Plumas County
Biographies
William S. Church
He is 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 re-elected 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.
SOURCE: Illustrated History of Plumas, Lassen & Sierra Counties, with California from 1513 to 1850. –
Fariss and Smith, San Francisco, 1882. p 183
Transcribed by Craig Hahn, Dec. 2004
William T. Byers
was born in Columbia, Boone county, Missouri, July 6, 1831, crossed the plains in 1850, and arrived at Ringgold, El Dorado county, August 9 of that year. Here he engaged in mining. He came to Plumas county June 10, 1863, and kept hotel for many years. He was elected county clerk in the fall of 1877, retiring from public life in March, 1880. Mr. Byers is one of the most public-spirited men in the county, and the people are indebted to him, not only for an efficient administration of county affairs during his term of office, but for many improvements made in and around the court-house. Mr. Byers now superintends the Plumas House in Quincy. Since living in California he has made three trips back to Missouri, the last one in 1877.
SOURCE: Illustrated History of Plumas, Lassen & Sierra Counties, with California from 1513 to 1850. –
Fariss and Smith, San Francisco, 1882. p 185
Transcribed by Craig Hahn, Dec. 2004
Yeates – Clark Contest
At the election in September, 1865, Stephen J. Clark and James H. Yeates ran for the office of sheriff. When the votes were canvassed, the supervisors declared Yeates elected by a majority of five. He qualified, and entered upon the discharge of the duties of the office. The majority was so small that William H. Knowles, a warm personal friend of Clark, commenced action for the office in the county court before Judge A. P. Moore. Peter Van Clief and H. L. Gear represented Clark, while John R. Buckbee and John D. Goodwin conducted the case for the defendant. The decision was in favor of Yeates, and Knowles appealed to the supreme court. Creed Haymond represented Yeates in the higher court, and secured a decision sustaining the decree of Judge Moore. This was not the end. A petition for rehearing was granted, and in October, 1866, the supreme court reversed its former judgment, and declared Clark the rightful possessor of the office upon a majority over Yeates of two votes. Yeates lost $1,500 in fees that the supervisors gave to Clark, on the ground that Yeates had not been in lawful possession of the office. The case created intense excitement in the county, and party feeling ran high; and in the following year, when Clark and Yeates were again pitted against each other for the same office, Clark was defeated, and Yeates held the office for several successive terms.
SOURCE: Illustrated History of Plumas, Lassen & Sierra Counties, with California from 1513 to 1850. –
Fariss and Smith, San Francisco, 1882. p 187
Transcribed by Craig Hahn, Dec. 2004
Charles W. Hendel
was born in Saxony, July 21, 1831. He was educated at Dresden, and graduated from the Zchocko Technic Institute in 1850. Two years later he came to the United States, living in New Jersey and Connecticut until the spring of 1853, when he came to California. After mining for a time on the American river, he went to St. Louis, Sierra county, and engaged in mining till 1860, when he was elected county surveyor of Sierra county, which office he held two terms. Since that time he has been engaged in his profession as a surveyor, though largely interested in a number of mining enterprises. In 1871 he was appointed deputy U. S. surveyor, a position he still retains. He moved to La Porte, Plumas county, the same year, and in 1879 was elected county surveyor of that county, which office he now holds, residing in La Porte. Among other mining ventures, he was interested with two others in the Sears Ravine flume, which cost them over $80,000, and from which they realized nothing, though it has since proved to be good property. He now owns a three-fourths interest in the Alturas tailing mine on Slate creek, five miles long; also seven-eighths of the claims on Port Wine ridge, known as the Lucky Hill Consolidated Drift Mine, containing 800 acres, in which a 2,000-foot tunnel is being run to tap the channel. He has done much to advance the mining interests of both Plumas and Sierra counties. One evening in 1856, just after the fire in St. Louis, he had a miraculous escape from death at the bottom of a shaft fifty-four feet deep, down which he plunged headlong. His injuries confined him to his bed but two weeks.
SOURCE: Illustrated History of Plumas, Lassen & Sierra Counties, with California from 1513 to 1850. –
Fariss and Smith, San Francisco, 1882. p 190-191
Transcribed by Craig Hahn, Dec. 2004