USA > California > Solano County > History of Solano County...and histories of its cities, towns...etc. > Part 45
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THE HISTORY OF SOLANO COUNTY.
Louis companions, left for the mines and located at Rough and Ready, in Nevada county, where he spent the Winter. In the Spring of 1851, he sold his claims at Rough and Ready and visited his brother, Edgar F., who was then keeping store in Hangtown, now Placerville, and from here he went to Horse-shoe Bar on the American river, near Auburn, to see another brother, who shortly after returned to Ohio. He at once en- gaged in mining and remained in this locality until April, 1852, when he joined his brother, Edgar, who had located in Suisun valley, in this county the year before. During the Summer of that year he and his brother engaged in cutting and baling hay and conducting a hay-yard at Sacra- mento city. In the Fall they gave up the hay-yard and commenced preparations for planting a crop of barley, on what is now known as the Clayton Place, at the head of the valley. The primitive farming of this period presented many novel features and more serious obstacles. There being no lumber for fencing or building purposes, ditches were dug and the crests of the sod covered with the branches of the valley oaks to warn away the numerous bands of cattle and horses, and prevent their intrusion upon the newly sown grain. Plenty of hay could be cut in the Summer but, for want of proper shelter, it could not be preserved for use in the Winter, and the old system of stacking, so much in vogue in the Eastern States, here proved an absolute failure ; and barley being very scarce and rating at an enormously high figure, feeding the working ani- mals after the common method was out of the question; therefore, the animals were nightly turned out upon the grass to obtain sustenance ; and each morning were caught up and harnessed to the plow for the daily task of plowing an acre or an acre and a half. And, during the Winter, bread-stuffs, in the valley, became inconveniently scarce. To get flour was an impossibility ; and shorts rated in Benicia at $20 per hundred pounds ; and, owing to the excessive rains of the season and the miry condition of the trails, it was next to impossible to obtain any provisions from Benicia, accordingly, the settlers in the upper part of the valley, during the most of that Winter, had to rely for breadstuff on a few sacks of shelled corn, which was, fortunately, in possession of one of their number, and this corn was prepared by first grinding it in a rough iron hand-mill, and, with this meagre preparation, it was mixed into bread batter, without so much as a partial acquaintance with the time-honored sieve. It made wholesome food, however, and the civilized plague of dyspepsia was, to these hardy pioneers, wholly unknown. Game and the bands of wild cattle ranging in such vast numbers in the Suscol hills, furnished the settlers with meat, with occasionally a piece of salt pork to flavor the savory dishes prepared by the more experienced cooks. Hunt- ing, shooting matches, and an occasional scrub-horse race, furnished the only amusement of the times, until female immigrants became more
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THE HISTORY OF SOLANO COUNTY.
plenty, when the coarser sports of the men gave place to the more civil- ized pastime of the country dance.
The yield of the soil at this cropping was extremely good, and in one or two cases as high as seventy bushels of barley per acre was realized. The harvesting commenced about the 20th of June, and the grain was cut with the old style cradle, and bound into sheaves, and threshed by the tramp- ing of horses, or the services of an endless chain machine-there being one or two of the latter brought to the valley. Nearly all of the products of the valley of that year were sold at Sacramento, being shipped there from the Suisun Embarcadero by sail vessel, and the barley bringing, in that market, an average of three and one-half cents per pound.
Mr. Gillespie continued farming until the summer of 1856, excepting per- haps a year intervening, when he went into the employment of John Doughty, one of the first storekeepers at Cordelia, to manage that gentle- man's business, while he was absent representing the people of the county in the Legislature of the year 1855. On Christmas day of 1856 Mr. Gil- lespie commenced the foundation of the first store and second building in Silveyville, where he remained, merchandising, until the fall of 1859, when he sold to the firm of Deck & Co., and then engaged in sheepraising. In the spring of 1860, he was appointed Deputy County Assessor, under Capt. E. H. Von Pfister, the then County Assessor, and remained with him until the work of the year was finished, resigning in the month of December. In January, 1861, he was elected Engrossing Clerk of the State Senate, and again in 1862 was re-elected to the same position. Re- turning to the county again, in the summer of that year, he located at Maine Prairie, to buy wheat, as the agent of Gen. John B. Frisbie, who, that year, had commenced the business of shipping grain to Liverpool. The rejection of the Suscol grant by the courts, shortly after, put an end to the General's wheat speculations, and Mr. Gillespie left his employment, and engaged in the drug business at Maine Prairie, in partnership with Dr. S. K. Baker,-remaining there until the March of 1864, when he went into the Sheriff's office at Fairfield, under his brother, who was Sheriff, as deputy and jailor. At the end of the term, in March, 1866, he removed to Suisun City, and, during that summer, was the active projector and and first secretary and superintendent of the present Suisun and Fairfield Water Company. In September of that year, in partnership with Wood- ford Owens, Jr., he purchased the Solano Press, a newspaper, published at Suisun, and, under the firm-name of Geo. A. Gillespie & Co., continued the publication of that newspaper until the latter part of 1869, when the Solano Press and Solano Herald were merged into a new paper, called the Solano Republican, published by Powers & Gillespie. This firm con- tinued the publication of the Republican until 1872, when Mr. Gillespie sold his interest to his partner, O. B. Powers, and soon after removed to
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THE HISTORY OF SOLANO COUNTY.
Antioch, in Contra Costa county, where he was engaged in business for about two years, returning to the county in 1874, to go into the Record- er's office, as a deputy, under his brother, whose failing health incapaci- tated him from attending to the duties of his position. Recorder Gilles- pie dying before his term of office expired, William Wolf was appointed Recorder, and Mr. Gillespie was reappointed deputy under him, and re- mained in the office to the close of the term, in March, 1876. Having been elected a Justice of the Peace for Suisun township the fall before, he then opened an office in Suisun, and, for the term following, was an acting Justice of the Peace and Notary Public. In March, 1878, he was ap- pointed Deputy County Clerk under Alex. Dunn, which position he holds at the writing of this book.
Mr. Gillespie is a man of positive convictions and of activity of character, and has taken a prominent part in public affairs, his name appearing, all along through the annals of the county, for the past twenty-seven years. In 1862 Mr. Gillespie was married to Miss Mary E. Crousy, a native of Auburn, New York, who is well known in musical circles as a good vo- calist and an excellent piano performer, besides enjoying the distinction of being a Past Worthy Grand Matron of the adopted Rite of Eastern Star, of the State of California. To this union two children were born, a son, named Guilford, and a daughter, named Rena, born respectively on October 16th, 1863, and July 19th, 1871.
GOODWIN, B. H., a native of Oxford county, Maine, born Nov. 22, 1829, where he was educated and learned the trade of blacksmith, which he has followed as a business ever since. At the age of 20 he went to Southborrow, Mass., and remained a short time, thence back to his birth- place on a short visit, thence to Rockford, Mass., where he worked at trade for about four months, after which, he proceeded to Boston and started on a whaling voyage; went around the Cape of Good Hope to the Oakheart Sea, and from there to the Sandwich Island, where he remained about four months, when he returned to Oakheart Sea, and from there to the Islands, where he remained and worked at trade four months longer, and then shipped again for the Oakheart Sea, where he remained several months, following trade and whaling, when he again returned to Sand- wich Islands. After remaining here about six months came to San Francisco, arriving May, 1856. After remaining one month in Auburn, Placer county, he came to this county and settled in Benicia, where he remained until December, 1856. He then returned to Sandwich Islands, and remained through the winter, and in the spring returned to Benicia, where he followed his trade until September, when he came to this valley and worked at trade near the marble quarry, about four miles north-east of Suisun. About two months later he settled in Fairfield, where he
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THE HISTORY OF SOLANO COUNTY.
built a shop, in company with J. Foster, which they conducted but a few months, when Mr. Goodwin went to Suisun and worked for Sim. Ramsay for about one year, when he bought Mr. Ramsay out, and entered into partnership with L. H. Fowler. They remained together about one year, after which he worked for different parties for about one and a-half years, when he again settled in Fairfield, where he has been doing busi- ness on his own account ever since. Mr. Goodwin married Miss Catherine Cronan, October 30, 1859. Minnie E., Katie L., (deceased,) Katie E., Benjamin C. (deceased,) Laura E., George P., Nellie F., (deceased,) are the names of their children.
GREGORY, JOHN M., second son and third child of Hon. John M. Gregory, and Amanda M. Wallace, was born March 6, 1840, at Williams- burg, Virginia; removed to Richmond in 1841, and lived in and near Richmond till the fall of 1860; entered Richmond Baptist College in March, 1853, and graduated in June, 1857, with the degree of B. A .; then went to the University of Virginia ; remained there three sessions and graduated in 1860, as Master of Arts ; then commenced the study of law with Thomas Wallace, his mother's brother, and continued the study of law with his father, until the month of May, 1861 ; entered the Confed- erate Army, joining the Richmond Light Infantry Blues, an infantry com- pany commanded by Capt. O. J. Wise, a son of General Henry A. Wise, to whose brigade the company was attached; served for two months, and then, in August, 1861, joined the Rockbridge Artillery, attached to the Stonewall Brigade, as a private, and remained in that company until February, 1863; was then appointed Ist Lieutenant of artillery, and was assigned to duty with Col. Wm. Allen, chief advance officer of Stonewall Jackson's corps; was then assigned to duty as Chief of Ad- vance of the artillery of the same corps; was afterwards promoted to Captain of Artillery, and left the army at Appomattox.C. H., after the surrender of Gen. Lee ; then resumed the study of law, but carried on the lumber business at the same time, until the fall of 1868; came to California, by the Isthmus of Panama, arriving in October, 1868 ; taught school until September, 1869, and then entered upon the practice of law, at Vallejo, Solano county ; was City Atttorney and City Clerk, of Vallejo, and in December, 1873, was elected County Judge, of Solano county, and served four years ; was re-elected in October, 1877, and is now County Judge. Was married May 1, 1872, to Evalyn T. Craven, third daughter of Rear-Admiral Thos. T. Craven U. S. N., and now has two children, John M. Gregory, Jr., born in Suisun, Solano county, June 26, 1875, and Thos. Craven Gregory, born at the same place, October 4, 1878.
GREEN, GEORGE, is a native of Middlesex county, Mass., where he was born May 15, 1828, and was educated in his native county. In 1840,
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THE HISTORY OF SOLANO COUNTY.
moved to Wooster county in that State, residing there until September 15, 1852, at which time he emigrated to California, remaining in Sacra- mento for three months. Soon after the fire, which occurred in that city November 25, 1852, he settled in San Francisco, remaining till 1853, when he returned to Sacramento. In February, 1855, he came to Suisun, Sola- no county, where he has since resided. Married Georgia S., daughter of Joseph Spiller, from western Massachusetts, September 21, 1871. Mr. Green, for many years, has been engaged in stock-raising, and is now with Harvey Rice in the butcher business.
HAILE, HONORABLE R. C. The subject of this sketch is a native of Smith county, Tennessee, receiving his early education at Nashville, after which he moved to Sumner county, and there engaged in mercantile pur- suits from the years 1836 to 1839. On the 17th November, of the first- mentioned year, he married Miss Susan C., daughter of Joseph Seawell, when he proceeded to Lafayette county, Miss., and was respectively em- ployed in school-teaching, book-keeping,and clerking. Hereheremained till the spring of 1849, at which time he emigrated to California, crossing the plains with an ox-team, (leaving his family at Lafayette) and arrived at Sacramento on October 7th, of that year. At this place Mr. Haile re- mained but a short time, when he went to Nevada City, and there pur- sued mining, which he followed for about a year; he next moved to Napa valley and farmed, in partnership with L. C. Burroughs, and Major John H. Seawell ; with this occupation was combined that of lumbering. The partnership was dissolved in 1857, when Mr. Haile, still continuing farming, added merchandizing to his business. In the fall of 1858 he sold out and purchased his present property in Suisun valley, consisting of 510 acres, situated about seven miles northwest of Fairfield, where he has since resided.
Mr. Haile has taken a very prominent lead in the affairs of the State in the section in which he has resided. In the year 1853, when in Napa county, he was elected to the Supervisoral chair, which he occupied for three years. In 1855 he was elected to the Legislature, from the same county, serving during the session of 1856. In Solano county he has twice rep- resented the district in the Legislature, in the sessions of 1869-70 and 1877-78 ; while he has served as a School Trustee ever since his arrival in it.
Mr. Haile's life, however, has not been all a pleasant sunshine. We have mentioned above that when first coming to California he had left his wife in Lafayette ; in 1851 he returned for her and his family, and commenced the fatigue of crossing the plains, with them, at the same time having in charge 100 head of cattle. When at Platte river, Mrs. Haile was siezed with cholera, from the effects of which she succumbed on June 2, 1852.
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THE HISTORY OF SOLANO COUNTY.
Here, far away from friends, on the lonely waste of an unknown border, was this fair pioneer buried, near Fort Kearney, on that river, leaving naught but a mound, heaped by loving hands; the last tender offering to a devoted wife and mother, by her sorrowing husband and children. On September 21, 1853, Mr. Haile re-married, Mrs. Susan D. Sears, of Suisun. His children by his first marriage are: Joseph S., born August 16, 1837 ; Martha A., born March 27, 1839; Leeman, born November 25, 1840; Sarah J., born September 16, 1843; John W., born August 23, 1846; and Susan H., born December 1848. By his second wife there are : Harriett E., born July 13, 1854; James H., born May 22, 1857; Lucy W., born July 27, 1859; Richard C., born November 13, 1862. Leeman died June 13, 1873.
HALE, DAVID, is a native of Oakland county, Michigan, and born Nov.
19th, 1839, where he was educated and followed farming. In 1860, he ' emigrated to California, landing in San Francisco on April 24th, of that year. On April 25th, he came to Suisun, and was employed by J. B. Hoyt, the greater part of the time, for four years, after which he followed teaming six years over the Sierra Nevada mountains. In 1869, he bought what was known as the Ewing ranch, comprising one hundred acres, three and a-half miles west from Suisun. September 8, 1869, he married Laura P. Wing, a native of Maine. Louisa A., and William, are their children.
HAMMOND, E. A., a native of Simpson county, Ky .; born October 8, 1837. At the age of one year he moved, with his uncle, David J. Clayton, to Jackson county, Mo. (he being an orphan), where he lived until 15 years old, when he emigrated, in company with his uncle, to California, crossing the plains with ox teams, arriving in Suisun valley October, 1852. He worked at farming in this county until 1856, when he went to Sonoma county, where he engaged in the sheep business, remaining there one year, and thence to Napa county, and engaged in the cattle trade, where he remained about two years. He then returned to this county and set- tled in the upper end of Suisun valley, where he farmed for one year, and then turned speculator, dealing in horses and cattle, and working by the month until 1867. Married Miss Catherine Ives, April 7, 1867. He then rented a farm, which he occupied for about two years, in Napa county, and then purchased a farm in Pope valley, Napa county, where he re- remained for four years. He then returned to this county, and farmed the widow Clayton farm, in Suisun valley, which he conducted one year. After farming in different parts of this county and Napa for a few years, he made a trip to Texas, where he remained about eight months, when he returned to California, and, after working for a few months as a farın
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THE HISTORY OF SOLANO COUNTY.
hand, leased the ranch where he now resides, in Suisun valley. Mary F., Charles C. (deceased), James S., and William E. are the names of their children.
HOOPER, THOMAS P., the proprietor of the Fairfield Hotel, was born in
Essex county, Mass., November 28, 1840. Here he received his primary education. In May, 1857, he emigrated to this State, settling in Benicia, completing his education at the St. Augustine College in that city. He was appointed Deputy Recorder, which position he filled fourteen months, and then moved to Collinsville and followed merchandizing, and was ap- pointed Postmaster. In the fall of 1875 he was elected County Auditor; the following spring permanently locating in Fairfield. At the expira- tion of his office he bought the Fairfield Hotel and has since been its pro- prietor. Married Anna E. Nichols, daughter of Capt. Moses Nichols, of Benicia. Their children are Minnie S., Lillie E., and Frank.
HOYT, W. K., is a native of Fairfield, Franklin county, Vt., and was born on August 7, 1829. Here he received his primary education at the com- mon schools. Moved to New York City in 1846, and resided with his uncle, W. K. Hoyt, a lawyer in that city, and received his academical edu- cation at the " Mechanics High School." His father took up his resi- dence in that city some time after Mr. Hoyt arrived there, engaging in the drug trade. The subject of this sketch went to Saratoga county, N. Y., from which he emigrated to California via the Isthmus, and arrived in San Francisco February 3, 1852, settling on Spring Flat, El Dorado county, where he was engaged principally in mining, but a portion of the time was employed as a farmer. In October, 1859, he came to Suisun, Solano county, and for over three years was engaged in the butcher busi- ness, but in the fall of 1863 sold out and went to Austin, Nevada Terri- tory, and was one of the electors who cast a vote for the first constitution, of that State. On his return to Suisun, in 1865, he was elected Super- intendent of the Suisun and Fairfield Water Works, and in the meantime was engaged in the grocer trade in company with E. D. Perkins, but sold his interest in the store to that gentleman a few years ago and has since pursued various occupations. Was the Republican nominee for County Treasurer in 1877, and is the present candidate for that office by the same party. Married in Sacramento, Cal., Miss Hannah E., daughter of G. A. Hoyt, a native of Lower Canada, March 5, 1859. She was born April 30, 1841.
HUBBARD, HENRY, came to California with a company organized at Hart- ford, Connecticut, on barque "Selma," Captain Sellew, arriving in San Francisco October 5, 1849; resided in Sacramento the following winter,
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THE HISTORY OF SOLANO COUNTY
a time of " high water," and great suffering among many of the people at that place. In the spring-1850-he went to the mines at Caldwell's Diggings, now Nevada City, and followed mining and trading, in what are now Nevada, Yuba, and Placer counties, with the exception of the time occupied by a visit to his friends in his native State and the State of Georgia-from May, 1852, to October, 1853-until July 5, 1856, at which time he settled at Suisun, where he has since resided. In 1861, he was elected Justice of the Peace and Associate Justice of the Court of Sessions, and up to this time has held the position of Justice of the Peace -nearly ten years. In 1862, soon after the commencement of the war of the Southern rebellion, with the aid and encouragement of others, he estab- lished the newspaper called the SOLANO PRESS, through which to uphold and encourage all friends of the cause of his country, and continued its management until the fall of 1866, when he retired. It can be truthfully said that he has been specially interested in all matters of public interest in his adopted home.
He was born in Bloomfield, Connecticut, May 24, 1820, and received his early education at the public schools of his native county, and at the Connecticut Literary Institution, at Suffield. Married Clarissa Eliza- beth House, in 1846, who died in 1868. He again married, January 26, 1878, Elizabeth (Alderman) Jackson. Has two children by his first mar- riage-Henry F., and Julia.
JONES, JOHN M., the Under-sheriff of Solano county, was born in Wayne · county, Kentucky, March 30, 1832. In 1836 he, with his parents, moved to Howard county, Missouri, but after one year, settled in Scotland county in that State, where Mr. Jones received his early education, and finished the same at the State University, in Boone county. In 1853 he crossed the plains with an ox-team, also bringing a drove of cattle, which he dis- posed of and settled in Suisun, in September, of that year. During the years 1855-6 he was engaged in mercantile trading, having built a build- ing for that purpose in the rear of Reeve's corner brick block. He after- wards engaged in the lumber trade, under the firm name of Jackson & Jones, which he continued until his appointment as Under-sheriff, in 1857, by Sheriff B. T. Osborne, which position he held during the official term. In the years 1860-1 we find him engaged in the livery business, which he had bought of Mr. Barton, when he moved to Austin, Lander county, Nevada, but returned to this county in 1866, engaging in farming until March, 1876, when he was again appointed Under-sheriff, which position he now fills. Married, in this county, Isabella, daughter of Hugh Pen- nel, November 19, 1857. The names of their living children are : Jennie, Helen, Etta, and Katie. James L. died in infancy.
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THE HISTORY OF SOLANO COUNTY.
KENNEDY, W. T., born in Fredericks county, Maryland, October 5, 1814. Here he was educated. December 16, 1835, he moved to Lafayette, Ind., where he served an apprenticeship at the saddle and harness business, and followed it in St. Louis, Missouri, where he moved in 1844. After going to Keokuk to reside three months, he returned to St. Louis, Missouri, and on December 16, 1848, started for California via New Orleans and the Isthmus, arriving in San Francisco May 22, 1849. For several years after coming to this State he was engaged in mining, and after drifting around for awhile, following different occupations, he came, on August 15, 1856, to Suisun city, where he has since resided. On December 12, 1858, in this town, he married Annie Maloney. They have five children, whose names are as follows : Willie T., Anna Laura, George H., Mary C., and John Francis.
KERNS, J. W., was born in New York City, June 19, 1842. When four years old he went, with his parents, to Rochester, New York, where he received his primary education. After remaining here about ten years he moved to Detroit, Michigan, where he learned the tinner's trade, and was employed in the railroad shops, doing their tin and copper work, up to the time he left for New York City, in May, 1861, taking passage on the steamer "North Star," for California, landing in San Francisco in July of that year. From here he went to Sacramento, working at his trade for three months, when he moved to Downieville, Sierra county, Cali- fornia, following the same occupation until July, 1863; thence to Virginia City, remaining until November of that year. Returned to San Fran- cisco, and remained until December, 1863, when he came to Suisun, work- ing for F. J. McGarvey and others, when he went into business for him- self, June, 1873, being that of a hardware and tin store. Married, October 25, 1876, Miss Josie Odell, of Sacramento. She was born August 5, 1855.
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