Butte County
Biographies
SAMUEL and LOUIS GLASS
SAMUEL and LOUIS GLASS.—Samuel Glass, one of the first locators of the Cherokee mine, was born in Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, in the year 1800. When a young man he removed to Zanesville, Ohio, where for a time he followed boating on the rivers. The failure of the United States bank at that city so injured his business that he abandoned it and resided for some years in Delaware. In 1849, he came to California, subsequently settling at Cherokee that, in Butte county, where he resided until his death, which occurred in 1871.
Louis Glass, secretary of the Spring Valley Hydraulic Gold Company, a son of Samuel Glass, is a native of the state of Delaware. He removed to California in 1861, and in 1871 entered upon the duties of secretary of the Spring Valley Mining Company. In 1875, he became secretary of the Spring Valley Mining and Irrigating Company, a consolidation of the Cherokee mines. The new mining company came into existence in 1881, and at present he is secretary of both. He was married in 1872, to Miss Frankie Perkins, of San Buenaventura county. He is a man of fine abilities, and stands high both socially and as a business man. He is a member of the Table Mountain Lodge, F. & A.M., at Cherokee, and of the Royal Arch Chapter and Commandery of Knights Templar at Oroville.
History of Butte County, California: From its Earliest Settlement to the Present Time - Vol. II - Harry L. Wells & W. L. Chambers - 547 Clay Street, San Francisco, Cal., 1882.
Transcribed by: Betty Wilson
JOHN C. GRAY
JOHN C. GRAY was born at Dresden, Lincoln county, Maine, on the second day of February, 1837. He is the son of Hon. John L. Gray of that state.
Mr. Gray experienced considerable difficulty in acquiring an education. His early boyhood days were spent in doing farm-work summers and attending school during a short period in the winters. However, he acquired a good common-school education at the age of nineteen. Then he began to fit himself for a course in Waterville college, now the Colby university, being obliged not only to drill his mind therefore, but to make money enough, while preparing, to pay the expenses of such course. By practicing the most rigid economy, he was enabled to enter the freshman class of that institution of learning, in August 1859. Having to depend entirely upon his own resources, he taught school during the vacations, and in this laborious manner made his way through his junior year, when he left the college and entered the law office of Hon. Artemus Libbey, of Augusta, now one of the supreme judges of that state. After two years’ close application to study, he was admitted in June, 1863, to practice in the supreme court of Maine. Having contracted a few debts while in college, and seeing but little chance of immediate release from them, he resolved to emigrate to California, which he did, arriving in Sacramento in July, 1863. There he clerked in a hotel for some time. In January, 1865, he came to Butte county and engaged in school-teaching at Morris ravine,. In 1867, he became principal of the grammar school at Oroville, which position he held until June, 1872, when he resigned, and opened a law-office in Oroville. On the sixth of October, 1869, he was married to Miss Bella R. Clark, one of the teachers of Butte county, and a member of the board of education. By this marriage two children, a son and a daughter, have been born to them. In 1873, Mr. Gray was elected by the republicans to represent Butte county in the state assembly. He was chairman of the committee on public lands, and a member of the judiciary, elections and apportionment committees. In August, 1874, he bought the Oroville Mercury, with William De Mott, and acted as editor of that paper until 1878, when he sold his interest, his law business requiring his whole and undivided attention. He steadily built up a very lucrative practice. Mr. Gray took a very active part in advocating the adoption of the new constitution, doing effective work with both pen and voice. After its adoption he accepted the nomination for state senator by the new constitution party, and made a thorough canvass of the three counties of his district—Butte, Plumas and Lassen—but the ticket was defeated. While residing in the county he has been deputy county superintendent of schools six years, deputy district attorney one year, and a member of the board of examiners of teachers seven years. Mr. Gray is a member of the Oroville lodge, No. 103, F. & A.M., and has been master; he is at present high priest of the Franklin Royal Arch chapter, a member of the Oroville Commandery, No. 5, and is also a member of the Odd Fellow lodge, and the encampment. He is one of the school board of trustees of Oroville, having held the place for four years.
History of Butte County, California: From its Earliest Settlement to the Present Time - Vol. II - Harry L. Wells & W. L. Chambers - 547 Clay Street, San Francisco, Cal., 1882.
Transcribed by: Betty Wilson