San Joaquin County
Biographies
CHRISTOPHER C. CASTLE
CHRISTOPHER C. CASTLE is a
native of Delaware
County, New York, where he was born March 27, 1828. He remained with
his parents until twenty years of age, when he started for California. His brothers determined to come also; accordingly
they supplied themselves with horse teams; they fitted out for the journey in
Grant County, Wisconsin, and crossed the Missouri river May 7, 1852. They crossed at the spot where Omaha now stands, when there was but a chimney there, the
last remaining remnant of an old Mormon settlement. They had a pleasant and
uneventful journey across the plains, arriving at Placerville on the 1st of August, 1852. Christopher
and his brother James went to Ford’s Bar, where they mined all winter, making
from $5 to $30 a day. The next spring six of them clubbed together and flumed
the river, which they completed in about six weeks; they took out $9,000 in
gold. In the fall they went to a place called Johhstown, between Coloma and Georgetown, and went into the hotel business. In a few months
they sold out, returned to Ford’s Bar, and again flumed the river, but did not
make much.
In the fall of 1854 Mr. Castle came down
to this valley and settled near French Camp. He engaged in farming, raising
grain. The first wheat he raised sold for four cents a pound barley the same.
At the end of nineteen months his brother James joined him and they went into
partnership. In the winter of 1859 Christopher went back East, and was there
married to Miss Almeda Harelson, returning in the spring of 1860 with his
bride. In the fall of 1861 he and his brother sold out the place and
discontinued their partnership. Mr. Christopher Castle bought the place on
which he now resides. The ranch contains about 1,193 acres, part tule land,
situated on the lower Sacramento road, five miles north of Stockton, on the Mokelumne grant. The place is devoted to
general farming and stock-raising; on this land as high as seventy-five bushels
to the acre have been raised, which speaks very well for its productive
qualities.
In 1863 he lost his wife, who died leaving
him two daughters, both now married, one residing in Stockton, the other in Tulare. That same year Mr. Castle went into Mexico, superintending some mines there, making four trips,
occupying in all three years--during the time of the Maximilian war. While
going from the mines to Mazatlan
he was halted five times while passing through the lines and compelled to show
his passes, one from each of the Mexican and the French armies. On one occasion
the Mexicans pointed two guns at his head and took him prisoner, holding him
four days in a small mountain village. He was set at liberty from the prison,
but not from the village for a time, when he had to board himself, having to
pay such extortionate prices as $4 a pound for coffee. At Mazatlan afterward he
was closely questioned by the French commander-in-chief there in regard to the
Mexican army, and as he refused to give much information, the commander became
indignant; but on being informed by Mr. Castle that he was an American citizen
attending to his own business and not desiring to act as spy for either
government, he released him. At another time, when Mr. Castle was riding from Mazatlan to the mine in company with three men--Captain Coming, James Burtis
and a Chilian who had lived in Mexico several years--they were stopped by a band of
bushwhackers, who demanded money. The Chilian immediately passed over his
money; but, notwithstanding Mr. Castle had $1,000 upon his person, the party
informed the brigands that they had barely money enough to pay their expenses
to their destination, borrowed the Chilian’s money, divided it among the four
and gave it to the robbers, and thus got rid of them.
Politically, Mr. Castle has always been a
strong Democrat, and has been on several occasions a member of the State and
county conventions. In connection with his farming he has also been more or
less interested in mining. He is president of the Royal Mining Coin Calaveras
Company, and of the Stockton Gravel Mining Company, in Siskiyou County. He has taken two trips to the East, one in 1876 to
the Centennial Exposition, and the other in the fall of 1886, when he attended
the Knight Templars’ Conclave held in St. Louis, he being
a member of that body. On this last trip he paid a visit to his aged mother,
who is now living in Wisconsin at the advanced age of ninety-eight years. The Castle
family is a long-lived race of people, particularly on the maternal side. Mr.
Castle has eight brothers and sisters, all of whom are living at the present
time. In educational matters Mr. Castle has always taken an active part and in
more ways than one his judgment and assistance has been seen and felt to the
benefit of the district in which he lives. He has filled the position of school
trustee and clerk for over twenty years, consecutively, until he resigned. He
was again united in marriage, September, 1867, to Sophie Bush, a native of Canada,
who came to California in 1860. They have a family of six children, four
daughters and two sons.
Transcribed by: Jeanne Sturgis Taylor.
An Illustrated History of San Joaquin County,
California, Pages 356-357. Lewis Pub.
Co. Chicago, Illinois 1890.
© 2009 Jeanne Sturgis Taylor.
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