Sacramento Valley Biographies

JOSEPH MILLSAPS

Transcribed by Sally Kaleta, July 2009.

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

          The honor of being the son of a forty-niner and also of being a
native-born son of California may be claimed by Mr. Millsaps, who ranks
among the large landowners of Glenn county, as well as a representative of
one of its leading pioneer families. Born in the city of Sacramento, May 18,
1856, he is now in the prime of manhood's activity and usefulness, and by
his sagacious management of large holdings is establishing himself among the
resourceful men of his locality. While he had the advantage of receiving
assistance from his father, a man of prominence and the possessor of a
considerable acreage in farm lands, yet such is his energy that it may be
claimed for him that, unaided and alone, he could have achieved a success of
signal importance. 

       The Millsaps family is of southern extraction, Joseph Millsaps bears
the name of his father, who was a Kentuckian by birth, but from an early day
a resident of Missouri, where he improved a tract of farm land in Macon
county. During the memorable year of 1849 he crossed the plains with a party
of gold-seekers and for a time engaged in mining in Placerville. Impressed
with the undeveloped resources of the west, in 1851 he returned to Missouri,
disposed of his property, and in 1852 again crossed the plains with wagons
and ox teams. After his arrival in California he secured employment at
chopping wood at Sacramento, but in 1853, turned his attention to
agriculture and purchased three hundred and twenty acres of raw land lying
seven miles north of Elk Creek, in what is now Glenn county. As he
accumulated savings he invested them in the purchase of additional property,
until eventually he acquired more than three thousand acres suitable in part
for grain and in part for the grazing of sheep and other stock. The
accumulation of a property so extensive speaks volumes for his wisdom and
foresight. With rare institution he discerned unsuspected possibilities in
this section of the country and believed that a man would act wisely to buy
while land was low in price. Acting on that opinion, he laid  the foundation
of his own success and the prosperity of his children. When he died on his
ranch in 1891, at seventy-three years of age, the community mourned the loss
of an honored pioneer and a resourceful agriculturist.

           The marriage of Joseph Millsaps Sr., united him with Miss Louisa
Laney, who was born in Missouri, and died in California. Of their three sons
and four daughters, Joseph Jr. was next to the eldest, and from an early age
assisted his father in the cultivation of the home ranch. Being the
confidential assistant of his father, he was qualified to take charge of the
place on the death of that parent, and through his executive ability and
sagacious judgment the value of the estate has been promoted. At this
writing his holdings aggregate seventeen hundred acres, of which twelve
hundred and sixty acres lie in Glenn county, including his homestead six
miles north of Elk Creek. Besides his property in this county he has three
hundred and forty acres in Mendocino county and three hundred and forty
acres in Lake county. The greater part of the land is used for grazing
purposes, and he carries on it about one thousand head of sheep, but three
hundred acres form fine farming property, well adapted for the raising of
hay and grain. At Oriental or Alder Springs, a summer resort, he owns one
hundred acres with a hotel and orchard, and this he rents. The springs are
increasingly popular, attracting people not only by the virtues of the
water, but also for the advantages offered for hunting and fishing. In
politics he has voted the Republican ticket ever since attaining his
majority, but has not been active in local matters nor cared for the
responsibilities of official life. In Glenn county, in 1887, he was united
in marriage with Miss Annie Elizabeth Ryan, who was born in Macon county,
Mo., and by this union there are two children, Albert and Alice, both at
home.

"History of the State of California and Biographical Record of the
Sacramento Valley, Cal.," J. M. Guinn, The Chapman Publishing Company,
Chicago, 1906, Page 959.