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 83

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 83

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HISTORY OF SACRAMENTO COUNTY.

this county, on the upper Stockton road near the Lake House. A year afterward he sold it and went to Idaho and followed mining there about three years. Ever since then he has made this county his home. There were six children in his family, of whom five are now living: George M., Mrs. Elizabeth Bader, Amanda, the widow of Andrew K. Wackman, who died in 1884; Benjamin F., California, wife of Willia ..: Clough, of San Francisco, and Judson, who re- sides at Martinez. Mr. Colton, whose name heads this sketch, was eight years old when he came to this State. In the autumn of 1876 he went into business for himself. That year he lived with Mr. Bader, his brother-in-law, and the next year got down to business. In part- nership with B. F. Colton he rented the widow Bayless · farm and conducted it three years. Next he rented the old Harrison Wackman place, of 500 acres, for four years; then lie bought the place of the heirs. George Colton and his brother now own 1,229 acres of land- They not only cultivate and pasture this land, but also run a threshing machine, in which the cleaner used is invented by Mr. Colton but not yet patented. It is the most successful cleaner yet introduced. Mr. Co.ton is now making preparations for running a large dairy and rais- ing more cattle. He was married February 16, 1881, to Miss Louisa Poston, a native of Illi- nois, but brought up in Davenport, Iowa, whither her parents had emigrated. She came to Cali. fornia in the fall of 1876 and kept house for her uncle, Harrison Wackman, as long as he farmed here. Mr. and Mrs. Colton have three children, viz .: Blanche Oston, born July 6, 1882; Chester Leland, November 16, 1884, and Grace Poston, March 27, 1885. Mrs. Colton was born in Rock Island County, Illinois, Au- gust 20, 1850. Her parents, William and Mary Poston, moved across the Mississippi River into Scott County, Iowa, settling six miles from Davenport, where her father is still a resi- dent. Her mother died February 28, 1858. In their family were two sons and three daughters. Only two are now living-Mrs. Colton and

Elias Poston, the latter in Cook County, Illi- nois. William Poston for his second wife mar- ried Anna Carroll, who is still living. By this marriage there were nine children, of whom five daughters and three sons are still living, all in Scott County, Iowa.

RS. JULIA ARMSTRONG, ranch- owner of Cosumnes Township, residing about twenty-four miles from Sacra- mento, was born in Ireland, January 19, 1836, her parents being Michael and Mary (Maher) Doheny. The mother died in 1857, aged sixty- two, and the father, January 24, 1866, aged eighty-nine years and eight months. The par- ents emigrated to America in 1847, accompanied by their four daughters: Julia, the subject of this sketch; Nellie, by marriage Mrs. Patrick Cahill, deceased in San Francisco, in November, 1884; and Annie, now Mrs. James Nolan, of that eity, and Kate, now Mrs. James J. De Bony, now living in Baltimore, Maryland. Miss Julia Doheny was married October 30, 1862, to Mr. William Armstrong, born in Ire- land in 1828, son of John and Nora Lawlor Armstrong. The father died while William was quite young, and several years later, in 1849, the mother came to America with her two chil- dren, Mary Ann, afterward Mrs. Patrick Mur- phy: and William, and settled at Waukegan, Illinois. William came to California in 1852, and went into business as a butcher at Placer- ville, which he carried on for several years. About 1854 he began to pasture cattle on the open lands, where he afterward located, and in 1863 he quit butchering and settled near where his family now resides, buying some from the Government and still more from individuals, until he owned 1,060 acres in one body. Since his death, May 1, 1873, Mrs. Armstrong has bought 120 acres adjoining. The whole ranch is adapted to cattle-raising and general farming. Mrs. Nora Armstrong, for many years a resident of this township, survived her son, dying in

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December, 1886, aged ninety-two. The chil- dren of William and Julia Armstrong were seven, four dying young, one before the father and three since. The three living are-Jeffer. son, born April 14, 1864, was elected justice of the peace November 6, 1888; James, born Au- gust 28, 1865; Mary Agnes, born February 9, 1867. Miss Armstrong has received an aca- demic education in San Francisco. The three children live with their mother in a neat and pleasant home recently erected.

AMES BITCHELL, 1117 L street .- A few more years and the men who came as pio- neers to Sacramento, inen who endured the hardships and privations of early days, trials by floods and fires and all the troublons times inci- dent to frontier life, will be gathered to their fathers! Who shall tell their story so full of stirring incident, and lessons which it were well indeed for future generations to heed, if not told by the biographer of to-day? Our only regret is that the scope of this volume does not permit us to give that detail which the subject would warrant, but a brief page even of the man whose name heads this sketch will be found both interesting and instructive. Born in the city of New York, in 1827, his preliminary edu- cation was had at the public schools of that city. He early entered the publishing house of Mark H. Newham, and there acquired the thorough knowledge of the business which as his life-work he has made so marked a success. The stirring events of California in 1849,-the discovery of gold, the influx of population from all over the world, the building up of populous cities, as if by magic,-offered indncements to ambitious young men to seek their fortune in the "land of golden promise." They came, drawn from widely divergent conditions of life. The farmer left his plow, the merchant his counting-house, the artisan his work-shop, to stand side by side and shoulder to shoulder be- side the softly flowing waters of the Sacramento,

whose auriferons sands brought to many a golden harvest, and to many more " a burden of barren regrets." It is not to be supposed, however, that all came with the idea of going into the mines. Many were attracted by op- portunities to go into commercial enterprise, men with " long heads," endowed with foresight into the dim and misty future, to whose pre- scient minds "coming events cast their shad- ows before." To this class belongs the subject of this sketch. When a friend in whose busi- ness integrity he had the utmost faith, offered to launch ont into the "swirl of the seething tide," he readily lent his aid and encourage- ment to the enterprise, assured that if properly managed it could but succeed; but it was not properly managed, and the consignment of goods into which he had put his confidence and his money, brought him no returns. Hoping to save at least a reinnant, he hurried to the coast, but too late to avert the disaster. Having in mind the old-time adage, "That the place to look for your money is where you lost it," he courageously ordered a second consignment of goods from the East, and while awaiting the arrival engaged in the grocery business in a small way. Upon the arrival of the merchan- dise in June, 1851, he at once opened a book store on J street, adjacent to the lot on which he afterward erected a fire-proof building, and which is now occupied by "Sam " Morris, the bookseller. His business flourished here until the fire which occurred on the night after the Presidential election in November, 1852, when, with others, he was burned ont. After this fire he went to San Francisco and bought one of those ready-made Yankee frames for a build- ing which was warranted to " fit," and would indeed have fitted some other lot much larger than the one of which he was possessed. Find- ing that either the frame was too large or the lot too small, and furthermore being a " person of fashion " he followed the prevailing fashion and erected a canvas building, which corre- sponded in every essential detail with those of his neighbors, and his frame was carefully laid

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HISTORY OF SACRAMENTO COUNTY.

away to rest until his lot should " grow." Two years later he had purchased the lot adjoining, and proceeded to erect thereon a fire-proof brick building, having iron shutters and doors, fore- seeing that at no distant day the inflammable character of the structures in the neighborhood would result in fire. This building was nearly completed, when, one hot day in July, 1854, his fears were realized. A fire started further down the street, and, summoning what assistance he could command, he began moving his stock into the new building, which, although not com- pleted, was sufficiently so to be deemed fire- proot. In the excitement and turmoil, he soon saw that his neighbors were taking advantage of his foresight, and stocks of every description were being finng pell-mell into his building for safety from the advancing flames, crowding ont his own goods, and even filling up the gang- ways, which were with difficulty closed against the encroachments of the devouring element. When the morning dawned and the fire had burned ont, his fire-proof building alone stood, black and bleak, amid the ruins of so many cherished hopes; a monument to the qualities of foresight which was then, and still is, with him so marked a characteristic. For twenty years he continued to occupy the same building, con- ducting successfully a business which grew with the growth of the Capital City, and under his fostering care brought a harvest of golden shekels. He has been twice married; his first wife, to whom he was united in 1846 when he was but nineteen, survived but a few years, leaving a son "Zach," who is now a farmer in Solano County. His second marriage was made in New York, in 1855, to Mrs. Mary E. Gray. Mr. Bitchell has never been in any sense a poli- tician, while steadily and earnestly interesting himself in all the affairs appertaining to the advancement of the city, and could doubtless. had he desired to do so, have held many offices of trust. He langhingly refers to the one cam- paign of his life, when as he says, "Abraham Lin- coln was at the head of the ticket and he (Bitchell) at the foot, being a nominee for

school director;" he says he got more votes in his district than Lincoln, and that the board to which he was elected, consisting of Henry Mil- ler, John Millikin, Dr. Simmons, John Craw- ford, A. C. Sweetzer, and others, was a very respectable crowd.

AMES HI. STURGES, watches and jewelry, Folsom, an honored and old-time citizen of this county, and of the town of Folsom, where he occupies important positions, was born in the town of Wallkill, Orange County, New York, December 27, 1828. His father, Will- iam L. Sturges, was also a native of the same place, as was also his grandfather. William L. Sturges married Miss E. Price, a native of Orange County, New York; her grandfather was a Welshman, and this is the only point in the history of the Sturges family that is trace- able to a foreign country. When the subject of this sketch was five years old his parents moved with him to the city of New York, and lived there five years. His mother then died, and he returned to Orange County, and remained there three years; then he resided in New York again until he came to California in 1851. At the age of fifteen years he entered a jewelry store, and continued there until he came West. February 28, 1851, he sailed from New York and came by the Panama route to this State, arriving in San Francisco April 2, 1851. He went to the mines on Yuba River for a short time, and then was on Horse-Shoe Bar, on the American, until 1854; then one year in the neighborhood of Coloma, and then three years in the neighbor- bood of Negro Hill, opposite Mormon Island, and finally concluded to fall back upon his old trade, in watches and jewelry; but before get- ting a start in this, and after he had obtained his outfit of tools, he acted as water agent for the Negro Hill Ditch Company for a time. He opened his present business in Folsom in De- cember, 1860, and since that time he has un- interruptedly and faithfully prosecuted this

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HISTORY OF SACRAMENTO COUNTY.

confining business. In political matters he has been a Republican ever since the party was organized; prior to that he was a Whig. His first vote for the Presidency was cast for Gen- eral Winfield Scott, in 1852, and the second for John C. Fremont in 1856, with the majority of the Northern Whigs. In 1881 he was ap- pointed justice of the peace for Granite Town- ship, and at the succeeding election elected to the same office, which position he has ever since held. In educational matters he has always taken a great interest. Has been school trustee five successive terms of three years each. He has been a member of the Masonic order for thirty years, and for the past five years secretary of Natoma Lodge, No. 64. Is also a member of the O. C. F., and secretary for seven years, each time unanimously elected; and he also belongs to the order of the Golden Shore. His marriage was celebrated May 1, 1861, when he wedded Miss Henrietta C. Wadleigh, and they have had two sons and one daughter: Charles H., Mary Louetta and James H. The daughter was mar- ried January 5, 1881, to General J. G. Martine, of Sacramento, and died July 30, 1888, the mother of two children. The elder son is resid- ing at Folsom, in the employ of his father as assistant postmaster, J. H. Sturges. now having charge of the postoffice under C. L. Ecklon, postmaster, and the younger son is at New Castle, in the employ of the New Castle Fruit Company.

OAH BISHOP GILL, a rancher of Co- sninnes Township, was born in Kentucky, January 16, 1836, his parents being Rev. James William and Susannah (Bishop) Gill. The father was born in Virginia in 1808, and became a preacher of the "Christian" or Campbellite Church. He was married in Pu- laski County, Kentucky, moved to Delaware County, Ohio, thence to Indiana, and from that State to Iowa. In 1852 he came to California, and returned to Iowa on Christmas day, 1853.

In 1854 he bought a farm in Marion County, Iowa, which he sold three years later. In 1857 he again came to California, and died in 1869. The mother, Susannah Gill, was a daughter of Joseph Bishop, a Kentucky farmer, and died comparatively young. Grandfather Thomas Gill, a native of Ireland, was a soldier in the war of 1812, and afterward worked at his trade of blacksmith in Virginia. where he died in 1855, aged sixty-tive. His wife, Grace Ellen, was of German deseent. N. B. Gill caine to California with his father and stepmother, across the plains, arriving in Stockton, October 6, 1857, after a journey of 163 days from Omaha. He soon went into the teaming busi- ness, his first job being the driving of a twelve- mule team for two months. He afterward became a cattle-herder, his occupation taking him into Nevada, Utah, Montana and Idaho, spending three years on the frontiers, during two of which he saw no whites except his com- rades of the same calling, and was frequently in danger from hostile Indians. An unpleasant experience of that period was traveling on one occasion with four companions for five days withont food, and the difficulty of restraining lis comrades,-he being the oldest and captain of the band,-from a too free use of food when they reached plenty. He afterward worked in the Michigan Bar pottery in various capacities ten or twelve years, and in the copper works on Copper Hill two years. He entered 160 acres at his place, abont three miles south of Michi- gan Bar, in 1871, filed pre-emption and home- stead papers, and has but recently secured a patent from the general Government. He has sold a portion to the owner of the neighboring pottery, and retains the title to about eighty- four acres, well adapted to general farming, and with irrigation capable of raising fruit. In 1882 he was taken sick with pneumonia, and was in feeble health for three years, losing the use of one eye, with the other somewhat impaired. Mr. Gill was married May 20, 1860, to Miss Mar- garet Lorinda Baker, born in Indiana, in May, 1841, her parents being Regnal Prather and

HISTORY OF SACRAMENTO COUNTY.

541

Mary (Holmes) Baker, both deceased, the mother in 1873, aged sixty-two, and the father in 1883, aged seventy-two. Grandfather William Holmes, a native of Kentucky, died in Missouri in 1843, aged cighty-seven; his wife, by birth Margaret Quinn, was eighteen months younger, and snr- vived him eighteen months. Great-grandfather Holmes, whose name was also William, was an English emigrant, and lived 100 years, lacking one month. Grandfather William Baker died comparatively young, but his wife, by birth Helen Prather, the daughter of a German fatlier and English mother, lived to be sixty- five. Mr. and Mrs. Baker, with their three children, came to California in 1853, and located at first in San Jose Valley. Mr. Baker put in a crop, but it was almost destroyed by squirrels. In 1854 he came to Michigan Bar and went to mining. Ile filed pre-emption papers on 160 acres, about ore and a half miles south of the village, which is still occupied by some of his heirs. Mr. and Mrs. N. B. Gill have had four sons and one daughter, of whom only one, Al- fred Allen, born June 18, 1869, is now living.

- ETER B. GREEN was born in Bretzen- heim, in the Rhein province of Prussia, his parents being Philip and Christina (Yaeger) Green. His grandfather, Joseph Green, was over seventy when he died, and his grand- mother Green was well advanced in years when she died, through an accident. P. B. Green was educated in Prussia. He left home direct for California in 1858, on the ship Triton, via Cape Horn, and arrived in San Francisco in 1859, whence he came to a point on the Sacra- mento River near where Courtland now is, and went to work on a farm. In 1862 he went to school at Walnut Grove, to perfect himself in the English language. In 1864 he tried mining in Inyo and Mono counties, and also did some mining at Aurora, in the State of Nevada. Ile helped to form the county of Inyo, was ap- pointed justice of the peace at Inyo, and was

afterward elected his own successor in 1867. He studied law for a time, and also took a course of instruction at E. P. Heald's Business College in San Francisco, and worked for a commission house in that city in 1869 and 1870. Mr. Green settled permanently on the Sacramento River in 1871, and by different purchases he became the owner of the place he now occupies on " Randall Island," which is no longer an island, though when first he saw it in 1859 there were perhaps twenty feet of water in the slough which formed its southern water front. His land is well adapted for fruit culture, and that is his chief industry. He has erected on his place a handsome residence of fourteen rooms, making a very comfortable and elegant home. Mr. Green was married October 17, 1871, to Cynthia L., daughter of Austin and Mary Ann Sims, and a native of Greene County, Illinois. Her (Mrs. Green's) parents reside at Courtland. Both were born in Kentucky in 1805, and are well preserved both mentally and physically. Mr. and Mrs. Green are the par- ents of six children, of whom five are living, viz .: Delma, Ulmer, Bernice, Boyd and Les- tenna. Both parents, with their children, at- tend the services of the Richland Methodist Episcopal Church.

BEN OWEN was born in in Portland, Maine, November 26, 1812, his parents being Eben and Sarah (Bartlett) Owen. The grandfather was also named Eben or Eben- ezer. Father and grandfather both lived to a good old age, longevity being, as far as known, a hereditary trait in the family. Grandmother Owen was a Miss Cotton, and the Cottons and Bartletts are of New England stock for many generations, the former of New Hampshire and the latter of Maine, from which they have spread in various directions throughout the country but are still most numerous in the East. The father of the subject of this sketch kept a gro- cery store for many years in Portland, and the

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son helped in the store in boyhood. Was edu- cated in the city schools, and when working in the store, he attended night school. In 1838 he went to New Orleans with a view of getting a clerkship, in which he was disappointed. Learning of a chance at Jackson, Louisiana, he went there and remained ten years, filling differ- ent situations. In the fall of 1849 he set out for California by way of New Orleans and the Isthmus and arrived at San Francisco, February 22, 1850, sixty-nine days being spent in the voyage on the Pacific. His comrade was Harvey D. Smith who with himself and three others formed a small party of five. When in San Francisco, they hired a rcom about ten feet square, for which they paid $50 a month, and the landlord complained bitterly of the heavy de- cline in rents. In March they went in a small sail-boat to Stockton, paying $20 each. After a trip of five days on the river, they camped on the peninsula, and there remained several weeks, the roads being too bad to travel. They then lett for the Stanislaus River, paying $20 a hun- dred weight to a teamster for freight on their mining outfit, with the privilege of riding occa- sionally on the ox team. They walked a good part of the way, the roads being still in bad condition. Stopped short of their destination and went to mining on a branch of the Cala- veras, where they spent the summer of 1850. Afterward mined at different points-Moke- lumne Bar, Jackson Creek and Indian Dig- gings, in all about two years; net result to Mr. Owen only about $1,200. He then came to Sacramento and went to clerking for Mr. Briggs, a stock buyer, grocer and speculator, to whom his friend Smith had loaned a considerable amount, and himself a few hundreds. Mr. Briggs becoming embarrassed through over speculation and ruinous rates of interest, Mr. Smith became owner of the grocery business in partial settlement of his claim, Mr. Owen con- tinuing as partner. In the fall of 1852 Mr. Smith died of sporadic cholera, leaving his estate in charge of Mr. Owen, with directions to send $1,000 to a crippled brother and the rest to his

father, in New York, which was done. The firm of Smith & Owen lasted but two or three months. Needing a reliable assistant, he sold Mr. Smith's interest to a Mr. Haskell, but only for about three months, when Mr. Haskell, urged by his wife to return to his home. in Michigan, settled with Mr. Owen on the basis of wages for the time he had been in the firm, pleading that "domestic happiness is worth more than money." The firm then became Owen & Estes, for a year or more; then Owen & Chamberlain for about the same length of time. In 1854, Mr. Owen bought the Central Hay-yard on Tenth, Eleventh and T streets, which he rented for more than ten years. It, when purchased, rented for $3,000, and when sold was renting for $300 a year. In 1855 he sold out his old business to Charles S. White and went back to Portland, Maine, where he was married to Miss Mary W. Dole, a native of that State, of an old and respected family. In 1857, after eighteen months sojourn in Port- land, during which he was chiefly occupied in erecting and fitting up a homeand some income buildings for his parents, he returned to Califor- nia. . In 1866 he bought the ranch he still owns on the Cosumnes in Franklin Township, contain- ing about 1,250 acres of good average land, chiefly cultivated for wheat, but on a part of which he has now a young orchard. He at one time owned a ranch in Solano County, on which he raised sheep and grain, but losing nearly 2,000 sheep in one dry season he gave up the business there and sold the place. In 1866 Mrs. Owen died at the early age of about twenty- eight years, leaving two boys: Eben Bartlett, born October 25, 1861, and Harry Dole, born December 26, 1863. In 1868 he moved on the ranch, but returned to Sacramento somc years afterward for the better education of his sons. In the country, they rode five miles to the dis- triet school. Besides the usual education there and in the city each took a course in the Atkin- son Business College. Both are now engaged on the ranch, each having charge of a definite portion of the estate. The father usually resides in the city where he retains , his old home, and

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HISTORY OF SACRAMENTO COUNTY.

visits the ranch occasionally. He is an earnest spiritualist and finds much comfort in that faith, in which he has believed for thirty years. He is possessed of mediumistic powers and is con- trolled by spirits other than his own, as he be- lieves. Harry Dole Owen, the younger son, was married December 15, 1885, to Miss Maggie Utter, a native of Franklin Township, daughter of Dowty and Amanda (Hall) Utter. The father was originally a book-keeper, and afterward a rancher two and a half miles south of Franklin on the lower Stockton road. He died in 1869, at the early age of thirty-two; the mother is now Mrs. J. W. Moore, of the same place. Mr. and Mrs. Harry D. Owen are the parents of two children: William Eben, born November 15, 1887, and May Gladys, born May 31, 1889.

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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