El
Dorado County
Biographies
WARREN C. GREEN
Of the mercantile interests of Georgetown
Warren C. Green is a well known representative, and he is also one of the most
prominent and successful mining men of the county. Of California he is a native son, his birth
having occurred in Placer County on the 22nd of July, 1862. His father, R. P. Green, was born in
Springfield, Illinois, in 1824, and engaged in lead mining at Galena, that
state. He came to El Dorado County at an
early epoch in the development of California and engaged in placer mining. In 1859, however, he returned by way of the water
route for his family, and with them came across the plains to the Pacific
coast. They were annoyed by the Indians
and the men in the train sometimes stood guard all night to give the warning if
the savages should make an attack. On
other occasions they traveled all night in order to escape the red men. On the second trip Mr. Green was accompanied
by his brother, Wright F. Green, who now resides in Los Angeles.
On again reaching the Golden state
the father of our subject located in Placerville where he continued
mining. At one time he was connected
with a mining venture whereby his lost five thousand dollars, but subsequently
he took out gold enough in six months to meet all his indebtedness. In 1864 his wife died, in the twenty-fourth
year of her age, leaving to him the care of their two sons, Edwin and Warren
C. He then discontinued mining and was
in the stock business for some years. In
1880 he removed to Montana, locating at Corvallis. They were eleven months traveling by wagon,
spending the winter at Salem and reaching the Bitter Root Valley on the 26th
of July, 1880. There the father located
on four hundred and eighty acres of land on which he erected a good home,
making it his place of abode until his life’s labors were ended in death on the 24th
day of February, 1895, when he was in his seventy-first year. Edwin Green, who came to California with his
father and mother on the former’s second trip across the plains, is now
associated with his brother in the store at Georgetown. He married Emily Gardner and they have five
children: Ruth, Walter, Frank, Hazel and
a baby. The Green brothers are rated
among the most enterprising businessmen of the county and are proprietors of
the leading mercantile establishment at Georgetown.
Warren C. Green was educated in the
public schools of El Dorado County and in Colusa County, and at the age of
eighteen he put aside his textbooks to learn the more difficult lessons in the
schools of experience. He embarked in
mining as a common laborer and was employed in that way for two years, after
which he served as a foreman of mines for two years. On the expiration of that period he became a
mine owner and mine superintendent, but continued his active connection with
the development of mines until January, 1899, when he purchased a general
mercantile store in Georgetown. He has
since conducted this enterprise and has found it a profitable source of income,
but he is still largely interested in the development of the mineral resources
in this part of the state, and has seven hundred acres of mining land four
miles east of Placerville. For a number
of years he has been one of the most active and successful promoters of mining
in his county and he has in his possession thirty-two pieces of pure gold taken
from his mines that are valued at from twelve to one hundred dollars, the value
of the entire collection being eight hundred dollars. He also has a five-dollar gold piece which
was made in 1849, of pure California gold, the government permitting private
parties to coin gold at that early day.
It was found by a placer miner when washing for gold and is a very
valuable piece of money which would command much more than its face value. Mr. Green has purchased and sold many mining
properties and his dealings have brought to him an excellent financial
return. At one time he had three hundred
acres of land on the Georgetown divide which he sold to the Two Channels Mining
Company mostly formed of Indianapolis capitalists.
Mr. Green was married in 1882 to
Miss Mary Hoxey, of Placerville, a native of that
state and a daughter of M. P. Hoxey, a California
pioneer. They have three children, Ruby
Estella, Edwin and Myrtle. Mr. Green is
an active member of the Republican Party and for thirteen years has served on
the Republican county central committee, his efforts proving of great
benefit. He is a man of marked business
ability, never making an engagement which he does not fulfill and never
incurring an obligation which he does not meet.
His prosperity is the result of his diligence, capable management and
keen sagacity.
Transcribed by
Gerald Iaquinta.
Source:
“A Volume of Memoirs and Genealogy of Representative Citizens of Northern
California”, Pages 753-754. Chicago Standard Genealogical Publishing Co. 1901.
© 2011
Gerald Iaquinta.
Golden
Nugget Library's El Dorado County Biographies