Butte County
Biographies
CHARLES HENRY CAMPER
CHARLES HENRY CAMPER.--No one familiar
with the high and eminently satisfactory state to which Mr. Charles Henry
Camper, the popular superintendent of city schools, has brought the school
system of Chico, will be surprised
to learn that he has had a remarkable career. Born on the Indiana Ranch, in
Yuba County, on February 11, 1872, he is the son of Lewis S. Camper, a native
of West Virginia, who moved to South Bend, Ind., and there learned the
machinist's trade, his fellow apprentice at the adjoining bench being
Studebaker, now so famous. In 1852, when he was nineteen, Lewis Camper crossed
the great plains with his brother, Henry W., a
wheelwright, driving their ox teams to the Yuba and its tributaries, where they
mined. After that he established himself as a blacksmith at Indiana Ranch, and
later at Dobbins, three miles distant; and when hydraulic mining was stopped,
he moved his shop. In 1884, he located at Chico,
his brother having preceeded
him as early as 1872; and together the brothers continued until the death of
Lewis in 1904, when he was about seventy-two. Henry W. Camper finally sold out
and retired; and he now resides in Chico,
aged ninety years.
Twelve
children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Lewis Camper. Eleven grew up, and five girls
and four boys are living. Lulu resides in Chico; Emma, Mrs. Durgin,
lives at Altaville, in Calaveras County; Ollie, Mrs.
E. W. Tuck, and Ruby, Mrs. Albright, are of Chico; Ella is a teacher in the
Chico schools; Frank L. is a dredge master at Hammonton; William is in business
in Alameda; and Frederick is with the Pacific Gas and Electric Company, at the
De Sabla power plant.
Brought
up at the Indiana Ranch until he was twelve years of age, Charles Henry Camper
attended the public schools, and in 1884 came to Chico,
where he completed the grammar and high school courses, and then entered the
Chico State Normal. He matriculated at its organization and graduated a member
of the first full class of three years, receiving his diploma in 1892. For two
years he was principal of the Orland school; and then,
in 1894, he entered Leland Stanford
University and followed courses
there, including those of the summer schools in 1896-1897 and 1897-1898. In
1895 he began teaching in Chico, in
the grammar school, and in 1898 was supervising principal of schools. In 1902,
the Chico High School
was organized; and to give it all the help that was possible in the earlier and
more difficult stages there, Mr. Camper taught history and algebra for a while.
In
1906, the office of superintendent of schools was created, and the only logical
candidate being Mr. Camper, he was elected the first city superintendent; and
that office he has held ever since. In 1909, the State Normal training school
system was affiliated with the city system; and from that date Mr. Camper has
been a member of the Normal School faculty. His department in the Normal
is that which has to do with school administration and school law.
As
might be expected, the school system of Chico has grown
with the town, and thus the school superintency here
is a post of responsibility and influence for good quite equal to that of any
other town of the same size in all California,
and in some respects, superior to others. In 1898, when Mr. Camper became supervising
principal, there were two schoolhouses; now the town has eight elementary
schools and one high school. Mr. Camper, therefore, has helped to build up the
school system of the city very materially. The attendance, also, has increased.
In the year referred to, there were five hundred pupils and sixteen teachers in
the Chico schools; now there are
more than two thousand one hundred fifty pupils, and sixty-eight teachers.
For
sixteen years Mr. Camper was a member of the County
Board of Education, or until his
other duties were too great to attend to those of the county schools; and this
was a longer period than that of any other member. He was also chairman of the
county board. He is an exempt fireman, belonging to Engine Company No. 1.
Politically he is a Republican. Aside from the problems of education, Mr.
Camper is interested in horticulture, and has already set out fourteen acres to
prunes and almonds near Chico.
Chico
witnessed the marriage of its favorite schoolmaster to Miss Clara M. Tuck, a native
of Sycamore, Ill., and now the mother of three children:
Florence, a graduate of the Chico
High School, Class of 1918; Alice,
a highschool student; and Robert, in the grammar
school. Both Mr. and Mrs. Camper are members of the First
Methodist Church,
where for years he has been a trustee, and where he was financial secretary
when the church and parsonage were being constructed. Mr. Camper is a Mason, a
Past Master of Chico Lodge, No. 111, F. & A. M.; and with Mrs. Camper he is
a member of Josephine Chapter, No. 104, O. E. S., in which he is a Past Patron.
Transcribed by Sande Beach.
Source: "History of
Butte County, Cal.," by George C. Mansfield, Pages 676-678, Historic Record Co, Los Angeles, CA, 1918.
© 2008 Sande Beach.
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