Sutter County CA Archives Biographies.....Best, Henry 1832 - 1920
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Joy Fisher http://www.genrecords.net/emailregistry/vols/00001.html#0000031 January 6, 2012, 12:41 am

Source: See below
Author: Peter J. Delay

    HENRY BEST. — Significant of the opportunities offered by the commonwealth
of California was the success achieved by Henry Best, who arrived in Sutter
County without a dollar and with a sick wife to care for, and who, in spite of
discouraging environment and domestic anxiety, worked his way forward to a
position of influence among the farmers of his locality. By the gradual
acquisition of land he was able to give each of his ten children 160 acres as a
heritage, retaining a homestead of like size situated nine miles southwest of
Yuba City, provided with the improvements that mark a modern country place,
where he resided until his death. Henry Best was born on February 25, 1832, in
Tuscarawas County, Ohio, being a son of John G. Best, whose birth occurred in
Pennsylvania about 1790. It is supposed that the paternal grandparents were
natives of Germany, and according to family tradition the grandfather served in
the War of 1812. When only a boy, John G. Best was in the service of the army in
Ohio as a hunter. Later he took up farm work and remained in Ohio until about
1837, when he removed to Missouri and took up government land in Crawford
County. Later he put up a mill on Bourbon Creek and sawed the lumber used in
building the houses of the pioneers of that locality, and cherry lumber used in
the manufacture of coffins. Afterward he had a small tannery, where he tanned
the leather and made the shoes for all the members of his family. After eight
years in that county he moved to Iowa and settled on the Des Moines River on an
Indian reservation, securing a decree title to his land, but later was obliged
to buy the title. In course of time he acquired the ownership of 400 or more
acres, and there he engaged in farming and stock-raising until his death, at
sixty-five years of age. Before leaving Ohio he married Tracy Burrell, of
Eastern birth, and who died in that State at thirty years of age, leaving four
sons. 

    The youngest of the four sons, Henry Best, was five years of age when his
father settled in Missouri and about thirteen when the family located in Iowa,
where he remained on the home farm until he attained his majority. Starting out
for himself, he worked as a farm hand for nine dollars per month, and a year
later rented land. As he had but one horse and could not undertake farming with
an equipment so meager, he traded the animal for a yoke of oxen, which he used
on the plow. At the expiration of his first year as a renter he traded the oxen
and also paid $100 to secure the title to an eighty-acre tract. Lacking fifteen
dollars of having enough to complete the payment, he worked in the timber until
he had earned the required amount. The next season he rented the land for
one-third of the crops, while he engaged to work as a farm hand. After a year he
and a brother took up the cultivation of his place, which he sold during the
course of the year for $700. Immediately afterward he bought another tract, but
not having any crops he lost the land through inability to meet payments. In
other respects also he met with reverses; and finally, in 1862, he disposed of
all he owned excepting three horses and a wagon. With these he brought his
family overland to California, arriving in Yuba City in the fall of the year.
Selling one of his horses, he secured means sufficient to defray expenses until
he found employment. During the winter he chopped wood and husked corn; and the
following year a Mr. Stevens furnished a plow and allowed him to put in forty
acres of wheat on rented land, the crop gained being so large that he was
greatly encouraged. In 1864 he rented seventy acres on the bottom near Yuba
City, where he raised a crop that netted him $1200. With the money thus earned
Mr. Best bought a squatter's claim to 160 acres of raw land, whose only building
was a rude shanty. Forty acres were sown to wheat, which brought forty sacks to
the acre. As soon as possible he filed a homestead claim on his place, and later
received title to the property. With a stanch faith in the future of this
country, he bought land as he was able whenever it came into market, provided it
was located near enough to his home place to be worked therewith. At one time he
borrowed $23,000 with which to buy land, a venture that would daunt many, but
which he carried through, with faith in the future and in the increased
valuation of property. For some of the land he paid as much as eighty dollars
per acre, but other tracts of course were secured at a much smaller price.
Eventually he acquired about 2000 acres of land in one locality; but, as
previously stated, by giving to his children a quarter section each; he reduced
his own possessions to 160 acres. The marriage of Mr. Best occurred in Missouri
in 1856 and united him with Miss Luvina McPherson, a native of the same part, of
Ohio as himself. They were the parents of the following children: Alice, wife of
William Stoker; Alvin; Samuel; Amanda, Mrs. Augustus Case; Charles; Fannie, who
married George Stoker; Lee Valentine; William H.; Clara Belle, wife of Louis
Case; and Andrew, all of whom have substantial homes in this neighborhood. In
national affairs Mr. Best always voted the Republican ticket. Fraternally, he
was connected with Yuba City Lodge No. 70, F. & A. M., and for more than
thirty-seven years was affiliated with Yuba City Lodge No. 185, I. O. O. F.; he
had previously joined the Oriental Lodge in Marysville, but a few years later
was demitted in order to aid in establishing the lodge at Yuba City. At the
inception of the Farmers' Union Bank he became one of its first stockholders,
starting with eight shares of stock; in 1905 he purchased nine additional
shares, and from 1900 to the day of his death he officiated as a director of the
institution. He died on April 26, 1920; his wife had passed away one year
before, to a day. 


Additional Comments:

Extracted from:

HISTORY OF YUBA and SUTTER COUNTIES 
CALIFORNIA 
WITH 
Biographical Sketches OF 
The Leading Men and Women of the Counties Who Have Been Identified with Their
Growth and Development from the Early Days to the Present 

HISTORY BY 
PETER J. DELAY 

ILLUSTRATED 
COMPLETE IN ONE VOLUME 

HISTORIC RECORD COMPANY 
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA
1924


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