A. A. Townsend

Absalom Austin Townsend (December 7, 1810 - April 28, 1888) was a US Army officer, Wisconsin-state politician, and a California pioneer.

Townsend, third son of Samuel and Sarah Townsend, was born in Sussex County, New Jersey in 1810 (or 1811). When he was two years old, his father moved to Steuben County, New York, where he resided till 1826. His father, now a widower, having purchased some military land in Western Illinois, started on October 15, 1826, with his eldest son, and Absalom, and arrived at Peoria, Illinois, on January 1, 1827. On May 18, they arrived at the lead mines in the vicinity of Gratiot’s Grove, and engaged in the business of mining. But they were soon interrupted by the Winnebago War in July. The elder brother volunteered in William S. Hamilton’s company, while Townsend and his father forted at Gratiot’s Grove, with Townsend serving under Gen. Zachary Taylor ("Old Rough & Ready"). After the war was over, Townsend returned to mining. He served during the whole of the Black Hawk War (1832) as a volunteer, under Col. Henry Dodge, and participated in the Battle of Bad Axe on August 2, 1832.

In 1836, he married, and settled on a farm near Shullsburg, Wisconsin. With news of the California Gold Rush, Townsend resolved to try his hand at mining in that region. He fitted out a train of twelve wagons, drawn by oxen, with a company of men, in the spring of 1849, and taking the land route, started on April 16, and arrived in California on September 9. The "Rough and Ready Company" under Captain "Cappy" Townsend, composed of some dozen men from Shullsburg, arrived by the Truckee route at a point on Deer Creek, near the mouth of Slate Creek. The company styled themselves the "Rough and Ready Company" in honor of Townsend, who had served under Taylor ("Old Rough & Ready"). From this company, the California town of Rough and Ready derived its name.

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