HON. HARRY R. MIGHELS ------Was born in Minot, Maine, November 3, 1830. He had one brother, George. When he was two years old his parents left Minot and took up their residence in Portland. His father, Jesse Wedgwood Mighels, was a graduate of the Medical College at Dartmouth, New Hampshire. His mother and Henry W. Longfellow were schoolmates. After leaving the public school at Portland, he attempted to learn the watchmaker's trade, but making no headway relinquished it at the end of two months. After his brief apprenticeship he studied navigation.

In 1847 he went to Cincinnati with his father and studied medicine a year and got some smattering of the art of painting in oil. On the first of August, 1850, he started for California in company with Solon G. Burch. They went to New Orleans and then by sailing vessel to Greytown (San Juan del Norte), in the Mosquito Kingdom. They then ascended the San Juan Hiver, crossed Lake Nicaragua to the town of Granada and went on to Leon, the capital of the State. Here they concluded to return to Nicaragua, and kept a tavern during the winter.  In the spring of 1851, they took ship at Realejo, the then Pacific port of entry, and went down to Panama. The voyage was made in the barque Griffin, owned by "Pet" Halstead, since murdered in Newark, New Jersey, and commanded by Bob.  Halstead. Abe Halstead, another brother, was a passenger.

Mighels lay two months at Panama, sick with the fever, cared for by W. Ravenhill Harrington. He came to San Francisco on the steamer Panama, working his passage as assistant storekeeper. In 1851 he worked at ditch digging at Newton, Nevada County. From there he went to Downieville and painted signs. In 1852 he painted a drop-curtain for the Downieville theatre; painted it in oils. It was celebrated in its day-more for its avoirdupois than by its merits as a work of art. He next went to Marysville and worked as a decorative painter for Green & Banks.  He decorated the first Marysville theatre, built by William Wilson and Semour Pixley.  In 1853 he went to Bidwell's Bar, and worked as a sign painter, also painted pictures from time to time.

In 1856 he went to Oroville and opened a paint shop there in partnership with Frank Ayers. In the fall of that year he became regularly employed as an assistant editor of the Butte Record (daily). In the spring of 1857 he was for a little while editor of the Sacramento Bee. In 1858 he ran for the Assembly in Butte County and was defeated.  In the fall of 1859 he went to San Francisco, and obtained employment on the San Francisco National, George Pen Johnson et al., editors.  In January, 1860, the Marysville Daily Appeal was started by George W, Bloor & Co., and Mr. Mighels was its first editor.

In April, 1862, he was commissioned by President Lincoln as Assistant Adjutant General, with the rank of Captain, and was assigned to the staff of General S.  D. Sturgis, whom he joined at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. Was subsequently assigned to the command of the Second Division of the Ninth (Burnside's) Corps. Remained in the division during his term as an array officer. Was present at the second battle of Manasses, South Mountain, Antietam, Fredericksburg (first battle), siege of Vicksburg, siege of Jackson, Mississippi; the battle of the Wilderness, 1864; Spottsylvania, etc., down to Pittsburg, where he was shot through the thighs, June 18, 1864; was removed to the hospital at Annapolis. He finally recovered in Baltimore; was honorably discharged from the army on account of physical disabilities from wounds received, and came to San Francisco in 1865.

Came to Carson, May 18, 1865, and assumed the editorship of the Morning Appeal. The history of the paper has been his own since that time.  He was married to Miss Nellie S. Verrill by Rev. Horatio Stebbins, at the residence of Hon. George C. Gorham, in San Francisco, August 20, 1860. 

In the fall of 1870, Mighels ran for the Assembly, and being successful was elected Speaker of the House. His manner of presiding over that body has never been equaled in the State. By reason of his quickness and tact, business was transacted with nearly double the usual speed, and when the session was over, a number of substantial gifts, presented by the members and attaches, showed the high appreciation in which he was held.

In the fall of 1878 he made his ever memorable fight for the office of Lieutenant Governor. He was everywhere acknowledged as the head of the ticket, and the enemy concentrated the fire of the campaign upon him. He entered into the fight with his characteristic fearlessness and vigor, and through a long, heated canvass, bore the brunt of the foulest abuse, and most despicable misrepresentation that it was ever the lot of a political candidate of unblemished record to encounter. A stranger in Nevada, reading the Democratic newspapers, would have labored under the impression that Harry Mighels, as he was familiarly called, was the only candidate on the Republican ticket. The least expected but most extortive blow of all came from within the party, and he went down like Caesar, stabbed by men from whom he had every reason to expect the heartiest assistance.  His years of gallant service for the party were all forgotten, and then the man who was a born political leader, and whose brains and energy had led the Republican party of Nevada through many a hard fought battle to victory, was shelved to satisfy the petty and contemptible spite of men whose only cause for grievance lay in the fact that he declined to be their tool.

In spite of the cheering of his editorials and ever smiling face after defeat, those who knew Harry Mighels best but realized how bitter was the cup of defeat to his lips, how humiliating the thought that malice, calumny, and treason had combined to accomplish his downfall. In the following spring, May 27, 1879, he died in Carson, of cancer of the stomach.  Up to the last hour he looked death in the face as calmly as if he was gazing into the eyes of an old friend.

The last few months of his life were passed and terrible physical sufferings, as the cancer slowly penetrated his vitals. Beyond the reach of medical skill, and realizing how near the end was, he laughed and chatted as merrily as ever, and seemingly with the determination that his family should not know a day of gloom while he lived. Up to the last he enlivened the hours with pleasant jests, and died almost with a smile upon his lips.

All of Mighel's characteristics were strikingly positive.  He had more warm friends and bitter enemies than any man in the State. He was as thoroughly endeared to the one as he was relentless and uncompromising to the other. As a writer he had no superior on the Coast. He penned the purest and best of English, and leveled all opposition by his masterly logic.

His wit and repartee flashed like the diamond.  His invective was an avalanche. He loved nature as a true poet loved it, and spent most of the summer months wandering through the mountains sketching and painting. As an artist he was a conscientious reproducer of nature as he saw it painting for the love of it, and distributing his efforts among his friends. Although he never offered one of his pictures for sale, he might have earned a competency with his brush. He painted with great care and labor and gave his works away as fast as they were finished.

After his death the press of Nevada and California joined in such earnest tribute to his genius, abilities and sterling qualities of manhood, as could only have been called forth by deserving merit.

The language of one of his biographies is appropriate:

"With the heart of a soldier and the soul of a poet in his breast, he died upon the field of the hardest won victories and most crushing defeats of his life, laying aside a sword, which, shattered though it was, he had taught his enemies to respect."

SAMUEL A. NEVERS, -----Son of Ebenezer and Sarah C. (Andrews) Nevers, was born in the city of Boston, Massachusetts, March 1, 1824. His ancestors as far back as Mr.  Nevers can recollect were New England people.  His parents were both natives of Massachusetts, his father being born at Lexington, and mother at Boston. Young Nevers, was educated in the common and high schools of his native city; during his minority following the calling of book-keeper.

On the first day of March, 1849, he bid adieu to the scenes of his childhood, and started in pursuit of fortune in the golden State of California, coming by way of Cape Horn, in the ship Sweden.  On the third day of August of the same year he landed in San Francisco, and without delay proceeded to the mines on Big Bar, at Mokelumne, San Joaquin County. After one month's trial in search of the golden nuggets, he returned to San Francisco and spent the winter. In June of the year 1850, he went to the mines on American River and worked at Rattlesnake Bar, until the fall of 1857, at which time he crossed the mountains to Nevada and located in Eagle Valley, arriving there October 14. During his many years' residence in the sage-brush country, he has witnessed the transformation of a desolate wilderness into a thriving and beautiful city. As a farmer, Mr. Nevers has been successful, through his untiring energy and strict attention to business, and has sold his crops some seasons at fabulous prices.  Hay, $500 per ton and potatoes as high as $100 per ton. He was married October 10, 1859, to May Eliza Harman, daughter of J. and Mary (Smithson) Harman, and two children live to bless their union.

The following are their names and date of birth: Sarah H. born, August 5, 1860 and John W. born, January 18, 1869. In politics Mr. Nevers is a Republican but has held no office except that of County Commissioner. Mrs. Nevers is a native of Monroe County, Mississippi, born April 29, 1830.

MATHIAS RINCKEL -------Was a native of the old world and was born in the year 1833. Coming when a mere babe to America, with his parents, his early recollections did not date back to his native land. His people settled in the city of St. Louis, Missouri, where our subject passed the days of childhood and early youth until he was about nineteen years of age; being a man every way, except in years, he started out at this age to seek his fortune.

In 1852 he went to California and after eight years stay in there he came over the mountains to Virginia City, During the next three years he made the trip between California and Nevada several times, and located permanently in Carson City, Ormsby County, in 1863, where he carried on the meat business for many years, and by strict application to business accumulated a comfortable fortune. In 1876 he erected the palatial residence, corner of King and Curry Streets, one of the finest in the city, where his family now reside, Mr. Rinckel, departed this life October 6, 1879. He was well and favorably known throughout the State, and his death was a calamity to the town in which he lived. Many monuments of his untiring energy are still visible in Carson, in the shape of fine buildings. He was married to Miss M. E.  Coffey, at Carson City, on the sixteenth of September 1865, and their union was blessed with six children, four girls and two boys, all of whom are living.