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 79

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 79

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HISTORY OF SACRAMENTO COUNTY.

old trouble, bronchitis, and after spending a year and a half there he was compelled to aban- don a rapidly growing practice and return to Sacramento. Here he has had the good fortune to regain his health, and speaks highly of the advantages of the climate here. The Doctor was married in Canada, when twenty-three years old, to Miss Orilla Able, whose father was a Yankee Quaker. They have three daughters and one son. The Doctor has been a careful, painstaking student all his life, and well de- serves the confidence which his friends repose in him. He is a gentleman of culture and of great urbanity of manner.

LISHA DALY, an agriculturist of Center Township, was born November 23, 1823, in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, son of Jolin R. and Hannah (Doyle) Daly, the father also a native of that State, and the mother of Delaware; both lived and died in Harrisburg, Pennsylva- nia's capital, and both at the age of about thirty- two years. There were five children in the family: John R., Elisha, Mary S., Elizabeth, and William, who died in Placerville. Mr. Daly, whose name heads this sketch, is a carpenter by trade. Ile worked in a woolen factory when a boy. In 1844 he went to Rock Island, Illinois, and worked at his trade there ten years, in com- pany with his brother John R. In 1854 he came to this State, being four months on the way and stopping first at Placerville. He spent six months on Schofield's ranch on Dry Creek; then he purchased property on Thirteenth and K streets, Sacramento, and resided there until 1859, teaming; and then he moved up on his present property in Center Township, fourteen miles northeast of Sacramento and eight miles from Folsom. There are 472 acres in the ranch, which is in the best farming district in the township. He has been justice of the peace in this township. Ile is a member of Roseville Grange, No. 161, and politically is a Republi- can. In 1853 he married Miss Eliza Ramsey,

of Davenport, Iowa, and a native of Ireland, and they have thirteen children, viz .: Elisha R., Jane E., wife of Charles W. Summers, of Sacra- mento; Hannah, wife of Jonathan Churchman, of Sacramento; Louis S., Josephine E., Mar- garet P., wife of Charles Johnston; George W .; Mary R., a school teacher; Eugene M., Emma H., John S., Arabella C. and Minerva C. George and Louis are proprietors of a general store in Antelope, where they have also the postoffice, telegraph office, and the express business of the Wells-Fargo Company. Mr. Daly, who is quite feeble, still manages his own affairs. Mrs. Daly's father still lives in Rock Island, at the age of ninety years. She visited her Eastern home in June, 1885, but says she is content to remain in California the rest of her life. Captain J. Daly, grandfather of Elisha, was a native of Ireland, a sea captain, and died at New Orleans. He was the owner of sea vessels in 1812, during the war with Great Britain.

OHN C. DOLSON, a San Joaquin Town- ship rancher, was born in Orange County, New York, April 7, 1823, a son of Freder- ick and Margaret (Moore) Dolson. His father was a native of Germany and a farmer by occu- pation, and in his family were five sons and four daughters. He died at the age of fifty-one years, and his wife at the age of sixty years, in Orange County, New York. Mr. Dolson, of this sketch, was brought up on the farm and came to Cali- fornia in 1850, by way of Panama, being three months on the route. He followed mining four years at Pilot Hill, near Georgetown, but he did not make much money, although the mines had been very rich. In 1854 he returned to Orange County, New York, again by way of the Istli- mus; and during this year he was married to Hannah O'Conor, a native of Ireland. In 1855 he came again to this State and resumed mining for two years on the American River, with rather poor success. In 1857 he settled on his present ranch, a half mile from Elk Grove, and

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here he has prospered as a general farmer, as he has well deserved to do. He has eight children, in the following order: Oscar J., born October 1, 1855; John J., November 17, 1857; David P., January 4, 1861; Maggie M., May 4, 1863; Willie, May 22, 1865; Mary E., August 23, 1869; Alice E., December 31, 1871; and Joseph II., October 23, 1874.

EORGE HARVEY KERR was born Oc- tober 1, 1829, in Washington County, Pennsylvania. (For his ancestry, see sketch of Joseph Hampton Kerr, elswhere in this work.) He had the advantage of the public schools of Mercer County, where his parents moved when he was three years old, and also of the academy at West Greenville, county seat. From there he went to Jefferson College, located at Can- nonsburg, which was afterward removed to Washington and consolidated with the college there. At intervals between his schooling and after leaving school he learned the carriage- making trade, serving an apprenticeship and following the business three years. April 15, 1852, lie determined to come to California, and accordingly made his way to New York, where he took the steamer Illinois to Panamna, and from there to San Francisco the ill-fated vessel Golden Gate. He was taken sick on the way; lay in Sacramento State Hospital for thirteen · weeks, a private patient, paying $3 a day. Ile spent the summer of 1853-'54 teaching school at Diamond Spring, El Dorado County. He came to Elk Grove and took up a quarter-sec- tion of Government land in 1854. In 1857 he started a fruit-growing business, and in con- nection with that farming. Believing that fruit cannot be grown successfully without irrigation, he lias in general used that method except for grapes, and been successful. He has ten acres devoted to orchards of various kinds of fruits, and fifty acres are devoted to vineyard,-two- thirds table and raisin grapes and the remain- der wine grapes. Has cured his own grapes for

the past twelve years, and the best judges say that there are no better raisins produced in the State of California than the Elk Grove. Mr. Kerr is a member of the First Presbyterian Church at Elk Grove, having first joined the church in Mercer County, Pennsylvania, in 1845. He took an active interest in building the church property and the Grange Hall. One of the first things he was interested in on com- ing to Elk Grove was establishing Sunday- schools at San Joaquin. Politically he is a Republican, and has voted for every Republican Presidential candidate since that party has been established. He was married in 1864 to Mrs. Mary Springsted, a native of Ayliner, Canada. She was a widow with two children, both of whom are married and residing at Elk Grove.

- AMES M. FRALEY was born in Maryland, November 24, 1827, his parents being Frederick and Ellen (McHenry) Fraley, both natives of Frederick County, Maryland. They were the parents of nine children, all now deceased except the subject of this sketch and a younger sister, Mrs. Dr. Evart, of Baltimore. The father had learned the trade of wagon-maker, at which he worked for some years in Frederick and Cumberland. About 1840 he moved into Alleghany County, Maryland, where he owned a farm and kept a public house. He had been reared on a farm until the age of eighteen. James M. was educated in the district schools to the age of fifteen, supplemented by a two years' course in a high school. At the age of seven- teen he was employed in driving his father's team, usually from Cumberland to Brownsville, and sometimes to Wheeling, besides helping occasionally in farm work. In 1849 his mother died, and the family was soon scattered into four or five States. James M. went peddling with a team, dealing mostly in copper kettles, for a manufacturer in Cumberland, and remained in that business until February 1, 1852. He then

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HISTORY OF SACRAMENTO COUNTY.

went to Whitehall, Greene County, Illinois, where he had three married sisters, and spent a year there. On March 29, 1853, in company with Dr. Boyse, of Whitehall, and some others, he set ont for California. The party comprised ten men and six women, with four wagons drawn by ox teams. At St. Joe, Missouri, they joined a larger party, but soon separated and proceeded by themselves. suffering no special inconvenience They came by the old emigrant ronte to Carson Valley, and then by Johnson's ent-off into California. They arrived at Ris- tine's ranch, just eight miles below Sacramento, having been six months in making the journey. For a month or two he drove a team for $75 a month, but was taken siek with typhoid fever, and for four months was unable to work. Early in 1854 he went to work for the California Stage Company, taking care of their horses, at which he was employed for nine months, when he was again taken sick. In 1855 he engaged in farming on the shares, putting about 165 acres in grain which was destroyed by the grasshop- pers, involving a loss of quite a sum of money and his time. In 1856 he went to work for A. M. Plummer, who kept a publie-house on the old Jackson road, about thirteen miles from Sacramento, remaining with him about three and one-half years. In 1860 he purchased an ontfit and went to teaming, chiefly over the mountains into Nevada. In 1865 he bought a farm of 320 acres, near the Twelve-Mile House, but continned teaming nntil 1869, after which he gave undivided attention to his ranch until he sold it in 1879. He kept the Twelve-Mile Ilouse two years, when he sold ont and moved into Sacramento, where he kept a saloon for nearly two years. November 1, 1882, he rented the Slongh House, abont eighteen miles from that city, which he still conducts. Mr. Fraley was first married, in 1848. to Miss Sarah Ellen Lawson, a native of Maryland, and daughter of a farmer on the Potomac. She died ten months later of childbirth, the child also dying. In December, 1881, he was again married, to Miss Addie Laurell, a native of Portland, Maine.

She died in March, 1885, without issne, leaving him again alone in the world.

EWELL KANE was born July 1, 1842, in St. Joseph County, Indiana, his parents being Newell and Arminda (Stiles) Kane. llis father spent his boyhood days, up to Octo- ber 4, 1826, in Raleigh, North Carolina, where he was born April 27, 1802, and there learned the millwright's trade; then moved to Detroit, where he was married February 16, 1832; thence went to Jonesville, ninety miles from Detroit, and bought a farm, which he cultivated, at the same time working at his trade. He built a mill in Homer and lived there a short time, then moved to Marshall, and in 1840 went to St. Joseph County, Indiana. IIe bonght land in Noble County as a speculation. From Indi- ana he returned to Michigan and resided on his farm of 320 acres until the winter of 1851-'52, when, having canght the gold fever, he sold out and started for California, Jannary 1. He sailed from New York via Panama, on the steamer Pioneer, and landed in San Francisco on the 6th of March from the steamer Golden Gate. He went immediately to Sacramento, thence to Mor- mon Island, where he kept hotel through the sum- mer. In 1853 he returned to Sacramento for the purpose of going into business, but the flood prevented him from so doing. Going to Brighton Township, he bought 205 acres of land, the locality thien being called the Thirty- mile Desert, owing to the scarcity of water from Sacramento to the foot-hills some thirty miles distant. The land was covered with brush and trees, mostly white oak, and wild animals were plentiful, the California lion and wild cattle cansing at times great fear among the settlers. Ile worked upon the place, cultivating and im- proving it to what it now is. August 28, 1887, at the age of eighty-six years, he died. Mrs. Kane, his wife, was born in Palmyra, New York, April 2, 1813, and came with her parents, David and Elizabeth (who was of Scotch descent, danghter

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HISTORY OF SACRAMENTO COUNTY.

of John Cummings, who was at one time sheriff of New York) Stiles, to Michigan. She is of a hardy race; her great-grandfather Stiles came over in the Mayflower; her grandfather lived to the age of 115 years; and her father, David Stiles, lived to the age of 107 years, and the year before he died could put his hand on a seven-rail fence and jump over it! Other mem- bers of the family also lived to a good old age. She died July 8, 1889, gangrene having set in in her right foot, and after suffering great pain for months, her foot decaying by inches until amputation became necessary, after which she survived but a short time. The children of Mr. and Mrs. Kane are: Maria Louise, who, a few days before her death and while she was then confined to her deathbed, wrote the follow- ing poem :

MY BURIAL.

Where shall the dead and the beautiful sleep ? In the vale where the willow and cypress weep; Where the wind of the west breathes its softest sigh, Where the silvery stream is floating nigh, And the pure clear drops of the rising spray Glitter like gems in the bright noon's rays; Where the sun's warm smile may never dispel Night's tears o'er the form they loved so well ; In the vale where the sparkling waters flow; Where the fairest, earliest violets grow. Bury me where my sister lies, Bury me there beneath the skies.

Where shall the dead and the beautiful sleep ? Where the wild flowers bloom in the valley deep ; Where the sweet robes of spring may softly rest In purity o'er the sleeper's breast ; Where is heard the voice of the sinless dove, Murmuring gently its soft note of love; Where no column proud in the sun may glow, To mock the heart that is resting below ; Where pure hearts are sleeping forever blest ; Where the wandering Peri love to rest; Where the sky and the earth are softly fair,- Bury me there, bury me there.

Sylvina Josephine, born March 8, 1835, and died February 17, 1853, in Sacramento; Edward, born March 2, 1837, died February 5, 1853, in Sacramento; Delia Caroline, born July 14, 1839, died August 8, 1841; Theodore F., born June 4, 1845, and now resident in Portland, Oregon: Alfred, born December 13, 1847, died

September 12, 1862, on the farm; Maria Caro- line, born October 15, 1849, wife of W. W. Brison, of Sacramento. Newell Kane, Jr., com- menced to earn his own way in the world when eighteen years of age. He took 300 acres of land, in 1860, adjoining the home place, and afterward bought 500 more, east of the home place, called the Oak Tree Farm. In 1878 he disposed of it and moved to Sacramento, where he bought property on the corner of Seven- teenth and J streets, and lived there till the summer of 1879. Then he moved to Oakland and resided there about three years. Next he took a trip to Washington Territory, up the Skagit River, during the gold excitement at that place. From there he wandered to Port- land, Oregon; stopped there a short time and then returned to Oakland, where he kept hotel about two years. Then he sold out his business and removed to Idaho, where he speculated somewhat in town and mining property. He made his home there about one year, when he returned to California, and has made Sacramento County his home ever since. He has been at the home farm since his father's death. He was married on April 16, 1865, to Miss Francelia Ann Hatch, daughter of N. V. Hatch, of Sacra- mento city. They have three children: Joseph- ine Eunice, born October 21, 1868, now the wife of Montgomery Pike, of Santa Maria, Santa Barbara County; Arthur Edward, born October 16, 1869; May Louise, born February 19, 1872.

SON. REUBEN KERCHEVAL, deceased, the subject of this sketch, was born in Ohio, in December, 1820, his parents be- ing Louis and Mary (Runyon) Kercheval. The father was born in Virginia about 1796, and rendered some service in the war of 1812. The mother was a Kentuckian. Grandfather James Kercheval, by birth a Virginian, moved with his family into Kentucky, and his son, Lonis, was there married. The Kerchevals are of

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HISTORY OF SACRAMENTO COUNTY.

Huguenot extraction, their aneestor, Louis, leaving France upon the revocation of the edict of Nantes. He found refuge in Switzerland, then in England, and finally in America. He was of Dijon family, whose castle on the Rhine was in existence as late as 1854. The name denotes horse-lover, the initial C being changed to K for euphony. The parents of Reuben Kercheval moved from Kentucky to Ohio about 1818, and thence to Will County, Illinois, in 1830. The son's formal education consisted of a single terin in a district school, but being fond of reading he became a well-informed man on general topics and publie affairs. He came to California in 1850, and tried mining for six weeks. Reared on a farm he discarded the uncongenial business of mining, and with his brother, Albert F., now of Los Angeles, settled ou Ryer Island, on the Sacramento, before the close of 1850. After a few years he and his father bought the place on Grand Island, and subsequently he bought out his brother's inter- est, and became owner of 334 acres, in one body, at the head of Grand Island. In 1856 he vis- ited his old home in Will County, Illinois, re- maining several months. In June, 1857, Mr. Kercheval was there married to Miss Margaret Brodie, born in Ohio, daughter of Clement and Sarah( White) Brodie, who afterward settled in Will County, Illinois. They were the parents of five daughters and one son: the latter, Robert John, of New Lenox, Illinois, died in Decem- ber, 1872, leaving three children: E-ther, Jolın Clement and Sadie. One daughter is also de- ceased, leaving three sisters of Mrs. Kereheval still living in 1889: Strah E., now Mrs. A. Smith, of New Lenox; Mrs. Maria Page, of Joliet; and Mrs. Lonisa Stevens, of St. Paul, Minnesota. Grandfather Robert Brodie was a Scotch emigrant, and the father of four sons: Clement, the father of Mrs. Kercheval; James, an expert in diving, lost his life in the exercise of his calling; Joseph, who died young in the fifties; John, who died at Lafayette, Indiana, in 1885, aged eighty-two. Thomas, the youngest son of John, served in the Union army, in the

Civil War of the Republic, is now a member of the Grand Army, and lives with his family near Williamsport, Indiana. Grandfather Jolin White, who died in the girlhood of his daugh- ter Sarah, was the son of an English emigrant. Another son, known as Judge White, lived near Whiteleysburg, Delaware, where also one or two of the older sisters of Mrs. Kercheval were born, her only brother being born in Columbus, Ohio, herself at Urbana, in that State, and the younger sisters in Wells County, Indiana. Soon after the marriage of Mr. and Mrs. Reuben Kerche- val they set out for California, arriving on Grand Island, in Angust, 1857, where they con- tinned to reside together for nearly twenty-four years. Later on public duties shared in Mr. Kercheval's time and attention, with his busi- ness of fruit-grower and the cares of his family. He was elected to the Legislature for two terms, 1872-'73 and 1877-'78. He was also a Mason, and at one time Master of Franklin Lodge, as well as fourth officer, and a thirty- second degree member of the Scottish Rite Consistory of California. Mr. Kercheval died in May, 1881, leaving four children, born on Grand Island: James Louis, in 1858; Howard Douglas, in 1860; Josephine, in 1865; Hartley, in 1868. Besides the usual local schooling, all the children have been given the opportunity of a higher education: James L. at the California Military Academy; Howard D. at the Cali- fornia Military Academy, then at the Berkeley Gymnasium, and finally in the University of California; Josephine at the Irving Institute, then as pupil of Professor Michelson, then in crayon portraiture and music, as pupil of Pro- fessor Hartmann, and in 1889 as a member of the class of Mrs. Fish,-all of San Francisco; Hartley, at Sackett's Academy in Oakland. James L. was married in 1885 to Miss Nellie Kelly, of San Francisco, where he is employed as freight clerk of the steamer J. D. Peters. Howard D. was married in 1882 to Miss Mattie Stewart Barkley, of Sacramento. They have three boys: Reuben, born in 1883; Elbert, in 1885; and Iloward Gholdsen, February 12,

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1888. Mr. H. D. Kercheval was for some years in the service of the California Transportation Company, and in 1889 is deputy assessor of Sacramento County, and trustee of Grand Island Reclamation District No. 3. Hartley was married to Miss Mamie Hall, of Grand Island, in May, 1889. Since the death of Mr. Renben Kercheval the estate has been enlarged under the able management of his widow, Mrs. Mar- garet B. Kercheval. She has purchased eighty acres three miles below, and sixty-eight two miles farther. She has erected a handsome two-story residence, now occupied hy Howard D., about a mile below the family mansion at the head of the Island, and more recently a less pretentious, but scarcely less elegant, one-story and basement cottage, on the eighty-two acre place, now occupied by Hartley. The new pur- chase, five miles below, is being cleared of tim- ber, and will be all planted before the close of 1889. There are now abont seventy acres of orchard on the other ranches. The year 1889 is also signalized by a combined effort to fully reclaim the whole island, in which work Mrs. Kercheval is actively interested. With untir- ing industry and a business ability truly re- markable in a lady, Mrs. Kercheval is ever busily engaged in enlarging, improving and beautifying her landed possessions.

M ICHAEL KEEFE, an extensive farmer six miles sonth of Sacramento, was born in Fort Carrington Township, Franklin County, New York, October 4, 1841. His parents were John and Margaret (Murphy) Keefe, natives of Ireland. Three weeks after their marriage in 1835, they came to America, landing at Quebec. Thence they went to New York State by way of Montreal and Lachine. Mr. Keefe had a brother in Franklin County, New York, and after sojourning with him for a while settled upon a place of his own. He died in 1869, at the age of sixty-seven years. His widow is still living there, at the age of seventy-

six years. In John's father's family were six children: David, Jolın, Daniel, Michael, Mat- thew, and Mary, all of whom are now dead. John Keefe had twelve children: two died in infancy, and those who grew up are David, Johanna, Bridget, Michael, Mary, Margaret, Abigail, Daniel, Katie and John. All these are living excepting Bridget, who died in Wiscon- sin. The others are scattered over the United States, two of them-John and Michael-being in this county. Mr. Michael Keefe, whose name heads this notice, has made his own way in the world since he became of age without a dollar of help from anybody. He packed pork four months in Chicago; worked for Isaialı Strong, a cattle-dealer in La Salle County, Illi- nois, ten months; then he visited a point above Green Bay, Wisconsin, where his sister had just died; then in Chicago again for a short time during the cold storm of the winter of 1864; then worked a short time for Abner Strong, brother of Isaiah, La Salle County; then, on account of the sickness of his father, he returned to New York and remained there with his par- ents until May 19, 1864, when he started for California. He sailed upon the steamer Illinois to Panama, having some trouble to effect a landing, as it was during the war; and on the steamer America to San Francisco, landing there June 27. For a short time he worked for Colonel MeNasser, in Franklin Township, this county, and then for Silas Carle, Mr. West, William Curtis in Sacramento, H. Wittenbrock, and then Mr. Curtis again until 1871. He then married Nora Egan, and continued to make his home there for two years. His eldest son, John, was born there, February 3, 1874. He next moved upon the place owned by Oliver C. Carroll and lived there a year and a half; then, in 1875, he moved into Sacramento for four months. His second son, George Michael, was born there, October 3, 1875. He then bought a half interest in the Hayne & Cheney ranch and moved upon it December 4, that year. There his third son, Daniel Stanislaus, was born, September 1, 1877, and his fourth child, Mar-

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garet Ann, July 13, 1881. December 22 of the latter year he moved upon his present place, which he bought in January, 1881, and which contains 200 acres. It is bounded by both the upper and the lower Stockton roads, a .d is six miles from the city limits. His fine residence there was completed in March, 1883. His interest in the Hayne & Cheney ranch consists of 4023 acres; and he began life here with nothing. He devotes his attention to general farming and stock-raising, especially horses, ---- work horses and roadsters.

OSEPH HAMPTON KERR. This gentle- man's father, Samuel Kerr, was born in New Jersey, probably in Newark. When he was a boy his father's family moved to Washington County, Pennsylvania, and in Cannonsburg, that county, he, Samuel, learned the blacksmiths' trade. The ancestry of the Kerr family are from Scotland. His great- grandfather, Nevin, came from County Antrim, Ireland, to America when his (Samuel's) grand- father was a boy. He was of Scotch descent. Samuel Kerr, who was born in 1785, moved from Washington County to Mercer County, same State, and died there September 12, 1844, and his wife survived several years. Ile first married October 6, 1814, Margaret McGregor, who died October 21, 1820, and had three chil- dren, namely: Margaret, born October 15, 1815, and still living, in Missouri; Lewis Hampton, born April 3, 1818, and now deceased; and Samuel, born December 27, 1819, also now deceased. Mr. Kerr's second wife, nee Jane Nevin, was born February 10, 1799, and died January 12, 1867. By the second marriage there were ten children, namely: John Nevin, born July 22, 1822; Joseph Hampton, March 18, 1824; Mary Jane, November 1, 1825, and died December 12, 1886; Andrew Wiley, born July 12, 1827; A. W. Kerr has taught in the public school of California thirty-two years; George Harvey, October 1, 1829; Martha M.,

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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