William C. Shore, son of Samuel R. and Narcissus Shore, was born in Surry County, North Carolina, September 15, 1830.  His father was a native of Pennsylvania and his mother of North Carolina.  When he was but five years old his parents removed to Lafayette County, Missouri, and lived there until the beginning of the war, when they moved to a place near Independence, that State, where his father was postmaster of a small place called Chapel Hill.  During the war, the Southern element being too strong for him, he was forced to leave, and he removed to Kansas City, where he died.  His widow still resides there.  He reared nine children, who lived to be grown, of whom two sons and two daughters were older than the subject of this sketch.  William C. lived with his parents till he was nineteen years of age, when, in 1849, he came across the plains to California with ox teams, and was five months making the trip.

            One of the party was taken sick on the way, and in endeavoring to reach a place where there was a little feed for stock, the party stopped to let him die, as they did not want him to die while traveling.  After the party halted the man asked them why they had done so, and they told him.  He then said, with an oath, that he did not propose to die; that he intended to go to California and “make a raise,” and return to his family, marry, profess religion, and die like a white man; and, calling for his gun, he directed them to drive on.  He recovered, came through to California, made $5,000 or $6,000, and went back to the States; but whether he fulfilled the balance of his contract is not known.  William came first to Sacramento and then went to Georgetown, El Dorado County, where he followed mining for three years.  In the spring of 1853 he came to Santa Clara County and followed farming near San Jose till 1864, when he went to Arizona and remained six months.  He then returned to San Jose, where he remained till 1881, when he came to Los Gatos, and in 1884 engaged in the retail ice business, which he has since followed.

            He was married March 27, 1873, to Mary A. Adams, a native of North Carolina, who came to California in 1872.  They have two children, Dalton and Daisy.

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.
Pg. 304-305
Transcribed by Kathy Sedler
Proofread by Betty Vickroy

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