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 74

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

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MRS. NANCY JANE WISE .- To the pioneer women of California much credit is due for the part they have taken in helping to develop and advance the state, and especially to those who braved the dangers of the overland trek and came here to build up a home amid primitive conditions, enduring hard- ships and doing without the pleasures and refine- ments to which they were accustomed in their East- ern honies. Among these must be mentioned Mrs. Nancy Jane Wise, who was in maidenhood Miss Phipps, born in Indiana, October 22, 1841, a daughter of George and Nancy (Hall) Phipps, both "Hoos- iers," and parents of a family of five children. In 1849 George Phipps came to California, and mined antil early in 1851, when he returned to his Eastern home to get his wife and children and bring them to the Western frontier. The same year, they began the long overland journey via the Salt Lake route. That year the Indians were very troublesome, and the train of wagons ahead of the party of which the Phipps family were members continually encoun- tered the red men; but cach train helped the other, the men of the parties joining forces to ward off the attackers. They would leave their women and chil- dren under guard in a corral made by circling their wagons, the tongue of cach wagon running under the wagon ahead, thus making a substantial barri- cade, within which the stock was also protected. Mrs. Wise was nearly captured. by the Indians on the plains. She had gone for water; and while she was filling a canteen, an Indian grabbed her by the hair. She crawled back and forth under his horse till her mother and father came; and her father choked him until he let her go.

At the end of the never-to-be-forgotten journey, the family arrived in California and located in Stock- ton, in 1851, where Mr. Phipps ran a hotel. It was George Phipps who set out the trees on the present grounds of the state hospital in that city. After two years spent in Stockton, Mr. Phipps went back East to close up some business, and there died from small- pox in New York. The wife and mother died when Mrs. Wise was twelve years old. Her dying request was that Nancy care for her youngest brother, George, only a small child then; and this she prom- ised her mother to do. In 1855 Nancy Phipps and her brother George came to Walnut Grove, on the Sacramento River; and there, besides keeping the home together, the faithful daughter carried out her trust by taking in washing and doing other house- hold work, the only kind of work to be obtained in those days, and thereby supported her brother and herself. She was only fourteen years old when they came to Walnut Grove, where she lived in the family of Mr. and Mrs. Sharp, doing the cooking and housework, which was heavy for a girl of her years, for they kept a hotel, or boarding-house. She continued there until she was fifteen years old, and then, on October 23, 1856, became the wife of Joseph \Visc.

Mr. Wise was a native of Cape Girardeau, Mo., and a son of Phillip Wise. He and his brother had come to California in 1852 and after mining for a while came to Walnut Grove where he worked at odd

jobs. After he was married, they leased land, and then bought about 300 acres near Walnut Grove. At that time it was mostly overflow land, with seem- ingly no bottom to it, and only small patches could be farmed. Mr. Wise later acquired title to this land, and it has remained the family home since that carly date, making Mrs. Wise today the oldest resi- dent on the river at Walnut Grove. The husband and father passed away on September Il, 1914. Mr. WVise was a school trustee for thirty years, and a man of sturdy character and fine principle.

Eight children, four of whom are now living, were born to Mr. and Mrs. Wise: Phillip, deceased, Lou- isa, deceased; Cordi, now Mrs. Henry McDonnell, of Healdsburg; Joseph, William, and Jesse; and Docia and David, both deceased. Two of the sons, Joseph and Jesse, reside at Walnut Grove near their mother; and William operates a large tract on Tyler Island, but makes his home in the bay region. Of the original acreage left by the father, Mrs. Wise retains sixty-four acres for herself, and the balance of the estate has been divided among her children. On June 1, 1922, Mrs. Wise's residence burned down. It was rebuilt at once by this stanch representative of pioneer days, and she now resides in her new home.

Mrs. Wise has long been interested in reclamation work. She early realized that large, substantial and permanent levees are the only effective safeguard from damage by the yearly breaks in the levees. So she was one of the first to urge the forming of a district, so that the work could be carried out in a permanent and effectual manner. The results have proven the success of the project, and now she has a portion of her ranch set to pears, peaches, apricots, cherries and apples, while the balance is devoted to grain and vegetables.

In the early days of Walnut Grove, there was no physician nearer than Sacramento. Mrs. Wise is naturally very sympathetic, and a good nurse; and whenever people were sick they would send for "Aunt Jane," who always responded cheerfully, going into their homes and nursing them, using the simple remedies she had always found so effectual. In those days, trips were made by foot or by rowboat, or in a lumber-wagon, as there were no automobiles and very few roads. Mrs. Wise is familiarly called Aunt Jane by everyone. She is loved and. esteemed by everybody for her many acts of kindness, and her deeds of charity towards all, whether rich or poor, regardless of color or creed. She is deeply religious, and an earnest Christian. In the early days she held Sunday school in her home. She joined the Methodist Episcopal Church about thirty-five years ago. Since then she has been a consistent member and earnest worker in the church, and regrets very much that she did not see the truth years before. Her health has been restored through her faith, and she is happy in the truth and wants everyone to know and follow the Lord. While she endured much pri- vation and many hardships in the early days, yet now she feels rewarded and is better off for having served and sacrificed.

JOSEPH LINCOLN WISE .- A representative of an old-time family, and himself a native son proud of his association with the Golden State, is Joseph Lincoln Wise, the son of Joseph and Nancy (Phipps) Wise, pioneers of California and among the worthy

Joseph Vise

Nanny Jone Wise

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HISTORY OF SACRAMENTO COUNTY

families of Sacramento County. The parents are . represented more fully elsewhere in this history.

Joseph L. Wise was born at Walnut Grove October 5, 1863, and received a good education in the public school at Walnut Grove, finishing with a business course at Atkinson's Business College in Sacramento. Since reaching maturity, his activities have all been centered in Sacramento County. For a number of years he had a butcher business in Perkins. Return- ing to Walnut Grove, he became one of the success- ful ranchers of the district, the owner of a 100-acre property, which he has brought to a high state of productiveness and manages in a thorough and busi- ness-like manner. For many years he has been a trustee of Reclamation District No. 554, at Walnut Grove. The levees in the district give ample protec- tion and are in splendid shape, and the district is out of debt with the exception of money spent for this last year's improvements. Mr. Wise has also been trustee of Walnut Grove school district for sixteen years, and is clerk of the board. In addition to his business interests, he has found time to enter into the fraternal and social life of his community, and for the past eighteen years has been a member of Florin Lodge, No. 364, I. O. O. F.

On December 5, 1895, at Walnut Grove, occurred the marriage of Joseph L. Wise to Miss Winnie Mahala de Jarnett, born at Sedalia, Mo., a daughter of Mayo and Marietta (Hill) de Jarnett, farmer-folk of Missouri, where their deaths occurred. The seventh in a family of fifteen children born to her parents, Winnie de Jarnett received her education in her native state, and in 1894 she came to California alone. Three children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Wise: Joseph Eugene, who died at the age of two years; Laura Louise, deceased at eight years; and Albert Mayo, who is assisting his father on the home ranch. Mr. Wise is a very energetic man; and being deeply interested in the developmnt and growth of his section of the county, he has always demon- strated his willingness to give of his time and means, as far as he is able, towards the improvement and upbuilding of his community.

CAROLINE M. TOTMAN .- An excellent ex- ample of the successful woman in the field of agri- culture is afforded by Caroline M. Totman, who owns some 236 choice acres of land on Sherman Island. She was born at Oskaloosa, Iowa, the daughter of Fred and Caroline (Burmeister) Ehlers, the former a cabinet-maker and a native of Germany, who came to the United States when a young man and lived for a while at Cincinnati, Ohio. He moved on to Oska- loosa in pioneer days, when it was necessary to live in a log cabin; and after laboring hard to help open up the country, having accomplished much of real benefit to future generations, he passed away, when our subject was only three years old. His good wife lived to be fifty-three years of age, and at her death was mourned by all who knew her, and had found in her a woman worthy of her day and generation. There were four children in the family. Louisa be- came Mrs. William L. Atchinson, of Seattle; Amelia is deceased; Matilda, Mrs. A. A. Bailey, lives in Port- land; while the youngest is now Caroline Totman.

Our subject attended the Oskaloosa grammar and high schools, passed the teacher's examination, re- ceived a county certificate, and taught school for a

short time before her marriage. She became the wife of William Totman at Oskaloosa, on April 13, 1891. William Totman was born near Oskaloosa. His par- ents were Simon and Christina (Oldham) Totman, the latter a native of England. By 1886, about the time of the great boom in realty in southern Cali- fornia, he had come to California. He settled on the West Side of San Joaquin Valley, near Crow's Landing, in Stanislaus County, and there farmed; and on returning East, he married, and brought his bride out to California. They settled at Crow's Landing, and for three years farmed 1,000 acres to grain. They then moved to Sherman Island, and bought 100 acres, to which he added until he had 236 acres devoted to beans and grain. About twenty years ago, Mr. Totman built a comfortable and attractive dwelling upon the ranch, which Mrs. Totman soon made ready for a cosy home. Here they lived and worked together, and here their fam- ily was reared; but during the scourge of influenza, Mr. Totman was stricken down, and breathed his last in 1918. He was a member of the Masonic Lodge, at Rio Vista. In politics he was a Republican.

Since Mr. Totman's lamented death, Mrs. Totman, with the assistance of her son, has managed the rancho, and recently is putting the land into aspara- gus, beets and alfalfa. In midsummer, the ranch is irrigated by means of a siphon. Mrs. Totman has two children. Clifford, a lad when his father died, took over the practical part of the running of the ranch in his youth, and continued to make a success of the enterprise. Mildred is teaching school at Rio Vista. Mrs. Totman is a member of the board of trustees of the Sherman Island school district. She is a member of the Eastern Star at Rio Vista, as is also her daughter, while her son is a Mason.

SAVERIO VICARI .- Sacramento has always been fortunate in the number of talented men and women she has attracted to her intellectual and social life, as the capital of California, and among those who have undoubtedly made their mark here, and been consequently most cordially welcomed, is the Italian- American instructor in music, Professor Saverio Vicari, who was born under sunny skies beyond the seas in 1878, when he entered the comfortable family circle of George and Josephina Vicari, substantial Italians who were ambitious of the future of their son. Mrs. Vicari has gone to her eternal reward, leaving a record for many kindnesses to other mortals; while our subject's father is still living, in Italy, at the age of seventy-eight, enjoying the esteem of all who know him.

Saverio Vicari completed all the work required of him by the excellent Italian schools and then, in 1900, when well-advanced in his studies in many ways, he crossed the ocean already traveled to the New World by so many of his fellow-countrymen, and reached the American metropolis, where he found that the Italian musician had ever been honored. He had previously studied music for years in Italy, and for three years had played in an Italian military band; and he had mastered the accordion, the clari- net, the guitar, and the mandolin, and he is now play- ing in the Union Band of Sacramento, and he is also imparting instruction in the above-named instruments. He first located, on reaching the Coast, at Los An-

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geles, where he remained for five years; and then, in 1907, he came to Sacramento. Since his advent here, it has been his good fortune to have some bril- liant and very gifted pupils to play the accordion; he taught Marie La Barba and Ed Pierrini, and they now play with great success on the stage. Not only that, but Professor Vicari has taught large classes as well. He also directs the Vicari Orchestra, that is a great favorite at dances in the city parks and other public places.

In 1899, Professor Vicari and Miss Madalena Riolo, who used to attend the same school in Italy with our subject, were married, the ceremony taking place in Italy; and the ensuing family of four gifted children, George, Josephina, Victor and Paul, make up a Vicari family orchestra. The professor, despite his many professional engagements, is decidedly a home man; yet he is fond of touring by auto, and of out-of-door life. In politics, he follows no party lead, but thinks and votes for himself.

HOWARD N. MITCHELL .- A distinguished representative of the legal profession in Sacramento is the Hon. Howard N. Mitchell, the accomplished, conscientious and courageous former prosecuting attorney of the city. He was born in the state of Maine the day after Christmas in the year 1881, and his parents are Charles and Martha (Dunn) Mitchell, who migrated to Oregon, where they are now living. They were sturdy folks, just the right people, as pioneers, to help found and develop a common- wealth; and to them, as to others who toiled with them, much credit is dne for what succeeding set- tlers have come to inherit and enjoy.

Howard Mitchell had both high-school and gram- mar-school advantages, and when he was ready to take the Bar examinations, he was exceptionally well equipped for the ordeal. He was admitted at Sac- ramento in 1913 to practice law in California, and this power was conferred upon him two years after he had settled in the city. Prior to coming to Cali- fornia, he had resided in Oregon from 1898 to 1908, and while there he made many friends and consider- ably enlarged his knowledge of human nature. He served in the state militia in Oregon, and after com- ing south to the Golden State, he entered the ranks of the state militia of California.

In October, 1919, Mr. Mitchell was appointed to public office, that of prosecuting attorney for the city of Sacramento; and those who have since followed his career and record, will agree that no better choice as an incumbent for this office could have been made. His knowledge of the law, and also of conditions in California, together with his paramount desire to do the right thing by both the individual and society, contributed to his success in discharging the onerous duties imposed upon him satisfactorily to everybody. He favors, as a rule, the platform of the Repubilcan party; but he is too much of a patriot to allow any narrow partisanship to interfere with his exerting a wide and helpful influence. He is always public-spirited, and is every- where respected. Mr. Mitchell was city prosecuting attorney for the city of Sacramento from 1919 to 1921. After the completion of his term of office he opened up offices at 608 Bryte Building, where he follows a general practice.

At Sacramento, in 1915, Mr. Mitchell and Laura Baile were united in marriage. Mr. Mitchell has one

son, Ferd C. Mitchell, a child by a former union. Our subject belongs to the Knights of Pythias, the . Red Men, the F. O. A., and the I. O. O. F .; and in the circles of all of these orders he enjoys an envia- ble popularity.

GEORGE PHIPPS .- A man well-known and re- spected, George Phipps has long been effectively in- terested in the civic improvement of his community. He was born on April 27, 1853, in Stockton, Cal., the son of George and Nancy Phipps. During his infancy, his mother passed away, leaving him in the loving care of his elder sister, now Mrs. Nancy Jane Wise. In 1855 Nancy Jane Phipps moved to Walnut Grove, bringing her brother, then a mere child, with her. Here he spent twenty-one years.

Since then, Mr. Phipps has been engaged in a great many trades. He ran a hay press for seven years, and for two years of this time worked for the Stockton Paper Mills. For nine years he was employed as caretaker of Dr. Locke's orchard at Lockeford. Becoming interested in agriculture, for a time he contracted for plowing and cultivating. In 1900 he was employed as tender of the bridge over Georgiana Slough at Walnut Grove.

On October 17, 1875, in Lockeford, Cal., Mr. Phipps was united in marriage to Eliza Jane Wilson, daugh- ter of John and Elizabeth (Sherman) Wilson. Mrs. Phipps was born at Lockeford, on the John Wilson Ranch, just north of the Mokelumne River bridge north of Lockeford. Her parents were natives of Ohio. In 1857 John Wilson and his wife made their way by ox team, via the Salt Lake route, to Lockeford, about one and one-half miles north of the city. There Mr. Wilson acquired 300 acres of grain-land. He passed away at the age of sixty-four years. Mrs. Wil- son is still living at the age of eighty-two years. Eliza Jane was one of six children born in this happy home, the others being Mary, John, Josie, Samuel and Hester. George and Eliza Jane Phipps were blessed with a family of fifteen children, ten of whom are living. The two eldest, Corda and Lois, have both passed away. Then come Nettie, Mrs. Sprague, of San Francisco; Nellie, Mrs. Fallman, of Walnut Grove; Reuben and George, both deceased; Mary, Mrs. Perry, of Isleton; Elsie, deceased; Hester, Mrs. Crowell, of Oroville; Charles, in San Francisco; Mabel, Mrs. Bullock, of Lodi; Alma, Mrs. Conelson, of Sacramento; Irene, Mrs. Wickham, of Walnut Grove; Lorene, Mrs. Kammeyer, also of Walnut Grove; and David, who is bookkeeper in the Bank of Alexander Brown, in the same place. There are thirteen grandchildren in the family circle.

Mr. and Mrs. George Phipps are stanch Republi- cans. They are active members of the Methodist Episcopal Church and contribute generously to its benevolences. Mr. Phipps is a very interesting char- acter. He is a great reader and has been a close student of life. He has well-defined ideas on current affairs, has at his command a fund of general infor- mation, and is an interesting talker. It was but nat- ural, therefore, when Jack London spent several weeks at Walnut Grove in the "Snark," which lay anchored there, that he and George Phipps should become great friends. During the time of their acquaintance and friendly association, Jack London found in Mr. Phipps a personality so interesting, straightforward, and honest that he used him as a character in several of his short stories and also in

George W Philips Eliza Wilson Phipps.

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HISTORY OF SACRAMENTO COUNTY

his novel, "The Valley of the Moon." Mr. London prized Mr. Phipps' friendship, showing his apprecia- tion in many ways. Among other things, Mr. Lon- don presented Mr. Phipps with the manuscript of "The Valley of the Moon"; and as soon as the novel "John Barleycorn" was off the press, he gave him one of the first copies, which he autographed, includ- ing his best wishes. Mr. Phipps and his family greatly prize these tokens of regard from the cele- brated author.

JOHN JOSEPH SMITH .- Prominent among the best-known public officials in northern California, fa- mous alike for his wide experience, his developed efficiency, and the attributes of his character which have made him of real and lasting service to unfor- tunate humanity, is John Joseph Smith, the popu- lar warden at the Folsom State Prison, in Represa, twenty-seven and a quarter miles east of Sacra- mento, and a mile and one-half above Folsom, on the famous American River. He was born on July 27, 1868, on his father's ranch near Hangtown Crossing, on the American River, one and one-half miles from the present site of Mills Station, in Sacramento County. His father was Martin Leonard Smith, a native of Michigan, where he was born on May 13, 1826, near the state line and a few miles from Elk . hart, Ind., where he was also reared and served an apprenticeship at the shoemaker's trade, beginning with his seventeenth year. In the early fifties, Mar- tin Leonard Smith, as one of a party of friends, crossed the great plains with ox-teams, and arrived at Hangtown, now Placerville, in the spring of 1853, eager to try his luck as a gold-seeker. He engaged in placer mining, and it is known that he made and lost three fortunes as a prospector; Dame Fortune smiled on him thrice, but he was eager to realize more, and accordingly reinvested in mines and claims, and invariably lost each time. His richest returns were realized in Teachers' Diggins, in Eldorado County.

Early in 1860, he bought a ranch of 240 acres, for which he paid the remarkable price of seven dollars per acre, and embarked in farming; but he was at first compelled to clear the land, as it was heavily wooded. With what he received by the sale of the wood, he just about paid for the expense of clearing the land. He married Miss Sarah Jane Flanagan, a native of Ireland, who had left her native shores of Erin as a girl of fourteen, taking passage on a small sailing vessel, upon which she was buffeted about for three months in a passage to San Francisco by way of Cape Horn. She was a most attractive woman of lovely character, and her death, when our subject was only thirteen years old, came as a severe shock to both her devoted husband and her dependent nine children, among whom John Joseph was the third eldest son and the sixth child.

John Joseph Smith attended the Kinney district school, where his father had served for years as a trustee, and at the age of fifteen took up farming on the home place, assisting his father and remaining with him at home until he was twenty-one years old. By that time, however, he had grown to dis- like agricultural pursuits, which was largely due to the poor returns, even when there was a market for the produce, for the farmer's prospect in those days was dark. When he became of age, therefore, John decided to leave home and the farm, for almost any-

thing else he was able to try; and on August 15. 1889, he entered the employ of the Folsom State Prison as a guard, at first doing night duty on the inside, and for the following ten years the story of his life would be the interesting record of a young man trying his level best to make good, for it is worth remembering that he was the youngest guard, at the time of his appointment, in any state prison in California, and he was looked upon by the older guards as a young man over-zealous. It was during the administration of Warden Charles Aull that he was given duty as a substitute officer shortly before he made formal application for a transfer, in 1899, to San Quentin; after entering that institution as a guard, he soon made rapid advancement in promo- tion. First, he became a policeman in the jute mill, then chief of the first guards, and then captain of guards at San Quentin.

In 1909, he was transferred to Folsom Prison as lieutenant of yards, and also property clerk, and a year later he entered upon his duties as captain of guards. On November 15, 1913, he was appointed by the California State Prison Board to the office of Warden at Folsom Prison, and by his efficient ad- ministration have been made possible much prison re- form and other incidental improvements which, it may be safe to say, have been without precedent in any state institution of the kind. Without excessive expenditure of funds, Warden Smith has added many new departments, all of which were badly needed at Folsom, where the total absence of prison factories has made the problem of prison employment diffi- cult to solve; but by introducing agriculture in its various forms-horticulture, dairying, animal hus- bandry, poultry- and hog-raising-and persistently and wisely developing these features, he has induced the state recently to add some 800 acres of wooded hillside lands adjoining, and this area is in line for further development into orchards, vineyards, hay- felds and dairies. All the work is done by convict labor under the direction of guards, who are well qualified in the specific branches represented on the farm. The produce thus harvested, while not entirely supplying the commissary at Represa, is gradually rendering the prison self-supporting and already the inmates supply by their labor all the milk, cream and butter used by them.

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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 74

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