Colusa County
Biographies
JOHN LINDSAY MENDENHALL
John Lindsay Mendenhall, one of the extensive stock dealers in Colusa county, residing in Williams, was born in Greensboro
Guilford county, N. C., November 6, 1866, son of Alpheus L. and Corina (Davis) Mendenhall. He traces his paternal ancestry
back through five generations to the founder of the Mendenhall family in North
Carolina, who emigrated from England at an early date in the colonial period,
and prior to the latter it is traceable to a German origin. The Mendenhalls are Quakers. The family estate in Greensboro,
which comprises nine hundred acres and was purchased from the Indians for a
pony by the original American ancestor, has ever since remained in the family’s
possession, and has never been incumbered by
mortgage. Alpheus L., aged sixty, together with his brother Elihu
Mendenhall, aged eighty-seven years, are its present owners. They were always
opposed to slavery and during the Civil war were strongly in favor of the
Union. Mr. Mendenhall’s paternal grandfather, Moses, was a tanner as well as a
farmer. Alpheus L. Mendenhall, who is largely interested in farming and
stock-raising, is also engaged in the tanning and shoe-manufacturing industries
in Greensboro. His wife, who was also of English descent, and a daughter of
Peter Davis of Greensboro, died in 1899, aged fifty-eight years. She was the
mother of six children. Two of them came to California, namely: John Lindsay,
and his youngest brother, Joseph D., who died here December 24, 1900.
John Lindsay Mendenhall was educated in the public schools of
Greensboro. He acquired a practical knowledge of agriculture and the raising of
live-stock on the family estate, and in 1889 he came to California, whither his
brother Joseph had preceded him. For about two years following his arrival he
was employed at farming in the vicinity of Arbuckle, but the spirit of
enterprise which had brought the Mendenhall brothers to the Pacific coast urged
them forward and when opportunity permitted they rented jointly twelve hundred
acres of land lying two miles south of Williams, where they engaged in farming
and stock-raising. They subsequently rented adjoining land operating eighteen
hundred acres until 1895, when the partnership was dissolved.
In 1897 John L. Mendenhall bought
four hundred acres of land located five miles south of Williams, which formed
the nucleus of his present ranch. This he added to by the purchase of adjoining
land amounting to six hundred acres, thus giving him a tract of one thousand
acres in a body. Here he established a fine grain and stock ranch, erecting a
residence, spacious barns and about eight miles of fence. He continued to
reside there until the fall of 1904, when he placed his property in the hands
of a tenant in order to devote his exclusive attention to the live-stock
business. He deals in cattle, horses and mules, making a specialty of the
latter, and is said to be the largest handler of mules in Colusa county. These animals he buys mostly in Nevada, eastern Oregon
and northern California.
He was made a Mason in Tuscan Lodge No. 261, F. & A. M., of
Williams, and is also affiliated with the Independent Order of Foresters. In
politics he votes with the Democratic party and is a
member of the county central committee.
Transcribed By: Cecelia M. Setty.
Source: "History of the State of
California and Biographical Record of the Sacramento
Valley, Cal.," J. M. Guinn, Page
446. The Chapman Publishing Company, Chicago,
1906.
© 2017 Cecelia M. Setty.
Golden Nugget
Library's Colusa County Biographies