Siskiyou
County
Biographies
W. L. KLEAVER
One
of the most prominent members of the educational personnel of Siskiyou County
is W. L. Kleaver, who in a very efficient manner is filling the office of
supervisor of county grammar schools, with headquarters at Yreka. He is a native son of Siskiyou County, born
on the 20th of May, 1880. His
mother bore the distinction of having been the first white child born at Scott
Bar. His father was a native of Germany,
whence he came to the United States during the Civil War. He was a seafaring man for fourteen years and
finally left the sea at Yreka. Later he
went to Oak Bar, where he engaged in mining, also following that line of work
at Scott Bar. In 1896 he moved to Scott
River Canyon, where he took up a homestead and engaged in ranching until ninety
years of age, buying and raising stock, which he fed and sold on the hoof. He also paid considerable attention to fruit raising specializing in apples. To him and his wife were born eleven children,
as follows: Mrs. Dora Marlahan, who is a widow and lives in Fort Jones, Scott
valley; Kate, who is serving her second consecutive term as recorder of
Siskiyou County; W. L., of this review, Dr. George C., a dentist by profession
and now serving as mayor of Yreka; John B., who is with the Shell Oil Company
at Fort Jones; Augustus V., who is at home and is engaged in tourist work;
Merritt L., who is engaged in the practice of dentistry at Dunsmuir; Frederick
A., who had been in Alaska and was a railroad man but died of influenza in
1918; Charles, who died at the age of six years; and two who died in infancy
W.
L. Kleaver received his education in the grade schools of his home neighborhood
and pursued his high school course at various places. He then took the teacher’s examination, was
granted a certificate and began teaching at Happy Camp, Siskiyou County, in
1899. He taught in various rural schools
for several years and then became the principal of the school at Hornbrook,
Siskiyou County, later holding the same position at Montague and Sisson (now
Mount Shasta). During the following
seven years he served as a member of the horticultural commission, and was then
appointed to the office of county superintendent of schools. However he resigned that position in 1922 and
accepted that of district superintendent of the Dunsmuir grammar schools, in
which capacity he served until 1930, when he was appointed to his present
position as supervisor of the grammar schools of Siskiyou County.
In
1906 Mr. Kleaver was united in marriage to Miss Margaret Matney,
whose people were from Ashland, Oregon, and they are the parents of two
children, Kenneth K., who is an aviator and transport pilot, owning his machine
and rendering passenger service; and W. L., who graduated in 1930 from the
dental school at the University of California and is now practicing his
profession at Yreka. In his political
views Mr. Kleaver is a independent, voting in
accordance with the dictates of his judgment as to men and measures in local
elections, but on national questions is a Democrat. He belongs to the Fraternal Order of Eagles
at Yreka. He is an able and successful
educator and a competent executive, and during the years he has devoted to
educational work he has always commanded the respect of those who have been
associated with him, while throughout the community he has a host of warm and
loyal friends.
Transcribed by
Gerald Iaquinta.
Source:
Wooldridge, J.W.Major History of Sacramento Valley
California, Vol. 2 Pages 208-209. Pioneer Historical
Publishing Co. Chicago 1931.
© 2010
Gerald Iaquinta.
Golden Nugget Library's Siskiyou County Biographies