San
Joaquin County
Biographies
JOHN C. DUTTON
Among the agriculturists who have
reaped the usual rewards that fall to the pioneer in any practical industry may
be found John C. Dutton, the owner of a ranch of thirty-nine acres on the
Cherokee Lane, about eight and a half miles from Stockton, where he has
continuously resided for the past forty-eight years. A native of Illinois, he was born in Lawrence
County on August 17, 1842, a son of William and Eliza (Bryan) Dutton, the
former a native of Somerset, Ohio, and the latter of North Carolina. Early in young manhood, the father removed to
Illinois and was a pioneer farmer of that state. John C. Dutton is one of a family of eight
children. The mother passed away in
1861, when she was about fifty years old and the father survived her until
1864, passing away at the age of sixty years.
John C. Dutton had very little
opportunity for an education, being obliged to assist his father on the
farm. In 1861, he enlisted for service
in the Civil War in Company H, 51st Illinois Volunteer Infantry,
under Capt. Daniel Grass, Colonel Fry and General Thomas. He trained for one week and was sent into
action in the Army of the Cumberland and later in the Western Army; he was in
eleven engagements, but was never wounded; he was in the battle of Murphysboro,
Tennessee, and the fall of Vicksburg. At
the end of three years he was discharged and then re-enlisted for the duration
of the war and was finally discharged on December 10, 1865, at Nashville,
Tennessee. Returning to civil life, he
worked for awhile for wages, then rented eighty acres
of farming land until 1868, when he came to California via the Panama route,
settling first at Santa Rosa, where he remained for six years working for
wages. He then removed to San Joaquin
County and purchased his present ranch forty-eight years ago where he has since
made his home. His first purchase
consisted of 103 acres of grain land, but from time to time has sold portions
of it until he now owns thirty-nine acres, seven acres of which is set to
vineyard and the balance is devoted to the raising of grain with ample building
space.
The marriage of Mr. Dutton occurred
in Stockton on December 6, 1881, and united him with Mrs. Nettie Williamson
Potter, born in Calaveras County, a daughter of James and Elizabeth (Lewis)
Williamson. James Williamson came to
California in 1852 from Illinois, driving an ox-team across the plains and
became a farmer in Calaveras County; later he removed to Arizona and passed
away there. Mrs. Dutton was educated in
the Milton and Knights Ferry schools.
Mr. and Mrs. Dutton are the parents of two children: Chester, who died in 1919, married Miss Alma McQuator and they had one daughter, Dolly May. Edna May, Mrs. Raymond Burson,
resides at Suisun and they have five children:
Ralph, Floyd, Ellsworth, Zelma May and Paul. Mr. Dutton is a member of the Hartford Post,
G. A. R., of Lodi, and of Charity Lodge No. 6, I. O. O. F., and politically is
a Republican.
Transcribed by Gerald Iaquinta.
Source: Tinkham, George
H., History of San Joaquin County, California , Page
471. Los Angeles, Calif.: Historic
Record Co., 1923.
© 2011 Gerald Iaquinta.
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