Born in Niagara County, New York,
November 2, 1829, when five years of age he, with parents, moved to
Michigan, where he resided until twenty-one years of age. He then spent two
years in Carroll, Illinois. In 1854, he crossed the plains to California.
After spending twelve years in El Dorado County, being engaged in mining,
and also conducting a shingle mill, he came to this county, settling in
Healdsburg, where he has since resided. He is now engaged in the livery
business. Married Miss Caroline Brown, March, 1854. Frank, Lucella, Lizzie,
Harrie, and Katie are the names of their children.
Source: "History of Sonoma County, Cal.," Alley,
Bowen & Co., San Francisco, 1880, p.504.
Transcribed and submitted by Sally Kaleta, July, 2007.
A native of England,
born April 26, 1842; was educated there and followed clerking until 1862,
when he took up his residence in British Columbia, and engaged in the
commission business until 1866, when he went to Peru, where he found
employment as book-keeper until 1872, when he returned to British Columbia,
resumed the commission business, and remained until October, 1877, when he
came to this county and bought the Sotoyome Winery of George Miller, which
is located in North Healdsburg. Married, August, 1876, Miss Alice Douglas, a
native of England. By this union they have one child, Amelia W.
Source: "History of Sonoma County, Cal.," Alley,
Bowen & Co., San Francisco, 1880, p. 504.
Transcribed and submitted by Sally Kaleta, July, 2007.
The subject of this
sketch was born in New York City, December 1825. He is descended from a long
line of ancestry, prominent in the religious world and social life; the
so-called learned professions, rather than political ambition,
characterizing their tastes and pursuits. When old enough to leave home he
was sent to school in Connecticut. At sixteen he returned to New York, and
entered a bank as clerk. In two years he had attained the position of first
book-keeper in one of the largest banks in Wall Street, but this business
being unsuited to his tastes he left and commenced the study of medicine. In
1848 he graduated at the College of Physicians and Surgeons, New York; and
in December of that year, four months after the discovery of gold here, was
among the first to start for California, via the isthmus. He arrived in San
Francisco on the steamer "Oregon," April 1, 1849, and was for some weeks the
only regular physician having an office in that city. In December following,
he lost nearly his all by the first great fire. He then concluded to buy a
ranch, a species of property less likely to go up in smoke than the redwood
shanties of San Francisco, and visited the valley of Sonoma for that
purpose. The exceeding beauty and fertility of this valley, with its
charming climate, determined him to cast his lot here. In 1850, he made a
journey to the head waters of the Russian River. This region was then a
wilderness, inhabited by wild beasts and wilder Indians, a large band of
whom chased him from the valley of Ukiah, nearly to the present site of
Cloverdale, a distance of twenty or twenty-five miles. A veritable "Tam
O'Shanter" ride, with the devils in close pursuit. This long race for life
was one of the most exciting of his many pioneer experiences. The
fascinating attractions and extraordinary fertility of this Russian River
valley induced him, in 1851, to settle here. He erected his house near the
present town of Geyserville, in one of the most picturesque localities of
beauty, where his generous hospitality to the wayfarer and the weary was for
many years widely known and appreciated. Here, and at Healdsburg, he has
since resided. He is the first regular-bred doctor that settled in this
county, his rides extending to Napa, Lake, Mendocino, and Marin Counties.
Always a leading physician here, he is now the oldest practitioner of his
profession in the county, and probably on this side of the bay, is highly
respected as a man and a citizen, and is still actively engaged in the
arduous duties of his profession.
Source: "History of Sonoma County, Cal.," Alley,
Bowen & Co., San Francisco, 1880 - pp. 504-505.
Transcribed and submitted by Sally Kaleta, June, 2007.