Tehama County
Biographies
DARWIN B. LYON
DARWIN B. LYON was born in Orleans County, New York, March 17, 1836. His parents, John M. and Charlotte (Cramer) Lyon, were both natives of New York, the former of Scotch ancestry and the latter of Dutch. Darwin B. was the oldest of their three children. When he was five years old the family removed to Michigan and settled on a farm near Jackson. Soon after this the father died.
The subject of this sketch was reared and educated in Michigan, and, in 1853, at the age of seventeen, came across the plains to California. A part of the way he drove cattle. He met a party on the plains with whom he came to the Golden State, first going to El Dorado County. In that and in Amador County he engaged in mining until the fall of 1859, meeting with a miner’s luck, making and losing money. He engaged with others in fluming the American River. It was a great enterprise and the first of the kind, the lumber for the work being let down the mountain with ropes, the cost being $300 per thousand feet for the lumber. They completed the work, and had it not been for the heavy rains it would have made them all rich; but it was carried away by the flood, and an immense amount of labor and expense was lost.
From there Mr. Lyon went to Jackson, Amador County, and engaged in the express business with Freeman & Co. He also acted as agent for the Alto Telegraph Company, learned telegraphy, and remained there half a year. In September 1859, he came to Red Bluff, where he was similarly employed until 1867. He then resigned his position and became book-keeper for the old Antelope Ranch and Mill Company. The following fall he went to Chico, in the employ of General Bidwell, and held that position until after Mr. Cone had bought the Antelope property, when he returned there, remaining one year. Next he went to Austin for the Western Union Telegraph Company and for Wells Fargo & Company, going from there to Tehama, where he held the position until the railroad was built to Red Bluff.
In January 1871, Mr. Lyon purchased the Red Bluff Hotel, in partnership with Dr. Olendorf, and conducted it until 1874, at the same time being agent for Wells, Fargo & Company. In that year he sold out and accepted the position of cashier of the Tehama County Bank. A year later he resigned, and for four months tried his luck in the mines of Shasta County. At that time the Sierra Lumber Company was organized, with Mr. Hayward and General Chipman managers. Mr. Lyon was employed as book-keeper and acted as cashier a greater portion of the time. When the new company was organized in October, 1879, he was made superintendent and filled that important place until January, 1884. He then resigned and entered into partnership with Mr. Garrett, in the hardware
business, at Red Bluff. They employ five men, and also carry on plumbing and tinning in connection with their hardware business. Their store, 50x80 feet, with basement under it and shop at the rear, is located on Main, between Oak and Sycamore streets.
Mr. Lyon was married in 1879, to Miss Georgene Olendorf, a native of New York. They have two sons, both born in Red Bluff: Darwin B., Jr., and William Daniel.
Politically Mr. Lyon is a Republican. He was Postmaster of Red Bluff during a portion of Buchanan’s administration. He has held the office of City Trustee, and two terms he served as Deputy Treasure of Tehama County. He is a Master Mason and an A.O.U.W.
Memorial & Biographical History of Northern California
The Lewis Publishing Co., 1891
Pages 620-621
Transcribed by: Bonnie Phelan
RAMBO BROTHERS.
Jacob and Isaac, are retired ranchers and live at Red Bluff, California. Their father, Adonijah Rambo, was born in Virginia. He married Miss Nancy Little, a native of North Carolina, and by her had six children, five sons and one daughter. Jacob was born in Wayne County, Indiana, November 15, 1828, and was educated in his native state at South Bend. He came to California in 1850 and settled ten miles east of the city of Sacramento. For a year he mined in Coloma County, after which he formed a partnership with William Burt and engaged in the blacksmith business. At that time James Burch ran the stage from Sacramento to Hangtown. Rambo & Burt shod fifty horses for him, at $16 each. During those days the fare to Hangtown was $25. After being in the blacksmith shop for a year he took up a ranch and engaged in farming. He raised the first crop of barley ever produced in that part of the county. He sowed, cradled and bound it in sheaves, and sold it to travelers for horse feed, at two bits a sheaf. Later he returned to his trade and carried on blacksmithing and farming in Sonoma and Tehama Counties for over twenty years, meeting with excellent success.
Isaac Rambo was born March 12, 1834, and followed his brother to California in 1860. He bought forty-two horses in Indiana at an average cost of $80 each, drove them across the plains to California and sold them at $300 apiece. Their brother Calvin also came this time. Isaac Rambo went to Humboldt and Nevada Counties, took up some mining claims, and was there for three years. He then sold out and entered into a partnership with his brother Jacob, both in mines and farming, and has been with him ever since. Their partnership began in Sonoma County, and in 1868 they came to Tehama County and purchased 320 acres of land on Red Bank. For their first crop, sixty tons of oats and barley hay, they received $30 per ton, an amount equal to the purchase price of the land. After farming that land three years they sold it and bought 700 acres, located sixteen miles northeast of Red Bluff. While conducting this property they were eminently successful. In addition to other things they raised many hogs, which cost them very little and brought them large returns. Their immense crops of hay they sold to millers in the mountains. They also raised sheep. One year they had four thousand, and the price of wool was fifty-one cents a pound. This ranch they sold at a handsome profit, have since bought and sold property, and now own 1,020 acres of land, which is rented and is being cultivated
In February, 1888, Mr. Isaac Rambo married Miss Emma Rambo, his third cousin. He had the great misfortune to lose her at the birth of their little daughter. He named the babe Emma, for her mother, and confided her to the tender care of his most amiable friends, Mr. and Mrs. Crumbaugh.
The Rambo brothers have a pleasant home in Red Bluff, where they reside; the elder brother is the housekeeper and Isaac takes care of the yard and horses. In politics they are stanch Republicans. Jacob Rambo has been one of the Supervisors of the county for three years. He has served as City Trustee several terms and now (1890) holds that office. Both have been successful business men, and are highly respected by their fellow citizens.
Memorial & Biographical History of Northern California
The Lewis Publishing Co., 1891
Pages 618-619
Transcribed by: Bonnie Phelan
Waverley Stairley
Among the prominent and influential men of Red Bluff, none are more awake to the business interests of the city than is he whose name heads this sketch.
Mr. Stairley was born in Greenville, South Carolina, August 3, 1845, the eldest of a family of seven children of Benjamin F. and Elizabeth K. (Stone) Stairley. His father and mother were both born in Greenville; and his mother was a daughter of Colonel Bannister Stone, a native of Virginia. His grandfather, George Stairley, from Virginia, married the daughter of Archibald Lester and Elizabeth Lester, nee Elizabeth Grymes, and sister to Lucy Grymes, the mother of “Light Horse Harry” Lee, father of General Robert E. Lee. Many of the leading families of Virginia were descendants of this Grymes family; and even George Washington’s first love was a Grymes, known as the “Lowland Beauty.” Benjamin F. Stairley was a close friend of Horace Greeley, the great journalist, and corresponded with the New York Tribune for years. Though a wealthy planter and owner of slaves, he was in favor of gradual emancipation. At that time it was his opinion that the Northern colleges were more thorough than those of the South. He, accordingly, sent his son -- the subject of this sketch -- to New York city to attend school.
Young Stairley was in that city in 1859 and 1860; and when the war broke out he enlisted, at the age of fifteen, in the cavalry of Wade Hampton’s Legion. He did gallant service throughout the war, participating in the many battles throughout Virginia. At one time he had a horse shot out from under him, and his regiment was reduced to seventy-two men. However, he came out at the close of the war without having received a wound.
The war over, he returned to New York city and finished his education. He then engaged in various pursuits, traveling much, worked and studied, and thereby developed a broad manliness of character, a large conception of men and life, and an intimate knowledge of business methods.
In 1868 he accepted the position of ticket auditor of the northern division of the Southern Pacific Railroad Company, a position he filled for several years. In 1875 he was associated with the banking house of Belloc & Co., and afterward engaged on an extensive scale in the stock brokerage business, under the firm name of Stairley & Haverstick. In 1880-’81 he was connected with the Mader Flume & Trading Company; and later on, in 1882-’83, he was with Moore & Smith, lumber merchants operating in various sections of California and Washington Territory.
Mr Stairley has been connected with the Sierra Lumber Company, off and on, for the past nine years; and January 1, 1884, he took entire charge of their business, located at Red Bluff. In 1887-’88-’89 he was with the company at Chico, where they maintained large yards and mills. He is now superintendent of the company at this point. They saw 20,000,000 feet of lumber annually, operating at the same time a large sash, door and blind factory and planing mills; and they pay for wages at Red Bluff alone $15,000 per month. These figures give some idea of the importance of the interests over which our subject has the management, and show that it requires business talent of a superior order, which he gives evidence that he possesses in a high degree.
Mr. Stairley also takes an active interest in the growth of the county and city. He is a member of the Board of Trade and other organizations designed for the public good. As an efficient worker in public affairs his efforts have been highly esteemed, and his co-workers have frequently given him flattering evidence of their appreciation of his endeavors among them.
He was married in 1883 to Miss Mary Ridgely Tilden, a native of the eastern shore of Maryland. She is the daughter of Thomas Ware Tilden, of Maryland, a relative of the late Hon. Samuel J. Tilden, and a descendant of Sir Rodger Tilden, who fought with Richard Coeur de Lion in the Holy Land. She is also a direct relative of the Rolles, one of the oldest noble houses of England, the title now being held by one of her grandmother’s family.
Mr. and Mrs. Stairley have had two children, one born in Chico and one in Red Bluff, viz.: Marmaduke Hamilton and Louise Elizabeth. Both he and his wife are leading members of the Episcopal Church of Red Bluff, of which he is Junior Warden. He is also a member of the bishop’s finance committee.
Politically he affiliates with the Democratic party; was a delegate to the three last State conventions, and has been offered the nomination of his party for State Senator. He is now a member and secretary of the Democratic County Central Committee, and is also a member of the State Central Committee.
He is a Sixth-Degree member of the American Legion of Honor.
Mr. Stairley has several relatives in Congress, among then General M.C. Butler, of South Carolina, nephew of Commodore Oliver Hazard Perry; William Hayne Perry, of South Carolina; General John H. Bankhead, of Alabama; and Hugh S. Thompson, at present one of the Civil Service Commissioners, and who was for two terms Governor of South Carolina.
Memorial & Biographical History of Northern California
The Lewis Publishing Co., 1891
Pages 635-636
Transcribed by: Bonnie Phelan