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ADDISON THEODORE BURR
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MARY LOUISE BECKER
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1853 -- 1935
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1854 -- 1935
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We know more of Addison Theodore Burr's mother than of his father.
Charlotte Chatfield was born in Scotland and came to the United States
before Addison's birth. The son of her second husband, born in Ashtabula,
Ohio in 1853, Addison was in Northern California in the 1870s, working
for the Ludwig family along the Shasta-Tehama County line.
Mary Louise Becker was born in 1854 in Marzhusen Witzenhauser, Hessen
Co. Germany. When Mary was nineteen years old, her parents, Frederick Wilhelm
and Louisa Becker brought her to Northern California to be near her sister,
Wilhelmina Ludwig.
Mary and Addison could have met any time after her arrival in California,
since both worked for the Ludwigs. On July 11, 1876 they were married in
Marysville, California. The couple had five daughters:
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Addie Estelle (Douglas) was born in Cottonwood February 8, 1878 while they
were working for the Ludwigs.
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Wilhelmina Louisa (Reeder) was born July, 1880 while Addison worked at
the Eureka Lumber Mill, on the east side of the Sacramento River near Deer
Creek.
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Mary Alice (Marie Wade) was born January 22, 1885, during their second
year in Oregon where Addison was working in lumber mills and Mary usually
ran a boarding house.
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Frieda Luella (Miller) was born April 23, 1889 at Day's Creek, Oregon.
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Edith May (Whipp) was born January 17, 1893 at Day's Creek, Oregon.
In 1900 the family moved back to Redding (Wilhelmina married Gus Reeder
and spent her life in Oregon) and in 1905 Mary and Addison bought property
in the Diestelhorst tract. The large lot was on the corner of Mary and
8th St. which joined Tellurium Ave (became West St. after the Tellurium
mining claim lapsed). Mary St. was named for Mary Burr.
Addison spent his later years working on the house, raising chickens
and prospecting. Though they usually went into more secure jobs, people
who came to California in the 1800s hoped to strike gold. Addison's health
gradually declined until his death, December 20, 1921.
Mary was appreciated in Redding as housekeeper and midwife for many
years. In her later years, she lived with each of her daughters in turn.
She died in Redding on June 3, 1935.
February 1999 - Source: Shasta Historical Society
