As the
gold mines of California offered the speediest, if not
the surest way of replenishing his finances, at the
early age of sixteen he started on his journey of life,
and crossed the plains in 1853, joining a brother in
Weaverville, Trinity County, California. He remained in
this vicinity for several years, engaged in mining or
any other business which would afford a moderate income,
with only moderate success, so that the aim of his life
to take a systematic course of study in the law seemed
as far off as over. In April, 1863, he moved to
Esmeralda County, in this State, and engaged in mining.
Here fortune smiled upon him, and he was able to pursue
the study of the law without hindrance. His perseverance
and close application to his studies was soon rewarded
by his admission to the Bar.
Here he
resided when the Republican Convention at Eureka placed
him in nomination against the gentlemanly, courteous,
eloquent, and distinguished Kittrell, then Attorney
General of Nevada. The contest between those men was
spirited, resulting in the election of Murphy by a large
majority.
The arduous and responsible duties devolving upon
one in so important an office are faithfully discharged
by Mr. Murphy, and since his induction to the position
he has given entire satisfaction to everyone. He is a
good sample of that class of self-made men like Lincoln,
Garfield, and hundreds of others who have wrested
fortune out of poverty and adverse circumstances, and
achieved success by their own innate good sense and
energy, which is better than a university training, and
without which education can make nothing. The people
delight to honor such men because they know of them, and
never forget their origin. Besides his present office,
he has several times been elected to honorable
positions. In 1868 he was elected County Assessor, and
in 1872, District Attorney, to which office he was
re-elected in 1874 and in 1876. He has always been
Republican.
He was married, September 22, 1859, to Miss
Matilda J. Myers, of Red Bluffs, Tehama County,
California, enjoying most happily domestic
relations.
BERNHARD
H. REYMERS -----A native of Hanover, Germany, was born
in 1840, and came to the United States at the early age
of twenty years, in the ship Christopher Columbus,
arriving at Castle Garden, New York, on the
twenty-seventh day of November, 1869, alone and
destitute, having lost everything on the voyage.
Securing employment at blacksmithing and house-moving
during the winter and following spring, he earned enough
to pay his passage to Nevada, arriving there in June,
1870. Going to Esmeralda County, he immediately, on his
arrival, found employment on a farm for two years, and
by industry and economy secured means to purchase a
large tract of land, and at once engaged in farming,
which he carried on extensively till 1875.
In
April, 1873, he married Miss Henrietta Metscher also a
native of Hanover, Germany, at the town of Wadsworth,
Nevada. In
1875 he abandoned his farm, and, going to Candelaria,
then becoming noted as a mining town, he managed the
boarding-house for the Northern Belle Mine until June,
1876. He then, accompanied by his wife, visited Germany
to see their parents, then residing in Bremen and
Hamburg, and remained till the following October, when
they returned and again settled on the
farm.
Mr.
Reymers has, by his industry and energy, placed his farm
under good improvement, and by attention to business and
economy acquired a large and valuable
property.
They have three children living.
May and Willie, of five and two years, respectively, and
Eda, of unnumbered years, the queen of the household.
Two others, Wilhelmina and Emma, are waiting across the
river.
DR. ABNER
STANTON RICHARDSON ----Was born in Jericho, Chittenden
County, Vermont, on the twenty-ninth day of June, A. d.
1841, where he resided with his parents, Sylvanus and
Laura (Goodhue) Richardson, till about the age of
fifteen years, receiving the advantages of the common
schools till sufficiently advanced to enter the Green
Mountain Academy at Underhill, Vermont, and subsequently
the academy in Frielburgh, Missisquoi County, Canada,
and from there entered the Medical Department of the
University of Pennsylvania, at Philadelphia, of which
school he is a graduate.
When
scarcely twenty years of age his studies and profession
were interrupted by the war of the Rebellion, and,
inspired by the patriotism of all true lovers of one's
country, enlisted in the First Regiment of Vermont
Volunteer Infantry, as a private soldier, and served
three months, till the regiment was mustered out. He
afterwards enlisted for three years, and was engaged in
the battle of Big Bethel, and participated in the
attacks on the forts below New Orleans and in the siege
of Vicksburg.
After the close of the war he
settled in Pennsylvania, and resided there from 1865 to
1870, when he removed to Chautauqua County, New York,
where he resided till 1876, when he migrated to Nevada,
first settling at Belleville for eighteen months and
then in Mason Valley, where he has ever since resided,
engaged in the practice of medicine. His skill and
integrity have obtained for him a lucrative practice and
the confidence of his numerous patients, of which he is
in every way worthy. In 1870 the doctor was married, in
Buffalo, New York, to Miss Phoebe M. Decker, of Royal
Oak, Oakland County, Michigan. He is a consistent and
exemplary member of the Methodist Episcopal Church and
an active member of the Masonic Order.
WARREN BENJAMIN SAUNDERS
-----Was born in Lagrange, Lorain County, Ohio, on the
thirty-first day of October, 1829. His father, Horace
Saunders, and mother, Miranda, daughter of Nathan Clark,
of that State, soon after their marriage removed to
Lorain County, among the first settlers of that part of
Ohio. There for half a century he took active part in
the stirring events of the early days of the State,
living to see the dense wilderness transformed into
cultivated fields; the log cabin gives place to
commodious dwellings and stately mansions; the narrow
path of the wilderness to roads, highways, and
railroads; the pack-horse to the stage-coach and cars.
After outliving the allotted years of man, respected for
his integrity, energy, and intelligence, he died on the
twenty-fifth day of September, 1873, at the age of
seventy-two years, mourned by all who knew him as a
Christian whose deeds of kindness and charity adorned
his profession.
The
subject of this sketch remained in Lorain County,
assisting on the farm of his father during his early
life, and till April, 1852, when he started overland
with a small party for California, crossing the plains
with teams, and arriving in Beckwourth Valley on the
twentieth of August of that year. In the autumn of the
same year, he moved to Rich Bar in Plumas County, and
engaged in mining for a few months, and thence to
Feather River, in Butte County, where he mined till the
spring of 1857.
Hearing favorable reports of Siskiyou County, he
disposed of his interests in Butte County and going to
Siskiyou, engaged in mining for four years, but failing
to find it as profitable as he hoped, he closed his
business and removed to Carson City, Nevada, and for two
years engaged in carpentering and the millwright
business, a trade he had learned in Ohio.
After
laboring in Carson City for two years, he again returned
to mining, removing to Palmyra District, Como Mountain,
where he planted all that he had reaped and gathered in
the previous years of labor and of toil. Leaving Palmyra
District and mining forever, he sought a location where
he could return to the time-honored pursuits of his
youth, and in company with N. Greenwood and G. McCumber,
purchased a "squatter's location " in Mason Valley in
the spring of 1865, and began at once the construction
of the Greenwood Ditch, and having completed the same,
they turned their attention to clearing and improving
their farms. McCumber soon sold his interests, and not
long since, Greenwood disposed of his and removed to
another portion of the valley, Saunders alone remaining
on the original location.
In 1868
Mr. Saunders and W. R. Lee located a mill site on the
West Walker River, and erected the Mason Valley Mill, a
two-story mill, with two run of stone propelled by
water-power.
They continued to operate the mill till 1871
successfully, when William Wilson became the owner, and
Mr. Saunders returned to the care of his farm. His
labors of cultivating and improving have been rewarded
by a farm productive in the growth of all grains and
fruits common to the climate and altitude, and a
residence commodious and comfortable, surrounded by
shade trees, orchard and garden.
Mr.
Saunders was married on the thirtieth day of September
1873, to Mrs. Anna Kreisel, daughter of T. G. and
Rebecca Feigenspan, natives of Germany, where the father
died in 1852. Mrs. Saunders came to America in 1854, and
settled in Wisconsin, where she married Ferdinand
Kreisel, and with him removed to California in 1856,
where he soon after died, when she with her two
children, Edward and Theodore, in 1862 removed to
Nevada, where she resided with her children till her
marriage with Mr.
Saunders. In 1876 she returned to Germany,
attending the Centennial Exhibition at Philadelphia on
her return, in company with her mother, who now rests in
the cemetery in Mason Valley. Mr. Saunders has
never engaged in politics, and has held no office other
than School Commissioner. Is a Republican, conservative in politics, and a
Protestant, charitable in religion.
T. B.
SMITH -----Born in Berkshire County, Massachusetts, on
the second day of April, 1834, is now a resident of
Wellington, Esmeralda County, Nevada. In his early life,
he like most boys of New England parentage, alternated
from the labor of the farm to the wooden bench and high
desk of the country district school. Having arrived
at the age of fifteen years he was apprenticed to a firm
in Bristol, Connecticut, to learn the trade of rule
making; but becoming dissatisfied with this business,
packed his portmanteau, and bidding adieu to Bristol and
its " rules " departed for Lebanon, New York, where he
engaged as clerk in the store of Tilden & Co., until
the spring of 1853, at which time he decided to cast his
lot with those seeking the golden shores of the Pacific.
Crossing the plains during that year, he arrived in
California late in the fall, and for a few years was
engaged in mining with the usual success of the early
days. He then turned his attention to stock-raising, but
finding his business circumscribed in California,
migrated with his flocks and herds to the goodly lands
of Nevada.
In the
fall of 1867, he married Miss Maggie Nichol, of
Wellington, which union is blessed with three
children-Dwight T., James U., and Maggie I., aged
twelve, nine and four years respectively.
W. H. SPRAGG ----Is a
native of New Brunswick, and first opened his eyes upon
this sinful world in the year 1833. When a lad of but
fourteen years he removed to the State of Maine, and
settled in Cumberland County. In 1853 he "went west" to
the State of Wisconsin, and two years later went to
Illinois. In 1859 the excitement connected with the
discovery of the mines at Pike's Peak, in Colorado,
caused him to emigrate to that section of the country,
and soon after he continued his journey and landed in
California. In 1862 he crossed the mountains and has
since that time been a resident of Nevada, engaged in
mining. He
was the discoverer of the Excelsior mine, and has been
extensively interested in several other mines. At
present he is interested in the Ludwig Copper Mine, and
he, with his associates, have recently erected a new
furnace at that place. This mine is in the Wilson
District, and bids fair to realize for its owners a
bonanza.
Mr.
Spragg was married to Miss R. G. Knox, daughter of
Captain John Knox, of Kentucky, and they have one child,
a daughter, Alice, wife of Charles T. Martin. Mr. Spragg has a
residence and ranch in Mason Valley, and is very
comfortably situated.
HON. M. A. MURPHY -----
Attorney General of the State of Nevada, was born in the
State of New York, September 21, 1827, his father
emigrating to McHenry County, Illinois, soon after the
birth of his son, so that the lad's earliest
recollections were of Illinois.