Butte County
Biographies
JOHN PASSEY
JOHN PASSEY.—The owner of a nicely improved fruit and alfalfa ranch in the Rio Bonito district in Butte County, John Passey has made his own way in the world, by perseverance and strict integrity. He was born in England, in Shropshire County, November 4, 1856, a son of George and Fannie (Jones) Passey, both of whom lived and died in their native shire. The elder Passey was an honest laboring man, who reared his children in the paths in which they should go; and the lessons learned by them from their parents have always remained indelibly stamped on their minds.
The opportunity to obtain more than a common-school education was denied to John Passey, for at an early age he had to go to work on a farm. His first employer paid him seven dollars and fifty cents and his board the first year; and he had to furnish his own clothes. He stuck to farm work, however, and learned all that was possible of the methods used in England; but he could see but little opportunity for progress in his own county, and so decided to come to America. Upon his arrival in this country, he went at once to Indiana and entered the employ of the Seabury and Sample Farm, in 1882. There he learned considerable about the stock business, during the following seven years. California was his objective point, however, and as soon as he had saved money enough to bring him here, he left the Middle Western state and located in Butte County. He secured work on the Boulware Ranch, and continued in the employ of its pioneer owner until 1900; a little more than eleven years. His next venture was on a dredger, where he remained for ten years and three months.
Mr. Passey became a landowner in Butte County when he purchased ten acres at Rio Bonito. Unfortunately, however, he lost his property through a defective title, being victimized by an unprincipled real estate agent. He has suffered other misfortunes, also. At Edgerville he was drowned out, and, after moving his ranch, was burned out. He has suffered from drouth and from fire, but with a perseverance that insured success, he kept steadily at work; and today he owns twenty acres in North Rio Bonito, which he purchased in 1910. Fifteen acres of the tract is in alfalfa, and five acres in fruit; and besides he rents a hundred acres which is in grain. In the main he has prospered, although he has had a few severe reverses.
Mr. Passey was united in marriage with Miss Mary Tompkins, a native of England, who has been a true helpmate, and has shared his joys and his sorrows; in fact, Mr. Passey gives his wife great credit for her able assistance in attaining to the degree of prosperity they now enjoy. They are the parents of two children: Annie, who married George Castleman, of Rio Bonito; and Ota, the wife of Floyd Vance, an orchardist of Butte County. The home occupied by Mr. Passey and his wife is a neat bungalow that they erected on their land. It is surrounded by trees and shrubbery, making of it an ideal home, where they entertain their many friends.
Transcribed
by Sharon Walford Yost.
Source: "History of
Butte County, Cal.," by George C. Mansfield, Pages 1173-1174, Historic Record Co, Los Angeles, CA, 1918.
© 2009 Sharon
Walford Yost.
Golden Nugget Library's Butte County Biographies