Butte County
Biographies
JOSEPH BENNETTE THROWER
JOSEPH BENNETTE THROWER.--Joseph Bennette Thrower,
one of Butte County’s old settlers and a native son who has contributed much
toward its present prosperity, was born on the ranch he now owns, located two
miles north of Nord, September 12, 1858, a son of
John W. Thrower. The latter was born in Missouri and crossed the plains with ox
teams in the spring of 1857, accompanied by his wife, two daughters and three
sons, all of whom were born in Green County, Mo. He brought with him a band of
cattle and the journey took six months ere he arrived in California, in
September. He located in Butte County, two miles north of Nord,
on one hundred sixty acres of land. Here he erected a house and soon put the
land under cultivation and began raising grain and stock. As he succeeded he
added one hundred sixty acres of land adjoining. He died in 1864, at the age of
thirty-five years.
The grandfather, after whom our subject
was named, Joseph Bennette Thrower, was a farmer in
Green County, Mo., and accompanied his son across the plains in 1857 and
settled on eighty acres adjoining the property taken up by his son. He returned
to Missouri soon afterwards to visit friends and relatives and while there was
stricken with paralysis and died a week later.
John W. Thrower married Mrs. Nancy (Cloud)
Day, born in 1816 in Tennessee. She was a widow with three daughters, all born
in Tennessee, where her first husband died, after which she went to Missouri
with her children and was there married to John W. Thrower. On their trip to
California one of her daughters, Mrs. Rebecca Wilkes, accompanied the party.
Grandfather Cloud also came across the plains to this state and spent his last
days near Nord. Mr. and Mrs. John W. Thrower had
seven children; five born in Missouri and two in California, viz.: Mrs. Sarah
J. Chapman, of San Jose; Mrs. Orlena Scott, of
Oakland; William Franklin, of New Mexico; Alexander Campbell, killed in 1873 by
the explosion of a boiler of a stationary engine on the John Shannon place;
James Marion, of Richmond; Joseph Bennette, of this
review; and John Oscar, of Chico. After the death of her husband, Mrs.
Thrower continued on the ranch and was known as Grandma Thrower and was beloved
by everyone who knew her. She died August 7, 1902, at the age of eighty-six
years.
Bennette
Thrower, as he is more familiarly known, was brought up on the home ranch and
attended the Rock Creek district school, and later was a student at the Pacific
Methodist College at Santa Rosa. At the age of seventeen he left school and
took charge of the ranch for his mother, continuing there until her death in
1902. When the property was divided he came into possession of one hundred
sixty acres containing the buildings of the old home place, upon which he still
lives. Twenty-six acres of the ranch are set to almond and prune trees, one of
the oldest orchards in the vicinity, and the balance of the land is devoted to
raising wheat and barley, and some stock is also raised on the ranch.
J. Bennette
Thrower was married in Chico to Anne Daly, who was born in Missouri, the
daughter of William and Mary (Simms) Daly, the former a native of Dublin,
Ireland, and a shoemaker by trade. He came to America and served in the Civil
War, and in 1872 came to California and located at Red Bluff, later removing to
Chico and engaging in the shoe business for a time. He died in San Jose. Mrs.
Daly was born in Springfield, Mo., and died at Chico,
Cal. Mrs. Thrower was graduated from the Oakdale school and soon afterwards
married Mr. Thrower. They became parents of six children: Joseph Berhl, with the Schaw-Batcher
Shipyards in San Francisco; Mary Irma, Mrs. H. L. Sessions, living near Chico;
Bessie Amy; William Ernest, a member of Company I, One Hundred Fifty-ninth
California Volunteers, U. S. A.; Hazel Alma; and Lester, who are at home.
Bessie Amy and Hazel Alma preside gracefully over their father’s household. Mr.
Thrower was bereaved of his wife, March 27, 1906; she was a member of the
Methodist Episcopal Church, South.
Mr. Thrower was made a Mason in Chico
Lodge, No. 111, F. and A. M., in 1888; he belonged to the Nord
Parlor of Native Sons until it was dissolved. In politics he votes the
Democratic ticket in national issues, but in local affairs selects the men best
qualified for office. He has been a member of the County Central Committee for
twenty-one years; for the past twenty years he has served as road overseer of
Road District No. 15, sixteen years under Edward Wilson and now under Henry
White, and during these years much bridge building of a permanent nature has
been done in his district and many miles of good roads have been constructed.
He served as a trustee of Meridian School district for two terms and part of
the time was a clerk of the board. Mr. Thrower has passed all of his business
life in Butte County and by his integrity and honesty of purpose, as well as
through his progressive methods, has won a name and a place for himself, and is
highly esteemed by all who know him.
Transcribed by Marie Hassard
16 May 2008.
Source:
"History of Butte County, Cal.," by George C. Mansfield, Pages 963-964, Historic Record Co, Los
Angeles, CA, 1918.
© 2008 Marie Hassard.
Golden Nugget Library's Butte County Biographies