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 47
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 47
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The development of a mercantile business at Sonoma occupied the atten- tion of the young war veteran during his first years in California. It was in
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that town. April 7, 1850, that he was united in marriage with Mrs. Anna (Smith) Scott, who was born in Missouri April 1, 1833, and died in Mendo- cino county February 15, 1877. Eight children were born of their union. The eldest, Mary, is the wife of M. H. Peck, of Cloverdale. Mrs. Alice P. Byron, the mother of two children, also makes Cloverdale her home. George H., now of Pendleton, Ore., married Lydia Walker and they are the parents of ten children. Richard and James A. are residents of Cloverdale. Mrs. Lil- lian White, of Fort Bragg, is the mother of two children, and Flora, Mrs. G. T. Cooper, of Nevada, also has two children. Anna is the wife of W. H. Cooper, of Nevada, and the mother of one child. It is Mrs. White, of Fort Bragg, who furnishes these facts in regard to the life of her honored father. who from his arrival in Mendocino county during the fall of 1859 until his death, April 4, 1880, was intimately identified with business and ranching interests of the county and was widely known as the proprietor of the Moun- tain house, eight miles from Cloverdale on the Ukiah road, and also as the owner of the Mountain House ranch and the Creamer ranch, both devoted to the raising of cattle and sheep.
ORON BERRY PITNER .- Through all of his life Mr. Pitner has been obliged to struggle against adverse circumstances. Left fatherless when very young, he took up a man's work while yet a mere lad and helpfully aided his mother in the duties and problems which fell to her for solution. Notwith- standing his lack of advantages in boyhood and in spite of a serious accident that befell him when at his work, he has been prudent, frugal and saving and each year has found him a little more advantageously situated from a financial standpoint, although at no time has he been the recipient of a large salary nor has destiny brought him any unexpected favors in the course of his busy activities. A considerable portion of his boyhood was spent in Oregon, where he was born near Butte creek in the eastern part of Jackson county, October 29, 1875, and whence at the age of ten years he accompanied his widowed mother to California, settling at Ukiah, Mendocino county. A year later the family returned to the old home in Oregon, where he attended school for a short time and then went to work as a day laborer on a neighboring farm. Small as were his wages, they were of the utmost assistance to his mother. ยท At an age when most boys have no duties more weighty than at- tendance at school he was self-supporting and was also assisting in the main- tenance of the home.
Returning to Ukiah in 1895 at the age of about twenty years Mr. Pitner worked for six months on a hop ranch. August of the same year found him at Caspar and there for three years he worked as a day laborer. The two ensuing years were spent at Albion. The year 1900 found him a new em- ploye with the L. E. White Lumber Company, his first employment being in general work around the mill. In 1902 he was promoted to be head-sawyer at the mill, a position that he filled efficiently until 1911, when a serious accident (the losing of two fingers in the machine) disabled him from further work on the saw. Recognizing his long and faithful service the company transferred him to a position as foreman, for which his familiarity with every phase of the work admirably qualifies him. Fraternally he holds membership with Mendocino City Lodge No. 179, F. & A. M. In politics he votes with the Republican party. Interested in public affairs, he favors movements for the ivelfare of the community. His home in Greenwood (Elk P. O.) is presided
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over by Mrs. Pitner, whom he married at this village January 2, 1905, and who was formerly Miss Mabel Shibley. A lifelong resident of Mendocino county, she was born at Bridgeport April 6, 1883, and received her education in the Bridgeport schools, remaining with her parents until the time of her marriage. With her husband she has the good-will of the people of the com- munity and the friendship of a large circle of acquaintances.
JAMES KNOX POLK SHELTON .- With the oncoming of emigrants across the plains during the early '50s, attracted by the discovery of gold that formed a star in the destiny of California, there traveled a family from Mis- souri with an equipment of wagon and oxen, the necessary provisions for a journey of great length, and such other articles as were demanded by the presence of a goodly number of children. Among the latter was a boy of eight and one-half years, James K. Polk Shelton, whose birth had occurred at the home farm in Andrew county, Mo., October 15, 1844, and who entered into the adventures of the trip with the eagerness of childhood, unmindful of danger and ignorant of the possibility of attacks by Indians. The memory of that tedious journey lingers vividly in his mind, nor has he forgotten the general feeling of relief when September of 1853 found them at last in Petaluma, their journey's end. The father, William, a Missourian by birth, spent several years near Petaluma, but in June of 1857 drove through to Ukiah in search of government land available for farming purposes. Securing a claim of one and one-half miles south of Ukiah, he devoted years of arduous effort to the improving of the property and the erection of needed buildings. His last years were spent in retirement at Westport, where he died at the age of eighty-four. By his marriage to Isabelle Casteel, who was born in Ohio and died in San Luis Obispo county, he had nine children, of whom seven are now living.
The second in order of birth, James K. Polk Shelton had no educational advantages other than those made possible by an attendance of three months each year at subscription schools where the method of instruction was crude and the text-books inferior. Experience has been his principal teacher, and he has been so keen of comprehension that his fund of information surpasses that of many college graduates. At the age of twenty-two he left home and began to work as a farm hand. After his marriage to Miss Amanda Babcock, a native of Sonoma county, and a daughter of Richard Babcock, a California pioneer of 1856, he rented a farm and took up general ranch pursuits in his own interests. During 1890 he removed to a rented farm in Potter valley, where for fifteen years he engaged in raising stock and grain. On coming to Little Lake township in 1905 he bought nine hundred and twenty acres known as the Rock Tree ranch, and here he engaged in raising grain, hay and potatoes, besides keeping quite a bunch of stock on the property. In November. 1913, having sold the ranch and stock, he removed to Willits and bought a home on Flower street, where he has since resided. Local enter- prises interest him, for he is public-spirited and progressive. In politics he always has been stanchly Democratic of sentiment. While not a member of any religious organization he is in sympathy with their work and has con- tributed to the maintenance of the Baptist Church, with which his wife is identified. Of his eleven children, seven lived to mature years, namely : William Eddy, a farmer in Rock Tree valley; Mrs. Elizabeth Dickie, of Potter
G. K. Osborn, M. D.
I. G. K. Osboru.
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valley ; Eugene, a stock raiser in Rock Tree valley; Jerry, who is married and makes his home in Willits; and Leon, Agnes and Sammie, who still remain with their parents.
GEORGE KNOX OSBORN, M. D .- Whatever of success the past has brought to Dr. Osborn or whatever of prosperity the future may hold for him, such success and such prosperity undoubtedly would be the result of his own indefatigable and unceasing efforts. In his determination to acquire an education and enter the medical profession he had no one to aid him, and only his own unconquerable ambition to assist him in overcoming the ob- stacles which stood in his way. Every step in advance was the result of his own spirit of self-reliance. His first studies in therapeutics were conducted without assistance. With characteristic energy he secured some medical books and took up their study. Later, by working in summers he was able to pay his way through college in the winter months, and since securing his degree he has devoted himself to practice, besides which he now con- ducts a drug business at Covelo, his home town.
The Doctor was born at Virginia City, Nev., April 20, 1864, the sixth in a family of eight children born to Thomas W. and Julia (Schaeffer) Osborn, natives of Illinois and Iowa, respectively. Thomas W. Osborn crossed the plains with his father, J. W., in 1849, and was among the first settlers in Sacramento. Returning to Iowa he brought the family across the plains in about 1861, and was engaged in farming and stock-raising until his death at Red Bluff. At the age of eighteen months Dr. Osborn was brought by his parents to Sonoma county. Cal., whence in 1868 removal was made to San Joaquin county and from there to Big Valley, Modoc county, in the fall of 1870. In the last-named county he attended school when he could be spared from the work on the home ranch. After a year of home study of medical books he matriculated in the California Medical College in San Francisco, during the fall of 1893, and continued there until he was graduated as an M. D. in 1895, with the highest honors. Previous work in saw-mills and on farms had developed habits of industry and self-reliance, and these qualities have as- sisted him in gaining professional success. After graduation he practiced at Weaverville, Trinity county, until 1902, then spent three years at Sisson, Siskiyou county, and in 1905 came to Covelo, Round valley, where he prac- tices his profession and conducts a drug store. His practice extends into Trinity county, at times calling him into the mountains seventy miles from Covelo. Going by trail on horseback with saddlebags he ministers to the sick in the most remote places, the weather never too cold or stormy for him to respond when called. And being by nature endowed with great strength and a good constitution he is thus enabled to endure the fatigue of these activities. His interest in professional enterprises is deep and has brought him into membership with the National Eclectic Medical Association and the Eclectic Medical Association of California.
At Adin, Modoc county, December 8, 1887, Dr. Osborn married Miss Laura Augusta Sheldon, who was born at Yreka, Siskiyou county, the daughter of D. M. and Sarah M. (Eddy) Sheldon, born in Vermont and New York, respectively, pioneers of California who spent their last days in Siskiyou county. Dr. Osborn is ably assisted by his wife, who is a professional nurse and thus qualified to render him practical assistance whenever required. She is also engaged in the millinery business in Covelo, where she has a large trade.
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Three children were born to Dr. and Mrs. Osborn, Georgie A. and Luther Leone, both deceased, and George K., Jr., attending the Covelo high school. In politics the Doctor votes with the Republican party, while fraternally he is allied with Covelo Camp No. 632, W. O. W., and is also actively identified with the Knights of Pythias. Mrs. Osborn is a member and past matron of Augusta Chapter No. 80, O. E. S., also a member of the Women of Woodcraft and an active member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, being secretary of the board of trustees.
GORDON BAECHTEL .- An influential representative of an honored old pioneer family of Mendocino county, Gordon Baechtel was born at the Baechtel ranch in Little Lake township April 2, 1864, and passed the years of youth at the homestead. Fair educational advantages were given him and he is a graduate, class of 1882, of the Heald's Business College in San Francisco. On the completion of his commercial course he became a book- keeper under William Heeser in the Bank of Mendocino. A year later he went to San Rafael, Marin county, and for seven years continued as a clerk in the grocery house of C. Grosjean. Returning to Willits during 1890, he formed a partnership with his father, uncle and brother under the title of the Standard Commercial Company, the members of the firm being L. S., Mart, Gordon and William H. Baechtel, who developed a large general mercantile enterprise on Main street. The entire time of the two brothers was given to the store until 1896, when it was sold to Irvine & Muir, and by them it has been continued ever since on the same site.
Although the commercial company dissolved, the three brothers con- tinued in partnership and have since engaged in real estate, ranching and stock-raising enterprises. During the long period of their connection they have met with their share of hardships and losses, but in the main have found the raising of stock a profitable business, and their judgment of animals from the beef standpoint is said to be seldom at fault. From 1898 to 1900, when his two brothers, William H. and Luther S., were in Alaska, Gordon Baechtel engaged with M. E. Nicholson in buying, selling and trading cattle, sheep and hogs, but with the return of the brothers a ranch in Eden valley was leased for five years and stocked with cattle of good grades. At the end of three years the lease and stock were sold to William G. Henshaw, of Oakland, and the brothers have since rented to others their several ranch properties.
From 1906 to 1908 the three brothers with A. J. Fairbanks conducted a meat market in Willits under the title of the Willits Meat Company, while from 1906 to the present time Gordon Baechtel and A. J. Fairbanks have been associated in partnership in other enterprises. For two years their specialty was the shipping of piling to San Francisco, but since 1908 they have given their entire time to road building. For this purpose they keep about sixty head of mules and horses and a full equipment, including steam shovel and traction engine. Important contracts have been filled by them and in every instance with efficiency and general satisfaction. When the Utah Construc- tion Company had entered into large contracts with the Northwestern Pacific Railroad Company for track work in Mendocino county they retained Messrs. Baechtel and Fairbanks to complete two contracts for two and one-half miles of heavy work. Another contract was for the building of eight miles of road, including several bridges, between Longvale and Long Valley. During 1913 seven miles were completed on the state highway from Willits to Walker
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valley, and at this writing (1914) they are filling a contract for six miles of state highway in Humboldt county.
Besides his other enterprises Mr. Baechtel has been a notary public since 1888 and is a stockholder in the Bank of Willits, on whose first board of directors he served for a number of years. Educational interests have been rightly valued by him. In addition to giving efficient service as a member of the board of trustees of the Willits school district for a number of years, since 1910 he has served as a high school trustee. Active in local Republican politics, he was a member of the county central committee for some years and city trustee of Willits for five years, being chairman of the board during part of this time. While acting as trustee the sewer was completed in 1908 and papers of incorporation for the old town, embracing an area of about twelve miles square, were relinquished, the town being then incorporated in its present size and status. The residence which Mr. Baechtel erected on Wood street, Willits, is presided over by his wife, whom he married in Oakland and who was Miss Eleanor H. Roache, a native of Ireland. Three children com- prised their family. Two daughters are living, namely: Lenore M., wife of Jesse L. Fairbanks, of Willits ; and Elsie K., a graduate of the class of 1914, San Jose State Normal School.
SILAS BARRON FARNSWORTH .- The owner of the Sherwood creamery ranch in Mendocino county is an influential member of a pioneer California family that has been connected with the history of San Francisco since the '50s, the first of the name on the coast having been his father, the late David L. Farnsworth, a native of New Hampshire and a man of remark- ably forceful characteristics. Innate individual attributes, quickened by the circumstance of association with the west during an epoch-making era, enabled him to attain an unusual degree of success. From a most humble beginning that included the work of a hired hand on a milk ranch, he rose to be the executive head of a large enterprise. The purchase of a team proved the foundation of a teaming business which, with the later admission of John Ruggles into partnership and with the incorporation of the firm of Farns- worth & Ruggles, utilized thirty-six large draft horses in one team for the hauling in one load of the heaviest freight and machinery brought to San Francisco. At the time of his death in 1899 the business had developed into the largest teaming concern in the entire city, and he was then succeeded by a man who had learned the business under him, George A. Hart, as president and general manager. Politics interested him little nor was he solicitous to identify himself with local affairs, although he yielded to the persuasions of friends and consented to serve for one term as representative from the eighth ward upon the county board of supervisors. For years he was associated with Masonry and exemplified in his life the doctrines of philanthropy and brotherhood enunciated by the order. Eight years after his demise occurred the death of his wife. Fannie (Locke) Farnsworth, who like himself claimed New Hampshire as her native commonwealth.
The family of this influential pioneer of San Francisco numbered three children, two of whom survive. The eldest, Silas Barron, was born in San Francisco February 28, 1868, and received an excellent education in the Lin- coln grammar school and the commercial department of Litton Springs College. After the completion of his business course in 1889 he entered the
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office of Farnsworth & Ruggles as bookkeeper and collector, continuing as such for six years, and he is still a large stockholder and a director in the concern. The necessity of superintending the Sherwood creamery ranch brought him to the Sherwood valley, Mendocino county, where he has since remained, although since 1904 he has leased the ranch and stock and has made his headquarters in Willits. The ranch lies ten miles north of town on the Humboldt county road and comprises fifteen hundred and twenty acres well adapted for the raising of hay and grain and for the pasturage of stock. Usually about one hundred and twenty-five tons of hay are cut from the meadows, and this is used for the winter feed of the dairy herd of one hundred and fifty head of milch cows. Some of the finest full-blooded and high-grade Holsteins to be found in the entire country are on his ranch, included among them being winners of first prizes at the 1913 State Fair in Sacramento. At this writing about eighty-five head are being milked. The butter sold from the ranch is purchased in the markets of Willits, Fort Bragg and Ukiah, and the perfection of quality results in the sale of all the product at the highest prices. Since leasing the ranch and the fine herd of Holsteins, Mr. Farnsworth has main- tained only a general supervision of the property and has thus had leisure for the due consideration of other large and valuable interests elsewhere in the state. Aside from membership in the Eagles he has no fraternal connections, nor has he been active in politics except in the respect of casting a straight Republican ticket at general elections. Enterprises for the upbuilding of the town and county have depended upon his wise counsel and energetic partici- pation, and in Willits there is a general recognition of his executive ability, progressive spirit and devotion to public interests.
JESSE HEYWARD .- A lifetime resident of California and from young manhood permanently identified with the lumber business in all of its de- partments. Mr. Heyward has witnessed the growth of the commonwealth and the development of his chosen occupation. Every phase of lumbering from logging to sawing and planing he thoroughly understands, for he has had a practical experience dating back to his youth, when he began to learn the rudiments of the industry, and extending up to the present time with his duties of a most responsible nature. Efficiency shown in previous posi- tions of trust led to his selection in 1903 to come to Willits as manager of the planing mill and yards of the Northwestern Redwood Company, a large concern that makes shipments of all grades of lumber to every part of the United States. In this post he has made good, proving a valuable man to the company as well as a distinct addition to the citizenship of the town.
The Heyward family is of old English extraction. Thomas, who was born and reared in Devonshire, left England at the age of twenty-one to establish himself in the new world, making the voyage via Quebec. For a few years he worked at farming in Illinois near Springfield and while there he married Eliza Church, a native of that state. During 1850 he and his wife crossed the plains with ox-teams and wagon. It was his intention to engage in mining, but his first experiences in that line proved so unprofitable that he was obliged to seek another source of livelihood. Thus it happened that he settled on a ranch near Bodega, Sonoma county, whence later he removed to Fort Ross in the same county, and in 1886 he established himself on a ranch near Point Arena, where he specialized in the dairy business. His wife died at Fort Ross and his demise occurred in 1907 at Santa Rosa. Their
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Heyward
Jesse
Mrs Clara Heyward
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four sons, all living, are as follows William, of San Francisco; Frank, of Petaluma; Jesse, of Mendocino county ; and Henry, of Oakland.
During the residence of the family on a ranch near Bodega, Sonoma county, Jesse Heyward was born January 21, 1867. The public schools of Bodega and Fort Ross gave him advantages in the ordinary lines of study. In 1886 he came with his father to Mendocino county and settled at Point Arena, where he began to learn the lumber business. At first he worked as a day laborer in the logging camps. Little by little he advanced as his ex- perience made his services more valuable to the company. For a time he was employed as head sawyer in the sawmill of the Westover Company at Guerneville, Sonoma county. On returning to Mendocino county he became foreman of the yard of the Gualala Mill Company at Gualala, later holding a similar position with the Usal Redwood Company. After a period of em- ployment at Caspar, Mendocino county, as assistant foreman with the Caspar Lumber Company, in 1903 he came to Willits, where since he has been con- nected with the Northwestern Redwood Company as manager of the planing mill and yards. It has not been his inclination to participate in politics, but he keeps posted concerning public affairs and votes the Republican ticket at national elections. Since coming to Willits he has been connected with the local lodge, Knights of Pythias. Mrs. Heyward, formerly Clara N. Blair, was born at Cahto, Mendocino county, and received her education in local schools. She is the daughter of William J. and Mary (Wood) Blair, who were born in Vermont and Alameda county, Cal., respectively. By the former marriage of Mr. Heyward to Mary C. Beebe, of Point Arena, he is the father of two children. The son, George, assists in the mill and yard. The daugh- ter, Hazel, is a graduate nurse of McNutt hospital and is now the wife of P. A. Hugo, of Los Angeles.
WILLIAM CLARK DAVIDSON .- The business interests have in Mr. Davidson a capable representative and pioneer promoter, a citizen who from his original identification with Mendocino county up to the present time has never failed in optimistic devotion to his chosen community and whose suc- cess in undertakings furnishes an incentive to younger men starting out for themselves. Whether as proprietor of the hotel or as the owner of farm and stock interests, whether as the follower of a trade or a tiller of the soil, into every work he has thrown his whole energies, and the result of such industry and perseverance has been gratifying. Of Canadian family, born at Cornwall, Ontario, May 25, 1849, he possesses the thrift for which the people of his country are famous. From an early age he was trained to be self-reliant. When only fifteen he began to be self-supporting. After that he had no home except such as his own industry made possible. Hearing favorable reports concerning California, he determined to try his luck in this state. The voy- age in 1868 was made via the isthmus. From San Francisco he proceeded direct to lumber mills on the Truckee river, where he found work without any delay. Next he had employment in a gold mine, from which he came to Mendocino county in 1870 and secured work as a farm hand. Later he took up the trade of a shoemaker. In this he continued for six years, during this time having a shoe store in partnership with Kemp Lancaster. Not only was he skilled in the repairing of shoes, but he had considerable ability in the making of boots and shoes, and was kept busily engaged in filling orders for people in the neighborhood.
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