Daggett, John R., 1833-1919

Biographical/Historical note

Daggett and his brother David came to California in 1852, though David later died on the return journey. John became the Postmaster of the mining town Sawyers Bar, in what is now the Marble Mountain Wilderness Area. In 1854 he was living near Klamath, Siskyou County, California he somehow became involved in the murder of Robert Craig by James Moran. Moran was latter hanged by an Irish mob. It is unclear how Daggett was involved with the murder – possibly as a witness in the bar where Craig was stabbed by Moran with a butcher’s knife or as a witness to his body after he was hanged. Daggett ran a mine on and off through the years after the Civil War. He had eleven terms in the state legislature before becoming Lieutenant Governor from 1882-1888. During that time he founded a town named after himself, just outside of Barstow, CA. Daggett was the Superintendent of the United States Mint in San Francisco from 1893-1897. He married Alice Foree in 1870 and their three surviving children were Ben Foree Daggett, Hallie Morse Daggett, and Leslie Wells Daggett.