USA > California > Sonoma County > History of Sonoma County : including its geology, topography, mountains, valleys, and streams > Part 74
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and Vancouver Island, and in February, 1859, sailed from San Francisco for South America; and as his business called him to all the principal cities and towns of that country, he chartered a schooner and visited most of the ports between Panama and Patagonia. He afterwards traveled for about two years, mostly in the interior of Peru, Bolivia, Chile, and the Argentine Republic. He also spent two years as a sub-contractor on one of the South American railroads. In 1865 he established a business in Valparaiso, Chile, which business he continued until 1872. During the same period he also took several contracts on the government works then in progress in Valpa- raiso, bought, improved and sold real estate, etc. Soon after settling in Valparaiso he married Miss Mercedes Leiva, of San Fernando, Chile. In 1872 he sold his property and business in Valparaiso and returned with his family to, California. He soon after bought some real estate on Hampton Place, San Francisco, where he lived for one year; and in 1873 he bought and moved on the place where he now lives, at Fort Ross, Sonoma county, California.
Fisk, John Colt. This pioneer saw-mill man was born in Brookfield, Orange county, Vermont, September 13, 1825. His father's name was James and his mother's maiden name was Eliza Colt. Both were to the manor born. He received his education in the common schools and at the Brookfield Academy. At the age of eighteen he went into the business of contracting and building railroad bridges, on his own account. He continued at this till he was twenty-four years of age. On the 13th day of November, 1849, he left Boston on the clipper ship "Reindeer," bound for San Francisco. He arrived in April, 1850, and went direct to the mines, locating at James- town, Tuolumne county. He engaged in mining in different parts for about two years, and then went into Suisun valley in Solano county, and raised the first general crop of grain ever grown in that valley. He procured the seed from Captain Yount, in Napa valley. In November, 1852, he started for a visit to his old home, returning in April, 1853. Upon his return, he purchased a tract of land in the southern part of Vaca valley, Solano county. He remained here till the Fall of 1858, when he moved to Napa valley and erected a steam saw-mill. Here he remained two years. In 1860, he located on the coast of Sonoma county, at the point which still bears his name- Fisk's Mill. Here he leased a large tract of land from Mr. A. Duncan, and in the Winter of 1860, he constructed his mill. He conducted the mill business at this place till the Fall of 1864, when he disposed of it to F. Helmke. He remained in charge of the business, however, for the next three years. In the Spring of 1867, Mr. Fisk went to Fisherman's Bay and, associating his brother A. J. with him, under the firm name of Fisk Bros., engaged in the merchandise, shipping, hotel and blacksmith business. His brother died in 1874, since which time Mr. Fisk has conducted the business. In 1855, Mr. Fisk was appointed a member of the first Board of Super- visors of Solano county. He was appointed Postmaster at Fisherman's
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Bay in 1874, holding the office ever since. He is also agent for Wells, Fargo & Co. John C. Fisk was married June 19, 1853, to Miss Sarah M. Hubbard, a native of Thetford, Vermont. Her father's name was Orange Hubbard, a native of the same town and State, and her mother's maiden name was Lorane Boardman. They have had eight children, six of whom, Walter W., Eugene F., George S., Charles B., Andrew J. and Frederick H. are now living.
Haigh, Robert. Born in Washington county, Missouri, February 23, 1847. When he was but six years of age, his parents emigrated to Califor- nia by way of the plains, and on arrival settled on a farm in Santa Clara county, where they remained until 1856, in which year they removed to Sonoma county, and settled on a farm near Litton Springs, where his father and mother still reside. The subject of this sketch was educated at the Sotoyome Institute in Healdsburg. In 1871, in company with his brother George, he embarked in stock-raising, which business they have since followed. Their stock range comprises about three thousand acres, and is situated in the mountains, about twenty-five miles north-west from Healdsburg. Mr. Haigh married, October 23, 1872, Elizabeth Rogers, a native of Jackson county, Missouri, by whom he has: Estella, born January 31, 1874; Robert C., born December 21, 1875; and Leonora, born April 3, 1878.
Schroyer, Aaron. This gentleman was born in Bunker Hill, Bucks county, Pennsylvania, March 26, 1828. When he was two years of age his parents moved to Germantown, about six miles north of Philadelphia. Here they resided for the next six years. They then moved to the city of Phila- delphia. Young Sehroyer received his education at the Germantown Acad- emy, from which institution he graduated at the age of seventeen. He then engaged in the grocery business, in which he continued during the next four years. July 3, 1849, he sailed from Philadelphia, on the ship "Europe," for California via Cape Horn, and arrived in San Francisco February 8, 1850. He at once engaged in the business of lightering, and continued in it for a few months. He then went to the mines in El Dorado county. He remained in the mines for two years. He then started a trading post four miles south of Mud Springs, El Dorado county, where he remained for about two years, when he went down into the valleys for the purpose of engaging in ranching. He located on the Cosumnes river, where he remained until 1856, at which time he went over into Marin county, locating on the Nicasia rancho in 1863, where he carried on the business of dairying until 1873. At that time he sold out and moved to his present location. His ranch lies just south of Fort Ross, and is very well adapted to the purposes of dairying. It contains two thousand and two hundred acres. He does an extensive business, milk- ing upwards of one hundred and fifty cows, and from December 1, 1878, to October 1, 1879, he made nineteen thousand five hundred and sixty pounds
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of butter. While in Marin county he was Justice of the Peace for eleven consecutive years. January 22, 1864, he was married to Mary E. Fitzger- ald, daughter of James R. and Elizabeth Jane Routledge. She is a native of Boston, and was born August 25, 1836. They have had one daughter, now living, Anna Elizabeth.
SANTA ROSA.
Acton William. Was born in Manchester, England, February 26, 1848. Started with his father's family for California, in May, 1853, leaving Liver- pool on the 15th of that month, and after a stormy voyage around Cape Horn, arrived in San Francisco October 15th of the same year. In May 1854, his father came to Petaluma, and shortly afterwards went into busi- ness there; subsequently he removed to New Windsor, and in 1856, opened the first store in Ukiah valley, which was then included in Sonoma county, near the present site of the city of Ukiah. In 1859, the family returned to Petaluma. January 4, 1865, Wm. Acton enlisted in Company D, Eighth Infantry, California Volunteers, and on the 28th of October of the same year, was honorably discharged. He then returned to Petaluma, and served an apprenticeship at carriage making, and was the first apprentice that served his full time at any trade in Sonoma county. He afterward taught school in various districts in this and adjoining counties until November 20, 1877, when he became connected with the Sonoma Democrat, as local editor, which position he still retains.
Aikin, Matt. The present Treasurer of Sonoma county; was born in Ireland in the year 1831, and emigrated to America in 1848. His first settlement was in Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, where he resided until January, 1852, in the month of February of which year he sailed in the steamer " Daniel Webster" for the Golden State, arriving in San Francisco on the 28th of March of that year. Mr. Aikin did not allow the grass to grow under his feet, if such a thing were possible in San Francisco, but at once started for the mines in El Dorado county and entered upon the labor of prospecting for the precious metal until July, when he moved his camp to Calaveras county, and there remained until 1866, at which time he came to Sonoma county and located at Bodega. Here Mr. Aikin started a mercan- tile business, which he prosecuted until November, 1877, when he was
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appointed by the Supervisors of Sonoma county to his present honorable and onerous duties, in the place of T. N. Willis, who had resigned. In September, 1877, Mr. Aikin was confirmed in the office by the suffrages of the people, and took his seat in March of the following year; was re-elected in September, 1879, for another term. He is unmarried.
Austin, James. The subject of this sketch, whose portrait appears in this work, was born in the province of Quebec, Canada, December 2, 1824. After attending the common schools, he was sent, at the age of nineteen, to the Derby Centre Academy, in the State of Vermont. His studious habits and manly conduct won the esteem and approbation of his teachers and fellow students, and at the expiration of the second term he accepted an opportunity to teach. After teaching one term, he was enabled to enter Shefford Academy in Canada. Here he studied diligently for two terms, and in the Fall entered the St. Hyacinth College. The following Winter he taught again, but resumed his studies in the college at the end of one term. His next step was to teach the English branches at Belocil College, where he studied the French language. In 1848 he returned to his father's home, and on May 22, 1849, married Miss Anna, daughter of Osgood Peasley. This lady was born in the Province of Quebec January 6, 1828. Mr. Austin was elected Mayor of the township of Bolton in 1858, which office he held until his removal to the United States in 1868. During the latter terms of his office he was appointed Warden of the Board of Mayors. It will be well here to explain that the office of township mayors in Canada is similar to the Board of Supervisors in our counties, and the Warden is the Chairman or President of the Board. The office of Mayor elothed him with the dignity and power of a magistrate; but as he was regularly appointed to the office by the Crown, he became, therefore, one of the "Crown's Magistrates." For ten years he was one of the Board of Directors of the Stanstead, Shefford, and Chambly Railroad, holding the position as an ex-officio officer. He was twice nominated by the Liberal party for the Provincial Parliament of Canada, and at the first election received an almost unanimous vote in his own township. The entire number of votes in the township was a little less than eight hundred, and all but thirty were cast in favor of Mr. Austin, and he was beaten in the county by only eighty votes. As before stated. he emigrated to the United States in 1868 and settled in American cañon, Green Valley township, Solano county, California. Here he remained three years, when he removed to Santa Rosa. His present residence is a fine ranch of one thousand, four hundred and eighty acres in the outskirts of the town of Santa Rosa, and is one of the most delightful homes in that vicinity. We here give the names and births of Mr. Austin's children: Howard J., born September 3, 1852; Herbert W., born August 2, 1854; Malcolm O., born July 25, 1863; Sewell S., born May 21, 1865, and Ashton E., born June 29, 1874. Three children have died: Lyman P., born October 22,
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1850, and died July 10, 1876; Osgood E., born March 25, 1856, and died January 14, 1861; Florence Anna, born June 7, 1860, and died January 24, 1861.
Ballou, Isaac A. Born in Adams county, Massachusetts, April 13, 1806. When four years of age he moved with his parents to Herkimer county, New York, where he resided until 1818, when he went to Saratoga county, New York. April 23, 1826, he married Miss Hannah Allen. She was born February 2, 1807, in the above county. In the Fall of 1832 he moved with his family to Summit county, Ohio, residing in that and Cuya- hoga county until 1853, when he took up his residence in Du Page county, Illinois, living there until 1874, when he came to California. Mr. Ballou was one of a party who visited this State in 1852, but remained only thirteen months, when he returned to Illinois. The children born to them are Vol- ney J., born May 20, 1827; Sylvester A., born October 19, 1828; Amelia W., born August 20, 1830; William N., born May 29, 1832; Orlando, born Decem- ber 19, 1833; Hosea, born December 5, 1835; Daniel W., born February 26, 1837; Malina, born December 17, 1838; Morgan, born January 2, 1844; Henri- ietta, born January 3, 1846; Malvina M., born May 29, 1847; Zella, born December 3, 1850. Have lost five-Volney J., William N., Malina, Hosea and an infant daughter. Mr. Ballou had four sons in the late rebellion, three of whom served in the field until the close of the war, and were honorably dis- charged. The other one served in the Quartermaster's Department, and was also honorably discharged from duty. Sylvester A. ranked as Major and A. C. S., Daniel W. as Captain of the Tenth Missouri Cavalry, and Volney and Morgan as privates, Company B, Thirty-third Illinois Infantry. The subject of this sketch, with his wife Hannah, are residents of Santa Rosa. This aged couple have been married over fifty-three years, and are honored and respected by their associates.
Ballou, Volney James (deceased). The subject of this sketch, whose portrait appears in this work, was born in Saratoga county, New York, May 20, 1827. Here he attended the common schools. In 1839 his parents emigrated to Cuyahoga county, Ohio, where Volney finished his education, after which he sailed around the world, and was absent from port thirty- three months, on a whaling voyage. During the California gold excitement in 1849, he returned to Ohio, and being possessed of more than an ordinary adventurous spirit, and enured to the hardships incident to a roving life, he at once emigrated to this State and commeneed mining in El Dorado county, continuing in this pursuit until the Fall of 1853, at which time he settled in Santa Rosa valley, on the farm where he died. In 1864, he returned to the East, enlisting in the Subsistence Department, and was detailed as clerk in the commissary depot at Johnsonville, Tennessee, serving in this capacity for nine months, when he was honorably discharged, returning to Du Page county, Illinois. On March 29, 1867, he mar-
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ried at Naperville, in that county, Mrs. Michael Leonard, whose maiden name was Rosia A. Mayer. She was born in Northampton county, Pennsylvania, November 2, 1839. Immediately after their marriage, they returned to this State. During his long residence in this county -from 1853 to the time of his death on June 4, 1877-it can be truthfully said of Mr. Ballou that he was an honorable, upright gentleman. Starting out in life as he did, for himself when quite young, he has achieved all his successes single-handed, and in the presence of obstacles which only the most indomitable energy and courage could have surmounted, has given him an honorable position among his fellow men.
Barnes, William Perry. Farmer; was born in Monroe county, Mis- souri, March 8, 1847, where he resided till 1850, when his parents crossed the plains to California, first settling in Yuba county, where he resided till 1857, when he came to Sonoma county and settled in Analy Township, where he resided till 1868, when he moved to his present farm, consisting of one hun- dred and sixty-five acres, upon which are good improvements. Mr. Barnes married, April 22, 1866, Elizabeth A. Raden, she being born in Van Buren county, Iowa, October 9, 1847. By this union they have five children : Elizabeth Caroline, born February 13, 1868 ; Lydia Ann, born January 17, 1871; Mary Jane, born November 28, 1872 ; Cora Belle, born August 12, 1875, and William Aaron, born November 17, 1877.
Baum, John. Farmer, was born in Richland county, Ohio, August 12, 1823, where he remained till 1835, when he removed with his parents to Porter county, Indiana. Here he remained till the spring of 1847, when, with an ox-team he started across the plains to Oregon, being two hundred and twenty-two days making the journey. The stories told by Mr. Baum of his hardships on this journey are very interesting, but for want of space will have to be omitted. His first settlement in Oregon was at Salem, where he remained till September 1848, when he came to California in search of gold. He first began mining on the middle fork of the American river, where he continued two months during the Winter of 1848. Then in November, 1848, he went to Napa City, where he worked at his trade (that of carpenter). Then, in the Spring and Summer of 1849, he went to Yolo county, where he remained herding stock, and in the Spring of 1850 went into the mines again in Shasta county, where he remained a month, and then went back to Oregon; here he worked at his trade during the Summer of 1850. Mr. Baum married Miss Phoebe S. Tieters, July 20, 1851, who died on July 27, 1873. By this marriage he has Veronica M., born August 24, 1854 ; Sarah J., born June 17, 1856 ; James T., born May 15, 1858 ; Arvilla. born May 2, 1860 ; Addie, born November 13, 1863 ; Eva L., born December 29, 1866; John N, born February 16, 1869; Edgar C, born Janu- ary 1, 1871, and one daughter, Clara L, born July 11, 1862, and died in 1863.
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HISTORY OF SONOMA COUNTY, CALIFORNIA.
Bloomington, Louis J. Was born in Prussia, Germany, on April 9, 1844. Here he resided till 1858, then emigrated to the United States, settling in New York City, and there worked at his trade, that of a tailor, until 1862, when he established a crockery trade in that city, which he carried on till 1864, when he opened a merchant tailoring establishment, remaining in this business till 1871. During this year he moved to Chicago, Illinois, where he resided till 1876, and was engaged in mercantile pursuits, then emigrated to this State, settling in San Francisco, and on April 11, 1878, came to Santa Rosa, and immediately opened his clothing and merchant tailoring establish- ment, where by close attention to business and good workmanship he has in- creased his business till it is second to none in the county. Mr Bloomington married on June 16, 1864, Miss Henrietta Aaron, who was born in Prussia, Germany, on January 9, 1844. Their children are Sarah, Lilly, Lizzie, Jose- phine, Millie, Addy, Morris, Henry and Hayme.
Brown, Major John, Of Santa Rosa, was born in Tennessee in the year 1827, and remained there until the beginning of the year 1846. He then went into the Mexican war with the Tennessee troops, and remained there until after the Treaty of peace was made and ratified. He was in the battle of Monterey under General Z. Taylor, and from there he went to Tampico in the command of Generals Pattens and Pillow, where General Winfield Scott took command, General Taylor having gone to Buena Vista. From Tampico he, in General Scott's command, embarked for Vera Cruz, and was among the very first troops who went ashore on the sand beach about four miles east of the city of Vera Cruz, under the cover of the United States gun boats "Ohio " and others, and was in the siege of Vera Cruz six- teen days, and saw the city and land fortresses bombarded from land by Gen- eral Scott's command for sixteen days and nights, when the city surrendered to the land forces and the impregnable Fort San Wande Aloa struck her colors to the United States gun-boats. During the siege he became acquainted with a great many young officers, he being a Lieutenant him- self, among others Lieutenant U. S. Grant, Lieutenant George B. McClellan, and last but not least, Lieutenant Beauregard and Captain Robert E. Lee, all of whom have since filled the highest official positions in the army, and some of them civil departments in our government. From Vera Cruz he went in General Scott's command to the city of Mexico, and engaged in all the battles and skirmishes on the line of march, the chief battle being Cerro Gordo, where he saw many of his comrades fall never to rise on earth again. We would here say that the last year of the war he was Acting Quarter- master and Commissary, and after the treaty of peace was signed and ratified he left the city of Mexico among the very last of the American troops, in charge of the Quartermaster and Commissary Department of the division to which he was attached, and when he reached Vera Cruz on his return out of Mexico, he received two hundred and fifty thousand dollars
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in silver coin, which he took across the Gulf of Mexico and there tried to turn it over to General Jessup, the Commissary General of the United States, then at New Orleans, but the General told him to take the money to Memphis, Tennessee,where the western troops would be paid off. So he took it to Memphis and turned it over to Major Reynolds, United States Paymaster. This was in the Fall of 1848. He then returned home to East Tennessee, and remained a few days, and then went to Washington, D. C., and settled his business as Commissary and Quartermaster. In the early Spring of 1849 he crossed the plains and the Rocky Mountains to California, and located at Ringgold, El Dorado county, near Weavertown and creek of same name, and about two miles east of Placerville, and engaged in merchandis- ing with a man by the name of Houcks, from New York State. There he paid seven hundred dollars per thousand feet for lumber sawed by hand, and built a two story frame house adjoining the log store house, for a hotel, it being the first house built of sawed lumber in the mines. This was all done in 1849. Then flour was selling for a dollar per pound; sugar, coffee, rice, potatoes, and everthing to eat for one dollar per pound. He was making money very fast. In 1850 the "Indian War" broke out all over Califor- nia, and he was commissioned by John MeDougal, then Governor of Califor- nia, as Commissary for the northern division of California, and went into the Indian wars of 1850 and 1851, and he says after the two years were over, and the smoke of battle was wafted away by mountain breezes, so one could look over the ground, it was summed up that the Indians had kllled in his division of California about four white men, and the army of white men had killed a few old squaws and papooses, and California was thereby involved in a debt of millions of dollars, every cent of which was paid with interest by the people of California. He was a whig then, and in 1850 was nomi- nated by a few whigs for the office of County Clerk of El Dorado county, and made the race and was beaten three votes by Major MeKinney, the Democratie candidate from Georgetown. His name was on the ticket with the name of Milton S. Latham of Sacramento, the Democratie candidate for District Attorney, El Dorado county being then in the same district with Sacramento, and every Democrat being elected, he was beaten three votes and his friend Latham was elected. He says that the people who came to California in 1849 and 1850 were generally honest: they all came for the same purpose-that was to dig a fortune out of the mines and go back home. The people who came then could not think that California was the agricul- tural country that it has been proven to be. They did not want laws here, and would not have taken them as a gift at that time. He knew the most of those who came here when he did, and voted for delegates to a constitu- tional convention to frame a constitution for California, and then voted for the adoption of the old constitution, and then he voted for the adoption of the new constitution; he also voted for the amendment to the constitution
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and against repudiation. After he left El Dorado county, in 1852, he went to Sacramento and went into the hotel business, and was Sergeant of the police force, and feeding the prisoners on the prison brig. The fire of 1854 burnt his hotel and contents, and in the Winter of 1855 he came to Sonoma county, and in March 1856 he came to Santa Rosa, and has not been away since. He has held some public office ever since he has been in Sonoma county. Was Deputy County Clerk and Recorder from the sixth day of March 1856, for two years, and was Notary Public for eight years thereafter, and has been elected and held the office of Justice of the Peace for sixteen years last past, and now holds it. He is by profession a lawyer, and been in practice in Santa Rosa over twenty-one years. Was married to a daughter of General Murray Whallon of Sonoma, in 1866, and has four children; is the President of the Society of the Mexican War Veterans, of this district and has been for three years; he is a member of the Pioneer Association of California; has been in California over thirty years, and in Santa Rosa twenty-four years; has not been off the Pacific coast since he came to it, but has been down the coast to Central and South America, to see the countries; was gone about five months. He has been all over California, in most of the Eastern States, all over Mexico, through Central America and a large portion of South America, and thinks, after all, that Sonoma county, considering the climate, scenery, water, soil and sure crops every year, is the garden spot of all the countries and localities he has seen, and the "city of roses" (Santa Rosa) is the very center of the garden.
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