Tehama County
Biographies
WILLIAM DEVIN
William Devin, of Tehama County, is a native of Pike County, Missouri, born at Frankfort,December 17, 1846, the son of William and Elizabeth (Lewelling) Devin. The father was a native of Virginia and came to Missouri in 1820, where he died in 1864; the mother was a native of St. Louis, Missouri, born in 1817, and died in 1878. Her ancestors on the paternal side were Scotch-Irish, and on the maternal side were Welsh, who were persecuted and finally driven from Wales on account of their religious views. Our subject learned the machinist's and blacksmith's trades, and left his native state in 1873, coming by rail to California, locating in Colusa County, where for a few months he receive $5 per day as a journeyman blacksmith. He next opened a shop at the town of Durham on his own account. Selling out a few months later he came to Vina, and is now established in a general repair shop for blacksmithing and wheelwrighting.
In 1874 Mr. Devin was elected Justice of the Peace, and has also served as Deputy Sheriff, and is now Deputy
Constable. He was School Trustee of Lason District from 1884 to 1886. Politically he is a Democrat, and takes
an active part in all political matters.
He was married at Vina in 1879 , to Miss Fannie Moore, a native of California, and a daughter of the late J.P.
Moore, an old California pioneer. Mr. and Mrs. Devin have one child, Ray.
Source: Memorial and Biographical History of Northern California, Lewis Publishing Co., 1891 Page 750
Transcribed by: Melody Landon Gregory