Glenn
County
Biographies
C. H. WREN
Through
experience and ability C. H. Wren is exceptionally well qualified for the
important duties which devolve upon him as agricultural commissioner of Glenn
County, and throughout the period of his residence in Willows he has been
classed with its most progressive and public-spirited citizens. Born in Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, November
20, 1878, he is a son of J. D. and Martha (Rutherford) Wren. His father, a native of Kentucky, came to
California in 1888, settling near Salinas, Monterey County. Later he purchased land in Solano County,
developing a fruit farm in the Vacaville district, where he engaged in that
line of activity for many years, and his death there occurred in 1929.
At
the age of ten years C. H. Wren came to the Pacific coast with his parents,
attending grammar school at Salinas for a time and completing his studies in
the Vacaville high school. He was first
an employee of the Southern Pacific Railroad Company four years, and then went
on a ranch near Sacramento, where his attention and energies were given to
fruit farming until 1910. At that time
he located in Willows and opened a real estate office, continuing in that
business until 1917, when he became horticultural commissioner of Glenn County
for a term of four years. On the expiration of that period he entered the field
of contracting and was closely identified with building operations in various
localities, establishing a business of substantial proportions. He returned to Willows and has since been
agricultural commissioner for Glenn County, with office in the Memorial
Hall. He is really one of the police of
the state with reference to plant life and closely watches the various forms of
plant and tree life either coming in or going out of the district. Years of study, observation and experience
have given him a highly specialized knowledge of horticultural science, on
which he is able to speak with authority, and his expert services have been of
great value to the county.
In
1911 Mr. Wren was married to Miss Esther West, a daughter of John J. and Ella
(Green) West, and two children were born to them, Justine E. and Merle. For his second wife Mr. Wren chose Miss
Carrie E. Wilson, a native of Illinois and a daughter of Edwin and Eliza M.
Wilson. The three children of this
marriage are Lorna D., Norman and Ella Mae.
For
recreation Mr. Wren turns to fishing, hunting and golf and is secretary of the
Willows Golf Club. He is a New Thought
follower and his political allegiance is given to the Republican Party. In the activities of the Willows Chamber of
Commerce he is a leading spirit and has been chosen a delegate at large to the
regional citizens’ council. Every
project for the benefit of Glenn County receives his strong endorsement and
hearty support and at all times he has worked along constructive lines, making
his efforts effective and far-reaching.
Transcribed by
Gerald Iaquinta.
Source:
Wooldridge, J.W.Major History of Sacramento Valley
California, Vol. 3 Pages 281-283. Pioneer Historical
Publishing Co. Chicago 1931.
© 2010
Gerald Iaquinta.
Golden Nugget Library's Glenn County Biographies