Humboldt County Biography
James E. Neighbor
Though a comparatively new resident of Eureka, Mr. Neighbor has become so intimately associated with the affairs of the city and of Humboldt county as well that he has been welcomed as an acquisition in the best circles. The promptness with which he entered into local movements for the general welfare has been a source. of gratification to his fellow citizens, for he is a worker of trained ability, with several years of successful service to his credit, principally in the activities of the Young Men's Christian Association. As a business man also he has a high record, and has added to his reputation in that line by his able management of the Bayside lumber mill at Eureka. He "arrived" in the milling business by a rather roundabout route, having for. a number of years been engaged with a saw manufacturing firm in the east, through which he made acquaintances which led to his present connection when he decided to settle in California.
Mr. Neighbor is of English ancestry, his father, grandfather and great-grandfather having been born in England. Edward Neighbor, his grandfather, brought his family to America when the Rev. R. E. Neighbor, father of James E., was a boy of twelve years; Robert Neighbor, the great-grandfather, also accompanied them. They settled in Racine County, Wis., where Edward Neighbor, formerly a school-teacher, took up a farm and followed agricultural pursuits. R. E. Neighbor was born in 1842 at Wisbeach, England, and began his education in his native land. He passed his youth on his father's farm in Racine County, Wis., attended Racine College, and later took a course at the University of Chicago, from which institution he was graduated. Having prepared for service in the Baptist ministry, he was ordained, and his first pastorate was in Kane County, Ill. Having been appointed to do missionary work for his denomination in India, in the province of Assam, he gave up his charge and for the next eight years served in the India mission field of the Baptist Church, during that time residing principally at Nowgong, Assam. His son James was an infant, when he went out, and three children were born in India, so he and his wife concluded it best to return to America in order to give their children proper educational advantages. For a time the family lived at Chicago, Ill., later at Elkhart, Ind., and then at Indianapolis, and Rev. Mr. Neighbor is still actively engaged in the service of the Baptist Church, doing special work. He resides at Indianapolis, but is called to various points. For twenty-five years he was connected with the Baptist State Convention of Indiana, and he is well known through his contributions to the several church periodicals, having written considerably on religious topics for the Baptist Observer of Indianapolis, the Baptist Review of New York City, the Bibliotheca Sacra of Oberlin, Ohio, and The Review and Expositor of Louisville, Ky. At two different periods he has been editor of the Observer. His able services in every capacity have received flattering recognition in the church.
Rev. Mr. Neighbor was married at Chicago, Ill., in 1868, to Miss Anna Maria Bell, who was a native of Ireland, of Scotch-Irish descent. She lived to be over seventy years old. Five children were born of, this marriage, viz.: James E.; Arthur, of Rosenberg, Texas, a physician and surgeon; Robert W., manager of the branch house of E. C. Atkins & Co. at San Francisco, and living at Oakland; Agnes D., wife of George T. Purves, of Indianapolis, bookkeeper for the Marion County Construction Company; and Ethel M., who was born at Elkhart, Ind., and who is unmarried.
James E. Neighbor was born February 2, 1870, at St. Charles, Kane County, where his father was stationed until he took up missionary work in India. He was but seven months old when he landed with his parents at Calcutta, and a boy of nine when they returned to America. He attended school in Chicago for one year, was in the high school at Elkhart, Ind., six months, and completed the four years' high school course at Indianapolis, graduating when seventeen years old. Two months before graduation he had been offered a position with E. C. Atkins & Co., saw manufacturers of Indianapolis, and he entered their service as mailing clerk. After one year he became billing clerk, making out all the invoices, besides which he waited on all outside customers who came to the house and filled the position of office salesman. At the time the Spanish-American war broke out he was a member of the Indianapolis Light Artillery, and enlisted for service with that organization, which went into the army as the Twenty-seventh Indiana Light Artillery, but he was rejected at the federal examination. At this time the president of the Indianapolis Mercantile & Trust Company offered him a position as manager of the Indianapolis office. This concern later developed into the Merchants' Association. For four years Mr. Neighbor devoted his time to Y. M. C. A. work. Having taken the position of assistant secretary, he held it for two years, and during the next two years was acting general secretary. At the end of this period he became superintendent of the Badger Furniture Company at Indianapolis, holding that position for four years, when his health broke down and he found it necessary to have rest and a change, to recover from an attack of nervous prostration. With that end in view he made a visit to his brother Robert, at Oakland, Cal., in 1908, and was delighted with the climatic and other attractions of the coast. In the course of his stay he formed the acquaintance of R. 0. Wilson, manager at the San Francisco offices of the Bayside Lumber Company, which has a mill at Eureka. During the ten years of his connection with E. C. Atkins & Co. he had become quite familiar with sawmill supplies and other details of the lumber business, and his work in the association brought him a wide acquaintance, so that he did not come to the west by any means as a stranger.
In December, 1908, Mr. Wilson sent Mr. Neighbor up to Eureka, and the following February he became assistant manager of the Bayside Lumber Company, in which capacity he has charge of the Eureka mills. The San Francisco offices of this concern are in Rooms 613-621 Santa Maria building, at No. 112 Market street, and the sales offices are also in that city. The officers of the company are: Levi Smith, president, of Warren, Pa.; Charles A. Shurtliff, vice president, of San Francisco; R. 0. Wilson, secretary and treasurer, as well as manager. The latter lives at Oakland. The company is engaged in the manufacture of redwood lumber and shingles, and the industry is of such proportions as to be highly important to the prosperity of Eureka, where it is considered one of the stable assets of the city and county. Mr. Neighbor's able administration of its affairs at this point is sufficient comment on his talents and executive ability.
From the time he settled at Eureka Mr. Neighbor has demonstrated his sincere interest in the work of raising social and living standards in the community and his efficiency in accomplishing such objects. Undoubtedly his early home training and influence predisposed him for such service to his fellows, and he has lived faithfully up to the high ideals of generosity and helpfulness to others instilled by his parents. He is chairman at present of the Humboldt County Progressive Temperance League, which office he has filled for the last three years; is a member of the Eureka Development Association, working for what he considers the best interests of a cleaner, larger and better Eureka; and is a prominent member of the Baptist Church, serving that organization as deacon and member of the board of trustees, and the Sunday school as superintendent. Mr. Neighbor has attempted to labor along broad lines, attacking wrong and vicious principles and breaking down evil institutions, rather than directing his immediate attention to the victims of these conditions entirely. He believes in going to the root of an evil, rather than nipping its buds, and his success in the various undertakings which have been entrusted to him would seem to indicate that he has a grasp of the more effective methods.
In 1902 Mr. Neighbor was married to Miss Anna M. Wright, of Mount Pleasant, Ohio, and they have two children, Margaret Annabel and James Edward. They reside at No. 130 West Cedar street, Eureka. Mrs. Neighbor is, like her husband, a zealous worker in the Baptist Church, and also a prominent member of the Ladies' Aid Society and vice president of the Women's Missionary Society of the Eureka congregation.
History of Humboldt County California
History by Leigh H. Irvine: Historic Record Company
Los Angeles, Ca. 1915
Transcribed by: Martha A Crosley Graham
28 April 2006
Pages 1095 - 1144
Humboldt County Biographies ~ Archive Biography Index ~ Archive Index
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