San Joaquin County Biographies
Ref: Page 584-587
Transcribed by: Linda Diane Jackson 12/6/2009
D.W. FANNING
From the time of his arrival in California in 1848 until his death nearly fifty years later, D.W. Fanning was identified with various enterprises, agricultural and commercial, tending toward the development of San Joaquin County and during that period he held a position among the prosperous and enterprising citizens of the community. He was born in Franklinville, N.Y., August 11, 1823. At the outbreak of the Mexican War he was apprenticed as a horseshoer. He ran away and enlisted in the Second Dragoons, serving with Generals Perry, Scott and Taylor, in the battles of Palo Alto, Buena Vista, Cerro Gordo, Churubusco, Chapultepec, San Pasqual, Tobasco, and Vera Cruz, serving from 1846 to 1848, and received wounds from which he never entirely recovered. He was a farrier by trade, which he followed during his entire enlistment. In 1848 he came to California and established a wheelwright and blacksmith business at the Old Fourteen-mile House east of Stockton on the Mokulomne Hill Road; later he conducted the same kind of a business at the Half-way House and still later he removed his shop to Fishers Bridge, now Bellota, where he passed away on June 15, 1898, his widow surviving him until June 18, 1908.
Four children survive this interesting pioneer couple: Mrs. Frank Creary and Mrs. Charles Cody residing in Bellota; William Fanning of Linden, and Mrs. Anna Lusignan of Stockton. Mr. Fanning was well known to every teamster and freighting company who passed through Bellota during the exciting days of gold discovery and being an expert in his trade, he was sought by every teamster to the Southern mines and they would travel many miles in order to have him do their wagon work. Almost a quarter of a century has passed since the death of Mr. Fanning, but among old settlers in San Joaquin County he is remembered as one who labored unselfishly to bring about better conditions in the district in which he settled sixty-four years ago.
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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