Plumas, Sierra & Lassen County, California

 Biographies

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Judge William T. Ward, the first County judge of Plumas County, was born in Curnmington, Massachusetts, February 28, 1802. He was raised on a farm until about eighteen years of age. when he quit farm life, moved to Vergennes, Vermont, and embarked in the mercantile business,., Here, at the age of 23 years, he married Miss Harriet Sherill, and all of their children, except the youngest, were born to them at this place. In 1836, in obedience to New England adventure and. enterprise, he moved west, and settled in Cleveland, Ohio. Here he invested all his means in an iron foundry, and in commerce upon the lakes in connection therewith, and did a large business in 1846, when he lost most all of his property by fire. He then moved to Wisconsin, and engaged in the business of milling and merchandising until the winter of 1852-53, when high floods destroyed his mill property. He then turned his face toward the Pacific, crossing the plains in the summer of 1853; and reached Plumas County late in the fall of that year. He settled with his family in Indian valley, upon what was then known as the Isadore, now called the Hickerson ranch. At the organization of Plumas County he was called by the people from his farm life to the position of. County Judge. This necessitated his removal to Quincy, the County seat, where he resided until the close of his official term, in December, 1857, discharging his judicial functions to the entire satisfaction of the public and with honor to himself. He then returned to his home in Indian valley, and enjoyed the quiet independence of farm life until the mining excitement of 1861, when he purchased the Genesee mine near Genesee valley, in this County, and with his family moved there, and continued to prosecute his mining operations until the death of his wife in August, 1865. Shortly after, he went to Susanville to live with his son John, remaining until 1875. While there he held for a number of years the position of postmaster. He then removed to Quincy, where he resided till his death, which occurred April 21, 1878. Judge Ward was a splendid type of that New England manhood and persistent effort—that indomitable will and pluck which has caused the stock of his native section to dominate so largely the institutions of our country.
Pages 178-179

William S Church.—He was the eldest son of James C. Church, who settled in American valley before the organization of Plumas County. William S. was born in Kentucky. In 1873 he was elected County superintendent of schools on the democratic ticket, and was reelected in 1875. He taught school in various districts of Plumas County until 1880, when he prepared himself for the law, and was admitted to practice in the Supreme Court in the winter of that year, when he opened a law office at La Porte, where he now resides.
Page 183

Thomas L Haggard is a native of Roane County, Tennessee. He was born September 30, 1831, and came to California in 1852, at the age of twenty-one, crossing the plains. Mr. Haggard settled in the Plumas portion of Butte County, and engaged in mining on Spanish creek, above Spanish Ranch. The winter of 1852-53 was spent at Bidwell's bar, which was then the most important place in Butte County. In the spring of 1853 he returned to the Plumas portion. and settled at Rich bar, where he mined for many years, and lived until the summer of 1871. He then settled at Spanish Ranch, and remained until-the summer of 1876. He kept the Buckeye House from that time till 1879, when he sold out and removed to Quincy, having been elected County treasurer. Mr. Haggard makes an efficient County officer, and is esteemed by a large circle of friends.
Page 190-191

A gentleman who is still living on Rich bar, honored and respected at the ripe old age of seventy- six years, is Joshua Brown McShane; affectionately called Pap by his early associates. He is a native of Pennsylvania, worked in the lead mines of Wisconsin, and came to this state in 1851. It was on a hot spring day of that year that Pap first descended Rich bar bill, crowned with a silk hat, and holding aloft an umbrella to pretect himself from the warm rays of the sun. The unusual spectacle filled the miners with astonishment. Down dropped their tools, and a crowd soon gathered about the curiosity to take a look at it. Pap was eminently sound on the social question, and invited the boys in to take a " smile." They went, and the smiling was several times repeated, finally winding up by Pap's hat being made a target for a shower of potatoes, while the boys decorated the head of its owner with a fine chapeau of the regulation style. Pap made an honorable record as a miner and butcher on the bar for many years. He is the oldest living Odd Fellow in the state, having been initiated into the order in• Wisconsin, in 1838, by Thomas Wildey, the father of Odd Fellowship in America.
Page 248

J. D. Myers.—Mr. Myers was born in Randolph County, Missouri, March 22, 1840. In 1851 his father, Henry K. Myers, died, and J. D. being the oldest, the duty of providing for his widowed mother and three other children devolved on him. This he did until his mother married again, in 1860. In 1863 he came overland to California, and crossed Beckwourth summit July 26, 1803. He worked at the carpenter's trade until the spring of 1867, when he bought a half-interest in a planing mill at Randolph, the firm being Rawden & Myers. In 1876 he sold his interest to Raw- den, bought a body of pine and fir timber containing 450 acres, three miles south-west of Randolph, and built a water-power saw-mill, which he has since owned and managed. March 10, 1870, he was married to Mary Duvall of Randolph County, Missouri; born July 17, 1850. Their children are Mittie U., born January 13, 1871 ; Henry Wildey, May 24, 1875; infant son, October 7, 1877, died the next day. Mr. Myers is a member of Mountain Vale Lodge No. 140, I. 0. 0. F.
Page 274

Dr. Willard Pratt was born at Canton, Pennsylvania, March 12, 1826. His father was a physician at Canton, and Willard followed in his footsteps. At the age of twenty-two he graduated as a physician from the Pennsylvania University, Philadelphia, and emigrated to Grant County, Wisconsin, residing at Fennimore, and practicing medicine. He was married June 14, 1848, in Marshal, Wisconsin, to Miss Sarah H. Hart, daughter of Thomas Hart, and born in Huntingdonshire, England, February 15, 1825. Dr. Pratt removed to Dubuque, Iowa, in 1850, and practiced until 1853, when he crossed the plains to the Pacific coast. He spent four years in Placerville, then Hangtown, after which he went to Colusa, where he remained until 1860. Then he settled in Butte County, near Chico. Here his health began to fail, and having a call to visit Thomas Bidwell at the Big Springs hotel, his attention was called to the beauties of Big Meadows. He spent two summers there, and in. 1867, having decided to make it a permanent home, he erected a residence and hotel, the first one in Prattville, or the neighborhood. He went to the centennial exposition at Philadelphia, and while there his property was destroyed by fire. He came back to find no home ; but in 1877 he built his present house, which cost $10,000, and is one of the best in the mountains. It has twenty-six sleeping rooms, besides parlors, family rooms, etc., and is crowded with guests every summer. Mr. and Mrs.. Pratt have six children, as follows : Emily Charlotte, born April 17, 1849 ; Anna E., June 21, 1851; Willie N., April 21, 1853 ; Thomas E., March 5, 1860; Mattie J., July 5, 1862; Marion N., December 17, 1866.
Page 294

Albert Pickett Chapman.—The subject of this sketch is the son of Horace Chapman, and was born November 9, 1816. He is a lineal descendant of Robert Chapman, one of the first settlers of Saybrook,. Connecticut, who came from Hull, England, to Boston in the year 1635. His ancestors were sea-going people. When a lad of thirteen he learned the tailor's trade, which he followed nearly twenty years, and for five years carried on a business in Boston under the firm name of Haskell & Chapman. He started for California February 8, 1849, sailing around the Horn on the ship Rodolph, and was two hundred and nineteen days on the voyage. Early in June, 1850, with George F. Kent, William E. Jones, or Paul Jones, he discovered Sierra valley, and located his present ranch the next year. In December of 1851, Mr. Chapman returned east, but came back the following year, via Panama. Prior to this time he had been extensively engaged in mining, and was president of the Buttes Quartz Company. Upon his return he went to Sierra valley, in July, and put up a cabin on the ground now covered by his residence. During the year 1852 Mr. Chapman opened a livery stable at Downieville, where the Armory stable now stands. This he sold in 1862, and removed with his family to his valley home, where he has since resided. He was married October 1, 1843, to Miss Caroline S. Chapman, daughter of George Chapman. His wife belongs to the ninth generation of Chapman’s in this country, and he to the tenth generation of another branch of descent. They have had two sons; Albert Franklin, born July 13, 1844, and Charles, born March 28, 1848. Albert F. was married April 5, 1868, Theresa M. Secritan, and their children are Martha Washington, Albert Julius, Carrie Aime (deceased), and Clarence Paysingian [Note: this is really hard to read on the CD]. Our subject is a member of Susanville Lodge No. 140, I. 0. 0. F., and of Blue Range Encampment at Downieville. He was first initiated into the order in Boston in 1846. A view of Mr. Chapman's residence may be seen on another page of this work.
Pages 265-266

Patrick Connolly.—He was born in County Kildare, Ireland, in 1839; came to the United States in 1856, and lived a year and a half in Orange County, New York. He then migrated to Kane County, Illinois, and spent eighteen months in that locality. In 1859 he came overland to California; stopping at Marysville, where he worked for the California Stage Company six months ; and from that time until coming to Sierra valley was engaged along the Dutch Flat and Henness Pass road, working for the same company. Mr. Connolly removed to Sierra valley in 1869, and bought a ranch of 480 acres two. and one and a half miles north-west of Loyalton, on which he has since lived.
Page 269

Peter Lassen
Lassen County was named in honor of Peter Lassen, one of California's oldest and most respected pioneers, and the one who made the first permanent and continuous settlement within the borders of the County. He was a native of Denmark, and was born in the city of Copenhagen, August 7, 1800. At the usual time of life he was apprenticed to the trade of a blacksmith in his native city. In his twenty-ninth year he emigrated from Denmark to the United States, and arrived the same year in Boston. After several months' residence in, eastern cities, he removed to the west, and took up his residence at Katesville, Charlton County, Mo. In the spring of 1839 he left Missouri in company with twelve others, two of whom were women, to cross the Rocky mountains into Oregon. They fell in with a train belonging to the American Fur Company, and after the usual mishaps and fatigues of such an undertaking, they arrived at the Dalles, Oregon, in October of the same year. From the Dalles they proceeded to Fort Vancouver, and thence up the Willamette to a few miles above what is now Oregon City; and after wintering here, they started for California by water, on the vessel Lospanna. After a very rough passage of several weeks, they landed at Fort Ross, then a Russian trading post. After a short stay they left for Sutter's camp near the mouth of American river, where they remained fifteen days, when they went to San Francisco. Shortly afterward Mr. Lassen went to San Jose to winter, where he worked at his trade. In the spring of 1841 he bought some land near Santa Cruz, where he built a saw-mill. After operating his mill for some time he sold out, taking one hundred mules for pay ; and in the fall of 1842 he took them up near Captain Sutter's, and ranched them. He worked at his trade for Captain Sutter, taking his pay in stock.

It was while in the service of Captain Sutter, in the summer of 1843, that Lassen, with Bidwell (now living at Chico) and James Bruheim, pursued a party of emigrants on their way to Oregon, overtaking them at Red Bluff, and recovering some stolen animals. The northern end of the valley was then entirely unsettled, and Lassen was so pleased with the country that he selected a tract of land, from a map of the region made upon their return by Mr. Bidwell, and applied to Governor Micheltorena for a grant of the land, which he afterwards obtained. In December, 1843, Lassen started for his new home, but because of high water in the valley he camped at the Buttes until February, 1844, when he arrived at his destination,- and built the first civilized habitation north of Marysville. This grant lies in Deer creek, in the County of Tehama. From this time, though others settled around him, Lassen's ranch was the best known and most important point in northern California. It was from this place that Fremont started on his journey from the valley to Oregon, in the spring of 1846, and it was Peter himself who guided Lieutenant Gillespie, a few days later, in search of the Pathfinder, and overtook him that memorable night on the bank of Klamath Lake. [See pages 57-60 - Transcribers Note, If you wish to see these pages, let me know and I will send them to you ]

After the discovery of gold in the spring of 1848, Lassen started out, with a companion named Paul Richeson, to find a good emigrant trail into the upper end of the valley, intending to divert emigration from the usual route, by the way of the Humboldt and Truckee. They found what was afterwards known as the Lassen route. Two years before, a company from the Willamette valley bad laid out what is known as the southern route to Oregon [see page 59], running from Fort Hall west to Goose lake, then to Tule lake and through the Modoc country, across Lost river, around the lower end of Klamath lake, through the pass to Rogue river valley, and thence by the Hudson Bay trail to the Willamette valley. The route followed to Yreka and vicinity, in 1851 and later years, was this old Oregon trail as far as Klamath lake, and thence to Yreka by the way of Sheep rock. Lassen's route followed the Oregon road as far as the head-waters of Pit river; then branched to the south, following down that stream until north of Lassen peak, passing around the eastern base of the mountain to Mountain Meadows in this County; then west to the Big Meadows in Plumas County; then to the head-waters of Deer creek, and down that stream to Lassen's ranch.

Lassen and Richeson reached Fort Hall in the summer of 1848, and induced a train of emigrants to try the new route to California. Lassen conducted the twelve wagons that composed this train safely, though they encountered some rugged and difficult mountains, until they reached Mountain Meadows or Big Meadows. In one of these valleys they stopped for a time to recruit their stock and supply themselves with provisions, being unable to proceed in the condition they then were. Here they were overtaken, about the first of November, by a party of Oregonians on their way to the gold-fields, and with their aid reached Lassen's ranch in safety. In 1849-50 a large emigration was diverted from the Carson or Truckee route, and induced to follow Lassen's cut-off, or, as it was sometimes called, Lassen's Horn route, sarcastically comparing it to the journey around Cape Horn. The point of divergence from the main route down the Humboldt was indicated by a post stuck in the desert sands, surrounded by a watchful body-guard of sage-brush, and inclined at an angle of forty-five degrees, across which was nailed a shake bearing the legend "Lassen Road," to woo the unwary emigrant from the crooked and broad way he had been traveling. Many were wooed and won, and turned from the beaten track to follow this new road, of which they knew nothing save that it was claimed to be a shorter route to the mines. Those who came late in the fall of 1849 had a sad experience in the snow which blocked the mountain trails. [See page 87.] The experiences of those who had departed from the regular trail in 1849, to try Lassen's road, became generally known in the state; and two or three years later, when many Californians were returning again to this state, having gone home for their families, it was almost as much as a man's life was worth to endeavor to seduce emigrants from the old route, and attempt any of the new passes and cut-offs.

Having been unfortunate, Lassen went to Indian valley, in Plumas County, in 1851, and with Isadore Meyerwitz, or Meyerowitz, and George Edward St. Felix, took up a ranch and opened a trading post. A few years later, Lassen and Meyerwitz came to Honey Lake valley, the first actual settlers of this region. Meyerwitz was drowned in the lake in 1856, and the kind-hearted Lassen met his death at the mouth of the rifle, three years later. The Indians were charged with his murder, but it is a question whether the perpetrators of the deed were not of the Caucasian race. The citizens recovered the body from where it fell, in the mountains north of Pyramid lake, and brought it to Honey lake for burial. The remains were interred on the ranch he had located, and a monument of gray stone marks his grave, reared by the citizens as a mark of affection and respect for the old pioneer whose kind heart and simple integrity had won the love of all
Pages 332-333

Illustrated History of Plumas, Lassen & Sierra Counties, California
San Francisco: Fariss and Smith. 1882
Transcribed by: Martha A Crosley Graham

Site Created: 15 March 2008
Martha A Crosley Graham
Rights Reserved - 2008