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 82

Author: Lewis Publishing Company. cn
Publication date: 1891
Publisher: Chicago : The Lewis publishing company
Number of Pages: 1000

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 82

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).

508

HISTORY OF NORTHERN CALIFORNIA.

sant, a grandson of old Governor Stuyvesant, introduced Mr. Griffith to one of the Aspin- walls, who gave him a position as stoker on the steamship Panama. Leaving New York De- cember 1, 1848, they were out but five days when the cylinder-head of the engine burst off and they were obliged to put back to New York, by sail, arriving Thursday. During the ensuing winter Mr. Griffith was a clerk in a store and until July 15, 1849, he again obtained an opportunity to work for his passage to Cali- fornia, this time on the steamer Empire City to the Isthmus, and thence on the steamer Oregon, Captain Robert Pearson, to San Francisco, ar- riving September 16. On the night of October 2 he camped on the bank of Cache Creek, at the point where Cacheville is now situated. He and his companion help-d an old man named Cochran to build a rude sort of hnt for a coun- try tavern, and then proceeded on their way to the northern mines, arriving at Shasta after prospecting and finding nothing. The rainy season setting in, they returned to Cochran's, a distance from Shasta of 200 miles, and spent the winter there, Mr. Griffith acting as cook. Only two or three other settlers were then within the compass of several miles,-William Gor- don, seven miles southwest; Knight's, twelve miles northeast, and Mat. Harbin, four miles east.

During the next summer he worked in the Trinity mines, saving up about $500, which was soon stolen from him by a treacherous fel- low traveler. He returned disgusted with min- ing, and worked as cook again for Mr. Cochran for a while, and in the fall of 1851 Cochran left for Australia, being greatly in debt, and owing Mr. Griffith with others considerable money, and he has never since been heard from, except that he wrote a letter shortly afterward from San Francisco to Mr. Griffith, making a request that he remain with Mr. Hammack in the management of the " hotel," sell his stock and pay his debts; which was done. This ar- rangement was followed until the antninn of 1852, when J. A. Hutton, who owned land

near and had a wife, came with her and they and Hammack became proprietors. In the fall of 1853 they opened a store and employed Mr. Griffith to clerk for them, at a salary of $75 a month and board. In December. 1854, Mr. Griffith married his present wife, Mary Rush, who had crossed the plains that year, and he continued as employé in the store. In 1855 Mr. Griffith bought ont Mr. Hammnack and the firm became Hutton & Griffith. In 1857, when the county-seat was removed from Washington to Cacheville, Hntton & Griffith sold out, and in 1859 Griffith bought out the store of White & Weaver, at Cache- ville; there were then several mercantile establishments in the placc. In 1861 Mr. Grif- fith purchased the store of H. C. Yerby, the first brick store in the town if not in the county, and he succeeded J. A. Hutton (who had been county judge of Yolo many years) as Postmaster, and he also became agent for the Wells-Fargo Expre-s Company, which agency he held for about sixteen years. He retired from active business about 1880. He has a ranch of 2,320 acres in the foothills of Colusa County, and he raises sheep, hogs, cattle and horses, and wheat and barley. His home place consists of fourteen acres, whereon is a coinfort- able residence. In September, 1885, while in San Francisco with his wife and four youngest boys, his house burned down, at a loss of about $10,000. There was no insurance.

Thus Mr. Griffith is able to contrast with a peculiar vividness the original wild condition of the country here with the present state of affairs; and he considers the valley one of the most fertile in the world.

In 1855 the first camp-meeting in the county was held. by the Methodists, and the next year Mr. and Mrs. Griffith joined that church. In September, 1857, he was selected as superin- tendent of the first Sunday-school there, a posi- tion which he holds to-day. Mr. and Mrs. Griffith have eight children living, with one gone to the other world. Their names are: Olive M., William H., Jessie E., Hattie M.,

509

HISTORY OF NORTHERN CALIFORNIA.

Jenny P. (who died at the age of four years), George L., J. Scott, Aaron S. and Edward R.

ILLIAM WALKER, City Treasurer of Vallejo, has been a resident of that town since 1854 and of this State two years longer. He was born in Dumfries, Scotland, inheriting the best qualities of the Scotch character. At the age of thirty years he emigrated to the United States, landing at New York city, spent two years in New York State, and then purchased a farm about ten miles from Lansing, the capital of Michigan, when that place had but two houses. His land, which was densely wooded, he cleared by his own hands, devoting seven years to that work. In 1852 he fitted out two wagons with six horses and came with his wife and two brothers overland to the center of the gold excitement, Placerville, arriving August 10, after having left Lansing March 1. The first two years in this State he kept a store for miners' supplies at Johnson's Cut-off, in El Dorado County, most of his trade being with the newly arrived immigrants. While there he also freighted goods from Sacramento to the mines, realizing sometimes as much as 30 cents a pound as freight. Disposing of his goods in Sacramento, he moved to Benicia just as the capital of the State was being removed from that point to Sacramento. After spending about a year in Benicia, in the employ of the Pacific Mail Com- pany, he removed to Vallejo, where he engaged in his present business as a dealer in Inmber, wood, coal, lime, etc., etc. About five years after his arrival in Vallejo, he built the wharf which he still owns and occupies for his busi- ness, in which he has been engaged for thirty- six years, and by which he has accumulated a handsome competency. Four years ago the citizens elected him City Treasurer, which posi- tion he now holds; but he is still actively en- gaged also in the management of his old business,

supplying a large share of the coal, wood, and building supplies used in Vallejo.

He was married in Michigan, in 1850, to Miss Jane Allen, a native of Ayrshire, Scotland, who died in 1877, in Vallejo; and Mr. Walker, in 1879, married Mrs. Maria McKay, a native of Nova Scotia. Mr. Walker's parents, John and Jane (Hay) Walker, are both natives of Scotland.

RANCIS CONNELLY came to California in 1850 and is consequently one of the early settlers of the country who have acted their humble part in founding this great State. He was born in Connty Tyrone, Ireland, June 28, 1817. His parents, Jolin and Nancy (Bard) Connelly, were intelligent and industrious Irish people, who came to the United States in 1821, settling at Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, where they resided and raised their children. Five of their nine children are still living. Mr. Con- nelly, the subject of this sketch and their eldest son, learned the trade of carpentry in Pennsyl- vania, worked there on a farm a few years, and removed to Iowa and purchased a farm of ninety- six acres, which he cleared and where he bnilt a residence; at times he worked also at his trade. He sold his Iowa property and came to Califor- nia in 1850, and mined on Scott River and at French Gulch. He had good claims, but was not an experienced miner and did not know how to make the best of it; yet did fairly well. Ten men of them in one afternoon on Scott's Run took out $2,000. In 1852 he went back to Iowa and remained there eight years, and in 1860 returned to California and settled eighteen miles below Sacramento on a farm. Sickness drove him from that place and he went to Yolo County, purchased property, built a house and worked at his business there ten years, when he sold and went to Millville and took up 160 acres of Government land. After improving the claim he soon exchanged it for another place, and after making some improvements

510

HISTORY OF NORTHERN CALIFORNIA.

there, he sold it and moved into the town of Millville, purchased lots, built a house and shop and has resided there since, following the car- penters' wagon-making and undertakers' trades.

In 1842 he was married to Miss Rebecca Bates, a native of the State of New Jersey and they have had seven children, six of whom are living, namely: Joseph, John, Jackson, Sarah Ann, Jefferson and Eliza.

Mr. Connelly is a Democrat and a strong temperance man, belonging to the Good Temp- lars. He is an honest and reliable citizen and makes his money by his industry.

BRAHAM JAY BUCKLES, Judge of the Superior Court of Solano County, Cali- fornia, was born Angust 2, 1846, in Dela- ware County, Indiana. Up to the time of the war he had received but little education. He enlisted as a private in Company E, Nineteenth Regiment Indiana Infantry, June, 1861. This regiment became a part of the " Iron Brigade," First Division, First Army Corps, Army of the Potomac. He was with the regiment at the front in all the great campaigns of the army, except the Peninsula. At the second Bull Run battle he was shot through the right thigh and taken prisoner, but effected his escape soon after. Prior to the Gettysburg campaign he had been detailed, at his own request, as one of the color guard, and during the Gettysburg battle he res- cued the flag of his regiment, but was soon af- ter struck in the right shoulder with a rifle ball, which so disabled him that he could never after carry a knapsack. When sufficiently recovered, although the wound was not healed, he returned to his regiment, and was at once made the color- bearer thereof, a position he long had songht. At the battle of the Wilderness, while carrying the flag he was shot through the body, and when carried to the rear was informed by the surgeon that he must die, as his wound was a fatal one, and for this reason, and owing to the great number of wounded who would in all

probability recover, but little attention was paid to him. So certain were all that he would not recover the report went forth "Killed in the Wilderness." In 1886 he recovered a small Bible, carried by him in that battle and lost there, which on the fly-leaf bore the words " Killed in the Wilderness." However, being of a strong con- stitution and possessed of an iron will be recov- ered sufficiently to return to the front where he found his regiment so depleted in numbers that it had been consolidated with the Twentieth Indiana, and in this regiment he was given a commission as Second Lieutenant, dated Feb- rnary 27, 1865. At the beginning of Grant's last campaign, at Petersburg, March 25, 1865, and just fourteen days before Lee's surrender, while leading his company in an assault against a line of rebel picket pits, he was struck by a ball in the right leg which necessitated its amputation a few inches from the body.

Returning to his home at the close of the war, and having sufficiently recovered his strength, he attended a private school for about . nine months, after which he taught several primary schools, worked at whatever he conld get to do, employing all his leisure momer ts in reading law; an l, on being admitted to the In- diana bar in 1875, he removed with is family to Solano County, California, where he soon built up a lucrative practice. In 1879, during the new constitution campaign, he became quite prominent as a public speaker in the debates against the adoption of the consitution. At the fall election of the same year he was elected District Attorney of Solano County, and was re-elected in 1882, and at the election of 1884 he was elected Judge of the Superior Court of his county, a position he has filled with honor and distinction, and he will be re-elected this year (1890) without opposition.

He is a prominent Grand Armny man, being now the Department Commander of the Depart- ment of California, a member of Farragut Post, No. 4, G. A. R., Vallejo. In 1845 he was Superior Chancellor of the order C. R. C., and in 1889 was Grand Chancellor of the Jurisdic-

511

HISTORY OF NORTHERN CALIFORNIA.

tion of California K. of P. He is also a mem- ber of I. O. O. F., A. O. U. W., O. B. L., and U. A. O. D. He is the second son of Thomas N. and Rachel (Graham) Buckles. His early ancestry on his father's side came from England and settled in Virginia long before the Revo- lutionary war. His mother's people were of Irish extraction. In December, 1865, he mar- ried Louisa B. Conn. of Muncie, Indiana, the fourth danghter of Simon and Sarah (O'Neil) Conn, by whom he had but two children, Lola D., the wife of George B. Donaldson, and Adda Jessie, now engaged in the millinery business in Suisun, California.

HARLEY, a farmer of Yolo County, was born in 1815 in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, about thirty miles north of Philadelphia, where his parents also were born. The name Harley is English, and the first emigration to this country was that of a Mr. Harley who was an Englishman, and his wife who was a German woman; and it is said that their descendants in this country now number 300. The father of the subject of this sketch changed his residence several times in Pennsylvania, and in 1827, probably, he moved to Stark County, Ohio, and several years after- ward to Montgomery County, same State, and in 1840 to McLean County, Illinois, at which time he had six sons. In 1850 the youngest son, Aaron, and the subject of this sketch, in com- pany with others, crossed the plains to Califor- nia, with a mule team, stopping first at Dia- mond Spring, near Hangtown (now Placerville), August 9. Until the fall of 1851 Mr. Harley, our subject, was in the mines, and then with others settled in Yolo County, engaging in agri- cultural pursuits. At that time there were very few settlers in this region, and there was neither town nor village west of the Sacramento River in that county except Fremont, merely an initial point at the mouth of Feather River.

Mr. Harley's first wife passed away in 1847.

In 1877 Mr. Harley, for his second wife, mar- ried Miss Powell, also a native of Pennsylvania, and they have one son, nearly twelve years old. Their home is in a very fine part of Yolo County, probably as good a section as any in the State.

SCAR P. DOBBINS, District Attorney of Solano County, was born in Vacaville, same county, May 8, 1854; graduated at the Jesuits' College at Santa Clara in 1873, and for several years assisted his father in the man- agement of his ranch near Vacaville. During the winter of 1875-'76 he was clerk in the State Legislature. In 1880 he commenced the study of law in the office of Hon. Joseph McKenna, now the member of Congress from the Third District of the State. After eighteen months of study he was admitted to the bar of the Su- preme Court. He continued in the office of his preceptor until 1884, attending to business for himself and Mr. McKenna. Being then elected District Attorney, he has since devoted his energies to the duties of that office, having been. twice re-elected, although his party was defeated both times in the county, owing to the navy yard at Vallejo being under Democratic control, and he is again at this writing the candidate for the fourth time of his party for the saine office. During his official career, over fifty men were tried for felony and all but six were convicted and sentenced; and ont of eight cases tried for murder during his terin of office, only one was acquitted, and that was during the first two weeks of his term. It was the case of J. W. A. Gilinore and George Taylor, wherein Henry E. Highton, of San Francisco, Hon. Joseph McKenna, now a Congressman, and George A. Lament were all pitted against him. It was of such a nature as to appeal strongly to the sympathy of the jury as well as presenting strong evidence in favor of defendant.

Mr. Dobbins has always been a stanch sup- porter of the Republican party and prominent in its councils in his county. He is a member

512

HISTORY OF NORTHERN CALIFORNIA.

of Suisun Lodge, No. 55, F. & A. M .; also of Solano Chapter, No. 43, R. A. M., of Naval Commandery, No. 19, K. T., of the N. S. G. W., and of the K. of P.

Mr. Dobbins was married, in 1878, to Miss Mollie R., danghter of Caleb and Priscilla Wells, natives of Virginia. who came to Cali- fornia in 1860. They have one child, Brantly W., born in 1879. The subject's father, W. J. Dobbins, was a native of Kentucky, and his mother, nee Eliza E. Hunt, a native of North Carolina, who came to California in 1850.

ALLAS POSTON is the dispenser of jus- tice in his section of Shasta County, as well as a farmer on a large scale on what is known as the Lilly raneh, one of the best ranches in that part of the county. He is of good old Virginia and Kentucky stock, which came originally from Scotland. His grand- father, Henry Poston, was born in Kentucky, and was a soldier in the war of 1812; his father, William Harrison Poston, was born in Virginia, and was a soldier in the Mexican war; his son, the subject of this sketch, was born in Virginia January 9, 1844, and he also served his country in the great civil war. He enlisted in Company K, of the Missouri Volunteer Cavalry, when a youth of only seventeen, and was consequently too young to receive promotion; but he was promoted before the close of the war to the position of Second Sergeant. His mother, Louisa (Johnson) Poston, was a native of Vir- ginia, and he was the second child of a family of nine children.

After his service in the army he turned his attention to farmning in Missouri for a time, and then emigrated to Kansas and purchased 160 acres of land, upon which he built and which he otherwise improved. In April, 1873, he came to Lake County, California, and worked in the quicksilver inines successfully four years. He then started and ran a meat-market six years, when he sold and removed to Middle-

town, in that county, and ran the Lake County Hotel for a year. Then, in 1887, he went to the Lilly ranch in Shasta County, where he now resides, and is sowing abont 320 acres of land to wheat, barley and oats.

Mr. Poston was married in 1864, to Miss Mary Jane Funk, a native of Missouri, and they have had nine children, seven of whom are living, namely: William H., Cory B., Winnie E., born in Missouri; Sarah and Chas. A., born in Kansas, and Ira, Emery, Evan and Omar, born in California. Mr. Poston's politi- cal views are Democratic. He has held the office of Supervisor in Lake County for several years and now holds the office of Justice of the Peace in Shasta County. He is a member of the A. (). U. W. and of the I. O. O. F., and has been District Deputy in both orders.

ATERMAN COLMAN, a fruit-raiser of Yolo County, is a son of Amiel and Elizabeth D. Colmau, natives of Scitu- ate, Massachusetts. He was born and educated in that town, and in 1876 came to California by rail, first locating in Woodland. He was soon employed by the United States Government as postal clerk, as one of the first on the road. After operating in that capacity nine years and a half, he purchased the lot of ten acres where he now resides and raises some of the finest fruit in the county.

He married Miss Loring, who was born in the State of Maine, February 12, 1824, and they have one son, Edwin W.

RED. SCHLIEMAN, a well-known farmer of Yolo County, was born in Germany, December 15, 1825, a son of Fred and Helen Schlieman, natives of that country. At the age of twenty-one ycars he emigrated to Texas, landing at the port of Galveston, and served in the Mexican war. In 1850 he started

٢٠

palm, a. DeCillis

513

HISTORY OF NORTHERN CALIFORNIA.

with a mule team and came through Mexico and Arizona to California, arriving at San Diego September 17, 1850. Four months afterward he went to San Francisco and in a short time to the mines at Park's Bar, on the Yuba River; next to Doty's Flat in Placer County, where he was engaged in mining until 1856. Ile then spent a year at his native place in the East, and on returning settled in Yolo County at the place which he now occupies, containing three quar- ter-sections of land. He is a prosperous farmer, and takes great interest in the welfare of his community and in the county. He was elected Assessor in 1879, served till 1884, was elected County Clerk in 1885 for two years; was also Justice of the Peace in earlier days.

He was married, in 1857, to Caroline Kuntze, a native of Germany, and they have two daugh- ters and four sons, namely: William A., Harry F., Ernest E., Adolph F., Louis F., Helen L. and Minnie C.

OHN A. DE VILBISS .- Among the men of Yolo County who have taken a conspicu- ous and active part in its development, the above mentioned gentleman must be placed. The hotel which bears his name, located at Winters, and which will receive due attention in the proper place in this article, is a monu- ment to his enterprise, which alone entitles him to something more than passing mention in this volume. The following sketch of his life and career is hence given with more than the ordinary detail, though necessarily brief to con- form it to the place and scope of the work.

Mr. De Vilbiss was born in Lewis County, Missouri, at Canton, a pretty little city on the western hank of the Mississippi River, the date of his birth being November 19, 1841.

His father, Alexander De Vilbiss, was born in Allegany County, Maryland, not far from Hagerstown, and his parents also were Ameri- can born, his father being a native probably of Pennsylvania, and his mother of Baltimore.

The De Vilbiss family, however, are originally of French extraction, their history in this conn- try dating from 1735, when three brothers of that name settled on the Atlantic coast, one of them being the direct ancestor of John A. De Vilbiss.

The mother of our subject, whose maiden name was Rebecca Brown, was born near Bards- town, Kentucky, who, somewhere between the ages of twelve and fifteen years accompanied her parents, Mr. and Mrs. Howard Brown, on their removal to Lewis County, Missouri. There she grew up and was married. Her husband had come out from Maryland to Canton, where he followed the business of an architect and contractor. When John A. was but eleven months old his father died, leaving his wife a widow before she had reached the age of seven- teen years. So, until he was six years old he lived with his grandfather, John De Vilbiss, on his farm. There, his mother having married Walter Ferguson, he lived with them until he had reached the age of sixteen years, being reared to farm life. About 1858 he went to live with an uncle, by name Henry De Vilbiss, who also resided in Lewis County, making his home there until 1861.

He then entered the service of the Confeder- acy, enlisting in Company E, Eighth Missouri Mounted Infantry. He served with all the valor of the young men of Southern blood and birth, being with General Price in his famous campaigns, and only left the ranks when in the fall of 1862 he was picked up bleeding and wounded on the battle-field of Kirksville, and made prisoner by the Federal troops. Being taken first to Palmyra, he witnessed there the execution of the prisoners under McNeill, and shook hands with the boys when they went out to be shot. After having been imprisoned about two months at Palmyra, he was taken to Alton, Illinois, where he was kept about four months in confinement. He was then exiled from the Southern States, and released on con- dition that he should live north of Mason and Dixon's line and east of the Illinois Central

514

HISTORY OF NORTHERN CALIFORNIA.

Railroad. In accordance with this undertaking, he went to McLean County, Illinois, where he worked at farm work and made his home until the fall of 1864. While there he met his wife, whose maiden name was Esther Cunningham, and on the 18th of November, 1864, they were married. In Jannary, 1864, they went to Lewis County, Missouri, and there made their home with his mother until the following spring.

Then, as member of a train, containing twenty five wagons from that neighborhood, they started for California. They passed through Bloomfield, Iowa, the day after President Lin- coln's assassination, and there received the first news of that event. They crossed the Missouri River at Plattsmouth, and thence proceeded up the South Platte by way of Jnlesburg, crossed the Platte at the old emigrant ferry, north of Denver, passed near the present site of Chey- enne, thence through the Black Hills and across the Laramie Plains, and thence by the Bitter Creek route and Forts Bridger and Halleck, through Utah, stopping at Salt Lake City about a week. Then they took the old stage route, leaving Church Hill to the left, thence to the sink of Carson, what was then known as Rag- town, and thence on to Virginia City, Nevada. That place was then alive with the Comstock excitement, and consequently Mr. De Vilbiss concluded to remain there. He went to work in the mines, and remained there until the fall of 1868, his oldest son, John S., being born there meanwhile, and his oldest daughter, Mary, in Washoe City. In the fall of 1868 he went to Reno, where he took the cars, with his family, for Cali- fornia. He went to Sacramento by rail, by stage to Danville, thence by cars again to Elmira, and from there by private conveyance to the ranch of his uncle, John De Vilbiss, near Vacaville.

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.

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 82

Author: Lewis Publishing Company. cn Publication date: 1891 Publisher: Chicago : The Lewis publishing company Number of Pages: 1000

Author: Lewis Publishing Company. cn
Publication date: 1891
Publisher: Chicago : The Lewis publishing company
Number of Pages: 1000