Butte County
Biographies
JOHN WILLIAM PICKLER
JOHN WILLIAM PICKLER.—Among the well-known
residents of Chico who have been successful, and have retired with an adequate
competency, is John William Pickler, who, with his
good wife, enjoys life in their comfortable home at 916 Ninth Street. Mr. Pickler was born twenty-two miles east of Quincy, in Adams
County, Ill., on July 29, 1861. His father, J. D. Pickler, was a native of Louisiana, and settled in
Illinois. During the Civil War he served valiantly with an Illinois regiment
for three years, and was wounded in service. About 1867 he removed to
Montgomery County, Kans., and took up a homestead. In 1879 he brought his
family to Bakersfield, Cal., where he followed the occupation of the carpenter
and builder; and in 1881 he removed to Chico, where he continued the business
of builder until he retired, and where also he died. His wife, Rebecca (Curl) Pickler, a native Kentuckian, also died in Chico. Of their
seven children, John William and his twin sister, Mrs. Sarah Anderson, also of
Chico, were third in order of birth.
John William Pickler
was educated in the schools in Kansas, and when nineteen years old came to
Bakersfield, where he worked at farming. In 1881 he came to Chico, and there
continued the same occupation, driving the big teams in the grain fields. In
1884 he entered the employ of John Crouch, and for twelve years drove teams and
did other work, after which he was made superintendent of the ranch and had
charge of the farm work. In this capacity he continued until the death of Mr.
Crouch, about 1909, and for about two years thereafter, for the estate, and
then located on the ninety-three-acre ranch which he bought from the Crouch
subdivision on Lone Pine Road. Here he devoted his time to raising alfalfa,
grain and fruit. He set out about twenty-one acres of orchard to peaches and
almonds; and continued in the occupation of farming and horticulture until
1913, when he sold the ranch and retired.
In Oroville, on July 14, 1914, John
William Pickler was married to Mrs. Maggie J.
(Laughlin) Walker, who was born in Centerville, Butte County, a daughter of John Laughlin. John Laughlin was a native of
the Emerald Isle and a California pioneer, who came to the state as a young
man, and was married in San Francisco to Sarah Ann Frasier, also a native of
Ireland. He was a stockman for a time, and thereafter followed the business of
mining and ranching until his death at Centerville, Butte County. Of his nine
children, five are living. William J. and Alex are ranchers near Chico;
Mary E., now Mrs. Henry Bruce, resides at
Chico Vecino; Mrs. Retta
Adams lives in Chico, and Maggie is now Mrs. Pickler.
By her first marriage, to Oliver Walker, she had five children, four of whom
grew to maturity, namely: Sarah J., Mrs. Musser, of Chico;
Otis O., residing in Red Bluff; Alice May, Mrs. Dan Kelly, residing
near Cana; and Allie, Mrs. Pulaski Brown, of Yankee Hill. The last two
were twins. For many years Mrs. Walker was engaged in the hotel business,
before her marriage to Mr. Pickler. She ran the
hotel at Loma one year, and the Gale House at Barber one year, and then bought
the Minnesota House on Barber Street, which she ran for about ten years, and
then sold. This hotel was burned down about one year after she sold it.
Transcribed by Marie Hassard
19 August 2009.
Source:
"History of Butte County, Cal.," by George C. Mansfield, Pages 1238-1239, Historic Record Co, Los
Angeles, CA, 1918.
© 2009 Marie Hassard.
Golden Nugget Library's
Butte County Biographies