Historic Anderson Valley

Our Family

Our family were some of the first pioneers in Anderson Valley who arrived in the early 1800's. Diane Ingram and William Prather, arriving in the valley in a wagon during this time gave birth to my great grandparents' generation. It is written that their daughter Hattie Brown was the first caucasian (non-Native American) child born in the valley. She eventually married Frank Prather and they had five children. At some point they settled in the home they built at the end of Indian Creek Road. Sadly, we lost that property after my grandmother's generation passed, a beloved relic of so many of our childhoods that is sorely missed. Our property is one of two family properties still under family ownership. Ours is owned by mom, Linda Crispin Hulbert. The other also in Philo by decendants of a brother of Frank Brown, Uncle Arnold Brown.

My grandmother Ester Brown Crispin and her sister Blanche Brown taught in one-room school houses around the valley. Often they walked for miles, crossing creeks on swinging bridges and over mountains every day, to teach multiple grades of children in one-room schoolhouses from Yorkville to Navarro, even up on the ridges of the valley. We have a picture of our grandmother sitting on one of the first automobiles that came to the valley.

One of the later one-room school houses still exists and is now the Anderson Valley Museum. You'll see it on your way from Boonville to Philo. Many of the first valley families are represented in the small space and its outbuildings, crowded with artifacts and pictures.

My Aunt Blanche founded the Wildflower Show in 1914, which is still held in the Boonville fairgrounds every April. I remember the older women in my family always admired and talked about wildflowers, even hiking to discover many represented in the show.

The Crispin clan also has deep roots in the valley. Eventually, the Browns, Prathers and Crispins all came together. All my cousins. So many last names now, Henleys, Brownings, Batts, Framptons, Pipers, Francis, Walkers, and so many more.  A story told often is of the Crispin-Haines shootout over a property line dispute up on Mountain View Road.  The link displays an interview with my mother.

We still come together from all over California and as far away as Washington State and Hawaii for a family picnic every July on the nearest Sunday to July 11 to celebrate Hattie Prather's birthday, which was first held in 1900.