Calaveras
County
Biographies
BARTHOLOMEW R. PRINCE
One of the well known pioneers of
California, now proprietor of the Altaville Hotel, in Calaveras County, is
Bartholomew Prince, who was born in Italy of Italian parents March 7,
1829. He was educated in his native
country and in 1847 came to America, locating first in Boston, Massachusetts,
where he engaged in the manufacture of telescopes and later in the sale of
statuary. In 1852 he embarked for
California, by way of the Isthmus of Panama, having considerable difficulty
about his passage, as so many emigrants were to be carried that no sufficient
number of vessels could be procured.
Many poor people lost their money, tired out with waiting for
transportation, as the ship owners sold more tickets than could be redeemed by
accommodating passengers. Mr. Prince
immediately made his way to Calaveras County and engaged in placer-mining on
Coyote Creek, meeting with success. He
then made his way to Angels Creek, where with two partners he erected a store
and engaged in merchandising on the land where the town of Altaville now
stands. This enterprise was started in
the spring of 1853 and was the pioneer store of the town, and such success
attended Mr. Prince that he continued in the same line of business for
thirty-seven years. In 1890 he retired,
have accumulated a competence, notwithstanding many bad debts. In these years he had become the owner of the
Cherokee mine, from which a large amount of gold has been mined and this
property is still in his possession, but is leased to a company. It is on the Mather lode of California and is
considered valuable property, as it has a good light stamp mill.
In conjunction with his son he
conducts the Altaville Hotel and livery stables, owning also a large amount of
real estate in the town. He has made his
money by attention to business and is highly regarded by his fellow pioneers in
this section.
Mr. Prince was married at San
Andreas in 1860 to Miss Mary Harmettie, a native of
Ireland, and nine children were born to them, seven of whom are still
surviving: Frank, in the United States
mint at San Francisco; Matilda, the wife of Lewis Goldstone, in Egypt, in the
employ of an English syndicate; Dante, a lawyer of San Francisco and a United
States commissioner; Mary, now Mrs. H. A. Fisher, of Stockton; Joseph and
Theresa, twins, the former the husband of Miss Ida Miller, a native of San
Joaquin County, and the latter living with her sister in Stockton; and Edward,
who with his father and brother Joseph conducts the hotel. Mrs. Prince died in 1890 after a happy
married life of thirty years.
Mr. Prince has always been a
Democrat in politics and is a member of the Masonic fraternity. He is still interested in his business, for which
he has always had a natural aptitude, and worthily represents the best class of
his countrymen in the state of California.
Transcribed by
Gerald Iaquinta.
Source:
“A Volume of Memoirs and Genealogy of Representative Citizens of Northern
California”, Pages 773-774. Chicago Standard Genealogical Publishing Co. 1901.
© 2011
Gerald Iaquinta.
Golden Nugget Library's Calaveras County Biographies