Colusa County
Biographies
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 sill 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.
“Colusa County” – by Justus H. Rogers – Orland, CA – 1891 – pp 423-424
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 result 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.
“Colusa County” – by Justus H. Rogers – Orland, CA – 1891 – pp 424
CHARLES MILLS 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 a 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.
“Colusa County” – by Justus H. Rogers – Orland, CA – 1891 – pp 424-425
RICHARD POIRIER
This gentleman, 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 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 on 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.
“Colusa County” – by Justus H. Rogers – Orland, CA – 1891 – pp 425
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 Phillipp 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, thence 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. Weyand 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 lives with his family in Colusa.
“Colusa County” – by Justus H. Rogers – Orland, CA – 1891 – pp 426-427
HENRY B. ST. LOUIS
Henry B. St. Louis is a native son, born in Yolo County, September 2, 1853. His father was Colby St. Louis. Mr. St. Louis was raised on a farm six miles north of Woodland, where he worked industriously and at the same time acquired a good common-school education. In 1870 he moved to Colusa County and took up his permanent residence where he now owns three thousand acres of land, eleven miles southwest of Maxwell. Mr. St. Louis was married, October 8, 1878, to Miss Laura C. Stanton, daughter of H. C. Stanton, by whom he has two children. He was elected a director of the Central Irrigation District on its first organization, and still holds that position.
“Colusa County” – by Justus H. Rogers – Orland, CA – 1891 – pp 427