Nevada Genealogy Trails Washoe County Mary E. Lake Biography

MRS. MARY E. LAKE. In the year 1859 what is now the state of Nevada was only an undefined part of the territory of Utah. Its population was almost entirely miners or men connected in some way with that industry and indirectly deriving their support in that way. Only the student of history and the readers of Bret Harte can form an adequate conception of life as it was in those days and places. For that reason it is the unique distinction of Mrs. Mary E. Lake that she arrived in Reno in that year, and there is probably not another woman living who came at that time. This long period of residence has made her exceedingly familiar with all the developments from the extreme frontier life of that year until the more settled conditions of the present. And we can imagine that her arrival was somewhat of a sensation to the miners as she was the first young girl to make her appearance in that district.

Mrs. Lake was born in Iowa in 1845, the daughter of James Morrison, who died when she was a child, and her mother afterward married Mr. James Alexander; on the latter's death she married James H. Hickman, with whom she crossed the plains to Nevada in 1859, taking with her two sons, Mrs. Lake, and a step-daughter. One of the sons was John F. Alexander, who graduated from the California State University, became a lawyer, was district attorney of Washoe county, later was attorney general of the state of Nevada, and was also the founder of the Reno Gazette; he died in 1891. aged thirty-eight years. Mr. Hickman was killed by a runaway team in Virginia City in 1862, and Mrs. Lake's mother died in southern California in 1896, aged seventy years.

Mrs. Lake gained the principal part of her education in Virginia City, after she was fifteen years of age, and in 1865 she married George W. F. Vosburg, who was a native of New York state and had come to Nevada in 1861. He was elected county clerk of Storey county, and at that time was a resident of Virginia City. Later he was in the lumber business at Meadow Lake, California, and then had a ranch in Long Valley. He was in delicate health, and then traveled for some time, also with the intention of securing some more congenial occupation; during this time his wife remained with her mother in Glendale. On Mr. Vosburg's return he located in Reno, where he resided for five years, until his death, which occurred in 1879, at the age of forty years. His wife was left with two children: Harriet L., now Mrs. William B. Thorn, of southern California; and Gertrude Jane, at present a school teacher, and the widow of Mr. R. L. Hall.

In 1888 Mrs. Vosburg was married to Winfield Scott Lake. He is a native of New York and came to Reno in 1880. His cousin, M. C. Lake, was one of the founders and first settlers of Reno. One son has been born to the marriage of Mr. and Mrs. Lake, Winfield Scott, Jr. Mr. Lake is in the planing mill business. He is a Republican in politics, a member of the Ancient Order of United Workmen, and is one of the highly respected citizens of Reno, where he has a nice home.

Mrs. Lake has also been a pioneer in the sense of sharing in the hard work of the frontier. When she was left alone with her two children she supported and educated them by dressmaking, and she has performed all her parts in life equally faithfully and well. She is an Episcopalian, while her husband was reared in the Baptist faith, and she is a member of the Guild of the church and one of its valued members.