Butte County

Biographies

 

 

 

 

WILLIAM BIDSWORTH

 

 

 

      WILLIAM BIDSWORTH.--If James Fenimore Cooper, that pen-portrayer of the conditions of life in early colonial days, with its concomitants of exciting Indian Adventure, were living at the present time, he could find ample material for his sketches in the exciting adventures of the early settlers of the Pacific slope.

      William Bidsworth, following the peaceful occupation of stock-raising on Butte Creek, is a descendant of one of the early pioneers of Northern California whose experiences were of the most exciting nature. He is the son of Mrs. Arenia Thankful Carson, nee Lewis, by her first husband, John Bidsworth, who died on Little Dry Creek at the age of forty-one years, leaving a widow and this son, the only child. William was born August 3, 1873, and received his education in the public school and in Mrs. White's school at Chico. He is a well known and very successful rancher, owning two ranches, one of three hundred acres on Butte Creek and another of nine hundred twenty acres at Paradise, devoted largely to stock-raising. He inherits his good judgement and stability of character from his mother, and is a fine specimen of young American manhood. Looking at his manly bearing, the thoughts of the beholder instinctively turn to the tragic story of his mother's capture by the Mill Creek Indians in the year 1863, which is given in detail in the sketch of Mrs. Carson, on another page of this work.

      William Bidsworth has never established domestic ties. He lives with his mother in their cozy home on Butte Creek, and the memories of those early days, when the country was sparsely settled and inhabitants were exposed to the dangers of frontier life, are recalled by Mrs. Carson, who has written a very interesting booklet recounting her experiences during her captivity among the Indians.

 

 

 

 

Transcribed by Sande Beach.

Source: "History of Butte County, Cal.," by George C. Mansfield, Pages 450-451, Historic Record Co, Los Angeles, CA, 1918.

© 2007 Sande Beach.

 

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