California

Biography of Dr. Martin Payne

DR. MARTIN PAYNE. – This Oregon-made man of worth and note was born September 14, 1838, in Crawford county, Arkansas, and is the son of Clayburne and Miriam Somner Payne. On April 17, 1843, the family set out for Oregon, joining the emigration of that year under Applegate and Burnett, and with the guidance of Doctor Whitman. On the Rocky Mountains the father died; and the mother was compelled to care for her little family by herself the rest of the journey. She secured kind assistance from her companions; and particularly was Doctor Whitman careful to see that she was … Read more

Biography of Hon. Alphonso Fowler Learned

HON. ALPHONSO FOWLER LEARNED. – Mr. Learned, whose travels and services abroad have taken him extensively over the world as an able representative of the American nation and flag, was born in Boston, Massachusetts, in 1838. He spent a precocious boyhood in the schools of that city, – “The Athens of America,” – and at the age of sixteen was an alumnus of Comers College. Preferring the sea, however, to further bookish confinement, he became cabin boy on a full-rigged ship, returning as able seaman. In 1857 he came on the clipper ship Sierra Nevada to San Francisco, and as … Read more

Biography of Haman C. Lewis

HAMAN C. LEWIS. – This dauntless pioneer of the earliest times in our state was born in New York City January 31, 1803, and was the son of a ship carpenter. He early was apprenticed to learn the trade of a cooper, but while only a boy of fourteen went to sea, serving six months as cabin boy, and later was apprenticed to the ship carpenter. At eighteen he went as sailor – or perhaps more strictly speaking as “fillibusterer” – to the Gulf coast, taking service on a Mexican privateer. For a number of years he followed a most … Read more

Bingaman, Sally Mrs. – Obituary

Sally Bingaman, 61, of Manteca, Calif., died Sept. 19, 2001, in a Manteca hospital. There will be a private service. She was born on July 1, 1940, in San Francisco. Survivors include her husband, Ollie Bingaman of Manteca, Calif.; children, Chandra Pellizzer, William Bingaman and Jonathan Bingaman, all of Manteca, Calif.; and two grandchildren. Used with permission from: The Baker City Herald, Baker City, Oregon, September 21, 2001 Transcribed by: Belva Ticknor

Smith, Dora D. Mrs. – Obituary

Dora D. Smith, 73, of Ione, Calif., died Sept. 13, 2001, at Lodi, Calif. Her graveside funeral will be at 1 p.m. Sept. 23 at Mount Hope Cemetery. Mrs. Smith was born on Dec. 19, 1927, at Driggs, Idaho. She had lived at Ione for the past 10 years. She had been employed as a room service chef at Harrah’s Casino at Lake Tahoe. Survivors include her daughters, Shellan B. Mora of Ione, Calif., and Cheryl M. Huppler of Water Town, S.D.; a son, Mark L. Searles of Boise; many brothers and sisters; and 13 grandchildren and seven great-grandchildren. The … Read more

Jose D. “Joe” Zamora – Obituary

Baker City, Oregon Jose D. “Joe” Zamora 72, of Baker City died Sept. 23, 2001, at the Veterans Nursing Home in Boise. His funeral will be at 11 a.m. Thursday at the Coles-Strommer Funeral Home, 1950 Place St. Pastor Monte Loyd of Baker Valley Christian Assembly will officiate. Vault interment will be in Mount Hope Cemetery with military rites accorded by Baker City Veterans of Foreign Wars, Post 3048. Visitations will be until 7 o’clock tonight at the funeral home. Mr. Zamora was born Dec. 24, 1928, at Morrell, Neb., a son of Horacio and Fidela Moya Zamora. He was … Read more

Biography of J. J. H. Van Bokkelen

J.J.H. VAN BOKKELEN. – We constantly find among those that are here present lives of such incident and fullness, that any sketch must be so meager as to be well-nigh worthless. The active career of Mr. Von Bokkelen, covering more than half a century, is one of them. He inherits his name and much of his rugged mentality from an old Holland family on his father’s side, which at the time of the entrance of the French and flight of the King came to New York. There the grandfather became one of the first physicians, settling in the old Bowery, … Read more

Biography of John R. Ladd

JOHN R. LADD. – The stories told to the children of the generation hence of the abundance of gold and the immense profits of the early pioneers will fire their imaginations and set them on wild, and perhaps profitable, trips to the Andes or to Alaska. Mr. Ladd’s career will be thus exciting to his descendants, and to all who see this sketch. He was born in the Empire state in 1838. He came to California with his father in 1852, but returning East married Miss Rachel Knapp in Illinois. Here might be mentioned as a remarkable coincidence, that Mrs. … Read more

Biography of L. L. Rowland, M.D.

L.L. ROWLAND, M.D. – L.L. Rowland, M.D., LL. D., F.R.S., was born at Nashville, Tennessee, September 17, 1831, and came with his father, Judge Jeremiah Rowland, across the plains to Oregon in 1844. He dutifully remained and helped at home on the old Donation land claim, North Yamhill, until the day he was twenty-one, when he entered the district school with the ambition and hope of finally finishing, if possible, a full classical course of education in some Eastern university. By working somewhat successfully in the California gold mines in 1849 and 1851, giving his father for his time half … Read more

Biography of Gen. John E. Ross

GEN. JOHN E. ROSS. – No view of our state would be complete without the figure of General Ross, who was so prominent as Indian fighter and legislator in the early days. he was born in Ohio in 1818, and after a residence in Indiana and Illinois, being married at Chicago to the daughter of Alexander Robinson of that city, whose loss by death he suffered eight years later, he came to the Pacific coast, arriving in Oregon in 1847. He was captain of a company that crossed the plains, and soon after reaching the Grande Ronde came upon some … Read more

Biographical Sketch of Nelson Rogers

NELSON ROGERS. – Born on a farm in Vermont in 1841, and early apprenticed to the trade of chair-making, Mr. Rogers determined to come to this coast, and arriving in California in 1858, there engaging in placer mining, and farming for the space of eight years. The discontinuance of his residence below was immediately succeeded by a removal to the Granite creek district, in Eastern Oregon, where he followed mining until 1873, when he located at Burke’s Hollow and farmed until 1882. Converting his entire property into money, he made advantageous loans until the reinvestment of his capital in a … Read more

Peyron, Henry Louis – Obituary

Henry Louis Peyron, 87, a former Baker City resident, died May 2, 2001, at Hemet, Calif. His memorial service was May 10 at Trinity Lutheran Church at Hemet. Cremation and burial was at the Riverside National Cemetery at Riverside, Calif. Mr. Peyron was born at Emburn, France, on Feb. 2, 1914, to Henry Benjamin and Louise Marie. He was the oldest of five children. He attended school at Sunnyslope School, No. 69, and Baker High School. He graduated from Gonzaga College at Spokane, Wash., and entered the U.S. Army in 1943. He married Enid Voight in 1948 and they had … Read more

Biographical Sketch of Thomas Spencer, M. D.

Thomas Spencer, M. D. of Anaheim, was born in Newcastle-on-Tyne, England, in 1835, a son of Edward Spencer, who was a dry-goods merchant. He came to the United States in 1849, received a common school education at Burlington, Iowa, and in 1854 came overland to California and attended the Toland Medical College, where he graduatedin 1861. He practiced his profession at Santa Rosa, Sonoma County, until 1872, when he bought land in Santa Barbara County. After making his home there two years he returned to Lucas County, Iowa, and bought a large stock farm, which he still owns. He came … Read more

Biography of Judge C. W. Humphreys

Judge C. W. Humphreys of Santa Ana, was born in Mason County, Kentucky, and is a son of Robert Humphreys. Following is a history of the family as furnished to the subject of this sketch by his father at the age of eighty-eight years: “Shortly after the close of the Revolutionary War, four brothers, by the name of Humphreys, with their families emigrated from Tyrone County, Ireland, to Virginia, to either Greenbriar or Monroe County. Their names were Richard, John, Robert and Samuel. My grandfather was Robert. His sons were James, John, Robert; daughters, Mollie, Nancy and Jane. John Humphreys … Read more

Biographical Sketch of Alexander Henry

Alexander Henry farmer and stock-raiser, near Anaheim, was born in Edinburg, Scotland in 1838, the son of Innes and Jacobina (Nicholson) Henry. His father had seven children by his first marriage, and eleven by the second: Alexander, who was a member of the second family, joined the English navy in 1850, and was in service throughout the Crimean war. He was at first errand boy and then ship’s carpenter. After the war lie served six years at the shipwright’s trade at Leith. Next he joined the Sidney of Glasgow and came to San Francisco in 1860, where he worked at … Read more

Biographical Sketch of Lysander Utt

Lysander Utt a retired merchant of Tustin, is a , “49er.” He was born in Wythe County, Virginia, June 1, 1824. His parents, John and Mary (Criger) Utt, were both natives of the Old Dominion, had a family of thirteen children, and moved to Jackson County, Missouri, in 1840, where the father died, in 1849. The subject of this sketch, the third child in order of birth in the above family, worked at farming until the year named, when he came to California across the plains with an ox team. In Mariposa County he followed mining for two years, and … Read more

Biographical Sketch of Dr. R. F. Burgess

Dr. R. F. Burgess of Santa Ana, was born in Pittsfield, Massachusetts, in 1834, and when he was quite young the family removed to New York State, and three years afterward to Michigan, locating in Washtenaw County, where they remained about twelve years. The father died in Montcalm County, that State, when the subject of this sketch was seventeen years of age, and the latter therefore had to look after the welfare of the family. He served three years in Company A, Twenty-first Michigan Infantry, during the last war, going out as a wagoner and having charge of an ordnance … Read more

Biography of J. W. Towner

J. W. Towner the subject of this sketch, now Judge of the Superior Court of Orange County, is a native of Essex County, New York, born in 1823, in the town of Willsboro. When he was fifteen years old his father moved to St. Lawrence County, same State. His education was only that of the common school except one term, in 1841, at the Malone Academy, Franklin County. In 1844, he and an older brother went to Cleveland, Ohio, where he remained until 1854, when he went to West Union, Fayette County, Iowa, remaining there until August, 1861, when he … Read more

Biographical Sketch of George H. Carlyle

George H. Carlyle one of Westminster’s successful dairymen, was born in Woodford County, Kentucky, March 23, 1827. His father moved to Saline County, Missouri, in 1855, and followed farming there until his death twelve years ago. He had nine children. For several years George (or Henry, as he was generally known) was connected with the stage line under Ben. Holiday, from the Missouri river to Fort Kearney and Salt Lake City. After this he followed farming and the dairy business at Independence, Missouri, until he came to California in 1887. Buying eighty acres of land in the Westminster colony, he … Read more

Biography of Sylvester Lyman

Sylvester Lyman deceased. American biography has always been considered to be of the greatest interest, far outranking in this regard the same study in any other country. The cause of this is the large proportion of self-made men in our population, men who have plucked the flowers of success from the thorns of difficulty. Mr. Lyman, the subject of this memoir, illustrates this fact. He was born at Westhampton, Blandford County, Massachusetts, February 26, 1826. At the age of fourteen years his father moved his family to Shiawassee County, Michigan, where Mr. Lyman assisted in the farm work for some … Read more