Sacramento
County
Biographies
EDWARD
F. AIKEN
EDWARD F. AIKEN,
a pioneer of Sacramento. In the little
village of Hallowell, Kennebec County, Maine, August 22, 1827, the subject of
this sketch was born, destined to become at length one of California’s pioneer
settlers and a prominent fruit-grower of Sacramento County. His father, Jesse Aiken, was a merchant and
ship-owner well known throughout New England, while his mother, nee Mary
A. Fuller, daughter of Judge Fuller, was a descendant of the Weymouths, a Puritan family of Plymouth. Edward received his early education at the
Hallowell Academy, after which he attended Bowdoin
College. At the age of sixteen years he
started on a trip around the world, in the whale-ship General Pike, Captain
Pierce, of New Bedford, and visited Portugal, the Western Islands, the Cape of
Good Hope, the Island of Desolation, Auckland, New Zealand (at that time a town
with about 800 inhabitants), the Feejee Islands,
Wallace’s Island, Samoa, Tongatoboo, the Society
Islands, and Moai, a port of the Sandwich Islands,
where the vessel lay up two months, and where Mr. Aiken received letters from
home and met friends. John Ladd, who was
the American Consul at the port, was a relative of his. Thence they crossed to the Japan Islands, the
Seas of Kamtchatka and Okotsk,
and after seven months returned to the Sandwich Islands,
and on to California in the fall of 1845, in pursuit of sperm whales along the
coast. They landed at Monterey, which
was then only a whaling station, consisting of about a dozen adobe houses. While there he learned that gold had been
discovered by Antoni, a Portuguese sailor. After this voyage of nearly three years he
returned home, spent six months in his father’s store, and then started on
another voyage, going before the mast in the ship Italia, Captain Baker. This was a vessel of 900 tons, a large ship
for those days, and with it they sailed for Charleston, South Carolina,
Liverpool, and thence with 500 passengers to New Orleans. Mr. Aiken was promoted to second mate. They returned to Liverpool with a cargo of
cotton, tobacco and rice; thence to Cadiz for salt, and returned to Bath,
Maine, after an absence of over a year.
Afterward he sailed again to Charleston for a cargo of rice, going out
as second mate with Captain Warren; thence to London, and returned to Boston
with railroad iron. During the year of
the great famine in Ireland he made three trips to Liverpool, as mate on the
ship Requa.
Next he made two voyages as mate in the packet ship Mary Ann, Captain
Patten, and bore all the responsibility during the return trip. During one storm he was on deck for
sixty-five hours without interruption when it was covered with ice. Returning to Boston, his attention was called
to the discovery of gold in California by Marshall, and he then recalled the
story which he had heard of the Portuguese sailor, Antoni,
at Monterey. A stock company was in
process of formation, and he and his friend D. H. Haskell, an old classmate,
became shareholders in the enterprise.
Of those who joined the company, nine had been before the mast, and six
had been ship captains, and among the others was the genius, Rev. Ferdinand C.
Ewer, who afterward had charge of St. Paul’s Episcopal Church at Sacramento,
and was editor, author, etc. The company
secured the ship York, and as cargo brought to California material for several
houses, ready to be put up, also for a small steamboat, tools, seeds,
provisions, etc. Leaving Boston April 1,
1849, and coming by way of Cape Horn, they arrived at San Francisco September
12. There, on account of disagreement,
they disorganized, and most of them sacrificed the largest proportion of their
original investment. Captain Aiken
improved the time in superintending the removal of a small building, receiving
$16, which was the first money he earned in this State. Coming to Sacramento the second week in
October, with five others, they camped out on the banks of the American River,
about where the railroad shops now are.
The river then was a clear stream and deep, and a ship of 600 tons could
safely ride at anchor off Third street, with eleven
feet of water under her keel. For five
years he was employed with others in conduction the wood station, twenty-two
miles south of town. In October, 1853,
he went East and married Miss Mary Wright Lee,
daughter of Thomas Lee. His father being
opposed to his returning West, he came here to dispose of his interests; but
not being able to do this in a satisfactory manner, he concluded to remain, and
the next spring his wife arrived. They
lived on the river until the fall of 1861 or 1862, when he bought the Ralston
tract; but he had become interested in horticulture seven or eight years
previously, starting the first nursery on the river, and obtaining his stock
from Oregon and elsewhere. By the year
1861, when he sold out, he had over 7,000 bearing trees. In 1863-’64 he changed his location to Sutter
Township, east of the city limits, where he remained until recently, devoting
his attention almost exclusively to fruit-growing and introducing many new
varieties from abroad. Lately he has
purchased property on G street in Sacramento, where he
expects to spend his declining years. In
his political views Mr. Aiken is an independent Republican. Was instrumental in organizing the first
Union League at Richland, of which Mr. Nathan Williams was the first president,
and Senator William Johnston and J. B. Green were prominent members. He was for many years an active member of the
Masonic fraternity, and also of the A. O. U. W.; was a charter member of Lodge
No. 1580, K. of H., being organizing deputy of this order for the State and
also for the K. & L. of H.; organized the first farmer’s club, which three
years later was merged into the Patrons of Husbandry of which order he was lecturer
for three years. He was Supreme
Representative of the Knights and Ladies of Honor to the convention in
Cleveland, in September, 1889.
Transcribed by Karen Pratt.
Davis, Hon. Win. J., An Illustrated History of Sacramento County, California. Pages 579-580. Lewis Publishing Company. 1890.
© 2006
Karen Pratt.