An illustrated history of Sacramento County, California : containing a history of Sacramento County from the earliest period of its occupancy to the present time, together with glimpses of its prospective future portraits of some of its most eminent men, and biographical mention of many of its pioneers and also prominent citizens of today, Part 104

Author: Davis, Winfield J., 1851- 4n
Publication date: 1890
Publisher: Chicago : Lewis Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 916

USA > California > Sacramento County > An illustrated history of Sacramento County, California : containing a history of Sacramento County from the earliest period of its occupancy to the present time, together with glimpses of its prospective future portraits of some of its most eminent men, and biographical mention of many of its pioneers and also prominent citizens of today > Part 104

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AVID TILESTON LUFKIN was born in Cumberland County, Maine, August 31, 1817, his parents being Jacob Butler B. and Elizabeth (Ludden) Lufkin. Grandfather Ludden, a native of Scotland, fought at Bunker Hill in the patriot army. The Lufkins trace lineage to the early Puritan stock of Plymouth colony. David's grandfather, Nathaniel Luf- kin, was an early settler, large landholder, ship- owner and merchant at Yarmouth, and lost heavily through the embargo act, in the war of 1812. His grandmother Lufkin was of a Butler family, of Massachusetts. The father of D. T., besides carrying on the usual rontine of his farm, bought and drove cattle and sheep, selling them in Portland. The subject of this sketch attended the district school till he was thirteen, when he went to driving a six-ox team in a logging camp. Obtained the gift of his time at sixteen years and nine months. Spent

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three months in an academy to enable him to teach a district school, and was afterward teacher and pupil alternatively until he reached his majority. His health becoming impaired by over-study he went West in 1838, by way of Boston, New York, Buffalo and Chicago to Green Bay, Wisconsin, where he spent a year and recovered his health. He then went into the pine-cutting business as an employé and "rafted " to St. Louis in 1840, afterward work- ing during the summer on the Mississippi. His health again gave way, and he went north to Galena, where he taught school in 1841 at $35 a month and board. In the spring of 1842 he went into the grocery business, which he closed ont two years later, and in 1844 moved to Boone County, Illinois, where he had a farm, and built a saw-mill, which he conducted for five years. Renting farm and mill in 1849 he came to California by way of St. Lonis, New Orleans, and a sailing vessel to Chagres, and on the Pacific side by the barque "Palmetto," on which he was employed as "captain of the steerage," -- charged with the oversight of 116 passengers,-to San Francisco, arriving in the spring of 1850. Ile was thus enabled to secure the passage of two sick and penniless comrades from Panama to San Francisco. He went to mining in April, and kept at it steadily for about five months, his last field of operation be- ing on Feather River. He had turned Nelson Creek from its bed, but high water soon put an embargo on his proceedings. His health, too, was none too good, and he concluded to seek for a season some more congenial climate and oc- cupation than mining in the mountains, but with the intention of returning when the water subsided on his claim. He had made about $2,000, and invested in some cattle, renting from a mining comrade a place on the Sacra- mento, on which there was a rude log-cabin. Here he proposed to devote the interval until spring to feeding his cattle, and he reached the place on October 30, 1850. After a few weeks' residence he found his health so much improved that he bought the place, and it has been his

home ever since. Besides taking care of his stock he ran the Grapevine Ferry in the winter of 1851-'52, and fonnd the climate so genial that he abandoned the idea of returning to the mines. In the fall of 1851 he brought his fain- ily to share his comforts and enhance his own. He increased his ranch by other purchases to 400 acres, but has since reduced it by sale to 100 acres, which are devoted almost entirely to fruit-raising, for which nature has admirably adapted it. Had he the designing of it and the power to achieve the desired result, he could not have made it more suitable for such pur- pose. He raises pears, peaches, apricots, plums and cherries, which he ships principally to San Francisco from a landing near at hand. He shipped 2,000 boxes East in 1888. Raises some alfalfa for his colts. He raised cattle and ran a dairy for some years, bnt found that nature had adapted his ranch for the raising of stone-fruits, and he has learned not to contravene the de- cision of that bounteous mother. In 1854 he burned a kiln of brick, and built a residence of that material, which after thirty-five years is still in excellent condition, besides enhancing the comfort and promoting the health of its oc- cupants for all those years: fle continued to prosper in his business for twelve years, when the flood of 1862 created discontent with the banks of Sacramento as a permanent home, and he offered to sell cheap, bnt fortunately could find no purchaser. In an evil hour he embarked in what seemed a promising venture,-the mill- ing and crushing of quartz, near Aurora, Ne- vada, only to sink the bulk of his accumulations and lose four and a-half years, -1863 to 1867, -- in that disastrous enterprise. Returning to his old pursnits on his nnsalable ranch a sadder bnt wiser man, he has learned to be content with the less dazzling vision of a competence from the fruits of his orchard, and is now enjoying a serene old age in the quiet pursuits of hns- bandry. He has been a justice of the peace al- most continuously when living in Franklin Township. Mr. Lufkin was married in 1843 at Elkhorn Grove, Illinois, to Miss Ann E. Dal-

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ton, a native of North Carolina. Her maternal grandfather was of the Scales family, of which the present Governor of that State is a distin. tinguished member. She died in 1876, leaving four children: Sarah Hortense, now the widow of James S. Moore, with four boys and two girls; Mary, the widow of Elijalı Giles Downer with two boys and two girls; Harry Tileston, in business at Walnut Grove, and married to Lonisa Wise, with two children: Roscoe. C., born in 1882, and a baby girl; Clara, now Mrs. Daniel Striker, of Sacramento. Mr. Lufkin was again married in 1879 to Mrs. Sarah H. (Mor- rison) Weber, born in Maine of a Scotch father and an American mother.

ZRA W. FOSTER, farmer, Sutter Town. ship, was born December 4, 1828, in Ver- mont. His father, William T. Foster, was a native of Ireland, a stone-cutter by trade, and came to America at the age of seventeen years. His wife, the mother of Ezra W., was a native of Vermont; her maiden name was Char- lotte Chilson. From early boyhood, the sub- ject of our sketch has made his own way in the world. He lived with his grand-parents until about the age of seventeen years, when he found that he was not to receive under their care any education. He then resolved to travel out into the world for himself. He began to exhibit a desire for an education at the age of fourteen, and by the time he was seventeen he had re- ceived but eighteen months' schooling. At the tender age mentioned he went to Michigan, where he lived most of the time in Cass and Berrien Counties, working on a farm and clerk- ing in various stores. In April, 1850, having accumulated a little money by hard labor and rigid economy, he started for California over- land, came by way of Council Bluffs, Salt Lake City and arrived in Weavertown, this State, July 17, with fifty-five people in the train, after a five months' journey. Only one of the party was lost on the way by sickness. For the first 48

year Mr. Foster followed mining; then he started a small grocery with his uncle, which arrangement continued but a short time. Ont of $5,000 invested they obtained but $50 in re- turn, and that was in a mining claim. The next year he was employed in a sale and feed stable in Sacramento. Selling it, in February, 1852, he located a quarter-section of land in Franklin Township. The following spring he sold this and purchased his present property of 365 acres, six miles from Sacramento, between the upper and lower Stockton roads; and then began teaming and speculating in horses and cat- tle. In 1855 he put in the first crop on the ranch, and from that time he has improved the place until he has made it a fine residence. Hay, grain and live-stock are within the domain of his energies. He still " has a fancy for a good horse;" and of this class of animals he has a number. He also has a ranch of 237 acres six iniles south of Sacramento. Mr. Foster has seen his share of the " ups and downs " of Cali- fornia life. August 6, 1856, he married Miss Letitia, daughter of J. Goslin, and a native of England. She died January 2, 1862. By this marriage there were two sons: Adrian, who died at the age of three years and six months; and Harry W., born December 10, 1861.

JARRY TILESTON LUFKIN was born October 31, 1856, in "the brick house," about midway between Richland and Free- port, on the Sacramento, his parents being David Tileston (see sketch) and Mary Ann (Dalton) Lufkin. He attended high-school and a preparatory school in Sacramento, but instead of going to the university he went to teaching school in Solano County, near Vallejo, at the age of twenty. He followed that avocation for seven years, and in 1883 went into business at Walnut Grove, where he still conducts a general store and a public hall, built in 1885. He is a member of the Masonic order, and of the Native Sons of the Golden West, and was a school

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trustee for three years. Mr. Lufkin was mar- ried July 16, 1879, to Miss Louisa Jane Wise, a native of this county, a daughter of Joseph (see sketch) and Nancy Jane (Phipps) Wise. Mr. and Mrs. Lufkin are the parents of three living children: Harry Roscoe, born June 3, 1880; Stella Grace, born October 30, 1886; and Irene Tileta, born November 27, 1889.

ULIUS EVERSON, merchant at Elk Grove, was born in Caynga County, New York, fourteen miles from Auburn, the county seat, and about two miles from where Millard Fillmore was at the time working at the black- smith's trade, June 9, 1833, son of William and Catharine Everson, the former a native of New Jersey and the latter of New York. He was brought up as a farmer's son, remaining on the farm until he was twenty years of age; at- tended an academy for a time. In 1853 he went to Michigan and located at Kalamazoo, entering the employ of the Michigan Central Railroad Company, who commissioned him to bny and cut wood along the line of the road, his section being from Kalamazoo to Lake Michigan. He had an engine and machine for cutting the wood, and a gang of men: occupied this position for about two years. In 1856 he sailed from New York for California on the old steamer George Law, which afterward was lost at sea. While crossing the Isthmus on the railroad, an accident happened to the train causing the loss of sixty lives. His steamer on this side the Isthmus was the Golden Gate, which also went down afterward. He landed in San Francisco May 23 or 24, 1856, the day Casey and Cora were hung by the Vigilance Committee. The times were so exciting that Mr. Everson was tempted im- mediately to return to the East. On arriving in Sacramento he entered the wood business on Ninth and K streets, and conducted a wood-yard about a year; then he bought a farm near Elk Grove and conducted it until 1875, when he originated the Elk Grove Building Company,

which put up the first business building in the place; and he, in partnership with W. A. Chit- tenden, under the firm name of Chittenden & Everson, put in a stock of goods, the first in the embryo village; and ever since that date he has been in business at that point, carrying a gen- eral stock of goods for an agricultural com- munity. In 1877, in company with H. S. Hill, he bought a tract of land and erected two build- ings upon it, one for a drug store and one for a harness shop. Thus was the business history of Elk Grove started. At the end of the first six- teen months Mr. Everson bought ont Mr. Chit- tenden's interest and admitted into partnership his nephew, W. E. Everson, who was then one of the firm of Everson & Co. for eight years. Mr. Everson bought him out and since that time he has been alone. As has already been provent he is a public-spirited man, anxious for the prosperity of his community, and successful both in business and in helping on all good local enterprises. He was married in 1873 to Miss Alvira Treat, a native of Cass County, Michigan, and daughter of Sullivan Treat, an old settler of this locality. They have two children, Lester Treat and Walter Terry, both born in Elk Grove.

TSAAC FIEL, merchant and real-estate dealer, Folsom. The father of this gentleman, Jo- sephi Fiel, was a native of Prussia, born in 1822, and was a tailor by occupation. In 1849, during the gold excitement in California, he came direct to Folsom, which had just been laid ont, and bought property. When the railroad was built to that place, passengers and freight were carried across the mountains by wagons to Virginia City, during the Washoe, Gold Hill and White Pine excitement. He commenced the manufacture of wagon covers and made quite a business ont of it. Afterward he en- tered the dry-goods trade in Folsom, being one of the first merchants, and followed this business about six years. Subsequently he became in-

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terested in two or three mines in the neighbor- hood, and devoted his attention to that about three years. At the time of the completion of the railroad to Latrobe, which was then sup- posed to be the terminus of the route, he went there and erected seven large stores, which he rented. The stores cost a great deal of money; Latrobe went down, and he was offered only $200 for the property. He moved the buildings to Folsom, where they are still standing. At one time he had considerable property in the lower part of the town, which was then the principal business portion. He was once offered $6,000 or $7,000 for property which he after- ward sold for $300. The same property to-day is worth many thousand dollars. His next move was to open a variety store a few doors above where his son now is, and he continued in this business until his death, October 16, 1876. He always had the good of his chosen town at heart, was active in business and every way a worthy citizen. He was foremost in securing the branch State Prison at this point. He was married in Sacramento, to Rosa Kirsky, who became the mother of two children, and is now a resident of Folsom. Her son Irwin is not living. Isaac Fiel, the other son, was born in Folsom April 22, 1861. At the age of fif- teen years he went to Woodland, but at the death of his father he returned to Folsom to take charge of his well-known variety store, and since then he has been prominently identified witlı the thorough business men of the place. Fonr years ago he took charge of Firemen's Hall, which had well nigh run down, repaired it, and got theatrical companies to exhibit there, which has been a great help to the town. He still has charge of the hall. His variety store is one of the principal attractions of Folsom, being one of the largest outside of San Francisco. He has the agency of all the San Francisco, Sacra- mento and Stockton papers, as well as the other principal papers of the State. Ile and his mother own considerable real estate in and around Folsom, some of which is valuable busi- ness property. For ten months Mr. Fiel was

editor and proprietor of the Folsom Weekly Telegraph, and during that time built the paper up to a standard that places it among the lead- ing newspapers of the State. When he sold it it was on a good paying basis. For a year and a half he was Deputy Postmaster of Folsom, and during that time was instrumental in putting in new boxes and fitting up the office to be one of the finest in the State. During the skating rink excitement he had charge of three skating rinks,-one each in Folsom, Elk Grove and Galt,-and they were a paying investment. In connection with his variety store he also is en- gaged in the real-estate business. December 27, 1887, is the date of Mr. Fiel's marriage to Miss Gertie Sartain, a native of Missouri.

- ON. LEWIS H. FASSETT, deceased, was a son of Truman N. and Lydia (Hyller) Fassett. His father, a native of Vermont, emigrated to Ohio when a small boy, and his father, Elias, also a farmer, emigrated to Ohio in 1810, and was therefore one of the earliest pioneers of that State. Truman N. was reared and married in Ohio to an Ohio lady whose father, Mr. Hyller, made his home there until he came to California in 1852. In Ohio he fol- lowed farming and also had charge of mail rontes, stage lines, etc. He came to the coast by the Nicaragua route, sailing from New York, and was one those who were retained at Grey- town, having to wait nearly three months on the Isthmus before he could procure passage on the Pacific coast. The ship that finally came along was the George Lewis. On arriving here he mined at Mormon Island and elsewhere, and also hauled freight from Marysville to the min- ing camps. He mined one year and then was on a farm one season, and then followed freight- ing again. In 1955, his family, consisting of wife and four children, arrived here, and they all then located in Sacramento. He afterward purchased land and settled upon it, and died in 1881, at the age of seventy-five years. The

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widow is still living, aged seventy-eight years. The four children were Luey N. Kellogg, in Tulare City; Henry II., in Sacramento; L. H., our subject, and Mrs. Julia E. Andrews, who died June 4, 1873. Mr. Fassett was born March 23, 1837, in Ohio, came to California in 1855 and went into the mines. He left a good situation of $100 a month in Sacramento, fol- lowed mining fourteen months and returned with just $14! Then he was employed by O. C. Wheeler half a year, at $60 a month. Pres- ently his father and brother bought a ranch on the Folsom grant, and they all followed farming there together for several years; but the title was found to be clouded with a Mexican claim and they abandoned the place. Then, during 1862-'63, Mr. Fassett followed teaming, and next tried mining again (!), this time putting np a quartz mill on the Carson River, in Carson County, Nevada. Unfortunately, just before Christmas it burned down; and, not having much to fall back upon, he came to this county and commenced farming on the Sacramento River, near Freeport, remaining there two years. He then, in 1867, purchased the present home- stead, nine miles from Sacramento and one and three-fourths miles from Florin, where he paid considerable attention to fruit, such as straw- berries, blackberries and grapes for Eastern shipment. There are thirty acres in vineyard. Mr. Fassett was well posted in the art of fruit- growing, and was actively instrumental in estab- lishing the Fruit-Growing Association, and also the Grange, the result of which has been a great benefit to the community. He was a Re- publican; was a member of the Board of Super- visors, and chairman of the board for two years, at the close of which term he was presented with a handsome gold-headed cane. July 26, 1888, he received from the Republicans of the Twentieth Assembly District, the nomination for member of the Assembly without opposi- tion, and November 4 was elected. During the session he was a member of the Committee on Agriculture, on Swamp and Overflowed Lands, on the State Prison, and on Homestead and Land

Monopolies. He was a man of indomitable en- ergy and extraordinary ability. He died De- cember 16, 1889. In 1861 he married Miss Ellen A. Anderson, daughter of Andrew and Harriet A. Anderson, and they had three sons and two daughters: Ada L., now the wife of Francis A. Tibbitts in San Francisco; Ella M., now wife of C. S. Patton; George E., Charles H., Truman L., and Sarah U., who died in 1873, at the age of two years.

ICHARD STANLEY LOCKETT, de- ceased, was born near Somerset, Kentucky, February 13, 1818. From 1839 to 1843 he was a ship carpenter in Missouri, and thence until 1850 he worked at his trade in Louisiana, spending most of his time in New Orleans. For four years he was a pilot on the Mississippi River. In 1850 he came to California by water, and worked at his trade in San Francisco a few weeks, building a schooner. Coming to Sacramento, he opened up a restaurant and saloon on the corner of Third and K streets. Having bought the sonthwest and southeast cor- ners there he erected a building, but the great fire succeeding occasioned him great loss. In 186- he entered a quarter-section of Govern- ment land, and purchased another quarter-sec- tion, a part of which is now within the limits of the city of Sacramento. The estate, now con- ducted by his widow, in conjunction with an adopted son, is seven miles from Sacramento. in Brighton Township, and consists of eighty acres, thirty acres of which are in vines and other small fruits. Some of the vines are over twenty years old. Mr. Lockett was one of the charter members of the Sacramento Grange, and took great interest in the cause of the Patrons of Husbandry during his life. In 1883 he was nominated by the Republicans for the Assem- bly, but was defeated. along with the whole ticket. He was a very popular man, on account of his good qualities of character and intelligent understanding of the principles of statesman-

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ship, especially as understood by his party. Mr. Lockett was married in 1871 to Mary Lock- ard, a native of Columbus, Ohio, and daughter of John and Mary McLain, both her parents of Scotch descent. She was a child when her par- ents died, and was brought up near Columbus by persons who were not relatives. Her mother, by her first husband, Mr. Charlton, had had five children, and by her second husband six chil- dren, and Mrs. Lockett is the only member of the family now living so far as she knows. She came to California in 1868.

MARINGO, a farmer of Dry Creek Town- ship, was born in Italy in 1828, a son of Peter and Mary Maringo, both of whom died in that classic land. His father was a farmer. Mr. Maringo, our subject, emigrated to California in 1869, first settling in Stockton. In 1879 he purchased from the railroad com- pany the present property of 624 acres, two and a half miles from Galt and twenty-five miles from Stockton; and on this place he has made all the improvements now witnessed there. Ilis barn and other outbuildings are very good structures. On this ranch he carries on general farming, and has a small vineyard and garden, in fine trim. In 1857 he married Teresa Ma- ringo, a native of Italy, and they have four children, namely: Melita, Mary, Virginia and Alessandria.

LE OLSON LOVDAL, a hop-raiser of Sutter Township, was born in Gramstadt, Norway, March 25, 1825, a son of George and Christina Lovdal. At the age of fifteen years he began to learn his trade, and since that time he has made his own way in the world. July 12, 1850, he sailed from Gramstadt for the United States, and landed at New York, after a voyage of ten unpleasant weeks. He finally purchased a place from his brother-in-law, An-

ton Olsen, which now contains about thirty acres, situated at Riverside, about half a mile below the city limits, and is devoted entirely to hop-raising. Mr. Lovdal has another ranch of 130 acres about three miles further below, de- voted to hops, fruit, hay and pasture. On that place there is a young orchard of twenty acres, mostly of Bartlett pears. In all this business he has been very successful. Socially he is a pleasant, genial gentleman.

RCHIBALD LOGAN, of Sacramento, was born in Edinburgh, Scotland, November 30, 1830. His father, John Logan, a native of Trennent, Midlothian, was a merchant of Edinburgh, and died when the subject of this sketch was a child. His mother, nee Jessie Steele, was also a native of the same section of Scotland. Young Logan received his school education in Edinburgh. At the age of four- teen years he shipped as a cabin boy on the bark Elizabeth, Captain Gale, for New York. Returning to Scotland, he made a second trip to the American city, and two years afterward he made a voyage to Portugal and the West Indies. He left New York for California Feb- ruary 1, 1849, as a sailor before the mast, on the bark Cornelia, Captain Parker, and arrived at San Francisco July 18, following. Coming by way of Sacramento directly to the American River Bar mining district, he obtained employ- ment at a point called Lacy Bar, at $16 a day and board. In March, 1853, during the Aus- tralian gold excitement, he sailed to the Sand- wich Islands, and thence to Australia, whence he returned in the following year. During this absence he retained his mining interests at Lacy's Bar, and also his mercantile interests there and at Dalton's Bar. In 1859, during the Salmon River gold excitement, he went to Idaho and spent a year. Returning to Sacra- mento, he again made a trip to Scotland to visit friends and to bring his mother to the new El Dorado. Landing again in this country, he

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HISTORY OF SACRAMENTO COUNTY.

spent the next two years or more at Dalton's Bar, in business partnership with G. L. Greeley, who died about 1869 or 1870, while holding the office of collector for Placer County. Mr. Logan was elected to fill the vacancy for the unexpired term. July 4, 1865, he married Mrs. Lydia Greeley, nee Morse, a native of Wisconsin, who came to this State during the spring of the pre- ceding year. They have had nine children, six of whom are living, namely: Jennie Greeley, now Mrs. E. Katzenstein; Charles; Lester; Jes- sie, who died young; Mary, now Mrs. Dr. B. Stoll; Archie, who died when eight years of age; Francis, Jessie, Daisy, Robbie and Bessie CInich. After marriage Mr. Logan became a resident of Sacramento, where he has been engaged in dray- ing for the last fifteen years. For many years he has been a member of the Pioneer Associa- tion, and Marshal of that organization for the past three years. He is also a member of the Caledonian Club, of which he has been Chief for two years; and he is a member of Sacra- mento Lodge, No. 2, I. O. O. F., and of Pacific Encampment, No. 2, of the same order.

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Author: Davis, Winfield J., 1851- 4n Publication date: 1890 Publisher: Chicago : Lewis Pub. Co. Number of Pages: 916

Author: Davis, Winfield J., 1851- 4n
Publication date: 1890
Publisher: Chicago : Lewis Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 916