Roscoe S. Creps -- An experienced, enterprising and
progressive rancher doing credit to the county in which he lives and thrives,
is Roscoe S. Creps, who was born on the old Creps ranch in Yuba County,
on May 20, 1879, the son of William A. and Matilda(Lofton) Creps.
The father was born in Pennsylvania on November
30, 1825, the son of Joseph and Elizabeth (Wilde) Creps. The Creps family
are of old Pennsylvania stock. William A Creps went from Pennsylvania to
Toledo, Ohio, and there he was reared and educated. Joseph Creps was a
blacksmith, who had a business in Toledo. Mrs. William A. Creps was born
on December 25, 1843, near Dallas City, Ill., on a farm, and this Lofton
farm is the site of the City Park at Dallas City.
The parents of Mrs. Creps were Francis and Jemima
(Harding) Lofton; the former was a native of North Carolina, and the latter
of Kentucky; and they both came from old families who were plantation holders.
Francis Lofton migrated to Illinois in frontier days, and there married,
after which he settled at Dallas City, Illinois.
In 1850, William A. Creps came around the Horn to
California, and went into the mines on the North fork of the American River;
and then he came to Grass Valley and mined, and still later tried his luck
at Nevada City.
In 1852, the mother of our subject came across
the plains with ox-teams and prairie schooners in a train of about eighty
wagons, and they traveled by way of the River Platte and the Salt Lake
Route. This emigrant train was so large that there were no Indian attacks.
Francis Lofton settled at the head-waters of the String Canyon, and the
head-waters in turn of McCosby River in Placer County, and for a
short time there he had a general merchandise store. He then went to Sacramento,
where he continued in the same field until after the big flood, when he
moved his family to Red Dog, and for a few years kept a store there. While
they were in Sacramento, the mother of our subject attended school there.
In the Fall of 1856, Francis Lofton moved on to a ranch on the plains six
miles northeast of Wheatland, and there the elder Loftons spent the rest
of their days.
In 1856, William A. Creps settled three miles north
of the old Kempton crossing and bought a squatter's quit title to land,
and then bought additional land until he had 1200 acres in that section.
He and Miss Lofton were married the day before Christmas, in the year 1863,
and the lived for a few years on the 1200-acre ranch. This place Mr. Creps
sold in September, 1871, to Robert and Jack Major. Mr. and Mrs. Creps then
moved to a point on the Spenceville road, eight and one- half miles northeast
of Wheatland, where Mr. Creps first bought 800 acres of land, and
from time to time added to his holdings. He acquired the old Jasper place,
and at the time of his death, the Creps ranch included 5550 acres. Mrs.
William A. Creps is one of a family of four children. Albert, the eldest,
is deceased; Jennie has become Mrs. Harding; Matilda is the third-born,
and became the mother of our subject; and Bradshaw died at the age of
seventy-four. William A. Creps died on the home ranch on March 13, 1906,
in his eighty-first year.
Roscoe S. Creps, as an equal partner and joint owner
with his brother, Chester A. Creps, now runs the home place of 2600
acres, about 1000 acres of which are good for farming, and the balance
is best adapted to range purposes. Here he engages in stock raising, having
on the average from 400 to 600 head of live stock on the place. He is one
of a family of eight children: Frank died in 1883; Henry is in Wheatland;
Mima has become Mrs. Will Erwin of Sacramento; Ella died at the age of
twenty-one; Burton lives near Henry; Roscoe is the subject of this sketch;
Chester was the seventh in the order of birth; and Letha married and became
Mrs. Middleton, of Wheatland. Roscoe attended the Elizabeth district school
in pursuit of his education.
On January 7, 1920, Mr. Creps married Ida Bell Perkins,
who was born on the old Perkins ranch, fourteen miles southeast of Marysville,
in the Elizabeth school district, the daughter of Joseph A. and Jane A.
(Magonigal) Perkins, both pioneers in California. Jane A. Magonigal was
born in Pennsylvania, the daughter of William and Nancy Boyd Magonigal,
both natives of Ireland. Mr. Magonigal came out to California in 1852,
by way of Panama, and settled in Yuba County; and he spent the rest of
his life in Yuba and Nevada Counties. He mined for a while, and then had
a store at Sucker Flat. He settled on his ranch in 1861, where he had acquired
500 acres. He died at the age of seventy- one, and his good wife lived
to be past seventy. The mother of Mrs. Roscoe Creps was one of six
children: Jane A., or Mrs. Perkins, has lived in the Erle district- Samuel
is deceased William is at Nevada City- Elizabeth is the third-born- John
was born on April 22, 1862, and resides at Smartsville; and Thomas G. lives
not far away. Mr. Creps is a Republican. He is a Mason, and both he and
his wife are members of the Eastern Star of Wheatland.
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