Elijah Moulton (1820–1902) was a pioneersettler inLos Angeles,California, after theMexican–American War, and became one of its wealthiest citizens. He was a member of the city's governing body, the Common Council.
Moulton was born inMontreal, Quebec, on November 26, 1820, the son of Elijah Moulton of Massachusetts and Jane O'Farrell of Connecticut.[1]
Moulton in 1845 joined a westward-bound expedition organized bymountain manJim Bridger and arrived in Los Angeles on May 12 of that year. After settling in Los Angeles, he bought land near that ofWilliam Wolfskill, and in 1855 he took charge of Wolfskill's property, and later he married one of Wolfskill's daughters.[2] She had one child, both she and the baby dying in 1861.[1]
Moulton's will atprobate stated that he was not married, but that he had three living children—two daughters, Marie L. (later Rodriguez) and Sacramenta, and a son, Manuel. The mother of the children, named Juana, died in 1899.[3]
In 1898 he became a member of the Pioneers of Los Angeles, which limited its membership to those who were born outside of California and who had lived in Los Angeles for at least twenty-five years.[4]
Moulton, by this time considered "wealthy,"[3] died on January 28, 1902, at the age of 81; he was labeled the "oldestpioneer in Los Angeles in point of residence." Mourners gathered in the home he had built sixty years previous at the corner of Alhambra Avenue and Daly Street (Alhambra Avenue formerly ran along the right-of-way now used exclusively by Southern Pacific, from Main & Alameda to approximately Mission and Main. The location of the adobe is now underneath the 5 freeway, near the corner of Daly & Luisa Sts.).[5][6]
Even with the brick addition, which is larger than the originaladobe, the rooms could hold but a small part of the sorrowing friends. ... The late pioneer had just about completed building a fine residence a block away, but he did not live to occupy it, and yesterday he was borne from the scenes of his life for over half a century.[6]
"The services werespiritualistic, in accordance with the belief of the deceased," and the address and prayer were made by Maude L. Freitag. A procession which followed thebier to the cemetery was two blocks in length.[6]
During theMexican–American War, which began in 1845, Moulton "preceded and later joined" theCalifornia Battalion ofJohn C. Fremont, "being sent with ten others togarrison Santa Barbara. This squad was driven out during the "rebellion of 1846," and went north with Indians to the head of theSan Joaquin Valley. Moulton and his companionsjoined Fremont at Monterey and returned to Los Angeles a year later. He was present at the Mexicancapitulation at theCahuenga Pass.[1][6]
According to pioneer historianHarris Newmark, Moulton's hardships during the war:
were far severer than those which tested the grit of the average emigrant; and Moulton in better days often told how, when nearly driven to starvation, he and a comrade had actually used a remnant of theStars and Stripes as aseine with which to fish, and so saved their lives.[2]
Moulton left his Canadian home as a youth and became atrapper all across the continent.[7]
After his military service, he settled permanently inEast Los Angeles in 1847 to raise cattle and sheep. Moulton was the firstdeputy sheriff of Los Angeles County, hired around 1850 by the first sheriff,George T. Burrill. He then went to work forDon Louis Vignes, the first commercial wine maker in California[2][6]
In 1860 Moulton himself had 5,000 fruit-bearing grapevines.[8] "He had a dairy, for a while," Newmark wrote, "and peddled milk from a can or two carried in a wagon."[2]
Moulton was elected to theLos Angeles Common Council, the governing body of that city, for a term beginning May 9, 1860, and ending May 7, 1861.[9] During rainy weather and a flood in 1859–60, theLos Angeles River was so deep that nobody could cross it on foot, so the next year, when Moulton was on the Common Council, he used his influence to successfully lobby for afootbridge across the river,[2] the first such crossing ever constructed.
Around 1886 he sold his land to theSouthern Pacific Railroad, which built its shop facilities there at the turn of the century.[7]
Moulton's estate wasprobated in February 1902 and was valued at cash, $5,750; notes, $11,000; stock in theLos Angeles Brewing Company, $1,000; andreal estate at $14,500, including thirty-two acres in hissubdivision east of the Los Angeles River. His children shared his estate equally.[3]
In 1904 "One of the most notable recent sales on the East Side was that of the Elijah Moulton estate to theEdison Electric Company of three acres extending from the Edison electric plant and including what has been known as 'The Swamp' or 'The Jungle.'"[10]
Moulton Avenue inLincoln Heights, Los Angeles, just north of his old ranch, was named after him.[11][12]
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