USA > California > San Joaquin County > An illustrated history of San Joaquin County, California. Containing a history of San Joaquin County from the earliest period of its occupancy to the present time, together with glimpses of its future prospects; > Part 57
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F. KNOWLES, one of the corps of at- taches connected with the administration of affairs at the State Hospital for the Insane, Stockton, is a native of Maine, born at Harmony, Somerset County, on the 6tlr day of November, 1833, his parents being C. F. and Mary (Spurr) Knowles.
He was reared at his native town until he had reached his seventeenth year, and then re- moved to Skowhegan, Maine, and learned the monlder's trade. In the spring of 1854 he went to Boston, where he pursued his trade with S. S. Rowe and I. M. Pike about eight or nine years. He then went to the Norway Iron Works (Naylor & Co.), South Boston, and was foreman for them all of the time until 1882, when he removed to Dakota, and in 1883 came to California, locating in Stockton. In March, 1889, he assumed his present duties as an officer at the Hospital for the Insane.
Mr. Knowles was married at Boston in 1862,
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to Mrs. Esther Young, a native of Pittston, Maine.
Mr. Knowles has been for many years a member of the Masonic order, and yet affiliates with Gate of the Temple Lodge, South Boston. He is Past Grand of Charity Lodge, I. O. O. F., and is Past District Deputy of District No. 7, California, having held the deputyship in 1884-'85.
Mr. Knowles is a man of high moral char- acter, and eminently fitted for a position re- quiring the exercise of care, judgment and responsibility.
IRAM NEWTON RUCKER, M. D., Superintendent of the State Asylum for the Insane at Stockton, was born in Saline County, Missouri, September 6, 1844, a son of William Taliaferro and Veranda S. (Taylor) Rucker. Both parents were natives of Orange County, Virginia, his father born in March, 1809, and his mother in January, 1810. They were such near neighbors that they attended the same school in their youth. The Taylor family, who were relatives of President Taylor, moved first to Kentucky and thence to Mis- souri. Thither also went William T. Rucker in young manhood, and there he was married to Miss Taylor in 1830. They first settled in Howard County, and in 1832 inoved to Saline County. They had twelve children, of whom one died in infancy, and eleven are living. Williamn T. Rucker took up land in Saline County, and went to farming, at which he there continued until he set out for California with his family in 1852. He drove three wagons drawn by oxen and a herd of 200 cows, across the plains, coming by way of Sublette's cut off, north of Salt Lake City, for the better pastur- ing of his stock, and arrived in Santa Clara County early in November, having been about five months on the road. The cows, which averaged perhaps $10 a head in Missouri, he sold, after his arrival, for $150 and upwards,
and the oxen for about $500 a yoke. He bought 160 acres and put in a crop that season, paying eight cents a pound for seed wheat, but when he harvested eighty bushels to the acre in 1853 he was reconciled to the high price of the seed. This ranch was situated about two and one-half miles southwest of Santa Clara, and was sold about 1858, when he bought one of 225 acres, about one mile from the first, which he held un- til 1857, when he retired to a home he had bought in the town of Santa Clara. There lie died in 1879, much respected in all the re- lations of life, a man of temperate habits and a consistent member of the Methodist Church South from his youth up. His widow still sur- vives, on the old homestead. Her mother lived to an advanced age, being over eighty years at her death.
H. N. Rucker, the subject of this sketch, ar- riving in California at the age of eight years, was educated in the local school, and in liis youth rendered some service on his father's farın. At twenty-one years he entered the Uni- versity of the Pacific at Santa Clara, where he received an academic education for three and one-half years. Concluding to enter the inedi- cal profession he commenced his studies in the office of Dr. A. B. Caldwell, and attended lec . tures in the Toland Medical College in San Francisco, which afterward became the medical department of the University of California, and was graduated from that institution November 11, 1870. He first located as a practicing physician in Plainsburg, Merced County, where he remained until June, 1875. He then moved to the town of Merced, where he formed a partnership with the late Dr. W. A. Washing- ton, which existed until 1881, under the style of Washington & Rucker. After the dissolution of that partnership Dr. Rucker continued to practice in Merced until elected Superintendent of the Stockton Insane Asylum, at the meeting of the directors in October, 1888. He had meanwhile been appointed a member of the board of directors by Governor Stoneman, in March, 1885. He entered on the discharge of
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his onerous and responsible duties on Novell- ber 1, 1888.
Dr. Rucker was married in 1873 to Miss Emina Frances Abbott, born in Lawrence, Mass- achusetts, in 1853, a daughter of Orson and Eliza A. (Foster) Abbott. Her father came to California in 1859, and mined for some years. About 1865 he went East and returned with his family. The Abbott and Foster families have been settled in New England for several gener- ations. Mr. and Mrs. Rucker have one child, Ella Robin, born September 6, 1884.
Dr. H. N. Rucker belongs to the Masonic fraternity, and has filled several elective offices in the Grand Lodge: Junior Warden in 1884- '85; Senior Warden in 1886; Deputy Grand Master in 1887, and Grand Master in 1888.
ACOB BISCHOFBERGER, of Elkhorn Township, was born November 10, 1832, in Switzerland, his parents being Oldrich and Mary (Fruh) Bischofberger. The father was a tailor by trade, following it exclusively in his younger days, but as his family grew up he engaged in the farming industry. He died in 1865, at the age of sixty-one years. There were nine children in his family, four of whom are in America, two in California.
Jacob was raised on the farm in Switzerland, and remained at home until twenty-one years of age, when in 1854 he came to America, land- ing in New Orleans on New Year's day of 1854. He remained there two months, then went to Mississippi, thence to Louisville, Ken- tucky, where he remained a year engaged in a milk dairy. He then went to St. Louis, where he was very sick with the chills and fever. Not being able to obtain any work, he went to Illi- rois, remaining eight months employed on a farm; then returned to St. Louis, thence to St. Joe, where he engaged in farming on rented land. In the spring of 1857 he crossed the plains to California with ox teams, driving loose stock. The journey occupied four months.
Upon his arrival he engaged in mining for three months, then engaged in farming in Sac- ramento County for two months. Then he tried mining again. In 1858, when the Fraser river excitement broke out, he went there, re- mained five months, then returned to Amador County, where he mined for three years, work- ing under ground the entire time. In the fall of 1861 he went to Switzerland, where he re- mained nineteen months. He purchased a farm while there, but the longing to return to Cali- fornia was too strong to be resisted, so he sold out his farm, was married, and left that same day for America. He went to mining again in Amador County, where he remained until 1874. He also purchased a ranch there, which he sold afterward and purchased a small one of ten acres, which served as a home for his family while he was mining. In 1874 he gave up mining, sold his ranch and came to San Joaquin County. He rented land of Henry Beckman for two years, then purchased 160 acres, on which he remained for six years, then exchanged it for his present property of 320 acres, situated on the New Hope road, fifteen miles from Stockton and three and one-half miles fromn Woodbridge. He raises hay, grain and stock.
Mr. Bischofberger was married in 1862 to Miss Anna Toni, a native of Switzerland. They have nine children living, four boys and five girls, namely: Anna Mary Fohl, wife of Will- iam Folil; John J. Bischofberger, Amelia M. Jones, wife of Thomas E. Jones; Jacob C., Anna Elizabeth, Rosetta Belle, Frank Alrich, William Antone and Mabel Erma.
B. TAFT, farmer of Elliott Township San Joaquin County, was born in Rhode Island, April 21, 1825, his parents being Willard T. and Mary Taft. The subject was reared in his native place, and there learned tlie carpenter and joiner's trade. In the year 1849 he started for California by water, landing in San Francisco May 5. He then took the boat for Sac-
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ramento, where he went to work at his trade, earning $12 a day; worked but a short time, when, getting the gold fever, he went to the inines, where he was engaged in mining and at his trade. In 1864 he went to French Camp, and afterward to Alameda County, preaching the gospel for two and a half years. His health began to fail, and he concluded to rest. The next four years he spent in traveling, and at the end of that time found his health much im- proved.
Mr. Taft is cultivating a farm of 160 acres, whereon his wife had lived twenty years previ- ous to their marriage; lie has turned his at- tention mostly to poultry, in which he has been very successful, making in one year $918.71 clear of all expenses. He has been a Deacon in the Baptist Church.
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ILLIAM WOLF, the efficient Street Commissioner of Stockton, is a native of California, born at San Andreas, Calaveras County, November 8, 1859, his par- ents being Henry and Margaret (Bettinger) Wolf. Both parents were natives of Germany, who located in New York State for a time after emigrating to the United States. From there they removed to Maryland, and thence to Cali- fornia via Panama. The father followed mining in Calaveras County until 1861, when he died, and the remainder of the family removed to Stockton.
William Wolf, whose name heads this sketch, is the youngest of seven children of his parents, five of whom are living. He was reared from infancy in Stockton, and received his education in her public schools. For eight years lie fol- lowed a mercantile career as clerk and book- keeper, and in 1883 made a successful race for City Assessor, serving one term in that office. During the four years succeeding this he was in the grocery business, but on the 1st of Janu- ary, 1888, he went into the office of John S. Davis, Street Commissioner, as deputy. At the
ensning election he was chosen as Street Super- intendent by the votes of the people, and has since filled the office to the entire satisfaction of the citizens of Stockton.
Mr. Wolf was married in September, 1887, to Miss Hermina C. Rothenbusch, a native of Stockton, and daughter of Frederick Rothen- busch. They have one child, Everett Henry.
Mr. Wolf is a member of Truth Lodge, 1.O. O. F .; of Centennial Lodge, K. of P .; San Joaquin Grove, A. O. F., and a member of Stockton Parlor, N. S. G. W. From an early age he has taken an active part in public affairs.
ARY J. TAYLOR, wife of James Tay- lor, deceased, was born in Ireland, May 11, 1817. She was raised in Scotland, and came to America at the age of nineteen years. James Taylor was born in Ireland in 1809. When a mere boy he went to Scotland with his parents. When twenty-one years of age he came to America, settling in Stenben- ville, Ohio, where he purchased a house and lot and was engaged in the woolen-mills of that place as a spinner. He remained there about twenty years, then went to Wheeling, Ohio, where he again engaged at his trade, spinning, remaining two years. In 1849 he came to Cali- fornia, crossing the plains with ox teams. After a trip of six months he arrived in Marysville and went to mining. In 1851 he returned to Steubenville for his family, but his wife, who had heard bad reports of California, declined to come, so they went to Iowa, where they pur- chased land. The winters there were too severe for a person who had spent two seasons in Cali- fornia, so at the end of a year he came once more to California, arriving at Winter's Bar September 18, 1853. He settled his family at the Oak Forest on the Mokelninne river, then began looking around for a desirable place on which to locate. In March, 1854, he settled upon the present place, and was a constant resi-
Hours Giuly H. J. Domanel
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dent of the same until his death, which occurred October 28, 1872, at the age of sixty three years. Mrs. Taylor lives with her son William. She was married September 16, 1836, to Mr. Taylor. They had nine children, namely: Rob- ert, Mary, James, Thomas, William, John, Joseph, Sarah E., and Mary, who died August 30, 1840. William Taylor runs the home place in a very creditable manner. He raises grain and stock. August 10, 1882, he was married to Miss Elizabeth Buckley. They have two children-Mary I. and Lucy F. Joseph Taylor married Miss Annie Buckley, sister of Eliza- beth, just mentioned, September 10, 1880, and they have one child, Margaret.
T. DORRANCE .- In the business circles of Stockton no name stands higher than that with which this sketch commences. Mr. Dorrance is a native of Middlebury, Addi- son County, Vermont, born November 6, 1819. His father, Joseph Dorrance, came of an old Providence, Rhode Island, family, and was a hatter. His mother, whose maiden name was Esther Martin, was a native of Vermont.
H. T. Dorrance was reared and educated at his native place, and in 1846 removed to Rut- land, Vermont, where he engaged in the sad. dlery and harness business in connection with Judge Hall. After the latter's death, which occurred in 1850, Mr. Dorrance carried on the business alone. In 1850 he came to California to join his brother-in-law, M. L. Bird, a pioneer, leaving New York Jnne 26, on the steamer Star of the West, and arriving at San Francisco on the 19th of July. Two or three days later he came to Stockton and went to work at the location where he now does business, in the em- ploy of his brother-in-law. He worked there until March 1, 1866, when he assumed the dnties of County Clerk, to which office he had been chosen at the preceding election. He was re-elected in 1867, and held the office until the first Monday in March, 1870. In 1869 he had 25
purchased the business of Mr. Bird and carried it on for one year in partnership with J. T. Oldham. Since that time he has not had any partner.
Mr. Dorrance has been a resident of Stockton for nearly a third of a century, has been a busi- ness man here much of that time, and has served the people of the city and county in many places of trust. To his credit it may be said that he ranks to-day, as he always has, among the most honored and esteemed of the county's citizens. His unfailing integrity in business, his high intelligence, and his dignified and courteous treatment of those with whom he comes in contact, have won for him the lasting friendship of his fellow citizens.
Mr. Dorrance was married February 7, 1841, at Hinesburg, Vermont, to Miss Achsah L. Bird, who was also a native of Addison Connty, Ver- mont. She died in this city February 18, 1882, leaving three children, viz .: Achisah W. (Mrs. H. M. Clays), Sarah C., wife of Chas. E. Owen, and C. Fred Dorrance. The latter is a resident of Portland, Oregon, and is with one of the large houses of that city, that of L. C. Hen- drichsen, jeweler.
Mr. Dorrance was Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of Vermont, I. O.O. F., when he came out here. He is one of the most distinguished Odd Fellows of California, and was Grand Repre- sentative to the meeting of the Supreme Lodge at Minneapolis in 1884, and to that at Balti- inore in 1885. He is now a member of Charity Lodge, No. 6. He is also a member of Morn- ing Star Lodge, F. & A. M.
In the days of the old-line Whigs Mr. Dor- rance was a stanch advocate of the principles of that party, and cast his first presidential vote for William Henry Harrison. He was one of the first to rally to the flag of Republicanism, and voted for the first presidential candidate of the party-John C. Fremont. Ile has always taken an active part in matters affecting the public interest and especially in educational affairs. For the eight years ending with 1872 he was one of the school trustees of Stockton,
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and was a member of the committee to grade the schools when the high school was established. When that institution held its first commence- ment he had the honor of presenting the diploma to the first graduates of the Stockton High School- Miss Lottie Grunsky, Otto Grun- sky and Miss Randall (now Mrs. Dorr). IIe again served as a member of the school board from September, 1887, to September, 1889. He is now, by the appointment of the Governor, a member of the Board of Trustees of the State Hospital for the Insane at Stockton.
Ilis present wife, to whom he was married November 26, 1889, was formerly Miss Frances C. Bird, a native of Pennsylvania, reared at Brownsville, in that State, but for some time a resident of Pittsburg.
OBERT LLOYD, of Elkhorn Township, was born April 27, 1836, in Massachusetts, his parents being Thomas and Rosa (Mc- Laughlin) Lloyd, both natives of Ireland. The father, farmer by occupation, came to America in an early day and settled down in Rhode Island, afterward moving to Massachusetts, where he and his wife died. There are in the family six children, four boys and two girls.
Robert was raised on a farm, remaining at home till twenty-one years of age. In 1854 he came to California, via the Isthmus, sailing from New York, and landing in San Francisco April 13, 1854. The following two years he spent in mining principally. The year of 1856 he spent working on a farm; then went to work on a threshing-machine. In 1857 he took up his present property, located on the Mercer road, which he helped to lay out in 1858-'59. In the fall of 1857 the first crop was sown, and in 1858 he commenced a general farmning business; he has remained there ever since, cultivating and improving his property. He now owns 333 acres of choice farming land.
Mr. Lloyd was married in 1873 to Miss Susan B. Murray, a daughter of Edward Murray, a
native of Ireland. They have three children living and one deceased, viz .: Gertrude, George W., Lucretia G. The home of the Lloyds is a neat, pleasant and comfortable one, and does credit to Mr. Lloyd's management and business ability. When he first came to California he had but $300 in his pocket, and to-day is one of the most successful farmers of this section.
HOMAS KENT HOOK, deceased. The subject of this sketch was born in Green County, Pennsylvania, November 11,
1816. Reared on a farm he received a lim- ited education in the log school-house of the district, but afterward supplied the deficiency in a great measure by reading and studying in later life. When only two years old he lost his father and went to live with his grandfather, who died in 1832. He was then apprenticed to a cabinet-maker at Waynesburg, and learned the trade. In 1836 he went to Indiana, and set- tling in Terre Haute there worked as a carpenter and bnilder for thirteen years. He left that city March 4, 1849, for California, coming across the plains and reaching this State September 9, 1849. Three days later he arrived in Sacramento, and after working at his trade about one week proceeded to Winter's Bar. There he tried his luck and afterward at Angel's creek, but with- out marked success, and in December, 1849, came to Stockton and helped to build the first store at the corner of Main and Center streets, and soon afterward the building on the south- west corner of Center and Market streets. In the spring of 1850 he again tried mining for a few weeks with unsatisfactory results at Horse- shoe Bend on the Merced river, and returned to house-building in Stockton, in which he con- tinned some six months. His next venture was as one of the twenty-seven who went in search of the alleged silver mines in Death valley, which they never found. Again in Stockton he went to farming on the Calaveras, two and one- half miles from the city, and continued in that
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pursuit nntil 1857, when he sold out and went into the livery-stable business. In 1860 he was elected Sheriff of this county on the Republican ticket, and by re-election held the office fromn 1861 to 1865, and in 1866 was elected Mayor of this city. He was Alderman for three terms and President of the council one year. In 1868 he erected Hook's building, on the northeast corner of Main and San Joaquin streets, at a cost of $40,000. Mr. Hook was twice married, sur- viving his first wife and only child for many years. He was married in September, 1860, to Mrs. Anna (Conklin) Greenfield, the widow of Elijah Greenfield, a pioneer of 1849, by whom she had one child, now deceased. Mr. Hook died of apoplexy, October 11, 1888.
Mrs. Anna (Conklin) Hook, the widow of Thomas Kent Hook, was born February 8, 1814, in Jefferson County, New York, a danghter of David and Anna (Gilbert) Conklin. The father, by occupation a farmer, was born November 15, 1773, and died October 23, 1866. The mother, born in Westchester County, New York, March 22, 1781, and there married early in 1796, died January 4, 1832. They had seventeen children : Richard, born December 20, 1797, died October 3, 1877; Loretta, born February 23, 1800, died May 20, 1882; Belinda, born October 27, 1801, died August 3, 1881; Gilbert, born October 11, 1803, died about 1873; Steplien, born July 18, 1805, died April 25, 1835; James, born Febru- ary 18, 1807, died September 19, 1887; David P., born December 30, 1808, died July 29, 1822; Thomas, born January 2, 1811, died January 29, 1888; Sally, born June 26, 1812, died June 1, 1842; Anna, the subject of this sketch, Feb- ruary 8, 1814, is still living in this city in 1890; Ephraim, born March 15, 1816, died Jannary 19, 1842; Ruth Emma, born April 12, 1818, died July 6, 1880; Jesse B., born May 13, 1820; David Platt, born May 12, 1822; Alvin, born April 9, 1824: these three are living in 1890; Edwin and Edward, twins, born Decem- ber 27, 1825, died about March 18, 1826, a few days apart.
The subject of this sketch was first married
in Jefferson County, New York, to Elijah Green- field, a carpenter who came out to California in 1849, and mined a few months, afterward set- tling in Stockton, where he worked at his trade until his death in 1859. His wife came by the Nicaragua route, leaving New York in Decem- ber, 1853, and arriving in Stockton January 17, 1854, where she has since resided with the ex- ception of four visits East. The first of these trips was made in 1865 by water, and the others in 1871, 1878 and 1882. All her journeys by water were accomplished unaccompanied by friends. Her marriage to Mr. Hook has already been mentioned. Of her brothers and sisters, Richard died in Harford, Michigan, at the age of eighty, by falling through an open cellar- door; he had ten children, of whom six are liv- ing in 1890; in the civil war four of his sons enlisted in the army and one in the navy, this one serving on the Monitor when she sunk the Merrimac. Loretta Conklin, by marriage Mrs. Alexander Warner, of Rutland, Jefferson County, New York, died there aged eighty-two years and three months. Belinda Conklin was married in Jefferson County, New York, at the age of nineteen to Salma Blanchard. They moved early in the '50s to Jefferson County, Wisconsin. They had thirteen children, of whom eight are living in 1890. Gilbert Conk- lin died in Van Buren County, Michigan, the father of nine or ten children. James Conklin died in Bedford, near Battle Creek, Michigan, and four of his children are living. Thomas Conklin was four times married and had a num- ber of children, of whom several died young, and four are living. Ruth Emma Conklin, by marriage Mrs. Charles E. Keeney, of Oswego County, New York, died in Albion, same county, leaving one daughter, who is living. Jesse B. Conklin, now of Stockton, came to California in 1860, mined six weeks and made his first piece of gold into a collar button, which he still wears. He had spent seven years clerking in Michigan, three in Watervliet and four in Decatnr. After his brief mining experience he clerked in this city for some time and afterward served as an
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attendant in the State Insane Asylum. He learned the trade of tailor in young manhood and worked in that line eleven years before moving to Michigan. He is still unmarried in 1890. David P. Conklin is living in Illinois, inarried, but without children. Alvin Conklin, living on the old homestead in Jefferson County, New York, married and has had children, all of whom are dead.
ILLIAM B. WHITE, of Elkhorn Town- ship, was born, March 20, 1830, in Bristol County, Massachusetts, his par- ents being Merchant and Adeline (Brely) White, both natives of Massachusetts. The father was of English descent. His grandfather was one of the Pilgrims and the last of his race, having no living relatives at his death. The mother of the subject was of Scotch descent. Merchant White was a farmer and Inmberman, born in 1800. He died in 1878. There were six children in the family, three boys and three girls. William, the subject of this sketch, when seventeen years of age, was apprenticed to learn the ship car- penter's trade, at which he was to serve four years. When two of the four years had passed he got the California gold fever and set sail for the land of gold. His parents and employers opposed it strongly and tried to persuade him to remain, but to no effect. William took passage as a sailor before the mast, receiving for his services $1. They were six months on the voyage landing in San Francisco, April 1, 1850. The ship's carpenter went ashore and left William to do his work. He built several scows and boats, receiving $14 a day and board. He made one trip to Stockton in one of the scows. He knew nothing whatever about navigation of the river, but managed to take his passengers, sixteen in number, who paid $16 each as pas- sage money, safely to their destination, and to bring the scow back to San Francisco; for this the ship owner offered him a block of land in San Francisco, not far from Clay and Second streets,
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