Santa Clara County
Biographies
HIRAM POMEROY
The family of which Hiram Pomeroy is a worthy member is of French extraction and the name Pomeroy means “king's apple.” The progenitors of the family in America were three brothers who came here in colonial times, and of these one settled in New York and the other two in Connecticut. Mr. Pomeroy traces his ancestry back to the New York branch and his paternal grandfather was a soldier in the Revolutionary war, and for four years fought with distinction. He was an eye-witness of Cornwallis' surrender at Yorktown, and he also served valiantly in the war of 1812. In recognition of his services in the latter conflict he was made captain, but he never lived to see his commission, which was lying in the postoffice at the time of his death.
The fifth child in a family of nine born to Grove and Clarissa (Olmstead) Pomeroy, Hiram Pomeroy was born near Vincennes, Ind., January 11, 1822. His father was a native of West Stockbridge, Mass. His mother was a native of New York, and to this state the father removed, farming in Oneida county. He also participated in the war of 1812, assisting in the protection of Sacket Harbor, serving three months. In 1818 He went to Indiana and for a time taught school in Knox county, earning money in this way with which to purchase land. When he possessed sufficient capital for a start he purchased eighty acres of land in Sullivan county and then worked as a farm hand for six months to pay for a yoke of oxen, purchased from a neighbor.. He re-engaged in teaching in connection with farm pursuits and in 1832 purchased more land, this time in St. Joseph county, near South Bend. Here he lived two years and became the owner of a fine farm. Marshall county of the same state was his next location, and after a two years' residence there he went to Plymouth and built first a log house and next a hotel eighteen by forty-eight feet and two stories high, all the lumber being sawed by hand. The land on which the hotel was built was donated by the promoters of the new county seat of Marshall county. Three years later he sold this property and removed three miles in the country, and it was there that his children were principally reared. He had to travel two hundred miles on horseback to bring out men to build the house. The received $1.00 per day, and the lumber cost $10.00 per thousand feet. He accumulated a large quantity of land and gave each child one hundred and sixty acres or its equivalent. Later in life he made his home in Plymouth, living with his daughter Pruda, and it was at the latter place that he died, aged sixty-five years. His family consisted of nine children, seven sons and two daughters. Two of the sons died early in life and the others all reached mature years. The father of these children was a strong Abolitionist and his house was a station for the underground railway. He was at all times active in politics and belonged to the early Liberal party.
Hiram Pomeroy was educated in the common schools of Indiana and at twenty-one he engaged in teaching during the winter and working on the farm in the summer, and in this way he obtained money to pay for a more extensive course in the Grand River Institute at Austinburg, Ohio. He then followed farming pursuits in Marshall county, Ind., and in company with his younger brother, Mark, he moved onto a farm of two hundred and forty acres of land in that county and lived there until 1853. He then went to California, making the trip by way of the Isthmus of Panama, and upon arriving at his destination he located in town No. 76 in Plumas county, in the Eureka Ledge mining district. Here Mr. Pomeroy and his wife kept house for a mining company from the first of June until September, and it is worthy of note that on the Fourth of July they were obliged to cut through deep snowdrifts to get near the ledge.
In September of the same year he went to San Jose and followed farm work in that locality for one year. He subsequently worked on the dairy farm of John A. Perkins for some time, and in the fall of 1857 he purchased a squatter's right to one hundred and sixty acres of land in the Calaveras valley, near Milpitas, and here he followed ranch pursuits, acquiring in time one hundred and eighty-three acres. He planted fourteen acres in orchards, also raised hay, grain, etc., and lived there twenty-nine years. In was not until 1881 that Mr. Pomeroy purchased The Willows, his present residence, and in 1886 he sold his ranch in the Calaveras valley and removed to this place with his family. His home is splendidly located on Lincoln avenue and contains ten acres, all in orchards, but owing to the advanced years of Mr. Pomeroy the orchards are leased out.
By his marriage, April 13, 1847, in Marshall county, Ind., he was united with Miss Harriett Taylor. Mrs. Pomeroy was born October 17, 1828 at Marcellus, Onondaga county, N.Y., and came to California with her husband. Her father, Simon Taylor, was a native of Connecticut but was reared in Onondaga county, N.Y., and followed agricultural pursuits in the same county and also died there. He and his wife reared nine children, seven sons and two daughters, and Mrs. Pomeroy is the only surviving member of the family. A coincidence worthy of note is that Mr. Pomeroy is also the sole survivor of his family. They have no children. In 1888 they returned on a pleasure trip east, spending several months in Indiana. In his political views Mr. Pomeroy was one of the original members of the Free Soilers in this section, and he afterward assisted in forming the Republican party. Of late years, however, he has favored the views of the Populists. His mind is still perfectly clear and he delights to tell slavery and anti-slavery stories of the early times, never failing to charm the listener with his conversational powers. He was one of the founders of the Grangers' Bank of San Francisco and at all times he has shown a fitting interest in the welfare of the community of which he is so valuable a member.
Transcribed
11-17-15 Marilyn
R. Pankey.
Source:
History of the State of California &
Biographical Record of Coast Counties, California by Prof. J. M. Guinn, A.
M., Pages 883-884. The Chapman Publishing Co., Chicago, 1904.
© 2015 Marilyn R.
Pankey.