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 69
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 69
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The marriage of Mr. Branscomb was solemnized October 3, 1886, and united him with Miss Melvina Middleton, who was born in Laytonville, Mendocino county, and has been a lifelong resident of this portion of the state. Their family comprises three daughters, Etta Rachel (Mrs. Carner, of Covelo), Florence Estelle and Reta Faith. The family are identified with the Baptist Church, in which Mr. Branscomb ministers as a deacon and to which he has been as generous a contributor as his means would permit. In other worthy movements besides those of the church he has been interested, active and gen- erous. Loyalty to his native commonwealth is one of his leading attributes and he is particularly devoted to the welfare of the two coast counties where so much of his life has been passed and where he is known as one of the ยท capable business men of Round valley.
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CHARLES A. IRVINE .- No slight precedence as a business man of Willits is held by Charles A. Irvine, member of the Irvine & Muir Lumber Company, Incorporated, and an honored pioneer of 1859 in Mendocino county. Many states of this nation and many countries across the ocean have con- tributed to the upbuilding of California, and not the least of these is New York, which Mr. Irvine claims as his native commonwealth, his birth having occurred in Cochecton, Sullivan county, November 5, 1834. While his parents, William and Emily (Mitchell) Irvine, were both natives of Sullivan county, the family is of English and Scotch-Irish descent, the grandfather, Charles Irvine, coming from the North of Ireland to Sullivan county, N. Y. The paternal great-grandfather, Oliver Calkin, and the maternal great-grand- father, Capt. Bezeleel Tyler, served in the Revolutionary war and fought in the Indian battle at Lockawaxen, in Sullivan county, the latter being killed while in command. William Irvine, the father of Charles A., was engaged in farming and lumbering, rafting down the Delaware, a hazardous undertaking particularly over the difficult rapids, and while he was manufacturing lumber at his saw-mill in Cochecton he always steered the raft himself. He spent his last days in Minnesota.
Charles A. Irvine had the advantages of the public schools, afterward at- tended the Union Academy in Damascus, Pa., where he completed the course. He learned the lumber business with his father from a boy, and in 1852, when the family moved to Madison county, N. Y., he aided his father in his mer- chandise business, continuing there until 1857. The era of his young man- hood was witnessing the numerical upbuilding of the west and the trans- formation of prairie land into cultivated farms. Attracted by hope of material advance, he joined the westward march of colonization and went to Iowa in 1857, but a brief sojourn in that state did not prove satisfactory on account of ague. In 1859 he started for Pike's Peak, but met so many returning that he decided to come on to California with his comrades. In this state he has since lived, with the exception of three years, 1863-66, when on account of his health he spent a protracted period in Minnesota where his father resided.
Noyo, one of the first ports established in Mendocino county and, indeed, one of the earliest north of San Francisco, had just been opened when Mr. Irvine landed there in 1859. A lumber company had inaugurated a large business and he easily found employment as bookkeeper in their office at the mouth of the Noyo river. There he remained until he went to Minnesota. On coming back to Mendocino county in 1867 he entered the employ of Simp- son & White, merchants at Cahto, as a bookkeeper, which position he filled for ten years. Meanwhile he served from 1874 to 1876 as county clerk and during that time maintained at home in Ukiah. Perceiving a favorable opening in the new town of Willits, in 1880 he came hither and here he still resides. The three decades and more of his identification with the town have been fruitful of large business enterprises and civic energy. From 1880 until 1882 he conducted a general store alone, but in the latter year he admitted to partnership Henry B. Muir. In 1887 he purchased the interest of his partner, to whom, in conjunction with Samuel S. Baechtel, he sold out in the fall of the same year. From 1889 to 1891 he engaged in the real-estate business at Ukiah, from which place he went to San Francisco to engage in the commission business. Returning to Willits in 1896, he and Henry B. Muir again became partners in mercantile enterprises. During 1901 the business was incorporated as the Irvine & Muir Company and two years later, a lumber business having
Ancia Umreassi James
Andreans
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been added in 1902, the title was changed to the Irvine & Muir Lumber Company, under which name one of the largest mercantile houses of the county is now conducted. Included in the company's possessions are two mills and lumber tracts in the red woods, one at Irmulco, eleven miles from Willits, and one six miles southwest of town, as well as the department store, well stocked with goods of every description, which are displayed to customers by attentive and efficient clerks. Mr. Irvine has been secretary of the com- pany since its organization. Besides his large holdings as a member of the lumber corporation, in 1884 he acquired the Simpson ranch of nine hundred acres near Blue Rock and found pleasure in developing the same as a stock farm. In the furthering of his enterprises he has gained prestige as one of the substantial and representative men of this section of the state.
As early as 1872 Mr. Irvine became connected with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and he is still a member of Cahto Lodge, of which he is past grand. He was a charter member of San Hedron Encampment at Ukiah, organized in 1875, of which he was past chief patriarch, and is a member of the subsidiary order of Rebekahs. His fraternal associations are enlarged through membership in the Ancient Order of United Workmen. Politically he is a Republican, his first presidential vote being cast for John C. Fremont, and he has been an active member of the county committee for many years. By his marriage to Sophronia Roosa, a native of Bethel, Sullivan county, N. Y., he is the father of three children, namely : Mary Estelle, Mrs. R. L. Shimmin, of Willits; Charles Alonzo, with the Irvine & Muir Lumber Company ; and Emily, who married R. E. Shimmin.
JAMES ANDREANI .- A descendant of a fine old Italian family, and for many years a well-known resident of Mendocino county, James Andreani, now of Fort Bragg, is one of the splendid pioneers of California, and a type of citizen that has been instrumental in making the state a power in the nation, and a Mecca for travelers the world over. He is a native of Italy, having been born at Buttogno in the Province of Novara, July 25, 1853. His boyhood days were passed on a farm, and his education was received in the public schools of his native district. In 1879 he came to Nevada, locating at Eureka, where for four years he engaged in the making of charcoal, meeting with fair success.
It was in April, 1883, that Mr. Andreani first came to California, and since that time he has made Mendocino county his home. He entered the employ of the L. E. White Lumber Company at Whitesboro and was engaged in making ties, posts and shingle bolts for a period of nine years. For about three years he was with the same company at Greenwood, after which he removed to Navarro, having been given a position with the Navarro Lumber Company, where he worked for two years until they discontinued business. He then made ties and posts on contract for four years in the same vicinity. In October of 1897 he located at Fort Bragg, since which time he has made this flourishing little city his home, and here he expects to remain. He bought the old Piedmont hotel on Redwood avenue and McPherson street when he first settled here and has conducted it since then. In the spring of 1914 he completed the building of the new Piedment Hotel on Main street, which is a modern structure in every respect and a splendid addition to the city, and which was opened June 1, 1914. The building is 50x88 feet, three stories in height, and contains all the latest modern improvements in hotel construc- tion, and in furnishings and equipment is thoroughly up-to-date in all respects.
The marriage of Mr. Andreani took place in the Province of Novara,
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Italy, May 6, 1875, uniting him with Miss Lucy Fornara of that place. Mrs. Andreani has borne her husband three children, two sons and a daughter. Of these the daughter, Kate, is now Mrs. Benedetti, whose home is in Fort Bragg; of the sons, Louis is a contractor and builder, and I. J. a general merchandise broker, handling also real estate and insurance, and both are doing business in Fort Bragg.
Aside from his business interests Mr. Andreani is well known throughout the county for his splendid qualities as a citizen. He is a Republican in poli- tics, but he has never been actively associated with the affairs of his party, although well informed and an independent thinker. He is a member of the Druids and of the Royal Arch. Before coming to California Mr. Andreani followed farming as an occupation, but other interests have claimed his atten- tion since he came west, and have been so satisfactory from a financial stand- point that the lure of the land has passed him by. Since taking up a permanent residence in Fort Bragg, he has been interested in all that pertained to the welfare of the community, and has made for himself a permanent place in the affairs of the city.
CHARLES LYMAN HEMENWAY .- The honor of being a native son of California belongs to Mr. Hemenway, who was born in Sonoma county near Santa Rosa November 28, 1879, and is the son of Marcus L. and Loretta (Hill) Hemenway, natives of Massachusetts and Minnesota, respectively. When he was five years of age the family removed to Windsor, Sonoma county, and there he attended school for the first time. In 1887 removal was made to Mendocino county and here he was a pupil in a country school near Orr's Hot Springs, but in 1888 his parents settled in Caspar, removing thence to Mendo- cino city, where he completed the studies of the grammar schools. During the fall of 1896 the family moved to Round valley and here he worked for a rancher for one year, receiving in return for his work little more than his board. After a year he went over to the coast and found employment with the Caspar Lumber Company. Later he had similar work with a lumber concern in Del Norte county, but after a year he returned to Round Valley and settled at Covelo, where ever since he has made his home. Prior to that time he had been somewhat of a rover, not content to remain in any one place permanently or to follow the same occupation, but after coming to Covelo and taking up blacksmithing he liked the location and the work and has since expressed no desire for a change.
As an apprentice in the shop of O. Person for two years at $10 per month, Mr. Hemenway gained his first knowledge of blacksmithing. From the first he displayed an aptitude for the trade and in the allied industry of repairing and kindred mechanical work he was particularly successful. Since purchas- ing the business from his former employer in 1901 he has managed it with intelligence and sagacity. During 1903 he bought the lot on which the shop is now located. In addition he owns eighty acres of land three miles east of town which he has placed under cultivation and improved with fences and buildings, twenty acres being in alfalfa. An important adjunct of the shop is the machine and automobile repair department, where work is done that calls for expertness and skill. As a mechanic he has few superiors in this section of the state, while his knowledge of automobiles, beginning with the time that he built and put together a two-cylinder machine of his own (the first ever seen in the valley), enables him to repair cars of every kind. For several years he has owned and operated an automobile stage line between
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Covelo and Dos Rios. Possessing considerable skill in invention, he has patented a four-wheel drive and a four-wheel steer for automobiles which he has demonstrated a success with a working model and has patented a quickly adjustable monkey wrench that adjusts without a screw. It is the concensus of opinion that the latter is a most perfect piece of mechanism, and for it he has refused an offer of thousands of dollars. He has also invented and patented a wire stretcher which can be operated by one man, which is also a big success. While his time has been given closely to his blacksmith and repair shop and the development of his patents, he has kept posted concerning public affairs and has been stanch in his allegiance to the Republican party. Fraternally he is connected with the Woodmen of the World. His marriage October 10, 1901, united him with Miss Lillian May Williamson, a native of California born in Round valley, the danghter of Lindley and Mary J. (Light- foot) Williamson, one of the honored and influential pioneer families of Mendo- cino county. Their family consists of two children, Venus and Emerald.
LOUIS H. CARY .- Protected on the east by the mountains and fronting on the east shore of beautiful Clear Lake, the extensive Cary ranch of thirteen hundred acres is ideally situated and abundantly endowed with natural advan- tages, whether from a practical or an artistic standpoint. The present owner bought this large property in 1911 and settled on it the same year, and from the reputation he had made previously as a producer of prime fruits there is every reason to believe that it will soon be one of the famous places in this region so promising to the horticulturist. For twenty years he was engaged in fruit growing in Placer county, this state, where for years he occupied a foremost position among the most progressive men in that industry, which he helped to develop not only in respect to the raising of its products, but also in the solution of the various commercial problems which play so large a part in the complete success of the orchardist's efforts. Though he has passed most of his life in California, Mr. Cary is a native of Wisconsin, born at Fond du Lac August 31, 1865.
Dr. Luther Harvey Cary, his father, was for years one of the prominent figures in political circles in California, having come to the Pacific coast in the year 1868, after a long and honorable service on the Union side during the Civil war. A member of an eastern family of excellent lineage, he had settled at Fond du Lac in 1847 and built the first frame house at that place, where he practiced as a physician and surgeon until the breaking out of the Rebellion. Entering the army as examining physician, he became one of the head surgeons for the Wisconsin and Illinois troops, gave notable service in the field through- out the war, and became a warm personal friend of General Grant, for whom he always retained the highest admiration. In 1868 he came out to California, and settling at Oakland became collector of internal revenue on the Pacific coast. Many public honors were shown him, and he displayed a conscientious regard for the wishes of those who gave evidence of their confidence in his ability and trustworthiness, filling every position to which he was chosen with credit. He represented Alameda county in the state legislature, and attained an influential position in the course of an active and thoroughly useful career. He practiced his profession as resident physician at San Quentin for some time. Dr. Cary was on terms of close friendship with E. H. Pardee and other notable men of his time. He lived to the age of sixty-four years, and his wife, Arvilla (Ferguson), died two years ago, at Oakland. Of their
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children two grew to maturity, Florence Eugenia and Louis H., the former now the wife of Joseph Ziegenfuss, of Oakland.
Louis H. Cary was brought to California shortly after his father settled here, making the trip by way of Panama, and he passed his early years at Oakland, where his education was begun in the public school. Later he was a pupil at the Hopkins academy, and when a young man entered the United States mail service, for three years running between San Francisco and Dem- ing, N. Mex. He had the distinction of being the youngest postal clerk in the country. His next work was way down in old Mexico, at Tehuantepec, where he was engaged with his brother-in-law, Mr. Ziegenfuss, for eleven months, getting out mahogany logs. From that time to the present Mr. Cary has been mainly occupied in agricultural pursuits. Settling in Placer county, he started the fruit business when there was not even a shipping house in that section, and he was one of the real pioneers in the industry there, developing his own interests along with the growth of the business as it is understood today. His residence there covered a period of twenty-two years, and he went through all the experimental stages of the business bravely, testing various methods of culture, marketing, etc., until he had a satisfactory system, which he found profitable as well as effective. He raised many kinds of fruit, with noteworthy results, taking first premiums for raisins and plums at the World's Columbian Exposition at Chicago, the Midwinter Fair at San Fran- cisco, the Louisiana Purchase Exposition at St. Louis, also fairs at Oroville, Marysville, Auburn and Sacramento, at the San Francisco fair winning $200 in cash and a gold medal. He has repeatedly taken first prizes for peaches and plums and a first prize for Adriatic figs. After selling his Placer county ranch Mr. Cary located in Piedmont, Alameda county, and in 1911 he came up to Lake county and bought the tract of thirteen hundred acres on the east shore of Clear lake to which he is now devoting his best efforts. As a location for a home it presents many attractions. The dwelling is surrounded by many fine bay trees and oaks, and Mr. Cary's motor boat, a beautiful little day cruiser named the "Arvilla C," after his mother and presented to him by her a few years ago, makes every point on Clear lake, easily accessible. He makes almost daily trips to Lakeport. He has begun to improve his property system- atically and scientifically, and though it is so large his work has already made considerable progress and promises to benefit the whole neighborhood, his influence alone being counted on as a stimulus to all in the vicinity. One of his experience and enterprise is a real asset to any community.
Mr. Cary was married in 1884 to Miss Bessie Llewellyn, a native of Nevada county, Cal., though most of her life up to the time of her marriage was spent at Clayton, in Contra Costa county. They have had a family of three children : Alice, who is the wife of Joseph Cuthbert and lives at Seattle, Wash .; Earl J., whose sketch follows; and Louis L., who remains on the home farm.
Earl J. Cary, eldest son of Louis H. Cary, was born July 18. 1890, in Placer county, Cal., and lived there until sixteen years old, meantime gaining a common school education. After spending six months in the Hawaiian islands he matriculated at the Van Der Naillen School of Engi- neering, at Oakland, finishing the course at that institution in 1909, and imme- diately thereafter taking the position of superintendent at Jarbidge, Nev., for the Vulcan Mining Company, with whom he remained six months. At the end of that time he and his brother bought an interest in the Roundup group of mining claims at Jarbidge, which comprise nearly ninety acres, at present
Mon on Mas B Viaggi
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owned by the two Cary brothers and another partner. They have been offered $50,000 for the group, the ore from which brings from $20 to $100 per ton. The ledge is from two to nine feet in width, and can be traced for a distance of seven miles. Besides, Earl J. Cary has been and is engaged in ranching, formerly as his father's assistant for a time after the latter's settlement in Lake county, and now on his own account. In January, 1914, he rented the Ryan ranch of one hundred and sixty acres situated along the East Lake road, and lying on the east shore of Clear lake, not far from his father's property, and here he follows agricultural pursuits, combining his various interests very successfully. He was married October 22, 1912, to Miss Nan Greenhow, from Twin Falls, Idaho. Mr. Cary has evidently inherited the go-ahead spirit of his father, and he is looked upon as one of the promising young men in the neighborhood where he has established his home.
BARTHOLOMEW BIAGGI .- A native of the sturdy little republic of Switzerland, having been born in Giubiasco, Ticino, December 25, 1858, Bartholomew Biaggi was also one of the early California pioneers, having come to the state in 1877, and from that time until his death in 1909, continued to reside here. During practically this entire time he made his home either in Marin, Sonoma or Mendocino county, and throughout this entire section of the state he was well and favorably known. For much of this time he was engaged in farming, and his was the first creamery to be erected in this section, and at the present time it is one of the best known in the county, as well as one of the best equipped and most thoroughly modern.
The boyhood days of Mr. Biaggi were spent in his native village, where he attended the public schools until he was seventeen, in the meantime learn- ing the blacksmith trade. When he was seventeen he determined to come to America and made the long journey alone, coming directly to California and locating in Marin county. Here he remained for two years, and later went to Bodega, Sonoma county, where he was employed on a dairy ranch for a time, meanwhile mastering the new language and also learning something of the customs of the country. In 1880 he purchased a blacksmith shop at Bodega Corners and continued in business there until 1899, meeting with much success and making many friends. At that time he disposed of his business interests there and located in Mendocino county, renting the old McMullen place on Ten Mile river, on the coast road, and engaging in the dairy business. Here again he prospered. His herds were carefully selected and graded and within a short time he built a creamery on the ranch and began the manufacture of butter. This was the first creamery to be built in this section and Mr. Biaggi looked after it himself. His butter was always of a high grade and found a ready market and commanded the highest price.
The death of Mr. Biaggi occurred August 17, 1909, as the result of an accident. His interment took place in Fort Bragg, where he had many warm friends. Aside from his business friends and acquaintances Mr. Biaggi was well known in fraternal circles. He was a Druid, a Redman and an Eagle, and possessed a wide circle of friends in each of these orders. In politics he was a Republican, and although he was never actively associated with the affairs of his party, he was well informed and an independent thinker. He was keenly interested in all the affairs of the community, and especially in educational matters. For a number of years he was a member of the board of school trustees of the district in which he lived, and was also clerk of the board.
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The marriage of Mr. Biaggi occurred at Santa Rosa, June 8, 1885, uniting him with Miss Filomena Nonella, also a native of Switzerland, and born in St. Antonino. Ticino. She received her education in the public schools of her native village, and it was in 1884 that she came to America, she being the first of her immediate family to make the trip. Her uncle, Anton Stornetta, was then living at Fisk Mill, Sonoma county, and it was in Sonoma county that she resided until the time of her marriage with Mr. Biaggi. Since the death of her husband she has continued to manage the farm and dairy with the greatest of success, showing splendid ability as a business woman, and exhibiting rare judgment and wisdom in the conduct of her extensive inter- ests. She is assisted by her son Victor, and by her son-in-law. Anton Del Torkio. They have about eighteen hundred acres in their ranch, and are engaged in raising grain, hay and potatoes, and in dairying and cattle raising. Their herd of milch cows numbers about one hundred twenty-five head of graded stock, mostly Holstein and Durham. The creamery, which is on the ranch, is equipped with the latest improved machinery, and is run by steam power.
Mrs. Biaggi is the mother of six children, five daughters and one son, all well and favorably known in Mendocino county, where much of their lives has been passed. They are Josie, Mrs. Stoddard. of Fort Bragg; Jennie, Mrs. Laffranchini, of Plumas county ; Adelina, Mrs. Anton Del Torkio, her hus- band now being the assistant manager of the home farm; Minnie, who is aiding her mother: Clara, now attending the University of California, at Berkeley, class of 1915; and Victor, who is associated with his mother in the management of the home farm and dairy.
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