San
Joaquin County
Biographies
MRS. SUSAN J. FREDERICK
A prominent and highly esteemed
California pioneer, Mrs. Susan J. Frederick has been a resident of San Joaquin
County for nearly her entire lifetime, having witnessed as much of its development
and growth as probably any other living resident, and the large success gained
by herself and husband, the late Thomas Frederick, was entirely earned by
steady industry and business management.
She was born near Memphis, Scotland County, Missouri, September 24,
1855, a daughter of William H. and Barbara E. (Dye) Crow, both now
deceased. William H. Crow, familiarly
known throughout his locality as “Uncle Billy,” was born in 1819 in Kentucky,
but was reared in Pike County, Missouri; whither his parents had removed in the
early ‘30s. He was next to the oldest in
a family of eight boys and one girl. On
February 2, 1843, William H. Crow was married to Miss Barbara E. Dye, born in
1828 in Morgan County, Ohio, a daughter of John and Nancy (Archer) Dye, farmer
folk who settled in Missouri when their daughter, Barbara E., was a small
girl. After his marriage, William H.
Crow continued to reside in Scotland County, Missouri, where he became a
successful stockman, remaining there until 1850.
News of the gold discovery in
California having reached Missouri William H. Crow’s father, Capt. Walter Crow,
lost no time in organizing a company, among which were his two youngest sons,
and of which he was made captain. They
brought a large number of cattle with them.
The two sons remained in California, but Walter Crow returned to his
home in Missouri via the Isthmus; the next year, 1850, he came out again, and
brought four more of his sons with him, one of whom was William H. Crow, the
father of the subject of this review.
The journey was completed successfully, the party stopping at Shaw’s
Flat, Tuolumne County, where they disposed of their stock at fancy prices to
the miners. Capt. Walter Crow died in
Sutter County in 1850, but William H. Crow opened a butcher business at Shaw’s
Flat, which he conducted until 1855. He
made three trips in all across the plains.
His second trip was in 1852 when he brought his wife and one child with
him. Of their four children the oldest
was Walter J. Crow, who was born in Missouri and was the only child who
accompanied the parents on their trip out from Missouri in 1852; the second,
Emma J., is the widow of the late Judge Prewett and
resides at Auburn, Placer County, California; the third was Susan J., the
subject of this review, who was born while the parents were back in Missouri;
and the fourth, Lewis B., was born after the parents returned to California,
and is a prosperous rancher near Sanger, Fresno County, California. The oldest son became a rancher near Hanford,
where he died. Returning again with his
family to California in 1857, and crossing the plains for the third time,
William H. Crow finally settled permanently on the Stanislaus River, near
Ripon, twenty miles south of Stockton, where he took up land, to which he added
from time to time, until he became an extensive land owner. Transportation was made in those days
overland and by river boats. One boat,
the Clara Crow, plied the San Joaquin and Stanislaus rivers to San Francisco
and Stockton for many years. The boat
(for a single trip) reached what is now known as Riverbank, but at that time
was known as Burneyville. Of William H. Crow’s brothers and sisters,
there were eight brothers and one sister in all. The two brothers and one sister remaining
back in Missouri moved out to California in 1865 with their families. Six of the Crow brothers settled in
Stanislaus County and one, James A. Crow, settled in Stockton, where he passed
away. In 1865 the mother of our subject
passed away at the River Ranch and subsequently William H. Crow married Mrs. (Virda) Trolinger, a sister of
John Jones of Escalon. William H. Crow
was a Democrat in politics and for many years was an active Mason in the
Modesto lodge. He passed away at the
River ranch, July 29, 1884, his widow surviving him until 1906. The extensive land holdings of William H.
Crow (900 acres in all) have been sold in small ranches and the section is now
under a high state of cultivation. Lewis
B. Crow and our subject, and Emma J., the widow of Judge Prewett
of Auburn, California, are the only surviving members of the William H. Crow
family. Judge Prewett
was the administrator of the large Crow estate.
For thirty-two years he had served as superior judge of Placer County
and when he passed away on July 7, 1922, he was justly mourned by a large
circle of friends and the public in general, whom he had served so long and so
faithfully. He was survived by his widow
and two children, William J. and Nellie E.
On September 1, 1872, Miss Susan J.
Crow was married to Thomas Frederick, born January 27, 1849, near South Bend,
Indiana, and was a babe in arms when his parents removed to Iowa. He was a boy thirteen years old when he came
to California as a member of his stepfather’s family. After his father’s death his mother was
married to Elias Nutt, who became a prominent grain farmer in the Ripon section
of San Joaquin County. Thomas Frederick
received his education in the old San Joaquin school and in young manhood
acquired 160 acres in the Jackson district of Stanislaus
County; later he exchanged this with William H. Crow, the father of our
subject, for a fine quarter section two miles west of Ripon. At that time only one house had been erected
between this quarter section and the town of Ripon and in those pioneer days
the mail was brought from the station known as Morrano,
two miles north of Ripon. A store was
erected at Ripon in 1857 and conducted by a Mr. Crook, who gave the village its
name after his home town in Wisconsin.
The first house erected by Mr. Frederick on his ranch was a small
cottage, then in 1875 was replaced by a much finer
residence and in 1886 remodeled into a fine house, where the family resided
until 1904. Four children were born to
Mr. and Mrs. Frederick: Genoa resides in
Ripon; Charles is represented in this work; Hattie resides at home in Ripon;
and Lulu, now Mrs. H. L. Dickey, has two children. Mr. Frederick was active in the development
of Ripon; he organized the Ripon Lumber Company; was one of the organizers and
a director in the Bank of Ripon and was active in the development of irrigation
in this section. In politics he was a
Democrat and fraternally was a charter member of the Mt. Horeb
lodge of Odd Fellows. In 1904 the family
removed to Stockton and located at 324 West Park Street, where he passed away
suddenly July 4, 1920. Mrs. Frederick
later returned to Ripon, where she built a home on Orange Avenue. She retains her interest in the Bank of Ripon
and is an active member of the First Congregational Church, to which she contributes
liberally of her time and means. Mrs.
Frederick is held in high esteem, and the kindly social qualities with which
she is endowed wins for her the friendship and good will of all.
Transcribed by Gerald Iaquinta.
Source: Tinkham, George
H., History of San Joaquin County, California , Pages
559-560. Los Angeles, Calif.: Historic
Record Co., 1923.
© 2011 Gerald Iaquinta.
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