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Focusing on the lives
of any person or family who has lived in Little Washington,
Washington County, Pennsylvania at anytime throughout
history to recent times, through data and family stories.
NEW SEARCH BOX ADDED
CALIFORNIA, PA
Genealogy and family history
research in the area of
Little Washington, Washington County, Pennsylvania from 1700 to present.
Nearest cities: Coal Center, PA (0.4 miles) , Newell, PA (0.6
miles ), Elco, PA (1.8 miles ), Long Branch, PA (2.1 miles ), Roscoe, PA (2.4
miles ), West Brownsville, PA (2.6 miles ), Brownsville, PA (3.2 miles ),
Twilight, PA (3.4 miles ). Latitude: 40.07 N, Longitude: 79.90 W.
Separated from Coal Center by Pike Run (stream), California is
located on the west bank of the Monongahela River. Crumrine states that
California is "distant five miles below Brownsville, fifty miles by rail
and fifty-five miles by river from Pittsburgh, and twenty-three miles from
Washington, the county-seat. Its site is one of great natural beauty, and not
surpassed within the confines of the Monongahela Valley."
Crumrine wrote in his History of Washington County, PA that:
Prior to 1784 a man named Samuel Young resided upon or near the town site,
having some right or title to it. During the year last mentioned, however,
Robert Jackman2 (having purchased Young's interest) obtained a
patent for a large tract of land, which covered the sites of the present
boroughs of California and Greenfield, besides hundreds of acres lying back
and around these towns. He had six sons, viz., James, William,3
Dixon, John, Robert,4 and Henry, besides two or three daughters,
and at his death, which occurred Aug. 26, 1813, at the age of seventy-four
years and four months, the land was divided among those sons, James and
William inheriting the grounds now partly included within the corporate limits
of the borough. Subsequently this land was sold at sheriff's sale to Seth
Buffington, who soon after transferred the same to John Ringland.5
2 Robert Jackman was a native of Ireland, and a
descendant of a family which originated in Germany, thence migrated to Wales,
and finally settled in Ireland.
3 William, the father of the present William W. Jackman, lost
his life by drowning in the Monongahela.
4 Robert Jackman, the oldest son of Robert Jackman, Sr., was the
proprietor of the town of Greenfield.
5 Ringland was one of the original members of the Brownsville or
Monongahela Bridge Company, which company was chartered March 6, 1830.
The Jackmans were famous mill men, and only seemed contented when engaged
in building or operating grist- and saw-mills. Robert Jackman, the elder,
built a very early grist-mill at Brownsville, and he built a dwelling-house on
the site of his grandson's residence (William W. Jackman) nearly one hundred
years ago. A majority of the family of this name, however, finally emigrated
westward, settling in Indiana, Illinois, and Iowa.
John Ringland died about the year 1845, and in 1848 a company, composed of
William W. Jackman, Job Johnson, Abraham Fry, George W. Hornbake, John Wood,
and Samuel Ashmead, purchased of his heirs three hundred and four acres of
land, upon which, May 1, 1849, they laid out a town, calling the same
California, a term then very familiar to nearly every man, woman, and child in
the land in connection with the then recently discovered gold region.
The plot was surveyed by Job Johnson, Esq., one of the proprietors, who was
an attorney-at-law as well as a surveyor. It comprised nearly one hundred
acres, or four hundred lots, fifty by one hundred and fifty feet each.
Originally these lots were sold at from fifteen to seventy-five dollars. The
streets, as seen to-day, cross at right angles, and are sixty feet wide, while
the alleys are twenty feet in width.
Not a building stood upon the town site when first laid out, and when,
during the summer of 1849, Thomas W. Moore completed the first dwelling,6
and soon after had a son (Job Johnson Moore) born therein, the proprietors
donated him a town lot. Among others who built houses in the town a year or
two later were Nelson Crow, James Hank (who built a brick house), Samuel S.
Rothwell (large frame structure), James P. Ailes (a commodious brick), Job
Johnson (the brick hotel and store known yet as the "Johnson
House"), John Woodfill (brick), William Jobes (frame), Augustin Wells
(brick), A. Wallace (frame), and Josiah Critchfield (a brick house). [end of
quoted material from Crumrine]
Thus
begins the early history of California, PA, with its beginnings held by the
Jackman family who owned Greenfield (Coal Center). These early settlers
were industrious and focused on carving out a future for their families and
heirs. Evidence is insurmountable of the value they placed on
"community," as their entire goal seemed set towards establishing the
new town of California (and that of Greenfield, nearby). They, along with
Job Johnson, created new businesses and thereby sustained its people as well as
building their town.
California PA is known widely for its former Normal School of the 1800s, as
shown in many vintage postcards. The
Normal School evolved into today's
California State University. The University web site gives the following history
of the school.
Go to California
State University Official Webpage (California PA)
California
Area Historical Society
California University of
Pennsylvania (CAL-U)
History
of the Normal School & development to a University
The
California Area Historical Society - This site includes, but is not limited
to the areas of:
California Borough; West Brownsville Borough; Centerville Borough; West Pike Run
Township; Coal Center;
Newell; Roscoe; Elco; Allenport; Stockdale; Long Branch, and Fallowfield
Township
Mon Valley
History and Genealogy Site
Keystone
Town Markers
California
Area Historical Society
California University of
Pennsylvania (CAL-U)
The
California Area Historical Society - This site includes, but is not limited
to the areas of:
California Borough; West Brownsville Borough; Centerville Borough; West Pike Run
Township; Coal Center;
Newell; Roscoe; Elco; Allenport; Stockdale; Long Branch, and Fallowfield
Township
Mon Valley
History and Genealogy Site
Regional
area Map of Washington County (east section)
Go Back to TownTalk Index
SEND ME YOUR PICTURES OR MEMORIES OF
CALIFORNIA
(washington.co.pa.webmaster@gmail.com - and put
California in the subject line)
Site History and Updates: Dec '05; Jan '05; Mar
'06
Email
Washington.Co.PA.Webmaster
(c) Judith Ann Florian
159 E. Main St.
Girard, Ohio 44420
Copyright Notice - Data / info. for individuals and surnames may be
reproduced for personal family histories only, but not for any commercial use or
sale. Please give credit to Judith Florian and Catherine L. Caldwell for
locating newspaper items and original documents. You may use J. Florian's
research conclusions if credit is given. No other data or images may be
reproduced without permission. © 2005-present, Judith Florian, Copyright All
rights reserved.
This page was last updated on Friday, January 16, 2009 00:15
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The background was chosen specifically to
emphasize the matriarchal role of women in "the life" of
children and families, and the resilience of all the women of
southwestern Pennsylvania. |
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