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Author: mdsmith4008
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William E Shimmin b c 1820 Isle of Mann. Married Wealthy Paul Farwell 1847 in Stephenson
Co IL and removed to Arena Wisconsin. In the 1850's they removed to Nevada where son
Marion's biography indicates Mr. Shimmin made and lost several fortunes in mining in
Esmerelda Co. (Bio of marion shimmin San Luis Obispo CA)
I note, Wealthy Paul Farwell's brother Isaac N Farwell married Mary Ellen King 1873 in
Esmerelda Co and in 1880 he is the the county clerk and later a Judge and coroner in
Nevada.
Also, Isaac Farwell, father of Isaac N Farwell, and father of Wealthy Paul Farwell
Shimmin, had a brother Seth B Farwell who was a judge and on the President's
commission that settled Mexican land claims in California (SF) and died in Carson City NV
in 1863.
Biography of Marion Shimmin:
MARION SHIMMIN
The possibilities of San Luis Obispo County have called forth the most creditable
ambitions of a few men who are destined to make their way in the commercial world, and
whose strength of character and conservative judgment have been fundamental to the growth
of the commonwealth. This has been emphatically true of Marion Shimmin, whose
well-directed energies have placed him among men of standing in the city of Paso Robles
and have invested him with an enviable reputation for business sagacity and integrity,
tested during the passing of many years. Those who come in contact with him are in accord
in believing that so long as the destiny of this great state is committed to such
citizenship as he represents, no one need fear for the future of California.
Mr. Shimmin's father was William Edward Shimmin, a native of the Isle of Man who, in
1850, joined one of the great ox-team trains crossing the desert wastes, came to and mined
in Nevada, and finally reached California. While he was in Esmeralda county, Nevada, he
discovered, with Brawley, the Aurora mines, and was one of the men first to put a pick
into the famous Garibaldi. He made and lost several fortunes, went back and forth between
the West and the East, and in the end sent for his family, who arrived in San Francisco,
via Panama, April 19, 1863.
Marion Shimmin was then four years old, having been born in (Arena Iowa Co) Wisconsin
April 20, 1859. His father and his household resided in Nevada until the fall of 1864,
when they removed to Grass Valley. Later they returned to Nevada, and still later, in
1868, settled in Mendocino county, California. A great stock of cattle, horses and wagons
had to be transported overland, and Marion, not yet ten years old, rode horseback from
Nevada to Mendocino county and assisted in driving and guiding the stock, so often
inclined to stray away. They located in Sherwood valley, where Mr. Shimmin became a large
stock-raiser. In 1874, they again moved, this time to Tulare county; and in 1881 he came
to San Luis Obispo County, where the father, invalided through a sunstroke, died in 1882.
The wife of William Edward Shimmin was Wealthy Paul Farwell, a daughter of Isaac Farwell,
a well-known resident of Wisconsin, where she was born. (Weathly was born Nov 1825 in NY)
After a life filled w!
ith her share of frontier experiences, she died in Fresno county, aged eighty-five years
and the mother of eight children.
Fifth among these in the order of their birth, Marion early became used to the rounding up
of cattle, riding after stock in Sherwood valley and covering the very ground where, so
soon afterward, the terrible Little Lake tragedy occurred. His schooling was limited to
frontier facilities, and in the middle seventies he was in charge of a band of horses,
going from Mendocino to Tulare county. The next year or two he was with the family at
Fresno; but Mendocino and an uncle there drew him back in 1876, and for some time he again
rode the open range. His uncle offered him a partnership in his great ranch; but owing to
the condition of his father, young Shimmin felt that he ought to care for his parent's
interest, and so continued farming and cattle-raising in Fresno county.
In 1881, he bought part of the Corral de Piedra Rancho at San Luis Obispo, and there he
remained two years, conducting the farm in as advanced manner as his circumstances would
permit. Then he sold out and went to Adelaida, and was there engaged in farming and
stock-raising on the Ed. Smith place, a tract of sixteen hundred acres. His next serious
venture was in homesteading and pre-empting in the Eagle district, near Shandon, at the
same time that his mother and brother, William F., also homesteaded and pre-empted. In the
beginning they had some eight hundred acres adjoining, and this they increased to sixteen
hundred, when Mr. Shimmin and his relations divided their interests. The brother continued
to farm in that vicinity, but on January 12, 1899, Marion Shimmin came to Paso Robles and
for the next four years worked for George F. Bell.
He then formed a partnership with Thomas Stevens in a general merchandise business known
as Shimmin & Stevens' Emporium, the proprietors commencing with a capital each of
$2,500; and in that business he continued eleven and a half years, at 12th Street near
Spring. So great was their prosperity that the business increased to over $100,000 a year,
the firm at the same time, and for some years, having a branch at Shandon with a five
thousand dollar stock, while the main store carried goods to the value of $35,000. When
Mr. Stevens became paralyzed in June, 1914, the store was offered for sale, and in
December of that year it was disposed of to the Fleisig brothers. Since that time Mr.
Shimmin has given himself largely to settling up the business affairs and collecting the
old accounts of the firm, as well as to managing his own business interests, lands and
properties. He is, indeed, a man of affairs, having become a large stockholder and a
director of the Citizens Bank of Pas!
o Robles, as also one of the organizers and a large stockholder of the First National
Bank of King City and a stockholder in the States Consolidated Oil Co. He still owns an
office building on Spring street, near the corner of 12th.
In May, 1889, in the pretty town of Willits, Mr. Shimmin had married Miss Frankie Upp, a
native of Little Lake Valley, a district in which her sister, Sarah, was the first white
child born. She is the daughter of Phillip Upp, who was born March 21, 1827, in York
county, Pennsylvania, where he learned the carpenter's trade. He removed to St. Louis
in 1849, and followed carpentering there until 1856, when he returned to his old home. On
March 23, 1856, he was married at Lewistown, Mifflin county, to Susan Hawker, a native of
Mercersburg, Pa., where she was born October 26, 1833; and soon after the festivities,
they set out for California by way of the Nicaragua route. They traveled from New York to
Greytown on the steamer "Orizaba"; but owing to the Walker filibustering
expedition, the pioneers were delayed several weeks. Reaching the Pacific, they took the
steamer "Sierra Nevada" to San Francisco; and after spending two years in the
Sierra region, Mr. Upp located, in June, 18!
58, in Mendocino county, becoming one of the first settlers in Little Lake valley, where
he homesteaded. He built a house, and began pioneering in true Western fashion. He also
followed contracting and building in various places in California; and as he was a good
mechanic, his talent as a builder was much sought after. As a farmer and stockman, too, he
was successful, and accumulated a large tract of land. At their old home near Willits, Mr.
and Mrs. Upp lived in comfort; and there they finally died. They had had seven children,
two of whom, besides Mrs. Shimmin, are still living: Mrs. Ida Smith, of Paso Robles, and
George W. Upp, who resides at Willits. Mrs. Shimmin was educated under Professor King at
the Conservatory of Music, of the University of the Pacific, San Jose, and her pronounced
natural talent, together with her superior training, has made her one of the best-known
musicians in this section. A son, Marion Francis, reflects most creditably upon his
father, as a!
Standard Oil Co. representative here; while two other children, Cleor
a and Mildred Inez, are a home.
A Republican in politics and a foremost worker in the Chamber of Commerce, Mr. Shimmin was
for nine years a trustee for the schools in Paso Robles, and for seven years a school
trustee in the Eagle district. He is a member of Santa Lucia Lodge, No. 250, I. O. O. F.,
of Paso Robles, and is a Past Chief Ranger of the Independent Order of Foresters. He also
takes an active interest in religious matters, being a trustee and dean of the
Congregational Church.
History of San Luis Obispo County and Environs California with Biographical Sketches
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