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


DANIEL PRESTON ENGLISH.� Two miles east of Covelo lies one of 
the finest farms of Round valley, a well-improved tract whose modern resi- 
dence, substantial farm buildings, neat fences and uniform atmosphere of 
thrift indicate that the owner is a man of intelligence and agricultural acu- 
men. Acquaintance with the owner, who is no less a person than Mr. Eng- 
lish, deepens the impression created by the farm itself, for he is thoroughly 
posted in every department of agriculture and has ideas and opinions well 
worthy of consideration. Nor is his community enterprise limited to the 
management of his farm and the buying and selling of stock, for in addition 
his name appears on the directorate of the Bank of Willits, among the stock- 
holders of the Round valley creamery, and in connection with other enter- 
prises on which local prosperity depends. Outside of Mendocino county he 
likewise has interests, for he is the owner of a valuable alfalfa ranch near El 
Centro in the Imperial valley and the returns from that investment have been 
gratifying. 

A member of a pioneer family of Mendocino county, where he was born 
on Christmas Eve of 1868, Daniel Preston English is a son of Calvin Hender- 
son English, a Missourian by birth and an emigrant across the plains during 
the era of "prairie schooners'' and ox-teams. Settling in Mendocino county, 
he became a very successful stock-raiser and general farmer and continued m 
the occupation until his death, which occurred in 1903. Meanwhile the son 
had been primarily educated at Central school district and later had attended 
Santa Rosa schools and Business College. For a number of years he engaged 
in farming with his father in Round valley, but with his marriage at the age of 
twenty-six, December 5, 1894, he rented two hundred and forty acres of valley 
land and embarked in independent farming. His wife, who bore the maiden 
name of Maggie Long, is a native of Missouri, and their union has been 
blessed with two children, Norma Beulah and William Preston. After six 
years as a renter Mr. English bought sixty-six and a half acres for himself 
which he has sowed to alfalfa and used as a dairy farm. By degrees he has 
risen to a position of influence among the efficient tillers of the soil. Nor 
has he been less capable in the raising of stock. By some he is regarded as 
without a superior in the valley as a judge of stock. His estimates of quality 
and weight are seldom found to be at fault. The greater part of his life has 
been passed on a farm and he is well fitted for the occupation of a farmer, yet 
at the same time, with a breadth of mental vision, he does not limit himself 
to agriculture, but takes a keen interest in all movements for the educational, 
moral and commercial development and advancement of the county.