Placer
County
Biographies
JOHN LAWRENCE STOAKES
In the successful hotel proprietor
there are always certain elements which distinguish him from the business man
in other walks of life. He must be a
good judge of men, wide-awake and alert in his dealings and at the same time a
courteous and diligent host who carefully looks after the comforts of his
guests. The possession of these
characteristics have made Mr. Stoakes widely and favorably known as the
proprietor of the Mountain View Hotel, of Colfax.
California had been admitted to the
Union scarcely three years when he arrived within her borders. He is a native of Indiana, born March 31, 1847,
of English lineage. His father, Clement
Stoakes, was a native of Goshen, Indiana, and a prominent lawyer of that
state. He married Lucinda E. Griffin,
who also was born in the same state, and her first child was John Lawrence, who
was only a year old when his father died.
After the death of her husband Mrs. Stoakes renewed her acquaintance
through a correspondence with Asa W. Danforth, an old friend of the family, who
had come to California in 1849.
Subsequently she promised him her hand in marriage and Mr. Danforth sent
for her and her little son to come to the Golden state. In Sacramento Mrs. Stoakes became Mrs.
Danforth. This was four years after the
death of her first husband, and John Lawrence Stoakes was then only five years
of age. Three daughters were born of the
wife of second union, Henrietta and Helen, twins, and Elizabeth. Helen became the wife of George Hackett and is
now a widow living in Hanford, Tulare County, California. Henrietta married Thomas P. Shade and after
his death became the wife of Charles Casmore, their
home being now at Forest City. Elizabeth
has for the past sixteen years been a successful and prominent teacher in the
schools of Truckee, California. The
mother is still living, in the seventy-second year of her age, making her home
at Gold Run. She is respected by all who
know her as a most estimable lady and a worthy representative of a pioneer
family of the state. Mr. Danforth, who
was one of the first to locate in California after the discovery of gold,
passed away at Gold Run.
John L. Stoakes acquired his
education in Todd’s Valley, where his stepfather conducted a hotel, for at that
time the place was a large mining camp and great quantities of gold were being
taken from the various claims in the locality.
After the camp began to decline they removed to the lower end of the
American Bar, on the American River, and later to Michigan Bluff. In 1865 Mr. Stoakes, then seventeen years of
age, started out to make his own way in the world
alone. He came to Colfax and entered the
employ of the Central Pacific Railroad Company, acting as one of the rodmen
with a gang of the company’s surveyors.
Later he became foreman of a gang of construction workmen on the road
between Auburn and Emigrant Gap, and when that time had passed he engaged in
mining at Gold Run for a number of years.
Subsequently he went to the Mayflower mine and purchased the store and
hotel there, conducting the dual enterprise with gratifying success for a
number of years. In Oregon he had charge
of workmen engaged in the construction of the Central Pacific Railroad and became
engaged in the hotel business at Silverton, Marion County, Oregon. On selling that property he returned to
California and accepted the position of foreman on the work train from
Sacramento to Truckee. In 1893 he
purchased the Mountain View Hotel at Colfax, which has since been conducted by
Mr. Stoakes and his estimable wife. The
hotel is a three-story building, thirty by one hundred feet. The rooms are well lighted and ventilated and
are tastefully furnished. Everything
about the place is clean and attractive and the guests are treated with the
highest consideration.
Mr. Stoakes was happily married in
Dutch Flat, in 1876, to Mrs. Anna Luella Brown, who by her former marriage had
a son and a daughter: Richard D. and
Lillian May Brown. They were well and
carefully reared by Mrs. and Mrs. Stoakes, who by their marriage have one
daughter, Alice Mabel, at home with her parents. They are also rearing a bright little
grandson, Lawrence DeYoung Brown. The
little boy was born on Christmas Day, and Mr. DeYoung had promised a silver cup
to all the children born on the 25th of December. The little one accordingly received the cup
and they gave him Mr. DeYoung’s name. He
now has a pleasant home with his grandparents, who are very devoted to the
little fellow. Mr. Stoakes is a Mason,
and Odd Fellow and a Knight of Pythias, and is also identified with the Ancient
Order of United Workmen. For many years
he gave an unfaltering support to the Republican Party, but is now independent
in his political affiliations. His wife
is a lady of excellent executive ability and has given him very efficient aid
in his hotel business.
Transcribed by
Gerald Iaquinta.
Source:
“A Volume of Memoirs and Genealogy of Representative Citizens of Northern
California”, Pages 313-315. Chicago Standard Genealogical Publishing Co. 1901.
© 2010
Gerald Iaquinta.