Placer
County
Biographies
STEPHEN DOUGLAS BURDGE
Before California was admitted to
the Union Stephen Douglas Burdge arrived on the Pacific coast, located in this
state in August, 1850. In September the
territorial government gave way to statehood, and throughout the following half
century our subject has borne his part in promoting the interests and welfare
of California. He was born in New York, in
the town of Milton, on the Hudson, in Ulster County, September 15, 1811, and is
therefore eighty-nine years of age at the time of this writing. He is of French-Scotch ancestry and is
descended from good old Revolutionary stock, his grandfather, Stephen Douglas,
having served with the colonial army in the war for independence, after which
he located in Steuben County, New York, where he spent his remaining days. Richard Burdge was born in Monmouth, New
York, and married Lydia Douglas, an aunt of the Hon. Stephen A. Douglas, of
Illinois. By this marriage there were
seven children, but the subject of this review is now the only survivor of the
family. The father died in 1854, at the
age of seventy-six years, and the mother survived him, attaining the age of
eight-four years. They were members of
the Methodist church and people of the highest respectability.
Mr. Burdge was educated in his
native state and crossed the plains to California in 1850 with an ox team. He bought his outfit in St. Louis, Missouri,
and came in company with the Holly family.
The emigrants were visited by sickness and Mr. Holly died with the
cholera at Big Blue River. The horses
were stampeded and part of the company followed them for two days and succeeded
in recapturing them. Mr. Burdge escaped
the cholera, and though he experienced many of the hardships of the long
journey across the plains he arrived safely at John’s Crossing
on Bear River. There he engaged in
mining with excellent success, taking out gold to the value of nine thousand
dollars within four months. The
following year he returned to the east by way of the water route and brought
his wife and three children, two daughters and a son, across the plains to
California.
He had been married in 1844 to Miss
Melissa Hurt, a native of Missouri.
While they were en route to California she was stricken with the
cholera, but recovered and all of the family safely reached their
destination. They located on a farm a
short distance northeast of the site of Lincoln, and there for some years Mr.
Burdge engaged in the stock business, his efforts being attended with
prosperity. He had as high as five
hundred head of stock, mostly cattle, which he sold in the different mining
camps, receiving good prices, and thus augmenting his income. After five years spent in that business he
went to the mines in eastern Oregon, taking with him a company of men and in
1862 he continued his mining operations at Canyon City, where he was located
three years. In all his undertakings he
was prosperous and gradually his capital increased, as the result of his
earnest efforts. He went with pack
animals by way of the Humboldt and down the Owyhee River. He brought back with him about one thousand
dollars and since then has been engaged in various business pursuits. He owned some of the land on which Lincoln
has been built and aided in erecting the first house in the town. In 1885 he built the Burdge Hotel and was a
most popular landlord for some years, but he is now living retired, having
through diligence and enterprise in former years acquired a capital that now
enables him to put aside the more arduous duties of life. He and his estimable wife reside in the
pleasant home with their daughter, Mrs. Sanders, and their granddaughter and
her husband, Mr. Sartain. While they were living on the ranch in Placer
County a daughter was born to them, Lydia, who is now the wife of Mr. Berger
who resides in Lincoln.
Mr. Burdge had been previously
married in New York, in 1835, to Miss Maria Merritt. She died in 1837, leaving him with a little
daughter, Catherine, who is now the wife of Nathaniel Ackerman, of New York
City. It is therefore sixty-five years
since he was first married, while his present faithful wife has lived with him
for fifty-six years. They have passed
their golden wedding day and are highly esteemed among the honored pioneers of
California.
Mr. Burdge was made a Freemason in
St. Clairville, Belmont County, Ohio, in 1839, and received the Royal Arch
degrees in Fayette, Missouri, in 1845.
He has been warden of the blue lodge and king of his chapter, and is now
one of the oldest Masons of the state.
He cast his first presidential vote for Andrew Jackson and his last for
William McKinley in 1900. In politics he
has always been independent; voting for the man whom he considers best
qualified for office and for the principles which he believes will best promote
the public good. He has been a man of
great physical endurance, of strong mentality, earnest purpose and honorable
life, and though he has never sought public notice and has lived in a quiet and
unobtrusive manner he has nevertheless commanded the respect of all, for such
qualities cannot be hid.
Transcribed by
Gerald Iaquinta.
Source:
“A Volume of Memoirs and Genealogy of Representative Citizens of Northern
California”, Pages 347-349. Chicago Standard Genealogical Publishing Co. 1901.
© 2010
Gerald Iaquinta.