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 22
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JAMES W. CRUTCHER.
On the roster of the officials of Coluisa county appears the name of James Wilson Crutcher, for he is now serving as clerk and recorder. 3 He was born in Montgomery county, Missouri, and is a son of Samuel Crutcher. a native of Kentucky. On the paternal side the ancestry can be traced back to Samuel and Elizabeth ( Lee) Crutcher. the great-grandparents of our subiect. They were married in Patrick county, Virginia, and in their family
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were five children, namely : Elizabeth. Cornelia, Frank. Charles and Samuel. The last named, Samuel Crutcher, Jr., was the grandfather of him whose name introduces this review. Having arrived at years of maturity, he married Nancy James, of Virginia, and in 1810 he removed to Lincoln county, Missouri, where he made his home for twenty years, when, in 1830. he took up his abode in Montgomery county, that state. His children were William, John, Sophia, Lucella and Samuel.
The last named was the father of our subject. During his early life he accompanied his parents to Missouri and his death occurred in Mont- gomery county, that state, at the age of seventy-three years. He was one of the pioneer farmers of the locality and carried on agricultural pursuits for many years. He also embarked in merchandising, but that venture was not so successful. In going to Missouri he located at Middletown, and the first goods sold in the northern part of Montgomery county were sold in one end of his house, in 1836, by Matthew Wilberger and Samuel King. The latter sold his interest in the little store to Mr. Crutcher, and later the firm of Wilberger & Crutcher removed their stock of goods to the present site of Middletown, placing them on sale in a little log cabin which was soon afterward destroyed by fire, and thus they were financially ruined. Mr. Wil- berger, Mr. Crutcher's partner, surveyed and laid out the town of Middletown in 1836, while John Dugan built the first house there.
Samuel Crutcher, the father of our subject, was three times married. his first union being with Eliza A. Holladay. After her death he wedded a Mrs. Holloway, who was a widow. For his third wife he chose Mrs. Jane Randolph, nee Winters. His first wife was born in 1815 and their mar- riage was celebrated in 1836. She was a member of the Christian church and died in that faith in 1847. In their family were eleven children.
On the maternal side Mr. Crutcher, of this review, can trace his ances- try back to his great-grandparents, Stephen and Ann ( Hickman ) Holladay. The latter was a daughter of James and Hannah (Lewis) Hickman, of Clark county, Kentucky, and was born in Culpeper county, Virginia, in 1754. Her death occurred in Clark county in 1836. About the year 1783 she became the wife of Stephen Holladay, a farmer, who is described as having dark hair and hazel eyes and whose weight was about two hundred and twenty pounds. They reared seven children, the eldest being Elliott Holladay, the grandfather of our subject, who was born in 1,86, two years after his father removed to Kentucky. In 1812 he volunteered at Win- chester. Kentucky, to fight the Indians who were on the war path, causing great trouble to the people of the new state. He became a member of Can- tain John Martin's Company and participated in the hard-fought engage- ments on the 18th and 22d of January, 1813. On the latter date he was taken prisoner at Winchester at the defeat on the river Raisin. He suffered greatly from cold and from cruel treatment and finally was obliged to give up his gun in order to save his life. After being exchanged he made his way home, where he arrived in April. 1813. The following year he marrie 1
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Rachel Johnson, who was born in 1791 and whose parents were from Maryland.
In 1833 Elliott Holladay went to Missouri and after selecting a location returned to his Kentucky home, which was about twelve miles from Lex- ington. On the 16th of August, 1834, he started with his family for Mis- souri. They spent a month on the road, making the trip in wagons. There were eleven white people and eleven slaves in the party and eventually they reached their destination in safety. The father died in Missouri, in 1869, and the mother in 1874, each being eighty-three years of age at the time of their death. They held membership in the Christian church, with which Mr. Holladay united in 1810. his wife in 1841. They were the parents of eleven children, all of whom were born in Clark county, Kentucky, with the exception of Margaret. the youngest, whose birth occurred in Pike county, Missouri. Seven of the number are yet living,-three sons and four daugh- ters. The sons, Samuel W., Lewis and Owen, aged respectively eighty-two, seventy and sixty-seven years, have never been married, and they now reside together upon the old home farm in Pike county, Missouri, where they have lived for sixty-five years. The place comprises five hundred and ten acres of rich and valuable land, unsurpassed by any farm in the blue- grass region of Kentucky. The daughters living are Mrs. Martha Jane Purse, of Kansas City; Mrs. Emily Crutcher, of Bowling Green, Missouri ; Mrs. Margaret J. Smith, who is living near Cyrene, Missouri; and Mrs. Sarah Pritchett, of Montgomery county, same state. Those who have passed away are James W., Mrs. Mary Crutcher, Mrs. N. A. Hickman and Mrs. Eliza Ann Crutcher .- the last mentioned being the mother of the subject of this article. J. W. Crutcher, whose name introduces this review, was reared under the parental roof until nineteen years of age and pursued his education in a district school near his home and later in Watson Seminary, in Ashley. Pike county. Missouri.
In 1863, at the age of twenty-one years, he came to California, crossing the plains to Sacramento, where he arrived in December of that year. On January 1, 1864. he went to Placer county and took charge of a turnpike road which was at that time the property of Jefferson Wilcoxson, of Sac- ramento, where he remained until the spring of 1868, during this period living alone and doing his own cooking and washing. He then returned to Sacramento, and in the fall and winter of that year he took a course in the Pacific Business College in San Francisco. In February, 1860. he returned to Sacramento and took a position in the office of Jefferson Wil- coxson, his former employer, where he remained until the summer of 1870, when he went to Jacksonville, Oregon, and where he secured a position as a bookkeeper in the store of Major J. T. Glenn. Remaining there until the summer of 1874. he returned to the Golden state, locating at Jacinto in Cohisa county, where he became the bookkeeper for Dr. H. J. Glenn, with whom he remained until 1876. In October of that year he located at Will- iams, where he established a grocery store, successfully conducting that enter-
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prise until the fall of 1896, when he sold out and for two years thereafter he had no business except that of notary public and insurance.
On the 3d of June, 1875, Mr. Crutcher was united in marriage to Anna E. Houchins, near Jacinto, in Colnsa county, a native of Missouri, and to them were born twelve children, but three are now deceased. Those living are Clarence WV., born March 19, 1876; Samuel Earl, March 1, 1881 ; Leona, October 17, 1882; Ella, June 11, 1884; James W., Jr., November 17, 1885 : Everett Crawford, September 25, 1889; Harry Honchins, October 23, 1890; Glenn Ellis, October 1, 1892; and Anabel, January 19, 1895. Those deceased are Edward Wallar. born January 15, 1878, and died November 28, 1878; Essie Glenn, born October 1, 1879, and died July 2. 1888; and Leonard, born March 10, 1888, and died November 4. 1888. Those living are all yet at home, and one son, Clarence W'., is serving as deputy county clerk.
Mrs. Crutcher is a daughter of Samuel Honchins, now deceased. Samuel Houchins was a native of Mercer county, Kentucky, born January 14, 1827. In 1844 he entered Bacon College, at Harrodsburg. Kentucky, and remained in that institution four years. In 1849 he married Miss Belinda Burks, a native of Kentucky, and in the following year removed to Monroe county, Missouri, locating near Paris, the county seat. He came to Colusa county in 1872, was elected superintendent of schools in 1875, holding that office by re-election until 1882, and in 1888 was elected auditor of Colusa county and re-elected in 1890 and continued to hold that office up to the time of his death, May 27, 1892.
The first office that Mr. Crutcher filled was that of justice of the peace in Williams, in the years 1877 and 1878. He has never been an aspirant for political honors, and with that exception never sought preferment along political lines until 1898, when he was elected county clerk and recorder. He is still serving in that position and is a most capable official. In politics he has always been a stanch Democrat since casting his first presidential vote for George B. McClellan. Socially he is connected with the Masonic fraternity. and his wife is a member of the Christian church. They are prominent people of the community in which they make their home, enjoying the high regard of many warm friends, and in this volume they well deserve mention as worthy citizens in this section of the state.
DANIEL O. BAKER.
For the third time Daniel Oliver Baker has filled the office of county auditor, and no higher testimonial of his capable service can be given. Alt incompetent man may be elected to office, but the good sense of the Amer- ican people does not permit of his retention in such a place, and when twice re-elected by popular ballot it is an unmistakable indication that Mr. Baker's service has been creditable to himself and satisfactory to his constituents.
Mr. Baker was born in Linn county, Missouri, March 28. 1855. In 1864 the family went across the plains in wagons to Linn county, Oregon,
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where they remained for four years. In 1868 they removed to Colusa county, California. He spent the first eighteen years of his life on his father's farm, assisting in the work of the fields from the time that he was old enough to guide a plow. He became a resident of Colusa county at the age of fourteen. A few years later he accepted a clerkship in the town of Colusa, occupying that position for three and a half years. At the age of twenty he accepted another position in which he remained for two and a half years, and later he returned to the farm upon which his brother and family were living. In 1877 he served for five months as a bookkeeper for a miller, and in the latter part of 1878 he broke his leg, which prevented him from engaging in active business for a time. In 1879 he went to Shasta county, where he was employed on a ranch, and for six years he was in the service of Mr. Peart, of Grand Island. In Jan- uary, 1890, he went to Maxwell, where he engaged in clerking for three years. and in the spring of 1892 he was made a candidate for county auditor of Colusa county, on the Democratic ticket. The election returns showed that he was a popular choice for that office, for he received a majority of two hun- dred and fifty. On the expiration of the term he was again nominated, and so acceptably had he served that at the second election he received a majority of thirteen hundred. In 1898 he was once more chosen for the office, by a majority of four hundred, and is now filling the position. He is quite promi- nent in political circles and is a recognized leader in the ranks of the party in the community.
While on Grand Island Mr. Baker was united in marriage on the 16th of November, 1881. to Miss Ada Winship, who was born on a ranch at Grand Island and was eighteen years of age at the time of her marriage. They now have three children living .- Agnes V., Percy W. and Bernie. They also lost one child, who died at the age of three months.
Mr. Baker is an active member of the Independent Order of Odd Fel- lows and is also a valued representative of the Foresters and the Ancient Order of United Workmen. His wife holdls membership in the Christian church. and Deborah ( Rebekah degree ) Lodge, No. 7. and like her husband enjoys the high regard of many friends. The family possess considerable musical ability which is highly appreciated in the church choir. During the greater part of his life Mr. Baker has resided in Colusa county and has always commanded the respect of those with whom he is associated. In his business dealings he has been honorable and straightforward and in social life he possesses many qualities that render him popular and a favorite among his friends.
JABEZ TURNER.
Jabez Turner is one who through many years has been identified with the industrial interests of Sacramento, now occupying a responsible position in the service of the Southern Pacific Railroad Company, as foreman of the wood-working department in the locomotive shops of that company. His residence in California covers a period of thirty-five years. He is a native of England, his birth having occurred in Northamptonshire, near the town
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of Kettring, on the 25th of October, 1828. His parents were George and Amy ( Panter ) Turner, who lived together for fifty-seven years and seven months. They had fourteen children, twelve of whom reached years of ma- turity, one sister and one brother passing away in early childhood. The fa- the was a grazier and dealt extensively in cattle. The early history of the family is only known through tradition, but it is believed that for many gen- erations the ancestors of our subject were born and lived in Northampton- shire and were representatives of the Puritan sect.
Mr. Turner, of this review, received but limited educational privileges, but throughout his life he has read and studied, and possessing an observ- ing eye and retentive memory he has added largely to his fund of knowledge, becoming a well informed man. He left the schoolroom when a youth of fourteen to become an apprentice at the trade of carpentering and joining. and when his term was completed he assumed the management of a small manufacturing business for his widowed sister. Three years later she died and the business was closed out. Mr. Turner then determined to emigrate to the United States, for he had heard favorable accounts of the opportuni- ties and advantages afforded ambitious young men in the new world. He sailed from Liverpool on the 8th of August, 1852, and arrived in New York on the 20th of September. He made his way to Schenectaday, that state, where he had a brother living, and about the Ist of June, 1853, removed to Syracuse, New York, where he was employed in railroad shops until Sep- tember, 1854. At that date he became a resident of Hamilton, Canada, and was made the foreman of a railroad shop, a position which he acceptably filled until April, 1859, when he went to Grand Rapids, Michigan. In Oc- tober of that year he removed to Torch Lake, which is east of Grand Trav- erse Bay, but the following spring returned to the railroad shops in Syra- cuse. New York, being thus employed until October, 1862, when he removed to Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin. On account of his wife's failing health, how- ever, he once more went to New York, in May. 1863, there remaining until the Ist of April, 1864. when he came to California, by way of the isthmus route.
Through the intervening years Mr. Turner has been actively connected with the industrial interests of this state, and belongs to that class of rep- resentative American citizens who, while advancing their individual pros- perity, aid in promoting the general welfare. He was employed in San Francisco until September, 1864, when, on the 8th of that month, he sailed for Honolulu, landing on the island on the 25th. There he had charge of the erection of a sugar mill, built for the owner of one of the first large plantations on the island of Oahu. On the 2d of March, 1865, he again sailed for this country, reaching the Golden Gate on the 25th of the month. On the Ist of April, following, he entered the employ of the San Francisco & Alameda Railroad Company, and was in that service until the road became a part of the property of the Central Pacific Railroad Company, with which he continued until November 14. 1871. At that time he was transferred to the shops in Sacramento and given his present position as foreman of the
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wood-workers in the locomotive department. For almost thirty-five years he has been connected with this railroad company and its predecessor .- a fact which stands in unmistakable evidence of his mechanical and executive ability and his fidelity to duty.
On the 16th of June, 1852, in the land of his nativity, Mr. Turner was united in marriage to Elizabeth Daniels, who accompanied him on his emi- gration to the new world. During their residence in Syracuse a daughter was born to them, on the 2d of December, 1853, and they became the par- ents of a son in Hamilton, Canada, on the 6th of June, 1856, but the mother and child soon died. The daughter, now Mrs. Emma Norton, is living in San Fran- cisco. Mr. Turner was again married. August 10, 1857. his second union being with Miss Elizabeth Mann. The wedding was celebrated in Syracuse, New York, and in Hamilton, Canada, on the 2d of October, 1858. a son, Ralph. was born to them. He has for nine years been a resident of Honolulu. The mother died in Syracuse, in July, 1863, and on the 2d of July, 1866, Mr. Turner wedded Miss Nancy Phelps, in San Francisco. In 1813 her paternal grandparents removed from New Hampshire to Ohio, and in the early '50s her parents came to California, where they completed a happy mar- ried life of fifty-one years. Mr. and Mrs. Turner now have four children : Amy, born June 6, 1867: Lucy, born June 25. 1869; Frederick, born March 15. 1872; and Sidney, born October 9. 1878.
Mr. Turner is widely recognized as one of the leading and influential citizens of Sacramento. He was elected the mayor of the city in March, 1878, on what was known as the State Workingmen's ticket. He served for three years, and his administration was a progressive one, many reforms and improvements being put in operation under his direction. He is not strictly partisan and feels that he is not bound by any party ties, yet he is a man of decided convictions on all questions affecting the welfare and per- manence of our republican institutions. He is now serving as a director of the Sacramento Free Library and the Sacramento Building & Loan Associa- tion. He belongs to no secret, political or social societies excepting a whist club. At all times he is recognized as a public-spirited and progressive man who gives his loyal support to every movement calculated to prove a public benefit. lle was reared in the austere faith of Calvinism, but has long since evolved a creed satisfactory to himself of unfettered thought in the matter of religion. He expresses his belief in the following words: "To my view life with all its concomitants is bounded by earthly existence, 'and all be- yond is barred to human ken.'"
JAMES MCCAULEY.
James McCauley, a very highly respected California pioneer of 1849 residing at Ione, was born in Virginia, on the 4th of January, 1828. at the head waters of the Roanoke river in Montgomery county. He is of Scotch- Irish lineage, his grandparents having removed from Scotland to the county of Ulster, Ireland, whence representatives of the name came to America in
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1720, locating in New Hampshire, where the grandfather of our subject was born and resided for many years, there raising his family. He fought in the Revolutionary war, valiantly aiding the colonists in establishing American independence. John McCauley, the father of our subject, was born in New Hampshire and removed to Virginia when a young man. In the latter state he married Miss Cynthia Robinson, who was born in the Old Dominion. In the county of his adoption Mr. McCauley became a man of much influence and was a recognized leader in the Democratic party. He was a warm friend of William Smith, the governor of Virginia, and of Hon. Ballard Preston, who served as the secretary of the navy under President Taylor. He was born in 1795 and died during the period of the Civil war, at the age of sixty- eight years. By his first marriage he had four children and by his second marriage eight.
Mr. McCauley, of this review, was the eldest son and second child of the first marriage. His mother died in the thirty-second year of her age. She was a devout Methodist and an earnest Christian woman who had the warm regard of all with whom she was associated. In the academy at Salem, Roanoke county, Mr. James McCauley acquired his education.
He had just attained his majority when the discovery of gold was made in California, attracting to the Pacific slope hundreds of men from all parts of the country. He joined a joint stock company and with mule teams they crossed the plains, reaching their destination after a tiresome journey of one hundred days. Although the trip was a tedious one they were unmo- lested by the Indians, nor did they experience many of the trials which fall to the lot of emigrants. They arrived in Sacramento city, when it was only a camp. Captain George Tyler, who conducted the company, and twenty- nine others composed the party.
Mr. McCauley engaged in mining on the Yuba river, but was not suc- cessful in his ventures there and returned to Sacramento. Later he went to Placerville, where he made some money, although none of the miners of that locality had any wonderful finds. They were all inexperienced and concluded that the gold of the rivers and creeks must have been washed down from some great gold bluff from the mountains, and he and others went over on "a wild-goose chase" in search of the supposed gold bhiffs. After many tiresome days of travel they returned, reporting that they could not find the great gold bluffs from which they had expected to take the precious metal in large pieces. Subsequently they went to Georgetown. Mr. McCauley loaned his money to Messrs. Tyler & Parrish, who engaged in taking sup- plies eastward along the route over which the emigrants came. This was an act of benevolence and at the same time a source of profit, for as they neared their destination many of the emigrants were almost destitute, their supplies having given out.
Later Captain Tyler and his company became the owners of the Hardy land grant and Mr. McCauley worked for them, taking care of cattle on Cache creek. He was with them two years and then engaged in farming six hundred acres of land at Cacheville until 1856. In that venture he made
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some money by the raising of stock and crops, but lost much of this, and when his funds were almost exhausted he was elected the assessor of Yolo county, in which office he served for four years. He then engaged in con- ducting a hotel in Clarksville, in Eldorado county, and when three years had passed he came to Amador county, where, on the Q ranch, he began raising deciduous fruits. In that business he met with good success. In 1873 he took up his abode in Ione, where he again conducted a hotel, being the pro- prietor of the Arcade Hotel and later the Commercial Hotel, which he con- ducted until 1892, when he retired from active business, having in the mean- time acquired a handsome competence that supplied him with all the com- forts and many of the hixuries of life. At one time during his business career in California he met with a serious loss by fire, which seriously crip- pled him financially, but with characteristic energy he began the task of re- trieving his lost possessions and his labors were at length crowned with success.
In 1868 Mr. McCauley became a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and has since been one of its valued workers, holding various offices and at the present time serving as the financial secretary of the lodge at Jone. He is a man of superior intelligence and has done some literary work in connection with various journals. He is a very kind-hearted man, generous almost to a fault, and greatly to his credit can it be said that while he was born in the south and many of his friends were in the Confederate army during the Civil war, he was a loyal advocate of the Union cause, strongly upholding the central government at Washington. At that time he allied his interests with the Republican party and has since faithfully worked in its ranks. He served for one term as a justice of the peace and is at present holding the same position. . At one time was nominated for the state legislature, but through a division in the party was defeated.
In 1857 Mr. McCauley was united in marriage to J. E. Winchel, a native of Illinois. She is a member of the Presbyterian church and all of the family attend that church and take an active interest in its work. The marriage of Mr. and Mrs. McCauley has been blessed with five children, and the family circle yet remains unbroken by the hand of death. Their children are Florence, now the wife of Dr. A. L. Adams, a prominent physician of Ione: Calla, the wife of C. M. Wooster, of San Jose: Gladys, at home : Lena, the wife of J. M. Maddox, of Sacramento; and Erma, who is with her par- ents. The family is one of prominence in the community and the members of the househokl occupy leading positions in social circles.
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