San
Joaquin County
Biographies
DEAN JEWETT LOCKE
The name of Dean J. Locke is
synonymous with many of the influences and movements that have had to do with
the upbuilding of San Joaquin County, and his name has been perpetuated in the town
which he founded and in which he made his home for nearly forty years, or until
his death. He passed away in Lockeford
May 4, 1887, at the comparatively early age of sixty-four years, mourned alike
by old and young, all honoring and respecting him for his large accomplishments
and loving him for his genial, kindly nature.
The records state
that the Locke family is of English origin, and was established in the
United States during colonial times by Deacon William Locke, of Woburn,
Massachusetts. From him the line is
traced to Calvin Locke, who was born in Ashbury, New Hampshire, in 1765, and
who in February, 1796, married Sarah Jewett.
Their son Luther was born in Sullivan County, New Hampshire, in the
latter part of the year 1796, and in that vicinity the greater part of his life
was passed. Four children were born of
this marriage with Hannah Willard, as follows:
Luther Franklin, who graduated from Middlebury, Vermont, College, and
also from Cambridge Medical College; Dean Jewett, Elmer Hall, and George S.
The second child in the paternal
family, Dean Jewett Locke, was born April 16, 1823, at Langdon, Sullivan
County, New Hampshire, where his father was a trader and owned a store in
partnership with a brother. Dean Jewett
received his early education in the schools of his native town. At the age of fourteen years he attended the
academy at Langdon, paying his tuition by his services as janitor of the
building, ringing the bell and keeping the fires supplied with wood through the
long snowy winter time, and performing the same work for the people with whom
he boarded, in payment for his board.
Thus early in life he was engaged in earning his own living, with
characteristic energy and determination.
Later, in order that he might further pursue his studies, he taught
school, beginning when he was seventeen years of age, at Tewksbury,
Massachusetts. With the money which he
had accumulated in this way he attended the first State Normal School in
Bridgewater, Massachusetts, and after graduating from it, he taught in the high
school of Pawtucket and Worcester, Massachusetts, until he entered Harvard
College, graduating from the medical department of this institution in
1849. It had been his intention to
settle in the east and follow his profession, but the discovery of gold in
California during the year of his graduation turned his thoughts toward the
Golden West instead. On April 16, 1849,
he with a party of twenty-five friends started across the plains for California,
the party being incorporated as the Boston and Newton Joint Stock
Association. Dr. Locke served in the
capacity of physician to the company and received his transportation in
exchange for his services. Five months
of weary marching finally brought the little party to their destination,
Sacramento, where they arrived September 16, 1849. What is now one of the principal cities of
the state and its capital as well, was at that time a settlement of tents and
rudely constructed shacks. Here Dr.
Locke practiced medicine for a short time, after which he went to the mines at
Downieville, on the American River. It
is safe to say that his anticipations as a miner were not realized, for he had
been there only a short time when he gave up mining, and coming to San Joaquin
County, took up a tract of land whereon is now located the town of Lockeford,
having first paid a good price for it to the parties who had purchased a
pretended Spanish grant, and afterward being required to buy it from the
government at the regulation price of $1.25 per acre. Dr. Locke settled on what was known as Yankee
Hill just north of Lockeford in 1851, and maintained a ford across the
Mokelumne River, to guard against quicksand in the summer; and during the
winter time, when the river was too high to ford; he ran a ferry boat across
the river. Dr. Locke built the first
house in Lockeford. After the town was
started a name was needed; and as the ford across the river was called Locke’s
ford, at the suggestion of his wife the “s’ was dropped and the town named
Lockeford, which name it has since borne.
In 1854 Dean J. Locke returned east
and on May 8, 1855, was united in marriage with Miss Delia M. Hammond, a native
of North Abington, Massachusetts. The
wedding journey of the young people brought them to Lockeford, California, July
1, 1855, and they set up housekeeping in a house which Dr. Locke erected in the
autumn of that year. On their return
from the east Dr. Locke and his wife were accompanied by the former’s father,
Luther Locke, who became the first postmaster of the town in June, 1861, and
who here rounded out his long and useful life, passing away in 1866, at the age
of nearly seventy years. Thirteen
children were born of the marriage of Dean J. Locke and his wife, named in the
order of their birth as follows: Luther
J.; Ada; Nathaniel Howard; Horace Mann; Ida; Mary, deceased; William Willard;
Hannah; John Calvin, who passed away in Brooklyn, New York, and who was
superintendent of street paving at the time of his demise; Edward Moore;
Eunice; George Hammond; and Theresa.
Mrs. Locke is living in Lockeford at the age of eighty-seven years. All of their children received an excellent
education, for Dr. Locke was a staunch advocate of furnishing the younger
generation with good school advantages, and as a member of the board of
education of the town he was able to accomplish considerable along this
line. None of her citizens were more
public-spirited or philanthropic than was Dr. Locke, whose greatest happiness
seemed to be in advancing the growth and upbuilding of the town, to which he
gave a number of lots for the erection of churches and schools. Himself a temperate man in every sense of the
word, never having used liquor or tobacco in any form, he was a staunch
advocate of temperance and was an unwearied worker in the cause throughout his
life. During his early life he voted the
Whig ticket, but later, when the Republican Party was formed, he voted for its
candidates. He passed away in the town
which he had founded, May 4, 1887, at the age of sixty-four years, loved and
honored by his fellow citizens. Mrs.
Locke is still living at the old home place, and at the age of eighty-seven is
enjoying very good health. She has a
record of temperature and weather, taken three times a day, as well as a record
of happenings of the Lockeford locality since her arrival in 1855.
Transcribed by Gerald Iaquinta.
Source: Tinkham, George
H., History of San Joaquin County, California , Pages
547-548. Los Angeles, Calif.: Historic
Record Co., 1923.
© 2011 Gerald Iaquinta.
Golden Nugget Library's San Joaquin County Biographies
Golden Nugget Library's San Joaquin County Genealogy
Databases