THE SITE OF THE FORMER EUREKA SCHOOLHOUSE ON SALT CREEK (1875-1980)

Above: the Eureka Schoolhouse is pictured here with Olive (Meyer) Chatham (1881-1980) standing beside it. She was educated here as a child, and later in life, she was employed here as a teacher. She was a daughter of Shasta County pioneers Frederick Valentine Meyer Sr., and Caroline Louise (Notten) Meyer of Cow Creek. This photograph was taken in 1974. This building was demolished in 1980. Courtesy of Shasta Historical Society.

The Eureka School District, of Shasta County, held this school's grand opening on August 3, 1875, which pre-dated the establishment of the town of Bella Vista. The Eureka schoolhouse was a one-room clapboard style structure with a stove. The property included a well on the lot it stood on, and an outhouse. Today, nothing remains of these additions. This building was built primarily for education purposes and community meetings in the Cow Creek region. This area at that location was an agricultural area before it evolved into a busy lumber community known today as Bella Vista. 

This building was located a few hundred feet north of Salt Creek and in between the Meyer and Lemm family ranches. It was the only school within the boundaries of the Eureka School District. By the 1970s, the building was left abandoned, and the structure was not brought up to county code and regulations for it to be salvaged. Then in 1980 this schoolhouse was demolished after it was in existence for 105 years. Today, the lot this schoolhouse formerly occupied remains vacant however the landscape hasn’t changed much over the years.

The following is a partial listing of known schoolteachers at the Eureka Schoolhouse:

1887 - Mary (Meyer) Love 

1891 - Mary (Meyer) Love

1895 - Annie Durkee

1897 - Mary (Meyer) Love

1899 - Alma Sheppard

1906-1907 - Katherine (Smith) Lemm

1908 - Donna Dennis

1911-1912 - Olive (Meyer) Chatham

1912-1913 - Franklin R. Love

1915 - Ethel M. Williams

Above: formerly located on this flat surface of grassy land just off of Blue Sky Road (formerly Aloha Road) outside of Bella Vista, and a few hundred feet north of Salt Creek is the site belonging to former Eureka Schoolhouse. This land is located on private property. This photograph was taken by Jeremy Tuggle on September 27, 2022.

Resources:

Shasta County School Districts Plan Merger - The Chico Record newspaper of Chico, March 20, 1920

School Districts of Shasta County, 1853-1955

The Meyer Family written by Edna (Chatham) Wallace and Suzanne Kershaw, The Covered Wagon 1974, published by Shasta Historical Society.

The Meyer Family Memories of Olive (Meyer) Chatham written by an unknown author, date unknown. Available at the Shasta Historical Society.

VF 979.424 Bella Vista on file at Shasta Historical Society

Shasta County’s Historical Rural School Eureka School by Ruth Martin and Jane Long PF 371.9 Martin (available at the Shasta Historical Society.)

The Yank Ranch And It’s Historic Chicken Coup Structure, On Cow Creek Near Present-Day, Bella Vista.

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. 

THE HISTORIC JOHN MEYER GRAVESITE

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.

The Historic Meyer Ranch: Established 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.