Placer
County
Biographies
SAMUEL B. HARRIMAN
Included among the prominent
citizens of Dutch Flat, California, is Samuel Bacon Harriman, who has long been
a resident of this place and who owns and occupies one of its most commodious
and attractive homes. Mr. Harriman is a
native of the Green Mountain state, and was born August 26, 1828. His ancestors were of German and Scottish
origin. Several generations of the
family have been residents of New England, and John Harriman, the grandfather
of Samuel B., was a soldier in the War of 1812.
Our subject’s parents, Joshua and Mary (Elkins) Harriman, were born,
reared and married in Vermont, and in that state reared their family and died,
each reaching an advanced age. He was
ninety-four years of age at the time of his death; she, eighty-four. Of their eight children, six are still
living.
Samuel B. Harriman passed the first
twenty years of his life on his father’s farm in Vermont. About that time Wisconsin was receiving
emigration from the east, and among those who landed there in 1848 was young
Harriman. He spent four years in
Wisconsin. In the meantime news of the
discovery of gold in California spread over the country like wildfire, reaching
even the remote and sparsely settled districts.
Leaving Wisconsin in 1852, Mr. Harriman started for California, making
the journey by way of New York and the Isthmus of Panama. The Atlantic voyage he made on the Moses
Taylor, and the Cortez carried him from the Isthmus to San Francisco. A number of passengers on the last named
steamer sickened and died and found a grave in the Pacific. In due time Mr. Harriman landed safely in San
Francisco and at once sought the mining districts, going first to Placerville,
El Dorado County, where he met with good success and where he was engaged in
mining until the fall of 1853. At that
time he went to Michigan Bluff, Placer County, and during the winter he worked
for others at six dollars per day. His
next move was to Dutch Flat. This place
has since been his home and he is now regarded as one of the oldest citizens of
the town. After mining for wages here
for a time, he purchased an interest in the Eastman Hill. He mined there and at Gold Run for a number
of years, taking out considerable gold.
During the whole of his residence in California he has been interested
in mining.
After a little more than a decade
spent in the Golden state Mr. Harriman took to himself a wife and made a
wedding journey to the east, visiting his relatives and the scenes of his
childhood in Vermont. He was married
July 14, 1863, to Mrs. Sarah Bradly, a native of
Madison County, New York, and a daughter of Steven Reed, of that state. They have two daughters, both married and
living in San Jose: Mary Grant, the wife
of George Forbs, and Flora May, the wife of William Steward. Mrs. Harriman is a member of the
Congregational Church.
Mr. Harriman’s political views are
in harmony with the principles of the Republican Party, and he has served his
county in the official capacity of supervisor.
An important work accomplished while he was on the board of supervisors
was the building of a county hospital, a refuge for the indigent sick and aged
people of the county. Fraternally Mr.
Harriman has long been identified with the Masonic order. He was made a Mason in Clay Lodge, No. 101,
F. & A. M., at Dutch Flat in 1847, and has since maintained membership in
the same, filling acceptably at different times its various chairs, two terms
serving as the master of the lodge. Mrs.
Harriman is a charter member of Placer Chapter, No. 49, of the Eastern Star.
Transcribed by
Gerald Iaquinta.
Source:
“A Volume of Memoirs and Genealogy of Representative Citizens of Northern
California”, Pages 717-718. Chicago Standard Genealogical Publishing Co. 1901.
© 2010
Gerald Iaquinta.