Tuolumne County Biographies

DOCTOR C. E BLAKE

Submitted by: Nancy Pratt Melton

This file is part of the California Genealogy & History Archives
http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~cagha/index.htm

This gentleman, whose portrait appears in this work, is of good English stock, 
the records of his ancestry dating back to the sixteenth century, at which time 
they inhabited Little Baddow, in Essex, England. It is recorded that William 
Blake, of that family, came to America in 1630, and, settling at Dorchester, in 
Massachusetts, became the progenitor of the numerous Blakes of New England.  In 
the language of the chronicler of that day, he "possessed an ample estate.�  In 
direct line between him and the sub�ject of this sketch stand the names of 
Edward, Ebenezer, Ebenezer the second, and Luther, who were respectively 
great-great-grandfather, great-grandfather, grandfather, and father of their 
living descendant.  Of these, the grand�father, born in 1732, was a man of note. 
 In early life a soldier, he served in the French and Indian wars preceding the 
Revolution, much of the time being under the imme�diate command of George 
Washington.  He fought val�iantly at the engagement known as Braddock�s Defeat, 
where the Father of his Country first evinced his talent for command.
There is in the possession of the present Dr. Blake a curious relic�a 
powder-horn�which belonged to his warrior ancestor, inscribed with the name of 
Ebenezer Blake and the words �Fort Cumberland,� a post of great im�portance in 
that war.  Ebenezer Blake�s sons, Eleazer and Luther, were both men of 
prominence. The former, styled Deacon, and so regarded in the traditions of the 
family, was an active participant in the Revolutionary war, serving therein six 
years, and taking part in the siege of Boston, the hanging of Andre, and other 
occurrences which are now of historical interest.  As before mentioned, the 
father of C. E. Blake was Luther, who was born in 1775.
Dr. Blake was born in Massachusetts, in 1823, on No�vember 22d. He came to 
California by way of New Orleans and Panama, leaving the former place on the 
steamer Fal�con, in company with Dr. Gwin, Gregory Yale, and others who have 
since become well known in this State.  Being detained for some weeks at Panama, 
on account of the lack of transportation, it was only by taking passage on a 
sailing vessel that he, with a large number of fellow-passengers, were enabled 
even then to reach San Francisco.  As it was, the passage occupied seventy days, 
and was full of inci�dent, inconveniences and discomforts, even sufferings, 
arising from insufficient food and water.  To such a state or desperation were 
the passengers driven, that a pros�pective mutiny was in progress during the 
whole voyage.  Finally arriving in San Francisco on January 10, 1850, the Doctor 
proceeded to Sacramento and secured employment in painting the now historic 
steamer Senator, then lying at that city.  During that year he visited the mines 
at Foster�s Bar and Trinity, at the latter region a �boom� being in progress.  
In September, 1850, he arrived in Tuolumne County.  His first labors were in 
digging a ditch in Sonora, near the business house of Page, Bacon & Co., and he 
was so fortunate as to strike a rich lead, while engaged on the ditch, which was 
the first considerable find yet discovered.  The Doctor relates that in one day, 
the six who were part�ners took out twelve pounds of gold.
Beginning in 1851 to practice dentistry, the Doctor opened the first dental 
office in Sonora, on the ground where the old adobe building afterwards rose, 
adjoining the present store of O�Brien.  During the half dozen years of his stay 
in Sonora, the Doctor made frequent changes of his place of business, as were 
made necessary by the fires which ravaged the town, burning the gentleman�s 
office three or four times.  Leaving Sonora in 1857, he has re�sided since in 
San Francisco, practicing his profession.
The Doctor�s family consists of his wife, who was born Miss Laura Hands, and is 
a native of New York, and their five children: Alfred E., born October 16, 1861; 
Sherman T., born November 21, 1864; Louis S, born April 10, 1866; Laura May, 
born June 29, 1867; and Robert Johnson, born July 20, 1875.

�A History of Tuolumne County, CA� B.F. Alley, 1882.  Appendix Pg. 10-12.