Individual Details
Benjamin Franklin (Pomeroy) Lockhart
(6 Jan 1843 - 26 Mar 1929)
Benjamin Pomeroy Lockhart , had been a seaman and spent his younger years working on his father’s three masted clipper ship, The Hungarian. Captain John Alexander Lockhart had been a sailing master nearly all his life and it was in his home port of New York that his young son Ben had been raised and attended school. At school in Brooklyn, Ben met a young schoolmate named Mary Lucretia Cull and they struck up a casual friendship, but when Ben went to sea, they lost track of each other.
Mary Cull, however, was to play an important part in Ben’s life. When 15 other young women decided to travel west seeking their fortunes, Mary accompanied them. The ladies
traveled down the East coast to Panama, crossed the dangerous Isthmus of Panama by mule, braving disease and other dangers to reach their goal. After the crossing, they booked passage to San Francisco where Mary parted company with her traveling companions and eventually found employment as a waitress in early day San Francisco. One day a surprised Mary found one of her customers to be none other than Ben Lockhart, her old school chum who was on leave from his father’s ship. Ben was working on his father's schooner which had put into the port of San Francisco. When the schooner sailed out, Ben remained behind, the two began dating once more and in 1869 he and Mary Cull, were married.
The couple worked at a variety of jobs together before settling down in Sacramento where Ben made his living as a teamster and Mary worked as a waitress. The industrious pair soon accumulated enough money to buy some land and three teams of horses with which Ben set up a drayage business. Eventually they had a fine two story home, filled with the noise and laughter of six children - Joe, born in 1870; Laura in 1871; Lulu in 1872; Annie Laurie in 1874; Ben in 1876 and Martha in 1879.
During one of those years there was a big flood which filled the first floor of the house with water. Mary took her children and the family cow, plus all the chickens and ducks she could round up, and herded them up to the second floor of the house where they lived for the next several days. Ben, in the meantime, had taken one of his teams down to the levee to help with the sandbagging and ended up losing his dray, although he saved his team.
In 1878 there was an epidemic of diphtheria, and all the Lockhart children became desperately ill along with their father. They were all sick with chills and fever (or possibly it was malaria, which we know now is caused by the mosquitoes which were bad at that time). Only Mary remained untouched, and worked days without sleep to nurse her family, all of whom pulled through. From then on, Ben was never well. One summer he suffered heat stroke and was unable to work for months, during which time Mary peddled eggs and butter from door to door to keep the family going.
And then a family they had known by the name of Woods moved away to a new community near the coast in Mendocino Co. The Woods wrote to the Lockharts, telling them they had found "God's Country here in this place called Jackson Valley. Big trees, water everywhere, and cool mountain air. The Lockharts needed no further urging to leave Sacramento and set out to join their friends.
When Ben and Mary Lockhart packed up their six children and all their belongings to make the move to Jackson Valley, their youngest Martha, was just a toddler. They made the move in two wagons, part of a wagon train from the Sacramento Valley to the coast which came up over the mountains east of Round Valley along the Tehama Trail and crossed the Eel River to the old Cahto Trail, the forerunner of today's dirt road between Dos Rios and Laytonville.
When Ben and Mary came to Jackson Valley in 1880, there were already a dozen or so families scattered about the region. Although the area was heavily forested in virgin redwoods, most of the families looked for homesteads where there was open pasture land for stock and crops. Among those first families were the Atkinsons, Hotskins, Shimmins, Agnews, Branscombs, Hauns and of course the Woods who had urged the Lockharts to join them, and with whom the Lockharts stayed until they settled on their own 160 acre homestead, about three miles up Mud Creek. Ben selected that particular site because it had a "lot of good oak" and a minimum amount of redwood. He was referring to the vast amount of Tan Oak on it, which was in great demand at that time. His homestead is now known as the Middleton place
The first year Ben was busy clearing and plowing, building a house, and working at whatever job he could find to earn the few dollars necessary for buying staples. One of his first jobs was for Jonathon Wilson at his mill near Cahto, a distance of several miles from the Lockhart's place, but which Ben frequently covered on foot. Ben was a good millwright, and was also an experienced teamster who could handle either horses or the oxen used for hauling the big logs to the mill. He went to work at Usal driving an oxen team hauling logs. After Andy Haun's mill started operations in Jackson Valley along Mud Creek, Ben also worked there.
The Hauns and the Lockharts became close friends, and Mary Lockhart and her older girls sometimes worked for Mrs. Haun, as well as Mrs. Branscomb, who was known affectionately as "Grandma Branscomb" by all the children of those early families. The Branscombs had 200 acres in the area of the community which now bears their name, and old Ben Branscomb built his family the finest house in the area, a big two story dwelling which sat on the hillside overlooking the valley where the Harwood mill is today.
Sometime in the late 1880's Ben and some of his neighbors hiked over to the thriving new mill town of DeHaven on the coast and signed on for jobs in the mill or the woods. At the De Haven sawmill he worked tallying lumber. It was there that Ben met Steve Elder and the Lovejoys. Ben walked back and forth over the government trail from Westport about once a month. His daughter Laura worked in Westport at the Westport Hotel and often accompanied her father on his trips home over the hill.
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Sacramento, California, U.S., California Biographical Great Books, 1867, 1872
Name: Lockhart, Benjamin
Age: 23
Nat: Maine
Loc. Res: Sacramento
Date of Reg: Aug 25, 1869
Sacramento Gr. Reg. 1872
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U.S., City Directories, 1822-1995
Year 1870
Sacramento Directory
Lockhart, Benj. freight sorter, C. S. N. Co., res O, bet Fifth and Sixth
Year 1873
pg 330 Sacramento [L] Directory
Lockhart. B. laborer, res e s 19th bet M and N.
Lockhart Benj. porter, res s e cor 22d and N.
Year 1874
pg. 190 Sacramento [L] Directory
Lockhart, Benj., drayman, with Huntington, Hopkins & Co., res s w cor 8th and R.
Year 1875
pg. 338 Sacramento [L] Directory
Lockhart, Benj., drayman, with Huntington, Hopkins & Co., res w s 8th bet Q and R.
Year 1876
pg. 303 Sacramento [L] Directory
Lockhart, Benj., drayman, res s e cor 8th and S..
Year 1878
pg 277 Sacramento [L] Directory
Lockhart Benjamin, drayman with Huntington, Hopkins & Co., res s s R bet 8th and 9th.
Year 1881
pg 306 Sacramento [L] Directory
Lockhart Benjamin F., laborer with Huntington, Hopkins & Co., res 8th bet T and U.
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Notes from Susan Slade Grosl's research-
From the Great Register, Mendocino County 1894
Registered 8-11-1892
Lockhart, Benjamin, 48 years, 5’ 7 1/2", Med Complexion, Brown eyes, Brown hair.
Rancher, Maine, Residence Jackson Valley, Cahto Precinct, Cahto Post Office
From the INDEX TO THE ARGONAUTS OF CALIFORNIA:
Lockhart, Benjamin 479 Steamer Falcon From New Orleans, March 20, 1849
(the only trip the Falcon made to the West Coast)
? If this is this Ben, he was only about 7 years old?
From a book listing ships docking in San Francisco:
Ship: HUNGARIAN From: Panama
Type: brig Captain: Harwood
Passage: 46 days from Panama
Arrived: September 7, 1850
Cargo: 6 trunks clothing, pork in barrels, 500 lbs sugar, 400 lbs coffee, 5 sacks beans, 2 cases cigars, 5 cases matches.
Passengers: Mrs. C. Spear, Mr. A. Curtis, Miss Bruce, Mr. J.B. Manchester, Mrs. Wood, 18 unidentified in steerage.
A similar account of the story above was first written in the book: "Pioneering in the Shadow of Cahto Mountain" By Kate Mayo, First Centennial Edition 1874-1974. Lucille Lovejoy Voigts obtained this book, signed by the author. It is now in the collection of Mildred Voigts Miller of Nampa, Idaho.
________________________________
Notes on "Franklin" vs. "Pomeroy" from Susan Slade Grosl's research - Everything I have says Franklin, but everything out of California says Pomeroy. His death certificate, signed by J. B. Karry son-in-law, says Franklin. By the time Auntie Bess, Grandma and Hat were interviewed for those articles they were old. Now, I know grandma had a good memory, but if one of them remembered the name wrong, maybe it "helped" the other two to remember it wrong also. I have Franklin in my files, but have notes in there also saying the name "might be" Pomeroy.
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"....those Lockhart girls... I knew them all. Do you know Ruby Branscomb? In Laytonville? She's right from the Lockharts. She's still living right in Laytonville. ... She married a Branscomb, Ruby. Laura, her mother, was a sister of Annie and Lou. There were four of those Lockhart girls. The oldest one married Lafe Middleton, and she raised her children. Annie had two, Hattie and Rob. Then the younger one, I don't think she had any of her own at all, I think maybe she adopted one or two. I think it was Karry she married, she married a man by the name of Karry, Jack Karry. I don't think they ever had any children, but the oldest one, one of her daughters is living in Laytonville now and she raise a family right in Laytonville. She married a Branscomb boy. Her name is Branscomb, Ruby Branscomb, and she lives right on this side of Laytonville."
(Mark Walker)
The Mendocino Beacon (Mendocino, California) Sat, May 9, 1896, Page 4
We are pleased to know our neighbor B. F. Lockhart, who has been sojourning on his mountain ranch, is among us again. Ben says he was contemplating building an ark to ford Eel river, and that he would have been back long ere this only the water was a foot too high for him.
The Fort Bragg Advocate (Fort Bragg, California) Wed, Jul 12, 1899, Page 3
Land Office at San Francisco, Cal June 3, 1899.
Notice is hereby given that the following named settler has filed notice of his intentiion to make final proof in support of his claim and that said proof will be made before the County Clerk of Mendocino County, Cal. at his office in Ukiah, Cal. on Tuesday, July 25, 1899, viz:
BENJAMIN F. LOCKHART, NO. 14,085
for the E½ of NW¼, W½ of NE¼ Sec 30, T 21 N, R 15 W, M. D. M.
He names the following witnesses to prove his continuous residence upon and cultivation of said land, viz:
John E. Rayner, Benjamin F. Branscomb, Andrew Hann of Branscomb, Cal., DeWitt McAlester of Willits, Cal. A. B. HUNT, Register.
The Fort Bragg Advocate (Fort Bragg, California) Wed, Apr 29, 1903, Page 3
ITEMS FROM DE HAVEN.
April 18th
The Pollard Lumber Company's mill at this place was started up last week under the Superintendency of their able President and General Manager, David Gill, who after finding everything running to his entire satisfaction, left Mr. B. F. Lockhart in charge at that post, while he observes from a distance.
Events
Families
Spouse | Mary Lucretia Cull (1847 - 1920) |
Child | Joseph Albert Lockhart (1870 - 1935) |
Child | Laura Ellen Lockhart (1871 - 1956) |
Child | Lucretia Mary "Lulu" Lockhart (1871 - 1936) |
Child | Anna Laurie Lockhart (1875 - 1929) |
Child | Benjamin Lockhart (1877 - 1891) |
Child | Martha Keith Lockhart (1879 - 1968) |
Child | Edna Lockhart (1884 - 1884) |
Father | Captain John (Alexander?) Lockhart (1812 - 1870) |
Mother | Jane Parker McBean (1811 - ) |
Sibling | Captain John A. Lockhart (1840 - 1902) |
Sibling | Laura Lockhart (1845 - 1918) |
Notes
Birth
or New Brunswick (1850 census)Census
With his father and Martha R., see note under John Alexander Lockhart.Marriage
Not clear where they married."Mary went to San Jose where she was working as a waitress when she met an old schoolmate, Ben Lockhart, who was working on his father's ship. They married soon afterwards and he left the ship and they settled in Sacramento." (Mayo, Kate)
"Ben was working on his father's schooner which had put into the port of San Francisco. When the schooner sailed out, Ben remained behind, the two began dating once more and in 1869 he and Mary Cull, were married." (Moore, Rena Lynne)
Voter Registration
No. Name Age County of Nativity Local Residence Date of Registration5445 Lockhart, Benjamin ..........28...........Maine....................Sacramento Township.........Aug. 25, 1869
Census
They should be in Sacramento in 1870, haven't found the record yet.Voter Registration
6100---Lockhart, Benjamin---29--Maine---4 precinct---Dec 5Voter Registration
age 32 (1845) MaineCensus (family)
B. LOCHARDT Self M Male W 37 ME Drayman ME MEMary LOCHARDT Wife M Female W 34 NY Keeping House ENG IRE
Joseph LOCHARDT Son S Male W 10 CA At School ME NY
Laura LOCHARDT Dau S Female W 8 CA ME NY
Lulu LOCHARDT Dau S Female W 6 CA ME NY
Emma LOCHARDT Dau S Female W 4 CA ME NY
Benjaman LOCHARDT Son S Male W 3 CA ME NY
Marthia LOCHARDT Dau S Female W 10M CA ME NY
---------------------------------------------------------------------- ----------
B Lochardt Self M 37 Maine, United States
Joseph Lochardt Son M 10 California, United States
Laura Lochardt Daughter F 8 California, United States
Emma Lochardt Daughter F 4 California, United States
Benjaman Lochardt Son M 3 California, United States
Marthia Lochardt Daughter F 0 California, United States
Lulu Lochardt Daughter F 6 California, United States
Mary Lochardt Wife F 34 New York, United States
Voter Registration
4119--Lockhart, Benjamin Franklin--age 38--Country of Nativity Maine---Local Residence 4 precinctVoter Registration
age 43 (1845)bp Maine
Farmer Long Valley
California, Great Registers, 1866-1910
Name: Benjamin Franklin Lockhart
Event: Voter Registration
Event Date: 23 Jan 1888
Event Place: Long Valley, Mendocino, California
Age: 43
Estimated Birth Year: 1845
Birthplace: Maine
Page: 33 & Page 27
Film Number: 976935
Digital Folder Number: 5028157
Image Number: 00379 & 00347
Voter Registration
age 48 (1844) MaineHt 5' 7.5", complexion Med, eyes Br. Hair Br.
Rancher, Maine, Jackson Valley, Cahto Precinct, Cahto Post Office
Name: Benjamin Franklin Lockart
Event: Voter Registration
Event Date: 11 Aug 1892
Event Place: Jackson Valley, Mendocino, California
Age: 48
Estimated Birth Year: 1844
Birthplace: Maine
Page: 38 & 39
Film Number: 976936
Digital Folder Number: 5028158
Image Number: 00046 & 00344
Property
NamesPatentee: BENJAMIN F LOCKHART
Survey
State: CALIFORNIA
Acres: 160
Metes/Bounds: No
Title Transfer
Issue Date: 10/3/1934
Land Office: Sacramento
Cancelled: No
U.S. Reservations: Yes
Mineral Reservations: No
Authority: May 20, 1862: Homestead EntryOriginal (12 Stat. 392)
Document Numbers
Document Nr.: 029239
Misc. Doc. Nr.: 0
Accession/Serial Nr.: 1072528
BLM Serial Nr.: CAS 0029239
Comments: FORMERLY SAN FRANCISCO FINAL CERTIFICATE #7292 REISSUE NEW AND CORRECT REPLACING PATENT DATED 11-4-1899 TO CORRECT DESCRIPTION
Legal Land Description
W½ NE 30/ 21-N 15-W No Mount Diablo CA Mendocino
E½ NW 30/ 21-N 15-W No Mount Diablo CA Mendocino
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From archives at http://www.rootsweb.com/~usgenweb/ca/ca-land.htm
Mendocino County, CA - Index to Federal Land Patents
MERIDIAN TWP RANGE SECTION DOCID DATE NAME
MD 0210N 0150W 030 1072528 1934/10/03 LOCKHART BENJAMIN F
Census (family)
5, 5 Lockhart, Benj F, Head WM, Jan 1842, 58, Married 30 yrs, ME ME ME, Farmer own free farmMary L, Wife WF, May 1844, 56, M-30, 7 child 5 living, NY England England,
Martha K, Daughter, WF, Aug 1881, 19, single, CA ME NY,
Voter Registration
No. Name Age Post Office22 Lovejoy, Laurison Hale .................39 Branscomb
23 Lovejoy, Abial...................................78 Branscomb
24 Lockhart, Benjamin Franklin.......60 Branscomb
25 Lovejoy, George Edgar.................31 Branscomb
Voter Registration
11--Lockhart, Benjamin F.---Male--Republican--Timberman---BaysideVoter Registration
Lockhart, Benjamin F---Rep--Woodsman---Garbervillealso in the City Directory for 1925 under Garberville, Humboldt
Lockhart Benj F woodsmn
Voter Registration
Lockhart, Benjamin Franklin---- Rep--- Retired------FortunaDeath
Cause of Death: Bronchial Pneumonia (Susan Slade Grosl)Lockhart, Benjamin F, age 1 86, 12 date of death 3 26 29, date filed 1929 state file no. 13291
Endnotes
1. Slade-Grosl, Susan, Lockhart genealogy emails. (Susan Slade-Grosl
2. 1850 Calais, ME Federal Census lookup for John Lockhart. (Census read by lookup volunteer Sharon Howland, 1998.).
3. U.S. Census images. Heritage Quest Online. Subscription database through the Sonoma County Public Library. (ProQuest LLC, 2009.), 1860 census.
4. U.S. Census images. Heritage Quest Online. Subscription database through the Sonoma County Public Library. (ProQuest LLC, 2009.), 1860 census.
5. Mayo, Kate., Pioneering in the Shadow of Cahto Mountain First Centennial Edition, 1874 - 1974. (Kate Mayo, c. 1974).
6. "California, U.S., Voter Registers, 1866-1898," database, Ancestry.com (: accessed 21 November 2020), Benjamin Lockhart; citing Great Registers, 1866–1898. Microfilm, 185 rolls. California State Library, Sacramento, California..
7. Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints., Transcription of the United States Federal Population Census - 1880 (http://www.familysearch.org/ Oct. 2002).
8. Census - 1880, California, Sacramento Co. Index (read 5/18/2000, Nancy Prouty).
9. "California Great Registers, 1866-1910," database, FamilySearch (: accessed 3 November 2019), Benjamin Franklin Lockhart, 1882; citing Voter Registration, 4 Precinct, Sacramento, California, United States, county clerk offices, California; FHL microfilm 977,089..
10. "California Great Registers, 1866-1910," database, FamilySearch (: accessed 3 November 2019), Benjamin Franklin Lockhart, 23 Jan 1888; citing Voter Registration, Long Valley, Mendocino, California, United States, county clerk offices, California; FHL microfilm 976,935..
11. "California Great Registers, 1866-1910," database, FamilySearch (: accessed 3 November 2019), Benjamin Franklin Lockart, 11 Aug 1892; citing Voter Registration, Jackson Calley, Mendocino, California, United States, county clerk offices, California; FHL microfilm 976,936..
12. Bureau of Land Management - General Land Office Records, online [http://www.glorecords.blm.gov/], accessed 2007.
13. U.S. Census images. Heritage Quest Online. Subscription database through the Sonoma County Public Library. (ProQuest LLC, 2009.), 1900 > California > MENDOCINO > LONG VALLEY TWP Series: T623 Roll: 93 Page: 98 .
14. "California, U.S., Voter Registrations, 1900-1968," database, Ancestry.com (: accessed 21 November 2020), Benjamin Franklin Lockhart; citing State of California, United States. Great Register of Voters. Sacramento, California: California State Library..
15. "California, U.S., Voter Registrations, 1900-1968," database, Ancestry.com (: accessed 21 November 2020), Benjamin Franklin Lockhart; citing State of California, United States. Great Register of Voters. Sacramento, California: California State Library..
16. Slade-Grosl, Susan, Lockhart genealogy emails. (Susan Slade-Grosl
17. "California Death Index, 1905-1939," database with images, FamilySearch (: accessed 3 November 2019), Benjamin F Lockhart, 1929; citing 13291, Department of Health Services, Vital Statistics Department, Sacramento; FHL microfilm 1,686,046..