YUBA COUNTY  Biographies

FRANK BAKER

            The interests with which Frank Baker has been identified have been of a varied nature and indicate his resourcefulness and adaptability to different enterprises.  A native son of the State, he was born in Sacramento, October 8, 1876, the son of Jesse K. and Nellie (Perman) Baker, the former a native of Boone County, Ky., now deceased, while the mother was born in Missouri, and is still living.  The father came to California in 1862, crossing the plains with ox teams, and for many years engaged in hop-growing in Lake County.  Eight children were born to the pioneer couple, four boys and four girls.

            Frank Baker started at the age of fourteen to earn his own living, and put in seven years with William Sanders on his ranch at Sanders Station, Sutter County, after which he was for three years with the White, Cooley & Cutts Orchard Company in the same county, and then three years with the Rosenberg Brothers Packing Company, running the raisin-stemmer and grader, in Yuba City.  After this he spent two years as an employee with the Standard Oil Company in Marysville, and four years with the J. R. Garrett Company, of the same city.  For the next three years he farmed in Yuba County, and then for six years he was in the liquor business in Marysville.  On July 16, 1921, Mr. Baker entered business for himself in Marysville, dealing in grain, beans and bags.  He sells for the rancher, acting as agent, and getting for his customers the highest price.  He has been successful in this business venture, his experience and knowledge of market conditions proving of great value both to himself and to his patrons, who know him for a man of integrity and honest dealing.

            The marriage of Mr. Baker occurred in Marysville, June 21, 1905, and united him with Miss Grace Ann Haggerty, born in Marysville, a daughter of William and Annie Haggerty, natives of Rhode Island and Massachusetts respectively; and five children have blessed their union, Agnes B., James William, Maude Elizabeth, Arthur M., and Paul J., all attending the Marysville schools.

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

p. 1322

CHARLES H. JOHNSON

            Charles H. Johnson, who has developed one of the finest fruit ranches in his section of Yuba County, was born in Whiteside County, Ill., on September 18, 1885, and is the elder of two children in his parents’ family.  His father, Dr. Frank Johnson, was born in New York in 1858, and followed the profession of dentistry as a life-work. 

            When Charles H. Johnson was eight years of age, his parents moved to Virginia.  He remained at home until he reached the age of sixteen, when he started out in the world on his own account, having since depended upon his own resources for a livelihood.  Going to Summit County, Colo., he studied chemistry under Victor Blanc and afterward became an assayer.  While following that calling, he also engaged in mining and spent about ten years in that manner, conducting his operations in Colorado, Arizona and Mexico.  While in the latter country, he acted as chemist for the La Cananea Consolidated of Sonora, under James Cole, mill superintendent, and Richard Kirk, general manager, devoting a year and a half to that work.  At that time the company operated the second largest copper mine in the world, giving employment to 5000 men.  On his return to the United States, Mr. Johnson became an assayer and chemist at Goldfield, Nev., where he remained until 1913, when he came to California.  He has since been a resident of Yuba County.  He purchased a tract of 160 acres in District No. 10, eight miles north of Marysville, and in 1914 set out the first vines of the Thompson Seedless grapes in this district.  He now has a vineyard of seventy-five acres, planted in a series of twenty-, twenty-five-, and thirty-acre tracts; and in 1923 he set out forty-five acres to peach trees.

            On November 25, 1921, Mr. Johnson was united in marriage to Miss Alice Juch, a graduate of Marysville High School and the University of California.  She was born in Marysville, and is the only daughter of Herman Juch, a well-known merchant of this locality.  Mr. Johnson is a member of Marysville Lodge, No. 783, B.P.O.E.  His political support is given to the Democratic party.

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

p. 1322-1323

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