The township of Silveyville was located in the uppermost northern section of Solano County. At the time of its development, its boundaries ran along the Rio Los Putas and Yolo County on the north, Tremont Township on the east, Maine Prairie and Elmira Townships on the south, and on the west by Vacaville Township.

According to The History of Solano County:

The town of Silveyville had the honor of having the very first white settler of Solano County. In 1842, William Wolfskill, then a resident of Los Angeles, secured a grant from the Mexican government for a tract of land one league in width and four leagues in length, lying on either side of Rio Los Putos. Some time during the same year he sent his brother, John R. Wolfskill, with a band of cattle to take possession of the new grant, according to law. From this time on, an occasional settler would locate somewhere on the Rio Los Putos, until in 1852 there was quite a neighborhood, with houses, ranging from three to ten miles apart.

Upon the outbreak of the gold fever the most practicable road to the mines from San Francisco passed from Benicia to Sacramento through this settlement. For the accommodation of these travelers, Elijah S. Silvey, in 1852, built a house and stock corral. He at first called his house the “Half-Way House.” In those early days the trail was not very well defined, and the belated traveler was liable to lose his way and wander about the plains all night. To obviate this, Silvey used to hoist a red lantern high in the air every night, so that it might serve as a beacon light to the wanderer, and guide him safely into the haven of Silvey’s hotel. The hardy pioneer, Silvey, came to an untimely death by accidentally falling from a porch.

The next building at this point was a blacksmith shop, built by Messrs. William Dryden & Noble. On Christmas day, 1856, George A. Gillespie began the foundation of a store building. From this time on Silveyville began to assume quite goodly proportions, and reached its zenith about 1865, at which time there were, perhaps, 150 inhabitants in the town. Quite early a post office was established at this place with E. S. Silvey as postmaster. It was called Putah. There was, at one time, a telegraph office there also. But all this is now among the dead past, and another quarter of a century will banish all traces of the town, and only in legend and on these pages will any knowledge exist.

The history of Silveyville would remain incomplete without honorable mention being made of a newspaper being published at that place, by William J. Pearce. The type was set and the forms made up in Silveyville, but they were sent to Sacramento to be printed. The paper was strongly Democratcie, and soon after the editor got into a political altercation with one Dr. J. C. Ogburn, a strong Union man, in which shot the doctor, and was forced to flee the country.

In 1868 the California Pacific Railroad Company (C. P. R. R.) was completed. The residents of Silveyville were disappointed to discover the tracks would not cross through their township, and felt that a good location for a new town would be along the C. P. R. R. line. So, W. R. Ferguson purchased an acre of land along the tracks from Thomas Dixon and upon this land built a dwelling. This was the first house built in the new town now known as Dixon. Later, Mr. Dixon donated 10 acres for a town site and depot. All the settlers of Silveyville then moved to the new settlement of Dixon.

Today, Silveyville is no longer a spot on a map, but its name still appears on a few Dixon cemeteries, schools, and streets memorializing this original settlement.

Source: History of Solano County : comprising an account of its geographical position, the origin of its name, topography, geology, and springs, its organization, township system, early settlement, with descriptions of scenes as viewed by the pioneers, the first American argonauts of California, the bear flag, the discovery of gold, the progress of population and agriculture, the Mexican grants, the principal murders, incidents of settlement, elections, and table of county officers, and histories of its cities, towns, villages churches, schools, secret societies, etc. : as also, a full and particular biography of its early settlers and principal inhabitants. San Francisco, Calif.. Wood, Alley & Co. 1879.