Sacramento County
Biographies
MOSES M.
DREW
MOSES M. DREW.--In New Hampshire, under the shadows of Mount Washington on the east and nestling close to the river which forms its western boundary, lies Grafton County, where on the 15th of March, 1830, was born to Zaccheus Drew, a farmer, and to Nancy (Kimball) Drew, a son,—the youngest of five children in a good old-fashioned family of eleven children. There he lived, breathing the free mountain air and developing a physique well calculated to endure the hardships of a remarkably active life, until fifteen years of age, when he with his parents removed to Boston, Massachusetts. Five years later, in the spring of 1851, he came to California. He engaged in mining at different points, notably at Mormon Island, where he worked a claim with Judge Catlin and others; in 1855, he went to the Kern River district with Joe Comstock, where they met with excellent success. For two years, with Levi D. Leeds, he was prospecting and mining in Sierra County; in 1858, during the Fraser River excitement, he went there, and later on to Pine Grove in Placer County. He finally came to Sacramento and bought out the saloon on the corner of Sixth and K streets, which was then, and afterward, headquarters for the prominent men of this city. There he remained until 1875, when he was elected sheriff, which office he held for two terms. It was during his administration that Dye, the public administrator of this county, was apprehended, tried, convicted of murder and hanged. In 1879 he was a member of the State Board of Equalization, which office he resigned after two years to become United States Marshal in 1881, under President Arthur, with headquarters at San Francisco, and filled the important position four years. Upon returning to Sacramento he was once more taken up by his friends as their candidate for sheriff, was elected and served three terms. Mr. Drew has been, and still is, a very prominent man; it is safe to say that no man stands higher in the regard of all classes of the citizens of Sacramento County; pre-eminently of a social disposition, he is the center of a large circle of friends.
Transcribed by: Jeanne Sturgis Taylor.
Davis, Hon. Win. J., An Illustrated History of
Sacramento County, California. Pages 668-669. Lewis
Publishing Company. 1890.
© 2007 Jeanne Sturgis Taylor.