Butte County
Biographies
WILLIAM McCLURE
He was born in Harford county, Maryland, December 30, 1808. He was raised as a farmer; and when twenty-one years of age, became connected with the well-known firm of J.C. Walker & Co., clothiers, of Baltimore, and was about three years in their employ at their branch house in Louisville, Kentucky, eighteen months at Vicksburg, and something over two years at Nashville, Tennessee. In 1836, he went into the clothing business for himself at Nashville. In 1850, he sold out, came to California, and went to mining at Long bar, on the Yuba. After a short time there, he went to Sierra county, where he remained until 1871, when he came to Butte county. Mr. McClure has resided at Dogtown since 1875.
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
P. B. M. MILLER, M.D., L.R.C.S.E.
P.B.M. MILLER, M.D., L.R.C.S.E., is of Scotch ancestry, and a native of Rosshiré, Scotland, where he was born on the fifteenth day of January, 1835. In the common schools of his native country he received a thorough primary education, and at the age of fourteen years he entered the high school of Edinburgh. In 1854, he matriculated in the university of Edinburgh, and in 1858 graduated from the royal college of surgeons, receiving the degree of L.R.C.S.E. In 1859, he went out to India with the British army as a surgeon. In 1860, he returned to England, and shortly after went to Australia, and for a period of ten years was actively engaged in the practice of his profession in the mining districts of that country and New Zealand. In 1872, he removed from New Zealand to California, and in a short time located at Oroville. During he year 1873, the University City college of San Francisco conferred upon him the degree of M.D. In 1876, he was elected a member of the California state medical society. Being ambitious to still further perfect himself in the knowledge of his profession, he spent eight months of the year 1877 in the east, during which time he visited Jefferson medical college in Philadelphia, and the Bellevue hospital medical college of New York city, one of the best of the kind in the world, from which institution he also has a diploma. He has since been actively engaged in the practice of medicine and surgery at Oroville. In 1875, he received the appointment of surgeon in charge of the Butte county infirmary. His observations of similar institutions in Europe and this country well fitted him for the position. It is no flattery to say that the Butte county infirmary, of which mention is made elsewhere, is one of the best managed institutions of the kind on the Pacific coast. In looking through the transactions of the medical society of California for 1880-81, we notice an able treatise on the advancement made in surgery in the past few years, by Dr. Miller, in which he takes issue with Professor Lister, of Edinburgh, in regard to the treatment of cases of empyema—collections of pus in the pleura—questioning the propriety of invariably using the carbolic acid atmospheric spray, a method which Lister favored in all cases, we believe. Dr. Miller maintained that that treatment alone was ineffectual in removing the disorganized material which was likely to cause putrefaction. He is a strong and original thinker in his department of scientific learning, and his success in treating the most obstinate forms of disease has been remarkable. As a physician he enjoys the confidence of the public, and as a man and citizen he likewise enjoys their highest esteem and regard.
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 MINDERMANN
JOHN MINDERMANN is a son of Herman and Adelphite Mindermann, and was born in the kingdom of Hanover, May 12, 1835. When at the age of fifteen years, he came to the shores of America and was employed in New York as a clerk in a wholesale grocery store, until 1854, when he took sail on the steamer George Law, via the isthmus, for California. He was engaged at San Francisco in clerking and other pursuits, and also at Stockton. He had saved up several thousand dollars, which were sunk in profitless ventures. At Sacramento he fell in with some miners going north, and with them journeyed to Oroville, then Ophir. Here he followed mining in company with George C. Perkins, A.M. West, and Thomas and George Faulkner. He mined for a time at White Rock, and was one of the party who sank the first shaft near the depot site. From Oroville he went to Sierra county, where he realized better results for his labor, and returned to the valley in 1860 with limited means. He located on the place he now owns, in company with a friend, and endured many reverses and privations; but perseverance had its reward and prosperity came to them. In 1871, Mr. Mindermann returned to Europe, and while there married Eliza Hoopes, a native of the province of Holstein, after which they came to his home in Butte county. In 1876, they visited the centennial exposition, and he accompanied his wife to Europe, where she remained for three years. In 1879, he again crossed the Atlantic for her, and brought her to his home, where they have since resided. His farm, near Biggs, has 440 acres under cultivation, which he rents. His family consists of three children. He is a member of the Oroville Lodge, No. 59, I.O.O.F. He is now engaged in loaning money and looking after farm interests.
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