Sacramento County
Biographies
JULIUS
EVERSON
JULIUS EVERSON, merchant at Elk Grove, was born in Cayuga County, New York, fourteen miles from Auburn, the county seat, and about two miles from where Millard Fillmore was at the time working at the blacksmith’s trade, June 9, 1833, son of William and Catharine Everson, the former a native of New Jersey and the latter of New York. He was brought up as a farmer’s son, remaining on the farm until he was twenty years of age; attended an academy for a time. In 1853 he went to Michigan and located at Kalamazoo, entering the employ of the Michigan Central Railroad Company, who commissioned him to buy and cut wood along the line of the road, his section being from Kalamazoo to Lake Michigan. He had an engine and machine for cutting the wood, and a gang of men: occupied this position for about two years. In 1856 he sailed from New York for California on the old steamer George Law, which afterward was lost at sea. While crossing the Isthmus on the railroad, an accident happened to the train causing the loss of sixty lives. His steamer on this side the Isthmus was the Golden Gate, which also went down afterward. He landed in San Francisco May 23 or 24, 1856, the day Casey and Cora were hung by the Vigilance Committee. The times were so exciting that Mr. Everson was tempted immediately to return to the East. On arriving in Sacramento he entered the wood business on Ninth and K streets, and conducted a wood-yard about a year; then he bought a farm near Elk Grove and conducted it until 1875, when he originated the Elk Grove Building Company, which put up the first business building in the place; and he, in partnership with W. A. Chittenden, under the firm name of Chittenden & Everson, put in a stock of goods, the first in the embryo village; and ever since that date he has been in business at that point, carrying a general stock of goods for an agricultural community. In 1877, in company with H. S. Hill, he bought a tract of land and erected two buildings upon it, one for a drug store and one for a harness shop. Thus was the business history of Elk Grove started. At the end of the first sixteen months Mr. Everson bought out Mr. Chittenden’s interest and admitted into partnership his nephew, W. E. Everson, who was then one of the firm of Everson & Co., for eight years. Mr. Everson bought him out and since that time he has been alone. As had already been provent (sic) he is a public-spirited man, anxious for the prosperity of his community, and successful both in business and in helping on all good local enterprises. He was married in 1873 to Miss Alvira Treat, a native of Cass County, Michigan, and daughter of Sullivan Treat, an old settler of this locality. They have two children, Lester Treat and Walter Terry, both born in Elk Grove.
Transcribed by: Jeanne Sturgis Taylor.
Davis, Hon. Win. J., An Illustrated History of
Sacramento County, California. Page 674. Lewis
Publishing Company. 1890.
© 2007 Jeanne Sturgis Taylor.