| What might the future hold for an 8 year old
orphan living in Nashville, TN in 1819? Who
could have imagined that he would, after a series
of adventures and near-death experiences, become
a very colorful figure in our nation's history
and "one of the great landholders in
Southern California"?
By the age of 15 he was a fur trapper and
trader at Yazoo City, MI. At the age of 22 he
joined the Rocky Mountain Fur Company and
traveled to Santa Fe, NM. At the age of 24 he
formed his own fur trapping enterprise in Santa
Fe, NM.
Captured by Apaches and sentenced to death, he
escaped. "Nearly naked and without
food" he managed to make the 100 mile
journey to Santa Fe, NM while being chased by
Apaches. A few years later when others were
killed in the riots in Santa Fe, his life was
saved by an Indian chief.
In 1841, he help organize a wagon train of
settlers and became "one of the first
pioneers ever to have crossed the American
continent".
In 1843, at the age of 32, he bought the 3,000
acre Rancho Jurupa for $1,000 dollars. This ranch
became Riverside, CA.
In 1844 he was "seriously mauled by a
grizzly bear", and then while tracking it
down "barely escaped death during another
savage encounter" with the grizzly. In 1845
he named Big Bear, CA after he and companions
lassoed and killed 22 grizzlies there.
"Don Benito" Wilson played a key
role in the Mexican War of 1846-1848
("barely escaped a Mexican firing
squad") and in California's statehood. He
was elected the first mayor of Los Angeles, CA,
served in the CA Senate, and helped to found
Pasadena, CA. The San Gabriel Wine Company he
built became the largest in the world.
He first married Ramona. She was the daughter
of Don Bernardo Yorba, who owned Rancho Santa Ana
and other haciendas. Most of Rancho Santa Ana
became Orange County, CA, and one of the
haciendas became Yorba Linda, birthplace of
President Nixon.
By his second wife, Don Benito was the
grandfather of World War II hero, General George
Smith Patton, Jr.
Benjamin Davis "Don Benito" Wilson
is summarized as "a pioneer, beaver trapper
and trader, grizzly bear hunter, Indian fighter,
justice of the peace, farmer, rancher,
politician, horticulturist, vintner, real estate
entrepreneur, and one of the great landholders in
Southern California".
You can never know what an 8 year old might
accomplish. More details about Benjamin Davis
"Don Benito" Wilson's life can be found
in "Patton, A Genius For War" by Carlo
D'Este.
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