Sacramento Valley Biographies

ISAAC J. ELY

Transcribed by Sally Kaleta, May 2009.

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


          During the early colonization of America three brothers bearing
the family name of Ely emigrated from England and settled in Virginia. Among
their descendants was the grandson of one immigrant, who was also the
grand-father of the subject of this article and bore the same Christian
name. This ancestor was born in Virginia and settled in Kentucky during the
early days, there eventually acquiring a large plantation and many slaves.
While the cultivation of his land brought him excellent returns, he also
found the operating of a saltpetre mine the source of considerable profit,
and in addition he bought and sold mules through all his part of the
country. At the time of the Blackhawk war he went to the front as a
volunteer in defense of the white settlers. During 1821 he removed from
Kentucky to Missouri and took up land in Ralls county, where he remained
until his death at eighty-two years of age.

        At the time of the migration to Missouri Aaron F., son of Isaac Ely,
was only a boy, he having been born in Kentucky in 1811. He grew to manhood
on a farm in the then territory of Missouri and received such education as
the schools of the day afforded. After his marriage to Emily Utterback he
engaged in farming and stock-raising in Ralls county until his death at
thirty-three years of age. A man of splendid physique and stalwart frame,
his iron constitution probably would have carried him to old age had not a
doctor, in a slight illness, made the mistake of giving him the wrong
medication and thus causing death. His wife was born in Kentucky in 1818,
moved to Missouri in girlhood, and died in 1879, at sixty-one years of age.
In religion both were identified with the Baptist Church. They were the
parents of four sons, namely: Isaac J., of Yolo county, Cal.; Hankerson, who
resides in Missouri; Aaron, who died at fifty-two years of age; and Martin
I., of Missouri.

       In Ralls County, Mo., Isaac J. Ely was born March 6, 1836. At eight
years of age his father's sudden death left him the eldest of the sons and
the main-stay of his mother. The dependence of the others upon him developed
manly and self-reliant traits in his character, and he early proved himself
a capable assistant to his mother. On attaining his majority he started out
in the world for himself, working his way across the plains in 1857, joining
the party of which Captain Kirk and Mr. Denver were the heads. On the road
the Indians proved so troublesome that several skirmishes were necessary in
order to subdue them, but the white men, numbering thirty-three in the party
which Mr. Ely accompanied, and one hundred and thirteen in Captain Kirk's
train, soon vanquished their cowardly but dangerous foes. On arriving in
California Mr. Ely was given employment in mines near Folsom, but at the end
of three months he left without receiving a penny, although $107 was then
due him. Without any money, somewhat disheartened by his recent experience,
yet buoyed up by that hope which is youth's greatest capital, he walked all
the way to Yolo county, where he secured work on a ranch. Later he paid for
a ranch (valuation $800) by cutting hay with a scythe, in partnership with
David Pendleton. To facilitate their work a hay press was subsequently
purchased and he then engaged in baling hay for five or more years; in 1862
he rented one hundred and sixty acres, with stock furnished him, the
contract being for shares, and in this way he cleared $1,500. In 1864 he
sold his land and purchased one hundred and sixty acres six miles north of
Woodland, where he has made his home ever since. To the original tract he
has added by purchase until at this writing he owns eight hundred acres in
one body and three hundred and forty acres near by in Sutter county, the
entire tract being well adapted to grain and stock-raising. A specialty is
made of a good grade of horses and hogs and some fine Holstein cattle also
may be seen upon the place.

            In 1866 occurred the marriage of Mr. Ely and Miss Jane Watson, a
native of Ralls county, Mo., but a resident of California from early
girlhood, and through all her active life a member of the Methodist
Episcopal Church. At the time of her death, in 1886, she was forty-four
years of age. Of her eight children three died young, and the others are as
follows: Emily J., wife of George Jacobs, of Woodland; Nora, who died at
twenty-three years of age; Frank E. and Rodney M., who cultivate the home
ranch; and Leslie S., who lives in San Francisco.

            Before the railroads had been built into California Mr. Ely
often hauled hay and grain with ox-teams to the mountains, and as these
trips consumed sixteen days or more he carried cooking utensils and blankets
with him and camped out at night. In the early days he endured many
hardships, as did all pioneers who aided in the development of the country,
but he feels amply rewarded for all his sacrifices in the enjoyment of a
comfortable home, large and valuable property, and the society of
intelligent associates. One of the enterprises which owes much to his
enthusiastic support in its organization is the Knights Landing creamery, of
which he has officiated as president ever since it was established. In
politics he believes in Democratic principles, but never cared for office
and has never displayed any partisan spirit in his support of the Democratic
nominees. Since 1866 he has been identified with Masonry, taking the blue
lodge degree in Grafton Lodge No. 141, F. & A. M., at Knight's Landing; in
1870 he was raised to the Royal Arch Chapter in Woodland Chapter No. 46;
later was exalted to the Knights Templar, and since 1872 has been a member
of Woodland Commandery No. 121, K. T., of Woodland.

"History of the State of California and Biographical Record of the
Sacramento Valley, Cal.," J. M. Guinn, The Chapman Publishing Company,
Chicago, 1906, Pages 460-463.


From an early period in the colonization of the new world the Ely family was 
identified with its agricultural development and several successive generations 
lived in the south, the earliest representative coming from England and settling 
in Virginia.  Several members of the Ely family fought in the Revolutionary war. 
 During the year 1819 Isaac Ely, a Kentuckian by birth and education, located on 
land in Missouri, and in 1823, brought his wife and children to the newer 
regions of that state, taking up a claim in Ralls county in the midst of a 
region so desolate that no settlers other than Indians had invaded the lonely 
precincts.  Out of the wilderness he carved a home for his family, one of whom, 
Aaron F., born in Kentucky and reared in Missouri, married Miss Emily Utterbach, 
a native of Clay county, Mo.; who was the daughter of George Utterbach, who 
served as aide to General Washington in the Revolutionary war, afterward moving 
to Kentucky, where he married Catherine Spence.  They began housekeeping upon a 
tract of raw land in Ralls county and labored with devoted diligence to develop 
a productive farm out of the virgin soil.  In 1844, ere he had realized his 
dreams of a highly improved farm and the acquisition of a competency, the father 
was stricken by the hand of death.  Upon the widow devolved the task of rearing 
their children and making a home for the little family.  This duty she performed 
nobly and affectionately and until her death in 1879, she gave her thoughts and 
work wholly to the welfare of her children.  Her eldest son was Isaac J., born 
in Ralls county, Mo., March 6, 1836.  The second, Hankerson, died in Ralls 
county, Mo., in 1909, when almost sixty years of age.  The third, Aaron F., Jr., 
died in Woodland, Cal., in 1901, leaving wife and children to mourn his demise.  
The youngest member of the family circle, Martin, is a resident of his native 
county in Missouri and engages in agricultural pursuits.
 
To aid in an intelligent grasp of business matters Isaac J. Ely was given an 
excellent common school education, which he has enlarged by habits of 
observation and thoughtful reading.  October 19, 1857, was his first day in his 
present locality and the date of his arrival in Sacramento at the expiration of 
a journey lasting only one day less than six months.  The trip across the plains 
had been made with a large train of ox-teams, horses and cattle, and proved very 
tedious but not especially dangerous.  Each day of the six months the young 
emigrant wrote in his diary an account of special happenings, all interesting 
and some amusing.  The record was kept with painstaking care and was highly 
prized by him as a detailed description of an important series of events.  When 
the journal was accidentally lost its author experienced a feeling of the 
deepest regret.
 
After having gained some experience in mining for gold at Folsom and meanwhile 
having met with a little success, in February of 1858 Mr. Ely came to Yolo 
county and took up land which he still owns and occupies.  Later he bought a 
quit-claim deed to one hundred and sixty acres near his homestead.  In 1864 he 
purchased another quarter section and removed to the new tract, where for a time 
he kept �bachelor�s hall.�  At Woodland, August 19, 1866, he was united in 
marriage with Mrs. Jane (Strode) Watson, who was born in Ralls county, Mo., and 
came to California in 1852, settling at Sacramento.  After his marriage Mr. Ely 
returned to the farm that he had purchased immediately after his removal to this 
county and here he took up general farm pursuits.  In the course of time he 
erected a neat, substantial and commodious residence, adequate outbuildings, 
etc., and transformed the property into a highly improved estate, well adapted 
to profitable farming in grain and hay and also adapted especially to the 
raising of stock, high-grade cattle, horses and hogs being a specialty of the 
owner.  Conservative in business dealings, wise in agricultural enterprises, 
judicious in the selection of stock and energetic in the dispatch of farm work, 
he furnishes an ideal type of the old settler who yet is in active touch with 
present-day affairs.  In addition to eight hundred acres which he has in Yolo 
county, he owns valuable timber lands and stock range in Sutter county, where in 
1878 he bought two tracts, one embracing one hundred and forty-seven and 
one-half acres and the other containing a quarter section.  Some of this land is 
devoted to raising alfalfa and beans.
 
A happy married life of twenty years was ended with the death of Mrs. Ely in 
1886.  Four children survive her.  The two eldest sons, Frank E. and Rodney M., 
reside upon and cultivate the large home ranch.  The first-named married Miss 
Annie Broughton and they have three sons, Isaac J. Jr., Robert D. and John F.  
Rodney M. married Miss Eliza Jacobs, and they have one daughter, Fern.  Leslie 
S., the third son in the family circle, has a son, Leslie S. Jr., and resides in 
Sacramento.  The only daughter, Emily, Mrs. George N. Jacobs, of Woodland, has 
two children, Isaac Wayne and Virginia.  As early as 1865 Mr. Ely was made a 
Mason in Grafton Lodge No. 141, F. & A. M., and later he became connected with 
Woodland Chapter No. 46, R. A. M. and Woodland Commandery No. 21, K. T.  The 
principles of the order have a firm adherent in him and he has been stanch in 
his long allegiance to the lofty creed adopted by the organization.  His 
interest in the blue lodge has been particularly keen and his service in various 
positions, including that of worshipful master, has been intelligent and 
capable.  His sons, Frank E. and Rodney M., are also disciples of Masonry and 
share the father�s devoted faith in the principles of the order.
 
Source:  �History of Yolo County, California� by Tom Gregory.  Published by the 
Historic Record Company, Los Angeles, California, 1913, pages 400 - 404.

Transcribed by Bea Barton