Butte County
Biographies
HERBERT W. WHITTEN
HERBERT W. WHITTEN.--A brilliant
young attorney who, by exceptional gifts for his
arduous and responsible professional work and by unremitting attention to the
interests of his clients, is fast making his mark, is Herbert W. Whitten, who
was born near Chico on July 3, 1888, and is therefore a native son. His father
was Alpheus Whitten, who was born in Canaan, Maine,
where he was educated. When twenty-six years old he came to Butte County, Cal.,
and followed lumbering, and for years he was with the Sierra Lumber Company,
where he was in charge of one of the departments. After that he engaged in
farming for a short time, and in 1891 removed to Idaho with his family,
engaging in stock-raising and farming at Blackfoot. He was a pioneer in the
matter of irrigation, and built and owns a canal on the Snake River, by which
he has placed over a thousand acres under cultivation. He is also interested in
power plants, and has invested in a couple of power companies. He is, besides,
a director in a company that is building an electric railroad from Utah to Idaho;
and he has considerable interests in banking. He breeds thoroughbred English
sire horses, Durham cattle, and Cotswold sheep, and has long been widely known
for the products of his ranches.
Mrs. Alpheus
Whitten was Miss Susan E. Fox before her marriage, and she was born in
Missouri, the daughter of Pressley Fox, a pioneer who came to California in
1863. He crossed the plains with ox-teams, and settled in Butte County as a
pioneer farmer. Susan was then a child, and under Western conditions grew to maturity.
Her first marriage united her with Marcus Bennett, who came from Virginia City,
and died here. By this marriage she had six children, two of whom are still
living: Harry Bennett, of Santa Cruz; and J. A. Bennett, of Butte
County. Through her second marriage, to Mr. Whitten, she had five children,
four of whom are living. One of the youngest of these, and the only one here,
is Herbert W. Whitten.
Herbert W. Whitten attended the public
school at Blackfoot, graduated from the high school, and matriculated at the
University of Idaho, from which he graduated in June, 1913, receiving the
degree of LL. B. He was admitted to the bar of Idaho,
and by examination to the United States District Court; and having come to
Chico and located here, he was admitted to practice in the California courts.
He soon associated himself with Colonel Henshaw in
the practice of law, and since the death of that able jurist he has continued
in the pursuit of his profession alone.
Besides his law practice, other matters of
importance interest Mr. Whitten. With W. E. Bernard, W. W. Green and
the Watts estate, he is a partner in the operation of twelve hundred acres
leased from the Watts estate and devoted to rice culture. This tract is seven
miles east of Butte City, on the Sutter and Butte County Canal. In 1916 he had
twelve hundred acres planted to rice, that yielded three thousand seven hundred
pounds of rice to the acre. He is also a leader in mining operations on Butte
Creek, having as a partner C. L. Crowder, under the name of the Mudford Mining Company. The company is developing some fine
quartz ledges, and getting down to underground channels. Mr. Whitten is also
the executor of the Watts estate, which comprises four thousand acres of land.
Mr. Whitten is an influential and guiding
Democrat, and an appreciated member of the Episcopal Church. He is a member of
the Phi Delta Theta, and one of the founders of the Phi Alpha Delta fraternity
at the University of Idaho. He was made a Mason at Grove City Lodge, and
belongs to Lodge No. 33, Blackfoot, Idaho.
Transcribed by Marie Hassard
19 July 2008.
Source:
"History of Butte County, Cal.," by George C. Mansfield, Pages
993-994, Historic Record
Co, Los Angeles, CA, 1918.
© 2008 Marie Hassard.
Golden Nugget Library's
Butte County Biographies