Butte County
Biographies
GEORGE LACY GRIFFITH
GEORGE LACY GRIFFITH.—A native son of the Golden
West, George Lacy Griffith first saw the light of day on
July 7, 1868, on a ranch four miles north of Chico. He is a son of
John L. Griffith, whose sketch is presented in that of
J. W. Griffith on another page of this history.
George L. Griffith lived at home, assisting his father on the home
ranch and going to the district school. At the age of twenty-three he began
ranching for himself, taking over the management of his father’s ranch and
operating it for two years. During this period he married, on
April 2, 1893, in Chico, Miss Vina Mann,
who was also a native of California, born near Butte City, Glenn County. Her
father, James Mann, was born in Clark County, Ill., and came with the Mann
family to California in 1860, crossing the plains with teams. They arrived at
the present site of the Crouch place on September 15, of that year, and
located a mile west of Dayton. James Mann farmed and raised stock until 1896,
at which time he engaged in sawmilling at Cohasset for a few years. His next
venture was as a horticulturist, which work he successfully followed until his
retirement. He died in January, 1917. He married Augusta Darge,
who was born in Wisconsin and crossed the plains to California with her parents
in 1862. She had nine children, five of whom are living, Mrs. Griffith
being the oldest. The mother died in Cohasset. Grandfather Arthur Avington Mann was a Virginian, born in Louisa County, in 1811.
His father, Arthur Mann, was born in the same state, and died at the age of
sixty-six. The Mann family is of English origin, the progenitor of the family
in the United States having crossed the Atlantic and made settlement in
Virginia about 1630; the family were represented in
Jamestown when it was burned by the Indians in 1632.
Arthur A. Mann removed to Clark County,
Ill., where he later married Winnifred Shields, who
was born in Putnam County, Ind., the daughter of William Shields, born in
Tennessee, of Scotch-Irish descent, and a farmer in Clark County, and also in
Buchanan County, Mo., whither he moved in 1846. After spending five years in
Missouri, he migrated to Linn County, Ore., where he continued to farm until
his death, in 1896, when in his ninety-seventh year. Arthur A. Mann
was employed at farming in Illinois and Missouri. He made his first trip to
California in 1849, crossing the plains with an emigrant train, to search for
gold. He mined in Eldorado County for about two years, then returned East via
Panama, to join his family, and a little later moved to Pottawattamie County,
Iowa, where he farmed until May 10, 1860, when he again hearkened to
the call of California, and with his wife and six children crossed the plains
with a train of emigrants, he being elected captain of the train to pilot it
safely to its destination. Once more in California, he settled one mile west of
Dayton, where he died in 1862, when but fifty-one years of age. Mrs. Mann
lived until August 29, 1914, when her death occurred, at the age of
ninety years. There were six children in their family: William, of Chico Vecino; James, who died in January, 1917; John, who died
October 22, 1913; Joseph A., of Thermalito;
Mary E., Mrs. Darge, who died October 22,
1878; and Cynthia Ann, Mrs. Garrison, of Oakland.
In 1894, Mr. and Mrs. George Griffith
began raising stock and doing general farming, meeting with such success that
they felt justified in buying their present ranch of one hundred forty-five
acres, on Rock Creek, nine miles north of Chico, on the Cohasset road. This is
known as the Gore place, and is one of the historical places of Butte County,
it being the scene of the Indian fight and massacre; the Hickok children were
murdered on a spot near here. The old Keefer grist mill, where the first
pioneers had their flour made, was located on this ranch; and there was once an
Indian rancheria here. Fifty-five acres of the ranch
is fine bottom land. The property is watered by the Keefer ditch, which runs
through the ranch; alfalfa, beans, and garden truck are raised, and there is a
fine peach orchard. All these products, added to the revenue from the sheep and
hogs, make a very satisfactory return on the original investment. For about
twenty years before the Griffiths purchased the place, Chinese gardeners had
operated the ranch successfully.
Mr. and Mrs. Griffith are parents of four
children. Russell graduated from the Chico High School and the Chico Normal. He
taught school successfully for eighteen months, then enlisted in the United
States Army, and is now in the officers’ training school at Fortress Monroe. Ardye is also a graduate from both the above-named schools,
and is teaching in Shasta County. Ellis and Homer are students in the Chico
High School. Mr. Griffith served as trustee of Clayton district, and was clerk
of the board. He is a Democrat, and Mrs. Griffith is a Republican. In 1911, Mr.
and Mrs. Griffith purchased a residence on Laburnum Street, Chico Vecino, where they lived for five years while their
children were attending the Normal School; but in 1916 they returned to the
home in the country, that they might keep it in better condition by personal
supervision.
Transcribed by Marie Hassard
16 July 2009.
Source:
"History of Butte County, Cal.," by George C. Mansfield, Pages 1211-1212, Historic Record Co, Los
Angeles, CA, 1918.
© 2009 Marie Hassard.
Golden Nugget Library's
Butte County Biographies