Butte County
Biographies
LEANDER DELAVAN
LEANDER DELAVAN.--A pioneer of California, and a man who watched with interest
the changing conditions in the state from the time of his arrival, in 1858,
until his death, in 1918, was the late Leander Delavan, of Butte County. A
native of New York, he was born at Salem, Westchester County, January 8, 1831, a son of Daniel and Roxey (Bishop) Delavan, both born and reared in New York
State, on farms within eight miles of each other. Daniel
Delavan became a farmer, and was the owner of a flouring mill at Canaan,
that state. The paternal ancestry dates back to Abraham Delavan,
grandfather of our subject, who accompanied his parents from his native France to America.
Leander Delavan attended the public
schools of his native state, and was brought up on the farm owned by his father
near Salem. At the age of ten he began working on farms in his
neighborhood, and when he was eighteen he entered upon an apprenticeship under an uncle, Aaron Smith, to learn the trade of the millwright. He
thoroughly learned the trade, and was in the employ of his uncle for ten years,
after which he decided to come to the Pacific
Coast. He left New
York on the steamer George
Ross, for Panama, crossed the Isthmus, and boarded the steamer Golden
Age, for San Francisco. He arrived in due time, and soon found work in
that city. He helped to construct the first locomotive, the “Pony,” which
was used to haul the sand and other material used in the building of the San
Jose Railroad, through the sand hills above Third Street, in San Francisco; and
he also helped to build many of the cars used in that work, as well as to
rebuild many that had become damaged during the work. The “Pony” is now on
exhibition at Golden Gate Park, in San
Francisco. It
was in storage for many years previous to the time of its presentation to the
city.
When Mr. Delavan left San Francisco it was to come to Oroville. He soon found work at
his trade, and helped to build many quartz mills, sawmills, and flouring mills
in Butte County. He also worked on the Sperry Flour Mills, at Stockton,
and built a quartz mill at Granite Basin, Plumas
County, as also one near Forbestown. In
1876, he set up the first dredger ever built on the Feather River. This
was a vacuum dredger, built in Boston with capital supplied by persons of that city, and
shipped to California to be put together here. This dredger never proved
a success, and the venture came to naught.
In 1869, at Mountain House, Butte
County, Leander Delavan was united in marriage with Emma Starr Ruggles, a daughter of Hon. E. S. Ruggles,
who served as an assemblyman from his district, and was one of the leading men
in the northern part of the state. Her mother was Laura Elcinda England, before her marriage, who became the mother of eleven
children, seven of whom grew to mature years, viz.: Eliza, Peary, Pamelia, Emma Starr, Philip McCabe, Laura, and Henry
Clay. Of the marriage of Mr. and Mrs. Delavan, two children were
born: William Leander and Eva Leigh. The former was a splendid young
man, and was rising rapidly as an employee on one of the gold dredgers working
in the vicinity of Oroville, when he was accidentally drowned while swimming in
Feather River. The daughter is the wife of Calvin U. Washburn, a
very successful rancher and landowner living near Nelson, Butte
County.
After an absence of almost twenty-five
years, nineteen of which they had spent in the vicinity of Nelson, Mr. and
Mrs. Delavan moved back into Oroville, in 1900; and it was just one week later
that their son met his death. Mr. Delavan constructed, at this time, the
first successful gold dredger installed in Oroville. This city continued
to be the place of their residence till 1913, when Mr. and Mrs. Delavan came to
the vicinity of Nelson to make their home with their son-in-law and their
daughter, Mr. and Mrs. C. U. Washburn, on the Stanford Grant. It was here,
on November 1, 1917, that Mr. Delavan passed to his reward, at the age of
eight-five years. Mrs. Delavan still makes her home with her daughter, who
cares for her most tenderly.
Transcribed by Louise E. Shoemaker November 22, 2007.
Source: "History of
Butte County, Cal.," by George C. Mansfield, Pages 514-515, Historic Record Co, Los Angeles, CA, 1918.
©
2007 Louise
E. Shoemaker.
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