San
Joaquin County
Biographies
CHARLES E. NEEDHAM
When Charles E. Needham passed away,
San Joaquin County lost an influential and progressive citizen, one who had
resided in the county since 1867, when he removed from his native state of Vermont
to California and settled near Banta, where he took up a homestead. He was born in Vermont, December 1, 1829, a
son of Charles and Minerva (Porter) Needham.
The ancestry of Charles E. Needham is traced in a direct line from
Anthony Needham, an Englishman, and his wife, Anna Potter Needham, who were charged as Quakers on June 25, 1658, and were duly
persecuted. They were the progenitors of
the Needham family in America, which has been traced in a direct line through
succeeding generations to the present time by H. C. Needham, a well-known
attorney of New York City. The Needham’s
were men of military habits and, despite his Quaker faith, Anthony, Sr., was
corporal of the Salem Old Troop in 1665, and in 1675 he served during King
Philip’s War as a lieutenant under Captain Nicholas Manning of Salem. He had a son Anthony, and it is said that he
was the first white settler within the present town of Wales, Hampden County,
Massachusetts, where he settled in 1726.
The next in line was Jeremiah Needham, born in 1741 at South Brimfield,
Massachusetts, where he was town clerk in 1765.
He was also a sergeant in Capt. Daniel Winchester’s company, Col. Ruggle’s Woodbridge’s regiment, serving from August 17,
1777, until November 29 of that same year, with the Northern Army; he was also
a private in Capt. John Carpenter’s company of guards from June 24 to August 4,
1779, and was stationed at Springfield, Massachusetts. Jeremiah had a son of the same name who moved
to Vermont in 1805. The next in line was
Charles Needham, the father of our subject, born in 1800, who moved to DeKalb,
Illinois, in 1854, where he engaged in raising Morgan horses from the famous
Black Hawk stock; in 1855, with his son, he opened up Gibson’s Addition of 320
acres to DeKalb, and he also played a prominent part in the early development
of agriculture in that state.
Charles E. Needham married Miss
Olive L. Drake, born in Crown Point, New York, but they grew up on Lake
Champlain and he crossed the ice in winter to do his courting. In 1862, leaving his wife and three children
in the east, he crossed the plains to California and engaged in ranching in
Santa Clara County, but being a strong abolitionist, he determined to go east
to lend his aid in freeing the salves.
He did return to Illinois intending to join the Northern forces but his
three children were of tender years and he was persuaded that his first duty
was to his wife and family. With his
wife and family, he set out with an emigrant train for the Golden state, as
soon as he could, and it was en route that their fourth child, James Carson,
was born at Carson City, Nevada. They
reached their destination at Mayfield, Santa Clara County, in the latter part
of 1864, and Mr. Needham resumed his ranching operations. He was a strong Whig and Republican and was a
personal friend of Gen. John C. Fremont.
It is said that he wept bitterly when he heard of the defeat of Fremont
for the presidency in 1856, and he never shaved his beard thereafter. Six children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Needham: James Carson Needham, a prominent citizen of
Modesto, an ex-congressman and at present judge of the Superior Court of
Stanislaus County; Harry B., employed in the U. S. Customs office in San
Francisco; Cyrus H., a rancher at Patterson; Myrta L.
is the wife of W. G. McKean and resides in Berkeley; Lillian V. is the wife of
William E. Holman, a rancher near Farmington, San Joaquin, County; Luella G.
became the wife of James T. Holman, and also lives near Farmington. Mr. Needham was public-spirited in citizenship,
was trustworthy in business, faithful in friendship, and in home was most
devoted to the welfare and happiness of his family. Many were his good qualities and few his
faults. He loved truth and justice and
represented a high type of American manhood.
Transcribed by Gerald Iaquinta.
Source: Tinkham, George
H., History of San Joaquin County, California , Pages
555-556. Los Angeles, Calif.: Historic
Record Co., 1923.
© 2011 Gerald Iaquinta.
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