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 29
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 29
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SAMUEL DUNCAN .- Life presents to every earnest mind obligations the discharge or neglect of which marks the difference between men. That Mr. Duncan has been earnest in meeting every duty brought to him by des- tiny is evidence of his resolute purpose and dominant will. The greater part of his life has been passed in Mendocino county, where he has been familiar with agricultural conditions from his earliest recollections and where he now makes his home one mile south of Hopland. A member of an honored pio- neer family, in whom there appeared a strong sense of responsibility in the welfare of the county and state, his own devotion to the coast country and his high spirit of patriotism are easily explained as attributes of heredity. The family formed a part of the early civilization of California, bone and sinew of her strength and progress. Their type of sturdy fearlessness and pioneer instincts, with its touch of romance and its suggestion of future conquest, no longer is to be seen in the west, for the passing of the frontier means also the passing of the pioneer.
In the tiny hamlet of Mark West, Sonoma county, Samuel Duncan was born January 10, 1857, and from there he was brought to the neighboring county of Mendocino by his parents, Elijah Hall and Elizabeth (Craddock) Duncan, in the same year. Primarily educated in public schools, at the age of sixteen he spent eight months in a private institution at Ukiah and then attended a private school at Santa Rosa. Upon his return to Hopland he devoted his time wholly to the ranch of his father, and for eight years he and his brother, E. J., managed the place successfully, making a specialty of the stock industry. During 1898 he sold out his interests to the brother and moved to San Francisco, where he was in the employ of Harron, Rickard & McCone and also had charge of a lodging house. In 1901 he returned to Hop- land to superintend the Duncan estate (comprising three ranches of some five thousand acres) for his mother. continuing this until her death in 1905. At this time he and his brother Robert were appointed administrators, and the estate was divided and settled. He now owns some five hundred and fifty acres of the old Duncan ranch, fifty acres of which is bottom land, ten acres being in hops, six acres in pear orchard and the balance in alfalfa. For five years Mr. Duncan was engaged in the general mercantile business in Hop- land, until 1912, when he sold to his brother William.
Favoring Democratic views and interested in national problems, Mr. Duncan has been prominent in local politics. For six and one-half years he held the position of supervisor from the first district. In that capacity he endeavored to promote the interests of the people of his district, favoring good roads, good schools and modern improvements. November 25, 1882, he married Miss Marguerite Copple, a native of Nodaway county, Mo. whence in 1872 she came to California with the family, who settled near Hop- land, Mendocino county. Three children were born to the union of Mr. and Mrs. Duncan, namely: Mervin, deceased; Clarence and Ruth. The measure of the prosperity of Mr. Duncan is well merited, having been secured by per- severance and intelligent application to work. As a result of industry and ability he has advanced step by step. Wise management has made him pros- perous in business and in agriculture, while fine personal traits have won for him the regard of acquaintances and the warm admiration of associates.
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Samuel Duncan
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ALPHEUS ZENO JONES .- The firm of Jones Brothers, ranchmen and extensive landowners in High valley, in East Lake precinct of Lake county, is composed of the two brothers, Alpheus Zeno and Andrew Jones, sons of the late J. W. Jones, of Upper Lake. Besides the operations they carry on upon their own large holdings, being engaged in cattle raising in High valley. they rent the Watts ranch, a tract of eighteen hundred and twenty acres at the head of Burns valley, in Lower Lake precinct, upon which they keep fifteen hundred head of high-grade Merino sheep. Though both are still young men, they have been in business for a number of years and have gained a standing worthy of members of one of the old pioneer families in this region, being known as self-reliant, able and deservedly respected citizens. They are proud of the fact that their family has done its share in the opening up of the county and its continued development, and are doing their part to make this section desirable both as a business territory and a region of good homes. They are energetic about inaugurating improvements and public-spirited in seeing that others' rights are respected as well as their own-traits which have won them the hearty good will of all their neighbors.
John William Jones, father of the Jones Brothers, was a native of the state of Missouri, born February 27, 1836, and was but a child when his parents moved thence to Arkansas. In 1856 he came to California, making the journey across the plains, and the first seven years of his residence in this state were spent in Plumas county. During that time he was variously occu- pied. From there he went to Marysville, Yuba county, where he remained, however, only a short time, going to the San Joaquin valley, where he spent a year. Returning to Marysville, he passed the next two years there, returned to Plumas county for six months, and then came to Lake county, in the fall of 1867. After a short stay he went to Plumas county again, but in 1868 came back to Lake county and made a permanent settlement, the rest of his active years being given to the improvement of his five hundred and twenty acre ranch, where he had his home, about three miles from Upper Lake on the Bartlett Springs road. He died at Upper Lake in the year 1912, when seventy- five years old. Mr. Jones was married in 1867, in Lake county, to Miss Mary E. McCabe, like himself a native of Missouri, and she survives him, being now about sixty-eight years old. Nine children were born to them, viz .: John William, who is a dairyman at Bartlett Springs; Edward, who died when twenty years old ; Franklin, who died when eighteen years old; Lucinda, who died in 1909, unmarried; Aaron and Mary Catherine, twins, the former of whom died when six weeks old, the latter now the wife of A. A. Pluth, a farmer in Upper Lake precinct ; Alpheus Zeno: Andrew ; and Narcissa, who died in 1905, at the age of twenty-one years.
Alpheus Zeno Jones, usually called Zeno Jones, was born July 9, 1881, at l'pper Lake, where he was reared. His education was obtained in the public schools. When but sixteen years old he started in business with his brother Andrew, the boys becoming interested in the raising of Angora goats, in which they were pioneers hereabouts. Their stock was bought from H. H. Harlan, in Colusa county, and at the time there were few others owned in Lake county. For four years they rented land from their father, and also the Waldfogel place, and about the end of that period they changed to the cattle and sheep business, which has since occupied all their attention Some years ago there was another partner in the firm, their cousin, H. M. Jones, who
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is now engaged in the livery and undertaking business at Lower Lake. The association was dissolved by mutual agreement, the cousin taking the livery and stage line, the brothers the land, cattle and sheep. How well the Jones Brothers have succeeded may be estimated from the extent of their present possessions and operations. In High valley, East Lake precinct, they own a stock ranch of sixteen hundred acres, bought in 1913, upon which they raise cattle, having from eighty to eighty-five head; six years ago they bought three hundred and twenty acres on Cache creek, Lake county ; and they rent the Watts ranch of eighteen hundred and twenty acres in Burns valley, where they take care of their sheep, fifteen hundred head of high-grade Merinos. By maintaining high standards and following the most approved modern methods in their work. these young men have helped to better the grade of cattle all over the region, and the value of their influence is fully appreciated in Lake county. Personally they are men of high character. in- telligent, fair-minded, and well disposed toward all with whom they come in contact, and their names are respected wherever known. Zeno Jones lives upon their cattle ranch in High valley, while Andrew Jones makes his home on the Watts place. The latter married Miss Edna Mathews, sister of Shafter Mathews, county clerk of Lake county, and they have one child, Audrey.
PERCY C. BAYLIS .- Since 1900 Mr. Baylis has given nearly all his attention to carpenter work and contracting, and he is building up a business and reputation which promise well for his future. The number of substantial structures in the vicinity of his home, in Burns valley, and elsewhere in Lake county, stand as evidence of the reliable and workmanlike manner in which his contracts are filled. He has been practically a lifelong resident of the county, having been here all his life except for the time he was away attending school and a couple of years in Oregon, and he has looked after his various responsibilities in such a way as to invite the confidence and esteem of his fellow men. His father, the late Dr. A. W. Baylis, was well known to the people of Lake county in his day as a physician and surgeon, and his untimely death was widely mourned.
Dr. Baylis was a native of England, and came to California broken in health and with the idea of giving up practice. He settled in Lake county, and soon found his professional services much in demand, as might be ex- pected in a new country, where a good physician is always sure of a welcome. He met his death by accident, in 1879, being drowned in Clear lake by the upsetting of a sailboat, and left a wife and a large family. Mrs. Baylis, whose maiden name was Phoebe Morris, was also born in England, and resides now in San Anselmo, Marin county, Cal. To Dr. and Mrs. Baylis were born nine children, namely : Mrs. Zoe E. Bigelow, who is a widow and lives with her mother ; Irene, Mrs. Webber, of Oakland ; Ernest, who is a miner in Mexico; Mrs. Iantha Anderson, who lives in Lower Lake; Percy C .; Maud, Mrs. Young, living in Texas; Mabyn, who lives with her mother; Harold, who died in Mexico; and Theodosia, Mrs. Lilly, also living with her mother.
Percy C. Baylis was born October 6, 1871, in Burns valley, Lake county, where he passed his youth, and after attending the local public schools went to high school in Oakland and San Francisco. For about two years he was engaged in mining in Curry county, Oregon, and when the mines shut down he came back to Lower Lake, in his native county, soon finding employment on the Wrey ranch, adjoining that town on the south. There he continued
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for some time, becoming assistant superintendent, a position he held for several years, during which time he gained valuable experience, in various branches of ranching and also in looking after large interests, fruit growing especially being carried on there extensively. Meantime he had acquired thorough familiarity with carpentry, to which most of his time has since been given, and a number of fine residences in Lake county are specimens of his skill, the summer home of his brother-in-law, Louis Jago, at Point Lake View, on the banks of Clear lake, being particularly worthy of note. His own resi- dence there also, in which his family pass most of their summers, is a creditable piece of work, and is one of the substantial things Mr. Baylis has done to attract buyers to this site, in which he is much interested. It is a location of great natural beauty, which makes it highly desirable for summer homes. Web- ber's dance hall and the clubhouse at the lake shore, and the summer residence of R. W. Beale, all at Point Lake View, are also of his construction, and show a conscientious desire on the part of the builder to do his work well, from both the useful and the artistic standpoint. In connection with his building operations Mr. Baylis also engages in agricultural work to some extent, living on and cultivating his wife's ranch, a seventy-acre property at the head of Burns valley, a part of the old O'Ferrell place.
Mr. Baylis married Miss Fannie Jago, who was born at Gibraltar, daugh- ter of Major General Jago, a British army officer. She is the sister of Louis Jago, a prominent business man of Lower Lake, proprietor of Jago's cash store. Seven children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Baylis: Percy Nor- man, Alice Fannie, Inez Mary, Jack A. and Thyra C., twins, Frances Mary and Beatrice Victorine. The home life of the family, though quiet and un- pretentious, is wholesome and animated by the real spirit of helpfulness and cordiality. Before her family monopolized her attention Mrs. Baylis gave considerable time to painting and music, doing particularly good landscape work, and she is a pianist of pleasing ability. Mr. Baylis has taken no special part in public life, but he is a Republican in his political views and interested in the success of his party.
GAUDENZIO VALENTI .- Near Lucca, in Tuscany, Italy, in the year 1850, was born Gaudenzio Valenti, and there he was raised on a farm and went to the local schools. On August 7, 1871, he came to California, and followed farm work in San Mateo county, until 1873, when he went to Whites- boro, Mendocino county. He found employment as a woodsman with James Britt, for whom he was the first to work in the woods. When the L. E. White Lumber Company purchased Mr. Britt's interest, Mr. Valenti con- tinued with them, and in his long period of employment with this company he became woods boss, and later foreman on construction. In 1889 he came to Greenwood and helped to build the railroad; he also built the first two landings.
Mr. Valenti changed from this occupation in 1892, buying a ranch ten miles out on the Boonville road, where he improved and operated the farm which he still owns. In September, 1904, he started a hotel business in Greenwood, the Italia hotel, of which he has been the proprietor ever since.
In Italy Mr. Valenti married Zeffera Tovani, who was also born in Tuscany, and of this union there are three children : Edward is running the home ranch; Fravia is Mrs. Bacci; and Pio resides in Italy. Mr. Valenti in his political affiliations is a Republican, and he has served faithfully as trustee of the district schools.
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JOHN RILEY GARNER .- In the Upper Lake region the name Garner carries the idea of substantial business ability, for which its representatives have been noted during the thirty years and more of their residence in Lake county. They are no less conspicuous for high moral qualities and honorable citizenship, as valuable factors in the upbuilding of the community and in all lines conducive to progress and wholesome development. The family is of Revolutionary stock and English origin, John R. Garner being of the fourth generation in this country. It is noteworthy that so far back as the lineage is traced the Garners have been successful stockmen, the branch in California carrying on the traditions of the name in that respect. John Garner, the great- grandfather, came to this country from England in colonial days and settled in Virginia. He fought in the Revolution. His son John, grandfather of John R. Garner, lived at Salem, Marion county, Ill., and died there in 1833, of cholera. Much of the information he possessed regarding the family history died with him.
Valentine Garner, father of John R. Garner, was a native of North Caro- lina, was a very successful farmer, trader and stockman, and lived to his eightieth year. In young manhood he moved out to Missouri, where he mar- ried Sarah Edington, a native of Tennessee. Eight children were born to this union. Nancy was the wife of George Linn, and they settled in Napa county, Cal., where she died in 1894; they had three children. John Riley is men- tioned below. William, a retired farmer, resides near Niangua. Webster county, Mo. Martha was the wife of Benjamin F. Shields, and died in Webster county, Mo., leaving three children. Diantha, who was the wife of P. D. Grigsby, came to Napa county, Cal., and died in 1908; she left seven children. Jane, wife of Jesse Elmore, died in Webster county, Mo., leaving three children. Susan, Mrs. Callaway, lived and died in Webster county, Mo., survived by one child. Frances is the wife of John Shook, a retired farmer, of Webster county, Mo .; they have five children. The mother of this family died in her thirty-sixth year, and the father remarried, having seven children by the second union.
John R. Garner was born in Webster county, Mo., July 22, 1838, and passed his early years in that state. When a young man of nineteen he came to California with his sister Nancy, who was the wife of George Linn, and the party was prepared to engage extensively in farming operations, bringing two hundred head of cattle, ten horses and six mules across the plains, besides the oxteams to carry their personal effects and household goods. Arriving at Napa September 18, 1857, five months to a day from the time they started, John R. Garner rented land from the Yount grant and farmed same until 1863. Then he bought land near Oakville and he farmed in Napa county for twenty-five years altogether, with more than ordinary success. In 1883 he disposed of his property there, making a trade with Capt. M. G. Ritchie for twelve hundred acres in Long Valley, Lake county, to which he moved in March, 1883. Having added to his original tract by purchase, his interests have continued to expand steadily, and a few years ago the John R. Garner Stock Farm Corporation was formed to make the management more conve- nient, John R. Garner being president of this corporation, in which he is the principal stockholder. The corporation owns twenty-seven hundred acres all in one body in Long valley, and Arabella post office is located on this land. Until a short time ago John R. Garner gave most of his operations personal
John R Bauer
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care, but he has withdrawn from the exacting work of late, his sons taking active charge. As previously noted, the Garners have been growers and traders of stock for several generations, handling horses, cattle, hogs and sheep, and their knowledge of the business has made them regarded a's authorities wherever they have had dealings. John R. Garner's father and grandfather followed this line as well as farming, and his sons are doing the same. A number of members of the Garner family have gathered great wealth, and there is an estate in probate in St. Louis now, amounting to several millions of dollars, left by Henry Garner who recently died intestate and childless.
For the last twelve years John R. Garner has made his home at the vil- lage of Upper Lake, where he has a fine residence on a knoll near the school- house, and seven and a half acres of highly improved land. Besides his holdings in the John R. Garner Stock Farm Corporation he owns a farm of one hundred and twenty acres one-half mile east of Upper Lake. As a citizen no resident of Upper Lake or vicinity has higher standing. Clean, upright, conservative but not reactionary in his ideas, he has spent a useful life and is now enjoying its rewards. The Garners are characteristically gen- erous in their dealings with their fellow men, whether in their personal or business relations, and John R. Garner is no exception to the rule. His sense of responsibility toward his fellow men is strong, and he is willing to do his share, but he has declined to serve his community in any official capacity. His intelligent outlook on public affairs, especially such as affect his home locality, and his helpful attitude there, stamp him as one of the most valuable citizens of the county. In church connection he is a member of the Chris- tian denomination, which has the largest religious organization in Lake county-its church at Lakeport; Mr. Garner and his family have assisted materially in building up this church, and he has filled the office of elder very acceptably. Politically he is now associated with the Progressive party.
During his residence in Napa county, November 13, 1864, Mr. Garner mar- ried Miss Aramanta Roberts, a native of Tennessee, who came to California across the plains with her parents in 1861, and died May 13, 1913, at the age of sixty-six years. Twelve children were born to this union : William V. died when three years old ; Thomas E. lives near Ukiah, and is engaged as a farmer and trader; Joseph W., of Santa Rosa, Cal., was formerly a stockman and farmer ; John F., a former stockman, resides at Lower Lake, Lake county; Louis L., of Arizona, is employed by a transfer company at Jerome, that state; Fred W. is on the home ranch; Bush died unmarried when twenty-four years old ; Julia died when six months old ; Lloyd R. is a stockman and farmer at Upper Lake ; one child, a son, was still born ; Leland J. is a stockman and trader at Upper Lake ; and Florence E. is the wife of Floyd Edward Woodson ot Upper Lake.
MRS. CLORA LANGLAND .- Nearness of vision sometimes prevents clearness of insight into the character and motives of others, hence the diffi- culty of accurately measuring the influence of neighbors and intimate asso- ciates. However, there are many instances of men and women appreciated and honored by their most intimate friends, and in such a list belongs the name of Mrs. Clora Langland, superintendent and proprietor of the Langland hos- pital at Ukiah, founder of the institution opened in 1913 on the corner of Spring and Stevenson streets, and leader of an enterprise that from both
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philanthropic and financial standpoints is of importance to the city. The immediate success of the work obliged her to add another cottage to the institution and there are now ample accommodations, modern equipment, sanitary environment and an operating room with every facility for that class of work. Through her practical ability as a nurse, combined with business efficiency of an high order, she is admirably qualified to establish and develop a hospital that will form a permanent asset in the public institutions of city and county.
Herself a native daughter of California, Mrs. Langland is a member of a pioneer family of the state. As early as 1851 her grandfather, Jack Alley, started from Michigan for the west, accompanied by his wife (who died en route) and their children, one of whom, John, was born in Michigan in 1846. Reared in California and familiar from early childhood with the picturesque but sparsely settled regions of Lake county, John Alley became a farmer, stockman and horticulturist at Upper Lake, owning and operating a farm three miles north of that town. One of his specialties was the raising of pears, in which profitable industry he was a pioneer. Fraternally he was a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. Surviving him at his death in 1908 were his widow and seven children, Mrs. Langland, a native of Upper Lake, Lake county, being the eldest of the children. The widow,; who bore the maiden name of Ella McMath, was born in Niles, Mich., and in 1857 came to California with her parents, Archie and Elizabeth (Kimmel) McMath. The voyage was made via Panama to San Francisco, thence by wagon to Lake county. While still owning the old homestead in Lake county Mrs. Alley now makes her home with her eldest child, Mrs. Langland. The latter, after having completed her common-school education, entered the Children's hospital, San Francisco, for the purpose of taking the nurse's train- ing course. She continued there until her marriage in that city, in June of 1899, to Robert Langland, a native of San Francisco and a builder by trade. Four children were born to their union, namely: Jack, Madelene, Robert and Raymond. In 1905 the family settled in Lake county, but shortly afterward came to Ukiah and there Mr. Langland followed the building business until his death, in November, 1911.
Having engaged as a nurse in Ukiah for a number of years and having taken patients in her home, Mrs. Langland at the death of her husband de- cided to devote herself exclusively to hospital work. To better qualify for such work she took a course of study in the City and County hospital at San Francisco in 1912. Returning to Ukiah, she practiced as a nurse until 1913, when she opened the hospital of which she has since been the executive head. The institution is private and has had the support of the leading people of the community, for there is a warm interest in Mrs. Langland and a deep confi- dence in her ability as nurse and practical business woman. So closely has her time been given to professional duties and home responsibilities that she has had no leisure for participation in public movements, religious activities or woman's clubs, but maintains a warm interest nevertheless in all measures for the uplift of humanity and is stanchly true to the doctrines of the Presby- terian Church and to the principles of the Republican party, as well as other enterprises neither religious nor political, yet indissolubly allied with the pro- gress of a community.
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