Biographies
MRS. SARAH MUGFORD
MRS. SARAH MUGFORD.—For
the past ten years Mrs. Sarah Mugford has resided on
her three-acre home place on Fruitridge Road, where
she conducts a small dairy. Mrs. Mugford has
witnessed the wonderful growth and progress of this section of Sacramento
County, for it was but sparsely settled when she purchased her home
place. She is a native Californian, born at Placerville, then known as Hangtown, on August
18, 1857, the eldest daughter of Henry J. And Mary (Thomas)
Hartley, natives of England and South Wales, respectively. Henry J.
Hartley was married in 1856, and shortly after started across the plains with
an ox-team train to California, arriving at Hangtown
in the fall of the same year. He prospected in the vicinity of Folsom, but
gave up mining to follow his trade as a stone mason. Ten children were
born to them, eight daughters and two sons, of whom six survive: Mrs. Mugford, of this sketch; Mrs. Edner,
of Placerville; Mrs. Pilotti, of Diamond Spring; Mrs.
Mary Pritchard, residing in Oakland; Mrs. Alice Johnson, residing in Berkeley;
and Hattie Hartley, of Marysville. Mrs. Harley, the mother was one of the
first of the pioneer California women to help in getting a public school
started in Eldorado County; the first school was held
in an old building in 1857, and each family paid twenty-five cents tuition per
week.
On January 19, 1874, Miss Sarah Hartley was married to
John Mugford, who was born in Cornwall, England, in
1835. He accompanied his brother Samuel to California via Panama in 1855,
and was engaged in mining until 1869, when he received an injury which caused
him to seek a different occupation. Removing to Carbondale, he bought 160
acres of land; but after paying for it, he was obliged to turn it over to the
railroad. The family then removed to Sutter Creek, where they later bought
land. From this land he cleared the timber, which he hauled to Sutterville for fuel in the mills at Sutter Creek. Mr.
and Mrs. Mugford were the parents of eight
children. William is married and has three children, one of whom is
married and has one son five years old. William Mugford
and his family reside in Sacramento, where he is foreman in the bolt shop of
the southern Pacific Railroad Company. Leona is now Mrs. Frank Carroll,
and they have two sons and one daughter. Jane is the widow of James Langdon;
she has three children, and family reside in
Sacramento. Samuel has a wife and six children; John is married and has
one son; Bessie is Mrs. Frank F. Silva, and they have six children; Arthur is
at home, and is one of the stockholders in the Northern California Milk
Association; and Minnie is deceased, survived by five children. Mr. Mugford became a United States citizen in 1867, and
thereafter voted the Republican ticket; he passed away May 6, 1898. Mrs. Mugford has been an active member of the Free Methodist
Church for more than twenty years.
Transcribed 4-29-07
Marilyn R. Pankey.
Source: Reed, G.
Walter, History of Sacramento County,
California With Biographical Sketches, Page 722. Historic Record Company,
© 2007 Marilyn R. Pankey.