I am not an OVERSHINER descendant. This is FYI :
http://www.cagenweb.com/cpl/bios2.htm >
An Illustrated History of Southern California; (1890) pg 345

GIDEON JACKSON OVERSHINER came to California in 1850, from Galena, Illinois, arriving August 3, 1850. He was born at Fort London, Franklin County, Pennsylvania, February 4, 1825, son of Philip OVERSHINER, who was born in Virginia moved to Franklin and passed the greater portion of his life there. Gideon JACKSON was the ninth child in a family of eleven. The family emigrated to Hopkinsville, Kentucky, in 1846. Mr. Overshiner was married in Galena, Illinois, September 13, 1848, to Miss Minerva Dunphey. In 1850 he came to California; he went to St. Louis first to purchase supplies, then joined the train at St. Joseph, Missouri. There were sixty-four members in the train and sixteen wagons. The hardships of the journey were such that the horses gave out and wagons were left from time to time along the trail, so that not one was left in which to cross the mountains. The overflowing of the Humboldt river had made the trail of '49 impassable, and new roads had to be broken over wild, rough country. They crossed the mountains by the Carson route, often making their own trail and suffering much. Mrs. Overshiner left Galena in 1851, taking the steamer from New York to Isthmus, which she crossed on mules, and taking the steamer McKim, on the pacific side, for San Francisco. The ship proved to be unseaworthy and put into San Diego at the town now called Roseville, where the passengers, 375 in number, were discharged; those having no money struck inland. Mrs. Overshiner, after two weeks' delay, took the Seabird for San Francisco, where she met her husband, who took her to Sacramento, where he was carrying on the carriage business. At the end of the six years they moved to the western part of Yolo County, to Cottonwood, where he bought land and began to raise grain and stock.
In 1861 he was elected County Assessor, and moved to Washington, the county seat, on the Sacramento river; that same year the county seat was moved to Woodland, of which town Mr. Overshiner, in conjunction with other county officials, were the first settlers, and gave the town the name. In 1863 his term expired, and he took up his carriage business at Woodland, which he followed until January 1870, when he moved to San Diego. He continued his carriage trade there, but the town being quiet and business slow, he sold his position after four years and moved to San Jose, continuing the same business, but not permanently locating, as he had been so pleased with the climate of San Diego that he intended eventually to return, which he did in 1885, and resumed the old vocation. In politics he has been an active Republican; he was one of the vice- presidents of the last Whig meeting held in this State. He voted for the constitution and admission of the Territory as a State, September 9, 1850. During his experiences as a pioneer he has considerably advanced the Republican form of government. Mr. Overshiner has had ten children, eight of whom, five boys and three girls are living." ----end-----

http://www.cagenweb.com/cpl/bios2.htm > Colusa County -Its History and Biographical Sketches of Pioneers; by Rogers; (1891) pg 458
JOHN G. OVERSHINER. Mr. Overshiner is a native of Galena, Illinois, born July 26, 1850. When little more than a year old he was brought by his mother to Sacramento, where his father rejoined his family, having come to the coast some time previously. In 1857 the family removed to Yolo County, where young OVERSHINER lived in several localities for a short time, notably at Cottonwood, Washington, and Woodland, attending the public schools till he was fifteen years old, and Hesperian College for four years later. After finishing his studies, he was actively employed as clerk in the San Diego post-office, teaching in the public school at National City under a first-grade certificate, and was also a member of the San Diego County Board of School Examiners. From 1872 to 1878 he found employment in San Benito County and in San Jose, Fresno and San Francisco as clerk or book-keeper, when he applied himself to the printer's trade in San Jose. He afterwards worked on the Democrat at Woodland, and was a partner in the establishment of the first daily paper issued at Santa Cruz. This venture proving unsuccessful, he worked for a time as compositor on the San Diego and Los Angeles papers, when, in July, 1882, in conjunction with E. E. Vincent, he founded the Calico Print, at Calico, San Bernardino County, and continued the publication of the paper till the fall of 1887. He now struck San Diego again, this time with a job office and an advertising sheet, but as it was now in the closing days of its seductive "boom," his prospects vanished almost immediately after his arrival there. He came again to the Sacramento Valley and began the publication of the Maxwell Mercury, July 14, 1888, where he is now conducting this journal, advocating with zeal and effectiveness the importance of irrigation and other local interests." ----end---