USA > California > Merced County > A history of Merced County, California : with a biographical review of the leading men and women of the county who have been identified with its growth and development from the early days to the present > Part 38
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James Cunningham was a Democrat and took an active part in the councils of that party, serving as a delegate to county and State conventions, and held the office of supervisor from 1860 to 1864. He served for many years as a school trustee. It was ever his policy to elevate the standard of education and he contributed liberally of his means to that end. He was made a Mason in Ireland and demitted to La Grange (now Yosemite ) Lodge No. 99, F. & A. M. of Merced. In his long and eventful life he had many interesting and thrilling experiences. Of the latter, one incident will perpetuate his memory for generations. This was in 1862, during the flood at Snelling that threatened the lives of thirty-five people who sought refuge in the trees when the hotel was washed away from its foundation. Accus- tomed as a sailor to act quickly when danger threatened, he, with the assistance of others, among them Judge Breen, Hon. W. H. Howard, and a Mr. Perkins, constructed a raft and by hard work and great danger to their own lives, safely rescued the people from their perilous position.
In the later years of his life he was in the enjoyment of all his faculties, could read without glasses when past eighty, and took an active interest in all topics of the day and in the improvement of his property.
JOHN SANDERSON SWAN
As a city trustee of Merced and former sheriff of Merced County, John Sanderson Swan has been intimately associated with the public life of this locality for many years. He was born in Waterford, Maine, September 30, 1849, a son of Thomas and Eliza (Sander-
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J. J. STEVINSON
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son) Swan, of Welsh and Scotch ancestors, respectively. Both par- ents are deceased.
John Sanderson Swan was educated in the public schools of his native state and in the Bridgeton Academy; at nineteen years of age he began to earn his own way in the world and for fifteen years was foreman for one company in New England. Ashisparents were getting old and needed his assistance, he went back to his home in Maine and remained with them until they both passed away. In 1881 he came to Merced County; the first year he was occupied with farm work, then he rented land and followed grain farming for twenty years, having as many as 6000 acres under cultivation in one season. For many years he conducted a livery stable business in Merced and was also engaged in buying and shipping of hogs from Merced and vicinity. He was elected sheriff of Merced County on the Democratic ticket and served for eight years with entire satisfaction to the public.
Mr. Swan has been married twice. The first time he was united with Miss Sarah Swan, the same name, but no relation; after her death he was subsequently married to Miss Eldora Fuller, a native of Rhode Island. In 1920 Mr. Swan was appointed to his present position of head janitor of the high school building, a responsible position which he capably fills. Fraternally he is an Odd Fellow and an Elk. As a good citizen he is now serving his second term as city trustee of Merced. Politically he votes for the best men and measures.
JAMES J. STEVINSON
Among the outstanding pioneers of Merced County there were none more widely known than the Stevinsons, father and son, Archi- bald W., and James J., who both were called "Colonel" by their inti- mate friends-not as a military title, however, but partly because they were from the South, and partly because of their participation in the Mexican War.
James J. Stevinson was born in Boone County Mo., on Novem- ber 6, 1828, the son of Archibald and Charlotte Stevinson. When he was five years old his mother died, and he and an older sister were placed with an uncle, Samuel Stevinson, and there the lad made his home and grew to young manhood. In 1846 he joined a trading train of General Kearney's Division and crossed the plains with Doni- phan's Regiment, en route to Mexico, spending that winter on the Del Norte River and on the road to Santa Fe, N. M. Resuming the journey again, he arrived at Chihauhau on March 1, 1847, and was happily surprised to meet his father, whom he had not seen for eleven
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years and who was engaged in merchandising there. He visited with him for two months and then joined the soldiers and arrived at Sal- tillo, where the troops met General Wool's Division. Mr. Stevinson remained at Saltillo until the close of the war, after which he returned to Chihuahua, with two companions, making the trip on mule back, a distance of 600 miles, in seven and one-half days. Here he again met his father, with whom he remained until December 27, 1848, when he started on his trip via Durango and Mazatlan, to San Fran- cisco, where he arrived on March 25, 1849, "flat broke," having spent thirty days on the water, which he often referred to as thirty-five days-on account of the hardships endured.
Mr. Stevinson went to the mines on Mormon Gulch, Tuolumne County, and followed mining during the months of April and May, 1849, with fair success; he then acted as agent for Colonel Jack- son, at Jacksonville, for three months. Then, his father arriving here from Mexico, they formed a partnership and carried on a gen- eral merchandise business in Mariposa County from November, 1849, to August, 1852, when James J. Stevinson arrived in what is now Merced County. Here he obtained a large tract of land and began agricultural pursuits, and in time developed one of the most produc- tive ranches and had one of the most beautiful homes in the entire San Joaquin Valley. He had 15,000 acres of land and about 1500 head of cattle and some 3000 sheep, besides other stock. The resi- dence is on the left bank of the Merced River, upon which, in early days, stern-wheel steamers used to run and gather up the grain stored along the banks. In the course of time Mr. Stevinson accumulated 25,000 acres of land. He farmed on a large scale, raising stock and grain, and became one of the wealthy men of the county.
On December 27, 1855, James J. Stevinson was united in mar- riage with Miss Louisa Jane Cox, daughter of Isham J. Cox, of Cox's Ferry on the Merced River. She was born in Illinois and was brought to California by her parents. They had three children : Samuel, Mary E., and Fannie B. After a long and useful life, filled with good works, not alone for his own family, but for the people of Merced County in general, James J. Stevinson passed to his reward on November 13, 1907, at the age of seventy-nine years.
Archibald W. Stevinson, the father of James J., was born in Clark County, Ky., in 1804, and received a good education in his native State. He was a man of high intelligence, and a farmer by occupation. When he was twenty he moved to Boone County, Mo., where he married; and there his children were born. In 1830 he engaged in the Santa Fe trade. Business required him to journey between Independence, Mo., and Chihuahua, Mexico, and he made
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these trips no less than nine times during the eighteen years he was engaged in this business. He set out for California on April 10, 1849, and reached Los Angeles in July. He was engaged in various mercantile operations in California and arrived in what is now Merced County on September 23, 1852, settling on the Stevinson ranch; and there he died in 1883, aged seventy-nine years.
There were three children born to Col. A. W. and Charlotte Stev- inson, namely : James J., Elizabeth March, and Charlotte Silman.
IRWIN JAY BUCKLEY
As justice of the peace of Township No. 1, in Merced County, Irwin Jay Buckley is rendering efficient service to his constituents. He was born in Mount Pleasant, Iowa, November 17, 1845, and represents the eleventh generation from Peter Buckley (spelled by him Bulkeley), who came from England in 1635 and was educated at St. Johns College, Cambridge, England, of which he was a fellow for some time. He was rector of Woodhill for twenty-one years, and having, through his non-conformity, come into conflict with Arch- bishop Laud, emigrated to Cambridge, Mass. In 1636 he was the principal founder of Concord, where he was pastor until his death in 1659. In direct line of descent Sylvanus Buckley, father of I. J. Buck- ley, was born in Norwich, Otsego County, N. Y., on a farm owned by his father. He married Phoebe Merriman, also born in that same county of Scotch and Irish ancestors, who were soldiers in the Revolu- tionary War. She was also closely related to the Winchesters, found- ers of the Universalist religious denomination. Sylvanus Buckley was energetic and ambitious and in 1844 he located at Mt. Pleasant, Iowa, and began manufacturing plows. While so engaged he heard the glowing accounts of the discovery of gold on the Pacific Coast, and accordingly closed his business and started across the plains to Cali- fornia in 1849.
Arriving at his destination Mr. Buckley mined in Placer County and was among the Forty-niners who pioneered mining on the Yuba River. So successful was he that he was enabled to make his family a visit in 1853, removing the family from Iowa to New York. He came back to the mines and in 1856 made his second trip to see his family and bring them to the Coast. They came via Nicaragua and arrived in San Francisco on July 20 of that year. From this time he turned his attention to ranching, but he was unfortunate in invest- ing in what later proved to be a Spanish grant in Alameda County, near Alvarado. In 1861 he located in Merced County, and in the vicinity of Snelling embarked in the sheep business, at the same time
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that he was interested in some mines in Nevada. In his stock enter- prise he met with fair success and became owner of about 16,000 acres of land. He gave of his time and means to promote the welfare of his adopted home and was held in high regard by all who came in contact with him. He died at the age of seventy-nine years, in 1888. He was survived by his widow, who died in 1892, at the age of eighty- four. There were six children : Henry A., who died in 1872; Horace F .; Irwin Jay, of this review; George W., who died in 1902; S. P., residing at Merced Falls ; and C. O. E. Buckley, who died at Hopeton in 1920.
Irwin Jay Buckley attended the public schools in Iowa and was reared under the parental roof, accompanying the family to Cali- fornia in 1856, via Nicaragua. He took passage on the S. S. Orizaba, Captain Blethen, on the Atlantic side and on the S. S. Sierra Nevada, Captain Tinklepaugh, on the Pacific side. He well recalls the en- counter with the government troops who were in pursuit of Walker; also the Nicaragua rioters. He and his brother walked across the Isthmus as they found some 1200 people waiting on the Pacific side for transportation to California. After locating in this state our subject was closely associated with his father until the death of the parent. In 1887 he bought his ranch of 315 acres located between Snelling and Merced Falls and improved the place and became a very successful and progressive rancher. Three years of his time were spent in Merced, since which time he has lived in the section of the county he now makes his home. He has now retired from active agricultural pursuits, having leased his property, but he gives his entire time and attention to the duties of justice of the peace, to which post he was elected, and in which he is now serving his twenty-first year-though not in consecutive service, having held forth in the old court house (Merced's first) at Snelling.
The marriage of Mr. Buckley, in 1878, united him with Mary Montgomery, daughter of the late Hon. J. M. Montgomery, who is represented on another page of this history. Of this happy union there is one daughter, Irma, now the wife of Charles G. Connors; she has a daughter, Jean Jardine, by a former marriage. Judge Buckley is a Republican and has served his party well in various capacities in Merced County. He is unassuming, public-spirited and is very fond of good books, and was at one time the owner of a very large private library, which, unfortunately, was destroyed by fire some years ago. Both he and his good wife are liberal supporters of all progressive and upbuilding projects. They dispense hospitality of the old Californian type, and being among the very oldest of the living settlers in this section of the county, they have a wide acquaintance and a large circle of loyal friends.
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ADAM KAHL
The late Adam Kahl will be gratefully remembered by posterity as one of the foremost men of his day in Merced County, where he located in 1860 and established what has come to be known as the Kahl Ranch, near Plainsburg, along Mariposa Creek. From the time of his settling here he was active in every organization and move- ment that would be of benefit to the ranchers and help towards bet- tering the condition of the people of the county and State. He owned a ranch of 2000 acres and this he had improved with a spendid set of farm buildings and a substantial and commodious brick house. His ranch was stocked with the best breeds of live stock and he did much to raise the standard of live stock in the county. Such was his success that his accomplishments were the means of many others settling here and trying to follow his example. He was always ready and willing to advise others as to best methods to pursue to attain their own success.
He was born in Franklin County, Pa., September 6, 1825, a son of Jacob and Catherine Kahl, farmers in their day and place. He grew to manhood on the farm, attending the common schools and in time migrated to Richland County, Ohio, and later to Carroll County, Ind. It was while he was living in Indiana that he decided to come to California, for the discovery of gold had been heralded throughout the nation and he was among the first of his section to leave for New Orleans. He embarked on a sailing vessel, landing at Chagres, and crossing the Isthmus he secured passage on the barque Alyoma for San Francisco, arriving on June 20, 1850.
Upon his arrival he was engaged in mining in Butte Flat, Jackson and Mokelumne Hill and river districts for four years. He returned home for a visit in 1855, subsequently went to Iowa, thence to Pettis County, Mo. There, on July 4, 1858, he married Lydia A. Spangen- berg, a native of Pennsylvania. Immediately after their marriage they set out for California. This time the trip was made across the plains behind ox-teams and via Salt Lake and the Carson Canyon route. They arrived at Snelling, Merced County, in October, 1859, but soon went to the Pajaro Valley, Monterey County, where he lived until 1860, when he bought a ranch near Plainsburg, now owned by the family. He paid from $1.25 to $35 per acre for his land. At the time of his death, January 11, 1889, Merced County lost one of her most progressive citizens. His estate was divided between his widow and children, each child receiving 320 acres. There were five children: Ernest D .; Alice M., who married John Dickinson ; George A .; Charles W., who is a successful physician in Merced; and Arthur S., of Merced County. To such men as Adam Kahl the county of
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Merced and the State of California owe much of their prosperity. Mrs. Kahl, lovingly called "Grandma Kahl" lived to be eighty-five years old, dying on September 23, 1924, at her home at Le Grand. Several years prior to her death Mrs. Kahl took an airplane trip from Merced to San Francisco with Emmett Tanner, at that time she was the oldest woman to take such a flight in the history of avi- ation and her journey was widely reported.
CHARLES MORTIMER FRENCH
As city marshal and tax collector of Merced, Merced County, Charles Mortimer French is sustaining the reputation for ability and judgment, energy and thorough qualification for holding public office won entirely by his own efforts. In 1908 he was elected to the office of city marshal, and in addition to this he holds the position of tax collector for the city. His birth occurred in Augusta, Kennebec County, Me., on July 13, 1864, a son of Hayden Winfield and Felicia Hemans (Gould) French. Hayden Winfield French went to Montana in 1865, after having served in the Civil War. In 1868, when Charles Mortimer was a child of four years, the family joined him in California and the home was established in Merced County. The father was in the sheep business for many years; then for four- teen years he served as deputy sheriff under Sheriff A. J. Meany. After that he became constable, an office he held until his death, April 7, 1894. The mother, who was born in Augusta, Me., April 23, 1837, was married November 25, 1859. She was the first teacher in the first public school held in Merced. She died February 4, 1897.
Charles Mortimer French received a grammar school education, for in the days of his schooling there was no high school in Merced. He was reared to hard work, and his summers were spent in farm work and during the winter months he worked in a blacksmith shop. In 1888 he established a transfer and hauling business, which he still operates, the firm name being French and Wood, Mr. Wood having been a member of the firm since 1912.
The marriage of Mr. French united him with Miss Mary Cor- rine Yoakum, born in Oakland, Cal. Mr. French is a Democrat in politics. Fraternally he is affiliated with the Benevolent Protective Order of Elks, the Knights of Pythias, the Odd Fellows and the Woodmen of the World; and he belongs to the Chamber of Com- merce, all of Merced. Mr. French is an honorary member of the fire department and a charter member of the old El Capitan Hose Company No. 1, of early days. He has lived continuously in Merced since 1872.
LOUISA J. STEVINSON
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MRS. LOUISA JANE STEVINSON
One of the oldest living of the pioneer women of Merced County is Mrs. Louisa Jane Stevinson, daughter of that pioneer Isham J. Cox, of Cox's Ferry fame on the Merced River and one of the stanch upbuilders of the county from its beginning. Isham J. Cox was born in Tennessee, went to Shelby County, Ill., and thence to Texas, and with ox-teams and wagons came overland to California, arriving at Hill's Ferry in March, 1850. He went to the gold mines on Sher- lock's Creek, Mariposa County, and met with more than ordinary good luck ; and when he returned to his family, they moved to a place four miles below Snelling, where he settled on the Merced River and built a ferry, which was operated as Cox's Ferry for many years. His wife was Rebecca Chisenhall in maidenhood and was of Scotch descent. Her progenitors were early settlers in Virginia and were large planters.
Louisa Jane (Cox) Stevinson was born in Shelby County, Ill., over eighty-five years ago, and was only two years old when she was taken across the plains by her parents to Texas, where they lived dur- ing 1846-1847. In 1849 they came to California via the southern route to San Diego, where they spent the winter of 1849-1850. She was ten years old at the time and well remembers the journey from Texas and the early-day history of this section of country, where she grew to womanhood. She attended school at Quartzberg, Mariposa County.
The marriage of Louisa Jane Cox and James J. Stevinson was solemnized on December 27, 1855. Of this union the following chil- dren were born: Samuel, Mary E., and Fannie B. Samuel married Alice Reed and had three boys: Archibald, in the cattle business in the Stevinson Colony, is married and has two children; Howard, who married Blanche DeGraff, by whom two children were born, died in 1917; Floyd I., a rancher, married Carmella Sorensen, and they have five children. Mary E. became the wife of Charles P. Harris of San Francisco, who died in 1899, and she is now living with her mother. Fannie B. married Howard H. Hogan, promoter of the Stevinson Colony, and had two children: Paul Iribe, art designer with Cecil De Mille at Culver City ; and Judith B., wife of George Hatfield, an attorney in San Francisco. Mr. Hogan died in 1917.
Mr. and Mrs. Stevinson worked hand in hand and in time accu- mulated 25,000 acres of land, upon which they became independent. Together they planned their home and made extensive improvements on their property; and at the same time they did their full duty as citizens of their county. Their home has always been the center of
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a delightful California hospitality to their many friends. The commo- dious house was completed in 1891. It is fitted with all conveniences and is surrounded by a spacious lawn, which is decorated with flower- ing shrubs and trees. Here, amid the surroundings so dear to her, Mrs. Stevinson is living in peace and contentment, the center of a large circle of dear friends, and her children, grandchildren and great- grandchildren. Mr. Stevinson, an account of whose life is given on another page, passed away on November 13, 1907, when seventy- nine years of age.
HENRY MILLER
Few among the names of those pioneers who did the big things in helping to develop and build up California into the Golden State have come to have half the fascination of romance and glamor of re- nown that surround the honored name of Henry Miller, the cattle king of California and father of Los Banos, whose story is the nar- rative, like that of a fairy tale, of the remarkable career of a man whose industry, intellect and integrity conquered one of the most promising, and in truth one of the richest empires on the face of the earth. A butcher boy in the days of his youth in San Francisco, he won lands and amassed a fortune above that of many a king, and was lord, not only of all that he could survey, but of twice the area of the kingdom of Belgium. He reached his ninetieth year, and it is safe to say that nearly eighty-five of those years were periods of hard toil, and strenuous activity.
Henry Miller was born in Brackenheim, Wurtemberg, Germany, on July 21, 1827, and grew up a farmer's boy, familiar with country life from early childhood. When fourteen years old, he had, among other duties, the job of watching over a flock of geese; but one day he walked home, leaving the geese to look after themselves, and in- formed his astonished and skeptical sister that he was through with that sort of slow routine and was going out into the world to do something for himself. Two or three years were spent in Holland and England, and then, setting sail for New York, the ambitious young German arrived in that city, even then the New World's metropolis, and was there engaged as a butcher. The discovery of gold in California in 1848 attracted not only the attention of most of the civilized world, but it seized hold of Henry Miller with such a grip that in the famous Argonaut year of 1849 he joined the hurry- ing throngs trying to cross the Isthmus of Panama, and himself sought the new El Dorado. Upon arriving in Panama, Henry Miller, then only twenty-two years of age, discovered an exceptionally good op-
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portunity for engaging in business and there formed a partnership with an American; but the enterprise had been launched only a few weeks when Miller was stricken with Panama fever-a most serious malady at that time of inadequate medical skill and attendance. When he had sufficiently recovered to hobble down to his business house, he discovered that his partner had swamped the business be- yond all possibility of salvation, so that when all the bills had been paid, Miller had barely sufficient cash to obtain passage to San Francisco, where he landed in 1850, with just five dollars in his pocket, and a walking stick in his hand. He was still weak, from the effects of the fever; but he resolutely hobbled forth to seek employment, and made it a point to call at every business house along Montgomery Street. Usually he met with disappointment; but before the day was over, he had engaged himself to a butcher.
A young man of Henry Miller's natural and already developed ability could not be expected to accept employment from another per- son long. After the San Francisco fire in 1851, he leased a lot on Jackson Street, erected a one-story building, and there opened a re- tail butcher shop; and this unpretentious business store, with its very small stock but early openings and late closings, became the corner- stone of the Miller fortunes. He went down into the valleys below San Francisco, purchased beef cattle and drove them into the city for butchering; and in these journeyings about the country he became well acquainted with the cattle-raisers of the State and their condi- tion. There were several large competitors in the butcher business in San Francisco at that time, and among them was one in particular, Charles W. Lux, who was soon to appreciate Miller's capabilities. In 1857, Henry Miller visited the cattle-raising regions and quietly secured options on all the available beef cattle north of the Tehachapi range; and when the astonished buyers of his competitors appeared, there were no beeves to be had by them. This splendid stroke of en- terprise, marked at that time, enabled Miller to make his own terms with Lux and others, and partnership with Lux was the immediate outgrowth of the puzzling situation.
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