Butte County
Biographies
MRS. MARY S. GEBHART
MRS. MARY S. GETHART.--As the owner of two hundred valuable acres, the original Boulware homestead, near Biggs, Mrs. Mary S. Gebhart is making a decided success of ranching. She was born in Daviess County, Mo., a daughter of Christopher Myers, a native of Ohio. Her mother was Olive Cole, also a native of Ohio, who married Mr. Myers in Missouri. They became parents of nine children.
Mary S. Myers was reared in Daviess County and attended the public schools, and there she was married to Thomas Jefferson Gebhart. He was a native of Michigan, attended the public schools, and reared to farm life. After their marriage they farmed in Daviess County, Mo., for five years, then came to California hoping to benefit Mr. Gebhart’s health. This was in 1881, and they settle on a quarter section of land five miles west of Gridley, which they rented for a time, and which was operated under the direction of both Mr. and Mrs. Gebhart.
In 1915 they purchased two hundred acres west of Biggs, and under the direction of Mrs. Gebhart it has been conducted profitably. About ninety acres was in rice in 1918. Her husband’s health continued to decline, thus throwing nearly all the burden of ranch work on her shoulders, together with rearing their family. He died on the ranch, March 3, 1917, aged sixty-one years. They had five children: Chloe L., who married Charles Probst, a rancher in the Nelson District in Butte County; John Luther, who is his mother’s main assistant and lives at home; Thomas Jefferson, who died in a hospital in Sacramento, October 16, 1911; Lulu Belle, who married Robert Mannes, and they reside near Biggs; and Charles Allen.
Notwithstanding the many trials and tribulations that have been borne by Mrs. Gebhart, she is cheerful, optimistic as to the future, and with the aid of her sons, is gradually improving a home that is practically the result of her own individual efforts. As far as her means permit, she supports all progressive measures for the upbuilding of her adopted county.
Transcribed
by David Rugeroni.
Source: "History of
Butte County, Cal.," by George C. Mansfield, Page 832, Historic Record Co, Los Angeles, CA, 1918.
© 2008 David Rugeroni.
Golden Nugget Library's Butte County Biographies