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 32
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 32
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James Harris, his father, lived for a number of years at Harrisville, a town in Butler county, Pa., some fifty miles northwest of Pittsburg, and had extensive interests in the town and surrounding country. He was a merchant at Harrisville, owned two farms adjoining that place, and was also engaged in smelting ore and in the manufacture of pig iron, having two furnaces twelve miles north of town. In 1852 he moved west, settling near Keokuk, Lee county, Iowa, where he engaged in farming for three years. He then moved to Grinnell, Iowa, where, after a few years spent on a farm, he engaged in the drug business, which he continued until the time of his death, which
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occurred when he was sixty-eight years old. He had married Miss Mary A. McKee, daughter of Judge McKee, of Venango county, Pa., and as the Harrises were the leading people at Harrisville, so the McKees were promi- nent in the vicinity of Mckeesport, which was named for the family. Mrs. Harris lived to her eighty-ninth year. She and her husband were the parents of ten children, of whom we have the following record: Ephraim H., who is now deceased, was a physician and lived at Grinnell, Iowa; Thomas McKee came to California and settled in Lake county, where he lived and died, be- coming quite prominent as a hotel man and farmer; Susan, who is deceased, became the wife of Henry Hill, a farmer of Poweshiek county, Iowa ; Samuel E., who lives at Denver. Colo., was engaged during his active years as a carpenter and building contractor ; Jane A. became the wife of Rev. Compton, a Presbyterian minister, and died near Sacramento, Cal .; Sarah, who now lives at Lewis, Iowa, is the widow of Theodore Worthington, who was a wagonmaker at Grinnell, Iowa; James A. is mentioned below; William J. is a banker at Lewis, Iowa; Joanna H., who lives at Grinnell, is the widow of Hiram Haynes, a lawyer; Mrs. Mary V. Keegy lives at Grinnell.
James A. Harris was born October 30, 1839, and his birthplace was Harrisville, the town named in honor of his paternal ancestors. He was about twelve years old when he went west with his parents to Iowa, where he grew up, and he attended the common schools in both Pennsylvania and his new home. He also had the privilege of a year's attendance at Grinnell College. His school days over, Mr. Harris engaged in the dairy business, continuing that in connection with other agricultural work until the Civil war came on. He had married meantime, nevertheless he offered his services to his country August 15, 1862, enlisting at Montezuma, Iowa, in Company B. Fortieth Regiment, Iowa Volunteer Infantry. He was mustered in at Iowa City, and under the leadership of General Grant saw service throughout the Vicksburg campaign. He was next at Little Rock, in the Camden campaign under General Steele, participating in the Battle of Jenkins Ferry, and fought with the Army of the Southwest in the Trans-Mississippi Department, seeing con- siderable hard service. Having suffered from fever, his health was broken during his army life, but he remained in the service until after the end of the war, receiving an honorable discharge and being mustered out August 2, 1865, at Fort Gibson, Cherokee Nation (now Oklahoma).
Returning to his home in Iowa and finding his health did not improve satisfactorily, Mr. Harris resolved to try a residence in California, and he inade the journey west in 1866, bringing his family by way of New York and Panama to San Francisco, where they landed about the Ist of November. Thence they proceeded immediately to Lower Lake, Lake county, where his brother, Thomas McKee Harris, was then running a hotel, and not long afterward, in 1867, Mr. Harris made his first purchase of land, the eighty acres which has become the nucleus of a very fine ranch. During the forty- eight years and more which have passed since, he has increased and improved his possessions as prosperity enabled him, until now he has four hundred and eighty acres, principally planted in hay and grain, and also valuable for stock raising purposes, Mr. Harris at present having thirty head of cattle, thirty hogs and one hundred and fifty chickens, besides nine fine horses. His com- fortable home, well cared for orchard, substantial fences and other well chosen improvements, combine to make the place highly desirable, a credit to the
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neighborhood as well as to the man who has accomplished its development. Mr. Harris devotes all his time to his agricultural interests, nevertheless he is an ardent Progressive in his political views, and he has long been a Grand Army man, having just cause to feel proud of his fine war record.
Mr. Harris was married at Deep River, Poweshiek county, Iowa, a few months before his enlistment, to Miss Louisa Parker, a native of the state of Ohio, whose parents, T. J. and Catherine (Trout) Parker, were married in Ohio, where Mrs. Parker was also born. Mr. and Mrs. Parker lived at Deep River. Mrs. Harris died in 1873 in Lake county. Cal., in her thirty-first year, leaving three children, namely : Eugene, who lives at Kennett, Shasta county, Cal., where he is engaged in mining and also conducts a lodging house ; Erwin J., also a miner at Kennett, Shasta county ; and Katie M. is the wife of Dr. James Ciley, a dentist, of Colusa county, and they have two children. By his second marriage, to Miss Lina C. Powell, who was born at San Rafael, Cal., and died in 1881, Mr. Harris also has three children: Ralph A., who assists his father in the management of the home place ; Carl N., who is also assisting his father; and Martha L., who is married to Charles Shreve and has two children (Mr. Shreve is employed by the Transfer Company at Los Gatos, Cal.).
HOWARD B. SMITH .- During the residence of his family at Point Arena, Mendocino county, Howard B. Smith was born March 8, 1865. The son of sturdy pioneers, staunch patriots and energetic workers, he was reared in an environment conducive only to thrift and progress. As a boy he at- tended grammar school in Ukiah and aided in the cultivation of the home farm, which was situated about one mile southeast of the city of Ukiah. He fol- lowed farming and teaming up to March 1, 1888, when he entered the assessor's office and acted as deputy assessor until August 11, 1888, when he became associated with C. H. Duncan in the business of abstracting and searching of land titles. On October 1, 1889, Mr. Duncan sold his interest in the abstract business to R. E. Donohoe and the firm name was then changed to Smith & Donohoe. In 1892 Messrs. Smith & Donohoe purchased the plant known as the Mendocino County Abstract Bureau from Peery & Barnett and consolidated the two plants. In 1900 P. W. Handy became a third owner with Messrs. Smith and Donohoe and the entire abstract plant was incor- porated under the name of Smith, Donohoe & Co., proprietors of the Mendo- cino County Abstract Bureau. In December, 1905, Messrs. Smith & Handy purchased the interest of Mr. Donohoe in the business and were sole pro- prietors until March 1, 1906, when they disposed of all their interest in the abstract plant to George P. Anderson. During the year 1906 Mr. Smith gave his attention to the winding up of the estate of his brother, Henry Smith, who had been killed in December, 1905, while in the performance of his duties as sheriff.
On January 1. 1907, Mr. Smith accepted the position of under sheriff under itis old partner, Mr. Donohoe, who in the meantime had been elected sheriff ot Mendocino county. After the expiration of his term as under sheriff Mr. Smith again became associated with Mr. Donohoe, they establishing the Smith & Donohoe Realty Company, for the transaction of a general real estate and surveying business. On February 1, 1914, Mr. Smith accepted the cash- iership of the Commercial Bank of Ukiah, and as Mr. Donohoe's time was
SRBSmith
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so much taken up with the duties of surveying the Smith & Donohoe Realty Company was dissolved by mutual consent.
Mr. Smith has served the city of Ukiah continuously since April, 1906, as city trustee and is now a candidate without opposition for his third term, otherwise he would never allow his name to go before the people as a candi- date for public office. During the last eight years he has witnessed great strides in the public improvements of Ukiah, among them the covering of the business streets with standard pavements, the building of the new city hall at a cost of $10,000, and the Carnegie library, at $8,000. With C. M. Mannon he was interested in the crection of the public auditorium on State street, known as the Victory Theater, which is a fireproof building with a seating capacity of one thousand. One of the largest and finest opera houses on the coast north of San Francisco, it was built at a cost of $25,000 and is an artistic and substantial addition to the architectural beauty of the city. Mr. Smith is a horse enthusiast and as such has brought into and raised some of the best standard-bred horses in Mendocino county. In partnership with others he owns the Ukiah Park grounds, upon which is situated what is said to be the best half mile track in California, and over which many contests of speed have been displayed in the past.
Mr. Smith was married in Ukiah April 11, 1894, to Miss Mabel Ames, a native of Ukiah, where she was reared. She is an accomplished musician, having devoted many years to teaching the piano, and shares with her hus- band the friendship of many associates. Mr. Smith was made a Mason in Abell Lodge No. 146. F. & A. M., of which he is past master, and is also a member of Ukiah Chapter No. 53, R. A. M., and Ukiah Commandery No. 33, K. T., of which he is past Eminent Commander. In San Francisco he holds membership in Islam Temple, N. M. S., and with his wife is a member of Casimir Chapter No. 252, O. E. S., both being past officers of the order. In the Independent Order of Odd Fellows Mr. Smith is past noble of Ukiah Lodge No. 174. All of the interests of a lifetime of activity center in Mendocino county with Mr. Smith, who cherishes a deep affection for the region of his birth and the home of his boyhood. All of his life has been passed almost within sound of the sea and within the shadow of the great mountains of the west. At Ukiah, where his parents were the first settlers, he has been con- tent to remain without desire to follow the allurements of localities less dear to him. In common with practically all of the men who have been lifelong residents of the county he maintains a deep and unceasing interest in move- ments for the public welfare and contributes of his time and influence toward such measures.
JAMES ALEXANDER GUNN .- By birth an Englishman, by destiny an American and by choice a Californian, Mr. Gunn came to Lake county in 1880 without money or friends and with a family dependent upon his efforts for their support. Out of the hardships of those early years he has risen to prosperity and prominence and is now a leading business man of Kelseyville as well as justice of the peace and promoter of religious and temperance movements. Possessing natural ability as a mechanic, in early life he learned several trades and these came to his relief in days of financial loss. After coming to Kelseyville, when he was disabled by a very severe injury and reduced to abject poverty, his rigid honesty still remained and his determina- tion to conquer adverse circumstances knew no defeat. Taking up the man- 15
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ufacture of furniture and organs in Kelseyville, he soon acquired a saw- mill and ultimately built up a business that is especially interesting as the very first manufacturing plant for furniture and organs in the county. For- tune smiled on him and ultimately he became well-to-do, while his sons are following him in the attainment of success and the exercise of wise business qualifications.
In London, England, August 26, 1841, James Alexander Gunn was born in the home of John Hugh and Margaret (Cameron) Gunn, natives respectively of Edinburgh and Inverness, Scotland. The father, a wine merchant of great prominence, was supposed to be wealthy, but at his death in 1848 it was ascertained that he had become heavily involved and left little or no property. This changed the future of the family. There were four children, of whom James Alexander is the sole survivor. His mother died in London at the age of eighty-four. When he was ten he was put to work in the office of a London physician and later earned a livelihood in other ways. At the age of sixteen he was apprenticed to the trades of cabinet-maker and undertaker and served for five years, meanwhile working twelve hours a day and learning the trades thoroughly. Later he was variously employed in a piano factory and a pipe-organ factory, then for three years was employed as a ship joiner. Meanwhile, March 20, 1864, he married Miss Emma Underwood, of London. When they came to America in 1869 they had two children. For a year Mr. Gunn was employed as foreman of a reed-organ factory at Woodstock, On- tario, and the firm then became Karn, Gunn & Staebler. Out of that developed the Karn Organ & Piano Company, one of the largest organ and piano manu- facturing companies in Canada.
Although already on the road to independence Mr. Gunn decided to leave Canada for California on account of the ill health of his wife. Arriving in San Francisco in 1876, he settled in Oakland and found employment in a pipe-organ manufacturing business. For three and one-half years he remained in that position. Meanwhile he had lost all of his money through buying stocks in mining concerns. It became necessary to start anew and he then came to Lake county in 1880 and bought a claim on which to establish a home. In order to earn a livelihood for his family he began to tune pianos and organs in Big valley. About that time his leg was broken by the kick of a mule. He was brought to Kelseyville for medical attention, but was forced to wait thirty-six hours for the return of the only doctor, who had been called away from town. Recovery was slow. Discouragements were many, for he was an utter stranger to the people and had only $30 in his possession. However, with his restoration to strength there came a turn in the tide of misfortune. The establishment of a planing mill and the manufacture of furniture and organs gave him a new start in the business world, where he prospered to a gratifying degree. In 1887 he established a general mercantile store in Kelseyville, which is now managed by his eldest son, James A., Jr. For sixteen years or more he has served as township justice of the peace. During the last legislature a request was made to ascertain the amount of fees paid to justices. The supervisors of Lake county telephoned to him inquiring as to the amount of his fees. This caused him to look over old records and in so doing he ascertained that there were several times more criminal business brought to court when there were saloons as in the times when the district is "dry."
J. Boone
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The Gunn family are of the Presbyterian faith and Mr. Gunn officiates as treasurer and trustee of the congregation at Kelseyville. In politics he is a Republican of the progressive type. Fraternally he was made a Mason in Oxford Lodge, Woodstock, Ontario, but now belongs to Hartley Lodge No. 117, F. & A. M., in Lakeport. Of his family of seven children the eldest. Emma, and the youngest. Joseph, died in infancy. James A. Jr., married Miss Molander and has two children, Helen R., and James Alexander, the third of that name. Emily is the wife of William Fultz, of San Rafael. Francis George is a physician practicing at Willits. Arthur John married Viola Irwin and has two children, Clayton and Muriel ; they reside at Kelseyville. Eliza- beth is the wife of Dr. C. H. Walworth, of Oakland, and the mother of two children, Charlotte and Josephine.
PETER TRIBBLE BOONE .- The county treasurer of Lake county is a member of an historic colonial family of America that had representatives among the planters of Virginia during the eighteenth century. In a collateral line he is a descendant of Daniel Boone, the famous scout, whose love of the forests and the frontier led him across the mountains from Virginia to Ken- tucky. Less noted but not less valiant than he was his brother, Squire Boone, likewise long identified with the Blue Grass state, and whose son, William, a Kentuckian of considerable prominence, was the father of Nestor W. Boone and the grandfather of P. T. Boone. The history of Daniel Boone is familiar to every boy scout who loves the woods and streams far from the haunts of men, who prides himself on expert marksmanship and who de- lights in fishing and hunting with all a sportsman's joy. His early settle- ment in Kentucky, then inhabited only by Indians, made him one of the founders of that state; yet dear as it was to him, with the incoming of settlers and the diminishing opportunity for hunting he found his soul yearning for the solitude of nature. Therefore he was impelled to make yet another move and his last days were passed in Missouri, where he died in Warren county. Under the authority of the Kentucky state legislature his nephew, William, went to Missouri and from Warren county conveyed the remains of the great scout back to Kentucky, where the body was buried in state at Frankfort. Thus did Kentucky render a last tribute of honor to one of her greatest men. Mr. Boone's mother was Matilda Tribble, the daughter of Rev. Peter Tribble, a Baptist minister from Madison county, Ky.
At the time of the removal of Nestor WV. Boone to Boone county, Mo., in 1847, P. T. Boone, who was born in Christian county, Ky., June 6, 1837, was a boy of ten years, able already to assist materially in the care of stock and the general farm work. After leaving Lathrop Academy when eighteen years old, he became a clerk in a mercantile store in Boone county. A few years later, July 17, 1862, he married Miss Laura Bower, daughter of Dr. G. M. Bower, of Monroe county, Mo. Five children were born of their union, namely; Bower; Mrs. Eloise Scranton, who died in Riverside; Catherine A .; Jesse T .; and William, who died in Los Angeles when seventeen years of age. During 1874, the family left Missouri for California and settled in Lakeport, Lake county, where for some years Mr. Boone acted as manager for the mer- cantile house of Scudamore & Co. From the time of casting his first ballot he has been stanchly devoted to Democratic policies. The party recognized his ability and honored his faithfulness by electing him county treasurer in 1894, and from that year to the present he has filled the office continuously, with the sole exception of four years following a Republican victory at the
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polls. At the primary election held on August 25, 1914, he was re-elected. Experience has given him a high degree of efficiency and he is highly re- spected for his loyal devotion to the welfare of the county, his strict hon- esty in the smallest details connected with the treasury and his ability to dis- charge all official duties with skill and accuracy.
CHARLES MARSH YOUNG .- In the early days of Middletown, Lake county, C. M. Young was one of the most prominent business men of the place, and he has recently returned to spend the days of his retirement there after a number of years on his large ranch in Coyote valley. The home he occupies he built in 1872. Though he has passed the threescore and ten mark he has relinquished all the care of his interests only within the last year, and is still looking after his affairs with his usual capability. His congenial nature and straightforward dealings have drawn numerous friends to him in the course of a busy life, and his kindness of heart has endeared him to the many who have always found their relations with him pleasant to remember. In the early seventies, when Middletown was being laid out, Mr. Young became interested in the consequent real estate transactions. He ran the Lake County House-still the leading hostelry at Middletown-for a number of years, and was also engaged in other lines, at one time, in fact, having the hotel, a general store, meat market and livery barn. Though he has had some business reverses they have not proved serious drawbacks, and he is now a large landowner in Lake county, his holdings in Coyote valley comprising nine hundred and sixty acres of valuable land. He has held public positions, prov- ing a very competent and trustworthy official, and the story of his well rounded life has its place in the history of Lake county.
Born near Petersburg, Menard county, Ill., March 8, 1841, Mr. Young is the youngest child of his parents. His father, Matthias Young, a native of Kentucky, married Mrs. Hannah (Smith) Pantier, who was born in New York state, and she died on the Young homestead in Menard county, when her son Charles was five years old. Of the five children born to them three grew to maturity : Mary, widow of David Ogden, of Sundance, Wyo., has three living children ; William A. is in the soldiers' home at Sawtelle, Los Angeles county, Cal. ; Charles Marsh is mentioned more fully later. The father remar- ried after the mother's death, and had one child, a daughter, Lizzie (Mrs. Higgins) by the second union. Matthias Young's death occurred at his home in Menard county when Charles M. Young was eight years old. By occupation he was a farmer, and he was one of the early settlers in Menard county, taking an active part in its organization. Mr. Young's grandfather, a native of Scotland, served in the Revolutionary war, and bore the title of major. During that war he was left on the field for dead, but recovered, though he had received nineteen saber cuts on the back.
Charles Marsh Young was reared on the farm, and his childhood was typical of the times and locality. He obtained his schooling during two months' attendance in the winter season, being obliged to assist with the farm work from an early age. He began to plow when only eight years old. In 1863 he set out for California, coming across the plains with teams, but stopped in the then territory of Nevada and for five months was engaged at ranching in the Carson valley. In January, 1864, he came on to San Fran- cisco and returned to Illinois via Panama and New York, and then by rail to Menard county. His brother, William A., had just been discharged from
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the army, having been badly wounded. The same year the brothers started together overland with teams and wagons for the Idaho mines, over which there was great excitement at the time, but at Colonel Bridgers cutoff they branched off, William continuing on to Idaho and Charles M. to California. He located in Sonoma county, where he rented a place and farmed two years. In 1866 he married, and shortly afterward moved into Lake county, arriving in Coyote valley January 18, 1867. During the next four years Mr. Young rented grant land, and then bought a farm a mile north of what is now Mid- dletown-about October, 1870. At that time considerable teaming was done in that region, hauling sulphur and borax, and stages ran between Lower Lake and Calistoga. This point being about centrally located between these places it came quite naturally by the name of Middletown. Its reputation was further extended from the fact that it proved a good junction for the patrons of Harbin Springs, the first mineral springs in the county to attract great attention, and liberally patronized even as early as 1870. When the quick- silver prospects at the Great Western mine began to boom another impetus was given to the opening up of the locality, and Oscar Armstrong and John H. Berry (the latter a brother-in-law of Mr. Young) bought forty acres from the Callayomi grant, and later forty acres more from William J. Armstrong. In 1872 they proceeded to lay out the town site of Middletown, which was surveyed and platted as it is at present in 1874 by B. R. Wardlow. In 1871 Mr. Young bought Mr. Berry's interest in the project, and the firm became Young & Armstrong. Mr. Armstrong dying in June, 1872. his widow, Mrs. Mary E. Armstrong, who still survives, succeeded to his share in the business, which was continued under the same name, the firm selling lots and engaging in the other enterprises incidental to starting the town. In 1870 Mr. Berry built a four-room house (on the present site of the Lake County House) which became the first hotel in Middletown. Mr. Young bought him out in 1871 and put up a two-story building on the same ground, making a four- teen-room house. In 1875 he moved the frame building back on the prem- ises and erected the brick part, finishing it practically as it stands today. In this connection he started the first brickyard at Middletown, making the bricks for his hotel. In 1873 he built the livery barn at Calistoga and Union streets. Mr. and Mrs. Young conducted the hotel from the time he purchased it until 1885, his wife's assistance proving very valuable in the management, seeing to the comfort of patrons and insuring satisfactory service. Mr. Young then traded the house for his fine ranch in the Coyote valley, which he continues to own. They lived there from 1885 until about 1900, when they returned to Middletown. About 1892 Mr. Young bought the general store which his sons Wirt H. and Baxter E. had started, and he carried on the business for two years, until burned out in 1894. He had no insurance, and the $4000 stock was a total loss. He had had a previous loss by fire, having had his livery at Sebastopol, Sonoma county, burned out; at that time he lost about $1000, having no insurance. When the store burned he went back to the ranch, living there until October, 1913, except for two years during his term as county assessor (1902-06). There he gave most of his attention to agricultural pursuits, though he held the office of supervisor for six years. He was first appointed, by Governor Stoneman, to fill a two-years' vacancy, at the end of this service being elected for the full term of four years. In political connection he is a Democrat. He is a member of Friendship Lodge No. 150,
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