Butte County
Biographies
MRS. MATTIE A. LOONEY
MRS. MATTIE A. LOONEY.--A very
interesting California pioneer family is that of Mrs.
Mattie A. Looney, widow of the late William Looney, who died on February 7,
1814, a son of the pioneer William Looney, a native of Ireland.
He came to California in the
eventful fifties and took up Government land in this vicinity. Later, he
journeyed back to the Eastern states, and there married Honora
Dougherty, after which, in 1867, he returned to the Coast, stopping for a time
in San Francisco and then came to Butte County with his wife and two children,
John and Johannah, and went through the usual pioneer
experiences.
The
worthy parents brought up a family of seven children, among whom William Looney
was the fifth-born. He first saw the light here, on November 15, 1868, and in
1896 he was married to Miss Mattie Schleigh, a native
of Red Bluff and the daughter of John and Rachel (Sims) Schleigh.
Her father was born in Pennsylvania, and her mother near
Quincy, Ill.
Now her mother, past seventy-four years of age, makes her home with the subject
of our sketch. Grandfather William Sims was born in New York
state, as was his wife, Julia Ann Chase before her
marriage, and he became a boatman on the Erie Canal.
Later he removed to Adams County, Ill.,
taking his wife and family with him; and there he died. His widow married
William Hart in Illinois, went to Missouri,
and from Missouri, in 1852, crossed the plains to California
by means of the slow-going ox team. Mrs. Schleigh was
then only eight years old. Her mother, Julia A. Chase, who died thirteen years
ago, was married four times, and lived to be eighty-one years old. The Schleighs, Mrs. Looney's parents, were married at Red
Bluff, Tehama County,
where four children were born: William H., now in Oregon;
Julia Ellen; Sherman Philip; and Mattie A. After they had moved to Shingletown,
Shasta County,
and thence, in 1875, to Anderson, the same county, five more children were
added to the family group: Robert, Rachel E., Samuel, Charles A., and James LeR. A photograph in Mrs. Schleigh's
possession shows Grandmother Chase and others of four generations. Mr. Schleigh was a teamster, and used to haul lumber from camps
in Siskiyou County.
Mr.
and Mrs. Looney also worked with continued energy, after their marriage, and in
time became the owners of six hundred twenty-eight acres in Butte
County, near Biggs. One hundred
sixty acres of this make up the home place; one hundred forty-eight acres came
from the Gerth ranch; and three hundred twenty acres
are rice land. Mrs. Looney, who is assisted by her brother, Charles Schleigh, is a woman of large executive ability and has
been very successful in the management of her ranch-lands. Her brother-in-law,
John Looney, tried to break her husband's will and deprive her of what was
justly hers; but she vigorously defended her rights, and won out.
Mrs.
Looney never had any children of her own, but she brought up a niece, Ada Hencratt, now Mrs. Frank
Hall, who resides at Weed, Siskiyou County,
and has four children: Thelma, Willma, John William
and Julia Josephine. Mrs. Looney is also bringing up the two children of her
brother, Charles: Hazel, fourteen years of age, and Leslie, who is eleven. Mrs.
Schleigh is related to Admiral Schley; some members
of the family have the same spelling as the Admiral.
Transcribed by Sande Beach.
Source: "History of
Butte County, Cal.," by George C. Mansfield, Pages 750-751, Historic Record Co, Los Angeles, CA, 1918.
© 2008 Sande Beach.
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