Butte County
Biographies
WILLIAM KEEFER
WILLIAM KEEFER.--Among the pioneer families of Butte County the Keefer family is well known. The founder of the California branch of the family, James L., a native Pennsylvanian, was one of the men of ’49 who crossed the plains with ox teams. He mined in Shasta County when he first came to the state, where he made his stake. In 1850 he settled on a ranch, purchasing the land and stage station at Rock Creek, where he was post master many years, until the Southern Pacific Railway came. He was a man of affairs, running two large ranches and three saw mills, the machinery for which he purchased in Marysville. He employed Indian labor on his ranches and in his mill work.
Of his twelve children who grew to maturity, William Keefer, the eighth child, was born at Keefer Station, Rock Creek Post Office, September 28, 1865. He was brought up in his native place, attending the public school of Mud Creek district, now Walnut School, and Woodman’s Academy at Chico. As a boy he learned the cattle business riding the range. In 1885 he began raising cattle on his own account, ranging them in the mountains. His original brand was W. K., but he later changed it to a crown above the K. He purchased a ranch on Pine Creek, on the Butte side of the Tehama and Butte County line, where he established headquarters for his range, dealing in cattle. His range on Pine Creek is well watered by streams and springs, and he also owns other ranges in Tehama County. He has over one thousand acres of leased land in Pine Creek district for winter range. For twenty years he has been dealing extensively in cattle, raising principally the high grade Durham Short Horn breed, running from three hundred to five hundred head, and buying feeders.
On April 13, 1889, at Red Bluff, the marriage of William Keefer with Miss Mary Dotta was solemnized. Miss Dotta was one of the Plumas County’s fair native daughters of Swiss ancestry, her father, Antone Dotta, being a native of Airolo, Canton Tieino, of southern Switzerland, born in 1838. Mr. Dotta came to California via Panama in 1856, and engaged in mining in Plumas County, then in Oroville, Butte County, and Dry Creek, Yuba County, later returning to Plumas County where he placer-mined. In 1869 he moved to Butt Creek, Plumas County, where he purchased a ranch and engaged in cattle raising and the dairy business, continuing to raise cattle until recently, when he disposed of his cattle, still retaining the five hundred sixty acres where he resides in the summer; he also owns a ranch in Tehama County. His winters are spent at his residence on Second Avenue, Chico, where he resides with his wife. He was married after coming to California to Josephine Guscetti, also of Airolo, Tieino Canton, Switzerland, who came to California in 1863. Of the five children born of this union, Mrs. William Keeler is the only one living. Mr. and Mrs. Keefer are the parents of one child, Nilda, now Mrs. Norman Hope of Chico. Mr. Keefer is a member of the Tehama Cattle Growers’ Association and of the California Cattle Growers’ Association. In politics his affiliations are Republican. Fraternally, he is a member of the Eagles.
Transcribed
by Joyce Rugeroni.
Source: "History of
Butte County, Cal.," by George C. Mansfield, Pages 834-837, Historic Record Co, Los Angeles, CA, 1918.
© 2008 Joyce Rugeroni.
Golden Nugget Library's Butte County Biographies