Sacramento County
Biographies
ELISHA SAMPLE DRIVER
Born in Indiana, April 18, 1829,
E. S. Driver of Antelope, Sacramento county, was the son of John and
Abigail (Mills) Driver. Deprived of the love and guidance of his parents
when he was scarcely more than a babe, he was taken into the home of an uncle
and treated as one of the family until 1836, when he was about seven years
old. He then went to Henry county, Iowa, and there made his home with an uncle until 1850.
At that time he was lured to California by accounts of fortunes made by gold seekers who had come
hither, and on March 25, 1850,
he started from Iowa with an ox-team and provisions for the overland
journey. His experiences through the Indian country were trying, having
to fight the redskins on four different occasions, but he finally reached California on August 1, halting at Hangtown,
now Placerville. Until 1854 he worked in different mines along the
American river, but not with such success as his imagination had pictured; so
he came to Sacramento and engaged in teaming to the mines, which promised an
income sure and steady if not large. He busied himself thus till 1857,
most of the time quite profitably, so that he was able to buy twelve hundred
acres in one body near Antelope, Sacramento county, and go into farming and
stock raising which, with dairying, have commanded his attention to the present
time. Altogether he followed the dairy business about fifteen years,
milking as high as one hundred and fifty cows, and manufacturing butter for
eight years, following the latter enterprise by cheese making and disposing of
his product in Sacramento. His success as a rancher enabled him to amass a
comfortable fortune and he is now living in well-earned retirement, though he
is still giving watchful supervision to his property, which is now devoted to
raising cattle, mules and hogs. He is assisted in the management of the
ranch by Richard Clemons, his son-in-law.
In Sacramento county, February 22, 1860, Mr. Driver, married Miss Mary E. Forsyth, who was born in
Missouri and crossed the plains with her parents in 1853.
Mrs. Driver passed away in Sacramento in 1903. Of the children born to Mr. and Mrs. Driver
the following are living: Philip, a lawyer in Sacramento; Grant,
who is mining in Alaska; William S., a real-estate dealer of Sacramento; Frank,
also a lawyer in Sacramento; Charles, a rancher in this county; Clarence,
a rancher at Warner Lake, Ore.; Mrs. Birdenia
Clemons, who, with her husband, is included in her father's household; Abbie, the wife of William Lewis, of Antelope; and
Lester, a rancher near the old home. Two children are deceased, Mrs.
Elizabeth Dunlap, who died at the age of thirty-two, and John when sixteen
years old. Politically Mr. Driver is a Republican and has long been
active in the local work of his party, in which he has been influential and
helpful.
Transcribed by Sally Kaleta.
Source: Willis,
William L., History of Sacramento
County, California, Pages 648-651. Historic Record Company, Los Angeles, CA. 1913.
© 2006 Sally Kaleta.