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 DAVID T. JOHNSON. � Unusual executive ability has marked the career of David T. Johnson and offers great promise for the future enterprises of this native son, whose efficiency and integrity have given him leadership in the stock industry and made his name powerful along the entire north coast. To what degree his expertness in the stock business is a matter of early environ- ment and training, to what degree it came to him by inheritance and to what extent it results from a most careful study of every detail connected with such work, it would be futile to inquire, nor does it concern the present purposes of this narrative, which deals with facts, not with theoretical problems. Suffice it to say that certain mental endowments and certain conditions of environ- ment combined to make him an expert judge of stock and thereby to enable him to become a leader as stockman in the northern part of the state. His earliest memories of the home near Chico (where he was born) are asso- ciated with the buying and selling of stock and with the conversations of his father in regard to the good or poor qualities of animals. The elder John- son, whose name likewise was David T., and who was born near Bridgeton, Me., had come to California during the early '50s. An initial experience as a miner proved unsuccessful and he sought other means of earning a liveli- hood. For years he was associated with Sam Perrington in the buying of stock and the selling of meat in the mines. The butcher's trade proved profitable and gave him a start. During April of 1872 he brought his family to Round valley and became an extensive sheep-raiser of the locality, besides continuing to handle cattle. Until 1880 he lived in the village of Covelo, but then bought and settled upon a tract of ninety acres adjacent to the town. This property is still owned by his heirs, David T., George T. and Francis. When he died in August, 1890, he left to his family this home and the stock upon the place, but to have accumulated that neat estate indicated that he was a man of excellent business ability. The marriage of David T. Johnson, Sr., at Howland Flat, Cal., had united him with Miss Mertie A. Larkin, who was born in New York state and received excellent educational advantages, being a graduate of Jonesville Academy. After completing her studies in the academy she came to Cali- fornia via Panama. A woman of remarkable ability and business acumen, after the death of her husband, with the aid of her sons she continued the stock business and general ranching. With the most optimistic faith in the rising valuations of land, she began to purchase unimproved tracts whenever the opportunity offered. Always she advised her sons to buy land as an investment. The result was all she could hope for and more than even her most sanguine predictions had foreseen. When the sons were still in their twenties they saw the wisdom of their mother's ideas demonstrated on more than one occasion and they joined her in reaching out in the purchase of landed property, when she passed away at San Francisco, January 18, 1910, it was felt to be a distinct bereavement not only to her sons, but also to the Presbyterian Church (of which she was a generous and sincere member), to general circles of society and to the entire community of Round valley. With superior business judgment she united gentleness of disposition, amia- bility of temperament and nobility of spirit, while loyalty to family and friends was also one of her attractive traits. Since the death of their mother the sons have continued in the stock business, with David T., as the elder, the manager of their extensive interests. Primarily educated in Round valley, he later had the advantages of Heald's Business College, from which he was graduated in 1892. Having been trained to the stock industry from boyhood and having the encourage- ment of his mother, he soon became a leading factor in the cattle, sheep and hog business in the coast counties. As the herds increased, the lands also were enlarged until the brothers now have thousands of acres in Mendocino and Trinity counties, where graze their herds and flocks. They specialize with French Merinos and are the largest sheep-growers in Mendocino county. In the cattle industry they are breeding Red Durhams. About five hundred acres are tillable, now devoted to the raising of grain and alfalfa hay. Besides cattle and sheep they are raising horses, mules and hogs, and their business also includes the buying of stock, the feeding of the same and the shipping to San Francisco markets. With a view to draining the level lands Mr. Johnson brought to Round valley a steam tile machine and has manufactured tile of the three, six and eight-inch sizes, some of which, used successfully on his own lands, have been secured by others for tiling purposes. Always the results have been satisfactory. A progressive rancher, solicitous to build up the community and always in the forefront of any beneficial movement, he is aiding in the development of the valley and is furnishing an example of patriotism, loyalty to community and business integrity that others may well emulate. Through mental habits of a broad and expanding order he has reached out into many avenues of activity and usefulness, but always his interests in land and stock are uppermost in his thoughts and future plans, and he is giving to his chosen occupation the intelligent efficiency of long experience as well as the practical common sense that characterizes all of his dealings.