Butte County
Biographies
LEMUEL CRITTENDEN SHIRLEY
LEMUEL CRITTENDEN SHIRLEY.
– No object lesson could be presented to the student of history more
striking than the transformation wrought in California during the past half
century. Lemuel Crittenden Shirley well remembers the
appearance of the country thirty-six years ago, when he first came to
California from Kentucky. He was born near Glasgow, Ky., July 23, 1859, a son
of Robert and Ann (Gee) Shirley, both Kentuckians. The former was a farmer, was
a stanch Union man, and died at the age of eighty-one. His wife died when she
was thirty-five years of age. They had six children, only two of whom are now
living. Grandfather Elijah Shirley was born in Virginia and migrated to
Kentucky, where he helped to develop the country.
Lemuel
Crittenden Shirley was reared in Kentucky and attended the public schools until
he was sixteen; from that time until he was twenty he worked with his father on
the home farm. He then worked two years for wages, receiving one hundred
dollars per year. He felt that California held better opportunities for a young
man, and having an uncle, Benjamin Ely, near Winters,
Yolo County, decided he would come West and join him. He arrived in October,
1881, and at once went to work for Mr. Ely, remaining with him three years,
after which he worked at carpentering two years in Winters.
The next year he was foreman on a ranch. With his farming experience in
California and in the East, and with twenty-five hundred dollars he had saved,
he felt equal to undertaking ranching for himself, and in 1886, with his
brother, C. E. Shirley, leased twelve hundred acres of the Pratt grant, Butte
County, and bought the farming outfit for six thousand dollars. He paid down
one thousand and reserved fifteen hundred dollars for his first year’s
expenses. He planted eight hundred acres to grain, using two eight-mule teams
in his work. He found that he would need more money to carry him through the
year, and went to see J. H. Rice at Dixon, the man who owned the property he
was farming. He obtained five hundred dollars and Mr. Rice advised him to get a
Holt combined harvester and said if the dealer would not sell to him, that he,
Mr. Rice, would go on his note, but he obtained it with no security except his
own note. Mr. Shirley was successful from the beginning, and the first
year reaped twenty thousand bushels of wheat which he sold for $1.65 per cental. After Mr. Shirley had made his clean-up for the
year he took a trip back to Kentucky to visit his family and friends.
In 1888 the brother, C. E. Shirley, died,
and Lemuel C. continued farming on the Pratt grant
alone until 1906. As he succeeded he leased more land; at one time, from 1893
to 1897, with S. J. Nikirk, he also farmed
the Phelan ranch of two thousand acres, besides leasing two thousand acres more
of the Pratt grant for two years of that time. He had four eight-mule teams and
his partner had three eight-mule teams; they had two combined harvesters and
were kept exceptionally busy for they raised large quantities of wheat and
barley. In 1897, when his lease for the Phelan ranch was up, Mr. Shirley bought
his present ranch of one hundred forty acres, located three miles north of
Chico on Shasta Road, and known as the Waste place when he moved onto it. He
ran the Pratt ranches until 1906, when he sold off a part of his outfit, continuing
to raise from five to six hundred acres of grain each year. On his home place
he has set out thirty-five acres in French prunes and ten acres in peaches; for
irrigating his orchards and alfalfa he sunk a well and installed an electric
pumping plant with a capacity of eleven hundred gallons per minute. He raises
hogs and sheep, increasing his flock to one thousand ewes of the Merino breed.
For thirty-one years he has operated a combined harvester and since 1906,
besides doing his own work, cuts for others. Since 1914, his sons run the
harvester.
At Madison, Yolo County, Mr. Shirley was
married to Miss Martha Howard, a native of the Lone Star State, and they have
had five children born to them: Beulah May, Mrs. Britton Lobdell
of Chico; Robert C.; Joseph Howard; Eugene E.; Leola M., a graduate of Chico
Normal School, was engaged in teaching, and is now the wife of Rev. Galen L.
Rose of Chico. The other children are graduates of Chico High School, and
Eugene E. supplemented his education with a course in the department of
agriculture at the University of California. The three sons were associated
with their father in business until they volunteered and enlisted for service
in the United States forces against Germany. Robert C. and Howard are in the
aviation section of the signal corps, and Eugene E. is in the medical
department, One Hundred Sixtieth California Infantry. Rev. Galen L. Rose has
volunteered as a chaplain. In 1887 Mr. Shirley made his first trip back East;
in 1907 he took his family back on a two months’ trip to visit his father, who
was then living. He has been very successful and with his family enjoys all
good things that go to make for happiness and right living.
Mr. Shirley is a Democrat in politics. In
1902 he was nominated on that ticket for the office of supervisor and at the
election won by six hundred majority in a Republican
district. He took the oath of office in January, 1903, and served four years;
the last year he was honored by being elected chairman. In 1906 he was a
candidate for reelection and won by about the same majority, serving until
January, 1911. The district had grown until there were over two thousand
Republican majority, and when Mr. Shirley was renominated for his third term he was defeated by only one
hundred fifty votes. He served the county impartially and gave excellent
satisfaction to his friends and constituents. His motto always has been a
square deal for everybody. He is a stockholder of the California State Life
Insurance Company of Sacramento. He was made a Mason in 1884, in Buckeye Lodge,
No. 195, F. & A. M., at Winters,
Cal., but transferred his membership to Chico Lodge, No. 111,
F. & A. M. Both Mr. and Mrs. Shirley are members of
Josephine Chapter, No. 104, Order of Eastern Star. Mr. Shirley also belongs to
Chico Lodge, No. 113, I. O. O. F., and to Great Oak Camp, No.
136, W. O. W. He and his wife are active members of the Christian
Church at Chico, of which he is a member of the board of trustees.
Transcribed by Marie Hassard
23 October 2008.
Source:
"History of Butte County, Cal.," by George C. Mansfield, Pages
1050-1052, Historic
Record Co, Los Angeles, CA, 1918.
© 2008 Marie Hassard.
Golden Nugget Library's
Butte County Biographies