GILBERT A. GRANT Is a son of Gilbert and Maria Grant, of Rockingham, county of Windham, Vermont, where he was born March 17, 1817. On his father's side he is descended from the Scotch, and on the mother's side from the Puritan settlers of New England. He studied law at Windsor, Vermont, in the office of the Hon. Asa Aiken-formerly one of the Justices of the Supreme Court of that State, and one of the most profound lawyers and accomplished scholars of New Englandand was admitted to the bar in 1842. In 1849 he emigrated from the city of New York, then his place of residence, to California; arriving in San Francisco April 1st, of that year. Mr. Grant has been twice married; first, to Helen St. John, daughter of his early patron and friend, Judge Aiken, of Windsor, who died in April, 1845; and last, to Sarah M., daughter of the late Aaron Beach, Esq., of Newark, New Jersey, who died at San Francisco, August 31, 1857. Mr. Grant has always been a member of the Democratic party, until the Presidential election of 1856, when he espoused the Republican cause, and contributed every means in his power to the election of Col. Fremont to the Presidency. parents until 1833, at which time he went | In 1834, at the age of eleven, he left to New York City. There he served as his native State with his father, who was clerk in a foreign and domestic commis- a farmer, for the (then) Territory of sion house, until 1837; he then succeeded Michigan, where he resided until 1846; his employers, carrying on the same bus- when he emigrated to Washington county, iness, with little intermission until 1849, Wisconsin, and there engaged in merwhen he started for California, and arrived cantile pursuits. In 1849 he crossed the in Sacramento City, Jan. 1st, 1850. From Plains to California, and followed mining that time to the present he has been until the spring of 1850, when he estabtrading in merchandise, real estate, and lished a trading-post at what has since agricultural products. In 1855, he was been known as Baker's Ranch, Placer elected Supervisor for the County of Sac- county. In the summer of 1851 he visramento, on the Democratic ticket; occu- ited the East. Returning across the pying the position of chairman in that Plains in 1851, at Fort Laramie he had body, during the term for which he was the misfortune to lose an excellent wife. elected. In 1856, he was elected on the He still remains a widower. Since Ausame ticket, to represent the 9th Senatorial gust, 1852, Mr. B. has been engaged in District, Sacramento County, in the State merchandising and stock trading. In Senate, which place he now occupies. In politics he is a democrat; and was a 1857, he was chairman of the Finance candidate for the Assembly on the antiCommittee of the Senate, and by reäp- Broderick ticket in 1854, but was depointment now holds the same position. feated. In 1857 he was elected Senator Mr. Johnson has generally been success- from Placer county on the democratic ful in all his undertakings, and which is ticket. He is now thirty-five years of mainly attributable to his untiring inage. dustry. In 1837, he took upon himself the responsible duties of matrimony, and has now a flourishing family of seven sons-two have died, making nine altogether-each one of whom is engaged in some useful occupation,-Mr. J. being somewhat of a believer with Hesiod, that "the gods have placed labor before virtue." How much better would it be for every state, county and people under heaven, if the same course were followed." J. H. BAKER Was born in Genesee county, New York, in the year 1823, and is a twin brother. SAM B. BELL Is a native of Orange County, in the State of New York. At an early age he was educated for the legal profession, and was admitted an attorney of the Supreme Court of that State. In 1845 he was married, and removed to Arkansas; and from thence to Kentucky, in 1846. In 1852 he was ordained a clergyman of the Presbyterian Church, and immediately thereafter was sent to California, by the American Home Missionary Society. Arriving here in February, 1853, he became pastor of the Presbyterian church at Oakland, where he has since resided with his family. In 1856 he was elected to the Senate from the counties of Alameda and Santa Clara, on the Republican ticket. 1857. At the last general election he was chosen Senator from the First District, composing the counties of Los Angeles, San Bernardino, and San Diego. In 1852 Mr. Thom was united in marriage to Miss E. L. Beach, but was not privileged long to enjoy her pleasant society; for, although her delicate state of health was a principal reason for his removing to the salubrious climate of Los Angeles, she lingered but a short time, and then passed away-but not so her memory. Mr. Thom is still a widower. CAMERON E. THOM Is a native of Culpepper County, Virginia, and is now twenty-nine years old. He was educated at the University of Virginia, and bred to the profession of the law. In the spring of 1849 he crossed the plains to California, and arrived in Sacramento City in the fall of the same year. From this point he repaired to Mormon Island, to follow the popular pastime (!) of mining, where, by good luck, he made sufficient to spend, go, and then almost starve, on Mathenas' Creek, in El Dorado County. As starving was not to him a favorite way of getting through life, he left Mathenas' Creek, and mining, to follow his profession in Sacramento City. Here he remained until April, 1854, at which time he received an appointment from the U. S. Land Commission, then sitting in San Francisco, to proceed to Los Angeles, for the purpose of taking testimony to be used as evidence before the Board, in the adjudication of land titles. In the fall of the same year he took up his permanent residence in Los Angeles, and was made District Attorney. In 1855 he was reëlected to the same office for three years. In the spring of 1856 he was elected City Attorney in and for that city, and reëlected to that office in ROMMUALDO PACHECO Is a native Californian. Was born at Santa Barbara, October, 1831. His father died the year that he was born. His mother's maiden name was Ramona Carrillo, of San Diego; and who, some years after the decease of Mr. Pacheco, was united in marriage to Capt. John Wilson, a Scotchman by birth, who arrived in California in 1827, and settled at San Luis Obispo, where he has since resided. Mr. R. Pacheco, the subject of this sketch, in common with each of the other step-children, was cared for and watched over by Capt. W., with all the solicitude and kindness of a father. At the age of six years he was sent to the Sandwich Islands to be educated, where he remained until 1843. After leaving school, he spent three years on a coasting vessel, as clerk; and on leaving the sea, he engaged in the business of farming. His entrance to public life was caused by his election to the Assembly, in 1853-then in the twenty-second year of his age. After his return home at the expiration of his term of office, he was elected County Judge of San Luis Obispo County, which office he held until he was elected Senator, on the Independent ticket, from the counties of San Luis Obispo and Santa Barbara. He is at present "single" in his social relationship. ed quick time! of thirty-two days. After the usual experiences of crossing the Isthmus, he embarked on a steamship for San Francisco, where he arrived Aug. 6th of the same year. From this city he went to Mormon Island and there engaged in mining; but falling sick and remaining so for several months, upon his recovery he abandoned mining, and formed a part Marriano Pacheco, his brother, was a nership with another to keep a hotel. In member of the Assembly in 1852. ISAAC ALLEN Was born at Orford, Grafton County, New Hampshire, in 1822. In his father's shop he learned to engrave on marble, at a very early age. When in his twentythird year, he left his native State for Alabama, where he remained for about a year, working at his trade. At this time he returned home; but after a few months his yearnings for the sunny south induced him to go to Texas, taking with him a stock of marble to commence business on his own account. This however proved a failure, and he left Texas in disgust and returned to Alabama, where he formed a copartnership with his old employer, with whom he made sufficient money to pay off his old debts, and his passage to Caliifornia. In June, 1850, he left Alabama for this State, by the Isthmus, in a sailing vessel; the captain of which, finding it quite as easy to sail wrong as it was to sail right, went considerably out of his course, and made the passage from New Orleans to Chagres, in the unprecedent this business he made some little money, which he invested in buildings; but, as a fire swept those away, he considered that as a poor investment, no doubt. Next he engaged in lumbering, in Yuba County, but in this he fared but little better for a time, as a fire reduced his mill and business to a very low condition. Nothing daunted he recommenced his mill, and at the present time (although a member of a very wicked body! the Senate) his business is in a flourishing condition, in Yuba County, about thirty miles from Marysville. He is as yet unmarried. The public life of Mr. Allen commenced in 1855, when he was elected a Supervisor of Yuba County. In 1856, he was elected a member of the Senate, on the Democratic ticket, from the 15th Senatorial District, composed of the Counties of Yuba and Sutter. ator; he accepted, and was elected by an overwhelming majority. He now occupies a seat in the Senate, and is a member of the Judiciary, Finance, Mining and Mining Interest Committees, as also chairman of the Committee on Swamps and Overflowed Lands. On the evening of the 24th of December, 1857, Mr. Burch was married to Miss Martha L. Gordon, an estimable lady, resident of the City of Sacramento. having attained his majority, he applied and was admitted to the bar, and during the same year was appointed to the office of military Secretary to John C. Edwards, then Governor of Missouri. In 1850, after three years of active labor in his professional and official capacity, he emigrated to California, and in the following year located in Trinity County, prior, however, to its organization. Immediately upon the organization of the County, he was elected Clerk, and held the office for two years. At the expiration of the term for which he was elected, he accepted the nomination from the Democratic party, and was elected District Attorney. Whilst yet the incumbent of this office, the same political party gave him the nomination, and placed his name upon the ticket for Representative. He was defeated by a small majority. At this election, which was held in 1854, the whole Democratic County Ticket was defeated, with the solitary exception of County Assessor. It is JOHN COULTER but just to say, that Mr. Burch was de- Was born in Cumberland County, Pennfeated in this contest, by a smaller major- sylvania, and is now in his fiftieth year. ity than any of his brother partisans who His father, in October, 1811, emigrated were cotemporaneous aspirants for official to Pickaway County, Ohio, where the honors in that election. At the next reg- subject of this sketch was reared, and ular annual election, (November, 1855,) where, and in Fairfield and Franklin the democracy again gave him the nomi- Counties, of the same State, he was ennation for Representative, and again he gaged in agricultural pursuits. In the took the field, but this time with better spring of 1849 he crossed the plains to success he was elected by a triumphant California, arriving on Feather River in vote, and on the 1st Monday in January, November of the same year. Here he 1856, took his seat in the House of Rep-1851, which he abandoned at that time engaged in placer mining until May, resentatives. During this session he was an active member of several important standing committees, and among which were the "Judiciary" and "Ways and Means." Having faithfully discharged his legislative office, he returned to his constituency to receive their gratulations and subsequent support. At the November election in 1857, Mr. Burch was again brought into the political arena. The democratic party gave him the nomination for the office of Sen to enter into quartz mining, in Plumas County. In the fall of 1851 he returned to Ohio for his family; and, after spending the winter there, he recrossed the plains in the summer of 1852-unfortunately losing his wife shortly after their arrival here, and is still a widower. Mr. C. has been, and still is, following quartz mining in Plumas County. He was elected to the Senate on the Democratic ticket, last fall, from the fourteenth Senatorial district, which comprises the counties of Butte and Plumas. |