Butte County
Biographies
EDWARD A. WARREN
EDWARD A. WARREN.--An unusually enterprising man, who was privileged
to become one of the substantial builders of Chico, and who continued until his
death to have great faith in the future greatness of this city, was Edward A.
Warren, a native of Red Bluff, where he was born on
December 24, 1851. His father was Robert Emmet
Warren, of Richmond, Va., who crossed the great plains
with ox-teams, and while making the journey met and married Miss Hall. This was
in either 1849 or 1850. Settling at Red Bluff, he engaged in farming; and
afterwards became a pioneer of Chico, where he rented a part of the Bidwell orchard and had a garden, and established a produce
business on Main Street. After a while he embarked in the confectionery trade,
and continued the same until he sold out to his son, Edward. Robert Warren died
here in April, 1892, and was buried with all the honors due to a
thirty-second-degree Mason. Edward’s mother died about 1869. Of the marriage of
Robert E. Warren and Miss Hall, there were born nine children, of whom the only
one now living is Emmet C., of Portland.
Edward Warren, the eldest child in the
family, was educated in the Chico public schools and at the Woodman Academy,
after which he was employed by his father in the confectionery business, and
continued with him until, about November, 1881, he bought his father out and
added toys to the stock in trade. At that time the store was on Main Street,
between Second and Third, and was well-known as a manufacturing confectionery
and ice-cream establishment, and as an emporium for toys. In 1895,
Mr. Warren sold out to Guy Jackson; and thereafter he engaged in the
commission business, handling dried fruits and nuts at wholesale, and making a
specialty of shipping California products in his line. He really had started
this undertaking in 1892; and when it reached large proportions he disposed of
the confectionery branch of his business. By commendable enterprise and very
hard work, Mr. Warren established a market in the large cities of the United
States, from the Gulf to Canada, and from the Pacific to the Atlantic, and
often despatched as many as three or four car loads
at a time. In the midst of this activity he suddenly died of heart failure, on
August 3, 1910. Fortunately, Mrs. Warren had assisted her husband in his
business, and was sufficiently conversant with its details to be able to
continue operations for a year and a half, filling all orders contracted for;
after which she closed the establishment. Mr. Warren had become owner of
considerable real estate; and in that line, building and improving, Mrs. Warren
continued. In various ways she has added very greatly to the valuation of her
buildings and lands. Among other enterprises, she has built the Warren
Apartments.
A prominent Republican, Mr. Warren was
elected a city trustee and city treasurer; and he was a trustee of the Chico
State Normal School at the time of his death. He belonged to the Deluge Hose
Company, of the Chico fire department; and fraternally he was a Mason, having
become a member of the order in Chico, and being affiliated with Chico Lodge,
No. 111; Chico Chapter, No. 42, R. A. M.; and Chico Commandery,
No. 12, K. T.
Before her marriage, which took place at
San Francisco, on August 14, 1881, Mrs. Warren was
Miss Margaret Watson, a native of Bangor, Butte County, and the
daughter of James A. Watson, who was born in Connecticut. He was a school
teacher, and was married at Dodgeville, Wis., to Miss Margaret Sillers, a native of Scotland. In 1852, he crossed the
plains, making the six months’ trip with the aid of ox teams, and settled at Forbestown, where he engaged in the hotel business.
Thereafter he removed to Bangor, and took up farming and stock-raising. During
his residence at Bangor, he was superintendent of the Forbestown
Irrigation Canal, which position he held from almost the date of its inception;
and to this enterprise he gave his best efforts, striving to make irrigation a
success in the county. He died while in Bangor, and his wife died in Chico.
Four girls and a boy were born of their marriage. A daughter, Mary, married C.
G. Warren, of Chico; another daughter, Kate, became Mrs. Kinsey, of San
Francisco; and Nellie, the third daughter, is Mrs. Schooler,
also of San Francisco. In that city, at the age of forty, the only son, James
H., died. Margaret Watson was reared in Bangor, and attended school there and
at Redwood City, Cal. She obtained a teacher’s certificate, and engaged in
teaching, three years at Biggs, and four years at Oakdale.
Mrs. Warren has traveled considerably,
having made trips into different parts of the United States, Canada, and
Mexico. Being fond of adventure, she made a trip in 1891 to Alaska, and visited
Fort Wrangle, Juneau, and Skagway, when those cities were mere hamlets--just a
few shacks and totem poles--and many years before the gold rush to the
Klondike. She is also well-read, and, having a retentive memory, is a very
interesting conversationalist. Fraternally, she is a popular member of the
Annie K. Bidwill Parlor, Native Daughters of the
Golden West. Cultured and refined, Mrs. Warren is of an artistic temperament,
having tastes for the beautiful; and her home is comfortable, attractive, and
replete with her own paintings.
Transcribed by Marie Hassard
16 May 2008.
Source:
"History of Butte County, Cal.," by George C. Mansfield, Pages 965-966, Historic Record Co, Los
Angeles, CA, 1918.
© 2008 Marie Hassard.
Golden Nugget Library's Butte County Biographies