Sonoma-Calaveras-Humboldt County CA Archives Biographies.....Tupper, John Bradford 1829 - 
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Author: Alley, Bowen & Co. (1880)

Tupper, John Bradford. The subject of this sketch was born in Barnard, Vermont,
July 29, 1829. When seven years of age his parents moved to Claremont, Sullivan
county, New Hampshire. His parents having resided in many different localities
since their first residence in Claremont, returned in 1844, where they have
maintained a continuous residence ever since. In 1845 the subject of this sketch
finished the machinist trade. Finding himself in poor health he found it
necessary to take a sea voyage; and accordingly set out visiting the Sandwich
Islands, and many other points of interest, and upon his return in 1849 ranked
as fourth mate. The winter of 1849 was spent at home with his parents, and in
March, 1850, took passage on the "California Packet" for this State; this being
her first trip, arriving in San Francisco on August 25th. He immediately
proceeded to Bodega and was one of a party of fifteen who conducted a saw-mill
at this place four months, when the company failed. He then sought employment in
Smith's redwoods, where he procured money enough to convey him to the city—the
fare being twenty dollars. Once more in the city he resolved to try the mines,
but upon his arrival at the wharf he found the captain in need of a mate;
accepted the position—salary one hundred and seventy-five dollars per month—and
held it for three months, when he proceeded on foot to the mines in Mokelumne
Hill, a distance of ninety miles. After mining here and many other localities,
we find him located at a mining town known as Poker Flat, on the Yuba river.
During the winter season there were quite a number of miners in the vicinity who
were idle, and "Poker Flat" was their head quarters. As the poker game, from
which the town is supposed to have taken its name, had become somewhat
monotonous, by the paste-board manipulators, it was decided to introduce
something new in way of amusement. As Mr. Tupper had a good deal of the Yankee
ingenuity in his composition, he was not long in supplying the demand. A large
sugar pine tree stood in the center of the principal street, and being of no
value in its rough and perpendicular form, was laid low, one cut sixty feet in
length, sawed open, placed upon mother earth, flat side up, and he soon had an
artistic bowling-alley. The balls and pins he procured at Marysville, packing
them on his back seven miles, this being the distance from the stage line. There
was not only a fund of amusement abstracted from this antiquated game, but our
yankee friend derived quite a source of revenue therefrom. In October, 1852, he
came to this county and located in Petaluma. In 1855-6 he prospected on the
Humboldt, but returned in the Fall. In 1857 he engaged in farming in Analy
township, on Russian river, In 1864 he took up his residence again in Petaluma
and has remained ever since, working at his trade, that of a carpenter. Married,
in San Francisco, February, 1864, Martha Douglas. She died in October, 1867. By
this union they have, Martha E., John B., Etta J., Susan E., Edwin E., (now
dead), Carrie B., and Emma. Married his present wife, Mrs. Elizabeth Tupper, on
April 11, 1876. She has two sons by first marriage, Kimball and Otis Tupper.

Additional Comments:
Petaluma 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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