USA > California > Marin County > History of Marin County, California also an historical sketch of the state of California > Part 55
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where, purchasing a drove of cattle, he conducted them overland to Califor- nia, arriving in the Fall of 1856. In November of that year he moved to his present ranch, and is considered one of the "solid men " and large land owners of Marin. At the present writing Mr. Bailey is constructing a splendid mansion, the main building of which will measure thirty by thirty- eight feet, of two stories in height, to which will be attached an "Ell," of sixteen by twenty-four feet, of the same height as the main portion; the cornices are to be of the kind known as the " bracket and dental;" hot and cold water will be laid on throughout the building; it is contemplated that it shall be lit with gas, while the front facade will be protected by a broad veranda. Mr. Bailey married, in November, 1851, Mary Hickman, a native of Massachusetts, who was born September 8, 1833. Their children . are :- Mary Ellen, born April 29, 1854; Alice Jane, born April 22, 1856; Laura Asenith, born November 5, 1860; Robert Henry, born January 3, 1863; William Hendricks, born July 14, 1864; Louis Clark, born March 10, 1866; Warren Grant, born January 23, 1868.
Thomas Bassett. Born in Wales, November 28, 1847. Arrived in America June 12, 1869. Came to Marin county and purchased his present farm in 1874, where he is engaged in dairying and farming. Married November 6, 1877, Mary, daughter of Robert Bailey, of Sonoma county. Hattie, born September 7, 1878, is their only child.
Alexander Bean. Born in York, Maine, November 10, 1825. Here he was educated. In 1854 he came to this State via the Isthmus of Panama, and settled on a farm now owned by Robert Bailey on San Antonio creek. He came to his present farm in 1863. Married Emma J. Turner March 3, 1858. She was born in Dresden, Maine, March 6, 1838. Edwin, born June 27, 1859, and Lilla, born April 4, 1861, are their children.
Jeremiah Ladd Blake, of Blake's Landing, Tomales bay, whose por- trait appears in this work, is a descendant of Jasper Blake, who came over from England in 1650. The first record of the genealogy of this family is that of Joshua Blake, a farmer who moved from Old Hampton, New Hamp- shire, and settled in Hampton Falls, in that State. He had two sons, Henry and Jeremiah. The latter was the great grandfather of the subject of this sketch, and he married Sarah Grove, of Seabrook, New Hampshire, and died in February, 1800. There were four sons and three daughters, viz., Enoch, Jeremiah, Joshua, Levi, Sarah, Lydia, and Lucy. Enoch was the grand- father of Mr. Blake, and was a farmer, and married Hannah Eastman, of Kensington, New Hampshire, in 1785. To them were born five sons and four daughters; two sons and two daughters died in childhood. The names of their living sons are Enoch, Jeremiah, and John. The last was Mr. Blake's father, and was born May 7, 1802, at Pittsfield, Merrimac county,
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HISTORY OF MARIN COUNTY, CALIFORNIA.
New Hampshire. He married Ruth Ladd. She was born July 4, 1804, at Louden, in the same county and State. His father died August 14, 1874, and his mother July 14, 1875. His father died at the age of seventy-two and his mother at the age of seventy-one years. The subject of this sketch was born in Orange, New Hampshire, November 18, 1833. In early child- hood his parents removed to Pittsfield, Merrimac county, his father's native town. Here, and in the adjoining town of Epsom, he received his early education at the common schools. When fifteen years old he went to Pitts- field village, where he acquired a thorough knowledge of the saddler's trade, as well as completing his education. On July 22, 1851, he went to Boston, where he remained till August 8th following, visiting his parents, who had previously moved to that city; then went to Medford, Massachusetts, and engaged to work at his trade with a Mr. Nichols, continuing with that gentle- man till July 2, 1852. The following day he left for New York City, leav- ing there on the 6th on the steamer " Prometheus " for California via Nicaragua, thence on the steamer "Pacific," arriving in San Francisco August 2, 1852; he was then in his nineteenth year. After four days, find- ing nothing to do at his trade in San Francisco, he went to Petaluma,. Sonoma county, and cut wood in the oak timber near that town for about three months. During the winter of 1852-3 he occupied his time in hunt- ing game through the surrounding country. In March, 1853, he came to Tomales bay, camping about half a mile north from his present home, took up a tract of land and built a house sixteen by twenty feet, splitting the timber from logs on the ocean beach ten miles distant. This pioneer dwell- ing he erected near the present site of his residence, and which he completed in 1864. From 1853 to 1866 he manufactured saddles here by the aid of machinery. These saddles were such as the Mexicans used at that time, and we are safe in saying he was the pioneer saddle manufacturer in Marin county. In the Winter of 1854-5 he commenced farming, and fenced one hundred and twenty-five acres, besides putting in a crop of forty acres. A diary kept by Mr. Blake informs us that the first crop was light, but the yield in 1856 was fifty bushels per acre. He planted fifty-seven fruit trees in 1856; since that time he has planted one hundred more fruit trees and
about six hundred blue gum trees, pine and cypress. In October 20, 1860, he made a visit to his old home in the East, and after an absence of three months returned, and again, in 1866, he made a like trip, this time return- ing in June of that year. All of his Eastern trips were made by steamer, via the Isthmus-twice across Nicaragua and three times via Panama. On October 2, 1866, Mr. Blake married Frances Matilda Moore, daughter of Charles Burton Moore and Betsey E. Parsons, of Michigan. For twenty- seven years has this pioneer settler been identified with the interests of this county, and especially with Tomales township, and no man has a more honorable record. All honor to such pioneer settlers as Mr. Blake for mak-
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ing this country what it is, for being one of the hardy frontiersmen who has helped to reduce these unbroken wilds to a garden of beauty ! His children are Edward Everett, born July 30, 1867; Jeremiah Burton, November 17, 1868 ; Mary Elizabeth, September 10, 1870 ; Fayette Tylor, May 12, 1872; Charles Sumner, October 1, 1874; Henry Halleck, June 2, 1876; Blanche Moore, September 23, 1878. Since 1866 he has been engaged entirely in farming and dairying, and has recently purchased one hundred and sixty acres of grape land in Sonoma county, where he contemplates planting a vineyard. Mr. Blake informs us that he raises better crops now than when he first settled. In 1863, during the War of the Rebellion, Mr. Blake was chosen Poet of the Day for the Fourth of July celebration in the Halleck school district (in which he has been trustee about twenty years). Although he made no pretentions to being a poet, he felt it his duty to make an effort on this occasion, and while working at his bench making saddle-trees he composed the following verses, which we give a place in this work :-
COMPOSED FOR THE FOURTH OF JULY, 1873. I.
" Friends and fellow-citizens, lend a patriotic ear, For 'tis of our country I would speak, and of our duties here. We meet to celebrate the day to every patriot dear, On which our nation great was born, to bless all far and near.
II.
" Though many years of peace have passed, like childhood's sunny hours, It now is going through a test that tries its noblest powers; 'Tis now it needs true friends, to guide with patriotic power, And wisdom from our God on high in this its trying hour.
III.
" But God knows best our nation's need-'tis for its good 'tis tried- To rouse its slumbering virtues, to stem Destruction's tide. And when through this dark scene we've passed, of carnage, strife and woe, The blessings wrought by what has passed shall future ages know.
IV.
" So let us strive with earnest zeal to gain our country's cause, And live in peace and harmony, protected by its laws. Our number is made up from all the Union o'er- Oh! may we all make happy homes on this Pacific shore!
V.
" Let us resolve most faithfully our duties to fulfill, To serve our God and country, and the fertile soil to till. And let us, too, strive earnestly the foundation to lay Of this our State, which shall be great at no far distant day.
VI.
" Rich in its native wealth and in its productive soil, Which yields us most abundantly with proper care and toil;
.
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HISTORY OF MARIN COUNTY, CALIFORNIA.
Blessed with a balmy air and a healthy clime,
We may hope that other blessings will come along in time.
VII.
" Let knowledge spread throughout our land, from superstition free, To bless her sons and daughters with Wisdom's purity.
Let us the principles of honor, truth and justice faithfully defend, And we shall be prosperous and happy, and God will be our friend."
John Buchanan. Born in county Antrim, Ireland, January, 1827. Came to America in 1844, arriving at Philadelphia in time to witness the great riot in that city on July 6th of that year. Mr. B. first made a permanent settlement in Dearborn county, Indiana, where he remained from 1844 till 1851; then came to this State via Cape Horn, arriving in San Francisco in July, 1852. He went to the middle fork of the American river in El Dorado county, where he engaged in mining till April, 1853, at which time he came to Tomales, settling on what is now known as the Dr. G. W. Dutton ranch. In 1857 he came to his present ranch of three hundred and fifty acres. Married Jane Gilchrist in 1860. She was born in Scotland. John, William, James, and Maggie A., are their children.
George Bunn. The subject of this sketch, whose portrait will be found in this work, is a native of Hunterdon county, New Jersey, having been born there January 28, 1820. Here he received his early education, and resided until 1852, on the 5th day of May of which year he sailed in the steamer "Northern Light" to Greytown, via Nicaragua route, where he suffered deten- tion for several days. Prosecuting his journey to Del Sur, on the Pacific, he found there was no vessel waiting for the conveyance of passengers to California thus he was compelled once more to wait. It was not until the end of four weeks that the steamer " S. S. Lewis" came into port, and in her Mr. Bunn took passage to San Francisco, and landed there July 7, 1852. From this city, he almost immediately started in quest of fortune. He proceeded to Sacramento, and there meeting A. Beach, he obtained the promise from him of a situation as superintendent of the construction of a quartz mill to be erected in Spring Valley, Butte county. Thither the subject of our sketch proceeded, but finding quartz mining on the decline, and no employment for him, he did not allow the grass to grow under his feet, so to speak, but forthwith made his way to Sonoma county, and in the Fall of 1853 com- menced farming on a portion of the Cotate rancho. After remaining there two years, he moved to Marin county, and for one year farmed on the San- ford & Stone place, near Valley Ford, when he purchased the property on which he now resides. Mr. Bunn is one of the founders of the Bank of Tomales, of which he is a stockholder and director. He married, February 9, 1871, Frances E. Ray, a native of the city of New York.
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John
James
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BIOGRAPHIES-TOMALES TOWNSHIP.
D. B. Burbank. Born in Worcester county, Mass., August 6, 1838; retained his residence there until 1859, when he emigrated to California via Panama. He came direct to this coanty, and worked one year, by the month, on a ranch, after which he teamed for a period of four months, and then moved upon his present ranch of one hundred and sixty acres, located about two miles north-east of Tomales. Here he has resided almost continu- ously, save an absence on a mining expedition for six months, and in 1864 returned East, and on August 20, 1864, married Paulina Ball, of Orange county, New York.
The Honorable George Wilton Burbank. The subject of this sketch, whose portrait is in this work, is a native of Lancaster, Worcester county, Massachusetts, and was born the 17th of November, 1829. He received his education in the public schools of his native State. He left Massachusetts for California, coming via the Nicaragua route, and arrived in San Francisco on the steamer "Sierra Nevada," May 19, 1854. He at once proceeded to the mines, at a place known as "Sears' Diggins," but soon returned to San Francisco, and crossed the bay to San Leandro, where he resided till November, 1855, then moved to Tomales township, and took up his residence on the farm he now occupies. From the time of his coming till the present writing Mr. Burbank has resided on this farm, which is situ- ated along the banks of the Estero San Antonio Laguna. Here, too, but on an eminence bordering the banks of the creek, Mr. Burbank has erected a beautiful house, which is finished and furnished in a manner indicative of culture and refinement, where he intends spending the remainder of his days. Mr. Burbank is one of the eight men who formed themselves into a league to resist the claimants of the Balsa de Tomales land grant, which at that time had been confirmed by the United States District Court. The case was carried by them to the United States Supreme Court, who reversed the decision of the lower court, and remanded the case back for a new trial. These eight men were then joined by nearly all who were residing on the grant, and in due course of time the settlers defeated the grant claimants. In 1864 Mr. Burbank was elected one of the Supervisors of Marin county, and in 1875 represented this district in the lower house of the State Legis- lature. He is one of the most prominent of Marin county's public men, hon- ored and respected by the citizens in the State in which he lives, and beloved by family and friends. On May 6, 1862, he married Apphie R. Blake. She was born in Paris, Maine, October 12, 1825.
S. H. Church. Born in St. Lawrence county, New York, December 24, 1829. When twelve years of age he moved with his parents to Mil- waukee, Wisconsin, but only remaining there a few years they proceeded to Dodge county, where the subject of this sketch was educated and brought
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HISTORY OF MARIN COUNTY, CALIFORNIA.
up on a farm. In 1854 he went to Humboldt county, Iowa, where he pros- ecuted farming until 1862, in which year he crossed the plains with ox- teams, and arrived in Sonoma county about the middle of October of that year. In the Spring of 1863 he came to Marin county, and in the Fall of the following year located on his present ranch of two hundred and sixty acres. Married, July 4, 1851, Cynthia Jane Fleming, a native of New York, by whom he has Howard E., Walter A., Herman H., Frank H., May Belle, Delbert, Clara E., Olive, Laura, and Glendora.
George Dillon. The subject of this sketch was born in Ireland March 12, 1826. He emigrated to the United States in 1846, first settling in Ten- nessee, but afterwards moved to Missouri. In 1856 Mr. Dillon crossed the plains to California and settled near his present farm, but did not take up his residence on the land he now owns until 1859. For nearly a quarter of a century has Mr. Dillon been a resident of Marin county and Tomales town- ship. That these years have been fraught with changes, which have crept on year after year so slowly but surely that they were hardly perceptible, there is no doubt. Not only has the appearance of the country changed, but Mr. Dillon, too, bears the marks of time. But with what feelings of pride can we look back over all these years and now be able to say, that the subject of this sketch has so lived that now he is honored and respected by the people of this county, and beloved by his children and many friends. He resides on a beautiful ranch of nine hundred and six acres, which fringes the shores of the Pacific ocean. He Married Matilda Blevings in 1854. She was born in Missouri, on the 24th of December, 1827. Their children are: William Riley, who was born at Fort Riley on the plains May 21, 1856; Fannie, Jerome, Ellen, George, Catherine, Joseph, Ann, John, and one deceased.
Albert Warren Dutton, Was born in Rockland county, Ohio, July 2, 1855. Emigrated to this State, with his father, Reed Dutton, in 1860, settling in Tomales, residing there and in San Francisco, till he came to Marshalls in 1876, to take charge of the railroad office as its station agent. He received his education in this State, and has the honor of being the first Wells, Fargo agent in Marshalls.
George Washington Dutton, M. D. The subject of this sketch is of English descent, and a grandson of Captain Dutton, a soldier in the Conti- mental army during the Revolutionary war, and was born in Sheldon, Franklin county, Vermont, on December 18, 1826. He received his primary education in the common schools of Vermont and New York and Ohio, and during the years 1844-5, he attended Oberlin College, at Oberlin, Ohio, partly paying his tuition and board with manual labor. A want of funds compelled him to leave the college, and he at once engaged in teaching
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BIOGRAPHIES-TOMALES TOWNSHIP.
school. At the commencement of the Mexican war in 1846, he enlisted as a private soldier in the Third Regiment of Ohio Volunteers, Colonel S. R. Curtis, commanding, for a period of one year; but was detailed from the ranks to do duty in the medical department. He was honorably discharged at the expi- ration of his term of service, but remained with the army till the close of the war in a private capacity, and was engaged both in the commissary and medical departments. During this time, and in hospital service, he laid the foundation of surgical knowledge which with future study and experience has placed him at the head of his profession. In the Spring of 1849, he married J. M. McCauslen, daughter of Colonel W. C. McCauslen of the United States army. In the latter part of 1851, he came to California and remained one year, then returned to Ohio, and about the last part of 1852, commenced the study of medicine with Dr. Joseph Sheets at Steubenville, having previously attended the medical lectures one Winter at the Uni- versity of New York, but not then with the view of practicing the medical profession. Mr. Dutton attended a course of medical lectures and human desections in the Winter of 1855-6 at the "University of Pennsylvania," in Philadelphia, the oldest Medical College in the United States, the school having been established by Franklin and some of his contemporaries before the separation of the Colonies from Great Britian. Dr. Dutton commenced the practice of medicine and surgery in the Spring of 1856, at Independence, Ohio, coming to California from this place in 1860, and settled in Tomales, Marin county. He has continued to practice his profession here till the present writing, with the exception of the Winter of 1868-9, which was spent at the " University of Pennsylvania " in Philadelphia where he gradu- ated in the medical- department of the University in the Spring of 1869. His portrait appears in this work.
Reed Dutton. Was born in Canada on October 19, 1828. When about ten years old, he, with his parents, moved to Ohio. Here he married Emily Culver in 1849. She was born in Belleville, Richland county, Ohio. Mr. Dutton came to this State, via Panama, arriving in San Francisco in November, 1849. He at once proceeded to San José, where his brother Warren was living, and there remained till the Spring of 1850; then went to the mines at Sonora, Tuolumne county, in company with his brother, where he engaged in mining till about January, 1852, when he returned to Richland county, Ohio, and there worked at his trade, that of a gunsmith, having learned it in his younger days. He again came to this State in 1860, crossing the plains with his family, and settled in Tomales, where he opened the first blacksmith shop in the upper town, laid out by his brother Warren. Lucelia and Lucina, twins; Albert W., Frank, Emma Jane, Ada, William and George are his children.
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HISTORY OF MARIN COUNTY, CALIFORNIA.
Warren Dutton. This well known and respected citizen of Marin county, whose portrait appears in this volume, is a native of Canada, he having been born one and a half miles from the New York State line, during the temporary residence of his parents in the District of St. Annard, Lower Canada, on October 10, 1823. His father and mother were both of English descent; the former is a native of New Hampshire and the latter of Vermont. The subject of our sketch, the eldest of eight children, emi- grated from Washington county, New York, with his parents, to Ohio in the year 1836. Here he left his parental roof to try his fortune among strangers, without the assistance of money or friends, at the tender age of fourteen years. After looking around him for a little while, he settled in the employ of a Quaker merchant in Massillon, Stark county, Ohio, named R. H. Folzer, to whom, and his wife, he gave great satisfaction, and from whom he received much good counsel, the germs of which have ever remained with him through life. In 1842 Mr. Dutton went to Cleveland, Ohio, where he worked as a clerk until 1845, at which time he purchased a stock of goods of his employer, James Patrick, and with letters of credit to New York, replenished the old stock, all without any capital in money, and proceeded to Goshen, Elkhart county, Indiana. In 1849 a contagious fever, known as the California type, visited that then Western country, which fastened upon Mr. Dutton with unrelenting grasp, the consequence of which was that he forthwith disposed of his business to one Samuel T. Clymer. He at once set out for New York, and there, in company with forty-one others, purchased the brig "Sarah McFarland," loaded her with merchan- dise, and sailed, January 31, 1849, for California, around Cape Horn, and arrived in San Francisco August Ist of the same year, after a pleasant voyage. After passing two years of very hard labor in the mines, Mr. Dutton went to Tomales to visit a friend named Thomas Garrett, who lived on the place now known as the Granlee farm, where he arrived August 20, 1852. At this time potatoes were worth from ten to fourteen cents per pound. With this before him and the adaptability of the soil for the pro- duction of these roots, Mr. Dutton determined to try his hand at ranching. He therefore purchased some Spanish oxen, and after a hard year's toil, living on the flesh of elk, deer and antelope (which roamed about in thou- sands) and flap-jacks, which all bachelors knew well how to prepare, a fine crop of potatoes was produced. When the cash account for that year was balanced, a.deficit of two thousand dollars was found, which account was, however, afterwards balanced by a charge of two thousand dollars to experience. In June, 1854, he started a store in connection with John Keys, and afterwards a post-office, that he called Tomales, from which the town took its name. At the end of three years and a half he dissolved partnership with Keys. In 1861 started business on his own account, and sold out in 1874, Mr. Dutton has been elected from the Third Congres-
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sional District, composed of twenty-one counties. Is a member of the State Board of Equalization. While in his own county he has on several occa- sions held office, to the benefit of his own neighborhood. Mr. Dutton retains his residence upon his old homestead, and which he proposes to do for the term of his natural life.
Henry Elphick. Was born in England March 31, 1839. In 1848 he emigrated to America with his parents and first settled in Herkimer county, New York. Here he was educated, and on February 20, 1861, came to this State via Panama, arriving in San Francisco in March of that year. He took up his residence for a short time at Half Moon Bay, thence he went to Sonoma county, near Bloomfield, and came to his present ranch, where he is engaged in dairying, five years ago this Fall. Married Lizzie Bates Novem- ber 20, 1871. She was born in San Francisco January 7, 1853. Their. children are as follows: Elijah, aged eight years; Henry, aged six years; Martha Elizabeth, aged four years; and James, aged one year.
W. R. Fairbanks. Was born December 29, 1838, at Hyde Park, Ver- mont. He was made an orphan when but a mere child, and at the age of ten he, in company with his cousins, the Heyman boys, came to California via the Horn and arrived at San Francisco on the 14th of May of that year. He and his cousins proceeded at once to the Mokelumne Hill mines, where the subject of this sketch remained until 1855 when he went to New York, where he resided for ten years, when he returned to this coast and took up his residence in Tomales, this county. He then owned and ran the stage line between the above-named place and Petaluma for a term of seven years. In 1873 he purchased his present farm of one hundred and sixty acres, located one and a half miles east of Tomales. Mr. Fairbanks married January 22, 1872, Belinda Scanlin, a native of Ireland. Their children are : George Henry, born November 9, 1872; William B., born September 29, 1874; Joseph F., born March 26, 1876; and Mary E., born March 21, 1878.
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