Solano-Sonoma County CA Archives Biographies.....Vallejo, Platon 1841 - 
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Joy Fisher sdgenweb@yahoo.com February 18, 2007, 9:04 pm

Author: Lewis Publishing Co. (1891)

DR. PLATON VALLEJO, son of General M. G. Vallejo, was born in Sonoma Valley,
February 5, 1841, at the Presidio of Sonoma. At that time his father owned
nearly 250,000 acres of land in what was then Sonoma County, comprising what is
now in Sonoma, Napa, Solano and Marin counties. In 1853 young Vallejo was sent
to the East to school, and for nearly four years attended Mt. St. Mary's
College, near Emmettsburg, Maryland. Later he studied medicine under the
tutorship f Dr. Willard Parker and Professor John C. Dalton, the celebrated
physiologist, assisting the latter in his laboratory for three years. At the
same time he attended lectures at the College of Physicians and Surgeons, the
Medical Department of Columbia University of New York city, and graduated in
1864, receiving one of the Faculty prizes and special mention by the members of
the Faculty. During the war he belonged to the New York corps of surgeons, who
had organized for the purpose of assisting the army surgeons after each great
battle, and while in this service he went frequently to the front, assisting in
general surgical operations, and the transportation of the sick and wounded to
their homes or hospitals. After the second battle of Bull Run, the corps to
which he was attached had seventy-five ambulances employed for two weeks
gathering up the wounded along a tract of land ten miles wide and eighty miles
long, taking the bodies to Washington, Georgetown and other places.

  After the close of the war he came to California and joined the Medical
Department of the United States Naval Service, but resigned in a short time to
accept the position of Surgeon in the Pacific Mail Steamship Service. After
operating in this capacity three years he married and settled down in Vallejo to
the practice of his profossion, which he has since continued there. For his wife
he chose Miss Lily Wiley, a native of Whitehall, New York, whose acquaintance he
formed during one of his trips to Panama, in the Pacific Mail Steamship service.
He has now four children: Maria Felipa, Francisca, Adelaide and Angela. Mrs.
Vallejo died in June, 1885, regretted by all who knew her. She was a faithful
wife and a devoted, Christian mother.

  Mr. Vallejo has devoted his life to his family and his profession, never
having held any political position. As a boy he remembers California under the
Mexican government, when his father had absolute control of the whole of
Northern California, from Oregon to the Rocky Mountains. His home was in the
beautiful valley of Sonoma, where General Vallejo had built his home and
residence near the mission. Here he established a town and military
headquarters, having at one time 1,000 soldiers, white men, besides the Indians,
who were always organized as troops and laborers as well. No idleness allowed.
These white soldiers, or Hijos del pais (native sons), were intended not only
for service in the military capacity, but also as colonists to settle the
country. To this end they were encouraged to marry and bring up families, which
most of them did. The General encouraged the marriage of his men to women of
European descent, not encouraging the mixture of the white race with Indians. It
was supposed that the Mexican government would support these troops, but it was
at times unable to do so; and as a result General Vallejo himself was obliged to
pay them from his own resources, the government afterward reimbursing him with
grants of land, such as the Soscol, which was not in reality a grant, but a
purchase. His revenues were immense, which were mainly derived from the products
of his haciendas. The soldiers did also agricultural and other necessary work
for themselves and families, some of them having received grants of land. In
this way they were to a certain extent self-supporting, and paid it to the
development of the country. There were a number of ranches (haciendas), each
superintended by a major domo, or overseer, who had charge of the stock and of
the shipping of the products; and many Indians were employed to assist them.

  Born to the enjoyment of the almost unlimited wealth and resources then
belonging to his father, Dr. Vallejo possesses a highly cultured mind and
polished manner.


Additional Comments:
Extracted from

Memorial and Biographical History of Northern California.

Illustrated, Containing a History of this Important Section of the Pacific Coast
from the Earliest Period of its Occupancy to the Present Time, together with
Glimpses of its Prospective Future; Full-Page Steel Portraits of its most
Eminent Men, and Biographical Mention of many of its Pioneers and also of
Prominent Citizens of To-day.

"A people that takes no pride in the noble achievements of remote ancestors will
never achieve anything worthy to be remembered with pride by remote
descendents." – Macauley.

CHICAGO
THE LEWIS PUBLISHING COMPANY
1891.


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