the largest walnut grower in Lake county ; and Robert Edward, who married Miss Bertha Whitton and is a partner in the Hendricks-Crump Company, of Lakeport.
Until after the removal of the family to Lake county it had not been possible for LaFayette Hendricks to attend school and his advantages here were very meager, although he was a pupil in the first school ever started in Scotts valley. Since leaving school he has read widely and carefully, and thus has gained a fund of knowledge most valuable to him. His mother, who is still living in Lakeport, hale notwithstanding her eighty-two busy years, and her second husband, Z. Morrison, donated the ground on which stands the Scotts Valley Methodist Episcopal Church, and the Hendricks family as- sisted generously in the erection of the edifice. During 1881 Mr. Hendricks married Miss Emma M. Glines, who died in 1891, leaving a daughter, Eva Pearl, now the wife of Roy B. Embree, of Lakeport. The second marriage of Mr. Hendricks was solemnized in 1894 and united him with Miss Sadie L. Morris, member of one of the earliest families to settle in the state of Missouri. Of this union there are six children, viz .: Clarence Clifford and Emma V., students in the Lakeport Union high school; Marion L., Etta Marie, Olive 1. and Elzada Louise, pupils in the Lakeport grammar school. The family are members of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, in the main- tenance of which Mr. Hendricks assists to the extent of his ability. Until removing to Lakeport he served for some years as clerk of the board of trustees of the Scotts valley grammar school. Other interests include the holding of stock in the Clear Lake Railway Company and membership in the Taxpayers' Association of Lake county, in which he is now serving as a trustee.
Horace F. Milliken
211
MENDOCINO AND LAKE COUNTIES
HORACE FREMONT MILLIKEN .- It has been given to Mr. Milliken to pass his entire life near the sea. During his first twenty years he lived in Maine, where his parents, Horatio and Julia (Blaisdell) Milliken, were born, and where his own life began June 20, 1854, in the village of Surry, almost within sight and sound of the tempestuous waves that dashed against the rock-bound coast of Maine. During 1874 he traveled across the continent to San Francisco, thence proceeded by steamer to Petaluma and from there trav- eled by stage to Mendocino City. At the time lumbering formed the chief industry in Mendocino county. Naturally he turned to work in the lumber camps as offering the easiest means of securing a livelihood. In a short time he gained a comprehensive knowledge of the business in its different depart- ments. For six years he was employed to drive ox-teams and later he became superintendent of logging for the L. E. White Lumber Company at Whites- boro. Upon resigning from the lumber business he carried on a hardware business in Mendocino county for seven years. A tour of inspection through Southern California as early as 1881 had resulted in the purchase of raw land at Cucamonga, in San Bernardino county, and for some years he divided his time between his interests there and in Northern California, meanwhile im- proving the raw land with a vineyard, a peach orchard and an orange grove.
Upon coming to Fort Bragg in 1888 Mr. Milliken bought a tract of land in the midst of the redwood forest, just a little ways back from the ocean, and there he erected a residence. Since then the trees have been cut away for miles back of his place and his home is now the center of the residence district of the town. In 1893 he purchased twelve hundred acres on Pudding creek one mile east of the city. At the time the land was in its primeval condition, but its crude condition did not in the least dampen the ardor of the new owner. On the other hand it seemed to whet his ambition to put it in a state of cultivation as rapidly as possible, and with this object before him he set to work dili- gently to clear and improve it. When this was accomplished he enclosed it with good fencing and stocked it with cattle, sheep and hogs. He also estab- lished his own slaughter house and butcher shop so that he was able to supply the town and valley with meat. The clearing and improving of the ranch entailed the expenditure of a large sum of money and required a long time and much hard work. The result, however, has justified all that has been expended in its accomplishment, and today it is the consensus of opinion that it is the finest and best improved stock ranch in the country round about. The ranch is still in his possession and under his immediate management. With his son Leland E., Jr., Mr. Milliken owns three hundred and fifty acres of land near Livingston, Merced county, all under irrigation and in alfalfa, the son having the management of the property. For many years Mr. Milliken carried on a hardware business on Main street in Fort Bragg. In all probability, however, he has accomplished the greatest good to the com- munity through his services as the owner and builder of the Fort Bragg Water plant. The first attempt to supply the town with a water system resulted from his foresight and energy. In 1889 he established a small concern, which has since expanded with the growth of the place and is now capable of furnish- ing water to a city of more than five thousand inhabitants. A careful study of the building of a water plant convinced Mr. Milliken that not only were red- wood logs far less expensive than iron pipe, but they have the further advan- tage of being non-conductors of heat and cold, and on account of the smooth- 12
212
MENDOCINO AND LAKE COUNTIES
ness of the wood a freer flow of water is permitted. Experience proved the sagacity of his judgment. After the logs had been in use for sixteen years it was decided to replace them with larger pipe. On being taken up the logs were found to be sound and in the very best condition, hence it strengthened his confidence in the value of redwood as the most serviceable and practicable pipe to conduct water, and he has consequently used it in his entire system. This makes Mr. Milliken the pioneer in the use of and also in the demonstra- tion of the fact that redwood pipe is superior and more valuable than any other as water pipe.
The possessor of varied talents, Mr. Milliken enjoys instrumental and vocal music and was for many years the leader of the Fort Bragg band. Music, however, does not fill all of his leisure moments, for he is an enthusiast at chess and checkers and nothing pleases him more nor gives him more diversion than to match his skill with the best-known players of the games.
Mr. Milliken's activities as a citizen years ago led him to aid in the organization of a volunteer fire department for the city. Formerly he served as a member of the board of town trustees and president of the school board, while at this writing he is president of the board of trustees of the Fort Bragg Union high school, and also officiates as president of the library board. Until the formation of the Progressive party he took no part in politics, but he was then prevailed upon to accept the chairmanship of the Progressive Republican county central committee, in which capacity he worked faithfully in behalf of his party. He was made a Mason in Fort Bragg Lodge No. 361, F. & A. M., and is a member of Mendocino Chapter No. 88, R. A. M., and with his wife is a member of Sapphire Chapter No. 230, O. E. S., and of the Order of Pocahontas. Mr. Milliken is also a member of the Loyal Order of Moose and the Improved Order of Red Men.
At Mendocino, on May 7, 1881, Mr. Milliken was married to Miss Anna Mitchell, who was born in St. Johns, New Brunswick, but has spent her life principally in California, having come here with her mother in 1875. They became the parents of three children, Leland E., Julia Edna and Horace Leroy, the last-named dying at the age of six years. Leland E. Milliken chose for his wife Miss Elizabeth Holbrook, of Berkeley, and they have a daughter. Julia Edna Milliken became the wife of Edwin L. Mckinlay, and they reside in Berkeley. There is no movement started for the benefit of the citizens and business interests of Fort Bragg or Mendocino county that does not have the liberal support of Mr. Milliken, to which he contributes liberally of his time and means.
BENJAMIN ROBERT PARROTT .- Over twenty-five years ago Benjamin R. Parrott came into Lake county looking for desirable land. and he preempted a tract of one hundred and sixty acres lying in what is now known as the Mountain District precinct, formerly included in the South Kelseyville precinct, where he has resided continuously since. He has made considerable improvement in his property, particularly in the setting out of fruit trees, giving his attention particularly to the raising of fruit, in which he has found a profitable field of labor. His brother, Edwin O. Parrott, occu- pies this place with him, assisting him to some extent in its cultivation.
Mr. Parrott has been in the west since he was eighteen years old. Born May 6, 1846, at Rushville, in Schuyler county, Ill., he is one of the eight children of Thomas Jefferson and Virginia (Henley) Parrott, the former a
213
MENDOCINO AND LAKE COUNTIES
native of Virginia, the latter of Lexington, Ky. The father was ten years older than the mother, and both parents lived to the age of seventy-eight. Of the family, Virginia, now nearly eighty years old, is unmarried, and lives on the old Parrott home place in Schuyler county, Ill .; Samuel died in infancy ; Cornelius died in infancy ; Thomas died in Sioux City, Iowa (where he con- ducted a feed store), leaving a wife and two children; Julius has had a suc- cessful life and is now living in retirement at Rushville, III .; Benjamin Robert is next in the family ; Cornelia is unmarried and living at the old home place ; Edwin Othello, born July 10, 1853, was for many years in the service of the Southern Pacific Railroad Company as brakeman and conductor, and is now making his home with his brother on the ranch in Lake county.
Benjamin Robert Parrott had rather limited advantages in his youth, but he had plenty of practical experience to prepare him for life. When only a young man of eighteen years he started across the plains with one hundred and eighteen head of horses and two mules, arriving at Virginia City, Nev .. June 11, 1864. It was not easy to find employment, and though he was ready to take anything he could get in the way of honest work, he once went without a bite to eat for three days while looking for something to do. He finally took a job as car pusher. When he came to California he arrived in Nevada county without a cent, and he went to work on a ranch for a dollar a day. The employment was not steady, and when not working he was charged $1 a day for board. After a time he went to Todd's valley, in Placer county, this state, where he followed mining, running a placer mine. He also worked in the hydraulic mines, receiving $3 a day and his board, and remained at that location for one year. Thus he went from place to place in the state. search- ing for his uncle, Robert Hendley, and finally found he had gone to the Reese river, where he contracted mountain fever. From there Mr. Hendley then returned to Yolo county, where he died, and Mr. Parrott found his grave, at Knights Landing. In 1887 Mr. Parrott arrived in Lake county, locating upon the tract where he has since made his home, and filing upon one hundred and sixty acres as his preemption. Although he had only $9.50 in money when he settled here, he has made his way ahead steadily, proved up on his land and paid for it, and continued to improve it from year to year, having a comfort- able house, barns, fences and a commercial orchard of fourteen acres. His orchards now contain sixteen hundred trees. The fourteen acres are planted principally in prunes, and Mr. Parrott has had abundant crops, his fruit net- ting him a good income. As he has done all the work himself, clearing the land from its primitive state, setting out the trees, cultivating and gathering his crops, he has accomplished considerable, and he is respected by all his neighbors for the steady industry which has been necessary to bring his property into its present condition. All that he owns has been gained by hard work, and he well deserves the prosperity that his years of application have finally brought. His brother is like himself a man of estimable character. and they are well liked among their fellow citizens. They keep bachelors' hall on the farm, being the only members of their family now in this section.
Mr. Parrott was married in San Francisco, and the only child born of the union, Harry T., is deceased. He is a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, belonging to the lodge at Kelseyville, and though not per- sonally active in public affairs is interested in the success of the Republican party, which he supports with his ballot.
214
MENDOCINO AND LAKE COUNTIES
EDWARD HENRY LONG .- A keen, perceptive mind, a natural busi- ness ability and an unfailing sense of honor have been the attributes which have brought Edward Henry Long success, and added to this he has a genial, unselfish and sympathetic nature which manifests itself in his every day life to such an extent as to bring him many warm friends and a wide patronage in his mercantile business. His experiences have been many, filled with hardships and failures to discourage a less stalwart heart than Mr. Long's, but he has faced them one by one with unflinching determination to win and, though still in his prime, he has reached a prominent position in his vicinity which few have attained.
Born August 22, 1881, in Potter valley, Mendocino county, Mr. Long is the only child living of a family of four born to Thomas E. and Ida M. (Carner) Long. His father was a stockman, farmer and merchant, and was surpervisor of the Third District of Mendocino county at the time of his death. Edward Henry was a mere child when he was taken to Santa Bar- bara, where his parents made their home for four years, and then returned to Mendocino county, locating in Round valley. Here his father purchased thirty acres of land, which was unimproved, and at once set to work to clear it and put it in shape for cultivation. As the son grew older he was sent to . the neighborhood grammar school, which course he completed, meanwhile assisting his father on the farm during spare hours. Later he took a course in Sweet's Business College at Santa Rosa, from which he was graduated, and then returned home to work with his father in his store in Covelo, and after his father's demise he assumed charge of his affairs. To make matters worse, the store burned to the ground a short time afterwards. Being a total loss, he wound up the business, and in the spring of 1903 moved to Lake county and remained at Witters Spring for some time, his health having failed him, and the change and rest soon restored him to his normal self. He removed to Willits and for a time worked as clerk in a store, later spending a few months in Ukiah, whence he returned to Round valley and worked at farming. A short time later he purchased from his mother a half interest in the home ranch and for three years met with great success in farming that land, making his chief occupation the raising of hogs. However, in Novem- ber, 1911, he sold out his interest and moved to Covelo, where January 6, 1911, he had bought a half interest in a general merchandise store, now known as Long & Biggar, and which business is now his present field of energy. Here his excellent business judgment, his energy and industrious application to matters of moment have been the means of bringing good results, and he enjoys the respect of his fellow business men throughout the county.
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.