Kings-Tulare County CA Archives Biographies.....Bozeman, John Walton August 31, 1836 - January 17, 1915
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File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by:
Steve Harrison raleighwood@juno.com March 3, 2008, 3:56 am

Author: unknown

“JOHN WALTON BOZEMAN
In Hinds county, Miss., August 31, 1836, was born John Walton Bozeman, who has 
lived in Tulare county about as long as any surviving pioneer.  His 
grandfather, Howell Bozeman, built the first state house, at Milledgeville, 
Ga., and eventually moved to Mississippi accompanied by members of his family 
and others.  Thomas Jefferson Bozeman, who was John Walton’s father, remained 
in Hinds county, Miss., until after his son was born and he left his wife 
Rachel Parker, buried there.  In 1842 the family moved to Louisiana, where the 
father married Miss Eliza Ford, of which union two children, William and Mary 
Near, survive.  In 1849 they settled in Texas and in 1854 crossed the plains in 
a party with ox-team outfits to California, where he became engaged in farming 
on Kings river and mining in Mariposa and Kern counties, putting up the first 
tent on Poso creek flats, where he mined, kept a boarding house, and did 
freighting.
J. W. Bozeman’s recollections of that cross-country trip would be interesting 
reading could they all be put into print.  He helped to bury the bodies of 
members of the Oatman family, who had been murdered by Indians on their way 
from Texas to California.  Two of the Oatman children were captured by the 
savages and one of them was rescued later by friends.  Usually emigrants were 
safe so long as goodly numbers of them kept together, but there was great peril 
for any who became separated from their trains.
It was when he was about eighteen years old that Mr. Bozeman arrived in 
California, passing through Tulare county along the immigrant trail, and on 
October 12, 1854, they stopped on Kings river.  His opportunities for education 
had been very limited, as almost from childhood he had ridden after cattle or 
worked in the cotton field.  In 1864, in San Bernardino county, he married Miss 
Susan Hendrey, who was a pioneer of Oregon.  He [Who? Susan’s father?] was a 
descendant of old Irish families and his wife was Miss Mary White of Indiana. 
Mrs. Bozeman passed away in Kings county in 1898, while the family were living 
near Hanford.  She was the mother of a large family of children, all natives of 
California, eight of whom grew to maturity and married, viz: Preston Leander, 
of Exeter; Julia A., married to L. H. Byron, of Lemoore; Armazila U., wife of 
E.C. Nowlan, of Exeter; Jesse D., of Hanford; Melissa A., wife of J. Bloomhall, 
of Alhambra; John W., of Fresno; Hattie, married to Warren Hawley, of Lindsay; 
and Rachel, wife of Ralph Berridge, of Porterville.  Three children died in 
infancy, and Chester W. passed away in early childhood.  The father of Mrs. 
Bozeman lived to the age of ninety-six years, and one of his daughters, Mrs. 
Cleghorn, now lives in Highlands, San Bernardino county.  Two of his sons are 
making their home at the Soldiers’ Home at Eugene, Oregon.
After his marriage to Mr. Bozeman went into the sheep business and was 
successful for about twenty years, keeping most of the time about ten thousand 
head.  He became the owner of three hundred acres of land on Kings river, where 
he settled in 1854, with his father, and later rented large tracts on which he 
sowed grain.  His last wheat crop was garnered from thirty-five hundred acres.  
He disposed of all his holdings in Kings county and lives with his children, 
and has been a resident of Porterville since January, 1911.  He has always been 
an active, influential and public-spirited citizen.” END


Additional Comments:
"History of Tulare and Kings Counties, California with Biographical Sketches"
by Eugene L. Menefee and Fred A. Dodge
Los Angeles: Historic Record Company, 1913
Pages 833-834


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