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 50
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 50
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JOSIAH E. WOOLDRIDGE .- Those who were acquainted with the late John M. Wooldridge would expect to find his eldest son, the one who in earlier days shouldered much of the work and responsibilities at the old home- stead, as painstakingly industrious, energetically aggressive and thoroughly capable as was the older man himself, and therefore there would be no dis- appointment in visiting the well-kept fruit and grain farm of this now pros- perous farmer of the Big valley, nor would there be any lessening of interest in an inspection of the carefully pruned trees of pears and apples. The whole bears tribute to the care and cultivation of the owner, who is justly proud of his valuable tract of one hundred acres lying three miles south of Lakeport on the Kelseyville road and largely in grain and hay, but with twenty-two acres in Bartlett pears and three acres in apples of the Baldwin, Ben Davis and Winesap types.
The Wooldridge family comes of old colonial lineage and for years owned possessions near Lexington, Ky., where John M. Wooldridge was born May 8. 1833, and whence at the age of three years he was taken to Missouri by his parents. At that early period of colonization Missouri presented the aspect of the unsettled frontier, its lands undeveloped, its resources unknown. A home was established in Johnson county and there, more than twenty years afterward, Mr. Wooldridge married Miss Louisa Frances Cocke, one of the
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county's native daughters. During 1863 he and his wife came to California and engaged in ranching near Santa Rosa, Sonoma county, until in the fall of 1878, at which time they settled in Lake county, where their eldest son, Josiah E., was educated in the public schools and Lakeport Academy. Dur- ing 1883 the father bought eighty acres in Big Valley precinct, and this made the nucleus of the tract of four hundred and forty acres that he owned at the time of his death, March 6, 1913, at the age of seventy-nine years. Only a few months had he survived his wife, who passed away October 6, 1912, at the age of seventy-four years. Their sons, Josiah E., John T. and Edgar M., remain in Big valley and are prosperous farmers of the precinct, where also lives their only daughter and eldest child, Lillian F., now the wife of the well- known rancher, W. P. Hill. Through all of his active life Josialı E. Wool- dridge has been a farmer. When a very small boy he was taught to work by his father, who trained him to be industrious and competent. With the help of his wife, whom he married on Christmas day of 1913, and who was Miss Lillian P. Hazelwood, a native of Lakeport, this county, he is developing a home that is a center of kindly hospitality and that will maintain a prominent place among the representative social activities of the valley. Mrs. Wool- dridge is the daughter of John William and Nancy J. (Fees) Hazelwood, born in Fairfield and near Burlington, Iowa, respectively. They came to California in 1875, locating in Lake county, where they became prosperous farmers near the city of Lakeport and where, since Mr. Hazelwood's death in March, 1912, Mrs. Hazelwood continues to make her home.
GEORGE HENRY ELLS .- To mention the name of George Henry Ells is to direct the attention to an efficient promoter of the commercial and material development of Round valley, a business man well known through his association with the Round Valley Commercial Company as manager and a stockholder, also through his connection with the telephone system of Covelo as president and through his service as a director of the creamery operated in the interests of the dairymen of the valley. These three important enter- prises leave him little leisure for other movements, yet they do not represent the limit of his activities, for his alert mind is ever ready to co-operate in projects of value to the community. Prior to his arrival in Mendocino county he had traveled much in the west and had earned a livelihood at any honorable occupation in which he could find employment, but it has now been many years since he first came to Mendocino county and since then he has enter- tained a most optimistic faith concerning the future prosperity of this section of the state.
Born in Cambria, Columbia county, Wis., George Henry Ells is the eldest of the three children born to Henry and Susan (McCall) Ells, natives of Pennsylvania and Columbia county, Wis., respectively. As early as 1853 the father came out to Minnesota, but later went to Wisconsin and engaged in farming. Bereaved by the death of his wife in 1872, he soon afterward re- moved to Minnesota and was with his children until 1885, when he came to California and located in Tulare county. His last days, however, were passed in Mendocino county, his death occurring in Ukiah in December of 1905. George H. Ells accompanied his parents from Wisconsin to Minnesota at eleven years of age, at which time the family settled in Steele county, later removing to Faribault county in the same state. His education was obtained in the district schools, limited to the winter months. The hardships of develop-
Seo Hella
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ing a farm out of raw land came into his experience at a very early age. As an assistant to his father he learned to be industrious and self-reliant. When he started out to make his own way in the world at the age of twenty-three he came to California. The year 1886 found him in Tulare county, where he rented a tract of unimproved land and later bought a small farm of his own near Tulare. In connection with grain-raising he engaged in raising stock to some extent. After two and one-half years he sold the ranch, after which he worked as a farm hand for a few years. From Tulare county he went to Ore- gon and was there employed as a rancher. While in Jacksonville, Ore., he was married to Miss Frances Lowdon, who was born in Josephine county, that state, the daughter of Abraham Lowdon, a pioneer of Southern Oregon and a veteran of the Rogue River Indian war. Mr. and Mrs. Ells have three chil- dren, Inice (attending the Round Valley high school), Russell and Mildred. The fall of 1894 found Mr. Ells in Mendocino county, where he farmed near Ukiah and also engaged in the teaming business at the county-seat. For a short time he worked in Walker valley for Henry Muir in the lumber mill. Next he secured employment at Hopland, but soon removed to Willits and secured a position with the Irvine & Muir Lumber Company, continuing in that town for a number of years. Having proved himself a most capable and trustworthy employe, he was chosen by Mr. Muir to take charge of a general mercantile store at Covelo, in 1906, since which time he has been manager of the Round Valley Commercial Company. The development of the con- cern is largely due to his efficient oversight. With his family he has made his home in Covelo for some years and meanwhile has risen to a high social stand- ing by reason of culture and fine attributes of character. Fraternally he was made a Mason in Willits Lodge No. 365, F. & A. M., and with his wife is a member of Augusta Chapter No. 80, O. E. S., at Covelo. The development and enlargement of the store are due to Mr. Ells' energy and untiring industry, while the village itself also owes much to his intelligent interest in its wel- fare and his wise co-operation in movements for local growth and progress.
ARTHUR WELLIE GREEN .- One of the valuable farms of Lake county is owned by Arthur Wellie Green, who was born in Scott's valley July 11, 1869, and is now numbered among the leading agriculturists of this section. A stranger is attracted by the methodical care and intelligent oversight ap- parent in the management of the tract of two hundred and eighty acres. The buildings are kept in good repair and well painted, the gardens are productive, the stock of the best grades, and the shrubbery and fruits add to the beauty of the place, while a vineyard of eight acres has been a substantial factor in the annual income. Five acres recently have been planted to walnut trees, which it is believed are well adapted to the soil of Scott's valley. A home dairy adds to the receipts of the farm. One hundred acres have been placed under cultivation and the balance of the property is utilized for the pasturage of the horses, cattle, hogs and thoroughbred Shropshire sheep. One hundred ewes are kept on the land and the raising of lambs is a very important part of the year's work, the returns from which have been gratifying to the owner.
Three generations of the Green family have been identified with the history of Lake county, the first having been represented by Ned Green, one of the first sheriffs of Sonoma county and later a pioneer of Lake county, coming here when his son, Bennett Douglas Green, was but a boy. The latter married Anne Gessner, who was born in Germany and on coming to America settled in Philadelphia, but during 1863 came overland to California with her
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uncle, William Gessner, a veteran of the Mexican war and an honored early settler of Lake county and for many years a supervisor. Bennett Douglas Green died at the age of forty and his wife passed away when fifty-four. All of their five children are deceased excepting A. W. The last-named became self-supporting at an early age, for money was scarce and the family felt the struggle for maintenance to be difficult. When fourteen he went to Colusa and entered upon an apprenticeship to the trades of blacksmithing and ma- chinist. By the end of three years he had been thoroughly trained as a machin- ist and in foundry work. The skill there acquired has proved helpful to him on the farm, where there is constant need of ability to repair and regulate machinery and for the purpose he has a modern well-equipped blacksmith shop on the place. After he had been in the shop three years his great uncle, William Gessner, met with a runaway accident in which he was seriously in- jured and thereupon sent for the young man to take charge of the Gessner farm. In a short time the latter proved his adaptability for farm work and he has continued in the occupation up to the present time, with the exception of nine years as proprietor of the Green stables at Lakeport and six years as proprietor of what is now the Garrett hotel. During May of 1907 he disposed of his interests in Lakeport and returned to Scott's valley, where he owns the Gessner farm of one hundred and twenty acres as well as one hundred and sixty acres known as the Cherokee John claim, the whole forming a body of fertile land well worthy the scientific oversight and skilled supervision of a modern agriculturist.
The marriage of Mr. Green united him with Miss Mary Dale Byrnes, who was born near Healdsburg in Sonoma county and at the age of six years accompanied the family to Scott's valley, Lake county. Her father, John Byrnes, was born in Atchison county, Mo., and during 1872 crossed the country on the railroad to San Francisco, later settling in Scott's valley, where he still resides, now making his home with his daughter, Mrs. Green. He is vigorous and hale notwithstanding his seventy-eight useful years. Besides his daughter, Mrs. Green, he has two sons. James, a barber living in Wyoming, and Alex- ander Campbell, a farmer of Scott's valley. The family of Mr. and Mrs. Green numbers five children, namely : Inez, Bennett W., Anna Welda, Geraldine and Gessner Craig. The family attend the Methodist Episcopal Church, of which Mrs. Green is a member. Fraternally Mr. Green was made a Mason in Lake- port Lodge No. 199, F. & A. M. Personally he is a man of sterling charac- teristics and excellent capabilities, and in his life reflects the exemplary traits of his parents and his uncle, William Gessner. as well as his grand- father, ex-Sheriff Green, all of whom were honored pioneers of Lake county.
JOHN I. PACKWOOD .- A short distance east of Upper Lake lies the beautiful property of John f. Packwood, who followed his father into this region in 1907. Mr. Packwood has had a rich and varied experience. His father, Samuel T. Packwood, who has been a resident of Lake county since 1905, came here after a long career as one of the leading men of Kittitas county, Wash., with whose development he was associated prior to its forma- tion, and after that assisted as a public servant, confident business man and, particularly, promoter of the irrigation projects which have played so import- ant a part in the making of that county. Since coming to Lake county he has acquired many interests here, his fertile mind and active temperament scent- ing possibilities everywhere. His eldest son has shown himself a worthy descendant of the stock to which he belongs, and he was welcomed into Lake
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county as a most desirable citizen from every point of view. In this he has come up to the expectations of his new neighbors and friends, his extensive business operations proving a distinct gain to the locality where he settled. Wide-awake, and anxious to keep his own affairs on a sound basis, he has in their efficient management made himself a positive force for good. and his high personal character has attracted the esteem and friendship of his asso- ciates in every relation of life.
Mr. Packwood was born in Newton county, Mo., sixteen miles southeast of Granby, in the year 1861. There he lived on his father's large stock farm until thirteen years old, and meantime received his early schooling in the neighborhood. But he had had practical lessons from earliest boyhood, for he was only nine years old when he was set to cultivating corn, and he learned many of the details of general farming before the family set out for the west. He drove a team across the plains when his father brought them to Wash- ington in 1874, arriving near Ellensburg, in what afterward became Kittitas county, September 11, 1874, after a six months' journey across the plains. Mr. Packwood's ancestry is mentioned more fully in the biography of his father. The family began life in Washington with limited means, and they went through the average pioneer experience, but they were thrifty and prospered. John I. Packwood took hold and helped manfully from the time of the settle- ment there, but he also continued his schooling, first in public schools and finally in a private academy at Ellensburg. As his father's assistant he had unusual opportunities to become familiar with handling large business interests of various kinds, and as he displayed ability and judgment he was allowed to buy and sell stock from an early age. After his marriage he engaged in farm- ing in Kittitas county on his own account, raising principally hay, grain and stock, and in connection he bought and sold stock extensively for the Clealum and Roslyn markets, in his home county. About 1902 he acquired the owner- ship of one hundred and sixty acres of coal lands near Clealum, situated in a neighborhood which is underlaid with a five-foot vein of excellent soft (steam) coal. He continued to make his home in that section until 1907, when he came down to Lake county, Cal., following his father, who had come here two years previously. John I. Packwood and his family arrived in Lake county November 15, 1907, and soon settled on the fine property he bought near Upper Lake, comprising three hundred and five acres of very valuable land, which he devotes to mixed crops. Its cultivation is carried on with the systematic and business-like methods which he has always tried to follow in his undertakings, and with results which entitle him to a place among the most progressive agriculturists of the county. Though unafraid to embark upon new enterprises, Mr. Packwood is level-headed and conservative, and may be relied upon to weigh his actions well and judge carefully before he goes into anything. Then he devotes all his energies to bringing about the success he feels should follow upon his efforts, and his opinions have come to be highly regarded in his new home. He has not been particularly active in any direct way in public affairs, or taken any part in the local government. but on national issues he supports the Democratic party.
On November 30, 1887, Mr. Packwood was married to Miss Ida Swasey, daughter of Hiram A. and Millie E. (Campbell) Swasey, both of whom are deceased. Their three children were all born in Washington, namely : Aleta, who is now the wife of Guy Allen, a farmer in the Middle Creek section of Lake county; Bessie, a graduate of the Clear Lake Union high school at
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Lakeport; and John, who attends the grammar school at Upper Lake. Mrs. Packwood holds membership in the Christian Church at Lakeport. She and her husband are very deeply interested in the question of public education, encouraging all local efforts to secure the best possible advantages, and they have given their own children every opportunity to acquire thorough practical training to fit them for life.
GREENBURY HENDRICKS .- The death of his mother when he was a very small child and the removal of his father to Missouri took Greenbury Hendricks away from the commonwealth of Tennessee, where he was born December 9, 1827, nor was it ever afterward practicable for him to return to renew the friendships of childhood and to visit once more the last resting place of his mother. While yet a mere boy he earned a livelihood in the making of bricks. For years he followed that occupation, only to turn eventually to agriculture as offering a more independent means of support. At the age of twenty-six he removed to Texas. Prior thereto, on the 26th of June, 1853, in Cape Girardeau county, Mo., he had married Miss Mary A. Stephenson, who in December of the same year accompanied him to Texas. For a number of years he engaged in farming in the Lone Star state. During April of 1859 accompanied by his family, which at the time consisted of wife and two children, he crossed the plains from Texas. The trip was tedious but uneventful. September of the same year found them in Tulare county and they continued in that locality until December, 1861, when they came north to Lake county, previously selected as a home by Joseph J., a brother of Green- bury. The latter took up land in Scott's valley and notwithstanding the remoteness from markets he was able to earn a livelihood from the first. His death occurred April 22, 1876, when forty-nine years of age. Had he been spared longer undoubtedly he would have accumulated a competency, but his labors were ended ere he had provided for his family as he wished. There were seven children, namely : Lafayette, Amanda E., Lydia, William G., Joseph W., John B. and Robert E. Some years after his death the widow was again married, becoming the wife of Zeno Morrison, who passed away July 3, 1912. She is still living at Lakeport, strong and mentally active not- withstanding her eighty-two years of life. The family ranks among the earliest settlers of Lake county and its members are known for their high sense of honor, sterling worth of character and keen intelligence.
JOHN B. HENDRICKS .- The loyal devotion of Mr. Hendricks to the permanent upbuilding of Lake county is partly accounted for in the fact that he is a native son of the county and, with the exception of only about a year, has spent his entire life within its limits. The first of the name to investigate the possibilities of this section of the state was his uncle, Joseph J. Hendricks, who early in the '50s had drifted into Scott's valley in company with Judge . Crawford and another friend. The second member of the family to seek a home in these parts was Greenbury, a brother of Joseph J. and father of John B., and all through the years up to the present time the name of Hendricks has been associated honorably and prominently with local history. Here oc- curred the birth of John B. Hendricks February 1, 1870, and here he received his education under the scholarly oversight of Professor Overholser in the old Lakeport Academy. With the exception of the year 1899, when he engaged in placer mining at Forest Hill, Placer county, he has given all of his mature life to agricultural pursuits and as a result of his wise management and
John B. Hendricks
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unwearied industry he now owns twelve hundred acres of land, forty-five of which are in Scott's valley. a rich and fertile area that repays the efforts of the husbandmen with bountiful crops. His range is well irrigated by the headwaters of Scott's creek and numerous springs. He raises Durham cattle, which bear the brand of JH combined, a brand which was established by his uncle, Joseph J. Hendricks. The success demonstrated in raising some walnut trees in his yard convinced Mr. Hendricks that the soil and climate here were well adapted for raising walnuts for the market and he now has forty acres set out to the Franquette variety, which are well cared for and in a thriving condition. This is the largest acreage set out to walnuts in the county. On account of the location of the residence, which is built on the top of the hill, the place is called Point View ranch.
Mr. Hendricks' marriage in 1906 united him with Miss Alice E. Wray, a native daughter of Lake county and a popular young lady of the valley and a prominent member of the Methodist Episcopal Church here, to which Mr. Hendricks also belongs and in the maintenance of which he has been a liberal assistant. As a member of Lakeport Parlor No. 147, Native Sons of the Golden West, he has identified himself with movements for the welfare of his native locality and has supported measures tending to the development of this interesting region.
CYRUS WALLBRIDGE REED .- One of the old residents of Scotts valley, who has witnessed the development of that part of Lake county from primitive conditions, Cyrus W. Reed has had an active share in bringing about the prosperity now prevailing in that section, and in the clearing, improvement and cultivation of his own beautiful farm of forty acres has made practical demonstration of the possibilities open to the agriculturist there. An octo- genarian, he has been in California from pioneer times, having first come to this state nearly sixty years ago and with the exception of a few years lived here continuously since, and his residence in Scotts valley dates from 1877. Long years of industry and intelligent application to his work have had their reward, and he is now able to take his ease, though he is still able-bodied and energetic, and as keenly alive to the progress of his community as ever. His honorable life, guided by the temperate habits and high morality characteristic of his New England ancestry, has gained him universal esteem. He is of Massachusetts birth, and the family is of English origin. His parents, Nathan and Elizabeth (Mills) Reed, lived and died in Massachusetts, where they were farming people, the father owning one hundred and sixty acres of land. They had a large family, ten children, of whom Nathan Grovner lived to be almost ninety years old; Emealine died when nearly seventy-five years old; Warren M. died in California at the age of forty-nine ; John B. is deceased ; Nathaniel, now eighty-four years of age, lives at Warren, Mass .; Cyrus Wallbridge is mentioned below; Frances E. was eighty in June, 1914; Columbus F. is seventy-six ; Mary E. is seventy-five ; Freeman died when sixteen years old. Their home was three miles from Warren, on what is known as Reed street, where Reuben and Waldo Reed, brothers of Nathan, also lived; the former had a family of eleven children, the latter five.
Cyrus Wallbridge Reed was born June 17, 1832, on Reed street, about three miles from Warren, Mass., and obtained a good practical education, attend- ing public school. Then he served an apprenticeship at shoemaking in his native state, where he followed his trade for several years. In 1852 his two 23
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brothers, N. G. and Warren, came out to California, and Cyrus W. Reed fol- lowed them to the Pacific coast in 1856, landing at San Francisco March 27th of that year. Naturally he looked to mining as the most profitable occupation. and he began that work at Mud Springs, in Eldorado county, where his brother was likewise engaged. After mining there a year he went to work for the Mammoth Quartz Company, in Plumas county, where he remained for two years. In 1861 he went to Nevada, and for some time was employed at his trade at Dayton, Lyon county, then to Yreka, Cal., where he was located until 1864, when he removed to Idaho, making the three hundred mile journey on toot, in eleven days, carrying thirty-three pounds on his back. Again he engaged in work at his trade, at Idaho City, from March 1, 1864, to the fall of 1865, when he married, and he and his wife went back to Dayton, Nev .. where they had become acquainted, living there until 1868. Then they moved into the white pine country in that state, and Mr. Reed followed his trade until he was taken ill with mountain fever, lying eight weeks between life and death. Upon his recovery they came to California, and he proved up on a tract of one hundred and sixty acres in Colusa county. Having been brought up on a farm he was familiar enough with agricultural work to make a success of its cultivation, and he continued to farm there, raising grain principally. until he brought his family to Lake county in 1877. He arrived in Scotts valley September 20th of that year and took a five years' lease of a farm in the valley, subsequently buying twenty acres in the same favored region from a Mr. Ingram. A little later he purchased another twenty-acre tract, adjoining the first, and though it was very heavily timbered at the time it came into his possession it has proved to be in the most productive section of the valley, which is equivalent to saying in Lake county. The growth of trees and bramble was so dense that the only way he could penetrate it in some parts was by crawling through on his hands and knees. It was a veritable jungle, and the amount of labor required to clear it could hardly be imagined by one unfamiliar with such work. Some of the trees were as much as six feet in diameter, and Mr. Reed cut down one oak tree from which he obtained thirty- seven cords of wood. While he was engaged on this part of the work he would cut a cord of wood in the forenoon and take it to Lakeport in the afternoon, and thus he spent his days in exertions which would have been impossible to any but a man of strong physique. Gradually the entire tract was brought un- der cultivation, and it is now one of the most fertile places in the locality, yielding abundant returns for the owner. Of recent years Mr. Reed has somewhat relinquished the more arduous duties about the place, and his sons now run it. However, with all his hard work he is active physically and men- tally and enjoys good health, in spite of the fact that he has passed through more than one severe illness. In 1912 he had a severe attack of pneumonia. While working for the Mammoth Quartz Company, in Plumas county, he was nearly killed by the premature explosion of a blast of black powder while tamping it, six hundred feet under the ground, preparatory to blasting a ledge ; the accident almost blinded him, and he was laid up with his injuries for a number of months. But he has suffered no permanent ill effects. He has a clear head and remarkable memory, and recalls many interesting events of the days when the west was in the making. It is rather remarkable that he has trees on his property planted by himself which are now three feet in diameter, one of them a large weeping willow which stands near the house.
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