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 109

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 109

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OHN B. CALIO, farmer of Sutter Town- ship, was born January 24, 1808, in Mis- souri, and was a son of Anthony and Felicia Calio, natives of Randolph County, Illinois. The grandparents of John B. were of French ances- try, and were among the first settlers of Illinois. All the earliest settlers of Illinois, specially in that section, were French. Anthony Calio was brought up in Illinois, npon a farm. Arriving at the years of majority, he married and moved into Missouri, at the head of St. Francis River. His nearest neighbor was forty miles distant, and he and his family subsisted mostly on wild game. At the end of about fourteen years they returned to his father's place, taking charge of

the same, during the days when the farmers . raised their own sheep, flax and cotton, and made their own clothes. He remained there until his death in 1814; his wife survived until 1852. After his death, John B. remained with his mother until he was twelve years of age, when she again married, this time a man named Plassette, a Frenchman. Then he went to live with an elder sister, and was there four years, when he struck out into the wide world for him- self, going first to Galena, Illinois, where he went on board a keel-boat on the Fevre River, at $15 a month, but made only two trips. In 1829 he started for the Rocky Mountains, for the old American Fur Company, and operated among the Pawnee, Cheyenne, Mandan, Crow and Arapahoe Indians. He became an excellent "shot" with the rifle. Was two years in the Black Hills country, and three years in the monntains. He built the first log house in Keokuk, Iowa, for Captain Culdver. It was 15 x 18 feet in dimensions. There were no in- habitants there at that time excepting Indians. Returning home in 1834, he married, and the very next day entered forty acres of land, erect- ing at once a log house. Both himself and his wife went to work with determination, and in a year or so were in comfortable circumstances. After a residence there until 1850, he rented the farm and started with his family to Califor- nia, overland. Ninety days brought them from St. Lonis to Sacramento, with every animal they started with! The next day he went to the mines, and the first day he worked he netted $60. His first claim was on French Creek. November 1 he returned to Sacramento with the intention of going home to Illinois, but was persuaded by a friend to remain until spring. Building a duck-boat, on November 1, 1850, he went and camped where Beach's Grove now is, paid a man $5 for hauling his boat down there, and went out and killed a boat-load of ducks the first afternoon. He hired a horse and took the game to market, realizing $75 for it. Am- munition, however, was very costly, powder being $1.50 a pound, and shot $1. He kept up

Joseph Routier

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HISTORY OF SACRAMENTO COUNTY.

this sport until March 1, following. Taking in a boy as a partner, he employed him to sell the game. In that time he cleared $2,900! On the 1st of March he started for the East, em- barking from San Francisco on a sail vessel called the Old Belfast. Was forty days reach- ing the Isthmus, whence he took a steamer for New Orleans, and landed at St. Louis May 10. Going home, he sold his place, and February 1 following (1852) he started with his family for California, to make this his permanent home. Coming again by way of the Isthmus, he landed at San Francisco May 25. The same evening lie took steamer for Sacramento. His wife being very sick, he found great difficulty in ob- taining a place for them to remain. He finally rented a house where the intersection of Eighth and L streets is now; but at the time Mrs. Calio *recovered he had no money, and he had to do his own cooking and washing. The flood came, and he had neither money nor credit, except so far as to obtain a little powder and shot, with which he went out and killed $40 worth of ducks the first afternoon! This business he therefore kept up, and by spring he had cleared $800. With this money he built a two-story house on the old lot at the corner of Eighth and L streets, and started a boarding house, and by the proceeds of this enterprise he obtained a substantial footing. The schooling of his chil- dren cost $15 a month. In 1875 he sold out and purchased his present rauch of 155 acres, six miles from Sacramento, on the Freeport road. It is known by the name of Willow Slough ranch. This place he has improved with good buildings, orchards, etc., and he carries on general farming. He has seen his share of pioneer life, is now eighty-one years of age, and still active; his wife is seventy-one years of age, and also in good health. They have been married fifty-four years, the wedding taking place November 25, 1834. She was a Miss Marie Buessean, a native of Lorraine, France. Her father came to Illinois with twelve children. Mr. and Mrs. Calio have had ten children, but have brought up only one son and 45

two daughters, viz .: Phillomen is the wife of C. W. Clark, of Sacramento; Mary E. is the wife of Hamilton Light, of San Francisco, and John is still on the home ranch. Mr. Calio is a member of El Dorado Lodge, No. 8, I. O. O. F.

- ETER BURNS, one of the most successful farmers in Sutter Township, and also one of the oldest settlers in this section of the country, was born in Ireland in 1827. In 1837 his parents emigrated with him to America, on the steamer Stephen Whitney, landing in New York after a seven-weeks voyage. At that time the cry was "California" from everbody. In 1840 they came to this coast, being seven months on the way. A short time after land- ing in San Francisco he came to Sacramento, remained for some time, and then spent a year in mining on Mormon Island; then resided in Sacramento two years, and finally bought the present dairy farm of 150 acres. Mr. Burns married Ann Boyle, who was born in Ireland in 1830, and came to this country in 1851. Mr. and Mrs. Burns have seven children and eleven grandchildren. The names of the children are: Mary E., Catherine A., Sarah M., Nellie C., Agnes F., Anna B. and Louisa J.

ON. JOSEPH ROUTIER, fruit-raiser, ten miles east of Sacramento, was born in the Department of Somme, in the north of France March 4, 1825. When he was twelve years of age his parents moved into Belgium, where he received the most of his education, re- maining there sixteen years, of which ten years were spent in school. Then, in 1846, he entered the employ of the Valst Lambert, a large glass establishment near the city of Liege. Two years later he moved to Paris and lived there until he came to California. Sailing from IIavre he came by way of Cape Horn, landing in San

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Francisco May 31, 1853; and he came directly to Sacramento for the purpose of superintending the planting of a large vineyard and orchard for Captain Folsom, who at that timed owned a large Spanish grant, namely the Paterson, above the town of Folsom, containing six leagues of land. The trees and vines he had ordered from France, and when they arrived at San Francisco they were all found to be dead. Notwith- standing, he expected to plant largely the next year, but Folsom died and the project was aban- doned. Mr. Routier, however, remained on the grant and planted a number of trees for the benefit of the place, which resulted in making one of the first orchards in this locality. Ten years later he bought eighty-two acres of the grant. At present he has 120 acres, all in one body and well improved; it is ten miles from Sacramento. He has eighty-five acres in or- chard and thirty in vineyard. During the twenty-five years he has been raising fruit, his orchard has been entirely free from insects and pests of all kinds. He has a great many French prunes and plums, a staple article in which he has had experience for many years. His expe- rience and advice have been the means of others entering the same business. In 1886 he was awarded a gold medal for an exhibit he made to the Citrus Fair Association of Sacramento. In 1888 he had forty tons of dried prunes. Of French prunes he has twelve acres. One acre in full bearing will bring in an ordinary season five tons of dried fruit, which at five cents a pound yields $500. He raises also apricots, peaches, almonds, etc .; has a dozen orange trees in full bearing and in a healthy condition. In the vineyard most of the grapes are of wine va- rieties, from which he manufactures the wine himself. One ton of grapes will yield on the average 150 gallons of wine. His business has been large enough to justify the establishment, in 1870, of a railroad station near him, on the Sacramento & Placerville Railroad, which is called Rontier Station; and the postoffice at this place, established abont 1887, is also called Rou - tier. Politically Mr. Routier was a strong Re-

publican until about two years ago, when the American party loomed up so strongly, and then he joined the Democratic party. In 1877 he was elected to the Assembly; a few years later he was elected to the Senate on the Republican ticket, and was a member of that body four years, 1882-'86; and during that time there were two extra sessions. He has also been elected a justice of the peace three or four times, and is now holding that office. In 1886 he was appointed by Governor Bartlett upon the State Board of Fish Commissioners, and was elected president of the board, which position also he now holds. Mr. Routier was married in 1852, to Leonide Jadin, a native of France. They have had three children, two of whom died young. George, who was born April 20, 1859, grew up, and married Deborah Rodman. They had two children: Lucie, horn March 7, 1878,- and Louis, January 17, 1880.

M. LINDLEY .- It is with pleasure in this history of Sacramento County that we make mention not only of one of the most prominent, but one of the pioneer mer- chants of the Pacific coast, Mr. Thomas Morton Lindley, Sr., proprietor of the old-established firm of Lindley & Co., of Sacramento city. Al- though the scope of this work permits only a brief glance at the story of his busy life, yet even this page, taken from the many which would be necessary to relate in full the history of his career, will be found interesting to those who shared the dangers and privations incident to the early pioneer days of California, as well as the friends and associates of later years. A few short years and the story of pioneer days will have passed from the memory of living men, and will only be known only by such records as the pen of the historian shall have inscribed upon the tablets of such volumes as these, to be cherished with loving care by the generations that will follow. The subject of this sketch is a native of the State of Indiana, and

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was born near the Kentucky State line, Angust 19, 1819, only three years subsequent to the admission of that State into the federal Union. His parents were Thomas Lindley, a native of North Carolina, and Jane (Hoops) Lindley, a native of Chester County, Pennsylvania. Like so many other men who in after life have be- come prominent, the early years of Mr. Lind- ley's life were passed upon a farm, and his preliminary education acquired at the common- schools. As he grew to man's estate his aspi- rations for a wider field of usefulness prompted him at the early age of eighteen to return to his native State, and he accepted a clerkship in the mercantile house of Lindley, Patterson & Ray, Terre Haute, and in this way securing for himself a practical education in those fundamental princi- ples upon which the superstructure of every suc- cessful business career must be based. When the attention of the whole country was attracted by the discovery of gold in California, young Lind- ley was among the first to make the venturesomne trip and became one of a party of eight who, leaving Terre Haute March 4. 1849, turned their faces resolutely towards the land of golden promise. One of the party was L. A. Booth, now of San Francisco; he and Mr. Lindley having bought a supply of merchandise to ship out here, upon arriving at New Orleans, Mr. Booth deeided t , come via Cape Horn, and Mr. Lindley and his party secured passage on the old steamer Globe to Brazos, and thence to Brownsville, where they secured their outfit, and crossed over to Matamoras and came across the country via Monterey and Durango to Mazatlan, and arrived safely in San Francisco June 9, 1849. Their journey was uneventful. They did not see any Indians, and were not disturbed by the Mexicans; it being just after the Mexi- ean war the latter had a wholesome regard for Americans. Very soon after his arrival Mr. Lindley came to Sacramento and went at once to the mines at Little Horse-Shoe Bar, on the north fork of the American River. After a few weeks he began teaming with an ox team belonging to a Mr. Merrill, a gentleman from

Oregon, hauling emigrants to the mining camps. This was remunerative for a short time, and when Mr. Lindley returned to Sacramento and began to build a log house on L street between Seventh and Eighth, he could find only three trees long enough, and had to give it up, and cut poles and hewed them out and in this way con- structed a frame building for the merchandise owned by himself and Mr. Booth, soon to ar- rive, and this was one of the carly mercantile houses in what was soon to be the capital city of the great State of California. The firm was Lindley & Booth, and continued until the flood of 1849 swept away all they had. One year later Mr. Lindley began keeping a store at Murderer's Bar, and such were the vicissitudes in the early days that he was engaged in team- ing, hanling goods to the mountains, alternat- ing this ardnons but remunerative occupation with the more agreeable avocation of buying and selling cattle and shipping barley. After the floods of the winter of 1852-'53 he again engaged in business and became a member of the firm of Fry, Hoops & Co., corner of Seventh and J streets, and a few years later became sole proprietor and continued the business alone un- til 1858, when the firm of Lindley, Woreester & Weaver was organized, and continued until the flood of 1861. Recovering from this disaster, Mr. Lindley bought his partners' interest, and soon afterward the firm became Lindley, Hull & Lohman, and later Lindley & Lohman. About 1869 Mr. Lindley, having bought ont the in- terest of Mr. Lohman, admitted two young men as partners and the firm became Lindley & Co., and since then for the past twenty years the firm name has remained unchanged, though in a few years Mr. Lindley became sole proprietor and carried on the business alone for some years. In 1886 D. A. Lindley, his eldest son, was ad- mitted a member of the firm. The subject of our sketch gives their extensive business his act- ive attention. Ile enjoys an enviable reputation in the trade, and the old-established honse of Lindley & Co. is said to hold the distinction of being one of the oldest in the trade on the

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coast, and is certainly one of the most favorably and widely known. The ups and downs of busi- ness life incident to a new and rapidly develop- ing country have left little time to be devoted to matters political. Mr. Lindley has never sought or been willing to accept political prefer- ment, although as a member of the Board of School Commissioners, and also as a member of the Board of Levee Commissioners, in 1863-'64 -'65, he contributed his share toward the public weal; and he is an old and honored member of the Sacramento Society of California Pioneers. In 1857 Mr. Lindley was united in marriage to Miss Isabel V. Arrington, a native of Northi Carolina. The deatlı of this estimable lady oc- curred June 22, 1880, leaving eight children, seven of whom survive. Of his private life and home associations it is not our province to speak. Their beautiful, commodious home, 1314 H street, is one of the most attractive in the Capital City, and here surrounded by the loving care of affectionate children, the subject of this sketch is enjoying a well earned repose.

- UFUS BUTTERFIELD, a pioneer of Sacra- mento, was born in Rodan, Jefferson County, New York, November 13, 1827. He was twenty-two years old when his father died, and when in 1829 the family removed to Rochester, New York, young Rufus had already received all the schooling which he was destined to have. He learned the carpenter's trade, but at the age of nineteen he went to New Orleans, where he engaged in mercantile pursuits, until 1846. In 1847 he removed to Nashville, Tennessee, and there engaged in business. When the discovery of gold in California in 1848 caused the great- est excitement, thousands flocked to the new country, and the subject of this sketch was not to be left behind. He closed his business on the 1st of January, 1849, and left Nashville for the "land of promise." Making a short stop in New Orleans, he sailed by way of Panamna, ar- riving at San Francisco on the 5th of July, 1849,

in the ship Niantic. He entered into business co-partnership with Edward Hicks, a companion of his voyage, and, coming to Sacramento, they opened a store for the sale of goods which they had the forethought to bring with them from New Orleans. Mr. Hicks assumed charge of the business here while Mr. Butterfield pushed on to the mines at the North and Mid- dle forks of the American River. When in December the rainy season set in, he sold out his interest in the mines and returned to Ten- nessee, for his family. Returning again in March, 1850, he located first in San Francisco, corner of Washington and Montgomery streets, and here he was burned out in the big fire of the following year, losing everything. He then came to Sacramento and started a small store on J street, where he remained until 1852, when he went to Nevada City and for the second time engaged in mining. His wife died there, and he returned East with his two daughters, that they might have at least the advantages of an education. Returning to Sacramento, he be- eame interested in building operations, and has continued in that business up to the present time. Mr. Butterfield has been twice married. His first wife was Melinda Loveland, a native of Egg Harbor, New Jersey. He has been a prominent member of the society of California Pioneers, a director and trustee of that organ- ization, and his connection with the Masonic order dates back to 1861, when he was a mem- ber of Murray Lodge, No. 380, State of New York.

AMES ANDERSON, deceased. The sub- ject of this sketch was born in Pettis County, Missouri, July 28, 1828, his par- ents being William and Margaret (Davis) Anderson, both deceased in Missouri. James was brought up on his father's farm until he was eighteen, and received the usual district- school education of the period. Fifty years ago in Missouri it was not very broad or deep, and

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was limited to a few months in the year, but it laid the necessary foundation. In after life Mr. Anderson was fond of reading, and kept well posted in matters of public interest, and evinced superior talents, especially in mathematics. His first position after leaving home was at a Government station among the Omahas and Pawnees, where he spent a year or two. Soon after his return to his home he set out for Cali- fornia, across the plains, arriving in Sacra- mento in September, 1849. He then went to mining on Feather River for about one year, and was fairly successful, often making $100 a day. He accumulated several thousand dollars, but his health and that of his two comrades had been impaired by bad water and poor fare on the overland trip, and Mr. Anderson found himself unfit for the rough life of a miner. Returning to tlie plains he traded in cattle for a time, and in the spring of 1851 he settled on the River Road, about eighteen miles below Sacramento, where he bought a ranch. Preferring general farming, stock-raising and dairying, he bought, in January, 1855, the upland ranch of 880 acres occupied by his family, two or three miles farther from the river, and in 1856 he sold his river ranch. Mr. Anderson was married, Feb- ruary 15, 1855, to Miss B. E. Dillon, born in Illinois in 1833, daughter of Laban and Jane (Holaday) Dillon, bothi now deceased. Mrs. Anderson's grandparents on both sides lived to a good old age. The Holadays were Quakers. Mr. and Mrs. Anderson became the parents of five chil- dren: Margaret Jane, born November 14, 1855; Sarah Eliza, February 7, 1857; James William, September 4, 1858; Ida Ellen, June 23, 1860; George Buckner, February 7, 1862. All the children have had the advantage of a good edu- cation, and are all fond of reading and self-im- provement. Sarah Eliza was married November 10, 1880, at the home of her parents, to Fred F. Thompson, of Sacramento. They are the parents of four children: Eva, born in 1881; Edith, in 1882; Roxy, in 1884; Fred. F., Jr., in 1889. The subject of this sketch was a school trustee almost continuously for twenty

years or more before his death, which occurred March 25, 1889, in San Francisco, where he had gone for medical treatment. His health had been poor for a year, and for the last six months of his life he was quite feeble. He had no hope of recovery, and concluded to come home to die in the bosom of his family, but was taken off on the very eve of his return. His remains were brought home and buried in Franklin amid the regrets of the whole community, by whom he was universally regarded as a very estimable man in all the relations of life, an excellent neighbor and upright citizen, straightforward and eminently reliable, honorable and kindly to everybody. Possessed of an adınirable char- acter and gentle disposition, he went through life without making an enemy, leaving to his bereaved wife and children a legacy more pre- cious than gold.

OSEPH BAILEY, mason, contractor and builder. A few years after the second war, namely, June 6. 1823, there was born to Levi Bailey, mechanic, of the goodly city of Portland, Maine, and to his wife, Mary Win- ship, a son, the fourth in a family of six chil- dren. This son was Joseph Bailey, the subject of this sketch. The homely surroundings of his childhood did not prevent his receiving the rudiments of a substantial education, nor did it interfere with that essential to the life of every New Englander,-a trade; that was a part of their religion, and for seven long years he served his master as an apprentice, at tlie expi- ration of which period, as can be readily under- stood, he was an expert mason. For two years he continued to work as a journeyman in his native city, and then removed to the "Hub," as the Bostonians are wont to term their inetropo- lis. It is proverbial that the real live Yankee must see the world, and the subject of this sketch was no exception to the rule, for he spent two years in traveling, after which he returned to his native State, lured by who shall say what

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memories! suffice it, that the records show that in May, 1848, in the little country town of Westbrook, in Cumberland County, Maine, were married, Joseph Bailey to Miss Juliet M. Trott, who for over forty years since that May morn- ing has been his companion, sharing the disap- pointments and enjoying the triumphs of nearly half a century; of her qualities of head and heart, of her housekeeping, and of her piety can inore be said than that she had a New England mother! Mr. Bailey continued to reside in Westbrook until 1853, at which time he came to California, where he arrived with his family on the 24th of March. The first bricks that he laid here were in the construction of what is now the Bee office, Third street, between J and K streets. And the first plastering was on the southwest of Third and K streets, owned by P. Schield, Third and K streets; he had a contract on the Western Hotel, Reed's Block, Sacramento Bank building, No. 3 Engine house, Second street, the Clunie building, which was first oc- cupied as a carriage factory by the late William Pritchard, and during the administration of Governor Booth he superintended the finishing of the State Capitol building. For thirty-two years Mr. Bailey has resided on ( street, in his commodious brick residence; here his children, Joseph W. Bailey and Mattie E. Bailey, wife of F. L. Sonthack, of San Francisco, grew up about him, and here he is spending the declining years of a well-spent life, respected and honored by his acquaintances and loved by his friends.

EORGE O. BATES, Supervisor of Sacra- mento County, began the responsibilities of life with no school education whatever, born May 13, 1829, at Milford, Otsego County, New York, during the pioneer period of that part of the country. His father was a shoemaker by occupation. When he was ten years of age the family removed to Herkimer County, and afterward to Pineville, Oswego County, New York, where young George peddled candy and

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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