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 D. M. TOOTHACRE. At an early period of our country's history the Toothacre family became established in Maine, and from that state one of the name went forth to fight under the standard of the colonies during the first struggle with England. John Toothacre, a son of this Revolutionary soldier, was born in Bangor. Me., and at an early age settled on Long Island, New York, where he enlisted in the war of 1812. A man of sturdy frame and stalwart physique, he was well fitted to endure the hardships and privations of army life. Nor was he less adapted for the stress and strain of pioneer existence. To such as be Nature in her primeval condition possessed charms which no city could afford. Like Daniel Boone and many other hardy frontiersmen, he was content with the rough fare, the constant danger and the many deprivations incident to the civilizing of the then west. For a time after leaving New York he tilled the soil near Zanesville, Ohio, but as early as 1836 he settled in Jefferson county, Iowa, where he became an extensive and prosperous stockman, and lived to be one hundred and two years old. In the family of this progressive pioneer was a son, John W., who was born in Bangor, Me., and who grew to manhood in the then frontier regions of Iowa, where for years he engaged in raising stock and general farm products. Shortly after the outbreak of the Civil war he enlisted and was accepted as a member of the Twenty-second Iowa Infantry, but owing to his unusual weight (two hundred and thirty-five pounds ) Captain Newbold (afterward governor of Iowa) recommended that he be mustered out as unable to endure the strain of long forced marches. For this reason he saw no active service. After many years in Iowa, during 1884 he went to Kansas and bought land in Sheridan county, where he still carries on a stock busi- ness as well as general farming. Fraternally he is connected with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. The marriage of John W. Toothacre united him with Rebecca Hickenbottom. who was born in Jacksonville, Ky., and is still living. Her father, Joseph Hickenbottom. was a Virginian by birth and a pioneer of Kentucky. When Mr. Hickenbottom and his father went to Iowa in 1836 they were the first white settlers west of the Skunk river in that state, and his remaining years were devoted to the development of a tract of raw land in Jefferson county. Prosperity at- tended his efforts. In time he accumulated thousands of acres of tillable land. Not only was he a man of influence among the white settlers who gradually flocked to that section of country, but among the Indians as well he wielded considerable influence and for years during his early residence in Iowa he enjoyed the personal friendship of the great chief, Blackhawk. At the time of his death he was more than ninety years of age. In the family of John W. Toothacre there are four sons and one daughter, all still living, and of these the eldest, D. M., was born at Fairfield. Jefferson county, Iowa, March 22, 1863. In boyhood he attended the country schools during the winter months and helped at home in the summer. On starting out for himself, in 1880, he went to Colorado and for three years engaged in lumbering at Leadville. The year 1883 found him in California, where he worked at the lumber business in Santa Cruz. In 1884 he was appointed deputy to Sheriff Crittenden, and two years later, on resigning that office, he came to Visalia, where he took up carpentering. That occupation engaged his attention entirely until 1894, when he formed the partnership of Heberling & Toothacre and organized the company of which he is now vice-president and which owns the pioneer brickyard of Visalia. The first wife of Mr. Toothacre was Miss Jennie Brown, to whom he was married in 1887. She was a native of Ottumwa, Kans., and came to California in 1886, dying in Visalia in 1889. The present wife of Mr. Toothacre was formerly Miss Amanda Samis, who was born in Amador county. Cal., their marriage being solemnized in Hanford. They are the parents of two children, Delta and Buenna, and make their home at No. 407 Northwest First avenue, in a residence built by Mr. Toothacre. In fraternal relations he is a member of the Foresters and Woodmen of the World, along commercial lines holds membership in the Visalia Board of Trade, and politically gives his allegiance to the Republican party and is a member of the county central committee.