Tuolumne County Biographies

J. B. LATIMER

Submitted by: Nancy Pratt Melton

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


From the �Wooden Nutmeg� State, Mr Latimer hails, dating his birth from the 30th 
day of September, 1818, and claiming New London County as his home. Emigrating 
from Connecticut to the State of New York, he settled in Suffolk County, when he 
was twenty-one, and followed farming as an occupation, for five years, returning 
to his old home in Connecticut at the end of that time. In 1849, getting a 
severe attack of the gold fever, he joined a company of twenty adventurous 
spirits, who, clubbing resources, bought a schooner called the �Alfred,� and 
boldly set sail for San Francisco, and, contrary to prob�ability, came in 
safety, passing through the Straits of Magellan. Arriving in the new metropolis 
of the coast, Mr. Latimer�s first venture was in hotel keeping, but 
un�fortunately the fire of �52 swept away his all, and proceed�ing then to Chili 
Camp, he there mined for a short time and afterwards opened a store in company 
with F. Bryant.  His next venture, taking place in the Fall of 1852, was the 
establishment of a sawmill on the site of his present prop�erty near Sonora; 
which, however, proved but of temporary value, as all the timber was speedily 
cut down. Mr. Latimer now possesses a tract of three hundred and twenty acres, 
mostly under cultivation.

�A History of Tuolumne County, California� B.F. Alley, 1882. Pg. 353-354.