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 68

Author: Carpenter, Aurelius O., 1836-; Millberry, Percy H., 1875- joint author
Publication date: 1914
Publisher: Los Angeles, Cal., Historic record company
Number of Pages: 1090

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 68
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 68

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The marriage of John A. Blosser was solemnized at Willits May 17, 1888, and united him with Miss Ora Morgan, who was born at Fort Bragg, Cal., received a fair education. taught school for two years and then became a student in the Kingston Conservatory of Music at San Jose. For years she was organist in the Methodist Episcopal Church at Willits, and here she has taught music practically ever since her marriage. There are two children in the family, Roy and Hazel. The daughter is a graduate of the San Jose State Normal and a teacher in the Ukiah schools. The son, educated at the University of California, is now engaged as instructor in manual training in the Santa Rosa high school. Mrs. Blosser was an only daughter and had one brother, Lauriston Morgan, former president of the Mendocino Discount Bank, and now deceased. The parents, Capt. John and Eunice (Latham) Morgan, were natives of New London, Conn., and died in Mendocino county, the latter in 1900, the former in 1895 at the age of seventy-five. During the eventful year of 1849 Captain Morgan came around Cape Horn as master of his own vessel. Later he owned three vessels in the coasting trade. Upon retiring from a sea-faring career he settled at Fort Bragg as superintendent of the Noyo mills. In 1876 he became a pioneer of Willits and bought the Little Lake flour mills, which he operated until 1893 and then retired from business affairs. For years he was identified with the Masonic Order. Men- docino county owed its agricultural association largely to his progressive and determined efforts. The fine race track was made under his leadership and the grounds were developed attractively through his labors, acting in co-operation with other men of progressive spirit and an earnest desire to expand the interests of the county.

DANIEL J. BLOSSER .- It is conceded that the majority of people have a hobby, but Mr. Blosser confesses to having two pronounced weak- nesses, one for music and the other for hunting. Like all the members of the Blosser family he has a natural talent for music and without special instruc- tion gained a thorough knowledge of the art while yet a mere lad. When the Blosser band was organized during the '70s he played the first B flat cornet, and later he played the same instrument in Blosser's orchestra, with other members of the family developing a musical organization that stood at the very head of its class for the locality and day. There are many pioneers who still aver that the bands of the present day cannot compare in melody with the famous old organization established and maintained by this family. While hunting calls for qualities entirely different from those associated with the art of music, he has been no less successful as a sportsman than as a musician. In the earlier days when game was more plentiful than now, he has shot as many as three panthers in one day. He has killed many bears, while the number of wild cats that fell beneath his unerring aim is so large that no record of the same was ever kept.

Music and hunting have been the diversions of a life of great activity as a farmer, stock-raiser, thresherman and land-owner. From the age of seven years Mr. Blosser has been identified with Little Lake valley and the village of Willits, but he is a native of San Joaquin county and was born near French Camp February 13, 1853. He recalls the removal of the family from that section of the state to Mendocino county and the rough, unpromising aspect of the new settlement, which had been made desolate by depredations of the Indians during the latter part of the '50s. While yet a small boy he began to assist his father, Jacob Blosser, in the improving of a ranch and the raising

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of grain and stock. It was not possible for him to attend school with any regularity, although for about three months of each year he was a pupil in a rude shack with a puncheon floor and board benches and with text-books as crude as the furniture itself. Natural aptitude for reading enabled him to acquire a fair education without the aid of the schools, and he is now well posted in matters of general importance.

Four of the Blosser brothers, viz., John, Tobias, William and Daniel, took up homesteads and pre-emption claims a few miles from Willits and during young manhood worked together in building up a cattle and sheep business. By pre-emption and purchase they acquired twenty-two hundred acres in one body. When the property was finally divided in 1902, Daniel J. sold his interest to William, and since then he has devoted his attention to his real estate and loans and to the work of director in the Willits Realty Company. Although his life is far from being an existence of leisure (for his interests are varied and demand considerable attention), his activities are far less strenuous and exacting now than in the days when he and his brothers owned as high as sixteen hundred head of sheep, a herd of cattle and a large tract of hay and grain land. The threshing of the grain was done for years with horse-power machine, but this was replaced eventually by a steam engine and separator, which the brothers continued to operate until the advent of the railroad. In Willits, where he owns property and makes his home, Mr. Blosser served for eight years as a member of the board of trustees and meanwhile gave the most efficient assistance to movements for the welfare of the town. For thirty years or more he has been a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and during much of that time he has been honored with the office of trustee. In common with others of his name he was reared to an implicit faith in the principles of the Republican party, and to these he still adheres, although being in sympathy with the policy of the Progressives during recent state and national campaigns.

GEORGE WASHINGTON GRANT .- Dangerous experiences on the frontier and on the battlefields of the Civil war filled the younger years of Mr. Grant, who now, at the age of only a little less than four score years, is enjoying life at his Hopland home across the river in Old Town. Notwith- standing his very active life and his present advanced age he is robust and hearty, a rugged constitution and stalwart frame having enabled him to endure hardships without injury and the privations of war without detriment. Born in Harrison county, Ind., November 6, 1836, he was reared in Henry county, Iowa, from the age of four years, meanwhile attending country schools and Mount Pleasant Academy. At the age of twenty, having com- pleted a year of academy study, he started for Colorado in the spring of 1858, to join the rush to Pike's Peak, crossing the plains to Cherry creek with ox- teams. Going to Clear creek he engaged in mining in the hope of finding gold in the claims he located, but was not very successful. In the fall of 1859 he came across the mountains to Reese river, Nevada, and followed mining there until 1861. Just as soon as he learned that war had been declared be- tween the north and south he returned to Iowa in the summer of 1861, making the journey on the back of a pony he had bought on the Reese river in Nevada.

Immediately after his arrival in Iowa at the old home, Mr. Grant offered his services to the Union as a private and was assigned to Company I, Four-

G. W. Grant

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teenth Iowa Infantry, which he accompanied to the front and in all of its marches and engagements. More than once he was in peril of his life. At the battle of Shiloh he was wounded and falling into the hands of the Con- federates was made a prisoner, but was released on parol from Libby Prison after nine months. He served until the close of the war and received his honorable discharge, being mustered out in November, 1865, as sergeant. On the expiration of the war he returned to Rome, Iowa, and took up farming in co-operation with his father. For one year he also served as justice of the peace in Henry county. Leaving Iowa in 1873 he came to California and, attracted to Ukiah by reason of favorable reports from eastern friends here located, he established himself in Mendocino county, where he is a popular citizen and a leading officer of Kearsarge Post No. 179, G. A. R., at Ukiah. Shortly after his arrival in the county he rented a ranch of eighty acres and engaged in raising grain and hops. Two years later he removed from that · farm to the Stone ranch of two hundred and seventy-five acres, where again he specialized in grain. Three prosperous years were spent on that property. Next he removed to Hopland valley and for twelve years leased a ranch which he devoted to grain and stock-raising. Upon retiring from farm pursuits lie bought a general mercantile store at Hopland and this he still owns, together with the lot upon which the building stands.

At Rome, Henry county, Iowa, Mr. Grant was married to Theresa B. Burdette, a native of that state and county, and who died in Hopland March 19, 1911. They became the parents of nine children, of whom eight grew to mature years. Warren Columbus is a farmer at Ukiah; Francis Marion died in August, 1911; George W. died at the age of twenty-two; Mary A., Mrs. Harris, died in Hopland; Jincy, Mrs. McNulty, resides in San Francisco, Horace G. in Cloverdale, Orville with his father, and James B. resides in Oakland. Through a long period of residence in the county Mr. Grant has witnessed many changes and has been a personal contributor to all tasks of development, for he believes that permanent progress is impossible without the willing co-operation of the entire population and he freely gives of his time, means and influence for the promotion of the general welfare.

HENRY B. MUIR .- The genealogical records of the Muir family indicate an identification with Scottish history through a long period of wars, revolu- tions and religious persecutions, and in eras of peace or of war they ever proved loyal to country and stanch in adherence to the cause of justice. With the early colonization of America the family found root in the new world, where several successive generations have been efficient contributors to national progress. Following the tide of migration toward the setting sun, one branch of the family was transplanted from Kentucky to Missouri and thence to California. The founder of the name in the far west, Presley T. Muir, was born in Kentucky in 1816 and during 1823 went to Missouri in company with other members of the family. To him belonged the distinction of helping to make the first brick ever manufactured in Kansas City. However, it was not to the brick industry, but to agriculture that he devoted his attention through- out life.

Early in the '50s, attracted by reports concerning the mining and other opportunities of the west, Mr. Muir joined an expedition that crossed the plains to California. After a brief tour of inspection he returned to Missouri, only to return to the Pacific coast in 1856 with the intention of becoming a

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permanent resident. Settling in Eldorado county, he married there in 1857; engaged in mining and farming and became a man of some influence in the community. From that part of the state he removed to Solano county and remained for two years, thence came nearer to the ocean in Sonoma county, where he resumed general ranching. The fall of 1867 found him a newcomer in Mendocino county, where he leased land in the Coyote valley near Ukiah. The following year he changed his place of residence to Willits, where he secured a tract of raw land near the village and entered upon an honorable and influential association with the locality that terminated only with his death in 1887. For many years he served as a justice of the peace at Willits. Movements for the benefit of the county received his stanch support and he was regarded as one of the most public-spirited citizens of the locality. The Grange and Good Templars were organizations to which he was deeply de- voted, yet he did not limit his activities to their growth; on the other hand, he was ever willing to aid any order or movement tending to the benefit of the people. His wife survived him for years, passing away in 1904. Born in Missouri, she bore the maiden name of Eliza Jane Baker and was the mother of ten children, namely: Henry B., who was born in Solano county, Cal., in 1859, and whose name introduces this article; Pressley, deceased; James L. ; Mrs. Margaret E. McMacken ; Austin J .; Mrs. Emma Rupe; Wil- liam M .; Mrs. Iva De Camp; Mrs. Della Upp (deceased), and Lewis E.

Although his birthplace was near Placerville, Eldorado county, the earliest recollections of Henry B. Muir are associated with Sonoma county, where his father was a leading farmer of Blucher valley. From the age of eight years he has lived in Mendocino county, where his connections with business enterprises have made him a citizen of great prominence and influ- ence. During 1879 he entered the store of Lambert & Simonson at Willits. After seven months as a clerk he was admitted to the firm. During October, 1880, the business was sold to C. A. Irvine, with whom Mr. Muir continued for a few months in order to familiarize him with the business. Early in 1881 he removed to San Luis Obispo county, but not being pleased with prospects there he returned to Willits on New Year's of 1882 and on the 1st of Feb- ruary formed a partnership with C. A. Irvine, the two having continued together ever since. The business of Irvine & Muir was incorporated in 1891 and in 1903 it was merged into the Irvine & Muir Lumber Company, of which Mr. Muir has been president and general manager ever since its organization. This is one of the largest institutions in the county and carries on a general mercantile and lumber business, owning a department store at Willits, one at Potter Valley and a third at Irmulco, besides owning a controlling interest in the Round Valley Commercial Company at Covelo. In addition the firm owns a large sawmill at Two Rock near Willits and another at Irmulco and . their plants turn out large quantities of lumber, tan bark and split timber.

Since his advent into the commercial arena of Mendocino county Mr. Muir has organized a number of successful companies, in addition to that of the Irvine & Muir Lumber Company, admittedly one of the most flourishing institutions in this part of the state. Associated with Messrs. Sam and Martin Baechtel in 1887 he organized the H. B. Muir Company. During 1894 he formed a partnership with F. M. Mason of Ukiah, under the firm title of Mason & Muir. This concern engaged in the lumber business and in general contracting for two years, at the expiration of which period the partnership

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was dissolved. During 1899 Mr. Muir promoted the organization of the Needle Rock Company, of which he was chosen the first president and has since been the only incumbent of that office. Since 1905, when he organized the Sunset Trading and Land Company, he has been president of the concern, which deals in tan bark and also engages in the buying and selling of land. In addition he was one of the incorporators of the Eel River Power and Irrigation Com- pany, the name of which was later changed to the Snow Mountain Water and Power Company. When a movement was started looking toward the establishment of a new bank in Ukiah he interested himself in the project and when the Commercial Bank came into existence he was promptly chosen vice-president of the institution, which office he now fills, besides being a member of the board of directors. He is interested in the promotion of the Little Lake Land Company for the purpose of buying and sub-dividing Men- docino lands, in which success has been achieved to a remarkable extent ; also in the Willits Telephone & Telegraph Company, which built and now owns the telephone system in Mendocino county north of Willits. This com- pany was organized for the purpose of furnishing facilities to the citizens in northern Mendocino county at cost, as all profits above six per cent are used in extending and improving the system. Interest in the development and progress of Willits led him to accept the office of town trustee and in that capacity he proved as painstaking, resourceful and efficient as in the manage- ment of his private business affairs. In fraternal relations he has been identi- fied with Willits Lodge No. 365, F. & A. M., Willits Lodge of Independent Order of Odd Fellows and the Rebekahs. By his marriage in 1883 to Miss Emma Hargrave, a native of Mendocino county, three children were born, but the only survivor is Ora E., wife of Max Thelen, of Berkeley, a member of the California state railroad commission.

JESSE C. DUFFIELD .- The manager of the hardware department of the Irvine & Muir Lumber Company at Willits has lived in California since 1885 and in Mendocino county since 1901. A native of Kansas, he was born at Walton, Harvey county, July 8, 1874, and is a son of W. H. and Sarah J. (Ogden) Duffield, natives of Illinois, the latter now a resident of Willits. The father, who served in an Illinois regiment during the Civil war and received serious wounds in the service of his country, afterward took up land on the frontier of Kansas and soon became engaged in general merchandising at Walton. After many years in the same town, during 1885 he brought his family to the west and settled at Arbuckle, Colnsa county, where he carried on a general store. Coming to Willits in 1901, he started a mercantile store on Main street. Later he conducted a similar establishment at Ukiah, where he died in 1906. His fraternities were the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, Ancient Order of United Workmen and Grand Army of the Republic. Sur- viving him are the widow and four children, namely: Mrs. Hattie Watten- burg, of Laurel Dell, Lake county ; Mrs. Myrtle Saxon, of Willits; Jesse C., of Willits; and his twin sister, Mrs. Bessie Tibbitts, of Los Angeles. The only son in the family began to assist his father in the mercantile business at a very early age and it was not until 1903 that he engaged in any occupation other than merchandising. From that year until 1907 he was employed as airbrake inspector for the Northwestern Railroad. During the fall of 1907 he became manager of the hardware department for the Irvine & Muir Lumber Company and to this responsible position he has since given his attention. The residence erected by Mr. Duffield on North street is presided over

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hospitably by his wife, formerly Miss Nettie Bahn, who was born in Rock Tree valley, Mendocino county, and is a daughter of Fred Bahn, a well-known pioneer. In childhood she attended the schools of Willits and laid the foun- dation there of an excellent education. In religion she is associated with the Baptist denomination. The four children in the family are William, Ernest, Veva and Lawrence. Politically a Republican, in 1911 Mr. Duffield was ap- pointed city clerk to fill a vacancy in the office and in April of the following year he was duly elected to the position, which since he has filled with char- acteristic efficiency and tact. His fraternities are the Moose, Knights of the Maccabees and Knights of Pythias at Willits, in which he has been not only an active worker, but at times an officer. A man of much worth, he is recog- nized as one of the leading citizens of Willits and his popularity and promi- nence are the result of long association with interests tending to promote the local progress.

JAMES ALFRED FORD .- Persistent devotion to agricultural affairs has brought Mr. Ford into prominence among the progressive farmers of Mendocino county, where, although not a native, (for he was born in San Benito county, the date of his birth being December 25, 1856), he has made his home continuously since 1864. He is the son of William Ford, a pioneer farmer and ex-county treasurer, whose sketch will be found elsewhere in this volume. At the time of coming here with his parents James Alfred was a boy of eight years, scarcely beyond the first grade in the grammar schools, and he continued to be a pupil in local schools until he had completed the course of study outlined in the Central district. Meanwhile he had given the vacation months to farm work, so that he was well qualified to manage a ranch while yet a mere youth. As an assistant to his father he had charge of much of the manual work on the old homestead, relieving the older man of the heavier tasks and thus being an important factor in the prompt prose- cution of the seasonal round of plowing, cultivating and harvesting.

Leaving the old home ranch in 1878, Mr. Ford bought sixteen hundred acres in the upper end of Redwood valley and there he engaged in sheep raising until the sale of the property in 1894. The place is still known as the Ford ranch. After an interval of work at teaming, he rented land and resumed general farming. During 1903 he bought two hundred and forty acres in the Redwood valley, about five miles north of Calpella, and here he has since engaged in hop culture and stock-raising. A portion of the prop- erty is bottom land, the balance on the bench. Being convinced that a part of the property could be utilized for hops advantageously, he planted thirty- two acres in that crop and the results justified the venture. Ninety acres are well adapted to general farm products. On the farm are to be seen a good grade of cattle and a fine drove of hogs, for he finds the raising of stock a most important adjunct to general farming.

The present Mrs. Ford was formerly Mrs. Hattie (Williams) Hayes, and was born in Anderson valley, the daughter of George Williams, a pioneer of Mendocino county. By a former marriage Mr. Ford had one child, Alfred LeRoy, who assists him on the ranch. The son married Miss Lulu Winsby and has two children, Richard Alfred and Desmond Stewart. By her mar- riage to Mr. Hayes Mrs. Ford has two children, Orville S. and Hudson B. Mr. Ford's progressive ideas have made him a valuable factor in the up- building of Redwood valley, where all public enterprises receive the impetus of his sustaining encouragement and wise co-operation. In politics he favors

& a ford

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Democratic principles, but has taken no part in public affairs, and at no time has he been a candidate for local office, although abundantly worthy of any position within the gift of his fellow-citizens.

CHARLES WILLIAM BRANSCOMB .- Having passed the greater part of his life in Sonoma and Mendocino counties Mr. Branscomb is familiar with this portion of the state and maintains a just pride in the fact that his parents were early settlers and honored farmers. During boyhood he lived on the ranch in Sonoma county, where he was born May 20, 1860. He is a son of Benjamin Franklin (who crossed the plains to California) and Jane (Taylor) Branscomb, who were married in Sonoma, where they resided until 1880. At this time they settled in Jackson valley, Mendocino county, where Mr. Brans- comb owns a hotel and runs the post office called "Branscomb" after him. Of their ten children Charles William is the eldest, and though the schools of his youth were inferior to those of the present day, yet he was able to secure a good education and was qualified for the responsibilities of business. Upon reaching the age of twenty-one he left home to make his own way in the world. At first he went to Eastern Oregon and found employment in the herding of sheep. In the three years of his continuance as a herder he saved a fair proportion of his small wages. On returning to Sonoma county he became an apprentice to the trade of blacksmith with R. Spottswood & Son, with whom he continued for perhaps three years and until he had obtained a thorough knowledge of the occupation.

The first location of Mr. Branscomb in Mendocino county was at Layton- ville, where he opened a blacksmith shop. The town was small and he was a stranger. For a time trade was dull and the outlook unpromising, but eventually he built up a profitable trade, which induced him to remain in the town for a period of twelve years. On selling out his interests there he turned his energies to other lines of work. From boyhood he had been interested in the stock business. With a desire to embark in the industry he rented a large range and purchased a herd of cattle, but at the end of five years, during which a succession of very severe winters had caused him heavy losses, he disposed of his stock. Coming to Covelo in 1904, he became manager of four hundred and forty acres of valley land owned by C. Hanson, with whom he continued for four years in a very responsible position. Since resigning that place he has engaged in the blacksmith trade at Covelo, where he operates a shop fitted with a complete modern equipment. His skill in the trade is well known. A customer once gained is usually retained, for the quality of the work is his most permanent advertisement.

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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 68

Author: Carpenter, Aurelius O., 1836-; Millberry, Percy H., 1875- joint author Publication date: 1914 Publisher: Los Angeles, Cal., Historic record company Number of Pages: 1090

Author: Carpenter, Aurelius O., 1836-; Millberry, Percy H., 1875- joint author
Publication date: 1914
Publisher: Los Angeles, Cal., Historic record company
Number of Pages: 1090