Butte-Plumas County CA Archives Biographies.....Freer, Peter 1813 - 1881
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Joy Fisher sdgenweb@yahoo.com January 30, 2006, 1:18 am

Author: Fariss & Smith (1882)

    PETER FREER was born December 31, 1813, at Duchess county, New York, from
whence he removed at an early age to Chester county. He learned the trade of
harness-making, and moved to Rome, Oneida county, in the same state, where he
followed his trade till leaving for California, in 1849. At Rome, in 1843, he
was married to Ellen McCarty. Six children were born to them, of whom three are
now living—L. D. Freer, E. D. Freer and Lewis Freer. He was among the
venturesome band of argonauts who peopled this state in its infancy. Upon
reaching California, he struck out for the interior, to seek the "root of all
evil," and brought up in what is now Plumas county, then a part of Butte. He
started at mining on Poor Man's creek, and afterwards kept a hotel at Nelson's
Point. The fickle goddess fortune smiled on him in all his early ventures, and,
in the year 1852, he was joined by his wife, and together they shared the toils
of California life. In 1853, he was elected sheriff of Butte county, to which
office he was re-elected in 1855, at which time he resided at Bidwell's bar,
Plumas having been created from Butte in 1854. In 1855, his family was made
complete by the arrival of his only other remaining son, Leon. They all removed
to Oroville with the archives of the county. The office of sheriff was a very
rich one, but though his revenue therefrom ran into the hundreds of thousands,
he had saved but little when his term expired. His hospitality and
open-heartedness, characteristics proverbial with him, even in all his after
years, never allowed him to say no to a request. For six years he served Butte
county as one of her supervisors. In 1860, he was again a candidate for sheriff,
but was defeated by 43 votes. He took a very active part in politics, and was
always called into the councils of his party, democratic, for his advice. He
died September 11, 1881, at Oroville, leaving a widow and three grown sons, and
mourned by a legion of friends.

Additional Comments:
Extracted from:

HISTORY OF BUTTE COUNTY, CALIFORNIA,
IN TWO VOLUMES.

I.
HISTORY OF CALIFORNIA FROM 1513 TO 1850.
BY FRANK T. GILBERT.

The Great Fur Companies and their Trapping Expeditions to California.
Settlement of the Sacramento Valley. 
The Discovery of Gold in California.
BY HARRY L. WELLS.

II.
HISTORY OF BUTTE COUNTY,
From its Earliest Settlement to the Present Time. 
BY HARRY L. WELLS AND W. L. CHAMBERS.

BOTH VOLUMES ILLUSTRATED WITH VIEWS AND PORTRAITS.
HARRY L. WELLS,
517 CLAY STREET, SAN FRANCISCO
1882.

Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1882, by HARRY L. WELLS, in
the office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington, D. C.

FRANCIS, VALENTINE & Co., Engravers & Printers
517 Clay St., San Francisco

File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/ca/butte/bios/freer549nbs.txt

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