HomeMy WebLinkAbout101221-04.3 BEV LANE attachment Presenting the Past
Presenting the Past ( March 7, 2008 )
By Beverly Lane
Dan Inman, Danville’s Founder Part 1
This month, March 2008, marks Danville’s sesquicentennial. In March of 1858 -- one hundred
fifty years ago -- Dan Inman purchased 400 acres in today’s Old Town. Danville counts its
anniversary from that purchase.
In a letter forty years later, Inman wrote that he had been gold mining in 1857 and “In March of
the following year I came into the valley once more --- this time for good -- and purchased a
farm where Danville is now located, of a man named Pigmore. I went to farming and seeded the
lands with wheat that winter.”
He, his brother Andrew and a friend named Jesse Bowles came to California in 1849 in their
early twenties. Like so many young men, the lure of the fabulous California gold rush sent them
west. Dan was born in Tennessee in 1827, grew up and went to common school in Illinois,
learned farming as a boy and then apprenticed as a cooper (making wooden barrels, casks and
tubs). He had started his own business when the gold rush beckoned.
Unlike so many miners, they were successful at it. With $3000 they had earned, they opened a
boarding house in Sacramento near the river that first winter, only to have winter floods ruin the
property. Returning to the mines, they worked around Hangtown, Grass Valley, French Corral,
Downieville, Middle Fork, Grass Valley and Auburn.
In 1852 the brothers moved to Danville, bought a farm in Green Valley and raised cattle and
sheep together for several years. Andrew settled down, married Ann Young, built a fine house
and ran large flocks of sheep from Green Valley all over the western Mount Diablo foothills. He
later donated land for the first Green Valley Grammar School.
But Dan returned to mining, returning to the valley regularly. At one point he, Jesse Bowles and
a Mr. Bixby tried to grow tobacco on 30 acres south of Danville, which didn’t make a profit.
Later Dan bought a mine in El Dorado using a new technique, hydraulic mining, which was very
profitable. He bought property at the intersection of the county road and San Ramon Creek in
1858.
In the Sentinel, dated January 1898, Dan Inman wrote this letter:
“In the summer of 1859 a man named Davis came along and wanted to start a blacksmith
shop where the one now stands (Close’s) and I gave him permission to do so. He sold out
that winter to Jim Johnson, now deceased. Johnson soon after sold to Simon Whitmore.
“Then a man named Long started a wheelwright shop. About the same time H.W. Harris
started a hotel, and Wolff & Cohen a store.
“Then the people of the valley wanted a post office. Of course it had to have a name, and
quite a number were suggested. At first they thought of calling it Inmanville, but my
brother Andrew and I objected to that.
“Finally, Grandma Young, my brother’s mother-in-law, said, ‘Call it Danville,’ and, as
much or more out of respect for her, as she was born and raised near Danville, Kentucky,
it took that name.”
Harris called his hotel the Danville Hotel in Dan’s honor even before the community was named.
It was on the northwest corner of today’s Diablo Road and Front Street. He became the first
Danville postmaster in 1860. Michael Cohen built a general store on Front Street and moved into
a house built by the Howard brothers in 1866. This is now the Cohen/Vecki House. The census
stated he and wife Matilda were born in France, their three children were born in California and
their cook, Jim Ah, came from China. Cohen was postmaster for 20 years beginning in 1865.
Inman farmed his land east of the creek and sold properties along Front as needed. He used his
cooper training, built coffins and created the first fine carriages in the county. And he had
interests beyond making a living. He was a popular speaker at July Fourth events in the 1850s. In
1863 he ran unsuccessfully for County Sheriff as a Democrat, during a time (the Civil War)
when Republicans persuaded voters that to vote Democrat would be disloyal. He and Andrew
were southern sympathizers.
1863 had a happy ending for him when he married Josephine Jones in November. The daughter
of Alamo pioneers John and Mary Jones, Josephine had her own unique history. In 1846, her
parents and two sisters made it over the Sierras just before the early snows which trapped the
Donner Party. John was sick and Mary did much of the grueling driving and work, all while she
was expecting a baby. They ended up in Chiles Valley that winter and Josephine was born in
January, 1847.
Next time, new ventures for the Inmans.
Sources: J. M. Guinn, History of the State of California, 1904; James D. Smith, Recollections,
1995; J. P. Munro-Fraser, History of Contra Costa County, 1882
Dan and Josephine Inman
Presenting the Past (March 28, 2008 )
By Beverly Lane
Dan Inman, Danville’s Founder Part 2
Daniel and Josephine Inman began a family within a year of their 1863 wedding and eventually
had seven children. Inman’s life during the nineteenth century exemplifies many of the
challenges and accomplishments of California’s pioneer leaders. He farmed and experimented
with different crops, was known as a generous friend, helped begin the Livermore Presbyterian
Church, supported the Grange movement, opposed the state’s railroad monopoly and ran for
office.
The Inmans moved to Livermore in 1865, splitting the Danville properties with brother Andrew
by 1866. Dan’s friend Jesse Bowles moved to the Livermore area in the 1860s, joining his
brother-in-law William “Phil” Mendenhall. Mendenhall had once farmed in the Sycamore Valley
and was another good friend of Inman.
The Inmans settled in, buying 325 acres of farm land and becoming leaders in this new
community. They later added 316 more acres and ran a diversified farm with stock grazing,
wheat and vineyards. Less than a mile north of their homestead, the Inman District School was
built in 1870 on land they donated for the purpose.
Residence and farm of Dan and Josephine Inman
From 1867 to 1868 Dan Inman served on the Alameda County Board of Supervisors. He next
was elected to the state Assembly in the fall of 1869. According to J. M. Guinn’s History of
California, he won: “in spite of the fact that at the time the district was strongly Republican.
However, his excellent record as a supervisor won him many votes from his friends among the
Republicans of the district and he received a fair Majority.”
He was no friend of the railroad monopoly which had such power in the state and, because of
this, lost in subsequent efforts to return to the Legislature. In 1878 he was elected a delegate to
the California Constitutional Convention which famously worked to defuse the railroad’s power.
A major goal of Granges throughout California was to control what they viewed as usurious
charges by the railroads.
In 1874 that Inman met with Danville friends R. O. Baldwin, Charles Wood and W.W. Camron
to discuss constructing a narrow gauge railroad from Martinez to Livermore. Indeed, Inman’s
political activities were mirrored by several Danville leaders. His brother Andrew Inman,
Charles Wood and David Sherburne (from Sycamore Valley) and teacher A. J. Young were all
elected to the state Assembly. Sherburne also served as Contra Costa County Supervisor for
many years.
When the California Grange was organized in 1873, Inman became the first Worthy Master of
the Livermore Grange. He was active in the Grange for many years in many different capacities,
including as president and manager of the State Grangers’ Association and their store in San
Francisco (1878-9).
His wife’s parents had helped found the Cumberland Presbyterian Church in Alamo. The First
Presbyterian Church of Livermore was organized on Feb. 12, 1871 with Jesse Bowles and Daniel
Inman serving as two of the first five trustees. Funds were raised and the first church was
dedicated in 1874. Also in 1871, a Masonic Lodge, the Pleasanton Lodge, No. 218, F. and A. M.
was organized. Inman was a proud member of this fraternal order all his life.
Inman was known for his community spirit and his willingness to lend funds to friends, which
sometimes led to problems. He signed a promissory note for the Farmers Union of Livermore, a
Grange-related cooperative, and ended up liable for their debts when the Union went bankrupt in
1892. He faithfully paid off these and all other debts.
When Inman died in 1908, the Livermore Herald said his large funeral testified “to the great
respect and esteem in which the deceased was held in the community…The expressions of regret
over the demise of this worthy pioneer are universal. He represented the highest type of sturdy
American manhood and held the confidence of the community to a degree attained by few men
in this age.”
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Sources: Rick Dressen, “Daniel Inman, Namesake of Danville,” 1993; J. M. Guinn, History of
the State of California, 1904; William Halley, Centennial Yearbook of Alameda County, 1876
(p. 400); The Livermore Herald, Nov. 7, 1908; James D. Smith, Recollections, 1995; J. P.
Munro-Fraser, History of Contra Costa County, 1882, Museum of the SRV archives
Illustration: Residence and Farm of Daniel Inman, Esq, Livermore, Alameda County, California
New Historical Atlas of Alameda Co., California, Illustrated, Thompson & West, 1878. p. 106