Mendocino-El Dorado-Statewide County CA Archives Biographies.....Handy, Fred Clarke November 26, 1865 - September 23, 1930
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Ila Wakley iwakley@msn.com October 31, 2010, 9:01 pm

Source: California and Californians, Vol. IV, Published 1932, Pages  113 - 115
Author: The Lewis Publishing Company

     FRED CLARKE HANDY was born and reared in California and in his character 
and his varied activities he conferred honor upon his native state, in which 
he was a representative of a sterling pioneer family. Mr. Handy was a member 
of the California State Senate at the time of his death, which occurred in San 
Francisco on the 23d of September, 1930, and a tribute to his memory is 
consistently incorporated in this history of California.

     Mr. Handy was born at Georgetown, Eldorado County, California, November 
26, 1865, and was a son of Philo and Laura Adele (Roper)  Handy, the former of 
whom was born in Ohio and the latter of whom was born in England, her father 
having there been a rural magistrate and old English home having been retained 
by the family for many generations. Mrs. Handy was nine years of age when her 
parents established the family home in Boone County, Illinois, where she was 
reared and educated, and it was in that state that her marriage to Philo Handy 
was solemnized, in 1864, their stately wedding tour having been compassed by 
means of the old-time covered wagon in which they set forth across the 
plains to California. Mr. Handy had served as a gallant soldier of the Union 
in the Civil war and after its close and his receiving honorable discharge he 
set forth with his bride for California, as previously noted.  They settled in 
the Georgetown mining district in Eldorado County, and after a few years of 
association with mining enterprise and saw mill business in that field Mr. 
Handy removed with his family to Santa Clara, where he resided for a year, 
moving to Mendocino County in the year 1870 and establishing the home at 
Ukiah, the county seat in 1893. From 1870 to 1893 the family lived in Round 
Valley, Mendocino County, where he was one of the earliest settlers. In 1886 
Philo Handy had the distinction of being the first Republican ever elected to 
represent that county in the Lower House of the State Legislature, even as his 
son Fred C. was later destined to be the first Republican elected from that 
district to the State Senate. In the 1890 decade Philo Handy served as 
undersheriff of Mendocino County, and in 1898 he joined the rush of 
goldseekers who were making their way to the new fields in Alaska, he having 
there been concerned with mining operations at both Nome and Dawson. After his 
return to California he was appointed postmaster of Ukiah, and after retaining 
this position eight years he lived virtually retired until his death, which 
occurred at that place in 1923, his wife having preceded him to eternal rest 
and both having been sterling and honored pioneer citizens of Mendocino County 
at the time of their death. Prior to establishing the home at Ukiah, in 1893, 
he had been actively identified with farm industry in that county; and there 
he served ten years as superintendent of the Round Valley Indian Reservation.

     It was in Mendocino County that Fred C. Handy was reared to adult age and 
received his early education. He later was graduated in the high school at 
Santa Clara and also in the Santa Clara Academy of Science. He then returned 
to Mendocino County and became associated with his father and brother Percy 
W., in the live stock industry. After the home was established at Ukiah he 
became actively interested in politics, and during a term of several years he 
was retained as an assistant in various county offices, including that of 
county clerk. At the opening of the Mendocino State Hospital, in 1893, Mr. 
Handy was appointed secretary to its superintendent, Dr. E. W. King, and he 
there continued his service until 1900, the while he gained unqualified 
affection for his kindliness in the treatment of the unfortunate wards who 
were inmates of this state institution. After this experience Mr. Handy went 
to Honolulu and there served as an executive of the United States District 
Court, under Judge Morris M. Estee. Thereafter he remained three years as 
United States deputy marshal in Hawaii and after his return to California and 
his indulgence in a vacation he was appointed business manager of the 
Mendocino State Hospital, which position he retained until 1914. Upon 
resigning this office he removed to San Francisco and identified himself with 
mining enterprise, in which he continued several years. Within this period the 
Presidio Mining Company, operating in Texas, was placed in the hands of a 
receiver, and Mr. Handy went to Texas as manager of the interests of the 
corporation. So efficient was his administration that $650,000 represented the 
sum returned to stockholders of the company. After closing up this business, 
in 1921, Mr. Handy returned to the old home at Ukiah to accept the position of 
City Manager and in the following year he was elected representative of that 
district in the State Senate. In the Legislature he made a record of 
characteristically loyal and constructive service, with the result that he was 
reelected in 1926, his second term of four years having extended until his 
death.

     An incident of the career of Senator Handy while he was executive head of 
the State Hospital in Mendocino County should be given attention in this 
connection. When serious floods threatened to burst a dam in the canyon above 
the hospital Mr. Handy assumed to himself the hazardous mission of crawling 
along the spillway of the dam, at midnight, and succeeded in opening a jammed 
floodgate, thus preventing a flood that undoubtedly would have levied heavy 
toll in the loss of life and property. This was but one of many 
exemplifications of his loyalty to duty, his kindliness and his self-
sacrificing spirit — attributes that drew to him the staunchest and most 
appreciative of friendships.

     As has already been intimated, Senator Handy was a stalwart advocate of 
the principles of the Republican party, and he was influential in the councils 
of his party in his native state during a long period of years.  In the 
Masonic fraternity his maximum York Rite affiliation was with the Commandery 
of Knights Templar at Ukiah, and he had membership also in Scottish Rite 
bodies, in the Mystic Shrine and in the Masonic Club of San Francisco. He was 
affiliated also with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, Woodmen of the 
World, Knights of Pythias and Fraternal Order of Eagles. His wife, whose 
maiden name was Amy Morrison, died in November, 1920, no children having been 
born of their union. Senator Handy is survived by one brother, Percy W., of 
Ukiah, and by three sisters: Mrs. Ernest S. Wheeler, who resides in Honolulu 
where her husband is a Federal highway engineer; Mrs. Howard D. Melone, of San 
Francisco, and Mr. Melone was a son of Drury Melone, who was one of first 
secretaries of the State of California; and Miss Florence M. Handy, who 
likewise resides in San Francisco and to whom the publishers of this work are 
indebted for the data concerning her brother as applied to the preparation of 
this memoir.

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