Imperial-Riverside County CA Archives Biographies.....Havens, John Robinson 1857 - 
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Joy Fisher sdgenweb@yahoo.com February 21, 2006, 9:06 pm

Author: F. C. Farr (editor, 1918)

JOHN ROBINSON HAVENS.—-In reviewing the careers of the men prominently
identified with the phenomenal growth of Imperial County special mention should
be made of John Robinson Havens, who came to the Valley October 15, 1901. He has
been identified with the agricultural interests of the county continuously since
that time. His birth occurred in San Francis County, Missouri, January 15, 1857,
a son of Thomas K. and Prudence Jane (Blue) Havens, who were the parents of nine
children. Mr. Havens' father left Missouri and went to Louisiana in 1866, and
remained in that state until 1869, where he followed farming. He then removed to
Mississippi and remained until 1876. John R. received a limited education in the
schools of Mississippi. He assisted on the home farm until he reached the age of
twenty-one. In 1876 his father went to Illinois, where he died and was buried
near Glasgow of that state. The father selected his own burial place, which was
located on a high bluff, and the monument can be seen with a glass for a
distance of twenty miles. Mr. Havens' mother passed away in February, 1872, and
is buried in Beulah, Bolivar County, Mississippi. In the parents' family there
were three sons; F. G. and H. A. reside in El Centro. The subject of this
review, after he became of age, went to Bolivar, Mississippi, and remained
during the yellow fever epidemic, which was in 1878-79. In 1880 he went to
Arkansas and remained until the fall of 1884, and in 1885 he removed to Texas.
Going back to Arkansas, he was married to Maggie Wright, a native of
Mississippi, on Christmas eve, December 24, 1885. With his bride, Mr. Havens
went back to Texas, where he remained until 1896. In November, 1896, he came
west and located in Riverside, where he worked in orchards and farmed from 1896
to 1901. On October of that year he drove to Imperial Valley and located on his
present ranch of eighty acres, which he took up from the government. His farm
has been highly improved. Mr. Havens carries on general farming and has been
identified with the hog and alfalfa and dairy business to a large extent. Mr.
Havens has what may be termed a show place. He set out all the handsome trees
and palms that adorn his place in 1902, and in 1904 he transplanted the palms.
Mr. Havens sold the palms to Mr. Holt when the town of Holtville was laid out.
Mr. Havens worked on the first ditches in the county. In Mr. Havens' family nine
children were born. His son James died at the age of fifteen, and was a twin
brother of Felix. Those living are: Verna Lee, Felix, Roy, Clyde and Claude
(twins), Fred, Addie, Ruth. Fraternally Mr. Havens is a member of the Woodmen of
the World and is a stockholder in Water Company No. 1.

Additional Comments:
From:

THE HISTORY
OF
IMPERIAL COUNTY
CALIFORNIA
EDITED BY
F. C. FARR

IN ONE VOLUME
ILLUSTRATED
Published by ELMS AND FRANKS
BERKELEY, CALIFORNIA 1918


Printed by Taylor & Taylor, San Francisco


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