Shasta County
Biographies
QUINTUS NARCISSUS ATKINS MARTHA HUGHES ATKINS
1831 --1899 1842 --1925
Quintus Narcissus Atkins was born in western Ohio August 20, 1831 to Narcissus A. and Lydia Waters Atkins, natives of Massachusetts and Connecticut. He was educated at Albion Academy in Pennsylvania and Poland Institute in Ohio. At twenty he left school to join the Gold Rush. He mined first at Gold Run and then in Grass Valley.
Quintus came to Reading Springs (Shasta) in June, 1853, just after one of the numerous fires of its early days, so he moved on to Horsetown. There he worked with a group of men who planned to divert Clear Creek by building a dam. This project proved unsuccessful and he contracted ague (malaria) which bothered him for eight years. Though the dam project failed, he had some success mining, but like most early miners he didn't save his money.
Martha Adeline Hughes was born in Wisconsin February 1842 to Andrew and Mary Morill Hughes. In 1853, Andrew brought his family from Missouri to Shasta County.
Martha and Quintus were married in 1858 and moved to Clover Creek.
They had fourteen children:
Benjamin b. June 1860 d. April 1939
Frank b. Dec 1863 d. June 1927 m. Catherine Farley
Emma b. Nov 10, 1864 d. Nov 8, 1937 m. Charles Peter Hufford
William b. 1865 d. Nov 24, 1899 m Lulu Eddington
Jesse b. Apr 8, 1868 d. Jan 21, 1951
Warren b. Mar 16, 1869 d. Feb 12. 1957
Flora b. Aug 16, 1873 d. Feb 21, 1954 m. William Hunt
Octavia b. Aug 16, 1873 d. Feb 13, 1899 m. William Hunt
Irwin b. Dec 16, 1875 d. July 18, 1914 m. Lizzie Phillips
Clarence b. 1877 d. May 1961 m. Olie Medford
Clinton b. Apr 20, 1878 d. Jan 30, 1961 m. Ruby Viola Covey
m. Hilda McCullough
Quentin b. Jan 1882 d. July 1938
Cleveland b. Dec 9. 1884 d. Apr 1929 m Myrtle Covey
Hendricks b. Dec 9, 1884 d. Dec 20, 1966
All the children but Frank and Emma were born in Shasta County. Those two were born in Humboldt County when Quintus went out to the mines; then he went to Montana. Most of the rest of his life he was a farmer/carpenter in Shasta County. They owned 320 acres on Clover
Creek where they had a mill and raised grain for the mill and the usual crops for home consumption. They also had a home in the mountains on Tamarack Road which was where they had summer range for their cattle.
They participated in the school and community activities; Quintus became a Master Mason. He was elected to three terms as County Surveyer and served several terms as Deputy County Assessor, an appointed job. Quintus died at his home in Whitmore, June 11, 1899.
Martha, who was well known throughout the County as a midwife, lived in their home in Whitmore until her death in March of 1925. Both are buried in the Masonic Cemetery at Millville.
Source: Shasta Historical Society - Aug 2000
DANIEL GRANVIL HUNT SARAH MARTHA HERYFORD HUNT
1830 ..1921 1846 ..1932
Daniel Granvil Hunt was born in Huntsville, Missouri. His father, Nathan Hunt, moved from Kentucky and founded the community where in 1823 he married Isabella Wright and they became Daniel's parents. Gold was discovered in 1848 and in 1849 Daniel joined the wagon train his brothers, James and Jonathon, were leading to California and the gold mines.
They arrived in Hangtown (Placerville) in August of 1850. His prospecting must have taken him over much of Northern California and he had some success in mining because he bought land for his cattle ranch in Shasta County before he went home to Missouri by sea. In 1861 he was wagon
master on his wagon train and brought more family members to Shasta County. While he was living alone he heard from an Indian boy whom he had befriended that Indians were planning an attack. He and eleven friends withstood that attack by a large group of Indians.
Sarah Martha Heryford was born in Missouri April 10, 1848 to Clemens Reed and Nancy Ann Chambers Heryford. They crossed the plains with a family group -- her grandfather died shortly after they arrived at their ranch on Clover Creek and her grandmother returned to Missouri. Sarah
was nine when she crossed the plains and she left a small account of this adventure.
Sarah tells of gathering wild fruit to make pies and buffalo chips for the fire to cook them. Occasionally, they could get supplies at a trading post. She, also, tells of crossing the Missouri on a "flatboat" and swimming the oxen across the Platte.
On December 24, 1865 Dan and Sarah were married and settled on Dan's Oak Run ranch which totaled between six and seven thousand acres to run their cattle. The couple had eleven children:
Hattie b. Jan 31, 1867 d. Mar 9, 1883
William b. Sept 26, 1868 d. Janl6, 1922 m. Octavia Atkins
m. Flora Irene Atkins
John b. Mar 14. 1870 d. July 13, 1924 m. Annie Middleton
Nathan b. Nov 12, 1871 d. Feb 2, 1895
Nellie b. Oct 24, 1873 d. Sept 24, 1875
Dora b. Sept 18, 1876 d. Sept 6, 1936 m. Joseph Harold Girdner
Clemans b. Jan 1, 1879 d. Mar 6, 1966 m. Effie Webber
(known by middle name, Reid)
Lottie b. Nov 27, 1881 d. Sept 21, 1964 m. Orison Perkins Haley
Baby Boy b. May 31, 1885 d. May 31, 1885
Gracie b. May 31, 1885 d. Apr 21, 1898
Sadie b. Apr 6, 1887 d. Dec 9, 1938
Dan and Sarah lived on their ranch until September 1894 when they moved to Millville. They were sturdy people; Dan was 91 when he died, June 25, 1921, a few months after a paralytic stroke. He had survived five of their children.
Sarah lived in their home in Millville another eleven years until her death October l4, 1932; she had survived all but four of their children. Both are buried in the Hunt Family Cemetery near the family home.
Source: Shasta Historical Society - Aug 2000