Butte County
Biographies
RUFUS HARVEY FIMPLE
RUFUS HARVEY FIMPLE.—An enterprising and successful rancher, who has done much to help develop the agricultural interests of Butte County, is Rufus Harvey Fimple, owner of two hundred acres of splendid land three miles northwest of Durham. His ranch is devoted mainly to the raising of grain. Rufus Harvey Fimple is a son of the late Rufus Randolph Fimple, who was one of the well and favorably known early ranchers of Northern California. He was born in Monongahela County, W. Va., on May 9, 1829. His father, George Fimple, was born in Germany and came to the United States with his parents about 1791, when fourteen years of age. The parents settled near Philadelphia, Pa., afterwards migrating to Ohio, then later moving to West Virginia, and about 1834 they settled in Indiana. George Fimple married Deborah Van Camp, a native of Virginia and the daughter of a soldier of the Revolutionary War. This union was blessed with six children, five sons and one daughter. One of the sons served in the Union Army during the Civil War.
Rufus Randolph Fimple, the father of our subject, was next to the youngest child. He was reared on a farm, and worked hard during the summer season, and attended school only a few months during the winter. By industry and frugality, when he had reached manhood, he had accumulated enough to be the proud possessor of a small farm in Indiana. It was in that state where he was united in marriage with Ellen Clark, of Irish descent, a native of Maryland, born in 1826, but reared in Indiana. Rufus R. Fimple served in the Mexican War in the Fifth Indiana Volunteer Infantry, under Col. James H. Lane. At the close of the war he was honorably discharged and subsequently removed to Illinois and from there to Iowa.
In 1861 they came to California and spent one year on the James Winckler place on the Sacramento River, near Butte City, and in 1862 bought a claim of one hundred acres for one hundred forty dollars from George Eaton. Afterwards, when it was surveyed by the government, Mr. Fimple purchased a full quarter section of land; to this he added one hundred acres at a cost of sixty-two dollars and fifty cents per acres, from Cooper brothers, and one hundred ninety-nine acres at seventy-six dollars an acre, from Mrs. William Hill. He also owned eight hundred acres in Colusa County, which he farmed twenty years, then sold out. In 1888, he purchased three hundred twenty-six acres of land in Oregon, and the following year added one hundred twenty-two acres adjoining. He also invested in town lots at Albany, Ore., all of which have since been disposed of. Mr. Fimple was an active politician and supported the principles of the Democratic platform. He was nominated on that ticket for member of the State Assembly, but defeated by T. H. Barnard by a few votes. He served as a member of the Democratic County Central Committee many years and attended nearly every county convention since 1866. Fraternally he was a prominent member of the Odd Fellows, and he and his wife were members of the Christian Church.
Of the marriage of Mr. and Mrs. Rufus Randolph Fimple, nine children were born, three of whom died in early childhood, and those who grew to maturity were: Thomas Van, who was accidentally killed by the Southern Pacific railroad at Durham in 1914, and who left a widow and one daughter; Delbert Wesley, who was accidentally killed by being thrown from a horse he was riding and died aged thirty-five; LeRoy D., of Durham, who is father of eight children; Leodice J., a twin of LeRoy D., is the widow of William McEnespy and the mother of one son; Rufus Harvey, of this sketch; and Emma L., the widow of J. W. Konning and the mother of one daughter. Rufus R. Fimple died on March 17, 1899, when in his seventieth year. His beloved wife passed away in 1892. Rufus Harvey Fimple was born in Iowa, April 15, 1861, and when a babe of but three weeks his parents started overland, with ox teams, for a long journey to California, and he was just six months old when they arrived in this state. His education was received in the early schools of Butte County, when it was a wilderness. He is a man of sterling integrity and is held in the highest esteem throughout the community where he resides. Mr. Fimple is public-spirited, hospitable, and supports every good movement that has as its aim the upbuilding and development of Butte County. Fraternally he belongs to the Odd Fellows at Durham, is a Past Grand of the Order, and is also a member of the Encampment. Politically he supports the principles of the Democratic party.
Transcribed
by Sharon Walford Yost.
Source: "History of
Butte County, Cal.," by George C. Mansfield, Pages 1187-1188, Historic Record Co, Los Angeles, CA, 1918.
© 2009 Sharon
Walford Yost.
Golden Nugget Library's Butte County Biographies