Alameda County
Biographies
JOHN DUGAN
The genial proprietor of the Newark House in the town of that name is a host who contributes to the well-being of the community in various ways, and who at present is rendering effective service as road overseer of his district. Mr. Dugan was born March 2, 1838 in Ross county, Ohio, whither his father, John Dugan, Sr., had removed at the age of twenty years, as a contractor on the Ohio and Portsmouth canal. The elder Dugan was born in Pennsylvania, and reared on a farm, an occupation which he followed in Ohio after completing his work on the canal. About 1848, when his son was ten years old, he removed to Springfield, Ill., and two years later to Lincoln, Logan county, Ill., where he purchased and improved land, and where his death occurred at the age of fifty-two years.
At the age of sixteen John Dugan, Jr., stepped out of the beaten path of his ancestors and learned the painter's trade in Lincoln. This he followed with fair success until the fever of unrest caused him to turn longingly toward the undeveloped west in 1859. Paying his passage overland rather than equip with a wagon and ox teams, he arrived in due time at Pike's Peak, Colorado, where he met with dismal failure as a miner, and determined to continue his way to the coast. Meeting a man who owned a team and wagon, he worked his way through with him to Honey Lake valley, from where he walked to Yreka, and worked in the mines for a short time. Things were brighter there than in Colorado, and he soon after bought an interest in a claim, in time becoming one of the discoverers of the John Day diggings. In 1864 he went to Virginia City, Nev., where he became foreman in the Empire Mine at Gold Hill, and not only filled this position with credit, but contracted for the sinking of shafts, and the placing of general mining machinery. In 1865 he fitted out a saddle train and took thirty-five passengers to Boise City, where he first learned of Lincoln's assassination, but misfortune was his portion on this expedition, for the Indians took thirty-six of his forty-five horses and he was obliged to accomplish the journey on foot. He had a partner in this venture, and together they returned to Virginia City, but on the way barely escaped with their lives, as the Indians were on the war path and rendered life and property insecure.
In Virginia City Mr. Dugan found employment in a soda works, and October 25, 1865, went to San Jose and purchased a claim, following ranching and stock-raising for about ten years. He then came to the new settlement of Newark, built the first house in the town, and ran a country inn for the accommodation of miners and prospectors. When firmly established he branched out into a general merchandise business, and at the same time became prominent in Republican politics, filling many offices of trust in the growing community. He was deputy sheriff for several years, and served as postmaster under the administrations of Harrison and McKinley, and is still filling that office under President Roosevelt. His faith in the town and county is evidenced by his investments in improved property, and he owns, besides ten lots in the town, his own large and modern hotel building. In Yreka, in 1862, Mr. Dugan married Mary Wheeler, a native of Missouri, who crossed the plains with her mother in 1853. They were the parents of three sons: John L., who died at the age of thirty-eight; William W., and Fred, who died at the age of twenty-nine. William W. assists his father in the management of the hotel. In spite of many obstacles to his progress, Mr. Dugan has continually added to his fortune, and to the esteem in which he is held in the community. As one of its most high-minded and energetic pioneers, he is deserving of great credit for his active participation in every phase of its growth, and for his contribution of steadfastness and courage to its standard of citizenship. He has tried to make his life broad and humane, and his memories include many friends who have come into and passed from his ken through the portals of the great beyond. As a boy he lived near the cabin of Abraham Lincoln, the man who started out life as a rail splitter. Many a time he visited the home of Mr. Lincoln in Springfield, Ill, and the gaunt, awkward figure of his friend, with little promise of his future greatness, is an abiding remembrance.
Transcribed
9-9-15 Marilyn
R. Pankey.
ญญญญSource: History
of the State of California & Biographical Record of Coast Counties,
California by Prof. J. M. Guinn, A. M., Pages 766-769. The Chapman
Publishing Co., Chicago, 1904.
ฉ 2015 Marilyn R. Pankey.
BACK TO GOLDEN NUGGET LIBRARY'S ALAMEDA DATABASES