Butte County

Biographies


 

 

 

JOSEPH FRANKLIN ENTLER

 

 

      JOSEPH FRANKLIN ENTLER.--A successful man of Chico, long an eminent California citizen, whose confidence in the superior qualities of his ranch land was confirmed by the action of the United States Government in purchasing a part of his acreage and devoting it to the purposes of the United States Plant Introduction Gardens, is Joseph Franklin Entler, who was born at Shepherdstown, Jefferson County, W. Va., November 10, 1846. His ancestors came from Germany and settled in the Keystone State; and there his grandfather, Daniel Entler, was born. Later, the family removed to Virginia and settled near Shepherdstown. Daniel Entler, who fought on the American side in the War of 1812, was a general business man who had a typical country store with a butcher market, a hotel, and a small stock yard attached.

       Joseph Entler's father was J. P. Entler, a native of Lancaster, Pa., who was brought up in that state and in Virginia, in attendance at the public schools, and according to the Lutheran faith. He succeeded his father in business, and died in Washington, D. C. While in Virginia he had married Miss Nancy Jackson, a native of Jefferson County, W. Va., and the daughter of Stephen Jackson, a pioneer of Scotch descent. Mrs. Entler died in West Virginia, the mother of four boys, among whom Joseph Franklin was the third oldest.

      Brought up and educated at Shepherdstown, Joseph F. Entler joined the Confederate army when only fifteen years old, in the fall of 1862, enlisting in Company E, Second Virginia Infantry. He saw hard, fatiguing service in the Shenandoah Valley and at the second Battle of the Wilderness; and once, while on a scouting expedition, he had his horse shot from under him. He managed to make his way home, but there he was cut off from communication with the Confederates and forced unwillingly to keep out of the conflict for the remainder of the war.

      After the war was over Mr. Entler spent some time in West Virginia, and then put in a year in Maryland, on the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad. He went back to Jefferson County, W. Va., and later visited Virginia, New York and Pennsylvania. On May 9, 1868, he left New York City on the steamer Henry Chauncey for Aspinwall, and crossing the Isthmus, proceeded north on the steamer Colorado for San Francisco, where he landed on June 3. From there he went on to Sacramento by boat, and on June 6, 1868, came by stage to Chico. He worked on a ranch until he could get a start, and in the fall of 1868 rented a farm on the Sacramento River, where he put in a grain crop on some two hundred fifty acres, running two teams to carry the work successfully through. He also used a header and a thresher. In the fall of 1869, however, he started for San Diego, but got no further than Ventura, where he farmed for a couple of years. He had a couple of claims of a hundred sixty acres each, and so took a partner, with whom he farmed the land in 1870-1871; but striking two successive dry years, he had a total failure in his crop and lost every dollar that he had. Thereupon he returned to Chico, and went to work on a farm, and the first eighty dollars that he made he sent back to Ventura County to straighten out his affairs.

      With John Kennedy, Mr. Entler put up a store at Princeton, Colusa County, and opened the same with a small stock of goods; and this they ran until it was shown that a venture could not be a success there, when they sold out and returned to Chico. Mr. Entler then entered the employ of General Bidwell on his famous ranch.

      In the fall of 1871, Mr. Entler was married to Miss Susan Henshaw, a native of Missouri, and the daughter of Washington Henshaw, a pioneer of 1851, who crossed the plains to California, and in 1853 settled as a farmer near Chico.

      Mr. Entler then bought a farm, and engaged in farming with Marian Hoyle, later buying him out. His wife continued with the grain-raising and the stock business, while he ran a stage line to Big Meadows and hauled lumber and freight. He had sixteen to eighteen horses besides his stage teams, and maintained an old-time stable that was worth inspecting. His ranch included nine hundred eighty-five acres, all of which but twenty acres was tillable. There Mr. Entler ran a garden, which was rather notable in its time. Mr. Henshaw had put in the ditch running from Middle Butte to the middle of Little Butte Creek, and he also set out one of the first orchards and rented land for the gardens.

      In 1903, Mr. Entler leased out his farm; and in February, 1904, he moved to Chico, where he bought the home in which he now resides. He sold eighty-five and a half acres of the property to the United States Government for a plant introduction garden.

      Mr. Entler was married, at Chico, in 1878, for the second time, his bride being Miss Mary E. Gilley, a native of Washington, Ind., and the daughter of William Gilley, who was born in North Carolina, of English descent, and died in Indiana. Her mother had been Sarah J. Helphinstine, a native of Virginia, of a Southern family, and the mother of nine children, only one of whom--the second youngest--Mrs. Entler, is now living. The latter came to Chico in 1871. Now Mr. Entler, retired from active labors, devotes a part of his time to a general supervision of his private interests.

      By his first marriage, Mr. Entler had four children, two of whom grew to maturity. Frank died at thirty-one years of age, and Clarence resides in Oakland. Through his second marriage, five children were born, but only one grew up--Mary Entler, now Mrs. Harry Roth, of Chico, and the mother of one child, Harry Entler. Both Mr. and Mrs. Entler belong to the Presbyterian Church, and are members of the Order of the Eastern Star.

      Mr. Entler is a Democrat. He is interested in education, and was for some time school trustee in the York school district. Fraternally, he was made a Mason in Chico Lodge, No. 111, F. & A. M.; and he also belongs to Chico Chapter, No. 42, R. A. M.; Chico Commandery, No. 12, K. T.; and Islam Temple, A. A. O. N. M. S., of San Francisco. He is a member of the Chico Lodge, No. 113, I. O. O. F., in which he is a Past Grand, and also of the Encampment and the Canton, where he has become a Past Lieutenant.

 

 

Transcribed by Sande Beach.

Source: "History of Butte County, Cal.," by George C. Mansfield, Pages 456-458, Historic Record Co, Los Angeles, CA, 1918.


© 2007 Sande Beach.

 

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