San Diego County
Biographies
J. M. CLARK
was born in Antwerp, Jefferson County, New York, January 4,
1823, his parents being natives of New England. In 1836 they moved near
Cleveland, Ohio, thence to Caldwell County, Missouri, and in 1837 to Hancock
County, Illinois, where his father followed the trade of blacksmith, and he
attended the public schools and learned the trade of carpenter. In 1846 he went
to Galena, Wisconsin, and worked in the lead mines, but soon went to St. Louis,
Missouri, where he learned the trade of ship-joiner; and this trade, in
connection with that of carpenter, he followed until 1849. In that year he
decided to come to California, and accordingly joined a train at Fort
Independence, and, crossing the mountains at South Pass, they entered Hangtown,
after an extremely pleasant journey. Instead of mining he went to Sutter's Fort,
now Sacramento, and engaged extensively in live stock, that being headquarters
for stock trading at that time. In 1851 he went to Oregon and made large
purchases of grain, shipping it to San Francisco, but still continuing his
interests at Sacramento.
In 1855 he married Miss Magdalena
Rich, of German parentage but a native of Wisconsin, and they then moved to
Oroville, Butte County, there entering a wholesale and retail mercantile
business, carrying on several retail stores, and continuing about fourteen years
with great success in the business, but losing heavily in mining speculations.
In 1869 he came to San Diego city and was traveling agent and clerk for the firm
of Smith & Craique, who conducted a wholesale and retail liquor business, until
1877; he then opened business for himself until .1880, when he sold out and went
to Tombstone and opened a saloon, and also owned and worked the Winfield silver
mine, which was very rich at times, assaying $376 to the ton. In 1884 he sold
out and returned to San Diego, again resuming his liquor business, under the
firm name of Scranton & Clark; later the firm was changed to Craique & Clark. In
1886 he retired from the business, and. during that "boom" year, which San Diego
can never forget, entered extensively into the sale of real estate, and still
follows that business in the care of his property.
Mr. Clark has had three children, two of whom are living: Frank M., who married Miss Annie Lovell, and Ione Feno, now the wife of Juan Allison, all residents of San Diego city.
SOURCE: An Illustrated History of Southern California: Embracing the Counties of San Diego, San Bernardino, Los Angeles and Orange, and the Peninsula of Lower California… Chicago: The Lewis Publishing Company, 1890. p.- 205
Transcribed by Kathy Sedler
JUDGE GEORGE PUTERBAUGH,
of San Diego, is a native of Peoria, Illinois, born August 6, 1842. His father, Jacob Puterbaugh, was a native of Maryland and Pennsylvania. Having been born on the line between the States, he is entitled to both States as his native State. The name Puterbaugh is either German or French, as you wish to have it, or perhaps neither. His mother was Hannah (Hittle) Puterbaugh. They had a family of eight children, of whom the Judge was the youngest. He attended the common schools at his home, and was sent to Antioch College, Yellow Springs, Ohio. He remained there until Horace Mann, president of the college, died. He then went to Jacksonville (Illinois) College. In April, 1861, in answer to President Lincoln's first call for volunteers to put down the rebellion, he enlisted in Company F, Eighth Illinois Volunteers, Governor Oglesby's regiment, for three months, as First Corporal. At the end of his term he was sick with the typhoid fever, and when recovered he again enlisted, in Company E, Forty-seventh Illinois Infantry, and was elected First Lieutenant, which commission he held until September, 1862, when he was promoted to Captain. He was in what was known as the Eagle Brigade, composed of the Forty-seventh Illinois, Eleventh Missouri, Eighth Wisconsin and the Fifth Minnesota. They remained together during the war, commanded by Major-General Joseph A. Mower, and were in all the battles of the Army of the Tennessee, thirty-three different engagements in all. At the battle of Corinth, in 1862, his regiment lost 130 men, its Colonel and several officers, in less than half an hour. On May 22 this regiment and division made the charge on Vicksburg, and suffered very severely. He remained in the service until October, 1864, and then commenced the study of law with Colonel Robert G. Ingersoll and Judge S. D. Puterbaugh. The latter gentleman was the Judge's brother, and was the author of "Puterbaugh's Common Law Practice and Pleadings," and "Puterbaugh's Practice in Chancery." Judge Puterbaugh was admitted to practice law in January, 1866, and remained with the firm of Ingersoll & Puterbaugh until the following July, when he started business for himself. Soon after he was elected City Attorney, and held the office two years, and District Attorney for four years. In 1873 he went into partnership with Colonel R. G. Ingersoll and his brother, Judge S. D. Puterbaugh, and upon the dissolution of this firm in 1874, he remained in partnership with Colonel Ingersoll until he went to Washington City. Judge Puterbaugh continued in business in Peoria until 1880, when he removed to Colorado on account of a throat trouble contracted by exposure in the service. He remained there until 1884. His health not improving materially, he traveled east and northwest from June until November, 1884, when he came to California. He traveled in California several months, and permanently located in San Diego in July, 1885. He has bought property and built a beautiful home on Florence Rights.
He was married to Carrie Troyer James, September 13, 1866, by whom he had one daughter, Carrie Maud, born December 20, 1867. He lost his wife in March, 1870. She was the adopted daughter of Dr. M. Troyer, of Peoria, Illinois. October 1, 1874, he was again married, this time to Miss Catherine Hall Wagoner, daughter of Joseph and Emeline Wagoner, in Dayton, Ohio. She was born July 14, 1844. They have by this marriage one son, Johnson Wagoner Puterbaugh, born in Peoria, Illinois, September 26, 1875. Judge and Mrs. Puterbaugh are members of St. Paul's Parish, and he is its junior warden. He also belongs to the G. A. R., and is a member of Heintzelman Post, No. 33, of San Diego. He was adjutant of the first post established in Peoria, Illinois. It disbanded and was afterward reorganized as Colonel Bryner Post, No. 67. He was its commander two years. He was also junior vice commander of department of Illinois, which position he was holding when he went to Colorado. While there he organized and was commander of Joseph A. Mower Post, No. 31. While in Breckenridge, Colorado, he was Mayor of the city one term. He was inspector on the staff of Chaplain Renshaw when he was commander in-chief of the G. A. R. He is a member of the Missouri Commandery of the Military Order of the Loyal Legion of the United States. The Judge is an able lawyer, a good judge, and is held in high esteem by the legal profession of the county and his fellow-citizens in general.
SOURCE: An Illustrated History of Southern California: Embracing the Counties of San Diego, San Bernardino, Los Angeles and Orange, and the Peninsula of Lower California… Chicago: The Lewis Publishing Company, 1890. p.- 205-206
Transcribed by Kathy Sedler