Colusa County Biographies MILTON S. FRENCH This file is part of the California Genealogy & History Archives http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~cagha/index.htm This prosperous and unpretentious gentleman is a native of Calloway County, Missouri. He was brought up on a farm and came to California in 1850. He engaged in mining on his arrival in the State and pursued that occupation for six years. In the spring of 1858 he moved to Colusa County, locating thirteen miles northwest of Willows, where he owns a ranch comprising a territory of twelve thousand acres. He engaged in farming and sheep-raising and was eminently successful. He remembers that on his arrival here there was one stretch of wild oats waist high. No birds or rabbits were to be seen, while between his place and Princeton there was but one house, if a box set up on the plains could be so designated. Mr. French is foremost in the business enterprises of his locality, is president of the Willows Water and Light Company, and vice-president of the Bank of Willows. He is married and is the father of three children. �Colusa County� � by Justus H. Rogers � Orland, CA � 1891 � pp 463 During the early period in the settlement of Missouri, John French removed to that state from his native commonwealth of Tennessee and established his home upon an unimproved tract of land in Callaway county, where he labored assiduously to earn from the soil the necessities of life for wife and children. There were four sons and two daughters in the family and when the youngest of these, Milton, was only a year old the wife and mother was removed by death from the home. A Kentuckian by birth and a member of the Clark family of that state, she was still a young woman when taken from the children who so greatly needed her care and affectionate ministrations. Eight years later her husband passed away and from that time forward the orphaned children made their own way in the world, deprived of schooling and of the other advantages so helpful to the young. Born in Callaway county, Mo., January 23, 1833, Milton French was a boy of twelve years when the breaking up of the old home threw him upon his own resources for a livelihood. A neighboring farmer hired him for $30 per year and board, in return for which he gave his services entirely to the man, receiving no educational advantages whatever. Stress of poverty early made him frugal. "A penny saved is a penny earned" was the motto that led him to save his paltry earnings year by year. The lessons of economy thus learned were of inestimable value to him in later years and enabled him without aid to rise from poverty to his present position as one of the largest land-owners in the Sacramento valley. The outlook in Missouri was not especially encouraging for a young man of high ambitions and when the discovery of gold in California turned emigration across the mountains to the coast he joined a party of home-seekers in 1850. Among the members of the expedition were his brothers, Marlon B. and John. After his arrival in California he was employed to herd cattle on Cache creek, but in 1851 began mining at Forbestown. When the results of his labors failed to satisfy his hopes he returned to herding cattle on Cache creek, but in the fall went to the mines on the Trinity river. During 1856 he returned via Panama to Missouri and the following year crossed the plains with a herd of cattle that he had purchased in the east. After a short time on the Sacramento river, in January of 1858 he took up a tract of land in the foothills of what is now Glenn county.The original tract of one hundred and sixty acres was purchased from the government and became a range for his cattle. From time to time he added to his holdings until at this writing he has a total of eight thousand acres, including four hundred and seventy acres on the river near Butte City, one hundred and sixty acres adjoining Willows on the west, six hundred and eighty acres adapted for a stock range and situated in the mountains, six hundred and thirty acres eight miles northeast of German-town, Glenn county, and in addition a modern and commodious residence in Willows, where his family make their home, and where he may be found in the infrequent periods of leisure which he allows himself. Every year he puts in about one thousand acres of wheat and barley and rents the balance of his grain land. Three thousand acres are utilized for the pasturage of his stock and furnish a large range for that purpose. One of his specialties is the raising of horses and mules, of which he handles from three to five hundred head per annum, finding in this industry a source of neat profit in return for his labor. The supervision of his large holdings, the raising of grain and the handling of stock do not represent the limit of Mr. French's activities, for in addition he owns a warehouse at Germantown; holds office as vice-president of the Willows Bank, in which he is a large stockholder; has capably filled the office of president of the Willows Water Works Company, the promoting of which has been one of his hobbies; and has been active in the Willows Ware-house Association, of which now he acts as president. These various enterprises have enabled him to invest advantageously the funds accumulated by years of assiduous application, and with his large real estate holdings, place him among the wealthiest citizens of Glenn county. Indeed, it may be questioned if any citizen of this locality has met with greater success than he, in view of the handicap under which he worked in the earlier years of his life. The record of his life furnishes an inspiration for young men who are forced to start out in childhood and have no one to help them in getting a foothold in the world, lacking besides the helpful influence of a good common-school education. To a man of his temperament political affairs possess little fascination and he has taken no part in the same other than the casting of a Democratic ticket at elections. After coming to California he married Miss Lizzie Williams, who was born in Missouri and in girlhood came west to Solano county, this state. To their three children he has given the advantages of which he himself was deprived and in the home trained them for positions of usefulness wherever the future might cast their lots. The son, Curry, yet remains at home, aiding in the supervision of the large properties held by his father. The daughters, Rita and Natalie, are married, the former being the wife of Frank Moody, of Willows, while the latter married Robert Eagle and resides in Arkansas in the village of England, Lonoke county. "History of the State of California and Biographical Record of the Sacramento Valley, Cal.," J. M. Guinn, The Chapman Publishing Company, Chicago, 1906, Pages 961-962. Transcribed by Sally Kaleta, July 2009.