San Joaquin County Biographies
Ref: Page 1103-1104
Transcribed by: Linda Diane Jackson 10/28/2009
MILO MILETUS CHURCH
A well and favorably known resident of the San Joaquin Valley since March 18, 1860, Milo Miletus Church was born in the town of Jerico, Chittenden County, Vt., on September 30, 1838. He was a son of Ezra Church, a wheelwright and farmer in Jerico, who married Azeneth Chopin, a native of Vermont, who came of an old New England family. Grandfather Church was a native of England who came to this country and settled in Jerico, Vt., where he raised his family.
Milo Miletus Church was the next to the youngest of eight children born to his parents and spent his boyhood on the Vermont farm, receiving a good education in the public school. In February, 1860, he started for California, sailing from New York City on the "North Star" to Aspinwall and crossing the Isthmus on one of the early trains to Panama City, whence he took the steamer "Orizoba" to San Francisco, where he arrived on March 18, 1860. He made his way to Stockton, and after working on a ranch for a time he began teaming to the mines. He purchased more stock, so that he had one eight-horse team and two freight wagons hauling between Stockton and Sonora and Columbia. He continued teaming for a time and then engaged in the butcher business at Farmington, San Joaquin County. Afterwards he followed farming and stockraising for five years, and then purchased a ranch of 160 acres and leased 640 more, and began raising wheat and barley. In September, 1899, he sold the ranch and located in Stockton, purchasing the residence at 1325 South San Joaquin Street, where he now lives retired. Mr. Church served as road overseer at Farmington for several years.
In 1875, at Stockton, Mr. Church was married to Mrs. Sivilla (Funk) Campbell, born near Des Moines, Iowa, who in 1850, when a small girl, came with her parents across the plains to California. She was a daughter of Peter Funk, a pioneer farmer of Farmington. She passed away in Stockton, March 20, 1920, aged seventy-nine years. The union of Mr. and Mrs. Church was blessed with four children: Ida L., Mrs. Hewitt, of Farmington; Ezra; Eva, Mrs. McCown; and Esther, Mrs. Dickey, all three of Stockton. By her marriage to John A. Campbell of Ohio, who died in Farmington, Mrs. Church had seven children: John F., ex-county assessor of Stanislaus County, now a realtor of Modesto; Thomas Eugene, living in Stockton; Albert G., of Farmington; William L., in Stockton; Nellie, who died in Farmington; Birdina, Mrs. Workings, who died in Stockton; and Charles H., principal of schools at Lompoc.
Mr. Church remembers many incidents of the early days when he followed teaming to the mines and when there was plenty of hard work and money was also plentiful. He has been a member of the Knights of Pythias. In politics, he is a Republican.
History of
SAN JOAQUIN COUNTY
CALIFORNIA
With A
Biographical Review
of
The Leading Men and Women of the County Who Have Been
Identified with Its Growth and Development
from the Early Days to the Present
HISTORY BY
George H. Tinkham
HISTORIC RECORD COMPANY
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA
1923
San Joaquin County Biographies ~ Archive Biography Index ~ Archive Index
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