Sutter-Yuba County Biographies


This file is part of the California Genealogy & History Archives
http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~cagha/index.htm


 
M. H. BINNINGER
 
            As a member of one of the old pioneer families of Yuba County, M. H. 
Binninger is well entitled to representation in this volume, for the same spirit 
of enterprise which animated his forebears is manifested in the conduct of his 
business affairs and in his public activities.  He is numbered among the 
prominent ranchers of the Hallwood District, and that he is a man of strict 
integrity and moral worth is indicated by the high esteem in which he is held by 
those among whom his entire life has been passed.  Mr. Binninger was born at 
Browns Valley, Cal., July 14, 1860, and is the fifth in a family of ten 
children.  His father, W. T. Binninger, enlisted in the United States army and 
participated in the Mexican War of 1846, serving in the commissary department 
under Catp. G. W. Paul.  At the close of the war he returned to Missouri, and in 
1849, when gold was discovered in California, crossed the plains in an emigrant 
train, reaching Sacramento in October.  There he encountered his father, Jacob 
Binninger, whom he had not seen for some time, having been away from home for 
twelve years, and found that the family had also joined the Argonauts of 1849.  
In that year W. T. Binninger came to Yuba County and engaged in mining on the 
Yuba River, near Browns Valley.  In 1854, in association with his sister, Mrs. 
Elizabeth Faulconer, he built the Empire Hotel on a site two and a half miles 
from Browns Valley; and for some years he conducted that hostelry.  From 1862 
until 1865 he was proprietor of the Plymouth Hotel in Browns Valley, and in 1875 
he became proprietor of the Summit House.  He became widely known, owing to his 
activities in that connection, and remained at the Summit House until called to 
his final rest on February 23, 1920, at the venerable age of ninety years.  He 
was married in Sacramento to Miss Dorothy Gunderman, who was born in Germany in 
1836 and came to Sacramento in 1849.  She passed away in 1916, when eighty years 
of age.  They are survived by eight children:  Mrs. Alice White, of Colusa; 
Walter J. B., of Marysville; M. H.; Mrs. Jennie Townsend, a resident of 
Oroville; Mrs. Annie Diver, whose home is in Los Angeles; Mrs. Bertha Bergman, 
of Nevada City; and Fred B. and Louis D., both of whom are living in Marysville.
            M. H. Binninger removed with his parents to Summit House in 1875, 
being at that time a youth of fifteen, and on starting out in life for himself, 
he engaged in stock-raising and wool-growing.  He also managed the Binninger 
estate, but for the past three years has given his entire attention to ranching 
in the Hallwood District, recently purchasing a lease of the Boomer farm.  He 
specializes largely in stock-raising, and also owns 200 acres in the vicinity of 
Summit House, which was destroyed by fire in 1922.  His land is very valuable, 
containing nearly 1,000,000 feet of timber.  He is thoroughly conversant with 
the details connected with the breeding and care of stock, and is interested in 
all modern developments along agricultural lines.  Mr. Binninger�s interest in 
his community is that of a public-spirited citizen who desires its substantial 
development along all lines; and as road boss of the Cordua District he is 
performing effective service for the public good.  He is conscientious and 
efficient in the discharge of his duties, and under his administration the 
public highways are kept in splendid condition.  He has always been loyal to any 
trust reposed in him, and his worth is generally acknowledged.
 
History of Yuba and Sutter Counties, Historic Record Company, Los Angeles, 1924
p 445-446