California Biographies Mendocino and Lake Counties, California Transcribed by Peggy Hooper This file is part of the California Genealogy & History Archives http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~cagha/index.htm Source: History of Mendocino and Lake Counties, California With Biographical Sketches History by Aurelius O. Carpenter And Percy H. Millberry Illustrated, Complete In One Volume Historic Record Company, Los Angeles, California, 1914 MRS. CELIA H. DEWELL.� The earliest settlers at Upper Lake, Lake county, were Benjamin and Celia H. (Elliott) Dewell, and Mrs. Dewell and Mrs. Frances G. Hudson, who resides at Lakeport, are undoubtedly the earliest California pioneers now living in the county. They share the honor with Woods Crawford, the venerable lawyer of Lakeport, who is ten days older than Mrs. Dewell. Mrs. Hudson and Mrs. Dewell came to California in the same party, a company of fifty or more which made the trip over the plalins from Missouri in the spring of 1845, with Oregon as their original destination. Before arriving at the Sierra mountains, however, they met an old mountaineer by the name of Greenwood who told them that California was much the best country, and part of the company took his advice, leaving the others to con- tinue on to Oregon. The California contingent included William Bell Elliott, his wife Elizabeth (Patton) and their family, which consisted of six sons and two daughters, and they were joined by the Grififiths, Mrs. Hudson's family, all settling in the Napa valley, at what is now Calistoga, in November, 1845. The Hudsons, into which family Frances Griffith married, were of the original party which set out from Indian Creek (about fifteen miles from Independ- ence), Mo., and in the company also was Benjamin Dewell, whom Celia H. Elliott later married. She was ten years old at the time the family came west, and Mrs. Hudson was a girl of twelve. Mrs. Celia H. (Elliott) Dewell was born November 4, 1835, at Greenfield, Dade county, Mo., and was just ten years old when her parents settled at Calistoga, where they remained over winter. The Mexican war troubles were then on, but news did not travel so rapidly in those days, and the first the isolated settlers knew of the disturbance was obtained through a letter which stated that the Mexican government had given orders to massacre all Ameri- cans, including women and children. Mrs. Dewell heard the letter read and interpreted by a man named Ransford, an Englishman, who afterward became captain of artillery of the famous "Bear Flag party." There were two or three cannons in the neighborhood (Mrs. Dewell remembers seeing two), and the men immediately busied themselves preparing for proper defense. Thirty- two of them, armed with guns and cannons, and with their horses and dogs, advanced on the old mission fort at Old Sonoma, which they took without firing a shot. The families who had at first settled at Calistoga then moved down to Old Sonoma and entrenched themselves by taking possession of the old Spanish garrison. Having hauled down the Spanish flag, they were puzzled as to what flag they might raise, as the territory was Mexican and they had no authority to hoist the Stars and Stripes. Someone suggested a "Bear Flag," and the idea was acted upon at once, Mrs. Elliott furnishing most of the red flannel used in making it, all but three yards which was supplied by Mrs. John Grigsby. The white cloth used was an old wagon sheet (not a woman's petticoat, as has been erroneously stated). Benjamin Dewell and Thomas Cowry, being saddlers by trade, did the sewing, and a man by the name of Todd the painting. This "Bear Flag" was then raised on the old Spanish flagstaff, and under that ensign the Americans continued to hold the fort until they could hoist the American flag. Dewell and others then organ- ized a military company, with John Grigsby as captain, and enlisting in Fre- mont's company proceeded south. By the time they reached Los Angeles a treaty had been negotiated and peace was restored. The "Bear Flag party," however, had already done full duty in the southern part of the state, coming out victorious over the Mexican forces. Before the Mexican war was concluded, and while William B. Elliott and his brave comrades were fighting as members of Fremont's company, he moved his family back to the head of Napa valley, near Calistoga, and they lived there a few years before moving over to Sonoma county, near Santa Rosa. There they kept a wayside hotel, and everybody north of the Bay that did any traveling knew "Uncle Billy" Elliott. On May 5, 1850, at Santa Rosa, Benjamin Dewell and Celia H. Elliott were married, and a few years later the young couple moved to Lake county, reaching the spot where Mrs. Dewell's present home is located (a part of the property, though not of the original tract, was laid out in 1870 for Upper Lake village) May 24, 1854. They were the first white family to settle at Upper Lake, and the opening up of the region progressed from that time. Their first neighbor, Lance Musick, moved in the next month, June, 1854, and in November of that year William B. Elliott followed them to the new location. A brother of Mrs. Dewell came in the spring of 1855, and in 1856 the settle- ment was augmented by a number of families, among them that of Jesse B. Robinson, another famous Lake county pioneer, the Spears, Helms, and George Bucknell. In 1857 there was another increase, Richard Sleeper, Thomas Way and others arriving that year. The Dewells and Elliotts were practical and thrifty, and did their part to make the new country desirable, although Mrs. Dewell says they came "expecting to stay a couple of years, but I am here yet." The young couple brought up about twenty-two head of horses and one hundred cattle with them, and they did well, Mr. Dewell developing a fine home property, ninety acres of which (with buildings) is still owned by his widow. He died in 1903, when eighty years old, and Mrs. Dewell, though in her seventy-ninth year, still enjoys good health. Though she worked faith- fully to assist her husband in establishing the home, and withstood cheerfully the hardships and privations of the early days, she is able to look back upon many happy times when they were bringing up their family and helping to bring about civilized conditions in a promising but primitive region. The eleven children born to her and Mr. Dewell are mentioned in his biography.