Butte-Sacramento County CA Archives Biographies.....Gridley, George F. 1818 - 1881
************************************************
Copyright.  All rights reserved.
http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm
http://www.usgwarchives.net/ca/cafiles.htm
************************************************

File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by:
Joy Fisher sdgenweb@yahoo.com January 30, 2006, 2:14 am

Author: Fariss & Smith (1882)

    GEORGE W. GRIDLEY was born in Cazenovia, New York, on the tenth day of
August, 1818. At the age of fifteen he went west to live with his relatives,
spending a few years in Bloomington, Illinois, with his uncle, Asahel Gridley.
He afterwards went to Chicago, where he carried on quite a successful business
auctioneering. In 1843, he removed to Galena, Illinois, engaging in the same
occupation, and also embarking in the livery business. On the first of March,
1846, he was united in marriage to Helen D. Orcutt, a native of Troy, New York.
In 1850, Mr. Gridley left Galena, crossed the plains to California, and settled
in Sacramento, where he still continued auctioneering. While there, he narrowly
escaped death from cholera. He returned overland to Illinois in 1852, to visit
his family, which he had left there, but in the spring of 1853 began the
overland trip again towards the setting sun, bringing with him a band of sheep,
and leaving his family in Illinois. He settled four miles north of the Butte
mountains, in Butte county. In 1855, he sent for his family, meeting Mrs.
Gridley and their son Charlie at Auburn, upon their arrival, and brought them to
his home. In time, Mr. Gridley became one of the wealthiest men of the county,
owning a large and productive tract of land. He engaged heavily in sheep-raising
for many years, and was remarkably successful. On the ninth of March, 1881, he
died, leaving a family of seven children, six of whom were born in California,
all of them now living. Mr. Gridley was a very generous and public-spirited man,
and his death was regretted by all.

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/gridley554nbs.txt

This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.net/cafiles/

File size: 3.0 Kb