California Biographies

Transcribed by Peggy Hooper

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

Source:
History of the state of California and biographical record of the San Joaquin 
Valley, California. An historical story of the state's marvelous growth from 
its earliest settlement to the present time.
Prof. James Miller Guinn , A. M.
The Chapman Publishing Co., Chicago 1905
Notes: Missing Page: 865-866,983-984,1175-1176


HON. VITAL E. BANGS. A man of culture and scholarly attainments, Hon. Vital E. Bangs, of 
Modesto, holds an honored position among the pioneer settlers of Stanislaus county, 
which has been his home for almost a half century. In the educational progress of this 
section of California he has been a potent force. In the establishment and management of 
beneficial enterprises he has borne a conspicuous part, and as an office holder has shown good 
judgment and excellent administrative abilities in his manner of discharging his duties to the 
public. A son of Samuel Bangs, he was born, August 26, 1834, in the city of Victoria, Mexico, 
of old colonial ancestry on both the paternal and maternal side, the emigrant ancestors of 
both his father and mother having emigrated from England to the United States at an early- 
period of its settlement. 

A native of Boston, Mass., Samuel Bangs remained in the east until failing health demanded 
a change of climate. Going then to Mexico, he resided there with his family until his death. 
He married Susan Payne, who was born in Virginia. She survived him, after his death return- 
ing to the United States. She subsequently married Henry Brees, a wholesale merchant of 
Matamoras, Mexico, and they located in Kalamazoo, Mich., where her death occurred, March 
20, 1884. 

The fifth child in order of birth of a family of seven children, Vital E. Bangs laid a sub- 
stantial foundation for his future education in the public schools of Kalamazoo, Mich., after 
which he continued his studies at Cedar Park Seminary, and then entered Kalamazoo College. 
Leaving home in 1855, he crossed the plains to California, locating in El Dorado county, 
where he was engaged for a few months in teaching school and mining. Returning east, he 
completed his education at the Kalamazoo College, remaining in Michigan until 1858. Mov- 
ing in that year to Vernon county, Mo., Mr. Bangs taught school there for two years, and 
then returned to Michigan, from there going to Douglas county, Kans., where he was mar- 
ried. The next year, in 1864, Mr. Bangs and his bride crossed the plains to Stanislaus coun- 
ty, Cal., where he resumed his professional career, for many years thereafter teaching 
school in this and in Tulare, Placer and Sacramento counties. 

Locating in Modesto in 1873, Mr. Bangs became connected with the Modesto schools as 
vice-principal, and has since then been prominently identified with the advancement of the 
educational welfare of this part of the county. For twelve years he was a member of the coun- 
ty board of education, and was a popular contributor to the "California Teacher" and other 
educational journals. His services were appreciated and recognized by the state of Cal- 
ifornia, which, through its Department of Public Instruction, presented him with a teacher's 
Life Diploma. 

Mr. Bangs was appointed by Governor Markham a director of the Twenty-eighth Agricul- 
tural District, in which he served most acceptably, and he was also the first assessor of the 
Modesto Irrigation District. Being elected by the Democratic party to the state legislature, 
he served in the session of 1888 and 1889, and in 1892 was re-elected without opposition,  
receiving the support of both parties, and polling the largest vote of any man in the assembly. 

Mr. Bangs owns a fine ranch of four hundred and eighty acres, lying three and one-half miles 
north of Modesto, where he has a very pleasant and attractive residence, surrounded by a mag- 
nificent grove of trees. He devotes forty acres of his farm to alfalfa, the rest being planted to 
grain, and keeps a dairy of fifteen cows. 

In 1863, in Douglas county, Kans., Mr. Bangs married Mary G. Moore, who was born and 
reared in Illinois, and into their household four children were born: Henry T., Susan, Vic- 
toria, and Vital E.