My father. Neis John Anderson, or N.J.F. Anderson, as he preferred to be called, was born February 10th, 1851, on the small island of Orland, off the east coast of Sweden.

He learned the trade of blacksmith from his father, Andreas Hakansson, in the old country. At the age of 19 he came to the United States and settled in Chicago, carrying on his trade of blacksmith. He was there when the 1871 fire destroyed most of the city, including his own possessions and savings. At that time he left for Arizona, spending four years in the mining industry.

He arrived in California in 1876, settling first in the Stockton area and then in Humboldt County in 1883. In 1885, he started his traveling store and drove his horse-drawn wagon to many places in the county. His route took him to Mattole and Petrolia, Ferndale and Fortuna, Rohnerville and Hydesville, and all of the outlying districts around Eureka, such as Sunnyside and out to Indianola and Bayside.

Neis John Anderson in 1895 photograph. Photos via the Humboldt Historian.

“Peddler Anderson,” as he became known to all his customers, was a very welcome figure to the old-timers, since his store was the one contact folks had with the “outside world,” especially those who lived in Petrolia and Mattole.

The women folk eagerly awaited the latest in calico and percale and bonnets. The men were obviously intrigued with the newest in men’s wear and watches. There was always a supply of candy for the children, plus the usual long underwear and stockings. Several times it was mentioned in his list of goods purchased that he had a supply of harmonicas. One can visualize the long winter evenings with the children playing for their own entertainment around the old kitchen stove or the fireplace.

A number of old-timers have told me about his spring wagon and his horses. He was a very neat person and always had everything in perfect order. Dan McGowan, who worked for J.C. Bull and Co. in the butcher shop in Arcata, once told me about my father’s fine team of horses. He said my father always took special care of them at every stopping place, brushed and curried them and took great pride in keeping the animals in the best of condition.

Bertha Johnson of Fortuna, daughter of Nels Johnson of Table Bluff, described the wagon to me. It was a spring wagon with a top over the back of it. The doors opened from the back and inside were shelves arranged with the various articles of merchandise. She said his team was a pair of beautiful bay mares (according to his expense book, their names were Nellie and Topsy). When the children saw my father coming, they ran to their mother yelling, “Here comes Peddler Anderson!” They knew they would have an entertaining evening, because their home was an overnight stop for him. Mrs. Johnson always bought 10 yards of calico and made dresses alike for her four little girls.

Rose Ritola Durnford, whose family home was in Indianola, once showed me a small glass basket that her mother had purchased from the traveling store, and it was one of her treasures from childhood. She said his visits were always something that the children looked forward to. Gene Hunter, a member of the pioneer Hunter family of Petrolia, told me several times how neat my father’s wagon always was and how much enjoyment the children had when “Peddler Anderson” came to town.

Several times a year, N.J.F. Anderson journeyed to San Francisco to purchase goods to replenish his stock. This consisted of soap and toilet articles, underwear and stockings, socks and shoes, calico and gingham, linen and tablecloths, aprons and towels, jewelry and watches, notions and stationery. There was a supply of produce, such as potatoes, butter and eggs and dried vegetables. Apparently, deer skins and calf skins were taken in as payment in the outlying districts, and these were sold and made into leather. He bought a great many boxes of apples. The names of the people from whom he purchased items were given in his account book as follows: Snively, Mrs. Filbert, Langdon, Turner, Hocke, Kelsey and Drack. My father was a very poor speller and these names might not be very accurate as far as spelling goes. Snively probably should be Shively.

One year he shipped apples out by boat. On Dec. 27th, 1890, he sent 25 boxes on the steamer. Corona, (charges, $120.52); on Dec. 31st, 50 boxes on the steamer, Humboldt (freight, $41.76); on Jan. 6th, 1891, 25 boxes went out on the Humboldt ($20.77); on Jan. 13th, 30 boxes on the Los Angeles ($24.64); and on Jan. 27th, 40 boxes on the Humboldt (freight charges, $33.12). The destination for these must have been San Francisco, but there was no information showing where they went, or to what firm. Altogether for that year he made $169.35 from his apple business.

My father bought a home on the corner of Albee and Wabash in March 1885, across from the present CalTrans building. He brought Elina Carlson here as a bride in March 1897. She had arrived from her native land of Sweden in 1891 at the age of 16, and she lived in Stockton until her marriage. My brother, Earl F. Anderson, was born here in January 1892. In 1902, my dad built the house next door and that was my birthplace. The following year was the last for his traveling store, after 18 years of continuous service.

In 1901 my father purchased the John Green farm on Arcata Bottom, and all the cows and equipment as well. The deed stipulated that John Green was ill and was to be allowed to remain there as long as was needed. Consequently, it wasn’t until January 1906, when I was three years old, that the family moved out to the farm from Eureka.

We had no running water in the house, so used a pump with a large wooden sink on the back porch and that supplied all the water needed for the kitchen and for drinking. On Mondays the white clothes were boiled in a large copper boiler on the stove and large pans were used to heat the water for the rest of the clothes. We had round metal tubs to take care of the washing. The tubs were also placed in front of the kitchen stove and were used for our Saturday night baths.

On Tuesdays, the flatirons were heated on the stove so my mother could do the ironing. There was no nylon or polyester in those days, so everything had to be ironed. Every few days we had to fill the lamps with kerosene, and see that the chimneys were clean and free from soot.

We had a large woodshed off the porch and my brother and I had to see that the wood box was always filled for the kitchen stove and we also needed large chunks of wood for the fireplace in the sitting room. That was the only source of heat in the house.

Not too long after we moved to the farm, on April 18, 1906, the San Francisco earthquake struck and it caused a lot of excitement. My father and the hired man (it was around 5:30 in the morning) were milking the cows and they had a hard time trying to calm the animals. They kicked the milk buckets and tried to break away from the stanchions and it was pandemonium for awhile. Needless to say, that morning at breakfast there was a lot of excited conversation.

I remember that we raised quite a few hogs besides carrying on farming and dairying. One of my greatest thrills was going with my dad to bring a number of butchered hogs to Eureka. Some were sold to Abe’s Chop House and Geering’s Restaurant. I was allowed to accompany him around the Bay in the spring wagon.

Around the middle of June we all went to the annual Farmers’ Picnic. At that time it was held at Hiller’s Grove — a grove of trees on the Hiller Farm in McKinleyville, not too far from the present 101 highway. The picnic was held there for a number of years. Later it was moved to Camp Bauer, beyond Korbel. There they had a large maple dance floor under the huge maples, and a number of tables near the dance floor, and other tables all over the grounds. At one picnic they served barbecued beans and a great many people became ill. My father ate a big portion and it never bothered him, but my mother only took a taste and she was quite ill. That was probably in June 1910 or 1911.

On warm days during the summer we occasionally hitched up the horses to the spring wagon and away we went out to the mouth of Mad River and to the ocean beach. There was a small picnic ground with tables in a grove of trees. Beyond that there was a small Indian Rancheria. I remember them talking about Dan and another man called Captain Billy who lived there. There were a number of women living at the rancheria who had 111 tattooed on their chins. We often saw them in Arcata when they came to town to shop. The mouth of the Mad River was quite close to the rancheria, about a mile south of the present site where it empties into the ocean. One day out at the beach the surf fish were running. We didn’t have a net so my mother took off her petticoat, pinned up the top, and used that instead. We came home with enough surf fish for ourselves and all the neighbors.

Another outing that we enjoyed was clamming at Clam Beach. We left home early in the morning (5:30 or so) in order to be there when the tide was the lowest. After we had dug all the razorback clams we wanted (at that time I don’t believe there was a limit), we changed into dry clothes and my mother fixed a big breakfast. How good that tasted after all our exercise in the outdoors. Afterward we headed the horses homeward. No doubt we were thinking about the good clam feed we would have that evening.

During July when the blackberries were ripe we always drove out to pick the berries. One year around 1913 or 1914 we went up to the old Barrel Factory camp near Strawberry Creek on Dow’s Prairie. The berries were especially lush that year and we picked about 17 gallons of fruit (we always used Swift’s five-pound lard cans) to take home for pies, jelly and some to be canned. It was a very rewarding day.

There were two events that took place in the early 1900s. In 1908, President Theodore Roosevelt sent the U.S. fleet around the world for the first time. We drove up to where the airport is now located and the ships came close enough so we had a very good view of our fleet. President Roosevelt had been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1906 because he had worked very hard for peace during the Russo-Japanese War of 1905. It was said he sent our U.S. fleet around the world to impress the Japanese with our strength.

In the spring of 1910, we were visited by Halley’s Comet. We had been to a program one evening in the old hall north of Janes School. As we were walking home we saw this large bright star in the eastern sky. It was traveling north with its long tail following behind. It was a very spectacular sight and one that I never forgot.

Last year on March 16, 1986, I flew out of the San Francisco airport on a Van Duzen River and Mill Creek, had Nature Tour (2:30 at night). We went up above the clouds where I again saw Halley’s Comet. It was barely visible to the naked eye, but binoculars brought it in a lot clearer. It was not as spectacular as it was in 1910, but it gave me great satisfaction to see the comet for the second time.

There was always a lot of work to be done outside on the farm. We had beets and carrots to weed when they were ready, mustard to pick out of the fields and potatoes to pick up in the fall. My dad always planted a large field of potatoes. For weeding we received 10 cents a row, but I don’t remember how much we were paid for picking up potatoes.

My father passed away in October 1912. My mother rented out the farm, but retained the home. We also kept one of the horses, a sorrel named Pete, and a buggy, so we could get to town. After her death in October 1915, I lived with Walter and Annie Clark, our next door neighbors, until my grammar school days were over, in May 1917. At that time I moved to Eureka to attend high school. My days spent in the country were over, but many pleasant memories remain.

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The story above is excerpted from the November-December 1987 issue of the Humboldt Historian, a journal of the Humboldt County Historical Society. It is reprinted here with permission. The Humboldt County Historical Society is a nonprofit organization devoted to archiving, preserving and sharing Humboldt County’s rich history. You can become a member and receive a year’s worth of new issues of The Humboldt Historian at this link.