California

Biography of Samuel E. Fitzhugh

Samuel E. Fitzhugh is a native of New Madrid County, Missouri, born February 7, 1822, a son of Samuel E. and Margaret (Ruddle) Fitzhugh, natives respectively of Maryland and Missouri, and of Irish origin. John Ruddle was a soldier in the war of 1812. The subject of this sketch is the third in a family of nine children. His father moved from Missouri to Kentucky in 1833, where the family grew up. Mr. Fitzhugh was married in St. Louis, in 1845, to Caroline McKee, a native of Pennsylvania, but reared in Kentucky. She is the daughter of David and Eliza … Read more

Yana Tribe

Yana Indians. A tribe, constituting a distinct linguistic family, formerly occupying the territory from Round mountains near Pit river, Shasta County, to Deer creek, Tehama County, California. The west boundary was about 10 miles east of Sacramento river, both banks of that stream being held by the Wintun, with whom the Yana were frequently at war. The east boundary extended along the spurs running out to the north and south from Lassen Butte. In August 1864 the neighboring miners organized a massacre of the whole tribe, then numbering about 3,000, of whom all but about 50 were slaughtered in the … Read more

Biography of James Monroe West

James Monroe West, living two and one-half miles east of San Bernardino, on Third Street, is a pioneer of 1856. His native State is Alabama. He was born in Dallas County, October 23, 1825, and is the son of Simon and Nancy (Thompson) West, natives respectively of Tennessee and North Carolina. The father was born August 19, 1797, and the mother April 3, 1799. Simon West moved with his family to Mississippi in 1839, and died there in January 1884. The mother is still living in Itawamba County, Mississippi. They had ten children, of whom the subject of this sketch … Read more

Biography of Joseph Camp Thorn

Joseph Camp Thorn, residing four miles east of San Bernardino on the Base Line, is one of the pioneers of this county. He was born in New York, January 2, 1839, the son of Joseph and Lorana (Camp) Thorn. When the subject of this sketch was three years of age his father moved to Nauvoo, Illinois. The next year he removed to Council Bluffs, Iowa, and the following year he moved to Salt Lake. Our subject was then eight years old and he drove an ox team all the way from Council Bluffs to Salt Lake. Mr. Thorn lived at … Read more

Biography of Joshua S. Beam

Joshua S. Beam, a native of North Carolina, was born in 1826, the seventh of a family of twelve children. His parents, Peter and Ann (Long) Beam, were both born, reared, lived and died in North Carolina. John T. Beam, a weaver by trade, one of the ancestors, came from Germany and worked seven years for a man who paid his passage to America. The subject of this sketch went to Arkansas in the spring of 1850 with his brother-in-law. In April 1852, he started to cross the plains with an ox team, and arrived in California in September of … Read more

Biography of Joseph Thorn

Joseph Thorn, deceased, was a pioneer of 1854. He was born in New York State, December 22, 1811. His parents were Richard and Mary Ann (Armstrong) Thorn, the former a native of New York, the latter of England. Mr. Thorn was a blacksmith by trade. He was married at Niles, New York, June 19, 1836, to Lorana Camp, daughter of Jonah and Barbara (Keith) Camp, from near New Haven, Connecticut. About seven years after his marriage he moved with his wife and four children to Hancock County, Illinois, where he lived five years. He then moved to Council Bluffs and … Read more

Biography of William Lloyd Garrison Soule

William Lloyd Garrison Soule, Auditor of San Bernardino County, and founder of the mining town of Calico, is a lineal descendant from Puritan stock, and was born in the State of Maine, in July, 1836. He was reared from early childhood in Massachusetts, and started to learn the printer’s trade in Boston at the age of fourteen. He came with his parents to Kansas in 1854, and set the first stickful of type ever set within the boundary of that State, on the Herald of Freedom, established at that time in Lawrence. Being like his illustrious namesake, an uncompromising enemy … Read more

Biographical Sketch of Calvin Logan Thomas

Calvin Logan Thomas, a rancher, two and a half miles southeast of San Bernardino, was born in Bledsoe County, Tennessee, January 5, 1837. His father, E. H. Thomas, was a native of Kentucky, and his mother, Edna (Zinn) Thomas, was born in South Carolina. His parents moved to Jackson County, Missouri, when the subject of this sketch was but four years old. From there the removed to McDonald County, where they remained until 1852, when they crossed the plains by ox team to Oregon. When they got to Utah, however, they found it was too late in the season, so … Read more

Biographical Sketch of Hon. Frederic W. Gregg

Hon. Frederic W. Gregg, of the law firm of Harris & Gregg, is a Green Mountain boy, born in Vermont, thirty-two years ago; was educated in Dartmouth College, celebrated as the alma mater of eminent men of action, men who have led in the fields of law and politics and commerce, where a combination of mental and physical vigor are the motive power of success. Graduating from Dartmouth in the class of 1878, Mr. Gregg studied law in the office of Hon. Frank Plumley, United States District Attorney for Vermont, and at the Columbia Law School. In June 1881, he … Read more

Biography of Albert S. White

Albert S. White, a Riverside horticulturist, was born in Belfast, Maine, in 1840, and was schooled and reared in his native place. At the close of his school days he located in New York, and his first entry into business life was in mercantile pursuits. He became associated with Captain George W. Gilchrist in the ship-chandlery business. His keen business tact and energetic management rendered him valuable, and under the firm name of Gilchrist, White & Co. their house became one of the best known in the city and stood at the head of establishments in their line of business. … Read more

Biography of Thomas Jonathan Wilson

Thomas Jonathan Wilson, the oldest in active pedagogical work of all teachers in San Bernardino County, is a native of Union County, Kentucky, and was born February 7, 1845. At the age of eleven years he moved with his parents to Sedalia, Missouri, in which State he was educated for the purpose of teaching. He taught two years in Texas, and at the instigation of his father, studied medicine, nearly completing the course, and did some practice, sufficient to satisfy himself that the duties of the school-room were more congenial to his taste than dealing out powders and pills. Meeting … Read more

Biography of Henry Goodcell, Jr.

Henry Goodcell, Jr., attorney at law, and secretary of the San Bernardino Bar Association, was born in Dover, England, and was forty years of age in November 1888. When a child of four years he emigrated with his parents to the United States, and came to San Bernardino when nine years old; hence he has resided here thirty-two years. He graduated from the California State Normal School in 1873, the first graduate of that institution from San Bernardino County. When entering the school he expected to pursue the profession of teaching, but after completing the course, upon the advice of … Read more

Biography of Adoniram Judson Twogood

Adoniram Judson Twogood is one of the original founders and members of the Southern California Colony Association, and among the pioneer settlers in Riverside. Mr. Twogood is a native of Onondaga County, New York, dating his birth in 1831. He was reared to farm labor and educated in the public schools. In 1855 he emigrated to the great West and located in Benton County, Iowa. He was among the pioneers of that county, and was prominent in developing its agricultural and other resources. He engaged in farming until the war of the Rebellion roused his patriotism and he abandoned his … Read more

Biography of Harrison H. Guthrie, M. D.

Harrison H. Guthrie, M. D., has been in the active practice of his profession in San Bernardino since November, 1881. He came to California from St. Charles, Minnesota, where eighteen years of arduous labor and exposure in that rigorous climate had seriously impaired his naturally delicate constitution. He was born in Preston County, West Virginia, in April 1832, and is the son of a house carpenter, who was also a Virginian. The Doctor was left motherless when nine days old, and was taken and reared by his maternal grandparents in Maryland. Being of an active mental temperament, he advanced rapidly … Read more

Biography of Leroy S. Dyar

Among the pioneers of Ontario and representative men of that beautiful colony, mention should be made of Leroy S. Dyar, who was born in Franklin County, Maine, in 1833. His father was Colonel Joseph Dyar, a well-known agriculturist of that county. His mother was Mary S. Gay. Both of his parents were natives of that State. Mr. Dyar was reared and schooled in his native place, closing his studies in the high school and academy. He was reared as a farmer. In 1858 he decided to try his fortune on the Pacific coast, and came by steamer to San Francisco. … Read more

Biography of Benjamin B. Harris

Benjamin B. Harris, attorney at law, City Clerk of San Bernardino, and treasurer of the Society of California Pioneers-of San Bernardino County, was born in Hanover County, Virginia, in 1824. When seventeen years of age he went to Nashville, Tennessee, and was there educated, graduating at Nashville University in 1845; studied law in a private office in that State, and was admitted to the bar of Tennessee. In 1847 he went to Panola County, Texas, expecting to remain there permanently, but the climate being malarious he suffered with liver troubles, which necessitated a change in his purposes. After the discovery … Read more

Biography of William Jesse Curtis

William Jesse Curtis, attorney at law in San Bernardino, is the oldest son of Hon. I. C. Curtis and Mrs. Lucy M. Curtis. His father was for many years a prominent member of the bar of Marion County, Iowa, and represented that county for several terms in the State Legislature. His mother is the daughter of Jesse L. Holman, one of the judges of the Supreme Court of the State of Indiana, and a sister of Hon. William S. Holman, now a distinguished member of Congress from that State. Mr. Curtis was born at Aurora, Indiana, on the 2d day … Read more

Biography of Albert E. Phelan, M. D.

Albert E. Phelan, M. D., one of the leading physicians of San Bernardino County, and a representative of the progressive school of medicine, was born in Montreal thirty-two years ago; he was graduated at the University of Bishop’s College in that city in 1886, and the following year was graduated at the College of Physicians and Surgeons in Quebec, having had charge during the years 1886-’87 of the Western Hospital as house surgeon. He came to San Bernardino in September 1887, and immediately settled in practice, forming a partnership with Dr. C. G. Campbell, a prominent old physician of the … Read more

Biography of Colonel William R. Tolles

Colonel William R. Tolles, President of the San Bernardino Board of Trade and one of the most enterprising and public-spirited citizens of the county, was born in Litchfield County, Connecticut, in 1823. His father was one of the original settlers of the famous “Western Reserve” in northern Ohio, having moved there and settled in Geauga County in 1837; there William passed his youth, excepting five or six winters which he spent in the South for the benefit of his health. He was in Arkansas when the Legislature of that State declared its secession from the Union, and he was a … Read more

Biography of Captain Nelson Green Gill

Captain Nelson Green Gill, Post-master of San Bernardino, came to California from Toulon, Illinois, in March 1849, with a team composed of four oxen and two cows. He came by way of St. Joseph, Fort Laramie, Fort Hall and Lassen’s cut-off, with a train composed of twenty-two wagons. They brought with them a ferryboat, which they used in crossing the North Platte and Green rivers, afterward selling it for $100. They arrived in Sacramento valley, September 26, 1849. Leaving his ox teams at Bidwell’s ranch, Captain Gill started for the mines on Feather River. After he had been in the … Read more