Sacramento County
Biographies
HON. LEWIS
H. FASSETT
HON. LEWIS H. FASSETT, deceased, was a son of Truman N. And Lydia (Hyller) Fassett. His father, a native of Vermont, emigrated to Ohio when a small boy, and his father, Elias, also a farmer, emigrated to Ohio in 1810, and was therefore one of the earliest pioneers of that State. Truman N. was reared and married in Ohio to an Ohio lady whose father, Mr. Hyller, made his home there until he came to California in 1852. In Ohio he followed farming and also had charge of mail routes, stage lines, etc. He came to the coast by the Nicaragua route, sailing from New York, and was one those who were retained at Greytown, having to wait nearly three months on the Isthmus before he could procure passage on the Pacific coast. The ship that finally came along was the George Lewis. On arriving here he mined at Morman Island, and elsewhere, and also hauled freight from Marysville to the mining camps. He mined one year and then was on a farm one season, and then followed freighting again. In 1855, his family, consisting of wife and four children, arrived here, and they all then located in Sacramento. He afterward purchased land and settled upon it, and died in 1881, at the age of seventy-five years. The widow is still living, aged seventy-eight years. The four children were Lucy N. Kellogg, in Tulare City; Henry H., in Sacramento; L. H., our subject, and Mrs. Julia E. Andrews, who died June 4, 1873. Mr. Fassett was born March 23, 1837, in Ohio, came to California in 1855 and went into the mines. He left a good situation of $100 a month in Sacramento, followed mining fourteen months and returned with just $14! Then he was employed by O. C. Wheeler half a year, at $60 a month. Presently his father and brother bought a ranch on the Folsom grant, and they all followed farming there together for several years; but the title was found to be clouded with a Mexican claim and they abandoned the place. Then, during 1862-’63, Mr. Fassett followed teaming, and next tried mining again (!), this time putting up a quartz mill on the Carson River, in Carson County, Nevada. Unfortunately, just before Christmas it burned down; and, not having much to fall back upon, he came to this county and commenced farming on the Sacramento River, near Freeport, remaining there two years. He then, in 1867, purchased the present homestead, nine miles from Sacramento and one and three-fourths miles from Florin, where he paid considerable attention to fruit, such as strawberries, blackberries and grapes for Eastern shipment. There are thirty acres in vineyard. Mr. Fassett was well posted in the art of fruit-growing, and was actively instrumental in establishing the Fruit-Growing Association, and also the Grange, the result of which has been a great benefit to the community. He was a Republican; was a member of the Board of Supervisors, and chairman of the board for two years, at the close of which term he was presented with a handsome gold-headed cane. July 26, 1888, he received from the Republicans of the Twentieth Assembly District, the nomination for member of the Assembly without opposition, and November 4 was elected. During the session he was a member of the Committee on Agriculture, on Swamp and Overflowed Lands, on the State Prison, and on Homestead and Land Monopolies. He was a man of indomitable energy and extraordinary ability. He died December 16, 1889. In 1861 he married Miss Ellen A. Anderson, daughter of Andrew and Harriet A. Anderson, and they had three sons and two daughters: Ada L., now the wife of Francis A. Tibbitts in San Francisco; Ella M., now wife of C. S. Patton; George E, Charles H., Truman L., and Sarah U., who died in 1878, at the age of two years.
Transcribed by: Jeanne Sturgis Taylor.
Davis, Hon. Win. J., An Illustrated History of Sacramento County,
California. Pages 675-676. Lewis Publishing Company. 1890.
© 2007 Jeanne Sturgis Taylor.