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 28
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 28
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
Mr. Martella was married in Fort Bragg, being united with Jennie Provibali, who died in Fort Bragg in December, 1913. Fraternally Mr. Mar- tella is a member of the Druids and politically is a Republican.
AProdlou
237
MENDOCINO AND LAKE COUNTIES
HON. JOHN W. PRESTON .-- Judging from the prominence attained by Hon. John W. Preston in the legal affairs of California it might be sur- mised that fortuitous circumstances surrounded him throughout his career, and that his appointment to the office of district attorney of the Northern District of California was the natural outcome of such conditions. Such was not the case, however, for all that he has attained has come to him as the result of his own efforts and a noble determination to attain excellence in whatever he attempted. This standard of life was established in his youth and was clearly exemplified in the singleness of purpose followed during his school days, for he took advantage of every opportunity for acquiring knowl- edge that it was in the power of his parents to bestow.
Woodbury, Cannon county, Tenn., was the birthplace of John W. Preston, and this was also the birthplace of his father. Hugh L. Preston, the present president of the First National Bank of that city, and the careers of both men have been identified with the most consistent and trustworthy public men of the community. John W. Preston was reared in the home of his parents, Hugh L. and Thankful C. (Doak) Preston, his birth having occurred May 14, 1877. For many years the father was county judge of Cannon county, Tenn., was also at one time sheriff of the county, besides which he served acceptably in both houses of the legislature of that state.
John W. Preston received his elementary education in the public schools of his native place, later attending Burritt College, from which he graduated in 1894 with the degree of A. B. He carried off the honors of his class in being the youngest addition to the alma mater in the history of the institution. Following his graduation he further pursued his studies by taking a post- graduate course in Bethany (W. Va.) College, continuing in that institution for one year. Close observation, a natural tendency to study and a quick, ready intellect contributed to his excellent standing, and the study of law was the natural result of his search for a professional career suited to his abilities and equipment. Before his admission to the bar he practiced in Cannon and Van Buren counties, Tenn., and was regularly admitted to the supreme court of that state in 1897, while yet in his nineteenth year. From that date his career in the legal world broadened and grew, bringing to him important cases which he was specially qualified to handle. Dispatch in his decisions and satisfaction to his clients brought him into high repute, and he was at once in possession of the high esteem and confidence of all who had trusted their complicated legal affairs to him.
It was in 1902 that Mr. Preston inaugurated the Ukiah Guarantee, Abstract and Title Company, of which his brother, H. L. Preston, Jr., was secretary, and which became recognized as one of the most solid financial institutions in this section of the country. The business was sold out in 1911. Mr. Preston came to Mendocino county in 1899, and almost immediately he was as well established in his profession here as he could have hoped to be had he twice his years and experience to his credit. His sagacity and clear understanding of the law and forceful and honorable execution of all matters that came to him formed the entering wedge that paved the way to his ap- pointment in 1913, by President Woodrow Wilson, as United States district attorney for the Northern District of California, and the masterful way he has filled the position demonstrates the wisdom of the appointment.
The law firm of Preston & Preston, with headquarters in Ukiah. is com- posed of John W. Preston and his brother, H. L. Preston, Jr., and their
238
MENDOCINO AND LAKE COUNTIES
large clientele is not confined to that city and its vicinity, but extends throughout Northern California.
In politics John W. Preston is a Democrat, a man of progressive and liberal views on all questions that affect the well-being of town, state or nation. He served as a member and chairman of the central committee of his native county in Tennessee, and in the same capacity he also served for several years in Mendocino county. In 1908 he was elected to the state legislature by a majority of four hundred and eighteen over a popular op- ponent in a Republican county of over twelve hundred majority. Like him- self, Mr. Preston's brothers are all self-made men who have achieved success, all being bankers of well-known repute, and with them he is interested in three institutions in Tennessee and two in Mendocino county, the latter the Fort Bragg Commercial Bank, of which he is a director, and the Willits Com- mercial Bank.
Mr. Preston's marriage united him with Miss Sarah Rucker, a native of Nashville, Tenn., and member of a well-known Southern family, their mar- riage occurring in the south, in 1902. Two children have been born to them, Elizabeth and John W., Jr.
SHAFTER MATHEWS .- Throughout his entire boyhood Mr. Mathews had no advantages except such as his determination and energy made possible. His first chance to attend school came when he was eleven, and after fifteen he had only such opportunities as studying at night offered, supplemented by a course in the Chautauqua reading circle and such other forms of self-help as ambition grasps. There was no form of manual labor too difficult for his energetic efforts, but with characteristic foresight he realized the future value to him of a good education and he employed spare hours in broadening his fund of general information. Politics interested him from youth and always he has been a stanch Democrat. Since 1902 by successive re-elections he has filled the office of county clerk. The records in his office show that according to the 1910 census Lake county then had a population of fifty-five hundred and twenty-six, while the population of Lakeport was eight hundred and seventy. In his belief the population will be greatly increased with the build- ing of the Clear Lake Railroad, and his faith in that project caused him to become a stockholder in the company. Lake county has been noted for its observance of law and order. From November, 1908, to November, 1909, there were only three criminal cases in the superior court ; from November, 1909, to November of 1910, six criminal cases ; from November, 1910 to 1911, one violation of the fish law; 1911 to 1912, one criminal case; 1912 to 1913, eight criminal cases.
Among the gold-seekers whom the great discovery of gold brought to Hangtown in 1850 was William Mathews, a native of Indiana and a member of an old Virginia family. Shortly after his arrival he found that there was little hope for him of securing a fortune in the mines, and as early as 1853 he came to Lake county to seek employment as a day laborer. During 1864 he settled at Lower Lake, where he teamed and cut timber in the woods. Later removals took him to other points, but eventually he returned to Lower Lake, and there he died in 1904 at the age of seventy-two. In Lake county he married Miss Eliza Roberson, who, at the age of sixty-three, is still making her home at Lower Lake. They became the parents of four children, namely :
239
MENDOCINO AND.LAKE COUNTIES
Shafter, who was born at Lower Lake February 13, 1870; Jennie, wife of J. L. Sylar, proprietor of the Spring ranch at Upper Lake; Walker, who resides at Lower Lake with his mother, and Edna, wife of Andrew Jones, a stockman at Lower Lake. For a time the father ran a sawmill in Mendocino county and engaged in teaming at Cloverdale, Sonoma county, but when Shafter Mathews was eleven years of age the family returned to Lower Lake, and here he found out what a school house really looked like. A brief attendance at school was appreciated and enabled him to lay the foundation of an educa- tion largely self-acquired. After he had worked in the woods and at any other occupation possible to his youth he became a printer's devil and learned the trade of typesetting with the Lower Lake Bulletin and the Clear Lake Press. From the age of eighteen until twenty-eight he ran a mercantile wagon for Morris Levy, and during that period he made many friends among the people of Lake county. From 1898 to 1902 he took contracts for cutting saw timber in this county, and meanwhile cut several million feet of logs, which made him a fair profit. In 1903 lie married Virginia B. Manlove, daughter of William Manlove, an old settler whose death occurred in 1902 at Lakeport. Besides being a member of Lakeport Parlor. Native Sons, Mr. Mathews is identified with the Masons, having been made a Mason in Hartley Lodge, No. 199, Lakeport, and an Odd Fellow in Clear Lake Lodge, No. 130, at Lower Lake, and has been through the chairs in the local lodges of both organiza- tions.
HENRY L. WILDGRUBE .- A resident of Lake county since 1856, Mr. Wildgrube may well be counted among its oldest settlers, and he is the oldest living pioneer of High valley, where he has a one hundred and sixty acre farm now cultivated by his son-in-law, Aaron B. Shaul. He started the first store at Upper Lake, and while conducting it met many of the men whose names are now linked with the history of the early days. His own experiences, typical of those times, make interesting reminiscences, and Mr. Wildgrube has a mind which has enabled him to appreciate the changes he has witnessed in his long residence in this region. Germany is his native land, and he was born February 25, 1835, at Ragoon, in the Duchy of Anhalt, which is entirely surrounded by Prussian Saxony. His father, Henry John Wildgrube, was a merchant at that town, which then had a population of about two thousand, and his mother was Leopoldina Volkmann ; they lived and died there. The family has always had honorable standing, the Wildgrubes being typical members of the well-to-do merchant class.
Henry L. Wildgrube was the only child of his parents, and he received excellent educational advantages, attending public school in his home town until he reached the age of twelve years, after which he attended a private school. Besides having thorough instruction in the ordinary branches and bus- iness principles, he studied French and Latin, and he has never lost his fond- ness for books or his appreciation of the value of good and early training. Full of ambition, he decided to come to America to seek his fortune, and he was only a youth when he crossed the ocean, landing at Philadelphia. Hav- ing no friends, and unable to speak English, he took whatever work he could find at first. and was making good progress when his father died and he re- turned to the old country to claim his inheritance. At that time he was twenty. and while he was engaged in straightening out the affairs of his
.
240
MENDOCINO AND LAKE COUNTIES
father's estate he was impressed into the German military service, in which he had to remain until he received his honorable discharge. When he received his discharge he at once came back to America, and on July 1, 1856, arrived at San Francisco, having made the journey by way of New York and Panama. In Oakland he met a merchant, Mr. Stark, a Bohemian, who told him he was about to go to Upper Lake, and that there was no store at that point. On his advice Mr. Wildgrube opened a store there August 23, 1856, and made a suc- cess of the venture, but he wanted a ranch, and he soon bought the possessory right in a tract at Upper Lake (the one now owned by Mack Sleeper) from an old man, Mr. Willard, then eighty years of age, one of the last survivors of the Lewis and Clark expedition of 1805. Mr. Wildgrube paid fifty-two dollars for his right. But he did not remain long on that place, and after leaving it was on the Morrison place for a while, first coming to his present ranch in 1857 and settling there permanently in 1859. About the latter year he bought the possessory rights therein from Sam Morrison, long before the government land was surveyed, in 1868. The first house in which he lived there was one that had been used for a bear pen, but he soon erected the one which has since been his home, and which has many features typical of the pioneer homes in this section. It has always been a hospitable home, and the large fireplace, built out of native stone, gives it an air of comfort and cheer long remembered by those who have been fortunate enough to enjoy its shelter. Mr. Wildgrube has fenced his property and made other improvements there besides putting the land under cultivation, in which work he was engaged until recent years, his son-in-law now renting the place and carrying on the work.
Among the many interesting experiences which Mr. Wildgrube had in pioneer days were the frequent bear hunts, and at one time he had a very narrow escape, being but eight feet from a vicious grizzly bear with her two cubs when he and his companion succeeded in killing her after an exciting encounter. Though German born, Mr. Wildgrube speaks English perfectly. His early education has been supplemented by constant reading, and he is looked up to by all who know him as a scholar and a thinker, his conversation showing that he deserves the reputation he enjoys. He has always main- tained an intelligent interest in current events, particularly the development of his own locality. When he came here Lake county had not been formed, being then included in Napa county, so that he has watched her progress from the very beginning.
Mr. Wildgrube was married in 1869 to Miss Mary Ann Britton, a native of County Fermanagh, in the northern part of Ireland, part of the Province of Ulster, and she died at her home, February 15, 1878. A family of five children was born to them: One that was born dead; William and Catherine, twins, the former dying when thirteen months old, the latter married to Jacob Pluth, of Upper Lake (they have four children, one son and three daughters) ; Julia May, Mrs. Aaron B. Shaul (Aaron B. Shaul is represented on another page in this work) ; and Henry James, who is a lawyer at Richmond. Mr. Wild- grube is a member of the German Reformed Church, and in political opinion has held to the doctrines of the Republican party. Mr. Wildgrube was mar- ried the second time to Louisa Straub, born in Germany. She died October 19, 1909.
J.m. Mannow
243
MENDOCINO AND LAKE COUNTIES
HON. JAMES MILTON MANNON .- The genealogy of the Mannon family shows an identification with America dating back to the eighteenth century. At the outbreak of the war of 1812 one of the family, William Mannon, a native Virginian and at the time of the second struggle with England a youth scarcely on the threshold of man's estate, enlisted in the federal service and remained at the front until hostilities had ceased. There- after he migrated from his native commonwealth to Kentucky and from that state went into Ohio, where he took up a tract of wild land in Adams county and began the strenuous task of converting the virgin soil into remunerative acreage. Before he had succeeded in his difficult work death came to him, so that his wife, a Miss Paul (a native of Ireland, of Scotch ancestry) was left with the care of the farm and the large family of children. Both thrived under her management ; the farm increased in value and the sons and daugh- ters entered upon active lives of industry and honesty. One of the sons, Robert Mannon, was born in Adams county, Ohio, and in young manhood removed to Brown county, in the same state. There he secured a large farm, on which a small brick house had been erected and a few acres had been cleared. Agricultural operations brought him prosperity and he was rated a well-to-do farmer for that day and locality. From one farm to another in the same county he moved, buying and selling at an advantage. His last days were passed on a farm in Jefferson township and there he died at the age of seventy-six years.
During the era of pioneer development in Brown county, when it was being transformed from frontier into productive acreage, a young Scotch- inan crossed the ocean from the highlands of his native country and pur- chased a large tract of military land in the new section of Ohio. A man of ability, supplementing the Scotch thrift with American enterprise, he became an extensive landholder. At his death he left to each of his sons and daugh- ters a good farm. Among the sons was one, Samuel McFerson, who settled in Union township on land inherited from his father and remained there until his death, which was caused by an accident, ere he had reached middle age. His wife, who bore the maiden name of Martha Culter, was born in England and came to the United States with her parents, the family becoming pioneers of Brown county, Ohio. Among the children of Samuel and Martha McFerson there was a daughter, Eliza, who was born in Brown county and there married Robert Mannon. Five children were born to their union, namely: Martha, Mary, James Milton, Robert A. and Lizzie May.
Born April 9, 1847, in Union township, Brown county, Ohio, James Milton Mannon was primarily educated in the primitive log schoolhouse of his native district. At the age of fifteen he entered the high school at Rus- sellville, Brown county. Afterward he continued his studies in the academy at Bloomingburg, Fayette county. Next he became a student in the State Normal School in Lebanon, an institution now known as the Ohio National University. Meanwhile he had taught his first term of school in Byrd town- ship, Brown county, and later taught in other localities. During 1873 he came to the Pacific coast and after a tour of inspection through Southern California he located in San Luis Obispo county. For a year he engaged as bookkeeper at a quicksilver mine near Cambria and later he clerked in a general mercantile store. For two years he served as office deputy assessor
244
MENDOCINO AND LAKE COUNTIES
of San Luis Obispo county. During 1877 he served as police judge of San Luis Obispo. On a ranch near Cambria in which he owned an interest he established his headquarters in the fall of 1877. At the same time he began to serve as deputy assessor of that district. Elected justice of the peace in the fall of 1879 and also appointed notary public, he opened an office at Cambria, where he conducted a general business in conveyancing. For a year he owned a one-half interest in a sawmill. Meanwhile he had devoted himself diligently to the study of the law and in 1881 was admitted to practice before the courts of the state, and the same year located in Ukiah.
As a leading attorney of Ukiah, as district attorney of Mendocino county for one term beginning in January, 1887, as a member of the city council and for four years president of that body, and as superior judge of the county from 1897 to 1903, Judge Mannon has been prominent in professional, political and public affairs of the city which has been his home since 1881. During all of this period he has been a leader in local Republican politics. For several years he served as chairman of the county central committee. One of the founders of the Savings Bank of Mendocino county, he served as its vice-president from its organization until the present year when he was elected its president. He has also been a stockholder in the Bank of Willits from its organization. From 1891 to 1895 inclusive he officiated as treasurer of the Mendocino State Hospital. Besides being a member of the Union League Club of San Francisco, he is fraternally a member of Abell Lodge No. 146, F. & A. M., of which he is a past master; a member and past high priest of Ukiah Chapter No. 53, R. A. M .; past commander of Ukiah Com- mandery No. 33. K. T .; a member of Islam Temple. A. A. O. N. M. S., of San Francisco, and is serving his third term as a member of the executive com- mittee of that body : a member of Ukiah Lodge No. 174, I. O. O. F .; Ukiah Lodge No. 213, K. P .; Schaffner Company No. 29, Uniform Rank, K. P., and as Colonel served on the Brigade Staff, K. P. of California. Judge Mannon has given of his time and means toward the upbuilding of the county, and with that viewpoint has taken active part in different business men's associations organized for that purpose.
The marriage of Judge Mannon was solemnized at Windsor. Sonoma county. December 8, 1875, and united him with Miss Martha Clark, who was born in Bureau county, Ill., a daughter of Charles and Mary (Hamilton) Clark. Mrs. Mannon has taken a prominent part in civic and social affairs in Ukiah and there is no movement that has had for its aim the betterment of the city's social and moral conditions but has had her hearty support. Of late years she has been manifestly interested in the growth of the Ukiah Public Library, having been a member of its board of directors since its organization. Mr. and Mrs. Mannon are the parents of two sons, Charles McFerson and James Milton, Jr. The elder son, a graduate of Leland Stanford University in 1898 and Hastings College of Law in 1900, is now associated with his father in a large law practice at Ukiah, also has served as city attorney of Ukiah since 1909, is secretary of and attorney for the Merchants' Association of Ukiah and ranks among the influential young men of affairs in this portion of Northern California. Like his father. he is prominent in the Knights Templar, devoted to the principles of the Republican party, comprehensive in his knowledge of the law, brilliant in oratory, logical in reasoning and forceful
245
MENDOCINO AND LAKE COUNTIES
in personality. The younger son was graduated from the University of California in 1899, and from Hastings College of Law in 1902, and has since engaged in the practice of law in San Francisco, where he is a member of the weil-known firm of Mccutchen, Olney & Willard.
RALPH THOMPSON DUNCAN .- A comparatively recent but very im- portant accession to the business enterprises of Willits is the Rex Drug Com- pany, dispensing chemists and manufacturers of the Rex remedies. When the founder of the business came to the town in the fall of 1910 he purchased Reed's pharmacy, but soon found the building too small for the growing business. Accordingly in 1911 he secured and remodeled his present loca- tion, putting in new fixtures, a soda fountain and the first plate glass front in Willits. Especially unique is the ice-cream parlor, which is attractively fin- ished in redwood bark, with an artistic effect unsurpassed by any similar institution in the county. The manufacture of ice cream and confectionery is carried on under the most sanitary and wholesome conditions, while in an entirely separate department are manufactured the Rex remedies, including Ralph's health tablets, Rex Lightning Liniment, Rex Mendo-Tone (a tonic), Rex skin cream (a cure for poison oak), Rex benzoated lotion (for the com- plexion) and Rex croup syrup, a cough mixture for children. The prescription department is located on the mezzanine floor. In 1913 E. Y. Himmelwright was taken into partnership as a member of the Rex Drug Company, making possible a still further enlargement of the business and an even closer atten- tion to every detail of the several departments.
A native of Mendocino county, Ralph Thompson Duncan was born at Ukiah May 8, 1887, and is a son of Charles Henry and Elizabeth (Shattuck) Duncan, also natives of California. The paternal grandfather, Jacob Duncan, came from Virginia to the Pacific coast in a very early day and became a pioneer builder in Ukiah, where later Charles H. engaged successively in the hotel and banking business and as steward for the Mendocino state hospital. After twelve years in the last-named position he returned to the banking business and became assistant cashier for the Bank of Ukiah. There were three children in the family. The second, Ralph T., a graduate of the Ukiah high school, class of 1905, had begun the study of pharmacy while only in the seventh grade of the grammar school. For some time he was employed in the Hoffman (afterward the Gibson) pharmacy. In order to acquire a thor- ough knowledge of the work he took the full course in pharmacy in the Col- lege of Physicians and Surgeons at San Francisco and in 1907 he passed an examination before the state board of examiners. Meantime he had gained practical experience as an employe in a San Francisco pharmacy. From that city he returned to Mendocino county and has since engaged as a pharmacist . in Willits, where he has improved and developed one of the finest drug and ice-cream establishments in this section of the state. Along the line of his chosen occupation he maintains membership in the California Pharmaceutical Association. Fraternally he is connected with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, the Knights of Pythias and the Rebekahs at Willits, and is proud of the fact that when only eight years of age he was chosen as drummer boy for the Knights of Pythias in Ukiah. In San Francisco he married Miss Iris Clare, a native of College City, Colusa county, the mother of one child, Mar- jorie Iris Duncan. and a leading member of the Rebekahs and Eastern Star at Willits.
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.