Napoleon Bonaparte Bever with a three-horse team hauling lumber-filled railroad cars from the Mendocino mill on the flats to the incline by the beach, c. 1902. (Gift of Emery Escola, Emery Escola Collection, Kelley House Photographs)
January 4, 1913 – Napoleon Bonaparte Bever passed away after a long illness. Mr. Bever had been unwell for several years, “and although originally a man of strong physique, possessing a strong constitution, his death was not unexpected.”
Born in Bates County, Missouri in 1841, he traveled to California by the old overland route in the Fall of 1860. After a short stay in San Francisco, he came to Mendocino where he secured a position with the Mendocino Lumber Company. Except for a short time when he worked for the Caspar Lumber Company, Mr. Bever was an employee of the Mendocino Lumber Company until he became too ill to work.
He married Delia Henderan in 1864, and they had a happy married life until her death in 1899. Seven children were born to them, three of whom died in infancy. Two daughters, Mrs. Anna Mead of Ukiah and Mrs. Ida Sherwood of Mendocino, and two sons, Samuel and Charles of Mendocino, survived him.
“Mr. Bever was a man liked and respected by all, a loyal friend, a devoted husband and a loving father, and in his death the community loses an upright and an honorable citizen.”
Funeral services took place from the Presbyterian Church, Rev. J. M. Fisher officiating. Interment was in Evergreen cemetery.
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