Alameda County Biographies

AUGUSTUS M. CHURCH

Transcribed by Kathy Sedler

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

 

	Alameda county lost one of its public-spirited and progressive citizens and successful 
and prominent business men and California one of its pioneer settlers when Augustus M. Church 
died at his home in Oakland, September 1, 1889. He was a conspicuous figure in the early 
development of the state and was for many years associated with the interests of the bay 
country, his activities extending to many fields and touching closely business, political and 
social progress.
	Mr. Church was born in Allen's Hill, Ontario county, New York, June 19, 1816, and was 
a son of Lovett and Sally (Boyd) Church. He spent the first fifteen years of his life in 
Richmond, New York, and then began his business career, finding employment in a hardware store 
in Canandaigua. He held this position for about one year and then entered the postoffice as 
clerk. He afterward became postmaster in Lockport, Niagara county, New York, and he discharged 
the duties of that position until 1834, when he became identified with the banking business 
through his connection with the bank conducted by L. A. Spaulding. After two years in this 
capacity he became clerk in the canal collector's office of Judge McKane and in the winter of 
1837-38 went to Chicago, where he sold out a stock of goods for the Bank of Washtenaw, Ann Arbor, 
Michigan. When this work was accomplished he went to Ottawa, Illinois, and there became 
interested in the construction of the Illinois & Michigan canal and also in the general 
mercantile business. In the same year he removed to Berrien county, Michigan, and in the 
following autumn to Bellevue, Iowa, where he embarked in a mercantile enterprise, in which he 
met with gratifying success, becoming one of the most prominent business men of the community. 
From Bellevue Mr. Church removed to Whitmanville, in Cass county, and conducted a hotel there 
until 1842, when he moved to St. Joseph, Michigan, and managed a hotel for a number of years, 
during which time he also engaged in trading. In 1845 he removed to St. Mary's Rapids, where for 
eighteen months he conducted a hotel, after which he returned to St. Joseph, Michigan, resuming 
his former business.
	In the year 1849, attracted by the reports of the wonderful gold discoveries on the 
Pacific coast and of the quick fortunes to be made in the mines, Mr. Church joined a number of 
companions and equipped an outfit for the journey across the plains. On the 13th of August, 1849, 
the party arrived at Bear river and there called a halt for a brief rest, after which they 
proceeded to the mines on the Yuba river and Deer creek. In October Mr. Church and his comrades 
removed to the north fork of the Yuba and mined for a time at Goodyear and Michigan bars. During 
this month three of the party proceeded to the point where the town of Downieville, Sierra county, 
now stands. There in an incredibly short time they took out five hundred dollars worth of gold 
and with elated spirits returned to their companions on Goodyear's bar, having decided to locate 
there for the winter. They were prevented from doing any more work at their mine by the rain and 
snow which set in and accordingly returned to Sacramento to pass the rainy season. In the spring 
they returned to the location only to find that every vestige of gold was gone and there were no 
prospects either for the present or the future. Mr. Church then decided to return home and after 
disposing of all his effects found himself with eighteen hundred dollars more than when he first 
came to California. This, however, was later stolen from him, and eventually he returned to 
Michigan no better off than when he left the state.
	After his return Mr. Church remained at home until the spring of 1851, when in company 
with Socrates Huff of San Leandro, with whom he had made the first trip, he again came to 
California. In the following winter with others he hunted in the hills back of Mission San Jose 
and from this expedition each of the party cleared three hundred dollars. In the following spring 
Mr. Church located a trading point at New Haven, now Alvarado, in partnership with Henry C. Smith, 
and while a resident of this locality was elected to membership on the board of supervisors, 
serving in 1852 and 1853, when Washington township was a portion of Santa Clara county. It was 
during Mr. Church's residence in New Haven that Alameda county was created out of portions of the 
counties of Contra Costa and Santa Clara, and he was elected the first county clerk and recorder 
of the new county. He was connected with these offices as chief and as deputy for nine years, and 
his able service was followed in 1867 by his election to the state legislature as representative 
from Alameda county. He served with the late John W. Dwinelle and during the period of his 
activity as a member of the assembly gave his influence always to measures of reform and 
advancement. In 1870 he again turned his attention to business, establishing a mercantile 
enterprise at Healdsburg, which he then believed would be the terminus of the San Francisco & 
North Pacific Railroad. However, upon the granting of the franchise for the continuation of the 
line to Cloverdale, the commercial prospects of Healdsburg were shattered, and Mr. Church 
returned to his ranch in Murray township, where he succeeded his former partner, Henry C. Smith, 
as justice of the peace, holding that office for four years at Livermore. Mr. Church sold his 
estate in 1877 and took up his residence in the city of Oakland, where in the following year he 
was elected justice of the peace for Oakland township, an office in which he served with marked 
ability as he did in all others which he was called upon to fill.
	In Berrien county, Michigan, in 1838, Mr. Church was united in marriage to Miss Ellen 
Cronkhite, a native of New York. Mr. and Mrs. Church became the parents of the following children: 
Helen White, deceased; Sarah, now Mrs. Gill, of Santa Barbara; William H., residing in Oakland; 
Rod W., of Piedmont, Alameda county; and Lincoln S., of Oakland. Mr. Church was well known in the 
Masonic fraternity and belonged also to the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and the Society of 
California Pioneers. He died in Oakland, September 1, 1889, and was sincerely mourned by a wide 
circle of friends. His life was characterized by unfaltering loyalty in all of its important 
relations, and his honorable standards, his stanch honesty and his singleness of purpose, 
influenced the history of California in many of its most important chapters.

Past & Present of Alameda County, California � Vol II, S. J. Clarke Publ. Co., 1914, p. 199  

This gentleman is a pioneer of Alameda County, and was its first County Clerk.  He is a native 
of  Allendale, Ontario County, New York, and came across the plains to California in 1849, in 
company with Lucius and Socrates Huff, James Morton, and one Pinney.  After working for a time 
in the mines, he returned home, and came out again.  In the Winter of 1851-2 he hunted deer in 
the Alameda hills with H. Cronkhite, George Fay, and Riley Gregg, and killed from fifteen to 
twenty a day.  Sometimes would find as many as one hundred deer on the side of a mountain.  
What they killed were shipped to San Francisco from New Haven or Alvarado.  Settled in Alvarado 
in the Spring of 1852, where his family joined him.  There he merchandized until he was elected 
the first County Clerk, on the organization of the county, in 1853, when he sold out his store 
to Henry C. Smith.  He served in the County Clerk�s office, altogether, nine years, seven as 
principal and two as deputy to Joseph R. Mason.  In 1857-8 Mr. Church was elected to and served 
in the Legislature with John W. Dwinelle.  Left Alvarado for a year and resided in Brooklyn.  
Started store subsequently in Healdsburg, and lost $10,000 in merchandizing, in consequence of 
the extension of the railroad to Cloverdale.  In December, 1872, removed to his ranch in 
Livermore Valley.  In October, 1873, succeeded the late Henry C. Smith as Justice of the Peace 
for Murray Township, in conjunction with Dr. Marks, of Pleasanton, which office he still holds.  
Mr. Church was so unfortunate as to meet with a serious accident by the upsetting of a Concord 
coach, which tumbled over a precipice, in a ca�on between Healdsburg and Calistoga, in April, 
1859, which lamed him for life.  A daughter, who accompanied him, also suffered injuries.  Mr. 
Church, as a hunter, killed deer in the State of Ohio, New York, Michigan, Illinois, Wisconsin, 
Iowa, coming across the plains, and in California.  During the war he belonged to the Alvarado 
volunteer company.  Is the father of nine children, of whom  five are living, as well as his 
wife.  Has three sons and two married daughters.  Owns a ranch of 320 acres in the Livermore 
Valley.  Mr. Church was sixty years of age in June, 1876.  Alameda County has no more respected 
citizen.
 
Centennial Yearbook of Alameda County, California - Oakland, Calif., 1876 Pages 562-563

            This much respected pioneer of Alameda County, whose portrait appears in this 
work, was born in Allen�s Hill, town of Richmond, Ontario County, New York, June 19, 
1816, and is the eldest surviving son of Lovett and Sally (Boyd) Church.  Having resided 
in his birthplace until 1831, in that year our subject launched forth to face the world, and 
first found employment in a hardware store in Canandaigua.  A twelvemonth later he 
entered the post-office as clerk, and the year after took charge of that office in Lockport, 
Niagara County, New York.  In 1834 he entered the bank of L. A. Spaulding in that place, 
where he remained two years.  We next find him in the Canal Collector�s office of Judge 
McKane, and in the winter of 1837-38 he proceeded to Chicago to take charge of and 
sell out a stock of goods for the Bank of Washtenaw, Ann Arbor, which completing, he 
proceeded to Ottawa, and was there interested in the construction of the Illinois and 
Michigan Canal, as well as in mercantile operations.  In 1839 he moved to Berrien County, 
Michigan, where in May, he was joined in matrimony to Miss Ellen Cronkhite, a native of 
the State of New York, and that fall proceeded to Dubuque, Iowa, and embarked in a 
mercantile business in Bellevue, on the Mississippi, twenty-five miles below the first-named 
city.  At this period the district was infested by a gang of horse-thieves and counterfeiters 
with a man named Brown as their leader, who were perpetrating their rascally actions and 
apparently without opposition.  This defiance of law and order, however, the well-disposed 
citizens could not brook, therefore, on the morning of April 1, 1840, a meeting of the 
inhabitants of the town and county was convened, when it was determined to resort to 
extreme measures to deliver them from the depredations of this pestiferous crew.  Brown 
and his gang fortified themselves, but were captured after considerable resistance by about 
a hundred citizens, who forthwith sent them out of the district down the mighty Father of 
Waters on a raft.  In these events Mr. Church took a prominent part, and afterwards, 
returning to Berrien County, opened a hotel in Whitmanville, Cass County, which he 
conducted for two years.  In 1842 he transferred his habitation to St. Joseph, where, he 
combined trading with hotel-keeping until 1844-45, when he removed to Saint Mary�s Rapids, 
and managed a hotel there for eighteen months.  In 1847 he returned to St. Joseph and 
resumed his former business and there resided until the ever-memorable year of 1849.  
Now, the slogan of gold was making itself heard from the shores of the Pacific to those of the 
Atlantic Ocean.  Every one�s eyes were turned to the metal-producing rivers and gorges of 
the Sierra Nevada.  Parties, both large and small, were being made up to cross the unknown 
waste which lay between them and the terra incognita of California, our subject was not to be 
behind-hand.  Resigning the position of Chairman of the Board of Supervisors of Berrien 
County, he in company with those two respected citizens of Alameda County, Lucien B. and 
Socrates Huff, L. C. Wittenmyer, the present able County Clerk of Contra Costa, A. P. Pinney 
and James M. Morton, both of whom are now deceased, left his home in the month of March, 
and started to cross the plains with three mule-teams.  August 13, 1849, they arrived at Bear 
River and called a halt for short a time to rest, when they proceeded to the mines on the Yuba 
and Deer Creek.  In October Mr. Church and his comrades moved to the north fork of the 
Yuba, and mined for a  time at Goodyear and Michigan Bars; while, during this month, three 
of the party proceeded to the point where now stands the town of Downieville, Sierra County.  
Here Mr. Church�s friends found the river low, set to work mining, and in the incredibly short 
space of six hours took out five hundred dollars� worth of gold.  With elated spirits they 
returned to their companions then located on Goodyear�s Bar, and with such prospects ahead 
the whole party determined to located there for the winter.  The night they reached the desired 
and long-wished-for haven, it commenced to rain and snow, no work could be done, they 
therefore left for Sacramento and passed the remainder of the winter on Rancheria Creek, 
cogitating on the uncertainty of things mundane.  In March, 1850, Mr. Church returned to the 
spot which was to deliver up to him prodigious wealth, all he found was a ruin-lined stream, 
devoid of present or even future hope, he therefore disposed of his claim, settled his affairs, 
found he had eighteen hundred dollars, and determined to return to his family and home.  Ere 
starting on his journey, however, he proceeded to Goodyear�s Bar to bid adieu to his friends 
there, and, for safety, gave his gold-dust to a man there who kept the store, trusting to receive 
it the next morning before taking up the line of march. On demanding it he was told that during 
the night it had been stolen.  Judge of his feelings when he found that thus had been swept 
away his entire earnings, and he was forced to return to  his home hardly a cent better off in 
monetary affairs than when he had left.  It is satisfactory to know that the identity of the thief 
was afterwards fully established.  He continued on his journey homewards, however, undeterred, 
passed the winter of 1850 with his relatives, and in the spring of 1851, in company with Socrates 
Huff, of San Leandro, returned to California.  In the winter of 1851-52, with some others, Mr. 
Church hunted in the hills situated at the back of Mission San Jose, from which expedition each 
of the party cleared three hundred dollars.  In the spring of 1852 he located a trading-point, in 
partnership with Henry C. Smith, at New Haven (now Alvarado), from where he was elected to 
the Board of Supervisors in 1852-53, when Washington Township was a portion of Santa Clara 
County.  While a resident of New Haven, Alameda County was created from out of portions of 
the counties of Contra Costa and Santa Clara, and disposing of his interest to his partner, Mr. 
Church was elected the first County Clerk and Recorder of Alameda.  He was connected with 
these offices, as chief and two years as a deputy for nine years.  In the year 1867-68 he was 
associated with the late lamented John W. Dwinelle as Representative from Alameda County, in 
the State Assembly; and in the year 1868-69, retired to his farm in Murray Township.  In the 
last-named year he visited Healdsburg, Sonoma County, and met, in company with a daughter, 
such serious injuries from the upsetting of a Concord coach between that town and Calistoga, 
that he has been maimed and lamed for life.  In the year 1870 he established himself in a 
mercantile business in Healdsburg, believing that that place would be the terminus of the San 
Francisco and North Pacific Railroad, but suddenly a franchise having been granted to continue 
the line to Cloverdale, the commercial prospects of Healdsburg went to zero, and with it the trade 
fostered by our subject.  He lost money, paid his debts, and returned to his ranch in Murray 
Township, where he succeeded his former partner, Henry C. Smith, as Justice of the Peace, and 
held the office for four years at Livermore.  In 1877 he sold his estate and took up his residence 
in the city of Oakland, being in 1879 Justice of the Peace for Oakland Township, an office he still 
holds with marked ability.  Mr. Justice Church is among the most respected of Alameda�s citizens.  
His integrity has never been questioned; his popularity is unbounded; while, in his official capacity, 
he may be said to exercise a felicitous tact in all his dealings with lawyers and litigants.  He is a 
member of the Masonic and Odd Fellows� fraternity, as well as one of the Association of California 
Pioneers.  He married in May, 1839, Miss Ellen Cronkhite, a native of the State of New York, and 
has surviving a family of five children, viz.:  Helen, now Mrs. Saulisbury, residing at Santa Ana, Los 
Angeles County, California; Sarah, now Mrs. Gill, residing near Santa Ana, Los Angeles County, 
California; William H., now a clerk in the post-office at San Francisco; Rod. W., now residing at 
Livermore, Alameda County, California; Lincoln S., now residing in Oakland, Alameda County, 
California.

History of Alameda County, California�, Oakland, M.W. Wood Publ., 1883p. 862-864