HELD-POAGE MEMORIAL HOME MUSEUM
CURRENTLY CLOSED FOR RESTORATION - COMING 2024/2025
The Held-Poage Memorial Home Museum is currently under restoration. When complete, it be a historic house museum reflecting the life of Judge William Held and his family, as well as life in Ukiah in the early 1900s. Because the house experienced a major renovation in 1924, we are setting the house back to 1927, the final year the family was all together before the children went off to college.
HISTORY OF THE HELD AND POAGE FAMILIES
On July 6, 1903, William Daniel Louis Held (28) and Ethel Poage (25) were married at the Centenary Church in San Francisco, California, surrounded by their loved ones. Later that week they returned to Ukiah to their newly constructed home on the southwest corner of Perkins and Dora Streets.
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Both the Held and Poage families came to Ukiah in the late 1880s. The Poage family was originally from Bates County, Missouri, before they moved to Kingsburg, California in 1877, and finally to Ukiah, California, in 1886. Ethel Lelia Poage was born in Kingsburg, California, on January 7, 1878, to Simeon Crow Poage (1845 - 1894) and Amanda Brockman Poage (1845 – 1922). Ethel was the fourth of five children: Cora May (1867-1902), William Gustavus (1869 – 1953), Charles Allen (1873 – 1939), and Mary Leona (1880 – 1910). Ethel graduated from Ukiah High School in 1896, as part of the first graduating class of that school. Immediately after high school Ethel began her teaching career at the Ukiah Grammar School. In July 1897, she received her certificate to teach High School, though she continued to teach grammar school. Ethel continued her education by spending the summers of 1898, and 1901, at the University of California taking courses on pedagogy. Finally, three months before her marriage to W. D. L. Held, Ethel was granted her grammar grade diploma by the California State Board of Education.
William’s parents were originally from Württemberg, Germany before settling in San Francisco, California, to start a family. Wilhelm Held (1845 – 1904) immigrated to the United States in 1860, and Anna Marie Schubert (1851 – 1933) immigrated sometime between 1870 and 1873. William was born in San Francisco on October 24, 1874, as the first of five children: Kathryn Magdalene (1876 – 1968), Marie Louise (1883 – 1883), Marie Anna (1885 – 1949), and Louise Regina (1888 – 1978). William graduated from the South Cosmopolitan Boys Grammar School in San Francisco in 1887, and from the Commercial School at the end of 1889. William’s parents and three sisters moved to Ukiah, California, in early to mid1889, and William followed after his graduation that December.
William soon began studying law in the office of T. L. Carothers in addition to working as a notary public, court reporter, stenographer and phonographic reporter for the Mendocino County courthouse. In September 1898, William passed his examinations to become an attorney, and in April 1901, he formed a partnership with T. J. Weldon and opened a law firm called “Weldon & Held” that was located on the southeast corner of Perkins and School Streets in Ukiah.
William and Ethel began courting around August 1900, and they appear to have started making plans for the future around the end of 1902. William sold his cottage on the corner of Pine and Smith Streets and purchased one-half of block 54 in preparation for the construction of 603 W. Perkins Street.
A few months later he became the Republican nominee for the 6th district of the California State Assembly, and he won the election that November. William served two additional terms representing in the California State Assembly; he was elected again in 1906, and 1910.
603 W. Perkins Street in 1910
During his career as an assemblyman, William served as chairman of the State Hospital Committee and the Committee on Revenue and Taxation. He was a member of the Constitutional Amendments Committee, the Committee on Dairies and Dairy Products, the Finance Committee, and the Committee on Rules. He was the author of a number of important measures: the Direct Primary Amendment that gave California a Direct Primary Law, meaning voters could select their candidates instead of having politicians choose for them; an amendment that forbade a change in school books more often than once in four years; and a law that gave counties and municipalities the initiative, referendum, and recall, giving voters the right to enact good laws and veto bad ones, and to discharge their elected officials if they did not serve them well.
In between William’s second and third terms, he and Ethel welcomed their first child. William Poage Held (aka “Billie”) was born on December 26, 1909. During this break, he and T. J. Weldon incorporated their business. However, five years later in January 1914, they dissolved their partnership and William moved to the J. Q. White building to continue his solo practice. Later that year, William was appointed foreman of the Grand Jury for the year 1915.
In 1918, the Held family welcomed the last member of their family when they adopted Kathryn. Kathryn was born on November 25, 1911, in Petaluma, California, so she was just two years younger than Billie. Two years later, William ran for Superior Court Judge of Mendocino County but lost this election to H. L. Preston.
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In 1924, the Held family carried out a renovation of 603 W. Perkins St. A new modern kitchen was built on the southeast corner of the house, and the original kitchen was transformed into a bedroom for Kathryn.
It was during this renovation that the house was plumbed and the closet of the southwest the bedroom was turned into a bathroom. A small room was built off the bathroom to hold the furnace and additional plumbing was added for a hot water radiator system, which replaced the earlier wood burning stoves. This transformed house continued to serve as a useful asset for Ethel who was very active in the community, as it was often the meeting place for the many social, civic and church clubs of Ukiah.
William P. "Billie" Held
Kathryn Held
Once William and Ethel were married, Ethel stepped back from her teaching career to take on a new role as a homemaker and clubwoman; though she continued to substitute at the grammar school from time to time. She was a frequent speaker at events and meetings. She gave book reviews, performed book and poetry readings, and gave speeches on topics such as national defense, civic improvements and parliamentary law. She even wrote and managed the “Social and Club Activities”column for the Dispatch Democrat for a number of years. Ethel was a member of the Cultus Club, the Saturday Afternoon Club (president in 1914), the Reading Circle Club of M. E. Church South ( president in 1914), the “Campaign on Thrift Stamps” (chairman), the Ukiah Chamber of Commerce, the Fortnightly Bridge Club, the Mendocino County Federation of Women’s Clubs (president from 1929-1931 and later the district parliamentarian), the Federated Women of the Methodist Church (president in 1932), the Women’s Board of the Golden Gate International Exposition (Mendocino County chairman, 1939), the Staff Assistance Corps (chairman in 1942), the Young Methodist Women, the Salvation Army - Ukiah district service committee, the executive board of the Ukiah Methodist church, the Native Daughters of the Golden West (Ukiah Parlor, No. 263), and still more.
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Ethel Held (Poage)
In April 1928, William was elected to the Ukiah Board of City Trustees and the board unanimously elected him as Ukiah’s mayor. He chose to resign in December 1929, when he learned a petition was being circulated demanding his recall on the grounds of “inefficiency”. According to William, he refused “to make a campaign to retain his office due to the continuous fault finding on the part of a noisy few, especially without pay and very little appreciation”. Though his term was short, the Board of City Trustees managed to accomplish a large volume of projects during William’s time as mayor, including major additions to Ukiah’s sewer, water, and gas distribution systems, and the construction of the Northwestern Pacific Railroad depot on Perkins Street.
Billie graduated from Ukiah High School in 1927, and Kathryn graduated in 1929. The summer before Billie graduated he attended a one month military training school at the Presidio in San Francisco. He also performed well on examinations to enter West Point Military Academy and was chosen as a first alternate for admission by Congressman Clarence F. Lea. He spent one year at Hitchcock Military Academy (aka San Rafael Military Academy) before entering Stanford University in 1928. Billie graduated in 1934, with a Master of Business Administration degree and was married to Roma V. Hooper in 1939. After high school, Kathryn entered the San Francisco Teachers College before moving back to Ukiah to work as a secretary in her father’s law office. In October 1931, Kathryn married Burton Brown.
In 1932, William again ran for the Superior Court Judge of Mendocino County against Lilburn Gibson; this time he won the election. Six years later, William was reelected to his position. He held this position until his retirement in 1944.
On April 3, 1953, Ethel passed away. At the time of her passing, she had eight grandchildren; one from William and seven from Kathryn. The Ukiah News reported that her death left a vacancy in the community that would not be filled until that generation passed. In memory of his wife, William gifted a check annually to the to the Woman’s Society of Christian Service of the Methodist Church which led to the establishment of the “Ethel Held Memorial Fund”.
On March 1, 1969, William passed away. Not long after William’s passing, Billie began the process of gifting 603 W. Perkins to the Historical Society of Mendocino County for use as their headquarters on behalf of his parents. The property was deeded to the HSMC later that year. The dedication of the Held-Poage Memorial Home and Research Library was held on April 5, 1970, and Billie unveiled the commemorative plaque on the front lawn to the 250 attendees.