Sonoma-El Dorado County CA Archives Biographies.....Benson, Josiah H. 1819 - 
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Joy Fisher sdgenweb@yahoo.com March 3, 2006, 8:09 pm

Author: Alley, Bowen & Co. (1880)

Benson, Josiah H. The subject of this sketch, whose portrait appears in this
book, is a native of Somerset county, Maryland, born March 12, 1819. When three
years of age his parents moved to Sussex county, Delaware. In 1832 they took up
their residence in Preble county, Ohio, where they remained until 1837, when we
find them in Pike county, Illinois. In the Spring of 1850, he proceeded to St.
Joseph, Missouri, and on May 1st, started in company with three other gentlemen,
to cross the plains with horse-teams to California. The journey was made to
Humboldt Sink in good time, and with but few hardships, save those incident to
this mode of traveling. At this point they met with no small misfortune: their
horses had become so weary and weak that they were obliged to leave them, and,
of necessity, were compelled to heap burdens upon their own backs, which
consisted of provisions, cooking utensils, and articles of value, and trudge on
afoot to the land of gold. When they arrived at Placerville, Mr. Benson found
his purse very much depleted—it only contained five dollars. He was not long in
finding employment, and with that industry and perseverance which will in time
be crowned with success, succeeded in the spring of 1852, in purchasing a
one-half interest in the grocery and clothing store known at that time as the
firm of Cheap, John & Co., where he continued until October of the above year,
when he was summoned home to Pike county, Illinois, on account of the illness of
his daughter. Here he accepted the situation of clerk with Hicks & Smith, in the
dry goods business in Pittsfield, in that county. In the Spring of 1854, he took
up his residence in Appanoose county, Iowa, where he engaged in farming until
1865. He then sold his property, and returned across the plains to California,
and settled in Vallejo township, near the old adobe building, where he remained
one year, when he located upon his present estate of one hundred and eighty
acres, two and a half miles from the city of Petaluma. Mr. Benson married
Rebecca A. Magness, December 3, 1840. She was a native of Ohio, born September
20, 1822, and died March 19, 1848. By this union there is one child living,
Albert, born March 17, 1847—two children deceased, namely: Francis H., born
November 29, 1841, and died December 8, 1852; and Sarah E., born May 12, 1844,
and died April 20, 1846. He married secondly, Mary Veal, widow of Mr. Corbon, on
March 21, 1854. She was born in Missouri, November 25, 1829, and died October 9,
1869. Henry, born January 31, 1855; William, born April 21, 1856; Jonah H, born
October 22, 1857; Nathaniel W., born October 10, 1859; Martha E., born February
5, 1862; Laura E., born February 8, 1864; Louis E., born November 6, 1865, are
the names and births of his children by this marriage.

Additional Comments:
Vallejo Township

Extracted from:

HISTORY
—OF-
SONOMA COUNTY,
-INCLUDING ITS—
Geology, Topooraphy, Mountains, Valleys and Streams;
—TOGETHER WITH—
A Full and Particular Record of the Spanish Grants; Its Early History and
Settlement, Compiled from the Most Authentic Sources; the Names of Original
Spanish and American Pioneers; a full Political History, Comprising the Tabular
Statements of Elections and Office-holders since the Formation of the County;
Separate Histories of each Township, Showing the Advancement of Grape and Grain
 Growing Interests, and Pisciculture;
ALSO, INCIDENTS OF PIONEER LIFE; THE RAISING OF THE BEAR FLAG; AND BIOGRAPHICAL
SKETCHES OF EARLY AND PROMINENT SETTLERS AND REPRESENTATIVE MEN;
—AND OF ITS—
Cities, Towns, Churches, Schools, Secret Societies, Etc., Etc.
ILLUSTRATED.
SAN FRANCISCO:
ALLEY, BOWEN & CO., PUBLISHERS.
1880.


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