Sources
Sources
4451. “Prudence Fountain,” Find-A-Grave, https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/36579863, 36579863.
4452. Amy and David Green, “Coleman-Green Family Tree,” http://worldconnect.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?o...66&id=I617604231, August 10, 2006.
4453. Margaret Togin Lawton Cassell, “Ancestors of Jason Richard Cassell,” http://familytreemaker.genealogy.com/users/c/a/s/M...ell/GENE20-0002.html.
4454. Barbara Westman, “Evelyn,” http://awt.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=:532269&id=I3311, July 16, 2001, Lists date as May 25, 1783.
4455. Win. J. Davis, “An Illustrated History of Sacramento County, California,” 1890, http://www.cagenweb.com/cpl/bios1.htm, Excerpts published on-line, Says 1844 for death.
Page 796
William Andrew Fountain, elder brother of James B. Fountain, and senior member of the business firm of Fountain Brothers, a brick-makers, is the oldest living son of Joshua Fountain, a native of the state of Delaware, born near Milford in 1811, and Prudence Rebecca (Walton) Fountain, who emigrated to Beard's Prairie, Michigan, in 1835, where the subject of this biography was born March of the following year (1836). As stated elsewhere in this volume, the family soon removed to Van Buren County, Iowa, where grandfather Andrew Fountain, who was a farmer, died in 1844. In the spring of 1850, our subject, at that time just twenty-four years of age, his father, his uncle Lloyd Rollins, a daughter of the latter, and three young men, made up a party to cross the plains overland to the "land of golden promise." They left home on the 9th of April, crossed the Missouri River at Council Bluffs on the 29th, the north side of the Platte, and via Fort Hall, arrived safely at Grass Valley on the 15th of September following. They wintered there, and in the spring of 1851 started for Gold Lake mining district. Abandoning that project they mined on the Feather River during that summer, at Bidwell's Bar and at Oregon Gulch until November, 1852, when our subject came to Sacramento and worked for his father, who had started a brickyard on Eighth and O streets. (For full particulars of locations, which were changed from time to time to accommodate the advancing requirements of a growing city, see sketch of Joshua Fountain, the pioneer brick-maker.) In 1859 Mr. Fountain started business on his own account, taking a contract to make brick for the wine-cellar, residence and other buildings for Mr. Bell, at Gold Hill, Placer County, and in 1862 and 1863 had a contract for constructing a portion of the levee near Freeport. In 1863 and 1864 he burned a kiln of brick at Auburn, and also made the brick for the courthouse and jail at Woodland that year. In 1865 and 1866 he bought a farm lying between Elk Grove and Georgetown, and was engaged in farming for two years, but in the meantime he burned a kiln of brick at Elk Grove. In 1867 the present firm was established. (For full particulars see sketch of J.B. Fountain.) Mr. Fountain has always taken an active interest in the local politics since the organization of the Republican party, to which he belongs, but has never been willing to accept any official position. He is a member of the Sixth Street Methodist Episcopal Church, and he has had his residence on the corner of Fifteenth and P Streets for twenty-three years. In 1877 he was associated with Hon. John Q. Brown in street contracting, cobbling and graveling the principal streets, and they continued the business for several years. The latter gentleman was afterward mayor of the city for six years, and is now president of the San Francisco Board of Trade. July 28, 1859, Mr. Fountain was married to Miss Abbie Louise Brewster, a native of Massachusetts, the daughter of Mr. Charles Brewster, a florist. She was a devoted Christian woman. Her death occurred September 13, 1879. The family consists of six daughters, viz: Henrietta, now Mrs. Charles Lowell; Clara, now Mrs. Charles Hockell; Grace; Anne; Lizzie; and Abbie. In 1881 he was again united in marriage to Miss Helen Powers, an earnest Christian woman, a native of New York State. Her death occurred April 23, 1888. Of their private affairs, the home life, of the tender interests which cluster around the family altar, it is not our province to speak, but we must be permitted to say that the influence of such homes are far-reaching; the influence of such lives will ever remain a monument to enduring memory. [From the 1901 Sacramento City Directory: Page 222 Fountain, Wm. A. brick mfr. r.1430 P]
Page 670
Joshua Fountain was born in Maryland, February 27, 1811, his parents being Andrew and Rebecca (Barwick) Fountain. His maternal grandparents were James and Mary (Fisher) Barwick. Grandmother Barwick lived to be over seventy. The Barwicks are Marylanders for several generations. His grandfather Fountain bore the name of Andrew, and lived to be nearly seventy. Joshua Fountain's great-grandfather, who is believed to have been also named Andrew, was one of the three brothers, who had come to America from France before the middle of the last century. One settled in Maryland, one in Long Island, and the third went South, but afterward returned to France, where he died leaving, it is said, a large fortune, to his indirect heirs in America. A grand-uncle was a Colonel Fountain in the French-Indian Wars, about 1760, serving on the side of the British colonies; and is said to have received the grant of one or two sections of land over which the city of Baltimore has since spread. Whether the alleged $8,000,000 of Fountain's inheritance includes this as well as the foreign claim, or whether one is confounded with the other, or whether either is genuine, Mr. Joshua Fountain is unable to say, and meanwhile is little concerned about the prospective millions which perhaps is little better than a lawyer's lure to gather a handsome retainer from American Fountains. Joshua Fountain was brought up on a Maryland farm near the Delaware line; and was married in 1834 to Miss Prudence Rebecca, a daughter of Solomon and Anvibator Fountain, born June 15, 1815. He rented a farm for the first year after his marriage, and in 1835 moved to Michigan, where he bought a farm in Cass County. In 1838 he moved to Iowa, buying a farm near Farmington; and then he moved into Lee County, where he farmed for seven years. In 1850, he came to California, across the plains, accompanied by his oldest son, then a boy of fourteen. Arriving in Grass Valley on September 15, 1850, he went to mining there that winter, assisted by his boy. In the spring he went to prospecting for three months, and again settled down to work at Big Rich Bar, on the north fork of the Feather River. Coming down to Oregon Gulch, below Orville, he there mined in the winter of 1851 and the spring of 1852. In the summer he came down to Sacramento seeking a location, having accumulated about $3,000, and bought a place at Eighth and O Streets. The son followed in November with $1,000 which he had won from the mines at the age of sixteen. He went into his old business of brickmaking, which he carried on from 1852 to 1861 in Sacramento. August 20, 1855, Mr. Fountain returned to Iowa to bring out his wife and family of four children, leaving his son in charge of the business and twenty men. In 1857 he bought the ranch of 240 acres in the northeast corner of Franklin Township, which he still owns, and on which he came to reside in 1859. During his brickmaking career in Sacramento he went to Grass Valley in 1857, and there made brick for the Catholic Church of that place; and in 1859 to Suisun City, where he made brick for the courthouse and jail. On his farm he raises grain, though is well adapted for fruit raising with proper irrigation. Mrs. Fountain died December 13, 1871, having borne the following children: William Andrew, born June 9, 1836; James Barwick, July 11, 1838; Ann Eliza, January 13, 1841; George Walton, January 19, 1844; Sarah Jane, December 17, 1847, deceased in 1849; Mary Marion and an unnamed twin sister, who died soon after birth March 17, 1849. Mary Marion died in 1851. Of these, William A. was born in Michigan, and the others in Iowa. The following were born in Sacramento: Joshua Jr, April 2, 1857; an unnamed child, born March 31, 1861, died April 12, 1861; Charles Henry, born April 16, 1862, died February 12, 1884. The two oldest carry on a brick business in Sacramento as Fountain Brothers. Ann Eliza is the wife of F.S. Hotchkiss of the same city. George W. is in the dairy business in the Locke and Levin, son place, below Courtland. He supplies half the stock, the firm the other half and the land, the product being owned in equal shares. He is married to Louisa Hollman. Joshua, Jr. is a traveling salesman for the hardware house of Hillburn brothers of Sacramento, and is married to Clara Hoyt. December 30, 1874, Mr. Fountain was married to Miss Mary Myers, born in Dade County, Missouri, in 1855, a daughter of Garrett Laure, and Delina (Robertson) Myers, the father being of French and the mother of English descent, both now living in Sacramento.
Page 796
William Andrew Fountain, elder brother of James B. Fountain, and senior member of the business firm of Fountain Brothers, a brick-makers, is the oldest living son of Joshua Fountain, a native of the state of Delaware, born near Milford in 1811, and Prudence Rebecca (Walton) Fountain, who emigrated to Beard's Prairie, Michigan, in 1835, where the subject of this biography was born March of the following year (1836). As stated elsewhere in this volume, the family soon removed to Van Buren County, Iowa, where grandfather Andrew Fountain, who was a farmer, died in 1844. In the spring of 1850, our subject, at that time just twenty-four years of age, his father, his uncle Lloyd Rollins, a daughter of the latter, and three young men, made up a party to cross the plains overland to the "land of golden promise." They left home on the 9th of April, crossed the Missouri River at Council Bluffs on the 29th, the north side of the Platte, and via Fort Hall, arrived safely at Grass Valley on the 15th of September following. They wintered there, and in the spring of 1851 started for Gold Lake mining district. Abandoning that project they mined on the Feather River during that summer, at Bidwell's Bar and at Oregon Gulch until November, 1852, when our subject came to Sacramento and worked for his father, who had started a brickyard on Eighth and O streets. (For full particulars of locations, which were changed from time to time to accommodate the advancing requirements of a growing city, see sketch of Joshua Fountain, the pioneer brick-maker.) In 1859 Mr. Fountain started business on his own account, taking a contract to make brick for the wine-cellar, residence and other buildings for Mr. Bell, at Gold Hill, Placer County, and in 1862 and 1863 had a contract for constructing a portion of the levee near Freeport. In 1863 and 1864 he burned a kiln of brick at Auburn, and also made the brick for the courthouse and jail at Woodland that year. In 1865 and 1866 he bought a farm lying between Elk Grove and Georgetown, and was engaged in farming for two years, but in the meantime he burned a kiln of brick at Elk Grove. In 1867 the present firm was established. (For full particulars see sketch of J.B. Fountain.) Mr. Fountain has always taken an active interest in the local politics since the organization of the Republican party, to which he belongs, but has never been willing to accept any official position. He is a member of the Sixth Street Methodist Episcopal Church, and he has had his residence on the corner of Fifteenth and P Streets for twenty-three years. In 1877 he was associated with Hon. John Q. Brown in street contracting, cobbling and graveling the principal streets, and they continued the business for several years. The latter gentleman was afterward mayor of the city for six years, and is now president of the San Francisco Board of Trade. July 28, 1859, Mr. Fountain was married to Miss Abbie Louise Brewster, a native of Massachusetts, the daughter of Mr. Charles Brewster, a florist. She was a devoted Christian woman. Her death occurred September 13, 1879. The family consists of six daughters, viz: Henrietta, now Mrs. Charles Lowell; Clara, now Mrs. Charles Hockell; Grace; Anne; Lizzie; and Abbie. In 1881 he was again united in marriage to Miss Helen Powers, an earnest Christian woman, a native of New York State. Her death occurred April 23, 1888. Of their private affairs, the home life, of the tender interests which cluster around the family altar, it is not our province to speak, but we must be permitted to say that the influence of such homes are far-reaching; the influence of such lives will ever remain a monument to enduring memory. [From the 1901 Sacramento City Directory: Page 222 Fountain, Wm. A. brick mfr. r.1430 P]
Page 670
Joshua Fountain was born in Maryland, February 27, 1811, his parents being Andrew and Rebecca (Barwick) Fountain. His maternal grandparents were James and Mary (Fisher) Barwick. Grandmother Barwick lived to be over seventy. The Barwicks are Marylanders for several generations. His grandfather Fountain bore the name of Andrew, and lived to be nearly seventy. Joshua Fountain's great-grandfather, who is believed to have been also named Andrew, was one of the three brothers, who had come to America from France before the middle of the last century. One settled in Maryland, one in Long Island, and the third went South, but afterward returned to France, where he died leaving, it is said, a large fortune, to his indirect heirs in America. A grand-uncle was a Colonel Fountain in the French-Indian Wars, about 1760, serving on the side of the British colonies; and is said to have received the grant of one or two sections of land over which the city of Baltimore has since spread. Whether the alleged $8,000,000 of Fountain's inheritance includes this as well as the foreign claim, or whether one is confounded with the other, or whether either is genuine, Mr. Joshua Fountain is unable to say, and meanwhile is little concerned about the prospective millions which perhaps is little better than a lawyer's lure to gather a handsome retainer from American Fountains. Joshua Fountain was brought up on a Maryland farm near the Delaware line; and was married in 1834 to Miss Prudence Rebecca, a daughter of Solomon and Anvibator Fountain, born June 15, 1815. He rented a farm for the first year after his marriage, and in 1835 moved to Michigan, where he bought a farm in Cass County. In 1838 he moved to Iowa, buying a farm near Farmington; and then he moved into Lee County, where he farmed for seven years. In 1850, he came to California, across the plains, accompanied by his oldest son, then a boy of fourteen. Arriving in Grass Valley on September 15, 1850, he went to mining there that winter, assisted by his boy. In the spring he went to prospecting for three months, and again settled down to work at Big Rich Bar, on the north fork of the Feather River. Coming down to Oregon Gulch, below Orville, he there mined in the winter of 1851 and the spring of 1852. In the summer he came down to Sacramento seeking a location, having accumulated about $3,000, and bought a place at Eighth and O Streets. The son followed in November with $1,000 which he had won from the mines at the age of sixteen. He went into his old business of brickmaking, which he carried on from 1852 to 1861 in Sacramento. August 20, 1855, Mr. Fountain returned to Iowa to bring out his wife and family of four children, leaving his son in charge of the business and twenty men. In 1857 he bought the ranch of 240 acres in the northeast corner of Franklin Township, which he still owns, and on which he came to reside in 1859. During his brickmaking career in Sacramento he went to Grass Valley in 1857, and there made brick for the Catholic Church of that place; and in 1859 to Suisun City, where he made brick for the courthouse and jail. On his farm he raises grain, though is well adapted for fruit raising with proper irrigation. Mrs. Fountain died December 13, 1871, having borne the following children: William Andrew, born June 9, 1836; James Barwick, July 11, 1838; Ann Eliza, January 13, 1841; George Walton, January 19, 1844; Sarah Jane, December 17, 1847, deceased in 1849; Mary Marion and an unnamed twin sister, who died soon after birth March 17, 1849. Mary Marion died in 1851. Of these, William A. was born in Michigan, and the others in Iowa. The following were born in Sacramento: Joshua Jr, April 2, 1857; an unnamed child, born March 31, 1861, died April 12, 1861; Charles Henry, born April 16, 1862, died February 12, 1884. The two oldest carry on a brick business in Sacramento as Fountain Brothers. Ann Eliza is the wife of F.S. Hotchkiss of the same city. George W. is in the dairy business in the Locke and Levin, son place, below Courtland. He supplies half the stock, the firm the other half and the land, the product being owned in equal shares. He is married to Louisa Hollman. Joshua, Jr. is a traveling salesman for the hardware house of Hillburn brothers of Sacramento, and is married to Clara Hoyt. December 30, 1874, Mr. Fountain was married to Miss Mary Myers, born in Dade County, Missouri, in 1855, a daughter of Garrett Laure, and Delina (Robertson) Myers, the father being of French and the mother of English descent, both now living in Sacramento.
4456. Margaret Togin Lawton Cassell, “Ancestors of Jason Richard Cassell,” http://familytreemaker.genealogy.com/users/c/a/s/M...ell/GENE20-0002.html, Says March 31, 1838.
4457. Margaret Togin Lawton Cassell, “Ancestors of Jason Richard Cassell,” http://familytreemaker.genealogy.com/users/c/a/s/M...ell/GENE20-0002.html, Says between 1783-1785, probably in Caroline County, MD.
4458. Win. J. Davis, “An Illustrated History of Sacramento County, California,” 1890, http://www.cagenweb.com/cpl/bios1.htm, Excerpts published on-line, Gives dates of both June 9, 1836 and March 1836.
Page 796
William Andrew Fountain, elder brother of James B. Fountain, and senior member of the business firm of Fountain Brothers, a brick-makers, is the oldest living son of Joshua Fountain, a native of the state of Delaware, born near Milford in 1811, and Prudence Rebecca (Walton) Fountain, who emigrated to Beard's Prairie, Michigan, in 1835, where the subject of this biography was born March of the following year (1836). As stated elsewhere in this volume, the family soon removed to Van Buren County, Iowa, where grandfather Andrew Fountain, who was a farmer, died in 1844. In the spring of 1850, our subject, at that time just twenty-four years of age, his father, his uncle Lloyd Rollins, a daughter of the latter, and three young men, made up a party to cross the plains overland to the "land of golden promise." They left home on the 9th of April, crossed the Missouri River at Council Bluffs on the 29th, the north side of the Platte, and via Fort Hall, arrived safely at Grass Valley on the 15th of September following. They wintered there, and in the spring of 1851 started for Gold Lake mining district. Abandoning that project they mined on the Feather River during that summer, at Bidwell's Bar and at Oregon Gulch until November, 1852, when our subject came to Sacramento and worked for his father, who had started a brickyard on Eighth and O streets. (For full particulars of locations, which were changed from time to time to accommodate the advancing requirements of a growing city, see sketch of Joshua Fountain, the pioneer brick-maker.) In 1859 Mr. Fountain started business on his own account, taking a contract to make brick for the wine-cellar, residence and other buildings for Mr. Bell, at Gold Hill, Placer County, and in 1862 and 1863 had a contract for constructing a portion of the levee near Freeport. In 1863 and 1864 he burned a kiln of brick at Auburn, and also made the brick for the courthouse and jail at Woodland that year. In 1865 and 1866 he bought a farm lying between Elk Grove and Georgetown, and was engaged in farming for two years, but in the meantime he burned a kiln of brick at Elk Grove. In 1867 the present firm was established. (For full particulars see sketch of J.B. Fountain.) Mr. Fountain has always taken an active interest in the local politics since the organization of the Republican party, to which he belongs, but has never been willing to accept any official position. He is a member of the Sixth Street Methodist Episcopal Church, and he has had his residence on the corner of Fifteenth and P Streets for twenty-three years. In 1877 he was associated with Hon. John Q. Brown in street contracting, cobbling and graveling the principal streets, and they continued the business for several years. The latter gentleman was afterward mayor of the city for six years, and is now president of the San Francisco Board of Trade. July 28, 1859, Mr. Fountain was married to Miss Abbie Louise Brewster, a native of Massachusetts, the daughter of Mr. Charles Brewster, a florist. She was a devoted Christian woman. Her death occurred September 13, 1879. The family consists of six daughters, viz: Henrietta, now Mrs. Charles Lowell; Clara, now Mrs. Charles Hockell; Grace; Anne; Lizzie; and Abbie. In 1881 he was again united in marriage to Miss Helen Powers, an earnest Christian woman, a native of New York State. Her death occurred April 23, 1888. Of their private affairs, the home life, of the tender interests which cluster around the family altar, it is not our province to speak, but we must be permitted to say that the influence of such homes are far-reaching; the influence of such lives will ever remain a monument to enduring memory. [From the 1901 Sacramento City Directory: Page 222 Fountain, Wm. A. brick mfr. r.1430 P]
Page 670
Joshua Fountain was born in Maryland, February 27, 1811, his parents being Andrew and Rebecca (Barwick) Fountain. His maternal grandparents were James and Mary (Fisher) Barwick. Grandmother Barwick lived to be over seventy. The Barwicks are Marylanders for several generations. His grandfather Fountain bore the name of Andrew, and lived to be nearly seventy. Joshua Fountain's great-grandfather, who is believed to have been also named Andrew, was one of the three brothers, who had come to America from France before the middle of the last century. One settled in Maryland, one in Long Island, and the third went South, but afterward returned to France, where he died leaving, it is said, a large fortune, to his indirect heirs in America. A grand-uncle was a Colonel Fountain in the French-Indian Wars, about 1760, serving on the side of the British colonies; and is said to have received the grant of one or two sections of land over which the city of Baltimore has since spread. Whether the alleged $8,000,000 of Fountain's inheritance includes this as well as the foreign claim, or whether one is confounded with the other, or whether either is genuine, Mr. Joshua Fountain is unable to say, and meanwhile is little concerned about the prospective millions which perhaps is little better than a lawyer's lure to gather a handsome retainer from American Fountains. Joshua Fountain was brought up on a Maryland farm near the Delaware line; and was married in 1834 to Miss Prudence Rebecca, a daughter of Solomon and Anvibator Fountain, born June 15, 1815. He rented a farm for the first year after his marriage, and in 1835 moved to Michigan, where he bought a farm in Cass County. In 1838 he moved to Iowa, buying a farm near Farmington; and then he moved into Lee County, where he farmed for seven years. In 1850, he came to California, across the plains, accompanied by his oldest son, then a boy of fourteen. Arriving in Grass Valley on September 15, 1850, he went to mining there that winter, assisted by his boy. In the spring he went to prospecting for three months, and again settled down to work at Big Rich Bar, on the north fork of the Feather River. Coming down to Oregon Gulch, below Orville, he there mined in the winter of 1851 and the spring of 1852. In the summer he came down to Sacramento seeking a location, having accumulated about $3,000, and bought a place at Eighth and O Streets. The son followed in November with $1,000 which he had won from the mines at the age of sixteen. He went into his old business of brickmaking, which he carried on from 1852 to 1861 in Sacramento. August 20, 1855, Mr. Fountain returned to Iowa to bring out his wife and family of four children, leaving his son in charge of the business and twenty men. In 1857 he bought the ranch of 240 acres in the northeast corner of Franklin Township, which he still owns, and on which he came to reside in 1859. During his brickmaking career in Sacramento he went to Grass Valley in 1857, and there made brick for the Catholic Church of that place; and in 1859 to Suisun City, where he made brick for the courthouse and jail. On his farm he raises grain, though is well adapted for fruit raising with proper irrigation. Mrs. Fountain died December 13, 1871, having borne the following children: William Andrew, born June 9, 1836; James Barwick, July 11, 1838; Ann Eliza, January 13, 1841; George Walton, January 19, 1844; Sarah Jane, December 17, 1847, deceased in 1849; Mary Marion and an unnamed twin sister, who died soon after birth March 17, 1849. Mary Marion died in 1851. Of these, William A. was born in Michigan, and the others in Iowa. The following were born in Sacramento: Joshua Jr, April 2, 1857; an unnamed child, born March 31, 1861, died April 12, 1861; Charles Henry, born April 16, 1862, died February 12, 1884. The two oldest carry on a brick business in Sacramento as Fountain Brothers. Ann Eliza is the wife of F.S. Hotchkiss of the same city. George W. is in the dairy business in the Locke and Levin, son place, below Courtland. He supplies half the stock, the firm the other half and the land, the product being owned in equal shares. He is married to Louisa Hollman. Joshua, Jr. is a traveling salesman for the hardware house of Hillburn brothers of Sacramento, and is married to Clara Hoyt. December 30, 1874, Mr. Fountain was married to Miss Mary Myers, born in Dade County, Missouri, in 1855, a daughter of Garrett Laure, and Delina (Robertson) Myers, the father being of French and the mother of English descent, both now living in Sacramento.
Page 796
William Andrew Fountain, elder brother of James B. Fountain, and senior member of the business firm of Fountain Brothers, a brick-makers, is the oldest living son of Joshua Fountain, a native of the state of Delaware, born near Milford in 1811, and Prudence Rebecca (Walton) Fountain, who emigrated to Beard's Prairie, Michigan, in 1835, where the subject of this biography was born March of the following year (1836). As stated elsewhere in this volume, the family soon removed to Van Buren County, Iowa, where grandfather Andrew Fountain, who was a farmer, died in 1844. In the spring of 1850, our subject, at that time just twenty-four years of age, his father, his uncle Lloyd Rollins, a daughter of the latter, and three young men, made up a party to cross the plains overland to the "land of golden promise." They left home on the 9th of April, crossed the Missouri River at Council Bluffs on the 29th, the north side of the Platte, and via Fort Hall, arrived safely at Grass Valley on the 15th of September following. They wintered there, and in the spring of 1851 started for Gold Lake mining district. Abandoning that project they mined on the Feather River during that summer, at Bidwell's Bar and at Oregon Gulch until November, 1852, when our subject came to Sacramento and worked for his father, who had started a brickyard on Eighth and O streets. (For full particulars of locations, which were changed from time to time to accommodate the advancing requirements of a growing city, see sketch of Joshua Fountain, the pioneer brick-maker.) In 1859 Mr. Fountain started business on his own account, taking a contract to make brick for the wine-cellar, residence and other buildings for Mr. Bell, at Gold Hill, Placer County, and in 1862 and 1863 had a contract for constructing a portion of the levee near Freeport. In 1863 and 1864 he burned a kiln of brick at Auburn, and also made the brick for the courthouse and jail at Woodland that year. In 1865 and 1866 he bought a farm lying between Elk Grove and Georgetown, and was engaged in farming for two years, but in the meantime he burned a kiln of brick at Elk Grove. In 1867 the present firm was established. (For full particulars see sketch of J.B. Fountain.) Mr. Fountain has always taken an active interest in the local politics since the organization of the Republican party, to which he belongs, but has never been willing to accept any official position. He is a member of the Sixth Street Methodist Episcopal Church, and he has had his residence on the corner of Fifteenth and P Streets for twenty-three years. In 1877 he was associated with Hon. John Q. Brown in street contracting, cobbling and graveling the principal streets, and they continued the business for several years. The latter gentleman was afterward mayor of the city for six years, and is now president of the San Francisco Board of Trade. July 28, 1859, Mr. Fountain was married to Miss Abbie Louise Brewster, a native of Massachusetts, the daughter of Mr. Charles Brewster, a florist. She was a devoted Christian woman. Her death occurred September 13, 1879. The family consists of six daughters, viz: Henrietta, now Mrs. Charles Lowell; Clara, now Mrs. Charles Hockell; Grace; Anne; Lizzie; and Abbie. In 1881 he was again united in marriage to Miss Helen Powers, an earnest Christian woman, a native of New York State. Her death occurred April 23, 1888. Of their private affairs, the home life, of the tender interests which cluster around the family altar, it is not our province to speak, but we must be permitted to say that the influence of such homes are far-reaching; the influence of such lives will ever remain a monument to enduring memory. [From the 1901 Sacramento City Directory: Page 222 Fountain, Wm. A. brick mfr. r.1430 P]
Page 670
Joshua Fountain was born in Maryland, February 27, 1811, his parents being Andrew and Rebecca (Barwick) Fountain. His maternal grandparents were James and Mary (Fisher) Barwick. Grandmother Barwick lived to be over seventy. The Barwicks are Marylanders for several generations. His grandfather Fountain bore the name of Andrew, and lived to be nearly seventy. Joshua Fountain's great-grandfather, who is believed to have been also named Andrew, was one of the three brothers, who had come to America from France before the middle of the last century. One settled in Maryland, one in Long Island, and the third went South, but afterward returned to France, where he died leaving, it is said, a large fortune, to his indirect heirs in America. A grand-uncle was a Colonel Fountain in the French-Indian Wars, about 1760, serving on the side of the British colonies; and is said to have received the grant of one or two sections of land over which the city of Baltimore has since spread. Whether the alleged $8,000,000 of Fountain's inheritance includes this as well as the foreign claim, or whether one is confounded with the other, or whether either is genuine, Mr. Joshua Fountain is unable to say, and meanwhile is little concerned about the prospective millions which perhaps is little better than a lawyer's lure to gather a handsome retainer from American Fountains. Joshua Fountain was brought up on a Maryland farm near the Delaware line; and was married in 1834 to Miss Prudence Rebecca, a daughter of Solomon and Anvibator Fountain, born June 15, 1815. He rented a farm for the first year after his marriage, and in 1835 moved to Michigan, where he bought a farm in Cass County. In 1838 he moved to Iowa, buying a farm near Farmington; and then he moved into Lee County, where he farmed for seven years. In 1850, he came to California, across the plains, accompanied by his oldest son, then a boy of fourteen. Arriving in Grass Valley on September 15, 1850, he went to mining there that winter, assisted by his boy. In the spring he went to prospecting for three months, and again settled down to work at Big Rich Bar, on the north fork of the Feather River. Coming down to Oregon Gulch, below Orville, he there mined in the winter of 1851 and the spring of 1852. In the summer he came down to Sacramento seeking a location, having accumulated about $3,000, and bought a place at Eighth and O Streets. The son followed in November with $1,000 which he had won from the mines at the age of sixteen. He went into his old business of brickmaking, which he carried on from 1852 to 1861 in Sacramento. August 20, 1855, Mr. Fountain returned to Iowa to bring out his wife and family of four children, leaving his son in charge of the business and twenty men. In 1857 he bought the ranch of 240 acres in the northeast corner of Franklin Township, which he still owns, and on which he came to reside in 1859. During his brickmaking career in Sacramento he went to Grass Valley in 1857, and there made brick for the Catholic Church of that place; and in 1859 to Suisun City, where he made brick for the courthouse and jail. On his farm he raises grain, though is well adapted for fruit raising with proper irrigation. Mrs. Fountain died December 13, 1871, having borne the following children: William Andrew, born June 9, 1836; James Barwick, July 11, 1838; Ann Eliza, January 13, 1841; George Walton, January 19, 1844; Sarah Jane, December 17, 1847, deceased in 1849; Mary Marion and an unnamed twin sister, who died soon after birth March 17, 1849. Mary Marion died in 1851. Of these, William A. was born in Michigan, and the others in Iowa. The following were born in Sacramento: Joshua Jr, April 2, 1857; an unnamed child, born March 31, 1861, died April 12, 1861; Charles Henry, born April 16, 1862, died February 12, 1884. The two oldest carry on a brick business in Sacramento as Fountain Brothers. Ann Eliza is the wife of F.S. Hotchkiss of the same city. George W. is in the dairy business in the Locke and Levin, son place, below Courtland. He supplies half the stock, the firm the other half and the land, the product being owned in equal shares. He is married to Louisa Hollman. Joshua, Jr. is a traveling salesman for the hardware house of Hillburn brothers of Sacramento, and is married to Clara Hoyt. December 30, 1874, Mr. Fountain was married to Miss Mary Myers, born in Dade County, Missouri, in 1855, a daughter of Garrett Laure, and Delina (Robertson) Myers, the father being of French and the mother of English descent, both now living in Sacramento.
4459. “United States Census,” 1870, CA, Sacramento, Sacramento, Ward 04, M593, 4259315, 89, 724, Bureau of the Census, US Dept. of Commerce, United States of America, Chas A Gartio.
File: 1870 CA Sacramento County Sacramento Ward 4 p89
File: 1870 CA Sacramento County Sacramento Ward 4 p89
4460. “United States Census,” 1880, CA, Sacramento, Sacramento, 14B, 2, 88, T9, 71, 52, Bureau of the Census, US Dept. of Commerce, United States of America, Thos Allen.
File: 1880 CA Sacramento County Sacramento p14B
File: 1880 CA Sacramento County Sacramento p14B
4461. “United States Census,” 1900, CA, Sacramento, Sacramento, Precinct 02, Ward 07, 11A, 4, 89, T623, 98, 703, Bureau of the Census, US Dept. of Commerce, United States of America, June 9, 1900, C W Samuelson.
File: 1900 CA Sacramento County Sacramento Pct 02 Ward 7 p11A
File: 1900 CA Sacramento County Sacramento Pct 02 Ward 7 p11A
4462. “Sacramento Marriages 1850-1860,” http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~npmelton/sacmar50.htm.
4463. “Old City Cemetery Burial Record Information,” http://oldcitycemetery.com/images/PDF/CemeteryIndex.pdf, Name listed as Abby L Fountain.
File: OldCityCemeteryIndex
File: OldCityCemeteryIndex
4464. “Sacramento Marriages 1850-1860,” http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~npmelton/sacmar50.htm, Says 1860.
4465. Win. J. Davis, “An Illustrated History of Sacramento County, California,” 1890, http://www.cagenweb.com/cpl/bios1.htm, Excerpts published on-line, Says July 28, 1859.
Page 796
William Andrew Fountain, elder brother of James B. Fountain, and senior member of the business firm of Fountain Brothers, a brick-makers, is the oldest living son of Joshua Fountain, a native of the state of Delaware, born near Milford in 1811, and Prudence Rebecca (Walton) Fountain, who emigrated to Beard's Prairie, Michigan, in 1835, where the subject of this biography was born March of the following year (1836). As stated elsewhere in this volume, the family soon removed to Van Buren County, Iowa, where grandfather Andrew Fountain, who was a farmer, died in 1844. In the spring of 1850, our subject, at that time just twenty-four years of age, his father, his uncle Lloyd Rollins, a daughter of the latter, and three young men, made up a party to cross the plains overland to the "land of golden promise." They left home on the 9th of April, crossed the Missouri River at Council Bluffs on the 29th, the north side of the Platte, and via Fort Hall, arrived safely at Grass Valley on the 15th of September following. They wintered there, and in the spring of 1851 started for Gold Lake mining district. Abandoning that project they mined on the Feather River during that summer, at Bidwell's Bar and at Oregon Gulch until November, 1852, when our subject came to Sacramento and worked for his father, who had started a brickyard on Eighth and O streets. (For full particulars of locations, which were changed from time to time to accommodate the advancing requirements of a growing city, see sketch of Joshua Fountain, the pioneer brick-maker.) In 1859 Mr. Fountain started business on his own account, taking a contract to make brick for the wine-cellar, residence and other buildings for Mr. Bell, at Gold Hill, Placer County, and in 1862 and 1863 had a contract for constructing a portion of the levee near Freeport. In 1863 and 1864 he burned a kiln of brick at Auburn, and also made the brick for the courthouse and jail at Woodland that year. In 1865 and 1866 he bought a farm lying between Elk Grove and Georgetown, and was engaged in farming for two years, but in the meantime he burned a kiln of brick at Elk Grove. In 1867 the present firm was established. (For full particulars see sketch of J.B. Fountain.) Mr. Fountain has always taken an active interest in the local politics since the organization of the Republican party, to which he belongs, but has never been willing to accept any official position. He is a member of the Sixth Street Methodist Episcopal Church, and he has had his residence on the corner of Fifteenth and P Streets for twenty-three years. In 1877 he was associated with Hon. John Q. Brown in street contracting, cobbling and graveling the principal streets, and they continued the business for several years. The latter gentleman was afterward mayor of the city for six years, and is now president of the San Francisco Board of Trade. July 28, 1859, Mr. Fountain was married to Miss Abbie Louise Brewster, a native of Massachusetts, the daughter of Mr. Charles Brewster, a florist. She was a devoted Christian woman. Her death occurred September 13, 1879. The family consists of six daughters, viz: Henrietta, now Mrs. Charles Lowell; Clara, now Mrs. Charles Hockell; Grace; Anne; Lizzie; and Abbie. In 1881 he was again united in marriage to Miss Helen Powers, an earnest Christian woman, a native of New York State. Her death occurred April 23, 1888. Of their private affairs, the home life, of the tender interests which cluster around the family altar, it is not our province to speak, but we must be permitted to say that the influence of such homes are far-reaching; the influence of such lives will ever remain a monument to enduring memory. [From the 1901 Sacramento City Directory: Page 222 Fountain, Wm. A. brick mfr. r.1430 P]
Page 670
Joshua Fountain was born in Maryland, February 27, 1811, his parents being Andrew and Rebecca (Barwick) Fountain. His maternal grandparents were James and Mary (Fisher) Barwick. Grandmother Barwick lived to be over seventy. The Barwicks are Marylanders for several generations. His grandfather Fountain bore the name of Andrew, and lived to be nearly seventy. Joshua Fountain's great-grandfather, who is believed to have been also named Andrew, was one of the three brothers, who had come to America from France before the middle of the last century. One settled in Maryland, one in Long Island, and the third went South, but afterward returned to France, where he died leaving, it is said, a large fortune, to his indirect heirs in America. A grand-uncle was a Colonel Fountain in the French-Indian Wars, about 1760, serving on the side of the British colonies; and is said to have received the grant of one or two sections of land over which the city of Baltimore has since spread. Whether the alleged $8,000,000 of Fountain's inheritance includes this as well as the foreign claim, or whether one is confounded with the other, or whether either is genuine, Mr. Joshua Fountain is unable to say, and meanwhile is little concerned about the prospective millions which perhaps is little better than a lawyer's lure to gather a handsome retainer from American Fountains. Joshua Fountain was brought up on a Maryland farm near the Delaware line; and was married in 1834 to Miss Prudence Rebecca, a daughter of Solomon and Anvibator Fountain, born June 15, 1815. He rented a farm for the first year after his marriage, and in 1835 moved to Michigan, where he bought a farm in Cass County. In 1838 he moved to Iowa, buying a farm near Farmington; and then he moved into Lee County, where he farmed for seven years. In 1850, he came to California, across the plains, accompanied by his oldest son, then a boy of fourteen. Arriving in Grass Valley on September 15, 1850, he went to mining there that winter, assisted by his boy. In the spring he went to prospecting for three months, and again settled down to work at Big Rich Bar, on the north fork of the Feather River. Coming down to Oregon Gulch, below Orville, he there mined in the winter of 1851 and the spring of 1852. In the summer he came down to Sacramento seeking a location, having accumulated about $3,000, and bought a place at Eighth and O Streets. The son followed in November with $1,000 which he had won from the mines at the age of sixteen. He went into his old business of brickmaking, which he carried on from 1852 to 1861 in Sacramento. August 20, 1855, Mr. Fountain returned to Iowa to bring out his wife and family of four children, leaving his son in charge of the business and twenty men. In 1857 he bought the ranch of 240 acres in the northeast corner of Franklin Township, which he still owns, and on which he came to reside in 1859. During his brickmaking career in Sacramento he went to Grass Valley in 1857, and there made brick for the Catholic Church of that place; and in 1859 to Suisun City, where he made brick for the courthouse and jail. On his farm he raises grain, though is well adapted for fruit raising with proper irrigation. Mrs. Fountain died December 13, 1871, having borne the following children: William Andrew, born June 9, 1836; James Barwick, July 11, 1838; Ann Eliza, January 13, 1841; George Walton, January 19, 1844; Sarah Jane, December 17, 1847, deceased in 1849; Mary Marion and an unnamed twin sister, who died soon after birth March 17, 1849. Mary Marion died in 1851. Of these, William A. was born in Michigan, and the others in Iowa. The following were born in Sacramento: Joshua Jr, April 2, 1857; an unnamed child, born March 31, 1861, died April 12, 1861; Charles Henry, born April 16, 1862, died February 12, 1884. The two oldest carry on a brick business in Sacramento as Fountain Brothers. Ann Eliza is the wife of F.S. Hotchkiss of the same city. George W. is in the dairy business in the Locke and Levin, son place, below Courtland. He supplies half the stock, the firm the other half and the land, the product being owned in equal shares. He is married to Louisa Hollman. Joshua, Jr. is a traveling salesman for the hardware house of Hillburn brothers of Sacramento, and is married to Clara Hoyt. December 30, 1874, Mr. Fountain was married to Miss Mary Myers, born in Dade County, Missouri, in 1855, a daughter of Garrett Laure, and Delina (Robertson) Myers, the father being of French and the mother of English descent, both now living in Sacramento.
Page 796
William Andrew Fountain, elder brother of James B. Fountain, and senior member of the business firm of Fountain Brothers, a brick-makers, is the oldest living son of Joshua Fountain, a native of the state of Delaware, born near Milford in 1811, and Prudence Rebecca (Walton) Fountain, who emigrated to Beard's Prairie, Michigan, in 1835, where the subject of this biography was born March of the following year (1836). As stated elsewhere in this volume, the family soon removed to Van Buren County, Iowa, where grandfather Andrew Fountain, who was a farmer, died in 1844. In the spring of 1850, our subject, at that time just twenty-four years of age, his father, his uncle Lloyd Rollins, a daughter of the latter, and three young men, made up a party to cross the plains overland to the "land of golden promise." They left home on the 9th of April, crossed the Missouri River at Council Bluffs on the 29th, the north side of the Platte, and via Fort Hall, arrived safely at Grass Valley on the 15th of September following. They wintered there, and in the spring of 1851 started for Gold Lake mining district. Abandoning that project they mined on the Feather River during that summer, at Bidwell's Bar and at Oregon Gulch until November, 1852, when our subject came to Sacramento and worked for his father, who had started a brickyard on Eighth and O streets. (For full particulars of locations, which were changed from time to time to accommodate the advancing requirements of a growing city, see sketch of Joshua Fountain, the pioneer brick-maker.) In 1859 Mr. Fountain started business on his own account, taking a contract to make brick for the wine-cellar, residence and other buildings for Mr. Bell, at Gold Hill, Placer County, and in 1862 and 1863 had a contract for constructing a portion of the levee near Freeport. In 1863 and 1864 he burned a kiln of brick at Auburn, and also made the brick for the courthouse and jail at Woodland that year. In 1865 and 1866 he bought a farm lying between Elk Grove and Georgetown, and was engaged in farming for two years, but in the meantime he burned a kiln of brick at Elk Grove. In 1867 the present firm was established. (For full particulars see sketch of J.B. Fountain.) Mr. Fountain has always taken an active interest in the local politics since the organization of the Republican party, to which he belongs, but has never been willing to accept any official position. He is a member of the Sixth Street Methodist Episcopal Church, and he has had his residence on the corner of Fifteenth and P Streets for twenty-three years. In 1877 he was associated with Hon. John Q. Brown in street contracting, cobbling and graveling the principal streets, and they continued the business for several years. The latter gentleman was afterward mayor of the city for six years, and is now president of the San Francisco Board of Trade. July 28, 1859, Mr. Fountain was married to Miss Abbie Louise Brewster, a native of Massachusetts, the daughter of Mr. Charles Brewster, a florist. She was a devoted Christian woman. Her death occurred September 13, 1879. The family consists of six daughters, viz: Henrietta, now Mrs. Charles Lowell; Clara, now Mrs. Charles Hockell; Grace; Anne; Lizzie; and Abbie. In 1881 he was again united in marriage to Miss Helen Powers, an earnest Christian woman, a native of New York State. Her death occurred April 23, 1888. Of their private affairs, the home life, of the tender interests which cluster around the family altar, it is not our province to speak, but we must be permitted to say that the influence of such homes are far-reaching; the influence of such lives will ever remain a monument to enduring memory. [From the 1901 Sacramento City Directory: Page 222 Fountain, Wm. A. brick mfr. r.1430 P]
Page 670
Joshua Fountain was born in Maryland, February 27, 1811, his parents being Andrew and Rebecca (Barwick) Fountain. His maternal grandparents were James and Mary (Fisher) Barwick. Grandmother Barwick lived to be over seventy. The Barwicks are Marylanders for several generations. His grandfather Fountain bore the name of Andrew, and lived to be nearly seventy. Joshua Fountain's great-grandfather, who is believed to have been also named Andrew, was one of the three brothers, who had come to America from France before the middle of the last century. One settled in Maryland, one in Long Island, and the third went South, but afterward returned to France, where he died leaving, it is said, a large fortune, to his indirect heirs in America. A grand-uncle was a Colonel Fountain in the French-Indian Wars, about 1760, serving on the side of the British colonies; and is said to have received the grant of one or two sections of land over which the city of Baltimore has since spread. Whether the alleged $8,000,000 of Fountain's inheritance includes this as well as the foreign claim, or whether one is confounded with the other, or whether either is genuine, Mr. Joshua Fountain is unable to say, and meanwhile is little concerned about the prospective millions which perhaps is little better than a lawyer's lure to gather a handsome retainer from American Fountains. Joshua Fountain was brought up on a Maryland farm near the Delaware line; and was married in 1834 to Miss Prudence Rebecca, a daughter of Solomon and Anvibator Fountain, born June 15, 1815. He rented a farm for the first year after his marriage, and in 1835 moved to Michigan, where he bought a farm in Cass County. In 1838 he moved to Iowa, buying a farm near Farmington; and then he moved into Lee County, where he farmed for seven years. In 1850, he came to California, across the plains, accompanied by his oldest son, then a boy of fourteen. Arriving in Grass Valley on September 15, 1850, he went to mining there that winter, assisted by his boy. In the spring he went to prospecting for three months, and again settled down to work at Big Rich Bar, on the north fork of the Feather River. Coming down to Oregon Gulch, below Orville, he there mined in the winter of 1851 and the spring of 1852. In the summer he came down to Sacramento seeking a location, having accumulated about $3,000, and bought a place at Eighth and O Streets. The son followed in November with $1,000 which he had won from the mines at the age of sixteen. He went into his old business of brickmaking, which he carried on from 1852 to 1861 in Sacramento. August 20, 1855, Mr. Fountain returned to Iowa to bring out his wife and family of four children, leaving his son in charge of the business and twenty men. In 1857 he bought the ranch of 240 acres in the northeast corner of Franklin Township, which he still owns, and on which he came to reside in 1859. During his brickmaking career in Sacramento he went to Grass Valley in 1857, and there made brick for the Catholic Church of that place; and in 1859 to Suisun City, where he made brick for the courthouse and jail. On his farm he raises grain, though is well adapted for fruit raising with proper irrigation. Mrs. Fountain died December 13, 1871, having borne the following children: William Andrew, born June 9, 1836; James Barwick, July 11, 1838; Ann Eliza, January 13, 1841; George Walton, January 19, 1844; Sarah Jane, December 17, 1847, deceased in 1849; Mary Marion and an unnamed twin sister, who died soon after birth March 17, 1849. Mary Marion died in 1851. Of these, William A. was born in Michigan, and the others in Iowa. The following were born in Sacramento: Joshua Jr, April 2, 1857; an unnamed child, born March 31, 1861, died April 12, 1861; Charles Henry, born April 16, 1862, died February 12, 1884. The two oldest carry on a brick business in Sacramento as Fountain Brothers. Ann Eliza is the wife of F.S. Hotchkiss of the same city. George W. is in the dairy business in the Locke and Levin, son place, below Courtland. He supplies half the stock, the firm the other half and the land, the product being owned in equal shares. He is married to Louisa Hollman. Joshua, Jr. is a traveling salesman for the hardware house of Hillburn brothers of Sacramento, and is married to Clara Hoyt. December 30, 1874, Mr. Fountain was married to Miss Mary Myers, born in Dade County, Missouri, in 1855, a daughter of Garrett Laure, and Delina (Robertson) Myers, the father being of French and the mother of English descent, both now living in Sacramento.
4466. “Marie Auch Fountain,” Find-A-Grave, https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/128801261, 128801261.
4467. “The Sacramento Blue Book 1902,” http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~npmelton/sacblue.htm.
4468. Togin Cassell, “Hotchkiss and Fountain family,” February 25, 2004, Lists location as Maryland.
4469. David Hickman, “Hickman and Sharp,” http://awt.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=:2035922&id=I82, April 14, 2002, Lists year as 1740.
4470. Barbara Westman, “Evelyn,” http://awt.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=:532269&id=I3311, July 16, 2001, Lists May 22, 1740.
4471. Togin Cassell, “Hotchkiss and Fountain family,” February 25, 2004, Lists location as Delaware.
4472. David Hickman, “Hickman and Sharp,” http://awt.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=:2035922&id=I82, April 14, 2002, Lists year as 1802.
4473. David Hickman, “Hickman and Sharp,” http://awt.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=:2035922&id=I82, April 14, 2002, Lists 1690.
4474. Barbara Westman, “Evelyn,” http://awt.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=:532269&id=I3311, July 16, 2001, Lists January 7, 1707.
4475. Barbara Westman, “Evelyn,” http://awt.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=:532269&id=I3311, July 16, 2001.
4476. David Hickman, “Hickman and Sharp,” http://awt.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=:2035922&id=I82, April 14, 2002.
4477. Barbara Westman, “Evelyn,” http://awt.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=:532269&id=I3311, July 16, 2001, Lists November 15, 1666.
4478. David Hickman, “Hickman and Sharp,” http://awt.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=:2035922&id=I82, April 14, 2002, Spells last name Bossman.
4479. Barbara Westman, “Evelyn,” http://awt.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=:532269&id=I3311, July 16, 2001, Spells last name Bozman.
4480. Togin Cassell, “Hotchkiss and Fountain family,” February 25, 2004, Says about 1639 in Normandy, France.
4481. David Hickman, “Hickman and Sharp,” http://awt.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=:2035922&id=I82, April 14, 2002, Says 1640.
4482. Barbara Westman, “Evelyn,” http://awt.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=:532269&id=I3311, July 16, 2001, Says 1638 in St. Louis, Normandie, France.
4484. Win. J. Davis, “An Illustrated History of Sacramento County, California,” 1890, http://www.cagenweb.com/cpl/bios1.htm, Excerpts published on-line, Says 1854 at age of 19.
Page 796
William Andrew Fountain, elder brother of James B. Fountain, and senior member of the business firm of Fountain Brothers, a brick-makers, is the oldest living son of Joshua Fountain, a native of the state of Delaware, born near Milford in 1811, and Prudence Rebecca (Walton) Fountain, who emigrated to Beard's Prairie, Michigan, in 1835, where the subject of this biography was born March of the following year (1836). As stated elsewhere in this volume, the family soon removed to Van Buren County, Iowa, where grandfather Andrew Fountain, who was a farmer, died in 1844. In the spring of 1850, our subject, at that time just twenty-four years of age, his father, his uncle Lloyd Rollins, a daughter of the latter, and three young men, made up a party to cross the plains overland to the "land of golden promise." They left home on the 9th of April, crossed the Missouri River at Council Bluffs on the 29th, the north side of the Platte, and via Fort Hall, arrived safely at Grass Valley on the 15th of September following. They wintered there, and in the spring of 1851 started for Gold Lake mining district. Abandoning that project they mined on the Feather River during that summer, at Bidwell's Bar and at Oregon Gulch until November, 1852, when our subject came to Sacramento and worked for his father, who had started a brickyard on Eighth and O streets. (For full particulars of locations, which were changed from time to time to accommodate the advancing requirements of a growing city, see sketch of Joshua Fountain, the pioneer brick-maker.) In 1859 Mr. Fountain started business on his own account, taking a contract to make brick for the wine-cellar, residence and other buildings for Mr. Bell, at Gold Hill, Placer County, and in 1862 and 1863 had a contract for constructing a portion of the levee near Freeport. In 1863 and 1864 he burned a kiln of brick at Auburn, and also made the brick for the courthouse and jail at Woodland that year. In 1865 and 1866 he bought a farm lying between Elk Grove and Georgetown, and was engaged in farming for two years, but in the meantime he burned a kiln of brick at Elk Grove. In 1867 the present firm was established. (For full particulars see sketch of J.B. Fountain.) Mr. Fountain has always taken an active interest in the local politics since the organization of the Republican party, to which he belongs, but has never been willing to accept any official position. He is a member of the Sixth Street Methodist Episcopal Church, and he has had his residence on the corner of Fifteenth and P Streets for twenty-three years. In 1877 he was associated with Hon. John Q. Brown in street contracting, cobbling and graveling the principal streets, and they continued the business for several years. The latter gentleman was afterward mayor of the city for six years, and is now president of the San Francisco Board of Trade. July 28, 1859, Mr. Fountain was married to Miss Abbie Louise Brewster, a native of Massachusetts, the daughter of Mr. Charles Brewster, a florist. She was a devoted Christian woman. Her death occurred September 13, 1879. The family consists of six daughters, viz: Henrietta, now Mrs. Charles Lowell; Clara, now Mrs. Charles Hockell; Grace; Anne; Lizzie; and Abbie. In 1881 he was again united in marriage to Miss Helen Powers, an earnest Christian woman, a native of New York State. Her death occurred April 23, 1888. Of their private affairs, the home life, of the tender interests which cluster around the family altar, it is not our province to speak, but we must be permitted to say that the influence of such homes are far-reaching; the influence of such lives will ever remain a monument to enduring memory. [From the 1901 Sacramento City Directory: Page 222 Fountain, Wm. A. brick mfr. r.1430 P]
Page 670
Joshua Fountain was born in Maryland, February 27, 1811, his parents being Andrew and Rebecca (Barwick) Fountain. His maternal grandparents were James and Mary (Fisher) Barwick. Grandmother Barwick lived to be over seventy. The Barwicks are Marylanders for several generations. His grandfather Fountain bore the name of Andrew, and lived to be nearly seventy. Joshua Fountain's great-grandfather, who is believed to have been also named Andrew, was one of the three brothers, who had come to America from France before the middle of the last century. One settled in Maryland, one in Long Island, and the third went South, but afterward returned to France, where he died leaving, it is said, a large fortune, to his indirect heirs in America. A grand-uncle was a Colonel Fountain in the French-Indian Wars, about 1760, serving on the side of the British colonies; and is said to have received the grant of one or two sections of land over which the city of Baltimore has since spread. Whether the alleged $8,000,000 of Fountain's inheritance includes this as well as the foreign claim, or whether one is confounded with the other, or whether either is genuine, Mr. Joshua Fountain is unable to say, and meanwhile is little concerned about the prospective millions which perhaps is little better than a lawyer's lure to gather a handsome retainer from American Fountains. Joshua Fountain was brought up on a Maryland farm near the Delaware line; and was married in 1834 to Miss Prudence Rebecca, a daughter of Solomon and Anvibator Fountain, born June 15, 1815. He rented a farm for the first year after his marriage, and in 1835 moved to Michigan, where he bought a farm in Cass County. In 1838 he moved to Iowa, buying a farm near Farmington; and then he moved into Lee County, where he farmed for seven years. In 1850, he came to California, across the plains, accompanied by his oldest son, then a boy of fourteen. Arriving in Grass Valley on September 15, 1850, he went to mining there that winter, assisted by his boy. In the spring he went to prospecting for three months, and again settled down to work at Big Rich Bar, on the north fork of the Feather River. Coming down to Oregon Gulch, below Orville, he there mined in the winter of 1851 and the spring of 1852. In the summer he came down to Sacramento seeking a location, having accumulated about $3,000, and bought a place at Eighth and O Streets. The son followed in November with $1,000 which he had won from the mines at the age of sixteen. He went into his old business of brickmaking, which he carried on from 1852 to 1861 in Sacramento. August 20, 1855, Mr. Fountain returned to Iowa to bring out his wife and family of four children, leaving his son in charge of the business and twenty men. In 1857 he bought the ranch of 240 acres in the northeast corner of Franklin Township, which he still owns, and on which he came to reside in 1859. During his brickmaking career in Sacramento he went to Grass Valley in 1857, and there made brick for the Catholic Church of that place; and in 1859 to Suisun City, where he made brick for the courthouse and jail. On his farm he raises grain, though is well adapted for fruit raising with proper irrigation. Mrs. Fountain died December 13, 1871, having borne the following children: William Andrew, born June 9, 1836; James Barwick, July 11, 1838; Ann Eliza, January 13, 1841; George Walton, January 19, 1844; Sarah Jane, December 17, 1847, deceased in 1849; Mary Marion and an unnamed twin sister, who died soon after birth March 17, 1849. Mary Marion died in 1851. Of these, William A. was born in Michigan, and the others in Iowa. The following were born in Sacramento: Joshua Jr, April 2, 1857; an unnamed child, born March 31, 1861, died April 12, 1861; Charles Henry, born April 16, 1862, died February 12, 1884. The two oldest carry on a brick business in Sacramento as Fountain Brothers. Ann Eliza is the wife of F.S. Hotchkiss of the same city. George W. is in the dairy business in the Locke and Levin, son place, below Courtland. He supplies half the stock, the firm the other half and the land, the product being owned in equal shares. He is married to Louisa Hollman. Joshua, Jr. is a traveling salesman for the hardware house of Hillburn brothers of Sacramento, and is married to Clara Hoyt. December 30, 1874, Mr. Fountain was married to Miss Mary Myers, born in Dade County, Missouri, in 1855, a daughter of Garrett Laure, and Delina (Robertson) Myers, the father being of French and the mother of English descent, both now living in Sacramento.
Page 796
William Andrew Fountain, elder brother of James B. Fountain, and senior member of the business firm of Fountain Brothers, a brick-makers, is the oldest living son of Joshua Fountain, a native of the state of Delaware, born near Milford in 1811, and Prudence Rebecca (Walton) Fountain, who emigrated to Beard's Prairie, Michigan, in 1835, where the subject of this biography was born March of the following year (1836). As stated elsewhere in this volume, the family soon removed to Van Buren County, Iowa, where grandfather Andrew Fountain, who was a farmer, died in 1844. In the spring of 1850, our subject, at that time just twenty-four years of age, his father, his uncle Lloyd Rollins, a daughter of the latter, and three young men, made up a party to cross the plains overland to the "land of golden promise." They left home on the 9th of April, crossed the Missouri River at Council Bluffs on the 29th, the north side of the Platte, and via Fort Hall, arrived safely at Grass Valley on the 15th of September following. They wintered there, and in the spring of 1851 started for Gold Lake mining district. Abandoning that project they mined on the Feather River during that summer, at Bidwell's Bar and at Oregon Gulch until November, 1852, when our subject came to Sacramento and worked for his father, who had started a brickyard on Eighth and O streets. (For full particulars of locations, which were changed from time to time to accommodate the advancing requirements of a growing city, see sketch of Joshua Fountain, the pioneer brick-maker.) In 1859 Mr. Fountain started business on his own account, taking a contract to make brick for the wine-cellar, residence and other buildings for Mr. Bell, at Gold Hill, Placer County, and in 1862 and 1863 had a contract for constructing a portion of the levee near Freeport. In 1863 and 1864 he burned a kiln of brick at Auburn, and also made the brick for the courthouse and jail at Woodland that year. In 1865 and 1866 he bought a farm lying between Elk Grove and Georgetown, and was engaged in farming for two years, but in the meantime he burned a kiln of brick at Elk Grove. In 1867 the present firm was established. (For full particulars see sketch of J.B. Fountain.) Mr. Fountain has always taken an active interest in the local politics since the organization of the Republican party, to which he belongs, but has never been willing to accept any official position. He is a member of the Sixth Street Methodist Episcopal Church, and he has had his residence on the corner of Fifteenth and P Streets for twenty-three years. In 1877 he was associated with Hon. John Q. Brown in street contracting, cobbling and graveling the principal streets, and they continued the business for several years. The latter gentleman was afterward mayor of the city for six years, and is now president of the San Francisco Board of Trade. July 28, 1859, Mr. Fountain was married to Miss Abbie Louise Brewster, a native of Massachusetts, the daughter of Mr. Charles Brewster, a florist. She was a devoted Christian woman. Her death occurred September 13, 1879. The family consists of six daughters, viz: Henrietta, now Mrs. Charles Lowell; Clara, now Mrs. Charles Hockell; Grace; Anne; Lizzie; and Abbie. In 1881 he was again united in marriage to Miss Helen Powers, an earnest Christian woman, a native of New York State. Her death occurred April 23, 1888. Of their private affairs, the home life, of the tender interests which cluster around the family altar, it is not our province to speak, but we must be permitted to say that the influence of such homes are far-reaching; the influence of such lives will ever remain a monument to enduring memory. [From the 1901 Sacramento City Directory: Page 222 Fountain, Wm. A. brick mfr. r.1430 P]
Page 670
Joshua Fountain was born in Maryland, February 27, 1811, his parents being Andrew and Rebecca (Barwick) Fountain. His maternal grandparents were James and Mary (Fisher) Barwick. Grandmother Barwick lived to be over seventy. The Barwicks are Marylanders for several generations. His grandfather Fountain bore the name of Andrew, and lived to be nearly seventy. Joshua Fountain's great-grandfather, who is believed to have been also named Andrew, was one of the three brothers, who had come to America from France before the middle of the last century. One settled in Maryland, one in Long Island, and the third went South, but afterward returned to France, where he died leaving, it is said, a large fortune, to his indirect heirs in America. A grand-uncle was a Colonel Fountain in the French-Indian Wars, about 1760, serving on the side of the British colonies; and is said to have received the grant of one or two sections of land over which the city of Baltimore has since spread. Whether the alleged $8,000,000 of Fountain's inheritance includes this as well as the foreign claim, or whether one is confounded with the other, or whether either is genuine, Mr. Joshua Fountain is unable to say, and meanwhile is little concerned about the prospective millions which perhaps is little better than a lawyer's lure to gather a handsome retainer from American Fountains. Joshua Fountain was brought up on a Maryland farm near the Delaware line; and was married in 1834 to Miss Prudence Rebecca, a daughter of Solomon and Anvibator Fountain, born June 15, 1815. He rented a farm for the first year after his marriage, and in 1835 moved to Michigan, where he bought a farm in Cass County. In 1838 he moved to Iowa, buying a farm near Farmington; and then he moved into Lee County, where he farmed for seven years. In 1850, he came to California, across the plains, accompanied by his oldest son, then a boy of fourteen. Arriving in Grass Valley on September 15, 1850, he went to mining there that winter, assisted by his boy. In the spring he went to prospecting for three months, and again settled down to work at Big Rich Bar, on the north fork of the Feather River. Coming down to Oregon Gulch, below Orville, he there mined in the winter of 1851 and the spring of 1852. In the summer he came down to Sacramento seeking a location, having accumulated about $3,000, and bought a place at Eighth and O Streets. The son followed in November with $1,000 which he had won from the mines at the age of sixteen. He went into his old business of brickmaking, which he carried on from 1852 to 1861 in Sacramento. August 20, 1855, Mr. Fountain returned to Iowa to bring out his wife and family of four children, leaving his son in charge of the business and twenty men. In 1857 he bought the ranch of 240 acres in the northeast corner of Franklin Township, which he still owns, and on which he came to reside in 1859. During his brickmaking career in Sacramento he went to Grass Valley in 1857, and there made brick for the Catholic Church of that place; and in 1859 to Suisun City, where he made brick for the courthouse and jail. On his farm he raises grain, though is well adapted for fruit raising with proper irrigation. Mrs. Fountain died December 13, 1871, having borne the following children: William Andrew, born June 9, 1836; James Barwick, July 11, 1838; Ann Eliza, January 13, 1841; George Walton, January 19, 1844; Sarah Jane, December 17, 1847, deceased in 1849; Mary Marion and an unnamed twin sister, who died soon after birth March 17, 1849. Mary Marion died in 1851. Of these, William A. was born in Michigan, and the others in Iowa. The following were born in Sacramento: Joshua Jr, April 2, 1857; an unnamed child, born March 31, 1861, died April 12, 1861; Charles Henry, born April 16, 1862, died February 12, 1884. The two oldest carry on a brick business in Sacramento as Fountain Brothers. Ann Eliza is the wife of F.S. Hotchkiss of the same city. George W. is in the dairy business in the Locke and Levin, son place, below Courtland. He supplies half the stock, the firm the other half and the land, the product being owned in equal shares. He is married to Louisa Hollman. Joshua, Jr. is a traveling salesman for the hardware house of Hillburn brothers of Sacramento, and is married to Clara Hoyt. December 30, 1874, Mr. Fountain was married to Miss Mary Myers, born in Dade County, Missouri, in 1855, a daughter of Garrett Laure, and Delina (Robertson) Myers, the father being of French and the mother of English descent, both now living in Sacramento.
4485. “Franklin Township Sacramento County Biographies,” http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~npmelton/sacbio7.htm, 1880.
4486. “Across the Dark River,” J. J. Fountain, Sacramento Daily Union, Sacramento, Sacramento County, CA, USA, 84, 48, October 15, 1892, 4.
To-morrow afternoon the remains of the late J. J. Fountain will be laid at rest. Deceased was a young man of excellent character and standing. He was a native of this city and 35 years of age. At the time of his death deceased was in the employ of Stanton, Thomson & Co., and by his employers and all who knew him he was held in high esteem. Mr. Fountain was a son-in-law of C. W. Hoit. and his wile survives him. He was a brother of W. A. and J. B. Fountain and Mrs. F. S. Hotchkiss of this city, and George Fountain of Walnut Grove.
File: JJFountain_Obit
To-morrow afternoon the remains of the late J. J. Fountain will be laid at rest. Deceased was a young man of excellent character and standing. He was a native of this city and 35 years of age. At the time of his death deceased was in the employ of Stanton, Thomson & Co., and by his employers and all who knew him he was held in high esteem. Mr. Fountain was a son-in-law of C. W. Hoit. and his wile survives him. He was a brother of W. A. and J. B. Fountain and Mrs. F. S. Hotchkiss of this city, and George Fountain of Walnut Grove.
File: JJFountain_Obit
4487. “Died,” Joshua J. Fountain, Sacramento Daily Union, Sacramento, Sacramento County, CA, USA, 84, 47, October 14, 1892, 3.
FOUNTAIN--In this city, October 13th, Joshua J. Fountain (brother of W. A. and J. B. Foundain and Mrs. F. S. Hotchkiss of Sacramento, also brother of George Fountain of Walnut Grove), a native of Sacramento, aged 35 years, 6 months and 7 days.
File: JoshuaJFountain_Obit
FOUNTAIN--In this city, October 13th, Joshua J. Fountain (brother of W. A. and J. B. Foundain and Mrs. F. S. Hotchkiss of Sacramento, also brother of George Fountain of Walnut Grove), a native of Sacramento, aged 35 years, 6 months and 7 days.
File: JoshuaJFountain_Obit
4488. Win. J. Davis, “An Illustrated History of Sacramento County, California,” 1890, http://www.cagenweb.com/cpl/bios1.htm, Excerpts published on-line, Says he was born on April 16, 1862.
Page 796
William Andrew Fountain, elder brother of James B. Fountain, and senior member of the business firm of Fountain Brothers, a brick-makers, is the oldest living son of Joshua Fountain, a native of the state of Delaware, born near Milford in 1811, and Prudence Rebecca (Walton) Fountain, who emigrated to Beard's Prairie, Michigan, in 1835, where the subject of this biography was born March of the following year (1836). As stated elsewhere in this volume, the family soon removed to Van Buren County, Iowa, where grandfather Andrew Fountain, who was a farmer, died in 1844. In the spring of 1850, our subject, at that time just twenty-four years of age, his father, his uncle Lloyd Rollins, a daughter of the latter, and three young men, made up a party to cross the plains overland to the "land of golden promise." They left home on the 9th of April, crossed the Missouri River at Council Bluffs on the 29th, the north side of the Platte, and via Fort Hall, arrived safely at Grass Valley on the 15th of September following. They wintered there, and in the spring of 1851 started for Gold Lake mining district. Abandoning that project they mined on the Feather River during that summer, at Bidwell's Bar and at Oregon Gulch until November, 1852, when our subject came to Sacramento and worked for his father, who had started a brickyard on Eighth and O streets. (For full particulars of locations, which were changed from time to time to accommodate the advancing requirements of a growing city, see sketch of Joshua Fountain, the pioneer brick-maker.) In 1859 Mr. Fountain started business on his own account, taking a contract to make brick for the wine-cellar, residence and other buildings for Mr. Bell, at Gold Hill, Placer County, and in 1862 and 1863 had a contract for constructing a portion of the levee near Freeport. In 1863 and 1864 he burned a kiln of brick at Auburn, and also made the brick for the courthouse and jail at Woodland that year. In 1865 and 1866 he bought a farm lying between Elk Grove and Georgetown, and was engaged in farming for two years, but in the meantime he burned a kiln of brick at Elk Grove. In 1867 the present firm was established. (For full particulars see sketch of J.B. Fountain.) Mr. Fountain has always taken an active interest in the local politics since the organization of the Republican party, to which he belongs, but has never been willing to accept any official position. He is a member of the Sixth Street Methodist Episcopal Church, and he has had his residence on the corner of Fifteenth and P Streets for twenty-three years. In 1877 he was associated with Hon. John Q. Brown in street contracting, cobbling and graveling the principal streets, and they continued the business for several years. The latter gentleman was afterward mayor of the city for six years, and is now president of the San Francisco Board of Trade. July 28, 1859, Mr. Fountain was married to Miss Abbie Louise Brewster, a native of Massachusetts, the daughter of Mr. Charles Brewster, a florist. She was a devoted Christian woman. Her death occurred September 13, 1879. The family consists of six daughters, viz: Henrietta, now Mrs. Charles Lowell; Clara, now Mrs. Charles Hockell; Grace; Anne; Lizzie; and Abbie. In 1881 he was again united in marriage to Miss Helen Powers, an earnest Christian woman, a native of New York State. Her death occurred April 23, 1888. Of their private affairs, the home life, of the tender interests which cluster around the family altar, it is not our province to speak, but we must be permitted to say that the influence of such homes are far-reaching; the influence of such lives will ever remain a monument to enduring memory. [From the 1901 Sacramento City Directory: Page 222 Fountain, Wm. A. brick mfr. r.1430 P]
Page 670
Joshua Fountain was born in Maryland, February 27, 1811, his parents being Andrew and Rebecca (Barwick) Fountain. His maternal grandparents were James and Mary (Fisher) Barwick. Grandmother Barwick lived to be over seventy. The Barwicks are Marylanders for several generations. His grandfather Fountain bore the name of Andrew, and lived to be nearly seventy. Joshua Fountain's great-grandfather, who is believed to have been also named Andrew, was one of the three brothers, who had come to America from France before the middle of the last century. One settled in Maryland, one in Long Island, and the third went South, but afterward returned to France, where he died leaving, it is said, a large fortune, to his indirect heirs in America. A grand-uncle was a Colonel Fountain in the French-Indian Wars, about 1760, serving on the side of the British colonies; and is said to have received the grant of one or two sections of land over which the city of Baltimore has since spread. Whether the alleged $8,000,000 of Fountain's inheritance includes this as well as the foreign claim, or whether one is confounded with the other, or whether either is genuine, Mr. Joshua Fountain is unable to say, and meanwhile is little concerned about the prospective millions which perhaps is little better than a lawyer's lure to gather a handsome retainer from American Fountains. Joshua Fountain was brought up on a Maryland farm near the Delaware line; and was married in 1834 to Miss Prudence Rebecca, a daughter of Solomon and Anvibator Fountain, born June 15, 1815. He rented a farm for the first year after his marriage, and in 1835 moved to Michigan, where he bought a farm in Cass County. In 1838 he moved to Iowa, buying a farm near Farmington; and then he moved into Lee County, where he farmed for seven years. In 1850, he came to California, across the plains, accompanied by his oldest son, then a boy of fourteen. Arriving in Grass Valley on September 15, 1850, he went to mining there that winter, assisted by his boy. In the spring he went to prospecting for three months, and again settled down to work at Big Rich Bar, on the north fork of the Feather River. Coming down to Oregon Gulch, below Orville, he there mined in the winter of 1851 and the spring of 1852. In the summer he came down to Sacramento seeking a location, having accumulated about $3,000, and bought a place at Eighth and O Streets. The son followed in November with $1,000 which he had won from the mines at the age of sixteen. He went into his old business of brickmaking, which he carried on from 1852 to 1861 in Sacramento. August 20, 1855, Mr. Fountain returned to Iowa to bring out his wife and family of four children, leaving his son in charge of the business and twenty men. In 1857 he bought the ranch of 240 acres in the northeast corner of Franklin Township, which he still owns, and on which he came to reside in 1859. During his brickmaking career in Sacramento he went to Grass Valley in 1857, and there made brick for the Catholic Church of that place; and in 1859 to Suisun City, where he made brick for the courthouse and jail. On his farm he raises grain, though is well adapted for fruit raising with proper irrigation. Mrs. Fountain died December 13, 1871, having borne the following children: William Andrew, born June 9, 1836; James Barwick, July 11, 1838; Ann Eliza, January 13, 1841; George Walton, January 19, 1844; Sarah Jane, December 17, 1847, deceased in 1849; Mary Marion and an unnamed twin sister, who died soon after birth March 17, 1849. Mary Marion died in 1851. Of these, William A. was born in Michigan, and the others in Iowa. The following were born in Sacramento: Joshua Jr, April 2, 1857; an unnamed child, born March 31, 1861, died April 12, 1861; Charles Henry, born April 16, 1862, died February 12, 1884. The two oldest carry on a brick business in Sacramento as Fountain Brothers. Ann Eliza is the wife of F.S. Hotchkiss of the same city. George W. is in the dairy business in the Locke and Levin, son place, below Courtland. He supplies half the stock, the firm the other half and the land, the product being owned in equal shares. He is married to Louisa Hollman. Joshua, Jr. is a traveling salesman for the hardware house of Hillburn brothers of Sacramento, and is married to Clara Hoyt. December 30, 1874, Mr. Fountain was married to Miss Mary Myers, born in Dade County, Missouri, in 1855, a daughter of Garrett Laure, and Delina (Robertson) Myers, the father being of French and the mother of English descent, both now living in Sacramento.
Page 796
William Andrew Fountain, elder brother of James B. Fountain, and senior member of the business firm of Fountain Brothers, a brick-makers, is the oldest living son of Joshua Fountain, a native of the state of Delaware, born near Milford in 1811, and Prudence Rebecca (Walton) Fountain, who emigrated to Beard's Prairie, Michigan, in 1835, where the subject of this biography was born March of the following year (1836). As stated elsewhere in this volume, the family soon removed to Van Buren County, Iowa, where grandfather Andrew Fountain, who was a farmer, died in 1844. In the spring of 1850, our subject, at that time just twenty-four years of age, his father, his uncle Lloyd Rollins, a daughter of the latter, and three young men, made up a party to cross the plains overland to the "land of golden promise." They left home on the 9th of April, crossed the Missouri River at Council Bluffs on the 29th, the north side of the Platte, and via Fort Hall, arrived safely at Grass Valley on the 15th of September following. They wintered there, and in the spring of 1851 started for Gold Lake mining district. Abandoning that project they mined on the Feather River during that summer, at Bidwell's Bar and at Oregon Gulch until November, 1852, when our subject came to Sacramento and worked for his father, who had started a brickyard on Eighth and O streets. (For full particulars of locations, which were changed from time to time to accommodate the advancing requirements of a growing city, see sketch of Joshua Fountain, the pioneer brick-maker.) In 1859 Mr. Fountain started business on his own account, taking a contract to make brick for the wine-cellar, residence and other buildings for Mr. Bell, at Gold Hill, Placer County, and in 1862 and 1863 had a contract for constructing a portion of the levee near Freeport. In 1863 and 1864 he burned a kiln of brick at Auburn, and also made the brick for the courthouse and jail at Woodland that year. In 1865 and 1866 he bought a farm lying between Elk Grove and Georgetown, and was engaged in farming for two years, but in the meantime he burned a kiln of brick at Elk Grove. In 1867 the present firm was established. (For full particulars see sketch of J.B. Fountain.) Mr. Fountain has always taken an active interest in the local politics since the organization of the Republican party, to which he belongs, but has never been willing to accept any official position. He is a member of the Sixth Street Methodist Episcopal Church, and he has had his residence on the corner of Fifteenth and P Streets for twenty-three years. In 1877 he was associated with Hon. John Q. Brown in street contracting, cobbling and graveling the principal streets, and they continued the business for several years. The latter gentleman was afterward mayor of the city for six years, and is now president of the San Francisco Board of Trade. July 28, 1859, Mr. Fountain was married to Miss Abbie Louise Brewster, a native of Massachusetts, the daughter of Mr. Charles Brewster, a florist. She was a devoted Christian woman. Her death occurred September 13, 1879. The family consists of six daughters, viz: Henrietta, now Mrs. Charles Lowell; Clara, now Mrs. Charles Hockell; Grace; Anne; Lizzie; and Abbie. In 1881 he was again united in marriage to Miss Helen Powers, an earnest Christian woman, a native of New York State. Her death occurred April 23, 1888. Of their private affairs, the home life, of the tender interests which cluster around the family altar, it is not our province to speak, but we must be permitted to say that the influence of such homes are far-reaching; the influence of such lives will ever remain a monument to enduring memory. [From the 1901 Sacramento City Directory: Page 222 Fountain, Wm. A. brick mfr. r.1430 P]
Page 670
Joshua Fountain was born in Maryland, February 27, 1811, his parents being Andrew and Rebecca (Barwick) Fountain. His maternal grandparents were James and Mary (Fisher) Barwick. Grandmother Barwick lived to be over seventy. The Barwicks are Marylanders for several generations. His grandfather Fountain bore the name of Andrew, and lived to be nearly seventy. Joshua Fountain's great-grandfather, who is believed to have been also named Andrew, was one of the three brothers, who had come to America from France before the middle of the last century. One settled in Maryland, one in Long Island, and the third went South, but afterward returned to France, where he died leaving, it is said, a large fortune, to his indirect heirs in America. A grand-uncle was a Colonel Fountain in the French-Indian Wars, about 1760, serving on the side of the British colonies; and is said to have received the grant of one or two sections of land over which the city of Baltimore has since spread. Whether the alleged $8,000,000 of Fountain's inheritance includes this as well as the foreign claim, or whether one is confounded with the other, or whether either is genuine, Mr. Joshua Fountain is unable to say, and meanwhile is little concerned about the prospective millions which perhaps is little better than a lawyer's lure to gather a handsome retainer from American Fountains. Joshua Fountain was brought up on a Maryland farm near the Delaware line; and was married in 1834 to Miss Prudence Rebecca, a daughter of Solomon and Anvibator Fountain, born June 15, 1815. He rented a farm for the first year after his marriage, and in 1835 moved to Michigan, where he bought a farm in Cass County. In 1838 he moved to Iowa, buying a farm near Farmington; and then he moved into Lee County, where he farmed for seven years. In 1850, he came to California, across the plains, accompanied by his oldest son, then a boy of fourteen. Arriving in Grass Valley on September 15, 1850, he went to mining there that winter, assisted by his boy. In the spring he went to prospecting for three months, and again settled down to work at Big Rich Bar, on the north fork of the Feather River. Coming down to Oregon Gulch, below Orville, he there mined in the winter of 1851 and the spring of 1852. In the summer he came down to Sacramento seeking a location, having accumulated about $3,000, and bought a place at Eighth and O Streets. The son followed in November with $1,000 which he had won from the mines at the age of sixteen. He went into his old business of brickmaking, which he carried on from 1852 to 1861 in Sacramento. August 20, 1855, Mr. Fountain returned to Iowa to bring out his wife and family of four children, leaving his son in charge of the business and twenty men. In 1857 he bought the ranch of 240 acres in the northeast corner of Franklin Township, which he still owns, and on which he came to reside in 1859. During his brickmaking career in Sacramento he went to Grass Valley in 1857, and there made brick for the Catholic Church of that place; and in 1859 to Suisun City, where he made brick for the courthouse and jail. On his farm he raises grain, though is well adapted for fruit raising with proper irrigation. Mrs. Fountain died December 13, 1871, having borne the following children: William Andrew, born June 9, 1836; James Barwick, July 11, 1838; Ann Eliza, January 13, 1841; George Walton, January 19, 1844; Sarah Jane, December 17, 1847, deceased in 1849; Mary Marion and an unnamed twin sister, who died soon after birth March 17, 1849. Mary Marion died in 1851. Of these, William A. was born in Michigan, and the others in Iowa. The following were born in Sacramento: Joshua Jr, April 2, 1857; an unnamed child, born March 31, 1861, died April 12, 1861; Charles Henry, born April 16, 1862, died February 12, 1884. The two oldest carry on a brick business in Sacramento as Fountain Brothers. Ann Eliza is the wife of F.S. Hotchkiss of the same city. George W. is in the dairy business in the Locke and Levin, son place, below Courtland. He supplies half the stock, the firm the other half and the land, the product being owned in equal shares. He is married to Louisa Hollman. Joshua, Jr. is a traveling salesman for the hardware house of Hillburn brothers of Sacramento, and is married to Clara Hoyt. December 30, 1874, Mr. Fountain was married to Miss Mary Myers, born in Dade County, Missouri, in 1855, a daughter of Garrett Laure, and Delina (Robertson) Myers, the father being of French and the mother of English descent, both now living in Sacramento.
4489. “Charles H Fountain,” Find-A-Grave, https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/36579833, 36579833, Tombstone says he was born on April 5, 1862.
4490. “Died,” Charles Fountain, Sacramento Daily Union, Sacramento, CA, February 14, 1884, 3, https://cdnc.ucr.edu/cgi-bin/cdnc?a=d&d=SDU188...1--txt-txIN--------1, Says he was 21 years, 10 months and 7 days old at death, putting his birth at April 5, 1862.
Near the Lake House, on the Upper Stockton road, February 12—Charles, son of Joshua Fountain, a native of California, 21 years, 10 months and 7 days.
[Friends and acquaintances are respectfully invited to attend the funeral, which will take place from the residence of his father near the Lake House, this afternoon at 12:30 o’clock.]
File: CharlesFountain_Obituary
Near the Lake House, on the Upper Stockton road, February 12—Charles, son of Joshua Fountain, a native of California, 21 years, 10 months and 7 days.
[Friends and acquaintances are respectfully invited to attend the funeral, which will take place from the residence of his father near the Lake House, this afternoon at 12:30 o’clock.]
File: CharlesFountain_Obituary
4491. “Died,” Charles Fountain, Sacramento Daily Union, Sacramento, CA, February 14, 1884, 3, https://cdnc.ucr.edu/cgi-bin/cdnc?a=d&d=SDU188...1--txt-txIN--------1.
Near the Lake House, on the Upper Stockton road, February 12—Charles, son of Joshua Fountain, a native of California, 21 years, 10 months and 7 days.
[Friends and acquaintances are respectfully invited to attend the funeral, which will take place from the residence of his father near the Lake House, this afternoon at 12:30 o’clock.]
File: CharlesFountain_Obituary
Near the Lake House, on the Upper Stockton road, February 12—Charles, son of Joshua Fountain, a native of California, 21 years, 10 months and 7 days.
[Friends and acquaintances are respectfully invited to attend the funeral, which will take place from the residence of his father near the Lake House, this afternoon at 12:30 o’clock.]
File: CharlesFountain_Obituary
4492. “Mortality Report,” Charles Fountain, The Record-Union, Sacramento, CA, February 20, 1884, 3.
Besides the above there was brought her for interment the following:
…
February 14—Charles Fountain, 21 years, 10 months and 7 days; California.
File: CharlesFountain_DeathReport
Besides the above there was brought her for interment the following:
…
February 14—Charles Fountain, 21 years, 10 months and 7 days; California.
File: CharlesFountain_DeathReport
4493. Charles Lowell and Etta Fountain, “California, County Marriages, 1850-1952,” September 18, 1878, Sacramento County, CA, https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:XLDD-V24.
4494. George Albert Klees and Henrietta Lowell, “California, County Marriages, 1850-1952,” November 28, 1900, Sacramento County, CA, https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:XLDH-R8N.
4495. “Abbie Fountain Leeper,” Find-A-Grave, https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/128889629, 128889629.
4496. “United States Census,” 1900, CA, Sacramento, Sacramento, Precinct 03, Ward 07, 2A, 4, 90, T623, 98, 715, Bureau of the Census, US Dept. of Commerce, United States of America, June 4, 1900, May Porreis.
File: 1900 CA Sacramento County Sacramento Precinct 03 Ward 07 p2A
File: 1900 CA Sacramento County Sacramento Precinct 03 Ward 07 p2A
4497. “United States Census,” 1910, CA, Sacramento, Sacramento, Ward 07, 7A, 2, 123, T624, 93, 259, Bureau of the Census, US Dept. of Commerce, United States of America, April 19, 1910, Cora H Wright.
File: 1910 CA Sacramento County Sacramento Ward 07 p7A
File: 1910 CA Sacramento County Sacramento Ward 07 p7A
4498. “United States Census,” 1920, CA, Sacramento, Sacramento, Precinct 47, District 15, 13B, 3, 130, T625, 127, 179, Bureau of the Census, US Dept. of Commerce, United States of America, January 11, 1920, Agnes Warrington.
File: 1920 CA Sacramento County Sacramento Pct 47 Dist 15 p13B
File: 1920 CA Sacramento County Sacramento Pct 47 Dist 15 p13B
4499. “United States Census,” 1940, CA, Sacramento, Sacramento, Area B, 62B, 3, 34-111B, T627, 285, 229, Bureau of the Census, US Dept. of Commerce, United States of America, April 12, 1940, Rose L Kabakov.
File: 1940 CA Sacramento County Sacramento Area B p62B
File: 1940 CA Sacramento County Sacramento Area B p62B
4500. Alfred Fred and Abbie Fountain, “California, County Marriages, 1850-1952,” November 6, 1895, Sacramento County, CA, https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:XLD6-T8K.
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