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 72

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 72

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January 22, 1849, rounded Cape Horn, were driven off in a gale, going below 62° south. They stopped at Port Concepcion, Chili, where they lay ten days. That was the only port they made on the voyage. July 22 they arrived at San Francisco, where they stopped long enough to get together a batean, on which they loaded their material that they had brought with them. They came to Sacramento, and then proceeded to Park's Bar on the Yuba River, on their boat. They mined there for some time and then. Cap- tain Foster, in company with Gullifer and Jolin Lawrence, of New York, and Robinson, set out to find winter diggings, having heard good re- ports from Trinity River district. They started with their boat, went down the Yuba and Feather rivers and up the Sacramento to a point nearly opposite Chico, and there ran out of provisions. When they landed at Potter's ranch at Chico, they had seen only one white inan, and he had then lost his way. Indians were plentiful enough, and they followed them. at one time there being about 400 in the party. There was an island just below which is now Butte City. The Indians had a fish dam, sub- stantial enough to serve as a foot bridge; and our party could not get over this with their boat. The Indians lifted it over. They saw the lost man, who called to them, and they gave him something to eat, having killed a deer a few days previously. He told them where they could get some flour-at Potter's ranch. Robinson and Captain Foster went to Redding Springs, where Shasta is now, when there was no one there except some parties from Oregon who had some Oregon flour, as black as a hat. They paid 82 a pound for the flour. On prospecting around there they found among the dirt which some laborers were shoveling a quantity of shining material; and even the poorest of that yielded 50 cents to $1 per pan. It was a rich " find," and the field was what was termed " dry diggings." Captain Foster saw a man with a pint cup half full of gold dust which he had picked up that day! He and his partner were looking around for better diggings, intending

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to go to Trinity River, but finally concluded to return to the Yuba River. The second day after they arrived there Mr. Kendall died and Captain Foster was taken sick; and Captain Page was so ill, indeed, that fears were enter- tained of his death. They placed him upon a bed with an awning rigged over hin. Captain Foster, though ill, erawled upon his hands and knees, made some milk grnel and gave it to Page, which revived him and saved his life. The Montague party buried twelve out of the thirty-six of its members. On the 10th of Oc- tober they were camped opposite Sacramento; and thence they went to San Francisco. In the party were Captain Page, Foster and Gullifer. At San Francisco they found an old captain, with the brig North Bend, who insisted upon their going to Oregon; which they did, and spent the winter there. In the spring of 1850 Captain Foster made a trip with Banks and others on a batean np Honent Creek. Securing teams, they proceeded on up to Stringtown and mined there awhile. They undertook to turn the river, co-operating with others; but even after that should be done it was ascertained that they could not work the grounds. After re- maining there some four or five months, they went down the river early in the fall to what is now Jackson, and a week later Captain Foster, being still an invalid, came to Sacramento. Johnson, the second mate, was at this time the captain of the old schooner, E. A. Slicer. Fos- ter saw him leaving the levee at Sacramento, and in a brief conversation he asked him what he was doing; and he said, "Jump on." Page came through from Oregon with the Governor Joe 'Lane party and found Mr. Foster ou the schooner; they went up to Shasta together and followed mining there eight or nine months, and then, with a view of finding a more profit- able business in steamboating, they posted them- selves on the amount of freight going north. In September, 1851, they started at a point not 200 yards from the present Middle Creek Station on the California & Oregon Railroad, and canoed down the Sacramento, sounding all the way.

Foster selected Red Bluff as the head of navi- gation, which was soon proved to be correct. He bought an interest in the steamer Orient, which was running to Colusa at the time, hav- ing made a few trips. They bought this vessel with the understanding that when the water arose it was to go to Red Bluff; and it was the first to go there, in November, 1851, Mr. Fos- ter being the second pilot. On coming down the river, the water fell quickly and they were caught on a bar at the Lassen place, now Gov- ernor Stanford's Vina ranch. Digging a canal through the bar to deep water they got away. January 3, 1852, they left Sacramento with a half load of freight for Red Bluff. On that trip Mr. Foster was the first pilot. The journey there and back this time was made in five days, and they never scratched bottom. After this the captain made regular trips to that point during high water, and as far as Colusa during low water. The rate of freight at that time be- tween Sacramento and Red Bluff was $100 a ton; and they had more than they could carry even at that high rate, one or two trips ahead being always pre-engaged, until the Marysville boats commeneed running and brought the freight down to $70 a ton; but the Orient re. tained a plenty of trade, on account of its repu- tation. (In low water they used to run as far as Colusa, and in high water they went all the way through.) When the Steam Navigation Company was formed, March 1, 1854, the Ori- ent was turned in with the rest of the vessels. This arrangement continued three or four years, and finally they got to running steamers with barges all the way up to Red Bluff. Captain Foster sold out his interest in the Orient in 1853, and purchased an interest in the Cleo- patra, with which he made his first trip Decem- ber 12, that year. He went into the Navigation Company on its formation, and continued in the same trade. lIe made the pioncer trip up the American River, during the flood, to Patterson's ranch, about eighteen miles up. He had to go ont to where they could connect with teams. He went on routes where they could get no one

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else to go; ran on the Napa route a short time. In 1865 he went on the steamer Chrysopolis from Sacramento to San Francisco, and was with that vessel until 1872, when he was taken off to straighten things out on the San Joaquin River. When they built the wharf at Knight's Landing they sent him there to inaugurate the business: then, in May, 1873. they gave him charge of all the light-water boats, with Sacra- mento for headquarters, until 1882, and then was made superintendent of river steamers, and since then has held that position. Captain Foster was married in Oakland, December 12, 1853. to Miss Charlotte Brown, a native of Maine, born at Clinton. She came to California in 1852, with her mother. Of the four children in the family of Captain Foster, only one is now living, namely, Frank L., who was born June 27, 1864, and is now a pilot on the river. Those who died were: Ericsson, born June 3, 1855, and died July 16, 1863; Annie N., born December 27, 1857, died July 21, 1863; Albert C., born De- cember 26, 1861, died August 20, 1864. The father of Captain Foster, Samuel C., was born Angust 6, 1798, and died in 1885. His mother, whose maiden name was Mary Smith, was born March 28, 1801, and died in April, 1887. Cap- tain Foster, being one of the most prominent citi- zens of Sacramento, deserves more than ordinary mention in the history of this community; and we have given considerable space to his early life on the Sacramento River because it consti- tutes the most important part of the history of navigation in this part of the State.

ANIEL H. BUELL, fruit-raiser, was born May 7, 1832, in Groton, Grafton County, New Hampshire. His father, also named Daniel, was a native of the same State, but his forefathers were Welsh. In 1844 he located in Kirtland, Lake County, Ohio, for five years, and then was seven years in Avon, Lake County, Illinois, and until 1864 at New Hampton, Chickasaw County, Iowa, then until 1871 in

Nemaha County, Nebraska, and finally he came to California. Since his residence in Illinois hie lived with his son, the subject of this sketch, until his death, Jannary 7, 1887, at the age of eighty-four years. He was a member of the Grange, and in politics a Democrat. In his family were one son and two daughters; both the girls died when young. Daniel H.'s mother, whose maiden name was Abigail Anable, was a native of New Hampshire, and died in Illinois in 1853, at the age of fifty years. Mr. Buell, our subject, was married in 1854 to Miss Susan D. Arnold, of Illinois, born June 10, 1832, of Vermont parents. Mr. and Mrs. Buell have had six children, in the following order: Edwin A., born July 17, 1855, and died January 7, 1881; Charles L., born March 15, 1859; Frank H., October 9, 1860, died December 31, 1880; Celia V., born April 5, 1864, and now the wife of George W. Carlisle; Julius H., September 11, 1867; Daniel S., October 26, 1873. The living are all residents of California. Mr. Buell came to California in 1871, settling immediately upou his present property of 160 acres, which he purchased of Calvin Siddall, twelve miles from Sacramento, four miles from Elk Grove and three and a half from Florin; here he devotes his attention principally to the production of fruits. He has fifteen acres in a vineyard of table grapes. For a time he raised many straw- berries. Sixty acres of his place has been di- vided up among his three children. All he possesses he has made by hard labor and econo- my, and he has had many drawbacks. He is a member of the Grange at Florin. In politics he is a Republican.

L. DAVIS, farmer, was born March 28, 1827, in Dayton, Ohio. His parents were Jacob and Mary (Humphreyville) Davis, the former a native of Virginia, who emigrated to Ohio in carly day with his father, and followed the blacksmith business most of the time. IIe removed to Iowa while it was

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yet a Territory, and was engaged in agriculture near Tipton, Cedar County, until his death, at the age of seventy-one years; his wife died in the same county at the age of sixty-five years. They had six daughters and four sons. The names of the latter were: Charles D., D. L., Jason H. and Jacob. Charles was in both the Mexican war and the war of the Rebellion, and died at Baker City, Oregon, in 1875. Jason H. is also deceased; and Jacob is in Nebraska. Mr. Davis, our subject, left Iowa in 1851 for California, sailing from New Orleans to the Isthmus and landing at San Francisco March 8, 1852. On the same evening he took a boat to Sacramento, landing here at the time of the flood and was taken by boat to the old fort. He im- incdiately started for the mines near Hangtown, where he followed mining until the fall of 1853, with moderate snecess. Returning to the Sac- ramento Valley, he located on what is now known as the Jane Mahan ranch, plowed the land with ox teams and raised a crop of grain. He continued there seven years, being very suc- cessful in agricultural pursuits. In 1860 he returned to Iowa by water, by way of the Isth- mus and New York city, and the next year came again to California, this time overland, arriving here in July, the trip hither occupying about four months. The greater portion of this journey was made by himself and family, con- sisting of wife and four children. He located npon his present ranch in 1861, the only inan on that plain at the time; to-day he has one of the finest ranches in this locality, well furnished with a good residence, beautiful yard and taste- ful arrangements throughout. Although he came to this State without means, he now has a splendid ranch of 1,120 acres, all in a state of good cultivation. His politics may be known by the fact that he cast his first vote for Taylor and last vote for Harrison. In 1849 Mr. Davis married Miss Elizabeth Murray, and they have six sons and three daughters living; three chil- dren are deceased. The living are: John J., in Oregon; Mary, wife of D. Watkins, of Nevada; Henrietta, wife of C. Cantrell; Lizzie, wife of

Ed. Riley; D. L., Jr .; Alexander, at home; Jason II., Thomas N. and Charles D.

RANCIS EDWARD CONNOR, a rancher of Cosumnes Township, was born in Lis- more, County Waterford, Ireland, January 1, 1815, his parents being John and Kate (Geary) Connor, both now deceased, the father at the age of seventy-three and the mother at sixty- five. Grandfather David Connor was quite old at his death. The grandparents Geary were `also well advanced in years when they died. One of Mr. Connor's fondest recollections of his boyhood is having seen printed and mannscript books in the Irish langnage, the property of his unele Edward Geary, who was not only an adept in the lore of his people, but was also a good English and classical scholar and made a busi- ness of preparing young men for the univer- sities. Mr. Connor received an elementary education and was brought up on a farm. His people on both sides were of the class of small farmers. He came to America in 1847, and was for some years variously employed in the East, one of his most pleasant occupations being that of companion and nurse for sixteen months to a Mr. Halsey, of Providence, a wealthy gentle- man who traveled minch in the eastern section of the country. About 1850 he went Sontlı, and January 22. 1854, he left New Orleans for California, by the Panama route, arriving in San Francisco on Washington's birthday. Had his share of the gains and losses of a miner's life for seven years, and in 1861 bought the 420 acres which he still owns and occupies abont two miles from Michigan Bar. F. E. Connor was married iu New Orleans in Angust, 1853, to Miss Mar- garet Hassett, also a native of Ireland, born near Tralee, County Kerry, March 22, 1827, her par- ents being James and Catherine (Ready) Hassett. She came to America at the age of twenty, and to California about six months after her marriage. Mr. and Mrs. Connor are the parents of the fol- lowing named children: James Blennerhassett,

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born June 9, 1854, was married May 17, 1887, to Miss Margaret Roach, a native of this county, daughter of Michael and Mary (Dalton) Roach; Kate, born May 6, 1856, now Mrs. John Weizel, of Sacramento, has one child, John Edward, born November 22, 1886; Arthur, born January 17, 1859; Richard Albert, December 6, 1863; Margaret Ellen, Jannary 19, 1867.

- ILLIAM FLOYD NEELY was born November 18, 1821, in Manry County, Tennessee, son of John and Margaret (Stewart) Neely, the former a native of Virginia, and the latter of Tennessee. When eighteen years old he went into the hotel at Pontotoc, Mississippi, owned by W. L. Dogan, where he remained five years, having sole charge and man- agement of same. During the latter part of his stay the proprietors of the hotel, who were owners of keel-boats, proposed that he should take charge of one of the boats, which lay at the head waters of the Yazoo River. He fol- lowed this business for several years in different boats, connected in all cases with cotton ship- ments. One of his vessels was destroyed by fire and the men had to swim or float ashore. He met all such trying incidents with courage and a cool head. In 1852 he and eight other young men, all chums, started for California via Memphis and Greytown, where the party hired five of the natives to take them across Nicaragua Lake in a sailing smack, at a cost of $10 apiece. They arrived in San Francisco after a journey of seventy-six days. Going to Sacramento, Mr. Neely obtained work in a hotel as waiter at $60 a month, which was soon raised to $75; at the end of two weeks he was offered $100 a month if he would only stay, but he re- fused. The autumn of 1852 found him at the mines, where he remained six months. He next went to teaming, receiving $100 a month. At the end of two months he opened a store in a mining district, where he remained a year. Nexthe purchased teams and commenecd freight-

ing, following the same for nearly fourteen years at Virginia City and other places. This was the beginning of his success. In August, 1867, he purchased his present ranch. He was married, August 27, 1867, to Miss Martha Whit- ten, a native of Washington, Maine, and on the 27th they took their supper in the log cabin erected on the ranch, and from that time till the present have been constant residents of Sacra- mento County. They have built and improved their home till it is now one of the nicest in the county; and in this home you will meet with that hospitality rarely met with except with the old Californians. Their farm is principally planted in orchards and vineyards. Oranges were eaten by the writer of this biographical sketch at lunch, which were the fruit of trees planted by William Neely when they first set- tled on the ranch. Mr. Neely was a Democrat, politically, until Fort Sumter was fired on, when he changed and has been a Republican from that time to the present.

LFRED COFFMAN, farmer of Sacra- mento County, was born in Hamilton County, Illinois, June 12, 1823, son of Jacob and Ayre (Fowler) Coffman. The father, Jacob, a native of Germany, came to this country when four years old and settled in Kentucky, where they subsisted by digging the ginseng and selling it, and hunting deer and dressing their skins. He was well acquainted with Daniel Boone. Ile moved to Illinois, and was there during the Black Hawk war, in which he took part. He was the first man to settle in Burlington, Iowa, which place he found while swimming the Mississippi River after Indians for whom he had a deadly hatred. When sixty-two years of age he moved to Missouri, to a town called Jamestown, five miles from St. Joseph. He became so fond of frontier life that he followed it until his death, which occurred in Illinois, at the age of seventy- two years. Ile shot his last deer in Illinois,

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HISTORY OF SACRAMENTO COUNTY.

while on horseback, shortly before his death. His son Alfred has the old rifle with which he killed the deer. Alfred, the subject of this sketch, followed farmning and cattle-raising in Illinois, for fifteen years. In 1875 he came to Sacramento County, and he and his brother-in-law rented the Curtis ranch, which he worked four years. In 1879 he bought a farm of 320 acres, thirteen miles from Sacramento on the upper Stockton road one mile from Elk Grove. He was married in 1844, to Miss Sarah Pemberton, a native of Kentucky, who died in 1865, leav- ing sixteen children, three sets of twins, five living to become twenty-one years of age. He was married again in 1866, to Miss Elsie Howard, a native of Iowa, by whom he had three children, two of whom lived to become of age. Seven of the children of Jacob Coff- man are living, the youngest being sixty-six years of age. The subject of this sketeh carries on a general farming business. He was at one time one of the greatest grain-raisers in this county, having had as high as 7,000 sacks of wheat from one year's crop. In the State fair of 1887-'88 he took a premium on wheat. He raises his own vegetables, fruit and grapes. He has an orange tree from which he sold $10 worth of fruit in 1888. Ile is a member of Elk Grove I. O. O. F., No. 274.

ISRAEL LUCE was born in the village of Newfield, near Ithaca, Tompkins County. New York, the son of James and Mary (Barber) Luce, both natives of New Jersey. Grandmother Barber was a sister to John Ab- bott, a scion of the Tompkins County family of that name. The Luce family is a numerous one throughout New England, and the family traditions show them to have been of English ancestry. Three brothers emigrated to America in the colonial days; one settled in New Jersey, one in Massachusetts, and one in Kentucky. When Israel was nine years old his family moved to Elmira, where he grew to manhood.

At the age of twenty he went to West Troy, New York, to learn the marble-cutters' trade; monumental work he learned at Pittsfield, Massa- chusetts, and was employed at Woonsocket, Rhode Island, where he carried on the marble business for three years. Returning to Pitts- field, he went into partnership with Charles Rule. From Pittsfield he went to Worcester, Massachusetts, where he caught the gold fever and started for California, sailing on the John Castner for the mouth of the Rio Grande. He left New York January 29, and arrived at San Francisco on the 25th of May, 1849. He came directly to Sacramento, on his way to the Colo- ma mining districts. In September he returned to Sacramento, clerked in a store till March, 1850, when he went up the American River nine miles and built the Nine-Mile Ilouse, of which he was part proprietor for a time; but as selling rum was not agreeable to his conscience, he sold out and came again to Sacramento; mined at Cape Horn, beyond Colfax, in 1851. In December, 1850, he bought a lot of marble on the wharf at San Francisco, brought it to Sacramento, and established the first marble yards, February, 1851, on the east side of Seventh, between J and K streets. In 1853 he formed a co-partnership with Mr. A. Aitken, and they established themselves on K street, near the Golden Eagle Hotel. For twenty- five years this firm carried on the business, dis- solving in 1878. During the following year Mr. Luce again started business near the old stand, where his sou is at present located. For eighteen of the twenty-five years, Luee & Aitken worked the quarry at Indians' Diggings, El- Dorado County. In 1872 Mr. Luce prospected on the McLeod River, and spent six months at Tehachapi in 1877. In September, 1885, he located the Inyo marble quarries, of which so much has been said of late, and of which he is the superintendent. This stone is of pure white dolomite, susceptible of a high degree of polish, very beautiful, and more durable than granite. Mr. Luce is one of the oldest Odd Fellows in the State, having been initiated into

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the order at Berkshire Lodge, No. 57, Massa- chusetts, in May, 1848, and joined Eureka, No. 4, by card. In the early days he was especially devoted to politics, was a Democrat np to the time of the late war, and since then a Republi- can. Business cares and advancing years have made it impossible for him to take an active part in matters political, but he takes an inter- est in all public matters, especially those per- taining to the welfare of Sacramento. Mr. Luce has been twice married. His first wife, to whom he was married in 1848, was Mary Adeline Nichols, of Worcester, Massachusetts. She died in 1861, leaving two sons and one daughter, as follows: Mary R. Marsh, John C. and G. W., the former in business here in the Capital City, and the latter in San Francisco. In 1863 he was united in marriage to Mrs Eliza Elliott, by whom he has had two children, viz .: Fannie, now Mrs. W. W. Clary, and Charles S., who is employed in the money order department of the Sacramento postoffice. The Luce homestead on M street is one of the old- time land-marks, the abiding place of generons, old-time hospitality.

AMES HARKINS was born May 12, 1827, in North Ireland, son of Cornelius and Catherine (Shields) Ilarkins; the father died in Ireland in 1836, and the mother caine to America in 1840, bringing with her her son James. They landed in New Orleans May 2, 1840. From there they procceded to St. Louis where the mother was married again, to Walter Cummings. James served four years at the blacksmith trade with Mr. Driscoll, and after- ward worked at his trade until 1852. April 17 that year he started for California, crossing the plains with cattle and mules via North Platte and Fort Laramie. After a trip of four months they arrived in Hangtown, August 27, 1852, and went to work at once in the black- smithing shop of Joseph Hinds. From there he came to Sacramento city in 1854: started in

blacksmithing for himself. In 1877 he came to his rauch, which he had located in 1958, situated about eight miles from Sacramento. He does a good farming business, has been very successful as a farmer and stock-raiser. Ilis new and elegant residence was erected in 1884; all the surroundings denote neatness and order. He was married February 2, 1851, to Cecilia Quinn, a native of Ireland. They have had seven children, viz .: Cornelius J., born March 29, 1852; Mary A., October 15, 1856, and died in December, 1860; John F., born August 28, 1858, drowned during the flood at Sacramento; High W., born July 4, 1860, died December 16, 1861; Eliza, born JJuly 18, 1865, died in April, 1871; Catherine T., November 14, 1861, and Matilda V., July 28, 1870.

OHN MAHON, an honest and enterprising citizen of this county, and one of its ex- tensive hop-growers, was born March 1, 1849, in Ontario, Wentworth County, Canada, his parents being William and Catharine (Ash- berry) Mahon,-the former born in County Tyrone, Ireland, and the latter in County Tip- perary. Both were small when they emigrated to Canada, where they were afterward married. William Mahon was a blacksmith by trade un- til so advanced in years that age required a cessation from toil. He and his faithful wife are now. living in Wentworth County. They have two children: James, resident in Canada, and John. John Mahon, our subject, was raised in a small village, and was brought up to work. The advantages of an education in early life were somewhat slighted by himself, and since then have been mostly self-acquired. He remained with his parents until thirteen years of age, since which time he has made his own way in the world. He worked six years for a man named George Abrey, who had a farm and saw-mill together. In 1870 he came to Cali- fornia, and commence l life in the golden West; hte landed in Sacramento with $30 in his pocket,

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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