YUBA  COUNTY

 Biographies

LOUIS F. ALBRECHT

            An expert public accountant whose impelling testimonials and long record of varied yet absolutely dependable work have well entitled him to the confidence both of the public and of those special interests he is called upon to serve, is Louis F. Albrecht, who was born at Menasha, Wis., on April 4, 1889.  His father was August Albrecht, a millwright, who had married Miss Louisa Foth; and both are living in the enjoyment of that esteem which comes to those who have made the most of their lives in the service of others as well as themselves.

            Louis Albrecht went through the grammar school and high school, and then attended Boulby’s Business College at Appleton, Wis., where he enjoyed a fine commercial course and made a specialty of higher accounting, graduating therefrom with honors in 1903.  He then began to acquire his practical experience and entered the service of a well-known firm at New Holstein, Wis., having charge of their office for a year.  After that he was with the Bucyrus Company in South Milwaukee, Wis., for six years, and in time was transferred to their branch plant to install the factory system of accounting, in all its departments, in their new manufacturing plant at Evansville, Ind.  Then he came to the Yuba Manufacturing Company, in 1912, as cost accountant; and during the seven years that he was there, he installed a complete new system for accounting throughout their plant.

            Then he opened his own office, since which time he has made such an extensive study of the Federal Income Tax that he now has over 2000 clients who look to him for advice or clerical assistance, or both.  In 1921, he opened the first Merchant Credit Bureau in Marysville; he started with seventy patrons or members, and now he has 114.  The business is carried on under the name of the Bi-Counties Credit Bureau, with over 10,000 cards containing the credit record of people in Yuba and Sutter Counties, made up from the accounting records of merchants themselves; and this very valuable information is at the disposal of members only.  He also specializes in acting as secretary and treasurer for a number of firms, and has at present sixteen companies which he so serves.  He has the most up-to-date and latest up-to-the-minute public accountant’s office in the State; with a $6000 equipment, and employs there six lady and two men assistants.  He also keeps the books for a large number of firms in Marysville and Yuba City whose business does not warrant them in maintaining a bookkeeper, thus giving them efficient accounting service at a minimum cost.  By appointment of the city council, he is now making an audit of the books of the city of Marysville, covering a period of four years; and he is frequently called on to act as referee and do accounting in various cases in litigation in the Superior Courts of Yuba and Sutter Counties.  Besides being devoted to his work, he finds a hobby in supervising extensive ranching, orchard and vineyard interests, and is enthusiastic about the future of the Twin Counties that form the hub of the Sacramento Valley.

            In South Milwaukee, in 1911, Mr. Albrecht was married to Miss Julia Roth, of Milwaukee; and they have been granted five children; Evelyn, Joseph, Walter, Raymond and Paul.  Mr. Albrecht is a member of Marysville Council, No. 1869, Knights of Columbus, in which he is a Past Grand Knight.  He is also a member of Bishop Monogue’s Assembly, of the K. of C. at Sacramento.  He is a charter member and secretary of the Lions Club, at which he has a 100 percent record of attendance, never having missed a meeting; and he belongs to the Foresters of America and the Woodmen of the World. In politics, he is a Republican.  Interested in civics, and in all matters pertaining to the welfare of this favored section of the Sacramento Valley, he gives his support to movements that have for their aim its advancement and upbuilding.

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

p.  587-588

JOSEPH WOOD

            A prominent stockman and rancher of the Oregon House district, Joseph Wood was born at his present home place, July 14, 1875, the second son of Joseph and Elizabeth (Young) Wood, pioneer settlers in Yuba County.  Joseph Wood, Sr., was born February 9, 1809, at Cincinnati, Ohio, and learned the trade of wheelwright and carpenter there.  He married at the age of twenty, and with his family crossed the plains to California by ox-team in 1849, meeting with tragedy on the long journey, for his wife and children were killed by Indians at Reese River, Nev.  Some time after he arrived in California, he married a second time, and then located at Woodville, named for him and now called Woodleaf.  He built a two-story brick hotel there in 1853 and 1854, for which the brick was made and burned on the place.  He conducted the hotel until his wife died, when he sold out and located on the Rice Crossing road, on the old toll road at Bell Valley Ranch, building and conducting a hotel at that point.  At the marriage of his only child, a daughter, Alice, to Joseph Dixon, he gave them the property and moved to Marysville.  It was there that he met Mary E. Young, and their marriage occurred in 1869, after which he located near Oregon House, Mr. Wood living to the venerable age of eighty, his death occurring in 1889, while his good wife rounded out a like period of life, passing away December 16, 1916. Of the last union were born two children, Charles R., a contractor in Oakland, and Joseph, of this review.

            Joseph Wood, of this review, was reared in the Yuba foothills, and attended the public school at Oregon House.  When a lad of fifteen, in 1890, he went to work for the old pioneer firm of Slingsby & Gettens, at Dobbins, in the general merchandise business, running a mule pack-train for them, carrying mining supplies for miles up and down the Yuba River, over roads and trails inaccessible to wagons.  After over four years of this arduous work, he freighted from Marysville to Downieville, a distance of sixty-nine miles, with a twelve-horse team, taking eleven days to make the round trip, which an auto truck now makes in one day.

            After following the freighting and logging business for seventeen years, Mr. Wood settled down to ranching on the old Wood home place of 160 acres.  By subsequent purchase he added to his holdings, now owning a ranch of 820 acres in the Yuba foothills, which he operates most successfully to stock and kindred ranching.

            The marriage of Mr. Wood, in October, 1896, united him with Lilly Mable Turner, born in Quincy, Cal., the eldest of three children born to Theo. Hilton and Julia (Broyles) Turner.  Nine children have blessed their union:  Orion J., born August 25, 1897, and deceased January 2, 1914, in an accident at Los Vergels Dam, a promising youth who met an untimely death; Mabel L., born August 28, 1902; Adrian C., born February 14, 1904; Vernon A., born March 16, 1905; Mary Evelyn, born May 26, 1906; Alice B. and Alta J., twins, born August 16, 1912; Ida Mae, born February 19, 1915; and Albert L., born May 5, 1916.  Mr. Wood has always, during his long period of residence in this section of the State, been actively interested in its development and advancement, and more especially in educational matters, for he knows that the future of our great country depends primarily upon the seeds sown in the growing generation, and he considers the best methods obtainable are none too good for the education of our American school boys and girls.  He has served several terms as clerk of the school board for the Oregon House district.

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

p.  588-589

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