Butte County
Biographies
JOHN CUNNINGHAM EICHER
JOHN CUNNINGHAM EICHER.--A pioneer who has experienced much hard work and various business and personal reverses in order to arrive at the goal he set for himself, but who has the genuine satisfaction of knowing that in reaching that goal he enjoys the good-will and esteem of his many fellow citizens and friends, is John Cunningham Eicher, who came to California in the beginning of the seventies, and two years later arrived in Butte County. He was born on January 3, 1847, in Frostburg, near Cumberland City, Maryland, the son of Samuel N. Eicher, a native of Fayette County, Pa. Grandfather Peter Eicher was also born in Pennsylvania, and was a farmer in Samuel’s birthplace.
After his marriage Samuel Eicher removed to Frostburg, and in 1853 returned to Fayette, where he had a blacksmith shop. After that he set up his forge in Springfield, Pa, then at Connellsville, next to a point west of Loudonville, Ohio. From there he removed to Bucyrus, Crawford County, Ohio, where he worked as a blacksmith for a while, and then took up farming and the running of a thresher, at which work he continued until 1870.
In that year Mr. Eicher brought his family to California, arriving in January, and at Stockton he opened a blacksmith shop and horse-shoeing place with his brother, John, and soon had all the shoeing he could do at five dollars a horse. In this work he prospered until his back gave out, when he engaged in farming near Woodbridge, and in November of 1872 the family came north to Butte County to undertake farming here. Mr. Eicher preempted a hundred sixty acres, and there he resided as long as he was able to work, and even after he had retired; dying at the home of his son, John, at the age of eighty-three years and five months.
Mrs. Eicher was Miss Sarah Cunningham before her marriage, and was a native of Somerset County, Pa., and the daughter of James Cunningham, a farmer highly esteemed in that section. She passed away in Butte County, at the age of seventy-two, the mother of eight children, of whom six are still living.
John Cunningham Eicher was the oldest child in the family, and resided in Maryland until his sixth year, and in Pennsylvania until he had reached the age of twelve. Then he came to Ohio, and continued his studies at the public school there. As a valued helper to his father, he remained at home until he had reached his majority and for one year more, when he began to push out in the world for himself.
It was then, in Ohio, that he married Miss Almirah Walter, a native of that state, and having taken that important step, he continued to farm and to thresh in partnership with his father. In 1870, he swung loose from his former moorings and came to California; and at Stockton he worked for three years as a farm hand on the ranch of Ezra Fisk. He was naturally a horse-man, fond of good steeds and handled them from boyhood with ease and proficiency; and in his western ranch work he found this knowledge of horses of great value to both his employer and himself.
Mr. Eicher continued with the Fisk Ranch until November, 1872, when he came to Butte County and preempted a hundred sixty acres near Biggs, where he was among the first to attempt to raise grain on the red lands. He made a real success of it, however, and had such good crops that his experiment attracted wide attention. When he first came there he had only two hundred fifty dollars in hand, no stable, no improvements, no hay or grain, and his domestic outfit consisted of his two children, two horses, and a small cabin. With genuine pioneer energy he went to work and soon had effected a transformation. He went to the mountains, hauled lumber, and built a small barn; he also hauled up a few loads of straw and bought a few sacks of wheat, and provided for his two horses until he could take the next step.
In the meantime he went to work for others, driving plow teams along the river for Major Biggs and Martin Wordsworth, on the old Henshaw ranch, and in their employ he continued until he had saved up enough to buy a wagon and to engage in teaming. All the time that he did not work on the ranch he expended in putting in a small crop, and in this way he continued until 1876.
In September of the Centennial year he sold out all the loose stock, proved up on the land, and paid for it; and then he rented it to Major Biggs, and went East for about eighteen months to Ohio, where his wife’s parents wished her to reside. But at the end of the year and a half his wife died of pneumonia, leaving three children, the last a little girl three days old. He remained on the old family farm until 1881, when he brought the children back to California, returning to his own ranch. While here he had applied for a quarter section of railroad land which was not in the market, and during the time when he was away it came on the market, and some neighbors jumped it; but at the trial of the case in San Francisco where Mr. Eicher was represented by Major Biggs, who had a power of attorney, the land office awarded the property to Mr. Eicher.
On his return to California he had three hundred twenty acres, which he farmed till 1891, when he rented his ranch and located at Oroville, at that time securing his present place, which he leased from month to month until 1913. He engaged in the livery, feed and stable business, and had a well-known corral until he sold out and removed to San Francisco, where he resided until June, 1915, when he bought back his old business and continued to manage his livery and feed stables. About 1912, he sold his ranch.
Mr. Eicher had always endeavored to attain a high standard in whatever he undertook, and for some time he raised fine horses. He even had several of them on the track, and among these was Hobo, the well-known pacer. The latter had a pedigree worth knowing, for Wilkes had trained him and given him a 2:14 record. He had reached, however, the time of 2:9 when he was sold, and had even paced in to 2:06. Mr. Eicher also had a number of good trotters in his stables.
This well-known pioneer was married for the third time. Three children were born of his first marriage; Frances Armeda, Mrs. William Swinney, of Oroville; Jessie May, Mrs. Ben F. Reppard, of Thermalito; and Almira A., Mrs. Isaac McGuffin, of Richmond. His second marriage took place in Ohio, when he was joined to Miss Ida Chandler, who died in California in 1882, the mother of one son, Oscar, now deceased. The present Mrs. Eicher was Mrs. Martha Emma Allen before her marriage, a native of Tennessee; and by her he has one son, Valda C., who resides in San Francisco, and was head of the billing department of D. N. and E. Walter Company, until his enlistment for service in the United States Marines. He attended the Officers’ Reserve Training School at Quantico, Va., in 1918, won his commission as Second Lieutenant, and received orders for duty in the West Indies.
A
Republican in political matters of national moment, Mr. Eicher is also
associated with Oroville Lodge, No. 59, I. O. O. F., and is also a member of
the Rebekahs and the Foresters of America.
Transcribed by Vicky
Walker, 2/20/08.
Source: "History of
Butte County, Cal.," by George C. Mansfield, Pages 756-758, Historic Record Co, Los Angeles, CA, 1918.
© 2008 Vicky
Walker.
Golden Nugget Library's Butte County Biographies