USA > California > Napa County > History of Napa and Lake Counties, California : comprising their geography, geology, topography, climatography, springs and timber, together with a full and particular record of the Mexican Grants, also separate histories of all the townships and biographical sketches > Part 62
USA > California > Lake County > History of Napa and Lake Counties, California : comprising their geography, geology, topography, climatography, springs and timber, together with a full and particular record of the Mexican Grants, also separate histories of all the townships and biographical sketches > Part 62
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third interest in the extensive and well-known clothing and gentlemen's fur- nishing goods house of Alden & Co., of Napa City and Suisun, and is now dividing his attention between that, his farm, and his mining interests. Their children are Mattie H., Mabel, Lee W., Edith, and Ella L.
SWEITZER, L. H. Was born in Iowa September 3, 1838. When he was nine years of age his parents moved to Atchison County, Missouri. In 1849 he, with his parents, crossed the plains to California. The first year after arriving was spent in the mines. In the fall of 1850 they settled in Suisun Valley, and in 1862 the subject of this sketch began farming on his own account. This he followed in Solano County for five years, when he came to Napa County and settled in Berryessa Valley. After following the same business there for eight years he returned to Solano County, where he resided until 1879, when he returned to Napa County and settled on his present place, consisting of two hundred acres located in Pope Valley, where he is engaged in farming and stock raising. Mr. Sweitzer married, April 19, 1863, Miss Emma V. Stanton, by whom he has three children : Lewis H., born July 2, 1865; Charles H., born July 26, 1868, and Edith L., born February 21, 1874.
SCRIBNER ,T. S. Is the youngest child of Enoch and Chloe Sprague Scribner, and was born in Saratoga County, New York, January 31, 1840. He received his education at the common schools, and resided in his birth- county until 1856. He then went to New York city, and in March of the following year sailed on the steamer " Northern Light" to Panama, and at that port took passage on the " Orizaba " to San Francisco, arriving in April. He spent the first year at Mount Diablo, and then moved to Benicia, and there followed hunting and ranching until 1863. He then moved to Napa City, and was employed in hauling soda water from the Soda Springs for eight years, in connection with which he established a livery business in 1866, which he conducted until 1870. In the latter year he began to run a stage from Napa to Knoxville, which he conducted until 1878. In 1875 he moved his family to Knoxville, where they opened a hotel, which they run until 1877. He then removed to his present estate, consisting of six thou- sand three hundred acres, located in the upper end of Berryessa Valley, where he now resides. He was married in 1868 to Miss Anna Jackson, who died in 1873. He was married secondly to Miss Ella Sweet in 1876, and by this union they have one child, Thaddeus M.
SAFLEY, ANDREW (deceased). Was born in the village of Dolhourie, in the famous parish of Cockpen, Scotland, February 17, 1813. At an early age he showed a marked aptitude for mechanics, and he was given a thorough course in that branch of study in Edinburg ; but his favorite pursuit in after life was agriculture. In the year 1835 he came to America, accompanied by
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his aged mother, who lived to the remarkable age of one hundred and three. They settled in Sugar Grove, Linn County, Iowa, where he held several positions of trust and honor. In 1865 he moved to California, and chose the beautiful Napa Valley as his future home, settling in the vicinity of Calistoga, where he resided till his death, which occurred July 13, 1880. He was always known as a man of honor and strict integrity. He was married September 3, 1841, to Miss Margaret Hunter, and there are four living children, as follows : Robert, born August 1, 1844; John, born March 3, 1848; James, born November 25, 1849, and Agnes (now Mrs. W. F. Fisher), born October 9, 1853.
SIMMONS, CAPTAIN EDWIN P. Whose portrais appears in this history, was the son of John and Nancy Ann Pitcher Simmons. He was born in Athens County, Ohio, May 5, 1828. When but one year of age he, with his parents, moved and settled in Greene County, Illinois, where he resided until 1850. During that time he received a common school education in Greene County, and also attended a select school for eighteen months in Athens County, Ohio. In 1850 he began life for himself, and going to Quincy, Illinois, he embarked in the mercantile and hotel business, in which he continued until 1852. May 1st of that year he started across the plains for California, arriving September 10th of the same year. He first went to Soscol Valley, Solano County, and worked by the month for a short time, and then went to Tuolumne County and embarked in mining, which he followed until October, 1854, when he returned to Quincy, Illi- nois, by way of the Isthmus and New Orleans. He once more engaged in the mercantile business, and continued till the summer of 1855, when he moved and settled in Perry County, Illinois, where he continued in the mercantile business. United in marriage October 12, 1855, to Miss Ann E. Rogers, who was born in Greene County, Illinois, December 31, 1835. He continued in business until the breaking out of the war in 1861, and August 11, 1862, he enlisted in Company "H," 81st Illinois Volunteer In- fantry, under Colonel J. J. Dollins, and served three years. He was honorably discharged as Captain of Company "H," at Chicago, August 11, 1865. He participated in the campaign against Vicksburg, in the Red River campaign, the two day's battle at Nashville, Tennessee, the forty- seven day's siege against Vicksburg, the thirteen day's siege of Spanish Fort, which was the defense of Mobile, and participated in all other battles in which the regiment was engaged. At the fatal charge on the enemy's works at Vicksburg on the 22d of May, his regiment and the 7th Missouri Volunteer Infantry were selected as the assaulting column, and provided with ladders for scaling the works, moved forward under a murderous fire, with fixed bayonets and orders not to fire but use the steel. Almost imme-
C.n. Souther
to
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liately the Adjutant of his regiment was mortally wounded. He received t. e compliment of being detailed to the adjutantcy by Colonel Dollins, who in a moment after was shot dead. In this charge the right wing of his regiment, which was the most exposed, lost in killed or wounded their com- missioned officers-both field and line, but he came out himself without a scratch worth mentioning. In the campaign of Nashville he had the honor of " ving as Acting Inspector-General of the second brigade of the third d'; on of the 16th Army Corps. After being discharged he returned to Pe: „ County, Illinois, and engaged in the produce business, which he fol- low until 1868. In connection with this business he moved to St. Louis and ened a commission house under the firm name of Dodson, Simmons & 1 . 1, which he continued until 1876. He then sold his interest and re- urne to California, this time settling on his present farm of one thousand two hundred acres, where he is engaged in general farming. He has three 1 .. . children, Carrie A. (now Mrs. Booth), born August 18, 1856; Fred- eric J., born July 27, 1859, and Julia E., born December 4, 1868.
SMITTLE, JOHN W. The subject of this sketch, whose portrait will be found in the body of this work, was born in Highland County, Ohio, November 18, 1829, and is the fourth child of Jacob and Esther Smittle, and while quite a youth emigrated with his parents to south-west Missouri, where, like other back woods' children, he grew up to manhood with- out the advantage of an education, for want of which his struggle through life has been a hard one, but imbued with a spirit of adventure, in 1851 he determined to come to California, and, being without means, he bargained with L. H. Grigsby to drive team or cattle across the plains for his board, and, after a five months' journey, without any accident other than an occasional big Indian scare, he arrived safely in Napa Valley, California, September 18th. Remaining here only a few days with acquaintances- relatives he had none-with two others of his plains' companions, he started out with his blankets on his back to try his luck in the mines. He re- mained in the mines about six months, making only small wages. Came to the conclusion that mining did not suit him, so, in March, 1852, returned to Napa Valley, where he engaged to work by the month, which employ- ment he followed until September, 1853. Concluding to get still a little farther west, he boarded a schooner in San Francisco, and sailed for Hum- boldt Bay in the county of the same name, where he remained for one year, working alternately in the timber and saw mill ; but, not being very well pleased with the country there, concluded to return to Napa County. In 1853 returned to Napa Valley, and engaged in farming in company with George Linn, on land belonging to George C. Yount, and continued there until December, 1856, when he returned to Missouri by way of the Isthmus
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and New Orleans, and re-crossed the plains in the summer of 1857, part owner of two hundred or more head of cattle, which he brought to Napa County, where he remained farming until 1863, when he went to Nevada ; spent three years in an unprofitable enterprise, losing all the means before acquired. Then returned to Napa County, engaged in farming and general stock raising in Berryessa Valley, where he still resides, and is the owner of one thousand four hundred and thirty acres of fine land. He served the county one term of two years as Supervisor of the Third District, and has taken an active part in all that tends to the advancement of the cor er munity in which he lives.
SOUTHER, CHARLES N. Whose portrait appears in this work, was born in Quincy County, Massachusetts, May 11, 1819. He remained with his parents until he was fifteen years of age, when he went to Boston and served an apprenticeship to the carpenter's trade, and continued at this until he was twenty-one years of age. He then worked as a journeyman, which he followed until he started for California, January 20, 1854. He sailed from New York on board the steamer " George Law " for Aspinwall, and at Panama he boarded the "John L. Stevens," and arrived in San Francisco February 14th of the same year. He immediately began work at his trade in San Francisco, which business he followed for one year, when he went to the mines in Tulare County and operated in mining for six months. In October, 1855, he moved to Visalia, where he remained until March, 1856, at which time his family arrived from Boston. He located in Napa County and settled in Napa City, where he followed his trade almost continuously until 1877, when he started a glue factory and has since been engaged in that business, a full description of which will be found in its proper place in this history. Mr. Souther married December 22, 1848, Miss Mary M. Craig, and by this union they have four living children, two sons and two daughters : Lizzie; Charles and Edgar (twins), and Emily Gertrude.
STAMER. G. A. The subject of this sketch was born in Hamburg, Germany, September 8, 1842, where he resided until he was fourteen years of age. He then went to sea, sailing first from Hamburg, going to China, where they were ship-wrecked and captured by the natives, and were detained for four months, when the Dutch Government bought back the subject of this sketch and one other, they being the only ones left out of the whole crew. Mr. Stamer still continued to follow a sea-faring life and sailed around the world some four times in different ships, first landing in America in 1860, on board a Hamburg ship bound for New York. At the latter place, not liking his quarters, he deserted his ship and shipped on board an American vessel, and made several voyages to Spain, and again re- turned to New York, where he shipped for California, starting around
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the Horn, but the vessel encountered severe weather, and most all the sailors were frozen. They changed their course and stood for Rio de Janeiro. Re- maining there a few months he returned to Hamburg, where he concluded to settle down, being then about twenty-three years old ; but his mind was changed on account of the Government wanting him for a soldier, and this not meeting his views, he again went to sea, and followed a sea-faring life until the fall of 1867, when he arrived in San Francisco. He there engaged in the grocery business, and resided there for two years, and in the fall of 1869, he moved to Napa County, locating at St. Helena, and engaged in the saloon business, under the firm name of Townsend & Stamer. In 1871 Mr. Stamer bought his partner out. In 1881 he bought a wine cellar and dis- tillery in connection with his brother, located two miles south of St. Helena. He conducts the saloon business yet. Mr, Stamer was married December 20, 1873, to Miss Amelia Banten, a native of Germany, and by this union they have four children : Lillie, Emilia, Julius S. and Gustave.
SEELEY, C. B. The subject of this sketch, whose portrait appears in this work, came of revolutionary stock, his grandfather, Jonathan Seeley, having served in the Continental Army throughout the war for Indepen- dence. Mr. Seeley was born in Kirkland, Ohio, February 9, 1835, being the son of Benjamin and Lydia Seeley, and the seventh son of a family of eight children. At the age of four years he moved with his parents to Warrick County, Indiana, where he was reared upon a farm, and where he resided until he came to California in 1864. In his youth he attended the public schools of his neighborhood, and subsequently Delaney Academy, at Newburgh, Indiana. He afterwards engaged in teaching. On his arrival in California he located in Napa County, of which he was elected County Clerk in 1865, holding that office by re-election for ten consecutive years. In 1866 he married Mary White, also a teacher. In 1879 he en- gaged in the business of banking with L. A. Bickford, under the firm name of Seeley & Bickford, in which business he is still engaged. He is at pres- ent, 1881, a member of the Board of Trustees of the City of Napa. In politics Mr. Seeley has always been a Republican, and is one of those genial, whole-souled men whom it is a pleasure to meet. While not pro- fessing to be a humorist, his frequent sallies of wit "without intent to harm " certainly give him a place second to but few, among that very attractive class of men. But underlying this vein of humor there is a sub- stratum of deep thought and serious reflection. He is at his best in a friendly discussion, wherein he shows in an eminent degree a mind both analytical and logical. In an animated controversy a few days since, we noted this quite characteristic expression : “ When I die, I ask no better epitaph than this: 'Sacred to the memory of one who paid every obliga- tion in life, and met the world more than half way.'"
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STOCKMON, D. MERRILL. The subject of this sketch was born in New York City, August 22, 1830. When he was quite young his parents moved to Orange, Essex County, New Jersey. In 1836 they moved to Del- aware County, Ohio, and in 1844 they took up their abode in Ashland County, that State. Here Mr. Stockmon was educated and resided until December, 1857, when he came to California. He arrived in Suisun, Solano County, in March, 1858, where his brother, David E., was a practicing phy- sician. - He allied his interests with his brother, and took charge of the drug branch of the business. He has since continued in that business, and at the present time resides in Napa City, having purchased the Pioneer Drug Store in that place in 1879. He still conducts his business in Suisun also. April 9, 1862, he was married to Miss Emma A., daughter of T. C. Everets, M.D. Their children are May Ella, Emma, and Carrie. D. Merrill, their only son, was drowned in Suisun.
SCOTT, JOHN. Was born in Ohio, July 17, 1833. At the age of sixteen he moved with his mother, his father having died, to Henry County, Iowa. Having learned the trade of milling in Ohio, he followed it in Salem, that State. In the spring of 1851 he moved to Mahaska County, same State, locating near Oskaloosa. In 1856 he came to California, coming by the Sublette cut-off, and arrived at Dutch Flat August 22d of that year. Here he followed mining for three years, when he went to Vaca Valley, Solano County. In 1860 he moved to Knights Valley, Sonoma County. In 1863 he moved to Napa Valley, locating at the Bale mill, where he remained for two years. He then went to Kansas and engaged in milling for three years, and in 1871 he returned to California and to the Bale mill. At the end of eighteen months he went to Chiles Valley and run that mill for four years. He then went to Salem, Oregon, and in a short time returned to Chiles Valley, spending one year there. Then he spent one year in Pope Valley. He then moved to Calistoga and took charge of that mill, where he still remains. He was married September 2, 1855, to Maria Hanson, a native of Ohio. Their living children are, Sanford, born February 12, 1861; Mary, now Mrs. Roberts, born in 1862, and Arvilla, born January 31, 1865.
STILLWAGON, DR. W. W. Whose portrait appears in this work, was born at Connellsville, Fayette County, Pennsylvania, in 1827. He studied and practiced medicine there until 1848, when he moved to Illinois. In March, 1850, he started across the plains, and arrived in Sacramento in August of the same year. He spent a short time at mining near Oroville, but in the fall of the year came to Napa and commenced the practice of his profession, where he has ever since resided. He served one term as Coroner; he had been elected to the office but refused to give bonds and
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qualify, yet was, by popular sentiment, compelled to serve, and his acts after- wards legalized. He has at different times filled the position of County Physician for the space of five years, and always given satisfaction. In 1871 he was elected to the Assembly from Napa and Lake, and while in the Leg- islature did much towards so presenting the desirability of Napa, that the Branch Insane Asylum was located here. He was also active in getting several bills of a local nature passed. As an officer he always acquitted himself with credit, and as a physician he has few superiors. The Doctor was a Whig when he came to the county, and affiliated with that party until the formation of the Republican party, of which he has ever since been a prominent member. But party lines have never been strictly drawn in local affairs in Napa County, and as a result she has always had good and efficient officers. Dr. Stillwagon was one of the charter members of Yount Lodge, No. 12, of Masons, and labored earnestly in the establishing of that Order in the county. He was also one of the charter members, and the first Noble Grand of the Odd Fellows in Napa City. He has of late years been devoting much of his attention to quicksilver mining in Pope Valley.
STONEY, THOMAS P. Was born in Charleston, South Carolina, on the 25th day of April, A. D. 1835. He is the second child of P. Gaillard Stoney and his wife, Anna Maria Stoney, nee Porcher. His ancestors set- tled in the low country of the Colony of South Carolina about one hundred years before the Revolutionary War. By the father's side he is of Irish ex- traction. His mother's ancestors were French Huguenots, who sought refuge in the flourishing Colony of South Carolina from religious persecution in France, which followed the revocation of the Edict of Nantes. Thomas P. Stoney received a liberal education. He was prepared for college at the celebrated preparatory academy of J. W. Hudson, Mount Zion College, at Winnsboro, in South Carolina. After being prepared, he spent some years as a student at the South Carolina College and the Universities of North Carolina and Virginia. He applied himself closely when at school and college. He has never been of robust physique, and his precarious health interfered in some degree with the prosecution of his studies. Notwith- standing the disadvantages under which he labored, he, however, left college with an amount of culture and learning attained by few students, even among those possessed of physical powers of such a character as to enable them to devote all their time to study. He was, when at school and col- lege, as he continues to be through life, of unimpeachable moral character. He wasted no time in frivolities of doubtful propriety, and his force of character was such that he could not be led by youthful associates from the path of duty. In the year 1856 he left the paternal roof to seek health
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and his fortune in California, and made Napa his home in December of that year. His first business effort in the new life upon which he had entered was as a quartz miner, in Eldorado County. The fickle goddess did not smile upon him, and he made no fortune. He had not found the occupa- tion for which Nature designed him. His well-trained mind was not to be lost to his fellow countrymen, amid the glitter of coin and cares of private business. In 1858 he left the mines and returned to Napa City, where he commenced the study of law in the office of Hartson & Edgerton. He was admitted to practice by the District Court of the Seventh Judicial District in 1859, and subsequently by the Supreme Court of the State. He soon demonstrated the fact that he had found the profession for which he was designed, and in which he was destined to make his mark. It was not long before the subject of this sketch, by his application to business, strict integ- rity, and an unostentatious display of his legal attainments, put himself in the front rank at the bar. He formed a partnership with Hon. C. Hartson, his legal preceptor. This firm did their full share of the legal business of Napa and Solano Counties. Thomas P. Stoney continued a member of this firm till the breaking out of the war between the States. In 1861 he mar- ried Miss Kate M. Allen, a native of New York, and the daughter of Joseph Allen and his wife, Catherine Allen, nee Walker. Mrs. Stoney's ancestors are of English and Dutch extraction. She was then residing in Napa County. This lady is in every way worthy of her husband .. The offspring of this mar- riage were three sons and two daughters, all of whom are still living except the eldest daughter. If these children fail to make valuable members of society, it will not be for lack of careful, intellectual and moral training. Having been trained in the school of politics taught by the States Rights politicians of the South, and having imbibed a religious belief in the doctrines of the strict constructionists of his native State, when the war commenced he felt that his allegiance was due to South Carolina, and that as a patriot he was bound to respond to her call in the time of her great extremity. In May, 1863, he went East, and, leaving his family in New York, succeeded in crossing the Potomac and the Federal lines. He reached Richmond, the Confederate capital, from which city he soon took his de- parture for his native State. Arriving in Charleston, he at once enlisted in the Marion Artillery, a light battery then in the Confederate service. He served faithfully as a private soldier till the close of the war, and was with the army commanded by General Joseph E. Johnson when he surrendered to the Federal hosts, led by General Sherman. His wife, who, with the only one of their children then born, was left for safety with her rel- atives in New York, had resolved that "his country should be her coun- try," and that even grim-visaged war should not separate her and her child from the husband of her choice, went to Nassau, on the Island
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of New Providence, then the great entrepot for the Confederate fleet of merchant vessels engaged in running the blockade. Orders had been given by the Confederate Government at Richmond, forbidding the taking of ladies and children on board of vessels engaged in the service of that government. Mrs. Stoney found that she and her child would not be taken. After great difficulty and much urging on her part, a kind Captain agreed to make an exception in her case if she would consent to share all the dangers and hardships incidental to the hazardous service in which this adventurous seaman was engaged. She was told that the vessel would be burnt rather than allowed to be captured by Federal cruisers. She cheer- fully agreed to risk all the dangers of the voyage and embarked on board a blockade-runner. She reached Wilmington, North Carolina, safely, and soon joined her husband in the land of Sumter and Marion. After the disastrous failure of the Confederate cause in 1865, Thomas P. Stoney removed to New York City and was for some time employed on the Metropolitan Record, a weekly Democratic journal then published in that city. Many of the ablest and most conservative articles that appeared in the columns of that paper were from his pen. In May, 1866, he returned to Napa. Not being able to practice law in his own name, owing to the test oath which practic- ing attorneys were compelled by the Act of the California Legislature of 25th of April, 1863, to file, he was employed in the office of Hon. C. Hartson, who has always been his steadfast friend. He rendered that gentleman much valuable assistance in the preparation of his cases, during the time he was employed by him. After the repeal of the test oath act he formed a partnership with the late W. W. Pendegast, so well known both at the bar and in the Legislative Councils of the State as one of California's most elo- quent sons, as well as one of her ablest lawyers. Such a firm could not fail to be leaders at the bar nor to draw to itself large practice. In October, 1871, Thomas P. Stoney was elected County Judge of Napa County. It would be impossible for any man to receive a higher compliment than the people of his county paid him by this election. The county had at the gen- eral election in September, gone Republican by a majority of about two hundred. Judge Stoney was, and continued to be, a pronounced Democrat and was the nominee of that party. His opponent, Judge Crouch, was the incumbent, an able lawyer and incorruptible Judge ; a man against whose private and official character the voice of detraction was stilled even in a heated political campaign. Yet Judge Stoney was elected in October by over one hundred majority. His people bore witness to the ability and fidelity with which he discharged the duties of his office by electing him to a second term in 1875. With the close of his second term the Constitution of 1849 was numbered with the things of the past, and he was therefore the last County Judge of Napa County, and one to which her people may
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