USA > California > A memorial and biographical history of the coast counties of Central California > Part 52
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From New Orleans Mr. Meyer returned to Texas, and while there married Miss Rose Fromner. After his marriage he came back to California, via the Nicarauga route, and resumed mining and trading on Oregon bar, Yuba county. He subsequently engaged in ranching in Yuba county, and also developed a vineyard and orchard in Nevada county. In 1870 he located at his present home, near San Benito, where he owns an 800-acre stock and grain farm. Mr. and Mrs. Meyer have had ten children, of whom seven survive.
Mr. Meyer acquired a good education, has a large fund of general information, and is versed upon the important issues of the day, political and otherwise. He has held the office of Justice of the Peace for a long time, and has served as Trustee of his school dis- trict many years.
ETER CONRAD .- Mr. Conrad is one of the venerable citizens of Hollister and is a native of Germany, having been born in the Province of Rhine, Septem- ber 29, 1818. He inherited a good business mind from his father and received a liberal schooling in his native land. He emigrated to America when nineteen years of age. His first location was at Fond du Lac, Wisconsin, in 1843, where he engaged in farming and in au insurance and loaning business. This latter he was able to carry on as he had estab- lished credit in England and controlled large amounts of money, which he negotiated in the form of loans, secured by mortages on lands.
Upon coming to California he located in San Benito county, near Hollister, where he purchased 320 acres of land and engaged in farming. To this property he added broad acres which he still owns.
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Our subject was married, at Bridgeport, New York, April 25, 1843, to Elizabeth E., a daughter of Wheeler French, of that city, who was a contractor and house-builder of New England ancestry, and his wife of En- glish descent. Mrs. Conrad was born Janu- ary 1, 1823, and her children are as follows: John William, deceased; George F., deceased; Louise, deceased; Martin J .; and Emma L., now Mrs. Hall of Hollister.
Mr. and Mrs. Conrad have retired from their active farm life to a beautiful little home, such as Hollister is noted for, where they are esteemed for their kindness of heart and noble traits of character.
M. ARCHER, M. D., is not only an eminent physician and genial gentle- man, but one of the landmarks of Monterey county, having resided here since 1869. He has reached the age of forty-two, and came to California from Louisville, Ken- tucky, in 1868. He comes from a long line of colonial settlers, the first of whom made their homes in Maryland and Virginia. At a later date members of the family partici- cipated in the wars of the Revolution and 1812, and in the early Indian wars, many of them filling important positions in the army and Government. Among Dr. Archer's an- cestors, is John Archer, of Maryland, who was the first man to graduate in medicine in the United States. He obtained his diploma from the Philadelphia Medical College in 1768.
The subject of this sketch received his college education at the Asbury (Indiana) University, and graduated in medicine, at Louisville. He then attended the clinics at the Bellevue and Blackwell Island hospitals,
New York, for a considerable length of time. After arriving in San Francisco, as an advent- ure, and to see more of the world, he made a trip to China, via Sandwich Islands and Japan, as surgeon of a vessel. The passage both ways was rough, dangerous and disa- greeable, and when the young medico got back to San Francisco he concluded that he had enough of " life on the ocean wave."
He determined to locate in the country, contrary to the advice of Dr. H. H. Toland, the well-known physician of San Francisco, to whom he had letters of introduction from personal friends. In 1869 he went to Monterey county, intending to return to the city to locate permanently, in a few years, but he soon became a fixture in Monterey county, although he is often called to the city professionally. In 1872 he was ap- pointed County Physician of the county hospital, and has held that position ever since, during which time he has treated successfully more desperate cases of dropsy than any other physician in the State. He served one term as Coroner and Public Administrator, from 1876 to 1878, but declined a renomination, and also declined the nomination for the As- sembly in 1886. Dr. Archer is married and has seven daughters.
OBERT H. WILLEY, a member of the Monterey county bar and resident of Monterey city, is a native of the city of New York, having been born there, Nov- meber 18, 1852. His father, an English- man, was a surgeon of the English navy, and the son's birth was an incident of the parents visit to America and stay in New York city. Robert spent his boyhood and youth in
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the county of Yorkshire, England, where he received his early education. When he was seventeen years of age he visited this country with his father, and coming to San Francisco entered into the study of law. He was ad- mitted to the bar of the State Supreme Court, in 1877, and commenced the practice of his profession in Napa city. In 1879 he located at Monterey, where he has acquired the confidence of the public at large and en- joys a large and lucrative practice.
His marriage occurred, in Napa city, to Miss Susie C. Racher, March 1, 1877. She is a daughter of A. G. Racher, a resident merchant of San Diego, California. Mr. and Mrs. Willey have three beantiful children, two sons and one daughter.
Besides his other practice, Mr. Willey is the Attorney for the city of Monterey. These two young people are among the best of the society of the little city where they have the pleasure of residing, and are respected by their large circle of acquaintances.
F. WALSH, one of the most pros- perous and influential citizens of Castroville, Monterey county, Cali- fornia, is a native of Ireland, where he was born forty-two years ago. In his youth the love of liberty was instilled into his mind. When the patriots of 1867 revolted against English oppression, he was one of the first to take up arms in defense of his country's rights, though comparitively a boy at that time. Being one of the " wild geese," he sailed for America the same year, and landed in Boston, Massachusetts, where he remained twelve months.
Finding the climate of the East too severe he came to San Francisco and engaged in the
shoe business, in all of its branches. While there he took an active part in organizing some of the leading Irish societies of that city. In 1877 he came to Castroville, and becoming charmed with the fine climate and beautiful scenery, concluded to locate there permanently.
Acting upon this resolution he sent for his family, bought him a little home, and has ever since had the best interest of the town and county at heart. He owns a large amount of real estate in the old and new towns, which he has carefully improved. His residence and beautiful grounds are an ornament to Castroville, and a credit to himself. He be- lieves implicitly in the town as the coming city of Monterey county, and works ever with that object in view. Besides his real-estate interests, he is an active and prosperous mer- chant of his town, and is well and favorably known throughout the Golden State.
He has four bright children, attending the normal and home schools, who, with their mother, a most amiable daughter of the Emerald Isle, form a happy household.
- ILLIAM H. STONE, the first settler in southern San Benito county, lo- cated at his present home, near Mul- berry, in the fall of 1857. He is a California pioneer of 1849, having come to the State, in that year from Boone county, Missouri. Upon arrival in the "Golden State," he mined nearly all of the time, until 1853, when he became sick and was obliged to return home. His second trip to the coast was made the following year, and he spent two years in the redwood lumber camps of Santa Cruz and Santa Clara counties.
When he came to California he brought
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with him only his son, John, a child of a former marriage, as the mother had died in Missouri. In 1867 he married in Hollister, Miss Hanna Thompson, a native of Putnam county, Ohio, daughter of Alfred Thompson, who came to California in 1849. She bore her husband three sons and two daughters, namely: Mary F., Edward F., Norman A., James A. and Freeman.
Mr. Stone is a native of Albermarle county, Virginia, having been born there in 1818. His father, John D. Stone, emigrated to Cumberland county, Tennessee, in 1820, where our subject spent his boyhood and yonth. His mother, Elizabeth Moods, was likewise a native of Virginia.
Mr. Stone has now about 1,100 acres of tilled land at Mulberry, and also a stock farm of about 2,000 acres upon which he ranges nearly 200 head of cattle and forty head of horses. In politics he is a life-long Repub- lican, a man of sound business judgment and has the respect and esteein of the citizens of San Benito county.
AVID SPENCE LITTLE, is a native of Monterey county, and the oldest son of the late Milton Little (see sketch). Our subject was born March 28, 1849. When he was sixteen years old he had the honor to be appointed naval cadet by the Senator, Cornelius Cole, now of Los Angeles, and Mr. Little spent three years at Annap- olis, Maryland, when he resigned his position and returned to California. After his return he learned the joiner trade and pursued it about nine years, in San Francisco. He has pursued his chosen calling at various points in the State, and in 1887 settled in Monterey, his native home.
Our subject married, October 28, 1878, Miss Delela J., a daughter of John C. Cald- well, deceased, then a resident of Monterey. Mrs. Little is a native danghter of California and was born near Stockton. After marriage the young couple spent the major portion of the year from 1879 to 1880 in Oregon, but finally returned to their native State, where they have since remained, and where Mr. Little has successfully pursued his occupation. Mr. and Mrs. Little have four children, two sons and two daughters, namely: Lollie M., Henry P., Lela O and David C.
P. BERNHARDT, of Soledad, is a native of Denmark. He came to America in 1869, landing at New York, April 14. After acquiring the black- smith trade he left New York and went to southeastern Texas, where he remained until 1875, when he came to California and after spending four months in Salinas he located in Soledad, where he has successfully pur- sued his trade. Here he has built up a good trade in the blacksmithing, wagon manufact- uring and repairs and is also engaged in ranch- ing. His marriage occurred in New York city, and he has a son, Roy, and a daugh- ter, Mary. Mr. Bernhardt is a Democrat in politics, but is not much of a seeker for pub- lic notoriety. He is greatly esteemed as a citizen.
EORGE CHALMERS, one of the well- known citizens of San Juan, came to California in 1850, from Boston, Mas- sachusetts.
Our subject is a native of Fifeshire, Scot- land, but came, with his parents, in 1858 to
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America. His father, William Chalmers, a farmer by occupation, and his mother, Isabel (Barker) Chalmers were both natives of Scot- land. Upon arrival in America Mr. Chal- mers, Sr., located in Orange county, Ver- mont, town of Newbury, where he reared his family and there died. Of his eleven chil- dren, two are residents of California, our subject and a brother, Alexander, a resident of Watsonville.
Our subject sailed from New York city to . California, via the Isthmus of Panama, on the steamer " Georgia." After arrival at the Isthmus Mr. Chalmers spent six months at the town of Panama, working at his trade of mechanic. He there fitted up the first theater in the town, and also aided in the fitting out of a steamer. He then proceeded on his journey westward and landed in San Francisco in Angust, 1850. Like almost all of the emigrants of that day he went into the mines, choosing those of Calaveras county. Later he returned to San Francisco and worked at his trade. He then followed building and contracting in varions portions of the State until 1856, when he located in San Benito county and engaged in stock- raising, continuing there until the winter of 1863-'64. During the dry season of that year memorable to stockinen he suffered the loss of about 3,000 head of cattle. He then invested in the first steam threshing machine that came into San Benito county and likely the third in the State. Mr. Chalmers also engaged in the milling business at Castro- ville, building the Castroville mills, in 1865. This property he finally disposed of and located at San Juan, where he has since con- tinuously resided.
Our subject was married, October 26, 1856, to Mary S., a daughter of the late Ed- ward L. B. Smith, one of the first residents
and a time-honored citizen of San Juan. (See sketch of his life in this work.) Of the eleven children born to Mr. and Mrs. Chal- mers, fonr are now living, namely: Lillie G., now Mrs. J. Cabera, of Fresno; Florence, wife of J. P. Mitchel, Esq., of Castroville; and Angie M., a single lady, a resident of San José. The fourth child, Leona Z., is still at home.
Mr. Chalmers has led a very busy life and has born an honorable part in the material development of his chosen locality. He has served the local public several times as Justice of the Peace, and is at present a member of the Town Board of Trustees of San Juan. He is well-known throughout San Benito and Monterey counties as a man of strict integrity and upright principles.
OSEPH C. BROWN, the subject of this sketch, came to California by the Sunset route, via New Orleans, from Oxford, England, in the year 1883. His father, Jo- seph Brown, was born in Oxford, England, in the year 1820, and his mother, whose maiden name was Susan Palmer Bezant, was born in 1823 and died in 1877. They had a family of five children, all sons, Joseph C. being the fourth-born. The mother was a descendant of an old and distinguished fam- ily.
The subject of our sketch obtained his edn- cation principally in the public schools, and he is by trade a miller. He came to King City a few years ago and was engaged as head miller in the Central Milling Com- pany's mills, at a salary of $120 per month. This position he still retains, his services be- ing regarded as very efficient. He resides on his claim of 160 acres, located a few miles
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from King City, in what is known as the Shearer school district.
Mr. Brown was married in the year 1874, to Miss Eliza Jane Oaksford, by whom he has six children, three sons and three dangh- ters.
A. GABLE has been a resident of Soledad since 1873 and of California since 1852, having come to this State from Iowa.
Mr. Gable was born on the Little Mohawk river, in Washington county, Ohio, and when a small boy, moved with his parents to Iowa. His father, Solomon Gable, who was of Penn- sylvania birth and Holland Dutch ancestry, was by occupation a farmer. His death oc- enrred in Iowa. The inother's maiden name was Elizabeth Holden. They had twelve children that lived to maturity.
Upon his arrival in California, the subject of our sketch was engaged in farming and stock-raising in Yolo county previous to his locating in Monterey county. He was mar- ried in February, 1865, in Tehama county, this State, to Miss Ida James, and they have eight children, namely : Maggie J., Harry S., Harvey E., Herbert A., Milton J., Earnest E., Daisy M. and Ida E.
R. ELLIS .- Nowhere more than in the lives of the California pioneers
c do we find the lights and shades of fortune and misfortune reflected in more varied hnes. The subject of this sketch af- fords an excellent illustration of the truth of this statement. Briefly given, an outline of his life is as follows:
W. R. Ellis was born in Rochester, Monroe county, New York, October 3, 1842, and is descended from a line of patriotic ancestors, some of them having fought on Revolution - ary battle fields. His father, W. R. Ellis, a midshipman in the English navy, was killed in the Mexican war. And his mother was a direct descendant of Commodore Rogers of the American navy. She died in 1882, aged ninety-one years.
In 1857, when a boy of thirteen years, Mr. Ellis ran away from his home in New York and went to sea. He visited every port of any note in the United States, and was at Liverpool three times. Returning to New York abont the time the Civil war came on, the patriotic spirit he had inherited from his ancestors was aroused, and he enlisted when the first call for volunteers was made, the date of his enlistment being May 7, 1861. As a member of Company C, New York Vol- unteers, he entered the conflict and heroically did he serve all through that sanguinary struggle. He was in many of the most im- portant battles of the war, among which were the battles of Bull Run, Gettysburg, Antie- tam, Sonth Mountain and Fredericksburg. On the 22d of July, at the time General Mc- Pherson was killed, he was taken prisoner at Atlanta. Fourteen times he was wounded. He now receives a pension of $27 per month.
Mr. Ellis received his education in the public schools of New York and Michigan. He came to California in 1868, making the journey by way of Arizona and with an ox team. After his arrival here he was var- iously employed. He helped to build the Union Pacific railroad, fought the Apaches in Arizona, etc. He came to this State with $27,000. Since then he has lost three for- tunes and has been a tramp and everything else except a thief and a rascal. He has
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never held any office save that of City Mar- shal. He was for a time engaged in farming and stock-raising, but is now conducting a livery business in Salinas.
Mr. Ellis was married July 3, 1888, to Mrs. Joanna Edwards, who died December 1, 1890. Like her husband, she was de- scended from Revolutionary stock. Her brother fought through the late war and lost a leg in that conflict.
RANCIS DOUD, of Monterey, is a California pioneer of 1849, and one of the veteran soldiers of the Mexican war.
He was born in Ireland, January 20, 1820. He left his native home at the age of sixteen years, and, after a brief visit with relatives in New York, joined the regular United States Army in 1838, to fight the Indians. He served the Government through the Sem- inole war in Florida, which lasted about four years, and is one of the very few soldiers of that conflict who now survive. He contin- ned in the Government service, entering the Mexican war; was wounded at the siege of Vera Cruz, and a second time at Cerro Gordo, in consequence of which latter severe wounds he was honorably discharged in 1847. He distinguished himself at these battles, and for gallant and meritorious service there rendered he holds a bronze medal, made from the metal of brass field-pieces used at Vera Cruz. This medal was presented him by the Mexican Veteran Association, and bears the date of 1847. He has other mementoes of that historic conflict.
After the close of the Mexican war he be- came a private citizen, and came, in 1849, to California, locating at Monterey, where he has
since lived. He has been for several years engaged in the butchering business, conduct- ing a meat market in the town of Monte- rey. He has also engaged in stock-raising and farmning. He owns valuable ranch property in the Salinas valley, and a stock range of about 5,000 acres lying along the seacoast south of Monterey. Mr. Dond has been the custodian of the Government property at Monterey, and looks after the Government's landed interests at this point.
He was married at New York in 1845, and has six children, namely: Frank, Nellie, Mary, Thomas, Martin and Edward. Nellie is now Mrs. Pardee. Thomas was born June 13, 1855, in Monterey, and on September 11, 1889, was united in marriage with Miss Margaret E. Boland, a native of Connecticut. They have one daughter, Annie, born in Monterey, September 16, 1890. By occupa- tion, Thomas Doud is a butcher; Martin, also a native of Monterey, born November 13, 1857, was married June 11, 1881, to Miss Mary Erhart. They have two children, Nettie and Eva.
M. CHAMBRE .- There are few men, the story of whose life experiences, if related in detail, would form a more interesting and thrilling narrative than that of R. M. Chambre, of Monterey.
He is a native of Bombay, India, and the only son of an English officer. His father, Meredith Chambre, was a native of England, but of French ancestry. He served as a Lieu- tenant of the English army; fought at the battle of Waterloo; and later. as an officer in her Majesty's service, went to India. There he met and married Miss Eliza Fisher, a lady of Irish birth and education, and a tutor and
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governess in the family of the celebrated Major Kelly, a famous English officer. As a result of this union, R. M. Chambre was born in Bombay, India, May 24, 1849. The father finally retired from the army and iden- tified himself with a firm extensively en- gaged in the indigo trade, and returned to his native home. The latter years of his life were spent in Ireland, where he died in 1856.
R. M. Chambre was educated at Rossell College, Lancastershire, England. He later, during the years 1866-'67, took a thorough course in music at Kneeler hall, Whitton, a suburb to the city of London, England. In 1879 he joined the English army as a soldier and musician, and that and the following year (1880) he spent in South Africa; fought in the Zuln war, and witnessed the most hor- rible slaughter of the larger number of his comrades.
Mr. Chambre retired from the English army in 1879. In 1881 he came to America. August 17, 1888, he joined the United States Army, and was commissioned Sergeant. He spent eight month at David's Island in New York Harbor, where he was assigned to the First United States Infantry, and filled the position of Drill Instructor. He came with his regiment to Angel Island in San Francisco Harbor, and was there appointed Band Ser- geant and Drum Major, and the following July was made principal musician of his band. After spending several months in the Sioux Indian campaign in South Dakota, he purchased his discharge, and relinquished arıny life.
April 20, 1891, he married Mrs. Rosalie Schaufle, of Monterey, where he has perma- nently located, and is proprietor of the Pa- cific Ocean House, one of the best kept and most popular hotels on the coast. His final location at Monterey, has arroused a hitherto
somewhat latent interest in local musical cir- cles, and as a result the Chambre's Monterey Orchestra has been organized.
Mrs. Chambre is an old resident of Mon- terey, and is well known as a lady of many excellent qualities, marked executive ability and business energy.
ANTIAGO J. DUCKWORTH was born in Monterey, June 13, 1865. At the age of six years he lost his father, and with his two older brothers was sent to the Watsonville Orphan Asylum, then in charge of the Franciscan Fathers, where he was educated, In 1883 he accepted the of- fice of chief operator in the Federal Tele- graph service of Mexico in the State of So- nora. This responsible position he filled for term of three years, when he resigned and returned to Monterey, where he established a real-estate and insurance business in com- pany with his brother, B. E. Duckworth. He is a prominent member of the Young Men's Institute, being District Deputy of Monterey county, and having represented Institute No. 57, at the Grand Council held in Stockton, September, 1888. He belongs to an old famn- ily, and is a natural and talented orator; has taken an active part in political campaigns, addressing citizens in Monterey county.
The father of our subject was named Wal- ter Duckworth, an Englishman by birth. He arrived in California, in 1829 and was a sailor by occupation. In 1832 he was one of the forty-five foreigners to resist the revo- lutionary movement of Eschendia against the legitimate authority of the Mexican Gov- ernment, in California, at Monterey. Mr. Duckworth followed various occupations . in Monterey, keeping a store and teaching
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school at various points near Monterey. He lived in a house, not far from the presidio walls, which was for years a favorite and quiet resort for sailors and officers of the presidio. Here they had their games, drank their wines. Walter Duckworth accompan- ied Douglas on a trip from Monterey to San Francisco, in 1841, and probably died soon after, in 1843. He was sometimes called Santiago and was at the head of local political affairs in Monterey, in 1835. He was a man of modest demeanor and was born about 1804. He married, at Monterey, Miss An- tonio Armento, a daughter of Tio Armento, owner of Point Pinos and a retired Mexican soldier. Dr. Francis Rico says of Don Tio Armento that " he was a generous-hearted and brave man. He saved the life of the captain of the brig Natalia, which was wrecked in harbor, on her return voyage from the banishment of Napoleon, on the is- land of St. Helena. The brig went to pieces while lying at anchor of Monterey and Don Armento seeing the peril of her crew swam to the wreck, rescued the captain by bringing him safely to shore on his back ". The land that Don Armento owned included the pres- ent site of New Monterey.
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