Los Angeles County, CA, Biographies

This file is part of the California Genealogy & History Archives 
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J. G. HATHERN 
 
is one of the first settlers in Compton. He is a native of Somerset County, 
Maine, and was born in the town of Athens, August 28, 1823. His father, Jacob 
Hathern, was born September 13, 1790, at Bowdoinham, Maine, and his mother, 
Lydia C. Whittier, was born in Nottingham, New Hampshire, August 18, 1784. They 
had a family of six children whose names are as follows: Rodney R., Hannah A., 
Clarinda, J. G., Philena D. and Roena M. The subject of this sketch was married 
May 6, 1856, to Miss Martha F. Durrell, a native of Solon, Maine, and the 
daughter of Daniel M. and Jane (French) Durrell. Jane French was the daughter of 
Captain Josiah French, who had five wives: First, Mollie Buswell; second, Hannah 
Gill, widow of John Gill; third, Jane Eaton; fourth, Temperance Durrell; fifth, 
Elizabeth Jackman. Captain French outlived all his wives. He was a pioneer of 
Solon, Maine, having moved from Old Salisbury, Massachusetts, to Solon in 1805, 
where he died at the advanced age of ninety years. On the 27th of February, 
1811, he resigned his commission as Commander-in-Chief of the Fourth Regiment of 
Infantry, Second Brigade, Eighth Division of the militia of the commonwealth of 
Massachusetts. Daniel and Jane Durrell had four children, viz.: Josiah F., Jane, 
Martha F. and Rachel M. The mother of these children died, and Mr. Durrell 
married Elizabeth Somes, by whom lie had six children: Naomi S., Mary S., Daniel 
M., Olive D., Caroline D. and Edgar J. Daniel Durrell was a native of 
Nottingham, New Hampshire, and his second wife was born in Mt. Desert, Maine. 
Mr. Hathern and his wife, with their two children, Jennie C. and Daniel M., left 
their home in Athens, Maine, December 21, 1868, for California. They reached New 
York the day before Christmas and took steamer, via the Isthmus of Panama, which 
they crossed January 1. They then took the steamer Constitution to San 
Francisco, where they landed after a voyage of sixteen days. From that city they 
went by steamer to Sacramento, and then by rail to Marysville. J. F. Durrell and 
his wife had been their companions all the way from Maine, and he and Mr. 
Hathern left their wives with his brother-in-law, R. B. Russell, at Marysville, 
while they took steamer to Petaluma, and on horseback explored the Russian River 
territory. They subsequently returned to their families at Marysville, and went 
thence by steamer to San Pedro, looking for a home. They had heard of Compton, 
and, going there, met the gentleman they desired to see�A. M. Peck, a sketch of 
whom appears elsewhere in this work. They first purchased 200 acres of land in 
partnership near where Florence now stands. Mr. Hathern subsequently sold his 
interest to Mr. Durrell, after which he purchased the forty acres on which he is 
now so comfortably located, paying $1,850 for the place. Vast indeed have been 
the improvements he has made and that have been made around him. The farm is now 
managed by his son, Daniel M., who married Miss Maggie J. Johnson, a native of 
Canada, and by whom he has one child, Roy E. Jennie C., oldest daughter of the 
subject of this sketch, died July 3, 1871. The two surviving children are: 
Daniel and Rena R. Mr. and Mrs. Hathern are active members of the Holiness Band 
in Compton. Politically he has always been pronounced in his views, was an 
anti-slavery man, and now affiliates with the Prohibition party. He is one of 
the strongest and truest advocates of the great temperance question in Los 
Angeles County.
 
An Illustrated History of Los Angeles County, California �  Chicago, The Lewis 
Publishing Company, 1889   Page 496
Transcribed by Kathy Sedler