Placer
County
Biographies
SILVESTER M. SPRAGUE
In the year 1858 Silvester M.
Sprague came to California and is now identified with business interests in
Iowa Hill. He is a native of Vermont,
born April 22, 1848. His father, Lucius Sprague, was born in Hanover, Germany, and in 1850
immigrated to California, casting in his lot with the mining population that
laid the foundation of the present prosperity and progress of the
commonwealth. He became one of the first
settlers in this portion of the state and one of the fourth owners of the North
Star mine, out of which he took considerable gold. He had various other mining interests and
later was engaged in freighting from Colfax to Iowa Hill, receiving seventy-five
dollars per hundred weight for hauling goods to this
place. Later he removed to Sacramento,
where he continued to reside up to the time of his death, which occurred in
July, 1895, at the age of seventy-three years.
He was a staunch Republican and a strong Union man during the Civil War
and was a thorough, upright citizen. His
wife died in Auburn, California, in 1864, leaving five children, three of whom
yet survive, namely: George, a resident of
San Diego, California; Silvester M.; and Mary, wife of John Faferty,
of Sacramento. Charles died at Colfax,
California, in twenty-second year of his age, and Julia died in Sacramento, at
the age of twenty. She was married and
left a son, Ernest Williams.
Mr. Sprague, whose name introduces
this record, acquired his education in the public schools and early in life
began dealing in plaster-paris statues on Market
Street in San Francisco. On the 20th
of May, 1864, in answer to the call of this country for volunteers to put down
the rebellion, he enlisted in Company B, Second Regiment California Infantry,
under Captain Fairfield. He served at
Fort Green, California, participated in several engagements with the Indians
and received an honorable discharge in San Francisco in 1865. He had been promoted to corporal.
After the close of the war Mr.
Sprague came to Iowa Hill and was in the pottery business for fifteen
years. At the same time he was connected
with numerous mining enterprises, operating the Blue Wing and Washington and
the Aurora mines. He took out large
quantities of gold, but the law prohibiting hydraulic mining ended his
operations, and all the mining machinery and the valuable property is now
standing idle. Mr. Sprague is a
stockholder and superintendent in the General Green and the Dewey Consolidated
drift mine and is a part owner of the Oriental and Reeta
quartz mines and in the Last Chance gravel mine. He also has a farm of three hundred and
twenty acres, the Fallbrook place, four miles from Lincoln, in Placer
County. This is a grain and fruit farm
and is a valuable property, yielding excellent returns. Mr. Sprague has other real estate interests,
being the owner of the Arcade building and also of one of the finest residences
in Iowa Hill, where he resides with his family.
In 1876 occurred the marriage of
Silvester M. Sprague and Miss Mary Smiley, a native of Canada and a sister of
John Smiley, one of the pioneers of this state.
They now have five children, as follows:
Elsworth, who is now the proprietor of a meat
market; O. L., who is engaged in business in Sacramento; Nellie, the wife of
Samuel Watts, deputy county clerk at Auburn; and Adelbert
and Budd, who are at school. They were
all born in Iowa Hill.
Mr. Sprague has always been a very
active member of the Republican Party, attending all of its conventions and
doing everything in his power to promote the growth and insure its
success. He may well be termed a leader
of his party in the county and his labors have been very efficacious in promoting
its welfare. He served for some years as
deputy county assessor, yet has never been an aspirant for political
honors. For twenty-seven years he has
been connected with the Ancient Order of United Workmen, was one of its charter
members at Iowa Hill and has filled the office of receiver. He is in full sympathy with all the
progressive movements about him and watches the outcome of events with the
keenest interest. He has been a leading
factor in the progress of Iowa Hill.
Educational, church and social interests owe their promotion in a considerable
degree to him. For many years has this
place been his home, years largely devoted to the public good.
Transcribed by
Gerald Iaquinta.
Source:
“A Volume of Memoirs and Genealogy of Representative Citizens of Northern
California”, Pages 787-788. Chicago Standard Genealogical Publishing Co. 1901.
© 2010
Gerald Iaquinta.