Sonoma County Biography
Thomas Gilbert Woolsey Trosper
It is intensely interesting to chronicle the life history of the pioneer, the man who in his prime entered the wilderness and claimed the virgin soil as his heritage, not afraid to endure the hardships and dangers that surrounded him on every hand, and by his energy and perseverance carved out a home and competence for himself and family. Such a man was the late Thomas Gilbert Woolsey Trosper, pioneer, hunter, Indian fighter and citizen. He was born in Knox county, Ky., June 2, 1826. His father, also a native of Kentucky, moved to Nodaway county, Mo., in 1833, when Thomas was only eleven years of age and there he was brought up on the frontier farm and became inured to the privations and hardships attendant upon the conquering of a new country. It was an active outdoor life for him and laid the foundation for his strong physique, energy and endurance displayed in after years. However, living as he did, on the frontier, gave him very limited advantages for obtaining an education.
In 1850, like thousands of others, he became interested in the gold discoveries in California, so he crossed the plains with an ox-train, arriving in due time for a time followed mining, but it was not fraught with the success he had pictured, so he turned his attention to other fields, and came to Cape Mendocino, where he entered into a contract with a large mill company to furnish them with meat by hunting with his old muzzle-loader. He killed an abundance of deer, elk and bear for their camp. During this time he had several scraps with the Warm Springs Indians and one of these nearly terminated his life, while he and a partner were working about half a mile from their cabin, getting out timber. They had been bothered a great deal by Indians pilfering while they were away and they took turns going to the cabin to see that things were not disturbed. On one trip, as he passed through the tall grass, he was waylaid and attacked by five Indians grabbing his gun and hammering him over the head with pine knots. Fortunately they did not get in a telling blow from the start, so that in the scrimmage he knocked one down with his fist, thus freeing his gun, and wounded another through the knee, the same shot killing the Indian he had knocked down. The third Indian was killed with a blow from his gun, breaking it off at the stock. Seeing the fate of the three the other two ran away. His partner found him unconscious and nursed him until his wounds were healed and he was fully recovered. He had twenty-seven holes and cuts through his scalp at the time and carried the marks of the battle as long as he lived. When his partner found him there were two Indians beside him and the third was found later in the top of a fallen tree where he had crawled and died.
Sometime afterward Mr. Trosper settled in Green Valley where he married Cornelia Elizabeth McGuire, born in Jackson county, Mo. Her father, James McGuire brought the family to California in 1849, crossing the plains with ox-teams and locating at Knight’s Landing, where he died, the family afterwards removing to Green Valley, Sonoma county.
Thomas Trosper was among those who made the rush to Salmon river during the gold excitement, making the trip through the mountains, overland. As early as 1860 he purchased a tract of land on West Austin creek, above what is now Cazadero, and located there. At the mouth of what is now called Bear Trap creek he built a bear pen and in it trapped many a bear and from this the creek received its name. He was a great lover of hunting and enjoyed it all his life, although he had many a narrow escape from bruin. In 1867, near Cazadero, he wounded a bear and his dog stopped it and four other bears in a thicket. Nothing daunted, Trosper went in, being absolutely fearless, but the wounded bear attacked him; his hunting partner fled, the bear caught him by the heel, then with a second pass of his huge paw grabbed the calf of his leg and stripped it clear down; then caught him by the thigh and began chewing it up and would soon have put an end to him had the bear not been in a dying condition. Fortunately his life was ebbing slowly and as one of Trosper’s dogs bit the bear it turned on the dog and with the effort keeled over, dead. Trosper was carried home on a horse and wais laid up for six months from his many wounds; though healed he carried them for life.
Mr. Trosper was extensively engaged in sheep, cattle and hog raising, in which he was very prosperous and acquired a large tract of land, being classed among the foremost and most substantial men of his section, always interested in its advancement and upbuilding. When a young man Mr. Trosper took an active part in driving the Mormons out of Missouri and when he came overland to California he left Salt Lake to one side. His demise occurred May 4, 1898, while his wife died in 1910. Five children were born of this union, as follows: Albion A., who died at the age of nineteen years; Annie E., who became the wife of F. O. Schumann and died in Marin county in 1882; Arthur L., who died near Occidental, in October 1910; Francis D., and Ernest E., whose sketches appear elsewhere in this work. Mr. Trosper was a man of much native ability and was truly a self-made man, rising from a youth empty handed to a man of affluence. He was a very prominent old pioneer, kind hearted, generous and charitable and he and his good wife were greatly esteemed by all who knew them.
History
of Sonoma County, California
History by Tom Gregory : Historic Record Company, 1891
Los Angeles, Ca. 1911
Transcribed by Roberta Hester Leatherwood
June 29, 2011 Pages 486-488
Sonoma County Biographies ~ Archive Biography Index ~ Archive Index
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