San
Joaquin County
Biographies
MRS. SARAH EMMA BURGESS
A woman of much native business
ability who is making a success of the profession she has chosen in Mrs. Sarah
Emma Burgess, who has been a resident of California since December 4, 1868. She is a native of Iowa, born at
Maquoketa. Her father, Levi S. Preston,
was a native of Pennsylvania.
Grandfather Colburn Preston was born in Vermont and he married Sarah
Webber. He was a veteran of the War of
1812, while Great-grandfather Preston served in the Revolutionary War.
Levi S. Preston migrated to Iowa
when a young man and was married at Maquoketa in 1857 to Viola Haswell, also
born in Pennsylvania, a daughter of Nathan B. and Ruth (Webber) Haswell,
natives of Vermont. Nathan Haswell was
an educator in Pennsylvania and was also a writer and newspaper man. Viola Haswell was engaged in teaching in
Iowa. The young couple farmed in Iowa
until 1868, when Mr. Preston, removed to Eagleville, Harrison County, Missouri,
where he farmed for two years and then brought his wife and three children via
New York to Aspinwall, then crossed the Isthmus to Panama City and thence by
steamer to San Francisco, landing on December 4, 1868. For a time he followed farming near
Brentwood, Contra Costa County, and later he resided for a time in Stockton,
but spent his last days in Redwood City.
His widow survived him until 1918, passing away in Stockton at the home
of Mrs. Burgess.
This worthy couple had seven
children that grew up, five of whom are living and Mrs. Burgess is the second
oldest. Coming to San Francisco when six
years of age, she well remembers the long journey and interesting experiences
of the trip. A studious child, she
obtained a good education in the public schools of Contra Costa County. Her marriage occurred in San Francisco April
7, 1882, when she was united with Philip H. Burgess, a native of Massachusetts,
born at Ashburnham, near Lynn, October 24, 1848, a son of Joshua and Susan
(Piper) Burgess, who were descended from an old Puritan family. In 1856 the Burgess family removed to
Mankato, Minnesota, where Philip was reared on the farm. History tells of the Indian massacre in that
region during the period of the Civil War, but fortunately the Burgess family
lived some distance back from the river, the line of the Indians’ route of
massacre, so they were saved. However,
this stirred the patriotism of young Philip and he left his books and
volunteered in the spring of 1864 enlisting in Company C, 11th
Minnesota Volunteer Infantry, being sent into the South where he served
faithfully with his command until after the close of the war, being mustered
out in the summer of 1865 after a year’s service and still only a boy of
sixteen years. The following incident
shows the difference in the treatment of the soldier boys of that day and the
present: When he was returning on the
train it was so crowded he as obliged to ride on top of the caboose and he went
to sleep and woke finding himself on the edge of the car with his feet dangling
over the side and caught himself just in time to save himself from falling.
On his return home he continued employed
there until 1875, when he came to Contra Costa County, California, engaging in
farming near Antioch until 1883, when he located in Stockton. For four years he
followed the building business and then July 21, 1887, entered the postal
service as a letter carrier, being the first letter carrier sworn in in Stockton. Here he
continued faithfully doing most efficient work for a period of thirty-three years,
when he was retired on a pension. He had
been a student of Christian Science for many years and was a very successful
practitioner, so after he retired he gave all of his attention to his practice,
serving two different periods as second reader at the Christian Science
Church. He passed away on May 10, 1922,
mourned by his family and many friends, and particularly of Rawlins Post No.
23, G. A. R., of which he had been a member for thirty-six years.
Mrs. Burgess had for a number of
years been interested in pension work, aiding the old veterans and widows of
veterans to secure pensions, and in 1917 she was admitted to practice before
the Department of the Interior at Washington, and since then as pension
attorney has practiced here and has been very successful in her work, her
office being at her home, 1643 South San Joaquin Street.
The union of Mr. and Mrs. Burgess
was blessed with three children: Irvin
H. died in 1900; Herbert and Dwight E., the latter one of the leading
contracting painters in this city. They
also adopted a niece, Lois E. Burgess, now the wife of Archie C. Toal; they have one child, Vivian Esther. Mrs. Burgess is very prominent in civic and
social circles having taken an active part in temperance work in connection
with the W. C. T. U., and is a past noble grand of Rainbow Rebekah Lodge No.
97, Stockton, as well as a member of Rawlins Relief Corps No. 23, and Roosevelt
Circle, Ladies of the G. A. R. She is a
member of the Christian Science Church and is a staunch Republican.
Transcribed by Gerald Iaquinta.
Source: Tinkham, George
H., History of San Joaquin County, California , Pages
862-867. Los Angeles, Calif.: Historic
Record Co., 1923.
© 2011 Gerald Iaquinta.
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