Butte County
Biographies
SYLVESTER GRIDLEY EASTMAN
SYLVESTER GRIDLEY EASTMAN.--Public spirited, enterprising and progressive,
Sylvester G. Eastman has taken an active interest in the up-building
of Butte County, and he holds a high rank among the prominent ranchers of
Northern California, where for many years he has been closely identified with
the promotion of all enterprises that have had for their object the best
interests of the citizens. He was born October 26, 1841, in Grant County, Wis.,
and comes of a family long identified with England, who came to America in the
early colonial period and settled in New York state.
His father was Solomon Cartwright Eastman, and he was born in New York state in 1810. He removed to Wisconsin where he followed
farming and lead-mining until, in 1861, he crossed the plains with his family
and took up government land near Chico, Cal. He farmed there, and later on the
Dayton road. In 1874 he moved to Petaluma and raised fruit until his death, in
1896. His wife was Lucretia Dyer in maidenhood, a
native of Nashville, Tenn., and she bore him ten children, five of them living:
Sylvester G.; Julia Sunderland of Rockford, Ill.; Mary Elizabeth; Henry
Johnson; and Tarlton B., all of Trinity County. She
died in San Francisco on May 30, 1902. Grandfather Moses Eastman,
was a soldier in the Revolutionary War, was a farmer by occupation who
eventually settled in Wisconsin and farmed and mined until his death.
Sylvester Gridley Eastman was the oldest
of the ten children born to his parents, and he received his education in the
district schools in Wisconsin. He began an apprenticeship at the trade of a
carpenter, but before he had completed it, he changed his mind, and on February
28, 1855, started for California via Panama. Upon his arrival in the state he
mined for three years at Camptonville and Downieville, and made and saved some money. In 1859 he went
to Virginia City, Nev., and from there to Pike’s Peak, Colo. His quest for gold
in those sections did not prove successful and he went on eastward arriving in
Wisconsin in 1860. He visited his old home and friends, and on April 2, 1861,
accompanied by his parents and the entire family, started for California, this
time overland, and arrived at his destination on August 8, of that year. Soon
after their arrival he and his father rented land and engaged in ranching. In
1864, Sylvester G. went to Virginia City, Nev., and worked as a laborer in the
mines for one year, after which he returned to California and, with his father,
purchased a half section of land adjoining what is now the city of Chico. Here
they engaged in raising grain and stock.
In 1872, in Butte County, Mr. Eastman was
united in marriage with Mary Evans Patrick, who was born in Randolph County,
Mo., on September 14, 1851. Her father was William Garrison Patrick, born in
Howard County, Mo., and who married Melissa Virginia Wright, a native of
Randolph County, that state. They had eight children, four of whom are living:
Mrs. Mary Evans Eastman; Mrs. Rebecca Jane Moore; Mrs. Bee Compton; and William
G. Patrick, all of whom reside in Butte County. Mr. Patrick and his family came
to California in 1858, via Panama, arriving on April 18, and locating two miles
southwest of Chico. For more detailed mention see the sketch of Mrs. Melissa V.
Patrick Salmon on another page in this work.
Mr. and Mrs. Eastman have had no children
of their own but have reared twenty children, legally adopting one, Lydia May
Parks, who became the wife of Oscar Kroninger. She
died in 1916, leaving two children, Oscar R. and Mary Esther. Among the other
children we mention Margaret Ann Pilkey, who married
Thomas Crouch and lives at Butte City. She has two brothers, George W. and
Edward J. Pilkey. Mrs. Eastman is rearing Earl Evans
Stover, a descendent of the Pilkey family and a son
of Charles Stover of Red Bluff. Mrs. Eastman is known as a good rancher, for
she managed a dairy for some years, and is now running two farms upon which
grain is raised, one hundred acres being an inheritance from her mother, Mrs.
Salmon. Mr. and Mrs. Eastman set out the first domestic dry land orchard in the
county and this is still in bearing. Both these pioneers suffered from fever
and ague as well as many other hardships in early days. Mr. Eastman fought the
Pitt River Indians and has done his part to make this state a safe place in
which to live. The battle with Indians was caused by the murder of two girls
and a boy, members of the Heacock family. They were
picking blackberries when Indians killed both girls outright, the boy being
tortured to death by younger Indians. A band of seventy-five young ranchers
pursued the Indians and, upon overtaking them, killed thirty-two. Mr. Eastman
fired the first shot, filling an Indian with buckshot from his old shotgun. No
more trouble was experienced from the Redskins. Mr. Eastman has always been a
stanch Republican and a public spirited citizen. Both he and his wife have a
host of friends who admire their many good qualities of mind and heart.
Transcribed by Marie Hassard
19 May 2008.
Source:
"History of Butte County, Cal.," by George C. Mansfield, Pages
966-969, Historic Record
Co, Los Angeles, CA, 1918.
© 2008 Marie Hassard.
Golden Nugget Library's Butte County Biographies