Alameda County
Biographies
HOWARD
OVERACKER
More than a half century has passed since Mr. Overacker became identified with the agricultural interests of Alameda county. During this long period he has been inseparably associated with the growth and development of Washington township, and by reason of indomitable perseverance and excellent judgment has gained a success that places him among the prosperous men of the locality. His home, The Elms, is among the most attractive as well as valuable ranches in the vicinity of Centerville, the comfortable home and neat improvements bespeaking the ownership of a thrifty and energetic man. Those whose good fortune it is to enjoy a visit at The Elms find their host and hostess intellectually active and physically well preserved. Indeed, although Mr. Overacker is now in his seventy-sixth year, he carries himself as erect as a young man, attracting attention by his height (six feet, one inch) and his symmetry of proportion. There are men fifty years younger than he who cannot equal him in mountain climbing. His powers of endurance are little less than remarkable, but are to be accounted for in his superb constitution and lifelong abstinence from intoxicants. The broad information he now possesses has been acquired by self-culture. Lacking advantages himself, he naturally appreciates their value, and when his children became old enough to attend higher schools of learning he urged them to avail themselves of the best opportunities offered by the state. No expense was spared in their education, and one of the children is a graduate of the Leland Stanford University; three were graduated from Washington College at Irvington, and one daughter graduated from Cooper Medical College.
Born in Ohio November 21, 1828, Mr. Overacker was a member of a family comprising ten sons and three daughters. At four years of age he accompanied his parents to Michigan and settled on a timber tract of government land not far from Ann Arbor. Two years after settling there his father died, and afterward he made his home with an elder brother, whom he assisted in the clearing and improving of a farm. Upon starting out for himself he came to California, leaving Michigan in December of 1851 and arriving, via the Nicaragua route, in San Francisco during February of the following year. For a time he engaged in mining on the South Fork of the American river, but in the fall of 1852 traded a claim there for one at Placerville, where he spent the winter, meeting with little or no success. The spring of 1853 found him in what is now Irvington, Washington township, Alameda county, where he worked as a ranch hand by the month. Later he took charge of a threshing machine, which he operated during the season.
During 1855 Mr. Overacker returned to the east. January 28, 1856, he was united in marriage with Deborah Monroe, who was born near Cooperstown, N. Y., November 14, 1834, and is a descendant of Deputy Governor Seth Pope. Other members of the family were prominent in the early history of our country, several bearing arms in the first struggle with England. By virtue of her ancestry, she is identified with the Daughters of the Revolution and Colonial Dames, while her broad education, versatile abilities and social tact have given her the leadership in other organizations of women. After his marriage Mr. Overacker brought his wife to California, and in 1856 purchased a squatter’s right to three hundred acres of land, then in litigation, located one mile south of Niles. At the time of purchase it was a large grain field. In 1860 he sold out and purchased his present place, which at that time consisted of two hundred and sixty-five acres. There were no trees on the place, nor indeed in the entire valley, and he planted those that have given the ranch its name. The pioneer work necessary to securing a comfortable home filled with the hardest toil his early years in this country, but he has been amply rewarded for his labors in the possession of a beautiful homestead and valuable property. During the early years of his residence in Alameda county wild game abounded and furnished the family with all the meat needed for the table. On one occasion, in 1868, while he was out deer hunting, he saw an object in the brush near him that he supposed to be a deer. Taking aim, he shot at the animal, which rushed out upon him and proved to be an enormous bear. In an instant it had pinned him to the earth, tore the side of his head and chewed his leg, then caught the right shoulder in his mouth and crushed the bones. With rare presence of mind, Mr. Overacker lay quiet, as if dead; he had heard that a bear will never molest a dead human being, and felt this course to be his only hope. After walking around him several times, the bear evidently decided that he was dead and went away. Soon afterward a companion found Mr. Overacker and carried him to a place where assistance could be secured. It was found that his injuries were very serious. The shoulder cap had to be removed, as well as other bones in the shoulder, and a part of the upper rib on the right side. Not one man in a hundred would have recovered from wounds so severe, but his remarkable constitution gave him the victory, and he soon regained his strength.
Politically Mr. Overacker has always supported Republican principles. When Abraham Lincoln’s name headed the Republican ticket the second time Mr. Overacker was the Republican candidate for supervisor of Washington township and gained a fair majority. In those days supervisors were elected for one year only. He was re-elected eleven times and during his long service accomplished much toward the improvement of the roads, also fostered other movements for the benefit of the township. Part of the time he officiated as chairman of the board of supervisors. Fraternally he is one of the oldest Masons at Centerville and has always maintained the deepest interest in the welfare of the order. With his wife he holds membership in the Episcopal church. Their family comprises five children. The oldest, Howard, Jr., is the owner of a ranch of sixteen hundred acres at St. Helena, Cal., where he is engaged in the stock business. Elfleda is the wife of John A. Bunting, an orchardist at Centerville. Kate was one of the leading young physicians of San Francisco and took a special course of study in the treatment of diseases of the eye, having the advantage of the best American and European clinics in this specialty; upon her marriage to T. H. Palache, of San Francisco, she retired from practice. Elizabeth is the wife of A. T. Borst, and they reside with her parents, Mr. and Mrs. Overacker. The youngest member of the family, Justus, owns a stock ranch of eleven hundred acres at Mission San Jose, Alameda, county. The lands held by the family aggregate a large acreage and place them among the leading property owners of their county.
Transcribed
by: Cecelia M. Setty.
Source: History of the State of California &
Biographical Record of Coast Counties, California by Prof. J. M. Guinn, A.
M., Pages 697-698. The Chapman Publishing Co., Chicago, 1904.
© 2015 Cecelia M. Setty.
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