El Dorado County CA

Biography of Jacob Frazer

JACOB FRAZER. – This pioneer of the wool business in Eastern Oregon, and owner of some of the best buildings in Pendleton, is a native of the Buckeye state (1820), and while but a boy of ten went with his father to Indiana, and as a youth of sixteen to Iowa. In this state, then known locally as the Black Hawk purchase, his father died at the advanced age of eighty-three. In 1850 Mr. Frazer crossed the plains to California with horses, being one of a party of five. This company was made to pay a toll of sugar, flour, … Read more

Indian Hostilities in California and New Mexico – Indian Wars

general kearney

In New Mexico, which became a part of the United States territory at the same time as California, the Indians are numerous and far more formidable than those farther west. The Apache Indians and Navajo Indians are the most powerful tribes west of the Mississippi. Being strong, active, and skillful, war is their delight, and they were the terror of the New Mexicans before the territory was occupied by the United States troops. The Pueblo Indians are among the best and most peaceable citizens of New Mexico. They, early after the Spanish conquest, embraced the forms of religion and the manners and customs of their then more civilized masters. The Pimos and Maricopos are peaceable tribes who cultivate the ground and endeavor to become good citizens. They are much exposed to the irresistible attacks of the Apache Indians and Navajo Indians, and, very often, the fruits of their honest toil become the plunder of those fierce wanderers.

Biographical Sketch of McDonough B. Rees

McDONOUGH B. REES. – This is a brother of the well-known pioneer, W.H. Rees, of Marion county, and has in his own right earned a wide reputation as a man of unusual force of character and enterprise. He was born in Ohio in 1831, and came to Oregon in 1854. Much of his life on this coast has been devoted to prospecting and mining. As early as 1855 he was at the Pend d’Oreille mines, and in 1856 returned to the Willamette valley amid great dangers from the Indians. After farming a few years in the Willamette valley, he went … Read more

Biography of John H. Townsend

John H. Townsend was born at Smyrna, Costa (now Kent) county, Delaware, March 16, 1843. When seven years of age his parents removed to Madison county, Indiana, and settled at Collinsville, where he lived with them until he reached the age of eighteen years, and was there educated. On leaving home in 1861 he went to Placerville, California. On his arrival there he had but six dollars. On the first day after his arrival he was employed as a clerk by B. Meacham, a dry goods merchant, at a salary of six hundred dollars per year and board, and remained … Read more

Biography of Henry Babel

Henry Babel, deceased, formerly proprietor of the celebrated springs which bear his name, and which are now the property of his widow, was born near Hanover, Germany, on August 2, 1826. In 1845 he immigrated with his parents to America, and settled in Lebanon, Illinois, where his father and mother both died within a year. After their decease Henry went to St. Louis, Missouri, and on October 8, 1849, he married Miss Elizabeth Holadway, a native of Tennessee, a descendant of Scotch ancestry on her father’s side, and English on her mother’s. Early in May, 1850, Mr. Babel and his … Read more

Allensworth, George Verne, Jr. – Obituary

Richland, Baker County, Oregon George Verne Allensworth Jr., 76, died April 4, 2006, at St. Elizabeth Health Services. There was a celebration of George’s life Friday at the Richland Christian Church. Inurnment was at the Eagle Valley Cemetery in Richland. Friends joined the family for a reception afterward at the Richland Christian Church. George Verne Allensworth Jr. was born on Dec. 10, 1929, at Galesburg, Ill., to George Verne and Francis Marie Lander Allensworth. George was raised and educated at Galesburg. He was a Galesburg High School graduate. On Nov. 4, 1949, he married Retha Stevens at Yuma, Ariz. They … Read more

Biography of John Wasson

John Wasson, of Chino, is most widely known as an editor, but this accomplishment has been rather an incident than a design in his career. He was born in Wayne County, Ohio, August 20, 1833, on a farm. He received such education as the very common country schools afforded. Attendance on school was secondary to farm work in summer, and to some extent in winter. He was dissatisfied with farm life, but was notably a good worker with all farming implements. At the age of nineteen he went to California; spent 1852-’53 in the mines of El Dorado County. Sickness … Read more

Biographical Sketch of Horace H. Walling

Horace H. Walling has been a resident of San Mateo County since October, 1905. He was born in Kirkville, Iowa, on December 5th, 1869. In 1882 his parents came to California, locating in Woodland, Yolo County, where he finished his education in the public schools. Upon leaving school he entered the office of the Woodland Mail to learn the printing trade and journalism, and for a number of years followed the printing and publishing business. During his newspaper experience he was the founder and owner of one of the principal papers of Placerville, El Dorado County. In 1901 he became … Read more

Biography of Seneca LaRue

Seneca LaRue, one of the horticulturists of the Riverside colony, came to Riverside in 1876 and located on Arlington avenue, where he purchased a claim of forty acres of Government land for which he eventually secured a patent. Immediately upon his purchase he commenced his horticultural pursuits, first planting a vineyard and some deciduous fruits as well as oranges, but later his experience led him to uproot the deciduous trees and replace them with citrus fruits. His orange grove is about twenty-two acres in extent; fifteen acres, being above the canal, is not irrigable. The older trees are seedlings, but … Read more

Biography of Hon. E. L. Smith

HON. E.L. SMITH – Although these sketches deal mainly with men who came hither in the forties and fifties, we are yet occasionally reminded of the fact that length of residence does not constitute the only just claim to recognition in our annals. Every decade has its pioneers. Nearly every year has seen added to our number someone who by force of character, intelligence and industry has made himself a place in the esteem of the people, and in the business fabric of the country. The subject of the present subject was a pioneer of 1861. Though thus not f … Read more

Biography of Abner E. Callaway

The old adage that ‘”truth is stranger than fiction” finds exemplification in the annals of the northwest. The most marvelous characters of the novelist cannot exceed in courage and daring the hardy pioneers who have opened up this vast region to the advance of civilization. Traveling across the hot, arid, sandy plains, climbing the steep mountains, threading their way through dense forests of towering trees, they came to this land of the “silent, sullen people,” whose hostility made existence most uncertain, and here they have established homes, churches and schools, developed the rich agricultural and mineral resources of the country … Read more

Biography of Thomas Guinean

THOMAS GUINEAN. – The proprietor of the Esmond Hotel, in Portland, Oregon, and one of the most popular men in his line upon the Pacific slope, was born in the city of Quebec, Canada, in 1838. In the year 1849 he was left an orphan and thrown upon his own responsibilities, and went down to Boston, but within a year left the old Puritan city and journeyed on to New York, where he took passage in the steamer California to San Francisco, arriving at the Golden Gate in the early part of 1852. He remained in San Francisco nearly one … Read more