SOLOMON RUNYON

 

SOLOMON RUNYON was born in Wilt County, Illinois, in November 1827, his parents being Armstead and Anna (Harnbacker) Runyon. The father was a native of Kentucky and of American descent for some generations, but the more remote ancestry was probably French. The mother was a native of Ohio, or German or “Pennsylvania Dutch” parentage. Grandparents Michael Runyon and wife, the latter an American lady by birth, but of English parentage, lived to a good old age. Grandparents Harnbacker were also quite old when they died. The father, Armstead Runyon, first moved to Preble County, Ohio, and afterward to Will County, Illinois, of which he was one of the early settlers, locating near Lockport. The subject of this sketch had but scant opportunities for education in his youth, just enough to learn to read, write, and keep accounts in his own way. He worked on his father’s farm until he was twenty-one, and since then he has labored to some advantage, as is pretty generally known, on his own account. With his father and brother, O.R. and A.N., the latter now a resident of Michigan, he came to California in 1849, arriving in Sacramento about the middle of September. He went into mining for two years or more, and in 1852 he returned to farming, taking up 160 acres of State land near Schoolcraft, Solano County, which he improved and occupied until 1858, raising vegetables chiefly. September 15, 1859, he bought the well known ranch on which he still resides, about twenty-four miles below Sacramento, on the river. There were four or five acres of orchard when he bought thirty years ago, which he has increased to eighty. Mr. Runyon was married July 23, 1863, to Miss Adaline Bloom, born in Missouri December 3, 1846, daughter of William H. Harrison and Delilah D. (Dye) Bloom. She arrived in this State with her parents September 12, 1850, and has been a resident of this township since 1855. In 1868 the old home was replaced by a comfortable mansion, which for many years was the finest on the river. December 13, 1871, Mr. Runyon bought 155 acres at the head of Andrus Island, five miles lower down on the river, and on August 21, 1881, he bought the 286 acres adjoining, making 441 acres in one body. Of these about 200 acres are orchard, which with the eighty on the home place make Mr. Runyon one of the largest orchardists in the county. He also owns considerable realty in Sacramento and San Francisco, is a heavy stockholder and director in the California Transportation Company, of which he was one of the incorporators. He owns a sixth of the stock and is a director of the Central Street Railway of Sacramento. He is also a member of the State Board of Horticulture, and its treasurer. He is a Knight Templar, and has taken the thirty-second degree, and, as may be judged, is kept pretty busy superintending his various interests, but what is still better is, that he is universally regarded by his neighbors as an entirely reliable, upright man, a public-spirited citizen, kindly and obliging in his relations with his neighbors. Mr. and Mrs. Runyon are the parents of one child, Ora, born January 18, 1875, who is now being educated in Mills Seminary, near Oakland.