A family gathering at Sadie Blosser’s home in Oakland, California, for Lizzie Milliken’s 80th birthday, 1937. (Gift of Catherine G. Blosser) Back row L – R: Eva (Milliken) Rice, Elmer Rice, Lizzie Milliken, Faith (Milliken) Henderson, Alden Rice, Arthur Rice, Inez (Milliken) Philbrick, John Avery Blosser. Front row: Ella Rice, Eva Lee Rice, Dorothy Blosser, Sadie (Milliken) Blosser, Helen, Beth (Milliken) Chambers.
July 27, 1889 – Elizabeth “Beth” Evans Milliken was born. She was the fifth of the six children of James and Lizzie Milliken.
Beth was a sick baby and couldn’t keep food down. Fortunately, her father was a physician who received his medical degree from the University of New York in 1877. When Beth was 6 weeks old, Dr. Milliken returned to New York to take a Post Graduate course at the medical school. He sent word to his wife Lizzie about the process of sterilizing milk, which proved to be just what their daughter Beth needed. She began to gain weight at once.
In 1911, Beth married Hadley Chambers, brother of Mendocino Grammar School teacher Laing Chambers, at the Baptist Church on Ukiah Street (Corners of the Mouth in 2022). They had 3 sons: Mervin, John, and Robert. Hadley was a saw filer at several Mendocino coast mills, before the family moved to Humboldt County in 1927.
Hadley died in Humboldt County in 1959. Beth lived to be 83, passing away in Santa Rosa in 1972.
Walking Tours of Historic Mendocino – Join our expert docents for a stroll and lively commentary. You’ll pass by early pioneer homes, historic meeting places, and buildings that make up the the Mendocino Historic District.