When only 12 years old he ran away from
home, found employment on a coasting vessel and for several years followed
the sea. He landed in San Francisco in October, 1857, and came immediately
to the gold fields of Yuba County, locating in Smartsville. For a long time
he was superintendent of the Excelsior Water and Mining Company, and for ten
years had charge of the Timbuctoo property and possessed mining property in
Smartsville. S.O. Gunning was married in Marysville to Miss Alvina Lotzen,
a native of Prussia, and six children were the result of the marriage,
Alvina, Ella, Samuel, Thomas, Jennie O. and Robert Emmet. Samuel passed
away on December 10, 1910 and is buried with family at the Smartsville
Catholic cemetery.Submitted by
Scott Smith, March 2008.