YUBA COUNTY
Biographies
LOUIS NELSON SCOTT
A long and useful life, devoted to mining and agricultural pursuits, California’s most important industries, stands to the credit of Louis Nelson Scott, who owns a valuable ranch in the Yuba foothills, thirty miles northeast of Marysville, a tract of land which has been in possession of the family for almost seventy years. He was born on this ranch on May 22, 1856, and his parents were John S. N. and Katherine (Marquardt) Scott, the former a native of Gottenburg, Sweden, but of Scotch parentage. The mother was born in Frankfort, Germany, and came to America as a girl. Like many of the boys raised in the seaport town of Gottenburg, the father adopted a seafaring life, leaving home when a lad of twelve. He sailed on the North Sea, later making ocean voyages; and his first trip to San Francisco Bay was made in 1845, the second in 1848, and the third in 1852. Having tired of the adventurous life of a sailor, he left the ship on reaching San Francisco in 1852, and with his partner went on to Sacramento, thence to the Feather River, and later to the Yuba River where he followed mining. In New York City he had married Miss Marquardt, who joined him in California in 1854, coming by way of the Isthmus of Panama and bringing with her their two daughters, Amelia and Sylvia. After the flood-waters of 1855 had subsided, the parents located on Purdy Creek and a few months later removed to the Purdy Ranch, which they called the New York Star Ranch, but which is now called the Scott Ranch. On this place, Mr. Scott erected a hotel and other buildings; and as his property was located at what was then the terminus for freighters, the venture proved a profitable one, while he was equally successful in his farming operations. As pioneer settlers of the Oregon House district of Yuba County, Mr. and Mrs. Scott were widely and favorably known. Of their union were born five children, of whom two survive: Louis Nelson and Martha Matilda, now Mrs. Griffith, of Indiana Ranch.
Louis Nelson Scott, the third-born of his parents’ children, was reared on the old homestead and obtained his education in the schools of the Oregon House district. For a quarter of a century he was actively identified with operations in the quartz and hydraulic mines of Yuba, Plumas and Sierra Counties, and few men have a more comprehensive knowledge of the mining industry in this part of the State. In 1900 Mr. Scott returned to the old Scott Ranch. For the past twenty-three years he has operated the home ranch of 196 acres, a productive and well-improved property. He raises the crops best adapted to soil and climatic conditions here, and carries on his work systematically and efficiently. He also breeds a good grade of stock, and is likewise developing a valuable placer mine located on his ranch.
Mr. Scott was married at Marysville on July 5, 1882, to Miss Ada Danby, a native of England. She was born on August 28, 1864, and her parents were Richard and Jane (Sweeney) Danby, the former also a native of England. The mother was born in Longford, Ireland, in 1836 and came to California in 1873. Of a deeply religious nature, when seven years of age, she joined the Methodist Church, whose teachings guided her in all of life’s relations. Although a great sufferer during the last months of her life, her trials were borne cheerfully and uncomplainingly, and the many friends who gathered at her home were always assured of a hearty welcome and generous hospitality. Her days were filled with unostentatious acts of charity and kindness, and she was the center of a happy family life, being a type of ideal womanhood. Mr. Danby was born in 1822, and when twenty-one years of age entered the British army, of which he was a member for twenty-five years. For seventeen years he held the position of color sergeant in the First Ninth East Norfolk Regiment, with which he served in the Indian War of 1845 and 1846, and in the Crimean War. He was a brave and gallant soldier and received from Queen Victoria four medals for distinguished services, one being won at the battle of Ferozepoor, Sobraon, and Moodkee, and another in 1854, at the siege of Sebastopol. In 1855 he won the Turkish medal; and in 1863, at Limerick, just before he retired from the army, Queen Victoria, through Gen. Arthur Borton, bestowed upon him his last medal, a reward for his good conduct and long service. For several years before his death he resided at Erle, Yuba County, where he passed away at the age of seventy-four, leaving a wife, five daughters and one son to mourn his loss, in addition to a host of stanch and loyal friends. Ada Danby came to Erle, Yuba County, with her parents, and attended the local school district.
To Mr. and Mrs. Scott were born six children, of whom the youngest, a son, died in infancy, and Walter Wesley, the fifth of the family, died at the age of seventeen, being accidentally shot while hunting. Those who survive are Richard Nelson, a mine and tunnel expert, now superintendent of the Seattle Light & Power Company, Washington; Louis A., an engineer on the Hetch Hetchy project; Ada Emma, a teacher in this county; and Harold F., also with the Seattle Light & Power Company. Mr. Scott has the unique honor of being the survivor of the first set of twins born in the Yuba foothills to white parents. He is a loyal son of California and has unbounded faith in the future of Yuba County, for which he is an enthusiastic booster. The years have brought him and his wife the success which usually follows persistent, honorable labor, intelligently directed.
History of Yuba and Sutter Counties, Historic Record Company, Los Angeles, 1924
p 450-452
EDWIN M. SMITH
A far-seeing, practical hustler in the Marysville commercial world is Edwin M. Smith, the accommodating proprietor of the popular Smith’s Package Grocery at Fourth and E Streets – a unique enterprise operated on the lines of a cash grocery, the customer being invited to wait upon himself, and when supplied with the necessities he is after, also invited to make his own delivery. The result is one that has naturally made the Package Grocery a favorite rendezvous for housewives in an age disturbed with loud complaints against the high cost of living; for through this cleverly devised system, Mr. Smith is enabled to sell for less than competitors pursuing the old-fashioned way, and he is only too glad to share reductions possible with the ever increasing number of appreciative patrons.
Mr. Smith is a native of New Mexico, born at Lake Valley on November 7, 1881. He was taken to St. Joseph, Mo., at an early age, and was there reared until his fifteenth year. Coming out to the Northwest, he attended the University of Oregon; and in that State and in San Francisco he was a business man. Then he conducted a chain of variety department stores at Marysville, Chico and Napa before the war, whereby he came to be known to the people of Marysville and Yuba City; but he gave up his business during the war in order to take up Y.M.C.A. work in France. He spent fifteen months over seas in this form of war work, and then returned to San Francisco. In February, 1922, he came to Marysville and opened his present business here, his return being signalized by his many friends who extended substantial patronage. From the day of his return, he has done well; and having so prospered in his own affairs, he has been conspicuous for public-spirited service for others as well.
Mr. Smith belongs to the Lions Club of Marysville, and to Marysville Lodge No. 783, B.P.O.E.
History of Yuba and Sutter Counties, Historic Record Company, Los Angeles, 1924
p 462-463
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