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 31
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 31
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This section is blessed in having good roads, laid out through beautiful stretches of scenery practically accessible only by automobile. Highland Springs is situated eighty-seven miles from Sausalito Ferry, the road travers- ing the entire length of the productive and picturesque Sonoma valley. At Pieta the traveler strikes a very gradual grade, over an unexcelled and well
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sprinkled mountain road, the most delightful part of the trip-twelve miles to the Springs. The rugged gorges and wooded canyons below, the view out over the Russian river valley, one of the most fertile regions in all California, on one side, and the mountain peaks on the other, combine to impress the beholder with the lavishness of nature's hand in this beautiful district and form a pleasing introduction to one of the most attractive country resorts on the Pacific slope.
ERNEST LEE WILLIAMS .- Although not of Californian birth, the pro- prietor of the Hopland meat market belongs to a pioneer family of the state and represents the third generation of the name identified with the common- wealth. His father, John S., whose birth occurred at old Sonoma in 1848, had the distinction of being the first white child born in Sonoma county. At the age of two years he was orphaned by the death of his father and subsequently his mother became the wife of Lindsay Carson, a brother of Kit Carson, the noted scout. Remaining with his mother and stepfather in California until he had reached man's estate, he then went back to the home of relatives in Missouri and took up farm pursuits in Monroe county, where he married Miss Ella Boone, a niece of the great frontiersman and Indian fighter, Daniel Boone. Eleven children were born of their marriage and of these the fourth, Ernest Lee, was born on the home farm near Paris, Monroe county, Mo., Jan- uary 13, 1876. The father in 1882 brought wife and children to California and shortly afterward settled on a farm in the Sanel valley, Mendocino county. Eventually he retired from agricultural labors. At this writing he is engaged as janitor of the Healdsburg high school.
At the time of the arrival of the family in Mendocino county Ernest Lee Williams was a child of six years. Hence his schooling was obtained wholly in the schools of this county and his agricultural education was also the result of practical training on the home farm here. April 15. 1906, he entered the meat market of Eugene Girard as a clerk. The business later was bought by Mr. Barker, from whom in the fall of 1908 Mr. Williams acquired its interests. During 1913 he moved to his present place of business at Hopland, where he has large refrigerator capacity and a cold-storage plant of one ton capacity. It is said that his slaughter house is the finest and best equipped in the entire county. It has been his aim to secure the finest quality of meat and to sell the same at prices as reasonable as the scarcity of good stock will permit. Besides owning and operating the market he owns a ranch of twenty-four acres near Hopland and of the tract he has planted twelve acres in Bartlett pears, with the intention of developing a profitable fruit farm out of the invest- ment. In politics he is stanchly Republican. At one time he served as deputy county assessor under M. A. Thomas. By his marriage in Santa Rosa to Mayme Ward, a native of Hermitage, Mendocino county, he has two sons, Alvin and James. As might be expected of one allied with such families as the Carsons and the Boones, he is devoted to the welfare of the country, thor- oughly patriotic in sentiment and willing to aid in any practicable manner all enterprises for the general upbuilding. Having been a resident of Mendocino county throughout the greater part of his life, he has seen its development from an unimproved tract of valley and forest land into a community of citizens prosperous, substantial and progressive, with growing opportunities for men of character and efficiency.
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FREDERICK G. STOKES .- Located along Kelsey creek, in the South Kelseyville precinct of Lake county, is the thriftily kept ranch of Frederick G. Stokes, whose systematic industry and thorough cultivation are increasing its value yearly. Mr. Stokes is an Englishman by birth, but Lake county has no more public-spirited or loyal citizen, for he believes firmly in her pos- sibilities and is working untiringly to make the most of his own property. He has become specially interested in horticulture, in which he has not only had much practical experience but has studied faithfully to familiarize himself with the best ideas and methods of modern growers.
Born in Cambridgeshire July 12, 1870, Mr. Stokes spent his early years in his native land. When a young man he served a year as accountant at Birmingham, and spent another year at sea, making a trip to the East Indies. In 1888 he came to California, where he had a friend in Dr. Wrightson, the analytical chemist, who was located at Napa. At the time of his arrival he had but $10 left, and he went to work in Sonoma county cutting cordwood, the first occupation which offered. He had to take a contract to cut twenty-five cords in order to secure the job, and as he was unused to that kind of labor it was a somewhat trying experience, but he carried it through, and for some time afterward did any kind of work he could find in order to keep employed. Finally he rented a vineyard of twenty-five acres, with which he did fairly well for four years. Then he took a trip back to England, and his father, who was an auctioneer, horseman and farmer, offered him a partnership. But he had already learned to love his adopted state, and he returned. Three years later he again made a visit to England, and on coming back took charge of the ranch of P. H. Atkinson, in Sonoma county, continuing three years in that capacity. At the end of that period he rented the Atkinson ranch for two years, until his removal to Lake county some sixteen years ago, and for seven years had contracts to work vineyards in Sonoma county for A. B. Carey. Though his means were limited he bought one hundred acres of the property he now owns and operates, and commenced its development, and at the end of five years he had fifteen acres in Bartlett pears. Subsequently he bought eighty acres more, adjoining his first purchase, and though he had to go heavily in debt for his land he has managed to carry on its improvement systematically from year to year, and most of it is under excellent cultivation. Mr. Stokes has devoted himself largely to the raising of pears, prunes and grapes, giving particular attention to horticulture in his agricultural operations. Besides the fifteen acres of Bartlett pears on his own place, he rents ten acres more planted to the same fruit, and planted out and has charge of twenty-five acres of vineyard. In 1910 Mr. Stokes took the examination for horticultural com- missioner in Lake county and passed, but lost the appointment to the position by one vote and is again a candidate for the appointment.
By his first marriage Mr. Stokes had one child, which is deceased. His second marriage was to Mrs. Agnes Olson, a native of Sweden, who came to America when twelve years old. Her first husband, Captain Olson, was a sea captain, well known at the bay ports, and he died in Lake county, whither he had come in the hope of benefiting his health. Two children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Olson, Leonard and Helen, both of whom live with Mr. and Mrs. Stokes, to whose union no children have been born. Mrs. Stokes is a model cook and housekeeper, and their home is beautifully well kept and neat under her capable management. Mr. Stokes is modest of his achievements,
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but his worth is generally recognized among his fellow citizens, and the con- dition of his fine property, which is on the Mill road south of Kelseyville mill, is sufficient testimony of his industry and intelligent labors. His wife owns a small property also.
So thoroughly does Mr. Stokes believe in California that he has induced a number of his family to settle here. His father, Frederick Stokes, lived and died in England. He was a stockman, farmer and auctioneer, and at one time agent tor the Duke of Newcastle. His first marriage was to Ellen Cox, a native of England, who died in that country leaving two children, Frederick G. and Mary, the latter the wife of John W. Hodgekinson, a poultry raiser, of Santa Rosa, Cal. By his second union, with Sarah Cox, he had a family of six and after his death the widow with other members of the family came to the Lake county ranch, where the latch string is always out. The children were named as follows: Bert, who died in Lake county, Cal .; Charles, now en- gaged as bookkeeper for Folger & Co., in San Francisco; Sydney, who took an auto and mechanics' course at Heald's, but follows farming and for several years has owned and operated a hay baler; Janet, a stenographer at Santa Rosa : Ethel, a trained nurse of Santa Rosa; and May, also a trained nurse, now the wife of Dr. Dwire of Los Angeles.
MOSES C. BRIGGS .- The discovery of gold gave definiteness to the half-formulated plans of a young Missourian, who as a nephew of Kit Carson possessed many of the qualities that gave success to that noted scout and whose previous life, flowing in the monotonous channel of farm routine, had given him no opportunity to gratify his love of adventure and his desire to see the world. Howard county in Missouri was his native locality and September 24, 1827, the date of his birth. In such an environment during the first half of the nineteenth century there were no educational advantages. Schools were few and widely separated. On lonely, undeveloped claims the frontiers- men labored to provide the necessities of existence for the family. Game was plentiful and the lad became skilled in the use of a rifle. Nor was he less useful in the care of stock and the tilling of the soil. At the age of twenty-two he left the old Missouri home. Thenceforward he was identified with the development of Northern California. On the 15th of October, 1850, he ar- rived in Sonoma county. Capable, robust and resolute, he had no difficulty in finding employment and until the spring of 1852 he remained in the employ of Captain Mallagh as superintendent of the Santa Rosa ranch.
It was during a tour of inspection, in search of pasturage for large herds of cattle, that Moses Briggs and William Potter discovered Potter valley in 1852. As they halted their horses and looked down upon the beautiful but unoccupied spot at their feet, doubtless their feelings to a certain extent resembled those of Balboa who some three and one-half centuries before, from his vantage ground on the Isthmus of Darien, caught the first glimpse of the great Pacific ocean. Much as he was pleased with the valley, however. Mr. Briggs did not find it convenient to settle here at once and it was not until he had spent five years on the Fitch grant near Healdsburg that in 1857 he became a farmer in the region where Mr. Potter had preceded him. In 1859 he moved to Ukiah, put up a livery barn, began to operate a stable and con- tinued in the business until 1861. Returning to the ranch in the valley, he resumed agricultural pursuits. However, in 1865 he again established a home
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in Ukiah, built another livery barn and resumed business. In 1867 he went back to the ranch, where he specialized in sheep-raising and the sale of wool until 1870. Until his death, which occurred in 1892, he continued to reside in the valley, where he was honored as a forceful pioneer, prominent Mason, generous citizen and capable farmer. In this same valley, honored by all, still lives his widow, formerly Miss Elizabeth Potter of Missouri, a sister of the discoverer of the valley, and also a pioneer of California, crossing the plains with her parents in 1845, a woman possessing the substantial qualities neces- sary to frontier existence. She became the wife of Mr. Briggs August 18, 1852, and in all the hardships incident to life in a then undeveloped region she proved his helpful counselor and capable assistant, ministering to his comfort with whole-souled devotion, and wisely rearing her children, Nancy (Mrs. Boulon), Jennie J. (now Mrs. Matthews), Belle G. (now Mrs. Elston), Charles S. and Moses C. The splendid qualities that gave value to the citizen- ship of the pioneer members of the Potter and Briggs families appear in the present generation and form an endowment even more desirable than the broad acres of this charming valley.
WILLIAM POTTER .- Nomenclature appeals to the student of history with peculiar force when it gives permanence to the identification of pioneer or prominent citizen with any community. Potter valley is of interest not only because it is the abode of a prosperous agricultural population. but also by reason of the name recalling the identification therewith and discovery thereof by William Potter, a California pioneer of 1845 and a native of Mis- souri. Little is known concerning the early life of this adventurous frontiers- man. It is evident, however, that the environment of his boyhood was such as to develop his inherent qualities of energy, fearlessness, endurance in priva- tion and patience in hardships. In all probability the long journey across the plains with his parents proved less arduous to him than to them, for to an eager youth, sturdy of limb and stout of body, such a trip would prove a con- stant voyage of discovery. Nor did his adventures cease with the arrival of the family in the Sacramento valley, where his father took up land near the present site of Chico. The old homestead later was embraced in the famous Bidwell ranch. At the expiration of two years he left that place and settled at Healdsburg, Sonoma county, where he remained for three years.
Accompanied by Moses Briggs, a frontiersman of like tastes and love of adventure, William Potter traveled through northwestern California during 1852. On one of the mountain tops that overlook Potter valley from the east, they halted their horses and gazed down upon the vale below that was green with the promise of spring. The charming bit of nature at their feet aroused their keenest pleasure. With the bold spirit of frontiersmen they determined to graze their cattle in the valley and make it their home. Thus for a time at least they were masters of the valley and all it contained. Although Mr. Potter did not die here (for he was visiting in Texas at the time of his death) his later years were intimately associated with the agricultural development of the region and he never ceased to cherish a warm affection for the beau- tiful little valley of his discovery. Soon after he came into the locality there followed him his two brothers. James and Thomas, also a cousin, Abner, and four sisters, namely : Ruth Ann, Mrs. Samuel Chase, now deceased ; Rebecca, Mrs. Gordon, deceased ; Elizabeth, the widow of Moses Briggs ; and Mary Jane. The entire family became vital factors in the local upbuilding and
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joined with their relative, the original discoverer, in developing its large resources and laying the foundation of its present prosperity as an agricul- tural and horticultural center.
ADOLPHUS MENDENHALL .- Close to Upper Lake village, on the west, lies a fertile tract whose principal product, string beans, together with the work of its preservation, might well be the subject of one of the most interesting chapters in the development of either agricultural or industrial possibilities in Lake county. It is unlikely that there is another tract of similar extent in the county equally productive, for intensive farming in one particular line has been most successfully attempted there, and the story of Adolphus Mendenhall's prosperous venture is typical of the modern applica- tion of scientific knowledge to the furtherance of commercial projects. The days are passed when the student had no place in the world of practical things. The thinker and the worker have combined their resources with the happiest results in an undertaking of this sort, where scientific agriculture and scientific business have united in the building up of an establishment which has aided in the prosperity of hundreds. The Clear Lake brand of canned string beans holds its own in the market today.
It was Henry Wombold, a market gardener, located at Laurel Dell (Blue Lake), in Lake county, some twenty-five years ago, who discovered the adaptability of the soil and climate of the Upper Lake country to the growing oi a very superior quality of string beans, which produced profusely with proper care. But it was left to Mr. Mendenhall to make a success out of this knowledge from a commercial standpoint, and he not only brought the production of the vegetable up to its greatest possibilities, but also found that the canning could be done with special advantage right at the source of supply-and put his ideas into practice. The result is that he is the owner of what is generally considered the most remunerative industry in the county. His plant, known as the Clear Lake Cannery, requires as many as four hun- dred and fifty people for its operation during the busy season. Its importance in relation to the general prosperity of the community may be reckoned from that fact alone. Some account of the man who is at its head will be interest- ing. Mr. Mendenhall belongs to an old Lake county family of German extraction, whose members have been settled in this country, however, for several generations. Samuel and Amy Lee (Stevens) Mendenhall, grand- parents of Adolphus Mendenhall, were natives of North Carolina, in which state they were married. They were farming people, and for a number of years lived in Indiana, whence they moved westward to Iowa in the early '50s. The mother died there. In the year 1864 the family moved from Iowa to Idaho, where they lived for nearly five years, in 1869 coming to California and first making a settlement in Contra Costa county. Within a couple of years, however, in 1871, they changed their location to Lake county, making a permanent home here. The grandfather died in Lake county in his eighty- ninth year. The family consisted of eleven children : Aaron, Elijah, Isaac, Annis, Henley, Cerelda, Joseph, John, Sylvia, Nelson and Jacob Lowell.
Joseph Mendenhall, son of Samuel Mendenhall, was born September 9, 1837, in Greene county, Ind., where he lived until fifteen years old. He then went with the family to Iowa, subsequently moving to Idaho and California, as already related. When they arrived in Lake county, in 1871, he settled along Scotts creek in Scotts valley, in the Bachelor Valley precinct, home-
a. Mendenhall.
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steading a tract of eighty acres, and his father pre-empted another eighty acres, which Joseph bought from him later. This property is eight miles west of Upper Lake. He and his wife still live there. Mr. Mendenhall was married in Iowa, in 1858, to Miss America Phillips, a native of Des Moines, daughter of James Phillips, and they became the parents of ten children, two dying in childhood, when eight and ten years old, respectively. The others are : Adolphus ; Arvilla L., Mrs. A. L. Harris, of Cloverdale, Sonoma county ; Olive I., Mrs. George Meadow, living in Scotts valley; Alexander, a farmer in Siskiyou county, this state; Bert, who lives at home and takes care of the property of his parents; Sarah Jane, wife of Miner Eaton, of Mendocino county ; Nina, wife of Harry Rhodes, living in Arizona, and Maude, wife of Lou Mann, living at Saratoga Springs, Cal. A fuller account of this family appears elsewhere.
Adolphus Mendenhall was born in Iowa, near Des Moines, September 12, 1859, and was a boy of only twelve when the family settled in Lake county. His educational advantages were such as the public schools afford. When a youth he began to do farm work, to which he had been trained from child- hood, helping around home, and after his marriage he began on his own account, at Fresno for two years, then returned to Bachelor valley, where he was located for ten years. However, he did not invest in any land until he purchased his present place in Lake county, about 1893. His holdings at present consist of one hundred and sixty-seven and a half acres, all adjoin- ing Upper Lake on the west, and comprising three different ranches. Hc first purchased the D. V. Thompson place and forty acres from the McClure estate, to which he added the Dr. Woodard place, and all the land is of the best quality for his purpose. One hundred and thirty acres are entirely devoted to the raising of the celebrated White Creaseback string beans, a bush variety which Mr. Mendenhall had found especially fine for canning purposes. He was the first man to make the raising and canning of this variety profitable, and the first to make a demonstration on so large a scale of the suitability of the soil hereabouts to its culture. The cannery which he has established is taxed to the limit of its capacity during the height of the season, and Mr. Mendenhall is making preparations to enlarge it so as to increase the output thirty to fifty per cent. The gross annual receipts from the business run between $80,000 and $90,000 at present, and have been showing steady expansion from the start. About thirty thousand two-dozen cases of No. 2 cans (about two pounds each) and about four thousand one- dozen cases of No. 8 cans (about six and two-thirds pounds each) are put up each year. The growth of the business is a credit to Mr. Mendenhall's ability in both the agricultural and the commercial lines, for its proper con- duct requires expert knowledge in both and executive faculties of the most reliable order. His plant is considered a valuable contribution to Lake county's interests.
Equally entitled to credit for the success of this industry and its bearing on the upbuilding and developing of Lake county's natural resources is Mrs Mendenhall, who from the first has shared with him the responsibilities and trials of the early years of their doubts and fears, for it has not been accom- plished without strenuous effort on their part. It was many seasons before they felt that they could breathe easy, as the saying is. This is the seven- teenth season, their first regular pack having occurred in 1897, although in
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1896 they put up samples, the preparation of which was accomplished on the kitchen stove, and was a successful demonstration. The outside work having to be superintended by Mr. Mendenhall, it has devolved upon Mrs. Menden- hall to act as secretary of the establishment, thus making it necessary for her to give her attention to the books and correspondence of the concern. The product of the cannery is now shipped into various parts of the western states, and also to far-away Alaska. Both being indefatigable workers, it is not to be wondered at that the result has been satisfactory and more than fulfilled their most sanguine expectations.
Mr. and Mrs. Mendenhall improved their property with regard to appear- ance as much as from the economic standpoint, showing themselves thor- cughly in sympathy with the modern idea that neatness and thrift must go hand in hand. Recently a very fine country residence has been built, two stories high and very commodious, and the family enjoy all the comforts of a well appointed home. Mr. Mendenhall's time is practically engrossed with business affairs, and his activity in politics is limited to voting, in support of the Democratic party. He is an Odd Fellow in fraternal connection, be- longing to Upper Lake Lodge No. 241.
Mr. Mendenhall was married in Bachelor valley, September 18, 1881, to Miss Lottie Huner, who was born in Lewis county, Mo., the daughter of James and Lucy (Cox) Huner, natives of Missouri and Illinois, respectively. The father, who was a farmer, died in Missouri. In 1864 the mother came to California with their only child, Lottie, and in 1869 came to Lake county, the daughter receiving her education in the schools of Bachelor valley. Mr. and Mrs. Mendenhall have one child, Eva M., the wife of Charles A. Sanborn and the mother of two sons, Elwell A. and Carrol M., who are the pride of the home.
JAMES A. HARRIS .- Coming to California shortly after the close of the Civil war, primarily with the object of restoring his health, which had become impaired during his service in that conflict, Mr. Harris has been a resident of the Lower Lake precinct, in Lake county, continuously since-a period of almost fifty years. To the eighty-acre tract which he bought soon after his arrival he has added steadily until his holdings now aggregate four hundred and eighty acres, nicely improved, advantageously situated on the Middletown road, and beautiful with the evidence of his unremitting atten- tion in its cultivation and upkeep. All the details of the property are looked after with the thoroughness and system characteristic of Mr. Harris. A native of Pennsylvania. and descended from two families whose history has been intimately connected with progress in the western part of that state, he is a typical representative of the stock whence he springs, and some record of whose activity will be found interesting.
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