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 66

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 66

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HISTORY OF SACRAMENTO COUNTY.

Mr. and Mrs. W. E. Chamberlain, and was born in Maine. She is the wife of Benton Julian, a native of Indiana, and they have three children, viz .: Edwin Benton, Harvey Hartley and Wal- do Emerson. Mr. Julian has been intimately associated with educational matters in Sacra- mento in the past, having commenced teaching in the public schools in a business college in San Francisco in 1856. William Edward, the third child of W. E. Chamberlain, and a native of Oxford, Ohio, was educated at Phillips Academy and at Harvard, where he took the full course. He has been connected with a business college in San Francisco, and is a resident of Oakland, with business in San Francisco. He is married and has two children, viz .: William Edward and Florence Gladys.

W ILLIAM HENRY FRYE was born in "Bourbon County, Kentucky, May 28, 1813, his parents being James and Eliza betli (Baxter) Frye. The father died July 23, 1822, at about the age of forty-five, the mother surviving until April 24, 1847, then in her six- tieth year. Grandfather James Frye was the first of the family to settle in Kentucky, having moved thither from Virginia. Soon after the birth of W. H. Frye his parents moved to Mis- souri, settling in Pike County. His formal edu- cation consisted of three months' schooling, but on this scant foundation his thirst for knowl- edge, aided by exceptional natural ability and great industry, has reared a superstructure of wide and varied information of which a college graduate need not be ashamed. He made snch progress by private study that while yet a young man he taught school with snecess, occasionally referring to an older teacher in difficult cases. As his judgment and power of reflection grew with his years and experience he came to be rec- ognized as an exceptionally well informed man, and now, at seventy-six, though physically aged his intellectual powers retain their wonted vigor, enhanced by special acuteness of perception, the

ripened fruit of his many years of independent thought and close observation. In early years Mr. Frye worked on his father's farm, and in young manhood had the courage to buy out the interest of the other heirs, but the panic of 1837 made the burden too heavy and eventually compelled the sale of the place. He afterward traded for some two years, chiefly in pork and tobacco. In March, 1849, he started across the plains and reached Weaverville September 6. He had a pleasant journey. He started in a large train, but two wagons separated from the train and came through by themselves. In 1852 he commenced buying and selling cattle; and in 1853 raised his first crop of barley on what is now his homestead ranch, sixteen miles south of Sacramento, on the lower Stockton road. He first took up 160 acres, then unsur- veyed, to which he has since added by purchase three other quarters of as many adjoining sec- tions, thus becoming the owner of 640 acres in one body. He also owns 170 acres five miles north on the same road, now occupied by his oldest son. Mr. Frye raises wheat and barley, and until recently raised considerable stock. For some years he also carried on a dairy busi- ness, but now gives his chief attention to wheat, raising only such stock as he needs on his ranches. Mr. Frye was married January 7, 1854, to Mrs. Sarah Hongh, born in Cortland County, New York, October 20, 1823, the daughter of Rodney and Sophia (Watts) Sanford. The father, a native of New York State, born March 16, 1793, died in Ohio, March 18, 1840. The mother, a native of New York, also died in Ohio, under the age of fifty. Her grandfather Sanford reached a good old age, and grandfather Isaac Watts was over eighty when he died. Mrs. W. H. Frye has had four brothers, all born in the State of New York: Arthur W., born February 15, 1816, became a Presbyterian inin- ister in Ohio, served as Captain in an Indiana regiment in the Civil War, and died in Detroit, Michigan, in March, 1887; Whitfield, born April 30, 1818, a lawyer by profession, has re- sided for some years at Wahoo, Nebraska;

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Philo Watts, born January 14, 1821, is a farmer in Palo Alto County, Iowa; DeWitt Clinton, born October 14, 1827, is a farmer in Ohio, and served in the Civil War. All have reared fami- lies. Mrs. Frye is a lady of a high order of intellect who also takes a deep interest in the welfare of humanity. Though well advanced in years she still presides over the local Sunday- school, a labor of love for the rising generation. She is not only a loving wife and devoted mother but her maternal solicitude embraces all chil- dren within reach of her influence. Her four sons have grown to intelligent and upright man- hood under her loving care and watchful over- sight, and her heart still reaches ont toward the young for whose moral welfare she labors with unflagging zeal and earnest sympathy. The home is a large, handsome structure, containing all the comforts and luxuries necessary to a ra- tional enjoyment of life, and thoroughly per- meatel with wholesome intellectual and kindly spirit of both parents. Mr. and Mrs. Frye are the parents of four sons: Edward William, born January 21, 1856; Charles Thomas, June 13, 1858; Eugene Hough, January 1, 1861; Jacob Henry, September 28, 1863. Each went to school from about the age of seven to eighteen, and all have inherited and cultivated a love of reading. Edward William was married Sep- tember 7, 1881, to Miss Mary Hustler, boru at Marysville, California, October 11, 1856, daugh- ter of Asbury B. and Martha J. (Humfreville) Hustler, bothi now living in this county below Courtland. The father is a native of Maryland and the mother of Ohio. Both have been in California since 1854, the father having made his first visit to the State in 1852. Grandfather William Hustler, also a native of Maryland, died at the age of about eighty at Carlisle, Ohio. Grandmother Fanny (Burke) Hustler, born in Wilmington, Delaware, died at Carlisle, Ohio, of cholera, contracted while nursing the sick in the epidemic of 1832. Grandfather Jason Hnm- freville, born near Cincinnati, Ohio, in 1804, died near Courtland, California, in 1875. Grandmother Mary Ann (Ellsworth) Humfre-

ville, born in Springfield, Massachusetts, in 1811. died near Courtland, California, Septem- ber 21, 1881. £ Mrs. E. W. Frye was educated in the district schools, and afterward taught school for some years before her marriage. Mr. and Mrs. Frye are the parents of two sons: Har- bert Henry, born June 25, 1883, and an infant son, born August 1, 1889. Charles F. Frye was married October 12, 1886, to Mrs. Mary (Day) Bascom. The other sons are unmarried.

ERMAN HUBER, deceased. The subject of this sketch was born in Switzerland in 1835, and came to this country with his parents in 1844. They were people of means. and settled in St. Louis with their nine chil- dren. The father, Henry, first came ont with a colony of Swiss, most of whom settled in St. Louis. Both parents died young, the father at the age of forty-eight, and the mother still younger. Mr. Herman Huber came to Califor- nia in 1851 and went to mining in Hamburg Cañon, Placer County, and continued in that business until 1869. He made a good deal of money, but sunk a considerable part of it in un- profitable ventures. On leaving the mines he first came to Sacramento, but soon moved to Colusa, where he went into business as a money broker. In October, 1867, he was married to Miss Augusta J. Faulkner, a native of this county, born on Mormon Island, daughter of Charles Dix and Elizabeth (Binninger) Faulk- ner. His father was a native of Petersburg, Virginia, of Scotch descent; the mother was born in New York city, December 25, 1826, of German parentage. They were married in Sac- ramento January 15, 1850. On the evening of their wedding they attended a large ball at Sut- ter's Fort. They had to go in a skiff from the Pioneer Hotel, which was kept by Mrs. Huber's grandfather. This hotel was the first brick house in Sacramento. During the floods in 1850 they lived for several days on the table, and had to have the stove np there to do their

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cooking. The father, Jacob Binninger, lived to the age of seventy-four. Mrs. Huber was edu- cated at the Franklin grammar-school in Sacra- mento. Her parents came to California in 1849 and settled in Sacramento. The father died in March, 1857. The mother survived him twenty-seven years, and was married to Louis Biuninger. They kept the Pioneer Hotel for many years. She survived her second husband eight years, dying in 1884, and leaving two daughters: Maggie, now Mrs. Henry Ward Watkins, of Oakland, who has a son born in July, 1884, and a daughter born in February, 1888; the second daughter, Lena M. Binninger, lives with her half-sister, Mrs. Huber. In 1870 Mr. Huber bought a ranch in Yolo County, about sixteen miles south of Sacramento, on the river, to which he added by further purchase until he owned 645 acres in that region. He did a large dairy business, milking from 140 to 200 cows in two places not far apart. In 1877 he bought 400 acres on the north line of Frank- lin Township, six miles south of Sacramento, increased by purchase in 1883 to 645 acres, de- voted to general farming, chiefly wheat, barley and alfalfa, besides some horses ior ranch use. Mr. Huber was killed by a fall from his horse within a few miles of his home in Franklin Township, February 3, 1889, leaving two sons: Charles Henry, born December 11, 1869, in Todd's Valley; Herman Lonis, in Sacramento city, January 30, 1873. Charles II. was gradu- ated at Sacramento Business College, and Her- man L. is now taking a course in the same institution. Mrs. Augusta J. IIuber has been for six years a member of the order of Chosen Friends, Merritt Council, No. 141, which meets at Clarksburg, in Yolo County.

LE O. GOODRICH, nursery man and orchardist, Sutter Township, was born February 22, 1840, in Norway, son of Ole and Ida Goodrich. ilis father, a farmer, came with the family to America in 1852, purchasing

land, and locating in Dane County, Wisconsin, and died there in 1854; his widow survived un- til 1859. They had eight children, named Christian, Ida, John, Julia, Butler, Isabel, Ole and Eliza. All except John are living. Ole was twelve years of age when he came to America, landing in New York city. Proceed- ing at once to Wisconsin, he there learned the photographer's art, and worked at it until 1863, when he sailed from New York on the steamer Ariel, and came by the Isthmus to California, landing at San Francisco in December, on the steamer St. Louis. For a while he was em- ployed in a restaurant at Benicia, then he was cook on a ranch, which has since been included within the city of Oakland; next he herded sheep for a short time; next traveled among the mountains taking photographic views; then was employed by Flint & Olsen, here in Sacra- mento, as foreman in their hop yards, remain- ing with them five years; then worked awhile for Mr. Williams in the nursery business; next was in partnership with J. S. Harberson for eleven years, and then during the two floods he lost heavily each time. In 1883 he went out and purchased thirty-four acres of J Burke, and commenced to set out a nursery and orchard. In 1888 he purchased seventeen acres more of D. Rocca, and he now has altogether fifty-one acres, all of which is devoted to nursery and fruit. The place is three miles south of Sacra- mento, and a half mile east of Sutterville. He has been experimenting with fruit for thirteen years, and has introduced several new kinds into the market, among them two very excellent varieties of peach named by Mr. Hoyt the " Goodrich " and "Sacramento," which comes in after all the other good varieties are gone; also a very early apricot; they are gaining in pop- ularity, and Mr. Goodrich has no trouble in dis- posing of all his young trees, as well as the fruit. He propagates and sells all varieties of fruit trees. He is a very energetic man, a hard worker, hon- est in all his dealings, and therefore reliable as a nurseryman and horticulturist. Mr. Good- rich was married January 1, 1876, to Miss Mary ·

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Grundon, of English ancestry. They have three children: William, Elizabeth and Minerva.

RSKIN GREER, orchardist, Sutter Town- ship, was born in County Tyrone, Ireland, June 12, 1832, son of Robert and Catha- rine Greer. In 1834 his father died, and in 1836 his mother, with a family of twelve children, sailed from Londonderry for America, landing at Philadelphia, where they resided five or six years, and then emigrated further West, settling in Schuyler County, Illinois, in what was known as the Military Tract. Mrs. Greer lived there until her death, in 1856. Ten of her children are still living, viz .: George, Joseph, John and Alexander, in Schuyler County; Mrs. Lucy McClintock and Mrs. Jane Williams in Adamns County. Illinois; Mrs. Charles Miller, Mrs. El- len Hamilton, Andrew and Erskin Greer in this county. Mr. Greer, the subject of this bio- graphical sketch, has earned his own livelihood ever since he was six years of age, never having a dollar given to him during his youth; and be- sides, he has aided in the support of his mother and sisters until he was twenty five years of age. From the time the family located in Illinois, in 1842, he lived in Schuyler County until 1850, during which time he was employed in his brother's store as a clerk. Afterward he learned the cooper's trade, and carried on that business on a large scale, employing a number of men, until he came to California on account of ill- health. March 18, 1850, he left Illinois with three others, and after arriving at Independence, Missouri, a party of thirty or forty was organ- ized to cross the plains with ox teams. They had no trouble until they reached the Big Blue River, where the Sioux and Pawnees were at war, and they captured a number of emigrants, not knowing whether they were friends or enemies, but as soon as they became satisfied they were friends would release them. These were the first hostile Indians Mr. Greer had ever seen. At Pacific Springs, near the summit of

the Rocky Mountains, they met with Asiatic cholera. They arrived at that point about two o'clock in the afternoon, and before night they helped to bury a number of people of other trains who had died of that fearful scourge. The next morning Mr. Greer and his party left that place to avoid the epidemic. After passing Fort Hall they ran short of provisions, and a de- tachment hastened on to this State to procure some of the necessaries of life. At this time there were ten or fifteeu men in the train, with whom Mr. Greer remained, taking charge of the cattle. Had they not found a sack of corn in one of the wagons the party would probably have starved to death. At the head-waters of the Humboldt their supplies were so reduced that they ventured to kill one of their cattle; but the flesh proved to be so alkaline that they could not eat it in any shape. In that part of the route they also found the cholera prevailing in other trains, and the grave of William Burn- side, brother-in-law to Mr. Greer, a member of their own party, who had started in advance to this State for provisions, and who had died of that epidemic. Along the Humboldt, too, the Indians were troublesome. In two localities not far distant they had attacked trains and committed murder. Provender was also scarce, and their horses and cattle suffered. The first supplies they received were at the sink of the Humboldt, from a relief train sent out by Rals- ton and others. Thence forward they could buy what provisions they wanted, if they could only afford to pay at the rate of a dollar a pint, which was the price of every commodity! In crossing the forty-mile desert Mr. Greer saw, in both man and beast, more suffering than he has ever witnessed in his life before or since. At the old Mormon station they found a plenty, bnt the prices of course were exorbitant. The route over the Sierra Nevada was exceedingly rough. They arrived at Hangtown, September 6, 1850, disposed of their cattle and went to mining, which they followed until spring. Then they began prospecting toward the south, going be- low Fort John to a place called South Grass

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Valley; but after ineurring heavy expenses in reaching the place, they found the reports they had heard concerning the region were all hoax. There being a heavy snow on the ground, they were compelled to remain awhile, and even feed their oxen with flour to keep them from starv- ing. thus limiting their own bread supply. Dis- posing again of their eattle and wagon upon their return to Hangtown, they took their blank- ets upon their baeks and started ont again pros- pecting. Mr. Greer was compelled to give up miner's life on account of ill-health, although while actually employed in mining he had good success. Working in water and exposure in camping out brought on rheumatie troubles, from which he never has entirely recovered. Coming into the Sacramento Valley he engaged himself upon the ranch of Jerome C. Davis, and eut a large amount of hay during the summer; and next began hauling goods to the mines. In 1853 he settled upon a ranch within five miles of Sacramento, almost due west from his pres- ent place, and began stock-raising and farming. In 1855 he visited his old home in the East, returning to California well pleased with the visit, but disgusted with the country there. He was very suecessful in his pastoral and agri- cultural pursuits until 1861-'62, when the great flood carried away everything he had; but, un- daunted, he eontinned in the good work of reenperation. In 1863 he entered the employ of the Sacramento Valley Railroad Company, J. P. Robinson, superintendent. His particular station was to superintend and eultivate a large traet of land belonging to the railroad company in the neighborhood of Freeport, which position he filled about four years. During this time, September 22, 1864, he married Miss Harriet Ellis, a native of Rushville, Sehuyler County, Illinois, and a daughter of Hon. William Ellis, for many years judge of the Circuit Court there. In 1868 he became part owner of the railroad traet just referred to, buying out the entire town site. His position was one of re- sponsibility. A great deal of business of the town of Freeport was under his supervision.

His ereetion of a hotel on the property in 1864 was the beginning of the town. Business here was lively until the railroad was bought np by the Central Pacific Company, and the traek taken up. Mr. Greer remained in the employ of the company, and as proprietor of the town site up to the time of this transfer. In 1874 he sold his property and removed to Sacramento, where he bought other property at 812 K street, and also at the corner of Ninth and K, where the Hale block now stands, and engaged in the grocery trade for about ten years. In 1882 he bought his present ranch of 100 aeres, when it was entirely devoid of trees and devoted to the raising of grain; but it is now one of the pretti- est places in Sacramento County, and the right distance from the eity to have all the advantages of both eity and country, and the disadvantages of neither. It is situated three and a half miles from the eity, between the upper and lower Stockton roads. It is called Fruit Ridge Home. The state of everything on the premises exhibits the ambitions and well-cultivated designs of the owner. For the past two years Mr. Greer has also had the superintendency of what was formerly known as the Winters raneh, or Raneho del Rio. In politieal affairs Mr. Greer has always been a consistent Demoerat, versed in the principles and baptized with the spirit of Democracy. He was an ardent admirer of Douglas in his day, and still believes in the doetrines of that great statesman. For two years he served as justice of the peace of Frank- lin Township, and while in office he was gener- ally able to settle about four out of every five cases without bringing them to formal trial. In 1854 he drew up the subscription paper for building the first school-house in the Freeport distriet, then called the West Union sehool dis- trict. That building is still used as a school- house, but has been moved four or five times to suit the convenience of the people. Mr. Greer has also served as School Director in West Union, and also in Capital school districts. During his residence in Sacramento eity lie served on the Board of Education two years

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with marked efficiency; and since November, 1888, he has been a member of the Board of County Supervisors. Mr. and Mrs. Greer have two children: W. Walter and Robert E.

ETER A. MILLER, retired contractor, Sac- ramento, was born in Christianstadt, Swe- den, in July, 1827. His father was a merchant farmer, who d.ed when he, the subject of this sketch, was twenty-two years old, and for the next six years he had charge of the business of the estate. In 1855, however, he determined to emigrate to the United States, sailing from Hamburg on the 1st of May, in the ship " Howard." It proved an eventful voyage for them. While in the English Channel they col- lided with a French transport bringing troops to Sebastopol, and in consequence were detained for six weeks at Dover, England, for repairs. However, they were eventually landed in New York, and Mr. Miller went direct to Galesburg, Illinois, which place was his home for some time. There he learned the trade of brick- layer, becoming an expert. He afterward lived in Knoxville, Illinois, for abont five years, and in 1860 left for California. Having a friend at Napa, Peter Littengre, whose brother made one of the party, he went directly there and obtained work on the stone bridge, then in process of building, and remained there until the fall of that year, 1861. He then came to Sacramento, stopped at the What Cheer House, and ob- tained employment at his trade. When, in 1862, the City of Sacramento bought and pre. sented to the State Agricultural Society the grounds for its exhibitions, he got the contract for the brick work on the walls, etc. He also had the building of a stone residence at Putter Creek Cañon, Solano County, for John Wolf skill, a pioneer of 1845. The stone from which this dwelling was constructed, and which was taken from the Putter Creek Canon, was so sott and so free from grit that it could be readily ent with a common saw. It hardened

by exposure, and the old " Wolfskill House " still stands, in a perfect state of preservation. In 1865 he was engaged in laying the brick in the erection of many buildings in the city, among them the St. George Building, D. O. Mills' Bank, Hastings Building, the Gregory Building, Pioneer Bakery, and the El Dorado Bank, where Wells, Fargo & Co. now are. In 1866, he built the Washington School-house, corner of G and Thirteenth streets, and later on engaged in brick-making at the Grape-vine brick-yards, on the Yolo side of the river. These brick took the first prize in San Francisco. In 1880, he had the contract on the Washington levee, and in 1881 was engaged in similar work under Le Roy & Pierson, and in the reclama- tion district, near Courtland, and at other points. Mr. Miller has always been a Republican in politics, and in social relations an Odd Fellow since 1862, a member of Sacramento Lodge, No. 2, also of Sacramento Lodge, No. 40, F. & A. M., and of Chapter No. 3, and is also mem- ber of the State Agricultural Society. He is a man of domestic habits, married in 1857, to Johanna Johnson, a native of Sweden, who came to California in 1854, with her brother. They have five sons and one daughter, and they are all living at their pleasant residence, situated on M street.

ON. EUGENE J. GREGORY is not only the Mayor of the city of Sacramento, but also occupies a leading and representative position as a young business man; is in fact one of the best examples that can be cited of what the younger generation of business men onght to be. The firm of Gregory Bros. Company, of which he is the head, has a reputation and a trade coincident only with the borders of the United States, and has aided no little in placing our California products before the world. The house was established in the year 1852 by Mr. Julins Gregory, a native of France, but a resi- dent of California since the days of '49. The

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members of the present firm are Messrs. Eugene J. and Frank Gregory, sons of Julius Gregory, who died in May, 1871, after a life of activity in more than one direction that proved beneficial not alone to this city and its growing trade interests, but as well to the community in general. Eu- gene J. Gregory was born in San Francisco on the 15th day of August, 1854, and is therefore a " native son," both by birth and connection with the order of Native Sons of the Golden West. He has grown up in this State, obtaining a thorough preparatory business and academical education in the schools of California. Ten years ago he assumed the management of the business of the firm of which he is the head, and has since that time been actively identified with the introduction of California products to other portions of the country. It is rather, however, in his public capacity as Mayor of this city, that we wish to speak of Mr. Gregory. Ile became a candidate for that office at the earnest and repeated solicitation of his friends, although contrary to his own private wishes in the matter, on the occasion of the municipal election in 1887. The party lines are usually drawn pretty close in Sacramento, and the party forces are also pretty evenly divided, majorities usually being very small. Mr. Gregory, although a Republican of decided yet liberal principles, was neverthelass elected to the position of Mayor by a majority of no less than 1,919 votes, the largest plurality ever secured in the city. His great popularity and the entire confidence re- posed in him by the citizens of every class is the secret of this gratifying vote. His course as Mayor has justified the confidence of the peo- ple in the choice they made, as since his elec- tion to that post, the purity of subsequent elections, the rectifying of abuses in various de- partments, and the careful oversight of appoint- ments to minor offices, have been in every instance secured. This is no wonder, for, as he himself stated to the writer, he believes in running the city upon the same principles he adopts in car- rying on his private business. His prompt and decisive action has in more than one direction 28

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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