Siskiyou
County
Biographies
JOHN L. BERRY
John L. Berry, who closed his eyes to earthly scenes on
the 21st of April, 1928, was one of the best county officials
Siskiyou county ever had and his death was regarded by
all as a distinct loss to the community which he had served so long and well.
He was a man of sterling qualities, unassuming manner, high ideals and
unquestioned integrity and administered the affairs of the county treasury in a
manner that won for him successive reelections without opposition. Mr. Berry
was born on the 22d of January, 1856, in Placer county,
Miners Ravine, the place of his birth, having formerly been an active mining
town. His parents, John H. and Rachael E. (Parker) Berry, came around Cape Horn
to California in an early day. The father, a carpenter and wheelwright, went to
Roseville, near Sacramento, where he erected the first house in that place,
which is now a thriving railroad town. There his death occurred.
John L. Berry received his education in the grade schools
and then worked for his brother-in-law for a while. Later he became a telegraph
operator on the Southern Pacific Railroad, filling that position until moving
to Gazelle, Siskiyou county, where he worked until
1915, when he was elected treasurer of Siskiyou county. So satisfactory was his
discharge of the duties of that office that he was successively reelected and
was still the incumbent of the office at the time of his death. Mrs. Berry, who
had served as deputy treasurer, was appointed to fill the vacancy receiving the
unanimous endorsement of the board of supervisors, and in 1930 was regularly
elected without opposition. She is thoroughly familiar with every detail of the
office and the county was fortunate in having so competent a successor to their
former treasurer.
In 1876 Mr. Berry was united in marriage to Miss Roddick, a native of Amador county
and the daughter of Robert and Christina (McKenzie) Roddick.
Her father was numbered among the real pioneers of California, having been a
miner in Amador county in the early '50s. After a
number of years, he took up teaming, which he followed until 1907, when he went
to Gazelle, and was there engaged in farming until his death. His wife passed
away there also. Mr. and Mrs. Berry became the parents of five children,
namely: Rae C., who is now a deputy for her mother in the office of county
treasurer; Armine, who was accidentally killed while
hunting; Stanley R., who is now station agent for the Southern Pacific Railroad
at Klamath Falls, Oregon; Ruth, who is the wife of Clinton N. Bryon, a fireman
on the Southern Pacific Railroad, residing at Dunsmuir; and Muriel E., the wife
of Howard N. McLaughlin, a draftsman for the state highway commission at
Redding. Mrs. Berry’s home is at Shasta View, a subdivision of Yreka, and she
is very comfortably situated. She is exceedingly well liked by all who have
dealings with the county traesurer’s [sic]
office, while socially she is genuinely esteemed by the voters of the county
and has a host of warm and devoted friends.
Transcribed by Marie Hassard
29 April 2010.
Source: Wooldridge, J.W.Major
History of Sacramento Valley California, Vol. 2, Pages 113-114. Pioneer Historical Publishing Co. Chicago 1931.
© 2010 Marie Hassard.
Golden Nugget Library's Siskiyou County Biographies