Welcome to Exploring Shasta County history...
With this blog, I am bringing to life the stories of the early day pioneers and some of the oft-forgotten history of a bygone era in Shasta County, California. I'll also focus on important events after the turn of the 20th century. I would like to reflect upon current historical sites of the modern age as well.
This is copyrighted by Jeremy M. Tuggle.
This turn of the 20th Century building can be found on the former Yank family property which is now part of the historic Frederick V. Meyer Sr., ranch estate on Cow Creek near present-day Bella Vista, which can be seen in my recent video. It was Joseph Yank an early settler of Cow Creek who settled, early on, on this property which his son William would later acquire. Yank Creek runs through the historic Meyer ranch estate and snakes its way into Bella Vista. Yank Creek was named for Joseph Yank, a local rancher.
A series of photographs in sequence of the historic Chicken Coup at the Yank family ranch now part of the Frederick Valentine Meyer Sr., ranch estate property. All photographs taken by Jeremy Tuggle on September 17, 2022. See below:
Above: an 1884 map of Shasta County showing the Yank and Meyer family properties on Cow Creek near present day, Bella Vista.
It was William who married Adah Julia Meyer, a daughter of Shasta County pioneers Frederick Valentine Meyer Sr., and Caroline Louise (Notten) Meyer. They raised their family here. This structure was presumably erected by William Yank after the turn of 20th century, he used clapboard style wood and round nails to build it. This structure is a chicken coup which the family utilized for their chickens which they had on their property. It's one of the few remaining structures which survived the 1999 Jones Fire (26,020 acres) that burned through through the historic Meyer ranch estate property. This building is certainly over 100 years old. Watch the video below at the following YouTube link for further info and visuals. It’s located on private property.
Above: The Historic Meyer Ranch: Established 1853.
Picture taken by Jeremy Tuggle on September 17, 2022.
This sandstone marker marks the burial site of John Meyer my maternal great-great-great granduncle. The inscription is faded on the marker itself. When John Meyer was born on November 5, 1864, at Cow Creek, in Shasta County, California, his father, Frederick Valentine Meyer Sr., was 35 years of age and his mother, Caroline Louise (Notten) Meyer, was 22 years of age. John Meyer had seven brothers and six sisters. He died on March 6, 1865, at Cow Creek, near the present-day town of Bella Vista. John Meyer's father, Frederick Valentine Meyer Sr., was a miner and farmer who came to the town of Shasta in 1851 and settled in the area. We believe this is this only burial at this location. Picture taken: September 17, 2022. This historic burial site is located on private property on the Meyer family ranch which can be seen in my newest YouTube video below:
Video: the Historic Meyer Ranch: Eastablished 1853.
Frederick Valentine Meyer Sr., (1829-1916). From the collection of Jeremy Tuggle.
Video filmed on location September 17, 2022.
Frederick Valentine Meyer Sr., was born on April 17, 1829, in Bremen, Germany, the son of John Meyer. He arrived at the town of Shasta in 1851 and mined until 1853 as records indicate, yet he does not appear on the 1852 California State Census. He was also a farmer who raised beans and corn and from his own grapes on his property he made wine as well. Some of which he sold. He had eight sons and six daughters with Caroline Louise Notten between 1861 and 1890. Frederick Valentine Meyer Sr., died on December 30, 1916, in Bella Vista, California, having lived a long life of 87 years, and was buried at the Millville Masonic Cemetery in Millville, California. Explore the history of the historic Meyer ranch in this YouTube video I produced. The Meyer Ranch is still in existence today owned by my cousin Betty and her husband Ernie. See video. The children of Frederick Valentine Meyer Sr., and Caroline Louise (Notten) Meyer are the following:
1. Anna Meyer (1861–1889) married Alva McBroom Sr.,
2. Mary Fredricka Meyer (1862–1960) married Franklin Reading Love
3. John Meyer (1864–1865)
4. Elizabeth Meyer (1866–1896) married Edgar Wade Howell
5. William Henry Meyer (1868–1932) married Mary Ellen Douease
6. Frederick Valentine Meyer Jr. (1870–1963) married Hattie May Cravens
7. Herman Meyer (1872–1958) married Grace Gertrude Gray
8. Caroline Louise Meyer (1875–1960) married George J. Boyle
9. Adah Julia Meyer (1877–1919) married William Yank
10. Charles Edward Meyer (1879–1962)
11. Olive Meyer (1881–1980) married John William Chatham
12. Albert Meyer (1883–1964) married Ollie M. Thomasen
13. Walter Byron Meyer (1886–1966) married Muriel Catherine Eells
14. Harry Andrew Meyer (1890–1971) married 1st: Eva Bullard, married 2nd: Annie Lucille de Bar Kellog
Caroline Louise (Notten) Meyer (1841-1908), the wife of Frederick Valentine Meyer Sr., she was the mother of 14 children. From the collection of Jeremy Tuggle.
RESOURCES:
Selected U.S. Federal Census Non-Population Schedules, 1850-1880, Shasta County, California,
U.S., Naturalization Records, 1852-1932 for Frederick Valentine Meyer.
Land Surveys - The Shasta Courier newspaper of Shasta, February 6, 1858
Deed Book G., Page 80, John Schrader to Frederick Meyer, dated May 8, 1858
SHASTA HISTORICAL SOCIETY - GENEALOGICAL RECORDS 7-59. One card page front and back. INFORMANT: MARY FREDRICKA (MEYER) LOVE (1862-1960).
U.S., Civil War Draft Registrations Records, 1863-1865
1860 U.S. Census
Leased - The Shasta Courier newspaper of Shasta, December 4, 1869
Fire - The Shasta Courier newspaper of Shasta, November 1, 1873
North Cow Creek - The Shasta Courier newspaper of Shasta, July 20, 1878
Shasta Items - The Shasta Courier newspaper of Shasta, May 8, 1879
Born - The Reading Independent newspaper of Redding, May 29, 1879
1880 U.S. Census
Married - The Shasta Courier newspaper of Shasta, December 3, 1881
Private School - The Shasta Courier newspaper of Shasta, May 14, 1887
Alva McBroom - The Shasta Courier newspaper of Shasta, May 21, 1887
Alva McBroom - The Republican Free Press newspaper of Redding, June 15, 1889
Mrs. A. McBroom - The Republican Free Press newspaper of Redding, June 29, 1889
1900 U.S. Census
Fred Meyer Jr. - The Searchlight newspaper of Redding, March 13, 1908
Lived In County For Forty Years - The Searchlight newspaper of Redding, August 29, 1908
1910 U.S. Census
Births, Marriages And Deaths - The Sacramento Union newspaper of Sacramento, January 2, 1917
Pioneer Farmer Passes Beyond - The Courier-Free Press newspaper of Redding, January 2, 1917
Left Eleven Sons And Daughters And 55 Grandchildren - The Searchlight newspaper of Redding, January 3, 1917
MEYER'S ESTATE IS WORTH $6,000 - The Courier-Free Press newspaper of Redding, January 25, 1917
Veteran Teacher Of The County Passes - The Searchlight newspaper of Redding, December 29, 1918
McBroom Sr., Is Dead At The Bay - The Shasta Courier newspaper of Shasta, January 3, 1919
Meyer Farm Sold In Court For $6,027.50 - The Sacramento Union newspaper of Sacramento, November 27, 1920
Shasta Historical Society Pioneer Record - Frederick Valentine Meyer Sr., dated: June 7, 1943
Frederick Valentine Meyer Sr., Pioneer Plaque file, MP-033 at Shasta Historical Society in Redding, California.
The Meyer Family Memories of Olive (Meyer) Chatham written by an unknown author, date unknown. Available at the Shasta Historical Society.
Meyer Burials, by an unknown compiler, in possession of Cindy L. Nelson and Jeremy Tuggle
The Notten Family History researched and compiled by Marti Notten.
The Kimball Plains schoolhouse at the Cottonwood Creek Charter School in Cottonwood. Photograph taken by Jeremy Tuggle on September 28, 2022.
Video filmed on location: September 28, 2022.
The Kimball School District was established on August 5, 1879, at Kimball Plains, a small agricultural community west of Cottonwood. That year, a schoolhouse was built for the community which was the only schoolhouse within the Kimball School District. Then in September of 1894, the Kimball Plains Schoolhouse caught fire and burned down. After the fire, the students were transferred to the Cottonwood school to advance their education. Years later, the Kimball School District was re-established on November 14, 1916, after a new schoolhouse was erected for their community that year. This school was located on the north side of Gas Point Road just east of Dry Creek and it was their second and last schoolhouse. The school closed down due to poor attendance and by 1947 or 1948 the entire schoolhouse building was relocated to Cottonwood and placed on another's school's property where it was utilized as an additional building of that school and remodeled. The school property which this 1916 clapboard style structure is located on is currently the home of the Cottonwood Creek Charter School in Cottonwood. The building is saved from demolition, but the Cottonwood Creek Charter School is looking to restore the building to its original condition sometime in the future. Special Thanks to Mark Boyle, Director of Cottonwood Creek Charter School in Cottonwood, California. Historical images provided by the Shasta Historical Society and Mark Boyle.
Link to Kimball Plains article by Jeremy M. Tuggle as mentioned in the above YouTube video: here.
RESOURCES:
Our Schools - The Shasta Courier newspaper of Shasta, March 3, 1883
Cottonwood School Ends Spring Term - The Red Bluff Daily News newspaper of Red Bluff, April 20, 1920
Borrowed Children Keep Shasta School Alive - The Blue Lake Advocate newspaper of Blue Lake, January 31, 1931
School Districts of Shasta County 1853-1955 compiled by Veronica Satorius
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