ERASTUS HERBERT GREEN

Sacramento County

Biographies

ERASTUS HERBERT GREEN

E. H. GREEN, proprietor of the American Laundry, Sacramento, is a native of Connecticut, born at Norwalk, Fairfield County, May 5, 1831, his parents being William and Eunice (Barnum) Green. Both parents were members of old Connecticut families, and his father was extensively engaged in the manufacture of hats. When E. H. Green was eleven years of age the family removed to Henderson County, Illinois, and started a settlement five miles from the Mississippi River, which took the name of Greenville. There the father engaged in farming. The second year after the family came to Illinois, E. H. Green, the subject of this sketch, went to Oquawka, and there learned the blacksmith and wagon-making trade with George Muck (who afterward came to California, and was one of the early settlers of Wheatland). While he was at Oquawaka, Colonel Finlay, who had been to California, returned, and his accounts of the “Golden West” created great excitement, and many started for the new El Dorado. Mr. Green was one of a party of fifty-two organized at Oquawka, of whom over forty were under twenty-two years of age, and they organized by electing Robert Pence as captain. All materials for this outfit were gotten together there, including provisions for eight months. Their route took them by Council Bluffs, Laramie, Salt Lake, Ogden, and the Carson route, into California. They arrived at Placerville, August 12, 1850. This party was in some respects a remarkable one. Though nearly all were young men and even boys, the best of order prevailed throughout, and they strictly kept a rule they made, never to travel on Sunday. There were none of those quarrels that were of too frequent occurrence with so many trains that made that weary journey, and, in fact, they were said to have been the jolliest party that ever crossed the plains. They did not lose a man or wagon all the way from Illinois to Placerville. There the party disbanded. Mr. Green and Jackson and John Pence remained together, and bought a mining outfit. They remained at Placerville that fall and winter, and a couple of months of that time, while not mining, Mr. Green ran a team between Sacramento, Gold Springs and Placerville. The next spring he went to the Middle Fork of the American River, and engaged in mining there. In 1852 a company of fifteen was organized to flume the American River there, called the “Eagle Bar River Claim.” The river was flumed, and the company did well. Jackson Pence died in the fall of 1852, and the next year John Pence went back to Illinois. They disbanded that fall, and Mr. Green proceeded to a point twenty-eight miles from Sacramento, on Carson Creek, where he spent the winter. In the spring of 1863 Mr. Green and others went back to the Middle Fork of the American River, and mined there until the spring of 1854. He then went to Downieville, and was soon engaged in mining at Monte Cristo, five miles up the hills from there. He remained there and in that vicinity until 1860, having mines at Monte Cristo and Morristown, and then went to Virginia City, Nevada, where he was employed by the Gould and Curry Company as foreman, about four years. In the spring of 1864 he resigned his position, and took a trip to Idaho, where he had some interests; but not finding them profitable he returned to Virginia City. The following summer he bought a ranch two miles from Carson, and resided there until 1866. He then came to Sacramento, and became connected with the American laundry, and in partnership with its proprietor, S. B. Cooley, he engaged in the manufacture of the Crandall spring bed. In 1869 they opened a house on the site of the present Baldwin Hotel, at San Francisco, and Mr. Green had charge there until 1872. He then returned to Sacramento, to their business here, located on Front street. In the fall of 1873 the establishment was destroyed by fire, with a loss of $20,000. The partnership was dissolved, and in the spring of 1874 Mr. Green went to Connecticut. He remained but a short time, then returned to Sacramento, and has been connected with the laundry ever since. This laundry was established by J. R. Webster, on Slater’s addition, near the present depot site. In 1866 S. B. Cooley (brother-in-law of Mr. Green) bought Webster out. In 1880 the new building on J street was built, and the laundry removed into it. Mr. Green, the present proprietor, became sole owner in 1885. He does a very extensive business, and has forty-five employes. Mr. Green was married at Carson City, Nevada, July 11, 1863, to Miss Mary A. Cooley, a native of Connecticut. She died in this city, October 21, 1873. By this marriage there were two children, of whom one, Ellen, is living. Mr. Green was again married, in 1875, to Elizabeth Calvyn, of Brooklyn, New York. By this marriage there are three children, viz: Charles W. A., Henry E., and Amy. Mr. Green is a member of Industrial Lodge, No. 157, I. O. O. F. In politics he is a Republican. Mr. Green is an upright, honorable man of business, genial and courteous always in demeanor, and his success in life is a source of pleasure to his many friends.

Transcribed by: Jeanne Sturgis Taylor.

Davis, Hon. Win. J., An Illustrated History of Sacramento County, California. Pages 756-758. Lewis Publishing Company. 1890.