Tehama County
Biographies
HON. JOHN FRANCIS ELLISON
Hon John Francis Ellison, a prominent citizen and lawyer of Red Bluff, was born at Falls Church, Fairfax County, Virginia, November 30, 1853. His father, William H. Ellison, a native of the State of New York, removed to Virginia about 1845. He married Miss Elizabeth Fish, who was born on the farm in Virginia, where he still resides. To them were born three sons and one daughter. Mr. Ellison’s grandfather, Andrew Ellison, was of English ancestry and an early settler of this country. The Ellisons were Methodists, and were highly respected for their honesty and industry.
The subject of this sketch received his early education in a privet school; afterward attended college at Richmond, Virginia; read law under the instruction of Judge Cox; and graduated at the University of Virginia, in 1877. Immediately after his graduation he came to Red Bluff, California, and engaged in the practice of his profession. As a lawyer he has met with marked success and occupies an enviable position among the members of his profession. He is an enthusiastic and influential Republican, and is well known throughout the State. During the presidential campaigns of Garfield, Blain and Harrison he took an active part, doing much for the success of his party and dealing the opposite party powerful and effective blows. Mr. Ellison is an eloquent and argumentative speaker, carrying his opponent’s position by storm. In 1884 he was nominated for the State Assembly by his party, and was elected by a large majority. He served during the session and also the extra session of 1886, in a manner which reflected credit both on himself and his constituents. While there he held the important position of Chairman of the Judiciary Committee. He is now a member of the Republican County Central Committee of Tehama County.
In 1888 Mr. Ellison was a Republican delegate to the National Convention at Chicago, and was strongly in favor of the greatest statesman in the country, James G. Blaine; but finally aided in the nomination of President Harrison. After the convention he visited his relatives and friends in Virginia, took a trip through the East and returned home. In 1890 he was a delegate to the Republican State Convention held in Sacramento, and was one of the Committee on Resolutions. His name was urged for chairman of the convention, but he declined to accept.
Aside from the many duties of his profession and the numerous positions he has filled, Mr. Ellison has also been engaged in other pursuits. He has a ranch of 1,500 acres, on which he is raising hogs, mules and trotting horses. He owns 640 acres of choice farming land in Colusa County, and 240 acres near Corning, Tehama County. He has a fine residence at the corner of Main and Cedar streets, and also owns other valuable property in Red Bluff.
In 1880 Mr. Ellison was united in marriage with Miss Minnie B. Cason, a native of Howard County, Missouri. She is a daughter of Mr. Benjamin Cason, a prominent planter of Missouri before the war. He lost nearly all his property in that great struggle, and died from exposure incurred while in the Southern Army.
Mr. Ellison is a member of the A.O.U.W. and a Royal-Arch Mason. He is a man of force and energy of character, a thorough lawyer, standing in the front rank of his profession. He has just been elected by a large majority Superior Judge of Tehama County.
Memorial & Biographical History of Northern California
The Lewis Publishing Co., 1891
Pages 641-642
Transcribed by: Bonnie Phelan
ERSKINE FISH
Erskine Fish, a prosperous and influential rancher of Tehama County, was born in Cattaraugus County, New York, June 23, 1829. His father, Prince William Fish and his grandfather, Nathaniel Fish, were both natives of Vermont, of English descent; the latter was a soldier in the war of 1812. P.W. Fish married Miss Lois Grover, also a native of Vermont. To them were born five children, only two of whom are living.
The subject of this sketch was the fourth son, and he was fifteen years of age when his father removed to Iowa, then a Territory, and settled in Scott County, near Davenport. There he was reared, received a common-school education, and became a “tiller of the soil.” On June 1, 1852, Mr. Fish was married to Miss Mary C. Freeman, a native of New York, and they had three sons: Charles E., Prince William and Lafayette, -- all born in Scott County and in what was known then as Winfield Township. Prince William died in infancy. Mr. Fish and his father-in-law were the men that were instrumental in organizing the Republican Party in Hickory Grove Township, and has ever since been a true and consistent Republican.
In the summer of 1860 Mr. Fish and family, in company with two of his brothers including their families, crossed the plains to the far-famed California. He settled in Tehama County, on Thomas’ Creek, seven miles west of Tehama, and followed the vocation of rancher. In the fall of 1863 Mr. Fish returned, by the way of Panama and New York, to his old home in Iowa, leaving his family in California; they joined him in August 1864. In the fall of 1864 Mr. Fish went into the service of his country and was assigned to the Eighteenth Battalion of Illinois, as all of the Iowa regiments were full. From that time until the closing of the war, he was on garrison duty at Camp McClellan opposite Rock Island. After the close of the war he, like hundreds of thousands of honest men, went back to the plow. In 1869, his health having failed, he once more started for the sunny plains of California; coming this time by cars, arriving in Tehama County November 25. Here he purchased a farm of 240 acres, and subsequently another of 340 acres, both of which he sold at a good profit five years afterward. He and his sons followed the butcher business for a few years, first in Tehama and afterward in Red Bluff. They sold their butcher business and in 1881 Mr. Fish bought 400 acres of the finest land in Antelope Valley, one and a half miles east of Red Bluff, on which he was engaged in farming until 1887. In that year he sold out at a handsome profit and moved to Red Bluff again, where he still resides. He owns one of the handsomest business houses in Red Bluff; also a farm of 320 acres one and a half miles northwest of the town.
Mr. Fish did not forget his sons in his prosperity, but provided for them with a father’s lavish hand. For his eldest son, Charles E., he bought a half interest in one of the finest ranches in Tehama County. It comprises nearly 2,000 acres, situated thirteen miles north of Red Bluff, and is known as Jelly Ferry ranch. For his youngest son, Lafayette, first he gave him a ranch of 200 acres three miles northwest of town, and in January, 1890, he bought and gave to him one of the finest little farms in Northern California, comprising 140 acres and situated a mile and a half below town.
Mr. Fish has always been an energetic, honest and upright man; his word is equivalent to his bond. He has held several minor positions, such as Justice of the Peace and Supervisor, -- the former for several terms. His eldest son, Charles E., was elected Sheriff of Tehama County, November 4, 1890, by an overwhelming majority.
Memorial & Biographical History of Northern California
The Lewis Publishing Co., 1891
Pages 633-634
Transcribed by: Bonnie Phelan
WILLIAM ROBERT HALL
WILLIAM ROBERT HALL, Clerk of Tehama County, California, was born in Sacramento city on October 11, 1853. The ancestors of the family on the father’s side were Scotch people, who settled in North Carolina at an early period in the history of this country. His mother’s parents were of German extraction, and settled in Virginia in 1818. His father, Andrew Lovelace Hall, is a native of Kentucky, born March 6, 1824, and emigrated to California in 1850, settling below Sacramento city in what is now called Hall’s Basin, and engaged in farming. In those days all kinds of farm products found a ready market in the mining localities, and good success crowned his efforts until the winter of 1851-‘52, when he, among many others, went with the tide. The great flood of that year swept away everything he had; so, not meeting with the success that was anticipated, like all other Kentuckians -- being a great lover of horses -- moved to Sutter County, near the Marysville Buttes, and engaged in raising running-horses, which was more profitable to him then farming in the tule lands. In the summer of 1852 he met Miss Amanda M.E. Garr, daughter of Mark F. Garr, the Sheriff of Sutter County (who came across the plains in 1849 from the State of Virginia), and after a courtship of several months the couple were married.
Mr. Hall, the subject of this sketch, is the oldest of eleven children, seven whom are still living in Tehama County. He was educated at the Pierce Christian College, Colusa County, and also took a complete course in Heald’s Business College, San Francisco. In 1876 he engaged in farming with his father, which he continued for a number of years in Tehama County, raising fruits and grain. In 1886 he was nominated for County Clerk by the Democratic County Convention, but in the election was beaten by 142 votes. In 1888 he received a renomination by acclamation and was elected by fifty-six majority. In 1890 he received the nomination for the same office without opposition, and was elected by the flattering majority of 881. The office duties include those of Clerk, Auditor and Recorder. Mr. Hall is a man of good business ability, and believes in filling an office when elected to do so, and makes an officer worthy of the commendation of all tax-payers, Republicans and Democrats alike. While his official duties call him away from his farm, his brothers are cultivating his lands with theirs.
Mr. Hall was united in marriage on the 31st. day of December, 1889, to Miss Agnes Isabel Duncan, a native of Iowa, daughter of William Duncan, of Red Bluff. She came to California with her parents in 1875, and completed an unfinished education in the State Normal School, at San Jose, California, and engaged in teaching school in Tehama County. In 1884 she was offered the position of second assistant in the Red Bluff High School, and filled that position until she was married to Mr. Hall. She is a member of the Christian Church, which is also attended by her husband. Mr. Hall is a member of the I.O.O.F., N.S.G.W., and the Masonic lodges at Red Bluff. An ardent lover of California and her institutions, he is ever ready to aid in any enterprise that will benefit the State or the county of his choice.
Memorial & Biographical History of Northern California
The Lewis Publishing Co., 1891
Pages 622-623
Transcribed by: Bonnie Phelan