USA > California > A Volume of memoirs and genealogy of representative citizens of northern California, including biographies of many of those who have passed away > Part 85
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In safety, however, he and his family reached San Francisco, in Septem- ber, 1863. He had lost all that he had made and again he engaged in farming, near the old home on a tract of rented land, where he continued for eight years. He then purchased a ranch of one hundred and thirty acres in Jackson valley,
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which he still owns. He has met with well earned success and has bought and sold several farms. He also has a nice residence in Ione. He is to-day the business manager of thirteen hundred acres of land and owns a very fine prune orchard, the cultivation and shipment of that fruit forming an important part of his work and bringing to him an excellent return.
In 188t he was called upon to mourn the loss of his wife, who died leav- ing him with six children, namely: Madora Adalaide, now the wife of James S. Amick; Austin Lee, married: Jennie died at the age of fourteen years ; Byron Grant, married : Alice May, now the wife of E. Marchand ; and Arthur Lewis and William Norris, both married. That Mr. Prouty is a liberal-minded man, free from personal prejudice, is indicated by the fact that he named one of his sons Grant and the other Lee, being an admirer of both the great generals, whose superior military ability and skill is widely acknowl- edged now both in the north and the south. In 1887 he was again married. his second wife being Miss Amanda J. Harbour, a native of Illinois. They have a son and a daughter,-Hazel and Chester Harbour. The family is held in the highest regard in the county in which they have so long resided. They attend the services and contribute to the support of both the Methodist and Presbyterian churches. Mr. Prouty is a valued member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, with which he has been connected for twenty-six years. He is also a member of the Independent Order of United Workmen and of the Chosen Friends. Several times he has represented the Odd Fel- lows subordinate lodge in the grand lodge.
In politics he is a stalwart Democrat, and was a delegate to the constitui- tional convention which framed the present organic law of California. He is a companionable, genial gentleman, having a host of friends. In his home he is an indulgent father, a kind and devoted husband, and his genuine and manly virtues are widely recognized. He never acts except from honest motives ; and in all his varied relations, in his business affairs and in social life he has maintained a character and standing that have impressed all with his sincere and manly purpose,-to do by others what he would have others lo by him.
NEWTON E. LEEK.
Newton Edward Leek occupies the important and responsible position of superior court reporter in Stanislaus county, his home being at Modesto. Ile is one of California's native sons, his birth having occurred in Calaveras county on April 18, 1868. His grandfather and grandmother on the paternal side emigrated from Germany to the new world in their early youth, and William Leek, the father of our subject, was a native of West Virginia, born at Wheeling on the 28th of February, 1835. With his father and the family he removed to Missouri, where he was reared to manhood and was happily mar- ried to Miss Sarah Roundtree, August 15. 1860. In 1863 he was drafted for service in the Civil war, but on account of physical disability was rejected. It was a time of great excitement in Missouri and he received a permit to leave
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the state. Relatives of both him and his wife decided to come to the golden west and make their future home, and accordingly left the state on the 20th of March, 1864, and crossed the plains to California. They were harassed by the Indians, but succeeded in making a safe journey. Mr. and Mrs. Leck were of the party. They remained for a short time in Utah on the way, arriving there in August, and also in Colorado, and the father of our subject prospected in these states, but without success. They arrived in California in 1867 and for some time Mr. Leck engaged in mining in Calaveras county, at Quail Hill, after which he removed to Contra Costa county, locating near Antioch. He engaged in raising vegetables for a time, and afterward took up his abode in Merced county, securing a squatter's right to a quarter-section of land, on which he made his home until 1878. farming with indifferent success. In the fall of that year the San Joaquin & Kings River canal was completed. carry- ing water to the thirsty plains of the "west side." and Mr. Leek disposed of his holdings near the foot-hills and purchased a quarter-section of land "under" the canal, improved it and has since made it his home. residing thereon continuously until the last year, when he removed to Gilroy, Cali- fornia, where he now resides.
He has been a life-long Democrat and is an active and valued member of the Ancient Order of United Workmen. He is now in the sixty-sixth year of his age and is one of the respected pioneer residents of Merced county. His good wife, who shared with him the dangers of crossing the plains and of establishing a home on the frontier, departed this life in 1873. They had two sons and two daughters, namely : Frances J., now the wife of William Brad- ley, of Merced county : Mrs. S. P. Walters, of Washington, who had a daugh- ther and two sons, and died in 1884. at the age of twenty-six years; Jasper O., who is married and resides in Santa Cruz county : and Newton E., of this review.
Mr. Leek, whose name introduces this record, was only five years of age when his mother died, and thus he was deprived of her tender care and coun- sel. He was educated in the public schools of Merced and Contra Costa coun- ties and also completed a commercial-college course, acquiring a knowledge of short-hand in connection with the other branches taught in the school. His boyhood was spent on his father's farm, to which he devoted his attention until he decided to take up short-hand as a profession. The choice made, he pursued it dilgently, and was appointed January, 1890, by Judge Minor to the position of superior court reporter, and for the past ten years he has ably and satisfactorily filled that position. Hle is an expert stenographer. and this, added to his broad general knowledge, well qualifies him for the position which he fills. He has always been an active supporer of the Dem- ocratic party and in the present year, 1900, he filled the office of chairman of the Democratic county central committee of Stanislaus county. He is actively engaged in advancing the interests of his party, doing everything in his power to promote its growth and insure its success.
Mr. Leek was married, in 1897. to Miss Effe A. Bledsoe, a daughter of Willis Bledsoe, one of the prominent early settlers of California. Two
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children have come to bless their union,-Elbert Everett and Geraldine. Mr. Leek is a valued member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, of the Artisans and of the Masonic fraternity, and is now secretary of the blue lodge. He and his wife are very highly respected people in Modesto and have a host of warm friends there. Well may they be numbered among the representative citizens of the state in which they were born and of whose history and progress they have every reason to feel a just pride.
CHARLES WESLEY BAYLEY, M. D.
When we take cognizance of the importance of a profession or business calling we cannot but accord to the medical fraternity a high place, for its representatives are men whose lives are devoted to humanitarian interests and whose efforts contribute in a marked degree to the welfare and happi- ness of their fellow men. There is nothing man so highly prizes as the gift of health. It is a necessary foundation for all accomplishments, and a man whose labors can restore this much high prized possession is indeed a public benefactor. Dr. Bayley has attained a wide and merited reputation as a prominent physician and surgeon at Oakdale, Stanislaus county. He was born in New York, October 16, 1845, and is of English and Scotch-Irish ancestry. His paternal great-grandfather was a general in the Revolution- ary war. Representatives of the family followed commercial and agricul- tural pursuits and in religious belief were Presbyterians and Methodists.
Cyrus Moore Bayley, the Doctor's father, was a representative of the family of Thomas Moore, the Irish poet, his mother being a cousin of Sir Thomas Moore. He was born in Vermont, and in his native state was united in marriage to Miss Mary Sanborn, a native of New Hampshire. They removed to St. Lawrence county, New York, where Mr. Bayley pur- chased a farm, taking up his abode thereon and spending his remaining days as an industrious and respected agriculturist of his community. His wife died at the age of thirty-three years, leaving six children, and the father afterward married and had five children by the second union, of whom three are living. He attained the age of seventy-four years and was laid to rest in St. Lawrence county, where he had so long resided, being known as a man of sterling worth and as a man of the highest respectability.
The Doctor is one of the three surviving children of the family. He was educated in St. Lawrence county and after completing his literary course obtained his medical education in Albany, New York, and in the med- ical college at Burlington, Vermont, where he was graduated in 1876. He first began practice in St. Lawrence county, New York, and there remained until 1895, when he came to Oakdale. California, and opened an office. Here his skill and ability soon won recognition in a constantly increasing pat- ronage, and he now enjoys a business such as is accorded only to those who are well prepared to practice medicine. Ile has a good office and one of the most pleasant and attractive homes of Oakdale.
In 1880 was celebrated the Doctor's marriage to Miss Carrie Cooper,
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a native of St. Lawrence county, New York, and a daughter of William Cooper, also of the Empire state and a cousin of J. Fennimore Cooper, the celebrated writer of Indian tales. The Doctor and Mrs. Bayley have a daughter, Lucretia, who is now in school. They are valued members of the Episcopal church and have many warm friends in the town in which they reside. He is a member of the Masonic fraternity and in politics a Repub- lican. He takes a great interest and pride in his work. Almost from the day on which he opened his office in this flourishing California town he had a good practice, and it has constantly grown and extended into the country surrounding Oakdale until it has now assumed extensive proportions. He represents that class of physicians who would practice for the love of the profession even under less favorable environments than those with which he is surrounded ; and he recognizes the fact that the physician endowed with superior knowledge and skill is under grave responsibility to suffering hnut- manity, regardless of any mere question of pecuniary gain.
ADOLPH HEILBRON.
The history of mankind is replete with illustrations of the fact that it is only under the pressure of adversity and the stimulus of opposition that the best and strongest in men are brought out and developed. Perhaps the history of no people so forcibly impresses one with this truth as the annals of our own republic. If anything can inspire the youth of our country to persistent, honest and laudable endeavor it should the life record of such men as he of whom we write. The example of the illustrious few of our countrymen who have risen from obscurity to the highest position in the gift of the nation serves often to awe our young men rather than inspire them to emulation, because they reason that only a few can ever attain such eminence ; but the history of such men as Adolph Heilbron proves conclusively that with a reasonable amount of mental and physical power success is bound eventually to crown the endeavor of those who have the ambition to put forth their best efforts and the will and manliness to persevere therein. He has long been actively connected with business affairs in northern California, promoting many enterprises of value to the community as well as of individ- ual benefit to the stock-owners.
Mr. Heilbron was born in Bohmte, Hanover, Germany, January 18. 1833, and in the schools of his native town acquired his education. In his youth he became an assistant in his father's store. He also learned the trade of manufacturer of tobacco, which is considered a very important one in the fatherland. In 1852 he bade adieu to the home and friends of his youth and sailed from Bremen for New York city, arriving in the metrop- olis of the new world after a voyage of fifty-six days. He proceeded thence to St. Louis, where he had a brother living, and there he secured work at his trade, being employed in that capacity until 1854, when he came to California, by the way of New Orleans and the isthmus route.
For a short time Mr. Heilbron remained in San Francisco and thence
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went to Eldorado county, where, in connection with two other young men, he began prospecting. They had fair success and he continued in the mines until the fall of 1856, when he came to Sacramento and joined his brother in conducting a meat market. They also bought and sold live-stock. In 1874 they organized a company in San Francisco, under the firm name of Poly Heilbron & Company, wholesale dealers in meats, and in 1874 they leased a grant of land in Tulare and Fresno counties on the Kings river known as the Rancho Laguna de Tache. comprising over fifty-four thousand acres. In 1880 they purchased the grant and added to it until their landed posses- sions aggregated sixty-nine thousand acres. They continued as owners of that extensive tract of land until 1891, when they sold out. However, they still conduct their San Francisco and Sacramento houses, also the wild Flower stock farm in Fresno county, where they are breeding the celebrated Durham and Hereford cattle. Their herds are known as the best in the state ; and not alone the stockmen of California have drawn young stock from them to improve their herds but also those of Nevada, Oregon, Mexico, Central America, the Hawaiian islands and Japan.
Mr. Heilbron is a man of excellent business ability, resourceful and ener- getic, and has been an active promotor of many enterprises. He was one of the originators of the Germania Building and Loan Association, in 1876, the the first association of its kind organized in California. From the beginning he served as a member of its directorate and was also elected its president, continuing in that capacity until 1887, when he resigned in order to take a trip to Europe. He visited his old home and other places of interest, remain- ing abroad for eighteen months. In 1888 he was one of the incorporators of the Buffalo Brewing Company, of Sacramento, and has continuously served as its president from that time to the present. He was also one of the incorporators of the Capital Telephone & Telegraph Company and is still serving on its board of directors. He is a director of the California State Bank, was one of the organizers and a director of San Joaquin Ice & Creamery Company, one of the largest institutions of the kind in the state, and he is intersted in the wholesale hardware firm of Shaw, Ingram, Batcher & Com- pany.
In 1879 Mr. Heilbron was elected sheriff and tax collector of Sacramento county, which office he held for two terms.
In 1860 Mr. Heilbron was united in marriage to Miss Augusta Schaar, a native of Hamburg, Germany, and they have had four children, of whom but two are still living, namely : Henry A. and Mrs. Caroline Quaas, of Sac- ramento.
The mind of Mr. Heilbron is many-sided, but no side is abnormally developed, all being harmonious and even. To whatever he gives his time and attention he carries through to successful completion. He is ever just and also generous; others must do the part they agree with him to do, and never has he been known to fail on his part. He is an example of the boys who educate themselves and secure their own start in life .- determined, self reliant boys,-willing to work for advantages which other boys secured
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through inheritance: destined by sheer force of character to succeed in the face of all opposition and to push to the front in one important branch of enterprise or another. As a man his business ability has been constantly manifested in one phase or another, showing unlimited possibilities, nothing too great to grasp and master ; and the extensive concerns-some of the larg- est in California-of which he is now the head are monuments to his won- derful power.
NEHEMIAH F. ORDWAY.
The name of Nehemiah F. Ordway is indelibly inscribed on the pages of the history of the west, for throughout the period of its development he was an active factor in promoting its interests and is numbered among the honored pioneers who made possible its later-day progress and prosperity. The lot of the pioneer of the west has been a peculiarly hard one. The In- dians, driven from their hunting grounds farther east, have cherished the resentment characteristic of the race and have met as foes the brave band of white men who came to the western wilderness to reclaim the lands for purposes of civilization and to garner the riches of nature for themselves and families. Not only were the pioneers met by the hostility of the In- dians, but vast stretches of sandy plains and almost impassable mountains separated them from the comforts and conveniences of the east, and their lot was one of danger, difficulty, hardship and toil. A courageous spirit, an unconquerable determination and steadfast purpose .- these were the quali- ties demanded of the pioneers, and such characteristics enabled Mr. Ordway to meet conditions before which many another man would have quailed.
Mr. Ordway resides in Oakdale. Stanislaus county, and is a native of Franklin county, New York, born on the 23d of July, 1834. He was there- fore sixteen years of age at the time of his arrival in California, among the '49ers. His ancestors were of English birth and became early settlers of Ver- mont. His father, Jonathan Ordway, was born, reared and married in the Green Mountain state, Elizabeth Green, also a native of Vermont, becoming his wife. The father was a physician by profession and was also an owner of a farm. He removed to Franklin county, New York, becoming one of the pioneer medical practitioners and farmers of his locality. He attained the age of seventy years, but his good wife passed away previously. They were both consistent members of the Methodist church and in that faith they reared their five children.
Only two of that number are now living and Mr. Ordway is the only representative of the family in California. His educational privileges were very limited. so that he may be said to be self-educated in the dear school of experience. When but a youth he started for California, making the jour- ney by way of the isthmus of Panama. Ilis passage and expenses amounted to two hundred and ten dollars, such were the high prices charged at that time. A very severe storm was experienced during the voyage, the waves running "mountain" high. The ship was disabled and the crew and passengers
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were compelled to work at the pumps night and day to keep the vessel afloat. The water rose so high that the fires were extinguished and the passengers were saved only through the intervention of another ship which towed into harbor the one on which Mr. Ordway had taken passage. The escape was indeed a narrow one. Our subject went direct from San Francisco to the placer mines in Tuolumne county, and was engaged in mining in Jackass Gulch, where he had a little claim, out of which he took considerable gold. securing about six hundred dollars in a month. That mine subsequently yielded fifteen thousand dollars. The food supply among the miners was limited during the following winter and in consequence the prices were very exor- bitant. In the spring Mr. Ordway went to Stockton on horseback, and later proceeded to San Francisco, where he boarded a ship bound for Australia, on which were one hundred and sixteen passengers. After they had left the port it was discovered that two of the passengers had smallpox. All of the others were then vaccinated and the progress of the disease was thus impeded. At the equator they were becalmed for two weeks. At the time they reached the Sandwich islands it was found that their supply of provisions was inade- quate and there they purchased hogs and cocoanuts, and soon they were out of food again and this time supplied the deficiency by obtaining crackers from another ship. They subsisted on these, together with some arrowroot which they had on board. Before reaching the harbor the ship was struck by a typhoon and they were in a gale for six weeks, the sea being lashed into great fury. At length the wind changed, blowing from another direction, but that merely added to the roughness of the sea. When the storm subsided they saw near them a ship turned bottom side up and knew that all of its pas- sengers must have been lost. The vessel on which Mr. Ordway sailed had been blown two hundred miles out of its course, but they finally landed at Gelong and there obtained food. The passengers again hoarded the ship and at last reached Melbourne in safety after a very stormy voyage of six months.
On the voyage Mr. Ordway had formed the acquaintance of a little Dutchman and they decided to keep together. They made their way to Ben- digo, where Mr. Ordway worked for two days for seven dollars and fifty cents per day, and then got a claim of his own, twelve by twelve feet. He sunk a hole in the middle of this and struck a vein of pure gold which looked like flax seed, and was worth nineteen dollars and fifty cents per ounce. He and his partner took out three thousand dollars in a week, worked out the claim and then started for Bendigo. The Dutchman stopped at White Sand Hill, but Mr. Ordway proceeded on his journey and in connection with others he purchased a claim on which a shaft had not as yet been sunk to a depth where gold could be obtained. The new owners, however, worked it out in two days and secured fifteen thousand dollars, the streak of gold only crossing one corner of the claim. Mr. Ordway's Dutch friend was fortunate in his venture and took out gold to the weight of two hundred pounds from the White Sand Hill." There were many convicts from Van Dieman's Land and the miners were in constant dread of being killed and robbed. Mr. Ord- way had purchased horses and was hanling wood. In this way he made con-
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siderable money, but at night his horses had to be fastened with heavy chains in order to keep them from being stolen. One night he awoke and heard talking outside of his tent in the direction of the horses. He fired a shot and the robbers escaped ; but not relishing such an existence, he a little later decided to return to Melbourne. It was his intention to buy a stage-coach and engage in running it, as the fare for the passage of sixty miles was fifty dol- lars; but he could not secure a stage-coach at any price, and accordingly left Australia, taking a ship for South America.
He went to New Zealand and thence to Callao, South America. Desir- ing to prospect on the Amazon, he obtained a pass from the American consul, for at that time there was a rebellion in the land and there was considerable trouble in getting through the army lines. Mr. Ordway and his companions crossed the mountains that were sixteen thousand and six hundred feet above the sea level. When they were at that altitude the blood burst from their eyelids and the ends of their fingers and they became stupefied. They suc- ceeded, however, in getting to the top of the mountain and to where some Englishmen were working a mine, and there they lay for twenty-four hours not knowing or wanting anything, and their horses were in the same con- dition! They found gold all through that country on the tributaries of the Amazon river, but they also saw unpleasant sights, for in the jungles there were boa constrictors and wild animals that rendered life unsafe. The Indians, too, were a constant menace, being very hostile, and the lives of the white men were continually endangered. They saw bridges made of hay. rope and sticks, but the monkeys did not have to resort to any such means to cross the rivers, as they would spring across wide streams, one holding the other in his mouth until they formed a chain long enough to bridge the water !
Mr. Ordway and his party returned to Callao, and as there was no pas- senger ship at the port they asked for passage on an American man-of-war. During the voyage he formed a high opinion of the ability of the American navy, noting the excellent marksmanship and splendid training. At length Mr. Ordway arrived in San Francisco and made his way to Gold Springs. Tuolumne county, where he constructed a water race and again met with success in his mining ventures. Subsequently he came to Stanislaus county, where he purchased two hundred and fifty acres of rich land at Langworth on the river bottom, where he raised melons and pumpkins so large that one could hardly hold them. At first he made a great deal of money, for the products brought good prices. In one season he raised over two hundred tons of wheat, having in the meantime purchased additional tracts of land until he had about one thousand acres. Through adverse circumstances, how'- ever. he lost all of this.
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