Sutter-Yuba County Biographies

CHARLES H. THALLS

Transcribed by: Kathy Sedler

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

            Born in Montgomery County, near Litchfield, Ill., February 18, 1859, 
Charles H. Thalls is the son of James and Laurinda (Whitlock) Thalls, both 
natives of Ohio.  James Thalls migrated to Illinois in frontier days in that 
State.  He was a carpenter by trade, and also engaged in farming, operating a 
100-acre farm in Illinois.  Later he sold this and purchased 140 acres near 
Butler.  He lived and died in Illinois, his death occurring at about sixty-two 
years of age, while his wife only reached her thirty-seventh year.  Six children 
were born to them.  After the death of his first wife, James Thalls married Mrs. 
Shore, a widow; and one son, Egbert, was born to them.  Mrs. Shore had one son, 
Edward, by her former husband.
            Charles H. Thalls received his education at Litchfield, Ill., and 
stayed with his father until twenty-one years old, when he started in for 
himself and for one year rented his father�s ranch.  In 1882 he came to Sutter 
County, and worked as a ranch hand until 1886.  That year, on September 29, his 
marriage occurred, to Clara R. Mitchell, born at Meridian, and daughter of 
Abraham H. and Emily Jane (Roundtree) Mitchell, both natives of Tennessee.  In 
1857 A. H. Mitchell, with his wife and three children, came to California, 
driving an ox team and a herd of 120 cattle across the plains.  He settled, in 
September, 1857, near South Butte, Sutter County, and purchased a farm of 110 
acres, engaging in ranching and stock-raising.  In 1861 he made his residence in 
Meridian, and resided there the rest of his life, with the exception of three 
years spent in Colusa in the mercantile business.  His first wife died October 
1, 1875, and Mr. Mitchell took for his second wife, November 23, 1876, Mrs. Mary 
S. Clark, a native of Adams County, Ill.; and his family consisted of eight 
children and three step-children.  He was a minister of the M. E. Church South, 
and preached in the pulpit of that denomination for fifteen years in local 
churches.  His death occurred at Meridian, in 1895.  Mrs. Thalls received her 
education in the Meridian Grammar School.
            After his marriage Mr. Thalls leased 140 acres of land in the 
Winship district of Sutter County, and after operating that for a time he later 
ran the hotel in Meridian for one year.  He then bought the Wheeler ranch of 
eighty-four acres, devoted to general ranching; and since that date, 1892, he 
has brought his property to a high state of cultivation, using modern methods 
and improvements, and has built the family home on the ranch property.  A 
Democrat in politics, he is interested in civic reform and in local movements 
for the development and upbuilding of his section.

History of Yuba and Sutter Counties, Historic Record Company, Los Angeles, 1924
p 469