Sacramento
County
Biographies
NEWELL
KANE
Newell Kane was born July
1, 1842, in St. Joseph County, Indiana, his parents being Newell and Arminda (Stiles) Kane.
His father spent his boyhood days, up to October 4, 1826, in Raleigh,
North Carolina, where he was born April 27, 1802, and there learned the
millwright’s trade; then moved to Detroit, where he was married February 16,
1832; thence went to Jonesville, ninety miles from Detroit, and bought a farm,
which he cultivated, at the same time working at his trade. He built a mill in Homer and lived there a
short time, then moved to Marshall, and in 1840 went to St. Joseph County, Indiana.
He bought land in Noble County as a speculation. From Indiana he returned to Michigan and
resided on his farm of 320 acres until the winter of 1851-’52, when, having
caught the gold fever, he sold out and started for California, January 1. He sailed from New York via Panama, on the steamer Pioneer, and landed in San Francisco on the 6th of March from the
steamer Golden
Gate. He went immediately to Sacramento, thence to Mormon Island, where he kept hotel through the
summer. In 1853 he returned to Sacramento for the purpose of going into business,
but the flood prevented him from so doing.
Going to Brighton Township, he bought 205 acres of land the
locality then being called the Thirty-mile Desert, owing to the scarcity of water from Sacramento to the foot-hills some thirty miles
distant. The land was covered with brush
and trees, mostly white oak, and wild animals were plentiful, the California lion and wild cattle causing at time
great fear among the settlers. He worked
upon the place, cultivating and improving it to what it now is. August 28, 1887, at the age of eighty-six years, he
died. Mrs. Kane, his wife, was born in
Palmyra, New York, April 2, 1813, and came with her parents, David and
Elizabeth (who was of Scotch descent, daughter of John Cummings, who was at one
time sheriff of New York) Stiles, to Michigan.
She is of a hardy race; her great-grandfather Stiles came over in the
Mayflower; her grandfather lived to the age of 115 years; and her father David
Stiles, lived to the age of 107 years, and the year before he died could put
his hand on a seven-rail fence and jump over it! Other members of the family also lived to a
good old age. She died July
8, 1889,
gangrene having set in in her right foot, and after
suffering great pain for month, her foot decaying by inches until amputation
became necessary, after which she survived but a short time. The children of Mr. and Mrs. Kane are: Maria Louise, who, a few days before her
death and while she was then confined to her deathbed, wrote the following
poem:
MY BURIAL
Where shall the dead and the
beautiful sleep?
In the vale where the willow and
cypress weep;
Where the wind of the west breathes
its softest sigh,
Where the silvery stream is floating
nigh,
And the pure clear drops of the
rising spray
Glitter like gems in the bright noon’s rays;
Where the sun’s warm smile may never
dispel
Night’s tears o’er the form they
loved so well;
In the vale where the sparkling
waters flow;
Where the fairest,
earliest violets grow.
Bury me where my sister lies,
Bury me there beneath the skies.
Where shall the dead and the
beautiful sleep?
Where the wild flowers bloom in the
valley deep;
Where the sweet robes of spring may
softly rest
In purity o’er the sleeper’s breast;
Where is heard the voice of the
sinless dove,
Murmuring gently its soft note of
love;
Where no column proud in the sun may
glow,
To mock the heart that is resting
below;
Where pure hearts are sleeping
forever blest;
Where the wandering Peri love to rest;
Where the sky and the earth are
softly fair,--
Bury me there, bury me there.
Sylvina Josephine, born March 8, 1835, died
February 17, 1853, in Sacramento; Edward, born March 2, 1837, died February 5,
1853, in Sacramento; Delia Caroline, born July 14, 1839, died August 8, 1841;
Theodore F., born June 4, 1845, and now resident in Portland, Oregon: Alfred, born December 13, 1847, died
September 12, 1862, on the farm; Maria Caroline, born October 15, 1849, wife of
W. W. Brison, of Sacramento. Newell Kane Jr., commenced to earn his own
way in the world when eighteen years of age.
He took 300 acres of land, in 1860, adjoining the home place, and afterward
bought 500 more, east of the home place, called the Oak Tree Farm. In 1878 he disposed of it and moved to Sacramento, where he bought property on the corner
of Seventeenth and J streets, and lived there till the summer of 1879. Then he moved to Oakland and resided there about three
years. Next he took a trip to Washington Territory, up the Skagit River, during the gold excitement at that
place. From there he wandered to Portland, Oregon; stopped there a short time and then
returned to Oakland, where he kept hotel about two years.
Then he sold out his business and removed to Idaho, where he speculated somewhat in town
and mining property. He made his home
there about one year, when he returned to California, and has made Sacramento County his home ever since. He has been at the home farm since his
father’s death. He was married on April
16, 1865, to
Miss Francelia Ann Hatch, daughter of N. V. Hatch, of
Sacramento city.
They have three children:
Josephine Eunice, born October 21, 1868, now the wife of Montgomery
Pike, of Santa Maria, Santa Barbara County; Arthur Edward, born October 16,
1869; May Louise, born February 19, 1872.
Transcribed by Karen Pratt.
Davis, Hon. Win. J., An
Illustrated History of Sacramento County,
California. Page 513-14.
Lewis Publishing Company. 1890.
©
2005 Karen Pratt.