History of Alameda County, California : including its geology, topography, soil, and productions, Part 135

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

USA > California > Alameda County > History of Alameda County, California : including its geology, topography, soil, and productions > Part 135

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but two or three months thereafter he became sick and was confined to the house for upwards of a month. At this time the Spaniards were becoming restless and threatened a general uprising, therefore for safety all the foreigners betook them- selves to the ships lying at anchor in the harbor. Mr. Mendenhall, however, was too ill to be moved, and with nought save his trusty rifle and revolver to protect him, was left alone to await the general massacre. The alarm, however, proved a false one, and upon quiet being restored Mr. Mendenhall started for the Pueblo de San José by way of Alviso, and thence to Santa Clara, where he was appointed Commissary to the forces then assembled there to repel any attack from Sanchez and his predatory band who were raiding that section of the country. There he served in that capacity until April, 1847, on the 18th day of which he espoused Miss Mary, a daughter of David Allen, Alcalde Burton performing the ceremony, it being the first marriage of Americans that ever took place in the three . counties of Santa Clara, Contra Costa, and Alameda. Mrs. Mendenhall is also a pioneer of pioneers. She came across the plains to California in the company of Hon. Elam Brown of Contra Costa County, with her father, who was left sick at Fort Bridger, but in the spring went on to Oregon; at the Sink of the Humboldt she lost her mother, and being the eldest of the daughters took charge of the children and brought them safely to the Pacific Coast. Upon his marriage our subject removed to San José and there resided with his father- in-law for three months on the Ynigo Ranch. In June, 1848, he went to the mines on American River near Sutter's Mill, but at the end of three months transferred the scene of his operations to the mines of Tuolumne County, where he commenced trad- ing with the Indians, bartering clothes for gold-dust. He then returned to Santa Clara, and disposing of his property went to Oregon from San Francisco in the brig Anita. After a very rough passage of forty days he arrived in Astoria, where they were confined to a store-house on account of measles having broken out among the children on board ship. At the end of three weeks he proceeded to Portland, con- suming four days in the trip, and then went to the residence of his father-in-law, about twenty miles from that now rising city. In the following spring Mr. Mendenhall raised a company and with thirty wagons made the journey to California, arriving at Sacramento, which had then become a bustling camp, in July, 1849. Settling in the town of Suttersville, a place he had helped to survey, he there remained, engaged in teaming, until October, when he returned to San José, but being unable to find a house there, he came to the Pulgas redwoods to procure lumber and shingles. With these he built a house in the redwoods. In the spring of 1850 he moved to the Santa Clara Valley and located a piece of land not far from the Mission, where he embarked in stock-raising, adding to his stock, one hundred and four head of wild horses by capturing them on the San Joaquin plains in July 1851. Selling out in February, 1853, he moved to Sycamore Valley, Contra Costa County, on the place now owned by Hon. Charles Wood, and there stayed seven years, dealing largely in stock, at one time driving no fewer than one hundred head of horses into Oregon. In 1862 he dis- posed of his interests in Contra Costa County, and moved his stock to the Livermore Mountains, twelve miles south of where the town of that name is now situated, where he fenced in some fifteen or twenty thousand acres of land, and followed stock-raising there till 1864, when a dry season occuring he lost about forty thousand dollars' worth of cattle and horses. In the fall of 1865 he took up his residence in the San Ramon Valley, in the like occupation, but, at the end of three years, purchasing the interest of Thomas Hart in the Bernal Rancho, and that same fall six hundred and fifty acres of the Santa Rita grant, from J. West Martin, he took up his abode on the latter and assisted in building the first school house in Livermore Valley. At the end of a twelvemonth he bought a house and lot in Santa Clara County, whither he removed his family on account of the advantages offered for tuition there, where he remained ten years. In 1866 he acquired his present valuable farm of six hundred

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and eight acres, on which a larger portion of the town of Livermore is situated. In 1869 he had the town surveyed and platted, and through his efforts has sprung up one of the most prosperous interior towns of California. Soon after he donated to the Livermore College the land on which that institution stands, while he also gave an entire block for public school purposes. Besides many other gifts of a similar nature he gave thirty-two acres in order to secure the railroad depot to Livermore. .During the winter of 1876 he erected the elegant mansion in which he now resides. Mr. Mendenhall still leads an active life. He is especially interested in the breeding of Angora goats, having as many as twelve hundred of them on his range, while he attends to his agricultural and pastoral interests with much attention, but by no means makes a toil of a pleasure. It is men such as he that have made the United States what it is. He has a family of nine surviving children, viz .: James M., Lizzie (now Mrs. C. H. Lindley of Stockton), Emma (now Mrs. Black of San Francisco), Ella, D. Archer, William, Oswald, Ascey, and Etta. Of the original ten that crossed the plains with Mr. Mendenhall from Missouri, only two now survive, namely our sub- ject and N, B. Smith of Contra Costa County. Stebbins was killed in Los Angeles; Nash died in the mines in 1848; Dr. Semple died in Benicia; L. Hastings died in the Brazils; H. C. Smith died in Livermore; while Crosby, Locher, and Downing returned to the Eastern States.

GEORGE S. MEYER .- The subject of this sketch, whose portrait will be found in this work, is the son of Samuel and Katharine (Newkom) Meyer, and was born in Saxony, Germany, January 21, 1812. Having received a common-school education and learned the butcher's trade in his native country, in the year 1843 he emigrated to the United States, and commenced working at his calling in Baltimore. In 1846 he joined Stevenson's Regiment and with it came to California, landing in San Fran- cisco March 22, 1847, and remaining in the corps until it was disbanded in Monterey, in October, 1848. Mr. Meyer now went to the mines at Angel's Creek, where he engaged in the search for gold until December, 1849, after which he proceeded to San Francisco, whence he sailed on January 1, 1850, for New York, taking his gold-dust on arrival, to the mint at Philadelphia to have it coined, the out-turn being four thou- sand dollars. March 20, 1850, he espoused Miss Sophia Proeger, when he returned to California and opened the Philadelphia House, on Pine Street, San Francisco, which he conducted until June, 1853. At this date he settled at Mount Eden, Ala- meda County, where he bought a squatter's claim of one hundred and sixty acres on which he resided until October, 1881, when he made his home in the city of Oakland, where he is now enjoying the fruits of a well-spent life, honored and respected as an upright, honest citizen. His family consists of two sons and two daughters, viz .: George A., Henry H., Matilda (now Mrs. Martin), and Amelia.

THOMAS WALE MILLARD .- The subject of this sketch, whose portrait will be found in these pages, was born in Somersetshire, England, October 24, 1820, and there resided until he attained the age of twenty years, having served four years in the National Provincial Bank of England. In the year 1840, accompanied by his parents, one brother, and five sisters, Mr. Millard crossed the Atlantic to the United States, and thence proceeded to Canada, where his father and mother still dwell. At the end of two years, having visited England on business for his father, our subject accepted a situation as book-keeper in New York, where he continued until 1852. In the fall of that year he started for California via the Nicaragua route, and arrived in San Francisco during the month of November. Proceeding at once to the vicinity of where we now have the village of Centreville, in the spring of 1853 our subject and his brother planted two hundred acres of land with potatoes, the property being that of Elias L. Beard, from which they received a large yield, and where they resided three years. In the fall of 1855 Mr. Millard purchased the farm he now occupies, then comprising one thousand acres, and embarked in general farming. In 1856 he planted a vineyard, and has now fifty acres under bearing-grapes, being also

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engaged in general farming. Mr. Millard was appointed by Governor Haight a Notary Public, which position he still occupies. He married in Alameda County, October 4, 1857, Miss Caroline David, a native of Philadelphia, and has five children, viz .: Thomas, Lewis, Augustus, Albert E., and Julia V.

ALBERT MILLER .- Was born in Germany in the year 1828, and resided there until 1848, where he engaged in mercantile pursuits. In that year he came to the United States, and after sojourning at the East, came by way of Panama to Califor- nia in 1851. He engaged in business in San Francisco until 1864, when he retired. Mr. Miller has since been president and director of several financial and other corpo- rations, and is now the President of the San Francisco Savings Union. He took up his residence in Oakland in 1877. He is married, and has a family.

CAPTAIN ANTHONY MILTON .- The subject of this sketch, whose portrait appears in this work, was born in the Azores, Portugal, March 29, 1823, but at eleven years of age came to the United States, and settled at New Bedford. In that pros- perous and busy seaport he grew up, with the ships of many nations around him, and following the example of hundreds of his fellow-townsmen, adopted a life on the ocean wave as a profession, and followed it in all parts of the world, until he found himself in California in the year 1865, when he purchased his present property in Alameda County, and took up his residence there. Here the worthy Captain has time to cogi- tate upon the mutability of things mundane, and have pass before him in vivid procession the personal recollections of stirring scenes full of adventure, and enjoy the fruits of a well-spent life. Married in September, 1867, Miss Alicia Healey, a native of Ireland, and has two children living, viz .: Manella, and Joseph P.

JOHN L. MITCHEL .- The subject of our memoir, of whom an excellent portrait appears in this history, is a native of the Golden State, born in Sacramento, April 17, 1851, and is now in his thirty-third year, and, although still young, is one of the most energetic and leading spirits in the business circles in the beautiful little town which he has selected for his future home, Livermore. Remaining in his native city and attending the common schools until fourteen years of age, our subject then undertook the task of doing for himself, being employed in a telegraph office at Sac- ramento, from thence transferred to San Mateo, and from thence found employment in the telegraph office of Visalia, Tulare County. After a few months' sojourn in that place, he was transferred to Woodland, Yolo County, opening the first telegraph office there; when, after a short residence, and in the employ of the Western Union Telegraph Company, he returned to Sacramento. In 1867 we find Mr. Mitchel in the telegraph office at Stockton, San Joaquin County, but subsequently transferred to the engineer corps at that time building the Western Pacific Railroad, and in that capacity he helped to construct the Livermore tunnel, on the completion of which he was attached to the construction party as telegraph operator. On the finishing of the line of the Western Pacific Railroad our subject was placed in charge of the station at Midway, where he served for one year; but the business of that hamlet being of too small importance for a man of Mr. Mitchel's ability, he was promoted in September, 1870, to the agency at the flourishing town of Livermore, which is at present one of the most important stations on the line between San Francisco and Sacramento. Here, in the capacity of station-agent and Wells, Fargo & Co.'s agent, the gentleman whose name appears above has labored for the past twelve years, with the utmost satisfaction to his employers and the public alike. Mr. Mitchel is truly a self-made man; through his own exertions he has placed himself in the front rank among the business men of the community in which he lives, having thrice been elected a town trustee, and his counsel is always sought on any scheme for the welfare and advancement of the business interests of Livermore, while he is a prime mover in public improvements and charitable matters. He is also the representative of the Home Mutual and several other prominent insurance companies for Murray Town- ship, and a leading member and officer in the Masonic, Odd Fellows, and other fraterni-

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ties. In August, 1872, Mr. Mitchel was united in marriage, in San Francisco, to a most estimable young lady, Miss Cora B. Belleau, a native of that city, by which union they have three children, viz .: Maude, Tottie, and Mabel.

JAMES MOFFITT .- Was born of Scotch-Irish parentage, in the city of New York, March 17, 1831, where he received his early education and resided until his fifteenth year. At that early period of his career he shipped on board the frigate Savannah, under Commodore Sloat, Captain Mervin commanding, and sailed for California in 1846, arriving in Monterey in the same year. He remained on board the Savannah until 1849, when he was honorably discharged at San Francisco, after which he betook himself to his profession of engineer on the waters of the coast until 1859, when he established his residence in San Francisco, continuing in the same occupa- tion until his settlement in Brooklyn Township, Alameda County, where he still resides. Feeling that his services might be useful to the country in the then emer- gency of war, Mr. Moffitt joined the State Militia in 1862, and served with it until peace was declared, but only in this State, the services of his corps not having been called for beyond its boundaries. He was also a member of the Union League and Minute Men, and was honorably discharged by Governor Low. Mr. Moffitt has been identified with the Fire Department from his youth up to the present time. In 1841, when only ten years old, he joined the old Volunteer Fire Department in New York, as torch-boy, so continuing until 1845. In the mean time he found employment in the Novelty Machine Works, at the dry dock, foot of Tenth Street, on East River, where he acquired the profession of engineer, and was subsequently employed in the old Knickerbocker, Vanderbilt, and Bay State, until his departure on the frigate Savannah for California. As early as 1851 he joined the Volunteer Fire Department in San Francisco, and served in Companies Two, Eight, and Ten, during his resi- dence there. He was also one of the founders of the Volunteer Fire Department in Oakland and Brooklyn, and continued an active and efficient member until the organization of the present paid department in 1878, since which time he has been conspicuously identified with the new organization, and has been several times elected to the chief offices of the department. He is now the oldest active member of the Brigade living in Alameda County, and is serving in the capacity of

the East Oakland Department. In 1859, while residing in San Francisco, Mr. Moffitt was married to Miss Margaret Mulgrew, and is now blessed with the following-named sons and daughters: Frank J., now a Deputy Sheriff of Alameda County, and a popular journalist; Mary, Maggie, Martha, Elizabeth (deceased), Joseph, Emma, George, Harry, and Nellie. All these, like their parents, are fine examples of physi- cal perfection, and vigorous young men, women, and children, and constitute as happy and pleasant a family as can be found in the whole land. Mr. Moffitt resides on Fourteenth Street, near Thirteenth Avenue, in East Oakland, surrounded by a loving family, in the enjoyment of the good-will and respect of a community in which he is a liberal and public-spirited citizen. After forty years of active and well-spent life, he still seems to be in the prime of manhood, and like Longfellow's " Village Blacksmith," "a mighty man is he, with large and sinewy hands, and the muscles of his brawny arms are strong as iron bands."

CHARLES J. MONGELAS .- Was born in the department of Savoy, France, November 21, 1824, and there resided until he attained the age of twenty-one years, when he went to Paris. He was for two years a school-teacher. He was engaged as book-keeper in a hardware store for two years, and afterwards obtained a like position in the Orleans Railroad Company, and there remained until June, 1852. At this time he sailed in the ship Magellan, via Cape Horn, to San Francisco, where he arrived January 9, 1853. A few months thereafter he proceeded to Negro Hill Mine, near Folsom, and followed mining there, in El Dorado, on the American River, in Yuba, Nevada, and Placer Counties, in the latter of which he conducted the Wash- ington Hotel, at Willsontown copper mine, and also engaged in farming, grape-

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raising, and silk-culture. In October, 1865, he enlisted, at Marysville, in Company B, Seventh California Volunteer Infantry, Captain A. Gibson commanding, in which he served eighteen months, one year of which time he was in the garrison of Tucson, Arizona, being discharged on his return at the Presidio, San Francisco, April 26, 1866. After farming and mining until the fall of 1877, he came to Oakland, and was five years book-keeper in the store of Mr. Bocquerez, after which he engaged in the wine and liquor business in the Valdez Block, on the corner of Sixth Street and Broadway. Mr. Mongelas is a member of Lynn Post of the Grand Army of the Republic, and in 1881 presented that fraternity with a handsome banner. He belongs to the Order of Chosen Friends, Lincoln Lodge, No. 48. He is unmarried.

ABRAHAM BRUYN MONTROSS .- Was born in Moscow, Livingston County. New York, August 2, 1822. At the age of thirteen years he was taken by his parents to White Pigeon, St. Joseph County, Michigan, and there our subject received his schooling and resided until starting for California. Late in February, 1849, he joined a joint-stock company that started for California on March 5th, with teams, etc. On March 20, 1849, leaving his home on horseback, he made his way to St. Joseph, Mis- souri, where he overtook his company, of which G. W. Peacock, now of Washington Township, Alameda County, was a member. Proceeding across the plains and com- ing via the Carson Route, our subject arrived at Ringgold, El Dorado County, Septem- ber 28, 1849. After engaging in mining at this and other localities until August, 185I, at that date Mr. Montross and three companions descended the Sacramento River from Shasta, the object being to ascertain its navigability between that point and Sacramento City. The expedition being crowned with success, during the month of November, with two of his exploring companions, he purchased an interest in the stern-wheel steamer Orient, then running between Colusa and Sacramento.

She was the first steamboat to reach Red Bluff, Tehama County-in January 1852. In the spring of 1852, being in ill-health, Mr. Montross disposed of his interest in the steam- boat, and for two years retired from active participation in business. In the month of January, 1856, however, he came to Alameda County, and located near where Decoto now is, where he resided until 1858. He now engaged in sheep-farming, and in 1865 moved to his present property, comprising one hundred and fifty-six acres. Married, in 1873, Mrs. Sarah McCalvy, a native of Scotland, and has no issue.

VOLNEY DELOS MOODY .- Was born in Rodman, Jefferson County, New York, August 15, 1829, and is the son of Ransome G. and Elmira (Bacon) Moody. Having been taken when five years of age by his parents to Michigan City, Indiana, he there resided six years, and subsequently removing to Milwaukee, Wisconsin, there received his education, and dwelt for nine years, two years of which he was employed in a store, and during the last year of his residence was engaged as a contractor on the streets of that city. On March 28, 1849, Mr. Moody, his father, mother, one sister, and three brothers started to cross the plains with ox-teams, via Salt Lake City, to California. At the City of the Saints they branched off, and were one of the first parties to enter this State by the Southern Route. Having arrived in San Bernardino County in the latter part of December, they continued their journey to the Pueblo de San José, finally locating in the Pulgas redwoods, San Mateo County, where our sub- ject was among the first to engage in the lumber industry to any extent there. At the end of a year he came to Oakland and purchased a saw-mill, about three miles to the east of San Antonio, which he conducted three years, when, in 1853, selling out his stock and leasing the mill, he returned to Milwaukee, purchased a band of horses, and drove them across the plains to California. In 1854 Mr. Moody once more returned to the East, and, purchasing cattle in Wisconsin, sent them across the plains; and at Newark, New Jersey, purchased carriages and had them shipped to this coast. He now paid a visit to his birthplace, and on May 3, 1854, was married to Miss Ade- line Wright, a native of Jefferson County, New York. He then returned with his bride, by way of the Isthmus of Panama, to San José, where he resided until 1866,

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being engaged in the lumber, flour, and cattle business. In the fall of the year last mentioned he disposed of his interests there, and, removing to San Francisco, embarked in a mercantile trade, which he continued nine years. In 1874 he conceived the idea of starting a bank in Oakland, and with a few "good men and true" of that city, in 1875, organized the First National Bank, of which, in January of that year, he was elected the President, a responsible and distinguished position which he still holds. In 1875 Mr. Moody built his residence, No. 564 Fourteenth Street, Oakland, where he now resides. He has a family of three children, viz .: William C., Nellie E., and Jessie L. (now Mrs. W. F. Blood of Oakland).

CAPT. JOHN MILTON MOORE .- This worthy gentleman is the son of John and Elizabeth (Whitesides) Moore, and grandson of Captain James Moore, in after life a pioneer of Illinois, having been born in that State as long ago as the year 1750. He was born July 15, IS10, in the old block-house on the Moore homestead, about a mile and a half from the site of the present town of Waterloo, Monroe County, Illinois, where he received a meager early education, but the best the schools of that date could afford, and resided amid the scenes incidental to the early settlement of the far West, until the year 1831, when he made his first business speculation, his brother James uniting his fortunes with him in a flat boat expedition to New Orleans, with a cargo of hogs and corn, the trip down the river occupying a month. Having realized handsomely on the venture, they returned home, and the following spring found them preparing to meet the dangers of the celebrated Black Hawk War. At this time our subject was mustered into the service in what was known as the odd battalion of the Illinois Militia, called into requisition by the Governor of the State, in which he was appointed color-bearer, April 28, 1832, and remained with the corps until it was mus- tered out. He then enlisted in the company of Captain Snyder as a private in the ranks, and served until this company was also mustered out of service. On his return to the more peaceful avocations of life, at the close of the Black Hawk War in the autumn of 1832, our subject was married to Miss Lucretia Stone, of Massachusetts, and a portion of the homestead tract being set apart to him, as was the custom in those days, he at once entered upon the quiet and pastoral life of a tiller of the soil. In the following year, in company with his brother James and his uncles, Enoch, and Milton Moore, Sr., and who had each a contract for the surveying and running of township and section lines of Government lands throughout the northern part of the State, joined the surveying expedition. This arduous undertaking accomplished, the party returned to their respective homes, while Captain Moore settled down to his former avocation of farming, and making occasional trips to New Orleans with prod- uce. Upon the breaking out of the Mexican War, in 1846, our subject, in connection with Hon. J. E. O'Melveny, William Starkey, and Austin and Thomas Jones, raised a company of ninety-four, rank and file, and were mustered into service for the term of the duration of the war, on July 15, 1847, at the city of Alton, under the name of Company G, of the Sixth Regiment of Illinois Infantry, under command of Colonel Collins. Mr. Moore was chosen Captain of the company. We have not the space to follow our subject through the different scenes of the Mexican War; suffice it to say he was always found where duty called him, and upon the close of hostilities returned to his home in Illinois. In the spring of 1853 the natural inclination of Captain Moore for adventure not being sated, and having, in common with many others, become inoculated, so to speak, by the California fever, he commenced the necessary preparations for a long farewell to his native State-in all probability a life-long one. Disposing of his landed and personal property, and investing in stock, at that time valuable in the new State of California, about March 15, 1853, he, in company with his brother, William W. Moore, and several other families, bade adieu to their birth- place, relatives, and friends, and started on their long and arduous journey across the plains. After a five months' trip he arrived in Sacramento, where, leaving his family, he made something of a tour through the State, and finally settled in the beautiful

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History of Alameda County, California : including its geology, topography, soil, and productions, Part 135

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