Sierra County
Biographies
John Howard Clute
of Alleghany was born January 11, 1824 in Henderson, Jefferson county, New York. In the fall of 1843 he started out for himself as a cook on a lake vessel, at seven dollars a month, becoming an ordinary seaman in 1844. In the fall of 1847 he became master of the schooner St. Clair, following the lakes as master of a vessel running from East Buffalo to Chicago, until 1858. On the first of June, 1859, he left New York for California, reaching San Francisco July 1, 1859. On the eighteenth he came to Alleghany, and worked for F. W. Clute & Brother until 1866, after which he took charge of an engine at the Union mine in West ravine, one mile from Alleghany. Mr. Clute became a partner of John T. West, June 1, 1866, in the saloon business in Alleghany, the firm of West & Clute being still in existence. Mr. Clute is also interested in mining. He was married June 11, 1850; and again, on the tenth of April, 1856, was united in marriage to Miss. C. H. Carter, his first wife having died December 24, 1854.
Illustrated History of Plumas, Lassen & Sierra Counties, with California from 1513 to 1850. - Fariss and Smith, San Francisco, 1882. p 487
Transcribed by Craig Hahn, Nov. 2004
L. Byington
was born in New Haven, Connecticut, June 28, 1820. His parents moved to Cincinnati in the fall of that year, where our subject lived till 1852. On leaving school he worked in a butcher-shop, and in 1844 opened a shop of his own. In the spring of 1852 he came to California, via the Isthmus, and located at Marysville. In June, 1853, he came to Goodyear’s bar, and opened a meat market, where he continued until 1856, when he went to Monte Christo, and sold meat there for about seven years. He moved to Downieville in 1863, and in 1864, in company with Henry Fordham, bought the Washington Market. He has been in this business ever since. While at Cincinnati he was a member of the fire department, and a president of it when he left. Mr. Byington was elected a member of the board of supervisors of Sierra county in 1866, and again in 1875; and represented the county in the assembly in 1877. He was married in 1857 to Miss Catherine Trehill of Forest City. Mr. and Mrs. Byington have had eight children, seven of whom are living.
Illustrated History of Plumas, Lassen & Sierra Counties, with California from 1513 to 1850. - Fariss and Smith, San Francisco, 1882. p 486-487
Transcribed by Craig Hahn, Nov. 2004
William H. Burgess
of Goodyear’s bar was born at New Bedford, Massachusetts, in 1814. He resided at that place and in Boston until the fall of 1838, when he went to Mississippi on account of his health. He came by the southern route in 1849 to California, reaching San Francisco in the latter part of November. His first mining was done at Oregon gulch, near Georgetown. In the spring of 1851 Mr. Burgess went to the northern part of Sierra county, and worked a while at Sears’ Diggings, but on the first of August removed to Downieville, and again to Goodyear’s in September, where he has since resided. For a number of years he was engaged more or less in mining, and had an interest in the Fir Cap mine. Of late years he has been occupied in carpentering and building. Mr. Burgess was elected justice of the peace in 1854, and has served the people in this capacity most of the time since. He was a member of the board of supervisors in 1857, and afterwards an associate justice of the court of sessions for four terms.
Illustrated History of Plumas, Lassen & Sierra Counties, with California from 1513 to 1850. - Fariss and Smith, San Francisco, 1882. p 486
Transcribed by Craig Hahn, Nov. 2004