Biographical Sketches.

CHAPTER XII.

JOSEPH BILLIOU.

Joseph Billiou resides near St. John, some thirty-seven miles north of Colusa. He was born in St. Louis County, Missouri, in 1839, and was engaged in farming in that State until 1856, when he came to California. After arriving at San Francisco he was not long in looking about him, but came up the Sacramento Valley, and immediately found work on the Capay Grant, owned by Richard J. Walsh. And he has remained there ever since, and now owns a portion of the same grant on which he labored thirty-four years ago. He is estimated to be worth $150,000. His career shows what industry, and adherence to a settled purpose in life, may accomplish. It is an object lesson for every young man in the State.

In 1864 he married Miss Julia Stack, a native of Ireland, by whom he had four children. A terrible disaster overwhelmed the happy domestic circle of Mr. Billou on April 6, 1887, in the killing of his wife by a Chinese cook in his employ, named Hong Di. (The particulars of this atrocious murder are given on page 230.)

COLUSA COUNTY

ITS

HISTORY TRACED FROM A STATE OF NATURE

THROUGH THE EARLY PERIOD OF SET-

TLEMENT AND DEVELOPMENT,

TO THE PRESENT DAY

WITH A

DESCRIPTION OF ITS RESOURCES, STATISTICAL

TABLES, ETC.

ALSO

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES OF PIONEERS AND

PROMINENT RESIDENTS

by Justus H. Rogers

Orland, California

1891

Page 343-465

Transcribed by: Linda Diane Jackson 7/12/2009

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Colusa County Biographies ~  Archive Biography Index ~  Archive Index

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