Biographies
SIMON PROUTY
Destiny gave to Simon Prouty
an identification with the early upbuilding
of the two great states of Iowa and California. Born in southern Ohio, he was a
small lad when in 1817 the family removed to Iowa and settled among the
pioneers of Jasper County. The entire journey was made in the tedious and
primitive manner common to the period, for not only was there not even one
railroad in the whole state of Iowa, but very few had been built in any portion
of the country. Arriving near the site of the present flourishing city of Iowa
City, when they had only six log houses, the father, Anson Prouty,
took up a quarter section of government land, the
present site of Newton, and a part of the site of the village that became the
county seat. Not long after his settlement in Iowa he took the contract to
carry the first mail between Fort Des Moines and Iowa City. Simon, then
thirteen years of age, was selected for the work. The task was indeed one of
the greatest difficulty and it speaks volumes for the
resolution and courage of the lad that he was willing to undertake the long
journeys in the midst of such dangers and hardships. The nearest houses were
eighteen miles apart. There were few trees and across the open prairies
howled the bitter wind and snow as if lighting against man's advance from the older
settlements of the east. Forty miles a day on horseback for three days in
succession along the lonely road three feet deep in snow, then three days on
the return trip, with Sunday spent at home. It was seldom that he met any other
traveler in those stormy rides. Twice he was taken from his horse unconscious with cold
and with ears, hands and feet frozen stiff. Notwithstanding these arduous
experiences he continued the trips until there was no longer any further need
of his services.
When eighteen years of age Simon Prouty married Miss Jane Newton, member of a prominent Iowa
family in whose honor the city of Newton was named. Immediately after his
marriage he and his young wife started for California, in company with his
mother and father and the other members of his family. As early as February of
1851, with three wagons loaded with supplies of all kinds necessary for such a
trip, and with a goodly sum of money, the party began its journey across the
plains. It had been their fear that they would suffer attacks from the Indians,
but in some way they gained the good will of the savages, who allowed them to
pass without molestation. They crossed the river at the present site of Omaha,
then void of any settlement whatever. Shortly afterward cholera broke out among
the emigrants and Anson Prouty fell
a victim of the dread disease. His body was wrapped in a sheet and laid in the
ground by his three sons, Simon, Will, and Columbus. With all the loneliness of a
deep bereavement the family proceeded on their journey and under the
guardianship of the eldest son, Simon, they arrived safely at Stockton,
Cal., about the 1st of September. For a time after their arrival they continued
to camp in their wagons. It was the
good fortune of Simon Prouty to have a mother who was
a woman of education and remarkable intelligence. Although he attended school
only six months during all the years of his boyhood, he became well-informed,
for she taught him reading and writing and instructed him in the making of
accounts and in all arithmetical, problems connected with ordinary business
affairs. The younger children, sheltered by his protecting oversight, were
given some schooling, but they too found the course and the instruction of
their mother most vital to their intellectual advancement. Not only was Mrs. Prouty a woman of education, but she also had a large
endowment of common sense, so that she grasped the necessities of their
environment in the west and proved equal to every emergency. Wild berries were
plentiful, so she made pies from the fruit gathered by the children. In
addition she made vinegar and with this concoted a
black German pie that proved popular among the incoming emigrants. All of the
pies were sold at $1 each, while biscuits she sold at twenty-five cents a dozen
and bread at twenty-five cents a loaf. The income was increased by the washing
of shirts at twenty-five cents each. With the income from her tireless labor
and with the aid of her son, Simon, she was able to keep the children
together until they were grown and meanwhile she took a tract of government
land.
About the time Simon Prouty
became ambitious to rent land, but he had no seed and no horses, nor any money
with which to buy the necessary equipment. Determining to buy a team on credit
if possible, he took some lunch in a water bucket and walked twenty
miles to a horse dealer, who refused to sell on credit. The dealer's wife,
seeing that the young man was weary from the walk, invited him to eat and sleep
at their home, an invitation which he most gratefully accepted. Meanwhile she
talked privately with the dealer and persuaded him to encourage the would-be
farmer. In the morning the dealer told him "I will furnish you one horse
if the horse trader ten miles away will furnish you with another." So the
young man walked the ten miles and found the second trader, who exclaimed after
hearing his story: "Well, by Gosh! Walked thirty miles.
Got a wife already eh? And a mother and a five brothers and
sisters to support. Well, by Gosh! Yes, Siree,
you can have a horse and I'll give you a set of harness. Now eat some dinner
and then you just ride back to that fellow down the road and tell him to give
you the horse he agreed to, or, by Gosh. I'll lick the d---; out of him."
The first dealer did not refuse to hold in his bargain, so the young man, with
a team and some land, was able to buy seed on credit, also to borrow tools.
Crops brought a high price that year and he cleared $3,000.
Throughout all this period of pioneer
effort the entire family had occupied the same small cabin, but now Simon Prouty and his young wife decided that they wanted a
home of their own. Again his lunch was packed in the water bucket, but this
time he walked ten miles to a cottonwood grove and chopped down sapplings. Finding a long, hollow log, he ran a burning
bush into each end to see if there was a snake inside, built a brush fire at
one end to scare away the bears, crept into the log feet first and slept there
three nights. As his brothers were using the family wagon in a job of hauling,
he borrowed a vehicle in town and with his wife drove back to the cottonwood
grove, where the young couple loaded the trees and returned with the materials
for their little house. This day they ever afterward recalled as one the
happiest of their lives. It was a genuine delight to work for a new home, even
if it was to be but the crudest of cabins. When the building had been put up
and they moved in, they cooked at the chimney of stone, built their own bedsteads
with poles driven into the ground, sat on boxes and ate from boards resting on
poles driven into the ground. To a young couple of the twentieth century this
would seem privation and hardship most trying, but they were supremely happy,
for they learned that happiness comes from within, and not from without.
Popular among the young people, they were invited to every dance within thirty
miles around and when one of these grand events was announced Simon Prouty always brought a few pairs of overalls, so that he
might appear as well-dressed as the other young men of the period.
In this primitive home two children were
born. The two youngest children were born in the later and more comfortable
home of the family. The older daughter, Hattie, is the widow of Andrew Whitaker
and lives at Galt, Sacramento County. W. H. is a resident of Sacramento. The
younger daughter - the widow of Joseph Conner of Galt, and Edgar M. is living
in Lodi, this state. Mr. Prouty was always
exceedingly kind and helpful to those in need and one of his kindnesses proved
to be bread cast upon the waters which did not return unto him void. While he
was still struggling against debt and bravely trying to get ahead financially,
a sick Chinaman rode up late one afternoon and asked for water. Mr. Prouty took him off the horse and doctored him with such
remedies as the cabin contained, while Mrs. Prouty
cared for him as though he were a friend. For some time he was very ill, but
with their care and attention in two weeks he recovered. Sitting by the chimney
light one evening he remarked: "I think so we all be
partner. Be very good: make money. I think so you good lady, good man. I like
stay your house a long time, You no got money. I catch
plenty cash. We make partner. Buy hog, sell plenty hog for Chinamen up
mountains and lady be all same partner."
Thereupon he drew a belt from under his clothes, emptied it on the table,
counted out $5,000 in gold, pushed it over to Mrs. Prouty
and said, "You take cash. We all be partner. Buy
plenty hog. Make money." The Chinaman built himself a hut and stayed with
them six years. Meanwhile they controlled the hog trade of Sacramento and the
mines for a hundred miles in every direction, eventually clearing $10,000 for
each of the partners. The family grieved as for a relative when the Chinaman,
rich and prosperous, returned to his native land. For years the little children
would cry for him to come back, for he had nursed and cared for them with the
deepest affection. It was a frequent remark of Mr. Prouty
afterwards that the Chinaman was the only honest partner he ever had, and he
dates his subsequent prosperity from the odd chance that brought him needed
money and help at the crucial period of his agricultural operations.
The development of a fine farm of six
hundred acres, the raising of fine stock, and the building of first-class
residence and barns kept Mr. Prouty very busy for
years, and when finally prosperity had come, he lost his wife, who had so long
and bravely shared the hardships and discouragements. Three years afterwards in
1891 he married Miss Carol Crouse, of San Francisco, a lady of excellent
education and cultured refinement. Subsequent to his retirement from farming he
engaged in the wholesale commission business in San Francisco, but there his
well-known generosity was taken advantage of and the business did not prove
successful. After ten years in San Francisco, he returned to Sacramento to
live, later his wife spent two years in travel, visiting his old homes in Ohio
and Iowa, and enjoying a tour throughout the east. Upon returning to
California, he was visiting at Galt, when he ran to catch a train and the over-exertion
brought on heart trouble, from which he died. Since his demise Mrs. Prouty has continued to reside at the family home, No. 418
Twenty-second Street, Sacramento. During early years he had been an active
worker in the Blue Lodge of Masons. The Unitarian Church of Sacramento had in
him a frequent attendant at the services and a generous contributor to its
charities. After a long and unusually active career he passed into eternity,
beloved by a wide circle of friends, honored as a man of the highest integrity
and as a pioneer of the greatest aid in the early upbuilding
of the state.
Transcribed by Sally Kaleta.
Source: Willis,
William L., History of Sacramento County,
California, Pages 1031-1035.
Historic Record Company,
© 2006 Sally Kaleta.