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HIRAM LEONARD NILES was born
in Iowa to Stephen and Nancy Niles on November 14, 1850. At the time of
his birth he had an older brother Anamias and sister Lucinda. There were
several younger siblings. When Hiram was about nine years old the family
moved to Idaho. They came from Iowa to California by wagon and traveled
up through Big Valley in Lassen County to Boisie, Idaho, where his father
had a homestead. In 1870 Hiram was living with his mother and younger siblings
in Sonoma County. Stephen and Anamias were living in Tulare County at this
time. The family may have come to California when their younger brother
Lee was shot and killed in a saloon, because he was a "Blue Bellied Yankee."
ISABELL FINE NILES was born
in Tulare County to Smith H. and Laurahannah Querles Fine on July 17, 1861.
She had ten brothers and sisters. The Querles and Fine families had moved
to Tulare County after the Civil War. The four oldest Fine children were
born in Arkansas the rest were born in California. Isabell was called Bell
by her family and friends.
Hiram and Bell probably met
after his brother Anamias married Bell's sister Nancy in 1870. Hiram and
Bell applied for their marriage license on October 31 and were married
November 3, 1879. They moved to Shasta County in 1882. They had five children.
| Lena Elvira | b. Jun. 6, 1882 | d. Nov. 1935 | m. Ulysses Wertz |
| Lora Leonard | b. Aug. 17, 1884 | d. May 1969 | |
| Laurahannah | b. Aug. 21, 1888 | d. May 1943 | m. Joe Seeley |
| Ida Pearl | b. Jun. 28, 1891 | d. Jun. 1968 | m. Alvin Welendoroff |
| Oscar Stephen | b. Feb. 4, 1894 | d. Mar. 1969 |
Hiram and Bell never owned the
land they worked and lived on, they always leased or rented from the landowner.
They raised a few cows, pigs and chickens. Hiram raised draft horses and
broke them to pull freight wagons. He was a teamster, and drove freight
wagons to Old Shasta, Yreka and Fall River Mills. The Diestlehorst family
had a contract with the county to maintain the roads; Hiram worked on the
roads using his own team. Hiram cut wood and delivered it to Redding. They lived in many different areas of Shasta County, Millville, Pacheco,
Gas Point, Texas Springs, Cottonwood, Fall River Mills and Happy Valley.
Bell raised a garden, cooked and cared for her family; She liked to make
lace, she crocheted, tatted and knitted.
Their son Oscar lived with them
and took over the horses when Hiram was too old to work with them. They
were living in Happy Valley when Hiram died at age of 76, in 1928. After
his death Bell continued to live with Oscar. She often visited her grandson
Hiram Wertz and his family. She still liked to do the needle work and enjoyed
passing these skills on to the younger girls in the family. She was living
in Central Valley (Now Shasta Lake City) when she died at the age of 87,
April 1949. They are both buried in the Redding Cemetery.
Hiram and J Bell have one grandson,
Wayne Wertz, and several great-grandchildren living in Shasta County. They
have several great-grandchildren living in Siskiyou County.
Source: Shasta Historical Society - Feb. 2000
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