San Luis Obispo

San Luis Obispo County

California

Biographies

Sherman L Doty

Not everybody can make a success at mining, and the more that one knows about the problems associated with discovering and securing the vast treasures deep in the earth, the more must one be convinced that, notwithstanding the occasional accidental storke of luck, the really successful miners are and ever will be those who have a natural insight into what lies beneath their feet or above them on the mountain sides, or other words, those who from early years have shown a bent toward such adventurous work Such a person to whom mining was always full of interest is Sherman L Doty, who has followed prospecting and locating ever since he began it, and who has been, in the face of untold difficulties, reasonably successful. A native of whom San Luis Obispo County is proud, he was born on May 28, 1876, at Cambria, the son of Benjamin Doty, an early settler, successful farmer and dairyman there.

Reared on a farm and started in the great world through the guidance of the public schools, Sherman took to mining, at first swinging a pick in the Cambria, the Hamilton and the Rigdon mines. In spare hours he found time to work on his own account, and while prospecting located a mine above the Cambria mine in the Pine mountain district.

On July 2 1904, in Union County, Ore., he married Miss Lena Roberts, a native of that district, and a daughter of Lindsey and Carrie [Moore] Roberts, natives of Washington and Indiana, respectively. The father was a surveyor and later a local railroad agent; but he is now proprietor of a hotel at Myrtle Point, Oregon. Three children resulted from this union - Marjorie, Glenn and Kenneth.

After Mr & Mrs Doty's marriage, the couple removed to San Luis Obispo County; and since coming to the Klau Mine, Mrs Doty has had charge of the boarding-house there, giving the wants of her patrons her personal attention. In politics, Mr Doty is a Democrat; but his many Republican friends have never yet found a law interfering with their liking for him, and Sherman Doty, with his good wife, are well known and highly esteemed thoughout the coast country.

Morrison, Annie L., and John H. Haydon. History of San Luis Obispo County and Environs, California, with Biographical Sketches of the Leading Men and Women of the County and Environs Who Have been Identified with the Growth and Development of the Section from the Early Days to the Present. Los Angeles: Historic Record Company, 1917; biographical portion reprinted in 2002 by Friends of the Adobes, San Miguel.

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Transcribed by: Martha A Crosley Graham

Jacob R Doty

In the days when the facilities for dairying were not as modern as they are today, and other farming was carried on mainly by hard work and long hours, Jacob Doty was growing to manhood in this county on a ranch owned by his father, who had settled in the Cambria section in 1871. Born in Sacramento county, Jacob Doty is a native son of the state; and as such he has shown his interest in the development of its resources for many years. His father was Benjamin F Doty, a native of Indiana, where he farmed until 1858, when he crossed the plains with ox teams and prairie schooner and settled in Sacramento county. There, still farming successfully, he continued until 1871, when he located in San Luis Obispo County and engaged in farming and the stock business near Cambria, also running a dairy. He succeeded and accumulated one thousand acres of fine land, which was well improved by him and which occupied his attention until he retired to San Luis Obispo, where he died in 1915. His wife was Nancy Carroll, a native of Iowa, and she had eight children, all living.

Born in 1865, the fourth child in the parental family, Jacob Doty was a lad of about five years when his father brought him to this county. He was reared on the home place and went to the public schools at Cambria. From a boy he was interested in the dairy business, and when he was twenty-one years old he pre-empted one hundred sixty acres, which he improved for a daity. He leased other lands, which he stocked with from seventy-five to one hundred thirty cows, operating eight hundred acres. In those days much of the work was done by hand; the ranch folk panned the milk, skimmed it by hand and churned by horse-power; and after the butter was made into rolls or squares, it was shipped to San Francisco markets. Finally a separator was put in and the cream was sent to the creamery.

Mr Doty bought and sold several ranches, and made money in trading. In 1910 he sold out and located in San Luis Obispo, where he intended to retire, as he had won a competence; but in 1916 he leased the Kalar dairy and again started in with fifty to one hundred cows, and the modern methods for caring for the cream. He has large alfalfa fields that have attained a fine growth. He is also interested in mining inthe Pine Mountain district in the county. He served as school trustee five years, and in politics is a Democrat.

Mr Doty married, in San Miguel, Hattie Tucker, born in Missouri, a daughter of Douglas Tucker, whose sketch is given elsewhere in this work. Three children have been born to this union: Stella; Mildred, Mrs Earl Davis of San Luis Obispo; and Noel. All have been reared and educated in this section of the county.

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Transcribed by: Martha A Crosley Graham

Site Created: 28 January 2005

Martha A Crosley Graham