Yolo County
Biographies
Frank Williams Blanchard
In a region remote from his native commonwealth and interested in affairs radically different from the seafaring exploits of his boyhood days, Frank W. Blanchard is passing the maturity of his resolute, purposeful existence and is enjoying the rewards of commercial and social prominence tendered to those who surmount life’s hardships with undaunted perseverance. Chance brought him to the shores of California and at once he was so pleased with the country and the climate that he resolved to remain, severing the ties that bound him to the home of his childhood and to the occupation of his youth. Nor has he had reason to regret the decision that bound him to the west as a permanent citizen, for the passing of the years has but deepened his devotion to the land of the setting sun.
The earliest recollections of Mr. Blanchard cluster around the village of Searsport, Me., where he was born in 1868 and where as a small child he watched the sailors returning from their voyages to distant countries or with a sad farewell starting out on their long cruises. The waters of Searsport harbor and Belfast bay on either hand attracted him by their nearness to the great ocean and often he sailed with friends on the vessels that passed here and there between the many tiny islands lying off the coast of Waldo county. Like many other lads reared in seacoast towns, he followed the sea in his youth and by his industry and application he soon rose to be first mate. After having sailed over many seas and cast anchor at many ports, he finally in 1888 passed through the Golden Gates into the harbor of San Francisco as the first mate on the ship A. J. Fuller, but this position he resigned in order to become a citizen of the far west.
The first position secured by the young sailor in California was the employ of Balfour, Guthrie & Co., at Port Costa, Contra Costa county, and for three years he continued with that firm. Next he secured a position with the C. B. Houghton Lumber Company of Benicia. Removing from that point to Woodland during the year 1903 he formed an association with the West Valley Lumber Company, whose interests at this place he since has superintended and in the responsible capacity of manager had proved the trustworthiness of his character and the sagacity of his judgment. Originally known as the Puget Sound Lumber Company, the enterprise has had years of successful commercial activity. The present title was assumed in 1888, when the older company was absorbed by the West Valley, which since has owned and operated the entire plant and is now rounding out its quarter of a century in Yolo county. At one time the company owned yards in six towns, but at this writing they operate only in Woodland and Dixon. Their property in both places is well improved and their yards finely equipped for their special use. The business is large and the uniform honesty of the company in all transactions has given it a high standing among the people as well as an enviable rating among the banks. Mr. Blanchard is also interested in the building up of Woodland in other ways. In 1912 he laid out Blanchard’s addition to Woodland on Cleveland and Cross streets, opposite the city park, where he is erecting modern bungalows. He is one of the founders and a director of the Northern California Building and Loan Association of Woodland, and he also takes an active part in the Chamber of Commerce and Merchants’ Association.
Not withstanding his many business interests Mr. Blanchard has found the leisure for the identification with the Woodmen of the World, Knights of Pythias and the Masons, in which latter order he has become associated not only with the local blue lodge and chapter, but also with the Knights Templar and Islam Temple, Nobles of the Mystic Shrine, of San Francisco. The principles of Masonry find in him a steadfast upholder and their charitable enterprises receive his sincere support. With his wife, formerly Miss Etta M. Sanborn of Benicia, and their son, Elbridge H., he has a comfortable home in Woodland and a large circle of friends, among the best people of the community, and he and his wife are members of the Unitarian Church. Among business men he is regarded as an expert in the lumber industry. His judgment of the values of different grades of lumber is seldom at fault and his sagacity at selecting the best possible varieties for use in the company’s yards has contributed in no small degree to the success of the business.
Transcribed by Bea Barton
Source: “History of Yolo County, California” by Tom Gregory. Published by the Historic Record Company, Los Angeles, California, 1913, pages 530 – 533.
John T. Archer
Among the most extensive ranchers of Yolo county are Mr. Archer and his son Byron, who by their sterling qualities and excellent business ability have won the highest regard of their fellow citizens. Born in Devonshire, England, August 12, 1849, John T. Archer, when six month old, came to the United States with his parents, Daniel and Ann (Hutton) Archer, who settled Middleton, Dane county, Wis. At the age of twenty-three, in 1873, the son accompanied his father to Albany, Ore., where he remained a year prior to locating in Healdsburg, Sonoma county, in October, 1874. A year later the family permanently settled in Yolo county, where Daniel Archer purchased on Cache creek a partially improved tract of four hundred acres, which adjoins Madison. Subsequently Daniel Archer sold forty acres of this to the railroad for a town site. Upon completion of Vacaville and Clear Lake Railroad in that section in 1876 land values rose rapidly and Madison soon became a commercial center of importance. Cottonwood being devoid of shipping facilities Madison secured the business which had formerly gone to Woodland. The Archers replaced their original buildings by more substantial structures, improving two places, one of which was occupied by John T. Archer, the other by his son Byron. Daniel Archer having retired from active duties in 1878 he lived retired from that time until his death, in 1902.
In partnership John T. Archer and his son Byron are extensively engaged in raising hay and grain, using their own as well as rented land, besides which they have ninety acres in alfalfa. The land is well watered from the Consolidated ditch. They gather their crops with a Haines-Hauser combined harvester which has been operated by the family since 1892. Prior to this, in 1879, they purchased a portable barley roller, the first mill of that character ever operated in the county, and with this they ground their own as well as their neighbors’ grain for feed. They own forty mules and thirty horses, and are extensively engaged in raising cattle and sheep.
The marriage of John T. Archer, September 25, 1879, at Cacheville, united him with Miss Carrie Lippincott, who was born near Knights Landing, the daughter of Josiah R. and Sarah (Bower) Lippincott. The latter were natives of Ohio, from which state they came to California via Panama in 1858. On the farm on which they located near Knights Landing the father subsequently died, and the mother died at Cacheville. Of the eleven children born to Mr. and Mrs. Archer we mention the following: Daniel A., died when five months old; John Byron married Miss Lela Chinn, of Capay, and they have one child, Irma A.; Elwood is on the home place; Clayton H., married Adelphia Chandler, and they have two children, Herbert C. and John T.; Lowell Lippincott and Frank Edward, who are graduates of the Madison grammar school and the Capital City Commercial College, are interested in raising mules and hogs and are also working with the older brothers in their business; Ethel S. is now Mrs. D. H. Gilliam, and they reside near Madison with their three children, Leona A., Mary C. and John Archer; Edna Mae is now Mrs. D. D. Russell, of Madison; Etoil E. is the wife of Aubrey Howard, of Woodland, and the mother of one child, Joyce B.; Ruth and Venus, who complete the family, are both at home.
Elwood and Clayton H. Archer have been engaged in the butcher business for the past four years in partnership with their father, operating stores in Winters, Esparto, Madison, Guinda and Capay, and in connection with operating their stores they also buy and sell livestock extensively. As citizens of progressive spirit and exceptional business ability Mr. Archer and his sons fully merit the wide esteem which they enjoy. The elder Mr. Archer has always been a stanch Republican and he and his family are active members of the Christian Church at Madison and liberal supporters of all movements that tend to uplift the morals and enhance the interests of the county in which they live.
John T. Archer’s brother, Edward H.Archer, is serving efficiently as surveyor general of the port of San Francisco, to which office he was appointed by President Taft and is known as a man of honor and high principles.
Transcribed by Bea Barton
Source: “History of Yolo County, California” by Tom Gregory. Published by the Historic Record Company, Los Angeles, California, 1913, pages 534 – 537.