Napa County Biographies THERON H. INK Transcribed by Kathy Sedler This file is part of the California Genealogy & History Archives Among the representative men of Napa County, those who have achieved success by superior strength of character and indomitable will-power, the gentleman whose name heads this sketch is entitled to honorable mention. He affords perhaps the best example of the possibilities of the county�s agricultural development when assisted by the qualities mentioned, and a brief outline sketch of his life therefore becomes a valuable feature in Napa�s contribution to the history of Northern California. He is a native of New York, born in the town of Enfield, Tompkins County, May 24, 1831, his parents being George and Mary (Rose) Ink. The Inks are of German ancestry, but the family has long been in this country. His father went into Tompkins County in an early stage of its development, and there had a fine farm of 250 acres, which he cleared out of the dense woods which he found there. His mother was a daughter of Ephraim Rose, a veteran of the Revolutionary war, who fought in the campaigns under Washington. She was of English descent on her father�s side and German on that of her mother. Theron H. Ink, the subject of this sketch, was reared at his native place to farm life, and received very good educational advantages. He attended public school from the time he arrived at suitable age until he was fourteen or fifteen, and followed this with training in a select school at Ithaca, and instructions under an excellent educator named Gillett, at what is known as the Peach Orchard, in the town of Hector, Tompkins County. Before he was seventeen years old he commenced teaching school at Enfield, and was engaged there in that capacity about three years. About this time he determined to go to Morrow County, Ohio, where he had a brother and sister, two uncles and a number of cousins, his intention being to remain about six weeks. While visiting among them he secured a school at Williamsport, where he taught one term. This was not in the neighborhood where he was making his home, however, but for the next term he secured the home school at Franklin Center. He taught only in winter, while during the summer months he kept himself employed at farming. Thus he passed the time until 1852. Among his acquaintances were two young physicians, named respectively Law Wetherbee and Benjamin Hinckley; and hearing them planning a trip to California in the year mentioned he decided to cast his lot with them, and come to this far-away land, which had held out hope and promise to so many before him. Preparations having been completed, the little party left home, taking the railroad at Mt. Gilead, went to Cincinnati, and there took passage on the steamer Illinois for St. Louis. Having arrived there, they made the trip to St. Joseph also by water, on the steamer Monongahela. It had been their intention to secure a team at St. Joseph for the purpose of making the journey across the plains, but after consideration they changed their plans and instead took passage with a man named Booth Brandon, who, with his wife was ready to start, and who had two wagons, he asking and receiving $100 each from the young men on their passage money. The long journey was inaugurated by crossing the Missouri River April 24, 1852, by ferry, and the party proceeded on as members of a company composed, as regards the remainder, of people from Brandon�s neighborhood. The Indians were hostile at that time, and when the company engaged for the first night, about a half mile west of the Missouri, they camp was arranged with due precaution for the safety of the people and stock. The wagons were arranged in a circle, with the horses inside the enclosure, and a guard was put on the camp, Mr. Ink being placed on duty among the first squad. A storm had been threatening, and that night the rain came down in torrents, accompanied at frequent intervals by thunder and lightning. Having to undergo the full severity of it all in his capacity as a guard, Mr. Ink will always remember that night was the most awful of his life. Though for a long time unmolested, vigilance was not slackened, and these precautions were continued all the way across the plains. At Fort Kearney, where they encamped and picketed out their horses, they found about 200 warriors, and one of these, coming up, flopped a blanket in the face of one of the horses. The act was followed almost immediately by a general stampede, the result being that the company was left with only one or two horses out of the entire number. Of course further progress under these circumstances was impossible, and they had to tarry while hunting parties went out to endeavor to recover the lost animals. After a week�s search about two-thirds of them were found and recaptured, having been picked up as stragglers here and there. Then they proceeded on via Fort Laramie, after passing which they arrived among the Sioux Indians, who, while they often came around, did not offer to molest them. Among them were some magnificent specimens of physical development. The journey then was steady, the monotony being varied sometimes by changes of scenery and again by occasional incidents which afforded interest and amusement for the whole party. While on the little Sandy and example in point occurred. A party from Ohio had a fine horse of which they were very fond, and in whose speed they had much confidence, and a match was made to race him against a little white horse of insignificant appearance belonging to an old Frenchman, the distance being about 300 yards. A little fellow from Ohio mounted the favorite of the �contingent� from that State, while a little Indian rode the small white horse. The latter proved to be a Tartar; and, having a big advantage over his competitor in the race on the sandy gravel, he won easily, and earned for his owner nearly everything the Ohio man possessed. At Steamboat Springs, further along on the journey, Mr. Ink enjoyed the sight of an exciting horse race between the Indians, a distance of about four miles being covered in determining the winner. Leaving the springs, they proceeded on toward the Humboldt, and arriving there, a man named John Lawson, from La Porte, Indiana, having died, they buried his remains in the middle of the road. Just before they reached the desert, a rain had fallen, and not only was the sand packed down, but water lay in pools about, so that it was crossed without the usual attending hardships and fatigues. The trails of former parties in crossing the great waste were evidenced, however, in the thousands of perished cattle whose bodies lay there so close together that one could almost walk across the desert on them. Side by side, stretched out on the ground, they appeared alive, and presented a sight never to be forgotten. Mr. Ink and Dr. Hinckley had walked most of the way after they had lost their horses in the stampede caused by the Indians, but they bought new mounts from some parties bound for Oregon, and the journey thereafter was less fatiguing. Their route had been chosen by Sublette�s cut-off, and the Carson route into California was taken. In the Carson Valley the party separated, and Mr. Ink and his friends, Drs. Wetherbee and Hinckley, came on alone, arriving at Hangtown, July 19. Their journey had been a pleasant one when compared with that of many others. For instance, there was one party of four men who pulled a wagon all the way out, and two others who drew a cart from Missouri to California! Mr. Ink saw the latter party on the Sierra Nevada Mountains, where the snow was about fifteen feet deep, and they pluckily said, �This cart has got to go to California!� At Hangtown our subject caught his first glimpse of California mining life. There he saw big tent houses, any one of which would contain, say, a band of music, a bar, twenty-five or thirty tables, surrounded with players having in front of them stacks of gold which they bet heavily and recklessly, while each would be crowded with men come to play or look on, principally the former, the whole causing a great uproar very unfamiliar to the new arrivals from staid Eastern districts. Mr. Ink remained at Hangtown about a week, during which time he prospected a little, and after looking around awhile he hired out to drive a team for a man named Newland, at $75 per month, his occupation being the hauling of hay to Diamond Spring, from a ranch located between Sacramento and Stockton. After being so employed about three months, he went back to the mines, thinking to get something to do there. He went to Diamond Spring, and obtained board there at the Howard boarding house, which accommodated about seventy-five men, and where his keeping cost him $16 a week. Being unable to obtain any other employment, and not wishing to run behind, he offered to work in the hotel for his board. This proposition was accepted. He was thus engaged about three weeks, when, having learned the whereabouts of some boys with whom he had crossed the plains, he decided to join them. He told Howard of his intention, and the latter, who had been much pleased with his dealings with him, gave him $4 a day for the entire time he had worked for him. He then proceeded to Cold Springs, met his friends, and went to mining there. Soon after, however, he went to Coloma, where he bought a claim. This investment proved a profitable one, and he worked there for some time, taking out as high as $200 a day. The winter was very wet, and he saw mule teams mire down beyond recovery though in plain view of help. His claim was precisely where Marshall discovered gold, running directly across the historic mill-race. Having worked out the claim, he went to American Flat, on the American River, and there he joined a company organized to flume the river. This they did for a distance of about three-quarters of a mile, at an expense of some $150,000; and when the water was pumped out they found they had been pursuing an ignis fatuus in their pursuit of sudden riches, as not over $500 was taken out of the river bed! Having sunk in this scheme his hard-earned savings, Mr. Ink went to Murderer�s Bar, where he worked for a man named Reynolds. Having gotten together a little money there, he went down to Napa Valley in the fall of 1853, and hired out for wages to Jonathan Hungerford, who lived a little off of the Sonoma road at a distance of about five miles. After a short time he changed to the employ of Boone Fly, his first work there being plowing, afterward hauling redwood, and finally assisting in threshing, in which he met with an accident, by his apron becoming entangled in the fan. In the fall of 1854, Messrs. Ink and Reese Smith rented Fly�s place, which is on Coneros Creek, four miles from Napa. They put in a crop of 200 acres of wheat, from which they expected a bountiful yield, but their hopes were blasted when they lost by rust all of it but fifteen or twenty acres of the Oregon variety. Our subject then took up a piece of land on T. O. Larkin�s tract; which he had been told was Government land, but he afterward ascertained that it was not such, and was compelled to buy it later, there being in his purchase some 240 acres, lying between Coneros Creek and Huichica. There he lived and farmed until 1860, making San Francisco his market and shipping his products by boat. His operations were successful, as besides farming his place he threshed for himself and others, and operated hay presses. His business was large, and he would have been able to clear up then with a much larger margin of profit, had it not been that he was hampered by being compelled to pay a security debt of $10,000. He had worked hard, however, and no effort possible had been spared in the endeavor to get ahead in the world. On Christmas day, 1860, he was married in Sonoma; and having sold his home place to Mr. Sackett he went to live, with his bride, on the Huichica ranch of eighty acres, which he had purchased in 1858. Before this time, however, Mr. Ink had branched out somewhat in land-buying, as before the last named purchase he had bought a tract of 320 acres, which he afterward sold to a man named Turner; and before disposing of it he and Reese Smith had owned for some time yet another piece of 200 acres and in 1857 he sold his interest in the latter to Smith. He remained on the Huichica ranch until the fall of 1861, when he sold it out and went to Marin County. There he bought a tract of 1,000 acres, and, stocking it up with cattle embarked later in the dairy business, which he carried on until August 10, 1873. While in that county he had some bitter experiences. He sold off about half his place, and then came a grant and cut off about half the remainder, so that he only had left between two and three hundred acres. Then he purchased again a piece of the same land, only to find when too late that he had bought from the wrong owner, so that he had to lose it all! Not discouraged, however, by repeated misfortunes, he bought it back again, making three times he had been compelled to purchase some of it, in order to be able to finally claim it as his own. Several lawsuits were necessary in defending his rights, but in these he was uniformly successful. There were about 150 or 200 acres which he purchased twice. When he left there he had 2,650 acres in one tract, and this he still retains. While there, he also bought 200 acres in Napa County, which he afterward sold. In 1870, having worn himself out by over-exertion, he bought a home in Petaluma. In 1873 he returned to Napa County, and located on his ranch of 200 acres three or four miles from Napa City. Next he bought 320 acres of partly improved land in Pope Valley, and went to live there, where he regained his health. While residing in the valley, he increased his landed possessions there to over 3,000 acres, which he yet retains and farms, and has it stocked with cattle and horses. In 1877 he bought a place on Putah Creek, which has now become, by later purchases, a ranch of 5,000 acres, where he runs sheep and a few goats, though not as many sheep as formerly, he having had as many as 4,000 there. In 1878 he purchased the beautiful property where he now resides, which is situated half-way between St. Helena and Rutherford, and in one of the finest tracts in Napa Valley. It is a portion of the old Bale estate, and Mr. Ink removed his place of residence there in 1886, and the 133 acres comprising the place is improved and cultivated in a highly creditable manner. When he took hold of it it was nothing but a duck pond. He put in ten miles of tiling, which made successful cultivation practicable, and set it all out in vines, which constitute a vineyard as healthy in appearance as any in California. About 1884 he bought a tract of 640 acres in Spanish Valley, which he uses as a stock ranch. All of these tracts Mr. Ink retains, and to them he gives more or less personal supervision. His viticultural interests alone, though constituting a comparatively small portion of his business, are quite extensive. Until 1886 he sold his grapes, but then started making wine. He erected in that year his winery and cellar, with a capacity of 150,000 gallons. His vintage holds a good rank in the trade. Mr. Ink is an active Mason, being a member of Petaluma Lodge, No. 77, F. & A.M.; of St. Helena Chapter, R. A. M., and of Mount Olivet Commandery, No. 20, K.T., Petaluma. In 1874 he was elected as a Supervisor of Napa County, and held his seat in the board, by virtue of successive re-election, until 1884. In politics he is a stanch Republican. His wife was formerly Miss Harriet Perlia Jane Goodrich, daughter of Hiram and Mariette (Sackett) Goodrich, who came across the plains in 1853, locating first on Coneros Creek, where they lived until 1886, when they removed to Napa. There the mother yet resides, but the father died in 1889. To Mr. and Mrs. Ink three children have been born, of whom the second, B. B., died at the age of seventeen months. The living are a daughter and son, named respectively May and I.G. Mr. Ink has made three trips to the Eastern States since coming to California, first in 1856, next in 1871, and finally in 1876, on which occasion he visited the Centennial Exposition, at Philadelphia. He is a man of determined disposition, though mild in demeanor, and has the satisfaction of being a successful man in life, though his advancement has been achieved against formidable obstacles. He came to California with little, and reverses here reduced his possessions to nothing. After repeated failures, through no fault of his own, he rose to the front, and must be ranked as one of the California�s successful agriculturists. The Ink family was a large one, our subject having had five brothers and four sisters. All his sisters are married, and have families, the oldest having four children, the next one one, the third two, and the youngest three. One of his brothers was the father of two children. Of the family of ten, there are now living three of the brothers and three sisters. The brothers of our subject are: Walter P., who resides at Cloverdale, Sonoma County, and Ira M., a resident of Chesterville, Morrow County, Ohio. His living sisters are: Jane, who resides in Missouri, the widow of Horace States; Cornelia Ann, wife of Washington Fish, of Illiniois; and Marilla, wife of Edward Grant, resident of Ohio. Memorial & Biographical History of Northern California, The Lewis Publishing Co., 1891, pp 529-534