James Joseph Morehead, born in West Virginia (1828), came to Butte County (California) in 1852. After working as a superintendent of the Parrott Ranch, he bought land within the original Farwell Grant in 1870, and he also owned land in Tehama County and Colusa County. Ardenia A. Morehead (née Boydstun), the wife of James, was born in Little Rock (Arkansas) and came to California in the 1850’s. Their son, James Franklin Morehead, was born on the Parrott Grant February 13, 1870. He attended the Hopkin’s Academy in Oakland, graduating in 1889. He then attended Heald’s Business College in San Francisco, graduating in 1891. In 1914, James Franklin helped organized and was the first president of the People’s Savings and Commercial Bank. He also built the Broadway Theater and Park Garage in Chico. Morehead family papers, MSS 111, Special Collections, Meriam Library, California State University, Chico

The Morehead Family Letters Collection contains letters from two imprisoned Japanese-American families during World War II. Yoshiko Kawaguchi and Teruo Yamasaki authored the letters.

Yoshiko Kawaguchi was born to Kay and Hamago Nakamura in 1924. Yoshiko's father, Kay, rented 21 acres of the Morehead land, and along wither her sisters Mary and Anna, Yoshiko attended Chico schools. Yoshiko worked as a maid for the Morehead family, and in 1941, she married George Kawaguchi. In July 1942 The Kawaguchi and Nakamura familes were imprisoned at the Tule Lake Japanese-American incarceration camp in Northeastern California; Blk 48 Bldg 4811 Apt C. Two letters from Yoshiko describe the conditions at Tule Lake.

Teruo (Harry) Yamasaki grew strawberries on 18 acres of land he rented from the Morehead family. In his letter, Teruo thanks the Moreheads form sending him a trunk and asks them to sell an automobile.