Joseph William RAWLES I

14 Apr 1808 - 15 Apr 1881

BIRTH: 14 Apr 1808, Circleville, Pickaway Co, OH [8312]
DEATH: 15 Apr 1881, Boonville, Mendocino Co, CA [8313]
BURIAL: Evergreen Cem, Boonville, Mendocino Co, CA [8314]
EVENT: Nickname: Joe [8315]

MARRIAGE: 23 Jun 1831, Tippecanoe Co, IN [19736]

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|--Joseph William RAWLES I
|  (1808 - 1881)
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[Note] [From Family Tree, James Wesley Rawles]
May have actually been born 27 APR, 1808 (Les Blend and E.E. Rawles notes)

According to A History of Mendocino County by Auerlius O. Carpenter (first printed in 1914 by the Historic Record Co., Los Angeles, and reprinted in1977 by Pacific Rim research, Mendocino): Joseph Wm. Rawles was born in Circleville, Pickaway County, Ohio.

Grew up on a farm. Lived in Circleville with his parents until age 20 or 21.

In 1830, moved with his parents to Wabash Township, Tippecanoe County, Indiana, where he farmed and raised stock for 10 years. (About1830 to 1838) There, on June 23, 1831, he married Cynthia Ann Bilderback. Married by Justice of the Peace Charles Mastillar. (Tippecanoe County Historical Assn. notes m NR 1, o, 122)

He and his wife moved to the vicinity of St. Joseph, Buchanan County, Missouri, where they ranched for 10 years (About 1838 to 1847). This is where his fourth son Robert Henry Rawles was born.

According to the obituary of Robert H. Rawles, they "then moved to [Glenwood, Rawles Township] Mills county, Iowa, where they resided for four years."

According to The History of Mills County Iowa, (Des Moines State Historical Co, 1881): "The first settler within the present limits of Rawles township came also in 1847. His name was Joseph Rawles, and from him the township was called. He came from St. Joseph, Missouri, and laying out his claim on section six, made the first farm in that township. Subsequently he went to California, where he died."

Was a county commissioner in Pottawattamie County (Later became Mills County.). Operated a mill. Did road surveys and construction. Contracted to construct the county jail.

[According to Les Blend's notes, their daughter Margaret Susan was born in Glenwood, Mills, County, Iowa in 1851.]

In 1856 moved to Nebraska, and settled near the Platte river, where they remained one year. There is a "Joseph Rolls" listed in the 1855 census of Cass County, Nebraska. Is this the same individual? In the census listings for the town of Plattsmouth, on page 2: "Joseph Rolls, b. in Ohio, farmer, 1 m. 21 up, 4 m. und. 16, 2 f. 16 up, 1 f. und. 16."

They then returned to Mills County, Iowa to make the necessary preparations for the journey to California. In 1857, they crossed the plains to California with ox-teams, and bringing with them a large herd of cattle and horses.

According to oral history passed down by Ernest Rawles, they took the Donner Pass route, crossing in the summer of 1857.

Spent the winter of '57-'58 in Butte County. In spring of 1858 they went to Sonoma County, near Santa Rosa. In July 1858, they moved to Anderson Valley.

First homesteaded at place nicknamed the "Burnt Shanty" near the valley's famous Lone Tree. He later bought the Walter Anderson ranch in 1858, for a barter exchange of 80 horses.

[From Ernest Rawles"s oral history]
"The original Rawles cabin was on the back side of the hill, just north of the Lone Tree. Just a couple of hundred yards. When I was a kid, I also saw what they called the Burnt Shanty, on the flat next to the road. That was part of the original homestead. That's all gone now.

Now it is true that the Denmark place was won in a poker game, but the rest of the place was paid for in hard-earned cash. The Clow brothers, George and Henry, had a sawmill in the canyon directly across the valley [built in 1876, produced 12,000 board feet per day, it operated for 20 years], and they had to go through our property to get over to theirs. My dad [Robert Henry Rawles] deeded them the right-of-way across the fields in return for the lumber to build the big house. I came across the papers relating to that deal [and many other transactions] in an old metal box up at the ranch house. I wish that I had kept that box of papers. There were a lot of papers [and correspondence] dating back to the 1860s. I left it there at the ranch. There were a lot of old-time [tax and postage] stamps in it, too--way back in [18]60s and 70s.

The original Anderson place, which ran two and a half miles, for which the valley was named, was the ranch that my grandfather [Joseph] and [my] father [Robert] purchased from [Walter] Anderson [in 1858].
[According to the book Grass Roots of Anderson Valley, it the land was traded by Anderson to Joseph Rawles for horses.] Its practically across from where the cemetery is, on the west side of the valley. My
grandfather and his family came [to California] in 1857. They settled first up on the mountain, near where that Lone Tree is, on the flat down below the Lone Tree. They stayed up there, and I can remember seeing where the old cabin was, what they used to call the Burnt Shanty. They came down off the mountain, and bought the Anderson place.

[Walter] Anderson was supposedly the first white man to come into the valley [in 1851]. As the story goes, he was following a herd of elk. He [later came back and] settled there, and the Beeson family, they were connected with the Anderson family, brother-in-law, I think, they were the second family to settle in the valley. The Beesons were up in the south end of the valley. The Anderson's place was from about where Boonville is down to about where the cemetery is.

[Transcriber's note: Henry W. Beeson (1829-1914), was the last surviving member of the Bear Flag Party. Two of Beeson's daughters were indirectly related by marriage to the Rawles familiy. They were Mrs. H.N. (Beeson) Ornbaun, and Mrs. J.R.(Beeson) Burger. A third daughter, Mrs. G.T. (Beeson) Brown, may have married into the same family as Robert Rawles's first wife, Margaret Brown Rawles, the daughter of Dr. Brown.]"

Later, after the old folks passed on, that Anderson place was split up among the different members of the family. My Dad [Robert] didn't get any of that because he had his own place [the Denmark place] farther down the valley [toward Philo, halfway between Boonville and Indian Creek]. Aunt Susan Ornbaun got a part of it. Mrs. Burger [Jane (Rawles) Burger, wife of George Burger] Dad's sister, had a part of it. Joe Rawles [Joe Rawles III] and his sister Laurence (Rawles) Singley got part of it. Tom Rawles had part of it--the Babcocks later bought that part. Where that ranch was is where the high school is and where the airfield is and the recreation area is [now]. It runs all the way back into Bear Wallow--there's a state park there now. Joe Rawles' portion of the ranch is where the high school is. Susan Ornbaun's part is where the old Indian rancheria was.

My dad ran the ranch with his brother [Alex N. Rawles]. Of course Dad [Robert] had two boys and four girls. His brother [Alex] had four boys. His [Alex's] son Austin was only about three months difference in age from me."

[Source 8310] Oral History, Ernest Everett Rawles

[Source 8311] Family Tree, James Wesley Rawles

[Source 8312] Family Tree, James Wesley Rawles

[Source 8313] Family Tree, James Wesley Rawles

[Source 8314] Family Tree, James Wesley Rawles

[Source 8315] Family Tree, James Wesley Rawles

[Source 19736] Family Tree, James Wesley Rawles

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