Butte County
Biographies
JOHN G. MESSINGER
JOHN
G. MESSINGER.--Energy, enterprise and native ability are exemplified in
John G. Messinger, one of the old settlers of Chico.
He was born at Seneca Falls, N. Y., on July 23, 1866. His father,
John Henry Messinger, was born in New York and
belonged to one of the old families of Pennsylvania. He was a confectioner.
During the Civil War he enlisted and was rejected. In 1867 he removed to
Owosso, Mich., and later to Plymouth, Mich. In March, 1875, he came to Tehama
County, Cal., and located at what was then Scatterville,
one mile west of Corning, and engaged in farming. He then took land on Dry
Creek, nine miles south, where he farmed. In 1881 he located in Chico and
worked as a stationary engineer, stone mason and builder, and engaged in
contracting for stone and cement work. The cement work in the foundation of the
Diamond Match Company’s plant at Barber, was put in
under his supervision. He died while on a vacation in the mountains, in 1913.
The mother was Barbara Bowman, a native of New York, who died here in 1906. Mr.
and Mrs. John Henry Messinger had ten children of
whom seven grew up: Eliza, Mrs. Anderson, who died in Sacramento; John G., of
Chico, with the Chico Water Company; Catherine, Mrs. Stephens of Chico; Edward,
who lives in Oakland; Reuben H., superintendent of the Bidwell
Ranch; Mattie, Mrs. Palmer of Chico; and Annie, Mrs. Kennedy of Chico.
John G. Messinger
attended the public schools in Tehama County, and in 1881 he came to Chico and
completed his education in the grammar school. He followed the work of a stationary
engineer under his father, and worked also at harvesting in the fields for a
few years, finally taking up the work of horticulture. He worked for a time in
the Bidwell nurseries and learned the nursery
business. He then went to Fresno and handled the shipping for the Fancher Creek Nursery. On August 1, 1894, he returned to
Chico and entered the employ of the Chico Gas and Electric Company, where he
had charge of the manufacture of gas for five years. They sold the gas and
electric portion to the California Gas and Electric Company, now the Pacific
Gas and Electric Company. Mr. Messinger was then
employed as a foreman of the Chico Water Company, in charge of outside work.
Since then the system has changed and he has five stations under him.
Mr. Messinger
was married, in Chico, to Miss Grace Edna Lotker, a
native of that city. They have two children: Barbara, a graduate of Heald’s College, was a bookkeeper for the Water Company,
but now the wife of Verne L. Cronkhite; and Daniel
K., a graduate of the Chico High School, and now a student in the Chico State
Normal. Mr. Messinger was made a Mason in Chico
Lodge, No. 111; F. & A. M., and with his wife he is a member of
Josephine Chapter, No. 104, O. E. S., and of Neighbors of
Woodcraft. He also belongs to Great Oak Camp, No. 136, W. O. W., and
in politics he is a Republican.
Transcribed by Marie Hassard
05 April 2008.
Source:
"History of Butte County, Cal.," by George C. Mansfield, Pages
860-861, Historic Record
Co, Los Angeles, CA, 1918.
© 2008 Marie Hassard.
Golden Nugget Library's Butte County Biographies