USA > California > Contra Costa County > History of Contra Costa County, California, including its geography, geology, topography, climatography and description; together with a record of the Mexican grants also, incidents of pioneer life; and biographical sketches of early and prominent settlers and representative men > Part 76
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Removing to the Bull Head ranch near Martinez, in the Fall of 1852, where I engaged in farming on a small scale, and stock raising, having reconveyed my interest in the Sobrante to my brother, who was then suf- fering under severe financial difficulties, I began another start by investing in gentle cows and hogs-the former at one hundred and fifty dollars per head, and the latter at fifty cents per pound, with poultry rating at from fifteen to twenty dollars per dozen. I soon had the tules stocked with hogs at heavy cost, expecting a small fortune in profits. [ ... But as the " best laid schemes of men and mice, gang aft agley," ship after ship arrived from the Pacific islands, laden with that peculiar breed of hogsknown as "razor blades," or "wind-splitters," and down went the price through excess of importation, below cost of production. I closed out those most convenient at two cents per pound, the remainder and larger portion being given their independence in the tules. Speculations in lumber, nails, tobacco, whisky, etc., frequently brought ruin instead of
A behringer.
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fortune to their unfortunate owners, and to show the fickleness of the times, flour had been held at fifty dollars per barrel, during the time of '51-72, with many other articles of daily necessity in like proportion, depending upon the supply at hand. In the Fall of 1853, the county, having become thoroughly populated by an intelligent people settled upon almost every available one hundred and sixty acres of the surface, with schools, churches and established law in full progress, I was elected to the office of Sheriff, with its emoluments, and especially with all its resposi- bilities. As custodian of the lives and property of the law-abiding citizens of my county, in their struggle with the murderous thieving element then surrounding us, I was fully taxed for all the executive force of iny nature, to give them the protection of our laws. There was another force spasmodically rising among the honest and brave settlers of the county, still more dangerous than the murderers and theives constantly prowling around. It was the "mob spirit," or " lynching mania," often rendered necessary through inefficiency of law in early days. In all my experience the most trying and dangerous position in which I was ever cast was that of maintaining the majesty of " civil law" against the votaries of Judge Lynch, maddened by excitement, attempting to over- ride and crush out the most sacred rights of man, guaranteed by that grand code of jurisprudence and proud boast of the Anglo-Saxon. When interposing between his own respected friends and neighbors in protect- ing the prisoner of the law, to be forced to drop the muzzle of his pistol covering the face of his nearest advancing friend, crazed with temporary madness, is the most terrible ordeal of an officer. It is to do, or not to do, in an atom of time, for stern duty forces action, and the feelings of the man must yield to the necessities of the occasion.
Enjoying in a high degree the confidence and respect of my fellow- citizens, and having on several occasions succeeded, through a little firm- ness and tact, in holding this turbulent spirit subservient to law, it was my misfortune only once to be placed in the above described position : It was in Martinez, in 1854. Some several prisoners broke jail, three of them held for and one sentenced for a horrible murder, and a common horse-thief or two. The excitement had been intense. I was continually alarmed by reports of the organizing of lynchers from the home of the victim, on the San Joaquin, and from the then notorious mob element of the Redwoods. The town element was held moderately quiet, through the influence of the best citizens exerting themselves in behalf of the civil law, at my special request, when the horrifying, panicky cry of " The murderers' are out !" fell upon my ear. Rushing to the scene, and after capturing and returning the nearest to the jail, two of them (one being the condemned man) being snugly hidden and thus causing a delay
43
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in the search, a large crowd had assembled, and rushing upon me in a state of frenzy, crying : " Hang them !" "Ropes !" etc., etc. Being at the bank of the creek, with my hand on the sentenced man, I could feel him shudder at the sight of the surging mass in front (though afterwards, at his execution, exhibiting a wonderful coolness.) Warning them, over the pistol barrel, the sight of a good honest face in front of the muzzle almost staggered me into cowardice, when just beyond, in the line of range, I discovered the tall head of a noted mob leader and would-be desperado who had refused to aid me in upholding the law, and who had provoked me to the utterance, " that finding you in any crowd interfering with me in the discharge of my duty, I shall select you as the leader, and if my right arm fails me," etc., etc. With intense relief I raised the level to his head, and, as he caught my eye, he cried out : " As the Sheriff's got them, boys, let the law take its course." With the advantage of this temporary check, and using the tact of calling them to my aid in guard- ing the prisoners but a few days, when we would execute them by law, and thus as good citizens they would escape the indelible stain of blood and the outrage of that law so necessary to their own safety. Men who had no fear for pistols listened to reason, and thus I was enabled to perform the crowning act of my sheriff's term. The men were returned to jail, and a few days thereafter the sentenced man was executed, in the presence of over two thousand quiet and contented citizens of the State from far and near. Nothing but the ordinary duties of the office occur- ing till the close of my term, and the old Whig party, of which I was a member, having collapsed, and declining membership with either the Democratic or Know-Nothing, the only two existing parties, and running without a party, and neglecting to canvass the county, to the surprise of my friends, I was beaten by the small majority of thirty-five votes, through a combination of the Know-Nothings with the Democrats. The following term, the fees of office having been reduced below what I thought commensurate with the value of the service required, I declined a tendered nomination of the Independents for Sheriff and accepted that of Assessor, to which I was triumphantly elected in 1857, with a majority over the Democrats and Know-Nothings combined. Having voted with the Democrats after the fall of the Whig party, in 1856, and aiding materially in the success of the former, I was tendered and accepted the position of First Assistant Engrossing Clerk to the State Senate, in 1856-57, and, believing myself a full-fledged Democrat, the following Fall I was induced to ask the nomination at their hands for County Clerk. Appearing at the threshold of the convention with a strong delegation, I found myself assailed by a large portion of my "new friends, but old political foes," with the epithet of "Whitewashed Whig," only coming
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into the party for office. Perceiving the probable effect upon the " unwashed" members, of this unfair stigma, I prudently retired, and the convention nominated undoubtedly a better clerk in the person of our present incumbent, L. C. Wittenmyer, whose only crime-" Linked with a thousand virtues"-was that of becoming a Republican.
My family history goes back to 1854, when my dear and noble brother was carried to his grave at the early age of thirty-nine. Not only was he the founder of Martinez, but, as the partner of the firm of Ward & Smith, one of the founders of San Francisco's commercial greatness in 1847-48. as successors to Liedesdorf, of ante-bellum fame. My old and truly venerated mother, after having joined her two remaining children in California died in February, 1857, revered and honored far and wide; cradled in the Revolution, and during her early and long widowhood the social drawing-room companion of Jefferson, Madison, Webster, Clay, Jackson, and other bright stars of America's galaxy of greatness-she was a living cyclopædia of her country's history. Her memorable prophecy of the immediate future I can never forget, given immediately after the election of Buchanan, she solemnly said: " My son, this is your last Dein- ocratic President for a long period, and perhaps forever. Republicans will be the next, and Secession will follow, and may a kind God close my eyes ere I see that sad sight."
After the close of my term as Assessor, having in the meantime removed to the country and again assumed the life of a quiet farmer, engaged in grain and stock raising, I have continued to follow this monotonous course of life, only broken by being called from home as a member of the commission appointed by the Court to partition the grand old Rancho de Pinole among the heirs, and as a Democratic candidate for Sheriff in 1871, when I was most ingloriously defeated by the Repub- lican nominee, though running two hundred votes ahead of my ticket. My poor Spanish friends informed me that they were required to vote the entire Republican ticket without a scratch, in order to secure the promised " vienta reales," or two and one-half dollars. My patriotism being much diminished, I again retired to the shades of pastoral obscurity -high in health, though low in funds-yet rich in the possession of a true and loving wife, and as fine a family of girls and boys as can be shown by any other pioneer in the State.
In concluding these pages, while clouds of misfortune have continu- ally hovered over my financial progress, I have a right to claim a fair share in the development of the advanced civilization surrounding us. Having planted the seeds of progress upon what was considered a barren coast of the Pacific, we live to see them fructified within a few short years-their branches spreading, laden with the fruits of enterprise, challenging the admiration of the civilized world.
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NAPOLEON B. SMITH .- Here we have a pioneer of pioneers, with a residence in Contra Costa county dating from the year 1845. Mr. Smith is the son of Timothy S., and Susan (Crappin) Smith, and was born in Harrow (now Erie) county, Ohio, March 2, 1818. When an infant he was taken by his parents into the wilds of the territory of Michigan, his father being at the time in the employ of the United States Government, and afterwards took charge of the trading post, being subsequently, on the admission of the State into the union, elected to the State Legisla- ture. Our subject received his early schooling in Michigan, and there dwelt almost continuously up to his departure for the shores of the " Peaceful Sea." Four years of this time he passed in Wisconsin, in the employ of the American Fur Company, where he had no associates other than Indians. In the month of August, 1845, in company with his brother, Henry C. Smith, and Phillip Mendenhall, the subject of our narrative started to Independence, Missouri, where they joined the train piloted and captained by L. W. Hastings, to cross the then little-known route over the plains to California. All went well with the expedition until Fort Laramie was reached, where on account of a predatory band of Indians they suffered ten days delay. The party now had Mr. Bridger, as guide who, after many hair-breadth escapes, brought them safely to Sutter's Fort on Christmas Day, 1845. For the first month of his stay in California, Mr. Smith found employment with Captain Sutter, and in the following Spring, he came to the San Antonio redwoods, where he worked until the discovery of gold on January 19, 1848. He then started for the mines with Hon. Warren Brown, and first tried his luck at Mormon Bar, but after a short time removed to the house of his father-in-law, when with his wife he proceeded to the Mission San José, and there con- ducted a store until the latter part of 1849, the meanwhile being engaged in freighting by water to the embarcadero near the mission, from San Francisco, at times receiving as high as five hundred dollars for the conveyance of a party of a dozen passengers between these two points. On closing out his business at the mission, he came to the Contra Costa, located in the village of Martinez, where he engaged in merchandizing, and on the formation of the county, was elected to the office of Assessor, he being the first to assume the functions of that position in the county. In 1852, Mr. Smith was elected to the State Legislature then holding at Vallejo, and was a member of that body when the archives were removed to Sacramento. It should also not be forgotten to mention that Mr. Smith was a member of that small band of intrepid pioneers who raised the historical " Bear Flag ;" under its folds captured the garrisoned town of Sonoma, June 14, 1846, and subsequently declared the independence of California. On his return from his duties in the Legislature, Mr. Smith resided in Martinez until 1857, when he purchased and moved to
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his present ranch of four hundred acres located in the Alhambra district. Here he resides and engages in fruit growing and farming. Married at the Santa Clara Mission, April 18, 1847, Miss Margelina, a daughter of Hon. Elam Brown, a native of Illinois, by whom he has eight children : Frank (the first American male child born in Contra Costa county), born January 30, 1848; Lawrence M., Sarah C., Louis N., Ellen J., Elam, Timothy S. and Warren C.
REV. W. W. SMITH .- And the Rev. Joseph H. Smith, twin brothers, two of the earliest pioneers of Contra Costa county-the latter of whom died in New York of the Pacific, February 5, 1850-are two gentlemen inseparably connected with the history of Township Number Five. Their father was Samuel Smith, who was the son of Colonel Samuel Smith, of Lee, New Hampshire, celebrated as a bold soldier during the war of the Revolution, the son having enlisted in the war of 1812, in which he lost his life. The mother of the subjects of this sketch was the daughter of William Wiggin, of Durham, in the same State, a quaint little town. In the district of Packer's Falls the twin brothers attended school, and received the ground-work of that education which made them, in after life, the teachers of men. When twelve years of age the two brothers, with their mother and the rest of the family, joined the Christian church, while he whose name appears at the head of this narrative commenced to learn the trade of a carpenter. When arrived at a sufficient age, William and Joseph Smith were placed, by their mother, on farms, there to use their industry, but being separated only acted as an incentive to strengthen the brotherly love which already existed between them; at the age of seventeen the first-named was regularly bound apprentice with Mr. Crain, of Meredith, a carpenter and house- builder, which, in due course, with much application, he mastered, both in its practical and theoretical phases. After working in Pittsfield and various other places for some years, we find William Smith in business on his own account in Lynn, Massa- chusetts. The two brothers married at New Market, the home of their mother, at the same time and place; William W. Smith to Miss Lavina Sanborn, and Joseph H. with Miss Sarah Lamper, the date being March, 1833. Subsequently these two brothers were the means of organizing a Christian church in Lynn, and two others in the township, while the benefit they worked in religious instruction was great. Owing to stagna- tion in business during the years 1836-37, William Smith resolved to return to New Hampshire, but Joseph removed to New Bedford, Massa- chusetts, continuing his religious labors ; he became pastor of the Kemp- ton street church. About the year 1840, when on a visit to his brother, William entered the ministry, and commenced his ministrations in West- port, Bristol county, Massachusetts. On July 22, 1841, he was ordained
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and on that same day baptized fifteen converts. Having filled their sacred calling in different places, William moved to New Hampshire, and married his second wife, Miss Jane C. Crosswell, of Rehoboth, Massa- chusetts. The Smiths were of those that think a man may not have too much education ; therefore at the age of thirty-three years we find them both studying the higher branches under Mr. Richmond, a graduate of Dartmouth College ; William W., since coming to California, writing a scientific pamphlet, entitled "Celestial Dynamics : The Mechanism of the Tides, the Science of the Magnetic Current and the Source of Electricity," a paper replete with much interesting information and instruction on the rather abstruse subject. In or about the years 1843-44, Rev. J. H. Smith commenced the publication of the New Bedford Reporter, to which he contributed many pieces of verse of more than average ability, while both worked together with one accord in their religious and secular avocations. Joseph Smith remained in New Bedford until the intelligence of the dis- covery of gold in California was received, when he sold out his interest and returned to New Hampshire to visit his mother and her family, and to gain her permission that he and his twin brother should go to Cali- fornia. Her answer was in the affirmative, and thus were matters put in train for the start. On January 11, 1849, the brig Forest and ship Edward Everett sailed in company out of Boston harbor for the Golden State, the former having on board the Revs. Joseph H. and W. W. Smith, J. C. McMaster, now of Antioch, besides some fifty others. The weather was almost arctic in its intensity, the rigging being frozen stiff, and the brig's sides covered with a thick coating of ice, making the task of get- ting under way no easy one. Once out of the port, however, a spanking breeze drove them onwards into the Gulf Stream, where all traces of the rigid ice dropped off, and the voyage actually commenced. The journey was uneventful up to the time of reaching the coast of Brazil, when they entered the port of St. Catharine, sixty days from Boston, where con- siderable repairs were undertaken. Of this break in the monotony of the long voyage Mr. Smith tells us: "The change from the frosts and snows of New Hampshire to the warm, dry, clear weather of the tropics was an enchanting one ; lemons and limes were just coming to maturity, while the supply of other tropical fruits appeared to be inexhaustible." His remarks of the city of St. Catharine show the town to have been as quaint as were the customs of the people. Wharves there were none, therefore the landing from boats was effected on the open beach; the place was innocent of drays or carts ; goods were rolled through the streets in barrels, or packed on mules, or on the heads of men and women, while the children wandered about the streets in a blissful state of nudity. All defects being made good, the brig sailed from St. Catharine on April 11, '1849, and in course of time arrived off the entrance to the Straits of
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Magellan in a heavy gale. Off the Falkland Islands a terrific storm was encountered, when two men were lost overboard; however, the famous Cape Horn was rounded, the voyage up the Pacific Ocean was made, and on July 6, 1849, the Forest and her freight of eager souls sailed through the Golden Gate and cast anchor in the beautiful harbor of San Francisco. Some three or four hours later came the ship Edward Everett, which, it may be remembered, sailed from Boston on the same date, and had not been sighted in mid-ocean at all. Rev. W. W. Smith says: “As we gazed upon the shore from the ship, nothing but a city of tents could be seen. Before leaving the vessel, the Captain called us on deck to have a friendly chat before bidding each other farewell, and separating on our various ways. Arriving on shore we found but five American families in the city, the balance being Mexican and Indian." Finding that car- penters were in demand, the two brothers agreed to go to work at a point at the mouth of the San Joaquin river, some fifty miles from San Francisco, whither they took passage in the schooner Rialto, and arrived at New York of the Pacific July 11, 1849, just six months since sailing from Boston. About this time Colonel J. D. Stevenson and Dr. William Parker had purchased a part of the Los Medanos Grant, from José Antonio Mesa, the original locator, and had sent up the lumber, fixtures, etc., to com- mence the building of a city, to be called New York of the Pacific. W. W. Smith, being a practical architect and builder, was engaged at four- teen dollars per day to take charge of and superintend the building of a house for the two families, who, for the present, had only a tent for pro- tection. Mr. Beener lived at New York, and José Antonio Mesa and family lived two miles further up the river. Mr. Mesa's house was built of split redwood logs stood on end for the sides, and was covered with tules in bundles for a roof, with a hole in the center to allow the smoke to escape, and contained two rooms. The next morning the news of their arrival had spread, and Dr. J. Marsh came down to these two new families, and offered the hospitalities of his home, fifteen miles distant. He supplied horses for the parties to ride, and they entered a well beaten trail that led up the creek to the Doctor's house. They found the Doctor enjoying a siesta, stretched at full length upon the hairy side of a dry hide, in the grove at the back of the house, adjoining his vineyard. The Doctor gave them a hearty welcome, and took them into his house, made of adobe, and containing four rooms. He had not dishes enough to set the table for them. It was then the custom to roast the meat upon sticks before the fire, and to bake bread in the ashes.
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Having taken a look at the land while on their visit to the Doctor, W. W. and Joseph H. Smith, on the 19th of July, 1849, took up jointly two quarter-sections of land, one upon which Antioch is now situated, the other upon which W. W. Smith now lives, working upon them sufficiently
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to hold them, and continuing their labors at New York of the Pacific. New York of the Pacific was fast becoming an inland city, and the harbor was full of vessels, with men and cargoes for the mines. At the first election under the new Constitution, in 1850, they found, on shore and on ship-board, that they had from five to eight hundred voters, when all were at home. Business continued to increase, and the New York House, conducted by the Smiths, became a popular temperance eating house, while all the others sold liquor. When coin was scarce, a pinch of gold dust paid for a drink. The proclamation of Governor Riley had been issued to have all needed officers elected, and, if any precinct failed to elect them, the Prefects had power to appoint magistrates or alcaldes, so that an election could be held. This proclamation divided the districts somewhat, making all east of the Mount Diablo range of mountains in the San Joaquin district. W. W. Smith was the first appointed Alcalde of New York of the Pacific, and of this newly formed district. The Alcalde had charge of all sanitary, civil, criminal and judicial affairs of his district, with full power to appoint his officers, levy taxes and collect fees. The Alcalde spent some two thousand dollars in time, money and medicines, in caring for the sick and dead, none of which was ever reim- bursed, and he found the position honorary and very expensive. In September, 1850, W. W. Smith, hearing of the arrival of a ship-load of settlers from Maine, in San Francisco, hastened down and found 'a num- ber of families who wished to obtain land and settle in California. Captain Geo. W. Kimball and brother, one Douglass, four or five Hatha- ways, a Mr. Marshall and son Benjamin, now a resident of Antioch, and a Mr. Dennison, came to Antioch, which, at that time, was called Smith's Landing. A street was laid out, running east by compass, and each family that wished to settle upon land was presented by W. W. Smith, with a lot to build on. The Pulsifer brothers then established a garden on the flat above the point, watering the same by a simple wooden pump, fixed in the slough between the point and the main land. By the united work of all, a fence and ditch were completed from the tules on the west of the town to the tules on the east, in the Spring of 1851, to keep the animals from entering the town. On the Fourth of July, 1851, a basket picnic was held at the residence of W. W. Smith, then standing on the" high ground, near where the Antioch Ledger office now is ; the all-absorb- ing topic of the day was, " What shall we name our town ?" Between thirty and forty men, women and children had gathered from far and near. A Chairman was chosen, and several names proposed ; among them, Minton, after a steamer which plyed on the river, that she might be induced to stop at the town. Another proposed that it be Paradise, but Deacon Pulsifer arose and remarked, that there were many claimants to the lands in California, and they might lose their lands, and then it would
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