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 78

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 78

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JENRY WATSON (in German, Watzen) was born in Hanover, near Bremen, Sep tember 5, 1836, his parents being Albert and Mary (Bohrman) Watson. The father died in 1877, and the mother in 1879, in Germany, at about the age of seventy; and grandmother

Mary Watson lived to be over seventy. Henry Watson received the usual schooling of his country from his sixth to his fourteenth year. Before he was quite fourteen he went to sea, and suffered mueh abuse in that service. In 1851, on a voyage from Nicaragua to New Orleans, a German- American passenger of St. Louis, prom- ised his protection, and young Watson availing himself of the kind offer, fled from his persecu- tors, accompanying his friend to St. Louis, and going to work for him. In 1852, still in his employ, he helped to drive cattle across the plains, arriving in Sacramento August 12, 1852. After working a short time on a farm he went to mining that winter in Amador Connty, and continued at that work for over eight years. In 1861 he went to teaming from Sacramento aeross the mountains to Nevada, and followed that business for three seasons. In 1864, with a partner, he rented the 260 acres on which he still resides, and in 1865 they bought it, and in 1871, the adjoining 240 acres. In December, 1872, Mr. Watson bought his partner's interest in the 500 acres, and in 1887 he purchased the 480 acres adjoining on the west, making a ranch of 980 acres in one body. He raises wheat and cattle, and does a dairy business of between twenty and thirty cows. November 28, 1872, Mr. Watson was married in Sacramento to Miss Christina Hashagen, born in Hanover, near Bremen, February 14, 1844, a danghter of Diedrich and Meta (Brugemann) Hashagen, both deceased, in Germany, aged about seventy. They are the parents of four children: Meta C., born October 15, 1873; Albert H., April 17, 1875; George F., Angust 30, 1878; Katy M., October 25, 1885. Mrs. Watson came to Sac- ramento direct from Germany, in 1869, where she worked until her marriage. . Mr. and Mrs. Watson are members of Sacramento Grange, No. 12; and usually attend the meetings of the Methodist Episcopal Church held in the Pacific school-house, on the lower Stockton road, where their children also attend school and Sabbath- school. They now occupy a good, substantial, handsome and convenient home, replacing the

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" cabin " which so long constituted the resi- dence of the thrifty Mr. Watson in his bachelor days.

EORGE WILSON, rancher, Brighton Township, was born in Greenup County, Kentucky, four miles from the Big Sandy River, the dividing line between Kentucky and Virginia, December 8, 1815. His father, Thomas Wilson, was born on James River, Dinwiddie County, Virginia, and died about 1845, at the age of sixty-three years. He en- tered the war of 1812 as Orderly Sergeant, and was mustered ont as Captain. George's mother, whose maiden name was Mary Isabelle Pogue, was a native also of Greenup County, Ken- tucky, and was one of thirteen sons and daugh ters. His grandfather, Stephen Wilson, a native of Virginia, had seven sons and six daughters, the most of whom passed their lives in their native State. The eldest of these was Thomas, who in 1828 emigrated to Illinois, lo- cating in Vermilion County, and in 1836 to Iowa County, Wisconsin, and afterward, in September, 1837, to Lee County, Iowa, where he died. His wife died in Illinois in 1829. In their family were four sons and two daughters, viz .: Robert, who has resided in Iowa County, Wisconsin, ever since 1832; George, Mary Isabelle, in Benton County, Oregon; James P., in Lane County, Oregon; Elizabeth, who died in Iowa County, Wisconsin; and Stephen H., who died on the plains during the Pike's l'eak excitement. George Wilson, our subject, at about the age of nineteen years, in company with four others, made an exploring expedition into Illinois, examining the Rock River region, and then Iowa. He located Government land in Cedar County, in the latter State. In 1836 he made a trip into Wisconsin. Returning to his home in Vermillion County, he voted for General Harrison for President in 1836, and he has never missed a vote since, not even at minor clections. He then sold his Iowa claim and

bought a quarter-section in Vermillion County, and the following March sold it, took teams up into Wisconsin, and engaged in hauling lead and breaking prairie until the fall, when he went to Lee County, Iowa, where he took up land, improved it and lived until 1850; and during his residence there, February 9, 1838, he mar- ried Rhoda C. Kilgore. In 1844, during the agitation that existed' between the States of Iowa and Missouri concerning their boundary line, he responded to the call for troops for ten days, raising the first battalion company under the call, and was on the frontier. No blood was shed in that affair, however. At the first, elec- tion held in his township he was elected town- ship clerk; shortly afterward he was elected county assessor for two years, and still subse- quently school inspector also for two years. He was also postmaster of Van Buren postoffice, in Lee County, for abont seven years. In 1847 he raised a company of cavalry for the Mexican war, but it was never called into service, as the war was soon closed. In 1850, after selling out there, he bought three quarter-sections of land in Appanoose County, and made his home there until he came to California. It was in that county, one year before starting to this State, that his wife died, April 28, 1851. December 31, that year, he married again, that time Leaner Flinn. Leaving his farm May 5, 1852, he ar- rived in this State, October 10, coming overland with eight families and a hundred head of stock. After passing a month in San Joaquin County he came to this county, where he has since re- sided excepting one year, from November 1, 1854, to about the 1st of November, 1855, in Santa Clara County. In the latter year he bought a place on the Sacramento River, and about the same time took np 160 acres, where he now lives. The former place he sold in 1859. For five years he also owned 1,280 acres on Staten Island. He has since purchased 240 acres more, of which a part has since been dis- posed of. At present he has 240 acres. By luis first marriage Mr. Wilson had five children : Mary Isabelle, Elizabeth E., Cyrus P., Amanda

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M. and Matthew K., all born in Iowa. The youngest died there; the four others came to this State. By the second marriage were born Sarah Ann, at Carson Valley; Edwin A., Julia F., Dexter T., Hayden F., Ida May, Georgia Ivy, Ulysses Grant and Cerita Alice, all of whom are now living in this State.

OSEPH WISE was born in Missouri, April 1, 1830, his parents being Philip and Nancy (James) Wise. The father was born in 1802, in North Carolina, whence his parents moved in 1807 to Missouri. He was three times married, Miss James being his sec- ond wife, by whom he had five children. Of these three are still living, the subject of this sketch being the oldest. Philip Wise lived to be sixty-four, and his mother reached the age of seventy-five. Joseph Wise came to California in 1852, accompanied by his half-brother, David, now living near Corning, Tehama County, aged sixty-five. They mined five or six months in El Dorado County, with no great profit. In 1853 Joseph Wise came down to the Sacra- mento and worked on the place he now owns, less than a mile north of Walnut Grove. In 1856 he bought out the owner's right, and eventually perfected title to 304 acres. He had " an orchard for fifteen years, but of late years his principal industry has been raising beans. He is now preparing to plant a new orchard of about twenty-five acres along the river front, continuing to raise vegetables on the back land. Mr. Wise was married October 22, 1856, to Miss Nancy Jane Phipps, a native of Indiana, born October 22, 1840, daughter of George W. and Nancy (Hall) Phipps. The father was a native of North Carolina, and the mother of Pennsyl- vania. The father came to California in 1849, and in 1851 went back to Iowa, and returned with his family. The mother died in 1854, and the father in 1860. Grandfather Phipps died in Missouri at a very advanced age, believed to have been 105 years, though a newspaper stated

it to be 115, perhaps through a typographical error. Mr. and Mrs Wise are the parents of seven living children: Philip, born October 18, 1857, married Miss Mary Lncilia Beach, born near Freeport, on the Sacramento. They have two children: Joseph Clinton, born August 20, 1886, and a girl baby, born in May, 1888. They reside about a mile north of Walnut Grove. Louisa Jane, their second child, is the wife of H. T. Lufkin, merchant, Walnut Grove. Nancy Cordelia, born Marchi 27, 1861, is still a faith- ful helper to her mother in her household cares. Joseph Lincoln, born October 5, 1863, has pre- empted 160 acres about four miles from Brad- ley, Monterey County; William Francis, born November 19, 1865, has bought 160 acres near his brother, Jessie, born July 16, 1869; and David Daniel, July 12, 1876. Mr. Joseph Wise has been a school trustee twenty years, but has filled no other office, being fully occupied with the care of his farin and family.

M RS. MARY NICHOLS, a ranch-owner in Cosumnes Township, was born in Illinois in 1841, her parents being Hosea and Freelove (Hawkes) Armstrong. The father was a native of Kentucky, and the mother was born in Missouri, in 1813, of New England parentage. The latter died Angust 27, 1867; the former, November 27, 1870, aged sixty-one. Grandfather Joshua Armstrong died in Kentucky at an advanced age, and his father is said to have reached nearly 100 years. The subject of this sketch came to California with her parents in 1850. The family lived at Nevada City, in this State, for a short time, and settled in Amador County in 1852. She was married April 22, 1855, to Edwin Nichols, a native of New York State, born in 1830, son of Willard and Elizabeth (Jewell) Nichols, both being of New England parentage. The father died in Ohio in 1876, aged about seventy; and the mother, born about 1808, is now living with her son Willard, in Kansas. Epwin Nichols came to California in

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HISTORY OF SACRAMENTO COUNTY.

1850; followed mining for about four years, and then went to farming in Amador County. In December, 1860, Mr. Nichols bought 240 acres on Willow Springs Creek, in the southeast corner of the township, 200 of which are still in the possession of the family. The land is adapted to the raising of any kind of crop known to north California husbandry, Mr. Nichols died in September, 1875, leaving seven children. Charles E., the oldest, died in 1876, aged nine- teen. The six children living in 1889 are: Albert F., born in December, 1859, married Miss Lizzie Kneiss May 29, 1889, and is now in business as a blacksmith at Ione, California; Nellie, April 16, 1862; Clara Belle, August 19, 1864, now the wife of William G. Lyn, an orchardist of San Bernardino, has one boy, born February 7, 1888; Grant, November 5, 1868; Emma Lenora, February 17, 1872; Walter Roy, April 18, 1873.

F. WOODWARD, a pioneer, was born December 30, 1827, on the island of Ceylon in the East Indies, where his father, William Henry Woodward, a native of New Hampshire, had been sent as a missionary by the Board of American Missions. His mother's maiden name was Clarissa Emerson. He was the oldest of four children, and at the death of his father was sent to Chester, New Hampshire, and was cared for and educated by his uncle, Nathaniel French Emerson, and principal of the High School at Chester. At the age of seven- teen he left school to learn the trade of brick- layer; he served for one year only, and as he was troubled with asthma, he went into a store in South Boston, Massachusetts. Then he started on the long voyage around Cape Horn to Cali- fornia in 1849, on Sunday, April 1, on the brig Crononicus. He had but a vague notion of what lay before him, for it proved a tempestu- ous trip, and it was on the 2nd of November before they entered the Golden Gate and set foot on the sand dunes of San Francisco; but

the worst feature was that he was entirely out of money and a stranger. He found employ- ment with a brick mason at $6 per day, but not being satisfied with this and having made three acquaintances, he started for the mines, via Sacramento. They first went to Larkin's Store, sixteen miles south of Nevada City, in the Deer Creek mining district, but soon started for Gold Lake. They packed across the mountains, but were driven back by a snow-storm in June; the history of these eventful days in the mountains would alone fill a volume, but the scope of this work forbids their repetition; suffice it to say that at length, weary of that kind of life, he re- turned to Sacramento and resumed work at his old trade. In 1855 he began taking contracts on his own account, being largely interested in bricking up buildings raised to the new grade. In the fall of 1861 he enlisted in Captain De Merrit's company of Sacramento Rangers, Com- pany F, Second Cavalry, and did garrison duty at San Francisco, being in active service for over one year. Mr. Woodward has been twice mar- ried; first in 1858 to Mary F. De Puy, adopted daughter of S. F. De Puy, of San Francisco; she died in 1858, and in 1863 he was again married, to Jane Maria Leet; their children are: Florence Annette, Edward Clarence and Blanche Myrtle.

AMES B. WELTY, a prominent citizen of Sacramento County, was born in William- son County, Illinois, April 15, 1832. His father, Jacob Welty, was born near Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and was but a child when his parents emigrated with him down the Ohio River into Kentucky. In 1818 they removed to Franklin County, Illinois, into that portion which was subsequently set off as Williamson County, with Marion as the county seat. It was in that county that he married Mary Ann Keaster, whose acquaintance he made in that State. They made that their home until they came to California, in 1869, and they are now living in Lake County. They have six sons

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HISTORY OF SACRAMENTO COUNTY.

and four danghters, of whom four are now living, viz .: William Bradford, deceased; John Frank- lin, who died in infancy; Nancy Emeline, who resides at Creal Springs, Williamson County, Illinois; Rachel Parmelia, deceased; James B .; Madison Warren, deceased; Lewis Alexander, residing near Lakeport, Lake County, California; Levi, who died in childhood; Martha Jane, re- siding at Creal Springs; and Mary Elizabeth, who died in infancy. Jacob Welty is now eighty-nine years of age, and his wife four years younger. Mr. James B. Welty, our subject, in his younger days worked on his father's farm, and just before he was of age he started, with his father's permission, for California. Engag- ing as driver of horses and cattle across the plains for Darris & Huston, of Platte County, Missouri, he left Fort Leavenworth, May 6, 1853, and arrived in this State September 15. In his party were fifty persons and fourteen wagons. The journey was comparatively a pleasant one. Only one of the party lost his life, and he was drowned in Green River. On arriving here, Mr. Welty began work on the R street levee, at $50 a month and board; but two weeks afterward he went down below Sutterville and chopped wood all winter for Clarkson C. Freeman. In the spring he came to the city and engaged in brick-making for the same man. The next winter and for a year longer he cut wood again, opposite Sutterville, and then went into the wood business with a team and wagon, hiring others to cut the wood and taking a part- ner, James Haworth, and opening a wood-yard in Sacramento. Finding this business rather unprofitable in the course of a few months, they in company with Michael Shields, purchased the brick-yard ranch, of 120 acres, located below Sntterville on the west side of the river. At the end of the first year, Welty & Haworth bought out Shields' interest, and two years later Mr. Welty bought ont Haworth and be- came the sole proprietor, remaining so until October, 1876. During his residence there he was the witness of many pleasant and some very sad scenes. During the floods of 1861-'62 his

brother Madison Warren was drowned. On this ranch Mr. Welty raised a considerable quantity of fruit and vegetables. While a resi- dent there, May 2, 1871, he married Mary A. Bader, in Sacramento city. She was born near Cape Girardeau, Missouri. After selling out that ranch, in 1876, he bought his present place, a quarter of a section, in Sutter Township, about five miles from Sacramento, between the upper and lower Stockton roads, where he is en- gaged in general farming. He is a member of Sacramento Grange, No. 12, and also of Cali- fornia Lodge, K. of H., and of Harmony Lodge K. & L. of II., all of Sacramento. He has always been an industrious, economical, and honest citizen and a judicious philanthropist. Ilis children are: Mary May, born March 22 1872; Eugene Edwin, October 8, 1874; and James William, February 2, 1883.

EORGE S. WILLIAMSON, farmer, was born July 22, 1845, in St. Louis, Missouri, a son of Peter Thomas and Ruth (Shaw) Williamson. Ilis father was born February 26, 1818, in Danphin County, Pennsylvania, and his mother January 27, 1820, in Lucerne County, that State. Parents were married April 1, 1841, in St. Louis, Missouri, whither Mr. Williamson had emigrated at the age of seven- teen years. He there learned the carpenter and joiner's trade and was employed for a number of years by Captain Case, a noted contractor and steamboat builder. In 1849 he crossed the plains to California, leaving his wife in St. Louis. Making his first stop at Nevada City, he opened there a ten-pin alley. The next year he returned East by way of New Mexico, and in 1851 he came again to this State with his family, over- land. He first settled on the Norris Grant and followed teaming. In the meantime he resided at several points on the grant. During the flood of 1852, while living in what is now the eastern part of Sacramento city, their family were res- cued from their house by a boat. The water

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HISTORY OF SACRAMENTO COUNTY.

rose to the second-story windows. Their daugh- ter Joscaline was born there. The winter of 1853 they passed on the property now owned by D. Cantrell; and the next spring he settled upon the tract where he spent the remainder of his life, dying there September 6, 1884; his wife died October 14, 1875. When he first set- tled here the country was a bare plain, with scarcely a resident upon it. He was an ingeni- ous and industrious man, deliberate in his judg- ments, kind in his disposition, and remembered with the highest respect by all who were ac- quainted with him. In his family were five children: Delia, born December 21, 1841, died December 31, 1845; Lnzette, born September 12, 1843, died, September 6, 1846; the next was George S., whose name heads this article; Payne, born October 3, 1848, and died March 11, 1882; and Joscaline, now the wife of James Sales, of Sacramento. George S. still conducts the old homestead, which comprises 181 acres. The farm of his sister Joscaline consists of 258 acres. His farm is choice bottom land and in good cultivation. Has three acres of fine fruits. He is a practical mechanic and engineer. Mr. Williamson was married December 11, 1872, to Miss Ellen Hanley, a native of Massachussetts. He is a member of Elk Grove Lodge, No. 274, I. O. O. F., and of Elk Grove Lodge, No. 173, F. & A. M.

ILLIAM ELWELL EASTMAN was born in Vermont in 1828, his parents being William Elwell and Mary (Walker) Eastman. He is of the Concord (New Hampshire) branch of the Eastman family, his great-grandfather being the first male child born in Concord. He lived to a good old age, being over eighty when he died. Grandfather Phineas Eastman, a blacksmith by trade, moved into Orange County, Vermont, and lived to be eighty; his wife, Lucy Cogs- well, was about sixty-five. William E. East- man's maternal grandfather, Lieutenant Walker,

of Vermont, was a hero of the Revolution, and lived to be seventy-five, dying at the home of Mr. Eastman. Grandmother Walker survived him ten or twelve years, and was over eighty when she died. The mother of the subject of this sketch was sixty-five at her death, and the father, who kept a grocery store for many years at Manchester, reached the age of seventy-nine. William E., Jr., spent three or four terms at the Canaan Academy, and at the age of nine- teen went into his father's store, where he re- mained until 1857. He then entered the flour and grain business on his own account, running a mill and dealing in flour at wholesale. In 1865 he moved to Chicago, where he went into the retail grocery business, and was burned out six years later in the great fire, recovering only four and a half per cent. of his insurance. He lost everything, house and store, stock and fur- niture. Resuming business, he found himself crippled through want of adequate capital, and in 1875 he came to California and settled at his present place, abont two miles north of Walnut Grove, on the Sacramento. Here he bought 200 acres at $15 an acre, now assessed at $80. He suffered from overflow for some four years. In 1888 he added to his ranch, which is now about 250 acres. His orchard of ten acres has been increased sevenfold, and off his back land he sold 1,000 tons of alfalfa in 1888. He raises some liorses, having usually between thirty and forty, and also pastures a good many for others. In 1866 Mr. Eastman was married, in Concord, New Hampshire, to Miss Lucy Carter, a native of that city, daughter of Simeon and Eliza (Ab- bott) Carter. IIer father, who was a native of New Hampshire, died comparatively young, in 1850; but her mother, also a native of Concord, is now living at Hopkins, New Hampshire, aged eighty-two, having a sister, Mrs. Mendel Sampson, who is eighty-eight, both remarkably well preserved in mind and body. Her grand- mother Carter lived to be eighty-eight. Mr. and Mrs. East man are the parents of two chil- dren, both born in Chicago: Arthur Carter, April 17, 1869; Ella Gibson, August 30, 1874.

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Both children received the usual district-school education, and the son is a willing helper on the farm.

OHN BLACK, the father of Andrew Black, Supervisor of Sacramento, has had an event- ful and interesting history, a brief ontline of which is given below. He was born in County Sligo, Ireland, about the year 1836. IIe emigrated with his parents to Toronto, Canada, when a boy, and in 1850 we find him a cabin boy on one of the lake vessels; later on, before the mast in a voyage of six or seven months to the Bermudas. He then came to San Francisco and obtained employment as a clerk at $150 per month. In July, 1851, he came to Sacramento and was employed as roustabont in unloading a cargo of flour. Whether this early dealing with the staff of life had any connection with his after occupation, we leave for some other chronicler to record; suffice it to say that very soon after we find him engaged with William Crowley, the joint owner of a lunch stand on Front street, between J and K, and doing a lucrative business. They called this place the Union House, and after eight months of pros- perity, sold ont just before the great fire of 1852. Then, securing a contract for furnish- ing the Navigation Company, he bought the property on L street and started a bakery, and for twenty-five years he continued in the busi- ness. In order to supply his trade he bought a cracker machine and began the manufacture of crackers. In 1862 he moved to his present quarters, No. 1119 Front street, putting in the most approved machinery, Ruger's Centennial Self-Scrapper and Hall Bros,' Reel Oven. His trade now extends over the entire coast. In 1856 Mr. Black was married to Rosa Leavy, a native of Ireland, who died in 1883, leaving two sons and two daughters, the eldest of whom, Andrew Black, is the youngest member of the Board of Supervisors of Sacramento County. He was born July 12, 1858, in this city, and is

a graduate of the public schools. He early be- came interested in the business of his father, and in 1874, after his return from a visit to Australia, he settled down to business and was foreman of the shop for several years. Although a young man, he has already made his mark as a politician, being on the County Central Com- mittee of his party from 1884 to 1888, at which time he secured the endorsement of his party for the office of Supervisor, receiving a hand- some majority vote at the ensuing election over his Republican competitor, Mr. S. J. Jackson.

EORGE DART, M. D., Homeopathic Phy- sician, was born at Brockville, on the banks of the St. Lawrence River, in Leeds County. Canada, February 25, 1828. He re- ceived a common-school education there and learned the trade of cabinet-maker. He after- ward read medicine and studied in the office of Dr. I. S. P. Lord, of Batavia, Illinois; took a partial course at Rush Medical College, and be- gan the practice of his profession in Warren- ville, Illinois, and then removed to De Peyster, St. Lawrence County, New York, where he lived three and a half years. During that time he attended the Detroit Homeopathic Medical College, and graduated at that institution, Feb- ruary 11, 1875 ._ He became a member of the American Homeopathic Institute in June of that year. For many years the severe northern climate of New York had materially affected his health, which at length became so much im- paired that he was obliged to seek a milder climate. Accordingly, in the fall of 1879 he came to Sacramento to visit his daughter, Mrs. P. F. Pierson, of this city, and was so much pleased with the salutary climate here that he determined to remain, and opened an office on J street, where he remained five years. In the spring of 1881 he made a trip East, and return- ing in the fall of that year, decided to locate on the Bay. He went direct to San Francisco, but the humidity of the atmosphere brought on his

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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