 WILLIAM NEWTON
MERCER OTEY ----son of Right Rev. James H. Otey, the
first Episcopal Bishop of the State of Tennessee, was
born April 15, 1842, in Columbia, Maury County,
Tennessee. He was educated at and a graduate of the
Virginia Military Institute, under the renowned "
Stonewall " Jackson. Mr. Otey entered the
Confederate Army in 1861 as a private, and served during
the entire war, rising to the position of staff officer;
was on the staff of Lieutenant General Polk, also that
of General Bedford Forest.
After the war ended he went to the
city of Memphis, Tennessee, and entered the mercantile
business. In 1872 the subject of this sketch came to the
Pacific Coast and located in the city of San Francisco,
California, whore for one year he filled the position as
book-keeper and cashier of the San Francisco Chronicle.
His next engagement was as bookkeeper for the firm of
Wm. T. Coleman & Co.. where he remained
three years. In July, 1878, he came to Virginia City,
Storey County, Nevada, and has since occupied the
responsible position as Secretary for the Yellow Jacket
Silver Mining Company.
At the Democratic County Convention
of 1880 Mr. Otey received the nomination for County
Treasurer. He was married June
22, 1876, to Miss Geraldine Goger, daughter of James H.
Goger, confidential clerk for J. C. Flood & Co., San
Francisco.
 F. H. PACKER, M.
D. ------Is a native of Massachusetts, born in the town
of Leyden, Franklin County. His boyhood days were passed
on a farm, there being but little to break the monotony
of that style of life except the obtaining of an
education, which he accomplished to such an extent as to
be engaged as teacher for a district school at the age
of seventeen years. This occupation he continued during
the four succeeding winter terms, attending school for
his own benefit during the spring and fall.
In 1868 he removed to Brattleboro,
Vermont, and commenced the study of medicine. In 1871 he
graduated with high honors from the Hahnemann Medical
College, of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Practicing his
profession one year with his former preceptor Dr. D. P.
Dearborn, he was afterwards associated with Dr. H.
A. Houghton, at
Keesville, New York State, for three years, and then
came to Nevada, locating at Virginia City, where he has
since resided. The doctor enjoys a good practice, and is
well skilled in his profession.
 W. H. PATTON
-----The subject of this sketch, was born at Princeton,
New Jersey, July 7, 1831. He is a grandson of Col.
Robert Patton, a native of Westport, in the north of
Ireland, who served in the Revolutionary War under
General Lafayette, and at the close of the war was
appointed Postmaster at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania,
which position he held until his death, in 1814, a
period of about thirty years.
But of W.
H. Patton we may say, he received a thorough
English education at Stamford, Connecticut, and
afterward went through a course of civil and mechanical
engineering. In 1852 he came to California, by way of
Cape Horn, working his passage before the mast, in the
clipper ship Tornado, Captain Mumford, landing in San
Francisco, on the seventh of July, that year.
He immediately sought the mines as
his field of labor, and from that time to the present
has made a specialty of mining engineering, having,
while in California, been connected with many important
mining and milling enterprises, and has identified
himself with numerous important improvements in that
class of work. Mr. Patton was on the
Comstock as early as 1864, but afterwards went to the
eastern part of the State and California, returning to
Virginia City in 1874, where for four years he was in
the employ of the Bonanza Firm, as their designing and
constructing engineer. All the large mills, hoisting and
pumping works, at the mines controlled by this firm,
wore of his designing, and built under his supervision.
Mr. Patton also designed
and erected the works and machinery at the Union and
Yellow Jacket new shafts, which will compare favorably
with anything of the kind in the world. The hoisting
engines, designed and placed in position by him at these
shafts, are capable of working to a depth of 4,000 feet.
In addition to the above, some of the principal works
designed and erected by him in Virginia City are the
Consolidated Virginia Mill, of sixty stamp with a
capacity of 300 tons of ore per day; the California
Mill, of eighty stamps, capable of reducing 400 tons of
ore per day; also the pumping engines at the Belcher air
shaft, Combination shaft, Forman shaft, Savage shaft,
Gould & Curry and Best & Belcher joint shaft;
also, Hale & Norcross shaft.
Since 1878 he has also held the
position of Superintendent of the Consolidated Virginia,
California, Ophir, Mexican, and Union Consolidated
Mines. Mr. Patton is a
thoroughly practical mining man, very reserved and
modest, but probably has accomplished more than any
other man on the Comstock to facilitate deep mining, and
all cheerfully accord to him the credit he so well
deserves. He was married November 7, 1860, to Miss
Jessie F. Winchester, of Chautauqua County, New York,
and their union has been blessed with five children,
four of whom are living at this time.
WILLIAM C. RALSTON------Came to
California in 1854, and engaged in such banking as there
was in California, as one of the firm of Garrison, Fritz
& Ralston; afterwards engaging in banking with
Donohoe & Kelly. On the organization of the Bank of
California he was made cashier. Besides the numerous
projects in Nevada, he was also instrumental in building
up the Dry Dock at Hunter's Point, Mission Woolen Mills,
Bay Sugar Refinery, West Coast Furniture Factory,
Kimball's Carriage Factory, Cornell Watch Factory,
California Theater, Grand and Palace Hotels, Reclamation
of Sherman Island, besides others.
 JUDGE RICHARD
RISING ------the subject of this sketch, is a native of
Pennsylvania, and was born in the city of Philadelphia
in 1837. His boyhood was spent in the city of New York,
until in January, 1853, when with his mother and other
members of the family, he joined his father in
California. He entered the office of Geo. Foote and
commenced reading law, where he stayed but a short time,
and afterward finished his studies with Gen. J. A.
McDougall, and was admitted to the Bar at the age of
twenty-one years. He was married in
1859, and removed to Downieville.
Sierra County, California, and entered upon the
duties of his profession. Being a man of more than
ordinary intellect, and possessing the qualifications
necessary for success, he soon gained a large and
lucrative practice. In 1861, the discovery of the mines
on the Comstock led him to Nevada, and in partnership
with W. M. Stewart, afterwards United States Senator,
and Mr. M. Kirkpatrick, was engaged in nearly all the
important litigation of those days.
When the Territory of Nevada was
converted into a State, he was elected one of the
District Judges, being then only twenty-six years of
age. At the expiration of two years the three offices of
District Judge were merged into one, and Judge Rising
was re-elected to that high position, which he has held
until the present time, having boon re-elected four
times. He is a man of great argumentative powers, an
able lawyer, and enjoys today the respect and good-will
of his follow men.
 HENRY ROLFE
------is a native of Maine, and was born in Farmington,
July 30, 1844. His boyhood days were passed in the city
of Boston, Massachusetts, where he attended school and
finally graduated at Harvard University. Soon after
graduating he came to the Pacific Coast and located in
San Francisco, California, where he remained until the
year 1872 when he crossed to Nevada, and has since been
a resident of Virginia City. His first occupation in the
latter city was with the well-known Geo. T. Marye,
stockbroker, in whose employ he remained until 1875, at
which time he became a member of the firm of W.
H. Clark & Co., in the same line of business.
In 1878 he severed his connection with that firm and was
tendered and accepted the office of Deputy County Clerk,
which position he creditably fills at the present time.
Mr. Rolfe is thorough with the duties pertaining to his
office. In politics he is a strong Republican, but a
consistent one, and in social life is a popular
gentleman, the possessor of the esteem and respect of
the people generally.
WILLIAM SHARON -----Is a native of
Ohio, but spent the early years of his manhood in
Illinois as an attorney-at-law, coming to California in
1849, where he soon commenced speculating in real estate
in the city of San Francisco, fully aware of the fact
that a great city would spring up on the hills around
the harbor, and when the discovery of silver began to
set millions of dollars in motion he came to Nevada as
confidential agent of the Bank of California, which was
conducted by William C. Ralston. Like all the other
operators his career shows a combination of energy,
tenacity of purpose and close fistedness, which will win
if it is possible.
 M. N. STONE
-----Son of Francis Preston Stone, is a native of
Kentucky, born in Wayne County August 6, 1842. At the
age of eighteen years he entered the office of his
father, who for thirty years was a prominent lawyer of
Kentucky, and commenced the study of law.
On the breaking out of the civil war
the subject of this sketch relinquished his studios and
entered the Confederate service as a private in the
Sixth Kentucky Infantry, which became, early in 1861,
attached to the famous "First Kentucky Brigade,"
commanded by Gen. John C. Breckinridge. After the battle
of Shiloh, in which he participated, Mr. Stone was
transferred to the Sixth Kentucky Cavalry, Duke's
Brigade, and served in the " Raiders' Division,"
commanded by the celebrated John H. Morgan, until the
close of the war, and was a member of the Jefferson
Davis escort until within a few hours of President
Davis' capture in Georgia, the escort having been
disbanded just before that event transpired. Mr.
Stone witnessed and participated in many of the
hard-fought battles. Among them were Shiloh, Stone
River, Siege of Vicksburg, Chickamauga, Mission Ridge
and numerous other engagements, and rose to the rank of
Captain of Cavalry in 1864.
In 1868 he came to Nevada and
entered the law office of Gen. Thos. H. Williams and
David Bixler, in Virginia City, and subsequently became
a partner with those gentlemen. In 1872 he received the
nomination by the Democratic State Convention for
Presidential Elector on the Greeley ticket, and stumped
the State for the Democratic party. His party being in
the minority in the State he was defeated. In 1874 he
received the Democratic nomination for the office of
District Judge of the First District, embracing Storey
County, and again the election resulted in his defeat.
Mr. Stone has taken an active part
in politics since he became a citizen of Nevada, and in
the Presidential election of 1880, in connection with W.
E. F. Deal and others, conducted the campaign in a
manner creditable to his party and himself which
resulted in carrying the State for Hancock and the
election of Col. James G. Fair to the United States
Senate. At the present time Mr.
Stone is engaged in the practice of his
profession at Virginia City.
CAPT. EDWARD FARIS STOREY
----After whom Storey County was named, was born in
Jackson County, Georgia, July 1, 1828, his father being
Col. John Storey, who was in command of a regiment of
volunteers during the difficulties with the Indians in
the western part of Georgia during General Jackson's
term of the Presidency, and afterwards acted as
commander of an escort which conveyed them to the Indian
Territory at the final settlement of the difficulty.
Colonel Storey removed with his
family to Texas in 1844 and took a prominent part in the
events which preceded, and resulted in. the annexation
of Texas to the United States as well as the war which
soon occurred with Mexico.
Early in the Spring of 1846 Colonel Storey and
three sons enlisted in a company of Texan Rangers,
commanded by Capt. (now General) H. E. McCulloch. The
Colonel and the son under consideration survived the
war. In 1848, on the breaking out of border difficulties
the surviving son, though but twenty years of age, was
elected Lieutenant of a company of Rangers under Capt.
Jacob Roberts, and did effective service in quelling the
outlaws.
The young ranger was married in 1849
to Miss Adelia Calhoun Johnson, of Lockhart, Caldwell
County, Texas, by whom he had one child, a daughter, now
Mrs. J. W. Williams, residing in Visalia,
California. His wife dying in 1852
Lieutenant Storey took his infant daughter and started
overland to California by way of Mexico, reaching the
Pacific Coast at Mazatlan.
Here he embarked on a sailing vessel which,
meeting storms and adverse winds was blown out of her
course, sprung a leak, and was delayed until the crew
and passengers were stricken with famine, some of the
party dying of their sufferings. He finally reached San
Francisco, and soon after made his way to Tulare County,
where he engaged in stock-raising until the discovery of
the Washoe mines, when he came to Nevada.
After the unfortunate attack on the
Indians which resulted in the death of Major Ormsby and
the dispersion and destruction of the greater part of
the attacking party, he raised a company of riflemen,
and with others made the attack on the fortified camp of
the Pah-Utes June 2, 1860, which resulted in the defeat
of the Indians. Captain Storey here met his death at the
hands of an Indian who, ambushed behind a rock, shot him
through the lungs, producing death the same
evening.
Captain Storey, though raised on the
frontier and engaged most of his life in border affairs,
was instinctively a gentleman, loved and respected by
all. His native good sense atoned for the want of high
culture, and made him a man to be consulted with profit
in every emergency. He leaves many relatives to share
his honors. A younger brother has recently been
Lieutenant Governor of Texas.
 MARK STROUSE
---Is a native of Germany, born in the town of
Lauderbach in May, 1845. He was the youngest of a family
of ten children. At the age of thirteen years he left
his home and went to Butzbock, and two years later came
to America, bringing a sister with him, and settled in
the city of New York, where he obtained a situation in a
wholesale house, two days after his arrival. He stayed
with this firm about three months, when he came to
California and located at Mokelumne Hill, in Calaveras
County, and was engaged in mining, and the mercantile
and butcher business, for two and one-half years. While
in that place he owned a claim that promised well, and
refused $10,000 for it, but like many others he could
not foresee that from his claim he would not realize the
fruition of his fondest hopes, and in a short time it
was abandoned. In June, 1863, he crossed the Sierra
Nevada Mountains to Virginia City, Nevada, with a large
band of sheep and lambs, numbering 5,500, camping
frequently in the snow during his tedious journey.
Immediately after reaching his
destination he started in business, owning a hog ranch,
tending a stall in a meat market, and keeping a set of
books all at the same time. In 1856 he formed a partner
ship with his brother, Abraham Strouse, in the general
butchering business. His brother died in 1868 since
which time the subject of this sketch has managed the
business alone. His establishment is the largest in the
State. His business house is four stories high and 121
feet long by 26 feet wide. He also has a fine stock
ranch containing 500 acres in Honey Lake Valley,
California. In 1808 Mr. Strouse was elected Chief of
Police, and has also served two terms as City Treasurer
of Virginia City and was for seven years Foreman of
Company No. 1 of the Volunteer Fire Department. He was
married January 14, 1874, to Lilly B. Edgington, and has
one child, a daughter six years of age.
 J. MINOR TAYLOR
-----referred to in the following sketch, is a native of
Connecticut, born in Now Preston, Litchfield County,
June 10, 1843. His early education was received in his
native town. At the age of nineteen years, he Joined the
United States Army Signal Corps, and was ordered to New
Orleans. Louisiana, where he arrived in the month of
April, 1862. In this branch of the service he remained
until 1864, and the next year went to New York City and
assumed the position of cashier in a large mercantile
house, where he remained until 1869, at which time he
came to California. In June, 1874, he came to the State
of Nevada, and has since been in the employ of Messrs
Mackay and Fair.
 COL. R. H.
TAYLOR ---Was born in the city of New York, August 17,
1822. After finishing his
studies in the schools he entered the law office of his
father and read law until 1840, when he came to
California. In 1850 he located in Marysville, Yuba
County, and started the Marysville Herald, the first
newspaper published in that town.
The date of the first issue was August 6, 1850.
The history of Yuba County, published in 1879, in
speaking of this paper says: "It presented an extremely
neat appearance. Its editorials were spicy and showed
ability. The impossibility of procuring a sufficient
quantity of white paper compelled the publisher to
frequently print the issue upon brown paper, or as the
editor remarked, "do it up brown."
In 1853 he sold his paper and
business and went to Downieville, where in 1859 he was
elected District Judge of the Seventeenth Judicial
District, composed of Sierra and Plumas Counties. In
June 1862, he resigned the office and resumed the
practice of law which profession he has since followed.
He came to Virginia City, Nevada, in March, 1863, and in
1868, was the Democratic candidate for Supreme
Judge. Until 1872 he had
always been a Democrat, but the nomination of Horace
Greeley was something he could not indorse and he came
out for Grant. Becoming at that time convinced of the
truth and justice of Republican principles he has done
good work for that party at every election since then.
He was on the Republican electoral
ticket in 1880. He has been twice elected President of
the Pacific Coast Pioneers of Nevada, and was the first
Noble Grand of the first lodge of Independent Order of
Odd Fellows on this coast, in which office he was
installed September 9, 1849, which was one year to a day
before the admission of the State of California into the
Union. He was married to Miss Emily M. Kavanah, in New
York City in 1842, who died in San Francisco,
California, in September, 1849. In 1854 he was married,
in Downieville, California, to Miss Mary J.
Leahigh.
 CHARLES
WILLIAMSON, the present Sheriff of Storey County,
Nevada, was born August 23, a. d. 1831, on the Isle of
Unst, one of the Shetland Isles of Scotland. In the year
1852, upon reaching his majority, he left his Highland
home and came to the United States, locating in
Pennsylvania, where he at once engaged in mining,
following the business for four years in that State. He
then removed to Belleville, St. Clair County, Illinois,
where for two years he followed the same occupation.
About the year 1859 he went to
Fulton, Missouri, and engaged in farming, remaining at
that place until 1862, at which time he came to the
Pacific Coast, locating at Virginia City, Nevada, where
he has since made his home. He once more engaged in his
old occupation, and was a miner until 1878, when he was
elected Sheriff of Storey County, which office he holds
and creditably fills at the present time. Mr. Williamson
was married in 1872, to Asenath G. Gay, who is a native
of Cornwall, England.
 HON. WILLIAM
WOODBURN -----of Virginia City, was born in County
Wicklow, Ireland, in the year 1838; emigrated to the
State of Maryland, and was for some time a student in
St. Charles College, in that State, he came to
California in 1855, and subsequently to Nevada, where he
studied law, being admitted to practice in 1865; since
which time he has generally followed the law as a
profession. He was District Attorney for Storey County
in 1871-72, and was elected to the Forty fourth Congress
as a Republican, receiving 9,317 votes against 8,567 for
his opponent, Ellis, Democrat.
 CHARLES ZIEGLER
---Was born in the town of Lagenzelza, Germany, in the
year 1831. He was the youngest son of five children, and
resided with his parents in various parts of Germany
until he reached his eighteenth year, at which time he
left his home and the friends of his youth, and came to
America, on the ship Alexander I., arriving in New York
City June 30, 1849; from thence he went to Milwaukee,
Wisconsin, and engaged in the butcher business,
following that trade for about one year, when he was
compelled to seek out-door employment on account of his
health, and for two years was a farmer.
In 1852 he started for California,
but upon reaching a point in Iowa, he changed his plans
and remained in that State about four months. During the
next two years he traveled through the Southern States,
working at his trade in New Orleans, Louisiana, Natchez,
Mississippi, Louisville, Kentucky, and several other
places, remaining but a short time in a place.
In 1855 we find him in Keokuk, Iowa,
working as a journeyman at the same old business. In
September, 1856, he was married to Miss Mary Murray, and
settled down in business for himself, and for eight
years was very successful in the butcher business, also
had a meat market and store. In May, 1864, he started
for California once more, accompanied by his family and
a splendid outfit worth $10,000. During the long and
tedious trip across the plains he suffered heavy losses,
and when he reached the Sierra Nevada Mountains he
decided to go to Virginia City, Nevada, instead of
California, and arrived at his present place of
residence October 10, 1864.
Although he had witnessed the
disappearance of his hard-earned property while on his
trip, his energy, pluck and perseverance soon placed him
on a firm footing, and he is today one of- the most
prosperous and independent business men of Virginia
City, conducting two butcher shops and a general market.
He is in every respect a self-made man, and rejoices in
the esteem and confidence of his fellow-citizens; is the
father of six children, four sons and two daughters,
who, in connection with his estimable wife, comprise his
family.
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