Butte County
Biographies
LEWIS VAN VLACK
LEWIS VAN VLACK.--A successful contractor and builder, descended from a fine old family, is Lewis Van Vlack, who came to California in 1876. He was born at the state line in Ohio, on June 23, 1862, and was brought up in Rochester, N. Y., and Cleveland, Ohio, where he attended the public schools until he was fourteen years of age. In 1876, he came to California, and to Chico; and after a course at Woodman’s Academy, he was apprenticed as a cabinet-maker and undertaker to Fetter and Williams, with whom he continued for ten years. Then he went to the Pacific Improvement Company as carpenter, and engaged with them in contracting for and building bridges and other structures between Ashland and Redding.
Mr. Van Vlack began contracting in Chico in 1890, and has followed that line of activity ever since. The first house that he put up was the John Bowers residence; and this was but the beginning of a considerable number of attractive buildings designed and contracted by him. He superintended the building of the B. P. O. E. Hall. Mr. Van Vlack also spent six and a half years in San Francisco, where he had more than enough to do at contracting and building, after the great fire. His property becoming vacant, however, he returned to Chico and resumed his contracting here. As tangible evidence of Mr. Van Vlack’s prosperity, it may be stated that he owns the property at the corner of Fourth and Hazel Streets, where he has built a couple of residences, and the lot at 218 Broadway, where he has erected a store building.
Mr. Van Vlack and Miss Frances Boydstun were married at San Jose on December 27, 1899. The bride was born near Dayton, Butte County, the daughter of R. W. Boydstun, a native of Arkansas, who became an honored pioneer in California. Mr. Boydstun was born in Johnson County, Ark., on June 29, 1839. His father, James W. Boydstun, was a native of Tennessee, while his grandfather, Robert Boydstun, was a native of Scotland, who settled in Tennessee, where he was a farmer. Father Boydstun removed to Arkansas. Mother Boydstun, before her marriage, was Miss Sarah Avery, a native of Alabama. In 1852, James W. Boydstun started for California; but his wife being in delicate health, he purchased a ranch in southwest Missouri, near Neosho, where they remained about five years. The desire to see California still held possession of Mr. Boydstun, however, and so in 1857, with his wife and eight children, he again made a start for the Golden State. After six months of traveling, with the customary ox team of those early days, they had crossed the plains, and mountains, arriving in California in September, 1857, at what is now Chico. He purchased a farm on Butte Creek, and there conducted a vegetable garden for one year. After selling out, he bought a claim near Dayton, which he improved and farmed, making this his residence until his death in 1872. His wife died in 1888. Of their eight children, R. W. Boydstun, the father of Mrs. Van Vlack, was the third oldest. After finishing his school days, which were limited, he remained on the home ranch until he was twenty-five years of age. Then he began farming near Dayton, where he preempted one hundred acres adjoining his father’s ranch, for which he paid one dollar and twenty-five cents an acre. Later he purchased adjoining land, until he owned five hundred acres, which he devoted to grain and to stock-raising. When Mr. Boydstun decided to marry, he chose for his wife, Miss Louisa Yokum, who resided fifteen miles north of Red Bluff. She was a native of Missouri, and came across the plains in pioneer days. She died in Chapmantown, and since her death Mr. Boydstun lives with his sister, Mrs. M. E. Clark, at 741 Fourth Street, Chico. In early days, Mr. Boydstun served as a constable. The Yokums had some lively experiences before they reached the promised land, and were compelled to fight the Deer Creek Indians. Six sons and two daughters were born to Mr. and Mrs. Boydstun, and the eldest of these is Mrs. Van Vlack, who was a graduate of Woodman Academy.
Mr.
Van Vlack belongs to Chico Lodge, No. 423, B. P. O.
Elks. He is a member of the Deluge Hose Company, and was a member of the old
Chico Guard when it was called to Sacramento, during the great railroad strike.
Transcribed by Vicky
Walker, 2/20/08.
Source: "History of
Butte County, Cal.," by George C. Mansfield, Pages 752-755, Historic Record Co, Los Angeles, CA, 1918.
© 2008 Vicky
Walker.
Golden Nugget Library's Butte County Biographies