Sacramento Valley Biographies

Luther Hoy

Transcribed and submitted by Sally Kaleta, March 2009.

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

          Luther Hoy. The Hoy family is of Virginian extraction, but became
established in Kentucky when the trend of emigration first turned westward
across the mountains. When Jones Hoy was a lad of seven years he was stolen
by the Shawnee Indians and carried far away from his old home. For seven
years he remained with them, being treated with the greatest kindness and
even affection. Finally a trapper found him and paid the Indians the sum
they demanded for his ransom. When he returned home at the age of fourteen
years he was so changed that the only way in which his mother could identify
him was by a mark on his leg. After remaining at home for a time he took up
surveying and became one of the most efficient surveyors in Kentucky and
later in Missouri, where he also followed farming and entered land on the
Platte purchase. Prior to removing from Kentucky he was an officer in the
Indian wars, and after going to Missouri he frequently entertained the old
Shawnee chief as a guest, treating him with the utmost courtesy and
consid-eration. He lived to an advanced age and passed away in Platte
county.
         Somewhat less adventurous in character was the life of Samuel, a
son of Jones Hoy. Born near the Ohio river in Kentucky, he spent the greater
part of his life on a farm in Platte county, Mo., where he died at
seventy-four years of age. In early manhood he met and married Mary A.
Burton, who was born in Randolph county, Mo., and died in Platte county,
that state, in 1860. Of Kentucky family, she was a daughter of James Burton,
who removed from the Blue Grass state to Randolph county, Mo., and became a
prominent farmer in his locality. During the war of 1812 he served in the
American army. In the family of Samuel Hoy there were ten children, of whom
two sons and three daughters survive. Of these Luther was the fourth in
order of birth and is the only member of the family to settle on the Pacific
coast. Born at Platte City, Platte county, Mo., July 24, 1843, he attended a
subscription school in boyhood and received such advantages as the day and
locality afforded.
         At the opening of the Civil War in 1861, Mr. Hoy enlisted under
Col. John T. Hughes in General Price's army. After he had served about
fifteen months he was wounded in the right knee by grape shot at the battle
of Wilson Creek, and for some time was disabled for active service. On
regaining his health he re-enlisted and remained with the army until the end
of the war, a period of about eight months. At Neosha he was captured and
forced to give the oath of allegiance to the Union, after which he returned
to his old Missouri home. For some years he continued there as a farmer, but
in 1869, he removed to Johnson county, Kans., and bought land near Olathe.
Neither the climate nor the land entirely satisfied his desires and in 1876
he carried out a long-felt wish of coming west. After arriving in California
he secured work with Howell Davis at Sycamore, for whom he ran a ferry about
fifteen months. The next two years were passed as a farmer in the foothills.
During 1878 he bought one hundred and sixty acres of railroad land in Colusa
county and here he has since made his home, by virtue of long residence
ranking among the oldest surviving settlers of the locality. The land was in
primeval condition of nature at the time of purchase. After breaking the
ground he began to raise grain, which he still continues with reasonable
success. By the purchase of adjacent property he has acquired four hundred
and eighty acres of grain land, in addition to which he rents three hundred
and twenty acres adjoining, so that now he has charge of eight hundred acres
altogether.
           In Johnson county, Kans., occurred the marriage of Luther Hoy and
Miss Luella Brown. Their union resulted in eight children, five of whom are
living, namely: Mrs. Fannie Mendenhall, a widow residing in Colusa county;
May, Robert, Birdie, and Willard, all of  whom are at home. Mrs. Hoy was
born in Platte county, Mo., a daughter of Francis Drake and Frances (Tolson)
Brown, natives of Randolph county, Mo. Her father, who was born December 1,
1823, passed the days of boyhood and youth in his native locality. During
1846 he walked to Council Bluffs and there entered into an agreement with
Buffalo Jones, by which he took charge of an ox-team across the plains.
Three weeks after he crossed the mountains the ill-fated Donner party met
their death. With Colonel Fremont, who had charge of the expedition, he
served in California one hundred and thirty-eight days. Kit Carson thereupon
desired to engage him to serve as escort to Gen. Philip Kearney in returning
east, but the trying life of the plains and the hardships of soldiering did
not appeal to him, and he refused the offer. However, after a short time in
the Sacramento valley he decided to return east. Through the influence of
Governor Boggs and Major Connor he was made guide to Commodore Stockton and
Lieutenant Gillespie in their trip across the plains to St. Joseph, Mo. The
saddest sight he ever saw was during the return trip, when he came upon the
remains of the Donner camp, where dead bodies still remained from which the
flesh had been cut away to be eaten. At the present site of Reno fifteen
hundred Indians attacked the white men, but were driven back, although the
party continued to be annoyed by the savages until they passed Humboldt.
During his visit in Missouri he married Miss Frances Tolson, and after
returning to California in 1849 he spent a short time in Sacramento, and
then went to Benicia, where he was chosen the first sheriff of Solano
county.
          After a short experience in the mines, in 1852 Mr. Brown returned
east with $16,000, and this money he invested in Missouri farm land. Later
he removed to Kansas and in 1871 returned to California, where he spent two
years in Colusa county. On his return east in 1873 he assumed the management
of his extensive properties in that state, but in 1877, sold his holdings
and came back to California. For years he owned a farm of eight hundred and
eighty acres in Central district, Colusa county. In 1901 he was bereaved by
the death of his wife, and two years later he passed away at Williams. Their
children were named as follows: Thomas, who died in Benicia at two years of
age; Stephen C., who makes his home near Berlin, Colusa county; W. T., a
farmer near Williams; Luella, wife of Luther Hoy; Charles, who died at
twenty-four years; Samuel D., of Colusa county; Belle, who died at seven
years; Birdie, living at Williams; Mrs. Ada Vertue, of Williams; and Fannie,
who was seven years of age at the time of her death.
          The days of his war service Mr. Hoy bears in mind, their memory
being refreshed through association with the United Confederate Volunteers
of Colusa. All through the period of his residence in Colusa county, he has
maintained an interest in the welfare of the schools and for some years he
has served as clerk of the school district. In politics he gives his
allegiance to the Democratic party, but he is liberal in his views and
displays no spirit of partisanship in elections. With little taste for
public life, but with a fondness for home and the quiet enjoyment of the
family circle, he passes his days uneventfully but prosperously and in
contentment, and his homestead, four miles southeast of Williams, reflects
his spirit of thrift and energy.

"History of the State of California and Biographical Record of the
Sacramento Valley, California," J. M. Guinn, The Chapman Publishing Co.,
Chicago, 1906, Pages 321-322.