William Junkans was born in Weaverville, October 9, 1874, the day his mother, Mattie Todd Junkans, died. She and William F. Junkans had made the trip from Weaverville to Redding to be the first couple married in Redding. Reverend Roswell Graves performed the ceremony June 16, 1873. William F's second wife provided William with two siblings, Elfrida and Rudolph. William attended Weaverville schools and a business school in San Francisco. Family legend says that William's Grandmother Todd walked from Towerhouse to Weaverville carrying a nine-month-old child.

Marie Antoinette (called Nettie) Senger was born November 19, 1874 in Weaverville to Jacob and Antoinette Senger, another pioneer family.  Originally, from Alsace-Lorraine, the family came from Illinois in 1849, seeking gold.

William and Nettie were married October 7, 1896 and had three children:
 

Dorothea Martha	b. Nov. 14, 1897	d. June 5, 1981
Elmer	b. May 2, 1900	d. Dec. 22 1967
Harold	b. May 2, 1900	d. Oct. 31, 1950

 
William and Nettie first lived in Weaverville and then in Lewiston where William was in the cattle busines and had a butcbershop. When they moved to Harrison Gulch, he ran cattle and the hotel. In 1905, he purchased a ranch in the Tobiasson Tract in South Redding. The children attended school in Redding, commuting in a buggy. Later they moved to the corner of North (Eureka Way) and Market Sts. Just a block from Pine St. School.

In 1923 William became Redding Postmaster, a position be held until 1934. In 1934 he was elected County Supervisor of District No.1. He was President of the Cattlemen's Association, a director of Shasta County Wonderland Association and director or the World's Fair at Treasure
Island in 1939.

Nettie was a housewife, mother and grandmother; she was the hub of the family with a keen sense of humor and a loving, optimistic nature.  Outside of her home, she was active in the Republican Women and the Women's Improvement Club.

Nettie died Sept. 9, 1956 and William followed her April 16, 1958. Both are in buried in Redding Cemetery.

Source:  Shasta Historical Society - May 1998