Butte County
Biographies
INGATE DANIEL STANFORD
Well and favorably known in newspaper circles in the Sacramento Valley, I. D. Stanford, the popular and successful manager of the Lyric Theater of Chico and the Liberty Theater at Marysville, has had an interesting career. His father, Daniel E. Stanford, was born in Massachusetts and as a child was brought across the plains by his parents, who settled in San Francisco, where their son was raised. In early life the father became interested in the mining “game” and for years was a mining-broker in San Francisco. He met with an accident, caused by slipping and falling on some stones that resulted in his death, in 1878. He married Hannah Desire Howland, born in Placerville, a daughter of Capt. David Howland, a native of Massachusetts, and for years a master of a whaling vessel plying out of New Bedford. After coming to California he was captain of a steamer on Lake Tahoe. The Captain married Celia A. Pease, also born in Massachusetts, and they came around the Horn to California. Mrs. Howland died at Redding aged seventy-eight years; the Captain died at Bijou, Mono County, aged eighty-two.
D. Stanford was born in San Francisco, on March 25, 1874, and was but a child of four years when his father died. He remained with his mother for four years and then went to Redding, where he made his home with his grandmother, Mrs. Howland. He attended the public schools but, at the age of twelve, went into the newspaper office of his step-father, L. S. Barnes, at that time editor of the Shasta County Democrat, a weekly publication. It was in this office that young Stanford learned the printing business from “devil” to editor. He remained with Mr. Barnes from 1886 until 1901, when he accepted a place as a reporter with Frank Swasey, on the Redding Free Press. Here he remained a year, working under Rufus M. Steele, the editor; later he succeeded Mr. Steel and occupied the chair as editor for the following six years. The ability of Mr. Stanford had become widely known and he then accepted a position with Colonel Forbes, and for two yeas was editor of the Marysville Appeal. He then went to Sacramento and was employed as editor of the Superior California department of the Sacramento Bee, under Colonel Chambers. At the of a year he succeeded Chambers, who had been elevated to news editor of the Bee, and for two years Mr. Stanford edited the Superior California department. During the time he covered Northern California, Southern Oregon, and Western Nevada, in which territory he made many friends. At the end of two years he resigned to become editor of the Chico Enterprise and held the position for three years. He next was connected with the Chico Tribune for about a year. In all of his years in publicity work in the newspaper business he was faithful in the discharge of his duties and built up a wide acquaintance in various parts of the country where his business took him.
In July, 1916, Mr. and Mrs. Stanford purchased the Lyric Theater in Chico, and since then he has given his undivided attention to the conduct of the business and has built up a fine patronage and has made of it one of the best show-houses in the Valley. He has made a study of what the public wants and gives it to them. The theater is conducted as a moving-picture theater and has a seating capacity of four hundred. It is perfectly ventilated; in summer large electric fans are operated and in winter it is heated by furnace, with the result that the Lyric is the popular show-house in Chico. Popular prices prevail. In June, 1918, Mr. and Mrs. Stanford purchased the Liberty Theater at Marysville, which as a seating capacity of five hundred, and this will be conducted in conjunction with their Chico play-house.
In Auburn, Cal., Mr. Stanford was united in marriage with Miss Adella M. Keeler, born in that city, a daughter of a pioneer farmer and horticulturist of the Edgewood district. Mrs. Stanford is a graduate of the Placer County public schools, also from the normal department of the Stockton Business College. She was engaged in teaching for some years, her work taking her to Placer, Sacramento and Contra Costa Counties, and to Redding, where she met Mr. Stanford. Their union has been blessed with three children: Muriel, Gillette and Allison. Mrs. Stanford is an active partner with her husband in the management of the Lyric Theater, and they are assisted by their son and daughter. Mrs. Stanford is a member of the Eastern Star and the Neighbors of Woodcraft; is prominent in club work in Chico and a member of the Parent-Teacher Association and the Federated Clubs. She is an active member of the Presbyterian Church. Fraternally Mr. Stanford belongs to the Woodmen of the World and the Yeomen of America. He is a member of the Chico Business Men’s Association; Northern California Exhibitors’ Association and the Northern California Press Association. In line with his work as a newspaperman, since his connection with the Shasta County Democrat, Mr. Stanford has been and still is, a correspondent for the San Francisco Examiner, and for the Chronicle, Call, Bulletin, and the Associated and United Press Associations.
Transcribed
by Joyce Rugeroni.
Source: "History of
Butte County, Cal.," by George C. Mansfield, Pages 1191-1192, Historic Record Co, Los Angeles, CA, 1918.
© 2009 Joyce Rugeroni.
Golden Nugget Library's Butte County
Biographies