Nina Frances Harrington

Nina Frances Harrington, youngest of the seven children of Nancy Anne Branson and her first husband Peter Harrington, was born 11 April 1889 in Merced, CA. Her father died when she was nine months old. Her mother married second husband John James “Babe” Napier when Nina was nine and a half years old. Nina therefore had a stepfather from that point on, but Babe was often away mining in the Mariposa County hills and also took part in at least one expedition to Alaska as part of that region’s gold rush. He does not appear to have had a heavy influence on Nina’s life. Nina was not the product of a traditional family home of two parents and their children sequestered away in a private residence. Her upbringing was far richer than that. She grew up in the Merced boarding house owned and operated by her mother and by her aunt, Mary Jane Branson Johnson. The two sisters had pooled their resources when Nina was a baby, Nancy having been widowed, and Mary Jane having been abandoned by her husband. All of the six surviving Harrington children (John, Josephine, Elsie, Eunice, Irene, and Nina) dwelled there, as did Mary Jane’s two younger kids George and Bretelle Johnson. Mary Jane’s eldest son, Clarence Johnson, lived a few doors away as a ward of Nancy and Mary Jane’s sister Theresa Branson Moore.

The boarding house was situated in the heart of Merced, a town still new and growing rapidly. The building was perfectly situated to accommodate the steady stream of newcomers, many of them consisting of young men lured to the community to obtain jobs with Southern Pacific Railroad, which treated Merced as one of its key stops and a place from which to dispatch employees. Typically the boarding house was home to about a dozen lodgers. That is to say, it was not just a home with a couple of rented rooms, but a large and bustling facility. The clients were a mix of males and females, and mostly in their twenties and thirties. Even though she was the youngest resident, Nina was probably expected to carry a load of responsiblities beyond her years, especially since Mary Jane Johnson was not available to serve as co-proprietoress in the daytime. Mary Jane was present in the evenings to do the laundry, but she worked full-time shifts at a drygoods store and sometimes hired herself out as a cook and laundress on nearby ranches. Nancy was on site round the clock as cook and housekeeper but surely depended on the assistance of her daughters. Nina must not have known much privacy. She seems to have endured this quite well and was known in adulthood for her fondness for group activities and for her ability to cook large-scale meals. She had plenty of experience with both to draw upon.

Nancy and Mary Jane chose to keep the boarding house going until approximately 1902. By that time, the eldest kids were in their twenties and even the very youngest, i.e. Nina herself and her first cousin Bretelle Johnson, had entered their teens. Nancy and Mary Jane were finally able to close up shop. Nancy and Babe moved to San Joaquin County, spending two or three years just west of Manteca in or near the village of Lathrop, and then acquiring a farm on the east side of Manteca on Castle Road in the Summer Home district. Nina was only thirteen in 1902 so she was definitely part of the relocation to Lathrop, which in terms of distance brought the household some forty miles northwest of Merced, a full removal from their old milieu. Nina’s sister Irene, three years her senior, must also have been part of the move, but probably not the others. Her eldest siblings John and Josephine had begun their independent lives before the turn of the century, and sisters Elsie and Eunice remained in Merced County for the time being. Nina may or may not have been part of the subsequent move to the farm on Castle Road. In fact, it may be that one reason why Nancy and Babe chose to acquire a farm at that time was that they no longer had any children at all underfoot, Irene having departed for Los Angeles, and Nina having become a wife.

Nina married very young -- only three months after her sixteenth birthday. Today in the 21st Century a marriage at such an age tends to happen only as a result of an unplanned pregnancy, but that was not the case with Nina. In her era, a sixteen-year-old girl was viewed as old enough to get married as long as the parents judged her suitor to be acceptable. Assuming Nancy Branson had the chance to vet each of her prospective sons-in-law for matrimonial quality, she seems to have known which ones to endorse. All five of her daughters had til-death-them-do-part marriages. And as far as it goes, Nina was not even the most precocious bride of the group. In 1900, Eunice Harrington had wed at the age of sixteen and one month.

Nina’s husband was John Everett Riddell. He was known as Everett. Born 26 October 1881 in London, Ontario Province, Canada, he was a son of William Dixon Riddell, also a native of London, and of Anna Fitzgerald, a native of Ireland. Everett was the youngest of six children. He had emigrated from Canada in 1899, probably doing so with his brother Louis Fitzgerald Riddell. The brothers may not have come to California at first, but were in the state by the early 1900s. Everett would retain his Canadian citizenship for quite a while, not taking his oath of U.S. citizenship until 1917. The marriage certificate describes him as a resident of Manteca, but it is unclear just when he first came there, and unclear whether he was on his own by then or was teamed up with his brother. The wedding did not take place in Manteca, though. The rites were conducted in Stockton, the “big town” of San Joaquin County, officiated by the family’s favorite clergyman, Minister of the Gospel Reuben Henry Sink. The following year Rev. Sink would officiate at the weddings of Nina’s sisters Irene and Elsie. In the mid-1920s, his services were called upon again when Nina’s nieces Wanda Salmon and Norma Cowell each took their turns walking down the aisle. Nina and Everett became husband and wife 21 June 1905.

Nina is not wearing a formal wedding dress here, but chances are high this snapshot, taken by Nina’s sister Mary Josephine Harrington McDonald, dates from the same year as the wedding given how young Nina and Everett appear to be. From left to right in front are Elsie Margaret Harrington, John Everett Riddell, and Nina Frances Harrington Riddell. In back is a man who looks so much like Everett it must be his brother Louis.

Nina and Everett spent the early years of their marriage in the San Francisco Bay Area. The region was a magnet at that time for young bachelors and young couples from the Central Valley. It was a place to find a job, particularly after the 1906 earthquake when suddenly a great deal of infrastructure needed to be rebuilt. Nina’s brother John had been based in Oakland since approximately 1904. Her cousins Clarence Johnson and George Johnson followed suit. Nina’s sisters and their husbands resisted the lure for the time being, but Everett was new to the West Coast and was willing to try a variety of things. Nina and Everett also became based in Oakland, though not before an interval spent in the South Bay. They were residents of Cupertino, Santa Clara County, CA when first child Mildred Anna Riddell was born in the autumn of 1907. They had probably moved by the time second child Donald Everett Riddell was born in the spring of 1909.

Oakland was still home to the Riddells when the 1910 census was taken, but by then, Nina’s sister Josephine and family were living in Stockton, as was Clarence Johnson and family. Perhaps this was a factor in drawing Nina and Everett there. In any case, they did move there and went on to be based in Stockton until the early 1930s -- though not continually. Everett seems to have made at least some of his living helping to develop agricultural properties, particularly when it came to irrigation projects. In some instances he seems to have been a sales representative for irrigation equipment, in other instances a consultant helping deal with permits and the hiring of contractors to develop land for irrigated farming, and occasionally an investor in the development of specific properties. At least some of this activity related to his role as a secretary for the Federation of American Farmers. This is a way of saying Nina and Everett did not stay long in any one home, and sometimes were not even in Stockton at all. He developed at least one property in Butte County. In 1917, when he swore his oath of citizenship, he did so in Shasta County, and the 1918 city directory for Redding lists Nina as a resident there. The address on Everett’s 12 August 1918 draft card is 265 28th Street in Oakland, where he was employed as a checker by Aberthaw Construction Company, working at the Liberty Shipyard. However, once the war was over and the shipbuilding in the East Bay faded, he went back to his old ways of earning income. Public records from 1919 through the 1920s consistently place Nina and Everett in Stockton.

After Mildred and Donald grew up, Nina and Everett put Stockton in their past. In the mid-1930s, they briefly lived in San Francisco. Everett’s occupation in the 1935 voter register lists his occupation as collector, but collector of what is not explained. During this time, their son Donald, who had lived apart from them for at least half a decade, was part of their household. Soon they moved to the town of San Mateo, residing on El Camino Real and opening a service station. Not only was Donald with them there, but also their daughter Mildred, with her son Everett and her second husband Stan Hillard. Judging by the register, everyone shared the same home, but it could be the two kids were quartered elsewhere in the community, but at addresses they regarded as temporary, so they used Nina and Everett’s address in order to be sure of getting their ballots.

In late 1939 or in early 1940, Nina and Everett established themselves in Santa Cruz. This would be where they would remain for the rest of their lives. They lived within the town itself. Together they owned Union Service Station, which Everett operated, Nina helping with office matters. Nina also worked as a clerk at Melvin’s Drug Store. Mildred and Stan also moved to Santa Cruz at the same time. The younger couple also had a service station, theirs being at 1504 Mission. Mildred and Stan lived outside of town on a twenty-acre ranch in the hills near the site where UC Santa Cruz would eventually be built. The choice of venue is not surprising given the beneficent climate. Everett appreciated the gardening opportunities. He and Nina had a huge hothouse, where he grew prized begonias. He is believed to have earned money from his horticultural efforts. If only a hobby, it was one he pursued with unusual dedication.

In 1940, sister Irene Salmon was widowed. In 1943, after an interval spent living with sister Josephine in Alameda, Irene moved in with Nina and Everett. She stayed into the 1950s. In the late 1940s, after coming back from service in the U.S. Army during World War II, Donald Riddell chose to reacquaint himself with civilian life by moving to Santa Cruz, along with his wife Josephine. Donald worked at Union Service Station. Also in the late 1940s, Nina’s sister Eunice and brother-in-law Winfred Converse spent an interval residing in the city. So this middle-of-the-century period was a time full of family presence for Nina; however, as the years went on the only close kinfolk remaining in the immediate area were Mildred and Stan. Even grandson Everett Hillard moved away to Los Altos Hills and then on to Salinas. However, Nina cherished her relatives and made an effort to keep the bonds strong. She is mentioned frequently in surviving correspondence by cousins, even those who had not seen her in decades. A grand niece recalls that Nina came to stay and help cook and provide comfort for nephew Robert Seafield McDonald in Alameda when he was dying of cancer in the mid-1950s. Nina was renowned as an excellent cook -- this was a well-known legacy of the boarding house days, shared by several women of the clan. By middle-age, she had the figure to show for it.

Everett died 30 September 1965. As a widow, Nina went to live with Mildred and Stan on their ranch. She passed away 13 December 1970.

Nina and Everett with their daughter Mildred in 1909 or 1910. This photo, like the newlywed one shown above, is from her sister Josephine’s collection and was probably taken by Josephine, who made photography a hobby (unusual for a woman of her times). Note the curly hair on Everett. The occasion, judging by other photos from the same album, was the staging of an amateur play by members of the extended family. Everett must have placed a wig on his head. In all other available photos of him, he has straight or nearly-straight hair. Nina’s hair is mussed because she and her sisters had been wearing wigs and caps during the play.

Children of Nina Frances Harrington with John Everett Riddell

Mildred Anna Riddell

Donald Everett Riddell

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