Mendocino County Biographies

WILLIAM JEFFERSON HILDRETH

Transcribed by: Pat Howard

This file is part of the California Genealogy & History Archives
http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~cagha/index.htm


	Born in Ralls county, Missouri, August 17, 1834. When but a 
child, his parents moved into Lewis county, where the subject of this sketch 
remained until fifteen years of age, when he, leaving his parents behind, 
crossed the plains to California, arriving at Webberville, September 15, 1850. 
He engaged at once in mining, which occupation he followed until 1858, when he 
came to Mendocino county, and was one of the first to settle on Eel river, where 
he remained for five years, being engaged in stock-raising. He then settled on 
his present place, consisting of two thousand two hundred acres, located about 
four miles from Ukiah. Here he is engaged in farming and raising cattle and 
sheep. Mr. Hildreth married, February 14, 1865, Miss Florence Bevans, a native 
of Lewis county, Missouri. They have five living children: Clara, Mary, William, 
George, and Joseph. They have lost two, Thomas B., and Henry.
 
SOURCE: History of Mendocino County, California - San Francisco, Cal. Alley, 
Bowen & Co., Publishers. 1880 Pp. 645


The presence in Mendocino 
county of this pioneer rancher and old Indian fighter forms a link between 
the remote past contemporaneous with early American occupancy and the 
present twentieth-century era with its remarkable developments and con- 
tinued material progress. To be a link in the chain of western progress is 
neither trivial nor unimportant. Due honor belongs to Mr. Hildreth for the 
part he has played in the material upbuilding of his chosen community. While 
pursuing the quiet routine of ranch duties he was always eager to assist in 
local matters, gave freely of his time and influence to worthy enterprises and 
counted no day lost that was given to the service of his community. In an 
era of transition and change it is especially worthy of note that he remained 
on one ranch for a period of forty years and did not retire from the old home- 
stead until advancing years rendered its responsibilities too heavy for his 
failing strength. Since his retirement in 1904 he has leased the land to 
tenants and has made his home in West Henry street, Ukiah, where he is 
surrounded by comforts forming a striking contrast to the privations ex- 
perienced in the early period of his residence in the county. 

An expedition that crossed the plains during the summer of 1850 con- 
tained among its members an energetic, capable lad of fifteen years, W. J. 
Hildreth, a native of Lewis county, Mo., born August 17, 1834. Upon the 
arrival of the party in California this youthful Argonaut tried his luck in 
the mines of Diamond Springs, Eldorado county, remaining there until 1855, 
after which he spent two years in Trinity county and one year in the mines 
of Shasta county. It was during the spring of 1858 that he saw Mendocino 
county for the first time. Its noble forests of great redwoods and firs, its 
brooks that came rushing down the mountain side, its towering peaks mantled 
with snow and its green valleys rich in the promise of crops to the tiller of 
the soil, all these things impressed him favorably. After six months in the 
beautiful Round valley (which though undeveloped was yet very attractive) 
he came to Ukiah in the fall of 1858. Here he met Judge Hastings, who 
employed him to drive to Eden valley sixteen hundred head of cattle and 
four hundred head of mares and colts. Upon his arrival in the valley he ran 
them on shares and remained to oversee the stock, which were pastured in 
a space sixteen miles square, between the Middle and South Eel rivers. The 
task was one of difficulty and even danger. Indians repeatedly killed the 
increase of the cattle, and their proximity forced the herder to be ever on 
his guard. Not a few times battles were fought by the settlers, and finally 
the white men in the valley organized a company, selecting as their captain 
Walter Jarboe. The company was authorized by the state legislature to 
act in defense of the settlers, and was the means of reducing the depredations 
of the Indians, and finally they were forced to leave the locality and stay on 
the reservations. 

Upon his return to Ukiah in 1862 Mr. Hildreth bought two pre-emption 
claims of three hundred and twenty acres in the valley to the south. Soon 
he had the land stocked with cattle. As his herds increased, it became neces- 
sary to secure more land. Buying additional tracts from the grant and 
settlers from time to time, he ultimately acquired three thousand acres, but 
a portion of this he has since sold. The Hildreth ranch is located five miles 
south of Ukiah and contains about twenty-five hundred acres, extending to 
the Lake county line. Cattle-raising formed his principal occupation, but 
at one time he also engaged in the sheep industry, and at another time he 
specialized in dairying. About fourteen years after he left Missouri he 
returned to that state via Panama, and there in 1865 be married Miss Mary 
F. Bevans, a native of Lewis county, Mo., and the daughter of Joseph H. 
Bevans, a pioneer of 1849. The young people passed their honeymoon travel- 
ing by horse and mule teams back to the coast. On their arrival they took 
up housekeeping on the Hildreth ranch in Mendocino county and continued 
there for four decades, meanwhile becoming prosperous and influential and 
holding a high place in their community. Thirteen children were born of 
their union and ten of these are still living, namely : Mary G., Mrs. John C. 
Ruddock, of Ukiah ; William R., of this county; George, of Stanislaus county; 
Joseph C, of San Francisco; Lewis M., of this county; Walter J., of this 
county; Irene, Mrs. William Bond, of Ukiah; Victor and Vincent (twins), 
running the ranch ; and Pauline, attending the University of California 
hospital. Always interested in public affairs, Mr. Hildreth was prominent 
in local politics during his younger years and filled the offices of under sheriff, 
justice of the peace and county supervisor with efficiency, impartiality and 
intelligence. 

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

Transcribed by Peggy Hooper