San Joaquin County Biographies
Ref: Page 1199
Transcribed by: Linda Diane Jackson 4/11/2010
LARRY P. MAPLE
The name of Larry P. Maple is inseparably interwoven with the history of frontier life and the suppression of the Indians, first in Arizona and later in Wyoming, where he earned an excellent record as a soldier and Indian fighter. He was considered the second-best rifle shot in his regiment. He was born at Irondale, in Jefferson County, Ohio, on February 3, 1853, a son of Ezekiel and Mary (Mapel) Maple, natives of Ohio and New Jersey respectively. Ezekiel Maple was a stockman and farmer, and engaged extensively in buying and selling stock, which he shipped East to the Pennsylvania mountains. They were the parents of nine children: Sarah, Benjamin, William and James are deceased: Kaziah resides in Iowa; George and Mary are deceased; Larry P. is the subject of this review; and Oscar resides in Washington. The father passed away at the age of eighty-nine, and the mother at eighty-five years of age.
Larry P. Maple began his education in the grammar school of his native town and continued it at an academy near there. When he was fifteen years old, he learned the horse-shoeing trade, at which he worked for three years in Ohio and at Pughtown, Va. When he was still a mere youth he entered the 3rd United States Cavalry, the noted regiment founded by Ethan Allen in Revolutionary days. He trained at St. Louis and entered the company at Fort Yuma, Ariz., and was active in the suppression of the Apache Indians in 1869. In 1870 the 5th United States Cavalry relieved them and the 3rd United States Cavalry was transferred to Fort D.A. Russell, Wyoming, to suppress the uprising of the Sioux and Cheyenne Indians. Here Mr. Maple was in many encounters with the Indians. In one bush-whacking engagement he was wounded in one arm, but was not incapacitated for long. His service in Wyoming covered three years; then he was discharged. He helped to build Fort Robinson, ninety-eight miles northeast of Fort Laramie; and served for one season with Major North (known as “White Beaver” by the Indians) in a company known as the Pawnee Scouts.
For a number of years Mr. Maple engaged in buffalo hunting in the Northwest, selling the hides for from $1 to $5 apiece. He then returned to civilization, settling in Otoe County, Neb., where he bought a half-section of land and farmed for ten years. He then sold it and, removing to Nebraska City, became the exclusive agent for the Standard Oil Company's retail trade there, remaining for seven years. Then he removed to Puget Sound, Wash., and entered the transportation department of the Puget Sound Interurban Electric Railroad, remaining in that capacity until 1913, when he removed to Lodi and purchased a ten-acre vineyard of eight-year-old vines about a mile and three-quarters east of Lodi. Here he built a house and has further developed the property with an irrigation system, consisting of a four-inch pump driven by a ten-horsepower motor.
The marriage of Mr. Maple occurred in Nebraska City on November 19, 1879, and united him with Miss Harriet Shuster, a native of Van Buren County, Iowa, a daughter of Samuel and Sarah (Hayden) Shuster, natives of Ohio and Kentucky, respectively, who were the parents of seven children: Ella, Harriet (Mrs. Maple), Louisa, Jacob, John, James and Myrtle, all residents of Nebraska City with the exception of Mrs. Maple. Mrs. Maple was reared and educated in Otoe County, Neb., for her parents had removed there when she was a small child. Her father lived to be eighty-three, and her mother is still living at the age of eighty-six. Grandfather Hayden lived to be 101½ years old. Mr. and Mrs. Maple have one daughter, Iva, now Mrs. Horace C. Mann, of Stockton, and the mother of one child, Lorraine. Mr. Maple is a Democrat in politics. He is a Mason and Knight of Pythias of Nebraska City, and both he and Mrs. Maple are members of the Eastern Star of Nebraska City. Mrs. Maple is a student of Christian Science.
Mr. Maple comes from a long line of fighters. His great-grandfather was a soldier in the Revolutionary War; his grandfather Maple was a commander of a company in the War of 1812; he had four brothers in the Civil War, two of whom lost their lives in the terrible struggle; and he had three brothers-in-law in the Civil War. His interest in his city and county is that of a public-spirited citizen, and his co-operation can always be counted upon to further any movement for the general good.
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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