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 90

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 90

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1856, he at once entered Crocker's storc. In May, 1863, he bought ont Mr. Crocker's inter- est. The store was then located on J strect, between Eighth and Ninth, and the firm was Dnell, Griffitts & Co. During that year, 1863, the Sacramento Light Artillery was organized, composed of professional and business men. Edgar Mills was the first captain, and the sec- ond was S. S. Montague, chief engineer of the Central Pacific Railroad. Mr. Griffitts became corporal, and served with the organization several years. In 1872 he bought out his re- maining partners in the store. and continued alone until February, 1877. In the fall of that year he embarked in the real estate and insur- ance business, and a year afterward became a member of the firm of E. H. Stevens & Co. Mr. Griffitts has held many positions of trust. In 1878 he was a member of the board of edu- cation, and was president of the same two years, and during his term Jarvis Johnson established the School of Technology, the Capital Grammar School building was erected, and other improve- ments made; he was also a fire commissioner for six years, and during his term as such the department acquired the property on Seventh street, between K and L; and for four years he was county assessor. Of late he has in some de- gree retired from the more active duties, be- coming interested in fruit culture at Courtland since 1884. IIe has also located many tracts of State land for settlers, having much experience and a thorough knowledge of the topography of the State. He has at all times taken an active interest in politics. He voted for Jolin C. Fre- mont in 1856, and has ever since then been a loyal Republican; has been a member of the City Central Committee, and of various con- ventions. At Laporte, Indiana, in 1860, he married Miss Georgiana Root, a native of New York State, and daughter of Colonel Root, well known as a colonel of militia in this State. Mr. and Mrs. Griffitts have a son and a daughter. The family with which Mr. Griffitts is connected is a very prominent one in the city of Phila- delphia. His father was a native of that city,

born in 1794; and the latter's father was also a native of the same city. Ilis grandfather, Wil- liam Griffitts, was born in Wales in 1724, emi- grated to Philadelphia, and married Abigail Powell, daughter of Samuel Powell, both fami- lies being " Friends." Powell's avenue in Phila- delphia was named for them, and Dr. Samuel Powell, a near relative, was a very prominent physician there.

WV EINSTOCK, LUBIN & CO .- The his- tory of Sacramento would be incom- plete without some description of its greatest retail dry-goods establishment. It is a modern institution, and its growth has been phenomenal. The store building, which is on the southeast corner of Fourth and K streets, is 120 x 160 feet in dimensions. The proprie- tors, who are half brothers, began here in 1874, in a small way, in a building 16 x 24 feet, on the corner where they are at present, and they have so increased their business that at least for a large portion of each year, 250 to 320 em - ployes are required to do the work. As their patronage extends throughout the coast much of their business is transacted by mail, and for this alone many hands are employed. They have offices and buyers in New York city, San Francisco and other large cities. They have added to their business the feature of co-oper- ation, and named their magnificent establish- ment the Mechanics' Store. The method adopted in the sharing of profits is as follows: The em- ployes are divided into four grades,-the first, who are permitted to be stockholders, being a few of the most trusted hands; the second, the heads of departments, who hold executive and important positions; third, the janiors, who hold subordinate positions, and have served a certain length of time; fourth, the remainder of the employes. As promotion is strictly accord- ing to merit, a book account is kept of the con- duct of each employé, and small fines are imposed for shortcomings. The fund thus arising

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is divided pro rata among the class from which it had arisen. The proprietors take an active in- terest in the welfare of their employés, adopt- ing means for interesting them outside of business hours. An educational department has been created, and teachers employed for the different branches. All persons under seventeen years of age in the employ of the house have the benefit of this instruction. The firmn name was Weinstock & Lubin until the beginning of 1888, when the association was incorporated under the name of Weinstock, Lubin & Co. The officers are now: H. Weinstock, president; D. Lubin, vice-president; Albert Bonheim, secretary and treasurer. The board of directors consists of the above-named officers, together with Wil- liam Skeels and Charles Phipps. The proprie- tors are publie-spirited gentlemen, and have done much for the improvement of the city of Sacramento.

FON. ROBERT WHITNEY WATERMAN, Governor of the State of California. Per- haps no study is of either a deeper interest or a greater valne, more especially to the young, than that of personal history and the deline- ation of character. In material of this nature the records of American citizenship are peculiarly rich, furnishing ns some of the most striking instances possible of what ean be achieved, even under the most untoward circumstances, by force of diligence, determination, and, striet in- tegrity. Moreover, while such examples can be culled from the annals of almost every section, no State of the Union presents so rich a field for the biographer and historian as does Cali- fornia. Her population has no equal in any other portion of the world either in independ- ence of character, in strong virtues of manhood or the accomplishment of great success. For these reasons it is, that no apology is necessary when the name of a true Californian is men- tioned. Especially is this the case when the subject chosen is one who stands deservedly and

honorably so, a type and representative at onee of the large manhood of the West, and as well the civic head of the great State of California, Governor R. W. Waterman, one who owes more to the capital embraced in a splendid physical organization and a well poised brain than to the wealth inherited from a line of ancient ancestry. Robert Whitney Waternian, seventeenth Gov- ernor of California, was born in Fairfield, Herki- mer Connty, New York, December 15, 1826. His father died when the son was ten years old, and in very moderate circumstances. Two years later the son removed to the West and located at Syeamore, Illinois, and later acted as elerk in a country store until his twentieth year, in Bel- videre, Illinois, where he engaged in business for himself as a general merchant in 1846. In 1848 Mr. Waterman removed to Genoa, Illinois, where he engaged in mercantile business, and in 1849 became postmaster under President Taylor, but, carried away with the early tide of the gold-seeking emigration, he crossed the plains in the following year to California. During the years 1850 and 1851 Mr. Waterman engaged extensively in mining on the Feather River, and paid freqnent visits to Sacramento to purchase goods, hauling them thence to the scene of his mining operations, little dreaming at that time that he should return again to Sacramento nearly forty years later to fill the gubernatorial chair of a State with over a mil- lion inhabitants. In 1852 Mr. Waterman re- turned to Illinois, locating at Wilmington, and engaging in an extensive general mercantile business, at the same time giving considerable attention to agricultural pursnits. In the fol- lowing year he entered the fields of journalism, and published the Wilmington Independent. He was a delegate to the now historical con- vention, held at Bloomington, Illinois, in 1854, that gave form and name to the Republican party. At this convention he was associated with such men as Abraham Lincoln, Lyman Trumbull, Richard Yates, David Davis, Owen Lovejoy, Richard J. Oglesby, S. A. Hurlbut and Allen C. Fuller, all of whom he counted

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HISTORY OF SACRAMENTO COUNTY.

among his valued and intimate friends. While Governor Waterman has never been known as a politician, he has always taken a lively and clear-sighted interest in the affairs of the nation. Although not a voter he did effective work dur- ing the campaign of Henry Clay, for whose character he has always had an ardent admira- tion. He was instrumental in raising the first brass band outside of Chicago. He took a very active part in Fremont's campaign, and also in the Senatorial contest between Lincoln and Donglas. Under President Lincoln he took the office of postinaster of Wilmington, Illinois. There were thirteen applicants for the position, all of whom wanted it for the money there was in it. Mr. Waterman took it, however, not for the sake of office, but to turn it over to the first one of the "boys in blue" who came home wounded. A man with only one leg got it. Not- withstanding numerous and important duties and interests at home, on the outbreak of the war he enlisted more than 1,000 men, and also rendered valuable services as bearer of dis- patches for Governor Yates, making several trips to the front in 1861, and afterward actively taking part in the reorganization of the hospital service at Cairo, Bird's Point, and Monnd City, Illinois, and Fort Holt and Paducah, Kentucky. In 1873 he returned to California and estab- lished his home at San Bernardino the following year. He had already acquired a practical and val- uable mining experience, and soon started out as a prospector. After undergoing many hardships and meeting obstacles that would have dis- couraged most other men, he and J. L. Porter were finally successful in discovering a series of silver mines in a locality which has since become famous as the Calico Mining District in San Bernardino County, and has added materially to the wealth of the State while giving profit- able employment to very many men. He had always retained his fondness for agricultural pursnits, and with the increased means thus placed at his command, he soon made his Hot Springs ranch, on the mountain side near the city of San Bernardino, one of the most charm-

ing and beautiful homes in the State. This place, with its picturesque surroundings, is the admiration of thousands of visitors every year . During the presidential campaign of 1884 he and Richard Gird were the principal projectors and builders of a large "wigwam " or pavilion in Sin Bernardino for the use of political meet- ings. At the Republican Stite Convention held at Los Angeles Angust 27, 1886, Mr. Wa- terman was nominated for Lieutenant Governor, and in the following November he was elected by a plurality of 2,500 votes, the Democratic State ticket being successful with but two other exceptions. He came to the chair of the Senate without previous experience as a presiding officer, but acquitted himself in a manner that commanded the respect and inspired the con- fidence of that body and of the people, and suc- ceeded in winning over his severest critics of opposite political faith. Upon the death of Governor Washington Bartlett, September 12, 1887, Lieutenant Governor Waterman was called to the duties of Chief Executive and was in- angurated the following day in San Francisco, where the oath of office was administered by Justice McFarland, of the Supreme Court. The course pursued by Governor Waterman since his election to this position has been sub- jected to the severest hostile criticism by per- sons of the other party. yet so equitable, firm and fair has it been, and so manifestly and honestly watchful has been the guardianship of the State's best interests, both in the exercise of patronage and of the prerogatives of office, that Governor Waterman stands to-day as per- haps the most generally popular, as he is one of the best, governors California has ever known. During recent years he has engaged in numerous business enterprises in various parts of the State. Ile is owner of the famous Stonewall gold mine in San Diego County, and has extensive ranch properties in Southern California. He is presi- dent of the San Diego, Cnyamaca & Eastern Railway, and is prominently connected with many other enterprises tending to the develop- ment of the State. Governor Waterman was

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married in 1847, at Belvidere, Illinois, to Miss Jane Gardner, she being a native of that place They have had seven children, of whom six are living, two being sons and four daughters. Their names are as follows: James S., Mary P., Helen J., Waldo S., Anna C., and Lon A.

AMES E. CAMP was born in Bennington County, Vermont, January 28, 1840, his parents being James and Betsy (Jepson) Camp. His father was of German descent, his ancestors having come to this country from Ger- many and settled in Vermont; he lived in Ver- mont until about thirty-five years ago, when he and his family removed to Henry County, Illi- nois, where he died in 1876, at the age of sixty-four years. His mother, Betsy Camp, was a native of Vermont; she died in 1887. There were nine children in the family, five sons and four daughters: Dexter, resident in Pawnee County, Kansas; Swasey, in Nebraska; David, in Sacra- mento County, California; Charles, deceased; James E .; Eliza, in Nebraska; Betsy, in Ne- braska; and Adeline, who died in Iowa. The subject of this sketch was raised and educated in Vermont to the age of sixteen years, when he went with his parents to Illinois, continuing his schooling there for three years. At the age of twenty he commenced farming for himself in Knox County abont seven miles from his father in Henry County. September, 1865, at the age of twenty-five he was married to Miss Ardell Burnason, a native of Otsego County, New York, who died in California in 1876, leaving three children: Charles, born May 15, 1867; Clarence, June 15, 1869; and Lottie, November 6, 1873. Mr. Camp resided in Knox County for six 'or seven years, then moved to Benton County, Iowa. Most of the time he followed farming and for three years ran a livery stable in Belle Plaine, Iowa. Then he emigrated to California, stopping six months in Missouri. Arriving in this State he located in Sacramento County, on the Ilaggin grant in American Township; then

he went to Sacramento City for the purpose of educating his children. In 1882 he bought his present farm of 270 acres, bordering on the American River in Brighton Township, moving npon it in 1885. The land is a sandy loam, rich and productive. He has about ten acres in or- chard and raises peaches, pears, and plums; but the principal crop is hops, which average 2,500 to 3,000 pounds per acre. In 1882 the price of hops was $1 a pound, and has fluctuated from that price ever since. Mr. Camp is thoroughly posted in the art of raising them. He also raises stock and is well known as being a successful man in this business. His stock is as fine as any in the county and consists of beef for the the market, besides some thoroughbred stock. His thoroughbred stock consists of Durhams imported from Kentucky, which ranks the best in the United States; and the Aberdeen Angus, imported from Scotland. Most of the improve- ments on his place he has put there himself, and it is one of the finest ranches in the country, everything being kept in first-class order. Mr. Camp has been a member of the Odd Fellows for about eleven years, and belongs to the Sacra- mento Lodge. He was married to his present wife, Nettie M. Taylor, daughter of Henry Taylor of Clinton County, New York, March 17, 1880. They have one son, Edgar J., who was born December 18, 1885.

NDREW ROSS, one of the best known of Sacramento's business men, is a native of Germany, born at Aschbach, Bavaria, October 20, 1830, a son of George Ross, a hotel keeper and butcher of that place. His mother died when he was a child of two years old. Andrew attended the public schools from the age of six until he was fourteen, and then learned the butcher's trade. In June, 1849, he embarked at Havre-de-Grace on a sailing vessel for New York, the voyage occupying twenty- eight days, then the fastest time on record. He went to Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and obtained

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work at his trade, remaining a year and a half, then proceeded to St. Louis, where he remained, with the exception of seven months, until the spring of 1853. Then he and three companions decided to come to California, and in May, 1853, they started. They proceeded to St. Joseph, thence by Ft. Leavenworth, Kearney and Lara- mie to Salt Lake, where Mr. Ross stopped for two weeks. He purchased a couple of ponies and resumed the journey, which he made there- after all alone to California. He brought up at Hangtown in August and went to mining, which occupation he followed there, at Georgetown, Coloma, Kelsey, etc., until the early summer of 1854, when he camne to Sacramento. Here he obtained employment at his trade with Bennett & Ramsey, at the Queen City Market. Six months later they sold the business to Fred Cross, Mr. Ross remaining with him until 1855. He then started in business on his own account, on Seventh street, between Hand I. The pres- ent firm of Ross & Ankener was formed in 1880. Mr. Ross was married in this city, on the family place where they now reside, April 15, 1858, to Miss Catherine Faber, a native of Wortemburg, Germany. They have four living children, viz .: Caroline, Panline, William and Katie. Mr. Ross was one of the charter members of Schiller Lodge, I. O. O. F. and has always remained an active member. He was one of the organizers of the Sacramento Hussars, was First Orderly Sergeant, and afterward elected First Lientenant. ile is a Republican politically. No man in Sacramento has a higher reputation for honesty and integrity than Mr. Ross, and he enjoys the confidence and esteem of the community.

ILLIAM RITTER, deceased. The sub- ject of this sketch was born in Phila- delphia, Pennsylvania, in 1831, his parents being William and Margaret Ritter. The father was in prosperous circumstances, and the son had the advantage of a good educa- tion. With two or three young companions he

struck ont to try his fortune in California, and was remarkably successful. With his experience in actual mining came larger plans, in which he was also prosperous. Being one of the dis- coverers of the Manzanita mine at Nevada City, he sold out his interest therein and embarked in the business of constructing mining ditches. He had mining interests at Michigan Bar as early as 1855, having been then five years in the business. Mr. Ritter was married in Sac- ramento, to Miss Jennie Byam, daughter of Seth and Leath (Pettie) Byam. She had come to California with her widowed mother in 1853, being brought out by her brother, H. S. Byam, who had come here in 1849. The mother died in 1880, aged seventy-six. She was of the Pet- tie family of Vermont. The Byams are of the early settlers of Massachusetts, the first immi- grant of that name having settled in Plymouth Colony about 1640. In 1857 Mr. Ritter laid the solid foundation of a dam and "sea-wall" on the South Fork of the Cosumnes, in Music- dale Cañon, and thus began the construction of the Prairie Ditch, extending about twenty-one miles to Michigan Bar, completed about 1858. He afterward bought some of the smaller ditches that had been excavated by different parties from time to time since 1851. His ontlay is estimated at $300,000 between 1857 and 1865. In July, 1865, during the absence of his wife and child on a visit to Philadelphia, Mr. Ritter was killed by robbers. While driving with some friends from Michigan Bar to his home at Sebastopol, he was recognized by the freebooters as a richer prey than the country store they were plundering. Being high-spirited and impetuous, he tried to beat them off, when he was shot by one of them and died twenty-four hours later. He is buried in Sacramento. His unresisting companions escaped with the loss of what little money and valnables they had in their possession. - In 1865 the ditch properties of the Ritter estate were combined under the title of the Amador and Sacramento Canal Company, incorporated under the laws of Cali- fornia. The active superintendence of this cor-

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poration has been for sixteen years in charge of Mr. Henry S. Byam, the brother of Mrs. Ritter. Meanwhile Miss Eugenie Ritter finished her education at Madam Mears' Academy in New York in 1874, and accompanied her mother to Europe, where she attracted much attention by her grace and beauty. She was married in Paris to Viscount Henry Houssaye, an officer in the French army, and more recently a writer of distinction, the son of Arsene Houssaye, an author of international reputation. Mrs. Ritter has paid repeated visits to their beautiful home in Paris. From a comfortable but unpreten- tious house at Michigan Bar, far removed from the great centers of luxury and refinement, to a grand mansion in a fashionable quarter of the brilliant metropolis of modern civilization, is quite a change; but Mrs. Ritter, a true type of American adaptivity, is equally at home in the Parisian palace and the California cottage. A new and valuable use of the water facilities of the Amador and Sacramento Canal Company has been devised, and put in operation in 1889. This consists of an irrigating ditch extending from the old canal, by a winding course of twenty-two miles, into Dry Creek Township, near Galt. A great enhancement in value of · the back lands of the Cosumnes is anticipated from this enterprise, more beneficent and far- reaching in its results than all the gold- washing of the canal in the days of its greatest useful- ness. The stock of the company is owned by Viscountess Eugenie Houssaye and Mrs. Jennie Byam Ritter.

OHN MCFARLAND, one of the most noted farmers of Sacramento County, was born March 4, 1824, in Starlingshire, Scotland, son of John and Jeanette (Sands) McFarland. His father was a cooper by trade, but also car- ried on the mercantile business in Canada. He came to the United States in 1834 and returned to Canada, where he died in 1847. The mother died Angust 10, 1834. They had eleven chil-

dren. The subject of this sketch was raised on a farm until he was fifteen years old, when he started out for himself, learning the carpenter and joiner's trade, and also the vocation of a machinist. In 1834 he came to the United States, and worked in Buffalo, Chicago and Cleveland, and in 1850 came fromn La Salle, Illinois, overland to California, with horse teams, stopping at Placerville only a few days previous to the squatter riot at Sacramento, and saw some come into his town for protection. He also saw one of the men who were shot, and for a long time kept as a relic a piece of bone that came out of the arm of the wounded man. Starting from the States March 10, Mr. McFar- land was about five months on the route. He stopped at Salt Lake, and helped to build a car- riage or chariot for Brigham Young; he had charge of the work. This vehicle was built for a large celebration to be held July 25. It was drawu by twenty-four horses, and contained twenty-five young ladies, representing the twenty-fifth anniversary of their arrival at Salt Lake. On the upper deck of the chariot was a band with twenty-five instruments. One of the ladies is now Mrs. Clark, of Galt. On this trip Mr. McFarland rode from Salt Lake to Carson City on four scant meals. He rode about forty miles a day, and four days he had scarcely any food. He had no trouble with the Indians to speak of, but the train suffered much for want of provisions. On arrival in this State Mr. McFarland went to mining in Coon Hollow, and was the first man to bring water into El Dorado for mining purposes in 1851, selling it at $1 an inch. Being the originator of the en- terprise and the chief stockholder, he was elected president of the company. He made some money, but afterward lost it at Mokelumne Hill. In 1857 he sold out and located upon his present place, which he had purchased fonr years previously. It then consisted of 640 acres, but now there are 1,600 acres; he is cul- tivating 1,400 acres. This ranch is one of the finest and best improved in the country. There are about three acres in orchard and vineyard.

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On this place is the largest fig tree in the State of California. Mr. McFarland cast his first Presidential vote for General William H. Har- rison, and remembers many interesting inci- dents connected with the celebrated hard-cider and log-cabin campaign of 1840. He is a mem- ber of Galt Lodge, No. 983, I. O. O. F., and of the Encampment. During the past ten years he has made several journeys to distant points.

AVID REESE was born August 7, 1849, in Llsaint, Carmarthenshire, Wales, his parents being John, born in 1817, and Elizabeth (Anthony) Reese; they were both na- tives of Llsaint. John Reese learned the shoe- maker's trade when a mere boy and worked at it until 1854. In February of that year, he with his wife and three children, emigrated to Amer- ica, sailing from Liverpool and landing at New Orleans after a voyage of eight weeks. From there he sailed up the river to Kansas City, where he outfitted for a journey across the plains, bringing up at Utalı. He bought land here and followed stock-raising for six years. In 1860 he sold ont and started for California, stopping about two months in the Sierra Moun- tains; he arrived in Sacramento in October. He bonght land in San Joaquin Township, and made his home there until his death, which oc- curred September 11, 1869; his wife died Feb- ruary 6, 1889. They had five children, as follows: Catharine, wife of John B. Brown, resi- dent in this neighborhood; David, John, Eliza- beth, wife of W. W. Kilgore, resident in Colnsa County; and Thomas, who died while crossing the plains to Utah. David Reese, the subject of this sketch, made his home with his parents until his marriage in October, 1879, to Mira Kilgore, daughter of William Kilgore, who was born in Sacramento County, California, where she was principally raised. In 1878 he bought his present place of 275 acres, and after his marriage moved npou it. He owns 253 acres in Colusa County, part of which belongs to 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