Sacramento
County
Biographies
JAMES B.
WELTY
James B. Welty, a
prominent citizen of Sacramento County, was born in Williamson County, Illinois, April 15, 1832.
His father, Jacob Welty, was born near Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and was but a child when his parents emigrated with him down the Ohio River into Kentucky.
In 1818 they removed to Franklin County, Illinois, into that portion
which was subsequently set off as Williamson County, with Marion as the county seat. It was in that county that he married Mary
Ann Keaster, whose acquaintance he made in that
State. They made that their home until
they came to California, in 1869, and they are now living in Lake County.
They have six sons and four daughters, of whom four are now living,
viz.: William Bradford, deceased; John
Franklin, who died in infancy; Nancy Emeline, who
resides at Creal Springs, Williamson County,
Illinois; Rachel Parmelia, deceased; James B.;
Madison Warren, deceased; Lewis Alexander, residing near Lakeport, Lake County,
California; Levi, who died in childhood; Martha Jane, residing at Creal Springs; and Mary Elizabeth, who died in
infancy. Jacob Welty
is now eighty-nine years of age, and his wife four years younger. Mr. James B. Welty,
our subject, in younger days worked on his father’s farm, and just before he
was of age he started, with his father’s permission, for California.
Engaging as driver of horses and cattle across the plains for Darris & Huston, of Platte County, Missouri, he left Fort Leavenworth, May 6, 1853, and arrived in this State September 15. In his party were fifty persons and fourteen
wagons. The journey was comparatively a
pleasant one. Only one of the party lost his life, and he was drowned in the Green River.
On arriving here, Mr. Welty began work on the R street levee, at $50 a month and board; but two
weeks afterward he went down below Sutterville and
chopped wood all winter for Clarkson C. Freeman. In the spring he came to the city and engaged
in brick-making for the same man. The
next winter for a year longer he cut wood again, opposite Sutterville,
and then went into the wood business with a team and wagon, hiring others to
cut the wood and taking a partner, James Haworth, and opening a wood-yard in Sacramento.
Finding this business rather unprofitable in the course of a few months,
they in company with Michael Shields, purchased the brick-yard ranch, of 120
acres, located below Sutterville on the west side of
the river. At the end of the first year,
Welty & Haworth bought out Shields’ interest, and
two years later Mr. Welty bought our Haworth and became sole proprietor, remaining so
until October, 1876. During his
residence there he was the witness of many pleasant and some very sad
scenes. During the floods of 1861-’62
his brother Madison Warren was drowned.
On this ranch Mr. Welty raised a considerable
quantity of fruit and vegetables. While
a resident there, May 2, 1871, he married Mary A. Bader, in Sacramento city.
She was born near Cape Girardean, Missouri.
After selling out that ranch, in 1876, he bought his present place, a
quarter of a section, in Sutter Township, about five miles from Sacramento,
between the upper and lower Stockton roads, where his is engaged in general
farming. He is a member of Sacramento
Grange, No. 12, and also of California Lodge, K. of H., and of Harmony Lodge K.
& L. of H., all of Sacramento.
He has always been an industrious, economical, and honest citizen and a
judicious philanthropist. His children
are: Mary May, born March
22, 1872; Eugene
Edwin, October 8, 1874; and James William, February 2, 1883.
Transcribed by Karen Pratt.
Davis, Hon. Win. J., An
Illustrated History of Sacramento County,
California. Page 507-508.
Lewis Publishing Company. 1890.
©
2005 Karen Pratt.