California Genealogy

Among the pioneers of Merced County none had a more eventful career than Henry F. F. Salau, who made his home five miles southwest of Los Banos. He was a prominent rancher and stockman in California, and few had touched at as many ports of the world as had Mr. Salau while he was sailing the seas. He was born June 3, 1835, at Kiel, Germany, the son of John and Catherine (Kremhoff) Salau, also natives of that same place. The mother died in 1854 while the father lived to reach the age of sixty. He was a weaver by … Read more

One of the most prominent citizens of the West Side of the San Joaquin Valley, now a resident near the city of Los Banos, is J. Miguel Arburua, who is living retired after many years of useful activity. He was born in the Basque Province of Etchlar, in the Pyrenees, Spain, on November 24, 1844, and received a limited education, so practically what he received was obtained from contact with the world. He came to the United States and California, via Cape Horn in 1866, taking six months to complete the journey. He had no money and his only assets … Read more

Another of the native sons of the Golden State who has made his influence felt in agricultural circles is Joshua Casaretto, now living in retirement on his ranch on Bear Creek about three miles from Merced. He was born at Hornitos, Mariposa County, on April 19, 1859, a son of the late Giuseppe and Catherine (Daneri) Casaretto, the former born in Genoa, Italy, and the latter at Chiavari. Giuseppe Casaretto left his native country in 1852 and came by way of Panama to California to make his fortune in the mines, but after trying his luck until 1855 he decided … Read more

Few men have had a more interesting, as well as serviceable career than the late Capt. Henry George James, a native of Camborne, Cornwall, England, and the son of William and Elizabeth Eva James, who had three sons, all born at Camborne, the others having been Edward and William. The elder James, a blacksmith by trade, was a member of an English exploring company which visited South America, and having accidentally broken his ankle, he was carried over the Andes Mountains lashed to a chair strapped to the back of a stalwart native. Returning to England, he immigrated to the … Read more

Few among the names of those pioneers who did the big things in helping to develop and build up California into the Golden State have come to have half the fascination of romance and glamour of renown that surround the honored name of Henry Miller, the cattle king of California and father of Los Banos, whose story is the narrative, like that of a fairy tale, of the remarkable career of a man whose industry, intellect and integrity conquered one of the most promising, and in truth one of the richest empires on the face of the earth. A butcher … Read more

One of the oldest living of the pioneer women of Merced County is Mrs. Louisa Jane Stevinson, daughter of that pioneer Isham J. Cox, of Cox’s Ferry fame on the Merced River and one of the stanch upbuilders of the county from its beginning. Isham J. Cox was born in Tennessee, went to Shelby County, 111., and thence to Texas, and with ox-teams and wagons came overland to California, arriving at Hill’s Ferry in March, 1850. He went to the gold mines on Sherlock’s Creek, Mariposa County, and met with more than ordinary good luck; and when he returned to … Read more

As city marshal and tax collector of Merced, Merced County, Charles Mortimer French is sustaining the reputation for ability and judgment, energy and thorough qualification for holding public office won entirely by his own efforts. In 1908 he was elected to the office of city marshal, and in addition to this he holds the position of tax collector for the city. His birth occurred in Augusta, Kennebec County, Me., on July 13, 1864, a son of Hayden Winfield and Felicia Hemans (Gould) French. Hayden Winfield French went to Montana in 1865, after having served in the Civil War. In 1868, … Read more

The late Adam Kahl will be gratefully remembered by posterity as one of the foremost men of his day in Merced County, where he located in 1860 and established what has come to be known as the Kahl Ranch, near Plainsburg, along Mariposa Creek. From the time of his settling here he was active in every organization and movement that would be of benefit to the ranchers and help towards bettering the condition of the people of the county and State. He owned a ranch of 2000 acres and this he had improved with a splendid set of farm buildings … Read more

As justice of the peace of Township No. 1, in Merced County, Irwin Jay Buckley is rendering efficient service to his constituents. He was born in Mount Pleasant, Iowa, November 17, 1845, and represents the eleventh generation from Peter Buckley (spelled by him Bulkeley), who came from England in 1635 and was educated at St. Johns College, Cambridge, England, of which he was a fellow for some time. He was rector of Woodhill for twenty-one years, and having, through his non-conformity, come into conflict with Archbishop Laud, emigrated to Cambridge, Mass. In 1636 he was the principal founder of Concord, … Read more

Among the outstanding pioneers of Merced County there were none more widely known than the Stevinsons, father and son, Archibald W., and James J., who both were called “Colonel” by their intimate friends — not as a military title, however, but partly because they were from the South, and partly because of their participation in the Mexican War. James J. Stevinson was born in Boone County Mo., on November 6, 1828, the son of Archibald and Charlotte Stevinson. When he was five years old his mother died, and he and an older sister were placed with an uncle, Samuel Stevinson, … Read more