Yuba
County
Biographies
JOHN QUACKENBOS PACKARD
The
city of Marysville honors the name of John Q. Packard not only because of his
splendid gift of the free library building, but also because of his sterling
character, high ideals and his worthy accomplishments. Though he shunned publicity or notoriety of
any sort, he, perhaps unconsciously, won a permanent place in the hearts of the
people of this community which years will never efface. Mr. Packard was born at Johnstown, Fulton
County, New York, November 26, 1822, and was therefore eighty-six years of age
at the time of his death, which occurred at his home in Santa Cruz, California
in 1908. He was a direct descendant of
the Packard family of Holland. He
received a common school education and when eighteen years of age went to work
as a clerk in a silk house in New York City.
When the discovery of gold in California was heralded to the world he
was attracted to the western coast and came with others, by way of the Isthmus
of Panama, thence on the old “Equator” to San Francisco, where he arrived after
a journey of eighty-seven days. He went
to the San Joaquin district and worked in the mines at Jacksonville. He made a number of prospecting trips, during
which he endured many privations, then returned to San Francisco and leased a
lot on Montgomery Street, on which he erected a wooden building, in which he
opened a mercantile establishment. Later
he sold that business to a partner and came to Marysville, which was at that
time a center of mining activities.
Forming a partnership with Colonel Edward Woodruff, they engaged in a
general mercantile business, which proved a successful venture and in which
they continued together until the flood of 1862, when they sold out. In the ‘70s, while the two were en route to
New York, Mr. Packard became interested in Salt Lake City and acquired an
interest in the Eureka Hill mine, in the Tintic
district. Later, when he and his brother
Joseph bought a controlling interest in this mine, he became the president and
manager, which dual position he held until 1895. He located other mines in the district and,
as a result of his good judgment and foresight, was rewarded with immense
returns from these investments. In the
meantime he had continued his partnership with Colonel Woodruff, this being
terminated only with the death of Woodruff in 1899.
In
1900 Mr. Packard returned to Marysville and, though he spent much of his time
at his fine home in Santa Cruz, not long before his death he sold large
holdings and water rights to the De Sabla Syndicate for power purposes. Besides his holdings in Santa Cruz and
Nevada, Mr. Packard owned several extensive tracts in Yuba and Sutter counties. In spite of his years, he remained hale and
hearty to the end. A man of plain and
honest qualities, he was uniformly respected by all who knew him and no
resident of this section of the state stood higher than he in public esteem.
In
1905 he gave evidence of his love for the community in which he had practically
begun his successful business career, as well as his philanthropic spirit, by
donating to the city of Marysville the sum of seventy-five thousand dollars to
be expended for a library building. In
accordance with his wish, there was no celebration of the gift, which he
forbade, though a delegation of women waited upon him with the request that
some ceremony be held in dedication of the magnificent building. At the setting of the cornerstone, though his
wishes for no ceremony were acceded to, the contractor, H. Dewar, the San
Francisco architect and the subcontractors, together with a number of citizens,
saw to it that a place was made in the great piece of stone for the usual
copper box. Into this box were placed a
number of current coins, business cards of the interested firms, a brief
history of the building, and local conditions at the time of the erection of
the building. The history that was
placed in the box was written by Colonel Edwin A. Forbes, who later became the
head of the National Guard in California.
Copies of the Marysville Democrat and the Marysville Appeal were placed
in the box. Further than this there was
no ceremony at any time in connection with the building. When the library was turned over to the city,
the gift was acknowledged in the adoption of the plainest form of resolution
that could be prepared, no adjectives of praise or other laudatory words being
permitted.
Mr.
Packard was a life member of the Society of California Pioneers and served as
president of the Pioneer Association of California. He did his full part in every relation of
life, without thought of reward or applause, and was in a very definite way a
factor in the development and upbuilding of the west. A characteristic phase of his mental makeup
was shown in his expression of gratitude to the two communities in which he had
achieved his greatest business success, Marysville and Salt Lake City. Just prior to his gift to the city of
Marysville, he had made a similar donation of seventy-five thousand dollars to
the Utah metropolis for library purposes.
He was unostentatious in every thing he did and public applause was very
distasteful to him. Today the only thing
about the Marysville library that might indicate to a stranger his connection
with the institution is the splendid enlarged photograph of him which was
secured through the efforts of Richard Belcher, attorney, of Marysville, and
which occupies a place over the desk of the librarian.
Transcribed by
Gerald Iaquinta.
Source:
Wooldridge, J.W.Major History of Sacramento Valley
California, Vol. 2 Pages 459-461. Pioneer Historical
Publishing Co. Chicago 1931.
© 2010
Gerald Iaquinta.
Golden Nugget Library's Yuba County Biographies