Butte County
Biographies
WILLIAM D. BURLESON
WILLIAM D. BURLESON.—A well-known and influential newspaper man, with a
due appreciation of the high mission of twentieth century journalism, as well
as a stimulating regard for the ethics of his profession, is William D.
Burleson, the editor and proprietor of the “Gridley Herald,” a live
semi-weekly, contributing its full share to the development of this part of
Butte County. Born in Jackson County, Mich., March 25, 1870, he was
educated in his native state, and while still attending high school learned to
set type and to master the intricate details of a printing office. In 1890,
with a partner he started the “Dundee Hawkeye,” publishing the same at Dundee,
Ill.; but two years later he sold out his interest, and removing to Hillsdale
County, Mich., started the “North Adams Advocate,” managing it till 1897.
In that year he came to California, and,
on October 1, located at Gridley, where he took the editorship of the
Gridley Publishing Company, proprietors of the “Gridley Herald,” which was then
a weekly. He was given full charge of the newspaper, and in 1908 he bought the
plant and became sole owner.
For the past twenty years Mr. Burleson has
directed the policies of this enterprising journal, and since coming to own it
he has greatly enlarged and modernized the “Herald’s” outfit. He has installed
a linotype machine, cylinder presses and other features of a first-class job
and newspaper plant, and he has brought the circulation of the paper to that point
that it is now a semi-weekly. In short, he has as well equipped an
establishment as that of any newspaper in a town of the size of Gridley in the
state. His policies have been along Progressive lines, and since the birth of
that organization he has supported the Progressives in California.
During his residence in Gridley, Mr.
Burleson has also carried on a growing and profitable real estate business, and
in this field, as well as in that of the aggressive journalist,
he has had an active part in the development of the town on broad and
substantial lines. He assisted in the sale of the subdivisions of the Irrigated
Land Company of California and helped establish twelve colonies and consummate
the sale of over six thousand acres of farm land. He has thus been the direct
means of bringing many new settlers to Butte County.
Mr. Burleson was twice married, his first
wife dying in 1909. His second marriage occurred in 1911, when he was joined in
wedlock to Mrs. Jessie V. Christian, whose maiden name was
Hobson. Four children were born of his first union, as follows: Ambrose is with
the State Engineering Department at Sacramento; Charles R. is in the
Aviation Department of the United States Army; Leone is a graduate of the
Gridley High School, Class of '17; and the youngest is Dorothy. Before her
second marriage Mrs. Burleson was a teacher in the Gridley schools, and
she had two sons by her former marriage: Bounds, sixteen years of age, and
Russell Christian, one year younger.
Transcribed by Marie Hassard
16 July 2009.
Source:
"History of Butte County, Cal.," by George C. Mansfield, Page 1218, Historic Record Co, Los
Angeles, CA, 1918.
© 2009 Marie Hassard.
Golden Nugget Library's
Butte County Biographies