A memorial and biographical history of the counties of Santa Barbara, San Luis Obispo and Ventura, California Containing a history of this important section of the Pacific coast from the earliest period of its occupancy to the present time, together with glimpses of its prospective future; with full-page steel portraits of its most eminent men, and biographical mention of many of its pioneers and also of prominent citizens of to-day, Part 38

Author: Storke, Yda Addis
Publication date: 1891
Publisher: Chicago, The Lewis Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 738

USA > California > San Luis Obispo County > A memorial and biographical history of the counties of Santa Barbara, San Luis Obispo and Ventura, California Containing a history of this important section of the Pacific coast from the earliest period of its occupancy to the present time, together with glimpses of its prospective future; with full-page steel portraits of its most eminent men, and biographical mention of many of its pioneers and also of prominent citizens of to-day > Part 38
USA > California > Santa Barbara County > A memorial and biographical history of the counties of Santa Barbara, San Luis Obispo and Ventura, California Containing a history of this important section of the Pacific coast from the earliest period of its occupancy to the present time, together with glimpses of its prospective future; with full-page steel portraits of its most eminent men, and biographical mention of many of its pioneers and also of prominent citizens of to-day > Part 38
USA > California > Ventura County > A memorial and biographical history of the counties of Santa Barbara, San Luis Obispo and Ventura, California Containing a history of this important section of the Pacific coast from the earliest period of its occupancy to the present time, together with glimpses of its prospective future; with full-page steel portraits of its most eminent men, and biographical mention of many of its pioneers and also of prominent citizens of to-day > Part 38

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UFUS DANA SMITH was born at Newark, Caledonia County, Vermont, May 2, 1846. His parents were natives of that State. His father in early life fol- lowed the trade of joiner, but after forty years of age devoted himself to tilling the soil. In the gold excitement of 1849 he visited Cali- fornia, spending one year in the mines very successfully, then returning to his home in Vermont, in 1868, he moved to Minnesota where he died at the age of eighty years. The subject of this sketch, being filled with yonth- ful patriotism, enlisted at the age of fifteen years, in Company K, of the Eighth Vermont Infantry, Colonel Thomas in command. The regiment was mustered in February 10, 1862,

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and was immediately ordered South, going to Ship Island, where they joined the troops under General Butler and from there to New Orleans, then to Algiers. He was taken prisoner at Bayon des Allemands in Septem- ber, 1862; a detachment of 150 were sent then to guard a bridge, and they were sur- rounded by about 1,500 men and all captured. They were then sent to New Iberia on Bayon Teche, where they passed ten weeks in a prison camp and suffered terribly from short allowances of food and water, and the little food received was worm-eaten and the water stale and muddy. Many died from the ef- fects. From New Iberia they were taken to the Vicksburg jail, and in November, 1862, were paroled, and our subject joined his regi- ment. In 1863 they were under General Banks, marching through the same swampy, malarious district, and in April, 1864, Mr. Smith was discharged, owing to disability caused by imprisonment and exposure. He then returned home to recuperate, and February 10, 1865, re-enlisted in Company D, Ninth Regiment Veteran Reserve Corps, composed of veterans more or less disabled. They were first stationed in Northern Ver- mont to guard the banks and private property from the depredations of Rebel sympathizers, then living in Canada. Later they were sent to Washington and served as guard about the White House, and were mustered out at that place, November 18, 1865.

The subject of this sketch then returned to Vermont and followed farming until 1867, when he was married at Barton, Orleans County, Vermont, January 9, to Miss Lucy M. Lebourveau, and in May of the same year they went to Spring Valley, Minnesota. Ile then farmed for five years, and, on account of failing health, went into a store and clerked four years. He never recovered from the expo- sure of the war, and for a milder climate went

to Santa Barbara in 1876, and there had his leg amputated. After recovering, in 1877, he was elected Justice of the Peace, and re- elected in 1879, but resigned in March, 1880. He was then appointed Under Sheriff by C. E. Sherman, and later by R. J. Broughton, thus holding the office continuously to the present date.

Mr. and Mrs. Smith have five children liv- ing, and have lost one son. He is a member of Magnolia Lodge, No 242, F. and A.M., and Starr King Post, No. 52, Department of California, G. A. R.

APTAIN CHARLES P. LOW, of Santa Barbara, was born in Salem, Massachu- plo setts, in 1824, and when he was four years of age his parents moved to Brooklyn, where his father became a member of the firm of Seth Low & Co., merchants of New York. Of his parents' twelve children he has four brothers and one sister still living, and they are all in Brooklyn; the brothers are all mer- chants, doing business mainly with China. His nephew, Seth Low, has been mayor of Brooklyn, and is now president of Columbia College. At the age of eighteen years the subject of this sketch began a seafaring life, having studied seamanship ever since he was twelve years old. He began before the mast on the Horatio and the crack East Indiaman, commanded by Captain Howland. This ves- sel made a ten-months trip to China. Then Mr. Low went to London on the packet ship, Toronto, Captain Griswold, of the London Packet Company. Then he shipped for Rio Janeiro, then on the Houqua, Captain N. B. Palmer, the first clipper ship out of New York to China. He was a seaman for eight years, being third inate, second and first mate, and finally Captain at the age of twenty-three

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years. While Captain, in 1848, he experi- enced a most terrible typhoon in the Indian Ocean, a regular cyclone which lastel twelve hours and swept off the deck all the railing, masts and boats. The Captain was washed overboard, and, after being twice engulfed, he caught a rope, and as soon as he got his head above water he gave orders to cut away the masts, and so saved the ship from found- ering. As a testimonial of their approba- tion, the Atlantic, Sun, Mercantile and Union Insurance Companies of New York, pre- sented Captain Low with a beautiful chro- nometer, with this inscription: "Captain Charles P. Low, late Captain of the ship Houqua, as a testimonial of their approba- tion of his good conduct in saving said ship and cargo after having been thrown on her beam ends in the Indian Ocean, on the 5th of January, 1848, in a violent typhoon and nearly filled with water; but by the extraor- dinary exertions of the master and crew, was righted and subsequently taken by them to her port of destination, which was 3,500 miles distant."

After having arrived at Hong Kong, the Captain re-rigged her with his own crew, and after three voyages np and down the coast he returned to New York. There he took charge of the Samuel Russell, January 16, 1850, from New York to San Francisco, making the passage in 108 days-ten days quicker than any vessel before had made the trip. IIe carried 1,000 tons of freight, on which he re- ceived $60 a ton, which was more than the original cost of the ship. Then, by way of China, he completed his trip around the world, within the year. He next took charge of the N. B. Palmer to San Fran- cisco, to China and to New York, by way of the Cape of Good Hope. In 1859 he took command of the Jacob Bell and made a voy- age to China. Next he took command of the

N. B. Palmer, being on board of that vessel twenty-one years, with the exception of the last trip to China referred to He has been around the world seven times, making twenty- six voyages to China, and being thirty-one years at sea. In 1873 he left the sea and came to Santa Barbara and purchased eighty acres of land on the mesa. In 1875 he was the originator of the Agricultural Associa- tion, of which he has been president; and he has also been president of the Cemetery As- sociation, and also the first president of the Young Men's Christian Association.

He was married at Peabody, Massachu- setts, in 1852, to Miss Sarah Maria Tucker, a native of Salem, whose father was a mer- chant. She has also made trips to China and been around the world four times. They have five sons and two daughters. Three sons are in business in San Francisco. One is con- nected with the American Oil Company, one is agent for a firm in Japan, and one is in the hardware business; one son is a physician and one is at the State University.

G. OLIVER, who owns and cultivates a beautiful farm on the mesa, over- looking the sea, was born in Clermont County, Ohio, in 1826. His father was a farmer, and in 1841 moved to Des Moines County, Iowa, and there continned farming. The subject of this sketch worked at home until twenty-one years of age; then, in 1850, he bought the farm of 160 acres of his father, and continned in general farming until 1854, when he sold out and erected a steam saw and grist mill at Kossuth, Iowa, which he operated for two years; then sold out and returned to farin life, purchasing eighty acres on Round Prairie. In the Pike's Peak ex- citement he fitted out an expedition for the

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mines, driving five yoke of oxen and taking four persons. After traveling 130 miles west of the Missouri River, they were dis- couraged by the tide of emigration returning, so abandoned the project and spent the sum- mer near Brownsville, Nebraska, in breaking prairie, and in the fall he returned to his. home at Kossuth. In 1861 he sold his farm and came to California, across the plains, driving a team composed of four yoke of oxen and one yoke of cows. He started April 10, 1861, with his family, and joined other emigrants at the Missonri River. They were five months and a half en route. He sold his team at Little Lake Valley and at Marysville took steamer for San Francisco. He then went to Humboldt Bay and engaged in farın- ing near the town of Arcata; but, owing to frequent depredations by hostile Indians, he sold out in 1864 and went into the Napa Val- ley, where he engaged in farming, and later, in Solano County, until the fall of 1868, when he came to Santa Barbara. He then pur- chased 104 acres on the mesa, at $20 per acre, and engaged in general farming, being one of the pioneer farmers on the mesa. He continued farming abont twelve years, then went into the hog business, breeding the Es- sex, Poland China and Berkshire breeds, fat- tening about 100 hogs each year, which he manufactured into lard and bacon. For the past two years he has sold his increase to the butchers, as, with the increasing years, the * responsibility was greater than he cared to assume. He now devotes more time to farm- ing, and grows extensively the Chevalier bar- ley, with soft beard, which is more suitable for hay.

Mr. Oliver was married in Kossuth, Iowa, in the spring of 1851, to Miss Catharine J. Blair. This union has been blessed with three children, two of whom survive: C. A. Oliver, a doctor in Chico, California, and J.

B. Oliver, who is foreman of a stock ranch in Sonora, Mexico.

H. AND R. E. BRIDGE are two of the prominent ranchers of San Luis Obipo County. They formerly had a large ranch in Mexico, and farmed there one year. Then they sold out and came to San Luis Obispo County, California, and purchased two rauches, one of 2,200 and the other of 320 acres. The last named property is located one mile south of Creston. They are engaged in raising grain, horses and cattle, and have also commenced the cultivation of fruit. They have fifty acres in olives, twenty-five acres in figs, fifteen acres in French prunes, and ten acres devoted to a variety of fruit. They are farming for profit and are making a grand success of it. Both gentlemen are valnable accessions to the county. They ex- pect soon to build a fine residence on their ranch.

ABRIEL RUIZ is one of the native sons of California, born in Santa Barbara County in 1817. His father, Jose Ruiz, was born in Mexico and came to California many years ago. At one timne he owned some land where Ventura is now located, having had a grant of 1,000 acres of land from the Mexican Government for services rendered the government in California. The ancestors of the family were officers in the Mexican army. Mr. Ruiz has a pleasant home and a fine ranch of 151 acres, called the Santa Anita Rancho, and he also owns somne lots in Santa Barbara; also in Ventura. He has always lived the life of a farmer and stock-raiser. They came to this locality in

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1879. Here Mr. Ruiz raises Norman and Richmond horses and some fine grade cattle.

The subject of this sketch was married in 1859 to Miss Rafaela Cota, daughter of Bal- entin Cota, a native of Mexico. They have fourteen children, all born in Southern Cali- fornia, and thirteen of them, at the present writing, make their home with their parents. Their names are as follows: Arthur, Dora- liza, Lazaro, Ulpiano, Thomas, Albertina, Anzelmo, Petra, Josepha, Lucy, Balentin, Ga- briel and Acacia. They have all been sent to the English schools and can speak both the English and Spanish languages. All are members of the Catholic Church. Three of the sons are engaged in business. Thomas assists his father in the management of the ranch and is agent for the Spanish people in the vicinity of Santa Ana, acting as their in- terpreter and obtaining employment for them. He is also a fine musician, playing both vio- lin and guitar. He and his brothers form a band and furnish good music for social par- ties. Arthur has a saloon and the best bill- iard rooms in the county of Ventura. Ulpiano is a freighter and teamster, having a large, strong wagon, to which he drives four, and sometimes six, fine horses. They are a family of intelligent and refined people, and are well worthy the success which is attending them.

RUENHAGEN BROS., the pioneer merchants of Creston. Robert W., the senior brother, was born in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, in 1855, and Edward H. was born in the same place in 1859. Their parents, William F. and M. Gruenhagen, were natives of Germany, and came to the United States when they were respectively eight and ten years of age. They settled first in Milwaukee, and afterward in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, where

they and lived raised their family. They came to California, October 2, 1884, and now reside at Creston, San Luis Obispo County. The brothers opened a store, seventy-two feet long, and have it stocked with merchandise of all kinds, drngs, jewelry and farm imple- ments; their business extends about fifty miles. They own a ranch of 740 acres thirty miles northeast of Creston, where they are raising horses and cattle.

Robert W., in 1880, was married to Miss Bertha Zick, a native of his own town. They have three children, viz .: Ed. H., Elsie and Robert W. Edward H. Gruenhagen was married in 1889 to Miss Feda Ploetz, a native of Wisconsin. He enjoyed the dis- tinction of being postmaster of the town during the administration of President Cleve- land; in politics he is a Democrat. His brother, Robert W., is a Republican.

R. KIRKPATRICK, of San Miguel, is one of the prominent citizens of San Luis Obispo County, a man of large experience in various directions, and a veteran of both the Mexican and the great civil wars. His grandfather, John Kirk- patrick, was a Scotch-Irish man, who caine to America before the Revolution, and did the colonists valuable service as a soldier; later he was in the war of 1812. He settled in Pennsylvania, and there his son, John L. Kirkpatrick, the father of the subject of this sketch, was born. He married Miss Nancy Larimore, also a native of Pennsylvania, and they have four sons and three daughters, of whom R. R. was the fourth child. He was born in Armstrong County, Pennsylvania, December 9, 1826, and as he grew he learned the use of carpenter's tools from his father, who was a boat-builder. Immediately after

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the declaration of war with Mexico he en- listed at Lonisville in the Fourth Kentucky Infantry, and under the command of General Winfield Scott his regiment held the city of Mexico from January until July 4. Return- ing then to Louisville, he was there dis- charged. He was afterward at several places, and in two or three businesses until in July, 1862, when he enlisted in Company A, Twenty-ninth Iowa Infantry, of which com- pany he was elected Second Lieutenant. In October, 1862, the company was mustered in and marched 100 miles to St. Joseph, and thence to St. Louis, where for a time they were on provost duty. From there they were ordered to Columbus to intercept Gen- eral Foriest; next they were sent to the White River expedition, returning to Helena. Soon afterward they were engaged in a fight at Fort Pemberton, and again at Helena. Mr. Kirkpatrick was then detailed with a company of sharpshooters, and had several engagements with guerrillas. When in Helena with about 3,000 men, they were attacked by General Price with 25,000 men. This rebel General thought he liad a "sure thing," and had been boasting that he would "eat break- fast in Helena or in hell." The attack was made at daylight, and the Union forces killed and took more prisoners than they had men; Price was defeated and failed to get the bounteous breakfast prepared for him by the citizens of Helena; their houses were filled instead with wounded men. A shell in that engagement tore Mr. Kirkpatrick's clothes, but did not draw blood. The soldiers were sent to Little Rock and participated in taking that place.

The next campaign in which Mr. Kirk- patrick was engaged was that of General Banks at Shreveport. A piece of shell struck him in the groin, and for a long time he was paralyzed. His hip was also injured at the

same time, from which wound he never fully recovered. He has a pension of $12.50 per month from the Government. As this wound incapacitated him from marching, he was sent on detached duty as a recruiting officer in Iowa; and he was also engaged in conduct- ing recruits and drafted men to the front. He also served as Quartermaster, having charge of Camp Distribution from Fort Gaines. Next he was sent to the Rio Grande, and finally to New Orleans to be discharged. In the summer of 1865 he was mustered out at Davenport, Iowa.

Then he was engaged in express business between Omaha and Council Bluffs, making money; next he was in a grocery at Council Bluffs, and then in the ice business. In 1877 he came with I. E. Blake to San Francisco, in order to establish the Continental Oil and Transportation Company, and Mr. Kirk- patrick took charge of the Oakland office five years. Then in 1882 he came to San Luis Obispo County, and filed a claim to his present ranch of 320 acres of choice land, three miles due east of San Mignel. On a sightly and picturesque spot on a hill, in the midst of trees, vines and flowers, he has built a pleasant and commodious residence; and he has a large variety of fruit trees growing luxuriantly, and many of them loaded with fruit. The prevailing sorts are peaches, pears, apricots, prunes, figs, almonds and filberts. The locality is 1,250 feet above the sea, and he does not irrigate. He is also raising hay and grain, besides horses, cattle and poultry. He is a Freemason and an Odd Fellow, and Chaplain of the G. A. R. Post at San Miguel. For a time he held the office of Justice of the Peace. Mr. Kirkpatrick is a well-informed gentleman, of pleasant manner, and remark- ably successful in his comparatively new vo- cation of farming and fruit-raising on his " Pleasant Dale" ranch.

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In 1849, in Allegheny City, he was united in matrimony with Miss Libby Lloyd, a native of that city; five of their six children are now living. The first four were born in Allegheny City, viz .: Inez, Alice, Ida and Albert; Ellen was born in Nebraska, and Libby in Sionx City. Inez married J. W. Perregoy, a wholesale tobacconist of Council Bluffs; Alice lives with her father, and has 160 acres of land near him; Ida is married to Mr. Frank E. Shepard, and they reside at Council Bluffs; Elliot is also married and lives on the San Marcos in this county; and Libby, with her husband, Charles E. Fowler, occupy land near their father's. Atter fifteen years of wedded life, Mrs. Kirkpatrick died, and in 1874 Mr. Kirkpatrick married his present wife, who was Mrs. Annie Walker, the widow of Frank Walker, and a native of Ohio. Mr. and Mrs. Kirkpatrick are Pres- byterians.

WIFT BROTHERS .- W. D. and Charles Swift, who own adjoining ranches in the eastern part of the Montecito Valley, were both born at Lyons. Wayne County, New York. Their father had passed many years as a prominent hotel- keeper in New York, Illinois, and later at Virginia City, Nevada; and in June, 1868, he came to Santa Barbara and purchased a ranch of 333 acres in the Montecito Valley. This part of the country was then sparsely settled, and scarcely a fence was to be seen in the valley. But by industry and perseverance the ranch now stands out prominently as one of the best in the valley for agricultural pur- poses. Since the father's death in 1880, the ranch has been divided, and the sons now own about 100 acres. They carry on general farming and devote a considerable acreage to

beans. They are jointly interested in the oil wells which are now being developed near their ranch, in the Santa Ynez Mountains, a stock company carrying on the developments. They also have mining interests at Fort Te- jon, in the Santa Anita Mountains.

W. D. Swift, being unmarried, supplies a home for his mother, who is now seventy-six years of age. Charles Swift was married in Montecito in 1875, to Miss Laura Pettit, and they have two children.

R. W. B. CUNNANE, the only resident physician of the Santa Ynez Valley, was born at Edinburgh, Johnson County, Indiana, in 1854. His father was a farmer and distiller. The subject of this sketch was educated at the Sturgeon High School of Boone County, Missouri, but was taken from school in 1870 to accept a position with P. Corrigan, who was then general roadmaster of the Wabash Railroad, with headquarters at Moberly, Missouri, remaining two years and learning telegraphy. He was then employed by the Western Union Telegraph Company, for five years, at stations throughout the southwest. Having a desire for a medical education, he employed every odd moment in medical studies, and in 1877 he resigned his position to enter the Medical University of Louisiana, at New Orleans, taking the three years' course and also the special course of toxicology and chemistry, gradnating with honor in 1881. He then went to Queen City, Cass County, Texas, where he practiced for two years, and in 1883 he came direct to Santa Ynez. to grow up with the new town, which was then being established. He now has an extensive practice throughout the val- ley. In 1885 he built his present residence, and in September of the same year was mar-

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ried, at Santa Ynez, to Miss Mabel Johnston, a daughter of W. F. Johnston, an extensive rancher of Santa Maria and also a descendant of that celebrated family of Johnstons of Virginia. Doctor and Mrs. Cunnane have one child.

ENRY L. WILLIAMS, the owner of the Ortega ranch and the founder of Summerland, was born in Massillon, Ohio, in 1841. His father, G. W. Williams, was a financier and was connected with the Union Bank of Massillon. In the spring of 1861, at the age of twenty, Henry L. enlisted in Company A, of the Nineteenth Ohio Infan- try, under command of Colonel Samuel Beatty and Captain C. F. Manderson; the latter is now United States Senator from Nebraska. The regiment, which was stationed with the Army of the Cumberland, joined General Grant's forces on the second day of the battle of Shiloh. They were in the three-days' fight at Stone River, where one-half of the regil inent was lost, and were also in many smal- skirmishes. Mr. Williams, however, did not receive a scratch, although his clothing was many times pierced with bullets. In April, 1863, he was appointed State pay agent for Ohio, and on June 30, 1864, he received the appointment of paymaster in the United States army, and was stationed with the army of the Cumberland, with headquarters at Louisville, Kentucky. He was mustered out of the service on November 15, 1865. He then became engaged in the coal business in Ohio, as manager and part owner of the mines, and remained there until the spring of 1776. In that year he was appointed by the United States Treasury Department to examine the books of the Collectors of Cus- toms through Pennsylvania, New Jersey and

Delaware, with headquarters at Philadelphia. In June, 1881, he was stationed at Tucson, Arizona, to look after the frontier offices from El Paso to San Diego and Santa Barbara; but, finding the weather very warm at Tucson, he resigned October 15, 1882, and came to Santa Barbara, where his family were already settled. In April, 1883, he purchased the Ortega ranch, of 1,000 acres, located at the east end of the Montecito Valley, and has since made that his home. He has a small walnut grove and fruit only sufficient for family use.

Mr. Williams brought the location of Sum- merfield before the public in November, 1888, by laying out the town and piping water to every lot, and advertising it extensively through the country. The town is estab- lished on the faith of Spiritualism. Already 1,450 lots have been sold to parties from all over the United States, some of the purchasers being in Australia. Many fine cottages have been built, and a library of 500 volumes, witlı a building costing $4,500, has already been erected. A weekly newspaper named tlie Reconstructor has also been started.

Mr. Williams has been twice married, the last time at Summerland, to Mrs. Agnes S. Morgan, in September, 1889.

TOGNAZZINI, one of the mnost suc- cessful business men and dairy men of Cayucos, is the son of Swiss parents, and was born in the city of Ticino, Switzer- land, in 1847. May 26, 1864, he came to San Francisco after a journey from his native land of seventy-five days. He was the only son and youngest child of a family of five children. He was raised on a farm and attended the common schools, and finished his education in the high school. His father was a dairy

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man, and his son also learned the business. He was seventeen years of age when he came to California, and engaged in the stock and dairy business, having learned that California was a fine State for that business. He began work in Marin County, at $15 per month, but afterward his wages were raised to $30 a month; he worked here about a year. In the fall of 1866 he started in business on his own account, having learned the Spanish language of Mr. Marshall, for whom he had been work- ing, and of whom he rented 100 cows and land, most of which were milch cows, and paid a rent of $20. That season butter was thirty cents per pound, and he cleared $1,100, and he thonght himself rich. In 1868, in Marin County, he bought 150 cows, and rented 1,400 acres of land, and conducted it for six years, from which he made some money.

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Author: Storke, Yda Addis Publication date: 1891 Publisher: Chicago, The Lewis Pub. Co. Number of Pages: 738

Author: Storke, Yda Addis
Publication date: 1891
Publisher: Chicago, The Lewis Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 738