Sacramento Valley Biographies

JOSEPH BOUND 

Transcribed by Sally Kaleta, July 2009.

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


  
        About two miles east of Butte City lies one of the extensive and 
well-improved estates of Glenn county, aggregating sixteen hundred acres, a 
portion of which is under cultivation to grain, while the balance is utilized 
for the pasturage of horses, mules, cattle, hogs and sheep. Not only is the 
place one of the most attractive homesteads of the locality, but the men to 
whose energy its cultivation is due, Joseph Bound and Samuel Picknell, are 
remembered as farmers of more than ordinary ability and citizens possessing the 
highest principles of honot. Though they came to California without means, by 
the exercise of industry and perseverance they accumulated properties of 
considerable value and became men of influence in their community. 
      A native of Ohio, Joseph Bound was a small child when his parents followed 
the westward trend of emigration and became pioneers of an unsettled and 
undeveloped portion of Indiana. There, as a boy and man, he lived on a farm, 
learning the principles of agriculture and gaining a place of honor among other 
agriculturists. When gold was discovered in California he arranged his affairs 
so as to permit of departure from Indiana, disposed of his possessions in that 
state and in 1850 crossed the plains, a journey accomplished without special 
incident. For a few years after his arrival in California he worked in the 
mines, but with that exception all of his life was devoted to agricultural 
pursuits. During his early experience as a farmer in the west he cultivated land 
across the river from Butte City, with a Mr. Watkins as partner. Eventually, 
under the firm name  of Bound & Picknell, he acquired considerable land with 
Samuel Picknell, and the two men continued in partnership from 1867 until about 
1881, meanwhile acquiring nine hundred and sixty acres of excellent farm land. 
      Two years after the death of his partner Mr. Bound was united in marriage 
with his widow, Mrs. Picknell, and afterward continued to reside on the home 
place until his death, which occurred in 1892. His body was interred in the 
Butte City Cemetery. The death of a good citizen is always a distinct loss to 
his community, and the passing of Mr. Bound was mourned by friends and 
acquaintances. Though he had not been active in politics, he was a man of 
decided opinions and believed the platform of the Republican party conducive to 
the greatest good to the greatest number; hence he gave its candidates his 
support at all elections, yet personally he cared little for politics and at no 
time in his life did he care to accept official responsibility. 
  
"History of the State of California and Biographical Record of the Sacramento 
Valley, Cal.," J. M. Guinn, The Chapman Publishing Company, Chicago, 1906, 
Pages 967-971.