Charles M. Young and his
family are the best-known former residents of the Stone House. It
was Young who, in 1894, had Stone House dismantled to put a foundation under
it. The original house had 12x12 hewn redwood logs as its
foundation. Young had it rebuilt using the same stone,
supplemented with locally quarried stone. It is probable that a
wooden dormer- style second story, which burned in 1955, was
erected at that time. Young had acquired the house in a trade
with John McGreer, whose family had occupied Stone House since
1872.
Charles Marsh Young was born in Menard County, Illinois, on March
6, 1841. One of six children orphaned at an early age, he lived with his grandfather there, and at age 17 acquired his own farm.
In April of 1863, he headed for California, but after some time in Nevada, returned home the following spring. Almost immediately, he again
headed for California with horse teams, and settled in Sonoma County.
He married 21-year-old Margaret Lutitia Berry of Sebastopol on November 20, 1866, and the following year the young couple moved to Coyote Valley, presumably
locating in the little town of Guenoc.
In 1871, Young partnered with
Oscar Armstrong in laying out the plats for the construction of
Middletown and the Youngs were among the earliest residents of the
new development. Quicksilver mining was just beginning to take
hold in this south end of the county, so strong demand for housing and after-hours
recreation was anticipated. An even
more compelling impetus to Middletown's growth were plans then
being debated in San Francisco
for a reservoir that, had they been
approved, would have
inundated the tiny town of Guenoc.
Middletown was an apt site for development. A stage station had been maintained by George
Farley at this oft-traveled junction of roads leading to
Kelseyville via Cobb and to Lower Lake. Harbin Hot Springs Resort
was already achieving wide-spread publicity and drawing scores of
visitors. By 1874, Middletown's
population of 207 included 79 females. Many had been residents of
Guenoc, near Stone House.
Lutitia Young's brother, John Henry Berry, built
Middletown's first house, which he
promptly turned into a hotel. The Berry family
of eight had emigrated
into California in 1856 from the same part of Illinois; John Henry’s
birthplace is also listed as Menard County. Their father farmed and ran a livery business and also served on the Sonoma County board of supervisors and as a justice of the peace.
Young bought the hotel from John Berry, and may have also taken over an
existing livery stable across Main Street. The Odd Fellows Hall
was moved from Guenoc to sit cater-corner from the hotel. Oscar
Armstrong retained his saloon on the southwest corner. Young razed
the hotel  and built a
14-room frame structure. Four years later he
built a brick hotel known as Lake County House, still familiar to
us in historical photos*. He was operating the hotel when
A History of Napa and Lake Counties was published in
1881. The building remains today, without the portico seen in
this photo, probably taken in the 1920s or '30s.
Berry became the town's first postmaster when
the Middleton (That is the correct spelling) post office was established April 5, 1871,
serving in that post for the
princely sum of $12 per year. The name was changed to Middletown
in 1875 and its new postmaster, Elisha Whiting, a transplant from
Guenoc, saw his compensation escalated to $246.14.
The Berry family-tree
website* notes that Charles Young also served as a county supervisor and as county assessor.
Early records show Mrs. Young, referred to
equally often as Margaret and as Lutitia, as well as her brother
John, quite active in the Middletown chapter of the Independent Order of
Good Templars, a thriving temperance organization growing rapidly
across the nation. John Berry was also active in the Independent
Order of Odd Fellows, the Free and Accepted Masons and served as
Lower Lake Township Constable.
The youngest son, Charles W., and his bride,
Velma Brooks, were married in the Stone House in 1906. Her wedding
dress and his suit jacket, ostensibly worn on that occasion, are
now among the displays in Stone House.
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The Young
family plot
in Middletown
Cemetery |
Charles Young, Margaret
Young, their eldest son Wirt, and a daughter Mary,
who died before her third birthday, are buried in the
Middletown cemetery. The Youngs had two other sons, Baxter and
Charles W. Young. |
Early hotel photo courtesy of Donna
Hoberg, author of Lake County Resorts.
*Earlier photos of Lake County House are displayed on Sylvie's website:
http://www.sylvies-fashions.com/LAKE-COUNTY-HOUSE.htm
* http://familytreemaker.genealogy.com/users/e/r/w/Terry-L-Erwin/GENE2-0002.html
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