San Joaquin County
Biographies
WILLIAM SMITH FOWLER
WILLIAM SMITH FOWLER, Chief
of Police, of Stockton, California, was born near Hillsborough, Orange County,
North Carolina, April 29, 1832, a son of William and Elizabeth (Smith) Fowler,
both natives of that State. The father died of pleurisy in 1847, aged about
forty-two years; the mother in 1863, at the age of fifty-two years.
Grandparents on both sides lived to an old age, grandmother Smith being
eighty-eight years old and grandmother Fowler still older, reaching nearly a
hundred. Grandfather Smith’s name was Charles C. Great-grandfather Reuben Smith
and Mark Fowler were soldiers of the Revolution, and both were buried with
military honors, Mr. Smith dying about 1838, just within the limits of our
subject’s earliest recollections. The immediate ancestry on both sides were
farmers.
W. S. Fowler, the subject of this sketch,
was reared on a farm, and received some little schooling in winter. In his
sixteenth year he went to Ross County, Ohio, in the spring of 1848, in the
employ of an enterprising speculator, who dealt largely in hogs. These ranged
in large droves through the woods of Ross County, and were then driven, when in proper condition for
the market, to Cumberland, Maryland, the railroad terminus, and thence by rail to the
seaboard markets. Having made two such trips our subject returned to his home
in North Carolina, by way of Stanton and Danville, Virginia, and in 1849 engaged as a teamster in hauling iron
and cotton. He again went to Ross County, December 31, 1849, doing a little
farm work until the spring of 1850, when he moved to Morgan County, Indiana,
where he was engaged in farm work until the spring of 1851, taking, however,
three months’ schooling in Mooresville. In April, 1859, he made a horseback
trip by way of Cincinnati to Chillicothe, Ohio, chiefly to visit his friends in Ross County, returning to Indiana and proceeding thence to Springfield, Illinois, where he arrived June 1, 1851. Spending that season
in farm work in Chatham, Illinois, he then went to Peoria County, and remained
during the winter of 1851-’52 at Chillicothe, Illinois, being sick a part of
the time, and engaged in farm work when able. Early in March, 1852, he went by
steamboat from Peoria to St. Louis, Missouri, where he witnessed the reception of Kossuth. There,
too, he formed the purpose of coming to California, and started to see some
relatives residing in Ray County, Missouri, below Independence, which was on
the great overland ox-team route to this coast. After a brief illness and a
short visit he set out afoot on the great journey by way of Independence, Kansas City and Parksville, where he worked a short time
packing ice. Proceeding thence to Weston via Platte City, he found opportunity to engage in farm work near
that city, remaining until January, 1853. He was then hired to superintend farm
work for the manual-labor school of St.
Mary’s Indian Mission on
the Kaw river, near the Vermillion, some eighty miles west of Fort
Leavenworth. He there remained planting and raising crops from
January to July, when he hired as teamster on a merchant-train of twenty-four
wagons on its way from St. Louis to Salt Lake City. After a journey of
seventy-four days they arrived in that city, October 10, 1853. With nine others
similarly inclined Mr. Fowler formed a company, and buying a team and supplies
they set out for Los
Angeles by the
southern route, October 20, 1853. At the crossing of Severe river they fell in
with the Government surveying party under Captain Gunnison, and their escort, a
company of dragoons under Captain Morrison. The murder of both captains and ten
of their men by Indians at Severe lake is a matter of history, and its effect
on our party was of course discouraging. Helping to bury the dead, the
surveyors pushed on to Fillmore City, where they remained several days, when the surveyors
returned to Salt
Lake City.
Starting forward again with only two horses left and a limited supply of
provisions, they soon abandoned wagon and horses and set out in light marching
order with the scanty remnant of their provisions--a few large loaves of bread
crudely-baked--on their backs. With no meat, no salt, no tobacco, and a weary
journey of 300 miles, including Death valley and Mojave desert before them, the prospect was certainly discouraging.
They made about thirty miles a day, and were three days crossing the desert,
with no chance to replenish their supplies. In such circumstances a very little
help acquires great importance, and they were delighted to pick up some beans,
evidently dropped from a torn sack in some wagon that had proceded them. It was
very little, perhaps ten beans a day to each of them, but it helped when all
else had been exhausted. They succeeded in traveling along almost exhausted
until they reached the Cucamunga ranch, where they were treated with the utmost
kindness by the Spanish family who occupied the ranch. In three days more they
arrived in Los
Angeles,
December 8, 1853. Mr. Fowler’s first job in California was putting up a wire fence for Judge Drydon, then County Judge; next a month’s labor in the Sansevain vineyard, at
$30 and board. The alleged discovery of gold at Pasadena drew him to that place
in February, 1854, and he worked at digging a ditch of one mile and a half long
near Sierra Madreville, staying in that section until May. He then hired out to
drive a band of cattle to upper California, by way of Santa Barbara, Paso Robles, Monterey and Pacheco Pass, to Stanislaus County. In June he tried mining in Tuolumne County, but soon relinquished it for harvesting at $4 a day,
near Farmington, in this county. After harvest he worked awhile at
threshing, and before the close of the year went to mining in Calaveras County. He continued that industry at Fourth Crossing and
Angel’s Camp until June, 1857, when he was carried away by the Rogue river
excitement to hunt for gold in Oregon. He prospected from Crescent City to Jacksonville, Josephine County, and the upper Klamath river, when the unfriendly attitude of the Modoc Indians
made it undesirable to linger. He next went to Yreka and there mined a little,
and then to Weaverville, where he mined that winter, doing fairly well. In
March, 1858, he came to Shasta City, and prospected extensively in that county, but
without success. Next by stage to Red Bluff, by boat to Sacramento, and again by stage to Mokelumne Hill. In May, 1858,
after his return from Oregon and arrival in Mokelumne Hill, he crossed the Sierra
Nevada mountains and prospected extensively for gold and silver in Nevada
(then in Utah territory), with varied success. After much hardship
and privation in the snows of the Sierras and the deserts of Utah, he returned
to San Andreas, and resumed mining near that place.
Mr. Fowler came to Stockton in 1868, and has resided here since. He first served
as clerk in the Avenue House, over a year, then in a grocery store six months.
In 1870 he opened the “Young American” on his own account, and conducted it
until 1874, when it was replaced by the Commercial Hotel. He then opened the Arcade,
now the Commercial Saloon and Billiard Parlors, in which he has been associated
since 1879 with the manager of the Commercial Hotel, under the style of Hahn
& Fowler. Was elected a member of the Common Council in 1878; served two
years. Was chairman of the fire and water committee.
Mr. Fowler was elected Chief of Police in
1882, and re-elected the following year. Under the new charter, adopted in
June, 1889, he was appointed Chief of Police by the board of police and fire
commissioners, July 15, 1889, for a term of two years. Mr. Fowler has made two
trips to the East; the first in 1884, when he visited his brother, Levi Y., a
planter in Texas, and John R., in Holmes County, Mississippi, both older by two
and four years, respectively, than himself. Proceeding on his trip he reached
his birthplace in North
Carolina, thence to Baltimore, Washington, New
York, the great lakes, Chicago
and Salt Lake City, with an ease and comfort that was in striking
contrast with the manner in which he made his way to this coast a generation
ago. In 1888 he made a second trip, visiting Texas, Kansas, Askansas (sic) and
Missouri.
Transcribed by: Jeanne Sturgis Taylor.
An Illustrated History of San Joaquin County,
California, Pages 518-520. Lewis Pub.
Co. Chicago, Illinois 1890.
© 2009 Jeanne Sturgis Taylor.
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