Butte County
Biographies
CHARLES
W. KESTERSON
CHARLES
W. KESTERSON.--Although
comparatively a newcomer in Butte County, Charles W. Kesterson has exhibited
those qualities that show him to be a thorough man of business, confident in
the future possibilities of California, and willing to back his judgment with
his money. A native of Illinois, he was
born on February 22, 1867. His father,
T. J. Kesterson, was a native of Tennessee who migrated to Illinois, thence to
Fremont County, Iowa, where he farmed.
He enlisted and served for three years and six months in an Iowa
regiment during the Civil War, and after his honorable discharge from the
service of his country he returned to his Iowa farm. About twenty-give years ago he removed to
Albion, Boone County, Nebr., and he homesteaded one hundred sixty acres of land
in Thomas County, that state, and kept adding to his holdings until he had two
full sections upon which he specialized in raising horses and cattle, until he
retired and leased his property. He
married Miranda Brown, who was born in Illinois, and who died in Nebraska. They had twelve children, two of whom are
deceased. Grandfather Charles W.
Kesterson homesteaded a farm seven miles south of Malvern, Iowa, on which he
resided until his death.
The oldest of the ten living children in
his father's family, Charles W. Kesterson attended the public schools in Iowa
until he was sixteen, he then accompanied his parents to Nebraska, where he
completed his public-school education.
He grew up to farm work and at the age of twenty-one began working as a
farm-hand, continuing for three years, then began farming for himself near
Albion. He was married on December 22,
1891, to Miss Melvina J. Poppin, a native of Illinois, and a daughter of Edward
and Louisa (Breiding) Poppin. Mr. Poppin
was born in Germany and came to America and settled in Illinois, where he
worked at the trade of cabinet-maker until he removed to Davenport, Iowa, where
he began taking contracts for the erection of buildings, continuing at the trade
and at farming after he settled at Albion.
He went to Seattle, Wash., where he died. Mrs. Poppin now resides in Lincoln,
Nebr. Mrs. Kesterson is the second
youngest of four children living, being only eleven years old when her parents
moved to Nebraska, hence she obtained her education in the schools of Iowa and
Nebraska; she married Mr. Kesterson in Nebraska.
After his marriage, Mr. Kesterson engaged
in blacksmithing and the agricultural implement business in Albion, with Ed
Poppin, his brother-in-law. They built a
shop and building where they carried on their business with fairly good
success. Later Mr. Kesterson followed
draying until 1911, when he sold out to come to California. He had investigated the Richvale land
proposition before coming to Butte County, became interested and decided he
would invest if it suited him. When he
looked over the property he invested in fifty-three acres, paying eighty
dollars per acre. He put in a crop of
rice and in one year sold the land for one hundred twenty-five dollars per
acre. He next bought ten acres on Rodeo
Avenue, which he set to peaches and prunes; this he sold in 1914, and the
following year he settled on his present place in town, from which he looks
after his ranching interests. He leased
one hundred twenty acres near Marysville and put in a crop of rice, but in 1916
returned to Richvale and leased eighty acres and reaped fair returns. In 1917 he leased, from the Dodge Land
Company, some two hundred sixty acres and harvested a crop which averaged
fifty-two sacks to the acre, the largest yield for the same number of acres of
any place in the county. After all
expenses were paid, he cleared over $20,000.
In the fall of 1917, Mr. Kesterson bought three hundred acres of land
one and one half miles west of Nelson, which he intends to ditch and to put two
hundred acres of it in rice and the balance in grain. He also bought a prune orchard of thirteen
and one-half acres, in full bearing, located on Eighth Avenue.
Of the union of Mr. and Mrs. Kesterson,
five children have been born: Dorsey, an
assistant to his father; Alta May, Mrs. Wadlington, of Chico; and Lloyd, Donald
and Pearl are at home. Mr. Kesterson is
a member of the Modern Woodmen of America, and both himself and wife belong to
the Royal Highlanders. Politically they
are Republicans.
Transcribed by
Rhonda Ruick O'Brien.
Source: "History of
Butte County, Cal.," by George C. Mansfield, Pages 1314-1315, Historic Record Co, Los
Angeles, CA, 1918.
© 2010 Rhonda
Ruick O'Brien.
Golden Nugget Library's Butte County
Biographies