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 76

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

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tor and an eight-inch pump. On the death of Josiah B. Greenc, George and his brother Lester received . the estate that was undivided at that time; and George Greene still has 380 acres of the place his father owned in Yolo County. In 1893, the flood wiped out the orchard, and it has been only recently that George Greene, assisted by his younger son, has again planted it to fruit. At present they have set out 7,000 fruit trees there, and have installed three irrigation plants with eight-inch and two six-inch pumps driven by a twenty-five-horse-power electric motor, one fourteen- horse-power electric motor, and a gas engine. Mr. Greene has also built another home on the place for his son. He has served for years as a trustee of the Courtland school district. At present he is a trustee of Reclamation District No. 755, and for twenty odd years he was trustee of Reclamation District No. 150, of Yolo County.

On January 1, 1875, Mr. Greene was married at Petaluma to Miss Alice Maria Stanley, who was born there ou January 15, 1857, a daughter of Harvey and Harrict Amelia (Hogland) Stanley. Her father was a native of Pontiac, Mich., while the mother came from Allegany County, N. Y. The father was a stone-mason in Michigan, and was married while in the East. In 1853, Mr. and Mrs. Stanley migrated to California, coming out with ox teams, horses, mules and stock along the old Salt Lake route, and settled in Sonoma County, where the father became a dairy- man. There were seven children in the family, Alice Maria being the fifth in the order of birth. Harriet, the eldest, became Mrs. James Rogers, and is de- ceased, as is also George, who died in infancy, and Katherine, who married N. E. Manning; Martha C. is Mrs. Homer Judson, and lives at `Long Beach; Walter resides at Petaluma; Alice Maria is now Mrs. Greene; and Emma E. is Mrs. J. L. Aldrich, of Ryde, Cal. When Mrs. Greene was six years old, her father died. With the proceeds of the sale of the stock he had left, the mother bought a farm, four miles east of Petaluma, where she lived the balance of her days, breathing her last in her seventy-eighth year. She was married a second time, to Emmett Smith, a na- tive of Bloomfield, Cal, and had one son by her sec- ond marriage, namely, Ernest Smith, now of Pendle- ton, Ore. Mrs. Greene was reared and educated at Petaluma. In the fall of 1876, Mr. Greene built a home on the farm of 114 acres on Randall Island, in Sacramento County, and there he has since resided with his wife and family. They have two sons; George Albert Greene, in the real estate business in Sacramento; and Arthur Edison Greene, on the 380- acre ranch in Yolo County. Two grandchildren add joy to the family life at the Green homestead. Arthur married Miss Maude Geneva Hollman, and they have two children: Alice Lenore and Lois Geneva. Both George Albert Greene and Arthur Edi- son Greene are members of the Franklin Lodge of Masons, at Courtland.

LESTER DOWNING GREENE .- Students of genealogy all know that for generations certain family characteristics persist in certain lines to a marked de- gree, sometimes skipping a few generations, only to return with renewed vigor in later ones. That family of Greenes living on the Sacramento River since 1849 near Courtland and Vorden, of which George Buck- man Greene and the late Lester Downing Greene (sometime known as Greene Brothers) are members, is an interesting example of the above-mentioned fact.

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HISTORY OF SACRAMENTO COUNTY

The ancestry of this family stretches back through the vista of centuries to a Norman source; and in all the changes of time, place, and environment, they dis- play two marked characteristics (varied, of course, with less notable traits), namely, the pioneering in- stinct-the love of searching out new fields and con- quering in the hard places of the earth-and a passion for agriculture.

As all historians know, the Normans were of Scan- dinavian origin. Before 500 A. D., a band of pioneer- ing and pirating Scandinavians wandered southward from the land of Scandinavia, conquered the Celtic in- habitants of the north of France and settled the fertile and pleasant fields, where they built up a great and hardy nation and became known as Normans, and their land as Normandy-a people, in those times, al- ways to be reckoned with.

A few hundred years later the most enterprising of these people, with their great king, William the Con- queror (who, it is interesting to note, is numbered with the ancestors of this very family of Greene under discussion), feeling the ever present urge of pioneer- ing, crossed the English Channel and conquered the Saxon race of England, mingled with them, and formed the great English nation of later days. When King John (descendant by several generations of Wil- liam) was ruling in England, there was a certain noble among the members of his court, by name, Alexander, whose ancestor came from Normandy with William. Late revelations of genealogy tell us that this Alexander traced his ancestry to Hugh Capet of France, and Gibbon says that Hugh Capet came of the proudest and most ancient royal family in ex- istence-of lines which trace their lineage to four or five hundred years B. C. Although the records are to be found for those who care to read, we know that such old pedigrees, of necessity, belong in the realm of legend rather than that of history.

However that may be, the person and life of Alex- ander are matters of history, and he must have ren- dered his king valuable service, for John bestowed upon him the largest landed estate in all England, the Estates de Greene de Boketon, and he and his heirs were for centuries among the greatest titled men of England. The literal translation from the old Norman of de Greene de Boketon is thus: de. "of"; Greene, "Park"; de, "of"; Boketon, "Bucks" or "Deer"-the "Estates of the Park of the Bucks," so called because of the enormous forests on this property, abounding in deer. So the new owner became Alexander de Greene de Boketon; but because this name was too long for practical use, the "de Boketon" was soon dropped and the descendants were styled "de Greene." Several generations later, when England went to war with France, the Greenes, who had intermarried with the descendants of the Angles and Saxons whom their forebears conquered, felt that the "de" was much too French and it was dropped. Thus they became plain "Greene," and so they are until this day, with numer- ous representatives in both England and America; but the spirit of the old Norman ancestors persists and crops out here and there through the generations.

The ancient coat of arms of Alexander (one of the oldest in English heraldry) is three bucks trippant or on an azure field. The title persisted in the family until just before the time of Henry VIII. Lady Katherine Parr, the last and most unwilling wife of that much-married monarch, and the only wife clever enough to escape the consequences of his fickle and roving fancies, was a granddaughter of the last Lord

Greene. Alexander had numerous descendants, and the race has figured largely in the annals of English history, not only as titled people, but as landed gentry.

The progenitor of this branch of the English Greenes in America was Thomas Greene, Sr., of Mal- den, Mass. He is first heard of at Malden about 1650, but it is known that he came over from England many years previous to that date, probably about 1638. Glimpses are caught of him, and then lost, in various New England towns; but the exact location of his first residence is not yet determined. Although it is known that he belonged to the ancient Greene family whose history is recorded above, still, because like many Puritans he carefully severed all connections with the mother country and apparently tried to wipe out all clues to his birth and ancestry, neither the place of his birth nor the direct line of his descent from Alexander the First is now known. It is to be hoped that family genealogists at present at work upon this problem will meet with success in their quest for more illuminating data.

In the inventory of Thomas Greene is mentioned a "cosleat compleat," which means a complete suit of armor-a significant term, as such articles belonged only to the gentry. His sons were members and offi- cers of the "Three County Troop," an especially dis- tingushed company of cavalry. Thomas Greene was a farmer, and so far as is known nearly all his sons and grandsons were engaged in the same occupation. With the fourth generation in America commenced a diversity of livelihood. A large proportion of his de- scendants have been physicians or apothecaries.

Thomas Greene, Sr., had a farm of sixty-three acres in the north part of Malden, now Melrose. Up to 1858 a part of this farm remained in the pos- session of his descendants and may quite possibly be in their possession to this day. His first wife's name was Elizabeth, and after her death he married Frances Cook, a widow with several children. Two of her daughters-Sarah and Elizabeth Wheeler- married John and William Green respectively, sons of Thomas by his first wife.

The name was spelled "Greene" by Thomas, Sr., but after his death the final "e" was dropped; and it was not resumed until about 1850, when it was added by certain branches of the family-among them the branch to which the line under discussion belongs. There are therefore descendants of Thomas, Sr., who spell the name with the "e" as he spelled it; and there are others who spell it without, as his sons and grand- sons spelled it. Of his ten children this line is de- scended from two sons, Henry on the male line and William on the female line.

Lieutenant Henry Green married, January 1671, Esther Hazzey, whose father, William Hazzey, was also an officer in the "Three County Troop." Henry was selectman in Malden for thirteen years and seems to have been a prominent man, just as his father and brothers were. He was a farmer, and leaves consid- erable property by will to his family. He had seven children, of whom:

Deacon Joseph Green married Hannah Green in 1700. He was a deacon, and a selectman for six years. He leaves property by will to five sons and two daughters, of whom:

Josiah Green the First was born in 1709 and died in 1774. In 1734 he married Esther Thompson, a direct descendant of Edward Converse or Conyers, son of Christopher, Baron Conyers. The family of

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HISTORY OF SACRAMENTO COUNTY

Conyers is one of the oldest in England, dating its history to the close of the Conquest, when Roger de Coigniers came from Normandy and settled in Eng- land. On a female line it traces its ancestry to John of Gaunt, younger son of Edward III of England. Soon after his marriage Josiah settled in Stoneham, where he was constable and selectman for several years. He left two sons, Stephen and Josiah.

Captain Josiah Green the Second was born in 1735 and married, first, Elizabeth Green. She was de- scended from the fifth son of Thomas Greene-Wil- liam-who married his stepsister, Elizabeth Wheeler. Having borne her husband eight children, Elizabeth died; and Josiah married, second, Sarah Skinner, by whom he had eight more children. This line is de- scended from Josiah, the son of his first wife.

Captain Josiah Green the Third was born in 1768 and married Susanna Buckman. He was an active and enterprising man and a farmer. The pioneering instinct reappeared in him, for he removed from Stoneham to Salisbury, N. H., in 1800. There he went into business, the firm being known as Smith, Green & Co., Merchants. This was the . second store at Salisbury Center and stood a little to the northwest of Hutchinson's house. In 1808 he sold out his share to Perkins. Soon after his removal there he became connected with the Baptist Church, and through life he was one of its most prominent and useful mem- bers. His son Josiah Green the Fourth carries on the line.

Josiah Green the Fourth was born in 1790. In 1817 he married Clarissa Sweetser, daughter of Paul Sweetser and Elizabeth (Smith) Sweetser, prominent residents of South Reading. Like his father, he too conducted a store, and also engaged in the occupation of travelling clock-mender. In those days clocks re- quired constant attention to keep them running and the facilities for getting them to a jeweler were limited. Consequently the travelling clock-mender was an essential person and enjoyed a lucrative in- come. Josiah Green, who was exceptionally expert, made an excellent income at this business. During his minority he learned the builder's trade and built some of the largest houses in Salisbury, one of which he occupied over a period of several years. Like his father, he was connected with the Baptist Church and shouldered many of its debts, and gave much to chari- table purposes. He had four sons and one daughter, Elizabeth.

Josiah Buckman Greene the Fifth, eldest son of the above (we here change the spelling as it was spelled by himself), was born September 10, 1818, in Salisbury, N. H. He married Miss Caroline Beal, daughter of Thomas and Abigail Beal, and grand- daughter of the Reverend Otis Robinson, a prominent New England divine. It is interesting to note that the family of Beal shows a marked gift for mechanical invention, Thomas Beal being considered somewhat of a genius in the line. This gift was transmitted to George Buckman Greene and also to the son of Lester Greene, and in fact all the men of the family in the present generation display it to a greater or less degree. No further sketch of the life of Josiah Greene the Fifth is given here, as a complete sketch of his life and activities will be found incorporated in the life-sketch of his son, George Buckman Greene, elsewhere in this book. Josiah Greene the Fifth had by his wife Caroline (Beal) Greene four sons, but two of whom lived to maturity.

Lester Downing Greene was born on the Merritt Island property of his father, Josiah Buckman Greene, in 1854. During his childhood he attended the dis- trict school at Richland, and later McClure's Military Academy in Oakland. From his early youth he re- ceived excellent training in ranch work; for the sons of California pioneers had to work, regardless of the amount of property owned by their parents. After he had finished his schooling, his first efforts for himself were made in hunting ducks. He was a crack shot; and for several winters, with two partners, he rented the lakes on Merritt Island (now converted into fer- tile fields) and shot ducks, which they shipped to the San Francisco markets, one winter shipping as many as 27.000 among them. The species were mallard, teal and sprig, and the industry netted a nice profit, with which at the end of several years Lester went south ten miles on the river and purchased from Willard Hazen, who had emigrated to California with his father many years before, the ranch later known as the L. D. Greene Ranch.

At that time Pierson District was not reclaimed and the ranch had but a few trees on it. It required the same self-sacrificing years of patient labor that his father had expended on Merritt Island to put it into the fruit trees which later yielded so excellent an income.

In all farming circles Lester D. Greene was a well- known and highly respected member, never shirking any public duty upon which he was called to attend. Like his father and brother, he was prominent in reclamation work and was for the greater part of his life a trustee of the Pierson District. In this capacity he was greatly trusted by the people of the district, for whose interests he worked with an unremitting and unselfish zeal, proving himself a most bitter and determined opponent of those who might attempt to circumvent the interests of the property-holders of the district. His death in 1917 was a serious and lamented loss to those old friends in whose behalf he had spent so many earnest and successful efforts. Like his brother and father, he was ever called upon to lead and to do public work: and he ever responded, as they did, with cheerful unselfishness to the heavy respon- sibility it entailed. About 1890, with his brother George, Lester Greene borrowed the necessary money and purchased the first dredger ever worked in that region on the Sacramento River, and one of the first dredgers to be operated in California. George Greene personally ran this dredger, at different times doing each kind of work to be done upon it; and Lester lent him his cooperation in every manner possible. The brothers had a hard fight, for there were many op- posed to the innovation, which they believed to be impractical. How Greene Brothers finally demon- strated the worth of their project is a long story, of itself.

It is well-nigh impossible to tell the story of the life of one of these brothers without telling the life of the other, so closely were they associated and so harmonious was their relation, characterized, as it was, with brotherly affection and loyalty, traits pecu- liar to the family. Unlike George Greene, Lester Greene was not so much a mechanic as he was a most capable stockman and expert horseman. When their father Josiah Greene died, Lester inherited the 750 acres of dairy land in the Pierson District upon which until 1905 he operated a dairy. In that year he sold the place to John Herzog, whose heirs still own and run it. Lester Greene also acquired 320 acres of graz-

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HISTORY OF SACRAMENTO COUNTY

ing-land near Franklin, and in partnership with his brother purchased 1,000 acres of mountain range. To- gether they ran beef cattle, dividing the year of feed- ing between the Franklin Ranch, the mountain range, and the Merritt Island property. Lester Greene at- tended to the cattle himself, always going with them on the route from one ranch to the other. He also owned and personally trained many fine and blooded horses. His operations in both fields met with suc- cess, and he reaped an excellent income from the cattle business. The Merritt Island property was left to the brothers as an undivided interest, and as such they ran it until after 1910 under the name of Greene Brothers. These business transactions were marked, as were all their relations, by the same amiability and consideration for each other. Later they divided this property, Lester receiving the lower front and George the upper. The original Josiah Greene home is now the property of Fred E. Greene, only son of Lester Greene.

In the high water of 1907, Lester D. Greene suf- fered severe loss by reason of the inundation of Pier- son District, which practically wiped out all of his fruit trees. With that same hardy fortitude which characterizes his race through generations, though a man now well-advanced in years and worn with the strenuous efforts of his life, he set about to replant the land and by the time of his death in 1917 the ranch was again in good bearing condition.

Lester Downing Greene married, first, in 1878, Mary Nicholson McDonnell, daughter of William McDon- nell and Eleanor (Graves) McDonnell of Sonoma County. Eleanor Graves, at the age of twelve, had been a member of the famous Donner Party, most of whom starved to death at Donner Lake in early days. She was one of the few to escape. Both her parents and several brothers and sisters perished. Lester Greene had, by his wife, Mary N. Greene, two daugh- ters: Eva Eleanor, now Mrs. Joseph Berry of Berke- ley, and the mother of Lester, Eleanor and Lida Berry; and Lillus Ann, now Mrs. P. E. Kelley of Calistoga, and the mother of Phillus Ann Kelley. He had also one son, Fred Elmer Greene, who married Bessie Byrd Humphrey, daughter of A. B. Humphrey of Sacramento and Stockton, by whom he has three daughters: Mary Elizabeth, Phoebe Byrd, and Doris Isabelle.

Fred Elmer Greene does not inherit the agricul- tural instinct of his forebears, but he does inherit the marked gift for mechanical invention of the Beal fam- ily, which, combined with the pioneering instinct of the Greenes, has resulted in the invention by him of certain new and successful types of road machinery which at the present writing promise to have a ma- terial effect upon the industry of road-building. Like his father, uncle and grandfather, he is a vigorous and stanch advocate of an honest deal to the people; and while he is still a young man, he is already known to those who do not favor this policy.

Mrs. Mary N. Greene died in 1908, and lies in East Lawn Cemetery in Sacramento. She left life when it looked especially fair, when her children were grown and the ripe years of enjoyment of their early efforts lay just ahead.

Lester D. Greene married, second, Mrs. Helen Newell of Oregon, who was the daughter of James W. Collins and his wife, Martha Ann (Stowe) Collins, natives of Missouri and Illinois, respectively, and members of pioneer families in those states. Mr. Collins owned half a section of land in Oregon, which

he improved and farmed for many years. He died at the age of sixty-three, a lamented member of the community in which he had lived. Mrs. Collins had died at the age of forty-six, leaving a large family of children, of whom Helen was the eighth. She re- ceived her education in Oregon, at Jacksonville. She had two children by her first marriage: Irene, now Mrs. Russell McMullen of Sacramento, and the mother of a son, Russell Melvin McMullen; and Mel- vin Newell, who makes his home on the ranch near Walnut Grove, with his mother. The father of Mrs. McMullen and Melvin Newell was a son of Major Cicero Newell, a soldier in the Western Army dur- ing the Civil War and a widely known and highly respected man. He spent his last days at Portland, Oregon, dying at the advanced age of eighty-one years.

Lester Downing Greene died in Sacramento, Febru- ary 5, 1917. at the age of sixty-three years, and lies in East Lawn Cemetery in a plot which also contains the other deceased members of his family.

After the death of her husband, Mrs. Helen Greene, now Mrs. Bernay, continued the operation of the ranch herself, and has proved herself a capable farmer and a most able business woman. Her home is one of the beautiful residences along the banks of the Sacramento River, the ranch consisting of 135 acres of the original L. D. Greene place.

ANTHONY BYRD HUMPHREY .- The march of improvement and progress is accelerated day by day and each successive moment seems to demand a man of broader intelligence and keener discernment than the preceding. The successful men must be live men in this day, active, strong to plan and perform and with a recognition of opportunity that enables them to grasp and utilize the possibilities of the moment. Among the most progressive and success- ful horticultural and agricultural representatives in San Joaquin and Sacramento Counties, is Anthony Byrd Humphrey, who has contributed to the advance- ment and prosperity of these localities in a most sub- stantial manner. His ancestry dates back to England, and the first in this line in America was Michael Humphrey, a son of Samuel and Susannah Humphrey, of Lyme-Regis, England. The first record of Michael in America, is found in ancient Windsor, Conn., where he was engaged in the manufacture of tar and turpen- tine, at that time an important industry. He also en- gaged in a merchandise business to a considerable extent, his goods being shipped to him from St. Malo by his brother Samuel. He married Priscilla, the daughter of Matthew Grant, an ancestor of Ulysses Grant, and at that time an important and leading citi- zen of the town of Windsor. The Grants were of Scotch descent. Michael Humphrey was deputy to the General Court of Connecticut in 1670. He died about 1690 leaving a large family of children, among whom was a, son Samuel.

Samuel Humphrey was born May 15, 1656, in Windsor, Conn., and married Mary, the daughter of Simon and Mary (Buel) Mills, who was born Deceni- ber 8, 1662, probably in Windsor, Conn. Lieut. Samuel Humphrey removed from Windsor to Sims- bury, Conn., with his father about 1669 and became an influential citizen there. The hardships attendant upon the settlement of Simsbury were very great on account of depredations of the Indians and although the family were once forced to flee back to Windsor when the town was completely destroyed, they re- turned the following year and remained. Samuel

Mary E. Humphrey

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HISTORY OF SACRAMENTO COUNTY

Humphrey held many grants of land and many offices of responsibility. His commission signed by Gover- nor Saltonstall is still in the possession of one of his descendants. Besides his grants of land he inherited several tracts from his father and purchased others. He died at Simsbury, June, 1736, leaving eight child- ren. His son Samuel is the ancestor in this line.

Samuel Humphrey, the second, was born May 17, 1686. He was married four times and had nineteen children. His wife, Lydia North, daughter of Nathan- iel North, of Farmington, Conn., was the mother of his son Ezekiel, who is the ancestor of the line under discussion. Samuel settled at Simsbury, where, like his father and grandfather, he appears to have been a prominent citizen, for his name occurs many times in the town records. He was an ensign and sergeant. About the year 1739 he removed with his wife and family to Goshen, Conn., and settled upon a tract of land which he had bid off at a division of land at New Haven in 1738. This tract was located in the north part of the town, where the family gave their own name to the road on which they lived. It is interest- ing that up to 1880 nearly all of this land was still in the possession of his lineal descendants. Samuel died in Goshen, October 16, 1859.

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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 76

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