USA > California > Sonoma County > History of Sonoma County : including its geology, topography, mountains, valleys, and streams > Part 78
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Webster Baptist Church, which position he filled, while prosecuting his studies in the university and the seminary, until his return to Michigan, when he became a second time the pastor of the Ypsilanti Baptist Church, and after that again of the Mount Vernon Baptist Church, the same place where he was married in 1852. In the Fall of 1857, he became Principal of the "Oxford Institute," where he remained until the Spring of 1861, when he moved to Fentonville, Genessee county, Michigan, and became pastor, or supply, rather, of the Baptist Church of that place. He then became Principal of the Fenton High School, which position he filled until the close of the Spring term in 1866, when he resigned and became pastor of the Old First Baptist Church, Quiney, Illinois, where he remained until the Fall of 1870, when he became president of what was then known as " The Bap- tist Male and Female College," of Palmyra, Missouri. During his term of teaching in Fentonville, Michigan, for the most part, the subject of our sketch was pastor of tbe Holly Baptist Church, at Holly, a town on the D. & M. R. R., not far distant from Fenton. Also, while he was in charge of the Institution at Palmyra, Missouri, he was preaching for the Bethel Baptist and the Palmyra Baptist churches. November, 1873, Doctor Taft became pastor of the Macon Baptist Church, Macon, Missouri. While there he received an invitation to visit the Santa Rosa Baptist Church, this county. He resigned his pastorate in Macon and came to Santa Rosa, reaching here the 23d day of July, 1875, and preached his first sermon in California, Sabbath morning, July 25th. On entering the pulpit, his first utterance was significant; it was this: "There is such a thing as the gospel of Jesus Christ, and the one great end of the pulpit is to make it known." And most faithfully did the doctor stand by that text in his relation with the Santa Rosa Church and people, until his brethren called him to the presidency of "California College," a Baptist institution, most unfortunately located at Vacaville, Solano county, this State. He entered upon his duties as President of the College in August, 1877, where he remained until the close of the Fall term, December, 1878, when the class work of the college was suspended, and the doctor returned to his old charge in Santa Rosa, where he is at this present writing. The doctor is a bold. earnest man, of liberal feelings and sentiment, yet most decided and fixed in his own convictions. He manifestly believes in the gospel of Jesus Christ, for he preaches it and urges it upon the attention of all. In politics he is a Democrat of the State's Rights school, within the limits of the Federal constitution. He does not believe that we are exclusively a nation, nor that we are exclusively a confederation of States, but that we partake of the nature of both. We are both federal and confederate. We are a federate nation-not a nation simply, but a nation of people and States in federation. And this condition of things, he maintains, must be upheld and continued, or the true genius and nature of the American system of
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government will have been destroyed. In religion he is an enthusiastic Baptist, of the millenarian school. He has a good physique, of Scotch descent; florid complexion; height, five feet ten inches, and greatest weight two hundred and twenty-five pounds. He is manly, dignified and noble in appearance, and urbane in manners. He has had five children, three sons and two. daughters. Two are dead-died in infancy - one, Daton DeGarmo, was born in Oxford, Oakland county, Michigan, April 20, 1860, and died January 2, 1863; the other, Rittie"Italia, was born in Fenton, Genesee county, Michigan, July 25, 1861, and died January 1, 1863. Three are living, Her- bert DuFay, born in Webster, Monroe county, New York, November 26, 1853; Luie Luella, born in Fenton, Michigan, November 8, 1864, and Anson Curtis, born in Palmyra, Missouri, April 26, 1871. Mrs. V. C. Taft, the mother of these children, was born in Middlebury, Wyoming county, New York, December 23, 1827; a woman of good constitution, most conscientious and devoted. May God bless and keep the family, and long may it live to. perpetuate and enoble the family name, honor God, love mankind, and do good in the world.
Taft, H. D. Was born in Webster, Monroe county, New York, Novem- ber 26, 1853. To ascertain the different places in which the subject of this sketch has lived up to the time of his arrival in Quincy, Illinois, in 1865, we refer the reader to the biography of his father, S. A. Taft, D. D., directly above. At Webster, New York, and other places he received his primary education, finishing the same at Quincy, Illinois. During his residence in the latter place, he was engaged in the wholesale boot and shoe house of Messrs. Blasland, Coburn & Co., from 1869 to January 1, 1873, when he moved to Hannibal, Missouri, where he was placed in charge of a retail boot and shoe store during the Summer of 1873, after which he accepted a situation as traveling salesman for a Boston wholesale boot and shoe house, making regular trips through the Western States till the Summer of 1875, when he emigrated to California, settling in Santa Rosa on October 26th of that year. Here he was bookkeeper and salesman for Riley & Farmer till July, 1879, and has since been in the employ of Messrs. Morrison Bros. as salesman in their dry goods store. He married Belle, daughter of Rev. P. K. Dibble, a native of Indiana, on the 19th October, 1875, by whom he has two children: Fancher De Garmo, born August 8, 1876, and Mabel, born November 11, 1878.
Talbot, Coleman, We commence the genealogy of the Talbot family with the grand-father of the subject of this sketch, who was christened Sam- uel, and was born in Virginia on March 17, 1756. He married Constantine Ragen, daughter of Nicholas Ragen, a native of Virginia, in 1775. Nicholas Talbot was their only son, and was born November 10, 1776; he married in Bourbon county, Kentucky, on May 19, 1799, Miss Aria Kennedy. She was born May 11, 1781. Her father, John Kennedy, was taken prisoner by the
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British at the battle of Guilford Court-House, in North Carolina, on the 15th of March, 1781, and died soon after from the bad treatment he received on board a British prison ship. The letter he wrote the day before he was sum- moned into the army, is a very interesting one. It contains a fervent spirit of patriotism, and a prayer for the success of the Colonies, and, from its gen- eral tone, its author, if the spirits of the departed are permitted to look upon the scenes of this world, must have looked down with pride and exultation upon the sturdy and unflinching patriotism of four of his grand sons, in the late bloody struggle, to maintain what he died to achieve. Sophia, Louis, Courtney, Tabitha, Coleman, Willis, Charles P., Mariah Louisa, Helen, Rufus and Naney, are the names of the children who comprise the family of Nicholas and Aria Talbot, spoken of above. Mr. Talbot's father, Nicholas, died May 1, 1828, and his mother, Aria, January, 1862. The subject of this memoir, whose portrait appears in this work, is a native of Bourbon county, Kentucky, born July 13, 1809, and there married, April 27, 1830, Drusella daughter of Jesse Bowles; her mother's maiden name, was Cloe Parker. His wife Drusella was born in Bourbon county, Kentucky, May 4, 1812. In 1830 they moved to Adams county, Illinois. During his residence here he enlisted in Captain David Crow's company, and served in the Black Hawk war of 1832. In 1850 he crossed the plains to California, and spent a few months at the mines in Hangtown, Coloma, and Diamond Springs. On April 15, 1851, he came to Sonoma, this county, and made some farm im- provements. The following January he took passage on the steamer " Cali- fornia," to Panama, and from there on the "El Dorado " to New York; and thence proceeded to his birth-place, in Kentucky, visiting for the last time his aged mother. Again, on April 20, 1852, he started across the plains for California, in company with J. M. Bowles, T. H. Tate, M. Britton, and others, and arrived in this county in October. In July, 1853, he settled upon his present estate. Mr. Talbot springs from a family noted for longevity and great power, and family tradition states that remarkable feats of strength performed by a great unele of his are on record in Fairfax county, Vir- ginia. The following are the names and births of his children: Kennedy Bowles, born May 1, 1831; America Helen, who married Hon. A. P. Over- ton, born March 1, 1833, (deceased); Holman, born May 10, 1835; Courtney, born April 7, 1837; Jesse Nicholas, born August 15, 1840; Aria, born Sep- tember 17, 1842, and married William Ordway of Petaluma, February 22, J860, and died September 1878; Eliza P., born December 6, 1845; Cloe A., born December 29, 1848; Joseph Martin, born November 6, 1854. Mr. Talbot is one of Sonoma's pioneers, and a more hospitable couple is not to be fonnd than Coleman Talbot and his estimable lady. Coleman Talbot is the author of the following fireside or social play: Some one in the circle speaks a sentence and it passes around, each one criticising, amending or correcting, until some one gets tired, when that one must start something
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new. If the sentence should pass three times around without change, the last one may change the sentence or subject. Each one has the right to either approve or amend. This play is designed to include geography, his- tory, grammar, mental arithmetic or orthography. The following is a speci- men: Number one says, " A Monk when his rites sacerdotal were o'er." Number two says, "A Monk when his rites sacerdotal were o'er." Number three says number two is right; number four says number one is right; number five says the accent should be placed upon sacerdotal, etc. This play is called by him Criticism.
Temple, Judge Jackson. Whose portrait appears in this work, was born in Franklin county, Massachusetts, August 11, 1827.
He removed with his parents to Berkshire county when quite young, attended the common schools, and there laid the basis of a liberal education, which he completed at Williams College, entering this institution at the age of nineteen years.
After graduation, he studied law in the office of Judge Whitehead of Newark, New Jersey. He afterwards taught a Latin and Grammar class in a young men's boarding school in Monmouth county-very wisely employing an interval of time between his collegiate and regular professional course in teaching, an admirable mental discipline.
Mr. Temple next attended a law school in New Haven, Connecticut, completing there his professional studies, so far as they were to be acquired from text books and regular instructors. He did not, however, cease to be a student, fully realizing the important fact that he had only laid the foundation for and had not finished his education.
In the Spring of 1853 Mr. Temple determined to seek his fortune in Cali- fornia, then the Mecca of the hopes of so many enterprising and ambitious young men. Some of these adventurers were destined to win favors of fortune, which rival in reality the fabulous transformations wrought by the " Slave of the Lamp" for its fortunate owner. More of them, alas! how many thousands more, were doomed to meet with countless difficulties and disappointments, or to disappear in a whirl of unaccustomed dissipation. To neither of these extreme classes does the subject of this notice belong.
Mr. Temple arrived in San Francisco, via the Isthmus of Panama, on the 15th day of April, 1853. In October of that year he went to reside with his brother, since deceased, on a farm in Vallejo township. There was at that time but little inducement in the sparsely populated county of Sonoma to engage in the practice of law, and Mr. Temple remained on the farm about a year. He then moved to the town of Petaluma, and there estab- lished himself as an attorney.
The year 1855 marked a new era in the history of Sonoma county. After a hot contest the county-seat was removed by a majority vote of the people,
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from the town of Sonoma to Santa Rosa, then only a city of " great expect- ations." Mr. Temple changed his residence from Petaluma to the new county-seat, and formed a co-partnership with the late Judge William Ross, an able, experienced, and successful attorney.
Two years later, in 1857, he formed a partnership with Ex-County Judge Charles P. Wilkins, a man of rare genius, to whom forensic debate was a congenial field, whether he contested with an opponent an intricate question of law, or swayed the minds of men by a masterly command of words irradiated with brilliant imagery. This partnership continued until 1860. Mr. Temple then practiced his profession with Judge A. Thomas, still an eminent lawyer in Santa Rosa, continuing this connection until 1867, when he determined to remove to San Francisco.
The high reputation of Mr. Temple as a lawyer preceded him to his new home, and he was invited to a partnership with H. H. Haight, then among the foremost lawyers at the Bar in San Francisco. Shortly after Mr. Haight was elected Governor of the State of California, which terminated for the time this professional connection, Mr. Temple continuing the business alone until 1870.
A vacancy occurred in the Supreme Court during the administration of Governor Haight. The appointment was tendered to Mr. Temple, an appre- ciation of his legal attainments, and his worth as a man, as creditable to the Governor, as it was to his former professional associate. Judge Temple fulfilled the duties of the high position to which he had been assigned with signal ability. His reputation as a jurist is second to none of his predecessors, nor is it surpassed by any of the eminent gentlemen who have succeeded him.
On the expiration of his term of office, Judge Temple resumed the practice of law with his former partner, Governor Haight, continuing with that firm until 1875 when, on account of the health of his wife, he returned to, and resumed the practice of law in Santa Rosa.
In March, 1876, the Twenty-second Judicial District, composed of the populous and wealthy counties of Sonoma, Mendocino and Marin, was created by act of the Legislature, Judge Temple was appointed by Governor William Irwin, Judge of the new district. He served two years under this appointment, and succeeded himself, having been elected at the regular judicial election, without opposition, for a full term of six years.
He had served two years of this term, when the new Constitution was adopted. Under its provision the Courts were re-organized, the County, and District Courts were abolished, and Superior Courts created. Judge Temple was nominated for Superior Judge by the Democratic party; the Republicans made no nomination, he was supported without regard to party, and was elected by the largest majority of any candidate on the county ticket.
The question of the adoption or rejection of the new Constitution had
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created unexpected, and unprecedented excitement. The fact that the people of all parties supported Judge Temple without regard to their own, or his views on that question, is a high tribute to his ability and integrity.
Judge Temple is well read in standard, and current literature. He is partial to the study of Political Economy, and is well versed in that science. His high conception of the standard of thoroughness will in all probability limit his acquired knowledge and original thought on this subject to the circle of his acquaintance, though well worthy of much wider discrimination.
As a lawyer, Judge Temple is best known. He has an exact and thoroughly disciplined mind, is quick of apprehension, and goes to the root of a principle of law or question of fact submitted for his determination, with a directness that is very embarrassing to those who have only examined superficially the subject at issue. As a speaker, he is argumentative and logical, relying on a forcible presentation of the strong points of his case rather than oratorical display. He exhausts his subject, and concludes without peroration when he has nothing more to say.
Judge Temple is a positive man. He has not, nor will he assume that sleek and supple manner which passes with the credulous for good nature. He is sometimes thought to be reserved, but only by those who do not know his true character. He has many friends, because, once made, his sterling worth retains them.
Sonoma county is fortunate in having at the head of its judiciary a man who in private life is without spot or blemish; who is learned in the law; incorruptible and fearless in the discharge of his public trusts. It is not too much to say that all these excellent qualities are combined in the subject of this notice, Jackson Temple.
Thompson, Thomas Larkin. The subject of this sketch is a native of Kanawha county, Virginia (now West Virginia), having been born there on May 31, 1838. At the early age of twelve years he entered the office of the West Virginian, then published at Charterton, and there attained a fair knowledge of the printing business. He attended the Buffalo Academy, in Putnam county, West Virginia, during the years 1853-54, and in 1855 came to California by the Panama route, arriving in the month of April. On arrival Mr. Thompson worked for a short time at a case on the San Fran- cisco Herald ; he then located in Petaluma, and when but seventeen years old established the Petaluma Journal. In 1856 he sold out the Journal office, returned to San Francisco and resumed work at the case on the Herald. In 1858, without solicitation or influence, was appointed to a clerkship in the San Francisco Postoffice, where he served for two years under the administration of Colonel C. L. Weller, when he resigned to re-engage in the newspaper business. In 1859 he married Miss Marion Satterlee, daughter of William Satterlee, of San Francisco. In April, 1860, he purchased The Sonoma Democrat, and located permanently in Santa
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Rosa. Published the Democrat until 1868, then sold it to Peabody, Ferrall & Co., and in anticipation of the construction of a railroad from Santa Rosa to Vallejo, Solano county, moved thither. Published at Vallejo the Solano Democrat and Vallejo Daily Independent, both issued from the same office. In 1871, re-purchased The Sonoma Democrat and established the first steam printing house in the county. In 1873, disposed of all interests at Vallejo and relocated with his family in Santa Rosa. In 1875, in addition to The Sonoma Democrat (weekly), established the Daily Santa Rosa Democrat, which was published as a first-class paper, with Eastern and Coast tele- graphie reports, four years, until August, 1879, when, on account of the general depression prevailing in business circles it was temporarily suspended. Mr. Thompson is at present engaged in publishing The Sonoma Democrat in Santa Rosa, where he resides with his family. No man throughout the length and breadth of Sonoma has done more to forward the interests of the county. When necessary he has never flinched from exposing existing evils; he is just in his dealings, true to his instincts and honest in his convictions. He is a man of great information, genial in his manners, and no better friend or companion exists than Thomas L. Thompson of the Democrat.
Tripp, H. L. Born April 9, 1848, in Chester, Warren county, New York, where he received his education, and resided until twenty years of age. He was then employed as clerk in a general merchandising store at The Glen, in same county, for about two years. He then embarked in busi- ness at North Creek, under the firm name of Hall, Tripp & Co., where he did a lucrative business for eighteen months, when Mr. Tripp sold his inter- est and went to Glenn's Falls and followed clerking until February 1875, when he set out for California, and landed in San Francisco, March 15, 1875. He soon found employment as a clerk in a general merchandising establish- ment, but owing to the push and energy that make the smart business man, he could not content himself with clerking, and soon engaged in business again, this time under the firm name of Palmer & Tripp, where he remained about two years, when he sold his interest to his partner. On June 1, 1878, he came to Santa Rosa and opened a clothing and furnishing store on Fourth street, where he still remains. The subject of this sketch is a young man, whose life has been an eventful one, as he started out in life early, and has battled his way through, and has at last succeeded in gaining for him- self a good reputation and a prosperous business.
Underhill, J G. Born in Marshal county, Tennessee, April 11, 1831, where he resided until 1843, when he moved with his parents to Green county, Missouri, where he lived until 1852 when he emigrated to California, crossing the plains with an ox-team, being six months on the road, and locating on his present farm in 1863. Mr. Underhill built the first house ever erected in Rincon valley. This house was constructed for a man by the name of Armsby Elliott in the Winter of 1852 and 1853, and is now used by
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Mr. Underhill as a barn. He also planted the first orchard in the valley. Has held the office of School Trustee for ten years. Married Miss Millie Dunbar August 9, 1855. She was born in Dade county, Missouri, in 1841. William, born May 29, 1856; Charles, born September 20, 1857; Katie, born Novem- ber 9, 1858; Mary, born March 16, 1860; Sarah, born October 7, 1861; John, born January 16, 1870; Neva, born June 9, 1877; are the names and births . of their children.
Wall, E T. Farmer, was born in La Fayette county, Missouri, on Jan- uary 8, 1849. In the Spring of 1852, he, with his parents, emigrated to California, first settling in San Jose, Santa Clara county, where they resided till the Fall of 1857, when they moved to Sonoma county, residing till the Fall of 1858 on Russian river, at which time he moved to his present estate of fifty-one and one-half acres of land. Married October 14, 1867, to Miss Emily Florence, she being a native of Webster county, Missouri, born Sep- tember 5, 1851. By this union they have the following children : Edward E., born December 21, 1868; Charles W., born May 25, 1870; Minnie, born April 20, 1872; Nora, born April 17, 1874; Walter, born April 20, 1876, and Homer, born February 17, 1879.
Wall, Thomas H. Born in Mecklenburgh county, Virginia, August 10, 1807. In 1825 he moved to North Carolina and remained until 1834, when he took up his abode in La Fayette county, Missouri. In 1852 he crossed the plains to California, first settling in San Jose valley, Santa Clara county. Here he resided until 1857, when he came to this county. After spending one year on Russian river, he moved on his present farm. Married Sarah Elizabeth Shore, December 25, 1827. She was born in Stokes county, North Carolina, August 1, 1813. By this union they have nine living children : John B., born October 24, 1828; Henry C., September 7, 1830; Mary A., February 3, 1833; Martha J., February 3, 1836; Lucinda E., October 11, 1839; Sarah E., March 14, 1841; Ginsey L., July 11, 1843; William T., November 11, 1846 ; Edwin T., January 8, 1849; two children deceased.
Warner, James J. Born in Van Buren county, Iowa, March 4, 1853. His parents emigrated to this State when he was but an infant. They first settled on Russian river, but in the Spring of 1854 he located on his present estate, where his parents resided up to the time of their death. Mr. Warner married Miss Carolina Gruenhagen on May 31, 1876. She was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. They have one child, Lina, born April 28, 1877.
Weeks, Parker E. (deceased), Whose portrait appears in this work, was born in China, Kennebec county, Maine, in October, 1823. Here he remained till he was seventeen years of age. His parents then removed to Penobscot county in the same State. In 1848 he engaged in the lumber trade on the St. John's river, which he followed two years, and then came to California. His first business enterprise was farming in Fremont, on the
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Sacramento river. A few years later he went to Yuba county near Forbes- town, and once more engaged in lumbering, and at the same time carried on a trading-post. During his residence in that locality he drove cattle from Oregon. In 1858 he settled in Petaluma, Sonoma county, and embarked in the livery business. Here he resided until 1871, when he removed to Santa. Rosa township. Mr. Weeks was married to Miss Rosetta L. Williams on May 3, 1859. He died June 3, 1877, leaving his wife and one son, Frank . P., who was born June 11, 1862. Mr. Weeks was universally respected in the different localities where he resided.
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