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 43

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 43

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HISTORY OF SACRAMENTO COUNTY.

and the mother and children followed in 1855, under the protection of Colonel Steptoe, of the United States army. Mr. Sanders farmed on his place until about 1882, when he sold 1,310 acres at $30 per acre, and purchased an adjoin- ing ranch of over 2,000 acres, which he still holds. In 1878 he bought, near the wire bridge, a small tract of five acres, on which were a number of buildings, where he lives, working his ranch, at some inconvenience, from there. He lived in Sacramento from November, 1878, to March, 1880, in order to give his children a better schooling. He has been constable for twenty-five years, with brief interruptions. Mr. and Mrs. Sanders are the parents of six living children: Amos Anthony, born in Octo- ber, 1863; Theodore Nelson, in April, 1865; Edward Stebbins, in March, 1871; Harry Bras- tow, in May, 1873; Oliver, in February, 1876; and William, in April, 1879.

EVI PAINTER was born in Lawrence County, Indiana, January 14, 1833, his parents being Aaron and Rebecca (Hick- son) Painter, natives of Tennessee, and there married. They first moved into Indiana, and after several years' residence moved to Mis- souri, where the father became owner of 160 acres. Both parents were brought to this coast in 1873 by their son. The father died in 1876, aged seventy four, and the mother survived him five years, dying at the home of her daughter in Indiana, in 1881, aged seventy. Grand- mother Painter was eighty when she died. Levi Painter came to California in 1853, leaving St. Joseph, Missouri, April 18, and arriving at Placerville, August 23, a member of a small party of twenty men, two women and two chil- dren. Of the outfit he owned two horses. He mined during the winter of 1853-'54, and came down to the Sacramento River April 14, 1854, going to work for $50 a month and board on the ranch he now owns. Five months later he went across the river and chopped wood for four

months, making $75 a month. In 1855 he re- turned to ranch work on Sutter Island, and in December of that year he settled on his raneh of 123 acres, bought a few months before, at what has since become known from his name as Paintersville, about twenty-two miles below Sacramento, on the river. For ten years he raised but little of anything except vegetables, but since 1865 he has given attention to fruit- growing, gradually increasing in that direction until he now has about thirty acres in orchard and ten in vineyard. He has not, however, entirely relinquished the raising of vegetables, and has varied his interests in other directions. About 1877 he built a large two-story building which was first used as a boarding-house for the employes of the salmon-canning establishment then in operation at that point, and afterwards as a dance hall for some years. This he has re- cently removed and raised on a brick founda- tion, at the lower end of the village, near his warehouse, refitting it for his own residence. In 1879 he divided three and three-quarter acres into building lots, on which the hamlet of Paintersville has since arisen. About 1880 he began to breed horses and mules, and is still actively engaged in that line. In earlier years he gave some attention to cattle and hogs, bnt in the flood of 1862 he lost some 200 head of these, of which about eighty were ready for the market, and he has never since taken any in- terest in hogs. Cattle-raising he has also dis- continued, keeping only one cow for family use. Levi Painter was married in 1860, near Roseville, in this county, to Miss Mary McDer- mott. She died in June, 1867, leaving three children: Louisa, born May 2, 1861, now Mrs. Victor Falkenberg, of San Francisco; Mary Jane, born Angust 2, 1862, died of pneumonia, aged seventeen; William, born August 29, 1865, is employed on the steamer Modoc, in the engineer's department. Mr. Painter was again married on Thanksgiving day, November 24, 1887, in Sacramento, to Maggie Van Auken, born in Parma, Monroe County, New York, March 18, 1833, daugliter of Louis and Jane

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(Westfall) Van Anken, both now deceased, the mother in 1870, aged eighty-one, and the father in 1880, aged ninety-three, living together in married life sixty-five years, lacking two weeks. The father was a native of Pennsylvania, and the mother of New York. Of their children six sons and one danghter, besides Mrs. l'ainter, are still living: Anthony G., James M., Eliner and Edwin B., all four farmers in Shiawassee Connty, Michigan; Edmund B., twin brother cf Edwin B., is living at Salmon City, Idaho; and Andrew Jackson, now in the employ of his brother-in-law, Mr. Painter. Jane, the only living sister of Mrs. Painter, is the wife of George W. Gale, a farmer residing near Ypsi- lanti, Washtenaw County, Michigan.

LFRED SPOONER, rancher of Cosumnes Township, was born in Adrian, Michigan, September 23, 1837, his parents being Jonathan Warner and Elizabeth (Knapp) Spooner. The father, a native of Vermont, of the well-known and widespread New England family of that name, died July 7, 1877, aged seventy-two, near Mendon, Michigan, where the mother, born in Wayne County, New York, in 1816, is still living. Grandfather Abram Knapp was seventy-five at his death in 1863, in Lena- wee County, Michigan. Grandfather Alfred Spconer died about 1834, aged fifty-four. He was the son of Eliakim, the son of Daniel, the son of Samuel, the son of William, the English emigrant to Plymouth Colony in 1637. Elia- kim, the great-grandson of William and great- grandfather of the subject of this sketch, was in the military service of the colonies in 1757, and in 1780 settled in what is now Vermont, was a member of the Legislature, and was widely known as " a man of inarked mind and charac- ter." "Warner " Spooner, a tanner by trade, moved to Michigan in 1834, and built the first frame house in Adrian. In 1835 he was mar- ried to Miss Elizabetli, daughter of Abram and Elizabeth Knapp, both natives of New York.

Mr. and Mrs. Warner Spooner became the par- ents of nine children, of whom eight are living in 1889, all residing in the East, mostly in Michigan, except the subject of this sketch, who is the oldest. The father carried on a tannery in Adrian about six years, when he exchanged it for land in De Kalb County, Indiana, where the family resided four years. Selling out in Indiana, he bought 100 acres near Hillsdale, Michigan, and lived there seven years. Finally, . in December, 1853, the family settled near Mendon, Michigan. Alfred Spooner received the usual district school education supplemented by one or two terms at a local academy; worked on his father's farmns, and being handy with tools picked up the trade of carpenter. He came to California by the Isthmus route, arriv- ing in San Francisco October 16, 1859. He first worked on a dairy farm on Dry Creek, in Sacramento County, nearly one year; then tried mining about two years, sinking all he had made in the American Falls Mining Company, the great flood leaving him worse off than when he arrived on the coast. He then turned to the business of teaching, being trained at the Nor- mal school in San Francisco, where he received a certificate of qualification. He first taught near Roseville, in Placer County, and then in this county, his career as teacher covering about twenty-six years, mostly in Sacramento County. In 1869 Mr. Spooner was married to Miss Addie E. Lamb, born in Chicago, a daughter of Larkin and Arabella (Ellis) Lamb, who had come to California in 1851. She died in February, 1879, leaving one surviving child, Alfred Lawton, born June 10, 1878. They had lost three chil- dren by diphtheria, in January, 1878, which was too severe a shock to her nervous system and occasioned her premature death. Mr. Spooner was married September 3, 1888, at Malta Bend, Missouri, to Mrs. Sally Kesler, a native of Iligh- Jand County, Ohio, the widow of Benjamin F. Kesler, with three children, of whom two are now members of the Spooner family: Lnlu Blanche, aged thirteen, and Ina May, aged five years. Claytonia, the oldest child of Mrs.

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Spooner, is the wife of John Miller, residing near Wichita, Kansas. Mr. and Mrs. Spooner have one child, a son, born October 4, 1888. Mr. Spooner has been a justice of the peace in Cosumnes Township for fifteen years, and was one of the parties to the remarkable contest for that office in 1888-'89, when at the general and special elections his opponent and he received an equal number of votes and finally withdrew their names by mutual agreement. He has now settled down to work on his 350-acre ranch about two miles south of Michigan Bar, where he has had for some years a small orchard and vineyard, both of which he intends to enlarge considerably. He also raises grain, hay and stock. His land borders on Arkansas Creek, and the higher portion is accessible to the waters of the new irrigating ditch.

OHN SHIELDS, an orchardist, etc., of Brighton Township, was born in Ireland April 26, 1835, the son of Patrick and Mary Shields. In 1843 the family came to the United States and settled in Kendall County, Illinois, where the father, a farmer by occupa- tion, died, in November, 1856, aged sixty-five years; and Mrs. Shields survived him several years. They had a well-improved farm there of 210 acres, stocked with 100 head of cattle, etc. They had three children: Frederick, John and Dennis; Frederick and Dennis reside in Min- nesota. John was at home with his parents until he was twenty-one years of age, engaged exclusively in farming; and then came to Cali- fornia, by way of New York and Panama, leav- ing home May 4, 1886, and landing in San Francisco June 14. First he ran a threshing- machine three months for the owner, from San Pablo through all the valley to San Lorenzo. In this business he saved up a little money. Then he mined on Farmer's Diggings and else- where along the American River, for $3 a day, for eight or ten months, and then bought the squatter's title to the ranch where he now lives

This at first contained 324 acres, covered with brush and timber. The first year he put in fifteen acres, and all the improvements there are now on the premises he has made himself. About 1879 he purchased 100 acres additional, making a total of 424 acres; 100 acres or more are in orchard, consisting of peaches, pears, plums, French prunes, and a general variety of fine shipping fruits. The first trees were set out about nine years ago, and the youngest about three years ago. There are twenty acres in vines, one-half of which are five years old, and the rest three. Last year there were about twenty-four tons of grapes on three acres. The soil is a black and sandy loam, very productive. This place is on the old Coloma road, thirteen miles from Sacramento, bordering the American River, which bounds the ranch on the north. November 18, 1859, Mr. Shields was married to Mrs. Elizabeth (nee Bow) Lynch. She is a native of Ireland and came to California in 1855. They have five daughters and two sons: Mary, wife of Charles Deterding; Lizzie A., wife of M. C. Pike; Alice, Hannah, Emily, Peter J. and Robert E. Hannah is an accom- plished musician, making music, both instru- mental and vocal, a profession. Peter J. is an attorney at law in Sacramento.

ORNELIUS KELLOGG, dealer in stoves, tin and hardware, Nos. 819 and 821 J street, was born in East Hartford, Connec- tient, December 14, 1840; attended the public schools of his native town and Hartford until eleven years old, when he entered Colt's Pistol Factory as an apprentice, where he remained about four years. Determining to go to sea, he went to New York, where he shipped for Ant- werp, Belgium, thence to New Orleans, and returning to New York, the trip occupying abont a year. In 1857 he determined to seek his fortune in California. Taking steamer from New York, by way of the Isthmus, he arrived at San Francisco in due time and came to Sac-

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ramento, where his brother Leonard was already established in business, and entered his employ. On the breaking ont of the war in 1861 he enlisted in Company E, First Infantry Califor- nia Volunteers, for a period of three years, ex- pecting to be sent to the front, instead of which, however, the regiment was ordered to Arizona and New Mexico to look after the Indians. He held the rank of first sergeant in his company. At the expiration of his term of enlistment, he was discharged, with his regiment at Los Pinos, New Mexico, in August, 1864. Returning to Hartford, Connecticut, he entered the employ of the hardware firm of Terry & Cone, where he remained until 1868, when he was again seized with the California fever. Coming direct to Sacramento, he associated himself with his brother Leonard in the stove and hardware bnsi- ness. During his residence in Hartford he took an active interest in the local militia, and hav- ing lost none of his military zeal, he immedi- ately, on becoming settled in Sacramento, identified himself with the National Guard of California by becoming a member of the Sars- field Guards, then attached to the Fourth Infan- try Regiment. In 1872 he was elected Colonel of the Regiment, which position he held for four years. Mr. Kellogg has been a prominent member of the Grand Army of the Republic since 1866, having joined Lyons Post, No. 2, at Hartford, Connecticut, in that year. Soon after his arrival in Sacramento he was transferred from Lyons Post of Hartford and connected himself with Sumner Post, No. 3, Sacramento, of which organization he is still a member. He has filled all important offices in the Post, including that of Commander. He also held various appointments on the staff of the Depart- ment Commander of California and the Com- mander-in-Chief. IIe is also an enthusiastic member of the Masonic order, having taken all the degrees and held the position of presiding officer in all the various branches. He also belongs to the A. O. U. W. and the K. of H. In 1869 Mr. Kellogg married Miss Alice Vor- rey, of Hartford, Connecticut. They have three

children. The two sons are both prominent in the order of the Sons of Veterans. In politics he is a Republican, and although declining all public honors, has always taken a lively interest in local affairs as well as national. Since the death of his brother Leonard, which occurred in 1884, Cornelius has conducted the business, and has the reputation of being a shrewd, careful business man. He has met with marked suc- cess, which has placed him in easy circumstan- ces.

ICHARD T. SCOTT, a prominent rancher of Alabama Township, was born in Cum- berland County, Kentucky, September 5, 1837. He came to California with a jolly party of seventy-five, across the plains with ox teams, and had some trouble with the Indians. At Salt Lake City the party divided, one section of which were all afterward killed by the Indians, including some of Mr. Scott's relatives. At times they were certain that they would never reach California, so discouraged did they be- come on account of misfortunes; they were seven months on the route. Arriving in the long-looked-for land of gold, Mr. Scott imme- diately began work by the month for John Mc- Gee; indeed, he and his wife conducted the entire place for Mr. McGee for eighteen months. For the next fourteen months Mr. Scott fol- lowed teaming in Stockton, at $75 a month; then he purchased a team and began work for himself, following the business of hauling over the Sierra Nevada Mountains for ten years. He sold his outfit in 1867, and the next year bought a ranch in San Joaquin County, five miles from Stockton, and followed farming there until 1880, when he bought his present ranch of 480 acres, which is devoted principally to wheat and barley. It is seven miles from Galt, on the road to Ione. Mr. Scott chose for his wife Susan Ferguson, who was born in Bradley, Alabama, January 25, 1838. Eleven of their thirteen children are living. They have had

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thirteen children, as follows: Malinda S., Sarah A. (died in 1860), Henry D., Richard T. (died in 1865), Seth A., William P., Joe H., Samuel F., Charles L., George W., Martha E., Sarah A. and John W.

M AZZINI BROTHERS, proprietors of the Bacchus Winery, are among the rising firms of Sacramento, and the firm is A. and S. Mazzini. They commenced busi- ness on a small scale April 25, 1881, and on the 15th of August, 1887, removed to their present location, where they have frontage on Third street and also on K street. Here no expense has been spared in fully equipping for the wine business, and a trip through the establishment discloses everything in the best of order. The cellars are splendidly adapted for the purposes for which they are designed, and afford a cool, dry place for the storage of wines. They have twelve large fermenting tanks, and storage cooperage for 35,000 gallons. They buy the best grapes to be obtained, and use the most care in the manufacture of their wines. Among those turned out by them may be mentioned Port, Angelica, white wines and Clarets. They make a practice of storing wines of each year, and now have wines from 1884 up. The office of the winery is at the Third street entrance, but the public entrance to their retail department, where they keep all kinds of wines, liquors, cigars, etc., is at No. 228 K street. A. Maz- zini, senior member of the Mazzini Brothers, and the active head of the business, is a native of Italy, born in the Province of Massa-Carrara, August 10, 1849, his parents being Louis and Adelaide (Reali) Mazzini. IIe was educated at his native place, and for five years attended the College of Pontremoli, where he took the regu- lar course in Latin, belles-lettres, philosophy and higher mathematics. He then went to live with an uncle, and for four years cared for the latter's property and managed his business, attending to the cultivation of the vines, making

and selling of wines, etc. He then received the appointment to the clerkship of the construc- tion of the railroad from Spezia to Genoa, and was so engaged for six months. He then re- turned home, and in 1876 came to the United States, landing at New York on the 6th of March, and reaching San Francisco on the 21st. On the 1st of May he came to the Embarcadero, and on the 17th of October returned to San Francisco. From there he went to Newcastle, and worked in the Julian mines seven days; and thence he went up into Shasta County, and worked eighteen months in placer mining. Fortune did not follow him during all this time, and at the end of five years he did not have $500 in his pocket. He was not familiar with the English language, and had to work against great odds. Returning to Sacramento, May 4, 1880, he worked six months for wages, and then bought ont his employer; and from that start he has attained his present sitnation. His business has already outgrown his cellar room, and next year he will open a larger estab- lishment. He now understands not only his native tongue, but also Latin, French, Spanish and English. He was the founder of the Com- pagnia Bersaglieri Italiani, No. 3, and was its first president.

M. OVERMEYER, of Alabama Township, was born in Pickaway County, Ohio, in 1834. Arriving in California in 1854 he lost no time in earning for himself a permanent home. For the first four years he labored on a farm for monthly wages, and by the accumula- tions he thus made he was able to buy some cattle and afterward other property. Three years subsequently he sold his stock and pur- chased a team of horses and followed teaming four years over the Sierra Nevada Mountains. He then married and went to " ranching " again for himself, in El Dorado County. Two years afterward he came into Sacramento Connty, and two years after that again he went to Watson-

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ville, where he remained five years. Returning to this county, he purchased an interest in the De los Moquelemos grant, where he remained about five years, and finally bought the place where he is now living, 7} miles from Galt, on the Galt and Ione road. It contains 360 acres, and his principal products are grain and hay. Mr. Overmeyer's wife was formerly Sarah Martha Douglas. She was born in Missouri, and died at their residence April 16, 1889. She was a noble and kind-hearted woman. Mr. Overmeyer's father was born in Pennsylvania in 1806, and died in 1874, in Santa Cruz County, California. Mr. J. M. Overmeyer has six children: George E., Frank E., Emma A., Edgar L., Cora E. and Timothy G.

ON. IRA G. HOITT. In the history of a State or nation there can be no more im- portant subject than that of education, as real progress is always dependent on the de- velopment of that all-powerful agent, so that no apology is necessary for the introduction here of a brief sketch of the present principal guard- ian of the educational interests of California, more especially as he has taken a peculiarly active part in their advancement. Ira G. Hoitt, Superintendent of Public Instruction for the State of California, became associated with the public schools of this commonwealth over a quarter of a century ago. He is a native of Stafford County, New Hampshire, born in the town of Lee, July 23, 1833, his parents being Gorham W. and Abigail P. (Locke) Hoitt, who were also natives of New Hampshire, while his father, a fariner by vocation, served his county as sheriff and also represented her in both branches of the General Assembly of the State. The subject of this sketch was prepared for college at Phillips Academy, Exeter, after which lie entered Dartmouth College, and was gradu- ated at that celebrated seat of learning in the class of 1860. He made his own way through college, dividing his labors (while providing the

funds) between farming and school-teaching. After completing his education he took charge of the high school at Holliston, Massachusetts, as principal, and after completing liis engage. ment there, assumed a similar position in the high school at Stoneham. He was next em- ployed in a similar capacity at Marlboro, and succeeding this was chosen associate teacher of the Boys' High School at Boston. He resigned the latter position in 1864, for the purpose of removing to California. He left Boston on the steamer Ariel, for Panama, and crossing the Isthmus resumed his journey on the steamer Golden City, from which he landed at San Fran- cisco at midnight of the 18th of May of that year. He became vice-principal of the Denman Grammar School, and a short time thereatter principal of the Rincon Grammar School. In 1865, when the building of the Lincoln School was completed, he was elected principal. In 1867 he was nominated by the Republican Con- vention for the office of City Superintendent of Schools, but, with his ticket, was defeated. Soon after that time he retired from his educa- tional labors, and thereafter, until 1881, was engaged in the vocation of life insurance, stock brokerage and real estate. In 1880 le was elected to the General Assembly of Cali- fornia, serving during 1881 and 1882, and hold- ing the chairmanship of the Committee on Education, and membership, respectively, in those on Ways and Means and on Public Mor- als. He next assumed the business manage- ment of Bancroft's "Commerce and Industries of the Pacific Coast," which he made highly successful. He published the Knights Templar edition of the Pacific Coast Guide, as well as the edition devoted to the National G. A. R. encampment. In 1883 he became organizer and manager of Palmer & Rey's Advertising Bureau and Newspaper Union. In 1884 he was elected as a member of the Board of Edu- cation of San Francisco, and in 1885 and 1886 was unanimously elected by the members presi- dent of the board. In 1886 he was nominated by the State Convention of the Republican party

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for his present position, and elected after a sharp contest. The position was well merited, as Mr. Hoitt had devoted great energy toward the building up of the educational sentiment of the State, and as a member of the General Assem- bly had been particularly ardent in the cause While in the house he pushed to passage the bill for the establishment of a Normal School at Los Angeles, and identified himself thor- oughly with any good pertaining to the canse. Since assuming the duties of his present office he has fathered the introduction of most of the text-books now in use in the State schools, and their high character (and even the fact that some of them are now in existence at all) is due in no small degree to the interest displayed by Mr. Hoitt, and to his personal labors. Mr. Hoitt is a man of determined character, enthu- siastic in his profession, never tiring of its work, and this influence of his labors has been felt throughout the length and breadth of the State, wherever there is a school house. He has found a ready helper in his wife, whose life has also been devoted to the cause of education, and who is at the present time his most efficient deputy. The Professor emphasizes the fact that much of his success in life is due to his wife's competent effort. Her maiden name was Julia B. Burrell. Her father, Captain B. H. Burrell, came to California in 1849, but being taken sick, he started to return home, died on ship board, and was buried in San Diego. Mr. Hoitt, a cultured man himself, believes in the inculcation into the minds of children of habits of courtesy which will cling to them through life, and his example is no small factor in im- pressing such habits on those with whom he comes in contact. In the preparations for the reception of the visiting teachers of the National Educational Association, as well as in the actual business of the convention of 1888, he took a most prominent part, having been president of the local executive committee for California, and untiring in the management of that affair, so successful and so creditable to the State. No superintendent has been so active in educational

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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