Yuba County
Biographies
L. F. MILLER
Mr. Miller is a native Californian, born in Forest City, Sierra County, October 9, 1878, the youngest of four children in the family of George and Emily (Knapp) Miller. George Miller was a native of Germany, and entered the German Army at the age of sixteen, serving three years and six months, after which he came to America, direct to Marysville, Cal. He learned the butcher’s trade and followed that business twelve years in Yuba and Sierra Counties. Then, selling out his business at Forest City, he engaged in stock-raising in the Yuba foot-hills. His death occurred on July 4, 1905. Emily (Knapp) Miller came to California from Ohio and taught school at Goodyear Bar prior to her marriage. Three children survive in the family.
L. F. Miller was closely associated with his father in his stock-raising enterprises, and conducted the business for his mother for two years after his father’s death. In 1910 he bought out the Browns Valley Mercantile Company, becoming associated as joint owner with W. R. Hendricks; and after four years he sold out his interests to the latter. The development of land through irrigation was of great interest to Mr. Miller, and for four years he acted as superintendent of the Browns Valley Irrigation District, from 1914 to 1918. Then for four years he was in the employ of the Pacific Gold Dredge Company, on the Yuba River; and now he is with the Yuba Consolidated Goldfield Company at Hammonton.
The marriage of Mr. Miller, which occurred near Browns Valley in 1900, united him with Miss Flora Gleason, born on the Gleason ranch, the daughter of William E. and Phoebe (Cartwright) Gleason, pioneer settlers of Yuba County. Two children came to brighten the Miller household, Clyde and Nadine. During his different activities, Mr. Miller has always maintained his home at Browns Valley, and has taken an active interest in all community affairs, giving liberally of his time and means to improve his district. He is a stockholder in the Browns Valley Improvement Club.
History of Yuba and Sutter Counties, Historic Record Company, Los Angeles, 1924
p. 590-593
WILLIAM M. CONNARN
An efficient executive, well-posted as to his own section, and enjoying valuable associations in other parts of the Golden State, which enable him the better to advance the best interests of Yuba County, is William M. Connarn, the popular secretary of the Chamber of Commerce. He was born in West Dummerston, Vt., on October 19, 1883, the son of Patrick Connarn, now deceased, a railroad man long respected for his ability, and for his dependability and honesty of character.
William Connarn went through both the grammar and the high school of his locality, and then engaged in newspaper work, choosing the advertising section of the business management, and following that for twenty years. He came out to California in 1901, and was employed awhile in Los Angeles in the same department of newspaper advertising; and on July 15, 1921, he came to Marysville.
Few men could be found better equipped than Mr. Connarn for the peculiar duties and varied responsibilities of Chamber of Commerce work, a work always assuming new forms and presenting new problems, each of more or less vital concern to the community’s growth and prosperity; and Marysville and Yuba County are to be congratulated on their choice of a representative to fill this difficult post.
In October, 1920, Mr. Connarn was married to Miss Pearl E. Lovergreen, a popular lady of Illinois; and they have one child, named Billy M. Mr. Connarn is a Mason of the third degree, and is affiliated with the Sciots.
History of Yuba and Sutter Counties, Historic Record Company, Los Angeles, 1924
p. 594
ROY HENRY LEWIS
An enterprising rancher who has done much toward the development of the Golden State is Roy Henry Lewis, who was born November 12, 1888, at Sacramento, Cal., the son of William V. and Rose (Schaefer) Lewis. His father was born on the ocean when his parents were en route from Norway to the United States. William V. Lewis’ parents settled in Minnesota in 1863, and about 1883 he came to Sacramento, Cal., and engaged in contracting and street-paving. His wife was a native of the Golden State, born in Sacramento, and passed away in 1919. They were the parents of two children: Blanch E., Mrs. Norman, of Rayville, La.; and Roy Henry, the subject of this sketch.
Roy Henry Lewis attended grammar and high school in Sacramento, and in 1907 started out for himself. He became a clerk in the California National Bank, at Sacramento, where he was employed for six years. He then went to Louisiana and worked for his brother-in-law on a ranch thirty miles east of Monroe, La. In 1914 he came to Yuba County, and a year later he purchased fifty acres of open land in the Oakley tract, on and one-half miles northwest of Wheatland, which he has developed and devoted to French prunes, alfalfa, and the raising of poultry.
On October 14, 1916, at Marysville, Cal., Roy Henry Lewis was united in marriage to Miss Hazel Hollingshead, who was born at Wheatland, the daughter of Joseph E. and Elizabeth (Gardner) Hollingshead, natives of Utah and Wheatland, Cal., respectively. Her grandfather Gardner was one of the very early pioneers who came to the Golden State. Hazel Hollingshead was educated at the Wheatland and Marysville public schools, and also attended the San Jose State Normal, after which she taught school in Yuba County previous to her marriage. Mr. and Mrs. Lewis are the parents of three children: Clay A., Clyda Rose, and Virginia Ellen. Mr. Lewis is a stanch Republican. Fraternally, he is a member of Sutter Lodge No. 100, I.O.O.F., of Wheatland, of which he is a Past Grand; and is also a member of Nicolaus Lodge No. 129, F. & A.M., Wheatland, in which he is Senior Warden. Mrs. Lewis is a member of Wheatland Chapter No. 48, Order of the Eastern Star.
History of Yuba and Sutter Counties, Historic Record Company, Los Angeles, 1924
p. 594