photo courtesy of Friends of Bidwell Park, licensed under Creative Commons ShareAlike 2.5 License 
Grave site at Chico Cemetery General
John Bidwell (August 5, 1819 – April 4, 1900) was a son of
Abraham Bidwell and
Clarissa Griggs. John Bidwell first arrived in California with the Bartleson-Bidwell party in November of 1841 and were one of the first set of families to cross the continent.
1 He made his fortunes during the California
Gold Rush, striking it rich at what is known as
Bidwell's Bar at the Middle Fork
Feather River. It is now entirely under
Lake Oroville. He used this wealth to
purchase land, including much of
Chico. He married
Annie Ellicott Kennedy Bidwell in Washington D.C. April 16, 1868. Some of the people present at their wedding included President Andrew Johnson and Generals Ulysses S. Grant and Tecumseh Sherman.
2. He was an integral part of the
history of Chico.
John Bidwell's memorial address Bidwell Memorial Address.pdf was written and read by W. J. Costar on April 29, 1900.
 |
This entry is a seed, a starting point for writing a full entry. You can help LocalWiki Chico by expanding it! Just click the "Edit" button. |
Footnotes
1. California: A History, Kevin Starr, 2005, pg. 62
2. Chico: A 20th Century Pictoral History (1995)
photo courtesy of Friends of Bidwell Park, licensed under Creative Commons ShareAlike 2.5 License 
Grave site at Chico Cemetery General 
