Siskiyou
County
Biographies
WILLARD O. STONE
Willard
O. Stone, who is the owner of a fine farm of two hundred acres in the Shasta
valley, but is now practically retired from active business affairs, is rightly
numbered among the pioneers of this section of the Sacramento valley, having
been born in Siskiyou County sixty-seven years ago, the son of one of the early
families of this section of the state.
His birth occurred on the 23rd of January, 1863, his parents
being Willard P. and Lury Cadelia
(Eddy) Stone. Willard P. Stone was born
near Buffalo, New York, in 1827, and in boyhood accompanied his father to
Peoria, Illinois, where they lived for some time. In 1850 he crossed the plains to California,
locating in Yreka, where he engaged in farming and mining for about one and a
half years. In 1852 he returned east, by
way of the isthmus of Panama, and went to Peoria,
Illinois, where a train of twelve wagons was being fitted up for the trip
across the plains. There Mr. Stone was married
in 1854 and soon afterward he and his bride joined the train crossing the
plains with ox team and covered wagon.
They were six months on the way, but fortunately had no trouble with
Indians. Locating in the Shasta valley
of California, Mr. Stone engaged in farming and stock raising,
and there he and his wife spent their remaining years, their home being near
the town of Weed. Willard O. Stone’s
maternal grandparents were Levi and Lury (Lewis)
Eddy, the former a native of Maine and the latter of Orange County, New
York. To this worthy couple were born
seven children, Edwin, Nelson H., Mary A., Henry, Lury
Cadelia, Charles J., and William, who died in
infancy. About 1844 the Eddy family
moved west, locating on a farm near Burlington, Kane County, Illinois, where
they engaged in farming. Of the above
named children, Nelson H. Eddy was a member of the same train in which his
sister and her husband, Mr. and Mrs. Willard P. Stone, traveled. Mr. Eddy arrived at Yreka, October 3, 1854,
and located on a mountain ranch at Eddy Mountain, which was named for him. There he lived until 1867, when he bought
three hundred and eighteen acres of land on sections 25 and 26, township 42,
north, range 5, west. He was
particularly successful in the Shasta valley, for starting with only one yoke
of oxen and a cow; he developed one of the best stock ranches in Siskiyou
County. He was a republican in politics,
and a Protestant in religion. For three
years he was senior warden of Howard Lodge, No. 96, F. & A. M., at Yreka. To Willard P. and Lury
Cadelia Stone were born six children, as
follows: Charles H. and Lura Alvin, deceased; Willard O.; Frank L., deceased; Fred
E., of Yreka, who is a forest ranger, and owns two hundred acres of his
father’s estate, which is leased out; and Burt, who is deceased.
Willard
O. Stone was educated in a small country school near his home and had one year
in a normal school at Ashland, which he attended during 1882-83. He spent eleven years in eastern Oregon, but
has long been a resident of the Shasta valley, being the owner of two hundred
acres of splendid valley land, on which he has raised hay and fruits of various
kinds, as well as livestock. He now has
the farm leased out as a dairy ranch, but reserves the garden and
orchards. He made all of the
improvements on this place and has a nice, comfortable home at the foot of
Mount Shasta. He has running cold water,
from melted snow, the year round, and fine, large shade trees about the home,
which is located in a beautiful spot.
In
eastern Oregon Mr. Stone was united in marriage to Miss Florence A. Bagley, who
is a native of that state. Her father,
John Bagley, was born in Arkansas, and his wife in Batesville, that state. In 1854 they crossed the plains to Marion
County, Oregon, where they remained a few years, and then came to California,
locating near Edgewood, where they resided until 1885, when they returned to
Oregon, where they spent their remaining years, the father dying November 15,
1891. His widow later lived with her
children. She spent a year and a half
with her daughter, Mrs. Stone, and then went to live with her son at
Healdsburg, California, where her death occurred. Mr. and Mrs. Bagley were the parents of five
children, namely: William A., deceased;
Robert H.; Elizabeth, who died in 1874; Mrs. Florence A. Stone; and Harriet L.,
who was the widow of W. R. Randon and died August 25, 1930. Mr. and Mrs. Stone have four children: Sanford E., who is a carpenter and lives in
San Diego, this state; Effie, the wife of W. J. Schmidt, a carpenter at
Richmond, California; Willard V., who is with the Henry Ford Company in San
Francisco; and Kenneth, who is an employee of the Long-Bell Lumber Company and
lives at home, about two and a half miles from Weed.
Politically
Mr. Stone is a republican and has held some minor offices, such as school
trustee, though he is not an office seeker.
For the past twenty-seven years he has been a member of the Independent
Order of Odd Fellows at Weed and has passed through the chairs and is also a
member of the Woodmen of the World, at Weed.
He has lived an active and useful life, crowned with success, and no
resident of the Shasta valley is held in higher esteem than he.
Transcribed by
Gerald Iaquinta.
Source:
Wooldridge, J.W.Major History of Sacramento Valley
California, Vol. 2 Pages 194-196. Pioneer Historical
Publishing Co. Chicago 1931.
© 2010
Gerald Iaquinta.
Golden Nugget Library's Siskiyou County Biographies