William Henry Beatie (known as Henry) was born September 16, 1885 at the Hawes Ranch in Anderson. His parents were homesteading up on a plateau near the Beatie and Hawes ranches, but his mother went home to the Hawes Ranch to have her baby. His parents were John Beatie, who had come from Illinois and Alice Ellen Hawes Beatie, who had been born on this same ranch.

The oldest of twelve children, Henry led a normal ranch life until he decided to try another job. He went to Stockton to live with his mother's brother, Granville. His first job utilized his experience with horses, but he didn't really enjoy delivering pastries for a bakery. He left his uncle's home for a boarding house and took a job as a motorman on the street railway. Low profit and the landlady's daughter, who had matrimony in mind, convinced him it was time to go home. For the next thirty-five years he didn't leave Shasta County for more than a few days at a time.

When his father's health failed and his mother leased the ranch, auctioned the furnishings and livestock and moved the family to Stockton, he helped with the move, but soon was back in Shasta County working for his Grandpa Hawes. After his father's death, he bought the Beatie Ranch from his mother.

Ella Allie (called Mary) Loveless was born July 22, 1894, in Oregon and moved to Millville with her parents, Charles and Cora Belle Loveless. She was working on the Hawes Ranch when she and Henry Beatie met. They were married July 26, 1912 and made their home on the Beatie Ranch.  They had two children:
 

Arthur Henry	b. April 2, 1913	m. Joy Ann Stone, they had Three daughters
Alice Belle	b. August 18, 1914	m. Ray Meyer, they had Two daughters

 
Henry farmed for thirty-five years, supplementing his income by freighting for P. G. and E. to their Coleman Plant and custom farming with balers and harvesting equipment on the ranches around Anderson. Mary managed the ranch while Henry was away on these jobs. She did sewing and quilting as well as the expected cooking and canning. Together, Mary and Henry did the usual things--joined the Grange, sent the children to school, taught them to do their share of tasks and be good citizens. She became ill and died of cancer July 12, 1936.

In 1947 Henry turned the ranch over to his son, Arthur and moved to Walnut Creek to work in a garage with his brother, Charles.

Henry married Dora Redeker in Walnut Creek June 5, 1949. They had a few years together before Henry passed away, October 29, 1954. Henry was buried in the family plot at Millville.

Source:  Shasta Historical Society
May 14, 1994