James Achilles Douglas
The Douglas family are of Scotch origin. The
great-grandfather of our subject, James Douglas, came from Scotland
to the United States long before the Revolutionary war, and after
the war settled in Abermarle County, Virginia, at the foot of the
Blue Ridge Mountains, five miles from Charlottesville, and near what
was afterward known as the residence of Thomas Jefferson. The
grandfather of the subject of this sketch was a soldier in the
Revolutionary war, and he also had two brothers in the war. The
Douglas family continued to make that section of Virginia their home
until 1839, when the grandfather, with a part of his family,
emigrated to Missouri, two of the sons locating in Cooper County,
and a daughter also in that county, while the grandfather, James and
William J., the father of our subject, and John J. Douglas, located
in Howard County. William J. and John J. were in the war of 1812,
and participated in the battle of New Orleans. Thomas Douglas, one
of his grandfather's brothers, went from Virginia to Tennessee in
the early settlement of that State and remained there. Beverly
Douglas, his grandfather's brother, also at an early date settled in
Kentucky. William J. Douglas, his father, was a farmer in Missouri,
and raised hemp and tobacco, and died in Howard County in 1875, at
the age of eighty-seven years, and his father was ninety-four years
old when he died, never having had a day's sickness during his life,
never eating more than two meals a day and some days but one meal;
he was strong and active, never lost a tooth, and at the time of his
death did not have a gray hair in his head. In William J. Douglas's
family there were three daughters and one son.
The mother of
the subject of this sketch, whose maiden name was Ann Bridgwater,
was born and raised in Richmond, Virginia; and her family is
probably of German descent. She died in Virginia in 1827.
James A. Douglas, the subject of this
article, was born in Albermarle County, Virginia, on the old
plantation, near Charlottesville, March 24, 1827, and therefore was
a babe when his mother died. His father, being a farmer and a
slave-owner, gave James into the care of a favorite black nurse, who
cared for his wants, etc. His father and grandfather moved to
Missouri in 1839, while young James was left behind and went to
school in Virginia until 1842, when he also went to Missouri. At
length he served an apprenticeship of two years and nine months
learning the saddlery business, becoming a competent journeyman. He
did all the fine work of the shop, some of which was placed on
exhibition and drew the first premium in St. Louis; but he soon
abandoned the trade, went to St. Louis and took a position on a
river steamer as second clerk, and at the same time began studying
the science of river piloting. He was promoted through clerkships to
the position of pilot, where he commanded a salary of $250 a month.
At the end of five years he bought a drove of mules in Missouri and
drove them to Texas and sold them at a profit; and while he was in
that State he saw the first gold dust from California, brought there
in a goose-quill, and he immediately resolved to come to the mining
region here.
Returning to his home in Howard County, he
found his train had been gone eight weeks; he started in company
with John Lowrey, now of Sonoma County, and hurried on until they
overtook the train this side of Fort Hall, in Montana Territory.
In Mr. Douglas's mess were nine men, all young and unmarried,
and full of life.
They landed at Sacramento, August 14,
1849. During the following autumn they built a cabin at Hangtown and
followed mining there that winter. In the following spring the
company divided, several of them going over on the Middle Yuba at
Washington and mining there during the summer.
In October Mr. Douglas went down to the bay with a
brother-in-law who came a little later, and another gentleman named
Lewis Walker. His brother-in-law, Allen Rains, disliked this
country, and started back to the East. While waiting for the steamer
at San Francisco, and on the very day it was to sail, the subject of
this sketch was tempted also to buy a ticket and go with him; and
all three went back together. On board the vessel Mr. Douglas was
taken sea-sick, and at Acapulco they all three left the ship, bought
mules and started across Mexico, a distance of 700 miles; while at
the city of Mexico they stopped ten days, and hired a guide to take
them all over the old battle-grounds. At Vera Cruz they boarded a
little schooner, which took them and thirty-seven other passengers
to New Orleans, being seventeen and a half days on the way. In
February, 1851, Mr. Douglas left New Orleans again for California,
visiting en route his people in Missouri and coming by way of ship
to Acapulco, at which place he and another party bought a hotel and
conducted it for seven months, making considerable money - $14,000.
Coming on to Yolo County he spent the ensuing winter on Cache Creek.
In March he and three other men went to German Bar on the Middle
Yuba, where they had a fine supply of water and followed mining; and
while thus engaged news reached them of a new place called the
Minnesota Diggings, whither 5,000 people congregated within ten days
after the discovery of gold there.
In 1852 Mr. Douglas quit mining, came down to the valley and
again entered the mule trade. He again went back to the Atlantic
States in October, and in the spring of 1853 brought a drove of
horses and mules across the plains to California. In 1854 he
went to Oregon for the purpose of mining, but changed his mind,
and, in company with another man, went to packing, making
journeys from Crescent City, in Oregon, to Jacksonville, and at
that time there was a hostile Indian behind every tree on the
trail. Although he made considerable money in this business, yet
it was accomplished by much hard work and exposure, and within
five months he returned to the Sacramento Valley. In 1855 he was
elected Sheriff of Yolo
County, and served four years, and on October 24, 1860, he married
and settled on Cache Creek; but his place there he at length sold,
and he bought a quarter section of land a mile northwest of
Woodland, put up a fine, large residence on it and made it his home
for about seven years. He sold out again, at a good advantage, and
moved to Woodland, in 1878, where he has since resided. His
homestead on Third street consists of five acres. His residence,
which he put up in 1884, cost $10,000, including the ground, and is
one of the most elegant in the city. Mr. Douglas is a true type of a
Southern gentleman, - hospitable, genial, social, and a good
financier. In politics he was a sound Democrat. He was arrested
April 5, 1865, as a citizen prisoner by sixty United States soldiers
and taken to Fort Alcatraz in the bay of San Francisco, and wore a
ball and chain twenty-four days for expressing his Constitutional
rights and was released on May 4, 1865, without any trial by court
either martial or civil, and without any charges being preferred
against him, or without taking the iron-clad oath. O, justice, what
a jewel!
October 24, 1860, is the date of Mr. Douglas's marriage to
Sallie A. Moore, who was born in Platte County, Missouri, March 24,
1842, and came to California in 1853, with her parents. They settled
first in Sacramento County, and moved to Yolo in 1857. Mrs. Douglas
died May 24, 1889, the mother of four daughters, the youngest of
whom is deceased. Her death is a very great loss to the family, - a
severe one in every sense of the word.
Transcribed by Kathy
Sedler, July 2004.
SOURCE: Memorial and Biographical History of
Northern California, The Lewis
Publishing Company, 1891. pg.
316-318
Any contributions will be
gratefully accepted
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