Butte County
Biographies
MRS. CHARLES
FORTIER
MRS. CHARLES FORTIER.—A native daughter of the state, Mrs. Fortier
comes of an old pioneer family, both as to residence in California,
and also as pioneers of the Colonial days of American history, her progenitors,
the St. Louis family, being one of the early French
families to settle in Montreal, Canada,
and thence removing to the United States. Great virility and longevity have
characterized this family, Mrs. Fortier’s uncle, Charles St. Louis, having
lived to the venerable age of one hundred three years. She is a great-granddaughter of John St.
Louis, after whom the city of St. Louis, Mo.,
was named; a granddaughter of John St. Louis, and daughter of Edward St. Louis,
both pioneers of Yolo County, Cal. Mrs. Fortier’s father was married, in Missouri,
to Miss Marcella Jack, a native of Virginia, and they
became the parents of nine children, three born in Missouri
and six in Yolo County. Charles St. Louis, an uncle, came from St.
Louis to California in 1847; returning to St. Louis, he induced Edward St.
Louis, father and son, and their families, to come west with him, in 1852,
making the journey in a train of ox teams and taking six months to cross the
plains. On their arrival the families
settled in Yolo County,
where Mrs. Fortier’s father became the owner of a farm near Cacheville, passing
the remainder of his life there until his death, at seventy-nine years of age.
Mrs. Fortier was born and reared on her
father’s farm in Yolo County,
and when seventeen years of age married Charles Fortier. After their marriage they rented farms in
Yolo, and other Sacramento Valley counties, until 1910, when they came to Butte
County, and Mr. Fortier bought the home ranch of two hundred forty acres on the
Dayton road, seven miles south of Chico, where his widow now resides, with her
family and where she is successfully farming the land, with the aid of two of
her sons, Andrew S. and Justin.
Mr. and Mrs. Fortier became the parents of
twelve children, as follows: Charles Ignatius, a machinist and farmer of
Stockton, Cal, who married Miss Minnie Soeth, of Glenn County, they have one
child Aeldred; Andrew Sebastian, engineer and farmer, married Miss Laura Bell
of New Mexico, and they have a son, Charles Francis; Edward, who died when
fifteen years of age; Valeta, who married Aleid Girard of Willows, they have
six children, Roma, Alberta, Hilry, Alvin, Adrian, and Laura; Mary, now Mrs.
Joseph Girard of Chico, who has seven children, Marcella, Alphonse, Verker,
Richard, Veronica, Aloysios, and Leo; Justin, an engineer and farmer, who
married Miss Beatrice Collins of Oregon; Walter, who died aged seven; Ella, the
wife of Forward S. Boucher, and who has two children, Norma and Eleanor; Ora,
who died aged thirteen; Carmel, a trained nurse residing in Oakland; Leo, who
died aged two years; and Herman, an engineer employed with the Holt
Manufacturing Company.
Mr. Fortier was a native of Montreal,
Canada, where he passed his boyhood,
coming to California when
eighteen years old. His death occurred
at the home place in 1913, aged fifty-eight years, leaving his family and many
devoted friends to mourn his passing, his excellent qualities of mind and
character having endeared him to all.
Transcribed 4-25-08 Marilyn R. Pankey.
Source: "History of
Butte County, Cal.," by George C. Mansfield, Page 901, Historic Record Co, Los Angeles, CA, 1918.
©
2008 Marilyn
R. Pankey.
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