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 75

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 75

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HISTORY OF SACRAMENTO COUNTY.

mento County, January 25, 1855. They have one daughter, Ethel Blanch, born August 17, 1882. One child died in infancy. Mr. Chin- nick is a member of the Masonic order of Elk Grove, Lodge No. 173.

IMOTHY LEE .- About a year prior to the beginning of this century, there was born in County Kerry, in the south of Ireland, Timothy Lee, who grew up to be a plasterer by trade, and was married to Lonisa Roach, a native of London, England, but of Irish parentage. He emigrated to the New World in 1847 or 1848. settled in New York city, and, in 1849, sent for his family to join him there. He was the father of thirteen children; he is at this writing ninety years of age and still enjoys life in the City of Churches. When the younger Timothy, subject of our sketch, joined his father in New York he was about fourteen years old. He was educated there and learned his father's trade. In 1855 he removed to Madison, Wis- consin, where for some years he carried on his trade. In May, 1858, a party for California was made up, which our subject joined. They crossed the Missouri River at Council Bluffs, went north of Salt Lake, through Sublette's cut- off and located at Bear Creek in Shasta County. They were engaged in mining until 1862 on Middle Creek, and then went to the Nez Perce mining district. In 1863 he built a bridge across the Spokane River, getting a charter from Idaho to do so. This bridge was located about sixteen miles below Cordalaine Lake and twenty miles above Spokane Falls and near the scene of Colonel Wright's battle with the Nez Perce Indians, at which time 960 head of ponies were destroyed. In the year 1868 he sold ont his bridge and made a trip East, going to New York and Wisconsin, where, in November, he was married to Miss Minnie Helm, and upon his return to the coast he came to Sacramento; since that time he has made it his home. In 1876 he held the office of deputy sheriff for

four years, in the year 1880 was a member of the police department, and later was under- sheriff during the administration of Sheriff Estell. At the expiration of Estell's term, he was employed by the Central Pacific Railroad as one of their special officers. In 1888 he was elected chief of the Sacramento force, which position he holds at this writing. He well deserves the respect of his fellow-citizens.

OBERT ALLEN was born in Muskingum County, Ohio, about eight miles from Zanesville, October 25, 1825. His father, Jacob Allen, a farmer from New Jersey, fol- lowed teaming during the war of 1812, and in Ohio followed farming during the summer, and during the winter drove horses east of the mountains. The maiden name of Robert's mother was Fisher: she died when he was nine years old, and his father then discontinued housekeeping. Mr. Allen, the subject of this sketch, went to Farmington, Van Buren County, Ohio, where he learned the blacksmiths' trade. This he followed, in partnership with another man, and a year later opened a shop in company with his brother Charles. When the California gold fever broke out they started for this State. Leaving Farmington, they attached themselves to a party of forty, crossed the Missouri River May 10, and came by way of Fort Kearney, Fort IIall and the Lassen route, with ox teams. They divided their train into caravansaries of fifteen wagons each at Independence Rock, and Mr. Allen and his brother came on in company with one other man. They struck the Sacra- mento River at what is now Stanford's Vina ranch. For the first three weeks they followed mining at Salt Springs, near Shasta; then with teams they came to Sacramento, arriving No- vember 15, 1849. Here the subject of this sketch began teaming. On his first trip he took 1,600 pounds of whisky and flour to Auburn, at $1 a pound, being eleven days on the way. Next he made a trip up to Blue

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HISTORY OF SACRAMENTO COUNTY.

Banks, above Mormon Island, and moved a fam- ily to Mud Springs. Returning to Sacramento he turned his cattle out; then rented a bar in the old Kentucky House on J street, between Fifth and Sixth, and ran it until the fall of 1850. Before the water had fully receded he went to Marysville, and thence to Cox's Bar, where he followed mining during the ensuing summer. In the fall he came down to Sacramento, and at- tended bar in the old Sutter Hotel on Front street for two months or more. In 1851 he en- gaged in teaming from here to Nevada, buying goods here and selling them on the streets there. He had a fine four-horse team and two ox teams. This business he followed during the fall and winter of 1851-'52. Then he was at Shasta for a while, but did no mining there. In two or three weeks he bought an interest in a blacksmith-shop on J street, in Sacramento, in partnership with Mr. Woods; six months after- ward he bought out his partner's interest and conducted the shop alone until the latter part of 1852, when he injured his back and was laid up for two months. Quitting blacksmithing he worked for L. R. Beckley on the Coloma road, at the Monte Cristo Exchange. Then he and Mr .. Sullivan entered the grain and feed busi- ness on J street, the firm name being Sullivan & Allen. Continuing thus until the spring of 1854 Mr. Allen went to Placer County, to a place called Carlton, this side of Auburn, where they followed merchandising until 1859. Mr. Allen then came to Sacramento and went into a barley speculation, in which he lost $11,000! In 1861 Mr. Beckley's place, on which he had a lien for services, fell into his hands. He bought some young cattle and worked with them until 1864, in the meantime engaging to some extent in the cattle trade. June 24, 1862, he married and began keeping house at the Monte Cristo, Exchange. From 1863 to 1866 he was employed in the cattle and dairy busi- ness in Yolo County. Returning to Sacramento, he engaged in the saloon business, keeping the Norfolk saloon on K street, between Fifth and Sixth, until January, 1868, when he rented the

fair-ground for the years 1868-'70. In 1871 he with his family made a visit to the East, the greater part of the year, returning in August- In January, 1872, he rented the fair-ground again, and left it January 1, 1873. He was then engaged in the clothing trade until the lat- ter part of 1877, on J street, between Fifth and Sixth. In 1878 he obtained the fair-grounds for the third time, holding the lease during the years 1878-'80. In 1881 he engaged in con- tracting for street improvements. From 1883 to 1885 he had the Agricultural Park for the fourth time. Mr. Allen is a Democrat in his politics; is a member of the Pioneer Associa- tion of Sacramento Lodge, No. 40, F. &. A. M., and also of the Chapter and the Commandery, and is a veteran Odd Fellow. His wife's maiden name was Catharine Elizabeth Davis; she was born seven miles from Shawneetown, Illinois, November 5, 1844; her father, James A. Davis, was a sea-captain, and her mother was formerly Miss Jane O'Neal. After the death of her father she came with her mother across the plains to California, locating in Sacramento, and resided here and at Alder Creek. Her mother died in February, 1887. Mr. and Mrs. Allen have two children: Edward P. and Jennie, and another son, Robert, who died at the age of twenty-two months.

ARVEY ALVORD, a representative farmer of Lee Township, was born in Sep- tember, 1816, in Syracuse, New York, being a son of Ashael and Eva Regine (Mang) Alvord. The Alvords are American for more than one hundred years, the ancestry being Welsh. Miss Mang was a German by birth. The grandfather Alvord, and one son, fought in the Revolutionary War. Ashael Alvord was a farmer, and his son, Harvey, having received the usual district-school education of sixty years ago, afterward helped on his father's farm. At twenty-one he went to farming on his own ac- connt, and in 1845 removed to Missouri, where

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HISTORY OF SACRAMENTO COUNTY.

he bought a farm in Caldwell County. In 1849 lie sold out and came to California, first going to mining in Placer County, where his father, who had accompanied him, died soon after their arrival, in November, 1849, aged about sixty- five. Mr. Alvord worked at mining some seven or eight months, and in the spring of 1850 went to ranching on Coats' ranch, and ferrying across the Cosumnes. He carried on the ferry business for about three years, and farming nn- til 1857, having become owner in 1852. In 1858 he sold ont and went East, but in 1860 moved West again, settling in Nevada, Color- ado, where he again followed mining until 1863. He then went to Montana, where he engaged in building and running quartz mills, haring learned the business while in Colorado. He remained in Montana about eighteen years; and in 1882 moved into Wyoming. His health breaking, he returned to the Cosumnes in 1884, and bought a small portion of the old Daylor ranch from the Grimshaw estate, containing only about twenty aeres, but with an excellent house upon it, where he is tranquilly spending his declining years. In 1844 he was married to Miss Mary A. Alger, a daughter of Elijah and Penelope (Rector) Alger, of Syracuse, New York. The father was a salt manufacturer, and lived to the age of seventy-two. The mother is still alive, is eighty years of age, and makes her home with Mrs. Alvord. The Algers are American for some generations. Mr. and Mrs. Alvord are the parents of two daughters: Mary Penelope, born in New York State, now Mrs. Orlando North, whose husband owns and super- intends large stock-ranches in Nevada and Wyoming; and Frances Luln, born on the Cos- umnes, now Mrs. Lewis C. Rockwell, whose husband is a lawyer in Denver, Colorado. Mrs. Rockwell has seven living children: Harvey E., born in 1873; Clinton Alvord, in 1877; Lewis Orlando, in 1878; Mary Frances, in 1881; Emerson Everett, in 1883; Annie Luhu, born November 20, 1884, in Denver, Colorado; and Paul Nellis, in 1887. During the absence of Mr. Alvord in Montana, Mrs. Alvord conducted

the Alvord House at Idaho Springs, two and one-half years; at Golden City about eighteen months, and from 1876 to 1879 in Denver. When the Windsor was put up in that city in 1879 she felt that it would overshadow the Al- vord, and not only being willing to run a sec- ond-class hotel she sold out and retired from the business. She was married when quite young, and is still hale, hearty and cheerful.

BSALOM MORGAN ADDINGTON, a potter by trade, and at one time owner of the Michigan Bar pottery, was born in Wayne County, Indiana, September 29, 1824, his parents being Morgan and Jane (Mendeu- hall) Addington. His great-grandfather Ad- dington was an English emigrant to Virginia in 1776, probably then in middle age. A great- grandmother, known in later life as Mrs. Town- send, whether his wife or not is not known, died in Wayne County, Indiana, in 1837, at the remarkable age of 104 years. A brother of the Virginia immigrant settled in the State of New York, and from these two it is thought the American Addingtons are descended. John Addington, the grandfather of the subject of this sketch, died in Wayne County, Indiana, many years ago, aged sixty-four. The grand- parents, Mr. and Mrs. Absalom Mendenhall, of Fountain County, Indiana, were both about that age when they died. Mr. and Mrs. Morgan: Addington moved to Fountain County in 1830, and the father was a farmer there until his death in 1837. A. M. Addington began to learn the trade of potter in Green County, Wis- consin, in 1840, spending two years there. He afterward spent two years at a pottery in Foun- tain County, Indiana, going to school both winters. He then worked at his trade for six years at different points in the East. In 1850 he came to California and went to mining eight years. In 1959 J. W. Orr erected the Michigan Bar pottery, Mr. Addington helping to build and afterward working for him as potter. The

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HISTORY OF SACRAMENTO COUNTY.

works were moved to the present location at Orr's clay-bank in 1862, Mr. Addington still remaining connected with the manufacture of the goods. He filed pre emption papers to 160 acres. In 1865 he bought the land and pottery of Mr. Orr, and continued the manufacture until he sold out to the present proprietor, J. B. Williams, in 1884. He still works there, but his family residence is in Oakland. Mr. Ad- dington was married in Knoxville, Illinois, in 1852, to Miss Martha Boyd, born in Ohio, July 3, 1830, lier parents being Robert and Jane (Mckibben) Boyd, both deceased. The father was born in Kentucky, the son of a Scotchman, and the mother in Pennsylvania, of Scotch-Irish parentage. Mr. and Mrs. Addington are the parents of four living children, born in this State: David Morgan, February 9, 1853, now a physician at Upper Lake in Lake County, and the father of three children: their mother, before marriage was Miss Abbie Yates, being also a native of this State; Anna, born July 19, 1859, now Mrs. William Beaugner, of Oakland, has one child; Thomas M., born February 15, 1862, is now living in Felton, California; Charlie Boyd, born November 20, 1870, is learning the potter's trade from his father.

ENRY ALLTUCKER, of San Joaquin Township, was born June 6, 1844, in Germany, a son of George and Maggie (Swick) Alltucker, farmers, who never came to this country, and are both deceased. Henry was reared on a farm in the old country, came to America in 1866, landing in New York city, resided one year in Pennsylvania, working at odd jobs, and in 1867 came to California, by way of the Isthmus, being three weeks on the voy- age. The first year here he was fireman at the Pioneer Flouring Mill and two years at the Lambart Mill; next he was one year on a por- tion of Jack Korn ranch; from there he went to Owen's place, on which he remained eight years, and finally he purchased his present

property of 846 acres; he also has 320 acres near Sheldon. He raises mostly wheat and live-stock. All his present wealth he himself has accumulated by his own industry and shrewd judgment. He has one of the best of ranches. It is located six miles from Elk Grove and twenty miles from Sacramento, and only two miles from the railroad station; it is part bottom land, bounded on the south by the Cosumnes River. A small but good vineyard is on the place. Mr. Alltucker is a member of the orders of I. O. O. F., F. & A. M., and K. T. In 1874 he married Miss Christina Olson, a native of Sweden, who died in 1885, leaving two children, Emma C. and George H.

LEXANDER BROWN was born in Ports- mouth, New Hampshire, March 10, 1849, his parents being John and Agnes (Rob- ertson) Brown, who had emigrated fromn Scot- land about 1839. They moved to Lawrence, Massachusetts, in 1851, where the father died in 1858. The mother came to California in 1861 with three children, John, Christina and Alexander, of whom the two last went East in 1862, but returned to California in 1866. The mother, who was born in 1821, is living with her daughter, Mrs. S. F. Drury, of Newcastle, California. Grandfather Alexander Brown was eighty when he died. The maternal grand par- ents were also long-lived and died in Canada, whither they had emigrated from Scotland. The subject of this sketch received the usual educa- tion till the age of twelve, but when he went East in 1862 he became a clerk in a grocery store for four years. On his return to Califor- nia in 1866 he went to work in the pork-packing business in San Francisco for some years, and then to butchering on his own account for a year or two, and afterward into the fruit and produce business for wages for five or six years. February 11, 1879, he came to Walnut Grove and helped his mother in the hotel business for two years, and then bought and sold fruit for

Dwight Haceisten

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HISTORY OF SACRAMENTO COUNTY.

abont two years. April 23, 1883, he opened a general store, and on June 1, 1886, he suc- ceeded his mother in the hotel business. Mean- while, in 1884, he had rented 300 acres in the Pearson district, since increasing it to 3,830 acres. On this he raises barley and all kinds of vegetables, making a specialty of beans. In 1887 he raised two crops of barley on a portion of it, and fully 2,000 acres in the district are capable of yielding two crops every year, but labor cannot always be economically used to produce that result. Besides his liotel, store and ranch business, Mr. Brown is agent for the Southern Pacific Railroad's line of steamers, Wells, Fargo & Co.'s Express, the Western Union Telegraph Company, is assistant post- master, owns and conducts the warehouse, and as can readily be imagined is very busy indeed. But this list does not quite exhaust the cata- logue of lis industries. In September, 1887, he bought a ranch of 4,335 acres in Colnsa County, and entered into possession of the same on April 23, 1888. This is devoted chiefly to stock-raising. Mr. Brown was married Febru- ary 14, 1871, to Miss Kate Stanford, born in this State, April 21, 1854, daughter of C. P. and Helen (Emmons) Stanford, of San Francisco. Mrs. Brown's parents and maternal grand parents are still living. Her paternal grandparents died some ten or twelve years ago, about two years apart, aged abont eighty. Mr. and Mrs. Brown are the parents of five living children: John Stanford, born October 14, 1873; Arthur Alex- ander, July 6, 1878; Frank Emmons, February 1, 1883; Agnes Helen, April 27, 1884; Alex- ander, Jr., September 2, 1888.

ON. DWIGHIT HOLLISTER .- On the east bank of the Sacramento River, six- teen miles south of the Capital City, in Sacramento County, we find the home of the IIon. Dwight Hollister. To say that he is a representative inan, while it is true, does not express the position which has been attained by

him in the State, in the county, and in the neighborhood; for in all these he has been prominent for many years. The historical vol- ume of Sacramento Connty would indeed be in - complete without at least a brief page from the story of his life, and a glance at his ancestry, which will be read with interest by the many friends and acquaintances which his public service, his well-known hospitality, the pre- eminent qualities of head and heart, have gatlı- ered into his life. Born September 27, 1824, near Marietta, Ohio, his parents being Sereno and Mary A. (Ryan) Hollister. His mother was a native of the Emerald Isle, but brought up in the Buckeye State from a child. His father, a native of Connecticut, moved to Wash- ington County, Ohio, near Marietta, in 1820, and was married there February 22, 1823. He died September 2, 1880, aged eighty-three years. Grandfather Roger Hollister was born in Connecticut, May 23, 1771, and was there married to Miss Hannah Stratton, October 11, 1792. He was the fifth in descent from Lieu- tenant John Hollister, who was born in England in 1612, and emigrated to Connecticut in 1642. The Strattons are also American for several generations. Dwight Hollister was educated in the district schools, and afterward took an academic course in Marietta. At the age of twenty he began to work on his own account. He clerked in a dry goods store about three years, and did some flat-boat trading down on the Ohio and Mississippi. IIis health not being of the best, he came to California by way of New York and Cape MIorn in 1849, mainly with the view of receiving some benefit from the long voyage. Learning in one of the South American ports that the discovery of gold in California was an assured fact, he went to mining for one year in Placer County. Ilis success was not phenomenal, and he went to trading among the miners. In company with a comrade he conducted a trading post and tavern for another year. A third year was spent in the position of a hotel clerk in Sacra- mento. In 1852 he went into the nursery

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HISTORY OF SACRAMENTO COUNTY.

business as joint partner in the firm of White & Hollister, in which he held an interest for twelve years. Meanwhile, in 1857, he went back to Marietta, where he was married on De- cember 8, to Miss Nannie H. Alcock, a native of that place, born of an English father and a Virginia mother. Returning to California, he bought the ranch on which he still resides, two miles north of Courtland, on the Sacramento River. The ranch contains over 600 acres, all bottom land, but some of it is too low for culti- vation. He uses a part for dairy purposes, keeping about 100 cows, and raises all the pro- duce necessary to their sustenance. But the great work of his life has been the growing of California fruits. He is widely known and esteemed as the " pioneer fruit-grower" of this section of the State. As early as 1852 he first engaged in the nursery business, and it was this foresight into the undeveloped possibilities of California as the fruit-raising center of the world which has brought affluence and opn- lence to the subject of our sketch. Mr. Hollis- ter has been for many years closely identified with the Masonic fraternity as a Knight Tem- plar, and in political matters has taken a promi- nent part, affiliating with the Republican party since its organization. He has been called upon to fill many offices of trust and responsibility, a duty which he has not shirked because of the many personal inconveniences to which it has necessarily subjected him. He was chosen to represent his constituents in the Legislature of his State in the sessions of 1865, and again in 1884. He was known among his associates as one true to the interests of his section, fearless in the expression of what he believed to be right, and tireless in his efforts in the direction of wise legislation. Of his home life we need say but little, although much might be said with propriety of the individual members of his household, which is composed of Mr. and Mrs. Hollister, two sons, Charles Edwin and Frank E., and one daughter, Blanche, all of whom have received superior educational advantages. Both sons have attained to the degree of M. A.,

and the younger qualifying himself for business life by extended experience in a commercial house at San Francisco. They are both inter- ested with their father in his extensive farming and fruit-growing interests. Here, then, we see the picture of one of the fair homes which industry and thrift has built up beside the softly-flowing Sacramento, in this land of golden sunshine. Looking backward we see the turbid tide, the trials and hardships incident to the pioneer days. Looking forward we see a land flowing with milk and honey, a fair domain rich in the development of the bounteous resources of nature, while for the present we see the con- spicuous land-mark of a happy home, not built, it is true, in a day, but the outcome of years of painstaking labor, a monnment to a successful life.

ILLIAM BREEDING, rancher of Co- sumnes Township, was born in Virginia, January 8, 1826, his parents being Squire H. and Sally (Burton) Breeding, botlı natives of Virginia and of long-lived parentage. The father, born in 1801, and the mother, about 1807, died in 1862, being separated in death only fifteen minutes. Grandfather Jeremiah Breeding, born and brought up in Shenandoah County, Virginia, lived to be sixty, and his wife, a Miss Husk before marriage, was abont seventy at her death seven years later, about 1845. William was reared on his father's farm, learned farming chiefly and worked at home until his removal to Missouri in 1851, where he worked for others in the same line. He arrived in Sacramento September 26, 1853, and was engaged in mining fifteen years. In 1868 he bought his ranch of 120 acres, two miles south of Michigan Bar, and has been farming ever since, raising chiefly cattle and hay. In May, 1866, he was married to Mary Ann Thornburgh, born in Virginia, Angust 19, 1833, daughter of William and Catherine (Rickey) Thornburgh. They moved to Missouri in 1837. The father,

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HISTORY OF SACRAMENTO COUNTY.

a native of North Carolina, died in his sixty- ninth year, in February, 1846; and the mother was eight-four when she died March 18, 1886. Grandmother Elizabeth (Hoffmon) Rickey, born in Pennsylvania, saw her ninety-ninth birthday. The Rickeys were of French and the Hoffmons of Dutch origin. Grandmother Thornburgh was a Miss Martha Ballinger before her mar- riage. Mr. Breeding's education was also rather limited but sufficient for all ordinary purposes. Mr. and Mrs. Breeding are the parents of four living children: Emmett, born May 20, 1867; Martha Alamo, January 10, 1870; Una Catha- rine, July 1, 1872; William Walter, April 18, 1876. All have had or are receiving a good education.

A. BRANSCOMBE, a farmer, was born September 30, 1850, in Canada, son of John and Elizabeth (Clark) Branscom be, natives also of that province, both of whom also died in that country, the father September 28, 1882, and the mother January 21, 1889. In their family were four daughters and five sons, as follows: Katie, Sallie, Hannah J., Sophia, William, Samuel, Robert, Arthur and Samuel; six are still living. Mr. Branscombe, our sub- ject, was reared on a farm in Prince Edward County, Canada, and came to California in 1870, and for a while worked for wages. Three years afterward he returned to Canada with the in- tention of remaining there; but before he crossed the Sierras he was homesick, and when he reached the cold climate of Canada he de- termined to settle in California for the remainder of his life. Although he was offered good in- ducements by his father to stay there, he refused them and returned here in 1874. He rented land until 1881, when he purchased his present farm of half a section, which appeared to most people at that time to be very poor; but the very first crop paid for the land. He is a good manager of his ranch, following general agricul- ture and having a small vineyard and orchard.

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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