Davis Walls
The virile qualities that for generations untold have given strength to the Scottish clans in the highlands of their native country have brought them success in whatever part of the world destiny has directed their footsteps. In the sunny climate of the Pacific coast, no less than on the stern and rock-bound shores of their own land, they have displayed the energy and independent spirit that brings to a man the respect of associates and the esteem of friends. The region where David Walls spent the maturity of his useful existence was far removed from the humble home in Lincolnshire, Scotland, where he was born December 15, 1840, and where his parents, William and Grace Walls, earned a scanty livelihood by the most arduous and unceasing toil. Impelled by a hope of bettering their condition, the family bade farewell to the companions of a lifetime and crossed the Atlantic to the United States, proceeding westward from New York City to Michigan and settling upon a tract of raw land in Oakland county near the city of Pontiac. There the head of the family entered form the government a claim of eighty acres and entered upon the task of transforming the bare prairie into a productive farm, which responsible undertaking engaged his attention until his demise in 1872. Eight years later his wife also passed from earth.
Out of the parental family of seven daughters and six sons (all of whom except one son attained mature years), David Walls was the only one to seek a home in California, and it was during 1860 that he took passage from New York City for Panama en route to San Francisco, where he landed January 20, 1861, after a voyage lasting exactly one month. Immediately after debarking form the vessel he proceeded to the mountains in Nevada county and began to work at placer mining, which engaged his attention almost uninterruptedly until his return to Michigan in 1866. Meanwhile his luck had been that of most miners, excellent at times and discouraging on other occasions. When he took out $70 worth of gold in one day he felt that he was singularly fortunate, but such intervals of prosperity were rare. However, he had accumulated a neat sum through his mining ventures when he took passage in March, 1866, from San Francisco for the isthmus and thence to New York City, and from there to Michigan. His visit with relatives came to an end in August 1866, when he started once more for the west, landing in San Francisco on the 12th of September and immediately proceeding to the mountains in Nevada county.
Going to San Francisco in February of 1867 Mr. Walls made a brief sojourn in that city, and on the 18th of March he hired out to the Contra Costa Steam Navigation Company as an employe at Haystack wharf on the creek below Petaluma. At the expiration of four years he resigned his position with the company and purchased a livery barn and business in Petaluma. After having conducted the business for six months he sold it to the former owner, and he then took charge of the railroad company’s wharf at Donahue. Six months were devoted to that work, and he then returned to Haystack Landing to act as the agent of the steamboat company and also as manager of their ranch. Subsequently the business passed into the hands of different owners, but Mr. Walls was retained as agent without intermission until his death, filling the position with characteristic fidelity. During 1883 he bought the Haystack ranch comprising one hundred and fifty-six acres of upland and eighty acres of marsh land. As early as 1868 an orchard had been planted on the farm, and now there is a gratifying annual income from the sale of pears, apples and plums in the markets of Petaluma and San Francisco. In addition to fruit-growing specialties are made of dairying and stock-raising, and in each department of agriculture the land has proved to be an excellent investment for the owners. Mr. Walls passed away April 18, 1907.
Fraternal societies had the encouragement and active co-operation of David Walls, who was identified with seven lodges in Petaluma. The first society which he joined was the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, with which he became connected in Grass Valley as early as 1860. Afterward he become interested in other organizations. Twice married, his first union occurred in 1873 and gave him as a wife Miss Mary Donnelly, who died in 1887, leaving three children. January 30, 1888, he married Mrs. Alma R. Hynes, daughter of Freeman Parker an old settler of Sonoma county. Two children were born of this union, but one of them is deceased. The only daughter of the first marriage, Grace, is the wife of George Drennon, and the mother of three children, David, Lloyd and Alma. The sons, Charles B. and James A., who are honored young agriculturists of the county, reside at the old homestead, to which they are devoted by ties extending back to their early recollections. Charles B. Walls married Miss Pearl Rodehaver. Both are prominent in social affairs in the community, and both enjoy an enviable standing and excellent reputations for probity, integrity and energy. They are adding to the prestige of the family name and are proving themselves worthy successors to n honored father. Charles B. Walls is a member of the Odd Fellows order and Encampment, while James A. is a member of the Elks and the Red Men.
History of Sonoma
County, California
History by Tom Gregory : Historic Record Company, 1891
Los Angeles, Ca. 1911
Transcribed by Roberta Hester Leatherwood
January 3, 2012 Pages 828-829
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