Butte County
Biographies
REED MYERS INGRAHAM
REED MYERS INGRAHAM.—Perhaps there is
no resident of Butte County more
familiar with the mineral resources of the section about Magalia, Cal., than
Reed Myers Ingraham, the well-known and prosperous
placer-miner who has spent forty years of his eventful life in that vicinity.
Reed Myers Ingraham was born in Geauga County,
Ohio, on January 6, 1856. When ten years of age he
removed with his parents to Illinois, where he remained on the home farm, assisting in the usual work
of a farm lad. In 1875 he felt
the desire to seek his fortune in the Golden West. In June of that year he arrived in Colusa
County, Cal., and in November
located at Magalia. Here he engaged in
placer gold-mining and has continued in this business in the vicinity ever
since, except for an absence of two years spent in Mexico, where he was engaged
in the construction of the Mexican Central Railroad. He was present when the “golden spike” was
driven, in 1884, this having occurred at a point five miles north of Zacatecas,
Mex., on the Mexican Central Railway.
In January, 1909,
Mr. Ingraham was united in marriage with Mrs.
Charlotte (Denney) Perry, the widow of the late Alvin Augustus Perry, an
honored pioneer of Magalia, who died at Oroville, in 1907, at the age of
sixty-one years. Alvin A. Perry was born
in the state of Maine. He migrated to Iowa
and at Bloomfield, Davis
County, met and married Miss
Charlotte T. Denney, daughter of Smiley and Sallie (Grider) Denney.
Smiley Denney was a native of Kentucky, his wife
was born in Tennessee, and they were married in Missouri. Mrs. Ingraham, who
is maidenhood was Charlotte T. Denney, was born in Springfield, Mo., and when
but two years of age was taken by her mother and grandmother’s folks to Iowa,
settling at Bloomfield, Davis County.
Her father came to California at an early date
and engaged in teaming over the mountains from Sacramento
to Nevada. In the fall of 1873 he returned to Iowa.
The same year, accompanied by his wife and children, he returned to California
and located at Roseville, Placer
County, where he had a ranch. In the spring of 1874, their daughter
Charlotte, then Mrs. Alvin Perry, with her two children, came from Iowa
to California and located at Roseville,
Placer County, Mr.
Perry having remained in Iowa until the fall of the same
year, when he arrived in California. In 1877, Mr. and Mrs. Perry removed to
Magalia, Butte County,
where he engaged in teaming. Five
children were born to them, three of whom grew up and are now living: Herbert
Newton Perry, who is a miner at Seneca, Plumas County, and is the father of two
children; Louis Foster Perry, who is a forest-ranger and resides at home; Elma
Loretta, who married Albert Glover, a miner residing at Magalia, and is the mother
of two children. In 1880, Mr. and Mrs.
Perry built a fine residence in Magalia, which is now the home of Mr. and Mrs. Ingraham
Mrs. Ingraham is a stately woman and possesses great force of character, her influence for good is very pronounced. Her views are broad and charitable, and the
aid she has contributed to the cause of education has been signally recognized
in the community, by her election to the board of trustees of Magalia
schools. Perhaps her most notable work
for the advancement of the moral welfare of the community,
was the active part she took in the campaign to make Magalia a dry town, which
she so successfully helped to accomplish in 1912. Magalia formerly had four saloons, but now is
a model town.
Reed M. Ingraham is a generous-hearted man-of-affairs at Magalia,
and his conservative business judgment is often sought, and followed, by his
townsmen. Mr. and.
Mrs. Ingraham are both highly respected in the
community where they have resided for so many years.
Transcribed 5-13-08 Marilyn
R. Pankey.
Source: "History of
Butte County, Cal.," by George C. Mansfield, Pages 954-957, Historic Record Co, Los Angeles, CA, 1918.
©
2008 Marilyn
R. Pankey.
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