USA > California > A Volume of memoirs and genealogy of representative citizens of northern California, including biographies of many of those who have passed away > Part 19
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Ilis father contributed in a large measure to the substantial improve- ment and upbuilding of his section of the state. He was a man of strong
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force of character and left the impress of his individuality upon the public progress. In manner he was kindly and his actions were ever sincere and straightforward, so that wherever he went he won a host of warm friends. His death was deeply mourned and when he passed away northern Cali- fornia lost one of its most valued representatives.
JOHN ROBERTSON.
Forty-six years covers the period of Mr. Robertson's connection with California and its interests. Since 1854 he has been a resident of the Mountain Spring district of Amador county and has witnessed its wonder- ful growth and improvement, withholding not substantial assistance from the various movements and measures which have contributed to its welfare and progress. He is widely and favorably known to nearly all of the old settlers in this section of the state, and many will read his life history with interest.
A native of Canada, he was born in Westmeath county, near Pembrook, on the 23d of November, 1839, and is of Highland Scotch ancestry. His father, Alexander Robertson, was born in the highlands of Scotland and when a young man crossed the broad Atlantic to Canada, where he met, wooed and married Miss Margaret Otterson, a native of Nova Scotia and of English lineage. He died in the fifty-fourth year of his age, leaving a widow and four sons and seven daughters, who came to California. She lived to be seventy-eight years of age, dying at her home in Amador county. Her husband had been a strict Presbyterian in religious faith, while she was a devout Methodist. There were eleven children in their family, seven of whom are yet living.
Mr. Robertson of this review was but fifteen years of age when he came to California with his mother and the other children of the family. Prior to that time he had pursued his education in the public schools of his native land. Two of his mother's brothers had persuaded them to seek' a home in the Golden state, and by way of the Panama route they made the voyage to San Francisco. Although only a boy, Mr. Robertson began placer- mining in Eldorado county, following that pursuit through the winter and following spring, with only moderate success. He afterward went to school for a short time. Quartz-mining was then a new industry, not much known. The family took a ranch of three hundred and twenty acres, and he then engaged in farming and stock-raising. In 1860 he came to Ione and secured employment in a gristmill. For twenty-eight years he followed that pur- suit, becoming perfectly familiar both in principle and-detail with the work of manufacturing flour. For three years he was employed in Nevada, where he received five dollars a day for his services, but in 1863 he put aside all personal considerations to enter the Union army during the Civil war. He joined Company C, Seventh California Volunteer Infantry, and served against the Indians in Arizona until the close of the war. being stationed most of the time at Fort Mohave, engaged in escorting supplies to the interior. He
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served as first duty sergeant and received an honorable discharge in 1865. Disease contracted in the service has greatly undermined his health, and the government, recognizing its indebtedness to him, grants him a pension, to which he is justly entitled.
Mr. Robertson is now engaged in quartz-mining and owns a third interest in a gold-bearing property three and a half miles northeast of Ione. The ore is very rich and they have three hundred tons on the dump and are erecting a mill in order to separate it from the rock. His property joins the Erzula mine and is considered very valuable by mining experts. What- ever success he has achieved in life is due entirely to his own efforts, his close application, resolute purpose and untiring energy, and is certainly well merited.
In 1877 Mr. Robertson was united in marriage to Miss Maria M. Lin- inger, a native of Ohio and of German descent. She is a daughter of Chris- tian Lininger, who was an early settler of California but is now deceased. They have had four children: George L., Mabel G., Edgar and Elizabeth Miller. They have also reared an adopted son, Wesley Walker. Mrs. Robertson is a Seventh Day Adventist. Mr. Robertson is connected with no religious denomination, but is a valued member of the Ancient Order of United Workmen, in which he is serving as overseer. In politics he is a stanch Republican, earnest in his advocacy of the party and its principles, and though he has never been an aspirant for office he keeps well informed on the issues of the day and is thus able to give an intelligent support to the measures he supports.
ROBERT F. ROONEY, M. D.
Man's worth in the world is largely determined by what he has done for his fellow men, and judged by this criterion the profession of medicine takes first rank among the callings to which individual effort is given. A well known representative of the medical fraternity is Dr. Rooney, who has gained prestige in Auburn, yet his practice has by no means been confined by the limits of that city. He is a native of the province of Quebec, Canada, born June 17. 1842, and the blood of Scotch-Irish ancestors flows in his veins. His paternal grandfather, James Rooney, emigrated from Belfast, Ireland, to Canada, bringing with him his wife and their little son, John Rooney, the Doctor's father. The grandfather was a practicing physician and was also successfully engaged in school-teaching. John Rooney was educated in Canada and became a farmer. He was married to Miss Frances Margaret Sloan, a native of Belfast, and they became the parents of three children, of whom two sons survive. The other son. James Francis, resides in southern California. The father died in the eighty-seventh year of his age, and the mother passed away August 24, 1900, aged ninety years. The parents were Episcopalians in their religious faith and the son was baptized and confirmed in that church.
He was educated in McGill College, Montreal. Province of Quebec, and was gradnated on the 31st of March, 1870, being thus well qualified for the
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practice of his chosen profession. He opened an office in Stanstead Plain, Canada, where he remained until 1877. January 1, 1873, he was mar- ried to Miss Ann Eliza French, a native of the Province of Quebec. They have one son, Harry B., born July 15, 1890. The Doctor acquired a large practice in Canada, but his health became impaired through overwork and this determined him to seek a home in California in 1877. For a year after his arrival on the Pacific coast he resided in Colusa county and then came to Placer county, practicing for a short time in Colfax, after which he located permanently in Auburn, where he has acquired a liberal support. The public and the profession accord him prominent rank as a medical prac- titioner and as a surgeon. He not only has a comprehensive knowledge of the principles of the medical science, but he is also thoroughly informed on anatomy, and this renders him very capable in surgical work. His office is thoroughly equipped with everything necessary for the successful and safe conduct of his business, and he has a large library with the contents of which he is very familiar. He is also a prominent stock-owner of the Jupiter Consolidated mine at Iowa Hill, a valuable property which is yielding a good return ; but he makes the practice of his profession his chief business.
In politics the Doctor is a Republican and has served his county as coroner and administrator for a number of years. He is a past master of the Masonic lodge, past high priest of the chapter, and has taken the council degrees of cryptic Masonry. He is a past noble grand of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. He is also an active member of medical associa- tions, belonging to the American Medical Society and the State Medical Society. He is also a past president of the California Northern Dis- trict Medical Society and is the secretary of the County Medical Society, honors which indicate his high standing in the profession. The Doctor is a man of high literary attainments and he finds one of his chief sources of pleasure in an extensive and well selected library which adorns his beautiful home and indicates the cultured taste of the occupants. The Doctor and Mrs. Rooney are prominent in social circles and to them is extended the hospitality of the best homes in Auburn. A man of strong convictions, of earnest purpose and of sterling worth, his position in professional, business and social circles is enviable and indicates his right to be classed among the representative men of Placer county.
JOHN K. PATTEE.
This is an age of advancement when all movement is in a line of progress and primitive methods are rapidly giving way to improvement, and when all natural resources are turned to account for the benefit of man. It is interesting to note the line along which progress is made and to learn of those who have been most active in promoting the upbuilding of localities with which they are connected. Associated with Calaveras county in this way is John K. Pattee, who is living at Valley Springs and who is numbered among the honored pioneers of the state of 1849. The experience of the
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Argonauts who started out in search of the golden fleece in the mythological days of Greece were not more interesting and unusual than those with which the pioneers of this state underwent in their attempt to gain a fortune in the newly discovered gold fields of the Pacific coast.
Mr. Pattee is a native of Fort Covington, Franklin county, New York, born on the 26th of September, 1821. His English ancestors on crossing the Atlantic took up their abode in New England at an early period in colonial development, being among the first settlers of Salem, Massachu- setts. They took an important part in the events which formed the annals of that historic town. Dr. Moses Pattee, the grandfather of our subject, was a prominent physician of New Hampshire, later practiced his profes- sion in New York and subsequently became a member of the medical fra- ternity of Canada, in which country he attained the ripe old age of ninety- four years. Joseph Pattee, the father of our subject, was born in the old Granite state, and when he arrived at years of maturity wedded Lucinda G. Kellogg. They removed to Wisconsin and her death occurred in that state, leaving six children, of whom four are still living. The father after- ward removed to Dakota and in 1875 came to California, living with his son John for nine years or up to the time of his death, which occurred in the eighty-fourth year of his age. He had held the office of justice of the peace in Wisconsin and was recognized as a man of intelligence and worth, commanding the regard of all with whom he was associated in business and social life.
John K. Pattee, the second of the family, pursued his education in New York and Canada. He was a young man when the news of the dis- covery of gold was received, and with the hope of gaining a fortune without waiting through the interval of a long business career he sailed from New York for the Pacific coast on the Crescent City, but the vessel landed its passengers on the isthmus of Panama and Mr. Pattee proceeded to Gorgona. He aided in hauling a life-boat to Panama with a rope, a distance of about thirty six miles. Later he took passage on the whaling ship Sylph for San Francisco, and the voyage was successfully accomplished. One of the pas- sengers, however, died of the Panama fever and was thrown overboard into the sea. After reaching the Golden Gate the subject of this review made his way to Mokelumne Hill, in Calaveras county, and engaged in placer mining on Two Mile Bar, working for wages. Subsequently he went to Angel's Camp and followed mining at the present Utica mine, but with poor success.
He therefore decided to abandon his seach for gold and located on a ranch in San Andreas township, Calaveras county, obtaining a squatter's claim, and after the land was surveyed he pre-empted it. As the years passed and prosperity came to him he purchased land from other settlers of the neighborhood until he became the owner of seven hundred acres, a very valuable property, and built thereon a substantial residence and outbuild- ings and engaged successfully in raising stock. He is still the owner of one of the valuable farms of Calaveras county. For some time he engaged
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in conducting a little wayside hotel, where all travelers were made welcome and were well treated. He was also engaged for a number of years in buy- ing stock at Los Angeles and San Jose and in driving them to the mining claims of Calaveras county, where he sold them at a good profit. He was out in all kinds of weather on these trips and was exposed to many hardships, but his resolute spirit enabled him to bear these and eventually success came to him.
He had stock stolen from him by the Joaquin Murietta band, who took horses principally. On one occasion Mr. Pattee and two of his friends started in pursuit of the robbers. They came upon them at Yankee Camp, but discovered that there were too many of the robbers for them to attack and Mr. Pattee returned to San Andreas, where he formed a company, with whom he returned to Yankee Camp. The band had gone to Anton, where they had shot a man, but our subject and his company attacked them. They found a big Mexican riding one of Mr. Pattee's horses. The horse was shot and they captured the Mexican, whom they hung by the neck until he was dead. The band then retreated to the Phoenix quartz mill, where they killed two men, and Mr. Pattee and his company again attacked them, and in the fight one of the men was wounded in the shoulder, after which the Mexicans retreated. Our subject and his party, however, could see the blood and followed the trail in that way. One of the party cut off his boot tops and threw them down and the Americans picked them up. Con- tinuing on the trail they saw a tent in the distance, out of which a man ran. On reaching the tent they found the wounded man still there and found that the boot tops fitted the ones which he wore. They took him to Cherokee Flat, near Angel's, and hung him also, but the others escaped. Such was the summary justice which was needed in those days in order to hold in subjection the lawless element which had invaded the state, know- ing that there was no organized government which could prevent them from perpetrating their deeds of violence.
Mr. Pattee dates his settlement upon his ranch from the fall of 1852, and resided there continuously until 1893, a period of forty-one years, when he retired from the farm and purchased a good residence, in which he is now living with his esteemed wife, surrounded by the comforts and many of the luxuries which go to make life worth living. All have been attained by his own efforts. He was elected a justice of the peace January 1, 1895, and served four years, ending January 1, 1899; was appointed a notary public the 26th of August, 1896, by the Hon. James Budd, governor of California, and at the expiration of four years was reappointed by the Hon. T. C. Gage, governor of California, which office he is still filling.
Mr. Pattee was married on the 10th of January, 1859, to Miss Mar- garet Lonergan, a native of county Waterford, Ireland, who came to the United States in 1853 and has been a resident of California since 1858. They have had seven children, all born to them upon the ranch. They were educated in the county and are a credit to the untarnished family name. In order of birth they are as follows: Edgar, who is married and has four
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children . Leander, who was married and died in 1892, leaving one child; John K., who is married and is a prominent merchant in Valley Springs; Calvin, who died at the age of thirty years in Central America : Joseph, who is married and has two children and is now engaged in merchandising in Paloma: Lottie E., who is in San Francisco; and Franklin B., who is in partnership with his brother at Valley Springs, under the firm name of Pattee Brothers, dealers in general merchandise.
For forty-one years Mr. and Mrs. Pattee have traveled life's journey together. They still enjoy good health and are honored and highly esteemed pioneer people who have witnessed the wonderful development of the state as it has emerged from a collection of mining camps to a splendid common- wealth. They take just pride in what has been accomplished, and have every reason to do so, for they have borne their part in bringing about the con- ditions which have led to the present prosperity and advancement of Cali- fornia.
CHARLES. H. CARTER.
As long as the town of Carter stands it will be a monument to the enter- prise and progressive spirit of its founder. Charles H. Carter, who is its pio- neer business man, is still a prominent representative of its commercial inter- ests and is its postmaster, having filled that position since the establi-ment of the office. He took up his abode at his present location in 1858. having al- ready been a resident of California for nine years.
Mr. Carter was born in Cayuga county, New York, June 13, 0829, and is of English lineage. The progenitor of the family in the United States was his great-great-grandfather, Enoch Carter, who came to America in 1760 and was a prominent factor in the early history of the colonies. He served in the French and Indian war and was discharged, and on his return from the scene of the conflict was taken ill and died. The great gra lfather. Benja- min Carter, was born in New England and the grandfather, who also bore the name of Benjamin, was a native of the same section of country, but removed to eastern New York, where Mr. Carter's father, the third Benjamin Carter, was born, the place of his nativity being Washington county. He mar- ried Miss Elizabeth Cole, a native of Rhode Island and a daughter of a Revo- lutionary soldier. The paternal grandfather of our subject als aided the colonists in their struggle for independence, and his son, Benjamin Carter, Jr., loyally served his country in the war of 1812. He lived to be more than eighty years of age. Throughout his active business career he was an indus- trious and well-to-do farmer, and both he and his wife were of the Presby- terian faith. She departed this life in the sixty-fifth year of her age, and only three of their eight children now survive.
Charles II. Carter of this review, is the youngest of the surviving boys, having a younger sister. He acquired his education in Fuller Academy and in the academy at Waterloo, but put aside his text-books on learning of the discovery of gold in California. By the hope of rapidly acquiring wealth he
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was allured to the Pacific coast, sailing from New York to Panama, and on its western coast taking passage on Pacific waters for San Francisco, where he arrived on the Ist of July, 1849. He eagerly made his way to the gold dig- gings, going up the Sacramento to the city of that name and thence to the mining district of the Feather river. He also engaged in mining on Trinity river until winter came, and the deep snow forced him to abandon his labors. Accordingly he returned to Sacramento, where he spent the winter months and later he engaged in mining at various places on the Trinity until 1858, when he left that locality with about five thousand dollars that he had accumu- lated as the savings of his earnest labor. In 1856 he engaged in the lumber business on the Trinity, having a saw mill, making lumber for fluming, which he carried on for two years.
In that year Mr. Carter came to his present location and opened a mer- cantile establishment, which formed the nucleus of the present town. Here he has continued in business since-a period of forty-two years-and by close attention, unflagging industry and persistency of purpose he has bulit up a large and constantly growing trade, the profits therefrom annually augmenting his capital. He has a very large store building, from garret to basement filled with all kinds of merchandise, including produce and miner's supplies. His first store was two miles below the town, but he erected his present business block and residence in 1860 and has here a beautiful and commodious home, surrounded by magnificent trees of his own planting, including stately oaks that stand sentinel over his abode, casting a grateful shade over house and lawn. Mr. Carter also has valuable mining interests and is the owner of fifty acres of the town site, thirty acres of which he has platted, under the name of Carter's Addition. Here he is selling residence lots, and that section of the city is being built up with a good class of dwellings.
In May, 1865, occurred the marriage of Mr. Carter and Miss Sarah J. Crossett, a native of east New York and a daughter of Edward T. Crossett, who became one of the pioneer dentists of the state. Unto Mr. and Mrs. Carter have been born seven children, of whom four are still living, namely : George B. and Woodward T., who are capable business men and are now conducting their father's store: Ida E., who is a graduate of the State Normal School and is a teacher of ability in East Oakland, California, and Addie, who is at home with her parents. Mr. and Mrs. Carter are both enjoying good health. The lady is a member of the Baptist church, while he belongs to the Knights of the Maccabees and the Independent Order of Good Templars. His political suj -- port is given the Republican party, and of its principles he is a stanchi advo- cate, believing firmly in the policy which has been followed through the past four years. He is one of the best preserved of the '49ers and has the appear- ance and vigor of a man many years his junior. His memory forms a link be- tween the primitive past and the progressive future and his labors have con- tributed in large measure to the substantial development of the state which attracted him to its boundaries more than a half century ago. He feels just pride in its wonderful advancement, and among its honored early settlers he certainly deserves prominent mention.
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HON. E. P. COLGAN.
It is a well attested maxim that the greatness of a state lies not in its machinery of government, nor even in its institutions, but in the sterling qualities of its individual citizens, in their capacity for high and unselfish effort and their devotion to the public good. Edward P. Colgan is one in whom public confidence is reposed in recognition of his true merit. He is now serving his third term as the state controller of California, and is a most trustworthy and capable official, whose fidelity to duty is manifest by his long continuance in office through the power of the popular ballot. Although well fitted for leadership and justly deserving of the honors con- ferred upon him, in manner he is plain and unassuming, a genial, courteous gentleman, possessed of the true democratic spirit and preferring to be known to his friends-and the circle is by no means a limited one-simply as "Ed Colgan." He has been closely identified with the Republican party for nineteen years, during which time he has always evinced a deep interest in state and national politics and has materially aided and been of influential benefit in local affairs.
Mr. Colgan was born in Santa Rosa, California, in January. 1856. His father, Edward P. Colgan, Sr., was born in New York city, entered upon his business career in the capacity of printer's devil, and later he served as a carver in a restaurant. He was thus employed until after the discovery of gold in California, when he made his way to the Pacific slope, going around Cape Horn to San Francisco, where he opened a restaurant. He conducted that enterprise until 1853. and during his residence in San Fran- cisco was married, July 20. 1851. to Miss Elizabeth Staub, who was born in Baden, Germany, and with her mother and two brothers crossed the Atlantic to the United States in 1848. Her father. Jacob Staub, was born in Baden, Germany, and there spent his entire life, his death occurring there when he had reached the age of fifty years. He was a man of considerable prominence, served as burgomaster or mayor of his town for many years, and held other positions of public trust. After the death of the father the mother and children came to the new world, and in 1849 Mrs. Colgan and her sister came to California, by way of the straits. She is still living in the old family home in Santa Rosa, but frequently visits her son in the capital city.
After their marriage the parents of our subject continued in the restaurant business in San Francisco until October. 1853. when they sold out and removed to Santa Rosa, Sonoma county, California, opening a hotel at that point before the city was laid out. The town was platted, however. the following year, and his hostelry, known as the Santa Rosa House, was the pioneer hotel of the place, and like its proprietor was very popular with the traveling public. The old building is still standing and is now used as a blacksmith shop. Toward the close of his life Edward P. Colgan, Sr .. went to San Diego, California, hoping to improve his impaired health, but all to no avail, for he died while on the return trip. In early life he took a
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