Butte County
Biographies
CHARLES VAN DUSEN HOBART
CHARLES VAN DUSEN HOBART.--An
enterprising, far-sighted man, and an equally broad-minded and noble-hearted
woman, the one enthusiastically active in promoting the development and
advancement of a community, the allotted greatness of which he was not destined
to see, and the other proudly carrying forward the splendid traditions of a
pioneer family long identified with the building of the Golden State--such was
the late Charles Van Dusen Hobart, and such is the
esteemed lady who was his wife. He was born in Vergennes, Vt.,
the son of Allen P. Hobart, also a Vermonter, who came to California
as an early pioneer and located first at Jacinto, in what was then Colusa
County, but now Glenn
County. Allen P. Hobart was a farmer
and land-owner; but later selling out, he settled in Chico.
At Big Meadows, he became interested in a mercantile-business, and he also
started a store at Prattville; and
besides his other enterprises, he invested also in
mining interests. After retiring from active pursuits, he resided in Chico
until he died. Mrs. Allen Hobart, who, before her marriage, was Mirilla Martin, a native of the Green
Mountain State,
joined her husband, bringing along her children, two years after he came to California;
and eventually she died in San Francisco.
Charles
V. Hobart was the second eldest of three children, in his parents' family, and
the only son. He attended the Vergennes public schools, and when fourteen he
came to California and here continued his schooling in Sacramento.
Then he entered his uncle's mercantile establishment in that city, and remained
with him until he came to Chico.
Here he became a clerk in the store of Jones and Suydam.
Later he started a dry-goods store on Main Street,
where he continued for several years, until he engaged in the grain and
commission business. He was one of the earliest grain commission merchants of Chico;
and he also conducted a general insurance agency.
In
the course of time, Mr. Hobart bought a farm on Clear Creek, fourteen miles
from Chico; and there he set out an orchard of oranges, lemons and almonds, and
went in for general farming. However, he was not destined to enjoy the fruits
of his labors, nor see the fulfillment (sic) of his plans. One Sunday he rode
out to visit his farm, and the next day he was stricken with paralysis and died
before night. This was on December 10, 1902, and at his passing, the community
lost one of its most valued members.
Very
properly one may regard the life and work of Mr. Hobart as contributing
materially to the building up of Chico.
He himself had erected and owned the brick building on Second
Street between Broadway and Salem,
where he had his offices; and he also built a beautiful residence on a block of
ground on the Esplanade, at Chico Vecino.
Politically, Mr. Hobart was an ardent Republican; and fraternally, he was a
member of the Red Men.
When
Mr. Hobart married, he chose for his bride Miss Emroy
Bidwell, a daughter of Daniel Bidwell, who was born in northern New
York, and was reared at Chateaugay,
in that state. Daniel Bidwell was a half-brother of General John Bidwell. He
was married in Middlebury, Vt., to
Miss Elizabeth Codman, a native of Vermont from an old
and prominent Massachusetts
family. On the old ancestral farm in Vermont was a large
natural maple grove, with stately,
beautiful trees, which are still standing in full vigor, though tapped each year. This grove Mrs. Hobart had remembered distinctly from
the days of her childhood; and when she returned to Vermont
eight years ago, she had on that account, the more pleasure in seeing it again,
and also in sampling the maple sugar. In 1854, Daniel Bidwell, having left his
family on the Vermont farm, came to California
at the solicitation of his brother, the General, traveling via Panama
to Chico; and two years later his
wife and four children came out. Two of their children had already come to this
state. Mr. Bidwell located on a ranch on Sandy Gulch, and by hard work greatly
improved the land and made thereof a splendid property. It is now on the State
Highway, and is set out as an orchard. He named
the ranch Five Oaks, because of five big oak trees standing in the yard. There
he finally passed to the life beyond, whither he had
been preceded by his faithful and accomplished wife, the devoted mother of his
six children. These six children are as follows: Henry Codman, who came to California
about 1849, was a mining man at Greenville, Plumas
County, where he died. George came
to California with his father in
1854, and he died early. Monroe
also died in the strenuous pioneering days. Mary, Mrs. Harry Reed, died at Chico
a few years ago. Gilroy and Emroy were twins. The former died in 1866, when he was
nineteen; and Emroy, Mrs. Hobart, is the only one of
the family now living.
Born
in Middlebury, Vt., Emroy Bidwell came to California
with her mother in 1856, by way of Panama,
landing in San Francisco early in August, whence she came
to Chico. She was educated in Mrs.
Blake's school at Oakland, and later met and married Mr.
Hobart in Chico. Since the death of
her lamented husband, she has resided most of the time in Chico,
although she has also spent several years on the Bay and in traveling throughout
the United States, and has also made
two extended voyages to and through Europe. Mrs. Hobart
had two adopted daughters: Rhoda O'Farrell, deceased, and Lillian O'Farrell, a
graduate of Woodman's Academy, Chico, and the wife of
James H. Suydam; she now resides in Alameda,
and has one daughter, Lillian.
For
many years, Mrs. Hobart, like her husband, has been interested in the growth
and development of Chico; and she
never fails to assist in any movement for its improvement and for the general
uplift of society. She is a professing Christian, and belongs to the
Presbyterian Church.
Transcribed by Sande Beach.
Source: "History of
Butte County, Cal.," by George C. Mansfield, Pages 939-940, Historic Record Co, Los Angeles, CA, 1918.
© 2008 Sande Beach.
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