SAMUEL GARRETT

Sacramento County

Biographies

SAMUEL GARRETT

SAMUEL GARRETT, rancher, San Joaquin Township, was born in Canada West, July 31, 1826. His father, Jacob Garrett, a native of Schenectady County, New York, was a soldier in the war of 1812, and served under Benedict Arnold until that officer surrendered his men to the British. For a time he resided on Hay Bay, near Kingston, and then at Thurlow, where he cleared a large farm and commenced raising grain. On account of becoming security for a failing friend he was so reduced in means at command that he was obliged to sell that place; and he moved to Whigby, about thirty-six miles east of Toronto. He afterward removed to Illinois, and finally died in Jones County, Iowa, about 1869. His widow, Catharine, also a native of Schenectady County, died in May, 1888, at the residence of her son, Samuel, in this county, at the age of ninety-six years. In that family five children died in infancy and five grew up. The subject of this sketch remained in Canada with his parents until he was twenty-one years of age; and about that time, in September, 1848, he married Silvia Malinda Gillett, a native of Canada, and her parents also from New York State. Being the eldest of the children, he had to contribute a large share of his earnings to the support of the family. During the month of March after his marriage he started for Illinois, with only $25, and on arrival had but one (Mexican) dollar left. He began work hoeing corn, at seventy-five cents a day, in Cook County, about twenty miles from Chicago. Three years afterward he moved to Livingston County, that State, with his wife and two children, and only two yoke of oxen, a breaking plow, pitchfork, cradle, hoe, ax, rifle and hog; but this was sport for him, being hale and stout. At any time he could go out and kill a deer without considerable trouble. He bought a soldier’s warrant for eighty acres, on which he located. There he built a cabin, with timbers he cut and hewed with his ax. His land, heavily covered with timber, had to be cleared. He went energetically to work, but at the end of fifteen months, having poor success in finding water on the premises, he sold the place and moved upon another eighty-two acres in the same county, for which he paid $60 an acre. There he resided for ten years, when he came to California by way of New York and the Isthmus, sailing on the steamer Ariel, which had on board 1,150 passengers, and on the Golden City from the Isthmus to San Francisco, landing there May 21, 1864. Purchasing a quarter-section of land in San Joaquin Township, he commenced farming there. In the spring of 1865 he bought another quarter-section. His land is all of first quality. For the past thirteen years he has also been in the sheep business, in which line he confines all his operations to Martin County, Texas. After his arrival here in California, his mother and other members of the family have also come to join him; also Mrs. Garrett’s mother, whose sons died in Santa Barbara County. Her father, Jeremiah Gillett, died in Blue Earth County, Minnesota. Mr. Garrett has been a member of the Methodist Church for the past thirty-eight years, and his wife also has been a member of the same since her childhood. Mr. and Mrs. Garrett have had five sons and three daughters, and they have also lost three sons and two daughters. The living are Herman M., James Munroe, Albert D., Emma M., Minnie Belle, Ulysses J., Francis J., and Addie May.

Transcribed by: Jeanne Sturgis Taylor.

Davis, Hon. Win. J., An Illustrated History of Sacramento County, California. Pages 682-683. Lewis Publishing Company. 1890.