Santa Cruz County Biographies

WILLIAM AND SAMUEL SHORT

Submitted by Kathy Sedler

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

 
        Someone has observed that it is a wonder that all New England boys do 
not become either sailors, missionaries, or peddlers. The devout spirit of the 
Puritans, together with the thrifty commercial instincts for which the Yankees 
are famous, and the love of adventure which characterizes the descendants of the 
Pilgrims of the Mayflower, are very natural traits to youth born and raised in 
the rugged Northeast; and it is a fact that many of them do choose one of the 
three vocations in life concerning which the wonder is expressed.
        It was among the Maine mountains that the Short brothers were cradled 
and reared. The elder, Samuel S. Short, was born at Castine, Maine, in 1821, 
which town was seven years later the scene of his brother's nativity. Their 
inherited tastes, their natural surroundings, their training and early 
associations, all combined to develop within them the thrifty, hardy, restless, 
and bold spirit that makes Yankeeland respected wherever the Yankee flag floats, 
or Yankee blood is known.
        A life of adventure "came natural" to each of these men. As village 
tradesmen, or as plodding artisans, they could have been no more content than 
wild deer could be satisfied to live in kennels. In 1830 their father, a 
surveyor by profession, moved from Castine to Bangor, and engaged in business.
        The elder son, Samuel S., went to sea when fourteen years old, his first 
voyage being on board the ship Martha Washington, bound from Bangor to New 
Orleans, and thence to Havre, France. The vessel was wrecked off Cape Cod. 
Although she was righted and saved, young Short did not finish the voyage, but 
returned home and soon afterward shipped at Middleton, Connecticut, on the 
schooner Oregon, engaged in the coasting trade. Altogether, Samuel Short 
followed the life of a sailor for fifteen years. He was in Florida during the 
Seminole War, made several voyages to Europe, and was for several years 
commander of the brig Napoleon, of New York, plying up and down the Atlantic 
Coast. In 1847 he was married to Miss Caroline Goddard, at Bangor, Maine.
        William, the younger brother, attended school at Bangor, and engaged at 
work for several years in the docks and lumber yards of that city. In 1848, when 
he was twenty years old, and his brother twenty-seven, they fell to talking of 
California. The more they talked, the stronger became their determination to see 
for themselves the wonderful land of which so many strange things were told. 
Their father fitted them out for the journey, paying their passage, and 
providing them with food and clothing enough to last them three years, the sons 
agreeing to give him half of what they should earn the first year. They sailed 
for California in January, 1849, in the bark Suilote, Captain Simpson, from 
Belfast, Maine. Their voyage was quite long and eventful. When they had reached 
the Gulf Stream, it was discovered that the drinking water on board was spoiled, 
and the bark was put into St. Jagoe; off the coast of Africa, to obtain a fresh 
supply. They also made a stop of one week at Rio Janeiro, and another at 
Valparaiso. Off Cape Horn the captain's son was drowned. On the 18th of July the 
Suilote entered the harbor of the Golden Gate.
        The young adventurers had brought with them a canoe and a bateau. They 
launched their craft in San Francisco Bay, and, with all their supplies on 
board, set out for Stockton. Here they stored their goods, and proceeded up the 
San Joaquin River, in search of a promising mining location. Their first 
settlement was at Chapel Ferry, whither they soon journeyed to Don Pedro's Bar, 
and built the first log cabin in that region. This claim did not pay very well, 
however, and William Short went on a prospecting tour to Horseshoe Bend, Merced 
River. He found "pay dirt" and was soon joined by his brother. They worked here 
through the winter of 1849 and the spring of 1850, taking out about $25 a day 
apiece. In the early part of 1850 they moved to Mokelumne Hill, and were there 
when the amazingly rich lava diggings were struck which yielded for a time about 
one hundred pounds of pure gold a day. It was a company of Frenchmen who first 
struck the lava diggings. The Frenchmen became involved in a quarrel with the 
American miners, and so far forgot themselves as to shoot in the back an 
American miner named Brown. This resulted in the famous "French War" of 
Mokelumne Hill. About one hundred and fifty Americans gathered together and 
elected a man named Wade their commander. Wade appointed William Short captain 
of a squad to charge the French, who were intrenched behind some mining debris 
at the lava diggings. Captain Short led his men valiantly toward the 
breastworks, and was much surprised that the besieged Frenchmen fired not a shot 
to oppose them. Up and over the fortification swarmed the invading force, and a 
new surprise greeted their astonished vision. Not a Frenchman was in sight. They 
had all fled at the sight of the formidable force gathered to dislodge them, and 
behind the French breastworks Captain Short's squad found a party of American 
miners in undisputed possession, digging away for dear life into what seemed to 
be a ledge of almost solid gold. The invaders dropped their guns, drew their 
sheath knives, and fell upon their knees�not to pray, but to dig. Yes, to dig 
with their knives. Rather feeble mining implements, one might think, but somehow 
or other they made it pay. The two Short boys alone took out $1,500 worth of 
gold in about twenty minutes.
        In 1853 Samuel returned to his home in the East, and William pursued his 
journey still further westward. The gold fields of Australia were his next 
abiding place. He stayed there one year, and then sought a new scene of activity 
in South America, whence came exciting stories of rich gold deposits. This 
experience was a disappointment. Gold was not to be found, but yellow fever was, 
and Mr. Short suffered a severe attack of it at Lima. Recovering, he returned to 
New York in 1855, and was married the next year to Miss Sarah M. Clark, at 
Bangor. In 1856 he returned to California, and located in Siskiyou County, where 
his wife joined him in 1859. They lived seven years at Yreka, moved to Stockton 
in 1866, and to Santa Cruz in 1867.
        William Short engaged in the butcher business at Felton, and moved 
again, this time to San Benito County, where he engaged in stock raising for 
twelve years. San Benito was a wild country, and the prevalence of grizzly bears 
made his life there as full of adventure as the most restless spirit could 
desire. In 1882 Mr. Short retired from business, and went to spend the rest of 
his life in the most agreeable place he had found in all his wanderings, Santa 
Cruz.
        Samuel Short, after returning to his home and family in 1851, lived in 
Maine until 1854, and then moved to Minnesota, where for six years he engaged in 
farming. He was never free from a desire to return to California, and started 
out in 1860 to cross the plains in a "prairie schooner." When he reached Denver, 
however, there were rumors of hostile demonstrations on the part of the Mormons, 
and, rather than run the gauntlet of the bloodthirsty "destroying angels," Mr. 
Short determined to remain at Denver, and accordingly engaged in business there. 
He bought cattle, and in 1861 went to Mexico to winter his stock; he went back 
to Denver in 1861, and in 1862 traveled into Montana, prospecting for gold.
        After a long, disappointing journey, he finally located at Virginia, 
Nevada, where he secured a rich placer claim, and took out from $30 to $60 per 
day, single-handed. The "road agents" were then very numerous; murders and 
highway robberies were everyday occurrences. At least one hundred men had been 
robbed and killed on the road between Virginia City and Salt Lake, before the 
miners organized a vigilance committee and proceeded to punish the desperadoes. 
One of the first men to be hanged was the sheriff of the county, who was also 
chief among the "road agents." About forty men were hanged before the gang was 
broken up. Mr. Short was a prominent member of the vigilance committee, and 
assisted in capturing and hanging many of the highwaymen.
        In 1864 Samuel returned to Maine, without having accomplished his desire 
to see California the second time. But in 1873 the desire overcame him, and he 
set out again�not in a "prairie schooner" this time, nor yet on a tedious voyage 
around the Horn; he came in the cars. For eight years he lived in Gilroy, and 
then moved to Pacific Grove. After two years' residence there, he retired from 
business and came to Santa Cruz, where his brother was already located. The two 
now reside on Ocean Street, East Santa Cruz, their fine residences almost facing 
each other. Fortune has smiled on the Shorts, and it is in serene comfort that 
they spend the autumn of their lives, enjoying the fruits of their energy, 
industry, and economy.
        Friends they have by the score; both their wives still live; and, 
respected of their fellow-citizens, the two Short brothers find but few clouds 
in the sky which overhangs the pathway of their declining days.
 
HISTORY OF SANTA CRUZ COUNTY, CALIFORNIA.-  E. S. Harrison, 
Pacific Press Publ. Co., San Francisco, 1891