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 80
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 80
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On July 20, 1858, Mr. Bruton married Sarah Catherine McClain, daughter of David Hancock McClain, the latter a native of Howard county, Mo., where his father, Rev. David McClain, was among the earliest pioneers : he was the first Baptist preacher in Howard county. The McClains had a terrified exist- ence there because of the Indians. They lived at McClain's fort and Cooper's
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fort. David Hancock McClain married Nancy Clay, who was born at St. Charles, Mo., her father, James Clay, having settled in that state at a very early date. The family came to this country from England and was first established in Virginia, moving thence to Kentucky and later to Missouri. Mrs. Bruton has a vivid recollection of Henry Clay, who came as far west as the Missouri river on his campaign tour, and paid a visit to the McClains, Mrs. Nancy (Clay) McClain being his first cousin. To Mr. and Mrs. Bruton have been born seven children: Linnie Gore became the wife of Frank Rippey and went to live at Healdsburg, Cal., where she died when twenty-six years old; she left four children, Ida B., Floyd, Frankie and Albert. Sanford is engaged in farming and teaming and lives at Lakeport; he married Mabel Lyon, and they have two children living, Hattie (wife of Carl O. Baylis, of Lakeport), and Maybelle. Albert Clay died when six years old. Luelle died when one year old. William Wirt Pendergast is living on the Ogden ranch in Mountain District precinct, Lake county ; his biography appears elsewhere in this work. Josephine Boggs is the wife of Samuel Edmonds, contractor, painter, etc., at Lakeport ; they have three children, Edward Earl, Carroll Kel- logg and Sarah Alice. Nettie Marie is married to D. Warren Dillard, a farmer and stockman, of Lakeport.
JAMES FRAZER .- One of the oldest settlers in this section of Mendo- cino county is James Frazer, respected citizen of Inglenook, who came to California in 1864, and purchased his present place in 1869, taking up his perma- nent residence thereon in 1872. The place is located on Ten Mile river, one- half mile north of the river's mouth, and is one of the best known properties in the county. During the half century that he has made this state his home Mr. Frazer has witnessed marvelous changes in the country, and has con- tributed his full share toward the development and improvement of his section of the county. He has been engaged for the greater portion of this time in diversified farming, dairying and stock raising, and is not only one of the best-known and most highly respected of the pioneers of the county, but is also one of the most prosperous.
Mr. Frazer is a native of New Hampshire, having been born at Monroe, Grafton county, March 22, 1843. His father was William Frazer, a native of Scotland, and his mother was Hannah (Manchester) Frazer, a native of Vermont. When James was a lad of five years his father died (1848), but the family continued to reside on the farm and he received his education in the public schools of his district. When he was scarcely twenty-one he deter- mined to come to California, making the long journey by way of the Isthmus of Panama, and arriving in San Francisco in 1864. He located in Marin county, where he worked on a dairy farm for a year and later did teaming in Santa Cruz. After a time he returned to Marin county and rented a dairy farm at Novato, where he engaged in the dairy business for himself. It was in 1869 that he made his first trip into Mendocino county, at this time purchasing his present place of three hundred acres, located on Ten Mile river. Three years later he located on this property and has since then made it his home. He immediately commenced to improve the place, erecting a house and barns, and bringing the land under cultivation. He engaged in grain raising and dairy business and is at this time especially interested in the latter occupa- tion. He has a selected herd of twenty-five milch cows, and has a creamery on the ranch for the manufacture of a high grade of butter.
Trazer
James
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In addition to his dairy enterprise, Mr. Frazer for many years has also been interested in raising hogs and beef cattle, and is also engaged in butch- ering for the Fort Bragg markets and for the lumbering camps. He has large herds of cattle on the ranges, and is making a great success of this undertaking.
The marriage of Mr. Frazer took place on Ten Mile river, December 15, 1880, uniting him with Mrs. Elizabeth (Beal) Roberts, a native of Missouri. She died on the home farm July 22, 1905. To the union. of Mr. and Mrs. Frazer four children were born, two sons and two daughters, Claude, Hattie, Ernest and Edna, all of whom are well known in Mendocino county, where they were born and reared. Mr. Frazer has always been interested in educa- tional work and has served as a member and clerk of the board of trustees of Pacific district. He has resided here for more than forty years, and is sur- rounded by many warm friends and admirers, who esteem him for his worth, integrity and for his many charitable and kindly deeds.
WILLIAM L. PUETT .- The earlier representatives of the Puett family in America lived in the east, but later generations, being of adventurous spirit, became identified with the development of the southern and western frontiers. Grown to young manhood in his native commonwealth of Indiana, Warren Puett then migrated to the southwest, served with bravery in the Mexican war, established himself on the plains of Texas as a cattleman and married Mary Clark, their later years being passed in Texas, where they died. One of his brothers, Alexander Puett, was a pioneer sheriff of Los Angeles county, Cal., and others of his kindred bore a part in early western history. Had he been spared to later years, in all probability he would have gained political prestige and financial success, but his death at the age of forty-two left his family with limited means and forced his children to earn their livelihood from tender years. The eldest of his four children, Sarah, was first married to Frank Nixon and after his death became the wife of George Miller; again widowed, she continues to make her home in Fort Worth, Tex. The second daughter, Josephine, widow of M. A. Spoonts, formerly an attorney of Fort Worth, is now living at Houston, Tex. The youngest daughter, Mary Jane, is the wife of S. B. Nobles, of Los Angeles. The third child and only son, William L., was born in Bell county, Tex., June 20, 1857, and by reason of an attack of measles that affected his eyesight he had little schooling. Through his work as a cowboy he became familiar with the entire frontier of Texas and with the Comanche and Apache Indians, large numbers of whom still lingered in the mountains and foothills of the southwest. As a deputy to the sheriff of Taylor county, Tex., it was his duty to assist in maintaining law and order and many an exciting and even dangerous experience fell to his lot in those early years.
While yet making his headquarters in Texas Mr. Puett was married at Lampasas, that state, in December, 1884, his bride being Miss Nettie Carson, a niece of the noted scout and pathfinder, Kit Carson. About 1888 they left Texas for California and settled in Los Angeles county, where Mr. Puett engaged in fruit-raising and kindred pursuits until 1900, the year of his removal to Lake county. He has bought and sold a number of farms in this county and now owns and occupies ten acres in Big valley, where he is developing a very valuable property with pears, apples, prunes and alfalfa. Throughout the valley he is well known and universally honored. Long advocacy of Democratic principles makes him familiar with the work of the party and
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gives him prestige among its members in Lake county, who would honor him with local political offices were such his desire. Of his children the eldest, Guy V., is engaged in business in Los Angeles; Irene J. married C. O. King, an automobile agent in Sacramento; Leslie is also engaged in the automobile business in Sacramento; Winnie M. is a student in the Clear Lake Union high school; Lindsay Carson and Doris D. are pupils in the grammar school.
It is said that not only in facial features but also in mentality Mrs. Puett resembles her distinguished uncle. Kit Carson (or Christopher Carson, as named in infancy), who was born in Madison county, Ky., December 24, 1809, and died at Fort Lyon, Colorado Territory, at 4:25 p. m., May 23, 1868, attended by H. R. Tilton, M. D., assistant surgeon of the United States army. On the 27th of April prior to his death occurred the demise of his wife, Senora Josepha Jaravilla, and their youngest child. Josephine, being an infant when orphaned, was adopted into the home of Thomas Boggs and given excellent advantages. The six other children of the Carson family were as follows: William, Charles, Kit, Teresena. Rebecca and Josephine. Kit Carson had a younger brother. Lindsay Carson, a native of Howard county, Mo., and a California pioneer of 1850, coming overland from Missouri and settling in Sonoma county. There he married Mrs. Maria Lonise (Gordon) Williams, a widow with an only son, John S. Williams, now of Healdsburg, Cal. The Gordon family had come from Missouri as early as 1849 and had settled in Glenn county, where the daughter married Mr. Williams. After she became the wife of Mr. Carson they settled in Sonoma county and their eldest child, Mattie, now living in Healdsburg, was the first white child born in that county. The twins, Mary Ellen and Benjamin Harrison, as well as two other chil- dren, Lucilla and Ida M., were born in Sonoma county. In 1861 the parents returned to Texas and remained there until the close of the Civil war. Mean- while two children, Jennie Gordon and William B., were born in the Lone Star state. After their return to Lake county a daughter, Louise Antoinette, (commonly called Nettie) was born here in 1867. The youngest member of the family was a son, Lindsay, born in Lake county. When Mrs. Puett was thirteen years of age she accompanied her parents to Oregon and spent a few months at Eugene, but soon returned to California and settled in Mendocino county, where her father bought a large sheep ranch. Later the family re- turned to Sonoma county, but the failure of the health of Mr. Carson caused a return to Texas early in 1884 and there occurred the marriage of Miss Carson to Mr. Puett. Since then they have lived for the most part in Cali- fornia and for more than a decade have been identified with the horticultural advancement of Lake county, where they are developing a valuable and re- inunerative fruit farm.
GEORGE L. DAILY .- The strength of Socialism is due to the fact that its membership is composed largely of deep thinkers, thoughtful readers and close observers of national affairs, and to this class belongs George L. Daily. a farmer operating sixty acres near Finley, in Big valley. Since he came to Lake county in 1877 he has earned a livelihood by the tilling of the soil, and meanwhile he has devoted his leisure hours to a careful study of history, civics and economics. Intelligent research into national conditions caused him to become what may be termed an evolutionary Socialist, rather than a revolu- tionary Socialist. While all Socialists agree concerning the existence of great evils in the body politic, they are not agreed concerning the best methods to
a. M. Rowles
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be used in correcting the evils, and Mr. Daily favors a gradual evolution that will result in the establishment of a co-operative commonwealth.
In patriotic devotion to the country and intelligent study of its condi- tions Mr. Daily shows the spirit of ancestors who were influential in New York and were people of culture as well as intense loyalty. He was born in Albany, N. Y., September 4, 1853, son of Amos and Margaret (Shoemaker) Daily, both natives of New York state. When George L. was three months of age his parents moved to Steuben county, N. Y., where the greater part of his boyhood years was passed on a farm near Hornellsville, and where his paternal grandfather, Walter Daily, also owned large landed interests. At the age of twenty-four years, in 1877, he came to California and settled in Lake county, where he married Mrs. Rebecca J. Goodwin, the widow of Charles Goodwin, and a daughter of Ira G. Yates, of Lake county.
ALEXANDER NATHAN RAWLES .- During the decade that fol- lowed the discovery of gold in California each summer witnessed a somewhat lessening influx of gold-seekers, but the arrival of farmers and men of busi- ness never diminished in volume. When the Rawles family came across the plains during the summer of 1857, they were fortified less by hopes of gold than by a desire to establish a permanent home among the cheap but fertile lands of the west. Joseph William Rawles, the father of our subject, was captain of the train, which after about six months travel by prairie schooner drawn by oxen, reached its end in the valley of the Sacramento. The train was just behind the ill-fated train that met with massacre in the. Mountain Meadows. After wintering on Grand Island, in the spring of 1858 the family proceeded to Mendocino county. Joseph W. Rawles was born April 27, 1808, in Indiana, where he also married, being united with Synthey Ann Bilderbock, who was born in Indiana July 31, 1811, the daugh- ter of Gabriel and Rachael Bilderbock. Mr. and Mrs. Rawles were farmers in Mills county, Iowa, when they started for California in 1857. The father passed away in Anderson valley April 15, 1881, and the mother November 5, 1877. Of their family of eight children Alexander N. was the youngest, and was born in Mills county, Iowa, June 15, 1853. Most of his life has there- fore been passed in Anderson valley, his present ranch being three miles north of Boonville, in the midst of fine stock-raising country. As a boy he had scanty advantages. His early education was obtained at home under the instruction of his mother, but after a time there were enough families in the valley to make up a school district. When the first school was opened he became a pupil and continued until the age of sixteen, when he gave up his studies in order to work as a ranch hand in the neighborhood.
With his brother, Robert H., as a partner, Mr. Rawles bought six hundred and forty acres of land and began to raise hogs, sheep and cattle. From the first he met with encouraging success. To provide a stock range for the growing herds, additional land was purchased and finally the brothers owned about forty-two hundred acres. The partnership continued harmoniously and profitably until the death of the brother, since which time Mr. Rawles has managed the entire property. In the course of his long life in the valley he has seen many changes. At the time of his arrival there were no fences, 110 schools or churches and few farm houses. Now each farm has its fences to divide and subdivide the property into fields of desired size. There are schools with modern equipment and houses filled with the comforts that add 36
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immeasurably to the joy of life. He makes a specialty of raising Spanish- Merino sheep, of which he has a large flock, besides which he engages in general farming and stock-raising. In politics he is of the Republican faith. Fraternally he is connected with the Benevolent Protective Order of Elks at Santa Rosa. Five sons were born of his marriage, namely: Fred A., who is ranching near the old home place; Wesley Mock, engaged in mining in Nevada : Max D. and Austin N., both at home; and Warren K., deceased. Mrs. Rawles, prior to her marriage at Santa Rosa August 18, 1881, was Miss Willa Mock. She was born near that city the daughter of Wesley Mock, who was born in North Carolina and who with his brother William came to California in 1849. At first Mr. Mock followed mining, but he later gave this up to take up farming near Santa Rosa, and there his death occurred. His wife, Sarah Thornton, was born in Missouri, and now, at the age of eighty- four years, is living in Oakland. Of their two children Mrs. Rawles, the youngest, was educated in the Santa Rosa schools and the Pacific Methodist College. Later she took up teaching, and in this she met with gratifying success and rose to a rank among the successful and popular teachers of Men- docino county, continuing in the work up to the time of her marriage. With her husband she holds a high place in social circles and has the regard of the people of the valley.
SOLOMON C. STONE .- The Stone family comes of southern ancestry. The first of the name in America was identified with Virginia, but later gener- ations lived in Tennessee. James C. and Elizabeth (Carmichael) Stone were natives of White county, Tenn., and their son, Solomon C., was born in the some county October 5, 1862. During 1869 the family came to California and settled in Sonoma county, but removed during 1873 to Lake county and secured land near Kelseyville. The mother died at forty-eight and the father when seventy-seven years of age. There were seven children in the parental family, namely : John H. and Thomas B., who are fruit-growers in Sonoma county ; William A., who is engaged in farming in Klamath county, Ore .; Solomon C., whose name introduces this article and whose place of residence is in Lake county ; Margaret C., Mrs. Johnston, of Ontario, Cal .; Beatrice, wife of Joe Johnston, also of Ontario : and Mary L., who died at fifteen years of age.
When seven years old Solomon C. Stone came with his parents from Tennessee to California, making the eventful trip on the Union Pacific Rail- road shortly after it had been completed. For a few years he attended school in Sonoma county and later was a pupil in Lake county, where after he had left school he took up general farming. At the age of twenty-five he married Miss Cora L. Arnold, daughter of Speed and Rebecca J. (Yates) Arnold, who brought their family from Missouri at the time the daughter was only seven weeks old. Mr. and Mrs. Stone have lost one child and have one daughter now living and two sons, namely: Bernice. a graduate of the San Jose State Normal School and now a teacher in Los Angeles; Donald Roy. proprietor of a general store at Kelseyville ; and Willard Carroll, a student in the Clear Lake Union high school at Lakeport. In connection with farming Mr. Stone ran a meat market for fifteen years (1887-1902) and after acquiring a tract of one hundred and seventy acres (twenty of which were in hops) he sold one hundred and twenty acres to the Yolo Water and Power Company. By a subsequent purchase of twenty acres he now owns seventy acres in the North Kelseyville precinct No. 2. Thirty-five acres have been put into alfalfa. One
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of his specialties is the raising of thoroughbred white leghorn poultry, and he now has seven hundred hens of that splendid breed on his farm. From the time of casting his first ballot he has voted with the Democratic party. Fraternally he is a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows at Kelseyville and has been through all the chairs in the lodge.
JOHN EDWARD SINGLEY .- The practical farmer and stock-raiser of the west, one in whom are combined good judgment and thrift, find repre- sentation in John Edward Singley, whose industry and intelligence have had fruition in the ownership of large tracts of land and great flocks of sheep as well as other stock. From earliest memories he has been familiar with the farm. Although reared to agriculture, he did not drift unthinkingly into the occupation, but rather it is the choice of his mind, the selection of his matured judgment. As he became a tiller of the soil through natural adaptation to the work, he has met with success to be expected in such instances. When he left the parental farm and started out for himself, he had four head of horses, but nothing more. Little by little he added to his stock. Saving and industry enabled him to purchase land. From a small acreage he enlarged his holdings until he is now ranked among the leading land owners of Mendo- cino county, where he resides in Bell valley, about five and a half miles from Boonville.
Table Bluff, in the neighboring county of Humboldt, is Mr. Singley's native place, and December 6, 1865, the date of his birth. He is the son of George Henry and Sarah J. (Farrier) Singley, the father born in Ohio April 14, 1827, and the mother in Arkansas in 1840. They both crossed the plains with ox-teams in the early '50s but with different trains. They were mar- ried in Humboldt county, where the father was a farmer, besides which he ran a ferry across Eel river. Afterward he retired to Ukiah, where he died April 14, 1902, and where his widow still resides. Of their five children three grew to years of maturity, John E. being the youngest. As a boy he lived on a ranch on Eel river and attended the country school in the same vicinity. In company with his parents he came to Mendocino county in October, 1881, and here he has since lived and labored. Shortly after the arrival of the family in Ukiah his father bought a sheep range of twenty-eight hundred acres in Bell valley and there the two worked together in the raising of stock and in such grain-farming as the land justified. At the age of twenty-two the young man embarked in the contracting business with no capital except such as was represented by his horses. For twelve years he devoted the summer months to hauling tanbark and such other work as the neighboring logging camps made possible for a teaming contractor. During this period he did not relinquish ranching, but spent his winters in such work, as far as the weather permitted. In 1895 he bought fourteen hundred and eighty acres of stock range in the same neighborhood, on which he placed a flock of sheep. During the fall of 1896 he contracted to build a portion of the Ukiah road from Boonville to Ukiah and this task he com- pleted to the satisfaction of those concerned. The old home ranch of twenty- eight hundred acres he purchased from his father in 1897 and later bought another ranch of twenty-three hundred acres adjoining which extends nearly to Boonville, so that with his other holdings he now has a total of about seven thousand acres of stock range, the whole representing the results of his frugal economy and intelligent application to general farming and stock-
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raising. The Singley ranches are fenced and improved with buildings, are well watered by Soda creek and Anderson creek, and with numerous springs, some mineral springs. At the old home residence is the soda spring which has splendid medicinal qualities and a pleasant taste. Mr. Singley makes a specialty of raising Spanish-Merino sheep, and has an average flock of four thousand head; also has an orchard of peaches, apples and prunes. He has always been interested in the upbuilding of his county and is always ready to give of his time and means to forward any public enterprise that has for its aim the betterment of the conditions of its citizens and community. When . the railroad was surveyed into the valley from Healdsburg he willingly gave a right of way through his ranch, feeling it would be a great benefit to the valley.
FRANKLIN WAYNE DOOLEY .- The possibilities afforded by North- ern California to its native sons appear in the substantial and satisfactory business achievements of Franklin Wayne Dooley, who was born near Hop- land June 18, 1874, and is now the owner of a large store at this place, the whole representing the energy, perseverance, acumen and efficiency which he has thrown into commercial pursuits. The family is of well-known, sturdy pioneer stock. The life of his father, Elijah Dooley (represented elsewhere in this volume), has been associated with the welfare of Mendocino county for many years and has been a factor in community progress by reason of hon- orable principles and patriotic loyalty. Reared on the home farm and edu- cated in local schools, the son of this pioneer family remained at home until twenty-one years of age, when lack of robust health caused him to travel extensively through Arizona, New Mexico and Texas, returning to Cali- fornia via Wyoming and Nevada, so that he not only regained his health. but also acquired an excellent knowledge of the entire west. After having been employed for two years on a ranch near Ione, Amador county, and after spending a summer in Trinity county, this state, he returned to Hop- land prepared to take up life's activities with earnestness and directness of purpose.
Owing to lack of means it was necessary for Mr. Dooley to start in busi- ness very modestly and cautiously. His first place of business was scarcely more than a hole in the wall, but there was a counter with space for the display of a small stock of confectionery. There he spent the summer of 1898, but after five months in the small room he bought out the grocery business of Duncan & Carlisle and moved across the street to a corner room. After the admission of H. H. Gibson as a partner in the business the title was changed to Dooley & Gibson. A few years later the partners bought the Stevenson store in old Hopland. For a brief period the two stores were conducted in partnership, but soon by dissolution of the partnership Mr. Gibson acquired the old Hopland business, while Mr. Dooley continued general merchandis- ing in Hopland. Meantime he had moved the store to the west side, where he purchased a corner, 80x150 feet, with a building 80x70, adequately equipped for the management of a modern business. The stock is said to be the largest in this part of the county and includes dry goods, glass and queensware, hard- ware, groceries, flour and feed, and a line of wagons, carriages and agricul- tural implements manufactured at Moline, Ill., by the International Harvester Company. In a separate part of the same building is located the Hopland postoffice, with Mrs. Dooley as the postmistress.
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