USA > California > A memorial and biographical history of northern California, illustrated. Containing a history of this important section of the Pacific coast from the earliest period of its occupancy...and biographical mention of many of its most eminent pioneers and also of prominent citizens of today > Part 66
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72 | Part 73 | Part 74 | Part 75 | Part 76 | Part 77 | Part 78 | Part 79 | Part 80 | Part 81 | Part 82 | Part 83 | Part 84 | Part 85 | Part 86 | Part 87 | Part 88 | Part 89 | Part 90 | Part 91 | Part 92 | Part 93 | Part 94 | Part 95 | Part 96 | Part 97 | Part 98 | Part 99 | Part 100 | Part 101 | Part 102 | Part 103 | Part 104 | Part 105 | Part 106 | Part 107 | Part 108 | Part 109 | Part 110 | Part 111 | Part 112 | Part 113 | Part 114 | Part 115 | Part 116 | Part 117 | Part 118 | Part 119 | Part 120 | Part 121 | Part 122 | Part 123 | Part 124 | Part 125 | Part 126 | Part 127 | Part 128 | Part 129 | Part 130 | Part 131
405
HISTORY OF NORTHERN CALIFORNIA.
a thick growth of forest trees, -pines, firs, oaks, manzanita, madron, buekeye, etc., proving a fine bed,-fields we should rather say, -of roses, chrysanthemums and other flowers, for which the Villa Miravalle has won a name. Mr. Par- rott is doing a work of more than individual benefit upon his place. He was the first to make a serions attempt to raise olives at St. Helena. He has a fine appearing plantation of 5,000 trees, now between six and seven years old, and some loaded with fruit when seen. They seem to prove the perfect adaptation of the valley for olive culture and present a timely alternative to the vine-growers of the section, wearied ont as they are by depression and ruin- ons prices. Mr. Parrott has 125 acres of vine- yard, all of the better foreign varieties, such as the Cabernet Sauvignon, from which is made the Chateau- Margaux and Chateau Lafite wines, so dear to connoisseurs. The vineyard is all mountain-hill land, thus receiving perfect drain- age, and the best results. So far, the wine cel- lar is the cellar of the house, and a visit to it and a sampling of its contents shows the value of the vineyard as well as the knowledge and experience of its master. The wines were per- fect, each in its kind. A cellar of a larger size is now being constructed, tunnels being run into the hillside to afford finer storage. A sinall plot of vigorons and healthy tobacco plants, of seed brought from Havana, was seen, which will probably prove still another resource of this very fertile section. Amidst the other trees and plants were noticed specimens of palins, palmnettos, banana, persimmons, guavas, oranges, lemons, almonds, walnuts and other sub-trop- ical growths, all thrifty and luxuriant at time of visit (December) and showing that the villa is in the thermal belt and above the frosts. Water in abundance is piped direct from springs on the mountain side to house and grounds. This beautiful place is the outcome of only five years' work upon its improvement, being begun only in January, 1885. Its beauty and the wholesome luxuriance of every plant and tree are better than many volumes to prove the
possibility of the section. The Villa Miravalle justly ranks as one of the finest residences in the Napa Valley.
HARLES SAMUEL COUSINS, Recorder of Contra Costa County, was born in Clin- ton County, New York, December 14, 1830, of ancestry traceable on the paternal side back to the Norman French. His father, John Cousins, was a native of Yorkshire, England, and edneated for a branch of the government service; but instead of entering that he went into mercantile business in London, and was successful on a large scale until his managers of a brauch honse, by ill advised measures, broke him np. After that he emigrated to the United States, locating in Clinton County, New York, where he resided some years engaged in agri- cultural pursuits. In 1840 he removed to Chat- augay, Canada, where he spent the remainder of his days. The lady whom he married was Elizabeth Harrison, a native of Yorkshire, Eng- land, and died April 19, 1846. Of her eight children, six were born in London; and of the four now living the subject of this sketch is the only one residing in California
In 1840 or 1841 Thomas Cousins, brother of John, with his family of nine children, emi- grated to America, by way of the St. Lawrence River; and while ascending that stream on board a steamer the works exploded and all the family were lost excepting the wife, who was saved as if by miracle! She was thrown high into the air and fell npon one of her own feather-beds! From the wreck she was taken to the residence of a gentleman named Pennyman, where she re- mained a resident until she died, at a very ad- vanced age. Mr. Pennyman esteemed her so highly that he gave her a home, rather than that she should go elsewhere. This was at Lachine, in the province of Quebec, nine miles above Montreal.
At the age of seventeen years the subject of this sketch struck ont into the world for him-
406
HISTORY OF NORTHERN CALIFORNIA.
self, as his mother had died and the family was broken np. At Ronse's Point, at the foot of Lake Champlain, in his native county, he was employed as a clerk in a store for a time; then, more for the purpose of education than anything else, he took np the study of law; but, his taste for it increasing, he concluded to complete the course. Just before the required three years were expired, however, Mr. Cousins won a case in a justice court, upon which his preceptor had also been employed, C. B. Wright, and this incensed him so that he would not want to give a certificate of time to Mr. Cousins, and the re- sult was that the latter peremptorily and for- ever quit both his preceptor and the law.
Next, until 1854, Mr. Cousins was road or mail agent on the Northern New York Rail- road from Ronse's Point to Ogdensburg; then he was engaged in the civil-engineering depart- ment of the Chicago & Milwaukee Railroad at Chicago; the line was completed to Wauke- gan Jannary 1, 1855 and work in his line was then suspended. He opened the railroad sta- tion at Waukegan, returned to Chicago and took charge of the freight and ticket department, and was also auditor for the company. He inaugu- rated the entire office business of operating the road, drafted all the blanks and books of the road and put everything in shape for running. He was also paymaster for the company, and on one occasion when he was upon a car in transit from one gang of men to another in a narrow cut, he came near being killed by a collision. He and his party barely had time to stop their car and turn it bodily off the track.
The onerons duties of his manifold situation at length began to affect his health. Young as he was, every dollar in the business of the road passed through his hands, and every item checked on the several books and report blanks; and lic also had the supervision of all the re- ports of the station agents, conductors, etc. One night his nervous system had been under so intense a strain, while he was sitting in his chair attending to business, that he fainted and fell to the floor. Therefore, late in the year
1857, after three years' service, he was com- pelled to resign, although offered the position of assistant superintendent. He took a position as book-keeper in a large country store, where he had easy duties and a larger liberty, remain- ing there until December, 1859, when he came to California and immediately located in Contra Costa County, with his wife's relatives. His first position here was as clerk in the Golden Eagle Hotel at Sacramento during the exciting times of building the Central Pacific Railroad and the inauguration of the " pony express " system. In June, 1861, he became clerk in the United States mint at San Francisco, and while in that position he obtained leave of absenec and went to Gold Hill, Nevada, to settle up the estate of a widow. The " Plato mine," under his management as a part of the estate, paid a larger dividend than any other mine in that State. In 1864-'65 he held a more responsible position at the mint; then he was appointed assistant melter and retiner in the institution, and given the entire management of the de- partment. In 1869 he resigned to engage in real estate in that eity.
In 1870 he came to Pinole, Contra Costa County, and engaged in farming; and while there he fell from a load of hay and broke the muscles of his hip so seriously that he can never fully recover. In the fall of 1882 he was elected Connty Recorder, on the Republican ticket, and took charge of the office the following Jannary; and by re-election he has ever since held the office. At each election his majority is greater than at the preceding election.
Mr. Cousins was first married in December, 1856, at Waukegan, Illinois, while he was in the service of the railroad there, to Miss Sarah C. Denio, of New York State, who died in 1865, in Martinez, California; and subsequently Mr. Cousins married Kate T., daughter of the late Dr. Samuel J. Tennent, of Martinez, and a relative or the Martinez family, one of the old- est in this section. May 15, 1889, on a leave of absence, Mr. and Mrs. Cousins made a trip to the East, visiting old friends, who were
407
HISTORY OF NORTHERN CALIFORNIA.
greatly rejoiced to see them. Arriving at Chi- cago he could not resist the temptation to take a ride over the old Chicago & Milwaukee Railroad, whereon he had labored so assiduously for years, and peculiar were the sensations awakened by the occasional sight of something familiar amid the multitude of changes that had taken place since that time.
OHN H. EATON, a Woodland merchant, who died at his residence in that city Janu- ary 2, 1890, was born in Rowan County North Carolina, October 2, 1807, and removed with his parents in 1810 to Middle Tennessee. At the age of twenty-two years he left his par. ental home and went to Indiana, where he was married, September 27, 1829, to Miss Rebecca A. Simpson, a native of North Carolina, who now survives him. Crossing the plains to this State in 1849, he followed mining at Bidwell's Bar, on Feather River, but the next year he returned to Missouri, where he remained until 1862, engaged in mechanical and mercantile pursuits. He then came to Nevada, where he engaged in farming until 1868, and then came ou again to California and soon commenced mercantile business at Woodland, as a member of the firui of Eaton, Green & Co. Theirs was the first exclusive grocery house in the place. Their next firin name was Eaton, Lawson & Co., and in November, 1879, it became Eaton & Son, the present style.
Mr. Eaton was religiously inclined from boy- hood. At the age of fourteen he joined the Baptist Church, but during life changed his views somewhat and united with the Christian Church, in which he remained during the re- mainder of his life. Ile was very zealous in the propagation of the cardinal principles of Christianity. He emphasized the scriptural idea that there is but " one baptism," while the churches of modern times generally have sev- eral modes of baptism, or doors into the church.
Seven of his eleven children survive, namely:
Mrs. G. W. Green and A. M. Eaton, of Wood- land; J. I. Eaton, of Lake County; G. M. Ea- ton, of Irvington, Alameda County; Mrs. J. E. Woods, of San Francisco; T. F. Eaton, of Dighton, Kansas; and Mrs. Dr. D. A. Bryant, of Jackson County, Missouri.
A. M. Eatou, the surviving partner in the firm of J. H. Eaton & Son, was born in Jackson County, Missouri, in May, 1852, where he re- mained until he came to Nevada and California. Ile completed his education at the Hesperian College at Woodland. In 1869 he became a partner with his father in the grocery business, when the firm style became J. H. Eaton & Son, under which name the business was carried on till July, 1890, at which time A. M. Eaton purchased the other interest and now conducts the business in his own name, carrying a full stock of everything in the line of a well fur- nished grocery house. Mr. Eaton deals largely in grain, hay, wood, nursery stock, etc. He is yet unmarried, making his home with his mother, who is now seventy-eight years of age.
J. HULL, attorney at law, has resided in California and in Napa since 1874. Born in Johnson County, Indiana, in 1846, he was kept busy clearing up his father's and other farms by contract from the time he could set fire to a brush heap or carry the lunch to the older workers. There were no public schools in that section till 1853; the family was large and it required the united efforts of the twelve children and the parents to wrest a livelihood from the most unbroken country np to the fifties. In 1857 the family removed to Illinois, where he lived until he enlisted as a private soldier in Battery H, Second Illinois Light Artillery, at the age of fifteen years. His command served under General Grant until after the fall of Island No. 10, and were then transferred to the Army of the Tennessee, Four- teenth Army Corps, until after the occupation of Atlanta. The battery was again transferred
408
HISTORY OF NORTHERN CALIFORNIA.
to the Twentieth Corps, and was with General Thomas during the campaign against Hood, and remained with that army until the close of the war. He was mustered out with his com- mand August 7, 1865, at Springfield, Illinois, at that time still in his nineteenth year, after serving almost four years, having re-enlisted as a veteran, Marchi 4, 1864. Mr. Hull had three brothers and one brother-in-law in the service.
While in the army Mr. Hull had spent all his leisure moments in study, beginning with the primary branches, and finally becoming profi- cient in mathematics, geography and history. He had the good fortune during his term of service to have a comrade who was a gradu- ate of one of the Philadelphia Colleges, and who took an interest in and guided him in his studies, and stimulated him continually to fur- ther advancement. Immediately on his dis- charge Mr. Hull engaged in farm work for the purpose of continuing his education, and during a six months' course he paid for his own tuition by taking charge of the higher classes in mathe- matics. After this course he passed an exam- ination and received a certificate as a teacher, but it being the spring season and no schools open he returned to farm work until the fall. Then he passed a second examination, and taught his first school in a district adjoining the one where he grew up. Returning to Illinois he entered the Salem Methodist College, and by alternately studying and teaching school, or, failing to get a school, by labor at any work to be had,-splitting rails, digging wells, working on the railroad, etc.,-he managed to acquire a liberal educatien, finally graduating in the law department of the Iowa State University in 1873, and was thereupon admitted to the bar of the courts of that State. He then returned to Illinois, and by working and teaching school accumulated money enough to pay up all his indebtedness, and bring him to California. He taught school in Napa County for a time and then com- ienced the practice of the law in which he has since continued. lle was for some time in partnership with Judge Crouch, now Superior
Judge, later with R. Burwell, and then for two years with Judge Ham; but for the past three years he has been alone in business. His par- ents were Andrew P. and Jane (McGuire) Hull, his father being of English and his mother of Irish descent. He was married in 1874 to Miss Lottie J. Waite, of Shoreham, Vermont. They had three children: Lottie M., Pliny R. and Junie W. Mrs. Hull, his first wife, having died, he was again married, September 7, 1889, to Miss May E. Stockley, a native of California.
PHIRAIM CLARK, a resident of the vicinity of Woodland, was born April 25, 1832, in Jefferson City, Missouri, a son of M. D. and D. T. (Fowler) Clark. The father was a farmer by occupation, and a brother, J. F., is now the occupant of the homestead in Missouri, which was settled by M. D. Clark in 1829. He died in 1862, at the age of sixty- three years. The subject of this sketch still owns a third interest in 525 acres in that State, a portion of which is the old homestead place. He of course was reared on a farm, and when twenty-two years of age, in 1854, he came to California, driving an ox team across the plains to pay his way, and arrived in Placer County, where he remained until February, 1862. Ile then visited British Columbia, Idaho and Mon- tana, being one of the first to enter Montana that year. The same year be returned to Placer County and followed mining one year. In 1863 he went to Churchill County, Nevada, where he engaged in making toll-roads, and was the first Democrat elected to represent the county in the Legislature. He was elected four years as Supervisor and two years as Assessor, -- all this while the county generally gave a Republi- ean majority. Remaining there until the last of November, 1880, he sold out his stock and road, returning to California; finally settled near Woodland, a mile and a half from the city, upon a tract of ten acres, of which six acres are vineyard and four in clover. Mr. Clark has
4
409
HISTORY OF NORTHERN CALIFORNIA.
traveled over all the United States and can re- late inany interesting incidents. He thinks an American should see his native country before going to Europe.
He was married in 1875 to Miss L. W. Sev- erance, a native of Massachusetts. They had one son, who died at the age of three months.
HOMAS McBAIN is the proprietor of the extensive tannery, situated on Mc- Kenstrie street, Napa, and covering about the space of one and a half city blocks. There are used in the business four large buildings, besides the yard space for drying. The main building is 80 x 75 feet, and three stories in height. On the floor of the first building are the engines and machinery, also some of the tanning vats and steaming tanks. The upper floors are devoted to currying and finishing the leather. The next building is 50 x 100 feet, one story high, and is occupied by tanning vats. A third, 50 x 100, is used for the storage of bark; and the fourth building, 26 x 50, is devoted to the drying and finishing of sole leather. In ad- dition are buildings containing the steam boil- ers. offices and stables. The product of this tan- nery is mostly harness, skirting and sole leather, and amounts to about 2,000 sides per month. The hides come mostly from San Francisco, and the leathers manufactured are shipped to the trade at that point. The bark used comes fro.n Mendocino County.
Mr. McBain was born in Picton, Nova Scotia, in 1849, where he attended the usual public schools until sixteen years of age, when he began to learn the tanning business, serving the ordinary apprenticeship. He then worked at his trade as a journeyman in his native place, and for a short time in Woburn, Massachusetts, un- til he came to California. Working in Santa Cruz for some three years, he camne to Napa, and purchased the property previously .used as a tannery by T. H. Algeo & Co., a small es- tablishment run by horse-power. This business
has grown in his hands to its present propor- tions, and is still being gradually extended as the increasing trade will warrant. Mr. McBain was married in 1877, to Miss Mary Stewart, a native of Boston, Massachusetts, and daughter of Robert Stewart, of Benicia. They have two children, Grace and Adele. He is a member of the A. O. U. W., Lodge Fortune, No. 13, and of the Knights of Honor, Lodge No. - , both of Napa. His parents were Alexander and Grace (Mckenzie) McBain, natives of Picton, Nova Scotia.
UDGE ROBERT CROUCH arrived in California in 1853, since which time he has been a resident of Napa County. He was born in Oakdale, Harrison County, Ohio, Octo- ber 15, 1823, and attended the ordinary public schools of that period, which was of a very primitive order of architecture, in keeping with the then pioneer conditions of settlement of Eastern Ohio, where is now the very center of onr advanced civilization. The first school he attended was held in a log building. The desks were made of slabs while the seats were logs flattened. Such were the difficulties of that day in the way of getting an education. In 1844 he made a trip with a two-horse team to Farm- ington, Illinois, where he settled and remained nntil 1852. Here he taught school in winter and studied medicine during the summer, com- mencing practice in 1849, and continuing in it until after he arrived in California. In 1852 he crossed the plains with an ox team, spending the succeeding winter on Mill Creek in the Salt Lake Valley. During the winter, with three fellow-travelers, Gentiles, he lived in the house of a Mormon, a leader in his district, who re- joiced in the possession of six wives. They were pretty well snowed in, and he saw enough of Mormonism to satisfy him of its enormity. That spring the Mormons laid the corner-stone of their Tabernacle at Salt Lake, at which ceremony Judge Crouch was present, and saw Brigham
410
1
HISTORY OF NORTHERN CALIFORNIA.
Young and a score of his wives, as well as what was left of the original Mormon legion. Being familiar with the use of carpenters' tools, he was employed during winter in building a saw-mill.
On his arrival in this State, having given up the idea of continuing in the practice of medi- cine, he began work as a carpenter, for which large wages were paid at that time, and followed that business until Angust, 1855. He then ac- cepted the position of deputy county clerk, auditor and recorder, acting also as clerk for the board of supervisors, District, Connty, and Court of Sessions, all of these offices devolving upon the one clerk. He was elected Clerk for three successive terms, thus serving two years as deputy and six years as County Clerk. He was elected County Judge at the judicial elec- tion in 1863, and held that position for eight years. During his incumbency of the clerk's office, Judge Crouch had studied law, and was admitted to practice in the district courts after his election to the bench. Upon his retirement therefrom he engaged in the practice of law in Napa, in partnership with the late David Mc- Clure for about two years, then for a short time with A. J. Hull, when he formed a partnership with F. E. Johnson, which coutinned for more than eight years. In 1878 he was elected a dele- gate to the Constitutional Convention which framed the present constitution of the State. During the sessions of this convention Judge Crouch strongly opposed dividing the Superior Court into departments, from the fact that the decisions of those departments are rendered un- certain, as they are still liable to be overruled by the court sitting in bank. Having been elect- ed Judge of the Superior Court in November, 1884, on Jannary 1, 1885, he resumed his seat upon the bench. This position he now fills.
Ile was married in 1862 to Mrs. M. B Bean, of San Francisco, a native of Maine, who came to California around Cape Horn in 1852. They have two children: Edgar Il., born in 1863, who is now attending school in Massachusetts; and Mabel, born in 1871. He is a member of
the Masonic order, Yount Lodge, No. 12, and Napa Chapter No. 30, and has belonged to the Republican party since 1864. Judge Crouch has been very successful as an attorney, is pro- foundly versed in the law, and is possessed of a fine judicial mind.
A. MACKINDER, real-estate and in- surance agent, St. Helena, was born March 18, 1861, in Young America, Washington County, Wisconsin, and is the son of George Mackinder, now deceased. The family came to California in 1868 and settled at Wind- sor, Sonoma County, where his father engaged in the blacksmithing and wagon-making busi- ness. In 1878 W. A. came to St. Helena and became a clerk in the banking house of W. A. C. Smith. He was with him one year, when he entered the employment of the Berginer Bres., wine-makers, as book-keeper, with whom he re- mained for a year and a half. For the suc- ceeding two years he was with E. W. Wood- ward, the real-estate dealer, and then in 1883 bought a half interest in the St. Helena Star, being an equal partner therein with Mr. Charles A. Gardner. For ten months he remained his partner, and then, January 1, 1884, he leased Mr. Gardner's half and for a year published the paper alone. He then bought out his partner and from that time carried on the paper alone, at the same time conducting a general real-estate and insurance business. On November 1, 1887, he sold out the Star to his brother, F. B. Mac- kinder and J. H. Dungan, who are the present proprietors. He has associated with himself in business Mr. L. H. Trainor, under the firm of Mackinder & Trainor, general dealers in real- estate, and insurance agents. They represent no less than twenty-five of the strongest fire coin- panies in the world, and there is no doubt that they do the largest business in the county.
Mr. Mackinder is a splendid instance of what may be done by a young man of energy and rectitude in this country. He has made his own
.
411
HISTORY OF NORTHERN CALIFORNIA.
way since he was seventeen years of age, and has known a constant rise; he is active, diligent and devoted to his business interests, but yet has always found time for outside matters. For a year or two, in 1884 and 1885, he was town clerk of St. Helena. He is an active Republican, having always taken a leading part; was chair- man of the county convention is 1888, and has served for years on the Republican County Cen- tral Committee. At present he is the Napa County member of the Republican State Central Committee. He is president of the St. Helena Library Association, and is an active member also of several fraternal societies. He is a Past Chancellor and member of the Grand Lodge of Knights of Pythias; and is prominently con- nected with the American Legion of Honor. He is also a Notary Public for Napa County.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.