YUBA COUNTY  Biographies

WILLIAM G. ATHERTON

            Widely known as among the most experienced and the most dependable of blacksmiths in all Yuba County, William G. Atherton, the popular smith at the Plaza in Marysville, is never without trade, and his customers come from far and near.  A native son, he was born on a farm in Sutter County on July 27, 1864.  His father, William Atherton, came slowly across the great plains with a team or two of oxen, in 1856, accompanied by his bride, who was Miss Margaret Saffell before her marriage; and they followed agricultural pursuits all the rest of their lives.  Mr. Atherton died about 1886; but his devoted wife survived him for thirty-seven years, breathing her last on February 1, 1923. They were highly esteemed as pioneers of a superior type – the kind that safeguard a nation or a commonwealth while in the building.

            William Atherton attended the public schools and supplemented what he learned there by continued application to study in the great school of practical experience.  He worked on a farm until he was seventeen years of age, and then he learned the blacksmith trade under Mr. Kessler in Sacramento on Ninth between J and K Streets.  He afterwards worked for Benjamin Holt, in Stockton, when the Holt place was only a wheel factory; and he also worked for Meister & Sons, in Sacramento.  In 1907 he bought out the blacksmith shop of Katzner, Russell & Chase, who for forty-five years had owned the place, which had been established before it was acquired by them, so that it is now one of the oldest business places in Marysville.  Here he continued the business, equipping his shop in the most modern, up-to-date fashion.  He builds automobile bodies and does automobile woodwork, holding himself and his nine assistants ready at all times to fill general orders, or to meet emergencies, and rendering a service such as one might not find in many cities of much larger size.

            In Winnemucca, Nev., Mr. Atherton was married to Miss Margaret Schell, a native daughter; and they have three children:  Earl W., and the twin sisters, Ivy and Irene.  Mr. Atherton is interested in civic progress, and has always been a member of Marysville Chamber of Commerce. He is a Republican in matters of national import, but a broad-minded, non-partisan “booster” for things local, especially when it is necessary for citizens to lay aside partisanship and support the best men and the best measures. He belongs to Oriental Lodge, No. 45, I.O.O.F.  He is fond of hunting; and is deeply interested in the history and traditions of California, particularly those of Yuba and Sutter Counties.

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

p. 1157

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