Contra Costa-Amador-Alameda County CA Archives Biographies.....Wittenmyer, Lewis Cass 1828 - 
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Author: W. A. Slocum & Co., Publishers (1882)

LEWIS CASS WITTENMYER.—The subject of this biographical sketch, whose portrait
will be found appropriately placed in the History of Contra Costa county, is the
son of John and Lydia (Darr) Wittenmyer, who were of German extraction, and was
born at Salsbury, Indiana, June 15, 1828. Being a surveyor by profession, Mr.
Wittenmyer's father found himself at a very early date in the western wilderness
of Northern Indiana and the Territory of Michigan, and about the year 1826, was
commissioned by Governor Lewis Cass to effect some important surveys on the
eastern shore of Lake Michigan. In this duty he was accompanied during that
Summer by the afterwards distinguished statesman himself, from which an
intercourse that ripened into friendship sprung, and resulted in the
perpetuation of the name found in that of our subject. Mr. Wittenmyer, Senior,
died in August, 1848. His wife was born at Darrtown, Butler county, Ohio, which
took its name from her father, Jacob Darr, one of the first white settlers in
that part of the county. When but two years old the subject of this present
narrative was taken by his parents from Indiana to the village of St. Joseph, at
the mouth of the St. Joseph river, on the southeastern shore of Lake Michigan,
whither they had moved with their four children, the last fifty miles of their
journey thither being made down that beautiful river in a large canoe or
dug-out, called a "pirvuge." Here, fanned by the invigorating breezes of Summer,
and pelted by the rude and chilling storms of Winter, did Mr. Wittenmyer pass
through the various phases of life, until he attained to man's estate. About
this epoch, the mighty shibboleth of Gold had been wafted from the Pacific
shores to every habitable portion of the known world. Young and old alike awoke
to the cry, and made their way to the land which was to enrich them at one
bound. Among the many to early fit out for California was our subject. In
February, 1849, having as comrades five other of his fellow-townsmen, viz: A. P.
Pinney (deceased), A. M. Church, James M. Morton (deceased), and S. and L. B.
Huff—all like himself, barely twenty-one years of age—Mr. Wittenmyer crossed the
plains with mule-teams, and arrived at Bear river, near Steep Hollow, August 10,
1849. During the Fall of that year he was somewhat successful in his mining
operations on Bear river, Deer creek and Goodyear's Bar, while the Winter months
he passed in the southern mines near Drytown, Amador county. His search for the
"yellow stuff" he continued until the Fall of 1850, when he abandoned it and
went to Mission San Jose, the following year being engaged in farming land owned
by Henry C. Smith. In the Fall of 1851 he transferred his residence to San
Lorenzo creek, then a part of Contra Costa county, where he "took up" one
hundred and sixty acres of land in what was then called Squatterville. Here he
farmed successfully until the Fall of the following year, when he determined to
revisit his old home at the East. He sailed from San Francisco for this purpose
in the steamer Golden Gate, November 16, 1852. In the Summer of 1853, in
partnership with one of the companions with whom he crossed the plains in '49—S.
Huff, of San Leandro, Alameda county—Mr. Wittenmyer returned to California,
bringing with him, on joint account for profit, a large band of cattle and
horses. In the month of October, of that year, he settled in Sycamore valley,
Contra Costa county, where he dwelt until October, 1857, when he removed to
Martinez, where he has since resided.

  In 1852, he was elected Justice of the Peace at Squatterville, San Antonio
township; and, in 1856, was appointed to the like office for San Ramon. In 1857,
he was elected to the office of County Clerk, the functions of which he
performed six consecutive years. In 1863, he, as executor of the last will and
testament of Samuel Russell, deceased, took charge of the Russell estate, and,
in April, 1864, he proceeded to Mexico with a view to engaging in the cotton
trade, but this not meeting his expectations he returned to California, and in
the Spring of 1866 paid a visit to Montana Territory, but returned in the Fall
of the same year. In 1867 he was again elected County Clerk, and served two
years, when he was succeeded by A. J. Markley, who, dying, Mr. Wittenmyer was
appointed, May 2, 1870, by the Board of Supervisors, to the position. He now
served until March, 1872, when he was succeeded by George J. Bennett. In 1873,
the offices of County Clerk and Recorder having been segregated, Mr. Wittenmyer
was once more called upon by the voice of the people to assume his old
functions, which he has performed ever since, thus making a service in the
difficult office of County Clerk of nineteen years. From his long connection
with the offices of County Clerk and County Recorder, we are right in saying
that his familiarity with their working is unparalleled in any public
department. He is, indeed, a safe index to documents of every kind that
appertain to the archives—it is no wonderful act for him to turn to book and
page of the records, of many years back, without extraneous reference, while no
one asks for advice or information without receiving a cheerful assistance in
every particular; besides his knowledge of law, to the practice of which he was
admitted before the District Court in April, 1864, he always gives in the mines,
he started directly for Nevada county to try his luck with "pick and pan." Not
being particularly successful in that district, he packed his blankets to Sierra
county, where he mined with varying success, not finding, however, and never
having found to the present day in the mines, the hidden pile. In the Autumn of
1852, Mr. Wood, in company with his brother William, (deceased in 1861,)
embarked in trade on the North Yuba river, and in the packing of a train of
mules—then an important and lucrative business, as no wagon roads had been
built— from the city of Marysville to the mines. While in Sierra county he was
joined by his brother George, who has since resided there, been nine years one
of the Supervisors of the county, and was its member of the Assembly for the
term of 1881. In 1855, Mr. Wood removed to the city of Marysville, Yuba county,
and engaged in mercantile pursuits on a larger scale. In April, 1857, he married
at Marysville, Miss Cynthia A. Rice, a native of Syracuse, New York, sister of
the late Dr. D. W. C. Rice, of Marysville and San Francisco, a leading physician
and pioneer of 1849. In 1862, Mr. Wood removed with his family to Sycamore
valley, Contra Costa county, where he has since continuously resided upon his
farm of seven hundred acres, devoting himself exclusively to agricultural
interests. He has four children: William Louis, Sarah Elizabeth, Charlotte
Ellmere, and Charles Joseph. Mr. Wood served four years as a Justice of the
Peace, four years as Notary Public, appointed by Governor Booth, and was a
member of the Assembly for the term of 1875, 76. He was also a charter member of
the Danville Grange, No. 85, Order of Patrons of Husbandry, and is at present
County Lecturer for the same order. A portrait of this gentleman will be found
in our work.


Additional Comments:
Extracted from:

HISTORY OF CONTRA COSTA COUNTY,
CALIFORNIA,
INCLUDING ITS GEOGRAPHY, GEOLOGY, TOPOGRAPHY, CLIMATOGRAPHY AND DESCRIPTION;
TOGETHER WITH A RECORD OF THE MEXICAN GRANTS; THE BEAR FLAG WAR; THE MOUNT
DIABLO COAL FIELDS; THE EARLY HISTORY AND SETTLEMENT, COMPILED FROM THE MOST
AUTHENTIC SOURCES; THE NAMES OF ORIGINAL SPANISH AND MEXICAN PIONEERS; FULL
LEGISLATIVE HISTORY OF THE COUNTY; SEPARATE HISTORY OF EACH TOWNSHIP, SHOWING
THE ADVANCE IN POPULATION AND AGRICULTURE;
ALSO,
Incidents of Pioneer Life; and Biographical Sketches
OF EARLY AND PROMINENT SETTLERS AND REPRESENTATIVE MEN;
AMD OF ITS TOWNS, VILLAGES, CHURCHES, SECRET SOCIETIES, ETC.
ILLUSTRATED.
SAN FRANCISCO: W. A. SLOCUM & CO., PUBLISHERS
1882.



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