H. Polley

H. Polley is a pioneer of the State of California, and hailed from Waltham, Massachusetts, where he was born December 22, 1822. His father, Elnathan Polley, was a native of the same place. Their ancestors were Welsh people, and were among the earliest settlers of New England. His mother, Marian (Brigham) Polley, was a native of Massachusetts, of English descent. They have the genealogy of the family back to the old barony of Bludgehouse, England. Mr. Polley had eight brothers and sisters. Five of them are still living, three older than himself. He was reared and educated in Massachusetts, and learned the machinist's trade, which he followed in the East. In 1851 he came to California. He engaged in milling in Sacramento in 1852, and has the honor of grinding and putting up the first sack of merchantable flour put up in that shape in the State. After four years in the mill, he engaged in contracting and building, and also did some farming. In 1876 he came to Ventura County, and became a rancher and thresher. In 1884 he purchased his present home property, erected buildings, planted trees and otherwise improved it, and is now engaged in raising barley and fine horses.

    Mr. Polley was married in 1843 to Miss Charlotte Ann Kellom, a native of New Hampshire, born at Hillsborough, September 6, 1824. To them were born nine children, four of whom are now living: Martha K., married U. Y. Saviers, and resides in Texas; Charles H., born in 1859, married Miss Ren Cunningham, and has two children. He is his father's business partner, the firm being Polley & Son. George F. was born in 1861, and is now a resident of Ventura County. Porter L. was born in 1865; is married and resides in Colorado. Their sons were all born in California.

    Mr. Polley resided in Sacramento during the exciting times of the Vigilant Committee, and aided in the organization of the Republican party there; ran on the ticket for a member of the State Assembly, and stumped his district for John C. Fremont, the "Pathfinder." They wer both stoned and clubbed. He lived in Mendocino during the war, and it was about as much as a man's life was worth to announce himself a Republican. At a meeting held in Sacramento city, the Republican speaker, Henry Bates, was rotten-egged. Mr. Polley saw a chief justice throwing eggs, and a county judge paraded in front of the stand with gun in hand, swearing that he would shoot the first Republican that would open his mouth. There were at one time three tickets in the field, and nine candidates met at one place. They agreed to hold a discussion, each one to have fifteen minutes' time. Among other things they were to express their opinions on the action of the Vigilant Committee. Mr. Polley said: "I will say one thing, and no man can gainsay it. Every man that the committee hung was a Democrat, and every man they banished from the state was one, and I hope none of them will ever return." Those were exciting times in California, and people of the present can scarcely think it possible that such a state of affairs could have existed. Mr. Polley is a Master Mason. Notwithstanding the fact that he has seen and been through the early turbulent times of the State, having lived here thirty-nine years, he is still quite a young-looking man.

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