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 67

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 67
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 67
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 67

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The Baron married Miss Donahue, of San Francisco, and has two children.

THE EAGLE RANCHO,

eighteen miles from San Luis Obispo city, and six miles from Santa Margarita, is a work of large significance and even of great notoriety. A first thought on visiting the place is that it was a hearty lover of nature in her rugged fastnesses and her sweet soli- tudes who discovered and afterward appro- priated this secluded domain, which has to a great extent been already redeemed from the wilderness. Making Santa Margarita station our starting point, and driving westward to- ward the Santa Lucia Mountains, we begin the easy ascent on a fine graded road up a little valley, crossing liere and there a small brook of pure rattling water, and then wind- ing in and out along the cañons under great live-oaks, at every turn catching views and gleams of scenery long to be remembered. In less than six miles the outer rim of hills has been surmounted and a gradual descent

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of half a mile brings to view the beautiful basin of sixty or eighty acres, where appear the buildings, orchard, vineyard and garden of the home part of the Eagle Rancho. On the east side of the basin are the great .wooded hills we have just crossed on our way in, and on the west two dark, chapparal- covered mountains. Near the southern side of the base of the mountain are the ground and residence; and west of these, between the mountains, are the orchard, garden and vineyard. The residence of the Baron is on the erest of a handsome knoll containing about two acres and rising above the plain forty to fifty feet. The grounds are inclosed by a well-grown cypress hedge at the base of the knoll. Within this circle of cypress about eight or ten feet is a low stone-wall, above which on the bank is another hedge of cypress; while between the wall and the outer hedge is a fine graveled walk,-a charming promenade quite concealed by the cypress. The sloping grounds around the residence are laid out in unique style. On the southeastern and northeastern sides are miniature forests of thickly set cypress, forming an impenetrable mass of interlacing branches, impressing the mind with a sense of seclusion and distance as if in the heart of a forest. The residence faces the north- west. The foregrounds are laid out in rose- gardens, greensward, graveled walks and beds of flowers, at once graceful, simple and harmonious. In brief, the principal charac- teristic of the residence is its suggestiveness of tranquillity in retirement.

A wide veranda enveloped in clematis and climbing roses, finished with an ornamental roof, furnishes shade and shelter on the front and two sides of the house. Rooms, all on the ground floor, are numerous and ample. Rich and quiet furnishing renders the whole interior homelike and smilingly

inviting, with the aid of piano, organ and harp.

In the rear of the residence and about a hundred yards distant, in the point of a rocky spur from the mountain base, is the grotto, cut into the solid rocks about twenty-four feet wide, twelve feet high and forty-eight feet deep, and opening toward the valley and the residence. It is smoothly floored and wainscotted a yard high, with wide shelving to receive vases of antique pottery and of flowers, with bright matting, lounging and easy chairs of cool rattan and other means of luxurious delectation. A grove of choice forest trees from two hemispheres occupies the little space between the grotto and the residence, while a fountain plays in front of the grotto at the entrance to the grove.

The water supply at the altitude of this ranch-some 1,500 feet above sea-level-was by no means sufficient for its many uses on the property; and it therefore became neces- sary to increase it largely and at the same have it pure. This was accomplished by piercing the mountain side near at hand by a tunnel at sufficient elevafion to secure the de- sired pressure, only about 160 feet in depth being required to reach the water. The mouth of the tunnel was then walled up and the tunnel itself became an underground reservoir shut in from dust and sun.

The largest prune orchard in the world is on this ranch, in another basin three miles distant from the residence. It contains 200 acres of thrifty trees five years old, being one year old when planted there. The soil is a fine, rich slate loamn, mellow as a garden bed newly made, and is kept in a high state of cultivation under the care and superin- tendence of Mr. Benton, the competent, courteous and faithful manager of all the business and work of the Eagle Rancho. Ten tons of dried prunes were grown on

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these young trees three years after planting, which took the first premium over all com- petitors at the Mechanics' Institute Fair for 1889, as the " best French prunes raised in the State of California." Substantial build- ings, with accommodations for the ranch men, are located in this part of the premises, and are for the exclusive use of the men who are employed in the great prune orchard and on work adjacent.

Two and a half miles from the residence, on the headwaters of the Atascadero Creek, in a deep mountain gorge, are the pictur- esque and beautiful waterfalls which, with the great overhanging cliffs and gigantic leaning trees almost canopying the chasm, constitute one of the charms of the Eagle Rancho, and are made entirely acceptable by a delightful drive to the cañon and a romantic walk through a great thicket of wild lilac. This spot is particularly refreshing during the hot weather of summer. A fish-pond between the residence and prune orchard is an at- traetive feature of the place, and reveals in- genuity in its construction, location and gen- eral arrangement. The Baron proposes to stock this farm with choice fish.

One of the most expensive and delightful improvements on this property is the system of beautiful drives, lined with trees of differ- ent varieties, the noble redwood being con- spicnous among them. They wind through romantic cañons, over ridges and through the valleys, revealing new views and scenery at every turn. One of these climbs the moun- tain in the rear of the residence quite to the summit, an elevation of 2,500 feet above the ocean level, with a wide, easy grade, over which the team trots much of the way. It is the intention of the Baron to plant the pine and redwood trees all over the great chapparal hills or small mountains, which constitute a large part of the estate; and in

time he will thus transform these wastes of chapparal into noble forests, making them an admirable range for game and adding a new element of beauty to the landscape. The chief purpose of this grand drive to the mountain top, as well as most of the other work now visible at different points through- out this grand retreat, is utilitarian mainly in a spirital sense.

Hi ----

ENRY STORROW CARNES, of Santa Barbara, was born in Boston, Massa- chusetts, June 10, 1822, eldest son of Nathaniel Greene Carnes, who was a grand- nephew of General Nathaniel Greene of Revo- lutionary fame. Captain Carnes' father, also a native of Boston, was a Captain in a Mass- achusetts regiment in the war of 1812, and passed the last twenty years of his life in France. At one time he was wealthy, but lost his fortune by the failure of the Bank of the United States in 1836. He made and lost two or three fortunes, and eventually lost all his property. Both the parents are now dead, and three of their sons and two daugh- ters are living: George resides in San Fran- cisco, Lewis is in London, England, and the two daughters in France. His grandfather was a Captain in Lee's Light Horse, and his great-grandfather was an Episcopalian ınin- ister and a chaplain in the American army during the Revolutionary War, and was in intimate correspondence with General Washı- ington during the early period of the Revo- lution. His mother's family were Wain- wrights, one of the early families of Boston, who came from England to this country about 1630 or 1650, and sympathized with the American cause. The progenitor of the Carnes family in America was Commodore John Cairnes, of North Britain, Scotland,

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who commanded the English fleet cruising on the American coast during the early years of the seventeenth century. He was one of the originators of " The Ancient and Honor- able Artillery Company " of Boston, and its commander in 1649 and '52, as was also his great-grandson, Lieutenant - Colonel John Carnes, father of the chaplain before men- tioned, in 1750. Mr. Carnes was bnt six months old when he was taken by his par- ents in their change of residence to New York city. At the age of eighteen he went to Paris, which city his father had previously visited, and studied languages and anatomy, under the instructions of Professors Bernard and Guy, and resided there six years. He learned to speak the French language very fluently, and is now a good Spanish scholar. Volunteering in the Mexican war, he saw much service, and came to California in the famous Stevenson's regiment. During the last war he was in the Provost Marshal's de- partment, under Colonel Jackson; and was afterward several years in the Internal Rev- enue Department. He was Postmaster of Santa Barbara six years, most of the time under President Grant; after that he was not in business until recently, he became book-keeper and reporter for the Santa Barbara Independ- ent .: In 1851-'52 lie was a member of the State Assembly; and District Judge for Santa Barbara. Ventura and San Luis Obispo conn- ties, in the earlier years of the State, serving a part of the time by appointment; was also a member of the city council several years.

In 1850 Captain Carnes married Maria Domitila Rodriguez, a Spanish lady, whose father was José Jesus Rodriguez, and whose family came to California in the military train of one of the first Spanish Governors. Her parents are dead, but she has brothers and sisters living in this State. Mr. Carnes has nine children, all living in Santa Barbara

and Ventura: John is a farmer; Lewis, the only married son, is in business; Frederick is Depnty Recorder of Ventura County, and Nathaniel is employed in clerical work. The daughters are Mary, who married Mr. Tico, a farmer; Mélanie, now the wife of Thomas Chrisman; Adelia, unmarried; Martha, now Mrs. Charles Bell, and Rosalie, the youngest of the family.

BORONDA, son of José Canuto and Francisca (Castro) de Boronda, was born in Santa Barbara in 1834. While he was yet an infant the family moved to Monterey County, where he remained twenty- eight years. His father owned a fine ranch at that place on which he was engaged in ranch- ing. Mr. Boronda is one of a large family- thirteen children-of whom nine are still liv- ing. In 1871 he came to San Luis Obispo, and lived with his sister two years. Next he went to the mines, and seven months later came to the Santa Margarita Valley, where he lives to-day. His ranch comprises 160 acres, and is beautifully sitnated seven miles from the city of San Luis Obispo. As Mr. Bo- ronda is a cordial, hearty, and in every way a popular man, his pleasant country home is always full of visitors. He was married in 1874 to Beatriz R. de Boronda. One child, Epifanio, is the result of this union. Mr. Boronda is a direct descendant of an old Cas- tilian family in Spain, and he is justly proud of his ancestry.

ENRY W. OLD (deceased) was one of the most respected pioneers of the Santa Clara Valley, Ventura County, California. He was born in Corwin Parish,

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Cornwall, England, October 5, 1834. May 4, 1845, his parents, both English people, set sail for America, bringing their family, and locating in Wisconsin. The subject of this sketch was reared and educated in that State. He spent six years of his life working in the Cliff copper mines in Wisconsin. He was after that variously employed in different places: in Illinois, then in Dodgeville, Wis- consin; in 1857 removed to Eagle River, Michigan; in 1862 went to Vermont to look after the development of a copper mine for a company, and was five months opening a mine.

While at Dodgeville, Wisconsin, on the 23d of November, 1850, Mr. Old was united in marriage to Miss Ketura Cox, a native of Plymouth, England. Before coming to this coast three children were born to them : Elizabeth A., Eliza J. and James J. With his wife and his little family he started for California, coming via the Isthmus route. He worked in the mines at Grass Valley, Nevada City, for seven years, being in the employ of a company. In 1869, with his family and his brother-in-law, Richard Cox, he came to Ventura County. Mr. Old pur- chased 320 acres of land in what was then a wilderness of wild mustard, where their present fine home is now located. There were no trees and no land marks, and here the family struggled along with adversity and worked with unremitting zeal, both Mr. and Mrs. Old being united in their efforts to make a comfortable home. In the conrse of years they succeeded admirably, their ranch being now one of the finest in the valley. They built a large and commodious house, large barns, and planted rows of Eucalyptus trees, a large orchard, plenty of small fruit, and an abundance of flowers and shrubs; and the skill and good taste combined in the planning and execution of this work have rendered it

an attractive place. The ranch is supplied with plenty of artesian water. Mr. Old raised both grain and stock, while Mrs. Old took a just pride in her turkeys, ducks and chickens, which afforded both pleasure and profit. George W. and Edith were added to their family in California.

Late in the month of May, 1889, Mr. Old was taken ill. The disease in a few days ter- minated in heart trouble, which caused his death June 2. To his wife and children it was very unexpected, and they deeply mourn his loss. He was an industrious man, a faith- ful and loving husband and father, and he died with his trust in the Saviour. He is missed by a large circle of friends and ac- quaintances. Their loss is his infinite gain, and he has gone to forever enjoy the reward of a well-spent life. The home he made by toil and self-denial and left to his family, is his most fitting monument.

The oldest son, James, is married and re- sides on the place with his mother. He is an industrious young inan of good health and character, and is a support and comfort to his widowed mother in this her time of bereave- ment.

LBERT F. BENTON, foreman and former owner of the Eagle ranch, now owned by Baron von Schröder, was born in Germany, in 1848. When he was six years old his parents moved to America, the family then consisting of four children. As soon as he was old enough he engaged in business with his brother who kept a wholesale grocery house in New York city. In 1866 he came to California, and for three years was en- ployed in a wholesale liquor house in San Francisco. He then came to Paso Robles and bought a tract of 1,000 acres of land, five

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Iniles west of the town, and engaged in sheep- raising. He still owns and leases 640 acres of this property. It was in 1876 that he ac- quired possession of the Eagle ranch, and for six years was principally engaged in cattle- raising. At the end of that time he sold the property to its present owner, and is now the foreman.

Mr. Benton was married in 1869 to Miss Hannah Menton, of English ancestry, al- though born and brought up in the Santa Clara Valley, California. Mr. and Mrs. Ben- ton are the parents of four children.

During Mr. Benton's ownership of the Eagle ranch, everything was in its wild state. Bears were very plenty and also extremely troublesome to the cattle raiser. Mr. Benton describes very graphically the loss of much of his stock, and " bruin " is responsible in each case. So uncivilized was this part of the country at that time that Mrs. Benton's father strongly objected to his daughter mak- ing it her home, insisting that it was no place for women. She did not, however, seem at all distressed at the outlook, and the Eagle ranch has been her home since 1876. In early times this property must have been a favorite resort for Indians, as many relics of their curious implements have been found and preserved, among them a splendid and perfect specimen of a mortar and pestle, used by thein for pounding acorns for bread, etc.

ALTER SCOTT CHAFFEE, a pio- neer and one of the most prosperous business men of San Buenaventura, was born in Madison County, New York, February 2, 1834. His ancestors were from Massachusetts, but his father, E. H. Chaffee, was a native of Madison County, and was a farmer in the " town " (township) of Peters-

burg, where the celebrated Gerrit Smith was brought up; they were playmates to- gether. During the great slavery excite- ment Messrs. Smith and Chaffee were " un- der-ground railroad " men, and many a one of God's poor they helped along the road to liberty. Mr. Chaffee's mother, whose maiden name was Celinda M. Stranahan, was a native of Cooperstown, New York. He was the third child in a family of seven children, and at the early age of fourteen years lie began his mercantile career, being ten years a clerk in the city of Syracuse, New York. In 1858 he went to Portage City, Wisconsin, and opened a general merchandise store; but a year afterward he sold out aad returned to his home in New York, where he remained a year. Then, in company with Jerome B. Chaffee, he went to Pike's Peak and bought two claims at Leadville, where he was a miner for one season. The following year, 1861, he came to San Buenaventura, when there were but three American settlers in what is now Ventura County. Two of them still reside here,-V. A. Simpson and W. D. [Hobson. Mr. Chaffee started a ranch on T. Moore's grant and engaged in raising hogs. Six months afterward he sold his interest and opened a general merchandise store, and has ever since been in mercantile life excepting two years. When he began here there was but one other store in the place. He pur- chased his goods in San Francisco, and had them brought here by schooner. He has also been engaged meanwhile in general farining and stock-raising. He was one of the original incorporators of the Bank of Ventura, and is at present one of its directors. When the town was incorporated he was appointed by the Legislature a member of the first Board of Trustees. During the late war he kept the United States flag flying night and day upon a liberty pole in front of his store.

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After several of the flags had been stolen, he guarded the next one with a shot-gun for several nights. It was the only flag south of San José that was placed at half-mast when the news of President Lincoln's assassination reached the coast. Although interested in the politieal welfare of the country, he has never accepted office.

He built his present brick store, 30 x 100 feet, on East Main and Palm streets, with a store-house in the rear, another 100 feet in depth. He has also built an elegant resi- denee on a 100-acre ranch near town, and he has a 3,000-acre farm and stock raneh on the Santa Clara River, thirty four miles from Ven- tura, where he has several hundred head eael of sheep, cattle and horses, and is constantly improving the stock. Parties are now sink- ing the fifth oil well on this land, the four already in operation yielding an average of twenty-five barrels per day each. Mr. Chaffee, notwithstanding the fact that he has seen forty years of active business life, appears like a man in the prime of life about forty- five years of age. He has truly seen a " wil- derness blossom as the rose." From a little Spanish settlement the city of San Buenaven- tnra has sprung up to a place of 3,000 in- habitants living in homes of beauty and refinement, with their numerous business bloeks, metropolitan hotels, fine churches, model school buildings, ete. San Buenaven- turn has indeed been to him what the name implie-,-" Good Luck."

For his wife, Mr. Chaffee married Miss Rebecca Nidever, a native of Texas, born in 1846, and of their nine children all are living save one. Walter Scott, Jr., was born in Santa Barbara, in his grandfather's house, and now has charge of his father's raneb. The following children were born in San' Buena- ventura: John Hyde, now teller of the Ven- tura Bank; Arthur Leslie, his father's book-

keeper; and Helen L., Ethel, Lawrence, Chester and Margareta, all of whom are at home with their parents. Mrs. Chaffee is a member of the Presbyterian Church, and Mr. Chaffee, although brought up a l'resbyterian, has never joined any ehnreh. He is a Master Mason and a Knight Templar.

ENRY CHAPMAN FORD was born in 1828 at Livonia, New York. At an early age he chose the profession of an artist, and to perfeet himself spent two or three years in Europe, studying at Paris and Florence.

Returning from there at about the begin- ning of our eivil war, he in December, 1861, enlisted and served abont a year in the armny in the West and South, when he was dis- charged for physical disability caused by a series of forced marches in Tennessee, Ala- bama and Kentucky.

When in the army he furnished many sketches for the illustrated papers. While recuperating at Chieago he was indneed to open a studio there and was the first landscape artist in that eity who attempted to gain a livelihood by the brush.

Afterwards, when more attention was given to art and the Chicago Academy of Design was incorporated, Mr. Ford took an active part in its inauguration; was one of its charter members, and for several years its president. At that date he was best known as a painter of forest interiors, nearly his whole time being devoted to this elass of landscapes. To obtain studies for these, his summer sketching excursions were extended to all the picturesque mountains of the Northern and Middle states, and to the savannas and cypress swamps of the South.

In 1866, before a railway had crossed the

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plains, in company with his wife and two other artists, he visited the Rocky Mountains and spent some five months in camping and sketching in the parks of Colorado, much of the time beyond the reach of any mail. A few years later he visited the saine region with a class of pupils. His studio was in the Academy, and when it was burned in the great fire of 1871, his accumulated studies of many years were destroyed.

His health failing in 1874, he was advised to seek a change of climate, and in accordance with this advice, he went, in 1875, to Califor- nia, and soon after settled at Santa Barbara, finding the genial climate, picturesque sur- ronndings, and agreeable society of that place, very attractive to himself and wife. Califor- nia is the paradise of the landscape artist. Its long rainless seasons and mild climate en- able him to ramble far and wide, undeterred by any apprehension of bad weather. These favorable conditions Mr. Ford did not fail to make use of; for almost every year since he came to Santa Barbara, camping excursions have been made by him until every valley and noted locality in Southern and Middle California has been visited.

In 1878 he organized a party composed of artists and of persons of scientific and literary tastes and made a long camping trip to the Yo Semite, where during the six weeks they spent in the valley he made many sketches of its remarkable scenery. But probably thie most important work of Mr. Ford as an artist in California has been his labors to preserve, in a pictorial form, the remnants of the old Franciscan missions that are scattered along the coast from San Diego to San Fran- cisco. The site of each of these was visited, and careful studies made of all that remained of them. A series of handsome etchings were made by him from these and printed; the imperial edition of which, being in at-

tractive folios with brief historical and de- scriptive letter press, has found a place in many university and college libraries and art mnsenms in America.

It is not as an artist only that Mr. Ford is known in Santa Barbara, but as an intelligent, well-informed gentleman of unnsual scientific acquirements outside of his profession, as is evidenced by his having been for many years president of its Natural History Society, as well as one of the most active and efficient members of its Horticultural Society. As a botanist he has interested himself in the introduction and cultivation of foreign trees and shrubs; and as a citizen, has made him- self generally useful in promoting all good works in Santa Barbara.

OSEPH FANDREY, Santa Barbara. Among the progressive institutions of Santa Barbara will be found the art rooms of Mr. Joseph Fandrey, who was born at Berlin, Germany, in 1847. He was es- pecially educated in decorative art work, and to perfect himself he studied drawing and painting in designs at the Vienna Academy and at Berlin. He has served as foreman in the leading furniture manufactories. He emigrated to the United States in 1882, and went to Chicago, where for two years he worked in manufactories. He then came to San Rafael, and was employed by Mr. Sayle in the furniture business. He came to Santa Barbara in 1885, and engaged with Mr. F. H. Knight as foreman of his decorating and up- holstering establishment. Mr. Fandrey re- ceives the latest designs from the leading decorators in Dresden, Vienna and Berlin. He is also an inventor in artistic furniture, the "Sultan Ottoman and Fandrey Chaise Lounge" being among the number, and are

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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