DAVID UMBARGER
a California '49er
BIO Pen Pictures page 253
DAVID UMBARGER, residing on the Monterey road, south of San Jose, has the honor of being one of the "Forty-niners" of California. He is a native of Wythe County, West Virginia, born in October, 1815, his parents being Leonard and Margaret (Cooper) Umbarger, both of them residents of Virginia. David was reared in his native county, and resided there until 1838, when he went to Clark County, Illinois. In 1846 he removed to Kentucky. On the second day of April, 1849, he set out for California, and at West Liberty, Missouri, he became one of a party bound for the golden coast. Their journey was a long one, the route adopted taking them by way of San Diego, from which point they went by water to San Francisco, sailing through the Golden Gate on the eleventh of January, 1850. He at once went into the mines of Mariposa County, and afterward to a camp on Curtis Creek, near Sonora. He spent the winter in San Francisco, and in the spring resumed mining at Auburn. From there he went to Nevada, and thence to the Yubas, and on Feather River. In 1853 he came to Santa Clara County, locating where he now resides, he having bought land at this place in 1851. He has made every vestige of improvement to be seen here, and has been an eye-witness to the great transformation which has since occurred in this valley. His ranch is an attractive place of 138 acres, devoted to grain and pasture. It is productive land, and is well kept up.
Mr. Umbarger is a member of the Christian Church, and is a Democrat in politics.
SOURCE: Pen Pictures From The Garden of the World or Santa Clara County, California, Illustrated. - Edited by H.S.
Foote.- Chicago: The Lewis Publishing Company, 1888. page 253 Transcribed by Carol Lackey
SANTA CLARA COUNTY BIOGRAPHIES
SANTA CLARA COUNTY HISTORY- The Valley of Heart's Delight