Butte County
Biographies
MRS.
AMERICA SWINNEY HARTMAN
MRS. AMERICA SWINNEY HARTMAN.—More than one thrilling chapter in the
adventures of the early pioneer, and especially in the narration of the dangers
to which she was daily exposed while passing through those portions of the
continent controlled by hostile Indians, is revealed in the annals of the late
Mrs. America Swinney Hartman, of Oroville, born in
Van Buren County, Iowa, in 1844, and the daughter of John Friend, who was born
in Illinois, and was a farmer, carpenter and wagonmaker
in Van Buren County. He was in the Black Hawk Indian War, and his first
wife, Susan Holcomb before her marriage, died in Iowa, where she had been
born. In 1849, he crossed the plains to California, remained three years,
returned to Iowa, married a second time, and in 1855 brought his wife and three
children across the plains. They traveled by ox teams and used their
wagons for a corral for protection, at the same time that they placed two men
on guard. They traveled by way of the Truckee route, and America (Mrs.
Hartman) was then eleven years of age. He settled at Cherokee Flat, in
Butte County, where he engaged in mining, and there he remained for three
years. In 1862, he returned east on horseback, and as he could talk seven
different Indian languages he was far more familiar with Indian conditions than
most pioneers. This proficiency was doubtless traceable to the fact that
his father, William Friend, was an old Indian trader, who dealt with Indians in
Illinois and Iowa. When Mr. Friend returned to California he came by rail;
and here he died in his sixty-eighty year, the father of America, the subject
of our sketch, and Typhena, Mrs. Muncil,
of San Francisco.
In 1855, Mrs. Hartman came to Butte County, having previously attended
school in Iowa until she was too advanced to be longer instructed at the
country school and had to study by herself. Her first marriage took place
at Oroville to James Swinney, a native of Monroe
County, Mo., who was left a half-orphan, through the death of his mother, when
he was a baby. He was brought up by his paternal grandparents, Mr. and
Mrs. William Smith, the grandfather having crossed the plains in 1850, bringing
James, then a boy of sixteen, with him. Mr. Smith died here, and Mr. Swinney followed farming and stock-raising on Butte Creek,
ten miles north of the town. Finding, however, that his health was being
impaired, he sold his farm and located in Oroville, where he died in
1879. Eight children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Swinney,
five of whom are still living: Ella C. is Mrs. Smuck,
of Oroville; Laura died young; Kate, Mrs. James Braden, died in June, 1916;
William resides in Oroville and is the well-known drayman and dairyman; Bird,
died when he was twenty-five; Lizzie is Mrs. John Boring of Oroville; Ben lives
at Corning; and Edna is Mrs. Whittier, of Oroville.
In October, 1889, about ten years after James Swinney
died, his widow married again, the ceremony taking place in Oroville, being
united with Frank Hartman, who was born in New York City in 1845, and was
reared in Newark, N. J., where he attended public school until eighteen, when
he went to sea. He made three trips to Chili (sic) and Peru, around Cape
Horn, shipping before the mast. Having a desire to see the Pacific Coast
he came west to San Francisco. In the fall of 1881, intending to go north
to the Columbia River, he journeyed as far as Nelson Station, in Butte County,
where he stopped off and remained awhile. There he heard two men
quarreling on account of a dredge boat, and learning that it was on Dry Creek
he inquired what chance there might be to get a berth on it. This led to
his being given a job, and for three seasons he ran the dredge, at the same
time assisting in building the levee on Dry Creek for the Cherokee Mining
Company. There he continued until the mine was attached by the California
Bank, when he came to Oroville and worked at the carpenter trade. In this
line he had had some experience as a ship carpenter, and for nine years on
Feather River he was an employee of Major McLaughlin as foreman of carpenters,
building dams and flumes on the Golden Gate claims in the Feather River.
When Major McLaughlin quit his operations Mr. Hartman continued at carpentry
and building here, and became one of the oldest contractors in the
vicinity. Mrs. Hartman owned ten acres which were subdivided for city
lots, the area being known as Hartman’s Addition, and where the Hartmans made their residence.
Mr. Hartman is a well-known Democrat, and as an Odd Fellow is connected with
the Oroville Lodge. Mrs. Hartman died July 4, 1917, mourned by all who
knew her.
Many are the good Indian stories told by the Hartmans,
and especially by the plucky woman who came across the plains when she was a
little girl. At Helltown, for example, the
teamsters got drunk, and three or four mules strayed away and were temporarily
lost. The teamsters, still drunk, concluded that the Indians had stolen
their mules, and rounding up several of the savages, straightway hanged
them. An Indian, “Ned,” every evening urged the Friend family to go
quickly to the valley, and finally left them, and the next night the Indians
killed a farmer named Lewis. The mother managed to make her escape,
although the Indians killed her children with the exception of a nine-year-old
child, and that night the latter made her escape. At length she found her
mother. Soldiers soon came up, but did no good, although they camped on
Butte Creek. The Indians during the uprising probably killed a dozen white
people.
Once, also, on the plains a Mr. Rose had fine cattle and a horse, and for
the latter he was offered seven hundred fifty dollars, which he refused, because
he believed that he could get a thousand. Two nights later the horse was
stolen. He also had a good mare. The next night Rose and Mr. Friend
stood guard. Suddenly the report of a gun was heard, and Mr. Rose shouted
that he had the rascal. The thief proved to be a big buck Indian. The
next day the emigrants broke camp and moved on. Most of the party objected
to taking the lead, but Mr. Friend showed his pluck and led the party.
Transcribed 1-22-08
Marilyn R. Pankey.
Source: "History of
Butte County, Cal.," by George C. Mansfield, Pages 637-638, Historic Record Co, Los Angeles, CA, 1918.
©
2008 Marilyn R. Pankey.
Golden Nugget Library's Butte County Biographies