Alameda-San Joaquin-San Francisco County CA Archives Biographies.....Buffington, J. M. 1818 - 
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Joy Fisher sdgenweb@yahoo.com February 18, 2006, 12:27 am

Author: Lewis Publishing Co. (1891)

J. M. BUFFINGTON, an old, honored pioneer of the Pacific coast, and one of the
most influential of the early settlers of Stockton, was born in Somerset,
Bristol County, Massachusetts, February 15, 1818. Originally of English descent,
and in the old Massachusetts colony, his ancestry dates back to the early
settlement of Salem, when three brothers— John, Joseph and Jonathan—immigrated
to that place about 1660. The subject of this sketch attended school in his
native State, and at the age of fourteen he took a thorough course in English,
mathematics and the Latin classics at the State Normal School of Rhode Island,
and after reaching manhood he entered the business of manufacturing hoots and
shoes at Providence, that State.

  On the breaking out of the gold excitement from California, he came hither, by
the Isthmus, landing at San Francisco June 13, 1849, from the steamer Oregon, on
her second trip. He joined the throng of miners, and searched for gold over a
year, averaging fifteen ounces per day. Coming then to Stockton, he started a
bakery, when flour was $12.50 a barrel; in a few months it advanced to $50 per
barrel and bread sold for 32 cents, a pound. But Mr. Buffington was not the man
to be limited to an underling's life. Being public-spirited, he made his mark in
the "city of the plains," which is yet strikingly visible. He organized the
public schools of Stockton, was elected Superintendent and served as such from
their organization until 1858, when he was elected Alderman. In April, this
year, he was elected Mayor of Stockton, and held this office one term of two
years. Being also actively interested in the political interests of the country,
he organized the first Republican club and was chosen its first President. He
also served as superintendent of the Sunday-school for several years.

  In 1857 he removed to San Francisco, and since then, for over a third of a
century, he has been actively engaged in business and prominently identified
with commercial and mining interests. He was elected member of the Board of
Education of San Francisco, and served in this position several years. For a
time also he was Registrar of voters, when the enrollment was in the different
wards. In 1884 he changed his residence to Oakland.

  He has been prominently identified with the Masonic fraternity for over
thirty-six years, having become a member of Morning Star Lodge, in Stockton, in
1854, and he is a Knight Templar and a Thirty-third-degree Mason, Scottish rite.

  March 8, 1843, Mr. Buffington married Miss Mary West Eddy, daughter of one of
the oldest families of Providence, Rhode Island, and they have had two sons and
three daughters.


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