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 73
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72 | Part 73 | Part 74 | Part 75 | Part 76 | Part 77 | Part 78 | Part 79 | Part 80 | Part 81 | Part 82 | Part 83 | Part 84 | Part 85 | Part 86 | Part 87 | Part 88 | Part 89 | Part 90 | Part 91 | Part 92 | Part 93 | Part 94
his higher aspirations. The subject of this sketch had as a partner with him a younger brother, Abraham, from 1855 to 1867, under the firm style of B. & A. Frankenheimer, after which they resumed the style of B. Franken- heimer. The subject of this sketch continued the useful and necessary drudgery of mercan- tile life until 1886, when he retired from his old business. Since then he has occupied him- self a little with the less ardnous labor of real- estate dealer, the habits of a life-time forbidding absolute withdrawal from business.
Mr. Frankenheimer was married in this city, in 1864, to Mrs. Sarah (Shulman) Honigsberger, born also in Bavaria, December 20, 1833, a daughter of Simon Shulman and his wife, by birth a Miss Behr. Mrs. Frankenheimer had two children by her first husband: Cecilia Hon- igsberger, now Mrs. Louis Kahn, of Oakdale, Stanislaus County, who has three children, Joseph, Rheta and Bertha; Fannie Honigsber- ger, now Mrs. Jacob Haslacher, also of Oakdale, who has two children, Alfred and Beatrice. Mr. and Mrs. Frankenheimer have three chil- dren: Louis H., born September 2, 1865, edu- cated in the public schools and business college, was a clerk in his father's store for nearly a year, and in Oakdale, Stanislaus County, three years. Returning to Stockton, he went into general insurance here, January 1, 1889, repre- senting several companies in different lines. He is a member of Stockton Parlor, No. 7, N. S. G. W., and a young man of more than ordi- nary business promise. The other children- Samuel, born April 19, 1871, and Julius, born November 24, 1873-are attending the high school of Stockton this year (1890).
OHN LEWTHWAITE, superintendent of the California Paper Mill of Stockton since 1877, was born on the Isle of Man, Octo- ber 26, 1844, a son of Alexander Lewthwaite and his wife (by birth a Miss Kinraid). The mother died young in 1848, leaving six chil-
516
HISTORY OF SAN JOAQUIN COUNTY.
dren, all living in the United States. The father, born February 10, 1810, came to Ainer- ica in 1856, settling in Saratoga County, New York, where lie is still living. Grand-nnele Anthony Lewthwaite, born in England, was ninety-fonr at his death in the Isle of Man.
The subject of this sketch came to America in 1857 with an older brother and his two sis- ters, to rejoin their father in their new home. He there continued his education until the age of fifteen, when he went to learn the paper- making business at Rock City Falls, New York, remaining two years, and then in Pioneer Mill, West Milton, New York, about one year. In 1862 he enlisted in the Seventy-seventh New York Volunteer Infantry, serving about two years and ten months, to the close of the civil war. He was wounded in the Wilderness and at Cedar Creek. Upon his discharge from mili- tary service, Mr. Lewthwaite returned to work in the same mills in Rock City Falls, where he first learned his trade, remaining one year. He afterward worked for two years in a paper inill in Greenwich, Washington County, New York, until he set out for California in 1867, coming by way of Panama. On this coast he worked at his trade with S. P. Taylor & Co., in Marin Connty, until 1872, when he made a visit of two or three months to Saratoga County, New York. Returning, he came to Stockton and went to work in 1873 in Lane's Mills, just then con- verted into a paper mill. When the new works were erected on Mormon Channel by the Cali- fornia Paper Company in 1877-'78, he was ap- pointed superintendent, and has held that posi- tion to the present time.
Mr. Lewthwaite was married in Stockton, in 1874, to Miss Alice C. Moore, born in Catskill, New York, in 1849, a daughter of William U. and Eliza C. (Brandow) Moore, who came to California in 1870, and are both living in this city, aged about seventy-five. Mr. and Mrs. Lewthwaite have three children: William Ed- ward, born December 29, 1875; John Bradbury, August 13, 1877; Alice, October 17, 1880.
Mr. Lewthwaite has been a Mason about
twenty four years, joining the order in Green- wich, New York, about 1866, and being now a member of Morning Star Lodge, No. 68, F. & A. M., of this city. He is also a member of Stockton Lodge, No. 23, A. O. U. W.
DWARD ARTHUR TRETHEWAY, millwright, at the Stockton City Mills, was born in Cornwall, England, April 3, 1844, a son of Richard and Rebecca (Arthur) Trethe- way. In September, 1854, the parents with four sons emigrated to the United States and settled in New Harmony, Indiana, where the father worked at his trade of carpenter two years. Re- turning to England he worked two years in a ship-yard in London, where another son was born. In 1863 the father set out alone for Cal- ifornia by way of Liverpool, New York and Panama. His first job on this coast was build- ing quartz mills in Tuolumne County, about twelve miles from Sonora. Six months later, in November, 1863, he was joined by onr subject, who had learned his trade and followed him by the same route. In 1865 they were engaged for a time in constructing the necessary wood- work in the coal mines of Contra Costa County, and in April of that year went back to England.
E. A. Tretheway was married in Cornwall, in July, 1865, to Miss Ellen Yelland, a daughter of Richard and Ann Elizabeth (Rowett) Yelland. Leaving home September 1, 1865, Mr. Trethe- way reached this coast by the same route as before and resumed work at his trade in Tuol- umne County, and the father followed in the spring of 1866. Mr. E. A. Tretheway bought a lot and built a home in this city in 1866, and later, in 1867, was rejoined by his wife in Tuol . umine County, and in March, 1868, they came to reside in Stockton. Mr. Tretheway after- ward worked for a short time in Mariposa Connty, and then for eighteen months in the employ of the Southern Pacific Railroad. In 1872 he went to work in the Stockton City Mills, where he is still employed as a mill- .
517
HISTORY OF SAN JOAQUIN COUNTY.
wright. Meanwhile the mother and younger members of the family came to this coast about 1868. The father, born June 11, 1823, died in this county of typhoid and erysipelas, July 4, 1877, and the mothier, born January 30, 1826, died July 26, 1881. They have had eleven children : E. A., the subject of this sketch; Elizabeth, deceased in infancy; John, born March 16, 1847; Samuel and Richard, both de- ceased in infancy; Arthur, born February 13, 1853; Thomas, born June 10, 1854; Williamn E., born April 27, 1857; Samuel, July 28, 1858; Ainy, who died in San Francisco, in her thirteenth year; Richard, born June 24, 1862, deceased in Stockton in the twenty-first year of his age. Of the children now living, John is residing in East Oakland, Arthur in Vallejo, Thomas in Alameda, William E. is of the firm of Tretheway, Earle & Dasher of this city, and Samuel, a baggage master in the employ of the Southern Pacific railway, resides in Oakland. Grandfather Thomas Tretheway, also a carpen- ter by trade, was twice married and lived to be over seventy. His first wife, the grandmother of our subject, died comparatively young. Grandfather Edward Arthur was seventy and his wife (nee Betty Best) was over eighty.
The father of Mrs. Tretheway, born July 5, 1808, died in 1869, and her mother lived to tlie age of sixty-eight. Grandfather Rowett died comparatively young, the result of an accident, but grandmother Elizabetlı (Guy ) Rowett reached the age of seventy-three. Grand-aunt Polly (Rowett) Holton lived to the age of ninety, and two of her sisters also lived to an advanced age. Polperro is the seat of location of the Rowetts. The Yellands, too, are along-lived race. Great-grandparents Richard and Catherine were respectively eighty-four and eighty years old. Grandfather John was twice married and had twenty children, of whom thirteen were by the grandmother of Mrs. Tretheway, Eleanor Hob- lyu (Hodge) Yelland, born in 1782, deceased in 1849, lacking one month of being sixty-seven. Of her children, Henry, born May 13, 1802, is living; William, born March 15, 1806, died in
1888. Anotlier, Jolin, was seventy at his death. The grandfather lived to the age of eighty-three years and nine months, and two of his brothers, Richard and Henry, reached the age of ninety.
Mr. and Mrs. E. A. Tretheway have had six children, of whom two, Alfred and Richard, twins, survived their birthi fifteen months and two years and three monthis respectively. The four living children in order of their birth are Edward Edgar, Ellen, Amy Arthur, and Walter Yelland Tretheway. Edward E., educated in the public schools of Stockton, including one year in the high school, afterward took a busi- ness course and learned telegraphy, quitting his studies at the age of eighteen to take the posi- tion of book-keeper in the tinware manufactur- ing, stove and hardware store, which he has now held about five years.
Mr. E. A. Tretheway is a member of Charity Lodge, No. 6, of Parker Encampment, No. 3, and of Canton Ridgeley, No. 15, I. O. O. F. Mr. and Mrs. Tretheway are charter members of the Rebecca Lodge of this city, and Mrs. Tretlı- eway is a member of the Central Methodist Episcopal Church, in which all the members of the family usually attend service. Mr. Trethe- way is also a member of Centennial Lodge, No. 38, K. of P., and of Harmony Lodge of the Sons of St. George.
ILO WILLIAMS, deceased, was born in Pennsylvania, September 26, 1801. His parents left Pennsylvania, when he was thirteen years of age, settling on a farm in Ohio, where lie remained with them until he was married, in 1835, when he engaged in the mer- cantile business at Mansfield, Ohio, in company with his brother. He moved from Ohio to Illinois, where he remained a year, thence to Arkansas. He engaged in the furniture bnsi- less and farming, remaining there fourteen years, until 1853, when he started, with his wife and six children, for California. They made the trip overland with a large train and
518
HISTORY OF SAN JOAQUIN COUNTY.
arrived in San Joaquin valley after a journey of six months. They camped six and one-half iniles from Stockton on the place where Septi- mins Williams and his brother had located in 1849, making quite a city of tents. Mr. S. Williams was one of the first to settle in this part of the country and lias been a very prom- inent man: is now a resident of San Francisco, · known as Captain S. Williams, having been a steamboat captain Milo Williams, the subject of this sketcli, made his home here continuonsly until the time of his death, which occurred November 26, 1870, at the age of sixty- nine years. He was married, in 1835, to Miss Martha J. Reed, a native of Ohio. They had a family of eleven children, seven of whom are now living, four boys and three girls. Mrs. Williams still lives on the home place at the age of seventy-two years.
E. G. Williams, the eldest living sou of the subject of this sketch was born in Mansfield, Ohio, and came to California with his parents. He has been engaged in farming from boyhood up and still runs the home place. He was inar- ried, in 1863, to Miss Mary A. Landerumn, a native of Georgia. They have five children, three boys and two girls. Mr. E. G. Williams also owns 320 acres on which he carries on gen- eral farming. He is a member of the I. O. O. F., No. 55, Truth Lodge, of Stockton. Mrs. Williams is a member of the Rebekah Lodge.
ILLIAM SMITH FOWLER, Chief of Police, of Stockton, California, was born near Hillsborough, Orange County, North Carolina, April 29, 1832, a son of Will- iam and Elizabeth (Smith) Fowler, botlı natives of that State. The father died of pleurisy in 1847, aged about forty-two years; the mother in 1863, at the age of fifty-two years. Grand- parents on both sides lived to an old age, grandmother Smith being eighty-eight years old and grandmother Fowler still older, reaching nearly a hundred. Grandfather Smith's name
was Charles C. Great-grandfathers Renben Smith and Mark Fowler were soldiers of the Revolution, and both were buried with military lionors, Mr. Smith dying about 1838, just within the limits of our subject's earliest recollections. The immediate ancestry on both sides were fariners.
W. S. Fowler, the subject of this sketchi, was reared on a farm, and received some little sclivol- ing in winter. In his sixteenth year he went to Ross County, Ohio, in the spring of 1848, in the employ of an enterprising specnlator, wlio dealt largely in hogs. These ranged in large droves through the woods of Ross County, and were then driven, when in proper condition for the market, to Cumberland, Maryland, the rail- road terminus, and thence by rail to the sea- board markets. Having inade two such trips our subject returned to his home in North Carolina, by way of Stanton and Danville, Vir- ginia, and in 1849 engaged as a teamster in hauling iron and cotton. He again went to Ross County, December 31, 1849, doing a little farm work until the spring of 1850, when he moved to Morgan County, Indiana, where he was engaged in farm work until the spring of 1851, taking, however, three months' schooling in Mooresville. In April, 1859, he made a horseback trip by way of Cincinnati to Chilli- cothe, Ohio, chiefly to visit his friends in Ross County, returning to Indiana and proceeding thence to Springfield, Illinois, where he arrived June 1, 1851. Spending that season in farın work in Chatham, Illinois, he then went to Peoria County, and remained during the winter of 1851-'52 at Chillicothe, Illinois, being sick a part of the time, and engaged in farm work when able. Early in March, 1852, he went by steamboat from Peoria to St. Louis, Missouri, where he witnessed the reception of Kossuth. There, too, he formed the purpose of coming to California, and started to see some relatives re- siding in Ray County, Missouri, below Inde- pendence, which was on the great overland ox-team route to this coast. After a brief illness and a short visit he set out afoot on the great
519
HISTORY OF SAN JOAQUIN COUNTY.
journey by way of Independence, Kansas City and Parksville, where he worked a short time packing iee. Proceeding thenee to Weston via Platte City, he found opportunity to engage in farm work near that eity, remaining until Jan- uary, 1853. He was then hired to superintend farın work for the manual-labor school of St. Mary's Indian Mission on the Kaw river, near the Vermillion, some eighty miles west of Fort Leavenworth. He there remained planting and raising erops from January to July, when he hired as teamster on a merchant-train of twenty- four wagons on its way from St. Louis to Salt Lake City. After a journey of seventy-four days they arrived in that city, October 10, 1853. With nine others similarly inclined Mr. Fowler formed a company, and buying a team and sup- plies they set out for Los Angeles by the south- ern ronte, October 20, 1853. At the crossing of Severe river they fell in with the Govern- ment surveying party under Captain Gunnison, and their escort, a company of dragoons under Captain Morrison. The murder of both cap- tains and ten of their men by Indians at Severe lake is a matter of history, and its effeet on our party was of course discouraging. Helping to bury the dead, the surveyors pushed on to Fill- more City, where they remained several days, when the surveyors returned to Salt Lake City. Starting forward again with only two horses left and a limited supply of provisions, they soon abandoned wagon and horses and set out in light marehing order with the scanty remnant of their provisions-a few large loaves of bread crudely-baked-on their backs. With no meat, no salt, no tobacco, and a weary journey of 300 miles, including the Death valley and Mojave desert before them, the prospeet was certainly discouraging. They made about thirty miles a day, and were three days crossing the desert, with no eliance to replenish their supplies. In such circumstances a very little help aequires great importance, and they were delighted to piek up some beans, evidently dropped from a torn sack in some wagon that had preceded them. It was very little, perhaps ten beans a
day to each of them, but it helped when all else had been exhausted. They succeeded in travel- ing along almost exhausted until they reached the Cueamunga ranch, where they were treated with the utmost kindness by the Spanish family who occupied the ranch. In three days more they arrived in Los Angeles, December 8, 1853. Mr. Fowler's first job in California was putting up a wire fenee for Judge Drydon, then County Judge; next a month's labor in the Sansevain vineyard, at $30 and board. The alleged dis- covery of gold at Pasadena drew him to that place in February, 1854, and he worked at dig- ging a ditch of one mile and a lialf long near Sierra Madreville, staying in that seetion until May. He then hired out to drive a band of cattle to upper California, by way of Santa Bar- bara, Paso Robles, Monterey and Pacheco Pass, to Stanislaus County. In June he tried mining in Tuolumne County, but soon relinquished it for harvesting at $4 a day, near Farmington, in this county. After harvest he worked awhile at threshing, and before the elose of the year went to mining in Calaveras County. He continued that industry at Fourth Crossing and Angel's Camp until June, 1857, when he was carried away by the Rogue river excitement to hunt for gold in Oregon. He prospected from Crescent City to Jacksonville, Josephine County, and the upper Klamath river, when the unfriendly atti- tude of the Modoe Indians made it undesirable to linger. He next went to Yreka and there mined a little, and then to Weaverville, where he mined that winter, doing fairly well. In March, 1858, he came to Shiasta City, and pros- pected extensively in that county, but without success. Next by stage to Red Bluff, by boat to Sacramento, and again by stage to Mokelumne Hill. In May, 1858, after his return from Ore- gon and arrival in Mokelumne Hill, he erossed the Sierra Nevada mountains and prospected ex- tensively for gold and silver in Nevada (then in Utalı territory), with varied success. After mueh hardship and privation in the snows of the Sierras and the deserts of Utah, he returned to San Andreas, and resumed mining near that place.
520
HISTORY OF SAN JOAQUIN COUNTY.
Mr. Fowler came to Stockton in 1868, and has resided here since. He first, served as clerk in the Avenne House, over a year, then in a grocery store six months. In 1870 he opened the " Young American" on his own account, and conducted it until 1874, when it was re- placed by the Commercial Hotel. He then opened the Arcade, now the Commercial Saloon and Billiard Parlors, in which he has been as- sociated since 1879 with the manager of the Commercial Hotel, under the style of Hahn & Fowler. Was elected a member of the Common Council in 1878; served two years. Was chair- inan of the fire and water committee.
Mr. Fowler was elected Chief of Police in 1882, and re-elected the following year. Under the new charter, adopted in June. 1889, he was appointed Chief of Police by the board of police and fire commissioners, July 15, 1889, for a terin of two years. Mr. Fowler has made two trips to the East; the first in 1884, when he visited his brother, Levi Y., a planter in Texas, and John R., in Holmes County, Mississippi, both older by two and four years, respectively, than himself. Proceeding on his trip he reached his birthplace in North Carolina, thence to Baltimore, Washington, New York, the great lakes, Chicago and Salt Lake City, with an ease and comfort that was in striking contrast with the manner in which he made his way to this coast a generation ago. In 1888 he made a sec- ond trip, visiting Texas, Kansas, Askansas and Missouri.
OSEPH M. FOWLER, of Elkhorn Town- ship, was born July 26, 1825, in Westfield, Massachusetts, his parents being Royal and Harriet (Smith) Fowler; the father a native of Massachusetts, and the mother of Connecticut. Royal Fowler was a farmer by occupation and a contractor and builder as well. He was one of the builders of the Erie canal and one of the contractors on the Boston and Albany railroad; he died in Westfield, Massachusetts, Angust
27, 1875, at the age of eighty six years. In tracing the genealogy of the Fowler family we find that they are of Scotch descent. They einigrated first to England, where they were the inventors of the first steam plow used in England ; thence to America.
Joseph was raised on a farm and remained at home until he was about eighteen years of age, when he went into a machine shop as an apprentice, remaining three years, at the expira- tion of which time he took a contract for build- ing power and haud planers. After finishing this contract he joined a company for California. They sailed from New York February 28, 1849, on the schooner John Castner, which was char- tered by a party of eighty and took them to Point Isabel, about five miles froin the Rio Grande There they took passage on a Government steamer for Fort Brown and Hamargo, landing on Mexican soil; and there they were delayed a week by cholera, which took the lives of two men. Fifteen of the party, including Mr. Fowler, procured riding mules at Mier and left for Monterey. They went by El Paso and Saltillo, camped on the field of Buena Vista, following General Taylor's line as far as it ex- tended, and through Chihuahua and Tucson, the Eighty-Mile Desert, down the Gila river to the Colorado, across the Colorado desert, etc. Here they had trouble with the Indians, who threatened great distruction. At that time they were waiting for a pack-train of provisions, and had been ont of food for two days. On several occasions on the journey they were without food from three to five days at a time. Their route from Chihuahua through was without a road or guide. From Los Angeles they took the coast ronte for San Juan, where they spent the Fourth of July. They arrived at the mines at Jamestown on the 8th.
There they went to inining and remained about two months; thien mined in other places, following that occupation for several years, nntil 1856. In the meantime Mr. Fowler's brother had taken up land and he helped himn harvest during the harvest season. He was very suc-
521
HISTORY OF SAN JOAQUIN COUNTY.
cessful in mining; at one place he took out $12,000 in three or four days from a place 2 x 6 and two feet deep. Soon after he left the mine in charge of one of his partners. Returningafter an absence of four weeks he found the place in such a condition that he was disgusted, mounted his mnle and returned to this valley. He took the steamer for the States, in 1856, via the Isthmus. In the fall of the same year he re- turned and went to work on the ranch with his brother. In August, 1857, he went once more to the East and was married. In the spring of 1858 he returned via the Isthmus, bringing his wife. He and his brother took up their land in 1854 and since 1858 Joseph has been a con- stant resident of the same. About 1863 he purchased his brother's interest; his brother is now a resident of San Diego County. Mr. Fowler now owns one section of land located about twelve miles from Stockton on the Davis road. He does general farming business and is a director of the grangers' stores of Lodi; he is also director of the Lodi Bank. He is the owner of 1,440 acres of land situated about five miles east of Merced.
Mr. Fowler was married, in 1857, to Miss Eliza Brumley, a native of Massachusetts. They liave seven children, namely: Royal, Warren, Ellen, wife of Thomas Jordan; Mary, Myrtle, Addie and Ernest. Mr. Fowler is a member of the Lodi Grange and Pioneer Society.
ENJAMIN WATROUS, land owner, re- siding in Stockton since 1870, and in the State since 1850, was born June 11, 1831, in Springfield, Massachusetts, a son of Jeremialı and Sarah (Lanphear) Watrous. The mother, born April 28, 1799, died November 2, 1833. The father, by occupation a farmer, was the son of Nathaniel Watrons, also a farmer and shoe- maker, who with some others of the family was among the first settlers of East Long Meadow, Massachusetts. The parents of Sarah (Lanphear) Watrons were Uriel and Jernsha (Pease) Lan-
phear; the father born May 26, 1771, died June 21, 1868; the mother born in 1776, died July 27, 1812. The children of Jeremiah and Sarah Watrous now living are: Sarah Maria, born in September 1823, by marriage Mrs. Abel H. Calkins, of East Long Meadow, Massachusetts; Leonard, born in 1828, now of Springfield, Mas- sachusetts; and the subject of this sketch.
Mr. Watrous received a common-school edu- cation and helped on his father's farm until he set ont for California in 1850. He left New York, April 30, by the steamer Georgia to Havana, thence by the steamer Falcon to Cha- gres, then by boat to Gorgona, and from that point overland to Panama, whence he came by a sailing vessel to San Francisco, arriving on the 6th of August, 1850. He went to mining in Tuolumne County and continued in that line of work seven years. Among other ventures he embarked with fifteen others in quartz min- ing at Carson Hill, Calaveras county, and lost money in the enterprise. He then engaged in raising hay, below Chinese Cainp, about seven- teen miles from Sonora, and sold some of his product at good prices. He once saw some hay sold there at $150 a ton. About 1860 he engaged in hog-raising, which he continued for several years, together with other stock, in the later years. Meanwhile he went East by the Nic- aragua route in 1863, and was married in Three Rivers, Massachusetts, September 2 of that year, to Miss Ellen M. Goff, born in Ware, Massachu- setts, September 7, 1846, a daughter of Benjamin Franklin and Amelia (Calkins) Goff. The fa- ther died in 1859, aged forty-three; the mother, born in March, 1820, came to Stockton in July, 1872, and is still living. Grandfather Calkins died of heart disease at the age of fifty-nine, but grandmother Esther (Mixter) Calkins lived to the age of ninty-one.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.