California Biographies Mendocino and Lake Counties, California Transcribed by Peggy Hooper This file is part of the California Genealogy & History Archives http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~cagha/index.htm Source: History of Mendocino and Lake Counties, California With Biographical Sketches History by Aurelius O. Carpenter And Percy H. Millberry Illustrated, Complete In One Volume Historic Record Company, Los Angeles, California, 1914 CHRISTOPHER WILLIAM BRADFORD.� The obstacles which he was obliged to meet and overcome during early life Christopher William Bradford found neither few nor small. The country home of the family on the bank of Mad river in Humboldt county, where he was born December 1, 1868, was wanting in many comforts that today would be called necessities of existence. The early death of his mother, however, proved a misfortune far beyond previous experiences of privation. He was the only child and when he was four years of age his father, William Bradford, took him to Blue Rock, Mendocino county, carrying him in front of him on the saddle from Humboldt county. Afterward the father located a government claim to one hundred and sixty acres in the Ukiah district, duly proving up on the same and receiving a government patent. Although the quarter-section was located in a very mountainous section it was suitable for a stock range and particularly for sheep-raising, which occupation the father followed until his mysterious disappearance in the isolated mountains near the cabin home. How he met his death was never known, but the fact that he was never after- ward heard of proved that he met a sudden end in a lonely region remote from all possibility of succor in his last extremity. Left an orphan at eight years of age the boyhood years of Mr. Bradford were devoid of care or affection or even a home of his own, although neighbor- ing farmers did what they could for him, but they being poor, could not give him any educational training and he worked for board and clothes. Alto- gether his schooling amounted to only three terms. Lack of a thorough training in the common branches made it difficult for him to secure employ- ment and caused him to drift around from place to place at jobs that paid meager wages. At fourteen he began to work in an hotel at Ukiah. Later he became a helper in an hotel at Westport owned by Fred Johns. When six- teen he engaged in driving cars on the shoot at Westport. The following year he herded stock in Long valley. At the age of nineteen he found work in the lumber mills, where he remained for five years, and then was employed on a sheep ranch in Sherwood valley for William Harmon. During the time of this employment Mr. Bradford established a home of his own. His marriage was solemnized at Santa Rosa January 24, 1895, and united him with Miss Irene F. Fowler, who was born in Sonoma county, June 4, 1870, the daughter of John H. Fowler, a pioneer of Sonoma county. Three children form their family, namely : Bessie Esther, a student in the Ukiah high school ; Lloyd M. and Errol Douglas, pupils in the grammar school. For eight years prior to her marriage Mrs. Bradford engaged in teaching school, a work for which her natural talents and excellent education qualified her in a high degree. Mr. Bradford located on government land in Sherwood valley, upon which he made all of the improvements. A few years later he began rais- ing sheep and cattle and for the purpose rented the old Tuttle ranch in the same valley, carrying on stock-raising altogether, in that place for eight years. In 1903 he located in Ukiah, purchasing a residence at No. 507 State street which he has since remodeled. During the spring of 1904 he bought twenty-eight hundred acres of land near Ukiah, and the sale of six hundred acres in 1912 leaves him with a tract of twenty-two hundred, well adapted for stock-raising. Sulphur Springs ranch is located five miles west of Ukiah, and watered by Orr creek and thirty living springs. At this writing he has about one thousand head of sheep on the place, besides which he raises cattle, and through earn- est devotion to the lousiness is meeting with success. As a farmer he is capable and intelligent. In knowledge of sheep he is considered an expert and this skill enables him to prosecute the work with success. In point of political views he is a Republican, but in local elections he supports the men he con- siders best qualified to represent the people. Fraternally he is connected with the Independent Order of Foresters. With his wife he holds membership in the First Presbyterian Church of Ukiah, and is a member of the board of trustees.