USA > California > Sonoma County > History of Sonoma County : including its geology, topography, mountains, valleys, and streams > Part 71
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Weston, Henry L. Was born in Bremen, Lincoln county, Maine, October 6, 1826. When about fourteen years of age, he left the paternal roof'and went to Augusta to live with his eldest brother, William K. Weston, who subsequently came to California and at the time of his death was serving his second term as County Judge of Solano county. About one year after his arrival at Augusta the subject of our memoir entered The Age office, in which he served a six years' apprenticeship. Very soon after arriving at the age of twenty-one, he entered upon the profession of journalism, locating at the neighboring city of Gardiner, where he remained until the Summer of 1851, when he removed to Boston, taking a situation in the office of the New England Railway Guide. In this same office Charles F. Brown, who in after years achieved a world-wide reputation as " Artemus Ward," the showman, was then serving an apprenticeship. Here also was enjoyed the companion- ship and intimate acquaintance of Benjamin P. Shillober, the inimitable " Mrs. Partington," who at that time was ventilating the old lady's idiocynerasy and Ike's tricks through the columns of that racy but short-lived weekly, the Carpet Bag. The climate of Boston proving too severe for a not over robust constitution, Mr. Weston determined upon a trip to California. Accordingly, on January 20, 1853, in company with his brother Samuel T., who had before been there (to California) and was then East on a visit, and his youngest brother, Seneca K., who was likewise a printer, he took passage on the clipper ship "Flying Arrow," Charles T. Treadwell, Master. Mr. Weston's experience of "a life on the ocean wave" must have been any-
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thing but agreeable, for in less than twenty-four hours after leaving Boston harbor, the ship was dismasted and came near foundering with all on board, for every boat belonging to the ship was either washed overboard or crushed by the falling spars. To the great relief of the entire ship's company, the port of St. Thomas, West Indies, was finally reached on the morning of the twenty-sixth day after the disaster. The arrival in their harbor of a first- class clipper ship and in distress was an event of no small degree of interest to the people of the little island, and this interest was in no wise lessened when the report became circulated that the passengers on board had a print- ing-press and at the hour of their arrival were printing and circulating among the officials and visitors to the ship, the initial number of the Ocean Spray, a little paper containing a full account of the disaster. To Mr. Weston, we believe, belongs the honor of being the first person to print and publish a newspaper at sea. After a stay of a few weeks at St. Thomas, Mr. Weston and his brother Samuel, together with several others of their fellow-passengers, took passage via Aspinwall and Panama for San Fran- cisco, arriving at their destination in March. Their brother Seneca, who had determined to remain at St. Thomas and await the repairing and refitting of the ship, took sick of the yellow fever and died two weeks after their departure. The voyage of the "Flying Arrow" appears to have been peculiarly unfortunate. Before the completion of repairs upon the ship, a large proportion of her officers, passengers and crew died of the fever, and nearly everyone had been down sick with it. So reduced had the crew become when the vessel was ready for sea, that it was found necessary to proceed to New York for more men before proceeding on her voyage to California. The vessel finally reached San Francisco in the early part of 1854. The first two years of Mr. Weston's residence in this State were spent in clerking and mining. In July, 1855, accepting a proposition from T. L. Thompson, Esq., he came to Petaluma, accompanying the first press and types brought to this place. Here he has almost uninterruptedly con- tinued to reside from that date to this, with the exception of a business trip made to the then Territory of Nevada, in the Spring and Summer of 1864, and where he started, and as he then hoped successfully established, the Lyon County Sentinel, at the town of Dayton. The entire establishment, how- ever, was completely destroyed by fire in July of the following year, entailing a heavy pecuniary loss to its enterprising projector. The history of the Petaluma Weekly Argus and that of its senior proprietor is so inti- mately allied that his career for a period of years, covering nearly a quarter of a century, is therein faithfully recorded. We believe we but express the common sentiment of all the old residents of Petaluma and Sonoma county, when we say that during all this time he has uniformly manifested that deep interest in the well-being and prosperity of the home of his choice which is peculiarly characteristic of the liberal and public spirited journalist. Mr.
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Weston [married Miss Caroline H. MeCardy, of Gardiner, Maine, December 18, 1850, who joined him in California in the Fall of 1857. The result of the union has been four children: Caro F. (deceased), Kate C., Harry McC. and Samuel P. Mrs. Weston is a woman of marked ability and great artistic talent. She has ever been found among the foremost in the community in all matters of a publie or private character in which the gentler sex usually take a part. In the ornamental branches, such as music, painting, drawing, etc., she deserv- edly takes high rank. Exhibits of the works of her hands made at the annual fairs of the District Agricultural Society in years past always attracted much attention and commanded a public recognition for their excellence. In embroidery she is particularly clever, producing a picture which for shading, coloring and good effect is rarely excelled by oil paintings coming from the hands of artists of note. The walls of her parlors are ornamented with two at least of the largest and most artistically wrought pieces of tapestry to be found in the State, if not indeed in the United States.
Whitney, Hon. Albion Paris. The subject of this memoir, whose portrait appears in this work, is the son of William and Olive Whitney, and was born in Corinth Penobscot county, Maine, September 15, 1825. In 1840 his parents removed to Aroostook county, in the northern part of the State. His education was obtained in the common schools of the State, and at the age of twenty he engaged in the lumber and milling business, pur- suing the same at Fairfield, and at Kent in the same county, until 1856, when he removed with his family to Minneapolis, Minnesota, where he remained one year, and then removed to Meeker county, in the same State, and laid out the town of Kingston, erecting mills, and engaged in flouring and lumbering business. At the same time he commenced a general mer- chandising business to meet the wants of the new settlement then on the frontier. Here he soon succeeded in building up a large business and securing the esteem of his fellow citizens. In 1858 he was elected by the Republicans and Douglas Democrats to the State Legislature to represent Meeker, Benton and Stearns counties. In 1859 he removed to California, making the trip overland, and spent the first two years in the mines, until 1861, when he removed to Petaluma and engaged in the grocery business with Mr. Cross, in the old store on the corner of English and Main streets, opposite his present location. From this small beginning he has worked his way steadily upward, until his business has become the largest in the county. He has united warehousing, commission and shipping business with his other vocation, having six large warehouses and employing several packets between Petaluma and San Francisco. He has ever taken a deep interest in all movements for the development of the resources of the county and the welfare of the people. He has been one of the most zealous supporters of the Sonoma and Marin District Agricultural Society, and its President for the last two years. He was a delegate to the National Convention at Cincin-
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nati in 1876, which nominated President Hayes, and in 1877 he was elected State Senator from Sonoma county, hitherto largely Democratic. During the time he was in the Legislature, he was upon several important com- mittees, and was a laborious and prominent member of the Senate. On February 21, 1850, he married Susan D. Eastman, a native of Jackson, New Hampshire. Mr. Whitney has seven children living, the oldest of whom is in business in San Francisco; the second son is in the University of California; the eldest daughter is married and happily settled near Petaluma.
Wickersham, Isaac G. No man has held a more prominent position in Sonoma than he whose name appears above and whose portrait has a place in this work. He was born of respectable, well-to-do Quaker parents at Newberry, York county, Pennsylvania, on the 26th of August, 1820, and is the youngest son in a family of eleven children-his father died in 1825- of rather delicate physique, but of an active nervous temperament. At the age of fifteen he left the confortable home of his mother and commenced the battle of life on his own account, meeting with many hardships and travel- ling much over the United States and Canada. Engaged in various honor- able employments, by industry and economy overcoming all obstacles in his youthful career, avoiding bad company, with a fixed determination that his name should never be coupled with a dishonest or dishonorable act, and wherever he is known, either in his youthful wanderings or latter life, he has enjoyed the confidence of all. In 1840, we find him Secretary of the Indiana State Anti-Slavery Society, and taking an active part in the Har- rison presidential campaign, and a law student in the office of Judge Elliott at Newcastle, Henry county, Indiana, where he remained until the Spring of 1843, having been admitted to the bar. He resolved to go farther west, and located at Keokuk, Lee county, Iowa, where he engaged in the practice of his profession with reasonable success. In the Spring of 1853, being in poor health, and having travelled over much of the United States and Canada, and having accumulated ample means to entitle him to a little recreation, he conceived the idea of a tour through Mexico and California. Procecding to New Orleans, thence to Vera Cruz, where in company with others who had joined him they purchased horses and proceeded north to the City of Mexico, where he remained about ten days, and thence on horse-back to Acapulco, not having slept in a house or on a bed, except while in the city of Mexico, since leaving Vera Cruz; thence by steamer to San Francisco, from there to Sacramento, where he purchased a horse and blankets and started alone to inspect the mines. Finally he crossed the Sierra Nevada mountains, meeting the emigrants at Carson sink. His active temperament could not allow of his being idle and, having some ready means, he commenced purchasing cattle and cutting hay. In November, 1853, he arrived with his cattle at Petaluma, but not finding a desirable
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market for them in that Fall he determined there to await the Spring. During the Winter, he occupied his time in the erection of a house in the then infant city of Petaluma, but with no intention of permanently locating there. In 1854, he cut about three hundred tons of hay on the flat imme- diately north of the city, where he used the first mowing machine operated on the Sonoma side of San Francisco bay. Shortly after this event, he commenced the practice of his profession; in 1855, he was elected District Attorney, an office he filled with much ability for two years; with his legal business he combined that of Notary Public, and also engaged in the lending of money. In the year 1865, he established the private banking firm of I. G. Wickersham & Co. in Petaluma and in 1867, erected the first bank building in that city, while, on January 1, 1875, the banking house of I. G. Wickersham & Co. was organized as a National Gold Bank. Mr. Wicker- sham has been inseparably connected with many benefits conferred upon the city where he has made his home, as may be attested by a reference to our history of Petaluma township. It is a pleasure to look upon such a career rewarded with comfort and plenty. He has taken and is taking a great and leading interest in the affairs of the Episcopal church in his town, and though of a modest and retiring disposition, his knowledge of the world and keen acumen will stand him, we hope, in good stead for many years to come. Mr. Wickersham married May 21, 1867, Lydia C. Rickett, a native of Fall River, Massachusetts, by whom he has now living four children, two boys and two girls.
Wigand, Theodore. Native of Pyrmont, Waldeck, Germany; was born November 26, 1846. After having attended Dr. Damann's cosmo- politan school in Hameln, Hanover, for two years, he commenced in 1863 the preparatory course of studies at the Gymnasium of Lemgo, continuing the same afterwards at Corbach, where he passed the regular examination required by law for admittance to medical courses at a uni- versity, September, 1868. He then studied medicine at the University of Marburg, Prussia; there passed the first medical examination in 1870, and took the degree of M. D. October 15, 1873. During the Franco-German war he entered the Prussian army as volunteer assistant surgeon. After having spent about twenty months in visits to the universities of Wurzburg, Heidelberg and Berlin, attending lectures and visiting hospitals, he came to the United States in the Winter of 1875, landing in San Francisco. He practiced his profession for a short time in Yreka, Siskiyou county, but soon went back to San Francisco, and finally settled in Petaluma in May, 1878. Doctor Wigand is married to Sophia, daughter of the late merchant and mayor of Mengeringhausen, Waldeck, Germany, Ludwig Schluckebier.
Williams, George B. A native of Lincoln county, Maine, born December 5, 1809. Here he received his education, and was reared a farmer.
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At twenty-one years of age he managed and conducted a farm on his own account. On December 18, 1849, he emigrated to California, on board the schooner "Danascone," and arrived July 12, 1850. After disposing of the cargo, he being one of the owners, he proceeded to the mines at Pine-log crossing. Here he found his brother, John M., who had emigrated to the State previously. In 1850, in company with his brother and two other gen- tlemen, erected a building on Commercial street, San Francisco, known as the Globe Hotel; here he conducted the hotel business for one year. In November, 1851, Mr. Williams came to Petaluma, and purchased a pre- emption right, in company with Capt. H. Luce, of Massachusetts, which com- prised about one-half of the present site of Petaluma, but lost it by litigation. On March 14, 1853, he and W. M. Wright purchased a ranch of Major Singley, one mile north of this city, where he resided until 1855. June 1, 1855 Mr. Williams' wife arrived from the East, while he had departed but a few days previous to accompany her to this State. The fact of her being in California he did not know until he reached Boston. He soon found his way back, joined his wife, and on December 25, 1855, took up their resi- dence in Petaluma. In the Spring of 1854 he commenced the erection of the Washington Hotel, hauling the lumber from the redwoods. He was proprietor of the Washington Hotel for one year, after which he teamed for some time. Mr. Williams has done much toward the advancement of the town in the way of building, and has ever manifested a spirit of thrift and enterprise, and has lived to see the fruits of his labor crowned with success, which will ever remain in remembrance of him who did not weary in well- doing. Married Miss Mehetable, daughter of George and Johanna Lilly, November 20, 1834. She was born in Lincoln county, Maine, February 17, 1807. George R., born February 20, 1839 (residing in East Oakland); Rosa Lilly, born December 24, 1840 (widow of P. E. Weeks); Laura J., born November 26, 1842, are the names and births of their living children.
Winans, David M. A native of Elkhart county, Indiana, was born September 11, 1838, where he received his education and resided upon a farm until 1856, when he emigrated to California via Panama, arriving at San Francisco the latter part of November of that year. After spending about three weeks in Alameda county, he proceeded to Marin county, and after spending three years as a common laborer, he engaged in dairying, which business he pursued seven years; he then came to this county, remaining only a short time when he went East, remained about two months, when he returned to this county and purchased his present estate, about two miles north of Petaluma. During his residence in Marin county he filled the office of road master one term. He married April 7, 1870, Miss Mariah E. Newell, a native of Elkhart county, Indiana, born December 19, 1848. By this union they have two children, Annie M. and William J.
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Zartman, William. Was born in Northumberland county, Pennsyl- vania, October 20, 1829. When a child his parents moved to Schuylkill county in that State, where William was educated and resided until 1848. Previous to this date both his parents had died, and he determined going West, which he carried out by settling in Chicago, Illinois, where he was engaged in clerking for one year. In the Spring of 1849 he engaged as an apprentice to the wagon-maker's trade, and at the completion of his engage- ment, on December 1, 1851, he came to this State on the steamer "Falcon " to Panama, and on the steamer " Isthmus " to San Francisco, arriving at the latter place January 14, 1852. He at once proceeded to Calaveras county, where he engaged in mining until the end of June, when he became a resident of Petaluma. In July following he, in company with John Fritsch, opened a wagon and blacksmith shop. In 1861 Mr. Zartman, Fritsch and others built a quartz-mill at Gold Hill, Nevada, and the subject of this sketch was selected as its superintendent until 1864, when the mill was disposed of. In 1865 Mr. Zartman took passage on the steamer " America " for the East via Nicaragua. On the east side of the Isthmus he took passage on the "Golden Rule." After visiting most of the Eastern and middle States, he took passage on the "Golden Rule " for California in May, 1865. He was delayed on the way, being wrecked in the Caribbean sea. Two days after the wreck the passengers succeeded in reaching an island, and after inhabiting this lonely spot for eleven days they were rescued by United States gunboats. Out of seven hundred passengers, only one was lost. After crossing the Isthmus he took the steamer " America," and arrived at San Francisco July 1, 1865. Mr. Zartman went direct to his previous home in Petaluma, where he has since resided. In 1867 he built his present carriage shop, where he has since conducted business. He married, January 1, 1854, Miss Rhoda Carothers. She was born in Indiana March -, 1829. By this union they have five children: William H., George W., Benjamin F., Katie A. and Mary B.
Allen, Olliver .* The subject of this memoir, whose portrait occupies a position in this work, was born in Windham county, Connecticut, on the 29th day of January, 1804. Here he received his early education and learned the trade of a cabinet-maker from his father, who was a large manufacturer of furniture. At the age of sixteen years he was sent to the Southern States as a traveling agent for his father's manufactured goods, in which agency he was quite successful. Returning after an absence of about a year, he went to work again at his trade in his father's shop, and at the age of twenty-one went to New York to perfect his knowledge of the furniture business; on the completion of his time in the city, he established himself in the furniture business at Norwich, Connecticut, in which he con- tinued for several years. He then opened a machine shop, which was
* This sketch was received too late to be inserted in its proper order.
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destroyed by fire. After the catastrophe which had deprived Mr. Allen of all his property, he was appointed Inspector of steamboats, boilers and engines for the State of Connecticut, under the first United States law pro- viding for such inspectors. He was also employed by Colonel Potter, of the United States engineering corps, who was then engaged in improving the channels of the river Thames and the Connecticut river. The surveys for this work were performed by Mr. Allen, and while he was engaged in this and similar work at other points for about two years, he made important discoveries affecting machinery used in steam dredging which became of great practical use and value. At this period he entered into a partnership with Messrs. Randall & Haskell, of New Bedford, Massachusetts, and E. H. Holmes, of South Windham, Connecticut, for the purpose of carrying on the business of steam dredging, the deepening of channels, canals and other work requiring submarine excavations. During the next few years in which Mr. Allen was engaged in the business, he received several patents for improve- ment in dredging apparatus which he had originated and perfected. He caused to be constructed a number of dredging machines with many novel and improved patterns. The business of this company was carried on quite extensively and successfully, both in the United States and Canada. Mr. Allen afterwards disposed of his interest in this business, and his attention being called to the many risks and dangers incurred by the whalemen, he determined, if possible, to furnish them with some implement or method whereby many of their difficulties might be avoided, and, after considerable study and many experiments, he succeeded in producing a "bomb-lance," which was the first explosive projectile ever used in killing whales. These bomb-lances have been, and are now, used almost universally by whalemen in all parts of the world, and have been the means of saving many valuable lives, as well as being a great aid to a very important industry. In April, 1849, the subject of this sketch joined a company of sixty members who bought the "May Flower," and, after loading her with an assorted cargo, started for the then new gold region of California; they had a fair passage, with the exception of a very severe storm which occurred off Cape Horn on the 4th of July, arriving at San Francisco in September, 1849, having made the trip from New Bedford in five months and thirteen days. Before leaving the East, the company had purchased the river steamboat "Lawrence," which, under the superintendence of Mr. Allen, was taken apart and with all of her machinery stowed away in the hold of the " May Flower," and after their arrival at San Francisco the ship sailed to the mouth of the San Joaquin river, at a point known as New York, where the steamer was taken out and rebuilt under the direction of Mr. Allen, and was the first steamboat that ever reached Stockton. The company above referred to retained its organization for some months after their arrival in California, during which time they carried on different mining operations in both the northern and
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HISTORY OF SONOMA COUNTY, CALIFORNIA.
southern mines, in each of which they were only moderately successful. The property of the company was finally sold and the proceeds divided among the members, to the satisfaction of all. During the Winter of 1849-50, Mr. Allen was employed by Col. Stevenson on certain surveys at the mouth of the San Joaquin river, after the completion of which he spent some time in the mines of Tuolumne county, but after a while found his way back to San Francisco and very soon went into a farming operation in Tuolumne county, but after losing three crops in succession, two by floods and one by drouth, and having his house and about all that he possessed destroyed by fire, he concluded to abandon that enterprise and make a trip East, which he did by way of the Isthmus, in the Summer of 1852, and after spending some four or five months with his family, returned to California. He was soon after engaged to reconstruet two saw-mills at Bolinas, Marin county, which was done to the entire satisfaction of the owners. At about this time his family, consisting of his wife and two sons, arriving from the East, he bought a house and claim to a piece of land and mill-site on Daniel's creek, Marin county. This place was afterwards sold to Messrs. Taylor & Post, who built thereon the Pioneer Paper Mill, the first paper mill ever operated on this coast. Mr. Allen aided in the construction of the mill, and for about two years following was engaged in various ranching and mechanical operations, and in 1859 moved with his family to Point Reyes, Marin county, and engaged in the business of dairying. In the year 1865, he purchased, in company with his son Charles D. Allen, a tract of land of about two thousand acres in Nicasio township, Marin county, which they improved and made one of the best appointed dairy ranches on this coast. In 1875 he sold his interest in the ranch to his son Charles and moved to Petaluma, where he has since been and is at present residing. While in the dairy business, Mr. Allen was the inventor of an improved butter worker and a butter mold, both of which are now in general use among the dairy- men of this State and elsewhere. He is also the patentee and manufacturer of Allen's improved fracture bed, which has proved a very useful and com- plete appliance for the treatment of fractures of the thigh, and is also of great service in the treatment of other surgical cases. Mr. Allen was mar- ried March 18, 1827, to Miss J. C. Goodspeed, of East Haddam, Connecticut. There were born to them five children, two daughters and three sons, only two of the children, the two youngest boys, reached the age of manhood and only the youngest, Charles D., is now living, his eldest brother having died at Point Reyes at the age of twenty-five. Mrs. Allen died at Petaluma March 23, 1879, at the age of seventy-five years, and after a married life of more than fifty-two years.
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