USA > California > Solano County > History of Solano County...and histories of its cities, towns...etc. > Part 38
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CONNOLLY, HENRY, was born in 1826, in the county of Fermanagh, Ireland, from whence he emigrated to the United States in 1846, and settled in New York city, remaining there till 1853, when he left for California and settled in San Francisco. In 1857, he removed to Vallejo, where he commenced business in the Washington Hotel, which he carried on for many years and which property he still owns. In connection there- with, he opened a livery business 'in 1859, which he still continues. Mr. Connolly also opened a wholesale wine and liquor store in 1875. He married Catharine Elliott in 1853, who was born in county Fermanagh in 1826.
DARE, JOHN T., is a native of Brook Haven, Long Island, New York, and born March 27, 1843. Here he was educated in the common schools, and, at the age of thirteen, went to sea as a cabin boy, going up through all the different grades to that of first mate. This occupation he followed eight years. In May, 1861, he arrived in San Francisco on the ship " W. L. Richardson," being second in command of that craft, but left her on his arrival and shipped for the South Sea Islands and return. In 1862, went to Shoalwater Bay, oystering, returning the same year with a large number of oysters, planting them in San Pablo bay; but the high water in the Winter of 1862-3 destroyed them. The following year, read law with C. Greenwich Howard, of San Francisco. About the time of the El Dorado Canyon or Colorado river gold excitement, he went to that
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locality and, after experiencing the changeable fortunes incident to a miner, he returned and settled in Los Angeles, and was engaged in driving team for other parties. Next we find him in the employ of the Government, under Major Morris, at Drum Barracks, running trains across the desert. During Brigadier General John S. Mason's expedition through Arizona Territory, Mr. Dare accompanied them as master of transportation. After making a complete tour of the Territory, he selected Prescott, in the Ter- ritory, as a place of residence ; here he established the first pony express from Prescott to California, via Fort Mojave, riding the pony himself, without escort, through bands of hostile Indians, for six months; then run a wagon train from Prescott to Colorado river. In 1867, he was elected to the lower house of the Arizona Legislature, and was the framer of several bills which still are a part of the laws of that country. Soon after the expiration of his office, the large wagon train he was then run- ning, was captured and destroyed by Indians, his train-master losing his life in the battle. Becoming disgusted with the country on account of the hostilities of the savages, he returned to California, settling in Vallejo, in 1868. Here he worked at various occupations, then a freight clerk in the office of Cal. P. R. R., and eighteen months thereafter was A. D. Starr & Co.'s cashier and book-keeper. In the Fall of 1877, he was elected to the lower house of the State Legislature, doing the State excellent service in framing and working through the Bank Commission Bill, also the Fish and Game bills, and a strong advocate of the Postal Savings Bank bill. He has made a continuous residence in south Vallejo since his coming in 1868, and is now one of its business men. Married in this place Miss Anetta, eldest daughter of George H. Martin, of Albany, New York, on January 18, 1872, their children are Ellen S., Starr D. and Edith.
DEININGER, F., born in Bavaria, Germany, in 1832. In 1856, came to America and settled in San Francisco, where he remained but a short time, then removed to Los Angeles where he engaged in the brewery business. In the Summer of 1857, he established a brewery at Long Bar, Yolo county, and the same time commenced farming on a large scale nine miles from Marysville. In 1866, he moved to Meadow Lake, Nevada county, and opened a brewery there, which he continued until 1870, when he established a like undertaking in Vallejo, in which city he now resides. Married at Marysville, in 1858, Madelina Young, by whom he has : Jessie, Louisa, Daisy, Jacob, Mary, Lena, Maggie and Rose.
DERWIN, MICHAEL S., was born in County Galway, Ireland, in 1812, and resided there till 1834, when he emigrated to America, first settling in Philadelphia. In 1837 he went to the Florida war, being connected with the quartermasters' department, and leaving there, came to New
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York in March, 1841, proceeding thereafter to Philadelphia. In that city he embarked in a grocery business, which he continued till 1848, when he moved to New Orleans, where he lived till 1852, in which year he left for California, via Panama, arriving in San Francisco on February 28th of that year. In March he paid a flying visit to Vallejo, and thence pro- ceeded to Stockton, from which place he went to the mines in Tuolumne County, where he engaged in mining for one year. At the end of that period he returned to San Francisco and began draying, which business he prosecuted for eight months. In the latter part of the year 1853 he returned to Philadelphia and then to New York, in which city he started the wholesale and retail liquor trade. In July, 1854, he once more turned towards the Golden State, arriving in San Francisco in August, and took up his abode there until January, 1855, when he moved to Vallejo and located in that city, and was employed for fifteen months in the Navy Yard at Mare Island. In 1856 he started for the mines in Oregon, so- journing there for one year and a half, at the expiration of which he came back to Vallejo, where he has since resided. In 1870 Mr. Derwin visited his friends in Philadelphia, and having returned to Vallejo, em- barked in the grocery business. Mr. D. is a member of the firm of Der- win & McCudden, is married, and has a family.
DOYLE, JAMES, born in Montreal, Canada, December 25, 1828, and re- sided there till 1846, when he went to New York City, and on April 1, 1852, sailed from there on the ship "North America," for California, arriving in San Francisco September 1 of that year. Remained in that city till 1855, and then proceeded to Vallejo, where he has since remained a permanent resident. Mr. Doyle started the Pioneer Marble Works in Vallejo in 1862, which he still owns, and was elected Constable for the Township of Vallejo on September 5, 1877, and commenced his official duties in the month of March following. He married in New York, De- cember 25, 1849, Anna Fleury, by whom he has Sarah A., Thomas, Mary E., Addie, Jonas, Robert E., Annie, Elizabeth, Charles and Gertrude.
DRAKE,. SIMON S., farmer, Section 16, post-office, Vallejo; was born in Chichester, New Hampshire, September 15, 1831, and remained there till . 1848, but did not leave the State till the Spring of 1854, when he moved to Fillmore County, Minnesota, there engaging in general merchandising, pre-empting land, and farming, until the early part of 1857, when he re- turned to the Eastern States and settled in Massachusetts, but remained there only two years. On January 6, 1859, he sailed from New York, via Panama, arriving in San Francisco in February, and immediately went to Sacramento, and there worked on a dairy farm till the following Septem- ber, when he proceeded to South San Francisco and entered the employ-
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ment of John J. Haley, then proprietor of the International Hotel. In the Spring of 1860 he moved to Contra Costa County, and rented a farm from Vietor Castro, but in the following Spring he left that portion of the country and sought employment in the Mare Island Navy Yard, in the plumbers' department. Leaving Mare Island in the Fall of that year, he proceeded to Idaho Territory, and commenced mining on Newsom Creek, which he prosecuted till November, 1862, keeping also a miners' store, when, at that date, he once more returned to San Francisco. In February of the following year Mr. Drake proceeded to Austin, Nevada, and was employed as engineer at different mills till 1865, when, on Feb- ruary 10th, he once more went to San Francisco, from which city he pro- ceeded to his home' in the East, on the 15th of the month. While at Lynn, Massachusetts, he engaged with his brothers in the grocery and provision business, which he continued till April, 1866, when he left. for Minnesota, and from thenee went to Kansas City, Missouri, arriving there July 4, 1866. He next proceeded to Ray County, Missouri, where he worked as an engineer for two years. On October 7th, 1868, he was married to Miss Mirza C. Craven, and soon after left for California, but after a few months returned to Missouri for his wife, coming back to Cali- fornia in November, 1869, and settled on his present farm of 360 acres. Mr. Drake is a member of the Grangers, as well as of the Ancient Order of United Workmen and Independent Order of Odd Fellows. He has by his wife three children -- Walter Frank, born in Ray County, Missouri, September 18, 1869; Harry Clyde, born April 14, 1871, at Vallejo; and . Joey Howard, born September 23, 1872.
EDWARDS, WILLIAM P., was born in London, England, on July 8, 1821, and in 1837 came to New York, to which place his father had preceded him. Was employed in different mercantile houses in New York and Philadelphia until May 5, 1849, when he set sail from the latter city in the bark " Ralph Cross " for San Francisco, where he arrived November 5, of the same year. Mr. Edwards had brought with him a machine for cutting shingles, which he erected on what was known as the Widow Reed's Ranch, in Marin county, but he was forced, after giving it a trial, to succumb to the want of experience in this particular industry. Mr. Edwards thereafter went to the Middle Fork of the Yuba River, to a place called Snow Camp, in the summer of 1850, but returned to San Francisco in the fall of the same year, and after a time engaged in mer- cantile pursuits, which he continued until 1865, when he settled in Vallejo. Has been Secretary of the Association of California Pioneers since its formation, with the exception of two terms, he is also a member of Vallejo Lodge No. 64, I. O. G. T.
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EGERY, B. D., of the firm of Egery & Lamont, was born in Penobscot county, Maine, on December 12, 1838, remaining there until 1859, when he came to California. First engaged in mining in Butte county, remov- ing therefrom one year after, when he removed to Chico, and from there to San Francisco, from whence he went to Owen's river, where he again engaged in mining. In the fall of 1863 he obtained employment as a clerk in San Francisco, at which he remained until January, 1867, when he left for Vallejo and opened a grocery, fruit and provision store, which was destroyed by fire in the following Junc. He then became a clerk with E. T. Starr. In September, 1869, he entered into partnership with John E. Williston, whose interest his present partner purchased in Septem- ber, 1870, when the firm of Egery & Lamont was started. Mr. Egery married November 24, 1871, Miss Carrie G. Lambert, a native of Phila- delphia, who was born in 1846, by whom he has Lambert D., John A., Benjamin C., and Eugene.
FARNHAM, JOHN, Clothing, Gents' Furnishing Goods, Trunks and Valises. The subject of this sketch was born in Bucksport, Maine, in 1840, and in 1860 took to the sea as a profession, which he followed for four years. In the natural course of his calling he arrived in San Francisco in 1863, and proceeding to Mare Island he at once obtained employment in the Navy Yard. In 1867 he returned to his native town and engaged in the hardware business, under the style and firm of S. A. &. J. Farnham. In 1868 he disposed of his interest in that firm and once more returning to California came to Vallejo and established his present business, under the name of Farnham & Voorhees, which partnership continued until the year 1871, since when he has been alone. Mr. F. has also a dry goods business in Salem, Oregon. Vallejo has few more public spirited citizens than John Farnham. In 1877 he was elected to fill the chair of the Re- publican County Committee; again in 1878 the like honor was con- ferred upon him, and, never being behind-hand where duty in the public interest is demanded, he has served on the Board of Education, and filled other responsible offices. In 1868 Mr. Farnham married Mary L., daugh- ter of Andrew J. Ketcham, of Brandon, Vt., who was born in 1841. In this connection an episode occurred which may here be mentioned : When returning home, in 1867, the "Santiago de Cuba," the steamer on which he had taken passage, was wrecked on the coast of New Jersey, near the city of Atlantic ; seven of the passengers were drowned, but Mr. Farnham, at the imminent risk of his own life, succeeded in saving that of Miss Ketcham, the young lady whom a year later he made his bride. The union so romantically forecast has been blessed by three children, John W., Frank B., and Mary Louise.
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FORSTENFELD, M., was born in Germany in the year 1841, and came to America in March 1855, and settled in New York, where he remained till 1861, at which time he came to California and first resided in San Fran- cisco, remaining there until 1863, and then removed to Vallejo. In July, 1875, he entered into partnership with Jacob Steffen, in keeping a meat market, which business they still continue. He married in Vallejo, in September, 1867, Miss Lizzie Snider, a native of New Orleans, who was born February 9, 1852.
FRISBIE, ELEAZER, was born in Albany, N. Y., in 1829, and remained there until September, 1846, when he sailed for California with Steven- son's Regiment, arriving in San Francisco in March, 1847. Was quar- tered in that city till the spring of 1848, when he accompanied a detach- ment of his regiment to the mines to look for deserters, of whom there were a number. This service occupied two months. The force was em- barked on a government schooner, which took ten days to reach Sutter's Fort (Sacramento) from San Francisco. On the return they took some Government horses, and drove them to the city, after which Mr. Frisbie was taken ill with a fever, from the effects of which he did not recover for a whole year. In 1848 the regiment was disbanded. He then, by the advice of his physician, proceeded to Sonoma for the benefit of his health, and, after recovering, opened a store in that city, remaining there until 1850, when he removed to Benicia, and carried on a butchery business, shipping meat to San Francisco for two years. About this time the city of Vallejo was started, he therefore moved thither. In 1854 Mr. Frisbie was elected a Justice of the Peace, served as an Associate Justice, and was the first regularly appointed postmaster for the city of Vallejo. an office he held from 1855 to 1857. Mr. F. resided continuously in Vallejo, from 1851 to 1865, when he removed to Russian River Township, Sonoma county, Cal., and there lived till the fall of 1870, being, for that period, engaged in farming. In that year he returned to Vallejo, and was em- ployed by the Cal. P. R. R. Co. as wood agent. In 1872 was in the em- ployment of the Vallejo Land and Improvement, and Vallejo Gaslight Companies, as collector, till Nov., 1875. In February, 1876, he commenced a dairy business, at Point Farm, one mile from South Vallejo, which he still carries on, shipping large quantities of milk to San Francisco daily, as well as supplying the surrounding district. Mr. Frisbie married at Fairmount, N. J., June 25, 1858, Carrie E. Klink, of Syracuse, N. Y., by whom he has seven children living : John B .; Steven H .; Cynthia J .; Phœbe A .; Edward E .; Carrie E .; Alice K.
FRISBIE, JOHN B., the second son of Eleazer B. Frisbie and Cynthia Cornell Frisbie was born at Albany, N. Y., on the 20th day of May A. D.
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1823, and after having finished his academic course of study at the Al- bany Academy, entered the law office of District Attorney Wheaton one of the ablest lawyers at the New York Bar; with whom he remained for four years or until he was of legal age and admitted to practice in the courts of the State of New York. He immediately took a prominent position in the politics of the State, and received, for a young man, a large patronage and remunerative business ; after some two years of close at- tention and continued study, having somewhat of a martial spirit, he was elected Captain of the Van Rensselaer Guards, acknowledged to be the best drilled and finest looking independent company of the State. At this time, 1846, war existed with Mexico, and a number of the officers and privates of this corps being desirous to enter the army in the campaign against Mexico, Captain Frisbie joined them and recruiting a full company in the city of Albany, he attached it as Company I to the regiment of Col. Jonathan D. Stevenson, then at Governor's Island and about to sail for the then distant Province of California. The regiment arrived after a six months passage at San Francisco, then nothing more than a little hamlet situated in a little cove of the harbor and called "Yerba Buena." This was in March, 1847, and the regiment continued in service until disbanded after the close of the war in July, 1848. Capt. Frisbie then immediately engaged in business with Gen. Vallejo and occupied himself in the management of that gentleman's extensive estate, and in projecting great public improvements at both the cities of Benicia and Vallejo. To secure the location of the Mare Island Navy Yard at Vallejo he purchased the island from Victor Castro and obtaining from Commodore Appleton P. Jones and Gen. Per- sifer F. Smith and other influential gentlemen a favorable report for that locality. The government made it the United States Naval Station of the Pacific. Not satisfied with the achievement to advance the interests of the new city, with indomitable will he set to work to open up railroad communications with the interior of the State and inaugurated the Cal- ifornia Pacific to connect the cities of Marysville and Sacramento with Vallejo. This road was speedily built and for a time gave a marked impetus to the growth and importance of the town. The population rapidly increased, fine wharves and warehouses were built and it speedily became the great shipping port for the whole of the northern portion of the State. Branches or feeders to the main line were then projected to tap the valleys of Napa and Sonoma and the Russian river country, but the immense expenditures consequent upon the prosecution of these im- provements so embarrassed the original company that they were compelled to succumb, and the road and its property fell into the hands of a rival company, whose business interests were antagonistic to the growth of the little city ; as a consequence Vallejo soon lost its prestige of becoming a
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great commercial city, and in its decline carried ruin to its projectors and disappointment to all interested in its welfare. But Gen. Frisbie was not the man to yield to mere temporary embarrassment and fortunately at this time (our relations with the neighboring republic of Mexico being in a critical condition) he was called to Washington to confer with the au- thorities, and was dispatched by the President and Secretary of State to the city of Mexico. As the result of his mission amicable relations were established between the two countries, and the President, Gen. Diaz, recognized by our government. But Gen. Frisbie during his residence in the city of Mexico became so captivated with the country and was so generously treated by its people that he determined to make it his future home and he removed ·his family to Buena Vista, a beautiful suburb of the city of Mexico, and is now engaged in developing some very rich mines in the Real del Monte district some sixty miles from the capital. It will thus be seen Gen. Frisbie has always been pre-eminently a public spirted man, of great energy, enterprise, and of unbounded hospital- ity and in all public positions was ever regarded as the peer of the ablest men among all the pioneers of the golden State.
FRISBIE, LEVI C., the elder son of Eleazer B. Frisbie and Cynthia Cor- nell Frisbie, was born in the city of Albarty, N. Y., on the 1st day of May A. D. 1821; after a preliminary course of education in his native city, he completed his academic term in the Buffalo Academy and commenced the study of medicine in the office of Dr. William Bry and surgery with Dr. Alden March in the year 1837, and graduated at the Albany Medical College February 23, 1841. Immediately after receiving his diploma he commenced practice with his old preceptor in the city of Albany and continued the same without interruption until the year 1850; when from overwork during the cholera epidemic of 1849, his health became so un- dermined as to necessitate entire suspension of business and compel him to seek mental quietude and physical recuperation from travel and change of scene and association. After four years thus spent his health was so far restored as to enable him to resume practice in the year 1854, since which time he has been an active practitioner of his profession in the city of Vallejo and is now the oldest one in the county of Solano. He has been twice elected president of the medical society of his native county and has officiated as the first President of the Pacific Medical Society, comprising the counties of Solano, Sonoma and Napa. In the year 1851 in connection with Gen. Vallejo and Gen. John B. Frisbie he laid out the plan of the city of Vallejo, which the same year by a majority vote of the people of the State and a two-thirds vote of the Legislature became the capital of the State. In the year 1858 he married Adela Vallejo the second daughter of Gen. Vallejo, by whom he has one child, now the
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wife of D. McCarthy, Jr., Treasurer of the city of Syracuse in the State of New York. The Doctor is now in his fifty-eighth year and having de- voted the best years of his life to his profession, has retired from active practice, and in the enjoyment of an ample competence is content to pass the remainder of his days among the people and amid the scenes he loves so well.
FROST, JAMES, M. D., arrived in California in 1856 and settled as an apothecary on Mare Island, where he continued till 1866, when he removed to Vallejo and opened his present place of business. Doctor Frost graduated at the Medical Department of the State University in 1877, and is now one of Vallejo's practicing physicians. On May 18, 1878, he was elected to fill the high position of President of the Board of Health, which honor he still retains, with credit alike to himself and his fellow citizens; is also examining physician to the United Order of Workmen, as well as holding the same position to the Knights of Pythias. The subject of our memoir married on February 6, 1859, the daughter of John and Mary Foley, of Albany, New York, by whom he has six children, Arthur H., Edmund F., Mary E., Amelia G., Frances J., and Elizabeth E.
GOOKIN, THOMAS P., was born May 9, 1824, in Portsmouth, New Hamp- shire, where he remained till the year 1848, when he went to Boston, Mass., residing there until January 1, 1849, on which date he left for New York City, sailing therefrom, on January 27, for California, and arrived in San Francisco on July 6th of the same year. Has since been a permanent resident of this State and county. He is a member of the Pioneer's Association of this place.
GORHAM, ABRAHAM, foreman painter in the Department of Yards and Docks, Mare Island Navy Yard, was born in England, October, 1826. In 1837 he went with his parents to South Australia, where he served his apprenticeship to the painter's trade, and in 1850 came to California, arriv- ing in San Francisco in August of that year, where he worked at his trade. In 1852 he leased the boarding house known as the Thistle Inn, which then stood near the corner of Sansome steeet and Broadway, carrying it on with good success till 1854, when he went to Santa Clara valley and pursued farming for one year. In April, 1855, he came to Vallejo, and entered into partnership with David Hudson in the building and painting business, which he prosecuted for one year; and in 1858 he commenced work on Mare Island, where he has been engaged most of the time since.
In 1864 Mr. Gorham purchased the property, known as the Eureka Hall, which he owned till 1878.
SK hurse
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He married in October, 1848, Miss Elizabeth Ide, by whom he has, Henry, born in August, 1849 ; George, born in August, 1851 ; Abraham James, born September, 1853; Thomas Robert, born March, 1856 ; and Franklin.Walter, born March,1865.
HANKS, J. G., a detective of Vallejo, was born in Summit county, Ohio, on August 6, 1829, where he resided until 1849, when he sailed from New York on May 13th for Calfornia on board the ship "Far West." Off the coast of Barbados they were wrecked, and, being picked up by a whaling vessel, were taken to Panama. On the voyage up the Pacific coast our subject once more suffered shipwreck in the loss of the "Chimera," at Monterey. He per force landed and found his way thence to San Fran- cisco on foot. Mr. Hanks arrived in Solano county on March 11, 1850, coming first to Vallejo, and after, going to Benicia, and there opening a blacksmith's shop. Leaving this business, however, he next proceeded to the mines in El Dorado county, but in 1855 once more returned to Val- lejo only for two months, when he again went to the mines and there stayed until 1860. We next find Hanks mining in Nevada. Here he became a member of the police force of Virginia City. After five years service he established an express line at Crystal Peak, Cisco, which he maintained till 1869, when, in connection with his father, he commenced an hotel business at Truckee, being also Deputy Sheriff of the county, under C. Gentry. Has been instrumental in several of the noted captures of both this and the State of Nevada, and to-day enjoys the confidence of the officials and his friends. In 1871 he established a brickyard in Val- lejo, many of the buildings of the city being manufactured from material off his premises.
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