GEORGE MAURICE COLTON

Sacramento County

Biographies

GEORGE MAURICE COLTON

George Maurice Colton, Farmer, was born in Stephenson County, Illinois, March 16, 1845, a son of Lewis and Maria A. (Orton) Colton, the former a native of New York, and the latter of Erie County, Pennsylvania, who emigrated to Illinois about 1843. Lewis Colton bought land there and remained until 1854, when he came with his family to California, with ox teams, having a comparatively safe journey. He arrived in this State in October, locating first in Nevada County, about seventy miles north of Sacramento. He bought 160 acres of land there, in Penn’s Valley, about twelve miles from Nevada City, toward Marysville. During the two years he remained there, he owned a rich surface mine near Rough and Ready, and took out $16,000 or $18,000, and built a toll-road from Penn Valley to Rough and Ready, a distance of two miles. Then he lived over two years at Washoe, 1861-’63. The first winter there was a hard one, on account of floods. Putting up a quartz mill at Washoe, he ran it about a year. He had a partner in this enterprise, named David Smith. Meeting with reverses in business there, he exchanged his interest in the mill for 160 acres of land in this county, on the upper Stockton road near the Lake House. A year afterward he sold it and went to Idaho and followed mining there about three years. Ever since then he has made this county his home. There were six children in his family, of whom five are now living: George M., Mrs. Elizabeth Bader, Amanda, the widow of Andrew K. Wackman, who died in 1884; Benjamin F., California, wife of William Clough, of San Francisco, and Judson, who resides at Martinez. Mr. Colton, whose name heads this sketch, was eight years old when he came to this State. In the autumn of 1876 he went into business for himself. That year he lived with Mr. Bader, his brother-in-law, and the next year got down to business. In partnership with B. F. Colton he rented the widow Bayless farm and conducted it three years. Next he rented the old Harrison Wachman place, of 500 acres, for four years; then he bought the place of the heirs. George Colton and his brother now own 1,229 acres of land. They not only cultivate and pasture this land, but also run a threshing machine, in which the cleaner used is invented by Mr. Colton but not yet patented. It is the most successful cleaner yet introduced. Mr. Colton is now making preparations for running a large dairy and raising more cattle. He was married February 16, 1881, to Miss Louisa Poston, a native of Illinois, but brought up in Davenport, Iowa, whither her parents had emigrated. She came to California in the fall of 1876 and kept house for her uncle, Harrison Wackman, as long as he farmed here. Mr. and Mrs. Colton have three children, viz.: Blanche Oston, born July 6, 1882; Chester Leland, November 16, 1884, and Grace Poston, March 27, 1885. Mrs. Colton was born in Rock Island County, Illinois, August 20, 1850. Her parents, William and Mary Poston, moved across the Mississippi River into Scott County, Iowa, settling six miles from Davenport, where her father is still a resident. Her mother died February 28, 1858. In their family were two sons and three daughters. Only two are now living—Mrs. Colton and Elias Poston, the latter in Cook County, Illinois. William Poston for his second wife married Anna Carroll, who is still living. By this marriage there were nine children, of whom five daughters and three sons are still living, all in Scott County, Iowa.

Transcribed by Karen Pratt.

Davis, Hon. Win. J., An Illustrated History of Sacramento County, California. Pages 536-537. Lewis Publishing Company. 1890.

Sacramento County Biographies