A subscriber wanted to learn about Painters Flat located in the northeast section of Lassen County. A portion of this post originally appeared on May 30, 2015. When I reviewed it, there was more that I decided to add.
After the murder of Peter Lassen in the spring of 1859, tension between the settlers and the Indians became intense. Within a year the region experienced the Pyramid Lake War. On June 17, 1860, Horace Adams was murdered by the Indians at his ranch near Lathrop’s Station (known to many as the former McClelland Ranch) in the Honey Lake Valley. Two days laters, Col. Frederick W. Lander and Captain William Weatherlow gathered a group of men together to locate the Indians responsible for Adams’ death. They followed the Indians’ tracks north to the Madeline Plains. From there, they headed east through a canyon. Just before entering a valley there, they were ambushed by the Indians, Alexander A. Painter was mortally wounded. Painter’s body was moved a mile northeast from where he died. He was buried there beneath a cedar tree.
In 1858, Benjamin Bell Painter was the first of three Painter Brothers from Ohio to settle in the Honey Lake Valley. He was followed the next year by his brother, Samuel, who resided near Janesville until his death in 1899. The third and youngest brother, Abram Alexander Painter arrived in 1860 and was 23 years when he died during the Indian conflict.
In 1995, I made several attempts to locate the battle site, but never succeeded. I did, however, find a Douglas County, Nevada Sheriff’s badge. On the other hand, twenty-seven ticks found me. During the spring months, when exploring the desert country it is wise to conduct tick checks.
THANK YOU TIM. ANY IDEA WHAT TIME PERIOD THE BADGE IS FROM? I WOULD LOVE TO SEE IT SOMETIME.
Does Susanville have a museum? I recall visiting Roops’ Fort but it was just an old log cabin with nothing in it.
Gleta
My genealogy is through Samuel Harris Painter. Father is Enoch Painter, mother Mary (Harris) Painter, grandparents Samuel and Martha Painter. The Painter family left Ohio and went to Missouri (1846) where Samuel married Jane Kinaid (1 Jun 1851) and their daughter Mary Isabell Painter was born (14 Aug 1852). When Mary Harris Painter passed away (1851) the family decided to go west, and traveled to California on the Old Oregon Trail. Enoch did not complete the trek, he died along the way. The tree men, including Samuel’s family made it to California, and settled near Janesville, Lassen, California. Mary Isabell Painter married Jeremiah Bond (1869). Jeremiah Bond came to Lassen County California following his service in the Civil War where he was a teamster. Jeremiah and Mary raised a large family in the Janesville area. My great grandmother was Thursa Belle Bond. The two Bond sisters (Kathryn and Thursa Belle) married the Blancett brothers Charles (also known as Charles B. McCoy. He ran off to war as a young boy and changed his last name, to the name of a family he grew up with from Aztec, New Mexico ) and Josiah Blancett in a double wedding held at the Bond Ranch. The Blancett brothers were buckeroos and came to work horses for Jeremiah, probably not knowing they would leave married to two of his daughters. My grandmother was Alvina Faye Blancett, born ( 18 Sept 1914) who married James Robert Poole, 14 June 1930. They settled in Montgomery Creek, Shasta, California. My grandfather was killed in a logging accident in (1949) at Bland’s Landing. Alvina Faye Poole married James Bertagna (1950) My mother Mona Marie Poole, born (28 Sept 1936) married Everett Lee Allen, 14 June 1952. Myself, Judy Marie Allen, born (17 Jun 1955). I married David Dwight Decker, 27 Sept 1980. We have three children; Loralee Decker Alemanni, Thurston Decker, and Jesse Decker.