Marin County
Biographies
THE HONORABLE GEORGE WILTON BURBANK
THE HONORABLE GEORGE WILTON BURBANK. The subject of this sketch, whose portrait is in this work, is a native of Lancaster, Worcester county, Massachusetts, and was born the 17th of November, 1829. He received his education in the public schools of his native State. He left Massachusetts for California, coming via the Nicaragua route, and arrived in San Francisco on the steamer “Sierra Nevada,” May 19, 1854. He at once proceeded to the mines, at a place known as “Sears Diggins,” but soon returned to San Francisco, and crossed the bay to San Leandro, where he resided till November, 1855, then moved to Tomales township, and took up his residence on the farm he now occupies. From the time of his coming till the present writing Mr. Burbank has resided on this farm, which is situated along the banks of the Estero San Antonio Laguna. Here, too, but on an eminence bordering the banks of the creek, Mr. Burbank has erected a beautiful house, which is finished and furnished in a manner indicative of culture and refinement, where he intends spending the remainder of his days. Mr. Burbank is one of the eight men who formed themselves into a league to resist the claimants of the Balsa de Tomales land grant, which at that time had been confirmed by the United States District Court. The case was carried by them to the United States Supreme Court, who reversed the decision of the lower court, and remanded the case back for a new trial. These eight men were then joined by nearly all who were residing on the grant, and in due course of time the settlers defeated the grant claimants. In 1864 Mr. Burbank was elected one of the Supervisors of Marin county, and in 1875 represented this district in the lower house of the State Legislature. He is one of the most prominent of Marin county’s public men, honored and respected by the citizens in the State in which he lives, and beloved by family and friends. On May 6, 1862, he married Apphie R. Blake. She was born in Paris, Maine, October 12, 1825.
History of Marin County, California; Including Its Geography, Geology, Topography and Climatology; by J. P. Munro-Fraser, Historian; Alley, Bowen & Co., Publishers, San Francisco, California, 1880
Transcribed by Betty Wilson
S. H. CHURCH
S.H. CHURCH. Born in St. Lawrence county, New York, December 24, 1829. When twelve years of age he moved with his parents to Milwaukee, Wisconsin, but only remaining there a few years they proceeded to Dodge county, where the subject of this sketch was educated and brought up on a farm. In 1854 he went to Humboldt county, Iowa, where he prosecuted farming until 1862, in which year he crossed the plains with ox-teams, and arrived in Sonoma county about the middle of October of that year. In the Spring of 1863 he came to Marin county, and in the Fall of the following year located on his present ranch of two hundred and sixty acres. Married, July 4, 1851, Cynthia Jane Fleming, a native of New York, by whom he has Howard E., Walter A., Herman H., Frank H., May Belle, Delbert, Clara E., Olive, Laura, and Glendora.
History of Marin County, California; Including Its Geography, Geology, Topography and Climatology; by J. P. Munro-Fraser, Historian; Alley, Bowen & Co., Publishers, San Francisco, California, 1880
Transcribed by Betty Wilson