USA > California > Sonoma County > History of Sonoma County : including its geology, topography, mountains, valleys, and streams > Part 75
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Campbell, John Tyler, Lawyer, Santa Rosa, California. John Tyler Campbell was born in Bowling Green, Pike county, Missouri, soon after the exciting presidential contest which resulted in the election of William Henry Harrison as President, and John Tyler as Vice-President of the United States. Harrison died in one month after his inauguration and Tyler became President. In those days President Tyler was called the "lucky man," and it was the subject of remark that nothing could successfully stand in his way. From his youth up fortune had smiled upon his every undertaking. In those days slavery existed at the birth-place of the infant Campbell, and while a baby he was placed in charge of an old colored woman, who drank in the superstitious idea of the "luck" of the President of the United States, and at her earnest solicitation the boy was christened John Tyler, in the confident expectation that the same good fortune of the lucky president would fall to the lot of his namesake. The grand-father of the subject of this sketch was the first settler in Pike county, having removed from Tennes- see to near the present town of Bowling Green, in 1817, and, like Jacob of old, he was the father of twelve sons. About the year 1827 one of those sons, James W., married Sophia A. Henry, the youngest daughter of Colonel Malcolm Henry, an officer in the Revolutionary war, and a cousin of the famous Patrick Henry. John Tyler was the seventh child of this union.
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As soon as he arrived at suitable age he was furnished with Webster's old " Elementary Spelling-book," and sent to the district school, taught by an old Presbyterian preacher-the maximum length of the term being three months. He attended this school each Winter, and progressed about as others of the same age. This partial education developed a taste for liter- ature; unfortunately the source of supply was small. He read the " Scottish Chiefs," the "Life of General Francis Marion," "Pilgrim's Progress," "Ten Nights in a Bar Room," and many works of fiction, besides reading the county newspapers. In 1857 he attended McGee College one year, but being stricken down with a severe spell of sickness, he did not return at the next session. He again returned in 1859-'60. He was a member of the literary societies, and participated in the debates with others of the college. The Presidential election of 1860 left the political sky as black as night. The excitement kept up at fever heat. The booming of cannon was heard at Fort Sumter, and war between the States was inevitable-it had begun. The shrill clarion of the warrior's trumpet was heard, and the patriotic songs of both sides filled the souls of the young men with ecstasy and delight. Young Campbell, yet in his "teens," fell into line on the Union side, wear- ing the chevrons of a sergeant in a company of cavalry in Colonel Smart's Third Cavalry Regiment of Missouri Troops. Frank Blair had been com- missioned to recruit a Brigade of Infantry, and Campbell was ordered to Troy, to recruit men for the Thirty-second Missouri Infantry of Blair's Brigade. Having recruited a squad of men, he took them to St. Louis, where he was mustered in as Second Lieutenant, having been previously discharged from the cavalry company by special order of Major-General Halleck, at the request of General Blair. Company B, of the Thirty-second Infantry was officered as follows: Jesse E. Hardin, Captain; Joseph O. Butler, First Lieutenant, and John Tyler Campbell, Second Lieutenant. Lieutenant Campbell was the youngest commissioned officer in the regiment, and indeed in the corps. Lieutenant Butler died, and Captain Hardin resigned, soon after the Company was mustered in, and Lieutenant Campbell was promoted to First Lieutenant and then Captain, and remained at the head of his company until finally mustered out at the beginning of the year 1865. He was tendered the appointment as Cadet to the United States Military Academy at West Point in 1863, but being in active service as captain, commanding a company, he declined. He served in the war with the Army of the Tennessee, and participated in all the great battles of that command, including Vicksburg, Chattanooga, Lookout Mountain, and the Georgia campaign. The war over, he returned home, studied law, and was admitted to the bar, and elected Corporation Attorney of Louisiana City. Was nominated Circuit Attorney for the First Judicial Circuit of Missouri in 1868, by the Democrats, but was defeated with the ticket by reason of the " test oath " and an unfair registration of voters. In 1869 he was
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elected captain of a militia company. In 1871, having removed to Kansas City, he was elected City Attorney by a large majority. His health failing he removed to California, settling in Santa Rosa, where he has since resided. In 1875, Hon. John G. Pressley, then City Attorney, having been elected Co.inty Judge, resigned as City Attorney, and Campbell was appointed to fill the vacancy. He was elected for the full term, without opposition, and at the end of his term declined a re-election. In June, 1879, he was nom- inated by the New Constitution party as a candidate for the Assembly. He has been an occasional contributor to newspapers, and has written stories for magazines, etc. In 1868 he was married to Mollie Reed. They have two children, a girl and boy, aged nine and seven years respectively.
Chapman, La Fayette. Was born in Exeter, Rockingham county, New Hampshire, June 10, 1826, where he was educated. Here he served his ap- prenticeship to the trade of a cabinet-maker, and in 1847 commeneed a fur- niture manufactory in his native city under the style of D. B. & L. Chapinan, which he continued to manage until March 4, 1849, at which date he sailed from Boston in the ship "Charlotte", ria Cape Horn, and, after touching at Rio de Janiero and Valparaiso, arrived at San Francisco on September 15th of that year. Having brought with him an open boat, on arrival, Chapman, with two others, set sail in their little craft for the Sacramento river. On arriving at the end of their voyage, they purchased an ox-team at Saera- mento City, and conveyed their baggage to Hangtown, now Placerville, and made their first essay in mining which was prosecuted for one year. In the fall of the year 1850 Mr Chapman opened a general store in Weaverville, Trinity county, doing a trade there until the autumn of the following year, when he returned to San Francisco, and eventually made his home there and in Alameda county. On July 1, 1853, we find the subject of our sketch in Petaluma. Here he commeneed farming about two miles from the then ris- ing town, but only harvested one crop, and then moved into the corporation limits and opened the first furniture store in Sonoma county. This business he continued until 1857; his store having been destroyed by the falling of a building during the previous year. In 1857 he once more undertook the con- trol of a farm, an occupation he followed for ten years, when he again went into the furniture trade in Petaluma, continuing there until 1871, in which year his establishment was destroyed by fire. In 1872 he moved to his present home, six miles from Santa Rosa, on Mark West creek, where he owns one thousand and eighty aeres of valuable grazing and farming land. Mr Chapman married at Petaluma, November 26, 1854, Fannie Carpenter. a native of England, and have four children, George, Lizzie, Abbie and Frank.
Clark, David. A native of Ross county, Ohio, born January 30, 1814, where he resided until 1837, when he moved to Fulton county, Illinois. In
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1840 he emigrated to Menard county, same State, and remained until 1863, when he came to California and settled in this county, where he has con- tinuously resided. Has lived in Santa Rosa since 1872. Married Martha Ann Berry December 12, 1837. She was born in Winchester, Tennessee, July 11, 1819. The following are the names and births of their children: Elizabeth Ann, born October 26, 1838; Mary Ellen, born October 12, 1840; Margaret M., born February 19, 1843; Thomas E., born October 26, 1845; Sarah Jane, born November 6, 1847, died July 27, 1858; N. Arminda, born February 1, 1850; Samuel Berry, born January 8, 1852; Emma F, born August 24, 1854; David Curtis, born January 23, 1857; John Edwin, born October 26, 1864, died December 4, 1875.
Clark, D. Curtis. The subject of this sketch, a teacher in the public school of Healdsburg, Mendocino township, was born in Menard county, Illinois, on January 23, 1857. In the year 1863 he accompanied his parents to California, and settled on a farm near Santa Rosa. Mr. Clark was educated at the Pacific Methodist College at Santa Rosa, from which he graduated on May 18, 1876, when he commenced teaching in the country districts, pursuing this calling until July 29, 1878, at which time he was chosen to fill his present position. He married, on September 20, 1877, at Santa Rosa, Miss Allie Crump, a native of the State of Arkansas.
Clark, Samuel B. Born in Menard county, Illinois, January 8, 1852, where he resided until 1863, when he came with his parents to California and settled in this county. Since arriving at manhood, he has had the entire control of his father's farm, which consists of three hundred acres. Mr. Clark is unmarried.
Cralle, L. J. The subject of this sketch, whose portrait appears in this work, was born in Campbell county, Virginia, September 12, 1818. In 1836, he moved to Union county, Kentucky; thence in 1849, to California, crossing the plains with an ox-team as far as Salt Lake City, then with pack- animals over the mountains, arriving at Lawson's Ranch, September 6th, of that year. Not unlike others who came to this coast at that time, he com- menced operations as a miner on the White Rock claim, in Butte county, prosecuting this business three years; then went to Oakland, where he engaged in farming five more years, then settled at King's River, Fresno county. In 1860 he again commenced mining at Mono and White Mountain, till 1864, when he settled near Petaluma, in this county, but in 1869 took a residence in Santa Clara county; thence in 1872 to his present home in Santa Rosa township, where he owns three hundred and twenty acres of land. At an altitude of several thousand feet above the sea, among the mountains, is the home of Mr. Cralle. It is one of the most lovely and picturesque places in the county. As we stood on one of the more prominent peaks a little beyond his house, what a grand panorama opened out to our view ! Mountain
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after mountain rose in every direction, while the intervening valleys were covered over with trees and underwood of varied kinds and shades, and down which glide the creeks and rivulets, ripple after ripple, dancing in sun- light like ribbons of silver, as they hurry on to the mighty ocean. Then add the further fact that in the valleys, on the hills and over the mountains, six hundred and fifty Angora goats-the property of Mr. Cralle-are scattered here, there, and everywhere, giving the landscape an appearance of snow-balls among the evergreens, and the reader has the outlines of a picture which their imaginations must fill. We feel assured we will be pardoned by the reader for digressing from the events of Mr. Cralle's life to give a slight description of his home among the mountains, when we say no scenery, in Sonoma county, has impressed us so favorably as this. But to resume. Mr. Cralle married Mrs. Nancy J. Middleton, nee Farley, October 27, 1863. She was born in Warren county, Pennsylvania, February 18, 1833. She has one daughter, Lillie Middleton, by a former marriage, who was born February 12, 1857.
Crane, Robert. Was born in Mercer county, Kentucky, December 8, 1822. When but a child his parents moved into Washington county, and here Robert received his education, residing on a farm until about seventeen years of age, when he with his parents removed into Marion county, Missouri, remaining there for about nine years. He then emigrated to California, crossing the plains with ox-teams in company with about thirty others. After a six months' trip he arrived at Cold Springs, El Dorado county, October 13, 1849. He remained in this county about two years and a half, being engaged in mining and merchandising. On July 31st he came to Sonoma county and settled on his present place, consisting of four hundred and eighty-six acres, located in Santa Rosa township, about seven miles from Santa Rosa, where he has since resided, being engaged in farming and stock raising. In 1856 and 1858 he served as Constable of Vallejo township, and from 1858 to 1860 as a Justice of the Peace. He is now a Supervisor of Sonoma county. Mr. Crane married, November 3, 1853, Miss Susan C. Davidson, a native of Kentucky. By this union they have ten living children: Mary J., born August 19, 1854; George S., born February 16, 1856; Charles B., born September 30, 1857; Martha K., born May 1, 1859; James A., born November 5, 1860, Hettie F., born May 8, 1862; Thomas J., born May 26, 1864; Robert L., born April 21, 1866; Stella H., born January 16, 1871; Wade H., born March 18, 1875. They have lost two children, Archie R. and Smith H. Mr. Crane is a man worthy of the high confidence placed in him by his fellow citizens. He has risen from the ranks, but is one of nature's truest noblemen. Mr. Crane's portrait appears in this work.
Curry, J. L. Retail dealer in cigars and tobacco, No. 187 Fourth street, Santa Rosa. Born in Hancock county, Indiana, January 26, 1850, where
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he resided with his parents until 1869, when he came to California and settled in Green valley, Analy township, and followed farming until the Spring of 1876, when he took up his residence in Santa Rosa and engaged in keeping a variety store, which he continued for a period of six months, when he disposed of his business, and in the Fall of that year returned to his birthplace in Indiana and spent the Winter of 1876-7, returning to Santa Rosa in the Spring. In January, 1878, he entered into his present business.
Dimmick, Rev. F. M. The subject of this sketch, the Rev. Franeis Marion Dimmick, is a descendant of the old Puritan stock of the " Pil- grim Fathers," whose ancestors came from England somewhere between 1620 and 1630, and settled in the immediate vicinity of Plymouth Rock, at Barnstable and Scituate. His father's name was Martial Dimmick, who came with his father, Edward Dimmick, from Windham, Connecticut, to Susquehanna county, Pennsylvania, in 1808, when that county was an ahnost unbroken wilderness ; and his mother's father, Ransford Smith, came also from Connecticut two years later. His father and mother, Martial Dimmick and O'Shea Smith, were the eldest children of these two families, and were married in 1812. Of the children who lived to an adult age, he was the fourth son, and was born in Uniondale, Susquehanna county, Penn- sylvania, January 23, 1827, and his earlier life was spent on his father's farm, which lay on both sides of the east branch of the Lackawanna. In 1842 he first went from home to Harford Academy, where he remained nearly a year. In February, 1844, he went up to Hampton, Oneida county, New York, and attended the Delancy Institute about five months. In Sep- tember of that year he commenced teaching a public school at New Troy, in Wyoming valley, where he remained seven months, and then went to the
Wyoming Seminary, at Kingston, under the care of Rev. Reuben Nelson, D. D., who held that position twenty-eight years, until elected Superinten- dent of the Methodist Book Concern in New York in 1872; he died Febru- ary 20, 1879. Mr. Dimmick subsequently taught a Winter at Providence, near Scranton (1845-46), also a Winter at his old home in Uniondale (1846 and 1847), and then a year and a half at Oxford Meeting House, near Bel- videre, in New Jersey, and began a term at New Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in 1849, after having spent a Summer at Harford Academy. After having taught one month he was prostrated by a very malignant attack of typhoid fever, from which he barely recovered. He was not able to return home till the Spring of 1850. In the Autumn of that year he began in earnest to carry out the felt necessity of his life, and the early plan and desire of his heart, i. e., to prepare himself for the Gospel Ministry, and consequently went to Marietta College, in Ohio, by the way of Buffalo, Sandusky and Cincinnati. He graduated with honor, having supported himself by his own efforts, July 27, 1854 ; and thereafter taught two years in Marietta and one
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year in Urbana, Ohio, having charge at each place of the Public High School. He delivered the Master's oration at the commencement at Marietta, July 2, 1857, and received the degree of A. M. In the Autumn of 1857 he went to the Lane Theological Seminary, at Cincinnati, where he remained three years. In 1857 he had published his work called Ann Clayton, or the Inquirer After Truth, which is now published by the Presbyterian Board of Publication, in Philadelphia. He was licensed to preach April 6, 1859, graduated at the Seminary, May 10, 1860, and spent the Summer at his old home in Pennsylvania, and returning, was ordained to the Gospel Ministry, November 7, 1860, by the Cincinnati Presbytery. Immediately after his ordination at Cincinnati, he started for Omaha, Nebraska Territory, then only a village of about fifteen hundred people. He there organized the Pres- byterian Church, and labored with it twelve years. He delivered the funeral oration on the death of Abraham Lincoln, at the Nebraska Capitol, before an immense audience, and yielded to the unanimous desire to have it pub- lished. In 1868 he was one of the party under the auspices of the Young Men's Christian Association of the United States who went out over the Union Pacific Railroad as far as the road was completed. After he had been at Omaha three years, he returned to Cincinnati and was married, Septem- ber 15, 1863, to Miss Kate G. Wright, the only daughter of Sylvanus Wright and Fanny P. Goodman Wright. Mr. and Mrs. Wright followed their daughter to Omaha in 1866, and to Santa Rosa in 1874, where they still reside. Mr. Dimmick's health having failed in Omaha, he sought a milder climate, and after having spent the Summer in California, he came to Santa Rosa the last Sabbath of 1872, and accepted a call to become the acting pastor of the Presbyterian Church there, and was installed Pastor June 11, 1876, which position he still retains.
Downs, Vernon. Farmer and stock-raiser. Born in Hancock county, Maine, May 3, 1829, where he resided until 1846, when he went to Talla- hassee, Florida, where he resided until March, 1850, when he emigrated to California, via Panama, and after about two months travel landed in San Francisco. He immediately proceeded to Placer county and engaged in mining, which he followed for three years when he came to Santa Rosa, and was one of the parties who built the Santa Rosa Flouring Mills. In 1863 he went to Idaho and followed mining for four years; the remainder of the time, excepting one year spent in Mendocino county, he has made this county his home. Married, in 1858, Miss Elizabeth Rawles, who died in 1859. Married his present wife, Miss Martha Jane, daughter of Judge William Churchman, October 29, 1867, she being born in Washington county, Iowa, December 1, 1845. Lillian, born August 14, 1868; Vernon, born November 3, 1870; Carrie, born December 3, 1873; George Hancock, born March 26, 1876, and an infant son, Henry Augustine, born May 19, 1879, are the names of their children.
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Farmer, C. C. Was born in Meigs county, Tennessee, on March 4, 1837. When quite young his parents moved to Cass county, Missouri, where the subject of this sketch received his education. On May 15, 1857, the family started for California; crossed the plains with ox-teams, bringing with them a drove of cattle. After a journey of four months they arrived in this township, and settled on a farm bordering the banks of Santa Rosa creek, south-east from the city of that name. The first business enterprise of Mr. Farmer in California was that of raising stock in this and Mendocino counties, commencing in 1857. He abandoned this pursuit in 1860, and began clerking in a dry-goods store for his brother, E. T. Farmer, where he laid the foundation of his business education, which has ripened with experi- ence and is crowned with success. During the year 1863, and till the Fall of 1864, he was engaged in mining and prospecting for mines in Nevada, but returned to Santa Rosa, joining partnership with E. T. Farmer in the mercantile trade, which was continued until 1871, when his brother's interest was bought by F. B. Tyle. The business was conducted by them one year and six months, when the co-partnership became Farmer, Tyle & Crane. In 1874 these latter disposed of their share to Riley and Hardin. Since 1878 the firm has been Riley & Farmer. For fifteen consecutive years has Mr. Farmer been one of Santa Rosa's business men. That these years have been replete with the toil and struggle incident to a business career there is not a doubt, but that all transactions with his fellow-men have been honorable cannot be better illustrated than by the fact of the position which he now holds among his compeers. He married, on May 15, 1871, Miss Mary F., daughter of D. C. Young, of Sonoma county. Mary F., Carrie Josephine, and Eugene C., are the names of their children.
Farmer, E. T. In such a work as this is, it is a pleasure to perpetuate, though even in a disconnected way, the doings of such a man as he whose name appears at the head of this sketch, and whose portrait will be found in another portion of this work. He was born in Knox county, Tennessee, August 1, 1832. When but five years old he was moved by his parents to Cass county, Missouri, where they resided until the Spring of 1857, at which time they started for California, with ox-teams by way of the plains, the tedious journey occupying six months. They came direct to Santa Rosa township, Sonoma county, and have since resided within its boundaries. In 1859 Mr. Farmer purchased into the business conducted by Doctor John Hendley, when the firm became Hendley & Farmer; the partnership was eventually carried on by Mr. Farmer alone until the year 1873. In 1865 he was elected County Treasurer for a term of four years, an office he filled with marked ability. In 1867, he was appointed the first Treasurer of the newly incorporated town of Santa Rosa. In 1870, he extended many facilities to the removal of the Pacific Methodist College to Santa Rosa. On August 11,
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1870, he took a prominent part in the founding of the Santa Rosa Bank, and was chosen the first President of that institution. He is also a large and principal owner in the water works, gas works, woolen mills-indeed there is hardly an enterprise tending to add to the advantage of the city of Santa Rosa with which Mr. Farmer's name is not associated. He is a man of the pro- foundest integrity, upright in his dealings, just in his decisions, true in his instincts and honorable in his actions; above all others he is a man of keen business capacity, which he is never behindhand in putting forward for the benefit of his adopted county. Mr. Farmer married Rebecca W., daughter of William E. Cocke, of Santa Rosa, October 3, 1858, she being a native of Jackson county, Missouri, by whom he has Sarah, Angeline, Charles R., Henry T., Fannie May, and an infant daughter. There are two children deceased.
Farmer, William. This worthy old settler was born in Anderson county, East Tennessee, on September 1, 1800. Went from Anderson to Knox county in 1807. He resided in these counties till 1818, when he, with his parents, moved to Marion county in the same State, where the subject of this sketch lived until 1826, when he went to Meigs county, East Tennessee, where he made it his permanent home till 1837; then emigrated to Cass county, Missouri. From this place, on May 12, 1857, he came to California, crossing the plains, accompanied by his family, and arrived in Sonoma county, on October 10th of that year, and at once settled in this township on his present farm, where he has since made a permanent residence. He married Miss Nancy Hudson on March 13, 1823, in Marion county, Ten- nessee. She was a native of Bledsoe county in that State, and born August 15, 1804. She died at her home in Sonoma county on March 27, 1867. Mrs. Mary Wilson, born January 5, 1824; Mrs. Rebecca Wilson, born Novem- ber 21, 1825; John H., born January 28, 1828; E. T., born August 1, 1832 ; C. C., born March 4, 1837; William H., born April 19, 1840; J. A., born February 3, 1844, and Malinda, born June 29, 1850, are the names and births of their living children. They have lost two sons and one daughter.
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