Santa Cruz County Biographies

N. A. J. DORN

Submitted by Kathy Sedler

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

 
        If all the California pioneers had done as well for their adopted State 
as the gentleman whose name is at the head of this sketch, a continued growth, 
and a progressive future for this State, would be secured. He has successfully 
solved the difficult problem, which has been so learnedly and widely discussed, 
"What shall we do with our boys ?" His solution, as practically exemplified, is 
to make men of them, useful men, to fill positions of trust and honor, and 
successfully perform the duties of life. His oldest son, N. A. Dorn, is the 
superior judge of Monterey County; M. A. and D. S. Dorn are prominent and 
popular attorneys of San Francisco, and F. A. Dorn is the district attorney of 
San Luis Obispo County.
        N. A. J. Dorn is a resident of Green Valley, which is really a part of 
the Pajaro Valley, six miles northeast of Watsonville. He owns two hundred and 
forty-five acres of well-improved land here, upon which he has resided since 
1860, and is consequently an old and well-known citizen; aside from this he is 
the father of able and distinguished sons. In this connection I am reminded of 
an anecdote of the father of Roscoe Conklin. He was a distinguished man, had 
represented his State in the Legislature a number of terms, and, if I mistake 
not, had been to Congress, and had filled other positions of trust and honor. 
One day in his old age he was introduced to a prominent gentleman as the father 
of Roscoe Conklin. "What," said the old gentleman, drawing himself up with 
dignity, which is characteristic of his son, "Has it come to this, that I, the 
peer and associate of Daniel Webster, Henry Clay, and John C. Calhoun, in my old 
age am simply the father of Roscoe Conklin?" But the rearing of illustrious sons 
is not the only creditable thing which Mr. Dorn has done, as the subjoined brief 
sketch will illustrate.
        He was born in Harrisburgh, Mercer County, Kentucky, April 5, 1829, and 
is the son of a farmer and stock raiser, who, in 1844, with his family moved to 
Putman County, Indiana. He was living there in 1847, at the commencement of the 
Mexican War. Young Dorn was only eighteen years of age, but he responded to the 
call for volunteers, and went to Mexico, with the Fifth Indiana Infantry, in 
General Joe Lane's brigade. He returned after the war to Madison, Indiana, from 
which place he started in 1848 for California. The route pursued was down the 
river to New Orleans, from New Orleans to Vera Cruz by steamer, from which place 
they bought and loaded a train of pack mules from Acapulco. From this place they 
shipped on a French vessel bound for San Francisco, but, as the vessel put into 
the Gulf of California, they concluded to disembark at Guyamas, and with another 
pack train started out for California. They crossed the Colorado River at Fort 
Yuma, arriving in California February 15, 1849.
        The first year was spent in the mines of Placerville, Mariposa, and 
Augua Frio. He made about $6,000 this year and returned East, where, on the 1st 
of September 1850, in Cloverdale, Putman County, Indiana, he married Miss R. E. 
Walters. In 1851 he started back to California overland with his wife. A stop of 
several months was made at Council Bluffs, at which place their oldest son, N. 
A. Dorn, was born.
        They arrived in California the following year, having made the journey 
with an ox team without any great misadventure. Some little trouble was 
experienced with the Indians. Several head of stock were lost, but no lives. He 
came to Watsonville in the fall of 1853, and in the spring of the following year 
went to Los Angeles. He bought cattle and drove them to the mines, and for 
several years was engaged in the business of buying and slaughtering cattle, and 
conducting a butcher shop. He mined, also, until 1860, when he moved with his 
family to the Pajaro Valley, as before mentioned, and has resided here ever 
since. On his home place are eighty-five acres of land in orchard, and the 
surroundings indicate thrift and prosperity.
        Mr. Dorn is a plain, frank, fearless, and outspoken man, broad in his 
views of public questions, possessing progressive ideas and the courage of his 
convictions. He was a Democrat until Fort Sumter was fired upon, since which 
time he has been a Republican. He is a member of the Farmers' Alliance, being 
president of the Watsonville branch, and is thoroughly imbued with the justice 
and righteousness of the cause which they espouse.
        The children of Mr. and Mrs. N. A. Dorn are: N. A., superior judge of 
Monterey County; Etta, wife of Professor House, of Pasadena; M. A. and D. S., 
attorneys in San Francisco; Lulu, wife of Charles Loomis, of Los Gatos; F. A., 
district attorney of San Luis Obispo County; Dora, wife of Ed. Long, a farmer of 
Green Valley; Walter E., a pupil at the State University; Effie, a graduate of 
the Watsonville High School, at present living at home; and Arthur, a pupil of 
the Watsonville school.
 
HISTORY OF SANTA CRUZ COUNTY, CALIFORNIA.-  E. S. Harrison, 
Pacific Press Publ. Co., San Francisco, 1891