USA > California > A history of the new California, its resources and people; Vol II > Part 25
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JUDGE CHARLES WILLIAM DAVISON.
Judge Charles William Davison, of San Jose, was born in Chickasaw county, Iowa, July 30, 1874, and is a direct descendant of four patriots of the Revolutionary war, among which number was his paternal grandfather. His father, Lorenzo B. Davison, was a soldier of the Civil war. He was born in the Empire state and at an early date emigrated westward to Iowa, becoming one of the pioneer settlers of that state. There he carried on farming for many years or until 1894, when he came to California, settling in Santa Clara valley, where he is now well known as an orchardist. He married Miss Esther J. Annabel, who was also born in New York, and they became the parents of ten children, of whom Charles W. is the fifth in order of birth.
Judge Davison acquired his early education in the public and high schools of New Hampton, Iowa, being graduated from the latter in 1892 at the age of eighteen years. During the following winter he engaged in teaching school and then attended Valers Normal school at Decorah, Iowa, up to the time of the removal of the family to California in November, 1894. After arriving in this state he entered the San Jose Law school, which has since been removed to San Francisco, and on the 24th of December, 1895. was admitted to the bar. He engaged in practice at Campbell's for a year, at the end of which time he opened his office in San Jose, entering upon the active practice of his chosen calling, in which he continued until the time of the Spanish-American war, when he enlisted in the Seventh California Volunteer Regiment, with which he served until the regiment was mustered out. Returning to San Jose, he resumed the active work of his profession and secured a good clientage. On the 4th of November, 1902, he was elected city justice of the peace as an independent candidate, receiving a plurality of two hundred and ninety-two more than the Republican candi- date, and five hundred and eighty-nine more than the Democratic nominee.
Judge Davison was married December 24, 1902, to Maud Welch, a native of Maine. She is a lady of culture and refinement and for several years prior to her marriage was successfully engaged in teaching in the public schools. Judge Davison is identified with many fraternal orders, of which
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he is a popular and valued representative. In his practice he has won for himself an honorable place. He seems to ever realize the importance of the calling to which he devotes his energies and the fact that justice and the higher attribute of mercy he often holds in his hands. His reputation as a lawyer has been won through earnest, honest labor, and his standing at the bar is a merited tribute to his ability.
MAJOR EDWIN W. WOODWARD.
Major Edwin W. Woodward, of San Francisco, California, was born in Tunbridge, Orange county, Vermont, January 4, 1839. He came to California in 1859, across the plains, and took up his residence in Weaver- ville, Trinity county, where he engaged in mining and merchandising until the Civil war broke out in 1861.
Responding to his country's call for volunteers, Mr. Woodward came to San Francisco and enlisted in the celebrated "California Hundred," then being recruited under the command of Captain J. Sewell Reed, who was afterward willed in action, with sixteen of his men, by Mosby's guerrillas. This company, aided by the Rev. T. Starr King, received transportation to Boston, with headquarters at Readville, and was the first company from California to report for active duty in the field. Soon after four companies were recruited in San Francisco under the command of Major Thompson, and also received transportation to Boston, Massachusetts, and, with the "California Hundred," made five hundred strong for active service. They were assigned to the Second Massachusetts Cavalry, under the command of Colonel Charles R. Lowell, afterward promoted brigadier general and who was subsequently killed in action while gallantly leading his men at the battle of Cedar Creek, Virginia, in the Shenandoah valley. The regiment was engaged in many hard-fought battles, including those of the battle of Winchester, Berryville, Pike, Charlestown, Opequan Creek, Front Royal, Snake Mountain, Waynesboro, Cedar Creek, Gordonsville, South Ana, Southside Railroad and Appomattox Courthouse, and participated in the same engagements in the Shenandoah valley in which our late President William Mckinley took part.
The five hundred men who left California in the prime of manhood mustered out only 182 at the close of the war in 1865. The remainder of the men were killed in action or died of wounds. Major Woodward re- mained constantly in active service until the close of the war and the sur- render of the Confederate armies at Appomattox. For gallant service he was promoted lieutenant, captain and major. When in the field at Vienna, Virginia, he was, by special request of the governor of New York, by order of the war department, transferred to the Twenty-fifth New York Cavalry. He was honorably discharged from that regiment at Harte's Island, New York, July 7, 1865, at the close of the war. Returning to California, he engaged actively in the civil pursuits of life.
Major Woodward has always taken a keen interest in Grand Army matters in this state. In 1893 he was elected commander of Lyon Post No. 8,
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G. A. R., and during his administration secured all the funds with which to erect a beautiful monument at Mountain View Cemetery, Oakland, Cali- fornia, to the memory of our honored dead, which was unveiled Memorial day, May 30, 1893, with beautiful and appropriate ceremonies. He was elected one of the first directors of the Veterans' Home at Yountville, and served on the committee of the buildings and ground which made the selec- tion of the present attractive site, which has been turned over to the state of California as a state institution and a home for the old soldiers. He was elected senior vice-department commander at the annual encampment of the G. A. R. which convened at Oakland in 1894, and made a good record dur- ing his term of office, as he did on the firing line. He is a member of the Military Order of the Loyal Legion, of the Commandery of California, and an active member of Lincoln Post No. I of the Grand Army of the Republic. The Major is a Knight Templar Mason, and politically is a Republican.
Major Woodward, after the close of the war, returned to Boston, Massachusetts, and was united in marriage to Miss Addie O. Rogers, daughter of the late Henry Rogers, former proprietor of the Boston Journal, and soon returned to California with his wife, engaging extensively in the real estate and auction business in Oakland, being the senior partner of the firm of Woodward and Taggart, who handled large lines of property in Alameda and other counties of California. His business operations extended into the millions.
After the termination of their copartnership, Mr. Woodward estab- lished a real estate business in St. Helena, Napa county, in developing the wine industries of our state, and organized the Bank of St. Helena, and was director of that institution for two terms. Returning to Oakland, he formed a co-partnership with Mr. James Gamble, who built the first telegraph lines across our continent. The firm name was known as Woodward and Gam- ble. They did an extensive business, and during their co-partnership sold the celebrated Marshall Ranch to Moses Hopkins for the sum of $325,000. After the termination of their co-partnership, Mr. Woodward moved to San Francisco, and established a business at No. II Montgomery street, engaging in the real estate and insurance business, where he is still engaged in the same line of business.
He was appointed notary public for the city and county of San Fran- cisco, on June 18, 1901, by Henry T. Gage, and having been appointed for the same position by Governors Perkins, Waterman, Markham, and Budd for Alameda and Napa counties.
RAY DENNISON CLARK.
Ray Dennison Clark, who is filling the position of electrical, mechanical and sanitary engineer at the Veterans' Home of California at Yountville, was born at Grand Rapids, Michigan, on the 24th of November, 1874. His father, O. E. Clark, was a native of New York, and after arriving at years of maturity was married to Vera M. Hyde, who was also born in the Empire state. He resided for some time in Michigan and afterward removed to
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Leadville, Colorado, and subsequently to Aspen, that state. The father arrived there in 1879 and the mother joined him in his western home in 1882. They afterward became residents of California, and Mr. O. E. Clark is now filling the position of manager of the Napa Gas and Electric Com- pany.
To the public schools of Leadville, Colorado, Ray Dennison Clark is indebted for the early educational privileges which he received. He was grad- uated in the Aspen high school with the class of 1890, and afterward came to California with his father, Napa being their destination. A year later they were joined by the wife and mother, who arrived in 1891. Mr. Clark's first work was in the installation of the Napa Thompson-Houston Light Com- pany, with which he was connected for two years. On the expiration of that period he entered the service of the General Electric Company in 1892 as outside foreman, filling that position until 1898. During that period he became engaged in the construction of the Folsom transmission plant at Sacramento, the Bakersfield plant and the plant of the Los Angeles Edison Company, running a line from Santa Anna to Los Angeles. He was like- wise connected with the construction of the transmission plant for electric power for the Gold Hill gold mines at Hassel, Montana, and the erection of the lighting plant at Mazathan, Mexico. He further continued his work in this direction by the erection of the power plant at Four Hills gold mines in Plumas county, California. He installed the electric generator at Oro- ville, Butte county, California, and in April, 1900, he was appointed elec- trical, mechanical and sanitary engineer of the Veterans' Home of Cali- fornia. At this writing in 1904 he is engaged in the erection of a new plant at the home. It is to consist of a one hundred and forty horsepower steam engine, two hundred and forty horsepower boilers and one thousand lights. There is also to be a six-ton ice machine, several small electric pumps and a motor for crushing rock. Mr. Clark has entered upon a business career for which he seems especially qualified, his work being of a character that shows marked skill and ability. Through experience and investigation he has continually broadened his knowledge and promoted his efficiency, and in the line of his chosen calling he has performed important service in Cali- fornia.
Mr. Clark was married in Napa on the Ioth of January, 1900, to Miss Emma Schultz, of Michigan. He is identified with the order of Elks and with the Masonic fraternity and is well known as a typical western man, alert, enterprising and progressive.
JOHN NELSON BISHOP.
John Nelson Bishop, sheriff of Alameda county, California, is a native of Nova Scotia, and was born June 28, 1858. Mr. Bishop's parents, John and Jane (Smith) Bishop, were natives of Nova Scotia, their home for many years being in Antigonish county, where they reared their family and where the father was for many years a carriage builder. Their family con- sisted of four sons and six daughters.
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Until he was sixteen John N. Bishop attended the public schools, after which he served an apprenticeship to the carriage trade, working under his father. He remained in the carriage works until 1879, when he came to California. He located at Oakland in 1880 and entered the employ of the Southern Pacific Railway Company, with which he was connected until 1902. That year he was elected sheriff of Alameda county for a term of four years. Politically Mr. Bishop has always been a Republican. He was elected to office, however, on the Union Labor ticket.
In California Mr. Bishop found his life companion. He was married in 1886 to Miss Ada Lowell, a native of Sacramento county, her parents having come to this state as pioneer settlers in 1850. This union has been blessed in the birth of two sons and two daughters, May, Emma, Russell and Lowell. The last named died in infancy.
Mr. Bishop has identified himself with a number of fraternal organiza- tions, including the F. and A. M., I. O. O. F., Eagles, Elks and W. O. W.
HENRY WILLARD COE.
In the beautiful little village of Northwood, New Hampshire, almost within the shadow of Mt. Washington, and in the stern and rugged, if beautiful, scenery so long immortalized as, proverbially, the cradle of stal- wart men, was born February 6, 1820, Henry Willard Coe. His boyhood was passed in the midst of moral as well as physical surroundings eminently calculated to make him a leader of men. This he eventually proved on more than one memorable occasion. He descended on both sides from fam- ilies prominent in colonial and Revolutionary history.
At the age of twelve he incurred that perhaps greatest misfortune to an opening life: He lost his mother. Such a loss is hardly ever adequately replaced ; and therefore at the age of sixteen Henry Willard Coe was induced to accept the offer of the well known Zach. Chandler and accompany him to the west. With a stock of four thousand dollars' worth of goods, unlike Jason in search of the "Golden Fleece," they carried it with them, and were towed in a canal boat up the Hudson river, through the Erie canal across the Great Lakes, a journey occupying over a month. Columbus' voyage was one of discovery, but Chandler's was one of the commercial conquests of Detroit, Michigan. Chandler became a merchant prince, mayor, gov- ernor, United States senator-the Marcus C. Hanna of his day, who made Rutherford B. Hayes president of the United States. The offer of Mr. Chandler shows what was already thought of Willard Coe. How far he justified the expectations thus early formed is evidenced by the fact that after three years a partnership in Mr. Chandler's already great business was offered him. Mr. Coe declined it. He returned to his native town; pur- chased the business of his father and conducted it successfully.
And now came about one of those turns of the tide in the affairs of men which it is always delightful and helpful to recall because of the lesson they impress and the insight into character they furnish. One evening there came into the village a way-worn and seemingly heart-broken traveler from
H. W. Low
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the west. He told a pitiful story. His wife and all his children had died of fever, far from the spot where he was now standing. He asked for shelter and hospitality from the village inn. The proprietor refused it. There were too many applications of the kind, etc. Mr. Coe chanced to be by. Struck by the man's evident distress and apparent sincerity he at once de- clared the waif his guest, and fed, clothed and entertained him with the hospitality for which he afterward became famous. He was well repaid. Indeed, in a pecuniary sense, he may be said to have been entertaining an angel unawares. The stranger told him of a cotton manufactory in Coopers- town, New York, with offices on Wall street; told him that he know its undeveloped capacity, and that its purchase would make the fortune of whoever secured it. It was impossible to doubt either the man's honesty or his knowledge. After careful inquiry Mr. Coe purchased the property. That property he afterward sold at'a profit of ten thousand per cent. A noble reward for the tenderness and charity that had pitied and helped the poor stranger. Such was, practically, the successful starting point of the well known Phoenix Cotton Manufacturing plant at Cooperstown, New York. Here Mr. Coe employed a large number of operatives, constructed machinery and not only manufactured cotton but turned out calicoes of entirely new designs that were unrivaled. The manufactory holds its own to-day. In two years from his entering upon this enterprise Mr. Coe stood with his build- ings, his new machinery, his contractors and operatives paid and a balance of sixty thousand dollars at his bankers.
Then came the very unusual period, days of uncertainty and unstable prices, consequent on the presidential election. Values of every kind fluc- tuated almost hourly. With that dogged determination which characterized him at all times Mr. Coe decided, come what would, that he would not sell without a profit. For over six months he held on to all his mill produced. Then came the crash. Henry Clay was defeated. The election of Polk was secured. The repeal of the tariff followed. Then followed a panic. And, like almost everyone in the same line of business, Mr. Coe found him- self financially ruined.
He was too strong a man to grieve or brood. He faced the situation as he ever faced everything, frankly and nobly. He assigned the whole of his property to his creditors. But his health, never one thousandth part as strong as his spirit, had been giving way for some time. He was told he could probably prolong his life by some six months if he were willing to live out of doors and to travel. He went to Detroit. His always de- voted friend-and he had no friends that were not devoted-the Hon. Zacha- riah Chandler, received him warmly. But hard times had reached Detroit, as they had reached himself. And so he journeyed on to St. Louis.
Now, be it known, that, of a naturally ardent temperament, Henry Willard Coe's mind and heart had from his infancy been fired by visions of the great northwest. He was naturally of an enterprising and generous disposition, as all ardent temperaments are; but he had the cool head that is so often lacking to the warm heart. And this was what made him a natural leader of his fellows. It is no wonder that he was so recognized. When
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the spring came Mr. Coe set out with a large company for Oregon. The length, the hardships, the perils of that journey, the dangers greater still that followed it, all these have been told and graphically portrayed in that vivid narrative of his son Charles, "The Winners of the Great Northwest." But, ás Kipling says, "That's another story." We are principally concerned with Mr. Coe's arrival, residence and death in the Golden state, and with what he did to permanently develop and further its interests. But before we introduce Mr. Coe more at large to the rising generations of California, who have succeeded and will follow him, this seems the proper place in which to say a passing word, not of his more remote but of those immediate relatives of whose services to their country and the quiet lustre of whose lives cast splendor upon his own and vividly illustrate the spirit and the patriotism of the race that he sprang from.
Mr. Henry Willard Coe's elder brother, Eben, was a distinguished civil engineer, in the days when America wanted nothing more urgently than the skill which this implies. He made all the preliminary surveys of the Harlem and Hudson River Railroads, shoreland and inland, till lack of capital suspended for a time what is now the famous New York Central Railroad system. Having removed to Maine, his name was for years asso- ciated with all extensive operations in that state and New Hampshire. He originated and built the dams at the foot of the lakes and sources of the Androscoggin. And after a consideration of three hundred and fifty thou- sand dollars the cities of Lewiston and Auburn became directly and indi- rectly indebted to Mr. Eben Coe for their then and now prosperity. He became one of the most extensive and successful lumbermen in the United States. When he died all mourned him. And it was declared that, while of naturally retiring disposition, "his sagacious judgment, unswerving integ- rity, high ideals of life and fine intellectual powers made him a man amongst men." It was indeed true that "his benevolence was as unceasing as it was unostentatious," and that no need of whatever kind ever appealed to him in vain.
George S. Coe, of the same family, was a banker. He was still young ; and it was the darkest hour of the Civil war. When the minds and hearts of ali men were depressed; when Bull Run made Federal success seem for the moment impossible; when the commerce of the nation was paralyzed, a loan was absolutely, imperatively needed. Secretary Chase was chosen to rescue the government from its financial straits. It was a task few men even of his standing would have cared to have undertaken. Secretary Chase undertook it. He called a meeting of the prominent bankers of New York. With the dignity that naturally invested his noble presence he told them when they assembled, lucidly, frankly, eloquently and in a most masterly fashion how matters stood. And a pall fell upon his hearers. Even his eloquence failed to lift the cloud that hung upon their spirits. Then the unexpected happened. The youthful and animated figure of one of if not the very youngest among them sprang to his feet and transfixed them all. "I move," cried out Mr. George S. Coe, "that we take this loan. This is not merely the dictate of patriotism, of wisdom, of prudence, of caution.
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It is more than them all. We are face to face with a commanding neces- sity. It is the instinct of self preservation that appeals to us. It exacts our compliance with this request. Our very existence is involved in that of the government. Without it banks can have no being and property no value. Nay, life itself is undesirable." Mr. Coe went on briefly in the same force- ful manner till taking a few cents from his pocket he exclaimed: "I would not give these coppers for all your banks, your bank buildings and bank capital; I would not give a five-cent piece for your American Exchange Bank, with its five million dollars of capital, unless this appeal to us was heard. Gentlemen, you must take this loan, or you must take barbarism." A contemporary declares that all heads were raised in sympathetic admira- tion; that all eyes fairly glowed at the burning words of the inspired orator ; that the loan was unanimously voted and the government enabled to con- tinue the war, in the scene of indescribable enthusiasm that followed Mr. Coe's ringing and magnetic address. His people and his country may well be proud of him. He represented the one by assisting the other in the hour of its direst need. It was well said of him when he died, that the name of the man whose promptness and courage had done so much to restore con- fidence when men's hearts were failing them and to save his country should never be allowed to die. And now, briefly stating that Mr. G. S. Coe was for thirty years the president of the American Exchange Bank ; and that his historical service in connection with the clearing house have been and are recognized throughout the whole of the United States, as for all time, inval- uable, we respectfully bid farewell to two noble branches of a noble tree, and return to one of which both are proud, and which more immediately concerns us.
After the various vicissitudes in Oregon, including the terrible Indian war that followed the Whitman massacre, and the other incidents recounted in "The Winners of the Great North West," Mr. Coe came to California in the end of 1848. On the journey he was one of the first, if not the very first, to discover the value of the mineral water of Shasta Springs. He spent some time in mining, and was fortunate enough to discover a very valuable mine in Amador county, which he named the Phoenix, in memory of his old mill at Cooperstown, New York. He was fairly successful; enough so to induce him-and he had never been accustomed to severe manual labor-to accept an associate. And, gentle reader, thereby there hangs a tale which I'm going to tell you. The associate in question was of a burly build, and of a character or disposition that harmonized with it. One evening, in the hills, and in the associate's absence, there came along a lot of poor fellows, barely clothed, and still, to all appearances, more sparely fed. They proved to be veterans of the Mexican war. And the heart of Willard Coe was moved to its very depth. He did for them what he had done for the poor stranger in New Hampshire, he clothed and fed and saw them on their way. His associate returned, flew into a towering rage, and declared Coe's foolish generosity had ruined them, etc. Willard Coe smiled and walked away. And now occurred a strange, a very strange thing. If fact were not stranger than fiction we could hardly bring ourselves
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to believe this one. But the evidence is absolutely undeniable. Away in the hills a considerable distance from their camp, and walking with his eyes on the ground as a prospector does, Mr. Coe noticed, almost at his feet, a string. He stooped and pulled it. And, lo, and behold, at the end thereof was a sack! And the sack enclosed this: a beautiful meerschaum pipe- kept for twenty-five years afterward-sundry gold coins and at the bottom a number of ounces of gold dust, more than sufficient to repay, twice over, the amount that generosity, patriotism, a warm and strong and tender heart, had compelled its owner to disburse for the sake of those who had served their native land and whose needs appealed to him. It was evident that the deposit was a relic of the past. The pipe alone could identify its owner, and it was kept for twenty-five years that it might do so. Meanwhile Mr. Coe returned, called his partner or associate and paid him all he could claim, showed him the door and bade him a very good day. That was Henry W. Coe to the life, in the one act as in the other.
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