Amador
County
Biographies
MARCUS R. BACON
Marcus
R. Bacon, one of Ione’s oldest and best known citizens, is now living retired
after over thirty-seven years of close attention to the clay business, in which
he was notably successful. He was born
on a farm in Ashtabula County, Ohio, on the 20th of November, 1852,
and is a son of Marcus D. and Barbara (Rymolt) Bacon; the latter of German
parentage and both are now deceased. The
father, who was descended from old English stock, was reared in New York State,
and during his active years became prominent as an operator in the various
eastern oil fields.
Marcus
R. Bacon received his education in the public schools of his native state,
after which he took over the operation of a dairy belonging to his father. He conducted that enterprise until he was
thirty years of age, when he came to California, first locating at Galt, where
he spent a year, and then went to Campo, San Diego County. His next move was to Carbondale, Amador
County, where he lived until coming to Ione in 1889. Here he engaged in the clay business, out of
which he gained notable success, due largely to the fact that he had made an
exhaustive study of clays and was an authority on the subject. He was also connected with Clark & Son,
of Alameda, which firm he furnished with the clay required in its factory. In 1926, when he decided to retire, he sold
the business to his oldest son, M. J. Bacon, who had previously been associated
with him and who has continued the business to the present time.
At
Hamden, Vinton County, Ohio, Mr. Bacon was united in marriage to Miss Anna
Quiggle, a daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Thomas Jefferson Quiggle. They became the parents of three children,
namely: Mark J., who took over the clay
business of his father; Charles Milton, who operates an automobile machine
shop; and Kittie, who died in 1921, at the age of thirty-two years. There are also seven grandchildren and one
great-grandchild. Mr. Bacon has always
been a stalwart Democrat in his political belief, and has been a member of the
Independent Order of Odd Fellows for many years. A man of rugged strength of character and
kindly manner, he commands the unreserved respect and esteem of those who know
him.
Transcribed by
Gerald Iaquinta.
Source:
Wooldridge, J.W.Major History of Sacramento Valley
California, Vol. 3, Pages 51-52. Pioneer Historical
Publishing Co. Chicago 1931.
© 2010
Gerald Iaquinta.
Golden Nugget Library's Amador County Biographies