Sacramento County
Biographies
RUSSELL DAY STEPHENS
R. D. STEPHENS, Postmaster, Sacramento,
and one of the best known citizens of Central California, is a native of Fulton
County, Illinois, Born April
14, 1837. Nathan Stephens, father of the subject of this sketch, was born
in Steuben County, New York,
and came of an old Eastern family. He was married in New
York State, to Miss Alba C. Bostwick, and they afterward removed to the neighborhood of
Canton, Illinois.
They removed to Peoria County, Illinois,
and there in 1841 his wife died. In April, 1849, the family started for California
with two teams. They crossed the Missouri River at St. Joseph,
continued the trip by the old overland trail, by Sublette’s cutoff, and by the Carson
route into California arriving at
Weaverville on the 16th of October, 1849. They wintered a mile
and a half from there, on Weaver Creek, and that winter engaged in surface
mining. In February, 1850, they started for the valley country for the
purpose of locating land, stopping three weeks at
Rhodes’ Diggings (more recently Prairie
City). On the 1st
of April they located nine miles from Sacramento, in Brighton
Township, on the American
River, and this location proved to
be a very valuable one. There the elder Stephens put up a hotel and
conducted it until the time of his death, which occurred January 25,
1875. He was a Democrat politically, and always took an active interest
in public affairs. Of his children, five are living, viz.: Mrs.
Jane E. Booker, of Fresno; Mrs. Rebecca Vandersloot, of Farmington, Illinois;
Jerome, of Fresno; Mrs. A. M. Hood, of Sacramento,
and R. D. Stephens, subject of this sketch. Nathan Stephens was a member
of the society of California Pioneers, and was a prominent Mason. R. D.
Stephens, with whose name this sketch commences, crossed the plains with his
father at the age of twelve years, and is therefore a pioneer. He was
reared to manhood in this county, and his first schooling in California
was received at Brighton, which was three miles from his
home. Later, however, he had the opportunity to attend school nearer
home. He is to a large extent, however, a self-educated man. He was
reared to farm life, and when he was twenty engaged in running a
threshing-machine. After about four or five years he bought one of his
own, and carried on business with it successfully. In the fall of 1859 he
made his first entrée into politics, and was then elected constable for Brighton
Township. In 1869 he was
elected to the Legislature of California, and served in the session of 1869—’70. He was
warrant clerk in the State Controller’s office from1875 to 1880, and in 1882
was a candidate before the convention of the Democratic party
for the office of Controller of State. He was elected to the State
Constitutional Convention of 1879, and took an active part in the work of that
important body. On the 21st of September, 1885, he was
appointed by President Cleveland to the office of postmaster of Sacramento,
and assumed his new duties on the 1st of November. It is due
Mr. Stephens to say that he has made a splendid record in this office, which
has attracted wide-spread attention under his management, and many times
elicited the compliments of the Department, whose officials say that there is
not a better conducted office in the United States than that of Sacramento,
under Mr. Stephens. He has introduced several innovations in the methods
of handling and distributing mails, which have been to the great advantage of
the business men and public general. Mr. Stephens is one of the best know
fruit-growers in Central California, and he has achieved
great success in this line. On his place of about 100 acres he has
seventy acres in orchard, and twenty acres in
vineyard. His grapes are of the fines varieties and are splendidly cared
for, the result being that they bring prices ranging from 30 to 40 per cent
higher than any grapes shipped from California.
The orchard is composed of carefully selected trees, and no trouble or expense
is spared in obtaining the best possible results. As a result the yield of
the various fruits is far above the average, while the prices brought are the
highest, and the goods are always in demand, even on a full market. One
of the most important features about this interesting place is the irrigating
plant, which is a wonderful affair for a private ranch. This can be
understood when it is stated that the plant has a maximum capacity for throwing
17,000 gallons of water per minute. Mr. Stephens is generally recognized
as the wheel-horse of the Democratic organization in this portion of the State,
and certainly no man has done more toward contributing to its success. An
active, pushing man, he enjoys an extensive acquaintance and great personal
popularity with the masses, and withal possesses powers of leadership and organization
which render his services of inestimable benefit to his party.
Transcribed
by Karen Pratt.
Davis, Hon. Win. J., An
Illustrated History of Sacramento County,
California. Pages 557-558. Lewis Publishing
Company. 1890.
© 2006 Karen Pratt.