An illustrated history of Sonoma County, California. Containing a history of the county of Sonoma from the earliest period of its occupancy to the present time, Part 60

Author: Lewis Publishing Company
Publication date: 1889
Publisher: Chicago, The Lewis Publishing Company
Number of Pages: 786

USA > California > Sonoma County > An illustrated history of Sonoma County, California. Containing a history of the county of Sonoma from the earliest period of its occupancy to the present time > Part 60

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ARATA, of Russian River Township, has a raneh of 144 acres on the Santa Rosa and Healdsburg road, less than a mile north of Windsor. He purchased the place in 1884, and the next spring planted fifteen acres of fruit trees. They are peaches, pears, apples, prunes, egg plums, apricots, cherries, ete., and are all in good condition. He has eighteen acres in grapes, the greater portion of which acreage is planted to the Zinfandel, the remain- der being divided among a number of choiee varieties. The rest of the place is devoted

a native of Italy, born eighteen miles south of Genoa, October 1, 1831. His father was a captain of a ship, and marine searcher for coral all the time. and the subjeet of this sketeh was reared to a sea-faring life. going on board ship when a mere lad of seven years. Until 1858 he followed the sea, his travels embracing the paths of commerce all over the world. In 1858 he came to California to reside, locating in Calaveras Connty. where Le engaged in mining, and one year later he en- tered into mercantile business. In 1870 he went to farming in Calaveras County, and was thus employed there until he came to Sonoma County and located on his present farm. While a resident of Calaveras County he was married to Teresa Alviso, July 6, 1568, a native of Mexico, born in Sonora, August 5, 1849, a daughter of Juan and Susanna (Banleeea) Alviso. Her father was a stock dealer and owned a large ranch. In 1858 the family came to Calaveras Connty, California, where the father followed ranching until 1886, when he moved his family back to Mexico, where the parents now reside. Senor Alviso is a promi- nent man and has held positions of trust aud honor. Mr. Arata's parents, August and Cath- erine (Novera) Arata, are both deceased, the former having died in 1874, and the latter in 1871. His father was born at San Miguel, Italy, eighteen miles south of Genoa, May 1, 1782. Mr. and Mrs. Arata have six children, viz .: Augusta, Rosa, Louis, Celestina, John and Katie. Politically, Mr. Arata is a Republican.

ILLIAM COMSTOCK was born in Fair- field County, Connecticut, Angust 9, 1825, the son of Watts Comstock, of one of the old Connecticut families. The old homestead was the birth place of the father and grandfather of the subject of this sketch, and is still in the hands of the family. His grandparents on both sides were enrolled in the

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patriot army in the war of the Revolution. Will- iam Comstock was reared to a farm life, and elu- cated in the New England schools, remaining at the old home until reaching manhood. The dis- covery of gold in California determined his future, and the family home for three generations was left behind, for, in 1849, he was enrolled among the Argonauts, and reached this State via the Isth- inus. The following six months he was en- gaged in mining on the north fork of the American River and the north fork of the Yuma River .. Later lie engaged in agricultural pursuits in Contra Costa County, and in 1858 came to this county, locating in Vallejo Town- ship. In 1860 he wedded Miss Clara Stone, who was born in the State of Michigan and came, in 1856, with her father, Elias Stone, to this State. Mr. Stone (now deceased) made his home in Contra Costa County. In 1871 Mr. Comstock with his family established their present home. The homestead of 160 acres of choice valley land is situated on the Santa Rosa and Petaluma road, six miles south of the former city. From almost a state of nature Mr. Comstock has brought the place to its present improved condition. The homestead now, in quality of improvements and value of productions, is ranked among the best in the beautiful Santa Rosa Valley. IInrbert G. Com- stock, the only son and the only living child of Mr. and Mrs. Comstock, has his home with his parents, and is his father's assistant in the labors and cares of the farm. Florence, their only daughter, died at the age of sixteen years. Mr. Comstock, in eary life, was politically a Whig, but in 1862 became identified with the Republican party.

APTAIN HIENRY D. FITCHI, whose name figures prominently in the recital of early events in Sonoma County, was a native of Boston, Massachusetts, born in that portion of the city which was then separately incorporated under the name of Charlestown,

May 7, 1799. Ilis mother's maiden name was Delano. ITis father, Henry Fitch, was captain of an English trading ship, and brought up his son to a sea faring life. In 1822 the young mariner made his first voyage as commander of a vessel. A captain in the service of the large ship- owning firm of Bryan, Sturgis & Co., of Boston, had died, and the influence of Captain Henry Fitch seenred for his son, Henry D., the command. Ile took the vessel around Cape Horn to the Pacific coast of this continent, and to the Sand- wich Islands. While in command of this ship and in harbor in a California port, he met Donna Josefa Carrillo, daughter of a Mexican military officer and native of San Diego. The result of their acquaintance was an agreement to unite their fortunes, but to their marriage there was a serious obstacle. The father of the lady. be- ing an ardent Catholic, would not allow an in- fraction of the unwritten law which forbade the marriage of a Catholic to a non-member of the faith, and his decision was irrevocably against the proposed union. General Vallejo and Cap- tain Cooper, who had married sisters of the young lady, interfered, however, and by their efforts she was placed on board the captain's vessel, and on the arrival of the ship at Valpa- raiso, they were formally united in marriage. The paternal blessing was finally obtained, how- ever, and the couple settled down in San Diego. In 1844 the Mexican government granted Cap- tain Fitch eleven leagues of land, which was located in Sonoma County and became cele- brated as the Sotoyome grant. Captain Fiteh sent Cyrus Alexander to take charge of the landed interests here, and he also gave considera- ble personal attention to the property. He built two adobe houses in that portion of the grant which is now the Bailhache estate, both of which are standing, and one, modernized, is the pres- ent ranch residence. Captain Fitch was a man far above the average in point of intellect. He passed through many of the most stirring scenes in the history of this coast, but did not live to see California a State of the Union, his death having occurred February 14, 1849. His widow,

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who was born in April, 1810, survives him, making her home with her daughter. Mrs. John D. Grant. She retains an intellect and memory unimpaired, though she has lived to see three nations in succession control the land of her birth. Fitch Mountain, which stands like a sentinel over the beautiful little city of Healds- burg, will always be a monnment to the man whose name it bears. He built the first mill in Sonoma County (saw-mill and grist-mill com- bined), bringing the machinery from Boston by sea. A short time before his death he was ap- pointed as the representative of the Pacific Mail Steamship Company, but never qualified.

OHIN D. GRANT, of Russian River Town- ship, is a native of Clinton, Hunterdon County, New Jersey, born October 2, 1828, his parents being William and Catherine (Wyckoff) Grant, both of whom were born in New Jersey. When he had reached the age of fourteen years John D. Grant went to New Brunswick, Middlesex County, New Jersey, and there learned the earpenter's trade. In 1849 he became one of a company of thirty-eight who purchased The Roe, a schooner of 164 tons burden, to take them to California. They sailed out of New York harbor on the 26th of Jann- ary, 1549, and after a fair voyage, which took them through the Straits of Magellan, they landed at San Francisco on the 30th of June. The investment in the schooner proved a profit- able one to the owners, and Mr. Grant who had started with $350, had 8700 elear of his pas- sage after the sale of the vessel. He proceeded to Sacramento where he obtained employment at his trade, making his residence there until 1858. lle made his first trip to Sonoma County, however. in 1852, and then formed ae- quaintances and obtained such a knowledge of the country as indneed him finally to make the county his permanent home, and since the spring of 1859 he has resided on his present ranch. He has been twice married. His first

wife to whom he was united in matrimony in November, 1558. was Isabel Fitch, daughter of Captain Henry D. Fitch, whose sketch precedes this article. She died in 1861. By this mar- riage there were two children, of whom one, Fred, is deceased. The other, Henry D., is an engineer in the employ of the San Francisco & Northern Pacific Railroad Company. Mr. Grant's present wife was formerly Miss Anita Fitch, also a daughter of Captain Henry D. Fitch. Mrs. Grant is a lady of rare attainments, and has acquired a high reputation as a vocalist on this coast. She has devoted considerable at- tention to the study and preservation of the language of the native Indian races, and it is due to her efforts that these Indian dialects have taken a preservable written form. The living children of Mr. and Mrs. Grant are: Charles F., M. D., who is separately mentioned; Josefa, Ben E., John and Fred. Mr. Grant is politi- cally a Demoerat. He was for four years a supervisor of Sonoma County; and is a charter member of the Healdsburg Lodge, A. F. & A. M. The Grant ranch consists of 600 aeres, ocenpying a favored portion of the Russian River Valley, on the Healdsburg and Santa Rosa road, within two miles of the former eity. Mr. Grant was the pioneer hop raiser of Healds- burg, having embarked in that industry in 1872. His hop yard contains twenty aeres, and is always depended on for a good return, the yield per aere having ranged from 1,200 to 2,000 pounds. He has thirty-five acres in grapes, ranging in age from two to eight years. Of these one-third are Zinfandel, the remainder Mission and several foreign varieties. A twenty- year-old apple orchard of eight aeres still bears well. There are also 400 Bartlett pears and 500 French prunes, planted in 1888. About sixty acres are usually devoted to alfalfa. One field of ten aeres turned out about seventy tons in 1888. The land is very rich, and one year a corn field of twenty acres, planted after the rains were finished, turned out a big erop of eorn, the stalks being thirteen feet high, with- out water from any source other than what

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moisture the ground retained. The year 1854 was the best he has experienced for wheat. In that year, from four acres he cut and threshed 280 bushels.

HARLES F. GRANT, M. D., son of John D. and Anita (Fiteh) Grant, was born in Sonoma County, April 9, 1864. He at tended the schools of Healdsburg and Litton Springs Academy, and begun the study of med- ieine with Dr. F. M. Sponagle, of Healdsburg. Ile commeneed attendance at Long Island Hos- pital College in January, 1885, and graduated at that celebrated institution in June, 1886. He was for a time in San Francisco, but is now practicing his profession in Mendocino County. He is a member of the Sonoma County Medi- eal Society.

OBERT CRANE, one of the Argonauts and one of Sonoma County's pioneer ag. riculturists, was born in Mercer County, Kentucky, December 8, 1822, son of Tarlton L. and Pally (Beales) Crane, who were natives of Virginia and North Carolina, respectively. Their marriage occurred in 1811. Robert Crane is one of a family of seventeen children, four- teen sons and three danghters. he being the eighth ehild and titth son of this large family. Eight sons and two daughters are still living, George, the eldest, now (1888) being seventy- six years of age. Ile lives in Marion County, Missouri. Nelson, the youngest, is fifty-three years of age. The subject of this sketch was reared to a farm life in Washington County, Kentucky, whither his parents had moved when he was a child. There he received his ednea- tion and lived until he was seventeen years old. Hle then accompanied his parents to Marion County, Missouri. In that county his father died June 21, 1849, aged sixty-six years, his mother having died January 21, 1844, aged

forty-eight years. Besides the two brothers already mentioned, another, Richard Il., a wealthy and prosperous farmer, lives on a ranch adjoining the one owned and occupied by the subject of this sketch. All the other living members of the family have their homes in Mis- souri. Caught by the overland ebb of emigra- tion eaused by gold discovery, Mr. Crane, in company with his brother Richard, left the Missouri home and started for the new El Do- rado. The train of which they formed a part consisted of sixteen wagons, fifty yoke of eattle, and a two-horse team and wagon for cooking. There were thirty-two men in the company, five of whom were attached to the culinary depart- ment. The day after crossing the Missouri River at St. Joseph ten men were prostrated with cholera, of whom two died. Beyond this no unnsnal siekness occurred and the journey was attended by no unusual or untoward event. Fifteen wagons and nearly all the stock were brought through safely. The party reached Cold Springs, El Dorado County, October 13, 1849. After selling off their stock at anetion, Mr. Crane and his brother engaged in mining in partnership with others at Georgetown. In the spring of 1850 they opened a grocery and inining supply store, Mr. Crane being most of the time on the road bringing supplies, paying as high as 828 for flour at Sacramento. This business was energetically carried on till tl @ following spring when the store was sold, and the pan and roeker was resumed at Pern, four miles below Georgetown. In June, 1852, Mr Crane visited this county and made a claim upon the land where he now lives. In October hie returned, driving 100 head of cattle to his future home. In the stock business he had for part- ners his brother and two others. In the au- tumn of 1853 the Cranes bought ont the interests of the others and remained in partner. ship two or three years longer. The original claim of 160 aeres proved to be part of the " Cotato " grant, Mr. Crane acquiring a title in 1858. In 1864 he added to his estate by pur- chase of 326 acres. This fine estate is located

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HISTORY OF SONOMA COUNTY.

against the foot-hills, in Santa Rosa Valley. seven miles south of Santa Rosa, on the road leading to Petaluma. November 3, 1553, Mr. Crane married Miss Susan C. Davidson, who was born in Kentucky, March 24, 1533, and who, with her parents. JJacob E. and Mary (Bolles) Davidson, crossed the plains to this State in 1852. Mrs. Crane is one of a family of twelve children, six boys and six girls. Her . parents settled near Santa Rosa, where her father died at the age of eighty-one years and her mother at eighty. Mrs. Crane is the mother of twelve children, viz .: Mary Jane, wife of J. J. Lowry, of Santa Rosa: George Silas, farmer and stock ranchman of Morrow County, Oregon; Charles Burdon, stock farmer of the same county: Martha K., wife of Thomas B. Ward, died at her home in Santa Rosa Township. June 23, 1$85; James Alexander, a resident of Yolo County; Hattie Forest, who died December 23. 1856; Thomas Jackson, of Yolo County; Rob- ert Lee, residing at home; Roland Archie, who died February 18, 1874, in her sixth year; Ilar- lan Smith, who died in February, 1874, aged six months and twenty-four days; Estella Hope, who at this writing is a pupil at Highland Park School at Oakland; and Wade Hampton, the youngest. Mr. and Mrs. Crane are members of the Missionary Baptist church. In politics Mr. Crane ealls himself an old-fashioned Dem. ocrat. IIe has held many official positions of trust, and is worthy of the honor and high confidence so freely bestowed upon him by his friends and fellow citizens. Over thirty years ago he was first elected a magistrate of Sonoma County. He has twice served the county on the board of supervisors.

EV. W. H. MARTIN, pastor of the Santa Rosa Christian church, is a native of the State of Kentucky, born in Mercer County, in 1844. After taking a preparatory course of study he entered the Kentucky University at Lexington in 1866. Ill health caused him to

leave the University a few months before graduation. In the spring of 1873 he went to Australia to take pastoral charge of a Christian church in the city of Melbourne, where he con- tinned his ministerial labors nearly five years. The failing health of his wife induced him to resign his charge and come to California in 1678; and after a year's pastoral work in the city of Colnsa, be accepted the professorship of Eng- lish literature in Hesperian College at Wood- land, the oldest Christian college in California. While filling the chair in college Mr. Martin also discharged the duties of pastor of the Chris- tian church in Woodland, one of the largest and most flourishing societies of that denomination in the State. Finding those combined labors too ardnous to continue them longer, he resigned the professorship at the end of four years and devoted himself entirely to the work of the church. During the eight years which he had charge of the church it was exceptionally pros- perous. In October, 1587, he received and accepted a call to the pastorate of the Christian church of Santa Rosa, and has actively officiated in that capacity ever since. He found the church in this eity suffering from lack of zeal and unanimity of effort and depleted in num- bers; but he soon inspired its members with some of his own religions fervor, rekindled the smonldering altar fires, and it began at once to grow in enthusiasm and numbers. At one pro- tracted meeting thirty new members were added, and a steady growth and prosperity have re- warded his ministerial labors. The society now numbers a hundred and fifty members in good standing. Mr. Martin is very earnest. impres- sive and eloquent in his pulpit efforts, command- ing the undivided attention and interest of his anditors by his forcible and logical presentation of the doctrines of Christianity. Possessing a highly nervous, sanguine temperament, he is quick in thought and action, doing with his might what his hands and brain find to do, and always with the courage of his convictions, Mr. Martin has been twice married. His first wife was Miss Mary Longmire, whom he wedded in

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Missouri before going to the " Dark Continent," and who died soon after they reached California, leaving two children, a daughter and a son. Ile married his present wife, formerly Miss Carrie Miller, of Stockton, California, in 1884. One child blesses their union.

HOMAS JEFFERSON BROOKE .- An early settler and representative farmer and live-stock grower of California, left his birth place in northern Georgia in the spring of 1851-being then in the flower of young manhood (twenty years of age)-to seek his home and fortnue in the new El Dorado of the Pacific coast. Coming by the southern route he passed up through the great San Joaquin Valley, and was so impressed with the beauty and possibilities of that vast country that he resolved to become the owner of some of its fertile soil. But, like most of those early pioneers, he must first have some experience in the fascinating lottery of hunting for gold in nature's rock-bound repositories. Accordingly he proceeded to Sonora, Tuolumne County, and there spent six months in mining with quite flattering success, as he averaged $8 to $10 a day, and the last day's work yielded him $24. Mining life, with its wild, weird experiences and rough associations, not proving agreeable to his taste, Mr Brooke resolved to engage in the more congenial occupation of the agriculturist; and, giving his claim and tools to a friend, lie started early in the summer of 1852 for the San Joaquin Valley to select a location for a farm. On the second of July he settled on a 160-acre tract of land twenty miles east of Stockton, a young friend of his taking up an adjoining quarter-section. The next step was to provide a place of shelter. For this purpose Mr. Brooke bought a rude structure several miles distant on the Stockton road, which had been used as a restaurant or lunch room, and, loading it on a wagon, hauled it to his land and fitted it up for his habitation. This abode was neither ornate

nor elegant. No plate glass, plank floor, nor even water-tight roof, entered into its construe- tion. The front was composed of boards and the other sides of canvas, and the single apart- ment it comprised served as kitchen, dining- room, sitting-room and parlor. Having com- pleted all arrangements for living-including the purchase of a dozen chiekens, for which he paid $60, to keep him company-Mr. Brooke and his partner (the young man above men- tioned), waited patiently for the fall rains to come so they could plow and sow for the com- ing year's crop. A six mule team, owned by his friend, and oxen purchased from immigrants served them for this purpose, and they put in a hundred acres of grain that fall and winter. Mr. Brooke was the housekeeper of the firm, and, of course, did the cooking. The winter of 1852-'53 was an unusually rainy one and the roof of their batchelor home leaked so badly that the mud became ankle deep between the door and the cook-stove. Cyrus McCormick had not yet perfected his reaper, whieli subse- quently wrought such revolution in the harvest fields of the world, and these young husband- men were compelled to cut all their crop with cradles, paying 86 a day for harvest hands. Besides cooking for nine men-baking a dozen pies each day, in addition to bread, meats and other substantials, Mr. Brooke made a hand in the field with his cradle, only loosing an hour a day to prepare the noon meal. The first crop they raised was barley, which brought four cents per pound for feed. Little wheat was sown until late in the fifties, partly for the rea- son that there was at that time no general market for it, but chiefly because the parasitic fungus known as smut prevailed here to sneh an extent in early days that it destroyed half the wheat crop in California and damaged the re- mainder to some degree; and it was believed by the old settlers that this State never could be- come a successful wheat growing country for that reason. But a remedy for this blight was to be provided, and to Mr. Brooke belongs the credit and the gratitude of California wheat

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growers for first introducing the smut destroyer, the use of which has made this the banner State for the production of that great staple which dominates the cereal markets of the world. He remembered that his father, back in Georgia, used a weak solution of "blue stone "- blue vitriol-to soak his seed wheat in before sowing to prevent the smnt, and, concluding that the same antidote would be effective in California, he made the experiment, much to the amuse- inent of his incredulous neighbors. Dissolving a quantity of vitriol-or blue-stone-as it is properly called, in water, he soaked a portion of his seed wheat in it for about an hour before sowing it. The demonstration was completely successful, the seed thus treated producing a splendid crop almost entirely free from smut, while the crop grown right by the side of it in the same field from seed not so treated was half destroyed by the smut. Mr. Brooke's remedy was at once recognized and went into general use all over the State, and has been worth un- told millions of dollars to the farmers of Cali- fornia. About 1865 the first ship load of wheat was shipped from San Francisco to Liverpool, and the market thus opened stimulated a rapid increase in the acreage planted. In 1853 Mr. Brooke erected a two-story dwelling on his farmi, and the following spring returned to Georgia and brought back a young bride to pre- side over the new home. With a zeal born of bright prospects and new hopes he resumed the labor of improving and enltivating his farm. But those hopes were destined to be blasted by the withering scourge of affliction. Death en- tered his happy home and laid his relentless hand upon the wife and mother, who passed away in August, 1857, and within a single month their two children followed her across the dark river. The loss of his entire family was a crushing blow to the husband and father, the light of whose life had gone ont. Five years passed, and in 1862 he was united in mar- riage with Miss Mary Worley, a native of Georgia, whose father, Silas Worley, came to California during the early gold excitement,

and several years later brought his family to this State. They now reside on their farm near Chico, Butte County. Mr. Brooke remained on his farm developing it and increasing its acreage until 1873, when he accepted the management of the granger' general merchandise and agri- cultural implement store in Stockton, and moved his family to that place. A little more than a year after, upon the failure of E. E. Morgan & Son, who had been handling the farm products for the grangers of California, Mr. Brooke was solieited to take charge of the business of that organization in the State. He accepted, re- moved his family to San Francisco and super- intended their business from the spring of 1875 till the spring of 1877. He then resigned and started a commission store on his own account and carried it on four years. Since closing it out he has retired from all active business save the supervision of his great ranch in the San Joa- quin Valley which now comprises 2,400 acres, devoted to grain and stock growing, and is one of the finest farms in that magnificent valley. Desiring to give their children superior educa- tional advantages, Mr. and Mrs. Brooke removed their family to Santa Rosa in 1878. His wife and daughters soon became strongly attached to the City of Roses and its people, and, deciding to make it their permanent home, Mr. Brooke purchased half a block of land on Cherry street, east of Mendocino, and in 1883 built their ele- gant residence, at a cost, for all improvements, of $14,000. This family home is a model of beanty, taste and refinement. Of their three children, Annie A. and Melissa C. were gradu- ated from Pacific Methodist College, in 1883, and Thomas F., aged fourteen years, is attend- ing the public school. Mr. and Mrs. Brooke are also rearing three nieces, Fannie Bell and Ella and Ettie Worley. Miss Bell is also a gradnate of the college. Mr. Brooke has been associated with this institution in an official capacity for a number of years as a member of the board of trustees, and is now the secretary of the finance committee of the board. In the spring of 1884 he was elected to the Santa Rosa

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An illustrated history of Sonoma County, California. Containing a history of the county of Sonoma from the earliest period of its occupancy to the present time, Part 60

Author: Lewis Publishing Company Publication date: 1889 Publisher: Chicago, The Lewis Publishing Company Number of Pages: 786

Author: Lewis Publishing Company
Publication date: 1889
Publisher: Chicago, The Lewis Publishing Company
Number of Pages: 786