Los Angeles County, CA, Biographies

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


MILTON S. WILSON, 
 
one of the California pioneers of 1849, now resident in Los Angeles County, was 
born in Licking County, Ohio, March 2, 1823. His father, George Wilson, was a 
native of Virginia, who came to Ohio when only nine years of age, and upon 
arriving at man's estate married Miss Jane B. Moore, a native of Pennsylvania. 
He was a farmer by occupation, and to this calling Mr. Wilson was reared. In 
1842 he accompanied his parents to Cass County, Illinois, where he remained 
until 1849. In the spring of that year he started overland for California. The 
party to which he belonged decided to take the route leading through Santa F�, 
New Mexico, and Arizona, entering California by the southern route. A delay of 
several weeks occurred in New Mexico, while they were prospecting for gold, and 
it was not until December 1 that the party arrived at San Diego. While waiting 
at that point for transportation to San Francisco Mr. Wilson obtained work from 
the Quartermaster at the United States Barracks, and was employed on the first 
building ever erected at the new town of San Diego. Some weeks after his arrival 
he secured a passage on the old brig Belfast, bound for San Francisco, at which 
port he arrived after a stormy voyage of fourteen days. There he was fortunate 
enough to secure work as a laborer. In March, 1850, he went to the mines in 
Tuolumne County, and after a short trial at mining engaged in teaming and 
freighting supplies from Stockton to the mines; and in the fall of that year, in 
company with others, established a store and boarding-house at Soldiers' Gulch. 
Among his associates in crossing the plains Mr. Wilson recalls the names of 
Cyrus Epler, now a district judge in Cass and Morgan counties, Illinois; Frank 
Pixley, the editor of the San Francisco Argonaut; Joseph Heslop, the first 
treasurer of Tuolumne County, and Judge Heslop, of San Francisco. The dry winter 
of 1850�'51 was ruinous to their mercantile and mining ventures, and in the 
spring of the latter year Mr. Wilson went to Santa Clara County and engaged in 
grain-raising. In 1852 he and his partners sent East and brought out 
threshing-machines and mowers for harvesting their grain crops. In the years 
1853�'54 Mr. Wilson engaged in dealing in livestock, driving it from San 
Bernardino County to the mines of the North. In the latter year he located in 
the San Joaquin Valley, about fifteen miles from Stockton, and engaged in 
stock-raising and dealing in stock. In 1860 Mr. Wilson married Miss Mary L. 
Chandler, a native of Jacksonville, Illinois. Her parents, Isaac and Evelyn 
Chandler, were residents of Santa Clara County; her father was a pioneer of 
1849. After his marriage, although conducting his stock business in the San 
Joaquin Valley, he made his residence in Santa Clara. In 1864 the drouth caused 
the death of most of his stock, sickness confined him to his bed for months, and 
his land and improvements were swept from him claimed by grant holders. He thus 
found himself financially ruined, and commenced life anew by entering 160 acres 
of land in the Santa Cruz Mountains. For several years, Mr. Wilson was 
successfully dealing in timber lands in that county, and in 1870 returned to 
Santa Clara. For the next six years he was a justice of the peace, the duties of 
which office occupied nearly his whole attention. In 1876 he again turned his 
attention to the lumber business, and incorporated the San Lorenzo Flume and 
Lumber Company and other enterprises, a failure of which involved the loss of 
his means. After some three years spent in farming rented land in Santa Clara, 
he came in 1880 to Los Angeles and entered into the dairy business, and in 1882 
located upon 160 acres of Government land between Azusa and Vineland. In 1883 he 
moved upon a sixty-five-acre tract of land one-half mile west of El Monte, where 
he has since resided, engaging in agricultural pursuits. His 160-acre tract is 
as yet comparatively unimproved, but it is admirably adapted to both fruit and 
vine culture. Fifty acres of his home farm are producing alfalfa, yielding from 
eight to ten tons per acre. He is also the owner of ten acres of land within the 
town limits of Long Beach. Mr. Wilson is a well-known and respected citizen of 
the community in which he resides. He is a strong Republican in politics, and in 
1885 was elected justice of the peace in El Monte Township, a position he still 
holds. He is a strong supporter of schools and churches, and is a consistent 
member of the Presbyterian Church. Mr. and Mrs. Wilson have four sons and one 
daughter: George L., Harry M., Freddie Eugene, Austin M., and Mary Letetia, all 
of whom are residing under the parental roof.
 
An Illustrated History of Los Angeles County, California �  Chicago, The Lewis 
Publishing Company, 1889   Page 671
Transcribed by Kathy Sedler