HomeMy WebLinkAboutJanuary 2018 SLOWhatHistor of SLO: P
®® WITH JOSEP CAROTENUTI, CITY HISTORIAN/ARCHIVIST
SLO Pioneers 5
Samuel Adams Pollard
As we've discovered, there were no direct
flights to our valley in the mid -19th century.
Indeed, any "flight" was most often a circuitous
route from somewhere else ... and for some,
San Luis Obispo was not even the intended
destination. Our first pioneer, Charles Henry
Johnson, eventually planted roots here after
birth in Maryland, an early life at sea, trading and
merchandising in San Francisco, marriage and
employment in Monterey and, only then, some
60 years in the valley. Johnson's life story will
be found in the pages of Journal Plus magazine
(March -October 2010).
Sam Pollard had some similar experiences — but
not all. Here are some of his reminiscences.
Thank you for speaking with me. Charles
Johnson recommended you as a source of
information about early San Luis Obispo. He
said you were even in the community before
statehood in 1850. My question is just how did
you finally settle here?
"First, thank you for this opportunity...
and thanks to Charlie as well. We both go back
a long way although I settled in a bit earlier in
1849. How I got here from Virginia covers a
lot of our nation over some 25 years. I'm glad I
finally arrived, but over the following 50 years
didn't stay only in the settlement but branched
out in the county."
Yes, I have read of your many roles here from
merchant to the first Chairman of the Board
of Supervisors to Superintendent of Schools as
well as your long marriage to Josefa, daughter of
William Dana. However, for now, I'd appreciate
your relating the journey you took in order to
arrive here.
"Well, it started when I was born in 1826 in
Richmond, Virginia. We were an agricultural
society, close knit and believed our way of life.
Of course, this will lead to the terrible Civil War.
We moved to a farm in New Orleans when I was
12. Besides my parents, I had an older brother,
Robert, and two sisters. My actual traveling
west began with the war."
This would be the Mexican -American War?
"Yes, although the name may be
important to others, I remember trying to
survive day-to-day as well as avoiding being
someone else's target However, it was just
what a 21 -year-old needed to live beyond the
farm. I volunteered in October 1847 and served
with Colonel Doniphan (see illustration). I have
carried a memento from those years as I had the
top of one of my fingers shaved off by a Mexican
shell during one engagement
When our enlistments ended in June the
next year, we headed for home. I returned to
New Orleans and briefly worked as a clerk until
Dr. Beale came to town with the astonishing
news and samples of the gold discovery in
California. This was the first anyone heard of it
By the end of the year, I headed west by going
to Mexico again ... and that's another long story.
Histor of SLO: Pioneers'Story
®® WITH JOSEP CAROTENUTI, CITY HISTORIAN/ARCHIVIST
' VOW -
Alexander William Doniphan (1808-1887): attorney, soldier and politician from Missouri. In 1846,
Doniphan became colonel of the I st Regiment of Missouri Mounted Volunteers. His outstanding
service record included an incredible march of more than 3,000 miles, one of the longest and most
successful marches in military history.
Contact: jacarotenuti@gmail.com
Visit: www.joefromslo.com 1/18