A. G. TRYON
A.
G. TRYON was born February 4, 1825, at Middletown, Connecticut, his father been
a well-to-do and highly respected citizen of the place. The family has had an honored history of
importance. Mr. Tryon received a good practical
education in the schools of his native city, but, being naturally of the
business turn of mind, he went when but fourteen years of age to Lancaster
village, South Carolina, where he assisted a brother-in-law in the store. The climate proved injurious to him, and
four years later he returned again to his native State, at that time a tall and
delicate stripling of a youth. In 1846,
however, he went again to South Carolina and spent two years at Camden in that
State. In 1849, together with his younger
brother, Mr. A. S. Tryon, he joined a company of sixteen men all told, in the
purchase of the schooner called the "Julius Pringle," of which they
owned one-eighth. They set sail August
28, 1849, from New England and finally reach San Francisco, February 14,
1850. Of the company the other fourteen
were all old sailors and navigated the vessel.
The voyage was made without mishap, although off the Rio de la Plata
they encountered six days' storm, and undertaking the passage through the
Straits of Magellan they experienced headwinds that delayed them eighteen days
in it . On January 1 they were at
Valparaiso, where they stopped for water and provisions. The voyage up from there was made in forty
days, reaching the Golden Gate on the date mentioned. They immediately came up the river to Sacramento, arriving here
in the latter part of the month of February, 1850. The two brothers then purchased an additional interest in the
schooner, and in company with some of the others traded on the river for the
course of two months, running her in connection with Starr, Benson & Co., a
well-known firm of early days. They
sold out and went up to Coloma, where they mined for a little while, but soon
started a store, where they kept on hand a stock of general miners' supplies. This business was continued for five years,
A. S. selling the goods in Coloma and
attending to the store, while A. G. came to the city, did the buying, and
freighted them to his brother at Coloma.
By the time, however, from being a delicate young man he had grown to be
very strong and robust. In 1856 the
brothers discontinued the business at Coloma.
A. S. returned to the East and now resides at Leroy, New York. The subject of this sketch, however, came to
Sacramento city and has lived here constantly ever since, with exception only
of the numerous pleasure trips which the gentleman has made and is still making
to different parts of the world. Since
he has resided here are Mr. Tryon has engaged extensively in the buying and
selling of real estate and again lending money. He has been one of our most public-spirited and energetic
citizens, and his large means has enabled him to accomplish a great deal. As an example of his character, one instance
may be cited. At the time of the
raising of the grade of I street from Seventh to Tenth, the amount levied for
the work was the enormous sum of 35 per cent.
of the assessed valuation.
Everyone of the property-owners interested, with the exception of Mr.
Tryon, by taking advantage of a technicality, escaped paying, although they
were the very parties who had petition to have the work done, while Mr. Tryon
paid up promptly and fully. The levee
tax has always been a great burden of the city, amounting in 1862 to 71/2 per
cent. Mr. Tryon was a member of the old
Tehama Hose Company in the early '50s.
While on a visit to the East in 1855, however, the company
disbanded. He was married March 12,
1863, in San Francisco, to Mrs. Amanda Engenia Grissim. She died in 1879. They had no children. Her
two children by a former marriage reside with Mr. Tryon. The Tryon family is one of the oldest
Connecticut families, tracing its pedigree back to ancestors who sailed from
England before the Revolutionary days, and going still further back to an
honorable origin in Flanders. When they
first arrived in America they settled in Glastonbury, on the Connecticut River,
where portions still reside. It is a
very long-lived family, as is shown by the great age of Mr. Tryon's immediate
relatives. He has two sisters now residing
in Connecticut, at the ages respectively of eighty-four and seventy-six years;
and one at Leroy, New York, now eight-two.
Of his brothers, two are now aged seventy and sixty-eight, in
Middletown. His mother reached the age
of eight-four before her death.
Personally Mr. Tryon is as active a young man in appearance as most men
at fifty, and bids fair to live to be as old as any of his kin. He has been a great traveler. In 1862 he visited Europe, spending
considerable time in making a complete tour of England, Scotland, Wales,
France, etc. There is hardly a portion of our continent that he has not visited
and of which he is not able to give an accurate description, from Alaska and
Yellowstone National Park to the largest cities of the East or picturesque
wilderness of Mexico. Indeed he is, at
date of this writing, about to start on a trip to the city of Mexico, which
doubtless there will be much hunting and an enjoyable time. The last time he was East was in 1882. The comfortable home of Mr. Tryon is
situated at No. 912 Sixth street, in this city.
An
Illustrated History of Sacramento County, California. By Hon. Win. J Davis.
Lewis Publishing Company 1890. Page 264-266.
Submitted
by: Nancy Pratt Melton.