Colusa County, California

                                                                                Biographies

                                                                                       1891

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WILLIAM B. IDE.
The name of William Brown Ide has become historic in the early annals of American immigration, as path-finder, explorer and adventurer to California, as well as inseparably connected with the first settlement and organization of Colusa County. He was born in Rutland, Worcester County, Massachusetts, March 28, 1796. Tradition has reliably traced his ancestry, on his father's side, back to the landing of the Mayflower at Plymouth. William B. Ide worked at the carpenter's trade with his father till he came of age. His "schooling" privileges were limited to the common schools of the district, which were seldom kept open more than two months of the year. He married, April 17, 1820, Miss Susan G. Haskell, in Northborough, Massachusetts. He removed, in 1833, accompanied by his wife and six children, to Canton, Kentucky. Dissatisfied with the prospects there, he next tried Montgomery County, Ohio, settling at last, in 1839, in Jacksonville, Illinois. While residing in Ohio and Illinois, when his health permitted, he worked at his trade or at farming or taught in the district schools of his neighborhood a portion of the winter months. But his active spirit did not brook the meager rewards of a pedagogue and the slow process of farming then resorted to in the new middle West. He heard of a still more promising field of enterprise in the far-off extreme West, "where rolls the Oregon," or where flows the Sacramento. And thither he concluded to direct his steps. In the winter of 1844-45, Mr. Ide made ample preparation for his march to the Pacific solitudes by the purchase of a large herd of cattle, and a supply of provisions for a six months' journey with his wife and children and hired men, Oregon ,being then his objective point.

The party left their Illinois home on April 1, 1845, and proceeded to Independence, Missouri, and there organized a large company of immigrants, with one hundred wagons and the necessary teams and cattle. An experienced mountaineer, named Meek, was chosen pilot of the party. Arriving at Fort Hall, they met a company of trappers, en route for California, who spoke in glowing terms of that country, and of an easy route, with plenty of good grass on the way. By a vote of the company, it was decided to push on to California and relinquish their original purpose of reaching Oregon. After many vicissitudes, Ide and his party finally camped near Sutter's Fort. Here Ide met Peter Lassen, the pioneer for whom Lassen County has since been named, who owned a large tract of land a great distance up the Sacramento River, and who employed Ide to build a saw-mill. Ide had scarcely reached his new place of employment when Lassen came and very unceremoniously told Ide that he had since found a countryman of his (a Dane) to do the work, that he had no further use for Ide, and ended by ordering him to leave the house where he and his family were sheltered. This was in November, 1845. Ide then moved to Chard's cattle ranch, on the Sacramento, and built a log cabin, where he passed the winter. He made his journey next down the river to Josiah Belden's place, afterwards known as the Ide ranch, Belden giving Ide one-half of it for living on it and taking charge of Belden's cattle. Ide had here built the first cabin erected in Tehama County. He had not been here long when L. H. Ford came to Ide and informed him that the Mexican, General Castro, was on his way from Monterey to drive all the Americans from the country. He's patriotic spirit was aroused, and on May J, 1846, he set out, with a few other American settlers, for Fremont's camp. Fremont informed his countrymen that he would not assist in attacking the Mexicans, except in self-defense. The settlers then organized and chose Captain Merritt the commander. Ide was an enthusiastic member of this party, afterwards known and honored as the Bear Flag party, which proceeded to Sonoma, captured the garrison at day-break and made prisoners of General Vallejo and his brother officers, sending them under escort to Fremont, at Sutter's Fort, to be held as hostages until released in parole. Ide was of the little band of patriots that was left in possession of the barracks at Sonoma, and here they proceeded to organize an independent government by electing him governor and commander of the " Independent forces." A flag was deemed necessary, and one was quickly prepared. It was simply a piece of unbleached cotton cloth about a yard and a half long by one yard wide. The rude figure of a bear, standing on his hind legs, was sketched and painted by two volunteers, Todd and Storm, in the presence of a number of the Bear party. After the commencement of hostilities between the United States and Mexico and the arrival of Commodore Stockton on the Pacific Coast, Ide, joined by a few of the " Bear men," accompanied Colonel Fremont in his campaign down the coast to Southern California. in which Castro was defeated and the Mexican troops dispersed. He went through this campaign most of the time on foot, while his comrades were mounted. His reason for submitting to this indignity was that he consented to sacrifice his personal comfort through patriotic motives, feeling that if he could be of use as a private soldier, it was his duty to serve in that capacity. Ide always claimed that Fremont, bent on garnering all the glory of having secured California to the Union, was jealous of the claims and distinction Ide had acquired in raising the Bear flag and overcoming the fortress of Sonoma, and was bent on humiliating him for so doing. When Ide was mustered out of service, he was over four hundred miles from home, without money, without credit and without decent clothing, while his family at home were suffering keen privations.

Ide returned from the war late in. November, 1846, and immediately returned to his ranch. He resided in Monroeville, then the county seat of Colusa County, and held many offices at the same time, particulars of which are given in this work in the chapter devoted to the "Organization of Colusa County:" During the middle of December, 1852, he was taken ill of the smallpox while attending to his official duties at Monroeville. His family resided some fifteen miles away, and they were not present at his bed-side during his brief illness, which terminated fatally, December 20. While he was on his bed of death, the key of the county safe, of which he was the lawful custodian, was taken from under his pillow by the man who nursed him and the contents of the safe abstracted. It was known at the time how much money there was in the safe belonging to the county. The thief was pursued and caught and the county money recovered, but no more. None of Ide's private funds, which were in the safe at the same time, and of which he had a large amount, was accounted for, the thief escaping the second time and never retaken, aided, doubtless, by some confederate in plunder. Ide was the father of nine children: James Madison, William Haskell, Mary Eliza, Sarah Elizabeth, Ellen Julia, Susan Catharine, Daniel Webster, Lemuel Henry Clay and John Truman Ide.


AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF HON. W. S. GREEN.
" Robert Green, whose father was an officer in the body-guard of William Prince of Orange, came to this country from England in the year 1712, and settled with his uncle, Sir William Duff, in King George County, Virginia. He married a Miss Dunn, and had seven sons. His third son, Duff, married a Miss Willis, who was an own cousin to George Washington. William Green, my grandfather, was the third son of Duff Green, and moved to Kentucky, while that State was yet a wilderness. He married a daughter of Markham Marshall and a cousin to Chief Justice Marshall. They had ten children, and my father, Henry Lewis Green, married Miss Lucy Bird Semple, and I,. their eldest child, was born December 26, 1832.

"John Semple was a lawyer and rightful heir to the title and estates of the Lords Semple of Scotland. These estates had been confiscated during some of the revolutions in that country. He came to America, at what precise date I am unable to tell,. and married a Miss Walker. His eldest son, John Walker Semple, my grandfather, married Miss Lucy Robertson, the daughter of Isaac Robertson, the Scotch school-master, who educated James Madison (see Adam's " Life of Madison"). My mother's eldest brother, General James Semple, was offered the titles and estates of his ancestors if he would enjoy them as a British subject, but he refused. He was afterwards a Judge of the Court of Appeals of Illinois, a United States Senator from that State, and Minister to the Republic of Colombia, South America, under Martin Van Buren. Dr. Robert Semple, another brother, was president of the first Constitutional Convention of California, and Colonel Charles D. Semple laid out the town of Colusa. So much for my ancestors.

"I was born at the Horse Shoe Bottom, on the Cumberland River, which was then in Wayne, but now in Russell County, Kentucky. My father inherited something of a fortune, but as he went into unfortunate speculations, I had to 'hoe my own row' from the time I was twelve years of age to the present. The old field school in the backwoods of Kentucky afforded me about all the educational advantages I ever possessed, and my time at that was limited. Joshua Wright, my principal teacher, wrote upon the blank leaves of my speller, 'Will Green, his book.' I went to school about three months to Rev. William Neal, a Cumberland Presbyterian preacher and a man of superior attainments, who had married my father's sister. I worked on a farm as soon as I could reach a plow handle, and after I was fifteen years of age I got a man's wages, which in that country at that time was $7 a month. When I was a little fellow, I used to look over my school atlas to find a place for my future home, for I had very early made up my mind to `go West.' California, and especially the Sacramento River, always seemed to have a peculiar charm for me. When the gold fever reached us, in 1849, I concluded to try my fortune there, if I could manage the ' ways and means' part of it. I borrowed the money and agreed to pay, and did pay, four hundred' per cent interest on it.

"In company with Colonel C. D. Semple, John W. Semple and a son of Dr. Semple about my own age, and James Yates. who resided about four miles above Colusa, I left my old home at Seventy Six, Clinton County, Kentucky, on the first of August, 1849. We went to Louisville, and thence down the river to New Orleans. We found no means of conveyance from that place to the Isthmus. A notice appeared in a day or two calling a. meeting of the California-bound passengers to discuss means. for further progress. The result of this meeting was that one: hundred and three of us chartered the old condemned steamer Portland, and in that crossed the gulf to Chagres. The trip across the Isthmus at that time was, of course, romantic in the extreme, but I have not space to give any incident not entirely personal to myself, and but few of those. When we got to. Panama we were fortunate enough to secure passage on the steamer California, and had to wait there only a week, although there was-a large number whom we found there that we had to. leave behind us. We arrived at San Francisco on the tenth, day of October, 1849, and chartered a launch to take us to. Benicia, where Dr. Semple was then residing.

"The day after I got to Benicia, a man came into the hotel, and said he wanted someone to dig on the foundation for a,. house. I took the contract for $100, and completed the job in two days. James Yates and I then procured an ox-team and hauled wood to Benicia, but hearing that shingles were worth $40 a thousand and that there were redwood forests some sixteen miles back of Martinez, we went into that trade. I, with some others, made the shingles, and Yates hauled them to Martinez. We could always produce enough shingles in the woods to make- over a load, at $20 a thousand, so we got $20 for hauling shingles, sixteen miles. But the roads soon got so bad that we could not haul them at that price, so we all went to Benicia. I then took a contract to carry the mail from Benicia to the old town, of Sonoma. There was but one house on the road between Benicia and Napa, and but one between Napa and Sonoma. I carried the mail in my pocket. I made a few trips and then sold the contract. I then took charge of the Lucy Long, a. steam ferry-boat, across the Straits of Carquinez. In July, 1850,. I came to Colusa, and camped alone for several weeks, seven miles above the present town, where the city was first laid out. In company with Colonel Semple, I had a small stock of goods. We had a story-and-a-half house built on Levee Street, between- Fifth and Sixth, which we used for a time as a store and then, James Yates and myself occupied it as a hotel. It was afterwards, in 1851, when the town began to grow, the City Hotel, and was burned in the fire of 1856. In the fall of 1851, Yates and I started a bakery on Main Street, near the corner of Fifth. In 1853, in company with Dr. Semple, I located a farm near Freshwater Creek, on the plains. In 1855, I purchased a vegetable garden just above Colusa, and sold cabbage and sweet- potatoes at a bit a pound, and in the fall of the year went to the Joe Hamilton farm.

"After my arrival in California, I spent all my leisure hours reading and studying. Although mathematics is a particularly hard study for me, I tackled the higher branches, with a teacher, -and in 1855, being then twenty-three years of age, ran for county surveyor, and was defeated by Colonel William M. Ord, a brother of General Oid, United States Army, now deceased, but in 1857 I was elected and held that office for ten years. In 1855, I began writing stories, essays, etc., for the Golden Era, the California Farmer and other papers. In 1862 I married Miss Josephine Davis, and that fall went on a farm on Grand Island. Two successive crop failures upset me financially.

"The Colusa Sun had been started in 1862, by C. R. Street, :and in September, 1863, it was offered for sale, and John C. Addington and I purchased it. I began my editorial career amid the exciting scenes of the Civil War, and maintained ultra state rights doctrines. I wrote as I felt and believed, without regard to consequences, and hence the Sun became a conspicuous mark for opposing journals. I tried all the time to treat the opinions of others with that degree of candor and consideration which I demanded for my own, and hence, while the Sun has been regarded as one of the most positive of journals on the coast in the expression of opinions, it has received more flattering notices than any other newspaper in the State.

"In 1867, I was elected to represent Colusa and Tehama -Counties in the Assembly. My principal work was systematizing the land laws of the State. I prepared a long bill and passed pit unanimously through both houses, and against the opposition of the lobby. Much has been said against and much in favor of the land system then inaugurated, and I am free to confess that the light of succeeding years has revealed some weak -points in it, but there was no man in either house or in the lobby who could point them out at that time. It legislated a number of locating agents out of office and they opposed it. It sent the swamp-land money from the State treasury back to the counties, and hence it was opposed by a number of capitalists who held certain scrip which they expected that money to pay, -hence they opposed it. I sat down by most of the members or went to their rooms and explained it to them so thoroughly that I was enabled to kill any amendment to which I did not consent, and hence I am responsible for the whole law, the bad with the good. But I am not responsible for the amendments made since, many of which have been very bad.

"In 1868, I found that the Secretary of the Interior had withdrawn from sale the even-numbered sections in the ten-mile indemnity limits of the California and Oregon Railroad. After examining the point, I concluded that the withdrawal was contrary to law, and filed an application to enter some twenty- eight thousand acres of land on the plains in Colusa County. The land operators of the day laughed at the idea of making the secretary take back his order, but after I filed my brief a flood of- applications followed mine. A rich banking firm at. Marysville took my list of lands and followed it through word for word, and made the technical objection that I had not made the tender of the money. *Of course I was appealing from the action of the register, who never receives any money, and had nothing to do with the receiver. But to make a long story short, the point was good enough in the hands of rich men against a poor one to cause a couple of divisions, and I came out with a little over one-fourth of the land applied for. In the meantime, settlement was going on in the valley, and I told settlers that if I got it, each one could have his land at a -named price. In the settlement I had to protect these, and I then sold what I had left and paid my debts. If I had gotten the whole of it, of course I would have been a very rich man, but I have no regrets and no word of reproach for those who came between me and fortune. The question as to whether their accumulation will retard their progress through the eye of the needle, is one for a higher court to determine.

"At this time, I was reading everything that came in my way. A number of infidel books fell into my hands, but they failed to convince me. They undertook to overthrow revelation by pure reason, and hence I required that they should maintain a consistent and logical argument throughout, but I found none in which I could not detect the most flagrant sophism. I acknowledged, however, my utter inability to establish a creed of my own, or determine which sect was right. The claims of the Catholic Church I did not consider worth examining; that was simply a relic of a past dark age, whose superstitions would soon melt under the scorching sun of advancing civilization. When I married a Catholic girl, and she wanted the ceremony performed in her church, I fancied that I was acting very liberally when I consented. Influenced, however, by the quiet and practical life of a pure Christian woman, who never attempted any argument with me, I began to examine into the doctrines of the church. The dogma that the church established by Christ must be an infallible teaching body, struck my mind with overwhelming force. If we were commanded to hear the church, must not God make the voice of the church infallible, that is, .right? But no matter about the process of reasoning—suffice it that it was entirely satisfactory to myself the party in interest and on the eleventh day of April, 1869, I was baptized in St. Joseph's Cathedral, Marysville, by the Rev. J. J. Callan, Jacob Myers being sponsor.

"I visited my old home in Kentucky in 1870. In 1871, I conceived the idea of a central agency in San Francisco for the sale of farming lands and went there to establish it. The bottom about that time dropped out of real estate. Stocks were all the rage. I struggled along for a year, seeing all the time that my plan was right and must succeed as soon as there was any movement in land. I started Green's Land Paper as an auxiliary, but the expense was so heavy that I had to give up the business after sinking some $15,000 and selling lands I owned at a sacrifice. Altogether, it was a disastrous venture, but as I could see that under more favorable circumstances I could have built up a business worth tens of thousands of dollars annually, I could not blame myself. I played for a big stake and lost. While at San Francisco, I edited for some nine months the Catholic Guardian, and was assured by the clergy and the press of that church that I had at once placed that paper in the front ranks of journals of that class.

"All this while I held on to my property in Colusa and to the Sun. After my return here in 1873, I determined to devote my whole energy to the building up of a great paper in the Sacramento Valley. The Sun has grown with Colusa County, and while I might have made more money in active speculation, my employment has been more congenial to my taste. I determined years ago that office-seeking was entirely incompatible with independent journalism, and hence that 'I would run for no office, but I did accept the position of town trustee, with no pay attached, for three years.

" Someone else in writing this sketch would doubtless allude to what Mr. Green had done in the way of advocating and promoting enterprises for the benefit of the town and county, but it would hardly be consistent with modesty for me to dilate upon this subject. I might recall with that pleasurable pride which the consciousness of having always endeavored to benefit those among whom I have lived and labored forty years, that nearly a quarter of a century back I was an earnest and studious advocate of irrigation. As a surveyor, I was thoroughly familiar with the topography of the county, and studied in season and out of season, and have walked and ridden all over it in order to ascertain how best to supply its rich lands with water. At the same time, in the columns of the Sun, it has been my aim to instruct its readers in what irrigation has so profitably accomplished in other sections of the State. It seems to be now like the realization of a bright dream to record here that the Central Irrigation Canal, which will water and fructify one hundred and sixty thousand acres, and thus place these lands beyond the possibility of a crop failure, at the same time stimulating the cultivation of fruits and vines, for which they are peculiarly adapted, and expanding their area, will soon be an accomplished fact. I rejoice in this even as the land will shortly rejoice with unfailing abundance, when its fecundity, now almost sterilized by the neglect to apply that element which alone can render it fruitful, shall be quickened into vigor, receiving and imparting life to the grain-field, the orchard and the vineyard, thus multiplying homes, diversifying products, establishing a market and placing Colusa County in the van of production, of usefulness and of domestic comfort. To have been of some service to its citizens in my day and generation is to feel that the end and attainment of a busy life have not been reached in vain.

" Finally, it might be proper in closing a sketch already too long, and I fear tiresome to those who have had the patience to read it, that few men in this age have been blessed with a greater degree of domestic happiness. When I married, I found a wife in the higher and nobler sense of the word, but she passed to her reward May 29, 1881."


AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF MAJOR STEPHEN COOPER.
[WRITTEN IN 1888.]

"I was born March 10, 1797. My parents emigrated from Virginia to Kentucky at a very early day, when Kentucky was full of hostile Indians. My maternal descent was from John Hancock, one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence. My mother grew up in Boonsborough, and my father in Bryant Station. There were eleven children of us, all of whom are dead except myself. In 1807 my father moved to Missouri and settled on the frontier. I was. then ten years old. We had no educational advantages there, as there were no schools; Missouri was then inhabited by Indians. In the winter of 1810 we moved to Boons Lick, Missouri, then one hundred miles from settlements. We lived there over two years, with peace and plenty, until the War of 1812 broke out. By this time we had considerable settlements, but found it necessary to build forts for our protection. We had three, viz., Cooper's, Kincaid and Fort. Hempstead, the two latter being ten miles from the former My father, Captain Sarshel Cooper, was looked upon as leader of all the forts.

"We had great abundance of horses, cattle, hogs and sheep. Had no stores ; lived very plain; we raised hemp, flax, and cotton, and with the wool of our sheep our women manufactured. such clothing as we wore, both men and women. The men wore buckskin pantaloons and buckskin moccasins. No man. owning a dollar, no taxes to pay, we lived happy and prosperous until 1812, when the Indians commenced their depredations, the first of which occurred in Montgomery County, Missouri.

"In i814 the county was alive with hostile Indians. My father went to St. Louis for assistance, and in his absence the Indians, five in number, killed a negro man who was hauling wood at the salt works, near Fort Hempstead. The news reached Cooper's Fort at midnight. In one hour we were off, reached Fort Hempstead at daylight; a little after sunrise our party was thirty men strong. We had with us a hound that would run and cry an Indian trail ; at nine o'clock we arrived where the trail was left the evening before. The hound cried the trail, and off we went at half speed, and just before sundown came in sight of the Indians we were following. They took to the brush, and we could hear guns in every. direction. We concluded to go in thick brush and remain until morning, no man being allowed to speak above his breath. When morning came, we mounted our horses, but did not go far before we struck a fresh Indian trail. They had been looking for us all night. We followed their trail to their camp, where we found some three hundred in number. We made a charge and attempted to surround them, but they surrounded us. I dismounted and took a tree ahead of the other men. The Indians were flying in every direction, whooping, yelling, and advancing. I recollected the advise of General Dodge, 'When you shoot know what you shoot at.' I found it impossible to get sight; finally an Indian halted, raised his gun to his face, but I fired and beat him down. I looked around and found myself alone, except one man, Joseph Stills. I flew to my horse, but by this time the Indians had surrounded Stills and myself. As we charged through them, they shot Stills from his horse. The horse ran on; I soon ran out of gunshot, and discovered John Snethen running afoot. I called to the stampeded crowd to stop and catch the horse; they obeyed, and Snethen ,mounted Stills' horse. We had one killed and two wounded. I again ordered a halt till I loaded my gun; the order was again obeyed. I soon loaded, as I always, in going into action, carried my bullets. in my mouth. We afterwards learned that we killed seven Indians.

"Some five days after this occurred; some three hundred Indians surrounded our fort and killed the first man, John Busby, that went out in the morning. We were too weak to attack them, as my father had taken a guard with him to St. Louis, where he was applying for assistance. He returned soon afterward. He had been at home only a few days when, on a stormy night, while thundering and lightning, the Indians picked a hole through the wall of the house and shot my father sitting by the fire-place. He was shot and never spoke. I had just gone to bed and dropped to sleep. I jumped up with gun in hand, sprang to the upper story of the house, and as it lightened I saw an Indian, but in an instant it was dark. I fired at random, but think to no effect; at this time the country was alive with hostile Indians. A few days after this, relief came to our assistance. The Indians must have known that we were reinforced, for they immediately left. We had very little trouble after this.

"The summer following, Missouri commenced settling, but the people were easily frightened. The Indians coming into the settlements caused the people to become alarmed, express would be sent to Cooper's Fort, brother Joseph and myself would start with three or four men, and ride all night to their relief. This was a common occurrence; in fact, Cooper's Fort was considered headquarters; after my father's death, Joseph was considered the war-horse. I was always with him, although but a youth, yet I was a stranger to fear. After this my occupation was plowing and raising corn until the fall of 1819, when I engaged as a hand in driving beef cattle to our soldiers at Council Bluffs.

"In 1822, myself with fourteen others fitted out the first company that opened what was called the Santa Fe trade. I left the party sixty miles from Santa Fe, and went alone; however, a party of Spaniards had met us, and two went with me to Santa Fe, where the streets were crowded with men and women. I espied sa man who looked as though he could speak English; I rode up and accosted him. You cannot imagine how I felt to hear the English language again. After a minute's conversation, he inquired if I had seen any men after me. I answered, ' No, what are they after me for.' The governor is going to take you; you had better go with me and give yourself up.' •I replied, ' I am alone and will do so, but if I had three men with me, I would not.' He said, What would you do with three men ? ' My reply was, I would wade out from amongst you.' I said to him, Go ahead.' He told me to go to his house and leave my arms, but I said, ' No; if they go to rough means I will need to defend myself.' We met the governor in the yard. He was just about to get on a mule to take a ride. We had a friendly chat through this interpreter. The governor requested me to call on him at two o'clock; I did so; we had a long and interesting talk. I informed him our object was to get up a trade with them; and I also informed him that we had brought a few goods with us. He replied, ' Do the best you can, and encourage a trade with us.' He said, ' Go back to your men and tell them we are glad to see them.' I went and reported. We peddled our goods and returned that fall.

"Myself and my brother Joseph were employed by General Smith and Major Berry to go to Texas in search of seven negroes that had been mortgaged to them and had been run off to Texas. After two years' search, they were found to be in Texas; we found the negroes and soon had them on American soil. We struck through a wilderness, saw no settlements except Fort Smith, Arkansas, and the Harmony Mission on the American. At this point I left my brother, as I had promised some Santa Fe traders to be back by the 5th of May. On reaching the Missouri settlement, in Lafayette County, I met the Santa Fe traders, thirty in number. I informed them that I would be with them in eight days; I was then within a day's ride of my home, in Howard County. The party waited at the Blue Springs, in Jackson County; when I came back to them, I unceremoniously took charge of the party. We reached Little Arkansas the 3ist of May. Here we came to an immense cloud of buffaloes; the plains, as far as the eye could reach, were black with them. The men were in great glee, gazing and singing till eleven o'clock at night. Not thinking of danger, I lay down with my gun in my arms and my shoes on, but took my pistol off my person. At daybreak a band of Indians, some twenty in number, charged through our camp on horseback, firing their guns and yelling, frightened and stampeded our horses, and swept everything before them. I sprang from my sleep, ran some thirty yards, .fired at the crowd, and knocked an Indian from his horse. They caught him and bore him off; it was on one of our own horses, which turned and ran into camp. An Indian tried to head him off, and came within ten steps of me, but my gun was empty, and I had left my pistol in my bed. I continued running with my empty gun until I found it was of no use. I then ran back to camp, where I found four horses; I ordered them saddled while I was loading my gun. Four of us mounted and pursued, and we soon came in sight of them. They stopped to make battle, but when we came near them, they fled from us. We pursued them ten miles, ran our horses down, but found we were gaining nothing, so gave the chase up, and returned to camp. When a horse would give out, he would be killed. Ten horses were killed while we were in the chase; altogether we lost forty-seven horses. We were then four hundred miles from home, in a savage country, all afoot and all our effects in a few dry goods. I told them that it was bad, but I was glad that it was no worse, as there was no one killed. I remarked, We have six horses left, and 1 want five men to go with me to Missouri to get more horses.' They were not hard to raise. I told every man who had a friend to write and have him send a horse to him, and those who had no friends, that I would bring him one. Off we went, traveling day and night. We soon raised all the horses we wanted; then back we went, only stopping four hours of the night. When we came in sight of our boys, we discovered the camp was full of Indians. This looked a little squally; one man faltered; he said we could yet escape. I remarked that I would go up if no man went with me. We went till we came within three hundred yards. When I saw one of our men step from the crowd, I hallooed back, Is Bob Morris alive?' I elevated my gun on my shoulder and fired. All hands were overcome with joy; they did not shout, for all were speechless. This was a band of friendly Indians who had gone out on a buffalo hunt.

"From here we proceeded on our way up the Arkansas some two hundred miles, when the company got it into their heads to leave the river and cross a desert so as to shorten the route. I opposed it, but we made the attempt, however, and here we had trouble; eight men gave out on the desert, all hands became frightened, cut their packs from their best horses, and off they went like crazy men. Here I was left with eight helpless men. One man pleads with me to go and save my own life, that these men were bound to die. I replied, No; I will not leave a man while he has life in him, but if you find water, come back.' When dark came, I loaded guns and fired in the air, and raised a fire of buffalo chips for a signal. At midnight four of the men came back with water. At daylight we packed up everything and started to join those at the water. We were four days in search of each other and finally succeeded.

" In the meantime we fell in with a company of twenty men who had started for St. Louis the fall before, but were caught in a snow-storm and lost all their mules. They cached their goods, and went on foot to Taos. They had returned for their goods, with a Comanche Indian for pilot. Our two companies then joined and we were fifty men strong. I differed with the Indian as to the route, but consented to go as he wished. We started with our canteens empty, and found no water on our first day's travel. We started again at daylight next morning, and traveled till nine o'clock in a westerly direction. I then unceremoniously broke off alone, and went north without saying a word to anyone. The others followed. We came to sand- hills, where seven men gave out. One man had been left some six miles back. I commenced encouraging the men to hold up, saying that we were only ten miles from the Arkansas River; we kept on and reached the river at sundown.

Next morning I asked for volunteers to go with me to bring in the men left on the desert; four men responded, and we set out loaded, with our canteens filled with water. In the first ten miles we came to seven men, all alive, but they had given up. We gave them water and started then; to the river. Now there was one man six miles beyond, lying in the desert. I asked, ' Is there a man who will go with me ?' One man replied, 'I will go.' We found him lying down and stupefied. I gave him water, lifted him on his mule, and at sundown we reached the river, all hands together again. Once more I had a good night's rest. In the morning I told the men that we had made two attempts to cross the desert against my will; now,' I said, 'I will be my own pilot if three men will go with me. I will travel two days and a half up the river, which I will leave just before sundown, travel all night, and at nine o'clock next morning will get to the lower Simarone Spring; we will then be safe.' I told them I was worn out, and must rest one day, to which all consented. I lay down under the shade of a cottonwood tree all day and rested. The men would roast choice bits of buffalo meat and bring to me. Next morning we started up the river. The second day we met our Indian guide; he said he had found water and a large band of Comanche Indians. I told him my route. He said the Comanche Indians would be at the Simarone Spring when we got there. We reached the spring next morning after leaving the river, and found fifteen hundred Indians. They were glad to see us; we remained there a few days, then proceeded on our way into New Mexico, deposited our goods, and returned home in the fall.

" In the spring of 1824 I took a trip to Kentucky with a few Spanish mules and jacks. Soon after my return to my home in Missouri, I was married, in September, to Malinda Tate, daughter of Stephen and Elizabeth Tate. We traveled through life almost fifty years. We raised six children, two boys and four girls, of whom I feel proud, and whom we brought to California in 1846. They are all living except one son, making five children living. I also have twenty-three grandchildren and eight great grandchildren, making in all thirty-one of my family. Who has done more for California than I?

"Congress appropriated $30,000, in 1825, for the purpose of laying out a road from Missouri to Santa Fe. President J. Q. Adams appointed three commissioners for that purpose: Colonel Reaves, Major Sibley, of Missouri, and Colonel Mather, of Kaskaskia; Joseph C. Brown, Surveyor; Archibald Gamble, Secretary; and myself, pilot. But I had to take charge of the whole concern. We held a council with the Osage Indians at Council Grove, in Kansas. From here we proceeded on our journey up the Arkansas to a point where the boundary between the United States and Mexican territory met on the Arkansas River. Here we waited for instructions, so as to proceed through the Mexican territory. The Mexican authorities objected to our proceeding through their territory, so that ended the matter. We returned in 1828

" I moved from Howard County and settled in Lewis County, near Lagrange. When the Black Hawk War broke out, in 1832, I raised thirty men and guarded the northern settlers until the Missouri troops were ordered out. I then joined Captain Matison's company as pilot, and as a scouting party we were stationed in the northern part of Missouri.

"I being on the tramp all the time with six men, we fell in with General Hughs, Indian Agent, as he claimed to be, with some six Indians. I inquired who he was and what he was doing. He replied, `I am showing the situation of the frontier.' I replied,
If that is the case, consider you and your party my prisoners.' ' Why,' he said, am a government officer.' I replied, I don't know you as such, nor I do not intend to know you.' I marched General Hughs to Captain Matison's camp. They had a warm time of it. Captain Matison praised me for the way I had acted. General Hughs returned to his Indians, and was not able to bring them to our camp. Captain Matison was soon ordered in, and two companies sent out from Boon and Calaway Counties. I then joined them, and acted in the same capacity until Black Hawk was captured by General Dodge.

"After this I returned home and lived a quiet life. However, I indicted a neighbor for stealing my hogs; he, by hard work, got clear and sued me for damage of character, and finally won. This broke me up. My farm and everything gone, I put out thirty miles from any inhabitant, built a little cabin, where I took my family, and went to raising pigs! In two years I had plenty of everything and a host of neighbors.

"In 1836 I was appointed one of the commissioners, with Colonel Boon and Major Bancroft, to locate and mark out the northern boundary of Missouri. Of our proceedings we came near having war between Missouri and Iowa. The matter was finally submitted to the Supreme Court of the United States.
The contention was about a strip eight miles wide. The court decided in favor of Iowa. It was a singular decision, as there was but one prominent landmark to govern the whole matter —that was the rapids of the river Des Moines. There are many rapids in that river, and we took the lower rapids and run the line to the letter of the compact of Missouri; but it was not worth getting up a war over.

"Under Buchanan's administration I was appointed Indian Agent at Council Bluffs for the Pottawatomies, without my knowledge, as I had not asked for anything. I served in that capacity until removed by President Tyler on political grounds. I then moved back to Holt County, Missouri. In 1844 I was vain enough to run for the Legislature. There were four candidates—three Democrats and one Whig. I came out ahead, and the Whig third. The first proposition I made in the Legislature, I was out of order. The speaker informed the gentleman he was 'out of order.' I sat down, but sprang to my feet and made the same motion again. The speaker informed the gentleman that he was 'out of order.' I sat down, but sprang up the third time, and varied the motion but little. I was then heard, and carried my point. The next thing that came up was the location of a branch Bank of Missouri. I proposed St. Joseph, and, contending for that point, I remarked that it was the head of steamboat navigation, and I expected to see the day when a railroad would cross the Rocky Mountains, and the Chinese trade coming to St. Joseph and carried over the United States. For these remarks they threatened sending me to the insane asylum. I have lived to see the day, and have ridden on the iron horse four times and heard him snort.

"At that time Captain J. C. Fremont was making arrangements under authority of the government to go to California in case we should have war with Mexico, and Colonel Benton was writing to me, urging me to come with Fremont. "I received a letter; May 25, 1845, from Fremont urging me to join his company, and left home May 28, 1845. When we arrived at Bent's Fort, near the mountains, the company was divided and I was sent south through Texas, and reached home in October.

"In the spring of 1846 I started with my family for California; was at the head of seven wagons, three of these my own. We soon fell in with a large train of thirty-five Wagons, bound for Oregon. We camped together two nights; the second morning at daylight there was a flag flying on one of our wagons with large, conspicuous letters, ' Bound for California.' This got up great excitement, and the Oregonians threatened to shoot the flag down. I said to them, 'Bring out your brave men and shoot down some old woman's flag if you want to.' This made them ashamed of themselves.

" We soon rolled out and twenty-one of the Oregon wagons fell in with us, making twenty-eight wagons in my train, which I brought to California. The first news 6I received of the American domination of California was while I was riding down through Humboldt County, then an almost unexplored wilderness. The day was hot and dusty, my oxen were tired and thirsty, and we were a demoralized lot, slowly creeping down the valley. Suddenly I saw a man galloping up the valley, shouting, swearing and praying, all in one breath. He would lash his horse and give a shout. He would hurrah for Fremont, then for California, and then for America. When he got opposite me, I stopped and got off my wagon and asked him what the matter was. He acted like a madman, shouting until I threatened to thrash him unless he spoke sense. Then he told me that Fremont had captured California. I tell you I suddenly ceased to feel tired, and the creaking of the ox-yoke was music in my ears; even the oxen felt revived and walked brisker for that news. California looked twice as handsome under American rule as it did under the Mexicans.

"We reached Sacramento Valley the 5th of November, 1846. In three days fifty wagons arrived. We met recruiting officers from Fremont's camp. I went into the recruiting business, and through my influence some twenty-six joined me. I told them I wanted every man who could leave, to join Fremont; that we had to hold the country or leave it at short notice. I could not go, as I had two very sick children, but if it were not for that, I couldn't be tied back. From that time forward, at every American camp we found a dressed bullock awaiting us. I first went to Napa Valley, where I remained till September, 1847. At that place, Mr: Yount and myself gave the first Fourth of July dinner ever given in California. Our flag was the stripes and a lone star, over which was written, ' California is ours as long as the stars remain.' Dr. Bail, an Englishman, undertook to cut it down. I told him this was our national birthday, and I hoped he would respect it enough not to cut the flag down. That flag is now in the Pioneers' office in San Francisco. It was a small thing, but there was a great deal of meaning to it. On the twenty-second of February, 1847, I presided at the first political meeting ever held in California. It was in the little town of Yerba Buena, now San Francisco. In the fall of 1847, I settled in Solano County;and was the first settler of Benicia; was appointed Second Alcade by Governor Mason, and afterwards elected First Alcade and Judge of the First Instance of Sonoma District, which included the territory north of the bay and west of the Sacramento River. My Alcade's record was the first to be recognized by the United States Government.

" On the 4th of May, 1848, Sam Brannan, a Mormon, came to Benicia in a little sail-vessel. He came to my house, with his saddle on his back, and dunned me for a horse, saying that he had some horses at Sutter's Fort and wanted to collect them. I furnished him a good horse. When he was about to mount the horse, he told me he was not going after horses. He remarked, I know the biggest speculation in the world, and if there is anything in it, on my return I will let you into the secret; he was gone some four or five days. On his return my horse brought him to Knights Landing, on the Sacramento River. He had run him down; procured a fresh horse, which brought him to Vacaville; having also run that one down, another fresh one brought him on to Benicia. He told me he had stood over a man five minutes, and in that time had seen him wash out $8.00, and remarked that there was more gold than all the people in California could take out in fifty years. That was the first gold excitement that ever amounted to anything.

" I started out and reached Mormon Island on Sunday morning. Some few days after, I received information that ten Mormons on the island were washing gold, and claimed thirty per cent of all the gold for two miles up and two miles down the American River. I took a stroll up the river until I supposed I was out of the range they were claiming. Monday morning I went down to the river with a tin pan and saw how the Mormons washed gold. I suppose that in the first pan I took out about fifty cents. Went back to the same place again and washed and got about one dollar and a half. I then went to work with my two little boys and took out about $80 that day. The second day took out $406, and the third day $500. I then went back to the settlement and tried to get tin pans. It was from a letter of mine that President James K Polk gave to the world, in a message, the discovery of gold in California that so startled the world and caused the immense rush here in 1849. My letter was shown Polk after passing through several hands, and he subdivided its contents in the message. I went from the American River on to the Yuba, and struck rich diggings there. I left when I was taking out $50 an hour and never went back, thinking it would become a drug on the market.

"In 1849 I gave the second Fourth of July dinner in Benicia. From Benicia I moved to Green Valley, and from there went, in 1855, to Colusa, where I have made my voting-place ever since. In 1880 I was appointed messenger to convey the electoral vote of California to Washington.

" Some five years ago I went to Modoc County on a visit to my son. I had sold to a rich bachelor there an eighty-acre land warrant, but the register at Susanville land office refused to let him locate it. The warrant was returned to me, and I took up a homestead and located a warrant on it. While there I also took up a timber-culture claim, which I still hold."
Major Cooper's autobiography closes here. To complete the life record of this vigorous, patriotic and universally- esteemed nonagenarian, whose fame is historic ir the nation as well as in the State, and whose unselfish usefulness made the paths of the pioneer smoother and aided powerfully in throwing around their early efforts of civilization the forms of law, but little more need be added.

In the fall of 1855, he removed to Colusa, where he made his home on a farm two miles west of Colusa, and was, shortly after his arrival there, elected a Justice of the Peace, holding that office for twelve successive years. Major Cooper died in the ninety-first year of his age, on May 16, 1890, at the home of his daughter, Mrs. J. R. Woofskill, at Winters, Yolo County. Five of his six children survive him. They are: Mrs. F. A. Van Winkle, Mrs. Amos Roberts, Mrs. J. R. Woofskill, Mrs. Waller Calmes and Thomas B. Cooper.


MARTIN A. REAGER.

This gentleman is the oldest settler now living in Colusa County with the exception of W. S. Green. He was born at Flint Hill, Virginia, in the year 1829 and removed with his par­ents ten years later to Marion County, Missouri, where he passed another decade in the labors of the farm. In 1849, then only twenty years of age, young Reager was smitten with the gold fever and set out across the plains for the goal of his ex­pectations. Driving an ox-team, it required one hundred and fifty days to complete his journey from Missouri to Shasta County, California, where he arrived in the fall of 1849. In the fall of 1850, he settled on the Montgomery grant, about ten miles northeast of Orland. He lived there twelve years, when he moved to Stony Creek, four miles east of Orland, having preempted part of his farm and having purchased the other part from the railroad and of the State Agricultural College lands. On first locating here, he was occupied in teaming and stock-raising. His land is now all under improvement, no unimportant part of which is the cultivation of a fine orchard of cherries, apples, plums, nectarines, and apricots. He was among the first in the county to engage in fruit-raising.

Mr. Reager was married, September 2, 1860, to Mrs. Amanda Hemphill, a native of Pennsylvania, and they have four children. His home is a pleasant, attractive, and hospitable one, and his farm embraces over six hundred acres.

JOSEPH S. GIBSON.

This gentleman, a pioneer farmer of the county, resides on his extensive ranch, twelve miles southwest of Colusa. Mr. Gibson was born in Lincoln County, Missouri, May 29, 1826, and received the advantages of a common-school education in his early youth. He was brought up to farming and has followed that pursuit during an active and industrious life. He crossed the plains en route to California in 185o, coming to the State by way of the Carson and Humboldt route. After mining a short time in El Dorado County, he came to Colusa County in April, 1851, and located a ranch midway between Moon’s Ferry and Meridian. This proving, however, to be on a Spanish grant, he left it and came to his present place of abode, where he has ever since continued to reside. He owns eighteen hundred acres of splendid land, on which he raises large crops of grain, besides being largely devoted to stock-raising. His res­idence and surroundings are among the finest in the county and betoken thrift, taste and the enjoyment of domestic contentment. In 1874 Mr. Gibson was married to Miss Sarah Frances Larch, of Calloway County, Missouri, by whom he had two children. Mr. Gibson has served several terms as trustee of the Freshwater school district. His reputation for integrity and the esteem in which he is held by his neighbors and the rapidly-disappearing band of pioneers, show him to be worthy of the prosperity which his industry has secured for the enjoy­ment of his riper years.

L. F. MOULTON.

The generation of the early days of Colusa County, which, by its perseverance, vigor and tireless energy has done so much to advance this county to the front among California’s banner counties of development, is rapidly passing away. From among those who still survive there are few more noteworthy or who have filled a larger space in public esteem than Levi Foss Moulton. His life has been peculiarly typical of the early home-builders of this State, and that, too, in its period of industrial and social transition, when self-reliance developed so remarkably that originality of plan and resource which is now so distinctly carved in the great monument of our Statehood. Mr. Moulton was born in Leeds, Kennebeck County, Maine, February.6, 1829. His father having been a tiller of the soil, the son was brought up in the same laborious and honorable vocation. At fifteen years of age, the subject of this sketch went to New Bedford, Massachusetts, where he found employ­ment in his uncle’s store for a twelve-month. Determined to acquire a trade, he now entered a carriage shop as apprentice, and before the time had expired for which he was indentured, he purchased his time from his employer and began business for himself in the same line. With a trade acquired and in bus­iness for himself before yet reaching his majority; with his am­bition now full-fledged and on wing, Mr. Moulton did not con­fine himself to mere money-making alone. The education he had received on the farm was scant enough, and feeling this, he set himself to remedy it under that best of tutors—self-help. For this purpose, while engaged in his uncle’s store or in the carriage shop, though a mere boy, he found time to conduct a course of reading, studying diligently before the day’s work began and utilizing with miserly economy every spare moment he could snatch at the noon hour or at night. The result is that to this course of self-imposed mental discipline he owes his present proficiency in the principles of hygiene, ancient and modern history, and political economy, besides being thoroughly versed in agricultural and horticultural matters and completely equipped as a civil engineer.

His studious turn of mind led him away from the pardona­ble frivolities of youth. He encouraged the young associates around him to seek knowledge likewise, and his efforts in this direction resulted in the organization of a debating club in New Bedford. The formation of a small library followed. It grew apace and was then presented to the city, thus forming the nucleus of what is now one of the largest free libraries in the East. Surely the chore-boy of the country store and the carriage maker’s apprentice builded better than he knew.

bIt was in the winter of 1851 that young Moulton, now in his twenty-second year, sought a broader and newer field for his enterprise, and for this purpose, in company with nine companions, of whom he had been chosen leader, he set out for California via Nicaragua. He arrived in San Francisco on March 22 following, and at once set out for the mines, going to Nevada City, where, among others, he worked in the mines with Colonel Dibble and Senator George Hearst. His capital on arriving in this new El Dorado was $1,5oo, and this was almost entirely expended in “prospects,” which proving to be far from remunerative, he concluded that as a gold-hunter, Fortune “ had not marked him for her own,” and so, with a willingness to be occupied with anything honorable, he turned himself undismayed to other employments, the chief of which was carpentering, at which he worked for several months on the Yuba River.

In the winter of 1852-53, Mr. Modlton determined to devote himself to some more permanent vocation, and for this purpose he came to Colusa County, and, having purchased land near his present abode, nine miles north of Colusa, he settled down to farming. The wisdom of this resolution he has certainly had no reason to regret, since his industry and intelligence therein have so combined to prosper him that, making new purchases of land as fast as his means would permit him, he is now the owner of eighteen thousand acres, unequaled for productiveness.

On this vast estate, an American principality in itself, Mr. Moulton has erected a stately home of peculiar architecture, an illustration of which will be found elsewhere. The Moulton homestead is a model one, in its fields of grain, in its extensive vineyards and orchards, where, side by side, in many instances, deciduous fruits grow and ripen in wondrous abundance with semi-tropical productions.

But the care and supervision of so large a ranch have not absorbed all of its proprietor’s time. He has found or made leisure to render him one of the most active men in the State on matters of public policy. His counsel has been heeded from the rostrum and through the press. A man of a well-stored, practical mind, using vigorous English in reflecting it, keenly observant and intrepid in his independence of party dictation, he could not well be silent on great local or economic questions. In politics Colonel Moulton (as he is termed by his friends) can be classed as an independent Republican, though his connection with the early Republican party is now historic, since he, in connection with Hon. John Kasson, a former Congressman from Iowa and Minister to Austria, first organized the Free Soil party, which was to all intents and purposes the Republican organization in its formative period, though under another name.

On October II, 1882, the Republican joint convention of Colusa and Tehama Counties placed Colonel Moulton on its ticket for State Senator. This honor was unsought by him, he being away at the time attending a meeting of the farmers at Stockton and of the anti-monopolists at San Francisco, endeavoring to make these parties understand the overshadowing importance of preserving their homes and lands from destruction by hydraulic mining debris. No time being left him to stump his district, he issued a circular letter to the voters thereof, which fairly bristled with Mr. Moulton’s individuality. He showed how he had previously served his county in an unofficial capacity; how in 1862 Colusa County was deeply in debt and her script selling for thirty-five cents on the dollar, when he, with others, matured a funding bill and worked it through the Legislature against great opposition, the result being that the county was soon out of debt, her rate of taxation as low as any other county, while her scrip has been at par ever since. Colonel Moulton closes this letter to the voters in the following straight­from-the-shoulder remarks, which are characteristic of the man: “ The Legislature is the place where this fight against hydraulic mining devastation has to be made. I will be in that fight whether elected to the Senate or not, but if the voters of the district shall honor me with a seat in the Senate, I shall not be far behind the foremost in the contest. I shall work hard for the future prosperity and glory of the State, for, old-line Republican as I am, and accepting as I do the party nomination, I place the prosperity of my district far above party con­siderations and shall not work in leading-strings when its inter­ests are in question.” Colonel Moulton was defeated, though running ahead of his ticket by a very flattering vote.

Mr. Moulton has never been his party’s servile henchman. He has kicked over the party traces when his conscience suggested that course. He went off with the so-called Dolly Varden party, whose brief but earnest career gave evidences of a promising vitality in the election of Newton Booth as Governor of the State. The activity with which he has thrown himself into public affairs is quite remarkable. In the anti-debris controversy no man in the State was more pronounced or mare indefatigable in his hostility to the encroachment of slickens. He spent freely of his time and money and was at all times the unselfish champion of the agricultural interests, and he will be borne in happy memory in time to come for his services therein, even as his efforts are now deeply appreciated by his contemporaries. As an instance of the earnestness with which he takes hold of matters in hand, he, at his own expense, sent thousands of illustrated documents and printed data through the mails, setting forth the manner in which the agricultural interests of Northern California were menaced by hydraulic mining, even going so far at one time as to furnish a large folio paper replete with engravings and fervent in argument and presentation of facts as a supplement to sixty-seven journals in the State.

At the Legislature he has been well recognized, and he was always sure to be present at some period of its proceedings as an irrepressible worker for county and State. To his credit be it said he had no logs of his own to roll, no private ax to grind and no selfish motive to advance in using his private means and time, which could be spent in elegant leisure at his home, in thus counseling with the representatives of the people. He opposed with an iron will and with some vehemence the passage of the Parks brush dam bill for nearly six weeks with next to no backing from the county, and, bad as the bill was considered by many, it was first shorn of its worst features by Colonel Moulton, and out of his stubborn resistance thereto came a thorough arousing of the people of the State. The final out­come of his opposition was a decision by the lower courts and afterwards by the Supreme Court, strictly in accordance with the views of the Colonel.

During all this period of pronounced activity, Mr. Moulton was developing the resources of his immense ranch, superintending all its operations, introducing new varieties of fruit trees, vines and shrubs, building bridges, laying out roads, re­claiming overflowed lands or protecting them from overflow. Assuredly, few individuals in the serene evening of their days can stir the pulses of memory with so many solacing recollections of a busy life, the events of which are nearly all inseparable from the gratification which their success and affirmed wis­dom must necessarily impart.

As a patriotic American and warm champion of the Monroe doctrine, as well as an implacable foe of railroad monopoly, Mr. Moulton was most assiduous in presenting the merits of the Eads ship railway. He looked upon it as a great international necessity, particularly for the people of this coast, concluding that it would operate as a political regulator of transcontinental rail rates, thereby making it impossible for them to be in a position of dictatorial control. For this purpose he wrote and caused to bse introduced into the State Senate a concurrent resolution urging Congress to assist the Eads ship railroad project. So persistent was he in his support of the measure that he labored for three years to bring to this coast Captain Eads, the greatest engineer of his time, who, at the same time, ex­amined the water-ways of California. Nor did he stop here; at his own expense he sent illustrated documents and data to thousands of people throughout the State explanatory of the ship railway scheme. His purpose was to educate the people hereon, and so deeply were they becoming interested that, in response to an invitation of the Geographical Society of the Pacific, Colonel Moulton, March 12, 1886, delivered a lengthy address on the Eads ship railway plan before that organization, which met with a hearty resolution of indorsement from the society.

Mr. Moulton at his hospitable home, when aloof from the excitement engendered by the earnestness of discussion on local or economic questions, is peculiarly happy in his domestic relations. He married in 1861, and three children are the pride of his household. They are: Oralee, a daughter, aged eighteen, now attending Mills Seminary; Levi Everett, sixteen years of age, and Herbert, aged four years.

C. GRIMES.

Cleaton Grimes, for whom Grimes Landing was called, was born in Maysville, Kentucky, May 24, 1815. After receiving a common-school education, he learned the trade of tanner. In 1840 he moved to Brown County, Ohio. At Georgetown, in this county, he worked at his trade for several months, for Jesse R. Grant, the father of General Grant. After various investments in Ohio and Kentucky, in the tanning business, he started for California in 1849, crossing the plains from St. Joseph, Mo., fol­lowing the Fremont trail to Weaverville. His first essay at acquiring a fortune was in the mines, and for this purpose he first went to Dry Creek, south of Sacramento, and afterwards to Oregon canon, near Georgetown, working in both camps about three years. Tiring of the mines, he came to Sacramento and bought an interest in a boat carrying freight between Marysville and Sacramento. Afterwards he bought extensively of provisions and miners’ supplies, and, loading them in a wagon, he brought them to Shasta and disposed of them at a satisfactory profit.

He came to Grimes, his present abode, in the spring of 1852. He remembers when he first passed through the town of Colusa that there was only one house there and that was occupied by Will S. Green. Grimes was short of powder, so he asked Green to let him have a small quantity. He says that Green cheerfully consented to do so and that he hunted around and brought out some powder which was caked and proceeded to cut it apart and pound it with a cold-chisel, greatly to the terror of Grimes and his companion. On first arriving at Grimes, he purchased one thousand two hundred acres of land from Dr. James Morrison and then began erecting a log house. Shortly after this, Goodhue & Case built and conducted the first store at Grimes.

Mr. Grimes, besides farming, has devoted much of his time- in raising stock. Raising hogs was very profitable at an early day, but he complained that the grizzlies could eat them up before he could, dispose of them.

In 1876 Mr. Grimes was married to Mrs. Annie E. Rollins, of Sacramento, and with her resides on his large ranch where he first located in the county twenty-eight years ago.

E. Mc DANIEL.

This hardy pioneer and successful farmer was born in Roane County, Tennessee, July 4, 1820. In 1834 he moved, with his family, to Illinois. He remained there, working on his father’s farm, for eight years, when he married Miss Sarah Ann Goree and settled in Wayne County, Illinois. He removed in 1848 to Schuyler County, where he rented land until 1852, when he was seized with a longing to come to California. On March 25, 1853, he, with his family, consisting at this time of his wife and five children, put all their effects in an ox wagon and set out for the Golden State. The party met with many adventures and endured some privations on their toilsome march across the wilderness. One incident is worth preserving. One night, while in the Goose Creek Mountains, they came across a fine dog, which, having become foot-sore, had been abandoned by a preceding train. Mr. McDaniel bound up his foot, placed him in the wagon and permitted him to ride till he had fully recovered. He afterward proved an invaluable help, as he was better than a man on guard. Arriving at Lassen Meadows, they came to the Pine Trading Post and found themselves without provisions and money. The trader at this post took a fancy to the dog and bought him for seventeen dollars, so that the poor dog they had befriended was the means of supplying them with provisions for continuing their journey. In this circumstance Mr. McDaniel thought he saw the hand of Providence.

On the 8th of August they entered American Valley and here fell in with Mayberry Davis, Alexander Cooley, and a man named Painter. The latter owned the land where Mc­Daniel’s warehouse now stands, then known as Painter’s Landing, and offered McDaniel inducements to come to his place. The party arrived there on September I, and McDaniel went to work on a threshing-machine but was soon laid up with the chills. He built a log house above the landing, and there, on October 1, 1853, a daughter was born to them, being the first white child born on the east side of the river. After renting land and farming it with varying success, McDaniel took up a farm of his own just above Butte City, which was afterwards owned by John Parker. The land on which he had been living was claimed as a Spanish grant and so he purchased a place south of Painter’s Landing and now known as McDaniel’s old place.

Mr. McDaniel was elected justice of the peace in Septem­ber, 1856, which office he held for six consecutive years. In 1863 he was elected county assessor and served two years.

On July 4, 1890, Mr. McDaniel celebrated his seventieth birthday, surrounded by his children and grandchildren, which latter numbered twenty-two.

JAMES BALSDON.

This gentleman is one of the most prosperous farmers of Grand Island. He is a native of Indiana and born in 1824. He came to California in 1852 by way of New Orleans and the Isthmus. He stopped over on the voyage in Central America and then renewed his journey in the North America but was wrecked ninety miles from Acapulco. He reached San Fran­cisco May 3, 1852, tried mining and met with little success and then concluded to try farming. Hearing of Grand Island and meeting with Samuel Morris, who owned ten thousand acres of land at the head of the island, he proposed leasing to Balsdon all the land he wanted at one-fifth of its product, but afterward proposed to sell any part at four dollars and a half an acre. Balsdon then bought three hundred and sixty acres and began cultivating it in the fall of 1853. He remained there eight years and then sold out to E. Fisher. He purchased, in 1861, a squatter’s title to three hundred and twenty acres and took up four hundred acres. He purchased in addition several other large tracts and now his home farm embraces in all nineteen hundred and twenty acres. This place is five miles from the railroad and four from the river, thus affording two outlets for the shipping of his products. He has raised in one season as high as eighteen thousand bags of wheat and barley. He has a large and handsome residence, built in 1871, surrounded by a natural grove, which is a home of contentment and prosperity. He is also very much interested in the cultivation of fruits.

Mr. Balsdon was married, in San Francisco, November 20, 1866, to Mrs. Lauretta Tripp, of Townsend, Vermont, by whom he has had two children, though Mrs. Balsdon was the mother of two children by her previous marriage.

VINCENT C. CLEEK.

Vincent Corder Cleek, son of Andrew S. C. and Mary V. Cleek, was born in Marion County, Missouri, October 27, 1844. When five years of age, young Cleek accompanied his parents across the plains in an ox-train, arriving at Sacramento August 1, 1850. From Sacramento the family made their way to what is now known as the Montgomery ranch, in the northeast corner of this county. Here the elder Cleek opened a store and hotel, to accommodate the travel up and down the river. Shortly after this, his grandfather, Vincent Corder, was taken sick with a disease which resembled the cholera, and died. Other members of the family were also taken sick. This caused the senior Cleek to think the place very unhealthy, and he sent his wife and two children, including Vincent, back to their old home in Missouri, via Panama. Following the departure of his family, the senior Cleek formed a partnership with M. A. Reager, and continued the store and hotel, besides raising stock and doing some farming. In 1852 he joined his family in Missouri, and ten years later the family again crossed the plains for California, going to the Montgomery ranch, where the elder Cleek carried on farming. Andrew S. C. Cleek served the county efficiently as supervisor, from 1869 to 1876. July 2, 188o, he died.

Young Cleek worked on his father’s farm until a grown man, when, November 20, 1871, he was married to Miss Julia Rich­elieu. He began farming for himself on land southeast of Or­land three miles, where he has a comfortable home and a farm of about five hundred acres of rich, productive land. He takes an active interest in public affairs, and is a leading Democrat. April 26 last he was nominated by his party for Supervisor, and was elected to that office by a large majority.. He is the father of six children, one daughter and five sons.

JONAS SPECT.

The subject of this brief biography is a native of Berks County, Pennsylvania, born March 21, 1817. His grandfather on the father’s side was a soldier of the Revolution and participated in the battles of Trenton, Brandywine, Princeton, and in the siege of Yorktown. When young Jonas was but ten years old, his family removed to Pickaway County, Ohio, then a wilderness. After maturity, he carried on farminc,6 till 1846, when he concluded to visit Missouri, which was then the extreme frontier of settlement. On arriving in the State, he heard much of the advantages of distant Oregon and some meager accounts of California, and, resolving to see these new countries for himself, he left the Missouri line in a company of forty persons, men, women, and children, driving an ox-team for Isaac Bailey.

Travel was necessarily slow, too slow for the impetuous Jonas, and on arriving at the foot of the Cascade Mountains, a halt being called for a long delay, owing to the depth of the snow, Spect left the train, alone and on foot, after the first crossing of Snake River, and traveled safely to the Willamette, a distance of over six hundred miles, a feat never before per­formed by white man. He only remained in Oregon a couple of months, when he found his way to San Francisco. During his stay here, gold was discovered at Sutter’s Mills, but it then created no excitement. Spect was so delighted with the country that he had actually set out to return to the States and bring back his family, but, on account of the mining excitement, he could find no companions for the journey, and was thus forced to fall in with the others and go prospecting.

On June 2, 1848, he discovered gold in paying quantities on the Yuba, it being the first discovery of gold north of the American River. Shortly afterwards he established a trading post on this river and dealt largely with the Indians, who paid for their purchases in gold-dust.

He left the mines in November, 1848, and opened a store in Sacramento City. Five months later he settled opposite the mouth of Feather River. Here he opened a general-store business, laid out the town of Fremont, and established the first public ferry in California. At the same time he was conducting a store business on Rose Bar. In visiting this place in April, 1849, he found the miners disputing about claims. A meeting was called and a committee selected to draft rules for this gov­ernment. Spect was one of the committee, and drafted the first mining laws, as far as then known, in California. These laws were afterwards legalized by statute.

In the summer of 1849 Spect was elected a delegate to the first Constitutional Convention, but did not attend, owing to a pressure of business. He was elected to the State Senate of the first Legislature from Sonoma County and took his seat in 1850. Shortly after the session opened, returns came from the Trinity mines which gave the seat to General Vallejo. It was afterward discovered that no election had been held on the Trinity River, the returns having been manufactured at Benicia.

In the summer of 1850 Spect traveled in what is now Colusa County, and was so well pleased with the county that he determined some day in the future to make his home there. It was not, however, till 1868 that circumstances so shaped his move­ments as to permit him to locate there. He located in Colusa and began erecting tenement houses. Previously he had been harassed by conflicting titles and lost much by the confirmation of Spanish grants. He determined to stear clear of trouble. He accordingly bought three lots from Colonel Hagan. Every­body was buying them and his title seemed perfect. But he was destined to disappointment, and the result was that Spect was embroiled for many years in the meshes of lawsuits over the title to property as well as of other investments.

He died July 3, 1883, leaving a wife and four children. Mr. Spect was a man of firm intrepidity of character. He was of the earnest, rugged type of our best pioneers. He took a lively interest in public affairs, in which his pen displayed a facility and grace of expression which must have been a natural gift to one who had had little or no opportunities for education in his youth.

HON. JOHN BOGGS.

There are few men in this State who seem to have been so specially fitted into their surroundings and to have so justified their position therein as the Hon. John Boggs. Whether as pioneer or miner; as a stock-raiser, introducing new and blooded varieties of horses, cattle, and sheep; or as a6farmer, on an extensive scale pursuing this branch of industry, with a system all his own; or in his public service to his county and State, his example, skill, prescience, and devotion to public duty, might well be termed special providences for Colusa County, for, apart from what they have already accomplished in the development of this region, they have served not a little to assist, stimulate and encourage his fellow-citizens, and will linger years hence both as incentives and an inspiration. The sympathetic and force­ful impact of his career is a part of the history of this county’s first steps in progress.

John Boggs is the son of Robert W. and Abbie Carr, and was born in July, 1829, at Potosi, Missouri. His father was one of the owners and incorporators of the Iron Mountain, near his native place, so justly celebrated for its extensive deposits of iron ore. At the age of ten years, young Boggs moved with- his parents to Howard County, Missouri, where he attended the public school for several years. Later on he followed a course of studies in Fayette College, in the town of Fayette. Here he might have continued till thoroughly equipped for graduation, had not the alluring news of the wonderful discoveries of gold in California aroused within him an insatiable desire to participate in the stirring adventures of the gold hunters and at the same time amass wealth. So, dropping his books and closing his desk, he bade farewell to collegiate honors not .very remote, if he had seen fit to wait for them.

On April 9, 1849, in company with some young men of his own age and of the same college, young Boggs set out for California. Among his companions were General John B. Clark, afterwards a member of Congress from Missouri, and Hon. John Morrison, subsequently a prominent man in the public affairs of the same State. This party’ crossed the Missouri River at Fort Kearny, and while camped at this point united with another company hailing from Clay County, Missouri, and bound for the same destination. Among their new-found companions were men who, in after years, made their mark in the new State towards which their steps were tending. Some of these were: Hon. Laban Scearce, of Orland; Hon. J. Woodson James, of Paso Robles Springs; and James A. Douglas, formerly sheriff of Yolo County.

The route across the plains of these adventurers was the old Carson road by Sublett’s cut-off. After several months of exposure and fatigue, which only served to impart added enjoy­ment to the daring young spirits, they arrived, on August 18, 1849, at Weber Creek, in Placer County, near old Hangtown, which name, as everybody is aware, has long since been trans­formed into something less somber, with less of picturesque depravity in it, by calling the place Placerville.

Boggs and Clark being very warm friends, they concluded, now that their journey was practically at an end, to stick together and go on ahead of the rest of the company. The world was now all before them. A wilderness of mountain range and broad, inhospitable plains stretched between them and home. Here was the first parley before the first battle of life. What to do in this strange country, so new that it was almost unblem­ished with civilization? What to do with only about five dollars as the joint capital stock of these two sturdy, raw young men? Why, do the first thing that turns up, and this is precisely what these sensible pilgrims immediately proceeded to do.

They started for Sacramento and arrived there with just “six bits” in their wallet. Tired and weary on the night of their coming, they lay down and rested under the dense foliage of trees where Fifth and K Streets are now designated. The next day they found employment in assisting in the surveying and laying out of the principal part of the city, in streets, blocks and lots. It was hard work measuring the land and driving corner stakes on what was to be great thoroughfares in the future capital city of this new El Dorado. The heat was intense. The land was a thick jungle and Mr. Boggs will always vividly recall August 25, when he was engaged in cutting brush between J and K Streets so as to take observations. The brush and vines grew so thickly that a breath of air could scarcely penetrate. The task became almost suffocating, but the pay was sixteen dollars per day, and young men, full of lusty vigor, and with a purpose in life, could afford to sweat for this.

The two friends worked here a month, and, having now earned a stake, they turned longingly to the mines. They worked in these at Coloma and on Weber Creek, with fair success, for a short time. Winter coming on, they built a cabin at Hangtown and mined in that vicinity till March, 185o, and then went to Sacramento again. Here the two companions parted, Clark going to the Redding diggings, now in Shasta County, while Boggs joined a party, consisting of J. L. Morrison, J. Criglar, and others, bent on mining. They procured a camping and mining outfit and provisions, and with two pack-mules to carry their stores, they set out for Deer Creek, where Nevada City now stands. Boggs was one of a party who gave the name to this prosperous mining town. Here he mined betimes but was chiefly occupied in packing provisions and supplies between Nevada City and a little camp on the South Fork of the Yuba.

The distance between those places was twenty miles, and one dollar per pound was the tribute paid to mule-power in those days. He continued in this lucrative employment till July i, 1850.

It was now, at this point in Mr. Boggs’ career, that, with some capital to operate with, he first displayed that business foresight and judgment which have proved since to be among his most prominent characteristics. He had learned from experience how jaded and broken down are the animals that have made the long march from the Missouri River, though most of this stock was usually selected for both blood and endurance. He had heard that an army of immigrants was hastening pell- mell from the Atlantic States, and that consequently their stock would arrive in a sorry plight and almost exhausted condition. They would, of course, be sold for a trifle; nay, their owners would look upon any offer as a bargain, since they would aban­don them altogether on arriving, rather than be encumbered with them on their hurried, tumultuous, and sometimes disorderly rush for the mines. These animals could be turned out and pastured on the rich wild grasses, rested and recruited and in a few months be restored to their wonted strength and usefulness. Herein Mr. Boggs saw the opportunity of his life, one which became the basis of his present comfortable fortune. What he sought now was a place on which to herd and feed these animals after they were purchased.

For this purpose he went, in July, 1850, to Cache Creek, just above where the town of Yolo has since sprung up. It was then a wilderness, uninhabited, save by two men, Wm. Gordon and Mat. Harbin, the latter then living near where is now located the town of Woodland. Here Boggs settled down, erected a cabin, and, after seeing to other preliminaries, he returned to Hangtown to intercept the immigrants now swarm­ing in. He bought their poor, tired, distressed stock at very low figures. He drove them very .slowly, pasturing them as they moved along, to his place in Yolo County. He herded them all winter, saw them recover and even grow fat, and when spring came he had four hundred head of horses and mules, which he disposed of at Sacramento, at one thousand per cent profit. Mr. Boggs continued in the stock business till the summer of 1854, when he came to Colusa County and purchased six thousand acres of the Larkin’s Children’s Grant, his present home, than which there is no finer in the county.

From this period up to 1871 Mr. Boggs was largely engaged in the buying and selling and raising of stock, and as a breeder of Jersey cattle and trotting horses he has been foremost. He is regarded as one of the best judges of thoroughbred stock in the United States. In 1868 he began wool-growing on an extensive scale, importing the finest breeds at great expense to mix with his vast flocks. His attention, however, has been, since 1871, almost entirely devoted to grain-farming and the securing of large tracts of land to plant thereon. Believing, as he does, that horticulture is the coming industry or source of wealth in this county, he is preparing to occupy himself there­with, at the same time still continuing to conduct grain-farming and stock-raising. Mr. Boggs’ home place, on the Sacramento River, ten miles north of Colusa, consists of one thousand acres of land, as fair and fertile as sun ever ripened.

It could hardly be expected that one who had achieved success so early in an active life, who had manifested so much good sense and sagacity in the conduct of his private affairs, and against whose good name no finger had ever reflected a shadow, should be permitted to hide his talents in the seclusion of a great wheat or stock ranch. Peculiarly necessary and profitable to the community would be the services of such a gentleman to Colusa County in her early immature and formative period. John Boggs has never been termed a selfish man; far from it; he is generous and obliging to a fault, and so whenever he has felt that he could spare time from his. own manifold affairs, his friends and neighbors and fellow-citizens generally have been found waiting and only too willing to employ his services in public positions.

Mr. Boggs’ public career began in 1859, when he was elected Supervisor of Colusa County, being a member of the first Board of which there is any official record. He served in this capac­ity continuously till 1866. It was during these years that form and shape were given to this county’s affairs, that its machinery was adjusted and put in motion, and in which the counsels, tact and patient intelligence of Mr. Boggs are matters of public appreciation as well as of record. It was during his term of service that the present court-house was built. Mr. Boggs retired from this position at his own instance only to be called higher a brief period later to serve his county and State in the State Senate. He was twice chosen to this office, first in 1870 and afterward in 1866. He has, besides, held other offices of great responsibility at the hands of various Chief Executives of the State. Governor Irwin appointed him one of the trustees of the Napa Insane Asylum, Governor Stoneman made him a member of the Board of State Prison Directors, of which commission he was president, and it is a matter of congratulation for the entire State that during Mr. Boggs’ incumbency of this position there were no scandals attached to the proceedings of this Board. Mr. Boggs has been, for a number of years, an active member of the State Board of Agriculture, and is also a member of the State Board of Trade, representing Colusa County, and is a trustee of the Leland Stanford, Jr., University.

While he is a staunch friend of irrigation, and favors the progress and completion of the works of the Central Irrigation District he opposed being included in the Colusa District, because he possessed a system of irrigation of his own, and his neighbors similarly situated likewise made opposition, and for the same reason. In speaking of the irrigation system which at present obtains, Mr. Boggs said: “I deem the present Wright law very defective and the system an expensive one. To be successful the law must be amended, to be almost anew.”

In everything pertaining to the welfare of his locality, county and State, Mr. Boggs knows neither flinching nor fatigue. To each subject he brings his active sympathies, a strong will-power, courtesy and diplomatic tact, a combination almost invincible. At. his home he was among the first and ablest advocates in hastening the extension of railroad facilities into his own county, and was also one of the incorpo­rators, and a member of the first Board of Directors of the Colusa County Bank, a position which he yet occupies. He is likewise a large stockholder in the Bank of Willows. In politics he is a pronounced Democrat, fighting vigorously for his friends, giving and taking blows in that courteous, amicable, yet firm way which distinguishes the gentleman seeking the public good from the blatant political mercenary seeking self. After a political campaign there is nothing of rancor left over for John Boggs to brood over or satisfy. He is as forgiving to his personal opponents as he was earnest in antagonizing them.

In private life Mr. Boggs is generous and hospitable. He has a warm spot in his heart especially for the “old-timers,” which does not preclude, however, the later arrivals from sharing in its genial warmth, much less from receiving that judicious counsel and ever neighborly and material assistance he is willing at all times to extend the deserving.

Mr. Boggs was married, in Sacramento, in November, 1870, to Miss Louisa E. Shackleford, of Georgia, by whom he had three children: Frank S., aged eighteen, who was graduated from Trinity College, San Francisco, and who will complete a course at the State University; Alice J., aged sixteen, now in attendance at Mills Seminary; and Fred H., aged fourteen years.

MICHAEL BILLIOU.

Michael Billiou is a native of St. Louis County, Missouri, born. September 7, 1832. His father had settled in this region previous to the cession of the country west of the Mississippi to the United States. Michael lived on his father’s farm till he was twenty years of age and then set out for California. He arrived in Colusa County in the fall of 1852, without a dollar in his pocket, offering to work for his board, yet for a time failed to find employment. He was finally hired by Richard J. Walsh, to work on the Capay grant, where he was steadily occupied for ten years. With the sum of money accumulated in these years of diligent toil, Mr. Billiou purchased the property on which he now resides, consisting of seven hundred and fifty acres of land on Stony Creek. Here he farms, raises stock and grows fruits. He is much interested in fruit culture. Twenty-five orange trees which were at first planted as ornaments in his garden have grown thrifty and produce abundantly, while in his orchard is a variety of all kinds of fruits. His vineyard, likewise, shows what care and judgment can accomplish. His residence, which was built in 1878, is a large and handsome structure, and, stand­ing on a chosen spot, surrounded by orange and other fruit trees, it is as welcome to the eye of the traveler as the heart and habits of its owner are hospitable.

Mr. Billiou never married, but his domestic affairs are superintended by his mother and his sister Mary. His aged mother was, before marriage, Mary O’Connell, born February 12, 1813, in St. Louis County, Missouri, within twelve miles of the old court-house, an historic spot for thousands who pushed the line of settlement northward into the prairie States of the middle West. Mr. Billiou’s early residence on his place was not without its adventures. He recalls the devastations among stock committed by bears over thirty years ago. In 1854 he caught a grizzly in a trap a few hundred yards from the Walsh residence. He shot it and it weighed nine hundred pounds. He caught the monster in a trap that weighed seventy-five pounds. Though the trap was fastened to a heavy oak log, his bear-ship dragged the log, trap and all some distance till they got tangled in the brush.

Since making his home here, Mr. Billiou made one trip East, in 1876, to his former home, in St. Louis, and also visited the Centennial Exhibition at Philadelphia.

RICHARD J. WALSH

[BY W. S. GREEN.]

My information of Richard Walsh before he came to Colusa County is meager. He was born in County Kildare, Ireland, May Jo, 1820. He came to the United Sates in 1842, and visited first at New Orleans, and from thence to St. Louis. On the breaking out of the gold fever in 1849, he started across the plains among the first. When he got to Green River, he saw a splendid opportunity for the establishment of a ferry. He ran this ferry until most of the emigrants of that year had passed and then brought up the rear for California. I knew Richard Walsh first as a Shasta merchant and a shipper of goods by teams through Colusa, and he was among the first to load a boat, the Benicia, in 1851 for Colusa. While engaged in teaming, he found it convenient to establish a “ ranch “ on the route, on which to keep his stock in winter, and rest up such as might be tired out, and he built a house on the river just above St. John. This was as early, I think, as the spring of 1851. Very shortly after this he bought cattle, and commenced to raise stock for the market. He was also among the first in the valley to grow barley and wheat for a business. Soon he concentrated all his interests at this point, and went to Kentucky and brought out some fine short-horn cattle, being the pioneer in that business in the State. As a consequence, he took the premium on cat­tle at all the earlier State fairs. He did as much as any other man to build up the State fair. The land around him was purchased as it was offered for sale, until at his death he was the owner of some twenty thousand acres of the best land in the State. This was left to his wife during her life-time, and then to his sister, Mrs. Chambers, of St. Louis County, Missouri, and her two sons, Joseph L. and Charles D. They own it yet. As a merchant, as a farmer, and in every relation in life, Richard Walsh built up a reputation for honesty, and all the high moral virtues second to no man who has stepped on the soil of California. At the time of his death, his word would have been taken for any amount of money he would name by any resident of the Sacramento Valley. In physique he was the model man. Being physically and mentally strong, his energy knew no bounds. He never took hold of any business with an idea of the proba­bility of failure. In his likes and dislikes he was positive. He was half-way nothing, and as a consequence he believed in and practiced the teachings of the church to which he belonged, with his whole heart. He died April 30, 1866.

HON. C. J. DIEFENDORFF.

Mr. Diefendorff is originally of German ancestry, His father was a native of the State of New York. He did service in the Revolutionary War, was over eighty years old at the time of his death and in receipt of a pension. The grandfather of the subject of this biography was Captain Hendrick Diefendorff, who fell on the battlefield of Oreskany, the day that General Herkimer was wounded, when his saddle was placed under a tree, and, reposing his head on that, he commanded his regiment. The battle was lost for the patriots. General Herkimer died of his wounds at its close, and it was altogether a day of sorrow for the beautiful Mohawk Valley. The mother of Mr. Diefendorff was Elizabeth Baum, a niece of Colonel Baum and a native of Virginia.

C. J. Diefendorff was born on the 19th of April, 1814, in the State of New York. He remained with his father until the enlargement of the Erie Canal, when he became bookkeeper and foreman with a contractor.

In 1840 he taught school in his native district. Two years later he was married to Miss Sarah E. Thayer, daughter of General Bezeleel Thayer, of Oswego County, New York. In 1848 he returned to Fort Plains, New York, and opened a store on the Erie Canal. On January 5, 1853, Mr. Diefendorff, accompanied by his wife’s brother, Henry S. Thayer, took passage to San Francisco via Panama. After leaving the latter place the vessel sprung a leak, and, what was worse, the yellow fever broke out on board and full fifty of the passengers were buried at sea. At Acapulco the passengers went ashore and among the sick were Mr. Diefendorff’s wife and Mr. Thayer, her brother. The latter died of the epidemic and was buried in the cemetery set apart for foreigners in that place. After many other vicissitudes, Mr. Diefendorff finally arrived at San Francisco on March 8.

Mr. Diefendorff engaged in mining on his arrival, beginning at Prairie City, a camp near Folsom. He also mined on Alder Creek. In the fall of 1855 he purchased a ranch on Grand Island, Colusa County. In 1856 he was Justice of the Peace of Granite Township, Sacramento County, and while serving on the board of elections in that township, he was elected Justice of the Peace of Grand Island. At a meeting of the Justices of Colusa County, he was elected a Justice of the. Sessions and at the close of his term he was appointed County Judge by Governor Downey. He afterwards served two terms as Supervisor of Colusa County. At the beginning of the war, Mr. Diefendorff was appointed Deputy United States Marshal and Deputy Indian Agent. At its close he was made Deputy Revenue Collector of Colusa and Tehama Counties. Under appointment of the Union League of San Francisco, he was authorized to establish Union Leagues in Colusa County.

While acting as Deputy Indian Agent, he was appointed by Chief “Him Boo” to give instructions to his son Capitan Bill. The old chief called his people around him just before his death and gave Diefendorff in charge of them. To this day the older Indians on Grand Island salute Mr. Diefendorff as “ Him Boo.”

During the years 1881-1883 Mr. Diefendorff was engaged in closing his business on Grand Island, preparatory to removing to San Francisco, where he now makes his home. Although not a resident of Colusa County, Mr. Diefendorff is in feeling, association of spirit and sympathy a Colusan.



JESSE C. STOVALL.

This enterprising gentleman was born in Rutherford County, Tennessee, January 19, 1822. He spent his early life on his father’s farm working laboriously and picking up such an education as the schools of the time or locality could afford, supplemented by the reading of books which a keen desire for self instruction could lay hold of. At the age of thirteen years, young Stovall removed, with his father’s family, to Missouri. Here he remained nearly fifteen years, pursuing the labors of the farm. On April 16, 1850, he bade adieu to his old home and set out for California, crossing the plains by way of Sublett’s Cut-off, driving an ox-team. He arrived at Sacramento on August 29 of the same year. For the first seven years of his life he worked at various jobs, sometimes at mining, at other times on a ranch or herding stock in the ranges of the Sacramento Valley. In the fall of 1858 he came to Colusa County, and located one hundred and sixty acres where his present home now stands, six miles west of Williams. Here he engaged in grain-farming and stock-raising, and whenever his means would allow and the opportunity proved favorable, he kept adding to and enlarging the territory of the home ranch.

Mr. Stovall had now become quite prosperous, a felicity which his industry and sagacity well merited, and over which his neighbors and friends were never slow in congratulating him. It was now determined to consolidate his large holdings with those of the Messrs. Wilcoxson for the purposes of incorpora­tion, and out of this was formed the Stovall-Wilcoxson Company, incorporated January 15, 1890. This company owns thirty-two thousand acres of land in the county, which is cultivated to grain or utilized for stock-raising. Besides they own warehouses for the storage of grain, at Williams, buy and sell grain and live-stock and conduct banking business in the same town. J. C. Stovall is president, and George H. Wilcoxson vice-president, of this company.

Mr. Stovall was married, March 3, 1869, to Miss Mary L. Moore, in Sonoma County, by whom he was the father of five sons and three daughters, of whom one daughter and four sons are living. Though frequently solicited to permit his name to be used as a candidate for a representative office, in a county where his party (Democratic) is always strongly dominant, and where his popularity would cause him to lead his ticket, Mr. Stovall has invariably declined. He prefers the quiet and contentment of the home circle, or the administration of his vast business, to the allurements of office, while his careful business habits and wise counsels are not entirely devoted to his own private affairs, seeing that in every matter of moment to the community they are freely given and highly appreciated. No single individual in his section is more progressive or more fully alive to its interests.

E. W. JONES.

Among the residents of Colusa County prominent for their energy, business endowments, as also for the esteem in which they are justly held, Edward Winslow Jones is found in the front rank. He was born in Waukesha, Wisconsin, July 23, 1848. His father, James W. Jones, was one of the early pioneers of California, arriving in El Dorado County in the spring of 1850, where he engaged in mining first and afterwards in the hotel and express business, till the year 1853. In that year he located a farm eight miles north of Colusa, and in 1857 was a candidate for the Assembly from Colusa and Tehama Counties, against Ned Lewis, in which the latter, after a stirring contest, was elected by only three votes. In the early days of the settlement of Colusa County, the elder Jones was selected, by the settlers, one of a committee of three to proceed to Washington City and represent their interests against the confirmation of the Cambuston grant. He fulfilled his mission there to the satisfaction of his clients, in proving to the-Interior Department the fraudulency of the grant. It will be observed that the father of the subject of this sketch was an active citizen of Colusa County in his day.

In 1859 the elder Jones sent for his family at the East to rejoin him at his new home on the farm in this county, where young Edward passed the following seven years. Having previously received a good common-school education in Wisconsin, he was sent to the State Normal School in San Francisco, where he graduated in 1868. He supplemented the knowledge there acquired with a course in book-keeping and commercial methods.

Returning now to Colusa, he entered the office of his father, who was largely engaged in the grain trade. His father dying shortly afterward, it devolved upon him to settle the parental estate.

In 1870 he organized at Colusa the firm of E. W. Jones & Co., to carry on the buying and selling of grain, which business he still conducts successfully. This firm is the owner of the following warehouses: Grangers, of Colusa, Colusa Warehouse, at Colusa, the warehouse at Sites and another at Lurline, having a combined capacity of twenty-five thousand tons. The business conducted in these warehouses is of most extensive proportions, seeing that this firm purchased and stored, in the year 1889, forty thousand tons of wheat, and for the year ending March I, 1889, four hundred thousand pounds of wool.

During the long period of diverse activities in which Mr. Jones has conducted business, he has not neglected his duty to his townsmen in local matters of a public nature, nor have they failed to appreciate his services, given gratuitously. He was the first town treasurer of Colusa, under its new and present charter, and has occupied the position of city trustee for twelve consecutive years, a portion of this time serving as president of the Board. He has likewise served as school trustee for eight years.

Though Mr. Jones is a Republican and resides in a Demo­cratic town, its citizens have retained him in office for the past twenty years. Though these offices were purely positions of honor and without salary or fees attached, their incumbency by Mr. Jones is as much a tribute to his unselfish usefulness as it is an evidence of the regard in which he is held personally by his political opponents. He went before the people, having been nominated, August 2, 1890, by the Republican convention for the office of County Treasurer, and was elected by a majority of twenty-seven votes. He is held in high esteem by his party, of whose County Central Committee he has been chairman during the past eight years.

Mr. Jones was the first president of the Colusa and Lake Railway, and after its consolidation with the Colusa Road, he was chosen its vice-president, which position he has ever since held.

Even amid the multiplicity of diverse business matters, Mr. Jones finds time to take a practical interest in the promotion of fruit culture, and cultivates a handsome orchard of ten acres planted to prunes and pears.

Mr. Jones was married, June 14, 187o, to Miss Nellie A. Morris, of Colusa County, a native daughter of California, by whom he is the father of four children, three of whom are living, one son and two daughters.

COLONEL GEORGE HAGAR.

The subject of this biographical notice was born in Lincoln, Massachusetts, on January 17, 1820, and is the son of Elisha Hagar, a sturdy tiller of an exhausting soil. Young George in early life had the advantage of receiving a common-school education and a course of study at Woburn Academy, which laid for him the foundation of a life of usefulness. Upon leaving the academy, the alternative was offered to him by his father of choosing one of two vocations. He could either pursue his studies further by taking a full collegiate course in some of the many eminent institutions of learning in his native State, and thus prepare himself for one of the professions, or he might devote himself immediately to mercantile pursuits. In consonance with his own tastes and ambitions, young Hagar chose the latter course, and so at the age of sixteen years he entered a general merchandise store at Keene, New Hampshire. Here he remained seven years, justifying, by his aptitude for business, the wisdom of his selection of a career, which was destined to make him years afterwards one of the most successful business men in Colusa County.

With one of his pronounced talents for commercial pursuits, it was but natural that he should engage in business for himself. Hence we find him seven years later in business for himself, conducting a general store most successfully in the same town of Keene. The announcement that gold had been discovered in California had scarcely more than reached the quiet little New Hampshire town in which Mr. Hagar was engaged in business, when he became seized with an ardent desire to cast his lot in the new gold-fields. Disposing of his business, he left the land of small profits and social comfort, and, on March I, 1849, embarked in a sailing vessel for California via Cape Horn, and after nearly a six months’ voyage he arrived in San Francisco, and immediately thereafter he set out for the mines. Every­body went first to the mines in these brave old Argonaut days.

Colonel Hagar first located at Big Bar, on the Mokelumne River, studying the rude mechanism of sluice-box, rocker and “long torn “ and endeavoring to wash a fortune out of them. Two months’ trial here convinced him that the precious yellow flakes, or grains, which were coaxed from the grass roots and river beds were not inclined to come his way. Then he started for Stockton, which at this period had become quite a supply point for the mines. No sooner had he arrived there than he returned to his old love, the mercantile business, and continued to conduct a general store for a period of four years.

In 1852, Colonel Hagar first came to Colusa, and in company. with others purchased the Jimeno grant. Having now become fairly well off in this world’s goods, he decided to locate in San Francisco and there branch out in pursuits large enough to be commensurate with his ambition. But after frequent visits to Colusa, he abandoned this design and concluded to locate permanently in this place, in the year 1860.

In conjunction with several prominent business men of Colusa, he was one of the charter members in the organization, in 187o, of the Colusa County Bank (a sketch of which prosperous institution will be found elsewhere), and of which Colonel Hagar has been president for the last eight years. As a conservative and reliable factor in a large and rapidly-increasing agricultural community, the influence of this bank has been beneficially felt in a co-operative way, in full touch and sym­pathy with the county’s needs and growing condition.

Colonel Hagar’s home is located on the outskirts of the town of Colusa. His residence is one of the most roomy and sightful in the county, surrounded by beautiful and well kept gardens. In 1867, he was married to Miss Sarah A. Winship, of Colusa, by whom he has an only child, Miss Alice W., born in 1871, and who was graduated from Snell Seminary, Oakland, last year with high honors.

Besides being the owner of several extensive ranches in the county, Colonel Hagar is largely interested in property in the town of Colusa. For the Indian he has especial sympathy, and for those of the old Colus tribe, or their children, he will always provide work, help or a home on his ranches.

In his young manhood he enlisted in the New Hampshire militia and was elected colonel of the Twentieth Regiment. Always a consistent member of the Republican party, he can view a Democratic majority snow his ticket under in the county at every election with undisturbed composure and then “ fix his flint” and cast another Republican ballot at the succeeding election with the same good-humor as if his party had been triumphant. During the war he was enrolled in the Union Army, but was never mustered into service.

A quiet, far-seeing, mentally well-poised gentleman in busi­ness is Colonel Hagar, and when not found at his own hospit­able home or at the bank in Colusa, he is generally either attending to his extensive farming interests or is enjoying a period of rest in San Francisco, where he is a member of the Pacific Union Club and of the Association of Pioneers.

THOMAS BEDFORD.

Thomas Bedford, who resides three miles from Newville, is a California pioneer of 1850. He was born in Bourbon County, Kentucky, January, 1817, his parents removing with him to Greene County, Missouri, in 1844. He was married to Miss Rebecca F., daughter of Colonel Samuel Clay, of Bedford County, Tennessee. They have four children. On the 15th of May, 1849, accompanied by his family, he set out from Greene County, Missouri, on the long journey across the plains, arriv­ing in the Sacramento Valley, in the October following. Between 1850 and 1854 he resided first in Nevada City and afterwards in Kentucky Flat, and in the fall of the latter year moved to Colusa County, on the east side of the Sacramento, two allies below Grizzly Bend. Here he remained for twelve years, when he removed to the Coast Range, near where he now lives. It was in 186 t that he located permanently on his present home place, where he farms and raises stock on his ranch of five hundred and twenty acres. As a judge of stock and a successful promoter of stock-breeding of the best grades, he ranks high. He has a hundred head of the best Durham cattle, either thoroughbreds or of a high grade, and has carried away several premiums for his stock exhibited at various fairs.

R. G. BURROWS.

Rufus G. Burrows, an early pioneer of the State and county, was born in La Porte, Indiana, April 8, 1834. In his infancy his parents immigrated to Atchison County, Missouri, where he remained till the spring of 1848, when he set out with his parents to cross the plains to California. They came by the Truckee route and it was while resting in camp between Truckee and the sink of the Humboldt that they first heard from some Mormons returning to Salt Lake of the discovery of gold in California. This news was received with intense excitement by the emigrants. Mr. Burrows relates an incident that conveys some idea of the eagerness of the emigrants to stumble on a fortune. Three or four days after the news of the finding of gold had been imparted to the train, they came to a very steep hill *here it became necessary for several men to pilot each wagon to its base. At the foot of this hill was a clear running brook in which some women, who had gone ahead of the train, were busy picking up from its bed bright, shining particles which they pronounced to be gold. Word was soon carried the entire length of the train that gold had been found, in fact, was only A few yards ahead of them, when everyone went wild with excitement and a general stampede was made to get down the hill, resulting in the upsetting of several wagons and a fight among the teamsters. Arriving at the creek, breathless, pant­ing and in an ecstasy of expectation, they soon filled several of their tin camp plates with sand, which glittered temptingly with anything but the precious metal, for it was soon pronounced to be mica, the “fool gold” of the placers, as pyrites of iron is the “fool gold” to the tyro in quartz mining. The train again wended on and in a few days came to the camp of the ill-fated Donner party, and here they had the mournful satisfaction of interring the remaining skeletons of those who had perished there.

The party next arrived at Sutter’s Fort, on September 10, where Mr. Hitchcock, the step-father of Mr. Burrows, rented the old adobe building (which the society of California Pioneers is now seeking to preserve) and kept a hotel there till the spring of 1849, when they moved to Green Springs, El Dorado County. The step-father and mother of Mr. Burrows died at this place, in 1853. Mr. Burrows went to Oregon, and on May 24, 1854, was married to Miss Charlotte T. Hull, who was a native of Illinois. One son, Orlando A., was born during his parents’ residence in Oregon. Mr. Burrows returned to California and settled down on his present place, known as Burrows Hollow, five miles southeast of Newville, in July, 1857. He owns here over two thousand acres of land and is engaged in mixed farming and stock-raising. He possesses a fine orchard of choice fruits. In this is a fig-tree, one of the largest in the State, being forty-five inches through at the butt.

Mr. Burrows is the father of nine children, of whom seven are living. They are: Orlando A.; Mary C., wife of Wm. Millsaps; Elo E., wife of J. W. Millsaps; Annie, wife of Wm. H. Markham; Ida, wife of James F. Ellis; and Ira A. and Aura C. Burrows.

JUBAL WESTON.

This gentleman was born November 13, 1824, at East Adams, Connecticut. He comes of a family of manufacturers and inventors. His father built the first cotton mill at Taunton, Massachusetts, ever erected in the United States. His uncle, Herman Weston, invented the first machine for making pins, rolls for pressing shoe leather and devised about a dozen other useful inventions. Young Weston passed the early years of his life at Hopkinton, Massachusetts, but on leaving home he first found employment in a shoe-maker’s shop. Then he was engaged in a clock factory, drifting soon into the jewelry business. He was very proficient as a workman in all these branches. He was determined to visit California, then a land where fortunes could be so quickly acquired by the industrious and saving. For this purpose he left New Orleans on January 16, 1849, and, coming by way of the Isthmus, he was seized with an attack of cholera, which almost proved fatal; in fact, bets were made by his fellow-passengers that they would never see him again, as he could not survive the journey. But Mr. Weston pushed on, with great nerve and pluck, and arrived in San Francisco April 30 following.

Here he took hold of the first employment presented, which was driving a mule team, in the winter of 1849-50. In the fall of the latter year he purchased the schooner Julius Springle and with it sailed for the Sandwich Islands. Here he laid in a cargo of oranges, and, returning with them to San Francisco, disposed of them at prices so gratifying to the seller in those days. After making another trip to the Sandwich Islands, he disposed of cargo and vessel and bought the bark Harmony, loaded with whalebone and oil. This he took to New London, Connecticut, arriving there in the spring of 1852. Remaining in the East for one year, he again set out for California. Most of his leisure time he now passed in San Francisco, and was married here, February 5, 1854, to Miss Sarah Frances Richard­son, who had come from New England to be united in matrimony. The bride was the daughter of Captain Wm. B. Richardson, of the U. S. Navy. Three months afterward, with his young wife, he arrived in Monroeville, Colusa County. Monroeville at that period consisted of a hotel and the inseparable bar-room attachment.

Pleased with the prospects in his new abode, he concluded to make this locality his home. At first Mr. Weston conducted the hotel of Charles Horner. In 1868 he purchased a strip of land one-quarter of a mile wide running east and west on the south of the Walsh rancho, or Capay grant, containing seven hundred and ten acres. This land, which at that period was considered almost worthless, but which has since grown so highly in agricultural esteem, was purchased by Mr. Weston merely as a drive-way for stock crossing from the plains to the river. Mr. Weston has lived on this land for a long time and sows it to wheat, and it is most productive and valuable now.

Mr. Weston is the father of five boys and three girls, four of whom are living; their names are: Mrs. Althea Cook, now living in New York City; Joshua Frank, civil engineer at Coos Bay, Oregon ; Essie M. Weston and Hugh E. Weston, both of whom reside in Boston with their aunt. Mr. Weston lost his wife in the spring of 1876. Arthur Weston, deceased, was a civil engineer of much promise, but who, unfortunately for the fond hopes of his family, was drowned, September 25, 1887, in the Sacramento River, near his father’s home.

Mr. Weston goes East frequently to visit his two children and relatives residing there. He is an esteemed member of the Pioneers, and a Republican in politics. He is a gentleman of means and both generous and hospitable.

DR. H. J. GLENN.

Dr. Hugh James Glenn was born near Staunton, Augusta County, Virginia, in 1824. When he was a boy, his family removed to Paris, Monroe County, Missouri, and being an only child, he was indulgently treated and given, at private schools, every Opportunity to acquire such education as the locality and the times permitted. In 1844 he attended a course of lectures in McDowell’s Medical College of St. Louis. In 1845, seized with a spirit of patriotism, he enlisted in a division of the army commanded by General Price, and participated in the

battles of Taos and Moro. Receiving an honorable discharge in 1847, he returned to St. Louis, resumed his medical studies, and afterwards graduated with the highest honors in a class of two hundred He remained in St. Louis for two years, and on March 15, 1849, he was united in marriage to Miss V. H. Abernathy, who still survives him. On the 12th of April following, he left his young bride and started across the plains in quest of fortune and a new home. After an adventurous journey, his party arrived in Sacramento in the following August. With no capital whatever, Dr. Glenn sought the tempting mines and staked out a claim on Murderers’ Bar, on the Ameri­can River. He remained there a couple of months, and, hav­ing gathered together a few dollars, he bought an ox-team and carried freight for a few months from Sacramento to Coloma, and various points in the mountains. He then opened a livery stable in Sacramento, conducted this successfully for a short time, and then disposed of it for $5,000. With this amount he returned to Missouri, and, after remaining there two years, he set out again to cross the plains. He made another trip back to Missouri in 1853 and returned to California with his family, locating on Stony Creek, just at the north end of the present Glenn ranch, in Colusa County.

From 1852 to 1855 Dr. Glenn had associated himself in the cattle trade with S E Wilson, Major Briggs, of Yolo, subsequently corning into the firm. Selling out his interest, in 1856 he returned to Missouri, accompanied by his family, expecting, to pass the remainder of his days in that State. But the yearning to return to the scene of his early labors and adventures was too strong within him to be repressed, and so we find him, after a couple of years of restless residence in Missouri, returning again to the Sacramento Valley. For several years after 1859 Dr. Glenn traveled back and forth over the plains with droves of cattle, horses, and mules, varying the trip occasionally by going to New Orleans. He now attempted farming, and in 1865 he was joined by Major Briggs as a partner in his agricultural operations, and the “big ranch” in Yolo became noted throughout the county. In the spring of 1867, Dr. Glenn determined to make California his permanent home, and with that object in view he purchased land in Colusa County, and in the spring of 1868 moved, with his family, to Jacinto.

It was here he began the cultivation of grain, which made him the largest farmer in the world, managing the cultivation of nearly sixty thousand acres of land in Colusa County, besides owning large stretches of grazing and grain land in Nevada and Oregon. The fencing of his Colusa County farm measured one hundred and fifty miles, and divided it into seven main fields, the largest containing twelve thousand acres. In 1880 Dr. Glenn shipped to England on his account twenty-seven thousand tons of wheat and received not less than $800,000 for it. He usually raised a half million bushels of wheat per year. Besides managing a wheat farm, he set out a vineyard of several hundred acres of wine and raisin grapes.

Though strict in his business relations, Dr. Glenn was noted for his kindness of heart, and the unostentatious manner in which he exerted it. When one of his partners was at one time embarrassed by heavy losses, with a large family and without a dollar, Dr. Glenn furnished him the capital to go on with, telling him that as long as he had a dollar half of it belonged to his distressed associate. Dr. Glenn was always a busy man, and seldom took any recreation. His first and only experience as a public man was as a member of the State Board of Agriculture. In 1879, with reluctance, he accepted the nomination for Governor by the New Constitution and Democratic parties, being defeated by George C. Perkins. After his defeat the Doctor returned to his ranch at Jacinto, superintending in per­son the five or six hundred men, who, during the summer season, were in his employ.

Dr. Glenn was shot and killed by Hurum Miller on the Jacinto ranch, on February 17, 1883. (The circumstances attending the killing are given in this book under that date.) Surviving Dr. Glenn are his wife and three children.

L. H. McINTOSH.

L. H. McIntosh resides in the extreme northeast part of the county, five miles from St. John. He was born in Bath County, Kentucky, in the year 1837, and was there engaged in farming till 1852, when he came to Colusa County and worked for his brother seven years. He afterwards leased land from him for several years, and from this small beginning has grown to be one of the most substantial farmers in the county. In 1872 he married Miss Julia E. Smith, a native of Lisle Township, near Chicago, Illinois, by whom he has an interesting family. His farm consists of three thousand acres of land, two-thirds of which are usually sown to wheat. His residence is large and built with a view to comfort. From this place a most enjoyable view of Mount Shasta can be had, though distant one hundred and fifty miles.

J. T. MARR.

James T. Marr was born in Fayette County, Missouri, March 9, 1830. Before coming to California he resided in Johnson County, Missouri, from which point he set out for the Golden State May 10, 1850, arriving at Placerville on September 4 following. He mined here a few months and afterwards in Trinity County nearly one year.

Mr. Marr came to Colusa County October 15, 1851, and engaged in stock-raising and farming. He was the first farmer north of Sacramento City, west of the Sacramento River. At that time he was obliged to use plows made of old boiler iron, the iron for each plow costing $6o, while he made the woodwork for the plows. He first located on the river three miles below the town of Colusa, but finding himself on the “grant,” he moved, in 1862, to his present place, where he secured a large tract of government land and purchased a part of the “grant” and has now a large farm, most of which is cultivated in wheat. He has made a great deal of money in raising hogs. His home is one of comfort and its surroundings most inviting.

He was married, June 27, 1860, to Miss Melissa Williams, a native of McDonough County, Missouri, who is the mother of eight children.

HON. F. L. HATCH.

This distinguished soldier and jurist was born in Alabama, in 1822. He was brought up in the State of Mississippi. At an early age he was sent to New Haven, Connecticut, where he received his education. In 1841 he joined his father, who had now removed to Texas. Judge Hatch bore an honorable part in the early struggles of Texan independence. He was in the memorable Somerville campaign of 1843, which resulted in the terrible disaster at Mier, where Colonel Fisher’s command, some four hundred in number, was captured by the Mexican General Ampudia. One out of every ten of these prisoners was afterwards shot, and the remainder of them taken to the city of Puebla, Mexico. Judge Hatch’s company and three other companies (one of them being under the command of Colonel Jack Hayes, afterwards a resident of California) refused to join Fisher in his fool-hardy enterprise, and made their way back to Texas, after innumerable hardships. On his return home, Judge Hatch was elected Colonel of his district by a unanimous vote of his people. When Texas became a State in the Union, he was elected Major-General of the Middle Division, the State being then divided into three military departments. This office he resigned after holding it several years, and emigrated to California. In 1850 Judge Hatch was elected a member of the Texas Legislature. At that time the secession or disunion feeling ran very high in that State. General Sam Houston’s term in the National Senate was about to expire and this legislation was to choose his successor. Judge Hatch was the Hous­ton or Union candidate and was elected. Judge Hatch soon afterwards resigned his seat in the Texas Legislature, and, accompanied by his wife and family, set out for California, mak­ing the journey through Mexico. He located first in Tuolumne County and engaged in mining. He was not successful as a miner, and early in the spring of 1853, he settled in the city of Marysville, and resumed the practice of the law. He at once took a high position at the bar, then justly considered one of the ablest in the State, and this position he maintained till he removed to Colusa, in 1870. In 1857 he was elected District Attorney of Yuba County, and re-elected in 1859. In 1863 he was the Democratic nominee for District Judge, but was defeated, the district being largely Republican. He removed with his family to Colusa, in 1870, and shortly afterwards a vacancy occurring in the office of County Judge, he was appointed to fill it, by Governor Haight. At the first judicial election afterwards he was elected to the office for a full term. At the expiration of his term of office, he declined to seek a re-election. Upon the death of Judge Robinson, however, who succeeded him, he was appointed County Judge a second time by the gov­ernor of the State, and was afterwards again elected by the people for a full term of four years. The Judge was an ardent supporter of the new constitution, and at the general election in 1879 he was elected Superior Judge of Colusa County by a large majority, but he was not destined to complete his term of office. He died at Colusa, October 5, 1881.

I. W. BROWNELL.

Irving Woodbridge Brownell was born at New Bedford, Massachusetts, October To, 1826. In November, 1848, he went to Peoria, Illinois, where he wintered, making preparations to leave for California. In the following April he began his trip over the plains, driving an ox-team. On crossing the Missouri River from St. Jo, he fell in with a company whose outfit num­bered twenty-two wagons, and with them he made the long journey. He arrived at Weaverville, California, on August 27, 1849. He spent a year endeavoring to woo fortune to his pan and shovel along Weaver Creek and the Yuba and American Rivers, but the uncertainties of this pursuit were not to Mr. Brownell’s taste. He next went to Yolo County and located on some land between Knights Landing and Cacheville. Here he farmed and raised stock till August, 1859, when he purchased a bunch of sheep and eighty acres of land from. M. Sparks; on Stony Creek, and made a location on an adjoining tract.

Mr. Brownell returned to Massachusetts by the overland stage in 1861, and in September of that year he was united in marriage to Miss Lois R. Smith. Shortly after this event he returned, accompanied by his wife, to the coast and settled at Knights Landing till the autumn of 1862, when he moved to his ranch on Stony Creek, which he has ever since made his per­manent abode. Three sons, with his amiable wife, compose Mr. Brownell’s household. He has been prosperous and successful in his affairs. He is one of the solid men of the county and highly esteemed for his probity.

HON. LABAN SCEARCE.

Laban Scearce, who has the same name as his father had, was born on February 24, 1826, in Woodford County, Kentucky. His father was a farmer, and he spent his early life on his father’s farm. He received as good an education as the common schools in that locality at that time afforded. In his twenty-second year he left his old home for the West, going to Missouri. At that date Missouri was thinly populated back from the river and was on the frontier. He remained in Missouri a few months only, when he started with a wagon train of ox-teams across the plains to California, in company with Hon. John Boggs. In 1849 he arrived in Placerville, which was then called Hangtown, owing to the way two criminals summarily met justice at the hands of a mob, and for two years sought fortune in the mines. At that day food was worth more than gold almost, and beef was a rarity. Mr. Scearce abandoned the mines in ‘51 to buy cattle in the southern part of the State and drive them to Placerville and other mining camps, where they met with a ready sale at high prices. In 1853 he went to Missouri and returned, driving a large herd of cattle. He experi­enced the usual ups and downs of those pioneer days, and met with the many hardships in crossing the plains. In the spring of 1856 he prospected the Sacramento Valley for a place to pitch his tent, and he located on Stony Creek, his present home, six miles northwest of Orland. It was on government land he settled, where he raised cattle, sheep, horses and farm crops. From time to time he purchased land near his of those who saw civilization approaching and desired to flee from it. In this way he has secured some four thousand six hundred acres of excellent land at the base of the foot-hills and extending to the creek. In 1868 he was united in marriage to Miss Mary Joseph­ine Thompson, and four children have blessed their union. Their names are: William Edgar, 011ie, Alice and Mabel. Mr. Scearce is an inveterate reader and is Avel1 posted on the topics of the day, and in 1868 the people called on him to represent Colusa and Tehama Counties in the Assembly of the State Legislature, which he did during the years 1869-70, serving his constituency faithfully. In 1887 he was a prime mover in the incorporation of the Bank of Orland, of which he is a director and president. Mr. Scearce calls himself a plain farmer, but he is an enterprising citizen, whom the people hold in high esteem.

 

HON. W. P. HARRINGTON.

William Pierce Harrington is a pioneer of 1849, having come to California via Panama, arriving at San Francisco August of that year. He was named for his father, a merchant and ship-builder, and was born April 17, 1826, at Damarescatta, Lincoln County, Maine. His boyhood was spent at his father’s home, in school and about the store and ship yard, and he finished his education by taking a course at Lincoln Academy, New Castle, Maine. In 1844 Mr. Harrington moved to Rocklin, Maine, and engaged. in merchandising, where he remained until 1849, when, on March 4, with a party of fourteen, he started for New York City to take steamer for California. At that time it was nearly impossible to get transportation from Panama to San Francisco and fully four thousand people were on the Isthmus waiting for an opportunity to sail for California. The original party with which he started became separated and Mr. Harrington organized another, which was successful in getting to San Francisco. Like almost all pioneers of ‘49, he at once set out for the mines, going to Big Bar, on Cosumnes River, to engage in placer mining, for three months. In November, he engaged in the mercantile business at Placerville, having the management of the business.

In the fall of 1850 he opened a store for himself at Placerville, but as almost no rains fell it was necessary to abandon the place, as mines could not be worked without water. The next spring he formed a partnership at Marysville, under the firm name of Crockett & Co., which was afterwards changed to Harrington & Hazelton, carrying on general merchandising until 1857. In 1859 a party, consisting of Mr. Harrington, J. C. Fall, J. A. Paxton, Judge Mott and James Wilson, chartered a stage and visited Carson City, Virginia City, Gold Hill and other new mining camps and were impressed with the magnitude of the mineral resources of these camps. The result was that a partnership was formed, first under the firm name of J. C. Fall & Co., then Kincaid & Harrington, and finally Kincaid, Harington & Co., who conducted a general merchandise business at Carson City until the fall of 1864. During this time Mr. Harrington was a member of the first Legislature of the Territory of Nevada, which met in 1861.

On the’ first day of May, 1862, Mr. Harrington was married to Miss Sallie H. Tennent, a daughter of John H. Tennent, of Marysville, and a native of Lancaster, Ohio.

Retiring from business in Carson City, he went to San Fran­cisco and engaged in business as stock-broker. At this time the public lands in Colusa County were being taken up by capitalists, and in 1869, in behalf of Decker & Jewett, Mr. Harrington came to Colusa to view and grade lands and purchase, remaining six weeks. Having been impressed, during his trip to Colusa, with the natural resources of the county, Mr. Harrington returned the following spring to make his permanent home at Colusa. He engaged in the real-estate business with W. F. Goad, and during the summer the firm sold about one hundred thousand acres of land.

On the fifteenth day of September, 1870, the Colusa County Bank was organized, and without solicitation the Board of Directors of the bank tendered Mr. Harrington the position of cashier, which position he has held ever since and under whose business management the institution has become one of the leading banks of the State.

Mr. Harrington has been prominent in advancing industries and enterprises for the building up and development of the resources of the county. He was foremost in assisting the building of the Colusa and Lake Railroad, of which company he is president. His business ability is recognized, and is attested by the fact that he is a director in almost every organization in which he is interested. He is a director of the Colusa Canning and Packing Company, and the Colusa Gas Company; he is director and president of the Colusa Milling Company, the bank of Willows, and the Colusa Agricultural Association.

Mr. Harrington is the father of five children: Tennent H., born July I I, 1864, who is engaged in the Colusa County Bank; William M., born November 18, 1866, who is engaged in the banking business in Seattle; Mary Augusta, born April 7, 1869; Louisa Tennent, born February 15, 1876, and one child that died in infancy.

B. N. SCRIBNER.

Butler Noles Scribner was born on September 8, 1825, in Murry County, Tennessee, and was a son of John Scribner, a farmer of that locality. His early life was spent on his father’s farm, and his education received at the public school was very limited, but in later years has been largely added, to in the practical walks of life. At the age of twenty-three years he left the farm, going to St. Louis, Missouri, where he secured employment on a river steamboat. This life did not suit Mr. Scribner, and a year later he went to Quincy, Illinois, where he worked three

years on a farm. In 1852, having heard the many tales of the fabulous wealth to be had in the mines of California, he followed the rush to this State, and engaged in mining in El Dorado and Placer Counties. He found that fortune did not smile on all who followed mining, and in 1854 laid aside the pick and shovel to haul freight out of Sacramento and Marysville. In 1856 he was married to Miss Mary D. Scott, and lived in Sacramento the first year of their married life, at the end of which he sold his freighting outfit and moved to Tehama County, where he located near Newville. He engaged in farming and stock- raising, and in 1866-67 served the people of Tehama County as County Assessor. In 1874 he engaged in merchandising at Newville, still retaining his farm, which he owns yet. As a merchant and farmer he has been very successful, now being inter­ested in three stores, at Newville, Paskenta and Orland, and owning two farms, one near Newville and the other northwest of Orland. He is the father of ten children, seven of whom are married. Their names are: Mrs. Nancy Sebring, of Orland, a widow; Tennessee Josephine, wife of Thomas Morgan, of Newville; Susie Williams, wife of John Williams, near Newville; John A. T. Scribner, near Newville; Henry Alvin Scribner, of Newville; Charles C. Scribner, near Orland; Elizabeth, wife of Harvey McClain, of Newville; and Emma, James and Nettie, who live at home and are not married. In 1887 Mr. Scribner purchased the merchandise business of O. Raphael & Co., of Orland, and in the spring of 1888 he purchased the business of A. Beerman, uniting the two stores, when he moved his family from Newville to Orland, where he expects to spend the remainder of his days. Mr. Scribner is a good citizen, well posted on the questions of the day, and is a thorough business man.

EUGENE A. BRIDGFORD.

Hon. Eugene A. Bridgford was born in Monroe County, Missouri, on January 26, 1849. He was the son of Jeff Bridgford, a sturdy farmer of that county. Here Eugene received a common-school education, applying himself assiduously to his books. Aspiring for higher branches of study than the county school afforded, he was sent to Van Renassaler Academy, and completed its course. To properly round off and give a more practical equipment to his stock of learning, he received a thorough business education at Bryant & Stratton’s College, at Quincy, Illinois. Thus prepared for the active duties of life, he, at the age of twenty years, went to Buffalo, New York, and engaged in the commission and live-stock business.

But he looked westward now for a heart, if not for a home, and, in the fall of 1870, came to California, where he was to meet and wed Miss Laura V. Withers, for whom he had formed an attachment in Missouri, and who had preceded him to California, accompanying her parents some two years previous. The union looked forward to by the young couple was consummated in Colusa County October 18, 1870. It had been Mr. Bridgford’s original design to return to Buffalo with his bride, and continue in business there, but he soon found himself so unconsciously charmed by the climate and so attracted by the productiveness and rapid development of this part of California that he relinquished all desire to return East, and located permanently in Colusa County.

Having rented a place a short distance west of Willows, he engaged in farming. At the end of one year and a half his place changed owners, and, disposing of his lease to its new proprietor, he came to Colusa, where he engaged in the stock business. He also opened a market, bought and sold stock, and conducted the outside business, for two years and a half, when, disposing of it, the current of his life underwent a marked change.

His tastes and inclinations had always manifested a decided yearning for the study and practice of the law, but the opportuni­ties to engage therein had kept aloof, and now the way opened to realize his ambition. For this purpose, in 1875, he took up the study of the law in the office of Ex-Attorney General A. L. Hart, who was then practicing at the bar in Colusa. Aided by a logical mind and by dint of laborious study, he had so mastered the fundamental principles of his chosen profession as to pass a highly creditable examination, and was admitted to practice in the spring of 1877. His application to study his almost intuitive grasping of intricate points, his patience and zeal, clearly evinced that his adaptability eminently fitted his new vocation. These qualities had early attracted the attention of his preceptor, General Hart, and the public were not slow to recognize both his ability as a lawyer and his integrity as a man, and five years later, in 1882, he was promoted, by a flattering call of his friends and neighbors, to the post of Judge of the Superior Court of Colusa County, for the unexpired term caused by the death of Judge Hatch. In 1884 Judge Bridgford was re-elected to the same position by a popular endorsement that was most gratifying. This term, now rapidly approaching completion, will make him again his own successor, for he was again nominated by the Democratic party in April, 1890, and was in August indorsed by the Republican convention, and was re-elected without an opposing vote in the entire county.

During his terms of office, Judge Bridgford has decided many important cases. In a number of these cases he has been called upon to adjudicate vital questions of law, some of them so novel in their procedure or in their legal aspects that no State precedent could be found for their application or elucidation, and which, consequently, left him no other light or reliance than his own reasoning powers, always accompanying a stern desire to do equal and exact justice as he saw it, yet out of the multi­tude of cases carried up from his court on appeal, the almost exceptional honor has been his to have had but three decisions in civil case, and one in a criminal case, reversed.

Besides his labors on the bench, Judge Bridgford takes the deepest interest in the improvement of live-stock and the pro­motion of the fruit industry. On the outskirts of the town of Colusa, he owns a farm of one hundred and thirty-one acres, twenty acres of which are in fruit in a careful state of cultivation. Besides this homestead, he is joint owner with J. C. Bedell in a large grain farm of two thousand acres. An enterprising, public-spirited citizen, he finds time and gives of his means to aid any meritorious enterprise for the advancement of his county, and for this reason he has been selected President of the Colusa County Horticultural Society and of the Colusa Canning, Drying and Packing Company.

At his home, Judge Bridgford is most hospitable and enter­taining. Here, surrounded by his good wife and children, of whom he hath a “quiver full,” his hours of domestic comfort pass most pleasantly. His children are: Miss Neva, aged seventeen, and who will graduate from Mills Seminary this present year, Harry V., Leone, Zelia, Chester A. and Horace W.

S. R. MURDOCK.

Samuel Robinson Murdock was born in Knox County, Ohio, November 22, 1832, where he resided for five years, his father dying in the interim. On his mother removing to Marion County, young Murdock lived with her till he had reached his eleventh year, when he was sent to live with his uncle on a farm. After spending three years here, attending the public schools during the winter, he returned to Marion County and was apprenticed to the trade of a printer. Having acquired a fair knowledge of the “art preservative,” he, completing his apprenticeship, worked for a year at the case in Columbus, of the same State. The year 1853 was an almost unprecedented one for emigration to California from the Eastern States. Young Murdock catching the infection of travel and fortune-seeking, he started for this State in February of that year, accompanied by his mother. Arriving at Council Bluffs, the latter’s mind rapidly underwent a change of purpose. Missing the company they intended going with, she abandoned her trip to California and returned to her former home, while young Murdock continued the journey, driving cattle across the plains. On September 5 following, he arrived at Park’s Bar, Yuba County, and, finding ready work in the mines, he continued there during the winter. In the spring he went to Forest City and engaged in selling goods at that place for one year and a half. In the summer of 1856, his mother, concluding to rejoin him, met him at Marys­ville, and, accompanied by her, he engaged in farming on the Sacramento River on the opposite side of Eddy’s Landing. Bent on a more active and business-like pursuit, Mr. Murdock, after-four years of a farmer’s life, came to Colusa County, near Sulphur Springs, raised cattle and drove them into the mining camps and towns of Nevada. He at one time took up his residence in that State, remaining there from 1864 till 1867, following various pursuits, such as mining, farming and teaming. He longed, however, for a home in Colusa County, whose soil and climate and possibilities he had seen nowhere approached, and hence he returned and purchased the old Lane place, in Ante­lope Valley, where he conducted a hotel for some time. He arrived here just as the oil excitement was subsiding, and the copper discoveries were beginning to attract swarms of prospect­ors. In 1869 Mr. Murdock was engaged as a store clerk in Colusa, at the same time paying much attention to a sheep ranch he had purchased on Stony Creek. In 1871, seeing an opportunity for a bargain, he disposed of his sheep ranch and started with his sheep for Nevada, where he sold them. Since this time Mr. Murdock has resided continuously in Colusa County, with the exception of a pleasure-trip back to his old Buckeye home, made in 1888. He resides at the county seat and is largely engaged in the stock-purchasing business. In 1870 he took the census of Colusa County, doing all the work of enumeration by himself, and for this purpose visiting personally every house in the county. He has likewise served as city trustee of Colusa two terms.

Mr. Murdock was married , in 1872, to Miss Carrie Sedgwick, of Ohio, and is the father of two children, one of whom is dead, the surviving one, Bessie, being thirteen years of age.

H. B. JULIAN.

This public-spirited gentleman and model farmer, who resides about six miles northeast of Elk Creek, was born in Tennessee in the year 1830. He was raised on the farm and received the benefits of a common-school education. He came to California in 1853, making the journey by the Isthmus of Panama. He first occupied himself in this State in working in nearly all the mining camps in Tuolumne County. He came to Colusa County in 1858, but settled permanently on his pres­ent home place, where he owns nine thousand acres of excellent land. This land is devoted to grain and stock raising. Besides this, he takes just pride in his extensive orchard which flourishes in abundance the best varieties of peaches, apricots, nectarines, almonds, apples, plums, and grapes. So productive is his land in grain that it is no uncommon thing for him to raise more than fifty bushels of wheat to the acre. But Mr. Julian believes that the future industry in this region will be fruit culture, and that, by degrees, it is now steadily supplanting the cultivation of wheat. He thinks that in a few years the large ranches of this valley will be divided up into twenty and forty-acre fruit farms, on which colonists will acquire comfortable homes and lay up large annual savings.

Mr. Julian was married, in 1866, to Miss Susan A. Small, of Colusa County, and five children bless their union.

MARK BAILEY.

This gentleman is a native of Moreland, Schuyler County, New York, born in the year 1833. He followed farming when a lad in his native State, and afterwards learned the trade of machinist, in Elmira, New York. After completing his apprenticeship, he lived for a short time in Iowa, and then in Faribault, Minnesota. He started for California in April, 18Co, and arrived at Sacramento five months later. He first located at You Bet, Nevada County, conducting a butchering business for three years, and in the summer of 1863 he returned to his native State. While on this trip he was married, in 1864, to Miss Lucy W. Stevens, of his own native county of Schuyler. He returned to California in 1867 and settled at the headquar­ters of the Nome Lackee Indian Reservation, but afterwards moved to Paskenta, and finally located permanently in this county in 1873, settling on the Brown ranch, at Newville, containing twelve hundred and sixty acres of land, mostly grazing, with “some bottom land, which produces large crops of grain. His chief occupation is in raising horses, cattle, hogs and sheep.

J. W. BRIM.

J. W. Brim was born in Tennessee, in the year 1835. He left Missouri for California on April 21, 1856, arriving at Oroville August 24. He engaged in mining at White Rock and Oroville, on the Feather River, and was very successful in this work. He came to Colusa County in 1856 and has since been occupied in stock-raising and farming. His farm embraces four thousand acres, a part of which is on the plains at the foot of the hills, and the remainder in Bear Valley, three miles from Leesville. It is on the latter portion of land that Mr. Brim resides. His home is a large and elegant one. In 1868 he married Miss Emily A. Smith, a native of Utah, and four chil­dren are the result of this union. Mr. Brim is highly respected and his energy is of the perpetual-motion order.

G. H. PURKITT.

George H. Purkitt, of Willows, who is well known all over Colusa County, came to California from Illinois in 1862, locating first for a time in Sacramento, and then engaged in hy­draulic mining in Nevada. As an accomplished civil engineer, his services have been secured in various parts of the State. He was appointed County Surveyor in 1872, serving one term most acceptably in that office. He first came to Colusa County in 1868 and spent a portion of his time on his arrival in hunting in the mountains. Mr. Purkitt is a keen sportsman and tells with gusto how in June, 187o, he lassooed antelope one mile and a half east of where now stands the aspiring town of Willows. He first settled in the town of Colusa, remaining there till 1874, when he removed to Willows and engaged in farming. Ten miles west of Willows is his ranch of twelve thousand acres, chiefly devoted to the production of grain and stock. This ranch is a model one in its methods of cultivation, its beauty of location and home surroundings. Particularly favorable has it proved in the raising of fruit. The peaches, cherries, apricots, pears, apples, plums, and nectarines which ripen here are not only an object lesson in early endeavors in horticulture in this section, but likewise an accepted prophecy, following hard upon fulfillment, of what the future wealth of the land shall consist.

Mr. Purkitt was married, in Sacramento, on April 27, 1873, to Miss Theodora Tiffe, and has a family of six children. His ranch, of which mention has just been made, has been surveyed and platted into subdivisions of ten, twenty or more acres, to meet the requirements of colonists or home seekers.

J. B. STANTON.

Joseph Byron Stanton is a native of the Buckeye State, born there March 2 , 836. When he was two years of age, his - parents moved to Hancock County, Illinois, where he lived till he was nineteen years of age, leading the laborious and industrious life of a farmer’s boy. He now concluded to seek a new field for such labor as his hands could find, and for this purpose he set out for California, driving an ox-team across the plains. After months of toil, which served to inure him to danger- and exposure in after life, he arrived at Oroville in October, 1855.

In these days the men who had come so far to find homes or mend their fortunes were nowise dainty in accepting any kind of employment. They took hold with a will of the first job that presented itself, as did young Stanton, who first worked as a laborer, then in the mines, or driving team for a few months. In January, 1856, he took up his home at Grand Island, in this county, and began farming for himself, which pursuit he followed for a number of years, and with success. He was married, in 1858, to Miss Margaret N. Tull, but her health failing after a short period of their married life, Mr. Stanton sold his farm, and, taking with him a wagon and team, he journeyed with his wife to the Mendocino County coast, where Mrs. Stanton’s parents resided. Her illness becoming aggravated, her husband sought medical skill in San Francisco, where he was advised to return with her to the Sacramento Valley, its climate being regarded as most conducive to her restoration to health He now returned to Colusa County, but the desired object of his journey was not realized, Mrs. Stanton dying of consumption a few weeks after her return, leaving him three children.

In the fall of 1866 Mr. Stanton was appointed Deputy Sheriff of Colusa County under I. N. Cain, which position he held until 1870, when he was elected Sheriff. He was re-elected in 1872 by a large and increased majority, evincing by his popular sup­port how acceptable his conduct of the office had been to his fellow-citizens.

After his retirement from office, he became connected with an enterprise to establish telegraphic communication between this place and Calistoga, Napa County, and to other towns in Colusa County. While attending to business in this enterprise, he had occasion to cross Lake County, and became very much attracted by a magnificent strip of, country known as Indian Valley. The telegraph line soon got into other hands, and “he, in company with a partner, bought a relinquishment from the claimant then settled in Indian Valley, of two thousand four hundred acres. This, after the government survey, they acquired title to, and divided, and Mr. Stanton, to married his second- wife, Miss. Mary Green, previous to his first election to the position of Sheriff, moved with his family on the land, and engaged in sheep-raising at a profit for nearly four years.

At the end of that time Mr. ,Stanton was again appointed Under-sheriff by D. H. Arnold and remained with him until the expiration of his term. After that he secured the contract to provision the county hospital, at which occupation he spent seven years. He was then re-appointed to the office of Under-sheriff by his former subordinate, W. T. Beville, and, in this office he is engaged at present writing. On account of his, extended experience in the sheriff’s office, J. B Stanton is an almost invaluable man, and hence it was but natural that he should be regarded as a suitable incumbent for that office. He was again nominated, in the spring of 1890, for the position of Sheriff; and elected.

Besides owning a residence in Colusa, Mr. Stanton is the owner of other property in the county. As the fruits of his two marriages, Mr. Stanton is the father of fourteen children, nine of whom are living.

JOHN L. WILSON,

John Lindley Wilson was born in Milan, Sullivan County, Missouri, May 25, 1853. Most of his boyhood days were spent in the town of his birth, and at an early age he entered the State Normal School at Kirksville, Missouri, where he received .the education that so well fitted him as an instructor and trainer of the young. He held the position of principal of the public schools both at Plato and Linneus, in his native State. He came to Colusa County in 1877, and was a most successful instructor in its public schools, teaching at Jacinto, Germantown, Orland and Willows. In 1884 he was elected Superintendent of Public Schools in the county, and succeeded himself to a second term in 1885, which would have expired in the January following his death. During his incumbency of this office he placed the schools of this county on a higher plane than those of any other county. By the noble qualities of his nature he endeared him­self to the whole people.

During all the years of hard school work, backed by an untiring energy, he devoted himself to the study of law, and in December, 1888, entered into a law partnership at Colusa with M. De Hurst. He was admitted to practice before the Supreme Court of the State on May 14, 1889. On May 25, 1881, he was united in marriage to Miss Harriet Louisa Pool, by whom he had one child.

Mr. Wilson’s death occurred on March 16, 1890, and was caused by consumption. The teachers of the county came to his funeral to pay their last tribute of respect and esteem to one so worthy, zealous and devoted to the cause of education, while the members of the bar gathered at the interment of one of their profession who gave such exceptional promise of reflecting honor upon it. A few days after the funeral, the Bar Association convened, at which the highest eulogies were passed upon his character. The State Association of Teachers did likewise. Few men in the county have been so sincerely and so universally mourned as John L. Wilson.

ROBERT COSNER.

Robert Cosner was born in Lancaster County, March 22, 1831. He passed his early life on the paternal farm. In 1839 his family removed to Ohio. Here young Cosner received instruction in the common schools, and afterward attended the Vermilion Institute, at Hayesville, Ohio, during three sessions. For several years he worked at the carpenter’s bench, and so, fortified with a fair education and a useful trade, he was equipped for his life-work. He came to California in 1852, and at first engaged in mining for a few months. Then he worked at his trade, and was employed as a mine superintendent.

In 1860 he was elected Sheriff of Amador County, which office he filled for three terms. While in this county he became warmly attached to Hon. James T. Farley, and did much toward electing him to the United States Senate. Mr. Cosner removed to San Francisco in 1870, and he became interested in lands in Yolo and Colusa Counties. He was appointed secre­tary of Reclamation District No. 108, and held that cffice six­teen years. In 1873 he was appointed superintending engineer of that district. Mr. Cosner removed from the southern part of the county in June, 1886, severing his official connection with the Reclamation District, and came to the county seat-to reside. He was urged in 1888 by many of his friends to permit his name to be used as a candidate for the office of County Treas­urer. There were a number of candidates, the vote was divided, and Mr. Cosner received a handsome support, though not quite sufficient for success.

G. W. MILLSAPS.

George W. Millsaps, who resides on his farm on the stage road between Willows and Newville, was born in Main County, Kentucky, June 15, 1822. At a tender age he was carried by his family to Howard County, Missouri, and shortly afterward to the frontier portion of Randolph (now known as Macon County), Missouri. Mr. Millsaps remembers some of the dangers of that locality and early period. He recalls that in July, 1832, the year of the celebrated Black Hawk War, he being then ten years of age, how his father, learning morning that the Indians were approaching, ordered the whole family to hurry up and hide in the corn-field till he had ascertained the danger.

He was married, June 14, 1844, to Miss Elizabeth Dunn, a native of Cumberland County, Kentucky, who bore him eleven children. Mr. Millsaps started overland for California, April 18, 1854, arriving in Placer County the following August. He settled where Roseville now stands, but only remained there one year, moving to Sacramento and residing there three years. He came to his present home in July, 1858. Here, on a splendid ranch of two thousand six hundred and forty acres of rolling land, he raises wheat, barley, and rye, and keeps a large herd of cattle, horses, and mules, besides hogs and sheep.

HON. W. F. GOAD.

Among the residents of Colusa County who have gained a State reputation is W. F. Goad, now living in San Francisco. He is a native of Hopkins County, Kentucky, and a son of Peter Goad, a Virginian by birth. His father was a farmer, and on the parental acres young Goad learned the honorable occupation of tilling the soil. His education was obtained in the schools of his native State. He remained on his father’s farm until twenty years of age, when he made, up his mind to seek his fortune in the gold mines of California. Accordingly, on April 3, 1852, he set out overland with an ox-train for this State, accompanied by his brother, J. C., now a resident of Tulare County. Arriving at Beckwith Pass, August 22 of the same year, in the Sierra Nevada’s, he engaged in mining for one year, meeting with fair success. This life, however, was not to his liking, and in the following winter he came to Colusa County, where he purchased a farm, and once more engaged in tilling the soil. He took a deep interest in public affairs, being a prominent Democrat. In 1857 he was elected County Clerk, which position he held three successive terms. In the meantime he took up the study of law, and in 1863 he was admitted to practice before the Supreme Court of the State. He engaged in the practice of his profession in Colusa, mid in 1867 he was elected to the office of District Attorney. In 1870 he assisted in organizing the Colusa County Bank, of which he was president for twelve years, and is still a director and stockholder. In 1876 he made a visit to his old home in the Blue-grass State, the Centennial celebration at Philadelphia, and the national capital. While in Washington he was admitted to practice before the United States Supreme Court. In 188o he made a tour of Europe, accom­panied by his wife, visiting the principal places of interest in England, Scotland, Egypt, Palestine, and the Continental coun­tries. Upon his return he located in San Francisco in the practice of his profession. He was not to settle down to private life, however, as the people recognized his ability, and he was twice elected a member of the Board of Education of that city, during each term of which he was president of that body. He has ever been a warm friend of the public schools, and he took a leading interest in building up the schools of that city to their present high standing.

April 27, 1863, he was married, at Colusa, to Miss Mary C. Cook, a native of the same county in which he was born. He is the happy father of four children, one son and three daughters, and enjoys domestic life in his palatial residence on the corner of Washington and Gough Streets, surrounded with the comforts which a refined taste could suggest and ample wealth provide.

HON. A. H. ROSE.

Albert H. Rose, who has for many years occupied a large space in the public eye of California, was born in Delaware County, Ohio, July 26, 1827. His father, Henry M., was a farmer and bred his son to the same manly occupation, allowing young Albert the opportunity, when obtainable, of acquiring a common-school education, which was the best the period and the locality could impart. Albert continued to work on the parental acres, cultivating his mind with solid and wholesome reading, till he had reached his twenty-second year, when he commenced working for himself.

The year 1851 was a remarkable one in the annals of Cali­fornia immigration. Thousands upon thousands at the East severed their old home or local associations and pressed eagerly forward by land and by sea to the strange romantic land of gold and adventure. There was no discouraging, no delaying of these daring spirits. Among those who caught the contagion was young Rose, who left his home in Ohio, January 25 1851, on his way to California by the Isthmus route. He arrived in San Francisco March 21 following. Here he wasted no time in taking useless observations, but pushed on to Fine Gold Gulch, in Fresno County, where he at once tried his inexperienced hand at gold seeking. He remained here till July 15 of the same year, when he started for the placer mines on the American River. Here he continued to work for nearly six months, when glowing reports of the rich finds in Indian Canyon lured him to set out and try his luck there. He remained in these mines till March 15, 1852, leaving them for Amador, Amador County, at which place he took up his abode, residing that county for seventeen years, being extensively engaged in the business of quartz mining most of his time and meeting with considerable success.

In December, 1869, Mr. Rose moved to San Francisco, and while engaged in business, made his home there for a brief period, though he subsequently resided in Oakland and Menlo Park, In 1869-70 he became much interested in the reclamation of lands in Colusa and Yolo Counties, which led to his purchasing a large tract on Grand Island, on which he made his home and whereon he has continued ever since 1877. Here he directs the operations of his farm of six thousand acres and at his large and comfortable ranch residence dispenses that warm hospitality proverbial on the great farms of the State.

Mr. Rose was first married, January 1, 1863, in Amador County, to Miss Katharine M. Barry, who died in 1868, leaving him a son and a daughter. January I, 187o, he was married to Mrs. Sarah C. Boling, of San Francisco, his wife being a sister of Mrs. Judge S. S. Wright, of that city. Mrs. Rose died May 22, 1872, by whom he had also a son and daughter. Mr. Rose, on March 14, 1877, was again married, his wife being Mrs. Caroline M. Brooks, by whom he has three children living, two girls and one boy.

As a public man Mr. Rose has been quite conspicuous. His executive ability and wisdom in counsel have won him cordial recognition both among legislators and his associates in the Democratic party, of which party he has always been an unswerving

In 1865 he was elected State Senator, representing the counties of Amador and Alpine. This was at a special election caused by the death of G. W. Seator shortly after the general elections. In this campaign the popularity of Mr. Rose was solidly attested by the fact that he, a Democrat, carried his ditrict by two hundred and thirty-eight majority, which shortly before had given Mr. Lincoln for President over five hundred Republican majority. On taking his seat he evinced that fidelity to duty and that useful familiarity with public affairs as to render him most flatteringly conspicuous, so much so that during the session of 1867-68, when the election of a United States Senator was the absorbing question before the Legislature, he had a large and devoted following who pushed him bforward for that exalted position. The choice, however, fell upon Eugene Casserly. Mr. Rose has been a member of almost every Democratic State Central Committee since the year 1856, and was a delegate to the National Convention which nominated Sey­mour and Blair. During the exciting gubernatorial campaigns of Haight and Irwin, he took a most active and prominent part, working with a vigor and zeal which told heavily in the successful aspirations of these candidates for the chief magistracy of the State.

As Mr. Rose has always deeply interested himself in the reclamation of lands and the unobstructed navigation of the rivers of the State, and is quite an authority on these subjects, his selection in being sent, in March, 1890, to Washington as a member of a delegation to secure legislation to restore and protect the navigation of the Sacramento and San Joaquin Rivers and their tributaries, was a wise and appropriate one. He has also served at his own home as trustee of Reclamation District No. 108 since its first organization, and of which Board he was president till August, 1889.

HON. JOHN C. CAMPBELL.

This gentleman was born in Ireland, August 6, 1833. At the age of seven years he came with his parents to the United States, settling in Amboy, Illinois, where he resided till 1854, when he came to California. After prospecting a short time in Calaveras County, he went to Amador County in 1855, where he lived for ten years, engaged in mining and operating a saw-mill. When the Washoe silver mining excitement broke out, he established a line of teams, leaving Sacramento City and crossing the Sierras, carrying supplies to the mines. After continuing with success in this line of business for several years, he went to Yolo County, purchased a large farm, and, having now turned agriculturist, he settled down here for six years, looking to the till­age of his acres.

Mr. Campbell came to Colusa County in 1877. Here he leased nearly ten thousand acres of land located west of the town of Maxwell, belonging to J. H. Glide.

In 1888 he was elected Assemblyman from Colusa’ County on the Republican ticket, overcoming a Democratic majority of over nine hundred and receiving a majority of one hundred and three votes. The question of county division entered largely into the canvass and party lines blended with local ambitions. In 1890 he was again nominated for the Assembly by the Republican party but was defeated by Hon. Henry Eakle, by a majority of twenty-three votes. Mr. Campbell is one of the popular men of the county, is a pleasant gentleman, and makes a vigorous fight for the accomplishment of whatever he undertakes to do.

Mr. Campbell was married, November 1, 1860, to Miss Eliza C. Brierly, and two sons and four daughters living are the results of this union.

E. C. PEART.

Elias C. Peart, whose name as a business man is a house­hold word in every home in the county, is a native of Guysboro, Nova Scotia, born November 9, 1849. His boyhood was spent in the labors of the farm and his early education was imparted in the public schools. He came to California In 1868, making the voyage by the Isthmus, and the day after his arrival in San Francisco he experienced the to him strange sensations pro- duced by the big earthquake of that year. His entire financial capital on landing was carefully counted and proved to be $30, but his backing and resources in good habits, strengthened by industry, in business sense and the boldness that captured suc­cess by intelligent audacity, were more to him than the three gold eagles cooped up in his purse. He first found employment in November, 1868, with B. Rosberry in the general merchandise business at Knights Landing at a salary of $35 per month. Wishing to better himself, he came to Eddy’s Landing, on Grand Island, in the spring of 1869, and entered the employ of J. H. Goodhue, where he had charge of the entire business after eight months. Mr. Peart’s first venture on his own account was made at Bear Valley, near Leesville, in the fall of 1871, the firm name being Peart & Graham. His trade here was most satisfactory, but disaster overtook him nearly a year later, when his store and stock were destroyed by fire. Though the insurance on the stock was not sufficient to pay their San Francisco creditors, yet the firm paid one hundred cents on every dollar’s worth of indebtedness. Mr. Peart and his partner, J. W. Graham, next bought a small stock of goods and opened up business in Colusa, but not having the means to meet the heavy competition of the times, he bought out Graham’s interest, returned to Bear Valley, built a new, store and dwelling and opened up again for business. Trade flowed into this place, and Mr. Peart was again prospering. During all this time, however, his mind was fixed on the Grand Island country, and, a good opportunity offering, he sold out his Bear Valley business to Dr. J. H. Clark, of Yuba City, and took charge of the Grand Island Grange Co-operative Company’s business. His health failing, he sought relief in 1875 by a sea voyage, visited Nova Scotia and returned the same year. He bought out the business interest of the Grand Island Grange Company at Grimes Landing, a few years later established a general store at Arbuckle and then opened the Great American Bargain House at Colusa. Selling out the business at Grimes Landing and at Arbuckle, he started a store at Maxwell, the firm name being W. H. Cross & Co., though devoting the greater part of his attention to the Colusa store, which drove an annual business of $120,000 exclusive of the stock and grain trade. In addition to merchandising, this house handles a large quantity of barley and wheat. The store building of Mr. Peart is an ornament to the town. It is a large brick one, filled with goods, tastefully arranged, and is one of the mercantile land­marks of the place. Besides conducting his extensive merchandise business, Mr. Peart owns one thousand six hundred and forty acres of land in the county, whose cultivation is under his own immediate direction.

Mr. Peart was married, December 11, 1872, to Miss Clara H. Graham, by whom he has three daughters, the eldest of whom, Miss Emma, is attending Snell Seminary at Oakland.

C. J. PAPST.

Charles J. Papst, of St. John, was born in Toronto, Canada, in 1838, and was engaged in farming till 1857. He then went to Davenport, Iowa, and attended commercial college. He came to Chico, California, in 1859, remaining there one year. He next found employment working at St. John on Jones’ ranch till 1862. He tried Idaho for twelve months but returned to St. John, working on a ranch for three years, when he leased for one year two hundred acres of land. In 1868 he purchased the store of A. C. St. John and has continued to carry on the business ever since. He is also the postmaster of St. John, having held that office since 1868. Besides conducting a mercantile business, Mr. Papst owns a large farm close by. Mr. Pap ,t is a self-made man. His accumulations, which would afford him leisure and competence, were acquired by hard knocks and habits of industry. He was married, in 1867, to Miss Tinole Hatton, of Petaluma.

HON. K. E. KELLEY.

Kirk Etna Kelley is a native of Warren County,” Illinois, born June 3, 1848. His father was one of the pioneers of Cali­fornia, coming to this State in 1848, shortly after the birth of Kirk E., and dying there some two years later. When but a child, his widowed mother, his brother and an adopted sister moved to Iowa, and here young Kirk was brought up on a farm. He attended school only three months and never entered the door of a high school or college except in the capacity of a teacher. What he acquired in an educational way was the result of his own self-teaching, of long hours in the evening, spent in reading, after a hard day’s work. He was always an omnivorous reader of books, and his retentive memory gleaned and stored away the pith and substance of what he found therein, for effective use in after life. When he had reached his seven­teenth year, young Kelley passed his examination and received his certi6Cate of teacher. He then began teaching in the pub­lic schools and followed it for several years in Missouri and Kansas. In 1871 he came to California, and for two years taught school in Solano County. Being naturally ambitious to rise, Mr. Kelley began the study of the law. He had formed a partnership in the real-estate business at Dixon, and this afforded him an opportunity to devote his leisure time to his “black-letter books.” He borrowed his books, and, by dint of hard study, was admitted to practice in the county court of Solano at the end of a year. At the close of the following year he was admitted to practice his profession before the Dis­trict Courts of the Sixth and Seventh Judicial Districts. He was afterwards entitled to practice by admission before the Supreme Court of the State and Circuit Court of the United States. His large business was extensive and his fees were fat, and he was enabled to retire frorri active practice in the courts in 1884. In 1882 he was elected State Senator from Yolo and Solano Counties, and served in the twenty-fifth Legislative Assembly during the regular and extra sessions. This was the notable period in which efforts were made to oust the Railroad Commissioners by joint resolution of the two Houses of the Legislature. Mr. Kelley opposed the movement, and by reason thereof he was, with other members, read out by the Demo­cratic party at the famous Stockton convention.

Mr. Kelley came to Willows in 1885, and purchased the Willows Journal, which he edited and conducted in connection with W. H. Kelley for two years. A close logician and a master of vigorous English, Mr. Kelley soon lifted this newspaper from obscurity into the most flattering prosperity. Since his coining to Willows he has always identified himself with the business and social advancement of that town. His energy, shrewdness, persistence and knowledge of men and motives, have always brought him to the front, a cheerful leader, particularly of any forlorn hope in which his town requires prudent generalship. In the struggles for the division of the county and for the formation of Glenn County, Mr. Kelley was acknowledged by the opponents of that measure to be their most skillful and most formidable adversary. In 1888 he was sent as a delegate to the Democratic State Convention at Los Angeles. Mr. Kelley was married, in 1876, to Miss Louisa, daughter of Daniel Zumwalt, a pioneer of California and an old resident of the county.

KEEPERS ALBERY

Is a native of Franklin County, Ohio, born in the year 1838. His youth was uneventful, being passed in a resolute struggle to secure a common education. This once acquired, he taught school in Franklin County, Ohio, and also in Iowa, ’laying by with genteel economy every dollar for which he toiled so patiently and successfully in the school-rooms of the young Buckeyes. Having amassed a snug little hoard for a pedagogue in those days, he invested it all in securing a higher educa­tion than he had yet attained, at Ann Arbor University, Michigan. Completing his course here, he undertook the study of the law and was admitted to the bar of the Supreme Court of Ohio in 1865. After practicing his chosen profession for a few years in Mercer County, of that State, he was elected District Attorney thereof, serving in that office from January 1, 1868, to January I, 1872. Meanwhile, with the proceeds from his profession, he was aiding a younger brother, H. M. Albery, the present District Attorney of Colusa County, to acquire an education, and who became proficient in a knowledge of the law. While serving as prosecuting attorney, the criminal element of his district had reason to fear his ability, for not one of the many indictments prepared by him was quashed.

In 1875 Mr. Albery removed to Shelby County, in his State, and there practiced his profession till 1880, when, becoming possessed of a strong inclination to reside in California, he determined to realize it. For this purpose lie sundered the strong ties and warm friendships of a life-time, placed his property in the care of an agent and turned his face toward the setting sun. On arriving in California in the fall of 1880, he cast about for some out-of-door occupation to relieve the strain of years of professional toil, and concluded to engage in mining in Plumas County. This he followed till 1886, when he located in Colusa County, though still retaining an interest in his mines. With his capability for making and holding friends, it was not long till Mr. Albery had gathered clients about him and built up a good practice in the legal profession. Shortry after locating in his present abode, the Wright Irrigation law was passed. Mr. Albery was a close student of this measure from its first introduction in the Legislature, and ths convinced that it was radically wrong, though he himself was not opposed to irrigation as an adjunct of cultivation. Among a multitude of reasons for antagonism to this law, adduced by Mr. Albery, was that “ for at least another generation, it will add to the large real-estate holdings at the expense and ruin of the small holdings, and particularly of the small holdings which happen to be encumbered.” He fought the measure sturdily as a citizen of the county, while his professional services were retained by the opponents of the creation of the Colusa and Central Irrigation Districts. Mr. Albery is a pleasant companion, cheerful as well as thoughtful, has a legion of friends, and, as he is in the prime and vigor of life, can look forward to increasing prosperity in his Colusa County home.

A. MONTGOMERY.

Alexander Montgomery is a native of County Down, Ireland, born March 2, 1825. His father had been a wealthy farmer, but about the time of the birth of young Montgomery, he lost all his property, and at an early age Alexander was obliged to earn his own living. He was apprenticed to a tailor for four years, at the end of which time he followed his trade in Ireland and England until September 21, 1846, when he set out to seek his fortune in the United States. He was not in the East­ern States long before he decided to go to the gold fields of California; hence he took passage on a ship, via the Straits of Magellan for San Francisco, and on September 6, 1849, the Vessel entered the Golden Gate, with a Masonic banner flying at the mast, which was designed and made by Mr. Montgomery. This was the first banner of that order brought to San Francisco.

Upon his arrival, he at once set off for the mines at Bidwell’s Bar, and followed mining for a year and a half on Feather and American Rivers. At the end of that time his capital amounted to $1,500, and, deciding to abandon the uncertain life of mining, he engaged in mercantile business, also running a tailor shop at Benicia and later at Shasta. He loaned his earnings, taking real-estate security generally. Owing to the ever-shifting conditions of those times, he was often’ obliged to take the security in satisfaction of the principal, and in that way became interested in lands in Colusa County in 1855. In 1856-57 he made a visit to the scenes of his birth, in Ireland. In 1861 he moved to this county, settling on Grand Island, where he farmed. Later he lived in Colusa. In 1866 he made a visit abroad, visiting all the capitals of Europe, excepting Portugal, the principal places of interest in Europe, Palestine and Egypt, and upon his return visited all the States of the Union, excepting Maine and Texas. He has since visited the Yellowstone National Park and Alaska.

He has acquired great wealth by the increase in land values, and is classed as one of the millionaires of the Pacific Coast. At the meeting of the Scotch-Irish Congress, May 29, 189o, at Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, he was elected Vice-President, and was later elected President of the State society of the same organization. On July 7, 1890, he was honored with the presidency of the Society of Pioneers of 1849. While Mr. Montgomery is a careful business man, he is generous to all objects which meet his approval, and has donated large sums of money to various worthy institutions. He has an especially warm corner in his heart for the old pioneer, and is extremely sympa­thetic and generous to the Association of California Pioneers. He is happy in his domestic life, living in his spacious and handsome residence in San Francisco. He was married to Miss Lizzie A. Green, and is the father of two pretty daughters, Annie, aged nine, and Hazel, aged six years.

JOHN H. LIENING.

John H. Liening was born in Germany, January 6, 1818. On his father’s side the ancestry were Germans as far back as can be traced. His great grandfather was a soldier in the Thirty years’ war, being in the service during all those years. On his mother’s side the ancestry were Scotch, going from Scotland to Germany during the reign of William, Prince of Orange. His father was a miller and small farmer. At the age of fourteen young Liening emigrated to the United States, in the Dutch brig Amalia, landing in Baltimore, Maryland. After a few days in Baltimore, this adventurous youth started on foot across the Alleghany Mountains to Pittsburg. He went by canal-boat to Cincinnati, Ohio, and there bound himself to a pork merchant for three years for board and clothing, and was to receive one year’s schooling during the time. He remained one year, received the board, but no schooling, and the clothing consisted of one well-worn plug hat, which he left behind him.

The same year his father, mother, six brothers, and two sisters, and uncle with wife and children, all came from Germany to make their homes in America. The cholera was raging in Cincinnati when they arrived. They at once hurried out into the country, where they expected to buy land, but on the journey one of his brothers died of the dreaded disease. The others reached their destination in Auglaize County, where, between Monday and Saturday, all of the two families, except one sister, died of the same disease.

The next year, 1834, the boy started on the Chickasaw for Mobile, where he stayed for two years, working on steamers as cabin-boy. In 1836 he went to Florida and enlisted for the Seminole War. In 1838 he returned to Cincinnati, where he was married at not quite twenty years of age. He lived in Vicksburg, Memphis, and many other Southern cities, includ­ing New Orleans, coming to California “around the Horn” in 1849. The journey occupied seven months. Arriving in San Francisco October 20, 1849, he engaged in business there and was quite successful. In the spring of 1850 he started, in com­pany with several others, for the mines on Feather River, just above Rich Bar, which proved afterwards so very rich, but which they failed to discover, although working on both sides of the Rich Bar for about a month. He spent about three months in hunting Gold Lake but finally found Pyramid Lake. On the route to Feather River they passed any number of emigrant wagons deserted in the snow, the carcasses of the animals lying in the harness, the wagons containing many articles of value.

In the fall of the same year he went to Horsetown, five miles from Shasta. Having spent over three thousand dollars pros­pecting, he began work with only twenty-five cents clean cash and three mules. In the spring of 1851 he bought goods at Sacramento and hauled them to Shasta, taking them on to the mines on pack-mules. He came by way of Colusa on those trips, took a liking to the place and promised to return some future day and locate, and did locate here in October, 1851. He opened a restaurant and lodging-house, commencing this business about where Spaulding’s shop stands at present. At this time an incident occurred worth relating. A man came to the restaurant one evening, inquiring if a steamer had gone down the river. When told it had just gone, he exclaimed, “Well, then, my money is gone!” On being asked what he meant, he said he had stopped at Moon’s ranch with his pack- train,, and, carrying into the house what, to all outward appear­ances, was an ordinary flour-sack containing a camp kit—cooking utensils, bacon, flour, etc. had laid it on a box behind the door. In the bottom of the sack was a buckskin bag containing over four thousand dollars’ worth of gold-dust. Now the box he had laid the flour sack on was marked for Sacra­mento, which he did not notice. While out attending to his mules, he h. and the boat whistle, and, hurrying into the house, looked, of course, for the sack—it had been put on the boat by mistake. Moon, on being made acquainted with the contents of the sack, at once lent him a fine horse to overtake the boat, which he did at a big bend in the river, but it would not stop for him. He tried to get someone to go to Sacramento to save his money, but no one seemed to care to take the journey, as the country was flooded with water. He cried and fretted over his loss until Mr. Liening’s sympathies were aroused and he offered to make the trip. Donning an extra shirt, but without a coat, he mounted a fine California horse and started, at nine o’clock at night, for Sacramento. There was no moon and it was cloudy. After swimming his horse and getting wet to the skin several times, he finally arrived at,Sacramento just as the boat was unloading its freight, and succeeded in getting the sack containing the gold-dust. Upon its return to the owner at Colusa, that individual generously paid Mr. Liening’s expenses and no more.

In 1854 Mr. Liening returned to the East and brought out his family, and in 1856 sold out his business in town and engaged in cattle-raising, until 1861, when the war broke out. He enlisted as a private in Company D, First Cavalry California Volunteers, and proceeded to Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas. He was in various skirmishes with Indians and Confederates and served until 1863, when he was promoted to Second Lieutenant, and returned to California as recruiting officer. Soon after, he tendered his resignation, which was accepted.

He bought the Colusa House property. He was appointed postmaster, and his most active service during the war was in the next two years in Colusa, as is well known in the county and State. To show his zeal for any cause in which he might be engaged or have interest in, the following incident is related. When the news was brought from Marysville, by Harry Marcus, a stage-driver, of the assassination of Lincoln, and while he was opening the mail, someone passed a note into the office, stating that certain persons were taking up subscriptions to buy powder to fire a salute in jubilation over the assassination of Abraham Lincoln. Mr. Liening stepped out of the office into the room where quite a number of people were waiting for the mail, read the note, and said, “If any person or persons should fire a salute in gratification over the assassination, I will kill the first man so engaged and continue shooting until the last one is killed or I am shot down.”

In 1870 he sold out his interest in the Colusa House prop­erty, and, being broken down in health, started East on a trip for his health, which finally ended in a visit to his birthplace, near Hamburg, Germany, and many large cities of the Continent. He was in Paris at the time war was declared between France and Germany, and returned to Colusa on that account. He was next engaged in the Parks dam excitement, and became an active member of the party who opposed the build­ing of the dam, and he said then that the land could not be reclaimed by dams, but must eventually have canals to carry off the surplus water during flood-time. He has held several public positions, that of Public Administrator, Justice of the Peace, and at present is Town Recorder, Justice of the Peace, and Notary Public, and is a popular officer.

In 1852 he was invited to witness a curious performance at Doctor Semple’s- home. The doctor was a particular friend, and told him that something very strange had taken place there the night before, in the way of receiving communications from the spirit world. Though born and educated as a Catholic, Mr. Liening had become an atheist. That evening, on account of business, he did not reach the doctor’s house until a late hour, and, as houses in those days were small, he found only standing-room for himself. There was quite a large table in the center of the room, with about a dozen people seated around it, equally divided as to sex. Very soon after Mr. Liening’s arrival, a name was spelled out for him, Henry Liening, claim­ing him as his father. At that time his family was in the East and he was not known in Colusa to have a family anywhere. He had lost four children during his married life and one was named Henry. The incident aroused his curiosity and he set to work to investigate the subject most earnestly, as he was not satisfied with the belief of an atheist, but still hoped for more light, and at the expiration of two years from that time became convinced that Spiritualism was true, and is still firm in his belief.

Although at this date Mr. Liening is seventy-two years of age, he is able to attend to every duty and has the appearance of a much younger man than he really is, and has the promise of years to come.

GEORGE MUDD.

George Mudd was born in Yorkshire, England, in 1845. His father was Robert Mudd, a lead miner. George Mudd remained in Yorkshire and followed mining until 7864, when he emigrated to Canada, West. Near the town of Kingston he engaged in farming and remained in that place until 1865. He then went to the copper mines near Lake Superior, to which place his brothers James and William had preceded him. Not being satisfied with this place, he set out, in company with a party of miners, including his brothers, to East Tennessee, where they expected to find the iron mines in operation, but on reaching their destination, in the vicinity of Chattanooga, the war having just closed, they found the mines of that district temporarily abandoned.

They continued on to West Chattanooga, where the Mount Yetna mine was in operation. The entire party found employ­ment there. George remained in that district until 1866. He then. went to Johnson County, Missouri, where his brother James preceded him, where they opened and operated a coal mine on their own account, and met with fair success. In 1867 he sold out his interest in the mining business to his brother James, and he, in company with his brother William, turned his face toward the Pacific Coast. Arriving at Nebraska City, on July 12, 7867, they found an ox-train fitting out for California, and they joined the party. Arriving in the Sacramento Valley in 1867, he wintered in Cache Creek; Yolo County, and in the spring of 1868 he came on through Colusa County, and continued on east to the White Pine mining region, by way of Honey Lake and Truckee. He remained there until September, 1869, and in October, 187o, returned to Colusa County, settling on the ranch where he now lives, four and one-half miles east of Germantown, where he cultivates five thousand acres of good grain-land.

Mr, Mudd is one of the pioneer farmers on what is called the “Colusa Plains.” He is a wide-awake and practical business man, thoroughly alive to all the advanced ideas of farming, and was the first man in the great Sacramento Valley to apply steam to the plow, harrow and harvester, which he is now successfully operating. He is a leading Republican of the county, takes a deep interest in public affairs and is a pleasant, enter­prising citizen.

On the 23d of March, 1875, he was married to Miss Mattie A. L. Mitchell, a native of Downieville, Sierra County, a refined and estimable lady. Mr. Mudd and wife have four children, two boys and two girls.

M. O’HAIR.

Michael O’Hair was born in Glasgow, Scotland, in October, 1845, and lived there until 1848, when his father, John O’Hair, moved to New York, and engaged in the mercantile business, and remained there until 1852, when the entire family again moved to Michigan. Here they resided two years, going from there to Illinois, where they engaged in farming, remaining there two years. They afterwards emigrated to the then new State of Iowa, located in Floyd County, and engaged in farming.

At the breaking out of the Civil War, young O’Hair, who was then only sixteen years of age, enlisted in the Union Army in Company K of the Seventh Iowa Cavalry, under Captain F. H. Cooper, and served three years, being in several noted battles, among them the battle of Deer Hill. He also accompanied General Sulley, in 1863, in his famous trip through what is known as the “ Bad Lands” of Montana, they being the first party of whites to cross that country. He also accompanied Colonel Pattee at the laying Out of forts Firesteel and Du Rosh, in Dakota Territory, and was a member of the relief corps sent out to rescue Captain Fisk and his emigrant train when they were surrounded by Indians in the “Bad Lands” of Montana. After these adventures and experiences, he returned to Sioux City, Iowa, and was there honorably discharged. After years of war and frontier perils, O’Hair, now a young man, longed for the old home in Floyd County, Iowa, and so hastened to return there, where he farmed till 1868, when he went out on the frontier and engaged in railroading on the Union Pacific Railroad, which was then pushing its way toward Ogden. He was present at the driving of the “golden spike,” in Ogden, in 1869, after which he came west to California, and continued north to Puget Sound, following lumbering for several months, when he again returned to California and began farming near Princeton, Colusa County. In 1874 he moved north near Stony Creek, and, in company, with his brother William, purchased a large tract of land five and one-half miles northeast of Orland, where he now lives, and, although he has met with some severe losses by fire, he now has one of the most comfortable homes in Colusa County.

In 1886 Mr. O’Hair was elected a member of the Board of Supervisors from the Fifth District of Colusa County, of which body he is chairman. In 1887 Mr. O’Hair assisted in organizing the Kraft Irrigration District. In 1889 he was married to Miss Hattie Hunter, of Colusa, a talented and accomplished young lady, by whom he has one child, William Hunter by name.

P. S. PETERSON.

Peter Salen Peterson, an honored pioneer of the State and one of Colusa County’s best citizens, was born in Bornholm, Denmark, on December 23, 1820. His father was a school-master and hence aided young Peterson in obtaining a practical education. At eighteen years of age he went out to the Danish West Indies and secured employment as overseer on a sugar plantation, remaining there and working this capacity eleven years, on the islands of St. Thomas, St. Croix and St. John. Hearing of the discovery of gold in California, he left St. Thomas in April, 1850, on the packet ship Shakespeare, arriving at San Francisco after a nine months’ voyage. After working there a few months at any odd job that presented itself, he set out for the mines, working with success at Bartons Bar, on Yuba River, and subsequently at Long Bar and Parks Bar. In 1856 he bought an interest in the Blue Cement mine, on Suckers Flat, Yuba County, afterwards being associated in the same with Lot M. Rust, whose sister Mr. Peterson married later on. He disposed of his interest in this mine for a comfortable sum and then set about realizing the dream of his life, which was to be an independent farmer. In August, 1868, he purchased a livery stable in Colusa from John Culp, but ill health compelled him to sell out to Mr. Rust.

On July 13,1869, he bought the Salt Lake ranch in company with John Boggs and C. C. Crommer. This ranch is located on Funk Slough, in Antelope Valley, just in the foot-hills some eleven miles west of Maxwell. This ranch embraced nearly six thousand acres, and four thousand sheep and other stock were grazing on it. Mr. Peterson took immediate possession and has ever since made it his cozy, hospitable home. From time to time he added to his land acquisition, and on March 2, 1874, he purchased W. H. Fountain’s ranch, containing. nine hundred and twenty acres, just north of the home place. On February .14, 1877, he purchased the interest of John Boggs in the orig­inal Salt Lake ranch, so that his landed possessions now embrace nine thousand one hundred and seventy acres.

Mr. Peterson was married, February 1, 1870, to Miss Lida M. Rust, of Palermo, Waldo County, Maine, by whom he has been blessed with four children.

Mr. Peterson is one of those energetic and progressive gentlemen whose residence in a community always leaves an impression and gives an impetus to its welfare. He was among the first to introduce Durham cattle in the county, of which he has now a large band. He was an early advocate of railroads in the county and is a large stockholder in the Colusa and Lake Road. In politics he is an ardent Republican
 

W. R. BRASFIELD
Wiley E. Brasfield, a son of Leonard Brasfield, was born in Clay County, Missouri, November 19, 1837. He was brought up to farming on the paternal acres and managed to secure such an education as the times offered. It, however, laid the basis for the acquirement of a practical kind of knowledge, which Mr. Brasfield has gained by assiduous reading. He followed farming till 1863, when he pushed across the plains with a mule-team by way of Salt Lake. He stopped over on his journey a few months in Nevada and arrived in Colusa County January 31, 1864. He located on Grand Island and resumed his former calling of a farmer, which he continued up to the year 1882, when he moved to College City in order to afford his children an opportunity to attend the college at that place. Mr. Brasfield was married, at Woodland, October 9, 1865, to Miss Fannie J. Barnett, daughter of Elder G. O. Barnett. His wife died December 5, 1889, leaving him five children.

In May, 1883, Mr. Brasfield was appointed County Surveyor for an unexpired term, and in 1884, 1886 and 1888 was re-elected to that office. As a public officer he has been accommodating and efficient, as is testified by his long occupancy of office.
 

E. A. HARRINGTON.
Edwin Augustus Harrington, of Colusa, was born in Burlington, Vermont. January 31, 1834. His parents’ names were William B. and Axey Harrington. He was raised on a farm till he reached his sixteenth year, when he was apprenticed to the carpenter and stair-building trade at Plattsburg, New York. Four years later he resided in Boston, engaged as a contractor in the same line of business. On May 10, 1857, Mr. Harrington sailed from New York for California on the steamer Northern Light to Panama, and was there transferred to the Orizaba, en route to San Francisco, where he arrived June 10, 1859. He shortly afterward took up his location at Marysville, where he organized and conducted a sash, door and blind factory for twelve years, a paint and oil store till 1880, and also put on foot a truck and dray company, which he superintended for eight years. Conducting these operations simultaneously, Mr. Harrington’s early years in California were very busy ones.

In September, 1876, he came to the town of Colusa, and incorporated the Colusa Stage Company, of which he is both president and superintendent

In the spring of 1885 Mr. Harrington began soliciting stock for the purpose of building a narrow-gauge railroad from Colusa west, to connect with the Southern Pacific Company line. The confidence he reposed in the project was rewarded by his obtaining stock subscriptions to the road in thirty days, amply sufficient to construct it. Of this corporation he has been superintendent since its organization. Mr. Harrington is an energetic, clear-headed, persevering business man. Neither his industry nor his patience ever flags once he is resolved on a measure. Possessing the confidence of the community, he is regarded as unexcelled for his success as an organizer of companies. In politics he is a staunch Republican.

Mr. Harrington was married, in 1859, in Burlington, Vermont, his native State, to Miss Mary A. Lincoln, who became the mother of his two children, and who died in Marysville in 1882. He was married to Miss Lizzie Arnold, his present wife, on July 15, 1886.
 

DR. E. B. MOORE.

Dr. E. B. Moore is a native of Anderson, South Carolina, and was born there in 1828. He studied medicine, and attended lectures at the Transylvania University, at Lexington, Kentucky. After receiving his diploma, he practiced his profession for several years at Guntersville, Alabama, and Chalk Bluffs, Arkansas. He crossed the plains in 1857, had his first Indian fight, and several fierce ones besides, near Fort Ridley, and, following the old Carson route, reached Placerville. Here he followed mining successfully till the spring of 1858. After this he engaged in stock-raising till 1864, when he went to Washoe, Nevada, to superintend an extensive timber ranch for the Gould & Curry Mining Company. He returned to California after an absence of sixteen months, and, coming to Colusa County, he purchased a farm, of one hundred and sixty acres, located three miles northeast of the town of Colusa. It was well stocked with cattle, and was known as the ranch of the Rainsport estate. Dr. Moore lived here nearly two years, when he purchased nine hundred acres of land in Grapevine and Antelope Valleys, and went into the business of sheep-raising. He afterwards went to Grand Island and engaged in grain-raising on an extensive scale. He still owns five hundred acres on Grand Island and three hundred and twenty acres on the Blanchard ranch, near Williams. He is the owner of the justly celebrated Cooks Springs, and resides there the greater part of the year. Dr. Moore was twice married, his first wife, formerly Mrs. Judge Dunlap, being now deceased. He was united in marriage to Mrs. Jane Harver, of Grand Island, his present wife, in 1877. Dr. Moore is a man of tireless energy, and socially one of the most companionable of gentlemen.

HON. H. P. EAKLE.

Henry P. Eakle is a native of Clay County, Tennessee, born December 6, 1832. In early life he worked as a tailor for a short time in Lawrence and Columbia Counties, of his native State. He availed himself with assiduity of every opportunity to acquire a good common-school education, and succeeded. He was engaged on a farm for three years before coming to California, reaching the State in 1857, journeying overland by the South Platte and Carson Valley route. His trip was not without its adventures. At Gravelly Ford, on the Humboldt, they were attacked by a band of Snake Indians, with whom they fought a desperate battle, lasting half a day. All his company were wounded except Eakle. The Indians lost four killed and many wounded. Like most of the emigrants of that period, he was only blessed with such of the world’s goods as his hands could earn. He was bred to habits of industry and self-reliance, and, on arriving in this State, he accepted with alacrity the first opportunity for employment. He worked as a laborer and as a farm hand on the ranches in Placer and Yolo Counties, made himself conversant with the various systems of agriculture and methods of stock-raising, and at the end of nine years of unremitting toil, he came to Colusa County, bringing with him his humble but hard-earned accumulations. In December, 1867, he located in Spring Valley, in Colusa County, and engaged in stock-raising and farming. He prospered beyond expectation, and is now one of the large land-holders of the county. His possessions consist of seventeen thousand acres in Colusa County, and two thousand acres in Lassen, Butte and Yolo Counties. His home is located two and one-half miles southeast of Williams. 

Mr. Eakle is a director of the Central Irrigation District, and has been for several terms one of the directors of the Cortina School District. He was nominated by the Democrats of the county for the Assembly in April, 1890, and was elected by a small majority over J. C. Campbell. 

Mr. Eakle was first married, October 20, 1865, to Miss Eliza F. Edrington, of Healdsburg, Sonoma County, she dying two years after their union. On November 26, 1871, he was again united in wedlock, to Mary E. Miller, of Freshwater, his present wife, by whom he had seven children, three of whom are living. 

Mr. Eakle is a quiet man, of unassuming character. Like most men who began at the lowest round of the ladder of life and achieve success, he does his own thinking, and has a mind of his own. He possesses a strong supply of nerve and willpower. One of his neighbors relates an incident of this characteristic of Mr. Eakle. He was, many years ago, driving some stock on one of his ranches when an unruly animal kicked him so violently on his right knee as to dislocate it. He was several miles from home or a physician; the pain was growing very intense, and he was now at a loss what to do. But he was equal to the emergency. He told his wife, who was with him, how to arrange some rails on a fence, under his supervision, and when this was done he inserted the swollen and painful limb therein, and coolly reset the disjointed leg by a powerful and sudden pull. After this he was able to walk home slowly and dispensed entirely with the services of a surgeon.

JOHN F. FOUTS.

Few men are better known throughout the county than this pioneer of the State, John F. Fouts. He was born in Preble County, Ohio, April 26, 1829. When he was ten years old, his family removed to Lee County, Iowa, where he lived seven years, moving, afterwards, to Davis County and Burlington, in the same State, at which latter place he resided till the spring of 1850, when he decided to come to this State. He set out on this long, and then adventurous journey, coming by way of the North Platte from Council Bluffs and Fort Hall, along the old Downieville road. He was over five months making the trip with ox-teams. He located in the town of Meridian, Sutter County, where he farmed and carried on a merchandise business till 1863. In 1860 he put in the first ferry-boat across Sycamore Slough, at Meridian, and was the chief instrument in laying out and building up that place, which promised to attain large proportions till a flood came along in 1867 and retarded its progress. In 1868 he built a steam saw-mill in the mountains, four miles south of Fouts Springs. These springs, whose reputation for healing waters is universally acknowledged, were located by Mr. Fouts in 1874, and opened to the public in June, 1874, when the hotel was completed and cabins ready for occupancy. Mr. Fouts still resides at the Springs, in the midst of most romantic scenery, and to our mind the most charming and delightful bit of landscape in the whole Coast Range. He was married, June 5, 1853, in Peoria County, Illinois, to Miss Elizabeth O’Neil, by whom he has had three children.                                                       

DR. R. B. DUNCAN.

R. B. Duncan was born in Shelby County, Kentucky, October 6, 1846. In October, 1851, his father removed to northwest Missouri, living in Daviess and Gentry Counties, where young Duncan worked on a farm in summer and attended such schools as a newly-settled backwoods country afforded, in winter. All the schools in this part of the State were interrupted during the war, as the entire social fabric was generally deranged at the time. After the war, he continued work on the farm till February, 1867, when he began teaching in Platte County, Missouri. He was engaged in teaching and going to school alternately for six years. He began the study of medicine in 1869, and, by dint of hard work and close economy, completed his medical course, graduating from the Missouri Medical College, March 4, 1873. His entire education, professional and literary, was the results of his own unassisted labors. In March, 1874, he was married to Miss S. E. Stone, of Platte County, Missouri, by whom he has had four children, none of whom are now living. He practiced his profession from March, 1873, to September, 1880, in Platte County, Missouri, when he removed to Orland, California, his present place of residence. Here he has lived and enjoyed a liberal practice in his profession for ten years, at the same time enjoying, with his amiable wife, the esteem and regard of his neighbors. In November, 1888, Dr. Duncan was elected Coroner and Administrator of the county. 

C. M. BALLANTINE.

Charles Mills Ballantine was born in Gloversville, New York, on December 7, 1843. In August, 1862, at the age of eighteen years, he enlisted in Company A, one hundred and fifty-third New York Infantry, and went to the front as a friend of the integrity of his country. He rose, by bravery and strict attention to duty, to the position of Sergeant Major. 

Mr. Ballantine was married, October 22, 1870, to Miss Jennie M. Rose. They came to California in 1877 and settled in San Francisco, where, for seven years, Mr. Ballantine was engaged as a book-keeper. He came to Colusa in March, 1884, and first served as book-keeper in the Colusa County Bank. Two years later he was promoted to the post of assistant cashier of that institution. For several years before his death he was secretary of the Colusa and Lake Railroad Company, and also of the Colusa Gas Company. For three consecutive terms he was Commander of General John F. Miller Post No. 110 of the Grand Army of the Republic. He died, at Colusa, November 11, 1890, and left a widow to mourn his loss. Mr. Ballantine’s demise was a loss, besides, to the community in which he lived. In church circles he was active and as unostentatious as he was sincere. In politics he was a leader of the Republican party in his county, and as a citizen he was upright, courteous, sympathetic towards distress, and in touch with everything conducive to the progress of the community. On the day of his funeral many of the places of business in Colusa were closed out of respect for his manly, elevated character.

RICHARD POIRIER

This gentlemen, who knows everyone in the county, and who is himself, perhaps, the best-known man in the Sacramento Valley, was born at Montreal, Canada, May 1, 1832. He lived on a farm till he was eight years of age, and in 1840 moved with his parents to St. Louis, Missouri, where he lived until the year 1856. He followed the calling of a clerk in various kinds of stores while residing in that city, and acquired a general idea of business, which served him in good stead in after life. The Golden West now wooed him and filled him with a longing to reach there and begin life for himself. For this purpose he started across the plains in 1856, by way of Salt Lake, reaching Sacramento City on September 14 of that year, where he soon opened a store on his own account. In 1860 he took charge of the commissary department of the steamer Sam Sole, and in 1863 he secured the eating department of this and other boats of the Sacramento. He continued in this business till 1884, and became so popular with the traveling public that it was but the natural result of his employment that he should engage in the hotel business. In 1882 he purchased the Colusa House, the oldest and leading hotel at the county seat. He then leased it until 1884, when he moved to Colusa and took charge of the hotel himself. 

Mr. Poirier was married, in San Francisco, in 1873, to Miss Alphonsa Laport, of Troy, New York, and is the father of three boys and one girl. Success did not overtake Mr. Poirier; he rather compelled it to come within his grasp, by his industry, urbanity and thorough knowledge of his business. These, with his experience and the State-wide number of his friends, have made him the model landlord.

JULIUS WEYAND.

Julius Weyand was born in the dukedom of Nassau, now a province in the German Empire, on the twenty-seventh day of May, 1826. His parents were John Philipp and Ernestine Weyand. His father was a merchant in the town of Braubach on the Rhine. He attended public school until ten years old, then entered a private school, and, in 1840, in connection with his studies of language and a commercial course, entered a mercantile house at Limburg, Nassau. From 1844 to 1848 he was book-keeper at Dillenburg and Limburg, being at this time a member and officer of the Turn Verein (an organization for physical and mental training of the young men). Nine days after dissolution of the historic parliament, on the fifteenth day of September, Julius Weyand boarded the American vessel Seth Sprague at Antwerp and arrived at New Orleans on November 23, 1848, and immediately continued on to Alton, Illinois, meeting his brother Theodore. In 1849 he went to Warsaw, Illinois, keeping a grocery store two years, and in 1851, upon the call of his mother, went by way of New York to the London first World’s Fair, then by Holland, to his mother in Germany. After settling up some of her business, he again returned to the United States by way of France, arriving at Warsaw, Illinois, on April 27, 1852, in company of a younger brother, Gustave, now of Arbuckle. Arriving in Illinois, another call from an older brother, Theodore Weyand, residing in Yolo County, California, who was sick at the time, caused Julius and Gustave to move again, and they came by way of the Nicaragua route, and on the steamer S. S. Lewis, to California, arriving at Sacramento on November 4, the night of the great fire. The next day they met their brother Theodore in Yolo County, Julius Weyand settled on a farm adjoining his brother Theodore, five miles north of Cacheville. In 1856 he removed to a farm in Colusa County, near the present Berlin Station. The crops of 1857 failed entirely, when he went to Downieville, mining at Gold Bluff with moderate success, returning to his farm in the fall, and again in 1858 failed in raising a crop. Then the Fraser River gold discoveries attracted him, and with pack-mules he visited these mines. He was interested in the copper mines of this county, and took a leading part in attempting to develop these properties. He next experimented with Angora goats, to use the brushy and rough mountain-sides of the Coast Range for pasture, and he has succeeded beyond his expectations, producing an excellent quality of fine, long and strong mohair. He takes a leading interest in politics, is a Republican, and has at various times been before the people as a candidate for county office on his party ticket. He has held the office of Justice of the Peace for twelve years and has been a notary public since 1867. He married Mrs. Mina d’Artenay, widow of A. d’Artenay deceased, nee Kraus, on September 22, 1867, and moved to Stony Creek. Mr. Weyard and wife have ten children in the family, Eugene, Lizzie, Thomas, Adolph, and John d’Artenay, and Marie, Ernest, Julius, Minnie; and Willie Weyand. The farm upon which he resided until recently, of about two thousand acres, located in township 17 north, range 6 west, between the forks of Big and Little Stony, is now transferred to Thomas and John d’Artenay. The farm at Berlin he sold several years ago. He lived with his family in Colusa.

JOHN F. KEERAN.

This gentleman is a native of the State of Tennessee, born July 20, 1831. He was raised on his father’s farm, where he was early inured to labor, and the duty of self-help, receiving during a portion of the year an opportunity for education in the common schools of his locality. He removed with his parents in 1839 to Cass County, Missouri, and passed the next ten years in doing farm work. In May, 1849, he set out for California by the overland route, and on arriving in the State, followed the life of a miner, with its ups and downs and varying fortunes, but on the whole, with little success, till 1860. In that year he went to Vacaville, Solano County, and remained there some time. He came to Colusa County in 1876, locating on his present place, three miles from Willows, where he cultivates six hundred and forty acres of land. 

His sound judgment and business qualifications have so commended him to the people of the community that in 1874 he was chosen Supervisor for the Fourth District, and afterwards twice re-elected, and which position he still holds. During his incumbency of this office he has served two years as chairman of the Board. 

Mr. Keeran was married, at Vacaville, in November, 1863, to Miss Rachel Stark, by whom he has five children, three sons and two daughters.

R. B. MURDOCH.

Robert B. Murdoch was born at Florence, Alabama, October 30, 1862. In youth the public school and Florence Normal College afforded him educational facilities. In 1880 he came to California and engaged as a clerk in San Francisco, and some months afterward he came to Colusa County. He paid a visit to his old home in Alabama, in 1881 and on his return took employment at Willows in the merchandise house of J. A. Patton & Co., as book-keeper. Next he accepted a deputy clerkship in the county clerk’s office. Resigning this place, he was engaged for four years as book-keeper of the large Glenn estate. When the Bank of Orland was incorporated, in March 1887, Mr. Murdoch was appointed its first cashier, which position he still occupies. 

Mr. Murdoch was married July 10, 1889, to Miss America Hall, daughter of A. L. Hall, residing near Orland, his first wife, nee Miss Maggie Davis, having died, leaving him a son aged five years. 

Mr. Murdoch has a pleasant and comfortable home at Orland, and has begun the cultivation of a prune orchard of thirty acres near that town, which he irrigates with water from Stony Creek. He is a stockholder in the Bank of Orland, and intimately associated with every interest and movement for the advancement of his community.

C. R. WICKES.

This gentleman is a native of Albany, New York, and has followed the railroad business for a quarter of a century, in various capacities of trust and responsibility. He is now the railroad agent at Willows. He first came to the coast in 1857, and resided at Reno, Nevada, for some time before coming to Willows, in 1881, and has been station agent ever since that time, first at Maxwell and afterwards at Willows. Mr. Wickes, as a citizen, is closely identified with the progress of his town. He is a strong advocate of county division, and thinks that with an increased area of horticultural cultivation, the new county would be one of the richest in the State.

F. G. CRAWFORD.

Fredrick Gustavus Crawford was born in Tompkins County, New York, October 28, 1831. The first fourteen years of his life were spent in his native State, when he moved with his parents to Illinois, where he received a common-school education. In 1852 he set out with an ox-team for California, coming via Salt Lake and Carson City, arriving at Placerville August 1. He engaged in mining for one week, panning out $1.08 and paid out $36 for board. He concluded that mining was not his “strong suit,” and he turned his attention to teaming to and from the mines. In 1854 he engaged in the hotel business, to which occupation he has proved himself so adapted, opening the Pleasant Grove House, near Sacramento. From that time to 1868 he kept the hotel, raised stock and did teaming. In 1868 he took a contract from the city of Sacramento to filling in low places in that place. In the fall of that year, after completing his contract, he went to Davisville and built the first house at that place, it being a hotel, and conducted the hotel business therein for twelve years. October 28, 1880, he moved to Colusa County and rented the old Willows Hotel, which was destroyed by fire May 30, 1882. On the ruins, after purchasing the lots, he built the Crawford House, at an expense of $18,500, which is one of the best-appointed hotels in Northern California. He was married to Miss Mary L. Foster, in El Dorado County, November 20, 1860, and is the father of three children, two daughters and one son. 

Mr. Crawford’s first vote was cast for Millard Fillmore; he supported Douglas for President, and has ever since been a member of the Democratic party. Colonel Crawford, as he is termed by his admiring friends, takes a great interest in fine horses, of which he has five thoroughbred trotters, and is President of the Willows Agricultural Association. He has the interest of Willows at heart and is not backward in aiding its advancement. 

JAMES A. SHELTON.

Mr. Shelton is a native of Adams County, Ohio, born December 9, 1833. He lived in Adams and Brown Counties till the age of thirteen, when he went to Des Moines, Iowa, where he labored on a farm and attended school when it was possible, in that then new country. In 1850 he crossed the plains by way of Sublett’s Cut-off, and reached Sacramento City in the following August. He thought there was untold wealth for him in the mines, and hence followed that pursuit in Jackson County for one year, with fair success. He tried the stock business for nearly eight years and prospered. Mr. Shelton came to Newville, in Colusa County, in 1859, and settled there permanently, turning his attention to the breeding and training of fast-blooded horses, in which he acquired reputation for judgment and skill. Five years later he engaged in farming on an extensive scale and still continues to conduct that industry. In 1880 he engaged in merchandising at Paskenta, carrying it on for four years. Mr. Shelton has made life a success, and is entitled to the contentment and comforts which make his hospitable home a model of domestic happiness. He was married, June 28, 1860, to Miss Jennie James, and is the father of four children, all of whom are living.

WILLIAM N. HERD.

On November 10, 1859, William N. Herd came to Colusa County, and went to work at whatsoever his hands found to do that was honorable, in order to earn his daily bread. His honest toil, and close application to his work, earned him more than his daily bread, and three years later he purchased a farm on the east side of the river, near Colusa. In 1870 his neighbors brought this quiet, unassuming, industrious man forward for County Assessor, and he was elected upon the Democratic ticket to that office, serving for six years. William N. Herd is a native of Kentucky, born September 25, 1834. He spent the first nineteen years of his life on his father’s farm. In 1854 he made his way to California, following mining at Placerville, with poor success, up to the time he came to this county. In 1885 he was appointed Supervisor to fill the vacancy caused by the death of C. Kopf, and in 1888 was elected to the same office. He is the father of two sons and three daughters, and he lives happily at his home in Colusa, while he farms his land near Maxwell. He is popular as a Supervisor and is esteemed as a citizen.

E. T. CRANE.

Ellis Tarleton Crane was born at Santa Rosa, California, May 17, 1854, and educated at the Pacific Methodist College of the same place. He began teaching a district school in Sonoma County in 1871, and three years later entered the public school at Santa Rosa, where he taught during eight years. In 1882 he came to Colusa and was appointed principal of the Webster High School. Tiring of the duties of the school-room, he, in 1884, formed a partnership with J. B. DeJarnatt in the abstract and real-estate business, in which he continued for five years. In 1889 Mr. Crane entered the office of Richard Bayne to prepare himself for the practice of the law and is now pursuing his studies there. Mr. Crane has served for six years as a member of the Board of Education of Colusa County. 

Mr. Crane was married, October 8, 1879, to Miss Josephine A. Bagley, who died March 22, 1890, leaving him two daughters.

C. E. GRUNSKY.

Mr. Grunsky is a native son, born at Stockton, April 4, 1855. He is a son of Charles Grunsky, a pioneer of 1849. Young Grunsky spent his early life in Stockton attending the schools of that place, and was graduated from the Stockton High School in 1870. In 1871 he assumed the position of principal of the South School at Stockton. In 1872 Mr. Grunsky went to Europe to continue his studies and after a severe course of study was graduated from the engineering department of the renowned Polytechnic school at Stuttgart, Germany, in the year 1877. Returning to California in December of the same year, he was employed by the State Engineer in gathering data and making estimates relative to irrigation and drainage. From 1882 to 1888 Mr. Grunsky was engaged as chief assistant in the State Engineer’s Department at Sacramento. Since that time he has pursued his profession in various projects requiring the most practical skill. Early in 1888 Mr. Grunsky was employed as chief engineer of the Central Irrigation Canal in Colusa County, which position he still holds. He also made surveys for the Colusa, Kraft and Orland South Side Irrigation Districts. In July, 1889, his ability was signally complimented in making him a member of the Examining Committee on Rivers and Harbors. 

Mr. Grunsky was married, in 1884, to Miss Mattie K. Powers, by whom he has three children. 

JOHN G. BENDER.

John Good Bender was born at Lancaster, Pennsylvania, November 6, 1827. He received a common-school education such as those times afforded, and when yet a young man set out in the world to make his way. He spent two years in Rock Island, Illinois, and in March, 1853, he started across the plains for California, arriving at Marysville August 15, 1853. He took up his residence at Marysville, where he followed his trade of contractor and builder for twenty-three years. In 1876 he moved to the Logan farm, southwest of Willows, remaining until 1882, when he moved to Orland, opening a lumber yard. Mr. Bender is a progressive business man, a leading Republican, and a respected citizen. He is a widower and is the father of three daughters and two sons.

J. W. CRUTCHER.

James Wilson Crutcher, of Williams, was born in Montgomery County, Missouri, in 1842. He was raised on a farm and received a good common-school education. He came to California in 1863, crossing the plains with an ox-team, by way of Salt Lake. His first employment in the State was as superintendent of a toll-road in Placer County, for Major Jefferson Wilcoxson, where he resided several years. Desirous of fitting himself thoroughly for a business career, for which his subsequent success had proved him to be eminently adapted, he went to San Francisco and took a complete course in a business college. In the session of the Legislature 1869-70 Mr. Crutcher was employed in the Engrossing Clerk’s Department. 

Major James Glenn next employed him, in 1870, to keep books for him in Oregon. He continued in this work for four years when he came to Colusa County as book-keeper for Dr. Glenn. It was during his residence here at Jacinto that he married Miss Anna Houchins. Their family circle is graced with four boys and two girls. In 1876 he came to Williams and opened business for himself. Two years later, he associated A. B. Manor in the same business, moving into their own building, a handsome brick block, a cut of which is given elsewhere. Here he still remains, prospering and popular. 

Mr. Crutcher was the first Justice of the Peace elected at Williams and has held a notarial commission since 1875. Hr. Crutcher’s quiet, courteous demeanor, together with the confidence which his integrity and business talents inspire, have caused him to be respected and esteemed wherever he is known. He is one of the solid as well as one of the most useful citizens of Williams.

CAPTAIN WILLIAM ASH.

William Ash was born in Devonshire, England, in 1826. He comes of several generations of Devonshire farmers. He was the youngest of fifteen children, and passed his infancy and youth in his native place acquiring such educational training as the local schools supplied. He worked on the paternal acres and also acquired a serviceable knowledge of the carpenter’s trade by the time he had reached his eighteenth year. He left England in 1843 and alone and unaided began the struggle of life, first in Philadelphia, where he found employment at his trade. He worked subsequently in Augusta, Georgia, and at other places on the Atlantic seaboard. In 1852 the gold fever lured Mr. Ash and landed him in San Francisco with just two dollars in his pocket. He journeyed to Mendocino County, worked there in a saw-mill and saved his money, a neat sum, and now when he felt that he had sufficient capital to engage in business on his own account, the bank which held his deposits failed and he found himself penniless again. He found work at his trade in Marysville and was a building contractor there till 1859, when he went into the teaming business on an extensive scale, carrying on operations through Northern California, Idaho and Oregon. He and his party were in the Northwest during the Indian outbreak in that region. The difficulty of securing supplies on the Northwestern frontier was fraught with danger, and to Mr. Ash belongs the credit of having made the pioneer trip from Nevada into Idaho. 

The railroad having been completed across the continent, Mr. Ash turned from the freighting business to become a farmer. He came to Colusa County in the spring of 1869, and, having a large drove of stock, he engaged to farm a piece of land for another party. In 1870 he rented two thousand acres of land and planted part of it to grain. His crop was a failure and as all of his available means were sunk in the undertaking, his plight was not a desirable one. Undismayed, he secured financial assistance, put in another crop and from that time can date the beginning of a prosperous career as a farmer. 

Mr. Ash owns three thousand six hundred and eighty-five acres of land, but farms over five thousand acres, over one-half of which is planted in grain. At his home place he resides in a handsome residence, surrounded by magnificent shade trees, where, in the bosom of a happy family, he dispenses unstinted hospitality. He is the father of three children living. 

In politics Mr. Ash is a pronounced Republican, and is frequently called upon by his party to permit the use of his name on its ticket. On him seems to rest the honor of leading a forlorn hope in a county so almost hopelessly Democratic, but Mr. Ash accepts the task as a duty, and in every campaign, though defeated, the returns show the preference and high esteem entertained for him all over the county by his friends and neighbors. As a political opponent of his once remarked, “If Captain Ash were only a Democrat, there would not be ten votes in the county cast against him.” 

DR. W. A. SEHORN.

William A. Sehorn, a resident of Willows, is a native of old Virginia, born September 1, 1855. At the age of seventeen years he chose dentistry as his profession and went to Knoxville, Tennessee, to take a course of study therein. In December, 1875, he came to California to practice his profession. For a time he lived in Red Bluff, but later moved to Colusa County. In 1886 he took up his residence in Willows. In May, 1889, he leased the Willows Journal, which paper he conducted in addition to his professional work, editing it in an able manner, until September 1, 1890. He enjoys domestic life in his comfortable residence, on the outskirts of Willows, with his accomplished wife, to whom he was married February 1, 1881, at Oroville. He has one son. Dr. Sehorn takes an active interest in politics, is a Democrat, and holds an appointment as Deputy Sheriff. He is one of the positive men in the assertion of a principle, in championing a cause, or in his adherence to friends, and is personally most companionable.                                                   

C. C. FELTS.

Columbus C. Felts was born in Georgia, January 16, 1837, and at the age of six years moved with his parents to Mississippi, where he lived until 1853, when his father decided to once more move westward, to California. Accordingly, with the father, mother and five younger brothers and sisters, young Felts turned his steps toward the Pacific Coast. In Missouri the father died, and shortly after his death the mother died, when the care of the orphaned children devolved upon the eldest brother of Columbus. After remaining in Missouri a year after the death of their parents, the young emigrants proceeded on their way to California, shortly after which the elder brother died, when young Columbus piloted his brothers and sisters on, arriving in Colusa County in 1855, taking up their residence on Grand Island. Here young Felts remained for seventeen years, working for wages and farming for his self. In 1872 he moved to his present home five miles northwest of Maxwell, where he has a farm of three hundred and thirty acres. In 1878 Mr. Felts married Miss Emma Hodgen, and is the father of two sons and two daughters. In politics Mr. Felts in a Democrat, and was chosen in 1884 by his party for Supervisor, which position he filled four years. In 1888 he was elected County Treasurer. He took a prominent part in the formation of the Central Irrigation District, and was a director of that district in 1889-90. Mr. Felts takes an especial interest in his twenty-acre vineyard of wine grapes, which he set out in 1883, and reset the following year. There is not a missing vine in the entire vineyard. The leading variety of grape planted is the Zinfandel. He makes annually about six hundred gallons of claret wine, which some of the best judges in the State have examined and pronounced of superior quality. His vineyard the past two years has each year produced over one hundred tons of grapes. What grapes he does not use in making wine are dried and sold to dealers. The profit from this little vineyard during the year 1890, after all expenses were paid, was $1,320. Mr. Felts keeps well posted on the topics of the day, and is an enterprising, progressive citizen.

J. B. DE JARNATT.

Mr. De Jarnatt is a native of Kentucky, born in the year 1846. When he was but seven years of age, his parents removed with him to Savannah, Andrew County, Missouri, where his father carried on a mercantile business, in which he continued till 1863, and during which time young De Jarnatt received the principal part of his education. 

In company with his father’s family, he removed in 1863 to Denver, Colorado, and in the spring of the following year they set out in search of a place for a permanent home, traveling through a portion of Montana, and after a protracted wandering they located in Yambill County, Oregon, where the elder De Jarnatt leased a farm, his son, J. B., securing a position as clerk and book-keeper in a store in Lafayette, in the same county. The family remained in Oregon till the spring of 1866, when they set out for Colusa County. Arriving at Colusa on June 5, Mr. J. B. De Jarnatt immediately secured employment in the office of Jackson Hart, then County Clerk, with whom he remained nearly four years. 

In 1870, Mr. De Jarnatt was associated in San Francisco with W. S. Green, in the real-estate business, and, in connection therewith, in the conduct of a newspaper called Green’s Land Paper. After spending nearly a year fruitlessly in this enterprise, he returned to Colusa County, and in March, 1872, again went to work in the Clerk’s office under the administration of G. G. Crandall, with whom he remained two years. In 1874 he made the first map of Colusa County under contract with the Board of Supervisors. It was subsequently approved and declared the official map of the county. He next served as book-keeper for Jackson Hart, until his election, in 1877, to the office of County Clerk, in which position he served two terms. His courteous demeanor, his peculiar qualifications for the discharge of official duties, coupled with an unquestioned probity of character rendered him extremely popular. Mr. De Jarnatt was married in April, 1868, to Miss M. A. Green, a native of Missouri, though a resident of Colusa County since her fifth year, by whom he has several children. Mr. De Jarnatt is a strong advocate of irrigation and of having large tracts of land cut up into small farms and sold, thus inviting immigrants of the best class and making it a county of prosperous homes. In 1883 he blazed the trail and shoed the way which others have since followed in planting an orchard and cultivating it with care. Brentwood Farm, which belongs to Mr. De Jarnatt, is located over a mile northwest of Colusa. It consists of two hundred acres, of which seventy are planted in grapes and fruit. It is as tidy and thrifty an orchard and vineyard as can be found in the State, and on this pleasant spot Mr. De Jarnatt has built a handsome residence.

H. W. C. NELSON.

Hubbard William Clabourn Nelson was born in the State of Tennessee, on August 15, 1830. His father was a practicing physician, and after receiving an education in the school of the neighborhood, the subject of his sketch decided to follow in the footsteps of his father, and entered upon the study of medicine with a view to making the healing art his profession in life. He had made small progress in his studies when the news of the discovery of gold in California decided the elder Mr. Nelson to become one of the great army of adventurous Argonauts to cross the plains to the new Golconda in search of fame and fortune. H. W. C. Nelson joined a party of which his father was a member, and which left the city of Memphis, Tennessee, on March 17, 1849, taking the Santa Fe trail. The company arrived at Sacramento on September 18 of the same year. Dr. Nelson opened a hospital at Sacramento, but young Nelson went to the mines on the American River, and followed that pursuit with varying success for four years. In 1853 he moved to Yuba County and invested his hard-earned money in a farm of one hundred and sixty acres. In the following year he engaged in freighting between Sacramento and Marysville. In the fall of 1857 Mr. Nelson came to Colusa County, settling on Stony Creek. He entered into partnership with Thomas McClanahan and engaged in stock-raising and wheat-growing. This partnership lasted until 1877, since which time Mr. Nelson has farmed several hundred acres of land which he owns. In 1887 he was instrumental in organizing the Bank of Orland, of which corporation he is a director and vice-president. He lived three miles east of Orland on his large farm, and enjoys himself in looking after his extensive interests.

DR. L. P. TOOLEY

This gentleman was born in Glasgow, Howard County, Missouri, December 15, 1848. He was brought up on a farm under the care of his grandfather and continued to follow farming till the year 1861. The war between the States had no sooner begun than young Tooley, though only thirteen years of age, enlisted in the Confederate service under General Price and served over three years as private. After the war he went to Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, and enlisted in the United States, and, having been sent to the frontier, was doing duty in fighting Indians, where he remained two years. 

He began the study of medicine in 1866, and in March, 1869, graduated from the St. Louis Medical College. 

In 1872 Dr. Tooley came to Colusa County and practiced his profession with success at the county seat for a period of seven years. In 1879 he came to Willows, where he now resides and formed a partnership in the practice of medicine with Dr. W. C. Baylor, of that place, which partnership still exists. He was elected Coroner in 1874, and continued to hold that office for eight years. He is now a member of the Board of Health at Willows. 

Dr. Tooley was married to Miss M. Herndon, a Missouri lady, by whom he has three children.

EDWIN SWINFORD

Edwin Swinford was born in Platte County, Missouri, August 20, 1855. He is a son of William C. Swinford, a native of Kentucky. When young Swinford was six years of age, his parents moved to Santa Clara County, this State. In 1871 he came with his parents to Colusa, where he has since resided. Edwin received a good common-school education and then entered the Pacific Methodist College at Santa Rosa. In 1877, one year before completing his college course, he left school and entered the office of Ex-Attorney-General A. L. Hart, where he took up the study of law. The following year he entered the Hastings Law School, and in December, 1879, was admitted to practice before the Supreme Court of this State. He began practice in Colusa, and in 1882 was elected District Attorney of Colusa County, and in 1884 was re-elected. In 1890 he was again a candidate for the office and was elected by a large majority. Both as a defending or prosecuting attorney, Mr. Swinford enjoys the reputation of being vigorous and effective.                                                

WILLIAM A. DURHAM

William Anderson Durham is a native of Green County, Kentucky, born February 18, 1839. When he was only three years of age, his family removed with him to Platte County, Missouri. His early life was passed here on a farm, where young Durham received such an education as the times afforded. He began farming for himself in 1860, and shortly afterwards, in 1861, he was united in marriage to Miss Emily J. Bell. On May 10, 1865, accompanied by his family, he started across the plains bound for Oregon by way of Soda Springs and Boise City. He located at Corvallis, in that State, where he lived for three years. Mr. Durham then came to Colusa County, locating on Freshwater, seven miles west of Williams. His father having preceded him to Colusa County, the subject of this sketch secured a farm adjoining. In 1874 he moved to his place northwest of Willows, which he later on disposed of. Mr. Durham has several times been called on by the people of the county to serve them in official capacities. He was elected Supervisor in 1884, in 1886 was elected County Assessor and in 1890 was re-elected to the same office, always on the Democratic ticket. He is a pleasant, accommodating gentleman and popular officer. 

Mr. Durham makes his home on his farm, some three miles southwest of Maxwell, where, with his family, consisting of his wife, three sons and four daughters, he finds relief from monotonous abstractions of long columns of figures on acres of paper covered with property valuations.

F. X. ST. LOUIS.

Francis Xavier St. Louis is a native of St. Charles County, Missouri, born December 3, 1849. At the age of three years his parents crossed the plains for California, located at Cacheville, in Yolo County. Young St. Louis spent his boyhood upon his father’s farm, and was afforded an education at the district school. In 1876 he was married to Miss Wilhelmine Lalonde, and settled down happily to a farmer’s life in Yolo County. In April, 1884, he moved to Colusa County, where he was enabled, by reason of cheap lands, to secure a home of his own. He purchased land six miles southwest of Willows, where he still lives, in contentment and plenty, with his wife and five children. He was among the first on the plains to engage in fruit-growing and has several acres of orchard and vineyard, which pay him a handsome return each year. Upon the organization of the Central Irrigation District, he was elected a director and has held the position ever since, taking an active interest in pushing forward to completion the district works.

PERRY HANNUM.

Perry Hannum was born near Nashville, Tennessee, in 1836. He is of German, or rather of Pennsylvania German, extraction. His father being a farmer, young Hannum’s early life was passed in the same calling. He was married in 1857, and, owning to the ill health of his wife and the depressed condition of affairs in Tennessee, he came to California in 1869, accompanied by his family. Shortly after arriving in San Francisco, he went to Yolo County, where he had a brother residing. After one year spent in that locality, he came to Colusa County, and, by making a small payment down, he bought four hundred acres of land from the railroad company, which transaction marked the commencement of his prosperity. He afterwards bought range land and bands of sheep and hogs, and was now on the highway to financial success. His landed interests now include over five thousand acres of foot-hill land west of Arbuckle, all fenced in, nine hundred and sixty acres of grand land east of College City and a half section south of that town. In addition to these Mr. Hannum has for the past seventeen years rented and farmed the Reddington tract, of three thousand two hundred and forty acres, near Arbuckle. He resides in College City and conducts a livery stable, hotel and meat market there, besides owning a grocery store in Arbuckle. 

Mr. Hannum’s family consists of his wife and eight children, six girls and two boys. He is at present serving his third term as Supervisor, having been first elected in 1884.

J. O. ZUMWALT.

Joseph O. Zumwalt was born in Well County, Illinois, March 10, 1835. He arrived in California when only fourteen years old, having come with his father across the plains. His first occupation was in the mines, at which he continued till the spring of 1853, when he returned to Illinois for the purpose of bringing out stock to California. He had succeeded fairly well and was now enabled to go into the stock-raising business, which he followed for nearly five years in Solano County. He again returned to the States in 1859 and came back with one hundred and fifty stands of bees, being about the first bees brought to this coast. Mr. Zumwalt now followed farming in Solano County till the year 1870, when he moved to Colusa County. Here he rented what is now his present home, one mile south of Williams, purchasing it two years later. At the home place he farms over five hundred acres. Besides, he is largely interested in horticulture, having a vineyard of twenty acres and an orchard of seven acres in a high state of productiveness. Mr. Zumwalt also owns two thousand and three acres of land on Stony Creek.

In 1888 he was elected Supervisor for the Third District. Although a Republican in a strong Democratic locality, he defeated the Democratic nominee for that office.

Mr. Zumwalt was married, at Sacramento, November 5, 1860, to Miss Mary Murphy, his family circle consisting of four sons and six daughters.

J. H. POPE.

John Henry Pope was born in Baltimore, Maryland, on November 5, 1835. At five years of age he was left an orphan, and was then taken by an aunt to her home near Washington City and cared for, being sent to school till he had reached his eighteenth year. In 1853 he went to Missouri and Kansas and obtained employment as a clerk at several points in these States. In 1858 he set out, driving a team, across the plains by way of Salt Lake, and after wintering in that city, he started early in the following spring for California. He reached Colusa County in 1859 and has ever since made his home there. On arriving here he clerked in stores at Princeton, Jacinto and Colusa. When W. N. Herd assumed the office of Assessor, Mr. Pope was appointed Chief Deputy, a position which he has ever since held, except during the two years when he served as Under-sheriff by appointment of Sheriff Arnold. Mr. Pope’s much appreciated competency in county affairs is universally acknowledged, and this, coupled with a genuine spirit of accommodation in discharging his duties, has made him an invaluable public officer. He is also secretary of the Colusa Canning, Packing and Drying Company. 

He was married, at Jacinto, in 1865, to Miss Elvira King, and has one son, Arthur by name. Mr. Pope has a nice home at the county seat and a twenty-acre or chard one mile west of the town, planted in apricots, Bartlett pears and French prunes.                                                       

T. C. McVAY.

Thomas C. McVay is a native of Cape Girardeau County, Missouri. His father dying in 1838, placed the responsibility of providing for his mother and seven children upon young Thomas. In 1849 he was residing in Dallas County, Missouri when he set out for California across the plains by way of Sublett’s Cut-off. The journey occupied five months. He engaged in mining on his arrival in this State, meeting with moderate success in the camps around Nevada City and Grass Valley, until the year 1853, when he returned to Missouri. There he purchased six hundred head of cattle and drove them across the plains disposing of them in Colusa County. In 1856 he went East on a similar errand, and bought and sold another band of cattle in Colusa County. These journeys were attended with great difficulties on acount of Indian depredations. 

In 1863 Mr. McVay was married to Mrs. A. M. Nelson, by whom he has four children. Mr. McVay’s farm is located on the east side of the river nearly opposite Princeton and embraces some three hundred acres.

A. A. JACKSON.

A. A. Jackson is a native of the Pine Tree State, born December 27, 1842. He spent his early life on this father’s farm, and secured a common-school education. In September, 1863, he came to California via Panama. After spending one year on a ranch, he went to Puget Sound and worked in a sawmill. In 1865, he engaged in mining, following that pursuit in Montana and Nevada. In 1873 he came to Colusa and purchased an interest in a lumber yard with W. D. Dean, and the business was run under the firm name of W. D. Dean & Co. Two years later the firm purchased the lumber yard at Princeton, which was conducted under the name of A. A. Jackson. In 1879 the Colusa Lumber Company was incorporated, with yards at Colusa, Princeton, Williams and Willows, when Mr. Jackson moved to Willows, where he has ever since resided. In 1888 he engaged in the lumber business at Modesto under the firm name of A. A. Jackson & Co. Mr. Jackson is a leading Republican of the county, takes an absorbing interest in public affairs, and is always forward in aiding enterprises for public good.

W. H. KELLEY

Noteworthy among the active business men of the county and that class of politicians who take a deep interest in party and public affairs for the sake of promoting its basal principles and not in a selfish scheming for office, is W. H. Kelley. He was born in Ralls County, Missouri, December 8, 1851, and is the oldest son of Hon. John M. Kelley, of Yolo County. His father having decided to leave Missouri and found another home, the family commenced the long and at times perilous journey across the plains in 1859 with California as the objective point. On the journey, young Kelley, though but eight years old, made his first acquaintance with real work, being engaged in driving his father’s cattle all the way from the Missouri River to the Pacific. The Kelley family, shortly after arriving in the State, settled in Yolo County, where “Buck” as he is familiarly called, attended the public school for a while, afterwards completing his education at the Jesuit College, Santa Clara. Attaining his majority about this time, he came to Colusa County, engaging in various occupations, such as farming conducting a livery stable, journalism and the real estate and insurance business. In May, 1885, in conjunction with K. E. Kelley, he purchased the Willows Journal and during the co-partnership of these two bright, active, and aggressive gentlemen, the Journal came to the front and was much appreciated and quoted by its exchanges. Mr. Kelley again resumed the editorship of the Journal on September 1, 1890, which paper, besides issuing a weekly paper of eight pages, is one of the newsiest dailies in the Sacramento Valley. He takes great interest in politics, being one of the most indefatigable workers in the Democratic ranks and an acknowledged leader therein. He served as secretary of the Democratic County Central Committee from 1888 to 1890. “Buck” lays no claim of belonging to that rather numerous and unhappy class of local statesmen who seek to control communities for all the glory and pelf there is in it. An honorable, public-spirited man, when his locality or party are to be benefited, he does the work of any two men and pays for the pleasure of doing it out of his own means. This is all the glory or recompense he seeks. 

C. H. MERRILL.

Mr. Merrill has resided in Colusa County twenty years. He is a native of Illinois, and has followed the business of harness making, in connection with his brother. Their harness business is second to none in the county in the amount of stock carried and in the extent of the trade conducted. The building in which this business is carried on belongs to the firm, and is one of the many fine business edifices of Willows. Mr. Merrill is a zealous advocate of irrigation, and foresees wonderful advancement in the material progress of this section of the county. 

WALLER CALMES.

Since the fall of 1854 Waller Calmes has been a prominent resident of this county. At that time he located on Grand Island, and engaged in the cattle business, which industry he followed for sixteen years. Most of that time he purchased cattle in other parts of the State and drove them to Colusa to prepare them for the market. He was born in Kentucky, June 9, 1831 and came to California in 1852. In September, 1859, he was married to Miss Lizzie Cooper, daughter of Major Stephen Cooper. He has living two sons and two daughters, and has lost two sons and one daughter, after they had grown to manhood and womanhood. He lives in Colusa, but has a farm of fourteen hundred acres a mile south of town. He is a staunch Democrat, and served his county as Supervisor from 1884 to 1886.

P. HAGAN.

This gentleman was born in Ireland in 1844, and came to New York in 1862, residing on Long Island seven years. In 1869, he came to California and engaged in forming in our interior of the State. He is now located on his farm of four hundred and eighty acres, five miles northwest of the town of Maxwell, where he is engaged in raising grain and hogs. As Mr. Hagan is an ardent supporter of irrigation measures, being also one of the directors of the Central Irrigation District, he is necessarily impressed with the possibilities of the county in the way of fruit-raising. His own efforts in that direction in cultivating oranges, grapes, pears, apricots, peaches and other fruit, have taught him practically what can be done. Mr. Hagan was married, in 1867, in New York, to Miss Maria Kane, and has nine children.

JOHN W. HARTFORD.

John William Hartford was born August 10, 1848, in New Cumberland, Hancock County, Virginia. His father, James Hartford, was the proprietor of a large flouring-mill at this place. In 1854 he moved with his parents to Vermont, Illinois, where he received the benefits of a common-school education. When only sixteen years of age, he enlisted in the one hundred and thirty-seventh regiment Illinois Volunteers, and at the expiration of his term of service, he went to the frontier of Kansas and engaged in the cattle business. Mr. Hartford came to California in 1875, first located in Stanislaus County, and in 1880 moved to Colusa County and settled down as farmer, four miles southeast of Orland. Here he has prospered in the production of grain, and is one of the substantial men of his locality. He has made two visits to his old home in Illinois. Mr. Hartford is a staunch Democrat, and takes an earnest interest in local public affairs. 

HUGH A. LOGAN.

Hugh A. Logan, or Uncle Hugh, as he is generally termed by his hose of friends, by his kindness of heart, impulsive hospitality and social disposition, is representative of those natural traits of character which distinguished the early pioneers of this State, of whom he is one. He was born in Montgomery County, Missouri, September 6, 1830, and was among the early permanent settlers of the county, He secured a large body of fine land laying on the eastern slope of the foot-hills, nearly west of Norman, where he has ever since raised stock and farmed on an extensive scale. Uncle Hugh is never backward in helping the needy, is strong in his friendships and forgiving to his enemies. 

WILLIAM M. HOOD.

Is a native of Pickaway County, Ohio, born January 18, 1833. He moved to DeWitt County in 1840, and lived there on a farm till the spring of 1854, when he set out for California, driving an ox-team across the plains. He was engaged in mining on the Feather River, in Butte County, till 1856. In the following year Mr. Hood made a trip to Oregon, taking with him a band of horses, and returning to California with a herd of cattle. He located in the southern part of Tehama County, north of Orland, in 1858, where he engaged in the stock business. In 1860 he came to Colusa County and went to grain farming. He is at the present time engaged in farming northwest of Orland. Mr. Hood was married in 1863, and is the father of five children, four of whom are living.

A. B. MANOR.

Alexander Bonaparte Manor is a native of Lucas County, Ohio, born December 24, 1824. His parents were French Canadians. He was brought up on a farm and worked thereon till his twenty-fourth year. He then set out for California with an ox-team, crossing the plans via Salt Lake and Truckee, reaching Grass Valley in the summer of 1849. After tempting fortune in the mines unsuccessfully for two years, he turned his young energies to teaming, at which he was employed for four years. In 1855 he moved to San Francisco, where he resided until 1869, being engaged in conducting a feed store on his own account. Mr. Manor next moved to Yolo County, near Cacheville, where he farmed for eleven years. In 1872, disposing of his place here, he removed with his family to his present place of abode, on Freshwater, though he had located three thousand one hundred acres of land there two years before coming to reside thereon. He has since added to his landed possessions so that he now owns four thousand one hundred and sixty-four acres. 

In 1869 Mr. Manor was married to Mrs. Martha Rice, of Yolo County, daughter of Matthew Smith, of Spencersburg, Pike County, Missouri, by whom he has had three children, four other children of the household being his step-children.

WILLIAM C. MURDOCH.

Among the many energetic, skilled business men of the county, few have more sensibly left the impress of their means and wise counsels thereon than the subject of this biography. William C. Murdoch is a native of Tuscumbia, Alabama, having been born there in 1852. He was educated at Poughkeepsie, New York, and came to California in 1874. His first occupation in Colusa County was as book-keeper for J. S. Wall & Co., of Princeton. In the summer of 1877 he removed to Willows and opened a banking and commission office there under the firm name of William C. Murdoch & Co. He continued in this till September, 1880, when his business was merged into that of the Bank of Willows. In the new organization he was made cashier, serving in that capacity nearly nine years, when he resigned and disposed of his interest therein to the present stockholders. Since then he has made his home in San Francisco, being chiefly engaged in the insurance business. In connection with others he built the Sanhedrien Lumber Mill located forty miles west of Willows in the Coast Range Mountains. The paid-up capital of the Sanhedrien Mill and Lumber Company is $250,000.00. This mill has a capacity for cutting fifty thousand feet of lumber per day. The company will construct fourteen miles of flume, to the mouth of the Grindstone, thereby to connect with the West Side and Mendocino Railroad. Of this company Mr. Murdoch is treasurer and principal stockholder. In 1877, when matters looked decidedly “blue” for the aspiring but indomitable town of Willows, Mr. Murdoch purchased eight lots south of the bank in that town and erected two-story buildings thereon, thus aiding in giving the place a new impetus. East Willows was laid out by Mr. Murdoch. In 1884, he procured the incorporation of the warehouses at Willows into what is now the Willows Warehouse Association. The residence built by Mr. Murdoch at Willows is unsurpassed in the county for beauty of architectural design and tastefulness of finish. It is now the property of S. C. Longmier. 

Mr. Murdoch was married January, 2, 1881, to Miss Nannie Wilson, of Sutter County, a niece of the late Dr. Glenn. One child is the fruit of their union. He was a charter member of the first Masonic lodge instituted at Willows and one of the incorporators of the Willows Agricultural Association. Ill health, the result of sedentary occupations, caused Mr. Murdoch to leave this scene of so much business, push and thrifty diligence, very much to the regret of the community.                                                            

DR. A. W. KIMBALL.

This accomplished and studious physician is a resident of Williams. He was born at Marysville, California, on April 28, 1858. Pursuing a course of studies in that city, he graduated in 1879 from the Marysville High School. After preparing himself by several years of arduous study in his chosen profession, that of medicine, he received his diploma in 1883 from the medical department of the University of New York, and in the following year the same honor was conferred on him by the Kentucky School of Medicine, established at Louisville, Kentucky. For some time after his admission to practice, Dr. Kimball was located in Oakland, California, but in 1884 he came to Williams, where he has since resided, and by his skill and its conscientious application he has established a fine practice. Both socially and professionally Dr. Kimball can truthfully call every man in the community his friend.

G. S. HEMSTREET.

George Sanford Hemstreet was born on his father’s farm, in Colusa County, six miles south of Princeton. In 1866, his father having purchased one thousand six hundred and thirty acres of land, one mile north of Princeton, and moved his family, George was sent to attend the Princeton district school. He afterwards was a student of Woodman’s Academy, at Chicago, graduating there at the age of seventeen years. He supplemented this with a one year’s course at the Placerville Academy. He now returned home and assisted in the management of his father’s farm till that gentleman’s death, which occurred in December, 1876. He aided his mother in directing the work of the farm till her death, which took place March 20, 1887, when the whole care of the place fell to him, and on which he still resides. Mr. Hemstreet was married, December, 1886, to Miss De Pue, of Sacramento, by whom he has one son, Elmo Leland, to aid in brightening an attractive and comfortable home.                                                            

W. T. BEVILLE.

William Thomas Beville was born at Wytheville, Wythe County, Virginia, August 18, 1844. When the rebellion broke out, he was attending school, yet he volunteered in Company K., Eighth Virginia Regiment, and served in the Confederate service till the surrender of Lee. He came to Colusa County in November, 1868, and served as Deputy County Clerk. He was appointed Under-sheriff in March, 1870, by J. B. Stanton, and continued in that position four years, when he was again appointed Under-sheriff, by J. L. Howard, and remained with him till the expiration of his term of office, two years later. He was elected County Assessor in 1875, for the term of four years. After filling this responsible position to the satisfaction of all, he was appointed in 1880, Under-sheriff, by J. M. Steele, and afterwards served four years as Under-sheriff of Maberry Davis. In 1886 he was elected Sheriff, and re-elected to the same office two years later.  

In 1872 he was married to Miss Lutie Williams, a native of Missouri, by whom he is the father of three children, one son and two daughters. Aside from his comfortable Colusa residence, he is the owner of an apricot and peach orchard of twenty acres, one mile west from Colusa.

P. H. GRAHAM.

This gentleman was born in Missouri, April 25, 1857. He was raised on a farm till he reached his eighteenth year. At an early age he went with his parents to Oregon and came to California in 1866, locating at Grimes, Colusa County. He attended school at Santa Rosa, and graduated in a business course from a commercial college in San Francisco, when he came to Williams. At this place he served for a time in the post-office and express office, when he entered the employ of Crutcher & Manor, where he is now engaged. Mr. Graham was elected Collector of Central Irrigation District in 1888, and re-elected in the spring of 1890. He was married, in 1877, to Miss Fannie Glover, and is the father of one boy and one girl. 

B. H. BURTON.

Mr. Burton is a native of Aurora, Indiana, born in 1857. When a year old he was brought to Illinois, residing there till 1874, when he came to Colusa, to begin life as a business man. His first employment in the county was found in M. Nickelsburger’s general merchandise store, at Colusa, where he remained one year, when, in July, 1876, he entered the Colusa County Bank as assistant bookkeeper, steadily passing through the various grades of promotion until appointed assistant casher. He held this position till he was elected cashier of the Bank of Willows, which place he still retains, gracing it with his courtesy and strengthening it with his business sagacity. Mr. Burton was married, in April, 1889, to Miss Annie Tarleton, of Martinsville, Indiana, by whom he has one child.                                                     

B. C. EPPERSON.

Brutus Clay Epperson is a native of Estell County, Kentucky, born October 27, 1830. When quite young, he lived in Bourbon County, Kentucky, for a short time, when the family moved to Coles County, Illinois, and settled almost ten miles east of Charleston, the county seat. On the lst of February, 1852, Mr. Epperson, accompanied by his brother, C. C. Epperson, sailed in the ship Prometheus, of the Vanderbilt line, via Nicaragua for California. On the Pacific side he took the steamer North America for San Francisco, but the vessel was wrecked some eighty miles below Acapulco. After encountering many privations and deaths among the passengers, caused by a malignant fever which then raged in and around Acapulco, relief came after two months of weary waiting, and Mr. Epperson was soon aboard the clipper Northern Light, bound for San Francisco. Arriving in the State, he set to work at various occupations, such as laboring, working on a ranch, or in the mines, or keeping a hotel in Yuba County between Marysville and Foster Bar. He was also interested in hauling freight to the mines from Marysville. Between 1856 and 1859 he was engaged in the cattle trade, when he returned home to Illinois. Shortly after his return, he was united in marriage to Miss Lucretia Lawson, by whom he has a family of four children.  

On April 1, 1864, Mr. Epperson, accompanied by his family, set out again for California by the overland route. He took with him a drove of brood mares, jacks and jennets, which afterwards did much in improving the stock of the county. On September 16, 1864, his party arrived at South Buttes, Sutter County, California, where Mr. Epperson’s brother resided. He remained here engaged in farming and stock-raising till the fall of 1868, when he bought a stock ranch in Bear Valley, Colusa County, where he now resides. He was largely instrumental in the formation of the Bartlett Springs and Bear Valley Toll-road Company, of which he is now the chief owner. He also built a road across the central part of Bear Valley, leading to the towns now on the railroad. It is known as the Epperson grade and was made free to all.

HENRY S. McMICHAEL.

This gentleman’s home is “Oak Park,” in Antelope Valley, about fourteen miles from Williams. He was born in Walton County, Georgia, in 1830. He moved with his father to Benton County, Alabama, when a mere infant. At the age of seventeen he began learning the cabinet-making trade, at Jacksonville, in the same county, and in a couple of years afterwards purchased an interest in the business of his employer.  

He set out March 10, 1850, to cross the plains to the Golden State with an ox-wagon, and arrived in Downieville, California, on the following July 29. He mined in that vicinity a few months, and located a ranch on Yuba River, in Sutter County, putting in five acres of potatoes. He set out again for the mines and never saw his ranch afterwards. He mined with excellent success in Nevada City, Red Dog, French Corral, Cherokee and Badger Hill, being the first to locate a claim in the latter camp. Mr. McMichael came to Colusa County in 1868, and purchased his present home place, in Antelope Valley, where he owns one thousand seven hundred and sixty acres of superior land. Besides growing grain and raising stock, he is deeply interested in the success of horticulture and grape production. Adjoining his large and comfortable residence is an extensive orchard and vineyard, the finest in the valley, which produces a most toothsome variety of pears, plums, apricots, applies and peaches. Mr. McMichael is justly proud of this, and predicts magnificent results from fruit culture in this section. He is as ardent a promoter of orchard and vineyard industries as he is a firm Democrat, to which party’s State convention, held at San Jose in 1882, he was a delegate  

Mr. McMichael was united in marriage, in North San Juan, in 1862, to Miss Amanda Winne, who was a native of New York State, by whom he has two children living, Lelia and Mabel.

J. GROVER.

Johnson Grover is a native of the State of Maine, born in 1838. He left his home when nineteen years of age, and secured a position in a mercantile house at Boston, Massachusetts. Here he remained five years, when he started for California, August 14, 1861, going there around the Horn, arriving in San Francisco February 6, 1862, after a voyage of one hundred and eight-six days. He remained in San Francisco a few weeks and tarried at Petaluma the same length of time, when he went to Humboldt County, Nevada, and was engaged there in mining for eighteen months. He next entered the hardware business in Sonoma County, California, having his brother for a partner, remaining here until 1872. Selling out here, he came to Colusa and opened out in the same business, where he has ever since conducted a prosperous business. At one time he conducted a branch store in the hardware line at Willows, under the supervision of his brother. Mr. Grover was married, in 1868, to Miss Nannie Robinson, and is the father of an interesting family.

PALLAS LOVE.

Pallas Love was born in Montgomery County, Missouri, September 28, 1853. At the age of ten years he crossed the plains for California. He worked on a farm on Grand Island until 1878, when he located in Colusa, and has since been engaged in the liquor business. He is a staunch Democrat and takes an active interest in politics.

LEONARD B. AYER.

Leonard B. Ayer is a native of Arlington, Massachusetts, where he was born March 30, 1835. His education was obtained in the common schools of his native place. At an early age he entered a merchandise establishment, and became an efficient salesman and accountant. In 1856, after having engaged in business for himself, he was obliged to seek rural recreation for his health, which had almost broken down under close application to business. Hence he wended his way westward to the prairies of Illinois, where he engaged farming near Weatherfield. Three years later, his health having been restored by the hearty exercise of farm life, the plain living of those days, and the fresh, bracing air of that climate, he started across the plains, with four companions, for California, arriving at Marysville in October, 1859. He engaged in merchandising in Marysville until 1862, when he purchased an interest in the Marysville Appeal, becoming its business manager. In April, 1865, without solicitation on his part, he was appointed Register of the United States Land Office at that place, which position he held until the fall of 1875. Upon retiring from his official position, he engaged the practice of land law, and in 1880 came to Colusa County to engage in farming in Antelope Valley. In 1888 he sold his farm and moved to Maxwell. He is interested in the development of Colusa County, and is engaged in superintending the planting and cultivation of a large orchard near the railroad station of Delevan. One hundred and sixty acres of fruit-trees and vines have already been planted, and it is proposed to plant four hundred and eight acres in addition thereunto. Mr. Ayer is a prominent Republican and takes a leading interest in local and national politics. He is a pleasant, far-seeing gentleman, well posted on the topics of the day.

JAMES F. EASTON.

This gentleman, residing on his farm, three miles east of Smithville, was born in Alabama in the year 1844. When very young he was taken to Illinois by his parents and lived there, engaged in farming, till 1870, when he set out for California, coming first to Colusa County. In 1882 he purchased the farm where he now lives, consisting of two hundred and forty acres, and has ever since been occupied with it in raising grain, stock and fruit. He is a warm advocate of fruit cultivation and the handsome orchard which stands back of his dwelling shows that he knows what character of fruits is best adapted to the soil and climate here. In the cultivation of alfalfa he exhibited a long stretch, which produces three crops a year without irrigation.                                                          

STEPHEN ADDINGTON.

This gentleman, who was intimately associated with journalism in its early days in the county, was born at Orange, New Jersey, November 23, 1828. He spent his boyhood in Fishkill, New York, where he learned the trade of printer in the office of his father, who for half a century had been one of the leading publishers of that State. Stephen Addington worked here till 1855, when he started for California via the Nicaragua route. He almost at once took his place in journalism, buying out the California Express, published at Marysville, which he conducted for fourteen years. In 1870 he went to Colusa and became associated with W. S. Green and his brother, John C. Addington, in the publication of the Colusa Sun. He always took an active part in politics, was a firm Democrat and served on the Democratic Central Committee of the county. He continued in his newspaper work at Colusa till the summer of 1886, going to San Francisco, where he now resides. Mr. Addington was married, November 24, 1872, to Miss Lizzie Hart, of Colusa.                                                         

JACOB BIELER.

This pleasant and well-to-do farmer of Antelope Valley is a native of Switzerland. He came to the United States in 1855, locating at Superior, Michigan, where he remained until 1857. He next came to San Francisco and shortly afterwards set out for Stockton, where he found employment on a ranch, fifteen miles from that place. After remaining here in this employment for one year, he essayed mining in Tuolumne County but with indifferent success. Mr. Bieler was married, in 1860, to Miss Margaret, daughter of Bernard Schmidt, of Cherokee, Nevada, and is the father of six children: Mary, Sophia, Julia, Jacob, Josephine and Frank B.

Mr. Bieler came to Colusa County in 1869 and located on his ranch, of two hundred and forty acres, in the vicinity of Sites. This land is in a perfect state of cultivation. He also works three hundred acres of leased land, planted to grain, besides being engaged somewhat in stock-raising.

FRANCIS J. LUHRMAN.

This gentleman was born in the Province of Hanover, Germany, February 18, 1833. He enjoyed the opportunities for acquiring the rudiments of an education, and before reaching his manhood had learned the trade of blacksmithing. He left Germany in 1853 and arrived at New Orleans. After drifting about for some time in various shops, learning the language and studying the American methods used in his trade, he located, in 1855, in Fort Madison, Iowa. In 1859 the Pike’s Peak excitement created an enthusiasm for finding sudden wealth only exceeded by that of the early explorations for gold in California, and Luhrman being seized with the gold fever set out for Colorado. On the way there he changed his mind and came to California. On arriving, he went to the mines at Dutch Flat and worked there five months. Tiring of this pursuit, he came to Marysville, opened a blacksmith shop and worked there five years. In 1865 he came to the town of Colusa and worked at his trade one year. He next purchased three hundred and twenty acres on Freshwater, five miles west of Williams, selling it out a year afterwards and returning to his forge at Colusa, where he made his home from 1869 to 1875. In the latter year he moved on his present place of residence, having purchased one hundred and sixty acres of land. Besides raising grain and hay, Mr. Luhrman in an enthusiastic fruit cultivator, and his large orchard is noted in the county for the excellence of its variety of fruits.  

Mr. Luhrman was married, May 1, 1866, to Mrs. Wilhelmina Wallschmidt, by whom he has two children, who have received their majority.

TILDEN JONES.

Is a native of Chickasaw County, Iowa, and born there December 19, 1856. He received an education in the public schools of his county and was employed on a farm till he reached this State. He came to Williams in 1876. For a time he worked on a ranch, familiarizing himself with California ways, and then entered the saddlery and harness business, conducting it successfully for two years. In 1885 Mr. Jones saw a good opening in the livery stable business in the same town of Williams, and embarked therein, carrying it on with profit to the present time. Associated with him is A. J. Smith. They conduct the largest business in their line in this part of the county. They also own the tri-weekly line of stages from Williams to Wilbur Springs. 

WILLIAM FLINN.

This gentleman is a native of Georgetown, Indiana, and was born October 16, 1833. He lived in his native place some six years, when his family moved to the Big Miami Reservation, where he remained till 1849. In that year he crossed the plains, accompanying his father’s family. While en route the cholera broke out on the Big Blue, depriving him of his mother and brother, leaving his father with a family of eleven children. After many vicissitudes of travels, he reached the Sacramento River at Lassen in October of the same year, where they built a boat of oak timber and floated down the river. This was the first boat ever floated by white men down the Sacramento. He next turned up in the mines at Long’s Bar, where he continued with varying success till the fall of 1852, when he located four miles above Colusa with a band of sheep. In the summer of 1853 he again started to try his luck in the mines, working there till 1855, when he returned to Colusa. In 1862 he went to the State of Nevada, where he was appointed Deputy Sheriff of Washoe County, under T. A. Reed. On returning to Colusa County he located a ranch in Bear Valley, and, after disposing of this, he brought the Webb ranch, on Stony Creek. While there he was elected Roadmaster and Constable. On leaving Stony Creek he came to Williams, where he now resides. He has served as Constable in this place. He has a host of friends, who would make strenuous efforts to elect him Sheriff of the county if he would permit himself to enter the race. William Flinn was married, in 1868, to Miss Lizzie Marble.                                                             

HANS JOHANNSEN.

This gentleman is a native of Holstein, Germany, and was born in the year 1850. He came to America in 1869, and shortly after his arrival located in San Joaquin County, California, where he followed farming for several years. In 1870 he came to his present abode, twelve miles west of Williams, and having secured six hundred and forty acres of good land, he made it his permanent home. Besides cultivating grain extensively and raising stock, Mr. Johannsen wisely foresees that the fruit industry of his rich lands must in the near future be a source of great wealth, and hence he has already set out nearly two hundred fruit-trees, and will continue to enlarge their area of cultivation. Mr. Johannsen was married, at Willows, in 1880, to Miss Mattie Bender, who whom he has three children. The home of Mr. Johannsen is a model of neatness and comfort, and the evidences of intelligence, of interest in books, literature and music, found here are indicative of the refinement of his home circle.                                                             

I. V. DEVENPECK.

This prosperous and much-respected citizen of Willows was born in Montgomery County, New York, in 1830. He came to California in 1852, remained five years and then returned to the East. He came to Colusa County in 1875, locating near Willows when that town was a broad wheat-field, and has made it his home ever since. He owns a large ranch of ten hundred and seventy acres, two and a half miles northwest of Willows, which yields him a handsome income from the production of grain and the raising of stock. His residence at Willows is among the largest and most comfortable of the many elegant homes of that place. Mr. Devenpeck, surrounded by this family of four children, can pass the evening of his active life here in happiness and contentment.

W. FRANK MILLER.

This gentleman was born in Kentucky, in 1848. He came across the plains with his parents when but a year old, and has resided in Colusa County ever since. In 1873 he entered the general merchandise business on his own account, at Butte, and has continued in the same occupation ever since. He is also the postmaster and express agent of that place. Mr. Miller is married, and is the father of six children.

JOHN D. ROSENBERGER.

This gentleman, one of the most extensive farmers in Antelope Valley, was born in Augusta County, Virginia, March 17, 1834. He was raised on a farm, and in 1859 he went to Montgomery City, Missouri and purchased a farm near that place. On April 2, 1865, he left Montgomery City for California, overland, arriving at Fosters Gap, foot of the Cascade Mountains, in September following. He lived for one year three miles west of Corvallis, Oregon, and another year on Long Farm, Benton County, Oregon, coming to his present home, in Antelope Valley, nine miles from Maxwell on October 1, 1867.

Mr. Rosenberger was married, September 4, 1860 to Miss Tabitha Devine, a native of Missouri, by whom he has six children. His farm on which he resides embraces nearly fifteen hundred acres of land and is devoted to grain and stock-raising.

P. R. GARNETT.

Peter R. Garnett is a native of Ralls County, Missouri, born in the year 1841. His father was a farmer and stock-raiser, and young Garnett was brought up to the same pursuit. In 1868 he left his Missouri home for California, going by way of New York and Panama to San Francisco. He engaged in stock-raising in Solano County, in 1869, and continued here till 1873, when he came to Colusa County and began grain farming on his place three miles southeast of Willows, where he owns two thousand two hundred and fifty acres of superior land. He leases, besides, one thousand three hundred and fifty acres, all of which is cultivated.

Mr. Garnett is married and has a family of three children. He is well-informed and useful citizen, and is Chairman of the Democratic County Central Committee.

T. SULLIVAN.

Timothy Sullivan is a native of Ireland, born in 1840. He came to America in 1860, sojourning for a year in Toronto, Canada. He next went to LaPorte, Indiana, where he remained for eight years, coming to California in 1868. On arriving at Colusa he hired out for one month in the livery stable of Patterson & Rust, but worked there sixteen years. In 1883 he entered the livery stable business for himself, but met with a reverse in the destruction of his stables fire, in the fall of 1886. But “Tim,” as he is usually called, had friends and a fine run of custom, and averse to leaving these, he immediately started in to rebuild a large fire-proof stable, and has continued therein ever since.

Mr. Sullivan was married to Miss B. Coily, and is the father of seven children.                                                        

B. H. PETERS.

Bernard H. Peters is a native of Schleswig, Germany, and born January 16, 1838. He emigrated from home and arrived in New York City in 1852, where he remained six years, learning the blacksmith trade and working at it after he had completed his apprenticeship. In 1859 he started for California, coming round the Horn in the Polynesia, a Boston clipper ship. Before coming to reside permanently in Colusa County in the spring of 1874, he had worked at his trade in San Francisco, Sacramento, Auburn, and other places, where his skill as a mechanic caused his work to be in much demand. On coming to Williams he was employed by Captain William Ashe on his ranch as a blacksmith. During this period he returned to visit the home and scenes of his childhood in Germany, and shortly after his return he opened up in the blacksmithing business for himself, at Williams, which he has ever since continued to conduct.

 Mr. Peters was married to Miss Lina Kurtzstien, on September 18, 1878, by whom he has had five children, one of whom is dead.

Among the benevolent orders Mr. Peters is highly esteemed, and has several times been the recipient of their respect. He is a member of the Masonic Fraternity, also of the I. O. U. W. He is a Past Grand of the Odd Fellows and was a delegate to the Grand Lodge in 1875.

N. P. HARRISON.

Nathaniel P. Harrison was born in Rockingham County, Virginia, December 31, 1831. He was sent to the public school of his locality, and early in life began learning the carpenter’s trade. In 1853 he went to Tippecanoe County, Indiana, where he resided for twelve years. He came to Marysville, California, in 1865, and to the town of Colusa in 1867, where he was engaged as a contractor and builder. He began making his permanent abode at Williams in 1882, where he always secured contracts in the erection of the largest buildings in the place. Prominent among these are Stovall’s large warehouse, Fouch’s drug store building, and Crutcher & Manor’s building. Mr. Harrison is a distant relative of President Harrison. He is a prominent member of the Odd Fellow’ organization, and about as vigorous and robust in personal appearance as even Virginia can produce or California preserve from looking old.

WILLIAM G. HENNECKE.

This prosperous farmer resides ten miles south of Smithville. He was born in Oldenburg, Germany, in 1843, and there received a good common-school education, as well as instruction in instrumental music, for which he had early exhibited a cultivated taste. Mr. Hennecke came to America in 1857, locating at Cincinnati, Ohio, where, becoming proficient in music, he was employed in a band. Almost at the beginning of the war, Mr. Hennecke showed his devotion to the land of his adoption by enlisting, in 1862, in the Second Artillery, United States Army, where he served three years, receiving an honorable discharge. In 1882 he located in his present home in Colusa County, where he cultivates and raises stock on one thousand five hundred and eighty acres of choice land. The cultivation of fruit shows how profitable that industry can be made on these rich, rolling lands. Mr. Hennecke is married and the father of five children.

N. K. SPECT.

N. K. Spect was born in San Francisco, February 15, 1855. He is the son of Jonas Spect, who was among the earliest pioneers of the State. His early boyhood was spent in Sutter County, moving to Colusa in 1872. He received excellent educational advantages, having attended school at Circleville, Ohio, Lincoln Grammar School, of San Francisco, and the State University, in which latter place he completed his education. Returning to Colusa, he entered the store of J. Furth, where he remained six years, when he opened a grocery store under the firm name of Spect & Nathan. He conducted this business for two years, when he began operating in the grain commission business both at Colusa and Chico. In 1886 he came to Orland to engage in the real-estate business, where he now lives, and where he has made a number of large sales of property.                                                          

FREDRICK MUNSON.

Among the sturdy farmers of Colusa County who have made fortunes in the growing of wheat is Fredrick Munson, a native of Germany, born in 1847. He came to the United States in 1865, landing at New York. Shortly after, he shipped as a sailor on a vessel bound for San Francisco via Cape Horn. In 1869 he settled on Grand Island and engaged in farming. In 1889, having laid by a competency, he rented his farm, of four hundred and eighty acres, and moved to Colusa. After he had become permanently located and was making more than a good living he sent to Germany for his sweetheart, who came to this country, where they were married, in 1873.

JOHN SITES.

This gentleman is a native of Hesse, Germany, and was born October 4, 1832. He came to America in 1834, accompanying his father, Henry Sites, and located in St. Charles County, Missouri, where he assisted his father on the farm, and hired out among the neighbors. On April 16, 1850, he left Missouri with a Mr. Fisher, on his way to California, he having previously agreed that in consideration of Fisher’s bringing him to this State, he would work for him nine months after his arrival. They arrived at Placerville on August 4. Having worked for Mr. Fisher as agreed, he began working on his account at Downieville, but being taken ill of typhoid fever, he was obliged to relinquish employment. He next went to Cache Creek, in Yolo County, and took up one hundred and sixty acres adjoining his old friend Fisher. In 1853 he sold this place, bought some cattle, and after a year or more was enabled to go in company with Fisher and buy cattle on a large scale. These were brought to Antelope Valley, Colusa County. He continued in the cattle business till 1858, when he purchased his present home place, adding to it occasionally. His farm embraces nearly six thousand acres of land on the county road west of Stony Creek Valley, twenty-three miles northwest of the county seat, and on the place is located the village of Sites, the present terminus of the Colusa and Lake Railroad.

Mr. Sites was married to Miss Laura E. Aycoke, of Colusa County, on October 3, 1867. The ceremony was performed by Major Stephen Cooper, then a justice of the peace. Two children were born to them, John Henry and Martha L. Sites.

JOSEPH BILLIOU.

Joseph Billiou resides near St. John, some thirty-seven miles north of Colusa. He was born in St. Louis Missouri, Missouri, in 1839, and was engaged in farming in that State until 1856, when he came to California. After arriving at San Francisco he was not long in looking about him, but came up the Sacramento Valley, and immediately found work on the Capay Grant, owned by Richard J. Walsh. And he has remained there ever since, and now owns a portion of the same grant on which he labored thirty-four years ago. He is estimated to be worth $150,000. His career shows what industry, and adherence to a settled purpose in life, may accomplish. It is an object lesson for every young man in the State.  

In 1864 he married Miss Julia Stack, a native of Ireland, by whom he had four children. A terrible disaster overwhelmed the happy domestic circle of Mr Billou on April 6 1887, in the killing of his wife by a Chinese cook in his employ, named Hong Di. [The particulars of this atrocious murder are given on page 230 .]

C. D. RADCLIFFE.

Charles Daniel Radcliffe is a native of Bureau County, Illinois, born in the year 1866. He commenced work as "printer's devil" in 1880, and, after learning the trade, worked for four years as type-setter and reporter on various newspapers in Ohio, Illinois, Iowa, and Omaha, Nebraska. In 1887 he came to Colusa, and purchased a half interest in the Herald, of that place, and in the following year became its sole owner. The Herald is a pronounced Republican journal and a forcible advocate of home interests, and though published in a county which annually rolls up not less than nine hundred Democratic majority, the Herald is nevertheless appreciated and well supported. Mr. Radcliffe was married, in December, 1887, to Miss Frances Martin.

S. H. CALLEN.

Seymour H. Callen, founder of the Williams Farmer, was born in State Centre, Marshall County, Iowa, March 20, 1866. He learned the printing trade in some of the best newspaper offices of New Mexico, and came to California May 1, 1884, arriving in Sacramento. During the campaign of 1886, he was associated with A. H. Stephens in the publication of the Cloverdale Sentinel, a Democratic weekly, which was afterwards disposed of to G. B. Baer, of the Cloverdale Reveille. After this he was employed in the State printing office, and as compositor on the San Francisco Chronicle and Sacramento Bee. Mr. Callen issued the initial number of the Williams Farmer August 18,1887, and has made that journal an active agent in the promotion of the local interests of Williams. On July 1, 1890, G. W. Gay became associated with him in the publication of the Farmer.

Mr. Callen was married, September 12, 1887, to Miss Carrie Bell, of Cloverdale, by whom he is the father of one child.

JOHN G. OVERSHINER.

Mr. Overshiner is a native of Galena, Illinois, born July 26, 185o. When little more than a year old he was brought by his mother to Sacramento, where his father rejoined his family, having come to the coast some time previously. In 1857 the family removed to Yolo County, where young Overshiner lived in several localities for a short .time, notably at Cottonwood, Washington, and Woodland, attending the public schools till he was fifteen years old, and Hesperian College for four years later. After finishing his studies, he was actively employed as clerk in the San Diego poSt-office, teaching in the public school at National City under a first-grade certificate, and was also a member of the San Diego County Board of School Examiners. From 1872 to 1878 he found employment in San Benito County and in San Jose, Fresno and San Francisco as clerk or book-keeper, when he applied himself to the printer's trade in San Jose. He afterwards worked on the Democrat at Woodland, and was a partner in the establishment of the first daily paper issued at Santa Cruz. This venture proving unsuccessful, he worked for a time as compositor on the San Diego and Los Angeles papers, when, in July, 1882, in conjunction with E. E. Vincent, he founded the Calico Print, at Calico, San Bernardino County, and continued the publication of the paper till the fall of 1887. He now struck San Diego again, this time with a job office and an advertising sheet, but as it was now in the closing days of its seductive " boom," his prospects vanished almost immediately after his arrival there. He came again to the Sacramento Valley and began the publication of the Maxwell Mercury, July 14, i888, where he is now conducting this journal, advocating with zeal and effectiveness the importance of irrigation and other local interests.

S. HOUCHINS.

Samuel Houchins is a native of Mercer County, Kentucky, born January 14, 1827. His father died when Samuel was twelve years old, leaving a widow and eleven children. Samuel being the oldest, upon him to a great extent devolved their maintenance. He labored on the farm nine months of the year and attended the local school the remaining three months. In 1844 he entered Bacon College, at Harrodsburg, Kentucky, and remained in that institution four years. On leaving college he entered regularly the profession of teaching, in which profession he has mainly continued ever since. In 1849 he married Miss Belinda Burks, a native of Kentucky, and in the following year he removed to Monroe County, Missouri, locating near Paris, the county seat. He came to Colusa County in 1872, meeting here many of his friends whom he had known in Kentucky and Missouri.

He was elected superintendent of schools in 1875, holding that office by re-election till 1883. He also served from 1876 to 1878 as principal of the Primary Department of Pierce Christian College, and in 1888 was elected auditor of Colusa County, and re-elected in 189o.

JAMES WILLIAMS.

This gentleman, who resides on a comfortable farm three miles southeast of Elk Creek, was born in England in 1824. After coming to America, he resided for a number of years in Indiana. In 1854 he arrived in California, where he went to work in the mines at Rough and Ready, Nevada County. In 1857 he located at old Bridgeport, in Colusa County, and moved to his present place of abode in 1871, where he farms one hundred and sixty acres of productive land. Mr. Williams is also one of the many who predicts that fruit will yet supplant grain in a large measure, and is satisfied that the land in his vicinity is unequaled in this county for this new industry. Mr. Williams was married in 1871, and four children are the fruits of the union.

JOSHUA C. SMITH.

This gentleman is a native of Michigan, and was born March 29, 1843. After receiving a good common-school educa- tion, he learned the trade of blacksmithing, and worked at it for many years. He came to Carson City, Nevada, in 1865, and served in the employ of the telegraph company, and also in the quartz-mills around that place. In 1866-67 he worked at his trade in Dixon, Cal. He left there and came to Williams in the fall of 1871, and worked for a time at his trade, when he moved to Ashton, on Stony Creek, at that time the center of a great copper-mining excitement. Here he secured' four hundred and eighty acres of land, and farmed it for nine years, at the same time conducting a blacksmithing business. He was also afterwards employed in the same handicraft at Leesville, and at Williams. Mr. Smith was married, in the spring of 1871, to Miss Barbara G. Leek, of Ralls County, Missouri, by whom he had five children, of whom three are still living. Mr. Smith has served two terms as school trustee of the Ashton district and six years as road-master. He now resides at Williams,

ABRAHAM BEERMAN.

This gentleman, who was for many years most prominent in mercantile affairs in the northern part of the county, was born in Northern Germany, November 25, 1842. Here he received the benefits of a good common-school education, and was employed as clerk in his father's store till he had reached his twenty-second year. Then he left home to begin life on his own account. Crossing the Atlantic, he went to Connecticut, and resided in various parts of the nutmeg State for three years, engaged in selling goods. An opportunity presenting itself for employment in Atlanta, Georgia, he removed there, and was engaged as clerk in a mercantile house for three years.

Mr. Beerman arrived in San Francisco in 1868, and shortly afterwards engaged himself as clerk in the store of M. M. Feder, at Elk Creek, in Colusa County. After six months spent in this employ, he and Sol. Davidson opened a general store in the old town of Olimpo, northwest of the present town of Orland. At the end of the first year, he purchased the interest of Mr. Davidson in their joint business, which he continued until the spring of 1888, having in the meantime moved his store to Orland just after the railroad had reached that town. Alive to the necessity of a banking institution in this place, he was one of the original movers in the organization of the Bank of Orland, which was incorporated in March, 1887, and of which he was chosen president.

In 1888 Mr. Beerman disposed of his store business in Orland, and moved to San Francisco, where, in financial comfort and surrounded with domestic blessings, he can take life in unvexed retirement, and see to the education of his children. Mr. Beerman was married, October 1o, 1875, to Miss Rachael Davidson, by whom he has four children, Charles, Wilfred, Irene, and Edith.

W. T. TROXEL.

This thrifty farmer and pioneer of the State, who resides nearly five miles southeast of Elk Creek, was born in Illinois in the year 1834. He received a common education and spent the early years of his life on a farm. He reached California in 1854 and was engaged in teaming for some time in Placer County. In 1870 he arrived in Colusa County and was occupied in farming near Willows till 1886, when he removed to his present farm, of two hundred and five acres, which he cultivates with industry and success. Mr. Troxel was married in 1867 to Miss Eliza Johnson, of Solano County, and has a family of seven children.

W. C. HENRY.

William C. Henry, who resides one mile south of Arbuckle, is a native of Canada and was born March 4, 1838. When only three months old, he was brought by his parents to Iowa and afterwards to Savannah, Andrew County, Missouri, where he attended school. He was only sixteen years old when he crossed the plains to this State, arriving at and locating for a short time at Cold Grove Point, in Sutter County. After working nearly a year for George Howell, at Howell's Point, he turned his attention to mining, working at various intervals at New Castle, Placer County, at Long Bar, in Plumas County, and at quartz mining on Jennison Creek in Plumas County. In 1864 he went under engagement to work in the mines at a considerable distance back of Mazatlan, Mexico, where fortune seemed to insist upon his remaining, but owing to the disturbed condition of that country, being then in the throes of the Franco- Mexican War, he only remained six months and then returned to Colusa County. Here, in March, 1867, he took up three hundred and twenty acres of land, where, as a busy, intelligent -farmer, he has been living ever since.

Mr. Henry was married, November 27, 1884, to Mrs. May Miller, who has borne him two children. Mr. Henry is a popular man, full of energy and the spirit of progress. His name has been suggested by many of the leading citizens of the county for the office of Sheriff. He ranks high as an Odd Fellow and is the guiding spirit of the lodge of that order at Arbuckle.

P. F. DOLAN.

Peter Francis Dolan is a native of Ireland, born in August, 1839, and passed his early days on his father's farm. He landed in the United States at Boston, on June 6, 1853. He here served an apprenticeship of one year at the shoemaking trade and was next employed for four years in a manufacturing establishment at Lynn, Massachusetts. He had now served nearly six years in industrious pursuits, and, having laid by the little store of his earnings, he sought a younger and less crowded field for his ambitions. In the fall of 1859 he started for California via Panama, arriving in San Francisco October 16 of the same year. On his arrival he engaged in farming in Sacramento County, with which he occupied himself for nearly three years. In February, 1862, he worked in the mines for a brief period and afterwards resided for a few months in San Francisco.

In 1867 he came to Colusa County, purchasing, in company with the late Captain Dwyer, his present home of six hundred and twenty-three acres, located two miles south of Colusa, on the west bank of the Sacramento River.

Mr. Dolan was married, February 20, 1878, to Miss Sullivan at Vallejo, by whom he had four sons and two girls. Mr. Dolan takes a lively interest in fruit-growing, in which industry he is an-long the pioneers of the county. In grain-raising and dairying he devotes most of his time and is eminently successful therein. His home is one of comfort and ease and Mr. Dolan is highly respected by his neighbors. Mr. Dolan is a firm adherent of the Democratic party and was chosen a delegate in the summer of 1890 to the State Democratic Convention, which met at San Jose.

MILTON S. FRENCH.

This prosperous and unpretentious gentleman is a native of Calloway County, Missouri. He was brought up on a farm and came to California in 185o. He engaged in mining on his arrival in the State and pursued that occupation for six years. In the spring of 1858 he moved to Colusa County, locating thirteen miles northwest of Willows, where he owns a ranch comprising a territory of twelve thousand acres. He engaged in farming and sheep-raising and was eminently successful. He remembers that on his arrival here there was one stretch of wild oats waist high. No birds or rabbits were to be seen, while between his place and Princeton there was but one house, if a box set up on the plains could be so designated. Mr. French is foremost in the business enterprises of his locality, is president of the Willows Water and Light Company, and vice-president of the Bank of Willows. He is married and is the father of three children.

C. B. WHITING,

Charles Boyer Whiting was born in Portage City, Wisconsin, February 22, 1852, and is the only son of Captain Samuel Whiting, a man of recognized literary ability and political distinction. When young Whiting was six months old, his parents moved to Winona, Minnesota, and in 1861 his father was appointed United States Consul to Nassau, Bahama Islands, when the family moved to that place. Aside from limited advantages of attending the public school, young Whiting received instruction from his parents. At the age of sixteen years he entered the office of the Cleveland, Ohio, Leader, and served a four-years apprenticeship at the printer's trade. In May, 1874, he received an appointment in the United States Signal Service, which position he held ten years, being stationed at Washington, District of Columbia; Logansport, Indiana; Burlington, Iowa; and San Francisco. Upon his retirement from government service, he entered the office of the Colusa Sun as foreman, which position he still holds. February 20, 1878, he was married to Miss Minnie L. Rice, at Logansport, Indiana, and three boys and one girl are the result of their union.

Colusa County Biographical Sketches of Pioneers and Prominent Residents
Justice H Rogers, 1891: Orland California
Transcribed by: Carol Anderson & Martha A Crosley Graham, Pages: 343-463
 

Site Updated: 6 July 2010

Martha A Crosley Graham