San
Joaquin County
Biographies
URBAN J. MUNSON
A general feeling of regret was
expressed when that pioneer of 1850, Urban J. Munson, passed away on January
31, 1898, at the old home place near Atlanta, San Joaquin County,
California. He was born near Calais,
Maine, in 1832, and in the early ‘50s came with his father, Moses Munson, via
the Nicaragua route to California, going direct to Jamestown where they engaged
in mining for a livelihood; later, in the early fifties, he and his father acquired
large land holdings near Atlanta which they farmed to grain and stock. In those pioneer days, the country was wild
and unsettled, there were no fences and their stock ran over the hills and
valleys unobstructed. Their first house
was built of logs hewn from the virgin forests and constructed with great
difficulty. Growing up with the country,
he became deeply interested in all matters of growth and improvement along
educational, political and social lines; he was a stockholder in the Farmers’
Union in Stockton and the Grangers Union and the Grangers Bank in San
Francisco.
Mr. Munson’s marriage united him
with Mrs. Cynthia Davenport Cookson, a native of Worcester, Massachusetts, a
daughter of Gary Davenport who was born in Rhode Island, where he married
Catherine Pratt. The Davenport and Pratt
families are of English descent, dating back to the Puritans. Mrs. Munson’s maternal great-grandfather,
General Trask, was an officer in the Revolutionary War. Gary Davenport was a machinist. He served in a New Jersey regiment in the
Civil War, being mustered out as a sergeant.
He and his good wife came to California in 1871, engaging in farming at
Atlanta, where they spent their last days.
They were the parents of two children:
Mrs. Cynthia Munson and Mrs. Evelyn Harrelson. Mr. and Mrs. Munson’s union was blessed with
the birth of one son, Arthur J., a well-known farmer of the county. He was born on his father’s ranch at Atlanta
on March 12, 1878, and was educated in the district school located on their
home ranch. During 1911 he removed to
Stockton where he now resides.
Fraternally he is a member of Charity Lodge No. 6, I. O. O. F., and
Stockton Parlor No. 7, N. S. G. W.
On the death of her husband, Mrs.
Munson sold a quarter section of the home place to the Western Pacific Railroad
and deeded a quarter-section to her son, Arthur J., which he farms to grain,
and the remaining one-half section she still retains and leases to her son by
her first marriage, Samuel T. Cookson; this home place is improved with a fine
residence and farm buildings. Some
eleven years ago, she removed to Stockton and invested in lots and erected four
residences, which she still owns and which produce a good income.
Mrs. Munson’s first marriage
occurred in Maine in 1870, uniting her with Capt. Samuel G. Cookson, a native
of Belfast, Maine, who followed the sea for a livelihood, working up until he
was master of vessels. His first trip to
California was made in the early ‘60s, sailing around Cape Horn and he was so
enamored of the beauties of California that he gave up his seafaring life and
when he married they came to California via Panama and settled on a farm at
Atlanta where he raised grain extensively.
He retained his membership in China Lodge, A. F. & A. M. in China, Maine,
up to the time of his demise. They were
the parents of two children: Samuel T.,
born on the ranch at Atlanta and now engaged in farming. He married Miss Elsie Ritter, a native
Californian and they have one daughter, Norma.
The second son, Walter M., was for many years with the Holt
Manufacturing Company in Stockton but now is associated with his brother,
Samuel T., farming the home place of the Munson’s. Mrs. Munson in 1920 built a residence at
Pacific Grove, where she spends her summers.
Transcribed by Gerald Iaquinta.
Source: Tinkham, George
H., History of San Joaquin County, California , Pages
592-595. Los Angeles, Calif.: Historic
Record Co., 1923.
© 2011 Gerald Iaquinta.
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