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


JESSE HEYWARD. � A lifetime resident of California and from young 
manhood permanently identified with the lumber business in all of its de- 
partments. Mr. Heyward has witnessed the growth of the commonwealth 
and the development of his chosen occupation. Every phase of lumbering 
from logging to sawing and planing he thoroughly understands, for he has 
had a practical experience dating back to his youth, when he began to learn 
the rudiments of the industry, and extending up to the present time with 
his duties of a most responsible nature. Efficiency shown in previous posi- 
tions of trust led to his selection in 1903 to come to Willits as manager of 
the planing mill and yards of the Northwestern Redwood Company, a large 
concern that makes shipments of all grades of lumber to every part of the 
United States. In this post he has made good, proving a valuable man to 
the company as well as a distinct addition to the citizenship of the town. 

The Heyward family is of old English extraction. Thomas, who was 
born and reared in Devonshire, left England at the age of twenty-one to 
establish himself in the new world, making the voyage via Quebec. For a 
few years he worked at farming in Illinois near Springfield and while there 
he married Eliza Church, a native of that state. During 1850 he and his 
wife crossed the plains with ox-teams and wagon. It was his intention to 
engage in mining, but his first experiences in that line proved so unprofitable 
that he was obliged to seek another source of livelihood. Thus it happened 
that he settled on a ranch near Bodega, Sonoma county, whence later he 
removed to Fort Ross in the same county, and in 1886 he established himself 
on a ranch near Point Arena, where he specialized in the dairy business. His 
wife died at Fort Ross and his demise occurred in 1907 at Santa Rosa. Their 
four sons, all living, are as follows William, of San Francisco ; Frank, of 
Petaluma; Jesse, of Mendocino county; and Henry, of Oakland. 

During the residence of the family on a ranch near Bodega, Sonoma 
county, Jesse Heyward was born January 21, 1867. The public schools of 
Bodega and Fort Ross gave him advantages in the ordinary lines of study. 
In 1886 he came with his father to Mendocino county and settled at Point 
Arena, where he began to learn the lumber business. At first he worked as 
a day laborer in the logging camps. Little by little he advanced as his ex- 
perience made his services more valuable to the company. For a time he 
was employed as head sawyer in the sawmill of the Westover Company at 
Guerneville, Sonoma county. On returning to Mendocino county he became 
foreman of the yard of the Gualala Mill Company at Gualala, later holding 
a similar position with the Usal Redwood Company. After a period of em- 
ployment at Caspar, Mendocino county, as assistant foreman with the Caspar 
Lumber Company, in 1903 he came to Willits, where since he has been con- 
nected with the Northwestern Redwood Company as manager of the planing 
mill and yards. It has not been his inclination to participate in politics, but 
he keeps posted concerning public affairs and votes the Republican ticket 
at national elections. Since coming to Willits he has been connected with 
the local lodge, Knights of Pythias. Mrs. Heyward, formerly Clara N. Blair, 
was born at Cahto, Mendocino county, and received her education in local 
schools. She is the daughter of William J. and Mary (Wood) Blair, who 
were born in Vermont and Alameda county, Cal., respectively. By the former 
marriage of Mr. Heyward to Mary C. Beebe, of Point Arena, he is the father 
of two children. The son, George, assists in the mill and yard. The daugh- 
ter. Hazel, is a graduate nurse of McNutt hospital and is now the wife of 
P. A. Hugo, of Los Angeles.