Sacramento County
Biographies
SIMEON S.
SLAWSON
SIMEON S. SLAWSON.--a farmer of Sutter Township, was born in Sussex County New Jersey, May 13, 1841, a son of De Witt and Elizabeth (Horton) Slawson, natives of Orange County, New York. His paternal grandparents, Elihu Slawson and wife, were natives of New York State, and had four sons - De Witt, Locke, Milton and John B. Locke died in the State of New York; Milton resided a number of years in New Orleans, returned to New York and died there; and John B., was eminent in the street-car business in New Orleans; he started the first street-car line in that city, and is the patentee of the cash box for collecting fares on short lines now in use throughout the United States. He was in New Orleans during the war, and afterward was in New York city, and then in Europe, where he introduced his invention and became wealthy. De Witt, father of Simeon, went to New Jersey about 1826, and continued his residence there until 1847, when he moved to Perry County, Illinois. He had seven sons and four daughters, eight of whom are now living: H. H., Joseph N., Mrs. Fanny J. Hoge and Mrs. Mahala Pyle, reside in Perry County; J. P., W. H.,; Mrs. E. M. Combs resides in Jefferson County, Illinois; and Simeon S., resides here in Sacramento County. Their parents passed the remainder of their days in Perry County, their father dying in 1872, and their mother in 1875. Mr. Slawson, the subject of this notice, was born May 13, 1841, and was very young when the family moved to Illinois, and that section was in its pioneer stage of development. In 1863, at the age of twenty-two years, he came to California by way of New York, on the steamer Golden Age to the Isthmus, and landed in San Francisco on the last of June, after a voyage of twenty-three days. After visiting Copperopolis and Mokelumne, in Calaveras County, he went to Nevada, near Carson City, and worked there about two years, getting out timber for the mines. Coming then to this county he purchased, in 1867, eighty acres of land near the lower Stockton road, about four miles from the city. In 1878 he bought 135 acres adjoining, and the public road now bounds the whole on three sides. Here he is following agricultural pursuits. Has about four acres of vineyard, and larger fruit enough for family use. This property he sold in 1887 to S. P. Smith; but he still resides upon it. He has been successful. Coming here without means, he has made all he has by honest industry, and the place is well improved. Although he has sold it, he has no intention of returning East. Mr. Slawson is a member of the Sacramento Grange, No. 12. He was married February 13, 1870, to Mrs. Anna A. Hite. They have one son, George H., who was born December 27, 1875. Mrs. Slawson was born in Schuyler County, Illinois, January 20, 1852. Her parents and family of ten children removed to California across the plains by ox teams in 1853, being six months on the journey. Upon their arrival here they immediately settled on a farm in Sacramento County, where they resided until the death of her father, Alexander Hite, which occurred December 30, 1885. He was a native of Shenandoah County, Virginia, born February 3, 1806. Her mother, Arrabella (Mathews) Hite, was born in Licking County, Ohio, January 1, 1811, and is still living.
Transcribed by: Jeanne Sturgis Taylor.
Davis, Hon. Win. J., An Illustrated History of
Sacramento County, California. Pages 599-600. Lewis
Publishing Company. 1890.
© 2007 Jeanne Sturgis Taylor.