George W. Smith (1858-1891)

George W. Smith (1858-1891). The above photograph was taken in September of 1877, possibly at Redding, California, at the age of 19-years-old. The photographer is unknown. From the collection of Jeremy Tuggle.

This short blog chronicles the life of George W. Smith who was born in 1858 in California, his father, Gottlieb George Kaylor Smith, was 46 and his mother, Elizabeth Jane (Lamberson) Smith, was 25 at the time of his birth. He had three brothers and six sisters during his parents' union. George W. Smith was raised at Horsetown, a son of a local farmer in Shasta County, and he attended school in the area as shown in the 1870 U.S. Census. He later became a mill worker at the Eagle Creek sawmill near Eagle Creek, (now Ono). Smith was accused of poisoning the livestock of a local rancher named George Fenwick whose ranch was on the South Fork of Cottonwood Creek. 

On May 23, 1891, George W. Smith was caught by Fenwick trespassing on his property, and Fenwick charged at Smith in which a fatal quarrel took place with Fenwick shooting and instantly killing Smith on his land with a loaded gun. Smith died on May 23, 1891, at the Fenwick Ranch on the South Fork of Cottonwood Creek at the age of 33. The local sheriff was called to the scene and a coroner's inquest report was held by the local coroner the shooting was documented as suspicious and the sheriff took Fenwick into custody it was later determined that there was not enough evidence to hold George Fenwick for murder. Fenwick was discharged from custody and released from the Shasta County Jail in early June of 1891. George W. Smith (1858-1891) was my maternal great-great-great granduncle. He is supposedly buried on Rainbow Lake Road on land that is now private property. He is one of two burials at this small cemetery on Rainbow Lake Road the other burial is that of his younger brother Issac Jonas Smith (1870-1876) who died young.

Sources:

1870 U.S. Census

1880 U.S Census

The Shasta Courier newspaper of Shasta, May 30, 1891

The Shasta Courier newspaper of Shasta, June 6, 1891

THE NICHOL'S BOARDING HOUSE AT BALL'S FERRY, CIRCA 1880.

Above: a partially faded photograph of the Nichol's boarding house a two-story clapboard style farmhouse structure at Ball's Ferry, circa 1880, with the family and boarders of Stacy Mahlon Nichols standing in front of the building. From the collection of Jeremy Tuggle. 

Stacy Mahlon Nichols was a native of Loudoun County, Virginia who was born to Isaac Gibson Nichols and Louisa (White) Nichols on July 25, 1856. By 1860, his family settled at Mount Gilead, Virginia, where his father was a farmer and he attended school in that area. Later, they relocated to Springfield, New Hampshire County, West Virginia, where Stacy is documented at the age of thirteen-years-old but is recorded on the 1870 U.S. Census as "Tacy" which is incorrect. He became a well-educated person. 

On May 27, 1879, Stacy registered to vote at the age of twenty-two-years-old recording his place of residence as Shingletown where he was farming. Then on, June 4, 1879, Stacy Mahlon Nichols married Amanda Ellen Hammans, my paternal great-great grand aunt, and a daughter of Shasta County pioneers, Henry Hammans Sr., and Hannah (Moss) Hammans. They were joined together in holy matrimony at Darrah's Mill, by Justice of the Peace, J.S. Darrah, in eastern Shasta County, near Shingletown. To this union, Amanda bore Stacy five children consisting of:

1.) Mary Letetia Nichols (May 1, 1880 - August 19, 1881) [She is buried at Shingletown in the historic Ogburn-Inwood Cemetery. Her first name is mistakenly etched on her headstone as May]

2.) Grace Estelle Nichols (April 29, 1882 - July 29, 1972) married first: George Henry Bacon and married second: Isaac Benjamin Ury

3.) Bertha Irilla Nichols (November 15, 1884 - February 27, 1918) married William H. Martel

4.) Mabel Inez Nichols (July 3, 1886 - December 28, 1982) married first: James Garfield Jessie Durst and married second: Oscar Louis Zeis 

5.) Lola Gertrude Nichols (January 23, 1888 - May 7, 1937) married Elbert Cox Harrell

According to the 1880 U.S. Census, Stacy Mahlon Nichols is living in the 92nd Enumeration District, more notably situated at Ball's Ferry. His occupation was noted as a farmer. His household consisted of his wife, Amanda Ellen (Hammans) Nichols, their daughter Mary L. Nichols, and his sister-in-law, Nancy Jane Hammans. Around this time period Stacy pursued additional career opportunities and began running a boarding house out of the above building. In 1886, he registered to vote while living in the Ball's Ferry area, and after that he relocated his family to Ludwig's Bridge on Cottonwood Creek where they remained while Stacy and Amanda operated the boarding house together at Ball's Ferry.

Nichols also purchased the Ball's Ferry flouring mill (a mill which was erected by Alexander Love and formerly owned by Jonathon Carver.) Stacy Mahlon Nichols relocated this flour mill from Ball's Ferry to another milling site which was formerly owned by his father and situated on Ludwig’s Bridge at Cottonwood Creek and Nichols combined the two mills together. Nichols sold out to Andrew Leslie about 1889, and this mill site became known as Leslie’s Flour Mill. Later, it was owned by Luke Lukes and his brother Jason Lukes. The mill was sold about 1912 to Ed Carter, M.T. Howell and Otto Trautz and they relocated the flour mill to Cottonwood as the Cottonwood Milling Company.

Stacy Mahlon Nichols relocated his family south to Oakland, Alameda County, California, where his wife Amanda Ellen (Nichols) Hammans died on October 3, 1897. She is buried in the Mountain View Cemetery at Oakland. Stacy survived his wife and is recorded as living at Alameda, in Oakland, California, in 1898 and according to the 1900 U.S. Census. His occupation at that time is listed as a railroad inspector. A search for Nichols in the 1910 U.S. Census oddly failed to accumulate any results, but a 1911 City of Oakland Directory book lists him as living in Oakland and working as a watchman. 

The Shasta County pioneer Stacy Mahlon Nichols died on September 20, 1916, in San Francisco, California, at the age of sixty-years-old. He was buried in the Mountain View Cemetery at Oakland next to his beloved wife, Amanda. 

Above: back row, L-R: my paternal great-great grand aunt Amanda Ellen (Hammans) Nichols and her husband Stacy Mahlon Nichols. Front row L-R: Mabel, Grace and Bertha. Circa 1886.  From the collection of Jeremy Tuggle.

Resources:

1860 U.S. Census

1870 U.S. Census

1879 California Voters Registration 

Married - The Reading Independent newspaper of Redding, June 12, 1879

1880 U.S. Census

1898 California Voters Registration 

1900 U.S. Census

1907 City of Oakland Directory

1911 City of Oakland Directory

1912 City of Oakland Directory

1913 City of Oakland Directory

1914 City of Oakland Directory

1915 City of Oakland Directory

Stacy M. Nichols in the California, Death Index, 1905-1939

Stacy M. Nichols in the San Francisco Area, California, Funeral Home Records, 1850-1931

Stacy M. Nichols in the California, Wills and Probate Records 1850-1953