Sonoma-San Francisco-Napa County CA Archives Biographies.....Ely, Elisha 1825 - ************************************************ 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 February 28, 2006, 12:20 pm Author: Alley, Bowen & Co. (1880) Ely, Doctor Elisha. The subject of this sketch was born in New York City, December, 1825. He is descended from a long line of ancestry, prominent in the religious world and social life; the so-called learned professions, rather than political ambition, characterizing their tastes and pursuits. When old enough to leave home he was sent to school in Connecticut. At sixteen he returned to New York, and entered a bank as clerk. In two years he had attained the position of first book-keeper in one of the largest banks in Wall street, but this business being unsuited to his tastes he left and commenced the study of medicine. In 1848 he graduated at the College of Physicians and Surgeons, New York; and in December of that year, four months after the discovery of gold here, was among the first to start for California, via the Isthmus. He arrived in San Francisco on the steamer "Oregon," April 1, 1849, and was for some weeks the only regular physician having an office in that city. In December following, he lost nearly his all by the first great fire. He then concluded to buy a ranch, a species of property less likely to go up in smoke than the redwood shanties of San Francisco, and visited the valley of Sonoma for that purpose. The exceeding beauty and fertility of this valley, with its charming climate, determined him to cast his lot here. In 1850, he made a journey to the head waters of the Russian river. This region was then a wilderness, inhabited by wild beasts and wilder Indians, a large band of whom chased him from the valley of Ukiah, nearly to the present site of Cloverdale, a distance of twenty or twenty-five miles. A veritable "Tam O'Shanter" ride, with the devils in close pursuit. This long race for life was one of the most exciting of his many pioneer experiences. The fascinating attractions and extraordinary fertility of this Russian river valley induced him, in 1851, to settle here. He erected his house near the present town of Geyserville, in one of the most picturesque localities of beauty, where his generous hospitality to the wayfarer and the weary was for many years widely known and appreciated. Here, and at Healdsburg, he has since resided. He is the first regular-bred doctor that settled in this county, his rides extending to Napa, Lake, Mendocino and Marin counties. Always a leading physician here, he is now the oldest practitioner of his profession in the county, and probably on this side of the bay, is highly respected as a man and a citizen, and is still actively engaged in the arduous duties of his profession. Additional Comments: Mendocino 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. File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/ca/sonoma/bios/ely692bs.txt This file has been created by a form at http://www.poppet.org/cafiles/ File size: 4.0 Kb