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 97

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 97

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afterward lost on the Pacific coast while run- ning between San Francisco and Oregon. Mr. Hill landed at Chagres, took a small boat called the Bungo up that river to Cruces, with twenty- seven others, of whom three were women, and eighteen of them were from Bradford County, Pennsylvania. From Cruces they went to Panama across the Isthmus. Mr. Hill started with a mule, but shortly afterward gave it to a sick traveler, and he and Brown footed it the rest of the way. In a week or ten days he took the old steamer Panama, one of the first steam- ers on the coast, for San Francisco, with 1,200 passengers aboard, when it was registered to carry only 500 or 600. In twenty-one days he landed at the city of the Golden Gate November 4, 1851. There he waited for other passengers from Bradford County, who took the old pro- peller Monumental City, and were two weeks behind the other vessel reaching San Francisco. In the meantime Mr. Hill had been earning something in the city, and when his friends ar rived he was able to help them pay their passage to the mines, at Columbia Flats, Tuolumne County, where Mr. Hill and two others took some claims. Ou arriving at the mines they waited a month for water, with which to wash for gold; but Mr. Hill's patience gave out and he sold his share in the mines to two others, who remained there and made a fortune in two months, taking out about $80,000 ! Mr. Hill came to Sacramento and contracted with parties to build a mill in Eureka, Yuba County, and was there.until the following July; then stop- ping in San Francisco until autumn, when, after the great fire, he came to Sacramento again. The next spring he went to the mines and struck some new discoveries in Placer County, in a spot near the Bear River called the Long Ravine. Then he kept boarding-honse and provision-store in Eureka, and also did some mining there. Selling out, he left there in June, 1853. He went to Foster's Bar, on the Yuba River, and in the fall to Marysville. In the spring of 1854 he went to Santa Clara and remained there about a year; and then to Santa Cruz until 1861, where

HISTORY OF SACRAMENTO COUNTY.

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he had property and prosecuted the mill wright's trade; then, from the autumn of 1861 to 1869 he was engaged in the same business at Virginia City; was next in Sacramento until 1871; then built a mnill at Lakeport, Lake County, being there about two years, working at different points. In 1874 he came to Sacramento again, and then to Red Bluff, where he was a member of a stock company who built a mill there. Mr. Hill constructed the whole building in 1875. In January, 1876, he bought property in Elk Grove, and in March following his brother and his family came to this place with him. During the latter year he erected a small feed-mill, which was run until 1878, when he enlarged it and put in machinery for making flour. It was rented ont two years, ending April, 1880, since which time Mr. Hill has conducted it, in part- nership with Lonis Bower, who in fact has been interested in the concern ever since 1878. Mr. Hill has been a member of the order of Odd Fellows ever since 1848, and now belongs to Elk Grove Lodge, number 274, and to the Occi- dental Encampment of Sacramento, No. 57, and also to the Veteran Odd Fellows' Association of San Francisco. He was married in Santa Cruz, in 1856, to Mary Uhden, a native of Ohio, and they have two children: Eddie and Laura.

EORGE PETERS, rancher, was born on one of the Azores Islands, April 26, 1833, and was reared upon a farm. In 1848 he emigrated to the United States, landing in New York; but he followed the life of a sailor for four years on American vessels. He then left Boston on board the clipper New Flying Fish for California, landing in San Francisco and ar- riving in Sacramento in the fall of 1852. Here he found employment in a flour warehouse, at a salary of $8 a day, and remained there two months. For the ensning fourteen years he fol- lowed mining, with some success. In 1865 he purchased his present ranch of 140 acres of choice river land on the Sacramento, six miles

sonth of the city. It is the best in his neigh- borhood, and is devoted to general farming and stock-raising. He was married November 12, 1862, to Belle Nevis, and they have six children : Joseph, Anton, Manuel, Belle, Eliza and Mary.

HOMAS O'TOOLE, deceased, was born in Ireland in 1833, his parents being Patrick and Bridget (Burke) O'Toole. The father was a tenant-fariner in Galway. The boy received a fair education in his youth. Left an orphan by the death of both parents, he was invited to this country by an older brother, James, living in Massachusetts, and came in 1848. Being acquainted with farm work he followed that line for some years after his ar- rival in the United States. He was married in Roxbury, Massachusetts, February 12, 1856, to Miss Margaret Tympany, also a native of Ire- land, a daughter of John and Mary (Flaherty) Tympany, both now deceased. The father was over seventy when he died, but the mother died before she was sixty. Mrs. O'Toole came to America in 1853, having been preceded by an older sister. Immediately after their marriage Mr. and Mrs. O'Toole set out for California by the Panama route, and arrived in San Fran- eisco on Good Friday, 1856, with just $100. Both went to work in that city for six months, the wife receiving $5 a month more than the husband, owing to the scarcity of good female help. The husband then went to mining for two or three months at Drytown, Amador County. They afterward worked for two years on a milk ranch in Yolo County. Mr. O'Toole then rented 400 acres of John Rovney, in Brigh- ton Township, in this county. He had two partners in that venture, and they raised wheat and barley. The following year Mr. O'Toole rented a farm on his own account, and put in a crop of wheat and barley, but lost it all by the flood of 1862. Ile then rented eighty acres and again put in wheat and barley, which came out all right, and sold for five cents a pound for

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HISTORY OF SACRAMENTO COUNTY.

wheat, and four and a half for barley. In 1866 he bought 160 acres in the same township, and now owned by Rovney. There they lived seven years, when they sold out and went to Kansas. Not liking that State they returned to Cali- fornia, and bought the 288 acres now occupied by the family at Freeport. Wheat, barley and alfalfa are the chief products. They carried on an extensive dairy at one time, but now milk only ten cows. They also own 413 acres at Saulsbury Station, devoted chiefly to wheat and barley, and now in charge of the oldest son. Mr. Thomas O'Toole died September 15, 1885, much respected in the community, and without an enemy anywhere. He was a model man in all the relations of life. He had worked hard for a living from an early age, and knew how to kcep upright and honorable through all the hardships as well as the successes of life. The wife and five children survive him. These are: John Thomas, born May 4, 1860; James Jo- seph, February 17, 1866; and three daughters, Agnes, Maggie and Nellie. Both sons belong to the Y. M. I. of Sacramento, and the oldest to the N. S. G. W., Parlor No. 3. All the chil- dren received an academic education in college or convent, and the daughters are all accom- plished musicians, while Maggie is an artist in painting of decided ability. John T. is married to Miss Mary Connelly, a niece of Mrs. Cather- ine McAnally, of Courtland. They have one child, Francis Joseph, born December 2, 1888.

AVID OSBARN was born in Clark County, Ohio, September 12, 1825, his parents being Isaac and Elizabeth (Rall) Osbarn. The father was a native of New York and the mother of New Jersey. His grandfather, Jacob Rall, a native of New York city, was a soldier of the Revolution, entering the army, with his grandfather, at the age of seventeen. The Ralls were of Dutch origin. After the war Jacob Rall owned a grist-mill in New Jersey, where his daughter Elizabeth was born September 11,

1805. He moved to Ohio, while his daughter was a little girl, and finally settled on a farm in Clark County. Isaac Osbaru died comparatively young, leaving two sons-the subject of this sketch and his brother, Jacob Rall, born No- vember 20, 1830. After some years the mother was married at Carlisle, Ohio, to Joseph Clip- pinger, a widower of that place. In 1876, on the occasion of Mr. David Osbarn's visit to his home and the Philadelphia Centennial, they were induced to spend the evening of life with him at Courtland. . They enjoyed some years of serene tranquillity in the glorious climate of this section, and here they passed to the better land within a few months of each other. The mother died toward the close of 1885, having passed her eightieth birthday; and the stepfather had preceded her, aged eighty-three. They lie buried side by side in the Sacramento cemetery in a double grave constructed for their remains by the filial care of Mr. Osbarn. Mr. David Osbarn left his home at Carlisle, Ohio, with nine comrades, January 24, 1850, and New York, February 12, for California, by the Isth- mus route, arriving at Chagres on February 22. Crossing the isthmus in those days was a pe- culiar experience for a man brought up amid the civilized environments of an Ohio home. Mr. Osbarn and his companions ascended the Chagres River in canoes " poled " by half-naked natives. When they became overheated by their labors under a burning sun these dark sons of the soil, often of mixed blood, did not hesitate to strip off their blouses, so that white ladies traveling that way have been known to disguise their sex in men's clothing to mitigate their mortification. At Gorgona they left the canoes to make the remainder of the journey to Panama by mules. along a narrow, jagged track with a dense thicket on either hand. Arrived at Panama, this particular company were con- fronted by a serious drawback of another char- acter. They were detained forty-eight days waiting for the steamer Sarah Sands, a propeller with four masts, which relied on her sails fully as much as on her engine for making headway.

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HISTORY OF SACRAMENTO COUNTY.

Mr. Osbarn and his party rented a place, bought their supplies and boarded themselves. Finally they left Panama, April 9, with about 300 pas- sengers and a ship's company of perhaps another hundred persons. They were soon put on short rations for food and water, the condensed steam being utilized and doled out for drinking. The

supply of coal was exhausted, and on April 18 they put into San Simeon Bay in distress for wood, water and beef. Passengers volunteered and the seamen gathered about fifty cords of wood. On the 22d they left, but the wind be- ing unfavorable and the wood inadequate to get. ting up the required amount of steam power, it was found necessary to put back into the bay. A mounted messenger was sent forward to Monterey to procure coal, and the passengers were offered the alternative of going by land. Mr. Osbarn, who had suffered by Panama fever and had been taken aboard before convalescence, concluded to try the land passage to San Fran- cisco. About half the passengers, including Mr. Osbarn and five of his special party, set out by land by way of San Solidad and San Jose missions, and arrived at San Francisco, June 1. The hardships of the land trip had some com- pensations in the hospitality of the natives and the relief from ocean dangers. Mr. Osbarn and his five companions paid fifty dollars for a ride with a freighter from San Jose to San Francisco. On June 1, they waded knee-deep in sand in the present metropolis, and found but few good buildings. Aside from the cus- tom-house and postoffice there were one or two good hotels and gambling houses, the remainder being shanties and tents. Awaiting the arrival of their baggage and comrades by the steamer for abont a week, they bargained with the op- position steamer Hartford for a passage to Sac- ramento at $25 a head for a club of twenty-five, the fare being $50 each by the regular line. They found Sacramento a "half-dried-up mud- hole" and largely a city of tents and shanties. The conspicuous exceptions were the Orleans Ilotel and the El Dorado gambling-lionse. It has always been a matter of surprise to thought-

ful observers like the subject of this sketch, how men could be such fools as to stake their all against professional gamblers skilled in all the arts of cheating. Before the close of June our party left for the mining region at George- town, El Dorado County, by way of Brighton and Coloma. After prospecting around, even into Nevada, and without pleasure or profit, Mr. Osbarn was taken sick. His fibre was not tough enough and the surroundings of mining life were disgusting. Recovering from a month's illness he bought a team, and making some money bought other teams, kept a hay-yard and a blacksmith shop and had an interest in a store at Michigan Springs After a time he super- intended his business from Sacramento, and suf- fered heavily with everybody else from the fire and flood of 1852-'53. His judgment prompt- ing him to return to the permanent and secure pursuits of his youth in Ohio, he bought 160 acres in Yolo County, opposite Courtland, March 4, 1854, where he remained nntil 1859. Traded his place for improved property in Marys- ville, which he kept only a year. In 1861 he bought land at Courtland, in this county, and has since become the owner of several ranches in that neighborhood or within a radius of five miles, developing the thick-bruslı land of those times into the fruit farms of the present. After all these years and much experience and obser- vation, Mr. Osbarn thinks "there's no place like home," and that the valley of the Sacramento is the garden spot of earth. The subject of this sketch is a gentleman of strong religious and moral convictions, inherited from his Meth- odist parentage, but his views are ratlier evan- gelical than denominational. In politics, he was of the American party in 1854, and has since been a Republican, while he would probably be a Prohibitionist were he entirely satisfied of the wisdom of basing a political party on the tem- perance reform movement. He recognizes and regrets the tendency to moral decadence in the organized machinery of all political parties. Remaining unmarried through all these long years, Mr. Osharn's kindly nature has taken a

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HISTORY OF SACRAMENTO COUNTY.

very special interest in his brother and his family. Jacob Rall Osbarn came to California in 1855 and after remaining here about a year returned to Ohio, where he was married November 25, 1856, at Carlisle, to Miss Mary Martha Clip- pinger, a native of that State, born December 10, 1834, daughter of Joseph Clippinger, already mentioned. Jacob R. was a soldier in the civil war and after filling his term of service, volun- teered again to repel the Morgan raid in South- ern Ohio. Some years later he moved with his family to this State, and they have since made their home with him, in city and country. Mr. and Mrs. Jacob R. Osbarn are the parents of three living children: David Horace, born in Ohio, March 23, 1858; Donna Elizabeth, Novem- ber 4, 1861; Martha Rebecca, "uncle's baby," July 31, 1875, now attending grammar-school in Sacramento. Donna Elizabeth is married to Henry Elliott, a contractor and builder of Sacra- mento. They are the parents of Ratie Elizabeth, born October 9, 1883; and of David Osbarn and Donna Orietta, twins, born June 25, 1888. David H. married Miss Agnes Dashiell, a native of this State. They are the parents of two girls.

HRISTIAN H. RAVE was born in Schleswig, a province of Germany, in the year 1820, his parents being Frederick, a cabinet-maker, and Rebecca Rave. He at- tended school until he reached the age of four- teen years, then was apprenticed to a locksmith at Hamburg to learn the trade, then traveled to complete his education. Having become an ex- pert workman he desired a larger field and bet- ter opportunities for advancement, therefore set sail in a packet ship from Hamburg for New York, and arrived after a tempestuous voyage of six weeks. Undeterred by the fact that he was totally unfamiliar with the English language, he found his way to Philadelphia, and obtained employment at his trade on Chestnut street. In 1849 he, with a party of nineteen mechanics, determined to make their way to the land of

gold. They went to St. Louis and there se- cured an outfit and provisions, and started to cross the plains, but they were illy prepared for such a journey, and by the time they arrived at Salt Lake their teams had given out and they were obliged to reorganize, and bought some Indian ponies and packed the remainder of the way. Nor was this all, for, taking the advice of some officions parties who were sup- posed to know, they were induced to take a new "cut-off" across the mountains and the dreary, pathless desert, only to find later that the cut- off was in fact a much longer route; their pro- visions and water gave out, and they suffered terrible hardships, losing two of their number in death. Meeting another party on the desert who still had a small supply of water, our subject paid his last dollar for a cup of the precious fluid, and begged for more, but was sternly re- fused. When he arrived at Sacramento, with- out money, friends or even acquaintances, he was glad to find any kind of employment, such as unloading vessels at the levee and doing any odd job that came to hand. At last he obtained employment with one Woodruff, proprietor of a stove store, whose stock consisted in part of stoves which had been shipped around the Horn and had to be "set up" after their arrival here. These stoves often brought $300 or even $500. Woodruff became his friend, and event- nally assisted him to start a small shop of his own on Sixth, between J and K streets, where it may be seen to this day, a relic of the past. In this little shop was laid the foundation of a successful business, which, extending through the early years, broadened and grew with the growth of the Capital City. His business was to make locks, locks for the people, locks for the banks, hotels, and the jail and prisons, 1,400 be- ing made under contract for the latter; and not only locks but iron doors, which, because of many fires, became an important industry, and was carried on subsequently for many years. He returned to Europe in 1853 to visit his old home, and his father, who died the following spring, and to be married to Elizabeth Riemech-

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neider. Together they journeyed from the fatherland and took up their residence in the land of sunshine, and here they have lived for nearly forty years, having in the interval mnade three other trips to Europe. They are spending in well-deserved affluence the latter part of their lives at their pleasant home on Seventh street, surrounded by their children and their children's children.

LFRED RANDOLPH, rancher, Dry Creek Township, was born July 15, 1831, in McLean County, Illinois, son of Gard- ner and Elizabeth (Stringfield) Randolph. His father, a native of Virginia, emigrated in an early day to Tennessee and thence 'to Alabama, and from there to Illinois, settling in 1860 at a point he named Randolph Grove. Afterward he lived in Riley County, Kansas, and about 1871 came to California and died at the resi- dence of his son Altred, in 1873, at the age of seventy-one years. He was a man of noble principles and a sympathetic Christian. His wife is now deceased. In their family were seven sons and six daughters, and all the chil- dren except two of the daughters came to Cali- fornia. Alfred Randolph was raised on a farm in his native State, and in 1850, when he was but nineteen years of age, he crossed the plains to this State with ox teams, being about four months on the way, and the journey was on the whole qnite enjoyable. Stopping at Hangtown, he at once began mining and prosecuted that line of business for eight years, most of the time in the same district, and with moderate success. In 1858 he came to this county, locating upon his present farm of 160 acres at that time, and there he has ever since remained. This ranch he has enlarged by purchasing additions until he now has 250 acres. It is twenty-two miles from Sacramento. He raises hay, grain and live- stock. He was married in June, 1877, to Miss Emma, daughter of William J. McFadden, and a native of Coshocton County, Ohio. They

have three children: Harry Marvin, Estella B. and Clinton A. Mr. Randolph is a member of the A. O .. U. W., of Galt, and in his political principles in a Republican.

OHN H. HAYDEN, farmer, was born June 6, 1850, near Dayton, Montgomery County, Ohio. His father, Martin Hayden, is a na- tive of England, was a shoemaker by trade, and came to California in 1876, locating in Sacra- mento. July 15, 1885, he was run npon by the cars at the intersection of Twenty-sixth and R streets, in the city, and nearly killed, since which time he has been unable to work. His wife, whose maiden name was Barbara Wise, is still living, and they are both residing with their son, the subject of this article. They have three children, viz .: Mary F., wife of John W. Chest- nut; Oscar H., residing in Iowa, and John H. The latter is a farmer and also a good carpenter and shoemaker. He was two years old when his parents emigrated with him from Ohio to Missonri. A year afterward they moved to Iowa, and in 1873, to Kansas, where they engaged in farming and stock-raising; were there during the grasshopper scourge. Selling out in 1876 they came and located in Sacramento. John and his wife threw themselves into hard work by the day. He was employed by Mr. Todd, on the corner of Fifth and L streets, in the lumber yard, and was there three months when the property changed hands. From there he went to Nicolaus, and next he and his wife went to the head of Feather River to work on a farm and in a dairy, remaining only two months; then they were two months at Spaulding's, and then in succession to his father's place, Black Station; and then for a man on the lower Stock- ton road, and then they purchased a half block on Twenty-eighth and Y streets, in 1878, and later the same year the other half, at a cost of $350. In 1883 they sold the same for $950 and purchased six and a fourth acres on Thirty-first and Y, at a cost of $100 per acre; and in 1884

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HISTORY OF SACRAMENTO COUNTY.

eight acres additional, at the same price. In 1888 they sold the whole for $10,000. During the last year they purchased their present gar- den spot of ten acres, which is only one mile from the city. On this they have a very fine new two-story honse, and"the whole tract they are improving by putting out trees and planting vineyards, orchards, etc. It will soon be one of the finest residences on that road. There are five wells of excellent water ranging from twenty-six to sixty-six feet in depth, with a never failing supply. Thus it is seen what might be accomplished where husband and wife are faithful together with a single aim in view, to make a comfortable home in which they can enjoy their declining years. In 1874 Mr. Hay- den married Miss Julia A. White, daughter of William and Elizabeth White, father a native of Virginia, and the mother of New York. They have had three children: Martin W., born De- cember 17, 1875, and died June 6, 1877; Alson, a little boy who died in infancy, and John B., who was born May 26, 1879.

OHN GEORGE PYNE, deceased, was a native of Ireland, born near Fermoy, in 1825, his parents being J. G. and Ann (Pyne) Pyne. The Pynes were originally Eng- lish, but being long settled in Ireland, they be- came "more Irish than the Irish themselves," entirely identified with the interests and aspira- tions of that land so favored by nature and so abused by man. The parents of Mr. Pyne were blood relatives some degrees removed, and were people of wealth and high social standing. The grandfather, also named J. G., which seems to have been a favorite family name, was a prac. ticing physician of local distinction. The great- grandfather was Lord Chief-Justice Pyne of the King's Bench. The Pynes have a family tradi- tion that their ancestry can be traced back many hundred years. Be this as it may, it is unques- tionable that the late J. G. Pyne, of Courtland, was a man of education, refinement and culture.

He was a college gradnate and had studied ar- chitecture and engineering, and is known to have practiced the latter, being for some years in the employ of the Santa Fé Railroad as a civil en- gineer. In 1856 be owned a farm in Dubuque Connty, Iowa, which he sold before coming to California in 1862. With two brothers, Edward and William, he came to the Sacramento River, where they worked together for a time on a rented ranch. Willia.a afterward went back to Ireland and died unmarried. Edward moved to Virginia City, where he engaged in mining. John G. worked for a time for one of the ranch- ers on the river, and in 1868 bought the ranch, increasing the acreage by later purchases to 118 acres, all planted in fruit trees. In 1877 Mr. Pyne made a visit to his native land and was married March 27, 1878, in St. Peter's Episco- pal Church, in the city of Cork, to Miss Kate Pyne Brown, a native of Inchigeela, in the same county, daughter of Richard and Henrietta (Pyne) Brown, a blood relative in the third de- gree, both being great-grandchildren of Chief- Justice Pyne, already mentioned. A grand- uncle of Mrs. Kate Pyne was celebrated for military prowess, and was called Captain Tala- veras Pyne for recovering some captured colors from the French in the battle of that name. After six years of married life devoted to pro- moting the happiness of his wife, and the en- joyment of learned leisure in the nice home he had erected and beautified, Mr. Pyne died in 1884, aged fifty-nine. Mrs. Pyne by a later marriage, since legally dissolved with the right of resuming her former name, is the mother of one child, Dora Isabella, born September 3, 1887.

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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