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, 1923, Part 71

Author: Reed, G. Walter
Publication date: 1923
Publisher: Los Angeles : Historic Record Co.
Number of Pages: 1026

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, 1923 > Part 71

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In Stockton, in 1865, Mr. Ehrhardt was married to Miss Caroline Holman, who was born in Chile, South America, a daughter of William Holman, born in Peekskill, N. Y., a miller and millwright by trade. Going to Chile, he huilt a mill, and later purchased it, and ran it till 1849, when he came to California on account of the discovery of gold. His wife was Ellen McCary, born in Scotland; and they had four children when they arrived in San Francisco in 1849. There he started to build a mill on property he had pur- chased; but he died six months after his arrival, a sad blow to the family. Some years later the widow married Marcus Lowell, and the family came to Sac- ramento; so it happened that Mrs. Ehrhardt was edu- cated in the schools of San Francisco and Sacramen- to. Obtaining a teacher's certificate, she taught school until her marriage. The union proved a happy one. A lady of culture and refinement, she presided competently over her household; and she exerted a wide influence for good and was much loved by all who knew her. She was called by death in March, 1920, at the age of seventy-two years. The union of Mr. and Mrs. Ehrhardt was blessed with eight children: George Edward, deceased; Frederick Will- jam, who reclaimed 7,000 acres of tule land, now a garden-spot, and now lives retired in Sacramento;

John Ehrhardt

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HISTORY OF SACRAMENTO COUNTY

Henry Lester, living in Elk Grove; William Gardner, a rancher at Franklin; John Amos, a rancher near Elk Grove: Elvesta, familiarly called Bessie by all who know her, now the wife of John A. Jamieson, residing in Sacramento; Newton Julius, a rancher near the capital city; and Nellie, the wife of Dr. Ed- ward King, of Detroit, Mich.

Mr. Ehrhardt, while still superintending his ranch, makes his home with his daughter, Mrs. Jamieson, who ministers to his comfort. He is wonderfully well-preserved and has a keen and retentive memory; and it is interesting to hear him relate incidents of the early days. He tells how, during the days of the Civil War, he and his brother and neighbors, all Union men, kept a flag floating over Union Island, from 1860 to 1865, which gave the place its name; and how he and his comrades, headed by Mr. Boyd, placed the Stars and Stripes over the door leading to the election room in 1860, and saw that it remained there in spite of threats that it would be torn down. Hc knew the early pioneers, many of whom afterwards became prominent in railroad construction and in the business and political life of the state. He knew Terry and Broderick, and other celebrated men of that day. He went through the various floods, and has made the journey from Union Mound to the Cen- tral House on Eighth Street, Sacramento, all the way rowing in a skiff, and landing in the top story of the hotel. In 1860 he took a trip East via the Isthmus of Panama, and it was then that his enthusiasm for the preservation of the Union was renewed and strengthened so that when he returned he saw what was coming and realized the necessity for loyal men to stand together; and casting his first vote for Lin- coln, he stood nobly for the Union and was glad to back up a leader in the community like Mr. Boyd, and has since never wavered in his support of the politics of Washington and Lincoln. Mr. Ehrhardt is a member of Elk Grove Lodge, No. 274, I. O. O. F.

JESSE O. TOBEY .- An experienced executive having much to do with the public, who appreciate both his personality and ability, is Jesse O. Tobey, the division superintendent of the Pacific Gas & Electric Company, of Sacramento. He was born at Atkins, Ark., on September 9, 1881, the son of Ellis and Mollie ( Talkington) Tobey, who came to Monterey County in 1887, the year of the great boom, particularly in southern California, and are living today, honored as pioneers who helped make California the Golden. They were broad-minded and progressive; and thus it happened that Jesse Tobey enjoyed the advantages of good schooling in the grammar grades, and the high school of Parkville, from which he was duly graduated with honors.

Taking up a business career, Jesse O. Tobey was in the mercantile trade until 1901, when he entered Van- der Naillen's Engineering School, of San Francisco, where he successfully pursued a two-year course. Then he accepted a position with the Northern Cali- fornia Power Company, for general line work, and after that served as superintendent of hydro-electric plants and canal systems, Then he was employed as electrical engineer in charge of the Mammoth Copper Company at Kenneth, in 1906; but he resigned to come to the Pacific Gas & Electric Company, at San Jose, as division foreman there, a post he held for two years. While there, he was also acting superintendent. He was then, in 1909, transferred to Sacramento as su-

perintendent of the power division; and ten years later he was made assistant manager, a position he has filled with signal ability and satisfaction to everybody. In 1921 the Sacramento district of the Pacific Gas & Electric Company was enlarged to cover three former districts, making a geographic division with head- quarters at Sacramento, and Mr. Tobey was made division superintendent with jurisdiction over the elec- trical and street railway activities.

Mr. Tobey was married, in 1918, to Miss Stella E. Doane, of Sacramento. He is a member of Union Lodge No. 57, F. & A. M., of Sacramento, and an Elk; and he belongs to the Sutter Club, the Del Paso Country Club, the Sacramento Rotary Club, and the Sacramento Chamber of Commerce. He is one of the original directors of the Capital Building & Loan Association. In national politics a Republican, Mr. Tobey is a booster who does not allow narrow par- tisanship to interfere with his warm support of the best measures advocated by the majority of his fellow citizens in the community. He is fond of golf, fish- ing and hunting.

ERNEST ALBERT GAMMON .- Ernest Albert Gammon is a native son of Sacramento County, born on the Gammon ranch near what was then Richland but now called Hood, July 18, 1866. His father, Walter Gammon, was born at Cumberland, Tenn. The Gammon family came from England in early Colonial days, some members of the family settling in New England, some in Tennessee and others in Georgia, our subject being descended from the Southern branch of the family.

Walter Gammon, while in far-off Tennessee, heard and read of the gold discovery in California; and be- coming intensely interested, he made the long jour- ney across the plains in an ox-team train in 1850. After spending a few months in the mines he came to Sacramento and very soon afterwards located on the present Gammon ranch, then government land. He obtained title to it and built a residence and other farm buildings. The residence was built on an elevation, and during the flood of 1861-1862 three families were domiciled in the garret of the little house. Walter Gammon was interested in reclama- tion from the early days when the levees were built by man-power and wheelbarrows. He was acci- dentally drowned on July 2, 1867.

On January 1, 1860, Walter Gammon married Miss Dell Cook, born in Shiawassee County, Mich., where she was a teacher. She came via the Isthmus of Panama and taught school in this county until her marriage. The year after her husband's untimely death she was importuned to teach the children: 30 she taught about eighty children at her own resi- dence, and then at the schoolhouse in Richland dis- trict, only a hundred yards away, continuing for a year, when she was forced to give up teaching to look after her affairs and her children. She was success- ful in her ranching enterprise and lived to be seventy- seven years of age, passing away in 1907, mourned by her, family and all who knew her. By her union with Mr. Gammon she had been blessed with four children: Charles, a business man in New York City; Mrs. May Wheeler of Berkeley; Walter re- siding in Florida; and Ernest Albert, who was reared on the home farm.

After completing the local school Ernest Albert Gammon attended the Colorado Agricultural Col-

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HISTORY OF SACRAMENTO COUNTY

lege at Fort Collins, Colo., for two years, and then the Michigan State Agricultural College at Lansing, Mich. In 1887 he took over the management of the old home ranch, which he has successfully operated ever since. As early as 1864 or 1865 his father set out an orchard of pears which is still bearing. Since then they have gradually set out the balance of the ranch to orchard and our subject has continued the development and care, having set and reset the trees until now the whole Gammon ranch is in fruit. Mr. Gammon has also bought, improved, and sold several other ranches in this county as well as in Yolo, So- lano and Stanislaus Counties. He owns a seventy- acre ranch off MeHenry Avenue. three and one-half miles from Modesto, devoted to peaches, prunes, walnuts and grapes.

Mr. Gammon was married on Ryer Island, So- lano County, in 1880, being united with Miss Ella Thomas, who was born at French Camp, San Joa- quin County, a daughter of Jesse Thomas, a native of Maine, who was a pioneer of California and a prominent rancher in Solano County. She was edu- cated at the Rio Vista school and was engaged in teaching before her marriage. Their union has re- sulted in the birth of four children: Perey was edu- cated in Sacramento high, College of the Pacific, St. Matthew's Military School, and the Agricultural de- partment of the University of California, and is now a realtor in Sacramento; Earle, who was educated at St. Matthew's Military School and the Oregon Ag- ricultural College, is now superintendent of the Gammon ranch; Cyril is a graduate of Courtland high school, and is now attending Stanford Univer- sity, class of 1925; and the youngest child, Mabel Aliee, is a graduate of Courtland high, and is now at- tending Mills College.

Mr. Gammon has been deeply interested in the cause of education, serving as school trustee for many years. He was one of the original trustees of Courtland high school district and aided materi- ally in building it up to its present high standard. Fraternally, Mr. Gammon is a member of Courtland Parlor, N. S. G. W., of which he is a past president; he is also a member of Franklin Camp. Modern Woodman of America. He is a Republican, with strong pregressive tendencies. He is prominent in civie matters, believing a man should give some- thing to the community and not be a social parasite. He is a member of the Sacramento Chamber of Com- merce and a director of its fruit bureau. He was one of the organizers of the Community Packing House at Hood, where they now have standard brands instead of individual brands, it being the most modern and best-equipped plant of any deciduous packing house in the state. He is a member of the California Fruit Exchange, serving on its board of directors for ten years, half of the time being viee- president of the board. He is a member and ex-vice- president and director of the Exchange Club of Sac- ramento. Mr. Gammon is intensely interested in all cooperative movements for the marketing of the farmer's products, believing it is the only way to make a success for the producers. So he is naturally a member of the California Pear Growers' Associa- tion, the California Cherry Growers' Association, the California Milk Producers' Association, and Califor- nia Cooperative Canneries. Thus in every way he assists in the upbuilding and development of the com- munity.

JOHN QUINCY BROWN .- Among the leading members of the legal profession in Sacramento is inscribed the name of John Quincy Brown, attorney- at-law, and commissioner of public works of Sacra- mento. He was born in Sacramento, his parents being John Quincy and Anna Mary (Williams) Brown. The father, John Quincy Brown, served the eity of Sacramento as mayor from 1881 to 1887, and also filled the position of county recorder, public adminstrator, levee commissioner and other official positions which demanded the time and attention of a conscientious citizen such as he. He was born in Kentucky in the year 1829, and in 1850 crossed the plains to California. At the age of twenty-four he was elected to fill the position of public adminis- trator, and when twenty-six was elected county re- corder of Sacramento County. For sixteen years, or four terms, he served as a member of the board of trustees of the Napa State Asylum for the Insane, a position he was filling at the time of his death, on December 20, 1892. His father, William B. C. Brown, grandfather of our subject, was a large planter in the Blue Grass State, extensively inter- ested in tobacco growing. A son, William B. Brown, a younger brother of John Quincy Brown, also came to California in 1860, and became very prominent in the state. He served as state comptroller during the Irwin administration and he was three times Presi- dential eleetor on the Democratic ticket. Our subject's mother was a daughter of Joel Price and Margaret Williams of Missouri. Joel Price Williams came to California in the pioneer gold days and was a prom- inent mining man in the early history of the state. He came of a very prominent family in Missouri, members of the family having served in the Indian wars, and also in the Mexican War. There were two children in the family of John Quincy and Anna M. (Williams) Brown: John Quincy Brown of this sketeh, and a girl who died at the age of six years. The mother passed away on November 2, 1915. The father was the first general manager for the Califor- nia State Board of Trade and was one of the original twenty-four trustees of Leland Stanford University. His death in 1892 removed one of California's most worthy and influential citizens.

Much of the boyhood of our subject was taken up studying in the city schools of Sacramento, and he also attended the St. Augustine Episcopal Military Academy at Benicia and the Golden State Academy at Oakland. After graduating from the University of California with the degree of Ph. B., he joined his father, who was then general manager of the Capital Gas Company, and acted as assistant manager. Dur- ing the years he was with the company he served in different positions. From 1892 to 1897 he was assist- ant elerk of the board of supervisors in San Fran- cisco. He was graduated from the Hastings College of the Law, San Francisco, in 1901, with the LL. B. degree, and then went to Kansas City, and there re- mained until 1908, when he returned to Sacramento.

From 1909 to 1914, Mr. Brown served as deputy district attorney of Sacramento County. In 1917 he was appointed a member of the civil service commis- sion of Sacramento and was elected president of the commission, serving as such until July, 1919. That year, he was elected commissioner of public works and on July 1, 1919, was elected president of the city commission and in this eapacity acted as mayor of Sacramento.

John 2. Brown

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HISTORY OF SACRAMENTO COUNTY

On November 28, 1888, Mr. Brown was united in marriage with Miss Jessie Brown, a daughter of Dr. . J. T. Brown, of Independence, Jackson County, Mo. Two sons have blessed the home of Mr. and Mrs. Brown. Harry Edgar is a graduate of Stanford Uni- versity, and by profession is an attorney-at-law. He is now in the general-manager's orders department of the Southern Pacific Railroad. During the World War he enlisted in the Grizzlies; later he was trans- ferred to the Bureau of Information, was sent over- seas, and served in France and in the Army of Oceu- pation in Germany for two years. The younger son, John Quincy, Jr., graduated from the University of California in 1918, with the degree of A. B., and later from the law department of this university with the degree of J. D. He is now associated with J. W. S. Butler, and is United States commissioner for the northern district of California. He married Miss Harriett Moreland, the daughter of Bishop Moreland, of the northern diocese of California. He was an aviator during the late war, in the hydroplane service, with the rank of ensign.

Mr. Brown is a Republican in politics; and frater- nally he is a member of the Sutter Club and the Del Paso Country Club; while Mrs. Brown is a prominent member of the Independence Chapter, Daughters of the American Revolution. Her sister, Mrs. W. L. Webb, has been state historian of the Daughters of the American Revolution for the past four years. Mr. Brown was one of the organizers of the Univer- sity Club of Sacramento, and served on the board of governors and as president and treasurer of the club during the time of its existence. The University Club occupied a prominent position in the social life of Sacramento. It was one of the greatest sufferers of any like institution on account of the exigencies of the World War, for nearly all the members either enlisted or were drafted, excepting only about forty- two members. When the club was disbanded, its furniture was presented to the Sacramento Post of the American Legion for use in their new elub rooms.

MRS. GEORGIANA MCDERMOTT .- A very in- teresting old settler, who is herself a native daughter, is Mrs. Georgiana McDermott, born on Carson Creek, Eldorado County, California, who comes of a promin- ent old pioneer family. Her father, George Hanlon, was born in Columbus, Ohio, in 1823. He removed with his parents, Mr. and Mrs. John Hanlon, to Des Moines, Iowa, in 1853. George Hanlon, then a young man, decided to come to the gold diggings in Califor- nia; so he crossed the plains, coming in an ox-team train to Sacramento County. He followed teaming to the mines and mining in Eldorado County, until 1860, when he located at what is now Mills Station on the Placerville road in Sacramento County, and there he purchased land, being very successful in his farming operations. He added to his ranch until he owned 1,150 acres; and he purchased other lands and owned three large ranches near Mills, one on the Cosumnes, another on Deer Creek and one in Eldorado County, being a leader as a farmer, stockraiser and dairyman. His demise occurred July 26, 1901, removing from this sphere one of the most enterprising and progressive upbuilders of the county. He had married in Ohio in 1844 Miss Mary Cable, who passed on at the home ranch near Mills August 6, 1883. They were the par-

ents of four children: Georgiana, the subject of this in- teresting review; Sarah, Mrs. Swickard, died in Sac- tamento December 9, 1921; Mrs. Catherine Baker, died January 23, 1901; and John J., died July 23, 1886. Georgiana is the only one now living of this family. She spent her girlhood on the home ranch at Mills Station, and being fond of the great outdoors, she rode horseback, assisted in the home and attended the Kinney school. On May 1, 1873, occurred her marriage to John McDermott, the ceremony occurring in Sacramento. He was born at Manayunk, Pa., Feb- ruary 7, 1847, where he attended the public school until he volunteered his services for the Civil War, enlisting March 22, 1862, when only fifteen years of age in Com- pany A, 81st Pennsylvania Regiment, to serve for three years, but on November 28, 1862, was honorably discharged on account of physical disability. On July 11, 1864, he again enlisted, this time in Company L, 192nd Pennsylvania Regiment, for 100 days, serving as sergeant until he was mustered out in November, 1864. Soon after the close of the war he came to California and engaged in ranehing. After their mar- riage they engaged in farming one of the George Hanlon ranches, continuing at ranching until his death, on July 21, 1919. He was a member of the G. A. R., the Odd Fellows, and the Veteran Odd Fellows, having been a member of the order for forty-four years.

Mr. and Mrs. McDermott had been blessed with seven children: Mrs. Mary Schulze died August 11, 1917, leaving two children, Melvin and Elmer, both re- siding with their Grandmother McDermott; Clara is Mrs. Keogel, of Blue Canyon; James is farming in North Sacramento; Mrs. Ethel Smallholz resides in Pittsburg and has a son, Melville: Lealand, while hunting with a companion, was accidentally killed when a lad of fourteen; George H. is dead; and Mrs. Annie Lairdson lives at Mills.

Mrs. McDermott still owns her two ranches of 372 and eighteen acres, respectively, located at Mills Sta- tion, which she rents, and they are devoted to grain- raising, while she makes her home in Sacramento. She is a member of Capital City Rebekah Lodge No. 160, as well as of the Woman's Relief Corps, and the Women and Girl Workers of the Civil War. Poli- tieally she is a stanch Republican.

JEROME STARKEY .- A live-wire in the field of California transportation is Jerome Starkey, the efficient and accommodating president of the Coun- try Movers' Exchange Bureau at Sacramento. He was born in San Joaquin County, on May 6, 1883, the son of George Washington and Amanda (Law- son) Starkey, who came here in 1880 and at once engaged in farming near San Ramon. These worthy people did their full part in helping to cope with pioneer conditions and to develop the resources of the district in which they had settled. Both are still living.

Jerome Starkey attended the excellent California schools, and meanwhile made himself very useful around the home place. He also became a newsboy in the city of Sacramento, and later took up loco- motive firing for the Southern Pacific Company. which he followed faithfully for five years. His exceptional ability was early recognized, and after a thorough apprenticeship he was promoted to be

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a locomotive engineer, and followed that line of work with equal fidelity for six years.

After that Mr. Starkey took up cattle-raising, in Siskiyou County. On selling out his interests he removed to Sacramento and entered the local trans- portation field, responding to the need of the hour for more and better transfer facilities. He already had experience in this line; and possessing good powers of observation, he foresaw in it a promising field of endeavor, that must prove increasingly re- munerative with the settling and expansion of town and county. The soundness of his judgment has been demonstrated in the growth of his business; and he now keeps several trucks and men busily engaged exclusively in the transfer of household furnishings and in long-distance hauling. His vans are always ready to "go anywhere," and also ready at all hours of the day and night for special emergencies. He has a roomy, well-built and very safe storage ware- house under construction to supplement the one already in use, located at Sixth and Seventh and R and S Streets in Sacramento. The main office, from which all business is transacted, is located at 1010 Sixth Street.

In December, 1922, Mr. Starkey introduced an innovation in the means of transporting household goods by the building of special box-car vans, ade- quately padded on ends, sides and roof, and placed on trailers set low to the ground, so that they can be loaded with dispatch, without having to lift the heavy goods from curb to the high wagon bed of the usual furniture truck. These vans can be loaded either from the end or from the side, doors opening so that one van can be stopped opposite another; or, when space in the street is narrow, the van can be loaded standing with its side against the curb. These vans are transported by a Fordson tractor, an engineer or chauffeur being employed, who is always on call by telephone from the main office. Two n'en accompany cach van to load and unload as required. The van is hauled to the place where ordered and is then uncoupled, automatic couplers being used on all vehicles, and then the driver goes about other business until called to take the loaded van to the place where it is to be unloaded. Here he again uncouples and goes about other business. Since introducing these vans in Sacramento, Mr. Starkey has reduced the cost of moving goods over 30 per cent, while his increase in business amounted to over 400 per cent in the first two months of oper- ating. These vans were constructed under the per- sonal direction of Mr. Starkey, in his own warehouse, and letters of patent have been applied for on this particular style of vehicle. The cost of moving has been reduced to a science, and this reduction has been passed along to the customer in lower rates for serv- ices rendered.

Mr. Starkey's experience as a locomotive engineer has been of inestimable value to him in his mechani- cal work. He is now working on a detachable drive- shaft, making connection at drive-worm of truck and connecting with front wheels of trailer, equipped with differential mechanism the same as an ordinary motor truck, to utilize the power developed by the motor, and in this more efficient manner making a four-wheel drive unit out of the truck and trailer, thus creating economies incidental thereto, carefully worked out by the inventor. This particular piece of mechanism

seems destined to revolutionize truck transportation, and has already resulted in very considerable econo- mies.

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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, 1923, Part 71

Author: Reed, G. Walter Publication date: 1923 Publisher: Los Angeles : Historic Record Co. Number of Pages: 1026

Author: Reed, G. Walter
Publication date: 1923
Publisher: Los Angeles : Historic Record Co.
Number of Pages: 1026