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 43
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 43
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Born in New York City May 2, 1855, Andrew Smith was one year old when his father, Thomas Smith, moved to Wisconsin and settled near Madi- son. At nine years of age he accompanied the family from Wisconsin to Iowa and settled in Woodbury county, where he attended the public schools. When nineteen he went further west, spending one year on a ranch in Wyoming. During 1875 he prospected in the Black Hills, going next overland to Bis- marck, N. D., and thence up the Missouri river to the mouth of the Yellow- stone, where he hired to the government, freighting up the river from Fort Buford to Fort Keogh, near the present site of Miles City, Mont. He then engaged as a scout under General Miles, whom he accompanied on many perilous expeditions and in all the work that ended the Indian depredations in that part of Montana after the capture of the Cheyenne chief, Lame Deer. After this he carried the mail on horseback one hundred and eighty miles from Fort Buford to Fort Keogh, Mont., the only station between being Glen- dive, a government station, traveling mostly at night. During all this time he had many hairbreadth escapes from the Indians. Next he located at Glendive and successfully hunted buffaloes for three years. For eight years he had lived the life of a frontiersman. Interesting as was the existence and delightful as are many of its memories (chief among these being the recol- lections of a warm friendship with Theodore Roosevelt, then operating a ranch at Medora, N. Dak.), he wearied of being without a home, and so returned to Iowa, where, May 12, 1883, he married Miss Mary Moody, a former schoolmate in Woodbury county. She was born near Detroit, Mich., the daughter of David and Mary (Leach) Moody, natives of Ireland and England, respectively, who settled in Michigan and later moved to Wood- bury county as pioneer farmers, and there Mrs. Smith was reared and edu- cated and taught school before her marriage. Accompanied by his young wife, Mr. Smith returned to the frontier. About 1883 he had established a cattle ranch on Beaver creek in the eastern part of Montana, near Wibaux, and there he built a cabin and began housekeeping.
A year before his marriage Mr. Smith had driven out from Iowa a fine drove of one hundred head of cattle. This herd formed the nucleus of his cattle business. In 1886 he sold the cattle and bought horses. From that time until 1906 he engaged in raising horses, but a desire to secure better educational advantages for his children and to engage in less arduous enter- prises on his own part caused him to remove to California, where he is mer- chant, bank director and fruit-grower in Lake county. Coming here in 1905, he bought his home ranch of forty acres. The next year he returned to Wibaux, Mont., and closed out all of his ranch interests, selling his tract of twenty-four hundred acres and bringing his family to the California home. All of his children are living except the second, Harry, who was accidentally killed at the age of fourteen years on the Montana ranch. The others are as
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follows: Jennie is the wife of J. W. Jones, a rancher and contractor at Wibaux. Mont .; Olive M., a graduate of the Clear Lake union high school and San Jose State Normal, and at one time a teacher in the grammar school at Lakeport, is the wife of Edgar Mason, of Upper Lake; Roscoe M., a graduate of the Clear Lake union high school and of Heald's Business College at San Jose, assists his father in the store; Ruth and Hazel are both students in the Clear Lake union high school : Herbert Arthur and Joseph Andrew are pupils in the grammar school. The ambition of the parents has been to surround the children with every possible advantage, so that they may be thoroughly prepared for life's responsibilities.
AARON BEDFORD SHAUL .- The Shaul family has been residing in Lake county for more than fifty years, throughout which period its mem- bers have been among the most respected citizens in the district, father and son being thrifty, industrious farmers and stockmen who have had a definite part in the general advancement. The late Benjamin F. Shaul, father of Aaron B. Shaul, came out to California in 1852 and passed the rest of his long life here, rearing a family which has been a credit to him and to the com- munity, and spending his days in fruitful labor. His native state was Indiana. where he was born October 12, 1829, and lived until twenty-two years of age, being brought up on a farm. When he came to California he made the trip by way of Panama, arriving at San Francisco December 17, 1852, and he was soon engaged in gold mining in Grass valley, where he remained for almost eight years. In June, 1860, he came to Lake county and for about five years was located at Mountain Mill, on Coal creek, engaged in sawmilling. He then settled on the farm five miles southeast of Kelseyville, where he passed the remaining forty years and more of his life, acquiring the ownership of three hundred and twenty acres. His busy, useful life came to its close there in July, 1909, when he was seventy-nine years of age. For eight consecutive years he held the office of road commissioner.
On November 5, 1865, Mr. Shaul was married to Miss Georgie Ann Manning, a native of Illinois, born in 1849, who survives him, living at Lower Lake. Eight children were born to this union: George M. is a foreman at the Ione State Industrial School for Boys: Mary Annie is the wife of George Cary, a fruit grower on the Cary ranch in Lake county; Aaron Bedford is mentioned fully later ; Benjamin Franklin is in partnership with his brother- in-law, George Cary, in the fruit growing business, and married Minnie Cary, sister of George; Henry Boone is teaming at Kelseyville: Samuel Jesse is engaged as teamster by the Yolo Water & Power Company and lives at Lower Lake; Ethel Ruth is the wife of Gilbert Edwards, a rancher in Big valley : Asa D. died when two and a half years old.
Aaron B. Shaul was born on the old Shaul homestead May 1, 1869, and remained there until he was thirty years old. His education was obtained in the local public school, and besides assisting with the work at home he found employment at the Sherwood sawmill on Coal creek, and did teaming and logging as opportunity offered. His father operated the Jones ranch at the head of High valley for some time, and Aaron B. Shaul, being interested with him in the renting of the place, came up here to look after it. Here he became acquainted with Julia May Wildgrube, daughter of Henry L. Wildgrube, the oldest living pioneer in this section, and they were married September 1. 1903. Mr. and Mrs. Shaul make their home with Mr. Wildgrube, and Mr. Shaul
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now rents and operates his father-in-law's ranch of one hundred and sixty acres in High valley, where he is successfully engaged in farming and stock raising. His prosperity is the result of intelligent industry, and he is one of the most esteemed residents of his section, in whose welfare he has taken an active interest, having given his fellow citizens highly satisfactory service as a trustee of the Sulphur Bank school district. Mr. Shaul is well known for his pleasant disposition and physical strength, which is in proportion to his splendid build, for he stands six feet, two inches and proportionately built.
Mr. and Mrs. Shaul have had six children born to them: Thelma Hilda, Benjamin Leopold, Aaron Waldo, George Wilfred, Ethel May and Alden Lloyd. They have a comfortable home and are happily situated in the home which Mrs. Shaul's father, Mr. Wildgrube, built so many years ago. In religious connection Mr. Shaul is a Methodist, belonging to the church at Lower Lake. His political support is given to the Republican party.
CHARLES M. WARD .- The distinction of being a son of a Forty-niner belongs to Mr. Ward, whose father, Thomas M. Ward, crossed the plains with ox-team and wagon as a member of a large expedition of eastern people seeking the unknown opportunities of the west. The mines held few induce- inents for this sturdy pioneer, whose tastes led him to look for a tract of farm land and to devote himself to agricultural pursuits. Taking up land near Sebastopol, Sonoma county, he remained there until 1851, then located near the present site of Graton, in the same county, and his remaining years were given wholly to ranching on this tract. At that old home ranch near Graton Charles M. Ward was born October 20, 1855, and there he passed the un- eventful years of youth, coming thence to Mendocino county in 1876. For a time he worked as a ranch hand in the northern part of the county. Next he engaged to drive a team for Simpson & White at Cahto. For six years he continued with the same firm and in the same location, after which he drove a team for Gill & Gordon at Westport for two years. During 1884 he em- barked in the livery business with George Stephenson, selecting the same coast village as his headquarters. Owing to the absence of railroads there was a large business inland and he continued as a liveryman until 1897, when he disposed of his stable at Westport.
From early life Mr. Ward has been interested in cattle and is an excellent judge of stock, in which he gained a broad experience during ten years as a rancher on the south fork of the Eel river, where he had purchased a stock ranch of nine hundred and twenty acres in 1897. This he still owns and operates. When he left the ranch he came to Ukiah in the spring of 1910, and during June of the same year be formed a partnership with Chris Hansen in the Ukiah meat market, of which he is one-half owner as well as sole manager, Mr. Hansen giving his attention to a market at Willits. The mar- riage of Mr. Ward united him with Miss Elizabeth Branscomb, who was born in Sonoma county, Cal., and is a daughter of B. F. Branscomb, a pioneer of Sonoma county, and now of Jackson valley in Mendocino county. Mr. and Mrs. Ward's family comprises two children, Edna L. and George E.
A representative establishment of its kind in Northern California is the Ukiah meat market on the corner of Standley and School streets. In every respect the equipment is modern and complete. One of the features of the business is the slaughter house near Ukiah, a sanitary building fitted with modern appliances for scientifically slaughtering beef cattle, sheep and hogs.
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After being dressed the meats are placed in the large ice and cold storage vaults and there kept in first-class condition until required for the retail trade. Every facility is provided for the handling and sale of fresh and salt meats. Large orders are received from contractors and ranchers in the Ukiah valley as well as from the hotels and boarding-houses of the city. With each month the trade has expanded until now the business is perhaps the largest of its kind in this section. Such gratifying results may be attributed largely to the capable direction of Mr. Ward, who is familiar with every detail of the trade and is known as one of the best-posted cattlemen of the county. Besides being a keen business man he is a public-spirited citizen, with the greatest faith in the development of Ukiah and Mendocino county, willing to aid meritorious movements for the betterment of the country, and keeping closely in touch with all progressive projects that tend to the local growth and advancement.
GEORGE ARCHIBALD CAMERON .- In coming to California and settling among the pioneers of Mendocino county during 1877 Mr. Cameron found an environment radically different from that of his previous expe- rience, for he is a Nova Scotian by birth and all of his early life had been passed on that peninsula or as a sailor on coasting vessels between Pictou and Boston. His birth occurred in Loch Broom, Picton county, February 4, 1852, the son of Peter and Jane (Archibald) Cameron, born in Nova Scotia of Scotch parentage. The parents were farmers and reared a family of eleven children, of whom George A. is the fourth oldest. In his boyhood he attended the schools of that section of the province. At the age of fourteen he became an inmate of the home of his uncle, remaining with this relative for three years. During the three years ensuing he served an apprenticeship to the trade of shoemaker under Anderson Henderson in Pictou and in the meantime he gained considerable skill and completed the trade. At the completion of his time he went to sea and for a consider- able period held positions of growing importance with vessels engaged in the freighting business along the coast. The hardships of such a life, the rigors of the northern climate and the long months of isolation and enforced idleness during the winter seasons led him to remove to California in 1877, since which time he has made Mendocino county his home. After six months in the lumber woods he went to Cuffey's Cove and opened a shoe-repair shop, in which he employed journeymen and manufactured boots and shoes for the woodsmen. For three years he followed the trade in that village, then removing from there to Navarro Ridge, where he also took up the trade of boot and shoemaker. After continuing at this business from 1879 until 1881. he gave it up to become an employe of the lumber company's mills at Navarro, a position which he filled for three years. In 1884 he purchased his present place of eight acres just south of Navarro and about four miles north of Greenwood. On the land he has built a house and shoe shop and has since made it his home, engaging at the trade of shoemaker and finding a pleasant diversion from such employment in the care of his farm, the management of a truck garden and the oversight of his thrifty berry and vegetable gardens. In addition to other work he is now serving as deputy county clerk and for eight years he held the office of justice of the peace of Cuffey's Cove township.
The Republican party is the organization of his choice. Its principles he believes to be for the welfare of the country. Progressive in spirit, he advocates all movements for the well-being of Mendocino county and is
Aus f lus George flocameron
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thoroughly devoted to the welfare of this section of the state. At the. time of coming here he was single and his marriage was solemnized in Mendocino City, November 7, 1880, uniting him with Miss Margaret Wells, who was born in London, England, October 31, 1858, and came to the United States with her parents, William and Margaret (Cruchington) Wells, in August, 1869. At that time they located in Mendocino City, but they now reside in Fort Bragg. From young girlhood Mrs. Cameron resided in Mendocino City and was educated in its public schools. The five children born to Mr. and Mrs. Cameron are as follows: Margaret J., Mrs. James Carmichael, of Ukiah; Lillie Belle, who is engaged in the millinery business at the home place; Georgia, who married C. F. Johnson, of Fort Bragg; William Archi- bald, now engaged as master mechanic for the Albion Lumber Company ; and Roderick, who is engaged in teaming.
WILLIAM P. THOMAS .- William P. Thomas was born in Oxford. Ga., on July 1, 1861, a son of James R. Thomas, D. D., LL.D., and Arianna (Hudson) Thomas. His father was a prominent educator in the south before and during the Civil war and was president of Emory college, Oxford, Ga., for twelve years, including the war period, and was at the head of other educational institutions prior to his incumbency at Emory college. In 1867 Dr. Thomas removed from Georgia to California with his family, locating first at Vacaville, Solano county, where he served as president of the Pacific Metho- dist College for several years. In 1872 he removed to Mendocino county, where he resided until his death in 1898. He was here engaged in educational work until extreme age and infirmity compelled him to retire, and was for several years superintendent of public instruction in Mendocino county. He was a man of most exalted character and of broad culture and great learning and was greatly esteemed by all who knew him. He left surviving him besides his wife, seven children : M. A. Thomas, C. R. Thomas, Mrs. Hale McCowen, W. P. Thomas, J. R. Thomas, Hudson P. Thomas, and Joseph G. Thomas.
The subject of this sketch, W. P. Thomas, came to Mendocino county with his parents in 1872 and located on a ranch in Redwood valley. Here he lived and worked until he was eighteen years of age, after which he taught school a few years, and then went east and entered Emory college (Oxford, Ga.), from which he graduated in 1886. After finishing his college course he returned to California, and in 1887 was offered the position of under-sheriff in Mendocino county, under D. H. Osborn, sheriff, which position he accepted and held for two years, resigning to complete his legal studies, which he did under the direction of Judge James A. Cooper, afterwards the presiding justice of the appellate court of California, for a number of years.
After his admission to the bar, Mr. Thomas opened an office in Ukiah. where he has ever since resided and engaged in the practice of his profes- sion. He was for ten years a partner of Hon. J. Q. White, the present superior judge of Mendocino county, and after Judge White went on the bench, the firm of Thomas, Pemberton & Thomas was organized and engaged in practice for several years. Later, when Mr. Pemberton removed to San Francisco, the business was continued by the firm of Thomas & Thomas.
In addition to his professional work Mr. Thomas has been engaged in numerous other activities. In conjunction with H. B. Muir, R. E. Donohoe, W. W. Van Arsdale and George W. Scott, he organized and operated several
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corporations, all of which are still actively engaged in business. Among these are Irvine & Muir Lumber Company, Commercial Bank of Ukiah, and the Snow Mountain Water & Power Company. Mr. Thomas was the originator and the original promoter of the last-named company, a five million dollar corporation, which is now supplying nearly all of the electric current used in Mendocino, Lake, Sonoma, Marin and northern Napa counties.
COMMERCIAL BANK OF UKIAH .- Since the organization of the Commercial Bank of Ukiah in December, 1903, the institution has shown a steady and substantial growth in amount of deposits and the confidence of the people. With a paid-up capital of $50,000, a reserve fund of $25,000, a sur- plus and undivided profits at the beginning of its tenth year amounting to $13,760.22, and at the same time deposits amounting to $318,322.80, it ranks among the strong financial concerns of northern California. The combined resources of $407,083.08 show that the bank has been under the guidance of keen, capable and cantions managers, whose efforts have converted the honse into a strong development factor in the progress of city and county. The bank is housed in a substantial block on the corner of School and Perkins streets, erected at a cost of about $15,000, and equipped with every modern convenience, including a burglar and fire-proof vault. It is now the financial headquarters for many of the extensive operators of Mendocino county ; of men who handle large industrial funds, buy and sell land, live stock, fruit, field and garden produce, hops and general merchandise. The course and management of the officers and directors have inspired confidence and fur- nished instructive lessons to those interested in financial affairs. A general commercial business is transacted. Drafts are issued on San Francisco and eastern and foreign cities. Deposits are solicited from manufacturing and in- dustrial concerns, professional and business men, farmers and travelers, and indeed all who require banking facilities. The officers and directors are able men who are leaders in business enterprises, professional activities and landed development, and they have earned the confidence of the residents of this growing community. They are as follows: President, W. P. Thomas ; vice- president, H. B. Muir; cashier, E. L. Cunningham; assistant cashier, J. G. Thomas. Directors : George W. Scott, H. B. Muir, P. Connolly, R. E. Dono- hoe, and W. P. Thomas.
WALTER B. DICKIE .- An identification with the community covering a number of years has given to Mr. Dickie considerable prominence among the people of Ukiah, where he has established offices and engaged in business as an architect, contractor and builder. The years of boyhood and youth were spent in the east and south, but since attaining his majority he has lived in the Pacific coast country, and his faith in its future is founded upon close observation and actual experience. Born at Cardington, Ohio, October 10. 1880, he accompanied members of the family to Cleveland, Tenn., at the age of seven years, his father having died previous to this time. During boyhood he developed traits of self-reliance and began to depend upon his own efforts tor a livelihood. Going west to Washington at the age of twenty-one, he spent several years in Seattle, where he had the privilege of studying archi- tecture under an uncle, a successful architect of the northern city. In addition he learned the trade of carpenter in every detail. For a year he worked at day wages, at the expiration of which time he began to take con- tracts on his own account. While still making Seattle his headquarters he
Anastasia Armstrong W armstrong
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engaged as supervising architect in the erection of ten buildings, besides which he built two houses for himself and these he later sold.
Removing from Seattle to San Francisco and entering the employ of the United Can Company, Mr. Dickie soon rose to be foreman of the press de- partment. After the great fire of 1906 he had the contract for the erection of a number of buildings and also erected a church at San Anselmo, Marin county. The year 1908 found him opening offices at Ukiah and here he has enjoyed an increasing business in his chosen line of enterprise. In the remod- eling of the Presbyterian church and Catholic convent he discharged a most difficult task with such efficiency as to win general commendation. Nor was he less successful in building a Catholic church at Hopland and a parsonage in Ukiah for the Methodist Episcopal Church South. Besides the residences of Dr. Lathrop Malpas and W. G. Poage, he has had the contract for many other houses in Ukiah, where indeed he has to his credit the erection of more than forty buildings during the comparatively brief period of his sojourn in the city. With his wife, Myrtle E. (Anker) Dickie, and their two children, Walter B., Jr., and Alice Kathleen, he has established a comfortable home in Ukiah, where the culture of the family as well as his own exceptional ability has attracted a circle of warm personal friends. A man of affairs and enter- prise, he is of a progressive spirit and desires that his work shall be of a per- manent character, contributing to the growth of the city and to its elevation to a justly merited place among the most important cities of Northern Cali- fornia.
WILLIAM JASPER ARMSTRONG .- The north half of the town of Middletown was laid out on a tract of forty acres which originally formed part of the Armstrong ranch now occupied by the widow of William Jasper Armstrong. She is one of the oldest living settlers of that vicinity, and has been a resident of Lake county since the year 1867. Her parents had settled in the county a couple of years previously. Mrs. Armstrong has a vivid recol- lection of the surrounding country as it appeared at the time of her arrival. There were Indians, but they were not hostile, and elk, bear, deer, coons and other game abounded, while the choicest of mountain trout and other fish were plentiful in the streams. Worm fences were the first to be built, the stakes being placed so as to form a fork on which was placed the rider rail. The stakes were invariably of marasantha wood, very crooked, all of which added to the rustic appearance of the landscape. Mrs. Armstrong's activity in various interests of value to the community, her ability as a nurse, and her helpfulness in all her relations with her neighbors and other friends, has made her gener- ally beloved, not only in her large family circle but wherever she is known.
William Jasper Armstrong was born in Missouri, and was a youth of eighteen when he came to California with his parents in 1857. He was the son of William C. and Elizabeth (Smith) Armstrong, who settled in Yolo county, in the Cache Creek canyon. The father died in Middletown in 1884, and the mother in Cache Creek canyon in 1863. On November 10, 1864, William J. Armstrong was married in Napa City to Anastasia Gordon, and on April 12 of the following year they located in Petaluma, this state. In the fall of the same year they returned to Napa City, where Mr. Armstrong rented a ranch and en- gaged in agricultural work. Shortly afterward they removed to Yolo county and for about two years were engaged in ranching, in 1867 coming thence to Lake county and first locating at Guenoc. In 1870 they settled at Middle- 20
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