Shasta County
Biographies
WALTER WILLIAM SCOTT
Walter William Scott came from Edinburgh, Scotland, to the United States
with his wife Elizabeth Crawford, arriving in New Jersey. While in New
Jersey, their daughter, Annie Jeanette Scott, was born on September 2,
1837. Sometime after the birth of their daughter, Walter headed to the West
Coast. His wife presumably stayed behind with the child in New Jersey, but
years later coming west to California.
Upon reaching California, possibly as early as 1847, Walter William
Scott first lived in Washington, Yolo County, California.Quite possibly he
could have been a fur trader in the early days. But during the Gold Rush,
he worked his way north to Shasta, then known as Reading Springs. During
his journey north he initiated business negotiations with several outfits
here in Shasta County, particularly, in the burgeoning gold mining
community of Shasta, a few miles northwest of present day Redding, in an
effort to secure contracts to transport merchandise by horse and mule train
from Sacramento.
Scott's daughter Annie Jeanette Scott arrived in Sacramento from Rhode
Island with a friend in 1850. A year later his daughter was married to
Joseph C. Gray, a pioneer and veteran of the Mexican War, in Sacramento.
Walter William Scott worked his way north again and this time he bought
property in Shasta County and was hired by the Callaghan Brothers in
Shasta, though he apparently still considered Sacramento to be his home.
Shasta was a flourishing town in the 1850's. At that point, it was the
County Seat and the general supply center for the scramble for gold in the
region. In 1855, an impressive 16x17 foot, one story brick building was
constructed. This building, located on the south side of Maine Street,
housed four different stores. The building was owned by the Callaghan
brothers and was known as the Callaghan Block.
Eventually the Callaghan brothers, Daniel and Jeremiah Callaghan, and a
third brother whose name is unknown, left the business leaving Jeremiah
behind to run the business. Jeremiah held things together and promoted
Walter William Scott, who had continued running pack trains bringing in
merchandise for the brothers. Jeremiah Callaghan offered Scott a clerk's
job and part ownership of the Callaghan Block.
Accepting the promotion, the name of this impressive building in the
town of Shasta was soon changed and it became known as Scott and Callaghan,
or the Scott and Callaghan Block. Walter William Scott may have also been
the person who established Scott's Corral, which was located opposite from
Shasta's very first hotel the Trinity House..
In his later years, from 1870 to 1881, Walter William Scott lived with
the Joseph C. Gray Sr. family on Cow Creek in eastern Shasta County, that
is until his death there on August 8, 1881. Walter William and Elizabeth
Crawford Scott are buried in the Millville Masonic Cemetery. Some of his
descendants still live in present day Shasta County.
Contributed by Jeremy M. Tuggle
Resource "Rooted In Shasta County" by Jeremy M. Tuggle published by
Preserving Memories in 2003, 2nd Edition 2004.
Walter William Scott Pioneer Plaque folder on file at Shasta Historical
Society.
HENRY HAMMANS
Henry Hammans crossed the plains with ox-teams, arriving in California
in 1849. He engaged in mining in California for several years, being
principally located in remote Siskiyou County at Scott's Bar. Returning via
Panama to Iowa in 1857, Henry farmed in Davis County, near Drakeville. This
is where he established a farm and settled down for awhile before returning
to California and establishing roots in Shasta County.
Henry Hammans was born in Wyathe County, Virginia aroun 1818, one of
twelve children of Joshua and Elizabeth Kimbler Hammans. Henry Hammans
bought government land in Iowa and began the cultivation of unimproved
tracts in a locality still inhabited by Indians. He maried Elizabeth Brown
in Jefferson County, Indiana in December of 1843. To them in Iowa, two
children were born.
It is not known what happened in the intervening years. About 1857,
Henry married a younger woman, Hana Moss. They headed west together in
1865, coming across the counrty on the Old Oregon Trail in a covered wagon,
accompanied by Henry's two sons.
The family first appeared on the 1870 census of Shasta County. They
settled on a farm they operated in eastern Shasta County. During these
flush times, Henry and Hannah reared them ten children. The family lived in
both Shasta and Tehama Counties.
The 1866-1884 and 1890 Great Register of Shasta County list Henry
Hammans Sr., living at Ludwigs Bridge, west of Cottonwood. This was a
settlement and precinct named for Frederick W. Ludwig an early pioneer.
Hammans was living there on May 23, 1867, with one of his sons from the
first marriage.
In February of 1877, Henry Hammans Sr., died at Antelope Valley in
Tehama County. He is buried in the Oak Hill Cemetery in the Hammans family
plot. The widow Hannah Moss Hammans married a second time to Amos
McTaggart, who soon died. Hannah and her new husband, moved the Hammans'
children to the settlement of Eagle Creek, which became Ono in 1883.
Later in life, Hannah married Henry Oliphant, an old miner who in 1909
was murdered at their cabin in Harrison Gulch. Hannah had a difficult life,
she was uneducated and it has been said she died in a house fire at Ono,
year unknown. The descendants of Henry and Hannah Moss Hammans still reside
in Shasta and Tehama Counties.
Contributed by Jeremy M. Tuggle
Resource "Rooted In Shasta County" by Jeremy M. Tuggle published by
Preserving Memories in 2003, 2nd Edition 2004.
"The Hammans Family", written and compiled by Virginia Dare Hammans with
information given by George L. Hammans, Majorie L. Nowichi, and Keith
Lingenfelter.
The Hammans Family Pioneer Plaque folder on file at Shasta Historical Society.