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 FERNANDO W. BROBACK.� The distinction of being a native Cali- fornian and the son of a western pioneer belongs to the proprietor of the Elkhorn hotel in Ukiah It may be said of his father, Charles W., that he was a man of superior intelligence, a Virginian by birth, descended from an honored family of the Old Dominion, but so impoverished by circumstances that from the age of nine years he was forced to make his own way in the world. Only a lad fearless of spirit, robust in body and resourceful in mind could have survived the hardships which he continuously buffeted. For the privations of poverty and the exposure of frontier existence nature had quali- fied him by giving him as an endowment a sound mind in a sound body, and when he came over the plains in 1856 he was ready to cope with the severest trials besetting the pathway of a miner and frontiersman. Besides working in the mines he was employed in the stock industry and in teaming. During 1860 he drove a mule-team from .Sacramento to the mines and return. On the 26th of December, 1860, he married Frances Haigh, a girl of seventeen, who had crossed the plains in 1856. The young couple settled at Healdsburg, Sonoma county, where their eldest son, Fernando W., was born September 26, 1861. The younger sons and daughters were as follows: Oliver (now deceased), Walter L., Charles A.. Clarence. Etta (Mrs. Roy A. Douglass), and Alice (Mrs. Bert Miller). The family removed to Oregon in 1862 and for a time lived in Portland, then moved to The Dalles, teaming to Canyon City and Boise City, Idaho, until 1870. The trail ran through an Indian country and he took part in many a serious fight with the Snake Indians, but was fortunate and was never wounded. In 1870 he removed to eastern Oregon and engaged in the stock business for ten years. While the family was living in Goose Lake valley Lake county was organized and Mrs. Broback has the honor of naming Lake- view, the county seat. In 1880 they moved to Rogue River valley and Mr. Broback became one of the founders of Medford, Ore., which city was built on a ranch that he owned at one time. While engaged in stock raising in Lake county he became so popular among the cowboys and ranchers that they elected him to the legislature of Oregon and he served for one term with credit to himself. Frequently he met Indians in his teaming expeditions and more than once he became involved in skirmishes with those that were hostile. Indeed, his entire experience in Oregon was fraught with danger. The small financial returns by no means represented the merited results of manifold perils. In his teaming expeditions from The Dalles to Boise City he took personal risks which none but the bravest of men would face. While his adventures in Oregon were often dangerous and always interesting, they brought him little in the way of permanent advancement until he began the stock business, in which he was successful, as well as in the sale of the town- site. From 1885 to 1888 he lived at Lakeport, Lake county. During the next two years he raised hops at Hopland, Mendocino county. In 1890 he retired from manual labor, settled in Ukiah, and there remained until his death, August 27, 1912. In every respect a self-made man, he was a type of that fearless, adventurous pioneer element that passed away with the passing of the last frontier. The mother died in Ukiah September 20, 1913. At a very early age the eldest son in the family, Fernando W. Broback, began to assist in the maintenance of the younger children. As a cowboy he rode the range in Eastern Oregon, Idaho and Montana. Like his father, he was fearless, adventurous, fond of the frontier, skilled with animals and an expert rider. It was not until he came to Ukiah, August 8, 1889, that he turned his attention to business pursuits and relinquished ranching activities. With S. P. Curtis he founded the Ukiah Times, the first issue appearing August 8, 1889. Later he bought the interest of his partner and for four years continued the paper alone. During the period of his management the publica- tion was popularly known as one of the most newsy, interesting and up-to- date papers in the county. After he sold the sheet and the plant he acted as superintendent of the Ukiah Water Company for five years, and since 1906 he has been the proprietor of the Elkhorn hotel in Ukiah.