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 73

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 73

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HISTORY OF SACRAMENTO COUNTY.

hired out to a man named Haynie, just east of the city, and remained five years until he failed in business. He owed Mahon $935, of which he paid him thirty cents on the dollar. This was a rough experience for a young man, but, undaunted, he determined to go into business for himself. He leased fifteen acres on the Haggin grant, on the American River, and put it in hops; to this small beginning he added by degrees. In 1882 he came down to the Cos- umnes River and leased about fifty acres of C. H. Cantrell, and put thirty acres of it in hops. He was so successful that in 1884 he bonght the place, which contains 500 acres. This is part upland and part bottom-land, very rich and productive, and will raise anything. He has now fifty acres in hops, and is one of the largest hop-growers in this county. Besides this, he is doing a general farming and stock-raising business, and paying considerable attention to the raising of fruit, for which he has the soil, climate, and all that is necessary, withont irri- gation. He has about thirty acres in orchard, principally almonds, just coming into bearing; it is the largest orchard in this part of the coun- try, and as fine as one wishes to see. He is a member of the order of Odd Fellows, which he joined in 1874; he also belongs to Elk Grove Lodge, No. 274. He was married in 1871 to Olive Chalmers, a native of Canada, daughter of Peter and Harriet Chalmers. She came to this State in 1871. They have four children, viz .: Katie, born March 18, 1880; John Will- jam, June 29, 1882; Olive, November 18, 1884; and Nellie, November 19, 1886.

ERMAN LEIMBACH, farmer, San Joa- quin Township, was born in Hesse-Cassel, Germany, December 25, 1816, a son of Justus and Mary E. Leimbach. There were six children in the family, and neither parents nor children came to America excepting the subject of this sketch and one brother who lived in Baltimore; and in the old country only

one is now living. Herman was raised on his father's farm, and at the age of twenty-seven or twenty-eight years, in March, 1845, he sailed from Bremen on the brig Eberhardt, and in forty-nine days landed at Baltimore. First he was employed by Rothermacher at Baltimore at wagon-making, for $4 a month, and at the end of the first month he went to Lancaster to work in a brick-yard, but remained there only two weeks. Then he was employed in a brewery at $6 a month. Next he obtained a situation in a hotel, which was an easier position than any he had ever had in his life. At the end of four years the gold excitement of this State brought him hither. He came by way of Cape Horn, with Frank Russell, of Sacramento, on the brig Osceola, from Philadelphia. There were sixty- five passengers on board. They stopped at Rio Janeiro and at Tocohona, Chili. The weather was very rough, and they were twenty-seven days rounding Cape Horn, having nothing to eat but hard tack soaked in water. They landed in San Francisco August 7, after a voyage of 207 days. Mr. Leimbach came to Sacramento by boat, paying $13 or $15 fare, taking over a week to make the trip. Going above Marys- ville with two others, he followed gold-mining, using a cradle made from the rotten base of a tree. The three made about $5 apiece on their own claim. At the end of about two months Mr. Leimbach returned to Sacramento, bought three yoke of cattle for $300, and in a few hours sold them for $1,500! Then he bought another team for $900 and went to freighting, many times having to unload and carry the freight for a quarter of a mile on his back. After the first trip he was taken sick, brought the team to Sacramento and turned them out. The flood soon came, and he never saw the oxen afterward. The wagon, being in a honse, was saved. The flood coming on in the night, he went to the building and found it full of inules that had come in for shelter. He made a raft out of drift-wood, and went to the hills for safety. He had the agne for some time. On recovering he worked for Charles Henry two weeks, for his

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HISTORY OF SACRAMENTO COUNTY.

board. After the flood subsided he bought a inule for $10, and went upon a piece of land owned by another party, and began making hay, selling it for $75 a load in Sacramento. He also cnt wood and sold it to steamboats for $16 a cord. Ile remained on this place about three months. About six weeks afterward the cholera broke out, the owner of the property became frightened, and offered to sell out his interest for $300. Mr .. Leimbachı bought it, and in a short time sold it for $1,100,-$500 cash, and the balance on a note. Then he settled on the Miller ranch, abont a mile distant. In the spring the old gentleman and one son died of small-pox, and Mr. Leimbach lost his $600 note. Next he went upon a stock ranch with thirty-four head of hogs, which he had pur- chased for $900. He sold seven head of fat specimens on foot, weighing about 300 pounds each, for 25 cents a pound. In 1855 he pur- chased his present farmi of 320 acres at $12 an acre, paying 8500 cash and promising the bal- ance at 2 per cent. interest. IIe mnade hay and sold it in Sacramento at $27.50 per ton in the hay yards. Before his note was due the holder offered to throw off the interest if Mr. Leim- bach would pay the principal, which offer he accepted, putting in a watch and an old cow to make up the balance. From these transactions dates the beginning of Mr. Leimbach's pros- perity in Sacramento. Of land he has had as much as 1,440 acres at one time. At present he has 1,280 acres. Besides farming he has kept a dairy, in 1856-'57 leasing thirty-three cows of Mr. Robinson, for $400 a year. In that enterprise he made $1,100 the first year. On the expiration of the lease he had sixteen young cows, which enabled him to keep on in the business until the latter part of 1867. Then he made money in the sheep business for ten years, and since that time he has been a snc- cessful farmer. He has five shares in the Grangers' Bank in San Francisco. In his social relations he is a member of the Pioneer Society. Ile fully knows by experience what are many of the bitter trials and privations of pioneering in

California. He has a fine house on the upper Stockton road, upon a well-improved farın. Mr. Leimbach was married April 19, 1854, to Miss Catharine M. Bullivant, a native of London, England, and they have eight children: Albert E., Amy, Elizabeth, Edith, Maria, Mabel, Justus and John, all living in this county.

P. AND SIDNEY SMITH are the sons of Anthony Smith, a farmer of Canajo- harie, Montgomery County, New York. Their mother was of an old Connecticut family remarkable for its longevity, their maternal grandmother attaining the age of ninety-seven years, and her sister, Mrs. King, of Hartford, Connecticut, lived to be 103 years old. When Sidney, the elder brother, was a child, the family removed from Canajoharie to Rome, New York, and here on the 6th of January, 1812, A. P. Smith was born. In 1816 the family removed across the State line into Vermont, settling at Whiting, opposite Fort Ticonderoga. At that time A. P. Smith was abont four years old, but Sidney, the elder, a lad of thirteen or fourteen, was already engaged in a country store, and when eighteen he went to Troy, New York, and entered the store of Daniel Marvin, and he, being somewhat of an invalid, very soon became the buyer for the firm, making trips to New York city for that purpose; he remained in this responsible position until 1827, when he went to New York and engaged in the business firm of Ilerry Sheldon & Co. In 1830, in connection with Daniel Peck, who was a fellow-clerk, estab- lished the dry-goods house of Smith, Peck & Co., of Troy, which later on became Smith, Redfield & Co. In 1835, A. P. Smith entered the store as a clerk, but his early training and natural bent of mind toward horticultural and agricultural pursuits, induced him in a few years to withdraw, and he engaged in the ex- periment of silk-worm culture, he being among the first to open a "cocoonery," and to engage in raising the Morns Multicaulis, in 1844.

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HISTORY OF SACRAMENTO COUNTY.

During the wonderful excitement consequent upon the discovery of gold in California, Mr. A. P. Smith became one of a party of thirty who purchased the barge William Ivy and came to California via Cape Horn; as stated, the original ownership of the vessel and cargo was vested in about thirty persons, but through gambling, buying, selling and trading, during the long voyage, by the time they arrived in San Francisco in July there were a half dozen who owned both. Arriving at Sacramento, Mr. Smith at once bought of Captain Sutter fifty acres of land on the American River, paying for it $100 per acre, and the firmn of Smith, Baker & Barber, nurserymen and gardeners, was established. A full description of the land titles in 1849 having already appeared in this volume, it is unnecessary to repeat them here, or go into detail in regard to the floods which again and again destroyed the labor of many months. But, to go back to the other brother whom we left in the dry-goods store at Troy, where he remained until 1844, in 1850 he went to the old farm in Vermont, and remained there until 1853, when, his brother having returned from California on a visit, he was induced to join him and come to Sacramento in the fall of the year. They opened a store on J street where Dr. Simmons' office now is, Sidney at- tending to that part of the business, while A. P. gave his attention to the gardens, which grew and, "like a thing of beauty," bid fair to become a "joy forever." No expense was spared in its adornment; peaches, pears and grapes from the East vied with the fruits and flowers of the tropics, and grew side by side. The property advanced in value rapidly and in 1855 one of the partners of the house of Booth & Co. offered $75,000 for it, but was refused, and it was estimated to be worth fully $100,000. But alas, for linman expectations! how true it is that "best laid plans of mice and man gang aft agley!" The floods of 1861, followed by the still greater floods of 1862, caused the levee, which had been built along the bank of the American River, to burst above the gardens and

then the labor of years, the beautiful Smith's Gardens, the popular pleasure resort of Sacra- mento, were swept away. In the meantime Sidney had returned home in 1856, on a visit, and in 1858 his wife, Almira Smith (nee Town- send) daughter of Henry Townsend, a merchant and mill man of Troy, New York, whom he had married in 1838, joined him and here they made their home, and here their only daughter, wife of Major Hubbard, died. Sidney Smith still survives; the younger brother, A. P. Smith, died in 18 -. At this writing the health of Sidney Smith, considering his eighty-six years, is quite remarkable.

ARON FOSTER CORE was born in Ross County, Ohio, in 1830, his parents being Isaac and Sarah (Heims) Core. The father was a native of Ohio and of " Maryland-Dutch" parentage. His grandfather Heims lived to a good old age. The father of A. F. Core owned a farm and the son was reared on it, receiving the usual common-school education of the period. In 1850 the father made a trip to Iowa and bought a fractional quarter-section of about 150 acres in Marion County. In 1852 the son bought a similar quarter section adjoining the previous purchase and put in a crop. The mother had died a few years before, leaving five sons and four daughters. In 1854 the family moved to Iowa and the holding was increased by later purchases to 850 acres. The father died there in 1875, aged seventy-three. In 1859 A. F. Core came to California, and went to mining in Shasta County, but with poor success. In 1861 he came into what is now Franklin Township, and took up a quarter-section and worked with a partner, who also had taken up a quarter-sec- tion, raising grain on both for two years. In 1863 they divided interests. Afterward Mr. Core sold out his right in that land, and in 1875, bought 160 acres, and four years later another 160, " adjoining by corners," both of which he still owns, tills and occupies. He raises wheat

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HISTORY OF SACRAMENTO COUNTY.

chiefly, but has also a small vineyard and a still smaller orchard, besides growing a little hay and barley. It is excellent land for wheat and vines. In 1863 Mr. Core was married to Miss Elizabeth L. Carroll, a native of Iowa, daughter of Mordecai and Lydia (Taflinger) Carroll. Mr. Carroll lived to a good age, and Mrs. Carroll is now abont seventy-eight. Mr. and Mrs. Core are the parents of five children: Isaac N., born in 1865; Edward Riley, in 1867; Lydia Ann, in 1869; Ella, in 1871; and Nathaniel, in 1876.

ACRAMENTO HOME SCHOOL, 1321 H street, is a home for young children, not only in name but also in fact. Such is evident from the records, as well as the kindly face of the teacher, Mrs. Frances M. Ross, who has had charge of the school ever since she es- tablished it in 1870. Mrs. Ross, a native of Rochester, Massachusetts, is a daughter of Clif- ton Wing, a sea captain and in later life a mer- chant. Her mother, Anne Maria Freeman, was a native of Sandwich, Cape Cod, where, in sight of old ocean, the family spent their summer holidays. She is the eldest of five children. Those who have been so fortunate as to visit Cape Cod remember what are known as the Wing schools there, three of them being under the auspices of the Society of Friends, or Quakers. At one of these Miss Wing was edu- cated; and not only that, but her proficiency led to her engagement as a teacher for a time after her graduation. After that she removed to Bos- ton with her parents. In 1852 she emigrated to California with her husband, David S. Ross, who had come as a pioneer of 1849. She came around Cape Horn, in the bark Saxonville, Cap- tain Hutchins, with her husband and son and sister and daughter, was 158 days on the voy- age, and landed at San Francisco May 7, 1853. After arriving in Sacramento, she saw the neces- sity for better school facilities for her youngest son than were obtainable here, and in May, 1870, she began teaching him. The fact becoming

known, Mrs. Charles Crocker, Mrs. E. B. Crocker, Judge Sanderson, Rev. W. H. Brown and James Anthony, of the old Union, sent their children also, and before the expiration of the first year she had a school of respectable proportions. Every patron feels assured that his child receives as much attention there as if there were but one pupil in attendance. Mrs. Ross is a lady of pleasing address, refine- ment and culture, enjoying to the fullest extent the confidence and esteem of her patrons and of those who are so fortunate as to be admitted to the circle of her acquaintance.

R. W. R. CLUNESS .-- There is no mem- ber of the medical profession in Sacra- mento, or, indeed, in Central California, who stands higher in the esteem and confidence alike of his brother practitioners and of the public in general than does Dr. Cluness. Dur- ing his long residence here of now over twenty- six years he has at all times enjoyed a practice of as large dimensions as he has cared to manage, and has been and is frequently called in consulta- tion by the physicians not alone of Sacramento, but also of San Francisco and other sections of the Pacific coast. Dr. Cluness was born Decen- ber 29, 1835, in the city of London, Canada, his father's name being David Clnness. The father is now deceased, but his mother is still alive at a good old age and dwells with a younger son in Ontario. Three brothers and four sisters, the remainder of the family, all reside in Canada. In the schools of London Dr. Cluness received his preliminary education and prepared himself for entry at Queen's College in the old " limestone city." of Kingston at the foot of Lake Ontario, one of the best known and most prosperous universities in Canada. Here Dr. CInness grad- uated as B. A. in 1855, and immediately be- gan a course in medicine, receiving the degree of M. D., and at the same time that of M. A., also, in 1859, and finally, in 1871, was elected a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians and

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HISTORY OF SACRAMENTO COUNTY.

Surgeons, Kingston. Removing to California in 1859 he settled in July of that year at Petaluma. Although enjoying a good practice in that town he soon perceived that a city of greater promise was better suited to one of ambition, and accord- ingly came to Sacramento July 1, 1863, since which time he has been identified with this city. Shortly after coming here he was appointed a member of the Sacramento Board of Health, a position he held for twenty-four years, or until 1887, when he voluntarily resigned on account of private reasons. He is now and has been since 1873 a member of the State Board of Health. Dr. Cluness was one of the organizers of the Pacific Mutual Life Insurance Company in 1868, and was appointed Medical . Director, holding the position still, appointing all medical ex- aminers and deciding upon all applications for insurance. This company has proved the strongest and most successful of all formed on this coast, and is now doing business in twenty- three States and Territories. Of the most note- worthy undertakings, with which he has been connected, outside of the strict lines of the pro- fession, is the celebrated "Oak Shade Orchard," in Yolo County. With Mr. C. W. Reed, he purchased the 350 acres of which it is composed, in 1868, and planted it in mulberry trees, sev- eral thousand of which were set out. They built two large cocooneries, each 150 feet in length, and made preparations on a very exten- sive scale for silk-raising, having by far the largest establishment in the State. For several years it was carried on, several million cocoons were produced, eggs hatched, etc., but it was at last discovered to be a premature enterprise and was consequently abandoned. This experi- ment was watched with very great interest gen- erally throughout the State and great regret was felt at its want of success. The land was afterward planted to fruit trees of the following varieties: pears, almonds, plums, peaches, apri- cots, nectarines and figs, as also a fifty-acre vine- yard, chiefly of Muscat grapes. Some of the pear trees are now twenty years old. This ranch is situated near Davisville and about

twelve miles from Sacramento. Messrs. W. E. Brown, L. A. Garnett, and John Rosenfeldt, all of San Francisco, were associated with Dr. Cluness and Mr. Reed in the silk company, which still owns the ranch, but Mr. Reed has since dropped out. Dr. Cluness was married in September, 1863, at Petaluma, to Miss Mary Laird. They have three children, two of whom are daughters at home with their parents. The son, Dr. W. R. CInness, jr., is a graduate of the medical department of the State University at San Francisco. He is now attending a course of lectures in the College of Physicians and Surgeons in New York city. After its com- pletion he will proceed to Europe, and at London and elsewhere take a further conrse of advanced studies. Snch is an epitome of the life of Dr. W. R. Cluness, a physician who has known unusual success in his practice, a result due no doubt to careful study of each case and a prompt adoption of the suitable remedies, as well as long experience and a thorough initial grounding. Personally, he is a gentleman of pleasant and genial manners, courteous and affable to all.

APTAIN THOMAS LITTLEFIELD chief engineer on the steamer Dover, was born in Brunswick, Maine, August 10, 1826, his parents being James and Hannah (Higgins) Littlefield, both natives of the State of Maine, the father a fariner. He is the third of a family of seven children, of which family his brother and himself are the only survivors at the time of this writing. Thomas, as a boy, attended the common district schools, but when only fourteen years of age he went to sea, going out on the merchant ship United States, of Bath, Maine, Captain Swarton, for three years, and then for two years on the Trenton. About this time his brother, second mate of the ship New Jersey, died at Havre, France, and Thomas de- cided to abandon the sea forever. He entered the emply of the Waterman machine shop, near Providence, Rhode Island, becoming a thorough

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machinist. He was afterward employed on the steam frigate Saranac, making and putting in her machinery. On the 1st of May, 1849, he left Boston harbor for California, in the bark Susan Jane, Captain Prior, being one of the nine passengers. The ship New Jersey, which sailed half an hour before the Susan Jane, and which was not sighted during the entire voyage, came through the Golden Gate and anchored beside them at San Francisco, within half an honr of their casting anchor. The Susan Jane was laden with a cargo of Inmber, one-half of which was owned by the captain; this sold readily for $350 per 1000, and realized quite a little for- tune. When Mr. Littlefield landed at six o'clock on the 6th of October, his sole acquaint- ance on shore was Jesse Merrill, but he soon secured employment in a blacksmith's shop, and later, in company with his friend Merrill, he came to Sacramento and went to the mines at Salmon Falls, on the American River. Here they realized abont $100 a day; but the exag- gerated reports of other greater finds in other localities induced them to leave and go to El Dorado Canon on the north fork of the Ameri- can River, where they built a flume which proved to be an ntter failure. It is worthy of note here that the parties who took their claim at Salmon Falls realized in a very short time over $45,000. He then gave up mining, went to San Francisco, November 1, 1850, and se- cured a position, first as fireman, then engineer on the steamer H. T. Clay, a side wheeler run- ning to Sacramento from San Francisco. He has been on the river and bay continually as en- gineer since that date. In 1855 he was on the Nevada, running from San Francisco to Peta- luma in opposition to the steamer Secretary, when she exploded hier boiler, killing forty-five people. For several years he was employed by the Steamship Navigation Company. During all the later years he has been employed by the Sacramento Transportation Company, and at this writing is the chief engineer on the Dover, belonging to that company. The Captain has been twice married, first in 1857 to Mrs. Henri-

etta Rodfern. They had three children: Thomas Decatur, George Lyons and Martha W. (de- ceased). On the 2d of September, 1874, he was married to Maria Antonette Newton, dangh- ter of Judge Newton, of Woodbridge, New Jersey. The Captain is a Knight Templar, an Odd Fellow, and also a member of the Legion of Honor and Chosen Friends. In politics he is a Republican.

L. NICHOLS, A. M., M. D .- The oldest practicing physician in Sacramento is Dr. Nichols, the subject of this sketch; born in the city of Augusta, Maine, his parents being Asaph R. and Lucy (Lambard) Nichols. His father, a prominent attorney at law holding many positions of responsibility and trust, having been clerk of the Supreme Court for many years and Secretary of State, also postmaster; he died in 1860, at the age of sixty-five years, while his mother reached the advanced age of eighty-one. Both families were prominent in the annals of New England, going from Massachussetts tu Maine about the year 1800. The Doctor's pre- liminary education was had in his native city, and he graduated from the medical department of the celebrated Bowdoin College, in the class of '45, subsequently taking a post-graduate course at the Jefferson Medical College at Phil- adelphia; he returned to his native city and at once commenced upon the practice of his pro- fession. In the meantime his maternal uncle, Allen Lambard, had emigrated to Sacramento, in 1852, and had, in connection with General Redington, established the Lambard Flouring Mills, located on the corner of Second and I streets, and also the Sacramento Iron Works, where the driving wheels of the first locomotive ever used on a California railway were turned. And it was owing to Uncle Lambard's enthusi- astic description of the opportunities to be had in California, that the Doctor concluded to mi- grate to the Golden State, which he did in 1853, landing in Sacramento in January of that year,

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and, opening an office at Second and I streets, began the practice of his profession, which has been continued without interruption, except by official duties as will appear further on, for over thirty-six years. Earnestly anxious for the ad- vancement of his adopted city, the Doctor early became interested in political matters, and in the campaign of 1858 was chosen president of the board of county supervisors, and under the bill known as the Consolidation Act, was, as president of the board ex-officio mayor of the city. In 1867 he was elected Secretary of State, holding that position for four years, and ex- officio member of the Capitol Commission and the Board of State Prison directors. He was appointed by Governor Haight one of the Trus- tees of the State Library, filling the unexpired terin of Governor Bigler. For six years he has been a member of the State Board of Health, and secretary of that association; he is also the health officer of the Capital City. The Doctor was married in 1847, prior to his coming to California, to Miss Cole, daughter of Samuel Cole, a merchant of Augusta, Maine, and a scion of an old New England family. They have one son and two daughters. It will readily be seen that the Doctor's life has been an unnsually busy one, strictly devoted to the advancement and well-being of the cause of humanity. In politics he has been a life-long Democrat, cast- ing his first vote for President James K. Polk, but never a partisan in the offensive sense of the term; he was on the reception committee at the time of the visit of Horace Greeley to Saera- mento in 1859, and presided at the mnass ineet- ing held at the St. George building upon that occasion, and also at the meeting held at the celebration of the laying of the Atlantic cable in 1859.

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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