Butte
County
Biographies
C. W. THRESHER
One
of the outstanding figures of Butte County is C. W. Thresher, a rancher of wide
repute, a civic leader, and public-spirited citizen. He is a true native son in all that proud
term denotes, and is honored and popular among all with whom he has come in
contact during a career of active participation in social, civic and
horticultural affairs of the county.
Mr.
Thresher was born in Butte County, November 6, 1853, a son of Stephen P. and
Columbia (Caldwell) Thresher. The father
was born in Concord, New Hampshire, December 9, 1820, and died in 1872. His wife was born in Rochester, Vermont, July
14, 1828. They had five children: Prescott B., was born in Ohio, while the
parents were en route to California, and at the age of three years was
accidentally blinded. He attended a
school for the blind in San Francisco for several years, but has now been
deceased for many years. C. W., of this
review, was the second child. The third,
George, now deceased, was a farmer at the old homestead in Butte County, where
his widow still retains forty acres and there lives. Tyler died at the age of twenty-two. Albert Lincoln is now a fruit rancher on the
East Gridley Road, near Gridley. Stephen
P. Thresher was an expert machinist and carpenter in the eastern part of the
county for about six years, mostly engaged in selling and installing large
scales. He also worked as a machinist
for the J. I. Case Company at Racine, Wisconsin, for three years. In 1852 he started across the plains for
California and was six months on the tiresome journey, although the trip was
enlivened by contacts with Indians and such other hardships as lack of
water. He first settled in Butte County,
and, being a machinist, his services were much in demand in this new
community. He repaired various kinds of
machinery, most threshing machines, and was considered the best artisan of his
day. The original Thresher home place
consisted of seven hundred acres, and there the family of children was
reared. Stock business was the first
occupation of the elder Thresher, but later the land was given over for many
years to wheat raising, then when fruit raising became
the thing it was devoted to this production.
For thirty-five years this old homestead was farmed and was held intact
until the irrigation ditch was constructed in 1908. The land was originally heavily timbered, and
most of it had to be cleared. So thick
was the timber and underbrush that a horse could not penetrate certain parts of
it, and the clearing cost more than the land, as high as one hundred dollars
per acre. The tract, which was located
in what is now known as Colony Five, was later subdivided and sold off in
smaller farms, after the irrigation ditch was put in.
C.
W. Thresher was forced by circumstances to curtail his education early in life,
attending school but seventeen months in all.
He later went to the Baptist College at Vacaville, California, to study
to be an engineer but affairs on the home ranch were not progressing
satisfactorily and at the earnest request of his mother, Mr. Thresher returned
home to take charge. In 1885 he was
married to Miss Emelia Catherine Pfoh,
who was born in Rock Island, Illinois.
Mr.
Thresher is now the owner of three hundred and fifty acres of land in Butte
County and two hundred and fifty acres at his present home place near Gridley,
California, which is devoted principally to the cultivation of various
fruits. He started fruit raising in 1889, having prior to that time raised grain and
stock. He first planted about forty
acres of peaches and pears and later added prunes, until he had about one
hundred acres in fruit. He has planted
three different times, for as the old trees wore out he would set out others,
until today he has about seventy-five acres of peaches, prunes, plums and early
apples with twenty acres of walnuts interplanted. His
present modern improvements are all the results of efforts put forth by himself
and his wife. They have a beautiful
home; the entire front constructed of cement blocks, situated in the midst of a
large grove of oaks, many of them the native forest growth. The house, which consists of eight rooms with
all modern conveniences, located at some distance from the road, enhances the
natural beauty of the site.
Mr.
Thresher has always taken a helpful interest in local affairs, and in politics
is a Democrat. For a number of years, he
was a trustee of the grammar school, and for about twenty years a trustee of
the Gridley High School, acting most of the time as chairman of the board. He was of material assistance to the local
high school from the time of its building until all indebtedness was paid. Mr. Thresher is a member of the Independent
Order of Foresters, and has occupied all the chairs in the lodge at Gridley.
Transcribed by
Gerald Iaquinta.
Source:
Wooldridge, J.W.Major History of Sacramento Valley
California, Vol. 2 Pages 254-256. Pioneer Historical
Publishing Co. Chicago 1931.
© 2010 Gerald Iaquinta.
Golden Nugget Library's
Butte County Biographies