Joseph Crawford WEMPLE b. 20 Dec 1830 Rotterdam Junction, NY d. 28 Mar 1921 Milford, CA

1830 - 1921 (90 years)

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Name	Joseph Crawford WEMPLE
Born	20 Dec 1830	Rotterdam Junction, NY
Gender	Male
Died	28 Mar 1921	Milford, CA
Buried	Milford Cemetery, Milford, CA
Person ID	I85	Wemple Family Ancestry
Last Modified	13 Dec 2017

Father	John N. WEMPLE, b. 04 Jul 1805, Rotterdam Junction, NY , d. 05 Dec 1841, Rotterdam Junction, NY (Age 36 years)
Mother	Nancy CRAWFORD, b. 23 Oct 1809, NY , d. 1883, MI (Age 73 years)
Married	15 Nov 1827	Florida, Montgomery County, NY
Family ID	F21	Group Sheet \| Family Chart

Family Eliza Jane CHRISTIE, b. 03 Mar 1839, Ingraham County, MI , d. 01 Apr 1909, Johnstonville, CA (Age 70 years)

Married 28 Mar 1855 Tomkins, Jackson County, MI

Children

	1. Elizabeth Jane WEMPLE, b. 23 Apr 1856, Adrian, MI , d. 11 Oct 1942, Elko, NV (Age 86 years)
	2. John Barton WEMPLE, b. 30 Jul 1864, Milford, CA , d. 14 Apr 1931, Susanville, CA (Age 66 years)
	3. Cora WEMPLE, b. 30 Mar 1868, Milford, CA , d. 01 Aug 1870, Milford, CA (Age 2 years)
	4. James WEMPLE, b. 04 Feb 1870, Milford, CA , d. 26 Jul 1870, Milford, CA (Age 0 years)
	5. N WEMPLE, b. 07 May 1871, Milford, Lassen County, CA , d. 19 Jan 1942, Susanville, Lassen County, CA (Age 70 years)
	6. J WEMPLE, b. 31 Mar 1873, Milford, Lassen County, CA , d. 13 Apr 1940, Susanville, Lassen County, CA (Age 67 years)
	7. Frank Orville WEMPLE, b. 04 Apr 1875, Milford, CA , d. 28 Oct 1953, Susanville, CA (Age 78 years)
	8. Orlo Edmund WEMPLE, b. 21 Feb 1877, Milford, CA , d. 10 Jun 1928, Milford, CA (Age 51 years)

Last Modified 13 Dec 2017

Family ID F31 Group Sheet | Family Chart

Notes

After his father died in 1841, he left New York as a young man, along with his mother and older brother, Nicholas Visscher. Sometime before this Joseph worked on the Erie Canal as a mule driver, pulling the ships, boats and barges through the canal. Before they moved he also taught school in the Schenectady area for a short time. After leaving New York, the family moved to Michigan. Joseph married there in 1855. In 1857 or '58, leaving a wife and baby daughter home, he moved on looking for gold. He first stopped at Pikes Peak, Colorado. He met more men coming down the mountain than going up, all of whom told him that there was not a bit of gold in that thar hill. He headed for California, and according to his granddaughter, Marjel Wemple Edwards, coming by way of the Lassen Trail. He arrived in Honey Lake Valley, the Land of the Never Sweats, in 1859. He was one of the first 500 settlers in what is now Lassen County, California. After working at carpentering and in a sawmill near what is now Janesville on Parker Creek, he and James Christie, his brother-in-law, started a the first gristmill in Lassen County which was located in Milford. He was one of the first settlers in Milford and is credited with being instrumental in naming the village. He did well and accumulated property in and around Milford, numbering about 400 to 600 acres. He was a man who was very generous to his sons and had given all his property away to them long before his death, except his son, John, who had used up his portion of his inheritance long before this time. In his old age he always carried a dime in his pocket, So that I'll never be broke. DRW

Obituary from the Susanville LASSEN ADVOCATE, Friday, 1 April 1921:

JOSEPH CRAWFORD WEMPLE

Last Monday morning, March 28, 1921, Joseph Crawford Wemple died at his home at Milford where for more than sixty years past he had been a continuos resident. He was on of the few remaining pioneers of Lassen County, and one who had written his personal activities and influence in living letters upon the early-day history of the country. Few men have surpassed Joseph Crawford Wemple in length of days or in his record of service to his fellow men.

Mr. Wemple was the third Assessor of Lassen County, filling that office for two terms, and it is a rather significant fact that two of his sons have served in the same capacity, former Assessor N.V. Wemple, and present Assessor Frank O. Wemple. Later he represented his district as Supervisor for some ten years.

Coming to this valley in 1859, Mr. Wemple was one of the builders of the first grist mill in Lassen County and for many years of this life here he was prominent as a stock raiser and rancher. He was born in Schenectady, N.Y., December 30, 1830, and was within a day or two of three months over 90 years of age at the time of his death.

There are six surviving children, Mrs. Thomas Harris of Elko, Nevada; and five sons, John B. Wemple of Standish,, N.V. and Jay C. of Milford, and Frank O. and Orlo E. of Janesville. There are numerous grand and great-grandchildren.

The funeral took place from the late residence of the deceased Wednesday March 23, and was largely attended by people from all parts of Honey Lake Valley and other localities.

The following is from an unpublished manuscript, written by William Barent Wemple II, compiler of the first part if this genealogy from 1885-1913, sent to the compiler on September 28, 2000 by Michael Lee Wemple of Bay City, MI.

He was born December 20, 1830, nine miles west of the city of Schenectady, NY on the south side of the Mohawk river; went to Michigan in 1847, crossed the plains to California in 1859; married Eliza J. Christie, March 25, 1855; owns 617 acres of land near Milford, CA, and is a wealthy farmer; was elected County Assessor in 1869 for six years; was elected supervisor in 1882 for six years; was re-elected to the latter office in 1894 for four years.