USA > California > Sonoma County > History of Sonoma 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 time > Part 33
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72 | Part 73 | Part 74 | Part 75 | Part 76 | Part 77 | Part 78 | Part 79 | Part 80 | Part 81 | Part 82 | Part 83 | Part 84 | Part 85 | Part 86 | Part 87 | Part 88 | Part 89 | Part 90 | Part 91 | Part 92 | Part 93 | Part 94 | Part 95 | Part 96 | Part 97 | Part 98 | Part 99 | Part 100 | Part 101 | Part 102 | Part 103 | Part 104 | Part 105 | Part 106 | Part 107 | Part 108 | Part 109 | Part 110 | Part 111 | Part 112 | Part 113 | Part 114 | Part 115 | Part 116 | Part 117 | Part 118 | Part 119
John A. M" Year
263
HISTORY OF SONOMA COUNTY
the entire community. Mr. Barnes later organized the Sotoyome Bank, in which he is a very active member of the board of trustees. At present he is engaged in the culture of hops and at the Alaska Yukon Pacific Exposition he exhibited hops raised on his ranch and secured the first prize and medal. Always a progressive man, he has aided in every public enterprise and has materially assisted in the advancement of the county.
On September 20. 1855. Mr. Barnes married, in Sonoma county, Mary M. Thompson, who came across the plains with her parents from Johnson county, Mo., in 1853, she being a daughter of John D. and Eliza M. (Steele) Thomp- son, who spent the remainder of their days in Sonoma county. Mr. Barnes was made a Mason, Santa Rosa Lodge No. 57, F. & A. M., in 1855. Politically he is a Republican, but with the exception of the office of justice of the peace he has never held a public position. He liked California from the start and has made a success of all his undertakings, rounding out a useful and well- spent career.
JOHN A. McNEAR.
There is no name more widely and favorably known throughout Sonoma county than McNear, and in Petaluma, where John A. McNear has made his home for many years, his name stands for progress and development along every line that has made his home city the leader in trade and commerce in the North of Bay counties. Without doubt he has done more to develop the town in which he lives than any other individual, and now in the evening of his years he can look back upon a life well spent and even now is actively superintending his interests with a vigor unusual in one of his years.
John A. McNear was born in Wiscasset, Lincoln county. Me., December 23. 1832, the son and grandson of John McNear, both of whom were natives of the same place. The grandfather was captain of a vessel on which he was lost at sea : he married Elizabeth Erskine, a sister of Colonel Erskine, one of the first settlers of Pemaquid, Me. She became the mother of twelve children. all of whom lived to attain maturity, and she herself lived to reach the venerable age of ninety-six years. The great-grandfather, also John McNear, lived to the ripe age of ninety-seven years, and he, too, followed the sea throughout his lifetime. He was twice captured by the French and Indians during that war. and each time was ransomed. His wife attained the remarkable age of one hundred and three years. The McNear family are of Scotch ancestry and for seven generations, including the subject of this sketch, have been residents of the United States, and nearly all of the male members of the family have fol- lowed the sea, as master of ships, and a number of them have found a watery grave, never having been heard from after being reported lost.
Mr. McNear's mother was in maidenhood Sarah Bailey, a native of Maine and the daughter of George Bailey, of English descent, who died at the age of ninety-seven years, and all of his four brothers lived to be over eighty years of age. The mother passed away in Maine. Of the children born to her three grew to maturity. Jolin A. being the eldest and the only one now living; George W. became one of the best known grain men in California and died in Oakland.
264
ยท
HISTORY OF SONOMA COUNTY
in December, 1910, and Mary Eliza Nabors died in Mississippi, November 9. 1860.
John A. McNear was reared in Maine, among its rugged hills and coast country, and receiving his education in the common schools of that day and locality. As the principal business that occupied the men of that place was following the sea, it was but natural that the young and ambitious lad should want to follow in the footsteps of his ancestors, and accordingly he began to study navigation at an early age, and as it had been his ambition to become a captain and have a ship of his own to command, he entered upon the life with all the vigor of youth, making several voyages with his father. After he had attended the public schools he entered and graduated from the West Pittston Academy and was prepared to enter the profession of teaching, but did not do so. In 1852 he shipped before the mast on a new ship, the Cape Cod, under the command of Captain Hopkins. The vessel was bound from Boston to St. Johns, New Brunswick, thence to Liverpool and back to New York. On this voyage his salary was $14 per month and found, which consisted of salt beef and hard tack. During this voyage he lost no opportunity to study naviga- tion and became familiar with "altitudes of the sun" and "lunar observations at night." On his return home from this voyage he completed his education in the academy and received a certificate to teach in the spring of 1853. Although but a few months more than twenty years of age he accepted a position as mas- ter of the brig Tiberius. He made but one voyage with this vessel, as he sold it at Bangor, Me. His salary was on shares, and by taking unusual sea risks amounted to about $50 a month at this time, the old sea veterans saying "Not knowing anything, don't fear anything." So well did he negotiate the sale of this vessel that the owners gave him command of the Catherine, which he soon exchanged for the Jasper, and began freighting along the coast from Maine to Boston and New York. In the fall he went south as supercargo in the new ship Thalata, Captain Batchelder, from Bath to New Orleans. This voyage came nearly ending his sea-going experience, for the ship went ashore off the Missis- sippi river, and with the captain he and three men went to get a tug to pull them off. They were in an open boat all day and liable to be swamped at any time by the breakers rolling over them; that night they got ashore and secured three tugs to pull the ship off the mud. After their arrival at New Orleans the cap- tain gave young McNear $25 and refused to make a charge for the freight and machinery he was in charge of for a sawmill on the Pascagoula river. This machinery was brought to the millsite by a schooner and Mr. McNear assisted in putting up the mill. During the time of its building, after a hard day's work, he would raft logs at night down the Pascagoula river to the mill boom, a raft containing as many as fifteen hundred logs brought down during the night, and many times he would be on one end of a log and an alligator on the other. For the night's work he would receive $2. Later on he purchased a vessel for the mill owners and sailed her on the coast between Pascagoula, Miss., and New Orleans, La., receiving $100 per month as his share of the business during this time. The following year he purchased a one-third interest in the sawmilling business of Plummer, Williams & Co., of Pascagoula, and turned the vessel over to be run by his brother, George W. McNear. Here he had the experience of a center board vessel which was being towed down the canal at New Orleans
265
HISTORY OF SONOMA COUNTY
by two mules passing over him from bow to stern-being a good swimmer saved him from being drowned.
From this time John A. McNear superintended the work of the mill as well as marketed the lumber in New Orleans. He went through the yellow-fever and cholera epidemics of 1853-54. George B. Williams, his cousin, who was in Petaluma, Cal., sent him a map of Petaluma creek (the head of navigation at Petaluma) and told of the wonderful country of the coast. At that time, 1856, there were but few scattering houses on the site that marks the flourishing city today. This information was interesting, and he made up his mind to see the country for himself, and if he did not find it satisfactory he could return and take up his duties where he had left them. His brother, George W., then nineteen years old, wanted to come also, but he was induced to stay with his work until the country had been prospected, and with the understanding that if John A. decided to remain and enter in business here, he was to send for his brother. This he did in 1860, and took him into full partnership in the grain and real estate business. He considered himself fortunate that he got out of Mississippi before the war, for if he had remained there he would have un- doubtedly lost everything he had during that struggle.
In the fall of 1856 an event happened that might be called providential, for having sold his interest in the sawmill and wishing to make a trip back to Maine before starting to California, he was offered at Mobile free passage on a vessel that was ready to sail for Boston, but after putting all of his household effects on board he decided to take a stage (one hundred and sixty miles) for Montgomery, Ala., and then by rail at an extra expense of $77, which meant a great deal at that time; a storm followed and that vessel and many others were never heard from again. Later in the same year, 1856, he took passage at New York on the steamer Illinois for Aspinwall, landing at Kingston and Jamaica, on the way crossing the Isthmus of Panama. On this side of the Isth- mus he took passage on the old Sonora, bound for San Francisco, where he arrived November 3, 1856. He came directly to Sonoma county, arriving in Petaluma November 6 of that year, and here he immediately interested himself with a cash capital of $3,000 as a dealer in real estate, loaning money and mer- chandising. There were but few houses in Petaluma and not many improve- ments. In 1857 he bought the Washington livery stable property and took in P. E. Weeks as a partner and manager, to whom he sold out in January, 1860. Having come to Petaluma after hearing Mr. Williams tell of its advantages as the head of navigation, etc., he realized that there would be thousands just like this Williams to tell of the wonderful future of the state and particularly of this section ; as a consequence he believed that it would become rapidly settled and thus insure the prosperity of the country, hence he was not backward in investing his money, and how well he prophesied is now seen from every view- point.
In 1860 Mr. McNear began in the grain and produce business, shipping to San Francisco, in which business his brother George W. was interested as a partner. Their first place of business was on Washington street, and in 1864 they erected what was then the largest warehouse in the state. This was a brick building, and is now a part of the Golden Eagle mill. When Mr. McNear built this it was considered a risky undertaking by many, as the war was in
266
HISTORY OF SONOMA COUNTY
progress and government money less than fifty cents in gold on the dollar, but he had confidence in the good people in the country and in the government's ability to put down the rebellion. About this time another act of Providence intervened to save his life. He was going to San Francisco on the train and as usual rode in the car next to the engine. Happening to look in the cab, he saw a strange engineer at the throttle; he stepped off the train and had not proceeded twenty feet when the boiler exploded and killed the man that was with him, the engineer and many others.
From 1862 to 1865 the company carried on an extensive business in dealing in hardware and machinery in connection with their other business interests. In the last-named year they disposed of that branch of their business and con- fined their energies to the grain and shipping business until August, 1874, when the firm was dissolved, George W. taking the San Francisco business and John A. remaining in Petaluma. He also engaged in exporting to a great extent, and when that part of the business had expanded to considerable proportions it was turned over to George W. in San Francisco and he confined his attention to Petaluma and Sonoma county. George W. developed the grain business in California as did no other individual, and for years he was known as the "Wheat King" of California.
One of the most valuable properties which Mr. McNear has is McNear's Point (Point Pedro), on the Bay, a natural deep water terminus for all of the railroads of Sonoma county. The original property was purchased in 1868. to which he has since added until it now comprises about twenty-five hundred acres, with a valuable water front of over five miles. This is exceptionally finc grazing land, and here he maintains a large dairy. With his son, Erskine B., he has built a large brick manufacturing plant, as they have the most valuable clay in the state for the manufacture of brick. They make about 80,000 per day, employing seventy-five or eighty men. The brick is shipped by their own barges and tugs to San Francisco, where they have a distributing place on Sixth and Barry streets. On the same ranch Mr. McNear has opened the most valu- ble bluestone quarries on the Bay, one of which is being operated by the San Francisco Quarries Company. Mr. McNear gave permission to the govern- ment to cut through his land to shorten the route of Petaluma creek, although it left him short thousands of feet of water front, but he was desirous of doing anything that would tend to shorten the route, thus keeping down freight rates, making them one-third less than formerly. In order to accomplish daily trips to San Francisco by steamer from Petaluma he built a canal nearly a mile long with a basin 250x500 feet so that steamers could enter at any time. This he did from his private means, as well as keeping it open at an expense of thou- sands of dollars. It is his belief that some day this canal will be extended tc the Bay. He owns the land along the cast side of Petaluma creek as far as below the railroad bridge and secured the mahogany mill for the city.
Mr. McNear claims credit for making the first concrete in California, cut- ting the material into squares after laying the concrete in a plastic state on the floors in his warehouse as early as 1864. This process was twenty years later covered by the Shillinger patent. In building a reservoir at Point McNear he used reinforced concrete over forty years ago, and at the same time made con- crete floors and feed boxes in his dairy. the first of the kind on the Bay. He
267
HISTORY OF SONOMA COUNTY
also was the originator of heating tar and asphaltum by running coils of pipe through the tank, through which circulated steam from the boiler (for dipping pipe when building the Petaluma water works), a process which was afterward patented. Mr. McNear also has credit of setting out the first eucalyptus grove in Sonoma county, in 1866, raising the trees from the seed in open ground and later transplanting the young plants from the seed beds. This process cheap- ened the plants to one cent apiece, whereas the price had formerly been twenty- five cents. Some years ago hie constructed a concrete brick reinforced reservoir forty feet in diameter, with a capacity of one hundred and twenty-five thousand gallons. This was constructed of concrete and brick, reinforced with galvan- ized twisted ribbon wire, with a series of coils for each tier of brick. This has withstood the blasting from quarries, as well as the earthquake of 1906.
During 1865 Mr. McNear built the handsome and commodious fast pas- senger and freight steamer Josie McNear expressly for the Petaluma trade. taking passengers at fifty cents to San Francisco, the effect of which was the immediate reduction of the fare from $2.50 to $1 between Petaluma and San Francisco by the Minton line. Mr. McNear's plan has always been not to see how much he could get out of a customer, but to see how much he could do for him. This same advice he gave to his oldest son, George P., when he en- tered his business, and in following this policy he has gained the confidence of the people, and is one of the foremost business men of San Francisco and North- ern California. For many years Mr. McNear and this son were in partner- ship, carrying on and building up one of the largest mercantile enterprises of its kind in the state. Of late years the business has been carried on by the son alone, the business transacted amounting to about $1,500,000 annually. The average pay roll for labor by Mr. McNear and three sons has been $10,000 per month for many years.
In all matters that have been for the upbuilding of Petaluma Mr. Mc.Near has always been found ready and willing to assist to the best of his ability and it was through his influence that the silk factory, shoe factory, and many other manufacturing interests were secured to Petaluma, he giving the site for the buildings and thousands of dollars and months of time. He also gave the acre of land upon which the shoe factory and East Petaluma school are located, and with his son, George P., promoted the present electric railroad that has done so much to develop the entire country, and plans are now under way to extend the road to the bay (deep water) and San Francisco by ferry, also to Healdsburg. Mr. McNear is one of the largest property owners in the city, and at the same time one of the most prosperous. He is never lacking in enterprise and had all others been as progressive as he, Petaluma would now be many times its present size. Almost every business enterprise in which he has engaged has prospered, and another of the worthy movements started by him was the building of the water works to supply the growing needs of the city, acting as president of the company during its construction. He was also the organizer of the Sonoma County Bank, the first incorporated bank in Sonoma county, and the strongest financial institution of the county ; and he is the only living member of the orig- inal twenty stock subscribers who were selected-each taking $5,000- and he has been the designer and builder of many of the best blocks in the city. Perhaps the work best known and for which he is held in the highest esteem has been the
268
HISTORY OF SONOMA COUNTY
development and beautifying of Cypress Hill Cemetery, upon which he has spent many thousands of dollars. This park is located on the outskirts of Petaluma, on a rise of ground from which one can get a view of the entire surrounding country and it is improved upon a scale that makes it equal to any other public enterprise of its kind in the state, having miles and miles of beautiful drives lined with all the varieties of trees.
In 1867 Mr. McNear erected his present residence (opposite "Walnut Plaza" which he secured for the city at great personal expense) upon a block . of ground. which is without doubt one of the most beautiful places in the city. The yard is enclosed with a stone fence, the stones being secured from the hills nearby and set on end with smaller rocks used as filler, giving a unique and sub- stantia! appearance with its seven hundred feet of frontage. Beautiful trees and shrubbery embellish the lawn, and make the house appear like a jewel in its setting. It is in the midst of these surroundings that Mr. McNear is seen and can be appreciated, as by the quick yet keen glance from his eyes and his kindly though unassuming manner, his modesty and strength of character and decision of mind are plainly expressed.
On September 3, 1854, in Pascagoula, Miss., John A. McNear and Miss Clara D., daughter of George B. Williams, were united in marriage. She died in San Francisco January 17, 1866. On May 15, 1867, he was married to Miss Hattie S. Miller, in the Church of the Advent, the service being conducted by Rev. George H. Jenks. Mrs. McNear is the daughter of Michael John Miller, who was born in Alsace, France. His father, John Miller, served twenty years in the French army under Napoleon and was in the march to Moscow and present at the burning of that city. He brought his family to New York state, locating in Monroe county, where his death occurred. Michael J. Miller brought his family to California in 1864, coming by way of the Isthmus of Panama, and locating in San Francisco, where he engaged in the commission business and later in the transportation and freight business. In 1870 he located in Petaluma, where he became prominent in business and social circles. His wife, Julia Upton, was born in Rindge, N. H., the daughter of Nathan and Hannah (Colburn) Upton, both natives of New Hampshire. The father died in Petaluma in 1900, and the mother in 1907. In their family besides Mrs. McNear there was a daughter, Mattie A., the wife of Capt. Nathaniel Gould, of Petaluma. Of Mr. McNear's second marriage two children were born, as follows: John A., Jr., who is a graduate of Cooper Medical College, but is aiding his father in his vast business undertakings instead of following his profession, and Erskine Baker, who is manager of the brick-manufacturing plant at McNear's Point. Of Mr. McNear's first marriage there is one son living, George P., who was educated at the Petaluma high school and the Oakland Military Academy and is the most ex- tensive grain and real-estate dealer in Sonoma county, president of the Sonoma County National Bank, and who with his father originated and built the Petaluma and Santa Rosa Railroad. The elder Mr. McNear was president of this road from its inception and during the time it was being constructed looked after the details of construction. After the road was completed he acted as president of the company without salary for four years, when by his suggestion the general manager was made president, and he has since served as vice-president and di-
IGW. durham
271
HISTORY OF SONOMA COUNTY
rector of the road. Plans are now under way to continue the line to deep water at Point McNear, for connection with San Francisco.
Of all the prominent pioneers of the state there is none more deserving of the esteem and good will of the people than John A. McNear, for wherever his name is known it means that he has stamped some indelible action in that locality that has almost made his name a household word. He is typically a Californian by adoption, always of the most loyal kind, honorable, upright, and a man who has forged his way to the front through the exercise of talents given him by nature, and while doing this there has never been a time that he has neglected the duties of a citizen. He is a large property owner in Petaluma and Sonoma county, nor are his interests confined to this one section, for he has confidence in the state and has made judicious investments in other places which have returned him a good profit. It is to such men as John A. McNear that attention is directed and whose example is worthy of emulation.
ISAAC G. WICKERSHAM.
One of the old and prominent residents of the coast, well known through his accomplishments in financial and other activities throughout Sonoma county, was the late Isaac G. Wickersham, whose residence in Petaluma dated from his arrival in November, 1853, until his death, in June, 1899. The youngest of the large family of eleven children included in the parental family, he was born in Newberrytown, York county, Pa., August 26, 1820. The father died in 1825, when Isaac was only five years of age, but the mother did a noble part in endeavoring to supply the loss of this parent to her children. Though handi- capped by delicate health and a nervous temperament, Isaac G. Wickersham struck out in the world on his own account at the age of fifteen years, and as testimony of the careful rearing of his mother, as well as to the possession of an inborn refinement and uprightness of character, it may he said that he met hard- ships and temptations with fortitude. For a number of years he experienced life in the eastern states and Canada, but the year 1840 found him in Indiana, where, in Newcastle, Henry county, he had taken up the study of law in the office of Judge Elliott. In the meantime the slavery question had created two strong factions, and it was to the anti-slavery cause that the young law student gave the weight of his influence, in 1840 acting as secretary of the Indiana State Anti-Slavery Society, and he took an active part in Harrison's presidential cam- paign. Upon the completion of his law studies, in the spring of 1843. he was admitted to the bar, but before settling down to practice he decided to come further west.
Mr. Wickersham's next move brought him as far west as Keokuk, Iowa, where he established a law office and built up an excellent practice, which gave evidence of his thorough understanding of the intricacies of his profession and the confidence which his clients reposed in his ability. During the decade which he remained in Iowa he accumulated considerable means, but failing health at the end of this time was the means of his making an extended tour through Mexico and California, in the hope of restoring his lost vitality. From New
272
HISTORY OF SONOMA COUNTY
Orleans he went to Vera Cruz, where he was joined by a company who bought horses, and from there they went to the City of Mexico, and ten days later to Acapulco. During all of this time, with the exception of the time he passed in the City of Mexico, he slept out of doors. By steamer from Acapulco he went to San Francisco, thence on to Sacramento, where he bought a horse and supplies and made an investigation of the mines. Crossing the Sierras he met emigrants coming to California, and it was there, at Carson's sink, that he saw and grasped a good opportunity, which was to buy cattle and cut hay. Novem- ber. 1853, found him in Petaluma, which was then a very small village, and consequently he did not find the market for his goods that he had anticipated. However, he was not discouraged and decided to hold his cattle and hay for a better market in the spring. In the meantime he showed his faith in the ulti- mate future of the settlement by erecting a house that was a credit to himself and the town. In the spring of 1854 he cut three hundred tons of hay on the flat directly north of town, thereby putting to use the first mowing machine that had ever been brought to the Sonoma side of the bay.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.