John Marsh

 

Retro Ramblings

by: Douglas Love, Grand 3^rd Vice-president 

On the southern side of Pacheco Boulevard between downtown Martinez and Pacheco sits California Registered Historic Landmark plaque #722.  Its inscription is brief and to the point.  It reads:

 Dr. John Marsh

California Pioneer

Murdered Here

September 24, 1856

….

California Registered

Historical Landmark No. 722

Plaque Placed by The California State Parks Commission

In Cooperation with the Martinez Horsemen’s Association, February 22, 1960.

That’s all.  No narrative, no context, just that Dr. John Marsh, who was a California pioneer, was murdered on this spot by the side of the road.  So, who was John Marsh?  What were the circumstances that led to his demise?  Why was his murder so important that its location is now a state historic landmark?

John Marsh was born in Danvers, Massachusetts in 1799 to John Marsh Sr. and his wife Polly.  He graduated from Phillips Academy in Andover and entered Harvard in 1819.  He was dismissed from Harvard for taking part in a student rebellion but was readmitted in 1821 and received a Bachelor’s Degree in 1823.  He studied medicine under a Boston doctor.  Like many ambitious young men of his era, Marsh went west to seek his fortune.  He first settled in the Michigan Territory at Fort St. Anthony, now Fort Snelling, where he started and taught at the first school in what is now Minnesota.  He also studied medicine under the fort’s surgeon who passed away before Marsh could complete his training.  By 1826 Marsh had fathered a son by his mistress, Marguerite Deconteaux, who was of French and Sioux descent.  It was at this time Marsh completed his Sioux vocabulary.  He was also appointed an assistant Indian Agent to the Sioux and a Justice of the Peace.

Marsh then relocated to Prairie du Chien and became entangled in the Black Hawk War.  Marsh was blamed for a Sioux massacre of the Fox and Sauk.  He then left and went to New Salem, Illinois where he allegedly became acquainted with a not yet nationally famous Abraham Lincoln. He then went back to Prairie du Chien and Marguerite, who tired to walk from New Salem to join him, died. 

With the death of Marguerite and leaving his son with friends in Illinois, in 1833 Marsh left for Independence, Missouri and became a merchant.  By 1835, his business had failed and Marsh found himself in Santa Fe in the employ of John Jacob Astor and the American Fur Company.  Soon Marsh was on the move again and in 1836 travelled via the Santa Fe Trail to the village of Los Angeles.  It was in Los Angeles that Marsh presented his Harvard Diploma as proof of his medical education to the government of Alta California and was granted permission to practice medicine.  Thus, John Marsh, teacher, Indian Agent, ethno-linguist, Justice of the Peace and failed businessman, became “Doctor” John Marsh.  With this bit of legerdemain, he became the first European to practice medicine in California.  On February 10, 1836, Marsh, using the Spanish version of his given name, petitioned the Government of Alta California for residency, which was granted on the 18^th and “Doctor” John Marsh became Doctor Juan Marsh, resident of California.

With his residency secured, Marsh began his medical practice in Los Angeles.  He was successful, being the only “trained” doctor in California.  As he was the first and only person to practice western medicine in the territory, his rates were rather high.  He was known to charge as much as one head of cattle to deliver a baby.  He wrote to his brother that he finally had travelled far enough west and intended to settle in California.  Since he wanted to purchase land, Marsh converted to Catholicism.

In 1838, he purchased Rancho Los  Meganos from Jose Noriega for $500.  The large rancho stretched from the San Joaquin River to the Old River and included the present day sites of Antioch, Brentwood, Knightsen, and Oakley.  With his purchase, Marsh became one of the largest land owners and the first non-Hispanic settler in what would become Contra Costa County.  As he settled into becoming a gentleman rancher, Marsh became one of the first people to practice “scientific” cattle breeding and one of the first to cultivate orchards in the area.  He also began to urge other Americans to come to California along with John Sutter and other early settlers.  His suggested overland route, then known as “Marsh’s Route”, later became the California Trail. 1n 1841, the Bidwell-Bartelson Party became the first group of emigrants to travel overland to California following Marsh’s Route.  The party stayed at Marsh’s ranch at his invitation but Bidwell and Marsh got into a dispute over a slaughtered ox or the cost of food and Bidwell later said that Marsh was “the meanest man he ever met”.  Marsh also tended some of the survivors of the Donner Party.  Marsh participated in the Mexican-American War and in 1851 married Abby Tuck, a teacher from New England, after a short courtship.  He and Abby had a daughter, named Alice, and Marsh began construction of a large stone house to replace the adobe in which the family lived.  Abby died in 1855 before the house was finished and John and Alice moved into the unfinished house. 

Of course, Marsh was murdered on September 24, 1856 while going to San Francisco by three of his employees, vaqueros who were angry about the low wages they were being paid.  So, why is the place where he was killed a state historic landmark?  Well, John Marsh was:

The first “doctor” in California,

The first non-Hispanic settler in Contra-Costa County,

An early promoter of the American settlement of California,

A pioneer livestock breeder, and

An early orchardist.

And none of this includes his life before coming to California.

GETTING THERE: California Historical Landmark #722 is located across the street from 4575 Pacheco Blvd in Martinez, CA.  From 414 Mason St: Get on I-80 East.  Follow I-80E to Exit 8B.  Take exit 8B onto I-580E.  From I-580E take exit 19B onto CA-24E.  Stay on CA24E until it merges with I-680N.  Stay on I-680 to Exit 54.  Follow Pacheco Boulevard to the destination.  The marker is on the right hand side of the road.

Mount Diablo Beacon

 

For millennia, humans have dreamed of flight. From ancient myths like Daedalus and Icarus to the designs of Leonardo Da Vinci, to Superman, humans have always wanted to fly like a bird. Almost every culture has stories of human flight. With the first human flight in a balloon by Etienne Montgolfier on October 15, 1783, the dream of human flight was realized, if not exactly like a bird. As early as 559 CE, attempts had been made at heavier than air flight, using a variety of kites, wings, and gliders, most with varying degrees of failure. The first manned glider flight was in 1853, and Otto Lilienthal made the first controlled glider flight in 1891. Lighter than air flight progressed, with the invention of the blimp in 1852 and the zeppelin in 1900, but heavier than air, powered, controlled flight remained elusive. It wasn’t until the Wright Brothers’ flight on December 17, 1903 that powered, controlled, heavier than air flight was achieved.

With the Wright Brothers’ success came an aviation explosion. Militaries around the world were interested in the new-dangled hydroplanes. Balloons had been used in military roles as early 1794 and by the American Civil War, had come into regular use as observation platforms. Balloons had two distinct disadvantages however, they were large and to be effective observation posts, they were tethered in place, making them rather conspicuous targets for the enemy. Airplanes suffered from neither of these drawbacks, they were small, fast, and maneuverable; making them perfect for reconnaissance missions. The US Army purchased a one of a kind Wright Model A for the Signal Corps in 1909, marking the beginning of military aviation. In 1909, the French Air Force was established. In 1910, the Imperial German Army established the Imperial German Flying Service. In 1911, the US Navy purchased it’s first plane, the Italian Air Force was founded, as was the Imperial Russian Air Service. In 1912 the Royal Flying Corps was founded.

This was the era of “Those Magnificent Men and their Flying Machines”. Competitions were held beginning in 1909 and many early speed and endurance records were made. There was growing fascination with these flying machines and those who flew them. The first Aeronautical Competition in the United States was held in Los Angeles in 1910. A year later, the Italians sent the airplane to war in the Italio-Turkish War of 1911, where they use airplanes for reconnaissance and bombing missions. It wouldn’t be long before airplanes became a staple of warfare.

In 1914, the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, heir to the Austro-Hungarian Empire, plunged the Europe into World War 1. This was when aerial combat came into its own and armed fighter aircraft, bombers, and reconnaissance aircraft were developed. The term “ace” was introduced for the first time, by the French to describe a pilot who had five or more victories, Certain planes became legendary, the Fokker DIII, the Albatross, the Sopwith Camel, the Fokker DR 1, and the Nieuport 17. This is when pilots became famous, Manfred von Richthofen, Max Immelmann, Ernst Udet, Eddie Rickenbacker, Rene Fonck, Werner Voss, and a young pilot named Hermann Goering.

When the war ended, many of the pilots who survived went on to help develop faster and safer planes. Air shows and competitions became popular and the airplane once more captured the public’s attention; particularly in the United States. In 1919 the US Navy Seaplane NC-4 completed the first trans-Atlantic flight from Long Island to Lisbon. As early as 1911, the US Postal Department experimented with using airplanes to transport mail and on May 15, 1918, the US Airmail Service was established. The creation of the airmail service accomplished two goals, the faster and more efficient transport of the mail and the expansion of civil aviation which, in turn, led to the training of new pilots.

There was a problem, due to the lack of aeronautical aids to navigation, especially those suited for night flying, airmail was placed on trains at night, adding valuable time to it’s delivery. A solution was at hand, in 1923, Congress authorized the Transcontinental Airway System, a series of concrete landmarks, beacons and emergency airfields that would stretch from coast to coast. By 1925, the airway extended from New York to San Francisco and by 1933 the airway was complete covering 18,000 miles and consisting of 1,500 beacons. This “highway in the sky” reduced the delivery time of transcontinental mail to be reduced by two business days.

In 1928, Standard Oil built five aviation beacons on the west coast as part of the system. They were located in Seattle, Portland, Mount Diablo, Los Angeles, and San Diego. The Mt. Diablo beacon is the only one still remaining and functional. The signal to light the beacons was given by Charles Lindbergh on April 15, 1928. Originally atop of a 75 foot steel tower, the light was moved to the top of the summit building by the Civilian Conservation Corps in April of 1941. The Mt. Diablo beacon could be seen for 150 miles and was one of the terminal beacons for the Transcontinental Airway. The beacon remained in service until December 8, 1941, when it was extinguished as precaution against a possible Japanese attack. It remained extinguished until December 7, 1964 when Fleet Admiral Chester Nimitz attended a memorial relighting ceremony to honor those who lost their lives at Pearl Harbor. He suggested the beacon be lit every December 7^th as a memorial. Since then it has been lit, every December 7^th as a memorial to those who lost their lives on that terrible day. Beginning in 2022, it is also lit on Memorial Day and Veteran’s Day. By 1973, the Transcontinental Airway System was obsolete and it was dismantled. While many of the concrete arrow landmarks still survive, the beacon on Mt. Diablo is one of the few surviving operational relics of the beginning of commercial aviation routes.