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 53
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 53
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72 | Part 73 | Part 74 | Part 75 | Part 76 | Part 77 | Part 78 | Part 79 | Part 80 | Part 81 | Part 82 | Part 83 | Part 84 | Part 85 | Part 86 | Part 87 | Part 88 | Part 89 | Part 90 | Part 91 | Part 92 | Part 93 | Part 94 | Part 95 | Part 96 | Part 97 | Part 98 | Part 99 | Part 100 | Part 101 | Part 102 | Part 103 | Part 104 | Part 105 | Part 106 | Part 107 | Part 108 | Part 109 | Part 110 | Part 111 | Part 112 | Part 113 | Part 114 | Part 115 | Part 116 | Part 117
Jessie Mare Heersicher Duncan Mac Herricher
499
MENDOCINO AND LAKE COUNTIES
Jehiel is a guard at the San Quentin prison ; Mary E. was the wife of John P. Drewry ; William was drowned when fifteen years old; John is a resident of Salida, Cal .; Annie is the wife of R. E. Roach, of Cummings, Mendocino county ; James lives with his mother; Lawrence was accidentally killed, on the railroad, at Fort Bragg, when twenty-one years old.
Mrs. Sarah F. Williams, widow of James H. Williams, is a woman of forceful character and interesting personality. Her experiences in California in pioneer days were many and varied, developing a fearless, capable dispo- sition which made her a most valuable helpmate to her husband. Her sym- pathetic consideration for others, fortitude and reliability have won her the affectionate esteem of her neighbors and friends everywhere, and her devotion to her family has never abated. Mrs. Williams was born in Illinois, in Hancock county. daughter of Ben and Sarah (George) Rucker, the former a native of Indiana, where they were married. Of the thirteen children born to them six died before the family removed to California, the parents and seven children crossing the plains in 1852, with ox-teams. The journey from Illinois took six months. They settled at Bidwell's Bar, in Butte county, where Mr. Rucker engaged in mining for a number of years. The mother subsequently removed to Plumas county. Mrs. Williams was but three years old when the family made the journey to California, and when sixteen she became the wife of James H. Williams.
DUNCAN MacKERRICHER .- The lineage of the MacKerricher fam- ily in America is traced back to an old Scotch Highland family inseparably associated with the early history of that section of Scotland and illustrious in the affairs that tended to make history stand out prominently in the annals of that country. The maternal grandfather of Duncan MacKerricher, Sr., was Francis McNab, who bore the distinction of being the chief of the McNab clan, in Scotland. The immigrating ancestor of the MacKerricher family was Donald MacKerricher, Sr., who upon coming to America made settle- ment in Quebec, and near Dalesville carried on a farm which engaged his attention throughout his remaining active years. He lived to reach the re- markable age of ninety-six years and his wife also reached a goodly age, being seventy-six years old at the time of her death. Prior to her marriage she was Jane McMartin, a native of Scotland. Of the large family of children that gathered around the fireside of this worthy couple eleven grew to mature years and reflected in their lives the qualities of thrift, industry and the high principles of honor instilled into their characters through precept and ex- ample. It was on the paternal farm near Dalesville, Quebec, that Duncan MacKerricher was born April 13, 1836. His boyhood and youth were inti- mately associated with that Canadian environment, but on reaching young manhood he severed his connections with it and came to the Pacific coast. He was accompanied on the journey by his wife, whom he had married in Quebec October 14, 1864, and in reality this was their wedding journey. She was formerly Miss Jessie McArthur, and was a sister of the celebrated Baptist clergyman, Dr. Robert Stuart McArthur, who preached for forty-one years in the Calvary Baptist Church in New York City. Her parents, Archi- bald and Margaret (Stuart) McArthur, were also natives of Scotland. The journey of Mr. and Mrs. MacKerricher was made by way of New York and the Isthmus on the Vanderbilt mail line to San Francisco, reaching that port in November, 1864, and from there they came on a schooner to Mendocino City, landing December 8, that year, the trip from San Francisco consuming 24
500
MENDOCINO AND LAKE COUNTIES
eighteen days. For two years he was employed in the Caspar mills, and while the work proved timely, it was not to his liking and as soon as he was able to do so he left his position and started to search for something more congenial. Going up the coast he finally reached old Fort Bragg, where he made application for a position with E. J. Whipple, who had charge of the Indians at Kibesillah. For two years he was engaged in starting the dairy on the ranch and in breaking in the wild cattle with the aid of Indian help. Mrs. MacKerricher was the only white woman in the vicinity at that time. Mr. MacKerricher's dairy was the first one started north of Point Arena. The undertaking was a venturesome one, for the country was sparsely set- tled and wild cattle and deer abounded. With the help of some good Indian boys he was enabled to break in sixty-nine cows to milk, and at the end of two years he had a very creditable dairy. He was indeed a pioneer of that section of country, and he had the distinction of running the first mowing machine ever operated north of Point Arena. In July, 1868, he located on the Laguna ranch at Cleone, having purchased the property from the govern- ment at $1.25 per acre. The original purchase comprised six hundred and forty acres, and later he added a like amount to his holdings by private entry, the land adjoining his ranch at Cleone. As rapidly as possible he cleared the land and stocked it with cattle and hogs, also raising sufficient hay for his needs. The record of his efforts is best told in the statement that some of the best draft horses in Mendocino county were raised on his ranch. After many years of hard pioneer work he deemed it advisable to lessen his re- sponsibilities and for this reason he at different times disposed of half of his ranch. In 1913 he sold off three hundred and twenty acres more, and he still owns three hundred acres on the lake, ideally located and forming one of the most beautiful ranches in the county. Since 1908 he has made his home in Fort Bragg, where he erected a fine residence which is still the home of the family.
Mr. and Mrs. MacKerricher became the parents of seven children, as follows: Edwin Donald, who is interested in the real-estate business in Fort Bragg; Margaret Stuart, Mrs. Lord, residing at Noyo; Miriam Jean, Mrs. Geary, of Red Bluff; Russell Arthur, of Oakland; William, who died at the age of twenty-one years : Evelyn, the wife of Prof. J. S. Cotton, of Fort Bragg ; and Edith, Mrs. Tibbitts, of Berkeley. The family are adherents of the Bap- tist Church, and politically Mr. MacKerricher is a Republican.
ZACHARIAS SIMONSON .- The honored title of pioneer belongs to Mr. Simonson, who dates his identification with Mendocino county from the year 1865 and who made the unusual record of owning and operating the same farm for a period of thirty-five years. It was not indeed until August of 1910 that he sold the old homestead three miles southeast of Willits and retired into the village to enjoy during his declining days the comforts made possible through his long devotion to farm pursuits. While working to improve his own ranch he has given of his best to aid in the upbuilding of Mendocino county. It has been his privilege to see many changes in this community. The humble hut of the pioneer has given place to the modern dwelling of convenience and comfort. At the time of his arrival Indians still lingered in the vicinity and although their depredations had been stopped through force of arms, the most dangerous being removed elsewhere, the white settlers were not wholly without fear of renewed hostility on their part.
501
MENDOCINO AND LAKE COUNTIES
Out of such turbulent events order has been evolved and a high class of citi- zenship has been developed among the land-owners and permanent residents. Through all these years of growth he has been an interested observer of local progress and a constant contributor thereto. Although now laid aside from the heaviest of life's activities by reason of his age, he maintains the keen interest in local affairs that always characterized him and is as ready as ever to encourage projects for the public benefit or assist enterprises of value to his home town.
A son of Ole Simonson, a farmer at Hegebarstad, Logndal. Norway, 7.acharias Simonson was born there March 24, 1833, and began to work on the home farm at such an early age that he practically had no educational advantages whatever. Observation and experience have made him a well- informed man. When his time became his own at the age of twenty-one he left Norway and crossed the ocean to the United States. From 1854 to 1864 he was employed in Illinois, first at Springfield and later near Petersburg on a farm. Having decided to come to California, in 1864 he made the voyage via Panama and secured employment on a farm in Marin county. The year 1865 found him in Mendocino county, where he rented a farm in Little Lake valley and in 1869 bought the ranch one-half mile north of Willits, where he remained until 1873, meanwhile engaging in the raising of grain and hay, cattle and hogs. When he sold the property in 1873 he bought the ranch of three hundred acres three miles southeast of Willits, where he carried on general farming for thirty-five years. When the Baptist Church was organized at Willits he became a charter member and both he and his wife are still active in its missionary and general benevolences. In political belief as well as in principle he is a Prohibitionist, strongly opposed to the manufacture and sale of intoxicating liquors. At the time of coming to Mendocino county he was unmarried. Domestic ties were established with his marriage at Willits, Sep- tember 10, 1868, to Miss Mary Elizabeth Gibson, a native of Stockton, Cal., but after 1858 a resident of Mendocino county, where she attended the public schools in Little Lake valley. Her father, Miles Gibson, a Virginian by birth and ancestry, crossed the plains with an ox-team and wagon in 1853 and set- tled at Stockton, but in 1858 removed to the northern part of the state and took up land in Little Lake valley. From that time until his death he engaged in farming. Seven children were born of the union of Mr. and Mrs. Simonson, namely : Mrs. Imma J. Henich, who died at Bremerton, Wash .; Mrs. Tilda M. Case, of Healdsburg ; Ole Martin, a farmer near Willits; Annie Helen, Mrs. Learch, of Vallejo ; Mrs. Lola Elizabeth Carner, of Willits ; Minnie Belle, who died at nine months; and William Graves, an employe of the Northwestern Pacific Railroad at Willits.
JAMES BUCHANAN ROGERS .- The old-time sturdiness of a race of pioneers stands out pre-eminently among the attributes of this early settler in Mendocino county. A resident of Willits and vicinity since 1876, he claims Missouri as his native commonwealth and was born near St. Joseph, November 22. 1856, being a son of N. P. and Sarah J. (Baker) Rogers, natives respectively of Holt and Atchison counties, Mo. When scarcely more than a mere lad the father started out to make his own way in the world and a search for cheap lands took him to Buchanan county, of which he was among the earliest set- 1lers. Securing a desirable tract, he began the task of clearing and cultivating
502
MENDOCINO AND LAKE COUNTIES
the land. For many years he labored incessantly in the work of improving the farm. As his sons became old enough to assist each in turn took up the burden of trying to advance the family prosperity. Finally, however, two of the sons decided to try their fortunes in the west. The course of their journey brought them to Mendocino county and they sent back favorable re- ports concerning Willits and vicinity. Determining to join them here, the father disposed of his property in Missouri and brought his family to Cali- fornia, where he continued to make his home in Mendocino county until his death in 1905. Meanwhile he served both as constable and deputy sheriff and for five years held a responsible position as steward at the county hospital near Ukiah. During his last years he engaged in farming near Willits and since his death his widow, now seventy-six (1914) years of age, has continued at the old homestead having still with her the two youngest children, Mollie and Robert F. The eldest son, Henry, is employed as engineer at the state hos- pital in Mendocino county. Mary died at seven years of age. The other sons are as follows: Hiram J., deceased ; Newton Jasper ; Benjamin Lee, deceased ; and James Buchanan. The last-named was twenty years of age at the time of coming to California. Immediately on his arrival he secured work in the red- woods. For fifteen years he spent much of the time at such employment, meantime investing his earnings in land.
The purchase of a ranch of three hundred and forty-three acres one and one-half miles west of Willits, in partnership with his father, gave Mr. Rogers his first personal participation in the development of his own property and, while continuing his work in the woods, he found time for the management of a flock of sheep. When these were sold he engaged in raising hogs and cattle, having the land well fenced so that stock could be pastured in different fields. Some of the tract has been in hay, which is cut and fed to the stock. For years he has made a specialty of buying, feeding and selling cattle. Nat- urally such an enterprise has its share of risks. At times profits have been large, while there have been seasons of low markets when the stock was handled at a loss ; bnt taken altogether he has found the cattle-fattening busi- ness fairly remunerative. On the organization of the Irvine & Muir Lumber Company he bought stock in the concern and has since been connected with the same. Since 1904 he has made his home in Willits, superintending the ranch from here and continuing to devote his attention largely to its super- vision. Politically he votes with the Democratic party, but has never desired office nor been a partisan in any sense of that word. At Willits during 1901 he married Mrs. Emma J. (English) Muir, a native of Bates county, Mo., but reared and educated in Sonoma county, Cal. When she was a mere infant she lost her mother by death and shortly afterward she was brought by an uncle and family across the plains to Sonoma county, to be placed in the care of her father, who had preceded other members of the family to Blucher val- ley. During girlhood she became the wife of Jeremiah F. Muir, a half-brother of Henry Muir and a stockman of San Luis Obispo county at the time of their marriage, but later a rancher of Mendocino county, where he died. Per- sonally Mr. and Mrs. Rogers possess strong traits of character. Honor and integrity they prize above worldly possessions. Considerate and thoughtful of others, just in every business transaction, they have won the friendship of the people of their community and are held in high esteem wherever known.
DL lax
505
MENDOCINO AND LAKE COUNTIES
DABNEY LINER COX .- Very early in the colonization of Virginia the Cox family became identified with its agricultural upbuilding, later following the trend of settlement across the mountains into Kentucky and thence into Missouri. Richard and Permelia (Gooch) Cox were born in Lincoln county, Ky., the latter of Scotch descent and a representative of one of America's pioneer families. The former was the son of a soldier in the war of 1812, who went from Kentucky to the south for the purpose of defending the gulf coast and there took part under General Jackson in the memorable engagement at New Orleans. In seeking new land whereon to engage in general farming Richard Cox removed from Kentucky to Missouri and took up a claim in Montgomery county, where his seventh child, Dabney Liner, was born September 12, 1846, and where the family endured the hard- ships incident to the development of a farm in a new country. There were eleven children in the family circle, but only three of these are now living.
Such were the hardships of life on a Missouri farm during the middle of the nineteenth century that Dabney L. Cox had only the most meager advantages. From earliest recollections he was trained to hard work. At the age of twenty-one he was free to leave home and work for himself and for some years he found employment with farmers of the home neighbor- hood. Coming to California in 1873, he spent a year in Sutter county and then operated a rented farm in Yolo county for seven years. During 1882 he arrived in Mendocino county and settled near Yorkville, but the following year he removed to Little Lake valley, where he bought a stock ranch five miles west of Willits. The tract embraced nine hundred and sixty acres suitable for the range of cattle and sheep and he at once began to specialize in stockraising, which he continued for twenty-six years. At times he owned as many as six hundred head of merino sheep.
When finally he began to feel himself physically unable to cope with the heavy demands upon his energies made by the care and management of large stock and land interests, Mr. Cox in 1909 rented the ranch and moved into Willits. Three years later he sold the large tract. Meanwhile he had bought one acre on South Main street and this he has equipped with a pump- ing plant so that it is possible to irrigate his garden of berries, vegetables and fruit. Much of his time is given to the care of the little place and the returns are larger than would be expected, but this is due to his vigilant supervision and his care in planting only the best varieties. Those competent to judge assert that he raises some of the finest strawberries in the state. Nor has he been less careful in the kinds of vegetables planted, for he believes that nothing pays but the best. In politics he has been a lifelong Democrat, but not active in public affairs. Through his marriage to Miss Julia E. Johnson, who was born, educated and married in Montgomery county, Mo., he is the father of one son, Roy Cecil, now engaged in the motorcycle business in San Francisco. Mrs. Cox is the daughter of James B. and Dorinda (Stone) John- son, born in Norfolk, Va., and St. Charles county, Mo., respectively. The father settled in Missouri, becoming a merchant tailor in Danville, and both parents died in Montgomery county. Of their family of six sons and six daughters (of whom Mrs. Cox was the fourth youngest) there are two sons and five daughters living. On the maternal side Mrs. Cox is descended from an old English family, while on the paternal side she comes from an Old Dominion family.
506
MENDOCINO AND LAKE COUNTIES
WILLIAM KIMBALL DODGE .-- There is an historic old homestead on Clover creek, at Upper Lake, occupied now by Will K. Dodge, whose maternal grandfather, William B. Elliott, built the first flour mill in Lake county at that location. "Uncle Billy" Elliott, as he was best known, filled an important place in the life of the community from the time of his removal to Upper Lake, where he was the third permanent settler, his son-in-law and daughter. Mr. and Mrs. Benjamin Dewell, having the honor of being the first white people to make their home at that point. They have all been looked up to as people of character, whose strength, thrift and self-reliance would have made them desirable citizens anywhere and were of particular service in establishing civilized conditions in this region, and the story of their lives and work is related elsewhere in this publication, only a few of the interesting facts regard- ing the Elliott homestead being included in this article.
William K. Dodge, popularly known as "Will" K. Dodge, was born August 6, 1884, at San Francisco, Cal., son of Samuel K. and Elizabeth Jane (Elliott) Dodge, the father a native of the state of Maine who came to California in the early days. At the time of his son William's birth he was running Bartlett Springs, and his wife proved a very able business assistant in the conduct of that place. Their home was at Upper Lake, and Samuel K. Dodge died there July 4, 1885. Mrs. Dodge had first married Charles Perkinson, a Lake county pioneer, by whom she had two children, a son that died and a daughter, Clara Mabel (Mrs. Wilson), of Fort Bragg, Mendocino county, with whom the mother now makes her home. Of the three children born to her union with Mr. Dodge one son and one daughter are deceased, William K. being the only one to reach maturity. After Mr. Dodge's death she became the wife of Henry Wilson, who is now deceased. She was born December 15, 1841. There were ro children born to the third marriage.
Following the death of his father Will K. Dodge went with his mother to the home ranch of her father, William B. Elliott, and there grew to man- hood. He had a public school education, attending grammar school at Upper Lake, and has been familiar with the ordinary duties of ranching from boy- hood. Most of his time has been given to his work in the government service since 1909, in the fall of which year he began working as a guard. On Octo- ber 25, 1910, he took the civil service examination for the position of assistant forest ranger. On March 1, 1911, he was reappointed guard, and on May 15th of that year received his appointment as assistant ranger. serving in that capacity continuously since. He is assigned to District Number Three, Cali- fornia National Forest.
On March 5, 1914, Mr. Dodge settled with his family on the ranch where he grew up, and which is now owned by his mother. It was originally a home- stead tract of one hundred and sixty acres. William B. Elliott settled there in November, 1854, and brought with him from Sonoma county the old mill- stones now lying in the yard at Mr. Dodge's home, the first stones used in a gristmill in Lake county, and built a flour mill soon after his arrival, the waters of Clover creek being diverted to supply the mill race and turn the waterwheel. The old mill has been torn down and the channel of the mill race filled up, being now the site of the family garden, and the stone buhrs are the only remaining relics of an industrial establishment once of the highest importance in the locality. Mr. Elliott was a very progressive man, possess- ing foresight and good judgment among his other substantial qualities, and
507
MENDOCINO AND LAKE COUNTIES
the house now occupied by his grandson and family, though built in 1855, is still in such good condition that it testifies to the thoroughness with which he believed in doing things. It was probably the first frame house to be erected in Lake county, certainly the best dwelling in the county at the time, and the old mill stood near by. This property lies in the northwest quarter of section six, township fifteen, range nine west, Mount Diablo meridian. The soil is of the best in the neighborhood, and though the place was allowed to run down for some years it has all the possibilities of a beautiful home and profitable farm, and Mr. Dodge is planning to develop it systematically though gradually to a most productive condition. On the banks of the creek are a number of flourishing bay trees whose beautiful shade seems like a benediction upon the descendants of the old pioneer, whose remains now repose in the cemetery located on his original homestead and whose spirit is still an inspiration to the generation which inhabits his home. The large locust near the house was planted in 1865.
In 1902 Mr. Dodge married Miss Mabel Alley, daughter of Andrew and Mary (Richardson) Alley and a granddaughter of Andrew J. Alley, one of the early settlers of Lake county. Five children have been born to this mar- riage, namely : Will K., Jr., Edwin Lee, Jack LeRoy, Clare Ridley and Wilda Juanita. The four sons are strong, promising boys, and it will not be many years before they will be able to give material assistance to their father in the operation of his land. Mrs. Dodge is the daughter of a pioneer and a capable helpmate for her ambitious husband, and much of the management of the ranch will necessarily be in her hands when her husband is absent during the summer months performing his duties as ranger. Tall, athletic and powerful, Mr. Dodge seems well fitted, physically and mentally, for the work he has chosen, and in which he has already made a creditable record for intelligent attention to his responsible duties.
GEORGE H. VOSS .- From the age of sixteen years, when he decided to enter the drug business, Mr. Voss has been familiar with pharmacy in all of its details and has risen to rank among the capable and efficient druggists of Lake county, where since 1904 he has been identified with the establish- ment formerly known as the Owl drug store and at that time owned by Mrs. Kate Craig, of Woodland. The interest of this progressive business man in Lakeport is of no desultory order, but appears in the promotion of enter- prises and measures that have aided in the civic and material advancement. A substantial man of business and a member of the world's noble army of productive workers, he exemplifies the aggressive spirit that is developing the west and that eventually will bring Lake county into the position which its resources justify. In partnership with his brother-in-law, J. F. Trimble. now a ranchman at Morgan Hill, Santa Clara county, he bought the business from Mrs. Craig in 1904. At the expiration of two years the business of Voss & Trimble was acquired by the senior member, who now conducts the store un- der his own name and as the sole proprietor.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.