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Note: aternal grandmother, Alice [Forrester] McCrimmon Reid on Thornton Ave., Newark, Alameda Co. California, the first child of John Proctor "Proc" and Eva [McCrimmon] Steinhoff. He started his education at Newark and attended the schoolhouse at Mowry's Landing when the family moved, graduating from the eighth grade there. He attended Washington Union High School in Centerville (now Fremont); he attended all four years, but did not graduate in 1928 due to excessive truancy -he often skipped school to hunt ducks and other game in the nearby south-bay wetlands and Mission Hills, from whence he acquired the lifelong nickname, "Ducky" --either for the ducks he hunted, or the classes he ducked to hunt those ducks.
He was very close to his "double" cousin, Adele who was six weeks older and they were the instigators of much playful mischief (and sometimes more serious adventures). Hugh went to work after his father's death in 1928 and supported his mother and two siblings as a stove mounter at the James Graham Manufacturing Co. where his father previously had worked. He worked there (except while the factory was closed during the depression) until about 1935 when he married Edith Klumann and moved to San Francisco. He was employed in the city in a similar occupation. They had three children born in San Francisco: John, James, and Marilyn. They later moved to Downieville, Yuba Co. where Hugh worked for Jack Reid mining gold, primarily in the "Bingo" -Hugh had gold-fever his whole life. (Uncle Jack Reid was the brother of Hugh's maternal step-grandfather, Malcom Reid; neither Malcom, nor Jack had children of their own and accepted the McCrimmon and Steinhoff children as their own.)
Hugh returned to the Bay area in 1941 and lived for a time in Niles, then in Castro Valley. Carolyn was born in Hayward in 1943. The family moved from Castro Valley to Nevada City, Nevada Co. in 1948 --Hugh said he had to get out of "all that damn traffic". Hugh worked at the well-known "Empire" mine at great depths in the earth. In 1947, he had staked contiguous mining claims near Washington; "the mine" was called the Rainbow Bar Group. He later purchased a service station and garage at Nevada City which he operated for several years. Hugh's youngest child, Patricia, born in 1948 in Hayward. It was about that time that Hugh said that he had to get the hell out of that place because of all the damn people that were crowding Alameda County.
The family moved to Placer Co. and took up residence near Auburn on Wolf Creek Road where he continued working as a mechanic. At that time, his sister, Betty Jane [Steinhoff] Sheedy and her family lived close by to the south at Placerville, El Dorado Co. Their children having reached adulthood, Hugh and Edith moved to Puyallup, Washington where he was a heavy equipment diesel mechanic, working with his son-in-law, Al Elder (husband of Carolyn). While in Washington State, Hugh fulfilled a lifelong dream and acquired his pilot's license. (Charles Lindbergh was Hugh's "hero" in his youth.)
Hugh retired in the early 1970s. He and Edith lived for a time in a travel trailer visiting their children and working at their mine near Washington, California in the summertime. They purchased a property near Yuma and moved to Arizona in the late 1970s. They returned to California summers to visit their children and work at the mine. The small mining operation was a family affair and included some heavy equipment. In the early 1970s-, Hugh and Al Elder opened up some ground when they discovered an ancient "tertiary" river bed; the gravel therein was rich with native gold, and produced beautiful specimen quality nuggets. Hugh finally found his mother lode! After some wrangling with the Bureau of Land Management, culminating with Hugh forcing BLM agents to operate the equipment and pick out nuggets themselves to prove how rich the gold deposit was. Most of the gold was sold except for a few nuggets kept by family members. The mine was later sold, but was later re-staked by the family.
Hugh and Edith maintained their residence in Yuma. While in Winnemucca, Nevada in 1983 for the birth of his grandchild (Jack's second child, Charles), Hugh suffered a second heart attack and expired. He had taken a hike on the hill behind Jack's house; upon his return, he rested for a while, walked into the living room, sat in a chair and died. His last words were: "I don't feels so well." Hugh's body was buried in Winnemucca, at the direction of Jack. Soon after, his body was exhumed and cremated because others in the family remembered his request to be cremated and have his ashes scattered at "the mine" near Washington, California which was done. Hugh was a hard working, but easy-going and very likable man. He loved hunting ducks, and shot a big black bear and trophy deer that grew in size every year after the hunt.
Note: Hugh Proctor "Ducky" Steinhoff was born 14 Oct. 1908 at the home of his m
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