Yolo County
Biographies
CHARLES A. BROWN
Charles A. Brown, real estate, insurance and collection agent at Woodland, was born in Lexington, Kentucky, December 29, 1839. His father, H. C. F. Brown, was born near Harper’s Ferry, Virginia, and moved when he was a small child to Ohio before it was a State; and when a young man he went to Lexington, Kentucky, where he married Hannah Stainton, a native of that State. He was a contractor and millwright by trade, and died in Kentucky in 18--. His wife is still living in Bloomington, Illinois, at the advanced age of seventy-eight years. In their family were six sons and four daughters, of whom three sons are the only ones now living.
The subject of this sketch, the only member of the family in this State, was raised in Lexington, and in 1855 he came to California, by way of Atchison and Salt Lake, packing through the Sierra Nevadas, and arrived in Sacramento August 2. After a residence of six or seven years at Grass Valley he came to this county. He followed mining there and also in Tuolumne and Mariposa counties. Most of the time since 1862 his home has been in Woodland. In 1864, in the spring, he went to St. Helena, Napa County, and remained there about six months; and was in Nevada during the mining excitement at Washoe, a year, engaged in mining and other kinds of business. Most of the time in that State he was Lake’s Bridge, where Reno now stands. For the past twelve or fifteen years he has been engaged as already noted, being one of the most active citizens of the place, thorough-going and reliable. Having been thrown upon his own resources ever since he was sixteen years old, and constantly mingling with strangers, he has obtained a practical education in the ways of the world.
Politically, Mr. Brown is a Democrat, and has been influential in the various campaigns.
He was married in 1862 to Fannie M. Ingram, a native of Virginia, and by that marriage were three children, of whom two daughters are now living. The parents were separated by a divorce, and Mr. Brown, for his present wife, married Clara Leman, a native of St. Louis, Missouri; she was born February 12, 1851. They have four children living and two deceased.
Transcribed by Kathy Sedler, July 2004.
SOURCE: Memorial and Biographical History of Northern California, The Lewis Publishing Company, 1891. pg. 320-321
BASIL CAMPBELL
Basil Campbell was born in Cooper County, Missouri, March 9, 1823, a slave to James G. Campbell, whose widow, Mrs. Ellen, is living with her son-in-law, Jefferson Maxwell, in this county. When thirteen years old, in September, 1836, he was sold to Joseph Stephens for $700. In 1837, Mr. Stephens died, and for some four or five succeeding years the slave-boy was put yearly up at auction, and his services for one year sold to the highest bidder. One of those years, he was put upon the scales and found to weigh 151 pounds, and taking his place upon the auction-stand, was bid off at $151 per year by Thomas Adams, a brother of D. Q. Adams, of this county. A son of the purchaser, T. H. Adams, is this year working in Yolo County one thousand acres of land, that he hires from the boy whose services as a slave his father purchased at one dollar per pound. In about 1842, the estate of Mr. Stephens was divided among the heirs, and Basil had to be sold again, as he could not well be divided, and Mrs. Catherine Stephens, the widow of the deceased, purchased him for $450 (a depreciation in the market). In October, 1853, he was again sold to J. D. Stephens, now a banker in Woodland, for $1,200 (stock going up), and the following year, Mr. Stephens came to California and settled on the south side of Cache Creek, bringing with him his twelve hundred dollar purchase. Before leaving, an agreement had been entered into between the parties, to the effect that Basil was to work in California ten years for Stephens, and have his liberty at the end of that time; one hundred dollars per year, to be paid annually, was to be given to Basil during that time, and if, during the ten years, he had money enough to buy his freedom in a less time, Mr. Stephens was to name a reasonable price. In 1861 he paid $700 for the remaining three years of his time, and then was free. During those seven years, Basil had been investing his money in stock, and was worth in 1861 probably $10,000. In 1865, he commenced acquiring real estate, and in 1879, had 2,960 acres, worth about twenty dollars per acre on an average, and between five and ten thousand dollars’ worth of live stock. In 1865 he was elected as a delegate to attend the State convention of colored people that met at Sacramento, being chosen as on of the vice-presidents. In 1873, he was again elected to the State Colored Convention, and was chosen by that body as a State delegate to attend the National Colored Convention at Washington, District of Columbia. He was married to Rebecca Dalton, at Sacramento city, August 5, 1866, and has an adopted child – Lenora. Mr. Campbell is living upon the proceeds of his accumulated wealth. He informed us that he considered himself fortunate in his masters in those days of servitude; that he was always kindly treated; and that in J. D. Stephens he found a friend rather than a master, who gave him a chance in the world that few of his race had been favored with.
In conclusion, we would like to ask you, reader, how many white men of your acquaintance, think you, could be mentioned that would have fulfilled the contract of working ten years for freedom, when the law gave it without a cent as soon as the soil of California was reached, as did this man who had been born a slave.
Transcribed by Kathy Sedler, July 2004.
SOURCE: Memorial and Biographical History of Northern California, The Lewis Publishing Company, 1891. pg. 323-324.
JONAS CLARK, M.D.
Jonas Clark, M.D., Woodland, was born in Waltham, Massachusetts, September 23, 1853. His father, also named Jonas Clark, was a native of the same State, while his mother, whose maiden name was Rachel S. Bagley, was born in Brookfield, Vermont. He was educated at the Waltham school and at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where he remained three years. He completed his medical course at Harvard University, where he graduated in June, 1875. In 1874 he received the appointment of Interne of the Massachusetts Charitable Eye and Ear Infirmary, which position he filled until 1877, thus obtaining special opportunities in the treatment of the eye and the ear. He arrived in California in March, 1877, and in June following located in Yolo County, where he has since been engaged in his chosen calling. He first settled at Dunnigan’s, then at Yolo and Knight’s Landing, and finally in 1881 opened an office in Woodland. His competency is well attested by an extensive and lucrative practice. On the first of August, 1889, he formed a partnership with Dr. L. M. Gray, under the firm name of Clark & Gray. During his residence here he has also paid considerable attention to the citrus culture, having a ranch of 160 acres in Colusa County, where he had at one time a nursery of 5,000 orange trees; but they were destroyed by the rabbit pest two years ago. During the present year (1889) he set out on his land about thirty acres of peaches. He also has ten acres of choice land at the town of Escalante, at the mouth of Capay Valley, which was planted in 1889 to citrus fruits.
The Doctor is a member of the orders of Knights of Pythias, Chosen Friends, Foresters and United Workmen, - all at Woodland. He is also a member of the Medical Society of the State of California, the Yolo County Medical Society, and for a number of years has been secretary of the Yolo County Board of Health.
Dr. Clark was married in June, 1876, to Miss Nora Tiernay, of Boston, Massachusetts, and they have two children, John and Marie, aged ten and twelve years respectively.
Transcribed by Kathy Sedler, July 2004.
SOURCE: Memorial and Biographical History of Northern California, The Lewis Publishing Company, 1891. pg. 315.