Sacramento County
Biographies
CHARLES W. HARVEY
CHARLES W. HARVEY, farmer, and one of the most worthy of the old settlers in Sacramento County, has been a resident here ever since 1853. He is a native of Herkimer County, New York, where he was born August 18, 1831. He is a son of David Harvey, some knowledge of whom and of the Harvey family may be obtained from the sketch of Obed Harvey, elsewhere in this work. When Charles W., was eight years of age, the family moved from New York to Illinois, where he remained with them until of age, a farm laborer. Being intellectually apt, he obtained a good education, even with the limited advantages of the pioneer school. After his parents removed to Elgin he remained upon the farm in Kane County, till he left for California. November 25, 1853, he sailed from New York on the steamer Prometheus to Nicaragua, and thence on the Countess to San Francisco; thence on a steamer to Sacramento, and then he traveled by the stage to Hangtown (now Placerville), arriving December 24. The month afterward he located upon Dry Creek in the valley. At that time his mother and brother had some school lands, upon which Charles entered and engaged in the live-stock business. About the same time he bought several claims for himself, which were afterward found to be a grant that superseded other school land. He continued in the stock business, in connection with his brother and others, for a number of years. After severing his connection with them, he continued in the same business and in dairying until 1873, when he purchased the Briggs House in Galt, then in poor condition, fitted it up, gave it character, and conducted it for eleven years, with good patronage. Since he left the hotel Mr. Harvey has been engaged in no particular business. He is a charter member of Phoenix Lodge, No. 292, I. O. O. F., of Galt, and also a member of the Encampment of the same place. He is a gentleman of liberal views, and has always been interested in the growth of his adopted town. He was married in 1862, in Illinois, to Martha Sherwood, a native of the State of New York. Their children are: Obed V., Irvin and Lou.
Transcribed by: Jeanne Sturgis Taylor.
Davis, Hon. Win. J., An Illustrated History of
Sacramento County, California. Pages 644-645. Lewis
Publishing Company. 1890.
© 2007 Jeanne Sturgis Taylor.