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 56
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lish army under the Duke of Wellington, participating in many engagements of the peninsular wars. On the maternal side Mr. Green is descended from the McQuade family, his ancestors in that line having been residents of Ire- land for many generations. The father of the Judge served throughout the war of the rebellion in America, being a member of Company K. First Mas- -achusetts Cavalry. He took part in nearly every engagement in Florida and through the Butler campaign in that state, in Georgia and about Richmond. Hle was one of twelve young men who entered the service together, but ten of the number sleep in graves on southern battle-fields, Mr. Green and one of his comrades being the only two of the number who escaped.
Robert E. Green, whose name introduces this review, is the eldest of a family of eight children and was only two years of age when brought by his parents to Nevada county, California. Here he was reared and educated. pursing his studies in the public schools. He entered upon his business Grech at a very early age and has been employed in various capacities. For two years he was the night clerk in the hotel at Marysville, after which he returned to Grass Valley and worked at the blacksmith's trade for eighteen months. Subsequently he was employed in a tailoring establishment ; but. Indding neither the hammer nor the needle to his taste, he entered upon the steady of law and in this profession he has been very successful. He was orst a student in the office of P. T. Riley, then district attorney, and after eighteen months continued his studies under the direction of A. Burrows. attorney at law. His last preceptor was P. H. Painter, who had filled the office of justice of the peace for twenty-eight years, and upon his retirement Mr. Green was appointed to fill out the unexpired term and in 1898 was elected to the office for a term of four years, so that he is the present incum- bent. Hle is strictly fair and impartial in the discharge of his duty and his rulings are based upon a comprehensive knowledge of the law. His sympathy Has ever been with the Republican party, whose principles he warmly advo- cates, believing that they contain the best elements of good government.
Ile has been connected with the Grass Valley fire department for four years, and socially he affiliates with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. in which he has taken the uniformed rank degree, is a member of the Bener- olent and Protective Order of Elks, and also belongs to the Knights of Pythias and to the Ancient Order of United Workmen ; and in his social relations he has won the respect and confidence of his brethren of the respective fra- ternities. lle is a man of strong mentality, of great force of character and of unquestioned ability, and his friends predict for him a successful future.
GEORGE S. MAKER.
For many years this California "49er." George Samuel Maker, has been prominent business factor in the town of Dutch Flat. His long identity with this locality and his prominence render a review of his life of more than prissing interest in the present work, and the following facts regarding his 1 fe have been gleahed for publication.
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George Samuel Maker is a native of Germany. He was born August 15, 1822. a son of German parents, and at a very early age was brought to this country. At Monroe, Michigan, he received his schooling. In early man- hood he was variously occupied in Michigan, from there went to Cleveland, Ohio, where he had an eating-house, and from Cleveland went to New Orleans, at the latter place running a cigar and oyster establishment. Later he drifted further south, and in 1846 went from New Orleans to the Rio Grande river. Returning to the Crescent city, he loaded a schooner with brandy and whisky, to be sold at the different ports on the river. This business venture being made without the knowledge that General Taylor had issued an order for- bidding the sale of liquor there, his cargo was confiscated. and he afterward saw it at the army headquarters. It had cost him sixteen hundred dollars and was a total loss, which he deeply felt at that time.
In 1849. as one of a party of ninety-six members, he started for Cali- formia. While in Mexico on the journey one of the company discharged his pistol to clean it. The soldiers, coming up at that time and hearing the report. arrested the company and demanded the man who had done the shooting : and. notwithstanding the fact that the travelers explained the cause of the shot. they were compelled to pay a fine of twenty-five dollars before they were allowed to proceed! Soon after this they secured passage on a French bark bound for San Francisco. On account of the very slow passage which this vessel made, its supplies were reduced and passengers had to be put on short allowance. At last only a little hard-tack and a small quantity of stale water was allowed each person daily.
Finally, however. they arrived safe in San Francisco, and after a short time spent there Mr. Maker went up to Deer Creek. now Nevada City, where he saw some gold that had been brought from the Yuba. He went to South Yuba and at Missouri Bar learned to wash the dirt and at once settled down to mining, in which he was successful there. He had the good fortune to find « ne piece of gold worth five hundred and fifty-four dollars, and the same day he found that nugget his day's work brought him six hundred dollars. At Missouri Bar he remained until 1853. That year he bought a log cabin on the ridge, in which he opened a store and meat market and where he also kept what was sometimes called a hotel. This business he ran until 1858. making about three thousand dollars, after which he sold his house and the land on which it was located, reserving, however, the timber on the land. His next enterprise was to build a sawmill, which he ran for a number of years. After retiring from the sawmill business he resided in Nevada, and from there in 1864 came to Dutch Flat, where for the past thirty-six years he has been engaged in merchandising, meeting with prosperity and earning the distinction of having the largest establishment and being the oldest mer- chant in the town. He owns the building in which his store is located and also has a commodious residence near by, both in the center of the town.
Mr. Maker is a man of a family. He was married. in 1858. to Miss Lena Talbot. a native of Cork. Ireland, and of the five children that have been given them four are living, namely: Hannah, the wife of Alexander
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Drayman: George and William, in business with their father; and Mary, the wife of William Bowen, of Dutch Flat.
While a resident of Nevada Mr. Maker received the first degree in Masonry, and after his location in Dutch Flat was given the other degrees of the blue lodge, in which he still retains membership. In his political views he has always harmonized with the Republican party.
GEORGE Z. HODGES.
George Zeigler Hodges, now deceased, was a widely known California pioneer of 1850. At the time of his death, October 20. 1897. he was an esteemed resident of Milton, Calaveras county. He was born in Sandwich, Carroll county, New Hampshire. December 18. 1815. He came of honorable ancestry, his father having taken part in the Revolutionary war, and his forefathers being among the first settlers in the state who had emigrated from Scotland and Wales.
Gur subject was reared and educated in his native state, but removed to Boston, Massachusetts, at a later date, engaging there in business some years prior to his departure for California. In that city he married Miss Eliza Drew, a native of Holderness, New Hampshire, who was born there June 15. 1814. In 1849 Mr. Ilodges became interested in the gold discoveries of California and sailed from Boston, in December, in the sailing ship Herculean. He took with him many useful articles, including a complete miner's outht :mnd articles for sale to the miners. His voyage around the Horn was snc cessfully made and he reached San Francisco in good health, immediately -ettling at Coyote Flat, now Robinson's Ferry, in Calaveras county. He begth working in the mines through Calaveras. Tuolumne and other countries until he took charge of a hotel in Springfield, going from there in the same Business to Copperopolis and San Francisco. He retained the management of the Copperopolis Hotel until the time of his death, it now being the property of his daughter. Mrs. I. N. Neely.
In 1852 Mrs. Ilodges started on the long journey to join her husband. leaving behind her the five children, to be educated in Boston. Her trip was one of thany adventures. At the best of times it was a very trying one for a refine I woman, but particularly so for one alone and unaccustomed to hard- ship. She was obliged to ride on a mule across the isthmus of Panama, and the ship in which she then took passage was wrecked on the coast of Cali- fornia. The passengers were saved in boats, but the ship went to pieces on the rocks Mrs. Hodges finally reached her husband, and until her death was a futhful hdpmate. She was a woman of superior character. brave and resourceful. one of the pioneer women of the state whose lives have been immortalized in song and story. In spite of deprivations of all kinds, Mrs. Ilodges was spared to her family until she reached the age of eighty-two years, her husband surviving her but one year.
The children of Mr. and Mrs. Hodges came to California in 1855. these belifg - Maria F., now Mrs. Isaac N. Neely, of Milton : George Henry,
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Eugene L., Adalaide and Josephine,-all deceased ; and Henrietta, the wife of H. W. Wright, of San Francisco. The family is a highly respected one. and among the old pioneers of the state Mr. and Mrs. Hodges' names are remembered with esteem.
SAMUEL N. KNIGHT.
Samuel N. Knight, a prominent business man of Sutter Creek and one of the leading owners of the Sutter Creek Foundry & Machine Works, was born in Brunswick, Maine, on the 14th of November, 1838, and is of English lineage. His grandfather, John Knight, was a native of England and with his family came to America when William Knight. the father of our subject. was only two years of age, the date of their arrival in Watertown, Massa- chusetts, being 1809. They afterward removed to the Pine Tree state, and the grandfather died in Bowdoinham, Maine, in the eighty-second year of his age. William Knight, after arriving at years of maturity, married Miriam Walker and resided upon a farm. Both he and his wife were con- sistent members of the Baptist church, and in that faith he died, in his sev- enty-fifth year, while his wife was called to her final home in her forty-ninth year.
The subject of this review obtained his education in his native state and when fourteen years of age began to learn the ship-joiner's trade. Subse- quently he removed to Florida and obtained employment in machine works. where he was employed at the breaking out of the Civil war. He was on the boat which captured Fort McCrea and Fort Barancas, but his sympathies were not in harmony with that side and accordingly he secured passage on a schooner bound for Boston, under the command of a captain who in Maine had been a near neighbor to Mr. Knight. The latter obtained work on a fleet which was being fitted out in New York for the Banks expedition and also worked on other vessels being fitted out for naval service in the war.
In 1862 he took passage on the Garibaldi for California, and after a voyage of five months landed at San Francisco, in 1863. He made his way at once to Calaveras county and began building quartz mills, his first work being the construction of a ten-stamp mill on Calaveras creek. Subsequently he came to Sutter Creek, where he was actively engaged in building mills. bridges and hoisting works. In 1874 he purchased an interest in a machine shon in this place, with which he has since been connected. and under his man- nagement it has grown to be one of the most important enterprises in the town, employing from fifty to seventy-five men. They manufacture centrif- ugal pumps, hydraulic engines and all kinds of mining machinery and their output is very extensive, which indicates the excellence of their products and their reliability in trade circles. Mr. Knight is also the inventor and patentee of a very valuable water wheel, which has been received with much favor and is now quite generally used in this section of the state. It is due to his ability, energy and discretion that the foundry has grown to its present large dimensions and that its history has been one of prosperity. He is also a
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stockholder in the electric light plant, which has proved a very desirable acqui- sition to the town.
M'r. Knight owns a nice residence in Sutter Creek and is one of the progressive and public-spirited citizens of the town, giving his support and co-operation to all measures which he believes will prove a public good. For many years he has been a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. His success is the deserved reward of his labors. He started out without capital, but by determined purpose has steadily worked his way upward, over- coming all difficulties and obstacles and at length reaching the plane of affluence.
JOHN MULROY.
The specific and distinctive office of the biographer is not to voice a man's forest estimate of himself and of his accomplishments, or indulge in extrav- agant praise, but rather to leave a perpetual record establishing his character by the consensus of opinion on the part of his fellow men. Mr. Mulroy is a man of great modesty, but his fellow citizens recognize his worth, and thus it was that he was called to the office of justice of the peace of Grass Valley, in which position he is now serving.
He is a native of Nevada county. California, born August 28. 1864. his parets being James and Catherine ( Lafferty) Mulroy, both of whom were natives of Ireland and came to California in 1852. Here the father engaged in mining until his death, which occurred in 1879. His wife, surviving him about sixteen years, passed away in 1895.
Judge Mulroy was reared and educated in the county of his nativity and began his professional study with Mr. Burroughs, of Grass Valley, for his preceptor. Ile applied himself closely to mastering the principles of juris- prudence and was admitted to the bar in 1891, since which time he has been actively engaged in practice in Grass Valley, winning a liberal patronage. In 1898 he was elected a justice of the peace and has discharged the duties of the office in a very creditable manner. His political support is given to the Democracy.
FRANK PIERCE OTIS.
One of the conspicuous public men of Sonora. Tuolumne county, Cali- forma. a well known lawyer and now the district attorney of this county. is Frank Pierce Otis, the subject of this sketch. He is a native of Garland. Penobert county. Maine, born there May 8, 1857, of English ancestry. He takes pride in his family tree, and finds that in 1655 his first progenitor came D. America from England and settled at Dover. New Hampshire, at which place occurred the birth of his son Richard, who at one time received a wound in battle with the Indians, about 1606. His son Stephen also had a son named Stephich, who was born in Dover but settled in Barrington, New Hampshire. Ilis son was Hezekiah, who became the great grandfather of our subject and Wh- born in Barrington in May. 1765. his son Benjamin's birth taking place myfc same town. in 1784. Benjamin Otis removed to Fairfield, Maine, and
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here, in 1824. Joel W. Otis was born, the father of our subject. All of these ancestors had been engaged in farming and many left large tracts of improved land.
Joel Otis married Miss Francina Pooler, a native of Maine and a grand- daughter of a soldier of the Revolutionary war. Mr. Otis engaged in farm- ing until his death at the age of seventy-four, his wife having died prior to this, in her sixty-seventh year. A family of three children were born to them, all of whom are living, but our subject is the only one in California.
Frank Pierce Otis was reared in his native state, where he received his primary education in the public schools, later entering Bates College at Lewiston, Maine, at which institution of learning he graduated with honor in the class of 1879. Immediately beginning the reading of law, he was admitted to practice in 1881, and the following year he came to California, and in 1883 was admitted to practice in this state. In 1885 Mr. Otis located in Sonora and began his law practice, receiving such immediate encouragement that his success became assured. In 1886 he was elected to the office of dis- trict attorney, filling that office most satisfactorily for ten years, proving himself a capable prosecutor and a good criminal lawver.
The marriage of Mr. Otis took place in May, 1887, when he was united to Miss Lizzie McGuire, a native of this city and a daughter of James McGuire. Three children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Otis,-Chester F., Beth E. and Lloyd J.
Fraternally Mr. Otis is connected with the Masons, the Odd Fellows, the Knights of Pythias and the Foresters, in all of which he is esteemed on account of personal qualifications. The home of Mr. Otis is one of the best improved and attractive in the city, and both he and his family are among the most respected in the community.
JOHN F. DAVIS.
A distinguished representative of the bar, Judge Davis has won prom- inence in connection with the legal profession and the political interests of the state, his name being deeply engraved on the judicial records of northern California. A resident of Jackson, Amador county, he was born on Angel island, Marin county, this state, on the 5th of June. 1859. His father. John F. Davis, was a native of county Wexford, Ireland, and when very young came to California. In 1858 he was united in marriage to Miss Mary Scally, a descendant of the noted O'Kane family of Dunseverick. The father in 1860 lost his life by drowning in the bay of San Francisco. His untimely death left his widow with two children,-John F. and Margaret. Though she afterward married and the issue of the marriage was a son, named Edward. the young widow at first had a hard struggle, and Judge Davis has always claimed that he owed everything in life to his mother.
The Judge obtained his preliminary education in the (then) North Cos- mopolitan grammar school of San Francisco, and later attended the Boys' High School of that city, being graduated at the latter institution in the
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class of 1876. Subsequently he took a post-graduate course vi one year under Professor W. T. Reid, who was afterward the president of the State Uni- versity. Thus well prepared for college, in 1877 Mr. Davis entered Harvard University at Cambridge, Massachusetts, and was graduated in 1881, with the degree of Bachelor of Arts, winning high honors in his class. Ile was chosen as one of the commencement orators of the graduation exercises, and won the respect and admiration of his fellow students as well as his preceptors by his excellent scholarship. After the completion of his college course he returned to California and entered the Hastings College of Law, at which he was graduated in 1884, being again chosen one of the orators on the occasion of the graduation exercises. . Achmitted to the bar by the supreme court of the state, he at once began practice. In order to pursue his law studies he taught Greek and mathematics in San Francisco and Berkeley during the three years in which he prepared for his chosen profession. The self-reliance, resolution and energy which thus enabled him to make his own way through the law schools have been important factors in his later success.
Bec ming a member of the San Francisco bar, Mr. Davis practiced there for a short time, after which he spent two years in Europe, in travel and study, becoming proficient in the French and German languages through daily use of the same. He attended a course of lectures in Paris at the Ecole des Sciences Politiques, and later returned to California, taking up his resi- denice i. Calaveras county in order to assist in the management of the Esmer- alda gold mine. However, after a few years spent in the management of that mining property, he resumed the practice of law and soon won distinctive preferment as a representative of the legal profession. In the fall of 1892 he was the Republican candidate for congress in the second district of the state, but met defeat in the great Democratic tidal wave of that year. A monty after the election Governor Markham appointed him judge of the Superior court of Amador county, to serve out the unexpired term of Judge C. B Armstrong, deceased. At that time Judge Davis transferred his resi- dence to Jackson, where he has since made his home. Upon the expiration of his term on the bench he declined his party's nomination for that office and roumed the private practice of law, in which he has met with gratifying Doces, retaining a large and distinctively representative clientage.
On the 26th of November. 1896, the Judge was happily married to Miss Lillian Parks, a native of Sierra county. California, and a daughter of James F. Packs, who is the superintendent of the Kennedy mine, of Amador county. They now have two interesting little daughters, Mary and Ruth. Judge Davis is a member of the Native Sons of the Golden West. taking an active part in its work and being often a member of the grand parlor. He is also a member of the Harvard and Union League Clubs of San Francisco, of the Beta Theta Pi Greek letter fraternity, and of the California State Miners' Association. In politics he is a stanch Republican, active in the minventi ms of his party and earnest in his advocacy of its principles. In 1808 he was elected to the state senate from the fourteenth district, an office which he still hokls.
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While undoubtedly he is not without that honorable ambition which is so powerful and useful an incentive to activity in public affairs, he regards the pursuits of private life as being in themselves abundantly worthy of his best efforts. His is a noble character,-one that subordinates personal ambi- tion to public good and seeks rather the benefit of others than the aggrandize- ment of self. His career has been conspicuously successful. Endowed by nature with high intellectual qualities, to which have been added the discipline and embellishment of culture, his is a most attractive personality. Well versed in the learning of his profession and with a deep knowledge of human nature and oi the springs of human conduct, with great shrewdness and sagacity and extraordinary tact, he has been in the courts an advocate of great power and influence. Both judges and jurors always hear him with attention and deep interest, and to-day he occupies a leading position in the ranks of the legal fraternity of northern California.
EDWARD MALLOWS.
Edward Mallows is the well known proprietor of the Dutch Flat Hotel, and his identification with the interests of Dutch Flat dates from the pioneer epoch of the town. The traveler of to-day as he passes through California and views its highly cultivated farms, its splendid orchards, its improved mining plants, its thriving town and cities, can scarcely realize that this great change has been wrought in less than half a century. Very different from the present. indeed. was the condition of the state when Edward Mallows came to California, in 1856. He experienced want and many of the hard- ships of the early days, but by his own exertions has overcome all difficulties and now in his advanced years has a comfortable competence to supply him with the necessities of life, and enjoys the respect of his fellow townsmen.
A native of New York, he was born in the town of Lyons, on the 15th of November, 1834, and is of English and German lineage. His father, Sam- 11el Mallows, was a native of England, and after emigration to the United States was married, in Paterson, New Jersey, to Miss Margaret Ervin, a native of that state and of German descent. Some time afterward they removed to Lyons, New York, where the father followed his trade, that of brick mason. While thus engaged he sustained an injury that resulted in his death. His widow was left with the care of her two children, a daughter and son, the latter being but two years of age. The daughter, Samantha, sub- sequently became the wife of Dr. R. C. Green, of Chicago. The widow after- ward again married, and with her second husband removed to Canton, Fulton county, Illinois. She lived to the advanced age of seventy-eight years and departed this life in Chicago.
When Edward Mallows was seven years old he was bound out to live with a Mr. Holt until he became fifteen years of age. After he had been with that man for a time he wished to go home to see his mother and the other members of the family, but Holt whipped him and forbade him going. so he ran away and went to live with Ansel Kimball, an acquaintance of the
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