Trails to the Past

Nevada

Elko County

Biographies

Prominent Men & Pioneers
Thompson & West - 1881

 

W. T. CRANE ----Was a native of Pennsylvania, was born in the year 1829, in Green County, where he passed his boy-hood days until sixteen years of age. In 1845 he went to Illinois, and was engaged in farming until he came to the State of Nevada, in 1863. He first settled in Austin, Lander County, adding stock-raising to his former business, in which he has been successful.  In 1867 he moved to his present location South Fork Valley, Elko County, where he has since resided, engaged in the same business. He has held the office of Postmaster at Coral Hill, also that of Justice of the Peace.

On the first of January, 1857, he was married to Eliza Wallace, a native of Sangamon County, Illinois, their union proving fruitful, eleven children having been born to them, ten of whom are now living. The following are the names of the children, and the date of their birth: Geo. W. W., born January 5, 1858; Jessie Rae, born March 26, 1860; Knox A., born November 15, 1861; Mary E, born April 18, 1865; Lizzie L., born January 28, 1867; Henry Shepherd, born February 14, 1869; Emma Frances, born January 28, 1871; Charles Humboldt, born December 20, 1872; Andrew B., born May 15, 1875; Jennie B., born October 27, 1877; James M., born May 11, 1879. Jessie Rae, the second child, died August 6, 1861.

HENRY MARTIN GRANT -----Son of Cyril R. and Abby Fales (Mason) Grant, was born in Woonsockett, Rhode Island, September 4, 1812. He received a thorough education, his intention being to adopt the profession of civil engineer.  At the age of eighteen years he left school, and was occupied in various clerical duties until 1863, when he engaged as clerk and accountant for a copper mining company, in the Lake Superior country. This he continued until 1866, when he came to the Pacific Coast in the interests of a New York company, who were developing mines in Nye County in this State. He remained in their employ two and a half years as chief accountant.

In 1868, he returned to the East and was married to Miss N.  Arda Rorison, daughter of D. H. Rorison, of Ypsilanti, Michigan. Mrs. Grant was born in Seneca County, New York, a lady of unusual force of character, excellent judgment and cultivated tastes; and, after a life of usefulness, departed this life May 31, 1878.

Upon the return of our subject to this coast, he accepted a position with the Owyhee Mining Company as accountant for the working of the Poorman Mine at Silver City, Idaho, where he remained until 1870, at which time he engaged in the banking business in Mountain City, Elko County, Nevada, for himself. He followed this business for three years, but failing to be remunerative it was abandoned, leaving him somewhat embarrassed; but through his extra exertions, and pure self-denial, he paid his indebtedness dollar for dollar. In 1873, he engaged as cashier in a banking house at Elko, Elko County, Nevada, and there continued until 1880, when he was appointed, by Wells, Fargo & Co., as their agent in the same town, which position he now holds, and conducts in connection therewith, a general insurance business.

In 1878, he received the Republican nomination for County Treasurer, and was elected by a majority of 627 votes, this in a strongly Democratic county, being a strong indorsement of his standing in the community. Mr. Grant is, at present, also largely interested in stock-raising and farming in Ruby Valley, Elko County. He has an interesting family of three children: Harry M., born January 15, 1872; Adele, born March 31, 1874; and Sarah A., born July 15, 1875.

JOHN S. MAYHUGH -----The subject of this sketch, is one of the pioneers of Nevada, he was born in 1830, in Dickson Township, Cumberland County, Pennsylvania. In the year 1850 he came to California and located in Nevada County, near Grass Valley, where he followed quartz and placer mining and the lumber business until 1859, when he moved to the then Territory of Nevada, settling first in Virginia City, where he remained about one year, and upon the discovery of the mines in Esmeralda County, he went thither, and took an active and prominent part in the politics of the times, being chairman of the committee that reported strong resolutions in favor of the Union, during the exciting times succeeding the breaking out of the Rebellion. 

From that time to the present he has been an active and consistent worker for the Republican party; has represented Esmeralda County in the State Legislature five regular, and one extra, sessions, from 1864 to 1869. In the latter year he removed to Elko County, and was Justice of the Peace for Elko Town ship for two years, when he was appointed Register of the United States Land Office at Elko, by President U. S. Grant. This position he held five years, at the end of which period the offices of Eureka and Pioche were consolidated with his office and located at Eureka, as a matter of economy on the part of President Hayes' administration.

In 1878 he was elected to the Assembly, by a majority of 303 in a Democratic county that gave the Democratic candidate for Governor a majority at the same election of 352. During the session of the Legislature he was the recognized leader of the House, and was chosen a member of the Board of Regents of the State University for a term of four years, of which institution he was one of the founders. His practical experience in the selection of Government and State lands, and the procuring of titles there to, places him in the front rank of that profession in which he is at present engaged.

COL. J. B. MOORE---Was born in the town of Piermont, Grafton County, New Hampshire, on the twenty-eighth of October, 1828. He remained there until 1840, and during that time received a limited education, such as can be obtained in the common schools, In the last named year he went to Boston, Massachusetts, where he cast his first vote for President James K. Polk. 

In 1846 he enlisted in the First Massachusetts Regiment of Volunteers, and served through the Mexican War. Came to California in 1852, where he served seven consecutive years on the San Francisco police force. In 1861, at the breaking out of the Rebellion, he raised a company of volunteers for the Third Regiment, of which he was elected Captain.  In the month of October of the same year he was promoted to be Lieutenant Colonel. In 1863 he came to Nevada, and commanded Camp Ruby, also Camp Douglas, in Utah; and was discharged in the month of January, 1865, at his own request.

Settling in Ruby Valley, he engaged in farming and stock-raising, and still resides in the valley. He raised the first grain in Elko County. In 1869 was elected to the State Senate on the Republican ticket by a majority of only one vote, against a Democratic majority of 150 in the county. Served in the fifth and sixth sessions. In 1876 was elected to the Assembly, being the only Republican elected in the county. Was Deputy Warden of the State Prison in 1879, and has held numerous positions of trust in the county.  The Colonel still continues in single blessedness.

WILLIAM MYERS -----Was born in Herkimer County, New York State, September 28, 1839, where he lived until the fall of 1858. He then came to the Pacific Coast by way of the Isthmus of Panama, and settled in Contra Costa County, California.

He afterwards lived in various parts of that State until the year 1862, when he enlisted in Company B, Third Infantry California Volunteers, Col. P. Edward Connor, commanding.  July 12, 1862, the regiment left California and was stationed in Utah, where it was engaged in fighting Indians part of the time. He held the office of Commissary Sergeant of the Regiment for one year and was then promoted to Second Lieutenant of Company E.

After about three years service he resigned and came to Nevada, settling in Ruby Valley, Elko County, his present location, where he has since resided. He has a ranch containing 640 acres, and is quite extensively engaged in stock-raising as well as being a good farmer. In politics Mr. Myers is a strong and consistent Republican. Was married March 17, 1869, to Miss Lottie Mangus, at Herkimer, New York State. They have two children named Ruby and Mabel, aged respectively nine and four years.

G. NONEYMAN ----The subject of this sketch, was born in Leitrim County, Ireland, in 1833. At the age of seventeen years he emigrated to the United States and settled in the city of New York, where he remained until 1856, engaged in a dyeing establishment during most of the time.

In the last-named year he came to California by the Nicaragua route. Arriving in the land of gold, he sought his fortune in the mines, and after one year's experience on the main Yuba River, he went to Oregon, where he engaged in farming.  From there he went to Washington Territory, and again took up the pursuit of mining, and remained until 1861, when he returned to California.

The Rebellion breaking out about that time, he was one of the first to enlist in the defense of his adopted country, joining the Third California Infantry Regiment, under Colonel Connor, as a private, in which capacity he served his country only two months, being elected Second Lieutenant during that time.  His regiment was ordered to Utah, where he was kept until the close of the war, having re-enlisted as a veteran in the meantime. During his four year's service he commanded a battery of light artillery most of the time. At the close of the war he was mustered out of service, and came to Nevada, settling in Clover Valley, Elko County, his present location, where he has since resided, engaged in farming and stock-raising. His ranch is situated eighteen miles south of Humboldt Wells.

D. R. SESSIONS ------The present State Superintendent of Public Instruction for Nevada, is a native of South Carolina, a son of Thomas R. and Jane E. Sessions, and was born at Georgetown, February 24, 1847. His scholastic training prior to the war was received in private schools, but after the breaking out of the Rebellion he entered the Military Academy of South Carolina as a cadet. When James Island was evacuated the South Carolina cadets, of whom young Sessions was one, acted as the rear guard of the Confederate forces that withdrew to Raleigh, North Carolina, whence he was ordered home by the Governor of his State. This was his only service in the Confederate army, as he was but eighteen years of age when the war closed.

The result to his parents of that struggle was to leave them impoverished, and no longer able to render pecuniary assistance to their son in his efforts to obtain a thorough education. He at once turned his whole energy in the direction of achieving success in this line. In Latin a friend gave him lessons for three weeks. Having no tutor in the Greek he took it up and successfully prosecuted the study of that language without a teacher. Eventually he entered Princeton College, and maintained himself there for two years, graduating in 1868 with the honor of pre-excellence in English literature and the modern languages.

In 1870, he came to Nevada, and became a teacher and journalist. In 1874, he received the appointment of Principal of the Nevada State University at Elko, and remained in charge of that institution until called, by a vote of the people, to the poorly paid but important position which he now occupies.  Mr. Sessions is a married man, his wife being a daughter of C. N. Noteware, who was at one time Nevada's Secretary of State, and has been from pioneer days one of her prominent men.

G. W. SHEPARD ----Is a native of Christian county, Kentucky, and was born on March 14, 1827. His parents were farmers, and at the tender age of sixteen years he commenced the battle of life for himself. In 1845 he went to New Orleans, Louisiana, and entered the employ of a wholesale firm as salesman. The breaking out of the Mexican War caused him to leave his situation, and he became one of the first volunteers in answer to the call by General Gaines for six-months men to assist General Taylor on the Rio Grande.  One year later he returned to Kentucky, and spent the succeeding five years in the employ of W. W.  Western, a stock dealer.

In 1853 he started, with a band of cattle, from Texas for California, and spent the winter in the Cherokee Country, and completed the journey the next summer, delivering the stock at Redding, Shasta County, California. He then remained with his brother, J. A. Shepherd, at the place then known as Doak & Bonsell's Ferry.

In 1858 he commenced merchandising at same place, now known as Shepherd's Ferry, on the San Joaquin river, in San Joaquin County. In the spring of 1866 he closed out his business at that place, and, with a large stock of goods and a band of horses, went to Virginia City, Montana, disposing of them at a decided advantage, and in the fall returned to California. In the spring of 1868 he came to Nevada and settled in the valley of the south fork of the Humboldt River, in Elko County. The next fall he commenced to grade what is known as the Elko and Hamilton Toll-road, the first road of the kind in eastern Nevada, and for six months after its completion was a bonanza, but Hill Beachey constructed an opposition route running parallel with it and the bonanza ceased to exist. After the White Pine excitement was over his attention was turned to stock-raising, a business he still follows.

In the early organization of Elko County he was elected County Treasurer, and he has been twice elected to the State Senate, having two years of his present term yet to serve, and rejoices in the fact that he was born a Democrat and has never sold his birthright. His nominations at the hands of his party have been without opposition, and the journals of the State Senate reveal a record of his unvaried hostility to monopolies that in itself speaks volumes. It is safer to trust a man's record than his promises.

T. N. STONE ----Is a native of Lester, Worcester County, Massachusetts, and first beheld the light of day on the fourth of February, 1834. Five years of his life were spent in the town of Lester, when his parents moved to near Rochester, New York. He was raised on a farm, his parents being tillers of the soil. At the age of eighteen he entered the Brockport Collegiate Institute, where he pursued his studies for two years, and then attended the State Normal School at Albany, and graduated in 1855.  Soon after graduating he became Professor in the Fergusonville Academy, and the next year removed to Shawneetown, Illinois, where he followed the profession of teacher until the spring of 1859, when he crossed the plains to California.

During the ensuing eleven years he was a miner and school teacher at Weaverville and Yreka, and held the position of County Superintendent of Schools for Siskiyou County for seven years. In 1870 he came to Nevada, and located at Elko, Elko County, where he taught school for two years. In 1872 he received the appointment of Postmaster at Elko, and became engaged in mercantile pursuits in the same town.  The office was held by him until the fall of 1876 when he resigned, and was elected to the State Senate. During the session of 1879 he was elected one of the Board of Regents of the State University, and was chosen President thereof, which position he still holds. He was married September 7, 1856, to Miss Brenda O. Hull, of Buffalo, New York, and they have four children, three girls and one boy.

HON. J. B. TOLLEY ----Is a native of La Fayette County, Wisconsin. When but thirteen years of age, he started for California by the overland route in company with a brother, and being a delicate boy suffered greatly from the privations consequent upon such a long and tedious trip. His first occupation after reaching the land of gold was mining at Placerville, El Dorado County, California, where he was not favored by dame fortune, and soon afterwards accepted the position of clerk in a grocery store at Michigan Bar, Sacramento County, where he remained during the winter. 

In 1851, he emigrated to Trinity County, in the same State, and again sought his fortune in the mines on Texas Bar; but the hostility of the Indians was a great hindrance, and the severity of the winter of 1852, caused much suffering among the bold pioneers of that region. In 1853 Mr. Tolley invested in a pack-train, packing supplies from Colusa to the northern mines, enduring all manner of hardships in the interests of his enterprise. In 1854, he returned to the State of Wisconsin, and devoted himself to a course of mental culture, attending a select school at Mineral Point, and afterwards the seminary at Plattsville, reaping invaluable benefits therefrom.

In 1861 he, in company with his father, drove a herd of cattle across the plains to Trinity County, California, and experienced great trouble from the redskins, having some desperate skirmishes with them. Upon his arrival in California again, he pursued mining until 1862, when he returned to his native State. The next year he again sought the Pacific Coast, accompanied by his family, this time taking the route via the Isthmus of Panama. For seven years he followed his old occupation, that of mining, when he received the appointment as agent for Woodruff  Ennor's Stage Line, at Elko, and was afterward appointed as assistant superintendent of the Leopard Mill and Mining Company at Cornucopia. In 1876 he was elected to the Assembly, and in 1878 he removed to Tuscarora, his present pIace of residence, from whence he was elected Senator from Elko County, a position he now holds.

JOHN C. WOOD ----Was born on the twelfth of January, 1829, near Roseville, Parke County, Indiana. At the age of nineteen he went to the State of Illinois, where he remained until 1850, when he came to California by way of the plains. The haps and mishaps incident to such a trip were passed in safety, and upon reaching the Pacific Coast he entered the usual field of labor, that of mining, which occupation he followed in Calaveras County for five years, al Angel's Camp and other places. In 1855 he went to San Joaquin County, where he remained until 1859, when he removed to the State of Iowa.

In 1862 he returned to California, and one year later came to Carson City, Ormsby County, where he engaged in the lumber business, remaining until the year 1869. Soon after the excitement upon the discovery of the mines in White Pine County broke out, he went to Hamilton, in that county, thence to Eureka, thence to Spruce Mountain, and in the fall of 1870 located at Clover Valley, Elko County, where he has since resided, extensively engaged in farming and stock-raising, his ranch containing 480 acres. During the past two years he has handled large quantities of grain with good success.

In 1856 he was married in San Joaquin County, California, to Miss Eliza Webb, a native of Tennessee. Their union was blessed with three children, only one being alive at the present time, a daughter, married. On the twentieth of April, 1859, his wife died. During his sojourn in Iowa, he again entered the connubial state, being married to Miss Jeannette Simons, at Lebanon, Van Buren County, on the twenty-first of October, 1860. Eight children have been born to them, four of whom are now living two boys and two girls.

 

The information on Trails to the Past © Copyright   may be used in personal family history research, with source citation. The pages in entirety may not be duplicated for publication in any fashion without the permission of the owner. Commercial use of any material on this site is not permitted.  Please respect the wishes of those who have contributed their time and efforts to make this free site possible.~Thank you!