Butte County
Biographies
HON. WANTON ALLEN SHIPPEE
HON. WANTON ALLEN SHIPPEE--A resident
of California since 1868, when he came from his native state of Rhode Island,
where he was born in East Greenwich Township, Kent County, March 25, 1847, W.
A. Shippee has witnessed many changes in the western
country and, in the section where he has been so closely identified, has
participated in almost every movement for the betterment of the county. He has
worked hard and struggled against great obstacles, but by persistency of purpose
has won recognition from the people of Butte
County for his high moral
principles and strict integrity.
The
parents of W. A. Shippee were Parden
and Hannah (Stone) Shippee, both born and reared in Rhode
Island, as was the grandfather, Allen Shippee, who reached the advanced age of ninety-four years.
The family dates back to pre-Revolutionary times, and they
figured prominently in the building-up of the commonwealth
of Rhode Island. On the maternal
side they were Manchesters, of English origin, and this
family also was represented in the Revolutionary War. Besides W. A. Shippee, there were six children born to his parents, and
six are alive at this writing: Wanton Allen, of this review; Ladowick, in Rhode Island; Sarah Freelove,
(named for her two grandmothers), also of that state; George, residing in Rhode
Island; Mary, wife of J. C. Whitford of Stockton; and
Hannah Maria, superintendent of factory employees of the state of Rhode Island,
who also taught for ten years in California. The fourth child, a daughter,
Eliza, died some twenty years ago, leaving a son and daughter.
The
boyhood days of W. A. Shippee, who, by the way, was
named for his two grandfathers, were passed with his parents on their farm in Rhode
Island, interspersed with a short attendance at
school until he was sixteen years old, when he hired out for fifty cents a day
to work on a farm. When he was twenty-one he came to California
via Panama, arriving in San
Francisco, November 24, 1868, having sailed from New
York on October 29. His journey to this state was
made as the result of the glowing reports he received from a cousin, L. U. Shippee, who had come to California
at a period somewhat earlier and had gone back to Rhode
Island in 1865 to make a visit. This cousin had a
store in Stockton and had been
successful under the firm name of Shippee, McKee and
Company. He also owned a ranch six miles from Stockton
and hired W. A., for three hundred dollars for the first year, to carry on the
place. Fourteen years were spent in his employ, and finally he became
interested with this cousin as a partner in the sheep business. L. U. Shippee had bought ten carloads of Spanish Merino sheep and
had them shipped from Vermont to California,
and together the cousins raised large bands of sheep, keeping from five
thousand to six thousand a year. They bred up to Spanish and French Merinos,
and often sold bucks as high as five hundred dollars each.
In 1882, with two partners, W. A. Shippee bought from the Cherokee Hydraulic Company, six
thousand acres of land on the Cherokee Canal, the other partners coming in on
the original purchase were non-residents and Mr. Shippee
assumed charge and managed the property until the panic of 1894-1895-1896
forced him to make an assignment to the Stockton Savings and Loan Society in
order to protect all parties concerned. This ended the partnership. After the
panic was over Mr. Shippee bought back seventeen
hundred acres and has paid off the whole indebtedness. On his ranch he has
thirty acres in two-year-old prunes, besides an orchard of four-year-old trees,
the balance of the land being devoted to grain and pasture. To properly operate
his land he keeps some forty head of horses, as well as using modern and
up-to-date machinery.
In
1878 Mr. Shippee was united in marriage with Miss
Evelyn Woodbridge, descended from the pioneer Woodbridge's
family of San Joaquin County
and a lady of much culture and refinement and a true helpmate to her gifted
husband. Of this union one daughter has been born, Inez, now the wife of
Herbert Francis Dan, a prominent attorney in Berkeley,
and they have three children, Cyrus, Evelyn and Francis.
At
a special election in Butte County,
called by Governor Markham, in 1891, to fill a vacancy in the state senate from
this county, Mr. Shippee was elected State Senator
and served one term; he was reelected to the office from Tehama and Butte
Counties, the former county having
been added to this district. He served during the administrations of Governors
Markham and Budd. He did much to defeat county division and incurred the bitter
enmity of many in the Chico faction
who favored it. However, time has demonstrated the clearness of his opposition
and vindicated him with most of his opponents and he enjoys the confidence and
esteem of all who know him. The senator is a member of the Masons at Biggs; he
also belongs to the Chapter and Commandery in
Oroville; and to Islam Temple,
A. A. O. N. M. S., in San Francisco.
Transcribed by Sande Beach.
Source: "History of
Butte County, Cal.," by George C. Mansfield, Pages 715-716, Historic Record Co, Los Angeles, CA, 1918.
© 2008 Sande Beach.
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