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


HUGH P. McGEE. � An identification of almost forty years with the 
ranching interests of Potter valley gave to Mr. McGee a thorough knowledge 
of the soil in this section, the crops to which it is best adapted and the returns 
that reasonably might be anticipated from its cultivation. Long residence 
here and a uniform course of honorable dealings with others brought to him 
the esteem and confidence of the people of the valley, who rightly judged 
him to be a man of strict integrity and sterling character. Very shortly after 
gold had been discovered in California he heard the great news while working 
on the home farm and at once determined to join an expedition of emigrants 
bound for the then unknown west. Born March 31, 1831, he was at the im- 
pressionable age of dawning manhood at the time of his migration with a 
band of homeseekers, with whom he traveled from his native Missouri across 
the plains to Oregon. Late autumn had cast over the earth the shadow of 
approaching winter when he landed near the Pacific coast. During the win- 
ter he remained in Oregon, but as soon as travel could be resumed in the 
spring of 1851 he proceeded to California and here he resided continuously 
until his death in 1898. Like many of the early comers, he tried his luck in 
the mines. For two years he worked in the Yreka mines. Not being suc- 
cessful, he turned his attention to farming and for a time cultivated land in 
Sonoma county. The year 1857 found him a pioneer of Mendocino county, 
where he spent two years in the Redwood valley and from 1859 until his death 
owned and operated a farm of one hundred and sixty acres in Potter valley, 
finding considerable profit in the cultivation of the soil and in the raising of 
stock. 

The first marriage of Mr. McGee occurred July 3, 1856, and united him 
with Miss Elizabeth Hughes, a native of Missouri. Of that union six chil- 
dren were born, namely: Mary, Martha, Anna, Oscar, Clara and Todd Frank. 
For his second wife he chose Mrs. Catherine (Lierly) Sides, who survives 
him, owning and occupying a portion of the old homestead in Potter valley. 
Of her first union Mrs. McGee had four children: Olive L., deceased; Irvin 
A., Rosa L., and Albert R., all living in Potter valley. Out of a family of 
twelve sons and daughters, Mrs. McGee and her brother, Jeremiah Lierly, 
of San Hedrim, Mendocino county, are the sole survivors. Her father, Wilson 
Lierly, an honored pioneer of Potter valley, was a native of North Carolina 
and the youngest in a family of ten children. He was a boy of twelve when 
his mother died ; his father, Zac Lierly, had crossed the ocean from Germany 
in early life and had settled in North Carolina, where he was the first school 
teacher in that section. He served in the Revolutionary war and spent his 
last years in Adams county. Ill., where the government has erected a monu- 
ment to his memory. Jeremiah Lierly's father instructed him in the common 
branches of study and his own eager mind absorbed much from observation, 
so that he became a man of culture, comprehensive knowledge and diversified 
information. As early as 1865 he came to California and two years later he 
became a pioneer in Potter valley. where he secured land, built a house and 
entered actively upon general farm pursuits. From that time until his death 
at the age of eighty-five he was identified with the development of the valley. 
For years he maintained a prominent part in local politics. Fond of reading,
he kept posted concerning current events and was regarded as one gf the best- 
educated men in his part of the county. To such pioneers as Mr. Lierly and 
Mr. McGee the valley owes its present high state of development and their 
names are entitled to honorable perpetuation in the annals of Mendocino 
county.