Butte County
Biographies
BENJAMIN F. TRUE
A
citizen of Chico well known throughout Northern
California is Benjamin F. True, who has proved to be an able peace
officer. A native of Massachusetts,
he was born in Boston, October 3, 1849, a son of Dr.
Joseph Mills True, born in Deerfield, N. H., whose father, Abraham True, was a
native of Garland, Maine. Abraham True was a hotel keeper. He served as a soldier in the Revolutionary
War, and Benjamin F. True has the musket carried by him in that struggle for
independence. Dr. Joseph M. True was a
manufacturer of proprietary medicines.
He died at New Haven. His wife was formerly Louisa Flagg, a native
of Massachusetts, who died when
her son Benjamin F. was a babe of seventeen months.
Benjamin
F. True was the younger of the two children in his parents’ family. He was educated in the public school at Lynn,
Mass., and at New Haven, Conn.,
after which he entered the employ of the New York and
New Haven Steamship Company, running on the Sound steamers, the old Traveler
and Elm City,
between New Haven and New York. He worked up from deck boy and was
quartermaster when he was nineteen. In
1871, while the Brooklyn Bridge
was being built, out of curiosity he went down one hundred thirty feet into one
of the caissons. The terrific noise
injured his ears, and to this he attributed his present slight deafness.
Benjamin
F. True had an uncle, Thomas True, who had come to California
in 1849, and who later engaged in the butcher business in Chico. He sent for his nephew to join him, which he
did in 1871, at a time when Chico
had but fifteen hundred population. He worked for his uncle for eleven months,
when his uncle was suddenly taken ill and died, in 1872. That year Chico
was incorporated and the town hall was built.
James O. Weed was city marshal and Mr. True was the first police officer to be appointed in Chico. After being on the force three months he was
given charge of the old and the new Chinatown
districts. Later on he was elected
constable, and during his term he went through the Chinese massacre and did
effective work in apprehending the assailants and murderers, eleven of whom
were sent to the penitentiary. In 1886,
Mr. True was appointed to fill the vacancy caused by the death of Marshal York Rundel. He served
the balance of the term and then became a candidate for the position, to which
he was elected, and served one term. Mr.
True had done some work for Governor Stanford in apprehending some cattle
thieves; so after his term as marshal expired, he was appointed a special
officer for the Southern Pacific Company at Sacramento
and continued there seven years. During
this time the great A. R. U. strike occurred, in 1874, and Mr. True had his
hands full; but he was always on duty, giving efficient service. He was transferred to San
Francisco in the same capacity, and remained with the
company until the great fire in 1906, when he was burned out. Some time afterwards he was in the service of
the Pacific Mail Steamship Company as a special officer, and continued with
that company until he retired to private life, in 1908, and again took up his
home in Chico, at his residence at 408
Ivy Street.
On
December 17, 1879, Benjamin F. True and Miss Florence M. Krause, a native of Marysville,
Cal., were united in marriage. Mrs. True is a daughter of John H. and
Elizabeth (Moliere) Krause, the former born in Labanon, Pa. John H. Krause came across the plains in 1849
to California, and was a hotel
proprietor at Long’s Bar; he later went to Marysville, and was chief clerk in the
Steam Navigation Company. He became
prominent in politics in Marysville, and served as auditor and recorder of Yuba
County for sixteen years. He returned to Sacramento,
where he died. Mr. Krause was married in
San Francisco, his wife having come to California
via Panama, from New
Orleans, where she was born. She died in Marysville. Mrs. True is the eldest of two children, and
was educated in the convent at Marysville and at Mills Seminary, Oakland. She is one of the organizers of Annie K.
Bidwell Parlor, N. D. G. W., of which she is Past President and still an active
worker. Mr. True is musically inclined,
and for fourteen years has sung bass in the Presbyterian Church choir, of which
he was leader. He started the movement
that secured the pipe organ for the Presbyterian Church choir. Mr. and Mrs. True are Republicans, she being
a natural-born politician, as she used to work with her father in
Marysville. Mr. True is known by nearly
all the Chinese from San Francisco to Maine;
he has always been their friend, and has treated them square. For his kind acts towards them, and to show
their appreciation, they call him “Ah Ben.”
During the years that Mr. True has been in California,
he has made countless friends; and he is held in the highest esteem by all who
know him.
Transcribed
by Priscilla Delventhal.
Source: "History of
Butte County, Cal.," by George C. Mansfield, Pages 556-557, Historic Record Co, Los Angeles, CA, 1918.
© 2007 Priscilla
Delventhal.
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