Genealogy of the Olmsted family in America : embracing the ...

Biographical 447
his native State; and in 1844, at the age of nineteen, he emigrated to Illinois
and entered Knox College at Galesburg. At the close of his sophomore year
he joined the gold rush to California. He followed mining with varied success
until January 1,1853, when he became Agent of the Express and Bank of "Wells,
Fargo & Co." at Diamond Springs in El Dorado County. On March 4, 1854,
he married Miss Sarah Lyon, of South Bend, Indiana, the fruits of which
union are two sons and a daughter. In 1857 he emigrated to the State of
Nevada, then a portion of the Territory of Utah, locating at what was then
known as Mormon Station, near Genoa. The territory of Nevada was organized
in 1861, and he was appointed Probate Judge of Douglas County. In
September, 1862, he became the first Receiver and Disbursing Agent of the
United States Land Office, receiving his appointment from President Lincoln.
Upon Nevada being admitted into the Union of States in 1864, Chauncey Norman
Noteware, who had served as a member of the Constitutional Convention,
was elected Secretary of State, first for two years and afterwards re-elected for
four years. In 1872 he was appointed Coiner in the United States Mint at
Carson City by President Grant. In 1886 he was elected to the Legislature
of Nevada and served as Senator from Ormsby County for four years.
He was made a Master Mason in Knoxville Lodge No. 66, in the State of
Illinois, in 1849. In 1865 he afiSliated with Carson Lodge No. 1 of Nevada, and
served his Lodge as Master for one term. He served his Grand Lodge as Junior
and Senior Grand Wardens.
He was exalted to the Degree of Royal Arch Mason in Lewis Chapter No.
1, at Carson City, in 1869, and served that Chapter as High Priest for nine
years. He was elected Grand High Priest in 1883, and Grand Secretary of
both the Grand Lodge and Grand Chapter of Nevada in 1887, which offices he
held continuously until his death. He was elected an honorary member of
the Masonic Veteran Association of the Pacific Coast, December 10, 1891, and
an active life member and Corresponding Secretary for the State of Nevada in
1898. As a citizen he was loyal and public spirited, and served his State and the
community in which he lived with honor and renown. He was a most devoted
and loving father, a warm friend, and he was ever busy in the service of his
fellow men, spreading abroad the genial light of a cheerful spirit and kindly
heart. As a Mason he has been a leader and a guide among the Craftsmen of
Nevada for over forty years. He possessed in an eminent degree the qualities
which make an ideal secretary, and his services won him fame and high standing
in the guild of the Masonic Grand Secretaries of the world.
(No. 5514) Page 305
HENRY JASON OLMSTED
Mr. Olmsted is the son of Daniel and Lucy A. (Scofield) Olmsted. He
was born Nov., 1825, in Masonville, Delaware County, N. Y. He moved
in 1836 with his parents to what came to be known as Olmsted's Corners,
near Ulysses, Pennsylvania, where he lived and worked upon his father's farm
until 1846, when he removed to Coudersport, the county seat, and there attended
school. He taught two terms in the district or common school and a
year in Coudersport Academy.
He was in 1849 elected a member of the first Board of School Directors
of Coudersport, the Borough having been chartered the previous year. He
received further elections as school director in 1862, 1864, 1867, 1876 and
1879, respectively, and councilman in 1854 and in 1878.