Butte County
Biographies
NORVAL C. JESSEE
Perhaps no county in the state of California can boast of a greater diversity of interests than Butte County, ranging from mining to horticulture in its various branches. Prominent among the many successful horticulturists of Butte County stands the name of Norval C. Jessee. He was born in Champaign County, Ill., in 1880. His father, J. T. Jessee, was born in Virginia and served as first lieutenant in the Confederate army under General Lee, and was wounded at the battle of Appomattox. At the close of the war he settled in Champaign County, Ill., where he engaged in farming. He died in 1890. Mr. Jessee’s mother’s maiden name was America E. Bickley. She was born and married in Virginia and was the mother of eight children, four of whom are still living.
Norval C. Jessee’s earlier years were spent in Illinois, where he received his education and learned the plumbing business, and where he was married to Miss Blanche Richmond, who was also a native of Illinois. Eight children all sons, were born to Mr. and Mrs. Jessee: Norval, Tivis, Eugene, Emery, Marion, Robert Lee and Earl Wilson. One died in infancy. Mr. Jessee remained in Illinois until he was twenty-six years of age, coming to Marysville, Cal., in 1906, where he worked at his trade as a plumber for a short time and then removed to Oroville, where he continued in the same business until 1908, when he came to Chico, where he still lives.
Soon after his arrival at Chico, he purchased ten acres of young almond orchard land at six hundred fifty dollar per acre. A little later he purchased an additional ten acres, also almond orchard, at five hundred fifty dollars per acre. He has spent over six thousand dollars in the way of improvements and paid for it all in the crops from the land itself. He has now sixteen acres in almonds and three acres in prunes. The almond blossoms very early and even a light frost, which sometimes occurs, would seriously injure the crop. Mr. Jessee believes in providing beforehand for any such possibility and keeps on hand over three thousand smudge pots ready for immediate use. To provide fuel for these pots he has built large concrete tanks with a storage capacity of twelve thousand gallons. He has installed a pumping plant with a capacity of five hundred gallons a minute for irrigating his orchards; he believes in up-to-date methods and uses the latest machinery in the care of his orchards and about the ranch, including a Bean tractor. Mr. Jessee is a member of the Almond Growers’ Association, and fraternally he is a member of the Modern Woodmen of America.
Transcribed
by Joyce Rugeroni.
Source: "History of
Butte County, Cal.," by George C. Mansfield, Page 1300, Historic Record Co, Los Angeles, CA, 1918.
© 2009 Joyce Rugeroni.
Golden Nugget Library's Butte County
Biographies