Butte County
Biographies
JOHN Q. COLM
JOHN Q. COLM. —A native son who is an exceedingly enterprising stockman and who, with his good wife enjoys a deserved popularity due to amiability and other personal qualities is John Q. Colm, who was born in Oroville, in August , 1874. His father, John Colm, was a native of Scotland, who came to California when a young man, crossing the plains in 1852 or 1853. He drove cattle all the way, and after his arrival engaged in the stock business here, and afterwards in Oregon for a time, and then again in Butte County. He bought a ranch near Oroville, containing one thousand acres, and for some years raised cattle and sheep. In August, 1901, he died. Mrs. Colm, the mother of John Q. Colm, was Annie McGuire before her marriage. She was a native of Ireland, and early came to Boston with her parents, in which city she was reared and educated. Coming to California, she was married at Oroville; and she now resides at Nelson, the mother of seven children. William lives at Bakersfield; Jennie, who was Mrs. Rafe Snyder, died in Albany, Ore.; Clara is Mrs. Riley of Oroville; Frank is a stockman of Chico; Samuel is a stockman of Durham; and Jesse lives in Bakersfield.
Brought up on a farm, John Q. Colm was educated in the public schools, after which he took up stock-raising under the direction of his father, with whom he continued, later becoming his partner. On the death of his father he engaged in business for himself, opening a livery stable at Chico, known as the Union Livery, situated at the corner of Fifth and Main, and extending back to Broadway. After a while he sold this business and removed to Oroville, where he conducted the Atkins Stables in partnership with his brother-in-law, L. F. Riley, the firm being known at Colm and Riley. At the end of two years he sold out to engage in the stock business near Durham; and there, on the Pratt Grant, he raised cattle for five years. He established the brand of a spade on the left hip, and during this time he also began in the raising of sheep. Attaining both reputation and consequent prosperity, Mr. Colm moved his headquarters into Chico, where he resided until in September, 1917, when he removed to near Durham, continuing his stock business in the county. He still runs cattle and sheep, but makes a specialty of buying and selling the same, shipping his stock to Sacramento, San Francisco, Seattle and Portland, and sending a considerable number of cattle and sheep north for the Alaska trade. He also has a valuable acreage in Butte County, where he does well in raising grain.
On June 8, 1905, Mr. Colm was married near Durham, Butte County, to Miss Minnie Burdick, who was born in that vicinity, the daughter of Cyrenus J. Burdick, a native of Hanover, Jackson County, Mich. Her grandfather was Joshua Burdick, a New Yorker by birth, who settled in Michigan. Her father crossed the plains with ox-teams to California, and in 1865 was married to Sarah A. Dibble, also a native of Michigan, and the daughter of Ambrose M. Dibble, who came to California in 1849 by way of Cape Horn. He went to the mines, and then farmed at Marysville, and later at Durham, and in 1862 returned to Michigan to bring out his family across the plains. After again farming at Durham, he removed to Burns, in eastern Oregon, to engage in the stock business; and there he died, in 1887. C. J. Burdick bought the Dibble place and added to it until he had eleven hundred acres. On October 9, 1916, he died at the age of seventy-nine, a highly esteemed member of the Odd Fellows. Mrs. Burdick resides at the old home, the mother of seven children, four of whom grew up and are living. Besides Mrs. Colm, there are Mrs. Ella Franklin, of Durham; Mrs. Jessie Howard, who lives near her; and Mrs. Leila Tyler, of the same place. Mrs. Colm was educated at the public school and a York’s Normal Academy and Business Institute, at Stockton; and after graduating she taught school for four years in Butte County. She has two children, Melba and Leland. She belongs to the Rebekahs, and also to the Annie K. Bidwell Parlor of the Native Daughters of the Golden West. Mr. Colm is a loyal and influential Republican. Fraternally, he is a member of the Native Sons, Elks, and Eagles, all of Chico.
Transcribed
by Joyce & David Rugeroni.
Source: "History of
Butte County, Cal.," by George C. Mansfield, Pages 796-797, Historic Record Co, Los Angeles, CA, 1918.
© 2008 Joyce & David Rugeroni.
Golden Nugget Library's Butte County Biographies