THOMAS BONA DOZIER is the junior member of the law firm of Wiley & Dozier, Redding, one of the most reliable and capable law firms of the city.  Mr. Dozier was born in Williamsburg District, South Carolina, March 12, 1865. Four generations of his family were born in that portion of South Carolina, namely: John Dozier, his great grandfather, who was a lawyer; his grandfather, Anthony White Dozier, born in 1801; his father, Dr. L.F. Dozier, born September 23, 1835, and himself. The Dozier family, were of French extraction, settled in the south in a very early day, and were a noted family of influence, talented and wealthy. His grandfather, Anthony White Dozier, was a prominent lawyer and a member of the State Senate from his district for several terms. His father was adjutant on General Longstreet’s staff all through the civil war, and there were eight brothers all in the Confederate service, and one of them the commander of one of the ships of the Confederate Navy. Another uncle, Dr. Joseph Beard, was the founder of the New Orleans smallpox and yellow fever hospital, a man of great skill as a physician and surgeon and in wealth a millionaire.  Mr. Dozier’s father married Miss Agnes Bona, a native of his own district and daughter of Mr. Thomas Bona, a descendent of the French Huguenots and a man of large means. She was raised in New Orleans. His parents had five children, and his mother died in September 1868. His father now resides at Napa, and has had charge of the Asylum for the Insane for the last sixteen years. Only two children survive: the subject of this sketch and his brother, Dr. W.E. Dozier, who is now located at Susanville, Lassen County, California.

      Mr. .Dozier was brought to the State of California by his parents in 1868, when he was only three years of age, and in the fall of the same year he lost his mother. He attended the public schools until ten years of age. After that he attended the Oak Mound School for boys and young men located in Napa City. He graduated in its high school department when sixteen years old, and got his law degree in the Hastings Law College of California, graduating there June 26, 1888. He purchased an interest in his present firm in September of the same year, and at once commenced the practice of his profession, in which so far he has been remarkably successful. He is highly spoken of as a talented young man and a gentleman. He is First Lieutenant of Company E, Eighth Infantry Battalion, Fifth Brigade N.G.C., and has been a member of the guards at San Francisco for a number of years. As might be expected he is an enthusiastic young Democrat, and takes a lively interest in politics, has been a member of both the last county conventions of his party, and “stumped” the county in 1888 and also in 1890, in favor of the Democracy. Mr. Dozier’s firm have a fully equipped office, are agreeable and liberal in affairs of the town, are hard workers, have a good practice, and have such honorable and straightforward ideas of business that they are destined to draw a large share of the law business of their own and adjoining counties.

      Mr. Dozier was married, April 22, 1889, to Miss Maud Watson, only daughter of W.C. Watson, of San Francisco. Mr. Watson established the Bank of Napa in Napa County in 1870 with the Hon. Chancellor Hartson.  His wife is the great granddaughter of George C. Yount, the first white man to have a Spanish grant north of San Francisco, he having granted to him a portion of Napa Valley. George C. Yount came to California in 1829 and established the first flour mill in the country, also built the first shingle mill. Mr. Dozier’s wife is the granddaughter of Dr. J.C. Davis, who died leaving large properties in San Francisco, around Washington and Kearny streets, and is also the niece of Senator J.P. Jones, of Nevada.  Mr. Dozier and wife have lost one child, a boy, Sydney W. Dozier, aged a few months. Mr. Dozier has been the first to experiment with table and raisin grapes in Shasta County, and has proven that they would be successfully grown.

Memorial & Biographical History of Northern California The Lewis Publishing Co., 1891 Pages 601-602
Transcribed by: Bonnie Phelan - August 2004