Sacramento County
Biographies
MRS. ELIZABETH J. ATKINSON
MRS. E. J. ATKINSON was born in Lawrence county, N.Y., but when seven years of age was taken by her parents to Illinois, and it was in that state she received her education, attending the public schools and later spending some time at a young ladies’ seminary in Chicago. After her school days were over she was married to Walter Fiddyment, who lived only fourteen months after their marriage, and left his widow with one child, Walter F. Fiddyment, a full account of whose career will be found elsewhere in this volume. In 1854, when her son was still a small lad, she came to California in company with a sister and brother-in-law, traveling first to New York city, then by steamer to the Isthmus of Panama, thence to San Francisco, from which city they traveled by boat to Sacramento. At this time the country was unsettled and deer, antelope and wild Spanish cattle roamed at will. Aside from the towns and mining camps the settlements were few and far between. Mrs. Fiddyment went to Placer county from Sacramento, where she has since resided, and where she has witnessed the many and remarkable changes which have taken place in this section of the country during the past half century.
During the year 1854 Mrs. Fiddyment was married to George Hill, an extensive farmer and stock raiser, and a plasterer and brick mason by trade. He came across the plains to this state when Sacramento boasted only a few dwellings, and followed his trade here for a number of years. A native of New York state, born in Onondaga county, in later years he removed to Wisconsin, from which state he came to California. Five children were born of this union, viz.: Martha F., who married Dr. Finney of Lincoln, this state; John A., a rancher who resides near Roseville; Georgia A., the wife of Robert E. Learell, of Roseville, and two children deceased. Mr. Hill died September 3 1861, and is buried at Sacramento. He was a Master Mason, and had a brother in Wisconsin who took the thirty-third degree in Masonry.
In 1869 Mrs. Hill was married to Ashby Jones Atkinson, a native of Ohio, who crossed the plains and mountains to California during the time when the gold excitement was at its height. After reaching this state he followed mining for a number of years, then located at Roseville, Placer county, and engaged in farming, in which pursuit he continued the greater portion of his after life. He died October 3, 1903, and since that time his widow has managed her landed possessions and business alone. She owns about seven thousand acres of land in this county, and a large farm in Sacramento county, all of which is devoted to stock raising and general farming. During 1861 a great flood in the Sacramento valley drowned all of her cattle. She is a member of the Friendship Chapter of the Eastern Star of Lincoln, and is a well-informed and most estimable woman.
Transcribed
by Joyce Rugeroni.
Source: “History of
the State of California and Biographical Record of the Sacramento Valley, California”
by J. M. Guinn. Pages 1311-1312. Chapman
Publishing Co., Chicago 1906.
© 2007 Louise E. Shoemaker.