San
Joaquin County
Biographies
HARTMAN LITTEBRANT
An interesting pioneer of Stockton
is found in Hartman Littebrant who was a continuous resident of Stockton from
1852 and was ever active in the progress and prosperity of the city and
county. A native of New York, he was
born in Schoharie County on April 6, 1832, of old Knickerbocker stock descended
from Holland Dutch settlers of New York.
His mother died when he was only an infant and he was reared by friends
until he was ten years of age when he went to live with his grandmother and
remained with her for a time; then he went to Prattville, New York, to live
with a married sister and was with her until he was eighteen years of age,
during which time he attended the local schools. About this time he met a friend who was
coming to California and was told that he could go along, so with a party of
five men, sailed from New York City on September 6, 1852, and landed in San
Francisco, California, on October 6, 1852, coming by the way of Panama, and
immediately went to Stockton, arriving there on October 8. For a time he tried mining in Tuolumne
County, but not meeting with great success, he returned to Stockton and later
became the partner of Mr. Cory in the livery business. During 1861-62 he was located on Main Street,
the present site of the Yosemite Theater; in 1862 he bought three lots on Main
Street near American Street and erected a building and was engaged in the
livery and feed business with George Aylesworth;
during the early days they operated a stage line from Stockton to Copperopolis
and during the Civil War, had a stage line from Stockton to Placerville,
California. Later Mr. Littebrant engaged
in the mercantile business at the corner of Main and Sutter streets with N. J.
Salisbury as a partner. In 1876 Mr.
Littebrant accepted a position in the U. S. Mint in San Francisco and remained
there until 1885; he returned to Stockton and served as deputy sheriff of San
Joaquin County under Sheriff Tom Cunningham for six years.
The marriage of Mr. Littebrant
occurred in Stockton in 1861 and united him with Miss Catherine Cunningham, a
native of Ireland who came to California in 1856 and passed away November 4,
1904. They were the parents of three
children. The late General William T.
Littebrant had a brilliant career in the U. S. Army and died very suddenly
while commanding officer at Camp McClellan at Anniston, Alabama, July 2,
1919. In 1884 he entered West Point and
was graduated in 1888 as a lieutenant of infantry; later he was transferred to
the cavalry on account of his fine horsemanship. During the Spanish-American War he was in
Cuba, attached to the quartermaster’s department, and was later stationed at
the Presidio in San Francisco and in Monterey and other western posts; during
the World War he was promoted to the rank of brigadier-general and trained an
artillery division at Camp Fremont; he was married and had two daughters, Laura
K. and Marion E. The second child is
Miss Christine, who has been a teacher in the Stockton schools for eighteen
years. The third child was Catherine L.,
who was also a teacher until she married Mr. McCoy. She passed away leaving three children: Winifred, Lillian F. and William I. T.
In 1862, Mr. Littebrant bought three
lots on the corner of Stanislaus and Market streets and erected his home on the
corner lot; later, in 1882, he moved his house to the lot next to the corner
and erected the Winifred apartments.
This property is still in possession of the family. He was a member of the Volunteer Fire
Department in the early days; he served as a member of the city council for two
terms from the Third Ward. Fraternally
he was the oldest member of the Stockton lodge of Odd Fellows, No. 11, the
lodge conferring on him a medal for being the oldest living member. Mr. Littebrant passed away at the home of his
daughter Christine February 19, 1922, and was buried under the auspices of the
Odd Fellows. He was a man of a strong
constitution and his mental faculties were alert until his taking away only six
weeks before reaching his ninetieth year.
He was a great reader and kept abreast of the times and was an
interesting and ready talker and naturally had a host of friends in the county,
where he had resided for seventy years.
Transcribed by Gerald Iaquinta.
Source: Tinkham, George
H., History of San Joaquin County, California , Pages
560-563. Los Angeles, Calif.: Historic
Record Co., 1923.
© 2011 Gerald Iaquinta.
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