Placer
County
Biographies
EDGAR M. BANVARD
Edgar M. Banvard, of Alta, Placer
County, is one of the most highly respected old settlers of the state, his
residence in California covering a period of forty-eight years. A native of New York City, he was born on the
31st of December, 1820, and is of French lineage, his ancestors
having been early settlers of America’s metropolis. His grandfather and his father, both of whom
bore the name of Daniel Banvard, were also natives of New York City. The father removed to Rochester, New York,
where he was engaged in active business from 1822 until 1825. In the latter year he removed to Cincinnati,
Ohio, which was then a far western district, the work of progress and
civilization having been scarcely begun in that portion of the country. He remained in the grocery business in
Cincinnati for five years and then removed to Louisville, Kentucky, where in
1830 he resumed merchandising in the grocery line, continuing at that place for
four years. In 1834 he took up his abode
in Peoria, Illinois, whence in 1839 he removed to St. Louis, Missouri, his
death occurring there in February, 1840, when he was forty-six years of age.
In early manhood he married Miss
Maria Hunt, also a native of New York City.
There the wedding was celebrated.
She was a descendant of an old Holland Dutch family that was established
in New York at a very early period in its existence. They had eight children and the mother
attained the very advanced age of eighty-five years. Mr. Banvard is now the only surviving son of
the family. Two of the sons, Benjamin H.
and Daniel, crossed the plains with ox teams in 1849 and were engaged in mining
in this state until 1860, when Daniel died, after which Benjamin returned to
the east, his death occurring in Chicago, Illinois.
Mr. Banvard, of this review, was
educated in Peoria, Illinois, and began his business career in the mercantile
establishment of Alter & Howell, of Peoria, Illinois. Determining to seek a home and a fortune in
the far west, he made his way to California by the Isthmus route. On the 14th of January, 1851, he
wedded Miss Abby Shurtleff, a native of Morgan
County, Illinois, and a daughter of Milton Shurtleff. She was born February 23, 1829. The young wife remained in the east for three
years and then joined Mr. Banvard in his California home. He had tired of his mercantile experiences,
and, as potatoes were commanding a very high price in the Golden state, he with
a partner engaged in the raising of that vegetable, making it his first
business venture on the Pacific coast.
They rented forty acres of land near Oakland and raised a very large
crop, but the price of potatoes went down and they lost considerable
money. His next venture was that of painting
and paper hanging, and he followed that business for about two years, making
from six to eight dollars per day.
Subsequently he met Dr. Crandall, an acquaintance from the east who
advised Mr. Banvard to go to Auburn, and accordingly he arrived at that place
in 1855. The Doctor was the treasurer of
Placer County and the secretary of the Bear River Ditch Company. He made Mr. Banvard his deputy treasurer and
he also performed much of the work of the secretary for the Doctor, by whom he
was paid one hundred dollars per month and also given his board. He was continued as the deputy treasurer of
the county, under Treasurer Philip Stoner, and in 1860 was elected the
treasurer of the county, on the Union ticket, discharging the duties of the
office so capably that he was re-elected in 1862. His connection with the county finances
therefore covered a period of eight years and was one in which he gained the
highest commendation, for he proved himself to be entirely trustworthy and
reliable.
In 1866 Mr. Banvard removed to Alta,
where the Central Pacific Railway had just been built. He purchased the Depot Hotel and was its
popular landlord for eighteen years. In
1869 he was elected a member of the state assembly and for four years he
represented his district in the law-making body of the state. His prominence was shown by the fact that
during the two sessions he was chairman of the finance committee. He has been a lifelong Democrat, unfaltering
in the support of the principles of the party, and he has taken an active
interest in the work of the party conventions.
His efforts have contributed in a large measure toward securing
Democratic success, and as a county and state officer he gave to the duties of
his positions the fullest attention.
After three years spent in
California, Mr. Banvard returned to the east for his wife, making the journey
by way of the Isthmus of Panama. They
returned by way of the Nicaragua route, bringing with them their first-born
son, Louis Howell, who is now the secretary in the train dispatcher’s office in
Sacramento, a young man of intelligence and ability. Their second son, Charles Edgar, was born in
Auburn on the 7th of June, 1857, and is now employed in a large
sawmill in Tuolumne County. Mr. Banvard
is now, in 1900, in the eightieth year of his age, and his wife has reached the
age of seventy-one years. They are a
well preserved old couple and deserve honorable mention among the pioneers and
prominent citizens of their adopted state.
They have a nice home at Alta and several other dwellings, and three
hundred and twenty acres of farming land, and are passing the evening of a well
spent life in peace and comfort. Mrs.
Banvard is an estimable lady who shares with her husband in the high regard
which is uniformly given him. Mr.
Banvard has borne an active part in the work of developing California from its
primitive condition to its present state of progress, and in public and private
life he has commanded the respect, confidence and good will of his fellow men.
Transcribed by
Gerald Iaquinta.
Source:
“A Volume of Memoirs and Genealogy of Representative Citizens of Northern
California”, Pages 302-304. Chicago Standard Genealogical Publishing Co. 1901.
© 2010
Gerald Iaquinta.