Butte
County
Biographies
JOHN MORELAND
JOHN MORELAND.—A
pioneer who braved the dangers of the primeval forest and the inhuman savages,
and did his share of clearing the dense wilderness, and who, in recent years, a
successful ranchman and horticulturist, is as aggressive in uplifting society
and especially in removing the sway of the demon of rum, is John Moreland, the
well-known Prohibitionist. He was born
in Lapeer County, Mich., on
November 7, 1852, and there he attended the public schools. When he was sixteen years old he took his
first step away from home as a wage-earner, and became bell-boy on one of the
lake steamers. On the none too pacific
waters of the Great Lakes he sailed for two years, and then he decided to come
to California
In February, 1870, he arrived in Watsonville, Santa
Cruz County, and
at once went to work on a ranch. Later,
he was fortunate in getting a clerkship in a store, and in that field he
labored for a couple of years longer. He
next went to Humboldt County, Nev., and
for six years was in the sheep and cattle business.
In 1878, Mr. Moreland returned to California and
bought a small place west of Gridley where, for two years, he busied himself
raising grain. In 1880, he was married
to Aura E. Gilpatrick, a native of Gardiner, Maine; and
directly after their marriage Mr. and Mrs. Moreland took a honeymoon trip
overland to the State of Washington. In Spokane County he
homesteaded a hundred sixty acres of land, a veritable wilderness infested with
Indians, but he persevered, improved his acreage and at length came out a
winner. He bought more land and at one
time owned twelve hundred eighty acres.
He was particularly successful in the raising of grain, and owned his
warehouse and his threshing and binding machines.
Mr. Moreland also engaged in the general
merchandise business, and for five years was postmaster in Tyler, Wash. He served fourteen years as supervisor of Spokane County. He owned a store and three lots in the city
of Spokane, and
saw that large city grow from a small unimportant village.
In 1905, Mr. Moreland returned to Gridley
and has since been engaged here in the real estate business. He has become identified with the sale of all
the colony tracts, from No. 1 to No. 12, put on the market by the Gridley Land and Irrigation
Company in the past twelve years. When
he first took up his residence in Gridley he himself bought a forty-acre tract
in the Gridley Colony, adjoining the town on the southeast, and this he has
developed into one of the best fruit and alfalfa ranches in the district,
raising alfalfa, fruit and nuts. He
spent four thousand five hundred dollars on buildings and other improvements,
and this fine ranch is now in charge of his son, Leroy. He owns valuable property, including two
houses, and is one of the proprietors of the Mineral Springs property at New
Monterey, Monterey County, Cal. At one time he was a director in the Gridley
State Bank.
Mr. Moreland is especially proud of his
children, who have proven exemplary American citizens and have always been a
source of satisfaction to their parents.
They are twelve in number, while he is equally proud progenitor of
twenty grandchildren. Percy Ray married
Miss Nora Been; Leroy Ray married Miss Mary Hobson; William Martin married Miss
Cassie Donahue; Frank Wilbur and Charles D. are the next in order of birth;
John A. died at the age of twenty-two, and Silva E. died when nineteen; Edith
M. is the wife of George Broce; Esther has become Mrs. Leroy Meeter; Katie died
when only twelve years old; another child died in infancy, and another daughter
is Ima. In 1910, Mr. Moreland built his
fine home on one acre in the Park Side Tract at Gridley.
A student of everyday life and especially
of the needs of society, Mr. Moreland is a pronounced Prohibitionist, admitting
no compromise with alcohol and the growing evil of intemperance, and believing
that the only way to combat and remove that evil is to abolish the sale of
spirits altogether.
Transcribed by Chris Worley.
Source: "History of Butte
County, Cal.," by George C. Mansfield, Pages
1040-1041, Historic
Record Co, Los Angeles, CA, 1918.
© 2008 Chris Worley.
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