Sonoma County CA Archives History - Books .....Preface 1880 ************************************************ 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 25, 2006, 1:16 am Book Title: History Of Sonoma County PREFACE. IN presenting this work to our patrons we disclaim all literary merit. We offer no apology for the want of those elaborate dissertations, thrilling incidents, or poetic descriptions to be found in the pages of Macaulay, Prescott or Irving. From the outset of our labors we have given the public to understand that our volume should contain naught but a pure and unvarnished record, as far as it was within our power to obtain, of the chief doings in Sonoma, which have been instrumental in placing her in that proud position among the other counties of California which she holds to-day. To do even this has been no easy task, yet, if the task has been laborious, it still has been a toil in which we have received much kind assistance. To the old settler, to the pioneer citizen, the events recorded in these pages, many of them in which he has figured, and which have been gradually and surely fading from the mind, will be as a revival of by-gone associations. The emulation of the sire will be revived, in the son. The ground that he rescued from the wilderness will be made holy, while the infant will be taught to look with reverence upon the book which holds the annals of his parents' wanderings, and the rise and progress of his native Sonoma. In a county of magnificent distances, every inch of which is replete with interest, and every township of which teems with historic lore, it may be said that more should have been accomplished. Should remarks of such a nature be made, we grant them, but reply, not in the limited space to be found in a volume of a little over seven hundred pages. More, much more, could have been effected had the county records from the beginning been extant; they were not, therefore it is no fault of ours if this particular portion of our work would appear to have received less attention than others. Still, what we have effected we are not ashamed to give to our readers; our pride is that what is told in the History of Sonoma County will be found correct, and above all valuable, not only as a matter of interest to the general public, but also as a work of reference. It may happen that some may cavil at what might appear to them the excessive use of quotations. To our thinking it is no evil, in a volume which purports to be a history, to seek the aid of those minds that have already given mature thought to an especial subject. In conclusion, we would here tender our best thanks to those ladies and gentlemen of Sonoma county who aided us with appropriate suggestions and valuable information, while our acknowledgments are more especially due to the veteran General Vallejo and to R. A. Thompson, County Clerk of Sonoma, from whose admirable work on the county we have received much excellent assistance. To Messrs. Weston & Cassiday, of the Petaluma Argus; Frank W. Shattuck, of the Petaluma Courier; Thomas L. Thompson and Will Acton, of the Sonoma Democrat; Ragsdale Brothers, of the Santa Rosa Times; L. A. Jordan and F. C. S. Bagge, of the Russian River Flag; Mulgrew Brothers, of the Healdsburg Enterprise; W. S. Walker, of the Cloverdale Reveille, and Ben Frank, of the Sonoma Index, are our thanks due for many kind notices and other courtesies; while we owe our gratitude to L. L. Palmer, A. M., of Suisun, Solano county, for his very valuable chronicles of Analy, Bodega, Ocean and Salt Point townships. We are also deeply indebted to Doctor W. W. Carpenter, of Petaluma, for his interesting and instructive contribution on the Geology of the county; while lastly we must not forget our own staff, W. A. Slocum, and L. L. Bowen, who have given much zealous labor in our behalf. ALLEY, BOWEN & CO. J. P. MUNRO-FRASER, Historian. San Francisco, January 1, 1880. Additional Comments: 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. Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1879, by ALLEY, BOWEN & Co., in the office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington, D. C. PACIFIC PRESS, Oakland, Cal. Printers., Stereotypers and Binders. File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/ca/sonoma/history/1880/historyo/preface129gms.txt This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.org/cafiles/ File size: 5.5 Kb