Tulare County
Biographies
WRIGHT, ISAAC N.
One of the oldest residents of Tulare county, reckoning from the days of his pioneering, was the venerable and respected Isaac N. Wright, a man of industry, thrift and sound judgment, who succeeded for himself and was active in every movement for the advancement of the industrial and agricultural advancement of the county, his death occurring at his home at Tulare, Cal., February 17, 1910. Of English stock, he was born near Mount Vernon, Knox county, Ohio, October 13, 1823, son of William Wright, who was born, reared and educated in England; he was a pioneer in Knox county, and began his life there in a log cabin which he erected in a small opening in the forest, improving a farm and prospering there until he removed to Iowa, where he passed away. His mother, Elizabeth Newton, also a native of England, died in Omaha, Nebr. Mr. and Mrs. Wright had eleven children, four of who survived. One of the children, George, who came to California in 1850, died in Tuolumne county; James came with Isaac N. in 1851 and died in San Diego; a daughter, Mrs. Elizabeth Smith, resides at Long Beach, Cal.; and another daughter, Mary, resides in Montana.
Under the tutelage of his mother, a woman of refinement and education, Isaac N. Wright gained his elementary knowledge of contents of school books. Brought up on a woodland farm he became an expert chopper, and when he was sixteen years old helped to build a log schoolhouse near his home and was chosen to cut the saddles and notches for one corner of the building, and in that crude structure he attended school five years. Soon after he was twenty-one years old he entered upon an apprenticeship to the miller’s trade and later he was the lessee and operator of a grist and sawmill on Owl creek, at Mount Vernon, for two years. In November, 1851, he sailed from New York on the steamer Georgia for Aspinwall, and from there he went by rail to Gorgona, whence he was taken by steamer to the head of navigation. The remainder of the trip across the isthmus of Panama, about twenty-five miles, he made on foot. From Panama he came to San Francisco on the steamer Northerner, arriving in December, 1851, and for two years he and his brother did placer mining at Jamestown, Tuolumne county, and met with some success. In 1854 he and his brother, George, leased a sawmill which was operated four years. Then he went back to Ohio for his family, arriving at his home February, 1856, and in April that year he left for California with his wife and child, by the Isthmus route, and was in Panama April 15, the date of the historic riots there. His wife and child were safe in the American hotel near the Plaza, but he armed himself with an old American flint-lock musket and participated in the affair. They made a good passage to San Francisco on the steamer John L. Stevens and he located at Sonora and was successful several years as a quartz miner and as a miller. In 1869 he moved his family to San Jose and prospected through the coast counties into the San Joaquin valley and might have embarked in stock-raising if the season had not been too dry. In 1870 he pre-empted one hundred and sixty acres of land now within the municipal limits of Tulare which in 1872 he traded to the railroad company for his present homestead on which he located that year. He set about improving his property and placing it under irrigation, and almost immediately he was achieving success as a farmer and stockman; much of his land was in alfalfa. He has raised many high-grade cattle and hogs and has a large dairy. His public spirit prompted him in actively promoting the growth and development of the city of Tulare; he was one of promoters of Kaweah Canal & Irrigating Co., was one of its directors from the first and later was elected its president. During his ten years’ service as school trustee, he had charge of the erection of the brick school house in Tulare. A Republican in national politics, in local affairs he always advocated the election of the best man for the place without regard to party affiliations.
At Mount Vernon, Ohio, January 14, 1851, Mr. Wright married Charlotte A. Phillips and they had four children, as follows: Victoria is Mrs. A. D. Neff of Oakland, Cal.; George W., born in Tuolumne county and now living in Tuolumne, is a locomotive engineer, and in that capacity ran the first passenger train into Sonora; Alice L.; Hattie M. is Mrs. W. J. Higdon of Tulare. The mother was born November 1830, fourth of six children of Charles and Addie (Foster) Phillips, her mother having been a native of England. She is the only survivor of the family and is still living on the Wright home at Tulare, California.
SOURCE: History of Tulare and Kings Counties, California with Biographical Sketches - Los Angeles, Calif., Historic Record Company, 1913 Pp 351, 352
Transcribed by: Craig A Hahn
BAKER, SANDS
It was in the lovely country along the Hudson river, in the state of New York, that Sands Baker, of Dunlap, Fresno county, Cal., was born December 19, 1837. His parents were George and Martha N. (Bentley) Baker, of English ancestry, who had emigrated to New York state from Massachusetts. His father died when the boy was yet very young, and at fifteen years old Sands Baker was taken to Oconto county, Wis., by an uncle who was in the lumber business there. He early obtained a good knowledge of that industry, for which, however he had no liking, his inclinations being for the acquisition of an education. He managed to attend a public school and then entered a seminary near Albany, N. Y., where one thousand students were being prepared for professional careers. From there he went to Madison, Wis., where he entered the high school, giving particular attention to the English course until because of failing eyesight, he was obliged for a time to give up study. However, he soon found a field of usefulness at Green Bay, Wis., where he taught three years in the public school, and he was the author of several innovations the wisdom of which was soon evident to the school officials and the public generally. One of these was the closing of the doors of the school house at nine a.m. , thus enforcing punctuality or absence. Then came a period of travel for health and recreation. He wandered through Minnesota and Iowa and down to St. Joseph, Mo., where he met a man who so vividly pictured the beauties and opportunities of California that he quickly decided to seek fortune here, and accordingly he left St. Joseph in the spring of 1860 with a party which made the journey with American horses and California mustang, by way of Salt Lake. Finding feed scarce they abandoned their original course and came through Salt Lake valley. Indians were menacing but wrought them no harm and they arrived in Los Angeles in September. From Los Angeles Mr. Baker came on to Visalia. At Rockyford, while he was helping to bale one hundred tons of hay, he met a county superintendent of schools who wanted to employ a teacher. There were at that time only two public schools in the county and Mr. Baker established a private school which he taught two years. After this he went north to investigate the mines of eastern California and was soon employed as principal of the public school at Downieville, Sierra county. He closed the school daily at one p.m., and spent the afternoons in the mines, but careful study of conditions and results convinced him that there was nothing in mining for gold without the investment of considerable capital. So successful was he there as a teacher that he was given an increase of salary of $40 a month to continue his work. Returning to Visalia, he taught a private school for about six months. For some time he filled the offices of revenue assessor, gauger of liquors and inspector of tobacco with increasing responsibility and emolument, meanwhile serving four years on the board of education of Visalia. He acted one year as deputy county assessor and soon became known as an expert mathematician and was often called upon to figure interest on notes and accounts and to straighten out tangled bookkeeping, for which services he was well paid. This work he continued until his health began to fail.
In October, 1872, Mr. Baker married Sarah Josephine Drake, a native of Ohio, whose parents came to California in 1870, settling near Tulare lake and later at Squaw valley. On her mother’s side she was descended from Virginia ancestry. Seven children were born to them: Martha A., Royal R., Chauncey M., Lulu M., Blanche C., Pearl A., and Elsie F., and Mrs. Baker and her husband adopted a boy, who became known as William M. Baker. Martha A. married L. B. King and bore him four children. Royal R. married Nellie J. Hodges and they live at Farmersville, and have a son and a daughter. Chauncey M. married Olive E. Hargraves of Mendocino county, who taught school at Dunlap. Lulu M. married J. A. Mitchell, postmaster at Dunlap, and they have a son and a daughter. Blanche C. married Charles F. Hubbard, of Stockton. Elsie F. married James R. Hinds. Pearl A. is teaching in the Merriman school at Exeter. William M. is ranching near Exeter. Most of Mr. Baker’s children have attended the high school at Visalia. Blanche C. was graduated from a business college at Stockton in 1902 and is a competent stenographer and bookkeeper.
From Visalia Mr. Baker removed to Shipes valley, now popularly known as the Foot of Baker mountain. He took up a squatter’s claim and pre-empted and homesteaded land and has added to his holdings from time to time until he has a fine stock ranch of two thousand acres, much of it well improved, some of it under valuable timber. He has one hundred and twenty acres of valley land devoted to fruit and alfalfa. He could very easily farm five hundred acres, but he gives his attention principally to stock. He has on his property fully five thousand cords of wood and individual oak trees which would cut fifty cords each. He keeps about two hundred head of stock and twenty horses. He has sold many cattle at Hume Mills, about twenty miles away. His hogs have brought him ten to twelve and a half cents a pound on the hoof at times. He has a stallion, thoroughbred and a Percheron, and has raised fine stock for market, always finding ready sale, and Mr. Baker has maintained a high reputation for grade and quality.
In politics, Mr. Baker is a Republican who is proud of the fact the he cast his first Presidential vote for Abraham Lincoln, and he has for many years filled the offices of school trustee and clerk of the local school board. Formerly he was an active member of the Masonic order.
SOURCE: History of Tulare and Kings Counties, California with Biographical Sketches - Los Angeles, Calif., Historic Record Company, 1913 Pp 357, 358, 359
Transcribed by: Craig A Hahn