Sacramento
County
Biographies
HON.
REUBEN KERCHEVAL
Hon. Reuben Kercheval,
deceased, the subject of this sketch, was born in Ohio, in December, 1820, his parents being
Louis and Mary (Runyon) Kercheval. The father was born in Virginia about 1796, and rendered some service in
the war of 1812. The mother was a
Kentuckian. Grandfather James Kercheval, by birth a Virginian, moved with family into Kentucky, and his son, Louis, was there
married. The Kerchevals
are of Huguenot extraction, their ancestor, Louis, leaving France upon the revocation of the edict of Nantes.
He found refuge in Switzerland, then in England, and finally in America.
He was of Dijon family, whose castle on the Rhine was in existence as late as 1854. The name denotes horse-lover, the initial C being
changed to K for euphony. The parents of
Reuben Kercheval moved from Kentucky to Ohio about 1818, and
thence to Will County, Illinois, in 1830.
The son’s formal education consisted of a single term in a district
school, but being fond of reading he became a well-informed man on general
topics and public affairs. He came to California in 1850, and tried mining for six
weeks. Reared on a farm he discarded the
uncongenial business of mining, and with his brother, Albert F., now of Los Angeles, settled on Ryer Island, on the Sacramento, before the close of 1850. After a few years he and his father bought
the place on Grand
Island,
and subsequently he bought out his brother’s interest, and became owner of 334
acres, in one body, at the head of Grand Island.
In 1856 he visited his old home in Will County, Illinois, remaining for
several months. In June, 1857, Mr. Kercheval was there married to Miss Margaret Brodie, born in Ohio, daughter of Clement and Sarah (White) Brodie, who afterward settled in Will County,
Illinois. They were the parents of five
daughters and one son: the latter Robert
John, of New Lenox, Illinois, died in December, 1872, leaving three
children: Esther, John Clement and
Sadie. One daughter is also deceased,
leaving three sisters of Mrs. Kercheval still living
in 1889: Sarah E., now Mrs. A. Smith, of
New Lenox; Mrs. Maria Page, of Joliet; and Mrs. Louisa Stevens, of St. Paul, Minnesota.
Grandfather Robert Brodie was a Scotch
emigrant, and the father of four sons; Clement, the father of Mrs. Kercheval; James, an expert in diving, lost his life in the
exercise of his calling; Joseph, who died young in the fifties; John, who died
at Lafayette, Indiana, in 1885, aged eighty-two. Thomas, the youngest son of John, served in
the Union army, in the Civil War of the Republic, is now a member of the Grand
Army, and lives with his family near Williamsport, Indiana.
Grandfather John White, who died in the girlhood of his daughter Sarah,
was the son of an English emigrant.
Another son, known as Judge White, lived near Whiteleysburg, Delaware, where also one or two of the older
sisters of Mrs. Kercheval were born, her only brother
being born in Columbus, Ohio, herself at Urbana, in that State, and the younger sisters
in Wells
County, Indiana.
Soon after the marriage of Mr. and Mrs. Reuben Kercheval
they set out for California, arriving on Grand Island, in August, 1857, where they continued
to reside together for nearly twenty-four years. Later on public duties shared in Mr. Kercheval’s time and attention, with his business of
fruit-grower and the cares of his family.
He was elected to the Legislature for two terms, 1872—’73 and
1877—’78. He was also a Mason, and at
one time Master of Franklin Lodge, as well as fourth officer, and a thirty-second
degree member of the Scottish Rite Consistory of California. Mr. Kercheval died
in May, 1881, leaving four children, born on Grand Island: James Louis, in 1858; Howard Douglas,
in 1860; Josephine, in 1865; Hartley, in 1868.
Besides the usual local schooling, all the children have been given the
opportunity of a higher education: James
L. at the California Military Academy; Howard D. at the California Military
Academy, then at the Berkeley Gymnasium, and finally in the University of
California; Josephine at the Irving Institute, then as pupil of Professor
Michelson, then in crayon portraiture and music, as pupil of Professor
Hartmann, and in 1889 as a member of the class of Mrs. Fish, all of San
Francisco; Hartley, at Sackett’s Acadeny
in Oakland. James L. was married in 1885
to Miss Nellie Kelly, of San Francisco, where he is employed as freight clerk
of the steamer J. D. Peters. Howard D.
was married in 1882 to Miss Mattie Stewart Barkley, of Sacramento.
They have three boys: Reuben,
born in 1883; Elbert, in 1885; and Howard Gholdsen, February
12, 1888. Mr. H. D. Kercheval
was for some years in the service of the California Transportation Company, and
in 1889 is deputy assessor of Sacramento County, and trustee of Grand Island Reclamation
District No. 3. Hartley was married to
Miss Mamie Hall, of Grand Island, in May, 1889. Since the death of Mr. Reuben Kercheval the estate has been enlarged under the able
management of his widow, Mrs. Margaret B. Kercheval. She has purchased eighty acres three miles
below, and sixty-eight two miles farther.
She has erected a handsome two-story residence, now occupied by Howard
D., about a mile below the family mansion at the head of the Island, and more
recently a less pretentious, but scarcely less elegant, one-story and basement
cottage, on the eight-two acre place, now occupied by Hartley. The new purchase, five miles below, is being
cleared of timber, and will be all planted before the close of 1889. There are
now about seventy acres of orchard on the other ranches. The year 1889 is also
signalized by a combined effort to fully reclaim the whole island, in which
work Mrs. Kercheval is actively interested. With untiring industry and a
business ability truly remarkable in a lady, Mrs. Kercheval
is ever busily engaged in enlarging, improving and beautifying her landed
possessions.
Transcribed by Karen Pratt.
Davis, Hon. Win. J., An
Illustrated History of Sacramento County,
California. Page 513-516. Lewis Publishing Company. 1890.
©
2005 Karen Pratt.