USA > California > A history of the new California, its resources and people; Vol II > Part 51
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In October, 1871, in Louisiana, Missouri, was celebrated the marriage of Bayliss S. Rector and Miss Susie Griffith, a native of that city and a daughter of Noah Griffith, a farmer of Missouri. They had two children, but one is deceased. Their living daughter is Vivie, a lady of many accom- plishments and a fine musician. She is the wife of I. C. Lindley, a promi- nent attorney of Nevada City, whose sketch appears elsewhere in this work. Mr. Rector holds membership relations with the Elks, the Knights of Pythias and the Red Men, and of the second named he is a past chancellor.
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This account will show that the Rector Brothers have been closely iden- tified with many interests having important bearing upon the material de- velopment, prosperity and enterprise of this portion of the state. Coming to the west with limited capital, they have, through the recognition and utili- zation of opportunity, won prominence and prosperity and at the same time have had influence in political and social circles, gaining popularity by reason of their many sterling traits of character.
LEWIS AMISS SPITZER.
Lewis Amiss Spitzer, now serving his sixth consecutive term as asses- sor of Santa Clara county, California, with residence at San Jose, is a man remarkable not only for his genial and worthy character and the part he has taken in the public life of his county and city, but is deserving of especial esteem in the hearts of all Californians because of his pioneer career during the early history of the west, and his record is redolent of all the lights and shades of the early west, with its dangers from the aborigines and their worse companions, the white outcasts of society, with experiences as a traveler, freighter, soldier, miner and stock farmer. The scenes of his life have been cast during most momentous periods, when the Pacific coast empire was in its incipient stages of development, and impressed on his mind are annals whose importance will be more clearly recognized as his- tory assumes its true perspective. Even in such a new country as California an early pioneer is a rarity, and few men know from personal experience the glowing days of the golden Eldorado, with its bustle and confusion, with its brilliance as a scene of daring and adventure and with its romantic colorings and types, such as have received deathless pictures in the tales of a Bret Harte. And how much longer shall we hear from the lips of the living the breathless story of the pilgrimages across the plains, compared to which the crusades to the shrine of the Holy of Holies and the journeys across the deserts of Arabia to Mecca are as a festal excursion? All these things are now a matter of history, shifted off the stage of the present by a twen- tieth century civilization, and fortunate is one who can hear the oral narra- tive of a survivor of events and deeds of which he himself was a great part. Mr. Spitzer began his participation in the history of the great west as early as the year 1857, and for ten years he was in constant movement and activity in the varied phases of its life and progress. Since the year 1867 he has been one of the most highly respected and useful citizens of Santa Clara county, and has been repeatedly honored in various ways for his prominence in the affairs of the west.
Lewis Amiss Spitzer was born at New Market, Shenandoah county, Virginia, February 10, 1840. He is of German descent on his father's side and French Huguenot on his mother's. His earliest paternal ancestors set- tled in Pennsylvania during the colonial period, and his grandparents, Henry and Catherine (Wentz) Spitzer, migrated from Lancaster county, Pennsyl- vania, shortly after their marriage, to the Shenandoah valley in Virginia.
Lewis D. Spitzer,
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where they reared four sons and four daughters, Sarah, Samuel, Moses A., Charles, Mary, Nancy, William and Elizabeth, all of whom are deceased.
Charles Spitzer, the father of L. A. Spitzer, was born in Virginia, and was a gunsmith by trade. He was well known all over the south as a manu- facturer of firearms, and many of his products were used in the Civil war. He died in New Market in 1862. He married Elizabeth F. Amiss, who was also born in Virginia and died in 1882, while on her way to California on a visit. Her ancestry is traced to French Huguenots who were driven from their native land by persecution, and thence went to Scotland, where they remained several generations, and then settled in America. Thomas Amiss and his brother Phillip, the former the great-grandfather of Mr. Spitzer, came to America from Scotland during the Revolutionary war, and entered the continental army and served until the close of the war, after which they settled in Westmoreland county, Virginia, and married and reared families. Thomas married a Miss Hudson, and afterward removed to Rappahanock county, where he laid out the town of Amissville. Gabriel Amiss, the son of Thomas, married Margarette Amiss, the daughter of Phillip Amiss, and of this union was born Elizabeth Amiss, the mother of Mr. Spitzer.
Mr. Spitzer had one brother and two sisters, Mary C., Sarah A. and Henry, but all are now deceased. His brother Robert Henry at the age of sixteen years became a volunteer in the Confederate army, and served under Stonewall Jackson until the death of that great leader, and then was under General A. P. Hill till the end of the struggle, surrendering with General Lee's army at Appomattox. He then came to California, where he engaged in farming in San Benito county, and was accidentally shot and killed by liis wife's uncle, while they were hunting.
Lewis A. Spitzer received his schooling at the New Market Academy, but left school before he was sixteen years old. He left home April 26, 1857, and came as far west as St. Louis, where he had a position in a clothing house until the following spring. His restless disposition would not allow him to be content with a humdrum mercantile life, and in the spring of 1858 he started for California. He engaged to drive an ox team across the plains in the employ of Colonel Majors, Russell and Waddell, who were large freight operators, employing upward of forty-four thousand oxen for their trains, and one of their herders being the famous Buffalo Bill. Before start- ing on this trip each man was furnished with a Colt's revolver and a pocket Bible, with instructions to use each one in due season and as occasion de- manded. The route took the party by way of Fort Kearney, Laramie, Fort Bridger, Salt Lake, and they arrived in San Bernardino, California, in the fall. Mr. Spitzer, after a short stay in Los Angeles, went to the Gila river mines in Arizona, but not finding them as reported, returned to the Kern county mines.
Shortly afterward Mr. Spitzer became a member of an enterprise in which he had some of the most exciting experiences of his eventful life, and the main details of which form a part of the general history of the west. S. A. Bishop and General E. F. Beale took a government contract to con- struct a road across the plains from Fort Smith, Arkansas, to Fort Tejon,
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California, and in 1858 these partners started from the different terminals with a considerable force of men, purposing to meet in Arizona. General Beale left Fort Smith, and Mr. Bishop, with whose party Mr. Spitzer was connected and with whom he had from then on a warm friendship, started from the west January 25, 1859, with six six-mule teams and twenty pack camels, out of forty-four head that had been imported by the government, and which were a constant source of wonder and amazement to the Indians. Trouble from the redskins threatened Mr. Bishop's party before they started, and they had not proceeded more than a hundred miles on their way when hostile demonstrations were made. There were forty-one men in the party, and at on point on the trail a line was drawn on the sand, and on one side were forty-one marks with an arrow drawn through each ;- as a graphic warning of what would happen to the intrepid caravan. They were attacked at the point where Fort Mojave now stands by the Mojave Indians, who were, however, still armed with bows and arrows of their ancestors and were soon driven off by the firearms. In the fight Mr. Spitzer was the only one wounded, and that not seriously. The company soon retreated some twenty- five miles to await the coming of the troops, and while encamped the men became discontented, and Mr. Bishop finally sent back the rebellious ones, and with the remaining twenty men and the mule teams he set out under cover of darkness and had reached and crossed the Colorado river before the Indians got wind of their movements. They soon came into conflict with. the Tonto Apache Indians, and had a number of skirmishes with them, the redskins always being worsted. After meeting General Beale's forces in western New Mexico and encamping with their united forces in Arizona for some weeks, the entire expedition set out for California.
One day about noon the Tonto Apaches swooped down on the train and killed three mules, for which depredation some of the white men, Mr. Spitzer among them, planned to get revenge. The dead mules lay in the bottom of a gulch, and after dark Mr. Spitzer and his comrades concealed themselves within thirty yards of the carcasses, while the main body broke camp and moved down on the plains. They lay thus in their ambush all night, and in the morning, according to expectation, a party of Indians came around to get the mules and provide themselves with mule steak for breakfast. They were no sooner engaged with the mules than the whites opened fire and killed four and crippled many more. After scalping the dead bodies they laid them across the mules, and made good their retreat before the Indians came up in force. For this achievement General Beale prom- ised the men a grand banquet at the Belle Union Hotel in Los Angeles, and this promise was kept and made the occasion of a gala night never to be for- gotten by its participants.
The expedition then went on to the Colorado river, where it met Gen- eral Armistead with regulars, and was informed that a treaty had been concluded with the Indians. The partners then started once more to the east for the purpose of doing some work on the Beale road (which was in the end abandoned on account of Indian hostility), but decided to leave a part of their wagons and supplies on the east side of the Colorado moun-
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tains. Mr. Spitzer, Ike Renfro and Tom Goshorn were the volunteers select- ed to guard the station until the return of the train, and they were left in a small stone fort constructed on an ideal location. Eight days after the de- parture of the main company, signal fires were observed in all directions about, and, notwithstanding the professed peace on the part of the Indians, the men knew something was up. One day a party of Indians dressed as squaws came to the fort and endeavored to gain admittance, and on being refused pulled out their weapons from under their rabbit-skin robes and made an attack. The firearms of the white men soon quenched their ardor, but for two months and a half the gallant defenders were in a condition of siege. They happened to have a fine greyhound with them, and it kept faith- ful watch while its masters slept. Through a friendly Indian news of their situation reached General Armistead at Fort Majave (which had been re- cently established), and he sent sixteen soldiers under cover of darkness to bring the little garrison to the fort, but Mr. Spitzer and his comrades refused to leave without their wagons and stores, and a few days later a detail of soldiers removed the entire equipment to Fort Mojave, where they were af- terward joined by the main company, and thence proceeded, encountering more dangers with the Indians on the way, to California. Mr. Spitzer had at first been refused as a member of this expedition because of his youth, but Mr. Bishop finally consented to his going with the understanding that if he did not prove as good in every service demanded as the next man, he was to receive no pay at the end of the expedition. It is needless to state that he received as much as any man in the company, despite his youth of eighteen years.
After returning to California Mr. Spitzer spent the winter of 1859-60 in Visalia, Tulare county, and in the following February, in company with ten others, went to prospect the Owens river country, and took up claims on Mono gulch. In the summer of 1860 he crossed the mountains, he and his companion, Mark Williams, being caught in a three days' snow storm, but in the following winter returned from the mines and was in Fresno county; in the spring of 1861 he was in Monterey and San Luis Obispo counties, where he lived for several years. In the spring of 1863 he returned to Santa Clara county, where he had been located for a time in the winter of 1859- 60, and a short time afterward went to the mines of Nevada, where he was engaged until the fall of 1865. After his marriage in the latter year he returned to San Jose, and a short time later took up his residence in San Luis Obispo county, where he farmed and raised stock until 1867, when he made permanent location in Santa Clara county, where he has resided ever since, following mining, stock-raising and farming until his election to office.
Mr. Spitzer served as deputy assessor of Santa Clara county, under Henry Phelps, from 1875 to 1878, and on November 4, 1882, was elected on the Democratic ticket to the office of assessor, which he has held continuous- ly since, being now in his sixth term. As an evidence of his popularity, on one election he was the Democratic, People's party and Republican Good Government League nominee, and was elected by nearly two thousand ma-
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jority. On his last election, November 4, 1902, he was elected by 4,268 ma- jority.
July 4, 1865, Mr. Spitzer was married at Austin, Nevada, to Miss Elizabeth F. Easterday, a native of Carroll county, Kentucky, and nine chil- dren were born to them. Two boys, Charles H. and Simon H., died when four months old. Mary Ellen is the wife of Elmer B. Leavitt, of Bingham, Utah; Francis E., living in San Jose and his father's chief deputy, married Edith A. Shackelford, and they have two children, Doris and Leona ; Maggie L. resides at home ; Sarah E., the wife of Ernest A. Pittman, lives in San Francisco; Lewis A., Jr., who married Mary B. Hauswirth and has one son, conducts an undertaking business in San Jose: Florence Virginia, wife of Delos D. Davis, principal of Fresno grammar school, where they reside; and Ethel Loraine, living at home.
Mr. Spitzer is an honorary member of the Santa Clara County Society of California Pioneers and treasurer of the same. His parents were mem- bers of the Lutheran church, but he has never united with any religious sect. Fraternally he affiliates with Friendship Lodge No. 210, F. & A. M., Howard Chapter No. 14. R. A. M., San Jose Commandery No. 10, K. T., Islam Tem- ple, A. A. O. N. Mystic Shrine, at San Francisco, and San Jose Chapter No. 31, O. E. S .; Enterprise Lodge No. 17. A. O. U. W., and Alida Up- church Lodge No. 6, Degree of Honor; a charter member of San Jose Lodge No. 522, B. P. O. E .; Social Member Camp No. 7777, M. W. A .; and charter member of San Jose Council No. 591, National Union.
CHARLES EDWARD CLINCH.
Charles Edward Clinch, ex-mayor of Grass Valley and president of the Clinch Mercantile Company, is a Californian by birth and in the spirit of enterprise which has always animated him in his excellent endeavors, and the worthy part he has performed in connection with his individual business and the public welfare of the community ranks him among the influential and most esteemed citizens of Nevada county, where he has spent nearly all his life.
Mr. Clinch was born in Eldorado county, California, October 31, 1858, a son of Patrick Clinch, a native of Ireland. His father crossed the At- lantic to Baltimore in 1845, and in 1850 went around Cape Horn to Cali- fornia. He engaged in mining in Eldorado county, where he resided until 1866, and then moved to Grass Valley, where he died three months after his arrival. After coming to the Pacific coast he met and married Miss Isabella Eliza Gill, who was born in Sidney, Australia, and came to Califor- nia in 1852, and is now residing in Grass Valley. There is one other son, Willis A. Clinch, who represents as local agent a number of San Francisco and Sacramento mercantile houses in Grass Valley.
Mr. C. E. Clinch was educated in the public schools of Grass Valley, and after concluding his studies in 1872 was employed as a clerk in several stores of the town, and at the same time completed his education by attending night school until 1883. He then became interested in the firm of Mckay
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and Company, grocers, and went in as a member of the firm. The business was later changed to Clinch and Company, and in October, 1903, the Clinch Mercantile Company was incorporated, with Mr. Clinch as president. This house does the largest grocery business in the county, and it has been built up to its present successful proportions by the energy and resourceful busi- ness methods of its president. He is interested in a number of mining enterprises, and is also a director of the Citizens' Bank of Nevada City.
As a stanch adherent of the Republican party Mr. Clinch has effected much for the good of his party and for the welfare of public administration. He has represented his party in both state and county conventions, and served on the congressional committee in 1898. He was elected a delegate to the national convention at Chicago in 1904. He was chief engineer of the Grass Valley fire department for two years, and was elected and served as mayor of the city for two terms, during 1899-1902. During his mayor- alty the sewer system of the city was installed and other public works under- taken. He is chairman of the Nevada county promotion committee, and has done much as an individual to advance the interests of the county. He was public administrator for the years 1882-3. He is prominent in the several branches of Masonry, being a Knight Templar and a Shriner, and is a member of the encampment of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, of the uniform rank of the Knights of Pythias, of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, and the Native Sons of the Golden West.
Mr. Clinch was married in Grass Valley, November 18, 1884, to Miss Emily Jenkins, a native of Grass Valley and a daughter of John Jenkins, a native of England, and who was a pioneer and a prominent farmer of Nevada county. Mr. and Mrs. Clinch have two sons and two daughters, Raymond and Watt, and Mabel and Marian, all in school.
VICTOR PONCELET.
Victor Poncelet, proprietor of the Mountain Home, one of the best summer resorts in Santa Clara county, was born in France in 1852. He pursued his education in the public and normal school and in 1868 he entered the Conservatory of Music in Brussels, Belgium, where he was graduated in 1871. His natural talent was greatly developed by his study of the art, and for many years he devoted his attention to musical instruction. It was in 1872 that he came to the United States, landing at New York city, and in the two succeeding years he engaged in teaching music in New York, Chicago, St. Louis and San Francisco, arriving in the last-named place in 1874. He has given private instructions to many students in music, devot- ing his energies to the profession until 1888. He has also been musical di- rector of many bands, including the Merced Band at Merced, California : the Turlock Band at Turlock, California; the Modesto Band at Modesto, California : the Victoria Band at Victor. British Columbia: the Redwood City Band at Redwood, California, and the Fifth Regiment Band at San Jose. California. He organized all these bands with the exception of the last named, and he gained the reputation of being one of the best band in-
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structors on the Pacific coast. He also was a musician in various theaters of San Francisco, but at length he determined to sever his connection with the musical art as a profession, and established the Mountain Home sum- mer resort. This is one of the finest resorts of central California and affords to its guests excellent sport in hunting, fishing and bathing. The place is supplied with all modern conveniences and equipments, and Mr. Poncelet puts forth every effort in his power to provide for the comfort and pleasure of those whom he entertains.
Mr. Poncelet was married in 1876, to a native of France, and to them were born thirteen children, but only four are now living, Fred, Edward, Victor and William. Mr. Poncelet is serving as postmaster at Llagas in Santa Clara county. He came to America a young man ambitious and hopeful, and the success he has achieved is the outcome of his own persistent effort, energy and well directed labor.
COLONEL COLEMAN YOUNGER.
Among the honorable men who have figured prominently in the public life of California, have aided in shaping its policy and molding its destiny, was numbered Colonel Coleman Younger, now deceased. For many years he was one of the forceful and honored factors in business circles in Santa Clara county and one whose influence was not a minor element among the representative men of the state. He attained to prominence through the in- herent force of his character, the exercise of his native talent and the utiliza- tion of surrounding opportunities. His business career excited the admira- tion and won the respect of his contemporaries, yet it was not this alone that entitled him to rank among the foremost men of his day in central Califor- nia. His connection with the public interests of his city and state was far- reaching and beneficial in shaping the municipal policy and in pro- moting the legislative development. His patriotic citizenship and his interest in community affairs took tangible form in his zeal- ous labors for the improvement of institutions in San José and Santa Clara county, and he thus inscribed his name indelibly on the annals of the state.
Colonel Younger was born in St. Charles, Missouri, on the 18th of April, 1809, his father being Charles Younger and his mother was born Purcell, both of whom are of German descent. Coming to America they settled in Baltimore, Maryland, and afterward removed to North Carolina, whence they went to Kentucky and subsequently to Missouri, where they were living at the time of the birth of Colonel Younger. The father was a farmer and stock-raiser, making a specialty of the breeding of fine horses, and became a very wealthy man through the exercise of his excellent busi- ness and executive ability. He died in Missouri, November 12, 1854. In the family were sixteen children.
Upon the old homestead farm in Missouri Colonel Younger spent the days of his boyhood and youth and acquired his education through attend- ance at the public schools. At the age of nineteen years he started out upon
COLEMAN YOUNGER
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an independent business career, and throughout his entire life strong prin- ciples formed the basis of his character and were an integral factor in his advancement. While in Missouri he engaged in general farming and stock- raising, following those pursuits there until 1851, when, attracted by the business opportunities of the great and growing west, he started for Cali- fornia, making the trip by way of New Orleans, Mexico and the coast. After weary weeks of travel he arrived in San José, and purchased what is now known as the Younger homestead, a tract of land comprising two hundred and eleven acres.
Not long afterward he returned to Missouri, by way of the water route and New York city. He was then married to Mrs. Augusta Peters Inskeep, who was a native of Kentucky and a representative of one of the pioneer fam- ilies of Virginia. She had been previously married to Rev. James McC. Inskeep, a native of Virginia. To them was born one child. Florence, now living with her mother. Mrs. Younger's maiden name was Peters, and a daughter of John R. and Frances Sims Peters. Richard Sims, a grand- father, was a soldier in the Revolutionary war and served at Trenton and Valley Forge. This was Mr. Younger's third marriage. In 1828 he had wedded Miss Ellen Murray, a native of North Carolina and their children were: Ruth, now the widow of J. B. Coffin, of San Francisco; Charles B., of Santa Cruz; Helen, the wife of Rev. Morris Evans, of Texas; Francis, deceased; and Andrew, who has also passed away. Colonel Younger was married, second, at Liberty, Missouri, to Miss Rebecca Smith, a native of that place, and they had one son, Coleman S., who is now in old Mexico.
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