Yolo County Biographies


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


 
J. W. GAFFORD 
 
proprietor of the Gafford Hotel, at Davisville, California, was born June 30, 
1834, in Pike County, Missouri, a son of William C. and Nancy G. (Clempson) 
Gafford, father a native of Virginia and mother of North Carolina.  The father 
was a mechanic and moved from his native place in Virginia to Pike County, 
Missouri, where he lived about three years, then moved to Randolph County, 
Missouri, where he lived until 1864, when he came to California, across the 
plains, with his family, excepting two of the children who had come previously.  
On arriving in this State he located first at Michigan Bar, and afterward at 
Santa Cruz, and then returned to El Dorado County, where he died in 1872, at the 
age of eighty-two years.  Mr. J. W. Gafford came to this State in 1850, when he 
was fifteen years old, and at once began work in the mines in different 
localities, with moderate success, until 1866.  He was then engaged at various 
employments until 1874, when he went to Davisville and built a large and 
commodious hotel on Main street.  Mr. Gafford is a genial landlord, knowing well 
how to conduct his well-furnished house in a faithful manner.  He is a member of 
Yolo Lodge, No. 169, I.O.O.F., and also of the K. of P.
            He was married in 1871, to Miss Hannah J. Benjamin, a native of 
Canada, and of their four children three are living.
 
Memorial & Biographical History of Northern California, The Lewis Publishing 
Co., 1891
Transcribed by Kathy Sedler