Shasta County
Biographies
ALBERT F. ROSS
ALBERT F. ROSS, Clerk of Shasta County, was born near Millville, same county, June 23, 1861. His ancestors were natives of Sweden. His father, Herman F. Ross, was born in Sweden, December 24, 1833. While a boy he was in the mercantile business. In 1842 he went to England and enlisted in the English navy, and participated in the opium war with China. He afterward served on the coast of Africa, capturing slave-traders and suppressing the nefarious traffic at that time extensively engaged in; and was finally captain of a merchant vessel. He subsequently retired from the sea, settled in the State of Maine and engaged in mercantile pursuits. He was there when gold was discovered in California. In 1849 he joined the ranks of those who were seeking the new El Dorado and arrived in California in the spring of 1850. He engaged in mining near Sacramento and on the American River. In 1852 he came to Shasta County, and settled on a farm at Oak Run. He took a prominent part in opening up the country, which was a wilderness at that time, and making roads across the mountains. He was afterward engaged in teaming from Red Bluff to Susanville, at that time a profitable business. In 1867, in partnership with H.N. Wilkinson, he became the owner of a flouring-mill at Millville. They did a large business, supplying several counties of Northern California with flour and feed, until 1880. This property he still owns, but the construction of the railroad to some extent injured their business. In November, 1859, he married Elizabeth Hunt, a native of Missouri. To them were born two sons, of whom Albert F. is the older one.
Albert was educated in the public school of his native county and at Napa College, where he graduated in May, 1882. He worked in the mill with his father and learned that business, after which he spent a year in the forwarding business in Arizona. On account of ill health he returned to Millville. In 1886 Mr. Ross received the nomination for County Clerk by the Republican party, and was elected by fifty-eight majority. He served his term so satisfactorily that he was re-nominated, and at the election of November, 1888, received a majority of 455. The duties of recorder, clerk and auditor have devolved upon him. He has proved himself an efficient officer, and is ably assisted by a faithful corps of deputies.
Mr. Ross is a Royal Arch and Council Mason, and has twice been Master of the blue lodge. He is a popular Native Son of the Golden West, and is alike proud of his county and his State.
Memorial & Biographical History of Northern California, The Lewis Publishing Co., 1891
Transcribed by: Betty Wilson
ALGERNON MORDANT GOODNOUGH
ALGERNON MORDANT GOODNOUGH was born in Des Plaines, Cook, County, Illinois, March 16, 1838. His father, Daniel Goodnough, was a hard working farmer of English descent, and his mother, Harriet M. Conant, was a direct descendant of the world famous French Huguenots, a woman of rare intelligence, and gentle, Christian spirit, who died at the early age of twenty-three years, leaving one child, an infant son, the subject of our sketch. Soon after the death of his mother, his father removed to Vermont, where the son was reared and educated, graduating at Middlebury College in Vermont, in 1861. He was married May 12,1862, to Miss Lucy H. Langworthy, of Middlebury, Vermont, who, until the time of her death, August 26,1890, was a true helpmate, and a most amiable and affectionate wife, whose serene Christian faith bore fruit in a life devoted to others good, a life rich in kind words and helpful deeds. Shortly after marriage, Mr. Goodnough engaged in teaching in Massachusetts, his last school being the High School in Barnstable, after which he pursued a course of studies in Yale Theological Seminary, and subsequently was installed pastor of the Congregational Church in Mystic Bridge, Connecticut. Failing health induced him to resign his charge, and in 1867 he come with his wife to California, across the Isthmus, under the auspices of the American Home Missionary Society, and for three years was settled in San Mateo, California, where a commodious church was built during his pastorate, when he removed to Vallejo, and after some years of ministerial labor there, his health still being delicate, he engaged in merchandising, building up a large trade by strict attention to business and honorable dealing with all, in musical instruments, in which he had previously had some experience. In the character of a “music dealer,” he is now widely and favorably known on the Pacific coast, having some 2,000 patrons to whom he refers with pleasure. As a singer of home-songs he is known to thousands in California, and wherever he is known is always welcome. He sings over 400 songs, from memory (without the sight of words or music,) and there is perhaps not another man in America who can sing as many from recollection only. He is the general agent for California for the “Smith American Piano & Organ Company” of Boston, with whom he has been dealing with for some thirty years, and he still enjoys their fullest confidence.
In 1872 Mr Goodnough went east on a lecturing tour, delivering in the Representatives Hall in Montpellier, the capital of his native State, and in many other important towns, a lecture on California, entitled “Five Years in the Sunset Land.” This lecture was spoken of by the press in most flattering terms, and received by large audiences with marked interest and favor, and winning for the lecture an enviable reputation as a platform orator of unusual ability as well as an enthusiastic Californian.
In 1884, after ten years of mercantile life in San Francisco, Mr. Goodnough purchased a large track of land near Redding, in Shasta County, and shortly afterward he came there to reside; this track of land was sold some three years later, for about ten times what it had cost. He now lives in Stillwater Valley, six miles east of Redding on a handsomely improved place he has named “Prospect Park.” He has young fruit trees in great variety growing, but is mostly interested in a new raisin grape called “Thompson’s Seedless,” said to be the best article in its line. In addition to his home place, he has four other improved places in Shasta and Solano Counties, and several unimproved properties held as investments. Mr. G. has one son, Algernon M. Goodnough, Jr., now a resident of Randolph, Maine, who bids fair to become an equal of his father in enterprise and integrity. We may add that Mr. Goodnough, is a member of the Presbyterian Church and of several fraternal societies, and considering that what he has acquired, is due solely to his own honest efforts, he may well take pride in the result of his labor.
Memorial & Biographical History of Northern California
The Lewis Publishing Co., 1891
Pages 600-601
Transcribed by: Bonnie Phelan
BENJAMIN FRANKLIN ALLISON
Benjamin Franklin Allison, Principal of the schools of Redding, Shasta County, California, was born in Missouri, February 8, 1860. He comes of good old Revolutionary stock, the ancestors of his family having settled in the colonies at an early period in the history of this country, and having been active participants in the Revolutionary struggle. His grandfather, John Allison, was one of the pioneers of Muhlenberg County, Kentucky, and his father, James W. Allison was born there. Mr. Allison’s mother, nee Laura A. Martin, was also a native of Kentucky. His parents had five children, of whom he was the third. He is now the only survivor of the family.
Mr. Allison received his education in Kentucky and Ohio; graduated at the academy at Greenville, Kentucky, and afterward in both the scientific and classical courses of the National Normal University at Lebanon, Ohio. He is also a graduate of the commercial course of Kentucky University at Lexington. His first intentions were to enter the medical profession, but his natural talent and adaptation for teaching became so apparent that he turned his attention to the profession of teaching. For the past twelve years he has been a successful teacher. He had charge of the Columbia High School, Kentucky, from 1881 till 1883; was superintendent of the Hamilton College, Texas, from 1883 till 1886; conducted the Apopka public schools, in Florida, three years; and came to Redding and took his present position April 1, 1889. His school work here, as it has been elsewhere, is thorough and systematic. Everything goes on like clock-work, without friction or disorder. As a teacher, Professor Allison is regarded with high esteem by both pupils and patrons. In the higher departments of the school the young ladies and gentlemen of his classes are thrown entirely upon their honor for deportment, and their conduct is such that it reflects credit not only upon themselves but also upon their worthy instructor.
In 1886, Professor was united in marriage, in Texas, to Miss Mary Hart, a native of Iuka, Mississippi. At the time of their marriage she was a teacher of ability and experience. Mr. Allison and his wife are members of the Presbyterian Church. Social and affable, they are valuable acquisitions to the good society of the city of Redding.
Memorial & Biographical History of Northern California
The Lewis Publishing Co., 1891
Page 650
Transcribed by: Christine Helmick