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 82
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OHN E. CHALFANT, of Cloverdale, one of the substantial men of Sonoma County, is a native of Chester County, Pennsylvania, born April 12, 1825. His father, William Chalfant, was also a native of Chester County. Indeed, three brothers of that name accompa- nied William Penn to America, one of them locating in Chester County, which has ever since been the family seat. The mother of our subject, whose maiden name was Elizabeth Ed- wards, was also of Pennsylvanian (Bucks County) birth and parentage. John E. Chalfant spent his early boyhood days in his native county, and there received his schooling. His early inclina-
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tions were toward mechanical work, and as his father was a carpenter, he thus had access to tools of all kinds, and at an early age was a skillful workman. When he was sixteen years old the family removed to Delaney's Valley, Maryland, on the Gunpowder, thirteen miles from Baltimore, and there he assisted his father in work at his trade. When he had turned twenty-one he went to Philadelphia, and readily obtaining employment at his trade, remained in that city about one year, then returned to Mary- land. The excitement consequent npon the discovery of gold in California seized upon him like so many other ambitions young men of the East, and on the 1Sth day of Jannary, 1849, he sailed away from Baltimore on the bark Kirk. land, bound for San Francisco via Cape Horn. The first portion of the trip was beset with nantieal difficulties, a storm compelling them to lay in Hampton Roads eleven days, before put- ting to sea, so that it was the month of August when the Kirkland sailed through the Golden Gate into the harbor of San Francisco. He had formed an agreement with five or six others on the ship to go to the mines, and after he had worked a couple of weeks at carpentering in the eity, they proceeded to Stockton. There they engaged an ox-team to take their effects to the junction of Woods' Creek and the Tuoluinne River. Arriving there they went into eamp, but the next morning about sunrise Mr. Chal- fant started back, taking the ox-team. Arriving at San Francisco, he went to work at his trade, and remained there until June, 1852. He then went to Mendocino County and put up a saw- mill for the now noted Henry Meigs. When the construction of the mill was completed, he took charge of its operation, and continued in this position until the failure of Meigs. He then went to San Francisco, but when work was resumed at the mill, he returned and again took his place as superintendent. He also put in planing machinery, and planed lumber by the thousand for several years. In 1871 he went to Oakland and remained about five years. From there he came to Cloverdale for the purpose of
testing the advantages of the town as a resi- dence plaee. In 1880 he located here perma- nently, and has sinee improved a handsome residenee property. The grounds are tastefully laid out, and kept in beautiful condition. Orange trees in full bearing are about the house, and yield heavily of their luscious fruit. Mrs. Chalfant was formerly Miss Susan Hayes, a na- tive of Connecticut. Mr. and Mrs. Chalfant have two children, viz .: Martha, wife of Will- iam Porterfield of Cloverdale, and Nellie Louisa. Mr. Chalfant is one of the old-time Californians, and is well known throughout this section of the State through his early and long connection with the lumber interest. Ile has witnessed a vast transformation in this section of the country, has kept pace with its progress, and has been successful in his business affairs.
ILLIAM ZARTMAN .- In sneh a work as this, commemorating the deeds and events of pioneer life, it is conceded that greater value will be attached to it by the generations who will follow than by those who have a personal knowledge of these things, and in making any statement relative to the pioneers of this county, there are none more deserving of mention than William Zartman, the subject of this sketch, an old-time eitizen and business man of Petaluma. He is a Pennsylvanian by birth, having been born in Northumberland County, October 20, 1829, son of Michael and Polly Zartman. An incident unusual in the lives of most men can be said of Mrs. Zart- man's father, whose name was Harb, a wealthy citizen of Pennsylvania, who was born in 1745 and died in 1843, lacking but two years of be- ing a hundred years old. During his lifetime he was married seven times, and was the father of twenty-one children; the last marriage oc- curred only a few years before his death. Michael Zartman was a wheelwright by trade, but on account of poor health was compelled to be out of doors most of the time, his attention being
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given mostly to farming and teaming. Ile died in Minersville, Schuylkill County, Pennsylvania, in 1846, at the age of fifty-five, and his wife died in 1838, a few years previous to the death of her husband. She was the mother of twelve children, of whom one died in infancy and an- other when he was sixteen or seventeen years old. Of those who grew to man and womanhood, six are now living, three sons and three daugh- ters. William Zartman, he whose name heads this article, is the only one of the family living in this State. Ilis parents moved to Schuylkill County when he was twelve years old. where he made his home until the death of his father. Ile engaged in clerking in Minersville for a few years with two different firms, Hilliering and De Haven, until the spring of 1848, when he went into Illinois and worked at the carpen- ter's trade, and in the fall of that year hired out as clerk for Dinsmore, a wholesale merchant on Water street, Chicago, where he remained until the spring of 1849. Ile then went and served his apprenticeship in the carriage making trade with William Wayman, and two years later con- tinued with the same gentleman as a journey- man until November, 1851. On the 26th of that month he left Chicago for New York, from which port he sailed on the first of December for California via Panama, and arrived in San Francisco on the 14th of January, 1852. The next day he went to the mines at Carson's Flat, in Calaveras County and worked in the neigh- borhood of Angel's Camp until the last of June, when he determined to enter into a business that would be more lasting and on a surer basis than that of mining. With this purpose in view, foreseeing with good judgment the bright prospective future in store for Sonoma County, and particularly of Petaluma, then a little vil- lage of but few honses, he determined to make this the seat of his labors, and accordingly es- tablished, with John Fritsch, a blacksmith and carriage shop, situated on Main street near the site where the American Hotel now stands. This pioneer carriage factory, started in 1552, has ever since, with the exception of three years,
been under Mr. Zartman's personal management, and to-day is the largest and most prosperons business of this kind in the eity. In 1861 he with his partners started a quartz mill at Gold Hill, Nevada, which business they run up to 1863, when the mill was sold. In 1864 he superintended the Gold Hill mill for another company. In 1875 he became the sole proprie- tor of the carriage business which he condueted np to 1854, when his son, William Henry Zart- man, became interested in the business, the firm name of Zartman & Co. remaining unchanged. Mr. Zartman is a stockholder in the Golden Eagle flouring mill, and for a number of years a director in the Petaluma Savings Bank. He has been an Odd Fellow since 1856, belonging to Petaluma Lodge, No. 30, there being only one member in the lodge when he joined it, and was a liberal donator toward the erection of their fine building. He has been a Mason of thirteen years standing. is a director of that order, and was also instrumental in putting up the Masonic Bloek. In religions matters he has always taken an active interest, being a trustee in the Methodist church and a devoted member since 1858. Mr. Zartman was united in marriage January 1, 1854, to Rhoda Carathers, a native of Indiana. Their family consisted of six children, of whom five are now living, as follows: William Henry, George Washington, Katie Alice, Benjamin Franklin and Belle.
OEL CRANE is probably the oldest settler in Santa Rosa Township, having come here September 1, 1851. Ile crossed the plains with a train of innle teams, which composed a passenger train run by McPike & Strother, carrying passengers overland from Missouri to Sacramento for 8200 each. Mr. Crane and several comrades left the train in the sink of the Humboldt, and came the rest of the way on foot. At what was known as Mormon Station they left the main trail and took a pack trail direct for Coloma. On reaching a point beyond
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Georgetown where they could buy provisions, they found the price of every article of pro- vision was $1 a pound. They asked the pro- prietor what he would give them a meal for, and he said seventy-five cents. Having been nearly twenty-four hours without food, the party of emigrants accepted the latter proposition as the better bargain, and they were correct in their conclusions, as the sequel proved, for the land- lord said the party of eight men ate twelve pounds of flour, besides bacon, coffee and other eatables. Mr. Crane spent a year in the mines in Placer Connty, saved a few hundred dollars of the yellow dust, came to Sonoma County in the fall of 1851 and settled about seven miles south of Santa Rosa. In 1855 he moved up to within three miles of Santa Rosa, and in the fall of 1860, moved into the upper end of Rin- con Valley. In 1865 he came to Santa Rosa and resided there till the fall of 1886, when he moved to his present home a mile west of the court house. The homestead consists of eight and one-half aeres, mostly in a bearing peach orchard. Mr. Crane married Miss Davidson, in 1853, by whom he has had eight children, seven of whom are now living. Three of Mr. Crane's children graduated in the first high school class that graduated in Santa Rosa, and his eldest son and two of his daughters have been teachers. Two of the sons are in the real estate business. One son and one daughter are married, the former a resident of Colusa, and the latter of Napa. Mrs. Crane was born in Barren County, Kentucky, and came to Califor- nia with her parents in 1852. Her father, Jacob E. Davidson, settled a mile west of Santa Rosa, where he passed the remainder of his life, and died in November, 1884.
CORNELIUS SARGIUSSON has a ranch of thirty-two acres near Healdsburg, of which eight acres are planted to orchard, the trees ranging in age from three to eighteen years, the greater portion of them young, though 34
mostly in full bearing. They are Crawford, Honest Abe, Orange Cling, and Solway peaches, and French prunes. The six year old peaches yielded a crop of ten tons per acre in 1888. The trees are in fine condition and the orchard shows by its appearance the care that is be- stowed upon it. On the hill land Mr. Sargins- son has twenty acres in grapes, between the rows being 220 yellow egg plums, to which will be added 500 more in the spring of 1889. The grapes are Carignan, Mataro, Gray Riesling, Sauvignon Vert, Grenache, Zinfandel and Seed- less Sultana. Ile makes the latter variety into wine, for which he gets eighty cents per gallon when fermented, selling it all to private parties in Healdsburg and San Francisco. Large quan- tities of corn and vegetables are raised between the fruit rows. Another important feature of the place is the nursery. In this department he raises and furnishes all trees that are desirable for planting in this locality, and from 5,000 to 20,000 trees are sold per annum. This nursery has a fine reputation, Mr. Sarginsson being careful to give satisfaction to all his patrons. He has a fruit dryer of his own construction which has the capacity of drying two and one- half tons of green fruit per day, and in the winter of 1888 he added to his vineyard a winery with a capacity of 20,000 gallons, so that he is now able to make all his own grapes into wine. This, he considers, is the only way to get the reputation for wines that they justly deserve. Cornelins Sargiusson is a native of Lincolnshire, England, born December 5, 1849, his parents being John and Helen (Payne) Sargiusson. He was reared in his native conn- try to the age of nineteen years, and in 1868 came to America, locating at Low Moor, Clinton County, Iowa, where he engaged at farming. In 1873 he moved to Nevada, and for a time condneted a hotel at Unionville. From there he went to Carson City, where he worked at the carpenter's trade. He followed the same voca- tion at Virginia City for two and a half years, then went to Bodie and conducted the assay office of the Standard and Bodie Mining Com-
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pany nntil 1881, when he went to Oakland, and from there came to Healdsburg, bought where he now resides, and improved the place. He was married in England to Miss Sophia Dennis. To them have been born three children, viz .: Mande, Edith, and Eva. Mr. Sargiusson be- longs to Occidental Lodge, No. 6, A. O. U. W., West Oakland. He is a member of the Episco- pal church, and one of the building committee of the Healdsburg society.
OSSON ROSS .- Among the representative farmers and business men of Green Valley, Analy Township, is the well known gentle- man whose name heads this sketch. He was born in New Albany, Floyd County, Indiana, July 22, 1828. His father, William Ross, was a native of Tennessee, and his mother, Sarah (Kay) Ross, was born in Virginia. They were among the early settlers of that section of Indi- ana, where his father was engaged as a black- smith and carriage maker. When quite young his parents moved to Harrison County, in the same State, where Mr. Ross received his educa- tion, and also learned the trade of blacksmith and wagon maker in the shops of his father. In 1848 he married Miss Martha Inman, a na- tive of Ilarrison Connty. He enjoyed the society of his bride but a short time as she was stricken with cholera the next year and died of that disease. Ile then went to Louisiana, where he remained until early in 1850, when he returned home and accompanied his parents to Van Buren County, Iowa. Leaving his fath- er's family there, he joined a party on April 5, and started across the plains for California. The trip was made by the usual mode of travel in those days -- the typical ox team-and it was not until the 14th of September that the party ar- rived at Placerville, El Dorado County. Imme- diately after his arrival Mr Ross engaged in mining, which he continued with varying success for about two years. Ile then engaged with Bradley, Burdan & Co., in an enterprise for the
purpose of conveying water from the Cosminnes River to the dry diggings to facilitate mining operations. In 1855 he established a general merchandise store at Coon Hollow in El Dorado County. This business he successfully conducted until 1857, when he came to Sonoma Valley, and purchased 300 acres of land from Judge Moran, situated in Green Valley, Analy Town- ship, on the Santa Rosa and Forestville road, about one and a half miles south of Forestville, in the Redwood school district. Here Mr. Ross has since resided, devoting himself principally to agricultural pursuits. The most of his land has been used for hay, grain, and stock purposes until the past few years, since which time he has engaged in hop growing and orchard cultivation. Two hundred and fifty acres of his land is situated on the road before mentioned and the other fifty is one mile west of his residence. Upon this last named tract he has ereeted one of the most complete hop dry honses to be found in Analy Township. (This is to replace one burned in 1887). Upon this building and its fittings no expense has been spared in securing the modern improvements that experience has shown will improve the quality of the products of his hop fields. Ile has altogether thirty-seven acres in hop fiells, equally divided between his fifty acre tract and home farm. Upon the home farm there are ten acres in orchard, producing peaches principally, and among the various varieties are the early and late Crawford, Wiley cling, and also a fine peach which is called the Ross cling. The latter peach is the result of Mr. Ross's cultivation and experiments. It is a seedling peach that was upon his land when he purchased it, and believing in its superior quali- ties, years ago he commenced its improvement and now has one of the finest peaches grown in his section. As a specimen of the productions of Mr. Ross' peach orchard, it is worthy of note that from 145 four-year old Crawford peach trees he took in 1888 ten and a half tons of fruit, seven and three-fourth tons of which brought first-class prices at the cannery, and the rest went to the dry house. This was nearly
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$250 per acre. Of vines he has a fine family vineyard, producing a large variety of table grapes. Mr. Ross has devoted considerable attention to the improvement of stock. Among his horses are fine specimens of stock improved by MeClellan and Morgan breeds, and his cattle are improved by Holstein, Durham and Jersey. His sheep are of the Southdown breed. Upon this farm is a comfortable two-story residence, and one of the most substantial and complete barns in Sonoma County. Everything about his farm denotes the care, enterprise, and prac- tical knowledge that belong to the snecessful farmer. As a public spirited and progressive citizen Mr. Ross is ever ready to aid in all that will build up Sonoma County, and particularly the section in which he resides. His long res- idence in Green Valley has made him well known, and his straightforward dealings have secured him hosts of friends. He has been a life long Democrat, and though never aspiring to office his influence has been felt in the party, and is always what he considers for its best interests. He has been chosen by his constitu- ents to represent them in the Democratic county conventions for nearly every convention con- vened during his residence in the valley. He is one of the charter members of Lafayette Lodge, No. 126, F. & A. M., of Sebastopol, an organization with which he has been associated for over thirty years. He is also a member of Sebastopol Grange, Patrons of Ilusbandry. A strong supporter of churches and public schools, he has served many terms as a school trustee in his district. He is also a consistent member of the Methodist Episcopal church. Iu El Dorado County, September 4, 1853, Mr. Ross was united in marriage with Miss Sydna Weeks, who was born in Beaver County, Pennsylvania, May 15, 1833. By this union they have seven chil- dren whose names and dates of birth are as fol- lows: William, June 30, 1854, in Coon Hollow, El Dorado County; Frank, June 7, 1857; Kemp L., August 28, 1859; Irvin, December 3, 1861; George, January 10, 1866; Benjamin, December 13, 1868; and Anuie E., November 21, 1875.
William D. married Miss Hattie M Lee, daugh- ter of William II. Lee, of Forestville, and is living on fifty acres of his father's land. Frank married Miss Annie M. Ayers, daughter of David Ayers of Sonoma County, and is living in Santa Rosa. Kemp L. is a merchant in Forestville. Irvin married Miss Ida Gardner, daughter of D. P. Gardner of Santa Rosa, where they now reside. The other children are living at home. Mr. Ross's parents came to California in 1855 and finally settled in Green Valley where they died. The mother of Mrs. Ross is now (1888) a resident of Sonoma County.
sie POLEMAN TALBOT .-- We commence the genealogy of the Talbot family with the great-grandfather of the subject of this sketch, Samuel Talbot, who was born December 30, 1717, of English parentage. He married Miss Owen and settled in Virginia. They had four sons: Samnel, Daniel, John and Benjamin. Samuel, the grandfather of our subject, was a native of Virginia, born March 17, 1756. In 1775 he married Constantine Ragen, daughter of Nicholas Ragen, a native of Virginia. Nich- olas Talbot, their only son, was born November 10, 1776. He married Miss Aria Kennedy in Bourbon County, Kentucky, May 19, 1799. She was born May 11, 1781. Her father, John Kennedy, was taken prisoner by the British at the battle of Guilford Court-House, North Carolina, March 15, 1781, and died soon after from bad treatment he received on board a British prison ship. The letter he wrote the day before he was summoned into the army is a very interesting one. It contains a fervent spirit of patriotisin, and a prayer for the success of the colonies, and from its general tone, its author, if the spirits of the departed are per- mitted to look upon the scenes of this world, must have looked down with pride and exulta- tion upon the sturdy and unflinching patriotism of four of his grandsons in the late bloody struggle to maintain that which he died to
HISTORY OF SONOMA COUNTY.
achieve. The names of the children who com- prise the family of Nicholas and Aria Talbot are as follows: Sophia, Louis, Courtney, Talli- tha. Coleman, Willis, Charles P., Mariah Lonisa, Helen, Rufus, and Nancy. Mr. Talbot's father, Nicholas Talbot, died May 1, 1525, and his mother, Jannary. 1862. The subject of this sketch is a native of Bourbon County, Ken- tucky, born July 13, 1809. He was married in that eounty April 27. 1830. to Miss Drusilla Bowles, daughter of Jesse and Cloe (Parker) Bowles. His wife was born in Bourbon County, Kentucky, May 4, 1812. In 1830 they moved to Adams County, Illinois. During his resi- denee in that county he enlisted in Captain David Crow's Company and served in the Black Hawk war of 1832. In 1850 he crossed the plains to California. Upon his arrival he en- gaged in mining operations in Hangtown (Coloma) and Diamond Springs, until April 15, 1>50. Ile then came to Sonoma County, where he was engaged in making farm improvements and other work until the following January, at which time he took passage on the steamer California to Panama, and thence on the El Dorado to New York. From there he pro- ceeded to his birthplace in Kentucky, visiting for the last time his aged mother. Again. on April 20, 1552, he started across the plains for California, in company with J. M. Bowles, T. Il. Tate, M. Britton. and others. After a long and tedious journey he arrived in Sonoma County, in October of that year. In July, 1953, he settled in Bennett Valley, about six miles from Santa Rosa, where he engaged in farming and stock-raising. Mr. Talbot springs from a family noted for longevity and great power, and though nearly four-score years of age he is still hale and hearty, possessing a mind well stored with interesting reminiscenees of a long and useful life. Family tradition states that remarkable feats of strength per- formed by Mr. Talbot's great-unele are on record in Fairfax County, Virginia. Being one of the pioneers of Sonoma County, Mr. Talbot has a large circle of friends and acquaintances.
by all of whom he is respected and estcemed. The following are the names and births of his children: Kennedy Bowles, born May 1, 1831; America Ilelen, born March, 1, 1833 (deceased), married Hon. A. P. Overton; Holman (a sketch of whom appears in this volume), born May 10, 1535; Conrtney, born April 7. 1537; Jesse Nicholas, born August 15, 1540; Aria, born September 17, 1842, married William Ordway, of Petaluma, February 22, 1560, and died Sep- tember, 1878; Eliza P., born December 6, 1845; Cloe A., born December 29, 1848; and Joseph Martin, born November 6, 1554.
EORGE N. SAUBORN was born in Or- leans County, Vermont. December 27. 1>35, his parents being John and Peacy (Randall) Sanborn, both natives of that State. Mr. Sanborn's father was one of the most sue- cessful and thorough farmers of that date, and he edneated his son to that calling. The prac- tical lessons learned in youth have been the means of securing his complete snecess when- ever he has engaged in agricultural and horti- eultural pursuits. While at home on the farm his schooling was limited, but he early saw that success in life greatly depended upon a thorough and practical education. Mr. Sauborn is almost a self edneated man; his naturally strong mind and indomitable will prompted him to earnest study. At the age of twenty he taught a dis- triet school in his county, and for the next five years he worked at farm labor in the summer and tanght school in the winter, at the same time studying whenever and wherever he could. In 1560 he came by steamer route to California. and immediately upon his arrival, to Sonoma County. He first located at Petaluma, and was engaged as a teacher near that eity for three months. Hle then came to Green Valley, AAnaly Township, and was engaged as a teacher in the Oak Grove district until 1862. At this time his father's failing health demanded his return East, and he remained in his old home in Ver-
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