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 105

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 105

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RANK T. LYMAN, of the firin of Crouch & Lyman, plumbers and gas-fitters, 511 J street, Sacramento, was born in Sacramento in January, 1857, a son of P. H. Lyman, who will be remembered by all the old settlers in the county as the proprietor of the Sutterville Brewery. He is now, however a resident of San Francisco. Frank T. received his educa- tion in the public schools of Sacramento and at Hunt's Academy. In 1873 his parents removed to San Francisco, and soon after apprenticed him to the plumbing business. After learning his trade he came to Sacramento, and was en- gaged as foreman by George T. Bush, then one of the most prominent plumbers in Sacramento, with whom he remained till Mr. Bush discou- tinued business, when he went to work for Tom Scott in the capacity of foreman. In August, 1887, he formed a partnership with Harrison

R. Crouch, locating at 511 J street. Mr. Ly- man is recognized as one of the most practical plumbers in the city, and on matters of sanitary engineering is considered an anthority. To this branch of plumbing he has given a great deal of time and study. For a firm of young men they may justly feel prond of their standing, having been awarded some very large contracts. Mr. Lyman was married to Miss Mary J. Maloy, of Sacramento, in February, 1888. Politically he is Democratic, and, like his partner, displays quite an ambitious interest in local :natters.

ACOB HYMAN, merchant at Folsom, was born in Poland, March 9, 1830. In 1850 he sailed from Hamburg, and landed at New Orleans August 10. He began to work for a farmer, who also sent him to school a little while. Remaining in the State of Mississippi nntil 1854, he came to California by the Pana- ma route, landing at San Francisco on the steamer John L. Stephens, July 2. After clerk- ing a year in the store of Mr. Levy at Mormon Island, he bought him out and continned the business there four years longer. He then came to Folsom, and in 1860 opened ont where a blacksmith's shop now stands, near the Ameri- can Exchange Hotel. Afterward he moved into the American Exchange Hotel building, before it was opened as a hotel, and prosecuted his business there until 1870. Then he moved fur- ther up the street and took a corner store now kept by Isaac Fiel. In 1872 he purchased the property where he is now located, and has since occupied it. He has made good use of the little capital he brought with him to this State, by industry and perseverance. He is public-spirited, a Republican since he voted for Lincoln in 1860, a member of the Republican County Central Committee, and has always taken a great inter- est in public education. He has been a mem- ber of the Masonic order since 1860, of the Odd Fellows since 1872, and a charter member of 1878 of the A. O. U. W. Has held offices in

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HISTORY OF SACRAMENTO COUNTY.

some of the lodges. In 1965 he married Bella Stamper, a native of New York, and they have two sons and two daughters, viz .: Isaac, Rosa, Walter and Laura.

IERRE A. HUMBERT, civil engineer at Folsom, was born in the city of New York in 1853, studied in the University of Vi- enna, Clausthal, and graduated at the University at Berlin in 1874, taking the general engineer- ing course. He was engineer two years for the Vielle Montague, and two years for the Com- pagnie Real Asturiana, of Belgium. He re- turned to the United States in 1876, and came to California, and from that time to the present has been engaged in various pursuits on the coast, connected with mining and civil engineer- ing; and since May 21, 1888, he has been chief engineer of the Folsom Water-Power Company. In his chosen profession he ranks with the best civil engineers in the country. He was married in 1881 to Mary A. Anglon, a native of Rock- land, Maine, and a sister of Mrs. Charles Aull, whose husband is the warden of the State Prison at Folsom.

FISHER & CO., confectionery manufact- urers and agents for the American Bis- 9 cuit Company, have built up their present immense business from the smallest beginning. The firm is composed of Henry and Herman Fisher, father and son. The father was born in Holstein, Germany, April 3, 1838, and at the age of seventeen years entered upon a seafaring life, engaging first in fishing in the North Sea. He engaged in merchandise a little while, and the second year he was on a schooner which made three trips to England, and one trip through the Holstein canal to the Baltic, etc. The next year he went on the Christina from Hamburg to Buenos Ayres and to Java, and re- turned to Hamburg, being absent fourteen

months; next was a trip to the West Indies, re- turning with a cargo of tobieco, rice, gum, etc. Next he came on the passenger vessel Bavaria to New York, and after making a flying visit by rail to Mobile he was one of the crew of the Ocean Express to come by way of Cape Horn to this coast, arriving at San Francisco August 5, 1859. Mr. Fisher tried mining on Weaver Creek, but with little success, and he went to work in the neighborhood for 83 a day; then he was employed at " Jayhawker," and next in the vine- yard of Alhoff at Coloma, until the latter part of 1860. Coming thence to Sacramento, he ob- tained work as a threshing-machine hand for a season. Then he was employed by a farmer na'ned Gregory nine months; next, in partner- ship with Frederick Harms, he embarked in ranching on a twenty-acre tract along the river; but the floods of 1861-'62 ruined his crop and he was left without a dollar except two horses Meeting with a former shipmate, he went to San Francisco, and for three months was engaged in boating to Sacramento, Stockton, Napa, etc. He was sick for some months. From the spring of 1863 until the fall he worked for James Miller at the San Francisco House on the Carson road. Next he was employed in Sacramento by Peter Tietjens, brother of the famous singer. July 10, 1865, he bought out the confectionery busi- ness of Henry Schroeder, on K street, where now is the small candy store, in the Metropoli- tan Block. After a time he took in Mr. Schroe- der as a partner, and later another partner, Albrecht; the firmn name then became Fisher, Schroeder & Co. In the spring of 1868 the place of business was changed to its present location, and during the same year Mr. Fisher bought out his partner, and then carried on the business alone until he admitted his son Herman, form- ing the present firm. In 1874 he bought the ground now occupied by the business and erected a substantial brick building. He was married in this State to Miss Jeanette Helwig, and their children are Herman, Lizzie, Henry and Nellie. Mr. Fisher is a member of Con - cord Lodge, No. 17, F. & A. M .; of Sacra-

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HISTORY OF SACRAMENTO COUNTY.

mento Lodge, No. 2, I. O. O. F .; of the Knights of Honor; of the American Legion of Honor, and of the A. O. U. W. Herman Fisher, the elder son, was educated at the public schools and at the private school of Professor Goethe; at the age of fourteen he entered his father's store, and two years afterward commenced at- tending Professor Atkinson's Commercial Col- lege, where he graduated in half the time usually taken. Since then he has been a partner with his father and business manager. He is a mem- ber of the A. O. F., and is a director in the Sacramento Board of Trade. He was inarried October 11, 1887, to Miss Ida Louisa Bragg, a native of this city. The business of this firu is now almost altogether wholesale, their trade extending throughout the length and breadth of the Pacific coast; and twice a year their travel- ing salesmen extend their trips into Texas, New Mexico, Utah and Montana, where they have a large trade. In their manufactory here, from forty-eight to seventy employés are kept steadily at work, according to the season. They take special pains to have all ingredients used absolutely pure, and all the work neatly done. To run the machinery a sixteen-horse-power engine is used. A novelty introduced by them is a neat little bucket in which packages of mixed candies are shipped and delivered with- out change of position from the original ar- rangement.

ENRY FREY was born in Hanover, Ger- many, in 1839, his parents being Abel and Gesene or Gescha (Bluhm) Frey. The father died in 1879, and the mother in 1881, both hav- ing reached just abont the allotted three score yearsand ten. Grandmother Antji Frey also lived to a good old age, having survived her husband, Henry, many years. The subject of this sketch went to school until fourteen, under the law of compulsory education, and afterward worked on his father's farm, and for others also after he was twenty-one. He came to California by way of

New York and the Pacific Railroad in 1870, settling in Sacramento County. For three years he worked on a ranch about four miles south of his place, and in 1875 he rented 540 acres on the Mokelumne. He bought forty cows, did a dairy business, raised barley, wheat, and some cattle, continning in that place five years. In 1880 he bought his present place, 260 acres, about one mile west of Franklin, on the road to the Sacramento River; and in 1889, 300 acres one mile farther towards the river. He has 100 acres sown to wheat, which is his chief crop, and to which he is inclined to give almost undi- vided attention in the future, as a staple and reliable industry. He has several aeres in vine- yard, but has found the results more uncertain. Mr. Frey was married in 1868 to Miss Bertha Sprock, who died four days after the birth of hier child-Bertha, born April 5, 1869. Her ma- ternal grandparents, Johannes and Anna (Jo- hanni) Sprock, are living in this township, hale and hearty at the advanced age of eighty-three, the latter having been born March 9, and the former March 15, 1806. In 1875 Mr. Frey was married in Sacramento to Miss Elizabeth Herzog, a native of Germany, a daughter of Johann and Julia (Swartz) Herzog, both now deceased. Mr. and Mrs. Frey are the parents of six children: IIenry Abel, born October 16, 1878; Frederick John, August 15, 1880; Julia, July 31, 1882; Elizabeth Gesene, September 18, 1884; John, July 25, 1886; Gesene, March 25, 1888.

HARLES ALDEN HULL was born in Vermont in 1824, his parents being Sewell and Lucy (Ray) Hull. The mother died at the age of forty-five; the father, who was born in 1794, is still living. Grandfather Joseph Hull lived to be ninety; Grandfather Ray, abont seventy, and both grandmothers reached a good old age. The father is living in Michigan with his oldest son, George, born in 1822. There are two sisters, Sarah, born in

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HISTORY OF SACRAMENTO COUNTY.

1929, and Samantha, born in 1834. C. A. Hull received the usual schooling of the early part of this century, three months in the year, until he was twelve. His parents being in poor circuin- stances, he hired out with a neighboring farmer at four and a half dollars a month. In 1844 he moved with his parents to Berrien County, Michigan, near Niles. Ile bonght a small farm there in 1847, and raised one crop in 1848, when the gold fever struck him, and he sold out his place. He arrived in California, across the plains, August 14, 1849, and went to mining for nearly one year, chiefly on Bear River and at Goodyear's Bar on the Yuba, the net result being about $2,000. In July, 1850, le came to Sacramento, where he worked into the busi- ness of teaming besides keeping a hay-yard as well as a grain and feed stable, employing drivers for his teams. He made a trip to the Sandwich Islands and there spent the winter of 1850-'51, but did not find it a promising field for business. In 1851 he made his first pur- chase of land in California, being the 160 acres immediately surrounding his home. In 1863 lie bought the 320 acres adjoining on the north, giving a frontage of about three-quarters of a mile on the lower Stockton road, eight miles south of Sacramento. The land for the Prairie district school-house, on the southeast corner of his ranch, was donated by him for that purpose. About 240 acres are meadow land and 240 are good grain land. He also raises an average of forty head of cattle and twenty horses. In 1861 he was married in Sacramento to Miss D. Delany Ridley, born in Maine in 1835, a daugh- ter of Matthias and Nancy (Pratt) Ridley. Her father, who had served in the war of 1812, lived to be eighty-eight, and her mother, eighty-seven. Mr. and Mrs. Hull are the parents of four living children: Minnie L., born March 5, 1862, now Mrs. Christopher A. Wagner, of Sacramento, is the mother of three girls: Rose L., born June 20, 1863, was married in 1888 to Henry Nen- haus, also of Sacramento; Charles L., born April 30, 1864; and Elliott Isaac, April 24, 1872. Charles L. took a full commercial course at the

Napa Collegiate Institute; and Elliott I. is at present parsning his studies at Bainbridge's Business College in Sacramento. Mr. Hull is a member of Sacramento Grange, No. 12, and has held all the offices, being Secretary three years and Master one term. He was the first Master of Sacramento Pomona Grange, No. 2. He owns stock in the Sacramento Valley Grangers' Business Co-operative Association, of which he has been a director for eight years.

ILLIAM F. FRAZER, the proprietor of one of the leading Inmber yards of Sacra- mento, ocenpying two lots on the cor- rer of Fifth and L streets, was born in Ireland in 1821, came to New York in 1846, and to California in 1851. He followed mining three years, and ever since then has been engaged in the lumber trade. He married Frances Reed, a native of New York State, and they have one son-Edward, now book-keeper for his father.

OHN SOTO FREITAS, usually called John Soto, was born in one of the Azores, a sub- jeet of Portugal, in January, 1823, being a son of Manuel and Vittoria Louisa Soto Frei- tas. At the age of nineteen John Soto went to sea in an American whaler, which arrived in New Bedford, Massachusetts, after a four years, cruise. He went on a second whaling voyage lasting also four years. After eight years thus spent he was engaged about a year in coasting voyages between Boston and New York, and in 1853 sailed from New York around the Horn to San Francisco, where he was discharged. He then went to mining at Nigger Hill above Fol- som, and continued in that business eight years, with a net result in cash of $2,000. In 1862 he bought a ranch in Yolo County, which he sold in 1878; and in October, 1878, he bought his present place of 131 acres about nine miles south of Sacramento on the river road. He

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raises vegetables and barley for the market and also a few colts, besides fruit and other necessa- ries, including a few cows and poultry for family nse. In February, 1863, Mr. Soto was married in Sacramento to Francisca Amelia, also a native of the Azores, a daughter of Francis and Margareta Teresa Dutra. Her father is still living, aged seventy-seven. Mr. Soto's father died at the age of sixty-six, but his mother lived to be eighty-six. Mr. and Mrs. Soto have liad sixteen children, of whom they lost only the first born, at the age of twenty months. The survivors in the order of their birth are as fol_ lows: Mary, John, Amelia, Frances, Nancy, Manuel, Antonio, Rosie, Minnie, Annie, Vic- toria, Belle, Joseph, Gloria, Clara. Mary Soto is the wife of Anton Ferandes, living in Yolo County, and has three children: Mary, Antonio, and a girl baby. Frances Soto is married to Joses Pereira-"Joe Perry " of Marysville. They have one son, John Joseph. With this large family, Mr. and Mrs. Soto, with a magnanimity truly admirable, extend hospitality to other de- pendent kindred, of whom one or more may always be found on the Soto ranch.

AMUEL GARRETT, rancher, San Joa- quin Township, was born in Canada West, July 31, 1826. His father, Jacob Garrett, a native of Schenectady County, New York, was a soldier in the war of 1812, and served under Benedict Arnold until that officer surrendered his men to the British. For a time he resided on Hay Bay, near Kingston, and then at Thurlow, where he cleared a large farm and commenced raising grain. On account of becoming security for a failing friend he was so reduced in means at command that he was obliged to sell that place; and he moved to Whigby, about thirty-six miles east of Toronto. He afterward removed to Illinois, and finally died in Jones County, Iowa, about 1869. His widow, Catharine, also a native of Schenectady County, died in May, 1888, at the residence of

her son, Samuel, in this county, at the age of ninety-six years. In that family five children died in infancy and five grew up. The subject of this sketch remained in Canada with his parents until he was twenty-one years of age; and about that time, in September, 1848, he married Silvia Malinda Gillett, a native of Can- ada, and her parents also from New York State. Being the eldest of the children, he had to con- tribute a large share of his earnings to the sup- port of the family. During the month of March after his marriage he started for Illinois, with only $25, and on arrival had but one (Mexican) dollar left. He began work hoeing corn, at seventy-five cents a day, in Cook County, abont twenty miles from Chicago. Three years afterward he moved to Livingston County, that State, with his wife and two children, and only two yoke of oxen, a breaking plow, pitchfork, cradle, hoe, ax, rifle and hog; bnt this was sport for him, being hale and stout. At any time he could go out and kill a deer without consider- able trouble. He bought a soldier's warrant for eighty acres, on which he located. There he built a log cabin, with timbers he cut and hewed with his ax. His land, heavily covered with timber, had to be cleared. He went energeti- cally to work, but at the end of fifteen months, having poor success in finding water on the premises, he sold the place and moved upon an- other of eighty-two acres in the saine county, for which he paid $60 an acre. There he resided for ten years, when he came to California by way of New York and the Isthmus, sailing on the steamer Ariel, which had on board 1,150 passengers, and on the Golden City from the Istlimus to San Francisco, landing there May 21, 1864. Purchasing a quarter-section of land in San Joaquin Township, he commenced farming there. In the spring of 1865 he bonght another quarter section. His land is all of first quality. For the past thirteen years he has also been in the sheep business, in which line he confines all his operations to Martin County, Texas. After his arrival here in California, his mother and other members of the family have also come to

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HISTORY OF SACRAMENTO COUNTY.

join him; also Mrs. Garrett's mother, whose sons died in Santa Barbara County. Her father, Jeremiah Gillett, died in Blue Earth County, Minnesota. Mr. Garrett has been a member of the Methodist Church for the past thirty-eight years, and his wife also has been a member of the same since her childhood. Mr. and Mrs. Garrett have had five sons and three daughters, and they have also lost three sons and two daughters. The living are Herman M., James Munroe, Albert D., Emma M., Minnie Belle, Ulysses J., Francis J. and Addie May.

ETH H. GARFIELD, pioneer miller of the "Pioneer Mill," the man who has been the longest identified with mills and inilling interests in Sacramento, came to Cali- ifornia from New England in the spring of 1850. He is the youngest son of Colonel Alvis Garfield, a soldier of the war of 1812, and Susan Maynard, of Concord, whose father, Josiah Maynard, was a soldier in the Revolutionary war, fighting in the battle of Lexington. Born in the city of Waltham, Massachusetts, in 1831, he received a common-school education, and at the age of nineteen came to California to join his elder brother, Maynard J. Garfield, who was by trade a stair builder, and an expert at the business, and in 1845 was sent to Chili, South America, to superintend the erection of the grand stair way in the Cathedral at Val- paraiso; when that was completed he came to California, and here he was joined by his brother Seth, as was already stated. Seth Gar- field, like so many of New England's sons, was something of a sailor, and upon his arrival at San Francisco, and after a visit to Benicia, we find him engaged as pilot on the " Lucy Long," and receiving twelve dollars per day; but his brother came down from the mines and together they came to Sacramento; upon their arrival- it was during the cholera epidemic-they camped out on the spot where the St. George building now is, until they could secure an ox

team and outfit for the mines; then they went to Bear River; mining district, where his brother had a cabin and a claim; this was in the winter of '50; later they went to Scott's Bar. on the Scott River near the State line, where they traded or sold merchandise, and when the high water eame they went to Portland to purchase goods, and set out for Yreka; it was on this trip and while in the Rouge River country, that they were surrounded by hostile Indians and only es- caped by joining another party and securing the protection of Major Kearny, who had a three days' fight, Captain Stewart being killed. The fall of 1851 he came to Sacramento, and soon after became identified with the "Old Bay State " mill, located on M street, and from that to the present time he has been actively en- gaged in milling in this city. Mr. Garfield is of a most genial disposition, a man of excellent judgment and great ability, and authority on all mill matters, thoroughly conversant with the details of his business. The " Pioneer Mill" company are largely indebted to him for the position which they occupy. Married in 1859 to Sarah Smith, his home on M street is a model of "old-time " hospitality.

HARLES DICKSON was born July 2, 1818, in Brunswick, Germany, a son of Anton and Catherine Dickson. He was raised on a farm in Germany, where he made his home until 1850, when he came to America, sailing on the 1st of July, landing in Baltimore; he went to Pittsburg, thence to St. Louis, then to Illinois, where he was engaged in farming' and gardening for a year. He then came over- land with ox teams and stock to California, land- ing in San Joaquin County, where he remained eighteen months. From there he came to Sacramento County, and in 1856 purchased his present property of 160 acres, situated about fifteen miles from Stockton and three miles from Elk Grove on the upper Stockton road. It is choice land under a fine state of cultivation.

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He is a practical farmer and gardener. His farm is devoted principally to wheat and stock. His buildings are of the most substantial. He was married in 1850 to Miss Frederika Staples, a native of Germany. They have six children living, three deceased. The living are: George, Charley, Frederika, Henry, Anna and Fred.

M AJOR C. H. HUBBARD, manager for the well-known firm of Baker & Ham- ilton, established in Sacramento in the year 1853, was born in Mahoning County, Ohio, February 22, 1841. His father, Henry Hub- bard, was a native of Berlin, Connecticut, and moved to Ohio in 1830, and was engaged in the business of hardware, manufacturer of tin-ware, stoves; etc. Colonel Hubbard's mother, Eliza Ann Robinson, was also a native of Connecticut and belonged to one of the old Connecticut families. The subject of this sketch was reared in Ohio and went into business with his father, until the inauguration of the civil war, which aroused the patriotisni of all the young men in that section of country, when he enlisted with a company organized in Mahoning County. The company reported at Camp Chase and was as- signed to the Twenty-third Regiment, under the command of Colonel W. S. Rosecrans, after- ward commanded by Colonel E. P. Scammon and R. B. Hayes; the regiment was immediately ordered to the front in the mountains of West Virginia. Their first engagement was at Carn- ifex Ferry, being then a part of Rosecrans' con- mand, who fought General Floyd at that point and cansed him to retreat across the Gauley River. He served in the battles of South Mountain, Antietam, Floyd Mountain, Lynch- burgh and the two battles of Winchester; in one battle he was captured while on the skirmish line, and was held as a prisoner of war some thirty days, when he with two others escaped, took to the mountains, and after eight days' struggling over mountain paths with only ber- ries to eat regained our lines on the upper Po-

tomac; he was also in the battles of Fisher Hill and Cedar Creek. After four years and three months of active service lie was mustered out in August, 1865. During his term of service he was promoted several times; going into the ranks as a private he was made Sergeant, Or- derly Sergeant, Second and First Lieutenant, and at one time was on the staff of General I. H. Duvall, and when the regiment was discharged was Quartermaster. Immediately after the close of the war Colonel Hubbard came to California by the way of Panama, and having relatives in Sacramento located there, where he was first em- ployed by Holbrook; Merrill & Stetson for about a year; since that time he has been with the well-known firm of Baker & Hamilton, most of the time as general manager of their exten- sive business in Sacramento. The business ex- tends throughout the entire coast and Territories, it is prosperous and growing all the time, and Mr. Hubbard has capacity and business ex- perience sufficient to keep abreast with it. He is a gentleman of easy manner and noble nature whose influence and co-operation are desired by all parties. He is a member of the Masonic order, Tehama Lodge, and the R .A. M., of this city, also of the G. A. R., Sumner Post, and was representative at the National Encamp- ment at St. Louis and Columbus during the past two years. For the past eight years he has been connected with the National Guard of California, and at the present time is Adjutant on the staff of General T. W. Sheehan, command- ing the Fourth Brigade, previous to that time he served as staff officer to Generals Sheehan, Tozer and Carey, commanding the same Brigade.

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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