Plumas County
Biographies
M. Hardin
He is a native of Bergen, New Jersey, where he was born in August, 1819. In the following year his parents removed to Guernsey county, Ohio, where he remained until 1851, when he came to California, via the Isthmus, arriving in San Francisco in November. He mined at Auburn, Placer county, until the spring of 1852, and then spent a year searching for auriferous deposits on the Feather river. He then began mining around Iowa hill, and continued there four years, when he went on the Yuba, and mined for one year. In 1857 he came to Sierra valley, and has since lived on his ranch of 240 acres, a mile and a half north of Sierraville.
Illustrated History of Plumas, Lassen & Sierra Counties, with California from 1513 to 1850. - Fariss and Smith, San Francisco, 1882. p 270
Transcribed by Craig Hahn, Nov. 2004
T. F. West
Mr. West was born in Rensselaer county, New York, January 20, 1820. When he was fourteen years of age his parents moved to Verona, Oneida county. Our subject worked on his father’s farm until twenty-two. In September, 1844, he went to Dane county, Wisconsin, and farmed for seven years, after which he engaged in mercantile pursuits for five years. In 1864 he went to Whitewater, Walworth county, where he ran a foundry and implement and wagon manufactory for six years. He came to California in April, 1871, by rail and settled in Sierra valley, Plumas county, where he purchased a quarter-section of land, and lived on it ten years. He now resides on another farm of his own, two miles north-east of Loyalton, in Sierra county. Mr. West is a member of the Masonic and Odd Fellows lodges at Whitewater, Wisconsin. He was married September 15, 1841, to Miss Abbie S. Kenyon of Rome, New York, who was born April 23, 1819.
Illustrated History of Plumas, Lassen & Sierra Counties, with California from 1513 to 1850. - Fariss and Smith, San Francisco, 1882. p 269
Transcribed by Craig Hahn, Nov. 2004
T. S. Battelle
This is one of the early settlers in the valley. He was born in Washington county, Ohio, August 20, 1812. His father, Ebenezer Battelle, was one of the earliest settlers of that state, and died in his ninety-eighth year. When twenty-two years of age, our subject went to Uniontown, Pennsylvania, and dealt in merchandise for three years. Then he spent another three years in the same business at Clarksburg, Virginia, and several years at Muscatine, boating on the Mississippi. In 1852 he came overland to California, and farmed two years near Marysville. In 1854 he came to the Sierra valley, and located a ranch of 480 acres close to Sierraville, where he has since lived. He was married August 29, 1833, to Grace A. Fleming of Uniontown, Pennsylvania, and she died June 19, 1849. By her he had eight children, three of whom are living. On the first of March, 1850, he was again married, to Louisa Anderson of Pennsylvania, who died October 26, 1870. Mr. Battelle was married a third time, April 25, 1872, to Mrs. S. L. West of Waseca, Minnesota.
Illustrated History of Plumas, Lassen & Sierra Counties, with California from 1513 to 1850. - Fariss and Smith, San Francisco, 1882. p 270
Transcribed by Craig Hahn, Nov. 2004
W. Smith Rains
Mr. Rains was born in Hardin county, Kentucky, December 16, 1833. At the age of sixteen he left his native state, and went to Missouri, where he remained for twelve years. April 29, 1861, he started overland for California, arriving in Sierra valley in September. He soon located on the ranch of 360 acres, on which he has since lived. It is situated two and one-half miles from Loyalton. He was the first to improve a farm in that part of the valley, fencing 160 acres of land that year. He was married December 23, 1856, to Miss Mary J. Stephenson, who was born in Boone county, Kentucky. Their children are Robert Lee, born August 13, 1863; Carlotta, October 20, 1865; Ordelle, October 16, 1870; Azalia , June 20, 1874; a son not named, August 28, 1878; Olivette, January 28, 1881.
Illustrated History of Plumas, Lassen & Sierra Counties, with California from 1513 to 1850. - Fariss and Smith, San Francisco, 1882. p 269
Transcribed by Craig Hahn, Nov. 2004