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 41

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 41

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years; and one at Leroy, New York, now eighty-two. Of his brothers, two are now aged seventy and sixty-eight, in Middletown. His mother reached the age of eighty-four before her death. Personally Mr. Tryon is as active and young in appearance as most men at fifty, and bids fair to live to be as old as any of his kin. He has been a great traveler. In 1862 he visited Europe, spending considerable time in making a complete tour of England, Scot- land, Wales, France, etc. There is hardly a portion of our continent that he has not visited and of which he is not able to give an accurate description, from Alaska and the Yellowstone National Park to the large cities of the East or the picturesque wilderness of Mexico. Indeed he is, at date of this writing, about to start on a trip to the city of Mexico, in which doubtless there will be much hunting and an enjoyable time. The last time he was East was in 1882. The comfortable home of Mr. Tryon is situated at No. 912 Sixth street, in this city. .

R. W. A. HUGHSON has resided here for over fifteen years, during which time he has won the confidence and esteem of all classes and enjoys a high reputation for success and careful attention to patients. He was born January 18, 1845, near London, Canada, his father being Rev. W. D. Hughson, one of the most revered and prominent clergymen of the Methodist Episcopal Church in that Province. The family is one of the older families of West- ern Canada, and is of high standing. Dr. Hugh- son's grandfather was one of the first settlers upon the site of the flourishing city of Hamil- ton, one of the most important manufacturing centres of the Dominion. Several of the prin- cipal streets are named after the family, as Hughson street, John street, James street, etc. Dr. Hughson was brought up in his native town, gaining his preliminary education there and living the active life of boyhood and youth. Ile attended the medical department of the

University of Victoria College, and graduated in 1868, after a three years' course, and at once began the active practice of the profession in the town of Dresden, Canada. Two years later he removed to Delavan, Wisconsin, where he built up a practice of considerable dimensions. Desiring to seek a milder climate, Dr. Hughson determined to come to California, and accord- ingly, in 1873, removed to this State. For six months he practiced in Marysville, but not be- ing satisfied with the prospects of that city, came to Sacramento, where he has resided since. Dr. Hughson is a leading homeopathist. He was president of the Sacramento Board of Health during the term of Mayor Turner. Dr. Hughson was married in 1869 to Miss Libbie McGee, a native of Canada. They have three daughters, all living at home, and named re- spectively Edith, Ira and Beth. Dr. Hnghson owns a ranch of 160 acres just east of Florin, upon which he has set out 100 acres in grapes, fruits, berries, etc. It is one of the most com- plete ranches in Sacramento County, being fitted and supplied with steam engine, pumps, and all modern conveniences.

ROLONEL E. R. HAMILTON, who has been the cashier of the Sacramento Bank since its foundation in 1875, and has held many other positions of trust, was born in 1832, in Meadville, Pennsylvania, and there spent his childhood and early youth. In 1848, when sixteen years old, he went to Pittsburg, and be- came an apprentice to the trade of steamboat coppersmith. He served the full term of four years, perfecting himself in the trade, receiving during that period the wretched pittance of only fifty cents a week and board, and yet having to clothe himself ! Having finished his appren- ticeship, he followed his trade until April, 1853, when he crossed the plains, making most of the distance on foot behind an ox team. At last, September 23, 1853, he reached Sacramento, footsore and weary, a strange boy in a strange

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land, with only two bits in money in his pocket, but with a stont heart and honest purpose in his breast. He got a job at once to shovel dirt into China Slough for a contractor who was then grading K street. Having no money wherewith to buy blankets he slept in a pile of straw. For two weeks he kept at this, when he rose a step on the ladder, securing employment as a porter in the store of Mr. E. Ayres. There he worked until January, 1854, when he went to San Fran- cisco and resumed his trade of coppersmith, receiving as wages $6 a day. Mr. Hamilton continned there until the fall of 1855, when he set ont in business for himself in the stove and ironware trade at Placerville, in partnership with Mr. J. L. Smith. In 1857 he sold out and came to Sacramento, forming a partnership with a Mr. Purdin, continuing in the stove busi- ness until 1866. In that year he was elected city assessor upon the Republican ticket, Col- onel Hamilton having been all his life a con- sistent and hard-working member of that party. In 1867 he was proffered the appointment of cashier of the Sacramento Savings Bank. Ac- cepting this, he has continuously since that date been connected with that institution, receiving the like appointment of cashier of the Sacra- mento Bank upon the liquidation of the former and the founding of the latter bank. Colonel Hamilton has honorably earned the title he wears. At the commencement of the war he organized a company of sharp-shooters, and was afterward chosen Colonel of the Fourth Regi- ment of Infantry, National Gnards, of Cali- fornia. He has been twice married, and has a son and a daughter. The son, E. G., is learning a trade.

ON. EDWARD M. MARTIN .- This gen- tleman was born at Muscatine, State of Iowa, in the year 1845. Seven years later the family removed to California, crossing the plains by ox teams, and finally arriving in this city September 24, 1852, after a tedious trip,

but fortunately withont serious mishap. Mr. Martin was educated first in the public schools of this city, and afterwards proceeded to take an academic course at Napa College, but he was compelled to abandon this before graduation, owing to a lack of funds to complete both it and his legal studies, upon which he had deter- mined. Accordingly he became a student in the office of Messrs. Coffroth & Spaulding, the eminent attorneys of former days in this city. On October 21, 1867, he was admitted to prac- tice before the Supreme Court of this State, immediately hung out his shingle and began the successful practice of law in this city. Mr. Martin has always taken an active interest in politics,-as a worker, however, rather than as an office-seeker, and is a stanch Repub- lican of broad and liberal views. For a time he held the position of court commissioner, and is now and has been for several years a member of the Board of Education. He is an active worker in all good causes that aim to promote the general good, and has thus naturally taken a prominent part in social and beneficiary orders. Heis a Past Noble Grand of Capital Lodge, No. 87, I. O.O. F., a Past Chief Patriarch of Pacific Encampment, No. 2, First Past Commander of the Patriarchs Militant, Canton 1, Sacramento, is a Past Sachem of Owosso Lodge, Imp. O. R. M., No. 39, and is also a member in good standing of the A. O. U. W., and of the Knights of Honor. Mr. Mar- tin comes of a long-lived family, his father, Mr. George W. Martin, the well-known builder and contractor of this city, being still a hale and hearty business man, although of the advanced age of seventy-two years. In another place will be found a sketch of the latter's life. Three brothers and a sister reside at Moscow, Idaho Territory, while two younger half-brothers live with their father in Sacramento. Mr. Martin was married to Miss Emily E. Jones, sister of Hon. C. T. Jones, of this city, reference to whom is made elsewhere. She died about four years ago. Of their three children but one, a son named Albert Baker, is now living. Such in

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brief is a sketch of the life of one who holds a position of no little importance in the legal pro- fession of Sacramento. He is a public-spirited citizen of this place, of which he has been a resident since boyhood, and it is not the less to his credit that his present position of promi- nence has not come to him by chance or fortune, but is the result of great natural ability coupled with indefatigable diligence and a close atten- tion to business.

USTAVUS LINCOLN SIMMONS, M. D. Dr. Simmons was born in Hingham, Plymouth County, Massachusetts, March 13, 1832. His paternal ancestor in America was Moyses Simmons, one of the Pilgrim colony of English that sailed in the ship Fortune; the vessel which followed the Mayflower, and which reached Plymouth in 1621. His maternal an- cestor was a Lincoln, who went from Hingham in England, and founded Hingham in America, and whose descendants have furnished to the Country numerous examples of ability and patriotism. Young Gustavus received his pre- liminary education in the schools and Derby Academy of his native town, and when but a boy of seventeen years old, in 1849, sailed from Boston, in the brig Curaçoa, and rounded Cape Horn to join a brother-in-law, the late Dr. Henry B. May, in San Francisco. After a lenthy passage of nearly nine months he reached California, while the State was yet in its Terri- torial condition; and after a few months' stay in San Francisco he removed to Sacramento, during the terrible epidemic of cholera, and while the excitement incident to the squatter riots was still intense. Here he engaged hin- self with his medical relative in the business of the old Boston drug store, which was then located on the north side of J street, between Front and Second streets, at that early period, owing to want of accommodations elsewhere in town. A large number of the prominent physi- cians examined their office patients in the little

cloth ante-rooms attached to the establishment, and as the location was quite near all the large gambling houses and hotels, it was a common sight at that pioneer period to see here not only victims of cholera and kindred diseases, but also those who had been shot or stabbed, and who needed surgical treatment. In this kind of a practical school young Simmons began his in- terest in the profession of medicine, and for several years did a large amount of work in con- nection with the care of the sick and wounded. He afterward returned to the East and entered the Tremont Street Preparatory Medical School in Boston, and subsequently the medical de- partment of Harvard University, receiving his degree of Doctor in Medicine and Surgery from that famous institution in 1856. Soon after graduating he returned to Sacramento, where he has since been successfully engaged in the prac- tice of his profession, excepting only the time spent in two extended trips to Europe, taken with a view to observing the hospital practice of the Old World. Dr. Simmons is a member of the American Medical Association and served on the committee of arrangements at the great gathering of that body in San Francisco in 1871. He is also a member of the California State Medical Society; of the Massachusetts State Medical Society, and one of the charter members of the Sacramento Society for Medi- cal Improvement. For over twenty years he served as a commissioner in Innacy and as a member of the Board of Health; also for a term as County Hospital physician and as United States Pension Surgeon, and was the first secretary of the City Board of Education that acted as school superintendent. He is now the president of the board of trustees of the Mar- guerite Home for old ladies, founded by the munificent charity of Margaret E. Crocker. Dr. Simmons was married in 1862 to Celia, danghter of the Rev. Peter Crocker, formerly of Richmond, Indiana, and Barnstable, Massa- chusetts. They have three living children: Gustavus Crocker, Celia May and Samuel Ewer. The eldest son, Gustavus, is a graduate, like his

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father, of Harvard University, receiving his medical degree in 1885. He is now in Europe taking a post-graduate course in the Vienna hospitals.

LIJAH CARSON HART .- The legal fraternity is well represented in Sacra- mento; and among its members are some of the most intelligent men and most effective workers for the city's advancement to be found among her citizens. Communities, as individuals, may possess great material wealth, the accumulated profits of shrewd, keen, com- mercial transactions of years, and still have bnt poorly developed the best impulser of the heart, -the greatest powers of the mind, the deep appreciation of the true, the beautiful, or the good, or the ambition which aspires to them. The subject of this sketch, Hon. Elijah Carson Hart, was born in 1856, and first saw the light of day in an emigrant wagon on the banks of Carson River, while father and mother were cross- ing the plains, after which place he was named. His parents were from Indiana, where his father had been a practicing attorney. After the birth of young Hart, the family proceeded to Nico- laus, in Sutter County, where his father engaged in varions pursuits and where Elijah received his earliest education. At the age of twelve, the family removed to Colusa County, Elijah secnr- ing employment in the office of the Colusa Sun, where he learned the printer's trade. In 1878 he was elected city clerk of Colnsa, but refused the office for the reason that he had been offered editorial control of the Oroville Mercury at about the same time he desired to accept. He controlled the editorial chair of the Mercury from May, 1878, to December, 1878, after which he purchased the Willows Journal and ran it until 1884. He then came to Sacramento and commenced the study of law with his brother, ex-Attorney-General A. L. Ifart. He was ad- initted to the bar in 1885 by the Supreme Court of the State. He was elected city attor-

ney in March, 1886. In November, 1888, he was elected to the Assembly, receiving the largest Republican majority ever given a Re. publican in the Nineteenth Assembly District. At the session of 1889, just passed, he introduced the celebrated Glenn County bill and advocated its passage in a most persistent manner. In making his speech on the introduction of the bill he was heartily applanded and his brilliant speech was a feature of the occasion. Mr. Hart was married in Colnsa, May 20, 1878, on the same day he left to take control of the Oroville Mercury. His wife's maiden name was Miss Addie Virian, a grand niece of the celebrated Kit Carson. A remarkable coincidence is that he married the grand niece of the man after whom the Carson River was named, the river on whose banks he was born and after which he was given his middle name. Mr. Hart is en- gaged in the practice of law in Sacramento and has as his associate Judge G. G. Davis. In conclusion we would state that to all who have had the pleasure of his society he is a most pleasant companion, and to those admitted to his friendship he is a wise counsellor and a firmn friend.

JON. ELWOOD BRUNER, District Attor- ney, was born September 27, 1854, in Zanesville, Ohio, his father being the Rev. J. A. Brnner, a minister of the Methodist Church, now one of the oldest, as he is one of the most venerated and beloved, of the clergy- men of that church upon this coast. His father is still living, at a good old age, at West Berke- ley, California. Rev. Mr. Bruner, although now sixty-eight years old, is carrying on his ministe- rial labors at that point. In 1856 the family removed to this State, arriving here in October of that year. From 1860 to 1865 they were settled in Sacramento, at which time they were transferred to other parts. Young Elwood pur- sned his higher academic studies at the Univer- sity of the Pacific at San José, graduating there

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in the class of 1874, and immediately began the study of law in the office of Messrs. Moore, Laine, Delmas & Leib, all names distinguished in legal circles upon this coast. April 10, 1877, Mr. Bruner was admitted to practice before the Supreme Court of this State, and at once opened an office. From the first he has been considered one of the most brilliant of the young lawyers of this section of the State. In 1881 he was a partner of Judge W. A. Cheney, the eminent jurist, now of Los Angeles. In 1879 he was elected a member of the Legislature from this county, this being the first chosen under the new constitution of the State. In 1883 he was elected a public school director of this city, and finally in 1886 was chosen by the suffrages of his fellow citizens to fill the important office of district attorney; and this he has filled with such general satisfaction that at the late election in 1888 he was sent back to the same position. He has always been an active worker for Re- publican principles. During the late election he canvassed the county for the ticket, contribu- ting not a little to the general result. Mr. Bruner is a member in high standing of the order of Odd Fellows, being elected in May, 1887, the Grand Master of that order in Cali- fornia. During his year of office he personally visited a large number of lodges, and has the satisfaction of looking back upon a most snc- cessful year in the growth of the order. Mr. Bruner was married to Miss Lillian J. Flint, of this city, in March, 1880. They have three children, all girls. Reference has already been made to his parents. He has also four brothers and one sister living. Of the brothers, two are practicing attorneys in Alturas County, Idalio. The one, P. M., has been district attorney of that county, and the other, J. Allison, is a lead- ing member of the Idaho Legislature, being chairman of some of the most important com- mittees. Personally, Mr. Bruner is a gentleman of literary and scholarly tastes, a most effective and eloquent public speaker, as is emphasized by his selection to represent this city on many public occasions, notably upon the completion of

the Oregon & California Railroad and of the extension of the railroad to Placerville, and is one of the best known and most popular men in the city.

D. GOODELL, one of the best known and highly esteemed citizens of Sacra- inento, has been a resident here ever since August, 1849, when he went into camp under a great oak tree where the car shops now are. He was born April 18, 1814, in Belcher- town, Massachusetts, where his father was a well-to-do farmer. At the age of eighteen years he went to Amherst, near by, to learn the trade of carpenter and joiner; after practicing there awhile he spent a year in the same business at Springfield. Returning to Belchertown, he entered the business for himself, with signal success, erecting some of the finest buildings in the place, among others the town hall. After his marriage there he built for himself one of the finest residences in town. He then began the systematic study of architecture, perfecting himself in the art. As a large part of his business lay at Ware village, adjoining Belcher- town, he removed there. Next he took a large contract for building three large factories and several hundred houses for a large cotton - manu- facturing firm, and did his work so well that he was retained by them for five years. Setting out from New York, in company with- eleven others, he being president of the company, March 29, 1849, on the brig Everett, he ar- rived at Panama, April 23; was delayed there nearly a month, and then came on to San Fran- cisco, on the little brig Copiaco, arriving here after a tedious voyage of ninety-five days. At first he tried his hand at mining and prospect- ing around Mormon Island, Hangtown and other places, but, meeting with sinall success, he re- turned to Sacramento, March 29, 1850, to pur- sue his favorite calling; and since that date he has been identified with the city's best interests. He then found business lively, buildings going

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up rapidly, and he obtained work at $16 a day, though not as an architect, for at that time the demand was only for cheap and hastily built houses. By the years 1862-'63 the city had so far advanced that a higher order of architecture began to be demanded; and Mr. Goodell built the fine jewelry store of Mr. Wachhorst on J street, from plans of his own design. From that time orders poured in, and a mere list of the many structures put up by him would alone fill many pages. Among them are such fine residences as those of James Carolan, John Carroll, Frank Ebner, Theodore Milliken, Gen- eral Reddington, Albert Gallatin, Charles Send- der and others, at costs ranging from $15,000 to $40,000; also the county hospital, his plans being selected where there was considerable com- petition. Several hundred of the buildings of this city and vicinity, great and small, are also · Mr. Goodell's work, as also some of the more elegant and complete business blocks, such as that of Waterhonse & Lester, the Grangers' Hall, Mrs. Gregory's building on Second street, Green & Trainor's warehouse on Second street, the grammar-school buildings, etc., etc. Mr. Goodell has been a member of the Pioneer Association from the first, a director for twenty years, and its president in 1877-'78 when he secured fo. the society the commodious build- ing on Seventh street, which they now occupy and where he has his offices. He is a true type of an American, a champion of free thought and modern reform and is highly esteemed by all classes. He was married May 2, 1838, to Miss Sarah Pease, at Granby, Massachusetts, and they have two daughters. At their golden wedding in 1888, an immense throng of citizens turned ont to do honor to the worthy couple.

R. WILLIAM W. LIGHT, of Sacramento, was born July 29, 1819, upon a farm about two and a half miles from the little town of Bethel, Claremont County, Ohio. It was in this same county and only six miles away that

the illustrious General Grant was born. They were boys together, attended the same school at Bethel, and when Grant received the appoint- ment to West Point, young Light was there to congratulate hin. When eighteen years of age he began the study of medicine in Cincinnati, and at the same time carried on a chemical laboratory in that city, in company with his brother George, the firm name being G. & W. W. Light. Although never proceeding to a de- gree, Dr. Light became in this way a physician and surgeon of practice and experience. In 1840 he began also the study of dentistry, fitting him- self thoroughly for the profession, which he now carries on quietly but successfully. He was associated in Cincinnati with Dr. J. S. Liggett, a well-known dentist at that time. Dr. John Morehead, his preceptor, manifested so great interest in young Light that he willed him the whole of his valuable medical library. January 1, 1849, Dr. Light started for California, com- ing by way of New Orleans and the Isthmus, having to wait two months at Panama for a ves- sel. Two of the party became impatient and returned to the States. During this time, how- ever, the Doctor was kept busily employed as a physician to the many poor wretches that he found sick at Panama. Finally he obtained passage on the old whaler Humboldt, with 362 other passengers, and they lived on jerked beef, hard tack and water contained in old whale-oil- soaked barrels during a voyage of 102 days to San Francisco. They reached the Golden Gate August 30, the Doctor being eight months on the journey from Cincinnati. But the remark- able part of the life of Dr. Light begins with his residence in California. He came directly up to Sacramento and found employment almost immediately with the Ormsbys, who had set up a mint and were coining gold. Not knowing how to do the annealing, however, they were making bad work of it and were glad to employ the Doctor at $50 a day to superintend the works; but he shortly afterward quit that situ- ation and tried mining at Weaverville, near Hangtown, with but trifling success. He went

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thence to Shingle Springs, where he made money, and there he met a Spaniard who in- duced him with others to go to Dark Gulch, near Sonora, where he reported that gold was very plentiful. On arriving there, however, the Spaniard skipped out and they discovered, when too late, that it was all a game gotten up by a storekeeper of that part to sell his goods to the men who should flock to the gulch. Dr. Light then went to the Stanislans River, and in 1851 returned to Sacramento. In partnership with Drs. Ames and Mckenzie, he conducted an ex- tensive medical practice, continuing it during the terrible cholera visitation in 1852. One of the inost effective remedies of the time was " Light's Cholera Remedy." After the flood of 1852 he began the practice of dentistry, con- tinning until 1863, and having as partner for a while a Dr. Pearson. In 1861 Dr. Light had become interested in mining properties in the State of Sonora, Mexico. James Roundtree, a relative of his wife, had located the Deus Padre mine at Alamos, Sonora, making Dr. Light a part owner. He went there to inspect the property for himself and the others interested, and in 1863 he was sent there by his associates to act as metallurgist at the mine. Contrary to his judgment and strongly expressed opinion, they sent down expensive mills and other ma- chinery before developments would justify it; and when the results proved Dr. Light correct in his views they determined to sell out in San Francisco at a fictitious value, and to do so wished the Doctor to prepare bogus assays for them. This he refused, whereupon they de- clared him mistaken and proceeded to make the sale at all hazards. He was induced to give a power of attorney of his share that the sale in San Francisco might be completed. The sale was carried out and Dr. Light's share, $55,000, placed in the hands of the agent, who immedi- ately departed for Germany between the night and morning, and has not since been heard of. The Maximilian catastrophe took place during these years, and Dr. Light acted as surgeon for the soldiery, who were numerous in that part of

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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