FRED EDWARD FAUL

Butte County

Biographies

FRED EDWARD FAUL

FRED EDWARD FAUL.--A native son who, through exceptional energy and by close application to hard work in earlier years, has acquired a competency and now lives in the quiet enjoyment of life, cheered by the esteem and good-will of his fellow citizens, is Fred Edward Faul, who was born in Marysville, the son of Jacob Faul, a native of New York State. The father was a sailor; and, after his marriage in New York to Caroline Ruch, also a New Yorker, he took ship alone for California by the way of Cape Horn, arriving at San Francisco in 1855, when he quit the sea and went to Sacramento, where he teamed for a while before coming to Marysville, where he worked in the Star Flour Mills. Two years later his wife joined him also coming around the Horn, bringing her two children, Louise and Charles H.; and on the outskirts of Marysville they set up their home, a side issue of which was a small herd of cows. One evening, while Mrs. Faul was milking, a black cow as big as an ox appeared and, on examination, she found that the poor animal was in dire need of being milked, having evidently lost her calf several days before. The cow proved a splendid animal, and as there was no claimant for her they kept her until about 1863, when she died. At the same time a sheep-man encamped near there, who could not care for some of his motherless lambs; so he drove them to the yard of Mrs. Faul, who cared for them and raised them. In this manner, the Faul family got their start in sheep-raising.

After working in the flour mill for a while Jacob Faul bought a team and engaged in hauling vegetables into the mountains to sell to the miners. He drove two large white horses, which on one occasion were stolen by Spaniards, and under such circumstances that it was some time before found the thieves at Stockton. The thieves had painted them to resemble “pintos,” and had driven them hard, in order to escape with their prize. The pair of rascals being caught red-handed, they were sent up for life. Mr. Faul lived for five months on the “Cap” Jackson Ranch, known as the Frieseleben, in the vicinity of which is a lake. On one occasion, to set some tires by letting them soak in water, he backed the wagon to the edge of the lake, unhooked the team, and then backed the vehicle a little further. His last move cost him the knowledge of an interesting physical fact—that at this point no one has ever yet found a bottom to the lake; the wagon went down with a roar, and that was the last he ever saw of it.

On the parents’ removal back to Marysville, their twin boys, Fred Edward and Frank G., were born, on May 22, 1859; and on the eleventh day of the following December, the pioneer again shifted his family and possessions, this time moving to the Central House district, where he located one hundred sixty acres and, with aid of only an ax, a saw and a hammer, built a house, providing a humble but rather comfortable dwelling of four rooms. Thirteen years later, he built a new house which is still standing. There he engaged in farming, teaming and stock-raising, continuing in the sheep business which was started from Mrs. Faul’s lambs raised on cow’s milk.

About 1880, Jacob Faul died near Oroville, while Mrs. Faul died at Pacific Grove, on November 3, 1914, in her seventy-second year. Five children had blessed their union: Louise, Mrs. Buckley, who died in San Jose, on November 15, 1915; Charles H., formerly a partner of Faul Brothers but now retired, lives at Pacific Grove; Fred E. and his twin brother, Frank G.; and Clara, who is Mrs. Mehl, of Pacific Grove.

While yet a lad, Fred E. Faul, with Frank, learned the sheep business, meanwhile attending the local school taught by Kate Hutchins, now Mrs. S.S. Boynton of Oroville. They carried out a rather unique program. One of the twins would herd sheep a week and would then attend school, while the other twin took his place; and thus by alternating they succeeded in meeting all the requirements of state and parental law. They proved quite as mischievous as the next one, and their resemblance to each other caused numerous situations quite perplexing to the school ma’am—the beginning of a series of similar experiences in the great world in which the brothers moved. Fred was nearly always late at school, but Frank, who was sometimes credited with tardiness, was more punctual.

Notwithstanding this proneness to mischief, Fred made himself generally useful from a boy, and at fifteen he went to work pitching from a header-wagon, and then feeding a thresher and baling hay. The Faul boys, in fact, took care of the family sheep and thus grew into the business; and later they associated themselves as Faul Brothers, and ran sheep and hogs, and raised grain and hay. They bought land adjoining the old home, paying seven dollars and fifty cents an acre for railroad land and two dollars and fifty cents for school lands, and owned four hundred forty acres in what is now the site of the Watt Colony. The sale to the company that laid that enterprising district was made in 1912, and the acreage is now planted to fruit and rice.

In 1883, Fred and Frank sold their sheep and dissolved partnership. Our subject then located in Oroville and purchased the John Sparks place of seventeen acres. He raised alfalfa and engaged in dairying, retailing the milk in Oroville. He had good cows, fed them well, and so built up an excellent family trade. Later, leasing out the land for dredging purposes, he disposed of his dairy; and when the land had been dredged, he sold the rocks and land, the last acre and a quarter of the land being purchased by the Truckee Lumber Company for a mill site. He worked hard in his time, and is now enjoying a comfortable competency, residing with his good wife at 1107 High Street, in the residence he himself built in 1902.

Mr. Faul was married at the old home place, on July 14, 1878, to Miss Lena Gambrel, who was born at Prairie House, Butte County, the daughter of Smith Gambrel, a native of old Virginia, who crossed the plains to California, and was married at Prairie House to Miss Sarah Onyett, a native of Indiana, of English descent. Mrs. Gambrel’s father, John Onyett, was born in England. He came to Indiana with his wife, who was Amy Gilbert; and in 1852 they crossed the plains with ox teams to California and located at Prairie House, Butte County. There he kept a hotel and ran a stage; and later he owned a ranch on Feather River, where, in the sixties, he died, at the age of seventy-six years.

In the fall of 1863, Mr. and Mrs. Gambrel rode on horseback to Round Valley. Mrs. Gambrel was the first white woman to enter the valley. The Indians were hostile, and troops were stationed there. They located one hundred sixty acres and engaged in stock-raising. Mr. Gambrel died in Nevada about 1876. Mrs. Gambrel was later married to John O’Neil; and she died in Ukiah, in January, 1906. Five children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Gambrel: Lena, who is Mrs. Fred Faul; Edward, a hop-grower at Largo in Mendocino County; Charles, who resides in Oroville; Smith, who lives at Oro Vista; Mary Ann, who is Mrs. Frank Faul, and who has her home at Oroville. From the marriage Mrs. Gambrel and Mr. O’Neil three children were born: May, who is Mrs. Edsall, of Bly, Ore.; Esther, who is Mrs. McLaughlin, of Ukiah; and William P., who lives down on the Bay.

Mrs. Fred Faul was educated at Covelo, in Mendocino County, and in her fifteenth year came to Butte County, where she married Mr. Faul. They have four children: Alvin, who is proprietor of the Deer Horn Barber Shop at Oroville and is married to Miss Maude Hutchinson of that city, and who is a Mason and an Odd Fellow; Charles, who is a Lieutenant in the Sixty-second Infantry, United States Army, and is serving with the American Expeditionary Forces over seas; Irene, who died when two and a half years old; and Clarence, who died in his sixteenth month.

Mr. Faul is a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and the Encampment, at Oroville, and of the Woodmen of the World. Mrs. Faul is a member of the Rebekahs, of which she is a Past Noble Grand, and is also a past officer of the Women of Woodcraft. A Republican in matters of national political import, Mr. Faul was under-sheriff and jailer under J. B. Webber.

The exact resemblance of the twins to each other has been the cause, as already intimated, of many amusing situations, the one brother being often mistaken for the other. Once a Mr. Hill offered to pay Fred nine hundred fifty dollars that he owed Frank, and was astounded when the latter would not accept the money. Mr. Shippee had selected Frank to take charge of his sheep and, meeting Fred in town, accused him of absenting himself from the ranch and so neglecting his charge; and Goldstein, the merchant, who boasted that he could not be fooled, was once made the butt of one of Fred’s best jokes.

Mr. and Mrs. Faul have a summer home at Big Meadows, and there they often entertain the most favored of their many friends and well-wishers.

Transcribed by Roseann Kerby.

Source: "History of Butte County, Cal.," by George C. Mansfield, Pages 1067-1069, Historic Record Co, Los Angeles, CA, 1918.

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