MARK PEASE, JR.

 

A native son of Sutter County, and a descendant of a family prominent in the affairs of the county, Mark Pease, Jr., was born on November 5, 1898, a son of Mark and Ida E. (Sanders) Pease, natives of New Hampshire and Sutter County, Cal., respectively, whose interesting life histories appear on another page in this history.

Mark Pease, Jr., the third eldest in a family of four children, attended the Sutter High School until 1915, when he took up ranching on his own account and soon after bought twenty-two acres of unimproved land, which he has since developed to a vineyard of Thompson Seedless grapes.  During the harvest season he has charge of the raisin-stemmer and packer at his father’s plant.  Recently Mr. Pease purchased three acres at Tierra Buena station which he developed to vineyard and where he makes his home.

The marriage of Mr. Pease at Sutter City, December 18, 1916, united him with Miss Authalena Alvera McPherrin, a native of Sutter County, daughter of W. H. and Authalena (Fox) McPherrin.  W. H. McPherrin was born in Sutter City, Cal., March 24, 1868.  His father came to California in 1859 and settled in Sutter County, where he became prosperous.  The mother, who is a member of South Butte Parlor, N.D.G.W., was born in Yuba City, a daughter of Thomas and Nancy Fox, who had crossed the plains and located in Sutter County, where they engaged in farming.  In time the Fox ranch at Sutter City became one of the substantial landmarks in the county.  Mrs. Pease was graduated from the Sutter Union High School in 1916.  Mr. and Mrs. Pease are the parents of one daughter, Gertrude L.  Mrs. Pease is active in welfare work and a member of Tierra Buena Improvement Club.  Mr. Pease is a member of Yuba City Camp W.O.W.  Since his fourteenth year he has been a member of the Marysville Municipal band in which he plays the trombone; however, he considers he does his best work on the violin.  His Cremona violin, purchased by his grandfather in Florence, Italy, in 1852, was used by him during his lifetime, then willed to the father of our subject, who in turn has given it to his son, Mark, who values it very highly, not only for its intrinsic worth, but as an heirloom of the family.

 

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

p 1226

 

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HOWARD REED

 

A far-sighted, progressive rancher, who by hard work, strict integrity and initiative ability has established a place for himself among the leading citizens of Yuba County, is Howard Reed, who was born in Yolo County near Sacramento, January 12, 1874, a son of C. W. and Abbie Brown (Jenks) Reed, natives of New York and Illinois, respectively.  His father came to California in 1855 via the Isthmus of Panama and settled on a quarter section of Sacramento river-bottom land.  Through untiring effort and hard work he cleared this land and set it out to pears and a fine orchard property was developed.  He shipped his first carload of pears to the eastern market and accompanied the shipment personally.  At one time he had fifty-two varieties of pears in his orchard.  C. W. Reed and his wife were the parents of six children: Marvin Dudley, Charles Wesley, Jr., Norman, who died from the effects of accidental poisoning when he was an infant; Howard, the subject of this sketch; Hayward and Rowena.  C. W. Reed died in 1893, at the age of sixty-five years.  Mrs. Reed died when she was seventy-two years old.

Howard Reed attended the grammar and high schools of Sacramento.  A few years after the death of his father he went to work as a foreman and superintendent on his father’s property.  He then worked with his brother, who had acquired one of his father’s places; and in 1902 he came to Yuba County and purchased the 200-acre New England orchard.  The fall of the same year, he bought the El Rio orchard, formerly owned by Senator Woodward; the two ranches were combined and called the New England Orchard and embraced approximately 600 acres of land which was devoted to farming and fruit raising.  Mr. Reed sold this ranch, but in 1918 he returned and purchased 325 acres of the old New England Orchard, which was devoted mostly to pears.  The orchard was in a very poor condition and Mr. Reed has exerted the utmost effort since that time in bringing it back into shape.  Mr. Reed uses a new cure for blight menace and now has it under control; and by this newly discovered treatment he can save nearly every tree that is affected with the blight.  The fruit raised on this orchard is the finest in quality grown in the Golden State and is in great demand, the various California canning companies bidding to get this fruit.  Mr. Reed is putting in a sixteen-inch well and a large pump which will add greatly to the water supply.  He has been attracting considerable interest by planting 212 acres on the Yuba River to Blight Resistant pears, which is an entirely new departure in the pear industry.

In October, 1896, Howard Reed was untied in marriage with Miss Edith Colburn Cooley, a native of Marysville, Cal., and the daughter of George S. and Anna Cooley.  Her father, who is an old-timer, is still living.  Miss Cooley was reared and educated in Marysville and is the oldest of the five children born to Mr. and Mrs. Cooley, the rest of the family being: Edward S., Ellen L., Anita, and George (who died when he was fifteen years old).  Mr. and Mrs. Reed are the parents of three children: Charles Wesley, George S., and Rosalind.  Mr. Reed maintains a non-partisan attitude in national politics and votes for the man rather than the party.  Fraternally, he is a member of the Marysville Lodge No. 783, B.P.O.E., and of Shamrock Camp, W.O.W., having passed through the chairs of the latter.