El
Dorado County
Biographies
DAVID T. LOOFBOURROW
One of the leading and
influential citizens of El Dorado County living at Diamond Springs is David T.
Loofbourrow, whose residence in California covers a half century, the date of
his arrival being September 9, 1850, the very day on which California was admitted
into the Union. He has already reached
the Psalmist’s span of three-score years and ten, for he was born in Ohio,
December 6, 1829. The blood of Scotch
and English ancestry is in his constitution and in his life he has exemplified
many of the best characteristics of the Anglo-Saxon race. The first of the name to settle in America
located in Pennsylvania. His father,
Wade Loofbourrow, was born in the Keystone state, and on emigrating
to Ohio located in Washington, Fayette County, where he was married to Miss
Nancy Swinney.
He was a lawyer by profession, attained prominence at the bar and was
elected and served as the judge of the district court. Many positions of honor and trust were
conferred upon him and he was accorded an eminent place in the ranks of the
legal fraternity. He died in 1852 at the
age of sixty-seven years, and his wife passed away at the age of forty-seven
years, leaving four children, all of whom yet survive.
Mr. Loofbourrow of this review, the
only one of the family in California, pursued his education in the academy at
Chillicothe, Ohio, and entered upon his business career as a salesman in a
store. Hoping to better his financial
condition in the far west he crossed the plains to California in 1850, allured
by the discovery of gold and the prospect of securing a fortune in the gold
fields. He traveled with a company of
one hundred and thirty men who with thirty wagons crossed the hot and arid
plains. They were annoyed by the
Indians, but a guard was kept on watch most of the time and thus they avoided
an attack. Ten of their number died of
cholera and the route was marked by many a new-made grave. For ten days they were without bread and they
suffered other hardships and difficulties.
A short time after leaving Salt Lake they abandoned the wagons and
packed the oxen with their goods. On
reaching Humboldt, Nevada, they sold their oxen and came on foot to
Placerville, which was one of the historic places in California in the early
mining days, the scene of its most noted gold diggings. Thus the long journey was safely pursued but
the experience of that trip will never be forgotten by those who made it. During a part of the time they made bread of
bran without salt, but although it was not very palatable they had keen appetites
and were glad to get what they could.
After reaching California, Mr.
Loofbourrow engaged in mining for a number of years on Webber Creek, also in
the neighborhood of Kelsey and Auburn, and in various places in Nevada
County. He never met with more than
moderate success, although he found one nugget of gold that was worth sixty
dollars, another worth eighty and a third worth ninety dollars. With his two partners he took out one day two
hundred and fifty dollars. Like other
miners, he traveled over the country a great deal to see what he could find,
when it would have been more profitable to have remained at the mines when they
were meeting with fair success, thus “letting well enough alone.” During his first day’s mining on Webber Creek
he dug a little hole in the bed of the creek and from thirty-five panfuls of
dirt he took out gold to the value of seventeen and a half dollars. The hole filled with water and they abandoned
it; but they been more experienced they would have continued there and probably
would have realized a handsome fortune.
In 1860 Mr. Loofbourrow returned to
El Dorado County and took charge of the Gold Hill canal and continued in that
occupation for five years. In 1866 he
began merchandising at Cold Springs. For
seven years he engaged in trade at Grizzly Flat, and in 1879 he removed to El
Dorado, where he sold goods for fourteen years, meeting with excellent
success. He next went to Tacoma,
Washington, and dealt in town lots, meeting with some success during the
boom. He was fortunate enough to leave
just before the boom subsided, and since then he has been engaged in
merchandising in Placerville, and also at his present location at Diamond
Springs and El Dorado.
Until 1896 Mr. Loofbourrow
affiliated with the Democratic Party, but since then he has entertained
socialistic and populist ideas. In 1858
he was elected by his party a member of the state legislature and in 1873-4 was
the chief clerk of the state assembly.
He was married in 1863 to Miss
Elizabeth Englesfreid, a native of Illinois, and unto
them were born ten children, all of whom are living, namely: Wade, who resides in the state of Washington;
Reno Paul, who is with his father in the store; Charles F., an agent of the
Southern Pacific Railroad Company; Nancy, the wife of E. L. Roussin;
Kate, the wife of R. M. Wren; Twinney, the wife of
Albert Bliss; Margaret and Emma, who are attending school at San Jose; and Clance, his youngest son, and Agnes, who also are
students. Mr. Loofbourrow has never been
identified with any social or fraternal society, giving his attention
exclusively to his business, and by an upright and honorable course he has
prospered.
Transcribed by
Gerald Iaquinta.
Source:
“A Volume of Memoirs and Genealogy of Representative Citizens of Northern
California”, Pages 599-600. Chicago Standard Genealogical Publishing Co. 1901.
© 2010
Gerald Iaquinta.
Golden
Nugget Library's El Dorado County Biographies