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 95

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 95
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 95

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Mr. Olson was born in Malmo, Sweden, May 5, 1857, and came to America in June, 1880, landing in Boston. Although a skilled blacksmith, his first work in this country was that of boilermaker. For eighteen months he en- gaged in that line of work at Worcester, Mass., and next engaged as black- smith on railroad construction work in New Mexico during the building of the Atlantic & Pacific Railroad. Afterward eighteen months were spent in the railroad shops at Albuquerque, N. M., and then he worked for six months in gold and copper mines. After a short trip to New Orleans he came to California during the spring of 1883. From San Francisco he went on to Portland, then returned to this state, arriving at Lower Lake, Lake county, in 1884. In that year he married Miss Amphelia B. Bolter, a native of Iowa. The following year they came to Kelseyville and built a shop and livery stable, which were lost in a fire in 1896. The lot was then sold and a new shop built in another location, while they built a hotel in the year 1900. Since then Mr. Olson has devoted his attention to the management of the black- smith shop and his wife has charge of the Olson hotel. Their eldest children were twins, Elbert and Ethel, who died in infancy. John Ernest, a graduate of the Santa Rosa Business College, died at Twin Falls, Idaho, at the age of twenty years. The only one now living, Andies Cecil, a graduate of the University of Southern California and an attorney by profession, is now practicing law in Oakland, this state.

MRS. A. B. OLSON .- The life history of J. V. H. Bolter, the father of Mrs. Olson, indicates that he was identified, at different periods of his activity, with New York state, Iowa, Missouri and California. Born in Oneida county, N. Y., he was the son of R. H. and Sarah (Sturdyvant) Bolter, born in France and Dublin, Ireland, respectively. They were married In New York state, where they were in the dairy business. Afterwards they removed to Farmington. Iowa, where he located on new land, which he im- proved and operated. In connection he built a blacksmith and carriage shop and did the work for the farmers and travelers. In those days they made their own horseshoes and nails, and all his carriage woodwork he made him- self. Both parents died in Iowa. With his parents Mr. Bolter had sought the newer regions of the middle west in young manhood and had settled at Farmington, Van Buren county, Iowa, where he followed the trades of wheelwright and blacksmith. After settling in that town he met and married Mary Jane French, a native of Harrisburg, Pa., whose grandfather, Enoch French, a wagon-maker in the capital city of Pennsylvania, had migrated to Jowa and opened the first wagon-maker's shop at Farmington. In a search for cheap land J. V. H. Bolter had acquired some property near Wheeling, Livingston county, Mo., and after the close of the Civil war he went to that section to develop the tract. He had been in California in 1850, after which he went to Peru and Central America, returning to California in 1854. Here he remained two years and then returned to Iowa. He had studied law and was admitted to the bar of Iowa in 1858, and later became a prominent attor- ney in Livingston county, Mo. During the Civil war he served as sheriff and treasurer of Livingston county, Mo., where he became a very influential man. During the '80s he and his wife made a visit to Kelseyville, Cal., visiting Mr. and Mrs. Olson Mr. Bolter returned to Wheeling, Mo., and there died Sep- tember 7, 1890, at the age of sixty-four years. His wife continued to make her home with their daughter, Mrs. Olson, and died in Kelseyville in 1902.

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The family were of old pioneer stock and had become well acquainted with the Mormons when the members of that religious sect, exiled from their homes at Nauvoo, Ill., were crossing the country in search of a place of refuge on the deserts of Utah.

On account of ill health Miss Amphelia B. Bolter came to California, hoping to be benefited by the change of climate. From the first the benefit was apparent and soon after coming to Lake county she was fully restored to health. Her brother, Elliott J., who married Miss Addie Howe, of Kelsey- ville, died at Santa Cruz, this state, leaving one son, Herbert. Elbert J., a younger brother of Mrs. Olson, died at Wheeling, Mo., at seventeen years of age : and her younger sister, Mary I., was married at Wheeling, Mo., to Charles Foreman. Eventually she came west and died in Santa Cruz, leaving two children, Selma and Ora. Selma married William Fowler and lives at San Jose. Ora is also living in San Jose. Mrs. Olson has suffered deep bereavement in the loss of three children. The twins, Ethel H. and Elbert H., died in infancy, and John Ernest was taken in the flush of young man- hood, the youngest son, Andies Cecil, being the only survivor, and as he has entered into business in Oakland, Mr. and Mrs. Olson are left alone in their home, but with the former engrossed in the work at the shop and Mrs. Olson managing the hotel with energy and tact, they have little leisure for grieving over the sorrows of the past. A woman of progressive spirit, Mrs. Olson has been interested in the movement for woman's suffrage from its start. In religion she is connected with the Presbyterian Church of Kelsey- ville. The prohibition work receives her stanch support, and she has been president of the Woman's Christian Temperance Union at Kelseyville, filling the office with vigor and enthusiasm. About fifteen years ago, at a Fourth of July celebration, she entered for the procession an equal suffrage float drawn by four white horses, the driver in a George Washington suit and the whole float beautifully decorated in yellow and white.

ALFRED J. CHAMBERS .- Twenty-five different states in the Union have been visited by Mr. Chambers, who since May 23, 1906, has been a resident of Lake county and has built up the livery business at Lakeport with which his name is associated. His travels began when he was very young, for at the age of two years the family removed from Adams county, Ohio where he was born March 21, 1862, to Illinois, and four years later settled in Iowa. Nor was that a permanent place of abode, for when he was ten the family went further west and took up a claim in Kansas. Four years were spent in frontier farming in Ottawa county, and at the age of fourteen he left the parental home to take up the task of self-support. When sixteen he secured work in a rock quarry and learned the trade of a stone-mason, con- tinuing at such employment until he was twenty-five. The work was laborious and the pay small, so he finally left to take up grade work with a railroad construction gang. It soon developed that he was skilled in cookery and he was then chosen camp cook. During 1889 he went to the state of Washington, and in 1890 he cooked for a construction camp at Portland, Ore., later doing similar work at Dunsmuir, Siskiyou county, Cal., for a very short time. Returning to the east, he spent several years at day labor in various states, seeing much of the country, but gaining nothing from a financial standpoint.

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Arriving the second time in California during the Christmas season of 1897, Mr. Chambers took up wood-chopping at Harrison Gulch. In 1901 he took up a homestead in Humboldt county and proved up on the land but was crowded out by a large cattle company. With his outfit of horses he came into Lake county, rented a lot at Lakeport and began to deal in hav, grain, feed and wood. This was mostly sold to campers, who also paid him for taking care of their horses and wagons, so that he made a humble but practical start. Soon he was able to buy the Borden blacksmith shop, centraliy located on a lot 35x432 feet. In December, 1906, he started business in a building 35x40, which has since been enlarged and added to until now he has a lot 50x432, with a building 50x210, and engages in the livery business. At this writing he has eighteen head of horses, twenty-six vehicles and one eighteen-passenger gasoline launch. The feed mill, operated in connection with the livery business, has a modern equipment of barley crusher. corn grinder, corn sheller and pump, with a six-horsepower gasoline engine of substantial quality. Recently he has started an undertaking establishment and has in charge of that business a practical embalmer and funeral director. From the first the business has had a steady growth ; indeed, the development has been unusually rapid and indicates the efficient management of its owner. who now has a property valued at about $15,000, although at the time of his arrival in Lake county his entire capital consisted of only a few horses. Frugality and industry have been at the foundation of his prosperous record as a business man, and his excellent trade may be attributed to the fact that he devotes himself assiduously to the work, paying strict attention to even the smallest details, and giving to the business a careful, intelligent and con- stant oversight that merits substantial returns.

GEORGE THOMAS TALLMAN .- The various health resorts in Lake county depend. for much of their popularity, upon their accessibility by road, many of them being situated in beautiful locations as yet unspoiled by the invasion of the railroad. The automobile has made it possible to reach such places without tedious and wearisome trips for those who desire to find natural beauty within easy access of their homes, and good roads are a neces- sary condition for the enjoyment of automobiling. The well-known resort of the Bartlett Springs Company is situated fifteen miles from Bartlett Landing. on the east side of Clear lake, or may be reached from the east by a longer trip, and the success of the resort is due in great measure to the good moun- tain roads by which it is approached, especially the one from the Landing. which runs over Bartlett mountain. To maintain these roads and keep them in safe condition is part of the work intrusted to George T. Tallman, who has been in the employ of the Bartlett Springs Company for the last fifteen years. He is also engaged as a teamster, being a very skillful driver-an important accomplishment, the heavy transportation of bottled water from the springs being a very lucrative branch of the business done by the company. Mr. Tallman represents a pioneer family of Lake county, settled here since about 1857. His father, Rufus Tallman, was a native of Lansing, Mich., and crossing the plains in the early days settled in Lake county, where he spent the re- mainder of his industrious life, a respected citizen, following teaming and other work. He served as supervisor. His wife, Mary (Moore). of Scotts valley, died in 1912. when past sixty years of age, and he died at Upper Lake when about sixty years old. They were the parents of thirteen children :

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Sarah died when eight years old; Grace is the wife of Frank Norton, a car- penter of Oakland, Cal .; William, who is a teamster by occupation, resides at Williams, Cal .; Berdinia (deceased) was the wife of John Robinson, a carpenter, of Upper Lake (her only child is deceased) ; George Thomas is mentioned later; Fred met an accidental death on the railroad, near Sacra- mento, while working as a brakeman (he was twenty-two years old and un- married) ; Evaline is the wife of George Twiggs and resides at Oakland; Winnie is the wife of Henry Riffe, a hotelkeeper, of Upper Lake; Burt died when five years old; Walter, Harry and Cleveland reside at Upper Lake; Lilburn is a resident of Yuba City.

George Thomas Tallman was born March 23, 1870, at Upper Lake, Lake county, and grew to manhood at that place, attending public school when a boy. He did not follow any special line of work in his youth, turning his hand to anything that would bring an honest dollar, and fifteen years ago entered the employ of the Bartlett Springs Company, in whose service he has remained continually since. As foreman for that concern he has been one of the trusted employes to whom much credit is given for the prosperity of the resort, being steady and to be relied upon in anything he undertakes. Visitors coming over the Northwestern Pacific route come by train to Pieta, thence by automobile to Lakeport, whence they cross Clear lake to Bartlett Landing. From that point they continue by automobile over Bartlett mountain to the resort, a delightful drive of fifteen miles through wild and romantically . beautiful scenery, made doubly enjoyable because of the excellent roadway. Those who prefer to drive around the lake go by way of Lakeport and Upper Lake to Bartlett Landing. From the east there are good average mountain and valley roads, and the maintenance of all those which come within the province of the Bartlett Springs Company is under the charge of Mr. Tallman, who has discharged his duties intelligently and capably, in his other relations with the company as well as in this particular respect. Besides, he owns a four- horse team, engaged in hauling wood, doing road work, etc. Physically he is a large, powerfully built man, well adapted for his business and able to meet its requirements. His industry and trustworthiness have earned him the respect of all his associates.

Mr. Tallman was married at Upper Lake, March 28, 1888. to Miss Melinda Porter, daughter of the late Edward Porter; her mother is now the wife of Charles Phelps, a ranchman, of Upper Lake. Two children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Tallman : Edna is the wife of Clarence King, a farmer on Sutter Island, Sacramento county : they have one child. George. Martin Calvert is employed by the Bartlett Springs Company ; he married Miss Adelia Clark, and they have a daughter, Dorothy B.

FRANK J. NORTON .- With a comfortable residence at Kelseyville that bespeaks refinement and prosperity and a fruit farm of ten acres planted to pears and prunes, Mr. Norton is establishing a reputation in business circles as a scientific and capable horticulturist and as a progressive citizen identified with the upbuilding of the community. So quiet and unassuming is he that only those thoroughly acquainted with his methods of work realize his ex- ceptional capability and appreciate his manly qualities. In the expansion of horticulture in Lake county he is a potent factor and his experience is proving that it is possible to net as high as $500 per acre from Bartlett pears, to which the soil of this county is well adapted. In addition to having seven of his ten

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acres in this variety of pears he has planted the remaining three acres to sugar and French prunes, the whole forming a thrifty and valuable orchard. Besides taking personal care of each tree he finds time to superintend the G. W. Piner ranch of one hundred acres, so that he is one of the busiest as well as one of the most resourceful of farmers.

A native Californian, Mr. Norton was born in Amador county August 30, 1869. being a member of a pioneer western family. His father. James H. Norton, was born in Illinois and during early life removed to Missouri, where he married a young lady who was born and reared in that state. Accompanied by his wife. he came overland to California in the '50s, first residing in Amador county, and eventually settling in Yolo county, where he now has a ranch at Guinda, making a specialty of fruit growing. His wife died in Yolo county at the age of fifty-five years. Of their five children four are living. The fourth in order of birth was Frank J., who received a public school educa- tion and early learned the details of fruit growing. At Kelseyville, November 5. 1893, he married Miss Rosa M. Piner, a native daughter of Kelseyville. She is the daughter of C. A. Piner and a member of a distinguished family of Lake county, where she was reared and educated.

C. A. Piner was born in Dade county, Mo., where he married Miss Sarah Hand, a native of Tennessee. In 1849 they crossed the plains to California with ox-teams and settled in Napa county, later going to Sonoma county, near Santa Rosa. where they engaged in the dairy business. The Piner school district is named in Mr. Piner's honor. In 1861 he located at Kelseyville, where he became the owner of a ranch and followed farming and stockraising. Since his death in 1905, his widow has made her home with her two daugh- ters, and she is now eighty-two years of age. Six of their ten children survive, of whom Mrs. Norton is the youngest.

Of the marriage of Mr. and Mrs. Norton there is an only child, Fred H. The family is connected with the Christian Church in Kelseyville and con- tributes generously to its missionary movements, as to other measures for the spiritual uplifting of mankind. In fraternal relations Mr. Norton is identified with the Woodmen of the World in his home town. Personally he is admired for the traits of character that win and retain warm friendships and that prove a forcible element in the development of any community.

LLOYD W. BROWN .- Among the enterprising young men who are making a success of the stock business we find Lloyd W. Brown, a repre- sentative of one of the pioneer families of California. His paternal grand- father, William Brown, crossed the plains to California in pioneer days, and resided in Fresno county, where his son, John F., the father of Lloyd. was born and where he became a stock raiser. In 1894 he located in Round valley, purchasing eighty acres about one and a half miles east of Covelo, where he made his headquarters. He also took up a homestead eighteen miles north of Covelo and later purchased other lands until he had a ranch of six hundred and forty acres, well watered by springs and streams. He was an exemplary man of much worth and integrity and was much loved and respected by all who knew him. His death in 1911, at the age of fifty-six, was a deep loss to the community.

Mrs. Brown, who bore the maiden name of Isabelle Copsey, was born in Lake county, Cal., the daughter of Daniel Copsey, a pioneer of Lake county, who on his retirement from the ranch spent his last days in Ukiah. She

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was an active member of the Baptist church, and died in 1908, at the age of only thirty-eight. To Mr. and Mrs. Brown were born two children, Lloyd William, of whom we write, and Frank S., who is associated with him in the stock business.

Lloyd W. Brown received an excellent elementary education in the gram- mar schools. From a youth he became familiar with the stock business and soon displayed marked ability as a horseman and in the use of the riata. When his father died he took charge of the farm and stock interests and is conducting them with success, demonstrating that he is a worthy son of a worthy parent. He continues to use the brand established by his father, i. e., J. F., connected. Aside from ranching and the stock business he takes an active part in the commercial and social life of the valley. Being a reader and keeping abreast of the times he is a well informed and progressive citizen.

JOHN W. BONHAM .- Citizens like Jolmn W. Bonham, who lives on Cache creek, in Long Valley precinct, are in the intelligent improvement of their own lands contributing steadily to the progress of their section of Lake county. The successful and profitable development of one tract in a locality adds to the potential value of every other acre there, and an interprising worker sets a pace for his neighbors which quickens all the life of the district in which he resides. Mr. Bonham is recognized as one of the energetic men of his precinct, and he is also popular personally, for he has substantial quali- ties of character which have commended him to all his fellow citizens. Be- longing to a much respected family of French origin, which has been in Cali- fornia since pioneer days, he is a son of Hiram Jefferson and Martha Ann (Heard) Bonham, who are now living at Yuba City, in Sutter county. this state, the former eighty-four years old, the latter eighty-one.

Hiram Jefferson Bonham was born in the state of Missouri, and was married in Wisconsin to Martha Ann Heard, a native of Illinois. When they crossed the plains to California, in 1863, their family consisted of five children, and three more were born after their settlement in this state. After about ten years' residence in San Joaquin county they moved to Tehama county, where they made their home for a number of years. Mr. Bonham was a farmer by occupation. Of his children, Emma, Mrs. Westfall, lives at Corning, Tehama county ; Harvey is a farmer at Santa Rosa; Mary J., Mrs. Rannells. is a resident of Lower Lake; Lizzie, Mrs. Hurlburt, resides at Colusa; John W. receives mention later ; R. D. is now head clerk in Jago's Cash Store at Lower Lake and represented elsewhere in this work; Charles A., of Yuba City, is engaged in business as a stock dealer and almond grower ; Nellie is the wife of Sarshael Smith, a miner, and lives at Elgin mine, Sulphur Creek, Colusa county.

John W. Bonham was born in Grant county, Wisconsin, and was only four or five years old when his parents brought their family out west. They lived in San Joaquin county until he was about fourteen years of age, when they removed to Tehama county, and he attended public school in both coun- ties, receiving very fair educational advantages. His school days over, lie began to follow agricultural work, having been engaged in farming and stock raising ever since he started to earn a living, and he continued to remain in Tehama county until he reached the age of twenty-five years, since when he has been a resident of Lake county. Upon coming here he settled at once at his present location on Cache creek, buying one hundred and sixty acres

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and taking up another tract of the same size from the government, all of which he still retains. He has been engaged in its improvement ever since and has fifty acres under excellent cultivation, besides which he has a tract of six acres, devoted to market gardening, to which branch of his work he has been devoting special attention for the last three years. Mr. Bonham has gone about this venture systematically in order to prove or disprove its feasibility, has put in a pumping plant so as to irrigate his garden, and is experimenting faithfully in order to test the possibilities of truck farming in this section. He has a family vineyard and orchard, and is working con- stantly with the object of making a desirable home here as well as raising the value of his property for agricultural purposes. His progressive though conservative policy has brought him substantial rewards. The farm is in a rather mountainous district, and is also valuable for stock raising, in which Mr. Bonham has engaged to some extent.

While living in Lake county Mr. Bonham married Miss Elsie Stemple, daughter of Leonard and Rebecca (Brenard) Stemple, her mother still sur- viving and living near the Bonhams. Five children have been born to this marriage, namely: Clarence, Alta, Dyton, Victor and one that died in infancy.

Socially Mr. Bonham is a member of the lodge of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows at Corning. Cal. In matters of public policy he is a Repub- lican, but he is not an active party man or one who mingles to any extent in public affairs.

WILL W. GRUWELL .- Two of the best improved properties in Scotts valley, in Lake county, are the tracts owned and cultivated by Will W. Gruwell and his son. Louis Earl Gruwell, the former having one hundred acres, the latter thirty acres adjoining. This land lies along the Scotts Valley road, four miles from Lakeport, and was formerly included in the holdings of Lewis C. Burriss, one of the pioneers in this section, father-in-law of Will W. Gruwell. The latter has been a resident of Scotts valley since the year 1884, and in the thirty years which have elapsed since he settled there has come to be considered one of the worthiest citizens in that section, respected for the qualities which invite confidence in business and in all the other relations of life.

The Gruwells are of French origin, and the family in this country dates back to Revolutionary days, when the first of the line here under considera- tion in America came to fight for the Colonial cause under LaFayette. Will WV. Gruwell is a son of Melvin Gruwell and grandson of John Gruwell. His father was born in the state of Illinois, whence he came overland to California in 1851, crossing the plains with ox teams, and for about a year lived at Sonora, but thereafter had his home at San Jose, in Santa Clara county. In the latter part of his life he was engaged in the fruit business in that county. He was twice married, and by his first union had two children, one dying in infancy. The other, Ruth, is the wife of Eben Van Dyne and now lives in the Santa Clara valley. His second marriage was to Sarah Ware, a native of Missouri, from which state she came to California with her parents in 1852. a few years later marrying Mr. Gruwell in Santa Clara county. Nine children were born to them, viz .: Mattie lives at Santa Clara; Lydia is the wife of Jacob Brightenstein, a rancher, of Santa Clara ; Will W. is mentioned later ; Jefferson, who died when forty-five years old, was a clerk and made his home at Oakland, Cal .; Charles is in the fruit business in Santa Clara county ;

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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 95

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