Stanislaus
County
Biographies
GABRIEL L. RODDEN
Each community is judged by the
character of its representative citizens, and its social, intellectual and
business standing is determined thereby.
The sterling worth, commercial ability and enterprise of the leading men
are mirrored forth in the public life of the town, and therefore the history of
the people of prominence is the history of the community. No account of Oakdale would be complete
without the life record of Gabriel Lindsay Rodden, a man whose public spirit is
manifested in his many efforts to improve the conditions and promote the
upbuilding of the town. Throughout a
period of forty-seven years Mr. Rodden has been numbered among the residents of
northern California, his home being now in Oakdale, Stanislaus County.
He is a native of North Carolina,
born near Charlotte September 15, 1823.
On the paternal side he is descended from an old family of that state,
while on the maternal side he represents an equally old Virginian family. Both of his grandfathers served in the
Revolutionary War. Jackson Rodden, his
father, was born in North Carolina in 1788, and was married in that state, to
Miss Mary Corum, who is closely connected with the
historic Settle family of North Carolina.
One of her brothers was a soldier in the War of 1812 and was killed at
the Battle of New Orleans. Six children
were born to them in North Carolina, after which they removed to Tennessee and
there four children were added to the family.
Subsequently he, with his wife and three children, took up his abode in
Arkansas, but he was not long permitted to enjoy his new home, for at the end
of one year he departed this life in 1852, being then sixty-four years of
age. His wife long survived him and
attained to a ripe old age.
Mr. Rodden of this review acquired
his education in Tennessee, and afterward engaged in teaching there for a
year. Subsequently he was for eight
years a teacher in the subscription schools of Alabama. In 1853 his health failed and he was advised
to seek the climate of California. From
the Isthmus of Panama he journeyed to the land of sunshine. On reaching the Pacific coast he made his way
direct to Sonora, Tuolumne County, where in connection with some of his Tennessee
friends he engaged in mining at Columbia, but they met with very moderate
success and accordingly he secured a situation as clerk in a store owned by Mr.
Moss. Afterward he became the proprietor
of the Sierra Nevada House, which he conducted for its owner, being paid by the
month for his services. Subsequently he
again tried mining at Sonora, but made little more than his expenses. He next went to the mountains, where he
engaged in making sugar pine shakes and shingles, that enterprise proving a profitable
one and occupying his attention until 1856.
He then engaged in teaming from the mountains to Columbia, Sonora,
Knight’s Ferry and Jamestown with oxen.
In 1857 Mr. Rodden returned to
Alabama to wed his sweetheart, Miss Elizabeth Ditto, a native of that state and
a daughter of William Ditto. With his
bride he again started for California, by the Isthmus route, accompanied by one
of his wife’s brothers. After their
arrival they lived for some time in the mountains, where Mr. Rodden had
pre-empted a claim, and later they took up their abode in Sonora, where he
built a good residence. For some years
he was engaged in freighting from Stockton to Sonora and Columbia and also in
Mariposa County. While residing in the
mountains the Indians stole his neighbor’s oxen and with a party of others he
went in pursuit of the red men, and when they found them discovered that one of
the oxen had been killed and partially eaten.
Shots were exchanged and some of the Indians were struck, but were
carried off by their unwounded comrades.
The pursuers, too, had several narrow escapes, but succeeded in driving
away the red men and securing the stolen stock, after which they returned in
safety.
Mr. Rodden was often in Oakdale
between 1871 and 1879, and in the latter year he took up his permanent abode in
the town. He continued in the
transportation business until the building of the Sierra Railroad and met with
gratifying success, accumulating a handsome competence which enables him to
live retired from active business, the interest on his capital being sufficient
to supply him with all the comforts and many of the luxuries of life. He has a nice home in Oakdale, where he and
his good wife reside in peace beneath the shade of beautiful fruit and
ornamental trees which they have planted.
Their union has been blessed with five children, four of whom are yet
living, namely: Mary, now the wife of D.
B. Warfield, of Oakdale; Lizzie, who for the past thirteen years has been
successfully engaged in teaching; William A., a money-lender and a notary
public; and Edward, who is engaged in business with his brother William, under
the firm name of Rodden Brothers.
Mr. Rodden of this review has been a
life-long Democrat, but he has never sought or desired office. The cause of education has ever found in him
a warm friend and he has done much to promote the efficiency of the
schools. He served as a trustee for
twelve years, and while in Sonora had the honor of organizing the public school
under the school law of California. He
was also the clerk of the school meeting in that city and was secretary of the
first school meeting held in Tuolumne County.
Transcribed by
Gerald Iaquinta.
Source:
“A Volume of Memoirs and Genealogy of Representative Citizens of Northern
California”, Pages 689-690. Chicago Standard Genealogical Publishing Co. 1901.
© 2011
Gerald Iaquinta.