Collection: Books and Periodicals

About This Item:

Title: A Memorial and Biographical History of Northern California (1891) Collection Type: Books and Periodicals Publisher: Lewis Publishing Company Published: 1891 Copyright: In the public domain or published before 1925 Source(s): Google Books # of Pages: 713 Download PDF: User Login Required Download OCR Text: User Login Required

Date Scanned: 2024-07-22 00:25:09 Item Sourced From: PDF First Created: 2025-03-17 03:11:29 Last Updated: 2025-03-17 06:30:36

Original Held At: Searls Historical Library Location: 161 Nevada City Hwy, Nevada City, CA 95959

Page: of 713  

456 HISTORY OF NORTHERN CALIFORNIA. worthy of the highest honor and respect, and their memories should ever be sacred to the people of California, who erjoy the blessings that they have made possible. ELISSA VIRGINIA SALMON is one ial of the early settlers of Butte County, having come to her present ranch on the 3d of April, 1858. This property is located two miles and a half southeast of the city of Chico. Mrs. Salmon was born in Randolph County, Missouri, April 11, 1831. Her father, Johnson Wright, was a Virginian by birth and her grandfather, Evans Wright, was a native of England, who settled in America before the Revolution. Her father married Elizabeth McCollum, a native of Kentucky. They had four children, of whom Mrs. Salmon was the youngest, and is now the only survivor of the family. She was reared and educated in her native State and was there married, August 1, 1850, to W. G. Patrick, also a native of Missouri. Five children were born tu them in that State, three of whom are living, namely: Mary E. wife of Sylvester G. Eastman, of Chico; Rebecca J., wife of Jerome Moore; and Elizabeth F., wife of S. C. Schoonover. Mrs. Salmon’s brother, T. S. Wright, had come to California in 1849; arrived on the coast with twenty-tive cents and met with fair success; purchased 1,140 acres of land from General Bidwell, built. on it, made other improvements and kept a hotel. He was a prominent pioneer of the county, and when his death occurred, December 9, 1863, he willed to his sister, Mrs. Salmon, 260 acres of the land she now possesses. She and her husband were successful in the care and management of this property and added to it by the purchase of 183 . adjoining acres, the whole making one of the tinest farms in the vicinity. They also pur chased two other farms, 284 acres southwest of Chico, and 121 acres on the Oroville road, . within a mile and a half of the home place. Other children were. born to them in California, viz.: Thomas James, Bee and William Garrison. Mr. Patrick died March 9, 1870, and after remaning a widow seven yeara the subject of our sketch was united in marriage to her present husband, Christopher Columbus Salmon. He is a native of Tennessee and came to California in 1859. For a number of years he was a stock-dealer. Mrs. Salmon has a nice residence on her ranch, and her two youngest children reside with her and her husband. Mrs. Salmon has seen much of pioneer life in California and is justly proud of the wonderful growth and development which have transformed the California of thirty-three years ago into the California of to-day. In referring to her bnsiness transactions with General Bid well she speaks of him in the highest terms. After her brother’s death there was a claim on the title to the property he left, and it cost the General about $1,400 to make the title good. When Mrs. Salmon and her first husband came to this State they made the trip by water. In 1866 Mr. Patrick returned East across the plains and again came to California by water. The following year the whole family crossed the plains. That year the Indians committed many acts of violence, and Mrs. Salmon recalls the fact that six of the stations on the route had been burned by them. At Flat River she says they were compelled by the Government to take the cars to avoid the Indians. mat Beds Spee ATT SCHWEIN is a native of Gersal many, born in Bavaria, January 3, 1834, = of German parentage. He received his education in the old country and emigrated to the United States at the age of eighteen. Here he settled in Ohio, learned the butcher business in Cincinnati and remained in that city from 1852 until 1857. the water route to California, and landed in San Francisco with $100 in his pocket. He worked In the latter year he came by