Historical and biographical record of Los Angeles and vicinity : containing a history of the city from its earliest settlement as a Spanish pueblo to the closing year of the nineteenth century ; also containing biographies of well known citizens of the past and present, Part 113

Author: Guinn, James Miller, 1834-1918
Publication date: 1901
Publisher: Chicago : Chapman Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 996

USA > California > Los Angeles County > Los Angeles > Historical and biographical record of Los Angeles and vicinity : containing a history of the city from its earliest settlement as a Spanish pueblo to the closing year of the nineteenth century ; also containing biographies of well known citizens of the past and present > Part 113

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(Note. The present Lord Montague Bowton is a lineal descendant of Herard Bowton.)

As Herard was born into the world before John, the titles and estates devolved, under the feudal system, upon the oldest male child. The younger, having received his portion in money, crossed the British channel to seek fortunes and honors in the new world.

The career of the Bouton family has ever been synonymous with civilization. When it spread abroad among the nations it carried with it a higher grade of civilizing influences, which have left their impress upon the people with whom they came in contact, and the name has always been the harbinger of civil and religious liberty. Their descendants are by comparison numerous as the leaves of the forest, and dispersed in almost every clime. It has taken deep root, and its fruits are found in other as well as in their own native Bungarian soil.

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HISTORICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.

For the principle of civil and religious liberty Sir William Boughton in 1356 joined the stand- ard of Edward III. of England, when he in- vaded France, and for the same principles Herard Bowton followed the fortunes of William III. of England, who at Portiers under Tehomborge and at the battle of the Boyne fought nobly for liberty.

Gen. Edward Bouton is a lineal descendant of Nicholas Bouton, Count Chamilly, through his son John Bouton, who embarked from Graves- end, England, in the barque Assurance, in July, 1636, and landed at Boston, Mass., in December, 1636, aged twenty years. Early in the settle- ment of Hartford, Conn., he moved to that place, and in 1671, and for several years subsequent, he was a representative in the general court of the colony of Connecticut. General Bouton's grand- father, Capt. Daniel Bouton, distinguished him- self commanding Connecticut volunteers during the Revolutionary war, and his father, Russell Bouton, served his country well in the war with England in 1812. His maternal grandfather, Moses Hinsdale, rendered valuable service in the Revolutionary war by the manufacture of one hundred cannon for the colonial troops, from metal mined, smelted and cast by himself, and for which he received nothing, simply because of the inability of the infant government to pay.

General Bouton's line of descent from John Bouton, the original immigrant, is

Ist, through his son, John Bouton, Jr., born at Norwalk, Conn., September 30, 1659.

2d, Nathaniel Bouton, son of John Bouton, Jr., born at Norwalk, Conn., in 1691.

3d, Daniel Bouton, son of Nathaniel Bouton, born at New Canaan, township of Stratford, Conn., October 24, 1740.

4th, Russell Bouton, son of Daniel Bouton, born at Danbury, Conn., October 31, 1790; who married Mary Hinsdale May 16, 1814, at Read- ing, Conn., where they resided until 1821, and then moved to the township of Howard (now Avoca), Steuben county, N. Y., where Edward Bouton, the subject of this sketch, was born April 12, 1834.

In his early youth Edward Bouton attended a country school at Goff's Mills, Howard township, and subsequently studied at Rodgersville Acad- emy and Haverling Union School in Bath, N.Y.

At the age of nineteen he entered a store at Bath, of which two years later he became part proprietor, and sole proprietor at the age of twenty-three. By this time the business had be- come extended, and he shipped large quantities of grain, wool, provisions and produce, on the Erie Railway, having purchasing agents at nearly every station. In 1859 he relinquished his Bath connection and engaged in an even more lucrative business at Chicago, Il1., as grain commission mer- chant, with vessel property on the lakes. When the Civil war broke out he sold his businessand, chiefly at his own expense, raised a battery which throughout the war was familiarly known as Bouton's battery, its official designation being Battery I, First Regiment, Illinois Light Artil- lery. At the time General Bouton organized his famous battery, it was costing the state of Illi- nois $154 per capita to recruit, transport and maintain troops previous to being mustered into the United States service. Bouton's battery cost the state only $13.20 per capita, the balance of the expense being paid out of the private purse of General Bouton. He gained promotion to the rank of brigadier-general and participated with honor in the battle of Shiloh and some forty other engagements and many skirmishes and in various expeditions in west Tennessee, northern Mississippi, Alabama and Arkansas. At the close of the war the command was offered to General Bouton of a corps of twenty thousand veterans to be organized to serve as volunteers in the Mexican war with France and a colonelcy in the regluar army was also pressed upon him in the most flattering terms, by Generals Grant and Sherman, but preferring to retire to civil life, he declined both of these, and in 1868 re- moved to California, and purchasing the San Jacinto ranch, ninety miles east of Los Angeles, engaged extensively in sheep raising. Since 1882 he has also been interested in real-estate speculations.

January 20, 1859, General Bouton married Miss Margaret Fox, who was born in Avoca, N. Y., and died in California August 14, 1891. He was a second time married, at San Diego, Cal., March 22, 1894, his wife being Elsa Jolin- son, granddaughter of Count Hogfaldt, of Swe- den, and a third cousin of Princess Dagmar. One child, a boy, has been born to them.

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HISTORICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.

We can scarcely make a better presentation of General Bouton's biography than by copying the following article by Col. Robert Cowden, who was one of his most intimate friends and ardent admirers:

"Early in the late war for the Union, General Bouton, then a commission merchant in Chicago, organized a battery of light artillery which al- ways, among soldiers, bore his name 'Bouton's Battery,' but was officially known as Battery I, First Regiment, Illinois Light Artillery. This battery distinguished itself all through the war, from the battle of Shiloh to those of Nashville and Franklin three years later. General Bouton com- manded his battery in person from the first until his promotion and here first attracted the atten- tion of his superiors. Early in May, 1863, Gen. Lorenzo Thomas, Adjutant-General of the United States army, landed at Memphis, Tenn., with orders direct from President Lincoln for the or- ganization of colored troops, six regiments of which were wanted from this point. The order to organize these was dated the 4th of May. In consultation with General Thomas on the one hand and with his six division commanders on the other, Gen. Stephen A. Hurlbut, command- ing department of west Tennessee and northern Mississippi, made choice of Captain Bouton, at that time chief of artillery of the Fifth Division of the Sixteenth Army Corps, Sherman's old Shiloh Division, to command one of these regi- ments, and in that choice distinguished himself as a discerner of men. It was understood that General Sherman entertained misgivings and was loath to lose General Bouton from a service in which he had shown such capacity, but ad- mitted that, if anyone could make soldiers of negroes, it was Bouton. In proof of the correct- ness of his judgment, it is noted here that Gen- eral Marcy, inspector-general of the United States army, less than two years later, after a thorough personal inspection, pronounced three of the colored regiments in General Bouton's command, 'in drill, discipline and military bear- ing equal to any in the service, regular or volun- teer.'

"One of General Bouton's best achievements, which I have not noticed in print, but which did not escape the eyes of his superiors, occurred July 13, 1864, one month after the disaster to

our troops at Guntown, Miss., when in command of about four thousand five hundred men, white and colored, he made a march of twenty-two miles in one day, from Pontotoc to Tupelo, Miss., guarding a heavy train of three hundred wagons and fighting in the same time four dis- tinct battles, each successful and against su- perior odds. Generals A. J. Smith and Joseph Mower, commanding corps and division respect- ively, declared this achievement unsurpassed within their knowledge.

"But it was not alone in the sanguinary struggle on the field that General Bouton's quali- ties shone. He was equally capable in the ad- ministration of affairs, as was proved by results. Memphis, an important river port, and geo- graphically central to a large and wealthy cotton growing country, was a point not easily con- trolled satisfactorily to the general government and in the interest of the people. After many failures and losses, and when confusion and dis- trust had long run riot, General Bouton was ap- pointed provost-marshal of the city, which made him, for the time, dictator in affairs military and civil, including all trade privileges and care of abandoned property, of which there was much; prisons, scouts, detectives, the police and sani- tary regulation of the city, in short, everything in and immediately about the city. With the most careful management an expenditure of $9,000 a month was necessary to efficient gov- ernment. In the exercise of his usual fidelity and the appointment of only the most trustworthy subordinates in every department he soon intro- duced order; collected and disbursed moneys; paid all past indebtedness, heavy as it was, and current expenses; and at the end of six months handed the government of the city over to the newly elected municipal officers and turned over several thousand dollars to the special fund of the war department.

"Still another service of first-class importance to the United States government and to the sub- jugated southland did General Bouton render, that marked him as a man of more than ordinary sagacity. While he was yet provost-marshal of Memphis, Col. Sam Tate, of the late rebel army, came in to take the prescribed oath of allegiance. Having done this, he expressed a desire to re- cover control of the Memphis & Charleston

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HISTORICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.

Railroad, of which he was president. The gov- encampment in 1888. In order to ensure quick ernment no longer needing the road for military recognition, I said, on taking his hand, 'Bou- ton's Battery.' Instantly he straightened up, while the old-time fire flashed in his eyes, as he said, giving me an extra warm shake, 'Bouton's battery, I remember it well. Splendid battery.' These were his last words in my hearing and with these words I would close this recital." purposes, General Bouton drew up a plan or agreement at the suggestion of Gen. John E. Smith, by which not only this, but other south- ern roads in this section, were finally returned to their owners. One of the first and principal stipulations in the agreement was that no claim should ever be made against the government for (Signed) the use of or damage to said roads while they ROBERT COWDEN, were being used for military purposes. A1 late lientenant-colonel commanding Fifty-ninth United States Colored Infantry. parties in the interest of the company having signed the agreement, General Bouton proceeded Dayton, Ohio, April 17, 1895. in person to New Orleans and to Nashville and secured the approval of Generals Canby and Thomas, department commanders. Colonel Tate then went to Washington to complete with Gen- eral Grant, the secretary of war, and the quarter- master-general, all arrangements for the transfer of the property. No sooner had he done this than he presented a claim against the govern- ment which President Johnson, an old friend of his, ordered paid. Enemies of President John- son charged that he received a part of this and during the impeachment trial desired General Bouton's evidence on the contract. But, at the suggestion of General Grant, he never appeared, and soon after went to California, where he has ever since lived. After Johnson's death it was developed that he did not receive a dollar of Tate's money.

"In the spring of 1866 General Bouton de- clined a colonelcy in the regular army, the ac- ceptance of which in the regular order of pro- motions, would have brought him by this time near the head of the army. Although recom- mended by Generals Grant and Sherman and warmly endorsed by Generals A. J. Smith and Joseph Mower, in language almost extravagant, the general chose to decline, preferring civil pur- suits.

"General Sherman's esteem of General Bouton was tersely expressed in the following language, not long before my last handshake with the aged hero. Said he, 'I think well of General Bouton. I always found him the right man in the right place. He is an honest, modest, brave, true soldier, and capable of filling any position he will accept.' I last saw General Sherman at a reception in Columbus, Ohio, during the grand

During his army career General Bouton was several times mentioned in terms of commenda- tion, especially for strict integrity, by both Presi- dent Lincoln and Secretary of War Stanton; on one occasion Secretary Stanton saying that he was one of the few army officers who had been able to handle Confederate cotton without being contaminated. In recommending General Bou- ton's promotion to brigadier-general, General Grant said: "I consider Colonel Bouton one of the best officers in the army, and there is not one whose promotion I can more cheerfully recom- mend." Generals Halleck and Sherman pro- nounced him the best artillery officer in the army ; General Halleck saying that he had never seen a better battery than Bouton's either in Europe or America, and that less than a thousand men had saved the day at Shiloh, most conspicuous among the number being Bonton's battery of Chicago. General Sherman on one occasion said: "Bouton was as cool under fire and as good an artillery officer as I ever knew, and there is no living man whom I would rather have handle my artil- lery in a hard fight." General Washburn said that General Bouton's defense of the rear of the vanquished Union forces, under General Sturgis, on their retreat from Guntown, Miss., to Ger- mantown, Tenn., for two days and nights, a dis- tance of eighty-one miles, with but a handful of men, against the incessant and impetuous attacks of General Forrest's victorious army, constituted one of the most heroic deeds recorded in history. Generals A. J. Smith and Joseph Mower both pronounced him the best brigade commander they had ever seen. When General Smith's veterans of the Sixteenth Corps were, for the third time, repulsed before the Spanish Fort at

The above picture represents General Bouton at thirty years of age, and is one of the Oak Gallery pictures, of which copies were found in the Spanish fort Mobile, with the order endorsed on them to kill or capture this officer at any cost or hazard.

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HISTORICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.

Mobile, he said to Colonel Kendrick: "I wish to God Bouton were here, he would go in there like a whirlwind."

To show how the general was regarded by the Confederates, the followinig incident may be narrated. Soon after his promotion to be a brigadier-general, and when thirty years of age, he had some pictures taken at Oak gallery in Memphis, Tenn. One of these was obtained by the Confederate General N. B. Forrest from one of Bouton's officers who was taken a prisoner of war. This picture General Forrest sent to Mo- bile, where hundreds of copies were made and distributed among the Confederate soldiers in the southwest. When Mobile was captured, both Gen. A. J. Smith commanding the Sixteenth Corps and Colonel Kendrick, formerly of Gen- eral Bouton's command, reported finding many of the pictures with the order endorsed upon them to kill or capture this officer at any cost or hazard.

In the St. Louis Republican, January 8, 1891, there appeared an article, "Stories of Pioneer Daring," in which the author, Charles F. Lum- mis, gives the following incident in the life of General Bouton:

"An equally remarkable display of pure nerve was the exploit of Gen. Edward Bouton in a lonely pass in Southern California in 1879. A quiet, gentle-voiced, mild-mannered man, one would hardly suspect in him the reckless daring which won him distinction in some of the most desperate engagements in the Civil war. It was he of whom General Sherman said in my hearing: 'He was the most daring brigadier we had in the west.' The terrific artillery duel between General Bouton's Chicago battery and two rebel batteries at Shiloh, and the desperate three hours at Guntown, Miss., when he and his brigade stood off the savage charge of nearly ten times as large a force, with the loss of nearly two-thirds of their number, will be remembered as one of the most gallant achievements of the great war. And the courage which does not depend on the inspiration of conflict and of numbers is also his.

"In July, 1879, he had occasion to visit his great sheep ranch in the wild San Gorgonio Pass, California. The country was then infested with notorious Mexican and American bandits, and travelers always went armed. General Bou-

ton and his partner were driving along the moonlit forest road, when three masked men sprang suddenly from the bushes and thrust in their faces a double barrelled shotgun and two six-shooters, at the same time seizing their horses. It was understood that the general was carrying $18,000 to buy a band of nine thousand sheep, and this the highwaymen were after. They made the travelers dismount and fastened their arms behind them with chains, closing the links with a pair of pinchers. Another chain was similarly fastened about General Bouton's neck, and one of the desperadoes, a cocked re- volver in hand, led him along by this, while the other two held shotgun and revolver ready to shoot at the slightest resistance from the pris- oner. So the strange procession started off, the highwaymen desiring to march their prisoners away from the road to some secluded spot where their bodies could be safely concealed. Their intention to rob and then murder, fully estab- lished by later developments, was perfectly un- derstood by the captives; and the general de- cided if he must die, he would die trying. As they trod the lonely path in silence, he felt along the chain which secured his wrist; with utmost caution, lest the bandit behind with a cocked shotgun should perceive his intent. Slowly and noiselessly he groped until he found a link which was not perfectly closed; and, putting all his strength into a supreme effort (but a guarded one) he wrenched the link still wider open and managed to unhook it. Without changing the position of his hands perceptibly he began to draw his right cautiously up toward his hip pocket. Just as it rested on the grip of the small revolver concealed there, the highwayman behind saw what he was at, and with a shout threw the shotgun to his shoulder. But before he could pull the trigger, Bouton had snatched out his pistol, wheeled about, and shot him down. The desperado who was leading Bouton by the chain whirled around with his six-shooter at a level, but too late, a ball from the general's revolver dropped him dead. The third robber made an equally vain attempt to shoot the audacious prisoner, and was in turn laid low by the same unerring aim. It was lightning work and adamantine firmness, three shots in half as many seconds and every shot a counter."

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HISTORICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.

G EORGE WHITWELL PARSONS was born in Washington, D. C., and is of Revolu- tionary stock, his great-grandfather's tomb- stone bearing the inscription: "Capt. Josiah Parsons, a patriot of Bunker Hill." His father, Samuel M. Parsons, was born in Wiscasset, Me., and throughout his active life has been an attor- ney and counselor-at-law, and a stanch adherent of Republican principles. By his wife, Virginia, who was born in Richmond, Va., and died in New Jersey June 22, 1869, he had two sons and two daughters, now living.

George Whitwell Parsons dates his first knowl- edge of California from August, 1876, but it was not until March, 1887, that he settled in Los An- geles, where he now resides. In the early part of 1880 he went to Tombstone, Ariz., which was then coming into prominence as a rich mining camp, and for seven years he was one of its controlling spirits in the interest of law and order, being one of the council of ten when the first vigilance committee was formed, and always in the saddle with the first to drive the Apaches out of the country or assist a beleaguered ranch. His mining interests led him into old Mexico much of the time, but, after losing many friends, and several times reported killed by the Apaches, and being prevented by the raids of Geronimo and Chatto from operating successfully, he was obliged to abandon every- thing.

Coming to Los Angeles in 1887, Mr. Parsons became immediately identified with the growth of the city. He is a charter member of the Los An- geles Chamber of Commerce and a director in that important body for three successive terms; also served first as chairman of the committee on mines and mining, and later as chairman of the committee on railroads and transportation. As chairman of the mining committee he was instru- mental in retaining the State Mining Bureau at San Francisco when it was proposed to transfer it to Berkeley Institute, thus abolishing the prac- tical workings of the bureau. His resolutions looking to the establishment of a school of mines at Los Angeles were unanimously adopted by the Chamber. In 1894 he directed attention to the fact that the oil-bearing territory in the southern counties had not been given scientific attention, and introduced resolutions calling for immediate action by the State Mining Bureau, which there-

upon placed an expert, W. L. Watts, in the field, who has been in active service ever since, to the great advantage of the oil interests. Active developments immediately followed, and to-day Southern California is in the lead as an oil pro- ducer.

As chairman of the committee on railroads and transportation Mr. Parsons called special atten- tion to the necessity of the road to Salt Lake City and the practicability of the Tehauntepec Railway, connecting the Gulf of Mexico and the Pacific Ocean. The railroad to Salt Lake City is now an assured fact, United States Senator Clark, of Montana, and others, having just incorporated a company for the building of the same.

In November, 1894, Mr. Parsons was sent as a delegate by the Chamber of Commerce, in the in- terests of the San Pedro harbor, to the Trans- Mississippi Commercial Congress, which met in St. Louis in November of that year. His de- votion to the San Pedro matter at that time re- sulted in his being placed on the committee on resolutions, and he was asked to act as secretary of that body, Hon. W. J. Bryan, of Nebraska, being chairman, but he declined the honor, hav- ing been selected to champion the cause of the deep-water harbor at San Pedro and prepare resolutions on the same, which were unanimously adopted through his efforts.

As one of three members of the municipal re- form committee of the League for Better City Government he did earnest work in the extended efforts made at that time to unearth rank cor- ruption in the board of education, which efforts were finally crowned with success. In the great fight for one cent a pound protective duty on citrus fruits he was sent to the state legislature by the Tariff Association of Southern California in an effort to have the legislature rescind its former action and increase the protective duty from twenty to forty cents per cubic foot. In this matter he was also successful.

At the request of the board of directors of the Los Angeles Chamber of Commerce, he was ap- pointed by the governor as vice-president of the state of California in the Trans-Mississippi and International Exposition held at Omaha in 1898, and after persistent efforts to arouse the state at large to the importance of this undertaking, and much work before the state legislature, with the

& A Coffman

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HISTORICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.

assistance of Senator Bulla and Representative Valentine, an appropriation of $50,000 for the great exposition was finally passed by the senate, but the governor vetoed the measure.

The various offices held at different times by Mr. Parsons show the versatility of his talents, as well as the high esteem in which he is held. He was a member for California of the executive committee of the Trans-Mississippi Commercial Congress; state vice-president and treasurer of several organizations, including that of the new diocese of Los Angeles created by the Episcopal Church, and embracing all the counties in Southern California; is a director in the Young Men's Christian Association, which has property valued at $150,000; was president of the old Los Angeles Mining and Stock Exchange, and is an active member of the Free Harbor League. He is a charter member of the Sunset Club, a member of the Academy of Sciences and the Athletic Club, and in every way possible strives to promote the best interests of hiscity and state. In politics he gives his support to the Republican party.

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Historical and biographical record of Los Angeles and vicinity : containing a history of the city from its earliest settlement as a Spanish pueblo to the closing year of the nineteenth century ; also containing biographies of well known citizens of the past and present, Part 113

Author: Guinn, James Miller, 1834-1918 Publication date: 1901 Publisher: Chicago : Chapman Pub. Co. Number of Pages: 996

Author: Guinn, James Miller, 1834-1918
Publication date: 1901
Publisher: Chicago : Chapman Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 996