Colusa County Biographies

JAMES BALSDON

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            This gentleman is one of the most prosperous farmers of Grand 
Island.  He is a native of Indiana and born in 1824.  He came to California in 
1852 by way of New Orleans and the Isthmus.  He stopped over on the voyage in 
Central America and then renewed his journey in the �North America� but was 
wrecked ninety miles from Acapulco.  He reached San Francisco May 3, 1852, tried 
mining and met with little success and then concluded to try farming.  Hearing 
of Grand Island and meeting with Samuel Morris, who owned ten thousand acres of 
land at the head of the island, he proposed leasing to Balsdon all the land he 
wanted at one-fifth of its product, but afterward proposed to sell any part at 
four dollars and a half an acre.  Balsdon then bought three hundred and sixty 
acres and began cultivating it in the fall of 1853.  He remained there eight 
years and then sold out to E. Fisher.  He purchased, in 1861, a squatter�s title 
to three hundred and twenty acres and took up four hundred acres.  He purchased 
in addition several other large tracts and now his home farm embraces in all 
nineteen hundred and twenty acres.  This place is five miles from the railroad 
and four from the river, thus affording two outlets for the shipping of his 
products.  He has raised in one season as high as eighteen thousand bags of 
wheat and barley.  He has a large and handsome residence, built in 1871, 
surrounded by a natural grove, which is a home of contentment and prosperity.  
He is also very much interested in the cultivation of fruits.
            Mr. Balsdon was married, in San Francisco, November 20, 1866, to 
Mrs. Lauretta Tripp, of Townsend, Vermont, by whom he has had two children, 
though Mrs. Balsdon was the mother of two children by her previous marriage.
 
�Colusa County� � by Justus H. Rogers � Orland, CA � 1891 � pp 368-369


 
         One of the most prominent and influential men who
have ever lived in the Sacramento valley was James Balsdon, whose parents
were natives of England. His father died a few weeks before he was born, and
his mother was later married to George Barnard. She died in May, 1850,
leaving no children by her second marriage. Of the four children born of her
first marriage, all died except James, who was born at Evansville, Ind.,
February 16, 1824, spending his boyhood on a farm, the stay and support of
his mother. His education was obtained in the public schools.
        On January 6, 1852, Mr. Balsdon started to California via New
Orleans and Panama. After a delay of a couple of months in Central America
he took passage on the North America, which was wrecked ninety miles from
Acapulco, but he finally reached San Francisco on May 3, 1853, going from
that city to the mines, but finding mining unprofitable, he visited San
Jose. Not being favorably impressed with the prospects in that vicinity he
returned to San Francisco, where he met Governor Johnson, who advised him to
go to Davis-ville, but hearing of the Grand Island country, and meeting
Samuel Morris who lived on the island, and who offered to sell him land
there at $4.50 per acre, he purchased three hundred and sixty acres, now the
Farnsworth place, and began farming there in the fall of 1853. After
remaining on this farm eight years he sold it to E. Fisher, and in 1861
purchased a squatter's title to three hundred and twenty acres, to which he
added from time to time, buying adjacent land, until he laid the foundation
for one of the finest estates in Colusa county. This he improved and brought
to a high state of cultivation, building private levees to protect and
reclaim the land, and was one of the most active men in Reclamation District
No. 79, which built the levees that reclaimed all of the rich land in Mormon
Basin. He was also a leader in Recla-mation District No. 108, of which he
was a director until his death. He was one of the most successful and
extensive farmers in the Sacramento valley, and became proprietor of many
large and valuable farms covering several thousand acres. He was a self-made
man, winning his way to fortune by his own energy and perseverance, and
bringing his undertakings to a successful issue by hard work and wise
management. He was ever ready to lend a helping hand to others, to aid all
enterprises that tended toward the uplifting of his fellowmen, and was
public spirited in every sense of the word. Personally he was a man of great
ambition and high ideals, having a disposition that won the confidence and
respect of all with whom he came in contact. He was a great reader, and
this, together with his wonderful memory, rendered him a delightful and
interesting conversationalist, and he could talk intelligently upon any
subject that might be introduced. In the Baptist Church, of which he was a
member, he was an active and interested worker. Politically he was a stanch
Republican, but could never be induced to accept public office. Endowed by
nature with rare gifts of mind, he became a great influence for good in his
community, and was very active in educational affairs. About 1898 he located
in Colusa, where he remained until his death, although during the last five
years of his life he was an invalid. As early as 1871 his farm showed many
signs of the thrifty hand that managed it, among them, a beautiful and
substan-tial residence erected in a natural grove of native oaks about four
miles from Grimes, and though his house was built thirty-four years ago, it
is still in a good state of preservation and is one of the largest and the
most comfortable homes in Colusa county.
          Mr. Balsdon died January 10, 1904, when nearly eighty years of
age. He was married in San Francisco, November 20, 1866, to Miss Laureta
Brigham Tripp, who was born in Townshend, Windham county, Vt. Her father,
Moses Brigham, was also born in Vermont and died in that state in 1855. Her
paternal grandfather, Ebenezer, was born in Massachusetts, and was one of
the first settlers of Vermont, where he was a pioneer farmer. He married
Judith Hazleton of Massachusetts. Mrs. Balsdon's mother was a member of the
old Oaks family, of English descent, and the daughter of Calvin Oaks, who
was in the Revolutionary war, and one of the early settlers of the state of
Vermont. Mrs. Balsdon is the only one living of seven children. Two of her
brothers came to California. Ebenezer and Calvin, the latter dying in this
state, as did a sister, Emeline. Mrs. Balsdon was the youngest child, and
was brought up in Vermont and educated at the Townshend Academy under
Frances Wayland. She was married first in Townshend, Vt., in 1856, to James
Campbell Tripp, who was born of an old New England family, at Grafton, Vt.,
where he was a schoolmaster. In addition to his school duties he also
engaged in farming until 1858, when he and his wife came to California by
way of the Isthmus of Panama. He engaged in the produce business for a time,
but finally returned to the east on account of ill health, and died there
November 11, 1864. Two children were born of this marriage, viz: Alfred
Brigham, who died at seven years of age; and Alice Eugenia, who married
James E. Scarlett and resides in Yolo county. Three children were born of
the second marriage, as follows: James Hamilton, who is a large farmer on
Grand Island on the old home place; Emma Laureta, who is the wife of Hartley
Green, of Oakland; and Anna Elmira, who married Fred W. Schutz, and resides
near Berlin, Colusa county. Mrs. Balsdon is a member of the Baptist Church,
toward the support of which she is a liberal contributor.

"History of the State of California and Biographical Record of the
Sacramento Valley, California," J. M. Guinn, The Chapman Publishing Co.,
Chicago, 1906, Pages 283-284.

Transcribed by Sally Kaleta, March 2009