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 34
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 34
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the impression created in his mind concerning the exalted state of purity in which the true Christian lives, that he was impelled to seek peace with God and the gracious consolations of religion.
Surviving Mrs. Biggerstaff are six children, while three sons, Charles William, Pleasant M. and Charles Morton, died at the age of about eighteen months. The eldest daughter, Emma Kate, is a school teacher in Lake county, and the second, Anna, teaches music in San Francisco. Harriet C. is the wife of E. W. Britt, of Los Angeles; Noraine is the wife of Alda N. Ferris, a druggist of San Diego; Frederick M. is a musician in San Francisco ; and Eugene, of Berkeley, is connected with a wholesale poultry house in San Francisco. All of the children were born at Plattsburg, Mo., excepting Frederick M. and Eugene, who were born after the removal of the family to St. Joseph, in that state. The youngest son married Elizabeth Clayton, of Los Angeles, and has two children, Eugene Knight and Harriet Elizabeth. The third daughter, Mrs. Britt, is the mother of two children, namely: Con- stance, Mrs. David Barmore, of Los Angeles, and Agnes Wickfield Britt; Mrs. Britt and her two daughters are now making a tour of the world.
From 1867 until 1874 the family resided at St. Joseph, Mo., and from the latter year until her death Mrs. Biggerstaff was intimately identified with social, business and religious affairs in Lakeport. In her younger years she was an active church and Sunday school worker, and even after the cares of a large family deprived her of the privilege of aggressive church work she never lost her interest in the success of religious truth. Methodist preachers ever found a cordial welcome in her home. Descended from the sturdy pioneers of Methodism, she had early imbibed a spirit of religion and indeed could not remember a period in her childhood when she had not been identi- fied with the people of God. A devoted Christian mother was of great help to her in the formative period of her character. In turn she gave to her husband and children the benefit of this deep spirit of piety and religious oversight. With rapt attention she daily read her Bible. The inspiration she drew therefrom aided her in years of toil, in bereavement and sorrow, and became her mainstay as well in hours of joy and domestic happiness. In religious opinions she was very positive yet considerate of the sentiments of others ; economical in her own expenditures, yet generous to those in need; always prayerful, earnest, capable and efficient, the ideal wife, whose life became so closely interwoven with the life of her husband that it might have been said of them in the words of the Scripture, "They twain shall be one flesh." While her Bible remained through life her best-loved book she studied other literature, particularly such as pertained to agriculture and horticulture, or gave information concerning the cultivation of roses, her favorite form of recreation. Never neglectful of the temporary needs of her family, she yet recognized the greater importance of ministering to and promoting their spiritual welfare, and to such work of love her mature years were devoted.
It has been the prayer of Mrs. Biggerstaff that she might be spared to rear her children, and when the youngest was twenty-four years of age she remarked that her prayer had been answered and her life work accomplished. Already she had begun to feel the call from eternity. On the 3d of November, 1896, she was stricken with paralysis and on the 23d the silver cord was loosed and the golden bowl was broken. Peacefully the long and useful pilgrimage ended and she entered into that rest which remains for the people
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of God. Hers was a bright and luminous Christian life. The spirit gained from association with and descent from aggressive Methodists gave her deep religious fervor and enabled her to meet the trials of life in a cheerful manner, supplying her with the tact and gentleness that is the flowering of a long line of Christian ancestry. The reviewing of her tranquil but forceful exist- ence inspires a feeling of reverence and gratitude, and arouses admiration for the qualities of heart and mind that make possible the ideal wife and the ideal mother.
RALPH R. BYRNES .- It is said of the sheriff of Mendocino county that he is not only one of the youngest, but also one of the most able public officials in the state of California. This is the judgment of his friends and also of those who, unacquainted with his exemplary personal character, yet find much to admire in his fearless administration of the duties of his office. To say of him that as a man he is trusted for his high qualities of mind and heart, as a friend he is respected for his generosity and kindly spirit, and as an official he is brave and impartial, is to briefly summarize his interesting career. He belongs to that class of native sons whose personality invites esteem and whose ability indicates a bright future in the political arena of the county. Reared in the midst of conditions familiar to him today, inured to hard work from early life, energetic of will and fearless of purpose, he is conceded to be one of the most popular young men, whether in politics or in private life, within the limits of the county today.
The Byrnes family was founded in California by Michael J. Byrnes, a native of Boston, Mass., and a western pioneer of 1862. After years of identification with the farming interests of Humboldt county he came to Mendocino county in 1880 and settled near the coast, where he worked in the lumber mills and in the woods near Little River and Mendocino. For twenty years he served as constable and as a deputy sheriff of the county, and until his death in 1902 he was closely identified with public enterprises, giving to his adopted community the benefit of a progressive citizenship. Fraternally he was connected with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. By his marriage to Mary Hite, a native of Virginia, he became the father of five children, namely : John, Grace, Ralph R., Miles J. and Dorothy. Ralph R. was born during the residence of the family in Mendocino City and he re- ceived his education in this county, of which he has been a lifelong resident. In selecting an occupation, he took up the business that had interested his father and from early youth has been familiar with lumbering in all of its departments, working mostly with the Albion Lumber Company on the coast. His genial temperament and attractive personality have brought him into local prominence and have made him popular in various fraternities, including the Santa Rosa Lodge of Elks, the Masons, and Eastern Star at Mendocino, and the Eagles in Ukiah. During 1910 he was selected as the standard bearer of the Republican party for the office of sheriff and, entering the race with customary energy, he was elected by a gratifying majority. Since assuming official duties he has served his constituents honestly, faithfully and intelligently, and has proved an enemy to lawlessness in every form. By doing his duty, he has made the office of sheriff feared and respected by evil- doers and law-breakers. In this work he has had the assistance of Lee Cun- ningham as under-sheriff and a staff of capable deputies in various parts of the county. It is worthy of note that at the primary election in 1914 Mr. Byrnes was re-elected sheriff by a majority of over four thousand. Men-
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docino county regards him as one of the coming men of the Republican party and it is the belief of his friends that his name will be placed high on the roll of successful officials in the public life of the state. Under the name of Smith & Byrnes he is one of the proprietors of the Eagle livery stables in Ukiah.
HETTIE IRWIN .- Chicago has its Ella Flagg Young and the entire country has watched with interest her progressive reforms in the educational work of that great city. Lake county has its Miss Hettie Irwin, and in a local way her work, too, has aroused deep interest. Women of this type inspire confidence in the perpetuity and the improvement of the public school system and in the value of its achievements through the preparation of the youth of the land for positions of confidence and responsibility. Not only is Miss Irwin a woman of exceptional judgment and broad information concerning peda- gogy, but she possesses in addition the important faculty of inspiring the children of the county with an aspiration to ascend to intellectual attainment. Moreover, she is pronouncedly popular, as was evidenced in her election against a Democratic majority of about three hundred and against opponents who were candidates of recognized strength and quality.
It is a source of some pride to Miss Irwin that she is a member of a family that has given to the country professional men of note, who have risen by very appreciable merits and who in different parts of the country have added prestige to the family name by their own alert mentality and indepen- dent views. In the opinion of friends, the life of Miss Irwin herself adds luster to the intellectual achievements of others of the name. Descended from Virginian forebears and from John Irwin, the original immigrant, a man of some prominence in his chosen locality and in the period just prior to the Revolution, Miss Irwin is a daughter of Isaac Denman and Sarah (Laughlin) Irwin. The former, born in Putnam county, Ind., near Greencastle, whither his parents had removed from Kentucky, became a pioneer of Nebraska, where he remained, with the exception of a brief sojourn in Missouri, until he brought his family to California and settled in Lake county. At the age of sixty-nine (1914) he is now practically retired. His brother, Benjamin H. Irwin, of Tecumseh, Neb., was a lawyer of state-wide prominence during the prime of his professional enterprises. A cousin, Rowen Irwin, is now district attorney of Kern county, while another cousin, John L. P. Irwin, is district attorney of Kings county. Others have gained success at the bar, while there have not been wanting some of the name to rise to local distinction in the ministry and in educational circles.
When the family left Nebraska for California. Miss Hettie Irwin was a small child. Her only sister, Viola, now a teacher in Scotts valley, is the wife of Arthur J. Gunn, owner of a sawmill near Kelseyville. One of her brothers, George P., is clerking in a general mercantile store at Kelseyville, while the other. Charles Jasper, is a Methodist Episcopal minister, now pastor of a congregation at New Harbor, Me. All of the four were born in Nebraska with the exception of Mrs. Gunn, who is a native of Missouri. After having had the advantages of the grammar schools and Clear Lake Academy at Kelseyville, Miss Hettie Irwin began to teach school at the age of eighteen. From the first she displayed rare adaptability for the work. The children under her charge made excellent records in their studies. The standard of scholarship was advanced. Modern methods were introduced. A close and
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appreciative student of pedagogy, she endeavored to utilize in her classes the best counsel of the wisest educators. After thirteen years as a teacher in the Lake county schools she was elected county superintendent on the Re- publican ticket in the fall of 1906, and four years later was chosen her own successor, a fact that gives silent but eloquent tribute to the character of her work. In the county there are fifty-one licensed teachers now engaged in teaching, while the thirty-nine grammar schools and two high schools come directly under the scope of her authority, their work and progress forming a portion of her responsibility, while at the same time their success is the highest aspiration of her official record. She is identified with the Presby- terian Church of Kelseyville. Holding extraneous matters subordinate to the exacting demands of her office as county superintendent, she has devoted her time and talents to the important task in hand, and has asked no higher reward than the conscientiousness of work well done in the promotion of the educational interests of the county.
GEORGE CALVIN LEWIS .- The youngest in the family of twelve children whose parents were Benjamin F. and Mary (Anderson) Lewis and the only one of the entire number to migrate to the Pacific coast, George Calvin Lewis was born at the old homestead near Bunker Hill, Berkeley county, W. Va., June 10, 1864, and became familiar with agricultural pursuits at an age when the majority of boys are free from responsibilities. As the eider children one by one started out to earn their livelihoods in the world he was left to assume more and more the management of the farm, whose cultivation he endeavored to promote in such a manner as to secure a liveli- hood for the remaining members of the family. From early youth he cherished an ambition to settle in the west, but it was not until 1891, at the age of twenty-seven years, that such a move was possible for him. Leaving the old home neighborhood he came alone to California and found employment at Fresno, whence after spending a year he removed to Mendocino county. Since 1892 he has made his home and headquarters in or near Willits, where in that year, on the 16th of November, he married Miss Carrie Mckinley, a native daughter of the county, born at Ukiah, educated in local schools and with a large circle of intimate friends throughout this locality. During the early '50s her father, James McKinley, a Missourian by birth and parentage, came across the plains and settled in California. For a long period he and his wife, Sarah (Frost) Mckinley, lived on a farm near Ukiah, but in 1884 they established a home in Willits, where he died in 1909, and where Mrs. Mckinley is still living.
After an efficient service of twelve years as foreman for Hawley Bros. & Co., nurserymen, at Willits, Mr. Lewis then purchased his present home farm of fifty-five acres, situated one and one-half miles northeast of town, and here he has since made a specialty of raising potatoes. The soil is well adapted to the potato vine and he usually averages from seventy-five to one hundred sacks of spuds to the acre. Since coming on the farm he has been in the employ of the Northwestern Lumber Company at different times, but during the busy season on the farm he devotes his attention exclusively to the man- agement of the crops. In his family there are four children now living, George Calvin, Jr., Walter, Vivian and Georgia. One daughter, Virginia, died at the age of three years and four months. For a number of years Mr. Lewis served as school trustee in Little Lake district. The cause of free
Eiffelbrook
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education has in him a firm advocate. He believes thoroughly in training the young for the responsibilities of life and favors any movement for raising the standard of education. Politically he votes with the Democratic party. In fraternal relations he is a Moose and a Mason, having been made a Mason in Willits Lodge, No. 365, F. & A. M., in which he is now junior warden. Both he and his wife are leading workers in the Willits Chapter, No. 314, Order of the Eastern Star, in which Mrs. Lewis is conductress. Not only in that organization, but also in general social circles, they are admired for their optimistic outlook upon life, their broad humanitarianism and their sincere fidelity to every duty of citizenship.
EUGENE EVERETT HOLBROOK .- The distinction of being the first Republican recorder ever elected in Mendocino county belongs to Eugene E. Holbrook, who in 1906 was selected by the Republican party as their candidate for the office and who, entering upon the campaign with an enthu- siasm and confidence surprising in view of the usual Democratic victories, won the election by a majority of more than six hundred votes, a striking tribute to the popularity of the man. A victory so important and noteworthy proved gratifying to members of the party as well as his personal friends. Nor was the success of his service less gratifying, for it brought about his re-election in 1910, and his second term happily has exhibited the same accuracy in de- tail, the same promptness in work and the same exactness in all records char- acteristic of the first term. The people have found him vigilant, tactful and politic, ready to use his business and official experience for the good of the county, interested in the promotion of worthy enterprises for the upbuilding of the county and in every respect a desirable citizen and able official.
The father of our subject, also Eugene E. Holbrook, was born in Smelsers Grove, Grant county, Wis., and later in life was a merchant and farmer at Alden, Iowa. After a severe attack of pneumonia he was compelled in 1871 to come to California for his health. Leaving his family to settle up his affairs he came to Potter valley in May of that year, but he had waited too long before coming, for he died August 10, following, two days after the birth of the son who was named for him. The father of E. E. Holbrook, Sr., was Dr. Ora L. Holbrook, a practicing physician in Smelsers Grove, Wis., and his wife was Louise Hayes, the daughter of ex-President Rutherford B. Hayes. Mrs. Holbrook was before her marriage Susie Nash, a native of Illinois. As soon as it was possible to dispose of her affairs after the death of her hus- band, she brought her family to Potter valley, in May, 1873, that being the home of her mother and step-father. Life Farmer. Mrs. Holbrook's father, Robert Nash, served in the Civil war as a captain in an Illinois regiment and lost his life in service. His widow subsequently became the wife of Life Farmer; she passed away at Cloverdale. Mrs. Holbrook resided with Mr. and Mrs. Farmer until her second marriage, to William Wilson, after which they engaged in the merchandise business in Potter valley until their retire- ment to Ukiah, where they now live.
Three children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Holbrook, Sr., and of these our subject is the only one living. He was born in Alden, Iowa, August 8, 1871, and has lived in California since 1873, his earliest recollections being of Mendocino county. During boyhood he attended the district schools in Potter valley, completing his education by a course in the Ukiah Business College. His step-father, Mr. Wilson, owned one of the leading general stores 10
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in the valley and during vacations he assisted as a clerk, later giving his entire time to such work. For three years he clerked in the store of J. P. Hoffman in Ukiah, and meanwhile made many friends by his courteous attention to the needs of customers. A service of eight years as town treasurer of Potter valley increased his popularity and also gave him a knowledge of official duties, qualifying him for his present task as county recorder. Mr. Holbrook has again become interested in the business life of Potter valley, where with a partner, George P. Anderson, he owns a general merchandise store. While he owns valuable ranch land in the valley, he now makes his home at No. 508 North State street, Ukiah, where the comfortable residence is presided over with gracious dignity by his wife, formerly Miss Frances A. Busch. Her father, J. G. Busch, was one of the most highly honored and esteemed pioneers of Potter valley and she lived there prior to her marriage in 1896, as well as a number of years afterward. Three children bless the union, viz .: Nina B., Helene L. and Eugene E., Jr. Fraternally Mr. Holbrook is past chancellor of Ukialı Lodge, No. 213, K. of P .; past captain of Schaffner Co., No. 26, U. R. K. P., and is acting adjutant of the Fifth Regiment, U. R. K. P. of California. He is a member of Ukiah Lodge No. 174, I. O. O. F., the Re- bekahs and the Ancient Order of Foresters, of which he is a past officer. With his wife he is a member of the First Christian Church of Ukiah and a member of its board of trustees. The history of the Holbrook family can be traced back to the early settlement of Pennsylvania, while the Nash fam- ily came from New England.
JOSEPH T. BERRYHILL .- The history of the world with its age- long cycles of advancement shows no era more progressive than that which Mr. Berryhill has witnessed, and in which he has borne an honorable part. Ninety years have brought their remarkable changes since his eyes first opened to the light. His childhood belonged to that remote period when rail- roads and steamboats were in the infancy of their development, when tele- graph and telephone systems were unknown and free education had not been accepted as a policy of the government. At the time of his birth, which occurred in Greene county, Ohio, June 16, 1823, that commonwealth was situated at the very edge of civilization. Beyond it stretched the vast and desolate frontier, inhabited only by savages and wild animals. The popula- tion of the United States was approximately only ten millions, mostly on or near the Atlantic seaboard. The region west of the Mississippi river was known as the Great American desert. He was born some time before Oregon territory was added to our country and before Texas had been annexed to our domain ; the war with Mexico occurred when he was a young man, and when gold was discovered in California he was following the trade of a carpenter in Iowa. He recalls the time when Queen Victoria ascended the throne of England and when the first cable message was sent across the Atlantic ocean. He has lived to a serene old age in the possession of his faculties and still maintains a deep interest in local and public affairs, although it is no longer possible for him to participate in such movements.
From 1840 to 1842 Mr. Berryhill lived in Indiana, where he learned the trade of a carpenter. Removing to Iowa in 1842, he followed the trade in that state until 1867, and from that year until 1875 he engaged in farming and carpentering in Missouri. Upon coming to California in 1875, he settled at Mendocino and followed his trade for two years. The next two years were
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passed on a ranch at Caspar. During 1879 he moved to the vicinity of Ukiah and settled on a farm of one hundred and seventeen acres situated south of the town, where he engaged in general farming and hop-raising. The market for hops was variable. In some years he could scarcely meet expenses, so low was the price, while at other times he was paid as high as seventy-five cents per pound. In 1892 he sold the farm and bought land in Potter valley, but the encroachment of old age obliged him to retire from agricultural labors, and he then sold the property. Not only is he the oldest living Mason in Potter valley, but he also has the distinction of being the oldest member of the blue lodge in California.
The first marriage of Mr. Berryhill was solemnized October 24, 1844, and united him with Jane Butler, who. was born in Wisconsin and died in Mis- souri on the 4th of July, 1867. His second marriage occurred August 7, 1868, his wife being Mrs. Cynthia (McBride) Falkenberry, who was born in Ken- tucky and died in California in 1896. March 9, 1909, he married Mrs. Sarah A. (Roulston) Ingram, who crossed the plains in 1861 and settled in Sacra- mento county. By her former marriage she was the mother of three sons, Fred S., Charles WV. (deceased) and George B. Ingram. The twelve children comprising the family of Mr. Berryhill were born of his first marriage. Six of these are now living, namely : Mrs. Celia Heath, of South Bend, Wash .; Mrs. Laura Jones and Mrs. Alice Mitchell, both of Healdsburg, Cal .; Thomas, who makes his home in Missouri; George, a resident of Fort Bragg; and Frank, of Geyserville, Sonoma county. A son, James, now deceased, enlisted in the Union army at the first call for volunteers in 1861 and served until the close of the Civil war, being in a number of important engagements under Generals Grant and Sherman. Mr. Berryhill is proud of his children and their high standing as citizens ; he is also very proud of the fact that he has fifty-four grandchildren and forty-six great-grandchildren now living. In the waning of life's busy day he finds comfort and happiness in the society of his wife and children, and in promoting the welfare of his descendants to the second and third generations.
DAVID LEANDER SAWYERS .- Southern lineage is indicated by the Sawyers genealogy. Born, reared and married to Elizabeth King in Kentucky, Thomas Sawyers moved from that state to Missouri, where his wife died. In Clark county, Mo., June 5, 1850, he married Peggy Hay, a Virginian by birth, but from childhood a resident of Missouri. The discovery of gold had aroused a deep interest in the Pacific coast country and Mr. Sawyers was one of the thousands attracted to the west by its alluring promises to settlers. May 3, 1854, accompanied by his wife and two children, he started from the old Missouri home with ox-teams, wagons, provisions and other necessities of the long overland trip. The tedious journey came to an end September 30, of the same year, with the arrival of the family in Grass valley, Nevada county, Cal., and at Rough and Ready, a prominent mining camp of the period, a son, David Leander, was born November 6, 1855. When this child was a year old the family removed to the vicinity of Petaluma, where Mr. Sawyers bought a claim and proved up on the same. Three times he was forced to pay for the four hundred acres included in the claim and even then he lost the property through later proof of the tract belonging to a large land grant. Forced to seek a new location, he brought his family to Little Lake valley, Mendocino county, January 31, 1857, and at once purchased one hundred and
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