Colusa County Biographies

Irving Woodbridge Brownell

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



            Irving Woodbridge Brownell was born at New Bedford, Massachusetts, 
October 10, 1826.  In November, 1848, he went to Peoria, Illinois, where he 
wintered, making preparations to leave for California.  In the following April 
he began his trip over the plains, driving an ox-team.  On crossing the Missouri 
River from St. Jo, he fell in with the company whose outfit numbered twenty-two 
wagons, and with them he made the long journey.  He arrived at Weaverville, 
California, on August 27, 1849.  He spent a year endeavoring to woo fortune to 
his pan and shovel along Weaver Creek and the Yuba and American Rivers, but the 
uncertainties of this pursuit were not to Mr. Brownell�s taste.  He next went to 
Yolo County and located on some land between Knights Landing and Cacheville.  
Here he farmed and raised stock till August, 1859, when he purchased a bunch of 
sheep and eighty acres of land from M. Sparks, on Stony Creek, and made a 
location on an adjoining tract.
            Mr. Brownell returned to Massachusetts by the overland stage in 
1861, and in September of that year he was united in marriage to Miss Lois R. 
Smith.  Shortly after this event he returned, accompanied by his wife, to the 
coast and settled at Knights Landing till the autumn of 1862, when he moved to 
his ranch on Stony Creek, which he has ever since made his permanent abode.  
Three sons, with his amiable wife, compose Mr. Brownell�s household.  He has 
been prosperous and successful in his affairs.  He is one of the solid men of 
the county and highly esteemed for his probity.
 
�Colusa County� � by Justus H. Rogers � Orland, CA � 1891 � pp 391-392