History of Alameda County, California : including its geology, topography, soil, and productions, Part 122

Author: Munro-Fraser, J. P
Publication date: 1883
Publisher: Oakland, Calif. : M.W. Wood
Number of Pages: 1206

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made up to cross the unknown waste which lay between them and the terra incognita of California, our subject was not to be behind-hand. Resigning the position of Chair- man of the Board of Supervisors of Berrien County, he in company with those two respected citizens of Alameda County, Lucien B. and Socrates Huff, L. C. Wittenmyer, the present able County Clerk of Contra Costa, A. P. Pinney and James M. Morton, both of whom are now deceased, left his home in the month of March, and started to cross the plains with three mule-teams. August 13, 1849, they arrived at Bear River and called a halt for short a time to rest, when they proceeded to the mines on the Yuba and Deer Creek. In October Mr. Church and his comrades moved to the north fork of the Yuba, and mined for a time at Goodyear and Michigan Bars; while, during this month, three of the party proceeded to the point where now stands the town of Downieville, Sierra County. Here Mr. Church's friends found the river low, set to work mining, and in the incredibly short space of six hours took out five hundred dollars' worth of gold. With elated spirits they returned to their companions then located on Goodyear's Bar, and with such prospects ahead the whole party deter- mined to locate there for the winter. The night they reached the desired and long- wished-for haven, it commenced to rain and snow, no work could be done, they there- fore left for Sacramento and passed the remainder of the winter on Rancheria Creek, cogitating on the uncertainty of things mundane. In March, 1850, Mr. Church returned to the spot which was to deliver up to him prodigious wealth, all he found was a ruin-lined stream, devoid of present or even future hope, he therefore disposed of his claim, settled his affairs, found he had eighteen hundred dollars, and determined to return to his family and home. Ere starting on his journey, however, he proceeded to Goodyear's Bar to bid adieu to his friends there, and, for safety, gave his gold-dust to a man there who kept the store, trusting to receive it the next morning before taking up the line of march. On demanding it he was told that during the night it had been stolen. Judge of his feelings when he found that thus had been swept away his entire earnings, and he was forced to return to his home hardly a cent better off in monetary affairs than when he had left. It is satisfactory to know that the identity of the thief was afterwards fully established. He continued his journey homewards, how- ever, undeterred, passed the winter of 1850 with his relatives, and in the spring of 1851, in company with Socrates Huff, of San Leandro, returned to California. In the winter of 1851-52, with some others, Mr. Church hunted in the hills situated at the back of Mission San José, from which expedition each of the party cleared three hundred dollars. In the spring of 1852 he located a trading-point, in partnership with Henry C. Smith, at New Haven (now Alvarado), from where he was elected to the Board of Supervisors in 1852-53, when Washington Township was a portion of Santa Clara County. While a resident of New Haven, Alameda County was created from out of portions of the counties of Contra Costa and Santa Clara, and disposing of his inter- est to his partner, Mr. Church was elected the first County Clerk and Recorder of Alameda. He was connected with these offices, as chief and two years as a deputy for nine years. In the year 1867-68 he was associated with the late lamented John W. Dwinelle as Representative from Alameda County, in the State Assembly; and in the year 1868-69, retired to his farm in Murray Township. In the last-named year he visited Healdsburg, Sonoma County, and met, in company with a daughter, such serious injuries from the upsetting of a Concord coach between that town and Calistoga, that he has been maimed and lamed for life. In the year 1870 he estab- lished himself in a mercantile business in Healdsburg, believing that that place would be the terminus of the San Francisco and North Pacific Railroad, but suddenly a franchise having been granted to continue the line to Cloverdale, the commercial pros- pects of Healdsburg went to zero, and with it the trade fostered by our subject. He lost money, paid his debts, and returned to his ranch in Murray Township, where he succeeded his former partner, Henry C. Smith, as Justice of the Peace, and held the office for four years at Livermore. In 1877 he sold his estate and took up his resi-

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dence in the city of Oakland, being in 1879 elected Justice of the Peace for Oakland Township, an office he still holds with marked ability. Mr. Justice Church is among the most respected of Alameda's citizens. His integrity has never been questioned; his popularity is unbounded; while, in his official capacity, he may be said to exercise a felicitous tact in all his dealings with lawyers and litigants. He is a member of the Masonic and Odd Fellows' fraternity, as well as one of the Association of California Pioneers. He married in May, 1839, Miss Ellen Cronkhite, a native of the State of New York, and has surviving a family of five children, viz .: Helen, now Mrs. Saulisbury, residing at Santa Ana, Los Angeles County, California; Sarah, now Mrs. Gill, residing near Santa Ana, Los Angeles County, California; William H., now a clerk in the post-office at San Francisco; Rod. W., now residing at Livermore, Alameda County, California; Lincoln S., now residing in Oakland, Alameda County, California.

ALSON S. CLARK .- Was born in the township of Grass Lake, Jackson County, Michigan, March 6, 1836, and there resided on his father's farm until his coming to California. Leaving home on December 15, 1862, Mr. Clark proceeded to New York, and sailing thence via Panama, arrived in San Francisco during the first days of Feb- ruary, 1863. Coming direct to Alameda County, he entered into agricultural pursuits for about three months, when he returned to his native place. In April, 1866, he came back to the Pacific Coast, and once more followed farming until January, 1876, when, with his brother, George Clark, he purchased the land and built the store where they now carry on a general mercantile trade.

HENRY C. CLARK .- Was born in Miami County, Ohio, December 26, 1831, and there resided until the year 1850, when he emigrated by way of the plains to Califor- nia, arriving after a tedious journey of six months. Locating in California, he there commenced clerking in a store, in Sacramento, and was so occupied until June, 1852, when he came to what is now Alameda County, and embarked in agricultural pur- suits near San Lorenzo. There he remained until January, 1853, at which date he came to his present place in Brooklyn Township, where he owns a fine residence, sur- rounded by five acres of land, and is engaged in speculating, farming, teaming, stor- ing, real estate transactions, and managing his line of schooners plying between Clark's Landing and San Francisco. Married October 15, 1868, Miss Josie S. Kim- ball, and has no issue.

BARCLAY D. T. CLOUGH .- Was born in Chatauqua County, New York, July 24, 1822. He sailed from New York for California via the Isthmus, in March, 1850, arriving in San Francisco July Ist of the same year. Mr. Clough commenced mill- building in the spring of 1852, continuing in that business in California, Pike's Peak, and Idaho, until 1865, at one time owning foundries in Calaveras and Tuolumne Counties. He came to Alameda County in 1866, and purchased a farm near Niles, engaging in fruit-culture, and here he still resides.

WILLIAM H. COCKEFAIR .- Was born in Essex County, New Jersey, January 25, 1833, where he resided until he attained the age of nineteen years, and learned the trade of carpenter. Sailing from New York May 10, 1852, on board the steamer Northern Light, to Greytown. He thereafter crossed to the Pacific Coast by way of the Nicaragua route, and taking passage in the steamer S. S. Lewis, there being on board C. J. Stevens of Livermore, arrived in San Francisco July 7, 1852. Our sub- ject now came direct to Mission San José, and after working on a farm for six months, moved to the vicinity of Alvarado, and there engaged in a like calling until February, 1854, when he proceeded to Nevada County, and there engaged in mining for six months, when he returned for a short time to Alameda County. In the fall of 1855, Mr. Cockefair transferred his mining operations to Indian Creek and Scott's River, Siskiyou County, for two years, finally coming to Alameda County, and worked at his trade for a year. In December, 1858, he moved to Arizona, and at the end of six months went on a visit to the Eastern States, with the intention of remain- ing, but longing for the sunshine of the Pacific Slope, in September, 1859, he married

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and turned his face towards California. Settling in Alvarado, he there dwelt until 1862, when he moved to Nevada, but two years thereafter came back to his favorite county of Alameda, and maintained a domicile there until 1876, at which date he proceeded to Oregon in the employ of the Government as constructor of light-houses. He remained in its employ some six years, at the expiration of which he found his way again to Alvarado, where he has since resided, following his trade of carpenter and builder. Is a member of the Washington Township Society of Pioneers. Mar- ried, September, 1859, Miss S. J. Ball, a native of New Jersey, and has two children, viz .: Ellen A. and Charles P.

HOMER A. CRAIG .- Was born in Farmington, Van Buren County, Iowa, Decem- ber 24, 1846, and is the son of George M. and Laura (Forbes) Craig. His parents moving to California by way of the plains, with ox-teams, in April, 1852, they arrived in Grass Valley, Nevada County, in the month of September of the same year, where they resided, save during the summer of 1854, which was passed in Forest City, Sierra County, until 1856. In that year they moved to Bear River, Yuba County, near where the town of Wheatland has since arisen, but which then was an immense stock range given over to large bands of horned cattle, huge elks, and other game. Here Mr. Craig, Senior, engaged in farming for about a year, whence he removed to the Feather River, Butte County, and there was employed in freighting and farming operations until 1861, in conjunction with our subject. In 1862 Mr. Craig, Senior, died, his wife's death having occurred in the previous year, when the gentleman of whom we write engaged in a grocery business until 1873, during three years of which he was agent for the Home Mutual Insurance Company of California. In the last- named year he joined the company's office in Oakland, and took the Alameda County agency, in association with J. F. Steen for about eighteen months, when, that gentleman seceding, Mr. Craig retained the office for six months longer, when the Alameda County Branch of the Company was formed, and our subject installed as its secretary. That position he filled until June, 1878, at which time, becoming associa- ted with Edward Brown, W. P. Thomas, and W. W. Haskell, in a General Insurance Agency business, the firm of Brown, Craig & Co., of San Francisco, was established, and now consists of Messrs. Brown and Craig, the interests of Messrs. Thomas and Haskell having been purchased by these gentlemen. The address in San Francisco is No. 215 Sansome Street, where they transact a business of about a quarter of a million of dollars per annum, being agents for some of the oldest companies in the United States, among them being Phoenix Insurance Company of Brooklyn, New York; Star of New York; Insurance Company of State of Pennsylvania. In Mr. Craig we have an exemplification of what a business aptitude combined with energy can attain; without these desiderata, no one may hope to reach to the position of honor in a community which this gentleman holds. He married, October 16, 1870, Miss Dora E. Posey, a native of St. Louis, Missouri, and has five children, viz .: Dora L., Homer T., Corydon M., Woodson L., and Wesley P.

ADDISON M. CRANE, JUDGE OF THE SUPERIOR COURT OF ALAMEDA COUNTY- MEMOIR WRITTEN BY HIMSELF.

I have been requested by the publishers of this book to allow my portrait to appear, and to contribute a brief memoir of myself. Inasmuch as I was a pioneer in the settlement and organization of the county, and because the people of it have repeatedly honored me with positions of public trust, I deem the request a reasonable one, and my compliance with it appropriate. It would more accord with the usual custom that such memoir should assume an impersonal form, but, since the informa- tion must necessarily be mainly obtained from myself, it would be only an affectation of modesty to shift the narrative from the first to the third person. I have concluded, therefore, to adopt the former mode. To begin with, I desire to disclaim all motives of vanity or self-laudation in what I may say, and to state that I simply aim to con-

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tribute something to the early history of Alameda County. In doing so, I must nec- cessarily speak of myself and of my connection with public affairs. The life of every individual is made up of a succession of events and experiences. In the afternoon of life we recall the memories of childhood, of youth, and of early and mature manhood; and when one undertakes to write of himself the problem is one of condensation and omission. I shall therefore aim to make my narrative as brief as possible. I am descended directly from English stock transplanted to America in the seventeenth century. A glance at the birth and death record of my ancestors for two hundred years back shows that the family is imbued with strong vitality; and the history of individuals goes far towards establishing the fact that it is imbued also with good moral attributes. The record contains not one taint of conviction for a crime. I was born at the town of Litchfield, Herkimer County, State of New York, on July 2, 1814. My grandfather, Isaac Crane, of New York, was a soldier in the Revolutionary War, and was a commissioned officer. In 1810, before I was born, he died, at the age of fifty-seven -- his life having been shortened by hardships incident to the war. My father, Henry Crane (who died in 1875, in his ninety-second year) was a country inn- keeper, carrying on a small farm of eighty acres in connection therewith, and also an ashery, or manufactory of potash. The family of my parents consisted of ten children- eight sons and two daughters-of whom all but two of the sons yet survive. I was the third in the family. I early became accustomed to all kinds of farm-work; the burden of so large a family rendered necessary the strictest economy and industry, and at an early age the boys were expected to shift for themselves. At the age of fourteen I first left home, and went one hundred and fifty miles away to serve as a farmer's boy. I remained there six months, and then returned to my home. My opportunities for an education were limited mainly to the winter terms of the common school, which I managed, however, to supplement by academical instruction of about one year in all prior to my twenty-first year. These limited opportunities I aimed to improve to the best advantage. We had but few school-books in those days; but the pupils were made thoroughly to understand such as we had. At the age of seventeen I began teaching school, and continued to do so, winters, for the six succeeding years, receiv- ing the meager compensation of the times. This was a period of hard study with the constant accompaniment of manual industry. An interesting feature of it to me was the fact that the public hall in my father's house was the usual place of holding Justice's courts for the trial of contested cases. From my earliest remembrance I had witnessed these trials before juries, often contested by able lawyers from Herkimer or Utica-such as the Fords, Hoffman, Judd, Spencer, and others. These early impres- sions may have given me a predilection for the law. I certainly enjoyed and was deeply interested in the contests. I may properly add that in my then legal infancy I was imbued with greater respect and admiration for the jury system than I can conscientiously admit in my mature age. In the autumn of 1835, having emigrated to western New York, I entered the law office of Benedict Bagley, at Nunda-then in Alleghany County, but now in Livingston County-and in June, 1837, received my first law license from the Alleghany Common Pleas Court. In July, 1841, I was licensed to practice in the Supreme Court and the Court of Chancery of the State of New York. In October, 1839, I married Miss Gertrude Ashley, and since then we have made the journey of life in harmony. I erected a house at Nunda, and we resided there until 1843-my business as a lawyer being fairly remunerative. Here our two eldest children-a daughter and a son-were born. In the fall of 1843 I sold my property at Nunda, and removed with my family to Lafayette, Indiana, and there entered upon the practice of my profession. For the first two years I was a partner of Daniel Mace, and for the next two was a partner of Edward H. Brackett. We did pecuniarily well in our profession. In January, 1847, I was elected by the Legislature of Indiana, on the recommendation of the Bar of Lafayette, to the office of Judge of the Court of Common Pleas- a special court, created to relieve the pressure on the

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Circuit Court, and having general common law and equity jurisdiction. This court

during the four years of its existence, transacted nearly all the civil business of the

county. It was abolished by the new constitution of Indiana, in 1851. I have noted, with pardonable satisfaction I trust, that some of the decisions I then made, involving novel questions and original principles in jurisprudence, are quoted in recent text- books as the now accepted law. During our residence at Lafayette, four children-

cially of Lafayette, and my friends and acquaintances there, are quite vivid and very two sons and two daughters-were born to us. My memories of Indiana, and espe-

pleasant. If this could properly be elaborated beyond the limits of a mere outline personal sketch, it would give me great pleasure to record some of my recollections and impressions. During the winter of 1851 I made a journey down the Wabash,

May 6th to September Ist, at which date we arrived at Stockton. This period commenced my emigration overland to California, and followed an ox-team from Ohio, and Mississippi Rivers to New Orleans, and returned. In the spring of 1852 I

of one hundred and eighteen days of toil was full of incident, and of the hard- ship common to all overland emigrants, respecting which much might be said. I came immediately to this valley, and located at San Lorenzo-then known as Squat- terville-and engaged in farming with the design of abandoning the law; but my professional services were soon demanded, at remunerative compensation, and I again entered the legal arena. Since then I have been constantly devoted to the law, either

at the Bar or upon the Bench. In 1853 Alameda County was organized out of por- tions of Contra Costa and Santa Clara. In April of that year the first election of county officers was held, the candidates having been nominated without regard to

party. At this election I was elected County Judge, and held the office for four years, practicing in the meantime in the other State and in the Federal Courts. In

October, 1853, my wife, accompanied by our six children, rejoined me after a favor-

able passage "around the Horn," and we located on my farm near Haywards; and, with the exception of about one year, I have ever since then been a resident of Alameda County -- thirteen years in Alameda, six years at Washington, and now in Oakland. During our residence in Alameda County three daughters were born to us -two of whom yet survive. In 1861 I was elected to the Senate from this county, being the first Senator elected after Alameda County became a separate Senatorial District. I served in the Senate two sessions, and during the latter was President pro tem. of that body. On the 8th day of January, 1863, I participated in the ceremonies attending the breaking of ground at Sacramento, inaugurating the work of construct- ing the Central Pacific Railroad, and made the opening address on that occasion, which address was published in the papers of the day. In my Senatorial capacity I

was diligent, and worked to improve the laws, and benefit society and the State. I introduced, amongst others, Acts to amend the laws relating to civil procedure; the new charter of the city of Oakland; the road law of Alameda County; and an Act to pro- hibit the carrying of concealed weapons. Subsequent observation convinced me that the last-named law had a powerful and excellent effect in reducing the number of altercations and assassinations in California. Those were the early days of the war. The Legislature was composed almost exclusively of Union men, but there was in the State a large leaven of Secessionists, and public opinion was not so decided upon the slavery question as it became during the following year. Believing that slavery must fall before the Rebellion could be suppressed, and considering it the duty of Union men everywhere to strengthen the administration, I took occasion to address the Senate at some length upon the introduction of Union resolutions. I thought then, and now think, that I interpreted and expressed the sentiments of the voters of Alameda County truthfully as regarded the institution of Slavery; and venture to ex- tend this sketch by quoting briefly from that speech as follows: "At the foundation of all this lays that institution which has been the cause of this outbreak, as well as of all the other dangers that have even threatened our existence as a nation. An

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institution, sir, wicked in its inception, cruel, relentless and unpitying in all its forms, degrading alike to all classes, making honest labor a dishonor, merchan- dise of the bodies and souls of men, shutting out the light of the advancing civil- ization of the age, and reducing to mere chattels the laborers who till the soil. This institution of human slavery is the great black ulcer which has eaten the vitals of our national existence, through the ignorance and darkness which it carries in its train. Without this, and its attendant consequences, we should have had no rebellion, no war, no such attempt as now exists to overwhelm in blood and slaughter this great and free Government. And, sir, it was not in consequence of any threats which had been made against the institution that this sedition was stirred up. No, sir. The incoming Government had been faithful in all its acts to its protection. But the elec- tion had demonstrated that the power which the master class of the South had always held in the Government had departed from them forever; that the enlightened opinion of the North was against the further extension of this blighting curse, and that, although they could remain in the Union and enjoy all their rights under the Constitution, yet they could no longer rule as absolutely as they had done in every department of the Government. Public opinion-I mean the enlightened opinion, not only of the North, but the civilized world-a power, sir, far in advance of its laws, and more potent than constitutions and compacts, had made itself felt even among the cotton-fields, sugar-plantations, and rice-swamps of the South; that power which goes forth as the precursor of revolutions-still, silent, noiseless-but resistless in its might as the whirlwind, unchecked in its power as the earthquake-I mean the enlightened sense of Christian civilization-had penetrated the cimmerian darkness of every fastness where this great wrong existed. It then became evident, and such no doubt was the fact, that slavery, however faithfully the constitutional guaranties might be sustained, could not hope to flourish or extend, or even to be respected in the continued connection of the South with the North, but, on the contrary, like any other relic of barbarism, must; by the mere force of such public opinion, grow less and less, until finally it should be extinguished and cease to exist. This was the Southern view, and I am not prepared to deny its correctness. Acting upon this view, the designing traitors who have brought this rebellion upon the country resolved to break up the Union, to sever the links of the golden chain which has so long and brightly connected and bound together the sovereign-States of this great confederacy, and to form a nation and government by themselves, peculiar among all the nations and governments of the earth, and which, in the language of the Vice-President, should have for its "chief and corner-stone, African slavery." This was what they resolved to do, and what they are now with arms and in battle attempting to accomplish. But in this they will fail. The attempt will prove futile. There is yet strength and power enough left in our Government to preserve itself. The people are aroused. Legions, unapproachable in numbers, or power, or courage by any thing which can be brought to oppose them, are now striking thick and fast, and with resistless force, and the recent victories which, following in such rapid succession, have attended our advanc- ing armies everywhere show that the contest can be neither long nor doubtful. This great and irresistible host are going forth not only as an army of conquest, but of liberation, striking away the fetters with which the Southern masses have been bound, and carrying freedom to those whose liberties have been crushed out under the iron heel of the worst despotism which has ever elevated itself over the liberties of a people. And, sir, that I may be understood, I will say, that however much I may and do detest the institution which has brought upon us this calamity, yet this war is not waged for its extinction or overthrow. Such was not the object for which it was inaugurated. But, sir, while I say this, and say it in all sincerity, I will further say that this rebellion must be overcome, and the integrity of the Union in all its parts must be restored and maintained at all events, at every hazard, and at any cost. Better, sir, a thousand times better, that every human life, and every dollar of

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History of Alameda County, California : including its geology, topography, soil, and productions, Part 122

Author: Munro-Fraser, J. P Publication date: 1883 Publisher: Oakland, Calif. : M.W. Wood Number of Pages: 1206

Author: Munro-Fraser, J. P
Publication date: 1883
Publisher: Oakland, Calif. : M.W. Wood
Number of Pages: 1206