Butte County
Biographies
FREDERICK WAKEFIELD
FREDERICK WAKEFIELD.--Numbered among
the honored pioneers of Butte County
is the name of Frederick Wakefield, who has spent fifty-four years of his
eventful life in the Golden State,
having arrived in California in
1863. He is a native of Maine, born on March 17, 1837,
at Smithfield, Somerset County,
and has a twin brother, Frank B. Wakefield, a resident of Cincinnati,
Ohio. He was raised on a Maine
farm, and attended the old log cabin school, so common in those primitive days.
Fired
with the ambition to seek his fortune in the land of the setting sun on March
21, 1863, Frederick Wakefield sailed from New York City
for California, via the Isthmus of Panama, taking
passage on the steamer Ocean
Queen. After crossing the Isthmus, he embarked on the good ship Sonora
for San Francisco, where, after twenty-seven days' journey
from New York City, he arrived in
safety on April 17. At first he settled in Tehama County,
where he was employed on the American Ranch on the Anderson Plains. His
first work was to cook for the teamsters and miners, and later he was engaged
at the Mineral Slide quartz mine, situated in Butte
County. At one time he was employed
in lumbering, working at different camps, including McKay's and Forest Ranch,
as also at Taylor and Allen's sawmill.
During
his early days in California, Mr.
Wakefield made three trips back to his native state. In 1872 he purchased his
present ranch of ninety acres, situated three miles south of Chico,
where he and his family have since resided. The place was a barren field when
he first located there, but he soon improved it, planting shade and fruit
trees, building a home and barn, and enclosing the ranch with a fence. In later
years he has been interested in horticulture, having at present eighteen acres
in prunes. He has always kept a few cows, and now has a dairy of twelve; and
for the needs of his cattle he has planted thirty acres to alfalfa, which is
irrigated by a pumping plant. In the pioneer days, his good wife was an expert
butter maker. Their dairy averaged about fifty pounds of butter per week, which
was considered the best in the community and always found a ready sale in the
best homes Chico.
When
Mr. Wakefield married, on December 10, 1871, he chose as his life companion
Frances Groves. Both are natives of the same county in Maine,
in which state also they were married. Mr. and Mrs. Wakefield are the parents
of three sons; William V., Fred D., and Robert Stanley. All were born in California.
When the children were young, their father served as a school trustee of his
district. The two older sons are members of the Independent Order of Odd
Fellows. The youngest and eldest are married; and each has two children. Mr.
and Mrs. Wakefield are especially proud of their four grandchildren. Mrs.
Wakefield is a member of the Methodist
Church.
Mr.
Wakefield has a high standing for uprightness of character in the community
were he and his good wife have lived for nearly half a century; and his name
deserves to be perpetuated as that of a man who has assisted in the development
of Butte County.
Transcribed by Sande Beach.
Source: "History of
Butte County, Cal.," by George C. Mansfield, Pages 460-461, Historic Record Co, Los Angeles, CA, 1918.
© 2007 Sande Beach.
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