Solano County Biography
John B Frisbie
John B Frisbie - the second son of Eleazer B. Frisbie and Cynthia Cornell Frisbie was born at Albany, N. Y., on the 20th day of May A. D. 1823, and after having finished his academic course of study at the Albany Academy, entered the law office of District Attorney Wheaton one of the ablest lawyers at the New York Bar; with whom he remained for four years or until he was of legal age and admitted to practice in the courts of the State of New York. He immediately took a prominent position in the politics of the State, and received, for a young man, a large patronage and remunerative business; after some two years of close attention and continued study, having somewhat of a martial spirit, he was elected Captain of the Van Rensselaer Guards, acknowledged to be the best drilled and finest looking independent company of the State. At this time, 1846, war existed with Mexico, and a number of the officers and privates of this corps being desirous to enter the army in the campaign against Mexico, Captain Frisbie joined them and recruiting a full company in the city of Albany, he attached it as Company I to the regiment of Col. Jonathan D. Stevenson, then at Governor's Island and about to sail for the then distant Province of California. The regiment arrived after a six months passage at San Francisco, then nothing more than a little hamlet situated in a little cove of the harbor and called " Yerba Buena." This was in March, 184-7, and the regiment continued in service until disbanded after the close of the war in July, 1848. Capt. Frisbie then immediately engaged in business with Gen. Vallejo and occupied himself in the management of that gentleman's extensive estate, and in projecting great public improvements at both the cities of Benicia and Vallejo. To secure the location of the Mare Island Navy Yard at Vallejo he purchased the island from Victor Castro and obtaining from Commodore Appleton P. Jones and Gen. Persifer F. Smith and other influential gentlemen a favorable report for that locality. The government made it the United States Naval Station of the Pacific. Not satisfied with the achievement to advance the interests of the new city, with indomitable will he set to work to open up railroad communications with the interior of the State and inaugurated the California Pacific to connect the cities of Marysville and Sacramento with Vallejo. This road was speedily built and for a time gave a marked impetus to the growth and importance of the town. The population rapidly increased, fine wharves and warehouses were built and it speedily became the great shipping port for the whole of the northern portion of the State. Branches or feeders to the main line were then projected to tap the valleys of Napa and Sonoma and the_Russian river country, but the immense expenditures consequent upon the prosecution of these improvements so embarrassed the original company that they were compelled to succumb, and the road and its property fell into the hands of a rival company, whose business interests were antagonistic to the growth of the little city; as a consequence Vallejo soon lost its prestige of becoming a great commercial city, and in its decline carried rain to its projectors and disappointment to all interested in its welfare. But Gen. Frisbie was not the man to yield to mere temporary embarrassment and fortunately at this time (our relations with the neighboring republic of Mexico being in a critical condition) he was called to Washington to confer with the authorities, and was dispatched by the President and Secretary of State to the city of Mexico. As the result of his mission amicable relations were established between the two countries, and the President, Gen. Diaz, recognized by our government. But Gen. Frisbie during his residence in the city of Mexico became so captivated with the country and was so generously treated by its people that he determined to make it his future home and he removed his family to Buena Vista, a beautiful suburb of the city of Mexico, and is. now engaged in developing some very rich mines in the Real del Monte district some sixty miles from the capital. It will thus be seen Gen. Frisbie has always been pre-eminently a public spirted man, of great energy, enterprise, and of unbounded hospitality and in all public positions was ever regarded as the peer of the ablest men among all the pioneers of the golden State.
History of Solano County, California
Pages 349-351
Transcribed by Julie Appletoft, February 2008
Solano County Biographies ~ Archive Biography Index ~ Archive Index
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