This and That At
California Kentucky
By Frank Hayman Herndon October 31, 1985
Owners of numbered homes at end of article.
The painting 4 feet by 5 feet was to show the location of the homes. It was not intended to have them real in design, although some are. A painting this large when reduced to small photos will hardly show much detail. As a Cincinnati Times Star newspaper boy for 5 years, I was well acquainted with the homes and the owners. All homes had a wood or coal shed and an outside toilet. most had a picket or wire fence, net clean grasey yard and a white rock sidewalk. The alleys were kept clean. The streets were rock and well kept about the sidewalks. When we moved from home 28 to home 38 we found a red brick sidewalk which required a lot of effort to keep the weeds out of the cracks between the bricks. My father hired Mr. Lou Parker to make a cement sidewalk. I was to help mix the cement into concrete. this we did in 1908. I was in California September 15, 1985 and had the pleasure of walking on this walk again. The floods did not want it.
California was a fine community made up of fine families. They took pride of their town. We did not have electricity, phone, radio, TV or autos. We only knew what was going on outside of California by the newspaper. It had about 60 customers. One was Mr. Pickens who could not wait for me to deliver his paper to his home. He would meet the 4pm train that the papers came on from Cincinnati and get his paper right now. There was a city council. My father was the secretary. I do not remember the other members.
There was a jail but I do not remember of any one being put into it. The Post Office locations that I remember were; first one was in the home of Miss Sylvia Tarvin #45. She was the postmistress. Miss Tarvin then lived with her mother in house #25 where Captain Hissem formerly lived. Captain Hissem was the Captain of the river boat the Tacoma. The second one was in the separate building #24. The last and third P.O. was in #24. It had been moved in front of the Masonic Lodge Hall #40. William Wheeler was then the postmaster.
#80 was a mail bag catcher crane used in forwarding mail out of California. My father was the railroad agent and carried the mail to and from the post office. He would hang the bag on the crane and a metal arm on the train would catch the bag in it as the train went by. Inbound mail would be thrown from the train and it also contained mail for Clearmontville (sic) Ohio which was just across the river. Vernor Spilman took the mail across the river and sometimes when the river was rough, I would sometimes help row the boat.
Quite a few farmers would ship their produce to Cincinnati via the river boats. The boats would be at the wharf about 8am. The two little boats got into a price war. One cut to 25 cents to go to Cincinnati. The other little boat (said) there will no charge. Several farmers took the 8 o'clock boat. One old German farmer said he would wait for the other little boat. About 10am the other boat showed up at the rivers bend at Point Pleasant Ohio (note-this is where General Grant was born) about 3 miles. The farmer said "there comes dat little boat. I like dot little boat." The other farmers probably had their produce sold in Cincinnati before the "dot little boat" farmer got there.
Many of us kids worked for the farmers from time to time picking their produce. We got 25 cents for picking a bushel of peas, 50 cents for picking 24 pints-crate of strawberries. A great fun was watching the negro boat deck hands load the shipments on the boat. Sometimes there would be hogs. The deck hands had a piece of canvas about 30 inches wide and it had posts sewed in it about every 10 or 12 feet. This was used as a corral t herd the hogs to the gang plant. Sometimes the hogs would decide to put their noses under the canvas, get out and run up into the willows. Three or four negros would go after them and herd them back to the gang plant. Sometimes this was quite a chore. It was fun to watch. The wharf was cobble stones and had a big chain anchored in it for boats to tie to.
#74 was the old brick school house, painted Grey. It burned in 1902. Hobos slept in it sometimes and it was thought they got their stove too hot. The Christian Church burned in 1894. I was born in house #28 that year. The new wooden frame school house #44 was put into service in 1903. We had 1,2,3,4,5 grades downstairs and the 6,7,8 upstairs, Miss Peacher and Mr. Taylor Sporing at different times, taught down stairs, and Mr. Oliver Ogden upstairs.
I remember skating on the mill pond and the river when it was frozen over and delivering groceries in a boat to those who had no boat during flood times. Many out houses were turned over at Halloween time. I was accused of painting John Buchart's (#75) mule like a zebra. I really did not do it. Celebration day was a big day when we went to Flag Springs in a big wagon.
William Hofaker moved from #90 to #20 and farmed that place. One time a big threshing machine with a big steam engine came to thresh the wheat. I helped stack the straw in a big stack near the barn #20 1/2. When dinner time came, we went to his house and had a nice farmer meal. This was fun. Dr. Blades lived across the street from my home in house #5. James Laycok and family moved from out on the pike to house #5 and started a store. Dr. Blades then moved to house #32. In time he did not find enough business as all our folks in and around California like our Dr. Bonar. Dr. Blades moved away.
William Phillips moved into house #32. He lived up at Oregon, a little settlement about 2 miles up the river from California. Templeton Morrin and his sisters also lived there. There was a house across the road. I do not remember who lived it it but I do know my mother's parents A O Paden and Orma (Kern) Paden lived there at one time. Orma died therein 1882. William Phillips lived in a big brick house between the river and the railroad. Mr. and Mrs. Fogg and Mr. and Mrs. Jack Flora lived between the railroad and the hill. Charles Peacher and family, which included the school teacher, lived up the hill form the Floras. Mrs. Flora was the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Fogg. Templeton Morrin was the county clerk when Alexandria was the county seat. Up the river a bit further, the Shaw family lived. I remember Alice, Ida and Carl. A Shinkle and family moved into the brick house vacated by Phillips.
There was a town well pump on the corner of Madison and Washington Streets where folks could get water if their cistern went dry. There was a German settlement about 8 or 10 miles back into the hills. They had a mill, saloon and a Catholic Church. They came to California once per week to get the kegs of beer that were shipped to them from Newport. A Mrs. Lair came in her buggy and went to the city. I would feed and water the horse. Got paid 25 cents. Pete Young was the sugar cane sorgum syrup maker. He would let us kids eat the skimmings while the syrup was being made.
Several years ago I was thinking about making this picture. I checked with Harry Thorn, a California boy and he stated that Mark Clark lived in #46, Harry Quinlan lived in #62 and Pete Young lived in #77. I do not remember these three in those places. I do remember a Peter Young, but he was the syrup maker and lived on the road towards Mentor. His home is listed as #87 1/2. The sidewalk that I mentioned, the Masonic Lodge Hall and the big tree that was in front of the John Thorn home, were the only things left to see when I was a boy in California when I visited there in 1985.
One time someone bought a barge of coal. they would back the wagons in the water back to the barge. In throwing coal over the side of the barge into the wagon some would fall off the wagon into the water. We kids got 25 center per day picking the fallen coal and putting it into the wagon.
When I left California after getting layed off at the C&O RR shops in Covington, I went to Kansas Missouri and then to Kansas City Missouri where I worked for my cousin in the fruits and vegetable business. I left there and went to Illinois. In Illinois I was in the coal mining and heating equipment business for many years. the heating business in Chicago got to be too much of competition "RAT RACE" and I decided to retire to the farm we bought in 1945 and where we were living. I farmed the farm manually until I felt I was getting too old and I knew my machinery was. I leased the place on a 50/50 expense and crop return basis in 1958. While on the farm and someone else to farm it, I took up visual art. I graduated from the Famous Art School. (Norman Rockwell and eleven other artists wrote the lessons and ran the school.) I graduated from that school in 1961 after 2 years study. I have the honor in Texas of painting the largest painting of the Texas Alamo in San Antonio. It is 8 feet by 12 feet and it hangs in the Very Important Women's Building in Waxahachie Texas. We sold the farm and moved to Texas in 1963.
If you had lived with me or if you talk to someone who has talked to someone who thinks they knew about these things, I am sure you would find some differences. So what-who ever told a story the same way twice. I visited my cousin in Corbin, Kentucky in September and we talked about a lot of old things. I asked here if could remember a very nice lady in California that had almost enough hair on her upper lip to have a mustash and that the hairs were black. She laughed awhile and said "I remember that". My doctor told me I had a mind of a 50 or 60 year old man.
My Family was:
Father-William Hayman Herndon 1857-1914
Mother-Eva Lee (Paden) Herndon 1861-1938
Grandmother-Martha Jane (Colvin) Herndon 1836-1929
Brother-William Kern Herndon 1887-1941
Brother-Irwin Minor Herndon 1889-1966
Sister-Eva Olivia Herndon 1902-1936
Martha Jane Colvin Herndon was the sister of Ann (Colvin) Spilman, the wife of Shelton Spilman and the mother of James Spilman, Vernor Spilmna and Mary Spilman Tremper.
I have enjoyed making "This and That" ramblings. I hope you will find some of it interesting and amusing. I am expecting each and everyone to send me a birthday card on my 100th birthday on January 1, 1994. Good luck "You All" (that's the Texas way)
Signed-Frank Hayman Herndon October 31, 1985
List of home owners in California late 1800s early 1900s
1-river wharf
2-river boat light
3-Hills Taylor Shop
4-Thorn Store (closed)
5-Dr. Blade-Laycock Store
6-Laycock Ice House
7-City Jain
8-Williamson home
9-Drifter home
10-Boots home
11-Thomas home
12-KP Lodge Hall
13-Rev Kendall Home
14-river wharf
15-Young home
16-Spilman home
17-McCormack home
18-Smith home
19-Ogden-Herndon-Tarvin home, Hissem farm
20-Hofaker home
20 1/2-Hofaker barn
22-Ogden home
23-Peacher home
24-post office
25-Captain Hissem-Tarvin home
26-Frank Laycock home
27-Vantraise home
28-Herndon-Tremper home
29-Christian Church
30-Martin Miller home
31-Perry Miller home
32-Dr Blades-Phillips home
33-town well pump
34-Dr Bonar home
35-Daniels-Spilman-Margan home
36-George Carr home
37-Ed Dickens home
38-W H Herndon home
39-Herndon lot
40-Masonic Lodge Hall
40 1/2-post office
41-Perry Miller Store
42-Joe Young farm/home
43-White farm/home
44-School house-1903
45-Phillips-Tarvin post office
46-Mat Clark home
47-Northern Methodist Church
48-Pickens home
49-Dameron home
50-John Schnelle home
51-tobacco barn
52-William Wheeler-Kerchival home
53-Treadway home
54-Tine Daniels home
55-William Smith home
56-Clarence "Kip" Parker home
57-Ed Deagon
58-Lil Nelson home
59-Elmer Smith home
60-Clay Rader home
61-Clay Rader barn
62-Harvy Quinlan home
63-Hicks home
64-Hicks Store
65-George Miller home
66-Morris Saw and Feed Mill
67-Mill Pond
68-John and Lem Morris (mill owners)
69-Jim Rader home
70-George Paul home
71-Sallers home
72-blacksmith shop
73-Henderson home
74-old brick school house-burned 1902
75-John Bushart home
76-Southern Methodist Church
77-Young home
78-Thorn barn
79-Thorn home
80-Trailer mail bag catcher crane
81-coal yard
82-Feed store and scaler
83-RR Depot
84-William Wheeler store
85-William Wheeler home
86-Watkins home
87-Dick Griffith home
87 1/2-Pete Young
88-Orville Isles home
89-John Wendling home
90-William Hofaker farm/home
91-Frank Drake home
92-Cropenhaker home
93-George Ball home