Yolo-El Dorado-Sierra County CA Archives Biographies.....Douglas, James Achilles 1827 - 
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Joy Fisher sdgenweb@yahoo.com December 9, 2005, 6:17 am

Author: Lewis Publishing Co.

JAMES ACHILLES DOUGLAS. — The Douglas family are of Scotch origin. The
great-grandfather of our subject, James Douglas, came from Scotland to the
United States long before the Revolutionary war, and after the war settled in
Albermarle County, Virginia, at the foot of the Blue Ridge Mountains, five miles
from Charlottesville, and near what was afterward known as the residence of
Thomas Jefferson. The grandfather of the subject of this sketch was a soldier in
the Revolutionary war, and he also had two brothers in the war. The Douglas
family continued to make that section of Virginia their home until 1839, when
the grandfather, with a part of his family, emigrated to Missouri, two of the
sons locating in Cooper County, and a daughter also in that county, while the
grandfather, James, and William J., the father of our subject, and John J.
Douglas, located in Howard County. William J. and John J. were in the war of
1812, and participated in the battle of New Orleans. Thomas Douglas, one of his
grandfather's brothers, went from Virginia to Tennessee in the early settlement
of that State and remained there. Beverly Douglas, his grandfather's brother,
also at an early date settled in Kentucky. William J. Douglas, his father, was a
farmer in Missouri, and raised hemp and tobacco, and died in Howard County in
1875, at the age of eighty-seven years, and his father was ninety-four years old
when he died, never having had a day's sickness during his life, never eating
more than two meals a day and some days but one meal; he was strong and active,
never lost a tooth, and at the time of his death did not have a gray hair in his
head. In William J. Douglas' family there were three daughters and one son.

  The mother of the subject of this sketch, whose maiden name was Ann
Bridgwater, was born and raised in Richmond, Virginia; and her family is
probably of German descent. She died in Virginia in 1827.

  James A. Douglas, the subject of this article, was born in Albermarle County,
Virginia, on the old plantation, near Charlottesville, March 24, 1827, and
therefore was a babe when his mother died. His father, being a farmer and a
slave-owner, gave James into the care of a favorite black nurse, who cared for
his wants, etc. His father and grandfather moved to Missouri in 1839, while
young James was left behind and went to school in Virginia until 1842, when he
also went to Missouri. At length he served an apprenticeship of two years and
nine months learning the saddlery business, becoming a competent journeyman. He
did all the tine work of the shop, some of which was placed on exhibition and
drew the first premium in St. Louis; but he soon abandoned the trade, went to
St. Louis and took a position on a river steamer as second clerk, and at the
same time began studying the science of river piloting. He was promoted through
the clerkships to the position of pilot, where he commanded a salary of $250 a
month. At the end of five years he bought a drove of mules in Missouri and drove
them to Texas and sold them at a profit; and while he was in that State he saw
the first gold dust from California, brought there in a goose-quill, and he
immediately resolved to come to the mining region here. Returning to his home in
Howard County, he found his train had been gone eight weeks; he started in
company with John Lowrey, now of Sonoma County, and hurried on until they
overtook the train this side of Fort Hall, in Montana Territory. In Mr. Douglas'
mess were nine men, all young and unmarried, and full of life. They landed at
Sacramento, August 14, 1849. During the following autumn they built a cabin at
Hangtown and followed mining there that winter. In the following spring the
company divided, several of them going over on the Middle Yuba at Washington and
mining there during the summer.

  In October Mr. Douglas went down to the bay with a brother-in-law who came a
little later, and another gentleman named Lewis Walker. His brother-in-law,
Allen Rains, disliked this country, and started back to the East. While waiting
for the steamer at San Francisco, and on the very day it was to sail, the
subject of this sketch was tempted also to buy a ticket and go with him; and all
three went back together. On board the vessel Mr. Douglas was taken sea-sick,
and at Acapulco they all three left the ship, bought mules and started across
Mexico, a distance of 700 miles; while at the city of Mexico they stopped ten
days, and hired a guide to take them all over the old battlegrounds. At Vera
Cruz they boarded a little schooner, which took them and thirty-seven other
passengers to New Orleans, being seventeen and a half days on the way. In
February, 1851, Mr. Douglas left New Orleans again for California, visiting en
route his people in Missouri and coming by way of ship to Acapulco, at which
place he and another party bought a hotel and conducted it for seven months,
making considerable money—$14,000. Coming on to Yolo County he spent the ensuing
winter on Cache Creek. In March he and three other men went to German Bar on the
Middle Yuba, where they had a fine supply of water and followed mining; and
while thus engaged news reached them of a new place called the Minnesota
Diggings, whither 5,000 people congregated within ten days after the discovery
of gold there.

  In 1852 Mr. Douglas quit mining, came down to the valley and again entered the
mule trade. He again went back to the Atlantic States in October, and in the
spring of 1858 brought a drove of horses and mules across the plains to
California. In 1854 he went to Oregon for the purpose of mining, but changed his
mind, and, in company with another man, went to packing, making journeys from
Crescent City, in Oregon, to Jacksonville, and at that time there was a hostile
Indian behind every tree on the trail. Although he made considerable money in
this business, yet it was accompanied by much hard work and exposure, and within
five months he returned to the Sacramento Valley. In 1855 he was elected Sheriff
of Yolo County, and served four years, and on October 24, 1860, he married and
settled on Cache Creek; but his place there he at length sold, and he bought a
quarter section of land a mile northwest of Woodland, put up a tine, large
residence on it and made it his home for about seven years. He sold out again,
at a good advantage, and moved to Woodland, in 1878, where he has since resided.
His homestead on Third street consists of five acres. His residence, which he
put up in 1884, cost $10,000, including the ground, and is one of the most
elegant in the city. Mr. Douglas is a true type of a Southern
gentleman,—hospitable, genial, social, and a good financier. In politics he was
a sound Democrat. He was arrested April 5, 1865, as a citizen prisoner by sixty
United States soldiers and taken to Fort Alcatraz in the bay of San Francisco,
and wore a ball and chain twenty-four days for expressing his Constitutional
rights' and was released on May 4, 1865, without any trial by court either
martial or civil, and without any charges being preferred against him, or
without taking the iron-clad oath. O, justice, what a jewel!

  October 24, 1860, is the date of Mr. Douglas' marriage to Sallie A. Moore, who
was born in Platte County, Missouri, March 24, 1842, and came to California in
1853, with her parents. They settled first in Sacramento County, and moved to
Yolo in 1857. Mrs. Douglas died May 24, 1889, the mother of four daughters, the
youngest of whom is deceased. Her death is a great loss to the family,—a severe
one in every sense of the word.


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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