Alameda County
Biographies
JAMES LINFOOT
A varied life has been that of James Linfoot, who is now a resident of San Leandro, Alameda county, where he first located in 1855. A native of York, England, he was born March 15, 1832, a son of James and Mary (Stubbs) Linfoot, both of whom were natives of the same place, where they also died. They were the parents of twelve children, ten sons and two daughters, of whom James Linfoot was the youngest. His father being a farmer, he received a thorough training along practical lines, and at the same time attended the common schools in the vicinity of his home. He was but twenty years old when he came to the United States, his first location in the western world being near Chicago, Ill., where he worked for eighteen months. During the winter he attended school, adding to an already good foundation of general knowledge. In 1852 he crossed the plains with ox teams to California, at the foot of the mountains leaving the train, and in company with an old gentleman walking over them. On the north fork of the south fork of the middle fork of the McCosmey river in Placer county he engaged in the mines for a month, after which he spent a like period as a clerk in a store. He then came to Sacramento and found employment for a time, after which he spent more or less time in traveling over the northern part of the state. In 1855 he came to San Leandro, and for a month was engaged at various employments, when he took charge of the San Leandro Hotel, conducting the same for Mrs. Samuel Mason. At the same time he established a stage route, between San Leandro and what is now the city of Oakland, and also one to Alvarado. In the meantime, during the three years in which he was so engaged, he bought a squatter's right to two sections of land on the Palmiras creek, and bought and sold cattle. In the winter of 1862 he disposed of his cattle and bought land in the San Joaquin valley, where he followed the sheep business. This property he afterward sold. Mr. Linfoot still owns his ranch of forty acres in San Leandro, devoted to apricots and various other fruits, as well as some other property.
In San Francisco in 1857 Mr. Linfoot married Mrs. Elizabeth Mason, a native of Pennsylvania, who died in 1898. By a former marriage she had one son, B. F. Mason, a physician of San Leandro. In his political convictions, Mr. Linfoot is a Democrat, and is always active in his efforts to promote the principles which he endorses. He has served as school director and was a candidate for sheriff against Ira Moss.
Transcribed
9-9-16 Marilyn
R. Pankey.
ญญญญSource: History
of the State of California & Biographical Record of Coast Counties,
California by Prof. J. M. Guinn, A. M., Pages 1316-1317. The Chapman
Publishing Co., Chicago, 1904.
ฉ 2016 Marilyn R. Pankey.
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