p. 184 - INDEPENDENT ORDER OF ODD-FELLOWS - Friendship Lodge, No. 130, I. O. O. F. was organized December 25, 1868 at Guenoc, ...The following named gentlement have filled the position of Nobble Grand: H. J. Berry, O. Armstrong, George E. McKinley, William Amesberry, J. M. Davis,...............
p. 162 - EARLY SETTLEMENT - ...In Scotts Valley, Greenbury Hendricks, E. C. Riggs, William Gessner, John Lynch, J. M. Sleepter, J. Davis, A. F. Tate and J. H. Moore....
BENJAMIN DEWELL, one of the earliest pioneers of California, emigrated from Indiana in 1845. The company with which he came started for Oregon, but, on account of there being no roads or ferries, their progress was necessarily slow, and after passing Salt Lake their guides advised them, on account of the lateness of the season, to cross the mountains into California, which they did, arriving near Sonoma in October. They were six months and one day on the journey. Mr. Dewell made his first permanent settlement in 1850, in Guilicos Valley, lying between Santa Rosa and Sonoma, where he commenced improving land which he had selected for a home. He planted an orchard and vineyard, and made other valuable improvements, which he had to abandon after two years, as his location proved to be within the limits of a grant.
In 1846, the war with Mexico having been inaugurated, the few Americans who had come to settle in California organized into a company for self-protection. In the spring of 1846 they captured Sonoma, which was held by General Vallejo and a small garrison. There were thirty-three Americans, who surprised the garrison at daylight, and effected a capture without difficulty. Mr. Dewell, with the assistance of two comrades, were the manufacturers of the celebrated Bear Flag. In 1854 he came to Upper Lake with his family and located on his present farm, his being the second family to settle in what is now Lake County. He has 160 acres of as good land as can be found in any country, on which he raises grain, hay and stock. He also has a large orchard. He was married in 1850, to Miss Celia Elliott, a native of Missouri. They have nine children, living: Samuel M., Orlena and Luella (twins), Elmer E., May, Lottie, John, Charles W. and Irene, Sarah E. and Jane are dead. Mr. Dewell is a member of the I.O.O.F., of long standing. Politically he is thoroughly Republican.
Transcribed by: Betty Wilson
DOWNS, J. S., MD
From "Memorial & Biographical History of Northern California"
The Lewis Publishing Co., 1891
J.S. DOWNS, M.D., one of the oldest practicing physicians of Northern California, was born in the city of Haverhill, New Hampshire, April 14, 1831. He received his early education in the schools of Newbury, Vermont. At the age of fourteen he went to Battle Creek, Michigan, where he studied medicine with Dr. Edward Cox, for five years. In 1847 he went to Chicago, where he attended one session of the Rush Medical College. He then went to St. Louis and entered the St. Louis Medical College, where he graduated in 1848. In the spring of 1849 he crossed the plains to California, arriving at Sacramento in July, where he engaged in the practice of medicine, uninterruptedly for the following ten years. In 1859, having lost his health, through over-work and exposure incidental to the practice of his profession, he went to Lakeport, Lake County, where he practiced for three years. Having regained his health, he then went to Napa City where he engaged in practice with Dr. W.W. Stillwagon until 1864. His health again failing him, he returned to Lakeport, where he has since resided and followed his profession, and where he has established a very pleasant and comfortable home. He was married, in 1858, to Miss Kate Sheridan, a daughter of Hon. James E. Sheridan, who has served in both branches of the California Legislature. He was a cousin to General Phil H. Sheridan. They have three children: Frank, Charles S. and Ernst.
Frank is in business in San Francisco, Charles S. in the drug business in Oakland, and Ernst, the youngest, is reading medicine with his father.
Transcribed by: Betty Wilson
From "History of Napa and Lake Counties, California" 1881 - Pg. 231-232
J. S. DOWNES, M.D.
This worthy old pioneer of Lake County was born in New Hampshire, April 14, 1831. When he was fourteen years of age he went to Michigan, and began the study of medicine with Dr. Edward Cox, at Battle Creek, where he remained for five years. He graduated at the McDowell Medical School in St. Louis, in March, 1848. In April, 1849, he started for California across the plains, and arrived at Sacramento in July. He practiced medicine in that city for ten years. In 1859, on account of ill-health, he came to Lake County and settled in Lakeport, where he practiced till 1862. His health being much improved then, he went to Napa and engaged in practice with Dr. W. W. Stillwagon until 1864. His health failed again, and he then returned to Lakeport, where he has since resided and followed his profession. He was married, August 16, 1858, to Miss Katie Shindon, a native of Pennsylvania. Their children are George F., Charles and Ernest.
"E"
EDMUNDS, J. F.
From "Memorial & Biographical History of Northern California"
The Lewis Publishing Co., 1891, Pages 656-657
J. F. Edmunds, dealer in harness and saddles at Lakeport, California, was born in Scottville, Allen County, Kentucky, in 1832. His parents were natives of that State. He received his education in the schools of Scottville. At the age of fourteen he entered a harness and saddlery store in his native town, where he served two years in learning that trade. He then went to Elkton, where he was engaged for a little more than a year, completing his apprenticeship, after which he traveled in Kentucky, Tennessee and Missouri, working as a journeyman in the harness and saddlery business. While in Missouri he worked two years at New Madrid. In March, 1853, he started for California via New Orleans. He traveled down the Mississippi River on a steamboat. At New Orleans he embarked on the steamship United States for Aspinwall. Crossing the Isthmus to Panama, he sailed on the steamer Cortes for San Francisco, where he arrived May 4. From San Francisco he went to Marysville and from there to the northern part of Sierra County, where he engaged in mining for a few months. He then engaged in merchandising, in which he continued until 1858. During this time he was also engaged in mining ventures, with the variable results incident to that business. In 1858, he bought the Columbus House, a hotel located at Strawberry Valley, Yuba County, where he remained till 1862, doing a very profitable business. He then sold his hotel and removed to Marysville, where he engaged in the wholesale liquor business, in which he continued two years. In 1864, he sold his business in Marysville and engaged as a traveling salesman for a wholesale liquor house of San Francisco, in which he continued till about 1870. He then again engaged in the liquor business in Marysville, in which he continued about a year and a half, when he sold out and renewed his engagement as a traveling salesman. In 1880, he went to Pennington, Sutter County, where he built a hotel and also a store building, which he occupied as a harness and saddle and variety store. In 1888 he disposed of his property in Pennington and removed to Lake County, where he opened a harness and saddlery store in Lakeport. His business here is constantly increasing and he now carries a line of carriages, sewing machines, etc., in connection with his other business. He is also engaged in the insurance business and represents a number of first class companies.
He was married in 1857 to Miss Mary C. Spillman, a native of Allen County, Kentucky. They have three children living: Alice, Samuel and James R. Alice is married to Read McCraney, a jeweler of Lakeport. Samuel is a painter and James R. is in the harness business in Hopland, Mendocino County. Mr. Edmunds is connected with the Christian Church, and is a member of the Masonic Fraternity.
Transcribed by: Christine Helmick
EMERSON, S. R.
From "History of Napa and Lake Counties" 1881, Pg. 232
Was born in Cortland County, New York, March 28, 1820. Here he remained until 1849, being engaged in farming and stock raising. He then went to Crawford County, Pennsylvania, where he remained until 1857, being engaged in the stock business. In the last named year he came to California via Panama, and arrived at San Francisco April 27th. He engaged at once in farming and dairying in Sonoma County, which was followed until 1859, when he turned his attention to wool growing. This he continued until 1860, when he engaged in hotel-keeping in Windsor, Sonoma County, which was followed until 1869. In 1870 he made a trip East and spent the summer, returning to California in the winter of 1870-'71. He came at once to Lake County and engaged in wool growing, which he has since followed. Mr. Emerson owns the Witter Spring property, a history of which will be found in this volume.
ENGLISH, B. F.
From "History of Napa and Lake Counties" 1881, Pg. 232
Was born in Madison County, Kentucky, September 8, 1815. When he was but a child, he, with his parents, moved to Howard County, Missouri. After a short residence there they moved to Salem County, and from there to Clay County. August 16, 1833, the subject of this sketch married Miss Pauline Durbin, and in 1835 they moved upon the Platt Purchase. In 1843 they moved into Atchison County, and emigrated to Oregon in 1846. Here farming was followed until 1863, when they came to California and settled in Green Valley, Solano County. While there the same occupation was followed as while in Oregon until 1870, when they moved to Lake County and settled on the road leading from Middletown to Lakeport, near Anderson Springs, where they now reside. They have six living children: Charles H., Benjamin F., Harmon H., Eugene, Lane B. and Lucretia; and have lost five.
"F"
FEES, John W.
From "History of Napa and Lake Counties" 1881, Pg. 232 - 233
Was born in Iowa, February 15, 1837. In 1864 he crossed the plains to Nevada, where he followed mining and carpentering until the fall of 1867, when he came to Lake County and settled in Scotts Valley, on his present place, consisting of one hundred and sixty acres, located about five miles from Lakeport, where he is engaged in farming. Mr. Fees married in October, 1856, Miss Rebecca M. R. Ogle, a native of Indiana. Their children are Thomas J., Sarah, Albert, Alfred, Nancy A., Mary A., John and Mabel.
FLIPPEN, W. J.
From "History of Napa and Lake Counties" 1881, Pg. 233
Is a native of Tennessee, and was born October 24, 1826. In March, 1852, he moved to Missouri, where he followed farming until the spring of 1854, when he crossed the plains with ox-teams to California. After spending about three years at mining in Butte County, we find him in Contra Costa County, where he resided until September, 1866, when he came to Lake County. In the fall of 1867 Mr. Flippen settled on his present place, consisting of one hundred and twenty acres, located in Scotts Valley, about six miles from Lakeport, where he is engaged in farming. He was married, December 21, 1848, to Miss Elizabeth Palmer. By this union they have three living children: Mary H., William and Lizzie. They have lost three: John H., James B. and Jefferson.
FOREE, George H.
From "Memorial & Biographical History of Northern California"
The Lewis Publishing Co., 1891
GEORGE H. FOREE, a Lakeport merchant, was born in Solano County, California, in July, 1853, and was early left an orphan. He first graduated at Lincoln Grammar School in San Francisco and afterward at Heald’s Business College in the same city. He was then for several years engaged in various occupations,—bookkeeping, clerking in a store and mining; in the latter he was employed about seven years, in Siskiyou, Klamath and El Dorado counties. In 1883 he went to Lakeport, Lake County and bought the hardware store of Tate & Co., and has ever since been engaged in that trade, with varying fortune. His store has been twice burned,—in 1885 and 1887; and his dwelling was burned in August, 1888, the fire in each case catching from adjoining buildings. He is still a bachelor, but his sister has resided with him since his first arrival in Lakeport.
Transcribed by Betty Wilson
FRITTS, H. R.
From "History of Napa and Lake Counties" 1881, Pg. 233
Was born in Indiana June 9, 1838. When he was but a child his parents moved to Arkansas. Here young Fritts grew up on a farm, residing with his parents until 1860, when he crossed the plains with ox-teams to California. He arrived in Chico, Butte County, in September, and engaged in teaming for one year. He then went to Nevada, where the same business was followed until the fall of 1865, when he came back to Lake County, and, after a residence of about twelve years on Middle Creek, settled on his present place, consisting of six hundred and twenty-nine acres, located in Bachelor Valley, where he is engaged in farming and wool growing. Mr. Fritts married, May 6, 1866, Miss Alice Denison, a native of Iowa. Their children are, Mattie A., Mary E., Fannie V., Laura E., Ollie M., and Maud B.
"G"
GALLATIN, Abraham
From "History of Napa and Lake Counties" 1881, Pg. 237
Was born in Pennsylvania, September 18, 1818. Here he followed farming and boat-building until 1842, when he went to Illinois. After spending two years there he returned to Pennsylvania, where he resumed his former business until 1852, at which time he came to California via New Orleans and Panama. We find him at once in the mines, where he remained until 1868. He then made a trip East and traveled in several of the different States for about two years, but finally settled in Napa City, Napa County. Here he resided until 1874, when he moved to Pope Valley, where he resided until December, 1878, when he moved to Lake County and settled on his present place, consisting of three thousand acres, located in Coyote Valley. Here he is engaged in farming and stock raising. Mr. Gallatin married, October 18, 1870, Mrs. Slonecker, a native of Pennsylvania.
GARD, G. W.
From "History of Napa and Lake Counties" 1881
Was born in Preble County, Ohio, January 2, 1826. When he was but a child his parents moved to Rush County, Indiana, and after about five years moved to Delaware County. Here about the same length of time was spent as in Rush County, when they took up their residence in Atchison County, Missouri. In 1849 the whole family, consisting of the father and mother of the subject of this sketch, nine brothers and sisters, and his wife and one child, crossed the plains to California. They settled in San Joaquin County, near Stockton, and engaged in farming. In September, 1859, G. W. moved with his family to Sonoma County and engaged in farming until January, 1860, when he went to Yuba County and spent the winter in mining. In may, 1861, he came to Lake County and settled on his present place, consisting of one hundred and twenty acres, located in Big Valley, about two miles from Kelseyville, where he is engaged in farming. Mr. Gard married, March 5, 1848, Miss Eliza J. Hand, a native of Tennessee, by whom he has seven living children: Isaac N., Martha E., Joel R., James A., Annie M., Arthur G. and Mary E.; and have lost seven.
GESSNER, William
From "History of Napa and Lake Counties" 1881 - Pg. 235
Was born in Bavaria, Germany, October 27, 1821. Here he received a collegiate education, and in September, 1839, set sail for America aboard the "Oceana," which was wrecked near Jamaica, where the crew was detained about one month. They then got relief by the Government, and finally arrived at New Orleans about the 23d of December, 1839. Mr. Gessner went at once to Illinois, where he taught the German language two winters, working in a brick-yard in the summer. In the spring of 1842 he engaged as clerk in the hardware store of Charles Wolf & Co., in St. Louis. Here he remained until July, 1844, when he went to New Orleans, where he followed clerking until January, 1845, when he enlisted in the 2d Dragoons of the regular United States service, and was engaged in the war with Mexico, serving through the war. He was discharged January 20, 1850, at Sonoma, Sonoma County, California. Mr. Gessner was engaged for three months in the quartermaster's office at Benicia, after which he went to the mines, and after spending about three months came to Solano County and engaged in farming in Suisun Valley, where he remained until the spring of 1864, when he sold his farm and went via Panama to Pennsylvania, where he remained but a short time. He returned across the plains with horse and mule teams, and arrived in Suisun Valley in August. In October, 1864, he came to Lake County and settled on his present place, consisting of two hundred and forty acres, located at the head of Scotts Valley, where he is now engaged in farming. Mr. Gessner was elected Supervisor in September, 1879, which office he still holds.
GETZ, Solomon
From "History of Napa and Lake Counties" 1881 - Pg. 233
Was born in Prussia, January 29, 1850. When fourteen years of age he started for America, and in March, 1866, we find him in San Francisco, and soon after in Lower Lake, where he is engaged as a clerk for his brother Joseph, in a general merchandise store. After following this occupation for one year he went to South America, where he engaged in the fur trade until 1870. The succeeding two years were spent in traveling, and in 1872 he returned to Lower Lake, where he still continues to run the store so early established by his brother. Mr. Getz married, March 1, 1874, Miss Dora Tobias, a native of New York. By this union they have four children: Albert, Edgar, Jacob and Mabel.
GIBSON, Frank W.
From "Memorial & Biographical History of Northern
California" The Lewis Publishing Co., 1891, pg 436-437
A native of England, was born near London, May 28, 1846. In 1849 his parents came to the United States. They landed at New Orleans, and immediately started up the Mississippi River for Illinois. In 1850 they removed to Quincy, where Mr. Gibson started the Quincy Whig, which was afterward the first newspaper in Illinois to unfurl the Republican banner. In 1855 he went to Fontenelle, Nebraska, where he engaged in agricultural pursuits. In 1856-’57 he represented his district in the State Legislature. In 1859 he crossed the plains to Denver, Colorado, where he established the Rocky Mountain News, the first newspaper published in that place. He afterward published the Commonwealth and Republican, and other papers in different points of the State. In 1886 he removed to California, and settled in Los Gatos, where he now resides.
Frank W., the subject of this sketch, received his education in the public schools and in the Denmark Academy,
at Denmark, and located in Lee County, Iowa. In 1868 he went to Fremont, Nebraska, where he engaged in the book and
stationery business for a little more than a year. He then sold out his business, and went to northern Nebraska, where he
engaged in general merchandise for one year. In 1870 he came to San Francisco, California, where he joined an expedition to
Victoria, British Columbia, which was then being organized in consequence of the Jim Creek and Peace River gold excitement.
From Victoria he went on to the interior of Alaska, where he mined for six months. On his return, in 1871, he stopped at Seattle,
and from here he traveled overland through Washington and Oregon to San Francisco. In 1872 he went to Colorado, where he took a
contract of twenty-seven miles on the Colorado Central Railroad, with two of his brothers. From there he returned to Nebraska, and
engaged in the paint, oil and glass business, in Fremont, until 1880; then engaged in the grocery business until 1882; then in building
and renting houses until 1887. In that year he returned to California with his wife, and they traveled over the State in search of a
location, returning to Nebraska in the fall. In 1888 they removed to Lake County, California, where they located permanently. He has
440 acres of land, a half mile south of west of Lakeport, on which he has a fine residence and barn; 120 acres are under cultivation,
and the whole under fence. He has about fifteen acres planted in fruit trees and vines. Water for domestic use and stock is brought
through pipes from a clear cool spring in the mountains. A portion of Mr. Gibson’s land lies adjoining the corporate limits of Lakeport,
which he has subdivided into town lots, and which he offers for sale at a remarkably low figure. Mr. Gibson has adopted a novel feature
in the sale of his residence lots, which consists of giving one lot to any party building on the same and selling them the adjoining lot
at a low price if he want to buy, making a nice home for little money. Mr. Gibson also owns 440 acres of land in Pierce County, Nebraska, adjoining the town of Pierce, the county-seat of Pierce County. A portion of this land is also within the city limits, and is also laid out in town lots, and given away and sold the same as the above. He has fine business lots in the most desirable part of the city, and some fine lots in the heart of the city of Fremont, Nebraska, the county-seat of Lodge County, which he will sell on easy terms.
Mr. Gibson has very appropriately named his beautiful property in Lake County, “Glenwood Ranch,” with his beautiful addition to Lakeport as Glenwood Place. He has published a fine folder with maps, with the ranch subdivided, showing the locality and giving the practical points of the county. Mr. Gibson has now a nice cannery on the ranch, known as the Lakeport Canning Company, canning all kinds of fruit, and making a specialty of canning figs, something new for California, and his best brand, known as his Glenwood Ranch brand, one can always depend on being straight goods.
He was married in 1873, to Miss Helen Lewis, a daughter of Daniel and Catherine (Conrad) Lewis. They have two children: Birdie and Cora, both attending school in Lakeport. He is a member of the I.O.O.F., and has filled all the chairs in the subordinate, and taken all the degrees in the encampment and canton.
Transcribed by Kathy Sedler
GILETTE, CHARLES
From "History of Napa and Lake Counties" 1881
Was born in Scioto County, Ohio in 1838. When he was seventeen years of age he engaged as apprentice to the tinner's trade, which he followed in his native county until 1861, at which time he enlisted as a private in the Civil War in the 1st Ohio Regiment. After four months he returned home, and in October 1861, started for California. He came via Pamana, and arrived at San Francisco November 28th of the above year. The first winter was spent in Yolo County, and the following spring he went to Virginia City, Nevada; and after a short time he returned to Woodland, Yolo County, and opened the pioneer tin shop in that place. Here he remained until the fall of 1864 when he went to Solano County, where he remained until the fall of 1864, when he went to Solano County, where well-boring was prosecuted for about two years. We next find Mr. Gilette in Berryessa Valley, Napa County, where about one year was spent. He then went to the Zem Zem Springs, and spent about two years, when he returned to Suisun, where he engaged in the livery business for about six months. He then took charge of the Roberts House in that place for about one year. He then returned to Napa County, and spent about two and a half years at Zem Zem Springs, after which he followed an engineer's life in the California Mine, near Knowxville, for one year. He then went to the Buckeye Quicksilver Mine in Colusa County where he was employed as engineer until the spring of 1875. The following three years were spent on Cache Creek, in Lake County, engaged in wool growing. In the fall of 1879 he settled on his present place, located in the lowere end of Long Valley, which he calls "Live Oak Nook." Mr. Gillett married, in November 1875, Miss Caroline Pierce, a native of Kentucky, daughter of Henry Pierce, then chief engineer of the San Francisco Mint. She died November 18. 1878 leaving two living children, Elizabeth and Caroline. Caroline died November 27, 1878, aged one month and twenty days.
Contributed by Margaret Hinton
GOLDSMITH, William C.
From "History of Napa and Lake Counties" 1881
Of all the old pioneers of Lake County no one is more generally and favorably known than the subject of this sketch. Mr. Goldsmith was born in Knox County, Indiana, April 2, 1830. In 1830, with his parents, he moved to Morgan County, Illinois. Here he learned the saddler's trade, which he followed until 1852, when he came to California. He crossed the plains with ox-teams, and arrived at Hangtown (Placerville) August 8th of that year. Of course, he dashed into mining - everbody did that, then --and followed it until the spring of 1853, when he went to Santa Clara County and engaged in farming for the next two years. He then went to Grass Valley, Nevada County, and resided there until August, 1857. He then came to Lake County and located where Lower Lake now stands, and engaged in farming and stock raising for the next six years. He then engaged in hotel and saloon keeping, which he followed till 1881, since which time he has been unemployed. No laudatory words are necessary at our hands, for Mr. Goldsmith is too well known by all the good people of Lake County. He was married, May 31, 1860, to Miss Martha C. Asbill, and their living children are, John H., Elizabeth J., William L., Arthur H., and Edna M. They have lost three, Willie, Charles and Ernest.
GOODWIN, Charles
From "History of Napa and Lake Counties" 1881 - Pg. 236-237
The subject of this sketch was born in Ontario County, New York, October 8, 1816. When he was eight years of age his parents moved to Detroit, Michigan, whither young Goodwin accompanied them. Here the boy was not idle but set himself vigorously at work to obtain an education, and how well he succeeded is evidenced by the fact, that at the very early age of sixteen we find him engaged in teaching, which profession he followed for the succeeding seven years, when, on account of failing health, he connected himself with E. and J. Wilber & Co., wholesale hardware dealers, as a traveling salesman, and remained in that position for the following two years. In the spring of 1850 he started for California across the plains, coming as far as the Truckee River with horse teams. At that point they met with the misfortune of having all their horses stolen by the Indians. Mr. Goodwin then set out to accomplish the remainder of the trip on foot, and arrived at Nevada City, California, October 10, 1850, without a dollar in his pocket. Like all other old timers Mr. Goodwin was engaged in various pursuits, among which may be mentioned mining, auctioneering and teaming, until the spring of 1856, when he came to Lake County and settled in Big Valley, where he has since continued to reside. He now owns about three hundred acres of land, located at the extreme lower end of Big Valley and near Clear Lake, where he is engaged in farming and wool growing. Mr. Goodwin is one of those active, stirring men who pushed out to the very vanguard of civilization, and has always given his best energies to the advancement and upbuilding of the community in which he resides. He was united in marriage, March 24, 1880, with Mrs. R. J. Arnold, a native of Missouri.
GRAHAM, Nathan
From "History of Mendocino and Lake Counties" 1914
The several members of the Graham family whose extensive land holdings and agricultural interests have made them so well known in the Bachelor Valley precinct are among the most respected residents of their section of Lake county, where Nathan Graham, the head of this thrifty family, settled over thirty years ago. He is of Scotch descent, though his parents, Robert and Catherine (Wilkinson) Graham, were both natives of England, the father born in Yorkshire. The Grahams have been farmers and stockmen for generations
Robert and Catherine (Wilkinson) Graham were married in England, and had one child when they came to America. He had learned the trade of mason and followed it in his native country, but on settling in the United States engaged in farming, in Jefferson county, N. Y. About ten years after leaving England he returned on a visit, and also to get some money which he had inherited, but he took passage back to America on an ill-fated sailing vessel which encountered a severe windstorm when within sight of New York harbor and was wrecked on a sand bar, going down with all on board. She was so near the end of her voyage that she was waiting for a pilot to take her safely into port. In those days there were none of the conveniences and safeguards of modern banking, and Robert Graham had all his money on his person, so that it was lost with him. His wife was left with seven children, five sons and two daughters, vz.: John,, now deceased, who was a farmer in New York state; M.W., deceased, who was a farmer and ranchman in Kansas; Robert Burns, a retired merchant, living at Peabody, Kans.; Nancy, who died unmarried; Mary E., deceased, who was married and had three children (she resided in Pinckney, N. Y.); Joseph B., deceased, a farmer, who lived near Watertown, N. Y.; and Nathan, who was but ten months old at the time of his father's death. The mother remarried, and lived to the age of seventy, dying at Limerick, Jefferson county.
Nathan Graham was born September 30, 1835, in Jefferson county, N.Y., and grew up on the home farm in that county, obtaining such education as the common schools of the time afforded. Meantime he also assisted with the work at home, where he remained until twenty-three years old, at which time he came west to California, engaging in farming in Merced county, where he was located for seven years. At the end of that period he returned east and was married in his native county to Miss Mary E. Richardson, who like himself was born there, daughter of John and Levantia (Brigham) Richardson. Her parents were natives of Paris, Oneida county, N.Y., and the father lived to the age of seventy-five years, the mother dying at sixty-eight. They had two children, Mary E. and John J., the latter still living on the Richardson farm, in the house where he was born. Tilly Richardson, Mrs. Graham's grandfatherr, was born in Massachusetts, was a soldier in the Revolution, and lived to the advanced age of ninety-three years, bright and active to the end of his days. He married young, and had one hundred and twenty-three descendants at the time of his death.
After their marriage Mr. and Mrs. Nathan Graham remained ten years in Jefferson county, N.Y., where he carried on farming. Selling his property he then moved with his family to Minnesota, where one of his brothers was living, but he remained there only six months, finding the climate too cold. Having another brother in Kansas, he went down to that state to investigate conditions, but concluded the windstorms there made it undesirable and took a train out from Omaha to Sacramento, Cal., where he arrived in January, 1879. After spending three weeks in that city he proceeded to Dixon in Solano county, where he made a stay of three months, meantime learning something of the attractions which Lake county offered to settlers. He was so well impressed after looking over this section, having come to Big Valley about June, 1879, that he brought his family and soon bought an eighty-acre ranch near Finley. He improved the property considerably during the three years it remained in his possession, and then sold it at an advance of $25 per acre, moving from there to his present home, in Bachelor valley, where he purchased five hundred acres from the Farmers' Savings Bank of Lakeport, and later two hundred and sixty acres more, adjoining, from the Spring Valley Water Company. The place was in early days an old Indian rancheria owned by a tribe of Digger Indians, and it abounds in relics and evidences of Indian days. Twenty-nine years ago Mr. Graham set out a fifteen-acre prune orchard which is still bearing. Though he has cultivated his land to some extent he has given his attention principally to stock, and his success in all his undertakings justifies his faith in Lake county land and its possibilities. His motto and advice to others has been: "Get land; get land, and never let go a handful of sand". After a life of well directed industry he is still interested in the progress and development of his adopted county, and he and his wife are among its most esteemed old citizens, those who have done their share in the steady work of improvement which has been going on throughout the period of their residence here. Mr. Graham is a Socialist on public questions, a man who has the welfare of all his fellow men at heart and who has thought earnestly and deeply on matters affecting the general good.
A family of four children has been born to Mr. and Mrs. Graham: Wiullis N., who is a farmer and sheep raiser in Bachelor Valley; Clinton R., also a farmer in the valley; John J., who is engaged in agricultural pursuits in partnership with his brother Willis; and Levantia, wife of William H. Arps, a baggageman on the Southern Pacific road and residing in Oakland.
GRAHAM, Willis N.
From "History of Mendocino and Lake Counties" 1914
The brothers Willis N. and John J. Graham are large landowners and sheep raisers in the Bachelor Valley precinct of Lake county, and also hold a large acreage in the Forty Spring valley on Bartlett mountain, their operations having increased steadily during the last few years. They have four hundred acres of tillable land and to some extent are engaged in its cultivation, but the greater part of their attention is given to the sheep business, and they have prospered by hard work, enterprising methods and the exercise of good judgment in their transactions, using their heads as well as their hands in caring for the interests they have acquired. Typical representatives of the Graham family and the sturdy, intelligent Scotch stock from which they spring, they are known for their sagacity, progressive ideas and practical application of their principles to the affairs of everyday life, and are counted among the highly desirable citizens of the county in which their home and business interests lie.
A son of Nathan Graham, one of the most respected residents of Lake county, Willis N. Graham was born July 13, 1868, at Worthville, Jefferson county, N. Y., and was about ten years old when his father moved his family to Minnesota. They were there only a few months, however, coming to Lake county in 1879, and as his father's assistant Willis Graham became familiar with ranch life and the details of the various interests his father had acquired. The latter bought seven hundred and sixty acres in the county, and his son Clinton R. Graham holds a deed in escrow for fifty acres of this property, and his daughter, Bertha L. Arps, has the title to one hundred acres, the remaining six hundred and ten acres being held by Willis N. and John J. Graham. Four hundred acres of this land are adapted for agricultural purposes. Since 1904 these brothers have also homesteaded and bought six hundred acres in Forty Spring valley, on Bartlett mountain, on which they keep their cattle and sheep in the summer season, bringing their herds and flocks to Bachelor valley for the winter. They are breeding high-grade Percheron horses, Durham cattle, Poland china hogs and Ramboulette sheep. The brothers are hard workers, and have been successful in the various lines which have engaged their attention. Their principal crops are potatoes and beans and they have a fifteen-acre prune orchard now nearly thirty years old which is still bearing. Like his father and brother, Willis N. Graham is a Socialist in sentiment.
In 1898 Mr. Graham married Miss Elsie Morrison, daughter of Samuel Morrison. She died leaving one child, Elsie, who lives with her maternal grandmother in East Upper Lake precinct. Mr. Graham's second marriage, which took place in 1900, was to Miss Sylvia Dunton, daughter of Jerome B. and Malinda A. (Goff) Dunton, who reside at Lodi, San Joaquin County, where Mr. Dunton is a successful vineyardist. Four children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Graham, Freda, Nathan, Ross and Dorris. Their home is on the Ukiah road, three miles west of Upper Lake.
GREENE, Willis Elihu
Autobiography
I was born in Kirksville, Mo., on September 21st, 1849. My mother was then twenty years old. Her maiden name was Mary Ann Moody. She was born in Kentucky, and her Mother's maiden name was Turner. Her father was Daniel Moody. My grandmother Moody died in Missouri along about 1860. My Grandfather Moody re-married and moved to Texas and died there at about the age of eighty years.
My father, William Woods Greene, was raised in Macon County, Mo. His father, Willis Eliott Greene, was born in Virginia in the year 1796, and died in Lake County, California, in the year 1892. He had two brothers in Missouri, Allen and Wesley, who died in Missouri. My father came to CAlifornia in 1850, around the Horn, and returned to Missouri by the way of Panama in 1852.
In the spring of 1853, a company of ninety persons was organized in Missouri and we crossed the plains in a covered wagon, landing in Auburn, Placer County, California, in September of that year. In our family were the following persons: my father and mother, my sister Puss De Jarnatt, and myself, my grandfather Greene and his other sons and daughters, namely: Alfred, Tant, Tobe, Duff, Kittie and Bettie. Included in our family was the wives of my Uncle Alfred and Tant; they were sisters and their maiden name was Sloan. All of this generation are now dead.
From Auburn we scattered. My father and mother and us two children went to Michigan Bluffs, Placer County, and for awhile my mother kept a boarding house. We lived in and about Michigan Bluff a year or so. Near this place there was a place then known as Sage Hill, where my sister, Mrs. Belle Thompson, was born April 3rd, 1854.
From there we went up to Main Top, about eight or ten miles north of Michigan Bluff, and built a road house out of shakes. This was in 1856, and my sister Alice White was born there. We did not do very well there. My mother got a job cooking at the Fork's House, which is about two miles north of Main Top.
In the fall of 1858 we left the Fork's House with a spike mule team for Stony Creek, Colusa County, California, where my Uncles, Alfred and Tant, with their families and grandfather Greene and Uncle Duff, the latter about eighteen years old, lived with my grandfather. All except Duff had Possessory Claims in ranches. It was through their solicitation that we went there.
After wintering there, my father and mother concluded they would locate on the place now known as Stony Ford. The land was unsurveyed and we built a log house without nails; the neighbors got together and built it in one day. We were fifty miles from Post Office and Market. Colusa was our Post Office and market. In the year 1860 my brother Frank was born in this log house, where we lived until the fall of 1862. While living on this Stony Ford ranch, I think it was the toughest time and greatest hardships I ever experienced. While we had stock of hogs, cattle and horses and being so far from market, we often ran out of supplies such as sugar, coffee and flour.
In the fall of 1862 we moved to Bear Valley, Colusa County, California, renting the Stephen Reese ranch. It was while living on this ranch that I saw the first sewing machine and mower.
In 1864 there was a coppy excitement on Little Stony Creek, and the little town of Ashton sprung up. We moved up there from Bear Valley and built a boarding house; within a year this all blew up.
In the year 1865 we moved to the town of Colusa, bought the Old American Hotel of Mrs. Lightner, tore down the building at Ashton and used the material to build an addition onto the American Hotel. It was there I was a busy boy. I milked two cows, cared for a span of horses, waited on the table, washed dishes and went to school. On Saturdays I hauled down wood from ranches near town. It was in Colusa that I got my grammar school education; no high schools then. In the fall of 1868 I went to the Hesperian College at Woodland, also in the spring of 1869.
After coming back from school I obtained a teachers certificate and taught school in Antelope Valley, in the spring of 1870. Not satisfied with this avocation I went into the Eureka Hotel with my father and mother. My father sold the Eureka Hotel and moved to Kelseyville. I followed and landed in Kelseyville on February 22nd, 1871. There I engaged in general merchandise, associated with Hosiah Smith.
On May 1st, 1872, I married Sarah A. Jamison, on the Jamison Ranch located seven miles from Kelseyville on the road to Lower Lake.
In the year 1873 I retired from the firm of Smith & Greene. In the spring of 1875 I planted a hop yard on the Shirley Ranch in Big Valley, which I cultivated for five years. In 1877 I again engaged in the general merchandise business at Kelseyville, with John C. Mendenhall, under the firm name of Mendenhall & Greene, and retired in 1878.
In the fall of 1879 I moved to Lakeport and was appointed Deputy County Clerk under H. A. Oliver. When Peter Burtnett took the Sheriff's Office in March 1880, I was appointed Deputy and acted as Under-Sheriff during his term. After Sheriff Burtnett retired from the Sheriff's Office in January 1883, I, with C. E. Phelan, rented twenty acres of land from D. V. Thompson at Upper Lake and planted it in hops. We raised hops for two years. We lost in our venture and Phelan quit and I continued on with ten acres for twelve more years and did very well. Some of these years the price was below cost of production. The highest price I secured was thirty-two and a half cents per pound, and the lowest eight cents, but on the whole I came out ahead.
In 1885 I joined with my mother in running the Lake View Hotel (known then as the Greene Hotel). In 1886 my mother sold the hotel to W. J. Butler and I opened a furniture store on Main Street in Lakeport, California. There I had a fire, but was fully covered by insurance. I opened again on3rd Street and added shoes to the business, and afterwards sold the furniture business and moved the shoes to the Levy Block, then sold the shoes to A. Levy.
On August 15, 1891 I was, by the Board of Directors of the Bank of Lake, elected Assistant Cashier thereof and shortly thereafter was elected cashier, which position I held until I resigned in November 1907.
On January 1st, 1908 I moved to Santa Rosa and have been living here, retired, ever since.
As I have already said, I was married to Sarah Ann Jamison on May 1st, 1872. She was born on March 13th, 1853 in Jefferson County, Missouri, and passed away on November 12th, 1929. She was the daughter of J. H. Jamison and M. A. Jamison; both have passes away. The family, I think, came to California in 1856 and settled at Bidwells Bar, afterwards moving to Solano County and then to Lake County. To our union there were born four children, namely: Fred A. Greene, Rosa Belle Greene (now Monroe), Dudley W. Greene, and Zella M. Greene. Fred A. and Rosa Belle were born in Kelseyville; Dudley W. and Zella M. in Lakeport.
I have seven grandchildren, namely: Maurice Monroe (now Reinking), Loyd Monroe, Mildred Greene, (now Bishop), Wanda Greene, Adra Greene, Dudley J. Greene and Rosalee Greene; also one great grandchild, Sara Ann Reinking.
In writing this biography, I have no notes to refer to; it is entirely from memory at this writing. I have past eighty-five years and have only attempted to give the dates of where I was and what I was doing all these eighty-five years.
There are many things I could relate of the ups and down, and I have attempted to be as brief as possible. I have always tried to be truthful, honest and just, and I think I have; let others be the judge. This is the way I taught my children and I think they are following my teaching. I can truthfully say I was never arrested, never sued, and personally never sued anyone.
Dated at Santa Rosa,
January 9th, 1935
Willis E. Greene
GREENE, W. W.
From "History of Napa and Lake Counties" 1881 - Pg. 234-235
Was born in Howard County, Missouri, January 22, 1827. Here he grew up on a farm and resided until 1850, when he crossed the plains to California,
and arrived at Hangtown July 28th of that year. He engaged in mining in El Dorado County for about one month, and then went to Placer County and engaged
in merchandising in company with two others, for about six months. He then went twelve miles below Sacramento and engaged in farming. At the end of four
months he disposed of his interest there and went to Rough and Ready, in Nevada County, and again embarked in merchandising, where he continued until June, 1851. He then moved his stock of goods to Auburn, Placer County, and continued merchandising for about eight months. He then closed out and followed teaming until January, 1853, when he returned to Missouri via Panama. He started from San Francisco in company with Judge Wallace, now of Napa County, but at Acapulco they separated, Wallace going through Mexico and Mr. Greene via Panama. In April, 1853, he started from Missouri, accompanied by his father, two sisters and three brothers, his wife and two children, bound to California with ox-teams, and arrived in El Dorado County in the following October. He settled at Auburn, Placer County, and engaged in hotel-keeping and teaming until the fall of 1858, when he moved to Colusa County and engaged in the stock business, which he followed until 1865. He then moved to the town of Colusa and engaged in hotel-keeping until the spring of 1868. He then went to Oregon and bought horses and sold them in San Francisco.
In the fall of 1868 he engaged in merchandising in Colusa under the firm name of Greene, Murray & Co., which he continued for one year. He then sold out and built what is known as the Eureka Hotel, which he conducted until the spring of 1871. He then moved to Lake County and engaged in merchandising in company with his brother, A.D. Greene, at Kelseyville. In April, 1872, he leased the Bartlett Springs and conducted them for one year.
During this time he purchased the Lake View Hotel at Lakeport, and in October, 1872, he moved to that place, where he has since resided, being engaged in hotel-keeping. He has changed the name of the house to Greene's Hotel. He was married, July 23, 1846, to Miss Mary A. Moody, a native of Kentucky. The children are, Martha A., Willis E., Isabell M., Alice G. and Frank A.
GRUWELL, L. H.
From "History of Napa and Lake Counties" 1881 - Pg. 237-238
Whose portrait will be found in the body of this work, was born in Quincy, Illinois, November 22, 1836. When still a child his parents moved to Iowa, where his father was engaged in farming till the spring of 1849. In that year the father of Mr. Gruwell, with his family, crossed the plains with ox-teams to California, coming in on the southern route from Salt Lake City, arriving at Los Angeles in December of that year. Soon after arriving the father, with his family, moved to El Dorado County, and remained until the fall of 1851, when they went to San Jose, where they engaged in farming. In the meantime young Gruwell attended the Pacific University for one year. In 1857, then a young man of twenty-one, he came to Lake County, then a part of Napa County, and speculated in stock until 1861, when he went to Mendocino County, and bought a ranch in Sherwood Valley, continuing to purchase stock for market in the counties of Sonoma, Marin, Lake and Mendocino; also, making trips to the southern counties, buying and driving cattle to San Francisco.
In the fall of 1863 he sold his place in Mendocino County, and returned to Lake, where he married Miss Lizzie Lyons, daughter of Judge Lyons, who is still a resident of this county, and formerly a resident of Pennsylvania, where the daughter was born. In the fall of 1866 he moved, and settled on Stoney Creek in Colusa County, where he followed stock raising and speculating for a number of years. In 1872 he removed to Siskiyou County (now Modoc), where he successfully followed the same business till the spring of 1873. On the 15th of January of that year his wife died, leaving four small children, the youngest but a few weeks old. In a few months thereafter he returned to Lake County with his little family, locating at Lower Lake. In 1874 he married Miss Mattie McClintock, a native of California, and daughter of J. T. McClintock, of Scotts Valley, where he now resides. Soon after locating at Lower Lake he became interested in the stage lines from that place to Calistoga, which he followed for three years, when he sold out his interest, and has since given his attention to the livery business. He owns at present three hundred and seventy-four acres of farming land, one and a half miles from Lower Lake, and his livery stable and house and lot in town.
Mr. Gruwell served for three months as Supervisor under appointment by the Superior Judge. The able manner in which he discharged his duties secured his election to the position November 2, 1880, by a majority clearly showing the high estimation in which he is held by the public. He has also manifested a lively interest and taken a very active part in the organization of the Lake County Agricultural Society, giving the use of the grounds for the exhibition free, and was elected its first president, which office he now holds for the second term.
He has had a family of six children, four by his first wife: Millie, Robert L., Calla and Lizzie, the last-named dying at the age of four years and four months. By his second wife he has two children, both girls: Alla and Katie. Mr. Gruwell has a well-knit form, indicating great physical power, weighing some two hundred or more pounds. It will be observed by reference to his portrait that he is a man of an iron will and determination of purpose, with a vital force sufficient to accomplish successfully whatever he undertakes.
"H"
J. M. HAMILTON
From "History of Napa and Lake Counties" 1881 - Pg. 245-246
Was born in Philadelphia, December, 1820. His parents died when he was quite young, and most of his early years were spent at school. After finishing a collegiate course preparatory to applying himself to the study of medicine, he visited a brother-in-law in Delaware who was farming near New Castle, where he became so much pleased with the life of a farmer, he determined to adopt that as his own vocation. He lived with this gentleman, D.W. Gemmill, until his marriage in 1841, when he began farming on his own account. In June, 1846, he left Delaware for the purpose of visiting Texas, and spent the remainder of that year until December in traveling through the western part of the State, from Galveston to the Rio Grande, and returned to New York by sea. After his return to Delaware he decided upon reading law, and for a time was a student with Hon. J. M. Clayton. In 1850 he was appointed Assistant United States Marshal for Delaware. The succeeding winter he accepted a proposition from another brother-in-law, the late Captain A. A. Ritchie, to come to California and engage in farming on the Suisun Rancho in Solano County, then just purchased by Ritchie and Waterman. In April, 1851, he left Philadelphia with his wife and two children for California; and after a pleasant voyage of one hundred and thirty-five days around Cape Horn in the ship "Tartar," Captain Webber, arrived in San Francisco August 22d. On his arrival, learning that settlers had taken possession of most of the land in Suisun, and not wishing to be drawn into any controversy with them, he bought a farm in Napa Valley, a short distance from Napa City, settled there, and engaged in farming until the fall of 1860, when he became interested in quicksilver mining in Pope Valley. In the fall of 1865 he moved with his family over to the stone house in Coyote Valley, and engaged in farming and general stock raising. At the organization of the State Grange Patrons of Husbandry, in Napa City, July, 1873, he was elected to the officer of Overseer.
At the meeting of the State Grange in San Jose, in October of the same year, he was elected by an almost unanimous vote to the position of Worthy Master for two years. As representative of the Patrons of this State, he attended the meetings of the National Grange in St. Louis, in 1874, and Charleston, South Carolina, in 1875. In March, 1854, he assisted in the formation in Napa City of the first agricultural society in California, and was elected as its president. He came into what is now Lake County (then a part of Napa) for the first time, October, 1851. At that time there was not a white person making this his home. The old Kelsey adobe, and a log house near where the present stone house in Coyote Valley now stands, were the only buildings that had been reared by white men. Until the time he came into the county to make it his permanent home, business or pleasure called him here frequently, and he has not been absent from it for more than a few months at any one time since his first visit. He claims to be the oldest living resident of Lake County. In the fall of 1858 he was appointed County Superintendent of Schools for Napa County, which then included the whole of this territory. This position he held for several years. He divided this portion of the county into school districts, examined applicants, and gave certificates of qualification for teachers, and set the machinery of the public school system into operation. For more than twenty-five years he has been in some office of trust and responsibility, frequently holding several at the same time, in Napa and Lake Counties; and the satisfaction he has given in the discharge of his duties is evidence of his ability and integrity. He now lives near Guenoc, and is engaged in the practice of law.
HANSON, David M.
From "History of Napa and Lake Counties" 1881 - Pg. 246-247
Was born in Coles County, Illinois, December 21, 1840. He came to California with his parents in 1849. He received his education at the Pacific University, Santa Clara County, and at the Emery and Henry College, Washington County, Virginia. He studied law in the office of Zach. Montgomery, in Marysville, California, and was admitted to the bar in 1861. He was appointed Clerk of the United States District Court, under Judge G. N. Mott, and filled that position at Virginia City, Nevada, for three years. He then began the practice of law, associated with Judge Jesse S. Pitzer. In 1864, he moved to Clear Lake, purchasing the property now known as the Ritchie ranch in Long Valley. In 1866, in partnership with I. C. McQuaid, Esq., he went to Idaho and engaged in the practice of law. In 1867, he engaged in the publication of the Clear Lake "Sentinel", at Lower Lake, and for a number of years, associated with his father, he continued in the newspaper business, publishing successively the Clear Lake "Sentinel," Sutter County "Sentinel,", Marysville "Evening Telegraph", and Gilroy "Advocate." He then retired from the business and located permanently at his home in Lake County, where he engaged in sheep raising and the practice of law. In 1878, he was elected to the position of District Attorney, which he filled with due credit to himself and the entire satisfaction of the people. Mr. Hanson is well and extensively known in Lake County, having canvassed it in the discussion of public questions. He now resides on his place which he has appropriately named the "Valley Ranch," in Lake County, three miles east of the celebrated Sulphur Bank. From his residence a grand view is afforded of Clear Lake and Lakeport. He has a wife and two children, and with the favor of Providence lives contentedly with the promise of happiness and contentment in future store.
HANSON, Hon. George M.
From "History of Napa and Lake Counties" 1881 - Pg. 247-250
The life of this gentleman was a long and eventful one. His California history is familiar to many of the first immigrants to this State. As he was not only one of the early immigrants to this coast, but also a pioneer of the Clear Lake region, we cannot give a complete chronicle of the early history of Lake County without the assistance of Mr. Hanson's experiences here.
George M. Hanson, whose portrait will be found in the body of this work, was born in Tazewell County, Virginia, March 13, 1799. In the year 1819 he married Miss Polly Ellington, at Lebanon, Russell County, Virginia, and became the father of seven sons and three daughters, all of whom reached the age of maturity, and six of whom survive him. His oldest and only living daughter is Elizabeth, the wife of Captain J. G. Allender, of Watsonville. His sons now living are, William P., an early settler of this county, now a resident of Willows, Colusa County; Nathan E., James Francis, Daniel A. and David M., all of whom are at present and for many years have been living among the scenes of Clear Lake. For twenty-six years Frank has lived on his present ranch at the head of Long Valley.
Two years after his marriage the subject of this sketch moved to Kentucky and engaged in the mercantile business for a short time; thence he emigrated to Clark County, Illinois, at that time a wild, unsettled country, and there lived for twenty-five years, much of that time being spent in public life. Being a man of exemplary habits and scrupulous integrity, his worth was soon recognized in his community, and he was directly called to serve as a legislator. He soon became prominent, and was regarded by all as one of the leading men in the halls of legislation. He served twelve consecutive years in the House and Senate of Illinois, and was intimately acquainted and associated with the men who subsequently became so famous in the history of that State and of the nation. He was in the Senate of Illinois at the time Abraham Lincoln made his first appearance as a legislator, and his reminiscences of the Abraham Lincoln and Stephen A. Douglas of that day were of peculiar interest.
During the year 1847 Mr. Hanson visited Texas, and traveled all over that State on a tour of inspection with the view of moving there and making a permanent settlement should the country suit him. Not being favorably impressed with it, however, he returned home, and the following year began preparations for a trip across the continent with his family, having then in view the territory of Oregon, which country at that time was attracting considerable attention. Before he started, however, the news of the discovery of gold in California came and changed his plans. In April, 1849, Mr. Hanson drove out of Coles County, Illinois, with three ox-teams, and a family carriage drawn by horses, headed for the new El Dorado of the Pacific. His ox-teams were loaded with an assorted stock of goods of several thousand dollars' value which he thought would be suited to the requirement of the miners of '49. Emigrants of that day rendezvoused at Independence, Missouri, where they formed themselves into companies consisting generally of thirty or forty teams, which were called trains, each train electing a captain, whose duty it was to take a general rule and direction of all matters connected with the interests of the company, and to facilitate as much as possible their journey to the land of gold and anticipated fortunes. The train with which Mr. Hanson cast his lot consisted of about one hundred persons, having only three women - Mrs. George M. Hanson, his daughter Mrs. Sidney Linder, and Mrs. John Armstrong - and about one dozen children, with an aggregate of some thirty-five wagons and teams, and a few extra oxen and milch cows, which were driven in front of the train of wagons that followed at specified distances apart as regulated by the captain. John G. Allender, who after his arrival at California became a son-in-law of Mr. Hanson, was duly elected captain of this train. Owing to his experience with teams, his peculiar social qualities and unrivaled memory of past events, he became very popular and never failed to interest and entertain his company around the camp-fires. The objects the emigrants had in thus traveling in companies was protection against hostile and predatory Indians, and mutual assistance when difficulties had to be met and overcome. We will not attempt to follow Mr. Hanson across the Rocky Mountains, the burning desert sands, and over the lofty Sierras, and relate the thrilling incidents of that early emigration, or portray the trying vicissitudes that so frequently beset his path. Suffice it to say that after untold trials, hardships and suffering he arrived at Yuba City, Sutter County, in the month of November, 1849, in destitute circumstances, having lost and left everything in the mountain fastnesses and snows of the Sierras.
At Yuba City he, for a short time, kept a hotel; then built a ferry boat, connecting Yuba City and Marysville across the Feather River. Within two or three years he built a bridge across the river at a cost of $30,000, which was carried away by the floods a few years thereafter. He then sold an interest in his toll franchise to John C. Fall, of Marysville, and together they built, at a very heavy cost, another bridge. This was very valuable property, the receipts of toll being from $75 to $150 per diem. A few years after this, by an Act of Legislature, the authorities of the county were authorized to erect a free bridge, in the face of the franchise held by Mr. Hanson, which was granted him for a period of twenty years, guaranteeing him protection of the same.
Politically Mr. Hanson had ever been an old line Whig, and when the Republican party came into existence, and held its National Convention in 1856, at Philadelphia, at which John C. Fremont was nominated for President, Mr. Hanson attended that body as a delegate from California. At that convention Mr. Hanson paid the lamented Lincoln a tribute of respect by putting his name before that body as a candidate for Vice-President, at the same time addressing a pleasant compliment towards him. The following National Convention of that party having nominated Mr. Lincoln for President, Mr. Hanson was a warm and active supporter of that ticket. He made his influence felt upon the stump and in the columns of political papers. Mr. Hanson was a very effective, ready debater, and clear and forcible writer. But few men of his day were better read in general politics, and who more clearly understood the system and ideas of our form of government. After Mr. Lincoln's election Mr. Hanson was notified by that distinguished gentleman that he was wanted to discharge the duties of some governmental office on this coast by the incoming administration. Notwithstanding his repeated assertions to the President that he was not desirous of official position, Mr. Lincoln, unsolicited, sent him a commission as Superintendent of Indian Affairs for the Northern District of California, which office he entered upon and discharged the duties of during that administration.
After the assassination of Abraham Lincoln Mr. Hanson retired to private life again, and although his accumulated years admonished him to forsake the pursuits of active life, his restless spirit and indomitable energy induced him to again resume business. He then, in company with his youngest son, David M., a lawyer, went into the newspaper business, publishing the Clear Lake "Sentinel," Sutter County "Sentinel," Marysville "Evening Telegraph," "Daily Appeal," and finally the Gilroy "Advocate," which publication ended his long and active career in business.
Mr. Hanson was among the first white men who penetrated the Coast Range Mountains as far as Clear Lake. Having a large family of sons, most of whom had grown to man's estate, he was desirous of finding homes for them and settling down to some steady pursuit. In 1853 or 1854, it was, that Mr. Hanson came in sight of the waters of Clear Lake, and after thoroughly prospecting the country, concluded that this was the very place he was looking for to find homes for his boys. He first settled them at Upper Lake, on Middle Creek and its vicinity, stocking their several places with horses, cattle, and hogs. While en route to the lake over the pathless mountains just west of Wilbers Sulphur Springs, on evening, Mr. Hanson shot and killed an enormous grizzly bear. This was near the head of what has ever since been known as "Grizzly Canon," through which an excellent county road now passes, and from which incidents that canon and road derives the name of "Grizzly Canon". In those early times large game was very abundant in this country. The pioneers could at all
hours of the night hear the savage snarling and deep growling of the grizzly, with the piercing scream of the panther or California lion. The Hanson boys have seen as many as fifty deer in a drove, hundreds of elk in a bank, ad the killing of grizzly bears and California lions was of such common occurrence as to attract no attention whatever. Since the year 1854, Mr. Hanson's sons have lived on and in the vicinity of Clear Lake, and this county has had for him in consequence thereof, all the attractions of a home. His visits hither, when not permanently settled, were of yearly occurrence until 1874. After he had retired from business, he came to Lake County, the scene of his many early and exciting adventures, to live among his children and grand-children, and in its salubrious climate pass the few remaining days of his life. In 1877, the great affliction of his life in the shape of physical infirmity befell him. He lost his eyesight and became almost absolutely blind from cataract. This to him was an inconsolable bereavement, as it deprived him of the ability to read and write, in which occupations he had taken his greatest pleasure. This affliction so worked and wore upon him that his health rapidly began to decline. He became helpless, and that fact so embarrassed him that life almost became a burden. His spirit of independence that had been a characteristic with him, and sustained him throughout his long life, was now utterly crushed, and he regarded his fast approaching dissolution with calm, Christian resignation. He had been a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and a respected member of the Masonic fraternity for more than fifty years, and we might safely say that no man ever lived more in consistence with his religious professions and fraternal tenets than did George M. Hanson for a half century of time. In July, 1879, he was taken with pneumonia which baffled the skill of his physicians. In a very few days it was evident that his career on earth must end. His children and grand-children were quickly summoned to attend that awful and solemn event. He was at the house of one of his sons in Long Valley, surrounded by weeping relatives and friends, and at about 9 o'clock P.M. on the 1st day of August, amid the heart-sobs of his devoted children and grand-children, the spirit of this good old man went back to the God who sent it to earth.
HANSON, J. F.
From "History of Napa and Lake Counties" 1881 - Pg. 239
Was born in Coles County, Illinois, June 11, 1833, where he resided with his parents on a farm until he was fourteen years of age, when the family crossed the plains to California, with ox-teams, arriving in the Sacramento Valley in October, 1848. The father's family spent the winter at the Lassen Ranch, while J. F. and his brother, Nathan E., engaged in mining on the Feather River. In the spring of 1849 J. F. went to Yuba City and ran a ferry across the Feather River for about four months. He then engaged in teaming to the mountains for four months, and in the fall he went to Santa Clara, where he attended school till about July 1, 1854. He then returned to Yuba City, and at the end of two weeks came to Lake County in company with his father, D. Brunson, -- Washburne, D. Hamblin, and Daniel Hanson, a brother. This party settled on different places in the vicinity of where Upper Lake now stands. At the end of eighteen months J. F. returned to Yuba City and spent about six months; and in February, 1856, he returned to Lake County and settled where he now resides, in Long Valley, where he owns five hundred and twenty acres. He also has an extensive sheep range in Weldons Valley, near the Sulphur Bank, comprising between one thousand eight hundred and two thousand acres. On his place in Long Valley there is a fine grist and saw mill, which will be found described elsewhere.
HARBIN, J. M.
From autobiography written by John (aka James, "Matt") Harbin.
It was published sometime in the San Francisco Examiner
Remarkable autobiography of the man who led the first emigrant train over the
Sierra, and who was the first of California’s millionaires.
Weary of the world, he crept into the solitudes of Mexico and for twenty years led the life of a hermit, leaving his retreat only because death seemed near.
THE KING OF THE MOUNTAINS
I suppose I ought to hate the world, but I don’t. It has kicked and cuffed me; it has put its hand in my pocket and stolen all it found there; it has
lied to me; it has led me into pitfalls and laughed when I fell; it has ground my heart and racked my brain. But I can’t hate. I distrust.
Twenty years ago, tired of dealing with insincerity, I crept away from it all and turned my face to Nature’s. The twenty years I’ve passed since then, my home in a lonely cave, my friends the stars and the winds and the birds and the honest earth, have been calm and happy. If the end were not near I’d be
there yet. I did not leave because my heart has changed its leaning. I still distrust. But I’d rather die with my girl beside me than alone in the
wilderness.
Californians know me as Mat Harbin, but my name is John Madison Harbin. (The sketch is identified as James Madison, which is how he appears in everything else. The signature is simply ‘J.M.’) I was born in Warren County, Tennessee, in 1823, and am of English-Scotch descent. In 1839 I left
Tennessee and went to Independence, Jackson county, MO. A might good old State, Missouri, and I think of it with a warming of my chilled affection.
When I was fourteen I became acquainted with Dr. John Mark, a fur-trader. He told me of California, and my fancy was caught by the pictures he drew of the
soft, sunny winters. I hadn’t much poetry in me, but I had a heap of fond-ness for the sunshine; so I thought and thought about the flowery places
out there in the warmth, with fleecy clouds drifting over them, and at last I made up my mind to get there if I could. I tried to find some one willing to g
o with me, but the trying was hard and the finding long put off. Not until 1844 was I able to make a start. Then I fell in with a party of Irish people
who took to the notion with which my heard was filled. We were set upon by our friends, who argued that we couldn’t push through to the ocean, and some
declared that we couldn’t make it with a body of 200 armed me, much less unattended. But were were not discouraged. I didn’t fear. In fact, I have
never been afraid of anything short of God, and I reckon a fellow hasn’t anything to fear from him as long as he keeps in the middle of the road.
We started for the West May 4, 1844, and trailed the sunset for six months. We had eleven wagons loaded with bacon and flour and drawn by oxen. I was the guide.
When we got to the head of Humboldt river I left the party and struck off alone to find a path through the mountains. I found what I was looking for,
and we crossed two miles north of the present line of the Central Pacific. In my search for a pass I discovered Donner lake and named it Little Truckee. I also got a glimpse of Lake Tahoe, which I called Big Truckee. To Truckee river I gave the name which still clings to it. I had with me at the time an Indian whose name was Truckee, and the name seemed good enough for lakes and rivers. Very beautiful those bodies of water were out there in the unbroken wilderness. Maybe the Almighty could improve on them, but he’d have to do it to convince me.
While hunting for the pass my appetite continued good, but my group didn’t continue. Two days before I found a way over the Sierra my supplies were gone. I buckled my stomach to a smaller compass and moved along hour after hour, thinking of all the dishes I liked and of all the spreads I had enjoyed, but seeing nothing worth mentioning except scenery. After going
without food for two days, I shot a coyote. It all depends on the cooking and the length of time you’ve been living on the sublimity of towering trees and
dizzy chasms. To me that coyote tasted pretty darned good, and now, after the lapse of more than fifty years, the memory of him is green. Here’s looking
toward him.
Our party reached Summit valley the latter part of September. There were about eighteen inches of snow on the ground then. The bacon gave out, but we
took naturally to beef. Killed an ox every now and then and had him roasted, boiled and fried. At Donner lake we built a cabin and stored provisions. We
weren’t sure we could make our way down the mountains, and we had a prejudice against dying in the snow, so we planned to have a retreat open in case of
need. Joe Foster and Dennis Martin were left at the cabin. They remained in camp until February and then went on ox-hide snowshoes down the Sierra. They
succeeded in getting to Sutter’s Fort. In the cabin we built as a retreat some members of the Donner party afterward perished. After leaving the two
men at the lake, the rest of us journeyed forward until we got to the Yuba. There, the snow having become very deep, we left the wagons. Three families
also remained. Aunt Mary Murphy was among the number in the second camp. All the others resumed the march and reached Sutter’s Fort. General Sutter
provided us with mules and we started back to rescue the waiting few on the Yuba. But the snow was too much for us at first, and had to halt until a
crust formed. Then we pushed on to the camp. We found Aunt Mary parching bullock hide for food and taking care of her three weeks old baby, Aunt Mary
had some of the real grit in her. She was as one among ten thousand. All of the party had gathered at Sutter’s Fort before December except the men left
at Donner lake. Ours was the first emigrant train that ever got their wagons across the Sierra.
I went into special service under Micheltorena, who was first in command of Mexican soldiers in California. I stayed with him four months and then went
down the coast to Los Angeles on an exploring expedition. Then I returned to Sutter’s Fort and with a few friends crossed the San Joaquin river. Where
Stockton is we killed about 250 elk. The San Joaquin valley I explored to Tulare lake and there made for the mountains and on to the Ventura region.
There I discovered gold in gravel. That was in 1845. Hurrying on to Los Angeles, I purchased some iron and made a Georgia rocker. Then returning I
took out several hundred dollars worth of gold. The water gave out and I struck into the Sierras in Mariposa county. The Indians drove me back and I
went to Old Horn, an Indian chief who lived on Kern river, 200 years from its mouth. He received me kindly and I remained with him four months.
On bidding good-by to Old Horn I journeyed 150 miles south of San Diego and discovered three copper mines. To get titles to them I started north to have
a talk with Pio Pico, and found the Bear Flag War under way. For two months I was in hiding at a ranch just below San Bernardino. The war with Mexico soon
followed, and I joined the American forces in 1846 under Commodore Stockton and was with the army until peace was established. I commanded the soldiers
at the Battle of Chino, forty miles east of Los Angeles, in September, 1846. The fighting lasted two days. The second day a bullet grazed my left ear, and
the last ball fired nipped the middle finger of my left hand, leaving it a wreck. I put up a pretty game fight, I reckon, but I was taken prisoner and
put in the next five months as a captive in Los Angeles. I had a fever then, and twice they carried me out on a hand -barrow so that I might die in the
open. It seems needless to observe that I didn’t die.
While I was in prison my mother and her family arrived in California and settled in Napa county. This moved me to what really was heroic effort, my
temperament considered: I wrote my mother the first letter of my life. When she read it she and my young brother held a council of war, and my brother
shouldered a gun and started for the front, intent on rescuing me from the Mexicans. To this end he joined the forces of Fremont. Good stuff in that
brother of mine, even though he didn't get me out. Well, I got out, nevertheless, for the war ended as all things end, barring trouble and star
dust, and when the end came I was honorably discharged from service, General Fremont signing my discharge in the Bell Building, Los Angeles, about March
or April 1847.
Soon after I was mustered out I returned north, taking with me 4,650 head of as fine cattle as ever trod the earth, and 700 horses. Of the horses we shall say nothing, please, in this day of the thoroughbred; but there were 700. I concluded it was high time for me to settle down and behave myself, so I
bought the Thomas Hardy Mexican land grant at Woodland. It touched the Sacramento river and measured about seventeen miles in length by four miles
in width. It was something of a bit of land. The site of Woodland is within the limits of the grant. I had more than that, though, but title to the rest
of my ranch I derived directly from the United States. I put in the time from then till 1858 raising cattle and thinking. The herds I had to sell were
disposed of to the miners and Sacramento butchers, and I cleaned up $100,000.00 to $150,000.00 a year. Frequently a fat ox brought me in $800.00.
I wasn’t backward about pushing my way where the snow lay deep in the winter, and beef was as good as gold if a fellow could get it to the miners when the
world was white.
In 1848 I built for others the first Georgia rocker at Mormon island and two at Coloma, just below the old Sutter sawmill. I got $1.00 of every five taken out with the aid of the rockers. During 1848, too, I took a short turn at mining on my own account, and my dust was worth $4,000.00.
Sarah Adams and I liked each other. Then we liked a little better. Then we loved. Then we married. The marriage was in 1850, and death came to Sarah in
1863. My love lives on, and should, for I have found little in this world worth clinging to save the memory of that good woman.
It is a distinction I do not value, but I may as well mention it, now that I am writing of other things: I was the first of the California millionaires. In 1853 my wealth aggregated $3000,000.00. I didn’t let it bother me.
About this time the tide turned and I began to be buffeted by fortune. The Mormons were mixed up in the first blows it gave me. The Mormons were being
persecuted, and I reckoned I could help them. I wasn’t a Mormon, and you couldn’t make me one in a thousand years; but I was a man, and they were of
my kind, and I felt sorry for them. I couldn’t figure out that they meant any harm, and I could figure out that they were having might hard traveling. So I
set to work to do them a good turn, and ended by accomplishing nothing for them a bumping my own head against rocks. I bought the Mosquito Kingdown in
Central America and planned to fix it up for the Mormons. I paid $100,000.00 down, and was to pay the remainder of the purchase price within ten years. I
supposed I could meet the payments with the increase of my herds.
I started for Utah, expecting to be absent two months, and requiring a little pocked-money I borrowed $45,000.00 from Jim Haggin and Lloyd Tevis, giving
them a mortgage on all my property, the note running for three months. I supposed I had arranged sufficiently to have my business attended to right up
to the line during my absence, and thought my agent would look after the note should I not be back on the minute. I shouldn’t have supposed any such
things, for the suppositions were wrong. I trotted about for nine months, and didn’t tell anybody at home where I was trotting or why. They lost track of
me, it seems and the report gained acceptance that I was dead. The note fell due, wasn’t raised, and was sued on. The mortgage was foreclosed, my property
fell to Haggin and Tevis, and I got home in time to be of no use at all.
I fiddled, faddied, feedled a bit, but I couldn’t raise money enough to redeem the property, and I couldn’t raise a bean on my kingdom. I was the
only man on earth who believed in it, I reckon, and I’m not saying I believed all the time, myself. When I saw that I was downed for good so far as my
ranch was concerned I chalked that up as an experience and moved over to Virginia City and began again. This time I engaged in the business of
supplying lumber to Virginia City and Gold Hill. IN sic years I was $150,000.00 ahead of the game, but the money was slippery and I
couldn’t hold it. It got away and stayed there. Then I went in for oil. I remembered having seen traces of petroleum in Southern California in 1845,
and I journeyed to the region and began prospecting. In 1864, that was. I found signs, and wrote to a friend to come down and bring $11,000.00 with
him. He did so. We sunk the eleven thousand so deep no man will ever find it. He and I were sleeping in the same room in old Pat Dunn’s hotel at San Luis
Obispo the night President Lincoln was shot.
From ‘65 to ‘71 I followed the lumber business on Cobb mountain, Lake county, working more than was good for me and making some money. Then I saw
the glimmer of gold, and off I sped. Gold-I mean the virgin gold the mind pictures shinning from sands no foot has trod, gleaming from quartz no had
has touched is a beautiful temptress floating on before, beckoning, beckoning, and laughing with promise. When some me catch the outline of her
shimmering form they drop everything and follow. Well, I was in those days unable to plod when this fairy beckoned. I hurried to Mexico and put my
savings into four abandoned mines in Durango--Vaca, St. Marcus, Socorra and Cabdilla. They were in a group, and had not been worked since 1850. I soon
found I hadn’t money enough to get out the pay ore I knew to be there, so I wrote old Fred Warner, the Sacramento butcher, how things stood, and told him
he could have the mines if he’d work them, giving me four shares of stock in return for the gift. Fred put in $100,000.00 and in a short time the mines
were paying $30,000.00 a month. This they continued to do for several years. As soon as the development began I trailed off among the mountains to await
the inflow of the tide, leaving my traps behind me. I lofted around a bit too long, considering the make-up of my good brother’s men, for when I returned I
found that some of them had broken into my trunk and taken thence my four shares of stock. I never saw those shares again. Having still some trustfulness as a mark for the arrows of outrageous fortune, I felt somewhat pained; but I took it for granted the company-Warner had taken in some
others-would readily reissue the stolen shares. There aren’t many things a body should take for granted except the law of gravitation and human
selfishness. I shouldn’t have taken that thing for granted. Warner was willing, but the others weren’t, and I saw clearly enough that I’d have to
face a heap of wrangling to get my rights. There isn't a mine worth the wear and tear of wrangling. I made up my mind that I’d leave those four shares
stand over for adjudication when Gabriel calls us all into court, and I figured out that I’d go it alone. Profoundly disgusted by my dealings with
men, I determined to turn to nature. As I said in the beginning, I didn’t hate; I distrusted. Hate is a fierce fire that consumes, the heart which
yields it, and I hadn’t any grudge against myself.
Off into a wilderness, eighty miles up among the mountains, I traveled--three days of hard riding from the nearest settlement. When I could look the earth in the face and not see man’s image there, I halted. On the bank of a pleasant creek I made my home. A mighty rock jutted from the mountain-side
hard by the stream, and in a hollow of its hospitable face I rested for twenty golden years.
Ultimately I enclosed this hollow, building three walls of stones cemented by adobe. The roof, so far as it projected from the great rock, was of adobe
tiles. When I had the walls about four feet high I sprained by back lifting a too-heavy stone. That put an end to building operations for many months.
After a time some Mexicans who were wandering through the mountains helped me to complete the walls and roof the enclosure. This enclosure I dived into
three rooms, in one of which I built a huge fireplace. I never made an oven and I never had a stove in all those years. My cooking was done in this
fireplace. For a few years I had several cooking utensils, but one day those were stolen. I venture to say there is no fastness wild enough to give pause
to the thievish instincts of men. If there is, sure it is that I have never found it. It may be that our notions of property are at variance with natural
law. By degrees I replaced the utensil, bringing home something necessary when I returned from the settlement, whither I journeyed once or twice a
year. Not precisely that, either; bringing something I could use is better. After all, the things which are necessary are so few a body could write them
on a square inch of paper. The excesses imposed by what we call civilization are so many that they burden the earth.
I had a rifle, a shotgun, plenty of ammunition, some blankets and a bit of steel. In the mountains I found a piece of flint. I had no matches, nor
wanted any. With my steel and flint I kindled all the fire I required during my solitary life for those decades. I had no candles, no kerosene, nor wanted
any. Pitch-pine torches served me well enough.
When the sun was yet below the crest of the mountains and the dawn was grey I took a gun and went into the forest, bringing home game enough to make my
table glad. No king had better, I reckon, and there was no sauce of bitterness. Along the streams and in the glades I found vegetables to my
looking and those things I couldn’t find I raised to the extent I cared for them, getting seeds originally at the settlement. When I felt lonely I turned
to the stars or the flowers or the waters and was comforted. There’s a heap of company to a star if you know how to get on speaking terms with it, and
the brooks tell stories, and the flowers are full of history, and the birds are honest friends.
The first ten years I kept tally on the big game I killed. I had 2,600 deer and sixty-five black bear on the list when I threw up the job of keeping
account of my hunting. The bear skins and deer hams were salable, and I exchanged then at the settlement for such articles as I needed or fancied I’d
like to have. The woods were full of deer, bears and wild turkeys, and I could tell a story or two worth hearing of some of my experience as hunter
and trapper.
I’m not giving to bragging, for I don’t care a row of pins what is thought of me or whether I’m thought of at all or no. I say this as a lead to the
claim that no man on earth knows more about cooking game then I know. I have experimented and studied. The combinations and methods I have tried are so
many that volumes would be required to list them. And as a result of it all I say that not one cook in one thousand understands the art of getting out of
meat the best that is in it. Why, the juices of meat are more precious than pearls, and who among you know how to save the glory of them for the palate
and their best value for the blood.
The last seven years of my stay in the wilderness I was more or less infirm. A stroke of paralysis found me one day, while I was clambering over the
rocks, and I wasn’t good for much after that. For six months I lay besides my fireplace, keeping as close to the blaze as I could without burning. A young
Mexican cared for me. He put in a heap of time rubbing my paralyzed left side with bear oil. Then I began to feel better, and could move about a little. No
doctor could have done so much for me as that heat and bear oil did. Well, let me add a word for my will. Will is a tremendous power. I bear testimony
out of an experience few men have equaled in my generation. I made up my mind to beat that paralysis, and I pinned my faith to the heat and oil. The will
had a great deal to do with pulling me through.
After that I found it hard to hunt, for it was not easy as it had been to climb here and there among the mountains in search of game. Often I fell and
hurt myself. Old age was coming on, too, and there came times when even my strong will failed to gain response from the shattered army of muscles it
commanded.
Three times within those seven years the Mexican--there had come to be a few of hem among the mountains since I settled there--concluded I was so near the end that they had better be prepared; and three times, accordingly, they brought a carpenter to the place and had a box made for me. I was so weak
that I couldn’t speak or move, but I could hear the saw and hammer, and I made a strong drive with my will to beat the Mexicans out of a funeral. I
lived to use those boxes for kindling wood.
Still, I realized I was on the down grade and might lose control of the brake almost any moment, and I began to think of going back to California. I had a daughter there and there was a warmth in my heart for her, and somehow I didn’t like to die out there in the wilds with my girl so far away. I thought
I’d like to have her hand in mine when I crossed the great divide. Besides, I had an ambition to fool that carpenter.
But I couldn’t face California a pauper. I didn’t want to be a penniless in a land where I had been prosperous. Pride, I suppose. Well, pride, I take it, is about the strongest passion we have. I never felt like getting along with less of it that I found on hand. It pulls something in your heart at times,
but it gives firmness to your step and strength to your eye.
So I concluded I’d try to acquire title to some of the valuable lands about me, for I didn’t own even the site of my home. The woods abounded in acorns
and I set to work raising hogs, my plan being to sell pork to the miners. I made a little money this way and was about to make more when along came
another wave of misfortune. I had a drove of six hundred porkers, a dry spell struck the region. Every hog died. The I took the little money I had
accumulated and determined to buy with it as much land as it would exchange for. I trusted the commission to a Mexican official, being feeble too attend
it myself. Of course he embezzled the money. I never saw him again.
Realizing that I could not reach independence soon enough by the first route planned, I made up my mind to apply to the United States for the pension to
which I was entitled for my service in the army of Fremont. That way, I knew, I could secure enough income for my simple wants and could return to
California without forfeiture of self-respect. I applied, but soon ran into a snag. I had to have two witnesses to prove myself the Matt Harbin who was of
the Pathfinder’s forces. No one in Mexico could supply the proof. I had therefore to turn to California.
I wrote my daughter, who was in Fresno county, and she supplied me a railway ticket. When it arrived I took a long look at the old place. I knew I should never see it again, and it was dear to me. Then I mounted a horse and rode away, not looking back. I was afraid to look back. I reckoned the great rock
might draw me to it if I gave it half a chance.
A Mexican rode with me to Durnago, a six-days journey. I was too weak to go alone.
When the train pulled into Toreon I got off to get something to eat and there I lost my ticket. After leaving Toreon the conductor made his rounds, and as I could not produce the ticket he put me off the train. That night I slept in my blanket beside the track. Next day I journeyed back to Toreon, and after a delay of twelve days the American Consul procured for me a second ticket. He helped me pay for a room in which to sleep while I was waiting. I reached
Fresno without further mishap, and taking the stage to Pine Ridge was soon with my child and her family and could find nothing in my appearance with
which she was familiar except this withered finger some meddling Mexican plunked at the battle of Chino.
Here I am content to spend the few remaining years. I have sounded the deeps and shallows of fortune, and I look out upon the world with something of
sadness and nothing of fear or anger. It has not used me well, but then it’s such a crude world yet, and I reckon it doesn’t know any better. J.M. Harbin,
Pine Ridge, June 20. (1897)
Contributed by Judy Klee
HARRIS, James A.
From "History of Napa and Lake Counties" 1881 - Pg. 241-242
Is a native of Butler County, Pennsylvania, and was born October 30, 1839. When he was thirteen years of age his parents moved to Iowa. Here farming was prosecuted about five years, when he engaged in teaching school for about three years. We next find Mr. Harris in the gold mines of Colorado, where he remained about eighteen months, when he returned to Iowa and engaged in dairying. In July, 1862, he enlisted and served as a private for three years in the Northern ranks. At the end of this time he returned to Iowa and resumed his dairying business about one year; then, on account of failing health, he came to California. He came via Panama and arrived at San Francisco November 4, 1866. As health was the chief object, he sought the desirable climate of Lake County, and settled about three miles south from Lower Lake, where he now resides, being engaged in farming and stock raising. Mr. Harris married April 22, 1862, Miss Louisa C. Parker. She died January 2, 1873 leaving three children: Eugene, Erwin and Katie. He married secondly, April 14, 1875, Miss Lina Powell, by whom he has three children: Ralph A., Carl N., and Martha. She died September 5, 1881, leaving three children as above named.
HARRIS, Thomas M.
From "History of Napa and Lake Counties" 1881 - Pg. 240
Was born in Pennsylvania December 19, 1828. Here he resided on a farm until 1853, when he crossed the plains to California. Like all early comers, Mr. Harris engaged in mining, which he followed until December, 1859, at which time he located one hundred and sixty acres in Yolo County. From this land the first lots were sold for building purposes in the town of Woodland. In June, 1862, having disposed of all his interests in Yolo County, he came to Lake County, where he has since resided. Since his advent into Lake County, Mr. Harris has been engaged in several different pursuits, among which might be mentioned stock raising, farming and hotel-keeping, and at one time, while keeping hotel at Lower Lake, lost his all by fire. He is at present engaged in wool growing, about six miles south from Lower Lake. Mr. Harris was married, May 24, 1849, to Miss Prudence Simpson, a native of Pennsylvania. Their children are, Laura, Alpheus, Ella and Thomas M., Jr. They have lost Alonzo, Prudence and Bruce.
HASKIN, A. S.
From "Memorial & Biographical History of Northern California, The Lewis Publishing Co., 1891
A.S. HASKIN, a farmer of Lake County, was born November 11, 1821, in Trimble County, Kentucky. His father was a native of Virginia. A.S. Haskin remained in his native State till 1866. In that year he went to Marion County, Missouri, and in 1868 he went to Saline County of the same State, where he was for twelve years engaged in farming. In 1880 he came to California and settled in Fresno County, where he remained three years. He then went to San Luis Obispo County, where he remained until 1888, when he came to Lake County. He owns 108 acres of excellent land, all under cultivation. It lies about six miles south of Lakeport on the Highland Springs road, and is beautifully located. He raises grain and stock. He was married February 17, 1843, to Miss Lucy Mothersead, a native of Virginia. Her parents moved to Kentucky when she was three years old. They have nine children: Armsted G., America M., Sarah Ann, Narcissa J., Mary E., Octavia, Orretta T., Annie Lee, Thomas E. Octavia and Annie are at home with their parents. The other children have made homes of their own. Mr. Haskin was a magistrate for the county in which he lived in Kentucky, for twelve years. Although he has always been actively engaged in farming and other laborious pursuits, time has dealt gently with him, and his present appearance is that of an energetic, middle-aged man, in the prime of life. In politics, Mr. Haskin affiliates with the Democratic party.
Transcribed by: Betty Wilson
HAYCOCK, Thomas
From "History of Napa and Lake Counties" 1881 - Pg. 239-240
Was born in New Brunswick August 31, 1824. When but a child his parents moved to Maine. When the subject of this sketch was about thirteen years of age they moved to Canada. In 1854 Thomas went to Minnesota, where he spent about four years and then came to California via Panama, arriving at San Francisco November 30, 1858. The first six months after arriving were spent in the mines of Nevada County. He then went to Plumas County, where he followed the same business until 1863, when he bought a hotel and ranch at Meadow Valley, which he conducted until 1867. He then again engaged in mining, which he prosecuted until 1874, when he returned East, where he remained a few months, returning to Plumas County in the fall of the above year. The next three years were spent in Plumas and Butte Counties, and in March, 1877, he came to Lake County and settled in Scotts Valley, where he now lives. Mr. Haycock married, November 22, 1852, Miss Sarah E. Turner, who died July 28, 1855, leaving one child, Sarah E. He married secondly, November 10, 1874, Mrs. Isabelle Sweazy, a native of Canada.
HENDRICKS, Greenbury
From "History of Napa and Lake Counties" 1881 - Pg. 240
Was born in Tennessee, December 9, 1827. When but a young boy his mother died, and he with his father went to Missouri, where he followed brick-making until September, 1853, when he went to Texas, where he followed farming until April, 1859, when, with his family, consisting of wife and two children, he crossed the plains to California. After a long and tedious trip they arrived in Tulare County, in September, 1859, where they resided until December, 1861, at which time they came to Lake County and settled on a farm in Scotts Valley. Here he engaged in farming until his death, which occurred April 22, 1876. Mr. Hendricks was married, June 26, 1853, in Cape Girardeau County, Missouri, to Miss Mary A. Stephenson, by whom he had seven children: Lafayette, Amanda E., Lydia, William G., Joseph W., John B. and Robert E.
HENDRICKS, J. D.
From "History of Napa and Lake Counties" 1881 - Pg. 241
Was born in Henry County, Tennessee, April 24, 1833. In October, 1855, he went to Missouri, where the winter was spent, and in the spring of 1856 started across the plains for California. In September of the above year, Santa Rosa, Sonoma County, was reached. Here he spent two years at different occupations, and then went to Oregon, where farming was prosecuted for eight years. In December, 1866, he returned to California, and settled on his present place, consisting of six hundred and forty-seven acres, located about one mile south of Lower Lake, in Lake County. Here he is engaged in farming and wool growing. Mr. Hendricks married, October 21, 1857, Miss Mary F. Dillard, a native of Missouri. Their children are, Charles E., born July 26, 1858; Frank, born October 4, 1860; Addie, born January 9, 1863; Vina, born November 24, 1864; John, born May 1, 1870; Flora, born March 3, 1875; and Grace, born April 9, 1880.
HERNDON, N.
From "History of Napa and Lake Counties" 1881
This old and respected pioneer of Lake County was born in Sumner County, Tennessee, September 15, 1809. He resided on a farm until nineteen years of age, when he engaged as apprentice to the cabinet trade. In the fall of 1833 he went to Texas, and in the spring of 1834 went to Missouri, where farming was followed until 1856. In that year he crossed the plains to California, and arrived in Lake County in October. He settled near where Lower Lake now stands and engaged in farming and stock raising. In 1877 he moved upon his present place, consisting of about nine hundred acres, located about five miles east of Lower Lake, where he engaged in wool growing. He also owns his original place near Lower Lake consisting of three hundred acres. Mr. Herndon married July 4, 1831, Miss Caroline Sweeney, who died September 20, 1840, leaving five children: Lafayette, Frank, Mary, William and Patsey A.
Page 67: The list of old settlers furnished us by Mr. W. C. Goldsmith has reference more to the vicinity of Lower Lake, but we will insert it here. ...In 1856 there came in and settled...N. Herndon and family, consisting of wife and six sons and six daughters....
Page 140: EARLY SETTLEMENT: The first settlers of this township located at or near the present town site of Lower Lake...N. Herndon
Page 144: FREE AND ACCEPTED MASONS: Clear Lake Lodge, No. 183, F. & A.M., was organized U. D. February 4, 1867 with the following charter members: ...F. M. Herndon. ...and F. M. Herndon, Steward(s)... The present membership is thiety-eight, and the lodge is in a very prosperous condition indeed. They meet in the Odd-Fellow's Hall.
Contributed by Margaret Hinton
HUDSON, David
From "History of Napa and Lake Counties" 1881
David was born in Lexington, Lafayette County, Missouri 15 October 1820 where he resided with his parents until he was about seventeen years of age.
He then moved with his parents to Polk County, which later became Dade County, Missouri, where his parents died in 1840. David remained there engaged in farming and stock raising until 1844, when he returned to Lexington and remained there until May, 1845. David with William, and his sister Lucinda and her husband, John YORK, in May 1845 started across the plains for California, and arrived at Johnsons Ranch October 15th of that year. They arrived
in Napa Valley about the first of November, and spent the first winter where Calistoga now stands. In the spring of 1846 he engaged in the Bear Flag War, and then joined the Mexican volunteer service, where he served until 1847. In the spring of that year he returned to Napa Valley and purchased land
near St. Helena. He went to the mines in El Dorado County, upon the discovery of gold, where he operated with good success, often digging out $125. worth a day. In the fall of 1848, on account of failing health he returned to Napa Valley and settled on land which he had previously purchased, and
engaged in farming and stock raising until 1873. He found that his health was failing, his trouble being asthma, hence he moved to Lake County, California and settled on his present place, consisting of one thousand two hundred acres, located in Coyote Valley, where he has since resided being engaged in farmingand stock raising. Mr. Hudson was married, December 9, 1847, to Miss Frances Griffith, a native of North Carolina.
They have six living children: Rodney J., Livonia, Elbert, Luella, Ada and Robert L.; and have lost one, Bertha.
David died in Lake County, California. June 10, 1888. On June 12, 1888 he was buried in St. Helena, Napa County, California.
David HUDSON was the son of William Pink HUDSON and Julia Ann KETTENRING. He married on 8 Dec 1847 in Santa Rosa, Sonoma, California,
Frances GRIFFITH, born 12 Sep 1832 in South Carolina; died 4 May 1923 in Lakeport, Lake, California; buried 6 May 1923 in St. Helena, Napa, California.
Contributed by Margaret Hinton
HUDSON, Judge Rodney J.
From "History of Napa and Lake Counties" 1881
Whose portrait it affords us pleasure to present in the body of this work, was born at St. Helena, Napa County, February 20, 1850, and is the son of David and Frances Hudson. Judge Hudson springs from a fine family, his father being a scion of the well-known and highly esteemed Catron family of Tennessee, one of whom, for a period of thirty years, was a highly distinguished Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States. His mother was a native of North Carolina, and is allied by blood to one of its best families. Young Hudson grew up at his birthplace, and made the best of the imperfect advantages for obtaining a primary education, which the then inefficient conditions of the schools offered. At the age of fifteen he entered an academy at Sonoma, which was conducted under the auspices of the Presbyterians, where Latin and the higher mathematics were taken up. At the end of the term he wrote and delivered his maiden oration, which was highly complimented by the Professors of the Academy, and served to show clearly the bent of the boy's mind, the latent powers that lay within him awaiting proper development. He then returned to his father's farm, but books had a much greater attraction for him than the humdrum, prosaical avocation of tramping up and down a furrow behind a plow, and a book was generally carried to the field, which received much more attention than the work in hand. He then spent three years in attendance at the St. Helena public schools, which were then of high grade, and here he learned to read Latin fluently and made considerable progress in higher mathematics. During his attendance at this school, and while yet only eighteen years of age, he made his debut into the political arena. In 1868, during the campaign of Seymour and Blair on the one side and Grant and Wilson on the other, a political meeting was held in St. Helena. The late Hon. W. W. Pendegast was the speaker of the evening, and among those present were young Hudson and his father and mother. At the close of Mr. Pendegast's speech the audience began to call loudly for Rodney Hudson, whose abilities as an orator were even then well-known among his friends and acquaintances, and by them fully recognized. When the calls for the young man became so persistent that it became evident that the crowd would not hear a refusal, his father departed, either thinking that his presence would embarrass the boy, or not desiring to be present to witness what he considered inevitable failure. His mother, too, felt that a crisis in the boy's life was just at hand, and with her womanly sensitiveness shrank instinctively from witnessing it. But the father's flight and the mother's fears were unnecessary, for the youthful orator was equal to the occasion, and for the space of half an hour he held the audience with his fluent and graceful oratory, and surprised even his best friends by his knowledge of the political issues of the day. Owing to his youth, the effort was regarded with a great deal of favor by all who heard it, and created quite a sensation, and from that time on he has always sustained a high reputation as a public speaker. His next move was to take charge of the St. Helena public schools, having a scholarship of about two hundred, and two assistant teachers. In 1869 he entered the University of Michigan. In a short time his health failed, and he was forced to quit school and return to California. He then entered the law office of Thomas P. Stoney, then County Judge of Napa County, as a student, where he remained for one year. On the occasion of the Fourth of July celebration at St. Helena in 1872, young Hudson, then only twenty-two years of age, was called upon to deliver the oration for the occasion. An extract from the Napa Register, then edited by G. W. Henning, will give an idea of the merits of the effort produced by Mr. Hudson on that occasion: "The oration was by Rodney J. Hudson, whom St. Helena may be flattered to call her 'boy.' Rodney - he will excuse the familiarity - looks the orator. He has a talent which, if cultivated, will place him in the very front rank of public speakers. His personelle and the fact that he was their own, created an interest in him which was not diminished in the least by his finely turned and patriotic periods. * * * We hope he will not go into politics. There is a crown awaiting him in his legitimate professional career which will set more lightly and gracefully upon his head than ever politician's will." In the fall of 1872 he entered the Law School at Lebanon, Tennessee, then presided over by the venerable Judge Carothers. While there he delivered an oration on Washington, which was complimented very highly by the Nashville Union, an extract from which we include in this connection: "His audience was thrilled with delight, excited alike by the spirit and eloquence of his words. The Golden State may well be proud of her representative in the Law School of the University." He graduated at this school and returned to California in 1873. In 1874 he formed a law partnership with the leading practioner in the southern part of the State. After having been there for four or five months he was called upon to make a Fourth of July address, of which the Los Angeles Star says: "The oration was the most superb effort of the kind ever made in Los Angeles. It was beautiful in all its points, and may be considered an oratorical gem of the first water. We have heard the oration spoken of everywhere as excellent, but not more so than its delivery, which was very fine." In 1875 he was nominated and elected by the Democratic party to the position of District Attorney of Los Angeles County. His first case was for murder, and the man was defended by Col. J. G. Howard, confessedly the ablest criminal lawyer in Southern California. The accused was convicted, and when the District Judge came down from the bench he said: "Mr. Hudson, you have conducted this case as well as any lawyer." He retained the office for two years, when, on account of failing health, he came to Lake County and opened a law office. Here he began at once to build up and maintain a good practice, rarely losing a case before a jury. Mr. Hudson sprang boldly and nobly into the great fight made for the new Constitution, urging its adoption by the people with the greatest vigor and eloquence. He took the field and made several brilliant and telling speeches, and was called the captain of the new Constitution forces in Lake County. In 1878 he was put in nomination for the position of Superior Judge of Lake County. It was a matter of serious doubt with his best friends whether or not he could win in the contest, his youth and limited acquaintance militating much against his chances of success. As for himself, he saw that only energy and determination could make success possible, and he made a thorough and personal canvass of the county, and then just upon the eve of the election addressed the people of the county in almost every voting precinct, which was evidently the great element of his success, as he was able to bring out the merits of his own case with a master hand. He was elected by a large plurality, showing that good work had been accomplished. Once elected, the problem of convincing the people of his judicial fairness and integrity confronted him. Upon taking the bench he announced to the bar that he would endeavor to be impartial and upright, and that he knew that he would be independent, as he did not owe his election to any corporation or powerful influence, but to the people. That he has kept his promise is attested by all the bar of Lake County. He has the reputation of observing a uniform courtesy to the bar while presiding, of being positive in his rulings, and swift to retreat when shown to be in error. Of Judge Hudson the Bulletin of Lake County says: "His rulings exhibit fine legal acumen, and he is one of the best judges in California, and after a while Lake County will be proud to help place him in Congress, where his singular abilities as an orator may have a fitting field in which to display their powers." Rodney J. Hudson is the youngest, but one, of the Superior Judges in this State; and who can read this sketch and see how he has climbed up the ladder, round by round, until he reached that high position when only twenty-nine years of age, without feeling proud of our grand American principles of liberty which give to worth, merit, and real labor, their just meed of reward. He was united in marriage in April, 1881, to Miss Panthea Boggs, daughter of A. G. Boggs, of Napa City.
HUSTON, J. H.
From "History of Napa and Lake Counties" 1881 - Pg. 239
Was born in Callaway County, Missouri, May 3, 1841. In April, 1864, he started across the plains for California with mule teams and arrived in Lake County in November. Here he engaged in farming and speculating until 1873, when he went to Colusa County, where the same business was prosecuted for two years. He then returned to Lake County, where he has since resided. He at present resides about four miles south from Lakeport. Mr. Huston married, October 11, 1871, Miss Cora L. Boggs, a native of Missouri.
"I"
INGRAM, J. C. W.
From "History of Napa and Lake Counties" 1881
Is a native of Gallatin, Illinois and was born April 4, 1829. Here
he received his education, and resided on a farm until 1844, when he went
to Missouri, where he spent about two years. The next two years were spent
in Iowa and Wisconsin; after which he rturned to Missouri, and in the spring
of 1849 he turned his face towards Oregon, where he arrived, after a six
months journey with ox-teams, the last of October. Her he followed lumbering
until the spring of 1851, when he came to California and followed mining at different places until September 1857, when he came to Lake County and
located in big Valley, where he followed farming and stock raising until
1867, when he settled on his present place, consisting of two hundred
acres, located in Scotts Valley, where he is engaged in farming and stock
raising.
Mr. Ingram, during the years 1858-59 held the office of constable and in
the fall of 1873 was elected Sheriff of Lake County which office he held four
years. He married August 28, 1858, Miss Mandana A. Musick, a native of
Missouri. They have six children: Luella C., John L., Mary R., Sarah A.,
Ruth and Mand. Have lost two: William R. and Preston.
"J"
JAMISON, James H.
From "History of Napa and Lake Counties" 1881 - Pg 251
Was born in Missouri September 26, 1830. Here he received his education and resided until 1854, when he, with his family, consisting of wife and one child, crossed the plains with ox-teams, and arrived at Bidwells Bar, in Butte County, August 20th of that year. Mr. Jamison engaged at once in mining, which he followed about four years. He then engaged in keeping a public-house on Feather River, which he followed about six months. We next find him in Vallejo, Solano County, where he resided until June, 1859, when he came to Lake County and settled on a stock ranch, located on the road leading from Lower Lake to Kelseyville. Here he followed stock raising and keeping public-house for about fourteen years, since which time he has lived in Kelseyville. Mr. Jamison has held the office of Supervisor for three terms, first in 1861, second in 1863, and third and last in 1875. Mr. Jamison married, March 9, 1852, Miss Mary Annett, a native of Virginia. By this union they have four living children: Sarah A., James B., Rosa S., and Lizzie.
JONES, C. W.
From "History of Napa and Lake Counties" 1881 - Pg 251
Was born in Carroll County, Arkansas, April 26, 1840. In 1857 he, with his parents, crossed the plains with ox-teams and arrived in Stanislaus County in October of the last mentioned year. Here they spent one year farming, and then moved to Sutter County, and after spending one winter they moved to Plumas County. After a residence here of about seven years the subject of this sketch came to Lake County and settled in Scotts Valley, where he has since resided, being engaged in farming. He settled on his present place, consisting of one hundred and sixty acres, in October, 1868. Mr. Jones married, October 24, 1867, Miss Narcissus A. McCabe, a native of Texas. They have four living children: Mary C., Charles W., James H. and Herbert M.; and have lost three: Thomas C., Walter M., and Annie B.
JONES, J. W.
From "History of Napa and Lake Counties" 1881 - Pg 251-252
Was born in Missouri February 27, 1836. When but a child his parents moved to Arkansas. In 1856 the subject of this sketch crossed the plains to California. He spent the first seven years of his California life in Plumas County, following different occupations. We next find him in Marysville, Yuba County, where he remained but a short time. He next went to San Joaquin Valley, where he spent one year, and then returned to Marysville and spent two years, and again returned to Plumas County, where he spent about six months, and then came to Lake County in the fall of 1867. Here he remained a short time and returned to Plumas County, and in 1868 again returned to Lake County and settled on his present place, consisting of three hundred and twenty acres, located about three miles from Upper Lake, on the Bartlett Springs road. Mr. Jones married, in 1867, Miss Mary E. McCabe, by whom he has seven living children: William, Edward, Franklin, Lucinda, Catherine, Phillip and Zeno; and have lost one: Aaron.
"K"
KEAN, Joseph B.
From "History of Napa and Lake Counties" 1881 - Pg. 254
Was born in New Jersey, November 17, 1817. When but a small boy he sailed on board the ship "North Star," of which his uncle was captain, as cabin-boy. After four years he returned home, where he spent one season. He then shipped before the mast as an able seaman for about four years, aboard of different ships. He then took charge of a brig on the northern lakes for about five years. He then went to New Orleans, where he had charge of the schooner "Belle Union" for one year, after which he commanded the "N. B. George" for about seven months. Mr. Kean then returned home, where he remained until the spring of 1847, when he went to South America, and engaged in mining until 1849, when he came to California, arriving at San Francisco May 12th of the same year. He went at once to the mines on the Yuba River, where he followed mining about two years, when he was taken sick with mountain fever. He then went to the Sandwich Islands, where he remained about four months; then went back to his birthplace, and after making a short visit settled in De Kalb County, Illinois, where he remained until 1854. He then crossed the plains to California, bringing a drove of about seventy-five cattle. He arrived in Siskiyou County in October of the above year, where he settled, and engaged in dairying for three years, when he sold out, and moved to Petaluma, Sonoma County, where he embarked in the forwarding and commission business until April, 1867, when he came to Lake County, and settled on his present place, consisting of two hundred acres, located about three miles south from Upper Lake, where he is engaged in farming and stock raising. Mr. Kean married, in 1837, Miss Bessie M. McKane, a native of Pennsylvania. By this union they have three living children: Sylvester, Laura A. and Sarah J.; and have lost one: Levy M.
KEATLEY, Thomas
From "History of Napa and Lake Counties" 1881 - Pg. 253-254
Was born in St. Louis County, Missouri, April 19, 1826. When eighteen years of age he went to Houston, Texas, where he followed surveying for about one and a half years. In 1846 he volunteered and served in the war with Mexico eight months, after which he returned to Houston and worked in a cabinet shop and saw-mill for two years. He then went to St. Louis, where he remained until the spring of 1850, when he crossed the plains to California. After spending about one year in Sacramento he went to the southern mines, and after about six months went to Trinity County. Here he followed mining until the fall of 1852, when he made a trip through Lake County to San Francisco, where he remained, being engaged in different business, until 1859, when he returned to St. Louis. Here he remained until 1861, when he again came to San Francisco, where he engaged in contracting and building until 1873, at which time he went to Cloverdale, Sonoma County, where he spent one year. He then came to Lake County and settled at Upper Lake, where he owns and conducts the Upper Lake planing and grist mill. Mr. Keatley married, June 14, 1860, Miss Amelia Gibson, a native of Missouri. They have three children: William T., Fannie P. and Ella F.
KEBERT, J. J.
From "History of Napa and Lake Counties" 1881 - Pg. 255
Was born in Pennsylvania, February 7, 1839. In February, 1856, he came via Panama to California. The first year was spent in the mines of Nevada County, and the next four were spent at the same occupation in Placer County. He next went to Virginia City, where a few months were spent, and then returned to California and spent about six months in the mines at Esmeralda, after which we find him in Yolo County, farming, which he continued until 1864. In 1865 he went to Mexico, and after mining for eight months returned to Yolo and followed dairying and butchering until May, 1878, when he came to Lake County and bought the Pearson Springs property, located about two miles east from Blue Lakes. Mr. Kebert married, January 25, 1881, Miss Antha Holstead, a native of Ontario.
KEITHLY, Seth T.
From "Memorial & Biographical History of Northern California", The Lewis Publishing Co., 1891
Was born at St. Helena, Napa County, February 20, 1850, and is the son of David and Frances Hudson. His father was a Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States for thirty years. Rodney Hudson grew up in St. Helena, and at age 15 entered an academy at Sonoma. In 1869 he entered the University of Michigan. In a short time his health failed, and he was forced to quit school and return to California. In the fall of 1872 he entered the Law School at Lebanon, Tennessee. He graduated in 1873 and returned to California. He set up his law practice in southern California, and in 1875 was elected as District Attorney of Los Angeles County. He remained in that office for two years, when, on account of failing health, he came to Lake County and opened a law office. In 1878 he was elected as Superior Judge of Lake County at the age of 29. (He was still the Superior Court Judge at the time of this book (1881)) He was united in marriage in April, 1881, to Miss Panthea Boggs, daughter of A. G. Boggs, of Napa City.
SETH T. KEITHLY, a Lake County farmer, is a native of Harrison County, Indiana, born April 29, 1836. When he was quite young, his parents moved to McDonough County, Illinois, where his father engaged in farming. In 1860 S.T. came to California and settled in Yolo County, where he remained till 1865. He then went to Sonoma County, where he bought a small farm, on which he lived for ten years. In the fall of 1875 he sold his farm and came to Lake County, and bought the farm on which he now resides. He has 1444 acres of land in Big Valley, lying between the Kelseyville road and Clear Lake, which he devotes to the raising of wheat. He was married February 23, 1865, to Miss Sarah Ann Peugh,. They have six children: Jacob A., David E,., Georgia, Adda, Lem and Lillian A.
Transcribed by: Betty Wilson
KELSEY, John
From "History of Napa and Lake Counties" 1881 - Pg. 257
Was born in Kentucky, July 17, 1819. At the age of eighteen he went to Tennessee, where he engaged as apprentice to the gunsmith trade for four years. We next find him in Ray County, Missouri, where gunsmithing was followed until 1867, when he was elected to the position of County Treasurer, which office he held for six years. In 1873 he came to California, and to Lake County, settling in Kelseyville, where he still continues to reside. Mr. Kelsey married, in 1839, Miss Emma Jones, a native of Tennessee. Their children are, William, Alvin, Solomon and Linnia A.
KENNEDY, Hiram
From "History of Napa and Lake Counties" 1881 - Pg. 253
Was born in Goffstown, New Hampshire, November 20, 1835. His early days were spent in a saw-mill with his father, and in 1849 the father came to California, and Hiram engaged as apprentice to the mechanic's trade. This he followed until 1854, when he came via Panama to California, and joined his father at Dicksburg, a mining camp in Yuba County. Here he followed mining until 1859, when, with his father, he came to Lake County and settled in Long Valley, where he now resides. Mr. Kennedy married, August 20, 1872, Miss Rosa Wilson, a native of Pennsylvania, by whom he has three children: Alexis, Milo and Albert.
KENNEDY, James
From "History of Napa and Lake Counties" 1881 - Pg. 253
Was born in Goffstown, New Hamsphire, July 12, 1796. Here he resided on a farm with his parents until 1823, when he, in company with three other men, built a pail factory at New Boston. Just as this institution was proving a success it took fire and burned to the ground. Mr. Kennedy then turned his attention to milling, and was foreman in different grist-mills for about twenty-seven years. Then, on account of failing health, caused from the dust, he changed his labors to saw-mills, which he followed until 1849, when he sailed from Boston in the bark "Chester," and rounded Cape Horn, arriving at San Francisco, after a rough passage of one hundred and ninety days, in April, 1850. Mr. Kennedy engaged at once in mining, which he followed at different places until June, 1859, when he came to Lake County and settled in Long Valley, where he has since resided. He married, in June, 1823, Miss Phoebe Robie, who died in the spring of 1856 in New Hampshire, leaving six children: Clarinda, Diantha, Roberta, Hiram, Almus and Esther.
KENNEDY, Romulus
From "History of Napa and Lake Counties" 1881 - Pg. 256-257
Was born in Seneca County, New York, December 22, 1818. In 1829 his parents moved to Michigan and located in Detroit, where his father followed the business of contractor and builder until 1836, when he moved to Canada and engaged in the distilling and brewing business. Young Kennedy remained in Detroit, attending school, and living with Stephen T. Mason, the Governor of the Territory. About 1837 he began the business of carpentering, and worked in Buffalo and Detroit till 1840, when he went to New Orleans, where he followed trading on the Mississippi River for about one year. He then engaged in clerking in a store in New Orleans until November, 1848, when he went to Memphis and opened a boat store. In February, 1850, he started for California, crossing the plains in a company of which Dr. Benjamin Bryand, now of Santa Clara, was captain. They arrived at Sacramento in August of that year, and spent about four months in the mines, when he went to Sacramento and began carpentering. At the end of four months he went to Vacaville, Solano County, and built the first house ever erected in the place, for Mason Wilson. He remained there until 1852, when he returned to Sacramento and worked at his trade till April, 1855, when he met with an accident which made him a cripple for life. He was disabled by this accident so that he was confined to his bed most of the time till 1858. He then went to Vacaville and took charge of the Wilson House, where he remained till 1864. He then came to Lake County and located at Lakeport, where he still resides, and is engaged in his trade. Since his residence here he has held the office of Justice of the Peace, by election and appointment for about eight years. He was married, September 6, 1880, to Miss Bell Hurlbut, a native of New York.
KENYON, Samuel W.
From "History of Napa and Lake Counties" 1881 - Pg. 255
Was born in Schuyler County, New York, May 12, 1856. In 1870 he, with his parents, emigrated to Kansas, and after a residence of about one year returned to Schuyler County, where they resided until 1875. At this date the subject of this sketch left his parents and came to California. The first six months were spent at the Great Eastern Quicksilver Mine in Lake County, after which he engaged in farming, which he followed for about three years. We next find him engaged in the livery business in Lakeport for about six months, when he changed his residence to Middletown, where he is now engaged in keeping a livery stable. Mr. Kenyon married, June 20, 1878, Miss Ella Hudson, a native of California, and daughter of David Hudson of Middletown.
KERR, William
From "History of Napa and Lake Counties" 1881 - Pg. 253
Was born in Tennessee, September 12, 1832. In 1849 he went to Missouri, where he followed farming until the spring of 1853, when he crossed the plains to California with ox-teams, and arrived at Santa Rosa, Sonoma County, on the 22d of October of the above year. Here he was engaged in farming, sheep raising, clerking, and working in a wagon shop until 1874, when he came to Lake County and settled at Upper Lake, where he has since resided. Mr. Kerr married, February 16, 1862, Miss Catharine Bradshaw, a native of Missouri. Their children are, Ida, Isaac and Bell. They have lost five: Eva, Lulu, Willie, Cora and Nellie.
KESEY, William
From "History of Napa and Lake Counties" 1881 - Pg. 252
Was born in Franklin County, Pennyslvania, February 22, 1819. When he was seventeen years of age he became apprenticed to the cabinet-maker's trade. When he was twenty years of age he went to Lancaster County, that State, where he worked at his trade one year. He then returned to Franklin County, where he worked at his trade until the spring of 1845, when he went to Wyandotte, Ohio, and there worked at his trade for one year. He then returned to his native county and volunteered for the Mexican War. He was taken sick at once, and after six months he returned to Franklin County, where he remained until 1847. He then went to Ohio with his father, where he clerked in a store until February, 1849, when he started for California, crossing the plains with mule teams. He arrived at Sutter's Fort September 19th of that year. Here he engaged in packing and trading, which he followed until 1851. He then engaged in keeping a hay-yard at Sacramento City, and also owned and conducted a farm a short distance down the river. In 1852 he lost all his city property by fire, and all his farm products by flood. In 1853 he went to Los Angeles, and was engaged in the stock business until 1858. He then went to Yolo County, where he dealt in stock until 1862. He then went to Washoe, where he remained only a few months. He then went to Calaveras County and prospected until the spring of 1863, when he came to Lake County and located at Lower Lake. Here he engaged in carpentering until fall, when he went to Borax Lake and remained there for about four years, engaged in his trade. In the meantime he purchased a tract of land which he moved upon in 1867, and engaged in farming until the spring of 1871. He then sold out and moved to Lower Lake, where he has since resided, being engaged in wool growing since then to some extent. In 1872 he was appointed Postmaster and Notary Public, which positions he held till 1875. He was appointed Deputy Assessor in 1873, and has held that appointment ever since. He was married, May 26, 1864, to Miss Margaret Adams, a native of Missouri, and they have one child living, James, and have lost one.
KIPHART, Charles
From "History of Napa and Lake Counties" 1881 - Pg. 255-256
Was born in Clark County, Indiana, June 9, 1828. When he was but a child his parents moved to Johnson County, and after a short residence here they moved to Morgan County. Here farming was prosecuted until 1853, when the subject of this sketch left his parents and crossed the plains to California, arriving in Yuba County in October of the above year. In the fall of 1854 he went to the mines, and followed a miner's life until March, 1855, when he engaged in farming in Suisun Valley, Solano County. Here he remained until December, 1857, when he came to Lake County and settled about one mile south from Lower Lake, where he still resides. Mr. Kiphart married, April 11, 1850, Miss Emmarine Henderson, a native of Indiana. By this marriage they have five children: Zerelda, Sarah E., Milton, Ebenezer and Cynthia.
KOUNS, A.
From "History of Napa and Lake Counties" 1881 - Pg. 254-255
Was born in Kentucky, December 6, 1843. In 1859 he, in company with his mother, one brother and two sisters - his father being dead - crossed the plains to California. They arrived at Smith Ferry in October of the above year, and resided there until July, 1861, when they came to Lake County. In November, 1871, the subject of this sketch settled on his present place, consisting of three hundred and twenty acres, located about ten miles south-east from Lower Lake, where he is engaged in wool growing. He married, July 5, 1868, Miss Rosette A. Copsey, who died October 21, 1873, leaving two children: Sarah L. and Jacob, who died March 16, 1874. He married, secondly, March 12, 1876, Miss Emma A. De Wolf, foster-child of C. L. Wilson, by whom he has two living children: Ira M. and Charles L.; they have lost one: Lucy M.
"L"
LAWRENCE, Richard H.
From "History of Napa and Lake Counties" 1881 - Pg. 257-258
Was born in Caroline County, Virginia, September 10, 1828. At the age of sixteen he entered the office of Richard Hill, Jr., at Richmond, as clerk. Here he remained three years. The next year was spent in teaching school in King George County. March 24, 1849, he sailed aboard the ship "Mananna" for California. Rounding Cape Horn, he arrived at San Francisco September 24th of the above year. He at once proceeded to the mines on Yuba River, where he followed mining two years; after which he went to Solano County, and settled in Suisun Valley, where he followed farming one year. We next find him in Sonoma, where he remained until May, 1854, when he came to Lake County, and settled in Bachelor Valley. Here he engaged in stock raising until 1861, when he was appointed under sheriff, and removed to Lakeport. This office he held two years. In 1865 he moved to Mendocino County, and had charge of the toll road leading from Lakeport to Cloverdale for about fifteen months. He then moved back to Lake County, and engaged in hotel-keeping at Lower Lake, which he continued until 1876. He then engaged in farming in Big Valley for about two years, after which he moved to Lakeport, where he has since resided. Mr. Lawrence has held the office of Justice of the Peace two terms, being elected first in 1856 and again in 1864. In 1878 he was again appointed under sheriff, which position he held two years, and in 1871 he held the office of notary public. He married, in August, 1861, Miss Eliza Worsely, a native of Delaware.
LEAGUE, James N.
From "History of Napa and Lake Counties" 1881 - Pg. 258
Was born in Hannibal, Missouri, June 29, 1845. At the age of sixteen he entered the Confederate service and served about eighteen months. He then went to St. Louis, where he attended Commercial College for one year. We next find him in Ralls County, Missouri, engaged in merchandising, which he followed about two years. In the spring of 1868 he came via Panama to California, and, after spending one year in Lake County camping, returned East and established a boot and shoe store in Glasgow, Missouri. This he conducted until June, 1870, when he again came to California and to Lake County. He located at Lakeport, where he engaged in merchandising until June, 1876, when he changed his residence and business to Upper Lake, where he has since resided. Mr. League married, November 20, 1872, Miss Jennie Marr, a native of Missouri. By this union they have two children: Ida and Thomas L.
LEVIN, David
From "History of Napa and Lake Counties" 1881 - Pg. 258-259
Was born in Germany, November 18, 1853. When he was about eight years of age he, with his parents, came to New York, where they remained about eight months. The family then proceeded to California, coming by way of Panama. The subject of this sketch received his education at the South Cosmopolitan School in San Francisco. In 1868 he engaged in the hat trade which he followed until 1878, when he came to Lakeport, and engaged with Mr. Aaron Levy in the general merchandise business, where he has since resided. He was married, April 29, 1878, to Miss Minnie Levy, and their children are Golda and Ellis.
LEVY, Aaron
From "History of Napa and Lake Counties" 1881 - Pg. 259-260
The subject of this sketch was born in Russian Poland, September 15, 1830. In 1851 he, with his brother Louis, came to New York, where he remained for two years. In 1853 he came to California, via Panama, arriving at San Francisco in the fall. There he engaged in the dry goods business, which he continued until 1857, when he went to Napa and remained until 1859. He then engaged in merchandising with H. Cohn, about one mile below the present site of Lakeport, to which place they moved their stock of goods at the end of a year. In about a year they admitted H. Charmark as a partner in the firm, and kept him in charge of the business. Mr. Levy then went to Virginia City, and engaged in the clothing business, where he remained until 1865. He then returned to Lakeport, and purchased the interest of Mr. Cohn, and the business was then conducted under the firm name of Chamark & Levy. At the end of two years he bought Mr. Charmark's interest in the Lakeport store, and the latter took the branch store at Kelseyville, which they had established in that place. From that time until 1878 he conducted the business alone, when Mr. David Levin was admitted as a partner, and the firm name is now Levy & Levin. Mr. Levy is among the pioneer merchants of Lake County, and has remained continuously in the business. He was married June 21, 1856, to Miss Bertha Levison, and by this union there are six living children: Minnie, Joseph, Solomon, Lena, Rebeckie and Celia.
LEVY, Morris
From "History of Napa and Lake Counties" 1881 - Pg. 258
Was born in Russia August 15, 1852. When thirteen years of age he went to England, where three years were spent. In 1868 he came to California, and after spending three years in San Francisco, came to Lake County and engaged in general merchandising at Lower Lake, which business he still continues to follow. Mr. Levy married, July 6, 1879, Miss Selina Wolf, a native of England. By this marriage they have one child, Solomon.
LYNCH, John
From "History of Napa and Lake Counties" 1881 - Pg 257
Was born in Ireland in 1829. Here he resided with his parents on a farm until nineteen years of age, when he came to America and spent the first two years in New York City. The next fourteen months were spent in Auburn in a woolen factory. He then went to New York, and took passage aboard the ship "Racer," and came around Cape Horn, arriving at San Francisco about October 20, 1852. He went at once to the mines in Tuolumne County, where he remained until the fall of 1856, when he returned to San Francisco and engaged in the milk business until September, 1858. He then came to Lake County and settled in Scotts Valley, where farming and stock raising were conducted until the fall of 1864, when he settled on his present place, consisting of two hundred and forty acres, located in Big Valley, about two miles north-east from Kelseyville, where he is engaged in farming and dairying. Mr. Lynch married, October 6, 1857, Miss Rosa Kearns, a native of Ireland. They have one living child, David J., and have lost three: Catharine, James E. and John.
LYON, George A., Sr.
From "History of Napa and Lake Counties" 1881 - Pg 259
Is a native of Canada, and was born August 8, 1821. When about ten years of age his parents moved to Pennsylvania, and after one year's residence there they moved to Ohio. At the age of nineteen the subject of this sketch entered the Alleghany College at Meadville, Pennsylvania, which institution he attended for two and one-half years, when, on account of failing health, he was compelled to discontinue. The next two years were spent in teaching school in Canada. He then returned to Pennsylvania and engaged in the manufacture of pig iron, which he followed for two years, when the building and machinery were destroyed by fire. Mr. Lyon was then appointed deputy sheriff of Mercer County, which office he held until March, 1849. He then started across the plains with ox-teams for California, and arrived at Sacramento September 1st of the above year. The first winter was spent in mining in Amador County. He then established a store at Jackson and after about six months, in company with two men, established a store in Sacramento, which they conducted, as well as that in Jackson, for about one year. The subject of this sketch then sold his interest to his partners, and engaged in hotel-keeping, in Placer County, which business he followed for six years. He then moved to Sacramento, where he resided until September, 1858, when he removed to Lake County and settled on his present place, consisting of nine hundred acres, located at Black Point, between Lakeport and Upper Lake, where he is now engaged in farming and wool growing. In 1859 he was elected Justice of the Peace, which office he held three years. My Lyon married, March 18, 1846, Miss Prudence McKean, a native of Pennsylvania. She died June 12, 1873, leaving eight children: George A., Sarah E., Carlos A., Clara M., James M., Edward E., Ada A., and Mabel C. He married secondly June 10, 1874, Mrs. Emma L. Ranard. By this union they have two children, Edith and Walter S.
"M"
MANLOVE, William H.
From "History of Napa and Lake Counties" 1881 - Pg. 261-262
Is a native of Virginia, and was born July 3, 1817. When about sixteen years of age he engaged as clerk in a general merchandise store at Petersburg. This occupation he followed until 1847, when he returned home and remained with his parents on a farm until 1849, when he sailed, aboard the ship "Marianna," for California. After making the trip around Cape Horn, he arrived at San Francisco in September of the above year. Mr. Manlove went at once to the mines in Amador County, where he prosecuted mining and merchandising for two years. He then went to the northern mines, where about six months were spent. We next find him engaged in farming in Sacramento County where he remained until 1855, when he came to Lake County and located in Coyote Valley, where he resided until 1861, when he was elected Sheriff of Lake County. This office he held two terms by election and a portion of another by appointment. At the close of his official term he settled in Big Valley, where he has since resided. He owns three hundred and fifty acres, located about four and one-half miles south from Lakeport, where he is engaged in farming. Mr. Manlove married, in November, 1862, Miss Susan Thompson, a native of Missouri. They have eight living children, Louisa F., James J., Virginia B., Minnie L., Katie, Hattie H., William D. and Navara.
MATHEWS, Mack
From "History of Napa and Lake Counties" 1881 - Pg 264
The subject of this sketch was born near Shelbyville, Indiana, April 4, 1840. He moved with his father's family to south-west Missouri, where he remained till he was sixteen years of age; and in 1856 he came to California. He has lived in Lake County since its organization, and has held the position of Superintendent of Schools for several terms, being elected at the last general election held in 1879, and is the present incumbent, filling the office with great credit to himself and to the full satisfaction of the people. He is a thoroughly energetic man and fully identified with the interests of the county in which he resides.
MATHEWS, William Randolph, M.D.
From "History of Napa and Lake Counties" 1881 - Pg 265-267
Was of English, Scotch and German descent, his English and Scotch ancestors having settled in the Southern Colonies before the Revolution, and taken part with the rebels in the wild warfare of that period. His father was a Baptist minister, and William Randolph, the second son, was born at Covington, Kentucky, opposite Cincinnati, November 10, 1809. He afterwards moved to Ohio, lived awhile at Chillicothe, and was a foreman in the work on the Wabash and Erie Canal. Removing to Indiana, he taught school near Rushville, and located at Shelbyville, where he was married to Martha Jane Meloy. Having engaged in a course of study with Dr. Morris at Shelbyville, he procured a medical library and moved west, settling in south-west Missouri, where he engaged in the practice of medicine in Green and Polk Counties. Dr. Mathews was among the early settlers of Lower Lake. Having crossed the plains in 1854, and imported some thoroughbred stock, he procured a band of California horses and formed a partnership with his nephew, C. N. Copsey, for raising draft horses, a business which they continued for many years. The land claim on which he lived at the time of his death was bought in 1854, and he brought out his family from Missouri, in 1856. As no regular schools were then organized in the Clear Lake country, he removed with his family to Yountville, Napa County, where he engaged in the practice of medicine. He represented Napa County, then including Lake, in the Legislature of 1858, and was the Democratic candidate for the Senate from this district at the following term, but Henry Edgerton, his opponent, was elected. Having removed to Lake in 1860, he was at the special election in 1861 elected County Clerk, and assisted in organizing the most economical county government in the State. Dr. Mathews always owned and conducted a farm, and gave much of his time to agricultural pursuits, and was at various times engaged in commercial and manufacturing enterprises, but with indifferent success. He never graduated from any college, commencing life in the Western States when educational facilities were limited, and depending on his own resources for a livelihood. From a sense of honor and a peculiar idea of propriety he refused
the degree of M.D., which was tendered him by Dr. McDowell's Medical College. He at one time conducted a private class in the study of medicine, and his students passed their degrees at the medical college at St. Louis.
He always held the highest regard for the authority of the medical schools, and was himself always a hard student, keeping abreast with the medical literature of the day, but he regarded the distinction of being a self-made
man as an honor equal to any which could be conferred by an institution of learning. He never sought for or desired any higher recognition of his professional skill than was afforded by his own abundant success as a practitioner.
He was generally on intimate terms and friendly relations with his acquaintances in the faculty, and only abandoned the practice of medicine as a business when his years and infirmities called for rest. In the duties of his professional
life a generous and charitable disposition ever stood in the way of his financial success, and he always regarded it as an honorable privilege and duty to minister to the wants of the poor and friendless. Politically, Dr. Mathews was a
Democrat, having always worked earnestly for that organization since the dissolution of the Whig party at the election of Harrison and Tyler. He took a deep interest in all local enterprises, educational, charitable, and political,
and too often made a personal sacrifice to promote the success of such undertakings. He was possessed of strong passions, but made it a rule of life and honor to keep them within bounds. He was of a steady, muscular temperament, and
capable of great endurance. Having a resolute disposition he was a vigilant foe, and a true and faithful friend. The traits of his character were moral, but not distinctively religious. Of a dignified
demeanor, urbane and sociable, he placed a high value on a good reputation; and elevation and refinement of feeling, dignity and honor, were among the personal qualities which he most admired and esteemed among men. In his last years he affected with paralysis. Dr. Mathews died at his homestead near Lower Lake, October 6, 1880, after a lingering illness.
MAXWELL, Thomas P.
From "History of Napa and Lake Counties" 1881 - Pg 264
Was born in Virginia February 11, 1831. When but a child he, with his parents, moved to Indiana, but after a short stay they took up their residence in Illinois, and remained there seven years. They then moved to Missouri, where they remained until 1849, when they crossed the plains to California and settled near Stockton. The subject of this sketch went to the mines, where he spent the winter in mining, and in the spring returned to Stockton and engaged in stock raising until 1864, when he came to Lake County and settled near Upper Lake, where he is engaged in farming.
MAYBEE, Hial N.
From "Memorial and Biographical History of Northern California", The Lewis Publishing Company, 1891. pg. 342-343
Hial N. Maybee, nurseryman and orchardist, near Lakeport, was born in Canada, August 6, 1835. His parents were natives of Dutchess County, New York, and moved to Canada, then back to Michigan.
Hial received a common-school education while at home with his parents in Michigan. He afterward attended Bacon, Bryant & Strattons' Mercantile College in Cincinnati, where he graduated in 1859. He then went to Stevens' Point, Wisconsin, where he engaged in the wholesale lumber business, in partnership with his brother. He remained in business in Stevens' Point until 1865. In the spring of that year he sold out and went to New York city, where he took passage on the steamer Golden Rule, which was wrecked on Ronkador, on French Keys, May 29. There were 1,000 passengers on board, all of whom excepting one escaped to the reef, where they subsisted for eleven days. On June 9 they were rescued by the gunboat Georgia, and taken to Aspinwall, from where they came to California and arrived in San Francisco, July 1. Mr. Maybee first settled in Nevada, Marin County, where he bought land and engaged in dairying for seven years. In 1872 he sold out and went to Alameda, where he engaged in contracting and building. In 1876 he went to Buckeye Valley, five miles west of Ione in Amador County, where he engaged in farming and nursery business. He also worked some at carpentering, having secured several contracts from the railroad company. In 1881 he returned to Alameda, where he again followed the business of contracting and building for two years. In 1883 he came to Lake County and bought land two miles south of Lakeport, where he now resides. He has forty-one acres of land, which he devotes principally to nursery and small fruits. He has a nursery stock of about 50,000 trees. He has one acre planted in strawberries of different varieties, which yield an enormous quantity of luscious fruit. He also has blackberries, currants and other small fruits, the acreage of which is increasing each year. He has two fine, flowing artesian wells on his premises; also an excellent spring from which he conducts water to his residence through pipes for general uses.
Mr. Maybee has been twice married. His first wife was a Mrs. Carpenter, of Lincoln County, Maine, to whom he was married in 1873, and who lived only a short time after their marriage. In 1885 he was married to Mrs. Meyers, a native of Germany. She has two daughters from her first marriage, who are living in the old country. Mr. Maybee is a member of the I.O.O.F. and the A.O.U.W.
Transcribed by Kathy Sedler, July 2004.
McBEE, W.
From "History of Napa and Lake Counties" 1881 - Pg 261
Was born in St. Charles County, Missouri, in April, 1843. When but a child his parents moved to Page County, Iowa, where farming was prosecuted until 1863. At this date they crossed the plains to California, and arrived in Green Valley, Solano County, August 8th of the above year. In October, 1869, the subject of this sketch moved to Lake County, and settled on his present place located in the lower end of Long Valley, and about five miles from Sulphur Bank, where he is engaged in wool growing. Mr. McBee married, June 1, 1867, Miss Silva True, a native of Missouri. By this union they have four living children: Nettie, Addie, Henry and Archie; and have lost one, Hattie.
McCABE, Phillip Thurman
Phillip T. McCabe was born in Jefferson County, Missouri on February 3, 1822. His wife Lucinda McCutcheon McCabe was also born in Missouri on September 30, 1821. Phillip and Lucinda were married in MO. on August 27, 1843. They started their western migration stopping first at Navarro County, Texas. They left for California with three children in 1854. They traveled to California on the Santa Fe Trail using oxen and wagons. A child was born enroute and three more children were born in California. Children of Phillip and Lucinda McCabe were Mary Elizabeth 1846-1917, Narcissus Asinath 1848-1937, William Branham 1851-1926, Alpheus Branham 1854-1895, Phillip Thurman II 1857-1936, Lucinda Amanda 1859-1935, and Thomas Jefferson 1863- . Two children died in infancy while they lived in Texas.
They bought 160 acres at Hell's Bend, Big Valley in 1858. Lucinda McCabe died there on December 29, 1863. Phillip sold the ranch in Big Valley in 1865 and moved to Scott's Valley, where he lived until 1875. He also lived a number of years in Little Lake Valley.
Phillip kept the family together and raised the 7 children. Phillip outlived Lucinda 49 years and never remarried. Phillip died in Upper Lake in December 21, 1912 at the age of 90 years old. Phillip and Lucinda McCabe are buried at the Hartley Cemetery in Lakeport.
p.70 - CLEAR LAKE TOWNSHIP - ...There were two voting precincts
in the county at that time, known as Upper and Lower Lake, and they were
embraced in the Third Supervisors' District of Napa County. At the
general election of 1855, R. H. Lawrence was elected Justice of Hot Springs
Township and L. Musick, Constable, both residing in Lake (Lake County area was
in Napa County at the time)
page 65, - "In the spring of 1855 Lansing T. Musick and Joseph Willard
came in and settled, the former on the east side of Clover Creek and the latter
on the west side. Willard was engaged in hog ranching. They both had families. Musick's family consisted of his wife and four sons, ranging
from nine to eighteen years of age, and one daughter, and Willard had a wife
and one or two children. (This was in Upper Lake)
page 67 - "Colonel Lansing Musick arrived in the fall of 1854, and located
on the east side of Clover Creek, just below the town of Upper Lake. At this time there were lots of wild hogs in the tules and the bears did not
seem to bother them at all.
page 71 - CLEAR LAKE TOWNSHIP ..... At this election (general election of
1856) L. T. Musick was elected Supervisor from Clear Lake Township.
page 163 - LAKEPORT - ...and Colonel Lansing T. Musick had a hotel here at
this time also. A photograph (not shown) of the place taken about that time, shows the hotel, now Greene's Hotel, as a squatre, box-looking
building, without the veranda and wings, which it now has.
