USA > California > Marin County > History of Marin County, California also an historical sketch of the state of California > Part 53
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Nes Madsen Lund. Was born in Denmark November 10, 1838, and remained in that country until he was sixteen years of age. In 1854 he sailed from Hamburg before the mast on board a vessel bound for Australia with passengers. Thence he went to the East Indies, continuing on the same vessel in that trade until 1858, during which year they were shipwrecked on the Phillipine islands. From Manilla he sailed on board a Scotch vessel bound for Java, and thence to England, arriving in 1859. He then paid a visit to his birthplace. In the Spring of 1860, in company with ten of his countrymen, he came to California, arriving in San Francisco in May of that year. He proceeded at once to El Dorado county, and engaged in mining during the next three years. He then went to Idaho and engaged · in the same pursuit for two years. In the latter part of 1865 he returned to California and again to Denmark. In the Spring of 1866 he came back to California, bringing with him seven young men and four young women. On this voyage they underwent a great deal of hardship, on
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account of the breaking out of the cholera on board the ship. Of the seven hundred and seventy-five passengers who sailed from Liverpool one hundred and sixty-three died. The vessel was in quarantine for two months off Sandy Hook. After returning to California he purchased a vessel, which he ran for one year. He then began farming on the Coleman tract, in Marin county. In 1870 he opened a hotel at Ross' Landing and conducted that one year. From that time until 1875 he was engaged in various pursuits, when, in company with his brother, he opened a grocery store in Salinas, Monterey county. Here he remained one year, when he returned to San Rafael where he has since resided. In 1878 he was elected to the Board of Education, which office he still holds, rendering general satisfaction. In August, 1866, he was married to Miss Maria E. Ocksen. They have three ·children-one boy and two girls.
Edward Barry Mahon. The subject of this sketch was born in the valley of the Ottawa, on Grand river, in the Dominion of Canada, some sixty miles north of Ogdensburg, New York, in the year 1833. He was the youngest son of one of the pioneers of that settlement, which fact, perhaps, as much as his natural love of books, tended to give his mind the literary turn and thirst for knowledge which influenced him in the choice of a pro- fession. He was fortunate in having the advantage of excellent teachers, from whom he received a very thorough English education, and afterwards from private tutors, there being no college in the vicinity, some knowledge of Latin and French. At an early age, however, he was thrown on his own resources, and at the age of sixteen or seventeen commenced teaching school, in which he developed an aptitude and proficiency far in advance of his years. His time, while out of the school-room, was devoted to study. During the years he was teaching he learned quite as much, if not more, than while himself a scholar. Among other things, he exhibited an early love for the free institutions and laws of the United States, and was an advocate of annexation of the Canadas to that government, a proposition which at that time was often mooted. Meanwhile, a brother of his, Timothy J. Mahon, who for some years had been a resident of the State of New York, on the first intelligence of the gold discoveries in California, in company with several others from New York, sailed from that city in. 1849 and sought this western land of promise by way of Cape Horn. These Argo- nauts, who, not less than the other adventurous spirits who plodded their way across the plains, were really making history, reached San Francisco, or. Yerba Buena, after a comparatively uneventful voyage of six months. A voyage to California at that time was considered by some as indicating something of the same daring and resolution that animated Columbus when he steered his bark out on the limitless ocean without a chart or port of destination, and by others as Quixotic as a trip in search of the North pole.
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Months lengthened into years before anything was heard of the adventurers, but at last letters were received announcing their safe arrival in California, and speaking in glowing terms of its climate and resources. Novelty has peculiar charms for the young, and the younger brother lost no time in laying aside his books and studies, excepting only so much of the study of geography as indicated the relative situations of New York and San Fran- cisco. He left New York in the beginning of 1857, and his recollection of the very unlevel condition of the sea off Cape Hatteras and of the solemn protest which his inner man made against such actings and doings on the part of wind and waves, are still very vivid, if not inspiring. The change from the snows of New York to the tropical green of Jamaica was, if not a surprise, at least some recompense for all the wrongs inflicted on him by old Neptune. The passage thence by way of the Panama Railroad and the' Pacific mail steamer to San Francisco was uneventful. One of the small sloops then plying on the Bay of San Francisco served to convey him to San Rafael, where he arrived in April, 1857. San Rafael then consisted of some half dozen houses, the principal of which was the former ranch house of Don Timoteo Murphy, afterwards owned by Timothy J. Mahon, brother of E. B. Mahon, who was then one of the solid men among the pioneers of Marin county, a position which, through its mutations of over thirty years, he has always maintained. At the season in which he arrived, the valley of San Rafael was spread before him in all its native loveliness, the hills. surrounding it, as well as the valley itself, clad in a deep green, the Bay of San Francisco on the one side, ranges of low hills with the lordly heights of Mount Tamalpais on the other, altogether presented, as it still does, a very beautiful landscape. It was a place for which nature had done much and art nothing. No fences met the eye in any direction, and nothing but the steepness of some points in the hills prevented the traveler from riding his horse to any point of the compass. The only road leading to or from the village was the one towards Petaluma, and the sight of any vehicle on that road was a rare occurrence. Horse-back was the universal means of travel and trails led in every direction, and, indeed, in proportion to the population there was at least as much traveling done then as now. Every man was a caballero, and the proprietor of from one to a dozen mustangs. and sometimes half-breed American horses. The native Spanish-California population predominated and the Spanish language was spoken by nearly everybody. And he was not a little surprised as well as chagrined to hear his brother Timothy holding an animated conversation with an acquaintance, which sounded to him like a mixture of Hebrew, Greek and Choctaw languages. Within six or eight months, however, with the aid of a stray volume of Ollendorf and a constant inquiry of the names of things, he acquired a sufficient stock of Spanish nouns and adjectives, with an occasional verb, to make himself understood. The Murphy adobe ranch house was,
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used as a Court House, and even at that early day cases involving the title to thousands of acres and hundreds of thousands of dollars, and embracing a wide range of civil and criminal jurisprudence, were argued and tried within the walls of that old adobe. Some of the most eminent lawyers in this State took part in these controversies. Judge E. W. Mckinstry, now of the Supreme Court, was District Judge for the territory embracing Marin county, and James A. McDougal, afterwards United States Senator from California, James McM. Shafter, Treanor W. Park, Oscar L. Shafter, Judge Solomon Heydenfeldt, C. M. Bronson, afterwards Judge of the Supreme Court of Nevada, Solomon A. Sharp, W. H. Patterson and many others occu- pied a great portion of their time and took a leading part in the litigation there conducted. The first few years of E. B. Mahon's time were spent in keeping store, for which he did not exhibit much aptitude, and hav- ing resolved to become a lawyer, under the instruction and advice of Hon. C. M. Bronson, he purchased some books and commenced with a persistent determination that ordinary obstacles could not overcome to study the elements of law. He afterwards entered the law office of Cook, Bronson & Hittell, in San Francisco, as a law student. His studies here were interrupted by a severe attack of small-pox, which nearly cost him his life. As soon as he recovered, however, he returned to his studies at San Rafael with undi- minished ardor, and in 1863 passed a very creditable examination before the Supreme Court of the State of California, at Sacramento, and obtained his license. He was afterwards admitted to practice in the United States District and Circuit courts. He has always since his arrival in this State been identified with the county of Marin, and has been a resident of that county all of that time, except while pursuing his studies in San Francisco. He was elected County Treasurer of Marin county for two successive terms of two years each, and afterwards was elected District Attorney of that county for one term, which offices he filled with unremitting care and unswerving fidelity. As a lawyer he is laborious, thorough and faithful, and displays a clear head and a logical mind ; his practice, both in the District Court and Supreme Court, has been, considering the field open to him, both varied and eminently successful. Some of his briefs in the Supreme Court of this State won him high encomiums from the justices of that court for learning, soundness and ability. To the extent of his means he has been always ready to assist in any public improvement. In 1865 he assisted in the enterprise of building a turnpike road from San Rafael to connect with the steam ferry to San Francisco at San Quentin, and after- wards in the San Rafael and San Quentin Railroad between those points. In 1871 the old adobe Court House was no longer adequate to the require- ments of the county. Several ineffectual attempts had at different times been made to remove the county seat from San Rafael, a majority of the people however preferred its present location. To supply this want, and
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also to put an end to this agitation, it was finally resolved to build a new Court House; accordingly, E. B. Mahon, who was then District Attorney, prepared a bill which he, seconded by the Hon. J. B. Rice, then the repre- sentative for Marin county in the Assembly, got passed by the Legislature in January, 1872, providing for the building of a new Court House. He had the pleasure of seeing the present solid and substantial Court House erected in San Rafael within the same year, a structure, which, for beauty of design, durability, and cheapness in the cost of construction, compares favora- bly with any Court House in the State of equal cost. When the North Pacific Coast Railroad Co. was organized for the purpose of connecting San Francisco with the coast counties lying. to the north, the northern and southern portions of Marin county were so much disconnected by natural barriers of hills and the almost entire absence of direct communication by public roads, that persons traveling from Tomales, to reach San Rafael, the county seat, had to go by way of Petaluma and traverse a considerable part of Sonoma county. This railroad company proposed to the super- visors of Marin to run their railroad so as to connect San Rafael with Tomales by rail, and asked for a subsidy. The measure was very popular, and Mr. Mahon, as well as the great majority of the Marin county people, favored it, but when the matter was brought before the supervisors for the purpose of ordering an election and designating the route and termini of the railroad in Marin county, and, remembering the fate of the city of Stockton, that she was, as the phrase goes, "left out in the cold" by the Central Pacific Railroad Company, we appeared before the Board and succeeded after very serious opposition in having the order so framed and the subsidy granted on such terms as to compel the company to run its line of railroad to and into the town of San Rafael and thence to Tomales. This point being at length firmly established, he and the citizens of the county generally gave their approval to the granting of the subsidy. The road was accordingly built by the company, and afterwards, having leased the San Rafael and San Quentin Railroad and bought out a steam ferry thence- to San Francisco, an uninterrupted line of transit and travel was established from San Francisco to and through the entire county of Marin; and to the- establishment of this line much of the growth and prosperity of San Rafael is due. This railroad was also after its organization engaged in a great deal of litigation, in nearly all of which Mr. Mahon has been engaged. As to the town of San Rafael he can hardly be censured for the strong attachment he always manifests for it. It may be said to have "grown with his growth and strengthened with his strength;" he has seen it grow from a little hamlet of half a dozen houses to a handsome town of some three thousand inhabitants; its valley occupied by pretty cottage houses and its hillsides- covered with lordly mansions; its churches filled with worshipers and its schools with promising children. The California mustang with his silla and
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riata has given place to the ponderous locomotive with its long train of passenger cars; the little sloop for passage to San Francisco has given place to the commodious and elegant steamer; and the trail over the mountains has been replaced by the wide and well traveled wagon road. Many of the faces that first met his gaze here twenty-three years ago still meet and return his friendly glance; many too have passed away, but the green valley encircled in the living embrace of its parent hills as if to shelter it from the rude touch of the northern blast, still looks out on the placid waters of the bay-the same charming San Rafael. On the 8th of October, 1867, he married his present amiable wife, and it would be difficult to find a couple more devoted to each other.
John Mahncken, (deceased). Was born in Hanover, Germany, Octo- ber 20, 1832, where he resided until 1854, in which year hecame to America, and settled in New York City, where he resided until August, 1857, in which year he transferred his domestic life to California, and located his residence in San Francisco, where he remained until April, 1860, then changed his residence to California City, Marin county, and lived in that pleasant valley until August, 1877, when he moved to San Rafael and erected the German Hotel, which his beloved wife now conducts. Deceased was married July 2, 1858, to Lena Gerken, a native of Hanover, by whom he has two children, Frederick and Anna Bertha Katherine, now Mrs. Thomas Nichols, who has one child, Helena Jane Anna. His son departed this life on March 31, 1862. Mr. Mahncken died December 3, 1877.
George Mason. Was born in Yarmouth, Cumberland county, Maine, May 20, 1841, and there resided and received his education, until June, 1861, when he shipped before the mast and followed a sea-faring life until April 28, 1868. He then settled in Marin county and engaged in the dairying business until 1872, when he came to San Rafael, and in 1874 entered the employ of the North Pacific Coast Railroad Co., where he continued until elected Sheriff of Marin county at the general election of September, 1879. Mr. Mason married July 17, 1877, Katie Olds.
Leopold Mayer. Was born in Baierthal, Wiesloch, Baden, December 15, 1850. At ten years of age he entered the Burger school at Heidelberg which institution he attended for four years, when he went to Ketsch, Baden, and entered a produce store. Here he was employed for three years. He next accepted a situation in a dry-goods store in Manheim, where he remained for one year, when he returned to his native town, entered into the same business and there continued until 1870. In February of that year he sailed for America, landed in New York City on the 25th, and three days later started overland for California. He first accepted a situation as clerk in a
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HISTORY OF MARIN COUNTY, CALIFORNIA.
clothing store in San Francisco, but after seven months proceeded to Suisun, Solano county, where he was employed by W. Cerkel ; at the end of eighteen months he resigned on account of failing health, and returned to San Fran- ·cisco, where he worked for two years in a wholesale and retail store ; six- teen months more he passed as traveling salesman for a cigar house; he then went to Tulare, and was employed in a general store for eighteen months, and in 1876 commenced business on his own account at Sutter Creek, which he continued until 1878, when, in September of that year, he came to San Rafael and purchased the business of Mantel & Co., and estab- lished himself therein. Married, December 1, 1878, Babette Marks, a native of Baden, born October 15, 1856, by whom he has one child, Florence, born October 6, 1879.
James Miller. One of Marin's earliest residents, is a native of county Wexford, Ireland, having been born there May 1, 1814. In 1828 he accom- panied his parents to Lower Canada, and with them settled about thirty-six miles from Quebec, and there resided until 1841, in which year he emigrated to Missouri, located in Holt county, and engaged in farming there until May 1844. At this period, accompanied by his wife and four children, he started in a train of thirteen wagons to California, and after a long and tedious journey arrived in the State near the head-waters of the Yuba river, where they recruited for six weeks, and thence following the course of the Bear river they reached Sutter's Fort December 15, 1844. February 1, 1845, he arrived at the place known as the Houck Farm, where another halt of six weeks was made, after which his journey to San Rafael was continued, and where he arrived April 6, 1845. In the following year (1846) Mr. Miller purchased six hundred and eighty acres of land from Timothy Murphy, situated on the Las Gallinas grant, the deed for which is the first recorded in the county. Here he erected a shake shanty to begin with, later a sub- stantial adobe was constructed, to be in turn succeeded by a dwelling of magnificent proportions. In 1849 Mr. Miller went to the placers, driving one hundred and fifty head of cattle, all of which he slaughtered and sold at the rate of one dollar per pound weight. In the following year he returned to his farm and has since resided there. His residence, known as Miller Hall, is beautifully situated about four miles from San Rafael, on the high road to Petaluma. It is a square building, massive in appearance and commodiously apportioned into convenient apartments. From the broad verandahs which surround the edifice, a grand view of varied scenery is obtained, while the house stands the central figure of tastefully laid out grounds and well wooded groves. Contiguous to the mansion are the well appointed farm offices, where a large dairying business is conducted. Besides owning a considerable quantity of real estate in the thriving town of San Rafael, he is the proprietor of no less than eight thousand acres of land in
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different parts of Marin county. Married in Canada, September 1, 1834, Mary Murphy, and has ten children, named as follows: William J., Kate, Mary, Martin, Ellen, Julia, Francis, Therese, Bernard and Josephine.
Michael Murray. Was born in county Cork, Ireland, September 29, 1829, and there resided until 1852, in which year he emigrated to America, arriving in New York City March 31. 1852, where he followed the occupa- tion of teamster until 1856, on the 5th of March of which year he sailed for California via Panama, and arrived in San Francisco on the 28th of the same month. On arrival he proceeded to the mines in El Dorado county, thence to Tuolumne county, remaining in that vicinity until 1858, when he moved to Siskiyou county, and followed mining between Scott river and Indian creek until 1862, when he went to Florence, Idaho Territory, where, save for five months which he spent in Montana, he resided until 1869. He was engaged in the liquor business for six years, and two years in the butch- ering trade in Centreville, Idaho. In September, 1869, he returned to San Francisco, and in the following month came to San Rafael, where, in April, 1870, he bought a livery stable, which occupation he still continues. Mar- ried, November 13, 1870, Annie Nagle, a native of Ireland, by whom he has Michael, John F., Maria, Margaret and Ellen.
Michael O'Conner. This gentleman, whose portrait will be found in these pages, is a native of county Limerick, Ireland, and was the youngest son of Michael and Kate Gleeson O'Conner, and was born December 9, 1827. He remained at his birth-place till 1848, and was educated, in the meantime, in the common schools of the country, and was also apprenticed at the age of seventeen to the boot and shoemaker's trade, serving at it till he left Ireland. In April, 1848, he sailed for America, arriving at Quebec, Canada, but proceeded at once to Susquehanna county, Pennsylvania, where he began work at his trade, and continued there till April, 1854, when he sailed from New York for California, via the Isthmus, going to Aspinwall on the steamer "George Law," and coming from Panama on the steamer " Golden Gate." He arrived in San Francisco, May 3, 1854, and soon after found work in a hotel, and remained in that city till August, 1857. He then went to Portland, Oregon, and opened the "What Cheer" House, which he con- ducted till 1866. He remained in Portland till 1868, when he returned to San Francisco and engaged in the liquor business, continuing in this business till April, 1873, when he came to San Rafael, and took charge of the " Mahon " House. In 1876, he leased the " Marin" Hotel, and after giving it a thorough overhauling, he changed its name to the "Central," by which name it is now known as one of the best caravansaries in Marin county. He was married to Miss Mary Phelan, November, 1853, born in New York in 1832, and died in Portland, Oregon, in 1861. Their only living child
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Mrs. Mary Crowley, was born February 2, 1857, and married T. J. Crowley, November 20, 1875.
Ignatio Pacheco, (deceased). The subject of this sketch, whose portrait. will be found in the pages of this work, was one of Marin's earliest and most respected pioneers. He was born in San José, July 31, 1808, and remained there until he reached an age suitable for service in the army of his country, when he enlisted in the Service and came to San Francisco, being quartered at the Presidio. At the expiration of his time, he came to Marin county and located, in 1838, on the Rancho San José, lying between the present sites of San Rafael and Petaluma. Here he continued to reside until 1864, when he died. All old settlers will remember Mr. Pacheco as. one of Natures' noblemen, a man with a kindly face and an open heart and hand for the needy. In 1841, he was married to Donna Maria Loretta Duarto, a native of San Francisco, who was born December 18, 1827. Their children are Salvador, born May 7, 1843; Gurnesendo, born January 13, 1852; Catalena, born November 27, 1857; Augusto F., born October 27, 1859; Juan F., born August 21, 1861; Benjamin, born April 17, 1863.
Salvador Pacheco. Was born in Yerba Buena, now San Francisco, March 14, 1834. In 1838, he came, with his father, to Marin county and settled on what is now known as the Pacheco ranch. In September, 1851, he was married to Miss Besenta Saiz, who was born in Yerba Buena in 1837. Their children are Josefa, born April 25, 1856; Salvador, Jr., Janu- ary 2, 1860; Perfecta, May 3, 1862.
Frederick H. Pratt. Was born in Saybrook, Connecticut, April 18, 1824, and was the son of Titus C. and Elizabeth Pratt. At the age of seven he, with his parents, moved to Niagara county, New York, and remained there until 1841, receiving, in the meantime, a common school education. At this time he moved to Monroe county, New York, and resided there for three years. In 1844 he took a trip through the Western States looking for a location, and in 1846 located at Milwaukee and engaged in the wheat buying business on commission until 1849. On the 10th day of May of that year he crossed the Missouri river en route for California, and arrived in this State September 18th of the same year. He proceeded to the Bear River Mines, remained there a short time, and then went to Sacramento. He returned to the mines and worked in them for the following three years at various places. In June, 1853, he went to Crescent City, Del Norte county, and embarked in a mercantile enterprise, remaining there only a short time. He then went to the Rouge river country and began selling goods; here he remained until 1856. On the morning of February 23d of that year an Indian massacre occurred in which twenty-six
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