USA > California > Lassen County > Illustrated history of Plumas, Lassen & Sierra counties, with California from 1513 to 1850 > Part 39
USA > California > Plumas County > Illustrated history of Plumas, Lassen & Sierra counties, with California from 1513 to 1850 > Part 39
USA > California > Sierra County > Illustrated history of Plumas, Lassen & Sierra counties, with California from 1513 to 1850 > Part 39
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ISAAC WESTON .-- He was born at Foxcroft, Maine, May 9, 1837. His education was received in the common schools; and in 1857 he came to California, vic, the Isthmus. He mined two years at Timbuctoo, Yuba county, after which he located what is now the Flint ranch, in Sierra valley, where he stayed for three years. He then sold out, and in company with W. Spencer bought the Robbins ranch. This was sold three years after, and he went to Yuba county, where he remained two years, when he returned to the valley and bought his present ranch of 320 acres, a half-mile north-west of Loyalton. Since then he has sold it, but bought it back again. He was married April 12, 1865, to Miss Jennie Badenoch of Lower Canada. Clara Bell, a daughter of Mrs. Weston's sister, has been adopted by them.
DAVID B. PATTERSON .- He was born in St. Lawrence county, New York, March 26, 1829. He crossed the plains to California in 1852, stopping in Sierra county, on the North Yuba, where he mined for a while, and then was interested for some years in a saw-mill. In 1858 he sold out and went east, but was back in less than a year; and in partnership with L. T. Fox kept stock on the ranch now owned by Mr. Patterson, and ran the butchering business in Downieville, Goodyear's bar, Monte Christo, Eureka North, Poker Flat, and St. Louis. In 1862 he sold out of the meat business, and bought Mr. Fox's interest in the stock-ranch, which he still operates. December 25, 1860, he was married to Jane Newell of Goodyear's bar, who died August 6, 1864. He was a second time married to Annie Parker of Canton, New York, December 25, 1865, by whom he had three children: Jane, born September 27, 1866; Cora V., February 14, 1869, and Mary, July 20, 1877. He is a member of Sierra Valley Lodge No. 184, F. & A. M.
J. C. BROWN .- Mr. Brown was born in Hardin county, Kentucky, June 11, 1855. His parents came across the plains in 1861, settling at Virginia City, Nevada, where they remained a year and a half, when they removed to Sonoma county, California, and lived on a farm until 1874. At that time they sold out and came to Sierra county, purchasing the Lee ranch of 160 acres, two miles west of Loyalton. Our subject's father, J. B. Brown, died November 17, 1876; his mother, now sixty- one years old, lives on the farm with her son, J. C. Brown, and her daughters Maud and Rosa. Her son Alexander is married and lives in Los Angeles ; while Marcus D. is a resident of Washington Territory. Her daughter Emily was married to William Hand, in 1865, and now lives in Chico. J. C. Brown has managed the farm since his father's death. In politics he is democratic.
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J. D. FAGG .- He was born in 1826, in England, and when three years of age his parents emi- grated to this country, settling at Mount Vernon, Ohio, where they both died within six weeks after their arrival. For the next four years, our subject was taken care of, as it suited them, by half a dozen different families, and then he became permanently connected with a family named Kinney, who raised him, and gave him a good common-school education. In 1852 he was married to Miss Eliza Grant of Franklin county, Ohio. While in Ohio, Mr. Fagg conducted a saw-milling business until 1859, when he came to California, via the Isthmus, and for the next six years was connected with a saw-mill near Forest City, Sierra county. He then returned to Ohio with his wife, and farmed near Columbus until 1869, when he came back to Sierra valley and engaged in merchandising for two years at Loyalton. Then he sold out, and traveled some time for his wife's health. October 24, 1877, she died at Reno, Nevada. Since selling his store, his principal occupa- tion has been money-loaning and brokerage, though he has done some mining.
PATRICK CONNOLLY .- He was born in county Kildare, Ireland, in 1839; came to the United States in 1856, and lived a year and a half in Orange county, New York. He then migrated to Kane county, Illinois, and spent eighteen months in that locality. In 1859 he came overland to California, stopping at Marysville, where he worked for the California Stage Company six months ; and from that time until coming to Sierra valley was engaged along the Dutch Flat and Henness Pass road, working for the same company. Mr. Connolly removed to Sierra valley in 1869, and bought a ranch of 480 acres two and one-half miles north-west of Loyalton, on which he has sinee lived.
T. F. WEST .- Mr. West was born in Rensselaer county, New York, January 20, 1820. When he was fourteen years of age his parents moved to Verona, Oneida county. Our subject worked on his father's farm until twenty-two. In September, 1844, he went to Dane county, Wis- consin, and farmed for seven years, after which he engaged in mercantile pursuits for five years. In 1864 he went to Whitewater, Walworth county, where he ran a foundry and implement and wagon manufactory for six years. He came to California in April, 1871, by rail, and settled in Sierra valley, Plumas county, where he purchased a quarter-section of land, and lived on it ten years. He now resides on another farm of his own, two miles north-east of Loyalton, in Sierra county. Mr. West is a member of the Masonic and Odd Fellows lodges at Whitewater, Wisconsin. He was married September 15, 1841, to Miss Abbie S. Kenyon of Rome, New York, who was born April 23, 1819.
W. SMITH RAINS .- Mr. Rains was born in Hardin county, Kentucky, December 16, 1833. At the age of sixteen he left his native state, and went to Missouri, where he remained for twelve years. April 29, 1861, he started overland for California, arriving in Sierra valley in September. IIe soon located on the ranch of 360 acres, on which he has since lived. It is situated two and one- half miles from Loyalton. He was the first to improve a farm in that part of the valley, fencing 160 acres of land that year. IIe was married December 23, 1856, to Miss Mary J. Stephenson, who was born in Boone county, Kentucky. Their children are Robert Lee, born August 13, 1863; Carlotta, October 20, 1865; Ordelle, October 16, 1870; Azalia, June 20, 1874 ; a son not named, August 28, 1878; Olivette, January 28, 1881.
HIRAM LEWIS .- This gentleman was born in Franklin county, Missouri, December 5, 1820. He remained in his native state engaged in farming until 1854, when he came overland to this state with his family. He farmed one year in Santa Clara county, six years in Sonoma county, and two years in Solano county. In the spring of 1863 he removed to Sierra valley, where he purchased a farm of a Mr. Jenney, which now consists of 360 acres. He was married in Cass county, Missouri,
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January 18, 1844, to Miss Sarah Farmer, who was born in Meggs county, Tennessee, May 16, 1829. Their children are Mary A., born November 21, 1844; Melinda R., December 4, 1852; Nannie S., February 10, 1856; William S., February 17, 1858; Horace E., October 2, 1861 ; R. H., March 5, 1870. Their daughters are all married.
T. S. BATTELLE .- This is one of the early settlers in the valley. He was born in Washington county, Ohio, August 20, 1812. His father, Ebenezer Battelle, was one of the earliest settlers of that state, and died in his ninety-eighth year. When twenty-two years of age, our subject went to Uniontown, Pennsylvania, and dealt in merchandise for three years. Then he spent another three years in the same business at Clarksburg, Virginia, and several years at Muscatine, boating on the Mississippi .In 1852 he came overland to California, and farmed two years near Marysville. In 1854 he came to the Sierra valley, and located a ranch of 480 acres close to Sierraville, where he has since lived. He was married August 29, 1833, to Grace A. Fleming of Uniontown, Pennsyl- vania, and she died June 19, 1849. By her he had eight children, three of whom are living. On the first of March, 1850, he was again married, to Louisa Anderson of Pennsylvania, who died October 26, 1870. Mr. Battelle was married a third time, April 25, 1872, to Mrs. S. L. West of Waseca, Minnesota.
M. HARDIN .- He is a native of Bergen, New Jersey, where he was born in August, 1819. In the following year his parents removed to Guernsey county, Ohio, where he remained until 1851, when he came to California, via the Isthmus, arriving in San Francisco in November. He mined at Auburn, Placer county, until the spring of 1852, and then spent a year searching for auriferous deposits on the Feather river. He then began mining around Iowa hill, and continued there four years, when he went on the Yuba, and mined for one year. In 1857 he came to Sierra valley, and has since lived on his ranch of 240 acres, a mile and a half north of Sierraville.
AARON DAVIS .- This gentleman was born at Newark, New Jersey, May 24, 1813. When six years of age he accompanied his parents to Mount Vernon, Ohio, which he made his home for sixteen years. He then went to Cincinnati, and was engaged for three years in mercantile pursuits, being also one of the contractors of the Illinois and Michigan canal, commenced in 1836. In 1840 he went to Grant county, Wisconsin, and was occupied in merchandising and smelting lead, serving as deputy sheriff for two years. In 1849 he came overland to California, via the Lassen trail, arriving in Marysville September 21, 1849. He spent four years in mining, and then settled in Nevada county, where he engaged in merchandising, milling, and mining. In 1867 he removed to Sierra valley, and bought a ranch of 320 acres one mile west of Sierraville, on which he has since lived. Mr. Davis was a delegate to the state republican convention in 1872, and was elected a supervisor from the third district, in 1879. He was married December 25, 1838, at Ottawa, Illinois, to Miss Emma O'Hara, daughter of Captain William O'Hara of the British army. Their children are Morris W., born May 10, 1843 ; Wood B., May 21, 1847 ; Thornton E., July 18, 1855; George G., January 21, 1858; Emma M., December 3, 1859; Aaron Davis, Jr., June 2, 1862. Morris married Grace Cullen in 1864, and is living in San Francisco; Emma was wedded to H. O. Nichols of Sierraville, in June, 1880.
JAMES NICHOLSON .- IIe was born in Nova Scotia January 1, 1848. When fifteen years of age he came to California, via the Horn, and arrived at the Golden Gate in July, 1863. He at once started for the mining regions, and in the course of his peregrinations traversed nearly every part of the state where mining was carried on, and mined himself wherever he stopped. In 1869 he came to Sierra valley, and bought the Wood ranch, four miles east of Sierraville. Here he re- mained until 1876, when he sold out and traveled- through California and Nevada for two years.
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In 1878 he went east on a visit, and while there was married to Miss Mary Tate of Halifax, Nova Scotia. The same year he returned with his wife to Sierra county, and has since lived on the Olby ranch, which he bought in 1880. It is situated between Randolph and Sierraville, and consists of 300 acres. One child has been born, William, the date of whose birth is October 2, 1881.
J. C. ADAMS .- This gentleman was born in Trumbull county, Ohio, July 8, 1835. In 1837 his parents removed to Illinois, where our subject lived until 1862, when he came to California over- land. He arrived in Virginia City, Nevada, in September, where he remained a short time. In August, 1863, he came to Sierra valley, where he located a ranch of 160 aeres, to which he lias since added 120 acres September 16, 1856, he was married to Miss Mary E. Miller, who was born in Will county, Illinois, September 4, 1840. Their children were born as follows: Angeline, June 30, 1857, died July 1, 1857; Almeda, May 14, 1858, died January 2, 1869; B. Franklin, Sep- tember 13, 1860, died January 8, 1861; Charles C., October 29, 1861, died December 18, 1869; Lydia J., January 5, 1864; Alva, June 26, 1866, died January 7, 1869; Loren W., July 1, 1868, died May 21, 1869; Edgar, October 27, 1871, died December 1, 1872; Horace G., April 24, 1873; William A., August 2, 1875.
JAMES MILLER .- He is the son of Johni and Elizabeth (Cowan) Miller, and was born near Montreal, Canada, August 19, 1835. His father was one of the leading and influential farmers of that section. James worked on the farm at home until he was seventeen years old. In 1852 the gold excitement caused him to emigrate to Australia. He landed at Melbourne, and started at once for the mines, seventy-five miles inland, with his entire outfit on his back. He worked about eighteen months with fair success, and then went to Van Dieman's Land in Tasmania, and engaged in lumbering for a year. Through the failure of others with whom he was connected, he lost his all, after which he went to Sidney, and followed the lumbering business fifteen year -. In the summer of 1868 he came to California, arriving in September, and went direct to Sierra valley, where he bought the Keyes ranch of 600 acres, three miles west of Sierraville, on which he built a fine house and extensive outbuildings, a view of which may be seen on another page. He was married September 25, 1854, to Agnes Harvey, born in London, July 26, 1837, then of Australia. By her he has had ten children, as follows: Elizabeth C., born August 28, 1855; Agnes, August 24, 1857; Jeannette, November 9, 1859 ; Nellie, September 10, 1861 ; Maggie C., September 5, 1864; James John, May 8, 1866; David, September 26, 1868 ; Eva M., August 21, 1870; Amy L., November 4, 1872; Henry Harvey, May 4, 1875. Elizabeth was married to James Wiggins of Downieville in August, 1875; Agnes was weddel to S. M. York, in October, 1876; and Jeannette was united in marriage to Fred Olsen, in July, 1880.
G. P. HAINES .- Mr. Haines was born in Kennebec county, Maine, January 16, 1835. His father was engaged in farming and lumbering, and young Haines lived with him until 1855, when he came to California, via the Isthmus, arriving at the Golden Gate March 4. In the fall he began mining on the Yuba river, and continued at this occupation for three years. In 1858 he began farming and stock-raising in Sutter county, which he followed until 1864, when he came to Sierra valley, and made it his home until 1869. He then returned to his home in Maine, and stayed there three years, but came back to Sierra valley, and in 1873 purchased of Woodin & Brown their farm of 320 aeres, on which he has since lived. He was married December 5, 1869, to Sabrina Williams . of Benton, Maine. Mr. Haines is a member of Sierra Valley Lodge No. 184, F. & A. M.
JOEL E. FREEMAN .- This gentleman is a native of Jefferson county, Tennessee, where he was born January 9, 1836. In 1855 he went to Iowa, and engaged in farming until the spring of 1859, then starting overland to California, arriving in the fall, and settling in Sierra valley in the spring
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of 1860 on a farm of 640 acres, eight miles north of Sierraville. May 1, 1859. he was married to Miss Virginia Cooksey of Franklin county, Indiana, by whom he has had six children, as follows: Willis, born January 22, 1860; William, July 19, 1862; John, October 13, 1863; Sarah, March 17, 1865 ; Thomas E., January 21, 1870; Charles H., July 23, 1877. The eldest son, Willis, was married November 29, 1881, to Miss Mary McElvoy of Sierra valley.
MARSHALL HUGHES .- He was born November 22, 1858, in Whitley county, Indiana. In 1874 he left home and traveled for two years through the western states, and then came to California, settling in Sierra valley, where he bought a half-interest in the Carroll farm of 480 acres, twelve miles north of Sierraville, on which he has since resided. He was married February 22, 1880, to Miss Mary A. Carroll of Sierra valley, who was born at Forest City, California, September 29, 1862. Their son, Marshall, Jr., was born December 5, 1881.
JACOB KNUTIISEN .- He is a native of Holstein, Germany, where he was born September 9, 1827. At the age of fifteen he was apprenticed to a dyer, and worked at the trade until he was twenty-three, when he went into the German army, and was present at the battle of Idstedt, in which the Germans were defeated. He got his discharge in two years, and in 1850 came to America, landing at New York. Here he embarked in the grocery business, which he followed until 1859, when he came to California, via Panama, arriving in San Francisco June 6. He went at once to Downieville, and was engaged in hydraulic mining for thirteen years. In 1872 he removed to Sierra valley and bought the Peter Schutte ranch of 860 acres, twelve miles north-west of Sierraville, which has since been his home. He was married January 20, 1855, to Miss Regina Meyer of New York City, a native of Bavaria, born December 25, 1832. The children born to them are John Henry, March 17, 1856; Margaret Regina, September 11, 1857 (now Mrs. A. M. Haselton) ; George W., April 5, 1860; Henrietta, December 9, 1870-all of whom are living.
THEOPHILUS MADDUX was born in Woodford county, Kentucky, December 5, 1815. In 1838 he left home and settled at Indianapolis, where he engaged in the confectionery business with a partner. In the spring of 1852 he started overland to California, arriving in Sierra valley in September. He settled on the ranch now owned by James Miller, and lived there two years, when he abandoned the claim without proving upon it. He remained in this section until 1874, engaged in various pursuits, when he bought the Wood ranch of 160 acres. His wife was the first white women in the head of the valley, and his daughter, Laura O., was the first white child born in this section. Her birth occurred in February, 1853, in a log house which stood near the present resi- dence of James Miller.
WILLIAM C. LEMMON .- Judge Lemmon was born in Seneca county, New York, March 3, 1822. When William was eight years old his father removed to Washtenaw county, Michigan, and settled on a farm which he had located for his son in 1825, the patent for the land being signed by John Quincy Adams, and still in the possession of our subject. Six years after, his father died, and the management of the farm, together with the support of the family, devolved upon Willian, which duties he discharged until the other children were grown up. He attended school at Albion, Michigan, and from there went to Ann Arbor, where he read law with Wilson & Hubbard, and was admitted to the supreme court of the state in December, 1849. In the spring of 1850 he came to California, via Panama, arriving in June and going direct to Nevada City. He soon began mining on the islands below Goodyear's bar, and in the fall settled at Downieville, engaging in general merchandising. In 1851 he was elected the second justice of the peace of Downieville, and served two years. From the summer of 1852 until 1856 he dealt in stock, spending his summers in Sierra valley, and his winters near the buttes in the Sacramento valley. Then he made the latter place
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GENESEE RANCH, PROPERTY OF E.D. HOSSELKUS, GENESEE VALLEY, PLUMAS CO.,CAL.
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his home until the floods of 1861-62, when he returned to Sierra valley, and has since lived there. In 1853 he was elected a justice of Sierra township, and served two years. He is a past master of Sierra Valley Lodge No. 184, F. & A. M.
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B. F. LEMMON .- He was born in Seneca county, New York, May 13, 1826. When twelve years old he started out for himself, and worked principally at farming for a number of years. In 1851 he came to California, via Panama, and mined first with his brother William C., at Downie- ville. Shortly after, he was taken sick, and did nothing for some months. In August, 1851, they were employel by the citizens of Downieville to pilot a party of emigrants to that place from the Humboldt desert, and were the first to pass through the Henness pass. In the spring of 1852 B. F. Lemmon came to Sierra valley and located the ranch on which he now lives, containing then 160 acres, to which he has since added 480 acres, making 640 in all. He was married November 4, 1858, to Miss Jane Herring, by whom he had one child, Ada, born in February, 1860, and died in February, 1862. Mrs. Lemmon died in September, 1862. He was married a second time, June 29, 1870, to Mary L. Battelle of Sierra valley. Their children are H. A., born September 26, 1871, died September 30, 1872; H. A., born December 28, 1872, still living. Mr. Lemmon is a member of Mountain Vale Lodge No. 140, I. O. O. F., and of the Tahoe Encampment No. 45; also of the Veteran Odd Fellows association.
G. Q. BUXTON .- He is the son of E. G. and Lydia (Chase) Buxton, and was born October 3, 1837, at North Yarmouth, Cumberland county, Maine. His father was engaged in mercantile pursuits at North Yarmouth until 1859, and followed hotel and livery business to the time of his death, in January, 1880. His mother is still living at the same place. Our subject was educated in the schools and academy at Yarmouth. He early manifested a desire to become a sailor ; and from the time he was sixteen till twenty-one he went cruising up the Atlantic coast every summer. In 1859 he came to California, via Panama, arriving in San Francisco in April, and proceeded directly to Michigan Bluff, where he mined for four years with good success. He then invested a great deal in bed-rock tunneling at Turkey hill, Placer county, which never proved remunerative until recently. In 1864 he opened a mercantile establishment at Michigan Bluff, and continued it four years, when he went to Cisco, and took charge of a store for two years. In 1870 he visited his home in the east, and remained with his parents a year, when he came to Randolph, Sierra county, and bought the farm and hotel property of H. Northup, consisting of 160 acres of land and the Randolph hotel, both of which he has owned and managed since. In 1876 he bought the stage line running between Truckee and Eureka Mills, which he still operates. He was married May 3, 1865, to Miss Lucetta Salsig of Auburn, Placer county. She was born in St. Joseph county, Michigan, January 23, 1848, and came to California with her parents in 1852. The children of Mr. and Mrs. Buxton are Frank L., born January 6, 1867 ; infant, born June 30, 1872, died three days after ; George E., born June 19, 1875.
ROY R. SHEER .- Mr .. Sheer was born at Chesterville, Ohio, July 21, 1854. When he was aboat sixteen years old his parents removed to Woodford county, Illinois, where they still live. Roy received his education at the public schools of Ohio and Illinois, and at the age of twenty-three came to California by rail, arriving in Sutter county April 26, 1876, where he engaged in farming until the fall of 1881, when he moved to Randolph, and has since made that place his home. He is in the employ of G. Q. Buxton, manager of the Truckee and Plumas Eureka mine stage line and Randolph hotel.
CHARLES H. DAVIS .- This gentleman was born November 22, 1852, at Greenport, Long Island. When he was two years of age his mother died, and he lived with his grandparents for
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three years, and six years with J. C. Cole of Duen, Connecticut. At the age of eleven he started for California, via the Horn, to join his father in San Francisco, who had come to the coast in 1855. Charles reached his destination in April, 1865. In the same year he began to learn the butcher's ' trade, which he worked at two years. Since that time he has lived in many parts of the state. In the spring of 1879 he made his home in Randolph, Sierra county, where he owns a comfortable house, and is at present engaged in logging in the vicinity.
J. D. MYERS .- Mr. Myers was born in Randolph county, Missouri, March 22, 1840. In 1851 his father, Henry K. Myers, died, and J. D. being the oldest, the duty of providing for his widowed mother and three other children devolved on him. This he did until his mother married again, in 1860. In 1863 he came overland to California, and crossed Beckwourth summit July 26, 1863. He worked at the carpenter's trade until the spring of 1867, when he bought a half-interest in a planing mill at Randolph, the firm being Rawden & Myers. In 1876 he sold his interest to Raw- den, bought a body of pine and fir timber containing 450 acres, three miles south-west of Randolph, and built a water-power saw-mill, which he has since owned and managed. March 10, 1870, he was married to Mary Duvall of Randolph county, Missouri; born July 17, 1850. Their children are Mittie U., born January 13, 1871; Henry Wildey, May 24, 1875; infant son, October 7, 1877, died next day. Mr. Myers is a member of Mountain Vale Lodge No. 140, I. O. O. F.
WILLIAM B. RAWDEN .- The subject of this sketch was born in Voxhall, Surrey county, England, December 21, 1835. He went to sea at the age of twelve, and followed this life for two years, when he landed at Quebec, and went to Connecticut in June, 1849. He came to California in 1855, landing at San Francisco on the first of September. He mined in Calaveras county, and at Alleghany and Forest City, in Sierra county, until 1863, when he came to Sierra valley, and took charge of Wood's store in Randolph. Six months after, he bought Weil's brewery, and ran it two years, when he gave it up and bought a half-interest in a planing mill at Randolph, his partner being J. D. Myers. They greatly enlarged and improved the mill, and did a fine business. In 1876 he bought out Myers, and has since run it alone. He bought the saw-mill property of James Davidson, two miles from Randolph, in the spring of 1880, where he has 320 acres of fine timber land. He was married November 22, 1870, to Miss M. E. Gates, who was born in Lee county, Illinois, September 11, 1845. Their children are Blanche, Mary Ellen, and Addie L. (deceased). Mr. Rawden is a member of Sierra Valley Lodge No. 184, F. & A. M.
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