Butte County
Biographies
JOHN F. DEWSNUP
JOHN F. DEWSNUP.-- The Mormon colony in Gridley, Cal., was practically founded by the late Hiram Dewsnup, and he was often called its father. In partnership with C. L. French, in 1906, he secured an option on seven hundred twenty acres of land lying one mile south of Gridley. The land was bought for eighty dollars an acre, and the colony was established at that time. The first five settlers were the two men above mentioned and O. T. Shirley, George Cole and Samuel Smith. The tract of land was subdivided and sold off to the incoming settlers at no profit to the organizers. In time the Mormon Church was organized at Gridley and it has grown until its membership numbers some seven hundred persons. This is the only colony in this part of the county in which the land is still in the hands of the original purchasers. The Dewsnup family is well represented in the colony by four sons and one daughter of Hiram Dewsnup. During 1907 and 1908 he conducted the Fink Hotel at Gridley. He died in 1911.
John F. Dewsnup, a son of Hiram, was born in Millard County, Utah, May 23, 1879, and received a common-school education, which was supplemented by two years in high school. Since that time he has gained his education by observation and practical application. Farming has been his forte since boyhood, and as he has developed along that line he has given considerable attention to matters pertaining to irrigation, in which he is well posted and has had much experience. In 1897 he removed to Rexburg, Fremont County, Idaho, where he was engaged in raising grain and alfalfa.
Mr. Dewsnup is owner of twenty-four acres in the Mormon colony at Gridley, Cal., which he has developed to a high state of cultivation, and where by intensive methods, he derives a good annual income. He has six hundred peach trees, one hundred thirty prune trees, two and one half acres in alfalfa, a good house and substantial barns and outbuildings suitable for his needs, all developed from what was once a grain field. He is local ditchrider or tender. He has set the example for methods of irrigation, using less water than formerly was used in his district, and with better results. His experience in Idaho and in California has given him a reputation as an authority on irrigation.
Mr. Dewsnup has been identified with all movements for the betterment of local conditions in his adopted county and is a member of the Butte County Council of Defense, and is vice chairman of the Butte County Red Cross. In the Mormon Church circles he stands as a leader, and is one of the two Councilors in the Gridley Branch of Latter Day Saints. As a preacher he is a man of broad ideas, and his sermons are educational and uplifting. Three years of his live were spent in Chicago as a missionary for the Mormon Church. Mr. Dewnup married Louise Spori, a native of Switzerland, and their union has been one of mutual helpfulness.
Transcribed
by Sharon Walford Yost.
Source: "History of
Butte County, Cal.," by George C. Mansfield, Pages 1252-1253, Historic Record Co, Los Angeles, CA, 1918.
© 2009 Sharon
Walford Yost.
Golden Nugget Library's Butte County Biographies