Butte County
Biographies
ERNEST I. McPHERSON
ERNEST I. McPHERSON.—A
wide-awake, affable representative of an old family, and a man whose combined
native ability and cheerful optimism have helped to win for him his present
prosperity, is Ernest I. McPherson, who was born at Rutherford, Napa
County, on October 17, 1883. He is the son of John S. McPherson,
who crossed the plains, with ox teams, from his native state, Missouri, and
after reaching California, went on to Oregon, where he helped to log timber
from the present site of Portland. Later, he returned to Napa County, Cal., and
was employed as foreman of the Mayfield Ranch. In 1884 he came to Chico as
foreman for General Bidwell, and remained on his ranch for twelve years. He was
in charge of the horticultural work there, and became favorably known as an
expert orchardist. Then he engaged in the bakery business for a year and a
half, and afterwards was in the employ of C. L. Stilson,
caring for the orchards on Canyon Ranch. Still later he returned to Chico, and
started the Home Bakery, which he sold out when he became superintendent of
streets in Chico. This responsible post he held until he died, in 1909, in the
fifty-fourth year of his age.
Mrs. John S. McPherson was Lucy Carter
before her marriage. She came from Missouri, crossing the plains with her
parents in the fifties, and had both the pleasure and the excitement of an
ox-team journey across the wide prairies when, for days and days, wild cattle
and other beasts, and the almost equally wild Indians, were the only living
beings encountered. She now resides at Sacramento, the mother of five children,
all living. The second oldest of these is Ernest I. McPherson.
From his second year, Ernest McPherson
grew up in Chico; and here he attended the public school. While a boy, he began
to work in his father’s bakery; and after three years’ experience at his trade,
he went to Heald’s Business College for a year, and
then returned to Chico to help his father. When the latter sold out, he started
a bakery for himself in the Murphy block, now called the Golden West Bakery.
This he sold out after a year to Crown, and then left for Sacramento, where he
accepted employment with the Ann Arbor Bakery. Half a year later he came back
to Chico and worked for two months for the O. K. Bakery; and then,
after following his trade for another six months, he took up work with the
Diamond Match Company, having had some experience with the old Sierra Lumber
Company during summer vacations. He went into the box factory, and ran the
cut-off saw for three years. In 1913, having an opportunity to buy the old Home
Bakery, he did so, and continued the business, turning out bakery goods that
have become famous throughout the county. He has a Dutch oven, an oil burner,
and thoroughly modern equipment, and he is centrally located at 322 Broadway,
in the heart of the town. There he does his own baking, and superintends the
general management of the shop, selling at both retail and wholesale.
When Mr. McPherson was married, the event
took place at Santa Rosa, and the bride was Miss Atlanta Baker, a native of
Missouri, who was reared in California. She is the proud mother of a son, Jack.
The McPhersons are members of the Christian Science
Church. Mr. McPherson is an active exempt fireman, belonging to the
Western Hose Company, No. 3. He is also a Woodman of the World, and a
member of Chico Parlor, Native Sons of the Golden West.
Transcribed by Marie Hassard
01 November 2009.
Source:
"History of Butte County, Cal.," by George C. Mansfield, Pages 1290-1291, Historic Record Co, Los
Angeles, CA, 1918.
© 2009 Marie Hassard.
Golden Nugget Library's
Butte County Biographies