Yolo-Nevada County CA Archives Biographies.....Millsap, Walter 1833 - 1910
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Joy Fisher sdgenweb@yahoo.com February 23, 2006, 10:22 pm

Author: Tom Gregory (1913)

WALTER MILLSAP

    To none is higher honor given than to those fearless forerunners of a later
civilization who, in the midst of dangers seen and unseen, in the face of the
turbulence incidental to life at cosmopolitan mining camps, steadfastly pursued
the even tenor of their way, holding fast to principles of integrity and
uprightness and proving themselves to be of that desirable element forming the
bone and sinew of a new country. Such was the character of the late Walter
Millsap and such the reputation he acquired and maintained from the time of his
arrival in the west during the pioneer era until the time of his decease at a
ripe old age. In the annals of Yolo county his name is worthy of perpetuation,
not alone from the fact that he came here in 1852 and ever afterward continued
to be identified with the same locality, but also from the high motives that
animated his being and the keen intelligence that actuated his agricultural
activities.

    Between the date of his birth, which occurred in Lincoln county, Mo.,
February 27, 1833, and the time of his death, which took place at the family
home in Yolo county February 2, 1910, there was in the life of Walter Millsap an
exemplification of the qualities of energy, honesty and perseverance that
combine to form an ideal manhood. When only seventeen years of age he bade
farewell to the friends of his early days and started across the plains with a
large expedition of goldseekers, who ended an uneventful journey during the
autumn of the same year with their safe arrival in California. After he had
worked as a miner for two years he abandoned that occupation and turned his
attention to agriculture, coming to Yolo county, of which afterward he remained
a resident. At first as a renter and later as the owner, he occupied and
operated the farm with which so many of his useful activities were associated.
During 1858 he built on the place a house for the accommodation of his family,
for he had married, May 8, 1856, Miss Amanda J. Lowe, a native of Kentucky.
About the same time he put up a barn and later other necessary buildings were
added. Fruit and shade trees were planted and little by little the raw land was
transformed into a beautiful farm.

    The early memories of Mrs. Millsap are associated with Missouri, for when
she was yet very young her father, Archibald Lowe, became a pioneer of Jackson
county, that state, where he died. During 1850 his widow brought the family
across the plains to California and settled in Nevada county, but as early as
1853 they became pioneers of Yolo county, where Amanda Lowe was married at
Madison. From early life she has been an earnest member of the Christian Church
and her husband likewise was devoted to the doctrines of that body. The
sincerity of their Christian belief was proved by their many acts of kindness,
their helpfulness to the destitute and their self-sacrificing devotion to the
enlargement of the church. Wisely and conscientiously they reared their large
family, doing by each child the best their circumstances permitted and
inculcating in their minds the highest principles of honor and a love of
justice. In her advanced years and widowed condition, Mrs. Millsap finds her
greatest joy in the prosperity and well-being of her children. There are six
sons and four daughters still living and one little daughter, Lucy E., died at
the age of eight years. The eldest, William N., makes his home in Shasta county,
this state. Mrs. Martha Odium resides in Woodland. Leander W. carries on
mercantile pursuits at Yolo. Mrs. Cassandra Snyder is a resident of San
Francisco. Rowena is the wife of John Norton and lives in Woodland. Rufus L.
resides in Lake county, Melvin H. in Yolo county and Wirt, a farmer by
occupation, superintends the old homestead, now the home of himself and wife,
Mary E. (Shannon) Millsap, born in Virginia City, Nev.; they have an only child,
Francis Edmund. Gertrude is the wife of Allan Lawcock and lives at West
Berkeley, while Albert, the youngest of the large family, is engaged in business
at Portland, Ore., where for some years he has made his home.


Additional Comments:
Extracted from

HISTORY OF YOLO COUNTY CALIFORNIA
WITH
Biographical Sketches
OF
The Leading Men and Women of the County Who Have Been Identified With Its Growth
and Development From the Early Days to the Present

HISTORY BY
TOM GREGORY
AND OTHER WELL KNOWN WRITERS
ILLUSTRATED COMPLETE IN ONE VOLUME

HISTORIC RECORD COMPANY
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA [1913]


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