YUBA COUNTY
Biographies
EMERAL HANFORD STOTTLEMYER
The ranchers of the present day who are deserving of much credit for their reclamation work are those devoting their time and efforts to develop and cultivate into productive ranches what was formerly considered waste land, or was covered with heavy timber and undergrowth. Among these may be mentioned E. H. Stottlemyer, fruit-grower and owner of a highly developed river-bottom ranch five miles from Marysville. He is a native of the State, born in Kelseyville, Lake County, January 17, 1884, the eldest of eight children of the late John F. and Lucy Ann (Benson) Stottlemyer. The father was a native of Myersville, Frederick County, Md., born in 1851, the fourth of a family of seven children born to John Wesley and Mary Hellen (Rohrback) Stottlemyer, natives of Maryland. The latter passed away on April 21, 1894, and the former on August 26, 1901, in Myersville. Great-grandfather Stottlemyer lived to be eighty-three years old, and his wife to the age of eighty-six years. Mary Hellen Rohrback was the younger of two children born to John H. and Roseanah (Myers) Rohrback. John H. Rohrback passed away in early life, and his widow afterwards married Charles Miller. John F. Stottlemyer had several uncles living at Woodland, Yolo County, viz., Dan H. Rohrback, and H. M. and Fred Miller; so in 1872 he came to California and lived for a time in Yolo County, and then spent about a year in Sutter County. Then he worked on a ranch near Willows for his uncle Daniel Rohrback for almost nine years, after which he removed to Lake County; and there he purchased a farm near Kelseyville in 1882.
On the Benson side, the family is traced by to the Puritans, the ancestors coming from England to Plymouth in 1620. Great-great-grandfather David Benson had a son Jesse, who married Olive Wheeler; and they removed to Wisconsin, where they died. Grandfather Anderson Benson was born in Massachusetts, May 7, 1822; he taught school in Wisconsin and afterwards in Pennsylvania. In 1849 he crossed the plains with ox-teams to Calaveras County, where he followed mining and sawmilling until he removed to Lake County and took up land near Kelseyville; and there, on November 12, 1865, he married Mrs. Emeline (Thompson) Higson. He continued to reside on the same place until his death, on January 7, 1898. Great-grandfather Waddie Thompson was born in Patrick County, Va., January 29, 1801. He moved to Tennessee in 1820 and to Indiana in 1829, and thence to Ray County, Mo., in 1839. He married Martha Birdwell; and he died on December 31, 1879. His daughter Emeline was Mr. Stottlemyer’s grandmother. She was born in Lawrence County, Ind., on November 11, 1834. She married Marquis Higson. In 1864, with their only remaining child, they crossed the plains to California. Mr. Higson died the same year and she was left a widow. A year later she married Anderson Benson. Her last days were spent with her daughter, Mrs. Lucy Stottlemyer, at Vacaville. She passed away on November 29, 1909. Lucy, the eldest of her six children, was born near Kelseyville, on October 19, 1866, and was married on September 3, 1882, to John F. Stottlemyer. They farmed near Kelseyville for some years, after which they spent a year at Woodland and then took up their residence at Vacaville, where Mr. Stottlemyer died on December 21, 1905, leaving a widow and eight children: Emeral H., of this review; Mrs. Rena Ryhiner, of Santa Monica; Mrs. Ida Tubbs, of Stockton; Harvey, of Vacaville; Arthur, who lives at Davis; and Mrs. Verna Buckeley, Perry and Mrs. Grace King, all of Vacaville. The mother also makes her home in Vacaville.
Emeral Hanford Stottlemyer was reared in Lake and Solano Counties, and on finishing his schooling took up ranch work in the fruit orchards. Later, for a short period, he was occupied in construction work for the Southern Pacific on bridges in the San Joaquin Valley. In 1911 he engaged in contract well-boring, and for seven years did an extensive business in Solano and Yuba Counties. In the meantime he put in a part of his time for two years in mining for gold near La Porte, with considerable returns. Finally, in 1918, he sold out his interest in the well-boring business to his partner, first completing the contracts on hand; and since then he has been steadily engaged in the development of his orchard land on the Yuba River, first clearing it of the heavy timber and wild growth. In 1921 he had the land ready, and planted 1000 canning peach trees, with such success that a replacement of only sixty trees was required the following year, a very unusual showing. While he uses the Hallwood Irrigation District water, he also has a complete pumping plant and irrigating system to depend upon when necessary. This insures continuous cultivation of his property, which comprises seventeen and three-quarters acres of rich river-bottom land. The sandy-loam soil is very rich, and produces splendid peaches. Even in the second year his trees gave a yield of two tons to the acre. Typical of the substantial and enterprising men who are putting Central California in the foremost rank agriculturally, Mr. Stottlemyer is well-known in the valley and surrounding cities. He is a prominent Mason, being a member of Vacaville Lodge, No. 134, F.& A.M.; Washington Chapter, No. 13, R.A.M., of Marysville; and Marysville Commandery No. 7, K.T.; and a charter member of Ben Ali Temple, Nobles of the Mystic Shrine, in Sacramento.
History of Yuba and Sutter Counties, Historic Record Company, Los Angeles, 1924
p 461-462
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