USA > California > Tuolumne County > A history of Tuolumne County, California : compiled from the most authentic records > Part 25
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WILLIAM MANSFIELD.
Mr. Mansfield was born in Providence County, Rhode Island, on November 3, 1829. He left his native State
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and sailed from New York City on the stermer Ohio, in December, 1851, coming via the Isthmus of Panama, and landing in San Francisco from the " Golden Gate," in Janu- ary, 1852, his brother Jared Mansfield and other friends com- ing with him from Rhode Island. Mr. Mansfield came direct to Sonora, but only remained a short time, finally settling at Campo Seco, where he was engaged in mining. In June, 1852, he moved to Columbia, bought an interest in the Tuolumne County Water Company, and was appointed one of the collectors for the company, and has held the position for twenty-six years. He married S. A. Bert, a native of Providence, Rhode Island, and who was born June 3, 1838. Anna A., William B., Lillie P., Mary E., and Fannie Rebecca, are the names of their children.
FORBES McPHERSON.
This old pioneer of Tuolumne County was born in Scotland,"October 11, 1822. When about one year old, his parents emigrated to the United States, and settled in Genessee County, New York, where their son was raised and educated, and where he maintained a permanent residence until he came to this State, via Panama, landing in San Francisco on January 1, 1852. He came to this county the following February, and settled at Sonora, where he mined, and worked at his trade of carpenter and joiner. In 1853, he took up a residence at Sawmill Flat, and during his entire residence there, his occupa- tion was that of a miner. In June, 1876, he moved to Columbia, and in company with Mr. Hilton opened a grocery store on Jackson street, where they have since been doing business. Married Matilda Parsons, who is a native of Genessee County, State of New York.
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HISTORY OF TUOLUMNE COUNTY.
JOHN WALKER, M. D.,
One of the pioneer settlers of this county, was born in Wilmington, New Hanover County, North Carolina, on March 26, 1825. He left New York City on December 1, 1849, taking passage on the steamer " Panama," Capt. Bailey, coming via Panama, and arrived in San Francisco in January, 1850. After taking a trip to Stockton, and through Calaveras county, he returned to San Francisco, thence going to Sonora, where he arrived some time dur- ing the Fall of 1850. During the Doctor's residence here he has been engaged in the practice of his profession, and has also interested himself in mines and mining, to- gether with inventing machinery whereby gold may be the better extracted from the quartz. This plain state- ment of a few facts is all the writer is allowed to give of a busy and extremely useful and valuable life.
I. J. POTTER.
This old settler of Tuolumne is a native of New York City, where he was born on September 21, 1827. When three years old, his parents moved to Philadelphia, Pa., where he received his primary education at the public schools, graduating at the Central High School. He came to this State in company with Jarvis Louderback and family, on the ship " Levant," and arrived in San Fran- cisco on September 15, 1849. On October 5th, following, he arrived in this county, and went to mining at Swett's Bar, remaining there until 1853. From this place he moved to and mined in Gold Springs, until October, 1861, when he settled in Sonora, accepting the position of Deputy Clerk of Tuolumne County, under Clerk R. E. Gardner. In September, 1873, he was elected County Clerk, and has been his own successor to the present time.
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HISTORY OF TUOLUMNE COUNTY.
JOHN JOLLY.
This old settler is a native of the city of York, the seat of Yorkshire, England, and was born June 13, 1823. He emigrated to the United States, sailing from Liverpool April, 1849, in the ship "Ajax," Captain Adams, com- mander, as the second ship to leave England for the Cali- fornia gold fields. On arriving in California, he mined on Woods' creek, and in April, 1850, moved to his present place of residence at Gold Springs. Mr. Jolly was one of a company of ten who went to dam and mine the Stanis- laus river, at the junction of the South Fork and main river, but the high water swept away the dam, and, nearly penniless, he, in company with a friend, went to mining at Gold Springs. A company commenced to mine on the ranch where Mr. Jolly now lives, and by dint of persua- sion, induced him and his partner to join them and assist to build a ditch, and to appropriate the water from Gold Springs to their mines in Sandy Gulch. A large cabin was erected where Mr. Jolly's house now stands, and it was known in the early days as the "Fort." Mr. Jolly has bought out all other interests in the land and water rights, and is now the sole owner. He married on the 4th of April, 1857, Amelia Moore, who was born in New York City, Feb. 20, 1835. Their children are Amelia, Hattie, Emma, Laura, John, Elenor and Carrie.
W. N. HARRIS.
The subject of this narrative was born in Bedford County, Virginia, on June 1, 1820. He went to the State of Georgia, thence to Charleston, South Carolina, and to New York City, and coming to this State via the Isthmus, arrived in San Francisco July 17, 1850. He proceeded to
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Marysville, and from thence to Ophir, or Oroville, and did some prospecting on the Cape Fear claim. He then came to this county in December, 1850, locating at Shaw's Flat, where he worked at placer mining, as well as in other localities, until coming to Jamestown in the Fall of 1862, where he has since lived. He is the owner of the " Little Gem " mine, on which there is a ten-stamp mill. This mine is situated about one mile west from Jamestown. A little farther to the north is the Alabama, also owned by Mr. Harris, which mine is one of the best in the county. There is a forty stamp mill on it which is kept running night and day, pouring into the hands of its owner a golden treasure from an inexhaustible vein. Mr. Harris married Mrs. Clara A. Hensley on October 9, 1871. Her living children by a former marriage are: William F., Ellen L. and Edward. James was killed at the Alabama mine, Feb. 22, 1882. The surname of these children is Hensley.
J. B. LATIMER.
From the " Wooden Nutmeg " State, Mr. Latimer hails, dating his birth from the 30th day of September, 1818, and claiming New London County as his home. Emi- grating from Connecticut to the State of New York, he settled in Suffolk County, when he was twenty-one, and followed farming as an occupation, for five years, returning to his old home in Connecticut at the end of that time. In 1849, getting a severe attack of the gold fever, he joined a company of twenty adventurous spirits, who, clubbing resources, bought a schooner called the " Alfred," and boldly set sail for San Francisco, and, contrary to prob- ability, came in safety, passing through the Straits of Magellan. Arriving in the new metropolis of the coast,
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Mr. Latimer's first venture was in hotel keeping, but un- fortunately the fire of '52 swept away his all, and proceed- ing then to Chili Camp, he there mined for a short time and afterwards opened a store in company with F. Bryant. His next venture, taking place in the Fall of 1852, was the establishment of a sawmill on the site of his present prop- erty near Sonora; which, however, proved but of temporary value, as all the timber was speedily cut down. Mr. Latimer now possesses a tract of three hundred and twenty acres, mostly under cultivation.
J. HALL,
Who is one of California's pioneers, was born in London, England, on the 25th of September, 1816. He arrived in San Francisco in the ship " Brooklyn," on the 12th of August, 1849. He at once proceeded to Mokelumne Hill, where he was engaged in mining, previous to his coming to So- nora, in December, 1849. He went to New York, but returned in 1850, and opened a store, and has followed mercantile pursuits in Sonora ever since.
GEORGE WRIGHT.
Bonnie Scotland is the place of Mr. Wright's nativity, and he was born May 9, 1824. On the 7th of February, 1849, he left Edinburgh for London, leaving the latter place on March 1st of that year, having engaged his pas- sage in the bark St. George, of London, the first ship which left that port for San Francisco, and which arrived at the latter place on October 12, 1849. Having learned the cabinet and chair maker's trade, in the old country, he was able to get work as a carpenter, at $12 per diem; after-
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wards engaging with the proprietors of the Delmonico Hotel as their private carpenter, working until they failed in the Spring of 1850. In March he went into the red- woods at Corte Madera, to get out lumber for wharfing, and there was burned out, leaving there about the end of April, for San Francisco. Left the latter place, May 1st, in a ship's long-boat, bound for the diggings in Tuolumne County, in company with John Wallace and James Willson, and arrived in Sonora May 6, 1850, to saw lumber to be used for building purposes. In July of that year, he went to Sullivan's Bar, remaining until the following Fall, when he moved to Campo Seco. Upon the 28th of June, 1851, he left the latter place for Summit Pass, as he had enrolled himself as a member of the Tuolumne County Water Company, who were to make a ditch for mining pur- poses, and was actively employed by that company eighteen consecutive years, and has been a member of that company thirty years and ten months. He now resides on his ranch, south of Springfield. Mr. Wright married Mary Ann Mer- ritt, March 29, 1864, and has a family of four boys and four girls.
W. E. EICHELROTH, M. D.
The subject of this memoir was born in Schwara, princi- pality of Reuss, Germany, on May 31, 1824. He received his academic education in his native country, and, studying medicine, received therefor his diploma. In 1846 he came to the United States, and settled in Carbon County, Penn- sylvania, where he resided two years, and then moved to Brookville, Indiana, thence to Burlington, Iowa, where he practiced medicine, leaving Burlington in 1851, for Cali- fornia. He crossed the Plains, and after spending the Winter of 1851-2 in Salt Lake City, came on to this State,
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and settled at Taylorsville, Plumas County. Here he engaged in farming and mining, as well as practicing his profession, and had for partner in farming and mining the celebrated pioneer Peter Lassen. The Doctor afterwards moved to Marysville, but remained there only a short time, going thence to Foster's Bar, on the Yuba River, thence to North San Juan, Nevada County, and in 1851 settled in Carson City. He joined the Major Ormsby party, as its surgeon, and went out to fight the Indians, but was for- tunate enough to be one of the survivors of the ill-fated expedition. He next settled at Placerville, El Dorado County, and was in charge of the County Hospital there, and was elected County Coroner. In 1863, he moved to Aurora, Nevada. In 1866 he came to Sonora, and in 1870 was elected to the Lower House of the Legislature, serving one term. He is is now in charge of the County Hospital, which position he has held for the past seven years. He married Frances, daughter of Calhoun Colwell, on May 1, 1850. Mrs. Jennie Rooney, Lilian, Frederick, Frank, and Paul, are the names of their children.
DANIEL FRASER
Was born in Pictou County, Nova Scotia, in 1832. He came to the United States and settled in Boston, Massa- chusetts, in 1848, thence going to Bath, Sagadahoc County, Maine, in 1851. There he resided, until, coming to this State, in 1860, he took passage on the steamer "Ariel" to Panama, thence on the steamer " Golden Age" to San Francisco, where he arrived in August of that year. On the 25th of that month he came to this County, settling at Columbia, where he has since resided. Here he mined for about six months, and then (on April 1, 1861) was appointed
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HISTORY OF TUOLUMNE COUNTY.
Agent for the New England Water Company, which posi- tion he has held down to the present time. Mr. Fraser married Rebecca S. Kelly, in Bath, Maine, on May 23, 1860, and has had seven children, six of whom are now living.
J. W. STUART
Was born in Maine, May 25, 1819, where he was raised and educated. He came to this State in 1849, going to Sutter's Fort, and to Coloma, El Dorado County, where he was mining, as well as on the Feather and Yuba Rivers. In 1852 he returned to Maine, and again came to California in the Spring of 1853, settling in this County, and on the land he now owns. In 1860, he commenced the raising of bees, with a capital stock of one hive, and now the hillsides present a beautiful picture, being dotted here and there with five hundred white homes for the busy bees. About two miles northwest from Sonora is the home of Mr. Stuart, which is beautifully named "Idlewild Apiary."
NATHANIEL FALES.
The subject of this sketch was born in Thomaston, Knox County, Maine, June 18, 1810, where he was raised and educated. He sailed from Boston, Massachusetts, in the ship "California Packet," on March 4, 1850, came around Cape Horn, and landed in San Francisco on the following August 24. He went to Woolf's Creek, on the Yuba River, where he mined for a short time, and then returned to San Francisco, thence coming to this County and settling at Shaw's Flat, in October, 1851. Here he was engaged in mining until August, 1852, when he went to Springfield, and followed the same occupation. In 1856 he purchased
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his present farm, known as "The Evergreen Ranch," situ- ated near Springfield. It is a beautiful home, commanding a view of the surrounding country, which a lover of the beautiful can not help but enjoy. Mr. Fales married Mary P. Morse, on July 25, 1835. She was a native of Maine. Her death occurred on July 16, 1876, when, having no children, he was left alone until the following Fall, when W. H. Harding and his wife (a niece of Mr. Fales) came from Nebraska and took up their residence with him, where they still remain.
A. D. CHAMPNEY.
This California pioneer was born in Oswego County, New York, on March 31, 1814. In 1836 he emigrated to Chicago, Illinois, and thence to Peoria in that State, where he lived two years. In 1839 he settled at Springfield, the Capitol of the State, and was employed to assist in erecting the State House. He moved to Natchez, Mississippi, in. 1841, and thence in 1844 to New Orleans. Here he remained until 1849, when he took passage for this State, coming via the Isthmus, landing in San Francisco on October 12th of that year. The 26th of October found him at Wood's crossing, where he mined for gold until the Spring of 1857, when he bought what is now known as the Alameda mine, situated near Rawhide. He left this mine in 1860, and settled on his ranch, located in a valley shadowed by the famous Table Mountain range, and one and a half miles west from Springfield. The place is known by the name of " Mayflower Vineyard." Grapes and other fruits are the principal products of the farm. Mr. Champney married Ruth E. Dodge, a native of the State of New York. By this union there are Martha, Jessie, Fred A., Mary E., George H. and Charles L.
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HISTORY OF TUOLUMNE COUNTY.
N. BISHOP
Is a native of Suffolk County, New York. When eight- een years years old he shipped on a whaler coming to the Pacific Ocean in 1844, returning in 1848. For two more years he continued to follow a sea-faring life, and then came to San Francisco in 1850. He first settled at Don Pedro's Bar, in September, 1850, where he mined. He moved to the northern mines via San Francisco; thence to this county in May, 1851, settling at Woods' crossing. Here he took up a claim and continued working it until going to Australia in the Spring of 1853. He soon re- turned to the old place, however, and engaged in mining until 1862, when he went into partnership with Mr. Gault in a store at Woods' crossing. He bought out his partner, and is now the sole owner of the business.
ROBERT S. RAYMOND.
Born in Nantucket, Massachusetts, on March 5, 1832. He left the island in October, 1854, taking passage on the steamer "North Star" for the Isthmus of Panama, and arrived in San Francisco in November of that year. He came direct to Sonora, and, with the exception of six months spent in the East on a visit, he has maintained a permanent residence in Sonora, where he has been steadily engaged in the hardware trade.
JOHN KING
Was born in the Parish of St. Clair, Canada, on June 25, 1831. When thirteen years old he moved to Caledonia County, Vermont. Here he was raised on a farm and con- tinued to reside till he came to this State via Panama,
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HISTORY OF TUOLUMNE COUNTY.
landing at San Francisco on the 14th of November, 1851. He came direct to this county and settled at Poverty Hill, where he was engaged as a miner during the Winter months, and followed teaming in the Summer until 1856, when he came to Columbia and mined at Gold Hill. In the Spring of 1860 he bought and moved on his ranch at Columbia, where he has since continuously resided, except while in the United States service. The products of his farm are fruits. In 1861 Mr. King enlisted in the Second California Cavalry, and was in the service for three years, being honorably discharged in October, 1864. He married Mrs. Sarah Clow, a native of Canada. Lillie Florence is the name of their only child.
B. F. BUTTERFIELD.
Among the many resident pioneers is the subject of this sketch. He was born in Goffstown, Hillsborough County, New Hampshire, on July 24, 1817. He was educated in the common schools of Goffstown, and taught in merchan- tile pursuits. For some years he sailed on the lakes be- tween the ports of Buffalo and Chicago. He came to this State on the first trip of the steamship "Falcon" from New Orleans to the mouth of the Chagres River, up the river in a canoe, and came across the Isthmus on a mule, and from Panama to San Francisco on the first trip of the old steam- ship California, which arrived in San Francisco February 28,1849.
Here he remained till the latter part of March, then came to Jamestown. At a point now called old Jamestown, on the opposite side of the creek from the main camp, he erected a store, made of canvass and logs, and commenced general merchandizing, and has continuously followed that business to the present time. This is the oldest store in
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the county, and Mr. Butterfield was one of the first to em- bark in mercantile pursuits in old Tuolumne. Married Amanda Melvina Currier, a native of Portsmouth, New Hampshire.
JAMES G. DIVOLL.
Mankind loves the marvelous. To dwell upon the al- most incredible relations of fiction, to discuss the unex- plainable phenomena of nature, and to gaze with wonder- ing eyes upon the relics and evidences of races and peoples unknown to us, would seem a characteristic of humanity as strongly marked as it is general. This instinct of the marvelous, which we may credit all men with possessing, manifests itself in a variety of ways; but of these different ways not one is more remarkable than that one which im- pels the interest of mankind to ponder upon, to study and consider of great riches. The world gloats over a tale of gold and feasts its eyes upon the evidences of wealth. The fabled king of old who bathed in the Pactol- ian stream, is but remembered as he whose touch turned all to gold. The good monarch of Lydia, although his virtues would shed a luster upon the most Catholic Prince that ever lived, exists only in the aphorism " As rich as Cræsus," and Solomon's self might not stand before the modern mind as a model, had it not been that his ships made successful voyages to Tarshish.
The literature of the later centuries has found its spring of action largely in a thirst for gold, or it has delineated with intense interest the acquirement of great fortunes. Who has not heard of Monte Christo ? And who has not speculated upon the chance of similar success falling upon himself, though knowing the extreme rarity of the occa- sions in which even moderate fortunes have been so gained.
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HISTORY OF TUOLUMNE COUNTY.
Although the tale of the fortunate Count has been given to mankind through Dumas' skilful pen, it has not often fallen to the lot of any but novelists to record the acquire- ment of enormous wealth which came suddenly and came to reward deserving industry and far-seeing calculation. The story of the Comstock miners has little of romance, nor do the lucky possessors of those great mines of gold and silver deserve the praise or congratulation of men, since the use to which they put their riches is often of the basest.
It is a pleasant duty, and a duty which does not often in this work-day world fall to the lot of a writer, to record the munificent reward of patient and uncomplaining per- severance, which has had few parallels in the world. It is a story of the sternest self-denial and the practice of in- dustry for years of a laborious life, with the final result of the sudden accession of a fortune great enough to be the fitting reward of such exertions. But with the accession of fortune the interest of the story does not end. Pleasant as it is to chronicle a deserved reward, it is no less agree- able to tell the story of the charitable and munificent uses to which that fortune is devoted by one whose good Inck has not killed in him the nobler feelings that actuate the human family.
James G. Divoll was born in Orange County, Vermont, on the eighth of January, 1831. In early life his parents removed to Port Kent, on the shore of Lake Champlain. Attending' the common schools of the vicinity, and, after- wards graduating from the Academy at Burlington, he at the age of 18 years, removed to the great West, settling first at Fond Du Lac, in Wisconsin.
Here his stay was short, for the cholera breaking out compelled his removal, and he returned to the East, stop- ping for a while at Chatauqua, New York, but finally ar-
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HISTORY OF TUOLUMINE COUNTY.
riving at the old home in Vermont, in the latter part of 1850. In the following Spring Mr. Divoll married Miss Eliza Jane Mellen, at Northfield, Vermont, and the young couple proceeded westward, taking up their abode at Black River Falls, in the State of Wisconsin. Here Mr. D. entered into the manufacture of flour, which he carried on with success for nearly ten years, at the end of that time selling the property which he had accumulated, and which included a tract of ten thousand acres of land lying in Clark County.
Turning his steps to the " Sun Land," Mr. Divoll with three friends took passage at New York, on a steamship of the Vanderbilt Line, and set his foot upon the shore of California in June 1862. Siying in answer to his compan- ions' queries: " I am going to leave. San Francisco on the first steamer that leaves the wharf," Mr. Divoll found himself, the next day, in Stockton, booke l for a seit in the first stage that left, regardless of its destination. That the destination of that stage was Sonora seems at a casual view to be a trifling fact; but that fact led to the finding of the greatest deposit of pure gold that has yet been taken from the earth. Lovers of the marvelous will find in the.comparatively insignificant circumstances of the departure of a steamer and a stage, two steps which may seem to have been predestined in Mr. Divoll's remarkable life; and other circumstances give rise to the same feeling.
In: the matter of mill-work and particularly in the mechanism of flour mills, Mr. Divoll had in, his early years become thoroughly versed, his Wisconsin experience giving him a deep insight into all matters connected with those branches of constructive mechanics. Accordingly, on his arrival in this region he employed himself in building a flour mill for D. W. Tulloch, and during the same year built the bridge at Knight's Ferry.
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Mr. Divoll's first experience in Sonora pleasantly resulted in his makiug the acquaintance of William G. Long, who being then as now a miner, magnanimously offered Mr. D. the use of his sluice-boxes to aid him in his first mining venture; and this acquaintance has resulted in the life-long friendship of the two.
After completing the mill and bridge spoken of, he lo- cated in Sonora, purchasing of Smith Mitchell the Saratoga Ranch, and proceeded to develop a mine on his property, which mine was very successfully worked, yielding many thousands of dollars.
Several years now passed in mining and other operations, during which he met generally with a full measure of suc- cess, until the year 1871 came around and the explora- tion of the Bonanza Vein was entered upon, marking, as it has done, an era in gold mining, and leading to successes in comparison with which the good fortune of ordinary life sinks into nothingness. Yet these successes, stupen- dous as they are in the aggregate, were not achieved at once. Half a score of years of patient waiting had to be passed; many hundred feet of tunnels, drifts and inclines were run, and the few hands which the small resources of the owners could bring to bear, could proceed but slowly. Years passed and only meager gains rewarded the toil of the industrious men. Bills had to be met and bread had to be provided for dependent mouths. The old story of unflagging energy and perseverance was recounted; and, at last, just as the hopes of the stoutest-hearted were wavering, these heroic miners were called to their magnifi- cent reward. Following the "prospect," as it showed plainly one day, to be obscured the next, the head of the tunnel came nearer and nearer to the great deposit of virgin metal which awaited them, and finally the pick's keen point struck through the obdurate stone into a treasury
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