USA > California > Sacramento County > History of Sacramento County, California, with biographical sketches of the leading men and women of the county who have been identified with its growth and development from the early days to the present, 1913 > Part 103
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LUDWIG ANDERSON
It was in Skaane, Sweden, that Ludwig Anderson was born in 1861. He came to America, arriving March 1, 1881, made his way to Sacramento, Cal., and worked for his brother, a contractor of paint- ing and decorating, until 1890, having learned his trade in the land of his birth. In the year last mentioned he acquired an interest in the business, which is now one of the most important of its kind
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in Northern California. The firm has put through large contracts on the State Capitol, California National Bank, Weinstock, Lubin and Hales residences, Sutter Club, and other conspicuous buildings as well as fine residences in Sacramento and San Francisco, and its plans for the near future contemplate operations more extensive than those of any other establishment of its kind in this part of the country.
In 1885 Mr. Anderson married Hilda Erickson, of Auburn, Placer county, Cal., daughter of L. E. and Bertha Erickson. Her father was an extensive rancher at Lincoln, Cal., and died in 1881; her mother survives, aged seventy-three years, a member of the house- hold of her daughter, Mrs. George C. Daniels, of Lincoln. Mrs. Ander- son has borne her husband children named Stella C., Hedwig J., Evelyn S. (Mrs. Humphrey of San Francisco), Helen L. and Con- stance, all of whom, with the exception of Mrs. Humphrey, are mem- bers of their parents' household. Mr. Anderson affiliates with the Foresters. He and his wife are members of the First Methodist Episcopal Church of Sacramento and are active in its work. She is past president of the Ladies' Aid Society and has held offices in other organizations connected with the church. Two of their chil- dren have remarkable music ability and will receive musical educations.
PATRICK HENRY MURPHY
The pioneer type, with its sturdy fearlessness, its touch of romance and its suggestion of conquest, is one to be noted with ad- miration as the . visible expression of a national environment that never again can be witnessed. Every era brings its men and its opportunities, but perhaps no greater men will ever be produced than those who bravely faced the dangers of the deserts, penetrated the pathless forests and by their dauntless energy pushed the benefits of civilization still further toward the setting sun. As the pioneers of California one by one enter upon their last long journey across the desert of death and set sail upon the shoreless sea of eternity, there is called afresh to mind the service which they rendered to their coun- try and their commonwealth, and appreciation wells afresh into the patriotic heart.
Not the least conspicuous among the surviving pioneers of Sacra- mento county is Patrick Henry Murphy, who first landed in the capital city on October 13, 1854. Born in St. Louis, Mo., in June, 1838, he there grew up, and in 1854 joined a company of St. Louis men. among them Isaac Lankershim and Mike Wiles, and crossed the plains with a large expedition with an ox-team train and five hun-
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dred cattle. This was a memorable year, for the Indians at that time were warlike, but by exercising the utmost diplomacy they evaded several controversies and probable massacre, and after a journey of six months and two days the train dispersed on the Cosumne river, and Mr. Murphy came on to Sacramento, where he found employ- ment in a hotel. Later he worked in San Francisco, but soon returned to Sacramento and then secured a position in the Brighton flour and grist mill on the American river. For two years he worked in the mill at monthly wages. His next venture was the purchase of two hundred acres with a crop on the ground and a small house suit- able for a frontier home. In an unexpected manner his identification with that ranch brought him misfortune. While sleeping in his bed one night he was shot by negro robbers, the ball passing through the board wall of his cabin. The two thieves made their escape, but were afterward captured and sent to the penitentiary for fifteen years. He was so seriously wounded in both arms that he was completely disabled for one year and, in fact, was left crippled for life.
Unable to work, the young farmer relinquished his holdings and returned to St. Louis, where he visited at the old home for a year or more. During 1862, in Fayette county, Ill., he was united in marriage with Miss Mary A. Gibbs, who was born in Ohio and died in California in 1874. Upon his return to the west Mr. Murphy pre- empted one hundred and sixty acres in Sacramento county and at once commenced the difficult task of clearing the property. Later he purchased eighty acres so situated that it could be brought into the home place as one farm, which gives him two hundred and forty acres in this ranch. The land lies within a mile of Perkins and is improved with a substantial residence and convenient farm buildings. A pumping plant furnishes an abundance of water for irrigation and for domestic nse. The value of the place is greatly enhanced by the vineyard and fruit orchard covering fifty acres, with grapes, cherries, prunes, peaches, pears and berries in fine bearing condition.
Having an opportunity to increase his holdings in 1885 Mr. Murphy bought a partly improved tract of four hundred and fifty acres on the Cosumne river, this county, of which tract he now has over one hundred acres in hops. The balance of the ranch is utilized for pastures, alfalfa meadows and grain. The ranch was occupied and managed by the oldest son, Arthur D. Murphy, who with his family made his home there until it was leased out. On both places a spe- cialty is made of the stock industry and the stock raised and sold includes high-grade Shorthorn cattle and pure-bred Poland-China hogs. Ever since the organization of the California state fair, a period of forty-nine years. Mr. Murphy has been an exhibitor of stock, machin- ery and fruit, and at the fair of 1911 his exhibits won the same admiration and attention they have received during the entire period
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of his association with the work. There is not another man in the state who has been such a steady exhibitor for so many years as he, and he has won innumerable prizes and gold medals in different lines. Nor is his interest in horticulture less than his identification with the stock business and for some years he has been a stockholder and director in the Florin Fruit Growers' Association situated at Florin.
Of his first marriage Mr. Murphy has three children living, Arthur D., Clara McDonald and Ralph I. The daughter is a success- ful teacher in the Sacramento county schools, Arthur D. is farming his own place and the younger son acts as manager of the Cosumne ranch. October 7, 1875, Mr. Murphy married Miss Carrie R. Jackman, who was born and reared in New Hampshire, removed thence to Iowa, and from there came to California during young womanhood. Five children are living of this union, namely: William C., employed in the Sacramento street-car service; Harry L., who is married and resides at the old homestead; Corda L., who holds a responsible posi- tion in the mercantile house of C. C. Perkins at Perkins; Elmer H., an expert chemist employed in the laboratory of the Union Sugar- beet Company; and George A., a farmer near Perkins.
Although Mr. Murphy cast his first Presidential ballot for Stephen A. Douglas, for years he has been identified with the Re- publican party. In 1864 he supported Abraham Lincoln and since then he has never failed to cast a straight Republican ticket at every Presidential election. Frequently he has been selected as delegate to county and state conventions. In local elections he supports the men whom he considers best qualified to serve the people, irrespec- tive of their political views. For four years he served as a justice of the peace and he also has served as school trustee. As early as 1869 he became connected with the subordinate lodge of Odd Fellows and all but one of his sons also joined the order. No citi- zen surpasses him in loyal devotion to his township and county. It has been his privilege to witness the steady growth of this locality and the awakening appreciation of its soil and climate. Doubtless no one takes greater pride than does he in the constant progress of the district, the increasing returns from the scientific cultivation of its ranches, the growing business of the little towns and the patri- otic spirit manifested by the entire citizenship.
THOMAS TINGEY CRAVEN GREGORY
Residence, San Francisco; office, Alaska Commercial Building, San Francisco. Born October 4, 1878, in Suisun, California. Son of Judge John M. and Evelyn Tingey (Craven) Gregory. Married to Ger-
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trude Martin, April 15, 1903. Graduated from Stanford University in 1899 and took post-graduate work until 1901 in the Stanford Law School. Admitted to the bar of California in 1901, and commenced the practice of his profession, associated with his father in Solano county, and was elected district attorney of that county in 1901, con- tinuing until 1906. Moved to San Francisco in 1909, and continues in the active practice of his profession. President of the Vallejo and Northern Railroad Company and the Sacramento and Woodland Rail- road Company. Member of the Bohemian, Olympic, The Family, Com- mercial and Commonwealth Clubs of San Francisco, the Sutter Club of Sacramento, the Masonic Fraternity, Beta Theta college fraternity and Knights Templar. Democrat.
EDWARD FRANKLIN PFUND
An identification with the city of Sacramento beginning at the age of sixteen years and continuing up to the present time gives to Mr. Pfund a comprehensive knowledge of community resources, of natural advantages and of future possibilities; resultant from such knowledge we find him to be a firm believer in the riches of the valley that boasts the capital city for its center. Destiny dis- guised as Chance directed his energies toward pursuits for which he was well qualified by nature. His painstaking accuracy and sys- tematic management of detail work enabled him to make good as an assistant in the office of the county clerk William B. Hamilton, where he became an employe the first Monday in January, 1893, and where he has continued to the present writing. After he had proved his mastery of every detail connected with the records he was ap- pointed chief deputy and continued in that capacity until the death of the county clerk, March 14, 1911, when he was appointed to the office.
As Mr. Pfund's name indicates he descends from German an- cestry. He claims, however, our own country as his native land, having been born December 11, 1859, at Vandalia, Ill., where his father, Jolm P. Pfund, engaged for some years in the manufacture of confectionery and later carried on a humber business. Prior to his immigration to the United States in 1832 the father had lived in Germany, where as the youngest in a family of four sons he was exempt from service in the German army through the fact that the three eldest brothers had given their time to military duties as re- quired by the government of their country. When he crossed the ocean he was young, active and capable, and his subsequent life was
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one of industry and persevering, intelligent management. During young manhood he married Juliana Vennewitz, who was born and reared in Germany, her father, a prosperous business man of that country, having furnished horses and supplies to the army without compensation. The mother of Edward F. Pfund had a sister, Mrs. Lippe, whose liusband, a man of large wealth, owned a number of merchant ships and engaged extensively in the buying and selling of grain in Germany.
When sixteen years of age Edward F. Pfund came to California in company with his parents and settled at Sacramento, where for two years he attended the grammar school. The family had com- prised seven children, but two of the sons are deceased and the two daughters also died in early life, so that three sons are the only living representatives of the family. The three reside in Sacramento, where William H. is connected with a grocery business, and Bar- told G., who formerly engaged in business in Chicago, Ill., with I. P. Farnham, now has business relations with a prominent Sacramento dry-goods house. Edward Franklin, who was fifth in order of birth among the seven children, is the second of the three survivors, and was married April 30, 1884, to Miss Mattie E. Knisley, born in Eldorado, Cal. The only child of the union, Edwina V., born July 5, 1894, is a graduate of the Sacramento high-school, class of 1912.
After having clerked for twelve years in a clothing store owned by Charles Robin and having risen meantime to an important posi- tion in the establishment, Edward F. Pfund was obliged to dis- continue all work on account of ill health. For several years he was unable to attend to business duties, but as soon as he had regained his health he began his identification with the county clerk's office and since then has been able to work steadily and constantly withont detriment to his physical condition. In political views he votes with the Republican party. Fraternally he belongs to Washington Lodge No. 20, F. & A. M., also Eureka Lodge No. 4, I. O. O. F., and Sacramento Court No. 12, Foresters of America. As a citizen he is public-spirited, as an official trustworthy, as a friend sincere, furnishing indeed the type of character needed in the citizenship of the community and in the official business of the county.
I
SIMON PROUTY
Destiny gave to Simon Pronty an identification with the early upbuilding of the two great states of Iowa and California. Born in Southern Ohio, he was a small lad when in 1847 the family removed to
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Iowa and settled among the pioneers of Jasper county. The entire journey was made in the tedions and primitive manner common to the period, for not only was there not even one railroad in the whole state of Iowa, but very few had been built in any portion of the country. Arriving near the site of the present flourishing city of Iowa City, which then had only six log houses, the father, Anson Pronty, took up a quarter section of government land, the present site of Newton, and a part of this he subsequently sold to the supervisors of Jasper county as the site of the village that became the county seat. Not long after his settlement in Iowa he took the contract to carry the first mail between Fort Des Moines and Iowa City. Simon, then thirteen years of age, was selected for the work. The task was indeed one of the greatest difficulty and it speaks volumes for the resolution and courage of the lad that he was willing to undertake the long journeys in the midst of such dangers and hardships. The nearest houses were eighteen miles apart. There were few trees and across the open prairies howled the bitter wind and snow as if fighting against man's advance from the older settlements of the east. Forty miles a day on horseback for three days in succession along the lonely road three feet deep in snow, then three days on the return trip, with Sunday spent at home. It was seldom that he met any other traveler in those stormy rides. Twice he was taken from his horse unconscious with cold and with ears, hands and feet frozen stiff. Notwithstanding these arduous experiences he continued the trips until there was no longer any further need of his services.
When eighteen years of age Simon Pronty married Miss Jane Newton, member of a prominent Iowa family in whose honor the city of Newton was named. Immediately after his marriage he and his young wife started for California, in company with his father and mother and the other members of his family. As early as February of 1851, with three wagons loaded with supplies of all kinds necessary for such a trip, and with a goodly sum of money, the party began its journey across the plains. It had been their fear that they would suffer attacks from the Indians, but in some way they gained the good- will of the savages, who allowed them to pass without molestation. They crossed the river at the present site of Omaha, then void of any settlement whatever. Shortly afterward cholera broke out among the emigrants and Anson Pronty fell a victim of the dread disease. His body was wrapped in a sheet and laid in the ground by his three sons, Simon, Will and Columbus. With all the loneliness of a deep bereavement the family proceeded on their journey and under the guardianship of the eldest son, Simon, they arrived safely at Stock- ton, Cal., about the 1st of September. For a time after their arrival they continued to camp in their wagons.
It was the good fortune of Simon Prouty to have a mother who
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was a woman of education and remarkable intelligence. Although he attended school only six months during all the years of his boyhood, he became well informed, for she taught him reading and writing and instructed him in the making of accounts and in all arithmetical problems connected with ordinary business affairs. The younger children, sheltered by his protecting oversight, were given some schooling, but they too found the counsel and instruction of their mother most vital to their intellectual advancement. Not only was Mrs. Prouty a woman of education, but she also had a large endow- ment of common sense, so that she grasped the necessities of their environment in the west and proved equal to every emergency. Wild berries were plentiful, so she made pies from the fruit gathered by the children. In addition she made vinegar and with this concocted a mock lemon pie that proved popular among the incoming emigrants. All of the pies were sold at $1 each, while biscuits she sold at twenty- five cents a dozen and bread at twenty-five cents a loaf. The income was increased by the washing of shirts at twenty-five cents each. With the income from her tireless labor and with the aid of her son, Simon, she was able to keep the children together until they were grown and meanwhile she took up a tract of government land.
About this time Simon Prouty became ambitious to rent land, but he had no seed and no horses, nor any money with which to buy the necessary equipment. Determining to buy a team on credit if possible, he took some lunch in a water bucket and walked twenty miles to a horse dealer, who refused to sell on credit. The dealer's wife, seeing that the young man was weary from the walk, invited him to eat and sleep at their home, an invitation which he most gratefully accepted. Meanwhile she talked privately with the dealer and per- suaded him to encourage the would-be farmer. In the morning the dealer told him, "I will furnish you one horse if the horse-trader ten miles away will furnish you with another." So the young man walked the ten miles and found the second dealer; who exclaimed after hearing his story: "Well, by Gosh! Walked thirty miles! Got a wife already, eh? And a mother and five brothers and sisters to support. Well, by Gosh! Yes, Siree, you can have a horse and I'll give you a set of harness. Now eat some dinner and then you just ride back to that fellow down the road and tell him to give you the horse he agreed to, or, by Gosh, I'll lick the d-1 out of him." The first dealer did not refuse to hold to his bargain, so the young man, with a team and some land, was able to buy seed on credit, also to borrow tools. Crops brought a high price that year and he cleared $3,000.
Throughout all this period of pioneer effort the entire family had occupied the same small cabin, but now Simon Prouty and his young wife decided that they wanted a home of their own. Again
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his lunch was packed in the water bneket, but this time he walked ten miles to a cottonwood grove and chopped down saplings. Finding a long, hollow log, he ran a burning bush into each end to see if there was a snake inside, built a brush fire at one end to scare away the bears, crept into the log feet first and slept there three nights. As his brothers were using the family wagon in a job of hauling, he bor- rowed a vehicle in town and with his wife drove back to the cotton- wood grove, where the young couple loaded the trees and returned with the materials for their little house. This day they ever afterward recalled as one of the happiest of their lives. It was a genuine delight to work for a new home, even if it was to be but the crudest of cabins. When the building had been put up and they moved in, they cooked at the chimney of stone, built their own bedsteads with poles driven into the ground, sat on boxes and ate from boards resting on poles driven into the ground. To a young couple of the twentieth century this would seem privation and hardship most trying, but they were supremely happy, for they had learned that happiness comes from within, not from without. Popular among the young people, they were invited to every dance for thirty miles around and when one of these grand events was announced Simon Prouty always bought a new pair of overalls, so that he might appear as well dressed as the other young men of the period.
In this primitive home two children were born. The two youngest children were born in the later and more comfortable home of the family. The elder daughter, Hattie, is the widow of Andrew Whitaker and lives at Galt, Sacramento county. W. H. is a resident of Sacra- mento. The younger daughter is the widow of Joseph Connor of Galt, and Edgar M. is living in Lodi, this state. Mr. Prouty was always exceedingly kind and helpful to those in need and one of his kindnesses proved to be bread cast upon the waters which did not return unto him void. While he was still struggling against debt and bravely trying to get ahead financially, a sick Chinaman rode up late one afternoon and asked for water. Mr. Pronty took him off the horse and doctored him with such remedies as the cabin contained, while Mrs. Prouty cared for him as though he were a friend. For some time he was very ill, but with their care and attention in two weeks he recovered. Sitting by the chimney light one evening he re- marked: "I think so we all be partner. Be very good; make money. I think so you good lady, good man. I like stay your house long time. You no got money. I catch plenty cash. We make partner. Buy hog, sell plenty hog for Chinamen up mountains and lady be all same partner." Thereupon he drew a helt from under his clothes, emptied it on the table, counted out $6,000 in gold, pushed it over to Mrs. Prouty and said, "You takee cash. We all be partner. Buy plenty hog. Makee money." The Chinaman built himself a hut and stayed
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with them six years. Meanwhile they controlled the hog trade of Sacramento and the mines for a hundred miles in every direction, eventually clearing $10,000 for each of the partners. The family grieved as for a relative when the Chinaman, rich and prosperous, returned to his native land. For years the little children would cry for him to come back, for he had nursed and cared for them with the deepest affection. It was a frequent remark of Mr. Prouty after- wards that the Chinaman was the only honest partner he ever had, and he dates his subsequent prosperity from the odd chance that brought him needed money and help at the crucial period of his agricultural operations.
The development of a fine farm of six hundred acres, the raising of fine stock and the building of first-class residence and barns kept Mr. Prouty very busy for years, and when finally prosperity had come, he lost his wife, who had so long and bravely shared his hardships and discouragements. Three years afterward in 1891 he married Miss Carol Cronse, of San Francisco, a lady of excellent education and cultured refinement. Subsequent to his retirement from farming he engaged in the wholesale commission business in San Francisco, but there his well-known generosity was taken advantage of and the business did not prove successful. Aften ten years in San Francisco he returned to Sacramento to live, later his wife spent two years in travel, visiting his old homes in Ohio and Iowa, and enjoying a tour throughout the east. Upon returning to California he was visiting at Galt when he ran to catch a train and the over-exertion brought on heart trouble, from which he died. Since his demise Mrs. Pronty has continued to reside at the family home, No. 918 Twenty-second street, Sacramento. During early years he had been an active worker in the Blue Lodge of Masons. The Unitarian Church of Sacramento had in him a frequent attendant at the services and a generous contributor to its charities. After a long and unusually active career he passed into eternity, beloved by a wide circle of friends, honored as a man of the highest integrity and as a pioneer of the greatest aid to the early npbuilding of the state.
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