A memorial and biographical history of northern California, illustrated. Containing a history of this important section of the Pacific coast from the earliest period of its occupancy...and biographical mention of many of its most eminent pioneers and also of prominent citizens of today, Part 51

Author: Lewis Publishing Company. cn
Publication date: 1891
Publisher: Chicago : The Lewis publishing company
Number of Pages: 1000

USA > California > A memorial and biographical history of northern California, illustrated. Containing a history of this important section of the Pacific coast from the earliest period of its occupancy...and biographical mention of many of its most eminent pioneers and also of prominent citizens of today > Part 51

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In 1865 he was married to Miss Ida M.

Schroeder, and they have had seven children, three of whom died in infancy. The surviving children are Eda Ellen, Chauncey Carroll, Jr., George William and Harry Edward. Judge Bush and his estimable wife are held in high standing by their neighbors and a large circle of acquaintances. Their silver wedding was held June 27, 1890, and their warm friends gathered around them in throngs to do thein honor. The pleasant and commodious home was filled to overflowing, as well as their beanti- ful grounds that surround their home.

Mrs. Judge Bush and daughter, Eda, are inembers of the Presbyterian Church, and con- stant workers in the church and Sabbath-school, Mrs. Bush being now and for several years Assistant Superintendent. The family is noted for its many charities and assistance in times of distress, Miss Eda being a very active member of the Young Ladies' Aid Society, that is well known for its good works.

HE BANK OF LIVERMORE .- This solid financial institution, which has proven so beneficial in this valley, was opened for business as a private institution on the 13th of March, 1885, and on the 11th of December, 1885, was incorporated under the laws of California. The board of directors, consisting of all the stockholders, was as fol- lows: Thomas Varney, H. H. Pitcher, G. W. Langan, John Taylor and T. H. B. Varney. The first officers were: Thomas Varney, Pres- ident; H. H. Pitcher, Cashier, and G. W. Lan- gan, Attorney. After the death of Thomas Varney, which occurred February 13, 1890, T. H. B. Varney became President, and John Tay- lor Vice-President. The bank, which has a paid-up capital of $100,000, handles practically all the business of the Livermore Valley. The bank has been a success from the start, and the volume of its business is constantly on the increase.

H. H. PITCHER, the able cashier of the Bank

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of Livermore, is a native of Sacramento, born August 16, 1850, his parents being E. M. and Jane H. (Hay) Pitcher, the former a native of New York, and the latter of London, England. Both came out to California at the same time with Strowbridge, and, becoming acquainted on the steamer, were married after their arrival in California. Mr. Pitcher, Sr., was for a time in the cattle business, but afterward conducted a hotel in the country a short distance from Sacramento. He also engaged quite exten- sively in dealing in fine horses, and imported some of the first fine stock ever brought to California, Among these was the noted John Nelson, which was a famons animal. He was also for a time in the mercantile business in Sacramento, in connection with Mr. Strow- bridge. His death occurred in Sacramento County, in 1863.

H. H. Pitcher, the subject of this sketelı, was reared in Sacramento, and there received his education. When but eighteen years of age he entered the employ of Treadwell & Co., a large mercantile firm there, as book-keeper. That firm became insolvent, and their creditors, the Bank of California, took their stores and placed Mr. Pitcher in charge of the business at Sacramento to close. He closed the business there about two years later, and so well pleased were the bank officials with the work of the young man that they made him a favorable offer to enter the Bank of California in San Fran- cisco, which he accepted, continuing there until starting in the Bank of California in 1885.

Besides his banking interests, Mr. Pitcher is largely interested in the chrome iron trade, he and Mr. Knight, of San Francisco, handling in partnership nearly all of the product on this coast, and shipping most of the ore to the Kalion Chemical Works, Philadelphia. Mr. Pitcher has a fine ranch of 500 acres in El Dorado County, not far from Placerville, which he is planting largely to fruit, to which the land is specially adapted.

Mr. Pitcher was married in San Francisco, February 3, 1872, to Miss Annie G. Clark, a

native of San Francisco, and daughter of Renben Clark, the leading architect of the State Capitol at Sacramento. They have two children, viz .: Pearl F. and Hazel Belle.

Mr. Pitcher is a member of Masonic Lodge, F. & A. M., and Doric Chapter, R. A. M., of Livermore: and of Golden Gate Commandery, Knights Templar, and Islam Temple of the Mystic Shrine, San Francisco. Mr. Pitcher is a Republican politically. He was elected a member of the Board of Trustees of Liver- inore in May, 1889, and was chosen president of the board. In May, 1890, he was re-elected.

Mr. Pitcher is a high-toned, honorable gen- tleman, of rare business qualifications, and is indeed a valuable acquisition to Livermore and its surrounding valley.

IVERMORE SPRING WATER COM- pany .- This company was incorporated in 1874 by John Aylward, Robert Liver- more, Valentine Alviso, Michael Mullanay, Charles Hedzal and W. Gibbons. The first officers elected were: John Aylward, president; W. Gibbons, secretary; and Robert Livermore, treasurer. The first board of directors consisted of Messrs. Hedzal, Aylward, Livermore, Alviso and Mullanay. In 1876 a mortgage upon the company's plant was given for the purpose of obtaining ready means for prosecuting the work, and it was foreclosed and bought in by John Aylward in 1885, since which time he has been sole proprietor.

The water used in this system is obtained from two sources-the Arroyo Mocho and the Los Positos Springs. The point on the Mocho from which water is taken is about three miles from Livermore, giving a fall of 125 feet. The Los Positos Springs are about two and a half miles from town, and this gives a fall amply sufficient for all purposes. Water is conveyed to the city through iron pipes of the best con- struction, and over ten miles of piping are used in the entire system, which supplies the lite-

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giving fluid for all domestic as well as fire pur- poses in Livermore. Much credit is dne Mr. Aylward for the active interest he has taken ever since becoming connected with the water coin- pany, in the matter of improving its facilities.

JOHN AYLWARD, proprietor of the Livermore Water Company, and the leading spirit in this valley in the line of manufacturing, is a native of Ireland, born in the county Kilkenny, in Janu- ary, 1843. He was reared at his native place, and there commenced the blacksmith's trade. In 1865 he came to America and located in Boston, where he continued the trade with T. K. Very, veterinary surgeon, who had a shop where the most intricate work in horse-shoeing was performed in a scientific manner. Under instructions there Mr. Aylward obtained a thorough knowledge in that branch of his trade, and, having a natural taste for the trade he had adopted, he became expert in the business. To this day he attributes much of his success to the knowledge obtained in the shop of Mr. Very. He remained with the latter until Sep- tember, 1866, working as a journeyman after he had finished his trade. Leaving Boston, he proceeded to New York, where he took pass- age for California on the steamer Santiago de Cuba (since sunk). The vessel was shipwrecked and he returned to New York and again took passage, this time on the steamer San Francisco. He made the trip via Nicaragua, finishing the journey on the Pacific side on the steamer Moses Taylor, and landing at San Francisco on the 7th of October. He soon went to Mission San José, where he worked for N. Bergmann six months, then started in business for himself, doing general job work, and built up a fine trade. To this he gave his personal attention until 1874, when he came to Livermore to start a shop and manufacture the iron piping for the Livermore Spring Water Company. His busi- ness in Livermore proving a large one, he sold out his shop at mission San José in 1876 to James Stanley (now public administrator). Mr. Aylward has made a thorough success of his shop in Livermore.

In 1886 he patented a hay press, which, it can be said with strict adherence to the truth, is far and away ahead of any other press now in nse. Other hay presses are simply not in com- petition with it. Though the machine has many skillful devices for the perfect compressing of hay, yet everything about it is of such strength that there is practically no stoppage for repairs when once in operation. This is accomplished, too, without making the press at all unwieldy. In fact, it is a handsome-appearing machine. Two bales of hay are constantly being made at the same time by the process used, so that there is no loss of time or power. The saving in cost of compressing is very great, and then the bales are very compact, so that it is possible to get in a car about twice as much hay as if packed by other machines. In shipping either by sea to the islands or by rail to the coast points, this is a great item, the difference in this particular alone affording a good profit to the commission man. About tifty of the Aylward presses have been made by the proprietor, who has been unable to supply the demand, and the writer of this article predicts great results for Mr. Ayl- ward when the merits of his great hay press become known in other sections as they are now recognized in the Livermore Valley. He is also manufacturing the Aylward Antomatic Gate, constructed of either iron or wood, which also has a wide reputation and a good sale. Mr. Aylward is a natural mechanical genius, and has patents on other useful articles, which, how- ever, he has never pushed, owing to the pressure upon his time by other machines and general business interests.

He was married at Mission San Jose in May, 1869, to Miss Margaret Downs, a native of Ireland, but reared in this country at Nan- tucket, from childhood. They have six chil- dren, viz .: Mary Frances, wife of John J. Ayl- ward, of San Francisco; Richard, who is with his father in the shop; Lulu, John, Grace and Ed- ward. Mr. Aylward has held the office of Trus- tee of Livermore, though he is in no sense of the word an office seeker. He is now a supporter

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of the principles of the American party. He is a member of Mosaic Lodge, F. & A. M., and Dorie Chapter, R. A. M., of Vesper Lodge, A. O. U. W., and of the Legion of Honor. If Livermore reaches the destiny outlined for her by some, it will be through the efforts of just such men as Mr. Aylward, who, while a safe and conservative man, has that spirit of true progress, aided by plnck and perserverance, which is always the leading factor in building np communities.

ANIEL W. SMITII, engaged in agriculture near Livermore, was born in New York city, December 9, 1836. At the age of two years he was taken by his parents in their removal to England, and he received his school- ing in Kent. At an early age he chose sea- faring life as a vocation, and he followed it in various capacities for many years, from cabin boy to ordinary seaman; and in 1856 he became part owner and took command of the schooner Ida Jane, of San Francisco, a coasting mer- chantman. After running this vessel until 1869 he resigned and sold his interest. Moving to Livermore he purchased 112 acres of land near that place and has since been engaged in cultivating it. "Captain Dan," as he is uni- versally called, is fifty-four years of age, hale and hearty, and has the respect and friendship of his fellow farmers and acquaintances. His father, John Smith, was a native of Castine, Maine, while the mother, Maria, is a native of Edinburg, Scotland. The Captain was married in 1870, at the mission San José, to Mrs. Helen Welch, nee Hickey. She has a daughter, named Agnes.

AMUEL KIRKHAM, a farmer five miles southeast of Woodland, and an early set- tler of Yolo County, was born June 19, 1827, in Bntler County, Ohio, a son of George

D. and Mary (Dennis) Kirkham. His father, a native of Kentucky, was a tanner and also a farmer, and moved first to Ohio and then to Illinois, and to California in 1876, where he died, July 7, 1878. Samuel also worked in the tan- nery and upon the farm until lie was twenty- two years of age, when, in the spring of 1850, he came across plain and mountain to California with ox teams, being on the road from April 28 to Angust 20. He remained at Hangtown until 1854 engaged in mining, when he selected his present home, which has long been a model residence. Mr. Kirkhamn is a very liberal- hearted man, generons to a fault and has gener- ally been too "easy" with his debtors, else he would have been worth thousands more than he is.

He was married in 1860 to Miss Mary R. - Chandler, a native of Ohio, and a daughter of Salmon and Naomi (Beebe) Chandler, who came to California in 1859 and who are now both deceased. Mr. and Mrs. Kirkham have had two children: George E., deceased, and Naomi J., wife of Jonathan Scott Harmon, of Oakland.

OLORES JUAREZ, a native son of Cali- fornia, was born near Napa, in the original adobe residence of his parents, Cayetamo and Maria J. (Higuerra) Juarez, in 1854. He received his primary education in the public schools of Napa, and later attended St. Mary's College at San Francisco, the Oakland College, and St. Augustine College at Benicia. He re- turned home at the age of fifteen, and since that time he has been engaged in attending to the various interests connected with his own and his father's ranch near Napa. He was married in 1876 to Miss Helene Newhouse, a native of Sierra County, California. They have three children: Roy, born July 5, 1877; Ethel, born September 14. 1882; and Vivien, born Jannary 8, 1884. Ile is a member of Napa Parlor, No. 62, N. S. G. W., and the organizer and leader of the Juarez Orchestra, which has furnished

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the music for the surrounding country for years past. Ilis father was the earliest locater of land in the Napa Valley, having been granted, in 1841, by Governor Manuel Jimeno, a tract of 8,865 58-100ths acres, called the Tnlucay Rancho, which extended from the Suscol Creek on the south to Arroyo Sarco on the north, and to the Napa River on the west. He was a Mexican soldier from his early hoyhood, join- ing the army in 1827, and took a very active part in the control of the Indian population, fighting those that were insubordinate, and managing and caring for on his ranch those who were peaceful. In 1840 he removed to the grant above mentioned, where he built the original adobe honse in which he lived until 1845. In that year he built the second old large adobe, which is still occupied. In the year 1854 he was elected the alcalde of the district of Sonoma, in which year a party of twenty Americans assembled near the present site of Healdsburg for some unlawful purpose, when Don Cayetano with a force of men drove them away. The ex- citement growing out of this affair continued to increase until the Americans and Mexicans began to look upon each other with general dis- trust, and finally culminated in what is known as the "Bear Flag War." Don Cayetano also owned a rancho of 10,000 acres where Ukialı now stands, but this was never confirmed to him by our Government, as he had already disposed of it before the American Land Commission was appointed. He died in 1883, and is buried in the Tulucay Cemetery, the ground for which was donated by him. His wife, Madame Maria J. Juarez, was born at the Presidio in 1815. Her father, Francisco Higuerra, was a soldier and also an interpreter of the Russian language in the intercourse with the Russian settlements in Alaska and on the Russian River. He built the first wooden house in San Francisco, the material being brought from the mill on the Russian River. He owned all the lands in the immediate neighborhood of the Presidio, but being lost at sea on a voyage to the Sandwich Islands, his children, who were young at the

time, were defrauded of their property. Mrs. Maria Jesus Juarez survived her husband six years, dying Jannary 7, 1890, aged seventy-four years, one month and twenty-three days, and was buried by the side of her husband.

DWARD FRISBIE, President of the

Bank of Northern California, is one of Shasta County's prominent citizens and business men. A brief sketch of his life is as follows:

He was born in Albany, New York, Novelli- ber 18. 1826, the son of Eleazer and Cynthia (Cornell) Frisbie, both natives of the State of New York, the former of French ancestry and the latter of English. He was the fourth born in the family, was reared on his father's farm and received his early education in Albany. At the age of fourteen young Frisbie left home to work on a farm at six dollars per month. He worked ont four years and in the meantime at- tended school six months at the Albany Acad- emy. April 16, 1846, he was united in mar- riage to Miss Phebe Aun Klink, a beautiful young girl of his own county. He started a sinall dairy at Albany and continned it success- fully for four years. At the end of that time he removed to Syracuse and purchased a farm, remaining there seven years.

In 1855 he sold ont and came to California and settled in Napa County. He purchased a farm five miles from Vallejo, where he farmed successfully for twenty-two years. In 1877 Mr. Frisbie purchased 20,000 acres of the Red- ding grant, covering the towns of Redding and Anderson. He divided the property up, put it on the market and sold it off, having disposed of the last of it in 1885. He engaged in lum- bering on Pitt River, floated the logs to Red- ding and sawed them there. In 1888 he formed a banking corporation, composed of the follow- ing gentlemen: E. Frisbie, F. H. Deakin, J. McCormick, Captain T. G. Taylor and T. A. C. Doland. They gave it the name of the Bank

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of Northern California. They started with a capital of $100,000. Mr. Frisbie was elected President, which position he still occupies. He also has large farming interests in this State; owns a stock-ranch of 920 acres on the Bald Hills in Shasta County, where he is raising cattle and horses. With one of his sons and another gentleman Mr. Frisbie is farming 12,- 000 acres of land in Monterey County. On this place they have a large dairy. About one-half of the place is being cultivated. On it they harvested 63,000 sacks of wheat and barley.

There were born to Mr. Frisbie by his first wife eleven children, all of whom are married and have children of their own. At this writ- ing Mr. Frisbie has twenty-four grandchildren. July 17, 1886, after a useful and happy life, Mrs. Frisbie was called home. The loss of this loving and indulgent mother and true and devoted wife was deeply felt by her family and many friends. In June, 1887, Mr. Frisbie wedded Miss Laura A. Walden, a native of Cali- fornia and daughter of Mr. Jerome Walden, an early settler of the State. This union is blessed with a daughter, Edwina Fay.

Mr. Frisbie's brother, now General J. B. Frisbie, was a Captain of one of the companies in General Stevenson's regiment, and came with that regiment to California in 1846. He is now a resident of Mexico. Another brother, Eleazer, came to this State with the same regi- ment. General J. B. Frisbie and Dr. L. C. Frisbie married General Vallejo's daughters. Dr. Frisbie has resided at Vallejo since 1852.

Previous to the civil war the subject of this sketch was a Democrat, but he voted for John C. Fremont, and has since given his vote and influence to the Republican party. In all busi- ness matters he is very exact, both to give and receive what is just. In public affairs he has always been very liberal, having given inuch to aid in the many improvements made in his sec- tion of the country. IIe is one of the citizens of California, who, by his industry, integrity and well-directed efforts, has risen to an envi-

able position in a business point of view, not only in Shasta County but also throughout Northern California.

ALVIN C. GRIFFITH, horticulturist, Napa County, who is one of the oldest pioneers of this place, having crossed the plains in 1845 with the new historical train that brought out the Hudsons, Yorks and many other well-known names in California, and that was the first train that brought wagons over the Sierra Nevadas. The hardships of that truly pioneer journey, the road-making through the mountains, is all a part of history and need not be enlarged upon here. Yet notwithstanding it all, and despite his sixty-one years, Mr. Grif- fith is still a young-looking, hardy, healthy as well as hard-working man. He was born in Chatham County, North Carolina, the son of James A. Griffith, and grandson of Mason Griffith, who served honorably throughout the Revolutionary war. On the father's side he is of an old Welsh family. On his mother's side the family is English, of the name of Rogers, also an old family, so that it will be seen Mr. Griffith comes of old families on both sides of the house. In 1835 the family removed to Macon County, Missouri, and engaged in farm- ing and stock-raising. Ten years later, in 1845, the family set out as already mentioned for the West. Oregon was at first the destination, but meeting a man at Fort Hall, by name Green- wood, he gave them such glowing accounts of California that a part of the train, among them the subject of this sketch, set out for this place, under Greenwood's guidance. They reached Johnson's ranch, the first point in the Sacra- mento Valley, on October 17, and pushed on at once to Sutter's fort, glad enough to get a supply of fresh provisions. The Sacramento River was crossed on rafts, and on November 1, when at the Yount place in the Napa Valley. Mr. Griffith's father rented a portion of the Yount ranch, now owned by Colonel J. D. Fry,

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and put in grain. The outbreak of the Mexican war, shortly after, however, disturbed all plans, and the family was forced to take refuge at Sonoma. The following incidents of that con- test with its important results and the raising of the Bear flag, are related fully elsewhere and need not be gone into here. Mr. Griffith was a volunteer in Fremont's force, and saw active service for the greater portion of a year, being at the occupation of Los Angeles, and later at San Gabriel. In the spring of 1847 he was finally honorably discharged and returned at once to Sonoma. During this war he was first in the company commanded by Captain Hast- ings, was transferred at Monterey to that of Captain Sears, and in the southern country to Captain Hudspeth. He engaged in farming and stock-raising at Sonoma, although not there constantly. Mr. Griffith and Ben Moore were the men sent up to Clear Lake, in Lake County, after the murder of Kelsey and Stone by the Indians, to look after their cattle. They found Kelsey's head stuck in the window of their cabin. The Indians, however, did not molest them, but they had some very exciting adven- tures. Returning to the Napa Valley in 1853, he farmed near St. Helena till December, 1856. He then went to Sonoma County, near Santa Rosa, and engaged in agriculture nutil 1871, when he once more camne to Napa Valley, after a short sojourn of four months at Knight's Valley, ard bought land near Rutherford. He then sold in 1883 and purchased his present place on the eastern edge of the valley, and where he resides with his family. He raises grapes, having a good-sized vineyard, hay, grain and stock. For four years past Mr. Griffith has been Road Master of road district No. 6, having forty-five miles of road under his charge. He is one of the most highly respected and popular men of the valley, known by everyone and regarded by all as an excellent citizen. He was married, September 6, 1855, to Miss Lydia Sensibaugh, at St. Helena. Mrs. Griffith is the daughter of Colonel Robert Sensibaugh, who has been a pioneer of more than one State, and

is still living at the good old age of eighty-three years, in Wise County, Texas, to which place he went from California in 1861. Mrs. Griffith was born in Dade County, Missonri, in 1838, and came overland with her parents in 1852, residing from that time till the date of her mar- riage to Mr. Griffith in Napa Valley.

Mr. Sensibangh is of German descent, the son of Adam Sensibangh. He married the daughter of Enoch Hudson, who was the father of the well-known Hudsons of Napa County. Mr. and Mrs. Griffith have seven children living and three deceased. The names of those living are: Oliver C., who is at San Francisco; Mary E., now Mrs. Harmon, and living at Los Angeles ; Alice M., the wife of Fred W. Loeber, of St. HIelena, a notice of whom appears elsewhere; Clara A., now Mrs. Taplin and residing near home; Albert G., farming in Chiles Valley; George and Jesse both at home.

ILAS L. SAVAGE, M. D., Livermore, California, was born at North Windsor, Ken- nebec County, Maine, August 29, 1842, and but about fourteen years of age when he was removed with his parents to Lee Center, Lee County, Illinois, where he attended school at the Lee Center Academy for abont three years, when his parents again moved (in the fall of 1859), settling in Auburn, Sangamon County, Illinois, where he commenced the study of den- tistry ; and soon after getting into practice he took up the study of medicine, and graduated at the Homeopathic Medical College of Mis- souri, in St. Louis, in 1874, and entered into partnership with the late Dr. W. C. F. Hemp- stead for the practice of medicine in Edwards- ville, Illinois. On account of the failing health of Dr. Hempstead, he removed with him (to- gether with their families) by rail to California. Stopped a short time in Marysville, and after going through the memorable "flood " of Janu- ary, 1875, he dissolved partnership with Dr. Hempstead, and located at Wheatland, Califor-

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A memorial and biographical history of northern California, illustrated. Containing a history of this important section of the Pacific coast from the earliest period of its occupancy...and biographical mention of many of its most eminent pioneers and also of prominent citizens of today, Part 51

Author: Lewis Publishing Company. cn Publication date: 1891 Publisher: Chicago : The Lewis publishing company Number of Pages: 1000

Author: Lewis Publishing Company. cn
Publication date: 1891
Publisher: Chicago : The Lewis publishing company
Number of Pages: 1000