San Luis Obispo County Biographies JOHN M. PRICE Submitted by Peggy Hooper This file is part of the California Genealogy & History Archives http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~cagha/index.htm JOHN M. PRICE, one of the best known veterans of San Luis Obispo County, and we can say of the State, is the subject of this brief sketch. " Old John Price " was horn in Bristol, England, September 29, 1810. As a boy he was fond of the sea and at a very early age became a sailor. When fifteen years old he shipped for a three- years cruise to the Southern Ocean on a whaler named Cadmus, of London, England. At the age of eighteen he started on that eventful voyage which unexpectedly landed him for all time on the coast of California in the New World, on the bark Kent, a whaling ship commanded by Captain Lawton. The Captain was a hard master, Mr. Price re- belled, and in company with another boy quit the ship at Manzanillo, now a prominent Mexican port, but then a wild, uninhabited region, where this whaling vessel put in for supplies. The two young men escaped undiscovered, and this, in the year 1829, was the beginning of their career on the American continent. Making their way into the interior, with the aid of friendly Indians, they finally reached Colima, where Mr. Price almost succumbed to an attack of cholera. After a year's sojourn there he improved the opportunity to come to Monterey, California, on a sailing vessel. At that place he was for six years a vaquero about the ancient capital, and then, in 1886, he came to San Luis Obispo, where he has ever since been a resident. Here he first hired out to Captain W. G. Dana, receiving as wages $15 a month on the Nipomo. Two years later he was engaged on the Huasna Ranch for Isaac J. Sparks, for which he was paid $20 a month for several years. During the Graham insurrection he became one of the many pris- oners who were sentenced to confinement at Santa Barbara and San Bias by order of Alvarado. In 1846 he was residing at the old ranch house a short distance above the site of the present village of Arroyo Grande. The Mexican war was in progress and Mr. Price was surprised one day by the appearance of General Fremont and his troops, who wanted him and his men (Indians working for him) to surrender. Mr. Price was willing to surrender, but suddenly the Indians were missing. It was afterward ascertained that they had hid themselves in the almost impenetrable mass of willows then growing in the Arroyo Grande Valley, where they could not at that time be found. Mr. Price states as an eye witness that the stories rife concerning the reckless depredations by Fremont's troops are great exaggerations. On the breaking out of the gold fever of 1848, Mr. Price and Mr. F. Z. Branch started off to try their luck. They found some "big nuggets," and after a fair degree of success returned to their ranches. These nuggets Mr. Price desired to retain as splendid speci- mens, but subsequent hard times compelled him to cash them. For a time he worked on the Pizmo ranch on shares with Mr. Sparks, and subsequently he purchased it undivided � 7,000 acres, near the ocean shore. This place is a favorite resort. For fifty years Mr. Price has been engaged in cattle-raising, dairying, etc., and now, at the age of eighty years, he is as active and energetic as any man on his place, thinking nothing of a long ride in the saddle or of frequent trips with horse and wagon to San Luis Obispo city, fifteen miles distant. Since his settlement here he has had many offices of prominence, both under Mexican and American control. Under the Mexican Government he was Alcalde and Juez de Paz, and as an American official he was Al- calde, Justice of the Peace, County Judge and Supervisor. Many are the curious docu- ments which Mr. Price has in his possession and which he courteously shows to his visi- tors, in relation to the offices he held in those times. As Alcalde he gave great satisfac- tion, and, taking into account the greatly disturbed condition of the country at that time, without law and without precedent, his position was fraught with great responsibilities. Many are the observations of historical interest that Mr. Price can make to a visitor, taking him back to 1840, and even earlier. Probably he is the oldest white settler of this county, and his life has been full of adventure and excitement. Cast upon the world to take care of himself when a boy, amongst a strange people and in a strange country, he has through his indomitable will-power and pluck reached a position of wealth and honor in his old age. He was married in 1844 to Dona Andrea Carlon, a native of California, and they have had thirteen children, of whom twelve are now living. A splendid specimen of adobe work is seen in a portion of the family home at Pizmo. The walls are there two and a half feet in thickness, and as the family increased in number, rooms were added to the house. Mr. John M. Price is distinguished for his hospitality and devotion to the welfare of his family. History of Santa Barbara, San Luis Obispo and Ventura Counties, California - by C.M. Gidney, Benjamin Brooks, Edwin M. Sheridan, Vol I, II. -Lewis Publ. Co., Chicago, 1917.