History of San Joaquin County, California : with biographical sketches of leading men and women of the county who have been identified with its growth and development from the early days to the present, Part 107

Author: Tinkham, George H. (George Henry), b. 1849
Publication date: 1923
Publisher: Los Angeles, Calif. : Historic Record Co.
Number of Pages: 1660

USA > California > San Joaquin County > History of San Joaquin County, California : with biographical sketches of leading men and women of the county who have been identified with its growth and development from the early days to the present > Part 107

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it happened that George, our subject, attended the schools of that county, and with his brothers spent much time on the Ohio. In their locality, flat-boating was quite an enterprise; and so they built boats, and loaded them with their crops, or perhaps with lime, and floated down the Ohio and Mississippi rivers to whatever market they desired. New Orleans, of course, was the great goal as a marketing-place, and George Smith made a number of trips there and back by the big river steamers before he embarked on his most adventurous journey and came out to Cali- fornia.

In the famous year of the Argonauts, 1849, George F. Smith crossed the then little-traversed plains and arrived in Sacramento on Independence Day. His party, which was composed entirely of young and hardy men, all had fine mule teams, and they adopted the method of overtaking an ox-train and traveling with it, while their mules rested. Then they would push on more rapidly and overtake the next ox-train. There was danger, of course, from the Indians; but they were successful in slipping through, probably be- cause of their method was unusual and unexpected. It was George Smith's intention to try his luck at mining; but after casting in his lot at the so-called "Southern" mines, he met with little or no success, and when other opportunities beckoned he answered their appeal. Later in life, he often said it would have been a financial misfortune had he met with even moderate success, and so been diverted or re- tarded from his destined way.

Leaving the mines, he first went to Stockton, where he established a livery stable in partnership with a man named Van Dyke; but although they were well rewarded, he sold out his interest in the spring of 1851, just before a fire swept the city and destroyed the stables. He already had begun to negotiate with one of the old Spanish families for the purchase of its holdings, consisting of a ranch on the west side of the Tuolumne, near its junction with the San Joaquin River in what is now Stanislaus County; and he im- mediately proceeded to secure United States title to this land. With the land, he acquired the "harp brand" and its accompanying ear-marks, the "swal- low-fork" and the "under-slope," and this purchase conveyed to him, wherever found, "all cattle or horses bearing one or both of said marks, being marks of identification, or calves following cows, or colts fol- lowing mares, bearing the same." He immediately planted an orchard, and his place was known far and wide for its fruit, and people came comparatively long distances to partake of his hospitality and to eat of his fruit, his vegetables and his luscious melons, for the cattlemen kept open house to all comers.

On May 9, 1854, Mr. Smith was married at Sonora, in Tuolumne County, to Miss Jane Bell, a native of Rutherford County, N. C., where she was born on March 7, 1827, a daughter of John and Margaret (Neel) Bell, both North Carolinans of Scotch origin, and descendants of good old American Revolutionary stock. She had come to California two years before, by way of the Nicaragua route, and had braved fron- tier life with true pioneer spirit. John Bell was born in Lincoln County, N. C., on March 4, 1787, and Mar- garet Neel was born in Cabarrus County, in the same state, on September 29, 1796. Both of Jane Bell's grandfathers were Revolutionary soldiers. Thomas Bell, her father's father, was born in Rathfriland, County Cork, Ireland, on February 2, 1745; but his

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father, William Bell, came over to Ireland from Dun- dee, Scotland, early in 1700 to escape the persecution of "Bloody Mary," for they were followers of the Scotch Stuarts, though Presbyterians in religion. Thomas Bell. came out to America in 1765, enlisted for service in the Revolution during the second year, and served with credit during the remainder of the war. He married Rachel Ewart, who was born in 1759 and was related to old North Carolina families, her father having been Robert Ewart, born in 1725, who served at the Battle of King's Mountain, and was a member of the Committee of Safety from the Salis- bury district in 1775, and her mother, Margaret Adams, a daughter of William Adams. Jane Bell's maternal grandfather, John Neel, was born in North Carolina. His father was James Neel, a Revolution- ary soldier, and his mother was Margaret McEwen. The Neels and the McEwens both lived in western North Carolina in early Indian days, and there had thrilling experiences; but the family of John Neel's wife, Sarah Gayley, had moved to North Carolina from Pennsylvania.

Soon after Jane Bell's birth, her parents moved to Tennessee, then decidedly a frontier country, and no · place for a family of children, away from the school advantages of a thickly settled, established commun- ity. Then, too, the farm of. John Bell, sold in Ruther- ford County, N. C., later yielded much gold, being in the far-famed gold-fields of the Tar-pitch State. The Bells lived in Tennessee until 1841, when they re- moved to Metropolis, Ill. There they remained until they came to California in 1852, with the exception of a brief period when they were in Smithland, Ky., where John Bell died on July 12, 1844. Margaret Bell, the mother, passed away in Metropolis, on March 17, 1849, and both parents are buried there.

Two of Jane Bell's brothers, Andrew and Thomas Bell, had come out to California in 1848, and later Andrew came back for his family. The party con- sisted of Jane Bell, James Bell and his wife, and a married sister, Rachel Robertson, and her husband (a doctor) and her stepson. Andrew Bell had had such a hard trip overland to California that he wished to take his family by the way of the Nicaragua route, and be spared equal hardships; but they also had a very hard trip. The embarked at New Orleans on the steamer "Pampero," but encountered a hurricane in the Gulf of Mexico, and the steamer, which had been rebuilt and made longer, broke in twain and they were in great good fortune to be able to get back to New Orleans. On their second trip, they were fairly comfortable while traveling on the Atlantic; but when they reached the Pacific, only one boat met the two steamers, bound respectively from New York and New Orleans, and the New York passengers got aboard the Pacific steamer first. The Bell family, al- though holding first-class passenger tickets, only had a portion of the deck assigned to them, until two gen- tlemen gave up their cabin to Jane Bell, who had been stricken with the Panama fever, and to her sis- ter-in-law, who was also sick. Both came near death; and later, on their arrival in Sonora, where their brothers were located, they contracted smallpox, their brother Thomas already having taken that disease and so communicating it to them.

The Bell brothers were millwrights and carpenters. They built the first Sonora court house, and later James Bell erected a flour-mill near Sonora, and was a prominent business man of the county, closely asso- ciated with the history of that locality and also promi-

nent in Masonic affairs. He lived there until his death, in 1896. Andrew Neel Bell and Thomas Ewart Bell were interested in the first quartz mills erected in California, but on account of the quality of the ore and the crude milling methods, the venture proved a failure. Twenty years later, with improved machinery and methods, the mine became one of the greatest producers of gold in the mother lode. Later, Thomas and Andrew Bell went to Inyo County and became prominent in the history of that section. Andrew Bell built the first flour-mill established there; and this is still in existence, one of the oldest and most interesting landmarks.

George F. Smith took his bride on horseback across the California plains, brilliant with the wild-flowers which made it look like a gorgeous carpet, to his home cattle-ranch at the fork of the Tuolumne and Stanis- laus Rivers. There three of his children were born, Richard Russell, Thomas George, and Henry Clay, the last-named passing away there also. He built a new home upon the place; but shortly after it was completed, he sold the place to an Englishman named John Davis, and in November, 1860, moved his fam- ily to Stockton, where Thomas George died of diph- theria, on January 13, 1861. He made several trips back to Kentucky, to visit his brothers and friends, the first in 1869, when he took his family and stayed six months, the second trip in 1871 or 1872, and the third in 1883, when he took his daughter Bell with him.

In the sixties Mr. Smith became associated in busi- ness with the late Jefferson G. James of San Fran- cisco and Fresno counties; and although their cattle and ranges were never amalgamated, in almost all speculations they were partners, and there are now surviving a few properties from this old partnership of Smith & James. The two men were close friends, and the strong bonds of friendship held intact after Mr. Smith decided to retire from active participation in business. In his operations in more active days, he had employed mostly Mexican herders and had learned enough Spanish for all business purposes; and he had in other respects matched up with the na- tives. The Mexicans, for example, were wonderful riders, and George Smith became quite expert as a horseman, and could pick up a handkerchief from the ground as he rode by at full speed.

Mr. Smith bought a block of land in Stockton, and in the fall of 1861 the family home at 347 East Poplar Street, which is now the property of his daughter, Miss Nellie Alice Smith, was ready for occupancy. After selling his ranches in Stanislaus County, he purchased the Fish slough range of 8,000 acres, and moved his horses and cattle there, while Mrs. Smith made a visit to her brother, James Bell, near Sonora. Her brother, Thomas Bell, was taking her to Stock- ton to their new home when they were caught at Knights Ferry by the flood and had many exciting experiences. She was the guest of the Edwards fam- ily for six weeks, and saw the Two Mile Bar Bridge (a toll-bridge built and operated by her brother, Thomas Bell) go down the Stanislaus River. She also saw the Knights Ferry Bridge go off. The pres- ent bridge at Knights Ferry was also long operated as a toll-bridge, in which all the Bell brothers held large interests. During the disastrous flood, Mr. and Mrs. Smith had no knowledge of each other's welfare, and Mr. Smith did not succeed in reaching Stockton until two weeks after his wife had arrived. They then moved into their home, where they lived until her death in 1910, except for a few years when she

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lived on her ranch near Stockton. Her two youngest children were born in the Stockton home, and there their youngest boy, Willie, died. The eldest daugh- ter, Bell, was born in Jackson, Amador County, and was one of the three children who have lived to ma- turity. Richard Russell Smith has been married twice; his present wife was Miss Hetty Corlett, a native of Iowa, who was reared in San Francisco. By this marriage there were two children, but both are dead, the boy at birth, and the little girl, Kathryn Bell, who was a remarkable child, just before her fourth birthday. His first marriage was with Miss Etta Russell, a native of Woodbridge, San Joaquin County, and there were three children by this mar- riage: George Russell, Ebell, and Elta. George has been married twice, the second time to Miss Sue Waldie of Antioch, Cal., by whom he has had two children, Richard Russell, 2nd, and Jane Bell, who is named for her great-grandmother. Ebell Smith married Henry Addison Barnett, the son of a pioneer family known to the Smiths from earliest days. There is one child, Francis Marion, who is so named for his paternal grandfather. Elta Smith married Arthur H. MacFarland, of Los Angeles, who is a member of a prominent family of that place. Emma Bell, George F. Smith's oldest daughter, married Otto Grunsky, of Stockton, and they had three children, Otto, Jr., Charles and George. The year 1899 brought sad misfortune to the Smith family, for Death took away three members of the devoted circle. First, Bell Smith Grunsky died, on March 15th; then Etta Russell Smith, Richard's wife, died on May 26; and little George Grunsky, Bell's son, passed away on the 2nd of December.

Otto and Charles, Bell Grunsky's sons, both went overseas in the great World War, but Otto alone saw actual fighting. He went in the ranks of the 91st Division, was under Col. Henry C. Jewett of the 316th Engineers, Company C, Captain Collins' command, and was a sergeant when the war closed. He was in three major engagements, St. Mihiel, the Argonne, and Lys-Scheldt, in Belgium, and he went over the top as an infantryman in the Argonne, besides doing engineer service. He served along the battle front, and his company was in action when the armistice was signed; yet he came out without injury, although his comrades fell at his side. Charles volunteered as soon as the United States went into the war, took the training at the Officers' Training Camp, won the rank of first lieutenant, and was assigned to- the 5th En- gineer Train at Fort Funston, Texas, where for a long time he was the only officer. He took the train over- land to Corpus Christi, Texas, and while waiting to be sent overseas he qualified for the regular army, and became captain of Company B, 5th Engineers, 7th Division. He arrived in France on August 12, 1918, and was regimental supply captain part of the time there. He went to an officers' bridge-building school, and while there his company was sent to the front. He had just rejoined them when the armistice was signed. He was very popular with his company, each member declaring that he never failed to mete out absolute justice. Charles was married on July 11, 1922, to Gertrude Jessup Dixon, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. J. D. Jessup of San Francisco. Mrs. Jessup was Marietta Cowie of Sonora, Tuolumne County, and her parents were early friends of the James Bell family there. Richard Russell Smith lives retired at Berke- ley, and Miss Nellie Alice Smith resides at the old Smith home-place at 347 East Poplar Street, Stock-

ton, an old Stockton landmark, where Mr. and Mrs. H. A. Barnett reside with her.

In the late sixties, Mr. Smith sold his lands and cattle in Fresno County, retaining, however, the "brand and ear-marks" as his property; and for five or six years thereafter he gave much of his time, in the capacity of a director, to the affairs of the Bank of Stockton, the largest organization of that character in San Joaquin County. In the early seventies, Cap- tain Kidd, the president and manager of the bank, moved his residence to San Francisco and gave all of his attention to the management of his interests in that city. For a time a manager was employed to take over his duties in the Bank of Stockton; but as this proved unsatisfactory to the directors, they deter- mined if possible to have one of their members as- sume the duties. The choice centered upon Mr. Smith; but after considerable hesitancy he refused the offer as he feared that after all the years he had lived in the freedom of the "open," such confinement would prove irksome to him. In 1872 and 1873, he purchased 3,000 acres of land four miles northwest from Stockton, the greater part of which was swamp or tule land, and the leveeing, ditching, draining and breaking of which kept him very busy for a number of years. The first levees were built by Chinese coolie labor, 260 of the Orientals being employed at one time. Levees so constructed having proven un- satisfactory, Mr. Smith constructed an endless chain dredger, known as "The Ajax," one of the pioneer dredging machines of the San Joaquin and Sacra- mento delta regions. After disposing of his ranges and cattle interests, he intended to retire; but he found he could not endure the inactivity. His family regret that he did not take the opening offered him by the Stockton Savings Bank, but he bought instead the 3,000 acres referred to, on the lower Sacramento Road. He had a hard and expensive training, when he changed occupations, for he said he never knew what hard work was until he became involved in farming. Reclaiming swamp and overflow lands was a new enterprise, and even to this day people are ruined financially trying to accomplish it. He sank a lot of money in this farm; and worse than that, he lost his health when a tenant shot him in the back. His death at the comparatively early age of sixty- seven was probably due to the bullet, which was never removed, and to an accident some years later when he was thrown from a cart at his Los Banos sheep ranch and kicked by the horse. He had been a strong, robust man, but he never fully recovered from these two injuries.

In personal appearance, George F. Smith was six feet one inch tall, broad and muscular, and weighed about 190 pounds, with not an ounce of fat on his frame. He was a man to whom all children felt a strong attraction, and he made it his boast that no child had ever refused to come to him from its mother. In politics he was a Democrat, but invariably voted for any Republican whom he regarded as more cap- able or honest. For a time, he was a member of the San Joaquin Society of Pioneers. Owing to the meager educational facilities in Kentucky early in the nineteenth century, Mr. Smith always felt that he had been deprived of the early education to which all American youths are entitled. He was therefore much interested in the public schools, and served for a num- ber of years on the Board of Education of Stockton. He was at the time of his death a member of San Joaquin Lodge No. 19, F. A. & A. M., Stockton, Chap-

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ter No. 28, R. A. M., and Stockton Commandery No. 8, K. T. His son, Richard Russell Smith, is also a member of all three.

After Mr. Smith's demise, the following resolutions were sent the family of the deceased:

To the Officers and Members of

Stockton Commandery, No. 8, K. T.

Your Committee, appointed to draft resolutions of respect to the memory of our late Sir Knight George F. Smith, beg leave to submit the following:

Sir Knight George F. Smith was a member in good standing in San Joaquin Lodge No. 19, F. A. M .; Stockton Chapter No. 28, R. A. M; and Stockton Commandery No. 8, K. T., and his death has caused a vacancy in our ranks.

Now that he has gone, we are more conscious of his good character, a model of punctuality in all his deal- ings, sincere and earnest in all he did, thoughtful in all he said, cautious, cool, energetic and candid. He has left behind him an honored name, more valuable than the fortune which crowned his career with success.

In order, therefore, to perpetuate the recollection of his virtues, as a member and Sir Knight of this Com- mandery, be it

Resolved, That the loss sustained is deeply felt by the members of this Commandery; that his virtues and demeanor are worthy of imitation; that we mourn his death as an irreparable loss to his family, to the community, and to the members of this Commandery; that these resolutions be spread upon the minutes, and a copy hereof sent to his bereaved widow and children, with the sympathy of his fellow-members.

(Signed) James W. Smith, Fred M. West, and A. Leitch.

DELAVAN M. BURGE .- An energetic, foresee- ing. eminently practical and very successful rancher is Delavan M. Burge, a native of Iowa, where he was born near Cedar Rapids, in Lynn County, on Decem- ber 28, 1856. His father, a native of Virginia, was Simeon S. Burge, and he married Miss Elizabeth Archer, a native of Ohio. They both went to Iowa, where they married. In 1862 these sturdy pioneers crossed the plains, during which they and their com- panions had no less than three encounters with the Indians, and in one encounter, the train had to halt and corral at noon, when shots were exchanged. The Indians succeeded in stampeding the fleeing cattle, consisting of about eighty head of domestic stock, but luckily, while two persons were wounded, none were killed. In 1864, Mr. Burge went back to Iowa to bring his parents, Minor and Elizabeth Burge, to California. They died here and are buried at Wood- bridge.

Upon arriving in California, Simeon Burge first settled four miles west of Woodbridge, where he pur- chased a quarter-section of land, later adding a sec- ond quarter section to it in the same vicinity. The pioneer and his wife had seven children: John O., who is now deceased; Delavan M .; Estella, who has become Mrs. Williams, of San Francisco; Simon, also deceased and buried at Woodbridge; Maude, who is Mrs. Oppenheimer; Ella, Mrs. Charles Searle, and Archer.

Delavan began his education at the Turner district school, but in 1871, the family moved to Stockton, for Mr. Burge had been elected county recorder, an

office he filled with signal ability for two years, when he resigned. He then helped to organize the Grang- ers Union, and became secretary and manager; and this helpful enterprise he thus headed from 1874 to 1880. He then became general manager for the D. M. Osborn Company, and went to Portland, Ore., for five years; but in 1885 he returned to Stockton and conducted a hardware business. He bought out Bailey Badgeley, and from 1885 to 1890, had a busi- ness at the corner of Main and California streets. Mr. Burge then became a partner in the Burge-Dona- hoo Company of San Francisco, jobbers of farming implements, for several years; but from San Fran- cisco he removed to Merced and engaged in grain- buying. He died at Point Richmond, when past seventy-five years of age, and was buried in the rural cemetery of Stockton. Mrs. Burge died in April, 1906.

Delavan Burge struck out for himself when very young, and at Stockton on May 20, 1880, he was married to Miss Mary A. Harelson, a daughter of Edmund and Mary Ann (Oliver) Harelson; her father was a native of Kentucky, who had moved into Wisconsin, in frontier days, and then on to Califor- nia across the plains, arriving in 1850. He mined for a short time, recovered his health, then returned to Wisconsin, but did not remain very long until he again came to California. Mrs. Harelson was a na- tive of Alabama, and settled on the ranch near Stock- ton, and her father had also moved to Wisconsin in pioneer days, braving the rigors of frontier life. They were also married in Wisconsin. Edmund Harelson had located about six miles northeast of Stockton, on Fairchild Lane, and was joined here by his wife and children; then they purchased 482 acres from a Mr. Hitchcock. The Harelsons had six children: Dur- rett O., now of San Francisco; Almeda, Mrs. C. C. Castle of Stockton; Elizabeth became Mrs. John Salmon; Edmund died at the age of sixteen; Mary Ann is Mrs. Burge; Nevada is Mrs. O. R. Smith of Lindsay. The father died at the age of sixty, while the mother lived to be eighty-three. In Lancaster Co., Wis., Mr. Harelson had been county treasurer.

In 1881, Delavan Burge bought 571/2 acres of the old Harelson place and Mrs. Burge inherited 571/2 acres from her father; they moved onto it and he planted it to grain until he started to intensify his farming. In 1889 he set out sixteen acres to grapes; now he has thirty-five acres of bearing vineyard. He also has four acres of almonds, five acres of walnuts, and four acres of cherries, the place being well irri- gated. He has put all the improvements on the place, and has a finely-equipped ranch for high-grade and abundant production. At the death of her mother Mrs. Burge inherited forty more acres of the estate.

Two children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Burge. Noel S. is superintendent of the Libby Canal Ranch, a graduate of Stockton high and of Stanford University in the field of civil engineering, having been a member of the class of '07; Hazel, the wife of Prentice Burtis, the manager of Hale Bros., of Sacramento, is a graduate of Stockton high school and Smith College in Massachusetts. Noel married Miss Ruth Maddox, of Visalia, and they have three children-Delavan, Noel S., Jr., and Barbara Ann; and Mrs. Burtis has a son, Prentice Townsend Bur- tis, and a daughter, Mary Prudence. Delavan M. Burge is a Republican in politics; and he is a mem- ber of Truth Lodge, I. O. O. F., of Stockton.

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ABRAHAM PARSONS HENNING .- A most worthy and highly esteemed pioneer who always en- deavored to live up to the Golden Rule, and who will be sure, therefore, of the honor usually accorded by posterity to those whom the world cherishes for help- ing to make life of value to the living, was Abraham Parsons Henning, to be thought of by all who knew him, not as having died, but rather as having con- tinued elsewhere a career of marked usefulness. Born in Saline County, Mo, on November 1, 1846, he was the son of John Pinnell and Mary Katherine (Van- meter) Henning. She was born in Westmoreland County, Va., near the home of General George Wash- ington; and her father's family was related, through its branch of the Fairfax family, to the first President of our land. Mary Katherine's relatives on her mother's side were most honorable descendants of the "Honorable Parsons," who was well-known for his ability, integrity, wealth and generosity. Mary Kath- erine was only a child when her father, Abraham Vanmeter, who had married Elizabeth Parsons, sold their old Virginia home and started across the dense forest-land of the West to make their next home in Missouri. He stopped near Miami, Mo., on the river, and purchased several hundreds of acres of govern- ment land. There he established a home-place, since added to so that it has come to embrace several thous- and acres, which as late as the nineties was still known as the old Vanmeter home. The youngest son of Abraham Vanmeter, named Able James Vanmeter, together with his wife, Annie, resided on the place during the nineties, and she is still there.

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History of San Joaquin County, California : with biographical sketches of leading men and women of the county who have been identified with its growth and development from the early days to the present, Part 107

Author: Tinkham, George H. (George Henry), b. 1849 Publication date: 1923 Publisher: Los Angeles, Calif. : Historic Record Co. Number of Pages: 1660

Author: Tinkham, George H. (George Henry), b. 1849
Publication date: 1923
Publisher: Los Angeles, Calif. : Historic Record Co.
Number of Pages: 1660