|
|
Deputy Sheriff John Dick Van Eaton
m. Bef 1826 - Deputy Sheriff John Dick Van Eaton1826 - 1894
Facts and Events
Notes
Excerpts from "The History of the Bailey Family", by Henry Bailey:
- John D. Van Eaton, was born on the family plantation in 1826, the oldest of twelve children, ten boys and two girls. His father was also noted for his humane treatment of his slaves. John grew up with all the advantages that accrued to the son of a well-to-do Southern gentleman. He was a student at and Henry College, at Emory, Virginia, for almost four years, but with the other members of the senior class quit the school in protest over the expulsion of one member. As this was in the spring of 1849, when the Gold Rush was at its height, there may have been some connection. At any rate, John returned home, secured a belt full of gold from his father, mounted his trusty mare, and started on the long trek to California.
- John Van Eaton, along with Undersheriff James Hume, afterward head of the Wells Fargo detective service, was in the posse that wiped out the Rivers band. Engaging in a gun battle with Rivers, Van Eaton came out second best, being badly wounded, but he stayed in the fight until Rivers was killed and the rest of the band either killed or captured.
- Probably the most famous crime that John Van Eaton solved was the great "Bullion Bend robbery". In June, 1864, a group of Southern sympathizers, knowing the confederacy was desperate for gold, devised a plan to hold up the stages a few miles west of Placerville, at a spot still known as Bullion Bend.
- [Source: http://www.bdhhfamily.com/new_page_23.htm].
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 International Genealogical Index. ( The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saint, 1999-2008).
|
|
