San Francisco County
JOHN S. CAPRON
JOHN S. CAPRON began his residence in California in February,
1846. He was born in Norfolk, Virginia,
February 9, 1825, and is a son of John and Lucie (Sanders) Capron. His father was of French extraction, while
his mother was a Virginian by birth.
There were five children in the family, of whom John S. is the eldest
and the only surviving one; the brothers lost their
lives in the Confederate service. Mr.
Capron was educated in South Carolina, but has supplemented his first
instruction with the cultivation of a naturally keen observation. At the age of fourteen years he left the
parental roof, going to Florida, where he was drummer boy in the Florida
war. When the war was ended he went to
Waterford, Connecticut, where he worked on a farm; next he went on a whaling
expedition, his vessel arriving in San Francisco in February, 1846; there were
then only a few adobe houses, and there was little promise of the present city. In 1847 he returned to the East, but in 1849
came back with the crowd of gold-seekers.
He afterward went to the mines at Beaver river,
Rose’s and Foster’s Bars; the adjoining claim to the last named was then worked
by the noted Jim Stewart, one of California’s pioneer robbers.
Mr.
Capron, with four companions, met with excellent success in the mines, often
taking out from $300 to $500 per day at Selby Flat. When this ceased to yield good returns he
abandoned mining and engaged in packing and driving cattle and horses to
British Columbia, meeting with the same success that had attended his efforts
in the mines. He next went to Sierra county and engaged in quartz mining, but this was a
disastrous venture, and he lost most of the money he had made. In 1860 he came back to San Francisco, and
then went to Nevada City, where he bought and sold lands; here fortune again
favored him, and he accumulated a considerable amount of wealth. He has now retired from active business and
has resided in San Francisco since 1883.
He
was married in 1875 to Miss Laura Nay of Massachusetts, who is of Scotch
lineage. Her people were early settlers
of Massachusetts, and were well educated and occupied positions of trust and
honor. The editress
of Gody’s Ladies’ book was an aunt of Mrs.
Capron. During the war Mr. Capron was a
Union man, and his political convictions are mainly Republican, although he is
independent in his voting. He is
well-informed on all the leading topics of the day, and there is probably no
pioneer who has a greater or more choice stock of
reminiscences of early days than he. He
has a wide circle of friends and is deserving of the respect that is everywhere
paid him.
Transcribed by Donna L.
Becker.
Source: “The Bay of San
Francisco,” Vol. 2, Page 647-648, Lewis Publishing Co, 1892.
© 2006 Donna L.
Becker.