Sacramento County
Biographies
PERCY E.
BUCHANAN
PERCY E. BUCHANAN--Emphatically a man of energy, Percy E. Buchanan is one of the enterprising and active men of Sacramento County, giving substantial encouragement to every plan for the promotion of the public welfare. He was born May 10, 1889, at Ripon, Cal., the son of H. A and Ida (Frederick) Buchanan. His mother’s parents, John W and Nancy (Underwood) Frederick, natives of California and Iowa, respectively, were the parents of seven children: Mary Ellen; Flora; Mrs. Birdina Curtis; Ida, our subject’s mother; Eliza; John W.; and James W. Mr. John Frederick homesteaded 160 acres of land, all of which he farmed to grain. Both Mr. and Mrs. Frederick are dead, their son, John W., being the administrator of the estate.
P. E. Buchanan attended the old Ripon school when he was six years old. At the age of eighteen years, he started to work as a laborer for Ortman and Melton, contractors on the construction of the French Camp highway to Oakdale. Later, he was in the employ of Cyrus Moreing, Stockton road builders, and in 1914 he moved to Folsom City and became county road superintendent of District No. 4, Sacramento County. There is no section which has better facilities for the building of roads than this outfit. Under the leadership of John A. Russi, county supervisor of District No. 4, Mr. P. E. Buchanan has surrounded himself with a corps of twenty men, all of whom are qualified in the construction and maintenance of highways. Mr. Buchanan and his crew completed the Orangevale highway, a new concrete road, and have also built many new sections of various roads. During the World War, he put every effort into farming and secured very satisfactory results. He has acquired various desirable pieces of property in Folsom City and has a complete outfit including a caterpillar tractor, etc. For some time he was a grain farmer in Wheatland, but at present he leases his farms and machinery on shares.
On October 26, 1912, Percy E. Buchanan was united in marriage with Miss Alice Fae Farschon, a native of Ripon, Cal., and the daughter of John W and Blanche Farshon. Her father conducted a blacksmith shop at Ripon for twenty-eight years; and he was one of the five children born to Sebastian and Catherine (Chambers) Farshon, natives of Alsace-Lorraine, France, and County Mayo, Ireland, respectively. Mr. and Mrs. Buchanan are the parents of three children: Stanley, Robert and William. Mr. Buchanan is a member of the B. P. O. E., No. 6, and N. S. G. W., No. 83. Politically, he endorses the platform of the Democratic party and is a stanch supporter of men and measures that, in his best judgment, would be most beneficial to the community’s welfare.
Transcribed by: Jeanne Sturgis Taylor.
Source: Reed, G. Walter, History of Sacramento County, California With Biographical Sketches,
Pages 922-923. Historic Record Company,
Los Angeles, CA. 1923.
© 2007 Jeanne Sturgis Taylor.