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 58

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 58
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 58
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 58

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Major Jackson was one of the original di- rectors of the colony for three years, and in

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1888 was elected Justice of the Peace. He was Grange Master two years from San Luis Obispo, and two years from Lompoc. Major Jackson has been twice married, first to Miss Martha J. Bruce, of Missouri, whom he lost in 1862, leaving five children. He was again married in Kansas, in 1863, to Miss Mary C. Francis, and they have eight children. Mr. Jaekson is a member of Lompoc Lodge, No. 262, F. & A. M., and is a worthy Master Mason, and was delegate to the Grand Lodge in 1889. He is also a member of Robert Anderson Post, No. 66, G. A. R.

LOGAN KENNEDY, as his name in- dicates, is a descendant of the old Scottish chiefs. Kennedy, in Celtie, Ceannathighe, means the head of a clan or chieftain. Duncan de Carriek, living in 1153, was father of Nicholas de Carrick, whose son, Roland de Carriek, took the name of Ken- nedy, and from this origin the family springs. Their home was in Ayrshire.

This aneient family were prominent in political matters, were leaders in the Presby- terian Church, and were valiant soldiers in the cause of reform, liberty and religion. Albert Edward, Prince of Wales, is the pres- ent Earl of Carriek. They have been con- nected with the great house of Stewart and with the kings of Scotland and England. Colonel Gilbert Kennedy, who was with Cromwell at the battle of Marston Moor, bad two sons, who were Presbyterian min- isters. Rev. Thomas Kennedy, one of these sons, was Chaplain to General Munro, and went with the army to Ireland, in 1642. Mr. Kennedy afterward settled in Carland, and this accounts for the family being in Ireland. He died in 1714. Two of his sons were Presbyterian ministers. It is believed that

William Kennedy, who emigrated from Ire- land and settled in Bueks County, Pennsyl- vania, in 1830, was Colonel Gilbert Kennedy's descendant. This William Kennedy was born in Londonderry, Ireland, abont 1695. He married Mary Henderson, and his death occurred in 1777. He was J. Logan Ken- nedy's great-great-grandfather. His son, James Kennedy, was born in Bueks County, Pennsylvania, in 1730, and married Jane Maxwell in 1761. They had twelve children. His death occurred October 7, 1799. His son, William Kennedy, born in 1766, mar- ried Sarah Stewart, and to them were born eight children. He served in the Continental army as aid to his uncle, General Maxwell. He afterward represented the counties of Sussex and Warren in the Legislature of New Jersey, several terms, and was chair- man of the house, which position he filled with dignity and honor. He was also, for years, a judge of the courts. He was an elder in the Greenwich Presbyterian Church, and in politics was a Democrat. This was our subject's grandfather. His son, James J. Kennedy, was born in Warren County, New Jersey, July 14, 1793; and, January 28, 1819, he married Margaret Cowell. He re- moved to Chambersburg, Pennsylvania, in 1839; was a Presbyterian, a judge, a Dem- ocrat, and a prominent agricnlturist.

His son, J. Logan Kennedy, was born and reared in Cumberland Valley, near the town of Chambersburg, Pennsylvania. He was the youngest of a family of nine children, six of whom are now living; and received his education at Chambersburg and Jones- ville, New Jersey. For a time he read law in the office of his brother, T. B. Kennedy. Ile engaged somewhat in politics, and was elected treasurer of his county. In 1872 he came to California and settled in Ventura, where he engaged in the sheep business with

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Thomas R. Bard, who had been his boyhood playmate and schoolmate. The firm was Kennedy & Bard until 1880. They engaged in this business on a large scale, having as many as 15,000 sheep at one time. Mr. Kennedy has also been engaged in buying and selling sheep and cattle, and he owns a livery in Ventura. He has been interested in lands, and now owns a ranch.

Mr. Kennedy was married in 1881, to Miss Netta E. Wright, a native of Wiscon- sin. She is the danghter of Philip V. Wright, who was born in New York. They are of Scotch-Irish descent, and their ances- tors have been residents of America since the Revolution. They have one child, an in- teresting little girl: Carrie L., born in Ven- tura, April 25, 1882. Mrs. Kennedy is a inember of the Presbyterian Church.

A descendant of a family of Democrats, Mr. Kennedy has ever been true to that party. He is a fine physical representative of his Scotch ancestry-blue eyes, fine com- plexion, tall and straight, and a fine well de- veloped form. He retains his love for valuable horses and can be seen driving his fine horse on the beautiful avenues of Ven- tura, with his wife and little daughter, en- joying the delightful and balıny climate of Southern California. They have a nice home at the corner of Oak and Poli streets, sur- rounded with flowers and shrubs and every thing that goes to make life a comfort.

NTONIO PEZZONI, dairyman and farmer of San Luis Obispo County, near the south line of the county, was born in Switzerland in 1858, and at the age of four- teen years came on a prospecting tour to America. The first year in this country he was in Sonoma County, this State; then he came

to San Luis Obispo County, attended school for fifteen months and returned to Sonoma County; there he remained four years engaged in farming and dairying, with good success. He then came to Guadalupe and was engaged with his brother two years on his place on the Oso Flaco, then settled on his present property just across the line, the Santa Maria River separating San Luis Obispo and Santa Barbara counties. There he has 850 acres of very rich land. His residence is a beautiful house, surrouded by a handsome lawn.

He was married in 1884, to Miss Bonetti, and has three children.

W. SALZMAN, of Lompoc, was born in Germany, in 1833. His father was a weaver by trade, and also owned a small farm. Mr. Salzman learned the trade of a mason and plasterer, at Hes- sen-Cassel, where he served a three-years apprenticeship. He then traveled three years and worked in Hanover, Hamburg and Bremen, which was considered necessary be- fore one became a finished artisan. In 1856 he came to the United States, first working on Long Island, about Babylon, at his trade; then in the fall of 1858 he left for California, by the Isthmus of Panama. After arrival he went to Sacramento Valley, where he passed one year, and through an accidental injury he was admitted to the Marine Hos- pital at San Francisco. After recovering he worked on a milk ranch at the Presidio, until 1860, when he went to the mines in Tuo- lumne County, remaining ten years in that locality. In 1870 he went to Los Angeles, and resumed his trade, and in 1873 went to Santa Barbara, where he contracted, and did the plastering of the Arlington Hotel, Crane's Hall, and many of the residences. In 1876

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he came to Lompoc Valley, and bought 460 acres in the San Pasqual Canon and foot- hills, mainly grazing land, except about five acres in fruit. He keeps about sixty head of cattle, and several brood mares, and has a good apiary of 100 stands of bees.

Mr. Salzman was married at Lompoc, in 1880, to Miss Amelia Kriegel, a native of Germany, who came direct to California to perform the marriage vows. They have five children. Mr. Salzman still works at his trade about .town, and also carries on the ranch.

G. REDRUP was born in Cleveland, Ohio, February 29, 1844. His father, Joseph Redrup, was a native of Eng- land, born in 1813, came to America when a boy fifteen years of age, and lived in the United States sixty years. Mr. Redrup's mother, Evaline (Robinson) Redrup, was born in the State of New York, in 1814. They had a family of eight children, the subject of this sketch being the fifth. He received his education in the public schools of Mansfield, Ohio, and in 1872 became a book-keeper, holding that position five years. He then engaged in business for himself, dealing in machinery for nine years. In 1881 he mar- ried Mary E. C. Brown, a native of New Jersey. Mrs. Redrup, having poor health, preceded her husband to California, hoping to receive benefits. She purchased a valuable tract of land in Ventura, which, if it had not been for difficulty with the title, would have sold for a fortune during the past five years. Since Mr. Redrup's residence in Ventura he has been engaged in building, and has erected a number of houses. Since the title to their land has been settled, he is carrying on farm-

ing operations. Their property is in a fine location and will soon be very valuable.

Mr. Redrup is a member of the Baptist Church, in Ohio, and his wife is a Presby- terian. In politics he is a Republican.

LBRIDGE BALL, of Arroyo Grande, was born in Fleming County, Ken- tucky, in 1833. His father, who died in 1861, kept a tobacco plantation, on which Elbridge lived until he was sixteen years of age. From 1849 to 1853 he was a farmer in Kane County, Illinois; and then, "enticed by the wafture of a golden lure," he came to California and spent a year in the mines, however with but little success. He then went to Scott Valley to begin farming, but was limited in his operations by the scarcity and high price of agricultural implements. He made his own plow. The winter of 1852-'53 was a hard one for the farmers. Provisions were costly, salt being $16 a pound, and everybody was living on what he could get cheap. Mr. Ball lived in Scott Valley ten years, and then moved to Butte Creek, where he lived until 1884. At that place he still owns a ranch of 1,000 acres, in partnership with his brother, on wbich they raise cattle and horses and are conspicuously successful. In 1884 Mr. Ball came to San Luis Obispo County, since which time he has resided on a ranch of thirty-two acres in the Arroyo Grande Valley, engaged in farm- ing and fruit-raising. He came here in the first place for the sake of his health. He is a bachelor. He was personally acquainted with the Modoc Indians, and lived for some time among them. During the Modoc war, he was often thrown in contact with Captain Jack and Scar-faced Charley-the celebrated

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warrior chiefs-and he knew them well. He was a witness of the celebrated three-days fight between these Indians and the United States troops, in which the redskins were victorions.

W ALLACE DYER, of Lompoc, wa, born in Albany County, New Yorks in 1825. His father was a farmer, and a stanch Republican, dying in Febru- ary, 1861. and casting his last presidential vote for Abraham Lincoln. His grandfather, Charles Dyer, was a Colonel in the Revolu- tionary war, and at the battle of Newport his horse was shot from under him, although not being wounded himself. Mr. Dyer's grand- mother, a Miss Hazard, was an own cousin of Commodore Oliver Hazard Perry.

Wallace Dyer, our subject, was educated at the common schools, and then learned the trade of millwright, which he followed for twenty years. In 1852 he was married, at Greenville, New York, to Miss Mary Vin- cent, and they lived on the homestead of 100 acres, where Mr. Dyer carried on farming. In 1863 they moved to a fifty-acre farm, in the same county, where he farmed until 1875, when he sold both places and came to Cali fornia, settling at Santa Cruz. He bought fifteen acres in the city limits, and 125 acres adjoining, in Scott's Valley. In 1881 he was elected Alderman, by the Republican party, serving two years. He resided at Santa Cruz until 1884, when he sold his property and came to Lompoc, and bought two blocks on Second street, and has since bought four blocks on H street. The Second street prop- erty he cleared of brush and timber, and is improved with two substantial residences. In 1888 be gave the Presbyterian society a church lot, 60 x 80 feet, and then drew the

plans, and performed the most of the work on the church structure, the only expense to the society being the material. Mr. Dyer has been in no active business in Lompoc, except improving his property. In April, 1889, he was elected Justice of the Peace, and the same year was appointed Recorder, by the Board of Aldermen.

Mr. Dyer has two sons, Frank Marshall Dyer, who still tarms in Green Connty, New York, and A. H. Dyer, who has a fine ranch across the river, north of town.

JOSEPH DIMOCK, one of the thrifty and successful ranchers northeast of Lompoc, was born in Newport, Hants County, Nova Scotia, in September, 1839. His father was a farmer and blacksmith, from whom Joseph learned the trade, and with whom he worked until 1861, when he came to California, by the Panama route. He ar- rived in San Francisco in May, and after a few months at Watsonville, he settled at San José, and carried on a blacksmith business until 1874, except one year, 1864, which he passed in Idaho. Mr. Lick, of observatory fame, was a patron of his shop at San José. In 1874 Mr. Dimock was among the first settlers in Lompoc, where he opened a shop and carried on business for three years. In 1876 he bought his present ranch of 160 acres, at the foot of the hills, northern part of the valley. During the past six years forty acres of his valley land has been washed away by the Santa Ynez River; he now has eighty acres of fine land, under a high state of cul- tivation, and about twelve acres in fruit, mainly of winter apples, though a full variety of deciduous fruits for family use. Apples are the main crop, which do very well, and about half of the orchard is now in bearing.

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He plants fifty acres to beans, with an average yield of one ton to the acre. He raises a great many horses, both draft and trotting stock, and is one of the most successful ranchers of the valley.

Mr. Dimock was married at Gilroy, Santa Clara County, in 1868, to Miss Matilda A. Drake, a native of Iowa. They have two children, Shubael' F. and Sadie A. The father and mother of Mr. Dimock are both living, at the ages of seventy-seven and seventy-two years respectively. and the winter of 1889 and 1890 they passed in California.

OHN McGLASHAN, a citizen of the village of Arroyo Grande, was born in 1835, in Scotland. His parents emigrated with their family to Fulton County, New York, in 1843; and John was therefore raised in the Empire State, receiving his education in an old log school-house. Until twenty-three years of age he lived on his father's farm; and then, in the year 1858, he crossed the plains to Las Vegas, New Mexico, then a small settlement. Next he mined for a time in Colorado, and then came on to California, in the fall of 1858. At first he engaged in the mason's trade, which he learned in New York State. In 1875 he began farming in the Arroyo Grande, where he now lives. He has sixty-six acres on the Monte, prin- cipally in beans, and is doing well. He has been successful in almost everything that he has attempted to raise out of the soil on his place, fruit and vegetables being especially productive. He took a premiumn at the county fairs in 1889, on the white radish, the weight of which is recorded as being seventeen and a half pounds.

Mr. McGlashan was married in 1865, to Miss Rooker, and has four sons: John, who

is now married and farming on the college grant at Santa Ynez; David, Joseph and Charles,-all at home.

- L. ROSS was born in Virginia, De- cember 2, 1845, being one of a family of eight children. His father, a farmer by occupation, is still living. Remaining at his home until the age of eighteen years, he then enlisted in the Con- federate army, in 1863, joining the Fifty-first Virginia Regiment, Company D. Mr. Ross took part in several important engagements, among them was the retreat before Sheridan, during his famous run, which but a short time previous had almost been a great vic- tory for the Confederate troops. After the war Mr. Ross spent a year at home, and fin- ished his education in a town in North Caro- lina. He now returned to his home in Vir- ginia, where he remained until 1869, in that year starting for the West. He spent a year in Kentucky and Tennessee, and in 1870 reached California. Taking up some land in Tulare County, he located there for four years, at the end of which time he disposed of his property. Since then this land has proved to be very valuable, and had Mr. Ross held on to it, it would have been a rich holding. Freqnent attacks of chills and fever drove him to the coast and in 1875 he located in Cambria, where he was engaged in farm- ing and dairying for three years. In connec- tion with his brother, he owned some valuable stock. In 1882 he came to his present ranch, located on the Corral de Piedra Rancho. Mr. Ross has 1,240 acres, upon which he is engaged in dairying and stock-raising. This property is beautifully situated, has consider- able oak timber, and is well adapted for stock- raising and diversified farming. The climate

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here is delightful. The frequent cool winds that are felt on the other side of the coast hills are not noticed in this valley. Mr. Ross is unmarried.

AVID A. DANA, of Nipomo, was born at that place August 27, 1851. His share of the large property left by his father is a pretty ranch of 660 acres at the foot of the hills a mile from the village of Nipomo, and here he has a valuable dairy, to which he now devotes his entire time, having abandoned general farm work some time ago. Like all his brothers, he received a good edu- cation, attending for three years the college at Santa Ynez. He is a member of Nipomo Parlor, No. 123, N. S. G. W., and is now president of the same. He was married in 1885 to Miss C. Rojas, and has two children.

AUL BRADLEY, an early pioneer of California, who surmounted the trials and disappointments of the early days, and whose broad acres in the Santa Maria Valley ex- tend for miles, was born in Derbyshire, Eng- land, in 1822. At the early age of fifteen years he began working in the mines, on railroads and steam engines, and being mechanically in- clined he soon became an expert engineer. In 1846 he emigrated to the United States, and was engaged abont New York until Jan- uary, 1850, when he shipped on the steamer Carolina for California, going around Cape Horn. The steamer was engaged to ply on the Pacific coast and took no passengers until arriving at Panama, and from there on was overcrowded, and arrived in San Francisco ou May 6, 1850. The subject of this sketch then went to the mines at Stringtown on the

Feather River, but soon became disgusted and returned to San Francisco. He then made several trips on steamships to Panama, and in the spring of 1851 began a market garden at San José, and also ran a ten-ton sloop to San Francisco, carrying passengers and freight. In the spring of 1852 he shipped on the Golden Gate, a new steamer, for Pan- ama, and spent eight months there learning the Spanish language. He then took a cruise down the coast, in the employ of the Southern American Steamship Company, running be- tween Callao and Valparaiso, trading with the natives, which was quite profitable. He then returned to San José, where he had left his oxen and effects, and went to Monterey Conn- ty, where he found 150 acres of very desirable Government land, where he located, stuck his stakes and remained until 1868. Mr. Bradley then began improving and developing his ranch, where he first raised chickens and beans, but he said the coons destroyed his chickens, and he had to sleep with his beans to keep away the grazing cattle. The country was wild, unsettled and filled with outlaws, so that guns had to be taken into the field as a means of defense; but he still persisted and de- veloped a very fine ranch. He also kept some cattle, but they became of no valne except for hides and tallow, and he went into the sheep business, keeping abont 2,000 head, and also a large number of hogs. His place became highly improved with good fences and build- ings, and he sold it in the spring of 1868 for $5,250, which with his stock represented his accumulations. Mr. Bradley then came to Santa Maria in the fall of 1868, and bought 480 acres of school lands, and has since added to the amonnt of 4,000 acres. He still con- tinued sheep raising, and in 1870 had a flock of 7,000 head, but they became very cheap and were only valned for their wool, and he reduced his stock, although he has always had

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a few, and he now has sixty very choice ones of South Down and Shropshire Down strains, which are a high grade and valuable for either mutton or fleece, as they do better than in their native Downs. He also keeps a num- ber of cattle and about forty horses. He also rents land for both farm and pasture purposes, tilling only his home place of 160 acres, which is highly improved, with eighty acres set to fruit. In 1888 he built an elegant two-story residence.

In 1870 Mr. Bradley returned to England to visit his family and friends, and was there married to Mrs. Elizabeth Spencer, and they have one child, Ellen.

H. DYER, a farmer of Lompoc, was born in Albany County, New York, in 1856. His father, Wallace Dyer, whose biography elsewhere appears, was a farmer, owning 150 acres, and in 1863 moved to Greene County, where he continued at farming. A. H. Dyer lived at home until 1875, when, with his father, he came to California, and settled at Santa Cruz, where they bought town property and mountain land, covered with timber. In 1877 our sub- ject came to Lompoc and rented land for general farming, and also ran a threshing machine with Charles Robbins. He bought his present ranch of 245 acres in 1883, and was married the same year at Lompoc to Miss Lulu Wilkins, a native of California. Mr. Dyer has about thirty acres in fruit, mainly winter apples, which are doing finely. Vines are also looking well, and his few orange trees show a rapid and healthy growth. He has also 300 walnut trees, which are doing well. He carries on general farming, but beans and mustard are the principal crops, with barley

for hay and grain. He keeps twenty head of horses, and has bred some fine draft stock.

He has one daughter, Lulu May, born in August, 1884. Mr. Dyer is a member of Lompoc Lodge, No .. 262, F. & A. M., and Lompoc Lodge, No. 248, I. (). O. F.

HOMAS ROBINSON, one of the prominent ranchers of the Lompoc Valley, was born in Yorkshire, Eng -. land, July 1, 1822. He worked at home with his father, at farming, until 1847, when he came to the United States, first settling at Buffalo, New York, and there learned the trade of boat-bnilder and ship-carpenter, re- maining about four years, when he returned to England. In 1851 he was married in Yorkshire, England, and the first year lived midway between Hull and Grimsby, an old and historic spot, as from that vicinity came the first Puritans to our then barren shores. Mr. Robinson was engaged in steam-tliresh- ing until 1862, running five engines and six threshers, as the business continned every month of the year. In 1862 he returned to the United States, and settled in Greenfield Township, Erie County, Pennsylvania, where he farmed one year, then went to Buffalo to work at his trade for a short time, then to Askhum, Illinois, where he bought eighty acres and remained until 1870. In the latter year he came to California, first settling in Sonoma County, taking up Government claims and farming for three years, then to Petaluma, and in the spring of 1874 came to Lompoc to attend the first land sale of the colony. He farmed with his son there for three years, and then gave up the land, and bought 370 acres farther ont, of which he still owns 310 acres, 225 being tillable. Hc then engaged in the hog business, keeping

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about 250, and also in the raising of horses and cattle, which he still continues. His land was covered with brush and timber, and its present clean appearance speaks volumes for the energy of a master hand. Mr. and Mrs. Robinson have five children, four girls and one son.

- -

RANCIS ZIBA BRANCH .- The great land-owners in early times and pioneers, who were not native Californians, may be enumerated in this short list: Francis Z. Branch, Isaac J. Sparks, John Wilson, John M. Price and William G. Dana. Facts rela- tive to the early history of the Branch family have been very difficult to obtain, as there are no notes in possession of the Branch family. Resource is therefore had to the admirable collection of sketches by Mr. F. H. Day, published in 1859. Mr. Branch was born in Scipio, Cayuga County, New York, in the year 1803. Both of his grandfathers served in the Revolutionary war. His father died before lie was old enough to appreciate a father's care, and, his mother being poor, the children were scattered among relatives to be reared and educated. At the age of eighteen Ziba abruptly left his relatives and removed to Buffalo, with the view of making his own living. After remaining there some time he went on Lake Erie and followed the business of sailing for about five years. He then went to St. Louis, where he fell in with a trading party commanded by Captain Savory, and started with them for Santa Fe. This was the largest party that had ever come through, being composed of 150 men and eighty-two wagons. They made tlie journey in safety and reached Santa Fé in July, 1830, without having had a single

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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